NEWS
MATCH REPORTS
DIARY
OTHER SPORTS
SLIDE SHOW
PEOPLE
ARCHIVES

India dominate on day one

Prem Panicker

India 26/1 in response to 185 all out by Pakistan, at the end of the first day's play of the first Test of the Asian Test Championships, at the Eden Gardens in Calcutta.

If this were a boxing contest, you would score round one to India by a knockout, round two shared on points, and round three to India on a split-decision, the three rounds equating with the three sessions of play.

A full house turned out to witness the start of Jagmohan Dalmiya's pet project -- the Asian Test Championships, which he hopes will convince the 'white' nations that a world test championship on similar lines is a do-able proposition. In fact, to help him do the convincing, Dalmiya has invited a galaxy of former greats led by Ian Chappell, Barry Richards, Graeme Pollock, Majid Khan et al, to be his guests, watch the Indo-Pak Test here and give their assessment.

The Gardens track was very reminiscent of the one on which India played Australia in early 1988 -- flat, hard, with little patches of grass at either end. The presence of grass was a bit of a surprise, as the Indian management had asked for the pitch to be 'clean-shaven'. At one end, there was a large crack visible -- not too wide, but a clear crack, indicating that the wicket at that end could prove two-paced.

Regular cricket-watchers will recall that on a similar track, Mark Taylor had won the toss and opted for first strike, for Javagal Srinath to produce a blistering burst of quick bowling that scuttled the Aussies in the first innings and set up an India win.

History was to be repeated here. Wasim Akram called right and opted for first strike. Interestingly, Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin indicated to the television commentators, before start of play, that he would have batted first if he had got the luck of the coin -- so it did prove a lucky toss for Azhar to lose.

India went in with an unchanged lineup. For Pakistan, injuries to Inzamam and Mushtaq Ahmed saw the debut of Wasti and the return of Azhar Mahmood to the middle. Meanwhile, pedestrian stuff from Waqar Younis in the two Indo-Pak Tests saw his exit, with Shoaib Akthar coming into the team in his stead, to partner Akram.

The morning session

The Gardens wicket has a history of assisting seam in the first session, before easing out into a nice batting track -- which meant the side batting first needed to concentrate on conserving wickets in the first session, in order to pick up the tempo in the two sessions to follow.

Afridi started with two fours in the first over -- both slashes played with the bat well away from the body. But Srinath was already getting bounce and movement, and in his second over, he produced a blinder, pitching it off, getting lift and late away movement to draw Afridi forward, feet nowhere in line, for the ball to take the outer edge en route to the keeper.

At the other end, Anwar had survived a testing over from Prasad, who had taken him out twice in the two-Test series prior to this one. The seam bowler's movement both ways off the seam having the batsman in all kinds of problems. The second over of Prasad produced the breakthrough, with a lovely ball that was slanted across the left hander, pitching off and seaming in just a shade. Anwar, uncertain which way it was going, pushed tentatively at it, the movement taking the ball through the gate to take out the off stump.

From then on, it was a brisk-paced procession. In his third over, Srinath produced two deliveries that pitched around off and seamed away, Ijaz Ahmed fending for them and lucky to miss the edge. Ball three landed in the same slot, Ijaz again played for the one leaving him, found it dart back in and rap him on the pad bang in front of the stumps, and Pakistan had lost its third wicket with the score on 19.

This phase produced perhaps the most aggressive field placing I've seen from Azharuddin in a long long time -- three slips, gully, silly point, short cover, short midwicket, short square leg, a tight, pressurising cordon as Yousuf Youhanna and debutant Wasti squared up to the Indian new ball bowlers, by this point on fire and looking unplayable.

Prasad kept the procession going in the next over, drawing Wasti forward with a ball pitching on a very full length and seaming away late. The movement found the edge, and Mongia dived to his right to hold a lovely catch, Pakistan at that point being reduced to 23/4.

The next over, from Srinath, produced more trouble -- a lovely delivery, seaming away late, had Yousuf Youhanna playing a tentative drive, to be beaten for movement, the ball flying off the outer edge for Azharuddin to dive to his left and hold, low, reducing Pakistan to 25/5.

