Hoggard proves Dravid right

By John Cheeran
I was about to write an apology for Indian skipper Rahul Dravid’s decision to bowl first.
But Matthew Hoggard and Andrew Flintoff have proved Dravid right by destroying the Indian top order.
Also events on the second morning, when Indian seamers improved their wayward ways to dismiss England for 400, explain Dravid was not wrong in his move.
With three seamers at his disposal, one of them the most quickest of recent times, and two seasoned spinners, and given the Mumbai wicket conditions, the Indian skipper should be pardoned for choosing to bowl first.
Had India batted first on the first morning of the Test, who could have guaranteed a solid start?
On the second day, between tea and close of play, England fast bowlers made Indian batsman dance to their tunes.
India lost both their openers at 24. They had lost Virender Sehwag very, very early to an awkward bouncer from Hoggard.
Mind you, this was on the second day, after Andrew Strauss and Owais Shah pounded the pitch.
The mere fact that Sachin Tendulkar took 14 balls to steal a single to open his account tells its own story. And what he did later, throwing away his wicket by fishing outside the off-stump, was unpardonable.
Clearly, he is a man on downhill.
In hindsight, critics go after Dravid for electing to field first.
But, in hindsight, I’m convinced that Dravid took a correct decision in his team’s cause.
Any fool could choose to bat after winning the toss in a Test. But to go against the grain, you should have a thinking mind and an awareness of cricketing realities.
It boils down to this. Winning and losing toss are quite incidental. What matters is quality of play whether you bat or bowl.
Mumbai Test has already showed that Indian pacers need to learn a lot and put in a lot more hard work to measure up to world’s best.
Now is the time for Indian batsmen to show that they can live up to the challenge of facing, disciplined and aggressive fast bowling. Outcome of this Test depends solely on that.