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It's India in a canter

Prem Panicker

Australian skipper Steve Waugh's timing with the bat might be out of the top drawer, but the timing on his statements is, judging by the evidence, a shade off.

After getting Tendulkar out cheaply in the first encounter between the two teams, at Cochin, Waugh said that in his opinion, the Indian opener wouldn't be quite the force in ODIs that he was in Tests, and that the Australians had figured out how to contain and dismiss him.

The response, in game two, was a blazing century off 90 deliveries, studded with five fours and seven sixes.

At the same time, reacting to Mark Taylor's statement that he did not believe in the policy of seperate captains for Tests and ODIs, Steve Waugh said that if Taylor didn't like it, he could darn well lump it -- a bit graceless, one thought when the statement was made, towards a senior player who has served the side well. Steve Waugh needn't have responded at all, given that it was the decision of the selectors and it was therefore up to them to argue their case.

Waugh, however, did respond. In rather harsh language. And then led his side to yet another defeat against India, this time at the Green Park, Kanpur. Makes you wonder what Taylor is making of it all.

For the home side, yet again, it was the young ones who did the deed. First, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Rahul Sanghvi with a superb spell of bowling that slowed the rate of scoring and, at the same time, prised out wickets at regular intervals. Then Ajit Agarkar, with a controlled slog over spell that knocked back three wickets in his last two overs. And then Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly with a scintillating opening partnership of 174 off just 172 deliveries that took the game away from the touring side.

Listing Sachin and Saurav in the "young ones" category seems strange, even as you write the words -- those two seem to have been around for ages. And thus you find you have to remind yourself that the former is just turned 25, the latter 24.

And in course of their blistering opening stand, Tendulkar recorded his 13th ODI century (with 39 fifties besides) to aggregate 6205 runs in limited over games, while Ganguly became the 11th Indian batsman to go beyond 2000 runs, in his 57th game.

The game, however, was won and lost in the first half of the Australian innings, when on a flat hard track liable to crumble in the second half of the day, the top order folded before some very accurate bowling and tight fielding by the home side.

Steve Waugh won the toss and opted to bat first, indicating in his post-toss media briefing that he felt the wicket was a belter, and that a score of around 275 was needed to put pressure on the side batting second.

Azhar seemed, judging by his comments, to have read the track better. For in his briefing, he indicated that he thought the pitch would crumble, batting would become difficult in the second innings, and that therefore India needed to bowl and field well to restrict the Australian score to manageable limits.

Mark Waugh, opening with Adam Gilchrist, looked in good enough touch to do the job for his elder twin. At which point, came one of those captaincy decisions that look brilliant when they work, and pass unnoticed when they don't. Seeing that Waugh was flicking off his pads at anything this side of off stump, Azhar opted to remove his sole slip and place him at short fine leg. Mark Waugh, spotting the gap opening up behind the stumps on the off, attempted to steer a four through the third man region. The leg cutter from Prasad moved late, and just enough to take the edge for Mongia to hold, reducing Australia to 12/1.

Ajit Agarkar, Prasad's partner with the new ball, bowls very well to the left-handers. He doesn't angle it too far across the batsman, opting instead to drift the ball from leg to off, and then bring it in off the seam. He came up with that line to Gilchrist, whose attempted flick resulted in a firm top edge to Azhar at point, Australia 35/2.

Michael Bevan was his usual self, pushing, guiding, gliding, getting runs more with placement and electric running between the wickets than with any aggressive strokeplay. And Ricky Ponting, for once on this tour, looked comfortable against spin right from the start.

Azharuddin appears, of late, to have enormous confidence in the young bowlers he has been given. Thus, Hrishikesh Kanitkar was brought in for over number 13, with the field restrictions still in place. And Rahul Sanghvi came in at the other end, after Kumble, who was into the firing line in over number 12, had bowled just four overs.

And between them, Kanitkar and Sanghvi did an outstanding job. On a track without much turn and bounce, neither bowler tried to spin the ball too hard, opting instead to rely on flight, and variations of length and line, to keep the batsmen guessing.