And later in the same over, Srinath produced two deliveries that kicked in at Azhar Mahmood, having him in trouble with pace and bounce, before sending down a late-swinging yorker. Azhar Mahmood was completely beaten for pace and length, played all over it, and found all his three stumps umprooted.

Memories of the last Test played at this venue, against Australia, seemed to be in Azharuddin's mind as, 15 minutes after the drinks break, he tossed the ball to hometown hero Saurav Ganguly. The seam bowler's best figures of 3/28 were at this venue, against the Aussies, when he actually partnered Srinath with the new ball. Ganguly, like the two opening bowlers, bowled a lovely line and had at least one good shout of LBW turned down -- the Pakistan camp will be happy on this one, with two neutral umpires officiating here in the person of David Orchard and Steve Bucknor.

Salim Malik and Moin Khan hung on grimly till lunch -- both distinctly lucky to survive, with Ramesh failing to grasp at a sharp low catch at short square leg while Malik, looking very uncomfortable against the two seamers, edging to slip for Dravid to dive forward but just fail to get his fingertips under the ball.

Srinath's extended first spell produced dream figures of 9-3-16-4, while Prasad followed up a first spell of 7-2-10-2 with a second spell, from the other end, of 4-2-2-0, in course of which he reduced Malik to complete strokelessness.

Post lunch session

While the initiative remained with India during the first hour of play after lunch, Pakistan slowly batted itself back into the match, thanks to an obdurate parnership between Moin Khan and Salim Malik.

Neither batsman looked entirely comfortable out there, yet neither seemed inclined to do anything rash -- unlike the earlier Pakistan batsmen, the pair put a premium on the wicket, gritted through good spells from Srinath and Prasad at one end and Kumble, bowling unchanged at the other. 32 runs came in the first hour after the lunch break.

Around this time, two factors came into play. The first is the Gardens' wicket's habit, of late, of easing out after a lively first session. The second is the ball used for the ATC.

The organisers have decided to use the Kokkaburra ball here. Those tuned to international cricket happenings will recall that Hansie Cronje, the South African captain, was pretty pissed when he got to New Zealand and found that make of ball being used there, for the tour now underway.

The Kokkaburra has a harder, more pronounced seam than either the more widely accepted Duke, or the SG Test Match special that was used for the two Tests against Pakistan earlier. This provides pronounced swing and seam while the ball is new -- but once it gets older, the ball tends to help neither pace nor spin to any noticeable degree. (Another problem with the Kokkaburra is a tendency to lose shape quickly -- the one used at the start of the Indian innings lasted just nine overs, and six inspections by the umpires, before being replaced.) And this, coupled with the expected easing of the track, was making the lot of the Pak batsmen much easier.

India had one good chance during the first hour, when Moin cut at a Kumble flipper too close to off stump for the shot, and got the thick bottom edge, only for the ball to pop into Mongia's gloves and out again. The score then was 56/6.

Pakistan pushed the score along slowly but surely in the hour before tea. The first 50 of the innings had come off 163 balls for the loss of 6 wickets, the second 50 came off a further 148 deliveries but importantly, no wickets were lost. As the trickle continued, Azhar was forced to dilute the aggression of his field placing and to switch his bowlers around, bringing Kumble on from the High Court end after a spell of 14-6-24-0 from the Pavilion end.

At tea, Pakistan had progressed to 109/6, having added 65 runs in the afternoon session off 30 overs for no further loss, the unbroken 7th wicket partnership being worth an invaluable 83 runs.

Post tea session

Srinath struck in the very first over after tea, with just one more added to the Pakistan total. The third ball of his first over was pitched around middle and off, squaring Malik up and leaving him late, to find the edge for Mongia to hold low to his right. Malik's 32 was not up there, in terms of class, with what we are used to from him -- but the innings had the grit the team needed from the experienced batsman at that point.

But just when India needed to really rip through the tail, the side gave it away with some rank bad bowling.

Ironically, the hero of Delhi was the villain here. Finding nothing much happening for him on this track, Kumble made the mistake of trying too hard, instead of just settling down to a tight line and length and keeping the screws on. The result, 21 runs came off his three overs after the tea break as Akram and Moin pitched into a succession of short balls followed by overpitched ones, and suddenly, it was the Indians under pressure.

During this period, Pakistan rattled up the third 50 of its innings, to get the score to 150, off just 66 balls. More tellingly, the 50 of the 8th wicket partnership came off just 54 balls as Akram in particular cut loose.

