India will have to pull off a special in Kolkata to defend their No.1 ranking, home record and reputation. DNA identifies some must-dos for MS Dhoni & Co.
India will have to pull off a special in Kolkata to defend their No.1 ranking, home record and reputation. DNA identifies some must-dos for MS Dhoni & Co.
VVS should bat at 3
Doing a re-think on the No.3 spot could help the side. Murali Vijay, in spite of the twin failures in Nagpur, hasn’t looked like a fish out of water. However, with VVS Laxman declared fit, the option of playing the wristy batsman at No.3 could be explored. Laxman has played some of his best knocks from one down, including his 281 in Kolkata against Australia in 2001 when India was following-on. Laxman has looked most comfortable at No.3 in the past and it wouldn’t be a gamble if India decides to promote him up the order.
Bhajji must attack
Harbhajan Singh, who has a great record (38 wickets in six Tests) at Eden Garden, should look to bowl an attacking line at the South Africans. In Nagpur, the off spinner didn’t look the match-winning bowler he is and would be well-advised to bowl an
off-stump line, rather than a leg-stump line. In the first Test, the Indian attack looked like a one-man attack with only Zaheer Khan having any sort of influence on the game.
If Harbhajan can trouble the South Africans, then half the battle will
be won.
MSD should be +ve
Left-arm spinner Paul Harris shackled skipper MS Dhoni so much so that he suddenly looked like a batsman of limited ability. Dhoni did not have the shots and the gameplan to counter Harris’ negative line. Against the quicks, he didn’t look at ease often failing to get to the pitch of the ball and looking uncomfortable against pace. Lower down the order, Dhoni will have to figure out a way to make runs at a fast clip. Another performance like the one in the first Test (31 runs off 141 balls) will only play into the hands of the South Africans.
Viru-Gauti show
The South African fast bowlers put the Indian line-up under pressure in both the innings of the first Test. Whenever Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag get off to a good start, then India look a much better and more formidable batting line-up. Without Rahul Dravid at No.3, the team can be put under pressure if either one of Gambhir or Sehwag are dismissed early. If the top-order can keep Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel at bay and attacked them, then the South Africans have little bowling power to fall back upon.
Reverse swing it
The conditions in Nagpur, in spite of a lush outfield, were conducive for reverse swing. However, none of the Indian bowlers could generate reverse swing, a phenomenon that Dale Steyn used to great effect to land telling blows just after tea on Day Three. Skipper Dhoni hoped the ball would reverse as early as the 30 over, but the Indians had no such luck. If on of the three — Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, S Sreesanth — can generate reverse swing then the South African batsmen will be under pressure, more so if the spinners bowl to their potential.
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