Cricket India

In one’s eagerness to distance himself from the tragedy Indian cricket is going through, the average cricket enthusiast is on a mission to find fault with any one connected in some remote way with the game in India. The players must now be thinking about ways to get off the tiger’s back. Now it is the captain’s turn.

The catastrophe according to many was obviously the handiwork of the captain. Had been as alert and innovative as the ideal one who deserves India’s captaincy, this agony could have been avoided. Rahul Dravid many feel is not the aggressive personality who can inspire the players to greater heights and thus better results.

Let us look at Dravid’s performance as a captain. As a captain. He has a cool head on his shoulders and is not swept off his feet by adverse situations. Except for a few decisions regarding the toss- he may have his own reasons for such decisions- he has done well as a captain. You can’t blame a skipper for the omissions and commissions of the players which lead the team to trouble.

What I mean is that even in the midst of the present chaos, Dravid stands as a captain who has done enough to deserve more chances to prove his yet to be displayed levels of captaincy skills.

The cricket atmosphere is rife with rumors. So you don’t know which is likely to happen and which may not. But if the reports hinting at termination of Dravid’s tenure because of the team’s collective failure are true. I have only sympathy for the administrators who are swayed by petty whims and prejudices of the little men in the periphery of power in BCCI.

I don’t mean that Dravid is indispensable as a captain but much less is Tendulkar. Tendulkar who during his tenures did nothing to prove his leadership talent is inviting trouble at this stage of his career by opting to take over the reigns. He has enough to worry about his batting. He is in the twilight of his great career and only a conscious effort on his part will enable him to bow out in style. Otherwise he might be going the same route Kapil Dev took at the fag end of his career. People will be more critical about the little master’s continued occupation of the crease. To be on borrowed time is the greatest tragedy that can happen to one of the greatest luminaries of the game.

Sourav Ganguly left alone has been able to tinker with his batting and has some runs to show for that. Let him be comfortable there and squeeze out the last few runs of his bat.

What India needs now is a search for a new captaincy material which is knowledgeable, innovative and highly focused. At this moment you can’t look far beyond Dravid for these qualities. And a fresher with such budding skills will not find a more suitable person than Dravid to learn his lessons from.

Tags: Dravid, Captaincy

Yesterday I forgot to add an item while talking about the failings of the disgraced Indian cricket team. Batting problems, bowling inadequacies, poor fielding, lack of grit etc were there.. At least against Bangladesh, the pitch-again a failure on the part of the captain- was a tad unfriendly. But the crucial factor which worked against India in the match against Sri Lanka was Murali. I know I am treading into dangerous territory. But the picture I feel will be incomplete if I don’t mention Murali and his influence on his opponents.
Murali is an unfortunate person who has an elbow deformity. Which I am sure prevents him from doing several things which we take for granted. But that bent elbow enables him to bowl in such a way that he unlike normal humans can deliver his off breaks and doosras without any change in action.
Several players and umpires feel that he has an illegal action. And at least one umpire, who later got the tag of being an anti-Asian, in fact went ahead and called him. And that let loose all the hell. Sri Lanka converted this simple issue of a bent arm into a racial slur and ICC, even otherwise a spine-less creature, cringed dutifully and yielded to this blackmail. Based on the original premise that every person chucks, the law makers had made a provision of a five degree allowance for spinners and ten degrees for the quicker bowlers. Which only means one can bend his arm by this much before he straightens it. When the Murali issue snowballed into a first class crisis, threatening to divide the cricket world into whites and not so whites, ICC in a holy gesture raised the bar enabling everybody-spin and pace alike- to bend his or her arm by 15 degrees. And thus Murali’s action became a legitimate one.
But I don’t think any batsmen and off spinner would ever feel comfortable with Murali’s action. Even as he weaves a web of death around the batsmen with his even otherwise excellent control and guile, the dismissed batsman might be permitted to think he had been upstaged by non-cricketing forces.
This is not an excuse for the final nail he hit on the Indian coffin. But his bowling also was an important factor for India’s collapse. And anybody who has only a four-inch wide bat to defend his citadel might feel stumped even before he has faced a ball!

Let us look at what happened once more. We were arguably in the strongest group. Bangladesh is the strongest team outside the top eight. If an upset would happen, the criminal could be our eastern cousins. And I may be blamed of the sour grape but this format also has to do something about the increased possibility of having a strange visitor to the super Eight . In fact this time we have two. The two most potent contenders outside the regulars. With India’s greater versatility, it is almost certain that we would have responded much better to the more powerful challenges posed by the stronger teams in the eight-team round robin than Bangladesh. Another thing. Had we met Sri Lanka first and lost to them we would have been very careful and more prepared against Bangladesh.

