The irony is hard to miss as Team India head to Irfan Pathan’s backyard, growing increasingly desperate to spot an all-rounder. But the West Indies, after the win at Chennai, swagger for the final game of the series with a surplus of sorts in the bits and pieces department.While the emergence of the second-stringers Marlon Samuels and Dwayne Bravo as match-winners has seen many reworking the World Cup odds, it also brings into focus the patience the West Indian team management has shown with these multi-dimensional cricketers. It’s a school of thought that is in contrast to the Indian scenario where Pathan is returning after a short break, Joginder Sharma has a break after a short international stint while names like Ajit Agarkar and Ramesh Powar are floated as all-rounder. There are a few experts who have questioned the Indian way of handling all-rounders. Former Test batsman Mohinder Amarnath told The Indian Express, “a young all-rounder specially needs to be supported when the chips are down.” The Sri Lankan great Aravinda de Silva gave the example of how Mahroof was groomed into a match-winner. “People said he wasn’t of international standard but now he will be a force to reckon with at the World Cup,” he says. That is something that Brian Lara has been doing since the West Indies started their long countdown for World Cup at the tri-series in Malaysia last year. When the likes of Gayle, Chanderpaul, Sarwan and himself made a habit of winning games for he West Indies despite the failure of those below them, they were seen as ‘top-heavy-unbalanced outfit’. But Lara repeatedly rubbished the generalisation by asking time for his young all-rounders and backing those claims by giving them enough opportunities on field. In a game at Kuala Lumpur, Lara dropped himself at No.9 to leave the stage for the young batsmen. When the move failed he had no regrets. “They need to be given responsibility and they will learn from their mistakes,” he said. Those words have proved prophetic as Samuels after a long slump with the bat has finally found form. At the end of the Champions Trophy last year, Samuels had just two 50s in 37 games. He has played a prominent role in the last two West Indian wins —100 against Pakistan at Multan and the 89 at Chennai. Even after such a match-winning touch Lara was guarded when he spoke about Samuels’ U-turn. “I don’t know about turning the corner but what I do know is that in the last two wins that we’ve had Marlon Samuels was a top performer with the bat so I think that is something very good for us. We are trying to build a lot more match winners in the team,” he said. The other ‘work in progress’ that Lara has nurtured is Bravo. Lara hyped the young all-rounder at Malaysia where he scored two half-centuries and that seems to have done the trick. In the subsequent two months he scored 112 against England at the Champions Trophy and now his best bowling figures of 4/39 at Chennai. Swelling the list of all-rounders in the squad that will take on India here on Wednesday are Gayle and Smith. If the West Indies have a problem of plenty, for India it is the case of plenty of problems on the issue of all-rounders.
