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India’s run of success continues with yet another Test victory in the first Test against the touring West Indians played at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai. Although I am happy that India won, the manner in which the game was dominated by the Indians, with the Windies not even putting up a semblance of fight, was poor advertisement as far as Test cricket was concerned. I did mention in my last two columns that this West Indian team is the weakest ever to have visited the Indian sub-continent. But that did nothing to alleviate my disappointment. For me personally, it was very disheartening to see that even the likes of Carl Hooper, a good player of spin bowling, failed to put up a fight. The West Indies skipper, who was playing his 100th Test, would, then, agree with me when I classify his side's performance as being nothing short of atrocious. At the end of the third day, the visitors had raised visions of a fightback but in the end they only flattered to deceive the expectations of cricket fans in India. Fans around the world have always admired the Caribbean style of batting, but their complete lack of strategy meant that Carl Hooper's men were put to rout. They did not mix caution with aggression; they were either too cautious or too aggressive. I am sure the West Indies team management would have known beforehand that they were going to encounter spinner-friendly wickets in India and that it made all the more difficult to fathom why the batsmen seemed clueless against Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. Except Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who remained unbeaten with a workmanlike innings of 36, no other batsman strove to apply himslef to the task of building an innings. This meant that Chanderpaul was forced to play a lone and futile hand. As expected, it was the wily sardar from Punjab who did all the damage. The warhorse Anil Kumble, who ended up with seven wickets from the match, ably supported him. Harbhajan Singh helped himself to a haul of eight wickets from the match, with seven victims from the second innings. This was his 10th five-wicket haul in an innings in a Test match. I felt that he bowled with more freedom in the second innings and gave the ball a lot more flight and loop. As a result, he got more purchase from the wicket, extracting bounce and turn. He tried too hard in the first innings and hence ended up with only one wicket to his name. The manner in which he deceived Hooper in the air and had him caught and bowled was a dismissal that would have delighted any off-spinner. Sourav Ganguly’s record as a Test captain, meanwhile, is becoming rather impressive with the percentage of victories going up. With the team looking well balanced and possessing a particularly strong batting line-up, he is bound to become India's 'winningest' captain in a short while. Virender Sehwag deservedly was declared the Man of the Match for his swashbuckling knock. I am very impressed with little Parthiv Patel’s temperament behind the wickets and he looks like a very good prospect for the future. His batting too has been encouraging. With the team clicking as a unit, one can only hope that the Indians go on to sweep the series three-nil. On the wickets front, there was a lot of talk about new wickets being laid with the focus on fast-bowler-friendly wickets. But from what we got to see at the Wankhede, one can only say that at home, India will settle for spinner-friendly wickets to keep their awesome track record intact. That said, I don't think it is the right way to prepare our players for the fast wickets that they will encounter on away tours. A sporting wicket would also ensure a fair competition between the competing sides and bring the crowds to the cricket too. Probably, this is something that the Board of Control for Cricket in India would do well to consider. © CricInfo |
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