Spin could be the key as second Test begins today

The scenes around the Eden Gardens are a throw-back to a distant past. A tram glides across, yellow Ambassadors screech around and a few statues of heroes long gone fringe the adjoining roads.

History is always at a touching distance in Kolkata and when India clashes with the West Indies in the second Test starting here on Monday, the whispers of the past and the need to etch fresh milestones will jostle for space in the hosts' dressing room, besides the primary quest for an unassailable 2-0 lead.

Ten years ago, V.V.S. Laxman (281) and Rahul Dravid (180) built a 376-run partnership here that knocked out Steve Waugh's men. The memories of those days reverberate even now as was evident in the profuse claps that greeted Laxman, as he walked back after practice. Add to it the air of expectation that swirls around Sachin Tendulkar's 100th international hundred and you get a fair idea of the backdrop.

The reality, though, is low-key as the sale of tickets remained muted and, going by the nature of the practice wickets, the pitch could be another sluggish track while curator Prabir Mukherjee has promised a surface with good bounce. During nets on Sunday morning, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron found the turf muffling their pace.

It is a cue-card that, perhaps, goaded Darren Sammy to mull about fielding an extra spinner. The West Indies skipper said that he might consider Shane Shillingford ahead of Ravi Rampaul.

The off-spinner, who has slowly emerged after a dark cloud passed over his action, bowled extensively ahead of the game.

Good news for the host

The prospect of spin weaving doubts and extracting wickets will keep the Indians in high spirits especially after R. Ashwin (nine for 126) and Pragyan Ojha (seven for 109) shared 16 scalps between them in the first Test at Delhi.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Kraigg Brathwaite, with their contrasting styles, showed that the Indian spinners can be countered but the rest displayed slow feet and stiff hands.

Sammy believes that positive batting and two spinners can help his team bridge the obvious gap with the Indian squad. But his counterpart M.S. Dhoni has seen enough hints about India's return to its dominant ways in home conditions.

In Delhi, all of the batsmen got runs except for Yuvraj Singh, who frittered away his starts. And among the bowlers, seamers Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav had their moments of belief while Ashwin and Ojha led the way.

The last time the teams clashed here in 2002, the match ground to a draw under a pile of runs, with Tendulkar, Laxman, Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels and Wavell Hinds slamming tons.

Four centurions from that match are present for this game but the pitch has slowed down since, and the visuals of Winston Davis getting one to rear and break the then Indian skipper Dilip Vengsarkar's arm in 1987, remains a distant memory.

Now, spin could well be the key and it is a weapon that suits India best.

The match, meanwhile, will commence at 9.05 a.m. as the sun sets early in the eastern part of India.

The teams (from): India: M.S. Dhoni (captain & wicket-keeper), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, R. Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Virat Kohli, Varun Aaron, Ajinkya Rahane and Rahul Sharma.

West Indies: Darren Sammy (captain), Adrian Barath, Carlton Baugh (wicket-keeper), Devendra Bishoo, Kraigg Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Kirk Edwards, Kieran Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels and Shane Shillingford.

Umpires: Rod Tucker and Bruce Oxenford; Third umpire: S. Ravi; Match referee: Jeff Crowe.

Hours of play: 9.05 a.m. to 11.05 a.m.; 11.45 a.m. to 1.45 p.m.; 2.05 p.m. to close.

Fallout with Tendulkar my biggest regret: Chappell

India’s controversial former cricket coach Greg Chappell claims the biggest regret of his tumultuous three-year stint there was the fallout with senior batsman Sachin Tendulkar with whom he simply failed to “communicate” properly.

Mr. Chappell, who served as India’s coach from 2005 to 2007, admitted in his new autobiography Fierce Foucsthat he tried to push hurried improvements in the team which led to his downfall, especially after his relations with senior players such as Tendulkar soured.

“My biggest regret was falling out with Sachin over him batting at number four in the one-day team. It was a shame because he and I had some intense and beneficial talks together prior to that. My impatience to see improvement across the board was my undoing in the end,” writes the former Australian captain.

