Hussain and his team have a lot to cheer about
Woorkheri Raman - 24 December 2001
Nasser Hussain © CricInfo |
The series between India and England ended in an anti-climax on Sunday
and even though India won it by a 1-0 margin, Hussain and team can go
back with their heads held high.
The tactics adopted by the visiting captain has drawn a lot of flak from critics
including those in the British media. Hussain, the tough man that he is,
has defended his strategy, and rightly so, which needs to be
appreciated. As a captain, he has stuck to a plan and has shown no
weakness when faced with a posse of questions from critics. This is the
kind of captain a cricketer would love to play under. Harold Larwood
would have wished he had Hussain as captain rather than the man he
played under during the bodyline series.
There was a fair bit of similarity between the bodyline series and this
recent Test series. While Jardine accepted his bowlers could not contain
Bradman, leave alone get his wicket, Hussain thought along similar lines
with regard to Tendulkar. In essence, the main objective was to keep the
maestros of the respective generations quiet and hope they got
themselves out. In as much as Jardine succeeded in a way in his
objective, Hussain also would deem his ploy worked pretty well. The only
difference was that the bodyline series turned violent while the recent
series concluded without any serious injuries to the batsmen.
Hussain should be commended for being realistic and going about things
in a pragmatic manner. He knew the strength or lack of it of his
inexperienced bowling attack and resorted to tactics, which would curb
the Indian batsmen. Though at times he went overboard with the leg side
line of Ashley Giles, he came up trumps in achieving the first innings
lead in Bangalore. Hussain's main aim was to frustrate Tendulkar but in
effect it worked very well in getting the much-fancied Indian batting to
surrender meekly. The top order batsmen suddenly found the going too
tough and got out to deliveries bowled at the customary off-stump line.
In all fairness, not many Indian batsmen got out caught on the onside,
which reflects the fact that they were forced to throw their wickets
away.
The Indians have to accept that the English medium pacers found them out
with Flintoff and Hoggard succeeding beyond expectations. Giles played
the role of an irritant to perfection and he had the ultimate
satisfaction of getting Tendulkar's scalp in the last Test. The Indians
did not get their bowling combination right and going in for the extra
spinner at Bangalore did not make any sense as the conditions were
seamer friendly there.
Ganguly & Wright © AFP |
It seems that the Indian combination is decided more on subjectivity
rather than objectivity. How else one could explain some decisions made
in recent times. The Wright-Ganguly duo should see eye to eye in order
to get the team going in the right direction. One does become a bad
leader by taking bad decisions but he becomes worse by not taking the
tough decisions. This is the difference in this series as the visiting
captain Hussain took his own decisions and stood up to everyone in
adversity.
Hussain may not be very popular with the media and the cricket
fraternity but he has achieved his objectives after the debacle in the
first Test at Mohali. Though his tactics may not find approval he made
the Indians sweat both in Ahmedabad and Bangalore. The break will give
both the sides time to work out plans for the one-dayers.
The home captain needs this break not only physically but mentally too.
This year has been a very poor one for him if we were to go by his
earlier achievements and it is time to for him to put on his thinking
cap and get back into the groove as a batsman.
The visitors, meanwhile, go back home for Christmas and they will enjoy
the wine and turkey as they have acquitted better than other sides in
India. In a nutshell, the visitors have gained more even though they
lost the series.
© CricInfo