Captain Who?

So everyone and his uncle (including yours truly) have proclaimed that MSD is not a test captain and he needs to make way for someone. The question then is who is that Golden child? Here are my thoughts.

I am sure we are not bold enough to have an outsider made the captain purely for his leadership skills. Someone like a Mike Brearley is a dead idea in India; otherwise Anil Kumble could have been a candidate. He is still fit, bowls better than the current spinners, can still take wickets and above all has a studious mind that he uses!

That leaves us to choose a player from the current team. Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli are being looked at as future captains, but both have to prove their mettle yet. I doubt if Gambhir will retain his place in the side and Kohli is still very young. Then we have the seniors and from that lot I would rule out Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman since both are close to the end of their careers. Dravid has relinquished the captaincy once and he is not getting younger. VVS is old and his reflexes will force him out of the team soon.

So we are down to Sachin and Sehwag as the two contenders, if we assume that Zaheer Khan is not a captaincy material. Sehwag in my mind is not suited to be a captain. He is careless and therefore cannot set an example for his team to inspire them. I can't imagine him taking the field, like Kumble bowling with a heavily bandaged head to protect his jaw. He also does not look like a person who is patient and can plot something, two qualities that are essential in a test captain. So my vote is against Sehwag.

Sachin, although not many will agree, still deserves a second chance as a skipper. When he captained, he was too young and he expected a lot from his team, I think he has matured now. A look at his record as captain of Mumbai Indians and also the enthusiasm he shows is quite convincing. He still has a couple of years of cricket left in him. Moreover, he is possibly the greatest learner of the game even today. Retiring as the captain of India will be a fitting end to his illustrious career. So my vote is Sachin.

I have ruled out two other possibilities. Selectors may just decide to continue with MSD, which is possible. And the return of Yuvraj Singh. Yuvi is going to take some time before he is fully fit and then he has to make a comeback.
So Sachin it is!!

Comments please.

Fairytales and Nightmares

As I write this article, we have almost lost the Fourth test barring the proverbial Fat Lady to sing her song. Australia deserved to win in the manner they did and the 4-0 margin of defeat clearly reflects the difference in attitude, application and preparation of these sides. Before the tour began, Australian’s had a not so good series with New Zealand and South Africa. They had a string of below 100 all out innings and had a spate of injuries to some key players (Shane Watson, Pattinson). Their stalwarts were not able to get big scores and critics were asking for Ponting and Hussey’s head. Everyone thought the rebuilding of the new side would take much longer. India on the other hand a full strength squad after a long time and we thought our batting will score runs by the buckets against this poor second string Aussie attack. But that was before the tour!

The two sides have been like chalk and cheese, or fairytales and nightmares or love and marriage or any other paraphrasing for the wide chasm between the two teams. In my mind, the fortunes changed on two critical turning points in this series. The first one was when Sachin got out towards the end of Day 1 at MCG and from then on began the Indian slide downwards. The second I thought was when, India took the pressure off Ponting by removing Zaheer and bringing on Ishant as soon as Ponting came to bat. We brought him into form and he is talking of the next Ashes tour already.

Tactically, India lost the plot with being unimaginative. First, they should have asked Sachin to play the ODI series against WI and get that big monkey off his back by scoring the ton-of-tons. Then I thought we were very rigid in our team selection. If the team management thought so highly of the playing eleven, then why did they carry the rest of the players around? Poor Rohit Sharma and Pragyan Ojha should have been given at least one outing to prove their worth. They should have blooded in Rahane in place of Gambhir in the final test. Our planning was also poor. The bowlers did not have specific plans for key players, field placements were unimaginative and we lacked the motivation to create opportunities. This style of MSD to wait for things to happen is hurting us badly.

So here is my assessment of the individuals from the two sides:

