Cricket India

Indian cricket is moving on to a new era, of a new coach and perhaps a new captain. A new coach- I am not going into the possibility of having a new captain now- brings with him a new vision which is stamped by his personality. At this stage, we have no idea who is going to take over from John Wright but whoever he is, it would be better, rather essential, for B.C.C.I to restructure the various aspects of our cricket with significant inputs from the new coach. Because for him to be successful, some qualitative changes in our infrastructure are imperative. And it is always better if they could be implemented with the involvement of the coach.

First of all the coach will certainly have his own unique approach to test cricket. How a team should go about its cricket? Should they play with a basic emphasis on never-lose-a-test or should they play their cricket looking for a win even risking a defeat. The first has a label of professionalism attached to it but the second approach at least to me opens up several exciting possibilities. Well, everything depends on the innate qualities a team possesses; otherwise the drive and aggression of a coach will not jell with the defense-oriented instincts of his team. Coming to specifics, the present Indian team is at least on paper capable of both approaches. But what is not factored in, is the likely response of the average cricket lover when India trying to create chances to forge ahead suffers setbacks. Such a possibility and its recurrence can not be ruled out because of the failure of the recent Indian outfits to perform consistently. The Australian attempts -successful they are- are made possible by the remarkable consistency shown by them. So no coach can formulate a policy without taking into account the basic strengths and weaknesses of the team he is going to inherit.

A coach may be interested in certain other aspects of cricket other than what are explicitly assigned to him. He would like to have a say in the selection of the team because it is the team after all which has to execute what the coach blueprints in the dressing room. That is the privilege of the captain also.

Then, the coach, as part of his vision may have some ideas about how selection is best done. Of course that is in the jurisdiction of the administrators and what has been sent to the garbage bin is not likely to be retrieved now. That is applicable to the new ideas that the coach may have about the structure of cricket in our country and its improvement. Such sweeping changes are not likely to be made especially in an environment of electoral politics ruling roost in the richest cricket board in the world.

Now about our captain. He in his present form is unlikely to find a place in the Zimbabwe team. But such a lean patch has to be there in any long career. It is the continuation of the old battle between class and form. If temporary loss of form is immediately followed by the guillotine of being dropped from the team, that is not going to boost the confidence of even a Tendulkar. Sourav can get his form back with with help from the experts. All that he hopefully needs is an extended vacation which mercifully is ahead of the Indian team. He can spend some useful time at the nets and if he gets his confidence back, may even go to Zimbabwe, probably a good place for one to get his form back!

Pakistan has proved that it was the better team at least in the limited over version. They exploited their strong points and outplayed India convincingly. What came to their rescue after India's consecutive wins at Kochi and Vishakhapatnam was their making full use of their allrounders. Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq and Shoib Malik steered their team around to winning ways with help from their strong middle order and Naveed Hassan Rana. India's inability to counter the effectiveness of these allrounders with tight all round professionalism or explosive individual brilliance. Not that the famed Indian batting lineup failed totally. No, they clicked at least on three occasions. At Kochi, Vishakh and Ahmedabad India posted good totals and managed to win two of those matches. But in the other three matches at Jamshedpur, Kanpur and today at Delhi, India's renowned batting bulldozer failed to push aside even the slightest of bowling ingenuity on reasonably good tracks. Sehwag played two great knocks in the first two matches but could not keep up his stunning form. Tendulkar mainly had a century as his contribution in this series. Dravid who had a good series as usual had a hundred and a couple of fifties. Then there was an explosive ton by Dhoni. Most of these performances came in matches which India won. In those four matches which India lost, there wasn't any significant show put up by Indian batsmen except at Kanpur. In the fifth one-dayer, Dravid and Kaif after losing the top four, put up a fighting century partnership and with the help of a cameo knock by Mongia, almost pulled India out of trouble. That was the only occasion where the resilience that was expected of such a strong lineup was actually demonstrated. Pakistan also often failed to click in the batting department. At Kochi they surrendered rather meekly. But they almost made a mockery of India's huge score at Vishakh with a never-say-die spirit. With the newly won confidence, they rattled up a big score at Jamshedpur and defended it comfortably. From there, they went on record their most successful chase at Ahmedabad. While Afridi's blitzkrieg did India in at Kanpur, it was Pakistan's allround ability that settled things in their favour. Thus it is obvious that Pakistan matched India in putting up effective scores without perhaps being as glamorous as the superstars-laden India. One more thing is clear. Pakistan's bowling may not have the sting to hurt major outfits like Australia but it is good enough to wrap things up against India. There again, all three all rounders bowled well giving excellent support to Rana. The inability of Sami and Kaneria to do well didn't help Pakistan. It was the good containing work done by Razzaq and regular fall of wickets during the bowling of Afridi and Shoib that put Pakistan on top. The Achilles' heel in Indian performance was clearly its bowling. What came as a disappointment was its failure even to live up to its own potential. Irfan Pathan simply looked out of depth. Generally Indian pace didn't show enough firepower. Things are even more inexplicable about the spinners' dismal show. Perhaps the pitches killed whatever sharpness they must have mustered otherwise. But to know that it was an irregular like Tendulkar who won the Kochi match for India and the famed duo of Harbhajan and Kumble could not do as well as an occasional bowler speaks volumes of India's problems in that area. Overall it was a good series for Pakistan. Billed as underdogs especially in the tests, they restored parity with a powerful display and riding that wave of self-confidence lived upto their reputation as the stronger one-day team.

