Silence is golden for India

India’s five-wicket win over Australia was about bats doing the talking and bowlers making a statement rather than duels between motormouths, a feature of recent matches between these fierce rivals. The reason the high intensity game didn’t see any ugly exchanges was India’s strategy to be poker-faced when provoked.

When Yuvraj Singh screamed through his helmet after sending the delivery from Brett Lee through the covers to end Australia’s decade-old reign, he was an epitome of aggression. It was the only moment in the game that Yuvraj showed any emotions.

While he played impressively — 2 for 44 and 57 not out — he wasn’t the only one to hold his nerve and stay calm when the Australians tried to turn the screws on the Indians with their trademark aggression, a ploy they have used rather successfully in tight must-win games.

When the erratic Shaun Tait got Sachin Tendulkar to play and miss and followed it up with expletives, the maestro looked away while Virender Sehwag, not one to shy away from exchanging a word or two when opponents try and get under the skin of his illustrious partner, kept mum, closed his eyes and almost went into a meditative trance.

Sitting in the dressing room, coach Kirsten must have been pleased that things had gone by the script. It was the team management’s fiat that the players wouldn’t fight fire with fire when it came to the sledging game in the quarterfinals. “It was a collective decision that we wouldn’t get into verbal exchanges with the Australians. That is why we didn’t sledge Ponting while he was batting and we didn’t respond to what they were saying when we were batting. We didn’t want to lose focus nor did we want to get one any of their match-winners fired up,” a team source said on Friday.

Posted in: Yuvraj Singh