Much has been written since November 1989. Much has been said since then. People who couldn't think of more to speak or write, have now started criticizing him. But for him, its life as usual, albeit important next month or so since its going to be last series he would ever represent Indian Cricket Team. Sachin, Messiah for some, God for some, greatest batsman for some, inspiration for some, idol for some, has finally announced his retirement from the game. It has been the life for him, maybe even oxygen. He breathed cricket, ever since he started playing. That was the only thing he has known for about 27-28 years, or maybe more. So I wish him all the best.
The runs that he will score would no longer matter now. Every run is a record already. Every test match he played, after he surpassed record of 168, by Steve Waugh, is a record in itself. And there are many more records in his name already. Most of them might even remain unbroken in the years to come. But few things would remain forever etched in minds of the current generation. The joy he has given to the millions who watched him play. The beauty of his flowing cover-drives, straight drives, the flick off his pads, the fierce square cut (even Jonty Rhodes rarely dared to stop it), the rare but effective pull over mid-wicket and the sixes over the head of the bowlers. There are many, these stand out head-and-shoulders over all other shots. As Sunil Gavaskar had pointed out once, there is not a single shot in the game that he has not played and not mastered. That's one of the best compliment from the person who himself was one of the best technicians in the game.
I have never been good at numbers, statistics. And as Navjot Singh Sidhu often quotes, statistics reveal only the dry facts. Sachin's career, his innings, have often been over-and-above the dryness of statistics. He started with the role of a destructor, often carting bowlers all-around the ground, regardless of their names, statures, records. From 1989 till about 1999 he often destroyed the bowling attacks of every team he played against. Probably, only the back-injury could hold him back in the new millennium.
The next decade saw him struggling with injuries that were career-threatening and he changed his style from the dominator to run-accumulator. He was still effective, and gave us glimpses of his earlier-self often, but the consistency in the aggression was largely gone. He also became the senior-most member in the team & hence the change in role was much-needed too, especially after the match-fixing scandal, to stabilize the innings rather than throwing away wicket in aggression. That job was left to the new-comers, new-blood, Sehwags/Yuvrajs to name a few.
The decline was evident. No one in the history of the game has been spared from the decline. It only mattered whether he wanted to bounce back, fight all odds & become the batsman we all connected with or he wanted to be smart enough to time his retirement (just for sake of saving himself from the fire). I personally feel he did the right thing to fight back all the demons, mostly in his mind rather than in his technique or 'slowing reflexes'. From his childhood, he has always known only one thing in life, playing cricket. In mid-thirties, you are still young. It is really hard to imagine life after cricket for someone like Sachin at that age. We all know, he is a fierce competitor & he wanted to be back on field.
It pained, though, to see him struggling. Struggling against the breed of bowlers who could have easily passed as club-cricket bowlers, giving away wickets to quite a few debutants. But there was nothing wrong in his technique. It was all in the head. We, the Sachin-lovers, the record-lovers, had started mounting up piles of expectations, pressure of the on-coming records; especially the 100th hundred. That is why I feel, it would have been good to see him retire after the World Cup win in 2011. Not because I was tired to see him struggle, but because it was unfair on him that we keep expecting so much from him alone, that we have forgotten the basics of the game. That the game is played by 10 more people representing the team, that they also have their own roles to play in the game. That they have to struggle to come into picture with all limelight on him and his on-coming records. It was unfair on them, particularly Dravid, that he always had to play in the shadow of Sachin; without complaining. Yes, Sachin deserved all the limelight, but we had almost starting to ignore Dravid's & many others' presence in the team.
This retirement will now give them a fair chance to prove themselves that they too are performers for the team. They too deserve limelight; maybe not as much as he got. But, one question remains. Will they all (or some of them) be loved by the nation as much as he was loved? Will they have that aura around themselves that he had? Will they be able to connect to any & every age group irrespective of the caste, religion, race, gender? He has set enormously high standards in this regard. It was not just the talent he was full of. It was not just the approach towards the game. It was not just the records that got under his arms. It was the way he carried himself on & off the field. It was his utmost commitment to the game & towards excellence. It was his innocent smile that conquered people, team-mates or opposition alike. It was his ability to stay away from the controversies, yet remain focussed on the game. It was his obsession with practice to iron out any flaws that often he himself found. It was his hunger to play the game as much as possible, irrespective of the numerous injuries he had. It was all this & more that nation loved about him. The standards, then, are really very high.
