A different kettle of fish
Ajit Mahadevan - 26 July 2002

On May 31, in my last contribution, I had written that this Indian team had a future - and I meant it. This was even before the heroics of the NatWest final, and judging from that tourney, the side has the potential to cause significant upsets in South Africa (despite the bouncier wickets) simply because it looks balanced and bats a long way down. The benefits of the latter quality could not have been better articulated than in India's amazing win at Lord's in the Natest final.

The current outfit, with a little more experience, could be as good as the one-day side that won the Benson & Hedges World Series way back in 1985. That team too had a long tail, with Sunil Gavaskar coming in at number six, followed by Kapil Dev, Roger Binny and Madan Lal.

But even that side did not have the quality to bowl a team out twice, and neither does this one - certainly not in England. India need bowlers who can make the best use of the conditions and who are experienced at doing so. Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra are good, but they do not have the potential to run through a relatively strong English batting line-up.

In Test cricket, the batting too is no great shakes. India still lack a good opening partnership; while Virender Sehwag will struggle in his new role of having to play himself in, Wasim Jaffer is still raw. The team has a solid middle order, but if that is exposed to the new ball too early, anything can happen. Also lacking are batsmen who can accumulate runs at a steady clip without any histrionics. Rahul Dravid can get bogged down too easily, and others like VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly tend to be flashy and get out to loose shots. My question is that if India have to chase a significant score, do they have a team that would hang in there and gradually score the runs? I fear not; too many would perish in trying adventurous shots outside the off-stump.

Make no mistake about it, England still have some good bowlers. Andrew Flintoff can always cause problems, while Matthew Hoggard and new face Simon Jones are potential match-winners. Ashley Giles is just the kind of annoying bowler our batsmen do not like facing, so he always has the potential of picking up a few wickets with his left-arm spin.

So even though India seem to be discovering a formidable one-day outfit, they still are not a balanced Test side. Currently, if five bowlers are played, there is a woeful shortage of batsmen, since Ajay Ratra is somewhat below average. Similarly, if India play four bowlers, they are almost sure of not being able to bowl out the opposition.

The choice would have to be to go in with five bowlers, which then leads us to the next question. Do we have five bowlers who can bowl out a side in England. Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh are ineffective abroad. Zaheer and Nehra are just game triers at best. Ajit Agarkar has proven to be very average in the Test arena. India have no "real" wicket-taking bowlers, and they need to develop one or two of the current crop into becoming genuine attacking wicket-takers - perhaps Harbhajan and Zaheer.

Those chosen should be given extended exposure to the Kookaburra balls in international conditions, so that they can develop into potent attack forces. The other bowlers can then keep it tight and chip in with a few wickets. Also, India need to find and develop an all-rounder, which is where Sanjay Bangar could come in for Agarkar. I don't think Bangar could do very much worse with the ball, and he would definitely fare better with the bat.

Regardless of the above tinkering, as this current team stands, it is not a formidable Test side. I think the best this team can offer is very much in the future; currently it is still very much work in progress. So one must not expect too much from this side as a Test team. Rejoice in their one-day exploits for now; the good stuff is still to come.

The views expressed above are solely those of the guest contributor and are carried as written, with only minor editing for grammar, to preserve the original voice. These contributed columns are solely personal opinion pieces and reflect only the feelings of the guest contributor. Their being published on CricInfo.com does not amount to an endorsement by CricInfo's editorial staff of the opinions expressed.

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