The Cricket Watcher's Journal

Adrian Barath reminded me of Vishy

noreply@blogger.com (Soulberry) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 15:15:00 +0000

Image Courtesy Ms. Lavern Morris with thanks

We have been cautioned that "Cricket more than any game is inclined towards sentimentalism and cant." That "the players of cricket have been arranged and displayed in a white and shining hagiology." ^Cardus

So what do we, those who watch cricket because we like to, do, when we come across players in instances which challenge the very stiff cynicism we have been packaged so tightly into? What do we do when we discover that the deformed joy and silenced fantasies over the game within us have stirred a little? What do we do when we discover that our eyelids are no longer drooping, trying to force us out of our compulsion to watch and into our beds of sleep instead? What do we do when we suddenly notice that our jaws have sagged open, and hoarse joy dribbles constantly out in the manner of a long awaited rainfall to our parched throats? When did our limbs last move, to come together to applaud on their own accord? Waving away the flags of identity we have been forced to adopt, to breathe some life into an interest bludgeoned down by repetition, sameness and predictability?

We no longer have the suspense of uncovered pitches that hatch unknown plots through the nights. We no longer have players beyond the clique of predictables spanning across nations arousing our curiosity and questioning with their novel interpretations of existing patterns. We know the masters of this era all too well by now. We are deeply familiar with the style that identifies uniquely their creations. Sometimes they too surprise us with deviations, but like all deviations, they are merely distracted impermanance. We have begun to understand the frequency of these deviations too from the masters - cricket has become that predictable. Irrespective of the format.

Too often we cannot even recognize the face behind the grill, the head under the helmet; we cannot measure the broadness of courage behind the chest guards, and indeed, more often than not, we cannot set apart strokes as singular, or unique to a particular player, as they are pumped out of the thick density of their bat blades like untypical bullets from just another AK-47. Discrimination, taste, acumen, discernment, subtlety...indifference, conformity, normality, regularity, usualness, closely calibrated standardization, have slipped away with all those, our zest for the game of uncertainities, without our realizing it, and left behind our hollow shells of mere habit which expect nothing, look for nothing new, experience nothing deeply moving.

But once in a while we come across something that thaws us out of it. Sets our senses free to indulge themselves, revelling in themselves, entranced in the sweetness of just being....before squeezing themselves back into their pickle jars when their time is up.

If 19-year old Umar Akmal of Pakistan was liberating cricket addicts from New Zealand, another 19-year old, Adrian Barath of West Indies, in Brisbane down under, was carving away the inanimate keratin thickness of long disillusionment encasing the combined clans of cricketing warriors of a lost era. The West Indies were alive through their night for the duration of his innings. It doesn't appear that they wish to remain sleeping any longer. Adrian Barath may have been declared out LBW by technology, but the Caribbean peoples and the rest of the world believe he is going to bat again and for long.

They, and we, are preparing to watch him bat again....watch Barath and Akmal...the keyword being "preparing".

When was the last time we "prepared" to watch cricket?

Pressure, surrender, fear - they were mere words in a book neither Barath or Akmal have bothered to read. So busy they were playing cricket simultaneously, these past few days.

Barath began as an unwanted. This "yute" from Clarke Road Cricket Club, as a friend and fellow cricket follower called him, had to rise upon the kind of merit which even the strongest hide of bias couldn't ignore. But that was just the beginning. He had to then play to stay - for the next test! And all this he had to do on his first chance.

As laws of natural selection deem, those who emerge from a trial by fire are the ones worth progressing. And so it was that he was on the plane to Australia and in the team for the opening test match at Brisbane to face an Australian team bristling at unforseen losses to England and impatience of having to play a dissipated West Indies when they'd dearly love to have and lay across the Englishmen, in their wintry summer.

We had been warned that "Today the complacent gloss has more or less gone; cricket is openly played as a sport for men and not cherubim." And once again warned that "for years Australians have brought an astringent realpolitik to the game." ^Cardus It was in Australia, in the den of proud Kangaroos nursing defeat in the Old country, that Adrian "AB" Barath would have to debut.

Addicts of the game who watch anything and everything out of habit, supported only by their stout cynicism through their torture and cold turkey, were waiting - little gusts of fetid breath puffing out of their typing fingers to stun hope, and gnarled sticks of hopelessness tamping impatiently on the boards to beat black and blue the failure that Barath was to be. Bo rat he could easily be. Such was the anticipation born out of helplessness when a career was being birthed in their home.

Those who spoke of his exploits and injected hope were called preachers and worse.

The blame lay not in the people but in their long disappointment. That pebble thrown in from the window couldn't be a nugget of gold...

Windies were following on. The Kangaroos were all over. Australia had believed for long now that West Indies was a rock star team and had no business on the test fields of cricket. They had already prised out a diamond - Chris Gayle was back with Dowlin following soon. Barath, the nineteen year old, was standing on the other side.

Hilfenhaus, Siddle, Johnson and Watson...all roared in to squash the kid. They bowled short, he rose on his toes, leaned back on his weight, bringing his bat from the heavens in an arc to cut square above the ball with a roll of the wrists, and the bat finished with a flourish back in the heavens above the opposite shoulder.

They did it again, this time a little meaner, faster, higher, closer - Barath stretched his meagre height a little more like a band of elastic and cut again in the same manner and watched the ball shoot to the boundary in a perfectly balanced repose. Not a fielder had moved. The bowler hadn't even begun to turn his head towards the ball when it rasped the boards outside the long boundaries of Oz.

When they pitched it up, he drove them straight as an arrow behind the bowler or into the covers. Timing, skill, confidence and clarity...He reminded me so much of GR Viswanath, another debutonner like Barath!

His defence was as accurate as his cuts and drives. Whenever bowlers strayed onto his legs, he made them pay handsomely.

Ponting plunged Hauritz the off spinner at him - Barath cur his square, cut him to point, pushed out a leg and square drove him to the boundary, a straight drive, a pull to deep square leg - the youngster showed a range like a master does in demonstrating to students. Fittingly, it was a drive through point off Watson that brought the cherished mark to him.^{Wagon Wheel}

He could not save West Indies.^Score neither could Akmal save Pakistan. They were far too behind and laden down with the burden for one youngster to pull all to safety. But Barath played. He showed he could play this version of the game well enough too. He showed that he could play his own game even under pressure. Yes, he has flipped a page indeed and shown us a glimpse of the future along with Akmal in New Zealand. Two 19-year old debutonners within a day of each other is indeed a treat.

Barath is the youngest Debutonner for West Indies as well.

I await Pujara to join this small tribe of quality youngsters who will shape the future of cricket.

I would like to thank Ms.Lavern Morris, a cricket enthusiast who likes to travel to watch the game at different centres around the globe, for allowing me the use of Barath's photograph she took at Brisbane. Respect.

Joining the 100 club

noreply@blogger.com (Soulberry) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:35:00 +0000

India won the second test versus Sri Lanka today to enter the 100 test win club. Out of the older set of test nations, it is the last but one to join this club. Only New Zealand remains and it leads the newer test playing nations with 66 wins to Sri Lanka's 60.

I wonder what it took to register those 100 wins? From Vijay Hazare to MS Dhoni? And all that built up to the 100 from the first test India played in to the latest. All the players, the captains, the selectors, the stars, the meetings, the strategies, the heartaches and encouragements...I wonder what all went into creating the 100th test win?

It will require a series of articles of deep research to shine a just light on those questions. So that will be a serialized effort from them over the next year.

India's 100

Out of those 100, 39% were registered in the last decade itself.

India wins 39 matches in the last ten years.

10 years ago, Sourav Ganguly led India for the first time, and took the team to Bangladesh first. He insisted on overseas winning performances from his team. A vision which concretized since under successive captains.

India's overseas-home reacord in the past decade, as a result, is even-stevens - 19 wins away and 20 at home out of those 39.

Many of those overseas wins have ended up as series wins as well.

Sachin Tendulkar figures in 52 of those 100 wins!

India are no more tigers at home and pussycars abroad.

Well done Indian cricket, wishing you many more victories.

Team summaries.

Unlawful Perfection

noreply@blogger.com (Soulberry) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:17:00 +0000

Many years ago, Australia travelled a long distance, thrusting themselves forward through oceans on muscles of steam and windsails to play cricket matches in England. The first test of the 1938 Ashes series is dear to many followers of the sport - not just in England and Australia alone, but all over the world - for the deluge of records it produced. The first and second tests were drawn, the third abandoned without a ball being bowled, and the fourth and fifth matches won by the two teams in turn, with Australia drawing first blood in the fourth. The series as a whole involved many records.

The first test at Nottingham is mainly remembered for Stan McCabe's daring revolt against the intrusions by the Englishmen, the seven centuries witnessed in the match, including two doubles, and "the highest total ever hit against the Australians" at that time. That last one was to change in the series itself.

The lords of the green meadows had plundered 658 runs off Don Bradman's spinners and pacemen alike to register a record total against the Australians by England. Eddie Paynter led the charge of the Englishmen with 216 runs. He was ably supported by Barnett, Hutton and Compton, who scored cavalier hundreds, and Leslie Ames chipping in later with a minor statement of his own in a partnership with him.

Australia, in their turn, were mostly on the mat throughout their first essay, their captain, Donald Bradman, having been consumed for a paltry 51 by Sinfield. Whatever distance they managed to keep between themselves and the floor, was the result of one man's defiance - Stan McCabe's bat refused to surrender easily - repeatedly, it tore through the English dominance to allow vital breathing space for the Australians, and kept up the resistance till Australia managed the relative respectability of 411 runs. He scored the second double hundred of the match, which incidentally was a first.

Wally Hammond asked the Don to carry on batting till at least parity was achieved.

Following on, Brown and Bradman, scored hundreds to create a new record for the number of centuries scored in one match. They completed the set of seven, in the process dragging England to accept an honorable draw.^Scorecard

Neville Cardus, reporting the match, begins his recording of the series and match in this manner -

"On one of the easiest pitches ever known, England batted first and did not lose a wicket until the time of day was twenty minutes past three and the score 219. Barnett, after a fortunate period, played like a soldier of fortune; in a glorious innings he hit the Australian attack right and left, scattered the field, cut and drove with power and ease and poise. At one point fours ran across the grass nearly every over. He failed by two runs to reach a hundred before lunch and join the company of Trumper, Macartney and Bradman..."

At a later point in his description of the first day's proceedings, he goes on to say "Bradman risked playing all his spin bowlers, and Waite was badly needed to keep a length on one end. McCormick on the lifeless earth achieved a pace and accuracy which at Lord's might have caused much confusion of mind and much hopping and jumping about."

The caravan then moved on to the life of Lord's for the second test.

Lord's wore green and Cardus writes on the first day "To begin with, the wicket certainly held a little moisture used in the process of preparation."

He describes how England first palpitated in the day's argument and later went on to stage a remarkable recovery on the broad shoulders of their skipper, Wally Hammond, who doused Australia with a stunning 240. Paynter stood by him for 99 runs. Australia found themselves in not a dissimilar situation, and, for a consecutive time were rescued by a double hundred effort - this time Bill Brown matching the honors and reiterating the record set in the first test.

The next test at Manchester was consumed by bad weather without a ball being bowled. A test match cannot get more English than this.

In the fourth test played at Leeds, Cardus' first two sentences of the report are as follows "England played an outrageous innings today on an easy pitch. The ball turned frequently, but at so slow a pace for the most part that a comfortable, not to say indolent, stroke was possible and safe - or should have been safe."

Australia went on to win by five wickets, hanging on by the skin of Bradman's teeth in a low scoring thriller on an easy pitch.^Score

England tore back to level the series it began so dominantly in the fifth test at The Oval. In a fitting way, the final encounter was a fight to the finish - a timeless test match.

About the first day at The Oval, where Hutton recorded 364 and England 903 runs in all, Cardus, that most celebrated of English cricket writers, says "Bradman was terribly unlucky to lose the toss again on the easiest wicket conceivable, easier even than Nottingham's."

The same Notts pitch which Neville Cardus had described at the start of the series as "one of an almost unlawful perfection."

This Week

noreply@blogger.com (Soulberry) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 02:20:00 +0000

Bhajji wins the vote

We ran a poll on Bhajji and Mishra's performance in the first test titled Have Bhajji and Mishra scripted the epitaph of their careers?

