da betcris： Big occasions usually demand the big boys to stand up and both Rahul Dravid and Ricky Ponting admitted that the vast rift in bowling experience was the deciding factor in Australia’s comprehensive victory
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan at Chandigarh29-Oct-2006
‘Pathan goes for quite a few runs upfront because he’s mainly awicket-taking bowler. He did the same today. It gave us a chance to getoff to a flying start which was crucial on that wicket’ © Getty Images
Big occasions usually demand that the big boys stand up and both Rahul Dravid and Ricky Ponting admitted that the vast rift in bowling experience was the deciding factor in Australia’s comprehensive victory. While Australia’s new-ball pairing had 378 one-day caps between them India’s fast-bowling trio had a combined experience – if you want to call it that – of 99 one-dayers.Both sets of bowlers took some time assessing the pitch: Australiaconceded 36 in the first seven overs while India gave away 45. But whatfollowed was a study in contrast. Australia’s bowlers adjusted theirlengths – in fact, Ponting revealed that he thought the surfacewould play differently – while the Indians resorted to pitching it shortand facing the music.Glenn McGrath conceded a miserly 12 runs in his first six overs whileBrett Lee, despite taking some tap early on, came back admirably.Bowling at the death, not only did he dry up the scoring but also crankedup some ferocious pace to intimidate the batsmen. Slow balls and variationdefinitely helps at the death but sheer pace remains one of the most lethal weapons.”One of the reasons why I gave McGrath the new ball was because heenjoys the battle with Sachin [Tendulkar],” revealed an elated Ponting atthe end of the day. “I was asked about their battle yesterday and I said Ithought Glenn would have his nose ahead. After today, he might have edgedhis nose ahead a bit.”Lee, though, couldn’t sustain the pressure at the other end, leaking 27runs in his first spell with an erratic effort. “Probably our new-ballbowling wasn’t as good as we would have liked,” said Ponting when askedabout the areas where he’d be looking for improvement. “But I think weadjusted very well. Our overall bowling from then, I thought, was verygood. We just managed to take wickets at regular intervals which didn’tallow India to get away. I thought our bowling in the last six or sevenovers was really great today. We didn’t give any freebies away so that wasreally pleasing for us.”India’s faster bowlers, though, were guilty of a large chunk of freebies.”They had a fairly inexperienced attack,” said Ponting reflecting on oneof the main differences between the two sides. “Sreesanth replaced Ajit Agarkar.Pathan goes for quite a few runs upfront because he’s mainly awicket-taking bowler. He did the same today. It gave us a chance to getoff to a flying start which was crucial on that wicket. I knew it wasgoing to spin after Symonds got it to turn. But the run-rate was so goodthat we didn’t have to take too many risks against Harbhajan Singh.”India’s new-ball problems weren’t lost on Dravid but he felt it would beunfair to be too critical on the bunch. Several experts, prominentlyJavagal Srinath, the former fast bowler, have spoken about lack of guidanceand Dravid admitted that Agarkar’s absence had probably hurt the side onthis track. “It probably helps to have a senior player,” he continued. “Ajit was injured and being the one who’s working a lot with these young kids, it was unfortunate. His experience would have helped on a wicket like this.”I won’t be too critical on this inexperienced side. They came up againsta very good attack and it was a good experience for them. They’ve a lot ofpotential and we’ve seen that over the last few games. The Australianattack has experience and we need to give these young seamers time.Sreesanth came back well in the second spell. It’s encouraging to seeyoung bowlers with pace and fire. We’re going to need that in SouthAfrica.”On this tournament’s evidence, they’re going to need that and much more.