India Blues overwhelm Greens

By S Anand
October 3 2006

Every open stand in Chepauk was filled today, as Chennaiites turned out to cheer Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly in the battle of India seniors versus fringe players.

The mood in Chepauk was very pro-Ganguly today. I don't understand this sudden Ganguly craze in Chennai, which now seems to be Ganguly's second home as well and not just Sachin's.

Everyone here seemed to respect Ganguly and cheered him enthusiastically, but I think the difference is that they accept the decisions made by the selectors on the ex-captain during his lack of form. Madrasis badly want to see him do well, and get back into this side purely based on merit.

So our eyes were on Sachin and Sourav.

Tendulkar stole the show as usual. I'm not going to get into a detailed description of his innings as I can't explain it any better than many others have, except to say it was a typical Sachin innings: absolutely inspirational and a timely reminder of how are lucky to have one of the greatest sportsman this world has seen amongst us!

Sachin mixed aggression with class, and kept going higher and higher in our hearts. At one point of time, people stopped cheering and you could in fact hear a pin drop even when he hit yet another six after reaching the hundred. People were overawed and overwhelmed with their idol, and wanted to see him get some rest inside, because he had already shown us enough for us to fall in love with him all over again!

I'm not a big fan of Pathan at one down, and think it's a poor move, hurting careers of talented players like Kaif. But Pathan smashed the jaded India Green bowling attack. What were the selectors thinking when they picked this attack? Balaji and Nehra were the only experienced bowlers, while Chawla and Lahiri are young spinners yet to come to grips at the international level. Captain Kaif was helpless, and he was not helped much by some reckless decisions.

Piyush Chawla was bowling well after recovering from Sachin's blasting. Why did Kaif take him off after 6 overs? A really bad move. Badani's four overs really killed it, Sachin indirectly inviting him to play in the 5th Division of the TNCA with such poor bowling skills. He reverse-swept Badani for fun.

Again, why did Kaif take Ganguly out of the attack after 5 overs when he gave just 4.5 runs per over? Ganguly hit the deck brilliantly and Sachin and Dravid had to respect his line and length. Ganguly bowled a tight spell, such that they could either pick singles on the leg side or take a risk by trying something big. Dada showed his quality in those 5 overs, good thinking by him and bad thinking by Kaif for removing him!

Balaji started decently but finished poorly. Dhoni sent Balaji packing as he seemed to use this more like a practice match than a competitive one, trying out short balls and full tosses at 125 kmph to Dhoni, who was swatting the balls like flies!

Nehra was impressive, much better than what I've seen of Pathan of late... but he needs to start improving his fielding if he wants to win back his place in the side.

Chawla seems to be an excellent talent, first time I've seen him play with my own eyes and the lad has that bit of modest yet rusty talent about him. It's like he is waiting to burst into fame. He demonstrated his inexperience today with lapses of concentration in the field, but then also showed that he had the quality to more than make up for it and come through as a top player with that outstanding catch he took right in front of my stand!

Nothing more to add about the first innings as it was all about Sachin and Dhoni. I'm not going to say anything new about them, other than these two players did what they do best.

Before moving on to the 2nd innings, a note about the fielding. Hats off to Kaif and Raina, two of the best fielders in the world along with Bravo, Symonds and Vincent. Today, they were simply superb and eye-pleasing with their dives, catches, unbelievable backing up and effort -- good to see we've got some great fielders in our side!

2nd Innings - ENTER DADA!

Chepauk rose in admiration, and gave him a great ovation. Most of us were still tired of shouting for Ganguly in the first innings! I am not his greatest fan but have to admit, when I went in today, I went in as a Ganguly fan for the mood in the city had rubbed off on me as well -- you simply couldn't refuse to support or feel for Ganguly today once you entered the ground.

He started out solidly, sighting the ball nicely and looking set with a plan. Agarkar tested him with a short ball and he ducked, and I thought, "Oh no, some things never change." But in the next over, we saw some vintage Ganguly, as he pierced the offside with ease and looked more and more comfortable, but looked almost shy of picking singles! He didn't rotate strike much. It was like he was settled with a feel-good cover drive to the boundary every over. Once he even pulled Agarkar with perfection to the boundary, and I thought today was the day!

Meanwhile, Jaffer was playing a Mark Waugh-ish innings at the other end. I really doubt if we would get another Mark Waugh in the world of cricket, but Jaffer kept giving us those stylish looks in his game: flicks and back foot punches. You seem to blink twice to actually believe that it happened -- unfortunately , Jaffer seemed the less settled of two, he doesn't give you the confidence as a one-day player and eventually got out to a ODI Shot! Great catch by Jadeja, I've never heard of this lad but he seems to be an outstanding fielder.

In came Parthiv, a rare sensible move by Kaif as the first 20 overs is when Parthiv can contribute most to the team as a batsman when the target is high! He stood firm with Dada, until Dada played a nothing shot. Thousands started leaving once Dada was caught at point for that really half-hearted, reckless shot.

I can't exactly say what's wrong with Dada but in my opinion, he is not far away from recovering his old form. He just needs some different treatment at the moment because at this rate, he keeps getting up half-heartedly after a downfall in his comeback. Someone needs to sort things out with him and bring him back spick and span, as these stopgap knocks are doing his chances no good!

Out went Dada, in Came Raina; not a like for like replacement at all. Thankfully, most people seem to give Raina a lot of time and trust, he will surely repay them with runs in the near future. He is on a big learning curve now and these poor knocks will help him build big knocks in the future. Today he got out to a weak shot, showing that he is not the aggressor by any means. 381 runs on the board was simply a huge mental blow to Kaif's team and Raina would have never been in such a position before. Hopefully, he will learn.

In came Kaif then, my idol and I was already disappointed to see him so low in the order! In my opinion, he should bat at No 3 or 4 for India as he is someone who will do well in overs 10 to 35. Kaif didn't last long, getting out to a shot which 9 times out of 10 would have reached the boundary. Things today were simply not falling the way of the India Green team and Kaif had to go. To be honest, I just hope people continue to trust Kaif as I believe we have the future India Captain on our hands and I'm sure Kaif will prove himself again, once he gets a good run in the team at a settled position, as he did in the ODI series against the Windies.

While all the wickets were falling, a certain Parthiv Patel put up a resolute show to maybe tell the selectors that he can be a tiny Dhoni himself with a bit more elegance about him. Some nice strokes from Parthiv, confident drives and nice overall play in terms of strike rotation and picking the gaps -- he was the only one who could hold his head high in this India Green team! Parthiv still can't compete with Dhoni or Dinesh Karthik I feel, as he still lacks in the keeping department, and showed again today that he is far from the finished product in that respect.

Then, Parthiv got out in a controversial way to Bhajji and then wickets started to tumble with ease. Nothing worth mentioning took place after Parthiv's dismissal except perhaps Bhajji's attitude. I'm not the biggest fan of Harbhajan, I think he is too arrogant at times, and showed that often with many India Green players.