The first Test served as an eye-opener for the rest of the series, especially for the purist in favour of Test cricket
Colin Croft20-Apr-2002The first Test served as an eye-opener for the rest of the series, especially for the purist in favour of Test cricket. For some reason, it seemed that neither team was really ready for the match, only becoming aware of the requirements after either team had lost two or three quick wickets.For the West Indies, their obvious strength lies in their batting. With Carl Hooper, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan in the middle, the West Indies have three Guyanese who lend solidity to the proceedings.India’s batting is also their strong point, with Sachin Tendulkar looking ominous very early in the series. While Rahul Dravid managed to notch up a century, it was VVS Laxman who looked the best of the lot.Both teams, however, must be worried about their bowling, since neither side seems able to bowl their rivals out twice; that, of course, is what Test cricket is all about.Mervyn Dillon, Adam Sanford and Cameron Cuffy did an excellent job for the West Indies, as did Mahendra Nagamootoo, but with the latter out of the second Test, the choice of four fast bowlers looks infinitely better.The one thing very obvious in this series already is that the team that wins a game first will probably win the series. Neither of the teams seems able to distance itself from the other; it is seldom that we see two cricket sides that are so similar in endeavour, effort and relative ability.The captains are also similarly equipped, at least in thought and word, if not in deed. Both seem unsure of their bowlers’ abilities and seldom give them bowlers the support they should have. Perhaps Carl Hooper is more at fault in this respect than Sourav Ganguly. Ganguly seems to be somewhat at loggerheads with his players, but then he has the larger pressure, with a billion people looking at him to produce. Hooper only has about 11 million.With leg-spinner Mahendra Nagamootoo out with a hamstring injury, the change in the West Indian bowling has been dubbed “unfortunate” by their captain Carl Hooper, since Nagamootoo and Cuffy were the best performers with the ball for the West Indies in the first Test.India are more concerned with their batting, and Deep Dasgupta, their struggling wicket-keeper/opener, has lost his place to allow Sanjay Bangar, the batting all-rounder, to open the batting. It is also an experiment, but it allows Ajay Ratra from Harayana to make his Test debut as wicket-keeper.Because of the recent rains, the pitch should be conducive to fast bowling, with spin perhaps dominating the final two days. If there are five full days of cricket, and that is very doubtful going by the weather forecast, then there should be a result, with one team going 1-0 up in the series. Again, as in the first Test, it will depend completely on which team really wants to win more and which can be more aggressive. Taking chances and being aggressive will win every time.The West Indies must also be concerned with their opening batsmen. Stuart Williams has failed again, as he normally does when brought to the top level of international cricket, while Chris Gayle seemed confused in Guyana. Both he and Brian Lara somehow give the impression of wanting to do something big, and with Lara lagging badly behind India’s Sachin Tendulkar thus far in the series, he will want to impress now.The Indian middle-order will change, with either Rahul Dravid or VVS Laxman replacing Sourav Ganguly at number three. The West Indies will, on the other hand, be more comfortable with the recent efforts of Ramnaresh Sarwan, captain Carl Hooper and Shivnarine Chanderpaul Even so, Hooper is not too sure.”Those innings of mine lately – 222, 149 and the Test 233 – are all in thepast. I have to start all over again,” he said.The Indian fast bowling too has struggled, with little or no support for Javagal Srinath from Zaheer Khan, even though Sanjay Bangar did a fair job as the make-shift third seamer. The West Indies fast bowlers too must up their ante, with Dillon and Sanford wanting to do much better.This could be the decisive game of the Test series, since it could well be the only game in which the batsman should not be in full control; they will thus have to work doubly hard to make big scores. The bowlers, at the Queen’s Park Oval, should be in with a good chance of getting a result.