da betsul： The Indian cricket team is basking in glory after their astoundingTest series win against Australia at home
da luck： Santhosh S27-Apr-2001The Indian cricket team is basking in glory after their astoundingTest series win against Australia at home. The fact that India has notwon a Test series abroad in the last eight years is playing on theirminds. Saurav Ganguly and his men would want to set the recordstraight as soon as possible. The forthcoming tour of Zimbabwepresents an ideal opportunity for the Indians to win a Test seriesabroad. The Indian batting line up is one of the very best in theworld, with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravidand Saurav Ganguly making the run machine. It is the bowlingdepartment that causes some worry, when it comes to winning Testmatches for India.The selectors have declared a squad of 26 for the preparatory campahead of the tour. It would be interesting to take a look at theIndian bowling which would have to bowl out 20 wickets in the Testmatches to give India victory. In all possibility India will play fourbowlers in the Test match with Tendulkar and Ganguly filling in thechange bowler’s role. Javagal Srinath and Harbhajan Singh are the onlycertainties. The other two spots will be fought out between AjitAgarkar, Zaheer Khan and in all possibility the off spinner SarandeepSingh.Rahul Sanghvi might make the trip to Zimbabwe, but the very fact thathe was dumped after the first Test match against Australia in Mumbaiafter he had bowled 10 overs in five spells says a lot about the kindof confidence Ganguly has in left arm spinners. To add to the theory,Nilesh Kulkarni was asked to bowl a run denying negative line in thethird Test at Chennai. Murali Kartik too was given a raw deal byGanguly on his debut against Bangladesh in Dhaka.A closer look at the statistics suggest that the Indian bowling is notreally anywhere near match-winning standards with the exception ofHarbhajan Singh. Javagal Srinath is India’s spearhead in the fastbowling department. The 32 year old speedster from Karnataka made hisdebut against the Aussies at the Gabba, Brisbane in the year 1991 andhas so far played in 50 Test matches picking up 185 wickets at 29.94runs apiece. He has picked up five wicket in an innings seven timeswith the best figures of 8/86. He has a Test match strike rate of62.60 when compared to that of Zimbabwe’s Heath Streak, who has abetter figure of 57.40Ajit Agarkar the 23 year old fast bowler from Mumbai is almost acertainty to tour Zimbabwe. He made his Test match debut at HarareSports Club, Zimbabwe in 1998, which India lost by 61 runs. He has sofar represented India in nine Test matches picking up 23 wickets at36.86 apiece with a strike rate of 77.20. There is so much potentialin this young fast bowler but he has not developed into a genuine Testmatch winner. India will be looking forward to him to deliver thegoods in Zimbabwe. It is a do or die situation for Agarkar; anyfurther extension of failure will not been taken lightly by theselectors, given the fact that there are other young fast bowlers inAshish Nehra and Rakesh Patel waiting in the wings.Zaheer Khan is a newcomer to Test match cricket. This 22 year old fastbowler was instrumental in Baroda winning the Ranji Trophy thisseason. He made his Test match debut in Bangladesh and has so farplayed in 4 Test matches, picking up eight wickets at 48 runs apiecewith a strike rate of 89.70. Though the fact that he is relatively newto the international level does not justify his strike rate.Harbhajan Singh, the twenty year old lad from Punjab is the new Indianbowling sensation. He made his Test debut against the Aussies atBangalore in March 1998. Though he disappeared from the internationalarena for a couple of years, he made a strong comeback against thevisiting Aussies in 2001, picking up 32 wickets in the three Testmatch series. He single-handedly destroyed the acclaimed Aussiebatting with his brand of off spinners. In the 11 Test matches he hasplayed he has picked up 53 wickets with a career best of 8/84. Aremarkable bowling average of 25.56 with a strike rate of 52.5 makeshim the most lethal of the bowlers amongst the Indian bowling line up.Sarandeep Singh, the 21 year old Off spinner from Punjab has beendistinctly unlucky after making a good debut against Zimbabwe atNagpur in November 2000. He did not get to play a Test match after theNagpur match, in which he picked up six wickets at 34.33 apiece with astrike rate of 71.00. India might decide to go in with two offspinners, given the fact that Zimbabwe has a good deal of left handedbatsmen in their team.Sachin Tendulkar who is better known with his exploits with the bat isan able bowler too. He notched up his 100th ODI wicket recentlyagainst the visiting Aussies at home. Tendulkar has not been a greatsuccess in Test match cricket. One look at his phenomenal ability andthe bowling statistics reveal that he has not been used properly, as abowler. In the 82 Test matches that he has graced this great game ofTest cricket, he has bowled a mere 273 overs and picked up 22 wicketsat 38.09 runs apiece. The fact that his strike rate is 74.4 balls perwicket suggest that he has been used as a change bowler.Compared to all players on show is the man who has been the main cogin the Indian bowling machine, Anil Kumble. There can’t be twoopinions about Kumble’s match winning capability. He has won Indiamore matches than anyone in the last Ten years. This 30 year old legspinner from Karnataka who is nursing a shoulder injury will be sorelymissed in Zimbabwe. Kumble has the rare distinction of picking up allthe ten wickets to fall in an innings (10/74 against Pakistan in NewDelhi). In 61 Test match appearances he has picked up 276 wickets atan average of 28.00 with a strike rate of 69.20So, many reasons including the restrictive style of bowling used inOne-Day Internationals could be suggested for the poor strike rate ofthe Indian bowlers. The average strike rate of the bowlers mentionedabove (leaving out Kumble) is around 71.23. All said and done, Indiawill have to do well in all the departments of the game againstZimbabwe to fulfill their dream of winning a Test series abroad.
