Aussies make hay at the Kotla
The Rediff Team
When Narendra Hirwani landed up for the Indian conditioning camp in Madras, he was considerably heavier of body than when we saw him performing those prodigies against Viv Richards and company.
Today, he will probably be equally heavy of heart, after the touring Aussies took to his bowling on day one of the three-day game against the Board President's XI. By close, the tourists had scored 413 for 8.
Pulled, cut, driven, glanced -- from 22 yards away, the rotund leg-spinner got an up close look at pretty much every cricketing shot there is in the book. And each shot hammered one more nail into the coffin of his Test expectations. One wonders if Jagdale, the national selector who with the backing of two of his mates got Hirwani into the national squad ahead of Venkatapathy Raju, was watching.
Steve Waugh's intent, going into this game, was obvious -- rest his bowlers, and ensure that his batsmen got as much time in the middle as possible. Thus, while the tourists went in with their Test lineup, from numbers one to six (Gilchrist, at seven, was an enforced omission, with a little hip "niggle" that he is resting), the lower half had a distinctly famished look to it. Damien Martyn got a game, presumably to keep him match fit just on the off chance. The bowling has been left to Fleming, Kasprowicz and Miller, with the big three -- McGrath, Gillespie and Warne -- all being rested.
Waugh won the toss, and promptly opted for first strike. The dew on the placid Kotla pitch provided some semblance of life early on. And Michael Slater, who seems to shoot his bolt each time he steps on Indian soil, made a meal of yet another chance when he drove at Rakesh Patel on the up, and got the toe of his bat to ball to put the cover fielder on the scoreboard. One of these days, Slater will probably figure out that in India, he needs to wait that fraction longer before playing the kind of shots he revels in elsewhere.
Justin Langer, another batsman who could have done with a healthy stint in the middle, played half cock forward to a Patel delivery that straightened on middle stump, getting it on his pads in front of the wicket. Sarandeep Singh got one to hold back just that fraction longer, to find the high part of Mathew Hayden's bat on the defensive push for Jacob Martin to hold at silly point. And a Hirwani googly, well disguised, had Mark Waugh shaping to cut the leg break, misreading it completely, and getting trapped in front. It needs mentioning, though, that till that one error, Mark Waugh played a knock of effortless fluidity, timing his shots in ominous fashion and showing no sign of feeling the pressure of his first ball duck in the first Test.
The rest of the game was all about Steve Waugh, and Ricky Ponting. The two played every shot in the book, and then some -- but the really impressive part of their batsmanship was the systematic way they rotated strike with gently pushed singles. In that aspect, their knock resembled a one-day outing -- and dramatically underlined the importance of the single, as a weapon, at any level of the game. No bowler was allowed to bowl more than two or three deliveries to any one batsman -- and thus, thanks to the constant alterations in line and length that they were forced to make, it was the bowling that was under pressure throughout.
The BP XI lineup of bowlers were, not to put too fine a point on it, taken to the cleaners. Sarandeep Singh, who in the final session of play induced a mishit to mid on by Steve Waugh after the Australian skipper had completed his century, and then had the other centurion, Ricky Ponting dancing down to a ball held back a touch to slam a return catch, looked the best of the lot -- the young offie has flight, loop, and good turn, which is all to the good. What he needs, for now, is a long stint with a master of his art, to develop the variety, and to learn the use of the crease, that he needs to complete his bowling armoury.
Hirwani looked out of his depth, while the two seamers, Surinder Singh and Rakesh Patel, bowled a tidy line and length without, however, doing anything to attract the attention of the selectors.
The focus, now, turns to the batting. With Mohammad Kaif, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Jacob Martyn, Vijay Dahiya and others seeking to establish their credentials against a less than formidable attack -- and Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly looking for the match practise he says he needs.
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