Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Difficult Choice For India
Response to India’s cricket performances is as fast as running commentary about the same thing. People just don’t have any time to absorb what they have seen and then respond to it. In their eagerness to be the first to be out with the comments many just shoot off the hip. The last match of the one day series against South Africa has been played. The pitches have afforded bounce and lateral movement in all the matches and the conditions for the testst can not be any different. And any amount of fault finding and knee jerk reactions would not save the day for you.
Everybody knew what was in store for them in South Africa. And when results prove the apprehensions right, what right these people who have not done their homework to criticize the Indian team for the debacle.
On Indian tracks our batsmen would go half cock forward and play through the line imperiously frustrating the best of bowlers because they are confident that the ball is not going to move laterally on pitching And they equally sure that the ball would not rise above the thigh unless it pitched in the bowler’s own half. This piece of information is ingrained into their system for it is their lifeline. Any aberration is likely to dent their averages. Seasons of continuous adjustment can not be wished away just on landing on alien shores.
Any solution to this problem, should hinge on India’s willingness to sacrifice its inherent advantage in a home series.
This is just like Wimbledon in the present international tennis scenario. There was a period when the serve and volley expert was God on a tennis court. Slowly for reasons like exorbitant cost and difficulty in maintenance, grass courts gave way to other forms of surfaces. Now the swing is almost complete with just two weeks of major tennis taking place on grass. Roland Garrows continues to be on clay, and Flushing Meadows and Australian Open have boldly moved over to artificial surfaces. So if you are a net-rusher there are just two weeks of glory in a tennis year for you. If you are good on a synthetic top several weeks could be yours.
In cricket also if a team is good at playing on surfaces like those available in the sub-continent, its good days are numbered in proportion to the number of days it plays at home. Teams which are comfortable on faster, bouncier tops, may find the going easier outside their home pitches also because more countries have such pitches at home with slight variations. But when England, Australia, New Zealand or South Africa travels to India, they have much more than the Bombay Belly to worry about. They have to a lot of unlearning to do once they land in India. The same thing happens to India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka when they tour to other parts of the cricket atlas. So India like other teams has to take a decision either to bask in its home glory or to perform well every where.
Quite a lot of changes will take place if India decides in favor of the second option. Superstars may lose a bit of their shine and good batsmen may slide down towards the average mark. In the bowling department, spinners may suffer but the quick bowlers may become more respected when they tour.
It is a decision up the administrators’ alley. They have many angles to probe. No one would risk the displeasure of the Indian market which has made BCCI powerhouse behind ICC. But the debacle has at least made the powers that be aware of the necessity of action on this front. What they can do is to bring about major infrastructural changes in Indian cricket.
