England v SA- The Lesson That Was Lost On India

[Dhondy]

The "best" fast bowling attack in the world, coming in on a high after a fabulous subcontinental leg, concedes 600 runs, having elected to bowl, while the underrated English bowlers skittle out the 2nd placed side for under 250. Has the world gone mad? Nothing like that. England did their home work well, studied the opponent's weaknesses, selected the right side, prepared the right pitch and lay in ambush for SA. Bang bang, you are dead. The first Test match of a series is vital. The home side has an edge because the visitors are not acclimatised to the conditions, and more often than not that curtain raiser sets the tone for the series. England know this, Australia know this, why doesn't India? People will remember that after the BD series, SA went back home because they needed rest. It was a chance for India to put in the boot at Chennai. What did they do? Prepared a granite hard pitch, making a result virtually impossible. SA were let off the hook, their batsmen spent time in the middle, something no number of net sessions can emulate. It was the nature of the track at Chennai that was to go on to determine the fate of the series. Buffeted by a rising tide of criticism for preparing a comatose pitch, India overcompensated by leaving live grass on the surface at Ahmedabad. This despite the fact that both Ishant and Zaheer remained unavailable due to injury, and neither Sreesanth, nor RP Singh had looked remotely capable of running through SA at Chennai. South Africa also had three world class seamers, making the pitch preparation even more inexplicable. After looking at that grass from up close, Kumble then made two diabolical decisions. He chose to go in with two spinners in Bhajji and himself, which then led to his second, even more monumental mistake. He chose to bat, to give himself and the surd the chance to bowl last. Game over. But that's not all. If you go through the tapes of the first two Tests, you'll notice that very little homework was done on the South African batsmen's weaknesses. Hashim Amla was allowed to play everything off the front foot, and De Villiers was fed a generous diet of straight deliveries for the main course by India's errant quicks. Neil McKenzie, coming back from the dead after ages on the sidelines, neutralised the Indian spinners by the simple expedient of moving to his off stump, playing straight and studiously avoiding the sweep, a lesson imparted to him by Kallis. There was a lack of imagination, of preparation, of study. It was as if all of India's energies had been used up in preparation for the impending IPL. Now look at how England attacked SA. Amla was incessantly bounced from the very first ball by Anderson and Broad, setting up his tentative forward prod to the latter a few overs later, De Villiers hardly had a delivery on his pads, and the same McKenzie who had frustrated Indian spinners throughout the series by playing everything from the offstump, was bowled around the legs by Panesar. Three mediocre batsmen, who should have been out for next to nothing, but had plundered tons and double tons, thanks to India's ineptitude and lack of research, brought down to earth by England's astute planning. I never forget Test match defeats, and this one continues to gnaw at my insides like a broken tooth. It could have been all so different, had our cricketers, planners and groundsmen showed common sense, put in some thought and studied the opposition.

[Predator_05]

Nice post. India definitely shot themselves in the foot by preparing an unsporting pitch at Ahmedabad. Even if the preparation was lacking, they could have at least ensured that the spinners would get conditions conducive to their bowling. I am sure Kumble must have realised this once Sreesanth trudged back to the pavilion with the scoreboard reading "India 76 all out" - not surprisingly, the pitch for the next test was a proper Indian wicket where the outcome was a predictable thrashing in just 3 days. It really bugs me how these guys simply fail to learn from their mistakes. England, simply put, will always be a far more professional outfit than India.

[Gambit]

RSA's performance also puts into perspective India's batting against almost the same bowling outfit last year. So much for depleted and 2nd string English bowling attack. Our batting was very very good against this England attack during a very wet and slightly chilly summer last year.

[The Outsider]

India were certainly guilty of complacency and poor preparation and decisions in the series and the thing about test cricket is that it's not a frequently played out game where mistakes can be rectified. It's after 4 years that we will be getting the chances to right the wrongs we did against Australia in 2004. I have said this many times in the past - ever since India has started with this preparation of "sporting" pitches either they produce dead pattas or crap wickets like Ahmedabad where it's impossible to bat for the first session and after which the pitch becomes a patta with no turn available even till the very end because of the grass binding. These are just such simple things but for the BCCI they hold no priority and no time is spent correcting these things. They are interested in the IPL after all. I only watched a bit of the game today but even with the little bit I saw it was quite obvious that South Africa are such poor players of spin that even a mildly turning surface as the one at Lords is good enough to decimate them. I won't be surprised to see mildly turning wickets at Edgbaston and Oval either. We could have easily killed and squashed South Africa 3-0 on turners. In fact could have done the same to Pakistan also, but ended up preparing dead tracks at Calcutta and Bangalore. If we make the mistake of preparing dead wickets for the Aussies, we'll end up losing because with huge scores and Brett Lee and Clark they will be able to put pressure on our batting and will ensure it will falter at least a few times in the series. We must play to our strength and have tracks to support Kumble and Harbhajan.

