India have to learn to finish off the tail
- By R. Mohan
[Teddy's comments:
1 Spinners can't blast the tail out on a D1 or D2 or even D3 pitch.
2 The new ball was not taken on time - because the lack of
pace bowling resources within X1. Time to play 3 pacers.
3 Teams around the world know how to play spin well -
why? because of India's prominent standings in world cricket
they have taken up playing spin more often and it is
easy to learn to play spin. Ponting,Hayden,Gilly and
most Eng and NZ teams have learnt it and now play spin very well.
Just see how well they play Murali these days.
Only Warne has not been mastered by them- but India got no
Warne.
4 It is time to jettison the spin-heavy attack and take up
more pacers in the playin X1 even at home.
(some people will say Teddy has an agenda to get Bhajji
out of the team - but I'm fine with whoever plays)
But just one.
5. Eng erred in selecting 2 spinners - I think they would have
gone with Simon Jones if available or Plunkett had he been
fully fit. Now that Monty has shown he can stick around with
the bat, he could be the lone spinner going forward.
]
Of all the worst case scenarios possible, the one of Paul Collingwood batting on for England with the tail and then getting Virender Sehwag early was possibly the grimmest for India. Cricket is such a cruel game that it loves to tickle the funny bone by springing all kinds of surprises, including England’s best Test match morning in India in more than two decades even as that scenario came true.
Not since Gatting and Fowler batted on seemingly for ever after India had rattled off 275 in under a day — this frenetic hurry being in response to pointed criticism of the turgid cricket the host team had played in Calcutta in an earlier Test — and then Neil Foster bowled India out again with swing and cut in Chennai in 1984-85 could England have felt so good out here.
The big ticket to winning cricket in India is to win the toss, pile on a total and achieve the right balance between attack and containment of a quick-eyed and light-wristed batting lineup. Thanks to Collingwood who discovered the degree of patience that pays the highest dividend on slow pitches, England were able to make a total that was at least 100 more than they could have realistically expected after the opening day’s follies.
Collingwood’s vigil in a maiden Test century, the tail’s resourcefulness and India’s inability to go through after getting more than just their foot in the door helped change things so much that the play was almost surreal when a sardar bowled one ball that popped right across the face of the bat and beat everyone and went for four byes.
It could well have been India getting a grip on an opponent’s throat if it was not actually Monty Panesar of Luton and Ludhiana turning the ball off Sreesanth-created rough.
Wasim Jaffer, probably lucky to survive the first few overs of classy finger spin from the Northants tweaker, was, however, too shrewd and experienced a performer to let an opportunity go.
Opening the batting in India is almost a pleasurable task provided a batsman gets past the time when the hard, lacquered ball bounces and moves a bit. So often have Team India compromised by using a non-specialist opener in home Tests that Jaffer may have to thank his stars for the opportunity to be playing.
Jaffer may not have been the most convincing batsman on view but he is another of those thriving in the ultra competitive atmosphere that has been built up in Team India in the Chappell-Dravid dispensation.
One of the cardinal principles that has been established, including in the sensational and sentimental case of Sourav Ganguly, is no one is exempt from a searching examination of current form.
The Mumbai opener did enough to fill the yawning gap left by Sehwag’s airy drive. But the quicksilver element of Indian batting had disappeared with the departure of Sehwag.
From then on, it was a hard grind and Indian were reduced to grafting their runs, with the ever dependable skipper, who may have been fortunate to get the benefit of the doubt that was not given to his counterpart on day one when struck on the pads, and the persevering opener cobbling a stand on a surface getting slower by the hour and incommoding strokeplay of the thrilling kind we saw in Pakistan.
The adhesive quality of Indian pitches is such that the ball can never come on to the bat truly except on what are called patta pitches which are clay-packed horrors. So, Dravid may have had reason to believe his bowlers had given away 100 more than they should have. He won’t be the first captain to have to wistfully dream of the day when Team India will display the true killer instinct by which you knock out an opponent when he is down.
Without the reverse swing of day one, it took Sreesanth and the spinners a lot of time and runs to get past even the likes of Harmison who may have rattled the bowlers with his daring attack on the new ball that had to be claimed because Hoggard had proved so difficult to dislodge.
One suspects it was the ancient inability in Indian bowling to go through a whole batting order that gave England a peep at the light beyond the tunnel. Of course, batting strength may in time carry India into an impregnable position from which they can only win the war with triumphal spin on a wearing pitch. I think the die is cast already.
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