India bowled pure rubbish for considerable portions of yesterday's play of course, but somebody has to make the team pay for it. For England, it was Ian Bell, who with an almost run-a-ball innings yanked away India's initiative and ensured they would remain subservient to England in this match. If Strauss must enjoy dreams, I am certain, Broad on the second day, and Bell on the third, must have figured in a few of them. These are the kind of trend altering performances any captain wishes for from his players. Ian Bell did what Sehwag does at the top of the batting order.
Bell used his feet to spinners well too..it was not just stroking wayward pacemen to all parts of the ground...Bell got into the right positions to dispatch an insipid Harbhajan and the rest as well. Some of his drives straight and through the covers were wonderful, but one especially delicious one was a square drive. And he got out as does Viru too, often. Well, the first time he was out that is.
Like Viru does often, Bell kind of lost the plot when seriously on song, and was wandering out of his crease into the land of assumptions while play was still on...the bails were picked off and the appeal was upheld. By that time however, the batsmen had walked off to partake of some enjoyable scones and tea! While the umpires and the other team was still waiting for the conclusion of the ball, stroke and its outcome!
Praveen Kumar was uncertain about his efforts on the boundary..Bell was pushing for the fourth run but was sent back by Morgan...Bell halted, took a step back but the fellow decided instead it was Tea on his own, without the umpires having suggested anything of that sort, and instead began to walk towards the pavilion instead of getting back to his crease. Meanwhile the ball, which was on its way back during the third run, landed in Dhoni's gloves and he took the bails off. The appeal was sent upstairs but the upstarts decided to compound matters further by walking off to their self-declared declared Tea!
It was England displaying poor knowledge of the game and scant respect for the umpires and procedure. Naturally, every English commie worth his blood - from the hitherto venerable Alan Wilkins to worse - quickly jumped onto the spirit of sports bandwagon! They might have been funny as singing Dodos of they hadn't been dead serious about their comments! Next time you are bowled in cricket, claim lack of sporting spirit! Especially if you are an Englishman! The man, Wilkins, was so committed to his theory that he was almost crouching on his commie-box/studio chair as he pounced upon this line of twisting things around! I didn't see nor hear or feel the same energy from Wilkins on the Vaseline issue. That was a facting sporting spirit too...you got to see the HUMOUR guys! Bleddy conveniences of a slippery tongue!
Obviously they wrangled down the game's laws and its interpretation because, firstly it was an Englishman who made the mistake, second their disappointment at seeing Bell's innings end, third they were unsure of the rest of the batsmen and feared India coming back into this game and finally, they are bloody English you know...they can do what they want all the time...they facting own the game!
In a game where Stuart Broad checks VVS Laxman's bat for vaseline, in a game where each one of the Englishmen on the field and many in the crowd refused to acknowledge the grand fighting innings by Rahul Dravid, in a game where former England captain, Michael Vaughan makes a mischievous accusation against VVS Laxman, these facting England commies from Wilkins downwards talk about sporting spirit? What an irony!
And that Trent Bridge cross-dressing crowd present on the ground yesterday....the shameless ones booed Indians to their orifices' content but didn't boo themselves when Dhoni threw some charity their and Bell's way and asked the crybabies to bat on! And to think I tweeted that Nottingham crowds enjoyed their cricket best...how wrong can one be. Liquor guzzling cross-dressers can never be expected to be sensible...should never be expected to be so.
The sad part was theere were a couple of Indian gumbangers who were going all gooey-dooey and trying to partake of the crap England's commentators were dishing out. At least Bumble and Nasser later, emphasized the point that Bell was wrong....but Wilkins and his Indian counterpart were so disgusting to listen to. Never saw commies so blatantly betraying themselves as uselessly ignorant when it comes to knowing a game they blabber on for dollars and euros.
And about sporting spirit - I wonder why Bell didn't refuse Dhoni's charity when he knew he made the kind of fundamental mistake a schoolboy might make and quite shamelessly carried on batting? If he were half the man all England was claiming he was...and Strauss for that matter...and the entire facting English team and their "sporting spirit" for their matter...Bell should have politely declined and resolved not to make such a mistake again.
I know some English baiters who have been going on on forums for the past few months...spewing garbage about India and Indians...these racist elements have been tolerated by the forummers...I ask of those sickos..where was the English sporting spirit in this Test match?
At Trent Bridge, England, its players, its ex-players, its commentators and its spectators, over the three days, stood exposed for what they really are.
And then those Indian tongues...who must chatter and pen for their money....BAH!
Ravi Shastri was correct...this was hardly about spirit, it was fundamental cricket matter taught and drilled in in every cricket nursery in the world. Those who were diverting this to a spirit thing were doing for motives other than cricket and the way the game is structured.
Dhoni did a GR Viswanath and called back Bell...needlessly one thought...for soon after when Trott was plumber than a plumper, one didn't see Strauss recalling him from the balcony. Trott played on as if nothing happened even as Nasser Husaain was saying that every batsman knows when he gets rapped on the pads like that that he would be in trouble...big trouble.
England haven't played this series with any sporting spirit at all - what's Dhoni trying to prove? Has all the winning gone to his head? Is he trying to cash in on the team's combined effort? Like he did with the Harbhajan ad? Does he want chapters written on him for this spurious sportsman spirit? I think he would be better served playing a matchwinnign innings himself and let that go into the chapters than become a bigger idiot. Tomorrow, what's to prevent a man bowled from bawling and asking the opposition captain for a recall? Or a man run out? Or a man stumped? This was not even on the scale of Mankaded...Morgan raised his hand, refused the fourth run, and asked Bell to get back into the crease...see the replays. But Bell chose to walk off as if for Tea! Even as the ball was coming back and bails taken off and umpires were still focussed on the play rather than signalling Tea!
If Sourav Ganguly made all those arguments in the commie box, you can easily give a slew of them from another side.
The fact is, if England had done the same, the entire conversation, the entire reaction, would have been different. The dismissed Indian batsman wouldn't have been asked to come back and if he did, the Trent Bridge folks would have booed him too. This sporting spirit stuff is merely an item number of convenience. English convenience.
That's England...that's their sporting spirit...look at what Collingwood had done sometime back. Some things never change, like the masters, their boot-licking brown sahibs and all the lies and frauds paraded out of a game of cricket, things remain as they are.
England have done well in this match, India played poorly, worse late yesterday...when they looked a divided team clearly. More divided than since the start of this series.
If England go on to win from here, it really would be a cricketing spectacle. India are already that.
Sunday, 31 July 2011
Bell does a Viru..almost
Friday, 29 July 2011
Will this be a "Brat" series ?
There are two cricketers, one from either side, currently playing and performing in the Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, who have both, wittingly or unwittingly, earned the sobriquet of "Brat" from the peculiarly judgemental denizens populating spectatorial spaces in this sport. One includes oneself as a prominent citizen of this widely distributed world, we confess, without much discomfort or apology. That is the culture of this space, and one has been an entrenched member of the society that lives in this space and breathes the very air that fills the game. Coming back, Stuart Broad for England and Shantakumaran Sreesanth for India have worn this label for a while now - willingly or unwillingly, comfortably or uncomfortably, we do not know. But they have, and in recent times, have also shown glimpses of a desire to rid themselves of these labels and keep our focus firmly upon their respective sporting prowesses. Again, one isn't sure if that is upon instructions or by desire.
Not for once is one attempting to draw parallels of similarity between the two players - both are vastly different - if one is perceived to be the spoilt scion of a priviliged cricketwise background, the other is frequently seen to be a confused backwoodsman come to the city from the groves and lagoons of a paradise tucked away from the corruptive influence of cricket. Football reigns in these pockets. There are no similarities between the two beyond both endeding up being labelled so. Cricketingly, if one is an all-rounder, the other is merely a bowler....and there end perhaps all similarities.
Perhaps...for there do exist other similarities...both are blessed with an intense desire, nay...zeal, to give their best for their respective teams, and both are currently experiencing a growth explosion in their respective abilities to learn as they go along.
Stuart Broad appears to have one focus, and one focus only, for the series - to perform in all aspects of the game as long as he is on the field. He hasn't stepped out of line even once in this series yet bar the first innings duck at Lord's. Behaviour has been exemplary. His cricket, even better. At all times, he is seeking wickets, and, when it is his turn to bat, he wants to stay and score in such a manner that he performs another task for his team - of demoralizing the opposition besides of course adding valuable inches to his team's chances.
Sreesanth appeared to rule himself out after the tour match and Zaheer's injury meant that along with Munaf, he became the senior paceman in this Indian contigent. Munaf Patel has his utilities and they are not what India wants right now. They wanted a workhorse-cum-battering ram rolled into one, and Sreesanth fit the bill to perfection. He is known to bowl well overseas - he featured in two Test wins in South Africa - and is known to be almost tireless in bowling. He was reputed to be an upright-seam bowler with decent pace, and god willing and country weather permitting, the ball just might swing from the vertical in England. But Sreesanth has demonstrated an advancement, hitherto unknown or unobserved.
