Watch Out India!

India has lost the one-day series and they must now fear the Tests too. A lotof it of course must be put down to the conditions which the visitors clearlyhave not come to terms with so far.

The Indians are used to playing on pitches which are slow in thesub-continent but the ones in the Caribbean are now even slower. It requires thebatsmen to bat in a certain way and for the bowlers to use a certain length. Thebatsmen must learn to be patient for runs would not be easy to come by.

The Indian bowlers will have to look beyond the regular swing and seamoption. Otherwise, this Caribbean tour will end up as another sour experience.

Still, nobody had foreseen Brian Lara and his men's resurgence. The past didnot suggest so nor the formidable reputation with which Indians arrived to theseshores. It is their first major win in 21 months and should cheer up countlessfans in the Caribbean who yearn for the glory of the past.

Lara's men did a lot of things right. They got only better and better and bythe fourth game, partnerships were being forged in the middle and bowlingcombinations were keeping the Indians down.

Most of the major batsmen have now some runs under their belt and evensomeone like Dwayne Bravo would be in a better frame of mind. His bowling hasbeen his usual sprightly self and he made some handsome strokes in the middle inthe fourth game.

All the top four Indian batsmen, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singhand Mohammad Kaif, had their moments in the sun but there was not enoughpartnerships. The lower half too came unstuck and the final overs usuallyyielded less runs and cost more wickets. It could be that the Indians came withpre-conceived notions of scoring a set number of runs and overlooked theconditions they were up against.

There surely is a hint that the Indians now feel they could be found out onthis tour. They have hired Dr Rudi Webster to help them on the mental side ofthe game, a lot of it of course would involve knowing the conditions in theCaribbean intimately. It is a young side which is just finding out thechallenges alien conditions could pose to them.

I guess the hiring of Webster, one of the eminent backroom boys when the WestIndies were steamrolling everyone in sight in the 80s and early 90s, and one whocontinued to make his presence felt in the Shell Cricket Academy in Grenada, isperfectly in accordance with how strategies and specialists' help are sought inmodern cricket. I, though, am a bit old fashioned and you would be disappointedif you expect me to praise this move.

India, though, would have reasons to worry about their bowling. Sreesanth,Irfan Pathan and Munaf Patel are all young seamers and Ajit Agarkar is the onlyone experienced among them. Agarkar did use his experience to good use,preferring to cut down his pace and rely more on guile. Now that Agarkar wouldhead back for home, their cause is not much helped.

The Indians, much to their chagrin, have found out that wickets here do notseam as much. They have sought to counter it by the other extreme of havingthree spinners in the side for the Test matches. I do not see teams these dayspacking their side with three spinners unless and until the wickets are clearlydesigned to help slow bowlers. It would not be the case in the Caribbeancertainly.

Two spinners perhaps are a must in these conditions but three are one toomany. Spinners can make important breakthroughs but I do not back them to runthrough the sides. You still need a couple of good fast bowlers to get pastobdurate lower half batsmen. Spinners can bowl 60 overs in a day but you stillneed 30 overs of purposeful pace.

I hope India would make allowance for this factor while planning their Testmoves. A few overs of spin could always be bowled by the likes of Yuvraj. But itwould be dangerous to treat spin as the way to go forward in the Caribbean.India better watch out.

PTI