Nothing succeeds like success
Erapalli Prasanna - 13 October 2001
©AFP |
This was a disappointing cricket match at the Goodyear Park,
Bloemfontein. Kenya were completely outplayed by a resurgent Indian
side, riding on the wave of a convincing win against the heavyweight
South Africa at the Centurion.
Kenya had lost the match much before it started, for they came in
without any kind of a game plan or strategy. The decision to bat first
must have been done with the hope that they can put up a decent total.
The uneven bounce of the wicket upset their confidence and the
attempts to hit their way out of trouble, made things more difficult
for their comfort.
It is in such difficult times that you need batsmen to dig deep and
play sensibly. Kenyans showed no such trait of applying themselves,
they went about trying to blast their way out of this quagmire by
playing across the line, a recipe for disaster, which many
inexperienced team falls for.
What else can I say? It was an abject surrender of a side, which did
not have any self-belief. At times the Kenyans looked like that they
were in a hurry to get over with the match. Kenya clearly lacks it in
them to make an impression at the highest level; overall it was a
pathetic performance by the minnows from Africa.
Having said that; let me not take anything away from the Indians. They
did what best they could do to keep the momentum going. The win
against South Africa seems to have instilled a lot of confidence in
this young team. Nothing succeeds like success and I think Sourav
Ganguly and John Wright deserve to be commended after this wonderful
turnaround of fortunes in the African continent.
The present team management has shown a lot of faith in the abilities
of one man, Ajit Agarkar. There was no doubt in my mind that Agarkar
will have to deliver the goods in South Africa. The young man has done
well so far in all the three outings and has looked the most potent of
the bowlers.
It was heartening to see Agarkar realise the importance of bowling a
good line and length on a pitch with uneven bounce. The benefits were
there to be seen, four wickets! This should have boosted his morale
for the games to come.
|
© CricInfo |
On the contrary, Javagal Srinath, with so much experience under his
belt, bowled a disappointing line. The two wickets he got, though,
were purely on line and length. Anil Kumble is always a dangerous
bowler on such a wicket. He looked sharp enough and the three wickets
he picked will help him a lot during this tour.
I think that the Indians used this opportunity to give Virender Shewag
and Deep Dasgupta a chance to get used to the South African batting
conditions. The two batsmen played well to take India to a most
convincing win and also to show the depth of the Indian batting.
This was not a game that one will want to remember for a long time. It
failed to throw a challenge to the resources of the Indian side and it
turned out to be a dismal one-sided affair.
© CricInfo