India v Kenya
Wednesday, October 17, 2001

It was a disastrous performance by India in all three departments of the game. They started off with undisciplined bowling and ragged fielding, and followed that up with a shocking display of batting on a good pitch. All in all, it was a forgettable day. And to add insult to the Indian injury, Kenya walked away with the bonus point too.

The batting rot started with the strangely defensive approach of the two best batsmen in the line-up, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly. On a belter against a weak bowling attack, they should have begun aggressively. But their slow and careful start seemed to suggest that they had set personal milestones ahead of the team's cause. It also suggested their overconfidence, in that they believed the tempo could be increased later to offset the lack of runs early on. Their hesitant start kept the Kenyans interested and lifted the morale of the bowlers. And when Tendulkar departed early, and Ganguly was unfortunately dismissed after a brief flourish, Kenya had got just the start they wanted.

The asking-rate proved to be a bother for the rest of the batsmen. Jacob Martin batted for a while, but I don't think he would have been happy with his performance. He is a much better player than he showed today. One of his problems seemed to be the fact that he was often late in meeting deliveries and playing his shots. A lighter bat could solve that problem.

Steve Tikolo's debut as a captain was exceptional. His off-side field placement, with men at backward point, point and extra-cover, choked the flow of runs. It wasn't surprising to see him exhibit his cricketing acumen on the field, as he has often used this common-sense approach in his batting too. He showed the same sensible approach in his captaincy, and never let up the stranglehold throughout the Indian innings, in spite of having a substantial total to play with.

Kenya's ground fielding was committed and athletic, even though their inexperience showed towards the end when they dropped a clutch of skiers. That can happen in South Africa, where the floodlights are not the best in the world. Even [Mohammad] Azharuddin had struggled to hold on to skiers under the lights here.

The selection of the Indian team for this match was somewhat puzzling. It was surprising to see a youngster like Virender Sehwag dropped, while all the seniors played. This would have been the ideal game for Tendulkar to sit out, while Sehwag could have been included to give him another opportunity to score some runs against the Kenyan bowling.

The defeat should hurt India's pride, and they should remember that South Africa would also have been hurt by their loss to India. South Africa didn't play too well at Centurion, and they will come out with all guns blazing on Friday. This defeat has come at the wrong time for India. Things could get tougher for them in the next match.

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

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India disappoint on the field

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