'India May Need Kumble's Skill'

Now that India has done well in the first Test, they need to keep matching the aggression of the Australians.

The world champions normally play their cricket at fullthrottle and if the Indians are wayward, specially in their bowling, they wouldbe taxed severely. The two roadblocks in Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden are atthe start of the innings itself. The others carry, as you say, the knock-outeffect. India's bowling must not be shown as inadequate.

Zaheer Khan leads India's bowling attack and he couldbe more than a handful if he is swinging and getting his length right. He bowlsat 140k at times and that's a good pace. He needs to be supported by others butI'm very disappointed in Harbhajan Singh. He doesn't appear the same bowler tome. He wasn't able to get his drift, curve and spin which has been the hallmarkof his bowling. Whether it is because of a finger injury or he has had too muchof cricket, I'm not sure. India might have to call upon Anil Kumble in Adelaidebecause they just can't let bowling be their weak link.

Adelaide can be an interesting ground for both sides. It has something foreveryone and the atmosphere still retains its old-world charm. Batters can scorebriskly and both pacers and spinners can purchase help. The shape of the groundleaves little margin for error for the bowlers as the square boundaries arerelatively shorter. Batters, who know the conditions, tend to use the squareshots to their advantage. Anything even marginally short, hits the pickets.

Coming to Gabba, I must say it was the best I've seen SauravGanguly bat outside his country. He has some marvellous scores, especially inthe sub-continent and in one-day cricket. He was under a bit of pressure becauseof all the talk he's suspect against short-pitched bowling. But it was a greatinnings. It's always good if the captain is leading from the front, especiallyon a tour.

There were two issues from the game about which a lotmore was made than required. One of course was Damien Martyn's run-out and theother concerned the dismissal of Sachin Tendulkar. Both issues were debated atlength and personally I feel there was a lot of innuendos being written about.

One must understand the shot Martyn played had threeruns written all over it. There was hesitation and it was one of thosesituations when a run-out occurred. Whether he sacrificed it for his captain ortried to make up late for his third run is difficult to say.

Similarly with Tendulkar's dismissal, it was an honest umpiring error. Ithappens all the time. But Tendulkar has an iconic status in the game and thefocus would just not go away from the issue. Sachin coped it on the chin. Itdidn't cost India badly either. I would never like technology to be allpervasive. Sometimes there is too much of analysis and issues are looked at toodeeply than is necessary. Mistakes happen and there is a human element whichmust be preserved in the game.

I was a little surprised by Steve Waugh's declaration.I thought they would go for a bit of batting practice but Waugh perhaps wantedto seize the initiative given how well India had performed in the Gabba Test. Hewanted to have a few wickets, put the psychological pressure back on the Indiansand in that respect it was a clever ploy. More so the way Virender Sehwag andAkash Chopra got out. There were a few mind games played at the Gabba for sure.

As an Australian selector, I was a little disappointedwith our collapse on the second day. There were run-outs, Steve Waugh'shit-wicket and other soft dismissals. Justin Langer had played an outstandinginnings but then it started to go horribly wrong for us. India took wicketsagainst us like few have in recent times.

Just a Test in Gabba, with the help of rain of course,India promises a summer of keen cricket. It wouldn't be a washout as everyonehas been predicting and instead the visitors could test the hosts like few havein recent memory. Batting is the strength of both and to run through them wouldtake exceptional bowling performances. Without good bowling, these batting sideswould be made to appear doubly strong.

PTI