What does alcohol have to do with cricket? The answer to this question is ‘a lot’!

Loads in fact. When was the last time a major series win wasn’t celebrated with the uncorking of the bubbly? Of course people drink after games. Hell, for most of the commentators, thats all they do after a game. Ask the fake IPL player, he will tell you. There is nothing wrong with that, of course. Not until something very horrible happens, which challenges all paradigms of morality. After the fold, we will tell you about an incident which shocked the BCCI (yes, they do get shocked sometimes).

It happened at the end of the Cooch Behar Trophy, which is the under-19 equivalent of the Ranji Trophy. Take a look at this picture:

Source: Dainik Bhaskar

Mumbai had just won the final, when suddenly, a wild champagne bottle emerged. Unsure of what to do, the kids looked around. Their eyes met that of their coach, he winked, and the captain went on to uncork the bubbly, much to the horror of the BCCI officials present. One could hear an outburst of “Noooooooooooooooo” from an official.

The official was heard saying: “How can they open bottle when they aren’t legally allowed to drink?”. The coach, however, was aware of the impending outrage and had prepared an answer – “but you didn’t see them drink it, did you? There are no laws against opening an alcohol bottle.” Facepalming himself in public, the official left soon.

Inconsequential piece of news, isn’t it? Pity this won’t be enough to distract people from India’s performances down under. Too bad, this blog can only but try.

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Number 3 is one hell of a job in test cricket. Batting at number 3 needs the not only good technique but temperament to fight it out when the going gets tough. All teams that have performed well in recent past, have had a consistent solid number 3. India’s emergence as a good test team abroad under Sourav Ganguly was largely helped by Rahul Dravid’s fabulous run. Ricky Ponting’s consistency was key to Australia being on top for a while. Needless to talk about the legendary Sir Don Bradman, who even in the infamous bodyline series managed to score at 60 runs per innings.

In the past couple of decades, the world has seen some wonderful batsmen playing at this pivotal position. Apart from Dravid and Ponting, Kumar Sangakkara and now Hashim Amla have been successful at this position in this era. With 56 tests(51 at number 3) under his belt now, Amla has been around for a while and this probably is a good time to judge his progress with in comparison with the other three legends to have donned this role.

Overall, southpaw Sangakkara leads the pack with an average of 58 with Amla averaging a healthy 52. But a fairer comparison would be when all are compared after playing equal number of test matches. Hence, I shall be comparing these four after each had played 51 tests at number 3 each.

After 51 tests at one drop, Ponting leads with a stunning average of 64. Unfortunately, Ponting’s drop in form afterwards has lead to a decline in his overall average at number 3. Similar is the case with Dravid, who’s average seems to have dropped to 52 from 57. Amla at 52 is also doing well, in fact, better than what Sangakkara was doing back then and even team mate Jacques Kallis has done at this position. Lets’ look at the performances of these players away from home.

The above graph clearly shows why Dravid is valued tremendously by India whenever they play abroad. Ponting and Amla too are really close to Dravid’s away average of 60 and performed much better than Sangakkara. Amla like Dravid, comes under those few players who average higher away from home. This rare ability of improving your game in unfamiliar conditions is mark of a determined player, in my opinion.

In test cricket, not only winning is important, but batting your team out of crucial situations to help them draw matches is also an art. Top test batsmen contribute much more in wins and draws. As the graph below shows that while Amla’s average in wins improves slightly to 55, he has been brilliant in draws averaging 70. Dravid has clearly been the most effective batsmen among the four in draws and wins, averaging 72+ in both.

Clearly, Amla has decent numbers, comparable to Dravid, Ponting and Sangakkara who happen to be the three highest run-scorers at number 3 in the history of test cricket. Some company that. Moreover, the disciplined batsman has a good record against all major cricketing nations with the exception of West Indies (he hasn’t played much against Sri Lanka). He has already shown that he can handle spin bowling as he averages over 100 in India. In fact, his highest score of 253* comes in India itself.

The Saffer who is known to always be relaxed and composed at the crease, surely has a long way to go. His great work ethic and disciplined habits can only help him improve his already solid game. Amla is a fantastic player on both sides of the wicket, but his wristy flicks are what I enjoy the most. If about 8 years back, someone asked me if South Africa should let anyone other than Jacques Kallis bat at number 3, my answer would be a firm no! However, the former U-19 captain originally from Gujarat has done brilliantly and deserves to the spot ahead of Kallis.

