Done in at the decider
Erapalli Prasanna - 23 May 2002
In one of my earlier columns, I had opined that the Indians had a
good chance of giving their fans an encore of the glorious West
Indies tour of 1971. When they won the Test at Port of Spain, the
team looked good to fulfill my prediction, raising hopes of an
away series win. But India surrendered the early advantage by
losing the Barbados Test and allowing the West Indies to level
the series.
Both teams had everything to play for in Jamaica, but if I had to
put my money on one of them, it would have been the West Indies,
simply because of the home advantage.
The toss was very crucial; it was important that the team winning
the toss bowled first to make use of an unusually grassy Kingston
wicket. India failed to make use of that advantage and thus
allowed the hosts to wrest control of the match right from the
first day. I am sure that the West Indian bowlers would have
extracted more bounce and pace than the Indians managed on the
first day. The Caribbean pace battery is physically strong, a
facet that sets them apart from the Indian seamers and allows
them to generate more speed off the pitch.
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Harbhajan Singh, however, brought India back into the game after
the West Indies looked to dominate the first two days. I must
congratulate the off-spinner for picking up his 100th Test
wicket. The spongy nature of the track helped Harbhajan extract
considerable bounce and turn, but that did not stop the West
Indies from racking up a first-innings total of 422 - one that
did not show the Indian fast bowlers in good light.
Their Caribbean counterparts, however, made the most of the
pitch. The unpredictable bounce also helped to no uncertain
extent, playing on the minds of the Indian batsmen and causing
them to play with uncertainty. Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman
alone looked comfortable. Ganguly was very confident and batted
beautifully, while Laxman seems to have finally come to terms
with the reputation of being a class player. The Hyderabadi has
been much more watchful in this series, selling his wicket
dearly.
After having conceded a 210-run first-innings lead, Javagal
Srinath & Co. bowled well to restrict the West Indies batsmen to
197 in their second innings. The subsequent target of 408 was a
stiff one, but with a strong batting line-up, India were always
in with a chance of pulling off a record win. Those chances only
got better when Sachin Tendulkar, after the early exit of the
openers, began to play with a determination unseen in his
previous innings in the series.
Tendulkar had been playing mostly off his front foot for the
series up to that point; in Jamaica, though, he was conscious of
that fact and appeared keen to get onto his back foot. It was
this pre-determined approach that Pedro Collins exploited,
sneaking one through to shatter the stumps. I think that
Tendulkar picked neither the line nor the movement off the
wicket.
Collins, incidentally, should be proud of his achievements in
this series. Not often do you find one bowler, especially an
inexperienced one, having so much success against the world's
best batsman.
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At Sabina Park, the West Indies seemed a much more committed side
than India. Two outstanding pieces of work in the field by Merv
Dillon and Cameron Cuffy stand out; mind you, both of these
bowlers must have been tired after bowling long spells. The
wonderful catch that Dillon took, running backwards, to dismiss
Laxman, and Cuffy's brilliant work to dismiss Harbhajan Singh say
a lot about the attitude and approach that the West Indies
brought with them into the decider.
India were also hindered by going into the final Test with just
one spinner, a miscalculation in the bowling department that
allowed the West Indies to score 287 runs on the first day after
asking them to have a bat.
The Indian pace attack looks good to bowl only the first 15 overs
and, given this fact, the team management's decision to bowl
first must be seen as a defensive one. Even if it was made to
allow the track to slow down and help the batsmen, the events
narrate a different story. The Indian batting was sub-standard on
a track that had already been used for a day and a half.
Not that India did not have their chances. In the second innings,
the West Indies were on the mat at 120 for six, but they were
then allowed to go on to make 197 and set a target of 408. That
was the final nail to be hammered into the coffin.
What sets apart a great team from a good team is how they convert
the half-chances and slender opportunities into glorious
victories. For the Indians, this was not to be; they surrendered
meekly, exposing the limitations of both their batting and their
bowling resources.
There cannot be any doubt regarding the talent and stature of a
few individuals in the Indian team. But then again, the overall
strength of the Indian team does not pose a threat to the
opponents, and that, I think, is the biggest drawback of this
Indian side.
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