Boxing Day Test at MCG : A see-saw battle

For the second year in a row my plans of seeing a boxing day game with friends did not materialize. I missed the Ashes game last year and this year it was the tour opener. But after seeing the pictures on TV on day 1, I thought it was a blessing in disguise. The stadium was full of blue T-shirts and I suspect that the Aussie spectators were outnumbered.

India started with a full strength squad and that was a good beginning. The bowling attack looked solid with Zak, Ishant and Umesh Yadav being supported by Ashwin. Kohli got selected ahead of Rohit Sharma and that too was based on the recent form. After losing the toss, Indians immediately put the Aussies on the back foot with two quick strikes. Then came a recovery of sorts with Ponting and Cowan putting up a good partnership. I thought the Indian bowling in the second session was a bit short and lacked the penetration. More importantly, that session allowed Ponting to play himself in and gain some confidence. After tea again, India struck quick blows with Zaheer Khan claiming two in an over. That one over by Zak was proof enough that he is back to his peak fitness and raring to go. Hussey and Cowan later were unlucky to fall to some poor umpiring. Aussies media obviously cried foul with DRS not being in use in this series. After having Aussies reeling at 214-6, I thought Indians gave away 50 runs too many in the final total of 333.

The response from the Indians was good. Although Gambhir got out early, Sehwag, Dravid and Sachin showed their class and at one stage India looked set to get a big first innings lead. But against the run of play, Sachin got out in the last over of the day on 73, yet again missing an opportunity to get that elusive ton-of-tons. He was playing freely and scored briskly at the start of his innings. Dravid was his usual self. India were 214-3 at the end of Day 2. With Dravid still batting and VVS, Kohli and Dhoni still in the hut, Indians must have been planning for a lead of at least 150 runs. But Day 3 turned out to be bowlers’ day. Indian innings collapsed for 282, with the last 7 wickets falling for 68 runs. Poor batting and some good bowling by the Aussie rookies. India ended up conceding a lead of 51 runs as opposed to taking the lead.

Australian second innings started with a lot of action. Their top 4 wickets were gobbled up for a paltry 24 runs and the prospect of a collapse seen in SA looked on the cards. However, the two players who have the noose tightening around their necks stabilized the innings and brought it to a respectable score. Then again in quick succession Ponting and Haddin departed with score at 6/148. From then on, the tail wagged again and took the score to 240 thus setting a target of 292 to win for the Indians.

Sehwag had said in the press conference that anything under 300 was gettable, but that turned out to be untrue. The famous batting line up collapsed for 169 handing a win to the Aussies with a comfortable margin of 122 runs. Their young bowling attack stuck to their task and bowled intelligently. Indians I thought did not plan their innings at all. We had plenty of time on our hands and a partnership or two would have frustrated the Aussies. So yet again we lose the opening test match of a tour and have our backs to the wall.

For the second game at Sydney, I see Rohit Sharma coming in for Kohli. The choice of a second spinner would depend on the wicket on offer. If it is a green top, then I think we will go with the same combination. Let us hope that the team comes back with some solid plans to counter the Aussie attack.

Ind-Aus 2012: A curtain raiser

I ndia has a better than good chance of winning the series in Australia this time around. I am not saying that because I am a diehard India supporter, but because the balance is heavily tilted in India’s favour.

First of all, the Indian batting squad is at full strength and even the folks on the bench are in good nick. The second line of batters in Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Rahane are all in good form and have a solid technique to back the form. With the firm of Viru and Gauti back at the opening slot, we can expect this line up to deliver scores in excess of 350 every time. The bowling is where we have a few concerns with the injuries. If the entire squad is fit, then the team of Zaheer, Ishant, Umesh Yadav and Ashwin will be quite formidable. But if we lose key bowlers to injuries, then suddenly the attack looks very raw and young.

