da casino： It is about time that the selectors gave some thought to playing five specialist bowlers in the side
Erapalli Prasanna29-Jan-2002The overnight rain may have tried to play spoilsport to start with atthe Green Park Oval in Kanpur, but it did not completely succeed. Whenthe overs are cut short in a limited-overs game, all the planning doneon the eve of the match comes to little fruition, and what mattersmost is how well the teams adapt to the conditions on the day.The pitch at the Green Park Oval was one factor that remained thesame, helping the captains in some measure in their decision-making.The surface has not really changed since my playing days, and, onMonday, it played true to its nature, keeping low and makingstrokeplay a difficult proposition.
It is about time that the selectors gave some thought to playingfive specialist bowlers in the side. It makes no sense to me when Isee the part-time bowlers going for more than 60 runs. It putspressure on the specialist bowlers who generally do a good job ofcontainment and taking wickets.
But when England batted first, Marcus Trescothick and Nick Knightseemed to have few problems with the bounce, finding the gaps in thefield regularly and ensuring a brisk scoring rate. Knight inparticular played a good hand to keep things going for England. Onceagain, however, indiscreet shots played by the top order pushedEngland into an abyss.I felt that England could easily have scored around 245 runs in their39 overs, especially given the magnificent start that their openersprovided them. The Indian bowling was yet again found wanting underpressure, giving away runs at almost 5.34 per over. Keeping an eye onthe 2003 World Cup, the efforts in the field are also simply not goodenough. The Indian fielding may sport an improved look, but that is oflittle consequence when one looks at the runs given away.It is about time that the selectors gave some thought to playing fivespecialist bowlers in the side. It makes no sense to me when I see thepart-time bowlers going for more than 60 runs. It puts pressure on thespecialist bowlers who generally do a good job of containment andtaking wickets. Conceding runs in the middle overs also putstremendous pressure on those bowling in the death.Ajay Ratra, in my view, was disappointing behind the stumps, and thisis one of many areas that needs to be looked at closely by theselectors. We have tried and tested too many wicket-keepers in therecent past, and it is quite frustrating not to see a genuine stumpercome through. The next World Cup is barely one year away, and urgentaction needs to be taken to build a fighting unit that will be astrong contender to win the trophy.England, on their part, were taken aback by the events transpiring inthe Indian innings. There were a couple of decisions initially thatshould have gone in their favour. Getting Sachin Tendulkar out withthe very first delivery of an innings would have made a bigdifference. The brilliance of the strokeplay that ensued was there tobe seen, and I hope that these two will continue to open the inningsfor India in one-day internationals.Having said that, though, there is little excuse for the way theEnglish bowled at Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag. Instead of puttingthose initial disappointments behind them, they let their shoulderdroop and bowled without any purpose. They simply gave up, and thisallowed Tendulkar and Sehwag to simply annihilate the bowling. Bydoing so, England have almost ceded their chances of squaring theseries, and they do not have anyone to blame but themselves forthrowing the advantage away by batting badly after winning the toss.