The Hindu : Can India get its act together?

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Saturday, Mar 16, 2002

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Sport - Cricket

Can India get its act together?
By Sanjay Rajan

PLOTTING THE COURSE: India coach John Wright (left) and skipper Sourav Ganguly seem to have a lot of planning to do ahead of the fourth one-dayer against Zimbabwe in Hyderabad. - Photo: K. Ramesh Babu

HYDERABAD, MARCH 15. At this moment of crisis, with Zimbabwe leading the series 2-1, it will be interesting to see if Sourav Ganguly and his boys can reach out beyond their abilities and find perfection.

There are two classes of sportsmen: those who are tough and those who think they are. The fourth one-dayer (day/night) of the five-match Pepsi Cup competition at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium here on Saturday, could well tell us as to which category the Indian team belongs.

India presently does not have a settled batting order in the shorter version of the game owing to a variety of reasons, ranging from injury to form. But it is the captain's inconsistency with the bat that has contributed to it more than anything else.

Ganguly should not entertain any ideas of dropping down the order. His best shots being the lofted strokes and the ones he plays square of the wicket on the off-side, he should stick to opening the innings and capitalise on the field restrictions in the first 15 overs.

The most unconvincing Indian batsman - be it in Test cricket or limited-overs - is Rahul Dravid. While Dravid, without doubt, is a quality player, he sometimes gives the impression that he is better off playing second fiddle, assuming that to be his duty towards the side. The fact of the matter is that neither the coach nor the captain has apportioned specific roles to each player.

It is well known that batting thrives on partnerships. The very word partnership presumes a mutual understanding of skills, and even inadequacies.

But then, how many times do we hear in today's cricket of a left-hand batsman telling his right-hand partner that he'll take on the left-arm bowler who is operating from over the wicket?

Here, one must also go back to that extraordinary match of the series - the opener at Faridabad, where in the last nine overs the asking rate for Zimbabwe was near nine per over.

Every cricketer is guided by a measure of instinct and the captain has to be blessed with more of this. When 32 runs were given away in two overs by Zaheer Khan and the target was alarmingly narrowed, one might have to ask why there were no instructions forthcoming from the coach John Wright, who has all along maintained that it is the captain's business on the field.

Yet, sometimes, two heads are better than one. And the person outside could probably be in a better position to be objective. Bringing on a non-regular bowler of slow pace, who has not been video-studied, might well have done the trick. Even the innovative Doug Marillier, with his `shovel' shot, might have suddenly discovered that there is no pace to `shovel'.

In fact, had the non-regular bowlers come on, Marillier might have been forced to switch tactics and try and hit straight. And in doing so might have even left the crease.

True, this kind of an innings is played once in a life time. And one can now expect normal limited-overs cricket - that is, as normal as it can be.

Dravid may keep wickets

Speaking to the press on the eve of the match, Ganguly said Dravid might keep wickets so that the side could accommodate an extra all-rounder. In all likeliness, Yuveraj Singh and left-arm spinner Murali Kartik will play. It will be Kartik's debut in limited-overs internationals. V.V.S. Laxman, 30 Tests and 35 one-day matches old, will be playing in his maiden international match at home.

The good news for Zimbabwe is that Andy Flower has recovered from his hip muscle strain. Skipper Stuart Carlisle said, ``Andy looks fit, though the final decision will be made before the game. The wicket looks good to me. There sure will be an advantage for the side batting first.''

The general notion is that chasing under the lights, especially a target in excess of five an over, is fraught with difficulty. The weather in the city of the Charminar is always dry and the dew factor may just be negligible. Batting under the lights does pose the odd problem. But then, so does bowling under the lights, as the ball gets wet.

Basically, in this format of the game the intention should be to bat the opposition out of contention. And, for this, India has to settle on a balanced batting order. More matches are lost by poor batting than poor bowling in limited-overs cricket.

Zimbabwe has psyched itself into believing that it can triumph in the one-day series. The confidence which the team seems to have gained after the second Test in Delhi has nothing to do with this.

The confidence grew that evening at Grace Road, Leicester, during the last World Cup, when India showed Zimbabwe that it has the unique capacity to lose a match from a winning position.

Now Zimbabwe, even when the chips are down, first offer their prayers and then each other odds as to when India would capitulate.

The teams (from):

India: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Dinesh Mongia, V.V.S. Laxman, Rahul Dravid (vice-captain), Mohammed Kaif, Sanjay Bangar, Ajay Ratra (wk), Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Tinu Yohannan, Yuveraj Singh, Murali Kartik and Vijay Bharadwaj. Coach: John Wright.

Zimbabwe: Stuart Carlisle (captain), Alistair Campbell, Dion Ebrahim, Travis Friend, Andy Flower, Grant Flower, Craig Wishart, Douglas Marillier, Heath Streak, Tatenda Taibu, Gary Brent, Douglas Hondo, Mpumelelo Mbangwa and Charles Coventry. Coach: Geoff Marsh.

Umpires: Messrs Hariharan & Satish Mahal. Third umpire: Mr. S.C. Gupta. Reserve umpire: Mr. Raghavan. Match referee: Mr. John Reid.

Hours of play: 2.30 p.m. to 6 p.m.; 6.45 p.m. onwards.

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