The Australians have had a few problems of their own in recent times. The senior folks have not scored runs lately and the young guns have failed to find their rhythm. They have folded up to some very low scores recently and that failure will weigh very heavily on their minds. The likes of Ponting and Hussey have the press asking for their heads and they have survived only because the replacements have failed. Their bowling is also not the peak and they have struggled to get 20 wickets consistently. The only chance they have is if Ponting and Hussey strike form and some of the bowlers recover from their injuries rapidly. But in my mind, the pressure of the recent defeats will bear on their minds very heavily.

The Aussies have enlisted the services of Greg Chapell as an expert and that to me is a sure recipe for disaster. Greg Chapell was a good player in his times but his methods as a coach have been very counterproductive. I hope that trend continues and we come back with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy this time.

English Summer, What Next?

S o we had a lack luster series in England and got our butt kicked to wake us up. I think that kick came at the right time because it provides us time to think and plan for the future. That calls for some honest and brutal thinking on the part of BCCI and some actions that will help the game.

Let us start with the attitude first. I think, although everyone is vehemently denying it, the IPL has had a negative effect on the attitude of the youngsters. When you can get a big contract by bowling 4 good overs in a game or by scoring a quick 30-40-50 in a game, what is the motivation for the youngsters to graft an innings? Then you have the advertising contracts if you have reasonable success in IPL. With all this money being available quickly and by playing a few games, why should one toil over five days? So BCCI therefore needs to check the IPL program for its impact on the talent. They should look at diverting some money into a formal academy for a handful of individuals with sponsorships.

The same attitude is also reflected in the amount of preparation time and practice time that the players put in. Recently during the Fourth Test, the Indian bowling coach Eric Simmons was being interviewed on telly and he said that Praveen Kumar must be tired. Wasim Akram, who was in the commentary team, was fuming. He said that Praveen is just 23 and has just made his debut for India. He should be raring to go and not complaining of workload. He also mentioned that these days the bowlers bowl 3-4 overs at the nets and takes a break; there is never a long sustained spell. So the ability to work hard and give your 100 per cent is missing.

Third, the players need to be honest and transparent about their injuries. On this tour alone we have had numerous examples of players carrying injuries and hoping to recover in time. That is not a fair process because it robs an aspiring player of a berth on the touring team and secondly you are putting your own team at risk by playing with less than 100% fitness. The players should spend the right time on recovery and then get match ready.

Finally, the BCCI needs to take a longer term view. They need to identify the next generation of players and invest in their training, coaching and build a solid foundation for the future. We need to be in a position to defend the world cup and also dominate the game once we overcome this fall.

Fourth Test : The Oval – Abject Surrender!

India lost the fourth test match even before they walked on the field for the toss with their clueless team selection. First of all Praveen Kumar was declared injured not with his hand where he got hit while batting in the third test, but with his ankle! So the choice of the replacement was not Munaf Patel but R. P. Singh. Now RP himself was not expecting a recall in the test side and was on a holiday (apparently) in Miami. He is past his prime and definitely not match fit. The first over he bowled provided ample evidence of that. Then the team persisted with Raina, again an opportunity lost to try out Kohli. In the worst case he would have scored the same number of runs that Raina scored. Finally, there were also some doubts about Sehwag’s fitness. So it seems like either the team does not have faith in the players provided or they are selecting players very randomly without any logic.

Flintoff made a comment about the Indian team when he saw them at the nets before the start of the game. He observed that the team resembled a motley crew with various players wearing different outfits. Now that may seem like a trivial thing, but when you are playing as a team, you need to work as a team in every aspect. These small disciplinary things also show the team’s commitment and unity.

Strauss won the toss and decided to bat and from then on it was one way street. RP Singh very clearly demonstrated in his first over that he was rusty and short on match practice. That helped England to build a good opening partnership before the rains intervened on Day 1. I was in London on Day 1 and it looked pretty dull. At that stage it looked like the weather would play a big part in this test match and we may in fact manage a respectable draw. But that picture changed completely as India leaked runs by the bucket on Day 2 when Pietersen and Bell pulverized the attack. They continued on Day 3 and posted close to 600 runs with the goal of not having to bat the second time.

