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Kumble gives himself a birthday present
By S. Dinakar
Anil Kumble, who celebrated his 32nd birthday today, being congratulated by Saurav Ganguly after he claimed the wicket of Mervyn Dillon on the first day of the second cricket Test match in Chennai on Thursday. Kumble ended up with a five-wicket haul. — Photo: N. Sridharan
Scene I: The Indians have obviously done their homework. Carl Hooper, with a tendency to open up while driving on the off-side, slices a Zaheer Khan slower one. Skipper Sourav Ganguly, waiting for the miscued stroke at short cover, flings himself to his left to come up with the ball and it's celebration time for the Indians. The West Indian skipper had appeared in ominous touch during his 35, but it was his Indian counterpart who was smiling in the end. A body blow to the West Indian hopes minutes before tea.
Scene II: Anil Kumble living up to his sobriquet `Jumbo', gets the ball to jump viciously from the Wallahjah Road end, catches the outside edge of the dogged Shivnarine Chanderpaul's blade and diminutive 'keeper Parthiv Patel, gobbles up an outstanding catch. The left-hander makes his way back for 27, 39 minutes after tea, and the Indians are cock-a-hoop.
The dismissals of Hooper and Chanderpaul, that opened the sluice gates, were the defining moments of day one in the second Exide Test at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium here on Thursday.
It was a day when senior leg-spinner Anil Kumble supported by ace off-spinner Harbhajan Singh made inroads into the West Indian line-up, which cast away the advantage of winning what should have been a crucial toss and was bundled out for 167.
Kumble, with a destructive post-tea spell — 8.3-2-10-4 — extracted bounce from the newly-laid Chepauk pitch. He gave little away and strangled the batsmen to finish with five for 30. It was a wonderful moment for the birthday boy who turned 32 as he led the side off the field; he now has the most Test wickets in India, surpassing Kapil Dev's mark.
Harbhajan Singh's final spell of two for 26 in 13 probing overs ensured that the pressure was maintained from both ends. The West Indies hopelessly lost its way after tea with six batsmen departing for 49 runs in 23.3 overs.
And when stumps were drawn the Indians, requiring to bat out eight overs, had got to 31 without loss. Virender Sehwag was on a delightful 24 and Sanjay Bangar had six.
In the last phase of the day's play Sehwag brought the crowd to its feet. He struck three boundaries in one Pedro Collins over — a square-drive, a flick and a cover-drive. India has seized control of the second Test and from here on the West Indians have a mountain to climb.
Baffling approach
The West Indian approach was baffling. After the Mumbai debacle there was an urgent need for the batsmen to apply themselves. However, going on a totally defensive mode, at the cost of their stroke-making ability, was hardly the answer. It had to be a blend of attack and defence, instead the Caribbeans allowed the bowlers to get on top.
The West Indians inched to 45 for one at lunch, and the score was only 118 for four at tea - it was a one-way ticket to disaster.
Even a casual glance at the Caribbean innings would reveal it was lacking in key elements. The highest partnership was 55 in 13 overs for the fourth wicket, between Chanderpaul and Hooper. In Tests the above figure is grossly inadequate.
And almost all the frontline batsmen got a start - Chris Gayle (23), Wavell Hinds (18), Ramnaresh Sarwan (19), Chanderpaul (27), Hooper (35) and Ryan Hinds (16) - but failed to consolidate. This again is a sacrilege in any form of cricket, more so in Tests.
The approach may have been cautious, however, the shot selection was awful. Left-hander Gayle perished heaving against the turn at Harbhajan, the leading edge being gobbled up by Tendulkar at point. Ramnaresh Sarwan left a huge gap between bat and pad for a Javagal Srinath off-cutter to rearrange his stumps quite drastically. And these two are among the brighter batting prospects in the Caribbean. Hooper too allowed himself to be drawn into the trap, when he could have closed shop till tea.
Despite the West Indians' shortcomings Kumble still deserves his share of credit. He has been under a fair amount of criticism in recent times, and this was one more occasion when he silenced the doubters.
"I was never under any pressure. Having played cricket at this level for so many years, I know you have to take things as they come. My job is to go out there and get wickets. I am not there to answer the critics. I feel I can still go out there and deliver with the ball. I will keep playing as long as I feel I can do this. When I can't do it anymore, I will let the people know,'' said Kumble later.
This was a day when he got his googly going, and the fizz, so vital in his bowling, was there for all to see, with the pitch too helping his cause after tea.
