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[Zacked]

SAFETY-FIRST APPROACH COSTS INDIA
By Peter May

Come back Saurav, all is forgiven?

Greg Chappell is more likely to apologise to Brian McKechnie than he is the former India captain but, for all his faults, Ganguly would surely not have handed the third Test to England by fielding first in Mumbai.

Rahul Dravid's decision to do just that proved a grave error of judgement, presenting England with a bigger gift even than that from Ricky Ponting at Edgbaston last summer.

A first-innings deficit of 121 makes history the judge of India's decision, and the hosts compounded their error with the kind of caution which every winning team requires in measure but resists en masse.

Dravid, impenetrable as ever, was the outstanding batsman of the series yet too willing to allow his cautious batting style to pervade into captaincy; a rethink is surely required.

Not only did his reluctance to face Andrew Flintoff cede the initiative on the first morning, it gave England a huge advantage at the death, too; if the fifth-day seamers bowled with typical accuracy and hostility then they could not have secured a 212-run victory without the influence of Shaun Udal.

Dravid had recently usurped Sachin Tendulkar as England's priority target yet it was not in his dismissal to his opposite number, and rather in Udal's performance, where The Wall truly fell down.

Tendulkar has never looked less comfortable than he did following the loss of Dravid and, despite playing moderately in the morning session, his demise via the diving Ian Bell came as no great surprise.

Even then there was no reason to suspect that England were in total control with Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag and MS Dhoni still to come and no more than three per over needed in the middle session.

Yet the Mumbai surface made a strike rate of 50 look positively colossal and India, lacking leadership after losing their two talismen in seven balls, were staggeringly incapable of addressing the challenge.

In particular Dhoni will have cause for regret.

Some had considered the young wicketkeeper to have usurped Tendulkar in the Indian people's affections but that view can be put on hold, if only until he blasts a 40-ball century in next week's one-dayers.

Spared an embarrassing dismissal when Monty Panesar allowed a skier off Udal to bounce, the young wicketkeeper's decision to repeat the folly in trying to hit out of the ground allowed England's reluctant long-off a reprieve.

Dhoni took his time to return to the pavilion, doubtless weighing his next move: neither the Indian dressing room nor the public spaces of Mumbai can have held any great appeal as the anger poured forth.

From there on Udal turned the screw and, perhaps more surprisingly, the ball as the costs of Dravid's timidity became ever more apparent.

Munaf Patel was the 37-year-old's final victim as he finished with 4 for 14; the penultimate wicket of Harbhajan Singh was perhaps the more symbolic.

If Udal was imposing bowling last then, given the chance, Harbhajan would surely have produced the kind of match-winning performance which has become all too rare from the original Turbanator.

The Chappell-Dravid axis appeared to have silenced their critics in an emphatic 4-1 ODI success in Pakistan in January, but that followed an insipid 1-0 Test series defeat.

With the ICC Champions Trophy at home later this year and then the World Cup to follow shortly after, one-day success will fireproof the leadership.

Yet there is an imbalance in India's approach: Dhoni must, and will, take the rap for his churlish dismissal but it was no more a disproportionate approach than that of his captain.

Not only has Test cricket changed to the degree where "safety first, second and third" is simply not viable, but India are a team too rich in talent, character and ego to reign themselves in.

When it was suggested that India were too late to go on the attack in the first Test, thus denying themselves a series-defining win, criticism looked premature.

Now it looks prescient: while Dhoni takes the fall, Dravid and Chappell must rethink building a team for the future with tactics from the distant past.

http://www.sportinglife.com/cricket/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=cricket/06/03/22/manual_131620.html

[feverpitch]

Come back Saurav, all is forgiven?

Try telling this to Grumpy!

Greg Chappell is more likely to apologise to Brian McKechnie than he is the former India captain but, for all his faults, Ganguly would surely not have handed the third Test to England by fielding first in Mumbai.
Rahul Dravid's decision to do just that proved a grave error of judgement, presenting England with a bigger gift even than that from Ricky Ponting at Edgbaston last summer.

Who does Peter May think he is, doubting the intellectual potential our forward-looking-brave-thinking-captain? And as we know by now, so far as Torquemada Chappell is concerned, in his world of self righteousness, apologies are for sissies -- he's our Übermensch!

[bouncer]

I am confused.

Fielding first was the conservative, safety-first attitude- May
Playing five bowlers was the agressive attitude- Bhogle

Which attitude should RD get rid of?

[gouravk]

Haha ... to each his own. I think RD tried to go for broke and that was a mistake in hindsight.

[bouncer]

So agian, what do the folks in this DG think? we were too conservative or too aggressive, or had no coherent strategy?