Team India fall apart in the heat

Thursday March 27, 04:18 AM

The toss was very, very important, remarked Harbhajan Singh at the end of Day One of the first Test at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. That was not an exaggeration, as India struggled to make an impact on a flat bed that had nothing in it for the bowlers.

It wasn't just the attack that looked toothless though. Overall, it was a lackadaisical fielding display - with dropped catches and a severe paucity of bowling options contributing to the cause.Shoulders drooped as the glaring sun loomed over Chennai, and the humidity didn't make things any easier for the players.

But even the conditions don't provide adequate excuse on a day when India conceded 45 boundaries - not to mention the cheeky singles SA kept stealing.

There were many examples: Sourav Ganguly failing to bend in time as the ball rolled over the ropes, Mahendra Singh Dhoni dropping an easy inside edge of Smith's bat, Harbhajan letting a straight nudge off Neil McKenzie's bat go from under his arms to the boundary -even Yuvraj Singh, the 12th man and the country's leading fielder, faltered. "We gave away close to 30 runs in the field. We should have definitely fielded better.

"But these things happen in cricket," Harbhajan said at the end of the day. "It would have been nice to see the scoreboard at 270-4 in the end," says Harbhajan.

A few good men

Other than Piyush Chawla (fielding for Sachin Tendulkar) diving at deep mid-wicket to save a boundary, Kumble diving to his left to take Ashwell Prince's catch and Rahul Dravid judging McKenzie's catch well at first slip, the rest of the Indian side managed to fumble more often than not.

With six more wickets to go and the pitch still a long way from embracing the spinners, it would be nice if the fielders got their act together on Day Two.

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