The Hindu : Sport : Technical shortcomings exposed

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Friday, Nov 24, 2006
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Sport

Technical shortcomings exposed

S. Dinakar

Indian batsmen blown away by South African pace attack

DURBAN: It was hard not to feel for the man. The Indians had been blown away at the windy Kingsmead. And Rahul Dravid seemed alone and lonely as he faced the media on a long Wednesday night.

He himself had been consumed by a vicious incoming delivery from Charl Langeveldt. But the Indian skipper was not looking for excuses. "I could have played a little forward," he conceded.

His face hardly masked the disappointment. Save another old soldier Sachin Tendulkar, none offered resistance. Dravid was forced to defend a bunch of batsmen who had not fought for him, who seemed under a siege mentally.

Shocking capitulation

The Indian batting capitulation under the lights here in the second ODI of the five-match MTN series was shocking. The innings did not last beyond 30 overs. And India's 91 was its lowest ODI score against South Africa.

The host romped home by 157 runs. Graeme Smith's men travel to Cape Town for Sunday's game with a 1-0 lead and a much bigger psychological edge. For Dravid, Wednesday's no-contest was a bitter pill to swallow.

The captain who takes enormous pride in his performances away from home saw batsman after batsman buying the fast ticket to disaster. He could motivate his men, not bat for them. Too many reputations had been made on flat tracks.

True, the surface offered bounce and lateral movement to the pacemen, but this was only to be expected in South Africa. True, Andre Nel and Jacques Kallis achieved lift from just short of a good length, but they were surely not menacing.

Little spirit

The Indians had plenty of support at Kingsmead, but showed little spirit. They had Technical shortcomings exposed nowhere to hide.

Reputations are made on campaigns like these. "This is a tough tour. The young batsmen will have to put their hands up and be counted. They will have to show character," said Dravid. Sadly, character was conspicuous by its absence in the Indian batting.

Too much hinges on Dravid and Tendulkar. Once they fell to testing deliveries, there was little quality left. The shot selection of the rest of the Indian batsmen, as Dravid admitted, left much to be desired.

Dravid's counterpart Smith, rather mischievously, pointed out that Mohammed Kaif too had a fair share of experience in international cricket. The South African captain is not wrong.

Kaif's dismissal _ he sliced Shaun Pollock into point's hands _ was symbolic of India's batting. There was little feet movement, little purpose behind the stroke.

Making up the numbers

At the moment, Kaif is just making up the numbers. And the young Suresh Raina, low on confidence, is going through the horrors. Kaif has to be decisive in strokeplay, Raina has to construct.

On lively surfaces, a batsman has to either move fully forward to drive, defend or push or get fully back to play with a vertical blade or essay the horizontal bat shots, depending on the length.

When the Indian batsmen played away from the body or tried to hit through the line on the rise, it showed their feet were not moving.

Resultantly, they were caught in the wrong body positions. On the Kingsmead pitch, their technical shortcomings were exposed.

Young Indian batsmen need to learn their cricket on sporting pitches.

The authorities back home have to prepare wickets with pace and bounce for domestic cricket. "I have often said this should happen. But will it happen?" wondered Dravid.

Iron clad game

Application is often an offshoot of the right technique. Kallis has an iron-clad game, his batting revolves on strong basics. He realised quickly on Wednesday that he would have to cut out the frills and don the sheet anchor role against a persistent Indian attack.

"This was a pitch with bounce and all the Indians bowled well. We needed partnerships," said Kallis, adjudged the Man of the Match. His was the slowest hundred by a South African in an ODI, but it proved a match-winning effort.

The Indians have now lost 13 of the 17 games against South Africa in South Africa. They could probably pick a line out of Smith's words.

The South African captain said, "We have moved away from the fear of failure." The Indians require to do that as well.

Dravid said, "We will have to keep our chin up, be positive and work on our game. We cannot let our shoulders droop." Great tales of comeback are often scripted from adversity. The Indians have a long tour ahead.

SCOREBOARD>/b>

South Africa: (for 8 wkts, 50 overs) 248

India: W. Jaffer b Pollock 0, S. Tendulkar b Nel 35, M. Kaif c Gibbs b Pollock 8, R. Dravid b Langeveldt 18, M.S. Dhoni c Boucher b Nel 14, S. Raina c Kallis b Nel 4, D. Mongia c Kemp b Kallis 1, Harbhajan lbw b Kallis 1, A. Agarkar b Kallis 6, Zaheer c Boucher b Nel 1, M. Patel (not out) 0; Extras: (w-1, nb-2): 3; Total: (29.1 overs) 91.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-39, 3-62, 4-62, 5-82, 6-83, 7-83, 8-84, 9-85.

South Africa bowling: Pollock 7-2-17-2, Ntini 6-0-32-0, Langeveldt 4-0-26-1, Nel 8-2-13-4, Kallis 4.1-1-3-3.