Indians start tour with a bang

Published : Oct 13, 2001 00:00 IST

G. VISWANATH

ONE of the first remarks made by John Wright after taking over as India's coach was that everybody connected with Indian cricket should work towards a common goal and direction that would produce positive results. He has been proved correct to an extent on this tour of South Africa, even if the two wins recorded by the Indians before the Standard Bank tri-series opener, came in friendly games against Nicky Oppenheimer XI and South Africa 'A'. Seldom has an Indian touring team won two matches straight on a tour, be it a limited overs match or a three or four-day game. The Indians achieved this on their third tour to South Africa in a little over a decade.

The positive outcome of the two matches, in which more than half the side played good roles, was because of the effort put in by the team in the first week of their arrival in the veld. They practised for two three-hour sessions on the first three days at 'The Wanderers' and had one long session for two days at 'The Centurion' . They moved to 'The Centurion' to get used to the pace and bounce of the pitch and also to get a feel of the venue at which they will be playing a tri-series match against South Africa and the third Test too.

For obvious reasons the win against South Africa 'A' gave more pleasure and satisfaction than the first one against Nicky Oppenheimer XI. The South Africa 'A' team had a good clutch of fast bowlers in Roger Telemachus, Justin Kemp and Charl Langeveldt, the first two having played 32 one-day internationals together in the recent past.

The selectors drafted in Mornantau Hayward as an eleventh hour replacement for Mfuneko Ngam, who was not fully fit to play his first competitive match of the post-injury period. But Hayward, who had in the earlier match struck the Indian captain, Sourav Ganguly, on the right hand index finger, was forced to sit out, the selectors keen to see how the likes of Telemachus, Kemp and Langeveldt performed against the Indians.

"It will be a tougher match than the first one," said Wright of the Indians' second tour fixture against South Africa 'A'. It had batsmen like Boeta Dippenaar, who replaced Gary Kirsten in the third one-day international against Zimbabwe, Hylton Ackerman, another promising batsman, Jacques Rudolph, a variety fast bowler and a talented wicketkeeper in Thami Tsolekile. Five of the players in the side were internationals which speaks of the kind of opposition the Indians were going to face.

The Indians had to make the best of the given situation in which two matches were scheduled before the tri-series against South Africa. Wright and the team management had decided to give Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh one match each, but on afterthought played Kumble in both the matches. As some of the senior players revealed, much planning had gone into the first part of the tour in which Wright and physio Andrew Leipus' views and actions were given due weightage.

The idea was to keep a healthy competition for positions, especially in the middle order, which the likes of Yuveraj Singh, Jacob Martin and Virendra Sehwag and even Reetinder Singh Sodhi were aware of as evidenced from their batting performances in the two matches at Randjesfontein and Benoni. Though Sodhi did not have a particularly good outing with the bat and ball, he weighed in with contributions in the fielding and catching departments.

There were two excellent displays in the second match. First was the admirable bowling of Kumble. The 10 overs he bowled, without straying, must have been pleasing. Obviously he has been trying hard to get into a good rhythm. He gave clues of returning to form against Oppenheimer XI, bowling 10 overs for 47 runs and taking two wickets. He said after his first international match in nearly twelve months that he was happy with his rhythm.

He appeared to be at his best against the South Africa 'A' batsmen. With the pitch a little more inclined to help a bowler like him by way of bounce and the ball hastening of the pitch, he was able to keep the batsmen in check. He also got the wicket of Rudolph who had scored a century of the Indian attack on a flat deck at Randjesfontein. His analysis read 10-4-15-1. It was fascinating to watch him bowl showing no shoulder discomfort.

Ajit Agarkar's allround ability has been questioned several times by his critics. The selectors even dropped him for the second part of the series in Sri Lanka, in spite of Ganguly keeping relentless pressure on them. The Mumbai player has enjoyed the backing of successive coaches and captains that included Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, Wright and Ganguly. The selectors did not change their opinion on Agarkar and did not pick him in the original squad for the tri-series here.

But Agarkar found his way into the team again at the expense of the unfit Ashish Nehra and Debasish Mohanty whom the majority of selectors wanted to choose. But Ganguly's request was finally met with. Agarkar showed sufficient evidence of putting in extra effort in the first match. In the second, he turned out to be a big success, bowling well with Kumble and taking three wickets and more importantly scoring a blazing 49 (43 balls, 1 x 6, 5 x 4).

He has on quite a few occasions won one-day internationals on his own. On an eventful Wednesday at the Willowmoore Park, he hit the ball cleanly, on the up and making room, turned the complexion of the match. At 156 for six, the chances of India winning the match appeared bleak; in about an hour's time, Agarkar along with Yuveraj Singh made certain that the match drifted in India's favour. They made 78 off 69 balls that forced the local journalists to change the headline and bodycopy.

Well, quite a few good things happened to the Indian team. Sachin Tendulkar, playing his first match in 87 days, made 45. He and Ganguly put on 62 for the first wicket against Oppenheimer XI. Thereafter Das made 59 and Sehwag chipped in with an useful 44. The second match saw some good bowling by Kumble and the natural bowling and striking ability of Agarkar. Baroda's Jacob Martin did well to notch an attractive half century.

In between the two matches, there was a mishap of sorts with Tendulkar (feeling some pressure on his toe) forced to refit his 'Orthotic' insoles, specially made in this country and Ganguly suffering a nasty blow on his right hand fingers. Tendulkar and he did not play the second match. What however became certain before the opener was about Tendulkar playing the first match and Ganguly saying that he will bear the pain and lead by example.

The scores:

Nicky Oppenheimer XI 244 for three in 52 overs (L. Bosman 62, J. Rudolph 109, G. Smith 54) lost to India 245 for five in 48.1 overs (S. Tendulkar 45, S. S. Das retd 59, R. Dravid retd 48 and V. Sehwag 44)

South Africa 'A' 241 for six in 50 overs (M. vaan Jaarsveld 69, G. Droas 85, A. Agarkar three for 46) lost to India 245 for seven in 49.1 overs (J. Martin 54, A. Agarkar 49, Yuveraj Singh 46 not out).

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