Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The first partnership is the keystone on which will largely depend the pattern of things to come. 8212; Ian Peebles
Come Tuesday, and India could well be opening a new chapter in their cricketing philosophy. In deciding upon the playing eleven and batting order at the Rawalpindi Test, they face more than a choice between the relative batting merits of Aakash Chopra and Yuvraj Singh. Opting for the one over the other and giving the latter an opening slot could see them embark on an interesting, yet possibly hazardous, experiment.
If India do indeed open with Yuvraj, they will have turned one of Test cricket8217;s unwritten rules on its head. Requisite attributes of opening batsmen, after all, are said to include: courage to take nasty blows in early-morning new-ball overs, soundness of technique to deal with brute pace, restraint to leave iffy deliveries alone, patience to wait for the loose ball, maturity to refrain from committing to a shot early.
It demands a tough magnanimity to base one8217;s success by assessing how much easier play has been made for the batsmen to follow, not by counting the number of runs scored.
Chopra, who the grapevine has it may have played his last in this three-Test series, has these in plenty. His Australian summer has been deemed a success on this account. 8216;8216;My job was to be there as long as possible without thinking too much about runs8217;8217;, he said after that tour. He carried that brief with him to Multan and Lahore, though a little unsuccessfully at the Gaddafi Stadium.
But India, for whatever other reasons, may open with Yuvraj on April 13. If they do, if they don8217;t give in to the temptation of packing him in the middle order and rushing Parthiv Patel to the top, they will defy many accepted notions.
If Yuvraj partners Virender Sehwag, it will be akin to the Jayasuriya-Kaluwitharana one-two a decade ago that changed the way teams initiated their one-day innings. In earlier times one and two used to wear out the new ball and shield the next batsmen in from its terrors, thus enabling them to raise their run-rates in the middle overs.
Test follows what8217;s writ in one-day cricket surely but slowly. Sehwag may say he would like to drop down the batting order, but his brisk run rate 8212; constructed on a determination to play his shots no matter what 8212; gives following batsmen the luxury of quietude to get a measure of the track and the bowling before they apply themselves fully to the task of accumulating runs.
By sending out Yuvraj with Sehwag, they would have two batsmen out there without half a classical opening batsmen8217;s technique between them. If they click, there wouldn8217;t be much left for the others to worry about 8212; remember Tendulkar at Multan?
It is certainly an innovation worth considering. India have always struggled to find even one, forget about two, good opening batsmen. Ramesh, Das, Jaffer 8212; each has fallen by the wayside for failing to live up to initial promise and stick it out for a few overs. Why not just dispense with the idea? Why not simply send out two big-hitters who would at least maximise their stint at the crease by working up a sturdy strike rate?
One wonders what effect a Yuvraj-Sehwag one-two would have on the middle order. Test cricket is a slowly unfolding spectacle. By hurrying proceedings, the opening pair is bound to influence the tempo of the middle order. The number three bat will have little clue about how long he must sit padded up before he is summed to the middle. The guys succeeding him could have changed perceptions about the utility of their unhurriedly crafted 40s and 50s.
Wait for word from the Indian camp. An experiment may just have begun.
