The Hindu : A sorry display

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 17, 2003

Sport

Sport - World Cup

A sorry display

The failure of the Indian batsmen continues to be shocking. India's capitulation against Australia revealed a complete absence of planning, that is so essential when you compete in an event as significant as the World Cup.

There was nothing wrong with the pitch at the Centurion Park, and it was a good toss to win. There were runs to be made on the surface, had only the Indians applied themselves. That just did not happen.

Sachin Tendulkar certainly showed the way, with the right approach and attitude, and he did take the fight to the Aussie camp early on with some spanking shots off Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee.

However, the loss of wickets at regular intervals from the other end, apart from the fact that the other Indians got bogged down, unable to keep the scoreboard moving, did not allow Tendulkar to settle into a rhythm.

He hardly got enough batting and it is here that men like Rahul Dravid would have to keep picking the ones and twos and not get bogged down. One could see that Tendulkar was getting frustrated at the other end.

The Australian bowling was all right, but the pacemen were helped in their cause due to some atrocious strokeplay by the Indians. The shot-selection was indeed awful and skipper Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag were dismissed chasing wide deliveries outside the off-stump.

It is hard to understand why Ganguly is insisting on opening the innings when he is so hopelessly out of form. He is only putting more pressure on himself this way. And Sehwag, who notched up two hundreds as an attacking opener in New Zealand, where most batsmen failed, is being forced to bat at No. 3. Sehwag has to open with Tendulkar.

In the middle order, Mohammed Kaif is finding runs extremely difficult to come by and under the circumstances he should have striven to stay at the wicket and rediscover his touch instead of attempting a fatal pull.

In fact, there were hardly any partnerships in the Indian innings, and unless useful stands, that are essential in any form of the game, are built, then the team is not going to get anywhere.

The team management has to come up with a definite batting plan. At the moment the side is not even lasting 50 overs, and unless the batsmen apply themselves and have a clear idea of their objective and that of the side, the Indians might struggle in the coming matches too.

In the Australian bowling Jason Gillespie was outstanding and he does have so many variations. He is up there with the best pacemen in world cricket.

After the bowlers finished off India's challenge, the explosive Aussie opening pair of Adam Gilchrist and Mathew Hayden launched into the bowling. India's batting collapse had made their job so much more easy. The Indians had only themselves to blame for a sorry display.

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