da pixbet： Yet another series, yet another loss
Rajesh Kumar03-Sep-2001Yet another series, yet another loss. And we are soon off to SouthAfrica! Did I hear somebody mention ‘roasting’?Before we think about South Africa, let’s dwell on the recent tour fora moment. The most disturbing aspect of the defeat at Colombo is thatit was expected. That India managed to win at Kandy was the only bigsurprise of the series. This despite it being sixteen months since SriLanka had won at home. This also despite India not having been beatenin a Test by the Lankans for sixteen long years.Seven Lankan centuries were scored off the Indian bowling (attack is aword I would rather not use in the circumstances). And our Dravids andGangulys could not even score one in return. That in itself wouldexplain the defeat rather eloquently.The Indian willow-wielders simply refused to take the battle to theopposition. You couldn’t get more hare-brained than Ganguly andDravid, captain and vice-captain, on day four of the third Test. Therethey were, the two senior pros, men who were expected to lead the way.And what do they do after Shiv Sunder Das and Sadagoppan Rameshprovide what was indeed a very gallant start, one that suddenlyconjured visions of an improbable draw – They play out 22 overs (132balls) scoring just 29 runs.Did the two wise heads dare dream of saving the Test with such dourand defensive batsmanship?At that stage, the only possible way out for India, and a very slimone it truly was, was to save wickets and score runs at a merry pace.Something VVS Laxman and Dravid himself did when India achieved thegreatest of come-from-behind wins at Kolkata. But that thought did noteven remotely strike our men in the middle.What struck them though in the midst of this senseless stagnation weretwo run-outs. Horrendous batting followed by nightmarish running andcalling meant that the epitaphs were ready to be written.The Indian team might always talk about missing Sachin Tendulkar andVVS Laxman but that does not excuse the ineptness of batsmen who wereall said to be of international class. The Indians floundered whilsttheir Lankan counterparts made merry. That Hashan Tillakaratne, in hissecond avatar as a batsman, and new boy Thilan Samaraweera both madehundreds speaks for the positive approach that the islanders took tothe crease which saw them well-rewarded.The Indians on the other hand were discomfited by the short ball andby Murali. Dilhara Fernando, whose aggressive bowling was one of thesights of this series, ensured that Ganguly and his men were coweddown. This failure of the Indians to negotiate the short ball issomething that Shaun Pollock and his men will repeatedly takeadvantage of in the upcoming tour of South Africa. It definitely isunlikely that the Indian skipper and his men will do any betterbecause they land in Nelson Mandela land a week sooner than previouslyscheduled.In the handling of Murali too a lot of immaturity was shown. Themaster offie summed it up at the end of day one of the third Test whenhe said that the Indians played into his hands by trying to recklesslyattack him. As Jane Austen summed it up it so well, you do need ‘Senseand Sensibility’. Murali then returned his best figures against India,also his second best against all-comers.The Indian bowling meanwhile was mediocre. Zaheer Khan and VenkateshPrasad might have thrived in Kandy where the Lankan batsmen showed adistinct lack of application. But at Colombo on an easy-paced pitchthey lacked the fire and imagination to be of any serious threat.Harbhajan Singh meanwhile had problems with the Kookaburra ball and was notable to coax any life out of the wicket. As for Sairaj Bahutule, well we haveseen bahut (hindi for enough) of the young man already.India then return home with a raft of problems that need to beaddressed. It definitely does not bode well for Indian cricket if herwell-being were to completely be tied down to the well-being of theright toe of a little man from Mumbai. There must be life without andafter Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.