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'It is a big boon for Murali that at this stage in his career he has someone like Ajantha Mendis to bowl at the other end'
© AFP
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Akhila Ranganna: Hello and welcome to Cricinfo Talk. I am joined by former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar to look back on what has been a humiliating defeat for the Indians in the first Test in Colombo.
India have been defeated by an innings and 239 runs and this is their third-heaviest innings defeat in Tests. Do you think is this one of the most embarrassing defeats for India in a long time?
Sanjay Manjrekar: Yes you can say that. Sometimes we tend to forget the other defeats but statistics will tell you that this is India's third-heaviest defeat, so they will be concerned especially because the conditions weren't totally in favour of the home team. It wasn't like a situation that faced the overseas teams when they toured India in the 1990s where the conditions were totally in favour of the Indian spinners. We have had two spinners here who are world-class and wasn't like the pitch was a rank turner or a dust bowl to make life very difficult for the Indian batsmen.
Just 22 overs were bowled on day one and if you look at the time in this Test, it's not like India have lost on day four; it's more like they have lost on day three. So it's not so much the margin of defeat that's worrying, it's more how quickly they have lost this Test.
AR: What is ironical, is that the Indian cricketers are regarded the best players of spin, and it has often been pace that has done us in, but rarely have we been so embarrassed by the opposition's spin bowlers. None of the other batsmen could build any innings of substance and looked all at sea against the Lankan spinners. Where do you think the problem lies?
SM: I think our problems against the Lankan spinners got exaggerated because of the fact that the Sri Lankan batsmen got 600 runs in the first innings. So when India went out to bat they were already under tremendous pressure. And they were facing Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis who were bowling so well on a pitch that was offering them more assistance than it did to the Indian spinners.
Indian cricketers have traditionally been good players of spin but that doesn't mean the current or future generation of cricketers will continue to be so. In fact the batsmen who have been part of the side since 2002-03 have been better players of fast bowling than the batsmen in the 90s. That is why we had such a good record against the spinners at home in the 90s but we struggled overseas on the faster pitches. That has changed. After 2002-03 our batsmen haven't shown much improvement against the spinners as they have against the faster men. So this is a changing trend in Indian batting where we cannot confidently assert that we are the best players of spin. We used to be, but now good spinners are starting to bother the Indian batsmen.
AR: Do you think India were under-prepared for this Test? They last played a Test series against South Africa at home in April and have been playing a lot of one-day cricket leading up to this Test series.
SM: If you ask the Indian batsmen, they will say they would have loved more match practice. But that is not possible. Another thing we see in this current batting line-up is that there are a few players - Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman - who are now part of the Test team only. That puts additional pressure on them. It's not easy when you get to play in Tests once in three or four months. Laxman has managed this situation beautifully but it is not going to be easy for the rest. Had these batsmen played a lot of one-day cricket in between, they would have been slightly better prepared. But the fact remains that one warm-up game is not adequate preparation before a Test series. The ICC now wants to protect Test cricket, so maybe they could stipulate that a minimum of two warm-up games must be played before the start of a Test series to ensure that the quality of Test cricket doesn't suffer.
AR: The Murali-Mendis combination seemed simply unplayable and Sri Lanka's close-in catching today, was also splendid.
SM: Yes, that [their catching] is something I have been observing. I have visited Sri Lanka for the past three to four years; I have covered almost all the Tests in Sri Lanka in that period and their catching has been very good.
They are a confident side at home. They know whenever they are in trouble, Murali will bail them out. His enthusiasm for wickets doesn't seem to die which is great. And whenever Murali picks wickets, Sri Lanka win games. And it really helps that at this stage of his career Murali has someone like Mendis to bowl at the other end; someone whom Mahela Jayawardene can just throw the ball to without being worried about how he will bowl. If Sri Lanka didn't have Mendis but someone like Rangana Herath bowling at the other end then India would have handled the pressure much better. Jayawardene would have been forced to go to Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Kulasekara but he didn't have to worry because Mendis was creating so much pressure at the other end.
