As had been discussed earlier in this column, India’s bowling attack relies too much on Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh. With Zaheer injured and Harbhajan ineffective/injured and with the inspirational Sehwag missing from the batting lineup, India were in for trouble.
Two heavy Test losses later, their crown as the world’s number one Test side is slipping. But England deserve a lot of the credit for this as they put on virtuoso performances at both Lord’s and Trent Bridge to take a potentially decisive 2-0 lead in the series. England now need to either draw the next two Tests or split them to become the number one Test playing nation.
England, at the moment, are a superlative side. Never in recent memory has an English side had so much depth in batting. Their batting is built around Jonathan Trott, Pietersen and Bell and this trio are ably supported by a lineup that is so deep that it has Stuart Broad at nine and a more than capable Swann at number ten. Bresnan and Broad can easily be considered all rounders and they have perhaps the best wicket keeper batsman around in Matt Prior.
Even though Strauss and Cook have failed to get big starts in the first two Tests, the lower order has backed them up consistently. The pick of the batsmen might be Bell, who is at the moment in the form of his life. He has a classical, seamless technique and never seems in a rush. His hundred in the second Test was a master class. Pietersen is more aggressive, going after the bowlers and in the process, making the odd mistake.
But once he is set, like in his double hundred at Lords, he literally toys with the bowling. Then there is Trott, the most consistent run scorer on the circuit, with the highest average among current batsmen. Trott has ideal Test match temperament. When batting, he stays in the present, never letting the previous ball or the future delivery affect his focus on the ball in play. He has the highest batting average after Don Bradman and looks capable of maintaining it in the long run.
The embarrassment of riches doesn’t stop there. England’s four pacers bring to mind the 1970s West Indies fearsome foursome of Marshall, Garner, Holding and Roberts. Tremlett, Anderson, Bresnan and Broad are in such form that England are considering dropping the world’s number one spinner, Graeme Swann from the third Test. Bresnan, in particular, has terrorised the Indian batting to the extent that they are resorting to “check out”, low percentage hook shots, just to get things over with.
Broad and Tremlett bring the ball down from such a height that they have the short statured Indian batsmen hopping around. Anderson is a consummate swing specialist who has, evidently, figured out how to bowl at Sachin Tendulkar. If India have to turn things around they have to get Zaheer Khan fit and for the mercurial Sehwag to get amongst the runs. These two, along with the recovered Gautam Gambhir, would do much to stiffen up the Indians’ resolve. Zaheer Khan is one of the canniest new ball operators around and Sehwag can turn a Test match around in one session of frenetic hitting.
The problem for India is the lack of support for Zaheer. The other pacers are simply not good enough to run through the depth that England’s batting possesses. Another concern is the form of skipper MS Dhoni. Dhoni has not been scoring and his keeping has also suffered in the English conditions. His leadership with regard to field placing has also come under criticism. Clearly, the fairy tale run, where Dhoni could do no wrong, has ended. For India to salvage anything from this series, the skipper has to carry his weight on the field and lead from the front.
England will have a couple of selection issues. They could select the four pacers and drop Swann or they could play five bowlers and drop a batsman. The likeliest scenario could be the dropping of the out-of-form Cook and promotion of Trott to opening slot. This would leave them with 10 batsmen and five world class bowlers. The odds are clearly in England’s favour and unless they take the foot off the accelerator and let India back into the series, they are in great position for gaining the number one position. Pakistan have rested some stars for the Zimbabwe tour in a bid to broaden their player base.
This is a good move although it has drawn the inevitable criticism from some senior players. Pakistan needs to have a tough competition for the Test places and the only way to do this is to blood some talented youngsters. This will go a long way in stopping the prima donna culture that is so visible in some of our players. Recently, Shahid Afridi, after getting clearance from the PCB to play twenty20 in England, has gone back to his old ways and weighed in with some broadsides against the PCB.
This is disappointing. Afridi is a cricketing talent and a national hero, but his attitude and the way he conducts interviews borders on arrogance. Afridi’s captaincy lacks cerebral substance and he makes up for that with motivational actions on the field that pale quickly. Afridi is a great talent, but he should learn from superstars like Federer, Nadal or Djokovic; be humble and let your performance do the talking.
