Port Elizabeth Test, Lunch, Day 1
Friday, November 16, 2001

It took a green top for Javagal Srinath to bowl the kind of length he should always have bowled. Had he shown faith in this virtue throughout his career, he would by now have had 300 Test wickets in his kitty.

Both Gary Kirsten and Jacques Kallis were dismissed by balls of fuller length. Kirsten may feel that he played a loose shot, but Kallis was certainly deceived by the length, as he was late on the ball.

Harbhajan Singh has bowled encouragingly in the first session and his rhythm is looking good. When the track starts giving assistance, he could be dangerous. I liked the line he bowled to Kallis outside off stump, but I don't quite agree with the batsman's approach in trying to attack his way out of trouble.

Herschelle Gibbs looks blessed with tremendous hand-eye co-ordination. What is most pleasing about his back-foot play is that he does not get too close to the stumps and yet executes stunning shots. He is truly gifted.

I am in agreement with the combination put up by the Indian team management - it was not easy to pick the final XI, and skipper Sourav Ganguly accepted that. Ganguly seems to have gone for Srinath's experience but relied on instinct in picking Ajit Agarkar. Neither Zaheer Khan nor Ashish Nehra quite inspired with their performances in the first Test and Agarkar's pleasing displays in the one-dayers got him the nod. Harbhajan had to be in the team and Kumble's experience could not be missed. So I will not fault the combination, even if it's not the ideal one.

There was a bit of grass on the pitch, but not much lateral movement - something that we will have to wait for till the South Africans come on to bowl. It's line and length which got Srinath the wickets rather than the kind of assistance we expect from a green top. Pitches tend to go back to their original nature and so I am not sure if the bowler-friendly character of this one will last long enough to be a major factor in the Test.

Sanjay Manjrekar, mainstay of the Indian batting in the late '80s and early '90s, was talking to H Natarajan.

More Sanjay Manjrekar
It's all in the mind
India's batsmen fail to learn

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