Mongia makes mock of his betters on day three

Prem Panicker

I have this horrific vision of a majority of the 950-million people in this cricket crazy nation turning prematurely grey, thanks solely to the antics of the Indian cricket team.

I mean, they seem to bring a certain genius to the task of trashing their own chances, and their reputations with it, that is perhaps unparalleled in cricket history.

And each time you witness one of these performances you ask yourself anew, why? Is it a surfeit of cricket? Has their enthusiasm been dulled by the day-in, day-out business of playing? Is physical fatigue causing a mental decline? Or is it that the players just don't care any more? That, secure in the knowledge that they have made it to the top and have no real competition for their places in the side, they are merely going through the motions?

Sounds harsh? Well, how does one powder-puff a situation wherein, on the flattest batting track this side of batsman's Utopia, India begins the day at 108/1 and finds itself losing four wickets between 127 and 153 and, at that stage, looking to be headed for a follow on against bowling that had no teeth whatsoever?

If India at the end of the day is on 306/7 and way past the follow on target and, indeed, on course to draw the game, it must thank the diminutive keeper Nayan Mongia. When he was dropped for the ODIs in RSA recently with Saba Karim grabbing his place, the normally quiet Mongia was visibly miffed. "I have never gifted my wicket away, even when asked to open after keeping all day I have not complained and in fact I have done better than some of the established openers, why did they do this to me?" he asked, then.

Today, he had a chance to prove his point - and he grabbed it with both hands, batting with a grim determination that saw him make a fighting unbeaten 73 and star in two major recovery partnerships after the senior batsmen had thrown away the advantage of batting on a beautiful wicket. And in so doing, he again underlined the point that all the talent in the world, sans will and application, is no good - conversely, if you go in there prepared to fight, then deficiencies in technique can be overcome.

The day began with overnight not outs V V S Laxman (54) and Rahul Dravid (28) carrying on where they had left off the previous evening. Ambrose and Walsh predictably opened the attack with a ball 41 overs old, and hard though they tried, the two young batsmen handled the bowling with calm assurance, content to work the ball around, looking determined to play out the first hour before worrying about scoring rates and stuff. Cricketing axiom is that if you give the bowlers the first hour, then you can get the remaining five to do pretty much as you please - and it looked like the Indian batsmen were playing to that plan when Laxman (64 off 169 with 7 fours), having done more than enough to justify his promotion to the top of the order, suffered one of those little lapses of concentration that forms his Achilles heel. The ball from Franklyn Rose was well up and on the stumps, the prescription was to play straight but Laxman waved airily at it across the line, missed and was bowled. India 127/2.

That brought Tendulkar to the wicket - and more questions to the mind. It is easy enough to understand Tendulkar's early failures after taking over the reins. By temperament, he is the kind of batsman who goes out there seeking to dominate. When he became captain, he reasoned perhaps that he couldn't afford to play his free-stroking game, because in the event he got out off a loose shot it would be a bad example for his colleagues. So he went into defensive mode - and the trouble with that is, if your instinct is to hit and you condition yourself to defend, you are invariably in no man's land and more prone to mistakes than if you played your natural game.

But why this mental confusion still persists is inexplicable. In course of the last few Tests, he has surely seen enough of the likes of Ganguly and Dravid to realise that his exit alone doesn't spell the end of the Indian innings? The only time in recent memory that he played his natural game was during the second Test against RSA at Newlands - the result, a strokeful 169.

Here, however, he again went into his defensive mode - and when Tendulkar defends, he tends to reach for the ball rather than let it come to him. This in turn opens up the gap between bat and body, and if you look at his recent dismissals, he has either been bowled through the gap, or got the inner edge onto the stumps.

From the moment he walked in, he kept reaching and missing. Dravid, watching from the other end, perhaps got affected a bit by the sight of his tentative skipper. For there is really no other way to explain why Dravid (43 off 149 with 5 fours) who had, till then, been batting in a manner as to make Michael Holding, in the commentary box, applaud him as the best judge when leaving the ball outside off stump in contemporary cricket, suddenly chose to waft his bat at one from Rose wide of the stumps, to feather an edge to Murray. India 140/4, and Dravid should have been kicking himself all the way back to the pavilion for missing on the chance to boost his batting record here.

