da 888casino： Is there still any doubt that the Indian batting line-up is themost explosive, the most attractive in world cricket today
Partab Ramchand23-Sep-2002Is there still any doubt that the Indian batting line-up is themost explosive, the most attractive in world cricket today? Anydoubts on this score would have been erased after Sunday’sperformance at the Premadasa stadium.
© ReutersEven granting the fact that they were playing on the subcontinent, if not exactly at home, and even after taking intoaccount that the England team were not at full strength, themanner in which they approached what was undoubtedly achallenging target was exemplary. They just shrugged off thepsychological pressures of chasing 270 and the mostencouraging aspect was that Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh andMohammad Kaif did not even get to pick up their bats and thecontribution of Sachin Tendulkar was minimal. Winning with eightwickets and 10.3 overs to spare after being confronted with a total of 269 for seven is not something that is achieved day after day in limited overscricket.But then when Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly are onsong, who needs Tendulkar and company? Whatever histechnical limitations in Test cricket, Sehwag is God sent for theIndian team in one day cricket. A lot has already been said andwritten about his physical resemblance to Tendulkar, how heplays his shots very much in the manner of the great man, howhis approach to the game too is the same. And on Sunday, hetook another step in matching Tendulkar in strokeplay and intearing the bowling apart.What I have particularly liked about Sehwag is his temperament.No big match nerves for him. He may have a healthy respect forthe opposition but he is not one to be overawed by their loftyreputation. He treats the bowling on merit but only just. He hasthis happy knack of converting even the seemingly good ballsinto half volleys and launches into a ferocious onslaught. Heplays all the shots in the book and then adds some of his own.The England bowlers on Sunday looked helpless but then Sehwaghas this ability to dictate terms. He hits them so hard and high,he smashes the ball to all parts of the field in such a mannerthat the bowler soon becomes demoralised. And while I was ofcourse reminded of Tendulkar during his tenure at the crease onSunday, my mind also went back to the mid-90s when a certainSanath Jayasuriya had bowlers pleading for mercy and captainsrunning out of ideas while placing a field.Even Krish Srikkanth, no slouch with the bat himself and apioneer of innovative strokes, was moved to admit in his postmatch comments that he would have been hard pressed to batlike Sehwag did on Sunday. The most encouraging aspect fromthe Indian point of view is that Sehwag’s success has taken alot of pressure away from Tendulkar.It was natural that in the context of Sehwag’s amazing knock,Ganguly’s innings would emerge as only the second best. But hetoo played his part admirably. With Sehwag setting the stadiumalight, it was imperative for Ganguly to play the anchor role. Itwas a pretty selfless gesture, for it is well known that Gangulytoo is second to none when it comes to ‘murdering’ the bowling.With an asking rate of 5.4 runs an over, a good start was a mustand Ganguly curbed his natural instincts to play a supporting roleto Sehwag on the latter’s great day. But once the match was inthe bag, Ganguly leapt like the veritable tiger on his prey andfinished the match in double quick time with a series ofenthralling strokes and big hits.
© CricInfoBut then the batting has never been the real problem. It wasjust that on Sunday it struck a purple patch. The match againstEngland, though, proved that with some support from the muchmaligned bowling, India could win many more games.For all the pounding that the bowlers took from Blackwell andcompany late in the innings, the outstanding work done initiallyby Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra, when placed in properperspective, was one of the factors behind the emphaticvictory. Again, the four main bowlers did what was expectedfrom them but the 66 runs conceded in 11 overs by the nonregular bowlers is something to cause concern.Also of some concern was Dravid’s showing behind the stumps.Are the pressures of keeping wickets and also being one of themain batsmen in the side finally telling on him? It is a questionthe team management would do well not to just brush under thecarpet.On Sunday’s showing, the Indians must be termed favouritesagainst South Africa. Sure, the opposition will be stronger butthen the Indian batsmen’s confidence will be sky high, though,the bowlers will again have to rise to the occasion for India tomake their second successive entry into the ICC ChampionsTrophy final. They did defeat South Africa, then the reigningchampions, in 2000. A repeat performance cannot be ruled out.