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Is it too much to ask the famed Indian batting to bat
out a day— or even less— to draw a Test match?
It would appear so after the latest capitulation at
Durban in the second Test with the two sides now
locked 1-1 going into the final Test at Cape Town on
Tuesday.
Of course, as with much concerning Indian cricket,
such collapses are nothing new. But considering the
current set of batsmen have long been considered one
of the best in international cricket and have about
them the air of superstars, tough questions need to be
asked now.
How is it that players with the experience of
Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Ganguly and Sehwag
invariably fail when it counts both in the fourth
innings of a Test match as well as in the final of ODI
tournaments?
Is it really that they cannot cope with the pressure
after all these years in international cricket? The
mountain of runs they have amassed in their careers is
of little value if they cannot combine to save a Test
match. And in this case, with the weather constantly
intervening, the match did not even last five full
days.
India have lost a Test match in a series immediately
after winning the previous one ten times now in the
last ten years. Both in Sri Lanka in 2001 and the West
Indies in 2002, this cost us the series. The trend is
ominous and after the splendid show in the first Test
at Johannesburg, it would be a crying shame if India
were to throw it all away in the final Test.
In this year alone this is the third time the Indian
batting has folded up tamely in the final
innings—first at Karachi, then at Mumbai against
England and now once again when a draw was there for
the asking.
Changes will have to be made for the Cape Town Test
and it would be no surprise if Gautam Gambhir comes in
for opener Virender Sehwag who has failed time and
again on this tour and shown a shocking lack of
application.
That would mean that two of India’s most valuable
players, both in Tests and ODIs, would now find
themselves on the sidelines after a year of miserable
performances.
After the sending home of Irfan Pathan, Sehwag’'s
shocking loss of form creates a big hole in the team
and a real crisis looms ahead of next March'’s World
Cup.
Hopefully Munaf Patel is now fit after being a
passenger on the tour for a month now with a
mysterious ankle injury. His inclusion for Cape Town
will give the opening attack added teeth and this has
been the most positive aspect of the tour so far.
Zaheer Khan, S. Sreesanth —the find of the tour—and a
fit Munaf will certainly give India an edge.
As for the batting, the lack of a fight is the most
depressing aspect of this latest defeat. The time for
lame excuses is over.
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More Views by Gulu Ezekiel
