Dravid's Test

A Test Match is a game played over five days because it is a comprehensive test of your abilities and your character. This loss will surely test Rahul Dravid. The Indian captain has just seen his side lose a Test match after having the opposition on the mat at 39-6 on the first day of the match. How did it happen? That is what he will be asking himself.

I believe we lost the game because of a lack of planning and failure in vision. The previous two flat tracks had convinced the Indian team that there was no need for specialist openers when the stand in openers, Sehwag and Dravid were doing such a wonderful job. The most incredible part of it all was that in India's first innings it was VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid who opened the innings. Sehwag had an upset tummy and was off the field at the end of Pakistan's first innings. It really was bad timing on Sehwag’s part, but if the man had to go, then he had to go. Anyway, it wasn't Laxman who went first, it was Dravid. He got a 'jaffa' from Mohammad Asif that seamed away and took his outside edge. One can't really blame Dravid for that because most batsmen would have nicked it. But, it seemed like India was sacrificing its best batsmen in order to accommodate Ganguly in the team. This impression was reinforced when in the second innings Dravid pushed his bat at a delivery from Akhtar that he should have left well alone. It is only then that you realize that Rahul Dravid opening the batting is not a solution. It is a brave move by the captain, but it still doesn’t make it the right one. He batted for only 4 overs in the whole game!

Sehwag didn’t look like he had completely recovered from the food poisoning episode in the first innings and he showed that he had no stomach for the fight. He lasted only 4 balls. Sehwag’s batting average in the second innings is a meager 22.91 with no centuries, and he failed again, getting embarrassingly cleaned up by Asif. His first innings contributions have set up so many wins for India that one can excuse his second innings frailties, but this definitely is something he can rectify if he puts his mind to it. Laxman still hasn’t rectified his propensity to get bowled through the gate and he did that twice in this match. Quite a few people are getting worked up over Tendulkar failures, but one shouldn’t be writing his epitaph yet. He looked good in the second innings and even nonchalantly slapped away a fast bouncer from Shoaib. He was undone by one that kept low and went right underneath his bat; he had covered the line but not the height. Yuvraj Singh was the only one who emerged with his reputation enhanced in both innings and he proved why he deserves to be picked in the Test XI with another century on a seaming wicket in Pakistan.

The bowler of the series was Mohammad Asif. He bowled an incredible line and always at a sharp pace. He scuttled India just as Umar Gul had done in the previous tour. But, the more one watched the right arm bowler bring the ball back into the batsmen, the more one felt that India should never go into a Test match with three left arm fast bowlers. Another lesson learned is that Dravid shouldn’t open and neither should Sourav Ganguly. India should have a regular opener, Wasim Jaffer in this case, to partner Sehwag. That doesn’t leave a place for Ganguly in the XI, and that is being harsh on the man who tried real hard and played two fighting innings in this Test match. But, after surviving the torrid spells from Shoaib and seeing off the newer ball, he top edged a clumsy hook shot off Abdul Razzaq, just when he was looking good for a big score. We have seen it so many times before, and it still is a terrible shot. He should follow in Steve Waugh’s footsteps and avoid that shot altogether.

Of course, I have the advantage of saying all this in hindsight, but one should learn from the mistakes made. Will Dravid be able to make changes and not only make brave decisions, but also make tough decisions? That will be his Test. We should be able to glean something from the way the Indian team responds to him for the one day series.