[Guest dada_rocks]

people rue about how india is no longer strong at home but fact is we have conspired agisnt ourselves to hand over games to oppositin by suddenly changing the nature of pitch to suit the opposition.. everyone plays to his/her strength and here we are indulging in pitch doctoring to aid and abet opposition.. be it nagpu against aussie and ahmedabad against sa same story played.. one of that series we went on to draw other we lost.

[satishg]

awesome post Doc..as u said Amla, Mckenzie and DeVilliers are all avg batsmen at their best but due to improper planning and the docile nature of chennais pitch we had turned them into monsters and they appeared as immovable objects to our bowlers..if only the chennai pitch had some life for our spinners it need not had to be a rank turner but with some bounce to help Anil and bhajji things would have been differrent..i still remember how AK ran thro the Australians on a day 1 pitch at chennai in 2004..that pitch had no significant threats, there was more bounce in it and Anil used it to his advantage..going 1-0 up into the second test would have demoralized the SA team like anything and the Ahemedabad result would have also been different..at the best they wud have drawn the test against a charged up Indian team..*sigh* its all a BIG IF..

[MundaPakistani]

I only watched a bit of the game today but even with the little bit I saw it was quite obvious that South Africa are such poor players of spin that even a mildly turning surface as the one at Lords is good enough to decimate them. I won't be surprised to see mildly turning wickets at Edgbaston and Oval either. We could have easily killed and squashed South Africa 3-0 on turners. In fact could have done the same to Pakistan also, but ended up preparing dead tracks at Calcutta and Bangalore. If we make the mistake of preparing dead wickets for the Aussies, we'll end up losing because with huge scores and Brett Lee and Clark they will be able to put pressure on our batting and will ensure it will falter at least a few times in the series. We must play to our strength and have tracks to support Kumble and Harbhajan.

It is a myth that the Saffers can't play spin. They might not look as graceful as VVS Laxman or as dominant as BC Lara or Sachin but theu do know how to get the job done. The point about the Chennai pitch is quite valid because in recent times SA have had some very slow starts but to their credit they hit back quite hard after an average performance.

[fineleg]

I have been lamenting this for so long. In AK we have a guy who can decimate Aus given the right condition. Please do that jumbo heart a favor this Oct-Nov 2008 when Aus come to India. We need to kick and smash Aus, give us pitches that turn, bounce and spit at the Aussies. Then, get in three spinners for all the Tests, AK, Bhajji and Ojha or some such combination, give or take a spinner. Smash the aussies.

[Dhondy]

RSA's performance also puts into perspective India's batting against almost the same bowling outfit last year. So much for depleted and 2nd string English bowling attack. Our batting was very very good against this England attack during a very wet and slightly chilly summer last year.

Actually, Indian batsmen scored pretty much the same against these bowlers at Lords. it was our underrated bowlers that winkled England out for considerably less than SA have allowed them to score. It just underlines the enormous hype surrounding SA's pace bowling attack, primarly because the great fast bowlers have suddenly disappeared off the scene. Steyn and Morkel are good, but Ntini is on his last leg, and Nel can't even get into this side. You compare this attack to what Zaheer, Sreesanth and RP Singh achieved in England, and there will be some people doing double and triple takes, but then, it's not the most fashionable thing to cite India's seamers in the same breath as South Africa's.

[MundaPakistani]

I have been lamenting this for so long. In AK we have a guy who can decimate Aus given the right condition. Please do that jumbo heart a favor this Oct-Nov 2008 when Aus come to India. We need to kick and smash Aus, give us pitches that turn, bounce and spit at the Aussies. Then, get in three spinners for all the Tests, AK, Bhajji and Ojha or some such combination, give or take a spinner. Smash the aussies.

Not a good idea. In the entire 90s decade IND won only ONE overseas test match because of these tactics. When you have decent fast bowlers like Ishant and Zaheer then there should be NO need to resort to such tactics.

[fineleg]

Not a good idea. In the entire 90s decade IND won only ONE overseas test match because of these tactics. When you have decent fast bowlers like Ishant and Zaheer then there should be NO need to resort to such tactics.

MP, This is a special series, and I want Aus humbled. Our fast bowlers will still do well in other series. I dont want to take any chances with Aus escaping humiliation this time around. In fact, surprisingly and contrary to expectation, sometimes on these spin pitches our pacers do get wickets as well.

