He won the Man of the Match in test series during South Africa's tour of India in 2007-2008. Today he demolished the batting lineup on a wicket where South Africa scored 558/6 (Declared). He turned the road into an accident zone. Just proved why he is best along with the likes of Mohd Asif. Both bowl a length to which batsmen are not sure about playing on front foot or back foot. More consistenly than other bowlers. Some even fail to judge their line and movement to wrongly decide to leave the ball only to get bowled. I think Asif did that to Michael Clarke in series against Australia in 2009-2010. Here Steyn and Morkel did it. If we see the likes of Sachin and Dravid have not got bowled on balls that have been left. Yes, they might have been LBW to the ones they left, but the point is that they managed to covered the stumps with footwork. Today the batsman did not even cover the stumps and that's a technical flaw with footwork while leaving the ball. it's difficult to observe the seam movement by watching the ball come out of bowlers hands or after it has pitched because it is at 140+ kph. However is it difficult to show proper footwork? Isn't that in batsman's control. At least there are some chances of respite in LBW.The FAB3 have shown such extraordinary skills deeply embedded in their hands,feet and brain. The thought process is well co-ordinated with the physical movements. It is due to their technical brilliance that Indian cricket team has had lot of success overseas in this decade.A much improved performance has been seen overseas as India has won quite a few under the leadership of Ganguly. Dhoni continues the trend with some more series wins away from home. But there are some concerns, particularly after the follow on in this test match. The cause if not addressed now, may take few years to be taken care of. Also, it keeps one wondering , if the rest will continue to play like this overseas and in such situations, particularly after Dravid,Sachin and Laxman has retired?. One of the senior would have to stand up. Who would fill the void and price his own wicket. Will Sehwag then change his attitude and play like a pro and price his wicket . He showed that he need not as he scored a century under pressure in first innings by playing his natural game and one can exempt him. Will Yuvraj or Dhoni for that matter?Probably Gambhir and will have to play the old way and is highly and quickly adaptive to various formats of the game. If not, are we going to see ODI mentality and tactics in test cricket. No one will be capable of playing big knocks overseas, because no one has ever tried to or have failed to. A batsman occupying crease for more than 3 sessions will be rare. Some (especially Yuvraj) are still depending on the likes of FAB3 and using their reliability to be flamboyant and irresponsible at times and still get selected. The team is in a position to experiment and still win overseas because few have been performing for more than a decade. The only striking similarity was seen when the West Indies players left it on the great Brian Lara and Shiv Chanderpaul to do the hard work. Sometimes Jimmy Adams played that role to perfection. Most of them were happy playing some rash shots to score 30 overseas. That Brian Lara and our FAB 4 have taken the responsibility of others and have managed to adapt so as to maintain their prolific scoring, stresses the fact that they could have been more successful if someone else provided them such support. Whether we will have seniors by skills or age remains to be seen. Hopefully the bad performance later on should not be an excuse as a transition period. The FAB3 are still there but no one is willing to learn the real art except Gambhir who has batted for more than one and half day. Sehwag has batted for similar periods without curbing his stroke play. Team India surely wont enjoy such luxuries in 3 years time. It is indeed very difficult if the selectors try to find the replacements for these 3.In case if we fail to find 3 replacements there is only one option left. That would be to have a brilliant bowling attack so that we can exploit overseas climate and conditions to keep opposition under 300.So that our aggressive brand of cricketers can achieve that total. No concerns about that. The options are there,but it wont be good for Indian cricket that the batsman start depending on the bowlers when they tour overseas.
Dhoni has led India to major wins both home and away. He has been very innovative with his decisions and the strategies.His plans ,particularly to win test series overseas have to be realized when the FAB 3 are around. They provide him the resources and options for the same. Later on it may depend on oppositions performances, not that he will not win. He has to find the replacements very fast. There is no point waiting for the transition period if others are willing to learn right now.Sadly very few are interested.
The basic issues in test skills have to be addressed like leaving the ball. Murali Vijay, Saha and Gambhir got out on deliveries they left. Many players are knocking on the door. Badrinath played well in first innings and would cement his place if he does well in second innings, however it's only his first test and it is not sure whether he will be as successful at international level as he is in FC. Murali Vijay left a delivery and showed his failure to judge a delivery. Getting bowled in the fashion which he did was not good to see. Clearly he is not a replacement of Dravid at 3. Yuvi being a senior does not shows enough temperament in test cricket and has never batted for more than a day as far as i know. The names of Badrinath,Vijay,Rahane,Mukund,Pujara,Nayar and Pandey are in consideration for future prospects. Most of these players have scored 200+ scores in FC and often shown enough patience,determination,shot selection,physical fitness and skill to bat for more than a day. Will they be able to prize their wicket for that much period in international level, against world class bowlers, bowler friendly wickets. So far the answer has been no. Apart from Gambhir and Sehwag they all perish quickly. Can Team India afford three weak-links after Sachin,Dravid and VVS retire. Today Team India struggled with Dravid's and Laxman's absence. Imagine Tendulkar out and what a psychological edge the bowlers will have. Yes, Sachin,Dravid and Laxman have made basic mistakes while running between wickets by failing to slide the bat properly or not watching the ball only to get run out by the opportunist fielder. Yet when it comes to technicalities while batting they are unmatched by other Indian batsmen. The collapse happened in NewZealand and now in this test. We are seeing one such collapse every series and i am afraid it will be more in the absence of FAB3. Coma prisons wont help and more so when comparing someone with Sachin,Dravid and Laxman. Most Indian fans know that the replacements will not fill the void but it will be great if they even get close to the FAB3 in terms of performance.
