The Hindu : The punching bag no more

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 14, 2002

Sport

Sport - Cricket

The punching bag no more
By Stan Rayan

KOCHI, MARCH 13. Despite pulling off a sensational coup, the smiling assassin made it look all so simple.

``I just kept things simple. I bowled a good line and length. Kept it as straight as I could. There's always something if you keep your line and length,'' said Douglas Hondo, the hero of Zimbabwe's comfortable six-wicket victory over India here on Wednesday.

For long, the team had revolved around Andy Flower. This time without the star bat, Zimbabwe suddenly appeared soft. A nice punching bag.

``But we all sat together last night and talked about each one contributing a lot better,'' said the visiting captain, Stuart Carlisle.

``In fact, we had separate sessions for batting and bowling. We asked the bowlers to keep things simple, to just bowl at the off-stump. And it worked,'' said Carlisle. ``We're happy, it's been a good day for us. And Hondo deserves the man of the match award.''

Did India wilt under pressure ?

``Any side, or you can most teams, tend to fumble under pressure. And when we had India at 55 for four, we felt we were going to have luck our way. And it was good to get the opposing captain: it puts the opponent under pressure,'' said Carlisle.

Wilting under pressure. The familiar refrain. Why is it that we always have problem handling pressure ?

``Pressure is a part of playing at this level. I thought today's performance was unacceptable. We must be able to handle pressure,'' said the Indian coach, John Wright.

``I think it's a great opportunity for a player to play well under pressure and make a name for himself. Kaif had a wonderful opportunity today, but he blew it. I may be sounding a bit unfair here, but the youngster could have made a big total,'' said a distraught Wright.

Well then, what's the remedy for this pressure problem ?

``These things cannot be changed overnight. When you get in, you have to keep to a plan. We had a plan to keep wickets in hand till the last ten overs. But we blew it.

``People have to understand that they all have expected roles and that they should do them to get the job done,'' said Wright.

Yes, we played badly, agreed the Indian captain, Sourav Ganguly. ``There was nothing in the wicket, we have scored 300 in the last two matches here. Probably, it was a little slow today. But the fact is, we batted badly. The total was not enough, we lost too many early wickets,'' he said.

Injured players, injured pride. The problems continue...

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