That brought Saurav Ganguly to the wicket, but the newcomer had barely got his eye adjusted to the light when Tendulkar (7 off 30 with one four), to a ball of good length that in normal mode would have seen him glide onto the front foot and play that pushed drive of his through midwicket, choose to stay rooted in place on the edge of the crease and poke at it with bat away from body. The ball kept low, took the inside edge and back went the stumps, India 145/4.

Azharuddin came out, and off the first ball he faced, got three through midwicket with the wristy flick that is his hallmark. Next ball, he lashed a drive through covers for two more. Ball three, straight and wide outside off, Azhar (5 off 3) stood where he was and aimed a drive at it with feet nowhere near the line, head flung back as though he were tracking a passing comet, and Lara got a comfortable chest high catch at first slip.

Nothing was perhaps as shocking as this dismissal. Even the greatest batsman needs an over or two out there to judge the pitch and the bowling, and Azharuddin's attitude smacked of sheer unconcern for the needs of the side. True, he is more effective when he plays his shots than when he tries to defend, but it is amazing how, both in South Africa and now here, he has tended to play the Tests like a one day innings, and the one-dayers with more circumspection and application.

Shortly before the Indians flew to South Africa, Azharuddin in fact told the media that he thought India was playing far too much cricket, that it was increasingly harder to keep enthusiasm levels high, that he was only enjoying one day cricket these days. If that is the case, fair enough. But then, Azhar as the seniormost player in the side owes it to the team to tell his captain frankly (Sachin, many years his junior, is not yet comfortable in his role as captain to take such a senior player, and admittedly a great batsman, to task) that his heart is not in Tests, that he would like to be considered only for one dayers. This would open his place for one of the younger players waiting in the wings who, while maybe not as talented as he is, will undoubtedly value the opportunity of playing for the country more than Azharuddin seems to be doing of late.

A Vinod Kambli, for instance, is burning with the desire to get back into the side and wipe out his blotted copybook. It does seem unfair that Kambli among others has to sit out, because Azhar is neither interested in playing with application and in keeping with the needs of the side, nor open enough to admit it and step aside. Azhar is a great batsman, a perfect gentleman - but this attitude does not do him much credit.

India, in the event, went in to lunch at 155/5 after being 127 for one after the first 50 minutes of play.

Post-lunch, however, Saurav Ganguly in company with the grimly determined Nayan Mongia wiped out the memories of the fiasco earlier. Neither batsman did anything extraordinary with the bat, neither of them launched murderous assaults on the bowling. On the contrary, both concentrated on defending when the ball was in line with off and middle stumps, and working the ball around for runs when it was pitched anywhere else. Good, commonsense, sensible cricket. And the result - from 155/5, the Indian score moved to 234/5 at tea, the two batsmen having survived two hours of everything that Walsh could throw at them, and in the process averted the follow on.

Ganguly's innings impressed for one reason more than any other. He is a silken driver of the ball outside his off stump, but that strength has also been a weakness in recent times as he tends to get over ambitious and chase after deliveries too wide for the stroke, ending up edging to the slips. Today, he disciplined himself and, though a strokeplayer by inclination, concentrated on keeping his end up, even allowing Mongia to outscore him. And that self-discipline was a good sight to see.

Having said that, Ganguly (42 off 111 with five fours) perished in the first over after tea - and no prizes for guessing that he went chasing at a widish ball outside off stump to give Lara another catch in the slips, and Rose yet another wicket - his fifth on debut. India 234/6.

