Sunday, February 26, 2006
Smart Selection
Kiran More and his men have done a good job this time. They selected possibly the best
combination that could be assembled from those who hold the Indian passport. The balance is
certainly better now than in the case of the lopsided one of the one-day squad against
Pakistan.
This team is an admirable blend of experience and talent. Of course, as usual, most of the
This team is an admirable blend of experience and talent. Of course, as usual, most of the
players simply walk into the team. Men like Tendulkar, Sehwag, Laxman, Dhoni, Pathan, Kumble
and Harbhajan along with captain Dravid are certainties in the Indian team at this point of
time.
The ghost of the Ganguly issue refuses to go away. Ganguly was a non-starter in the original
The ghost of the Ganguly issue refuses to go away. Ganguly was a non-starter in the original
scheme of things. But Yuvraj's muscle tear enabled the media to dig up the issue of Ganguly's
chances when there were none. With Kaif and Suresh Raina waiting in the wings, it would have
been a naive reading of the situation by the selectors had they again bowed to non-cricking pressures. They had at one point of time bungled on this issue and what they have done now is reasserting their conviction solely using cricket logic. Ganguly did fairly well when he was given a chance but that obviously is not just enough to get into this Indian team.
I don't forget the injustice done to him in Pakistan but it is time to move on with the new
momentum achieved by excellent batting, good bowling and wonderful fielding. Ganguly's lack of
form,aggravated by his problems with technique and his horrendous fielding has made it very
difficult for the selectors to go out of the way to provide him with a decent farewell. With
him out of reckoning, Kaif and Raina did not have any competition.
Wasim Jaffer was given the nod ahead of Gambhir though the logic behind the decision is hard
Wasim Jaffer was given the nod ahead of Gambhir though the logic behind the decision is hard
to understand. Gambhir batted well in the warm-up match but that is not my point. He is flamboyant all right but Jaffer also does not show the tight and disciplined approach of an opener.
The selectors have the luxury of restricting the number of batsmen in the team at seven as the presence of Dhoni and Pathan cuts the tail short. The team has along with Pathan three more pace bowlers. Sreesanth, V.R.V.Singh and R.P.Singh. V.R.V.Singh is reputedly the fastest of the lot. Sreesanth also is pacey and it would pose a problem to the team think tank to choose the drinks carrier. Agarkar and Zaheer Khan could not ward off the challenge from the young brigade and the selectors would have drawn flak if they
had gone ahead and chosen one of them over these boys.
It is in the spin section that More and co has done something sensational. They went aggressive and selected Piyush Chawla, the wonder leggie who did very well in the junior World Cup in Sri Lanka.
There may be any number of people who think that the selectors were a little hasty and did something which may in fact harm the career of the boy. While there is a point there, I feel they have shown great imagination in selecting Chawla. He can travel with the team, make himself at home with the more celebrated seniors and learn from them. And if a time comes when drastic actions may be called for or if the think tank judges that England is shaky against quality leg spin and if this boy is capable of adding teeth to the India bowling, this investment may pay off. Obviously he will not play in the first test unless the pith screams for a third spinner. This decision must be one of the more inspired ones from the stable of More Inc.
It is in the spin section that More and co has done something sensational. They went aggressive and selected Piyush Chawla, the wonder leggie who did very well in the junior World Cup in Sri Lanka.
There may be any number of people who think that the selectors were a little hasty and did something which may in fact harm the career of the boy. While there is a point there, I feel they have shown great imagination in selecting Chawla. He can travel with the team, make himself at home with the more celebrated seniors and learn from them. And if a time comes when drastic actions may be called for or if the think tank judges that England is shaky against quality leg spin and if this boy is capable of adding teeth to the India bowling, this investment may pay off. Obviously he will not play in the first test unless the pith screams for a third spinner. This decision must be one of the more inspired ones from the stable of More Inc.
In their last match before the first test, England betrayed its lack of acclimatization. It was of course the pace bowling that dismissed them cheaply in both the innings but it may be foolish to imagine that England found Munaf Patel and others a handful. It must be the nature of the pitch which proved to be their undoing. And their famed fast bowling was handled with comfort by the Indian colts. Quite a lot has to be done by them in the next few days to get used to the low bounce and lack of seam movement here. While their batsmen have to restructure their methods to counter the typical problems thrown up by the sub-continent, the bowlers have to accept the docile Indian tracks and fine-tune their already-put-in-place strategy. This defeat at the hands of the Indian juniors must have sown some doubts in their minds and the injury problems-Vaughan, Collingwood and some others- and the possible absence of Trescothique
have not helped them either.
