West Indies Start Well
India's three week, three Test series against the West Indies in the Caribbean is underway, heralded as it has been by who is not playing. Notably for the home side, Chris Gayle's mouth and ego continue to refuse to find a compromise with an administration which is, itself, well short of exemplary. Gayle has made it clear he thinks little of Test cricket, saying several times in both England and the West Indies that he'd rather play Twenty20. His dedication to the Test cricket cause was obvious on the last tour to Australia and frankly, if he chooses this lofty line of self over team mates, let him swing of to India and become a legend in his own lunchbox.
None of which fixes the problems with West Indian cricket which has suffered from maladministration and a complete lack of regard for their players. Proper pay for a days works is just the starting point. Apparently they are not aware of what happens when you offer peanuts?
Dwayne Bravo is also out of this first Test, having still not recovered after months of recuperation after his last stint in India. It would appear he is trying to keep his options open between officialdom and his mate Gayle.
Meanwhile, the Indians have arrived to play Test cricket without Sehwag, Gambhir, Tendulkar, Zaheer or Sreesanth, all apparently saving themselves for England. Its an overconfidence trick which may backfire.
India won the toss and batted and more than half the side where out before they reached their first hundred runs. Before the series, much was being made of the increasingly experienced and potent West Indian new ball attack of Ravi Rampaul and Fidel Edwards and although Rampaul made early inroads having both openers gone by 30, it was the little legspinner Davendra Bishoo who ripped the heart out of the batting. On a fast, bouncy track made especially for quicks, he removed Dravid, Laxman and Dhoni either side of lunch in just four overs. Without doubt, he bowled some rubbish later but soon after lunch, the world No 1 India were 6-85.
It should be a fascinating series.
Laxman, Dravid, Raina, Kohli and even Dhoni are no mugs with the bat and there's plenty of talk on Cricinfo from fans about Pujara missing out. Make no mistake India has enough batting in their ranks to fill two 11s. Admittedly the openers will have their work cut out for themselves but what an opportunity to impress!
ReplyDeleteThe bowling is the issue as Zaheer Kahn is by far their best quick and probably their most important bowler period. Harbajan has really dropped off in the last 2 years; god knows why as India play so much on spinning tracks.
Barath looked the real deal when WI were here and I'm following his career closely; same with Darren Bravo who is far less of a self-absorbed show-pony than Dwayne; and a much better technical batsman.
I have to disagree in part on Gayle. Before he came out here a couple of summers ago as WI captain I'd written him off as a self-promoting walking ego but I thought he led his team admirably the whole tour. He single-handledly drew one test by carrying his bat and seemed to get the boys in the field to rally around each other when they kept getting injuries to top order batsmen and their pace attack. I can't explain his comments about test cricket but when read in context I don't think he was being as disparaging as it's made out to be. The whole fiasco between the union and board is sad and detracts from what looks like a potentially successful rebuilding of WI cricket. I understand they bascially want him to retract negative comments made in the public arena and he's refusing to do so. He certainly hasn't learned anything from watching what happened to Dean Jones when he spoke up against the hand that feeds. When have you ever heard a playing South African or Indian cricketer speak against their board? They know to keep their mouths shut as boards can be incredibly sensitive units believing they should never be criticised from within. They are content to sacrifice the performance of the team by non-selecting players they feel are out of line. The odd thing is that Chanderpaul was scathing of the board when, as I understand it, he was basically sacked into retirement - but he's playing in this test!
Perhaps you can fill in some gaps, Lango