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Australia take it away in style

Prem Panicker

One selection error before the team left for Sharjah. Some half-baked pre-match thinking. An indifferent batting display. They all combined, with a great pinch-hitting effort by Tom Moody at the top and a brilliant batting display by Shane Warne and Damien Martyn at the death, to give Australia its second straight win over India, also its second straight triumph in the ongoing Coca Cola Cup.

When the team was picked, we had talked of the selection of Harvinder Singh ahead of Debashish Mohanty. The selectorial wisdom was that "Sharjah has flat pitches, so Harvinder is better".

The question was, how? While there is no intention to disparage a young bowler who has done very well in seamer-friendly conditions in Sharjah, anyone who has seen him bowl will agree that he lacks perceptible movement, either off the wicket, or in the air. And he is just as fast as Debashish -- so how a bowler who does not move the ball is better on a flat track than a bowler who does, both being of more or less equal pace, is one of those great mysteries that proliferate when the national selectors have taken guard and are going good.

In normal circumstances that wouldn't have mattered -- Ajit Agarkar was doing wonderfully well and Harvinder would not have needed to be used at all. However, Agarkar sustained a slight finger injury before the game and the team management figured that rather than risk him in this game, they preferred to rest him for what could be a key game against New Zealand on Monday.

Having got so far, so good in their thinking, they then didn't go the whole hog and figure that on the slow Sharjah pitch, they might as well open with Prasad and Ganguly, with even Tendulkar switching to his seam up style if required, and go in with Rahul Sanghvi as the fourth spinner. More so as the Aussie batsmen have, during the ODIs, found quite a bit of trouble handling the orthodox left arm spinner. Instead, they played Harvinder -- who predictably proved the weak link in the lineup.

By way of aside, what was it the selectors were saying while picking the team for Sharjah? That Srinath was fit, but they were resting him for the World Cup? (Which, come to think of it, is a good 14 months away -- talk of advance planning, of an even better calibre than the anything the national planning commission has so far done!) I wonder if they told Srinath that? Or his local association? It seemed very strange -- I am being polite and not saying "downright asinine", here -- to see Srinath rested for Sharjah, only to be played in a Ranji game for Karnataka! A resting Srinath is understandable -- but if he must play, didn't it make more sense to play him for the country rather than his state?

Asides aside, the third game of the series was being played on the same pitch as the one used for the inaugural India-New Zealand tie. Obviously, the pitch, now into its third day, would keep slower than on day one, would provide even less for the quicks (the Harvinder factor again), and make free flowing strokeplay a bit of an iffy thing.

Another aside: Sharjah is a brilliantly organised tournament, but one does wish they either had two stadia or -- okay, that is wishful thinking -- at least a third pitch, adjacent to the two being used in rota here, for the final. Because today's pitch is going to be the one used for the final, by which time it will be over eight days old and you are going to get more than the odd ball trying to tunnel its way under the batsmen's feet. Not quite what you want for an ODI final, that.

Both teams made a change apiece. India going in with Harvinder for Agarkar. Australia opting to drop Gavin Robertson. The off spinner has been treated with less than due respect by the Indians during the Pepsi Cup, so that made sense. Instead, they went for Damien Martyn, duplicating the Pepsi Cup-winning side and strengthening the batting order -- and that proved quite a good move as well, as things turned out.

Mark Waugh and Adam Gilchrist opened for Australia, after Steve Waugh won the toss and -- in Sharjah you don't have to be a mastermind to decide this one -- took first strike. If the Indians were watching the game yesterday, they would have realised that Gilchrist's forte is the horizontal bat shots -- the cut and the pull. Which meant that the length not to bowl to him was short, the line not to bowl was wide of off or short on leg. Harvinder in particular erred on both counts and Gilchrist reaped the benefits. With Mark Waugh stroking with his usual fluency, Australia pulled smoothly away from the blocks to go to 28/0.

Mark Waugh however seemed intent on really pushing the envelope in running between wickets. He took off once too often for a short single off the push to mid off, Kumble picked up and scored the direct hit and the younger Waugh was walking back, again with a low score (16 off 21 with one four) after looking good.

