Kirsten, Srikkanth set stage for India’s transition

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Rahul Dravid would have felt a sense of déjà vu when he battled to make a second Test win possible in five years for India at the Sabina Park in Kingston. A notoriously difficult venue for the visitors in terms of cricketing conditions and ambience was tamed once again by a senior batsman.

Batting may have been even more difficult on the previous Test tour but this time around Dravid was one of the very few regulars in the much vaunted Indian batting order.
Given the circumstances, another Test win abroad assumes some significance even if it comes against the clueless West Indies who, however, did have India on the mat at 85/6 in the first ‘digs’.
The very fact that Dravid is still on the Test scene to lend the batting the balance along with Laxman is a clear tribute to how the system has worked very well in Team India’s favour. There are a number of people who have made this possible, most of all Gary Kirsten, the coach who took over from Greg Chappell, and Kris Srikkanth, the chief selector.
Had Indian cricket taken the Chappell route, the seniors would have been put out to grass long ago. The first thing Kirsten did when he took over was to call in all the seniors, including Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble, and tell them this matter of retirement was their own decision and that so long as they wished to play they were welcome in the team.
Kirsten made a world of difference in contrast to the brusque Chappell who wished to reform Indian cricket rather than run its senior cricket team.
Srikkanth helped the process along, gracefully pulling Dravid aside to inject large doses of confidence into him just when the batsman was having some doubts two seasons ago. As Indian skipper, he had dome much the same thing to a young Tendulkar in 1989, assuring him he would get as many chances as he would require to come good at the international level. Chikka has this ability to strike a chord in the seniors as well as juniors. To be so intuitively commiserative has not always been any chief selector’s strength. Somehow, it does not go with the job. This meld of seniors and juniors is really helping Indian cricket in what is a transition phase. The seniors are not going to be around for too long and the besides competing for their places the juniors must ensure they pick up the tips in time.
Otherwise, Indian cricket will suffer like Australia, which simply sank not long after the likes of Warne, Gilchrist and McGrath called it quits. It appeared for a while as if Ponting’s team could cope because there was so much quality in it. The truth is out now.
The treatment of Simon Katich stands out in stark contrast to the manner in which Indian cricket has handled its accomplished senior players. Greg may or not may not have had anything to do with this although as a selector his input must have counted too. A generation change is never easy to handle in a sport with three different formats but then this is what lends scope to retaining a larger group of players with specific formats served by some of them.
A youthful Team India could have won by a greater margin, or maybe even lost in Kingston. The fact remains the BCCI’s steadfast refusal to consider the umpiring reform system, UDRS, meant that one official’s error-prone ways hit India the most, delaying inevitable defeat for the West Indies.
Maybe, the antics of Daryl Harper convinced the BCCI into changing its stance on the UDRS and accepting a modified version. That is the best news we have heard since the Test win in Jamaica.