India must press home the advantage
Shivaji Sengupta - 18 October 2002

It is puzzling to see the West Indies doing so poorly with the bat in this Test series - three innings on the run without reaching 200. This has not happened to them ever before against India, not even when they lost two Tests against the Nawab of Pataudi's side in 1974-75. Those of us who have followed their previous seven tours to India are accustomed to mammoth totals. In my judgement, the side that visited the last time around, in 1995, was the weakest till then; this one has surpassed that.

Carl Hooper's pre-match press-conference now seems hollow - and sad. He had recalled their win against India last May after losing in Trinidad and being one Test down. Now, in hindsight, it seems just like so much posturing. The present West Indies team, with the exception of Hooper himself and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, seems entirely unable to negotiate spin.

What surprised me even more was that Hooper clearly said opined that the ball would turn square at Chennai and then proceeded to take the field with just one spinner - that too a debutant! Jermaine Lawson, another bowler making his first appearance in Tests, is a fast bowler, and it remains to be seen what he can do on a pitch favoring the turning ball.

Lawson will be up against a mighty batting line-up, to be sure. Sir Vivian Richards has written that the West Indies must try to snaffle Rahul Dravid above all. True, but this is also a ground where Sachin Tendulkar's averages over 100 with the bat. After not getting a century in his last two Tests - his 100th and 101st - surely people are expecting one from him here. Then of course there are Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, so the West Indies' problems hardly end with just Virender Sehwag and Dravid.

I hope the Indians will be sober in their approach on the next two days, respect the West Indies bowlers, play them on merit, lay a solid foundation, and then take a solid lead of 300-plus. Anything less will be a disappointment. To do that, Sehwag will have to do exactly what he said while accepting the Man of the Match award in the last Test - play the first hour as a Test match and then bat like a one-dayer. There may not be another 200-run opening stand, but I do expect a few big partnerships involving the world-class batting quartet of Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman.

And finally, to little Parthiv Patel. From Ravi Shastri to Anil Kumble, everybody has words of praise for his wicket-keeping. Shastri's vehement, "At last, a genuine wicket-keeper after Kiran More!" says it all. I am sure that in time he will make his presence be felt with the bat too. For the time being, it is heartening to see a keeper perform his role to utmost satisfaction.

India finally has a very good team, capable of performing well both in India and abroad, as the recent England tour demonstrated. A decisive series victory against the weakest West Indies team to India will go a long way to make their third tour in six months a success.

The views expressed above are solely those of the guest contributor and are carried as written, with only minor editing for grammar, to preserve the original voice. These contributed columns are solely personal opinion pieces and reflect only the feelings of the guest contributor. Their being published on CricInfo.com does not amount to an endorsement by CricInfo's editorial staff of the opinions expressed.
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