It goes without saying that one should strike when the opposition is most vulnerable. India
It goes without saying that one should strike when the opposition is most vulnerable. India
ideally should play with five bowlers. 3-2 in favor of pace unless the pitch turns out to be
rank turner. If the pitch could start turning by the third day, I would not hesitate to
throw Chawla at the deep end immediately. And a good performance on a dusty track would give a
lot of confidence to the potential world beater. A gamble it may be but a very good one!
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Tuesday, February 21, 2006
On The Way To greater ODI Heights
How come that
One could come up with any number of explanations. Imran Khan kept at his favorite theme of the wrong batting order. Akhtar's absence, the toss. etc etc. There is some validity in the bating order issue. When India countered the new ball successfully by entrusting the job with its better equipped batsmen, Pakistan kept its more talented batsmen back and they often had to do the back-to-the-wall recovery which on more than one occasion allowed India to manage its overs effectively.
Akhtar's absence must have been the most important reason. He has the fire power to disturb the rhythm of almost all the Indian batsmen. The,y one can be sure, would not have found the going so easy if Akhtar was there to inspire the
Toss. Dravid was lucky with it. Everyone deserves a break and it must be said Dravid made full use of the toss. He marshaled his resources with a great degree of effectiveness both in the man management area and strategy. Of course one keeps on learning and if there were lapses -very few of them- he must be given the benefit of his honeymoon period.
But they don't tell us the whole story. Some thing else has also contributed to the Indian supremacy. It probably is Chappell’s input. You may ask the question why this input didn't help
Chappell could more effectively bring about changes in performance and attitude in the shorter version of the game. What he has done to India's one day cricket is awesome. Results of his efforts in tests may take more time. And deficiencies are shown up more quickly and glaringly in tests where wits are matched over five long days.
But the graph certainly is going north.
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Friday, February 17, 2006
India Clinches Series In Style
It is not a pleasant thing to be forced to eat one's own words. But this unbelievable twist in the fortunes of the Indian team forces me to admit that I like every other so-called cricket enthusiast has some egg on my face. Frankly I didn't think that Pakistan would so meekly surrender whatever advantage they had over India. They have a reasonably strong batting line up which could comfortably handle the average Indian bowling and a sharp bowling attack which could restrict India's batting might. But somewhere the script got hijacked. In all four matches, India batted well and in the last three one-dayers the Indian bowling got the Pakistan batting in tangles.
Pakistan played as if they forgot the lines. Poor shot selection and inadequate fielding prevented their bowlers from performing effectively. Of course the absence of Akhtar and in the last match, Afridi and the inexplicable omission of Kaneria didn't help them. But that should not take the credit away from India as they also had problems on the injury front.
India's reply at Multan would have been much more powerful had Tendulkar not played such an atrocious shot. I agree he was due for a failure but such a casual approach from such an experienced batsman was quite disappointing. Dravid and Yuvraj steadied the innings with a positive approach and so close was India to the target that even the mini collapse did not inject adrenaline into the Pakistanis.
It now seems that in conditions which help movement in the air, Indian pace men perform with efficiency and the better the tracks the more helpless India becomes.
Complacency is likely to be India's enemy in the last match. It can be very difficult for the players to motivate themselves. There also could be great temptation on the part of Chappell and Dravid to go in for some experimentation.
Both approaches have points in their favor. If they think of the World Cup, you can't blame them. And if they want to crush Pakistan by registering yet another fine win, you can't blame them either. Chappell should be a happy man.
Pakistan played as if they forgot the lines. Poor shot selection and inadequate fielding prevented their bowlers from performing effectively. Of course the absence of Akhtar and in the last match, Afridi and the inexplicable omission of Kaneria didn't help them. But that should not take the credit away from India as they also had problems on the injury front.
India's reply at Multan would have been much more powerful had Tendulkar not played such an atrocious shot. I agree he was due for a failure but such a casual approach from such an experienced batsman was quite disappointing. Dravid and Yuvraj steadied the innings with a positive approach and so close was India to the target that even the mini collapse did not inject adrenaline into the Pakistanis.
It now seems that in conditions which help movement in the air, Indian pace men perform with efficiency and the better the tracks the more helpless India becomes.
Complacency is likely to be India's enemy in the last match. It can be very difficult for the players to motivate themselves. There also could be great temptation on the part of Chappell and Dravid to go in for some experimentation.
