© CricInfo Given India’s abysmal record abroad, especially in England, ashared Test series can be rated as a moral victory andcongratulations would seem to be in order for Sourav Ganguly andhis men, more so when the balance sheet includes the

Partab Ramchand11-Sep-2002
© CricInfoGiven India’s abysmal record abroad, especially in England, ashared Test series can be rated as a moral victory andcongratulations would seem to be in order for Sourav Ganguly andhis men, more so when the balance sheet includes the triumph inthe NatWest Trophy one-day contest. Overall, there is littledoubt that the Indians produced a heart-warming performance butunfortunately at the end of it all, one major problem stillremains.It looks like the bowling will continue to be a major headachefor future selectors and team managements. There were noindications on this tour whatsoever that there would be an earlyend to this problem.The England batsmen, generally known for their dour approach,made hay while the sun shone. In three of the four Tests, thehosts rattled up totals of 487, 301 for six declared, 617 and 515in quick time against bowling that lacked both ideas andpenetration. At the end of the four-Test series, three Englishbatsmen had averages exceeding 100, two had averages in thefifties and three more had averages in the forties. As many assix centuries – two of them near double hundreds – and 12 halfcenturies made for a pretty high proportion of high scores.These figures put the unimaginative bowling in properperspective. To be sure, the bowling was not expected to workwonders and it is to their credit that they shared the glory withthe batsmen in shaping the victory at Headingley. But thenconsistency is one quality that has been lacking in Indianbowling of late and this was proved again in England.Anil Kumble again failed to deliver though his figures of 14wickets at 36 apiece were an improvement over his recent figuresabroad. Harbhajan Singh took credit for notching up the onlyfive-wicket haul in the series for both sides but his figures of12 wickets at an average of 34.16 clearly do not establish him asa match-winner outside India.Zaheer Khan was one bowler who emerged with full credit thoughhis figures of 11 wickets at 43.90 apiece fail to do him justice.He troubled the batsmen time and again with deceptive change ofpace and disconcerting bounce and movement. There is little doubtthat among the lot of young pace bowling hopefuls who emergedover the past couple of years, the left-armer has clearly won therace to be the spearhead and the logical and worthy successor toJavagal Srinath.Ashish Nehra, it must be said, did not exactly grab theopportunity the tour presented him with both hands. He tended tobe wayward in line and length and not unexpectedly could not holdhis place in the side after the first two Tests.Ajit Agarkar continued to be a puzzle. The lad possesses pace ofthe whippy kind and now and then had the batsmen on the hop withdeliveries that rose sharply. But he was just as capable ofsending the perfect half-volley or long hops that even a No 11batsman can heartily thump to the boundary. He could perhaps dowith another visit to the MRF Pace Academy in Chennai for a fewtips from pace guru Dennis Lillee.As far as the bowling was concerned, there were two surprises.One was that Sourav Ganguly bowled only 12 overs in the fourTests. It must not be forgotten that he headed the bowlingfigures for the Tests in 1996 and given this background, hisreluctance to bowl himself was baffling.The second was the tidy work done by Sanjay Bangar. Theconditions might have suited his dibbly-dobbly style of bowlingbut full marks to the rather inexperienced bowler who maintaineda steady line and length to head the bowling averages with fourwickets at 29.25 apiece.But if there were problems aplenty in the bowling department, thebatting looked as healthy as ever except at the top of the orderwhere only one half-century partnership was registered in sixinnings. Indian batting, particularly in the last few years, hasbeen a sight for the gods. But even by these lofty standards, thebatsmen exceeded expectations. Sure, they had one bad day at theoffice at Lord’s but after that there was no stopping them.The England bowlers felt the heat as in successive innings, theIndians ran up totals of 397, 357, 424 for eight, 628 for eightdeclared and 508 with batting of the royal class. The mostheartening aspect was that the big three came off in spades.Never before have Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and SouravGanguly performed in unison as they did in this series.
© CricInfoDravid, the perpetual No 3 among the trio, finally moved to thetop spot – and not just on figures. It was always on the cardsthat in English conditions, the technically correct Dravid wouldbe India’s best batsman and he proved it with two hundreds and adouble century while racking up a tally of 602 at theBradmanesque average of 100.33.Tendulkar had to take second billing but he lived up to hisreputation with a near double hundred and two other scores overthe half century towards a tally of 401 runs at an average of66.83. Ganguly was a picture of consistency with 351 runs at anaverage of 58.50 with a century and three fifties.To complete the happy picture, the big three received more thanadequate support from Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman and Agarkareven if the blustering approach of Sehwag meant that he wasliable to be caught at slip early in his innings. And Bangar’sbatting, built on first principles, came as a bonus. Indeed, thestrength of the batting can be gauged by the fact that ShivSundar Das, in spite of getting 250 against Essex, could notforce his way back into the side.Both the wicket-keepers Ajay Ratra and Parthiv Patel performedcommendably and as far as this department is concerned, it lookslike the selectors will not have a problem for a long time.