India’s fielding has a touch of the Wright stuff

Perhaps the most obvious part of the ground fielding was that frantic late dives were left to a minimum. No longer were fieldsmen sprawling across the turf to balls they should have been able to stop standing up. This was because not only is the team physically fitter, but they are also mentally sharper and concentrate better. In the past too many Indian players have been guilty of dozing off and looking for others to do the hard yards. Top fielding always lifts and motivates bowlers.

If they feel half chances will be taken and big shots stopped they will respond accordingly. This was very obvious against England when the Indian bowlers lifted after some brilliant fielding early culminating with the run-out of Nick Knight.

While the wicket may have had more life under lights than it did when India batted, as England’s supporters/critics kept suggesting, nothing should be taken away from the Indian bowlers. You still have to get the ball in the right spot, whether on a flat track or on a seaming one if you want to get wickets. India did this beautifully and this pressure forced the English batsmen into errors.

Ashish Nehra was quite superb and his line and length calculated to take advantage of England’s batting frailty. The English batsmen perished by their own sword and exactly in the way a left hand pace bowler would plan to get them. A word of praise about the catching of Sehwag. He has wonderful soft hands and the patience to not snap at the ball but let it come as far as possible to him. He looks almost casual as most good slippers do because, by letting the ball come, they give themselves that extra time that allows them to appear to not hurry or snatch at catches.

My only disappointment with India’s bowling was Saurav Ganguly. On a wicket ideally suited to him he gave far too much away. Ganguly is a very naturally gifted bowler with the knack of being able to get any batsman out. Even on flat tracks he will do the unexpected and get the ball to seam.

Unfortunately, he is not making most of his talent and bowls far too many no ball and wide deliveries. Ganguly can remedy this, but to do so he must be prepared to spend hours bowling at the nets, something he is very reluctant to do. The Indian bowlers showed they can use a helpful seaming pitch as well as any team. If Ganguly can bowl to his full talent India need not fear any style of pitch.

While India are on the upswing, great rivals Pakistan are doing it the hard way. I would not write them off at any stage. I feel their team is due for major reconstruction.Wasim Akram’s 500 international one-day wickets is a monumental achievement and on his day he can still be a problem for all batsmen. Unfortunately the days are more widely spread than they used to be and not nearly as damaging.

Waqar Younis, I feel, is in the same boat. Both he and Wasim have had long distinguishing careers and have bowled a huge number of overs. Like Wasim he can still have brilliant bursts, but his cutting edge is not as sharp as it once was.

On paper Akram, Younis and Shoaib form a masterful line up. Shoaib is certainly fast and on occasions dangerous, but he is also very predictable. Watching the three of them bowl it seems to me they don’t act as a ‘‘pack’’ as the great West Indies quicks did.

This pack mentality and killer instinct seems to be the ingredient missing from the Pakistani method. Seldom do you see great pressure exerted from both ends when you see this trio operating. Pakistan seems to have some middle-order talent emerging in their batting.

Unfortunately, they are not getting much help from the top order. For many years Pakistan had openers as good as any in the world. At present neither the young nor the old are doing their job.

Pakistan as a cricket nation have always fascinated me. They have continual trouble and changes at the highest administrative level and a coaching and development programme is almost non-existent.

Yet they have some unbelievable talent always emerging. Most of them are highly gifted but also inevitably have good techniques. How it all comes about I have no idea. What I do know, though, is if they could get their cricketing structure straightened out they could take on anyone. (Gameplan)