The brilliance at Eden Gardens

Wasim Jaffer's innings on Friday is one of the most fluent in the recent times by any batsman that I have seen. Such was the brilliance of the innings of this man that the batting of Dravid and Sachin paled in comparison. Rarely do we see a batsman maintain the spark of his innings through out the day as Jaffer did. You really had to search for any false shot. The disdain with which he hammered Sohail Tanveer was amazing to watch. The intent was aggressive, and the execution as clinical as you would ever see in test cricket. Exquisite batting!!

 

At the same time the Pak team looked in such disarray and players looked so disinterested that it looked like either they had not been paid for the last match or they simply thought they were playing for Habib Bank against National Bank of Pakistan (two domestic teams in Pakistan, and I bet even they would have shown more fight). Another point to ponder was the selection of Mohammad Sami. Same has taken 70 odd wickets in 32 test matches, at an average of over 50. It’s amazing how he has always looked talented, but never quite converted the talent into anything meaningful for Pakistan. He is a fighter but I guess now it is time that Pakistan look beyond him.

 

Elsewhere, Zimbabwe stunned West Indies in a one day match. This was their second upset in the past 6 months. If people thought their victory against Australia in 20-20 was pure fluke, today's performance should make some of the people believe that the Zimbabwe team is recovering. Or is it too early to say that?