India v South Africa 2: The Return of Laxman

Saturday, February 13, 2010 cricket, india, preview, rishabh bablani, south africa 19 Comments

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A lot of things have happened at the worst times for India this series. Rahul Dravid is missing only his second match since his debut 14 years ago - worst possible time for that to happen. It's also the meanest thing Bangladesh has ever done to India. The worst time for the law of probability to catch up with Gambhir. The worst possible time for Paul Harris (Mindy) to turn the ball. The worst possible time for Yuvraj to finally get injured so we can replace him with someone better suited to Tests. The worst possible time for Rohit Sharma to play football. The worst possible time for the selectors to make the dumbest selection, ever. And now, ladies and gentlemen, the worst possible time for someone to stand up to the BCCI.

The pitch curator at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata has not, as was requested, prepared a raging turner that would hand India victory in three days. In fact, upon the pitch inspection, MS Dhoni said that there probably wouldn't be much turn for the first two days. Two whole days. Which means if South Africa bat first, India are pretty much buried if we go by current form. Two days, enough for South Africa to bat India out of the match - all they have to do is protect their lead.

The line-up is crucial for India. Laxman is back, but despite his awesome record at the ground (avg 81.63) he can't shoulder the batting responsibilities. Some positives could be that Sehwag and Sachin seem in decent nick, and Gambhir is unlikely to fail three innings in a row - besides, how many jaffas can Morne serve up in a row? Don't answer that. Ishant had a terrible outing, and Sreesanth, despite not having played competitive cricket of late, could get the nod - he's simply more of a threat than I-shan't Sharma. Mishra was amazingly unlucky considering how many times he beat the bat. Maybe he should turn the ball a tad less. That's horrible advice, actually - as a legspinner myself, there's nothing more satisfying than giving the ball a fair rip and watching it weave past the bat. Almost better than chocolate and taking wickets.

Anyway, the team. Badrinath, from what I saw of him, is quite Dravid-esque in his approach, so I'd suggest dropping Vijay - he's flashier and more susceptible to the Steynmeister. Badrinath should be at number three, Laxman at five and Dhoni at six, and five bowlers to follow, so it would look like this:

Sehwag
Gambhir
Badrinath
Sachin
Laxman
Dhoni (c) (wk)
Harbhajan
Mishra
Zaheer
Sreesanth
Ishant

That is highly unlikely, given India's traditional reluctance to play less than seven batsmen, even though Harby, Mishra and Zaheer can all bat. Plus, Steynmeister is a real tail-killer. So this is more likely:

Sehwag
Gambhir
Vijay
Sachin
Laxman
Badrinath
Dhoni (c) (wk)
Harbhajan
Mishra
Zaheer
Sreesanth

News from the South African camp, though, is that Graeme Smith has injured his finger. That guy's a real fighter though, and expect him to load up on the painkillers and march right onto the field. He may not have scored in the first match, but his captaincy is vital to South Africa. They still have issues with Prince and Duminy's form, and I would bet on one of them getting replaced by Alviro Peterson, but after this series - a winning team is not to be tinkered with. Boucher has a niggle, and AB can take that over which would give Peterson a game anyway. That's minor of course. Steyn and Morkel, unfortunately are in full fitness, and so are Kallis and Amla.

India will will either make a remarkable turnaround and win, or lose again. They should not, under any circumstances, play for the draw.

Wow, this looks like a lot of analysis. It really isn't.