India need another Kapil DeV

BANGALORE: Indian Test pitches are no longer the dust bowls they used to be. This is not necessarily so because of revenues having gone through the roof in recent times, thus leading to better use of technology, imported soil not just from abroad but also from neighbouring states, trained experts, at all. Rather it is more a case of keeping the revenues intact. After all it is television that brings in the moolah and should broadcasters not get their 90-overs-a-day and five full days at that, it just wouldn't add up. The end of each over produces a minimum of 45 seconds for the producers that in true Indian style is stretched to a minute most times. Imagine a situation where the match is over in three days or less like it happened in 2004 at Mumbai.

It was not just the Australians crying foul after the final Test finished in under three days, for if the advertisements aren't aired, no company is going to pay up, leaving the broadcasters holding the can. Seen in that light, the Indian board, whose marketing committee is the most coveted one, will definitely do anything in their power to see the games go the distance, save for normal things such as bad cricket by one side. That brings us to a related issue. Dust bowls or no dust bowls, it is highly unlikely that any Indian team, in the foreseeable future at least, will take the field with a lone spinner when playing at home. Two spinners are a given but what has changed is that two fast bowlers too will always play, given the sheer quality that is now available. Also as has been seen at the Chinnaswamy Stadium over the first two days, spinners will take time to get into the picture making it imperative that pace and seam get their due.

But low and slow will still be the norm as far as pitches in India go: only the crumbling will be delayed thanks to better preparation thus bringing into play factors such as reverse swing. Now reverse swing cannot be bowled by the spinners, even if Anil Kumble may manage something when he bowls his seam-up stuff. Neither can exhausted quicks take on the load of bowling long spells with both the new and old ball. The burden will have to be shared, which is where a third seamer as opposed to a third spinner has to come in. Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma did their job in the first innings in Bangalore, but will they will be able to bowl the 30 overs that they did here every time, more so when the Indian calendar allows for Test cricket to be played in early October and even March-April when the sun is at its scalding best? Surely not and it provides food for thought for the national selectors. Very soon, maybe even sooner than most people think, the Krish Srikkanth-led committee will have to find and name a replacement for Sourav Ganguly.

In earlier circumstances, the natural replacement would have been one among S Badrinath or Rohit Sharma or another competent batsman. Today that slot needs to be filled by an all-rounder, a fast or seam bowling one at that. A search for another Kapil Dev is not new but the need is greater now.