Indian response, on a pitch where they were expected to do well, was very predictable. Suddenly the ball was moving and jumping and darting. Gambhir not only dropped Pietersen when we were fielding but also had an injury to his head. That forced Rahul Dravid to open the innings yet again on this tour. Sehwag perished after scoring two boundaries, he was lucky to have survived the first ball. In no time Indians were reeling at 5-95. Ravi Sahstri had made an interesting observation about the England game plan. Their batters score heavily and spend a lot of time on the field, that leaves their bowlers with a lot of time to recuperate and attack with venom when they get the cherry in their hands. Dravid played a gem of an innings but he was the lone fighter, he carried his bat through and scored the third century on this tour. He got some support from Amit Mishra, who missed his well deserved 50 in the first innings and an almost century in the second innings. Gambhir came out to bat but he was searching for the ball. He looked out of sorts.

Following on after a collapse in the first innings, India started better in the second innings. Dravid opened yet again and was ruled out by the third umpire. Without any evidence from the hot spot, the umpire chose to overrule the decision of the field umpire. Tendulkar and Mishra, who came as night watchman, made batting look easy and at one stage a draw looked like a possible outcome. The second new ball saw both of them getting out without centuries and from then on we lost 7 wickets for 21 runs. In a way I was happy that Tendulkar did not get his ton of tons in this series, I want him to score that under happier circumstances and not after a 4-0 drubbing.

So a very well earned victory for the English team. They completely outplayed the Indian team which struggled with an injured squad and could never get accustomed to the conditions in England. This tour also exposed the weakness of the batters against moving, swinging and accurate bowling. The recovery from here is going to be a hard grind and some serious questions need to be answered. The BCCI needs to plan for the future and take some bold decisions to build a solid pipeline of talent for the future. It would be a pity if this is seen as just another series and no action is taken.

P.S.: On my way back from London, I bumped into Yuvraj Singh at Mumbai Immigration and spoke to him. We discussed his injury and also the series. He was very dejected to be back.

Third Test : Edgbaston – Humiliation Complete!

England deservedly won the series quite convincingly and dethroned India from the No. 1 spot in Test cricket rankings. I think everyone was kind of expecting this result but the manner in which the Indian team surrendered was beyond belief. There was no fight whatsoever to try to retain the ranking by squaring the series. The bowling was pedestrian, the batting was a joke and fielding was worse than a club side. When Sourav Ganguly said that he has not seen an Indian unit so bad in the past 10 years, I think everyone would agree with that assessment.

On a green top, the ball was expected to move a lot and statistically Strauss was due to win a toss. He immediately put the Indians in, and from then on it was a one way story. India had made a big deal of Sehweag’s return to the test side after an injury and he was being looked at as the Messiah who would pull this side out of their miseries. His contribution to the test match was exactly two deliveries; he got a Golden Duck pair. This Indian unit has not scored more than 300 runs on this tour and this test match was no exception. The batting of MSD was also more out of frustration than planned attack I thought. In the end with the bowling line up we have, a score of 224 was nothing.

England came out with a game plan and the firm of Strauss and Cook almost took them past the Indian total. Cook played a fabulous innings and showed how to build an innings as an opener. He fell 6 runs short of a well deserved triple hundred. Almost everyone scored freely and exposed the shallowness of the Indian bowling attack. We also dropped about half dozen catches, which did not help. At one stage, it looked like England could have gone and scored a thousand runs. Fortunately, Strauss declared at 710/7, as soon as Cook got out.

That left us to defend two days and a session to salvage a draw. A win was completely out of the equation. Sehwag perished on the 3rd ball of the innings and one must feel sorry for Rahul Dravid who has clearly stated his reluctance to open an innings but gets called out in the first over. Sehwag is a senior player and he cannot act as if he has no brains between his ears. The situation called for grafting an innings and not tonking the attack. The rest of the batting collapsed in a heap on the fourth day and only some lusty hitting in the end could ensure that we crossed 200. The lack of thinking was clearly visible when the Indians despite having the DRS in play, did not contest the appeal against Dravid; who looked like the only one who could rescue.

