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DEAR REDIFF

Rain "saves" India from "defeat"

There are times when I wish I could just give up on cricket, and think of something a lot less complicated -- like maybe thermonuclear fission, or some such.

I mean, here is the International Cricket Council. With oodles of money. With platoons of people, all much-applauded administrators supposedly with immense skills and abilities, all dedicating their brains, their time, their energies to fine tuning this game that has millions of us transfixed.

So tell me this -- why is it that you and me, ordinary folks all of us, can see with crystal clarity something that all these masterminds apparently cannot?

For those of you who came in late, they had a pretty stupid rain rule earlier, which actually penalised the team batting second for having done well when they were bowling. The rule became the focus of international ridicule during the 1992 World Cup when South Africa, coasting to a win in its game against England, were suddenly set the ridiculous target of about 24-odd runs off one ball.

This won't do, the ICC brainbox decided, and came up with something called the Clarke's Curve. It is, they told us, a computer programme. All you have to do, they said, is feed in the total of the team batting first, and it will spit back at you figures showing you how many runs the team batting second had to have scored at any stage of their innings.

Ah wow, we went, computer programme, perfect, no room for individual idiosyncracies, we can get some justice into the rain rule at long last.

Did we, hell! Ever since Clarke's Curve was introduced, we have had occasion to laugh, to mock. But I'll tell you what -- one of these days, there is going to come along a match with plenty riding on it. And Clarke's Curve will come into play and cause the hell of a goof up. And international outrage will hit a new high. And then the ICC will wake up and make concerned noises and look for a better system.

Why can't they, these highly paid masterminds with the good of cricket at heart, think of it now, before a major mess happens along?

I don't know -- you tell me!

To underline the reason for the above diatribe, here is the situation that existed when the rains came down and stopped play at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo today.

New Zealand, batting first, had made 219 for 8 off its allotted 50 overs.

India, in reply, had made 131/2 in 24.2 overs, when rain stopped play.

At that point, India had outplayed the Kiwis every which way. And in the chase, constantly headed the Kiwis, as is evident by this rate of progression:

New Zealand: 25/0 in 5; 48/0 in 10; 65/0 in 15; 80/2 in 20; 102/2 in 25; 122/3 in 30; 146/3 in 35; 171/3 in 40; 197/4 in 45.

INDIA: 32/1 in 5; 75/2 in 10; 93/2 in 15; 118/2 in 20; 131/2 in 24.2.

As per the rules governing one day cricket, 25 full overs have to be bowled in the second innings for it to qualify as a match. In other words, the rain interruption came with four balls left for us to have a match.

What if those four balls had been bowled? Say the score was 135/2 in 25. What then?

Simple. India would have lost!

Because Mr Clarke and his Curve decree that when chasing 220 in 50 overs, the side batting second should have scored 147 in 25 overs!

As it stands, I guess India must count itself lucky that it has been allowed to split points with the Kiwis, after having outplayed them through 74.2 overs of a 100-over match.

You try and make sense out of that -- I give up!

The game itself was played on a pitch different from the one on which the first two games in the ongoing tournament were played. A flat, hard pitch, with the glazed look that indicates a clayey base, and a predominantly even, slow nature. Heavy rain overnight and in the morning of the game, meanwhile, had slowed the outfield down considerably, so indications were that the team batting first needed around 250 to feel reasonably sanguine about its chances.

Azhar, winning the toss, opted to insert. "We haven't done too well setting targets against New Zealand in recent times, so we thought we would opt to chase instead," was his explanation.

India fielded the same side that had convincingly beaten Sri Lanka in the tournament lung opener. The Kiwis, however, made two changes, Dion Nash and Shayne O'Connor the two medium pacers, both apparently struck by niggling injuries, making way for left arm orthodox spinner Max Priest, and off spinner Paul Wiseman -- a three spin attack, that seemed to cripple skipper Stephen Fleming's options against a side that plays the turning ball better than most.

India opened with Ajit Agarkar and Venkatesh Prasad. And for once, Agarkar -- possessor of one of the most enviable strike rates in modern cricket -- was way off target, getting clubbed to the extent of 33 runs in his first five overs.

The problem today was twofold -- and more the fault of the team's think tank than of the bowler. Bryan Young is a batsman who has superb touch square of the wicket on the off. Recognising this, Sri Lankan skipper Arjuna Ranatunga had, in the first game, placed a sweeper cover from the first ball, cutting off the Kiwi opener's most productive stroke.

India, however, had no such protection. And to compound the error Agarkar, who owes his great strike rate to a penchant for pitching the ball right up and making the batsman play, tended to bowl a bit flatter and shorter. Young clubbed him repeatedly through point and cover, and for once the young strike bowler ended his first spell without doing any damage.

Prasad, however, more than made up, using his enormous experience to vary pace and line, using the humid atmosphere to generate swing, cutting the ball late off the seam and turning in a superlative first spell of five overs in which he went for a mere 14 runs.

Spin in the form of Harbajan Singh was introduced as early as the 11th over -- and the Kiwis, who so often recently have appeared to lose the plot when facing the slower bowlers, went into their typical rut yet again.

The flow of runs choked up and as always when that happens, the mistakes began to proliferate. Young was the first to go, attempting to cut at a Kumble flipper that was bang on off stump. There was not enough room for the shot, the quicker speed of the flipper off the pitch made the inner edge onto off stump inevitable.

