Kenya give India a lesson

The last time the two teams met, what was supposed to be a 100-over game got over under less than half that distance. The last thing India needed, with a game against South Africa scheduled for this Friday, was a walk in the park.

At Port Elizabeth, in the sixth ODI of the Summer Spice series, India got just what it needed -- a tough game, and a wake-up call at the end of it all.

To an extent, it could be argued that India, by resting in one shot Javagal Srinath, Ajit Agarkar, Virendra Sehwag and Shiv Sundar Das, asked for trouble. But having said that, critics and analysts -- including this correspondent -- have argued, at times vehemently, that the bench needs to be given time in the middle to find its feet, and the Indians in this game did just that.

What the exercise revealed is that 'strength' is a misnomer when applied to this particular bench.

The other day, the Indian seamers had inside 10 overs knocked the cream of Kenyan batting back into the hut. Today, the support act comprising Harvinder Singh and Venkatesh Prasad proved completely ineffective against the batting skills of Ravindu Shah and Kennedy Obuya (aka Otieno).

Shah and Obuya admittedly showed a greater willingness to put a premium on their wickets. But having said that, the Indian opening bowling was, to put it mildly, pathetic. Neither Harvinder nor Prasad showed the ability to bowl the full length and bring the Kenyans forward. Instead, both pitched short, more often than not on a middle and leg line, with the result that the ball sat up and begged for punishment.

Shah and Obuya provided the punishment -- to the tune of an opening stand of 121, in course of which neither batsman looked even remotely in trouble. That was a record for Kenya for the first wicket. It was also the highest opening partnership registered at this ground.

Obuya in particular was severe on Prasad, pulling and driving him for sixes with an ease that underlined just how much the tall Karnataka bowler has fallen off in pace lately. Sourav Ganguly and Reetinder Singh Sodhi tried their hand at seam bowling, without impressing.

Anil Kumble was tight and seemed to be finding the range on his deliveries more consistently than he had in his first outing. But yet again, it was Harbhajan Singh -- and, for the first few overs of his spell, Yuvraj Singh -- who managed to peg the Kenyans back. The former took 2/38 and should have had a couple more had the breaks gone his way.

But the first session really belonged to the Kenyans. After the departure, in rapid succession, of the openers, Steve Tikolo and Thomas Odoyo -- the latter earning a promotion in the absence of skipper Maurice Odumbe, who is serving out a two-match suspension for talking out of turn about the umpiring -- got together to ensure that the Indians did not break through as in the last game. Odoyo -- who produced Kenya's third half-century for the game -- in fact has been looking better with each successive outing.

Inexperience in the slog phase meant that Kenya, which at one point threatened a really sizeable total ("I think 260-270 should do it on this wicket", stand-in skipper Steve Tikolo said while winning the toss and opting to bat) finished up with 246/6 in the allotted 50 overs.

With the Tendulkar-Ganguly pair back in action, that score was not supposed to seriously challenge the chasing side. But that assessment floundered in the face of two factors. One, Joseph Angara, coming in to this game as lead seamer, proved the best of the Kenyan bunch by far. Nippy, with a lovely wrist action that propelled an upright seam at pace on a full length, Angara in a first spell of 6-4-19-1 created enormous problems for both Indian openers. And the second factor was the Kenyan ground fielding. Always athletic, the Kenyans with, for once, something to play for, outdid themselves in the field, tightening the screws on the free-stroking Indians and forcing them to work for every single run.

Tendulkar, in fact, seemed under pressure as the ball occasionally held its line and every now and again bent back in off the seam. Finding the ball not quite in the slot for shot-making, Tendulkar opted to defend, playing out two successive maidens from Angara -- and one such defensive push caused his downfall when an Angara delivery on a full length drew him forward, then bent back just enough to take the inner edge through to the stumps.

Ganguly was equally circumspect early on, but began opening out once he had a feel for the batting conditions. His wicket, in fact, fell against the run of play. Thomas Odoyo, returning to the spotlight with the ball, sent down a first ball that was fullish, but on line of leg. Ganguly went a long way to off to try and clip off his pads, and seemed to have lost sight of his leg stump in the process. The ball brushed the pad, on its way through to taking out the leg stump, and suddenly, India's batting lineup began looking a bit less than inspiring.

At 47/2 in 15 overs, India had registered easily its worst start of the series.

Things only got worse from there. Rahul Dravid came out needing runs against his name -- and facing pressure from tight bowling backed by a fielding side that for once sensed it had a chance. Time and again, he attempted to break the hold of the bowling, on one occasion playing a most uncharacteristic slash over point. But more often than not, his best shots found the fielders, who lifted their game to keep the pressure on -- and the resulting frustration finally lured him into cutting a Tony Suji delivery very close to off, in fact too close for the shot. The keeper had no problems with the edge. India, on the other hand, had problems in plenty at 60/3.

Or rather, 60/4. The first ball that Yuvraj Singh faced, from Suji, was quick, full and just outside off. A big backlift, an attempted drive with full flourish of the bat, and the lefthander had succeeded in dragging the ball back on to his stumps from a good foot outside off. (India 65/4 in 20).

Jacob Martin hung around -- but on the evidence of his batting seemed the kind of one-trick player who slams every ball in sight, without ever using finesse to find the gaps. Sodhi, on the other hand, continued to impress with the bat -- combative enough to crack the spinner for a six and four off successive balls right at the start of his innings, but also savvy enough to work the ball away for the singles to keep the strike rotating.

At the halfway stage, however, India with 93/4 in 25 overs had allowed the asking rate to climb to 6.2 -- with only Deep Dasgupta to follow before the Kenyans got amongst the tail.

The Kenyan fielding -- which is impossible to overpraise -- finally played a more active part when Angara came back for a second spell. Sodhi got one short and wide of off and launched into a fierce cut -- a well-executed one, what's more. And then stood in disbelief as Collins Obuya, at backward point, sprinted and flung himself headlong to his right to take, at full stretch, what had to be the catch of the tournament to reduce India to 97/5. That is an area that has been brilliantly patrolled by the likes of Jonty Rhodes and Herschelle Gibbs in this tournament -- but Obuya, with that catch, took second place to neither.

Angara -- whose performance on the day made you wonder why he was warming a bench thus far -- then ended Martin's misery. The right-hander, having come in at number three, had repeatedly pounded the ball in a fury, only to find it going straight to a Kenyan fielder. With Angara producing a very full length on off stump, Martin with a prodigious backlift took a swing at it, aimed at depositing the ball outside Port Elizabeth -- and found his off stump pegged back as he played all over it.

Collins Obuya then capped a perfect day by getting Kumble to chop at a slow, fullish length arm ball around off stump, the ball ricocheting off his bottom edge on to the stumps.

Like Dravid, Dasgupta got out cutting a Martin Suji delivery too close to the body for the shot after playing a fairly decent knock for his 19. And Kenya added insult to India's injury by bowling them out inside 197, earning a bonus point in the bargain.

For India, a reason to spend the time between tonight and Friday afternoon in thought. And for Kenya, reason to celebrate, sans inhibition. The team's performance thus far had been disastrous with both bat and ball. Today, the Kenyans hauled themselves back up, turning in a decent batting performance and capped it with a superbly disciplined bowling effort, with Angara leading the way and seamer after support seamer sticking religiously to line and length, where in earlier outings they had served up half-volleys by the over. The fielders backed their bowlers to the limit. But what was really impressive was the way the Kenyans absorbed all the criticism directed at them, absorbed too the loss of their captain Odumbe, and fought back with courage.

Scorecard:
Kenyan innings | Indian innings