The Hindu : A TEST OF CHARACTER

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 02, 2004

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A TEST OF CHARACTER

INDIA MAY HAVE rewritten the record books by registering its first Test match win on Pakistani soil, but the import of the victory goes well beyond its much talked about "historic" nature. The real significance of `Multan' is that it strengthens the hypothesis that India is in the process of maturing into a robust and professional Test side. Earlier this year, the Indians returned from Down Under after having drawn the Test series 1-1 — a four-match encounter during which Saurav Ganguly and his men surprised almost everyone by pushing the mighty Australians on the backfoot on more than one occasion. The drawn series was preceded by a record in Test cricket that had been at best spotty and uninspiring — in fact, even gloomy and depressing when India played abroad. India has not won a Test series outside the subcontinent since Kapil Dev's team got the better of England in 1986.

From India's point of view, the most satisfying aspect of the Multan triumph may well be the manner in which it was pieced together. Riding on Virender Sehwag's record-breaking and cavalier 309, the highest Test score posted by an Indian batsman, and Sachin Tendulkar's meticulously crafted 194 not out, India made the best possible use of an unexpectedly flat and friendly track to post a formidable 675 for 5 declared. Sehwag may have had his luck, and a large slice of it at that, when compiling his mammoth score — a typically exuberant innings built around his extraordinarily fine eye, razor-sharp reactions and a technique that is every bit his own. The strong Indian batting line-up could have been counted on to perform well on wickets that do not afford bowlers much purchase. It was the bowlers who were the real surprise. Few would have expected India's bowling attack — which is middling, somewhat inexperienced and not quite balanced — to have bowled out the Pakistanis twice to register a comfortable victory by an innings and 52 runs. The largest share of wickets went to veteran Anil Kumble, but it was the young Irfan Pathan — who cut the ball both ways and bowled a disciplined line and length — who was arguably the best on view. It was his four-wicket haul in the first innings that knocked out the Pakistan top and middle order and erected the platform for what was eventually a facile victory. Some Pakistani commentators have blamed the docile pitch for the loss, but the crux was that the Indian bowlers made better use of an unhelpful pitch than their faster and more celebrated Pakistani counterparts.

Over the last two years, India has demonstrated it is a force in international one-day cricket by winning the NatWest Trophy and the ICC Champions Trophy, and by reaching the finals of World Cup 2003. At the heart of this resurgence of Indian one-day cricket was a new attitude, a new mindset — best represented by the energy and enthusiasm that a crop of young players had infused into the game. Some of that vitality is now evident when India plays Test cricket. At Multan, India was the keener side, very much the hungrier one. True India has still a long way to go before it becomes a truly balanced and well-rounded side. But sport is also a test of character and a great part of the battle is played and won in the mind. And Indian cricket, in recent times, seems to have acquired a quality that has made all the difference: mental toughness.

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