Three batsmen at number 3 have been sensational in the last two years. Namely, Sangakkara, Amla and comparatively newer Jonathan Trott. While all three of them have been going through a purple patch, Amla has piled up 7 centuries at an average better than either of them. At just 28, Amla seems to be doing most things right and he will no doubt be a key to South Africa’s success in the next 10 years.

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Test cricket, the oldest form of the game was first played in the 1840’s while the first official international test match was between England and Australia in 1877. More than 134 years since, the sport has seen a lot of progress and change. Changes like commercialization, rise of ODI cricket along with T20 cricket have changed the dynamics of the sport.

Test cricket has stood tall amongst all this transition, but in the last 5 years or so, number of people going to stadiums to watch tests has continuously gone down. Of course, people in huge numbers watch the game over the television or the internet, but interest in the game is declining. A number of reasons are responsible for the same, many of which are not impossible to deal with. Let’s look at some of them. 

Lack of competitive sides

With the weakening of New Zealand and West Indies, the competition on the international scene has gone down. Not many people like to spend their money on watching one-sided contests and they can’t be blamed. Just recently, when WI played a test match in Delhi, I offered an extra ticket to a friend, who in spite of being a test cricket fan refused. He stated the reason to be lack of interest in watching WI play.

The top two teams in the test arena today are England and South Africa. Following them are Australia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India. While both Australia and Pakistan have some good talent, they are not as solid as England or even South Africa for that matter. India and Sri Lanka are decent sides but their away records have been poor. So, even when tests are held amongst these top 6 teams, often there is one-way traffic, making the sport less interesting.

New Zealand and West Indies have some talent but aren’t competing except for some one-odd occasion. And of course, the lesser we talk about Bangladesh, the better it is. The solution to this issue is a little tough. After all, we cannot just pump in talent into some of the lesser capable team, can we?

Probably starting a test championship using a tier system could help. ICC could take split the teams into two tiers of 5 teams each where teams of one tier would play each other both at home and away. The team finishing fourth in top tier will be relegated to the lower tier, while team which finishes on top of the 2^nd group would be promoted to the upper group. In this manner, test cricket will be more competitive as teams with similar caliber will compete to get results. Defensive tactics will also take a back seat since winning will be important. Overall, test cricket will be much more interesting.

Bad pitches

Unresponsive pitches makes for very boring cricket. Many pitches around the world have become flat belters which may be good for test batting, but test cricket on the whole suffers. Cricket is a contest between the bat and the ball and it is most enjoyable when this contest is balanced. A flat pitch with nothing for the bowlers only results in high scoring draws. Result apart, it doesn’t do any good to the spectators who end up watching 5 days of one way traffic. Various boards around the world should ask curators to prepare sporting pitches with some sort of assistance for the bowlers.

Uncovered pitches might also make a major difference. Letting the weather come into play will alter how the pitches stay over the duration of the match. Of course, overnight rains or drizzles will give the batsmen new challenges. If you have heard the story of Don Bradman reversing the batting order to counter a wet pitch, then you will understand how uncovered pitches could make things very exciting.

Poor Scheduling and management

Cricket boards in the recent past have been stupid and careless regarding scheduling of various series. With tons of money that these boards get from advertising and broadcasting rights, revenue from ticket sales is not very important. Hence, often test matches are played totally during weekdays. Weekends would obviously have higher turnouts, yet somehow boards fail to take this into account. Such dumbness needs to be avoided. Also, two teams repeated playing each other makes no sense. In 2011 itself, just after India’s long tour of England, the English team arrived in India to play a 5 match ODI series. Wouldn’t it make more sense to have some other team come in instead ? or at least make it a tri-series to spice up things ?

Management of stadiums and ticketing is also an area which has scope for improvement, particularly in the sub-continent. In the Delhi test, a few people turned up at the FerozeShah Kotla, hoping to get tickets. Unfortunately for them, the ticket counter was closed since it was a Sunday. So in spite of 70% of the seats being empty, people who were willing to watch couldn’t get in. Cleanliness and maintenance of stadiums and facilities around them should be properly taken care of. As Rahul Dravid said in his speech at the Bradman Oration, spectators need to be respected and valued, not taken for granted. Making the game watching experience as easy and comfortable as possible is going to benefit everyone, whether the spectators, boards or players who will be motivated by the bigger audiences.