A word about Rose here. The debutant, all of 25 years old, is not among the quickest of West Indies pace bowlers. Neither does he have a lot of movement in the air. His main strength is an ability to use the crease well to vary the angles, and bowl a straight line and length for over after over when he has to, changing line and pace to keep the batsman from playing him by rote. And he deserved rewards for persevering on a track certain to make any decent fast bowler want to upchuck all over it. But well though he bowled, Dravid, Sachin, Azhar and Ganguly all gifted him their wickets - in a manner reminiscent of Lance Klusener's debut spell of 8 for 64 on another beautiful batting track at Calcutta late last year.

Meanwhile, Mongia went on, never looking in the least bit troubled by any bowler and, as he gained in confidence, playing some lovely extra cover drives on the up.

Kumble, the new man in, was a victim of genuinely intelligent quick bowling by Ian Bishop. Taking over from the tiring Ambrose, Bishop dug one short and surprised Kumble with the bounce. Seeing the batsman tentative, Bishop promptly pitched short again. And again. And having conditioned Kumble (7 off 23), who had started off by coming onto the front foot, into hopping back in anticipation of another short one, he produced the yorker-length delivery and before the tall Kumble could bring his bat down from its defensive position at chest height, the stumps were in disarray. Thoughtful bowling, and really deserving of that wicket, which got India to 248/7.

Sunil Joshi is a good batsman, reasonably sound in technique though he does tend to fish a bit outside off stump every now and again. But thus far, in Test cricket, he hasn't really managed to play to his potential. That seemed to be preying on his mind, for he was a bundle of nerves when he started out, poking at the ball with his feet stationary and surviving by the proverbial hairsbreadth.

But to his credit, he hung in there and when he got a couple of balls on the middle of the bat, gained in assurance to such a marked degree that he more than held his own in the unbeaten eighth wicket partnership that has so far realised 58 very good runs.

Walsh meanwhile entered the last hour of play on the day and found that 21 overs remained to be bowled of the day's quota of 90. He had till then persisted with his four quicks, but in this situation the only option was to use part time spinners Hooper and Chanderpaul to rush through the overs.

With those two tossing them right up, the Indians could have been forgiven for trying to belt a few. Mongia, however, appears hell bent on taking root at the crease. Just once, when Chanderpaul surprised him with a full toss at waist height which he hit straight into the hands of Walsh at midwicket only to see the West Indies skipper floor a dolly, did Mongia make a blemish. Otherwise, the diminutive Indian keeper went on in his obdurate fashion, working the ball around for runs to finish the day unconquered on 73 off 188 balls with six fours.

Joshi loves to belt the spinners about. With admirable patience, he reined himself in for four of those overs, and then suddenly went down on one knee to belt Chanderpaul over midwicket, the ball falling an inch short of the ropes, then followed that up with a straight drive for four more.

Much pleased, he came charging down to Hooper, lifted him up and over, and Rose ran back from mid on, got under the ball, and put it down. The let off seemed to have sobered Joshi up, for he promptly throttled back and with admirable circumspection, played out the nicely tossed up deliveries of Hooper and Chanderpaul till close of play.

As for the West Indian bowlers, what can one feel but pity? I don't suppose Walsh (25-5-61-0) and Ambrose (24-9-35-0) have worked as hard, and with as little to show for it, as they did here. Both are masters of their trade, both bowled the perfect line and length on this wicket and neither of them gave the batsmen any room for strokeplay. But neither could break through, and that is sufficient indictment of this wicket.

Bishop (24-4-58-2) bowled well in support, but the day belonged to Franklyn Rose (26-6-79-5). Overshadowed in pace and ability by his three seniors, Rose on debut showed great heart, bowling with unflagging accuracy over long spells.

And that brings a sobering thought to conclude with - India were on the brink of ignominy at one stage, but managed to fight back to a position from which a draw seems pretty much the only option left in the game. But the Indian batsmen need to realise that in the remaining four Tests, they are not likely to encounter such featherbeds - and fightbacks will be considerably harder when these bowlers get conditions more suited to them.

So if they don't all learn from this lesson, and here on bat with application to back their undoubted talent, then this West Indies tour is likely to prove as unrewarding for this young side as the RSA tour before this.