The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Something special needed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 14, 2004

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Sport - Cricket

Something special needed

By Sanjay Rajan

WAITING FOR A BIG CATCH: Sourav Ganguly is hoping to strike form at Chepauk in the second Test against Australia. - Photo. V.V. Krishnan.

CHENNAI, OCT. 13. It possibly struck Sourav Ganguly that a second off-spinner would be of advantage when the Indian captain spoke of the possibility of all three spinners playing in the second Test against Australia, beginning at the Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday.

The third spinner in the 15-man squad is left-armer Murali Kartik. But the fact remains, as Harbhajan Singh has proved, an off-spinner stands a better chance of making an impact against the Australian batsmen in Indian conditions.

This is probably because Australians are used to playing the ball on the rise; and while this approach is suited for hard tracks, it tends to get them into trouble against the off-spinner on the slow pitches of the sub-continent. Ask Harbhajan, who has had them in knots, and has now taken 43 wickets in the last four Tests against them.

But with no second off-spinner available in the team, Ganguly will have to bank on his two main spinners to do the trick on a pitch that both, he and Adam Gilchrist, believe will afford extra bounce.

"This will obviously cause a lot of threat for us from Harbhajan, who took 11 wickets in the last match, and Anil. Both rely on bounce as much as they rely on sideways movement," said Gilchrist, whose side is up, 1-0, in the four-match TVS Cup series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. "But then, it is as much a positive for Warne and our fast bowlers," the visiting skipper said.

Not the same

In the first Test at Bangalore last week, it was not leg-spinner Shane Warne, but the pace trio of Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz, who did the host in. Even as India suffered a 217-run defeat, it grew apparent that the much-vaunted Indian batting line-up is not the same without Sachin Tendulkar at No. 4.

"I think the boys realise that we need to put up runs on the board, especially in the first innings. You cannot expect to win Test matches otherwise," said Ganguly. "The lack of runs from most of the key batsmen has affected the team's morale. We need to lift up our batting form, stay positive and confident," said the Indian skipper.

India will need to come up with something special to level the series. Anything other than a victory will put the team under tremendous pressure - if not out of the reckoning.

The in-form Md. Kaif is expected to get slotted in to the middle-order; Ganguly also spoke of Yuvraj Singh being promoted up the order, even hinting that the burly left-hander from Punjab might open the innings.

Not a bad idea

While promoting Yuvraj up the order is not such a bad idea — the young man loves a challenge — getting him to open might be pushing things too far, considering that he hasn't displayed the necessary technique. McGrath, for instance, had him nibbling outside the off-stump in both innings at Bangalore.

Gilchrist said his side had already worked out ways to dismiss Yuvraj. "It will be the new ball if he opens, or reverse-swing with the old ball," said the 'keeper-bat.

The Indian batting is not exactly as flexible as Australia's, but Pathan's promising ways with the willow at Bangalore will provide India with the option of shuffling the batting, if necessary.

The Baroda player will spearhead the attack, with his state-mate Zaheer Khan sharing the new ball.

Gilchrist said the team management had retained the 12 named for the first Test; the XI would be finalised on the morning of the match.

"We missed McGrath when the Indians came over last summer," said Gilchrist, who will be banking on Pigeon to provide the early breakthroughs.

Speaking about the Bangalore victory, the Australian skipper said, "You cannot allow a huge gap between you and your opposition on first innings. That's how we won the first Test. I felt Simon Katich's effort with the bat in the first Test was grossly underrated. He bound the innings together."

Regarding Warne and the world record for the maximum number of Test wickets, Gilchrist said, "we've been through this before and will celebrate it. But it will not override anything that the team wants to do."

About Tendulkar's absence, he said, "the team is not the same without Sachin, but I'm not discounting India from coming up with something spectacular."

The teams (from): India: V. Sehwag, P. Patel (wk), R. Dravid (vice-captain), S. Ganguly (captain), V.V.S. Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Md. Kaif, A. Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, M. Kartik, A. Agarkar, A. Chopra and S. Tendulkar.

Australia: J. Langer, M. Hayden, S. Katich, D. Martyn, D. Lehmann (vice-captain), M. Clarke, A. Gilchrist (captain), S. Warne, J. Gillespie, M. Kasprowicz, G. McGrath, N. Hauritz, B. Lee, S. Watson, C. White and B. Hodge.

Umpires: D. Shepherd (Eng) & R. Koertzen (RSA). Third umpire: A.V. Jayaprakash (Ind). Fourth umpire: S.M. Bandekar (Ind).

Hours of play: 9.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m., 12.10 p.m. to 2.10 p.m., 2.30 p.m. to 4.30 p.m.

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