Indian Tail Wags but Hinds & Gayle Sparkle

Three features have been prominent in West Indian cricket in recent years, all of which have contributed to heavy and regular defeats. The first feature being the inability of the top order to forge partnerships, the second being bowling without a plan and the third being dropped catches.

Within an hour's play on the second morning of the Calcutta test, the second and third factors just mentioned resulted in the West Indies all but relinquishing any advantage they might have held the previous day after restricting India to 275/6 on a good batting pitch.

If there was ever a treatise written about bowling, then on the strength of this morning's performance, Cuffy would qualify to write the chapter on predictable medium pace bowling. Inexplicably given the new ball, Cuffy did take an early wicket, that of Harbhajan, but bowled delivery after delivery right in the slot for Srinath, who hammered him in the manner of a top-order batsman taking apart a fifth bowler in a limited overs match. Although Srinath's batting repertoire is conspicously lacking in the horizontal bat shots, Cuffy apparently never thought of denying him the ball to drive. Even a straight driven six did not elicit a genuine bouncer from Cuffy, his medium paced riposte being played down by Srinath.

To add to Cuffy's misfortunes, Hooper dropped Patel early in the day. This combination of bad bowling and fielding, along with some enterprising batting by the Indian tail saw 78 runs being added off just 13 overs, effectively wiping out any real or imagined advantage the West Indies may have held overnight.

Decisions made in the dressing room, in the light of a match situation look questionable from a distance, but are often far sounder than they appear. Still, one wonders how Carl Hooper ever thought Cuffy would be effective against a tailender wielding the long handle. With a new ball, Cuffy sent down some deliveries at 126 kph, barely medium pace, while Darren Powell, easily two yards quicker, languished in the outfield. If the thinking was that the quicker bowler would come onto the bat more easily, then the decision to take the new ball itself raises questions.

The fact that the West Indian think-tank had failed to study it's opponents was amply demonstrated in the fact that Patel was repeatedly given width outside off-stump, when it was clear that this was one of his main scoring areas. No bowler came around the wicket to the left-handed wicket-keeper, inspite of the fact that the angle of the right handed bowler over the wicket was helping him score runs through the point area. Furthermore, although Srinath showed hardly any ability to play horizontal bat shots, and was in fact backing away when the ball was being delivered, the West Indian bowlers, notably Cuffy, repeatedly bowled right up to the bat against him, at what was more or less a good length for a genuine batsman. To the eternal embarassment of the West Indian bowling, Srinath scored at a scorching pace and dashed any hopes of bowling India out for under 300.

When the ball was finally given to Lawson, one of the quicker West Indian bowlers, he did give away his share of boundaries, but elicited a mistake from Patel. Chanderpaul at point taking a straightforward catch off a mistimed square drive. Similarly, Darren Powell with his quicker pace, also had Srinath struggling to time his shots when he was finally brought on.

Patel, batting with a maturity way beyond his seventeen years, scored 47. His performance with bat, as well as with gloves, must surely make the West Indian chairman of selectors, currently on tour in India, think long and hard about finding a young keeper to be Ridley Jacobs' protege, if not replacement.

After a drinks break, which seemed to upset the concentration of the Indian batsmen, and allowed the West Indians to rethink their game plan, Dillon immediately had Srinath fending at a short delivery, Hooper at slip making amends for his dropped chance earlier on. Powell got the remaining wicket when Kumble was trapped in front by a fast, straight delivery. Dillon ended with the best figures, but Powell definitely impressed with his pace and his consistent line, though one got the impression that Hooper under-utilised him. Based on what one has seen in this test, he is one to groom for the future, along with his fellow paceman from Jamaica, Jermaine Lawson.

The Indian innings concluded at 358, clearly about 60-70 runs higher than expected, considering that the score was 280/7 when Harbhajan was dismissed. The West Indian batsmen had a real task on their hands now if they were to avoid a familiar finish to yet another overseas series.

Gayle and Hinds started off very slowly, with both Srinath and Nehra starting with maidens. Gayle was the first to loosen the shackles with a scorching drive through cover. In time, both batsmen began to play with more confidence. They were fairly watchful till the score reached about 50, but most importantly, they played some full-blooded shots when the ball was there to be hit. Kumble came in for some severe punishment, especially from Wavell Hinds. An interesting fact of the batting of both Hinds and Gayle seemed to be that they employed the firm push very often, which on this fast outfield got them quite a few boundaries.

Both batsmen were not afraid to loft the ball, and for most of the second and third sessions of the day, the enormous crowd at the Eden Gardens was treated to Caribbean batsmanship at it's most exciting. Flashing cuts, scorching drives and rasping pulls were played against pace and spin alike.

Hinds went on to reach a maiden test century abroad with a sweep off Harbhajan. His excitement at reaching the mark was there for all to see. Having impressed those in the Caribbean so much with his batting in the very first series he played against Pakistan, one wonders if this century, made in alien conditions and under enormous pressure, will finally help Hinds reach his true potential as a batsman.

As was mentioned in an earlier edition of this column, Hinds is a very important part of this batting lineup, with his ability to play shots under pressure making him a batsman who can potentially lay the foundation for large scores. Largely, this potential has gone unutilised, but Hinds is still relatively young, and may just be reaching his best years.

Unfortunately, as he did after his century in Jamaica earlier this year against India, Hinds contrived to throw his wicket away immediately after reaching three figures. He swept Harbhajan hard and straight to Ganguly at square leg, and another brilliant innings ended. It would be harsh to say that the manner of his dismissal took the sheen off his innings, but it would be naive not to mention it.

At the fall of the wicket, Harbhajan returned to his usual predatory self. The spring returned to his step, and he had Sarwan reaching for a delivery that went past the outside edge. Patel behind the stumps took off the bails in a flash, and the replay showed Sarwan's foot right on the crease, clear grounds for a dismissal. Unlike the West Indian bowlers, who did not take heed of the weaknesses of the Indian lower order, the manner of Dillon's dismissal in the last test, bowled Kumble, was not lost on Harbhajan. He promptly bowled him a similar yorker length delivery, which sent the offstump out of the ground.

The loss of the three quick wickets meant that the West Indies slid from 172/0 to 186/3. Gayle is at the crease with a brilliantly compiled 80, with Chanderpaul giving him company. The onus is on these two batsmen, along with Hooper and Samuels, to squeeze every last run they possibly can. Gayle has batted brilliantly so far, completely resisting the temptation to play against the spin, which has seen him lose his wicket twice in the series so far. He has shown the ability to make big hundreds, and one such knock from him here would mean the world to the West Indies.

The previous test match saw Jermaine Lawson catch the eye. In this game, it has been the turn of Darren Powell and Wavell Hinds. Will their fellow Jamaican Chris Gayle now join the party?