Hazare advocates homework for Indian batsmen

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">mumbai: how will india fare in south africa? that is the concern for every fan of indian cricket, young and old. in the latter category falls one of the greatest names of indian cricket. convalescing in a vadodara hospital from colostomy, vijay hazare, the doyen of indian batting of the 40s and 50s, didn''t mind being asked how he felt about india''s chances.<br />``india should do well in south africa,'''' were the words that will comfort skipper sourav ganguly and his men who brace themselves for a tough tour.at 86, hazare, is the second oldest living test player, the oldest being mushtaq ali, just three months his senior.<br />age has taken its toll on hazare. the great batsman is hard of hearing so it is difficult to make easy conversation. but there is great help from grandson kunal, a recent baroda ranji player before overuse of the shoulder caused the left-arm spinner to miss first-class cricket the last two years.<br />as kunal repeats the question about india''s chances, hazare, his face creasing into a smile, makes his positive remarks but adds a rider: ``but we have to watch out for that bowler...'''' and on searching his fading memory, says ``donald.''''<br />hazare would have known the value of a speedster to a team. he braved the pace of ray lindwall and keith miller to score a hundred in each innings in the 1948 adelaide test.<br />hazare is an avid watcher of the game on television. domestic help carmine d''souza, who has been with him since 1986, says, ``when india is not doing well, saab gestures as if he would want to go out there and bat for the country.''''<br />and why not? consider his career record: 2,192 runs in 30 tests at 47-plus with seven hundreds and nine fifties. plus 1,685 runs from 21 unofficial tests (avg 52), five hundreds and eight fifties.<br />hazare has a lot of respect for rahul dravid. ``he is so correct.'''' whom can he liken dravid with any of his contemporaries? the answer is fast. ``one can''t compare. i like his attitude of going for ones and twos to begin with and then playing for boundaries.''''<br />hazare reveals that it was his <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">modus operandi </span>too.<br />and how did hazare stand up to sheer pace? the old fire begins to burn. ``i liked to play fast bowling and had few problems.'''' then he gave a secret away. ``i made it a habit to study the bowler. i would stand behind the nets and see what he was bowling. make mental notes. i would remember all that and recall it when i was batting against him. this helped me immensely.'''' something our batsmen could try doing in south africa.<br />of course, they have the advantage of tv replays, digital video recall and so on. but nothing like standing behind the stumps and shadow playing mentally, if it is permissible.<br />this could have been especially useful against the likes of muttiah muralitharan, who made the best four batsmen dance to his tune in the recent series. like all of us, hazare, too, watched murali in fascination. ``he bowls a few deliveries into the batsmen then suddenly makes one go away. he is very cunning. i was watching him intensely as if i myself was playing him,'''' says the old man with the kind of smile that seems to say: ``c''mon, i''m ready for ya.''''<br />hazare''s thoughts go back to his own days when he played a murali type __ sonny ramadhin. he reminisces: ``ramadhin would bowl four balls that turned in and then made one curl away. i studied him in detail and never had any problem.''''<br />the indian skipper gets some sympathy from hazare. ``i would say he is a really good captain. he cannot succeed every time. his 98 in the second test was a good knock. he looked quite happy to get the victory and missing the century didn''t matter. i liked this attitude.''''<br />is tendulkar another bradman, one asks him for he played against sir donald. ``sachin''s batting is correct and he selects the right ball to hit.'''' one knows now that he will not compare the two. then he talks of the don: ``he would get ones and twos initially before going for the bowling.'''' then coming back to sachin, hazare says with a tinge of regret: ``but he refused the india captaincy.'''' he didn''t say more. his words got one to ponder on it. in hazare''s time captaincy was hard to get __ one needed votes from the board officials. in one series (1958-59), there were four skippers for five tests.<br />the only stress hazare felt was from bowlers trying to hit him on the body. ``ridgway and miller were those who went more for the man and not the bat.'''' but if the batsmen made public display of pain after being hit they were castigated by the likes of c.k. nayudu who would command them to get on with the game. it is this type of authority that ganguly will have to wield if the series against south africa has to be won, against all odds. that''s the message from hazare, one of the doughtiest if not the most attractive batters in the indian cricket. </div> </div>