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Untitled Document
 The worst series of the Indian middle order
13th Aug 2008 23:03 IST
Manish Kumar
It was not long ago that the Indian middle order was in such rip-roaring form that India won Test series in the West Indies and England, won a Test for the first time in South Africa and won a Test for the first time in Perth, Australia.
But in the just concluded Test series against Sri Lanka, India's quartet of Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman averaged the second-worst for numbers 3-6 in Tests featuring the four.
Tendulkar was easily the biggest disappointment of the series. Looking to break the record of Brian Lara for most Test runs, Tendulkar failed to conjure up a single substantial score and disappointed in six consecutive innings, first finding odd ways to be dismissed, then falling twice to Chaminda Vaas with shots he could have avoided and finally making two errors of judgment in the final Test.
Dravid, done in by the reviews time and again, but somewhere in the middle of the second Test he began to come out of the shell that he has been in since he gave up the captaincy. Failing against Ajantha Mendis did not help matters, but by the final Test Dravid was batting with something approaching fluency and calm.
For someone who uses his feet better than most against the spinners, Ganguly was tied to the crease more than one could fathom and the only solace he can draw is that Mendis never dismissed him. This is somewhat countered by the fact that he fell to Muttiah Muralitharan on out five of six occasions and his scores show that he was the worst batsman in the Indian middle order.
Laxman was perhaps the only one batsman in the Indian middle order who came to grips with playing Sri Lanka's spinners early enough for it to make a difference but falling to Mendis five times in six innings did not help matters. His final innings of the series, on a leg with a twisted ankle, even though in vain, showed that he still has much to offer. And his catching was upto the mark as he went past 100 catches.
Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman have all enjoyed purple patches of late, and the real reason for India's batting being so rudderless in this series can be found in the decline of Dravid.
Dravid, once the most dependable batsman in the Indian line-up, hasn't found the high gears for nearly two years now, except for the match-turning effort of 92 in Perth.
The more these batsmen will struggle, the more their place in the team will be doubted and questioned.
But as Mahendra Singh Dhoni has said that the credentials of these stalwarts cannot be questioned, one finds a soothing calm in the saying that class is permanent and form is temporary. |
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