Falling Legends And Shooting Stars

And so another Indian away Test series has ended in disappointment. Theyshowed a lot of determination and spirit, granted, but the big guns did not fireoften enough against a team which, of late at least, has been rather ordinaryeven at home.

The victory in the One-Day International series was a smallconsolation as the Indians head off for their next engagement in England.

One wonders how long the inquest will last this time. Some of the blame willsurely fall on the shoulders of some of the legends of Indian cricket. SachinTendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Javagal Srinath and Anil Kumble in particular were not firing on allcylinders.

To call them fallen legends would be overly harsh, but the mark oftrue greatness is consistent performance under any condition. Their failureswere counter-balanced by solid efforts by V.V.S. Laxman, Ashish Nehra and ZaheerKhan. The twoquickies were the shooting stars of the squad, and enhanced their reputations.

Tendulkar scored 331 runs at an averaged of 41.37 during the series.While hardly cause for being tried for treason for this performance, it wasdisappointing nevertheless. Certainly, his century at Port-of-Spain went a longway to setting up victory, and his gallant 86 at Kingston almost put India onthe way to a spectacular victory, but he had an uncharacteristic lean trotbetween these innings and this cost India dearly.

Ganguly might well look back on his series stats with pride. He scored322 runs at a useful average of over 53. But this is a case where, as Henry J.Ford would have said, "You get lies, damned lies and statistics." The"BengalPrince" failed to produce the dominating innings which he has played in the past.

His average was boosted by two undefeated innings. Admittedly, his undefeated 75at Port-of-Spain, ultimately his best effort of the series, did guide a shakyperformance by the lower order to a target which was just beyond the home team’sreach.

An indictment of the Indian bowling during the series was that the top fourin the averages included three -- Wasim Jaffer, Rahul Dravid and Laxman, who profited from arare chance with the ball as the St John’s Test wended its way to a draw andall eleven Indians had a bowl.

Srinath went wicketless in that match,and ended the tour with 13 wickets at an average approaching 43. These wicketscame at intervals of over 16 overs, hardly the figures India’s premier fastbowler would have relished. He had started the tour well, with a solidperformance at Georgetown and then his six wickets in Port-of-Spain wereinstrumental in the victory there.

With Srinath announcing his retirement, it is appropriate to look backbriefly on his career. He made his Test debut on the 1991-92 tour to Australia,taking ten wickets in his five appearances. He enhanced his reputation thefollowing season in South Africa, the highlight coming in the final Test as hetook 4 for 33 against a South African team as intent on defending their 1-0advantage as India seemed to be intent on defending their 0-1 disadvantage inwhat, Srinath’s efforts apart, was a dreadful advertisement for Test cricket.

Interestingly, but perhaps not unpredictably, the young fast bowler played 12Tests in the course of three seasons before making his debut on Indian soil. Hehad another 4 for 48 in the first Test against the West Indians then, butimpressed mainly with the bat as he passed 50 twice in the three Tests. Hisshowcase match was against Pakistan at Kolkata in February 1999, when he had amatch analysis of 13 for 132, 8 for 86 of those coming in the second innings.

All in all, Srinath played in 64 Tests, claiming 232 wickets at an average of30.46. He took five wickets in an innings on ten occasions, with his career bestof 8 for 86 and his only ten wicket match haul coming in that Test againstPakistan. His strike rate was a creditable 63.76 balls per wicket, and hemaintained an economy rate of 2.86 runs per over. He was a good enough batsmanto score 872 runs at a modest average of 13.01, the highest score of his 4 halfcenturies being 76 made against New Zealand at Hamilton in the 1998-99 season.

Kumble also had a tour he would probably rather forget. Apart from his"lockjaw" dismissal of Brian Lara at St John’s, surely the stuff oflegend for years to come, he managed just three wickets in the two Tests inwhich he played, with an average in the high fifties. Injury played a dramatichand in the veteran leg spinner’s tour, and questions will now surely beraised over his longevity in the game.

Fortunately, all was not doom and gloom for India. Laxman came to theparty in a big way. Subdued after his heroics at Kolkata against Australia, hehas promised much without being able to deliver. On this tour, he served up 474runs at a healthy average of 79. His only failure came at Bridgetown, where histeammates were unable to take up the slack left by his relatively earlydepartures and the Windies were able to tie the series.

India will also take some heart by the performances of the young quicks. Nehra picked up 12 wickets at an average of 37.75, and Zaheerwentthree better with 15 wickets at 37.86; in both cases marginally better thanSrinath.

Otherwise, India would also have been satisfied by the solid efforts of Dravid and Harbhajan Singh, who both performed to expectation. Another worryingfact is that only six players averaged over 20 with the bat, indicating a lackof batting down the order.

The first innings collapse at Kingston in particular,where the last six wickets added just 44 runs, would have been viewed with muchmore concern if not for the fact that the Windies were collapsing in even betterstyle.

Finally, the theme of fallen legends cannot be concluded without a brieftribute to Hansie Cronje. Indian cricketers often brought out the best in him,but sadly other players on the Indian scene exploited his darker side. It was abitter irony that he should he met his fate on a mountain peak, just as hiscareer was also terminated at its peak. Rest in peace.