And so it began on a Thursday and ended on the next Tuesday.

Kudos to the Poms for the balls they showed in coming back. I was so impressed that I decided to pop up to Chennai to catch the game. The conditions were nearly perfect for cricket – bright sunshine for the most, a nice cool sea breeze, a decent size crowd and a pitch that had something in it for everyone. It makes one wonder what sort of retards chose Mohali as the venue for the second match. It could so easily have been held somewhere in the south and we probably would have gotten in all those lost overs. Also, life in India’s first planned city seems too fast and hectic for the folks there to enjoy a good old game of test cricket – why keep boring them with it?

Unfortunately for the Poms, balls, two well constructed tons from the Andrew at the top and nearly ten straight sessions in command weren’t enough to win, let alone come out level at Chepauk. Watching the English bat in Chennai was about as exiting as listening to Sunil and Sanjay talking you through to the close of play, with Jimmy lined up for the post match analysis. You could settle down with a book (assuming it hadn’t been confiscated for being a bomb) and look at the score board every once in a while knowing for sure that all you missed was Strauss staying back and knocking the ball to backward point or backward square leg for a single or two. Then out came India who, not wanting to stray from well established tradition, did their first-innings-of-a-series-collapse-thing. There was even the obligatory cameo from Bhaji. It was all normal. Then it was that Strauss again and backward point and backward square leg….

After the first three or so days of the test, I was convinced that this was one of those rare instances when a team would win a test by just playing good defensive test cricket. I, like KP, got it wrong. We hadn’t accounted for that bald, smiling, glitch in the matrix from Najafgarh… or Sachin’s elephantine memory and all the repressed fury he had for idiot-mortals who kept mouthing off about Chennai, 1999, and how he was not a “match winner”… or Yuvraj and his penchant for being a pain in KP’s buttox. In an interview before his 68 ball 83, Sehwag said something to the effect of ‘we were chasing 250 against Australia but we couldn’t do it because of bad weather…If we can do that, 387 against England shouldn’t be a problem.’ What is this guy on?

What was spectacular about Chennai was that the freak-maniac was right. It all came together and it was done comfortably, with time and wickets to spare. In hindsight, it really was KP’s declaration that made a mess of things for England. Who declares with Monty at the crease? Serves him right I say. You let him know Monty.

And so the Poms packed up and trekked all the way to Chandigarh, just to have old men winter and Dravid close shop on them. KP made his point too late but it was such a joy to watch. Sure India should have tried harder to win but who really cares anyway? The PCA Stadium is such a lovely ground and it is a pity to see it wasted. Maybe it can be airlifted to Ranchi or somewhere…

It would have been nice to keep watching the English getting hammered but it had to end sometime. I cant help but feel for the English. Watching them getting hammered isn’t half as fun as watching it happen to the Aussies and those sneaky Sri-Lankans. I hear that all we are in for is New-Zealand in March. When are we going to play those Proteas?