SRINATH_PROVE_HIMSELF_09MAR94

Over To Srinath, To Prove Himself - By R.Mohan (The Hindu 9Mar94)

Christchurch: As the jetlagged Indians went through the motions of playing cricket at the Lancaster Park on tuesday evening the only thing in their favour after they had travelled virtually non-stop for 24 hours from Bombay to Christchurch was the sunny weather in Sir Richard Hadlee's city.

It had not been like this on Monday when a hailstorm lashed this pretty-as- a-postcard town on the Pacific coast of New Zealand. The locals may have let out their first groans at the nascent signs of winter while the Indians slept Monday out to recover from an arduous journey made considerably worse by the kind of distance that has to be covered to get to this country in one corner of the world, beyond Australia's eastern seaboard by a clear 1,000 miles.

The practice pitches at the Lancaster Park were too wet to permit batting and all that the Indians could do, as all sportsmen tend to do, is to try and sweat the jetlag out of the system by training, even if only lightly. The brilliant sunshine was their ally with regard to sweating it out. Still, it would have taken something out of hardened sides to come out and train at all. Perhaps, this enthusiasm is reflection of the state of confidence of the touring party.

You can make out the Indians are practising when you hear the sound of Ajit Wadekar's bat knocking all those catches. Also, it cannot be any other side if the Sardar opener is out there hitting the ball bowled by just about anybody, be it the physiotherapist Dr. Ali Irani who virtually chucks them at the bat or some Indian expatriate who is just about learning to pitch them where Sidhu wants the drivable ball to land.

The curator of Lancaster Park may not have been pleased at the kind of damage caused to his wet outfield as the simulated practice session went on. But then teams visiting India assume that every facility must be made available to them while their ground authorities are so reluctant to come forward to offer a touring team what they need by way of practice facilities.

The Indians are not sure what the Christchurch stop is all about. They think it would have made more sense to have travelled on another hour to Dunedin and grab some practice there. They may, however, have forgotten that there are no net facilities at Carisbrook, the international ground. Of course, the Canterbury CA and its staff were not to blame for the Indians' plight in Christchurch because they did cover the practice pitches though the covers were inadequate against a hailstorm.

By the time someone thought up the idea of going to an indoor school nearby, the Indians had abandoned all thought of practice. The bed was a more inviting prospect for the touring party which had left its hotel in Bombay at 3-00am, on Sunday morning and reached Christchurch almost 24 hours later with only a few hours on the ground in Madras and Singapore.

"We have no complaints on the travel. We are an international side which can take the rough with the smooth. I am more worried about the weather in Dunedin where they say it is raining", said Ajit Wadekar, the cricket manager while allowing his bat and gloves some rest from knocking the next million catches. A wet autumn can be a major worry.

A CONFIDENT BUNCH

The atmosphere in the dressing room is so free it is a further index of the state of mind which this Indian side has attained. There is an easy informality about the whole tour which is a dead giveaway of a set of players sure of themselves. The only cricketer somewhat miffed is Javagal Srinath because his manager had some tough words to say about an interview he had reportedly given to a Bombay tabloid. Apparently, Srinath had been misquoted, and was further compounded by some screaming headline about how disappointed he was at not getting the breaks and on having to bowl on slow home pitches.

It is up to Kapil Dev to console him as the fellow vegetarian pacers chat about the situation caused by the interview. Now, Kapil's vegetarianism is temporary since he is merely fulfilling a vow to go 'veggo' for a month after breaking the world record. Srinath's is a more enduring brand of vegetarianism until the hazards of touring thrust some changes in his diet.

The jump from an Indian spring to a New Zealand autumn is a metaphor for Kapil Dev's career. It is not as if he is withering away like leaves in autumn. But he is acutely conscious of how he is holding up Srinath's progress. At no time in the past had it ever seemed that Kapil was not the number one strike bowler on tour.

The return to Hadlee's country 13 years after he first toured here begins to give the impression that this Indian team is a bit different, no more dependent on its premier allrounder for the bowling thrust. Srinath is going to be the key figure or at least that is what is believed before a serious ball has been bowled on this visit.

What may have also held up Srinath's progress are his stamina limitations. This vegetarian had to eschew his eating habits in order to find greater sustenance in his diet though he does so most reluctantly, and only on tour. The fine future forecast for him in Australia on his first tour in 1991-92 is yet to materialise though the feeling is his best times may lie just ahead.

Srinath's problem in the Test scene may have been his lack of strength when brought back for second and third spells in a day which fact is also apparent in his inconsistency in limited overs cricket where his bowling in the slog overs can vary wildly. All that is behind him now and the only thing that can hold him back is a slow and true pitch at the Trust Bank Park in Hamilton where the only Test of this tour is to be played, from March 19 to 23.

"If I did not know him so well I would have fired him," quips Wadekar in his droll sense of humour as he talks of offending words in an interview. Srinath knows fully well that though there is only a solitary test, it will be his one true chance after a long while since he is yet to play a home test. The pitches at home are so slow or tilted to favour spin that it has always been assumed the third spinner will come in the place which is Srinath's outside India. Surely, this tour will be the big one for him even if there is only one Test and four one-day internationals where anyone form can vary.

Thanks to Sarath