The results are as follows:


Bhajji yes, Mishra no 5 (38%)
Mishra yes, Bhajji no 1 (7%)
Throw dem both into the dungeons! 2 (15%)
Unnu doan unnerstan cricket do you? Dem both play on! 3 (23%)
Doan bore me wid yo knee jerks 2 (15%)

As you can see, the team management was of diametrically opposite view to the majority of positive vote - Mishra it was who sat out and the experience of Bhajji was preferred for the second test.

Essentially an equal number also felt that both must play, even though they were split by the language of the two choices.

Somebody did say Cricket isn't a democracy...

Three fine talents

Akmal Jr and Mohammed Aamer are two players who stir up the excitement. Umar Akmal is one of the better young batsman of the period to emerge onto the world stage. We await Cheteshwar Pujara's debut, and Umar Akmal will be a long running mate for him like Tendulkar-Ponting-Dravid-Lara-Inzy have been.

Meanwhile, we think Jonathan Trott, though not as young as Akmal, is as exciting a player as he to emerge onto the world cricket scene.

Md. Aamer looks a good bowling talent. Hopefully he stays away from steroids and worse.

Bond Kiwi

At that age, having endured so many ailments, to return from a semi-retired frame of mind and perform the way he is, just one word - Bond! Gilt edged too, for he takes his wickets at a fair clip.^Statsguru

Just 18 tests may sound too few to finalize a career strike rate excellence, but the fact that they have been spread over eight years due to injuries suggests the man's fortitude and determination in making his way back from every injury. We also know that when he plays, he rocks the opposition boat.

Roaching the batsmen

This lad, Kemar Roach, is just like young Malcolm Marshall was - the pace of the morning was the same in the evening. And that desire to win and the self-belief. He'll play long and interestingly provided his body bears up to the workload West Indies will impress upon him.

See the nucleus of future emerging...Aamer, Roach, Akmal...and hopefully, Pujara.

26-11-2009

noreply@blogger.com (Soulberry) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:28:00 +0000

A year ago. We adjourned.

We are adjourned again today.

We continue to await justice and co-operation.

Thanks Sree, and Good Fer Ya

noreply@blogger.com (Soulberry) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:51:00 +0000

Sri Lanka vs India 2009-10, Second Test, Day Three, Green Park, Kanpur

Scorecard

[I'm a bit behind in covering this test match, and the other two going on concurrently, due to this and that. I'll probably catch up a little later over the weekend.]

A quick situational blog here...with also a necessary vent enclosed in it.

We'd like to thank Sreesanth for many things - for putting India ahead in the game and of himself, for redirecting his rages, for the greater maturity with which he is bowling, for justifying our faith in his current bowling skills - Bala, I once again tip my hat to your judgement - ( I reiterate, Sreesanth must evolve like Taresh did ), and most importantly, to put an end to all those motivated media horns, blog bugles and various forum krill who went up in a shrill concerto over pitches in India on day one of this test match itself!

Try 666 cricket forums, the devil's forum, scan the anti-India muck written there by some "worthies", Muddack's Misinfo, and any number of motivated media agencies, blogs or forums, they were all seething with anger at the magnificience of Sehwag, Gambhir and Dravid's batting and labelled it, or hinted at, a dud pitch. Forgetting that day one pitches are generally good everywhere, that things could change over days 2, 3, 4 and 5; ignoring that Sangakkara was too defensive in his field placings and more than completly reliant on Murali the Legend and Mendis the Wizard who didn't quite live up to their billing, and that helped Indian batsmen gather runs, ignoring that the Lankan bowlers as a whole bowled poorly and Welegedara lacked support from the other side; forgetting that Sehwag applied himself completely after P&M Jayawerdenes dropped him between them, and completely ignoring the fact that India batted superbly.

They scorned India because that is the fashion of times. Their love for Lankans might be real, but looked more convenient in the bargain. It fitted into the current strategy to paint India as a cricketing villian and responsible for the demise of the game through all avenues including pitches. Idiots...just one word for such!

And India has seen fuller stadiums in this series than the empty seats staring at one from Brisbane today.

There are people who have a concept of only one kind of pitches...the kind available in their city or homeland, and with no sense of variety...or the possibility of it. The chance to bash India made them overlook fundamentals l;ike Day One.

Fellows who probably haven't laid one facting pitch from base up in their lives were punching off comments from their keyboards.


S Sreesanth O- 22 M- 4 R- 75 W- 5   
 
29.2 to Paranavitana, gone! Poking at one that moved away from him after pitching, short of a good length, tried to push at it off the back foot, a little away from his body, gets a thick outside edge to Dhoni who takes a sharp catch, diving low to his left 82/2


33.4 to Sangakkara, bowled'im! Dragged it on, full and wide, reached for a flowing drive through the covers but ended up getting an inside edge onto his stumps 101/3


37.2 to Samaraweera, bowled him! Sreesanth hits the good length outside off again, Samaraweera attempts to, he gets a thick bottom edge on to his stumps, it was a bit wide actually and it stayed a touch low 111/4


66.6 to HAPW Jayawardene, Sreesanth gets a wicket with possibly the worst ball of the over, shortish and wide, Prasanna goes after it, nicks it to Dhoni, no repeat of the massive stand between the Jayawardenes 194/6


74.4 to Herath, what a change, gets Herath first ball, length ball angles across the batsman and takes out offstump, thats five for Sreesanth, welcome back 216/8

Source: Cricinfo

Sreesanth, with is discipline and application, has showed that there is enough in this pitch for those who want to discover it and use it.

There is enough in this game for those who want to attack after putting up a big score. Indian bowlers and MSD have shown this. You got to want to attack first...not hide your defensiveness behind sophistry.

Yeah, thanks Sree, you showed up some blokes.

With this attacking nature, you also showed up those who scorned you.

With the combined attack by India, they also showed how it is done...rather than go for registering mere meaningless record totals.

With this attack, India showed what Lanka didn't do enough in the last match and the value of Tendulkar and Gambhir's batting on Day Five of it. Lanka had everything doing for them but failed to drill it in. India fought back resolutely....and people scoffed and demeaned the efforts.

Thanks Sreesanth, this time it is you who have left a stinging slap on the cheeks of such.

We felt India needed a workhorse who could also pick a few wickets^Link - you delivered. Thnaks again for that!

Love your concentration and rechannelized anger. Keep it up!

Sreesanth's Comeback Sixer

noreply@blogger.com (Soulberry) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:01:00 +0000

Lanka fail to nail down a first win

noreply@blogger.com (Soulberry) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:17:00 +0000

Sri Lanka vs India 2009-10, First Test, Day Five, Motera, Ahmedabad

Scorecard

A combination of Sangakkara's lack of confidence and underestimation of the opposition, Mahela Jayawerdene's distinct lack of urgency while batting in the quest of some milestone only he comprehends, and the coming together of Indian batting finally, put paid to Lanka's ambitions of registering their first test win on Indian soil. Instead, they will have to remain satisfied with their other passion - registering records - a principle espoused and entrenched into their cricketing psyche by their former skipper and team-builder, Arjuna Ranatunga.

Ranatunga believed records were necessary for a fledgeling Sri Lanka to look at itself in a more worthy way therefore paving the way for winning performances. Curiously, Ranatunga himself solicited and followed records at the expense of any chance of victory - be it through flat wickets or failure to declare at the right time and attack.

This Sri Lankan team appears to have learned those lessons well, for they didn't even suggest that they'd be going for a win in this match once they had gone ahead. Rather, they expected India to lay down and die to hand over a win on a platter without any further fight. If Welegedera wouldn't knock them over, Murali would surely consume them on a pitch where Sachin and Sehwag made the ball spin at right angles and more. And weren't India supposed to be the worst and most overrated team? At least if the GMing Yardley's suggestions and insinuations from the commentary box are to be believed, India were the meanies and lowlies.

I mean a team which came back strongly early on Day Two, knocked off the remaining Indian bats in no time at all, and were set off on the chase by the piping hot batting of TM Dilshan, then meandered into the wastelands of meaninglessness. In fact, Yardley's heartburns notwithstanding, Sachin's persistence in batting on towards the end is less meaningless than Mahela's tuk-tukking after a point in his innings. The need for him was to step on the gas and get his team into a position from which they could attack after accounting for the pitch and certain revival of Indian batting at home. Sachin, on the other hand, kept the Lankans at bay and took the match away from them...his claim to meaningless batting is less than Mahela's. What a waste of Dilshan's and the Lankan bowling efforts in the first innings!

Indian batting redeemed itself under some pressure, and rather easily in the end considering all the travails it encountered in the first essay. The pitch proved a strange one. Not sure if this is what test cricket wants. Indian bowlers will have to perform better in the matches ahead. I am shaken by Harbhajan and Mishra's bowling performances but I'll stick with both for the next test. I expect Ishant to perform better. He has to. If the pitch suggests, maybe Sreesanth could be added at the expense of a spinner.

India's batting has shifted to test match mode and now it will ne doubly difficult for Sri Lankan bowlers. I'll go on record with that. It will be bowling, better strategy and sustained aggresion which will win the series for one team or the other. Lanka continue to hold the edge in bowling, for they have capable bowlers sitting on the benches. Kulasekara and Mendis to name two. I am sure Mathews will make way for one of the two...maybe Prasada too, for Kulasekara can bat a bit as well.

Otherwise, get ready for a drawn series.

Everybody is worrying about test cricket and dwindling attendances. Most vocal of all have been the Australian ex-players, who are born with ( at least they believe so ) with such a right as to opine for one and all. And here was a crowd watching on all days despite the home team being on the backfoot almost throughout the match!...A crowd which encouraged both teams without reservations....and Yardley wanted to deny them the icing on the cake after having braved through the test match? He wanted to skip a mere 14 overs remaining, and peeved up just because Sachin was getting to another century? And a more deserved one than Mahela's creeping and crawling to his triple! Ask the Lankan spectators...they'll tell you they'd have preferred Mahela to have been a little more assertive as his innings grew. The crowd could have been gifted this one little cheap toffee for five days of support and he wanted to snatch it away. Who is pushing people away? Who is opining for others? This kind of opining is the as-per-convenience kind. And by the way, if 7 percent of Indians watch test cricket it is perhaps about 70,000 more than the 10 percent figures or such quoted by people. 7 percent of a billion and a half is distinctly larger than 15 percent of ten million or so.

But I like Bruce Yardley being there in the commentary box. He actually makes you listen because he keeps pinching you wih the odd word, suggestion or tone he employs. Can spice up dull passages of play. Ranjit Fernando long stopped pinching for he was too predictable. He isn't here but I can't say I am pining for him. Yardley has chosen to sit on one side of the boat, we have chosen to sit in a way to balance it up...that's all.

Coming back to the match, I hope Indians learn some lessons from this, their think tank works meaningfully for correct selection and plans and play in the matches ahead. And hopefully, the pitches will be with juice for all and also utilized better by the bowlers. Bowling has to work, Harbhajan and Mishra have to figure this out better. The batsmen must keep up their rediscovered test form and imrpove upon it. a good hand by Gambhir, Sachin and Laxman. Also Viru, but I'm rather miffed with him. India will be going to Kanpur looking up to improve while Lanka will have a few doubts creeping around after this test.

Kudos to Mahela Jayawerdene, Dilshan, P Jayawerdene and Welegedera. They kept India under the pump almost throughout the game.

Mumbai, to me, appears the only test which will produce a result other than a draw in this test series.

EDITED TO ADD:

I lost the wager Mr.Gavaskar, for the pitch didn't turn a shrew. It just lost interest in the proceedings instead.

-------------

FIRST TEST ARTICLES (working back in time):

Lanka fail to nail down a first win

Gambhir wasn't jabbing and pushing at balls

I am willing to wager Mr.Gavaskar

Two Tons of Pure Unalderated Bilge

If you play with Dil, Shaan is sure to adorn you

Killing time with Cricket Stats

India's spirit, grace and genius

Anil Kumble will be missed

I reiterate, Sreesanth must evolve like Taresh did...

Gambhir wasn't jabbing and pushing at balls

noreply@blogger.com (Soulberry) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:50:00 +0000

Sri Lanka vs India 2009-10, First Test, Day Five, Motera, Ahmedabad

Scorecard

The thing which stood out in a positive way, in India's play yesterday, was that Gautam Gambhir wasn't jabbing and pushing at deliveries. Neither was he tentative in moving his feet into position. The test player of the previous year had lapsed into such uncertainities. But there was a smoothness about his play in the second innings, absent till as late as the first innings of this match. Always feel, Gambhir's form issues are often a matter of the mind. Perhaps he was distracted since he scored that double...