INDIA

• Virendra Sehwag : He is done as an opener. His attitude to not play in and then score is hurting us. If he stays in the side, he should bat lower down the order.
• Gautam Gambhir: His coach said on the radio that he has a problem outside the off stump, has a problem with short pitched stuff. So why is he still in the side as an opener? These are two basic things required of an opening batsman.
• Rahul Dravid: I am his big fan, but he himself would admit that he has been sorted out by the opponents. Getting bowled out so regularly is not something he would like to remember. He would also call it a day once in India I think.
• Sachin Tendulkar: Flashes of brilliance, but the monkey on the back weighed down heavily on his performance. He missed a golden opportunity to end this last Australian tour in style. I think he has also disappointed a fairly large cross section of his fans who toured to see him reach that milestone.
• VVS Laxman: Not Very Special anymore. I think he should call it a day now. He had ample opportunities to bring in those classy match saving knocks, but all of them went begging. As fielder too, his reflexes are not the same anymore.
• Virat Kohli: He realized the danger lurking around his position in the form of Rohit Sharma and quickly made amends. He has shown maturity in batting but he needs to show the same level of maturity in his behavior both on and off the field. 
• MS Dhoni: Questions are being raised about his leadership style in Test matches, his keeping and therefore his position in the team. He is not a captain for the test matches period.
• Zaheer Khan: Much was expected off him in this series. He produced a couple of brilliant spells but not enough to turn the tide. As a leader of the bowling unit, he did not show any spark.
• R. Ashwin: The selectors had given him a blank cheque by dropping Bhajji, but he had to cash it. Unfortunately, he did not. As the leading spinner in the side, he was required to be imaginative, but he lacked the guile. The opponents figured out his variations quickly and from then on he was pedestrian.
• Umesh Yadav: The find of the series in my opinion. It feels nice to see a young lad running in and sending the wood work cartwheeling. He needs to be nurtured and guided. I hope he does not go the Ishant way.
• Ishant Sharma: Probably will be dropped after this tour. He has not learnt from the Aussies and has wasted a golden chance. He will not find such wickets again for a long time.
• W. Saha: Good wicket keeper and showed some spine to stay at the wicket and score runs. With MSD firmly in the side, he is going to be sidelined again.
• Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane and Prgyan Ojha: Why were they not played?
• Duncan Fletcher: He has not shown the level of readiness that Micky Arthur or Andy Flower have shown. I think he will be the sacrificial lamb after this tour. Eric Simmons’ contribution too will be questioned.

AUSTRALIA

• David Warner: He is Australia’s answer to Hayden’s retirement. Can be lethal when in form. He will form a good opening pair with Shane Watson.
• Ed Cowan: Started off nicely, but he has his problems. Will be replaced by Shane Watson. 
• Shaun Marsh: Possibly the only failure from Australian side in this series. His position will be challenged.
• Ricky Ponting: I would have liked to see him retire, but we ended up reviving his career. He showed grit and determination in the face of some very strong criticism. When the runs came, he ensured that he cashed in and scored some big knocks.
• Michael Clarke: The Pup has matured as a captain and is here to stay in that role. His batting was never questionable, but his leadership was. He has now shown that he can be tough and his press briefings were also mature and respectful of the opposition. He is like Mark Taylor in many ways.
• Michael Hussey: Hard working cricketer who will possibly survive till the Ashes because there is no replacement. What he lacked in runs, he compensated with hard work.
• Brad Haddin: Australia needs a new wicket keeper. Haddin is losing his skills rapidly and he is not getting younger either. So we will definitely see a change.
• Peter Siddle: The star of this series in my mind. He has always given 100% every time and produced results. He was thrust into the role of the bowling captain, and he took that responsibility on his shoulders. He has also improved as a bowler and therefore troubled the batsmen.
• Ben Hilfenhaus: He has wickets to his credit, but I have doubts. He will probably be in the team for some time. Due to his ability to swing the ball, he may even go to England.
• Other Bowlers: They came in and did their job commendably. All of them bowled well and to a plan.
• Micky Arthur: Great preparation and execution of plans. Ably assisted by Craig McDermott as the bowling coach.

WAC(A)ked Out

I have absolutely no intention of writing about the game at WACA. It was almost a replay of SCG, except that this time it was bludgeoning Warner who took the game away from India. Whatever the Indians have been saying about Sehwag, was done to them by Warner. Other than that, the fifer for Umesh Yadav was a just reward for some good bowling on this tour. Nothing else deserves any space on this blog.

Instead I am going to play out the possibilities from here on. Let us see how many of these come true.

1. India will make changes at Adelaide and bring in Rohit and Ojha. The nature of the wicket would mean that both of them would be successful and that would be a big slap on the captain’s face, who went with four supposedly fast bowlers at WACA.
2. I have a feeling that Duncan Fletcher would be the scapegoat for the failures on the last two tours. MSD will be provided a smooth exit on his own terms. I have a feeling that Sreekanth would also be eased out.
3. VVS and Rahul Dravid will announce their retirement after the tour. They will probably get a last farewell test at home.
4. Sachin would play in the Tri series because he is the sort of person who would like to come back with his head held high.
5. The team for ODI, will bring in the usual suspects who have done nothing to prove their fitness or form. I see Raina, Murali Vijay, Yuvraj, Munaf, Praveen Kumar coming back. I do not see any change in the result. We would possibly be the third team.

