India pull off a thriller against Australia
Prem Panicker
The phrase 'a match that had everything' is used so often these days, that when you really want to use it in a justifiable context, you find that the phrase has become cliched from misuse.
So what do you say, really, about the India versus Australia Titan Cup tie at the Cinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore?
 Tick them off on your fingers: it had runs, and some good batting if only in patches. It had run outs, spectacular ones at that. It had a riot - or at least, a near riot, when the crowds lost their cool and it looked like being Calcutta all over again. And it had a rapturous finale for the home crowd, when local boys Javagal Srinath and Anil Kumble turned the game round, just when it looked like India was dead in the water, and pulled off a win nobody, not even the pundits, thought was on the cards.
 The most interesting thing about this game was that it was between two sides who both desperately needed a win. India was going through a prolonged lean trot, and needed to reverse the trend if the young team under new skipper Sachin Tendulkar were not to lose all heart. And Australia, after a defeat in the one off Test and then a drubbing at the hands of South Africa in the earlier Titan Cup match, needed a win if only to get out of the losing habit.
More to the point, both teams are aware that South Africa is in awesome form, and that taking points off Hansie Cronje and his boys is going to be next to impossible. Therefore, the route to the final was dependent on the outcome of the Australia versus India games - and this being the first of two, assumed crucial dimensions.
With that much by way of setting the stage, let's get on to the action...
The pitch, and suchlike
If cricket adjudicators knew their stuff, they would have given the man of the match for this game to the curator who produced this pitch.
It was raining in Bangalore till 24 hours before the start of play, and yet the pitch did not have a drop of water on it, nor did it show any sign of the deluge that had been taking place all round it - tribute to superb facilities on offer at the KSCA, and to the curator for using them well.
The Super Soaker - which is a bit like a bulldozer, really, but with sponge covering on its broad wheels and an ability to mop up water that Noah might have found handy during the original deluge - was also employed to good effect, and the result was a clean, fast outfield with good footing for the players.
All in all, brilliant work by the groundstaff here.
As far as the course of play was concerned, it was obvious that the batsman would have to wait for the ball to come on before playing his strokes, and that runs, if not difficult to come by, would certainly not be given gratis but would have to be worked for. The toss was important only insofar as India has, of late, developed a deplorable tendency to stumble in the chase. Otherwise, the batting order of the innings could have been reversed without any appreciable difference - the wicket played in over number 100 just as it had in the first.
As for the teams, India chose to go into the match unchanged, while Australia rested Ricky Ponting, I'll never figure out why, and brought in Michael Slater at number three while the injured Paul Reiffel was replaced by Damien Fleming.
 Both sides, thus, playing the extra batsman as against five bowlers - an indication that neither Taylor, nor Tendulkar, as yet have much faith in the top order's ability to post imposing totals.
The Australian innings
Australia opened with Mark Waugh and Mark Taylor. And when Srinath and Prasad, straight off, settled into a perfect line and length, keeping the ball on the stumps and denying any width for batsmen to play strokes, it was on the cards that the impatient Aussie batsmen would find ways of getting out that were not in keeping with the situation.
The first offender, funnily enough, was Mark Waugh - and Prasad takes full credit for bowling the slower one right in the slot for the drive, inducing the error from a batsman who was beginning to chafe under the restraint, and with Waugh driving too early, all Sachin really had to do was accept the catch with a smile of gratitude. The batting side's first wicket gone, and that too their best batsman, and the score not yet double figures - not the sort of start Taylor hoped for, certainly.
And it was to get worse - Michael Slater hated the shackles Srinath and Prasad imposed even more than Waugh did. A foolhardy foray down the wicket, an attempt to drive before Prasad had even decided where to pitch the ball, and all the bowler - who uses his head all the time - had to do was send the ball wide. Slater was already into the slashing drive, the outer edge was a cert, and Mongia had more problems persuading Kumble not to attempt the catch than he had in actually taking it. Australia 23/2.
