Would the TV news channels of India have highlighted the questionable tax concessions conceded to ICC by the Indian government if they had not been spurned and turfed out of the stadium in favour of Western media men and women and other foreign media agencies by the ICC?
ICC is wrong on both counts of course. It is wrong to take the tax money you and I fellow Indians paid for our country's development and it is wrong to practice discrimination. Of course, to explain the second point, there is a slim claim of some violation of something by the entire Indian media!
I want to know, however, if this news is correct why my money was given to ICC without asking me? They haven't even sent a complementary ticket across for even a single match for the money they spirited out of my pocket.
A video clip from a news channel.
Thursday, 31 March 2011
Just wondering
Dhoni's Milky Way: Making a Philosophy Happen
MS Dhoni was in an unpleasant spot. His ambitions for the team, India and himself were likely to be stumped by rapidly thinning bowling bench-strength, fielding, formlesness of a few batsmen and most importantly, the mental and physical exhaustion that appeared to erode his men by the time they stepped up to the finals of a tournament. Whatever the resources he had at hand appeared to be peaking at different times and too early to matter when required most. India managed to win series, on strength of sheer skill and plenty of determination, but they had to concede a few ODI series to the problems.
Most of the bilateral series were won by India in the 100 match-tenure (to date) under MS Dhoni. India played eleven bilateral series (two teams only) to date under Dhoni's captaincy and lost just two of them - one each to Australia (2009) and South Africa (2010-11). Things became a less emphatic when the number of teams were expanded. In tournaments involving three or four teams, India's success rate fell drastically. Out of seven such tournaments during Dhoni's captaincy, India was able to win only three while exiting in four. Troublingly, since 2009 Compaq Cup victory, India played four such tournaments and managed to win only one while Sri Lanka dominated the other three. Also, India played two tournaments before this ICC world cup that involved five or more teams under Mahi's captaincy. India flopped in both (Asia Cup 2008 and ICC CT 2009). In fact after trouncing Sri Lanka brilliantly in a high run chase (involving both teams scoring in excess of 300) in the match prior to the finals in the Asia Cup, India lost abjectly and insipidly in the very next match. The ICC Champions Trophy was a forgettable experience of depending upon others to qualify. That tournament must have proved to be unforgettable education to Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his think tank. Destroying West Indies in their final group encounter for almost nothing (129 all out in 36 while India scored 130-2 in 32.1) made no difference as Pakistan and Australia toyed with each other on another ground elsewhere. Permutations and combinations existed depending upon what the result could be and the match swung dizzyingly through them all before settling ultimately against India's qualification.
It was clear India could not be Australia via Australian methods. The combination of our assets and methods did not fit in well with a structure that worked for Australians or for South Africans or anybody who has designed a method for themselves. We are Indians - we live and die by the day...by our ways. Our Karma is in the present and benefits or penalties of which extend across generations. We have requirements weighing upon us as much as the task in hand. Our structure is different. We adjust, readjust and adjust again and get on with life. Mahendra Singh and the think tank must have come to the same conclusion - that they needed to conduct their business the way it suits them best to extract the most success out of themselves.
Ganga can be horrific to look at at places, yet we promote tourism, even religious tourism, is it not? We have our standards of public cleanliness and maintenance (look around next time you step out of your house), yet we design 'Incredible India' posters with care. We hire people to work...people needs to work...and giving and taking a year or two on the age certificates while hiring is almost social service for the lad may be working for his survival and those of his dependents. The products from such factories are exported...business has to be conducted, but we conduct it at our own terms. In what suits our society best with what structure and resources we have at hand. To wait for First World transformation to happen first, with all its structures, rhythms, stipulations and procedures is foolish. India's heartbeat will not survive in the interim. We have to design our own way forward that includes our hopes, ambitions and realities.
Dhoni and his council of wisdom must have been seized similarly with solving these problems afflicting Team India. Blind following of foreign methods ended up only in confusion and burnouts of many many talented players. We cannot forget Irfan Pathan and RP Singh that easily, or VRV Singh. But some good came out of new ideas - it opened India's mind to the task of designing their own new process. Dhoni has an honest vision and the strength of character to explain it to peers, superiors and fans alike. No other Indian captain has been able to do the same without employing deception. If Dhoni wanted a rare break, he said as much and did not feign injury. So if such a man had begun applying himself to the task of realizing a few collective goals, honesty, sincerity and dedication would be the paper upon which such ideas would be penned.
When you design a philosophy, taking a set of existing circumstances and apply it successfuly there is danger of it becoming THE paradigm. A paradigm that does not offer the flexibility to accommodate variations. It'll be blindly followed with the expectation that the same results will accrue. As we all who have done so at different times in our lives, we know that's not true. So to dump the all-Australian method and replacing it with an all-South African method would have paid few dividends. Sagacity recognizes lessons of experience and moulds its resources at hand accordingly. Dhoni and Kirsten recognized the assets and limitaions of this Indian team very clearly. If you imagined that through a structure you could expect Zak's beat-up body to sprint like a sprightly deer and swoop on the ball like an eagle and whip it across back to the keeper like a flash of lightning, we are probably thinking of Punter (or someone like that) and not Zak. And therein lies the problem. Zak tries to measure up instead of doing better what he can. It is possible his bowlig may suffer in the bargain. Instead, say if Zak were given a fuzzy zone of acceptable perfromances, much like the uncertainty ellipse of Hawkeye technology, and leave him to choose his comfort zone within it, employing his own choice to select from the array of tools what he needs to get there, it is more likely that India would benefit with 100% of what he has to offer instead of a burnt out 70.
To top it all, Mahendra Dhoni's Milky Way appears to have chosen from various available philosophies one which is oft-repeated but not well understood or defined, and has spent time fleshing out its standards in clear legible, understabdable terms. We have all often said, "what matters is how you perform on that day" in different diverse contexts, without really defining how to get to goals or how to bring about that performance. In the back of out minds, we know what it takes to be the topper of our class, or business or profession, and when we say those words, we are drawing from what is in our mind and expecting the listener to see/hear/understand that! If your idea of what brings about successful performance in an exam is based on slogging 20 hours a day 365 days of the year, somebody else's mind probably visualizes six efficient hours. Much of this has to do with habits and individual ability too as much as ignorance of what we are capable of and not capable of. And we expect the lisener to understand what's in our mnd when we say it...all the while he is measuring those words with what is in his mind!
So the wisdom of Dhoni and his think tank was in focusing on explaining this perceptional difference between individuals and encouraging his men to design their individual methods towards a clearly defined goal (which is, Playing Well Enough To Win On A Given Match Day) and bring it to the collective pot where they can be integrated into one single team. If necessary some modifications may be encouraged for a better fit of an individual's process into the whole. Panchayati Raj leading to the Centre rather than peripehery devolving from Centre.
Sri Lanka have been practitioners of such a philosophy for long. They have always encouraged individuals to find their own ways to contribute in a team's success. It might have been Murali's Doosra, Malinga's Slinga, Mendis' Carrom, Aravinda, Sanath and Kalu's cavalier batsmanship....Lanka encouraged its players to think for themselves how best they could contribute to the team with what they have instead of strait-jacketing them in structures beyond a point. Also, it isn't tiring when you do things this way.
It is not to mean that this philosophy implies lazing around....misuse of this model may end up doing that...we have said there is a basic set of tools available and clear communication and understanding of purpose. Dhoni has been a patient applier of this philosophy - acting decisively most times while providing all the opportunities a player may require to shine.
Dhoni's Team India has risen up to this philosophy after successive boilings and churnigs from the Wright era...and before that. Experience has been handed over and merged into a cohesive lesson. The long stint of some sensible and intelligent players around Dhoni in the Test and ODI structure has helped.
Sri Lanka has been a formidable opponent. They have won more times than not in tournaments involving 3 or more teams against India. But this tournament will see a fresh Indian team, not spent by the process of qualification into the finals. The schedule of this World Cup has to be hailed as one giving every team a chance to recoup and recover from euphoria or disaster for the next match. India will be formidable too as it comes marching up on its contributive philosophy and such a schedule too.