Kumble tasted blood when he won a leg-before decision against southpaw Wavell Hinds, the batsman, expecting the delivery to turn away from him, making no attempt to play, and the ball straightening to flick the front pad. The other Hinds in the line-up, Ryan was done in by a delivery that went straight on.
And late in the innings, Kumble sent Mervyn Dillon packing with a full-length delivery and soon registered his 20th five-wicket Test haul when debutant Jermaine Lawson spooned a catch to Ganguly at mid-wicket.
Spunky wicket-keeper batsman Ridley Jacobs and new boy Gareth Breese were held at shot-leg off Harbhajan, and the fact that the former is a southpaw indicates Harbhajan's ability to shift his line with ease. Earlier, Breese may have been lucky to survive a bat-pad shout off the Sardar.
There was not much in the surface for the pacemen. Yet Srinath bent his back to produce a testing post lunch spell from the pavilion end. A burst when he made most deliveries count, demanding a reply from the batsmen, even getting Hooper to sway away from well-directed short pitched balls.
The sun shone brightly, however, there was nothing sunny about the West Indian strokeplay apart from a couple of elegant drives by Gayle, some firms cuts from Sarwan and Hooper's cameo, that saw him strike Harbhajan over his head, cut and flick Bangar, and delicately turn Zaheer fine. But what the Windies desperately required was an innings of substance.
Pro-active captaincy
For India, Ganguly's captaincy was again pro-active. He strove to make things happen. His rapid bowling changes just when the Hooper-Chanderpaul stand was developing - he switched ends of both Zaheer and Harbhajan in a jiffy, gave Sehwag a one-over spell - certainly hampered the flow of the West Indian batsmen, eventually leading to Hooper's dismissal.
However, some half chances, like Sehwag reacting late at short leg when Jacobs, just off the mark, turned one uppishly, will have to be converted against stronger opposition. The team-management has to zero in on a set of regular close-in catchers.
India retained the winning combination of Mumbai, while West Indies, pitching for youth over experience, blooded off-spinning all-rounder Gareth Breese and paceman Jermaine Lawson for leggie Mahendra Nagamootoo and seamer Cameron Cuffy.
A side down in a three-Test series has to gamble, and the inclusion of the pacier Lawson over the accurate but predictable Cuffy was an attacking option. Nagamootoo's omission also meant the Caribbeans were entering a Test in the sub-continent without a specialist spinner. But then, the batsmen have to first provide the bowlers with the runs, and that's proving to be beyond the reach of the West Indians. Kumble wasn't complaining though.
SCOREBOARD
| WEST INDIES — 1st innings: | |
| C. Gayle c Tendulkar | |
| b Harbhajan | 23 |
| (75b, 5x4) | |
| W. Hinds lbw b Kumble | 18 |
| (97b, 3x4) | |
| R. Sarwan b Srinath | 19 |
| (60b, 3x4) | |
| S. Chanderpaul c Patel | |
| b Kumble | 27 |
| (86b, 3x4) | |
| C. Hooper c Ganguly b Zaheer | 35 |
| (38b, 6x4) | |
| R. Hinds lbw b Kumble | 16 |
| (46b, 2x4) | |
| R. Jacobs c Sehwag | |
| b Harbhajan | 9 |
| (28b) | |
| G. Breese c Sehwag | |
| b Harbhajan | 5 |
| (25b) | |
| M. Dillon b Kumble | 4 |
| (15b, 1x4) | |
| P. Collins (not out) | 1 |
| (2b) | |
| J. Lawson c Ganguly b Kumble | 0 |
| (6b) | |
| Extras (b-8, lb-1, nb-1) | 10 |
| — — | |
| Total | 167 |
| — — | |
| Fall of wickets: 1-40 (Gayle), 2-46 (W. Hinds), 3-62 (Sarwan), 4-117 (Hooper), 5-135 (Chanderpaul), 6-142 (R. Hinds), 7-161 (Breese), 8-166 (Dillon), 9-166 (Jacobs).
India bowling: Srinath 10-5-14-1; Zaheer 10-3-21-1 (nb-1), Bangar 6-3-29-0; Harbhajan 29-13-56-3; Kumble 23.3-10-30-5; Sehwag 1-0-8-0. |
|
| S. Bangar (batting) | 6 |
| (27b, 1x4) | |
| V. Sehwag (batting) | 24 |
| (21b, 5x4) | |
| Extras (w-1) | 1 |
| — — | |
| Total (for no loss) | 31 |
| — — | |
| West Indies bowling: Dillon 4-2-6-0; Collins 2-0-16-0; Lawson 2-0-9-0 (w-1). | |
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