The Hindu : Sport : Need to introspect even in victory

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 11, 2006

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Sport

Need to introspect even in victory

Why the Indian team couldn't win convincingly is what needs to be analysed, writes Makarand Waingankar

The difference between the wins in 1971 and 2006 of India against the West Indies is that hardly anyone expected India to win against the formidable West Indies in 1971 while in 2006 India was expected to steamroll the inexperienced opposition. With all the euphoria that was created before the tour, why the Indian team couldn't win convincingly is what needs to be analysed.

In fact, the performance balance sheet of Greg Chappell and his support staff and the established lot in the team has to be prepared. At the end of one year, the talent squadron of the Indian team managed by Chappell has performed as badly as might be expected of Bangladesh. Of India, it is not expected.

More debit than credit

The Chappell balance sheet has more columns filled in debit than credit in Test cricket which is the test of skills that was expected to be enhanced when Chappell and his support staff was appointed.

One-day cricket is nothing but the success of a side that combines well for the day. While it is extremely satisfying to win a one-dayer, the greater test of a team's capability is if that success can be stretched over a five-day period.

In the 15 Tests that India played in the 2005-2006 season, its bowlers took 246 wickets from 15,242 balls — a wicket every 61 balls. The batsmen scored 7,328 runs in 235 innings — 31 runs per innings. The figures prove that Indians improved neither their batting nor bowling.

In the five Test series that India played in 2005-2006, not a single series had the Indian batsmen collectively scoring an average of more than 36 runs per inning. This may be the reason for India playing with one additional batsman, but even with that, it has consistently failed.

When Chappell took over last season, the Indians had established stars who had been the backbone of the team since 2003. But after Sourav Ganguly was unceremoniously stripped of his captaincy, some of the seniors publicly announced that there was a fear psychosis in the team and they were wary of getting dropped if they didn't perform. Though they were censured, the feeling seemed to have affected the performance.

Inconsistent batting

In the 235 innings that India played in Tests last year, why have only 14 centuries been scored? The recent series against the West Indies showed up the inconsistency in our batting. The runs scored by Rahul Dravid against this background have to be appreciated. The first six batsmen collectively played thousands of balls, yet each batsman apart from Dravid and Wasim Jaffer made only one impact knock.

Until the West Indies series started, Irfan Pathan with 46 wickets was India's second-highest wicket-taker in 15 Tests played in 2005-2006 after Anil Kumble with 68 wickets in this period. But Pathan is now struggling to find form after the coach announced he has lost form.

It is intriguing that the side which was combining effectively with Ganguly, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Gautam Gambhir and Irfan Pathan is being replaced by inexperienced players when one should have let the experienced players consolidate their positions. Experience is one commodity one can't buy in a market. We are trying to invent a measure which will make juniors do better than the excluded seniors.

SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of the Indian team presents a dismal picture of India's performance in the past year. Strengths have reduced (even in fielding), weaknesses have increased in playing the wrong line and bowling the wrong line, opportunities missed (first and the second Tests), and the team has exposed itself to such an extent that India's prospective opponents know what strategies are a threat to the Indian team.

Fast bowling coach

The analysis clearly indicates the urgent need to have a fast bowling coach. No coach can defend the figures of bowlers getting a wicket every 61 balls in a Test match (against Pakistan it was a wicket every 91 balls last season), and if the coach has been a great batsman, he has to also explain why Sehwag, Laxman, Yuvraj Singh and Kaif don't get out in any other way and why batsmen are averaging 31 per innings.

Celebrate the 1-0 win over the West Indies by all means, but we can't afford to ignore facts. That would be inviting trouble. This win has barely staved off humiliation to a later date. Now the team and the coaching staff need to ensure that date never comes.

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