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India lose a thriller

So near and, as so often in recent history, so far for India as it made the transition from the Test arena to the one-day format, in Sharjah, for the lung-opener in the Champions' Trophy quadrangular tournament, being played for the first time under lights at the desert venue.

The conditions were pretty much standard for Sharjah. A pitch that looks white and shiny, the kind that, as Harsha Bhogle told me, you can see your own reflection. Hard, even bounce, perfect for batting.

Offsetting it is the fact that all four captains, in a meeting the day prior to the start of the tournament, decided that the same ball will be used for all 50 overs. The white ball has this disadvantage over the red, that not only does it lose its whiteness and take on the green colour of the outfield as the game progresses, but it also gets softer and, therefore, that much harder to hit about. What this in turn means is that conventional thinking has to be turned on its head, and teams looking to slog their way about in the final overs will find themselves finding the fielders where they are looking to hit over them.

England fielded its new look side under debutant skipper Adam Hollioake, and the simplest description for the team is "all round" -- I mean, everyone is an all rounder in there with the possible exception of Dean Headley, who is pure bowler and a bit of a rabbit, batting-wise. And maybe Graham Thorpe, who hasn't been known to turn his arm over. The bowling attack is centered around a bunch of slow medium bowlers whose forte is accuracy, an ability to bowl wicket to wicket and concentrate on making run scoring about as easy as doing the breaststroke through a sea of molasses.

India made some changes to its team, bringing in Kuruvilla for Venkatesh Prasad, for starters. Tough choice -- Prasad with his seam movement is much harder to get away in the early overs, while Kuruvilla's nagging accuracy and slower pace comes in handy at the death. Who to take over which? Anybody's guess, really, and the team management picked Kuruvilla.

Rahul Dravid was dropped, to accomodate the extra bowler in Rajesh Chauhan. Again, it is a policy that could -- and did -- cut both ways. When the England openers went after the bowling, it was Chauhan who restored sanity with a brilliant exhibition of tight, crafty off spin bowling. He really seems to be riding a confidence high after his performances against Sri Lanka in the recent series, and did far better than the more higher rated Kumble. However, the flip side was seen when India batted -- the fall of the first wicket signalling a mini-collapse that, in the final analysis, was to prove fatal to India's prospects. Dravid tends to be slammed by critics for slow scoring -- but it is times like this when his real value is underscored, as he holds one end up, prevents the bowlers from crashing through, and allows the rest of the lineup to bat around him.

England opener Alistair Brown has a rep as a big-hitter, and he did swing lustily in the initial stages. However, it was Alec Stewart who was the real eye opener -- at no time in his 111 ball innings did he play any "innovative shots" -- for which, read ugly hoiks, heaves and slogs. It was all pure cricketing strokes throughout, and yet the runs came faster than one per ball, Stewart moving easily to 116 off 111 before becoming the fourth England wicket to fall, in the slog overs.

The other major facet of the early part of the England innings was running between wickets -- and to call it brilliant is an understatement. Stewart and Brown, both Surrey batsmen, have an understanding of each other. But when Brown went trying to hit Kuruvilla out of the ground and Knight came in, the same standard of running was kept up -- batsmen playing into the gaps, running on a nod with no calling, alert to the slightest misfield and converting singles into twos with regularity. Indicates that England, which has proclaimed that it is looking to build its team for the 1999 World Cup, has been doing a lot of practising in this area -- and the scoreboard, moving along at a constant 5+ per over right through the innings, was indicative enough of the value of such practise.

One statistic illuminates the point: in the England innings, there were just 16 fours and two sixes in a total of 250. In other words, a mere 76 runs came off the big hits, the rest being accumulated by electric running.

If England didn't transform a great start -- 79/1 in 15 overs, 111/1 in 20 -- credit goes chiefly to Rajesh Chauhan. Though he was brought on after Kumble and even Ganguly, it was his off spin bowling that, for the first time, checked the inflationary run rate and applied the brakes, stemming the momentum and letting the other bowlers get a bit of breathing space. Chauhan, strangely in a one day situation, concentrated on flighting the ball well up, inviting the drive, and turning the ball just enough, and looping it well, to defeat such attempts.

