|
India lose first round of the battle
Anand Vasu
February 26, 2000
The last day's play in the first Test in Mumbai raised an
intriguing question. Did South Africa win this game or did
India lose it? If one looked carefully at the way the game
progressed, the opinion would have to be that India lost the
match.
The first battle was lost while selecting the team. The
inclusion of Ajay Jadeja at No 6 meant straightaway that India
were playing with one player short. Jadeja's record in Test
cricket is unimpressive. Moreover, in the Board President's XI
game against South Africa, he made scores of 2 and 3. Hardly the
kind of scores that warrants Test selection. The non-inclusion
of Nikhil Chopra might also have had a bearing on the game as
India were clearly one spinner short in the final innings.
India began well, winning the toss. And with that India's good
run ended. Batting first, India made just 225 on a track that
looked good for batting. The South African pacemen were too hot
for everyone in the team save Tendulkar. The captain made a
brave 97 but was not backed up by any of his teammates. In
response, India did well to restrict the South Africans to 176.
Apart from the openers, none of the visitors made runs.
A lead of 49 was quite handy, and far more than the Indians would
have hoped for after South Africa were 90 for no loss. What they
needed was a solid second innings performance. If they had put
between 150 and 170 on the board they could have given South
Africa a run for their money. Instead, they collapsed
inexplicably. Doing far worse than their first innings, India
folded up for just 113 runs. In an all too familiar script, the
openers failed, the middle order collapsed and the tail refused
to wag. A couple of twitches of the tail came late in the
innings when Mongia, batting at No 11, made 19 off just 10 balls.
In the middle of all this, the man we knew as Rahul `The Wall'
Dravid stuttered and stumbled, making a painful 37 in over
three hours. He was totally unable to either score freely or
make runs with the tail and one wondered what happened to the
young man who made centuries in tough conditions in both New
Zealand and South Africa.
There are certainly some tough mental battles raging in
Dravid's head and the sooner he sorts them out the better
for Indian cricket. The crowds were on the verge of chanting
Rahul `The crawl' Dravid and that surely would have been a
severe slap in the face.
India simply did not have it in them to defend 163. Not on a
third day Wankhede wicket. Though the South Africans struggled
to negotiate the spinners, they made it home with four wickets
to spare. Gibbs and Boucher made useful contributions and an
elated Allen Donald ran into the field as Boucher smashed the
winning runs through midwicket.
Though Tendulkar was named man of the match, this was little
consolation for the Indian skipper. India have begun badly in
the series. To reverse the momentum will be a tough task. The
South Africans are not the kind of team that will fritter away
their chances.
© Cricinfo
|
