Here's the full report (wierd, it allows me to post...)
Highlighted the salient points.
By Prem Panicker
Windies 318/6 in 82 overs at stumps
A distinct lack of imagination characterized the captaincy, and the team performance, in the third session of the day – all the more regrettable given that India got the breakthrough they needed to the first ball after the break.
Anil Kumble opened the session with a well directed flipper that hustled on off the deck, beating Ramnaresh Sarwan’s tentative push and nailing him bang in front of the wickets in the leggie’s most favored mode of dismissal (58/110; 182/4).
Given that start, you would expect the team to have attacked at the other end too, with the only seamer to have shown enough skill and mental strength for the job – but Dravid opted first for VRV Singh, then Sreesanth, rather than Munaf Patel who, interestingly, has in this Test been clocked the second fastest of the bowlers, behind only Fidel Edwards.
Dwayne Bravo, who bats in the tradition of the majestic West Indians of the 70s and 80s, underlined the folly of that move, whipping the seam bowlers off his pads, driving him through mid off, then clipping him again through the leg side for fours in one over (the 53rd) as the bowler appeared increasingly frustrated and out of touch.
The single biggest folly, though, had already been committed 48 hours previously when the captain and coach opted to ‘rest’ Harbhajan Singh, in defiance of the theory that you play your best bowlers irrespective.
That folly was rubbed in by Virender Sehwag, who took the ball in the 54th over, switching with Kumble, and reeled off two maidens on the trot. It was not the dot balls that were key – rather, it was what the deliveries did. They bit into the deck and kicked off length, they turned sharply past the outer edge of both left and right hander (Sehwag in fact felt happy enough with the conditions to reel off a couple of wrong ones at Chanderpaul) and, in his second over, the bowler found Bravo’s edge.
Which brings up yet another mistake – over the past one year, one of the lessons you would think had been rubbed in time and again is that Mohammad Kaif, for all his skills in the outfield, is no good as a close in fielder.
The key point, that Kaif never stays still as close catchers need to, but keeps bouncing around on his toes, has been made often enough by television commentators, print and net reporters, but apparently, Dravid neither read, nor heard, nor noticed the number of chances Kaif had let go whenever he was tried in that position.
He was back there again, while a Wasim Jaffar, a far better close catcher, patrolled the outfield – and again, Kaif was in mid air when the ball came at him; predictably, down she went.
Having reeled off four overs for returns of two maidens, four runs, Sehwag adopted the off spinner’s ploy of going around the wicket to the left handed Chanderpaul. The bowler pushed one through flat and quick just outside off, Chanderpaul went for the cut, bowler, keeper and close catchers went up in appeal and Asad Rauf upheld (SC 24/79; Windies 255/5).
Chanderpaul walked off shaking his head vehemently enough to run the risk of shaking his helmet off – but on the replay, a clear noise was indicated; the snickometer confirmed the edge, and given the batsman’s pads were a long way away from either bat or ball, there was nothing other than the edge that could have produced the noise except the edge of the bat.
Chanderpaul had till that point played his part to perfection – with Bravo batting like a dream, he stayed intent on holding his end up and supporting his partner in a 73-run partnership that saw the Windies ride the shock of the early fall of Sarwan, and race past the Indian total.
Bravo was quiet simply magnificient – impeccable footwork, immaculate shot selection, and the confidence to back himself to play shots around the clock to speed and spin alike.
The best possible exemplar of his class, even in an innings that was easily the best by any batsman of either side, was the 65th over. Dravid brought Kumble back on, and Bravo greeted him with an outstanding back foot cover drive that left the field standing to find the fence. Superb as that was, it was shaded two deliveries later by a lovely late shimmy down the track as Kumble flighted one, to meet the ball on the half volley and smack it smooth as you like to the long on fence. Having showcased power, first, and then footwork and timing, Bravo went delicate – leaning back, waiting an eternity for a ball on his off to get to him, and playing the daintiest of late cuts for his third four of the knock.
This 20-year-old is so good he is scary – and he backs it all up with the sort of supreme confidence that characterized the Windies greats in their prime; his demeanor out there is one of command, a majestic assurance that no bowler deservers the honor of bowling to him. (Yes, it is early days and yes, Bravo could with time prove to be mortal after all – but thus far, what you see is what you like. Really like.)
Ironically – Harbhajan should have been particularly aware of the irony here – the only bowler who troubled him was Sehwag. Predictably perhaps, it was Sehwag who took Bravo out when it looked like a century was his for the taking.
In the 68th over, Sehwag floated one up on full length, just outside Bravo’s off stump. The batsman bit, coming down the track to take on a bowler who had troubled him all along; his expansive drive was beaten in the air, the ball spun sharply enough to go between flailing bat and pad, and Dhoni did extraordinarily well to take the ball while still on its climb, and bring it down smartly to whip off the bails before Bravo could recover (Bravo 68/92; Windies 282/6).
Just to rub the point in about the missing off spinner, Bravo took 27 runs off 24 deliveries from Kumble; against Sehwag, 26 deliveries produced a dropped catch, a mere 7 runs and finally, the wicket.
The problem with a four-man pace attack – a problem India has faced often in the past, to trigger the idea of playing the extra bowler – is that it is only as good as its weakest link. And this attack, on the day, had two: VRV Singh, who is too young, too green, to be able to string enough tight deliveries together to exert pressure, and Sreesanth, who had a personal nightmare compounded by his own character traits.
The seam bowler’s aggression is much talked of, but there are times when you need to be able to pull your horns in; to bowl inside of yourself, just concentrate on line and length and tidiness till the tide turns in your favor.
Clearly, no one has told Sreesanth that. He started out aggressive, was mauled by Gayle (29 off 27) and, seemingly without learning from that, bowled multiple lines at Sarwan (15 off 13); challenged Lara rather than test him (10 off 6) and lost the plot completely against Bravo, being carved for 5 fours as the batsman pulled, cut, drove and sliced him for 22 off 17.
One bowler going for 82 in just 13 overs cuts deep, and cuts two ways: one, you are forced to over-burden the other bowlers to cover for the truant one; two, by giving away one third of the total (Ian Bradshaw did that against India, but the West Indies had bowling options to rotate through), you ensure that your fellow bowlers cannot attack too hard.
India was mercifully let off the hook, at least marginally – partly through the carelessness of the likes of Lara and Gayle, who had the bowling at their mercy, and partly by Sehwag’s spell. That partially covers problems – but does nothing to eliminate them; barring a hasty rethink of certain key ingredients, the bill could well be higher than the team can afford.
Which brings up the other curiosity – you would think with bowling resources stretched thin; with VRV Singh not deemed good enough to owl more than 10 overs; given too that there was turn and bounce on the deck, Dravid would have tried an over or three of Yuvraj Singh, who can be surprisingly deceptive with his left arm spin, especially once Bravo was gone.
While watching Ramdhin and Bradshaw play out the final phase of the day and inch their team further forward, one final thought occurred: Even granting Irfan Pathan’s less than inspirational form of the moment with bat and ball, throughout the day the Indians lacked a bowler who could shape the ball away from the left handers through the off corridor and, crucially, someone who could bend it back in to the right hander from the angle.
The third session produced 136 runs for the loss of three wickets in 41 overs; Windies go in 77 runs ahead and four wickets still standing, threatening a lead of over 100.
This Test still has a ways to go; batting last here is not likely to be a picnic – but when the curtain comes down, the final verdict could well be that this was won and lost in the dressing room before the game had even started, and if that happens, it would be a real pity.
AuthorTopic: Good match report by PP (Read 298 times)
March 04, 2006, 08:09:13 PM