AR: Staying with Mendis, have you ever seen a bowler this difficult to pick? What is the key to playing him?
SM: I think two of his deliveries are difficult to pick. One of them is the legcutter - the legbreak he bowls with his middle finger - which is almost like the legcutter that a fast bowler bowls with the old ball. He has two variations of that. One that skids through, that he gets to turn sometimes. That was the delivery he got Dravid out with in the first innings; it could have gone either way. He bowls it flat, angled on middle stump and sometimes it goes straight and sometimes it turns. Sometimes these are deliveries he turns deliberately. So these two deliveries are difficult to pick.
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I hope that India win the toss in Galle so that they can go into bat without being under pressure. Their batsmen looked as though they were in a shell and that is what they need to change: they need to go out there and believe that they are good enough to survive the onslaught of the Sri Lankan spinners |
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I was surprised that Laxman was beaten by the wrong 'un which I think is very easy to pick as is the offspinner he bowls sometimes. I am sure the Indian batsmen will not have too much difficulty in picking these two deliveries. But I think Mendis will get a lot of wickets with the earlier two variations I mentioned because they are so straight that if you miss it you will be out lbw or bowled.
AR: The next Test begins on the July 31 in Galle. What are the specific areas India need to work on leading into that Test?
SM: I hope India win the toss in Galle so they can go into bat without being under pressure. I feel tall the Indian batsmen looked a little uncertain in this Test. They seemed to lack confidence and didn't look relaxed. They failed to stamp the stature and the experience that some of them have on this Test. They looked as though they were in a shell and that is what they need to change: they need to go out there and believe that they are good enough to survive the onslaught of the Sri Lankan spinners.
Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble need to look at the way that they have bowled in this Test and they perhaps need to change their approach. Harbhajan perhaps needs to change his line and length as he can tend to get one-dimensional sometimes. All of them have to dig deep but more importantly they have to believe that they can still win a Test on this tour.
AR: Thank you Sanjay. We will hear from you during the Galle Test.
India's predicament against Sri Lankan spin can be summed up in this little rhyme I made up... "Turn to stumps, skid to pad, if Murali can't get you, Mendis can" I'd sure like to see how Mendis fares in Australia. You don't get turn there, but you get bounce. His skidders would be invaluable. He is a very good prospect for the future of Sri Lankan spin bowling. As for India's homework, they will have to work out both Murali and Mendis separately. They have vastly different styles. Murali relies on vicious turn and Mendis relies on straightening and cutting. I don't think the solution is to entirely rely on young ones, as zaf has said. We've seen how the young ones fared in the Asia Cup. They need more time. Kumble is right. This team has achieved wonderful things. I'm sure it'll bounce back!
Posted by Aasim on (July 27 2008, 15:21 PM GMT)I think we should stop calling our batting lineup the best in the world because its not, barring a handful of matches these batsmen have never won matches consistently for india, look at the win percentage record of our country against their personal record on the whole its pretty clear that all they do is play for themselves and its no secret that the sachin we have known and seen in the past is no more now he is just playing to set records which is going to be very difficult to protect for long, players like ponting will surpass him sooner or later.
Posted by Cric_Star_one on (July 27 2008, 15:16 PM GMT)I think Yuvraj and Dhoni should have been included or played. Gambhir doesn't have patience and Sehwag is not a reliable test player. I don't think there is any place for Kumble in the team anymore. Thanks for his services, he has been a great player but its time to go now. Same goes for Sachin, Dravid, and Ganguly. I don't understand why India doesn't work on their fast bowling, the fastest bowler they have can only bowl just over 140k. May be they need to do some workout ! Sri Lanka on the other hand was just amazing, complete team effor and no big stars and thats how the game should be played.
