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The Kolkata Test

noreply@blogger.com (nish_the_dish) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:20:00 +0000

The last day of the Kolkata Test was tense and gripping.

Hashim Amla batted as if in a trance. Not one bowler troubled him.
Amit Mishra bowled with a big heart, but got only one wicket on the last day.
Ishant Sharma hurled the ball down in furious anger, though not always on the right line.
Harbhajan Singh was on a mission to win the game for his team.

When AB de Villiers, Duminy and Steyn fell within 10 overs just before tea, India looked liked they would win comfortably. However, the South African tail was defiant and India dropped some crucial catches. Wayne Parnell batted for nearly 20 overs, Harris resisted for a while, and Morne Morkel proved to be one of the toughest number 11's to dislodge.

With only half an hour for the end of play, Dhoni tried Sachin and Sehwag. Yet, Morne didn't budge. Amla went on the back foot and defended calmly. Didn't Amla feel the pressure? What is this man? How is he so serene?

The Indian players were watching the number one rank slip from them with every passing minute. There were only 10 minutes remaining, when Dhoni brought Harbhajan back. He had gone past Morkel's outside edge a couple of times before, and this time he went around the wicket and bowled the straighter one that sped off the pitch, evaded the bat and crashed into Morkel pad below the knee roll. Bhajji knew he had his man and jumped into a full-throated appeal that the umpire agreed with. The finger went up and Bhajji bolted. He ran to lap up the roar of his favorite Garden and reminded the press box in no uncertain terms that he is the 'Man in the Arena.'

This is Test cricket!

The series was drawn 1-1, and India were still the number 1 Test team. One yearned for another match just to watch these gladiators battle again. Maybe, just maybe, if there was one more game then the Indian bowlers could figure out how to dismiss Hashim Amla - the invincible monk.

Who knew VVS could do that?

noreply@blogger.com (nish_the_dish) — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 20:23:00 +0000

When, VVS Laxman dropped a straightforward chance at first slip when Hashim Amla was batting on 60 of Harbhajan Singh, I was thinking how India's misses Rahul Dravid at first slip. The way Amla was batting before and continued to bat after that drop, it was enough to dispirit all Indian supporters. This guy is seriously good, an obtrusively batsman whose strength is totally underestimated.

Things were looking extremely bleak in the drinks break of the second session, when Dhoni had a long chat with his bowlers first and then the entire team, obviously trying to motivate them. Whatever he said worked because Ishant Sharma bowled a hostile spell right after that, bowling his trademark fast in cutters just short of a length along with a generous number of bouncers that had Amla hopping at the crease. That was the moment that inserted some purpose into the Indian bowling. Sharma didn't get a wicket, it was Zaheer Khan who got rid of both century makers, Amla and Alviro Peterson.

However, the moment that captured the fightback for me was VVS Laxman, he of the dodgy knee fame, turn from first slip and hustle after a top edge sweep from Kallis to pouch a fantastic catch dropping over his shoulder. Who knew Laxman could turn and run and like that? Have you seen him turn for a second? it is like watching some heavy earth moving equipment from Caterpillar.

Harbhajan triumphantly raised his arms to the Kolkata crowd. He was back!

Bhajji was unstoppable after the Kallis wicket. It really was like when he was bowling to Australia in the 2001 series. The amount of revolutions he put on the ball generated sharp bounce and made him really dangerous. It was fantastic to watch.

What a day of cricket!

Jacques Kallis

noreply@blogger.com (nish_the_dish) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 07:01:00 +0000

Just watched Jacques Kallis run in and hurl the ball at 143.5kph in the Nagpur Test.

He also scored 173 runs in the first innings.

How can one person do all that?

Kallis has almost 11,000 runs and 260 wickets in Test cricket.

In my humble opinion he is the most talented all round cricketer since Gary Sobers.

I think his batting average will only drop by 10 points to 45 should he bat left handed.

What a player!

We are lucky to see him play.

India v. South Africa Test series

noreply@blogger.com (nish_the_dish) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 01:27:00 +0000

I am excited about watching India and South Africa in a Test series. Unfortunately it is only a 2 Test series; still this is infinitely better than the initial plan of playing 7 one day matches.

I enjoyed Dale Steyn's assessment of bowling to Virender Sehwag, particularly this nugget:

“We have been in a situation where we have got him out for nought, we have been in a situation where we have got him out for 300. We have basically got a plan for every run that he has got!"

The Indian batting line up is definitely weakened without the injured Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, and South Africa have a great opportunity to dismiss India for a low score if they get through the openers, Sehwag and Gambhir.

I am pretty happy with the selection of the Test team. Subramaniam Badrinath deserves this chance. I have been waiting for him to be picked to be play Test cricket for a while now. He has already proven his temperament by winning a one day game for India by batting well against Murali and Mendis. I saw him play in the IPL, and he has done well in the 20:20’s too. It is pretty remarkable the way he has adjusted to all forms of the game. I believe that he is as ready as anyone can be for a Test debut. Rohit Sharma is lucky to be going from being dropped from the one day team, to now being selected for the Test team and most likely make his debut because of Laxman’s injury. However, he has scored a lot of runs in the Ranji season, so he has earned his spot. The only newcomer who has proven himself at the Test level is Murali Vijay, who has done very well as the backup opener. Plus he is an excellent fielder close to the stumps, and this will definitely help the Indian spinners, Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra/Pragyan Ojha.

The ones who missed out: I watched Dinesh Karthik keep in the second Test against Bangladesh, and his collection technique is worrisome. He doesn’t seem to watch the ball all the way into his gloves, and I think the only reason his keeping hasn’t been totally horrible is that he is a very good athlete who is quick on his feet. The whole slip cordon looks much safer when Dhoni is keeping. Dhoni may not look fluid while keeping, but he is very effective. I am not surprised that Karthik has been dropped. Wriddhiman Saha I think is a natural keeper and is rated highly by Brendon McCullum. We don’t need bad keepers costing us Test matches, we have already tried the Parthiv Patel experiment.

Manish Pandey is an exciting prospect. I didn’t see him bat in the Ranji final, but I saw his 100 in the 2009 IPL in South Africa, and I thought he played some great shots along with the streaky ones. I don’t know yet if he is ready for international cricket. He might well be, as indicated by his 144 in the second innings of the Ranji final, but he should play the ODI’s first. It was highly unlikely that he was going to be selected for the South Africa Tests.

Abhimanyu Mithun has done very well in the Ranji trophy and I think he was picked because he has the pace. The express bowler always gets an earlier look in than the other bowlers. Which is fair, enough, however, R Vinay Kumar will be wondering whether he will ever get picked.