There is no superstition to it other than mere coincidence, but it has been observed that whenever I speak well of Indian players, they exert, as a spinal reflex, to disprove me instantly. But what has to be said has to be said regardless of the consequences. Between the two, Gambhir has shown the greater application and willingness to get out of the rut; Viru, on the other hand, continues to be at the mercy of that one inevitably fatal shot which must come sooner or later. But that's the way he has played for India always. I expect, Gambhir today, to continue in the same vein.

Pressure does funny things to people's games, it does even funnier things to dodgy games: I am inclined to believe, in the manner of Nathan, that despite the pressure, Yuvraj's still dodgy game to spinners, my own optimism of ominous portends, the fifth day pitch and eleven swarming Sri Lankans, that India might yet sneak out of this one with a difficult draw.

The greater possibility is of an Indian heartache, either of sudden precipitation or a drawn out suspense. But it would be foolish to discount the Indian's ability to play three sessions of intense cricket. It could well be that at the end of the day Sri Lanka may feel shortchanged by their captain's late declaration.

For make no mistake, this is the best and final chance the Sri Lankans have of winning a match in this series. The Indian batting is working its way back, albeit in individual drips rather than a cohesive sheet of rain, into test match form and that can only complicate Lanka's quest for their first test win. For starters, Amit Mishra may want to repay the Lankans through his first EMI. He's no mug with the bat and he should be looking for an individual fifty as the first instalment.

It must be recalled that India is in the position it is in mainly because of the failure of its bowlers and average captaincy.

I am willing to wager Mr.Gavaskar

noreply@blogger.com (Soulberry) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:19:00 +0000

Sri Lanka vs India 2009-10, First Test, Day Four, Motera, Ahmedabad

Scorecard

That this docile pitch you are speaking of in your commentary stint, will somwhow wake up to be a spiteful witch when the Indians come on to bat.

No, I am not suggesting that the Indian batsmen will be unable to tame the shrew, but I have a feeling that the Lankans know how to make it act up better than India does.

Ravi, you, Siva and GMing Yardley appear to feel that Lanka might have offered India a life jacket, but it is obvious that if they have done that it is for all of India's eleven players to put on to together rather than individual vests of safety, in what the Lankans are promising will be a choppy pitchy-yawy ride. Have your sea-sickness tablets ready then, if you are certain India will not drown before needing them.

I'm looking forward to the commentary as well as India playing out this to an unlikely draw with Viru and Gambhir leading the way. I mean it...leading the way to India achieving a draw, not leading the way back to the pavilion.

Lanka have declared many many many hundred runs ahead...can't be bothered to count how many... and a little short of their 950+ record score, so India have to bat some 130-140 overs out to CTAs.

OK Viru, Gambhir, let it flow! Let's see you play at least 101 overs together and see what you can make of them then!

I shan't venture to say more, for I appear to hex the Indian team when I say so, but if Viru is there at the end of the 101st over of the innings...I'll definitely put out a batting record alert.

And the stats here will be fighting to prevail over each other. Dravid and Mahela have both scored hundreds.

UPDATE @ India 34-0, 300 behind Lanka

Russell Arnold is already into GM mode! I told you, the commentary would be interesting to listen to. And the chaps are only running singles!

Lax Siva's having to ask the poor fellow to relax! Better..give a laxative to send him off the air for a while! Someone there, mix julaab into the tea!

UPDATE India 77-0 @Tea, 257 behind Lanka

Prasanna Jayawedene was the first to show the effects of a needlessly long stint of batting - he dropped Viru in a straightforward fashion first as the ball streaked past him and the first slip, and then could have tried to take a more difficult one in front of the wicket as Murali spoun one across Viru.

He was tired and stiff. maybe the tea will revive him.

Is Russell Arnold having a cup of tea as well? Careful there!

UPDATE @ India 81-1 after Tea, Sehwag trying to hoick Herath into Pluto's orbit soon after his 51. He's a smart cookie, is our Viru. Then maybe he has the runs.....the tea cup intended for Arnold might have reached him instead!

UPDATE @ close of play India 192-2, 144 behind Lanka

Daryl Harper can pick close shaves like Zaheer in the first innings and Dravid in the second but cannot pick a more wholesome P Jayawerdene yesterday.

India in some serious kind of strife.

Dravid the magician is out and one now has Sachin followed by Yuvi and Dhoni to depend upon on the fifth day wicket to bat three full sessions. Mind you, in the first session, it will not be Ishant and Zak bowling, but Welegedera and Prasada.

Cheeka man, Fgg the dark shades and let Pujara shine through!

noreply@blogger.com (Soulberry) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:27:00 +0000

This precious little fella, this invaluable diamond, this prince and heir to the throne of Dravid...CoS man, stop freaking out this lad. Look at him! He comes back from a serious knee injury, and some surgery, and blasts a frikkiing unbeaten double ton! In his first innings back from a long injury and recuperation layoff!

Scorecard

What man Cheeka, how many times have we implored with you?...Bring in this brave soldier...in when he is hot or India would have made the same mistake with him as they did with Laxman...delaying his induction just a little too much.

This boy thrives under pressure...scores big against teams stronger than his and keeps his team flag flying.

Imagine if he were playing this test match...we'd still be ahead of Lanka! Imagine what kind of partnership he and Dravid would have had! They'd have broken every heart of the opposition!

Bringing this guy in could be your CoS legacy...like the brainwave that made Vishy bring in Sourav and Dravid at the right time.

Be a man Sir, Cheeka! Don't be an obstruction to the natural flow of this lad's game and destiny.


Cheteshwar Pujara 

India

Full name Cheteshwar Arvind Pujara

Born January 25, 1988, Rajkot, Gujarat

Current age 21 years 297 days

Major teams India, India Green, India Under-19s, Kolkata Knight Riders, Saurashtra, Saurashtra Under-16s, Saurashtra Under-19s

Playing role Batsman

Batting style Right-hand bat

Bowling style Legbreak

Relation Father - AS Pujara, Uncle - BS Pujara


Batting and fielding averages:
Mat.........Inns NO Runs HS Ave BF SR 100 50 4s 6s Ct St
First-class 40 64 10 2862 302* 53.00 11 7 19 0
List A .....29 29 6 1063 109* 46.21 1369 77.64 2 8 96 11 8 0
Twenty20 ....4 4 1 110 43* 36.66 64 171.87 0 0 14 2 2

Bowling averages....
....................Mat Inns Balls Runs Wkts BBI BBM ..Ave Econ SR 4w 5w 10
First-class ........40 ...10 153 ...83 ..5 ...2/4 2/4 16.60 3.25 30.6 0 0 0

(These stats do not include the latest unbeaten double ton against Maharashtra)

It's a long time since I was such a child-like fan about anyone in cricket, just before he breaks onto the large stage. Must have been Tendulkar.....maybe Kapil Dev. Yeah, I think it was Kapil Dev, because I saw him in the Abbas Ali Baig benefit match before he broke through. I didn't see Tendulkar before he came into international cricket. Nah, it wasn't Kapil Dev, it was Azza at the Osmania University grounds when he was a U-19.

Two Tons of Pure Unalderated Bilge

noreply@blogger.com (Soulberry) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:31:00 +0000

Sri Lanka vs India 2009-10, First Test, Day Three, Motera, Ahmedabad

Scorecard

Having finally reported for work today after an extended leave on medical grounds, I was able to watch only the post tea session of the match. However, I caught the highlights played soon after the day's play to form an opinion on the day's play. without doubt it belonged to the Lankans yet again - Mahela Jayawerdene looks set to overhaul Brain Lara's record, P Jayawerdene is playing the role of Roshan to Mahela's Sanath and looks good for another 200 runs himself, completely enjoying the reprieve Daryl Harper presented him with; the pitch is spinning like a top....OK OK, I exaggerated there...the pitch remained static but spun the ball like a top instead.

I mean it had to be the pitch that spun the ball all across the batsmen for it couldn't have been the bowlers Harbhajan and Mishra who were doing that to the ball. Their stats reveal that both are centurions....pure unalderated bilge on a helpful pitch.


(India's two best spun-tonners on a wicket that is allowing spin)

Harbhajan Singh O- 39 M- 3 R- 151 W- 1



A Mishra O- 43 M- 6 R- 152 W- 0

Whichever way you look at it, two tons for Dilshan and Mahela with another breweing, or three tons already with a fourth and a fifth brewing...Ishant complements with the third Indian ton and there are sure to be a few more tomorrow.

I then caught Bruce Yardley exulting morosely (that's his cursory obeisance to the position of unbiased commenator) about the errors of Dhoni and the mistaken bowling by Mishra and Hatbhajan through the day.

Much as I hate to, I find, from what I saw, that I am in agreement with Yardley's barely concealed glee at India's discomfiture. But we'll swallow that for we are being kicked where it hurts and it is we who are responsible for our predicament. Two spinners on a helpful wicket, albeit a slightly slow turner, who couldn't bowl out a team of nursery kids on it, leave alone the Sri Lankan team.

And yes, it does appear that Ishant and Zak are no Welegedara and Prasada when it comes to taking wickets in the morning session.

Nearly all the commentators were moaning about the intensely unattacking play by the Indians today. Ravi Shastri was clearly experiencing a gas-bloat syndrome over the 200-odd singles given away. I think, away from the mike, he might have been able to belch out the epithets he wanted to a little more freely.

Well, if Dhoni has a well concealed plan, I hope it is one which works and he is able to make his batsmen play out 150 overs of Lankan spin on this track to save their backsides from a comprehensive hammering in their own den. That looks like the only plan here...not taking wickets but chewing Lankan time and overs while imagining, expecting, hoping that his batting order will survive a day and a half.

If India bat this out, kudos to them, however unlikely that scenario is. If Lanka wins, they deserve every bit of it because they were the resolute team applying its talent here while India was a patchwork of committment and non-committment.

Congratulations Mahela, your double ton was a top effort and well played Lanka.

India's bowling attack has been shown up completely. I cannot explain why they are the way they are.

Anybody know why?

And get this into your head India, you will have plenty of batting to do in this series for your bowling is going to be what it is proving to be. So get ready...some of the shirkers, cut the cr@p and get down to real work if you want to stop Lanka rolling all over you. yeah, and you'll have to bat for your bowlers too.

If you play with Dil, Shaan is sure to adorn you

noreply@blogger.com (Soulberry) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:16:00 +0000

Sri Lanka vs India 2009-10, First Test, Day Two, Motera, Ahmedabad

Scorecard

I must begin with a brief glossary of Hindi/Urdu terms employed in the title, for those who may not know.

Dil = Heart, Passion, Courage
Shaan = Peace, Pride (similar to Fame and Glory)

Better commentators than I have delved deeply and come up with detailed explanations of the transformation of TM Dilshan into a fearsome warrior with the bat. There is little I can add to all those wonderful commentaries, but I must share with you the sense of déjà vu I am feeling. It was precisely this kind of awe that gripped me more than a decade ago when I saw, a hitherto restless personality, blossom out beyond the shackles which created that restlessness. I speak about the transformation of Sanath Jayasuriya upon promotion to the top spot in the order. Dilshan's is so strikingly similar.

But before we go on to the Dilshan mastercalss in counterdominance, we must relish the way Sri Lanka executed the quick termination of India's innings.

At close of play yesterda, it is possible that the Lankan captain would have had to draw in his dejected troops; just to remind them that even though the scoreboard blared that almost 400 runs were scored on the day, the only batsman remaining was Dravid. The tail remained, and while it could flourish with irritating waves of the bat, it also meant that the wagging could be made use of to push the Indians into quick decimation.

The morning freshness, the groundsman said yesterday, would help the bowlers willing to bend it in the morning session. Welegedara and Prasada did so yesterday before the wicket eased out for the remaining sessions of play yesterday. Even though the Lankan captain might have, while trying to lift the morale of the team, pointed out the availability of the Indian tail as a target to attack on the morning, I am certain that Welegedara had other thoughts as he lay in bed waiting for sleep to catch on.

I am sure he was reliving the morning hour when he wasted the Indian top order. I am sure he drifted off into a pleasant sleep having stashed away a plan for the coming morning.

He turned up and did exactly what he did to the other top order batsmen of India. Slanting the ball across and bringing it back just a shade. The magnificient Wall of yesterday was breached through the gate before he could embark on today's journey. he was destined to rest on yesterday's score and that well executed effort ball inner edged on to the stumps to confirm that Dravid's grand innings was over yesterday. There wasn't to be an encore today.