Shantakumaran Sreesanth has learnt to bowl with a tilted or angled seam...all the while keeping it steady. And that matters - he becomes a tusker immediately, capable of goring down opponents with an intense combination of swing and pace. Especially in England. If he gets the length right, he is matching Anderson, if not better. At least on the evidence seen thus far in England.
He can aspire to be an all-rounder, but whether he will ever be is a point very moot. But what he has done instead is to expand his repertoire to find, for Test matches at least, the more useful variation of bowling that upright seam at a tilt or angle. He lacked that before and offered nothing other than the slower ball as a variation. What one saw yesterday, was a positive development...a significant move on the growth chart after all these years. If you can, watch the replays of the balls that got his wickets. Pure classy swing in all of them, and all because, instead of sending the ball vertically straight seam-side first from his fingers, placing all trust on the pitch to provide lateral movement, he was sending it slightly tilted, leather-face first while keeping that seam from wobbling. In England, that translates into serious swing...especially dangerous if you have an ounce of pace such as what Sreesanth possesses. He made the ball go both ways but his outswingers were murderous. Ishant Sharma should learn this trick quickly and not take all the time Sreesanth has. Maybe he will bat as capably as he can muster too...but India will not mind if he can take wickets the way he did yesterday. He was almost unplayable at times and had all the batsmen guessing or taking chances. Of course he messed up in between at times and the batsmen took toll of him then, especially Broad, but, hitherto concealed, useful hope for the future now lies pleasantly exposed in Sreesanth's cricket.
Both Broad and Sreesanth's reactions to disappointments were also revealing of new productive mindsets governing their functioning. Neither of them clowned over appeals turned down, instead, they gathered themselves without fuss and walked back quickly to deliver fresh purpose.
This could well turn out to be a series of the "Brats".
Broad Torment For India
It was inevitable that, India, having enjoyed a complete session of sustained application of pressure after Lunch, perhaps for the first time in this series, should degenerate into mindlessness in the session after. Bowling regressed to the pasttime of idiots, and the Indian Lala-in-the-field sprouted out of every fielder to claim a position of dominance over the tagic in the continuing saga of Indian Cricket They dropped catches and ran wildly to take others or not at all when all India was asking for was a group of calm heads.
But Broad, India's other nemesis from Lord's, is pulling his weight. He is contributing a powerful mite to his team's cause.
England are a few runs shy of 200 with still two wickets to go. As we said in an earlier post, 200 and thereabouts is a kind of victory for England.
Inconsistency remains India's bane...the session after Tea is completely England's.
Swann's murdering India's bowling with Broad.
The Trent Bridge Trinity
Sree, Ishant and Praveen...Yes, they have England down as if for the count, but not quite knocked out yet. 127-8 but local boys Swann abd Broad could wade into the tiring trio. All that remains is to launch the crucial killer punch...and we're watching for that.
Meanwhile Nasser mian is already talking about how crucial this partnership would be in a 'low-scoring' match. My dear readers, the thing is India hasn't yet got down to batting yet....and Mian Nasser is already talking about a low scoring game. Just like he began to highlight the dangerousness of this 'new stadium' as soon as England lost the toss and had to bat. before that, the warnings were all for India.
But we are running helter-skelter...got to get these two remaining wickets quick and knock off the runs by evening...or almost all the runs with most minimal loss or none of wickets. Broad and Swann can swing their bats and 200+ will be a victory for them.
The Trinity needs quickets...yup...quick wickets...maybe time to add another bowling head? A spinner perhaps?
India's Tusker Chomps On After Lunch !
After Lunch, India has been a more disciplined and determined bowling and fielding unit. Soon after, Sreesanth, our chief dagger to slice through the dense forests of South African batting prowess, began to rip and carve at the England team, He first picked up a truly huge morsel in the form of former double-centurion, Kevin Pietersen and then went on to demolish India's main reason for defeat in the first Test, Matt Prior for one more than nothing.
Matt Prior it was who rescued Enland twice in the Lord's Test and constructed his team's victory, but today Sreesanth pitched it just short of length to him and it left a Prior stuck on the crease late...Dhoni did the rest. Matt was all squared up like a juicy pie you might find in England. Earlier, with a lovely outswinger, he had KP nicking to Raina.
In between all that he dived forward on his follow sliding through a shastanga namaskaram on the pitch to take Bell's return, but was marginally short.
India have England at 88-6, and as they say, trapped in a fork, they have to take all the catches now generated by the trio of Indian bowlers. Can't let England go from here...GOT TO SNUFF OUT THAT LOWER ORDER RESISTANCE PRONTO! Bell, Bresnan, Broad, Swann and Anderson.
Praveen picked up Strauss and Morgan (for nought again).
Truly, India's Tusker has come out hungry after Lunch. Read More......
Team India missing a complete pressure session
The moral of the five innings India has featured on this England tour thus far has been the failure by Team India to produce one complete session of pressure to bear upon the Englishmen - be it with the bat or with the ball.
Therefore, we cannot speak about the next step - that of replicating the pressure in the next session.
Maybe they did have a few good overs in a session, but I cannot recall a start-fo-finish pressure...pressure...pressure performance from the Indians throughout any single session of play...or a set of say 20-25 overs.
England on the other hand have been able to slip out of early or mid-session pressure and kicked on to a win in the first Test. At Trent Bridge, today, India is repeating the story. Early strikes or good pressure bowling followed by donkey-pitching of the ball to calm the nerves of English batsmen.
Praveen is struggling due to lack of speed and all bowlers have bowled bad, four balls when the need of the moment was to dock in a tight over. Many tight overs would induce errors. Ask the Indian batsmen...they know much about giving it away in an attritional session! Patience is lacking, and, could it be possible that some shame is percieved in bowling six good balls in an over? Appears that way to me...seriously.
So after a great start to this Test match, as at Lord's, it is India that comes out after Lunch with the burden to make things happen rather than England worrying about taking guard. No excuses of an injured bowler here....there are three fit pacemen bowling for India at Nottingham today.
Yet, a repeat of Lord's is very much on. An inconsistent bowling performance with great spells hidden in the litter of poorly planned overs is shaping up for a third time. Yuvraj is playing and also bowling alongwith the bland Harbhajan...so paceman can't be tired in this match.
England 69-2 at Lunch in 27 overs after being 1-7 first and then 2-23 in the 11th over. India won the toss and opted to bowl. Strauss on a blossoming 29* and Kevin Pitersen is untroubled with 26 runs to his name.
Monday, 25 July 2011
Well played England
England is a wicket away from winning the Lord's Test. I missed most of the action past two days and caught snatches on the replays.
If I were to pick two game-changing performers for England in this Test, they have been Matt Prior and Stuart Broad.
In both innings, Prior thwarted India and supported his team to safe totals.
Broad, with ball, bat and behaviour, was exemplary. In both innings he started the rot with the ball.
For India, it was a case of NOT playing as a team. There were individual performances that didn't add up to anything.
If Praveen and Dravid were the lone rangers in the first innings, then it were Ishant Sharma and Raina in the second.
Injuries and illnesses...ah well...let's just say - Well played England!
England should lead 1-0 any moment now.
Friday, 22 July 2011
The Pehelwaan of Lord's
India was on the ropes after the first day of the first Test - having won the toss, Captain Dhoni asked England to bat first under cloudy skies. Zaheer Khan and Praveen Kumar opened for India and they both immediately had the England openers, Strauss and Cook, in a watchful mode with balls that literally swung across the face of their defensive bats to end up in an acute corner on the opposite side of the pitch! It was all pretty to watch but India wasn't quite finding the correct length to bowl. Then Zaheer struck, twice, first making Cook topple over mortally by gradually dragging him more and more to his off as he played around his front leg till such a time that parallax caught up with Chef and he missed a straighter one to be rapped on the pads, plumb in front. Soon, Zak exploited Strauss's strength and compulsion, by bowling a tempting bouncer to pull. Completely governed by instinct, England;s captain, Andrew Strauss went for the pull, without noticing in his rush that the ball was pitched a tad outside the off and was moving away. The top edge was taken by Ishant at fine leg. India was on a high. Sehwag's absence was settling into the background...England's fearfulness about India's bowling was being realized. Kevin Pietersen and Trott looked wary...almost like players of Russian Roulette keaping a keen sense out for the first hint of the bullet that could come at any time.
It was at this stage of exultant anticipation that doom slashed across India's hamstring. Zaheer Khan limped off in the 42nd day. India were left without their second spearhead (Sehwag being the first) at the start of the series itself. To compound matters, Ishant Sharma wasn't finding consistency and Harbhajan appeared domesticated by the catch dropped off his first ball, a pitch too bland for his taste, and his own recent placidity. To compound matters, Kevin Pietersen was experiencing healthy doses of cliches - 'rub of the green' decided to firmly sit in this England jobber's corner.
Praveen Kumar Punches Back All Day
So the second day began with India in strife. England at 127-2 were on firmer ground. Kevin Pietersen had weathered all storms with visible determination the previous evening.