So while a few Sri Lankan rooted friends had described the second semi-finals triflingly as "just a match to decide who loses to Sri Lanka in the finals", my urging to them would be to apply a bit of caution. Natural too, given that Sri Lanka have prevailed in mult-team formats in recent times. While Sri Lanka might be the undisputed favorites inside most hearts beating across the cricketing world, they have to play a determined India first to lay a hand on that Cup.
Since this is now more like a bilateral series between the two teams instead of a multi-team tournament given the breathing space, it may be worthwhile to consider here than in all bilateral series between India and Sri Lanka during Dhoni's tenure, India have prevailed.
Sri Lanka will be Dhoni's Milky Way philosophy's test of purity. We shall see it has the perfect blend of flowing vigour, vitality and nurturing nutritiveness besides just the appropriate degree of opacity that lends modesty and mystique to this philosophy.
In a March 09 article here titled Twisted Proverbs, we had touched upon this Dhoni's Milky Way philosophy I quote from there as I wind up this post on Dhoni's antaraatmaa jaagaran technique.
India, after having tried many different approaches in previous world cups and failed due to allowing pressure to build up on different fronts, has apparently decided to shun all such pressure-gathering factors that interest us spectators, such as, aesthetics of play, focus on NRR, an eye on whom they are likely to encounter in quarter finals and semi finals and margins of victory. Dhoni's message apparently seems to be all teams are the same, only conquering them matters.
Team India prefers to pack in a victory into its kit bag at the end of the match and leave losses behind on the ground for others to pick up. It matters little to it in what degree of extravagance that victory has come. For that is not the purpose of playing the World Cup. Cricket, in the Indian context, will be the 'ultimate winner' if India can win the match on any given day.
[...]
The goal is not NRR, QF spot, QF opponent, SF opponent etc. The goal for Team India is to win the World Cup. And to do that, Team India has to beat almost all teams in the league phase and those they'll encounter in QFs and SFs and Finals. It matters little to Dhoni's men whether they meet Australia in QFs, SFs or Finals - for wherever whenever they encounter them, they have to be conquered.
Is khel mein sab billi ya bille hain aur sab ke pas panje hain. Har billa ya billi ko dabochna hamara maqsad hai, chahe is gali mein mulakat ho ya us gali mein. This appears to be Dhoni's Milky Way...his mantra to clean all pressure-gathering clutter likely to be strewn about his players' minds. The focus is only on one task - do what it takes to win the game at hand. Matters little if victory comes through bare-bones soldiering or through a brisk cavalry charge. Do enough to be ahead of the opponent when time is called upon the match. And that's what you need to do at every level in this tournament and against every opponent.
Dhoni and his think tank built up steadily through trial, testing and error, to this ICC WC 2011 unveiling of their philosophy. When you think of it, it is quite a bit like Kapil's Devils philosophy, only more described and defined. Read More......
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
The Tournament starts NOW!
Mr.Dhoni and his men,
It matters little what you have achieved till this point. You have executed your do-enough-to-win-on-the-day bit well. There is one match more...the match that counts.
The WC begins now. Just do it!
Sachin, Mumbai, 100th 100, WC in hand...and he retires! From LOIs.
Imagine the scenario...feasible.
I am getting ready to salute Dhoni after all the criticism I have written here.
By the way Simon Reed still hasn't quite grasped what Dhoni's MilkyWay is all about...he still believes India is playing flukes!
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Good Luck India!
If rain permits - drizzled briefly at 3.00 am in Delhi and is cloudy with cool gusts...enough to make the trees noisy...cloudy skies at 6.00 am and rolls of thunder...cool gusts of wind..Mohali falls along the way of these winds to Delhi and southernly beyond - I hope we have an untruncated match and India prevails.
Look, I may be sporting but not unbiased...we made no bones of it at the outset itself...and I cannot keep the blogger out of my blog posts, so my support is well known. For truly unbiased articles there are proper journalistic plenties at cricket portals, leaning one way or the other to emphasize their point, which you may like to read instead.
Here, we just say, "Play well India and Prevail!" for this is today, just another fan zone.
Don't know if opening with spin would be the best option at Mohali given the conditions, climate and the Pakistan batsmen who appear to look more vulnerable to pace than spin.
Munaf or Nehra, is the question. I'll go with Munaf for pure control and the fact that he has bowled well at Mohali in the past.
Sehwag and Gambhir have their work cut out and Kohli's go to play sensibly too. Hopefully Yuvraj can come in and blast a quickfire innings later.
Let Pakistan focus on denying GOD his 100th hundred...meanwhile India, you go ahead and win the game for your country!
Monday, 28 March 2011
Show me the Money!
Pay negotiations shudder to a halt
There has seldom been a worse time for an industrial dispute, as the finalisation of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the next five years must occur before the board and players can push on with much-delayed plans for next summer's domestic Twenty20 competition.
It will be interesting to see how they sort this one out. Will the management and player associations adopt the obsolete and destructive system of negotiations and strikes practiced in regions like West Indies (given that aome Australian trade unionists are closely hand-in glove with the West Indies association on board the international wing of their cricket trade union), or will they look and learn from other cricket playing nations where managements and players have found mutually satisfying solutions without too much of fuss?
Cricket trade unions are empowered when boards are unfair. But then there are greedy trade unionists and unions too. We have seen enough of them and examples are there of trade unions setting up profit-making spin-off business enterprises! Read More......
What does this article really mean?
There is an article put up at Cricinfo titled England had nothing left to give which was brought to my notice as a result of a series of discussions I read on the web that appear to echo sentiments expressed in the quoted article to explain away England's poor World Cup 2011 campaign. A few of them have linked to the said article as well urging everybody a considerate and careful read.
At the outset, let me state that the verbose article lost me completely around the paragraph which goes something like this
The article's grip upon me had significantly loosened a little earlier and the paragraphs following the one I have quoted here were only scanned by my flying eyes. So if I am being unfair to the pundit or appear prejudiced against England in what follows, I beg forgiveness for my carelessness and failure to give a patient considerate reading.
Let me also state clearly what I appear to have grasped as the theme of the article as my starting premise and for all of you to make out if I understood correctly - It appears England failed to win the World Cup due to excess cricket and poor scheduling that involved staying away from home that stressed out England players greatly and therefore they were unable to do any better than they did.
Am I correct?
Presuming a 'yes' from you all, I proceeed.
Let's place the facts on the table first.
In the last twelve months (28 March 2010 to 28 March 2011), England played as follows: -
| Format | Matches Played | Home | Away | Remarks | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WC 2011 ODI Schedule = 7 ODIs | | |||||
| Tests | 11 | 06 | 05 | Aus (5 - Aw), Bang (2 - H), Pak (4 - H) | Link |
| ODIs (Incld WC) | 28 | 13 | 11 | 14 in Eng and Sco, 14 in Aus and WC | Link |
| T20s | 11 | 02 | 09 | 7 in West Indies, 2 in Aus | Link |
In the twelve months prior to above (28 March 2009 to 28 March 2010), England played as follows: -
| Format | Matches Played | Home | Away | Remarks | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compare with Table 1 above | |||||
| Tests | 13 | 07 | 06 | Aus (5 - H), Bang (2 - Aw), WI (2 - H) SA (4 - Aw | Link |
| ODIs | 22 | 09 | 13 | details in link | Link |
| T20s | 10 | 06 | 04 | details in link | Link |
Let us see what their World Cup 2011 schedule was:
It is evident from comparison of Tables 1 and 2 that
- England have actually played fewer Tests in the 12 months preceding this World Cup 2011 in comparison to the 12-month period prior to this period. They have 10 Test match playing days lesser in 2011.
- England have played 6 ODIs more in the past one year in comparison to the preceding one-year period. Perhaps the additional WC burden that comes once in four years.
- They have a six hour T20 playing period more in the past one year in comparison to the previous one-year period.
- Most of England's cricket has been at home in the past 12 months except for the Caribbean holiday of seven T20s.
Their World Cup 'excess' comprised of seven games spaced out as shown in the screenshot. But for those seven matches England might have played fewer games in the past one year in comparison to the year before. There was a 8-day non-playing period between their last group encounter and quarter-final match.