“The mistakes I made were not particularly ‘western’ but the same kind of mistakes I’d made as a captain in my playing days. I didn’t communicate my plans well enough to the senior players. I should have let guys like Tendulkar, (VVS) Laxman and (Virender) Sehwag know that although I was an agent of change, they were still part of our Test future”.

“When I did communicate with them, I was sometimes too abrupt. Once in South Africa, I called in Sachin and Sehwag to ask more of them, I could tell by the look on their faces that they were affronted,” he recalled.

“Later (Rahul) Dravid, who was in the room, said ‘Greg, they’ve never been spoken to like that before’,” he wrote.

Mr. Chappell dubbed his stay in India as ‘tenuous’ alleging that the BCCI tried to make his stint uncomfortable, delaying paying his bills and wages.

HI hopeful of resolving de-recognition threat

Hockey India has been asked to explain its position with regard to several issues at an Executive  Board meeting of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Saturday.

Faced with a de-recognition notice from the FIH over its association with the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF), HI is ready to forget its uneasy, short-lived alliance with the IHF and move on as an independent entity administering hockey in the country.

“We cannot go with the IHF from now on,” said HI Secretary-General Narinder Batra on Thursday as he got ready to leave for Lausanne to face the FIH Executive.

Batra said he was hopeful of sorting things out at the Lausanne meeting. However, he was quick to point out that India's chances of hosting the Olympic qualifiers here in February next would be decided only after the FIH decided on the de-recognition issue.

Batra said he would make all efforts to ensure that the qualifiers were held in India once the de-recognition issue was settled. He said a host city contract was signed and sent to the FIH a few days ago fulfilling the conditions for hosting the qualifiers.

He said the FIH had issued the de-recognition notice to HI following the agreement HI had reached with the IHF last July at the initiative of the Union Sports Ministry.

Since then the truce had broken down and the rival bodies have stuck to the stand that each other needed to make concessions in order to go forward towards the formation of a unified body.

Batra said the FIH had its main objection to HI's association with IHF, a body de-recognised by the FIH some years ago. Apart from that the international federation also objected to India hosting an unsanctioned event in WSH, a project got up by the IHF.

The FIH had argued, according to Batra, that recognition of a body within a country was its responsibility and HI had no business to resurrect a body that had been de-recognised by the international federation.

It was also peeved that this was done at a time when the IHF had filed a petition with the FIH Judicial Commission against its de-recognition.

The FIH had moved the Champions Trophy out of India and had threatened to take out the Olympic qualifiers also in case the administrative structure in the country was not straightened out soon.

Batra said according to his information no further headway had been made in the discussions the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had on the hockey issue. The IHF was to have submitted a fresh proposal to the IOA by November 3 and that too had apparently not materialised, he said.

Boucher reaches another milestone

South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher has become the first player to take 500 catches in Test cricket.

Boucher achieved the feat during the first Test against Australia in Cape Town on Wednesday.

His 500th dismissal was that of Australian opening batsman Phillip Hughes who was caught behind off fast bowler Vernon Philander.

Boucher, who made his debut in 1997, has played 140 Tests.

Ashwin can excel in all formats

The drum beats began in England. While India slumped from one defeat to another and the tale got worse in the One Day Internationals too, R. Ashwin was asked two standard questions in a press conference — when will you play Tests?, how will you find a place when Harbhajan Singh is still there?

The queries reflected twin aspects — the hungry journalist's need for a headline-grabbing quote and it also reiterated the fact that Ashwin is part of the great Indian spin legacy with his immediate predecessor being Harbhajan though the senior off-spinner still remains in contention.

Ashwin, much like the manner in which he has bowled through his first-class career and in his latest success — the first Test against the West Indies at the Ferozeshah Kotla Ground, handled the inquisition with ease.

He spoke about his exposure to first-class cricket and also mentioned that usually two off-spinners were not fielded in a Test.