Ricky Ponting, the highest run-scorer in international cricket this year, nearly left on four when a Prasad slower one foxed him into playing his flick early, the bowler lunging low to his right but failing to cling to the return catch.

Azharuddin at this stage produced a good captaincy move when he brought on Harbajan Singh as early as over number 8, and attacked the left-handed Gilchrist with a slip and leg lip in place. The southpaw kept trying to break loose, Harbajan teasing him with lovely flighted deliveries around off. Finally, the frustrated batsman swatted at one without getting anywhere near the pitch and gave mid off, Kanitkar, an easy one to hold.

Australia were 47/2 in 10. And 80/2 in 15, the sudden burst coming from a combination of two factors. One was Tom Moody, upped to the pinch hitting slot -- though the batsman looked very uncomfortable against Harbajan and was lucky to survive a couple of mishits, he hung in there and when he got the chance, he blazed away. And Azhar gave him the chance when he removed the offie and brought back Harvinder in over number fourteen -- that one went for 10, the pressure came off, and the floodgates opened up.

At the end of the match, Azhar was to say that India lost because "We bowled badly, fielded badly and batted badly". He could have added "placed fields badly" -- thus, while the Aussies and the Kiwis have their fielders inside the line to stop the singles, the Indians field on the line and the extra distance, compounded by the fact that the Indians barring Azhar, Jadeja and Tendulkar never attack the ball, meant that singles were there for the taking.

There are times when the pinch-hitter tactic pays off, and this was one of those -- Moody capitalising to the tune of 39 off 35 with two fours and two lovely sixes straight back over the sightscreen before Harbajan came back to get rid of the big man. It was the top spinner, Moody played for the off break and tried to paddle it to leg with the turn, the ball flew off the leading edge and Azhar, anticipating brilliantly, was already moving swiftly to his right from square leg to hold at backward square. A difficult catch that looked simple, the way the very best fielders make them look

After his let off, Ricky Ponting had settled down to playing very well and looked good for another big score when Kanitkar came back on. Ponting predeterminedly tried to hit over midwicket, playing for the off break, but it was the topspinner he got on line of off and the batsman dragged it round and into the hands of Kumble at deep midwicket.

Harvinder's first four overs had gone for 30, yet he was brought back on at this stage. Strangely, Ganguly continues to be unused, even if -- as was the case here -- the mainline bowler needs some cover. Harvinder finally had some slight reward when Steve Waugh (8 off 12), who makes something of a speciality out of such dismissals, dragged a straight ball back from very close to off stump, attempting the slashing cover drive. 176/5 in 34.6, and from here on, the increased depth in the Australian batting lineup began to tell.

Despite the loss of wickets, the batting side had gone on nicely through the middle overs -- 106/2 in 20, 126/3 in 25, 154/3 in 30, 173/5 in 35, 196/5 in 40. And every successive batsman helped things along with brisk running between wickets, aided by fielders who preferred to wait for the ball to come to them, even if that meant that singles were time and again converted into twos.

This kind of fielding doesn't cost the Indians too dearly on batting tracks, because when it is their turn at bat they invariably score more boundaries and thus make up, but on pitches like these where boundary hits are hard to come by, it is the runs given away in the field that make the ultimate difference. "We gave away about 40 in the field," said Azhar, and he was spot on there.

Harbajan Singh, playing only his second one day international, was bowling with enormous confidence and again, it was he who secured the breakthrough when, coming back in over number 41, he foxed Lehmann. Like his fellow left-hander, Lehmann found himself all at sea against the loop and flight of the teenaged offie. Frustration provoked an attempt to step way down to leg and hit through off, and ended with Lehmann under-edging a looping topspinner onto his stumps.

With Harbajan bowling well in tandem with Kumble, only 24 came off the overs between 40-45. Bevan, attempting to move things along, tried to flick Kumble to leg, got the leading edge and Jadeja at point held easily, to have Australia on 227/7 in 46.2 overs. Bevan, in his usual fashion, had played a bustling innings, full of his trademark 'tip and race like heck' style of run-getting, to shore up the middle overs with 58 off 83, without a single boundary in it.

