Psychological Pressure

Recently, England lost the second test in the three Pataudi trophy cricket series (the first test was a draw). The win by India was comprehensive and emphatic. India outplayed England in all areas of the game: batting (147 run first wicket partnership between Wassim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik, 91 runs by Sachin Tendulkar, 77 by Saurav Ganguly and all told over 5 batsmen got over 50 runs each); bowling (Zaheer Khan the man-of-the match getting 4 for 59 and 5 for 75); excellent fielding and good captaincy by Rahul Dravid. In contrast, England were bowled out for 198 in the first innings and even though they staged a revival by scoring 355 in the second innings, their two innings total was no match for India's first innings total of 481 thus requiring India to score only 73 runs in the second innings to win the match -- which India did with much ease.

Instead of praising India for their superior performance, most of the media focussed on some of the extra-curricular incidents that took place on the field. One was Sreesanth's on field behavior
where he nudged Michael Vaughan and for bowling a bouncer to Kevin Pieterson and the other was a dangerous prank played by the English fielders by placing jelly beans on the pitch when Zaheer Khan came to bat.

As I have written before, very little was made of the jelly bean incident (even though it was hazardous and against the rules of cricket) -- it was dismissed as a childish prank. Only one commentator, Ian Chappell, the Australian great, commented on the prank's hazardous nature. Whereas, Sreesanth was vilified, to the point that the Rahul Dravid (India's captain), Venky Prasad (bowling coach) criticized Sreesanth's behavior publicly and committed to having a chat with him. Sreesanth himself has apologized to Vaughan and was fined 50% of his match fees.

Nudging a batsman's shoulder is not acceptable but is part and parcel of the game - while it does not happen routinely, it does happen occasionally. In these circumstances, the captain or the umpire intercedes and the game continues as normal once the tempers cool down. Nothing much is made of such incidents

But in this case, it has been made into a huge mountain. Whereas, the jelly bean incident (a match banning offense) has been conveniently excused.

Dravid, the ever conciliator, has made nothing of the jelly bean incident and neither has the Indian team management or the match umpires. The most vocal critic has been Ian Chappell (another testimony to his impartial and down-to-earth nature and his love of the game). The English press (while condemning the English team for the jelly bean incident and for losing the match) have been party to the "dump-on-Sreesanth" parade with cricinfo.com being the foremost amongst them.

The latest to join the muckraking is the ever-hypocritical Mike Atherton. Atherton, a former English captain, in the past, has been on record defending Brett Lee, who was criticized for bowling too many bouncers that are aimed at the batsman's bodies. Atherton's argument, then, for defending Lee was that Lee was a nice guy and would apologize right away to the batsman in question. Now, for the record, Sreesanth also apologized right away and by all accounts Sreesanth is a darling loved by all his fans and is considered somewhat of a character (a lovable one at that). Atherton's can have only two reasons to treat Sreesanth differently: either he stands to gain in some way (financially or otherwise) by defending Lee and chastising Sreesanth or he doesn't like Indians much. Neither of these are defensible reasons. Athertons' criticism of Sreesanth has taken on some untoward proportions, heretofore unknown in the world of cricket - he is advising the opposition team's captain to drop Sreesanth from the next match -- his reason for ask Dravid to do this -- the umpires have not penalized Sreesanth enough.

By the same token, Atherton, in his new angelic goodness should ask Michael Vaughan to drop Kevin Pieterson, Alastair Cook (the alleged perpetrators of the jelly bean prank) and Matt Prior (whose on-field sledging skills are better than his wicket-keeping skills). And finally, Atherton should drop himself from the commentator's job where one of the prerequisites is to be neutral (or at least not show overt bias) and join the English coaching staff - he will make good company to the English coach Peter Moores (who wanted the stump mics to be turned down so Matt Prior's sledging will not be heard by the rest of the world). The stench of Atherton's mendacity is not good for the game of cricket.

All this is designed to pressure India into capitulating in the third test. The writing is on the wall though. All India has to do is not lose the third test - even a draw will earn them the trophy and the series (the first that England will lose on its soil since the 2001 ashes loss). There is only one way for India to respond to this psychological pressure from the English team and media: win the third test.

I, for one will not pretend to advise the great Rahul Dravid and the senior Indian players planning the next contest but if I were them, I would continue to put the team's collective heads down, focus and play hard to win. Good luck India.