The Hindu : Sport : India needs a new formula for winning

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 26, 2004

Sport

Sport

India needs a new formula for winning

South Africa would be very happy with the first Test, India understandably less so. The host would have had high hopes of a victory but the toss and poor team selection has left them without one.

How Irfan Pathan was left out will remain a mystery and to have Sourav Ganguly opening the bowling is a blot on Test cricket. He is a great batsman but he should never have the new ball. All he does is to give opening batsmen a very good sighter, especially on a pitch receptive to the `effort ball'.

India is always keen to have three spinners but unless the wicket is like Mumbai they are wasted. The wicket in Kanpur played into South Africa's hands and one wonders if there are alien forces conspiring to put India at a disadvantage!

South Africans are notoriously poor players of spin bowling (only the Windies are worse, perhaps). In their country, conditions rarely provide spin bowlers with any help and therefore there are virtually no bowlers (read none) of the slow variety that test top quality batsmen. India has missed a trick by providing a quality wicket in Kanpur, which rarely offered any help at any stage by way of spin, especially in the earlier stages.

But you can take nothing away from the South African top order and Andrew Hall surpassed all expectations, by far and away the man of the match. He was allowed to play well and took full advantage. There is no doubt that he is one of the most combative cricketers in world cricket and relishes the underdog tag.

Quality quick a must

He played superbly but India was its own worst enemy by not playing two quicks. It urgently needs to review how it is going to win Tests. The time has passed for just being satisfied with big runs by the batsmen. Winning is now more important, especially in this commercial era. There is a growing threat from lots of sports so just seeing big runs on fast outfields is barely passable; a new formula is required.

A top quality swing bowler is needed to make an impact upfront. Even a 500-plus score is virtually worthless if you can't apply pressure with your bowlers and take 20 wickets. Pathan may not be the entire answer here but he has tremendous potential and must be encouraged.

India is the only country apart from Australia that can go both ways — spin or seam. But the team seems unsure of what to do and is ruled by the batsmen not wanting to play on anything less than perfect tracks. Use your home conditions or suffer the consequences.

India can win Test matches but is paralysed by a lack of coordination among all the aspects that a match involves. Suffice it to say that you can often judge a team's performance by its administration.

But South Africa has worries too and will be concerned about the Kolkata Test. Things are a little desperate for India so the Eden Gardens wicket will be very interesting. Admittedly, history is on South Africa's side as big runs have usually been scored in the first innings.

Graeme Smith will therefore be praying for a success at the toss and a repeat batting performance.

India has the batting firepower to score at an extraordinary rate and that is its trump card. Sehwag was fantastic at Kanpur, as was Gambhir, but the scoring lost momentum when Dravid and Ganguly were intent on building a total and not taking the attack to the opposition. That cost the team in terms of applying pressure for the second Test as it gave the impression that the game was always destined for a draw.

What India really needs to do is beef up their bowling and perhaps repose more faith in Dinesh Kaarthick. He is still a little loose and needs to be persuaded to play a more meaningful and patient role as a batsman. That way, the number of batsmen goes up to six. Harbhajan Singh has been disappointing and must be lacking confidence. To me he is letting his competitive spirit get in the way of a more coordinated gameplan.

He is forcing the issue and trying to make something happen with every ball instead of applying the pressure by just being patient and drying up the runs.

Subtle variations more than anything else will do the trick. Instead, his meagre first-innings haul meant that the pressure mounted on Anil Kumble.

Australia has a plan for every batsman and India could learn from that, but somehow, over five days, the patience wears thin and the gameplan goes out the window. John Wright was a batsman of immense concentration and patience, disciplined and thoughtful.

His charges might need some of it to rub off if they are to put South Africa to the sword.

The fans would expect nothing less.

Gameplan

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