Stephen Fleming yet again belied his class with a rather thoughtless shot. In the 19th over, he attempted to hit Harbajan Singh over the top of mid on, and just managed to land the ball out of reach of the fielder there. The Indian offie, who seemingly loves that kind of challenge, tossed the next one up even further, Fleming this time attempted to swing over midwicket, misread the flight completely and ended up hitting it straight to the fielder there.

Craig McMillan is another Kiwi batsman of class and promise. But after a fluent start, stroking the ball around nicely into the gaps and rotating the strike with the by now well-set Nathan Astle, ambition -- and the pressure of a low run rate -- got the better of him. The batsman attempted to hit a Tendulkar leg break over the cover boundary, but ended up slogging it straight to Jadeja sweeping out in the country in that region.

That wicket fell in the 30th over. Followed a now familiar Kiwi story, of partial recovery followed by an almighty mess in the slog overs. Time and again, the Kiwis get to the last ten overs with wickets -- including heavy hitters like Chris Cairns and Chris Harris, not to mention the classy Adam Parore -- in hand, only to make a meal of their end game.

Happened again here, with wickets falling in steady succession. Nathan Astle, who used not so long ago to be a flamboyant opener with a yen for hitting over the top, has of late settled into an anchor role. Here again, he played it to perfection with fluent strokes and calculated placements, only to throw it all away just when he should have been guiding the side to a sizeable total. Here, he attempted to loft Harbajan Singh over long on, but was deceived by the loop, failed to get to the pitch and ended up getting elevation without distance, on the shot -- Kanitkar had it easy, holding inside the line.

Mathew Horne has tended to struggle against spin in recent outings. Here, after a patchy start, he steadied himself and was settling down to some good strokes when Venkatesh Prasad, brought on rather belatedly I thought for his second spell, struck in the second ball of the new spell. The ball was an indipping yorker, perfectly pitched on off and middle, Horne misread it and attempted to flick to leg, played all over it and was gone plumb in front.

Parore, I suspect, is two places lower in the batting order than a batsman of his class should be -- he is not the kind who can come in at the death and waft the ball around, scoring runs more by orthodox strokeplay than by agricultural hoiks. Coming in to bat in the slog, he had no time to settle down and get a feel for the wicket. Agarkar produced the perfectly pitched yorkers he always bowls to deadly effect at the death, and Parore, like Horne, was gone plumb, playing across the line.

The interesting thing about Agarkar is that he always strikes. The young quick -- incredibly underweight at 58 kgs, but capable of generating surprising pace despite lack of bulk and strength -- had 24 wickets in his first ten games. At which point, only Otis Gibson with 28 in his first ten had a better record -- Shane Warne coming third in the international rankings with 22 in his first ten. Before this game, Agarkar in fact had 26 in his first 12 -- and just when it was looking like he would, for the first time in his career, go a game without a single wicket, he struck, thrice, in rapid succession.

Having taken out Parore, he sent the dangerous Chris Cairns back with one that lifted off a length, beating the attempted slash through point with both the bounce and pace. The ball flew high off the top edge and Mongia, both arms stretched high overhead, made a very difficult task look very easy.

And in the final over of the innings, Chris Harris clubbed a straight drive hard and low at the bowler. Agarkar, finding the ball rocketing straight at him, half-swivelled to hold a superb reflex return catch to his left, and the Kiwi innings ended a good 40-odd runs short of a demanding total.

Short of two opening bowlers, the Kiwis opened with Chris Cairns, who used the high humidity to get some swing, and Daniel Vettori. Cairns got success early on when he had Ganguly slashing at a wide ball outside off for keeper Parore to hold well, but Tendulkar, given the mood he is in these days, saw the early exit of his partner as an excuse to go berserk.

In recent outings, he has tended to temper his aggressive instincts with some caution, especially when it comes to shot selection. Today, however, after a standard, watchful start, he suddenly went back to caveman mode, shrugging off a mishit over mid on in the sixth over to club the very next ball, from Vettori, high and straight back over the bowler's head. Vettori went off and Harris came on -- and Sachin greeted him with a vicious pull high over midwicket and then, an over later, swept him high over square leg for his third six, the shot incidentally bringing up his 50 off just 31 balls.

It took an incredible catch to get rid of Tendulkar. Harris rolled his fingers over one, slowing the ball down and Sachin, spotting the change of pace fractionally late, checked a drive through mid on. Harris, checking himself midway through his follow on, took off, flinging himself across the pitch to the right, clutching the ball with both hands at full stretch.

That was off the last ball of the 10th over -- but by then, India was going at 7.8. And whatever relief the Kiwis must have felt at the exit of the marauding Tendulkar was quickly tempered when Azharuddin settled down to play at the top of his form.

There are times when Azhar gets runs, gets them quickly, and yet gives you the impression he is not entirely happy out there. And then there are some innings like today's, where he seems to be ambling along. A flick of the wrist here, a gentle easing of the ball through cover there, a glance, a glide, a silken on drive -- it all seems very cool and unhurried, and suddenly you look up and find the man has actually got to his 50 with a 100% strike rate.

Today was one such innings -- pure grace and class all the way. An innings that made up for the fact that Jadeja didn't seem in quite his usual touch -- never quite troubled in his tenure of 46 deliveries, but the 17 runs he scored in that time indicating that he was finding some difficulty picking off the gaps.

In any event, India were 89 short, with eight wickets in hand and cruising, when the heavens opened up.

And, strange as it may sound, actually saved India from a defeat which, had four more balls been bowled in the innings, would have been inevitable thanks to Clarke, and his Curve.

Scoreboard