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.

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.

The Typical Australian No.5

Australia has a long tradition of some very useful players who came lower down the order and built a reputation to salvage a crumbling ship. As far as I can remember, there was Doulg Walters, who has played some magnificent innings during his time. Then there was Alan Border, again someone who always stood up when required and shepherded the tailenders to carve out a nice score. These days they have someone in the form of Michael Hussey. He brings in stability and some solidness to the batting order. He too has played some wonderful innings, the latest one being the one in the first test of the current series.

I think India’s VVS Laxman also falls in the same category. He is very Australian in that sense and probably that is the reason why he is so successful and respected by the Australians.

India-Australia First Test @ Mohali : What a cliffhanger

If one was looking for a classic commercial to promote test match cricket, he should have been at Mohali over the past 5 days. A great test match between two evenly balanced teams, ended with a win for India with the narrowest of the margins. I am sure a number of people stopped watching the telecast/webcast for superstitious reasons when we needed 20 odd runs. I was among those people. Such was the tension and the swing of fortunes that either team could have won. So let us take a deep breath and look back.

I thought the Indian team looked rusty in the first innings and it was shocking to see Dhoni drop two regulation catches. Sehwag too dropped an easy chance and all of these lapses proved costly. Shane Watson scored a uncharacteristic slow century and Tim Paine scored a 90. With 400+ runs on the board, Aussies looked like they could not lose this test match. But the Indian response was very good, at least the first half. Everyone at the top of the order contributed and it was a shame to see Sachin miss out on his 49th. Then I don’t know what happened but Dhoni and Raina threw their wickets away to irresponsible shots and we were caught short of the target. Ideally we should have consolidated and got at least a 50+ lead.

In the second innings, things were very quiet and the match was heading towards a draw till Ishant got into the act. He got three (well almost three) wickets in an over and that got the team charged up. Zaheer and the spinners also chipped in and we had a game on our hands. 216 to get in the fourth innings was definitely gettable.

The Australians are known for their never-say-die spirit and they came out with all guns blazing. Whatever thoughts the Indians had were blown to pieces in a matter of few overs. At 55/4 on day 4, all was lost. Then came that heroic innings from Ishant and VVS and India won by the smallest of the margins.

The reason I said the teams were balanced, is because if you look at the score sheet, there is a fifer from both teams, there is a century and a near one on either side. The fielding of the two teams was superb largely, except for some glitches.

The umpiring in this test match was poor. There were at least 5 bad decisions, but as they say everything evened out in the end. Some of those decisions were rank bad and I was surprised to see Billy Bowden making mistakes. May be the age is catching up on him.

We go into the second match with some key players nursing injuries. Ishant, Gambhir, Laxman and Bolinger are doubtful starters. But these two teams are capable of creating something out of nothing and providing excellent entertainment to all the spectators.

First 200 in a ODI

I know that this blog is not the place for discussing ODIs, but special occasions call for some exceptional treatment. One such special occasion was the Second ODI between India and SA at Gwalior where the little master turned the clock back and scored the first ever double century in an ODI. He was at his destructive best and we were fortunate to have witnessed this master innings of his. In my opinion, he is the rightful owner of this record and thoroughly deserves it.

There will be more people scoring double hundreds, possibly during the World Cup 2011 when a number of weaker teams will participate in the tournament. The distinction of being the first to conquer a peak is always remembered by many and that is why Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay are famous. That is why Neil Armstrong is a familiar name. Reading the papers in the morning today was that sort of feeling with everyone in the cricketing fraternity praising this genius.

Congratulations Sachin, you have made us proud!!

India v SA : Second test, Kolkata : India stays on top

T he second test match of this two match series started off quite sedately. There was speculation on whether Smith will play after injuring his finger, but that was swiftly set aside. SA were without the services of Mark Boucher and they promptly drafted in a spare batsman in Alviro Petersen with AB doing duties behind the stumps. They also won the toss and started the day pretty well. Both Amla and Petersen scored centuries and at Tea they were 200-odd for the loss of two wickets. In the next 45 minutes or so they lost 5 more wickets and finally were bowled out for 296. Indians fought back stupendously and never showed any signs of frustration when the Proteas were sailing smoothly for a mammoth first innings total.

The Indian batsmen then came to the party and Sehwag and Tendulkar dominated the proceedings on day 2. SA bowlers wasted their energies in bowling a negative leg stump line and I thought they missed a trick or two by not making the Indians play the deliveries. On top of that, they also spilt about 7-8 catches, which must be a record of sorts for them. For Sehwag, the line does not matter and he just kept thrashing them to all the corners of the park. The Little Master completed his fourth consecutive test century and I think he wants to be in the six consecutive centuries club. Post tea session on day 2 also produced a flurry of wickets but Dhoni and VVS completed the demolition job on day 3. VVS literally owns the Eden Garden wicket. Indians settled for a lead of 346 and declared.