That score of 500 looked very distant.

Meanwhile Prasada was having his fun with Zak. Harbhajan played a couple of exquisite strokes...a cover drive stood out. What also stood out was his shortening the pitch to prevent the swing Welegedara was extracting. But it had to end and it did. Sri Lanka had, for the second morning in a row, come out running hard from the traps. India, yet again proved the slow plodders in comparison.

The 400-something was something to bowl at but will not be enough. Everybody knew that - this is a different Lankan team touring these parts - even though Jaya retired, Dilshan had replaced him in every way except being a southpaw. Thilan Samaraweera was a rock solid middle order batsman. mathews was the all rounder and nearly everyone lower down could swing the bat. This was all besides the regulars...the veterans in Snga and Jayawerdene. This is a different Lankan team in all respects...from a balanced and good attack, as we mentioned in the preview, to a balanced batting order largely familiar with Indian conditions now, and a unmuted desire to break through to their first win.

In Anil Kumble will be missed, we felt the Indian bowling had relied too heavily on Kumble in past series against Lanka. We were curious to observe how the reconstituted attack would function.

Mishra disappointed mostly. It was only in patches that he would return to the methods which earned him progress. When he wasn't bowling squat, flat and fast, he was troubling the batsman. If not that, forcing them to play him carefully. Zak played some games before close and managed to extract two wickets and lend some heart to a bowling attack which wasn't sure of itself. But that was that....tomorrow they will be slaughtered, for the batsmen at the crease are set and capable.

Dilshan appeared to be a player stifling to express himself. He would get out to 40s, 30s and the odd 50. He appeared to be unwillingly resigned to play with the lower order, pushed as he was to 7 when he was not dropped from the team. T20 offered his caged soul an escape route. He took it from there to ODIs and to tests. Soon he earned the opening slot in all forms and now there is no looking back. the Sri Lankan juggernaut has a rampaging warrior at the top...who like Sehwag can wipe away all plans and abiliti to think from the minds of the opposition. His attacking play is that terrifying at the outset.

Benumbed bowling attacks often end up taking a lot of time to regroup.

At the moment, TM Dilshan, while playing like Viru, is playing with far greater consistency and utility for Lanka in all forms of the games.

He plays the game as his instinct directs him to after detecting the flight, speed and angle of the ball and computing quickly the future flight pattern of it. He may steal a single knocked into a gap. He could step back subtly, shifting his weight backwads and unleash a stinging drive for four which would leave the fielders immobilized. he could sashay down the pitch and leave you already preparing to follow the track of the ball into the stands before the ball is even hit back. It is that degree of certainity Dilshan's batting carries these days. And then he could reverse sweep you out of nowhere, or squat with a bowed head as if paying obeisance to the bowler and the ball he bowled, only to slap the hopes right back, behind and over the keeper. Dilshan has found freedom and he is expressing himself in every which way at the top. he is telling everyone "Take a good look at me...I am more than you thought I ever was."

Today Dilshan unleashed everything he had and at one time was almost run a ball as he charged up the Lankan race to victory with a bundle of dynamite strokes.

The pitch will spin later....after lanka is done with India's bowling attack, India will have a lot of work left to do in the second innings. It is time Gambhir, Sehwag shook themselves out of their mediocrity and others lend a powerful hand as well.

There is a helluva lot of work left to do for India in this match. If India stole away with two sessions yesterday, Sri Lanka made sure it kept all three for itself today. You can bet your final Rupee, Indian or Lankan, India will have alot of batting to do and will have to find some inspiration to ignite its bowling to keep this series level or force out a win.

Killing time with Cricket Stats

noreply@blogger.com (Soulberry) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:15:00 +0000

This morning, on the last but one day of my extended leave, I am up early out of habit and anticipation of more runs from Dravid. India needs at least 150 runs to be safe in this match and there is only the tail to go alongside Rahul. To kill time, I was looking up the stats pages of Cricinfo.

I lay no claim to be proficient in stats and their analysis. Just some basic fan stuff. Also, none of these stats are designed to make statements against anybody...I just saw them as they emerged.

*rred players are those currently playing a test match and hence could change in status. These are stats up to Nov 16th, 2009.

The first stats I was looking up was the percentage of centuries individuals have scored in winning or drawn causes. Since centuries are not uncommon, I restricted the list to those who had scored at least 20 or more. I found some interesting results.


PLAYER        -  100s  - Win+Draw percentage
W Hammond     - 22/22 = 100.00
G Boycott     - 22/22 = 100.00
G Sobers      - 25/26 = 96.15
J Langer      - 22/23 = 95.65
J Miandad     - 22/23 = 95.65
M Cowdrey     - 21/22 = 95.45
N Harvey      - 20/21 = 95.24
D Boon        - 20/21 = 95.24
G Kirsten     - 20/21 = 95.24
K Barrington  - 19/20 = 95.00
M Waugh       - 19/20 = 95.00
M Hayden      - 28/30 = 93.33
D Bradman     - 27/29 = 93.10
R Dravid      - 25/27 = 92.59*
I ul Haq      - 23/25 = 92.00
G Chappell    - 22/24 = 91.67
V Richards    - 22/24 = 91.67
J Kallis      - 28/31 = 90.32
A d Silva     - 18/20 = 90.00
R Ponting     - 34/38 = 89.47
M Jayawerdene - 23/26 = 88.46*
K Sangakkara  - 17/20 = 85.00*
G Gooch       - 17/20 = 85.00
S Waugh       - 27/32 = 84.38
S Gavaskar    - 28/34 = 82.35
A Border      - 22/27 = 81.48
S Tendulkar   - 33/42 = 78.57* 
S Chanderpaul - 15/21 = 71.43
M Azharuddin  - 15/22 = 68.18
Md Yousuf     - 16/24 = 66.67
BC Lara       - 20/34 = 58.82

Wally Hammond and Geoff Boycott, whenever they scored a hundred, their team either won or drew the match. Their teams never lost on the backs of their hundreds.

I did not split the stats further into "only wins" and "only draws", for it is too tedious. If you do that, you are going to come up with very very interesting results. So that's a task for you all.

I suspect Boycott might have more draws to his credit than Hammond.

Notice that some great names have ended up scoring a larger percentage of their hundreds in losing causes instead. Obviously their teams failed them somewhere.

If you have the time and patience, you could examine hundreds in winning causes only etc.

Next, I examined double centuries. I checked out only those who scored 5 or more for brevity and to humour my impatience.

In the case of double hundreds and triple hundreds, I have considered only winning causes out of a player's tally of them.


K Sangakkara  - 6/6   = 100.00*
D Bradman     - 10/12 = 83.33
M Attapatu    - 4/6   = 66.67
R Dravid      - 3/5   = 60.00*
W Hammond     - 4/7   = 57.14
V Sehwag      - 2/5   = 40.00*
J Miandad     - 2/6   = 33.33
B Lara        - 1/9   = 11.11
M Jayawerdene - 1/5   = 20.00*

Look at Sanga! Every time he scored a double hundred, his team has won! How amazing!

In fact the Lankans have a grand record in this regard...Marvan Attapatu and Mahela add to Sanga's performance.

India have Dravid and Sehwag in the table with 50/50 kind of performaces.

Brian Lara, again, had to play most of his big hundreds to either save his team, or ended up on the losing side. Can you imagine what he might have done if he were part of a team like the Aussies?

Then I looked at triple hundreds.

Only three batsmen scored at least two triples or more and plenty scored once. Since three is too small a group, I had to examine all players. I was curious to see how many of these triple centuries resulted in a win for the player's team. Do they ever result in wins at all, for the common perception these days is that they are mere statistical achievements.

To think that way would be a mistake, for many of these triple hundreds could have been in attritional conditions like Hanif Mohammed's.

The list...those with at least two triple centuries or more scores first


V Sehwag - 1/2 = 50.00
D Bradman - 0/2 = 0.00
BC   Lara - 0/2 = 0.00

One of Lara's was a quadruple actually.

Now those with one triple to their name. Makes an interesting read.


J Edrich      - 1/1 = 100.00
L Hutton      - 1/1 = 100.00
M Jayawerdene - 1/1 = 100.00
G Sobers      - 1/1 = 100.00
M Hayden       - 1/1 = 100.00
G Gooch       - 1/1 = 100.00

These players made their only triple hundreds count....rather their teams helped them make them count in the form of wins.

The remaining players ended up on the drawing side.


A Sandham    - 0/1 = 0.00
RM Cowper    - 0/1 = 0.00
LG Rowe      - 0/1 = 0.00
H Mohammed   - 0/1 = 0.00
RB Simpson   - 0/1 = 0.00
Y Khan       - 0/1 = 0.00
W Hammond    - 0/1 = 0.00
C Gayle      - 0/1 = 0.00
S Jayasuriya - 0/1 = 0.00
I ul Haq     - 0/1 = 0.00
Mark Taylor  - 0/1 = 0.00

No side has ever lost a match with a triple century or more in its scorebook for the match.

Following is the list of those who scored double hundreds and yet their teams lost their respective test matches - Statsguru.

While that was fun, I doubt if there is any less tedious way to sift through individual triples, doubles or centuries to further differentiate between those scored under pressure and leading their teams to the safety of draws, and those which were not under a similar pressure, than examining each innings and read the bulletin/almanack report attached. For matches before our time that would be difficult...and, even the Almanack does not report in detail or accurately what the situation was except in Ashes test matches. Not only are the reports on the net very Anglo-centric, they are also more England centric in reporting bias in matches between England and its diaspora around the world. Perhaps West Indies is the only other team which has more detailed match reports of very old series online than others.

So you may have to find an aged individual who recalls matches, or head to the morgues of newspaper offices and examine their microfilms or actual print editions saved there.

In days gone by, newspaper groups encouraged us when we'd visit with a request to examine their archives. Today things have changed very much. From ignoring requests to commercial demands have replaced that encouragement.

India's spirit, grace and genius

noreply@blogger.com (Soulberry) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:27:00 +0000

The truly great are not the men of wealth, of possessions, not men who gain name and fame, but those who testify to the truth in them and refuse to compromise whatever be the cost. They are determined to do what they consider to be right. We may punish their bodies, refuse them comforts, but we cannot buy their souls, we cannot break their spirits. Whoever possesses this invulnerability of spirit even to a little extent deserves our admiration.

- Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

There are a chosen few from across the realm, spanning time and diverse fields of function, who embody India's spirit, grace and genius. Rahul Dravid, the cricketer and sportsman, is also part of that pantheon which forms India's character.

We take from Dr. S Radhakrishnan's words and find that they describe Rahul Dravid rather accurately. Dravid was a lad who had a touch of class in everything he did; "he was supremely confident of his abilities," is how Sandeep Patil described him on encountering Dravid for the first time - Rahul continues to be so. He continues to do for India what he considers to be right, without compromising on the essential characteristics that define them.

We may have punished him in the past for lacking flair similar to his illustrious peers like Sachin, Sourav, Laxman or Sehwag; we may have refused him the same limelight we reserved for those who somehow shone brighter at that moment of combined brilliance; we may have flogged his fair name and dragged his legacy through mud swamps of selectorial incoherence - but we could not crush him. We could not divert him from doing what he is convinced about and therefore does best - carry India on his shoulders, across coals which burn holes in the line up of hopes, or through floods of disastrous collapses of character, to safety and reconstruction. Today he did it again, in the process registering his 27^th century and crossing 11,000 runs to stand not out, just a little over three hundred runs behind Ricky Ponting. Yet again he escorted an injured India out of the line of fire, and this time with a subtle difference, to which I'll return later.

MS Dhoni called right in the morning and chose to bat first. The pitch had a bit of moisture even though it was hard, and the groundsman suggested that it would do nothing much for the spinners on the first three days even as it would assist the paceman willing to bend his back on it. The consensus among the experts was that this was a pitch to bat first on. Herath and all-rounder Mathews were preferred, so Mendis had to sit out in a match against India.

Sehwag and Gambhir are indeed carrying their LOI forms into test matches as well. In an earlier blog, we had felt their opening partnership would be crucial to dull this Sri Lankan attack which happens to be more competent than earlier visiting attacks from the region.

Welegedara was willing to make best use of the fresh pitch, and he did so in an astounding manner.

