By Anil - 18 Nov, '02
November 18 2002

The batting has exceeded expectations, with India successfully chasing down 300+ targets twice in the current series against the Windies. However, there is no progress in the quest for a balanced bowling attack for the World Cup, the Achilles heel of this team. The team batting second has won every game in the ongoing ODI series. Simply speaking, the main advantage in winning the toss has been knowledge of the target needed to win. No target is too high. Batsmen have made merry at the expense of embarassed bowlers. Ground fielding skills, the main difference in such a situation, has not been noteworthy on either side. And catches have been dropped regularly by both sides, which is nothing short of ridiculous - when the conditions favor batting so much, no opportunity can be wasted.

Right now, the only bowlers who can be considered certainties for South Africa are Zaheer and Srinath (who has been brought back from the wilderness by a new set of selectors). This in spite of the fact that Zaheer has not played the current series of ODIs.

The blame can be laid squarely on the BCCI pitch committee. They have failed miserably in their job of preparing the much trumpeted "sporting pitches" for any of these matches. Strangely, none of the ODIs are being played in Mohali or Bangalore, the two fastest pitches in India. Meanwhile, the Mumbai pace attack seems to have used a different, more typical seamer-friendly Wankhede pitch in a Ranji Trophy match than was used for the Test against the Windies, with pacemen Agarkar and new prospect Salvi skittling out Delhi yesterday on a strip that had plenty of bounce and pace. It appears that the BCCI was more concerned with temporary gain in revenue, by setting up massive totals for the run crazy crowds, but they have been woefully short sighted if so.

It has been impossible to judge the pacemen fairly in this series. The quicker the bowler, the faster he goes to the boundaries. Ashish Nehra has been the speediest of the bowlers on view in either side with consistent 140-145 speeds, and yet has been punished on these bowlers' graveyards. Balaji was banished after a single poor showing. Nor has it been possible to judge the performance of medium-pace allrounders such as Bangar or Yadav, the kind typically so effective in South Africa. Both Bangar and Agarkar have been notable in this series for the wrong reasons - their batting contributions. Meanwhile, a couple of the ODI batting mainstays have failed but there has been no chopping and changing in that department.

The one remaining hope for India before the World Cup is to use the series coming up against New Zealand to find the right bowling mix. Although New Zealand uses drop-in pitches these days, they can be expected to offer far more assistance to seamers than the batting paradise they have had to suffer in India. The likes of Balaji and Yadav may rue their selection in situations which gave them no opportunity to display their potential. One hopes this will not be held against them in the future.