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[Zacked]

Time for introspection

Dileep Premachandran

March 23, 2006

India's reputation as a formidable side on home soil took another pounding in this drawn series. But for three or four individuals who gave it their all, a weakened English side may even have snatched a famous victory. The once-feted batting line-up appears down for the count and serious revitalisation is needed before they embark on overseas adventures. The freshness of youth, allied with Anil Kumble's experience, gave the bowling an extra edge, but some appalling batting ensured that it came to naught.

9
Anil Kumble
Magnificent at Mohali, tireless at Mumbai. Words are inadequate to describe what he brings to this team. Illustrated how his repertoire has broadened with the dismissals of Bell and Collingwood at Mohali, and if the lion-hearted bowling wasn't enough, he was also third-highest scorer with the bat, singled out by Flintoff as "a tricky batsman to get rid of". Put down the odd chance at gully to blot the copy-book, but on the whole, he had nothing to do with India's dismal underachievement in the series.

8
Munaf Patel
His spells at Mohali and Mumbai (first innings) were a revelation, with genuine pace and reverse swing creating plenty of chances. Bowls with great control, and with a few tweaks here and there and some more variety, he can be the express bowler that India have sought ever since Javagal Srinath exited stage left.

8
S Sreesanth
The promise revealed on debut in Nagpur was confirmed by a sterling first-innings showing at Mumbai. Bowls at lively pace, and gets lovely shape away from the right-hander. Unlucky with some wretched catching, but in just two Tests, he has moved right to the front of the pace-bowling queue - along with Munaf. A manic defiant innings at Mumbai also showed that he has the fortitude to cope with tougher tests.

8
Mohammad Kaif
Was outstanding in the one outing he got before making way for Yuvraj Singh. But for his 91, India might even have left Nagpur red-faced and humiliated. Never the most fluent shot-maker, he made up for it with sheer perseverance and superb temperament. Has problems while catching in the close-in cordon, but is an electric presence in the covers.

7
Rahul Dravid
His failure in the final innings at Mumbai cost India the game, but the damage had been done earlier by his decision to field first on a pitch that was hardly verdant green. Did what he could with the bat throughout the series, and his gritty 95 at Mohali helped set up the win. Shelled some simple catches, and pouched a couple of stupendous ones. Still coming to grips with the captaincy, and not helped by the batting shambles around him.

7
Wasim Jaffer
Batted splendidly at Nagpur for a maiden century, but failed to convert his starts thereafter. Has the temperament for the job, and the range of strokes, but his technique will be severely tested in more trying conditions. As the series wore on, England figured out how to keep him scoreless and wear him down.

6
Irfan Pathan
His superb batting gave India a vital first-innings lead at Mohali, but he was largely disappointing with the ball. Occasionally a threat when the ball was new and moving around, he offered next to nothing once it got old. Outbowled by both Munaf Patel and S Sreesanth, the question now is whether he deserves to be given the new ball. Unless there's dramatic improvement, his role looks likely to be that of the third seamer/allrounder/stock bowler.

5
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Didn't enhance his reputation in a series that fetched him only 106 runs. Revealed the responsible side of his game in the first innings at Mumbai where he made a restrained 64, but ruined it with an utterly irresponsible effort in the second. Was generally sound behind the stumps till it unravelled on the fourth afternoon at the Wankhede, when a missed stumping and catch off Flintoff may have given India 50 extra runs to chase.

5
Harbhajan Singh
Didn't really bowl as badly as the figures suggest, but was nothing like as threatening as he was against the Aussies five years ago. The fear of bowling the doosra too often has made him predictable, and until a vastly improved spell or two in Mumbai, he really wasn't an adequate foil for Kumble.

4
Virender Sehwag
His poor general fitness and sloth-like reflexes at slip are one of Indian cricket's biggest worries at the moment. The English bowlers zoned in on his discomfiture against the short ball, and he was never a factor except for the unbeaten 76 which eased India's path to victory at Mohali.

