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Indian bowlers let Kiwis off the hook

New Zealand 217/7 at stumps

It took just one over -- the first -- on day one of the second Test to give us all an idea of what Green Park, Kanpur has in store for us.

Srinath pitched short of a length. As you watched, you noticed that the ball, shiny and new, was travelling quickly through the air. Then it hit the deck -- and died a premature death, slowing down appreciably and going through to the keeper at around bootlace length.

In 1996, when the South Africans played here, the track was underprepared. Here, groundsman Chotu Lal has swung to the other extreme, overpreparing it to such an extent that even before a ball was bowled, the pitch was showing cracks and appeared to have a soft underbelly. What is worse, from a batsman's point of view, is that the edges of the cracks crumble at a touch, which means that this wicket will deteriorate pretty alarmingly as the game goes on.

India decided to rest Venkatesh Prasad and bring Harbajan Singh into the playing eleven. While on the subject, I owe readers an apology. In my preview yesterday, I had suggested that India should go in with three regular spinners, and named Nikhil Chopra as the third -- that should have read Harbajan Singh. Sorry about that goof, and thanks to all who wrote in -- some politely, some not -- to point it out.

New Zealand also made the expected change, with left arm seamer Shayne O'Connor being rested to make way for the off spin of Paul Wiseman. And for Fleming, opting to bat first was the only possible option on winning the toss -- no one in his right mind would want to subject his batsmen to the terrors of this track in the fourth innings.

India opened aggressively, with Srinath bowling to three slips, gully, very short cover almost at the silly point position, and a short square leg. For Ganguly, sharing the new ball, India had two slips, gully, short cover and short square, and both bowlers bowled the ideal length and line in the conditions, keeping it just short enough to make the batsman come forward and push at deliveries on and around line of off.

Ganguly produced the first breakthrough in the third over of the morning, when he drew Mathew Horne (5 off 11 balls) forward to a ball on line of off, the batsman pushing tentatively, the ball seaming away very late to take the edge for MSK Prasad to hold, low to his right as the ball was dying on him. That wicket fell with New Zealand on 7.

India's policy of not keeping specialist fielders in place cost Srinath a possible wicket when, with the score on 23/1 and Bell himself on 8, Srinath in his 5th over produced a lovely in-cutter, beating the batsman for movement, taking the top of the bat for Devang Gandhi, at short square leg, to muff the simplest of takes. Rahul Dravid, who specialises in that position, then took over from Gandhi and immediately, almost had Spearman run out with a lovely reflexive stop and flick-back as the batsman pushed on the on side.

That spin was going to be the order of the Test was evident when Anil Kumble took over from Ganguly in the 10th over of the innings. And that the Kiwis hadn't thought through their technique against spin was evident when, from ball one, Spearman insisted on staying right back, which meant Kumble could bowl a very full length and let his flippers kick as the batsmen scrambled to defend.

The inadequacies of that technique became evident when, in Kumble's second over, he pitched one a touch short after a series of full length flippers -- Spearman (12 off 34 deliveries) didn't pick the length right, pushed at it from the crease and the ball lobbed off the top of the bat for Ramesh to take a simple catch at short square, reducing New Zealand to 33/2 on the stroke of the first hour of play.

After four overs of probing off spin by Harbajan, Tendulkar tried one of those moves that go unnoticed when they flop but which, when they come off, make the captain look inspired. He brought Srinath back for a second spell rather than give Joshi his first bowl of the morning, and the seamer, reading the pitch right, began bowling a very full length and struck immediately.

Staying over the wicket, Srinath pitched a late inswinger on off, the ball jagging back further in off the seam. Fleming (2 off 25 balls), who had been struggling against Harbajan and Kumble, appeared to have lost his concentration at that point. The batsman played an airy shot to leg, feet nowhere in line, and had the ball go through the gate to take out middle stump to have , New Zealand by then in big trouble at 40/3. Interestingly, that is the fifth time Srinath has taken out the Kiwi skipper, in 8 Tests.

At Mohali, Mathew Bell misread Srinath's incutter, which he bowls with the same action as the one leaving the right hander, shouldered arms and found the ball come in to hit his off stump. That should have taught him a lesson -- but the way he played, it seemed as though he hadn't done his homework on that one. A similar leave to Ganguly early in his innings almost brought about an encore, the batsman being distinctly lucky to see the ball scrape past off stump by the proverbial coat of varnish. Srinath finally took him out when he pitched one just around line of off, Bell (15 off 79 deliveries) shouldered arms yet again -- why you would do that on a pitch where the ball is not bouncing too high is one of those mysteries -- and found the ball seaming in to strike the pad right in front of middle stump.

