"India has an unhealthy obsession with world cup", is what former skipper Rahul Dravid remarked ahead of heading to the West Indies to take part in the "must forget" world cup campaign. As expected it received sharp criticism from various quarters while some even agreed to what he said. And those who objected his comment also didn't bother to counter his argument to prove it isn't an obsession as seen by Dravid. Instead the chorus was asking "How dare you say that...?"
In a way, every one agrees that it is so. Reviews of the 2nd day's play of the first test between India & Pakistan at Delhi also suggest the same way. No one is really bothered about India failing to take advantage of the meager 1st innings score. Instead rain of appreciation for Laxman's innings which has just enabled a token lead of 45 runs (which was eventually wiped off by the Paki openers in the second innings).
We could see the unbelievable (comical looking) stare at the bowler after a very ordinary good delivery in between, standing clueless after a shot or standing at the other end whether to respond (no initiation whatsoever) to his partner's call and those ugly shots which never carry to the slip cordon - all were there in his innings. So what makes his innings so special ? With the trinity of the Indian batting falling prey to the lapse in concentration (how could all the 3 lose concentration while batting as stupid as it appeared - Damn it!) , Laxman did just the least of what was expected from him.
An unbeaten 72 against a not so challenging attack and in a juice less track - does this suffice to cement his place for ever, as being opined by those great columnists ?
Or is that the media guys decided that Indian cricket cannot survive without such "unhealthy" obsessions ?
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