Recovery was going to be very hard work, but Steve Waugh - whose temperament, at least, is faultless even if you can't say the same for his on-field manners - and Taylor set to work, grinding out the singles in the face of some superb bowling and outstanding fielding by the Indians. The trouble, for a side batting first and finding itself fighting for runs, is always in knowing when to attack - and in this case, the Indians made it harder for the batting side by giving them nothing at all to go after.
Thus, it was well past the halfway mark before the 100 came up on the board, and obvious at that stage that the Aussies would have to go for their shots soon. Waugh decided to be the one to do it, danced down to Joshi who quickly pushed it flatter and faster, the ball took the bottom edge, and Ganguly on the mid off fence had time for a small snack before it came down into his hands. Australia 115/3, and Michael Bevan at the crease.
Taylor had, all along, been playing with caution. And with Bevan his usual lightning self between wickets, the Aussies moved along faster than they had till that stage in the innings. Ironically, though, Taylor's own long spell at the wicket was to cause trouble for the Aussies for though the value of the Aussie skipper's 100 - his first in one day internationals, in his 98th appearance - was incalculable, Bevan was hampered going for the fast second runs by the fact that Taylor couldn't keep pace. And thus, at a time when the Indian fielders could have come under pressure, the runs continued to come by trickles rather than the threatened flood.
Taylor's vigil ended when, soon after getting his hundred, he tried an ungainly hoik at Tendulkar who, throughout his spell on the day, was bowling as slow as he possibly could to force the batsmen to hit with all their might. In the event, Taylor top edged, up went the ball and down again, Azhar at pointing not having to move an inch to pouch that one. Australia 197/4, and with Law and Bevan at the crease, and the innings now in over number 43, anything was possible.
 What happened, of course, was the impossible - Bevan was deceived by the slower one from Prasad and his attempted hoik over midwicket ended up being the straightest of catches to Anil Kumble in that position. Australia 204/5, and another batsman had thrown it away after looking to have it under control.
Stuart Law, a few runs later, found out why Kumble is so hard to hit - the Indian leggie bowled a yorker Joel Garner would have been proud of, and the LBW was asked, and given, without need for much thought. 212/6, and the Aussies had by then made a meal of their latter batting.
Healy fretted, fumed, hoiked, heaved, and found his frustration mounting as he kept getting singles or, worse, missing altogether. And an outstanding day for India in the field ended, appropriately enough, when the Aussie keeper slogged at the last ball of the innings, from Kumble, sent it way up into orbit and Sachin Tendulkar, from mid on, sprinted a good 40 metres towards midwicket to pull off a magnificient running catch. Australia 215/7 in 50 overs, and the suspicion was that the batting side had at least 30 runs too few.
And if Australia found itself far short of a defensible total, all credit to some superbly controlled bowling by the Indians, and brilliant work in the field. All the bowlers - Srinath, in particular, being outstanding despite bowling with a leg injury - kept the line tight, bowling within themselves and not letting the Aussies use the pace of the ball to work it away for runs. And the fielders attacked the ball constantly, adding to the pressure the batsmen were under and cutting off many valuable runs in the process. One statistic in particular is noteworthy - besides Mark Taylor, who got nine boundaries in the entire Australian innings, the other batsmen between them managed just five boundary hits - and that kind of containment points to a great performance by the bowling side.
All told, some less than world class batting against a very skilled fielding and bowling display, and at the halfway mark, the game was definitely India's for the taking.
The Indian reply
Sujith Somasundar illustrates the folly of that selectorial thinking which holds that a player who has two good scores on the trot in domestic cricket will, ergo, be a wunderkind at the international level.
For the second time on the trot, the youngster looked a fish out of water against the Aussie quicks, neither bat nor feet nor head anywhere in line as he fished, prodded, fended and did everything else but bat. No surprise, then, that McGrath's faster ball, on yorker length, smashed into the base of his off stump to reduce India to 30/1. A good, quiet start, but the Indian team will need much more than just a hanger-on to partner skipper Tendulkar, and Somasundar revealed that at this level of cricket, he is, for now, very much in the hanger-on class.
What did surprise one was when, after looking as calm and composed as he normally does, Dravid was a bit late bringing his bat down to an in cutter from Fleming that rapped him on the pads, plumb in front of the wicket. One has, of late, come to rely on Dravid playing a long innings - the fall of his wicket, thus, had about it all the unexpectedness of a fist to the solar plexus. India 41/2.