Coming back to cricket, there have been quite a few astonishing cricketers over the past 130+ years of the game. Almost every country playing the game has had legends of the game, especially batsmen (as SRT is a batsman first). Right from the times of the great WG Grace of England till today's generation, there have been numerous batsmen who probably were better than SRT. However, SRT has been master of the game in its entirety. He was master of ODI, Tests. (I am glad he didn't play much of the stupid T20 cricket.) He was equally at ease with both formats & was mightily able to switch between both formats as easily as a switch of a button. He played most number of matches in both format showing his longevity in both formats. He scored highest number of runs in both formats showing his ability to adapt to the format & situation. He scored highest number of centuries in both formats showing his mastery over the bowlers across both formats. He scored tons of runs in overseas tours alongside tons of runs in domestic/Indian subcontinent conditions showing his mastery of the conditions & pitches alike. And the fact that he gets a standing ovation across all cricket stadiums around the cricketing world shows that he (his self & cricketing ability) is loved all around the globe. It is this facet of his career that has put him on the top, higher than anyone else in the same era.
Yes, there was a Brian Lara, who was probably much better when he used to be in the 'zone' or in flow, thrashing all bowlers without any respect. There was a Steve Waugh who was as tough as "Wall" to break and always saved Australia from defeat. There is a Jacques Kallis, who possibly is the best all-rounder the game has ever seen. There was our own Rahul Dravid, probably a better technician than SRT. But none of them lasted so long, so consistent in both formats, so full of aura. And for that I salute SRT. His glittering career may come to an end post 18-Nov-2013. But he will remain in our memory forever till our last breath. With his exit, the last of the true-blue Mumbai cricket has gone. The last of the rich legacy of the Indian-style of batsman has gone. A Virat Kohli or a Rohit Sharma would take his place. But the aura would have gone by then. The love, adulation, respect, all for that one chosen guy will end.
SRT, thank you for all the joy you have given to us, to me. Thank you for bringing us closer to the game. Thank you for showing us that we can win against the might of the other teams, by taking attack to their doors. Thank you for everything. See you soon in the role of administrator, rather than a commentator. Hope you have your contribution in giving us another SRT. But till then, best wishes for your last series. Hope you score many more runs in the last 3-4 innings that we would get to see you. Hope you go on a high.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Friday, April 19, 2013
My best-ever dream-team
Everyone who follows the game of cricket has, at some point of time, come up with his / her own dream - team. There are lots of famous dream teams by hugely popular celebrities of the game. After following the game for close to 25 years & also reading & seeing the videos of earlier players, I thought it's time to pen down my own dream-team. Ofcourse, I am no pundit of the game & the list is purely based on my observation & assessment of the game. I do not boast of having the deepest knowledge of the game, but I have tried to analyze the said people in the list & this is what I have found out.
No. 1: Sunil Gavaskar (Captain)
The best opener that India has ever produced. Not just because of his staggering 34 centuries, including a few of them against the "dreadful / dangerous" Carribean attack in their own backyard, without a helmet. He is arguably one of the best opener the game has ever seen, atleast in recent times. Also, being a great student of the game, he led the team quite brilliantly, maybe the records don't speak of him highly, but his tactics had largely been good. So I am putting the additional burden of leading my dream-team.
Replacement: None.
No. 2: Virender Sehwag
With one of the best technicians at the other end, I would require someone who is contrasting in nature, yet not dominating in the partnership. Someone who is hungry for the strike, but also sensible enough to rotate the strike when the chips are down. Not many fit into the bill, hence I am choosing Virender Sehwag here. He is one who can keep the scoreboard ticking at a higher pace while Gavaskar blocks one end & there is a possibility of a good partnership building. Ofcourse, here I am assuming that Sehwag plays little bit more sensibly than his usual see-hit attitude.
Replacement: Wasim Jaffer, he has scored hell lot of runs in domestic & hasn't really failed on the few overseas tours he has been with the team.
No. 3: Rahul Dravid
A tricky position. Dravid has glorified the No. 3 position like no other in Indian cricket. He is not just a Wall, he has scored important runs when it mattered. He is old-school bat when it comes to test cricket, but still has scored more than 10000 runs in shorter time than Gavaskar. No. 3 is generally the position where you send the one whose technique / temparatment / attitude is unquestionable.
Replacement: Gundappa Vishwanath, everything that Dravid is, minus the height; he is shorter than even Gavaskar. Very wristy & artistic batsman.
No. 4: Sachin Tendulkar
No doubt in mind, whatsoever. For statistics-lovers, his records speak for themselves. For purists, his approach & beauty of strokes, way of building the innings, taking control of the game, etc is good enough. Plus, he can bowl his turners on any pitch, a reliable fielder (only marred by his height)
Replacement: None.
No. 5: Mohammed Azharuddin
For those who would shout about his match-fixing involvement, I am considering his batting (& fielding) skills in this list. Like Vishwanath (& today Laxman), he was a brilliant wristy batsman & one of the best fielders in world cricket at that time. Someone who can score 3 centuries on debut, certainly can bat.