At lunch, with Nathan Astle (10/9 deliveries) and Craig McMillan (2 off 6) at the crease, the Kiwis had struggled to 54/4. And India's bowling figures told the tale of the morning: Srinath 9-3-22-2; Ganguly 4-0-15-1; Kumble 9-3-15-1 and Harbajan 4-2-2-0.

India lost the early initiative in the first hour of this session, thanks to an inexpicable reluctance to go fully on the offensive.

Thus, with Srinath and Kumble opening the bowling, the field reverted to the standard setting of two slips for the former, slip, silly point and short square for the latter. Given the state of the match at this point, you would have expected to see the batsmen hemmed in with four or more up close, in a bid to pressurise them into error.

Srinath apparently had some problems with his leg, which affected his run up and produced an ordinary first spell of 3-0-12-0. At the other end, Kumble began with a maiden, trapping Astle plumb in front with his very first ball, only to have the umpire's call of no-ball cut short the celebrations. But from that point on, the old Kumble problem of trying too hard and consequently, drifting all over the place. His next three overs produced 18 runs, and the pressure eased perceptibly.

Sachin finally brought Joshi into the attack, teaming him with Harbajan, and the left arm spinner settled down into a nice line and length, getting far more assistance out of the track than the other two spinners on view till that point. In fact, during this session, Joshi got a couple of deliveries to bounce and turn in alarming fashion -- a portent of things to come later on in this match.

At drinks, however, the Kiwis had much the better of the exchanges, batting positively through the first hour, playing strokes when the line and length afforded it, and taking 48 runs in the first hour off 17 overs.

For the Kiwis, trouble resumed post-drinks, with both well set batsmen falling to simple errors. McMillan (34 off 66 balls), who till that point had compensated for his limited footwork against the turning ball by playing as late as he could and hitting hard through the line when opportunity presented itself, misjudged a looping, flighted delivery on his off and middle, pushed at it from the crease and presented Ramesh, at short square, with the easiest of takes. (New Zealand 112/5)

Srinath -- to whom Tendulkar has increasingly been turning when he wants a wicket -- returned and promptly took out Nathan Astle (39), with a late inswinger pitching off and straightening, the batsman beaten as he shaped to play to leg and trapped plumb in front. (New Zealand 130/6).

Astle and McMillan had shown much good sense in the fifth wicket partnership of 62 runs, steadying the innings after the top order had caved in during the morning session. However, both batsmen gave it away after getting set, and the Kiwis went in to tea perched precariously at 141/6 in 58 overs, Parore on 19 and Cairns on 6 the not out batsmen.

The post-lunch session produced 87 runs in 32 overs (India regaining the initiative in the second hour of the session, which produced 39 runs in 15 overs for the loss of two wickets). With the ball, Joshi was the standout performer, bowling a long spell of 12-4-25-1, with support from Srinath who in his second spell of the session came up with figures of 3-2-6-1, and Harbajan who had 8-1-22-0 in an extended spell.

There are 32 overs left in the day's play, which signals a long, hard haul ahead for the New Zealanders in the final session of the day.

India had its chance to nail the Kiwis to the mast, here. And missd it because of a policy that I frankly can't find much sense in. For some time now, the team has been treating the short catching positions like a government treats the far-flung corners of its territory -- as 'punishment postings'.

Where commonsense would dictate developing and putting specialist fielders in the key areas, this team goes strictly by the rota system. And a fielder who errs in the outfield, or with the ball, promptly finds himself shoved up close.

Vijay Bharadwaj is a case in point -- used only for one over during the session, in order to allow Sunil Joshi and Anil Kumble to switch ends, bowled two long hops, both of which were despatched for boundaries. And lo, he is pushed into short square leg. And what happens? Harbajan Singh -- rather intriguingly, not used for the first 24 overs of the post-tea session -- turns one like a top, gets the edge as Cairns pushes, and Bharadwaj is seen standing too far back at short square to be able to get down low enough, quick enough, to get his fingers under the ball.

This was not, mind you, an isolated instance -- in fact, the non-specialists at silly point and short square kept creeping back so markedly that at one point, Sachin Tendulkar was seen running over from his position at mid on, and with the toe of his boot, making emphatic marks on the turf to indicate where he wanted his close fielders to stand.

It was a rather unfocussed performance, overall, by the Indians in this session. Kumble and Joshi began proceedings, and barring the one over by Bharadwaj to allow them to switch over, bowled through the first hour. the only breakthrough during this period came, ironically, off a bad ball. Kumble, showing signs of increasing desperation in his search for wickets, pitched short and was first pulled from line of middle by Cairns, then thumped square on the off by Parore. He pitched short again, Parore rocked back and slashed at the ball, overhit it in his eagerness to despatch the ball to the fence, and ended up slashing a hard, sharp chance to Dravid at slip, the fielder doing well to tumble backwards in a bid to keep the ball in his grasp.