There were fewer clouds and greater shine in the air. Some commentators wondered if Praveen Kumar would be able to ply his trade as he did under greay cloud cover the previous day. By the end of the second day however, all commentators bar the most blinded, would be convinced Praveen was an exponent of his trade in all conditions, slopes, and balls available to him. More of that later.
Ishant did manage to spot the fuller length but couldn't latch on to it for four balls out of six in an over. Harbhajan wasn't quite penetrative or too restrictive either under the circumstances. Praveen Kumar made the odd mistake of pitching the ball in the right zones for the batsman too. As a result, England's batsmen began to canter along. Pietersen was fluid this day unlike the first. Trott, however, was missing his stride. Sure enough, before long, Trott tried to force against the call for patient play and tried to whip one across his foot to leg and missed Praveen Kumar's's swing completely to be caught Cook-like plumb in front. Only difference, this ball kept a little lower than Chef's.
Trott's dismissal was to signal the advent of the best phase of batting, split on either side of Morgan's wicket one must add though, for England.
Ian Bell and Kevin Piteresen together, for the first time in the match, brought beauty to England's batsmanship instead of circumspection and uncomfortable attack. Their partnership withered away the Indian spectator's hopes but made cricket watcher's often gasp in admiration at the sheer timing and fluency of their strokeplay. Bell was clattering along and KP was already into the long-innings anchoring mould. India's bowling, for the first time in this match, began to suggest it might be inadequate. A tall England score was looming and the innings Run Rate also began to catch the breeze.
Mood had shifted sides in the stands, couches, forums and media.
It was in this phase of play that Captain Dhoni requested Rahul Dravid to don the big gloves and brought himself to bowl his dibbly-dobblies to give his bowlers rest. It looked to nearly all as the act of a valiant captain who had accepted that his ship was going down and his men needed relief. But most of these textual commentators do not know that Dhoni has and can bowl usefully and they showed their ignorance in their surprise. And he began well. And continued to bowl well in his spell. Yet again, Dhoni revealed his ability to find solutions for his team when in a predicament. One wishes he doesn't lapse into periods of maintaining status quo where he appears to be doing nothing.
But doing nothing was as what Indian bowling lapsed into while Bell and Pietersen were together.
Challenges bring out the champion hidden inside each one of us. Often. When the English noon was sapping India's effort, Praveen Kumar stepped up once again. He began to weave the ball all around Ian Bell...almost like a spinner...creating a state of temperance in Bell's strident tolling. By inducing that slight but significant eddy in Bell's smooth flow at the threshold of his half-century, Praveen Kumar was setting him up for the kill. And that came when he moved one late away...a slightly slower ball for which Bell stayed back and followed the curve away like a mesmerized one... and Dhoni took the edge gleefully. A good low catch that was a relief after the many dropped ones.
The Morgan Intrelude
Eoin Morgan, the great Irish hope of England, walked in next. To take the platform set up by Bell and KP. Crowd was abuzz with anticipation - this was suppossed to be cash-in time for all the dourness displayed by early England batsmen in this innings. The scoring rate was expected to rocket into unknown orbits. But three bamboozling balls later, Praveen Kumar made one come back in, instead of going away and Morgan was sliced into two. There was a loud noise and the appeal for caught behind was upheld. Morgan was walking anyway. Then the propagandists took over.
The incompleteness of DRS was blamed for Morgan's 'dismissal' because Hotspot failed to pick the bat's edge. They said, that if the DRS were in full force, then he could have appealed and been ruled 'not out'. They were quick to tell us that Morgan in his mind was thinking that he was given LBW and therefore didn't challenge. As if they were Morgan's deemag ka keeda....cysticerci residing in Morgan's brain who instantly knew his mind's working! If Morgan wanted, he could have challenged the decision - England had two challenges with them at that stage and he could have challenged the caught decision if he felt he hadn's had a nick.
Now this highlights many failings of the current system - 1) so much still depends upon perception and not technology 2) Hotspot has its own fallacy and error margin and 3) DRS continues to be players' call rather than umpire reference tool. Rather than 'halfway house' DRS, DRS itself is showing the propagandists the need for a proper, scientific, politics-less debate on the development of the correct set of technology and their best method os application in cricket. But propagandists don't want to discuss...perhaps they do not understand science...maybe they just prefer playing dirty hate politics, and that's their real goal.
Praveen Kumar had once again brought India back into the game.
A Priori, Matt Rises
Piteresen was upping the ante. He was gaining the mental edge over Indian bowlers. His feet were moving well and his eye was catching the ball early. His bat was imperiously dispatching the ball from well outside off to the square-leg and mid-wicket. He was confident enough to be constanlty walking across the crease. But all this could come to a naught if wickets fell away on the other side. Matt Prior bustled in to take guard at this crucial juncture.
Prior is pugnacious and can, when in mood and form, play outrageously to the situation's perceived demand, to revert lost advantage back to England. On this day, he grabbed the session by its scruff and lay about the Indian bowlers. It was just the elixir Kevin Pitersen needed. Just the confidence to up the ante from his side. England began to score at almost run a ball for the next 30 or so overs as a result...in a Test match! For an Indian supporter, all apppeared lost.
Yet again Praveen Kumar, the wrestler's son from Meerut, the earthy son of the soil from the Gangetic plain, who knows toil, doesn't shirk, and has never known fear or accepted subjugation, struck. Not once, but boxed back two telling blows into the rampaging England side. It was a punch-up where fellows were beating each other up groggy.
Praveen Kumar began to dizzy up Prior with movement and when he let his guard slip, bowled a temptation...just short and a little wide...Prior stepped back to lash it to the point fence...but the outswinger moved, and Praveen Kumar had prepped it up with a little extra juice, so it rose a bit more than what Prior's oak like arms had gotten used to hacking square. Dhoni clung on to the valuable edge and Matt Prior departed after playing a most entertaining innings of 71 from a mere 93 balls. One, which changed the fortunes of England in this match yet again.
Questions were being asked if England would be able to score 500 by the end of the third day, given the rate at which they were playing prior to Matt's innings. As he left, England were safely in a position to declare if required on the second day itself.
Praveen Kumar followed this ball up with a beauty...no not Stuart Broad...but a beautifully bowled ball to little Stu...who had no clue..whatsoever..to Parveen's swing and was stranded first ball before the stumps.
This was a huge moment for the humble lad from Meerut...he stood, on debut at Lord's, as a man with five wickets against his name in adversity. He accepted the responsibility and single-handedly gripped hard on an England's arm to hold them in check as it was running away against other Indian bowlers.
Later on, the Indian's fell off...the adrenaline ran out. Swann and KP toyed with the tired bowling and set up a fifty partnership. Raina came in to bowl his off spin and knocked Swann's stumps out of the ground with a fastish ball from around the wicket. And when Harbhajan had been tonked around by Swann and KP for the same tactics.
The Jobber's Double
The man who has been casigated by Englishmen at the merest whim and fancy, Kevin Pietersen, was imperious in his rollicking march to his double century. When only the lower order stayed on with him, he lifted England to a position filled with possibilities. He began his innings clearly determined to understand he lay of the land first. He subdued his natural extrovert instincts and studiously pored over what the Indian bowlers, the pitch and the conditions had to offer. And when he felt he had a grip of things, his innings blossomed out. Confidence was etched in every step he ook outside the off stump to whip the ball unnnaturally to the led side bouwndary.. Or the straight driven fours...or the bolt-straight six over the bowler's head. It was an innings constructed well by a man upon whom England likes to apply liberally pressure born, perhaps, out of nothing more than envy. It was a grand innings, good to look at and well appreciated by all.
The declaration came as soon as KP scored 200...England pressed for time continued to allow KP to get to his milestone. India were done with wicket taking for the day.
England's Haute Bowling Machine
All anticipaton had it neatly calculated, confirmed and sorted out - the short session before India would be overwhelming from them againstt he great England bowlers who would go 'all-out' before close of play. India, many opined, would be glad to get back to their hotel with five six wickets intact!
Nothing like that happened of course...nothing ever has happened as naysayers firmly bound against India have uttered in the past four-five years...just as India confidently went about winning cups, trophies and matches, India's England-debuting openers, Abhinav Mukund and Gautam Gambhir set off confidently and at a good, matching pace.
The great Tremletts hadn't begun to sizzle when England wanted them to, being little more than quivering Trembletts in the darkening evening at Lord's. Not very different, it was, for James Anderson either.
One can safely say, England's haute bowling machine chose to make a downright dowdy statement when the evening's ramp was all theirs.
Today, Day Three, will be a battle...mostly for England's bowlers one thinks.
England's total is well within range. Read More......
Thursday, 21 July 2011
Champions must rise NOW
India is familiar with against-all-odds sort of stories. Not only is its own history replete with such instances, occuring on an almost daily basis, its cricketing history glows with such magnificent tales too. Every achievement gained in cricket by India, has come usually against the tide; when no one gave its teams any chances. Derision, jealousy, criticism and snubbery have always walked alongside India's march, intent upon stumbling its progress. The same has replicated itself in the sphere of cricket.And in the current series as well.
