A necessary setback
February 11th 2010 09:01
The slightly innovative and 'free spirited' newspapers would have had a field day with headlines the day India was crushed by South Africa at Nagpur. 'India Steyned' - appears apt. Without taking much away from Steyn or from South Africa as a unit, I really do think quite a few have not talked about the actual problems which led up to this debacle.
As forthright and humble as Srikkanth is in offering up his head to be lopped off, I dont think he is the guilty party here. OK, to be exact, not entirely guilty. His was a mistake that has often been committed in Indian cricket. Of being more accomodating the more senior a player is. That sort of mindset will not take us anywhere. If Laxman is not fit, then why have him in the squad. This is not an away tour and there is not going to be a huge expense in having him back in the squad for the next Test. Why take the risk?
That apart the real guilty party would be the team management at Nagpur. The captain Dhoni and the coach Gary Kirsten and perhaps even the vice captain Sehwag. Basically whoever had the brainwave to push young Wriddhiman Saha to play as a specialist batsman when there were 3 young specialist bowlers sitting around in the dressing room. That is not the mindset of the No.1 team in the world. This is the mindset of a team which does not want to lose. Not necessarily wanting to win. Dhoni's tactics on the field (or absence thereof) in recent times lead me to believe that he is becoming more and more defensive as a captain. Again that is not something the No.1 team in the world should consider desirable. A captain unwilling to take judicious risks and throw in his hat cannot succeed in the tough arena of international cricket.
Yes - Laxman was not there and even more significantly there was no Dravid. But that does not mean that you push just about anybody to play as a specialist batsman. A bit of analysis allied with some common sense should have told the team management that our bowlers - especially the spinners - have not been especially penetrative. Even against Bangladesh. All the more reason to then include 5 bowlers to try and take 20 wickets instead of employing the defensive tactic of just throwing another body with a bat at the feet of the South African pacers - who resembled nothing but a pack of slavering carnivores licking their chops at the prospect of easy meat.
Talking about the positives in this Test match for India is also a tough task. Sehwag and Tendulkar each had a century in the first and the second innings respectively but the need of the hour was for a couple of batsmen to get centuries in the same innings! Instead of waxing lyrical about these batting performances, questions must be asked of the others who could not stand up when it was needed the most.
Dhoni does come up with strange statements from time to time. What surprised me this time was his statement that he actually was happy with his bowlers' performance. That gets one thinking what exactly would get the captain angry, if not this! All flak in the press descends on Harbhajan's shoulders and some on Ishant's. While I agree that Ishant needs to sit out for a period and rediscover his pace as well as prodigious inswing which so troubled every batsman, I actually thought Harbhajan was slowly progressing on the 2nd day of the Test match. However, I am not so keen on letting Mishra off the hook so easily. It could perhaps have something to do with the fact that I bowl leg spin in the casual league cricket I play, but his absolutely defensive line outside the off for the most part and his release angle of the ball leave much to be desired. His action is not even a bit round arm which means that he cannot afford to get closer to the stumps to release the ball. It also means that he cannot get that essential drift that a leg spinner so needs to deceive the batsmen in the air. What he gets out of his current style is the angle and the angle is one created because of his approach to the wicket. Not one which is generated out of the revolutions of the ball. This style will not get him the drift and the dip and then that crucial away movement. Consequently he will be predictable and will always pose a greater risk to the batsman when he is bowling the googly. Talking about him beating the bat when the ball was pitching outside the off stump, is in my mind, putting the cart before the horse. Yes, this is a harsh assessment but one that is the need of the hour when one is left rubbing their eyes for want of spinning talent in a country which was and is still known as the birthplace of quality spin.
This is not a time for witch-hunts and autopsies and other such pastimes which the Indian public is so enamoured of. This is just a time for our team to stand up and play its part. That of the No.1 team in world cricket. I am sure Ian Chappell would be enjoying a smug grin at the Indians' expense pursuant to the team's performance at Nagpur. When Ian talked about the Indians not having powerful enough bowling, he was right. But where I believe he was wrong was in using this fact to extrapolate that India did not deserve to be No.1. What he fails to understand that this Indian team just might be among the first teams in modern cricket which puts forward batting as a truly match winning aspect of its Test cricket. India just have a wealth of batting match winners in their lineup - starting from Sehwag at the top and stretching down to Laxman at No.5. That is phenomenal and this is what India has been, in the recent past, using to offset its customary bowling shortcomings. That is not to say that the bowling has always stood second. Of late the bowling too has come along but if we are frank, in the last couple of seasons, it really has been the batting that has struct terror into the opposition - no matter which part of the world India played in. Virender Sehwag is no small part of this new phenomenon. In fact he is a phenomenon on his own, but that one is for another day, perhaps.
People like Gavaskar are actually lambasting the selection committee for dropping Saha, Abhimanyu Mithun and Tyagi even without giving them too much of a look-in. As much as these lads perform on the domestic circuit, it is when they face up to the big boys in the nets that they can get their stamp - of either approval or of being a work in progress. Gavaskar being a veteran himself should have realized this. Instead the question to be asked of the selection committee probably is - why did they drop Dinesh Karthik in the first place? And it would probably take some 'expert' who is not associated with the BCCI to ask the question - why is Murali Karthik being ignored continuously and unfairly?
Coming back to the setback - this is a necessary one. Just so the captain and the team management realize the futility of a defensive approach towards this Test series. It does not help that this is just a 2 Test series - that too hastily hooked up by the BCCI when they found out the meagre number of Tests their team will feature in. If India wants to impose itself in the second Test it can do that by playing to its strengths and more importantly trusting its strength. And its strength is its batting - notwithstanding this debacle. Laxman will return and I hope better sense prevails and the team fields five specialist bowlers. The fifth bowler - apart from providing a wicket taking option will also help keep the main bowlers fresh. And in a Test match this is an invaluable asset. And one feels that Sehwag should be used more frequently. He was for the most part the best spinner to be seen in the first Test and should have had two wickets to his name had Ian Gould not missed an edge that Boucher got through to Dhoni on the legside.
But how do we trust the batting which let us down badly here? By giving it a chance to succeed. Our lineup needs a left hander in the middle just so that Harris is not allowed to loom large (pun intended) over the Indian middle order. This will mean that this is the lineup and the team that would make the most sense:
Virender Sehwag
Murali Vijay
VVS Laxman
Sachin Tendulkar
Gautam Gambhir
MS Dhoni
Harbhajan Singh
Zaheer Khan
Amit Mishra
Pragyan Ojha
Sreesanth
Let me be direct with this. I do not expect Dhoni to field this XI. This also does not reflect on Badrinath's performance in the first Test. He did well - considering that it was his debut match as well. But when thinking about the Indian team we dont have too much liberty to see if we have been fair to everybody. On the face of it it might appear shocking. However such harsh decisions are often necessary. Badrinath is certainly one for the future. If anything I see a future Dravid in Badri and a future Laxman in Murali Vijay. But that is the future and this the present. This is the combination that has the ability to serve the team best - in my mind.
If India lose the 2nd Test it will not be because we come 2nd in ability to the South Africans or for that matter anybody. It will be because we fail to think like leaders at the world stage.
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