Now a look at a couple of examples, one contrasting and the other comparable.
| Format | Matches Played | Home | Away | Remarks | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pakistan have played all their matches away from home and under plenty of stress in the past one year. | |||||
| Tests | 10 | 00 | 10 (6-A, 4-N) | Aus, Eng, NZ, South Africa | Link |
| ODIs | 26 | 00 | 26 | details in link | Link |
| T20s | 15 | 00 | 15 | details in link | Link |
Let us take one more semi-finalist, India.
| Format | Matches Played | Home | Away | Remarks | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| India also played a long IPL season in this period. | |||||
| Tests | 11 | 05 | 06 | Aus, NZ, Sri Lanka and South Africa played in this period | Link |
| ODIs | 31 | 12 | 19 | details in link | Link |
| T20s | 08 | 04 | 04 | details in link | Link |
New Zealand and Sri Lanka have played fewer Tests than the above three teams but comparable ODIs and T20s. One of these two teams may emerge as champs instead of Pakistan and India but you won't find these countries handing out such excuses of too many away matches leading to homesickness and too much cricket. They just get on with it.
Examining the above tables it is difficult to understand what cramped schedule is being offered as excuse for England's performance. Pakistan and India have played more matches away than at home in comparison to England. So 'jadedness' should strike them as much as England.
England have actually played fewer Test matches this past year than the year before with no increase in number of ODIs (excluding the WC matches) this year. For their comfort, the WC matches were thoroughly spaced out and they had 8 days to rest and contemplate their QF game before they actually played it.
Pakistan and India have put in more cricket days than England...if you consider India playing the IPL, that makes them more cricket playing days. All important international players except the Englishmen, who weren't a prominent part of IPL anyway, played in the IPL too...notably the Kiwis and Lankans.
England haven't played as many away matches either in Tests and ODIs except the T20s! They played a slew of them in West Indies in a mutually beneficial arrangement.
Most of their matches have been at home in the past 12 months otherwise.
As far as Tests and ODIs are concerned in the six-month period to this day, I leave it to you to examine which teams have been playing how much? England has not played an extraordinary number of matches in this period either and were parked in one spot - Australia - unlike other countries trotting around here and there.
Nasser Hussain, former England captain and currently a commentator, made no mention of the schedule in his analysis as the World Cup commenced. He has at least been consistent in some aspects of his analysis by way of most fit team, best bowling attack, highly capable batting order and brilliant captaincy. Nasser Was certain England was perfectly prepared and well suited to win this cup. But then Nasser bhai's can be one man's word against the author's.
I disagree with the views of the author of this Cricinfo article completely. At least those portions of the meandering write-up I was able to read with care and consideration.
Not one cricket commentator mentioned this as an excuse as long as England was in the hunt. I have followed all the significant ones on Twitter so I know what I am talking about. When the tide turned against England in the QFs, this matter of 'cramped schedule' and 'excessive cricket' came up out of the blue and was tweeted actively and spread around by British commentators who employed Yardy's personal health condition in a generalized manner to buttress their last few tweets of that QF match. It's a fact....tweets cannot hide...you can check them out yourself if you have the time and patience.
As it is, the above tables show the basis for this line of England's excuse is infirm. They had injuries - true, but they just didn't play well enough from the iffy Ashes series onwards.
Australia has been a troubled team but their activity has been high too. South Africa has been beaten tactically on the day but they came into this tournament with a lot of cricket and were the favorites. Neither sets of commentators, from these two nations, made any such excuses for their respective dismissals from the tournament.
That England fought hard in a few games only goes to show that their QF encounter had little to do with cricket in the past 5-6-12 months and more with the pressure of keeping up with others in the tournament. Let's be honest on this score. Read More......
Sunday, 27 March 2011
One of the best lessons ever dispensed in Cricket
And no tuition fees asked for either by the Master - Venkatesh Prasad.
To swing the bat any which way and connect for a boundary to win a game on the last ball is not unusual, but to demonstrate to a well established batsman his demise at will by a bowler is far more difficult - Venky Prasad unselfishly illuminated him the moment the batsman requested to be educated upon this aspect.
However, as the clip subsequently shows, the fellow is a difficult learner - you can see the man raising his bat pointedly to some spot in the crowd (perhaps the Pakistan dressing room) expecting possibly a Shabaash Aamir bhai! in appreciation of his, for want of an apt word, duncehood.
I find this incident the most educative of all in cricket and most reflective of all Indo-Pak World Cup encounters. Misbah's Miss Hit in the T20 World Cup comes a close second.
India must however take into account the streetsmart variety of the current Pakistan captain's intelligence. Don't underestimate his ability to keep playing tricks till the end in an attempt to turn adversity into advantage. Read More......
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
Maharaja Yuvraj Singh
The lad who beat Australia, Steve Waugh's Australia, with McGrath, Brett Lee, Gillespie, Harvey and Shane Lee on his batting debut (though technically second match) off the front and back foot, is a revamped version of the player who was going to seed. He will take on Australia once again crucially on 24th of this month in India's QF encounter with Australia.
Welcome back prince, but now you are a Maharaja.
Also note young Zaheer Khan in that match, bowling express 140s, and also in his second ODI like Yuvraj - recall the swinging yorker that sprayed Steve Waugh's stumps all over and halted Australia's promising charge to victory. He too will have to do it again to Australia.
That too was an ICC K.O. Quarter Final!
Credit: Yuvi Image entirely Cricinfo's. Background image from Google Image search. Read More......
Monday, 21 March 2011
Puntermania of a different kind
This past week has seen us read and listen to much about Punter. Ricky Ponting is a controversial man. There is no doubt about that. Chaps are going on about his not 'walking' after playing a ball into Akmal's gloves. It isn't a compulsion and neither is it his habit. I don't recall all cricket players in the past four decades walking each and every time they knew they nicked it. At least the outrage appears to suggest that all cricketers walk as a matter of habit. Anecdotally, I admit I cannot claim complete knowledge or provide stats of support, even in lay evening cricket games on the street or local parks, I don't see many 'walkers'. In fact it is quite normal to see hotly contested decisions which, if they were international matches, would have earned the scrappers long bans.
Ricky Ponting didn't wait a second once the umpire gave him out. Fair enough I thought.
At this stage of his career, I am not inclined to focus on what kind of person he is and stuff like that, but would like instead to see the best this great player of his generation can give us in parting to remember him by.
Should he be a role model....maybe he is being that, in his mind, according to his value systems. Let us be clear on one thing - this was not an incidence of cheating.
I'd like not to be judgemental anymore...one realizes one isn't perfect either...more than us trying to reveal a person, it is the person himself who reveals his self best to the world.
If you want to spin humour on the incident, maybe it didn't register on Ponting that Kamran Akmal was claiming a catch and quite forgot about things like 'walking' in the heat of the confusion. By the time it might have sunk in, opinions were already made.
We have mentioned this before the tournament began, let's have a Puntermania of a different kind - I'd love to watch him play his last World Cup game of his career brilliantly...with his very best...on 24th of this month.
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Bashment night at Chennai
For some reason, till before the fourth West Indian wicket to fall in yesterday's match, fans and followers of the West Indies brand of Cricket were a curiously exuberant lot. A lay person, unaware of history between the two teams, listening to or reading the reports and discussions emerging from that region would probably come away convinced Wesi Indies have held sway over India since time immemorial. It's a curious fallacy, a carefully cultured fallacy by the keepers of legendary spirits of the game, for historical facts didn't attest to their exuberance. Perhaps it was then the do-just-enough-to-qualify-for-quarter-finals attitude with which India have played thus far in this tournament that excited West indian fans. Perhaps it was just part of the continuing attempt by keepers of traditional status quo to ensure evolving history remained ignored for what is now merely early chapters of one-day Cricket. That is the only conclusion we can come to to explain the mordant Caribbean exuberance freely thrown upon India and Indians as if Phagwa was a year-round pitchkari celebration. Or we can attribute the same to ignorance, envy, lingering heartache for the '83 World Cup Finals loss to India and probably much worse things.