Yesterday, India didn't bowl like champions. They looked pretty, sure, but the batsmen were untroubled. One felt Dhoni should have started with different ends for Ishant and Zaheer...a matter we had discussed in our preview before the match...but these are not hard and fast rules. Anyway, players know better than armchair specialists like us. The decision to bowl first was applauded by many, but one disagreed with that. No doubt the conditions were ominously in favour of the bowlers but that was a risk to be taken by Indian batsmen. As it turned out, Indian bowlers failed to make best use of the conditions. Entirely possible Ishant and Praveen didn't know what to do with those conditions.
India either lacked sufficient pace to go along with their swing or they just bowled the wrong lengths. The problem could have been more in execution than in planning. Then they were tardy in the field. Ground fielding regularly released the pressure and a couple of catches were dropped - off Trott and Pietersen - which should have been taken at this level. India looked sloppy champions and England a team, that was biding its time...perhaps ruminating over their assessment of India's bowling prowess.
It was in such a state of affairs that the in-form Cook, stroking beautifully whenever the opportunity presented itself, was made to lean over a little too much to the off side by Zaheer Khan and was found plumb by Asad Rauf. There never appeared much doubt, but Nasser Hussain, a former England captain, as if by instinct, called upon technology, even if one not more accurate than a human umpire, to confirm at Lord's. The irony of it.
Strauss was suckered into pulling a bouncer...one of his favourite strokes...by Zaheer Khan. Only, Zaheer managed to make the ball go wider from where it pitched and Strauss knew even as he mesmerized himself to pull that he would be gone. And he was taken...caught by Ishant at fine leg. It was a clever plan by Zaheer and brilliant in its execution.
But the remaining bowlers were wanting - Harbhajan began with a stinging delivery though that saw the edge of Trott's bat but was not taken by Dravid after getting his hands to it. Into this milieu, a twist in the script was added - like a potboiler's - Zaheer Khan was taken out of the innings, possibly the match and perhaps the series, by the twitch of a muscle, or an entire group of them called hamstrings.
These things happen, but happen more when coming into a match from complete rest from bowling. Our friend Krishna did express his worry about Zak's fitness in comments to our preview.
What Zak's ailment did is leave the champions with a greater challenge - from now on, India's bowlers - greenhorns and veteran - will have to rise to this challenge, and its batsmen as one...in support of their bowlers to keep this series on even keel or dominate it from here.
Right now, it is advantage England even as rain curtailed play. Trott is on a well crafted fifty-eight.
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
English spinner
When one logged in early this morning to peruse news and articles on the Test series to commence later today, one came across a small link tucked in among the basket of links on the Cricinfo front page. The link led the reader to a interview of sorts with Graeme Swann, or a report of what he might have said elsewhere. It was one in which Swann suggested the inferiority of India's batsmen and their likely batting sequence in comparison to England's. One bookmarked the article on the desktop and moved on to hit the road, with the intention of catching up with the article for reading at leisure before work became busy. And probably write a few comments on it. However, one is unable to locate the link to the said article at the portal.Maybe it has been done away with.
be that as it may, a Google search brought me to a summary of that report available at Cricketlounge One quotes from it
It is hard to disagree with Swann's perceptions, but one suspects that England may well be looking for a four-prong attack or different spinner before this series is through. The world's second-best batting line-up, might just decide to unwind on England's 'magic bowler' against all teams but India (and Australia too - Link), after getting through the breakfast course of Trembletts and Andersums. One doesn't discount good ol' Swanny dishing out 200 runs off his 40-45 overs he may have to bowl per innings. After that, the number of wickets he takes will not matter nor the next Test guaranteed!
The loquacious one is certainly practising spinning it hard.
By the way, Swanny fans need not worry - England is sure to play one of Broad or Swanny, if not both, for the sound effects value they bring to the English team. I am certainly looking forward to Swanny spin it - one way or the other. Read More......
Tomorrow we begin our title defence
That's right, on the 21st of July, India, we, go to field at Lord's to combat our first real threat to our crown. England are eager challengers, itching to cast the first blow under typical English conditions forecast to prevail in London tomorrow. One has encountered strife for having believed forecasts put out on the site during the Dominica Test few weeks ago, but somehow, London and grey rain-filled skies, sound believeable.
India might ask England to bat, liek Indian captains have done before, but I doubt, despite Anderson and co's presence, England would choose to put India in. But these things cannot be said with certainty...we can only guess the philosophy of the dressing room is. From India's point of view, given the conditions, it looks like three seamers will play, and that those three would be Ishant, Praveen and of course Zak.
What will be worth watching is how Ishant uses his main strength, if he is asked to bowl from the Pavilion end, from where, he might struggle to keep the ball on the square, thanks to the slope down towards the leg side. He might do a Harmison. But, he could go across the two southpaw England openers rather disconcertingly.
Zak could also benefit when he comes over the wicket from this end, but running up the slope would be sort of ideal for him.
Praveen shouldn't mind bowling from either side too.
Will the 'pie-chucker' play specifically to snare Kevin Pietersen? Though Raina appears to have got his eye in, and should play, I cannot help feeling Yuvraj might be given the nod ahead. It's an entirely subjective feeling and one could be wrong in the end. Then Raina can be the fourth seamer/off-spinner, but there is also the question - will India be exerting on selecting a part-time fifth bowler or will they be straining on which batsman to select? One thinks, the batsman is of prime concern and not the kind of fifth bowler - four bowlers shoul;d do the job at Lord's...especially when there are three quality pacemen in the ranks.
If India bat, it will be a torrid time for both India openers. Mukund and Gambhir will have to put their best foot forward, be cicumspect with play outside the off stump, and will have to be willing to give a few overs to the bowlers at the outset.
A strong opening stand can work wonders for India. Of that, there can be no doubt - be it batting, bowling, or fielding - the first day must be snatched away from England. It is essential to push England on the back foot right away and keep them there.
Good luck to both teams and let us hope we have good match. One also hopes India remain fixed to their purpose in the game and forget about whatever distractions that may be thrown their way to queer the pitch.
Sunday, 17 July 2011
Raina remains unbeaten
Soon after Raina crossed his hundred, Munaf Patel was out plumb to Max Walker, leaving India with the unpleasant task to bowl the day out and Raina stuck on 103.
The point to note was Raina got to his 100 and didn't throw it away, as was his wont in the past.
Even if the bowling was circus variety, will Raina play at Lord's on the back of this performance?
Raina scoring at run a ball
With nothing to lose, Raina is certainly getting in his slice of batting alright. Sreesanth was out early - Willoughby adding to his overnight five wickets by bowling him - but since then it has been Raina all the way. For 67 runs since Sreesanth's wicket, Raina has done all the scoring with Munaf Patel contributing his support and one run.
Does this edge out Yuvraj Singh? Do we go with four bowlers and Raina's dibbly dobblies? How much can one read into this innings?
We can't say for we are listening to commentary only and can't see the quality of bowling.
It's a tough call to leave out Raina for team balance and tactics, but one continues to believe dressing room minds are made up on this.
India 212-9, Suresh Raina 96*
Scorecard Read More......
Not a bad chune at all
"We are the West Indies" video put up by media arm of WICB on YouTube
The video's not bad either .
Oxymorons
Oxymorons? We think they might be oxygen breathing morons...but you don't have to believe us or take us seriously....
- ICC Statement upon amendment to their constitution adopted at Hong Kong, 2011.
Let's begin with the hackneyed portion of the statement, as quoted above, once again on this blog. Now let's look what happens in Mumbai.
Vilasrao Deshmukh is new MCA president - Cricinfo
Of the 329 members supposed to vote in the secret ballot, six did not turn up, three others did not vote and three votes were invalid
Vilasrao Deshmukh, the former Maharashtra chief minister, has defeated Dilip Vengsarkar, the former India captain, in the 77th presidential elections of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), continuing the two-decade long trend of a politician heading the body. Deshmukh's margin of victory was 47 votes; he received 182 to Vengsarkar's 135.
Mr.Deshmukh, and Mr.Shukla of BCCI, are ministers in the current cabinet. - LINK Mr. Pawar of course has been a long-term senior minister.
One has nothing against politicians - as long as they are honest, competent and work sincerely for the betterment of the sport, one has absolutely no objections to them managing sports. In fact, they can be highly effective managers within the country if they possess the admirable and requisite traits.
One is sure both Mr.Deshmukh and Mr.Vengsarkar are very capable men and it is given there can only be one winner in an election.
One cannot really understand what ICC really meant by that slogan they adopted - it isn't practical or practised - where there are elections...when there is democracy, as in an autocracy or dictatorship, politics and politicians are always around. In a democratic society, how can politicians be kept out by a diktat?
That said, why do people who have the power of vote, and a choice between a politician and a player vote for the politician? If all the platitudes they mouth about interference is true, why do they not use elections to make their statement?
