A crucial series for the Indians

Published : Apr 06, 2002 00:00 IST

THE series in the Caribbean will be crucial for the Indians. An away Test series victory outside the sub-continent has eluded India since 1986 and this will be a fine opportunity for the country to improve its lop-sided home-away record.

The West Indians are not the same force that they were in the 70s and 80s, when they had those destructive batsmen and awesome pace bowlers. Since then the decline in the standard of cricket in the Caribbean has been quite sharp.

I had been a great admirer of the Caribbean stars of the yore - especially of the refreshing manner in which they played the game. They were also among the greatest of entertainers.

The dramatic slump in the West Indian fortunes since the beginning of the 90s has been painful. There have been some brilliant individual performance from men like Brian Lara, Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose, but the Caribbeans are no longer a single winning unit.

These days it comes as a surprise if the West Indians actually escape defeat in a Test outside home. At home they are still not easy to beat...but are a much weakened force.

Sourav Ganguly's men will thus have a fine opportunity to achieve a notable away Test series victory. It was the 1971 series win in the Caribbean under Ajit Wadekar that ushered in a 'golden period' in Indian cricket - India also beat England away from home during that memorable phase.

The Indians have, this time, decided to go in with four specialist pacemen and a back-up seamer. It is one paceman too many.

The pitches in the Caribbean have slowed down over the years, and they are no longer the surfaces with pace and bounce. These days quite a few of those wickets are either slow or double paced, and tend to aid the spinners as the match progresses.

I am quite sure that one of the pacemen is going to be grossly underbowled during the tour. Instead the Indians should have taken a third spinner in offie Sarandeep Singh.

Sarandeep has done little wrong. He made his Test debut almost 18 months ago against Zimbabwe and picked up wickets. He was then rather cruelly dropped.

He made a comeback in the Bangalore Test against England late last year and once again made an impression. Subsequently, he was the pick of the bowlers in the Challenger Series.

After that match, Sarandeep has not figured in another Test, and got to bowl in just two one-day games. Now, he once again finds himself in the cold. This is no way to treat a young spinner. He has to be nursed, given confidence. Instead Sarandeep has been treated shabbily by the selectors.

Similarly, Yuveraj Singh should have made it to the Test squad, at the cost of a second wicket-keeper. Yuveraj is probably the finest young batting talent we have in the country. A player who can change the course of a match in a jiffy.

It is wrong to assume that Yuveraj is just a one-day batsman. He recently got a double hundred in the Duleep Trophy, and this reveals that he can go on to big things in the longer duration of the game as well. He has matured over the last few months, and this is the time to groom him.

During his blazing match-winning innings in the Hyderabad ODI against Zimbabwe, in what was a do-or-die situation for India, Yuveraj's ability to find the gaps stood out. He got the runs with clean, crisp shots. He is also a brilliant fielder and a useful left-arm spinner, who could have taken some load off the specialist spinners in the tour games.

Like Yuveraj, Virender Sehwag is an attacking batsman. The shoulder injury he suffered in the Delhi Test against Zimbabwe has now kept him out of the West Indies tour (Tests) and it is indeed sad to find a young in-form batsman missing out on an important series in this fashion.

In fact, the youngsters have been calling the shots of late in Indian cricket. Dinesh Mongia hogged the headlines in the ODI series against Zimbabwe. Though I was not in favour of his opening the innings, I must say he grabbed his chance.

Apart from producing strokes on both sides of the wicket, Mongia also showed a sound temperament and this augurs well for the future.

Another young batsman to make an impression this season is Mohammed Kaif. Having seen him from his formative years, when he was in the Indian junior team, I can assure you that this boy is a committed hard-working cricketer, who will definitely do well in the long run.

Skipper Ganguly rediscovered his Test form against the Zimbabweans but it is important that he carries on in a similar vein. It is important for the captain to lead by example, especially when he is a senior cricketer.

Javagal Srinath would be looking forward to bowling in the West Indies after he had to return early from India's previous tour of the Caribbean because of a rotator cuff tear. Zaheer Khan, who has been bowling with fire since his comeback, should partner Srinath. It should be an incisive right-left pace combination.

It goes without saying that spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh will have to do a lot of bowling on this long, gruelling tour. The two bowled India to victories in the home series against Zimbabwe and England, and they would be keen to repeat the act in the West Indies.

Both Kumble and Harbhajan are always on the look-out for wickets and it is good to have two attacking bowlers operating in tandem. I hope Kumble, whose bowling shoulder troubled him again during the ODI series against Zimbabwe, has recovered fully.

The onus will be on the Indian batsmen to back the bowlers with adequate runs. This will be an important series for V. V. S. Laxman. Big runs have eluded him for quite a while, and he will have to consolidate on his starts in the Caribbean. He is a senior cricketer and has to bat like one. The tussle between Lara and Sachin Tendulkar is bound to be interesting too. It was the youngsters who guided us to win over Zimbabwe. This was the only pleasing aspect, for beating Zimbabwe at home is hardly an achievement to speak about. The Caribbean tour, even against a depleted West Indian team, will be a much bigger challenge for Ganguly's men.

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