If quoting ancient history to predict immediate future is the name of the game, then let us look back and reexamine the tally. In all ICC events alone, before yesterday's match, India and West Indies were almost even - four wins to India against five for West Indies. In World Cups alone, before yesterday's match, India and West Indies were level at 3 wins each. If we examine the past four years of the cycle leading to this World Cup, India holds a clear advantage over West Indies of three wins against one loss to them. Incidentally, all matches against West Indies were either on their home ground or in the neutral territory of Johannesburg. Chennai yesterday, was the first time India and West Indies played each other in India in this cycle. Surely there isn't anything in the quoted relevant history to explain the caustic exuberance of a large section of West Indies fans, commentators, ex-cricketers and opinion makers against India and Indians, or have I missed something?
If anything, legend-keepers may please note, yesterday's emphatic win at Chennai by India over West Indies merely tilts that hallowed history a wee bit more India's way.
Fast Forwarding to Present
West Indies is a respected opponent. At least in my understanding of the game. Despite the state of their Cricket languishing for so long, I have always had the greatest regard for them in mutual contests. Maybe I err on the side of caution, but I have always believed that West Indies have had good batsmen capable of a strong show against us. Same for bowling, and I rate West Indian fielding to be of superior quality. For some reason best known to them, West Indies have been able to pull themselves up to compete hard against India right since the time of Clive Lloyd and his men. Same for Darren Sammy's (affectionately known as Lord Sammy) band of reborn cricketers. Chris Gayle can pale many typhoons. Kemar Roach can ping spots a batsmen wouldn't want touched. Benn is as bastardly a competitor as the Australians make in their hype factories even if he is really a gentle person when not in competition. Behind every ball he bowls is a ferociously spinning Benn-cunning honed to cut opposition quickly to size. Then there was Rampaul, posted on the bench till this precise moment when his india-centric competitiveness would be most handy. Russell has been steaming in at 145s and pulling his weight generally. Add the impressive newbie, Bishoo, and West Indies had a potentially threatening bowling attack. The utulity of Gayle, Lord Sammy and Pollard as bowlers was a bonus. But things happened strangely on match day.
Gayle did not play. Shiv Chanderpaul, India's woe on many lost days recorded in history books and a stubborn thorn in India's flesh on more days India hoped to win with greater ease than they eventually did, was squatted on the bench by Lord Sammy. Perhpas it was Ottis Gibson, a newly erected guru on the cricketing skyline, who fevicoled Shiv's backsides to the West Indian bench. And worse, Roach did not play.
Sit Sammy, Shiv should have played this Warm Up Match then
Maybe West Indies cynically gave up intentions to compete in an ICC Event fixture as participants in a tournament and sought instead to convert it into their own imagined warm-up selectorial match. One they might not mind losing. If odds had favoured them, would ICC have been interested? Would that then have been a racist plot against poor old West Indians like against Bucknor? We had irrational experiments instead - Sammy played when he could have rested instead of Shiv. Edwards was being aired. It was unlikely that by playing this match, Lord Sammy would further grow immediately as a bowler or a batsman or a captain, but playing Shiv would have got West Indies a crucial batting man back in form. Might have achieved it too, but now we cannot tell. To top it all, Lord Sammy bowled four overs short of his complete quota. And he scored 2 irrelevant runs as a batsman and failed to dive forward like Pollard did to take one of Yuvraj's early offering. Not signs of a man playing a warm-up match to seek improvement somewhere in his contribution to his team.
Rampaul was rightly peeled off the bench and stacked up in the playing XI. He played his part. But he might not have if kaka Roach wasn't suffering the runs, as a rumour put out suggests.
Bishoo made good use of the 'surprise element of a newcomer', a term Cozier employed in reference to Ashwin's opening hold upon the West Indies later, and also his own brains. His captain arranged fields and set him tasks, which he executed with his interpretation and skill to extract the best result possible for West Indies given that Indian top and middle order combine to form one of the better spin-playing units in world cricket today. He showed variety and anticipation of the batsman. I think he is worth investing in. Also, since Benn decompensated spectacularly, Bishoo made up for it in a way.
Yet West Indies struck back spectacularly
Though West Indies were a diluted lot on the field, they struck early and came back to wrap it up in a heart-warming fightback.
Rampaul, on the last ball of the first over, made one rise sharply from length and angle slightly away as it rose. It probably clipped an important part of Tendulkar's batting machinery preoccupied with avoidance and fending, for Sachin Tendulkar chose to walk off despite the standing umpire ruling 'not out'. Naturally, Ravi Rampaul was cock-a-hoop. He got a game, Tendulkar early, and five wickets to go along! And to think all this might not have happened if Roach hadn't had the runs for Sammy has to play anyway.
Gambhir played pugnaciously before falling to the distraction of it. Rampaul, having observed Gambhir feasting upon him as if he were delicious dhall-puri, and upon Benn as if he were delicately cooked roti and goat curry, decided to spice it up a bit more. He got the glance going to catch Gambhir's sucker eye. An edge flying between slips and gully got the juices flowing one way. Then Gambhir hopped back onto his toes, got on top of the bounce bowled at him and cover drove Rampaul for four. The juices began to flow the other way now...Rampaul sensed the mood, locked into the sucker eye and came back next over with a rising delivery, tad widish, outside the off stump. Gambhir was already into the slaughter mode and went for the upper-cut to third man. Ravi had spiced up the bounce with a little extra...the kind of peg of hidden spirit that snared Tendulkar...and the ball rose more than anticipated. Instead of springing from a well positioned substantial bat's edge, the ball rose from the kiss of an inadequately placed one - that the third man would take it was given considering West indians do not drop many.
HH Yuvraj Singh, ascending to Maharaja from just another prince like Kohli
Yuvraj Singh may tell us later that it is our catarctous vision that has been corrected with a new implant, but we are observing a kind of Cricket player, Yuvraj Singh was foreseen to evolve into a decade ago. That vision, that collective Indian vision of him had grown murky, mostly because Yuvraj stagnated in juvenility and denial and partly due to the emergence of other players. If it is merely refractive lens exchange surgery indeed that makes us see that vision clearly once again, then we welcome it and are willing to be pointed at by him.
Yuvraj took his time to settle in. Bishoo was new and unknown. In the past he'd have grown impatient and would end up mocking his inherent talent with akward play and dismissal. Yesterday, the prince bent his back and stayed low behind his bat in humility, watching the ball hawk-eyed, intent on reading its spin and what wisecracks the pitch might throw up at him. Time was not an issue for him, building a foundation to his innings and a sheltering ledge for his team was. The screaming of Indian crowds no longer registered in his mind as wolf whistles to hit out or get out,instead, it probably blanketed itself as a blocking buzz that kept out unfriendly radar waves of blood rushes. HH Yuvraj Singh has the 'Eye of the Tiger' these days instead of a kitty's furitive and slitted ones. He has assumed responsibility, complaining and self-pity has evaporated from his body language. He has adopted the present and future is beckoning him once again.
Last time Yuvi scored a 100 before this one, was in 2009 against WI. Now he's plucking out wickets too. We can also safely address him HH Yuvraj Singh Lord of West Indies.
Meanwhile Virat Kohli was playing securely and keeping things ticking along. Instantly, vultures began to wheel above the West Indians on the field. Their game began to pale into lifelessness. 300, 320, or a bit more, looked likelier than the subsiding West Indies team pulling off a miraculous escape. On the one side was stalking HH Yuvraj Singh Maharaja of New Responsibility and on the other side was preying Virat Kohli, the young prince of Indian cricket, also beneficiary of His Highness's shared wisdom, and running the same vein of blood through his game temperament that once exercised unyielding mastery over poor Yuvraj Singh's. But inherently Kohli is a shred more grounded yet one cannot ignore, as of now, the impulses bubbling inside him. After a well crafted half-cenruty innings of support and substance, Kohli succumbed to the impulse for glory. He played across the line in the fashion of a grass-cutter instead of a hunter and was suitably mortified to see his stumps scattered by the clever Rampaul. That's actually a no-hit shot that Kohli must learn to use appropriately.
