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Ganguly breaks the jinx; game poised for draw

Prem Panicker

Indian cricketing lore has it that a batsman who scores a 100 on debut never makes another.

Gundappa Vishwanath was the first to break that particular hoodoo. Then came Mohammad Azharuddin, with three tons on the trot. And on Monday, Saurav Ganguly joined him, with a classy innings of 147 that constituted his third and thus far, highest, Test 100.

True, Ganguly followed up his first ton with another in the second innings - but after that debut tour, he had failed to translate that promise into achievement. In fact, on the occasions when he did cross the half century mark subsequently, he time and again looked to have the measure of the bowling, only to throw it all away.

Which is one reason why his 147 here is significant - Ganguly has spent a long time under the shadow of Rahul Dravid, and for a young batsman looking to cement his position in the side, that kind of thing can cause needless mental pressure.

There is yet another reason why this ton is significant. For a while now, the consensus of opinion has been that Ganguly should be upped to opener. The critics of that suggestion have come up with the argument that the left-hander is vulnerable to good quick bowlers operating with the new ball and seeking to attack him on leg side.

This morning, Ganguly came out to face Chaminda Vaas and Sajeewa D'Silva, bowling with a brand new ball. And both bowlers, having set fields containing a deep midwicket and deep backward square leg, consistently bounced the Indian left hander. And Ganguly handled the line of attack with aplomb, hooking when the ball was around shoulder and head high, going under it when the ball climbed higher, and more importantly, never once looking troubled.

Recently Ganguly, who started off with a light bat of the kind favoured by Mohammad Azharuddin, had shifted to a much heavier bat, of the kind used by Sachin Tendulkar. Asked about it during the coaching camp in Bangalore, Ganguly told me that he was finding some trouble, on the slower outfields, of finding the ropes with his shots.

The heavier bat was in use here - and in one sense, it seems to be working, as witnessed by 18 well hit boundaries and two classical off drives, off Muralitharan, for sixes. In another sense, though, Ganguly needs to do some work - his pivot into the hook or pull is noticeably slower with the heavier bat, he seems to be swinging his bat around with some effort, with the result that a few of those hooks were played a shade late, with the result that the ball was hitting the bat high up, and not quite in the middle - an obvious area he will need to work on.

Both he and Sachin Tendulkar were obviously determined to ensure against an early loss of wickets, and they succeeded. Tendulkar, who continued in what was for him an unusually circumspect vein, finally fell to a good piece of bowling, Pushpakumara bowling one just outside off, drawing the batsman into the drive, and seaming the ball just sufficiently away to take the outer edge for Murali to hold well at point.

The Indian tail came and went in predictable fashion, and Ganguly, running out of partners, perished last when he tried to hit Sajeewa D'Silva over mid on, Vaas running a good 15 metres in from the boundary line to make a brilliantly judged running catch look ridiculously simple.

Jayasuriya and Atapattu opened the Lankan innings. Interestingly, Sachin Tendulkar opted to give Debashish Mohanty first use of the new ball - which was good thinking, as the debutant would be fired up after his first innings success, and it pays to take advantage of such things. However, just when Mohanty, who strayed badly in the first over - a result of trying too hard - had found his length and line, he was promptly taken off, after just three overs in all, which to my mind ranked as a rather strange decision, given that Venkatesh Prasad, continuing in his unimpressive fashion of the first innings, got a much longer bowl.

Two other facets of the Indian bowling performance thus far in the second innings deserve mention. The first is this - it is often asked how come Sri Lanka scores at a much faster rate than India does, even in Tests. The simplistic answer is that the Lankan bowlers are better at containment - but that is merely a quarter of the truth. The real answer is, the Lankan fielders are, from first ball to last, one hundred per cent committed to the task of cutting off every run they possibly can. Thus, time and again, you see a quick bowler completing an over, going to the fine leg or third man region, and off the first ball of the next over, racing fifteen, twenty meters along the line to cut off a four.

For one thing, such commitment in the field puts pressure on opposing batsmen, forcing them to fight hard for every run they make. For another, it fires up a bowler, when he finds his fielders saving him even when he occasionally strays in line and length.

The Indian attitude is the exact reverse. One instance suffices, though I could cite a dozen without straining my memory. Kumble, for once in a long while, seemed to have got his head together and was bowling in aggressive fashion. His line was right, on off and middle or just outside off; he was hitting the deck harder and making the ball jump at the batsmen. Jayasuriya, who was looking distinctly uncomfortable, pushed a ball to mid on. Navjot Singh Sidhu, fielding there, stood rooted while the ball trickled to him, and the two batsmen took the single with ease. Kumble remonstrated with the fielder at the end of the over, and to my mind, he had a point there - when you have a batsman in trouble, you want to keep him on strike, keep attacking him, thinking your way through his defences. And it does not help if your fielders slack off, and let the batsman off the hook.

The other point is that it seems about time the Indian bowlers learnt to bowl to a field. Here, Sachin Tendulkar set seven on the off and was obviously looking for the bowlers to bowl off or just outside. Which they consistently did for three, four deliveries - and then gave away the loose one on middle and leg or outside, allowing the batsmen free hits and undoing all the earlier good work. These would be the kind of things a coach needs to be looking at and talking to his charges about - Madan Lal, unfortunately, appears too busy giving media interviews to have time to spare for such inessentials.

The Lankan openers came out with all guns blazing - but once Kumble settled into a length and began to bowl with a fraction of his old venom, things slowed down. The most noticeable impact of Kumble's finding a fraction of his form was seen in the dismissal of Marvan Atapattu - who has, thus far, handled the Indian leggie with cool confidence. Once Kumble hit a line fractionally outside off and made a couple of deliveries jump from off a length, the elegant right hander was pushed onto the back foot - and in his uncertain frame of mind, he hung his bat out to one on off, which bounced, left him just a shade, and took the top of the bat for Azhar to juggle and hold a sharp chance at slip.

Mahanama and Jayasuriya promptly downed shutters, and play was called off for light with about six overs left to play. All of which makes for a very interesting first session tomorrow - for the Indians, the key will be in trying to prise out a wicket or two in the crucial first hour. Do that, and the pressure could swing to the home side. Fail, and a long day's leather hunt will be on the cards.

For Sri Lanka, the equation is equally simple - weather the early attack, score fast, try to put up a good 300-plus lead by close, and attack the Indian lineup flat out on the last day. After all, what's to lose? You can't lose and if the Indian batting has one of its collapses, then you could just pull off the win.

A recent instance, when India needed 121 to win and collapsed for 81 on the final day, will be in all minds. But one thing needs mentioning - the SSC wicket is not a xerox of the Barbados killer. And Vaas, D'Silva and Pushpakumara are not exactly Ambrose-Walsh-Rose.

Enough speculation, though - the morning will tell its own story.

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