Laxman waging a lone battle

By G. Viswanath

PORT ELIZABETH, NOV. 17. Venkatsai Laxman did not panic. He came in at 47 for four and at No. 6, his position when he made a dream 281 against Australia at the Eden Gardens that was hailed as one of the greatest knocks in Test cricket. It changed the course of that Test and the series. Laxman's undefeated 77 on Saturday was not anywhere close to the proportions of that colossal undertaking he carried out last March, but it saved India a cricketing ignominy of being asked to follow on in the second Test, with India finishing at 182 for eight wickets.

Quite simply, it was a day when fast bowling made a big impact through India's Javagal Srinath (six for 76) and South Africa's Shaun Pollock, under a harsh sun on the second day of the Castle Lager/MTN Test series at the St. George's Park. The bowling powers of both the teams came into sharp focus when the leading fast bowlers of both the sides were in action, but a sweeping blow-by-blow impact was felt in the afternoon session when the home team's captain, Pollock, cut India to size with a three- wicket burst in his first spell before the strokeful half century from Laxman and almost a tail-end partnership of an unbroken 63 runs (Anil Kumble was Laxman's ally), giving their team some breathing time. Pollock, fresh from his first ten-wicket haul in Test cricket on a helpful Goodyear Park pitch in Bloemfontein, might have gone to the extent of intimidating the home umpire Ian Howell and win an appeal for leg before against Shiv Sundar Das, but it was clear that he was in no mood to let the course of the Test ease from his stranglehold. By the eleventh over in which Pollock's first spell of six overs had not been completed, the Indian first innings lay open to a very perilous path ahead at 15 for three wickets.

The traditionalists and lawmakers of the game may not have endorsed Pollock's persistent, nay, vehement, appeal he sustained until Howell thought it was time to raise his finger to adjudicate against the batsman, Das. Pollock is the captain of national team and the ICC's new laws of game, especially its preamble, has specified larger responsibility on the captains like maintaining the spirit of the game.

Pollock was the only man still appealing when Howell gave the marching orders to a very reluctant Das who appeared to have got over the early blues in little over a quarter of an hour. He had a new opening partner in Deep Dasgupta, his fifth since he made his debut one year ago. The Das-Dasgupta was also the 12th in 23 months, but the new opener lasted longer than that was anticipated. Having opened the innings for Bengal on odd occasions in the Ranji Trophy, Dasgupta was not new to facing the new ball, though, the likes of Pollock and Mornantau Hayward were altogether a different cup of tea. The damage caused to the Indian innings by Pollock literally took the sheen away from Srinath whose long bowling stint, separated by six spells on Friday and Saturday, did not come to end before he had knocked back the middle stump of Hayward in the last ball of his 30th over. It was fitting finish to a big-hearted bowling from India's premier new ball bowler, the returns for which was a fourth six- wicket collection.

By contrast, Pollock's blows had the desired result of putting the Indians on the mat straightaway. The South African captain could not hide his joy after he saw Rahul Dravid falling a victim, through the `gate'. Indeed, things have not been going the right way for Dravid, who is one of the handful of Indian batsmen who has scored runs on foreign soil and has impressed critics, but perhaps has allowed himself to be overcome by stress and nerves on this tour. He was back at the No. 3 spot after failing in the first Test as an opener, but Pollock still outwitted him for the third time in the ongoing Test series. Twice he has been snapped in the cordon and once in the most direct manner.

Reckless shot

Then, Tendulkar would regard it as one of the reckless shots he has played in the early part of his innings in a Test match. He might have got away many times in the past, pulling a short ball from outside the off-stump. He did not succeed against Pollock; the bat made a big sound, but the first attacking shot he essayed off Pollock, lacked the direction and power. Tendulkar's dismissal must be put down not only as tame with Lance Klusener not having to move an inch from the position at mid-on, but also a wicket, gifted.

The Indian captain strode to the wicket and made shots as of the score was 250 for three. His first boundary, a thick edge, flew wide to third man, but the next four boundary shots he struck off a single over from Kallis, travelled to parts of the fence he intended to. He appeared to be determined to take the fight into the South African camp, but Pollock returned for his second spell, struck him under the `box' and in the same over bowled him hook, line and sinker.