When India finished its innings in the fifth ODI against Pakistan at Kanpur, I had thought of beginning this piece by extolling the greatness of Rahul Dravid and how often even greatness gets belittled by over exposure. But all that became quite irrelevant when Shahid Afridi exploded into the second fastest one-day century. What a brutal massacre of the innocents! By swinging and pulling with gay abandon, he displayed one of the most merciless exhibitions of power batting. That he made his runs within the first fifteen overs does not mean much as most of his strokes were played with so much power that whatever the Indian captain did with his field had no effect on the bulldozing ways of Afridi. Nine huge sixes and ten power-packed boundaries! You can count with your fingers the number of times he bothered to venture out of the crease for a run. In fact he walked out of the crease to whack the life out of the hapless Indian bowling on more occasions than to run for a single.
It was a good toss for Pakistan to lose. There was a little bit of movement available during the early overs and Naveed Hussan made good use of it by scalping Tendulkar, Sehwag and Dhoni before the Indian score went past 25. Another 30 odd runs later, India lost Yuvraj Singh also, Yuvraj missing a great opportunity to make use of the overs available to him, a rare chance for a number six batsmen in one day cricket. But Kaif who followed him, played with commendable grit and gave excellent support to the Indian captain who was holding one end up. As his faith in Kaif gradually increased, Dravid also began to play more strokes and slowly India got to a position from where they even looked like making a match of it.
All hopes of India's containing Pakistan went up in thin air as the master blaster simply destroyed India's confidence to set a victory up which opportunity only an extremely ridiculous effort could bungle. And Pakistan on this day at least had no plans to do that. They romped home with lots to spare.
Pakistan, it seems is on a roll. After two consecutive defeats, they bounced back to win the third match quite convincingly and went on to record their best ever successful chase at Ahmedabad. And that glorious win enabled them to equal the series. Now today they have gone one step further to take the lead which at the end of the second match looked almost impossible. While the huge Indian innings in that match was made possible mainly by the fine hundred by Tendulkar, it was a team effort by Pakistan. Everybody chipped in with his contribution, mainly Afridi, Shoib Malik and the unflappable Inzamam-Ul Huq. More than anything else, that stupendous run chase made a convincing statement about the ascending fortunes of Pakistan and India's inability to pull them back. Now, only an exceptionally inspiring display would see India on the winning side in the next match.To dislodge Pakistan from the high pedestal that they are on now may nor an easy task.
Now Ganguly. What the establishment did not want to do and what he himself was reluctant to do, was set up by the unseen hand of God. One may argue about the fairness of the seemingly harsh punishment meted out to the Indian skipper by the Match referee. taht is a different point. What is of note is that it helped the people who matter to avoid taking some unpleasant and not neccessarily shrewd decisions. Chris Broad has come to the rescue of everyone. One may even suspect that Ganguly himself might have seen this as a god-sent way out of the imbroglio. But the only thing which Ganguly may rue is that he minus his captaincy might find it very difficult to get back into the Indian team, in both the versions. Ahmedabad might just have been his last international match. I hope I am wrong. I like him as a captain and as a batsman both in tests and one dayers. Of course no one is indispensible and Ganguly may definitely be replaced with comfort. And I feel perhaps not without reason that we have not seen the last of the Prince of Kolkatta. If it is a false hope, then such a development may not be the best that can happen to Indian cricket.

At last, the mighty Indian batting machine broke down and with a clang , fell into pieces. Chasing a pretty big score on a good track where the ball was coming on to the bat, the Indians fell like nine pins against an attack which could at best be termed responsible. The Pakistani opening bowlers kept a tidy line and length and the bounce that was available to both the teams, helped the Pakistanis better. Because they who had the first exposure to the pitch were able to formulate a strategy suited to the behaviour of the pitch. Not only did they give shape to a strategy but executed it well also.