So much for the ICC's slogans, MCA and its 'elections'.
Maybe governments will ask ICC to haul their...when they come around asking for security arrangements. [ Link ] Read More......
Saturday, 16 July 2011
Five Blogs
To kick off your Sunday morning reading
1) Skipper resigns - at WITTERINGS by Fantasy Bob
2) Yuvraj Singh's Golden Chance - at The Cricket Window by Vaibhav Sharma.
3) Introducing Pakistan’s latest fast bowling golem: Junaid Khan - at CWB by Jrod
4) On the Myth of Test Cricket's Approaching Death - at Island Express by Avinash.
And a last one on the current series of interest, and to a match up which we too are looking forward to
5) Zaheer Khan and James Anderson - at King Cricket
Worked fine for me this morning.
Suresh Raina wants to play at Lord's
We return to the conundrum that has dogged the no.6 spot in India's batting order, which has only been amplified by the World Cup and the West Indies tour since - Does India play Mr. Yuvraj Singh or Mr.Raina at that slot? The tour match with Somerset stirs up this question again with the warmed-up Suresh Raina playing significantly while the Prince of Silken Strokes, Maharaj Yuvraj Singh was mostly ineffective on all fronts in this match.
Mr.Raina has helped the Indian XI to three figures with an unbeaten 30 runs scored in the company of Sachin and the tailenders. Sreesanth is there with him to attempt to further reduce the first innings deficit from 287 on the third day.
It is possible minds are made up on this issue already.
Meanwhile, C. Willoughby has already taken five telling wickets to send a message of sorts across to the visitors which they themselves could not to Andrew Strauss and co.
Being without a telecast has limited our ability to form opinions.
Thanatosis
The mix of rusty and warmed up players that is representing India at Somerset has been laid low by an elderly gentleman by the name of Charl Willoughby. The South African has torn up the batting order and India is, as a result, 6-95 in an important tour match.
Thus far the opportunity to settle in may be considered to have been wasted by all concerned.
That said, it is possible, India played possum as far as bowling was concerned. But how does one explain this batting performance? That's many layers of runs you see there!
Hopefully, the worst is out of the way before Lord's.
Daroo Burper's Chillum Stories
But what about the Choris?
More kiss and tell tales to follow from Daroo Burper's diary...stay tuned.
Chillum = a horn shaped pipe that rises up from the lips...usually for dreamy uses.
You can read the comic strip on YouTube too
Friday, 15 July 2011
Mr.Muppet plays the puppeteer
Mr. Andrew 'Muppet' Strauss, Captain of England, was indentured into the Somerset team from Middlesex, by a combination, perhaps, of a personal request and collective wisdom of England's dressing room, to play the tour match against the visiting Indians. Mr.Strauss had expended form, that he once possessed in great bottomless abundance, on one glorious innings against India in England's league fixture during the World Cup at Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, in February earlier in the year. Muppet, since, has sreadily lost every single penny of his form and pound of good fortune at the crease. All attempts at restoring his treasures coming to a naught. In a move that would have made Niccolo Machiavelli proud, the indent and supply of Mr.Strauss was swift and without hurdle. Mild county-side murmurs that disagreed had to concede, to interests of the greater good - of England. And, as if by grand design, Mr.Strauss became a prosperous batsman once again - enriched to his gills with form and fortune by the good humoured visiting Indian bowlers and their fielders, who in their turn disclosed a rare sense of charity by twice showering the blessings of additional life upon Muppet's regally balding head. Quite reminiscent of the relationship representatives of Britain have shared with India over time - an interaction that always beginning with kindness, friendship and generosity from the Indians. Live audio commentary available at cricketcommentary.co.uk/somerset 
All thoughts of utilizing this tour match at the start of the series as a scroll upon which the message to be sent to the chair of England's dressing room would be penned, appeared to remain our own fantasy and did not influence the purpose of my touring brothers who took the field.
By all accounts, Mr.Khan did begin to bowl gingerly, and only gradually racked it up. All players who had useful stints in West Indies, or had spent adequate time applying their craft, or for reasons of tactics, were rested from the match. So Mr.Sreesanth and Mr.Patel were given the opportunity to make bold statements. Mr.Bhajji Singh was also asked to sit down in favour of Mr.Mishra, and it was Amit Mishra who finally ended Andrew Strauss's innings.
By that time however, Strauss had rediscovered all elements of confident batsmanship, playing straight and around the wicket, showing the nimblest of sure foot movements, thanks to the gifts on elephant backs bowled by all Indian bowlers. The early shout by Zaheer Khan against Muppet's padding being in the way was said to be a good one, but could not match the generosity of Mr.Saha who allowed Strauss to run away from his iron gloves. Saha made amends a few runs later but one can safely say the intended message (if there) had bolted by then.
Without making too much fuss anymore about India's efforting well within themselves on the field yesterda, let us move on to the joy Malaysian born Somersetman, Suppiah, must be experiencing for being in a position to wait through rain on morning of the second day with a chance to convert his overnight gains into a double hundred. Not that Suppiah will be indentured to play for England anytime soon, but this is a feat he can narrate to listeners sitting around a future campfire.
Such are the stuff tour matches are made of - Mr.Muppet made the Indians dance to his tune.
Is BCCI responsible for this too?
DRS out of Sri Lanka-Australia series
Sri Lanka's board has reportedly decided not to use the Decision Review System (DRS) during the upcoming series against Australia, despite the ICC last month making the DRS mandatory for Tests and one-day internationals..
[...]
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) can save some money by refusing to have umpire reviews in place for Australia's seven-week tour that starts in August.
[...]
Upali Dharmadasa, the SLC interim committee chairman, told the Daily Mirror: "We have decided not to have the DRS for the Australian series." The technology required for the DRS is currently estimated to cost $5000 per day and with the SLC having financial difficulties, the board have decided not to use the system.
--- Cricinfo
So Niranjan Shah knew what he was talking about all along...and the excitable men and women from all around the world...from Agra via London West Indies South Africa and so on back to Agra, did not.
Let's see what Shah said sometime ago.
"The ICC can come up with such technology because the money is not going from its coffers. The member boards have to pay for it. There might be some matches in the world where the money coming in from the ticket collection will be less than the amount spent on DRS."
--- Cricinfo
We had an article earlier somewhere...here it is.
The point is NOT, NOT to have DRS, but to have the best possible combination of technology and a mechansim that can solve problems and not create new controversies like the current DRS does.
But we will wait for some criticism of the Sri Lankan cricket establishment....even from Tony G...despite knowing that they'll all be ducking low currently. Where are the BCCI BCCI CACOPHONISTS? The idiotic haters who post pure unconsidered blinded drivel all over the web.
There are aspects to DRS people haven't considered and have instead gotten caught up in the emotional apects vis a vis India, or the politics of DRS. Many such people have simply taken directions and went with the herd instinct and followed blindly on - first one way, then the opposite way!
There are things to be discussed...one more now given the broadcaster's error and the fact that ICC's main broadcaster may be a monopoly, if what littl info you find on the web is correct. That isn't good, not conducive for development of correct technology or cheap technology and its application, and is also deeply suspicious. Read More......
Abhinav Mukund promises
Hopefully not just in dreams!
By the way, Gambhir too would be making his debut in England as a Test player and Lord's would be a fresh page for him.
Don't let Sourav 'Dada' Ganguly slip through
I hope Indian cricket has a plan to use him in a constructive capacity. Just listen to the man on Star Cricket's Signature Sourav programme. I hope he doesn't simply fade into the broadcasting box...there is more this man can offer without being a player.
Looking forward to seeing Sourav Ganguly in a useful capacity in Indian cricket.
Somerset Tour Match
It is sad that the tour match isn't being televised from England in this day and age of connectivity. That needed to be said at the outset and left behind. But on the bright side - there is a tour match after all...in fact two! Live audio commentary available at cricketcommentary.co.uk/somerset
One cannot say with certainty if young men (and women), fans of the game in their teens or early twenties, would be familiar with the concept of tour matches in a series. They may wonder what the fuss is all about in an era of almost non-stop cricket.
Tour matches were an integral part of any series in the past. They served a dual pupose - to acclimatize visitors to local conditions while allowing them to limber out of long ship-locked journeys, and, to give a chance for the locals to expose their cricketers to tourists who, inevitably, must play their cricket a little differently than teams engaged with familiarity of domestic cricket competitions. It was an informal opportunity for many youngsters to make well-heard statements, for veteran players to check if their form and memory of conditions and opposition were intact and up to date, and for those lacking in sufficient cricket to get some concentration going.
One-day cricket gradually replaced the First Class tour matches. Modern cricketers also preferred shorter tours to long drawn out expeditions. And travel modes changed - within a week you could now play two matches in different continents. The element of staying in touch ceased to have a lot of significance. But that's fallacious.