[The Outsider]

It is a myth that the Saffers can't play spin. They might not look as graceful as VVS Laxman or as dominant as BC Lara or Sachin but theu do know how to get the job done. The point about the Chennai pitch is quite valid because in recent times SA have had some very slow starts but to their credit they hit back quite hard after an average performance.

They might do alright against ordinary spinners with their dour tactics but pit them against Kumble on a turning wicket and they won't stand a chance. Regarding wickets, I am not asking for raging turners like Bombay '04 but certainly the wickets at Calcutta and Bangalore against Pakistan or Chennai and Ahmedabad against Pakistan are useless too. Kotla has always been a good wicket, so has Bombay generally or the Chennai and Calcutta '01 tracks. They were all good wickets supporting the home side to a reasonable extent without being raging turners.

[The Outsider]

Actually, Indian batsmen scored pretty much the same against these bowlers at Lords. it was our underrated bowlers that winkled England out for considerably less than SA have allowed them to score.

Can't compare last year's Lords track with this one. It had a lot more for the bowlers specially on the first couple of days.

[Dhondy]

I only watched a bit of the game today but even with the little bit I saw it was quite obvious that South Africa are such poor players of spin that even a mildly turning surface as the one at Lords is good enough to decimate them. I won't be surprised to see mildly turning wickets at Edgbaston and Oval either. We could have easily killed and squashed South Africa 3-0 on turners. In fact could have done the same to Pakistan also, but ended up preparing dead tracks at Calcutta and Bangalore.

To exploit their weakness, you actually need to spin the ball, Shwetabh. I dunno if you watched Monty's wickets today, but he got McKenzie and Morkel with jaffas. Both deliveries spun sharply, and out of around the same place- beating McKenzie's left pad, and Morkel's out-thrust bat. Both, out bowled The South Africans play Kumble as a seamer, just as he'd be advising his batsmen to play Mendis as in a couple of weeks.. But if you really want to know why Bhajji has been so ineffective as a wicket taker of late, while Monty has already got the South Africans into a bit of panic, just take a look at the proportion of bowled and LBW amongst the total dismissals of these two bowlers. Monty has a whopping 43%, Bhajji almost half of that- around 23%. That statistic alone sums up Bhajji's inefficacy as a spin bowler. You have to attack the stumps, force batsmen to play at you. Our constable sahib simply doesn't do that any more.

[Dhondy]

Can't compare last year's Lords track with this one. It had a lot more for the bowlers specially on the first couple of days.

And it's reverted back to that state magically on the 3rd day of this Test match, I suppose?

[Dhondy]

I have been lamenting this for so long. In AK we have a guy who can decimate Aus given the right condition. Please do that jumbo heart a favor this Oct-Nov 2008 when Aus come to India. We need to kick and smash Aus, give us pitches that turn, bounce and spit at the Aussies. Then, get in three spinners for all the Tests, AK, Bhajji and Ojha or some such combination, give or take a spinner. Smash the aussies.

Remind me again of the results at Sydney and Perth, Fineleg, and what sort of bowlers these two tracks favour, respectively?

[The Outsider]

^Dhondy, the track at Chennai was completely dead and so was Ahmedabad for the spinners. Also, Kumble was not fit and really should not have been playing in the first place but if you on a track where Kumble can get just a little bit of turn for his leg break, he'll be all over South Africa. Fair point about Harbhajan - he is a waste of space and I would like to see him replaced by Mishra. Mishra really does turn the ball quite a bit and is likely to be an attacking force on all wickets as leg spinners are supposed to be unlike the overhyped Chawla.

[The Outsider]

And it's reverted back to that state magically on the 3rd day of this Test match' date=' I suppose?[/quote'] There isn't much for the fast bowlers even now. It's starting to turn a bit more though than last year though.

[Dhondy]

^Dhondy' date=' the track at Chennai was completely dead and so was Ahmedabad for the spinners. Also, Kumble was not fit and really should not have been playing in the first place but if you on a track where Kumble can get just a little bit of turn for his leg break, he'll be all over South Africa. Fair point about Harbhajan - he is a waste of space and I would like to see him replaced by Mishra. Mishra really does turn the ball quite a bit and is likely to be an attacking force on all wickets as leg spinners are supposed to be unlike the overhyped Chawla.[/quote'] Two leg spinners in the side? Who's going to bowl out the left handers?

[The Outsider]

Two leg spinners in the side? Who's going to bowl out the left handers?

Well that's the best we can muster at this point. And a leg spinner who turns it big can be quite handy even against left handers and besides Kumble has also become a much better bowler against lefties than he was early on in his career.