Replacement: Virat Kohli, just as good as Azhar, maybe even better. Hope he can keep himself cool & calm & doesn't bowl.
No. 6: Vinod Kambli
I still feel, he could have been a bigger & better cricketer than Sachin, had he focussed on his cricket. He was in the news more for wrong reasons than his batting. He faded soon after his twin-double centuries against England in 1991-92. He was strong & hard-hitter of the cricket ball & had a good technique. I would even go bit further & call him a left-handed Sachin. Also being a good fielder & left-handed helps his cause.
Replacement: VVS Laxman, a brilliant wristy batsman & a good slip fielder. The only reason why I am preferring Kambli ahead of Laxman is Kambli's hard-hitting, & left-hand bat. I haven't ignored Laxman's Indian cricket changing 280 against Aussies in Kolkata (2001).
No. 7: Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Not the bestest wicket-keeper in India, but certainly innovative & aggressive in terms of batting, hence the natural choice. His hard-hitting is what is usually required from wicket-keeper batsmen at No. 7, & his running between the wickets would shame a 100-meter sprinter.
Replacement: Farokh Engineer, people may argue that there have been better wicket-keepers, Naren Tamhane would certainly be one of them. But I have seen old videos of Mr. Engineer & keeping wickets for the legendary spin-trio, especially in sub-continent conditions, is nothing short of brilliance. Plus, he has opened batting for India, which also suggests he was good at batting skills. Only because Dhoni can change the course of the game in short time with his batting, I have chosen him ahead of Farokh Engineer
No. 8: Kapil Dev
The best fast bowler (& all-rounder) India has ever produced. No parallels in terms of bowling on any pitch.
Replacement: None.
No. 9: Zaheer Khan
To compliment Kapil Dev at other end, we would need someone who is equally good at swing & fast bowling. I haven't seen India produce many fast bowlers in the past 70+ years. Zaheer certainly comes close to Kapil in that sense. His control on the swing, his technique of hiding the ball in the hand till delivering it, and ofcourse his little batting skills (alas we never really saw them with some rarities) make him an automatic choice for the 2nd pacer in the team.
Replacement: Ravi Shastri, one of the finest left-arm bowlers I have seen in the past 3 decades. He has also opened the batting for India on some occassions, so he can bat.
No. 10: Anil Kumble
The best spinner (?) India has produced. His never-say-die attitude, hard work & skill of running through the tail-enders & finishing the innings makes his automatic choice. Since he relied more on his top-spinners & bounce, he could bowl on most pitches with good success
Replacement: None.
No. 11: Erapalli Prasanna
One of the golden-trio who served Indian cricket, chosen purely because he was an off-spinner. He could turn the ball on any wicket & was mightily accurate with his line-length like others of the trio.
Replacement: Bishen Singh Bedi, Srinivas Venkatraghavan
No. 1: Sunil Gavaskar (Captain)
The best opener that India has ever produced. Not just because of his staggering 34 centuries, including a few of them against the "dreadful / dangerous" Carribean attack in their own backyard, without a helmet. He is arguably one of the best opener the game has ever seen, atleast in recent times. Also, being a great student of the game, he led the team quite brilliantly, maybe the records don't speak of him highly, but his tactics had largely been good. So I am putting the additional burden of leading my dream-team.
Replacement: None.
No. 2: Virender Sehwag
With one of the best technicians at the other end, I would require someone who is contrasting in nature, yet not dominating in the partnership. Someone who is hungry for the strike, but also sensible enough to rotate the strike when the chips are down. Not many fit into the bill, hence I am choosing Virender Sehwag here. He is one who can keep the scoreboard ticking at a higher pace while Gavaskar blocks one end & there is a possibility of a good partnership building. Ofcourse, here I am assuming that Sehwag plays little bit more sensibly than his usual see-hit attitude.
Replacement: Wasim Jaffer, he has scored hell lot of runs in domestic & hasn't really failed on the few overseas tours he has been with the team.
No. 3: Rahul Dravid
A tricky position. Dravid has glorified the No. 3 position like no other in Indian cricket. He is not just a Wall, he has scored important runs when it mattered. He is old-school bat when it comes to test cricket, but still has scored more than 10000 runs in shorter time than Gavaskar. No. 3 is generally the position where you send the one whose technique / temparatment / attitude is unquestionable.
Replacement: Gundappa Vishwanath, everything that Dravid is, minus the height; he is shorter than even Gavaskar. Very wristy & artistic batsman.
No. 4: Sachin Tendulkar
No doubt in mind, whatsoever. For statistics-lovers, his records speak for themselves. For purists, his approach & beauty of strokes, way of building the innings, taking control of the game, etc is good enough. Plus, he can bowl his turners on any pitch, a reliable fielder (only marred by his height)
Replacement: None.
