Fresh start,process begins

Indias young and inexperienced bowling will be tested

The wicket at the Ferozeshah Kotla was subjected to a series of inspections by persistent men with the intention of acquainting themselves with its potential nature,one which has previously attained notoriety. Sachin Tendulkar walked along its length even as the wicket received Rahul Dravids undivided attention. Virender Sehwag got a feel of the surface by placing his palms at a good length spot and then stood around the 22-yard strip,staring at it with prying eyes.

The collective reading of these Indian batsmen wouldnt have resulted in any new finding about this wicket at a ground on which India have won seven Tests in a row and drawn their last outing. The Kotla wicket is a far cry from those lively ones at the Lords,Nottingham,Birmingham and the Oval venues at which Indias batting unit failed collectively,with the exception of Dravid.

Umesh Yadav,the uncapped fast bowler,occupied the foreground of this hullabaloo around the match wicket. Yadav,22,bowling on one of the centre wickets,repeatedly landed the ball on the spot prescribed by bowling coach Eric Simons. The minor achievement,of course,went unnoticed by the batting greats yet it was a significant step for the speedster one of the four bowlers here yet to make a debut on match eve.

Against the West Indies,Indias experienced,full-strength batting side should set right the anomaly that occurred in England as the erstwhile No.1 team begin their first series without the crown in nearly two years Tendulkars century of centuries the highly anticipated high.

But keeping in mind Indias future assignments such as Australia,the pressing challenge will be to quickly groom the next generation of young bowlers six of them in this squad.

Ishant Sharma,returning from injury,and Pragyan Ojha have a combined experience of 49 Tests,while leg-spinner Rahul Sharma,off-spinner R Ashwin and genuine quicks Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav havent played one yet. What will settle their collective nerves going into this game is the lack of intimidation this generation of West Indian cricketers possess.

The absence of hype around these matches and the lack of hyperbole India are no longer the best side in the world should drastically reduce the pressure on these youngsters. The real battle,however,will only begin on Boxing Day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground next month.

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To be the No.1 side in the world,a team must have bowlers capable of taking 20 wickets,goes the cricketing adage. India bowled out England in just two innings over four Tests. While the lack of bite in the bowling doesnt tell the full story of Indias 0-4 drubbing,another poor series with the ball will only lay bare the lack of bench strength in this department,a void that was exposed after Zaheer Khan limped out at Lords.

Those bowlers who want to book tickets on the same flight as Zaheer and Harbhajan Singh to Australia have their opportunity now. The visitors havent had an away series win in nearly a decade-and-half against a Test playing nation,other than Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.

Dhonis side will be eager to set the wrongs of the England tour right over this season as they begin their arduous journey towards regaining the No.1 ranking. We want to be No.1 but it is not something you get and hold onto without doing well. We did not do well in England and that is why we lost it. But it is a process and we have to start it again, Dhoni said.

Handing Test caps to two among Ashwin,Rahul Sharma,Aaron and Yadav on Sunday morning will mark the start of the process.

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