Gambhir wasn't moving well. Lack of confidence was impeding his footwork. His front foot wasn't moving forward decisively and his dragging back foot looked a desultory participant in this match. Welegedara sensed it and had one staying straight. Gambhir played for swing and therefore outside the line. The inner edge crashed into the stumps. India was on the backfoot. Within no time at all Sehwag, who began in a usual blaze, brought his bat down a fraction late while trying to play across and around his partially forward front foot. The ball rapped him and there wasn't any doubt that India was in trouble.

More strife was to follow - two beauties...one truly beautiful from Welegedara moved back from just short of good length and in the combined fashion of Fanie de Viliers and Alan Donald roared through Sachin's gate. His blind spot, discovered by those two Saffers, had been exploited once again - Welegedara was king!

Laxman followed to replace Sachin. Dhammika Prasada swung into action and from a tall height made one cut back in. Laxman, at the start of his innings, has this angled-bat-hanging-outside-the-off-stump problem. Many balls have been bowled with the intention of finding its inner edge. Enough have succeeded in ricocheting onto the stumps from there to suggest that this is an uncorrected weakness of his distinguished career. India, however, were 32-4 at this stage, with Dravid on eight at the other end and Lanka's desire to register their first test win here suddenly very possible.

We have, in the past, seen Rahul dig in in situations like these. Biding his time, chaperoning the tail, wearing the opposition down, to uncoil and strike hurtingly many overs down the line. He would play according to the situation he was presented with, stricly adhereing to the principles of playing every ball on merit, till the opposition was outmanoeuvered by his resistance.

His methods sometimes earned him cruel tags - Rahul The Wall Dravid was often called sarcastically, Rahul Well Left Dravid. ^Rediff

Former Australia captain Ian Chappell said Dravid needed to be told that matches were won not by hours but by runs or wickets. He was nicknamed "The Wall" for his stonewalling ability, though fans also gave him the more taunting sobriquet of Rahul "Well Left" Dravid. ^Rediff

There was a brief moment when the confidence in his abilities was shaken. Devendra Prabhudesai quotes Vijay Lokapally of Sportstar as writing in the 31st May 1997 edition of the magazine - "Dravid admits that he needs to play more shots and that should help him take a step closer to developing into a complete batsman" - in his biography on Rahul Dravid titled The Nice Guy Who Finished First: A Biography Of Rahul Dravid ^{Rediff Books}.

According to Prabhudesai, Dravid's detractors within the BCCI of that time complained that "he thinks too much" as an explanation for dropping him from the ODI squad.

Sandeep Patil is quoted by Prabhudesai as saying that when Rahul Dravid approached him in 1997-98 for some suggestions, "That was the only time I saw him short of confidence. I told him that I would definitely let him know if I felt he was doing something wrong."

But he worked himself through, for he wanted to.

Even though people often mixed up his one-day and test cricket play without taking cognizance of, or understanding, the conditions in which his "culprit" innings in tests and ODIs were played in. It is an image he still finds difficult to shake off...but he soldiers on regardless.

BP Bam, a sports psychologist who helped Dravid in those days, in Prabhudesai's book tells us -

"Sports Psychology is useless unless the subject believes that it can help him. Rahul has always been a very serious and committed individual, and he had the courage to implement all that we discussed at the highest level of the sport, that too against quality opposition. The real challenge in cricket is to 'live' every ball. Every ball is a unique event in itself. No two consecutive deliveries are alike. A professional approach is one wherein the batsman concentrates on every ball and handles it on merit. He needs to start from scratch for every ball being bowled to him"

How well has Rahul Dravid been a pupil, to recieve and apply this wisdom! Today, the so-called "player who could not pierce" stands a mere 345 runs behind the more flamboyant Australian captain, Ricky Ponting, who is widely percieved to have been a strokemaker of astronomical proportions, and having played a test match lesser and still unbeaten on 177 fantastic runs!

BP Bam has more to say, "I explained to him that it was relatively easier to set a field to him since he was a classical, technically correct batsman. This was in the days when he was being accused of being unable to find the gaps in one-dayers. Middling every ball was his strong point, but trying to score only through strokes would get even a class batsman like him nowhere. Rahul then adopted the policy of modifying his strokes and placing the ball into the gaps instead."

Today, he played an innings which was youthful, energetic, piercing and supremely confident of its innate ability and qualitative dominance. He ran like the proverbial hare as well, rotating the strike, never allowing the bowler to keep bowling at one bat. It was an innings which would have pleased even those who doubted his ability to pierce the field.

He played all around the wicket, along the ground and in the air to send the ball soaring over into the stands. Not one shot appeared to go to a fielder...in fact they appeared to unerringly, with an uncanny imparted sense, repeatedly pierced the carefully set fields of Kumara Sangakkara and his bowlers.

If Prasada or Welegedara bowled straight or swung it in, Rahul leaned forward on his leading leg, and neatly clipped them to the mid-wicket bountdary.

Sometimes, when the ball fell a little short, he leaned back to cut wristily, or drive through unseen gaps in the covers off the backfoot.

If Welegedara or Prasada, drew him out, to lean far forward and drive away from his body on the off side, Rahul Dravid obliged us by playing that favorite and typical shot of his, needling the ball between fielders for four. That's a shot he has often played to strife. That's a shot he has often played to off side fielders...that's a shot which might have looked clumsy then and given tongue to such calumny as he had to endure.

Even the spinners tried it, Murali and Herath, to draw him out further and further outside and forward to off stump, all the while shortening their length; Dravid played them the way he wanted to, playing that wide drive to perfection, or quickly shifting his weight back onto his backfoot, leaning back to cut through the square field, if the bowler ended up too short in trying to entice him.

There was one shot off Murali I was enthralled by today...where Dravid quickly adjusted his forward stride to lean back, shift the weight to the backfoot and play an inside-out cover drive for four through a gap between two fielders placed specifically there.

Murali had shortened the length on sensing Dravid's forward motion and made the ball drift to the middle as it spun on to the leg, clearly with the intention to bounce off the pads into the stumps, or, if the batsman tried to readjust to flick it on the leg or play defensively, the forward short leg would come into play. Dravid was in such sublime touch that he was able to read the change, adjust quickly and accurately, and play inside out cover drive off the back foot to an off spinner who is a large turner of the ball!

Fantastic stroke in a fantastic innings thus far...certainly more to come tomorrow.

The other day, Sachin declared to one and all that he'd definitely play the 2011 World Cup. The media asked him if he would like to play. No one asked Rahul Dravid if he would like to play as well. So he stepped out and played an innings, taking every opportunity to make his own case, the way it has been all along.

He advanced today early in the innings, to a flighted ball from Herath to deposit him in the long-on stands for a text-book six. Everythig about his game is textbook...everything about his demeanour is classy. The innings was such that it completely overshadowed the efforts of the Sri Lankans and two strokemasters who played in good form - Yuvraj, who scored a grand 68, unaffected by spinners and highly selective outside the off stump tp pacers, before giving it away in two minds...credit to the wily Murali for befooling him but Yuvi showed he could play...and, Dhoni, who himself played a masterful knock of 110 in almost one-day fashion by taking singles and roating the strike! He too threw it away trying to clip a rising ball from Prasada over to third man, when he had an entire tomorrow waiting.

In fact that dismissal undid all the good work India did today...a little strange by Indian standards...counterattacking with grace, commonsense and style from a position of adversity. Not often would you have seen India down 32-4 in the eighth over of the day...all the big names back in the pavilion... and end the day just 15 short of 400 for the loss of two more wickets!

Rahul Dravid was in-charge of this curious drama too. There wasn't mad and furious slavering batting smashing the ball to all parts out of pique and anger, it was a carefully constrructed confident retaliation of great science and precision which never let the Lankan's realize the ultimate dimensions it would achieve by the end.

Lanka might have let slip a chance to win their first test by allowing India to score almost 400 runs in one day! They began well and played poor cricket subsequently. But they haven't knocked themselves out of it completely - They picked wickets when they really wanted them...at the top, then Yuvi and finally Dhoni at the end.

But if Harbhajan, Zak and co. hang along with Dravid tomorrow, Lanka will have a serious task on its hand. I'll look foward to Harbhajan and Mishra bowling on Day Five to them. It will be a gripping test of skills between the good spin bowlers and better Lankan batsmen, who could be under some pressure on Day 5.

Sri Lanka vs India 2009-10, First Test, Day One, Motera, Ahmedabad

Scorecard

Bossman Loots English Hearts

noreply@blogger.com (Soulberry) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:56:00 +0000

England vs South Africa 2009-10

Second T20I - Scorecard

In fact Loots Bosman looted every cricket watcher's heart around the globe along with his captain Graeme Smith as, together, they rained sixes at the rate of nineteen to the dozen leaving the Englishmen bemused like carpet bombed civvies caught unawares in the grasslands.

In this T20 match, they fell a few blows short of the all time record T20 total Sri Lanka enjoys against Kenya (Lanka doesn't let go any opportunity to register a record total against Kenya! Remember their 398 in ODIs?), and Bosman needed just one more of those sixes to sign-in a century! But that wasn't to be. Perhaps sweaty gloves failed to keep the grip, or maybe he just didn't middle a full toss which shoulda been blasted out of the ground. Like Wright bowled many of those full tosses in this match.

One has heard good things spoken about Adil Rashid; one has seen Adil Rashid bowl during the England Lion's tour of India: he is still a kid of course cutting his teeth and therefore one isn't surprised that the veteran Smith gave him an over to remember. That one over ended Eashid's participation in the match effectively for he surely couldn't be in any state of mind to pay back some with the bat. Add to that the burden of a huge T20 total....but that lad can really bat...I've seen him do things with that bat of his and, I must say, I was quite impressed with what he could do with a bat in his hand. Maybe he should ask ECB to schedule a comprehensive series against India, where, knowing how obliging India is to noobs (its too long a list of noobs, no-hopers or one-hit wonders who have done well, started off or returned to form, playing India), he could have all his three careers taking off - tests, ODIs and T20s - in both bowling and batting modes, and in grand style! The way the English cricket system works, he is bound to go from strength to strength as he matures with time.

The Saffer batbombers dropped 17 sixes out of the park. Add to that the 19 fours and you can calculate that 178 runs came off just 36 deliveries! Must be some kind of record that. The match however did end up witnessing most runs scored in boundaries in a complete T20 match.

England didn't bowl well, that goes without saying, but the Saffers played some lovely cricketing shots. True, there were some brutally brazen moments of batting which looked more like baseball and less like cricket, but overall the effect was breathtaking.

Jonathan Trott kept up the English spirits in what was destined to be a completely one-sided match after their initial bowling performance. This man is having quite a debut year!

I missed watching that part onwards, for I had to step out. There wasn't much I missed for KP didn't quite kick on it appears....he was out soon after and the England innings subsided peacefully with it..

South Africa might have avenged Duckworth-Lewis' machinations in the first T20 match of this series yet again, but their relationship is a bit like Vikram-Vetaal. Who knows when and where D-L ravage the Saffers again!

On to the ODIs now...

And we are missing Pujara as well

noreply@blogger.com (Soulberry) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:15:00 +0000

We and our friends who blog and exchange notes have been of one mind on Cheteshwar Pujara for the past two years. We had hoped that at least this would be his breakthrough season into the big league.

But fate deemed otherwise - Pujara was injured during the IPL carnival.

It is heartening to note that he is recovering well and is full of positive energy.^{Indian Express}

Saurashtra skipper had this to add to the positive surge for Pujara - "Pujara is feeling good and took part in the practice session but he has been advised rest for at least a week as a precautionary measure,” he added." ^Zeecric.com

That he stepped out for a session is heartening.

We firmly believe that this is a precious lad, and have, without the slightest embarrassment, been willing fans and fawners of his game like star-struck children or groupies. That boy's game makes you shed cynicism and forget your age...you can see this is the man who'll keep Indian cricket going for the next decade or more...that excitement is not frequently felt.

Nagaraj Gollapudi's article written earlier in the year is worth recalling.

Get well soon Cheteshwar Pujara - we miss you on the Ranji roster and on the international scorecard too! Next season will surely see you be a regular in the international side....at least we hope so and wish so.

The 21 year old's feats to date.