Both approaches have points in their favor. If they think of the World Cup, you can't blame them. And if they want to crush Pakistan by registering yet another fine win, you can't blame them either. Chappell should be a happy man.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Akhtar, Murali And The Bent Arm
After the third test that India lost heavily, Indian coach Greg Chappell made a reference to Shoib Akhtar’s bowling action. He chose to call it seriously different. Mind you, Chappell never said that Akhtar’s bowling action was in any way suspicious. He even did not mention about the straightening problem. But that created a furor in Pakistan. Akhtar requested Chappell to at least respect ICC. Pakistan papers went to the extent of insinuating a breach of the sense of friendship that the series is said to be wrapped in.
I am not going into the merits of Akhtar’s bowling action. I leave it to you. Just look at some of his deliveries. You will be convinced that he straightens a bent arm just before delivery. Everything else is technical. ICC in its eagerness to please everybody has made itself a fool by complicating something very simple. Cricket when first confronted with this problem, entrusted the job of handling it with the umpires. When an umpire thought some one’s action was doubtful, he pulled out the no ball rule. That was okay for quite some time but when big fish was trapped in the net, ICC found it difficult to stick to the law. Soon percentages came into play. Ten percent for pace men and seven and a half percent for the spinners. After a while even those percentages were breached. Instead of fighting for its turf, ICC tamely succumbed to pressure and made it 15% for all, ball’s speed no longer being a crucial factor.
The same argument that came to Muralidharan’s rescue is being used in Akhtar’s case also. He has a deformity that does not allow him to bowl legal deliveries. It is this argument that I find very difficult to understand. If a walker breaks into a trot just because his body doesn’t allow him to walk briskly, will that be pardoned and will he be given the gold medal? Persons with handicaps deserve sympathy but that deformity should not a sanction for undue advantage. By bending his arm and by straightening it just before delivery a bowler undoubtedly gains an advantage. My point is that advantage is unfair. Let me stretch my argument to an extreme point. If some brave boy decides to cause some sort of deformity that will help him to bowl with greater effectiveness, will that be accepted? Forgive me if I am crossing the line of reasonableness. But you can’t differentiate between different forms of deformity.
What can be and should be done is to give unfettered freedom to the umpires to decide what chucking is. If an umpire calls a bowler he should remain called until ICC ‘s technical support system guides the bowler out of his problem and helps him to bowl with a legitimate action. But that should not prevent the umpire from calling him again if he thinks that the bowler chucks. Because a bowler may revert to his old style unknowingly or he might quite consciously straighten his arm to get some extra help.
I am all against the response of the Australian public to Murali’s presence but I, to be honest, can’t reconcile myself to the point that Murali gets his wickets in a morally acceptable way. Legally yes but morally? No one can take the ball so far away from a right-hander with the normal finger spinning action.
There are two ways in which you can try to solve this problem. Give shape to a system that finds out the offenders very early in their career and refashion their action. Simultaneously try to develop a software that detects the erring delivery. Machines have started to play an increasing role in sport. This could be a solution that is impartial, objective and one that helps the umpires.
I am not going into the merits of Akhtar’s bowling action. I leave it to you. Just look at some of his deliveries. You will be convinced that he straightens a bent arm just before delivery. Everything else is technical. ICC in its eagerness to please everybody has made itself a fool by complicating something very simple. Cricket when first confronted with this problem, entrusted the job of handling it with the umpires. When an umpire thought some one’s action was doubtful, he pulled out the no ball rule. That was okay for quite some time but when big fish was trapped in the net, ICC found it difficult to stick to the law. Soon percentages came into play. Ten percent for pace men and seven and a half percent for the spinners. After a while even those percentages were breached. Instead of fighting for its turf, ICC tamely succumbed to pressure and made it 15% for all, ball’s speed no longer being a crucial factor.
The same argument that came to Muralidharan’s rescue is being used in Akhtar’s case also. He has a deformity that does not allow him to bowl legal deliveries. It is this argument that I find very difficult to understand. If a walker breaks into a trot just because his body doesn’t allow him to walk briskly, will that be pardoned and will he be given the gold medal? Persons with handicaps deserve sympathy but that deformity should not a sanction for undue advantage. By bending his arm and by straightening it just before delivery a bowler undoubtedly gains an advantage. My point is that advantage is unfair. Let me stretch my argument to an extreme point. If some brave boy decides to cause some sort of deformity that will help him to bowl with greater effectiveness, will that be accepted? Forgive me if I am crossing the line of reasonableness. But you can’t differentiate between different forms of deformity.
