The Hindu : Sport : India has six survivors to Pakistan’s one

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Thursday, Nov 22, 2007
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India has six survivors to Pakistan’s one

Rakesh Rao

NEW DELHI: It is time again for an India-Pakistan Test at the historic Ferozeshah Kotla ground and perhaps the right occasion to look at the composition of the two Test teams since they last met here in 1999.

Interestingly, even after eight years and nine months following Anil Kumble’s magical figures of 10 for 74 that shut out Pakistan on the fourth day for a 212-run victory, six members of the victorious Indian team still form part of the Indian Test line-up.

Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman and Harbhajan Singh are ready to battle under the untested captaincy of Kumble. In fact, Venkatesh Prasad, a member of the 1999 squad, is now part of the Indian dressing room as the bowling coach.

In contrast, Pakistan has only one player from the playing eleven that lost here on that memorable February afternoon. Yousuf Youhana is back, but as Mohammad Yousuf.

This focussed batsman may have failed in that Test, scoring 3 and 0 and falling to Kumble in both innings, but still commands the same respect from the Indians.

Experiment with youth

Often in the past, India and Pakistan have experimented with youth and prematurely discarded the experienced players at the first sign of losing form. The very fact that India’s middle-order and the spin attack remains more or less the same as in 1999 shows that when it comes to Test cricket, experience has been voted ahead of youth.

The tested have been trusted with and youngsters made to wait for the right time, much like what one notices in Australian cricket.

On the other hand, during the last nine seasons, the Pakistan Test team looks almost entirely different. Shahid Afridi, like Yousuf, could have played again here but for his failure to cement his place in the Tests.

Come to think of it, Afridi made his Test debut in October 1998. But unlike most of the Indians in the present line-up, Afridi has succeeded in playing just 27 Tests in 10 seasons.

Players like Saeed Anwar, Ijaz Ahmed, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Saleem Malik, Moin Khan, Wasim Akram, Mushtaq Ahmed, Saqlain Mushtaq and Waqar Younis have all moved on in life since that unforgettable spell from Kumble.

Similarly, for India, S. Ramesh, Mohammad Azharuddin, Nayan Mongia, J. Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad have taken up different roles since playing their part in that memorable Test.

It is not hard to imagine Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman, and Kumble making way for younger, fitter replacements. Today, Pakistan is struggling due to the lack of quality replacements. But the youngsters do need time to evolve and mature as quality cricketers.

Young but not weak

“Retirement is an individual’s decision and much depends on the fitness level and your performances,” said former skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq before the commencement of the current tour.

He went on to say that the present Pakistan “players are young but not weak. True, the teams that visited India in the past had more experience but this team has the drive to succeed.”

In the upcoming battle between experience and youth, it remains to be seen which breed prevails.

Perhaps, the next time the teams play a Test here, Pakistan may well outnumber India when it comes to the number of survivors from the teams that take the field on Thursday.

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