Spotlight stays on Azharuddin (30 May 1999)

30 May 1999

Spotlight stays on Azharuddin

Owen Slot

For four days now, Indian fighter jets have been screaming over Kashmir, yet when they are talking India-Pakistan in New Delhi, the subject is as likely to be cricket as it is war. Mohammed Azharuddin, India's captain: should he stay or should he go. It is something of a national debate. "Yes," one Indian cricket journalist explained yesterday, "of course we share the headlines with the war."

Two years ago, the Birmingham crowd cheered England on to an extraordinary first-Test victory over Australia. Yesterday, you could spot only the odd Barmy Army shirt, as if they were far away on foreign fields, and chants of "long live India" filled the air. What happened to home advantage?

Outnumbered and dispirited, a weak chant went up from a few England supporters in the Eric Hollies stand. "You're only part of our empire," they bawled. What character. Makes you proud, doesn't it?

Thank goodness the Indian fans had more important matters to focus on. Back in India, people have been burning effigies of Azharuddin and have fast been coming to the conclusion that those fighter planes have been given the wrong target altogether. English cricket fans are totally entitled to expect a healthier supply of runs from their own captain, but compared to his Indian opposite number, Alec Stewart barely knows the meaning of the word pressure.

Azharuddin made the worst of all mistakes in leading his country to a Test series defeat by Pakistan in February. He then lost a one-day series to Pakistan, and, with his post-bag fast filling fat with mail of the unfriendly kind, he then skippered India to a three-run defeat by Zimbabwe.

What has seemed likely to save his soul, however, has been the coming into form of the best batting armoury in the world. Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly have, between them, three of the five best Test-match batting averages in the world. Against the bowling of Andrew Flintoff and Adam Hollioake, you expected them to ensure that Azharuddin's captaincy would survive to see another day.

Flintoff was not given the ball until the 29th over yesterday, before which he had received a long address from Stewart. The result was easy pickings for Tendulkar and Dravid, who were able to flick short singles down behind square leg without any noticeable trouble. In the first ball of his second over, Flintoff was hammered by Tendulkar for four and it all looked ominous.

But you can see why this India team can generate fluctuating emotions. Beaten by Zimbabwe, then so strong with the bat against Kenya and Sri Lanka, yesterday was another occasion when their stars couldn't quite deliver. Ganguly survived a number of edges before being run out, Tendulkar put up one simple catch (Nasser Hussain dropped it) before another far harder one was claimed by Graeme Hick.

This brought Azharuddin to the wicket in the 34th over. The class before him had been eroded, it was now time for the captain to steer the innings; a decent performance was required from a man whose natural confidence was on the wane.

He didn't start badly, and after two overs had guided a Hollioake ball to the boundary. However, Dravid, his batting partner, was soon caught off Flintoff having completed his half-century. This brought Ajay Jadeja to the crease, the last of India's established batsmen.

Like the batsmen who preceded him, however, Azharuddin remained for a while but failed to stay. He mistimed a ball from Mark Ealham, fired it high into the air and Hussain, running backwards, took a good catch. That won't help the postbag.

Azharuddin's 26 runs were infinitely better than anything Stewart managed. Stewart survived two strong shouts for lbw in the third over before Debashish Mohanty removed him for good. It was Azharuddin who took the the catch.

Neither man, then, was able to play the captain's innings required.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)