The first four England batsmen all played with sense, farming the singles and twos and only occasionally, launching the big hit. 131/2 in 25, 159/2 in 30, 189/2 in 35, and 211/3 in 40 overs seemed a superb platform for a 300+ score, when you remember that England bats right down to number nine.

And then, the downside of playing with the white ball affected the batting side. With that kind of score, the logical thing to do appeared to be to bash the ball around -- only, by 40 overs, the ball is typically so soft that the harder you hit, the straighter it goes to hand. This leads to frustration, with batsmen figuring that they have the game sewn up and can blast away, finding that despite a lot of fuss no runs are coming, and making mistakes. Mishits to fielders, mixups in running between wickets, all the stupidities of a hell for leather slog surfaced -- and England crumbled, losing its last seven wickets for just 39 runs, to be all out on the level 250.

India, in the field, got it wrong initially. The fielders, especially mid on and mid off, were just that few yards too deep to prevent the single. This meant that the batsmen could get one, guaranteed, to almost every ball, while leaving themselves the option of hitting hard when the loose ball presented itself. A more tight field, to prevent the flow of singles, would have meant more pressure on the batting side -- pressure that, till the halfway stage, was not apparent.

Then Chauhan began bowling, and suddenly it all fell into place. The Indians fielded well, raced in to stop the ball, Jadeja, Tendulkar and Azhar in particular being outstanding while all the others did their bit -- witness two run outs off direct hits, a rarity for India in the field. Also to their credit, the Indian bowlers held their nerve and concentrated on line and length despite the runs steadily mounting.

When India began its chase, it was with Saba Karim partnering Saurav Ganguly. Obviously, the thinking was for the keeper-batsman to lash out and take full advantage of the field restrictions in the first 15 overs.

Karim, to his credit, played his part well, hitting over the infield time and again, and seeing India off to a good start -- 27/0 in 5, 53/0 in 10 -- before leaving when he miscued a drive at Headley straight to cover.

However, at this point, the problem of Navjot Singh Sidhu surfaced. Sidhu is a typical opener, who likes to play himself in, watch the ball for a few overs before he starts to play his shots. The Indian selectors, in asking him to open and instructing him to "take full advantage of the field restriction" -- in other words, play unlike his normal game and slog -- have effectively hampered the side. Here, the situation was compounded by the fact that Sidhu came in to bat in the 12th over. The restrictions were still in place, but Sidhu was caught in the trap of needing time to settle, but knowing that the field restrictions would be off after 15 and that he, therefore, had to hit a few before the field spread out.

The result -- a wild slash at one outside off before he was set, the ball ballooning to mid off for a simple catch.

I don't know -- the more I see of this, the less sense it makes. The thinking, earlier, was that Sachin Tendulkar, who has all the shots in the book and a naturally aggressive frame of mind, is the best bet to take advantage of the field restrictions. 13 hundreds in the opener's slot in three years is proof enough that the thinking was right. Besides, he and Ganguly had, since coming together, shown an ability to rotate strike intelligently and to keep scoring briskly from both ends. Why, on the basis of a small slump in form, the selectors felt the need to pressurise him into dropping down the order remains, for me, a mystery.

Ganguly meanwhile looked out of sorts, his timing and touch not all there on the day. The reason could be as simple as making the adjustment from Tests to one dayers, that too under lights. In the event, the frustration of not middling his shots saw him attempt a needless inside out drive at Mark Ealham's gentle medium pace, to miss the line and find his off stump pegged back.

Tendulkar, from the moment he came out to bat, looked rock solid. His usual tendency is to hit with full power. Here, however, he quickly read the pitch and more importantly, the bowling, realised that bowlers of the pace -- if the word "pace" can be used for guys who bowl a shade slower than a Kumble flipper -- of Ealham, Hollioake and Fleming couldn't be handled by savage hitting, and concentrated on guiding the ball into the gaps and racing singles and twos with speed matching the Englishmen.