The check on the scoring rate was bound to induce indiscretion -- and it finally came from Bevan, with the score on 71. Kanitkar produced a lovely floater, on off, Bevan went for a slog over mid on, missed completely, and lost his wicket in a rather unnecessary dismissal just when he was looking set.

104/3 in 25 meant that Australia would need to bat out of its skin, in the second half of its innings, to get anywhere near that 275 mark indicated by its skipper. And Darren Lehmann made the job that bit tougher, with some thoughtless batting. Ever since he came in, he seemed determined to hit Sanghvi off his line. A couple of chipped drives went airborne and very close to fielders. On another occasion, Sanghvi came close to pulling off yet another caught and bowled. Finally, Lehmann stepped away from the stumps to try and hit through the off side -- Sanghvi floating the ball in, turning from off to middle to beat the stroke and take out the stump. 106/4.

Almost immediately thereafter, Kanitkar struck again. Steve Waugh was completely foxed by a well flighted ball, and stranded outside the crease for Mongia to gather and do the needful. At that stage, Australia were 108/5, and pretty much out of the game right there given that the pitch continued to be a beauty of a batting strip.

The two young spinners ensured, backed by a fielding side that seemed on fire, ensure that Australia went into the slog with just 159 runs on the board.

Ponting's innings on the day was a revelation. Calm, controlled, unflustered by the loss of his partners, he kept playing to the merit of the bowling, hitting only when possible, relying mostly on well judged pushes into the gaps and his foot-speed between wickets to get the bulk of his runs.

Going into the final phase of the slog, however, the need to get runs in a hurry put pressure on the batsman, and Agarkar did the rest. The young medium pacer appears to have a knack of producing a series of yorkers in the slog phase, each of them perfectly pitched in line of the stumps and very full in length. Ponting got one of those, went for the heave across the line and got the bottom of the bat to ball, holing out to Kanitkar at long on.

In the next over, Anil Kumble -- who, on the day, was not as accurate as he normally is -- chipped in with a flipper very close to the stumps, inducing Warne to slash, the faint edge well held by Mongia behind the stumps.

And then Agarkar rounded it off with a superb final over, the first of his late swinging yorkers going under Moody's bat as the latter attempted to pull away and hit through off. Two deliveries later, yet another yorker beat Robertson's defensive push and crashed into the pad bang in front of the stumps, and Australia finished up on 222/9 in 50 - way below what it needed to really pressure the home side.

The team to Sharjah will be picked later this evening -- and if Prasad finds himself out of it, the fault will be entirely the bowler's own. Here, he seemed nervous, tense, and that bit too anxious to impress. With the result that he kept overpitching, affording free hits to the batsman, while his patent leg-cutters came through only rarely. A case, this, of a player unsure of his place in the side, and desperate to regain it, crumbling under that pressure.

The standout performers were easily Kanitkar and Sanghvi. The former relies entirely on his ability to hold a very steady line and length, keeping the pressure on and letting the batsmen make the mistakes. Sanghvi, by contrast, is an aggressive bowler, flighting the ball, challenging the batsmen into playing strokes, and using a controlled loop and drift to cause the errors.

Then there is Agarkar. Quite a lot of debate in the media about whether he is as quick as Srinath -- which, to my mind, could actually end up harming the young 'un. Agarkar does have a lovely approach run, he gathers himself very well into the delivery stride, his release is nice and easy, and he is deceptively quick off the pitch. But in terms of sheer pace, it is rather too much to expect him to reach the Srinath level just yet -- to get there will take a lot more weight training, a planned effort to build the strength of torso and shoulder he needs to add to his speed. And till he does acquire the heft he needs, pressuring him with needless comparisons would appear to be counterproductive.

223 to get off 50 overs does not, on the surface, seem too challenging a task for a batting lineup in top form. But it was all going to depend on the kind of start India got off to.

Initially, it was Saurav Ganguly who looked in prime touch -- three silken drives through the covers in the fourth over of the innings, from Kasprowicz, left the field standing.

