da bwin： To say the least, I am highly disappointed by the way Ganguly led theside when their opponents were rebuilding their innings
Erapalli Prasanna16-Apr-2002
To say the least, I am highly disappointed by the way Ganguly led theside when their opponents were rebuilding their innings. He seemedoverly confident in Anil Kumble’s ability and persisted with SanjayBangar at the other end, allowing Hooper and Ramnaresh Sarwan tosettle down.
Sourav Ganguly and his boys, when they set off on their tour of theCaribbean, knew one thing for sure – that this was their bestopportunity of rewriting the history of the 1971 tour of the WestIndies. This Windies team is nowhere near the class and competitivestandards of the ones of the yesteryears. Players of the calibre ofSir Garfield Sobers, Rohan Kanhai, Alvin Kallicharan, Sir VivianRichards and Gordon Greenidge are in another league altogether whencompared to the present lot.In the bowling department too, the West Indies do not even have onebowler who could claim to be in the league of Andy Roberts, MalcolmMarshall, Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Curtly Ambrose or even LanceGibbs. The only players who are of genuine international class in thepresent team are Brian Lara and the skipper Carl Hooper; their bowlingis an apology when compared to the attack that they once possessed.The Indian fans, thus, would have been heartened as their side got offto a promising start to the Test series by having the West Indies onthe mat early on the first day. I thought Javagal Srinath bowledbeautifully to pick up three early wickets, including that of BrianLara. But after that, a story that has been played out often beforestarted to do so again; two vital catches dropped in a short span oftime, and Hooper, the biggest beneficiary of such generosity, Hooper,went on to compile a superb innings.To say the least, I am highly disappointed by the way Ganguly led theside when their opponents were rebuilding their innings. He seemedoverly confident in Anil Kumble’s ability and persisted with SanjayBangar at the other end, allowing Hooper and Ramnaresh Sarwan tosettle down. In my opinion, Sarandeep Singh was under-bowled, andGanguly should have gone for a combination of Srinath and SarandeepSingh to attack the two new batsmen. It was nothing other than poorcaptaincy, and poor bowling by Kumble and Bangar, that helped the WestIndies get out of jail.Ganguly captained the side unimaginatively, giving the impression thathe was waiting for the match to take its course and allowed things todrift. I am not even sure whether he had a game plan at all. It wasbaffling to see Hooper and Shivnarine Chanderpaul score runs freely,Ganguly doing nothing to stop the flow.Harbhajan Singh’s absence was felt badly at this stage; I have astrong feeling that Ganguly depends just too much on Harbhajan’sability to get wickets. This may possibly have affected his captaincy;he also failed to set the kind of field required to save the runs. Insumming up, therefore, Ganguly looked a totally lost man on theground.I always believed that how the Indian opening batsmen deal with thefirst few overs by the West Indies pacemen would set the trend for therest of the series. Dillon sorted out Ganguly on a docile wicket withsome purposeful fast bowling. I fail to understand the reasoningbehind Hooper’s decision not to declare at the overnight score andhence refused his fast bowlers an opportunity of using the earlymorning moisture in the wicket.Once again the Indian middle-order was exposed, and the onus fell onSachin Tendulkar to play a crucial knock. The little master playedadmirably to score a useful 79 runs, inspiring Rahul Dravid and VVSLaxman to handle the pace attack much better as well. The two batsmenplayed with a lot of tenacity and courage, something they alsodisplayed against the Australians in the epic Kolkata Test.Dravid, in particular, showed tremendous character and determinationto play one of his best Test innings that I have seen. Many followersof the game do not accord enough credit to this lad from Karnataka. Ihave known him for a long time, and it is no secret that he possessesan abundance of natural talent and fighting abilities. His batting inthis Test match would make any cricketer proud. If not for the rainplaying spoilsport, Dravid may even have gone on to a double hundred.I must also commend Sarandeep Singh highly for the valuable support hegave to Dravid. It not only helped Dravid reach his century but alsohelped his side avoid the follow-on. I hope the team managementretains Sarandeep for the second Test; they should play three spinnersand should have a close look at the utility of Bangar.As for Deep Dasgupta, it is not the missed catches and stumpings thatcause worry; it is the fact that he has trouble in even gathering theball. He seems to have lost confidence in his own ability and appearsto be taking his eyes off the ball before gathering it. I think thecoach has an obligation to help players who need technical assistance,and Dasgupta definitely needs it. One can only think, then, that AjayRatra would do better behind the stumps than Dasgupta.From what I have heard, the wicket at the Queen’s Park Oval in Portof-Spain is a re-laid one. I think both the teams are currently at thesame level, and India enjoy the edge only in the spinning department.If the visitors are to pull off a win, they will have to bowl last sothat the spinners can cause maximum damage to the home side.