No First Test Blues for aggressive India

Briefly, in the last two away series, in Sri Lanka and Australia, India seemed to revert to type as poor travellers, losing the opening Tests in Colombo and Melbourne respectively. By winning in Hamilton they have arrested that brief trend, and got back on track with their record in the five years before that where they won first Tests in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and South Africa and drew the opener in Pakistan, West Indies, Bangladesh and England.

For decades, India suffered from the First Test Blues where, after losing the first Test they found it impossible to get back into the series. In this decade, they have reversed that record to a large extent, and shaken off their reputation as poor starters. Hamilton, therefore, is important both for itself, and for what it says about the recent Indian teams. Perhaps in the past, apart from the problems of acclimatisation, there was also the mindset which was happy to settle for a draw at best. Captains were reluctant to take risks, and in cricket, as in life, fortune tends to favour the brave.

MS Dhoni is an attacking captain, New Zealand have one of the weakest bowling attacks in international cricket while India have one of the strongest batting line-ups. If Hamilton is any indication, anything less than a 3-0 win for India would count as unsatisfactory. New Zealand's best bet is to prepare seaming tracks that suit their bowlers, and hope their batsmen fare better against India's medium-pacers.

In 1967, India lost 4-0 to Australia, and skipper Tiger Pataudi said at the end of that series that "just as we were beginning to find our feet, the series was over." A 2-2 finish might have been a fairer result, but by the time the team arrived in New Zealand, India had found their bearings. They won 3-1, the last time they won a series in New Zealand. Statistically, it is still India's best performance abroad; it was also the first time India had won the first Test of an away series.

One bad afternoon's cricket has spelt the end of India's dreams in the first Test of many series. Even in the 1990s, a decade by when professionalism in attitude and physical fitness is supposed to have finally arrived in India, they continued to lose the first Test with alarming regularity. Only twice in the decade, in Bangladesh and Zimbabwe did they win the first Test. In 22 series abroad, they lost the first Test 12 times. Before that, first-Test wins in Auckland in 1976 and Lord's in 1986, merely served to show up the overall poor record.

Sourav Ganguly first began to reverse the trend, and now Dhoni has carried it forward. If one decade's positive cricket has served to erase more than half a century's uncertainty before that, then that might be the real significance of the Hamilton win.