A word on MSD's horrible captaincy this series. When he selected 4 quickies, I am sure he did not account for the fact that he has to get 90 overs in a day from them. That means rouchly 20 overs per bowler per day. If one of them went for runs, his options were exposed. Also he ran the risk of over rates, which has now become reality.

In the Australian innings, when they were 8 down, instead of calling Ishant to pair up with Yadav, he threw the ball at Sehwag. Why not try to warp up an innings and curtail the lead?


Finally, in the second innings I would have tried something different to upset the Aussie plans. Like asking Dravid to open, have VVS coming in at three and use Viru down the order. That would have forced Clarke to use Siddle early on to go after Dravid and may be would have produced something different. He has fixed plans and set moves.  He is not innovating like he used to do earlier.

Sydney Suffering

A lot was expected of the Indian team in the second test match at SCG. A historic venue celebrating its 100th test match, a venue which Sachin rates as his own ground and the close contest in the previous encounter pointed in a very intense contest. In reality it was a completely one sided contest with the India team throwing in the towel in the first session itself.

Once the Indians frittered away the advantage of winning the toss, they had very little time to recover. We could get to a decent enough total thanks to some rearguard action from Dhoni and Ashwin. Sehwag, Dravid, Laxman all fell in a heap and I would say Tendulkar too. Because a 40 from Sachin is below par. To their credit, Zaheer Khan produced a brilliant spell to have the Aussies down to 3/39. Then as Ponting walked in, MSD made that inexplicable change to bring on Ishant and lost the momentum. The Indians, would like to forget the next three days because there was no respite from free scoring. Ponting, Clarke and Hussey scored runs as if they were playing against a school team. Each one of them got a century and Clarke scored a triple.

There are only two ways to look at a score in excess of 600. Either the wicket has eased out and therefore it is easy to score runs or the bowling/field placements were mediocre and hence the team scored freely. In this case it was the latter. When the Indians came to bat, the usual service was resumed. Aussie quickies, though short on experience, produced impeccable line and length to get the famous batting line up rattled. None scored a century and that tells the story.

I think the Indian cricketers are spoilt with flat docile wickets at home and a surplus of ODIs and T20s. These matches make the players and the board rich, but spoil the game. No batsman is willing to stay longer at the crease and frustrate the bowlers. On the contrary, the Aussies throttled the boundaries and forced the Indian batters to take risks. These matches also make the captains a bit defensive, because the success lies in restricting runs rather than claiming wickets. So I agree wholeheartedly when my friend says that Dhoni plays a test match like five ODIs. He lacks the skills that Kumble or Strauss has. Dhoni does not plot a downfall, he waits for it happen. He does not go for the kill when we have the upper hand, but takes his foot off the pedal. Because he is happy containing the opposition than getting it over with.

Finally, I also got feedback that I am being too soft on the famous four. But hasn’t enough been written about them already? They are under the gun and if they want their reputations to stay good, they have to deliver in the next two games.

Dhoni’s got his Knickers in a Twist

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has not been his usual self on this Australian tour and that is reflecting on the performance of the team.

Look at the first two tests. At MCG, we had an opportunity to get Ponting out of this series. He came to the crease with a string of low scores and his confidence dropping. He looked tentative and Zaheer was bowling good line at that time. Instinctively, Dhoni brought on Ishant in the next over and I think he lost chance there. Zaheer had bowled just 6 overs and could have bowled an extra over. Such set moves are analysed over and again these days and MSD should know that they are not likely to get him any success. If he had got Ponting out quickly, then it would have immediately created a problem for the Aussies with possibly an end of the road for Ponting. As it turns out, we have conceded a century to him at SCG and his career is revived.

Then there are some weird field settings that perplexed the bowlers about the line to bowl and took the pressure off the batsmen. Having fielders midway is a good plan for middle overs in a ODI, but when you have the opposition under pressure, it leaks easy singles and relieves the pressure. Even when the Indian quickies were bowling good line MSD did not set an attacking field with a strong slip cordon.

It is also very concerning to note that the Indian team has conceded over 600 runs to all the top teams very recently. Agreed, we had limitations in England, but a champion team needs to have backup plans. In Australia we have the full strength bowling attack, yet we conceded 600+ score. What is worrying also is the fact that on the same wickets, our batting has failed to score. That is a double whammy.

The same middle of the road defensive approach also plays a vital role in not being able to warp up an innings after having taken 5 or 6 top order wickets. Routinely, the opposing teams have had their tails wagging and scoring useful runs.

For India to have any impact in this series, MSD needs to get his act right. He is the leader and has to lead from the front. His planning and strategies needs to be well thought and proactive. I think both in England and in Australia the opposition coaches have done a stellar job in creating plans for the Indians and executing them on the ground. MSD needs to learn and learn fast.