da imperador bet： Going into the Oval Test, all the attention was firmly focused onthe best batsman in the game today Sachin Tendulkar
Erapalli Prasanna11-Sep-2002Going into the Oval Test, all the attention was firmly focused onthe best batsman in the game today Sachin Tendulkar. The maestrowas playing in his 100th Test and knowing him, he would have beenhoping to score a hundred and lead India to their first serieswin outside the sub-continent in 16 years. But it was not to be.Both teams decided to play to their strengths – India relied ontheir batsmen and their spinners while England placed their faithin their better-equipped fast bowlers. Hussain won the allimportant toss and like Ganguly at Leeds elected to bat.
© ReutersTrescothick is a class act; he must rank as one of the bestopening batsmen in the game, along with Matthew Hayden ofAustralia. He had a very good tour of India last winter but athumb injury meant that he had to miss the first three Tests.Making a return at the Oval, he showed that the break had thoughdone nothing to dull his appetite for runs. He certainly has akey role to play as far as England are concerned in the upcomingAshes series down under.His partner at the other end, Michael Vaughan, must be the mostimproved international batsman of the year; the hunger for runsthat this lad now displays is quite remarkable. I watched him getout `handling the ball’ in the Bangalore Test after he had madea classy 50-odd runs. I think that was probably the pivotalmoment in the young man’s Test career. Since then, he had a goodtour of New Zealand before going on to become the dominantbatsman of this English summer.I am particularly impressed with Vaughan’s technique and the easewith which he played both the Indian spinners. Warne againstVaughan might, in my opinion, turn out to be an interestingbattle in the Ashes in Australia.Nasser Hussain’s captaincy, meanwhile, was enigmatic; a provenleader of men, his tactics, however, are sometimes too defensive.Probably this has a lot to do with the fact that too many Englishplayers – the bowlers in particular – get injured these days. Itindeed is very difficult for any captain to come to terms withthe abrupt changes in the composition of the bowling attack andthe loss of your main strike bowlers, in particular.The defensive mentality of the Englishmen actually benefited anIndian team which was eager to let the world know that they areprofessional enough to avoid succumbing to off-field pressures.On a flat track, India gave away a lot of runs on the first day,before bouncing back to restrict England on the second day. Afirst innings score of 515 is daunting enough even for the bestbatting line-up in the world and consequently, Nasser Hussainmust have hoped that his fast bowlers would run through theIndian batting and force them to follow on. But that did nothappen as the pace bowlers ran into a wall.
© CricInfoRahul Dravid has carried with him the burden of being labelled adefensive batsman throughout his career. In England this summerhe has, though, been a revelation. I am sure that his performancein this series has seen him grow in stature within the team. Allthe runs he has scored in England are simply priceless, forIndia’s record away from home is quite dismal. The double hundredin The Oval, which was also his third consecutive hundred in theseries, was an object lessson to all the youngsters out there.Moving to the bowling, I felt that Harbhajan Singh bowledparticularly well at The Oval on the second day to pick up fivewickets in an innings. The two Indian spinners, however, found itdifficult to be consistent. They would have had a better chanceof dismissing the England side for a more modest total had theygiven the ball some more flight. What they must understand isthat bowling flat on a placid batting track might stop the flowof runs but it also takes away your wicket-taking options. Aspinner can only be attacking when he gets the ball to turn alot.All said, I am very proud of the boys who have done the countryproud. They deserve all the accolades and support that they arebeing showered with. I must also congratulate Sourav Ganguly forhis inspirational captaincy and also for his magnificent battingin the series.Even though the honours were shared at the end ofthe series, India can be proud of their achievements. India wonthe NatWest Trophy at Lord’s and then put together spiritedperformance in the Test series after going 0-1down.Before signing off, let me take the opportunity to wish theIndian team all the very best for the ICC Champions Trophy in SriLanka. I am sure that they can win the Trophy if they continue toplay with the intensity and passion that they showed in England.