However, Parore and Cairns had, by then, continued the process begun by Astle and McMillan, pulling the Kiwis slowly but surely out of the hole the top order had dug for them in the morning. The Kiwis of late have relied on the latter order batsmen to lend respectability to their totals, and this ability to pull off late order recoveries has in fact helped the side to its series win in England. Here again, the latter batsmen batted with a patience and application missing during the morning session, and the difference showed, with the team batting itself back into the game in the final session, which produced 76 runs off 32 overs, for the loss of Parore.

Of the not out batsmen, Cairns increasingly looks the dangerman. Tendulkar tested him out by bringing on Joshi immediately after tea. Cairns had, in Mohali, shown a tendency to break out in a big-hitting rash when confronted by the left arm spinner, and Tendulkar was obviously challenging Cairns to repeat the feat if he could.

He could. And did, with two lovely hits over the ropes, one over long on, the other straight back over the bowler's head. But the interesting thing about Cairns' innings was the way he kept his patience, waited for the loose ball and presented a dead, defensive bat to pretty much everything else. There were, in fact, over 90 dot balls in his 107-ball innings so far, which indicates the point we are making here.

Nash with his pronounced shuffle looked clumsy, but was effective enough in keeping one end going. And with Vettori and Wiseman, neither of whom are mugs with the bat, to follow, the Kiwis should be breathing a lot easier at the end of the day than they were at lunch.

The story of the Kiwi innings, overall, is best told through partnerships: 7 for the first wicket, 26 for the second, 7 for the third, 10 for the fourth, 62 for the fifth, 18 for the sixth, 42 for the seventh and an unbeaten 45, thus far, for the eighth. Those three partnerships of some substance halted the charge of the Indian bowlers, and on what should prove a low scoring game, put the Kiwis into a reasonably comfortable position at close on day one.

The Indians have plenty to rue -- not least the fact that having got the batting side down, it failed to administer the coup de grace. (An interesting statistic to ponder on is that in the last five Tests, the Kiwis have not allowed the opposition to top 200 in the first innings).

There could be some regret, too, in the fact that when Astle, towards close of play, edged a regulation Kumble flipper with a push off the back foot and Dravid at slip got low to take, the third umpire, called in to adjudicate the fairness of the catch, couldn't tell for sure given that the visuals were not conclusive.

Rather interestingly, Tendulkar did not claim the second new ball when it fell due, preferring to let Srinath bowl three overs, late into the day, with the old ball (3-2-4-0 in that spell). Kumble did the bulk of the hard work, but the tension he is under showed in the way he tended to bowl both sides of the wicket. The batsmen treated him with respect, but there were too few really threatening deliveries in his prolonged post-tea spell of 16-6-37-1 to cause any sustained discomfort.

Joshi (8-2-21-0) produced a few that jumped and kicked, but once Cairns got stuck into him, his effectiveness ended. Harbajan was in fact the most effective bowler in the post-tea session -- 4-2-2-0, and the dropped chance to boot -- but for some reason, he was brought on very late, and didn't get enough time at the crease to really cause an impact.

The Kiwis will at this point consider every run the last three wickets can put up as a bonus -- run-scoring will be slow, painful work on this track and if the Kiwis top 250, the pressure will swing right back to India since it will need to bat last on this track. India's best hope here would be to take out the remaining three wickets quickly on the second morning, with a view to using the rest of the day, and all of the third day, to bat itself into a commanding position.

Postscript: The best part of doing cricket reports is the feedback I get. A lot of them are thought-provoking, some are amusing and some are... well... museum pieces, to put it mildly.

Beginning here, I hope occasionally to be able to reproduce some of the more interesting ones, as an adjunct to our reports. Here's the juiciest of today's bunch, and these are verbatim quotes...:

You are not just pro tamil and anti bengal, your core is anti marathi as evidenced by frequent swipes and jabs at Gavaskar, Wadekar, Manjrekar, even new bombay players and not surprisingly at popular figures like Borde and Tendulkar. It is people like you who have given birth to shiv sena as a reactionary force in sixties.

Read your article for factual errors before posting ! There was no Chopra in fourteen for the 2 nd test. See what happens when you are blinded by hatred ? Ultimately there is balance is nature. Your hatred for Marathi players is a fuel for fire in which you will consume yourself. Shame on you. I wonder whether Mr Bal Thackeray will consider this worthy of inclusion, when the definitive history of the Shiv Sena is being written?

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