There are a couple of disturbing thoughts even as the Indians lick their wounds
Partab Ramchand06-May-2002Inconsistency is the bane of Indian cricket teams and the currentsquad in the West Indies is no different. One can’t really be surewhen the side will touch the heights of glory or when they will plumbthe depths. They alternate so quickly between the two extremes that itbecomes extremely frustrating. Just last year it happened in Zimbabweand Sri Lanka and now again they have followed up a notable triumph atPort of Spain with a humiliating loss at Bridgetown only some ten dayslater.
There are a couple of disturbing thoughts even as the Indians licktheir wounds. One is that the remaining two Tests are at Kingston,Jamaica and St John’s, Antigua. The Indians have not exactly coveredthemselves with glory at these venues, especially at Kingston, wherethe tally reads five losses and three draws. Conditions at Sabina Parkare generally similar to those at the Kensington Oval.
But then of course the Indians must have known that conditions at theKensington Oval would not be as amiable as those prevalent at theQueen’s Park Oval. There are batsmen who intimidate bowlers andbowlers who intimidate batsmen. But here we have a ground that has ademoralizing effect on the Indians.Seven defeats in eight matches at this venue including five in arow, which makes it next only to Lord’s where the Indians lost sixsuccessive Tests in the period 1932-1967 is frankly an unnervingrecord. The West Indies would seem to hold all the psychological acesagainst India at Bridgetown and unless the visitors are able to shakethis off like they did with a splendid fighting performance in 1971 more defeats are bound to follow.After all, it is not just the pace of Andy Roberts, Michael Holding,Ian Bishop, Malcolm Marshall, Courtney Walsh, Curtley Ambrose andFranklyn Rose that has laid the Indians low at this jinxed venue. Eventhe spin of Sonny Ramadhin, Lance Gibbs and David Holford has been thecause of much misery for the visitors. And the infamous collapse in1997 when the Indians, set to get just 120 runs for victory, werebowled out for 81 symbolises India’s dismal showing at Bridgetown.The Indians did just about everything wrong but there is little doubtthat the batting caused more problems than the bowling. When a side isbowled out for 102 on the first day, it is an arduous uphill journeyfrom then on and only some incisive bowling followed by determinedbatting can possibly save the day. Sadly, both were missing.The bowling was generally wayward. There was little planning or efforttaken to think a batsman out. During the long fifth wicket partnershipbetween Carl Hooper and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, frequently it seemedas if the bowlers were just going through the motions of completingthe over.A deficit of 292 can be crippling but it was hoped that the Indians,by a better showing the second time around on a pitch that looked tohave eased out, could put up a fight. The optimist’s mind instantlywent back to Lord’s in 1979, when despite being shot out for 96 on theopening day and finishing 323 runs behind on the first innings, theIndians came back to save the Test thanks a 210-run third wicketpartnership between Gundappa Viswanath and Dilip Vengsarkar, one ofthe most famous rearguard actions in Indian cricket.It was quaint to think of such heroics but we were all to be badlydisillusioned. The second innings was an improvement over the first anything would be but that was not enough.There are a couple of disturbing thoughts even as the Indians licktheir wounds. One is that the remaining two Tests are at Kingston,Jamaica and St John’s, Antigua. The Indians have not exactly coveredthemselves with glory at these venues, especially at Kingston, wherethe tally reads five losses and three draws. Conditions at Sabina Parkare generally similar to those at the Kensington Oval.The Indians will be a bit more comfortable with their record atAntigua where both the Tests in 1983 and 1997 have been drawn. All thesame, the fun and games of Bourda and Queen’s Park Oval are over andthe tough part of the tour starts now. But one wonders whether theIndians are mentally, physically and technically prepared to tackleit.The second worrying aspect is that there is precious little that canbe done to work out any change in strategy. Yes, the top-order is abit more secure with Wasim Jaffer proving to be a success and ShivSundar Das providing some semblance of substance. The failure of thefamed middle-order with the notable exception of the skipper who atlast seems to be coming into his own did cause some dismay but it isstrong enough to make one feel that this was just an aberration.The main problem concerns the bowling. The spin department, inparticular, is a major worry with neither Anil Kumble nor HarbhajanSingh inspiring confidence. Both have bowling averages of 40 plus whenit comes to Tests abroad. And whichever combination the teammanagement opts for three seamers and one spinner or two seamers andtwo spinners there is nothing to suggest that the four bowlers willdeliver the goods.The line-up, to be candid, is quite problematic but then there arehardly any other options for the selectors and one supposes the teamwill have to soldier along with this tried and tested though onlypartly successful quartet for the rest of the series. And that is asobering thought even for the most optimistic Indian cricket fan.