India have a mountain to climb to get to safety, and there aren’t too many oxygen masks available. The weather also is unlikely to come to their rescue, and so they will have to do all the work themselves to get out of the mess they have found themselves in. In India, the batsmen are the superstars and the bowlers the poor cousins. The bowlers had done better than anticipated with their spirited efforts to restrict Australia to a score less than 350 even after the home team had got a century-plus start.
That was terrific stuff, and the skipper Anil Kumble led from the front. The wicket was not pacy and bouncy, so the batsmen were expected to show their class and get India close to, if not pass the total Australia had put up. That did not happen, as the batsmen seemed to freeze and did not play up to expectations. The shining exceptions were Sachin Tendulkar and the man playing his hundredth Test, Sourav Ganguly, but that wasn’t enough, as both did not go on to a three-figure innings that would have given more muscle to India’s reply.
Jaffer, who is a slow starter, was just settling down before he hung his bat out to Brett Lee and Dravid, who was promoted to open the batting, found the role a bit too tough. He hasn’t been in the best of touch in the last series against the Pakistanis, and even in the Test series earlier in England, he had a sole half century to his credit. Opening the batting is never easy for someone who is unfamiliar with the role, and with Gautam Gambhir playing in the Ranji Trophy game, the question that Indian cricket lovers will want answered is how come he has been declared ‘injured’ and is thus not available for national duty, but is playing a Ranji game at the same time as this Test match? Gambhir is a regular opener and has been in good form, and has got a good score in the Ranji game. A left-and-right hand combo is never easy to bowl to, and Gambhir’s aggression may have been just the ideal foil to Jaffer who likes to take his own time to get going.
India may also have had a few close calls going against them, both while bowling and batting, but that’s the rub of the green. Yuvraj, who also has been in tremendous touch, was surprised to be given out, and has been called by the match referee, even as Brett Lee and company have not even been ticked off for doing pretty much what Yuvraj has been hauled up for. India though need to make sure that they get rid of any ‘persecution complex’ that might crop up in the ranks, for the series has just begun and there are plenty of cricketing days left. It was good to see Harbhajan come into his own in the second innings, since he is going to be a key player if India is to do well in the series. He and his fellow bowlers have tried hard on an unresponsive pitch, and it is now up to the batsmen to show that the accolades are well-deserved.
