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Journalism of Courage
Almost immediately after the national anthems of India and South Africa rolled across the Kingsmead Stadium, Team India walked out in a bunch with Munaf Patel in the middle. Suddenly, he stopped, turned and signalled to the dressing room — he had forgotten his cap. Maybe, he should have remembered to bring out some of his pace too.
On the first day of this series, much before India sunk to a miserable defeat, Munaf popped up as one of the question marks that the team will have to answer quickly before the jitters settle down and both teams shift gears for the 45-day drive that lies ahead.
Of course, our batsmen will have their own answering to do after their collapse, in the team meeting, and then out in the middle against the Safs pacers as the series rolls on. But was that really a surprise on one of the fastest pitches on this planet? It’s when you look ahead, much beyond this series, even the World Cup, that you begin to ask the real question: is Munaf Patel a strike bowler, or a stock bowler?
After touching 140 kmph to rattle the West Indians with 14 wickets in four Tests just four months ago, the extremely private 23-year-old has been working on a line-and-length blueprint around the off-stump. At least, that’s what he has suggested in recent team meetings, though some veterans don’t really agree.
Today, the Indian bowlers didn’t allow the Safs to explode off the blocks — except for some last-minute fireworks from Andre Nel — thanks to Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Dinesh Mongia and even Sachin Tendulkar who was turning his arm over after nine months. Despite Jacques ‘King’ Kallis’ superbly crafted 119 off 160 balls.
But Munaf’s 128 kmph-and-thereabouts suggested that he should listen to what the Safs thinks of him after the Champions Trophy: “soft” and “a bit laidback”. It’s an image that Munaf would have to shatter over the next month. It’s an image that Team India thinktank, which rates him so highly, should help him shatter.
He was extremely flat in his first spell prompting a quick switchover to Ajit Agarkar after four overs. He came back for four overs more in the 14 th to be gifted with the wicket of Herschelle Gibbs. And he came on for a final two after the 39th just one gear higher, around the 132 kmph mark. The final analysis — 10-2-39-2 – doesn’t say much but he was simply not there.
Should the Indian thinktank take a page from the South African notebook, at least for this series? Should they note down how the home side has worked its bowling attack around Makhaya Ntini, giving the great Black icon all the room to let it rip? As they say, identify one spearhead, let him loose, work the rest around him — it could be Munaf, it could be Sreesanth who hit 149 kmph in Malaysia.
Well, if that was one question for India, the answers came from Zaheer, Agarkar, Harbhajan, Mongia and Tendulkar. Yes, they were knocked around for a few, but they did more than a decent job for a series opener. And that too, after a nightmare six months of stop-start cricket.
Zaheer, actually, was the big hit, walking back into the team for the first time after February to come up with those crucial early breakthroughs. Today, he took out the dangerous Graeme Smith with a superb in-cutter off his second ball, then packing off the young hitter Loots Bosman lbw in the 9th over of the day, leaving South Africa at 47/2.
But that was when Kallis decided to do a Rahul Dravid – working the gaps, rocking back and arching his back to smash a couple through the covers, and then letting de Villiers take over in the middle. It was that crucial fourth wicket partnership of 87 runs that took South Africa from potential disaster at 6/3 in the 16th over to 248/8 in their quota of 50.
So how did the Indians cope with the bat? Wasim Jaffer’s debut ended in two balls, Dravid and Tendulkar were beaten by sheer pace, Mahendra Dhoni was plain unlucky, Suresh Raina had no clue, and Andre Nel was all over the place. Why couldn’t they cross even 100 despite the seven batsmen? Well, let’s leave that question for tomorrow.
