A forgettable series (and 10 reasons we’d have to remember it anyway)

So, India has an unbeatable lead in the Indian Oil Cup. 3-1.

While the media is surely going to go gaga over it, I’ll admit we aren’t faking any joy over or interest in it. That we are actually discussing genetics at school these days should be a clue to how much interested we really are in it. I am glad it’s going to be over soon. Just one (match) more to go. [We are more into the as-of-yet not started Australia tour, actually. Move over Pakistan, Australia is our biggest rival now.]

But then I thought that it’s not fair to dismiss it just because I did not enjoy it as much. There definitely were a few fireflies to be spotted in the dark night.

* Yuvraj’s way looks forward and up. From what he said at the Green Park match ceremony, I can see he’s desperate to prove himself on the Test circuit. Going by his current performance, looks like he’s finally got to key to unlock the door to the revered spot number six. To accommodate him, someone else might get ass-kicking might have to go. We know who. In an ideal world, we could keep both, but this is not, uh, an ideal world.

* Sachin’s here to stay. (a big round of applause) There’s been ho-hum about his missing centuries, but that has in no way overshadowed his splendid knocks. So the pro-senior culling camp will have to wait.

* Sreesanth’s decadence. Looks to me that he is on the verge of becoming another case of the failed prodigy/one-time wonder. He sat through the whole series, and whenever cameras zoomed in on him, he blew kisses in a most ludicrous style, defying all behavior codes. Reminds me of the roadside jerks. You don’t expect international cricketers behaving like that.

*Gambhir and Afridi Anglo-Saxon exchange. Rameez Raja lamented this series is no fun. True, but there were some bright flashes of the kind of fun he was looking for. Watch video here. Although both the players were fined, Afridi piled up and locked the matter with his “sincere” apology. Like I’ve been saying for a long time, never trust Rameez Raja. Oh, and not to downplay Gambhir. He became a tough guy. Great mile, that.

* Pathetic ground and pitch conditions. Is India really ready for the 2011 World Cup? Guwahati, the venue for the first ODI, has such a low-grade infrastructure. Gwalior had a most unpredictable pitch. The Green Park was in luck though, no dog tresspassings this time.

* Sohail Tanveer’s flying kiss. This will go down in the history of cricket as the first of its kind. Watch video here.

* Dravid’s culling. Most sane cricket fans (emotional element alert) accepted this with a grain of salt. But aloof to all this, he was busy spinning his trademark calculated double century, and if the forces that be want, a comeback’s not impossible. When I write this, he’s hit another ton. Whatever happens, Dravid is still going to be our go-to man for critical situations and giving finishing touches in Test cricket.

* The Curse of the Grasshopper. Pakistan, on a good day, can be a dangerous team. Looks like these good days are going to be hard to come by from now on. We can remember this point as the start of the post-Inzy degeneration of Pakistan cricket.

* Yet another chapter in Dhoni’s captaincy. With an exception of some of the fielding decisions he took, especially in the death overs of the 2nd ODI, he mostly did fine. Thanks to his shrewdness, even the volcano called Zaheer Khan is showing signs of eruption again. Add to that, he and Yuvraj have done the good job of filling Dravid’s void. Dhoni, you too are here to stay.

* I’ll leave this one for our readers. What are you going to remember this series for, if at all?