No. 5: Mohammed Azharuddin
For those who would shout about his match-fixing involvement, I am considering his batting (& fielding) skills in this list. Like Vishwanath (& today Laxman), he was a brilliant wristy batsman & one of the best fielders in world cricket at that time. Someone who can score 3 centuries on debut, certainly can bat.
Replacement: Virat Kohli, just as good as Azhar, maybe even better. Hope he can keep himself cool & calm & doesn't bowl.
No. 6: Vinod Kambli
I still feel, he could have been a bigger & better cricketer than Sachin, had he focussed on his cricket. He was in the news more for wrong reasons than his batting. He faded soon after his twin-double centuries against England in 1991-92. He was strong & hard-hitter of the cricket ball & had a good technique. I would even go bit further & call him a left-handed Sachin. Also being a good fielder & left-handed helps his cause.
Replacement: VVS Laxman, a brilliant wristy batsman & a good slip fielder. The only reason why I am preferring Kambli ahead of Laxman is Kambli's hard-hitting, & left-hand bat. I haven't ignored Laxman's Indian cricket changing 280 against Aussies in Kolkata (2001).
No. 7: Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Not the bestest wicket-keeper in India, but certainly innovative & aggressive in terms of batting, hence the natural choice. His hard-hitting is what is usually required from wicket-keeper batsmen at No. 7, & his running between the wickets would shame a 100-meter sprinter.
Replacement: Farokh Engineer, people may argue that there have been better wicket-keepers, Naren Tamhane would certainly be one of them. But I have seen old videos of Mr. Engineer & keeping wickets for the legendary spin-trio, especially in sub-continent conditions, is nothing short of brilliance. Plus, he has opened batting for India, which also suggests he was good at batting skills. Only because Dhoni can change the course of the game in short time with his batting, I have chosen him ahead of Farokh Engineer
No. 8: Kapil Dev
The best fast bowler (& all-rounder) India has ever produced. No parallels in terms of bowling on any pitch.
Replacement: None.
No. 9: Zaheer Khan
To compliment Kapil Dev at other end, we would need someone who is equally good at swing & fast bowling. I haven't seen India produce many fast bowlers in the past 70+ years. Zaheer certainly comes close to Kapil in that sense. His control on the swing, his technique of hiding the ball in the hand till delivering it, and ofcourse his little batting skills (alas we never really saw them with some rarities) make him an automatic choice for the 2nd pacer in the team.
Replacement: Ravi Shastri, one of the finest left-arm bowlers I have seen in the past 3 decades. He has also opened the batting for India on some occassions, so he can bat.
No. 10: Anil Kumble
The best spinner (?) India has produced. His never-say-die attitude, hard work & skill of running through the tail-enders & finishing the innings makes his automatic choice. Since he relied more on his top-spinners & bounce, he could bowl on most pitches with good success
Replacement: None.
No. 11: Erapalli Prasanna
One of the golden-trio who served Indian cricket, chosen purely because he was an off-spinner. He could turn the ball on any wicket & was mightily accurate with his line-length like others of the trio.
Replacement: Bishen Singh Bedi, Srinivas Venkatraghavan
Sunday, March 17, 2013
South Africa calling...
India's new opener, playing his first test, scored 187, the fastest on debut and in the process became the highest scorer on debut for India. Shikhar Dhawan is the 13th Indian to do so (according to records). The elite list includes Indian batting greats like Lala Amarnath, Gundappa Vishwanath, Mohammed Azharuddin, Saurav Ganguly, Virendra Sehwag & others who haven't really made it big, but nevertheless scored a century. Out of the above, Azharuddin scored 3 centuries in his first 3 tests, Ganguly scored 2. They went on to become quite respectful captains of the Indian team.
Dhawan has been waiting for long, warming the bench, ever since he became a household name in IPL, playing for Delhi Daredevils to start with & last year he played for Mumbai Indians. He has also been scoring big in domestic arena. Murali Vijay too has scored 2 centuries in row now against Australia in the current series. So has India found the best opening combination after Sehwag-Gambhir? Well time will tell. India next plays a full-fledged Test series in South Africa in November & that is the place where both these openers are going to be tested. All South African wickets are going to present bounce & swing which will be exploited to the maximum by the Proteas bowlers, Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel & others. So as far as the current series goes, yes, we should be sticking to the current pair & look to win the series; if not this match, then the next which is incidentally the home-ground for young Dhawan.
