By Siddharth Raman
After an emotionally charged final day at the Kotla, the Indian team does not have much time to recuperate before the start of the final test at Nagpur.
Although he wasn’t at his usual best,the absence of Anil Kumble from the team will leave a void which will be difficult to fill immediately. Now that the mantle has been handed over to Dhoni, he may utilise the skills of certain players which have been literally untapped through out their careers.
A glaring example of one such player is Virender Sehwag. The fact that it has taken him seven years in test cricket to capture five wickets in an innings is not an indication of his bowling abilities,rather it reflects how he has not been utilised to his full potential as a bowler by his captains.The signs of his bowling prowess were always there for all to see. Early in his career,during the semi finals of the 2002 Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka, in a tense semi final against South Africa he showed how his effective off spinners are, that too under pressure. It brought back memories of the Hero Cup semi final against the same team, in which Sachin Tendulkar pulled off a miraculous victory.More recently, in the Perth test,he picked up crucial wickets in the Australian chase which helped India seal a victory.The dismissal of Adam Gilchrist,bowled around his legs,was a perfect off spinner’s dismissal.
The advantages of using Sehwag as a full time bowler will be manifold. Firstly India will have the option of playing three spinners and the three pace bowlers - a luxury very few teams have. An attack consisting of Zaheer Khan,Ishant Sharma,RP Singh/Munaf Patel, Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra alongwith Sehwag will be a potent one on any surface. Secondly , it will ease the pressure on Sehwag who until now was a part of the team mainly as a batsman. He will know that if he fails with the bat he has a chance to make up with the ball and if a player of Sehwag’s mentality plays without pressure, it spells doom for the opposition. The biggest advantage arising out of this however, will be for team India.
The combination of Mahendra Singh Dhoni as captain and Kris Srikanth as chairman of selectors will be an interesting one. For the period that he captained in the Delhi test , Dhoni used Sehwag very well and the results were there for all to see. Kris Srikanth would have also definitely realised this and would like to see more of Sehwag’s bowling. The fourth test at Nagpur will be very interesting not only because of this combination but also because knowing Dhoni’s style of captaincy he will definitely play for a win and the Aussies will play to retain the Border Gavaskar trophy. A test match in which both sides play attacking cricket is bound to produce a result. To add to all of this, it is going to be played on a pitch which is being used for the first time!
