Monumental Blunders

I really feel the Indians looked a terrified lot when they took the field in thefirst one-day international against Pakistan. Their body language, the way thefours flowed, the helpless look on their faces -- Pakistan were cruising whenthey lost the plot.

I was disappointed with Saurav Ganguly, not because of the way he got out butthe manner in which he abdicated responsibility in the field. He might havefailed as a batsman but he still had a role to fulfill as captain. He needed toshow authority, instead he appeared someone who was enveloped in his owndarkness.

But the blunders of Pakistan were far more monumental.

I find it difficult to believe that Pakistan opened the innings with KamranAkamal. He swapped position with Shahid Afridi who seemed such a waste at numberseven. Then Mohammad Hafeez came at number six while he was batting at one dropin Australia.

It points to muddled thinking and players are not being allowed to grow in arole. The stop-gap method will not serve Pakistan cricket.

India at least have a settled order. The presence of fresh players likeMohammad Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, M.S. Dhoni and Ashish Nehra did bestow them with acertain energy.

But they would be first to admit it wasn't a safe total. In an India-Pakistantie, a total of 280 is never safe. India mismanaged their last 10 overs when a300-plus total was there for the asking. For all their hard work, it seemed theinnings of Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid would go waste.

Arshad Khan was ready to go to pieces but suddenly batsmen after batsmenchose new ways of getting out to him. Don't tell me he was spinning the ball orthe wicket was a minefield. It was terrible cricket.

Sachin Tendulkar was brought in to rush through the fifth bowler's quota buthe reaped a harvest of five wickets. He was cramping batsmen for room who madethe mistake of taking him on. The better option would have been to keep milkinghim for singles. It was there for the taking in the point and cover regions.

From time to time, he was sure to present a delicious dolly ball. But batsmenchose to take him on and perished. The more wickets Pakistan lost, the more theydug themselves in a hole.

The Pakistan batting looked bereft of any plan. If you want to hit at the pointregion, either you get the elevation which clears the fielders -- not possibleon a pitch where the bounce was not a factor -- or you roll the wrist and try tohit along the ground. Three batsmen went this way while a couple more sweptTendulkar into the hands of the short fine-leg fielder.

Pakistan could have been a victim of overconfidence. The pitch was a belter:only common sense was required. Both India and Pakistan batsmen, in this seriesthroughout, have appeared to suffer from attack of nerves.

If Australia is the example they follow, they ought to have noticed that thelower half of the world champions, the likes of Brad Hogg, Jason Gillespie andthe rest just keep rotating the strike and at the end of the 50th over, theyhave a handy total.

I am particularly unhappy they don't seem to believe in the magic of singles.Once a batsman is in, he must try to bat the maximum. If you leave it for thenew batsman, he would take time to settle and the innings and team would losemomentum. Time and again, this flawed method was seen in the Kochi one-dayer.

Unfortunately, we haven't seen good cricket from both the teams. It leaves meunfulfilled and I wonder if it is the case that the more we change, the more weremain the same.

PTI