Ashwin's nine for 128 here should have effectively silenced those peering backwards but the ‘mighty Harbhajan' bogey was raised in the post-match press conference and again Ashwin stuck to the right path and said: “When I am given my duties I need to live up to my conscience.”

The pitch at the Ferozeshah Kotla Ground evoked varying reactions but there was unanimity in the view that ‘it had nothing for the bowlers and the batsmen.' And to excel on such a track and prise out nine batsmen, including that incisive six for 47 in the second innings, reveals a man, who has the skill to excel in all formats of the game, cutting across different surfaces.

Ashwin is known to assess the conditions quickly and align his radar accordingly.

He tried to do that in England where he said that the ‘ball hangs a bit in the air' and out here where the pace off the pitch remained sluggish, he worked on increasing his ‘air-speed.'

IPL exploits

The 25-year old with 35 first-class matches and 143 wickets under his belt, has often hogged the limelight because of his exploits for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League.

The tight line, the wickets and the refusal to blink against big-hitters like Chris Gayle has given Ashwin the needed ‘top-of-mind' recall but it has also bred the unfortunate stereotype of him only being creator of batting pauses in a frenzied Twenty20 world.

Yes, he is also part of a land that has produced men, who invest magic into a spinning ball and the comparison with past masters has been a millstone that trailed Anil Kumble and even Harbhajan for a while as old-timers reverted to their famous quartet led by Bishan Singh Bedi.

A member of that quartet and a legend in his own right, E.A.S. Prasanna praised the latest off-spinner who has lit up Indian cricket.

“I am impressed with the way Ashwin bowled in the first Test. His line and length was impeccable, his basics were right and with his extra height, he is able to bowl that carrom ball at a particular length,” Prasanna said.

Positive attitude

W.V. Raman, former Tamil Nadu coach and now guiding the Bengal squad, has had a tremendous influence on Ashwin's formative years and he believes that the youngster has the ability to perform at the highest level.

“His has been the story of progressive growth. He is very positive in his attitude and he has already shown that he can adapt to high-pressure situations like he did in the IPL.

“In the first Test, there was a touch of nerves initially which is understandable and he settled down to bowl well.

He also worked on his length because in the shorter format, line is mandatory and in Tests, the length is mandatory and the line comes next,” Raman said.

These are still early days but Ashwin needs to breathe free and so far he has shown the remarkable ability to cut through the fluff.

Hopefully he will add an eminently readable chapter to India's tale of spin.

Dhoni credits bowlers for win

M.S. Dhoni said that the first Test, despite finishing in four days, was a difficult game.

“There was nothing much for the bowlers in the pitch and there was nothing for the batsmen.

“If you see the runs scored, the batsmen have played a lot more deliveries to get their runs.

“If you see the scorecard, you might think ‘the match got over in four days', but it was a difficult game,” the Indian skipper said.

The captain was happy with the way his young bowling attack shaped up through the contest. “Pragyan Ojha bowled well in the first innings. In the second innings, R. Ashwin did well. He did not get a lot out of the wicket, but it was his variations that helped him. He was flighting the ball nicely and then he has the carrom-ball and the top-spinner.

“Umesh Yadav kept improving through the match. Of course, he bowls a fraction short, but that will get better as he plays more and more Tests,” Dhoni said.

The Indian skipper felt that conceding the first innings lead indicated a few short-comings. “If we had got the first innings lead, then I would have thought it was a perfect way to start the series. We lacked a few things when we batted first, but there was nothing really that we can pin-point about,” Dhoni said, while admitting it was not an easy pitch to bat on and added that his middle-order played well in the second innings.

Dhoni's counterpart Darren Sammy said his team dished out a good display though its second innings batting marred the overall performance.

“We knew how difficult it is to beat India at home, but we believed in ourselves and played some good cricket.

“If we had scored more in the second innings, then it would have been a different ball game. V.V.S. Laxman batted well with Sachin Tendulkar and took the game away from us,” the West Indies captain said.

Speaking about Tendulkar's dismissal, Sammy said, “When he turned down the single off Devendra Bishoo, I told the bowler ‘let's try to go round the wicket and force him to sweep off the rough.'

