Old Indian saying -- More things change, the more they remain the same

Old Indian saying -- More things change, the more they remain the same
Vikrant Gupta

New Delhi, March 3: `FREAK I' -- March 1999, Calcutta: Sachin Tendulkar is struggling to control his tears. Banging into Pakistani bowler Shoaib Akhtar just a few steps short of the crease, when an Indian fourth-innings chase is just blossoming, Tendulkar knows his “freaky” run out has opened the floodgates for Pakistan.
`THE SEQUEL' -- March 2001, Mumbai: The Aussie Justin Langer is in pain now. It's the shoulder, well, a Tendulkar shot has crashed on to it and you know how ferociously the Indian pulls. Oh, by the way, the ball ricocheted to short mid wicket where Ricky Ponting grabs it as if his life depends on that. That’s Goodnight for India in the Test.

Times, they are a changin’. Ask Sachin Tendulkar. His locks are no more boyish or curly, the past two years have seen them get more closely cropped for a smarter look. And, he has shed some ounces off his body, though, his bat is as broad as it was in the ’99 India-Pakistan series.

Some things, however, never change. Like, Tendulkar’s teammates, who get pay cheques as fat as the little ‘man’ from Mumbai but very seldom battle a losing cause. Wonder, what gives them the audacity to blame it on “ill luck” if nothing goes right for the team. Or, Tendulkar.

Yes, yes India lost that prestigious Test to Pakistan after Tendulkar was run out in a “freakish manner”! And now, two years later, when Tendulkar’s pull finds Justin Langer’s shoulder, they say another battle was lost because, maybe, God didn't want us to win!!

Ridiculous?

Or, is He talking poet justice. If the ball did balloon in the air, somebody had to bloody well catch it. Those who saw Ricky Ponting run like a hare, know what it takes to be the Winner. Sending poor Javagal Srinath out to bat, right index finger fractured and obviously against his own wishes, was no act of bravado. It was foolish and only made a mockery of what the Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly had done a little while earlier.

Running yourself out in a Test match as crucial as that one was only belittling the concentration, will power and responsibility Tendulkar showed in the two innings of Test. The difference between a victory and defeat is the difference in attitude -- between Ganguly and Ponting. Can one expect Ponting saying something like what Ganguly did after India lost the ICC Knock-Out Cup final to New Zealand last October: “Don’t blame me for the first run out (Tendulkar) though I admit the second one (Rahul Dravid) was my mistake (sic).

One can get away with such things after scoring a big century in that particular one-dayer but ask yourself, does it help the team in any way?

Here are some home truths about India’s vice captain, Rahul Dravid: Six of his eight Test hundreds have come either against a none-too-formidable New Zealand or Zimbabwe bowling. In the past two years or so at home, he averages 96 (971 runs) against New Zealand and Zimbabwe. Compare it with his so-pedestrian 298 runs (average 25) against Pakistan, South Africa and the first Test against Australia this week.

Ian Chappell made an interesting comparison of Dravid and Tendulkar. He said, “Dravid has concentrated as hard as Tendulkar (in Mumbai) but somehow I get the feeling he is never looking to score the runs. Tendulkar, just like Dravid, knows the importance of his wicket but Test cricket is all about runs. He (Tendulkar) doesn’t waste any scoring opportunity that comes his way. Tendulkar will win a game or two for India but Dravid can’t if he plays like this.”

If you are batting alongside players like Tendulkar, one has to pull one’s weight in the team. If you are scoring a run every five balls which Dravid did in the second innings (39 runs off 196 balls), it can never give your bowlers sufficient runs and time to get the rival batting out. And, frankly, it’s been a long, long time since he has actually saved a game.

As the Aussie batsmen have taught the best way to win Tests is having the right combination of the shorter and longer version of the game. The Indians lost the game at Mumbai in two sessions -- opening session on Day One and second session on Day Three. If you can’t adapt, you know what awaits you. Calcutta and Chennai are two venues, alike Mumbai, where the ball seams about in the opening session of Day One. Have the Indians thought of a plan to counter the Aussies there, knowing that Steve Waugh has been harping about his strategy win the toss and put India in first, let them wilt.

Ganguly is an excellent one-day opening batsmen. His record speaks for itself so why waste some words on that. But, this is time for some serious introspection, Mr Skipper. The last Test century he scored was against New Zealand in a game in '99 and since December '97 he has just one more century apart from the one against New Zealand.

If he is as great a batsman as we think he is, this is not enough. Is he getting the right opportunities to build his innings in Test cricket, he should ask himself. We’ll tell him he is not. He had been batting at number six till Mohammad Azharuddin was also playing and now he has come up a down. With the kind of tail India have, Ganguly can never plan big knocks and keeping that in mind, Kapil Dev, who took up India’s coaching before the start of the ’99 New Zealand series, asked Ganguly if he would like to open in Tests as well. Needless to mention, he declined that offer.

There's no better time for Ganguly to do just that. Clearly, his mind is distracted by the recent media hounding so opening the batting in the subsequent Tests will help him get his focus back.

As a leader that will also give him a chance to look at the game with a better perspective. That’s exactly what Imran Khan did in the ’92 World Cup, even though he was approaching 40s. It was a simple theory: The best way to carry out your plans it to do it yourself, in the middle. This will also give Ganguly's India a choice of five specialist bowlers. The usual refrain “Tendulkar can bowl off-leg spin, Ganguly can bowl medium pace -- has no place in modern cricket where the myth about India being a force, at least in home conditions, is in danger of being finally exposed.

India have lost to Pakistan, South Africa and are down in the current series while lesser-known teams like Zimbabwe and New Zealand have lost just twice in the five Tests here. If the Indians panicked seeing some grass on the Wankhede wicket, they discredited themselves by giving away wickets to the Australian spinners!

India lost the first Test, and it’s okay, it’s a fair game. They need to pick themselves up, thinking there are two more Tests to go. The Australians played well at Mumbai but at times appeared vulnerable. Only by making mistakes did the Indians allow them to get off the hook and maybe, India's missing the fifth bowler turned the script around.

You pick Narender Hirwani from nowhere and then don’t play him in the eleven. You sideline Harbhajan Singh for one full year, he would break down at every rejection, and when he gets back he has no decent spinner to bowl from the other end. Why? Probably, Zaheer Khan will play at Calcutta. Not because Ajit Agarkar, who Ganguly thinks is the most improved player in these six months, will be dropped but due to Javagal Srinath’s suspect finger injury. If Srinath somehow gets fit in time, and Ganguly or any middle-order batsman replaces one of the openers, India can go in the Test with three seamers and two spinners.

That will be too fair as from now on, India don’t have much to lose. But, if they do manage to win a game, they will win back some of their supporters.