India under the hammer
on day one

You can take the cricketer to water, but you can't make him drink -- or in this case, think. That at least is the learning after day one of the first Test when India, presented with a gift horse when Steve Waugh won the toss and opted to bowl, spent time counting its dentures and ended up getting bitten, bad.

At close of play, Australia was sitting pretty on 49/1 in response to India's 176 all out. And the Indians know they have only themselves to blame for the position they find themselves in.

There has been a lot of speculation about the nature of the wicket. As it turned out, curator Nadeem Memon did everyone proud, producing a fine track with a bit of surface grass, nice bounce and carry, turn for the spinners, and runs if you know how to bat.

The Indians, based on their showing today, didn't. Know how to bat, that is. Actually, having spent time with them these last few days, I found that you couldn't fault their theory -- 'We have to wear their bowlers down', 'We need to keep rotating strike and not let any bowler work on any batsman', 'We have to play patiently', 'We need to build partnerships'... we, Faisal and I, heard all this, and more.

And today, I got to see those theories in action -- India's innings lasted just 71.3 overs, so much for wearing the bowlers down and playing patiently. There were just 34 singles taken, as opposed to 21 boundaries hit -- so much for rotating strike and not letting one bowler work on one batsman. Barring a 75-run stand between Laxman and Tendulkar, there was no partnership of any substance, so much for...

You get the idea.

Australia went in with three seamers, and a sole spinner in Shane Warne. And Steve Waugh, after asking Ganguly to take first strike, admitted right out that he was taking a gamble. The Australian skipper was gambling that his bowlers would be able to use the early life in the track and further, that the Indians would mentally lose the battle against his quicks.

He was wrong on the first count, but right on the second. If you review the Australian bowling, especially in the morning, you will find that the bowlers without exception bowled too short too often, trying to blast the batsmen out rather than pitching up and letting the pitch do some work. But on the second count, Waugh got it right, and how!

McGrath and Fleming opened the bowling in tandem, and the former was most especially guilty of wasting the morning advantage initially, pitching way too short too often and seemingly focussing on blasting the Indians out, rather than pitching the fuller line and making them play.

Ramesh fell a victim partly to his own mind, and partly to some dodgy umpiring. Leading up to this series, Ramesh had told us that he was aware that McGrath would consistently bounce him, and that this time, he meant to take him on. Sure enough, McGrath kept bouncing, and twice Ramesh moved into hook shots without being in proper position. On the second of those occasions, the ball was going well down the leg side, and the batsman could have let it go, but didn't. The ball took the arm guard, Gilchrist held, the Aussies went up -- and umpire Venkataraghavan, probably going by the noise the ball made hitting the arm guard, upheld the appeal.

Rahul Dravid, in at number three, was undone by a combination of ultra-caution and lovely seam bowling by Fleming. The bowler, who had switched ends and come on from the end McGrath was bowling his first spell from, produced a beauty first up, swinging in, then seaming away off a length. Dravid shaped to play on the on, covering the inswing and playing the length, but the movement the other way off the seam undid him, taking the edge to go through to the keeper and reducing India to 25/2.

At the other end, SS Das shaped very well initially, handling McGrath's short stuff with composure, playing Gillespie well off the front foot, and producing two classy off drives. What was more impressive was the patience with which he was letting them go outside off -- a patience that surprisingly wore thin after the first drinks break, and led to his downfall. The ball from Gillespie was fullish, straight and well wide of off. Das slashed at it in parody of a drive, the ball flew hard and low off the bottom edge, and Mathew Hayden at gully snapped up a superb take. India 31/3.

Saurav Ganguly, like his mates before him, appeared to be suffering a touch of over-preparation. He first slammed a drive off a full toss from Shane Warne, then unaccountably decided to present his pad to everything the leg spinner bowled. The ploy was always dodgy, and Warne showed just why when he pitched one further up, Ganguly pre-determinedly stuck his pad out, the fuller length beat the pad, clipped the outer edge and gave Hayden another opportunity to show that he had what it took to fill in for Mark Waugh in the slips.

Laxman and Tendulkar took India through to lunch and, on resumption, seemed to bat with some kind of gameplan in mind. Thus, Tendulkar took the attack to the Australian bowlers while Laxman seemed content to anchor and rotate strike. And it began to look as though the Australians had been halted.

That proved to be a mirage, though, as Laxman in his turn succumbed to a disease that had afflicted his seniors earlier. Sachin Tendulkar had by then seen first Gillespie, then Warne out of the attack with a series of superb drives and pulls. He had then turned his attention on Fleming, and thumped him for three fours in the previous over. This meant that the Australian attack was being tested for the first time, with no bowler to back McGrath up. All that Laxman needed to do was bat patiently against McGrath and wear him down -- instead of which, the batsman opted to play a loose shot to a nothing ball outside off, hanging his bat out and giving Ricky Ponting a regulation catch in the slip cordon.

Sachin Tendulkar had, all along, played a patchwork quilt of an innings. He began with a couple of crisp drives, throttled back when Dravid and Ganguly left in quick succession, then opened out again and seemed to be focussing on taking the Australian attack head on, when Laxman left. Faced with the prospect of his partners running out, Sachin went into his shell a bit -- and typically for him, that mindset produced the error. McGrath bowled one just outside off and just back of a length. To the same line, earlier, Sachin had stepped forward and played his trademark push-drive through mid off. This time, he didn't really move into the shot, checking himself and pushing without the same conviction. The result was the inevitable edge through to the keeper, his wicket falling at 139 and his personal score standing at 76.