One thing is sure. We have hit the panic button. What are we going to do?. Sweep all the current lot under the carpet? Where do we have the reserve to replace them? When a rocket fails, do we change the team as such?  When the school leaving exam  results plummet, do we go in for a total revamp?

Our cricket administrators could do well to keep quiet now and speak only in the appropriate forums. Now is not the proper occasion nor the media the proper stage to give vent to one’s prejudices against a player, captain or the coach. I am not going into the idea of having two teams. We will go into that when the idea takes its contours.

Now about us. The fans, the couch potatoes. Match after match is served on a platter before us with expert comments like a super spectacle for a pittance. We delve into the chips or Kurkure packet and watch the game like a period film. The advertisers use this medium to carry their ads as they know we the couch potatoes will be in front of their sets in millions. They are there to increase their market share, not to contribute to cricket’s cause. And we if impressed by an ad might buy that product. There ends our involvement with cricket beyond the spectacle level.

But this process plus the magnetism of the game has become so successful that it has made this game a fashion statement and a graveyard for other sporting activities. The full credit should go to the media. But unfortunately the media which bring money and fame to the players bring brickbats also. Cricket once was the preserve of a few who knew something about the game. Now the tentacles of the media have made it the most monstrous source of uninformed criticism. And the trend betrays no loosening of the vice-like grip.

I can only say That’s not cricket!

Tags: India's defeat

An error crept into my last dispatch and sorry for that. I wrote about a five-bowler attack and Karthik. It was obvious that they won’t go together. It was clear that to play five bowlers one batsman has to be dropped. One’s hope was that that loss would be at least partially compensated by Pathan. And the batsman I suggested for the block was Uthappa. But I overlooked the obvious that Karthik for Uthappa means Pathan can be accommodated only by dropping another bowler. Sorry that was not what I intended. I wanted Pathan to play along with four other bowlers. The Big Picture was right but the error made things look funny. Sorry again.

But who will then open the innings?. We of course have three batsmen who can open. But if India is inserted to bat on a pitch even slightly helpful to the bowlers, some rethinking may be in order.  Then either a technically well equipped batsman or a minor cog in the batting wheel should be asked to open the innings. I would prefer the second option. And for that I would choose Pathan to go out with Ganguly. His job would be to make the ball as old as possible before our heavyweights get their turn to bat. Then he can join the other bowlers in thwarting the Sri Lankan attempt to overhaul India’s total. Of course if India gets to bowl first, then Pathan the bowler will be more useful and the services of Pathan the batsman less required.

Sending Sehwag after the pitch has lost some its life may not be such a bad idea. A cameo innings might be more useful to the team’s cause than an early exit. Batsmen with tight technique can work their way out of trouble with less scars than hand-eye co-ordination specialists like Sehwag. They need intervention by God and some of his
colleagues!
Tags: India-Sri Lanka match

At last when confronted with the frightening reality, India unleashed it batting potential in no uncertain terms and posted the highest total in the history of the Cup. Its only four hundred-plus score! I would like to interpret it as a warning to the rest of the contenders that India has after its trials and tribulations during its training sojourn has acquired the strength to roar. Teams will ignore it only at their peril.

Even as a patriotic Indian, I believe in it only partially. I am sure this batting line up on friendly tracks is capable of achieving great heights. But such heroics happen only rarely in India’s case. There is a psychological barrier which prevents India from flowing spontaneously like a well oiled batting machine regularly.

Now the World Cup record for the highest total, greatest victory margin, the maximum number of sixes etc belong to India. Great. But let us not forget that the battle has just begun. The battle to find a place in the Super Eight. This mammoth total has only ensured that in the event of point tie, India would have the advantage of a better net run rate.

So far so good. But for this memorable Caribbean saga to become meaningful, India has to beat Sri Lanka. Period. On that victory depends the entire hopes and aspirations of a huge chunk of the world’s population.

Let us take a look at the arithmetical jugglery which would take into the next round. The present point position taking into account the NRR is:-

1)      Sri Lanka  with two matches against India and Bangladesh remaining- 2 points

2)      India with  one match against Sri Lanka remaining – 2 points

3)       Bangladesh with two matches against Sri Lanka and Bermuda remainig-2 points

4)      Bermuda with one match against Bangladesh remaining- 0 points.