In came Azharuddin - and followed, in short order, a very unfortunate part of the match. Jason Gillespie straightened one up to wrap the batsman on the pad in front of middle and leg. From numerous viewings of the slow-mo, it is impossible to discern whether or not there was a faint nick. In the event, Azhar looked out - and the umpire did, in fact, declare him LBW (India 42/3).
Azhar is, normally, a sportsman who has, in recent memory, even walked for a stumping. So when he indicated that he had got a nick, he was probably being honest. In the event, though, Azhar walked off mouthing audible abuse at the umpire - which was rare in him, but none the less deplorable for being rare.
And the crowd took off. Bottles, seat covers, what have you - they all came pelting down, and nightmarish visions of Calcutta visited were in all minds when Azhar retrieved the situation his show of protest had helped create in the first place by walking around the perimeter of the ground, appealing for calm. In Bangalore, Azhar is seen as the true inheritor of the mantle of gentlemanly cricketer once worn by G R Vishwanath, and on the day, that reputation worked as the crowd quietened down.
Disruptions, though, take a toll on a batsman's concentration. In the event, Tendulkar was the one to suffer, though Ganguly paid the price. Tendulkar played to leg, ran the first one fast, raced halfway down for the second and, for some inexplicable reason, then lost it. He waved Ganguly back, the batsman was in no position to regain his crease and the run out was inevitable - and tragic. India 47/4. The fault was entirely Tendulkar's, and that knowledge must have only made it harder for the skipper to stand there and do what needed doing.
In the event, Tendulkar and Jadeja put their heads down, taking the singles, the former occasionally cutting loose with the harder hit twos and occasional fours, and a recovery of sorts was on the cards when India climbed back up to 126.
In between came a display of petulance from Steve Waugh, after an LBW appeal that was the outsize in optimism was turned down. Waugh mouthed very audible obscenities, sat on the ground like a spoilt brat, and did everything to live up to his reputation of being the Ugly Aussie in a by and large sporting outfit.
And then produced a superb piece of fielding to run out Jadeja, no slouch between wickets, with a direct throw. India 126/5, another wicket lost to a run out and some of us, at least, left pondering why Steve Waugh, an outstanding cricketer, feels the urge to act nasty rather than let his obvious cricketing skills do the job for him. Professionalism is one thing, brutish behaviour another - and if Waugh's tantrum had incited the crowd which had, by no means, settled down fully, one shudders to think of the consequences.
The other problem with that run out was that Jadeja, who was running to the non-striker's end, for some reason chose to do so with his head down, and ended up crashing into the bowler, Glenn McGrath, on his follow through. Both players went sprawling, and in the event Waugh had no problem catching Jadeja out of his ground. In a similar situation, South African captain Hansie Cronje had, in the match against India, withdrawn the appeal and allowed the Indian player concerned to bat on. Mark Taylor did no such thing here, but then there is a difference between being magnanimous when you are winning, and doing the same in a tight, tense game. Jadeja, however, made matters worse by hanging around after being given out, looking for a recall and generally looking very unhappy - which was bad manners, and worse thinking. In the first place, it was Jadeja who was at fault. In the second, even assuming that there was a mistake in the decision, Jadeja should have known, from the earlier demonstration, that the crowd was volatile to an extreme, and avoided the needless provocation.
For India, though, the collapse continued. Mongia and Joshi came in and went out again in short order, and one suspects that Sachin Tendulkar, batting with his head down and showing enormous patience till then, found the pressure getting to be a bit too much. Srinath's ungainly, and unsuccessful, hoik from outside off stump must have confirmed Sachin's feeling that time was running out - in the event, he played across the line to Waugh's straighter one, missed, and was palpably in front after playing a patient innings off 88 off 111. At that stage, India were 167/8, and obviously dead to rights.
And then came the most brilliant part of the match, as the tempestuous Srinath struck calculated blows - including an outstanding straight six off Steve Waugh - while Anil Kumble, every inch the responsible deputy skipper, guided, coaxed and cajoled his more temperamental partner through a stand of 52 runs in only 40 deliveries that brought India past the winning post with seven deliveries, and two wickets, in hand.
