ssparikshya
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New Delhi: There has been something amiss about this Test. It started when it was revealed at the toss that India had 'rested' their latest pace success, Umesh Yadav, and that slightly odd feeling grew as their bowlers struggled to have an effect on day one, managing just two wickets. Watching their ineffectiveness for 77 overs on the second day, it was frustrating to see the difference in appeal from Kolkata to Mumbai.
Inconsistency was the bane of Indian cricket teams until Gary Kirsten took over as coach in 2008. Today was a throwback to days gone by. It wasn't an attritional day, but for India it would have felt like a day largely spent clutching at straws. The run rate hovered around the three-and-a-half mark, four West Indies batsman picked off runs with utmost ease, and the bowlers were made to look ordinary until the West Indies lost five wickets for 48 runs in 13 overs.
Teams will struggle to take wickets. Not every day will be as easy as days two and four were in Delhi and the third morning was in Kolkata, when West Indies succumbed. But to see India toil so ineffectively against a West Indies side missing Shivnarine Chanderpaul was somewhat alarming. They conceded 111 runs before lunch, and after the interval MS Dhoni went completely on the defensive. The fielders were pushed back, Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag were given the ball and West Indies purred along. The boundaries dried up but the run rate remained healthy.
India's bowlers, though economical, didn't look dangerous enough to take wickets in a bunch and three of the five wickets – those of Darren Bravo, Kieron Powell and Marlon Samuels – came through poor shots rather than probing bowling. There was little planning or effort taken to think a batsman out. During the third-wicket partnership between Bravo and Edwards, frequently it seemed as if the bowlers were just going through the motions of completing the over. What also hurt India, for the second time in two days, was West Indies’ urge to dominate.
Yes, there was nothing in pitch for the fast bowlers but the manner in which Ishant Sharma fed the batsmen on their pads in the final session was disappointing. The ball didn't swing for Ishant, and after a long, steady spell in the morning he faded away; Varun Aaron struggled for rhythm early on but improved as the day progressed; and Pragyan Ojha and R Ashwin failed to get anything out of the surface. They just didn't create enough chances. It will be very interesting to see how Fidel Edwards and Ravi Rampaul bowl on this track.
India lack that killer instinct that Australia and South Africa have displayed so often in the past. That desire to annihilate the opposition, that urge to come out harder in the final Test of a one-way series they've already sowed up. This was evident in their thinking – what 'rest' did Yadav need, after playing just two Tests – and the ease with which Dhoni threw in the towel and spread his field to allow easy runs. Days like this could seriously hurt India in Australia.
After the promise of Delhi and Kolkata, the gloss has been taken off by a rather ordinary day.
source: cricnext
