No First Test Blues for aggressive India

Briefly, in the last two away series, in Sri Lanka and Australia, India
seemed to revert to type as poor travellers, losing the opening Tests in
Colombo and Melbourne respectively. By winning in Hamilton they have
arrested that brief trend, and got back on track with their record in the
five years before that where they won first Tests in Pakistan, Bangladesh,
Zimbabwe and South Africa and drew the opener in Pakistan, West Indies,
Bangladesh and England.

For decades, India suffered from the First Test Blues where, after losing
the first Test they found it impossible to get back into the series. In
this decade, they have reversed that record to a large extent, and shaken
off their reputation as poor starters. Hamilton, therefore, is important
both for itself, and for what it says about the recent Indian teams.
Perhaps in the past, apart from the problems of acclimatisation, there was
also the mindset which was happy to settle for a draw at best. Captains
were reluctant to take risks, and in cricket, as in life, fortune tends to
favour the brave.

MS Dhoni is an attacking captain, New Zealand have one of the
weakest bowling attacks in international cricket while India have one of
the strongest batting line-ups. If Hamilton is any indication, anything
less than a 3-0 win for India would count as unsatisfactory. New Zealand's
best bet is to prepare seaming tracks that suit their bowlers, and hope
their batsmen fare better against India's medium-pacers.

In 1967, India lost 4-0 to Australia, and skipper Tiger Pataudi said at the
end of that series that "just as we were beginning to find our feet, the
series was over." A 2-2 finish might have been a fairer result, but by the
time the team arrived in New Zealand, India had found their bearings. They
won 3-1, the last time they won a series in New Zealand. Statistically, it
is still India's best performance abroad; it was also the first time
India had won the first Test of an away series.

One bad afternoon's cricket has spelt the end of India's dreams in the
first Test of many series. Even in the 1990s, a decade by when
professionalism in attitude and physical fitness is supposed to have
finally arrived in India, they continued to lose the first Test with
alarming regularity. Only twice in the decade, in Bangladesh and
Zimbabwe did they win the first Test. In 22 series abroad, they lost the
first Test 12 times. Before that, first-Test wins in Auckland in 1976 and
Lord's in 1986, merely served to show up the overall poor record.

Sourav Ganguly first began to reverse the trend, and now Dhoni has carried
it forward. If one decade's positive cricket has served to erase more than
half a century's uncertainty before that, then that might be the real
significance of the Hamilton win.