So Bermuda is out. Among the other teams more than one possibility can arise pushing one team out. Sri Lanka should be expected to take care of Bangladesh. So they should have four points. Bangladesh should be able to dispose of Bermuda perhaps much less spectacularly than was done by the Indians. So they also should have four points. With this point position as the indicator, these two teams should represent Group B in the next round. Because India after two matches against relatively weak teams has only two points and the best NRR. So everything hinges on the Sri Lanka- India match. It seems the knock out stage has been forced on India a little too soon. History points to some occasions when India came out with flying colors on those occasions.

But this is a new tournament and a new match. India’s enemy is a team which is tipped to win the cup or at least to do well in this tournament. And they have begun well too. Sri Lanka has a reasonably strong batting line up but it is not as strong as India’s. On any day given the same conditions India’s mighty batting machine would outshine Sri Lanka’s. I don’t know if the same can be said about the bowling. India can boast of the best bowling outfit which ever left its shores for the cup. But I doubt if it is enough. Sri Lanka has at least two accomplished bowlers who can exploit the pitch conditions of the Trinidad track. Vaas and Meharoof. And Malinga can be erratically dangerous. Among the spinners Murali has the guile to slow down and take wickets against any team in the world. India may have the reputation of being the best spin-playing team in the world. But Murali is no ordinary spinner. Blessed with a deformity, he can be lethal even against the best especially when he gets a whiff of the batsman’s aggressive intentions.

So given the track conditions, India can not hope realistically to post a big score against Sri Lanka. So the only way to neutralize this disadvantage is to strengthen its bowling. I would play Pathan and four other bowlers. It could be four pacers and a spinner or three pacers and two spinners. If Pathan fails miserably-that is a risk- India can look up to its other four bowlers to take up the extra workload. If he clicks! India can storm the Sri Lankan citadel on all four cylinders and can bat very deep down to number eight! There is no other equation which would enable India to subdue Sri Lanka, if you ask me.   

There is one more change I would like to effect. Karthik in, Uthappa out. On a seaming track with some carry, Uthappa can be a sitting duck to the experienced Vaas and company. Let India open with Ganguly and Karthik. I know what I am suggesting is against the interests of a young boy seeking level playing grounds. Promise him that failure here would not be counted against him. Their job should be to keep wickets in hand at the end of the third Power Play. In other words, to prevent a collapse from happening. A close study of the pitch coupled with the assessment of one’s rivals strength would help you to arrive at a score possible and hopefully defendable. And bat for it. Then it is the job of the five-strong bowling attack to put up a spirited display which would enable India’s onward march

One undesirable development during this World Cup is undue dependence on toss. On pitches with some juice in them everyone would like to field. And this factor out of any one’s control like the unwelcome showers should not unduly influence the fortunes of such a mega cricket event. This trend of worrying about the toss is likely to continue at least till the end of the first round of matches. Coming back to match-specific considerations, one can only hope Dravid calls correctly and does not forget that eventful morning of the match against Bangladesh! India can’t afford another wrong decision from the skipper!

Tags: World cup record score, record margin

What a World Cup Pakistan has had this time! Even during the preparations, there were problems with Akthar and then Akthar and Asif were declared positive in the dope tests. In an attempt to put up a façade of responsible behavior and  at the same time to take care of practical needs, Pakistan cricket authorities tried to reduce the period of punishment meted out to these players only to be thwarted by the likely results of the doping tests that would be done during the World Cup.

 So they came without their two main weapons to the Caribbean. Then came the upset. Ireland comprehensively demolished Pakistan after getting on the right side of the toss. This shock defeat along with the failure to exploit the favorable conditions in the match against the West Indies saw to it that Pakistan, a possible contender for the Cup or at least a semi final spot was pushed out of the Championship in the first round itself.  

This huge setback must have been too much to bear for their coach Bob Woolmer. He was found unconscious in his room and was pronounced dead soon. Woolmer, an average player and a much better coach was known to have problems with various sections of Pakistan cricket world including some players like Shoib Akthar and had been going through a very difficult period. He must have reached a stage where he could stand the stress any more.

A truckload of internal problems, an ignominious first round exit, the death of their coach, these factors by themselves could combine to paralyze a cricket system for quite some time. And to crown the whole thing Inzamam-ul-Haq, their captain and best batsman has decided to retire from one day cricket.

I don’t know if Pakistan can recover from this crisis easily and quickly. Of course, true to Pakistan’s tradition, there may be patch ups, Inzy might again be batting three down in the one-dayers and a new-look Pakistan, temporarily rid of the dirt accumulated through the years and vibrant and hopeful may come back strongly.

