The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Experience is on India's side

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 18, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Experience is on India's side

Test cricket is more a bowler's game than one-dayers, writes Mohinder Amarnath

If the one-day series proved difficult to win for Bangladesh, it will be more so in the Tests. As I have said already, the Bangladesh team, as it is now, may be more comfortable with the slam-bang of one-day international cricket but is certainly not ready for Tests.

Among the batsmen, only captain Habibul Bashar and his deputy Mohammed Ashraful have the technique and temperament required to play a long innings. Though Shahriar Nafees has a century to his credit against Australia, he has not played enough Tests to be a big enough threat just yet.

A five-day game often tests a player's endurance and patience as much as it does his cricketing skills. And it is here that experience proves invaluable. If you take just four players from this Indian team — Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble — you will find that together they have played 446 Tests.

The entire Bangladesh Test squad for this series — comprising 13 players — has played 241, and if memory serves me right, there are two Test debutants in there.

An exception

While it is true that Bangladesh posted 427 against Australia last year, I would call that an exception. The Australians were tired at the end of a long and hectic season, and were struggling to adjust to the slower conditions in Bangladesh after the swing and seam in South Africa.

Hence, I would not read too much into such past achievements, because the bottom line is that Bangladesh lost that Test series 2-0, and the second Test by a huge margin.

India, too, haven't played a Test since January this year, and the players must be excited at the prospect of one. Anil Kumble, in particular, will play a major role because like old wine, he has been maturing and improving remarkably as a Test bowler over the past two or three years.

He can contain and attack at will as and when required, and is the kind of wicket-to-wicket bowler that a captain dreams of.

Need to adapt

The Bangladeshi youngsters like to play their shots, but I would not advise too much of that against Kumble. They need to occupy the crease and play long innings. They also need to adapt as the wicket changes over five days, and the ability to do that comes only from experience.

If the wicket at Chittagong is like the one at Mirpur, batsmen should have plenty of incentives, but the important thing to realise here is that Test cricket is more a bowler's game than one-day cricket, and India have proven match-winners in Kumble and Zaheer Khan.

It will be good to watch India play a Test match again not least because, in this part of the world at least, Test cricket needs a shot in the arm. A few results and big wins for the team may be just what the doctor ordered.

Gameplan

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