Delhi Test Match Review

It was in the end, a matter of the side which made fewer mistakes winning. India did not dominate the Test match by any means, neither did they break any new ground in terms of new players performing. Indeed, the only new ground that might have been broken would have been in the case of Munaf Patel. Munaf did well in fits and starts and bowled better in the first innings than he did in the second. All other players were proven Test players, or were new players whose position was not in doubt (Jaffer, Karthik, Dhoni). If there is one thing that stands out about this Indian side, it is the stability in the eleven. 10 out of 11 players pick themselves at the moment, and there are 3 decent options for the 11th – Munaf’s.

The improvement in the pace bowling has been the feature of this team of 2007. That in itself is a puzzle – the same pace bowlers shrivel into cannon fodder when given the white ball. Zaheer Khan has returned to his wicket taking ways. Not only that, the element of continual threat in his bowling has reappeared, even on this low and slow Delhi wicket.

Pakistan looked hampered by injuries to Asif and Gul and might have seriously threatened India with their full first choice attack. Shoaib could have used some pressure from the other end. For his part, Shoaib was magnificient. Whatever you say about the man, the ball tampering, the drug allegations, the temper tantrums, the crooked elbow – he is a magnificient bowler. He has the natural gift of pace, but most crucially he has built up over the past few years a great understanding of length. Rarely does he try to blast batsmen out. If you think about his bowling yesterday with his bowling on Day 5, the contrast becomes clear. On Day 4, when the game was still in the balance, Shoaib was all class. On Day 5, it was a matter of making a statement, and hopefully denting the confidence of one of India’s ageing middle order galacticos. It didn’t work. Shoaib (and his partner Sami – more on him a little later) peppered the Indians with fearsome short stuff. It took all the slip fielders out of the equation, and Tendulkar hooked and pulled everything sumptuously, as did VVS. It was an especially skillfull display given the uneven 5th day bounce. The last 56 runs came in 10 overs. Shoaib did get Sourav Ganguly, but thats only because Ganguly is the worst player of the hook and pull shots amongst modern day specialist batsmen, who insists on playing the shot!

Mohammad Sami is probably the greatest of the could-have-beens in world cricket in this decade. He has a fine temperament as was seen by his batting in the first innings, he is genuinely quick (can match Shoaib for pace), and has the ability to bowl marathon spells at scorching pace (you may recall his 13 over spell on the 3rd morning in the scorching summer heat of Rawalpindi), and yet, averages 47 with the ball in Test cricket. There must be something technically wrong with his action, and even the stability of the Woolmer years did not seem to help him. Rarely has a bowler promised so much and delivered so little. Think about it – if Sami had full filled his promise, and if Gul and Asif had been fit, Pakistan would have had the best pace bowling pool in world cricket today. As it is, they probably have the best fast bowler in the world in their ranks right now.

Shoaib Malik did not bowl in this Test match. There in lies the dilemma, and there in lie Pakistan’s problems. His captaincy may be made into an issue by some commentators, and this in my view would be a mistake. It is his role as a player in the eleven which invites greater scrutiny. Is he a specialist batsman? In which case, is he once of the 4 best middle order batsmen in Pakistan? Is he an all rounder? In which case, is he good enough as a bowler to play at Test level? If he’s a batsman, then where should be bat? In his 21 Test matches, he has opened the batting, and he has batted at 6 or 7 in the middle order with equal success. He may put all these questions to rest by producing a sterling century at Eden Gardens, but in the long term, the question about his competence as a Test cricketer remain. If he isn’t going to bowl (and India batted nearly 80 overs in the first innings), or isn’t good enough to be more than a part time spinner, then what should his role be? Should he open the batting and ask Yaseer Hameed to bat at 3, with Younis Khan dropping down to number 5? Misbah has proved to be an able number 6 batsman. These are some of the questions Pakistan will deal with as they travel to Kolkata for the 2nd Test.

It is no secret that the captaincy has fallen to Malik by default, after Younis Khan turned it down. For a side with Pakistan’s gifts, a Brearley or Germon like captaincy situation is unseemly. Yet, that is exactly what they seem to be saddled with. They will hope that Malik’s stint will be more Brearley and less Germon!

India for their part with go to Kolkata in the hope that the great Eden Gardens will inspire Harbhajan Singh to his best form. His comeback has been steady and he will be eager to exploit the extra bounce (compared to Delhi, any wicket has extra bounce) at the Eden. One hopes that the spin twins get back into prime form, not only because of Australia, but because Anil Kumble as captain will be watched closely by the parasitic press pack for any signs of favoring himself ahead of his off spinning mate. Rahul Dravid made a century in each innings the last time Pakistan were at Eden Gardens, and he will dearly like to repeat that at least in part this time around. Ganguly returns to his home ground after having spent the year making a gutsy comeback. Tendulkar and Laxman – well, one hopes they can play sumptuous stroke filled innings. Dinesh Karthik ought to make a few runs, what with Parthiv Patel snapping at his heels with an impressive run of form. The phlegmatic Jaffer will take it all in as he does in every game. As far as Munaf is concerned, he will know that a good performance at Eden Gardens will result in a ticket to Australia. Most crucial to India’s success however, is the continuation of Zaheer Khan’s good form.

