Monday, January 01, 2007
A Good Contest In Offing
India has lived up to its reputation of being a very inconsistent team. After registering a glorious win against the South Africans in the first test, India sank without putting up the kind of resistance worthy of an equal opponent. This loss at Durban again makes one doubt if the first-test win was not a fluke.
But it was not because the Indian bowling again proved to be capable of causing discomfort to the South Africans in favorable conditions. It was the inability of Indian batting which prevented India from saving this test also or even winning it. The bowlers had laid the necessary foundation on which the batsmen could have built upon. Which they did not. And the saddest part of it all is that they had the least venomous track to bat on.
When Boucher said that they could pocket the test if they would get one and a half sessions to bowl at the Indians, many thought that it was only an attempt to put the fear of god in the Indian’s minds. But he knew what he was talking about. As they slowly came to realize that routine bowling may not get the Indians out, they mixed the short stuff with great effect. The Indian batsmen who initially had only to handle the extra bounce and seam, soon got their ribs and knuckles sore. And that prevented them from thinking in terms of a prolonged resistance. Look at Ganguly. They softened him up to such a extent that he attempted to hit his way out of trouble. His failure to play each ball on its merit was a miserable sight. He looked a batsman pulled out of a Plate division Ranji Trophy team.
Look at the way the Indian batsmen were dismissed in the second innings at Durban. Sehwag as usual played away from a ball that was taken away from him. Dravid and Tendulkar were beaten by inward slant, Ganguly by the extra bounce, Lakshman by the deep off cutter. Only Jaffer fell to an injudicious shot. Dhoni’s dismissal also was pardonable as he was playing the drive after having stayed at the crease for a long while. All this proves one thing. That the home bowlers were capable of squeezing out of the track more lateral movement and bounce than the Indian bowlers. They perhaps put more shoulder into their deliveries than the Indians or they know the knack of pitching the ball on its seam in such a way that it moves more. And this obviously comes out of regular practice on such tracks. Otherwise efforts by Zaheer and SreeSanth would have converted more good balls into wickets.
What I mean is that there is no clear cut superiority in batting either way but the hosts are aided by their ability to get more out of the tracks familiar to their bowlers. So what can India do to nullify this advantage? Not much except to show more determination to hang on to their wickets and put a stiff price on their wickets. But they can do one more thing. Do a little bit of tinkering with the team. The most obvious change might be Munaf Patel coming back in place of Vir Singh. But only if Patel is fully fit. Then for the more important move, go to the top. Sehwag or Jaffer? Both need a jolt. Jaffer for throwing away his wicket after having settled down and Sehwag who is unable to show the needed sense of discipline? What is to be done if one of them is axed? Can we play Gambhir who doesn’t like a ball go past him outside the off stump? Or should we take the risk of playing the untested Karthik as a batsman? Karthik even otherwise has a chance of playing in the third test as the wicket keeper if Dhoni’s injury does not heal in time. Reports say the pitch for the last test yields some help to the spinners. Does it hold enough promise to take the gamble of playing Harbhajan Singh, the second spinner?
I would retain Jaffer after giving him a reprimand for that foolish stroke quite uncharacteristic of him. A break might do Sehwag some good. Since Gambhir is only a junior Sehwag and it is better that India goes by character and not by flamboyance, I even prefer Karthik to Gambhir. But who will then open the innings?
Why can’t India open with Dravid and Jaffer, and have Lakshman, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Karthik and Dhoni follow them? (Dravid so far in the series found it much different from opning an innings.) I am even ready to take the risk of playing Sehwag in place of either Ganguly or Karthik down the order. If Dhoni does not play and Karthik is in the team as a keeper, then it could be Jaffer, Dravid, Lakshman, Tendulkar, Sehwag, Ganguly and Karthik India is unlikely risk a two-spinner gamble since it would mean giving up the 7-4 proportion..
Tags: India-South Africa final test