What can be and should be done is to give unfettered freedom to the umpires to decide what chucking is. If an umpire calls a bowler he should remain called until ICC ‘s technical support system guides the bowler out of his problem and helps him to bowl with a legitimate action. But that should not prevent the umpire from calling him again if he thinks that the bowler chucks. Because a bowler may revert to his old style unknowingly or he might quite consciously straighten his arm to get some extra help.
I am all against the response of the Australian public to Murali’s presence but I, to be honest, can’t reconcile myself to the point that Murali gets his wickets in a morally acceptable way. Legally yes but morally? No one can take the ball so far away from a right-hander with the normal finger spinning action.
There are two ways in which you can try to solve this problem. Give shape to a system that finds out the offenders very early in their career and refashion their action. Simultaneously try to develop a software that detects the erring delivery. Machines have started to play an increasing role in sport. This could be a solution that is impartial, objective and one that helps the umpires.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Sachin Silences Critics
Indian batting is carrying the team on its shoulders now. That is the only way good Indian performances can happen but the authenticity of the Indian efforts surprises even the ardent fan of Indian cricket. India’s is arguably the best batting line up at least on sub-continental pitches. But it never functioned consistently to do justice to its reputation. This is a series where the Indian batsmen raised the bar in all three matches except for the minor but crucial hiccup towards the end of its innings in the first match.
First of all, it was a good toss to win. The Indian pace men were able to get movement in the initial overs and did enough damage to make sure that Pakistan would not run away with the match. As the ball lost its shine and the sun broke out dispelling the cloud cover, the Indian bowlers lost their sting and Pakistan came strongly back into the match. But the early injury prevented them from reaching a position of invincibility.
But what they got was a defendable total. But India, even after the loss of Gambhir and Pathan, could cruise towards the target because of the neat innings of Tendulkar. Pakistan, it is certain, is missing Akhtar quite a lot. His ability to disturb the opponents’ rhythm with his extra yards of pace might be the factor which helped India to establish such a supremacy.
Five down and six-plus an over to get, India was in a spot of trouble. One more wicket, either Yuvraj or Dhoni, would have been curtains for India. But what an innings Dhoni played knowing fully well that a mistake would mean a Pakistan win! He, as if not aware of the inherent danger of such an all out aggression, just waded into the Pakistani bowling and demoralized them to such an extent that the bowlers very quickly lost their zeal and reconciled themselves to the inevitable.
Form. I don’t think I should not talk about it with such authority. Who wants to eat his own words! Sachin Tendulkar has made his position secure for at least several matches. And I don’t think any one would be foolish enough to talk about easing him out of the team. But the truth remains that during the last couple of seasons, he was not the most important batsman in the team. Every one talked of Dravid’s solidity and put their money on him to pull the chestnuts out of fire. No one seriously thought Tendulkar would do it.
This series already wears the Tendulkar stamp of authority. In all three matches, he lent the kind of strength to Indian batting that a kingpin is expected to do and has regained some of his old approach to batting. Not fully and I don’t think that would happen again. But this new Tendulkar ,more mundane, is of great value to the team.
Dhoni, we know bats with adrenaline in his bat. To try to teach sense to men like Dhoni and Sehwag would be like arguing with a man sozzled in alcohol. They probably are more useful to the team as they are and the sheer unpredictability lends charm to their batting. Indians may be chewing their nails out of shape when they swish and miss but it might be better to leave them alone the way they are now.
The man who has impressed me most is Yuvraj. He has improved his game quite a lot. His ability to reach the ball and to come to the front foot with regularity is a new development . It is certain that he has put in quite some effort into the refashioning of his game without losing his instinctive stroke play.
Imran Khan commented that great teams analyze the match after a win. Chappell and Dravid would do well to look at the shoddy catching that allowed Pakistan to reach a comfortable score. Sreesanth was the bowler who suffered on all three occasions. That was when he was bowling with fire and was making the ball bend away from the right handers with regularity. He can rest assured that soon such edges would be taken.
The new timings for the match has given new avenues of thought to the organizers in India also. The effect of early moisture and late evening dew is minimized and they don’t come to play any significant role in the match.
A strong come back by Pakistan alone would inject life into the series. Another Indian win would seal the fate of the series.
First of all, it was a good toss to win. The Indian pace men were able to get movement in the initial overs and did enough damage to make sure that Pakistan would not run away with the match. As the ball lost its shine and the sun broke out dispelling the cloud cover, the Indian bowlers lost their sting and Pakistan came strongly back into the match. But the early injury prevented them from reaching a position of invincibility.