Alright, let us enjoy some Test cricket!

Shah Rukh is back!

noreply@blogger.com (nish_the_dish) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:41:00 +0000

This is a hilarious piece by Lawrence Booth. The best line; How, asked one journalist, would he get the best out of the Kolkata Knight Riders this year? "This season I'm sleeping with all of them!" he joshed. "Whatever it takes."

Dhoni's rejuvenation of Indian One Day Cricket

noreply@blogger.com (nish_the_dish) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 07:39:00 +0000

"Coaches who can outline plays on a black board are a dime a dozen. The ones who win get inside their player and motivate." - Vince Lombardi, NFL Head Coach for the Green Bay Packers.

Vince Lombardi was talking about coaching, but it can be just as easily applied to captaincy, especially of a team that does not even have a head coach. Can one man change the course of a sports team?

Yes, absolutely!

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, captain of the Indian One Day cricket team has just done that.

His young Indian team has won the 2008 Commmonwealth Bank tri-series in Australia, handily outplaying the world champions in two successive games. In less than a year, Dhoni has dramatically altered the course of India's limited over cricket. Those who saw the plodding Indian team that got knocked out after a mere 3 games in the 2007 World Cup will find it hard to recognize the current Indian One Day side and the ebullience with which it plays the game. Dhoni has shown tremendous leadership in building the team ever since he was appointed captain of the Twenty 20 side in September 2007. He was fortuitous that the senior Indian players - Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly - sat out of that tournament. Dhoni was given the freedom to express himself on a young team, but nobody would have expected his young guns to actually win the World Twenty 20. In that campaign he showed that he is not just a natural leader but one who also has a deep understanding of what it takes to win. He is a keen tactician who is acutely aware of his side’s strengths and weaknesses. He was appointed captain of the one day side after that win and was immediately up against a mighty Australian side that was bent upon revenge for their Twenty 20 humiliation. The seniors were brought back in the one day side that went on to lose the home series 4-2 to the superior Australian side but in the following series they managed to hold off the Pakistanis 3-2. All great leaders have the ability to learn from their losses, and Dhoni is a fast learner. He realized that there was no way that India were going to beat Australia when they had so many liabilities in the field, thus for the CB Triangular series he demanded a young and athletic team from the Indian selectors. The selectors had faith in their man and gave him the team he wanted.

Dhoni made missteps along the way, he got his batting lineup wrong in the early matches in Australia but he made changes as the tri-series progressed and he realized that his bowlers had the wood on the Australian team. He didn’t want to give their batsmen a chance to get back into form, so he dropped the notion of the part-time bowler and went in with five bowlers for the latter half of the series. Most importantly he showed the rest of his team, how to bat responsibly. Young firebrands like Robin Uthappa adapted saying that if an attacking batsman like Dhoni can change his game, so can he. Gautam Gambhir transformed from a hit or miss player to become the highest run scorer of the tournament. Before the Finals when scribes asked Dhoni about Sachin Tendulkar’s lack of runs in the tournament, Dhoni replied “Sachin has 16000 runs, and I haven’t even faced 16000 balls.”

Sachin along with Uthappa provided India their two best opening partnerships of the series in the finals against Australia and this went a long way toward India winning the trophy. Tendulkar played two of the finest back to back innings in the finals, bringing back memories of his 1998 Sharjah histrionics against Australia. This has to be Sachin’s finest hour in one day cricket; he laid his heart out there on the field for two successive matches and emerged exhausted but victorious. Dhoni continued his five bowler theory in the finals, he had cleverly hidden the young leggie Piyush Chawla until then and was bold in giving the new ball to the newbie Praveen Kumar. Kumar was a revelation, he has been aptly labeled a “magician” by one of India’s finest swing bowlers, Manoj Prabhakar. Kumar took 6 wickets in the two games, nailing Ponting and Gilchrist in both games. Dhoni’s best bowler in the series Ishant Sharma had to miss the second final with a finger injury but he got the tempest in a tea-cup, Shantakumaran Sreesanth, to step up. At the end of it all, he was calmly smiling and watching his team mates celebrate. It was as if he knew his team was going to win.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has managed to get inside all his players, including Sachin, and has motivated them to a great victory.

India Conquers Perth

noreply@blogger.com (nish_the_dish) — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 10:35:00 +0000

If you had asked any cricket journalist or commentator about the Perth Test, they would have all marked it down as one for Australia. Everybody acknowledged that India had no chance at the WACA. I was one of them as well and we all were shown up to be a little foolish with our predictions.

Yes, the pitch did have both pace and bounce, although not as much as advertised, but the fact is India bowled better on it than Australia. The two left arm bowlers for India, RP Singh and Irfan Pathan swung the ball consistently, with Pathan making a fantastic comeback to the team with both bat and ball. He got the two Australian openers in both innings and got absolutely vital runs with the bat in the second innings. But, the find of the tour has been Ishant Sharma. His bowling to Ricky Ponting in the first session of the fourth day was incredible. He bowled 7 of the most incisive overs to the best batsman in the world and gave him a complete working over. Sharma nipped the ball into Ponting’s hip, his abdomen, and his pads before finally nailing him with the one that shaped in and then held its line off the pitch. That was the wicket India wanted in the morning session and Sharma delivered. It was a champion’s performance, and to think that the kid is only 19 years old. Unbelievable.

Anil Kumble’s has led his team wonderfully well on this tour, and his captaincy was once again spot on. His bowlers responded well, and he himself chipped in with the vital wicket of Andrew Symonds, whose luck with the umpires seems to have finally deserted him. Just when it looked like Australia might get some momentum going with Michael Clarke and Adam Gilchrist building a mini partnership, Kumble threw the ball to Sehwag who promptly got drift and sharp turn to bowl Gillie around his legs. Dhoni capped off his excellent performance behind the stumps with a stunning stumping of Clarke. Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clark threw their bats at everything causing a few flutters, before Pathan came back to restore common sense with the second new ball. It was a terrific team performance from India and to comeback in such a stunning manner after being robbed at the Sydney Test speaks volumes of the spirit that exists in the team.

Australia cannot but think of how India has twice interrupted their record breaking streak of 16 wins right at the finish line. Australia loses and VVS Laxman has top scored for India once again, it is remarkable.

It is a beautiful game, this thing called cricket.

