AUCKLAND, New Zealand: India’s gains from the tour of New Zealand are not substantial, at least not as much as in Pakistan recently.
In Pakistan, Sanjay Manrekar and Manoj Prabhakar established themselves while Sachin Tendulkar was ‘discovered”. Manjrekar was the most prolific run-getter on the tour and Prabhakar’s swing bowling was so nagging that Pakistan skipper Imran Khan surprisingly went on record saying that his action was “‘suspect.”
In New Zealand, there wasn’t a find, but Atul Wassan, W.V. Raman and Venkatapathi Raju showed that they have talent and skill to serve the country in international matches.
Wassan has the makings of a fine medium pace bowler and a batsman who could rise to the occasion. Raman demonstrated that he was quite resourceful as an opener although he did nibble at outgoing deliveries more often than was necessary. Raju developed into a fine left hand spinner with consistent line and length. But all the three, more so Raman, revealed that their fielding was below standard,
Azharuddin dazzled in batting and fielding. A class by himself in batting, he was feared the most by New Zealand bowlers. Unassuming and modest on and off the field, he endeared himself to all. But, he needs to assert himself to motivate his team mates.
The superstars, Kapil Devand Dilip Venggsarkar, did not justify their reputation. Kapil Dev.’s bowling looked flat and batting inconsistent. His bowling had lost the edge because he was bowling with his arm tilted from the shoulder instead of bringing it down from a high position as he used to a few years ago, but, he did occasionally show that there was enough fire left in his lithe frame to swing a match. Can ‘one ever forget the last over he bowled in the return one dayer against New Zealand in the triangular series?
Vengsarkar, under pressure following his late inclusion as replacement for the injured Navjot Singh Sidhu, was caught between bad luck and lack of form. He always appeared fallible at the start of his innings and one failure led to another.
His batting failure had an adverse effect on his already moderate fielding. But, whatever his form and luck, he is a batsman of high caliber and should be retained in the team for the tour of England,
Kiran more continues to be a tenacious batsman at number eight or nine. But his work behind stumps has often fallen apart on this tour and as it did on the earlier tour of Pakistan. May be he is over worked. It is always judicious to have two wicket keepers to provide much needed rest to the main stumper.
Narender Hirwani has the talent and skill. But he lacks confidence in that he ‘cannot fight the ball to buy his wickets.
Gursharan Singh is an Orthodox batsman. But he has to build his temperament to succeed in key matches, while Ajay Sharma has got to raise the level of his batting and bowling to be useful to the side,
Article extracted from this publication >> March 23, 1990