Helicopters in Indian bellies
You might be forgiven to misread the above subtitle as Helicobacter instead of Helicopter, but even if you read it correctly, you would grasp the meaning. As troublesome as Helicobacter is in our collective Indian pylorii, the advent of helicopters in batting Team India's middle and lower belly has ruined its system. The merry metronomes following Dhoni moronically play helicopter with their bats and India's chances. Perhaps to concede footage that could be used in soft drink promotion (or hard drinks)if India wins the cup and cynically, even if it doesn't. Like programmed ingots of lightweight metal, they follow each other to the centre, whirl their bat, get out, and return to the pavilion. The men expected to gather 15-20 runs each or play 15-20 balls each while emplying the helicopter maybe once, appear convinced they must do so on every ball. They do not last long as a result and India is experiencing dehydrating collapses due to the lower order diarrhoea set off by this new infection.
Dhoni of course played to his potential which is now settling into Test match like familiarity. He was lured and fooled by Bishoo, who floated one up , sensed the prey on the hook and ensured the ball floated just enough closer to the pad so Dhoni's whirring bat would be beaten. MSD, however, contributed his share of 15-20 runs and isn't to be blamed for a really good piece of bowling. But what about the fellows who follow?
Raina did something. I'm not sure what, because before I could register his presence, he was walking back. But I did catch his match-less rustiness on TV. Not having spent any substantial time in the middle for a long while now, he failed the batsman's habit of marking out fielders in their positions. So when the trap was sprung, he swung straight into Rampaul round the corner and left Lord Sammy's conscience vindicated.
It was 50-7 by India yesterday and a vast improvement over 9 wickets for some twenty odd runs. 268 all out from 218-3 was disconcerting but not worrying since the Chennai Superman R Ashwin's power had been harnessed by India for the match.
Dhoni Pentrebaaz
If you thought Dhoni was as predictable a pony as so many commentators moaned, if you thought Mahi was as stubborn an ass as even more commentators brayed, then you might have been surprised yesterday when he selected Ashwin (before time methinks), then threw the new ball to him (premature exposure of cards methinks) and played out entire two power plays via spinners (premature exposure of sleeve cards methinks). You might even be right if you felt Dhoni succumbed to social and media pressure to induct radicalism...to skip intervening chapters where the plot of the story was carefully laid out and straight to the pages where the climax is. I'd probably endorse this view.
The society and media might feel good that they had provoked Dhoni yesterday to finally to reveal portions of his plans and might now crow about the F.Y ness of its success, but we who had always advocated patience on this count will now advocate that society and media should stimulate Dhoni and not provoke him. And please Mr.Dhoni, I just hope we are all wrong about this and you are not weak enough to be dictated by such peripherals if there is indeed a legible coherent plan in place. We have strongly felt and have written before and tweeted that India appeared
- to practice do-minimum-required-to-qualify-for-KOs as prime mantra
- to retain certain surprise elements for 'spot matches' later
- who we play in QFs, SFs and Fs is irrelevant to this team
- to have patience with the team while they tighten up some screws
We had written here a few days ago
I understand Dhoni and some of his key bowlers may not be going flat out yet. Maybe they are and it is only me wishing...hoping....that they aren't yet. I also understand that Dhoni, given the easy readability of Indian bowling, may not wish to play all his bowlers in the qualifying stages itself. If Indian batting can help India qualify for QFs - as they might have already ensured unless very strange results accrue from the tournament from here (even the most bizarre result from elsewhere can probably not keep India from qualifying for QFs now even if it loses its final qualifying fixture with West Indies at Chepauk next Sunday) - India Captain, MS Dhoni, might be reluctant to field all his bowlers as a result now.
By doing the least required to qualify for a QF spot, India may be conserving its limited resources for 'spot' matches ahead. By 'spot matches' I do not intend to mean as it is used in terms of match-fixing, but in another way. Let me define it anyway to avoid confusion. By Spot Match performance, I mean performance on a given day...the present...no eye on future matches and no link with the past. Players like Ashwin and Sreesanth may have been slipped into that role by him - will give them one match one task, while the others have to figure out more complex continuing strategies. Like hit-and-run commandos.
Dhoni is working with glass - beautiful possibilities but cursed with a puff-away fragility. So he is managing demands of utility and creativity with as much care as he can summon, so that whatever creation he blows out of the pipe has, at the end, the endurance to adorn a mantlepiece for at least four years.
Read more: South Africa played better yesterday
I am not surprised therefore that yesterday's Hindustan Times reports something similar.
Coming back, yesterday, whether of his own voilition or influenced by extraneous stimuli, Ashwin was exposed. Dhoni's secret weapon and one of his plans were flush out in the open when they need not have been. Maybe the absence of Gayle contributed to the plan.
That said, West Indies were cruising along mostly. They began well before Ashwin made the first breakthrough, taking out Edwards, before a partnership developed between Likkle Bravo and in-form Smith. If Lara could spook Murali with the doosra, his lookalike and cousin, Likkle Bravo was launching into Ashwin with the carrom ball.
An immensely talented player and a constant reminder of witnessed greatness, Lara fell to impetuosity like Kohli. Raina was bought in to bowl. There is actually competition between him and Yusuf Pathan for the same spot and he is now a serious bowler too. Lara Part Two went after him only to see Harbhajan Plaha interrupt the ball's flight towards the boundary and hold it up for all to see. India broke through an important batsman. But Smith was surviving and his score was growing. At times he played stunningly beautiful shots...especially square off the wicket on the off side.
Ronnie's a creature of comfort
Even before India could settle in after Bravo's wicket, Sarwan got into the act of settling in alongside Smith and West Indies were once again dominant. There were pleasing strokes around the wicket and India appeared stuck with doing nothing and waiting like in matches before. But there was a difference yesterday - Mahi summoned Zak from the boundary. Just the previous over the camera flashed onto his face to reveal a man desperately keen to bowl. Maybe that caught Dhoni's eye on the big screen. Whatever....Zak came up with the kind of beauties we had gotten used to see him bowl but weren't forthcoming this tournament...the ball was full and swung from outside off and into southpaw Smith, who naturally missed it and was uprooted.
Shortly thereafter, the camera panned on a white mongrel running along the ropes. That mongrel galloping like a wild stallion along the boundary epitomized the ounce of relief sipped collectively by India. Pollard however loomed on the other side of the wicket.
Instantly, as if a nuclear reactor had been shut down, Sarwan's game changed fluency. It betrayed all the insecurities and circumspection that were not evident in the partnership with Smith. It was as if Ronnie had heard the bells toll...the bombers flying in and the screaming of missiles homing in. As in the previous match, he shut shop - this time to India's advantage. Bhajji stepped in....Plaha checked out his Mumbai Indians teammate Pollard with a seductress...Pollard appeared too cold so early in his innings to rise up much higher than he did after the floated ball. As a result, he was taken on long-on and instead of the ball, he crossed the boundary and into the dressing room.
The most sporting crowd of Chennai which had fallen deathly silent during partnerships before Zak and Plaha happened, were once again sporting celebrations, ambitions and optimism.
Dhoni was now on fire...his mind working like lightning...he brought in Yuvraj to tease the West Indian middle and lower order. Like a snake charmer Yuvraj began to make them dance to his chune. Thomas went, completely lost in the international world of cricket, Sammy came and went run out without much trouble and Russell, touted as an all rounder was tempted by Yuvi to play the cut. he went without scoring.
Meanwhile, Ronnie was tightly screwed up in his corner...pressure was telling now. He defended, fended off, saw Benn dissolving to a Zak slower one before he himself gave up. Yesterday Ronnie could have taken charge and farmed till somebody took root on the other side, but he couldn't. He couldn't play the game he played when things were comfortable. Natural, expected, but he tends to bottle up. Needs to talk to Laxman and pick up tips on batting with unreliable tails.
India should play better from here on
That said, Windies only did an India and slumped to 188 all out. In 10 overs they lost 8 wickets for 34 runs.
Some West Indian legend keepers who mock India's lack of history and culture (please ignore the irony of it)need to grow up into real time present. History, we have shown and quoted...the correct history. History is happening. Show me what spin you got.
India missed this kind of domination over lesser teams before.
It was a safe performance but not the best India could put up. Now it is KO time! This is what we were waiting for. India's got to play at its peak now.
Australia being served up next in QFs.
