India hindered by poor captaincy
Erapalli Prasanna - 16 April 2002
To say the least, I am highly disappointed by the way Ganguly led the
side when their opponents were rebuilding their innings. He seemed
overly confident in Anil Kumble's ability and persisted with Sanjay
Bangar at the other end, allowing Hooper and Ramnaresh Sarwan to
settle down.
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Sourav Ganguly and his boys, when they set off on their tour of the
Caribbean, knew one thing for sure - that this was their best
opportunity of rewriting the history of the 1971 tour of the West
Indies. This Windies team is nowhere near the class and competitive
standards of the ones of the yesteryears. Players of the calibre of
Sir Garfield Sobers, Rohan Kanhai, Alvin Kallicharan, Sir Vivian
Richards and Gordon Greenidge are in another league altogether when
compared to the present lot.
In the bowling department too, the West Indies do not even have one
bowler who could claim to be in the league of Andy Roberts, Malcolm
Marshall, Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Curtly Ambrose or even Lance
Gibbs. The only players who are of genuine international class in the
present team are Brian Lara and the skipper Carl Hooper; their bowling
is an apology when compared to the attack that they once possessed.
The Indian fans, thus, would have been heartened as their side got off
to a promising start to the Test series by having the West Indies on
the mat early on the first day. I thought Javagal Srinath bowled
beautifully to pick up three early wickets, including that of Brian
Lara. But after that, a story that has been played out often before
started to do so again; two vital catches dropped in a short span of
time, and Hooper, the biggest beneficiary of such generosity, Hooper,
went on to compile a superb innings.
To say the least, I am highly disappointed by the way Ganguly led the
side when their opponents were rebuilding their innings. He seemed
overly confident in Anil Kumble's ability and persisted with Sanjay
Bangar at the other end, allowing Hooper and Ramnaresh Sarwan to
settle down. In my opinion, Sarandeep Singh was under-bowled, and
Ganguly should have gone for a combination of Srinath and Sarandeep
Singh to attack the two new batsmen. It was nothing other than poor
captaincy, and poor bowling by Kumble and Bangar, that helped the West
Indies get out of jail.
Ganguly captained the side unimaginatively, giving the impression that
he was waiting for the match to take its course and allowed things to
drift. I am not even sure whether he had a game plan at all. It was
baffling to see Hooper and Shivnarine Chanderpaul score runs freely,
Ganguly doing nothing to stop the flow.
Harbhajan Singh's absence was felt badly at this stage; I have a
strong feeling that Ganguly depends just too much on Harbhajan's
ability to get wickets. This may possibly have affected his captaincy;
he also failed to set the kind of field required to save the runs. In
summing up, therefore, Ganguly looked a totally lost man on the
ground.
I always believed that how the Indian opening batsmen deal with the
first few overs by the West Indies pacemen would set the trend for the
rest of the series. Dillon sorted out Ganguly on a docile wicket with
some purposeful fast bowling. I fail to understand the reasoning
behind Hooper's decision not to declare at the overnight score and
hence refused his fast bowlers an opportunity of using the early
morning moisture in the wicket.
Once again the Indian middle-order was exposed, and the onus fell on
Sachin Tendulkar to play a crucial knock. The little master played
admirably to score a useful 79 runs, inspiring Rahul Dravid and VVS
Laxman to handle the pace attack much better as well. The two batsmen
played with a lot of tenacity and courage, something they also
displayed against the Australians in the epic Kolkata Test.
Dravid, in particular, showed tremendous character and determination
to play one of his best Test innings that I have seen. Many followers
of the game do not accord enough credit to this lad from Karnataka. I
have known him for a long time, and it is no secret that he possesses
an abundance of natural talent and fighting abilities. His batting in
this Test match would make any cricketer proud. If not for the rain
playing spoilsport, Dravid may even have gone on to a double hundred.
I must also commend Sarandeep Singh highly for the valuable support he
gave to Dravid. It not only helped Dravid reach his century but also
helped his side avoid the follow-on. I hope the team management
retains Sarandeep for the second Test; they should play three spinners
and should have a close look at the utility of Bangar.
As for Deep Dasgupta, it is not the missed catches and stumpings that
cause worry; it is the fact that he has trouble in even gathering the
ball. He seems to have lost confidence in his own ability and appears
to be taking his eyes off the ball before gathering it. I think the
coach has an obligation to help players who need technical assistance,
and Dasgupta definitely needs it. One can only think, then, that Ajay
Ratra would do better behind the stumps than Dasgupta.
From what I have heard, the wicket at the Queen's Park Oval in Port-
of-Spain is a re-laid one. I think both the teams are currently at the
same level, and India enjoy the edge only in the spinning department.
If the visitors are to pull off a win, they will have to bowl last so
that the spinners can cause maximum damage to the home side.
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