India is on recovery-path in terms of gaining back the reputation of a formidable side & the transition phase is yet to complete. India is going to miss the services of Dravid & Laxman who retired last year, especially in South Africa. We are surely going to need a no. 3 who would be doing the recovery work, often associated with the WALL & Cheteshwar Pujara has to prepare well in the coming 6-7 months to work on his technique. So do the current pair of openers, assuming they get selected on the team to RSA. The grand-old-man of Indian team is going to need to pull up his socks, dig deep into his bag of experience & try his best to put his team into respectable position, one-last time. This, is going to be his last tour to RSA & Sachin seems knows it well. He is not going to play ODIs till November & there is no domestic series between June to September thanks to monsoon. So wonder, how is he going to be in prime form before the all-important tour. His last 2 overseas tours (England & Australia) have been too poor by his own standards in terms of runs scored. He is going to need a hell lot of homework before he appears for the test. Strange, even after 23 years of international career, he would need to go back to basics. Is it the end? Time will tell.
India seem to have found a good opening pair, & with Sehwag & Gambhir trying to come back in the team, the signs are good. For now, even the no. 3 position can be called safe & I am still happy to bet on no. 4 who, I think, can come good in the SA conditions. But, the big question is of no. 5 & 6 (if Dhoni continues to play at 7). The once strongest middle order of Indian team has now become the weakest after the exit of Saurav Ganguly & VVS Laxman, especially the latter. Unless, Kohli puts up a better show in this & the last test the future seems to be bleak. Hope the bouncy wickets of South Africa will help him play his shots & natural game. Indian team has experimented a lot with no. 6, with Raina & Yuvraj. It's time Ajinkya Rahane gets a chance. He has been "marked" as middle-order player, for some strange reason & since then he has been warming the bench, becoming the "Batli-Boy" of the team, delivering drinks & bats/gloves/helmets to the team on field. Any player not in the 11, does that, but he has become the specialist in that rather than his batting. I hope the team management gives his his due. Or else, send him back to his domestic team & let him score some runs instead of warming the bench.
Indian team seems to have found a new swing-bowler after Zaheer & Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has done justice to his selection by picking up early wickets swinging the ball both ways even on our dead pitches. He would relish the South African conditions. Ishant Sharma has been improving & we still have a good fast-bowling (if you wish to call them fast bowlers) talent on bench. However, they all are inexperienced & Zaheer can make a comeback if he is fit. So the fast bowling department looks good. The ball is not going to spin much, so we could do well to play just 1 or maximum 2 spinners. Having said that, the big worry is that the batting tail starts at no. 8 & it is pretty weak, rarely showing any resistance. So no. 5 & 6 is still going to be having the heaviest burden on their shoulders, especially if the previous 5 batters have not played to their reputation. We can think of including Sehwag in the team & put him in middle order, at no. 5, a place where he can come good. After all he has scored his first runs in South Africa & he has a good record against the spinners or the tired fast bowlers. No. 6 can go to Kohli or Rahane, whoever gets selected or even Dhoni if he decides to promote himself up the order.
Seems, we have a huge task on hand. Hope, the selectors & team management takes some sensible decisions, put up a good mix of experience & youth. Now that Fletcher has got an extension of a year, his task is cut out. Pull the team together, prepare them for the SA tour & produce some results. Vijayi Bhav...
Dhawan has been waiting for long, warming the bench, ever since he became a household name in IPL, playing for Delhi Daredevils to start with & last year he played for Mumbai Indians. He has also been scoring big in domestic arena. Murali Vijay too has scored 2 centuries in row now against Australia in the current series. So has India found the best opening combination after Sehwag-Gambhir? Well time will tell. India next plays a full-fledged Test series in South Africa in November & that is the place where both these openers are going to be tested. All South African wickets are going to present bounce & swing which will be exploited to the maximum by the Proteas bowlers, Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel & others. So as far as the current series goes, yes, we should be sticking to the current pair & look to win the series; if not this match, then the next which is incidentally the home-ground for young Dhawan.
India is on recovery-path in terms of gaining back the reputation of a formidable side & the transition phase is yet to complete. India is going to miss the services of Dravid & Laxman who retired last year, especially in South Africa. We are surely going to need a no. 3 who would be doing the recovery work, often associated with the WALL & Cheteshwar Pujara has to prepare well in the coming 6-7 months to work on his technique. So do the current pair of openers, assuming they get selected on the team to RSA. The grand-old-man of Indian team is going to need to pull up his socks, dig deep into his bag of experience & try his best to put his team into respectable position, one-last time. This, is going to be his last tour to RSA & Sachin seems knows it well. He is not going to play ODIs till November & there is no domestic series between June to September thanks to monsoon. So wonder, how is he going to be in prime form before the all-important tour. His last 2 overseas tours (England & Australia) have been too poor by his own standards in terms of runs scored. He is going to need a hell lot of homework before he appears for the test. Strange, even after 23 years of international career, he would need to go back to basics. Is it the end? Time will tell.