Anil Kumble will be missed

noreply@blogger.com (Soulberry) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:43:00 +0000

Sri Lanka embarks on this 2009-10 tour of India in very different circumstances compared to previous tours. For starters, some of their players have devoted time and energy in becoming accustomed to this country while participating as members of various IPL teams. True, that earlier Lankan players used to play in India too, but mainly confined to Tamil Nadu and southern leagues and tournaments unlike the wider geographical spread of IPL. There was an impression that at times the Lankans failed to express themselves here as completely and freely as they do in Lanka. But there are other factors in addition to this that prompts the Lankan skipper, Kumara Sangakkara, to be optimistic of "setting the history right."

Sri Lanka have never won a test match on Indian soil. By extention, they have never won a test series either.

He comes to India with an acclamitaized team of performers. No longer is Sri Lanka's bowling dependent on Murali and Vaas only - Herath, Mendis, Kulasekara, Thilan Tushara, Prasada and the rest are capable support to Murali. Vassy, of course, has retired. ^{SL Squad}

These are some of the reasons the Lankan skipper seriously believes could alter the outcome this time.

But there is one another factor which he isn't really emphasizing - it is the absence of Anil Kumble.

India have won eight test matches out of 14 played against the Lankans in India, which translates into four series wins.^{Statsguru 1}

In those eight test matches India won, they managed to bowl out Sri Lanka twice in both innings of each test match.^{Statsguru 2}

Anil Kumble figures in the recent five test wins recorded against Sri Lanka. The earlier three being before his time.

So out of the 160 wickets taken by India in winning causes against Lanka at home, Anil Kumble had the chance to pick from 100 of them. How many did he bag out of those 100 wickets?

35% of all wickets taken in the era of Kumble were bagged by him! ^{Statsguru 3}

Out of the 100 wickets taken during his time in winning causes, Kumble alone bagged 35 of them in five test matches. One could say, he was easily Lanka's scrouge in India.

Kumble was Lanka's scrouge in India

Which is curious, for they played him far better in Sri Lanka. In nine matches there in Sri Lanka, Kumble could take only 30 wickets^{Stasguru 4} in comparison to his 44 wickets in the same number of tests at home.^{Statsguru 5}

However, coming back to winning situations for India, even in the two test matches India has won in Sri Lanka, it was Anil Kumble who led the way with 13 wickets.^{Statsguru 6} India took all 40 wickets in those two winning causes as well.

This is comparable to his performances in India, in winning causes against Lanka.

So in the seven test matches India won against Lanka at home and abroad, and in which Anil Kumble played, he alone took 48 wickets out of the 140 wickets taken!

Harbhajan Singh has played in just three test matches at home against Sri Lanka, out of which two were in winning causes. Out of the total 15 wickets at home, he took 14 of them in those two test matches. ^{Statsguru 7}

In one of those matches Kumble took ten wickets and Harbhajan four, while in the other, Harbhajan took ten for the match and Kumble took 7!

Harbhajan bowled well in tandem with Anil Kumble and accounted for India's wins at home. Together, Kumble and Bhajji have taken 49 wickets out of the 160 wickets taken in all test matches won against Lanka at home. Together, they have taken 31 wickets out of the 40 available in the two won test matches they featured in together!

Kumble isn't there today. Harbhajan is the veteran bowler here along with Zaheer Khan. If Amit Mishra plays alongside Harbhajan, it could be the beginnings of a new partnership. The pressure on Mishra to emulate Kumble will be heavy of course, but he has withstood that before without trying to be Kumble and being just Amit Mishra. To win, India will have to take 20 wickets every test with this Kumble-less attack while the batsmen measure up to M&M and Kulasekara.

There is, therefore, enough grounds for Sangakkara's optimism on this tour.

Murali too believes this could be the epochal series which turned the tide for Lanka. He perhaps is eyeing the spot vacated by Sourav Ganguly in the middle order as he expresses his belief, for Yuvraj in that spot is not quite the same. Yuvi is trying to do better against spin, playing patiently, and in being more selective in choosing the balls outside his off stump...but the test match test of this new motivated Yuvraj lies ahead of us. Has he improved enough in test match play to snuff out the Lankan optimism, remains to be seen.

In my opinion, the performance of Sehwag-Gambhir duo will also be significant. Gambhir being in the recent rut he is in, would like to change all that. Viru too needs a good test match. India needs good starts from them, so that the middle order can then take the toll of the magical Lankan spinners.

India will also require them to set the pace, for, without Anil Kumble in their ranks, each and every Indian bowler, including Harbhajan Singh, will need all the help the batsmen and fielders can give them.

By the way, this could be the final tour to India of another great spinner - Mutthiah Muralidharan.

Sri Lanka Test Squad

India Squad (for 1st and 2nd tests)

India

MS Dhoni

captain/keeper

Age: 28 years 126 days

Batting: Right-hand bat

Bowling: Right-arm medium

Subramaniam Badrinath

Age: 29 years 72 days

Batting: Right-hand bat

Bowling: Right-arm offbreak

Rahul Dravid

Age: 36 years 303 days

Batting: Right-hand bat

Bowling: Right-arm offbreak

Gautam Gambhir

Age: 28 years 27 days

Batting: Left-hand bat

Bowling: Legbreak

Harbhajan Singh

Age: 29 years 130 days

Batting: Right-hand bat

Bowling: Right-arm offbreak

Zaheer Khan

Age: 31 years 34 days

Batting: Right-hand bat

Bowling: Left-arm fast-medium

VVS Laxman

Age: 35 years 9 days

Batting: Right-hand bat

Bowling: Right-arm offbreak

Amit Mishra

Age: 26 years 351 days

Batting: Right-hand bat

Bowling: Legbreak

Pragyan Ojha

Age: 23 years 66 days

Playing role: Bowler

Batting: Left-hand bat

Bowling: Slow left-arm orthodox

Virender Sehwag

Age: 31 years 21 days

Batting: Right-hand bat

Bowling: Right-arm offbreak

Ishant Sharma

Age: 21 years 69 days

Playing role: Bowler

Batting: Right-hand bat

Bowling: Right-arm fast

Sreesanth

Age: 26 years 277 days

Batting: Right-hand bat

Bowling: Right-arm fast-medium

Sachin Tendulkar

Age: 36 years 200 days

Batting: Right-hand bat

Bowling: Right-arm offbreak

Murali Vijay

Age: 25 years 223 days

Batting: Right-hand bat

Bowling: Right-arm offbreak

Yuvraj Singh

Age: 27 years 333 days

Batting: Left-hand bat

Bowling: Slow left-arm orthodox

Sri Lanka

Kumar Sangakkara

captain

Age: 32 years 0 days

Batting: Left-hand bat

Bowling: Right-arm offbreak

Tillakaratne Dilshan

Age: 33 years 13 days

Batting: Right-hand bat

Bowling: Right-arm offbreak

Rangana Herath

Age: 31 years 222 days

Batting: Left-hand bat

Bowling: Slow left-arm orthodox

Mahela Jayawardene

Age: 32 years 153 days

Batting: Right-hand bat

Bowling: Right-arm medium

Prasanna Jayawardene

wicketkeeper

Age: 30 years 18 days

Batting: Right-hand bat

Thilina Kandamby

Age: 27 years 145 days

Batting: Left-hand bat

Bowling: Legbreak

Nuwan Kulasekara

Age: 27 years 97 days

Batting: Right-hand bat

Bowling: Right-arm fast-medium

Angelo Mathews

Age: 22 years 147 days

Batting: Right-hand bat

Bowling: Right-arm fast-medium

Ajantha Mendis

Age: 24 years 230 days

Batting: Right-hand bat

Bowling: Right-arm offbreak

Muttiah Muralitharan

Age: 37 years 193 days

Batting: Right-hand bat

Bowling: Right-arm offbreak

Tharanga Paranavitana

Age: 27 years 195 days

Batting: Left-hand bat

Bowling: Right-arm offbreak

Dammika Prasad

Age: 26 years 150 days

Batting: Right-hand bat

Bowling: Right-arm fast-medium

Thilan Samaraweera

Age: 33 years 35 days

Batting: Right-hand bat

Bowling: Right-arm offbreak

Kaushal Silva

Age: 23 years 153 days

Batting: Right-hand bat

Thilan Thushara

Age: 28 years 240 days

Batting: Left-hand bat

Bowling: Left-arm fast-medium

Chanaka Welegedara

Age: 28 years 221 days

Batting: Right-hand bat

Bowling: Left-arm fast-medium

I reiterate, Sreesanth must evolve like Taresh did

noreply@blogger.com (Soulberry) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:43:00 +0000

I was reading this article on a current cricketing issue.

The article raises many useful points.

We here have followed the fortunes of Indian fast bowling pool (Bala's series on Indian pacemen titled India's Quick Problem in two volumes - 1 & 2, and Balaji is back) and specifically spoke about aspects of Sreesanth which are at the forefront today. For this, one must go back to two articles - one, an April 14th 2008 article titled simply, Sreesanth, and a more recent one titled Penetration is key to success. In the second article attention should be directed to Bala's views upon Sree (comments number 5 and 7). Not only are they insightful, they are also, in a small way, predictive and explanative.

People often confuse the reasons why Sree was left out. They forget injury was the main reason. Perhaps because what all goes around Sreesanth is too vivid, loud and often blinding.

There is not an ounce of untruth in the disciplinary issues around Sree. In this age of telereporting complemented by webreporting, we have had access to, and witnessed, numerous misdemeanours by this volatile, but immature, young man.

Harbhajan slapped him on camera, on a cricket ground.

He was disciplined for it. I cannot recall today if he had missed any international engagements because of that incident and the ensuing disciplinary action slapped upon him, perhaps he did, but I cetainly recall that he had to sit out of that IPL and forego large sums of contract money. Even if he did sit out one or two international matches as a result, I doubt if his coming back so soon into the team was a proper signal either.

I am in complete agreement with Vasu ji of the HT article that disciplinary action must be strictly applied without bias or favour. Expected standards of behaviour must be made clear to one and all. It is possible that Harbhajan sat out while a novel tournament was going on in India for the first time and it appeared that he had missed many IPL matches and therefore adequately penalized before being brought in to play proper international cricket. Of which he must not have missed too many...my memory fails me here if he did actually miss any international engagements.

The contrast Sree suffers from is that he was firstly sitting out for quite long due to injury and form issues. Then his extra-cricketing misadventures were well highlighted. Whatever cricket he played in recent times, was in the obscure world of English County Cricket...obscure I say merely due to the distance involved...like out of sight, out of mind kind of thing...the end result was that the complete package of long absence, a relatively poor IPL 2009, publicized unsavoury news from within and without cricket world, and playing current cricket at a distance, makes it appear that he has missed nothing and has deservedly been made to sit out. Injury and recovery is forgotten.

No one denies the discipline issues with that chap. I'll quote what we said a year and a half ago in Sreesanth - "Like William Papas' Taresh, or Gattu created by R.K Laxman for Asian Paints, Santhakumaran Sreesanth projects the same innocent mischievousness of boyhood. Taresh, bright but lazy, mischievous but good hearted, ultimately learns responsibility and the value of effort in that famous Bill Papas story - Taresh The Tea Planter. Same with Sree."

Taresh the tea planter, William Papa's story for children and moral for the childish, was one of my favorite possessions as a kid. Those who would like to see that story as a directed comment at peoples by peoples are welcome to their ghost hunting, but I saw it always as a story which is all too common in our world. How a boy in tea garden country, lazy, irresponsible, and naughty though good hearted, learns the value of a proper work ethic, sharing with and caring for others instead of always pranking and wisecracking to the extreme, besides also understanding the essence of responsibility, is narrated in an easy style through finely illustrated pages.

When I first saw Sreesanth, Taresh sprang to my mind.

A year and a half later, we continue to urge Sreesanth to evolve, for he is indeed required to address India's changed Quick Problem. If he chooses not to redirect his energies constructively, then the loss is his and his only. On the other hand if he can actually manage some discipline, he stands to gain most from it and maybe India too alongside.

In ODIs, Sreesanth continues to be India's most penetrative bowler.

Like Bala said in the comments below that article, he is not too bad in tests either, considering the early stages his career still is in.

For Warks he took 13 wickets in five FC matches.^Cricinfo Nothing great as Vasu ji pointed out, but not abject considering he is returning to play after some time. I have restricted myself to FC matches because we are talking test cricket selection and FC matches are closer representatives of that.

