India Undone By Complacency

Fans back home would sense that the Indians have been a bit lacklustre in thelast one week. The bogey of too much cricket would be raised again.

After all, the Indians have played Pakistan in Pakistan, hosted England athome and been to Abu Dhabi, purely for commercial reasons I must add, and arenow in the alien conditions of the Caribbean. It could tire any bunch.

The Indians have been trying to create a bigger squad to cushion the blow butnow that they are trailing, it would be interesting to see if a few fresh facesare seen in the middle. The atmosphere in Brian Lara's territory in Trinidad inthe last two games could test the best.

One can't help but feel that perhaps, just perhaps, this Indian team has madethe mistake of treating this West Indian team lightly. They might have beenmistaken in believing that they just needed to turn up in the park to roll theWest Indies over. It hasn't happened and there is little likelihood that itwould happen in the last two games.

Everyone acknowledges one-day cricket to be a young man's game but it'simportant to get your mix right.

India has done away with Anil Kumble on this tour and indeed have beenturning their back on him for sometime now, but he is vital to India's plans,especially on wickets in the Caribbean where the pitches these days tend to holdand grip the ball. Kumble has experience, is economical and never stops posingdifficult questions to the batsmen.

How critical were spinners to the West Indies was again underlined by thesuccess of Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels. The key for Gayle is his ability tochange the pace of his delivery without any apparent giveaway to the batsmen. Ithelps him pin down the batsmen.

Fans in India would remember Marlon Samuels for the exhilarating innings heplayed in a one-day game four years ago when he took Javagal Srinath to thecleaners. He is now showing another facet of his cricket though I do believe heis still some way from doing justice to his enormous talent.

When these two spinners held the two ends up, India needed experience tocounter it. The run-outs were foolhardy and inexcusable, especially fromsomebody with the experience of Mohammad Kaif. He messed up the basic ofgrounding the bat and it hurt his team badly.

Countless fans of Mahendra Singh Dhoni would be despondent that he stillhasn't fired in the Caribbean. However, I still feel this Indian team has menwho put their hands up when somebody in terrific form hasn't come to party.

As Rahul Dravid failed in St Kitts, it was Virender Sehwag who came good. InSabina Park on Saturday, it was Yuvraj who stepped in for Dravid. Dhoni'sfailure in the third game wasn't because a bowler was able to get the better ofhim.

The West Indies suddenly is picking up the threads and Ramnaresh Sarwan hasbegun to show the consistency which fans in the Caribbean have always hoped fromhim. He is one of the soundest technicians in the game today but it is notreflected in his figures. With two straight innings of 98 and 115, one hopes hehas turned the corner. It's about time he did it.

Sarwan's latest form doubtless would inspire the team for these runs are notaccruing against the likes of Zimbabwe. He is now beginning to dominate a sidewhich on recent form had acquired a formidable look.

Three straight games ending in the final over doesn't happen by chance. Itreflects the even nature of the contest. India might still be able to do well inthe Tests but in one-day cricket, on such pitches, the depth in batting isn't anegligible matter. The West Indies possess men aplenty who could strikeimportant runs in the middle.

India would do well to bear that in mind and somehow need to find that extrareserve of energy to keep its head ahead in this neck-and-neck battle. One can'twait for the final two games of this gripping contest to unfold.

PTI