The Perth Comeback

noreply@blogger.com (nish_the_dish) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 01:42:00 +0000

That this Indian cricket team is no pushover away from home has been evident for quite a few tours, but their performance at Perth has been nothing short of outstanding. Anil Kumble set the tone in his pre-match comments about the hype surrounding the fast and bouncy pitch; “It's more mental than in the middle.” Kumble called Australia’s bluff, and by the second day not only had India’s three young fast bowlers out bowled Australia’s 4 pronged pace attack but Tendulkar and Dravid had put on a determined first day batting partnership that could yet define this Test match.

India’s fast bowling resources have improved tremendously and the bench strength has also picked up so much that even the second string of bowlers are truly competitive at the international level. Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Munaf Patel were all unavailable through injuries, but the young men waiting in line stepped up to the task admirably. RP Singh has led the pace attack with undeniable skill, energy and stamina in both Sydney and Perth, while Ishant Sharma in only his third Test turned the match on its head with an outstanding spell of seam bowling and snared the wickets of Ponting and Clarke with two outstanding deliveries that would have made Glenn McGrath proud. Earlier Irfan Pathan brought his effervescence back to the cricket ground with his now familiar gravity defying leap of joy after getting two wickets with the new ball. Pathan and RP Singh swung the ball beautifully throughout the innings and showed that the commentators who have been bemoaning the scarcity of swing bowlers in the world haven’t been watching this Indian attack. At 5-61, Australia were in unchartered waters, but Symonds and Gilchrist launched a belligerent counter attack scoring at nearly 7 an over while Kumble kept attacking fields. The partnership was becoming threatening before Kumble got the crucial breakthrough with the wicket of Symonds with a trademark “jumbo” ball that bounced and kissed the edge of the bat, popped up of Dhoni’s gloves into the safe hands of Rahul Dravid. RP Singh then got Gilchrist with a brute of a ball that reared up and the batsman could only fend it into Dhoni’s gloves. In the sapping 40 degree heat RP Singh continued to bowl in the low 140 kph and helped clean up the tail in quick time. Australia were bowled out in 50 overs, and India had 118 run lead; it was a brilliant bowling performance with every single bowler pulling his weight.

One could sense the pressure of the lead on Australia’s bowlers as they came back to bowl at the Indian batsmen on the same day. Worry was writ large on Ricky Ponting’s face as Sehwag rattled off boundaries, and he pushed a man to deep point and third man in a bid to contain the dangerous Veeru. If Australia don’t get Sehwag early tomorrow, they are well and truly out of this Test match, but even if they do get him early it will require a tremendous bowling performance to get rid of the confident Indian batting line up cheaply enough for the Australians to have an outside shot at winning this Test match.

Sydney 2008

noreply@blogger.com (nish_the_dish) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 09:11:00 +0000

A team that is as successful as this Australian cricket team will face envy and indignation just like the New England Patriots or even the heavily bankrolled New York Yankees. There is no doubt that these are all exceptional sports teams, their desire to win is an all encompassing fire that burns within. That is why Michael Clarke is able to come on in the last 10 minutes of the game and bowl 11 deliveries right on the money. While the indomitable Anil Kumble, who has the same spirit coursing through his veins, was able to play out Clarke’s first over with aplomb and even execute a perfect back foot drive to the boundary, the second over proved to be too much for Harbhajan, RP Singh and the nervous Ishant Sharma. Poor Ishant even came out to bat with the wrong glove, and had a bewildered look on his face after he edged the ball to first slip. Any which way you look at it, three wickets in one over to close out a Test match in the last six minutes of the fifth day is just incredible.

Yet, the Test match left a sour taste in the mouth that will linger for a long time. On the first day, Steve Bucknor showed that his hearing is on the wane when he didn’t hear Andrew Symonds edge the ball to the wicketkeeper, and on the fifth day he showed that his eyesight is following suit when he gave Dravid out caught behind off his pad, when the bat was tucked away miles behind the pad. It was an atrocious decision and prompted the Indian team manager, Chetan Chauhan, to term the umpires as “incompetent”; as well he might. WG Grace was right, people don’t come to watch the umpires, they come to watch the players, therefore technology should and must be used to make sure that umpires do not become the centerpiece of a cricket match. But, the sourness in the mouth wasn’t just because of the umpires, in their quest to equal the world record for consecutive Test wins, the Australian team seems to have forgotten why we play this wonderful game of Cricket, how sport has the power to bring nations closer, to bring different cultures together as they watch the game and appreciate it for the athleticism and skill on display. With their boorish appealing and righteous claiming of bump balls they have chosen to alienate a generation of cricket watchers and to cause people to not just envy them, but to even hate them. They have some mighty fine cricketers amongst them who don’t deserve that.

But, let us not lose perspective, in his infinite wisdom; Anil Kumble did say “It is only a game.” There is definitely no need to create a diplomatic row over a game of cricket.

Yet, what could do just that, is the Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds incident, which has become an issue of national honor for India. Symonds accused Harbhajan of calling him a “monkey”, which if he did is unforgivable considering the controversy that occurred while Australia were in India. It appears to be one man’s word against another, but the match referee Mike Proctor heard the witnesses and decided that there is sufficient evidence to ban Harbhajan for 3 Test matches. It is a staggering outcome, and one is immediately reminded of the Oval Test match between Pakistan and England; a ball tampering fiasco which led to the first ever forfeiture of a Test match. If Bhajji didn’t say those words he should fight the charge and clear his name. The Indian team appears to have rallied around their man and in a tit for tat have accused Brad Hogg of calling an Indian player a “bastard.” That hearing will probably be on Monday. The situation is fraught and is at a tipping point, India may pull out of the tour.

The Sydney Test of 2008 will live on in infamy.

Australia 1, BCCI 0

noreply@blogger.com (nish_the_dish) — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 21:11:00 +0000

India didn't lose the first Test match, BCCI did. Since the BCCI thinks that Team India is a separate entity from the board, I would like to apportion the wins and losses accordingly. India didn't lose the game because Dravid batted slow in the first innings, India lost the game because their own cricket board did everything in its power to ensure that this Indian team was the least prepared team in the history of Australian cricket to start a Test match. India had one tour game before the first Test and rain ensured that only 48 overs were possible. When Bangladesh toured Australia in the winter of 2003, they played three practice games before their first Test. Woefully under prepared would be an understatement. All this implies that the BCCI doesn’t care about the team’s preparation. Don’t they realize that when the team loses, they lose too? Don’t they realize that they are a part of Team India?

