Line & Length
R Mohan
Prince and his men saved India the blushes
April 17, 2008
It is a measure of Team India's desperation that the Great Indian rope trick had to be pulled out of the bag to beat a highly combative side from South Africa. Had they been hoist by their own petard, a distinct possibility when Graeme Smith was batting so well in the first innings, it would have been nothing less than catastrophic.
The Green Park curator, Shiv Kumar, may have been richer by Rs 10,000, which incidentally is the tip Team India give at all home venues whether they win or lose, but he did a favour that was far more valuable. He helped the national team salvage their pride after the drubbing in Ahmedabad on a wicket that was more South African than Indian.
The pitch factor should not, however, detract from the merits of India's performance. The scenario was frightening when the visitors had crossed 150 for the loss of just one wicket on a surface that was certain to deteriorate. To claw back from there and go on to win with two days to spare was quite a major achievement.
The opening day was not the only one on which the hosts were under pressure.
The up and down bounce was exploited by the visiting pacemen and again any result was possible when Sourav Ganguly walked out to bat. On a wicket playing tricks by the minute, the leader of the middle order demonstrated once again why they say old is gold.
Very few modern batsmen are capable of battling it out on crumbling surfaces. It is not that they are any less combative nor do they sport enormous technical deficiencies that are easily shown up in such circumstances. The difference lies in the gamut of experience that seasoned batsmen have undergone.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is not the first Indian captain to have won his first Test when at the helm. He joins such distinguished names of the modern era as Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and Anil Kumble, with the deed of the first named probably more meritorious as the team won abroad (in New Zealand) when the captain (Bishan Bedi) was ill. Shastri was also a stand-in skipper in 1988 for Dilip Vengsarkar when India hit back on a square turner at Chepauk to down the West Indies.
The Green Park parallel is probably closer to the vengeance at Chepauk when the Indian team ordered an absolute mudpit to try and level the series in which the visitors were leading 1-0.
Coincidentally, India had been shot out for 75 on a winter morning in New Delhi but they did hit back to dismiss the West Indians for 125 though they were to lose the Test after Vivian Richards was ruled not out leg before in the fourth innings when he was dead to rights but V.K. Ramaswamy would not relent.
A bright debutant called Narendra Hirwani proved too much for West Indian batsmen not quite accustomed to such challenges.
Many of the swashbuckling innocents were stranded halfway down the pitch as the ball turned well past the proffered bat and Kiran More completed a world record number of stumpings in a Test (six, including five in just the second innings).
To their credit, the South Africans of 2008 proved more doughty opponents than the West Indians who were in the '80s the top rated Test side and who simply came apart on a spinners' paradise. Until the last wicket stand of Sreesanth and Ishant proved resolute on the third morning, the Proteas were very much in the game.
Dhoni's inspired bowling changes were to alter the scenario dramatically with the moment of the contest probably that of Sehwag sending an off break fizzing off the track as soon as he had the ball in hand. By then the surface had tended to lose all pace and a tight finish was on the cards when the unpretentious offie, who is a lot more useful with the ball than he imagines, changed it all in a hurry.
Sehwag finished the series on as much of a high as when he started it with his amazing triple century. To my mind, he was the man of the series even if Harbhajan Singh and Ganguly were not all that far behind. Ganguly and a couple of his henchmen who had made a formidable trio in days when the Prince of Kolkata was acclaimed as the best Indian Test captain, performed together again to save face for Team India.
No one in his right mind would advocate this kind of a pitch to settle a series. But then that is a larger debate that may have lesser significance now when another form of the game is all set to take over cricket this week.
Republished with permission from The Asian Age
The Green Park curator, Shiv Kumar, may have been richer by Rs 10,000, which incidentally is the tip Team India give at all home venues whether they win or lose, but he did a favour that was far more valuable. He helped the national team salvage their pride after the drubbing in Ahmedabad on a wicket that was more South African than Indian.
The pitch factor should not, however, detract from the merits of India's performance. The scenario was frightening when the visitors had crossed 150 for the loss of just one wicket on a surface that was certain to deteriorate. To claw back from there and go on to win with two days to spare was quite a major achievement.
The opening day was not the only one on which the hosts were under pressure.
The up and down bounce was exploited by the visiting pacemen and again any result was possible when Sourav Ganguly walked out to bat. On a wicket playing tricks by the minute, the leader of the middle order demonstrated once again why they say old is gold.
Very few modern batsmen are capable of battling it out on crumbling surfaces. It is not that they are any less combative nor do they sport enormous technical deficiencies that are easily shown up in such circumstances. The difference lies in the gamut of experience that seasoned batsmen have undergone.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is not the first Indian captain to have won his first Test when at the helm. He joins such distinguished names of the modern era as Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and Anil Kumble, with the deed of the first named probably more meritorious as the team won abroad (in New Zealand) when the captain (Bishan Bedi) was ill. Shastri was also a stand-in skipper in 1988 for Dilip Vengsarkar when India hit back on a square turner at Chepauk to down the West Indies.
The Green Park parallel is probably closer to the vengeance at Chepauk when the Indian team ordered an absolute mudpit to try and level the series in which the visitors were leading 1-0.
Coincidentally, India had been shot out for 75 on a winter morning in New Delhi but they did hit back to dismiss the West Indians for 125 though they were to lose the Test after Vivian Richards was ruled not out leg before in the fourth innings when he was dead to rights but V.K. Ramaswamy would not relent.
A bright debutant called Narendra Hirwani proved too much for West Indian batsmen not quite accustomed to such challenges.
Many of the swashbuckling innocents were stranded halfway down the pitch as the ball turned well past the proffered bat and Kiran More completed a world record number of stumpings in a Test (six, including five in just the second innings).
To their credit, the South Africans of 2008 proved more doughty opponents than the West Indians who were in the '80s the top rated Test side and who simply came apart on a spinners' paradise. Until the last wicket stand of Sreesanth and Ishant proved resolute on the third morning, the Proteas were very much in the game.
Dhoni's inspired bowling changes were to alter the scenario dramatically with the moment of the contest probably that of Sehwag sending an off break fizzing off the track as soon as he had the ball in hand. By then the surface had tended to lose all pace and a tight finish was on the cards when the unpretentious offie, who is a lot more useful with the ball than he imagines, changed it all in a hurry.
Sehwag finished the series on as much of a high as when he started it with his amazing triple century. To my mind, he was the man of the series even if Harbhajan Singh and Ganguly were not all that far behind. Ganguly and a couple of his henchmen who had made a formidable trio in days when the Prince of Kolkata was acclaimed as the best Indian Test captain, performed together again to save face for Team India.
No one in his right mind would advocate this kind of a pitch to settle a series. But then that is a larger debate that may have lesser significance now when another form of the game is all set to take over cricket this week.
Republished with permission from The Asian Age
