Melbourne Test – Where will Rahul Dravid bat?

Rahul Dravid opened the batting for India in the game against Victoria. The Indian team management is clearly toying with the idea of rethinking the batting order to accommodate Yuvraj Singh after his tremendous century at Bangalore. Given the composition of the Indian squad, they have a number of options available to them, assuming that they will play 4 specialist bowlers.

They could retain the opening pair of Dinesh Karthik and Wasim Jaffer. This would allow them to play 5 more specialist batsmen, assuming that Dinesh Karthik keeps wicket. The line up would then read Karthik, Jaffer, Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Laxman, Yuvraj. This will mean that Mahendra Dhoni misses out. Alternatively, they could drop Dinesh Karthik, and ask Rahul Dravid to open the batting. This disrupts the rest of the batting order, but gives India the opportunity to play Dhoni at number 7. Further, it gives India the opportunity to play either VVS Laxman or the in form Sourav Ganguly at number 3.

The first choice would be the conservative, safe option. It is tried and tested, and has worked well in South Africa and England. The second option would involve greater risk, and also possibly greater reward. The real question for India is where they want the wicket keeper to bat – Dinesh Karthik opening the batting, or Mahendra Dhoni at number 7. The Dinesh Karthik option would give them a deeper batting line up, but a weaker opening pair, while the Mahendra Dhoni will give a stronger opening pair, but a batting line up which is less deep. The first option would be considered “defensive” or “defeatist” and further fuel a growing perception amongst watchers the Kumble’s India are a conservative cricket team. The second option, where Dravid opens the batting, would be viewed as more aggressive and also fuel the legend of Dravid the “team-man”. It will be interesting to see what choices Kumble will make.

The wicket, which at this point is the great unknown may influence Kumble’s decision more than anything else. If Kumble and Harbhajan Singh both play, then India may well go with Rahul Dravid. Wickets on which Kumble and Harbhajan prove to be effective are likely to offer less help to fast bowling, there by making Dhoni more effective in the late order. If the wicket allows India to play 3 pace bowlers, then Dinesh Karthik may well play, as India will be well served with a deeper batting order. Dinesh Karthik in any case, has shown a peculiar tendency to favor overseas conditions when opening the batting. Hence, a fast bowler friendly wicket may engender a deeper line up, while a drier wicket will probably see India playing Dhoni.

There is of course the Sehwag option, which would be a big risk, given Sehwag’s lack of form and given the fact that he didn’t play against Victoria. That the tour match was rained off has not helped India. I would be very surprised if Sehwag played at the MCG.

The question at the end of the day will be dictated by the wicket. Dravid at number 3 would be the best possible option in my view. Most importantly it would be a vote of confidence in him. Sourav Ganguly though, is a man with a sense of occasion, and i wouldn’t be surprised at all if he bats at number 3 in his 100th Test match and makes a century in front of a full house at the MCG!

That would be some story….

Trent Bridge Test, Day 2 – India’s day

India lead by 56 runs on the first innings with 7 wickets in hand at the end of the second day of the second Test at Trent Bridge. It was a day much like the ones at Lord’s. There was plenty of help for the bowlers and the sun stayed to watch only parts of the opening stand. The rub of the green went India’s way – the ball went past the edge, a couple of tough LBW’s (Jaffer against Monty – Tendulkar might see that and smile later today, and Karthik missing a sweep against the same bowler) calls went against England and in general, England looked like they were there and there abouts – just not enough to convert their efforts into a flurry of wickets. The line and length they achieved did not compare well with their bowling at Lord’s.

Much is made of the fact that this is England’s second string bowling. They are missing Flintoff, Harmison and Hoggard. Flintoff is sorely missed, for he lets England play 5 bowlers. Hoggard has been a steady wicket taker in England and has been a fixture in the England XI for a long time now. Harmison, im not sure is missed. If you look at the series averages for the West Indies series, Harmison took 16 wickets at 34 in the series, while Monty, Sidebottom and Hoggard all took their wickets between 18-23 per wicket. Besides, Tremlett’s has been easily the most impressive start to a bowling career, albeit in bowler friendly conditions, and Anderson bowled brilliantly at Lord’s.

This has been a series of unheralded individuals of whom the expectations are low, coming to the fore. The English bowling at Lord’s, and the Indian openers here at Nottingham. The real test of quality comes when the opposition knows you are good, and you still prove that you are. Monty has now passed that Test in my view, and ought to be seen as an established Test player.