That stand - by two Bangalore boys in front of a Bangalore crowd - was what the crowd needed to forget the earlier lapses, and Garden City turned into a party zone the moment Kumble turned Gillespie past midwicket for the winning brace.
All told, a good win for India. One where they showed plenty of character where it counted, and more to the point broke the hoodoo of unsuccessful chases. This win, thus, will be important if only to convince this young Indian outfit that they can bat second and still win games - and as such, the value of this win, in terms of the future, is immense.
Sure, work remains to be done - some of it before Jaipur on Wednesday, when India take on the strong South Africans for the second time in this tournament. One area for immediate attention will, of course, be the opening slot where Ganguly, for now, seems the best option.
But that is for the think tank, and for later analysis. For now, we leave you with the party in Bangalore, which is rapidly becoming India's favourite cricketing venue.
And we will leave you with this thought. Six Karnataka players played before their home crowd. Four of them - Kumble, Srinath, Joshi and Prasad - were outstanding with the ball, and in fact comprised the regular attack for India. Out of 304 deliveries sent down by the Indians, only 33 were fielded by non-Karnataka players, as Azhar and Dravid performed prodigies on the field and Kumble, Joshi, Prasad and Srinath fielded their hearts out.
Rarely, if ever, has any one state dominated Indian cricket to this extent - maybe it is time to examine why, for in this resurgence of Karnataka cricket might, perhaps, lie answers to some of the problems vexing the national team...
Australia innings R B 4 6
ME Waugh c Tendulkar b Prasad 4 13 0 0
*MA Taylor c Azharuddin b Tendulkar 105 144 9 0
MJ Slater c Mongia b Prasad 3 21 0 0
SR Waugh c Ganguly b Joshi 41 61 2 0
MG Bevan c Kumble b Prasad 36 49 2 0
SG Law lbw b Kumble 5 8 0 0
+IA Healy c Tendulkar b Kumble 8 6 1 0
GB Hogg not out 3 2 0 0
Extras (b 1, lb 4, w 3, nb 2) 10
Total (7 wickets, 50 overs) 215
DNB: JN Gillespie, DW Fleming, GD McGrath.
FoW: 1-9 (ME Waugh), 2-23 (Slater), 3-115 (SR Waugh),
4-197 (Taylor), 5-204 (Bevan), 6-212 (Law),
7-215 (Healy).
Bowling O M R W
Srinath 10 2 35 0 (1nb)
Prasad 10 0 38 3 (2nb, 1w)
Kumble 10 0 40 2 (1nb)
Joshi 10 1 42 1 (1w)
Ganguly 2 0 11 0
Tendulkar 8 0 45 1 (1w)
India innings R B 4 6
S Somasunder b McGrath 7 32 0 0
*SR Tendulkar lbw b SR Waugh 88 111 9 0
R Dravid lbw b Fleming 6 13 1 0
MA Azharuddin lbw b Gillespie 1 3 0 0
SC Ganguly run out (ME Waugh) 4 4 1 0
A Jadeja run out (SR Waugh) 27 62 2 0
+NR Mongia c McGrath b SR Waugh 14 22 1 0
SB Joshi b Fleming 1 6 0 0
J Srinath not out 30 23 2 1
A Kumble not out 16 19 0 0
Extras (b 1, lb 8, w 12, nb 1) 22
Total (8 wickets, 48.5 overs) 216
To Bat: BKV Prasad.
FoW: 1-30 (Somasunder), 2-41 (Dravid), 3-42 (Azharuddin),
4-47 (Ganguly), 5-126 (Jadeja), 6-157 (Mongia),
7-164 (Joshi), 8-164 (Tendulkar).
Bowling O M R W
McGrath 9.5 2 27 1 (1nb, 1w)
Fleming 10 1 39 2 (4w)
Gillespie 10 1 44 1
Hogg 10 0 45 0 (5w)
SR Waugh 9 0 54 2 (1nb, 2w)
This scoreboard courtesy Cricinfo, at www.cricket.org
|
