ONCE again this column will appear midway through a Test match, a sign of how rapidly a week goes by or that the Tests are coming thick and fast. Enough has been written about the Multan Test match by me and many others and we must let it go.
I received a number of phone from friends scattered all over the globe and in a nutshell they wanted to know what the hell was going on?
I told them that I did not know beyond knowing that India played brilliantly and Pakistan was not able to match them. It seemed a truthful statement but was it the truth and nothing but the truth?
I am not privy to the inner workings of this team and must depend on the newspapers for information. I do not know if the players are pulling in different directions or pulling together. I do not know whether the captain and the coach are on the same wavelength.
But something did not seem right at Multan. Whether it is one-off or some major fault-line, I am not able to say. I did not think, however, that it entirely fair for the captain and the coach to blast the bowlers and shrug off what was a blatant batting failure as well.
No harsh words apparently were said to the fielders. Their ire was reserved for the bowlers who had no hand in preparing such a wicket. The bowlers had catches dropped off them.
What excuse do the batsmen have? Thirteen Pakistan wickets fell in a single day, the fourth day. Who batted best of all on that fateful day? Mohammad Sami and Shabbir Ahmed!
While we have praised the Indian batting and bowling, we have overlooked its top class fielding. It didn't just happen that Indian fielding improved so much. The Indians have obviously worked hard under expert guidance. I have written many times about the need for a fitness trainer and fielding coach.
I admit and appreciate that the PCB is not obliged to read what I write and, nor indeed, duty-bound to act on my recommendations. But I don't write in a vacuum. I follow cricket closely and listen to the views of experts and have a pretty good idea of what others are doing to upgrade their skills.
For no other reason than the fact that so much cricket is being played, fitness is central to a team. There are other benefits as well and there is a direct connection between fitness and fielding.
Could anyone conceive an unfit Jonty Rhodes still being a brilliant fielder? He was a brilliant fielder because he was supremely fit and who also happened to enjoy fielding so he spent a lot of time practicing. Genius, as someone said, was one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.
I was watching the West Indies-England Test match at Bridgetown on television. The camera showed the England coach and two of his assistants hard at work on laptops.
David Lloyd, the former England coach and now TV commentator, described them as "the backstage boys" and said of them that they work in the background, recording every ball bowled and then making this information to the team.
What he was saying that the game had changed and if technology was available, use should be made of it. The principles of aerodynamics have not changed but the aviation industry has moved on from the Tiger Moth to supersonic aircraft. The basics of cricket have not changed but the game has moved on.
Let me make it perfectly clear that I am trying to undermine the authority of Javed Miandad. I am trying to strengthen it. He cannot do it on his own, even if he imagines he can, he needs the tools and if Miandad finds that the medicine is bitter, he better swallow it.
He is perfectly right that there are certain skills that have to be acquired before a player becomes a Test cricketer. And we don't have that kind of an infrastructure. But the coach should not be mired down in micro-management.
While I am on the subject of coaching, Jalaluddin, the former Test cricketer who is a qualified coach came to see me along with two Australians coaches who helped him in conducting a six-day International Level-II Coaching Course. The two were introduced to me as Darren and Toot are involved at various levels in Queensland.
They caught me at the wrong time, as I was busy writing. But I spent nearly an hour with them, fascinated by what they were telling me and learning about this magical game. I believe that the process of unlearning begins from the moment you are convinced that you have nothing more to learn.
This needs to be instilled in our cricketers, old and young. Even Bradman was a student of the game and not a professor of it. He watched videos of Sachin Tendulkar to find out how he played.
Finally, a word about the England team. It has made short work of the West Indies, thrashed them with the weapons that the West Indies thrashed other teams' fast bowling.
England now has a quartet of fast bowlers, Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmision, Simon Jones and Andrew Flintoff that must be rated as among the most lethal attacks in the world.
Not even the great Brian Lara was able to tame them.After all the years in the wilderness, England is back in business. Michael Vaughan may not be the best captain in the world but he's onto a good thing with these fast bowlers. Hard work paid off, as it always does.
