Second last over of the day, Dhoni standing on pitch since about 7 hours playing on 99 runs, pushes Anderson's ball to mid-off and sprints towards other end to complete 100th run. Direct hit by fielder, and Dhoni fell short by a millimeter. It was a risky run indeed.
Anyone reading this will say that there was no need to run,but it's not that simple. Dhoni was standing on pitch for like more than a day after keeping wickets and leading his side for 146 overs. He is the guy with coolest head on his shoulder. And one of the fastest runner in current international players. Also to add to this, he avoided a lot of singles today while playing with Virat Kohli just to minimize the run-out risk.
Then how can he make such silly mistake? It was certainly not like that he wanted the hundred badly, he knew that staying there was more important than this three figure number. But if you can see the atmosphere in ground and the amount of noise being made by viewers, you can understand the pressure, player feeling at that time. This pressure is so high that even a calm guy like Dhoni couldn't control his nerves. When Dhoni was on strike on 99, each and every person in stadium was on the edge of the chair, shouting to the core. Any batsman will like to get away from this pressure as early as possible. Dhoni was trying to do the same. I feel that these landmarks are rated way too high in this part of world. People making huge noise near to such landmarks puts a lot of pressure on player. Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't remember watching people making that much of noise in any other country when their player is near to landmark. Yes, they do celebrate after such landmark is achieved, but they don't put that much pressure before getting to it. I think that expectation pressure is more in India than in other countries.
But the second side of coin is they get lot of respect after achieving these landmarks. Player becomes the national hero in one night after such innings. Some folks may say that people praises personal achivements more than team game.. but well, thats the way it is..
There is a difference of 22 yards between 99 and 100. How much it matters is upto you!!
Anyone reading this will say that there was no need to run,but it's not that simple. Dhoni was standing on pitch for like more than a day after keeping wickets and leading his side for 146 overs. He is the guy with coolest head on his shoulder. And one of the fastest runner in current international players. Also to add to this, he avoided a lot of singles today while playing with Virat Kohli just to minimize the run-out risk.
Then how can he make such silly mistake? It was certainly not like that he wanted the hundred badly, he knew that staying there was more important than this three figure number. But if you can see the atmosphere in ground and the amount of noise being made by viewers, you can understand the pressure, player feeling at that time. This pressure is so high that even a calm guy like Dhoni couldn't control his nerves. When Dhoni was on strike on 99, each and every person in stadium was on the edge of the chair, shouting to the core. Any batsman will like to get away from this pressure as early as possible. Dhoni was trying to do the same. I feel that these landmarks are rated way too high in this part of world. People making huge noise near to such landmarks puts a lot of pressure on player. Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't remember watching people making that much of noise in any other country when their player is near to landmark. Yes, they do celebrate after such landmark is achieved, but they don't put that much pressure before getting to it. I think that expectation pressure is more in India than in other countries.
But the second side of coin is they get lot of respect after achieving these landmarks. Player becomes the national hero in one night after such innings. Some folks may say that people praises personal achivements more than team game.. but well, thats the way it is..
There is a difference of 22 yards between 99 and 100. How much it matters is upto you!!
3 comments:
Nice one.
Dhoni was clearly nervous at that time. Those are uncomfortable hours in Test for any batsman. And after all he is human being too! Failed to the pressure... but you get such situations in Tests more often.. the real test of character. He remained on crease for whole day trying to save the match... he passed the test it but just remain a short of distinction by 1 run !
why you think that 99 is pass and 100 is distinction!! this is my point. These are just numbers.. imp thing is to stand there and play your game. Don't give importance to these numbers!
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