When asked about the lack of practice matches, the BCCI secretary, Niranjan Shah, had this to say; “These are professional cricketers and must learn to adapt quickly.” Maybe the BCCI also should become professional! Shah is making a last minute trip down under so that the cricketers can avoid taxation by the Australian Tax Office under a new a tax law implemented since July 2004 on all professional sportspersons and entertainers performing in Australia. The BCCI didn’t even know about the changes in tax laws of Australia because they probably didn’t read the Memorandum of Understanding for the tour. Apparently the BCCI hasn’t signed the MoU yet, and the first Test match is already over. Such is the incompetence by a board that ideally should take care of everything so that the players can concentrate on cricket. It is no wonder that Rahul Dravid quit from captaincy and that captaincy reduced Sourav Ganguly to a mere shell of a batsman toward the end of his tenure.

As for the cricket, one could see that the Indian batsmen were totally under prepared especially the players on their first tour, Jaffer, Yuvraj and Dhoni. They didn’t stand a chance. Even among the old timers on their third tour apart from Tendulkar; whose genius shone through and Ganguly, who timed the ball beautifully; the other two stalwarts, Laxman and Dravid, had to work hard for their runs, and did appear more fluent in the second innings. Let us not forget the bowlers, Kumble is a champion, but perhaps if the fast bowlers had more time to adjust their lengths to the Australian pitches then maybe Australia would have been bundled out for much less in their first innings.

It is all too late now; the BCCI has lost the first Test to Australia, let us see what the Indian team can do in the next three.

Captain Kumble

noreply@blogger.com (nish_the_dish) — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 09:19:00 +0000

Anil Kumble is a giant among cricketers. His performance on the first day of the Boxing Day Test match at the MCG against Australia has set the performance standard for the Indian team on this tour. Today he had figures of 5-84 in 25 overs of a masterclass in spin bowling on a first day track.

In his last 4 Tests in Australia Anil Kumble has taken 29 wickets! Just to put that in perspective, Shane Warne took 23 wickets in the five Ashes Tests against England in the 2006 Australian season. In this Test, Kumble will have one more innings to add to those figures. It is not too shabby for a guy who doesn't turn the ball.

On a flat first day pitch at the MCG, Kumble used the googly, the top spinner, the leg break and the width of the bowling crease to conjure up 5 of the most magical wickets. And he did this after the Australian openers had piled on 135 runs without losing a wicket. It was a performance of gigantic impact.

It is pretty strange listening to commentators who while showering praise on Kumble's bowling, still describe him as leg spinner who unlike Warne doesn't turn the ball much. One would think that after nearly 600 Test wickets the time has come to stop pre-facing all analysis of Kumble's bowling with phrases such as "Unlike other spinners, Kumble is not a big turner ..." Enough already, we know that!! Kumble is Kumble, a giant among cricketers who with his inspiring leadership is proving that he is a Giant Among Men.

How not to tackle a problem

noreply@blogger.com (nish_the_dish) — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 05:57:00 +0000

Ignore it, and think it will go away.
Deny there is a problem.
Blame the victim and say “It is all a misunderstanding.”

The Baroda crowd at the fifth one day international started the racist monkey chant; Andrew Symonds reported the issue and the BCCI response revealed a dinosaur who hasn’t yet realized that he is on a path to extinction. Even more appalling was the response from the Baroda Police Commissioner C.P. Thakur “Symonds mistook their chanting for racial abuse because he couldn't understand what they're saying. Obviously he can't understand Gujarati and Hindi languages." The BCCI secretary, Niranjan Shah, said that Symonds shouldn’t feel bad because it is all a misunderstanding and that the “Truth is the Truth”.

Not only does the best player of the series have to tolerate racial abuse, does he also have to be labeled a liar by the BCCI secretary? This is no way to treat a visiting team. In the last one day game at Mumbai, Symonds had to listen to the racist jeers as he walked in to bat and also had to listen to it when he walked back to the pavilion. Instead of feeling happy that India got another wicket, it was revulsion that I felt, a revulsion at who we are. An Australian photographer took pictures of the crowd's appalling behavior and only then did the BCCI acknowledge the problem. The police booked four people from the Wankhede Stadium for "misbehavior!" I think we need new hate crime laws in the Indian Penal Code.

Look at yourselves, you are disgusting.

These bastards should be banned from all International cricket matches across all stadiums in India for at least 5 years. The BCCI should maintain a database of these cricket hooligans and make sure that they are never allowed to enter another cricket stadium in India.

Racial abuse was showered on the West Indies players during their 2002 tour at multiple venues, so let us not pretend that this is just an isolated incident with Andrew Symonds. Indian cricket has a spectator problem.

Acknowledging that there is a problem is the first step toward solving it.

The Way Forward

noreply@blogger.com (nish_the_dish) — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 07:54:00 +0000

The manner in which cricket is being played is at a significant inflection point. On one hand you have the absolute aggression from the Australian team and on the other you have the artistic flair of the Sri Lankans.

Among the four semifinalists, Sri Lanka is the only team that is unique. South Africa tried to imitate Australia so much so that they fell flat on their faces still not sure about who they are nor who they want to be. New Zealand made a genuine attempt at being like Australia but lacked the required match winners in the mould of a Martin Crowe or a Chris Cairns. Only Sri Lanka hasn’t tried to be like Australia, their captain Mahela Jayawardene is the epitome of the Zen like quality and quite self belief with which they play their cricket. He played the finest innings yet in this World Cup in the semifinals against New Zealand, gradually playing himself in before caressing and finessing the ball to all parts of the ground in a beautiful crescendo of the finest strokes touched by surreal timing.

Australia play a brand of power cricket that is domineering and many other countries have fallen into the trap of trying to play like the Aussies without realizing that Australia have chosen this method only after being the number one cricketing power for a long time. Australia didn’t always play like this, in the 1999 World Cup they had to battle hard after early losses and were lucky to get past South Africa. It was Steve Waugh who pioneered this approach in Test cricket and Ricky Ponting carried it onto the one day games. Ponting is now the primary enforcer of this approach in both forms of the game and the team appears to have absorbed his personality. But, even they have tripped up with this 'all guns blazing' approach, remember the Adelaide Test match against India when they had the first innings lead till the fourth day and yet lost the Test match. In their unbeaten run in the 2003 World Cup if not Andrew Symonds’ spectacular innings against Pakistan it could have been a very different tournament. In this World Cup they haven’t even been challenged in any of their games, and Sri Lanka may be the only team who can. I actually think it was a pretty good strategy to hide Murali and Malinga from the Australian batters and it looks like it might pay dividends because the Aussies seem pretty worked up about it. I find it pretty hypocritical of the Aussies to quibble about Sri Lanka resting its players and to comment about how 'that is not they way we play our cricket.' In the 1996 World Cup they didn’t even bother showing up for their games in Sri Lanka. Lest I forget, let me quickly add that the boycott was out of concerns about safety!