But what they got was a defendable total. But India, even after the loss of Gambhir and Pathan, could cruise towards the target because of the neat innings of Tendulkar. Pakistan, it is certain, is missing Akhtar quite a lot. His ability to disturb the opponents’ rhythm with his extra yards of pace might be the factor which helped India to establish such a supremacy.
Five down and six-plus an over to get, India was in a spot of trouble. One more wicket, either Yuvraj or Dhoni, would have been curtains for India. But what an innings Dhoni played knowing fully well that a mistake would mean a Pakistan win! He, as if not aware of the inherent danger of such an all out aggression, just waded into the Pakistani bowling and demoralized them to such an extent that the bowlers very quickly lost their zeal and reconciled themselves to the inevitable.
Form. I don’t think I should not talk about it with such authority. Who wants to eat his own words! Sachin Tendulkar has made his position secure for at least several matches. And I don’t think any one would be foolish enough to talk about easing him out of the team. But the truth remains that during the last couple of seasons, he was not the most important batsman in the team. Every one talked of Dravid’s solidity and put their money on him to pull the chestnuts out of fire. No one seriously thought Tendulkar would do it.
This series already wears the Tendulkar stamp of authority. In all three matches, he lent the kind of strength to Indian batting that a kingpin is expected to do and has regained some of his old approach to batting. Not fully and I don’t think that would happen again. But this new Tendulkar ,more mundane, is of great value to the team.
Dhoni, we know bats with adrenaline in his bat. To try to teach sense to men like Dhoni and Sehwag would be like arguing with a man sozzled in alcohol. They probably are more useful to the team as they are and the sheer unpredictability lends charm to their batting. Indians may be chewing their nails out of shape when they swish and miss but it might be better to leave them alone the way they are now.
The man who has impressed me most is Yuvraj. He has improved his game quite a lot. His ability to reach the ball and to come to the front foot with regularity is a new development . It is certain that he has put in quite some effort into the refashioning of his game without losing his instinctive stroke play.
Imran Khan commented that great teams analyze the match after a win. Chappell and Dravid would do well to look at the shoddy catching that allowed Pakistan to reach a comfortable score. Sreesanth was the bowler who suffered on all three occasions. That was when he was bowling with fire and was making the ball bend away from the right handers with regularity. He can rest assured that soon such edges would be taken.
The new timings for the match has given new avenues of thought to the organizers in India also. The effect of early moisture and late evening dew is minimized and they don’t come to play any significant role in the match.
A strong come back by Pakistan alone would inject life into the series. Another Indian win would seal the fate of the series.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
A Satisfying Win
I am not the 'didn't-I-say-so' type of person. But I had in my last post, written that
At
After the Sehwag blitzkrieg, Tendulkar, Dravid and Yuvraj displayed their wares majestically and
They might have known that the pitch might do something initially but probably hoped they had the firing power to reach a comfortable total. But
So when runs cascaded from the Indian blades, the obvious happened.
But confidence has only a limited role to play in a game which is influenced by several factors. Next time a toss effectively used might see
Among the Indian quickies Sreesanth is the nippiest. Some of his deliveries carried the class of a promising speed merchant. Given time and guidance, he may even overtake Pathan as the spearhead of the Indian pace attack. He of course has to put a lot more effort to achieve consistency to become the threat
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Friday, February 10, 2006
India The Underdogs
If the tracks for the remaining one-dayers are as docile as the Peshawar one, you can safely assume that India might just fail to stop the Pakistani juggernaut. We just don't have the fire power to restrict them to any reasonable score so that we can make an attempt to overhaul it. But regardless of all the talk about Pakistan's new-found cohesion and team spirit, I feel a very targeted assault by India may unsettle them. They are not known for the back-to-the wall fighting. All bravado comes to nought when one mortal raises his game by a few notches as Asif did in the tests and the first onedayer. But India does not seem to have that sort of quality in its dressing room.
What India needs is the dominance that Tendulkar used to show a few seasons back. But sadly that stuff has seemingly left him. That role has to played by some one else. Only then India with its ordinary attack can hope to sow doubts in the rival batsmen's minds. Easier said than done though.
Quite ridiculous is the Inzamam incident. When a batsman whether he has played the ball or not, gets out of his crease,he has to be careful that he does not get run out. When he is a yard or so out of the crease, it is the duty of the fielder to try to run him out. Inzy should actually have scrambled back to the safety of the crease.