India seem to have found a good opening pair, & with Sehwag & Gambhir trying to come back in the team, the signs are good. For now, even the no. 3 position can be called safe & I am still happy to bet on no. 4 who, I think, can come good in the SA conditions. But, the big question is of no. 5 & 6 (if Dhoni continues to play at 7). The once strongest middle order of Indian team has now become the weakest after the exit of Saurav Ganguly & VVS Laxman, especially the latter. Unless, Kohli puts up a better show in this & the last test the future seems to be bleak. Hope the bouncy wickets of South Africa will help him play his shots & natural game. Indian team has experimented a lot with no. 6, with Raina & Yuvraj. It's time Ajinkya Rahane gets a chance. He has been "marked" as middle-order player, for some strange reason & since then he has been warming the bench, becoming the "Batli-Boy" of the team, delivering drinks & bats/gloves/helmets to the team on field. Any player not in the 11, does that, but he has become the specialist in that rather than his batting. I hope the team management gives his his due. Or else, send him back to his domestic team & let him score some runs instead of warming the bench.
Indian team seems to have found a new swing-bowler after Zaheer & Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has done justice to his selection by picking up early wickets swinging the ball both ways even on our dead pitches. He would relish the South African conditions. Ishant Sharma has been improving & we still have a good fast-bowling (if you wish to call them fast bowlers) talent on bench. However, they all are inexperienced & Zaheer can make a comeback if he is fit. So the fast bowling department looks good. The ball is not going to spin much, so we could do well to play just 1 or maximum 2 spinners. Having said that, the big worry is that the batting tail starts at no. 8 & it is pretty weak, rarely showing any resistance. So no. 5 & 6 is still going to be having the heaviest burden on their shoulders, especially if the previous 5 batters have not played to their reputation. We can think of including Sehwag in the team & put him in middle order, at no. 5, a place where he can come good. After all he has scored his first runs in South Africa & he has a good record against the spinners or the tired fast bowlers. No. 6 can go to Kohli or Rahane, whoever gets selected or even Dhoni if he decides to promote himself up the order.
Seems, we have a huge task on hand. Hope, the selectors & team management takes some sensible decisions, put up a good mix of experience & youth. Now that Fletcher has got an extension of a year, his task is cut out. Pull the team together, prepare them for the SA tour & produce some results. Vijayi Bhav...
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Home advantage...?
You must have heard the line "apni gali me to kutta bhi sher hota hai" in numerous Bollywood movies. There is a lot of truth in it. You know the conditions, the area, the people, the skills better. Relate that to Test cricket. When any team travels/visits another country the conditions are alien. How the pitch works, how the wind flows, how the sun behaves, all things are alien to the visiting team. Although you might have visited the country many times before, still every year, every visit is different.
When we travel to England, South Africa or Australia, the pitches are different. England has lot of swing. Australia has lot of bounce. South Africa has a mixture of both pace & bounce. Our team's history isn't all that great in all 3 countries. We have almost never won in South Africa, barring a couple of tests, if I am not wrong. We have rarely won in Australia & England. The record has been better in past decade, however, our last visit in 2011-12 was something we would want to wipe out from our memories ASAP. Our visit to England before the 'Tour Down Under' was forgettable too, but I would still want to discount the Indian team for lack of quality pacers & bowling overall. We just weren't capable of taking 20 wickets.
The point is that the 'home-teams' took full advantage of their home conditions, used proper pace attack & more importantly their bowlers bowled to the field set for them. If they are free to use the conditions to their liking, if they are free to prepare pitches to their strengths, what's the harm if Indian team decides to go for square turner pitches which turns from day-1?
A simple question, however, creates lots of issues in the long run. And it sometimes does more harm than good. Indian team reached the Number-One ranking in sub-continent conditions (in Sri Lanka) and played most of their cricket for the next 18+ months in home conditions. And the fact that we retained the ranking for such a long period makes it amply clear that we were winning most of the matches & rarely losing. So why the need of a square turner now? And how good that policy is going to be in the near or longer future? Post world cup 2011, we have had only a couple of real testing matches in England and Australia, rest all Tests (they were only handful) were in the sub-continent. There are 9 test playing nations in the world including us & 5 of them are reliant on pace than spin.
Well, there are few things to consider before going for turner tracks. If you want the pitch to turn from day-1, it has to have lot of dust, or one that has lots of cracks from the outset. Either one of them or mixture of both means bliss for the spinners, and we often have atleast 3-4 specialist spinners in our squad. But, such a pitch, which is typically a day-3 or day-4 pitch can also backfire because the pace bowlers too can wisely use the cracks, the foot-marks (on subsequent days) & the ball can have variable bounce which could create doubt or problem in best of the batsmen's mind. The wicket of Sachin Tendulkar on day-3 of the first test in Chennai was enough to show how the ball misbehaved if used intelligently. Ofcourse, Dhoni's innings was that much more special because he didn't allow any bowler to settle. But the phase and time in which Sachin was batting was also crucial. He was in defensive mood to let the first hour or so go in the favor of bowling team & that's where the wicket came from.