This team and the body language now shows signs that are not very encouraging for an Indian fan. The team hardly talks to each other on the field, there is no encouragement and above all everyone seems to be going through motions and hoping that this tour will get over. There are some serious questions being asked and the team is coming short on answers. The batting is good on dead wickets in the sub-continent. The new generation lacks the patience and the temperament to graft a test match innings. They are susceptible against moving and short-pitched bowling. We need to have players like Rohit Sharma, Pujara, Virat Kohli etc. play in the county circuit to gain some experience. The bowling lacks penetration. We need an attack that can take 20 wickets. Need a tear away fast bowler and a couple of quality spinners to achieve that. Bhajji and Zaheer are history. Mishra bowls more no balls than a fast bowler and leaks runs by the fifties. The captain needs to wake up and start driving these changes. It will be very sad if this defeat is considered as another day in the park and not given its rightful dues. First we need to arrest further sliding down the ladder and then start pushing up. It is a hard road ahead.

Whitewash is a definite possibility

A complete route of the world champion Indian team is a very likely outcome of the current series according to me. The squad is further depleted with the departure of Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh. Sehwag is just back and will take some time to adjust and there is no second spinner who can make an impression here. So the chances of taking twenty English wickets are very remote. The batters, barring Dravid, have not shown any strength of character to bat out the English attack. SO it is all going to be downhill from here as far as I can see.

When I was a child and had just started following cricket, I always used to look at the most optimistic scenario and always believed that India would win the test. So after having heard the top order collapse, I would imagine the likes of Kirmani, Ghavri and Venkat to score runs by the bucket and get us to some respectable total. Then I would want our spinners to bowl out the opposition under 100 and get us a decent enough lead. So naïve. I guess that is an ability one loses as we mature and become more pragmatic. We need some folks from this Indian team believing in miracles and thinking like a kid to dream of winning from hopeless positions. Unless that happens, we are well and truly done in this series.

Second Test : Trent Bridge – Lost Opportunities

Indian team is not playing this series like champions and the Englishmen are hungry for success. You can draw that conclusion if you look at the progress of the second test match. A champion side is expected to make amends fast and bounce back with vengeance. I hate to say that the current team is not counting as a champion side on that criterion. I would have expected eleven fresh players ready to settle the score and win the second game convincingly. Instead what they showed was a total lack of penetration and the ability to force a quick end. It was a case of missed opportunities.

On the first day after having England on the mat at 8-124, we should have bowled them out under 175-200. Instead we let the tail wag and bring some respectability to the score. Then on Day 2, when Dravid yet again showed his class and ensured that the Indian response was good; we frittered away the solid start in the end. From 5-267, we collapsed in a heap for a paltry 288. There we lost an opportunity to build a lead of at least 150 plus to put some pressure.

Second innings was a completely different story. The bowling attack looked very pedestrian and with Harbhajan going out with injury (political injury ahead of being dropped I think), the work load on the three seamers was heavy. England plundered us to all parts of the ground and even Tim Bresnan looked like he will score a quick century. By the time Indians came off the field, I think they had lost the fight in their mind. And England were all charged up sighting a clean victory. The result was a predictable collapse worse than one had imagined. At one stage, the 42 all out looked under threat.

So even if we go on to win the next two matches on the trot and square the series, I think the damage is already done. I don’t think we can win even one game going forward. Because there are no reserves worth a mention and the team looks jaded. The captain too seems to have lost his magic touch and is looking bereft of ideas. His field placements, his bowling changes were pedestrian. MSD needs to wake up.

A lot of credit should also go to the English team and coach Flower. They prepare well and they play with intensity. That is why they have beaten the Australians regularly. They have a very good squad with a good reserves pool. Hence the worthy winners.

