India v West Indies, 3rd Test, Kolkata, Day 1
Wednesday, October 30, 2002

This was an excellent performance by West Indies. Their already poor morale must have slipped even further when Sourav Ganguly won the toss.

But it was clear right from the start that there had been an effort at studying the habits of the Indian batsmen. That was most notable in the manner in which they attacked Virender Sehwag. They kept the ball on a good length on off stump – though only Merv Dillon was good enough to do it consistently – and they kept a third man in place for the slash. I think that did play on Sehwag's mind.

Ultimately it was the ball that came into Sehwag that dismissed him; his footwork makes him vulnerable to good deliveries, but the margin for error with him is so minimal that he will invariably score runs. The way Dillon celebrated when he removed Sehwag indicated how much the wicket meant to him. The entire team was more charged up from then on, and for a change, the catches were also being held.

It was good to see West Indies planning like this. In the seventies and eighties they had so much firepower that they rarely had to fall back upon strategy; they could just blast the opposition out. Nowadays, with their limited resources, the only way they can succeed is by going to the drawing board.

Sachin Tendulkar's innings today again suggested that he is not quite in the best frame of mind. There comes a time in every batsman's life where runs are difficult to come by. It is a phase that Tendulkar needs to negotiate now. I would suggest that he refreshes his mind rather than getting bogged down by complicated thought processes.

Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman too got starts, and Ganguly gave the impression that he was trying harder than normal to score. He did play some delightful shots and should have made it count.

The hour after tea was most crucial. India were 160-odd for 4, and one wicket more would have exposed the tail. That is why the partnership between Laxman and Bangar was crucial. Bangar does provide the solidity at the top of the order, but his slow rate of scoring often militates against the needs of the team. Sehwag doesn't seem to be affected by his partner's defensive play, but the same cannot be said about the rest of the batsmen.

I support West Indies' move to play four pace bowlers. If you ask the Indians who they would rather face, I think they will opt for the spinner. The SG never stops encouraging the seamer and it is not too hot in Kolkata. I don't think Mahendra Nagamootoo was good enough to have been picked. Gareth Breese certainly has the potential and West Indies will be interested in him in the times to come.

Also, funny things happen at the Eden Gardens – there was a superb spell by Roger Binny after tea against Pakistan in 1986-87, and in 1996-97, Lance Klusener ripped through the Indians in the second innings. Carl Hooper made the right choice.

Sanjay Manjrekar, the mainstay of India's batting in the late 1980s and early '90s, will be providing the Expert View on every day of this Test series. He was speaking to Rahul Bhattacharya.

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