Siva: India should beat England at least 2-0
Anand Vasu - 13 November 2001

There is really no point asking Laxman Sivaramakrishnan why he never went on to take heaps of Test and one-day international wickets. There is even less point in asking why his Test career lasted less than three years. And there certainly is no point in asking one of the most generously talented leg-spinners that India ever produced whether he would have liked to have played more international cricket than he did.

At least, not now. Sivaramakrishanan, 'LS' to his mates, has come to terms with the fact that his days as a cricketer are behind him. As one of the upcoming television commentators in India, however, LS has a lot to offer when it comes to inputs about the game. Having achieved some level of mastery over the English back in 1984-85, LS draws on his experiences and looks forward to the forthcoming England tour of India. Over to him.

On his remarkable performance against England in 1984-85, when he bagged 23 wickets in three Tests and was named the player of the series: [ Listen ]

LS: It was a big series for me. I had made my Test debut against the West Indies at Antigua, but after that I was out of the side. I was brought into the Indian team basically because the England team was considered to be weak against leg-spin. So it was a big opportunity for me. There was a bit of tragedy just before the series when one of the English ambassadors in India was killed. It was a major problem at the time. We wore black bands on our sleeves and continued anyway. India had not won for a long time, and that made it all the more important. When we won in Mumbai, it was after a gap of 36 or 37 Test matches. By the grace of God, and some good luck, I picked up 12 wickets, and that made it a very memorable Test match for me.

On the calibre of batsmen the England team boasted when he played against them: [ Listen ]

LS: They had some fabulous batsmen in their ranks. Mike Gatting, David Gower, Allan Lamb...they all looked to dominate the bowling. Gatting in particular was exceptionally good, because he used his feet to the spinners. This is something that Englishmen are not very fond of doing. In general, they prefer playing from the crease. The weak link they had was in the opening partnership; Graeme Fowler was good, but Tim Robinson was playing his first big series.

On the difficulties in bowling to certain types of batsmen: [ Listen ]

LS: It's always easier to bowl to the right-handers and get the ball to go away from the bat. There is a bit of a problem bowling to left-handers, but at that level of the game, you should be able to adjust. A lot is said of the right and left combination, but that's not the end of it. If a tall batsman and a short one are playing at the same time, it does make it difficult to settle into a length. You're trying to get the batsman to play forward and hit the top of the bat. When the short batsmen are playing, this is not always easy. Tall batsmen generally do not have too many back-foot shots and prefer getting on the front foot, and that makes it easier to bowl to them. Now the short batsmen, take Gundappa Vishvanath, for example; he could cut a ball off length, and that makes it very difficult.

On the importance of getting the field you need as a bowler: [ Listen ]

LS: It is a simple reflection of the amount of confidence the captain has in you as a bowler. If the skipper does not give you the field that you want, or the one that you deserve, you feel the captain does not think you are bowling at your best. It definitely plays a psychological part in the mind of the bowler. As a bowler, you want an attacking field, and you want the captain to encourage you. These days, you are seeing more and more people on the fence, because the quality of spin bowling has come down; most of the fields set these days are for bad balls. You cannot have a sweeper on both sides of the wicket when a bowler is bowling a spell. After all, he can err on one side of the wicket, although the four great spinners (Bishan Singh Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna, Srinivas Venkatraghavan, BS Chandrasekhar) would not agree even to that, but you certainly cannot err on both sides of the wicket. If you do, you're certainly not quality enough to play at the international level.

On the mindset that the second-string England players need to adopt: [ Listen ]

LS: There are two ways of looking at this. If I was one of the English team members who was picked simply by default, I would look at it as a great opportunity. If you come out and perform in India, you would be rated very highly back home in England. The Indians would not have seen much of me, they do not know my game very well, and they might take me a bit lightly. On the other hand, even if I do fail, I am not going to be really blamed for it. After all, I am just a replacement.

How the Indian batting will fare in the forthcoming series: [ Listen ]

LS: India is a different team altogether when they are playing at home. The bounce is not there for the medium-pacers, the wickets will assist turn, and the shine on the ball is not going to last long. There is no Darren Gough, no Andy Caddick, no Robert Croft either, so the England bowling is of a pretty ordinary standard. The Indian batsmen should feast on the bowling.

On the kind of bowling attack that India should use against the English: [ Listen ]

LS: As far as the Indian bowling is concerned, I think they should play five bowlers at least at home. If you are not going to play five bowlers at home, you are never going to do it anywhere. You would expect five batsmen, plus the wicket-keeper, to do the job of run-scoring. With five bowlers, there will be variety in the attack. I would like to see (Javagal) Srinath and one of the left-arm seamers do well, because you then get foot-marks outside the off-stump that the spinners can exploit. This being the case, it would not be a bad option to play three spinners. I for one believe that the selectors have off-spinner Sarandeep Singh in mind, but I would rather play a left-arm spinner.

The all important question. What will be the result of the series? [ Listen ]

LS: India should win the three-Test series at least 2-0. If they do not win by that margin, I will be disappointed, and so will the players. If you ask me, they deserve to be disappointed if they do not beat England at least 2-0 at home.

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