Dravid deconstructs 'brave cricket'

By John Cheeran
It was a reassuring win in Bangalore, an effort that signals that Team India is on the right path to success.
India needed to bounce back quickly in this series against South Africa, a much stronger rival than Sri Lanka and the world number two side. And India have done it in style.
It was a confidence trick.
South Africa’s much touted unbeaten streak –20 games – has been broken. The credit for it fully goes to skipper Rahul Dravid and his boys.
The Bangalore win now should act as the turning point for Team India.
Even the defeat in Hyderabad, however, had illustrated the resilient qualities of this fighting side. At Bangalore, more than the mere six-wicket win, the manner in which it was achieved holds hope for the future.
India, given the opportunity by the toss, proved their bowlers can too expose the chinks in the South African batting armour to great effect.
In the post-Ganguly era, everyone has chipped in with decent and creditable performances for this Indian team. That had left Sourav Ganguly Gang, in the aftermath of Hyderabad defeat, to point fingers at opener Virender Sehwag. Sehwag has been playing his shots all the while but a half century had eluded him in the recent past.
One more Sehwag failure at the top of the order, they were ready to ask for his head when the selection committee sits together in Chennai to identify the team for the last two day-nighters – at Kolkata and Mumbai.
An unbeaten 77 has been Sehwag’s answer.
Well. It also shows skipper Dravid’s ability to understand his colleagues’ needs and the room he creates for those who are in need.
Dravid protected Sehwag from the fury of Shaun Pollock and Ntini by keeping the Delhi Dazzler down the order to let him regain his taste for the big innings.
That in effect rules out Ganguly’s comeback for Kolkata and Mumbai matches. If one batsman who had struggled in Bangalore as well as in a few earlier matches that was none other than Sachin Tendulkar. Do Ganguly Gang have the guts to ask for Tendulkar’s head so that Maharaj can laze around in the Eden Gardens?
Even if India go down with a whimper in Chennai on Tuesday I can’t see More and friends daring to upset what Ranbir Singh Mahendra had described as a “winning combination.”
Bangalore was just not Sehwag half-century.
Murali Kartik was a revelation to South Africans. In his ten overs, Kartik yielded 16 runs, throttling Justin Kemp and company. Kartik didn’t buy wickets but he didn’t let them breathe either. Their much vaunted ‘brave cricket’ was no where to be seen against Kartik and Harbhajan Singh.
Graeme Smith must be realizing now what they missed in Hyderabad.
If India want to win the series against South Africa, Kartik and Harbhajan will have to play stranglers’ role to perfection.
Now, the Man-of-the Match.
Irfan Pathan found his rhythm as bowler to knock the stuffing out of South African top order but later played a superb innings when the match still could have turned the other way. Pathan cleared the cobwebs of doubt from the batting crease after Tendulkar’s dismissal with some swift blows.
True, for India, these days there are Men-of-the-Match.
See you in Chennai.