Conditions that are significantly different from one's regular area of play require attention. No matter how experienced a player is, they'll tell you that a breaking-in match is most useful...at least at the start of a tour. So tour matches began to be set up at the start of the tour with hardly any in between. The negative impact of this was that young players touring with a team were squeezed out by seniors who wanted to take the only opportunity at the start to practice in match conditions; and second, the pulling out of intermediate tour matches robbed players of recovery time and a chance to recapture form that might have deserted them on tour, or correct technical errors that were limiting them.
From a spectator's point of view, tour matches allowed one to assess various players as fans of any game do before big games. When visiting teams came over and a tour match was going on nearby, it was a an oppotunity for fans to even interact with players - home and visiting - unstressed by the demands of competition. Such was the sporting spirit of those times...the ethos of cricket in an uncluttered era.
But change is inevitable if survival has to be accommodated. We do not dispute that or chafe at the same.
Therefore, one is glad that boards of two teams out of those playing about the best cricket that is being played today in the world, have applied thought to the plan. The importance of this series cannot be underestimated - an England win by a margin of two Test matches changes the look of the Test match leaderboard. Positions will be exchanged. So it was sagacious of the planners, and completely befitting such a clash, so as to be provided for of all such comforts that may be necessary or envisaged to promote the occurrence of a well-contested battle for top honors. We extend out congratulations to those responsible...whoever they may be.
An aside, I don't know if players keep the rankings in mind or not, but I'm sure most would welcome the days of unofficial champions when you could ride an image and glory from other quarters even through your slumps. Today each win and loss counts...it's that stark.
India will also play Northamptonshire mid-series, between the second and third Test. Imagine what an advantage that would be for Virender Sehwag who could possibly return to play around that time! He will not be found fretting over going into a Test match straight from the surgeon's office. Not that Sehwag frets over these things, however, the advantage of this scenario cannot be denied.
Tour matches have their own parameters and one welcomes whatever opportunity there is in catching up with news from there. In India, at least Neo Sports tends to broadcast live even these matches as and when they happen. Our minor gripe aside, let's look orward to the players getting out on the field and feeling their way into the series.
The Somerset squad hasn't been announced and one hopes there is sufficient quality in whichever selection emerges from their dressing room to keep Indians on their toes. That would truly prepare then for the Lord's series opener. the county has a good selection of personnel but it is difficult to rule out those not in that squad also playing...say from the second string team. In Marcus Trescothick, former England swashbuckling southpaw opener, they have the County leader among batsmen. Somerset itself lies mid-table in the 2011 points table.
Cricinfo scoreboard
Thursday, 14 July 2011
Hope you have a wonderful time
Mr.Daryl Harper probably has a point here if his version is the correct one. That said, one would have expected Mr.Harper to have applied as much time, thought and energy in ruminating over and correcting his repetitive mistakes over the years, which were not always tough decisions. He might not have been saying all this stuff today, if that had been the case. Highly paid pros are expected to perform in a matching manner.
Link
Mukund's really big series
As we expected, Sehwag's healing shoulder cannot be rushed into complete action keeping the 'larger picture' in mind, and the current opinion appears to suggest he will have to sit out for at least two Tests of the current tour with no guarantees about the third. These things can change from individual to individual and time, depending upon their body healing and response to rehabilitative processes.
This certainly weakens India's batting line-up...no doubt about it and takes away a few options for Dhoni, while opening up a few for the opposition. Now, the opposition can time their declarations earlier than they would otherwise have done in Sehwag's presence, thus giving more time for opposition bowlers to have a go at the Indians.
So there it is, the stage is set for Abhinav Mukund - it is for the rookie to make it his own with performances that can fill even seasoned thespians with pride.
Mukund should incorporate shouldering arms and dropping wrists into his batting instincts in England, and, must be absolutely certain of where his off stump is and not need to go out of his way to play at balls than can be left for the keeper with careful judgement. His purpose must be firm...to give India the safest starts possible, and, as long as they can be from him. Maybe he should seek out Sunil Gavaskar for a quick tutorial or tip on these important aspects of opening batsmanship.
Get a good sensible series under your belt first and then you can go on to be a stylebhai if you wish to. West Indies and England are an opportunity that doesn't come to many players the way it has.
Wishing both Sehwag and Mukund the very best.
India will need the best of both players given the strong English team lining up their challenge.
Uncertainty remains over Sehwag's return
Twenty-five years later, can India repeat the magic?
England and Lord's haven't been pleasant experiences for India in Test cricket. Limited overs cricket might be another story, but our current concern is with Test cricket. The reason is rather obvious - here are two well-matched teams squaring up for a decisive battle against each other in the challenger's den. And that den is a place where the reigning monarch of cricket hasn't won much.
Admittedly, four out of the five Test victories scored by India, and both series wins, have been registered on this side of the past three decades, while the first Test win in England happened four decades ago. Though India came back from the last tour as series victors, it was one earned by the skin of its teeth - the draw at Lord's in the first Test being all Dhoni's show. There was very little between the teams then - that time, India was the one learning how to win pressure games outside its own borders while England were the higher rated team. Today, the situtaion is almost similar, the difference being India come in ranked higher, if not rated higher. England are the impatient challengers keen to topple India.
In many ways, one expects the forthcoming series to be almost similar to the 2007 series. The team that holds its nerve when it mattrers most will win it all. England are a strong, balanced unit, with hardly any chinks apparent. India on the other hand are coming in with plenty of rusty players, although the pace bowling department looks significantly better for Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar's performance in West Indies. India's batting is experienced, but not in the best nick or haven't taken to the field for a while. Key players were, and still are, recovering from injuries and their treatment. Experience also means Age. The three main players for India - Sachin, Dravid and Laxman - who will form the backbone of India's batting challenge, have shown signs of age in their play in recent times despite being above challenge from all newcomers. But we will come back to them shortly.
Some might even consider our drawing a similarity with the 2007 series a tad hopeful and may be positively shocked to find us hypothesizing on the possiblities of recreating the emphatic victory of India's first series win in England in 1986. Is it possible to repeat that in 2011? Let us examine the 1986 2-0 series win first.
The six identifiable elements of India's outstanding success in 1986 can be noted down as follows -
► 1) A trio of bowlers with the ability to swing the ball both ways in a controlled manner, and their apt application of the same - Kapil Dev, Chetan Sharma and Roger Binny. They were supplemented by Madan Lal who was called in from the English leagues as a replacement, that worked well incidentally, for the injured Chetan Sharma.
► 2) Two nagging left arm spinners who could bowl, if required, at one spot for five days at a stretch without missing it even once - Maninder Singh and Ravi Shastri.
► 3) Depth in batting - the Indian team of 1986 barely had a tail for one of Kiran More or Chetan Sharma used to turn up an no.10 and both were capable of batting stoutly if required. That left only Maninder as Jack.
► 4) The structure of the batting order - For some reason, India decided to adopt an aggressive approach to the series from the opening batsmen point of view. Cheeka was a natural, but Gavaskar surprised everbody with the overall tempo he chose to set his batsmanship in. Then the three bats in the middle. For the in-form Dilip Vengsarkar, there was Mohinder "Jimmy" Amarnath coming in before him and the then young hot-rod, Mohammed Azharuddin following him. They formed the functional backbone of India's batting order.
►5) Good fielding, strong chasing down of balls and stinging returns back from the outfield put an element of tentativeness into England's running that series.
► 6) D.E.S.I.R.E and C.O.M.P.E.T.I.T.I.V.E.N.E.S.S. - Those days India was on a competitive high of sorts, having won the World Cup for the first time two years ago in 1983 and the B&H World Championship in Australia in 1985. There was a new aggression and confidence among Indians and newcomers into the team were keen to measure up to the same. The lessons of 1983 and 85 were expanded to include Test cricket.
Now let us see how we compare with these ingredients today. At this point, one must make note of the fact that in 1986, England was a team with some troubling factors - they were missing Ian Botham throughout the series for he was undergoing suspension for drug abuse and then Gower missed the second Test at Headingley, Leeds, apparently with some discomfort in his shoulder significant for him to withdraw from the Tests after nets. More than Gower, England probably felt Botham's absence, for than player has been singularly successful against India at most times. The current England team, or the likely eleven, has no such problems just yet.
Now for our checklist -
► 1) The trio of bowlers and back ups - In Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar, we have the perfect template to match 1986. Perhaps a little more variety now given that we have a left arm bowler this time, in exchange for, if one may say so, consistent accuracy and cleverness. Zak is above board and Praveen Kumar might make the cut and match Roger Binny's bowling nous and ability, but the question is, can Ishant Sharma be the ripping firebrand bowler Chetan Sharma was on that tour?
Chetan Sharma bowled enthusiastically, with purpose, control and cunning to emerge the highest wicket taker for both sides in just two Tests! He had 16 telling wickets from just two matches.
