da bwin： Promoting Yuveraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif in the order, keeping alive the search for an all-rounder by giving Sehwag more bowling, the captain also keeping the options open for turninghis arm over more than he is doing these days – all these are
Partab Ramchand08-Nov-2002Is India a better one-day side or a Test side? Going by thelatest ICC tables, one can hardly get a conclusive reply to thatquery. The Test rankings have India sixth in the table, while theODI ratings have India in fifth place.
Promoting Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif in the order, keepingalive the search for an all-rounder by giving Sehwag morebowling, the captain also keeping the options open for turninghis arm over more than he is doing these days – all these arepossible experiments.
The fact remains that the team has had mixed results in bothforms of the game. The triumph in the NatWest Trophy in Englandand the joint-champions tag in the ICC Champions Trophy in SriLanka are notable achievements. But they have been reverses invarious competitions, especially abroad. Besides, the irritatinghabit of faltering at the final hurdle continues, with theNatWest Trophy being an exception. On the Test front, India hashad five victories abroad in the last two years, but a seriestriumph outside the subcontinent continues to be elusive aftermore than 16 years, even as the home record continues to beimpressive.The debate about whether India is a better one-day or Test sidemay continue, but there is little doubt that with the World Cup alittle over three months away, the emphasis these days is, notunexpectedly, more on the team’s performance in the limited-oversversion. Seven one-day internationals against the West Indiesfollowed by another similar round in New Zealand is perhaps thebest way to prepare for the big event. The Indians have just twomore Test matches against New Zealand to be played before theWorld Cup, and the focus will increasingly be on the one-dayteam.Perhaps then the time is ripe to try out a few experimentswithout damaging the basic team structure, and it was good to seesome steps being taken towards this direction in the first matchagainst the West Indies at Jamshedpur, in the absence of ZaheerKhan and Sachin Tendulkar. The promotion of Ajit Agarkar tonumber three and the inclusion of Jai P Yadav in place of DineshMongia are to be welcomed. The search for a genuine all-roundercontinues, and if the selectors, backed by the team management,succeed in finding one before the World Cup, such experimentshave to be carried out. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, goesthe saying, and bold and adventurous steps need to be taken. Suchan approach is bound to pay off in the long term.At the moment, the best man to fill the all-rounder slot wouldseem to be Virender Sehwag. The manner in which he bowled in thevital tension-packed overs towards the end of the ChampionsTrophy semifinal against South Africa marked him out as one toback for that role. His off-spinners, low in trajectory and slowthrough the air, are difficult to hit, much as batsmen found ithard to play slog-shots against Kris Srikkanth’s slow spinnerssome 15 years ago. The immense value of Sehwag’s bowling wasagain proved against the West Indies at Jamshedpur on Wednesday,and it was only when he erred in giving the ball air that he washit.I still remember the venturesome West Indian batsmen, eager toget on with their strokes, getting impatient with Bishen Bedi’sultra-slow spinners at Chepauk in January 1967. There are timeswhen slow bowling can prove to be a tricky proposition, even onefraught with danger, especially in limited-overs cricket. Can oneforget Tendulkar, with his deadly spin cocktail, restricting theSouth Africans to just three runs in the last over of the HeroCup semifinal at Calcutta in 1993, with the visitors requiringjust six to win? Under the circumstances, then, Sehwag should beencouraged to bowl more than just a few overs, and it was good tosee him get a full quota on Wednesday the only Indian bowler tosend down 10 overs, and deservedly so, one might add.With the selectors having decided that Rahul Dravid will keepwickets in the mega-event, the nucleus of the World Cup side isalready in place, and it only remains to try out variouscombinations and permutations from among the players already inthe fray. Promoting Yuveraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif in the order,keeping alive the search for an all-rounder by giving Sehwag morebowling, the captain also keeping the options open for turninghis arm over more than he is doing these days – all these arepossible experiments.The issue of Tendulkar coming back to the opening slot may not bea closed chapter, and this is one more idea that could be givenserious thought, if the team management is so inclined. Also, onSouth African pitches, the accent will have to be on pacebowling, and a decision has to be taken as to whether there willbe place for only one specialist spinner in the final 11. Adecision will also have to be taken about Javagal Srinath, andwhether he will continue to be useful to the squad in SouthAfrica. It is interesting to note that even with Zaheer absent,Srinath was not played at Jamshedpur on Wednesday.Brijesh Patel and his co-selectors, as well as John Wright andSourav Ganguly, will have a lot of analysing to do over the nextcouple of months. Fortunately, they have enough opportunities tocollect relevant data and reach a consensus on what would be bestfor an Indian team that is making a serious challenge to regainthe trophy after 20 years.