By the way, did we mention the Simon Taufel shocker? He missed a run out appealed for by Kohli! Didn't ask for thrid umpire and UDRS doesn't permit for line calls.
Scorecard Read More......
Saturday, 19 March 2011
Holi Greetings : 2011
This year the festival of colours coincides with the concluding day of the league phase of ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 being conducted in the subcontinent.
We wish you all a life full of joyful colours.
Source: festivalsofindia.in
More Holi songs (YouTube)
Monday, 14 March 2011
There is no substitute for victory
General Douglas MacArthur, first trekked through India as his father's aide-de-camp a long time ago, 1906 in fact. The American War Hero however appears to have impacted generations here. Elements of his speeches and writings are popularly employed in rhetorical India. So much so that his ideas have been suitably modified into easily-fitting variants to address different target groups. Even Cricket has benefitted from General MacArthur's addresses and suitable amendments of those have gone on to become cliches repeated not just by coaches and commentators but even by 'bots' on social media. If you ever heard it said by your coach or your favourite commentator, "A captain is just as good or bad as his team", you'll recognize that it is merely a variant of Genereal MacArthur's "A general is just as good or just as bad as the troops under his command make him".
For General MacArthur was an acknowledged leader of men and considered a shrewd expert on warfare. Despite his well documented ability to move men into awakening as soldiers with mere spoken words, he was not, ultimately, as shrewd a politician as he was a general. Hence his dismissal by Truman. Wily combatant that he was in war, MacArthur understood peace with the rare insight of a true warrior - "I have known war as few men now living know it. It's very destructiveness on both friend and foe has rendered it useless as a means of settling international disputes." He had the ability to convince his men to 'buy into' his vision of war and nation and follow him to execute the given task with the scantest regard for their own lives. In fact, even the title of this particular blog is an extract from one of his famous motivational speeches and a communication. Summarizing his knowledge from "twenty campaigns, a hundred battlefields around a thousand campfires", Gen. MacArthur said
If MS Dhoni might be saying the same or something like that to his men, if not sitting around a campfire certainly facing his team, a night or two before future encounters in this World Cup, I wouldn't be surprised at all. For the mission of Team India has been long and carefully prepared to this culminating point. Through a definite but complicated process of learning nuances of modern game-fare and rebuilding teams and strategies accordingly,sifting through personnel and results, always gaining knowledge about how to prevail over the toughest opposition and win. This team, this version of Team India, is one comprised of those raised on a strict diet of game-fare. If General Douglas MacArthur was born in a military unit, raised and educated on military units and employed in the military, this Team India has been a generation that has been weaned on distillates of many cricketing warfares. This team is that rare Indian team which knows winning more than losing and goes into a game with the firm expectation of winning it. The belief is sometimes wavering though and it is in such times that the Captain of the team steps in. Or should. Dismissal might not happen to Dhoni but ignominy is a distinct possibility.
We have often heard cricketing Australians say "Australians never quit", or words to that effect. It's MacArthur's again - a variant of his "Americans never quit". We can further amend it to "Indians never quit" even if it is a culture we are only now beginning to apply to our sports. Dhoni's Team are not quitters, Mahi's Milky Way is a phislosophy that does not appear to, from past evidence, include quitting either. A setback, a few dull matches, criticism over bowling, batting, fielding and captaincy, is something they have endured before to prevail ultimately. If Gen. MacArthur told his men "Duty, Honor, Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be." , we have often seen Dhoni's Team India living up to those words on Cricket fields. So often as to expect nothing more of them than the same every time they step out in our Nation's colours.
There is more. When young Douglas MacArthur was trying to secure an appointment to the West Point Military Academy and his father and grandfather failed to secure presidential appointments for him, Douglas MacArthur did brilliantly in an examination for appointment from a Congressman after the two rejections. Upon this success he said "It was a lesson I never forgot. Preparedness is the key to success and victory."
Preparedness is the key to success and victory. Winning your own battles with your own efforts is likely to guarantee you more success than through someone else's efforts. Team India too must depend upon its own preparedness and ability to win its own games on the field and not bank upon other teams choking upon their respective tasks. India's preparedness must include a consistent ability to throttle the ambitions of rival teams. And besides preparedness, is the will to win.
"It is fatal to enter any war without a will to win it" - MacArthur had said as part of a larger criticism of the American war policy of that time. In our own limited context, we say it is fatal to enter any match without a will to win it. I say this to Team India about whose bowlers, I thought I had detected an element of self-doubt, about its game philosophy which appeared defensive and its batting which has, in parts, been careless without any purposeful will. We mentioned as much in a previous article here.
An unputdownable will to win sharpens the ability to generate winning combinations of moves in a rapidly evolving situation. Like the one South Africa faced when India was completely dominating them. If anybody saw Steyn, his will to win was standing out like his sinews as he chopped up lethargic Indian batsmen to bring an abrupt end to the innings. India's will to win instead settled into a non-accommodative comfort that saw Dhoni missing a crucial trick in not bowling spin when ABD asked for a runner for a bad back/hamstring. The previous over he had whetted his appetite on Munaf Patel and taken a few runs off him. Zak was preferable to ABD than a spinner, who might make him strain harder and thus a threat, and he took him out for 17-18 runs. Will to win latches on to small, tiny moments in a match and converts them to have monumental consequences. That ABD moment was a tiny chance, perhaps the final chance India was given. That he was out next over to Harbhajan ceases to be relevant after the consequences of what he did to Zak. ABD pounced on that opportunity given by India and helped his team get over. The will to win is not taught, but it can be practised, developed, and kept in responsive shape.
While talking about the need for will to win when going into a war, MacArthur did not criticize the morality of decisions made by his government, but questioned instead their foundations due to their visible inherent recklessness and irresponsibility. As we too had said in the earlier post linked to somewhere here, our criticism of the will to win is not on the morality of decisions taken but the basis of them. If batsmen went heaving, our criticism is that their actions did not take into account team needs, its vulnerabilities and plans to counter them drawn up in the dressing room. The decision to bowl Zak instead of spin then is not morally wrong, but it did not take into account the need of the moment.
Losing is not the end, you can always replace it, but there is no substitute for victory.
I do not like to meld together military and sports, nevertheless I do it often, usually for the sheer convenience of it. Military similies are well understood in team sports. My mind was seized with Cricket and Team India's performance tonight. I found myself giving speeches to myself! Rhetoric that wouldn't allow me to sleep. Slumber refused stubbornly. So I peeled myself off my bed and slipped my feet smoothly into my slippers in the dark and glided swiftly and silently from there and into my seat in front of the computer screen, terribly keen to put it all down in one type. I saw before me a fantasy - Team India actually listening to the rousing rhetoric murmuring in my mind and understanding it. I visualized them taking on West Indies next Sunday, like a team of thirty-plusses revived on desi tonics. I felt like a general....and hence the employ of General MacArthur, one of the finest motivators of men. There is more along the same lines but a point made is one that is not stretched too much.
Plus, sleep seductively beckons me now, completely in the mood for what lies ahead between us. Truly, there is no substitute for victory. Read More......
Making News
Exploding numbers of Cricket Commentators, ex-player writers, and lay bloggers and social media-experts (many of whom are refreshing to read) has taken the wind out of the sails of match reporting and analysis. Frankly, one no longer waits for the morning newspaper and can anticipate an article, its tone, tenor and tint, based on knowledge of who writes for which paper. Same with portals and their large cabals of writers. You know what you are going to get match-end or next morning.
In this state of affairs, what value can a current player add to a newspaper? How much can you analyze a match after all? We have pre-, post- and live match analysis already. Given that technically players involved in a game or in a participating team are wary of divulging details or discussing anything other than bald obviousness in their syndicated articles, it is a risk newspapers/portals undertake to pay good money for such views you can otherwise write off templates. (To believe, you must observe various 'bots' giving apt commentary on social media!) Advent of ACU activity and ICC's tightening views on such matters, players no longer have liberty to drop interesting hints in their columns. There are exceptions of course at times, but for the average fan, these syndicated columns are as meaningless as saltless sugarless existence.