Michael Clarke persisted with his pace battery and it was actually a good move, because he knew he didn't have quality spinners to take advantage of such conditions & James Pattinson bowled his heart out on that pitch. However, our openers failed & if Sachin-Virat-Dhoni not played their respective innings, we would have been staring at another loss at home. Not too long ago Australia had won the series in India under Gilchrist's captaincy (2004).
Its an old line used by most of the commentators, Indian team is the best player of spin bowling. Well, lets put that line to dust & let it rust there. It was true half a decade back. The truth is that there are few players in the current team who know how to best tackle spin bowling. Virat is still new & learning. Viru gets out too early to face spin. Dhoni comes in bit too late to get time to attack the spinners. And Sachin is not getting any younger. The biggest disappointment is lack of footwork at all from most the team-members. We allow the ball to spin & then decide the shot and gift our wickets. Sir Gary Sobers was once asked what's the best way to play spin bowling. He had said, I don't go to the ball, I let it come to me and then decide what I should do. Hey, that was Sobers, one of the all-time greats. Not everyone is capable of doing that. For us mortals, it's best to reach to the ball & not allow it to spin & show it's magic.
The point here is that, although spin is your strength, your batsmen too need to play their shots, put up a defendable total on the board & then let your spinners wreak havoc. And when teams like Australia travel to India with 4-5 specialist pacers, who are as potent or lethal as Starc/Johnson/Pattinson/Siddle, it's best to be able to handle the pace on a deteriorating pitch from day-1. Imagine, we are batting second and, god forbid, we are batting on day-2 or day-3. The pitch would play it's wonders, but against us.
I personally feel, the need to demand spin-friendly pitches might have risen because of two things. First, the failure of our openers. If the pitch is going to turn from day-1, it would most probably be acting like a day-3 pitch on the first day & usually the day-3 pitch is good for batting. The ball doesn't bounce much & Dhoni might be expecting Viru & whoever the other opener is to play some good innings & give a platform for the middle order to build a respectable score & then get the visitors out twice and finish the match in 4 days max. The second reason might be lack of quality pacers. Whatever the current picture shows (a Bhuvaneshwar Kumar or Shafi Ahmed, Umesh Yadav), we still put our best wishes & hopes on spinners in Indian conditions. Its a open secret that spinners take more than 70-75 % of the wickets for India. So, why not bank on spinners? The problem is that it is doing more harm to the pitches & we are just trying to create a happy-happy scenario, hiding our inability to play pace & bounce, our inability to put up good score and give the bowlers something to fight for. We were not losing matches earlier with sporting pitches that would turn from day-3. So it's simply childish & ridiculous that we want spinner tracks. Yes, we should have home conditions that supports our home team, but that doesn't mean you change something that was working fine & then do something that might have the potential to make you fall flat on your face. Not every time a Dhoni is going to save you from biting the dust, not for long Sachin is going to be there to stable the ship. Not every time a Virat is going to be playing a mature & sensible innings curbing his natural flamboyance.
Jago Indian Team, Jago. Things were going fine the way they were. Don't hurt the pitches & don't create a fracas. Just have normal pitches that will support the spirit of the game. Don't disappoint the loyal & faithful Test cricket fans and don't finish the match on day-3. No wonder, Test cricket is losing its spectators, losing its glam, losing its importance. Let it be a 5-day affair. You still have some exciting, interesting games that last for 5 days.
When we travel to England, South Africa or Australia, the pitches are different. England has lot of swing. Australia has lot of bounce. South Africa has a mixture of both pace & bounce. Our team's history isn't all that great in all 3 countries. We have almost never won in South Africa, barring a couple of tests, if I am not wrong. We have rarely won in Australia & England. The record has been better in past decade, however, our last visit in 2011-12 was something we would want to wipe out from our memories ASAP. Our visit to England before the 'Tour Down Under' was forgettable too, but I would still want to discount the Indian team for lack of quality pacers & bowling overall. We just weren't capable of taking 20 wickets.
The point is that the 'home-teams' took full advantage of their home conditions, used proper pace attack & more importantly their bowlers bowled to the field set for them. If they are free to use the conditions to their liking, if they are free to prepare pitches to their strengths, what's the harm if Indian team decides to go for square turner pitches which turns from day-1?