4
Sachin Tendulkar
A series to forget, and one that ended with another injury cloud hovering over his future in the game. But for a free-spirited dash to 28 in the last session of mayhem at Nagpur, there was no reminder of the Tendulkar who had averaged 76.5 against England prior to this series. Did little with the ball, and was safe rather than spectacular in the field.

4
VVS Laxman
His series amounted to the one ball he faced in Nagpur, and some erratic slip catching. With India's team management known to favour a five-bowler strategy away from home, he'll have to make the most of the chances that come his way in the West Indies. His catching close-in was missed in Mumbai, with Yuvraj Singh at his greasy-fingered best.

4
Yuvraj Singh
Displayed hints of class in the first innings at Mumbai, but was otherwise well below par. Forced to field in the close cordon, he dropped more than he caught. A series against a less formidable opposition will probably help to carve out his own middle-order niche.

4
Piyush Chawla
Got only 14.1 overs to show what he could do in Mohali, and while he didn't disgrace himself, there were signs that he needs a bit more experience and nous before he can replace the irreplaceable Kumble. The potential is clearly there, and the wicket of Flintoff was a good way to start what might be a fairly distinguished career

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/indveng/content/current/story/241763.html

[Zacked]

A performance to savour

Andrew Miller

March 23, 2006

Ravaged by injury and written off by the critics, England's achievement in coming back from 1-0 down to draw their Test series in India was a performance that was "right up there with the Ashes," in Duncan Fletcher's estimation. Arguably, it even surpassed that effort. Their spirited display re-established England's credentials after a disappointing tour of Pakistan before Christmas, and an array of new talent was unearthed and found to be both eager and able.

10
Andrew Flintoff

Tireless, inspirational and the indisputable man of the moment, let alone the series. If there had been doubts beforehand about the wisdom of handing Freddie the captaincy, he harboured none of them himself - and crucially, neither did his players, who rose as one to follow his irrepressible lead. Eleven wickets in the series, four fifties in five innings, and stewardship of England's first victory in India for 21 years. He returns home this week to see his new-born son for the first time - don't be surprised if he pilots the plane as well.

9
Matthew Hoggard

Four years ago he was Nasser Hussain's lackey - a greenhorn seamer with one Test under his belt and strict orders to bowl a foot outside off stump and bore India's batsmen into submission. Even last summer he was derided as the "shop-floor steward", the man whose job was to sweep up after the big boys. Now, however, he was England's go-to man in his own right - the master of conventional swing, he proved unexpectedly adept at reversing it as well, and sharp enough to undo Virender Sehwag with the bouncer to boot. This was his crowning glory.

8
Alastair Cook

The most exciting find of the series? Probably. English batsmen are not meant to be sufficiently mature at 21 years and two months to cruise to 60 and 104 not out on debut, let alone in the stifling heat of Nagpur and with two of the finest spinners in the world harrying and hassling them at every turn. But Cook did all of this and more, compiling his runs with a left-handed technique that seemed to amalgamate the best qualities of each of his senior colleagues, Trescothick and Strauss. Twin failures at Mohali showed that he still has plenty to learn, but then again, they should help ensure that his precocious success doesn't go to his head.

8
Paul Collingwood

His superlative performance in the first Test at Nagpur evoked memories of Steve Waugh at his best - the manner in which he rode his punches, trusted his tail, and ultimately cut loose to the tune of 170 unbeaten runs in the match. Originally made his mark as Graham Thorpe's replacement in the one-day side, but now showing he can emulate him over five days as well, with nudges, nurdles and powerful clips to the boundary. An undervalued team man for much of his career, there's little doubt he was one of Flintoff's key lieutenants in a supremely high-spirited squad.

7
Owais Shah

At last we've seen a glimpse of what all the fuss is about. Shah was the youngest England A team member of all time when he toured Australia in 1996-97 as a 17-year-old, so it beggars belief that he has since been waiting in the wings for nearly a decade. But when he finally got his opportunity, he seized it with two cocksure performances that revealed a talent that has been burning under a bushel for too long, and some breathtaking leg-side play that could prove rather handy Down Under next winter as well.

