Thinking forward
Abhishek Mathur - 17 April 2002
The much-hyped Indian tour of the West Indies is now one match
old, and while all is not over for either team, the Guyana Test
has given enough material for the team management to ponder over
if India are to make this series an interesting one, let alone
emerge victorious at the end of it all.
For starters, though, a big round of applause for Rahul Dravid,
the one man who gave Indian fans something to cheer about at
Guyana. His innings has shown that he is one of the most vital
members of this Indian team, especially on away series. One can
only hope that he continues in similar vein throughout the tour
and gets better with every outing.
Dravid has always been one of India's best batsmen overseas,
averaging 56.8 in 28 matches and with six of his 10 hundreds
coming outside India. He has shown an uncanny knack to outscore
even Sachin Tendulkar when both batsmen have played abroad. He
can, after this lovely innings, definitely demand back his number
three spot, for which he is the best man. This innings should
definitely give the skipper and coach enough food for thought.
But even as Dravid clicked, the opening scenario is still a mess.
The less talked about it, the better. I don't know how long, or
to what extent of abysmal performance, the selectors are going to
wait before they do something about it. Deep Dasgupta was again
not very impressive behind the stumps, and if India really want
to include a good batsman instead of a genuine keeper, they could
always hand the gloves to Dravid and take a regular opener like
Wasim Jaffer. Of course, this is not the best of ideas, but it
would still serve India better than the keeping of Dasgupta.
Sourav Ganguly, I think, is now in the team only on the strength
of his captaincy, and even that was not too impressive. I would
agree with popular team that Ganguly, in the current series, is
playing for his place in the team. If he is to continue, he had
better perform, for unlike Steve Waugh, who may have been able to
command a place in the team on just sheer leadership skills,
Ganguly will struggle without a good performance here.
The much-built-up Sachin Tendulkar - Brian Lara contest did not
come anywhere close to a climax, and while we all wait for the
pair to come back strongly in the coming matches, I think
Tendulkar already has a head start. Hooper said, "Tendulkar was
authoritative," but I would say that Tendulkar let go an
opportunity - once again.
Tendulkar had a tremendous opportunity to get a big score, and
even the innings he played was flawless. One possible factor that
prevents him from getting those big scores and match-winning
innings is his temperament. Also, lately, his strange defensive
approach to spinners is being looked upon with concern by many of
his supporters. One saw against Ashley Giles and again here
against Mahendra Nagamootoo. Where is the Tendulkar we know? He
is maturing, people say, but for India to win a series, Tendulkar
will have to change his approach towards spinn and dominate them,
just like he dominated the seamers in the first Test. By his
standards, then, he has still a lot to prove to his fans.
VVS Laxman is another case in point of a person who is not doing
enough justice to the talent he possesses. The stylish Hyderabadi
will have to play with a lot more composure, more attitude and
determination if India are to benefit from his presence in the
current series.
One should also accord due praise to the efforts of Javagal
Srinath. But while he was impressive and easily the pick of the
Indian bowlers, he lacked consistency, without which India can
only dream of getting the opposition out twice.
Besides, he alone cannot do it all. India have much planning to
do on the bowling front. Anil Kumble was easy pickings for Carl
Hooper, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan. Until he
gets into his groove, bowling the accurate line and length he is
known for, India will have to bear the expense. And while
Sarandeep Singh impressed with both bat and ball, I think that
when Harbhajan Singh recovers for the second Test, Sarandeep will
have to sit out. Harbhajan is a much better off-spinner, and with
his return, India should have much more to cheer at Port-of-
Spain.
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