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Indians struggle against Tasmania

If Murphy knew the Indian cricket team, he would add yet another theorem: You can get some things right, some of the time -- but you can't get everything right, all the time.

That's been the story of India on tour so far -- when the batting clicks, the bowling loses it; and vice versa.

Thus, if day one of the four day game against Tasmania brought some joy to the Indians in the form of a composed Dravid century and a competent Kanitkar 50, day two brought them swiftly back to earth as the home side, responding to India's eventual total of 316/9, rattled up

India used six bowlers -- including the irregular seam-up stuff of Ganguly and the offspin of Vijay Bharadwaj. None of the bowlers made the least impact on the Tasmanian openers, and therein lies a huge worry for the touring side ahead of the second Test.

More specifically, neither Debashish Mohanty nor T Kumaran, on trial here for a place in the Test side, showed any kind of form or penetration. Mohanty in particular seemed lacking in confidence, tending to spray the ball around and bowling in a seeming daze. Kumaran was on target for the most part, but failed to get the ball to do enough to worry the opening batsmen.

Jamie Cox, the Tasmanian captain (he also leads Somerset in the English county season) and is an alumnus of the Australian Cricket Academy, class of 1988, is one half of one of the best opening combinations in Australian domestic cricket today. A right-hander with a tight defence and a wide variety of attacking shots, he plays the aggressor at the top of the order for the Tasmanian side (after having started out as a middle order batsman, incidentally). Today, those attacking skills were on display as Cox -- who averages 42.87 at the first class level with 29 centuries and 43 fifties to his name -- blossomed into attacking strokeplay against both spin and seam, after a quiet, watchful start.

His partner in crime, the left-handed Dene Hills, has a similarly impressive record, averaging 41.85 with 18 100s and 37 fifties at the domestic level. The most prolific scorer for Tasmania last season, his form was seen as one of the major factors behind that side's placing in the Sheffield Shield (now the Pura Milk Cup), when Tasmania made the finals and Hills went on to be named Sheffield Shield Cricketer of the Year. In general, he plays the accumulator, to counterpoint Cox's more aggressive style of play, and today's innings was typical of his overall cricketing mindset.

Against this red-hot opening combination, which adds the left hand the Indians came adrift with the ball, as the two Tasman openers put together a partnership of 166, unbroken, for the first wicket off 58 overs, to take the home side into close of play on the second day just 150 behind India's first innings total of 316/9, with all 10 wickets standing.

For the Indians, Venkatesh Prasad was tight without being penetrative, Mohanty struggled for steadiness of length and line, Kumaran was steady at best and Ganguly, who bowled six, moved the ball around more than his frontline bowlers did. Harbajan Singh impressed with the occasional ball, without however being able to cause consistent headaches to either batsman.

Earlier, the Indian innings extended for another 32 overs into the morning. Nayan Mongia -- who, according to some reports thus far unconfirmed by any member of the team management, is being considered a possible opener for Melbourne -- departed early to the pace of Downton and, in the process, did his prospects little good. Venkatesh Prasad and Debashish Mohanty, neither of them batsmen likely to provoke insomnia in opposing bowling lineups, then provided some amusement in an unbeaten partnership of 47 for the last wicket before skipper Ganguly applied the closure.

More than the amusement factor, what the last wicket partnership underlined was the fact that the wicket at the Bellerieve Oval had turned completely docile, with nothing in it for the bowlers. And that, when you come to think of it, is perhaps the only consolation the Indians have, at close of a fruitless, and frustrating, day's play.

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