da imperador bet： I was expecting a closely contested final at Durban on Friday but evenas the Indian innings drew to a sorry close, I knew that my hopes weregoing to be dashed
Erapalli Prasanna27-Oct-2001I was expecting a closely contested final at Durban on Friday but evenas the Indian innings drew to a sorry close, I knew that my hopes weregoing to be dashed.After both Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly fell cheaply, only Sehwaglooked capable of taking the fight to the South African camp. The Delhilad impressed me a great deal during his sweet cameo. The way in whichhe played some of the shots gave me the impression that he will be readyto lead the Indian batting when Tendulkar and Ganguly hang up theirboots.
© CricInfoSehwag has modeled himself after Tendulkar and on occasions thesimilarity between the two is striking. He is a pronounced backfootplayer and a side-on batsman, which makes his batting look veryimpressive. Sehwag’s partnership with his idol following the dismissalof the Indian skipper sure made for interesting viewing.Ganguly was dismissed when he tried to break the shackles that ShaunPollock and Nantie Hayward had imposed. The two South Africans quicksbowled with great discipline, keeping the ball where the fourth stumpwould have been. This made it difficult for the Indian duo to unleashtheir wide array of shots. Starved of any width for six overs, Gangulyin desperation tried to make room for himself and hit over the top. Buton a pitch where the ball was not coming on to the bat, he onlysucceeded in edging a catch to Boucher. Pollock, for his part, couldn’tcontain his joy when his policy of denial finally worked.Tendulkar too was not allowed to dominate – he only made 17 off the 40balls he faced despite stroking three elegant boundaries. He too fell toa desperate shot; trying to cut a ball that was not quite there for theshot to be played. The South Africans had done excellent groundwork andthey carried out their plans to a T on the day. Once they had silencedthe two big guns the match was theirs for the taking.Rahul Dravid again made a fighting 77, displaying his solid battingtechnique and cool temperament. But then his innings was never going towin us the match. His technical excellence is going to be more importantin the Test series that is to follow. If you were to ask me, Rahulshould bat at No.3 in the three-match series ahead of VVS Laxman.This also brings me to another important point I would like to make.Considering the vital role that my fellow Karnataka statemate will playas a batsman in the Tests, I was baffled to see him ‘keeping in thefinal two one-dayers. Was the risk worth the gains; I, for one,definitely don’t think so.In my opinion, Deep Dasgupta should have done the job that was entrustedto him by the selectors. The young man from Bengal is a specialist’keeper and only by giving him greater exposure can we turn him into abetter player. Dasgupta is also in the Test side and by telling him towarm the benches, the team management was not doing his confidence anygood. The think-tank would do well to remember that two of the world’sfinest ‘keepers – Rodney Marsh and Ian Healy – were also never thoughtto be any good during their salad days. It was only with experiencegained by greater exposure in the international arena that they maturedinto the world-beaters they later proved to be.As for the squad announced for the Tests, I feel that the selection offive seamers was totally unnecessary. In any case, we can play only amaximum of three seamers and so I felt that five were one too many. Theselection of Connor Williams as an opener too was a huge surprise to me.The Baroda Ranji captain has no experience playing in the internationalarena and I feel that it is not a very clever idea to expose him to theSouth Africans quicks.Coming to the selection of Sameer Dighe as the first-choice ‘keeper, Ifeel it must serve as a wake-up call to Dasgupta. Nayan Mongia wouldmost definitely have been the best choice but then it is commonknowledge that he is not in the good books of either the Indian captainor the senior players.
© CricInfoBefore signing off, let me say that that though the tri-series might nothave not given much joy to the Indian team it has at least underlinedthe fact that our best chance of winning the Tests lies in playing bothour spinners. All the South Africans have struggled to read bothHarbhajan and Kumble. I can therefore confidently predict that if weplay the duo and if our batsmen do their bit, India will at last havethe chance to savour their first win in the rainbow nation. Here then iswishing Sourav Ganguly and his men the very best ahead of the Testseries.