Dravid can end see-saw tour on high

It is a luxury that well balanced teams can afford themselves. The ideal one-day side is self-sufficient with 10 players; five batsmen, four bowlers, one all-rounder and 10 fielders. You could make those specifications more precise; the wicket-keeper is one of the batsmen, one of the bowlers bats and one of the batsmen bowls a bit. Then you play the floater. Uthappa can play that role more often if one, he is allowed to fail occasionally as he will, and two, since he doesn’t bowl, if two of the top five batsmen can bowl 10 overs between them consistently.

So where does that all-rounder come from? Let’s do a bit of profiling that will aid in the search. We are looking for somebody who bats at number six, ideally even number five, for his state and bowls 10 overs every time. If he can do that he might be able to bat at number 7 in international cricket and bowl 5-6 overs though, truth be told, the gap between first class cricket in India and international cricket is even more than that. The alternative, the easier search, is for existing players to upgrade skills; Ramesh Powar with his fitness for example, Yuvraj Singh with his bowling (The Oval hammering will not happen every day!). And for someone like Piyush Chawla to start batting at number 5 for his state.

That is where someone like Ajit Agarkar looked like heading when he first came into the Indian squad. He has tried long enough to tell people that he is a bowler, and that is where his continued existence lies, but he would have been far more valuable if he had worked on his batting enough to bat at number 7. Now, he only averages 8 from his last 20 games and is a hit or miss cricketer. That makes him good enough to be a fifth bowler but sadly not one of four on a consistent basis.

And so the dilemma for Indian cricket continues. Give youth a chance, Ian Chappell said, echoing the popular number from the Beatles. And there is youth around in Uthappa, Gambhir, Kaarthick, Rohit Sharma and Manoj Tiwary. But where do they fit in? Sachin Tendulkar is batting in one-day cricket like he is one of the youngsters and Sourav Ganguly is enjoying himself. He is smiling a lot, is feisty with kids in the opposition and is bowling in the right areas and within the power plays. In three games out of six, Tendulkar and Ganguly, the greatest opening combination in the history of one-day cricket, have put on a century partnership and India have won each of those three. Rahul Dravid is batting freely and Yuvraj Singh at last seems to have a permanent position at number 4. And I would be very disappointed if Sehwag is not eyeing, and working strongly towards, a spot in the eleven as well. How then does Abhimanyu enter this chakravyuha? And what fun it would be if there was even half the competition among the bowlers.

India have given themselves a great chance of ending this see-saw tour on a high. London is seeing the last of the sun and Lord’s should have a good surface. India’s batsmen should enjoy the conditions and if the bowlers come to the party, the one-day series win can be added to the Test series win. Dravid said he feared that if India lost the one-dayers the victory in the Tests would be forgotten. He has a great opportunity of ensuring that doesn’t happen.

Then maybe, just maybe, that old corner studio at Lord’s can become a shrine.