Irfan Pathan celebrated his recent ICC honour with a superb opening spell that effectively ended the Kenyan challenge before it began -- but for me, the most interesting performance to watch has been Harbhajan Singh's.
There was a time, last year, when the doomsayers were sharpening their pencils preparatory to writing the offie's obit. He was not flighting the ball, he wasn't turning it, he was bowling flat and fast and looking to contain, not attack.
Not any more. It's not the control he has shown in this comeback phase (which, interestingly, he referred to the other day as a second debut), or the wickets he has taken -- it is rather the way he has got those wickets, that makes you anticipate the Indian team's upcoming duel with the Aussies on our home soil.
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Even granting that Kenya is not the strongest opposition he bowled to, consider the manner of his dismissals. Ravindu Shah was beguiled by the doosra coming on the back of some big turning off breaks; the turn and bounce the offie was generating meant Shah had to play, always, for the break -- in other words, a touch inside the line, looking for it to turn. And that made him the perfect patsy for the one going away.
The dismissal of Thomas Odoyo was even more noteworthy - one huge off break, that pitched outside off and zipped dangerously close to the top of middle and leg stump, taking even the wicket keeper by surprise; and, one ball later, the perfect follow up, a straighter one that had the batsman tentatively prodding for turn that just wasn't there.
The execution was perfect on both - and taken together, it signals that Bajji's finger injury is now a thing of the past. As long as he carried that injury, he couldn't really tweak the ball, give it the revs in the air he likes to get. Hampered in this respect, he couldn't toss the ball up - forcing him to bowl flat, and to rely on the arm ball and the occasional doosra as stock ball, rather than the surprise weapon.
Now that he is back to where he can give the ball a healthy tweak, he suddenly looks vintage Bajji - a rested, refreshed, more thoughtful, and noticeably hungrier version.
It must have helped, too, to have a professional keeper backing him up - Karthik pulled off some lovely takes today, most noticeably the under edge off Odoyo's bat.
It speaks highly for the value of having a specialist keeper in the team, as against the continuation of a Rahul Dravid in that role. The argument is simple - a seventh batsman is rarely, if ever, going to get enough overs to justify his place and to make an impact. The best you can get out of such a supernumerary is the odd 20 runs or so.
So, why? Wouldn't it make better sense to go in with six quality batsmen, backed by a wicket keeper who is capable of giving you those 20-odd runs when opportunity presents itself? Weigh the advantage - a competent wicket keeper, taking out with his skills a quality batsman from the opposition ranks (a Youhanna, say, or an Inzamam in India's next game) surely has to be worth far more, to the side, than a seventh batsman who may, or may not, get a bat?
And finally, just what was India thinking in the second half of its game today? When you have the opposition at 78/6 at the end of the halfway stage, why let them off the hook with a prolonged spell for the clearly off color Agarkar, followed by 17 overs of non-regular stuff? Bajji at that time was bowling in a dream, even with Agarkar letting up on the pressure at the other end - surely, the ask was to team Irfan with the offie, and look to blast out the remaining four wickets?
Two reasons: Firstly, that kind of 'kick-the-opposition-when-it-is-down' creates a collective adrenalin surge that teams take into subsequent encounters - ask the Aussies, who are ruthless at demolishing sides that give them the faintest chance. And secondly, what if rain interferes in the later stages of this tournament and India's progress to the next stage comes down to run rates and suchlike computations? Surely dismissing the entire team, which was India's for the taking, would have put the team on an even more solid footing?