Here is my Report card for the Indian team:

1. Abhinav Mukund : 3/10 Not a test class opener.
2. Rahul Dravid: 8/10 The lone star.
3. VVS Laxman: 5/10 Technique and poetry still good.
4. Sachin Tendulkar: 3/10 Looks a pale shadow of himself. 
5. Suresh Raina: 2/10 Short pitched balls.
6. Yuvraj Singh: 5/10 Only one game so far.
7. MS Dhoni: 1/10 Poor captaincy, poorer batting.
8. Harbhajan Singh: 1/10 Is he a bowler? Should have been dropped long back.
9. Praveen Kumar: 5/10 Workhorse, bowled his heart out.
10. Ishant Sharma: 4/10 Good in short spells.
11. Sreesanth: 4/10 Which one woke up today?

First Test : Lord’s – Wounded Soldiers

The Indian team showed fleeting glimpses of the greatness but England was overall the better team in the first test match of the series. There was a lot of hype surrounding this test match considering this is the 2000th test match ever and Sachin was expected to score the magical 100th Century at thie grand venue. Another interesting stat that I did not know was that between Dravid, Sachin and Laxman; they had scored 99 test centuries before this match. So we were all looking forward to a great absorbing duel.

Instead, India went on the backfoot almost immediately after winning the toss. Zaheer bowled with some fire and guile and managed to consume couple of top order wickets. Thereafter he pulled his hamstring and went out of the game (and the next one). That reduced the bowling options considerably for MSD, although Pravin Kumar admirably rose to the occasion. Ishanth and Bhajji were off colour and did not adjust well. At one stage, MSD gave the keeper’s gloves to Dravid and bowled a few overs, possibly to cut the over rate. Kevin Pietersen batted beautifully to score a double hundred and put India under a lot of pressure with some great support from Trott. India, chasing 474, barely managed to avoid follow on. Dravid scored a good solid 100 and proved his value as a great test match batsman.

In the second innings, India seemed to have created an opening for themselves when they had England down at 5-62 and 6-102. But then Prior came and played a typical No. 7 wicket-keeper knock to put the game beyond the Indians. To top it all, Gautam Gambhir got hit and was not able to bat in the second innings. The Indian team resembled a army infirmary with a few players nursing some injury. The reduced and modified batting line up could not stop the Englishmen from completing a well earned victory. Hats off to Dravid again who came to open the batting in the second innings.

The positives for England, were KP and Trott’s batting. The bowling of Anderson and Broad. For the Indians, the only shining line was the batting of Dravid and some good spells from PK. Bhajji needs to start contributing as a bowler and the rest of the batting unit needs to come to the party to make a statement. Otherwise the number one spot is at risk.

Nasser Hussain made a comment in his post match analysis that the Indian team does not value the Number one ranking very much and I tend to agree with me. I did not see any heroics from the batters to save the test match. He also mentioned that the IPL takes a lot out of the players and we are seeing some after effects of that in the current series.

Indian team needs to go back to the drawing board and look at the limited options they have and come back to fight this out.

Battle Royal : Curtain Raiser

India arrived in England after a successful campaign in West Indies, where I thought they should have done better than just winning the series 1-0. We at least deserved a 2-0 score line. But that is a different discussion and frankly with the second string team visiting WI, I really did not pay much attention to the series. I think the boards ought to put some conditions in the contracts which will force the countries to send their best teams on tour.

Coming back to England, I think the two teams playing in English conditions are pretty evenly matched. The English team is very balanced and almost copies the famous Australian team composition; five batters, a wicket-keeper who comes and scores fast, a spinner and four fast bowlers. Their batting lineup is very daunting with Cook, Trott and Bell in sublime form. Add Strauss, KP and Prior to that trio and you can expect some mauling of the bowling attack. Indian team is back to full strength and the selectors have done a good job with the team given that Kohli and Badrinath wasted their opportunities in the Caribbean. The famous batting lineup is in full strength although there are some doubts about Sehwag’s participation in the first two games. The bowling relies heavily on Zaheer and Harbhajan, but here is where the new gen has its opportunities. Ishant did well in the Caribbean and should be effective in England too. Munaf and Ashwin can be good back up options. Bhajji needs to start taking wickets again. So there is an even contest on the cards.

