Resting on laurels: The familiar Indian story
India need to introspect, especially when it comes to another dreadfully disappointing batting performance away from home
Dileep Premachandran in Durban
28-Dec-2006
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It's an indicator of how well South Africa have come back in this Test
match that the best India can hope for after three days severely curtailed
by bad light is a draw. Along with appreciation for the manner in which
Ashwell Prince and others led the revival, India need to introspect,
especially when it comes to another dreadfully disappointing batting
performance away from home.
Being bowled out in 77.5 overs, and that too when the pitch was at its
best for batting, is inexcusable. But for a courageous
go-forth-and-plunder innings from Sreesanth, they would have conceded far
more than an 88-run handicap, and the manner in which the middle order
lost its way this morning would have brought back uncomfortable memories
of countless such capitulations away from the comfort zone.
It was somewhat ironic that it was the man who made batting look easiest
that erred first. Sachin Tendulkar played some scintillating shots during
the course of his 63, but his attempt to get a little too cute against
Makhaya Ntini started the slide. And when Sourav Ganguly stood frozen like
a Pompeii victim after fending one off to gully, old chestnuts about
Indians and frailty against pace were well and truly roasting on the fire.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni flayed a few fours while always looking like a man
who would die by the sword, and his banzai approach was in stark contrast
to that of VVS Laxman, who pottered around for just 18 runs in an extended
opening session. When Dhoni finally gave Mornè Morkel the first of what
might be many Test wickets, Laxman had made just 26 from 111 balls, and
though he quickened up thereafter, he wasn't exactly urgency personified
in a situation that demanded it.
To be fair to him, the bowlers weren't exactly bowling half-volleys. Most
of the bouncers sailed way over his head, and other deliveries leapt into
the keeper's gloves from a line that was well outside off stump. Even when
he did put bat to ball, he was nothing like as fluent as he can be,
struggling to pierce the inner ring or tap-and-run the singles to rotate
the strike. Of the 123 dot balls that he played, only 28 were completely
ignored, and nothing came of the others.
The lack of initiative was especially disappointing because South Africa
have vivid nightmares of a late-order shepherding job that decided a Test
match. Exactly a year ago, a certain Michael Edward Killeen Hussey had
idled to 27 off 94 balls when Australia lost their ninth wicket in the
first innings of the Boxing Day Test. Soon after, Jacques Kallis spilled a
chest-high chance at second slip, just the sort of wake-up call that Mr
Cricket needed to embark on one of the most astonishing rearguard
actions ever seen.
Glenn McGrath kept out 56 balls for his 11, but all eyes were on Hussey as
he went from tortoise to Speedy Gonzales in a partnership that realised
107 priceless runs. Hussey's final tally was 122 from 203 balls faced.
Laxman today finished on an even 50 from 156. You do the numbers.
Bad light and thunderstorms - since readmission, Durban has seen 28
Test-match days where even 82 overs were not completed - may yet save
Indian face in this game, and the onus is on Graeme Smith to force the
pace on Friday. Given the situation with the light, South Africa would
want to leave themselves at least four sessions to get at the Indians.
Having surrendered a Sydney Test by giving Australia less than 300 to get,
a similarly generous declaration is unlikely. That leaves a scenario where
the South African batsmen will have to go through their repertoire of
shots once they survive initial spells from Sreesanth and Zaheer Khan. If
the conditions remain as overcast as they were today, it won't be easy.
After ignominious defeat at the Wanderers though, you sense that Smith and
his boys don't have the luxury of the conservative option. As far as this
game is concerned, it was a great pity that India exercised theirs.
Dileep Premachandran is features editor of Cricinfo