The Hindu : Sport : The visitors will have a lot of confidence going into the Test

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 22, 2006

Sport

Sport

The visitors will have a lot of confidence going into the Test

It's always a good sign for a team when both the openers are firing, and that is what's happening for the Indians right now, writes Vivian Richards

The break at the mid-way point of the Test series will give both teams ample time to assess their strategy. The Indians will certainly want the services of their off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who was not fully fit for the last game. The Indians came heart-breakingly close to winning both Tests, and they must be wanting to ensure that they do not lose momentum.

The area where their game did look a little suspect is in the bowling department, where there was not much experience. The only bowler who had exposure on these wickets in the past was Anil Kumble, and on these dead wickets it's asking too much of a bowler to shoulder the entire burden of taking 20 wickets.

The Indian batting looks great, though, and that despite class players like V.V.S. Laxman and Yuvraj Singh yet to fire. The captain is in great form and so are the openers. They will have a lot of confidence coming into the Test, and that's going to be a serious worry for Brian Lara. The latter is missing Fidel Edwards, and is desperately looking for some raw pace, because playing pace has traditionally been a weak area for the Indians. Unfortunately, the selectors did not take his request for pace seriously.

Patchy batting

As far as the West Indian batting is concerned, it has been patchy at best. In both Tests, the batsmen fared poorly to get the team into a losing situation, but the lower order showed tremendous grit to pull their side out of the devil's mouth. I know that this might not seem much of an achievement to most, but for those who have seen the West Indies collapse to some shocking defeats in the past few years, this show of guts is heartening.

The pitch at St. Kitts will not be too different from the beauties we have encountered so far. The Indians will look to win the toss and pile on a huge total once again. It's always a good sign for a team when both the openers are firing, and that is what's happening for the Indians right now.

Their young bowlers are also doing well, and I was pretty impressed with young Munaf Patel. He has reasonable pace and more importantly, control. Hopefully he will be able to maintain his fitness and rhythm, thereby avoiding the affliction that has dogged so many promising Indian pacers of late. The other guy Sreesanth is also quite a character, and I find his routine while returning to the bowling crease quite interesting.

Pathan factor

And then there is Irfan Pathan, who was rightly played in the last Test. He looks a shadow of the bowler I saw in Australia a couple of years ago, but it is only through match practice that he can rediscover his form. If he does that he still has the guile and intelligence to be a tough customer in seaming conditions. The break from cricket has ensured that even die-hard cricket lovers like me have had the time to catch up on some World Cup soccer. My favourite team is Brazil and I think it's good that it has got a couple of wake-up calls so early.This will help it later in the tournament, when it will have to play good soccer to retain the Cup.

Gameplan

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport