Will India give Ponting a Diwali gift?

The only way the Aussies can come back in this series is a batting collapse by India. It happened against the South Africans in Ahmedabad.

It happened repeatedly in Sri Lanka. It happened in the first Test in Bangalore before Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan bailed India out with half centuries. It nearly happened in Mohali too, when Gambhir, Dravid and Laxman fell in quick succession after lunch on the first day.

So it is bemusing to hear that VVS Laxman may be left out of the Delhi Test to accommodate Anil Kumble in the playing eleven. That must be music to Ponting's ears after the worst drubbing an Australian team has got in many years.

It's true Laxman and Dravid have contributed little to the 'team effort' so far - and I still can't understand why the young in-form Rohit Sharma is not in this team - but they're top order batsmen. Removing one of them will lighten the batting, encourage the Aussie bowlers, and provide the opening that Ponting so desperately needs to wrest the initiative back from India.

And why Laxman? Just because he has fared marginally worse than Dravid in the two Tests so far? What about the Lanka series where Laxman was the only one in the middle order to have a decent batting average of 43?

With Dravid out of form, dropping Laxman means India will rely on just four batsmen. The openers Sehwag and Gambhir are in sparkling form, but all it takes for the new ball to get a wicket or two is to hit the seam and deviate or rear up. Tendulkar and Ganguly got amongst the runs in Mohali, but that was on a placid batting wicket where almost everyone in the lineup scored heavily. And we know what they did in Sri Lanka.

Dhoni coming at No.6 seems all right after his impressive batting in both innings at Mohali, but let's not go overboard. He's a wicket-keeper batsman averaging around 35 in Tests. Besides, the reason why India chose to play six batsmen in Bangalore and Mohali despite having Dhoni in the ranks is precisely to guard against the Aussies running through the batting if two or three fail in the top order.

To change that formula just to create a slot for Kumble would clearly be putting the interests of an individual above that of the team. It is this sort of thing that has done India in time and again, such as when individuals have focused on their milestones rather than the team's requirements. That is why it was so refreshing to hear Sehwag say in a post-match interview in Mohali, on being asked by Gavaskar if he was disappointed at getiing out in the nineties, that he wasn't playing for a century, only trying to maintain the required run rate.

If the selectors had displayed a similar attitude after the Mohali Test, that is, putting the team's interest above that of Kumble, India would not be in such a quandary in spite of getting so far ahead of the Aussies in all departments of the game in Mohali. The quandary of course is that Kumble can only play if either Laxman or Amit Mishra is dropped from the winning team.

Dropping the new spin sensation Mishra would be an even bigger boo-boo than dropping Laxman. It wasn't just that he got a five-for on debut, or that he was the highest wicket-taker in the Test. What was most impressive to me was that he did it in Mohali.

Enthused as I was by Dhoni becoming captain, and Mishra getting to play, I thought it was unfortunate they were getting their big breaks on such a dead track. I had seen how Kumble and Bhajji had toiled over after over without making a dent in the defences of the Kiwis and then the Pakistanis on the last day of a Mohali wicket by which time it is fast asleep.

It was the sheer brilliance of Amit Mishra's bowling in the first innings - the flight, the googly, and the sharp spin - and some reckless batting by the Aussies in the second innings that took India home with two sessions to spare.

Mishra got seven wickets compared to Bhajji's five, but more than the number of wickets it was the manner in which he got them that was so refreshing after so many years of watching Kumble and Bhajji go through their familiar repertoire. Most of the Aussie batsmen got out to defensive shots to Mishra, either failing to read his googly or getting beaten by flight and turn.

Bhajji's three big strikes at the start of the second innings were abetted by a premature sweep by Hayden, a wild pull by Hussey, and an expansive drive outside off-stump by Katich. Mishra was also underbowled in the second innings.
The point is Mishra is the dangerman for the Aussies. Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan did a fantastic job on such a docile wicket, but they wouldn't have won the match without that five-for from Mishra.

Even if you give Bhajji full credit for his wickets, that wasn't the match-winning effort. It was surrealistic therefore to see Dhoni, Tendulkar and Ganguly walk away with awards at the end of the match, with Mishra hiding in the background. Dhoni did score in both innings of the match, but so did four other batsmen in the lineup. It was after all a very easy batting wicket.

The man of the match, from the Aussie point of view, was Mishra without a doubt. And he's the guy they would be most apprehensive about in Delhi too. They know they aren't picking his googly and that's always disconcerting when you go in to bat against a spinner.

Kumble on the other hand is a known enemy. They have played him for years, have got better against him over time, playing him more like an in-swinger than a spinner, and know he's well past his best, averaging 46 runs a wicket in his last eleven Tests. Besides, he's been carrying an injury for we don't know how long, and he hasn't got any practice for a fortnight now. So, whom would you rather face, Kumble or Mishra?

Yes, Ferozeshah Kotla is Kumble's favourite surface, and he's been on the phone with the curator. But if Mishra could bamboozle the Aussies on a Mohali wicket, imagine what he could do in the helpful conditions of Delhi. Anybody who watched the IPL will remember Mishra's exploits for Delhi, including a hat-trick, which is what brought him into contention for the Indian team.

Some commentators are saying glibly that Mishra should wait his turn, that he has a long future ahead of him, that Kumble should first choose to quit. Why should Mishra wait when he is at the peak of his bowling prowess? This might be the series that establishes him in world cricket like the 2001 series did for Harbhajan Singh.

It should simply have been a question of who is bowling better at the moment, and who the Aussies would prefer not to face. It should simply have been a question of fielding the team most suitable for maintaining India's lead in the series and trying to extend it. But that's not how Indian cricket works, and that's the only Aussie hope now.

The selectors, especially former leg-spinner Narendra Hirwani I suspect, deserve credit for picking Amit Mishra ahead of Piyush Chawla for this series. It was fortuitous for them that Kumble's shoulder injury got aggravated during the first Test and Mishra got into the playing eleven.

But then they copped out by naming Kumble captain for the remaining two Tests and leaving it to him to decide who plays in Delhi. Even if Mishra gets in, I doubt he will be half as effective under Kumble as he was under Dhoni. I doubt he will get to bowl at the right time.

To see Kumble captaining the side after Dhoni will also be such a let-down. Kumble was never considered captain material. That's why Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dravid all got the job ahead of him. He got the job only after Dravid quit the captaincy suddenly after the pressure of under-performing got to him. The selectors displayed a lack of vision by naming Dhoni only as the one-day captain, despite the magic of the T20 triumph.

Kumble's captaincy so far has been uninspiring and yielded poor results - a one-nil series victory over Pakistan thanks to a helpful Delhi wicket being the only success in four series before this one. It was palpable how Dhoni's leadership suddenly galvanized the side in Bangalore on the fourth day when Kumble took an injury break.

After being on the backfoot right from the first day, India suddenly looked like getting into a winning position. The same Dhoni effect was very much evident in the Mohali Test, especially when he asked Mishra to come round the wicket and bowl a googly to Michael Clarke in the final over of the second day. India went on to hand out the worst hiding that Ponting has ever experienced as captain, although he must be getting used to coming out second best to Dhoni. The Twenty20 World Cup, the series Down Under, and now this.

So, yes, to have Kumble and not Dhoni as his adversary in Delhi, and to bat against Kumble and not Mishra, will be a nice Diwali gift to Ponting from the Indians. The Indian selectors, on the other hand, will be hoping that Lady Luck smiles on Kumble by giving him another ideal pitch for his sort of bowling in Delhi.

But even if Kumble pulls it off as bowler and captain in tailor-made conditions, I would still maintain that it is a big step backward for Indian cricket. I mean Kumble can only do it in Delhi now, but Mishra has already shown he's a spinner for all conditions, and Dhoni has already shown the kind of self-belief that teams and captains have lacked for years against the Aussies. It's amazing that the Indian selectors and administrators refuse to see this.

c_sumit@dnaindia.net