Quite obvious was that the nerves of the Indian batsmen had cracked. Venkatsai Laxman looked in good touch, and was easily the pick of the Indian batsmen, driving in front of the wicket. His off drive off Makhaya Ntini was a real sizzler, but then it was another day when the Indian batsmen fell like a pack of cards. As coach John Wright said the other day: ``They (the Indian batsmen) look good when they play their shots''. Sehwag perished steering Kallis to Kirsten at gully and Agarkar appeared pathetic, his contribution in two days being just the wicket of Dippenaar.

Earlier, the South African first innings progressed, guided by the steady hands of Gibbs and aggression of Mark Boucher. Gibbs added 41 runs to his overnight 155 before Tendulkar's inviting medium-pace did the trick. This was another instance when Gibbs showed he can play the second fiddle when required. On Saturday morning he allowed Boucher to dominate the 80-run stand for the seventh wicket. When Sehwag held him at gully, he had batted for seven hours and more. Boucher survived a strong leg before appeal when he was on 14 in a South African score of 266 for six and thereafter Dravid dropped a top-edged shot off Harbhajan Singh's first over of the morning.

Boucher prospered thereafter executing a few brilliant shots on either side of the pitch. The fall of the ninth wicket in Ntini made him even bolder. He smashed a four and six off Srinath, before the Indian fast bowler hit the top of the middle stump of Hayward to bring an end to the South African innings.

Eleven wickets in two matches - he took five in the first innings in Blomfontein - has only revealed that Srinath has still a lot in him to offer for India in Test match cricket. He should be preserved. And there was another event too that surprised many; Russell Tiffin actually ruled a batsman (Nicky Boje) leg before!

Scoreboard

SOUTH AFRICA - 1st innings

H. Gibbs c Sehwag b Tendulkar     196
(442m, 353b, 25x4, 1x6)
G. Kirsten c Laxman b Srinath       4
(27m, 16b, 1x4)
J. Kallis b Srinath                24
(87m, 70b, 2x4)
N. McKenzie b Harbhajan            12
(35m, 28b)
B. Dippenaar c Dasgupta b Agarkar  29
(169m, 138b, 4x4)
L. Klusener c Laxman b Srinath      9
(15m, 13b, 2x4)
S. Pollock c Harbhajan b Srinath    3
(31m, 19b)
M. Boucher (not out)               68
(108m, 70b, 9x4, 1x6)
N. Boje lbw b Kumble                1
(3m, 2b)
M. Ntini c Das b Srinath           10
(21m, 14b, 2x4)
M. Hayward b Srinath                0
(10m, 6b)
Extras (lb-2, nb-4)                 6
                                   ---
Total (in 121 overs)               362
                                   ---
Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Kirsten); 2-87 (Kallis); 3-116 (McKenzie); 
4-221  (Dippenaar);  5-230  (Klusener);  6-244  (Pollock);  7-324 
(Gibbs); 8-325 (Boje); 9-353 (Ntini). 


India  bowling:  Srinath  30-6-76-6;  Agarkar  22-2-85-1   (1nb); 
Ganguly  2-0-21-0 (2nb); Kumble 29-10-67-1; Harbhajan  34-6-89-1, 
Tendulkar 4-0-22-1.

INDIA - 1st innings

S. S. Das lbw b Pollock             1
(16m, 11b)
D. Dasgupta b Ntini                13
(79m, 60b)
R. Dravid b Pollock                 2
(15m, 11b)
S. Tendulkar c Klusener b Pollock   1
(10m, 4b)
S. Ganguly b Pollock               42
(69m, 46b, 7x4)
V.V.S. Laxman (batting)            77
(164m, 102b, 9x4)
V. Sehwag c Kirsten b Kallis       13
(42m, 29b, 3x4)
A. Agarkar c Boucher b Kallis       1
(8m, 6b)
Harbhajan Singh run out (Boucher)   0
(2m, 2b)
A. Kumble (batting)                21
(74m, 63b, 3x4)
Extras (lb-3, nb-6, w-2)           11
                                  ---
Total (in 54.3 overs for 8 wkts)  182
                                  ---
Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Das), 2-13 (Dravid), 3-15 (Tendulkar), 4-47 
(Dasgupta),  5-69 (Ganguly), 6-111 (Sehwag), 7-119 (Agarkar),  8-
119 (Harbhajan)

South Africa Bowling: Pollock 15-3-38-4 (nb5), Hayward  13-4-35-0 
,  Ntini 14-3-49-1, Kallis 10-2-50-2 (nb1, w2),  Boje  1.3-0-1-0, 
Klusener 1-0-6-0

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