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Journalism of Courage
An absorbing battle between Australia and India in Chennai is headed for a result after two days, but neither side has yet achieved a position of dominance.
The ultimate cricket contest is well named a Test match. It is a test of the players’ skill, courage and intelligence and Australia deserve ten out of ten for their heart in fighting back. They took ten wickets for 135 following a century opening partnership and no one epitomised the courage required to achieve that feat more than Gavin Robertson.
The Indian batsmen had no answer to the queries posed by “The Riddler” on the second morning, as Robertson relaxed and settled into a good rhythm.
This resulted in some well-flighted deliveries which helped demolish the bottom half of the order. Anil Kumble was the first to succumb beaten by a ball, which looped from above the batsman’s eye line and caused a mis-timed drive. From there on it was a procession and Shane Warne eagerly joined the send-off committee as the spin twins combined perfectly totake five for 25.
The Australian spin bowlers were assisted in their cause as the tailenders failed to observe the priority of playing a support role to the top order batsmen, Rahul Dravid. In the end Dravid became frustrated as his partners disappeared quicker than a dish of “Gajar Halwa” and holed out in the deep as he tried to hit Warne into the Buckingham Canal.
On the second morning it seemed the Australian spinners extracted more turn and bounce than on Day One. This was confirmed as true when Anil Kumble bowled a spiteful over to Mark Taylor, with a number of deliveries leaping off the pitch like a striking cobra. This seemed to unsettle Michael Slater watching from the non-striker’s end and his rather nervous comeback innings ended when he played a little too early at a delivery on leg-stump.
This was just the tonic India needed an early wicket and taken by Kumble trying to re-establish his reputation. Kumble enjoys bowling to the Australians and he was able to dictate terms to all batsmenexcept Mark Waugh.
The younger of the Waugh twins has the best footwork of all the Australians and he played watchfully against Kumble and with some aggression against off-spinner Rajesh Chauhan. If the Australians are to win this series Mark (Waugh) will have to make a good contribution as he is the best equipped batsman to score with freedom on these pitches rather than just survive. Just as he looked set to take charge he was out to one that bounced and resulted in a sharp chance taken at silly mid-off.
In addition to some good spin bowling, India fielded well with Rahul Dravid making two great contributions at bat pad. The debutant Harvinder Singh impressed, bowling a full length and getting some movement off the seam, to pick up Mark Taylor as his first Test scalp. He bowled better than opening partner Javagal Srinath who was too short too often. The pick of the bowlers was Kumble who used the extra bounce in the MAC stadium pitch to his advantage.
Venkatapathy Raju also celebrated his return tothe Test arena with some classic left-arm orthodox bowling, his dismissal of Mark Waugh being a perfect example. At that stage it looked as though Australia could trail by around 100, but the eternal fighter Ian Healy shepherded the tailenders along to the point where the deficit is only 64. I say only, though a lead of even fifty will be invaluable with Australia batting last on this pitch.
But Healy and his good mate Warne are still at the crease. Both are aggressive and they have the shots to quickly reduce that figure of 64. What they do with the bat on the third morning will be almost as important as anything they achieve on the field in India’s second innings. After all this is a Test, a complete examination of a cricketer’s ability.
