The Indian innings at Kingsmead resembled a pre-climax scene from abad B-movie, where the villain has a noose around the neck of theheroine standing on an ice block
Woorkheri Raman28-Oct-2001The Indian innings at Kingsmead resembled a pre-climax scene from abad B-movie, where the villain has a noose around the neck of theheroine standing on an ice block. Most of the Indian batsmen appearedto having nooses around their necks, and they only succeeded inpulling it tighter, resulting in their dismissals. The only differencewas that they could not conjure up a hero to save the team from adebacle. South African captain Shaun Pollock was clearly intent onplaying on the psyche of the Indian batsmen by inserting the touristson the day when it mattered most.
What really made a telling impact was the inability of the Indianmiddle-order to play shots off the back foot. The pitch at Kingsmeaddoes have a lot of carry and bounce, but the shot selection ondisplay was poor by any standards.
The Indians somehow got into all sorts of tangles by adopting somestrange tactics. The skipper perished in trying to up the run-rate byplaying, against his opposite number, a shot that had worked well forhim in the series. His dismissal meant that the Indians were peggeddown in the first fifteen overs, from which they never reallyrecovered. The only positive aspect of the Indian innings was the wayin which Virender Sehwag batted, though his mode of exit wasdisappointing.The move to make Rahul Dravid keep wickets opened up a slot for anadditional bowler, but the Indians stuck to their regular formula offour bowlers. Dravid shouldered the additional responsibility withoutany fuss, but it is not a long-term solution. He tried his best totake the Indian score to respectability; in the end, though, it wasnot worth the effort, as the South Africans overhauled the Indiantotal without any problems. But for the mini-partnerships that Dravidbuilt with Sehwag and Reetinder Singh Sodhi, the final would have beenan embarrassment for the visitors.What really made a telling impact was the inability of the Indianmiddle-order to play shots off the back foot. The pitch at Kingsmeaddoes have a lot of carry and bounce, but the shot selection ondisplay was poor by any standards. Nantie Hayward worked up good paceconsistently, and he will be a force to reckon with in the Testseries. A team that had seven batsmen in its ranks was unable to putup a total to even make a contest out of it. The Indians, in fact,gave the impression that they got things wrong in terms of the totalthey planned to set; a total of 220-230 would have been verycompetitive, given the conditions, but it seemed that the visitorswere looking at 250-plus , which might have caused the top order toplay rash shots.Yet another final was lost simply because the Indians as a collectiveunit do not believe in their ability; Sachin Tendulkar and SouravGanguly always have to click with the bat if the Indians are to evennurture hopes of winning. Even they, however, can succumb underpressure when it matters most, in spite of all their achievements ininternational cricket over the years. The Indian victories againstKenya notwithstanding, the limitations of the make-up of the team werealways under the microscope.Looking at a broader perspective, any side that struggles for the 10crucial overs, in both departments of the game, is bound to strugglein a pressure-cooker situation. That is the problem with the Indians,since they are a bowler short and the middle-order batsmen do not makethe most of the last 10 overs, the most vital phase of the innings.The idea of completing a fifth bowler’s quota with Yuvraj Singh andTendulkar is just wishful thinking, and it will be difficult onpitches where the bounce is even and true.It is all history now, however, and one can only hope that the Indiansget their thinking sorted out during the forthcoming Test series. Itgoes without saying that the Tests will be much more demanding, andonly the tougher side will eventually prevail.