The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Middle-order will click: Wright

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Monday, Oct 25, 2004

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Middle-order will click: Wright

By S. Dinakar

NAGPUR, OCT. 24. Sachin Tendulkar stares out from one of those giant hoardings towering over a swarm of shops in a typical Nagpur bazaar that is a blaze of colour. On the result of the third Test rests the fate of the series, with Tendulkar, and three other heavyweights in the middle-order — a trio with a question mark against its name after the first two Tests — needing to play an important part.

Rahul Dravid, skipper Sourav Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman have failed to boom in the first two Tests. The return of Tendulkar, notwithstanding, there are signs of worry in the Indian camp, ahead of the third Test.

At the Vidarbha Cricket Stadium on a busy Sunday, even as the scribes and the players were filtering out of the stadium after the much-awaited press conferences of Tendulkar and the Aussie pace ace Glenn McGrath, John Wright was lapping the ground under the scorching afternoon sun.

As he jogged, the Indian coach's eyes followed the course of the ball kicked around by the television production crew taking a breather from its hectic work, before settling on curator Kishor Pradhan, who was reiterating his intention to retain a little grass on the surface, at the other end of the arena.

Wright realises that on a Nagpur pitch that might provide more than a hint of assistance to the Australian pacemen, the Indian middle-order needs to shrug off its uninspiring ways.

Fruitful past

And it was Down Under last season when the Indian batting took flight. Dravid amassed 619 runs in the four Test series at a stunning average of 123.80, Laxman notched up 494 runs at 82.33, and Ganguly 284 at 47.33, with his counter-attacking 144 at Brisbane leading to a momentum shift in the series. And in that eternal series here in 2001, Laxman dazzled with 503 runs in three Tests at 83.83.

Wright believes the threesome will be among the runs again — "They are all class players and they will come on. You know they have got the experience. We just didn't have good batting form getting into the series. There was a lot of one-day cricket."

On Laxman's tendency to play back on the sub-continental pitches, instead of striding forward and guarding against low bounce, Wright conceded, "He (Laxman) has been working very hard at getting his feet going at the nets."

Dravid's problems

Probed on Dravid's problems while coping with incoming deliveries from the pacemen in this series, Wright said, "he got a good delivery in the first Test. In the second Test, the ball kept a little low and he should have gone forward. There is a fine line between getting out early and a big score. And Dravid is not a machine. He has just been voted the best performer in world Test cricket last year."

The coach is pleased about Tendulkar's comeback from injury. "He loves playing against Australia. He is an asset psychologically because he is a quality player."

Wright did not want to be quoted on the issue of the openers, with Tendulkar's return creating a problem of whom to leave out. And there are several options doing the rounds. Among the scenarios is Yuvraj Singh having to make way for Tendulkar, with Parthiv Patel pushed up the order. Or would opener Aakash Chopra be fitted into the eleven instead of Yuvraj, with Tendulkar coming in for Kaif, who performed heroically at the Chidambaram Stadium.

On the issue of openers, Wright is telling nothing at the moment.

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