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Indian backs to the wall at Hamilton

Another bright and clear day at Hamilton – the antithesis of the gloom that spread over the Indian camp by close of play on day two of the third Test.

India would have been looking to get the second half of the New Zealand innings over and done with under 325 – but if that was the game plan, then the implementation lagged way behind. There is a palpable lack of confidence in this side, in the field – exemplified this morning by a field placing that gave the two new ball bowlers, Prasad and Srinath, just three slips and, often, no man under the helmet up close despite the fact that they were bowling to an Adam Parore woefully lacking in form and confidence, and a night watchman in Paul Wiseman.

If body language can be read like lines on a page, that of the Indians in the morning would go “Bowling and fielding ain’t our thing, let’s just see how we go and maybe something will happen”.

If it didn’t quite happen the way the Indians would have liked, it was not for want of opportunity. As early as the fourth over of the morning Prasad, who was in prime form this morning, found the outside edge of Wiseman’s bat with a beauty of a leg cutter – only for first slip to fumble the regulation overhead take. And who was at first slip? Javagal Srinath – who had just completed his own over. Strange – a more usual sight is for the fast bowler to be out there at deep third man, recovering from his exertions. You certainly don’t expect to see a pace bowler, still short of breath after sending down his six, man a position as crucial as first slip – but then, barring Mongia, pretty much every member of this Indian squad has stood in that slot on this tour.

Of the two bowlers, Srinath appeared to have a bit of an off day, merely running in and slinging them down, well on the short side. Prasad, however, pitched well up and the impact was immediate – movement in the air, and off the wicket. Distinctly unlucky, too – a short while after Srinath let Wiseman off, he produced another leg cutter that left Parore, taking the splice only for third slip to fluff it, being awfully late on the dive.

The form book finally worked, though, when Prasad beat Parore for the nth time with the leg cutter, again finding the edge – this time, Laxman at third slip lunged forward to hold just as the ball was dying on him. Parore – a nice, well organised batsman – has been having a very dry season of late, and his lack of confidence showed in the non-existent footwork as he played mostly from the top of the crease, without committing either way.

Robin Singh Junior, making his debut here, had gone for 67 runs on the first day with no joy. Today, he came back a different bowler – right from the get go, the ball was pitched well up and immediately, his natural inswingers and the occasional one that left the batsmen off the seam worked like a charm. Cairns, who despite his match-winning innings at the Basin Reserve the other day, looked rather unsure of himself at the crease, got one outside off that he left alone for line – only to look back in horror as the ball darted back in a long way off the seam to take out the off peg.

A pumped up Robin struck again, shortly after, when Wiseman, who in the previous over from Prasad was beaten badly on several occasions, went into a drive at a delivery that swung away late, to take the edge and Ganguly at first slip held an absolute beauty. The ball was travelling, it was to the fielder’s left – which, when you are standing at first slip, tends to put doubt in the catcher’s mind about whether to go for it or leave it to the keeper – and Ganguly just stuck out his natural hand, and latched on. Wiseman, however, had more than done his bit – more than runs scored, he had lasted 49 deliveries into the second new ball, and that was just what the team needed from their overnight sentry.

That brought the Basin Reserve team of Dion Nash and Daniel Vettori back in business – and at lunch, the Kiwis had put on 79 more runs in the morning session, in 29 overs, for the loss of three wickets. The only real consolation for the Indians was Robin Singh’s new found touch with the ball – his first six overs on the day went for just three runs, with two wickets to show for a very good spell indeed.

Post lunch play in the Kiwi innings didn’t last too long – in fact, just 12 minutes. In the very first over after the break, Srinath produced a beauty, pitching one just outside off, on a good length, drawing Daniel Vettori forward and seaming in to take the edge and crash into middle stump. Vettori failed to reprise his prolonged defiance at Basin Reserve, but still showed enough grit during his tenure at the crease to suggest that he’ll be batting higher than number 10 (or nine, if Wiseman hadn’t gone in as night watchman) shortly. An over later, Srinath completed his five-fer, when another good length ball, seaming away late, found the outer edge of Simon Doull’s bat for Kumble to complete the formalities at slip.

Srinath’s success however is not without its alarming downside – on this tour, he has been playing the role more of stock bowler, bowling very long spells with little or no support at the other end. Given that India, after this tour, has at least 5 more Tests to play (two against the Pakistanis, three, possibly four in the Asia Cup), the pace bowler could well be a drained out man by the time the World Cup runs around, unless he is nursed along a bit more carefully.

The Kiwi innings folded for 366 – which qualifies as a remarkable recovery, given that they were 0/2 in the first over of the match.

Facing that kind of first innings total, what a batting side needs is a solid opening partnership in order that the lower order can build on it, and put up a sufficient lead in order to turn the screws in the second innings. Which in fact is the only hope for the touring team, if it doesn’t want to end another Test series on foreign soil on the deficit side. (Interestingly, it is not only the Indians who notch up a huge success rate on home soil – the Kiwis have won the last five Tests they’ve played at home). But on this tour, the Sidhu-Jadeja pairing has looked incapable of delivering anything approaching the optimum.

Sidhu is always a doubtful starter – and when low on form and confidence, he tends to be rather painful to watch at the crease. Today was no different – some swishes with feet nailed to the crease, some tentative pushes and sure enough, the wild slash at a short, straight one outside off, the kind of ball opening batsmen watch past them, got the faint edge for Parore to do the needful.

Jadeja, who had experimented unsuccessfully with the orthodox defensive style in the second Test, decided to hit his way out of trouble here. Initially, he was aided by some loose stuff from Chris Cairns, but Simon Doull put paid to any hope of Jadeja doing a MacMillan when he pitched one further up, seemingly in the slot for the drive – Jadeja went for it, front foot not fully to the pitch, the late away movement not covered for, and hit it straight down the throat of mid off to reduce India to 17/2 halfway through the 5th over of the innings.

