Batting first was a mistake

The Indians flattered to deceive. They began their campaign in the World Cup in great style with Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly taki...

The Indians flattered to deceive. They began their campaign in the World Cup in great style with Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly taking on the South African bowlers with a lot of confidence and authority. The way they went about their task was pretty good and I8217;m sure it must have done much for the morale of the side.

However, Indians finished with a total of, perhaps, 20 runs short and that made all the difference. A fine partnership between Hansie Cronje and Jacques Kallis laid the foundation and after the skipper departed, Jonty Rhodes essayed a dynamic little cameo that saw the hot favourites to romp home with enough to spare. Round one to them.

When the Indians began, Ganguly was in his elements and he came up with some great strokes. Dravid8217;s innings too was a revelation as he looked positive. His square driving was simply brilliant to say the least. Both these batsmen played the middle overs extremely well but just when India looked on course for a 270-plus total, Donald sent down an inspiredspell in the slog overs.

He was well supported by the fielders who threw themselves at everything, hardly giving away any easy run and that told in the ultimate analysis.With Srinath striking early, the South Africans were on the backfoot. But the initial blows proved mere hiccups and not setbacks. Kallis, who is fast emerging as the leading all-rounder in world cricket, batted quite sensibly, holding fort at one end till Cronje joined him and paved the way for their win. It was a good match and despite the reverse India will do well to go into the next games with hope and enthusiasm.

Earlier, winning the toss and electing to bat meant going against tradition in England. Very rarely in the past have teams opted to take strike first. But I believe the Indians opined it would be ideal to bowl in the latter half of the match with the sea breeze behind their back. That it proved detrimental is another story altogether.

The ground at Hove also had a peculiar slope from north to south. It is also verypronounced that the bowler, running in to bowl from the northern end, seems to be running downhill. The venue also has a remarkably low seating capacity and it8217;s definitely not fit to stage any international match.

In fact, the facilities for the players and press alike, not to mention the spectators are far below expectations. The point I am trying to raise is that when touring teams are scheduled to play in India, the authorities send their officials to inspect the facilities at all centres. No such thing was done here, but, let me tell you the facilities provided in India are far superior to those provided here at Hove.

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By staging a match of such magnitude at a venue like this, the ICC have committed a big blunder. Should they be allowed to get away with it ?