Pressure talk gets to Rohit

KOLKATA, Rohit Sharma played one of his better knocks in Test cricket today. He’s faced some criticism for the manner in which he’s been dismissed in Tests in recent time. Cricketers don’t — or should not — pay attention to criticism. However, being asked about the ‘pressure’ does become a bit irritating. Rohit sounded irritated when asked if he agreed that today’s knock was played under pressure. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m under no pressure. It only comes from the media that I’m under pressure,” he said a bit testily. “Do I look under pressure? Even in the first Test, I got runs.”
Well, if he insists, let’s grant him that there’s no pressure — though his reaction suggested he’s had enough of this talk of him being under pressure. That’s pressure!
Dying game?
For at least 30 years, after an explosive increase in the popularity of One-day cricket, debates have been had about the future of Test cricket. Those debates have become more urgent in the last decade. That’s because of two reasons. One, franchise-based T20 cricket leagues pay cricketers much more than Test cricket can and ever did, so they prefer T20s; two, audiences have got addicted to the fare presented by T20 cricket — unlimited fours and sixers, for three hours. An uninterrupted flow of fours and sixers has stunned, so to say, the mind of the average fan, given the fan on a strong high. Test cricket, subtle and nuanced, cannot offer this to the fan.
VVS Laxman says that the worry over the future of Test cricket is completely justified. “Yes, it’s a worry, because young cricketers are more excited by watching a T20 game. It’s a generation which wants excitement, instant results,” said Laxman at a debate here.
“Whenever I played Test cricket here, you had 50,000-60,000 people at the ground. Today there were around 24,000,” he said. The actual number, in fact, seemed lesser, closer to 15,000. Anil Kumble sounded a bit superstitious about this constant talk of the death of Test cricket. “If we consistently talk about the death of Test cricket, it’s going to happen!” he said. “If all of us continued to do that, I think it’s going to happen.”
“We’re going to give the best product — best cricketers, best marketing in Tests, ODIs and T20 cricket,” said Anurag Thakur, BCCI president. “Then we’ll let the spectators decide. We can’t force people to watch Test cricket.”
Scoreboard
India first innings 316
New Zealand overnight 128/7
M Guptill b B Kumar 13
T Latham lbw M Shami 1
H Nicolls b B Kumar 1
R Taylor c M Vijay b B Kumar 36
L Ronchi lbw Jadeja 35
M Santner lbw b B Kumar 11
BJ Watling lbw M Shami 25
M Henry b B Kumar 0
J Patel c M Shami b R Ashwin 47
N Wagner lbw M Shami 10
T Boult not out 6
Extras: (b9, lb 4, w 5) 19
Total (all out, 53 overs) 204
FOW: 1-10 2-18 3-23 4-85 5-104
6-122 7-122 8-182 9-187 10-204
Bowling
B Kumar 15-2-48-5
M Shami 18-1-70-3
R Jadeja 12-4-40-1
R Ashwin 8-3-33-1
India second innings
M Vijay c M Guptill b M Henry 7
S Dhawan lbw T Boult 17
C Pujara lbw M Henry 4
V Kohli lbw T Boult 45
A Rahane c T Boult b M Henry 1
R Sharma c L Ronchi b M Santner 82
R Ashwin lbw M Santner 5
W Saha batting 39
R Jadeja c (J Neesham) b Santner 6
B Kumar batting 8
Extras: (b 10, lb 1, w 2) 13
Total (8 wkts, 63.2 overs) 227
FOW: 1-12 2-24 3-34 4-43 5-91
6-106 7-209 8-215
Bowling
T Boult 14-5-28-2
M Henry 15.2-2-44-3
N Wagner 13-2-43-0
J Patel 8-0-50-0
M Santner 13-1-51-3