The whole thing is so simple. When he blocked Raina's throw, he was out of the crease. I don't know whether he would have been out if he had let the ball go through. Perhaps not. But he could have been. That is the point. If Inzy was within his crease, there probably have been no appeal and there would not have been any decision against him any way. Instead of learning the basic lessons, one should not belittle oneself by making very naive comments
Moin Khan can say whatever he feels like so long as his editor keeps nodding.
He can unabashedly say that Tendulkar walked even when he knew he was not out because he was afraid of the Rawalpindi Express.
But Inzy is Pakistan captain. He should have thought of the damage his comments could cause to India-Pakistan friendship. Some of the remarks made by him would have made a minus five percent person a Hawking.
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Asif, My Man Of the Match
When a small patch of a balloon loses its elasticity, it bursts. If you somehow manage to protect the patch, some other area of the balloon begins to get soft. It has to happen if the balloon does not have the inherent strength. By playing five bowlers, India reduced its batting power and to compensate that the think tank resorted to use the floaters. They did well, Pathan and Dhoni but India ended up having Kaif, no big hitter by any stretch of imagination, to add the crucial extra runs with the help of the tail. He couldn't do that and the absence of those 25-30 runs took the match away from India.
Not those runs alone. The main architect of this Pak win,though technical, is Mohammed Asif. What a great bowler he may turn out to be! Excellent line and length and without sacrificing them he made the ball move in the air and off the pitch. His swing was nothing fancy like Pathan's. But it did enough to get the edge. Even on a belter of a pitch, he could cajole the ball to leave the bat or nip back. He is my man of the match. I don't understand the parameters used in the selection. On a batsman-friendly track, batsmen are bound to score heavily. and the bowlers are expected to be carved all over the park. But here, a bowler managed to strike fear in the minds of the batsmen and made them bat out his overs carefully. Wonderful stuff. He is meant for glorious heights if this sharpness does not desert him.
It must have been a great relief for Tendulkar that he who was under tremendous pressure got such a beauty to silence the criticism for some time any way. But he may not get such surfaces for all the other four matches.
This series is likely to follow the pattern of brave Indian batting against the strong Pakistan bowlers and powerful replys by the Pakistanis against the sting-less Indian bowling. It seems only an aberration would swing a match India's way.
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Monday, February 06, 2006
Advantage Pakistan
The test series is over and India carries the hurt of the ignominious defeat in the Karachi test into the ODIs. It is not the one-innings collapse that would irritate Dravid but the way the Pakistanis made India realise that on most occasions they are just a mediocre side. Only when the pitch plays tricks on their behalf, can the Indians raise their game a few notches. That should hurt Indian fans too and persuade them to accept the reality and adjust their mindset accordingly.
Ordinarily an average bowling gets away with less scars in the one-day format. If their batsmen do their job well, that team can fare reasonably well even without winning matches. The tracks for these matches are likely to be placid and should yield runs copiously.
Before the start of the tests, it was said that it would essentially be a battle between the Indian batting powerhouse and the strong Pakistani pace attack. And the Pakistan pace has scored more points in the first two games and essayed a K.O in the last The pattern of the one-dayers also may not be very different. Pakistan may find it easier to put up good scores and then pressurize India with some sharp bowling than India managing to do the same. Unless India posts huge scores and Pakistan collapses under the sheer weight of the target, things should work in Pakistan's favor.
This has become a crucial series for the legendary Sachin Tendulkar. He simply has to click; otherwise he would be drowned in a tsunami of criticism, perhaps often ill-informed. But you can't live on pretending that everything is as calm as the mind of a Yogi when the world is baying for your blood. He should feel the pressure which should make things much more difficult for even him to stage a comeback.
It was unimaginable, even blasphemous some time back to even insinuate that the Little Master was over the hill. Now questions pop up casually that why the same set of rules is not applied to all players, an obvious reference to Ganguly and Tendulkar. These questions have to dumped in the Arabian Sea by his greatness or they may win the day. Sachin Tendulkar may become the former Indian great. God, I don't want that to happen so soon.
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Saturday, February 04, 2006
The Old Story Continues
I understand that a threadbare discussion on the debacle of Indian batting and helplessness of Indian bowling may not be the best thing now. But a realistic assessment of the reasons might help in making an effort to avoid such inadequacies in future.
India which scored 238 runs in the first innings in conditions much more friendly to bowling, failed to do any better in the second essay even though the conditions had eased out a great deal. Of course, the Pakistan pace men could still extract lateral movement and bounce but they should have been given stiffer resistance by the worthies in India’s batting line-up. Instead they succumbed to pressure and surrendered without the semblance of a fight. Only Yuvraj made use of the luck factor that one needs on such surfaces. But he too was a little too tentative for comfort.