Sanath Jayasuriya is probably the only Sri Lankan player who approaches the game in the Aussie way but he is a man all unto himself. The one area in which there are similarities between the two sides is the fielding. Sri Lanka is one of the superior fielding sides in the world, and this side is a far cry from the round belly days of Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva. Tillekeratne Dilshan is breathtaking in the field and will match the intensity of the Aussies. The Australian bowling attack led by the peerless Glenn McGrath has taken the most wickets in the tournament, but Sri Lanka does possess two of the most exotic and talented bowlers in the history of cricket in Muttiah Muralitharan and Lasith Malinga. If at all you are thinking twice about watching the final, then watch it just for these two, they are a sight to behold.

The style in which three of the semifinalists play their cricket seems to be an indication of which brand of cricket will prevail, but for this one last game, the 2007 World Cup Final, we have the artistry of the Lankans versus the aggression of the Aussies and the sheer genius of the artist may yet delay the inevitable.

The BCCI

noreply@blogger.com (nish_the_dish) — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 01:42:00 +0000

One tends to forget that the BCCI has a lot of power over the players mainly because most of the administrators are merely concerned about remaining in power and use it only to further that agenda. Sharad Pawar seems to be made of a different mould, not afraid to wield the stick in a judicious manner. Pawar, of course is a skilled politician who appears to understand timing better than all the current Indian batsmen. While the players were busy fighting their battle through the media with an entirely inappropriate smear campaign against the coach Greg Chappell, Pawar called in former India captains to lend respectability and approval to a range of decision that firmly puts the errant senior players in their place while at the same time implementing far reaching changes to reform the BCCI.

Some of the striking pronouncements of change from Pawar’s working committee include deciding to scrap the zonal selection panel in both the senior and junior selection committee and appointing full-time paid selectors for a 2 year period, directing the selectors to pick a young team led by Rahul Dravid for the Bangladesh tour, appointing a permanent manager for the Indian team on a 2 year term, limiting sponsor endorsement to no more than 2 players, dictating that the players submit a copy of their endorsement agreement and issuing a remarkable notice to Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh to explain their remarks to the media. Last but not the least the BCCI has thrown out the current single coach system and adopted an NFL style Manager in Ravi Shastri to oversee a team of specialist coaches for bowling, Venkatesh Prasad, and fielding, Robin Singh. The latter have had success with the Under-19 and India-A teams. These two appointees along with the decision to retain Dravid as captain and the offer to Chappell to remain a BCCI employee as a Consultant at the National Cricket Academy is clear signal that Pawar has placed faith with the BCCI appointed men and sends a strong message to the players that mutinies are not allowed.

These significant changes and exercising of authority have been camouflaged by the red herring that is the restriction on number of endorsements. While everybody discusses the legality of the 3 endorsement restriction on cricketers and their loss of income, Pawar can quietly reform the anachronistic workings of the BCCI.

Sometimes one need a significant shock to the system to reform it and Sharad Pawar has correctly recognized the public mood and chosen the appropriate time to implement drastic changes. Pawar is certainly wielding a big stick, and even the past master of the BCCI, Jagmohan Dalmiya will nod in agreement when I say “Well done, Mr. Pawar your timing is exceptional.”

Sachin Tendulkar

noreply@blogger.com (nish_the_dish) — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 10:19:00 +0000

19 Tests, 914 Runs, Highest score 109, Average 31.51 with 1 century and 6 fifties.

The above figures are Sachin’s Test match numbers after his elbow injury in 2004; I have excluded the double hundred against Bangladesh. For somebody who used to average in the high 50’s these are damning statistics and indicate that something has gone wrong with his batting. Yet, we are prepared to give great players extra leeway because they can produce decisive innings that can change the course of a match and therefore his selection hasn’t borne much questioning. But, in the last couple of years, we haven’t seen this happening and in fact on all occasions when Tendulkar had the opportunity to impose himself on the game, he has frozen into a zombie like batting mode. It began with the torturous 98 ball 16 in the third Test against Pakistan in Bangalore in 2005, but that can be glossed over because we were trying to save a Test match, but more damaging was the 62 ball 14 against South Africa in the second innings of the third Test earlier this year when India were in a great position to win an away Test series. This strange mode of batting that he adopts can be classified at best as poor judgment and at worst timid and defeatist. The only decisive innings after the elbow injury has been the sparkling second innings 55 against Australia in Mumbai in November 2004, where he along with VVS Laxman set up a consolation victory for India. It has been a long time since that knock.

You must be wondering why am I talking about his Test match statistics right after a India exited the one day World Cup? Well, some people have suggested that Sachin should be dropped from the one day team and should only play in Test matches. The truth is that his Test match batting doesn’t even earn him a spot in the playing eleven, and in fact his one day batting has been far superior. He has played some wonderful one day innings in the recent past including dominating centuries against Sri Lanka, West Indies and Pakistan. I still believe that if Sachin had been opening in the World Cup, India would have probably made it past the group stage and to the Super 8’s but would have struggled and embarrassed themselves against far more professional sides. Tendulkar still can bat and probably knows more about batting technique than most people in this world. Yet, something seems to be wrong with his mind, instead of getting stronger with experience like Rahul Dravid, he seems to be getting more fragile. Maybe the constant pressure and adulation of the Indian cricket fan for the last 17 years has worn him down.

He is still young, turning 34 in April, and I don’t think anybody has the right to tell Sachin Tendulkar when he should retire, only he knows that. At the same time, Ian Chappell was well within his rights in asking Sachin to look in the mirror and consider quitting. Introspection is needed Sachin. Why are you batting like this? Is it because of the waning of your physical powers, which should make quitting an easier decision or is it a mental thing? If it is the latter, are you prepared to accept it and do you have the motivation to conquer it? You know that you have nothing left to achieve.

The Man in the Arena

noreply@blogger.com (nish_the_dish) — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 09:50:00 +0000

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
Teddy Roosevelt at the Sorbonne in Paris, France on April 23, 1910

Rahul Dravid is the man in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood. He was the last batsman standing against Sri Lanka, and failed while daring greatly. He should not be sacked just because the people are angry after the World Cup fiasco. Let us not sacrifice India’s greatest batsman in a moment of anger, don’t forget that his resilience is the sole reason that we have won Test matches in England, Australia, Pakistan and West Indies. Don’t say that this man doesn’t bleed for Indian cricket and that he is more concerned about making money than playing cricket. Not only is that wrong, but it is merely the envious back biting of bitter critics who neither know victory nor defeat. Yet, there was a failure in strategy at the World Cup and he along with Greg Chappell must be partly blamed for that. The rest of the blame must fall on the selectors and the BCCI because they are as much a part of the Indian team as are the 15 playing members. The World Cup failure is as much their failure as it is Dravid and company’s. A year ago, Chappell had these prophetic words, “Ignore youth at your peril” ,“Only one of the best fielding sides will win the World Cup”, yet the Indian team that went to the World Cup was none of these and exited after the first round, shown up by hungrier and sharper teams. Chappell couldn’t follow through on his vision and I don’t see him succeeding in implementing it, maybe it was because he had too many detractors in India, but if that is the case I don’t see the system changing quickly enough for him to succeed. In the end I was glad to see him beat down the inflammatory questions thrown at him by the intemperate members of the Indian media at his last press conference at the World Cup.

