The Hindu : India battling to delay the inevitable

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Monday, May 06, 2002

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Sport - Cricket

India battling to delay the inevitable

By Vijay Lokapally

BRIDGETOWN MAY 5 . Any introspection, here or back home, will lead to just one striking factor responsible for the impending defeat in the third Test at the Kensington Oval here _ the inability to deal with the ball once it threatens to rise above the knee.

That is one area where the Indian batsmen come off a very different bunch from those prolific sequences of big individual scores in favourable conditions. Harsh but true.

The Indian batting line-up looks a different proposition when confronted with bounce and pace.The meek performance here shall remain a sore point of this tour.

Barring a token resistance from skipper Sourav Ganguly, the Indian batsmen came a cropper against an inspired West Indian attack, which adopted a very disciplined strategy to snare the opposition and leave it struggling at 286 for eight at lunch on the fourth day, still six runs short of making the home team bat again.

The course of the match was influenced on the opening day when the famed Indian batting crashed on a slightly bouncy track. The ball did seam a little too.

But there was no improvement in the second innings even after Carl Hooper and Shivnarine Chanderpaul had batted so comfortably on the same track.

Resuming at 169 for four, India was expected to resist through the pair of Ganguly and V. V. S. Laxman.

The bowlers stuck to a tidy line, much to the discomfort of Laxman, who remained unconvincing all through his stay. It was thus hardly surprising when he played a clumsy drive to end his misery.

Ajay Ratra and Harbhajan Singh proved unequal to the challenge and must have been relieved to seek the comforts of the dressing room. The West Indians did not ease their pressure at any point and played like a team, its collective power making the Indians look like novices for the third day.

Even as the bowlers did well to claim the last five West Indies wickets for just 18 runs, the batsmen again failed to apply themselves and the third day ended with India in a miserable state.

With a deficit of 292 runs, the Indian camp ought to have improved its attitude in the second innings but then no lessons were learnt.

There was a refreshing opening stand between Wasim Jaffer and Shiv Sundar Das but the Indians lost their focus when the Mumbai batsman ran himself out and the West Indies squeezed through the narrow opening it earned through the splendid work of Shivanarine Chanderpaul.

Jaffer had looked the most comfortable batsman against the pace and bounce but then his run out shifted the balance of the game towards the West Indies.

His presence in the middle would have been ideal for a team wanting to stage a comeback . "I was blocked by the bowler and didnt realise that the ball was not played in the gap", said Jaffer, reflecting on his dismissal.

It was a hard task for India but the will to extend the fight was missing. For a while, when the openers were on the job, the team promised to give the West Indians a run for their money but then regular strikes by the bowlers left the Indians in a sorry state by the end of the day.

Das had looked far more composed but then he found runs hard to come by. His overcautious approach did not affect Jaffer who continued to play his shots but Das could not emerge from the defensive shell.

He would do well to adopt a positive approach, the same which fetched him runs against Zimbabwe at home and away.

It took a splendid reflex catch by Ramnaresh Sarwan to get rid of the defensive Das. The batsman flicked hard and the ball stuck as Sarwan clung on at forward short leg.

Later, Sarwan was to give Laxman and Ganguly each a reprieve even before they had made any run. But getting rid of Das provided the breakthrough at the right time for the West Indies.

The wicket of Das brought the Indians under pressure because he had looked capable of blocking one end. Rahul Dravid appeared as confident as ever and did raise hopes of a long innings.

With Tendulkar in a mood to defy, Dravid found a partner who suited his approach. Their constant interaction in the middle helped assess the situation well.

Batting was not a tough task since the pitch had eased out to some extent but discipline had to be the order.

The West Indian bowlers may not have enjoyed the same assistance from the pitch as they did on the first day but they attacked within their limitations.

A tight line and length was the simple tactic the bowlers had marked for themselves and the Indians fell into the trap.

Dravid shall rue his desire to play the drive — shockingly away from the body— because his dismissal was a blow to the team's hopes.

It was a shot unbecoming of Dravid and it was obvious the pressure of the huge first innings deficit had weighed on the mind of the Indian batsmen. Dravid is not known to lose his composure in such situations but this was a different day.

Tendulkar may not have been pleased with the leg-before verdict but he had hardly looked the master batsman in this Test.

He was tentative again as he struggled to meet the ball with the meat of his bat but the West Indians had decided not to allow Tendulkar many scoring opportunities.

He is a batsman who likes to get his bat to the ball as much as possible and it was one intense battle between him and the bowlers which the former lost.

Dravid's departure did influence Tendulkar who was unable to decide the course he ought to adopt. His dismissal suggested a sense of despair as he showed no footwork in dealing with one that seamed a little and hit him on the roll.

The point of contact convinced the Indian camp that the umpire, Asoka de Silva, may have erred in his judgement. Tendulkar distinctly looked unhappy but then the umpire was clearly in the best position to judge the course of the ball. It was a blow from which India only slid rapidly towards defeat.

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