The partnership between Moin Khan and Wasim Akram was threatening to take the game out of India's hands, when Sachin Tendulkar was finally brought on. The guy defies logic, really. He does use the conditions well when they are there to be used -- but here, there was nothing going for him, and yet he got the wicket, off a ball that would have produced zilch for any other bowler on the ground. It was floated outside off, turning in just a shade, and Moin simply stood there and guided it to Laxman at slip to end a very important 63-run partnership for the 8th wicket. Moin gone for 70 -- a knock that, in the manner of its fashioning, was a standout.

What was remarkable was the phlegmatic calm, and cool cricketing brain, that went into its shaping. Moin was impeccable -- if not always as per the style book -- when defending, but show him the slightest opening, and the shot selection and execution were spot on -- all of this, what is more, coming under incredible pressure.

Wasim Akram has had a remarkable partnership with Saqlain Mustaq to his credit. Having promoted Shoaib Akthar ahead of the off spinner, the Pakistan captain appeared to lose his confidence in his partner, and opened out his shoulders in a search for quick runs. A massive blow just eluded Srinath at deep long on, but later in the Harbajan Singh over, Akram went after a flighted one outside off, the ball swirling in the air for Hrishikesh Kanitkar, substituting, to hold a superbly judged catch at long off.

Kumble finally came back to make amends, taking out Akthar with a ball that pitched middle and straightened to trap the batsman on the pads, to finish the innings on 185.

For India, Srinath was easily the outstanding performer with the ball. Prasad, after his first spell, remained accurate and almost impossible to get away, without however showing the penetration he had early in the morning. Kumble had an off day while Harbhajan, for the most part, bowled without the kind of close field he would expect when trying to keep the pressure on. In the field, the Indians held all that came to hand -- except the all important let-off, of Moin Khan by his opposite number.

Since this is a game of bonus points, the end of the first innings saw India securing 4 bonus points for taking out all 10 Pakistan wickets under the 100-over mark. Pakistan meanwhile got one bonus point, for crossing the 150 mark within the same number of overs.

India needed to play out 11 overs before close -- a testing time for openers Ramesh and Laxman against Akram supported by Akthar, off his 40 yard run up and rated at this point the fastest in the world. (Rather amusingly, the television crew captioned him 'right arm fast medium' -- obviously none of them had ever stood 22 yards away from Akthar running in with a new ball in his hand).

Ramesh has had a dream start to his career -- but on the day, he looked a touch tentative especially when the ball was pitched up. Pitch short, though, and the left-hander is a class act -- that class most evident in the way he coped with a couple of fiery Akram bouncers on the trot, the leave right out of the copybook. And of course, he has this thing going for him -- body language that spells 'cool', like he just stepped out of a bandbox.

Laxman, on the contrary, has been looking in all kinds of trouble against pace and movement, and Akthar exploited that failing with a late-swinging yorker that took out the middle stump. Having an opener consistently losing middle and off can be a bit disconcerting to the rest of the team, not to mention the selectors, and it remains to be seen what they come up with.

Meanwhile, I have always had this impression that the Indian players have never seen a rule book. After nine overs, the ball was changed. The umpires, strangely, picked up a new ball from the box and tossed it to the bowler, without any effort to rough it up to resemble the one being replaced. However, neither Ramesh nor Laxman made any attempt to inspect the replacement ball, much less question its newness -- a lapse owing as much to inexperience as ignorance. You can't do much about inexperience (except hope you are around long enough to gain some, that is), but I would think an international cricketer, before walking out for the first time, would at the least have cast a cursory glance at the rules that govern the game.

Lack of light finally ended the first day's play with one over left to play, with India having got to 26/1, night watchman Anil Kumble partnering Ramesh at stumps.

Which sets up an interesting day of cricket tomorrow -- for Pakistan, a straight task, to take out the Indians for as low a score as possible, and within 100 overs in order to level with India on bowling points. For India, the tasks are manifold -- keep the bowlers at bay during the first hour of the morning, accumulate runs in the five hours to follow, keep an eye on the run rate, nudge it up around the 3.5 rpo mark to gain maximum bonus points -- heck, you would think you were talking of a one dayer, here.

Scoreboard