On to the Eden Gardens then…..

Delhi Test – Day 4: Accidents and averted disasters

As Zaheer Khan ran in to deliver the first ball of Day 4 of this Test match, the game was wide open. Pakistan might even have considered themselves in the ascendency, if you consider the fact that their last five wickets added 109 in the first innings. With Shoaib in Pakistan ranks, anything in the vicinity of 225-250 would have made India sweat in the 4th innings. As it turned out though, Pakistan lost their last 5 wickets for 35 runs today, including the last 3 for 4 runs.

Misbah Ul Haq became the first batsman in the history of Test cricket to be dismissed caught at deep mid on off the first delivery of the second new ball. Mohammad Sami then added to the novelty of the situation by abandoning all common sense and attempting a slog-slog (as against slog-sweep) next ball and was dismissed caught at short mid-wicket. At this point, with Danish Kaneria and Shoaib Akthar at the wicket, it was a matter of picking one of many possible methods of dismissal. Kaneria faced up to Kumble, attempted the exact same forward prod that he had in the first innings, connected with the middle of the bat, and set of for a deft single. He was the only one running though and turned (blind) with all the elegance of a toy cart, only to see that Dhoni had collected a widish throw and effected a difficult run out with the panache of a winner.

Thus, the Pakistan innings came to an abrupt end with three of the silliest dismissals you will ever see. Anil Kumble had taken the new ball in the middle of the 81st over, bowled by Sourav Ganguly, and then taken it up himself at the other end. If ever there was a case of “lets change things around a little bit”, this was it. India were left with 203 to win the Delhi Test Match.

The Pakistan bowling attack consists of Shoaib Akthar and three other bowlers. He is bowling as well as he ever has and has been a consistent threat. The batsmen are however allowed some breathing space at the other end. The Indian batting in the 4th innings has so far been typical of their efforts in recent months – lots of small contributions, without anybody ever threatening to take the bowling apart and score than sumptuous hundred. Three of four years ago, there were 2-3 batsmen who might have been capable of doing so. This is a line up performing from memory, and their collective memory seems to serve them well, especially with Zaheer Khan finding a new gear with the ball. Tendulkar seemed intent on being there at the end of the day, while Ganguly continues to demonstrate his great ability to score quickly in Test cricket. Dravid was solid, and Wasim Jaffer played the best innings of the day against Shoaib and the Pakistan new ball.

As things stand, notwithstanding Shoaib, India should wrap things up tomorrow. As we saw on the morning of Day 4 however, strange things are possible. Conventional wisdom would suggest that India should go to the Eden Garden 1-0 up.

Delhi Test, Day 3

At the end of day 3, Pakistan are 167 ahead with 5 wickets in hand. In terms of the future of the Test match, the respective desired scripts are quite clear. India would like to wrap things up as quickly as possible and finish the game on day 4, while Pakistan would like to prolong their third innings and take the game into day 5. As it stands now, if India are left to get anything over 225 in the 4th innings, it’s going to be tough. Given India’s decent but less than decisive advantage in the first innings, the 4th innings comes into play, handing the advantage to the side batting first, especially in the subcontinent.

One cannot help contrast the approach taken by Mohammad Sami and Zaheer Khan with the bat. Both had a set batsman at the other end. Time was of no essence in both cases, yet, Zaheer, given the choice of playing like Shoaib on the one hand, and Sami on the other, chose the former approach. Not surprisingly, his fate was quite similar to Shoaib’s. VVS Laxman was left stranded. For his part, VVS leaves himself open to criticism due to his alleged lack of urgency, and his unwillingness to shield the tail. He is right to expect the tail to be able to keep the bowling out, and he is also right in my view to take each and every single on offer. That is not selfishness, its simply taking everything that is on offer. It is also one of the reasons why the approach taken by Kumble in the first innings, does have its merits (may be not so much at 8/150, but certainly in the kind of situation Shoaib Malik found his side in). VVS’s approach and batting style is a cogent argument for him being promoted ahead of Sourav Ganguly. India may just be missing a trick there. When batting with the tail, the opposition invariably tends to concentrate of dismissing the tailender, while ignoring the specialist bat. This would suit Ganguly tremendously, and with his great ability to out guess/think the bowler (honed in the high pressure arena of powerplays in ODI cricket), he may just take his test career to a new level. Coming back to Zaheer and Sami though – Sami kept out close to 16 overs, facing Kumble, Zaheer Khan and co. It is probably fair to expect Zaheer or Harbhajan to have been able to do the same between them against the Pakistan attack. They need look no further than their captain in their are looking for a fine approach.

