Sport

The glitch in India’s away record

— Photo: AFP

COMRADES IN ARMS: If Rahul Dravid (left) and Anil Kumble can harness some part of their best, India would have a good chance to win the Oval Test.

Leicester: Much of professional sport these days is perception. This frenzied age, with its premium on time and disregard for observation, has germinated many stereotypes.

And few stereotypes in cricket have so outlived their use-by date as the one about India’s cricketers being timid, reluctant, and insufficient tourists.

India, as reported after the seven-wicket win over England at Trent Bridge, has, since January 2000, won more Tests overseas than any side save Australia.

India’s 16 wins have come in countries with proud home records: Australia, England, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies. Only New Zealand has been exempt.

But, in India’s defence, the side has played only two Tests there — with the one in Hamilton in early 2003, a shootout that could have gone either way.

There remains, however, a glitch in India’s away record, and it relates to the lack of success in following wins up. It is in this context that the third Test against England at The Oval in London from Thursday assumes significance.

India, despite its Test wins, has clinched only two series of note in this period: in Pakistan in 2003-04 when it came back from defeat at Lahore to win the series 2-1 at Rawalpindi; and in the West Indies in 2006, when it won the last Test of a four-match series on a diabolical track in Jamaica.

Both Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble figured prominently at Rawalpindi and Jamaica, but we’ll address those two great men later.

To get that far, we must first visit Zimbabwe, specifically Harare. India travelled to Harare in 2001, having secured an eight-wicket win at Bulawayo — its first Test victory outside the sub-continent since 1986.

But, one mindless session set in motion the trend that has churned relentlessly like a Ferris wheel during happy hours: defeat at Colombo followed victory at Kandy; Bridgetown followed Port of Spain; Melbourne followed Adelaide, and more recently Durban followed Johannesburg.

Yet, it was at Harare in 2005 — during a series remembered for happenings off the field — that India last won successive Tests abroad. That it was a weakened Zimbabwe side took some gloss off. But, India managed to keep its cricket intact in troubled times.

The times have grown less troubled, but India’s challenge — to win or, in the worst case, draw The Oval Test — is formidable.

Dravid’s men have been part of a very watchable series, and this has been down, in large part, to the conditions. The battle between bat and ball has been even — the bias towards the bowlers has helped matters.

India’s success — after rain saved it at Lord’s — has been built on the collective conquest of the conditions. The batsmen have adapted to them better than their counterparts; the bowlers, led by Zaheer Khan, have taken up the offer of swing and seam more readily than England’s pace attack. Winning the toss at Trent Bridge helped.

Two points — not so much of concern as interest — remain. The first has to do with the kind of mirrored coincidence cricket abounds in. The pattern of the last series between the sides — in India in 2006 — is similar to the one the current series has followed: India batting out much of the final day to draw the first Test (Nagpur, Lord’s); India successfully chasing down a small target after a rainy start to the second Test (Mohali, Trent Bridge).

India will hope the trend isn’t repeated in the third Test — perhaps confiscating all available records of Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire, which Andrew Flintoff exhorted his teammates with at Mumbai, will help.

The second point is serious: how will India do at The Oval, where conditions are expected to be different? England, after Chris Tremlett’s success with the short ball, is reportedly keen on a track with bounce. Regulars at The Oval say it will be drier — less conventional swing, but, in all likelihood, some reverse.

Also, how will India treat Sreesanth, both in the context of the conditions and his loss of emotional control at Trent Bridge? Heartening for India will be the fact that it’s up 1-0 despite Dravid and Kumble not imposing themselves.

Kumble has nine wickets at 29.55 from the two Tests, his strike rate next only to R.P. Singh and Zaheer among bowlers of both sides, but only two of those nine are wickets of specialist batsmen. Besides, his line has wavered.

Dravid hasn’t crossed 37 this series. But, he averages a stupendous 88.02 in matches won or drawn abroad; of his 24 Test hundreds, only one has come in a loss.

If these two outstanding men can harness some part of their best — as the openers, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Zaheer and R.P. Singh have at various points this series — the Pataudi Trophy will be India’s.

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