Getting back to the basics
Devendra Patel - 24 December 2002

Watching live cricket after a gap of three years - courtesy a high-speed Internet connection and simulcast web streaming - I was hoping for some good Indian performances to further commemorate the moment. Sadly, though, few things seem to have changed. India still does not have a world-class pair of fast bowlers, and our batsmen continue to capitulate to less-than- extraordinary medium-fast bowling.

There were a few glaring weaknesses on display in the two Indian innings at Hamilton. It looked as if the batsman had forgotten that batting was a side-on technique. Instead, most batsmen just opened up and pushed the bat in front of them, expecting to middle the ball through luck. Even when on the front foot, the batsmen hardly stirred out of their crease, giving the ball enough time to move sideways considerably.

I had not expected miracle from youngsters like Sanjay Bangar, Virender Sehwag or Parthiv Patel, who were touring New Zealand for the first time. The onus clearly lay on Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, and a fifty from each of them, and perhaps a hundred from one, could have given a different slant to this series.

But that did not happen, and worse still, it was not as if the Indian fans were expecting the earth. The batsmen only had to live up to the grandiose names they have been tagged with - the Master Blaster, the Wall, the Tiger of Bengal...

While on sobriquets, the Karnataka Express, Javagal Srinath, was sorely missed in New Zealand. The Indian bowlers on view did not make the batsmen play often enough, unable to work the batsmen the way the Kiwi bowlers did. Did anybody notice how Sehwag was dismissed in the second innings? As he merrily played through point off the back foot, he forgot that the short extra cover was in place just for him.

The Indian bowlers also did not deliver from near the stumps to take advantage of the seaming wickets. Tinu Yohannan has a significantly open-chested action, one that may help him to bowl faster but does not necessarily help his accuracy. Ashish Nehra's run-up seemed stilted in New Zealand, while Zaheer Khan could gain much through just a yard or two of extra pace. Ironically, the bowler with the soundest delivery action, Ajit Agarkar, throws it all away by tending to bowl short.

Such actions are developed very early, when kids start playing cricket around the age of 10. By the time - if they ever do - they make it to say the MRF Pace Academy, their actions can only be further honed, not revamped completely. It makes a case for sound coaching at the school levels as well as in the cricket camps that proliferate around the country.

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