7
Shaun Udal

Players have been placed in the last-chance saloon in the past, but few have supped as thirstily or gloriously as Shaun Udal. He turned 37 on the first morning of the match, and began the last knowing it was now or never to make his mark in an international career that began almost 12 years ago. He came good spectacularly, utilising a tasty patch of rough outside off stump to rip the spine out of India's second innings. Overlooked after a fruitless display in Pakistan, he could never play again, and still retire happy.

7
James Anderson

His rehabilitation is complete, and England's bowling stocks are all the healthier. Anderson's second coming as an international bowler began with an incisive spell in England's one-day series in Pakistan before Christmas, but by his own admission, it was a summer spent in the anonymity of county cricket that made the difference. Overs under his belt, and a new wife by his side, have brought out a more rounded personality.

6
Monty Panesar

His performance at Nagpur had the pundits salivating - 42 supremely tight overs and the maiden wicket of Sachin Tendulkar heralded the arrival of a man who could yet prove to be England's first matchwinning spinner since Phil Tufnell. Like Tufnell, however, Panesar's fielding and batting aren't exactly out of the top drawer, and even his performances with the ball faltered as the series progressed. Needs to be handled sympathetically this summer, when opportunities may not arise too readily.

6
Andrew Strauss

After failing to pass fifty in five Tests since the Ashes, Strauss needed a big score at Mumbai and duly delivered with a gritty 128. But his stock has nonetheless slipped since the Ashes, and the manner of some of his dismissals would have raised eyebrows had they been committed by the middle-order, let alone his regular opening partner, Trescothick. Even so, his tally of eight centuries in 24 Tests remains phenomenal.

6
Geraint Jones

Leapt like a rampant salmon at Mumbai to snare six catches, three of them quite breathtaking. Confidence and enjoyment fuelled his performances with the gloves, though his batting remained some notches below the blazing returns that are expected of the modern-day No. 7. That said , Mahendra Singh Dhoni, his hugely-hyped opposite number, produced the biggest gaffes of the series with both gloves and bat, so Jones must be doing something right.

6
Kevin Pietersen

Another series in which his successes, 87 in the first Test and 64 in the second, were overshadowed by the exasperating nature of his failures - such as his drag-on to Sreesanth in the midst of a fiery over at Nagpur, and his sweeping, driving and general heaving out of the leg-side rough on countless other occasions. But the slow, low pitches of the subcontinent were never likely to be his favourite arenas, so 417 runs in six Tests of naturally uninhibited strokeplay is probably par for the course.

5
Steve Harmison

For Pietersen with the bat, likewise Harmison with the ball. Another player whose natural game belongs in bouncier climes, he followed up a scattergun first-Test with a wickedly threatening second spell at Mohali, though he received little but shin damage for his efforts. By missing the Mumbai match, he allowed Anderson to have his moment of glory, and for England's prospects of broadening their squad, it was a very timely niggle indeed. Some time at home during the one-dayers will be good for his peace of mind and England's - there are other contests looming in which his attributes will be crucial, as opposed to merely useful.

5
Ian Bell

Worth his place for his catching alone, with two efforts standing out in particular - a screeching one-handed interception in the covers at Mohali, and that bat-pad snaffling of Tendulkar at Mumbai. But his primary job is as a batsman, and with pressure for places hotting up all the time, he needs to shake off the suspicion that he is a soft touch and score runs when the pressure is really on. Gamely stepped into the opener's role when Cook fell ill at Mumbai, but a solitary fifty in six innings meant that his sterling returns in Pakistan have been all but forgotten.

4
Liam Plunkett

Performed admirably in adversity on debut before Christmas, but was anonymous in his second coming. Bowled just 11 nervy overs at Mohali and was palpably out of his depth when asked to slot into the troublesome No. 8 position. Will have benefited immensely from this winter's experience, and at the age of 20, time is most certainly on his side.

3
Ian Blackwell

Ashley Giles's like-for-like replacement proved to be nothing of the sort in his one outing of the tour, though had Panesar not proved such an instant success, he might have been forced to shoulder more of the burden. It might be some time before he graduates from the one-cap wonder club, though with the World Cup looming he has another goal that is more relevant to his particular talents.

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/indveng/content/current/story/241769.html