The perils of being a print journalist (A story on India's ultradefensive approach is below this post)

There are perils of being a print journalist .

Well, this is what one realizes when one is on tour to Australia or New Zealand. By the time you words reach the readers, the 1st session is normally over and, at times, there is a world of difference between what readers read in newspapers, and what is going on ‘live’ on their TV Screens.
At Seven, when I got my papers, India were reeling at 31 for two at lunch, with both the openers gone. Australia were all set to continue their domination as Jadeja had anticipated on NDTV, when he put the lid of realism on euphoria, saying even a first innings score of 350 by Australia on their home ground was very good.

On the other hand, the newspapers today morning were all praise for Kumble’s performance, which had prevented Australia from posting a total in excess of 500 runs, and some were also critical of their (Australians) somewhat rash approach to batting. But the euphoria had melted by the time the readers got to lay their hands on papers.

Of course it was a superlative show, but it hid one important fact. Kumble bowled too little early in the innings and at no stage could India curb the Australian scoring rate.

The Indian Express had a big photograph of Kumble on the front page titled ‘Australia Krumble’. Well, Australia did Krumble but it was no collapse by any stretch of imagination. They still managed about 100 more than what could have allowed India to be competitive as India will have to play the fourth innings on this ground. As of now, only rain or an unexpected Australian collapse can save them (in that order!)

The Times of India had their picture titled ‘Jumbo Lands the First Punch’, even though it was only a very good counterpunch after the Australian opening blitz, which must have made the Aussie rework their batting strategy for the second innings.

The Hindustan Times, as matter of fact, said ‘’Well Begun’’ on the front page. Equally realistic was the Hindu headline to the main story. ‘’Skipper Kumble inspires Indian fight back’’.

As the luck would have it, Kumble also helped India stage a mini revival with a strong batting display, which ended in the Australian lead getting reduced to less than 150.

But again, the events of the 1st and 2nd days showed that being a print journalist can be a very taxing job when new events supercede the happenings day before.