THROUGH THE COVERS: A poor start to the Indian tour
By Zaheer Abbas
WHETHER or not Pakistan finally wriggled out of the tight spot in the first Test of the series will have been known by the time these lines come out in print. All I can do at the time of writing is to hope that something may have come to their aid. Ideally, one should come to one’s own aid himself before expecting anyone else to do that for him, but the Pakistanis have let themselves down rather miserably in the first half of the Test.
AS I write these lines, India is already ahead on the first innings with eight wickets in hand, and these include the likes of Virendar Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Sivaramakrishnan Laxman. Things are really looking ominous for Pakistan, and there can be little doubt that it has itself to blame. On a surface that was expected to ease out after the first couple of sessions, all that the Pakistanis should have been doing, considering their severe limitations in terms of technique and temperament, was to play out for time, and make the most of it once the wicket lost its early moisture. They failed to do even that much. Things were so bad midway through the innings that the final tally of 312 was taken as a grand recovery.
And when it came to bowling, they had everything to hope for. The weather was near-perfect, the bowlers were fresh, and they had a lot to bowl for, but they remained off-target, giving the dangerous Sehwag unnecessary width on either side of the wicket. And when the bowlers got it right, the fielders joined the party as if to show that they were as bad as the batsmen and the bowlers were.
I realize the hazards of being critical and harsh when the final result will not be known to me for another two days, but the fact is that regardless of the final result, the performance of the team in the first innings has failed to inspire much confidence among those who follow the fortunes of the team closely and have the larger interest of Pakistan Cricket, and not those of individuals, at heart. I hope things will be better from hereon, and that we will be able to see in practice what Bob Woolmer have been claiming to be special and specific plans for Indian batsmen. So far there has been signs of any plans. It has all been a random effort.
We will continue to keep an eye on that, but for the moment let’s briefly touch the nonsense of a Test match that was played recently between South Africa and Zimbabwe that came to conclusion inside two days. I know Pakistan was also routed by Australia in the not-so-distant past within the timeframe, but Zimbabwe has been showing signs of severe decline in the last few years. The ICC’s recent statement that it was not considering any move to strip Zimbabwe of its Test status means world cricket will continue to be a lopsided affair in which teams like Zimbabwe and Bangladesh rank alongside the likes of Australia and England.
With the international cricketing calendar already so hard-pressed, it is a waste of time for leading teams to play against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, which are two sides that have shown no improvement since getting a chance to play in the senior league. Besides, it leads to a surfeit of world records that are not that well-deserved. It takes nothing away from those who create these records, but it certainly takes the gloss away from their effort. They do no good to the cause of international cricket. That much is for sure.
WHETHER or not Pakistan finally wriggled out of the tight spot in the first Test of the series will have been known by the time these lines come out in print. All I can do at the time of writing is to hope that something may have come to their aid. Ideally, one should come to one’s own aid himself before expecting anyone else to do that for him, but the Pakistanis have let themselves down rather miserably in the first half of the Test.
