BOMBAY, 22 October 2004 — When the final day’s play was finally called off, due to persistent drizzle, resulting in the second Test at Madras being drawn, one of the younger members of the team, Irfan Pathan, exclaimed, “We have been robbed.”
Whether it was the outcome of his inexperience, or his tremendous confidence and commitment, one does not know, but the fact remains that the match was tantalizingly poised with either side in with a chance of a victory on the last day.
The Indians had their task cut out for them to get another 200 runs with all the wickets in tact. But the fallibility of their otherwise strong batting credentials being so prominent these days, the Australians could not be blamed if they had fancied their chances.
The Irfan remark, however, represents the new voice of optimism that is being heard in the Indian team of late. And these are not mere words. The young pace bowler is slowly but surely turning out to be the kind of an all-rounder that India have been desperately seeking since the retirement of Kapil Dev.
Whether he will ultimately fulfill that promise remains to be seen, but there is no lack of supreme effort on the part of a youngster who has grabbed opportunity with both hands.
The sad news is that the same gutsy Irfan Pathan has become the latest casualty in the team. He will now miss the third Test, starting at Nagpur, due to side strain. Considered the fittest member of the side, Irfan had finally to fall to the rigors of modern-day cricket. What a tremendous run he has had since making his debut in Australia last winter.
He played seven Test matches and 26 One-Day Internationals on the trot and always contributing as much with his bowling as with his laudable stint with the bat.
This Indian team appears riddled with injuries almost on a regular basis. Until now, with the exception of Rahul Dravid and Irfan, every member has had to take a drop on account of injury. It is Irfan’s turn now, even as Sachin Tendulkar struggles to make a comeback to the team after nursing a tennis elbow that has kept him out of the game since August.
Strangely enough, the seriousness of his injury was never made known as he went on one tour after another without hitting a single ball.
Everyone is again optimistic that he will be fit for the Nagpur Test.
The way Virender Sehwag has returned to his best form, the team may not really miss Tendulkar that badly. But his presence does have a huge psychological advantage over the Aussies. One is sure that if Tendulkar’s problem had been addressed to in all sincerity, instead of carting him around from Sri Lanka to Holland to England and then to Bangalore, he probably might have been ready to take strike by now.
Another major problem facing the Indian team is the sub-standard wicketkeeping of young Parthiv Patel. His blunders on the tour of Australia cost the Indian team the Test series.
His poor work behind the stumps continued in the home series against Australia. In Madras he dropped four catches and missed an easy stumping. He is lucky to remain in the team. He did bat with a lot of consistency but it is a specialist wicketkeeper that India needs at the moment, and not another batsman. It is learned that the skipper supported him and that is why he has been retained despite the fact that there are good young keepers waiting in the wings.
This is one anomaly that the Indian team cannot get over. It always looks to strengthen its batting even though it may be at the expense of a specialist position. How many batsmen do the Indian team need?
