Friday, October 10, 2008

Ruthlessly single-minded

The Australian cricket team knows how to twist a dagger. In a day full of engrossing passages filled with ebbs and flows of momentum, there were two constants. Michael Hussey was one of them. The other was the ruthlessly systematic exposure of the Indian fielding skills (or lack thereof), specifically Sourav Ganguly's. At the start of play, Ganguly was on the boundary. Every time the ball was hit to him, the Aussies scampered two, totally disregarding the strength of his throw. When Kumble brought him into the inner circle, at mid-off or mid-on, they routinely tapped it towards him and took off for a single.

Chris Berman likes to say, "One's a coincidence, two's a trend, three's a pattern." By the end of the day, the Aussies had left behind a path etched in stone - Ganguly as a fielder did not merit much respect.

Smart tactic this. Here's why: By announcing his retirement at the end of the series, Ganguly has basically ensured that he will play all 4 Tests. Even if he fails miserably, it will take a brave set of selectors to drop him. Therefore, the Aussies are going out of their way (and yes, if you watch a few minutes of coverage you can see that they are blatantly going out of their way) to highlight as many flaws of the man as they can. They are counting on the fact that nothing is more embarrassing than outstaying one's welcome.

The one thing in Ganguly's favor is that he plays best when his back is against the wall. Hopefully, he gets mad, rather than embarrassed, at the Aussies and bats them out of the series. A red flag has been waived in front of the bull. How will he respond?

The second constant on the second day was Hussey. How the Australian selectors ignored him until he had amassed over 15,000 first-class runs and already celebrated his 30th birthday is beyond my comprehension. (Frame of reference: Tendulkar has ammassed just over 20,000 first-class runs in his career to date). Hussey is in the Chanderpaul mode - assured, compact, and as deadly as he is silent. The Indians could learn a thing or two from him on how to farm the strike with the tail.

VVS Laxman's place in the side is in serious jeopardy. We sorely need a 5th bowler to cover up for the spinners. Kumble and Harbhajan will play on, even though their bowling is not good enough to merit a spot on the team right now. Of the batsmen, Dravid, Tendulkar, and Ganguly are not going to be dropped, so Laxman's head is on the chopping block yet again. Not for the first time, he will pay the price for someone else's failures. The ONLY thing that can save him is a century (and more) tomorrow. I shall be silently watching every ball, concentrating with him, willing him across that threshold.

1 comment:

Devashish said...

tragedy of Laxman's career. last 12 months he has scored almost 1000 runs at an average of OVER 50.0 per innings and his place was in jeopardy before his match-saving cameo in the 2nd innings????

i hope the Srikkanth led selection panel has more guts than that - VVS is the middle-order for the next 4 years at least and he needs to be told he is secure.

of all the chaps, he is one who has never taken his place for granted and always seems to put his head down and work on his batting. he needs to know that he is secure so that his goal is not to get to the 50 but bat in his own style without worrying about losing his wicket.

that is when he dominates the opposing bowling - and has done to the Aussies in particular throughout his storied career.