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Looking Ahead: Pakistan in India 2004-05 - 3rd
Test at Bangalore |
Preview by Pradeep Ramarathnam
 Five reasons
why Bangalore is a very good venue for the
decider of an Indo Pak test series
-
The climate
is as good as it gets anywhere in March.
-
The pitch
is sporting- Well, the ball behaves itself and
doesn’t have the audacity to climb upto the
waist. Other than that, the pitch offers
something to everyone.
-
The crowd
has been well taught by their parents. Nobody
throws anything at the players.
-
After the
series is done, there are enough watering
holes for the players to unwind with a nice
glass of beer
-
Aamir
Sohail and Venkatesh Prasad have since kissed
and made up. So there’ll be no more pointing
of any kind at anyone.
 Bangalore as
a test venue has of course many more things to
show off. But with the all consuming India
Pakistan duel in mind, two of the most memorable
games played on Indian soil happened at the M.
Chinnaswamy Stadium.
The World Cup
quarters in 96 was the ultimate dismissive proof
of the fact that the ‘India Pakistan Friendly
Rivalry’ cliché is nothing but a whited
sepulcher. Underneath the bonhomie, apple pies
and honey was an underlying fury, an intense
desire to not just win but vanquish. The
Pakistan team had it. Hell, they scared us out
of playing in Sharjah. But, what about the
Indians? The Indian team had been almost
embarrassed to let this out in the open before,
but the day Venkatesh Prasad played Traffic Cop
and showed Sohail, somewhat impolitely, the way
to the dressing room, the Indian team threw
diplomacy to Jagmohan Dalmiya’s residence and
what followed was transparent aggression, the
kind Javed Miandad would be proud of.
Ultimately, it took David Shepherd to put a
perspective on things.
The other
epic battle was of course the 1987 Test, famous
for Gavaskar’s 96. Tauseef Ahmed and Iqbal Qasim
with the help of the ravaged track, got the ball
drunk. Like all people drunk silly, the ball
moved in multiple directions. Our man Maninder
grabbed the best ever haul at Chinnaswamy by
lapping up 7 for 27. Pakistan won by 16.
Gavaskar’s brilliant innings ended tragically,
though it became the second 90 (After GRV’s 97)
to be etched as part of folklore. Somewhat
romantically for Gavaskar, his last test innings
ended 4 runs short of a landmark. Are you
listening, Sir Donald?
The third
test will be the direct opposite of a cakewalk.
History is laughing at those who think India is
odds-on favourites for the game. Indians have
won 4 out of 14 games here. One of them was in
1977. The other three were against New Zealand
(2), and Sri Lanka. Since ’87, we’ve lost twice
to Australia and once to South Africa. The final
exam is near and the report card is not looking
good.
Pakistan on
the other hand have nothing to lose except some
dead weight. Taufiq Umar and Mohammad Khalil can
spend Friday morning in Bangalore’s famous
amusement park at Cubbon Park. Afridi will
remain a huge threat as a batsman, especially on
the slow, low Bangalore wicket. Pakistan now
have three players to choose from as his opening
partner. Salman Butt, Yaseer Hameed and Shoaib
Malik all present valid arguments. My vote would
go to Hameed.
On the
bowling front, Pakistan can do nothing but pray
for some reverse swing and the return of Steve
Bucknor. Their opening attack is toothless. Sami
has got to realize that he doesn’t scare anyone.
Their reserve spinner Arshad Khan will be as
much a threat as Mohammedan Sporting is to
Arsenal. Razzaq and Kaneria must do the dirty
work. The sooner Kaneria lands his leg spinners
in the good length spot, the better.
 With all eyes
on Sachin , the pressure will automatically ease
on the other Indian players. Dravid’s test
record in Bangalore is abysmal by his standards,
so he will have a point to prove. Sachin though
would be glad to know that Bangalore has been a
happy hunting ground for records (Along with IT
and Beer). Yajurvindra Singh took a world record
5 catches in an innings and 7 in the match in
the 1976-77 match. Sunil Gavaskar made 172 in
708 minutes in 1981-82 for the longest innings
by an Indian in test cricket. (The knock did the
same damage to cricket viewership in Bangalore
as the movie ‘Jaws’ did to Watersports). In
1988-89, Hadlee broke Botham’s record to become
highest wicket taker. In 1994, Kapil Dev equaled
Hadlee to become joint highest wicket taker in
the world. So, it’s looking good for Sachin. As
long as the umpires have a nice pleasant
breakfast, Sachin is on course for Number 35.
India’s
bowling should take care of itself. Kumble in 15
years is going to be a very good candidate for
President of India .The man just gets better
with age. Balaji and Pathan grab their
appetizers before the spinners get their lunch.
Good luck to Harbhajan though. His story reminds
me of a guy I knew in school who was
unfortunately born with a crooked eye. It always
seemed like he was looking at someone else. This
spelt disaster during the exams. Every time he
would get caught, he used to produce the
doctor’s certificate. After a lull of an exam or
two, the teacher would do it again. To measure
a 15 degree bend accurately with the naked eye,
Mr. Chris Broad is obviously blessed with the
kind of vision Superman would be proud of. What
a pity that he struggled to read Alderman and
Reid’s in-swingers.
Elsewhere,
the bastard child of Indian cricket, Murli
Kartik gets ready for the Ranji Final. The
Bangalore wicket has never been of any use for
the fast bowlers, so why is Kartik slugging it
out in the Karnail Singh Stadium nets?
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