Ganguly's absence probably helped

By Vivek Gupta

Indians win one, then promptly lose the next. We, very seldom, see India winning a one-dayer after they had lost the previous one. Could it be because Saurav Ganguly wasn't there in the middle to mind the "young, inexperienced lot" of Indian players who apparently are gearing up to be among the squad for the next World Cup? The ‘Prince of Kolkata’ was sitting out apparently because of injury (Do we really believe that?). I wish he doesn't get well before this series gets over. Amen!

Anyway, it was left to the composed and level-headed Anil Kumble to wear the captain's hat and deliver the goods. There was no lack of motivation on the field. English wickets fell at regular intervals though Marcus Trescothick threatened to cash in on his current form in the initial overs of the match. However, the best phase of the England innings came during a 70-run partnership between Jeremy Snape and Ben Hollioake which could only help them to a paltry total of 217 runs on a fairly good batting track. Agarkar once again proved his importance to the Indian bowling attack by claiming four important wickets, which included those of Trescothick, Snape and Hollioake. The acting captain led by example, dismissing two English batsmen.

When India replied, the rising star of Indian cricket, Virendra Sehwag filled the opening slot in the absence of Ganguly. He made 51 and matched his partner, Sachin Tendulkar, shot for shot. The latter himself , was in a stupendous touch slamming every Tom, Dick and Harry, who dared to come up before him with blistering strokes. Darren Gough was dispatched for 17 runs in his third over putting the English attack on the defensive. The initial burst from Tendulkar and Sehwag proved to be the final nail in the English coffin and from there, the target of 218 was never going to be defended. The Indians sealed the four-wicket win in the 47th over.

Fortunately, the umpires V Chopra and DD Sharma (has anybody ever heard of them?) did a good job and avoided getting into any controversy despite question marks on the policy of BCCI to select umpires for the international matches. Since, neither of the two Indian umpires on the ICC panel, S Venkataraghavan and AV Jayaprakash, are among the 18 different officials for the six games, the incompetence or the inexperience of the selected umpires is bound to affect the outcome of the games in some way or the other. Already, dubious decisions have been made in the first of the six-match series, which probably turned the match in favour of the home team.

The series is still wide open. The young players in our team have responded well to the challenge and are making most of the opportunity they have been offered. With Laxman, and probably Ganguly too, out of team for the rest of the series, I believe India has a fairly good chance to win the series. I still am not too sure about the credentials of the umpires officiating these matches. What to do? It's all in the game.

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