Apart from these issues which need to tackled, a few other steps can also promote interest in the game. These are:

Right selection of venues

With competitions such as IPL, Big Bash and other domestic competitions, some cities get a lot of cricketing action, while others are often neglected. Too much cricket is not good for the spectators. For example, Mohali gets IPL, test as well as ODI cricket on a regular basis. Since most people enjoy ODIs and IPL more, test matches hardly gets any crowd whatsoever. Nagpur is another place where stands are empty in tests. On the other hand, in a recent Ranji game in Karnataka close to 15,000 people turned up. The match was being played in a small town named Shimoga, where cricket had returned after 15 years or so. Just imagine how many would have turned up had India been playing.

Bottom line is, selecting smaller towns which are starved of action is a better place for tests than a place where there is too much cricket anyway. Not only would this give bigger turnouts, but also help in development of these smaller towns. Hence, careful selection of venues can make a difference.

Night tests

Night tests with pink balls is also an interesting suggestion. Night tests have been held by the MCC and the visibility of the pink ball doesn’t seem to be an issue. Of course, dew factor might come in at some places, but with super soppers and sprays that are available these days, controlling the dew might not be that tough. Even small changes bring in a lot of interest in the sport, like powerplays have done to the ODI game. So, trying a whole new style of test cricket will interest viewers around the world. Also, people who are occupied during the day due to work, study or other priorities could make time for the game. I am not saying that night tests will not mean that stadiums will be totally sold out, but people coming in will definitely rise up.

However, there is a section of cricket followers who believe that original nature of test cricket should be preserved. Ideally, I would want the same, but instead of letting the interest in this form decrease, making a few changes makes a lot more sense. Besides, DRS and such new additions are as it is altering the game.

More commitment from the players

Commercialization and development of franchise system has led to a high number of cricket playing days for cricketers, particularly those who play all the three formats. To blow off some steam and make themselves fit for important upcoming tours, players choose to rest some lesser important tours.

Sachin Tendulkar for example, decided to rest the WI tour at the start of 2011, but chose to play the IPL just before it. Such disrespect of the ultimate form by a legend of his stature is not expected. If he can commit such a mistake, one can only wonder what the youngsters will do. A little more commitment from players would ensure bigger crowds and following.

These are testing times no doubt, yet they can be tackled if the boards swing into action and start to actually care for the game and not just their bank accounts. Some of the above mentioned changes are not even too tough to bring in or adapt. Hence, I see no reason why the oldest and toughest form of the game can’t survive this phase.

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The bat waving incident – what actually happened?

On this glorious sunny day in Melbourne, we got to see something that is not seen often. We saw god angry. We saw god waving his bat at a mortal. We saw that 2012 is near.

James Pattinson (21) bowled a ball on the pads of Sehwag (33), who tucked it nicely for a single. While he was running, Pattinson apparently poked his elbow out at the wrong moment. Sehwag dodged it like a true ninja that he is, completed the run, then turned to face his adversary.

Before the kid had any clue what was going on, Sehwag walked up to him and mumbled in Najafgarhi eloquence: “When I run, you step out of way”. Pattinson replied by staring down and saying: “what if I don’t? You gonna get stilts to hit me?”

This was it. Out came the bat, and the reply: “I have bat. Next time you come in the way you’ll have no clue where it will end up! My case I rest.” He walked back with a grim look. Pattinson still didn’t have a clue.

To put a poetic end to the entire commotion, Warner ran in trying to pacify and protect Pattinson. The irony of it all made Sehwag smile.

At the other end, Gambhir tried to remember what Robert Pattinson looked like. I know you are tempted too:

Robert Pattinson

James Pattinson

There will be loads of batsmen in the world who would not fancy facing the two pacemen, but I am sure none of them would mind eating them. Think I have lost it? Think again:

Source: Shiraz Hassan

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Varun Aaron & Umesh Yadav can bowl quick. They can bat as well. Both are going to Australia. Wouldn’t it be nice if India played 4 fast bowlers in a game? Of course, Rashwin would mind, but I would really not mind if Rashwin could further improve his batting (and his running) and maybe even bat at 7. It would be an emotional moment. 4 fast bowlers.

Of course its not going to happen, who am I kidding.

Nevertheless, its good to see two bowlers who still focus on pace. I hope it stays this way and the lure of IPL does not take away the extra mile.

Also Varun, even Umesh can bat. So do not farm the strike as if you are the number 4.

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Throughout the history of cricket there’s been many great players, but there is only one that’s really stands out from the rest and that is Shane Warne.

