Meritocracy

India coach John Wright recently said in a press conference that his biggest area of concern in the Indian batting was in shot-selection. Clearly, his words have had an impact on the Indian batsmen.

Both Ajay Ratra and VVS Laxman played quintessential Test cricket, opting to see out the bad balls and punish the good ones.

Ratra, who made 93 not out off 233 balls, faced 157 good-length deliveries, and scored only 33 off them, at a strike-rate (SR) of 21 runs per 100 balls. But he took full toll of the overpitched deliveries (25 runs off 33, SR: 71) and the short balls (35 runs off 44, SR: 80).

Laxman made 124 not out off 237 deliveries, and was equally patient: he made 57 runs off the 145 good-length deliveries he faced, at a strike-rate of 39. But he scored off over-pitched and short balls at an almost identical strike-rate of 73.

On a good batting track, the West Indian bowlers continued, as in the last Test, to use the short ball as a weapon. It didn’t work. The batsmen were very comfortable playing on the back foot. During the partnership, Laxman and Ratra went on the back foot a total of 170 times, and scored 113 runs (SR: 66).

In contrast, their front-foot strike-rate was less than half of that, at only 32. Which just goes to show how magnificently the two of them adapted to the conditions. Wright must be a happy man.