Four years of hard work, emotional strain, single-minded dedication everything almost went up in smoke for India with its shock defeat at the hands of Bangladesh. Bangladesh by any stretch of imagination is not a match for India’s might. But a combination of factors, some of them unavoidable and some unpardonable, combined to carve a convincing win leaving India wounded and dejected perhaps beyond immediate rejuvenation.

Every one knows the level of preparation India had and the expectations this preparedness created. A billion hearts beat to the rhythm of Dravid and men’s exploits on the field. And now when the moment of reckoning came, the tigers failed to roar. Instead they meekly walked on the hallowed cricket grounds, not even gnarling, allowing the minnows to run away with the spoils. Does my Pepsi any more represent my blood-soaked dreams about the Men in Blue?

Now what happened that day? The recipe of an upset should have the required ingredients. According to me, they were 1) the wrong interpretation of the track,2) inability to switch to plan B effectively when the treachery of the pitch became clear,3) the left arm over the wicket bowlers of Bangladesh could take the bal away from India’s right-handers,4) the audacity- spontaneous or planned- shown by a couple of teenagers of Bangladesh. This is a sure enough mix for disaster for a loser.

Dravid himself admitted that the pitch behaved more nastily than expected and ill behaved for a longer period also No sense in talking more about it. But plan B was not implemented properly. Look at the number of batsmen who got out playing shots not exactly suited to the occasion!  Sehwag and Uthappa got out to strokes unhinged from technique. And Tendulkar played an unnecessarily forceful defensive shot, perhaps initially playing down the wrong line. It is better not to talk about the five for two

collapse. I am not blaming Yuvraj for his dismissal because he was beaten by the drift and bounce of the ball he chose to sweep. The bowler should get the credit due to him! But Ganguly with all his experience should not have played such an all out aggressive shot immediately after Yuvraj’s dismissal. The collapse becomes all the more unpardonable as the surface has become almost normal by that time as proved by Zaheer and the bunny Munaf.

When it came to bowling India had Harbhajan and Sehwag who brought the ball into the batsmen while on a more difficult pitch the Bangladeshi left arm spinners could take it away from the right-handers. They chose to hit the deck and let the pitch do the rest. Some straightened, some hurried past and some bounced more than expected.

And another factor which many have not noticed was the methodology adopted by the Bangladesh batsmen. On instructions of course, a 17-year old Tamim threw caution to the wind and whacked the reasonably strong India pace attack to all parts of the park. Of course luck favored him but that is all part of the game. Tamim was followed by Sadiq while solidity was provided by another teenager Rahim who held the innings together.

Now where does India stand? Do we have a chance to get even into the Super Eight? Technically yes, but an arduous journey it is going to be in reality. India is playing Bermuda tonight and is expected to win easily. But that may not be enough. India has to register a big win tonight. And then go on to beat Sri Lanka whom many tip for a place in the final! But that alone would allow India to sneak into the Super Eight. Such a scenario would mean Sri Lanka (wins against Bangladesh and Bermuda). India (wins over Sri Lanka and Bermuda) and Bangladesh (with wins over India and Bermuda)

will have four points each. So the two teams with better net run rate will go into the next round,

So let India shake off the depression caused by the shock and get ready for a  huge win tonight! They wont be fighting the battle alone. There will be a billion souls behind them praying and egging them on!

Tags: India's defeat

India plays its first match of this World Cup this evening against Bangladesh. Going by form, talent and a few other parameters, India should win the match comfortably. But this is an occasion for India to look further ahead and plan accordingly. This is most opportune moment for India to try out the five bowler  option. Pathan who bowled reasonably well in the warm up match against West Indies may be included in the team. Dravid may depending upon his assessment of the pitch can play four pacers including Pathan and one spinner or three pacers including Pathan and both the spinners.  Even if Pathan fails as a bowler, India can delve into its part time resources and finish the fifth bowler’s quota. If he clicks, look at what India gains! Five frontline bowlers and a
batting lineup which goes deep down to number eight!

Tags: Pathan, five bowler strategy

The World Cup has begun! Arguably with an upset. West Indies, the hosts managed to subdue Pakistan, that too disabling their superiority in the batting department. There were a few other matches also, Australia,s match against Scotland being the most noteworthy among them. Australia piled up 330 plus and then skittled out Scotland for a paltry score to register a 203-run victory.