I am more concerned about who will be Captain than who will be the Coach. At present, I don’t see anybody else who is more suited to Indian captaincy than Rahul Dravid. Bringing back Ganguly as captain would probably be the most myopic thing Indian cricket can do. Among the younger players, Sehwag remains an enigma in the one day games and Yuvraj Singh, probably our best one day player, hasn’t yet proven himself in the Test matches. Even if we appoint someone as the captain of the one day team only, we are in effect grooming him to take over the Test team within a couple of years. This factor alone is the reason why I wouldn’t name Yuvraj as the one day captain, yet.

If we take a look at our itinerary for the rest of the year; apart from Bangladesh, we have three arduous away tours against England, Pakistan and Australia. I would retain Rahul Dravid as captain till the end of the year, study the performance of the younger players on the three tours and pick the best young player to be the Captain of the one day team; it could be Sehwag, Yuvraj, Irfan Pathan, Dinesh Kaarthik or Mohd. Kaif. In fact we will be pretty sure who the candidate is mid way through the Australian tour and can even appoint this person to lead the one day team for the Tri-series in Australia in January 2008. Let us give the new captain plenty of leeway to slowly build his one day team and by the time the next World Cup rolls around in 2011, he would not only have refreshed the one day outfit, he would also have graduated to being the Test match Captain.

The rank smell of defeat

noreply@blogger.com (nish_the_dish) — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 01:01:00 +0000

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933

The Indian batsmen were gripped by fear; they bathed in it and ended with the malodorous smell of defeat. The exception was Sehwag who doesn’t recognize it and Dravid, the only one with the strength of mind to absorb FDR’s words. The rest of them couldn’t handle it.

Ganguly started out in a reverie and never got out of it, Uthappa tried to awaken him but perished quickly and even Sehwag’s clean hitting couldn’t nudge Sourav out his slow death mode. He finally succumbed to Chaminda-left-arm on the spot-Vaas. Sachin came and departed crushed under the pressure that even Atlas couldn’t bear. There was hope while Sehwag was clattering boundaries at will, but Murali produced some magic to snuff him out and India’s hopes. Yuvraj promptly ran himself out of the cauldron, and even the die-hard India fan would have given up after Murali quickly disposed off a clueless Dhoni. Watching his colleagues crumble seemed to light a fire under Dravid who chose to go down fighting the flames and flailed four boundaries before holing out to long off. It was over.

It wasn’t that desperate on a sunny morning when the bowlers made a good fist of it to restrict Sri Lanka to 254. In fact they did a fantastic job in reigning in the top order and it would have been a much lower total if not for a brave innings by the fearless Chamara Silva, in the Aravinda de Silva mould, and some enterprising hitting by Vaas and Arnold at the end. Yes, India didn’t field too well, but nobody expects them to be great in the field and the plan was that the experienced batters will make up for it. An unsound strategy if there ever was one. The Indian batting has crumbled so many times under pressure that counting on it to offset any deficit was just a terrible blunder. Heads will roll and more effigies will be burnt but life goes on, after all it is only a game.

But, the stench remains.

Group drama

noreply@blogger.com (nish_the_dish) — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 09:03:00 +0000

The upcoming Group B game between India-Sri Lanka on Friday has been setup very nicely with Bangladesh defeating India and then getting hammered by Sri Lanka. Their battering has made it easier for India to qualify and Sri Lanka have virtually guaranteed themselves a spot in the Super 8’s. If India beats Sri Lanka on Friday, then statistically it becomes almost impossible for Bangladesh to qualify and India will go through. Of course, India has to win to progress, but if they do, then they will actually go into the Super8’s carrying forward 2 points for defeating Sri Lanka. Yesterday, the Sri Lankans were absolutely ruthless in dismantling Bangladesh, and defeating this classy team will not be easy. They have a great bowling attack with high quality spin, fearsome pace, wily swing and impressive seam bowlers in Murali, Malinga, Vaas and Maharoof. Their batting is solid too especially with Jayasuriya firing at the top. One has to wonder at the athletic marvel the 37 year old is. How does he still do it? His fitness and enthusiasm is just incredible.

A lot of people's World Cup travel plans including mine, have been put in suspended animation after India’s opening game loss to Bangladesh. The phone was ringing off the hook and cancellation plans were being discussed. At the same time in Jamaica, Pakistan was in the process of losing to Ireland, and a friend and I were laughing in bemusement that we might be in Barbados on April 15th watching Bangladesh vs. Ireland! Yet, it was wonderful watching the young kids from Bangladesh play cricket with no inhibitions. The 18 years old Tamim Iqbal was a joy to watch. Zaheer Khan pinged him on the neck with a quick bouncer, but the young man didn’t back down and in the same over he charged down the track and whacked Zaheer into the stands. It was just fantastic. Bangladesh has one world class bowler in Mashrafe Mortaza and by the time the next world cup comes around they would have had 4 more years to develop and they will be a real dangerous team.

Bermuda was not a real challenge for India, but the Indians were very impressive in their comprehensive victory. What I enjoyed most about that match was the over the top celebration by the Bermuda players after they got the first wicket of Robin Uthappa. Dwayne Leverock, one of the wonders of the cricket world, launched all 270lbs of his immense body into the air to his right and plucked a wonderful one handed catch and set off on a pirouetting celebratory run blowing kisses left and right. Watch the video on YouTube and you’ll understand why I was in tears listening to the accompanying commentary by David Lloyd, who has got to be one of the funniest cricket commentators. Some of his soon to be copyrighted lines were

"The big man, the fridge is opened"
"He has flown like a gazelle"
"The Earth shook"
"Oh, what a catch"
"Don't want any kisses from him"

Also tearing up was the bowler Malachi Jones, only 17 years old, playing his first World Cup game, but he was experiencing rather different emotions than me.

