A time to tinker

The fuss over Parthiv Patel opening the Indian innings alongside Sachin Tendulkar at Dambulla last Sunday was enough to make you wonder whether certain punters had wagered their home and hearth on it not happening. And it made you check the scorecard once again just to make sure that this wasn't a World Cup final that they were talking about, rather than an inconsequential Asia Cup encounter.

The format of this bloated tournament - other than guaranteeing up-an-coming Bangladesh five games, it's of no benefit to anyone - is such that points aren't even carried forward to the second round-robin phase. So safe in the knowledge that they would start the business end of the competition on even keel with Sri Lanka, Sourav Ganguly and John Wright were perfectly justified in tinkering with the line-up, especially once VVS Laxman had to drop out with a troublesome knee.

The Australian way, which basically involves winning every match that you play, is rightly seen as the one to emulate, but for teams like India that aren't quite the finished article, more alchemy is needed before they can arrive at 24-karat success. And even Australia reached the winner's enclosure only after extensive experimentation. A welcome by-product of that has been a second-string of players like Jimmy Maher, Andy Bichel and the three Brads - Haddin, Hogg, and Williams - who are ready to step in should the need arise. They have also been known to open with the likes of Damien Martyn and Maher, just in case there's a lull in the Gilchrist pyrotechnics.

If anything, Ganguly and Wright need to be praised for attempting to address the one question that vexes most Indian cricket followers: whether to stick with seven batsmen, or have just six and a specialist wicketkeeper? By the time the 2007 World Cup comes around, Rahul Dravid will be almost 35, and while he might still be India's best batsman, it's debatable whether he'll be up to the task of keeping wicket.

That makes it imperative that a specialist wicketkeeper be groomed, with Patel and Dinesh Karthik the likely contenders. It would also be invaluable if either could be even one-half the batsman that Gilchrist is, especially in the one-day game where he has a penchant for utterly demoralising the bowlers even if out there only for half an hour.

The blueprint for success - yawn, Australia again - also suggests that flexibility is the key to long-lasting success. Horses for courses is merely one aspect of that. In conditions where the ball swings prodigiously, it's well worth opening with Yuvraj Singh, more accomplished against the hard ball than most in this Indian side and also a wonderful striker of the ball, with the ability to loft effortlessly over the infield.

Some would say that holding Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag back is a sign of their vulnerability. Such voices should be ignored, because the discerning man will tell you about the wisdom of keeping the powder dry. Against a team like Sri Lanka, who rely heavily on Muttiah Muralitharan to choke the run flow in the middle of the innings, it would be a smart move to hold back the likes of Sehwag and Ganguly, just so that Murali would have something to think about as he tossed up those prodigious offbreaks.

The old adage about not fixing something if it ain't broke shouldn't be taken for gospel truth. Sometimes, it takes a little bit of a tinker to go the extra mile. This team has its priorities right. The Asia Cup may be pivotal to subcontinental bragging rights, but it's on the periphery as far as the big picture is concerned, in what is potentially a make-or-break season for Indian cricket.

Home victories in the Test arena over Australia and South Africa are the biggest priority, by some distance. After that comes the ICC Champions Trophy, an event that India have traditionally done well in, and the three-nation jamboree at Amstelveen - important because of the presence of Australia, the only team that India have yet to master in the one-day game.

Perhaps the anti-tinkering brigade need to be reminded of what happened last season, when India took a punt on Aakash Chopra during a below-par series against New Zealand. A mediocre beginning provided the springboard for what followed, the most important six months in the recent history of Indian cricket. The aim now must be to consolidate and not lose sight of long-term targets. Not every experiment will be successful, but some defeats hurt far less than others. The Dambulla loss wasn't even a warning blip on the radar, unless of course you were pound foolish.