India’s much underrated much underestimated and uncelebrated bowlers once again saved the face of the much celebrated, much estimated and hugely popular batsmen by defending the paltry total that had been put up by their adulated batting brothers. It’s not the first time that they have done so, nor will it be the last time but as Anil Kumble will tell you when it comes to recognition the bowling fraternity is easily moved away to make way for the batsmen.
Only the little champion showed why he is still the heartbeat of the Indian batting by scoring a patient 65 and he was dismissed in the only way it seemed possible, a run-out. He had wonderful support from Harbhajan Singh and the spinner quickly sensed an opportunity to have a partnership with the little champion and batted most sensibly. He did not attempt to bat like his more gifted partner but when the scoring ball was bowled he took full advantage of it.
That partnership gave India breathing space and some substance to the final tally on the board and but for that it may have been an embarrassingly low total in double digits.
To be fair to the batsmen, they did not throw their wickets away but were consumed by some fine bowling by the West Indian new-ball bowlers. The West Indians having rested their main bowlers it looked like a great chance for the Indian batsmen to get their form going but good swing bowling by Dwayne Smith and Collymore making a comeback to the side reduced the Indians to stationary batsmen with little footwork. Tendulkar showed the way by staying still, till the last moment and then moving to play the ball on its length. Harbhajan did that too and looked quite solid till he got a tad ambitious and tried a cut but he had done a splendid job with that partnership with Tendulkar and no doubt he will be telling that to his teammates in the dressing room.
Chasing a small total is never easy as there is a tendency to take it easy and with the West Indian side packed with batsmen the old problem of thinking that ‘even if I get out, there’s a long batting line-up to follow’ can lead to disaster as it eventually happened.
Chanderpaul was the one who started it by playing an awful shot against Munaf and then Morton followed him playing away from his body. The worst was Wavell Hinds who batted for 57 balls and got only single digit score and then perished playing a ‘nothing’ shot. There’s no doubt that this West Indian side can be pressured and apart from the admirable captain Brian Lara, there’s not much of cricketing common sense that is displayed in a tight situation.
The West Indians are in the finals but by losing in the manner that they have will mean that whoever their opponent is in the finals, they will feel they have a good chance to pressure and win the cup.
This win stops the losing streak that the Indians had against the men from the Caribbean Isles and will also give them heart as they take on world champions Australia who will be at full strength as they know that they have to win to get to the finals. It will be a match to watch and hopefully the Indian batsmen will grasp the opportunity provided by the bowlers to show that there’s much to shout about them too.
