The Hindu : Sport : Openers a cause for concern

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Monday, Dec 11, 2006
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Openers a cause for concern

S. Dinakar

Stroke-makers have struggled to cope with the bounce

FILE PHOTO: K. BHAGYA PRAKASH

WHERE ARE THE RUNS?: Virender Sehwag and Wasim Jaffer will have to come up with answers and quickly too.

Potchefstroom: The Kookaburra ball has its own dynamics. It has a less pronounced seam. It swings early, does very little later on.

Once the ball loses its shine and hardness, the pacemen struggle. In other words, it is hard to achieve reverse swing with Kookaburra.

This is precisely why India coach Greg Chappell says, "Once you are in against Kookaburra, you are in."

This is also the reason why starts are so important, and why the openers are so vital in the Indian scheme of things.

But the men at the top of the order have contributed very little on the ongoing tour. With the sluice gates open, the South African pacemen have been able to make major inroads when the ball was still new and hard.

The Indian middle-order has been exposed early. And it has faltered. The stroke-makers have struggled to cope with the combination of movement and bounce.

Right focus

Under the circumstances, the Indian focus was right during the practice session at Sedgars Park on Sunday. Chappell watched Virender Sehwag with eagle eyes at the nets. The emphasis was on Sehwag using his feet more.

Then the Indian coach took Wasim Jaffer along for a separate stint with lighter balls. The young batsman requires to play the lifting balls with softer hands.

The Indian win over Rest of South Africa was mainly achieved through some incisive pace bowling and some stiff resistance from the middle and late order. Take away the contributions from Sourav Ganguly and Irfan Pathan and there was very little substance in the Indian batting.

Ganguly and Pathan's displays also showed that batting becomes easier against Kookaburra once the batsmen settle in and the ball loses shine and hardness.

The No.3 slot is also a part of the top order and, mercifully for India, the technically accomplished Rahul Dravid has been rock-solid in this position.

The Indian skipper is recovering well from a finger injury. He had a longish session here on Sunday, facing the bowling machine. Dravid's form will be a key factor in the three-Test series.

Earlier during the tour, Dravid had made a point about the batsmen needing to play a lot more horizontal bat strokes on the bouncy South African pitches.

Weight of the bat

We now move into another territory — the weight of the bat.

Some of the Indian batsmen have asked for the bats to be trimmed. They want to use a lighter willow. And it is no secret that it is easier to play the horizontal bat strokes with a bat weighing less, that is easier to lift shoulder high or just below.

This also brings Gautam Gambhir into the frame. He is a fine cutter and puller. The presence of Gambhir should keep Jaffer and Sehwag on their toes. Jaffer has to be more decisive in the corridor. Sehwag needs a dose of confidence.

The new ball has to be blunted first. Then, the stroke-makers can exhibit their skills.

If we glimpse at India's performance on the tour of Australia in 2003-04, the openers, with contrasting methods, denied the pacemen early. Once the platform was laid, the innings was constructed.

If the nebulous early phase is seen off with minimum damage, then the Indians could prosper.

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