The saving grace of defeat is that it invariably brings lessons
Indian View by Sambit Bal in Bangalore23-Jun-2005
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The saving grace of defeat is that it invariably
brings lessons. India haven’t merely lost a Test in
Bangalore; they have been crushed by opponents who
have been a few steps ahead of them. Australians have
batted smarter, bowled smarter and set smarter fields.
There is little use in finding comfort from the memory
of a similar defeat in Mumbai in 2001 – badly beaten
in the first Test, India went on to win the series 2-1
– because miracles wouldn’t be miracles if they
repeated themselves.India must remember Kolkata and Chennai to give
themselves hope, but it will be futile and
self-defeating to hope for an extraordinary event to
conjure itself up and turn the series around. Australia
have paid India a huge compliment by changing their
game for this series and India have been caught
napping.The difference beween Mumbai 2001 and Bangalore 2004
is stark: Australia won in Mumbai by playing their traditional
game; they swept, they set aggressive fields and they
were 99 for five in the first innings before Adam
Gilchrist chanced his arm around to bail them out. And
a chance dismissal – Sachin Tendulkar’s full blooded
pull against Shane Warne ricocheted of Justin Langer
at forward short leg and Ricky Ponting brought off a
magical catch, sprinting nearly 25 yards and diving
full-length to pluck the ball inches off the ground –
gave Australia the decisive advantage when India
batted second. John Buchanan later admitted that his
team’s biggest failure in 2001 was not seeing the
warning signals in Mumbai.This time Australia have left nothing to chance. They
will not call for champagne and cigar before sealing
off a win. Buchanan was quick to remind journalists at
last evening’s press conference that Australia still
had four wickets to take. India must know now that
this is not an Australian side that will not defeat
itself. Unlike in the past, this is not a team that is
too proud to defend, either with bat or in the field.
India have only three days to come up with a revised
gameplan.With a hundred more runs in the first innings, the
result of this game could have been different. The
Australian wickets in the second innings did not fall
in the pursuit of quick runs. Apart from that of
Michael Kasprowicz, each of them was claimed by
guileful bowling on a wicket that had begun to wear.
Harbhajan Singh bowled poorly in the first innings,
but throughout the second innings, he was masterful.
He tied down Simon Katich and Michael Clarke and
reduced Damien Maryn to strokelessness. India can’t bank on
winning the toss, but they must have noticed that
Glenn McGrath is a much lesser menace after his first
four overs; somehow, they need to play him out.Sourav Ganguly has been a wonderful captain for the
young players. But he has done poor Aakash Chopra no
favours. It is no secret that Gangly prefers attacking
players, but what could have happened without Chopra’s
stonewalling in Australia is evident now. India have a
wonderful middle order, but it needs protection.
Indian batting has come unhinged in two out of
their last three Tests, and on each occasion, the
middle order has failed to survive the loss of early
wickets. Chopra lost his place to Yuvraj Singh in the
last Test of India’s tour to Pakistan, and ever since,
Ganguly has let no opportunity pass to let the world
know that Yuvraj was his first choice to partner
Virender Sehwag. India were spared a selection
conundrum with Sachin Tendulkar missing this Test, but
Chopra must feel like a man with a time bomb around
his neck and he has batted like one. Chopra has to
know where he stands.
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Top-order Test batsmen don’t stick their bat outside
the off stump like tailenders, and on the evidence
of his performance in this Test, Yuvraj Singh has some
way to go. The Indian team could become a closed
society if the team management refuses to look beyond
the chosen few. Sridharan Sriram has had a wonderful
couple of seasons, he scored a wonderful hundred
against a full Indian bowling attack in a
practice match, and he should be seen as an option.Apart from Harbhajan’s bowling, the most heartening
feature for India from this match was Irfan Pathan’s
batting. He looks more impressive with every match and in
the post-match media conference, Gilchrist described
Pathan as mature beyond his years, and Ganguly said that he
considered him an allrounder. Apart from the strokes
that he can play, the most striking feature of his
batting is the way he gets behind the line of the ball
and the way he leaves them outside his off stump. This
morning he batted out 38 balls
without scoring a run when Dravid was protecting him
from Shane Warne, and after Dravid departed, he was
quick to use his feet against Warne to clout him for a
couple of fours and six. If you add up both innings, he batted
the longest for India in this match and scored the most
runs.The other good news for India is that Warne, despite
getting VVS Laxman in both innings, seldom looked
threatening. So if India can keep apace with Australia
for the first two days in Chennai, the series might still be
open.Wisden Asia Cricket