Binny and Kapil had 12 and 10 respectively from three matches. All of them, all Indian pace bowlers of that tour, including Maddipa in the second Test at Leeds, bowled tight lines, quickly grasped the uncomfortable lengths to each batsman and swung the ball both ways to keep them guessing. This is the question that troubles me - Do anybody other than Zak and Munaf have that consistent ability and enterprise on this team. One thinks Praveen looks like the kind of player who might have this innate smartness, and he does have the ability to bowl any kind of swing. Ishant Sharma, despite his recent success in West Indies, might have the tendency to stray or may take time to pick up the best spot to bowl to a batsman. And can he maintain consistent pressure arounbd one spot? And Sreesanth?
Eric Simmons spoke highly of Sreesanth's spell against South Africa where he almost axed Jaques Kallis down. But is he a consistent man? Last season, even if he didn't get wickets, we saw him bowl a few consistent spells...but there were also those that either had the fuller ones or the short ones or the ones with width. Can he do a Maddipa?
Munaf might be more likely to play that kind of role.
All said and done, it does look that the team of 2011 isn't lacking in a lot much in comparison to the '86 team. Today they have a little more pace and a left armer compared to '86 even though they could be lacking in bowling experience/intellect...call it what you will.. overall.
► 2) Coming to point two, in Harbhajan Singh we have a bowler who can be what Mani and Ravi did back then - stifling England batsmen, around the wicket, on and just outside the off stump. Harbhajan can do this and take wickets - he can, with all the cleverness he has and experience he has gained, shuffle his tricks on and just outside the off stump. But he has a tendency to lose it down he leg flat and fast...or too straight down the middle. That will kill him, for these English batsmen are good players and perhaps better versed with playing spin now than they were at the starts of their respective careers. The question is who will be the second spinner? We need one more without sacrificing the balance of the team. So does Yuvraj Singh fit the bill?
Given that some England batsmen have struggled against slow left arm orthodox and given Yuvraj's recent performance as an effective bowler in World Cup, and the fact that he is a batsman who is screwing his head on correctly with each passing day, there is a case for playing him - rusty self and all - ahead of the warmed up Raina. It's a big gamble when you consider that India, traditionally, haven't opened any series in England well except that 1986 one. And certainly not at Lord's, where India has just one win out of 15 matches played - many of them the first tests of respective series. One may be tempted to play the in-form batsman Raina, who can bowl partnership-breaking dibbly dobblies by the way, as insurance. The current Yuvraj Singh package looks alluring though - one is itching to check out his new attitude towards cricket, responsibility, purpose and all-round confidence. One or the other, it will have to be and it will be unfair to whoever is the 'other'. Team tactics and constraints cannot afford to play both...or Mishra as the second spinner. It does look like Raina will have to bide his time.
Yuvraj can fill the all-rounder's spot and give India that fifth bowler it will need on this series. If he is able to negotiate the swing of England and spin of Swann with his rejuvenated mind, nothing like it....India cannot ask for more and a huge problem would be solved. Can he tempt Kevin Pieterson one again? That is if KP plays.
Yuvi could, if he tries, be our Shastri for this series. Mind you, Harbhajan can bat better than Maninder!
Thats' two points almost even. Now the third -
► 3) Depth in batting - This may be the first area in which this team of 2011 will suffer in comparison to the older one. Team 2011 will always have a Nine Ten and Jack whereas the '86ers didn't have more than a Jack. The onus naturally shifts here to the batsmen up the order...especially to MS Dhoni. he will have to make up for the slack consistently. He will have to make up for the longer tail, because he is certainly a better batsman than Kiran More. I think a lot of Dhoni's Test match batting problems have to do with his batting in only one gear, given that he is always precariously perched on top of the tail, and far lesser imagination than he displays in LOIs. The man can be a better Test batsman than he what he is. No doubt in one's mind about that.
India will have to go into every match expecting little from their last three batsmen, so the senior bats must shape up accordingly to the task of prolonging an innings and scoring suffiient runs. We'll give this to the '86ets.
► 4) The structure of the batting order is almost similar to the '86ers. The quality of Gavaskar, Jimmy, Vengsarkar and Azza are well-matched by Sachin, Dravid, Laxman and Sehwag. The toss up is between Sewag and Gambhir as to who among them represents Cheeka's role more. If Gambhir can get his shuffles right and holds his prods back, he will perform more usefully than Cheeka or Sunny did on that tour.
This component of the batting order belongs to Team 2011, onethinks.
What is hard to beat and match is what follows - Shastri, Kapil, More, Chetan Sharma/Madan lal.
one has already supposed Yuvraj Singh will be India's Shastri at least and Dhoni proves a more capable batsmen than the timely More. But what do you do with Kapil's slot? That's a hole too large to fill even for Harbhajan Singh. Though if you ask him, he just might belt a few sixes and a quickfire seventy as reply!
► 6) Point no.6 is what will set this team apart. The batsmen looked mild in West Indies...quite subdued and even lost, but the team has changed and old hands have returned. Onethinks there will be no dearth of this spirit...only danger can be complacency or excessive distraction.
Make no mistake of it, England will play every trick in the book to unsettle India - if it wwere jelly beans last tour, there may be other kind of manipulations this time around to take Indian players away from their task and goal. England have, as they have confessed on many occasions, bought in toto the Australian rule book of on-field and off-field ettiquete from the original authors..and without doling out any continuing royalty too!
They are deperate to beat India and India must tackle them with tactful firmness to defang their challenge.
If there is a difference in this regard, it might lie in India's captaincy. Kapil was an aggressive captain. In ever game he tried to win it, if not through the support of his team mates, he went all out to win by himself...with or without eventually managing that. Dhoni too is an aggressive captain, but, somehow, in test matches, Dhoni projects an air of defensiveness when there might be a call to show bit of enterprise. He appears satisfied with winning the series and appears less bothered by the margin.
One thinks most essential ingredients for a 1986 style comprehensive series win are there with India, but what about England?
Without doubt, the current England bowling is far better than the one they played agaisnt India in 1986, while the batting is more or less even-stevens, if not a tad ahead on form.
So ignore those who say this series is over-hyped, this will be a series to savour.
If the Indians in 1986 made better use of English conditions and showed up England batsmen, successively at Lord's and Leeds, to be inadequate in home conditions when met with their own medicine, the current team may not have the same complete advantage of 'English' conditions to use.
India repeated an old magic this year by winning the World Cup...one can barely wait for this Test series to commence.
Deal wid it ICC
When we have all been brought abreast of ICC's new and future inclinations, one of them being ICC's diktat to all boards to rid themselves of political involvement, which incidentally has been welcomed by almost every co0mmentator on the web and beyond, comes this from the Dominican PM.
Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit says there is a role for regional governments in the management of West Indies cricket but that key questions about ownership of the regional game needed to be answered.
Skerrit contended that cricket was too crucial to Caribbean life and development, for governments to be excluded.
- NDTV
I may be mistaken but is he not also the current chief of CARICOM?
Our response to ICC's 'degovernmentalization' move had been a little different - we wondered if BCCI's interest in the quick adoption of that new ICC regulation wasn't the impending monsoon session of Indian Parliament. - Protecting BCCI via ICC
CARICOM has been unsuccessful with WICB but the current CARICOM and WICB administration are rumored to be opponents from the same political source of that region. We cannot confirm this however, but expect one to tread on the other's toes if true. The question of ownership is at stake now.
So you can see that even WICB's interest is the same as BCCI's in pushing through this resolution with haste. The reasons are different however for different boards - if some want to rid themselves of interference, others want to stall the entry of such 'interference. Read More......
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
Can't ignore the spinners
It may be England they will be playing in, but it is on the right side of summer for Indians by and large. Even if they have, by now, developed a bowling attack which might relish the colder part of English summer.
It is said, for one has never been to England, much less play cricket there, it is said that it is easier for the finger spinners from the subcontinent to grip the ball in the latter part of the cricket season. Also, the pitches are said to behave differently in comparison to the start of the season when they are fresher.
Harbhajan Singh is a man who needs those performances to start coming in again. He has crossed a landmark in West Indies and that should be an incentive for him to go for the nest target in his mind. But the biggest spur for this warrior...the strongest spoor for this hunter...is the prey - the larger the prey, the stronger the opponent, the lower his esteem in spectators' minds, the higher he tends to lift his game and spirit.
I expect this combination of factors will make the spinners hard to ignore.
Harbhajan Singh, if one has noticed, has been trying a few things things along orthodox bowling patterns of late. There are less of 'doosras' and more play with flight, speed and turn. It appears he is refreshing his repertoire to add to his doosies and subtle degrees of turn. England, may be in for an off spinning exposition from him.
Then there is Mishra. I doubt if both Harbhajan and Mishra will ever play in the same squad in England. England has been famously weak against leg spin and they have formed the staple diet of that magician from Oz. But those England teams are not this one.
This England team is a little different. Flower has peeled away the stiff collars around their necks that stuck England heads uncomfortably into the clouds. The greater flexibility thus given has allowed them to take stock of the situation on the ground and develop their strengths accordingly. They have even taken cognizance of the need to win at everything - from T20 thtough ODIs to Tests. That they continue to sneer at formats is attributed to circumstances where they themselves have failed to progress further in a tournament or win a bilateral. Now at least they show they hurt when they lose in any format.
