Indian Batting: Upside Down

By John Cheeran
Next time India miss skipper Rahul Dravid, it would be better for coach Greg Chappell, the man who brought the message of change into the dusty dressing rooms, to reverse the team’s batting order radically.
Put the last five batsmen as the first; and then keep the regular openers as No.10 and No. 11.
Put the rest of the guys between No.6 and No.9.
This may not be a bad idea, after India put 509 runs as winning target for Sri Lanka in the Ahmedabad Test.
India’s both innings in this Test shared the same ups and downs. In the first innings India was at 97 for five before recovering to post 398.
In the second innings, India lost Virender Sehwag off the first ball and was 100 for five. They eventually flourished to declare at 316 for nine on the fourth morning.
How did India get right the second half of their innings on both occasions?
It is true that one specialist batsman was there to perform the lead role in crisis.
In the first innings VVS Laxman came up with a determined effort to post, what is so far, the only century of this Test.
It was left to Yuvraj Singh to provide the thrust in the second essay with his belligerent knock of 75 off 83 balls. Laxman’s and Yuvraj’s innings were different in character but both lifted Indian spirits.
But this story is all about the Indian tail wagging at Sri Lankan bowlers. In both innings, the last five wickets came up with wonderful batting to log 300 and 200 runs respectively.
Irfan Pathan (82, 162 balls and 27, 34 balls), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (49 and 14), Ajit Agarkar (26, 69 balls and 48, 43balls), Anil Kumble (21 and 29) and Harbhajan Singh (8 and 40).
Any Test side could be proud of such bonus performance from its non-specialist batsmen. The valuation of their runs goes up since it came under pressure.
What would have been otherwise called as a crisis (97 for five and 100 for five), these men turned into an opportunity to reveal their hidden talent.
If there is any change since Greg Chappell and Rahul Dravid came together it is in the attitude of Team India members to maximize efforts in all directions of the game. Be it fielding, batting or bowling.
And I must say Irfan Pathan’s success as a batsman has inspired the rest of the bowlers to give it a try with the bat. Pathan has scored in one-dayers and Tests; played as an opener and lower down the order to notch really, really big scores.
If Pathan can do it, why not others?
But Pathan and rest of the non-specialists hold one advantage over the top order, the specialists. They have no fear of failure with bat. Their core competency is not batting; hence they could afford to be much more positive while executing a job which would be essentially will be looked upon as a bonus by the team management.
The fear of failure has played a big role as openers Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, and Mohammad Kaif struggled to stitch together a creditable innings.
It was a demanding situation out there and it called for pushing your luck. Yuvraj Singh has lived up to that challenge and if he has succeeded it is because he has conquered the fear of failure first, then the bowlers.