Actually the best defense came from Sourav Ganguly. He quite surprisingly knew where his off stump was and kept his tendency to fish outside the off stump back in the pavilion. The first time he ventured to do that, he did it fatally. In the first innings also he did well while he was at the crease. A friend wrote to me that Ganguly did not complete his job and is guilty to that extent. I agree. But he did his job much better than some of the other greats in the team.
Even as one notes Ganguly’s prowess with the bat, it is to be acknowledged that it was his inclusion that brought a lot of imbalance into this team. To accommodate him, Dravid was forced to open and it was too big a gamble for India, as the world’s arguably best one-down batsman did not prove to be equally good at number one position. That made India’s start vulnerable and the failure of the middle order to do its job properly, let alone showing the capacity to carry the extra burden, made India’s batting unstable.
Quite a lot at least conceptually depends on Tendulkar. His failure to lead from the front in the last season or so has pushed India back in a significant way. Now, he finds even survival a little difficult. But it is too early to discuss his retirement because even with his reduced contribution, he is good enough to play for India. But let us not forget that the game-by-game rule may soon have to be applied to this all-time great also if his failure to contribute to India’s cause continues. Perhaps his average of the last few innings may not be alarming in comparison but the perception of his having lost his greatness seems to have a tinge of reality.
India which scored 238 runs in the first innings in conditions much more friendly to bowling, failed to do any better in the second essay even though the conditions had eased out a great deal. Of course, the Pakistan pace men could still extract lateral movement and bounce but they should have been given stiffer resistance by the worthies in India’s batting line-up. Instead they succumbed to pressure and surrendered without the semblance of a fight. Only Yuvraj made use of the luck factor that one needs on such surfaces. But he too was a little too tentative for comfort.
Actually the best defense came from Sourav Ganguly. He quite surprisingly knew where his off stump was and kept his tendency to fish outside the off stump back in the pavilion. The first time he ventured to do that, he did it fatally. In the first innings also he did well while he was at the crease. A friend wrote to me that Ganguly did not complete his job and is guilty to that extent. I agree. But he did his job much better than some of the other greats in the team.
Even as one notes Ganguly’s prowess with the bat, it is to be acknowledged that it was his inclusion that brought a lot of imbalance into this team. To accommodate him, Dravid was forced to open and it was too big a gamble for India, as the world’s arguably best one-down batsman did not prove to be equally good at number one position. That made India’s start vulnerable and the failure of the middle order to do its job properly, let alone showing the capacity to carry the extra burden, made India’s batting unstable.
Quite a lot at least conceptually depends on Tendulkar. His failure to lead from the front in the last season or so has pushed India back in a significant way. Now, he finds even survival a little difficult. But it is too early to discuss his retirement because even with his reduced contribution, he is good enough to play for India. But let us not forget that the game-by-game rule may soon have to be applied to this all-time great also if his failure to contribute to India’s cause continues. Perhaps his average of the last few innings may not be alarming in comparison but the perception of his having lost his greatness seems to have a tinge of reality.
Friday, February 03, 2006
Is This Potential Never To Be Realised?
The inevitable has happened. India after a good start squandered the opportunity and Pakistan made full use of it. It was a thumping victory for them, a very clear and emphatic statement of dominance which would go on hurting India for a long time. It is not actually the loss as such which would cause pain but the manner in which India was mauled by Pakistan in both aspects of the game.
It perhaps was Woolmer's win. His influence on the Pak team was quite evident. But all plans have to be put into practice by the players. That is where Pakistan scored over India. The first two tests were testimony to the timid approach by the Pakistan cricket authorities. I personally prefer to believe that Woolmer was not a party to such a ridiculous strategy which backfired on themselves. But Karachi atoned for the earlier mistakes and allowed the home team to exploit their superiority over India in the pace bowling department.
The blame now for the massive defeat is on the strong-on-paper Indian batting line-up. But I would prefer to concentrate on India's bowling. India has a couple of bowlers who can swing ball at military medium and do reasonably well in helpful conditions. They have repeatedly convinced us that they are mere spectators when the ball loses shine or the conditions become neutral. There is no body except perhaps R.P.Singh who can hit the deck with some effect. Hitting the deck and allowing the ball to do things, is what Pakistani bowlers- all three-could do at Karachi. While Akhtar softened the batsmen with his 150-plus deliveries and paved the way for others to harvest the Indian scalps with glee. Asif and Razzaq bowled with great purpose and Indians did not show the required tight technique to counter such probing bowling. They bowled in the right areas and let the ball do the rest. Asif deserves special mention. A shade faster than the Indians, he exhibited amazing control and was the best bowler on show by a distance, What variety built into perfect line and length! The ball witch got rid of Lakshman was one of the best I have seen and should rank among the best that have been bowled on a cricket track.