Posted by mk_Taiyab on (July 27 2008, 15:15 PM GMT)Agreed that one loss will not make any good team bad. But the way they loss literally within three days is very bad. Did any batsman tried to stay at the wicket. Most of them got out trying b'coz they played bad shots (read Sehwag, Gabhir, Sachin). True that new indian batsmen are not that great players of spin. But we had Sehwag, Saurabh,Sachin,Dravid and Laxman and even Gambhir but none looked comfortable at all. They were batting like they have never played spinners before. If the batting was horrible so was the bowling and fielding. We had two spinners who are suppose to be world class but they could not combinely pick-up atleast what Mendis picked in the first innings. I can never doubt the ability of Anil Kumble but Harbhajan is just disappointing. He can no longer be called a world class spinner. I still feel India can come back in the series you guys have did it in the past. Wish you all the best for GALLE...CHACK DE INDIA!
Posted by Spiderman203 on (July 27 2008, 14:47 PM GMT)Dravid may be nicknamed the Wall, but the wall is old and there are many holes in it. Sachin may be the Master blaster but he has lost the consistency. Ganguly , the god of offside has proved his comeback to be a one season wonder. Laxman, the very very special Laxman can lead the pack of tailenders and keep his average but cant win matches anymore. Same is the case with the spin bowlers. Its surprising how ineffective kumble and harbhajan were on the same pitch where a newcomer mendis wreaked havoc in murali's company. The Fantastic four are old and no more the same , they need to be replaced. But who can replace them is even bigger issue. Dhoni , Yuvraj are more of superstars busy with ad shootings and parties than dedicated players. We need a Vivian Richard or Kevin Pieterson or another Sachin to solve our batting woes. Hope Kumble retires soon and makes way for an indian Mendis.
Posted by Mahesh_AV on (July 27 2008, 14:34 PM GMT)I agree that one win does not make the SL team better than the Indian team. True, they batted better, or we bowled worse, in the first test, but that does not mean you write off the Indian team as bad players!! It takes ages for a team to reach the top. When was it that Australia started their climb? Not last year!!!! And if the Indian team is bad, why are they ranked the No.2 test team in the world? We cannot pass a judgement based on a single loss.
Posted by rajaramc on (July 27 2008, 14:31 PM GMT)Other than the batting humiliation, one thing which no commentator mentions is the wicket taking inability of Kumble and Harbhajan. If a proper analysis of their statistics is done, these two have taken wickets mostly on dust bowls. On good wickets, their bowling is toothless to say the least. India would do well to bring genuine talent like Piyush Chawla and Amit misra rather than these so called greats who need dust bowls to take wickets.
Posted by ind_cric_fan on (July 27 2008, 14:22 PM GMT)Needless to say, India are masters of creating Heroes out of debutants. This is exactly what happened in the first test. However, that is not the only focus here. What happened to the crucial catches that were dropped on the second day? Nobody seems to give a thought about that. And the other factor is Dhoni. Did he opt out of the team envisioning that India would get hammered by the Lankans? Plenty of things to think about for the Indian captain.
Posted by Owls on (July 27 2008, 14:16 PM GMT)Indians are the best players of spin. Thats a laugh. We had Sunny, Vishy and to some extent Dravid and Tendulkar about a couple of years back. But frankly apart from Sunny and Vishy who could play spinners on a spinning track, I dont think any one else could. The Indian team has built the hype of being the strongest batting line up after belting runs on a placid track against the likes of Warne, Murali, Saqlain. After so many years of playing cricket, if somebody says that they were under pressure of having to avoid defeat, it is absolute nonsense. You don't start off an innings on a negative note. But the fact is that the Indian team has been that way for years. One fine day, the "FAB FOUR" are going to retire and we are going to be pitchforking new comers in. Guys like Badri, Pujara should have been brought in and atleast one of these guys should have played in every match. We are just plain lousy when it comes to planning.
Posted by RahimiAnsar on (July 27 2008, 14:16 PM GMT)We cannot blame Kumble. It is batsmen, the most experienced old batsmen. They need to be replaced with new generaions. It is shameful disgraceful loss!! Nothing more to say.