Which is good for any team for that makes them that much more determined to win the next.
They play spin better too now. Regardless, each one of them has been bested by spin sufficiently in the past.
The Englishmen handled the Lankan spin rather well in the earlier part of this summer. But it may be a very different ball game to have spinners of the class of Harbhajan and Mishra in tandem from July onwards. Especially if Zak and Ishant, and/or Praveen or Sree are able to remove Cook and Strauss early.
A reiteration, one suspects it will never happen on this tour that both spinners play togther in the same game, but no harm in visualizing alternatives.
Even if Bhajji is the lone spinner in the team, I expect him to be at his best - this is a big battle...between a strong challenger and the reigning monarch...and Harbhajan Singh has been a courageous and inspirational commander for India in such conditions.
One is confident spinners will also matter on this tour..nobody's even counting them in right now...and Harbhajan particularly will rise to this challenge to defend India's reign at the top.
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Poised for the new season
The summer of 2011 was hot in India. Particularly, Delhi's sun stung and peeling off one's skin wasn't an option. Spring is generally brief in these parts and occurs somewhere in a fuzzy zone of lingering early morning fogs mixed with heated days, in the period from late January to early February - the transformation from winter to summer is almost sudden if one isn't alert. By the end of March, we can safely declare an official summer. All that remains is that one customary April shower at the start of the month, which is torrential, lasting a day, pleasantly cooling and very misleading about what is to follow. That one day, when it rains at the start of April, Delhi's clear skies pretend to be England's.
Cricket in India isn't very different from this transition of seasons. Hasn't been different for the past few years, and certainly not this year at least. India's heroics against Australia, New Zealand and South Africa last winter were were already distant memories. Spring in India, this year, was witnessed by the entire world as it coincided with the ICC World Cricket World Cup unfold. Before one could utter "Champagne Shower" in the early days of this April, we were already watching the Indian Premier League. By the time one began to understand who was playing for whom this year, it was peak summer. We were yanked across to the West Indies. Whatever benefit, or detriment, all this cricket might have had for various coffers, the one certain outcome of watching this large amount of cricket could easily be a pilonidal sinus, commonly called a "Jeep driver's bottom', thanks to all the sitting one had to endure for the sake of cricket! Imagine, after working the whole day, you had to wake up through the night to watch the West Indian tour. The backsides had no respite at all this season.
But things are likely to change. The monsoons have arrived here and things are cooling off. India has headed off to England for a complete series, the timings of which are unlikely to cause as much trouble as the West Indies series did.
Only nine players from the squad that toured West Indies were retained for the England tour. Partly because a few regular players were returning and partly because some of those selected for that tour failed to make best use of a rare opportunity that landed in their respective laps.
Virat Kohli could have been on the tour of England if he hadn't played like a stoned sailor in West Indies. He was slow, unanticipating - often he was a few frames behind the actual flow of events. Frankly, he made all those who rated him look like dunces. That said, I continue to believe this is a misconception - neither is he as poor a player as he made himself look nor are they dunces who promoted him up the ranks. However, it matters not what people think of him more than what his actions suggest. Virat Kohli will have to play his best for that's what will matter most. I have a sneaky feeling that this boy will keep bobbing uselessly between spurts of good performances and fallow ones and will wake up a tad late in the day to his Test career. This man will astound and frustrate us simulatneously till his head finds its mind for keeps.
Murali Vijay wasn't docketed in the same class as Kohli but he performed on par with him. I'm afraid he didn't display the game of an opener. Like Kohli he looked quite bemused at the crease and appeared to hit upon the correct thing to do on the way back to the pavilion. Both he and Kohli looked besieged when they were at the crease. Rampaul was bowling intuitively and was as good as any in those trances of his. Sammy was accurate as a greased up weathercock and Castro was pelting fireballs when he got all the alignments right. So both Kohli and Vijay faced good bowling and they might have faced a better unit in England. Both were not up to it.
Praveen Kumar appeared to lose his sting very soon, even though he did move the ball this way and that. The thought went out of his bowling. Perhaps he was preoccupied with his run up since that first innings of this series. Maybe things will work out for him in England even though the second half of summer there isn't quite like the first half.
The experienced players on tour came out of rust and limbered up usefully. Never together, but they did manage to get a few individual innings in.
All said and done, despite the star turn out by Ishant Sharma, India ended the summer with sore eyes, sore bottoms and bruised hopes.
A small consolation for bodies busted by lack of sleep and all that sitting.
The resting Indians return to the team that takes on a dominant England with an edge, and the monsoons have also sent across their visiting card to Delhi...things are sticky without doubt but more manageable now. Maybe, India can challenge England strongly. A 1-0 win in England wouldn't be all that bad as it was against West Indies earlier this summer.
An in-form Ishant and Zak could team up, and they may be supported either by Praveen or Sreesanth. I suspect Praveen might get the nod ahead for being able to move the ball in conditions where it wouldn't move as much. That's a fact acknowledged by Ian Bishop during commentary stints in the West Indies. And with conditions that could help in England, he could be a handful. That said, England, traditionally, face such bowlers for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Sreesanth's bull-headadeness and ability to maintain a straight seam and decent pace over periods of time, go in his favour. However, what Sree needs to do is perhaps not keep that seam so upright and straight. maybe it needs a tilt to extract swing from the air and cut off the pitch. Let's see what wisdom the current coaches can impart to him.
Mukund was so-so in West Indies. Nothing stunning. But he'll have a chance to lift up the impressions at Lord's...if Sehwag is unfit to play. I expect Sehwag will require more healing time from the 'larger picture' point of view.
Dravid had a great start that kind of tapered off, but expect the man to be back in th thick of things in England. Who knows what he may conjure up for us this time? Maybe a lesson crafted specially for Tremlett and co.?
Laxman is in nick too, but the man to watch will be Sachin Tendulkar.
Tendulkar hasn't scored 40 runs in a single innings at Lord's through his entire career. This is a man as conscious about tradition and history as he was serious about attacking them with his bat as a teenager. Trust this man to script some fine moments in his career. If the World Cup win came to him when people finally stopped talking about it, it wouldn't surprise me if Sachin Tendulkar saved up his 100th international hundred for Lord's. And it would be his first there...at the 'Mecca' of cricket, where even his fellow-Mumbaikar, Agarkar, has a Test hundred to his name.
Oh yes, I sense exquisite timing here...the fear was always there that if he toured West Indies he might not have been able to prevent himself from scoring this 100 there. Surely, that cannot compare to scoring one at Lord's and against a team with a better win percentage in Tests during the last two years than India. The sense of destiny cannot be masked by this high stylization of the final years of Sachin Tendulkar's very long career.
For the spectator, all those seasons of his cricket are a blur, a mixture of plenty of joy and pain, only the present stands sculpted, etched, readying for the future that will be written into many many books.
The above is probably not true and maybe its only my imagination running wild...but the script couldn't have been more perfect. Well it can be more than perfect if Sachin does indeed score a hundred at Lord's and India go on to win the Test with Zak, Ishant and Praveen running through Staruss's team. Including the divinely in-form Chef of course...
If Sehwag does play too, don't be surprised if India make a fluffy Tremblett out of the outspoken Chrissy and mates.
Why I weep for Irfan
When this blog was young and hope was about the same, one frequently spoke about Irfan Pathan as we waited for his return. The articles on Pathan Jr. have decreased..hope has aged and wrinkled.
It was not just his ability to swing both ways that caught our attention. It wasn't just his ability to anticipate batsmen and fox them out that had us drooling. It was the value he added to the bowling attack - an important one called 'Early Stike' capability.
In many ways he was the Sehwag of India's bowling attack. He created quick options for the captain.
Look at what the numbers say about Pathan in this Cricinfo article written as a dedication to Ravi Rampaul's recent season of glory.
In the first table - The highest wicket takers in the first two overs - Irfan Pathan tops hands down with the least number of overs requited for his 11 wickets. Pathan averaged 4.73 overs per wicket and at the lowest average of 12.18. Mind you, there are a few big names in there too.
And you can scroll down that article and see in black and white that Irfan Pathan was a new ball bowler who used the ball to take wickets and didn't just bowl to get the shine off it.
He attacked from the outset...just like Sehwag does at the top of the batting order and that always created possibilities for India. It's quite another matter what India made of his early strikes.
Who can forget his hat-trick against Pakistan in Pakistan in the very over of the match and what India went on to make of it? The disappointment was not just Irfan's. In fact this match proved to be the making of Kamran Akmal as a batsman and the lone slice of fame for that freaky batsman, Miandad's nephew, called Faisal Iqbal.
On a side note, one does see Zaheer Khan's name bobbing atound in those table too.
I really do miss Irfan's presence on the Indian team. But such is life.
Just imagine...Sehwag opening the batting and Zak, Irfan and Ishant Sharma manning the pace department...and let us suppose such a team were going to England to play a series...I doubt if many would have been punting England ahead of India as they are, not too wrongly, now.