At this stage, it looked as if Australia might fall short of 250. As it turned out, the batting side powered to 264, Shane Warne producing an exhibition of controlled big hitting that fetched him 19 off only 12 with two fours and a lovely straight six off Kumble. Damien Martyn chipped in with a late blitz that fetched him 30 off 28 with one four and a six, again off Kumble, and Australia had put 264/9 in the allotted overs, Warne falling as he tried to chip Prasad over square leg and Martyn run out going for two on the last ball of the innings.

This meant India had to score more than any other side had managed to get under lights at Sharjah, if they were to win. And the huge total came out thanks, largely, to an undistinguished bowling performance backed, if that is the word, by arguably the most static fielding side in the game. What hurt the Indians most, besides the Harvinder spell, was the fact that Kumble too proved expensive, pitching way too short and getting the stick he deserved for that effort.

Sunil Gavaskar made a very valid point on commentary, when he said batsmen coming out to play under lights, especially the openers, could do with leaving the pavilion a shade early and spending some time near the boundary line getting accustomed to the lights. That Ganguly did not take that elementary preparation was evident when he totally lost the first ball of the innings, then blinked in a rather alarmed fashion at the bowler. In the first ball of the fourth over, he lost it again, this time with fatal results, when Kasprowicz bowled an inswinging yorker that Ganguly played all over to lose middle and off.

Azharuddin came in at one drop. And Sachin Tendulkar treated his captain to some fun and games, with three thumping fours on the run in the 6th over of the innings, off the luckless Kasprowicz who always seems to bring out the best -- or worst, depending on your point of view -- in Tendulkar.

India had raced to 48 in only six overs when Azharuddin flayed at a short, lifting delivery outside off to give Gilchrist a regulation catch behind the stumps. A needlessly extravagant shot at that juncture, when he was going along quite nicely with his wristy flicks while Tendulkar was smashing the ball around at the other end.

In the wisdom of selectors, Navjot Singh Sidhu might make a better two drop batsman than Rahul Dravid (given that Vinod Kambli is out through injury) but for the second successive game, Sidhu failed to give Kishen Rungta and company any reason to pat themselves on the back. Unable to get the singles, unable on the slower track to get the timing on his hits, Sidhu finally rooted his feet to the crease and slogged Moody straight to Darren Lehmann at mid on.

Ajay Jadeja looked to be playing sensibly and concentrating on staying out there, giving Tendulkar support. Warne was brought in for over number 17 and Tendulkar promptly took six, including a blazing cover drive, off it. In the leggie's next over, the 19th of the innings, Warne produced a lovely little cameo. Three successive topspinners had Jadeja pinned down. Anticipating a fourth -- the fact that Warne has a shoulder problem and is therefore concentrating on bowling topspinners being common knowledge -- Jadeja went down the track to work through midwicket. This however was the leg break, the turn which the batsman failed to read beat Jadeja and left him stranded, and stumped.

Hrishikesh Kanitkar finally restored sanity to the proceedings, after his betters with the bat had fallen to rank bad batting. Just how needless the swashbuckling tactics of the earlier batsmen were, is shown by the progression at that stage: 30/1 in 5, 56/2 in 10, 76/3 in 15, 90/4 in 20. Australia by contrast were 80/2 in 15, 106/2 in 20. Obviously, where India was hurting was in losing wickets, too many of them at that early stage.

Kanitkar and his Mumbai captain, Sachin Tendulkar, then settled down to sensible cricket, taking runs when and where they could, without taking the slightest chances. Steve Waugh at this stage came up with some innovative captaincy. For Tendulkar, he sent the fielders as far back as the regulations would let him, giving the easy single away. And as soon as Kanitkar came on strike, Waugh brought seven, sometimes eight inside the circle, trying to keep the relatively inexperienced left-hander on strike.

The effect of this ploy was most noticeable when Warne bowled. When the leggie finished his first spell of six overs, Tendulkar had faced a mere ten of his deliveries, scoring 13 off them. Kanitkar played all the rest, and managed just 14, Warne keeping the left hander quiet with a series of skidding top-spinners on middle and leg.