It also induced Steve Waugh into replacing Kapra with Gavin Robertson. At which point Sachin Tendulkar, who till then had been finding the fielders with a series of powerful drives, took over. Ball three of the sixth over, Robertson's first, saw the batsman down the track, lifting over long on. The next ball, and Tendulkar was back down the track, ondriving a four. A single later, it was Ganguly's turn to flat bat a drive over mid on for four more.

The 50 of the partnership had come off just 48, and from that point on, Tendulkar went berserk. Much later, while collecting his second man of the match award of this series, he explained his batting thus: "The track was beginning to crumble, so we realised we needed a flier to take the pressure off the latter batsmen."

And it turned out to be the heck of a flier. Ganguly, going along smoothly as usual, looked positively static as Tendulkar began going airborne with his shots. An inside out drive in over number eight got him his second six -- and forced Robertson out of the attack, after conceding 23 off just two overs.

Tom Moody replaced him, a driven two got Sachin his 50 off just 38 deliveries and promptly, the batsman celebrated with two more sixes on the run -- the first, a clubbed drive over long off, the second a pull at a slower ball, taken on the full, that cleared midwicket with plenty to spare.

Warne came on in the 17th over. And went for two sixes, one over long off, the other over long on, in the 19th and 21st overs (Ganguly chipping in with an on driven six off the same bowler in the 23rd over). And when Lehmann tried having a go with his line outside leg stump, Tendulkar danced down, covering the angle and hit inside out -- a stroke that prompted Ian Chappell to comment: "That one will need a bus ticket to get back to the ground."

In fact, it went onto the roof and stayed there, the umpires calling for a replacement.

With India on 165/0 in 25 overs, the game was as good as over.

Tendulkar's biggest weakness has been an inability to take his foot off the accelerator. Thus, on quite a few occasions, he has gotten out due to adrenalin overdose just when the bowling looked at his mercy. It was, thus, rather uncharacteristic to see him get to 92 off just 73 deliveries, then take a further 16 deliveries of cautious cricket to get to his 13th ODI century. An appetite for centuries and such other milestones appears to be a characteristic of his post-captaincy phase -- makes you wonder if he has some private agenda, some point he is trying to prove.

Given the performances of Dhaka and after, his captain certainly wouldn't complain even if Tendulkar is out to prove whatever he wants to.

If his caution had continued beyond the 100-run mark, they would have been suspecting a flu and taking his temperature -- it is not in the opening batsman's nature to be circumspect too long. Thus, a couple of deliveries after making the 100, Tendulkar danced down yet again to Warne, aiming for the roof over long on, only to mishit, the turn on the ball taking the edge to give cover a comfortable catch.

India at that stage was 175/1 off just 28.1 overs, and the expectation was that the remaining batsmen would keep going at that pace. Not for the sake of playing to the galleries, but because it always makes good sense to go for the kill when the opposition is down.

It is this that makes the rest of the Indian innings rather inexplicable -- the remaining 48 runs took over 16 overs to get, as the batsmen put on a display of exaggerated caution that seemed strangely comical in the circumstances.

Kasprowicz, who seems to enjoy bowling to the Indian skipper, foxed Azharuddin with an off cutter that induced the leading edge as Azhar attempted to on drive, the bowler juggling before holding the return chance.

Saurav Ganguly, who had proceeded serenely past yet another ODI fifty, then slashed at a ball from Kapra that would have been called wide had the batsman not edged to the keeper.

And Kambli, who yet again looked in fine nick, overbalanced trying one of those "cute" paddles at Michael Bevan, and almost fell on his face while the ball went on to hit the stumps. Brief hilarity followed as Kambli seemed puzzled at being given out -- he thought he was out stumped, and indicated that his feet were well behind the line (interesting to see what response that byplay will draw from Peter Van Der Merve).

Jadeja, who is yet to lose his wicket in this series, and Kanitkar, having a dream run with both bat and ball, then completed the formalities, to take India through to the final.

For Australia, unfortunately, no bowler impressed. Except perhaps Kapra who, after that assault by Ganguly early on, held a good line and length and finished with decent figures. Barring him, all other bowlers got swatted around at will, especially in that first wicket partnership -- and it is this inability of his bowlers to contain rival batsmen that will be Steve Waugh's main worry heading into the game against Zimbabwe.

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