From then on, the slide was quick, and inevitable. Shane Warne, able for once to bowl to the Indians without the pressure of Tendulkar at one end, tossed one up on leg stump and Agarkar obligingly batted it back to the bowler. Javagal Srinath played with patience for a while, but his patience at the best of times is finite -- a wild heave, with head high and feet nowhere in line, saw the ball flaring off the edge of the bat to Mark Waugh at mid off. Harbajan, seemingly much impressed by that shot, attempted to duplicate it. He didn't succeed in reaching mid off, though -- this time, the aerial shot was held by Steve Waugh at cover. Jason Gillespie then took over, after watching Fleming waste his energies for a few overs, and clinically took out Rahul Sanghvi with one outside off seaming away.

Nayan Mongia alone applied himself to the job of staying there, and gritted it out. Being dropped, and realising that his place was on the line, seems to have done wonders for his batting -- today, he looked good against pace and spin alike, and if you must quibble, it would be at his readiness to take the single and let his inexperienced tailenders face the music.

For Australia, McGrath impressed with the way he quickly gave up the short pitched stuff he was trying in the first hour, and went back to his trademark length and line. Gillespie looked good in parts, but like Fleming proved easier to cope with -- probably because unlike McGrath, neither Fleming nor Gillespie had the patience to bowl a restrictive line and stick with it. Shane Warne made the ball jump and turn, and seems further to have added a new weapon to his armoury -- a bouncer, of all things.

The Indians opened with Srinath and Agarkar, and straight up, Srinath had Slater (whose wicket he has taken five times, in five Tests) on the hop straight up, but it was Agarkar who got the opener. In fact, Agarkar got him twice. With the score on 13/0, Agarkar in the middle of a very good second over pitched the line of off, seamed it away late, found Slater's edge, Mongia held -- and to everyone's surprise, David Shepherd stood unmoved. Interesting, that -- Venkatraghavan and Shepherd are rated the two best in the game today, and on day one of this Test, they came up with a mistake apiece to distract from otherwise competent officiating. That the run of luck went against the Indians both times is neither here nor there, really.

Agarkar, an over later, pitched one up very full. Slater, for whom India seems to be a continuing nightmare, pushed at it with no movement of the feet, got the thick inner edge onto his stumps, and walked back on yet another low score.

The spinners came on quickly -- and Harbajan impressed from the first ball. The lad seems to have rediscovered his loop and flight, and on this track, he made the ball turn square, and bounce high enough to have the tall Hayden ducking. On the evidence of his few overs today, he could be the bowler to trouble the Australians most, on day two. Rahul Sanghvi got turn, but found himself handicapped by bowling to two left-handers, for whom his line is easier to cope with.

And that in turn raises a further point -- Ganguly, like Indian captains before him, seems to have pinned his faith on spin, giving how he has been calling for turning tracks at all venues. Fair enough, it is the prerogative -- albeit unstated -- for the home captain to decide how he wants to shape the conditions. But frankly, there is no point in preparing spinning tracks, if you don't accept the fact that spinners at times need to buy wickets. Sanghvi, thus, was troubling Hayden, the Australian opener decided to try and blast him out of the attack, and went down on one knee to swing the left arm spinner over midwicket for a huge six. It was well hit, but it was equally the product of some desperation.

It was, therefore, surprising to find the close cordon being thinned down immediately, and fielders being set back in defensive formation -- a mistake his predecessors have consistently made, and one which Ganguly too seems prone too. On this track, a close cordon is going to spell pressure (by way of counterpoint, the Australians always had two, often three, up close even when Sachin Tendulkar was playing in one day mode). For a bowler, a full toss is okay because he can always come up with a good ball next up -- for a batsman, faced with a close cordon, however, there is the knowledge that one slight mistake could be the end.

India still has a chance -- there will be swing and seam early on in the morning, and plenty of turn and bounce for the spinners. The question, though, is whether the team has the collective nerve to press home the attack, or whether it will attempt, instead, to defend -- the answer to that question will, in turn, dictate the outcome of this game.

Meanwhile, an interesting sidelight -- the curator, Nadeem Memon, told my colleague Faisal Shariff before the game, "The Indians want a track that will turn, fine, I've given them one that will turn from ball one. But I'll tell you what -- if they figure on hedging their bets and trying both pace and spin, they will be in trouble here. The only way to go is to go in with three spinners, and attack for all they are worth. Let's see if they have the guts to do it, though."

The Indians in fact went on to hedge their bets. So all that remains to see is whether they will attack. Tomorrow, we'll get the answer to that one as well.

Scoreboard

India (1st innings):
S S Das c Hayden b Gilllespie 14
S Ramesh c Gilchrist b McGrath 2
R Dravid c Gilchrist b Fleming 9
S Tendulkar c Gilchrist b McGrath 76
S Ganguly c Hayden b Warne 8
V V S Laxman c Ponting b McGrath 20
N Mongia not out 26
A Agarkar c and b Warne 0
J Srinath c M Waugh b Warne 12
H Singh c S Waugh b Warne 0
R Sanghvi c Gilchrist b Gillespie 2
Extras (B4, LB1, NB1, W1) 7
Total (all out in 71.3 overs) 176
Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-25, 3-31, 4-55, 5-130, 6-139, 7-140, 8-165, 9-166.
Bowling: McGrath 19-13-19-3, Fleming 15-3-55-1, Gillespie 15.3-4-50-2, Warne 22-7-47-4.

Australia (1st innings):
M Slater b Agarkar 10
M Hayden batting 25
J Langer batting 10
Extras (B3, NB1) 4
Total (for 1 wkt, 16 overs) 49
Fall of wickets: 1-21.
Bowling: Srinath 5-1-13-0, Agarkar 5-1-21-1, Harbhajan Singh 3-2-2-0, Sanghvi 2-0-8-0, Tendulkar 1-0-2-0.

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