Exploiting the bounce, Sami and Naveed bowled a shade short. The ball often got big on the Indian batsmen and caused problems to them. Sehwag, Tendulkar, Dhoni, Dravid and Ganguly were all victims of that length. Perhaps the ball was coming on to the bat a little too soon. Which was not the case with the Indian bowlers. They sprayed the ball all over and more often than not gave the Pakistani batsmen enough width to play their strokes with great regularity. Learning from the poor Indian bowling show, the Pakistani bowlers, well advised by their coach, concentrated on good length and reaped the rewards. A consistent line and length presented Naveed with a rich haul of six wickets. A good show on any pitch.
The strong Pakistani batting display, even providing for the rather indisciplined Indian bowling, was only to be expected. Even at Vishakhpatnam, they showed enough signs of what they were capable of. So even as the big Pakistan score didn't surprise anyone, the timid Indian reply was least expected. It was true that in the initial overs by the Pakistan pacemen, the ball swung from an ideal area around the off stump. But that was not reason enough for the great Indian superstars of Indian cricket to forget their prowess with the bat and surrender so meekly.

A workman-like century by Salman butt and a more attractive innings by Shoib Malik, paved the foundation for the Pakistan score. Even though the last few overs saw them losing their way a bit, the partnership had enough punch to carry the innings to 319 for nine,ressurecting the old theory that any score with lots of wickets in hand at the 30 over mark be could be doubled at the end of the innings.

Such a solid foundation eluded the Indians and even the mighty Indian lineup could not overcome the early collapse. A brief rearguard action led by Irfan Pathan didn't do much except give some confidence to the Pathan.
Leave the decision to Sourav

Poor Sourav Ganguly. He can't do anything properly for the time being. I am unhappy abour the Indian captain. Both in the tests and limited over variety he just can't do anything right, right now. And he is doing so well as a captain that thinking of forcing him to yield his place to someone else does not sound right at all. Let us allow him to play in the remaining matches of the series and if he fails to regain his form even then let him take his own decision. He is too precious an asset for Indian cricket to deserve such premature criticisms.

It obviously took several series for the Indian cricket team's coach to zero in on to a strategy which if reasonably executed, could choke the opposing batsmen's free strokeplay and put a brake on their progress. Yes, we had seen Kumble,Tendulkar,Yuvraj and others bowl before also. But they were quite honest then. They tried to bowl good line and length with mixed results.

Now, at Kochi, Ganguly gave the ball to Tendulkar as part of a pre-determined plan. It was obvious that he was to bowl round the wicket, outside the leg stump, making the ball come into the stumps. Kochi gave him some help and despite occasional ill-directed deliveries, he just sliced through the Pakistan lineup. Visakhpatnam was slightly different. There was no turn, and the bounce was even. But the basic difficulty a righthander has playing against spin was exploited by him and the Pakistani assault was controlled to an extent by him. Yuvraj with his finger spin was a little more effective and his three wickets pushed the Pakistanis back whenever they smelled a chance of gaining the upperhand.
It seems that Pakistan had missed the bus even before Kochi. Their decision to drop Danish Kaneria was a major factor which worked for the Indian team. He would not have allowed the Indian tail to wag as it did at Vishakhapatnam. And what part timers like Tendulkar and Yuvraj did, could have been done much better by a specialist like Kaneria. And his inclusion would have meant more comfortable targets for Pakistan in both the matches.

Yes, the Indian victory at Vishakhapatnam was the result of a professional restriction job by the Indians. On a pitch tailormade for free strokeplay, India rattled up its highest ever ODI score. And Pakistan made a magnificent effort to create history by mauling this huge Indian score but the Indian bowling tactics and the sheer size of the Indian innings pushed them out of the match. India scored 356 for nine and restricted Pakistan to 298.
The man in form, Virender Sehwag blasted a rapid 74 off just 40 balls after India lost Tendulkar quite early. But the man who stole the show today with a once in a lifetime display was Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian wicketkeeper. Sent in at number three, he just waded into the Pakistan bowling and destroyed it beyond repair. With a strike rate of well over 100, he raced to 148. Even the Sehwag innings was shadowed by the sheer brilliance of Dhoni. How effortlessly he walked out and deposited the ball into the stands repeatedly! And in what regular succession the ball sped past the boundary making poor Inzy's carefully laid out fielding plans irrelevant! Batting looked easier than munching popcorn when Dhoni batted.