India escaped a drubbing in the series only because Pakistan was obsessed with the fear factor. Had they boldly gone ahead to do what they did at Karachi, they would have been sitting on a 2-0 or even 3-0 win.
Now about the Indian batsmen. I don't know what to make of the dismal performance they put up here. The assumption that this lineup is better than their counterpart needs to be looked into afresh. India has Dravid, Tendulkar and Lakshman as its backbone. And the others like Sehwag and Yuvraj singh add lustre to the lineup. But this strength very often is not reflected in its performances. Another sad factor which recently gets more and more noticed is that people no more consider the great wizard, Sachin Tendulkar as the kingpin of Indian batting. Sad I am,you can understand why. But I have a sneaking suspicion that my sadness is not shared by many of the readers by the response I get. But I will get back to this subject in another dispatch.
One thing is certain. Indian batting requires a little more tightening up. But the parameters to be set for that, have to be flexible. You can't force Sehwag to do what Dravid naturally does.
Sourav Ganguly has shone that lack of technique can be made up by grit and determination. That he could not go beyond the sound start is a different matter. But he showed that even against such a high quality attack, one could stay at the crease if one is just careful. His compactness outshone even Yuvraj's century. No, I am not eating my own words. I still feel Ganguly has ceased to be an organic part of Team India. But such performances like the ones seen at Karachi can not be ignored. He even without being a dominant member, deserves a place in the team until he proves again that his days are over.
It perhaps was Woolmer's win. His influence on the Pak team was quite evident. But all plans have to be put into practice by the players. That is where Pakistan scored over India. The first two tests were testimony to the timid approach by the Pakistan cricket authorities. I personally prefer to believe that Woolmer was not a party to such a ridiculous strategy which backfired on themselves. But Karachi atoned for the earlier mistakes and allowed the home team to exploit their superiority over India in the pace bowling department.
The blame now for the massive defeat is on the strong-on-paper Indian batting line-up. But I would prefer to concentrate on India's bowling. India has a couple of bowlers who can swing ball at military medium and do reasonably well in helpful conditions. They have repeatedly convinced us that they are mere spectators when the ball loses shine or the conditions become neutral. There is no body except perhaps R.P.Singh who can hit the deck with some effect. Hitting the deck and allowing the ball to do things, is what Pakistani bowlers- all three-could do at Karachi. While Akhtar softened the batsmen with his 150-plus deliveries and paved the way for others to harvest the Indian scalps with glee. Asif and Razzaq bowled with great purpose and Indians did not show the required tight technique to counter such probing bowling. They bowled in the right areas and let the ball do the rest. Asif deserves special mention. A shade faster than the Indians, he exhibited amazing control and was the best bowler on show by a distance, What variety built into perfect line and length! The ball witch got rid of Lakshman was one of the best I have seen and should rank among the best that have been bowled on a cricket track.
India escaped a drubbing in the series only because Pakistan was obsessed with the fear factor. Had they boldly gone ahead to do what they did at Karachi, they would have been sitting on a 2-0 or even 3-0 win.
Now about the Indian batsmen. I don't know what to make of the dismal performance they put up here. The assumption that this lineup is better than their counterpart needs to be looked into afresh. India has Dravid, Tendulkar and Lakshman as its backbone. And the others like Sehwag and Yuvraj singh add lustre to the lineup. But this strength very often is not reflected in its performances. Another sad factor which recently gets more and more noticed is that people no more consider the great wizard, Sachin Tendulkar as the kingpin of Indian batting. Sad I am,you can understand why. But I have a sneaking suspicion that my sadness is not shared by many of the readers by the response I get. But I will get back to this subject in another dispatch.
One thing is certain. Indian batting requires a little more tightening up. But the parameters to be set for that, have to be flexible. You can't force Sehwag to do what Dravid naturally does.
Sourav Ganguly has shone that lack of technique can be made up by grit and determination. That he could not go beyond the sound start is a different matter. But he showed that even against such a high quality attack, one could stay at the crease if one is just careful. His compactness outshone even Yuvraj's century. No, I am not eating my own words. I still feel Ganguly has ceased to be an organic part of Team India. But such performances like the ones seen at Karachi can not be ignored. He even without being a dominant member, deserves a place in the team until he proves again that his days are over.
