The revenge series, badla, etc. Ultimately all that hot air and hype backfired on India.
Who would have ever thought the New Zealanders would have India on the backfoot at home as they did on the final day of the second Test?
Here Indian cricket fans (and no doubt, cricketers) were licking their lips, waiting to trap the Kiwis on 'designer' turning tracks which would have been poetic justice after the sub-standard seaming wickets in New Zealand late last year.
But then, Indian cricket has always been full of surprises and so what did we provide our honoured guests? Why, sleeping beauties of course and the result was a 0-0 draw.
Strange how this series has revolved round two factors-the pitches and the boils on the Indian captain's "upper left thigh". One reporter decided to be less coy and actually used the word 'groin' in his copy! My suggestion to him was why not go with testicles and be done with it?
How exactly these dead tracks-not dead enough though to prevent Daryl Tuffey from giving our batsmen a scare-came about and how exactly poor Sourav Ganguly got caught in a raging attack of the boils (no, that is not the wrong spelling) will remain a mystery for a long time just as they continued to be the talking points of the mini-series.
I was actually one of the 'privileged' few to get a glimpse of the captain's nether regions as he obligingly pulled his shorts down to give us a very public glimpse of his very private agony. That was the day before the Mohali Test even as he was waiting to be let in to the home side's dressing room (yes, the captain had to actually knock on the door repeatedly and patiently wait for it to be opened!).
If that was the low point of my visit to Chandigarh, the high point was the culinary delights of the city of Sardars. After three days of chicken, chicken and more chicken washed down with loads of beer, I was informed by my friend that not only did the city top the country in liquor consumption (of the harder variety), but that the poor chicken may well soon be on Chandigarh's very own endangered species list!
All this while witnessing the Kiwi bird pecking away annoyingly at the thin skins of the Indian cricket team over five days.
PETA, where are you when we need you the most?

Gulu Ezekiel is the author of biographies of Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly

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