Thursday, Jan 02, 2003
Thursday, Jan 02, 2003 |
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Sport
-
Cricket
By S. Dinakar
HITCHCOCKIAN PUZZLE: The Kiwi tour is going from bad to worse for the Indians who seem to be clueless against the New Zealand attack. Here, Paul Hitchcock signals the end of V.V.S. Laxman, caught behind by Brendon McCullum. — Photo: N. Balaji
And on this disastrous campaign in New Zealand, the heart has not quite been in the right place for the Indian batsmen, down on confidence, low on octane, even lower on morale. On the New Year's Day, it was the same old story, India being bundled out for 108 on a seaming Jade Stadium pitch in just 41.1 overs. The Indian batsmen have taken a mental pounding on this tour, and this has affected all elements of their game, their feet is not in position, they grope, and fail. Indeed, there is nowhere to hide on a cricket field, as the Indian batsmen, whose technique and temperament on seaming pitches was woefully exposed yet again, discovered at the Jade Stadium, on Wednesday. New Zealand, chasing just 109 — for the second time in the ODI series the Indians were dismissed for a shocking 108 — for an imposing 3-0 lead in the seven-match series, won with reasonable comfort in the end. Five wickets still remained when Jacob Oram guided a rising delivery from Ajit Agarkar to the third man fence to signal the victory. The Indian team-management decided not to risk Tendulkar's injured ankle but the absence of the master batsman should serve as no excuse to this beleaguered side. That vice-captain's Dravid's 20 was the highest score after Mr. Extras, reflects on a grossly inadequate batting display. There was that need to grind out the bowling in this situation, occupy the crease, but the determination and the fight was lacking in an Indian line-up, glittering with big names.
Clear gameplan
The Kiwis batted with a definite gameplan, Nathan Astle given the task of taking on Javagal Srinath. The opener smashed five boundaries, four of them successive, in the paceman's third over, charging down the wicket and thrice slamming Srinath over and through covers, and also cutting and swinging him for boundaries. Srinath ended up conceding 22 runs in that eventful over. However, skipper Stephen Fleming fell early again, taken at third slip by Mohammed Kaif off an impressive Zaheer Khan, and then Mathew Sinclair had not yet opened his account when he scooped the ball back to bowler Ajit Agarkar, who came in for Aashish Nehra. It was a day when Agarkar, getting the deliveries to swing away at a brisk pace and sticking to a lovely off-stump line, picked up the wickets of Lou Vincent, who played across the line, and Craig McMillan, who was pouched at cover, but Astle's 30-ball 32, meant tiny contributions from the others would be enough. Srinath, in his second spell, did prise out Astle, when the aggressive opener, attempting to clear cover, was held by Ganguly, and, the paceman, finally getting his man, gave vent to his feelings as well. Try as the Indian bowlers did — the fielding showed some improvement — 108 was never going to be enough for India. Skipper Ganguly, going through the batting horrors himself, said the pitch was doing too much for an ODI, but then, this has been a tour when the Indian batsmen have failed to look adversity in the eye, and accept it as a challenge. Fleming certainly had a point when he observed, "whatever they have made, we have made more.'' Words that sum up the series so far. Bat first, rattle up the runs, and then pile up the pressure on the opposition. It appears simple, however, things, once again, went horribly wrong for the Indians, on a pitch where there was seam movement and bounce, belying the pre-match predictions about the surface being batsmen friendly. Still, the Indian batsmen have been around long enough in New Zealand to adjust to the conditions, and if they are still struggling to cope, then there has to be a big question mark over their attitude, commitment, and technique.
Tuffey deadly
Man of the Match Darryl Tuffey, relishing the responsibility of being the spearhead, bowled an impeccable off-stump line, unerringly pitched the ball in the right areas, achieved sideways movement and bounce, and returned astonishing figures of 10-2-11-2 (first spell 7-1-9-1), the fourth most economical figures by any Kiwi in ODIs. In fact, as well as Tuffey might have bowled, he was made to look better by the hapless Indians. Brenden McCullum missed stumping Yuvraj Singh off part-time seamer Nathan Astle and the chance of equalling the World record of dismissals by a 'keeper in an ODI (six). Yet, his ten victims in back-to-back matches is the most by any 'keeper in two successive games. The first over from Tuffey confirmed that there was enough juice in the surface, as the big paceman opened up Sehwag more than once. However, it was Kyle Mills who consumed Sehwag, when the Delhi batsman, rocked back to slam the paceman through the covers, and provided McCullum, the first of his five catches. Skipper Ganguly, put down by McCullum in front of first slip, when Fleming was all set to take the offering off Mills, did not survive for long, done in by a Tuffey delivery that lifted and left the southpaw, McCullum making no mistake this time. Despite repeated failures, the Indian skipper is not playing close to his body, a must in these conditions. At 15 for two, the Indians had not really made the right kind of beginning after electing to bat. Laxman, pushing and driving away from the body time and again, was frequently beaten outside the off-stump by Tuffey, and was probably lucky when umpire Doug Cowie ruled not out, to a confident caught behind shout when he appeared to have got an inside edge to Jacob Oram. It was support paceman Paul Hitchcock, getting to straighten one from just outside the off-stump, who won a caught-behind decision against the Hyderabad batsman. This time though there was an element of doubt as Asoka de Silva's finger went up. Vice-captain Rahul Dravid and Mohammed Kaif applied themselves and their partnership of 29 was the highest of the innings — this tells its own story. Dravid pulled Hitchcock to the fence and appeared on course for a bigger knock, when he fell in an attempt to repeat the shot, the top-edge splendidly taken by Daniel Vettori, running back from mid-on. Vettori may not have bowled much lately, but, whenever the opportunity has arisen, he has contributed with the bat and fielded brilliantly. That is commitment for you; a fighting cricketer is never really out of a game. The battling Kaif edged a mean leg-cutter from Oram to McCullam, while Tuffey brought back for his second spell, removed Sanjay Bangar with a delivery that left the right-hander. Ajit Agarkar unwisely lashed out at Astle's friendly pace, only managing to hole out to Hitchcock at cover. And Yuvraj Singh, who applied himself in this innings, was unlucky to be run out when a firm straight hit by Zaheer richocheted off bowler Hitchcock's hands to the stumps, with the non-striker backing up. The later order batsmen did not offer much resistance and the Indian innings concluded in the 42nd over. The fact that Fleming bowled out his principal paceman when more than 15 overs still remained — it was a gamble — indicated the confidence in the Kiwi camp that the Indian innings would not last the distance. This does not say much about the visitors though. It was a day-night game that finished under sunshine.
SCOREBOARD
Fall of wickets: 1-37 (Fleming), 2-39 (Sinclair), 3-50 (Astle), 4-83 (Vincent), 5-92 (McMillan). India bowling: Srinath 8-0-44-1 (w-3), Zaheer 9-2-26-1 (w-3), Agarkar 8.5-1-26-3 (w-3, nb-1), Bangar 1-0-7-0.
Printer friendly
page
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | Home |
Copyright © 2003, The
Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu
|
