da betway： Sourav Ganguly is getting better as a captain with everypassing day and his record is beginning to reflect it too
Erapalli Prasanna04-Jul-2005Sourav Ganguly is getting better as a captain with everypassing day and his record is beginning to reflect it too.The Indian skipper’s 12th win in 28 Tests at the helm wasscripted by his main trump cards on home soil – hisspinners.
© CricInfoAfter winning a good toss, Ganguly wisely decided to batfirst on a newly laid track. The ever-confident VirenderSehwag was at hand to ensure that his team got off to astrong start. The more I see of the dashing opener, the moreI am convinced that he is the most refreshing thing to havehappened to Indian cricket in recent times. He never seemsto be saddled by any unwanted burden and always gives fullrein to his naturally aggressive instincts.I thought Pedro Collins bowled a good spell on the openingday. He was bowling the odd heavy ball, and getting a few tobounce rather nastily. It was one of these quick bouncersthat smashed into the back of Sehwag’s helmet. This is whatthe Windies fast bowlers have been most renowned for -hostility. I must add that Mervyn Dillon, though, cut asorry figure; he was too keen on bowling well withinhimself. Dillon and the rest of the West Indies fast bowlersfailed to apply any pressure on Sehwag and gave him enoughwidth to play his trademark strokes through the off side.Sehwag’s partner Sanjay Bangar is also coming along nicelyas an opening batsman. It is always good to have a batsman,who puts a high price on his wicket and will do his utmostto stick around and take the sheen off the new ball. WithSehwag blazing away at one end, Bangar certainly makes foran ideal foil. Each of the 201 runs that the duo put on forthe first wicket bears testimony to the strength of theirnewly-forged partnership. I sincerely hope that theselectors give these two openers a good run.The other batsman to come up with a standout performance wasRahul Dravid. By scoring his fourth consecutive Testhundred, the Indian vice-captain yet again underscored hisimportance in this Indian team. The moment he retired hurt,the rest of the Indian batting fell apart.Moving on to the West Indies, I just can’t find anythingpositive to say about their performance. With the exceptionof Chanderpaul’s batting, everything about their cricket wasat best mediocre. If they continue to bowl, bat and catch inthis fashion, they’d even struggle to get the better ofBangladesh in their next series.Their woeful catching was what appalled me the most; no teamcan afford to drop so many crucial catches. This from a teamthat is in India with a fielding coach! As for the batting,I feel the current team is sorely missing the spark and theconfidence that the presence of great batsmen like GordonGreenidge and Viv Richards could have provided.When it came to the Indian efforts in the field, ParthivPatel’s performance behind the wickets during the two WestIndian innings gave me a lot of heart. The young man was nottroubled one whit by the prospect of keeping to eitherKumble or Harbhajan and his glove-work was confident andvirtually impeccable. This does augur well for Indiancricket.Moving on to the bowling, I felt that Harbhajan Singh didnot bowl all that well in the West Indies first innings,being yet again guilty of bowling flat and quick. That saidhe was quick to correct his mistakes in the next innings,bowling much more slowly and getting the ball to turn a lot.
© CricInfoZaheer Khan was the other Indian bowler to make animpression. The left-arm quick has come on by leaps andbounds, and these days he can be seen charging in to bowl. Ithink he deserves a five-for in Tests now and I am confidentthat he will claim that soon.Bangar also drew my attention when he rattled RamnareshSarwan with a few bouncers. The medium-pacer was generatingmore pace than Srinath, which suggests that he couldactually share the new ball with Zaheer Khan. Given thenature of tracks in Chennai and Kolkata, it would be a goodidea to go along with this combination and replace Srinathwith the young leg-spinner Amit Mishra. It is always best toplay to one’s strengths, and in India’s case it is our spinbowling.All said the beleagured West Indies team is, in my opinion,not in any position to salvage anything out of this series.Their weakness as a side places Sourav Ganguly’s men in theenviable position of recording India’s first clean sweepover the West Indies by winning the Chennai and KolkataTests. I for one would dearly love to see the Indian juggernautroll on.