The Hindu : Rest emerges best at the business end

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 22, 2003

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Sport - Cricket

Rest emerges best at the business end

By S. Dinakar

Photo: V. Ganesan

A joyous Rest of India team poses with the TVS-Irani Cup in Chennai on Sunday. Standing (from left): Sanjay Bangar, L. Balaji, V.V.S. Laxman, Zaheer Khan, Murali Kartik, Amit Bhandari, Rohan Gavaskar, Parthiv Patel, Yuvraj Singh, Sourav Ganguly (captain), Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble. Sitting (from left): Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid.

Chennai Sept. 21. The pitch and the bowlers are often what a batsman makes of them. It's all in the mind and the level of skills. The `devil' can be feared, it can also be conquered.

Till, Rahul Dravid and V.V.S. Laxman held centrestage in the middle, slicing open the spinners with deft footwork, soft hands, supple wrists and decisive shot-selection, the Mumbai fielders were chasing leather.

Then, when the two departed, with a victory well in sight during the post-tea session, it all started happening. The ball turned and jumped, the close-in cordon breathed down the batsmen's neck, and Mumbai came back, from nowhere.

Though a harder cherry, after the new ball was claimed, might have enabled the Mumbai spinners achieve more purchase, there is no denying the masterly batsmanship from the two exceptional players.

Man of the Match Dravid, conjured 121 (251b, 12x4, 4x6), Laxman dazzled during his 99 (125b, 14x4, 1x6) and the Rest of India, against all odds, reached a daunting target of 340, even if the team had to survive a few tense moments towards the end.

When skipper Sourav Ganguly (27 not out) swung off-spinner Ramesh Powar over mid-wicket to fetch Rest the winning runs, the side triumphing by three wickets, had retained the TVS-Irani Cup, late on the fourth day at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.

Ganguly and Kumble (11 not out) had raised 28 unbeaten runs for the eighth wicket in 5.3 engrossing overs, with Sachin Tendulkar, who shuffled his bowlers around and juggled his fielders all day, made a last-ditch effort.

The second new ball was Tendulkar's final fling of the dice, and though pacemen Ajit Agarkar and Avishkar Salvi failed to achieve a breakthrough, leggie Sairaj Bahutule made serious inroads from the Wallahjah Road end, spinning big and achieving bounce, bringing the 'keeper, the short-legs and the silly point into play.

It was Bahutule's spell of 6-1-22-3 that opened up the contest yet again, even if Mumbai's surge arrived a touch too late.

In the morning, when the pressure was clearly on the Rest, resuming at 55 for two, Dravid, in what appeared a deliberate ploy, stepped down to off-spinner Ramesh Powar, dumping the bowler over mid-wicket and long-on for sixes. Powar soon switched to round the wicket, a negative ploy against the right-hander, and Dravid and the Rest had won a psychological battle. It is moments like these that change course of a match.

Credit is due to nightwatchman L. Balaji, who consumed 126 balls for his 26, blunting the attack with sound defence, adding 68 for the third wicket with Dravid in 38.5 overs.

Laxman joined Dravid 19 minutes before lunch, and it was a 168-run partnership (in 38.5 overs) for the fourth wicket that enthralled and entertained, the script undergoing a dramatic change.

Dravid can be both, dogged and sublime, tenacious and majestic; the Wall can, on occasions, can also breach the Wall as indicated by his four sixes off Powar. This was Dravid at his very best, mixing caution and aggression, at No.3.

Laxman can delight and disappoint, can be wristy and risky, self-destructive and match-winning. Till he walked up to the crease on Sunday afternoon, the match would have appeared a bad dream for the man from Hyderabad. He had looked hopelessly out of sorts in the first essay, and then dropped a sitter that could have proved costly. Laxman put all that behind with delectable flicks, pulls and drives.

And yes, the Rest conquered a peak.

The scores:

Mumbai — 1st innings: 297

Rest of India — 1st innings: 202

Mumbai — 2nd innings: 244

Rest of India — 2nd innings: S. Bangar lbw b Agarkar 1; V. Sehwag c Powar b Morris 36; R. Dravid c Samant b Bahutule 121; L. Balaji c Agarkar b Powar 26; V.V.S. Laxman c Mane b Bahutule 99; S. Ganguly (not out) 27; Y. Singh c Agarkar b Powar 5; P. Patel c Mane b Bahutule 0; A. Kumble (not out) 11; Extras (b-3, lb-1, w-2, nb-8) 14; Total (for seven wkts.) 340.

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-55, 3-123, 4-291, 5-305, 6-312, 7-312.

Mumbai bowling: Salvi 16-6-44-0; Agarkar 19-6-68-1; Morris 12-3-39-1; Powar 20.4-3-104-2; Tendulkar 7-4-16-0; Shetty 2-0-4-0; Bahutule 24-4-61-3.

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