The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : The Indians' home record under threat

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 11, 2004

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Sport - Cricket

The Indians' home record under threat

India's highly successful record as home combatant is under serious threat after the crushing defeat in the first Test in Bangalore. The Australians, aiming to conquer the Final Frontier, have invaded the first province without facing much resistance from the host.

The pain of experiencing failures in the previous tours must have been the real motivation for the World champion to be more precise and clinical in its approach this time. However, the gratification of the success will only be realised if the Aussies manage to win the series. The Australians are masters of creating situations where they make the opponents realise how hard and mentally tough they are. Just by winning the crucial toss, the Aussies made sure that rest of the things fell in place.

There is always a psychological anguish that the players go through after every defeat. The loss in the first Test might create a `fear factor' in the minds of the Indians, which is also known as `respect factor'.

I have reasons to believe that this Indian team plays far better cricket under such conditions. The players' potential to perform as a team might have suffered, but in my opinion it's too early to write off these boys.

Harbhajan menacing

The Indian bowlers did a good job in the second innings. Harbhajan looked simply menacing. On such slow tracks, losing the toss could prove too costly. The captains usually get caught between the idea of whether to attack or to go on the defensive. In such situations, the spinners, no matter how good they are, find it difficult to keep the batsmen under control.

Bowling in Test matches is all about maintaining the energy levels. While an over-used body might lose the sting, intermittent rest can provide the required energy to bowl better and with more purpose.

The advantage of winning the toss is that the opponents will have to bowl 90 overs at a stretch and it will surely take its toll by the end of the day. The Australians selected the right time to slaughter the attack and the last hour of the first day produced too many runs.

Poor batting by the Indians also helped McGrath and company have enough rest and come back fresh into the attack every time.

Bad batting

The Indian batting didn't last long enough to really test the Australian bowlers. McGrath is a like a textbook for fast bowlers to understand and learn the line and length with which he operates. Only tiring him down without early success can force him to send down some run scoring balls.

Accuracy preferred over pace is a great lesson to learn from his bowling.

Although the umpires' decisions weren't the best, it cannot be the main reason for the defeat. The Indian think-tank will have to work on the openers. The pressure played on captain Ganguly to misjudge a run, ended up in a terrible run-out. Sehwag was a bit unlucky in both the innings but it's the three big guns — Rahul, Sourav and Laxman — failing to occupy the crease for long hours that helped the Australians' cause.

Yuvraj will have to sort out the problem of being too vulnerable outside the off-stump. with the old ball doing a bit of reverse swing, it would be good for Yuvraj to open the innings when the conditions are good to bat. Yuvraj is a different kind of a player with whom the team needs to persist.

On Indian wickets you need aggressive batsmen. It was the aggressive batting by the Australians in the first innings that held the Indians at bay. The team needs to make Yuvraj understand playing the right shots.

The confidence placed on a player under such situations will definitely lift the spirits of the players. Yuvraj should be given a fair chance before thinking of showing him the doors.

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