It's the same old story

By Vijay Lokapally

HARARE, JUNE 19. The post-match analysis of a Test defeat overseas has begun. Poor batting, lack of openers, seaming pitch, crucial wicket...One has heard them so often, only the coach this time is different. The captain too is different.

Indian cricket never ceases to throw up shocks and surprises even though this defeat at the hands of Zimbabwe in the second Test here should rank as one of the lowest moments in its history.

Even as John Wright accepted the fact that the Indians were outplayed by a far more motivated and disciplined team, there was a suspicion that this team would take much more time to make winning a habit when playing overseas.

The coach made no attempts to shield any player and neither did he run away from the responsibilities, sharing the blame and promising an improvement as the season unfolds. For a change, Sourav Ganguly too was willing to accept responsibility by saying that he lost the game for his team by not staying in the middle.

The seaming ball continues to be a threat to the famed Indian batsmen and Wright drove home the point when he said ``there are certain shots which become more difficult to play in conditions such as here than perhaps in India. We've to adjust when the ball does move around. That's what stands out to me in my first overseas tour with this team. You got to occupy the crease a little more here and reign in some of the attacking instincts. For instance hitting on the up when the ball is swinging and seaming away from you is a lot more difficult in these conditions.'' Well, Wright did not name anyone specifically but he possibly he was talking of the shot that Sachin Tendulkar played - square-driving a wide half-volley.

In the same context, Wright asserted ``your shot selection has to be much more accurate and probably a little bit judicious. You've to go there and know where the off-stump is. You cant keep playing 50-50 attacking shots because you'll get the edges. In New Zealand conditions or English conditions, for instance, the ball seams around and you can't go often and play any shot you feel like. Good discipline, ability to graft and playing out sessions becomes all the more important. If we've to perform better we've got to produce a minimum 300 runs on wickets that seam.''

The coach also took the responsibility for changing the batting order, pushing Sameer Dighe as opener in place of Hemang Badani. ``It was a tough call. I think in retrospect Hemang wasn't particularly comfortable and I take responsibility for that (asking Badani to open). I think it was a bit too much to ask. I thought Dighe would do a good job. We had to find someone to play that role. To be honest, we wanted someone to stay with Hemang today when he was batting pretty well. The problem is when you go with only two specialist openers you've to find someone to do the job when one of them gets injured.''

Even as he slammed the batsmen, Wright did not spare the bowlers. ``We bowled too short and have to learn to commit batsmen on the front foot and bowl on the off-stump line. If we've to make use of our seam attack, which has definite promise and the ability to deliver, we've to make sure that we bowl further up and bowl more or less off-stump line. At the worst just outside.''

The Zimbabwean bowlers earned their praise from Wright as he congratulated the home team for the victory. ``I think they gave a very good exhibition of bowling this morning with the new ball and attacked the stumps. Yesterday they did the opposite by bowling way outside the off-stump to our best players and frustrated them. Generally their line was good. Their attack was good enough to dismiss the Indian batting line up which on paper looks very strong. I see no reason why our bowlers can't do the same. We've to start working in the `nets' to make the batsmen commit defensively on the front foot. Having said that I must say the bowlers did a great job.''

Ganguly had a different opinion of the attack when he observed ``it's not the best attack in the world but let me assure we didn't take them lightly. We just played very poor cricket and have to blame ourselves.''

Among the few gains on this tour were Shiv Sundar Das and Ashish Nehra. Wright acknowledged their contributions heartily ``Das looks a very good player. On his first overseas tour, he's come off as a quality opener and looked capable of carrying the team with him. I'm very encouraged by the performance of Nehra. He has done brilliantly on this tour. He seems to move the ball and the boy has natural talent and we've to work hard and use the resources we have.

Ganguly agreed with his coach. ``Das was the find of the tour and a batsman to watch and pursue in the times to come. Nehra was fantastic right through. He was our main bowler. Harbhajan bowled well on the flat pitches, didn't give many runs and kept one end tight.''

The defeat was a setback to Wright's plans and he was obviously dejected. ``We missed an opportunity here and I'm very disappointed for the fans in India because I believe they enjoyed our first victory and I felt that if we played well we could've secured another victory.''

On the issue of favouring Ajit Agarkar over the hard- working Zaheer Khan in this Test, Wright said that the left-arm seamer was distinctly unlucky to miss it because there was a worry of bowlers treading on the danger area. ``Zaheer is a very good prospect but we certainly wanted to play Nehra. Zaheer's probably unlucky to have missed the Test. Ajit has a lot of talent and it's just a matter of bowling in the right place.''

But Wright refused to discuss players individually. ``I don't want to get into the player issues. I would like to look at their positive side and certainly we haven't lost the match because of that. We always make the best decisions for the team. When we could get six wickets when the Zimbabweans had only 150-odd to chase, another 100 runs would've made a big difference.''

Was there a need to change the winning line up, especially the bowling attack? Wright was candid ``we felt so at the time but it hasn't proved correct.''

Wright dismissed suggestions that the team had not fared well in limited overs cricket in recent months as he looked ahead on the triangular series.``I'm not sure whether we haven't had a great run. Although we didn't win the series against Australia, we competed pretty well against them and we beat Zimbabwe 4-1 last year. It's a great opportunity now and if we've to play to our potential we'll be very formidable. If we go out and do well the results will follow.''

Going back on the subject of openers, Wright disagreed that Rahul Dravid ought to assume the role. ``Rahul averages 57 in Tests. He's opened a couple of times and he hasn't done that brilliantly. The figures would suggest it. I certainly feel we need to be looking at Rahul as five or six. I don't think we have to find someone who wants to open the batting. I think its a short-term and not a long-term interest of the team for Dravid to open.''

Ganguly struggled to make his points and was hardly audible as he accepted the blame for the defeat. ``I didn't think we lost because we lacked the spirit to fight. The way the side fought to defend 157 was heartening. Its just that we lost the game in the first hour in the morning. We just can't lose six or seven wickets for 37 runs and expect to win a Test match. We still put up a very good show and if we had 220 or so it would have been a different ball game. The blame goes to all of us this morning. Its poor batting right from me to number eleven.

The Indian skipper confessed the team had a game plan and the most important factor was for him to tackle the new ball. ``The blame must go to me. You cant expect the tail-enders to play the new ball.''

The team now prepares itself for the triangular series. A day off on Tuesday will be followed by `nets' on Wednesday with four men joining the squad - Virender Sehwag, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Harvinder Singh and Dinesh Mongia.

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