The Indian new ball pair failed to provide a break through with the second innings and it was left to the spinners to do all the work. That India have managed 5 wickets is creditable in the circumstances. Anil Kumble as always has been the key. His ability to control the runs and threaten wickets remains unsurpassed among Indian bowlers. Harbhajan Singh must have been heartened by his classical off spinners dismissal of the prolific Mohammad Yousuf.

This Test match appears to be evenly poised at the end of day 3. Given the fact that the wicket is likely to wear, Pakistan are probably slightly ahead at this moment. Yet, if you look at the first innings, the 45 run difference is largely because India first let Pakistan make about 70 runs more than they should have in their first innings, and then made about 20-30 runs less than they should have in their first innings. India have not closed out the game in the first innings itself. As a result, they now face the very real possibility of heading to the Eden Gardens with a series to save. Teams batting second have won 10 times at the Kotla, while teams batting first have won only 5 times. But that is only half the story. In all but 1 of the 15 Test match which have yielded a results, the first innings lead/deficit been less than 50 runs. Fourth innings run chases however have been quite successful, the best of these being the West Indies scoring 5/276 in 1987-88. Teams have won despite first innings deficits, but in each of those cases, they have won in by demolishing the opposition in the third innings. India beat Australia in 1969-70 despite conceding a 60 odd run deficit by bowling out Australia for 107.

The first session of day 4 will be crucial. The winner of that session will win the Test match…

Delhi Test – Day 2

At one point yesterday, Pakistan were 8/150. The score however, was not the striking thing at that point. If you walked into that cricket ground, with no knowledge of the score, you might have been forgiven for believing that the batting side was on top and the fielding side, having fallen behind in the game, were trying to manage the damage. There were fielders on the boundary and the in-field was set deep as well. Misbah Ul-Haq was on strike. India were giving him the single trying to bring the tailender on strike. Shoaib Akthar seemed to miss the point. He went for a characteristically nonchalant swipe and missed completely. Mohammad Sami didn’t. The trigger was Misbah Ul-Haq lofting Harbhajan Singh for a straight six. This prompted the debutant Indian captain to go from looking for wickets 6 balls an over, to looking for wickets whenever Misbah Ul-Haq decided it was Ok for Mohammad Sami to come on strike.

Now, this has been one of the great tactical debates in modern Test cricket. Should the fielding side bowl at the tailender and forget about dismissing the set batsman, or should it continue to aim for wickets at both ends? Both methods have worked in the past. Given that this is Kumble’s first game as captain, his cautious approach may be understandable. However, the state of the match – Day 1, opposition electing the bat first and being reduced to 8/150, an inexperienced specialist batsman at the wicket, might have enabled the more aggressive approach.

As it happened, the wicket fell today through an error from Misbah Ul Haq. Mohammad Sami remained unconquered. Even so, 231 was a modest first innings score, and seemed increasingly modest as Rahul Dravid and Wasim Jaffer played expertly. Then Jaffer fell to the best bowler on show in this series (170 Test wickets at 25.2), and Sachin Tendulkar arrived. He managed to run himself out 2nd ball. Sourav Ganguly then came offered Sohail Tanvir a huge gap between bat and pad, which the bowler gleefully accepted. In walked VVS Laxman, with India in more than a little bit of trouble.

Of all the Indian players in the current eleven, VVS and Dhoni have had the most tenuous hold over their places. Dhoni is effectively the second wicketkeeper, while VVS, since he doesn’t play ODI cricket, seems to have a peripheral hold on public memory. Besides, Indias Test batsmen seem to have lost the ability to play long innings. A couple of 70’s are not as effective as a stray 170. I have wondered in the past if Dhoni is a better choice compared to Yuvraj Singh, if Dinesh Karthik is also available. Others have wondered whether VVS still deserves a spot ahead of Yuvraj Singh. It turns out that the selectors have been proved right, and we have been proved wrong in this instance.

The Test match is interestingly poised. If India’s tail can drag India to 300, it would be a significant lead. On the other hand, if they fall quickly tomorrow, then the prospect of a 4th innings chase puts India’s bowlers under enormous pressure in the third innings. India’s worst nightmare would be for one of the Pakistan players to hit his straps and produce 50 good overs of batting.

Thanks to VVS and Dhoni, this is still India’s Test match to win or lose. There is this sobering thought though – Tendulkar has been run out 4 times in Tests prior to this effort, and India have not won any of those games.