The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Alarming slump in batting fortunes

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Wednesday, Sep 08, 2004

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Sport - Cricket

Alarming slump in batting fortunes

By S. Dinakar

CHENNAI, SEPT. 7. The world's best `Top Seven' have lost much of their sheen in recent times. The runs have largely dried up, several reputations have taken a beating, and the Indian team finds itself in the midst of a crisis.

With successive setbacks, in the Asia Cup, Videocon tri-series and the NatWest Challenge, India has not chugged along as a unit, and the biggest cause of concern has been the form of the batsmen, ahead of the prestigious Champions Trophy.

The most glaring example has been the case of the big-hitting opener Virender Sehwag, who has the ability to hugely influence matches at the top of the order as the figures indicate. The starts have not been forthcoming and the middle-order has been unable to handle the pressure.

In Sehwag's case, the pacemen might have found a way out by bowling close to his body and not giving him enough width for the cut and the pull, his most productive strokes. The batsman, as a result, has suffered a loss in confidence; so much so that he was demoted in the order in the third match of the NatWest series at Lord's. In the Asia Cup, the Sri Lankan left-arm pace duo of Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa harried him with their consistency. The pacemen appear to have realised that if they bowl straight at Sehwag in the early stages, and move the odd ball, the batsman is vulnerable.

Like Sehwag, the left-handed Yuvraj Singh — booming strokes and dominant presence — has stumbled.

Cramped by spinners

A momentum batsman, who thrives on the pace of the ball, Yuvraj can get rattled if the opposition slows down the game. Both on the brown pitches in Sri Lanka, and Amstelveen, the southpaw looked out of sorts.

Against the crafty Lankan spinners, adept at exploiting the conditions, Yuvraj, walking in at No. 6, was unable to rotate the strike, ate up plenty of deliveries without scoring, and, in the resultant desperation, got himself out to indiscreet strokes. It was a similar story in the Videocon series; the Punjab cricketer's fortunes did not take a turn for the better in the NatWest series too.

The strategy against Yuvraj appears to be this: have men in single saving positions early on, take the pace off the ball, allow the pressure to build, and then choke him.

Now to the big four. Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and V.V.S. Laxman.

Tendulkar made 74 on a difficult Premadasa Stadium pitch in the Asia Cup final, and although he might not have been at his fluent best, India could still have won the summit clash, had one more frontline batsman stayed on. After the Colombo face-off, Tendulkar has not played a game, afflicted by a tennis elbow.

Skipper Ganguly made a welcome return to form with a timely 90 against England at Lord's in the NatWest series. In India's last 20 matches, however, there has been a notable dip in his average. One of the reasons could be that he has still not got his feet movement sorted out against the pacemen; a tendency to play away from his body has often let him down.

With the load of keeping wickets off his shoulders, Rahul Dravid did make a half-century at Lord's last Sunday. Following his well-constructed 82 against Sri Lanka in the league game of the Asia Cup, Dravid appeared to have gone off the boil, playing too many strokes in the early phase of his innings; consuming a little bit of time to settle down had always helped him even in the ODIs.

A knee injury during the Asia Cup meant the fresh season did not really begin on a healthy note for V.V.S. Laxman; subsequently he has found it difficult to get into his groove, find his range.

A rhythm batsman, who relies more on timing than footwork, Laxman has laboured rather than conquered on slow wickets of Sri Lanka and Amstelveen. He has carried his lacklustre form to England as well.

Mohammed Kaif wriggled out of a career crisis with two half-centuries in the NatWest series, and in his case, a promotion in the order appears to have had a direct bearing on his confidence.

The inability of the men in blue to perform collectively as a unit, the awry pacing of the innings during chases, an unsettled batting order, and not being able to rotate the strike or build partnerships, have had an adverse impact on the team's chances.

And a big test — the Champions Trophy — is just around the corner.

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