by Lawrence Booth at Napier
Sunday, December 29, 2002

Sourav Ganguly has just deflected the third ball of India's reply into his stumps. The shot is a gruesome replica of his dismissal three days earlier at Auckland, and Simon Doull, who won 32 Test caps for New Zealand as a swing bowler and now commentates for national radio, isn't impressed. "It's indicative of the way he's got out the whole time," says Doull. "He's not got his head or his body in behind the ball at all."

Doull, 33, knows a thing or two about bowling to India in helpful conditions: four years ago he swung it like a banana to pick up 7 for 65 at Wellington and set up a series win.

Doull's victims that day included Ganguly, Rahul Dravid (for 0) and Sachin Tendulkar, and Doull reckons India have learned very little in the meantime. "They play away from their body," he says, a point that is borne out later by the dismissals of Mohammad Kaif and Sanjay Bangar.

"That's how you try to get them out: pitch the ball up and make sure it was up far enough to swing and seam. And you look to find a nick or get them lbw, because they rarely get their feet beyond the white line. They can get away with it at home, but they can't get away with it here."

Playing from the crease has been one of India's biggest problems on this tour, but Doull thinks he has spotted another. "They defend to cover and to point, not down the ground. They've been getting caught in the slips with an angled bat. Your bat's only four inches wide anyway, so why make it two?" Doull may not have been Don Bradman, but then it doesn't need Bradman to point this out.

You can't pick up a local paper here at the moment without reading the words "highly rated" and "much-vaunted" followed closely by "disappointing" and "letdown". New Zealanders expected India's batsmen to purr like Rolls Royces, not splutter like Robin Reliants. The joy of winning four out of four has been tempered by a feeling of anticlimax.

"A lot of them have just looked like they don't want to be here," says Doull. "Apart from an innings from Dravid and one from Tendulkar at Wellington (as we speak, Virender Sehwag is only just getting going), we haven't seen a lot of application or much willingness to get in behind the ball, to tough it out. That's been the most disappointing thing. They've just been a bit gun shy – none more so than the captain."

As Sehwag sets about restoring some Indian pride in front of a full house of over 11,000, Doull reflects on a geriatric display in the field that gifted New Zealand about 25 runs. "It's been pretty woeful, hasn't it," he says. "I thought they'd got better, and I'm sure John Wright has done a lot of work with them."

This has been another theme of the tour too. New Zealanders have taken it almost personally that a side coached by one of their own has been so inept in the field. "There was no reason for it out there," says Doull, shaking his head. "It's a beautiful outfield. No reason for it at all." The sight of Ganguly belly-flopping hopelessly over the ball at mid-off summed up India's tour.

Not surprisingly, Doull rates New Zealand's chances at the World Cup more highly than India's. "I just think the pitches might bounce a little too much for India. They haven't learned from Dravid or Tendulkar about getting forward. The rest just haven't wanted to get in line." Not long after, VVS Laxman aims a flat-footed drive and is caught behind. Doull shakes his head again. This tour is in danger of resembling a broken record. If only the Indians were listening.

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