May 31, 1999
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PAVILION END Initial Setback Qualifying for the Super Six has become that much more harder. By Anshuman Gaekwad
The batsmen too failed at a crucial time. They were giving away their wickets rather than allowing the Zimbabweans to bowl them out. I was particularly upset by the manner in which Sadagopan Ramesh got out. He had played well but prior to his dismissal had given two chances. But even then he decided to hit over the top and holed out. There was no need for him to play that shot when India were coasting along nicely. Naturally everyone was upset by the manner in which the team capitulated at the end. Sachin Tendulkar, of course, was sorely missed. After the match nobody spoke much, just packed their kit and left for the team hotel. It must have dawned on all that application and dedication were necessary to win even the simplest of World Cup matches. However, this is not the end for India in the World Cup. I'm quite optimistic that we will qualify for the Super Six. Only that the two defeats mean that it has become so much harder. I don't want to dwell on the loss to South Africa. We have studied the game intently (we had a meeting for an hour after the match) and it has helped us to learn about our flaws. Although some drunken louts turned abusive at the end, India played well and showed impressive attitude. But we made two mistakes. Our batsmen weren't able to cash in on their secondline bowlers Nicky Boje and Hansie Cronje even though we had wickets in hand. Secondly, although Javagal Srinath was marvellous in his opening spell, he bowled too short and on the leg and middle stump later. Both Dinar Gupte, our scorer-cum-statistician, and Brijesh Patel, the manager, have laptops and we had worked out that an off-stump line was vital against their batsmen. In fact, we had a two-and-a-half-hour meeting prior to the game during which we watched videos of South Africa's matches against England here last year. But we didn't stick completely to the plan we devised. Still, the intensity of the Indian team was heartening. Before the match in the dressing room I could see the concentration on the faces of Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly. There was some criticism about Ganguly not scoring in the warm-up matches but I was confident that we needed a big-match player. Indeed he scored when it counted. The fact that we got to 253, the highest total of the tournament at that point, without Tendulkar making a substantial contribution was something that pleased me immensely. Cronje's earpiece caused some consternation. I had bumped into match referee Talat Ali outside the dressing room and asked him, "What's that Hansie's using?" He replied, "Yes, that's exactly what I want to know." This is contrary to the rumour the Indian management did not lodge a protest. Fact is this coach-captain communication isn't disallowed because the rules don't mention it. However, I don't completely buy Cronje's argument that it saves time instead of sending pads and water out along with messages. The mike-earphone allows ball by ball communication. After all, how many times will you send pads out? (Anshuman Gaekwad, coach of the Indian
cricket team, will be writing a weekly column |
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Two defeats in
two matches. That's not the ideal way to start off one's campaign in the World Cup. Our
loss to Zimbabwe in the second match was very disappointing because the players did not
play to their full potential. It's probably the worst bowling performance that I have seen
since I took over as the coach. No team can afford to give away so many extras and hope to
win. Twenty one wides and 16 no balls, it was incredible. 