ICC actually has done the right thing by including the Associate Nations in the World Cup. Only a few of them will succeed and most of them will fail to even make an impact, but in order to spread the game that is a chance I am willing to take.

If Woolmer was murdered…

noreply@blogger.com (nish_the_dish) — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 06:32:00 +0000

Cricket has fallen to a new low. Who would have thought that there would be lower point for cricket than the match fixing scandal? Here we are at the premier event in the cricket world, the 2007 ICC World Cup, and the coach of a cricket team may have been murdered in his hotel room because of a game of cricket! What a nightmare.

The air is thick with rumors. Betting Mafia, strychnine poisoning, deranged fan, signs of strangulation!! Sarfraz Nawaz, who seems to have lost it, is mouthing off like a loose cannon, accusing everybody he can think of. The man has no credibility, so it is better to ignore most of what he has to say. For now the death is being termed as ‘suspicious’ and when asked if he was saying that it was murder, Mark Shields, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Jamaica, clarified “I am not saying that” and that “it was too early to speculate.” So let us hold back on the accusations and let the Jamaican Police conclude their investigation. This time, I hope nobody will question the competence of another third world country’s police force. We all know how that turned out the last time.

If it was murder, I don’t even know whether we should carry on. I mean this is ridiculous, how can one enjoy this World Cup anymore?

Bob Woolmer

noreply@blogger.com (nish_the_dish) — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 07:58:00 +0000

My final image of Bob Woolmer was of him packing up his laptop at the end of the Pakistan – Ireland game and heading off into the dressing room. There was frustration and despair on his face and it seemed like the final chapter of his coaching career. It was a poignant moment. I remember saying that he had better go straight to South Africa and not even bother returning to Pakistan because he was going to be fired. The next morning he was dead. I was stunned. I couldn’t believe it, I was thinking “This is only a game, nobody is supposed to die.” This is not the way it should end, but it did.

We will no longer hear Woolmer’s positive spin on the wheelers and dealers that masqueraded as the Pakistan Cricket Board. While Bob does have to take some of the responsibility for the abysmal performance of the Pakistan team, the team has been on a downward spiral since the forfeiture of the Oval Test match. The controversy and scandals have come one after the other. The rot starts at the top and the PCB has to be blamed. It reminds me of how Jagmohan Dalmiya ruined what should have been his swansong by clinging onto power by any means possible, in the process forgetting that there was a cricket team to develop.

I will remember Bob as the pioneering laptop wielding coach of South Africa who made the machine synonymous with modern day coaching and a must have tool for all international cricket teams. I will also remember Bob for his stout and naïve denial that match fixing occurred while he was in charge of the South African team and was similarly reminded of his naiveté during the Oval test match fiasco while listening to his pronouncements on the greater good of Anglo-Muslim sporting competition. Even then he never quit the Pakistan team; in fact he has stood by all his players including the most volatile of them all Shoaib Akthar.

Thank you Bob, you have left the game better than you found it.

The Non Cricket Issues

noreply@blogger.com (nish_the_dish) — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 15:40:00 +0000

There is a lot of cricket to be played in this World Cup, yet the stories from outside the field are in play.

Lost in Translation
The Pakistan Cricket Board instructs their cricket team to speak in Urdu only, with the manager tasked with the translation. Apparently speaking in Urdu will promote tourism in Pakistan and also prevent players from being misquoted. The tourism plug is as hare brained as it sounds. Obviously this is not going to increase tourism, but it most probably will result in fewer quotes from the Pakistani players being published so it really is a roundabout way of silencing their players. But, it doesn’t end there, the ICC frets that there will be a lot of time spent translating the interviews during the pre and post match ceremonies and brings out the stick that is the World Cup participating nations agreement where teams are contracted to conduct on-field interviews in English. They get into a conference room with the PCB chairman Naseem Ashraf to thrash out the matter. A compromise is reached whereby the players will speak in English for all media interviews on the field, and they will switch back to Urdu at the press conference. Hey, wait a minute, has anybody asked the players what they want? Ideally the players should speak in what ever language they are comfortable with.

Sunny vs the Aussies
Sunny Gavaskar doesn’t like the Australian cricket team, this is a known fact. He has been railing against their on-field behavior every opportunity he gets. In his World Cup preview column he attacked them once again for their ‘awful’ on-field behavior and evoked a response from Australia’s captain Ricky Ponting that Gavaskar is being ‘high and mighty’. Ponting is quite right in saying that, but that is what columnists are supposed to be, i.e. armchair critics. Sunny is also correct in saying that the Aussies are the worst behaved team in the World, but it was in responding to Ponting that Sunny lost it and behaved in the same rude manner that he accuses the Australians of. It was in bad taste to bring up the death of David Hookes in a scuffle outside the bar as an example of poor Aussie behavior. Australia doesn’t hold the copyright on bar room brawls, it happens all over the world. Hookes is dead and however mealy mouthed he may have been, let him rest in peace.

The new Idi Amin
Robert Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe, is fast becoming a dictator in the Idi Amin mould, and it is time to stop ignoring this fact. Andy Flower, former captain of Zimbabwe, is right in calling for sanctions against Zimbabwe, but I think it should not be mere sporting sanction it should be a series of United Nations sanctions. Mugabe doesn’t care about the cricket team; he cares about money for him and his supporters. He has been silencing his opposition with arrests, threats and violence. In his latest attack on the opposition Morgan Tsvangirai, President of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was badly beaten in police custody and sent to the hospital with a suspected fractured skull. We should no longer tolerate the thuggery of Mugabe and keep waiting till he becomes another Amin. The ICC money is not going to the cricketers it is going to the ZanuPF thugs running Zimbabwe Cricket. India with its financial clout in ICC should take on the leadership role in acting against Zimbabwe in both the cricketing and political spectrum. The time has come to stop worrying about their cricketers and start worrying about the people of Zimbabwe.

World Cup 2007

noreply@blogger.com (nish_the_dish) — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 08:18:00 +0000

It is here.

It is hard to believe that there are 16 teams in the world that play this beautiful game called cricket; the caveat being that in 7 of these countries a majority of the people don’t even know that they have a national cricket team and will probably be bewildered to find out that their team is playing in a World Cup. Yet the average cricket fan will be rooting for an upset from one of these teams. Anybody who has seen the joyous celebration of the Bangladesh team after their victories over India and Australia will understand why they should play this game.

In the warm-up matches these teams showed glimpses of their potential. I was rooting for Ireland when they bowled South Africa out for under 200, I took great pleasure when Bermuda’s 270lb leviathan Dwayne Leverock took 2 wickets for 32 runs in 10 probing overs against England, I enjoyed Kenya’s robust chase of the host West Indies’ big total and was positively over the moon when Bangladesh embarrassed New Zealand, one of the strong contenders for the title.

