The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Foot soldier to Commander-in-Chief

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Wednesday, Apr 07, 2004

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Sport - Cricket

Foot soldier to Commander-in-Chief

Yuvraj Singh's brilliant knock in the second Test against Pakistan has given the Indian selection panel some food for thought. Getting his opportunity because of the back injury to his captain, he has taken the chance firmly in both hands. The batting strength of the team has not suffered while Yuvraj offers more versatility in the field and a useful variation with his bowling.

This, and the flair shown by Rahul Dravid as stand-in captain, has put the spotlight firmly on Ganguly and his role for India in the future. There is more to captaincy than being able to set the field and change the bowlers. Statesmanship, leadership and a clear vision are a big part of the role for an international cricket captain. Winning is also important!

Ganguly has done an excellent job of leading his team in recent times and there is no doubt in my mind that his vision for Indian cricket has been a big part of the success at home and on tour in the past four years. His century in the Brisbane Test last November spoke loudly of his commitment to a tougher, more aggressive approach to playing the Australians. His team followed him willingly and should have won the series.

Part of the reason why India did not win the series was that it was not as accustomed as the Australians were to winning and that the doubt surrounding the tour to Pakistan diverted the team's focus during the vital Melbourne Test. Another important factor was that Ganguly often let things run in the field and some of his field placements were negative and hard to fathom. There often seemed to be no method to what he did.

The same cannot be said for Dravid at Multan. His bowling changes were spot on and the field setting always seemed to have a method attached to it and was done to build the most pressure. To be fair to Ganguly, it may well be that it is easier to set attacking fields against a timid Pakistan line-up, as opposed to a belligerent Australian batting team. But it was a factor in Australia, nevertheless.

Most of the better captains through the history of Test cricket have had the vision, been the statesman and the leader, as well as being well-versed in cricket tactics. Some of the best I played with or against were Raymond Illingworth, Clive Lloyd and Ian Chappell. Each of them was a very strong personality who had a clear vision of what he wanted from his team and the sort of cricket he wanted it to play. And each had a shrewd knowledge of the tactics needed to support the vision.

Many people think that Clive Lloyd was just lucky and got by on the back of a rampant pace attack that swept everything before them, but that does him an injustice. It has to be remembered that Clive had the vision of what could be achieved with a four-pronged pace attack backed by good fielding and aggressive batting and made sure that everyone else was singing from the same hymn sheet. Not least of all, the selectors.

He instilled in his players that discipline was what was required to support the tactics of having what was, on paper, an unbalanced bowling attack. But he knew that if he could muster the right fast bowlers and employ the `Chinese water-torture' philosophy of a never-ending rotation of sustained, aggressive pace bowling, most teams would buckle under the pressure. How right he was!

Clive may not have appeared to be as tactical as Illingworth and the others, but he may not need to have been and, anyway, his tactics were wrapped up in the big picture and only needed a modest tweak from time to time on the field. Steve Waugh has been the latter-day incarnation of Lloyd. Waugh had the vision and encouraged the discipline in his players to see that vision through. He may not have been as tactically aware as, say, Mark Taylor, but perhaps he didn't need to be.

When you have the best bowling attack in the world, the pressure on the tactics is not as great as when you have to manufacture something with a more modest bowling attack.

Dravid has played his part as one of the faithful foot soldiers obediently, and willingly, following Ganguly's strong vision to becoming a potent power in world cricket. The next few weeks may thrust him forward to having an even bigger role in the future. Ganguly has had the vision to get India to where they currently are but the question that remains is, does he have the tactical nous to take India all the way to the top?

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