Ganguly's absence probably helped
By Vivek Gupta
Indians win one, then promptly lose the next. We, very seldom, see India
winning a one-dayer after they had lost the previous one. Could it be
because Saurav Ganguly wasn't there in the middle to mind the "young,
inexperienced lot" of Indian players who apparently are gearing up to be
among the squad for the next World Cup? The ‘Prince of Kolkata’ was
sitting out apparently because of injury (Do we really believe that?). I
wish he doesn't get well before this series gets over. Amen!
Anyway, it was left to the composed and level-headed Anil Kumble to wear
the captain's hat and deliver the goods. There was no lack of motivation
on the field. English wickets fell at regular intervals though Marcus
Trescothick threatened to cash in on his current form in the initial
overs of the match. However, the best phase of the England innings came
during a 70-run partnership between Jeremy Snape and Ben Hollioake which
could only help them to a paltry total of 217 runs on a fairly good
batting track. Agarkar once again proved his importance to the Indian
bowling attack by claiming four important wickets, which included those
of Trescothick, Snape and Hollioake. The acting captain led by example,
dismissing two English batsmen.
When India replied, the rising star of Indian cricket, Virendra Sehwag
filled the opening slot in the absence of Ganguly. He made 51 and
matched his partner, Sachin Tendulkar, shot for shot. The latter himself
, was in a stupendous touch slamming every Tom, Dick and Harry, who
dared to come up before him with blistering strokes. Darren Gough was
dispatched for 17 runs in his third over putting the English attack on
the defensive. The initial burst from Tendulkar and Sehwag proved to be
the final nail in the English coffin and from there, the target of 218
was never going to be defended. The Indians sealed the four-wicket win
in the 47th over.
Fortunately, the umpires V Chopra and DD Sharma (has anybody ever heard
of them?) did a good job and avoided getting into any controversy
despite question marks on the policy of BCCI to select umpires for the
international matches. Since, neither of the two Indian umpires on the
ICC panel, S Venkataraghavan and AV Jayaprakash, are among the 18
different officials for the six games, the incompetence or the
inexperience of the selected umpires is bound to affect the outcome of
the games in some way or the other. Already, dubious decisions have been
made in the first of the six-match series, which probably turned the
match in favour of the home team.
The series is still wide open. The young players in our team have
responded well to the challenge and are making most of the opportunity
they have been offered. With Laxman, and probably Ganguly too, out of
team for the rest of the series, I believe India has a fairly good
chance to win the series. I still am not too sure about the credentials
of the umpires officiating these matches. What to do? It's all in the
game.
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