After the fiasco in Zimbabwe, the lack of a good opening pair especially on foreign tracks was held up as the reason for the team’s woes – that particular recording is, on present evidence, due for some more airtime at the end of the present tour. Curiously, Laxman apparently enjoys enough of the captain’s confidence to make the touring party, but not quite enough to replace either the team vice captain or Sidhu at the top of the batting list – good form thus far notwithstanding.

With two strikes under their belt, the Kiwi new ball bowlers Doull, Cairns and Nash began pitching the ball right up, giving it lots of air to move around in and seaming it around after pitching. Further, employing the kind of on-field aggression the Indians don’t display even against the tail, the Kiwis pressured the two top order batsmen, early on, with a field of three slips and for Doull in particular, three gullies besides a close catcher on the leg side. That umbrella field was interesting to see – after all, Dravid and Tendulkar are both batsmen with 50+ Test averages, and would appear deserving of more respect, but the top teams play the situation, not the man, and the Kiwis seem to be learning that lesson fast.

Dravid countered by playing very late, covering the line of off and letting deliveries outside that zone alone, playing forcing shots only when the ball was in the slot for strokeplay. Tendulkar – returning, mercifully, to his rightful position at number four and coming in with two left in the 5th over of the innings – chose the other option, seeking to dominate from the very outset.

That mindset involved a few drives early on that stirred the breeze, but once the batsman got his eye in, it also produced a stream of trademark fours, particularly off Cairns, and a brisk run rate in the session before tea. The run rate, in fact, would have done credit to a one day innings if not for some extremely acrobat work in the field by the Kiwis, Twose at cover-point being particularly outstanding, stopping at least three certain boundaries off the Tendulkar blade.

India went in to the break at 79/2 in 24 overs, Tendulkar batting 37 and Dravid on 27, with a 62-run partnership to their name.

The post tea session began with a bang. Daniel Vettori was bowling well, getting turn and bounce, just before the break. On this tour however, Tendulkar in particular has been looking to dominate him every time the two have squared up. The trend continued here, with the batsman dancing down to loft Vettori over mid on for a huge six.

A square cut, a ball later, got him to his 50 – continuing the dream run of 1998, when he accumulated 647 Test runs (five Tests, with three centuries and one 50, for an average of 80.88) added to 1894 ODI runs (34 ODIs, 9 100s and 7 50s at 65.31). Which, for those counting, breaks the record for the most number of ODI runs in a calendar year, also the most number of international runs in the same span of time.

However, thickening cloud cover further aided natural swing, and Nash in particular used the conditions well to keep the Indian batsmen from accelerating too quickly. The MacMillan-Tendulkar showdown continued, with the occasional bowler resuming where he left off at the Basin Reserve, trying Tendulkar out with a stream of short pitched deliveries – and not a little lip, too.

It was, however, Nash who struck, ending a 113-run third wicket partnership. Tendulkar took him for three fours off the first three balls of an over, but Nash came back with one pitching middle and going away, rapping him on the pad, the loud shout producing the decision. Was he out? On the evidence, not – the bowler was wide of the crease, the ball was pitching middle going to leg, seaming and doing too much off the seam, you could see off and middle when the ball hit the pad, that one was looking to miss leg stump.

The umpire, who the previous ball had turned down an even more desperate appeal, gave this one out, Tendulkar walking back looking very unhappy with life in general. And with him went India’s best chance of getting runs in a hurry and raising the ante in this Test match. Incidentally, the last time Tendulkar was out leg before was about four years and 30 Tests ago – a reflection on the way the batsman uses the bat, rather than pad, to play the cricket ball.

Ganguly, coming in at the fall of Tendulkar’s wicket, took his time to settle down, seeming uncharacteristically nervous at the outset, Doull beating his bat time and again as the left hander went half-forward in hesitant defence. In fact, Ganguly’s only confident moment came after 32 deliveries and 4 runs, when he went waltzing out and deposited Vettori, who else, in the lap of some spectators behind long on. In the very next over, however, Doull’s gameplan paid off, pitching one in the slot for Ganguly to drive, swinging it away late, the batsman not getting the front foot to the pitch, the movement getting the edge to slip.

Azhar took 21 deliveries to get off the mark, not really looking at home with the ball seaming around. Trouble seemed imminent, and it arrived shortly before close with Azhar, footwork nonexistent, driving at one from Cairns too far outside off for the shot, Fleming at slip taking the edge in fine style.

Dravid, meanwhile, seemed to be gaining in assurance and a dance down the wicket for a copybook cover drive off Vettori brought up his half century. And towards the end of the day’s play, with wickets falling at the other end, he opened out in a series of strokes, on- and cover-drives being the pick, that took toll of a tiring attack to end the day unbeaten on a superb 93.

An interesting stat about the right-handed number three is that in Tests at home, he averages 43.10 – and a significantly higher 59.64 on foreign pitches, reversing the trend of Indian batsmen who do better at home than away. Both his Test centuries, thus far, have also come on foreign soil. This innings, wherein he countered the swing and seam movement with his ability to play very very late, was just another indication why.

The post tea session saw India add 117 in 32 overs – fair enough, except that the session also saw the backs of Tendulkar, Ganguly and Azharuddin. India ended the day on 196/5, a good 170 short of the Kiwi first innings total. Never mind looking to get a sizeable lead and put pressure on the home side, India is now fighting to reduce the margin by as much as possible, with Dravid left with just Mongia and the tail for company.

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