At the end of 30 overs, the requirement was 116 off 120 deliveries. Under the six an over stage, and thus attainable. Two overs later, it was as out of reach as the moon.

Kanitkar, who had made a thoughtfully compiled 35 off 54 and, more importantly, helped Tendulkar add 67 runs for the 5th wicket, tried to flick Steve Waugh to leg. The ball was bowled round the wicket, angling across from wide of the stumps, and struck the batsman on the front pad in line with middle and leg. Given the slant of the ball across the stumps, the LBW appeal was iffy. Ian Robinson gave it, in what the television expert of the time, Ian Chappell, called a "brave decision".

Tendulkar, who often seems to throw his wicket away in the first 15, played a different kind of game here. When Ganguly is on song at the other end, Sachin looks to blast everything out of sight and more often than not, succumbs to adrenalin overdose. Here, the minute wickets began falling, he throttled back, working the singles, restraining the big hits, occasionally using the gaps to work fours with delicate leg glances and late cuts.

Given the rapid fall of wickets at the other end, the fact that he got his 80 off a mere 72 deliveries is remarkable. What is more telling, however, is that when he got out, the innings was 192 deliveries old -- and he had got to face a mere 72 of those. The other batsmen meanwhile had made 77, off 120 deliveries (err, no, I didn't get through school on the 68% quota, the four runs not accounted for in the score of 161 at that stage came off extras).

There is in this set of stats something for the Indian coach to think about. When the pitch is flat and hard and the ball is coming on nicely, the Indian strokeplayers blaze away quite nicely and find the boundaries regularly enough to camouflage the fact that they don't take singles and rotate the strike. When they find themselves on tracks like this (where, thanks to a combination of slow pitch, heavy grass that slows the ball down near the ropes, and a white ball that gets softer as the overs mount, fours are hard to come by) their inability to work the ball around hurts the team and, in attempting to force the pace the only way they know how, brings about their downfall as well.

Here, Tendulkar played one too many of his delicate touch shots, attempting to run Damien Fleming down to the vacant third man region, but succeeding only in touching the leg-cutter, moving late, to Gilchrist.

That wicket fell off the first ball of the 33rd over. For the next seven overs, Mongia and Kumble displayed the kind of application the earlier batsmen had failed to show, and took India through 168/6 in 35, to 192/6. In over number 40, bowled by Steve Waugh, Mongia in fact cut loose with a blistering square cut, followed by a lovely straight six down the field, to bring India into the turn needing 73 off the last 60 balls.

Off the first ball of the 41st, the keeper was gone, flicking Kasprowicz from his off stump to Ponting on the line at midwicket -- a good knock of 19 off 19 out of a 31 run partnership.

Steven Waugh's 5,500+ runs in ODIs make you forget, at times, that he also has an amazing 179 wickets to his name. Make that 183 -- he got four more here, creaming off the tail with little fuss. Harvinder went first, in the fourth ball of the 42nd over, when a Waugh slower ball induced the mishit for brother Mark to hold easily at midwicket. Two balls later, the slower one again had Prasad chipping to the same fielder. An interesting thing about Steve Waugh is that he alone, among successful contemporary bowlers, bowls the slower one out of the back of the hand -- except for the fact that it is a medium pacer bowling it, you would call it the regulation leg break.

An over later, the Aussie captain finished off the job when he got Harbajan Singh hitting all over slower ball number three, this time on middle stump turning just enough to knock out the off peg, and India were caught short, by 58 runs.

Which means, effectively, that Australia are almost sure of a place in the final. While India need to win, tomorrow against New Zealand, to stay in the hunt. And to do that, they will have, taking off from Azhar's post match comments, to bat better, bowl better and field better. Not to mention run between wickets better.

Like, there is anything else to a cricket match?

It might help to have Agarkar back in the side, what's more -- the Indians on the day sorely missed his controlled inswinging yorkers at the death.

Meanwhile, thanks to the selectors, a certain Javagal Srinath will parade his wares in the Ranji Trophy.

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