A sports correspondent BOMBAY: It was one of the worst tours by any Indian cricket team in recent memory. Not only did the tourist lose 30 in the four Test series (in the fourth they were probably saved by the weather) but they also suffered a humiliating 5O routing in the one days. But worse than the defeats, the Indians simply failed to put up even a semblance of a fight in any of the matches in the Carribbeans, No effort was ever made to build up the Indian innings or force the West Indies on the defensive. The fielding looked absolutely ragged and the bowJers simply had no game plan.
Who should be held responsible for the Indian debacle (a word simply not strong enough)? Is it the selectors of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the skipper of the team or the players individually and collectively? 1 would put the major part of the blame on the Indian skipper Dilip ‘Vengsarkar. Not only did Vengsarkar suffer a very lean patch during the current tour but he was also unable to get the best out of his players. Making his third tour of the West Indies, ie was simply unable to galvanize his team members to give off their best. His handling of the bowlers was unimaginative and his crude shuffling of the batting order hardly added to his lostlustre,
Even when the West Indies batsmen were on the rampage, the Indian skipper (a veteran of over 100 Tests) kept a cluster of fielders round batsmen of the class of Gordon Greenridge, Desmond Haynes and Richie Richardson. And it was a blessing in disguise that Viv Richards did not get into the act till the last Test. Vengsarkar has probably nearly ended the confidence of
young Narendra Hirwani, a bowler making his first important tour abroad. Hirwani,
who had captured 16 wickets in his maiden Test (against the West Indies last season) was turned into a wreck by the inept handling of his skipper. In the current tour, Hirwani ended with six wickets with an average of 57.50 figures which surely will notenth use the 21 year old cricketer. Vengsarkar should have allowed the leg spinner to find his own length settle down and then attack.
Vengsarkar also failed to motivate Arshad Ayub or even Chetan Sharma. There ‘was no strategy as the Indian bowlers went through their motions. Vengsarkar’s bowling changes were not made at the right time and often the bowlers did not get the field placements they desired.
Senior players were often seen squabbling with the skippers as they went about setting their field. Difficult to understand was Venkataramana’s inclusion the playing eleven for the concluding Test. The debutant was able to send down only 11.4 overs and captured a solitary wicket for 58 runs, This was a debut that the Madras off spinner would like to forget in a hurry.
On the other hand, medium pacer Sanjeev Sharma or even a truddler like Ajay Sharma did not get a look in during the entire series. And mind you the pitches that the team got in the West Indies were made for pace and not spin.
The only Indian bowler who made a mark for himself was old warhorse Kapil Dev. The former Indian skipper bowled with a lot of venom and guile to capture 18 wickets for an average of 21,16 runs. It was he who often pepped up the sagging Indian morale with his superlative performances. But even in the handling of the ace Indian bowler Vengsarkar showed poor leadership.
At Trained one felt that Kapil was underutilized by his skipper. But more than his bowling, Kapil, after taking over as vicecaptain following Srikkanth’s withdrawal from the team due to injury, did try his best to prop up the drooping Indian morale.
Kapil loves to lead from the front. When he was Indian skipper he showed that attack was the best form of defense for the Indian team, His successor (Vengsarkar replaced Kapil after India’s abortive campaign in the Reliance Cup in 1987), a known introvert, was unable to properly communicate with his team members. That in between the last West Indies tour of India and the current tour of the Caribbean, India won the Asia Cup and the series against New Zealand was mainly due to the poor opposition rather than to Vengsarkar’s leadership,
But more than the bowling it was the batting which really let India down. In not ‘a single match were the batsmen able to carry the battle into the West Indies camp. True, the absence of Srikkanth did leave a big cloud over the India batting but this was not the only reason.
The four pronged attack of Marshall, Ambroase, Walsh and Bishop put the Indians totally on the defensive. With the main opener missing the pressure on Arun Lal ‘was all the more, But Arun ended the series with a dismal aggregate of 113 runs with a highest of 30 (average 16.14).
‘The other top order batsmen Azharuddin, Raman, Kapil and Vengsarkar himself fared no better. While Azharuddin tallied 113 runs (average 28.25), Vengsarkar could tally just 110 for an average of 18.33 even below Chetan Sharma whose average worked out to 21.50. Kapil was in very poor form with the bat and could score just 91 runs in six innings for an average of 15.16, More, who bats fairly down the order, tallied 103 runs for an average of 17.16 which compares well with the performances of the specialist batsmen.
The only silver lining on the otherwise dismal tour was the batting of young SanJay Manjrekar. His maturity assurance and stroke play must have put the senior members of the squad to shame, The short ball (and there were many of them) never found him in an awkward position, His century put him on top of the Indian batting average (33.33), But above all the current tour has added a lot of maturity to this young lad who will serve Indian cricket for a long, long time.
Following Manjrekar in the Indian batting averages is Navjot Singh Sidhu, Nayjot had to face a lot of flak during the last tour of the West Indies to India as a nagging thumb injury kept him out of the team for the entire series. Wags said that he was shamming as he was afraid of the West Indies speedsters. His performance in the current tour has ended all speculation that Navjotis afraid of pace. His century was an innings of great restrain and every time he went out to bat, he held out hope for the tourists,
Third on the Indian batting average is the only other centurion of the current tour Ravi Shastri. A patch finally ended as ‘Shastri, promoted up the batting order gota century after a long gap. Together with his haul of seven wickets Shastri has proved that he still remains a major force on the Indian cricketing scene,
Skipper Dilip Vengsarkar must have missed the services of Mohinder Amarnath and Maninder Singh in the current tour. These two players could have given the right chances, changed the whole complexion of the team. But that was not to be. The “five wise men” who constitute the selec tion committee owe an explanation to the nation regarding the exclusion of these two key players. It is time that somebody spoke up for Mohinder and Maninder. With the Sharjah Cup, the Nehru Cup and the tour of Pakistan coming up next season some soul searching becomes all the more important.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 16, 1989
