|
March 17, 1998
MATCH REPORTS
STAT SHEET
DIARY
OTHER SPORTS
SLIDE SHOW
PEOPLE
DEAR REDIFF
|
Warne versus Tendulkar -- the battle resumes
Saurav Ganguly may be the local hero -- but come Wednesday, an anticipated full house at the Eden Gardens will have one thing on its collective mind: a resumption, namely, of the battle between Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkar.
"He is an aggressive bowler, I am an aggressive batsmen, so when we face each other it is natural there will be some competition," said Tendulkar, when asked about the tendency on the part of sports scribes to reduce the ongoing Test series into a personal battle between the two of them.
Warne, for his part, says the mauling at Tendulkar's hands thus far (in three innings against the tourists, the Indian batsman has scored 204 not out, 4 and 155 not out) hasn't left scars. "Each innings is different -- on his day, Tendulkar can blast any bowler, so I am not too worried about Chennai," said the ace leggie who, in 18 Tests since January 1997 has 87 wickets against his name and, as of now, stands poised on 308 victims, needing just two more to overhaul Lance Gibbs as the most successful spinner of all time.
Interestingly, in that same time frame, Tendulkar has scored 1159 runs from 13 Tests at an average of 68.18 with five centuries plus three near misses (88, 92 and 83). So the battle is between two players both in prime form.
Tendulkar is obviously serious about the confrontation. Thus, on returning to Bombay at the end of the first Test, he spent the next few days at the Wankhede Stadium, drafting local leg spinners to bowl to him, concentrating on the line round the wicket, into the rough outside the right-hander's leg stump. To that line, Tendulkar was seen practising the back foot glance, the sweep and the short arm pull through and over midwicket.
At a larger level, India goes into the game upbeat after taking an early lead. "We would like to clinch the series at the Eden Gardens, go up 2-0, we will not be playing for a draw," said home team coach Anshuman Gaikwad.
For their part, the tourists appeared confident of bouncing back and squaring the series -- at a venue where, till date, they are still to lose a single Test.
Of the five earlier Tests at this venue between the two sides -- the last being as far back as 1979 -- four were drawn, while the Aussies won in 1969 under Bill Lawry. (Overall, the two sides have squared up 52 times, with Aussies winning 24 and India 10, 17 games being drawn and one ending in a tie).
In keeping with the mood, both teams have shortlisted their twelve, leaving only the naming of the 12th man to the morning of the game. India has included all rounder Hemant Kanitkar, who bowls off spin, in place of V V S Laxman while the Aussies have brought in leg spinner Stuart McGill for Paul Reiffel, and Paul Wilson in place of the ailing Adam Dale.
Aussie coach Geoff Marsh indicated that the team may well go in with only one specialist quick in Kasprowicz (Blewett and probably Steve Waugh to share the new ball) and three spinners in Warne, Gavin Robertson and Stewart MacGill.
The Indians, after some speculation that Debashish Mohanty would be drafted in as third seamer, are now toying with the idea of playing Kanitkar for Chauhan. Two factors are being suggested for the move -- one, that Chauhan was brutalised by the Aussie batsmen at Chennai and two, a desire to strengthen the batting, while leaving the off spinner's slot filled. However, a body of opinion within the side's think tank holds that it is Harvinder, nor Chauhan, who should make room for Kanitkar, in order to take four spinners into the game.
All of which makes the pitch the most interesting variable. As late as evening on Tuesday, it had a fair covering of grass. Further, it rained in Calcutta on the 13th and 14th, which means there will be a measure of sub-surface moisture in the early stages of the game. And if precedent is any judge, the ball will come nicely onto the bat, with pace and bounce for the seamers and turn, towards the latter stages of the game, for the spinners.
A perfect yardstick to measure this wicket would be to recall the last game at the venue -- when Mohammad Azharuddin slaughtered the South African bowlers, only for Lance Kluesener to storm back in the second innings with an eight-wicket haul that sealed the home side's fate.
Curator Probir Mukherjee, who has been doing the job for a good four decades now, indicated that the bounce would be even, and there could be something in it for both spin and pace. Chairman of the pitches committee Kapil Dev, for his part, pronounced himself satisfied after an inspection of the rectangle, 24 hours ahead of the start of the game.
Warne, meanwhile, said he rather fancied the look of the wicket. "The one in Chennai was on the slow side, things could have been different if the first Test had been played here," the leggie felt.
All told, the toss could -- as so often on Indian grounds -- prove the key to the conundrum. The side winning would prefer to bat first, risking early pace in the wicket, rather than take the chance of turn later on.
Shane Warne gave an indicator of the main worry for the Australians when he said that the first six batsmen had to give the bowlers a decent total to bowl against. It is the failure of the batsmen that put the visitors under pressure in Chennai.
Coach Geoff Marsh agrees. "Our top six are the players that have done it for us right
through Australia, but they have got to be more positive over here
and back themselves a little more,'' Marsh said. "They got out through lack of concentration in the first
innings in Madras and the key over here is you have to bat for long
periods because the wickets are very good for batting.''
Asked whether the Indian team, meanwhile, was making plans to tackle Shane Warne, Azharuddin, who had just led his side in a srenous early morning workout under the eye of physio Andrews Kokinos, said, "Shane is a good bowler, but he does not have any special significance to Indian batsmen. We will play our normal game."
CAB president Jagmohan Dalmiya, who holds that post at the ICC as well, meanwhile indicated there was a brisk sale in season tickets.
Recalling the near-riot situation at the venue when India played Sri Lanka in the World Cup semifinal, Dalmiya said that sufficient police personnell would be deployed in each stand to prevent untoward incidents.
B C Cooray of Sri Lanka and K Parthasarathy of India will umpire the game, while Dr Shekhar Chowdhury was named third umpire. The ICC match referee, of course, is Peter van der Merwe of South Africa.
|