So what can a player and newspaper/portal do to lift their profile above this ocean of almost standardized commentary? They can choose to focus on certain aspects of the game. The player can perform at a high level conssitently and thus attract eyeballs to his article. But what if the star isn't performing at his peak? The newspaper might pressure its contractee to deliver something of interest to imrove/maintain its circulation or hits. The player than may then decide that a dash of controversy is just what the doctor ordered.
Better still if the controversy involved the player. For in that case, nobody but him can tell the true story. And that 'truth' can be designed at leisure after observing the immediate consequences of created controversy. There is every chance that reader interest would shift to, or include, his article next morning. Paymaster happy, fans and commentators have something to talk about for a day in these transient times, and player is happy for he is now known to be a 'generative' cricket writer.
In the times we live in, that translates into a large additional paypacket.
So if you have star power and aren't quite living upto your billing as a player, create a bit of controversy...not serious enough to affect your chances of playing but enough to ensure a unique article the next day. Making news thorugh perfromance is not assurable all the time for all players, so they may have to resort to 'making news'.
'Make News', is today's mantra, but what about tomorrow? I'm curious what the next evolutional step after news-making is. What remains/exists beyond 'making news'?
Ludicrous Swann
The ugly Swann of the other night was duly slapped the minimum penalty for his exhibition disseminated via live television to many young eyes and ears. According to Cricinfo, the England spinner's behaviour fetched him a ten percent match fee fine for flouting rule 2.1.4 of ICC Code of Conduct.
The relevant portion of the Cricinfo article states that Swann has dovetailed his 'apology' with further criticism in a newspaper article written by him.
Graeme Swann has apologised for his behaviour during England's two-wicket defeat against Bangladesh at Chittagong on Friday, but still believes the ICC was wrong to fine him 10% of his match fee, as he described the decision to play a day/night match in such dew-heavy conditions as "ludicrous".
The Sun article is here.
Question is, doesn't this apologetic article 'ludicrously' also breach codes by way of 'public criticism'?
The ICC day-to-day honcho, Lorgat, was quick on the ball, along with various commentators to condemn MS Dhoni's public statements on the 2.5 meter rule. I am not sure if any penalty was imposed. Swann's is a self-written article or one printed in his name in a newspaper. One hasn't heard any such condemnation in Swann's case yet officially from ICC.
Is there a reason, Haroon Lorgat? Read More......
Saturday, 12 March 2011
South Africa played better yesterday
The easiest to do would be to ascribe India's defeat at the hands of South Africa on the reckless batting collapse towards the end or two critical overs in the end - Zak's in the over before ABD was dismissed by Harbhajan Plaha and Nehra's final over.
I choose not, to because these allegations do not account for two things - Firstly, that India had the runs on the board, with or without a late batting collapse. 20-30 more runs is mere hindsight for they do not guarantee against South Africa gearing up their chase accordingly. We are merely assuming that the batting spurt would have occured as it did playing for 296 and therefore those 20-30 runs would be a stage too far. If it had to be like that, 20-30 would not suffice, India would have needed 50-60 runs more minimum, as it should have if Sachin and Gambhir hadn't settled the rate into low sixes, so the pressure of a chase would be heightened a notch more than a mere extra 20 runs.
Second, the lack of conviction in the Indian camp over their bowling. The plan for all teams is obvious - lay seige with a few significant runs on the board and hope teams lose wickets or fall short by a run or two. Indians themselves do not appear to believe they can take early wickets, regular wickets, and probably do not feel the need to. It doesn't matter how well Indians bowled yesterday - they did too - if wickets are not taken regularly or first up, good restrictive bowling does not matter. If we have reached a stage where we think defending 300 is like defending 200, then there is a definite error in all the pre-tournament brainstorming and punditry by all those who are relevant, and of course the irrelevant fans.
Let us recall a few things from the pre-tournament process first - Zak was selected because of his ability to provide early breakthroughs and not for restrictive bowling. Ditto for Nehra. It was Munaf who was selected for his restrictive bowling. Plaha was the spearhead who had to balance both aspects - run saving and bowling penetratingly. Ashwin was an out and out penetrative selection - he was pencilled into the team to take wickets in a clutch...not to take catches or bowl only economical overs. Sreesanth was supposed to be the battering ram - the thick skinned powerplay mule, who with his greater speed, straight seam, close to the stump bowling and possibility of yorkers, was supposed to cash in on batsmen trying to take advantage of him during the powerplays. The perception that, by now, he had probably gotten used to being lashed on and off the field, was considered an advantage - he wouldn't be distracted by the odd sledge or bat-slap for four but would come steaming in next ball like a determined tusker from the evergreen forests of Kothamangalam.
Chawla, I never understood nor could follow discussions upon in the pre-tournament period and hence I cannot visualize today for what assets that he possessed was he selected in the first place. So I'll leave him alone for analysis by mystics of occult science and practice.
I understand Dhoni and some of his key bowlers may not be going flat out yet. Maybe they are and it is only me wishing...hoping....that they aren't yet. I also understand that Dhoni, given the easy readability of Indian bowling, may not wish to play all his bowlers in the qualifying stages itself. If Indian batting can help India qualify for QFs - as they might have already ensured unless very strange results accrue from the tournament from here (even the most bizarre result from elsewhere can probably not keep India from qualifying for QFs now even if it loses its final qualifying fixture with West Indies at Chepauk next Sunday) - India Captain, MS Dhoni, might be reluctant to field all his bowlers as a result now.
By doing the least required to qualify for a QF spot, India may be conserving its limited resources for 'spot' matches ahead. By 'spot matches' I do not intend to mean as it is used in terms of match-fixing, but in another way. Let me define it anyway to avoid confusion. By Spot Match performance, I mean performance on a given day...the present...no eye on future matches and no link with the past. Players like Ashwin and Sreesanth may have been slipped into that role by him - will give them one match one task, while the others have to figure out more complex continuing strategies. Like hit-and-run commandos.
Dhoni is working with glass - beautiful possibilities but cursed with a puff-away fragility. So he is managing demands of utility and creativity with as much care as he can summon, so that whatever creation he blows out of the pipe has, at the end, the endurance to adorn a mantlepiece for at least four years.
Should India have won yesterday? - I say they should have. They should have looked upon it as a 260 target and played accoringly. Creating urgencies for the opposition when they least expected. Like bringing in Yuvraj or Plaha or whoever could bowl spin, the moment ABD asked for a runner for a bad back-hamstring(?) combo. By bowling Zak with just the right kind of pace for a batsman now looking to flay, a trick was lost. Spin might have floated up to him and forced him to demand of his bad back and/or hamstring. As it turned out, Plaha got him next over...but 17 crucial runs had been conceded and the asking rate ceased to be an issue from that over. But did India ever look like they were trying to defend 260 instead of 296? For that's how they must think to sharpen their bowling confidence.
An earlier tactical lapse was in not taking the batting power play when Sachin and Sehwag were in flow and completely dominating the South Africans. Smith might have been forced to keep Steyn and/or Morkel on and expend a few important overs of theirs. Everybody knows that Steyn and even Morkel can be a handful with yorkers towards the end, especially if lesser batsmn are at the crease. Heck, if one of Steyn or Morkel had been pushed to bowl more earlier, we might not have had a 29-9 to talk about today!
Then, we all know a mid-innings significant sag in RR is given for India irrespective of how good a start they have, giving the opposition bowling time to regroup and create manic thoughts within minds of Indian batsmen sitting in the pavilion. If batsmen take such a large loan of their team's momentum, then they should repay the same with interest by batting till the end at least or near end and not declare bankruptcy suddenly like Gambhir gave it away...Sachin gave it away. When your commerce revolves around doing high-rsk business/taking high risks (batting dependence with passable bowling policy is like conducting high-risk business or investment), then you must not play like a business or investmen that has a more secure foundation. In such well-founded ventures, there is ability to absorb ups and downs to greater or lesser extent depending upon scales, but in high-risk ventures, profitability cannot be allowed to dip well more than a complete point even if the accruing profit is still high. That is the nature of this business. And that must be taken into account before getting into it and venturists must be prepared in all regards. You do not have a safety net, the batsmen behind you have to be highly productive from ball one, so beyond marginal fluctuations, you cannot splurge investor confidence in you in trying to behave like an old fashioned, no-risk bank. Team India is likely to be more like new multinational banks than old community centric ones. Profitability and risks of collapse are always greater with Team India.
