The Hindu : This West Indian side has miles to travel

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 21, 2002

Sport

Sport - Cricket

This West Indian side has miles to travel

The Indians, expectedly, won the series in Chennai. The side has been performing well as a unit.

This has been a West Indian team that has fallen grossly short of expectations. The inability of the batsmen to carry on to a big score has hurt the side. In the first two Tests, only three half-centuries have been made by the West Indians, and two of them came in the second innings at the Chepauk.

This goes to show that the West Indian batsmen are not applying themselves, an absolute must when a side is playing away from home, especially in the sub-continent. There were some spanking shots, but the end result must have been very disappointing from the Caribbeans' point of view.

The West Indians have a lot of scope for improvement in fielding and no side can afford to put down so many catches and still hope to win at the international level. This West Indian side has miles to travel.

Zaheer Khan bowled well on Sunday, and he has been an extremely consistent performer for India over the past several months. He has indeed become vital in the Indians' scheme of things.

Harbhajan Singh was among the wickets again in the second innings, but this was only to be expected. He is too good a spinner to miss out against the West Indians. He bowled much better on the fourth day, achieving a lot of spin.

This Test was well conducted by the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, that has made a name for itself when it comes to staging matches. Having played cricket for India, I can tell you, the arrangements are far better here than at some of the other centres.

With the series already won, the selectors could have utilised the chance to blood promising youngsters like L. Balaji and Gautam Gambhir in the final Test in Kolkata. Yuveraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif, two of the most exciting young cricketers in the ODIs, have it in them to excel in Tests also, and they should be given a break at some stage.

The third Test could have been used to build a team for the future. This would have kept the young Indians better prepared for the stiffer challenges.

by K.SRIKKANTH

www.krishsrikkanth.com

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