Azhar, at the other end, was the ideal partner -- for he too is adept at working the ball around. So why he felt the urge, with India three down at that stage for just 65 (Karim, Ganguly and Sidhu falling in a heap there) to slash wildly at a straight ball way wide of off stump will remain a mystery -- neither the wicket, nor the ball, nor indeed the situation, called for that shot, and the ballooning mishit was, again, held comfortably at mid off to reduce India to 74/4.

Then came sanity, in the form of the Indian skipper and his deputy. Superb placing, brilliant running between wickets and the occasional foray down the track to hit over the top (Tendulkar's two sixes being the best examples) kept the board moving with ominous steadiness.

It was a perfect fightback, and the rate of progression is indication enough of the way they batted -- 77/4 in 20, 103/4 in 25, 126/4 in 30, 148/4 in 35, the 100 of the partnership coming off just 117 deliveries and Tendulkar first, then Jadeja reaching the half century mark in this period.

Jadeja's 50 was the best illustration of how they played -- 68 balls, and just the one single boundary, the rest coming entirely through deft placements and perfect running that, finally, pressurised the top quality English fielding and drew the overthrows and misfields.

And then, a ball after reaching his 50, Jadeja went, miscuing a flick off Fleming to find midwicket in the way.

Robin, in next, produced a trademark six when, with his characteristic short back lift and what can only be described as a powerful jab at the ball, he carted one from Fleming, from leg stump, way over the midwicket fence. However, he fell attempting to glide one to third man, the ball cutting in off the seam to trap him LBW.

India progressed steadily, 182/5 in 40 meaning that 69 were needed off 60 deliveries, with Tendulkar going along calmly at one end and looking in ominous touch.

And then the same syndrome that overtook England earlier, took charge of the Indian innings and the wickets began tumbling. Rather than concentrate on giving the strike to the well-set Tendulkar, too many of the tailenders tried to do it all on their own, resulting in a situation where a rather bemused Tendulkar found himself at one end, watching his comrades come, swish, and go.

Finally, with 19 to get off 18 deliveries, Sachin Tendulkar made his sole mistake of the innings. It is a strange thing about the guy -- unlike a lot of other batsmen who get lives and survive edges, miscues, the works, his first mistake often proves to be his last. Here, he went down the track to Fleming, who bowled it wide of off, Sachin missed with the attempted drive over cover and Stewart, standing right up, gathered and had the bails off in a flash. 91 off 87 with four fours and two sixes, and about as good a one day innings as you want to see, without any ungainly heaves and ugly swipes -- like Stewart before him, Tendulkar's innings was a demonstration that cricketing strokes suffice to score at over a run a ball.

That left 19 to get off 17, against bowling that varied between the slow medium to the medium in pace. You would expect that Srinath, Chauhan and Kuruvilla would figure it out, look for a run a ball, keep the target in reach and realise that only one big hit was needed in the next 17 deliveries to get there.

But Srinath, whose intelligence when bowling rarely, if ever, translates into his batting, swiped with a ferocity that suggested he was trying to clear Sharjah, and missed.

India went into the last over needing 12 off 6. Two braces in succession brought that down to 8 off 4. And then Chauhan, who probably was remembering his six off Saqlain in a recent encounter against Pakistan, moved across the off stump, trying to make room to flick over square leg. Fleming's ball was, as always, straight as a die. And back went leg stump, the batsman missing with everything he had.

The temptation is to blame the tail for not keeping its head. But frankly, I would prefer to lay this one at the doors of Sidhu and Azhar. If batsmen of their seniority -- that too with the side cruising at over 60 within the first 15 overs -- can't keep their heads, why expect tailenders, who are there mainly to bowl, to display the sense their batting betters didn't?

The temptation, too, is to miss a certain Rahul Dravid, whose calm good sense is so vital in an Indian side packed with tempestuous -- and often unpredictable -- strokeplayers.

England, meanwhile, impressed. With thoughtful bowling, each bowler knowing precisely what he had to do, bowling to his field and not trying too hard. And with brilliant -- barring the odd blemish when Jadeja and Tendulkar turned the screws -- ground fielding that backed the bowling to the hilt.

A professional display that, to someone like me who hasn't seen them play in recent times, explains the ease with which they blanked Australia in the three one dayers they played ahead of their last Ashes meeting, earlier this year.

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