Thinking forward
Abhishek Mathur - 17 April 2002

The much-hyped Indian tour of the West Indies is now one match old, and while all is not over for either team, the Guyana Test has given enough material for the team management to ponder over if India are to make this series an interesting one, let alone emerge victorious at the end of it all.

For starters, though, a big round of applause for Rahul Dravid, the one man who gave Indian fans something to cheer about at Guyana. His innings has shown that he is one of the most vital members of this Indian team, especially on away series. One can only hope that he continues in similar vein throughout the tour and gets better with every outing.

Dravid has always been one of India's best batsmen overseas, averaging 56.8 in 28 matches and with six of his 10 hundreds coming outside India. He has shown an uncanny knack to outscore even Sachin Tendulkar when both batsmen have played abroad. He can, after this lovely innings, definitely demand back his number three spot, for which he is the best man. This innings should definitely give the skipper and coach enough food for thought.

But even as Dravid clicked, the opening scenario is still a mess. The less talked about it, the better. I don't know how long, or to what extent of abysmal performance, the selectors are going to wait before they do something about it. Deep Dasgupta was again not very impressive behind the stumps, and if India really want to include a good batsman instead of a genuine keeper, they could always hand the gloves to Dravid and take a regular opener like Wasim Jaffer. Of course, this is not the best of ideas, but it would still serve India better than the keeping of Dasgupta.

Sourav Ganguly, I think, is now in the team only on the strength of his captaincy, and even that was not too impressive. I would agree with popular team that Ganguly, in the current series, is playing for his place in the team. If he is to continue, he had better perform, for unlike Steve Waugh, who may have been able to command a place in the team on just sheer leadership skills, Ganguly will struggle without a good performance here.

The much-built-up Sachin Tendulkar - Brian Lara contest did not come anywhere close to a climax, and while we all wait for the pair to come back strongly in the coming matches, I think Tendulkar already has a head start. Hooper said, "Tendulkar was authoritative," but I would say that Tendulkar let go an opportunity - once again.

Tendulkar had a tremendous opportunity to get a big score, and even the innings he played was flawless. One possible factor that prevents him from getting those big scores and match-winning innings is his temperament. Also, lately, his strange defensive approach to spinners is being looked upon with concern by many of his supporters. One saw against Ashley Giles and again here against Mahendra Nagamootoo. Where is the Tendulkar we know? He is maturing, people say, but for India to win a series, Tendulkar will have to change his approach towards spinn and dominate them, just like he dominated the seamers in the first Test. By his standards, then, he has still a lot to prove to his fans.

VVS Laxman is another case in point of a person who is not doing enough justice to the talent he possesses. The stylish Hyderabadi will have to play with a lot more composure, more attitude and determination if India are to benefit from his presence in the current series.

One should also accord due praise to the efforts of Javagal Srinath. But while he was impressive and easily the pick of the Indian bowlers, he lacked consistency, without which India can only dream of getting the opposition out twice.

Besides, he alone cannot do it all. India have much planning to do on the bowling front. Anil Kumble was easy pickings for Carl Hooper, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan. Until he gets into his groove, bowling the accurate line and length he is known for, India will have to bear the expense. And while Sarandeep Singh impressed with both bat and ball, I think that when Harbhajan Singh recovers for the second Test, Sarandeep will have to sit out. Harbhajan is a much better off-spinner, and with his return, India should have much more to cheer at Port-of- Spain.

The views expressed above are solely those of the guest contributor and are carried as written, with only minor editing for grammar, to preserve the original voice. These contributed columns are solely personal opinion pieces and reflect only the feelings of the guest contributor. Their being published on CricInfo.com does not amount to an endorsement by CricInfo's editorial staff of the opinions expressed.
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