Rising beyond

Cricket captains swear that landmarks are negligible in the face of team goals. India had just pipped over the 600 mark and viewers must have braced for a 15-over assault at England. But is the business of declaration that easy, particularly when your numero uno bowler is nearing an elusive hundred?

Spare a thought for the skipper. Rahul Dravid may not want to revisit the painful plains of Multan 2004 when he called his team in, with Sachin Tendulkar six short of a double hundred. What should have been a natural order in the Test was portrayed as a cross to bear.

Day two, Oval, was a different setting though. Perhaps Dravid would have reacted differently if India were a Test down. Besides it was not about Anil Kumble's hundred alone. When a limited player transgresses his bounds it lifts the entire team. Look at the effect it had on RP Singh; he mustn't have pulled with that ferocity at the nets.

Yes, landmarks are insignificant when measured against team goals but in certain contexts they are not entirely irrelevant. Over the years, Kumble's role in the lower-order has been largely understated. We Indians are besotted with style. Leaving balls outside the off-stick is a menial job, and more often than not such contributions are taken for granted

Kumble's knock against England at Nagpur (2006 series) or his dour resistance against the West Indies the same year find frugal reference in cricket's footnotes. Dravid hit the nail, after the series in the Caribbean, when he remarked (quite uncharacteristically) that his young side ought to learn from Kumble the art of batting sessions.

Fair to say that it hasn't been an English summer for Kumble. A few days ago it was reported that he didn't want to play the three-day game against Sri Lanka A. Ramesh Powar had smelt the coffee with four wickets even as Kumble's woes with the 'last column' continued. Truly he looked down in spirits.

During the closing moments of day two, his mind whooped and the bat felt like a wand. This was the occasion to make him feel better about himself. And Test cricket gives you the latitude to afford warmth. Who knows, now the wickets may come. And come by the bagful.

Must admit that I developed a jaundiced eye as India, after Kumble's century, used up three overs that should have been invested to further England's miseries. Indians had a prolific day but they would have felt divine if a weary England's scorecard read: 45/3 in 15 overs rather than 24/1 in eight.

But today let us give it to this team. At times we obsess so much over game plans that we fail to live the moments that come rare.