'Gayle Has Been Unbelievable'
Tue, Nov 19, '02
(adapted from Press Trust of
India)
It is nice once again to have your neck ahead in the race after
Indians did remarkably well to close the gap of two matches. There
is no need to be complacent though and we must look to wrap up the
series in the next game. I don't want it to be 3-3 all and leave it
all for the last match. For the Indians though it is a case of
competing in two finals.
Chris Gayle is the man of the moment and he has simply been
unbelievable in this series. He has fired in three hundreds and a
fifty in five games. He can be a demoralizing batsman for bowlers
for not only is he a big hitter, he also has cultivated the habit
of concentrating for long periods.
He is the right type of batsman to provide a momentum when up
against a big total early in the innings. He is also extremely good
in setting up a total which can be defended in a one-day arena.
Looking at this series it is hard to dispute the teams batting
second have a better chance of emerging winners. There has been a
kind of psychological pressure on teams who are put in to bat first
for they are not sure even if a 300-plus total is defendable. A
team bats first and does well enough to set a target in excess of
300 but then immediately puts itself in pressure by doubting if it
could be defended well.
I had little doubt in opting to field first for the wicket didn't
appear too dry. It seemed good enough to hold up for 100 overs.
Harbhajan excepting, the rest of the Indian bowlers have been
anything but menacing. The rest, we reckon, have not been
threatening.
For the second time running though left-arm spinner Murali Kartik
has impressed all. He has come in to bowl in difficult times and
has got through his overs for 40-odd runs. He has been a nagging
bowler and to my mind a find for the Indians. He has not been
afraid to give the ball a bit of air and a sharp tweak. His
strength has been to flight the ball and provide clever variations.
He has been able to fox the batsmen and keep the scoring down. His
dismissal of Ramnaresh Sarwan spoke well about the bowler as the
batsman shaped to play it on the onside and the ball turned
fractionally enough to find the edge and lob up as an easy catch in
the close-in cordon.
I too had a longish bowl and it is because the pacers have been
going for some cheap runs. It is good if you can provide a break in
scoring. As this series has shown, a slow bowler has a better
chance than a paceman on one-day wickets as easy as we have faced
in this series. The pacers have been going for 5-6 runs in an over
and batsmen have made hay.
The Indians will be missing their captain Sourav Ganguly in the
final two games and I must confess his absence will be a boost for
us. He is not only a captain who is hungry for success, he also is
a world class performer. He is competitive and in his absence his
young side must look to raise their game in the remaining two
games.
* SOURCE: Press Trust of
India (PTI).