Indian bowling is a cause for worry

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Let me begin by saying that, sadly, crowd invasions seems to be an integral part of this West Indies tour of India. In the second one-dayer, which West Indies won easily by seven wickets, once again bad behaviour by the crowd ruined things. At one point so much rubbish was thrown on the ropes that the fielders all had to gather in the centre of the ground for their safety. This resulted in a considerable delay and an over was even lost in the process.

Crowd trouble apart, the second one-dayer produced a great win for the West Indians. Their plan of pitching the ball short of a length and directing it to the rib cage area paid rich dividends when it came to getting rid of Sehwag early. The explosive opener, who is a compulsive strokemaker, pulled the ball straight to deep fine leg and got out in just the second over.

Although the West Indians enjoyed early success, they could not cash in on it, as Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman batted well. To start with the pair played within themselves, but then opened up. It must be said, though, that two decisions went against the visitors, both involving Laxman and this helped India wrest the initiative from West Indies.

The promotion of Harbhajan Singh has been a cause for quite a bit of talk and conjecture. I can only say that it gives me the impression that either the Indians are so confident that they can retrieve any situation or are just practicing a rotation policy in the batting line-up.

Another point that bears mention is the wicket at Nagpur. It was much better than the one at Jamshedpur where the first one-dayer was played. It was superb for batting and I must give the groundsman full marks on this count.

Two partnerships - first between Ganguly and Laxman and later on between Laxman and Dravid - helped the Indians put up 279, by all accounts a fighting total.

Overall, the West Indies bowling was good despite the fact that they could not really pick up wickets at regular intervals. This was the only thing that came in the way of the West Indies implementing their game plan. Although they were restrictive in the middle overs, and that is alright, taking wickets is the bottom line if a side has to be in the game.

Nowadays limited overs cricket is primarily loaded in the batsman's favour, but unless bowlers change their attitude from a negative approach to an attacking one, the game will always remain a batsman's game.

To the end, West Indies played like champions. In particular, I am very impressed with Marlon Samuels. His style reminded me of some of the great West Indian batsmen I bowled to in my time. He is always calm and collected at the wicket and this is an important thing for any batsman. He seems to be very confident when playing Harbhajan and Kumble, while on the other hand, the Indian spinners do not seem confident at all of bowling to Samuels!

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With Javagal Srinath not bowling well at all, compounded by the fact that he has lost his pace and is bowling very slowly, there is a problem at hand. I don't know how Ganguly is going to handle this delicate situation. With our bowling department lacking in every angle, the Indian skipper and coach John Wright need to come up with a quick-fix solution.

Secondly, I have my doubts about whether Harbhajan's arm is ok. His bowling action seems to have changed and there is strain at the time of delivery. For his part, Kumble is not threatening and his bowling has become a little stereotyped. He has to vary his line and length and of course turn the ball if he wants to continue succeeding.

All said, having gone 2-0 down in this seven-match series, the Indians will have to do a lot of homework before the next one-dayer in Rajkot.