Friday, December 08, 2006
Ganguly Again!
India has begun its second leg of the South African journey showing its inability to handle the new ball and its reserve power which pulled the chestnut out of fire A century by Pathan has put India in a comfortable position against a second-grade team which though includes a few players sharp enough to get into the main eleven. Pathan was perhaps proving that the faith reposed on him by Chappell was not a misguided one. All the investment made on him by the Chappell has perhaps started to yield results. Anyway this ton has at least made a place in the playing test eleven certain for Pathan.
More important than this century was the innings played by Sourav Ganguly. It is rather difficult to talk about Ganguly and his good innings without discussing his strange inclusion into the Indian team. So allow me to begin at the beginning as it should be ie with his selection.
Ganguly nowadays carries the label of a comeback man though the comebacks have often been for just a match or two. But still he has shown enough pluck to fight his way into the Indian team as if it is his backyard. Ganguly went out of the Indian team mainly because he had lost his batting efficiency and has acquired a skill to chase the deliveries outside the off-stump. His problems with the Indian coach might have helped his ouster from the team. But he has not done enough to show that he has overcome his failings as a batsman. His runs in domestic cricket were not against any quality bowling nor were they impressive enough to push men like Kaif or Mongia out of the squad. But the quagmire that the present Indian team has fallen into has helped Ganguly to walk into the team. There are enough reasons to suspect that he has been used as a weapon to prod the senior players in the teams and perhaps to needle the captain. If the selectors have done this to move away from the responsibility of the one-day debacle, I don’t know how wise this happens to be.
The runs he made against the Rest of SA may not be sufficient to bolster the Indian team’s cause. I am happy to read that he showed some tight technique to handle the bouncing, seaming ball. I only hope that he is capable of maintaining his form through out the series. And I only wish his presence will not cause any bitterness among the tourists.
Now about Lakshman. So much has been written about what he would have done if he had been included in the Indian ODI squad. Any way he is given an opportunity to redeem himself. He with his half-cock ways is not likely to find things easier in SA than the other seniors in the teams. He is tall and his upright stance might help him to some extent but he might not be equal to the guiles of the seaming ball.
On a seaming track Virender Sehwag may better bat down the order. There is nothing sacred about his opening slot because he did not come into the team on the strength of his ability to handle the new ball. And unlike in the one-dayers, the field will stick to you so long as the ball does something. So it would only make sense to keep Sehwag from the crease till the ball has lost some of its shine and the pitch some of its lateral
movement.
Tags: Ganguly, Pathan's century