“But Bishoo said ‘give him two more balls (from over the wicket)' and he got him out!

“The way they were batting, Sachin really wanted to get the hundred. I would love him to get 100 hundreds, but I prefer to watch India against Australia, sitting on my couch and cheering for Sachin.”

Keywords: West Indies tour of India, M.S. Dhoni

India wins with a day to spare, goes 1-0 up

The march towards victory had an inevitable air and for a brief while the attention was riveted on whether Sachin Tendulkar would reach his 100th international hundred.

India defeated the West Indies by five wickets in the first Test that concluded with a day to spare here at the Ferozeshah Kotla Ground while Tendulkar will have to wait for his historical century.

However, Tendulkar through his 76 (148b, 10x4), had done enough to ensure that M.S. Dhoni's men had no need to chew nails while chasing the victory target.

The fourth-innings man

And finally V.V.S. Laxman (58 n.o., 105b, 6x4), who revels with a monk's equanimity in the fourth innings of a match, was at the crease when India scored 276 for five to seal the match, 32 minutes after lunch on the fourth day.

Wednesday dawned with hope resting on the shoulders of Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid while India resumed at 152 for two and needing another 124 runs to secure a 1-0 lead.

The West Indies skipper Darren Sammy and Fidel Edwards shared the initial morning spells and Tendulkar was positive right through.

Superb delivery

Sammy was clipped off the toes in the very first over but Edwards bowled a stunner to Dravid.

The ball swung away, pitched and then darted in sharply to clean up the stumps while Dravid reached out to whip it through the on-side.

With India's sheet-anchor gone, Laxman walked in at 162 for three and the wristy artist found a warm welcome as Edwards drifted towards his pads. The dainty flick was essayed and soon Laxman and Tendulkar settled into a steady rhythm as the runs came at 4.41 an over in their 71-run fourth-wicket partnership.

Laxman kept threading fours as the West Indies seamers in a bid to pin him to the crease, strayed down the leg-side. Laxman's fluidity and Tendulkar's finesse set a breathless tandem and the usual nerves seen while pursuing small targets, never surfaced.

Leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo too never troubled the pair and when Ravi Rampaul came on, Tendulkar glanced one fine and drove another past cover. Suddenly the sub-text of the 100th international hundred began to shimmer.

The sparse crowd spread across the venue, sensed the occasion and the murmurs and claps began.

Sadly some irate fans tracking the game on websites pushed hero-worship to the limit and made snide remarks about the need for Laxman to slow down as the maestro needed his runs!

Steady trot

Out on the pitch, the middle-order veterans went at a steady trot with an Indian triumph being the primary benchmark.

There were a few blips too as once Laxman set off for a single and quickly turned back but a scrambling Tendulkar rapidly retraced his steps.

The duo met up, explanations were swapped and much later there was a sedentary moment as Tendulkar refused a leg-bye while Bishoo and Sammy, who fielded the ball racing towards short fine-leg, seemed bemused.

Trapped in front

In retrospect the leg-bye could have been taken because in the same over, Tendulkar tried to pull, missed the line and was trapped right in front.

Laxman and Yuvraj Singh then anchored India to a lunch score of 254 for four and on resumption, kept the scoreboard ticking.

A real turnaround

The match's drama was not finished yet and when the scores were tied, Sammy crashed one through Yuvraj's stumps.

The southpaw squatted on the turf but the ball was not as low as Yuvraj indicated. Dhoni immediately walked in and watched Laxman tap Kraigg Brathwaite past square-leg for the winning run and truly it was a turnaround for a team that had suffered a 95-run first innings deficit.

More than that, the triumph, coming as it did after the 0-4 loss in Tests against England, was most welcome and the hope for glad tidings lingered as debutant R. Ashwin won the ‘Man-of-the-Match' award.

It was perhaps a fine gift to the off-spinner ahead of his wedding on Sunday.

Keywords: West Indies tour of India, Sachin Tendulkar