Patience, the lesson from Eden

Rohit Mahajan

Tribune News Service

Nagpur, November 22

Led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the Indian pacers were very, very good in the first Test in Kolkata. They took all 17 Sri Lankan wickets and put India on the cusp of a remarkable win. If the game hadn’t been wrecked by heavy rains before the match and on the first two days, the pace trio would have created history — a Test win in India with zero contribution from the spinners. The greenish track, the moisture in the air made the match a last-day thriller despite the loss of 200 overs. The pacers put in their all, and it’s difficult to expect any more of them. Or is it?

A former Australian player, part of a champion team, believes that the Indian pacers let Sri Lanka get too big a lead in the first innings. Sri Lanka were down to 201/7 on the fourth day, but managed to reach 294, for a lead of 122.

Matthew Hayden, in India as a commentator, said India let the Sri Lankans off the hook. “We’d have bowled Sri Lanka out for a whole lot lesser total for a start,” the former opener said. “I feel the Indian bowlers missed a trick in the first innings. They had the ability to snuff out Sri Lanka’s batting. They didn’t, they let them get away in little patches. Sure, Sri Lanka’s batters had a bit of luck, but I don’t think there was consistent enough pressure.”

What Hayden said was seconded by Bhuvneshwar, who said the pace bowlers were over-eager, impatient, because they were excited by the grass on the surface and moisture in the air. Asked if they were perhaps trying too hard, he said: “Yes, that could be the case because when we were watching the way the Sri Lankans were bowling, we were excited to bowl on that wicket,” Bhuvneshwar said. “We tried too hard, we could have stopped a few runs. I think we could have been more patient.”

Over-eager

Bhuvneshwar didn’t become too impatient too often, and didn’t lose his line and length over a protracted period of time, but the two other pacers did. Mohammed Shami did not seem to be feeling well in the early part of the Sri Lankan innings — he was perhaps unwell, and squatted down close to the boundary and soaked his head with water. He often strayed in line and length, which relieves pressure on the batsmen and places it on the bowlers, bit by bit. Shami, though, did come back strongly and ended up with six wickets in the match.

Umesh Yadav could have done much more. He gave away 79 runs in 20 overs, taking two wickets, in the first innings; in the second, he gave away 25 runs in 5 overs, picking up one wicket. A match return of 3/104 isn’t too bad for a pacer in India. But on that greenish, seaming Eden Gardens track, an average of 34.66 and giving away runs at 4.16 an over would not make Yadav happy.

Patience!

“Yes, there will be seam and bounce, but you build pressure over large periods of time. You look to work players over with good traditional bowling,” Hayden said about the prospect of bowing on helpful tracks. “McGrath and Gillespie used to do that so well. And the great West Indian sides as well. If India look back into this (Kolkata) match, moving into the next game and in fact abroad as well, patience is required.”

“There was not consistent enough pressure,” said Hayden. “Overs were a premium, and 294 should have been sub-200, similar to India’s score. That’s what the great sides do. They win, and they win every session. It took India until the last session of the fourth day to make an impact.”

“We tried our best… Yes, we bowled a few bad balls,” Bhuvneshwar said. “We could have improved on that.”

The idea behind having a greenish wicket in Kolkata was exactly that — help the players learn some useful lessons in home matches, against a relatively weak team. 

Greenish track

Nagpur: The team had an optional practice session here today, and many bowlers and batsmen, including Virat Kohli, decided to skip it. The focus of attention was the pitch, which is on the greenish side, more green than it has been at the venue over the years. But there are still two days to go for the game, and the possibility exists that the track could get a shave. But there are chances that it will remain greenish. Today we saw it being sprayed by water several times in the afternoon. The curator isn’t letting anything out, only saying that the wicket is at its normal state of preparation. There have been reports, though, that after Kolkata, the team actually wants a greenish wicket here as well — after all, there’s the mission to prepare for the tour of South Africa. This was confirmed by Wriddhiman Saha also. “Yes, the South Africa series is at the back of our minds,” he said today. “But when you win a Test match, you take that confidence into the next game and that’s what we are trying to do.”