Much will be made, and i just noticed that it has already begun of the weakest links coming through for India. That article by Sambit Bal consists of the ultimate doublespeak – every actual description of events on the field in that article points to two things – 1. That India were lucky, 2. That England were not. And yet, the Indian openers were “gutsy, skilful, and nothing short of heroic”! So presumably, had one of the near misses actually been an edge, say within the first 30 runs, we might have heard the usual nay saying about the ageing batting and the lack of talent in the openers slot.

It points to my earlier argument about the Tendulkar dismissal in the second innings at Lord’s – it is a matter of chance to a large extent, especially in conditions with something in it for the bowlers.

We also saw further evidence on the story of the two techniques – Rahul Dravid chooses to play spin much like Prior. He is admittedly much better at it than Prior (about 9000 runs better), but playing out in front of the pad causes the batsman to reach out to the ball play away from the body a tad. It is what the a good spinner will work for, for that is his best chance as Panesar proved. Dravid was beaten in the flight, and since his method relied on looking for the ball out on the front foot, found himself off balance and bang in the middle of Michael Vaughan’s well set trap. Tendulkar seemed to have made a slight adjustment (his method seemed to be a Bombay thing – Jaffer also uses the same method for playing spinners), in that he was consciously getting well forward and leaning into his defense rather than just block with a limited stride.

Panesar it has to be said, is a really good bowler.

There was the interesting incident of Tendulkar being hit on the helmet. I saw some superb analysis from Michael Holding (who’s hit a few batsmen in his time) and Michael Atherton and David Gower (who’ve been at the other end a few times). Holding pointed out that Tendulkar kept his eyes on the ball till the very end, and hence caught it on the grill rather than on the back of the head or the shoulder’s as he might have had he turned his back on the ball like many other batsmen.

All in all, it was a gritty effort in bowler friendly conditions. Holding made the point (which will doubtlessly ignored as irrelevant in India) that the English bowlers were a bit wide today as compared to Lord’s where they were at the batsman all the time. That in my view is the difference between 180/8 and 250/3. That is Test Cricket.

I hope the rain stays away tomorrow. I suspect though that we might have to go to the Oval with two draws – both sides having been robbed once.

Two many wicketkeepers…..

Wicketkeeper batsmen have had a long chequered history in India. From Navle in the inaugural Test, to Karthik in the upcoming Lord’s Test, they have frequently faced the new ball. Apart from Sunil Gavaskar’s era when wicketkeepers did not open the batting for India (the only wicketkeeper who Gavaskar partnered was Farokh Engineer very early in his career), they have often been asked to do the job. There is another facet to this story. For most of Sunil Gavaskar’s career, India have also had all-rounders in their side. Be it Eknath Solkar and Rusi Surti in the early 1970’s, or Kapil Dev and Ravi Shastri since the late 70’s, there has never been a shortage of the all round cricketer who can contribute with both bat and ball. Since Gavaskar’s retirement in 1987, India have not found a single all-rounder of note. Manoj Prabhakar and Kapil Dev were around till 1996 and 1994 respectively, but since then the cupboard has been bare.

By asking wicketkeepers to open, India have in effect tried to create an all-rounder. All-rounders provide crucial balance to a side and successful sides have always had all rounders – players who can perform 2 specialist tasks with sufficient competence. Even the great Australian side have Adam Gilchrist, who apart from being a fine batsman is also the specialist wicketkeeper.

Dinesh Karthik is a specialist wicketkeeper with some batting talent. He has been courageous enough to take up the role of opener and so far and has done quite well in his short stint. As Rahul Dravid said of him – “He has a good basic technique and his courage cannot be faulted”. He has played as a specialist batsman, and has not been keeping wickets recently. Dhoni has been the first choice wicketkeeper. However, the question is – can India afford the luxury of playing both Dinesh Karthik and MS Dhoni in the eleven, especially when they have Yuvraj Singh waiting on the sidelines for a middle order slot? As i have written before, this is the crux of the selection dilemma for the Indian management during this England tour, and in the near future – as long as Dinesh Karthik opens the batting. All the options are difficult.

Given India’s depleted bowling line up (Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh), the batting has to be as strong as it can possibly be. India do not possess 5 good bowlers who can make possible up a 5 bowler line up in the current squad in England. If India play only 4 bowlers, then it is very likely that India will bat against very stiff English totals. India have to play Yuvraj at 7 to add some depth to the batting. Dinesh Karthik has to keep wickets and perform the all-rounders role. He is the only one in the current squad who can do so. MS Dhoni, while he is a tremendously powerful stroke player, is likely to find his defensive technique tested (and frequently bested), and hence, can not perform the conventional all-rounders role.

The strongest Indian line up from the current squad would in my view be as follows (in batting order):

Jaffer, Karthik, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Ganguly, Yuvraj, Kumble, Zaheer, Sreesanth, RP