For those of you who are not die-hard romantics and don’t enjoy the thrashing of the smaller teams, the Super 8’s provide exciting match-ups of the top 8 teams, assuming that they all make it to the second round.

This time around, Australia’s dominance has waned and they are without their premier one day fast bowler, Brett Lee, another key player, Andrew Symonds, the best cricket athlete in world, is recovering from a torn bicep which will definitely curtail his fielding ability. I don't think that this makes them vulnerable, but there is a perception of vulnerability and that maybe enough for the other teams to get their noses ahead. Having said all that, and even though South Africa are currently ranked number one the overwhelming favorite still is Australia and they will take some beating.

Bravely putting my foot in the mouth for the entire world to see; here are my picks for the semifinals: Australia, South Africa, India and the West Indies.

Let the cricket begin.

The Australian Impasse

noreply@blogger.com (nish_the_dish) — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 01:16:00 +0000

In one day cricket over the last 3 years, Australia has inflicted deep scars on this Indian team. The scars were pried open again in Kuala Lumpur on September 22^nd, and new gashes were added as India crumbled and folded while chasing a paltry 213 in the last league match of the DLF Cup. The fresh recipients of the scars were Suresh Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. They will remember this match for a long time. At the presentation ceremony after the match,

India

’s captain Rahul Dravid had a haunted look in his eyes, as he struggled to articulate the words to explain the defeat.

The Indian bowlers did a fantastic job restricting the Australian batsmen. Harbhajan Singh was outstanding and made superbat Mike Hussey look like a mere mortal. RP Singh and Munaf Patel continued to impress while Ajit Agarkar seems to be relishing his role as the senior partner in the seam attack. The Australian score would have been far worse, if Brad Haddin had been given run out, but he received the benefit of the non-existent doubt from the third umpire who thought Harbhajan didn’t have control of the ball as he broke the stumps. Haddin proceeded to hit 4 beautiful sixes of Dinesh Mongia who until then had bowled a tidy spell and even claimed the wicket of Andrew Symonds. India finished well and would have been mighty pleased with their efforts at the innings break.

The Indian chase began in earnest with Tendulkar square driving Brett Lee for a boundary in the first over, but it all fell to pieces soon after. Tendulkar was wrongly given out, and then courageously recalled by an umpire who realized his mistake. But, Sachin didn’t look the same after that and spooned a simple catch to point. Lee further exposed Sehwag’s weakness to the full incoming delivery by sneaking one through, but the most important blow was Stuart Clark nailing Dravid leg before with a perfect delivery. On a wicket with some assistance for the bowlers, Dravid was the only Indian batsman who inspired confidence and could have guided the team home without too much fuss.

Suresh Raina showed some pluck and good skill in hitting Brett Lee over the top, but he again failed to pick a quality spinner in Brad Hogg who deceived him with a beautiful wrong ‘un. Dhoni who was playing in a controlled fashion till then was nicely setup by the Aussies into lashing out at a Lee bouncer which he flayed straight to Martyn on the point boundary. Hogg pretty much sealed the game with a quick top spinner to get rid of a palpably nervous Agarkar. The tail collapsed quickly after, with Dinesh Mongia watching from the other end. It is hard to be critical of the highest scorer of the game, but in spite of all his one day experience in the County game, Mongia chose the safer option of remaining not out in an Indian defeat by offering up the tail enders as fodder to Lee, rather than get out striving for an improbable win. Granted it was his comeback into the Indian team, but it was disheartening to see his lack of purpose at the business end of the game.

Dravid will have to take a leaf out of Ganguly’s book to combat these Aussies. He will have to lead by example against India’s nemesis to overcome this impasse. Luckily for him his next opportunity will be coming up soon in the Champions trophy game on October 29^th in Mohali. Will that be enough time to recover from this mind numbing defeat? Maybe not, but the only way to get the monkey off their back is for India to beat the Aussies.

Quarter of the way

noreply@blogger.com (nish_the_dish) — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 07:22:00 +0000

I have used the Marathon as an analogy to describe India’s attempt to climb to the top of the ICC Test rankings in the post titled Milestones on a Marathon . The West Indies tour has come to an end and while the one day series was definitely a misstep, the Test series victory was a significant milestone. Yes, India squandered two opportunities, and had to come from behind to draw the third Test, before finally converting their winning position in the fourth Test match after some eighth wicket anxiety courtesy Dinesh Ramdin. Yet, the importance of this victory was not lost on Rahul Dravid, who as a keen student of the game knew exactly how many years it has been since India last won in the Caribbean (1971) and the number of years since their last major series win outside the sub continent, which was in England 1986. Those two statistics in itself shows how bare the BCCI cupboard has been on away tours, and really puts in perspective as to how good the Indian cricket team was and is.

This is exactly why I have no hesitation in labeling Rahul Dravid as India’s best batsman ever! Tracking back to Headingley 2002, Adelaide 2003, Rawalpindi 2004 and now Jamaica 2006, his singular batting performances have setup these famous Indian victories. Not since Leander Paes has any one person consistently won so many matches for India, and to think people had the temerity to debate his elevation to Indian captaincy. In my mind, there is no debate. Nobody in Indian cricket history has deserved it more, and it will be a while before any another cricketer will deserve it as much. Dravid has said on a few occasions “In the end, we must realize that we are only playing a sport.” This facet of him, an ability to detach himself and not be consumed with the game allows him to grow as a person and makes him a better player and a brave Captain.

The coming season is going to be a glut of one day matches leading up to the 2007 World Cup, and the only Test series India will play before the World Cup is in South Africa. The 3 Tests against South Africa will be another significant milestone and it will provide a final opportunity for Yuvraj Singh to cross the line from Michael Bevan-dom into a Test batsman. In his first full series, Mohammad Kaif was able to score his maiden hundred, and that was a major step for him. Kumble was outstanding in the series and has been since the Australian tour of 2003/04. Like fine wine, he seems to be getting better with age. Harbhajan proved that he can be a major force abroad as well, but most heartening was the performance of the young fast bowlers Munaf Patel(14 wickets) and Sreesanth(10 wickets) on their maiden international tour. India need fast bowlers to win abroad and these two are both wicket takers who can do just that.

The World Cup, is the halfway point of the Marathon and even if India wins it, far from a sure thing, the real test will be after the Cup, when they play England (away), Pakistan (away) and Australia (away). Australia will be the finish line and it has to be seen if India are staggering or striding as they breast the tape.