If the second wicket partnership was firing from both ends, the arrival of Dravid saw a change in the design in the batting methods. While firing continued from one end relentlessly, Dravid gave the new masterblaster every opportunity to inflict mortal wounds on the enemy. He of course was in no mortal fear as Dhoni wasn't particularly enamoured of testing the fielding capabilities of the Pakistanis by keeping the ball all along the ground!

356 was despite the friendliness of the pitch, was quite a deterring total. But the gutsy Pakistanis like a suicide squad, kept on charging. They often looked like getting at the enemy's throat. Each time they were pushed out of contention by some spirited Indian resistance and the pressure imposed on them by the huge target.
Salman Butt, the courageous Abdul Razzak and the glorious Youhana played simply delectable cricket. Razzak of course may not have wanted to get back to the pavilion soon because his big-made captain was not on a strictly jovial mood after getting run out by Razzak. Poor Razzak had made short work of the best batsman in his side-his skipper- and gave the Indians the major breakthrough. If Inzy was at the crease for a sizable period, none could have put anything more than a few paise on an Indian victory without getting a strange feeling in their chest.

India is 2-0 in the series. Now, Pakistan has to win all the remaining four matches to win it. It now looks improbable. Even if India manages to win just two of the next four matches, it can pocket the series.

The fears of a resurgent Pakistan after a mood-elevating fightback in the test series, was quite convincingly dispelled by Ganguly's men at Kochi in the first one day international cricket match. After posting a reasonably big total, India, making use of the toss, tightened the screws on the Pakistan innings mercilessly.

Even before the spectators had settled into their seats, India had lost the wickets of the great Tendulkar and the struggling Ganguly. Four for two was the Indian score after the second over. Virendra Sehwag who has gone through a long spell of thirty matches without a century, also began quite tentatively, giving chances twice- once before opening his account and later at eight. But there ended India's woes, at least for this match. In a double century partnership which is a record against Pakistan, Sehwag and the ever-reliable Rahul Dravid took India to a wonderful position from where India could have gone on to a mammoth score, well over 300. But that was not to be.

The almost unbearable April sun made life difficult for both the Indian batsmen. Braving the searing heat and fighting dehydration, both Sehwag and Dravid fought hard to keep focused and avoid playing irresponsibly. After the initial hiccups, Sehwag adopted his test match methodology of wait and ambush and flourished. Playing shots all round the wicket and crowning them with three maximum shots, he raced to his hundred in less than 85 balls. Dravid who was happy to play second fiddle to the in-form Sehwag, slowly got into his groove and prospered in his own secure manner. But heat was getting better of both of them. While Sehwag resorted to selective big hitting, Dravid, unable to match his partner in that department, had to put in a little more physical effort and was almost on the verge of collapse when he like a zombie crossed his hundred mark.
But after these two great innings, those who followed, could not maintain the momentum and the Indian innings floundered a little towards the death. A certain 300-plus score got curtailed to 281. Sharp singles and energy-sapping twos and threes were not to be seen even in the post-Sehwag part of the Indian innings as a drained Dravid was unable to instill the kind of intensity into the fag end of the innings as is usually seen.

That stage of the Indian innings presented Pakistan with something like a 30-40 run bonus. It also brought them back into the game. A spirited performance by the visitors might have seen them go past the post too. But after a good start, they lost their way all too soon and lost the first four wickets to the seamers. Trying to take advantage of Pakistan's precarious condition, the Indian skipper brought on Tendulkar. On a pitch which yielded some bounce and towards the end of the Indian innings some spin too, Tendulkar proved to be quite a handful to the under-pressure Pakistanis. Coming round wicket and bowling leg stump line, the wily Tendulkar made life difficult for the batsmen. Whenever they made an attempt to cart his irritating presence out of sight, Tendulkar was gaining the upperhand. He, of course was not getting huge turn. It was his line and the necessity of playing against what little spin there was, which brought about the collapse. Tendulkar who disappointed the spectators with the bat, proved to be a match winner again by taking five wickets for the second consecutive time-last time against Australia at Kochi. The way he ran through the strong Pakistan middle order made a come back impossible for them.

The Indian batsmen are, well, in some sort of form. And that excludes the poor Indian captain. But still Indian batting now is too heavily dependent on Sehwag. Which may not be too good a thing. Like that, Tendulkar's getting five wickets when the frontline spinner in the team- Harbhajan Singh- had to go without a wicket may also not be the proper way to go about doing things.