I know it will probably be pointed out that Sachin and Gambhir upped the rate later and it is impossible to maintain a RR of 8-10 all the time etc. etc., the fact remains that by that serious lull where the RR dipped drastically over an extended period of time rose back only to 6.3 or so when they got out. To maintain a RR of 7.00 after having dominated an attack for so long at levels of 8-10 should be the policy....one need not be aghast at the thought....that is the THE basis of a batting-performance based success. India failed the singles and twos...it were the twos taken by South Africa that killed India's theory and practice later of course.
My views may be at variance with most others and may even look wonky, but that's how I saw the game yesterday. India choked on its own complicated plans. Bowlers and Batsmen must respond must be able to visualize, must be able to anticipate, and once again believe that they can take early and regular wickets. Do it once against West Indies, if only to re-set the corrupted coding of India's gameplan.
Well played South Africa, you deserved victory.
Friday, 11 March 2011
Bowling Obesity Killing England
Nasser Hussain at the start of this World Cup had introduced his team, England, to television viewers as a team which was one of the better teams in the fray, if not the best, in terms of bowling, batting, fielding and physical fitness. For good measure, he added the exceptional captaincy of Strauss as an advantage England held over other teams. Pride in the former England cricket captain's voice was unmistakable to those who heard him as he emphasized the point to a possible non-believer sitting alongside him in the commentary box who had offered a sceptical point or two. Team England, by bowling wide on either side of the wicket repeatedly in every match, and often short of best length, is ensuring Nasser's pride remains powder-puff vanity.
England are not in immediate danger of being eliminated, but unless they correct their poor bowling efforts (Swann included) they are certain to face elimination sooner than later.
From a brisk start yesterday, England lapsed into batting bizarreness. Their inability to rotate strike and keep a healthy run rate as the ball got older and softer was quickly interpreted and dispensed by England pundits as the dastardliness of a covetous pitch constantly grabbing at the ball. While that may or may not be so, it was evident that England were lacking in important shreds of batting strategy to counter it. And when that happens with England, they appear to slip into an enervated state of disinterest. Especially when playing teams ranked lower than they.
The 225 runs they managed batting first on a Bangla pitch were going to test their poorly conditioned bowling and iffy desire to compete even as television punditry propounded entertaining theories of how the dastardly pitch would rise again in the second innings and snatch away juvenile Bangladeshi hopes and those of fellow commentators who once specialized as batsmen in these conditions. Through the tube one was supposed to fear and expect Bangladesh to bat as stutteringly purposelessly as England did. But English pundits cannot fathom the 'mirchi effect' or its inherent power. Post-stoning, any subcontinental team is always a highly dangerous rival. Especially dangerous to a team that lacks imaginative flair, variety, bowling discipline and mental (and probably physical) stamina for the task.
James Anderson appears to be a special trick pony, who performs in set conditions or for conditions he has trained diligently for (like a weak Australian Test side in Australia). Obviously England's spearhead thought very little of his team and nation's ambition to win the original World Cup of cricket, for he appears not to have prepared himself for this task. The spirit of Steve Harmison has commandeered him - he bowls irrelevantly wide or short and often full onto an eager bat.
England bowlers, like their batsmen, were quick to convey to watching pundits that the 'dew factor' was in operation instead of just 'do it factor'. Swann, the theatrical tweeter, brings the same quality to his bowling too. Both when he is succeeding and when he is unsuccessful. he made it a point to conver the 'dew factor' before he even bowled a ball yesterday. He supported his peeve with a suitable facial expression for the cameras. Immediately, and for good measure, he drilled in the point by finding a leg side line so the ball raced away beyond the Kakmalish Matt Prior for four wides.
Punditry promptly chanted up the skies with the evilness of dewdrops.
The pitch was no longer an issue for them as Batting-e-Tamimi and Kayes was exposing the lack of beast, ogre, or troll in the pitch.
Even Tim Bresnan, the Englishman who looks capable of a sturdy existence in these conditions, was struggling. Anderson was not even trying to bowl anymore, occupied as he was in the Swannian theatrics for the camera.
This distinct lack of mental fitness, easy fatiguability and extreme negativity that causes you to spend energy posing for cameras rather than finding a solution to the limitations, did not help England. Bangladesh did try and commit suicide via run outs, but Mahmudullah's calmness weighed in at the end.
England has been the most interesting team in this competition - losing to lesser teams or being run close by them, and competing hotly against higher ranked teams. Actually make that one team, for they failed to win their game against India from a position of superiority.
They have been most interesting case thus far. Wonder what further ups and downs they have in store or the cricketing world!
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
Twisted Proverb
Benjamin Franklin famously employed the proverb All cats are grey in the dark , previously mentioned in a 16th century book of proverbs, to explain away a particular preference by peoples we need not go into details of here. The import of the proverb being it matters little whom you encounter in the dark, they are are all the same.
Dhoni has lent a spin to Franklin's usage to explain Team India's purpose to his men in non-confusing parlance; he states clearly to them perhaps, at every pre-match huddle, that all things encountered in the dark are not just grey but are also cats with claws. In the specific context of Cricket and World Cup, 'cats' being opposing teams.
India, after having tried many different approaches in previous world cups and failed due to allowing pressure to build up on different fronts, has apparently decided to shun all such pressure-gathering factors that interest us spectators, such as, aesthetics of play, focus on NRR, an eye on whom they are likely to encounter in quarter finals and semi finals and margins of victory. Dhoni's message apparently seems to be all teams are the same, only conquering them matters.
Team India prefers to pack in a victory into its kit bag at the end of the match and leave losses behind on the ground for others to pick up. It matters little to it in what degree of extravagance that victory has come. For that is not the purpose of playing the World Cup. Cricket, in the Indian context, will be the 'ultimate winner' if India can win the match on any given day.
Be it Netherlands, Ireland or South Africa - Team India is least bothered by the pre-match variance between teams and the post-match likely computations - all it has an eye for is the process of winning the match in hand, making the requisite adjustments to the questions asked of it by the opponent.
The goal is not NRR, QF spot, QF opponent, SF opponent etc. The goal for Team India is to win the World Cup. And to do that, Team India has to beat almost all teams in the league phase and those they'll encounter in QFs and SFs and Finals. It matters little to Dhoni's men whether they meet Australia in QFs, SFs or Finals - for wherever whenever they encounter them, they have to be conquered.
Is khel mein sab billi ya bille hain aur sab ke pas panje hain. Har billa ya billi ko dabochna hamara maqsad hai, chahe is gali mein mulakat ho ya us gali mein. This appears to be Dhoni's Milky Way...his mantra to clean all pressure-gathering clutter likely to be strewn about his players' minds. The focus is only on one task - do what it takes to win the game at hand. Matters little if victory comes through bare-bones soldiering or through a brisk cavalry charge. Do enough to be ahead of the opponent when time is called upon the match. And that's what you need to do at every level in this tournament and against every opponent.
Whether Kenya it is you must play in QF's or New Zealand or Australia or Timbuktoo in SFs, any team that is there at that level is capable of winning and must be treated likewise. barring the overall picture and some technical specifics, what is then the point in keeping one eye on the likely opponent? If Team India works with one eye only on its process towards the purpose, that effort is unlikely to be as worthy as one with both eyes.
Sehwag's 50-over talk, Yuvraj's visible calm maturity...assure a win even if you have to shun beauty...prevail over the opponent in front of you - none else exists in the period of time...these are all a few indicators of the thought process driving the Best Team in the Milky Way!
It is true, India has met only weaker teams till now and two tests lie ahead. When that bridge comes, it will be crossed. It is true, India dropped a point to England...look at it this way, it at least saved one. Specific adjustments per opponents is another thing, specific modifications according to evolving situation is important too - Dhoni's philosophy, his Milky Way, appears to be to hone the instinct to win in his players.
If you do what it takes to win every match, if you win every game, the peak itself will come down to stand under your feet. Thinking about potential rivals here and there is fickle and distracting.
