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396/4, as Indian batsmen turn it on

Prem Panicker

Let's get the obvious fact out of the way right at the beginning - the Siyaram's Cup triangular is not an official competition - nothing of what happens here will ever figure in the official record books.

Fact two - there is little if any pressure on any of the three teams in the tournament, which frees the players to perform without fear of failure.

Still, I can't quite explain exactly how the Indian batting lineup did what they did today. The wicket was not made for strokeplay. The bowling was not bad. The New Zealand fielding, barring one lapse early on when a swirling skier - admittedly a difficult chance that the fielder at mid off had to run backwards to make - went down, was not anywhere below standard.

So how do you explain 396/4?

I guess some things you don't try to explain. You sit there, nodding wisely to yourself and telling yourself, right, just like the Indians - either they bat like champions, or duffers, and today was a champion-type day.

It is easy enough, when you see the stats - India 100/0 in 10 overs, 152/0 in 15 overs, Sachin Tendulkar 100 off 64 balls with 14 fours and three sixes - to give credit for the whole blitz to the Indian captain.

Who, true, played with a freedom he has never, ever, shown ever since he became captain - and there could be little if any argument that a Tendulkar let off the leash is one of the most awesome sights in contemporary cricket.

But to give Tendulkar sole credit for the fireworks is to take away from the man who to my mind was the real eyeopener (and I am glad that the adjudicators for this one named him the man of the match for his efforts) - Saurav Ganguly. Not only did he score, throughout his innings, at well over a run a ball, he even at times outdid his captain in strokeplay.

In fact, the two of them, in course of their 208 run association for the first wicket, proved a pleasing study in contrast. The left hander and right hander. The bludgeon and the rapier. The brutal demolition man and the stylish assassin...

What was even more interesting was that Ganguly - the man named as the slowest runner between wickets in the Indian side - on several occasions actually called for sharp singles that would have done credit to his partner, acknowledged among the best judges of a short single in the game.

Frankly, after a point I gave the scorecard a miss (well, almost - being live, I did have to keep an eye on it) and settled back to simply enjoy an amazing batting performance. And it was refreshing to see that when Tendulkar left (114 off 78 with 15 and 3 sixes), Vinod Kambli came in, took a few sighters of the ball, and promptly slipped into top gear (53 off 40, three fours and two sixes). And Azharuddin, following Kambli in the line up, picked up from there and went along at a blistering pace, to be unbeaten with 61 off 50 with nine fours. Ganguly meanwhile had lost his wicket after completing his first ton in ODIs (a fact that will not, to his regret, register in his curriculum vitae) having made 109/106 with 15 fours and one six, setting the stage for a typical Jadeja cameo in the end overs, with the middle order batsman hammering a quickfire 40 off just 28 balls with three fours and two sixes.

Why the deluge of stats? Simply because they hold, within them, the key to the performance - there was never a stutter, never a moment's rest for the scorers - and every single batsman on display went along at over a run a minute without, at any point, seeming stretched or playing non-cricketing shots.

Now you tell me this - why can't the team play like this all the time? Or at least, a good part of the time? Why does this same team also have in its recent history a St Vincent's, a Barbados?

I guess we never will know the answers, will we?

The match as a contest was over when India posted that total. Put the best batting lineup in the world together, and tell them that they have to score at 7.92 per over for the entire duration of 50 overs - and sit back and watch them crumble. Because there is never any let up - one over in which you fail to find the boundaries, and your gut tightens, your mind tells you that you have to make 16 in the next over - and that is when the mistakes begin to crop up, the wickets start falling, and the situation snowballs out of control.

And New Zealand, without Nathan Astle opening for them, was definitely not at even their best - leave alone a qualifier for the tag of best batting lineup in the world.

Mark Greatbatch did give us a hint of nostalgia when he stood up and slogged Prasad over midwicket, picking up a good length ball from outside off to accomplish the four over midwicket - took you right back to the 1992 World Cup, that shot. Bruce Young did turn in a good performance at the top of the order, with a hard-hit 47 off 37 with nine fours. And Matthew Horne, who grows in stature every time you see him, came up with a lovely anchor innings of 73 off 76 with seven fours and one six.

But when New Zealand took till the 21st over to cross the 100 mark and, in the process, lost three wickets, as against India's 152 for nought off 15 overs, the writing was up there in bold type on the wall. And the focus shifted to Ajay Jadeja, leading the side on the field while Sachin Tendulkar preferred to cool his heels in the pavilion.

Jadeja, it must be said, led with intelligence and even a certain amount of flair. When the two medium pacers began getting stick, he promptly brought on Noel David as early as the ninth over. And when he saw that David had struck length and line right off and was getting turn, Jadeja brought on the slower Robin Singh at the other end, so that while David attacked with his flight and spin, Robin tied the other end up with his tight line.

His field placings were pretty impressive as well, frankly - Jadeja noticeably kept adjusting his field to block the pet shots of the various batsmen. Thus, when Young was batting, he promptly backed his point fielder with a sweeper standing behind him - Young has this penchant for hitting over point's head, and the innovative field placing stopped that, and in the process shackled the batsman.

Interesting, too, was the fact that he tossed the ball to Saurav Ganguly during the crucial middle overs when a calculated assault on the bowling just might have made a tighter game of it. And Ganguly responded to an opportunity he rarely gets when Sachin is leading, with an immaculate spell of controlled swing bowling that fetched him 3 for 31 in seven tidy overs.

Equally interestingly, all the Indian fielders were up for the game today, and that added to the pressure and caused, in the final analysis, the New Zealand resistance to crack. The Kiwis were bundled out for 263 in the 44th over, to give India a 133 run win.

And to leave me, and I suspect all of you as well, with one question in our minds: so what are we going to see tomorrow, when they take on Pakistan?

The champions of today? Or the clowns of St Vincent?

With this Indian team, you never can tell - even a lottery is more predictable, at times.