For a nation that heaps expectations on its cricketers, India's
dominance over England at Colombo was hugely satisfying, to
say the least. Coming after the equally exciting win at Lord's in
the final of the NatWest Trophy, this game just goes to prove
that India are now a daunting one-day outfit, and if anything will
instill fear into the hearts of their opponents, it is the batting
that Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag showed off on Sunday
evening.
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Ganguly, in my opinion, has started enjoying his cricket more of
late, but Sunday must have provided more than the usual share
of enjoyment and entertainment as he sat gleefully at the other
end while Sehwag went berserk. A smiling, encouraging captain
is always a big asset, especially to the younger players, for he
takes the pressure off by a few opportune words.
Once Ganguly and Sehwag had added 192 runs for the first
wicket in double-quick time, the match was virtually in the bag.
Sehwag was the first to be dismissed, but not before he had
sealed a knock that is best described as inspirational. His
daredevil style of hitting through the line and on the rise -and
his astounding talent at succeeding - is quite, quite remarkable.
England's bowlers, especially Andy Caddick, were perhaps guilty
of trying to bowl too fast at Sehwag, for the increased pace
only made the youngster's job easier, enabling him to use the
pace to his own advantage. On a belter of a track like the
Premadasa, there is little point in just trundling up and down,
and more variations must be tried to throttle the batsmen.
Sehwag in particular has a tendency to play a few loose shots
early in his innings, and England's bowlers failed woefully to
capitalise on that. With the line and length they were bowling,
they only had a chance to get Sehwag if they obtained some
movement off the track. But as I said, given the pitch
conditions, that was not likely to happen.
Nasser Hussain could really not have anticipated such an
onslaught, and in fact he would have been quite happy once his
batsmen had put 269 on the board. Given India's early
breakthroughs, it was quite a feat by England to reach that
competitive total. Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan bowled brilliant
first spells, and the early exit of Marcus Trescothick - always a
pivotal man for England - must have given the Indians a huge
boost.
Hussain got out to a really atrocious stroke, and his batting
made the Indian quicks look twice as fast as they really were.
That shot was not at all warranted in the situation, and if this is
how England is going to play in Australia, I am not sure they will
be able to make too many dents on the opposition. But I did like
the attitude and approach of young Ian Blackwell, refreshingly
different and positive as compared to his experienced
colleagues.
I must say, though, that India's main spinners were a huge
disappointment. Both Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh are
experienced enough at the international level, and there is little
excuse for not being on top of their game, especially on subcontinental tracks that always hold promise for spinners. I have
always emphasised the importance of turning and flighting the
ball, and neither Kumble nor Harbhajan managed to do enough of
that on the day.
On current form, the South Africans will surely find the Indian
batting too hot to handle. With Sehwag and Ganguly striking top
form, there isn't much any bowling attack can do, and the only
thing India must guard against is complacency - a quality that
seems to creep in often, especially after a hugely one-sided
game.