India not good enough to challenge Aussies

India not good enough to challenge Aussies
Bishan Singh Bedi

You can trust Indian sport to be on cloud nine one moment. And down in the dumps the next. If it was a glorious Sunday for every Indian living yesterday via the incredible feats of Gopichand and Harbhajan, the story today had a familiar tale of just about a willing submission by the Indians. Just as well Gopichand was miles away from the scene of depression at the Eden Gardens.

As far as I am concerned, Saurav Ganguly undid a lot of good work yesterday itself when the hero of the day Harbhajan went to meet the media a rare moment for the lad from Jallandhar to display his self-confidence. Just then the Indian captain thought it very funny to bark at the media and suggest the use of English language to communicate with Harbhajan. Now, it is no secret that the Punjab offie would obviously feel uncomfortable in any language except his mother tongue. For some stupid reason Ganguly’s humour was awfully untimely and uncalled for. No, good leaders do not pull legs of their juniors so unabashedly. It was perhaps a coincidence that Harbhajan was a mere shadow of what he was yesterday.

However, it was not a coincidence that Steve Waugh’s steely resolve was to keep all Indian attack and strategy at bay. And, for as long as possible.

Occupation of the crease was never the sole purpose. Keeping the scoreboard ticking was. The brave Australian captain found in Jason Gillespie a remarkable team-man whose concentration level made the Indian gameplan look pretty ordinary. In fact, so dominant was Steve with his visible grit, that anything and everything hurled at him by Saurav’s mild artillery was hit with contempt.

There was nothing seemingly apprehensive about Steve’s approach. He meant to push the Indians back and did just that with a great hundred worthy of a houseful at the historic Eden Gardens. All along his stay at the wicket, the Aussie skipper played cultured and civilised shots to uplift the stature of Test cricket and lend substance to leading from the front. The Aussies grabbed the initiative today to put Harbhajan’s hat-trick into the archives. The off-spinner still picked up two wickets but not before leaving no doubt in anybody’s mind as to who will call the shots in the remaining part of the Test. Steve Waugh, of course.

Indian openers Sadagopan Ramesh and Shiv Sundar Das will continue to pile big scores in our domestic cricket. Sad to say, these Aussies don’t rate them at all. And our one down batsman Rahul Dravid is another player who simply adds to the bowlers confidence and makes it more cumbersome experience for his colleagues to follow. All the pressure then build up for poor Sachin Tendulkar, one wicket all Australians were carving for.

There is a fair amount of timidity in the approach of first three Indian batsmen. I reckon some dare-devilry is required to counter relentless Aussie attack. Not just blind hitting, but well thought out plan to counter-attack. Cricket is basically a situation game. When the situation is dead, it is all over. This is something India is brooding over without quite coming up with a solution.

Another observation. It has often occurred to me that Indian cricket would be better off if the averages didn’t get publish. Inflated batting figures against mediocre bowling seldom gives us any idea about nerves which play as important a part in batsmanship as skill. But let us face it. Ganguly’s India is just not good enough to give Steve Waugh’s men a run for their money.