My prediction for this series is India winning with a margin of 1 test. Either a 1-0 or 2-1 result in favour of India.

India wins World Cup again!!

A nation of 1.2 billion people erupted in one of the longest celebration parties in recent time when M.S. Dhoni whacked that ball into stratosphere for the match winning six. I remember watching the 1983 finals on a black and white TV set when Kapil Dev’s team won the cup for the first time. That team was not expected to go the distance then. This time around though, the expectations were quite different. We would not have settled for anything less than the championship. And boy did the team play well! The last three games were a dream run. First Australians were demolished, then Pakistan was banished in Mohali and finally the Sri Lankans were blown away in Mumbai. It was a superlative effort and the team deserves all the praise and accolades that it will receive in the coming days.

Well done team India and congratulations!!

The Ashes 2010 – Test 5: Total Annihilation

Never in the recent past has the Australian team got such a drubbing at home. In the final test at Sydney they seemed to be mesmerized with no clue about what was happening around them. England on the other hand came prepared and were ready for the kill. They ensured that the ashes were won convincingly and left no doubt as to the better team.

There was a lot of talk about the change in guard and a fightback from the wounded Aussies before the test match began. I think the Australian team still thinks that there is nothing wrong with them. That is reflected in their team selection and also in their approach. The only changes they made this time were sort of forced changes. Khawaja came in place of injured Ponting and Beer came in as a specialist spinner. The team still thought that the firm of Johnson, Hilfenhaus and Siddle were capable of running through the opposition. That was wishful thinking and England demonstrated that this attack is toothless in the only innings they batted. Only Shane Watson and Steve Smith seemed to create any opportunities in that innings. Cook continued his brilliant form and was helped by centuries from Bell and Prior.

The approach of the team and its belief in its own abilities is also key in a test match. After getting bowled out for 281, thanks to a rearguard action from Mitchell Johnson who was the only person to post a fifty; the Aussies had the Poms at 5/226 when Collingwood got out. At that stage they should have enforced a quick closure. But they allowed Prior and Bell to score freely and take the score to a mammoth 644 runs. Then in their second innings, when the situation called for playing out the time, they went on the attack and lost the plot. The English bowling was too good for them and they lost by an innings. So in this series they lost all the three matches by over an innings, they conceded 500+ runs three times.

As far as Australia are concerned there were no positives from this series. It thoroughly exposed their bowling limitations. It also exposed the lack in depth of their batting pipeline and therefore it looks like a very steep climb from here on. Barring Perth, their bowlers never took 20 wickets in a test match. All the commentators were in unison on this. As Ian Chapell said a band aid solution ain’t going to fix it. They need a complete overhaul of the selection committee, the coaching staff and the team. The irony will be if they win the series at home against SL in August they will start day dreaming again. Ricky Ponting is done as a skipper, it remains to be seen if he stays as a batsman.

England on the other hand have a bagful of positives. The batting of Cook, Strauss, Trott, Pietersen, Prior and Bell. The bowling of Anderson, Swann, Finn, Tremlett and Bresnan and the fielding overall has been stellar. The only negative, if you really have to pick any, would be the form of Collingwood (who has announced his retirement now) and to an extent the inability of Pietersen to focus on the job and play a long innings consistently. I thought a lot of credit must go to their coach and the back room team. Their bowlers were spot on from the first delivery and bowled very few no balls. They created opportunities and applied pressure when required.

On the whole, I think England deservedly won the series 3-1. My prediction was a English with a margin of 1 (2-1 being my favored score line). But hey, who is complaining when you witness some great cricket and a total annihilation of the Aussies. Watch out for my statistical analysis of the series to wrap this series.