Still undecided on openers

By G. Viswanath

PORT ELIZABETH, NOV. 13. The first hints of who would open the Indian innings along with Shiv Sundar Das in the second Castle Lager/MTN Test scheduled to start at the St. George's Park from Friday were made known on Tuesday afternoon. In an open net session simulated to a match like situation, Venkatsai Laxman went out with Das, who made a half century in the second innings of the first Test which India lost by nine wickets.

After Laxman had finished his session on a seemingly sluggish wicket on which the ball moved from the damp, coach John Wright was seen in an animated discussion with the stylish batsman from Hyderabad.

They could have been talking about technique and such other things related to facing the new ball. Or maybe Wright was trying to impress upon Laxman-not totally unfamiliar to the job-the urgency of the situation and the need for him to meet the team's requirement.

But after three and-a-half hours of practice at one of the best equipped practice facility in South Africa, Wright said nothing had crystallised so far about who should open the innings, when asked, ``Will there be a new pair of openers for the second Test?''

Before Laxman and Das went out as a pair in whites with the wicketkeeper and slip cordon in position and a pair of fast bowlers-Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan-raring to go, Wright and Ganguly were seen talking to specialist opener Connor Williams.

Evidently, the Baroda opener does not fit into the scheme of things for the second Test. He has been told politely about it. Ganguly became the third person to join the conversation between Wright and Laxman, who like Rahul Dravid, must have expressed genuine reservations about his readiness to open the innings, especially after his spectacular innings of 281 against Australia at the Eden Gardens and his moderate success thereafter at No. 3 position.

Wright was not forthcoming about what exactly had transpired between him and Laxman, who scored a blazing 167 in Sydney as an opener. He has a few more half centuries to his credit in that position. But he must be quite reluctant to be pushed into a situation of facing Shaun Pollock and Mornantau Hayward, who can only get better at his home ground after his recall following the non availability of Allan Donald and Mfuneko Ngam.

India, down 0-1 in the series, cannot be bogged down in a situation of sixes and sevens until the morning of Friday to decide its eleven. Dravid was targeted for the first Test because, as Wright once again highlighted on Tuesday afternoon, that it was all due to the abandonment of the match in Chatsworth.

Laxman made his debut against South Africa in the famous Motera Test of the 1996 series. His position did not change in the West Indies and thereafter against Australia in 1998.

But since the home series against Zimbabwe last winter, Laxman has been considered only as a middle order batsman. The back injury to Sadagopan Ramesh has once again brought to the fore the lack of quality openers. Though the first move was made at the open net session, Wright said: ``It's between Laxman, Dravid or even Deep Dasgupta. We were short on match practice. We have to put a lot of things together and this was one way of practising. The players were in whites to get a feel of playing a match.'' said Wright.

Four pairs plus Zaheer Khan were given an opportunity to bat before the Eastern Transval team appeared at the St. George's Park. The pairs were Das and Laxman, Dravid and Tendulkar, and Ganguly and Virendra Sehwag.

Another piece of information that Wright revealed without elaborating the batting order was: ``We got the batters around to bat, but not necessarily in that order for the Test match. We will be training and practising at the St. George's School ground tomorrow (Wednesday) morning.''

The tour selectors have two more days to decide on the composition of the team. The six batsmen on view in the open net session are certainties, with Sehwag batting at No. 6.

Another important happening was Ganguly taking part in the full training and practice session. He batted and even bowled, which said a lot about the recovery he has made after being hit on the side of the right knee by a Hayward delivery in the second innings of the first Test. It is more or less certain that offspinner Harbhajan Singh will figure in the Indian bowling. He will be the second spinner. The tour selectors will be tempted to play Ajit Agarkar, but Wright said: ``Khan bowled well in the open net. He looked good as much as Venkatesh Prasad, who has the experience. The pitch is not hard at all. I think in PE it's not the pitch that plays a crucial part, it's the wind. It (the pitch) looks soft.''

The team's think tank will be having brainstorming sessions before the start of the Test match here on Friday. They will have to contemplate hard on a consequential aspect of the game. And this revolves around Dravid, Laxman and Dasgupta, and perhaps even skipper Ganguly, who fell to short deliveries in the first Test.

But Ganguly putting his hand up can happen only in the event of Wright failing to convince Dravid or Laxman. Dasgupta has no choice. An important thing is that the pair the tour selectors name for the second Test must do the job in the third and final Test at `The Centurion'. The decision they arrive at should not be a stop-gap or temporary event.

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