da leao： India might have won the Test series 2-0 but it was never a walkover
Erapalli Prasanna06-Mar-2002India might have won the Test series 2-0 but it was never a walkover.At the start of the series, no one would have even thought this bunchof players from Zimbabwe as being capable of giving the Indian team ascare. Their coach Geoff Marsh has done a wonderful job and mostimportantly made these youngsters believe in themselves, a qualitythat will keep them in good stead.
© AFPLook at someone like Raymond Price; he epitomises what every spinnershould be. I am very much impressed by this youngster’s talent andmost importantly his temperament. He has showed the world that all ittakes is to have the heart to succeed. Here is a youngster who was notdaunted by the task of bowling at even someone like Sachin Tendulkar.If Ashley Giles used a defensive line to stifle the little master,Price actually had the premier batsman on the run in Delhi with someaggressive spin bowling. It is a testimony to the spinner’s superiorskills that on the final morning, Tendulkar tried to avoid playingPrice for almost an hour. It was only in the process that the littlemaster scored 42 valuable runs, without which India would have notmade it past the meagre victory target of 122 runs.If you were to ask me, Price was the find of the series. A left-armspinner in full flight is such a joy to watch and there was nonebetter than my good friend Bishen Singh Bedi. Price definitely has itin him to make it to the top.It is quite a surprising thing that India wins when the spinners bowlwell. Even though Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh bowled well, itshould not be forgotten that after having Zimbabwe on the mat at 65/3,we allowed them to make 329 in the first innings. Had Zimbabwe beenbowled out cheaply in the first innings, the puffing and panting onthe last day could have been very well avoided.This Test series has also brought the falling umpiring standards tothe fore. The real test for the umpires is when they have to makedecisions under pressure. There was a lot of pressure in this Testseries and any viewer would have realised the importance of the lbwdecision that went in favour of Harbhajan Singh while he was battingon the final day. It was not an isolated case, there were mistakesaplenty, which takes the charm away from this wonderful game.Even though they lost the Test, Zimbabwe can take heart from the factthat they were definitely the better team in Delhi.Sourav Ganguly, for his part, has finally got the monkey off his backwith a Test hundred. It should count as a redeeming knock albeit onelacking in conviction. Looking back at his batting, Ganguly wouldrealise that the he owns the responsibility for not scoring a firstclass hundred in 28 months. His failure in the second innings at Delhiis a reminder that he still has a lot of work to do.
© CricInfoIt was also good to see Virender Sehwag score runs in his explosivefashion, taking the pressure off Ganguly. This youngster adds a newdimension to India’s middle-order batting and must count as India’strump card for the 2003 World Cup.India, though, never seems to learn the lessons. On a pitch that hadcracks all over it on the first day, leaving out Sarandeep Singh was avery bad mistake. Planning sadly has never been Indian cricket’sforte. Anil Kumble is being asked to bowl more than what he should be,at this rate he will be completely worn out by the time we return fromEngland.Deep Dasgupta’s continued mediocre show behind the stumps has to endnow. Wicketkeeping is a specialist job that has a direct bearing onthe bowlers’ confidence. Test cricket is not the arena to hone suchspecialised skills. The need of the hour is for a wicketkeeper who canlive up to the pressure behind the stumps. Ajay Ratra has his chancesto prove that he is up to the task in the upcoming one-day series.The Indian ground fielding, meanwhile, has been very poor throughoutthe Test series. The superiority of the Zimbabweans, in this area,will come to the fore in the one-day series.Without Tendulkar and the injured Sehwag, India’s batting suddenlylooks thin. I should also question the selector’s wisdom of pickingShiv Sundar Das for the onedayers. Even ignoring the fact that weare missing two explosive batsmen in the side, someone like YuvrajSingh must be a definite starter in the one-day line up. No matterwhat, it promises to be a very interesting one-day series.