Memories are all too often short, as can be seen as India plan for the Test series against Australia.
It came as no surprise though how Irani Trophy selection policy has largely been influenced by an evaluation of the 2-1 Test loss in Sri Lanka.
Not only has the form guide been scrutinised with top players found to be out of sync, one answer, throwing experience overboard, creates doubts in the thinking of top players. This is what comes from the danger of peering too long at the imagined ghostly images still hunting the corners of India's dressing room.
It is where mind games become a dangerous occupation and administrators who have not held a bat or bowled a ball at first-class level are allowed to express views yet fail to understand the implications of such foolhardy policy of jettisoning quality.
Also questioning a coach's comments over the captaincy issue shows just how well they read the careful manner in which Gary Kirsten made his remarks. Headlines are taken at face value without studying the content of what is written.
Anyway, as Sourav Ganguly, for one, again contemplates his future and the selectors mull over their options in a search for answers, forgotten in the rush to find one or more scapegoat for the Test series defeat, is how India's game plan was lured into a spinner's web by a pair of cunning bowlers.
What the selectors need to do is examine how they can work on a recovery programme and strategy after the Test series failure, and how the players are likely to handle it in the wake of the highly destructive and effective Sri Lanka M-Factor of Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan.
It is whether the top three or four batsmen are up to it again, and of how can they atone for the two Test failures on the emerald isle, as was exposed in the third game of the series. Also remember, Australia are still searching for a Shane Warne replacement and really don't have a top-class spinner - the Warne/Tim May era has long gone and their lack of a top-ranked spinner could see them struggle in India.
Also, Australia will not have Warne or Glenn McGrath in their ranks to probe at chinks in the batting defences and there will be no review system to challenge an umpire's decision. Missing too is the dynamism created by someone as Adam Gilchrist.
Yet to win a Test series, a team needs bowlers to take wickets. It is where India also failed in Sri Lanka, albeit injuries in the third Test at Colombo Oval. Frankly Beau Casson, Bryce McGain and even Cameron White and Michael Clarke are not in the same league as the spin terror that exploded their confidence on the emerald isle.
Forgotten too is how the referral system enabled Sri Lanka to earn the most success from this trialled technology programme where the umpires were asked for a review of the appeal. In Galle, the second innings lbw appeal against Rahul Dravid left a query of how the system manipulated Law 23, note 5 (dead ball) and in a sense is flawed.
There was this gut feeling at the time an error had occurred, and whatever interpretation there is of the playing conditions, and as written at the time, it had been felt how the review was against the spirit of the law. This was underlined by Anil Kumble's request to see the ICC match referee.
Ganguly has however been one of India's more popular captains. He may have been culled from the Rest of India side for the Irani Trophy, but you can guarantee he won't go quietly. Past history suggests he is not in the habit of feebly surrendering because of a few failures.
All this needs to be looked at in detail. For a start is his cathartic tour of England last year to explain how he is capable of reinvention: a proud and masterful batsman who will not depart without a meaningful gesture. Maybe a habitual off-side drive as an explicit reminder of his feisty playing style.
It is often asked as well if VVS Laxman is the archetypal Indian batsman. He demonstrated often enough that he was capable of taming Mendis and Murali with his wristy elegance, glides and cuts. There was none of the rushed strokeplay against the two spinners that was noticed at times among others.
Back in 2006, watching Rahul Dravid bat for India's cause on a dodgy Sabina Park surface showed how through his technique he alone was capable of scoring match-winning runs. Shutting my eyes, it became so easy to imagine how his skilled batsmanship earned a 1-0 series success that had luck favoured India more, could have so easily been 3-0.
While Dravid is studious, Laxman elegant and Ganguly playful and stylish, the question is whether the fourth man in this quartet, Sachin Tendulkar, has recovered sufficiently to take his place against Australia. Remember, he still has to hunt down the Brian Lara record.
With doubts about Andrew (Roy) Symonds settled state of mind, and slow injury recovery of Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden still creating a scowl of concern, Australia are struggling as well to get a quality team together.
http://www.cricketnext.com/columns/trevorchesterfield/696/34046/ganguly-wont-go-down-quietly/0.html
AuthorTopic: Ganguly won't go down quietly aka "Time to trash Trevor Chesterfield" (Read 359 times)
