At 3 for 37 there were the (now too often)signs of another batting debacle by the Indians. The little master had just departed when the most talked about Indian cricketer for the past year walked out to the middle to start a new innings not only in cricket but also in his career. He was not only stripped of his captaincy but also dumped out of the Indian team after a public spat with coach & loss of batting form. This was the opportunity he was looking for to prove his detractors wrong that he still could play at the highest level.
Today the stage was set for him to make his mark on the game. Firstly by the absolute failure of the top order batsmen to either stay at wicket, see out the new ball or score runs. Then there were Test discard Hayward & Morkel (labelled as the next great SA bowler according to Allan Donald) who by no means were easy to confront on a was the 1st day pitch offering movement & bounce. And last but not least Ganguly detractors who said that Ganguly is vulnerable to the short ball.
Ganguly played his innings with a lot of grit & determinationshowing character which was missing a lot from Indian batsmen on this tour. He didn't go into a shell like others but played his shots when the opportunity presented itself. He got hit by a vicious delivery before lunch but was unmoved & continued playing in the same manner. His fighting innings prompted a "standing ovation" from the Indian players in the dressing room when he reached 50. He was out on 83 before he could reach his century.
He was ably supported by Pathan who scored his maiden century in first class cricket. Right now his batting is not a concern but his bowling surely is. The way Pathan is playing nowadays he is gonna transform himself from a bowler-batsman to a batsman-bowler in the near future. Harbhajan also had some hits to the fence for a quickfire 47.
India's top order is continuing to wither against pace & bounce every match. Seeing off the new ball is so crucial in these conditions so the selesction of Gambhir over Akash Chopra is mistifying. Gambhir who was dropped not so long ago for not converting the 30 & 40's into big ones has been brought back.Sehwag continues to struggle wit him again being bowled. It has become a chronic problem for him recently with his lack of footwork being exposed. Gambhir is an another footworkless strokermaer like Sehwag who is bound to struggle. A grind it out player like Chopra would definitely have been a better selection for this tour. Laxman was selected to add some solidity & experience in the batting order but he again fell playing at a wide one.
At the end of the day Ganguly & also Pathan showed how to stand up & bat through in these trying conditions. The duo were neither bogged down or became afraid of the bowling & played their shots when there was opportunity, which India's batsmen have failed to do so in this tour. Maybe Wasim Akram wasn't wrong in saying that Sachin should play freely more like Lara was doing at the moment.Ganguly recently said before his recall that he was helped by the time away to work on his technique which has helped him to score some runs on domestic front (a Duleep trophy century & a 43 against Punjab at Mohali in a low scoring game against VRV & Gagandeep Singh). Today we saw hopefully a new determined Ganguly who wants to get into the team on basis on runs & not his reputation which many of his detractors are pointing too. He was lucky to have been dropped before he reached 50 but everyone who is out of form deserve some luck. Laxman was supposed to be the original "saviour" of this team but right now that title rests with Ganguly for the time being. It might have been his best innings since the 144 at Gabba 3 years ago. Falling short of a century which would have been the absolute best way to come back & making a big statement over his exclusion from the team. But an 83 might not be bad as he might be keeping the "big one" back for the bigger stage.