All these matches have so far failed to give enough signals about the most worrying factor which keeps on disturbing the sleep of the captains and the analysts. The pitch. Even after four tournament matches and a few warm-up matches held earlier,  the Caribbean tracks have not betrayed their preferences. But from what little one has seen, certain conclusions can be arrived at. The pitches seen so far have not been blessed with scorching pace. In fact they have been on the slow side but perhaps without upsetting the rhythm of the batsmen. Another thing is the carry that is there. There is bounce even for the ball just short of good length. And at least in the early overs the slips will be in business. From Darren Powel and the Australians to the bowlers from the also-rans could make the ball bounce to make the attacking strokes a tad risky. Indiscriminate pulling and arrogant front-foot on-the rise strokes could invite trouble. But the carry is uniform and moderate. Batsmen who have the technique to counter it, can score with comfort on these wickets. Only, huge totals look unlikely at least at this stage.

There is some life in these tracks. The ball moves a bit and seams a little. But everything is in moderation so that careful batting can not be denied its rewards. (The pitch at St. Lucia yesterday was a two-bounce one While Franklin got Joice caught at the wicket off a ball which bounced a shade more than expected, Bond’s in-swingers skidded dangerously at the other end.)  Spin also looks like having a role in this tournament. In the practice match against West Indies, Indian spin could bowl only six balls for a wicket. But in the other matches even weaker teams like Bermuda and Kenya used spin to great advantage.

These are early days. Pitches can behave differently, responding to the sun in different degrees. But scores of three hundred and more between strong teams may not be as easy to happen as they did in recent Kiwis-Australia series.

But there is one variable which we ignore only at our peril. The possible climate change that may happen during the one and a half month-long tournament. Late April could be slightly different from early March. And this factor could undo a lot of planning done in
the light of the pitch conditions interpreted so far.

Tags: World Cup pitches

It is very difficult to organize one’s thoughts and arrange them in a logical way after a pretty long break. I was away from my system for a long while. Since then the Sri Lankans came and lost a series, and the squad for the Caribbean was announced. Quite a lot has happened since then that it is becoming almost impossible to talk about things with any sense of chronology.

After a long spell of controversial ‘tinkering’ with the Indian team, the final team emerged without any acrimony. There practically was no major dissent about any player’s selection or omission. The one area of concern was the fifteenth player. Should it be an extra batsman or pace bowler or a spinner? Very soon the idea of the third spinner was dropped and the only possible discussion must have been about who should be the two selected spinners. There again not much time was wasted in favor of Romesh Powar. So the toss was possibly between Suresh Raina and Sreesanth. Raina’s inability to impress the selectors of his batting prowess which was given enough opportunity and Sreesanth’s potential to take wickets swung things in the latter’s favor.

But the lack of difficulty in team selection does not reflect the talent pool available in the country. In fact India though it won the series against Sri Lanka, did it with minimum comfort. Whenever the Indian new ball caused cracks in the Sri Lankan batting, their middle order almost always pulled things around and posted  reasonably good totals for its depleted bowling to defend. Though India managed to win two matches, it did not show the kind of superiority that it should have demonstrated against an attack without Chaminda Vaas and more importantly Muralidharan. The wins would certainly have been a little more difficult to achieve had these two been in the touring party. So the settled look need not cause any false sense of well being with regards to the Indian team.

Now what are the chances of this outfit to do well in the Championship? India can boast of three batsmen who have crossed the 10,000 run mark in one-day cricket. No other team has such a band of men like these three who are rich in experience and are still in good form. Yuvraj and Dhoni in their own way are very good finishers. Three batsmen are scoring at the rate of 90-plus. While Sehwag and Dhoni have been doing it for some time, Uthappa has done enough to join this elite group. Karthik is steady, plays with something to spare and Pathan has developed into a useful batsmen. There may not be many teams which can boast of such strength, depth and flair.

This dominance may not be there in India’s bowling. But a close look would tell you that India has taken to the Caribbean two of the best spinners in the game today. Kumble may not be as miserly as he used to be but he is capable of a trick or two even now especially on responsive tracks. And India had never been so rich in its pace bowling resources as it is now. Zaheer in fine nick, Agarkar an experienced one-day bowler, Munaf possibly a great bowler in the making, Sreesanth who has already proved his excellent capabilities and Pathan a more than useful all-rounder when in form together make a effective pace battery.

It also has a captain capable of leading from the front, a keen sense of cricketing wisdom in that cool brain. An extrovert is often mistakenly considered a person with flair. Dravid may not be a showman but he has shoulders broad enough to carry India to better deeds.

But there are certain aspects which drag India down. Poor running between the wickets, relatively sloppy fielding and most importantly almost total lack of consistency. These areas require long term efforts and can’t change overnight. Perhaps except the last item. An inspired effort may bring in an element of consistency in India’s performances. None expected that from Kapil’s Devils. So it may not beyond this more balanced outfit also.

Tags: India's chances in WC