He began his cricket career back in the 1980’s for his University team but it wasn’t until the beginning of the 90’s that he played his first test match. Throughout his career, Shane managed an amazing 1000 wickets and is known as one of the best bowlers.
Shane career went a bit back and forth awhile because of a one year ban in 2003-2004. He got banned from playing league cricket because of a scandal about that Shane was taking some sort of drugs. He retired from international cricket in 2008, but joined the Indian team Rajasthan Royals as playing team captain. After a great tournament with a close win in the finals, many Shane Warne fans wanted to see him back in international play.

The off-pitch Shane Warne
Over the years there’s been tons of rumors and scandals surrounding Shane. One example is the story with the Indian bookie that gave money to both Warne and another player, Mark Waugh. The players in return gave information back to the bookie about pitch stats as well as weather reports. Both players were fined by ACB and in later statements they’ve keep their story that this was the only type of information they gave to the Indian bookie.

After finishing his cricket career, Shane moved on to a career playing poker for 888, which is one of the online poker rooms. Of course he’s doing great in his new career and even got to join the 888 team for the WSOP.

Random fact about Shane: Someone actually made a musical about Shane which you can find here.

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Cricket always borders on the bizarre. Can you explain why the batsman is out?

Rules: If you go to the video on youtube, you will get the answer in the comments. But let’s be honest here.

The comments section is all yours.

Y U NO follow me on twitter.

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The new season thus begins.

India had never won a game at this stadium, though a sample space of 3 isn’t flattering at all. Something was surely going to give. Aren’t we the world champions, after all? India won the toss and batted first.

Oh wait!

At first, there was no telecast at all. The BCCI had a tiff with Nimbus, the host broadcaster, on the default of Rs. 40 million bank guarantee which is mandatory. There were rumors doing the rounds that the blackout was also due to the BCCI’s directive to Nimbus to not show Hawkeye even for entertainment of the audience.

At this point, I leave the ‘guffawing at BCCI’ part to the blogs from abroad, or to the guys at Test Match Sofa. The telecast resumed at around the three over mark and India went on to make 300 after scoring 165 in the last 16. Some great batting by MSD. In reply, England freaked out and then collapsed. Full scorecard.

Some interesting aspects of the game:

Weird Commentary Combination

Laxman Sivaramakrishnan was paired with Matt Hoggard. Whoever thought of that did not trial it all out it seems. They might have been better off being in different rooms. No conversation whatsoever. It appeared that they didn’t seem to ‘get’ each other’s accent. What also didn’t help that LSRK assumes the outcome then commentates on it and Matty is more of a hindsight person.

The Power of Hindsight

The great Ganguly was also on commentary duty today, and he let out a captaincy secret. The secret is to change the field every ball during the death overs so that it plays on the batsman’s mind. Cook was royally criticized by the Prince of Calcutta for not changing the field as often as he should have. One wonders if Ganguly himself did it? What do you guys think?

Umesh Yadav’s Disappointment

Following the Indian cricket team has become a predictable affair, specially when it comes to commentators. After Shastri committed his sponsored blunder by forgetting the new powerplay rules (“India has still not taken the bowling powerplay, and it’s the 13th over already; *producer shouts in ear*; because they can’t take it according to the new rules” – pure Shastri codswallop), Sunil Gavaskar berates Umesh Yadav by saying that he will NEVER be express pace, but he should look at other variations. All this moments after two 145 kmph balls.

The Paradox of Jadeja

Bloke batted well and took three wickets. Lends balance. People hate him. Definitely a selection in Indian conditions. But so is Yusuf Pathan. Also, wait till Yuvraj comes back. It’s a good time to be an Indian fan, when they play in the subcontinent.

All in all, an eventful start to the season. This is what we did to England:

PS: There was no HawkEye

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I know we are well into the competition and it’s almost over, but this tournament needs some getting used to for me. Over the years, its often been the last leg which fascinates, be it the NSW Blues in India, or the Chennai SuperKings in South Africa.

There have been lot of people playing the devils advocate on the tournament, saying that it’s not the real deal and its just about the money. I would reserve my judgement on that on the fact that good cricket is still being played, and yes, the money is huge. Who wouldn’t want that?

There have been quite a few close matches this year, leading to the drama which is nearing the semi final stage and still every team has a theoritical possibility of making it to the knock-out round.

Check out the latest points table here.

Also, the good folks at Nokia which is the title sponsor of the event, have come up with a contest which sounds good. The contest is around air cricket and commentary where the fans will send in their entries in the form of videos and photos, out of which the best 11 will be chosen.

The winners will get a chance to be a part of Priyanka Chopra’s XI and will watch a cricket match LIVE with her.

Take a look, sounds fun!

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