The third Test got under way on the kind of wicket that the authorities should have prepared at the beginning of the series rather than the end. Pakistanis should have played the ‘home advantage’ card much earlier, but then, better late than never. India were lucky to win the toss and bowl first on the strip, but they squandered their luck by not taking advantage of such a wonderful start.
How could they allow Pakistan to score 245 after reducing them to 39-6? I am stumped, like many others! Kamran Akmal and Abdul Razzaq batted quite splendidly, and their rescue-mission was aided by some over-aggressive tactics on the part of the Indians. Even when Pakistan were six down, the runs kept coming at a stupendous rate, and that is something the Indians should have prevented. Akmal and Razzaq got a phenomenal number of runs through drives, and I cannot understand why the bowlers kept pitching it up. One of the worst crimes any Test side can commit is to give easy runs to the tail-enders after you have dismissed the top batsmen cheaply. The Indians did precisely that and suffered. Rahul Dravid still needs some time to settle into the captain’s role. I honestly feel he is attacking too much. As I have reiterated in my previous columns, you need to be flexible and even go on the defensive in certain situations. Having said that, I think Dravid is an unlucky captain. You need a certain amount of good fortune on your
side as a leader, for some of your decisions or gambles to click. He still hasn’t gained that sort of luck. The body-language of the Indian batsmen was quite disastrous, and that is putting it mildly. I know this might sound offensive, but the fact was that the Indians were nervous and looked like ‘fair-weather’ batsmen. They did not quite resemble the champions who have amassed thousands of runs in international cricket. The Pakistani bowling, barring the odd delivery here and there, was not extraordinary. But Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammed Asif and
Abdul Razzaq were allowed to dictate terms. True, Dravid and Laxman fell to good balls, but the others looked like novices. Ganguly’s dismissal off a hook, which he played despite the knowledge that the field had been set specifically to tempt him into essaying that very stroke, was a shocker.
Not only were the Indian batsmen diffident, but they were also excessively cautious. A batsman cannot and should not be obsessed with caution on a wicket that is helping the bowlers. This wicket may be helping the bowlers, but it is very much a strokeplayer’s wicket. I mean that batsmen who will play positively and play each delivery on merit will enjoy themselves on such a strip.
In other words, the Indian batsmen did not take a leaf out of Akmal’s book. The Pakistani wicketkeeper-batsman displayed a big heart and guts. He was positive and aggressive. It is difficult for a batsman to bat for a whole day on a wicket of this nature. The best option is to attack the bowling and disturb the line-and-length of the bowlers. That is what I used to do, and that is what Akmal and Razzaq did. They were not emulated by the Indians.
This wicket has seen some remarkable bowling by both sides, but to my mind, the ‘worst’ is over as far as the batsmen are concerned. It will get better and better for batting in the next couple of days. This is why I reckon that Pakistan won’t feel secure even if they manage to take an overall lead of 300-350. For India possesses the firepower to get those runs. Pakistan will aim at stretching their lead as much as possible. On the other hand, the Indians should block the flow of runs.
This match, according to me, is still wide open.
