 An opportunity missed
The Indian Test team has got off to good start against a depleted England side, which is missing its captain and one of its opening batsmen, besides the injury-prone Simon Jones who would have added teeth to the attack. Alex Flintoff is in danger of going Ian Botham's way, with the lurking possibility of his unproven leadership qualities interfering with his all round success. The rest of the England team looks short on experience and perhaps skill, at least in terms of ability to cope with Indian conditions and Indian spin.
Duncan Fletcher is a shrewd coach and proven motivator of men, and he is more likely to inspire Flintoff's men into performing beyond their ability than some of his predecessors who often suffered from the siege mentality. Everything about India was an insurmountable problem to them - from the weather and lack of hygiene to the smog and security concerns. I will not be surprised if the visitors start trotting out excuses the moment things start going wrong for them on the field of play.
Be that as it may, I believe India has lost an opportunity to score a crucial psychological advantage by picking young leg spinner Piyush Chawla in the playing eleven for the first Test. It would have been a great idea to go into the match with two leg spinners, thus letting Chawla loose on an opposition likely to be tentative and unsure of itself. It would have meant leaving out Harbhajan Singh, but given his recent finger injury, that would have given him more time to recover. The Indian bowlers have done a good job so far, with debutant Sreesanth taking the important wickets of Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen as I write these lines. Pietersen's wicket is of particular significance as he is already familiar with Indian conditions having scored heavily here on an 'A' team tour. After his match winning exploits against Australia in the Ashes series, though he met with less success in Pakistan, he would have been looking to start in a big way in India. By drawing first blood, Sreesanth has scored a big point.
Yet it is difficult to fault the Indian selectors for their approach to the series. They have boldly dropped Ganguly and given Mohammad Kaif his rightful place in the team. The inclusion of Sreesanth in the playing eleven has been another brave move. Such positive decisions are beginning to bear fruit, and they are changing the face of Indian cricket. I am confident that the process of experimentation will continue. Piyush Chawla must be making his debut before long.
V Ramnarayan
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