Bring on Mishra!

Sourav Ganguly is getting better as a captain with every passing day and his record is beginning to reflect it too. The Indian skipper's 12th win in 28 Tests at the helm was scripted by his main trump cards on home soil - his spinners.

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After winning a good toss, Ganguly wisely decided to bat first on a newly laid track. The ever-confident Virender Sehwag was at hand to ensure that his team got off to a strong start. The more I see of the dashing opener, the more I am convinced that he is the most refreshing thing to have happened to Indian cricket in recent times. He never seems to be saddled by any unwanted burden and always gives full rein to his naturally aggressive instincts.

I thought Pedro Collins bowled a good spell on the opening day. He was bowling the odd heavy ball, and getting a few to bounce rather nastily. It was one of these quick bouncers that smashed into the back of Sehwag's helmet. This is what the Windies fast bowlers have been most renowned for - hostility. I must add that Mervyn Dillon, though, cut a sorry figure; he was too keen on bowling well within himself. Dillon and the rest of the West Indies fast bowlers failed to apply any pressure on Sehwag and gave him enough width to play his trademark strokes through the off side.

Sehwag's partner Sanjay Bangar is also coming along nicely as an opening batsman. It is always good to have a batsman, who puts a high price on his wicket and will do his utmost to stick around and take the sheen off the new ball. With Sehwag blazing away at one end, Bangar certainly makes for an ideal foil. Each of the 201 runs that the duo put on for the first wicket bears testimony to the strength of their newly-forged partnership. I sincerely hope that the selectors give these two openers a good run.

The other batsman to come up with a standout performance was Rahul Dravid. By scoring his fourth consecutive Test hundred, the Indian vice-captain yet again underscored his importance in this Indian team. The moment he retired hurt, the rest of the Indian batting fell apart.

Moving on to the West Indies, I just can't find anything positive to say about their performance. With the exception of Chanderpaul's batting, everything about their cricket was at best mediocre. If they continue to bowl, bat and catch in this fashion, they'd even struggle to get the better of Bangladesh in their next series.

Their woeful catching was what appalled me the most; no team can afford to drop so many crucial catches. This from a team that is in India with a fielding coach! As for the batting, I feel the current team is sorely missing the spark and the confidence that the presence of great batsmen like Gordon Greenidge and Viv Richards could have provided.

When it came to the Indian efforts in the field, Parthiv Patel's performance behind the wickets during the two West Indian innings gave me a lot of heart. The young man was not troubled one whit by the prospect of keeping to either Kumble or Harbhajan and his glove-work was confident and virtually impeccable. This does augur well for Indian cricket.

Moving on to the bowling, I felt that Harbhajan Singh did not bowl all that well in the West Indies first innings, being yet again guilty of bowling flat and quick. That said he was quick to correct his mistakes in the next innings, bowling much more slowly and getting the ball to turn a lot.

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Zaheer Khan was the other Indian bowler to make an impression. The left-arm quick has come on by leaps and bounds, and these days he can be seen charging in to bowl. I think he deserves a five-for in Tests now and I am confident that he will claim that soon.

Bangar also drew my attention when he rattled Ramnaresh Sarwan with a few bouncers. The medium-pacer was generating more pace than Srinath, which suggests that he could actually share the new ball with Zaheer Khan. Given the nature of tracks in Chennai and Kolkata, it would be a good idea to go along with this combination and replace Srinath with the young leg-spinner Amit Mishra. It is always best to play to one's strengths, and in India's case it is our spin bowling.

All said the beleagured West Indies team is, in my opinion, not in any position to salvage anything out of this series. Their weakness as a side places Sourav Ganguly's men in the enviable position of recording India's first clean sweep over the West Indies by winning the Chennai and Kolkata Tests. I for one would dearly love to see the Indian juggernaut roll on.