Forget about signals...there are many people sending out very wrong signals all the time from every vantage point in this country....a blog even has a montages of the Indian team sending out smoke signals - pro athletes contracted for best effort, whose responsibility it is to maintain their best physical shape for their employer...sending out smoke signals of ill habits to one and all. So signals were broken when Bhajji played international cricket as soon as he sat out of IPL 2008...if the argument that Bhajji served his penalty holds then BCCI did fine Sree 60% of match fees too, and it was KCA's choice to leave him with a warning and not slam him inside the cooler for ever. Bad signals were sent at this point...a more punitive action with stricter sanctions should have been applied to satisfy one and all that justice was done and an example had been made of. The point being missed is he is supposed to have been chastized by the fines imposed and warnings given...and penalties, he has duly fulfilled. So that leaves him open for selection.

If he had been penalized with say, a suspension for six months or 10 matches etc. , one would have understood the bad message being conveyed by his early selection before the punishment term was complete. Then we could say the signal towers had gone on the blink. If he flouts his parole again, make sure he never plays for India again. But first he must be under adequate punishment for that paroling, which is also even-handed...Right now he is a free man in those terms.

Make it a rule that turning up late for nets would earn you a six month suspension from all forms of cricket...rack up the degree of penalty then to be sufficiently punitive.

You cannot blame the selectors for selecting a player who has fulfilled his penalties till now. It is not the job of selectors to discipline people - their brief is clear. If he goes on unchanged there will come a time when punishments will pile up enough to keep him out of the game for good. Either that or have stricter punishments. And let's speak of all players in the same kind of breath. Let us not save the sweet scented one for a player and store the bad breath for another when the issue is the same or similar. And let us discern that selectors must have gone by pure cricketing needs and selected those who are available on all counts - good fitness, punishment-free, and hopefully, good form.

Now to select him or not on pure cricketing merit is a completely different issue. People will have different points of view on it and I respect that. I tend to agree with Bala's comment no. 7. We need penetration and a man who shall slog through on the easiest of tracks or the longest of impenetrable innings a batsman's playing, and still retain the energy to go up to him to ask the time. Maybe that will make the batsman remember an urgent appointment! On a serious note, Sree is being brought in as a workhorse with some penetrative abilities to buttress a shallow pool. In fact the title of this article sounds good to me - Shot in the dark? Sometimes you have to imagine that such a selection is inspirational and not conspirational.

And Vasu ji would know better than I that players have been dropped before without being played. There may be some substance in Balaji and Dhaval Kulkarni's case he's making out, we too have been taking a close look at Balaji's Ranji performances since his return from injuries, but personally, I'll take the chance with Sree ahead of them at this moment.

Once again, in closing I repeat, it is in Sree's interest for him to evolve a few degrees towards modern civilization from being a caveman. I mean, how long can you live in a cave and be comfortable? Crank up your bowling engines Sreesanth, get those 140+s bursting out of your action, send the stumps bolting out of their chokes, and forget the rest of bull...here is your chance, could be your last, make it count. If you want to know the time, don't go up to ask the batsman...wear a restraining chain on your wrist with a watch attached to it instead.

Jimmy Amarnath

noreply@blogger.com (Soulberry) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:59:00 +0000

One learns that Jimmy paaji is this year's CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award winner. ^Cricinfo

We congratulate him upon this felicitation and believe he is completely deserving of the accolade.

When one is growing up, there are many people who leave an impression on you. Some of those impressions are deep enough to make one think, reconsider, examine, imitate...so on and so forth, while the others do not stimulate as much. Jimmy Amarnath is one such person who affected me in such a manner.

Jimmy influence on aspects of my thinking and practices were not restricted to the game. It extended a little beyond it along a related tributary.

While it is undeniable that my own obsession with the game directed my attention to Jimmy, it wasn't actually cricket that made me first notice him.

I attended Delhi's St.Xavier's as a lad, and the school was right across the city from where I stayed. As a result I had to opt for school transport, which uncomfortably meant that I must wake up very early, come winter sunshine or rain, to catch the bus which inevitably kerbed near my house by 6.00 am like a bad, unkickable habit. It needed all that time to wend its way through its meandering schoolboy-picking route to Xavier's.

When it touched Panchkuin Road near the Basant Road intersection, I inevitably craned my neck out (a habit frowned upon by the teachers travelling alongside us on the bus for they deemed it dangerous) to spot that great black-brown dog which could always be found running along on its morning jog at that spot at that time with clockwork precision. There were days when it wouldn't appear though...and I would wonder why...sometimes worry. Naturally, you couldn't help but notice the man who ran alongside this magnificient beast along the length of Panchkuin road. Since the bus stopped frequently to pick up waiting lots of kids, the dog and the man always caught up with us. That man inevitably wore a white T-shirt...cannot recall him wearing another...and loped along apace with his pedigreed canine friend. He was Jimmy Amarnath, I found out a little later. By and by, my observing attention was also shared by the man who ran alongside the kingly Alsatian.

He played till he was 40 years old I think. There was no other way to explain the fact that, I, the boy who would daily defy the danger posed by disapproving teachers and crane my neck outside the window of the moving school bus to catch a glimpse of the dog, would one day play against Jimmy Amarnath in a DDCA club league fixture.

Playing till 40 also meant that he was supremely fit. Jimmy Amarnath never appeared tired on the field. That was not lost on me, and I would recall the early morning jogs he's be out on when possible. This was the outside cricket influence he left upon me. There was a period of my life, till not very long ago, when I was a regular jogger too. Jimmy Amarnath, first meant fitness to me. He brought the meaning home and enthused me to adopt and imitate.

You wouldn't find me having ever tried to imitate anything, say, a Dilip Vengsarkar or Amitabh Bachchan might have done. Not that I have no respect for those men, they are mere illustrations for the fact that some people leave you with a deeper impression and some do not.

I was basically a wicketkeeper batsman who could also bowl both spins with both hands. Yes, I was, and am, an ambidexterous fellow, even though the recent elbow fracture is leaving a degree of limiting stiffness to the functions of my right arm. It was by observing Jimmy Amarnath that I also discovered the swinging, line-and-length medium pacer lurking inside in me!

This was triggered by many factors but it is interesting to note that I turned finally to the Jimmy A style of bowling and stuck with it after discarding other styles.

Manu Nayyar, junior to me at school, had taken over the big gloves in the school team. He was clearly better both with the gloves and bat. Soon the twelve years of school were done and dusted with. I was out on my own in the big wide world. My cricket club needed a good slipper and picked me for the role while finding a suppler younger keeper in my place. So I was out of a job behind the stumps. To pull my weight, I now had to bowl regularly. My ambidexterous spin bowling of both rotations gradually ceased to mystify opposition batsmen on the matting wickets we played on. On expensive fruitless days, I could easily feel the glares of teammates burning through my back. Some chaps didn't mind glaring at me into my eyes and also chatter along as a side dish. I tell you, at those times, they looked like vicious Prans and Danny Denzongpas rolled together as a stuffing inside tacos indelicately flavoured with Ranjeets and Gulshan Grovers. I didn't need much prodding to realize that I needed to add more strings to my cricketing bow, or else pick up one of the many things to do sitting beyond the boundary.

By that time, I had grown to be a hefty sort of chap...with a kind of barrel chest, stocky arms and stockier thighs. My back was still unbrokenly good back then. "Why not try my hand at bowling with the new/newer ball," I asked myself. The idea caught on and I began to run in to the crease rather than hop-skip-and-jump to it. It was an uncomfortable transition as the aches in my back, shoulders and buttocks proclaimed loudly at the end of a net session or day's play. The fact that the balls I bowled didn't travel quicker than the spin I bowled didn't help either. And while it was possible to decieve with flight and turn bowling spin, the "pace" I bowled couldn't even wobble a drunken ball millimmeters off its stright line!

Then, Prudential 1983 happened.

And there, on the screen before me stood the model I needed! It was there all along in Delhi at the Kotla, but for the illuminating light to open my eyes, images of the model had to be beamed all the way across from Old Trafford and Lord's.

I began to lope in as Jimmy did. I began to lope in as I used to jog. I tell you, Jimmy A didn't jog any differently from how he ran in to bowl. I speak with fist-hand observation of his morning jog routine!

I began to imitate the lines and lengths I observed him bowl with. I began to acquire and adopt and apply the sharp sense which anticipated the batsman's mind, as I loped in leisurely like Jimmy Amarnath. My just outside the off stump lines and changes in lengths and pace began to pay dividends for my team. These were all that I observed in Jimmy Amarnath and brought into my game. But one thing remained - how to make the ball move and wobble?

I knew the theory of it of course - my school library had an illustated book with showed how the great bowlers swung it with seam positions and wrist positions. I had also gathered much from club and team talk, but practice of it is verry different from the talk of it. To reproduce the same, somehow didn't quite work. The harder i tried, the less the ball moved, or moved in such a fashion that I was certain I had nothing to do with it.

Pretty soon I gave up on developing swing, and concentrated instead on the stuff which I could do. Cricket, anyway, was beginning to recede into the background of priorities. One day, a match was arranged by my club members and I was called upon. I agreed with great reluctance as it would mean stalling my studies for the day and catching up with them through the night instead. And the morrow was an exam day. But I went anyway for cricket was still a stirring dose in my blood and I was also young. When you are young, everything is possible...everything finds an explanation and a plausible point of settlement. I adjusted rapidly to the thought of play first and study later. Pieces of wisdom, hailed today in organized forms as mantras of success, began to sprout in my justifying mode of mind. I began to convince my mind to see the match as a relaxation affair to loosen up for the exam.

So there I was, standing at the top of my run up, a brand new cherry in my hand and wind in my hair, without a care in the world. I loped in to bowl, in my Jimmy A imitation, completely at peace with myself, having resettled order of priorities in my mind and having hypnotized it enough with my shreds of justifying self-wisdom. And there it happened! Just as Jimmy Amarnath had Gower nicking at a late movement away outside his off stump to Kirmani, I had my opponent snicking healthily off a ball I made move, to Subba behind the stumps. He took it of course and I went on to swing the ball both ways to finish with 4 wickets in my quota of overs. I remember this match because not only was I able to swing the ball like Jimmy A, it was also my last match for that club. The secret, I deduced, was to be relaxed in my mind....the easy loping to the crease had more purpose than to buy time from the batsman...you had to live that lope...feel the relaxation of it...and let it imbue every aspect of you. Trying hard only stiffened up nuts and bolts and secret gears, jamming the very purpose of it all.

Sunny bhai was my model for a batting stance - I did try Mohinder Amarnath's two eyed one but gave it up before I got knocked on my temple with a rising ball! I copuldn't hook like Jimmy and couldn't duck well enough with a square stance. But the above were Amarnath's contributions to my understanding of the game and general aspects like fitness. I can say with pride, that I too played weekend club cricket till 40 years of age and could, when the moment seized me, outrun even my son on the field.

And then there was Lalaji. Whom I had a few occasions to serve in m professional capacity and also lived very close to where I grew up. Amarnaths, without their realizing it, left behind some bits of imressions.

Following is the list of winners of C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award:

1994 - Lala Amarnath

1995 - Syed Mushtaq Ali

1996 - Vijay Hazare

1997 - K.N. Prabhu

1998 - Polly Umrigar

1999 - Hemachandra Adhikari

2000 - Subhash Gupte

2001 - Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi

2002 - Bhausaheb Nimbalkar

2003 - Chandrakant Borde

2004 - Bishan Singh Bedi, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Erapalli Prasanna, Srinivas Venkataraghavan

2007 - Nariman Contractor

2008 - Gundappa Viswanath

2009 - Mohinder Jimmy Amarnath

When Colonel Hemu Adhikari was decorated for his services, Raju Bharatan wrote this wonderful article in The Hindu.

2004 was Jagmohan Dalmiya's idea. He decided to recognize the abstract, yet real, concept of a spinning quartet.

KN Prabhu is the only journalist to have been recognized for his contribution to the game with this awatd. KR Wadhwaney, writing in tribute to Prabhu, recalls the man, his metaphors and methods. ^{The Tribune}

Sunny Gavaskar, incidentally, has yet to figure on the list.

Meanwhile Mohinder Amarnath is reunited with his father, Lala Amarnath, through this list. The only father-son duo on it.

Hyderabad, November 5th, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Soulberry) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:29:00 +0000

For some curious reason, the early hour on that Deccan winter day, felt much colder than the more northern sub-Himalayan city of Delhi I hailed from. It was not supposed to be so, given the consistently temperate nature of the plateau's climate. Perhaps the open green spaces with water bodies embedded in them were responsible for the refreshing coolness, perhaps the city on the plateau wasn't yet completely built up and allowed zephyrs to coast gently across...bracingly: we only conjecture as to the causes, but the inlaid warm frisson of good-natured mischievous excitement coursing through the nip was unmistakable and goosepimpling.

