The Hindu : Sport : Stars let India down

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 03, 2006

Sport

Sport

Stars let India down

The touchstone to greatness is the ability to stand tall in a crisis, writes Imran Khan

FACES OF FAILURE: The famed Indian top order - Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, V.V.S. Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar - could not deliver it mattered most in the crucial final Test at Karachi.

Endulkar. Goneguly. The headlines will be angry and bitter, but this time the Indian players will have to admit that the public anger is justified. Followers of the game don't mind a loss if their team puts up a spirited fight before going down. However, when there is a complete capitulation like the one we witnessed on Wednesday, a backlash is to be expected. And most of the criticism will be directed against the stars since it is them that the fans look to when the going gets tough.

Once three wickets fell, it was expected that Tendulkar would make a gladiatorial fightback that would save the day or at least restore some pride for his team. However, once he fell over and was bowled those expectations immediately turned to anger. The touchstone to greatness is the ability to stand tall in a crisis. That was what distinguished Vivian Richards among the great batsmen of his time. On Wednesday, the Indian team needed Tendulkar to stem the rot and inspire those who followed him to play around him. Unfortunately, that did not happen and this is not the first time in his career that Tendulkar failed when the team needed him. Having said that, his vigil at the crease showed that Tendulkar is far from over. Few batsmen would have played with the assurance he showed after being hit on the helmet by Shoaib Akhtar. His strokeplay was confident and powerful, and I still feel that he has the class to continue playing for his country. I also feel that questions about his future are silly because there is no batsman in India to replace him just yet. My only fear is that when his playing days are over, some critics will feel that for a player of his calibre, he should have won and saved a few more matches for his team.

More assured

As far as Ganguly is concerned, I think he looked far more assured than many of the more celebrated batsmen in the Indian line-up. On the evidence of the Karachi Test it would be difficult to omit him from the Test side because he looked determined and his technique looked a lot better than it has been for some time. However, he did not deliver in either innings, and that is what was expected of an experienced campaigner like him, especially since he did not have to play the new ball in either innings. In the first innings he played a casual shot because he thought the worst was over once Shoaib was out of the attack. In the second innings, he looked unprepared first up after tea. Both were the only mistakes he made, but then, the game can be unforgiving at times.

I was taken aback by the fact that India's batting folded up on Wednesday itself, and it is not surprising that most of the anger is directed against the batsmen. However, I still maintain that the big disparity in the bowling was what eventually sealed India's fate. The Indians were military medium and hardly touched 82 mph. On the other hand Shoaib was consistently bowling at 90- plus while Mohammed Asif was clocking middle to late 80s. The Indians need to look into this shortcoming urgently if they want to improve their record abroad.

Zaheer Khan seems to lose pace every time I see him and even Irfan Pathan looks like he has slowed down since 2004. With this pace attack tours to England and Australia will be nightmarish for India, no matter how good their batting is.

Finally, India cannot sacrifice Rahul Dravid by playing him as opener. He is the mainstay of this batting order, and he was the only one who has played well for his team in crisis situations regularly. India has to find and accommodate a regular opener in its side, or else it will be doing its most dependable batsman a great disservice.(Gameplan)

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