A simple question, however, creates lots of issues in the long run. And it sometimes does more harm than good. Indian team reached the Number-One ranking in sub-continent conditions (in Sri Lanka) and played most of their cricket for the next 18+ months in home conditions. And the fact that we retained the ranking for such a long period makes it amply clear that we were winning most of the matches & rarely losing. So why the need of a square turner now? And how good that policy is going to be in the near or longer future? Post world cup 2011, we have had only a couple of real testing matches in England and Australia, rest all Tests (they were only handful) were in the sub-continent. There are 9 test playing nations in the world including us & 5 of them are reliant on pace than spin.
Well, there are few things to consider before going for turner tracks. If you want the pitch to turn from day-1, it has to have lot of dust, or one that has lots of cracks from the outset. Either one of them or mixture of both means bliss for the spinners, and we often have atleast 3-4 specialist spinners in our squad. But, such a pitch, which is typically a day-3 or day-4 pitch can also backfire because the pace bowlers too can wisely use the cracks, the foot-marks (on subsequent days) & the ball can have variable bounce which could create doubt or problem in best of the batsmen's mind. The wicket of Sachin Tendulkar on day-3 of the first test in Chennai was enough to show how the ball misbehaved if used intelligently. Ofcourse, Dhoni's innings was that much more special because he didn't allow any bowler to settle. But the phase and time in which Sachin was batting was also crucial. He was in defensive mood to let the first hour or so go in the favor of bowling team & that's where the wicket came from.
Michael Clarke persisted with his pace battery and it was actually a good move, because he knew he didn't have quality spinners to take advantage of such conditions & James Pattinson bowled his heart out on that pitch. However, our openers failed & if Sachin-Virat-Dhoni not played their respective innings, we would have been staring at another loss at home. Not too long ago Australia had won the series in India under Gilchrist's captaincy (2004).
Its an old line used by most of the commentators, Indian team is the best player of spin bowling. Well, lets put that line to dust & let it rust there. It was true half a decade back. The truth is that there are few players in the current team who know how to best tackle spin bowling. Virat is still new & learning. Viru gets out too early to face spin. Dhoni comes in bit too late to get time to attack the spinners. And Sachin is not getting any younger. The biggest disappointment is lack of footwork at all from most the team-members. We allow the ball to spin & then decide the shot and gift our wickets. Sir Gary Sobers was once asked what's the best way to play spin bowling. He had said, I don't go to the ball, I let it come to me and then decide what I should do. Hey, that was Sobers, one of the all-time greats. Not everyone is capable of doing that. For us mortals, it's best to reach to the ball & not allow it to spin & show it's magic.
The point here is that, although spin is your strength, your batsmen too need to play their shots, put up a defendable total on the board & then let your spinners wreak havoc. And when teams like Australia travel to India with 4-5 specialist pacers, who are as potent or lethal as Starc/Johnson/Pattinson/Siddle, it's best to be able to handle the pace on a deteriorating pitch from day-1. Imagine, we are batting second and, god forbid, we are batting on day-2 or day-3. The pitch would play it's wonders, but against us.
I personally feel, the need to demand spin-friendly pitches might have risen because of two things. First, the failure of our openers. If the pitch is going to turn from day-1, it would most probably be acting like a day-3 pitch on the first day & usually the day-3 pitch is good for batting. The ball doesn't bounce much & Dhoni might be expecting Viru & whoever the other opener is to play some good innings & give a platform for the middle order to build a respectable score & then get the visitors out twice and finish the match in 4 days max. The second reason might be lack of quality pacers. Whatever the current picture shows (a Bhuvaneshwar Kumar or Shafi Ahmed, Umesh Yadav), we still put our best wishes & hopes on spinners in Indian conditions. Its a open secret that spinners take more than 70-75 % of the wickets for India. So, why not bank on spinners? The problem is that it is doing more harm to the pitches & we are just trying to create a happy-happy scenario, hiding our inability to play pace & bounce, our inability to put up good score and give the bowlers something to fight for. We were not losing matches earlier with sporting pitches that would turn from day-3. So it's simply childish & ridiculous that we want spinner tracks. Yes, we should have home conditions that supports our home team, but that doesn't mean you change something that was working fine & then do something that might have the potential to make you fall flat on your face. Not every time a Dhoni is going to save you from biting the dust, not for long Sachin is going to be there to stable the ship. Not every time a Virat is going to be playing a mature & sensible innings curbing his natural flamboyance.
Jago Indian Team, Jago. Things were going fine the way they were. Don't hurt the pitches & don't create a fracas. Just have normal pitches that will support the spirit of the game. Don't disappoint the loyal & faithful Test cricket fans and don't finish the match on day-3. No wonder, Test cricket is losing its spectators, losing its glam, losing its importance. Let it be a 5-day affair. You still have some exciting, interesting games that last for 5 days.
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