People were up and about long before the sun had risen to herald the day; kinsmen and kidred who had converged into the welcoming homes of resident kinfolk for this important day were milling about in different quarters completing their daily ablutions and dressing up to greet what promised to be an eventful and long day. In that simultaneous orderly chaos throbbing inside the different residences, heavenly odors of freshly brewed engine-starting southern coffee and breakfast, of freshly bathed bodies and new clothes, mingled with the syntheticity of branded perfumes, colognes and aftershaves. Bonhomie dominated, and overcame any inconvenience for all kinsfolk who had converged for an important and happy cause. Bright faces shone in the friendly oneness forged in the melting pot of common cause, across the intricate stiles and fencings which dot this countryside.

By the time the sun had just inched up above the horizon in the cleft between the highways leading to Warangal and Vijayawada, vehicles bearing the kinsmen had set out and already focalized at a point there, to disgorge their riders who then proceeded to initiate the various procedures and rituals leading upto the momentous and auspicious muhurtam later that night.

Things got underway, and one by one, gobbled through the preparatory procedures. By the time afternoon arrived, there was a slight flagging of energy and things meandered into the anticipated evening. The lights switched on, brightening up all within their purview. Enthusiasm rebounded, freshness bounced back again, the home run had begun.

Thavil drumbeats reverberated through the evening air. Nadaswarams pealed auspicious raagas into everyone's ears. Videographers inched forward to grab the once-in-a-lifetime action being enacted in the centre. Necks craned this way and that way in gentle rhythmic sways like long-necked birds in courtship moves, so as not to miss a moment of the enthralling action in the middle...under a floral canopy on the stage.

The team from Visakhapatnam was led by a veteran Ranji battler of yore for the Andhra Pradesh team. He was followed by a column of kinfolk who played the game as it should be. The other side was also replete with serious enthusiasts of the game. Blackberrys pinged websites, mobiles ringtoned strategically placed relatives at the venue for updates, which were then quickly spread around to team members of either side.

Males, females, young and old...all were gripped by the ensuing drama. Things began to head to a raucous climax of drumbeats, nadaswarams, chants, prayers and blessings...excitement long ceased to be suppressed, formalities succumbed, the countdown began to the ultimate. The night sky bore a large fuzzy dome of neon glow slightly to the north-east. One could hear the roars of thousands urging on....praying, blessing, celebrating from the same direction.

And then the muhurtham was past, the sacred thread was tied, a new bond was formed, life was rejuvenated once again in a new direction. The thavils and nadaswarams fell silent. People leaned back in a strange kind of exhaustion - happy and sad at the same time - for having witnessed something wonderfully regenerative and yet having to cope with a loss....twice over.

My niece was married away that evening in Hyderabad, the first among the next generation, to a fine young man who harbours a healthy interest in playing and watching cricket as and when the opportunity presents itself to him.

The thing was everybody in the marriage hall kept up with Sachin Tendulkar battling away hard for India just a couple of kilometres away. The groom found a moment or two to keep himself informed as well.

Cricinfo was pinged hard and repeatedly by numerous Blackberrys and like gadgets. Kinsmen strategically allowed to populate the stadium while the wedding was on, were kept hooked onto the mobile lines right through the 175 rebellious runs scored by a 37 year old young man called Sachin Tendulkar.

The coordination and cooperation among so many would have made Alexander proud. The convergence of so many people through, not one, but two common threads was uplifting. The childlike interactions between the branches of the family tree growing old and gnarly was doubly satisfying and energizing.

I did not see one of the memorable innings played that evening in Hyderabad, but it was a night I'll always remember.

A Note to BCCI Big Bosses

Oh, by the way, a note to our good friend BCCI in passing: a cricket madman like me was unable to watch the match for some reason or the other. The nature of responsibility was such that I missed the replays as well. I caught some haphazhard snatches of recordings of the live telecast on a relative's DVD player. Now today, I come back to Delhi all eager to enjoy short clips of highlights of the innings on You Tube and find that BCCI has had them withdrawn!

My Dear BCCI, it is exactly stuff like this...these kinds of innings....you must ensure every home in India has a copy of whether they like to have it or not, either free or at a very nominal cost. This is what you need to inspire the next generation of players, the next hordes of loyal supporters of the game, and warm the cockles of fellow Indians who have religiously supported your efforts despite the many hardshipes you make them face in the process. Grow up....Sachin and his deeds belongs to all of us like Mahatma Gandhi and his deeds. Stop acting like those who are auctioning away the Mahatma's legacy to the highest bidder acquired by stealth or legally. You must take pride in ensuring the world watches Sachin and innings like this from him.

I doubt if this brief note in pasing would have any effect, but I am an eternal optimist, my dear BCCI.

Thanks

Soulberry

Congrats Ozzies, and a VVS rant for my orange streaked brothers in indigo.

noreply@blogger.com (Soulberry) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:21:00 +0000

At the outset, let me congratulate the Australians for winning the ODI series. Not only did they play better all round cricket, they also valued their desire to succeed a little more than the Indians. While they were intent on restoring a weatherbeaten heritage, the Indians were busy drawing up yet another plan for that perfect tower symbolizing their as yet unhatched achievement.

That was the difference for me - one was an effort in trying to fit lost gems of architecture in their moulds with whatever skill was at command while the other was yet another flight of paper fancy.

India lost because it takes its clichés very seriously - "Just a bad day in office", "you win some, you lose some", "when you play as much, you are bound to lose some" - are just some glitter India likes to clad itself in rather than don the serious habit of a winning philosophy. A routine is only a routine if you attach no significance to the nuts and bolts of what you are doing. Attach purpose to it and that routine becomes discipline which will launch you to real achievements.

The signs were all there; too regularly has India become condescendingly lax in the way it performs its fundamentals the moment it percieves a lead or smells a win. We have seen this in all areas of play on the field many times over. Thus, in effect, India was regularly practising being mediocre...practising chipping away the intricate details of winning gems embedded in them with chisels of easy clichés. A lethargy of purpose taints every victory. Rather than be an elixir to inspire the quest for greater achievements, a win for the Indian team often becomes that wine of victory which stuns the quest for progress with its dulling euphoria. When time asks for application, India is found stumbling on its own lab-cultured laxity.

Let us celebrate the ordeal of coming through on the backs of brilliance of one or two individuals, and sneer instead, at the simplicity of team effort and meaningful implementation of practised routines.

Let us toss ourselves up into giddy stratospheres of frenzy whenever such a brilliance explodes to launch us, however and whenever that may be. Let us thrill in the romance of the unexpected rather than bore ourselves with the regularity of winning...frequent winning that comes with meticulous attention to, and practice and applictaion of, our skills with determined purpose...a good kind of ruthlessness.

One Aaj ki Raat^{trans & YouTube} has enough amnesiac power to make one forget the pain of a million mediocre moments of our plays...let it flow I say!

Let us be doused tonight with so much of high spirits that we can wake up in tomorrow as Dons of our fantasies. If our games get crumpled as we lie stoned in our one night's greatness, no worry, we'll brush them off with a wave of our magical hands, flick them with our mystical wrists come morning, and we'll be ready to go again!

Hey, we can even celebrate moments which were made to appear near by a team member's sudden bloodrush, when they were, in actuality, always distant! And kept that far in the first place due to our extremely poor practices.

Celebrate! Moments are rare, the middleclassness of ruthless devotion and application mundanely swamps the clock and calendars of our existence! Firefly that I am, I build nothing, I leave no history no heritage but the genes I spew in one night and die. I am no mechanic of tireless robotic precision to build outreaches in unexplored space but only a shooting star. Celebrate!

The top order batting failed as strikingly as Sachin Tendulkar and Dhoni's bats arose to speak for India erratically. You could call it "form issues" if you are inclined to be comforting, or you could say it was the lethargy of casualness which shackles your feet, your arms, freezes your eye, when you do not want them to be so. Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj...where is the team effort? Why is it difficult? Why must it be a rare phenomenon for all contribute at the same time, rather than the opposite being rare instead?

Then the fielding and poor lines of bowling....we are fed up with this topic. We have addressed this in different ways, from different directions...the chaps who are in the profession of playing cricket don't really mind screwing up aspects of their job on a regular basis. What can you do with such? The culture of mediocrity, the culture of resting on our heels, the culture of "only this much and no more"....the babugiri of public responsibility is as prevalent an affliction in our private enterprise. It appears that nothing matters...not healthy remuneration, adulation, accessibility, facilities, flexibility, support teams...nothing matters to rid oneself of the peongiri mentality.

Give them everything, pick them up and make them sit on thrones, even then they cannot unspool their tails to become lions.

Forget those close finishes...on both occasions the matches were lost long before they eventually were. A relatively average team managed to prevail because it wanted to a little more than the Indians. Because the Indian fielders, batsmen and bowlers obliged.

Sure, there were some who picked their moments to fight back...like the stray soldiers of a ragged army laying seige to the castle running in to butt their heads on the walls of the fortress in frustration or a rush of adrenaline. It doesn't matter how high they climbed up the walls on the strength of that mad wind which seized them suddenly, you always knew it was only a matter of time before they'd fall away like newspapered flies.

You succeed more often when you wear the correct habits most times...the dull drab dungarees which work well around your frequently used talents...not the stiff glittery coat of common clichés which actually conceal the shapeless softness within.

Ruthless habits matter most when the going gets close. We've said that before and this series has been an illustration. India will not often win bilateral, tri-lateral or major tournaments with such hit and trial methods...kal kaam kiya to aaj so gaye kind of stuff.

"India lost the mental battle - Dhoni"...Bah! That's no rocket science...when you win some and lose some, when you let slip a four every match, when you drop catches every match, when you bat more to an image than for a purpose, when you set fields exotically and bowl even more exotically, you are bound to be unsure of which way the mind bends in the current situation.

To be sure of things, to have a ready reference to draw upon from within, you have to be doing some things in a particular way all the times. Then, you can be sure of your mental battles. Yeah you will still lose games...professionalism is all about making that eventuality as uncommon as possible.

By the way, Bollinger is da Badshah! Gimme one bowler who'll bowl with that kind of heart and skill!

Blogsite Notice

noreply@blogger.com (Soulberry) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:46:00 +0000

TCWJ will be idle for a period of five days with effect from November 4th. Active blogging will recommence on the 9th of November.

This is due to prior travel engagements.

Thank you.

Dada needs a cricket talk show of his own

noreply@blogger.com (Soulberry) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Currently, he appears to be contracted with Times Now. Rather than hear him from the commentary box, I would prefer to hear him on a cricket show. Like the one's Harsha Bhogle or Alan Wilkins often conducted...a kind of audio-visual blog.

From what I see and hear of him on Times Now, I think he'll have an interesting and informative cricket show.

Any broadcaster listening? Yeh public Dada mangtaa!

On a side note, sometimes I get the feeling Boria M sounds/thinks like me...including the vehemence. I think sometimes there is vehemence in my typed words. It's like having a mirror held up to one's face. Where's that humour I put away? The storage is such a mess, can't seem to find it...

Australia work their way back into the series

noreply@blogger.com (Soulberry) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:39:00 +0000

Australia vs India 2009-10 ODI series, Fourth ODI, PCA Stadium, Mohali

Scorecard

Well played Australia!

India didn't bat well. The top order stutters finally told on the middle order. Virat Kohli is NOT the no.3 India wants. At least at the moment.

Good friend Achettup brought up Raina today. The lad needs to unconfuse himself. He should be playing Hauritz better.

Bollinger and Hauritz were the difference.

On a different note, while Boria M is quite right in everything he is saying on Times Now about Ashocker DeSilva and Tendulkar's grace in walking off the field, he is missing one point - that wicket only brought together the FIRM...the new working partnership of Indian cricket...Yuvi-Dhoni. And they are the guys in form.

There was no reason the team should have collapsed the way they did after losing one wicket. So what if it is Sachin's wicket?

More than Sachin's wicket, Yuvi's run out by a sprightly Ponting was the turning point.

Australia have played well...congratulations to them.

India eased off mentally after a good show in the first innings and a brisk start to their own innings.

________

Other match related articles here:

1) Bollinger bowling here

2) Indian bowling and fielding glimmers after slow start

3) Not for the babies

4) Even Stevens re: litany of complaints