McGrath scripts India8217;s debacle

Delivery No 2: Ditto for the in-form Rahul Dravid.

It was a great exhibition of fast bowling as McGrath made superb use of the bounce in the wicket.

Sachin Tendulkar, promoted to open the innings, was done in by the tremendous bounce McGrath extracted. In fact, it was not just the bounce, but his immaculate line and length that bamboozled India.

Once Tendulkar departed, Australia, quite expectedly, dominated proceedings. Steve Waugh even had the audacity to employ three slips and a gully for McGrath.

With Ganguly and Azhar who surprisingly came in after Jadeja also perishing, it was a tall order for the batsmen who followed to chase Australia8217;s massive total. Nevertheless, Jadeja and Robin Singh, two batsmen with tremendous fighting qualities, did their utmost to resurrect the India innings. But, eventually, it wasof no avail. In England, it8217;s always difficult to make a choice between batting or bowling first after winning the toss, because a captain is invariably influenced by deceptive weather conditions that prevail when he goes out for the toss. I guess Azhar was probably carried away by the cloud cover.

The Oval wicket has always been a batsman8217;s delight and I feel India ought to have opted to bat. Prior to this game, Mark Waugh did not have a good tournament but he chose this particular occasion to come good by essaying a superb innings. He is a terrific striker of the ball, and the wicket was ideal for his kind of strokeplay as the ball comes on to the bat nicely. It is difficult to contain a batsman of his calibre because he has so many shots in his repertoire and is never afraid to execute them.

Srinath apart, the Indians did not bowl as effectively as one expected them to. What8217;s more, in a big ground like The Oval, fielders with poor shoulders were exposed, and they gave away at least 40 runs, which madelife easier for the Aussies.

The Australians performed creditably, and it made one wonder whether this was the same team which made the Super Six without a point to their credit.