With two days to spare, it looked like India will pocket the test match quite easily, but rains took out a good chunk of the fourth day. As is becoming the habit with this SA team, the last day went to the wire and the final wicket was claimed by the Indians with 9 deliveries left. They seem to be at the wrong end of the trick this too, because earlier England defied them in similar fashion in two test matches. Hashim Amla was simply outstanding with close to 500 runs in the series with three centuries. Smith rightly described him as the glue at number three.

So India retained the No 1 rank in test cricket. A two match series is never a good idea, and when two top ranked teams played, there was a very high probability of dull draws. But we ended up having two one sided games, with the victors winning by an innings.
Some interesting stats and comments that were observed during this game:

1. We had two frontline batsmen from SA scoring centuries, yet the team scored less than 300 runs.
2. Four Indian batsmen scored centuries and four SA bowlers conceded centuries.

Fitness remains a major concern for the Indian and for most teams these days. With so much cricket being played, injuries are bound to take toll. The bench strength also remains a worry. This was a great opportunity for a youngster to step in and grab the chance, but they failed. So lot of thinking and planning for the board and the selectors. They must keep the team fresh and hungry if we are to win the 2011 World Cup.

India v SA : First test, Nagpur : All gone wrong for India

T he first test match of this series billed as the Championship of Test cricket went awfully wrong for the Indians. We did nothing right and were punished by a disciplined SA team.

First, the selectors did not pay attention to the composition of the team and selected players based on, I believe, zonal biases. Despite the long list of injured batsmen, we loaded our team with four fast bowlers and not enough batsmen. Dravid and Yuvraj not playing was known beforehand and Laxman dropped out too. So in a rush, the selectors asked Rohit Sharma to stay back after the 2 day practice game. He too twisted his ankle on the morning of the first day and we had a situation where the spare wicket-keeper was drafted in the playing eleven as a specialist batsman.

The only session that went India’s way was the first session on Day-1 when Zaheer bowled a superb spell and managed to get two wickets very early. Ashwell Prince was unlucky to get out on a armguard catch. After those two quick wickets, it was SA all the way with Kallis and Amla grinding the Indian bowling attack and demoralizing the fielders. I thought the Indian bowling changes were also predictable but then the Proteas had done their home work pretty well. Harbhajan needs to sit out on the current form. His bowling form, attitude and fielding is a huge worry. The last time he took a fifer was in March 2009 against New Zealand. (And July 2008 vs SL prior to that). It is about time we brought in another spinner, possibly Ojha.

Indian batting, after the flurry from Sehwag was cut to pieces in the first essay. What a magnificent spell Dale Steyn bowled in the afternoon. Sheer pace and accuracy. He brought a seemingly dead track to life with the changed cricket ball and produced sheer magic. Though we were on the receiving end of the spell I think it was probably the best bowling display by a visiting fast bowler that I have seen since Malcolm Marshall. The difference was that Marshall was threatening while Steyn was pin-point accuracy. His figures of 7/51 were truly deserved. That helped the Proteas to enforce the follow on and quickly take two second innings wickets on Day 3. Only one team could win the test match from then on and the only question was whether it will get over in 4 days or 5 days. They settled it in 4 days with Sachin fighting a lone battle to score yet another ton, his third successive so far. A thoroughly deserved win for the South Africans and that means India is on the back foot now. It would be interesting to see the team selection for the Second test.

I am a big fan of Jacques Kallis. He is a player who embodies the qualities of a good test player. Great batsman, excellent fielder and a good bowler too. Even at this late stage in his career he bowled at 144 K at the end of day 4 in India. His record is truly impressive with tons of runs, bucketful of wickets and handful of catches. He is physically very fit and I doubt if he has missed a lot of matches due to injuries. It is a pity that he played in the era of Hansie Cronje and therefore could not captain the Proteas on a regular basis.

India v SA : The battle for No. 1 Spot

F inally there is some good test match cricket on offer when India locks horns with the South Africans for a two test series. I did not write my usual updates during the England-SA series but that was one hell of a series where England hung on by the skin of their teeth. SA deserved a far better final score line but that has been their problem area; they always choke on some key points.

Coming back to the India-SA series, I am really excited to watch this. Both teams start off with some great handicaps but want to do their best. India has the challenge of a raw middle order with Yuvraj, Dravid and possibly Laxman pulling out due to injuries. I am concerned about Yuvraj’s injuries because he has made a habit of sitting out and the his recovery is very slow. Harbhajan has also had a patchy form and is also under a lot of pressure to deliver. So the think tank of M/s Srikanth and co. decided to catapult an opener into No. 3 slot and blood Badrinath finally into test cricket. I think for Badri this opportunity is too late. He did not get an opportunity when he was at his peak and now the pressure will get to him. Murali Vijay may do well at No. 3. Tendulkar and Sehwag therefore become very critical to the success of this team.

SA on the other hand, have had a cracking 6-8 months. Their bowlers are unidirectional but in form and their batsmen have all scored well. But SA cricket administration resembles a ship wreck these days with the stand-in coach and sacked selection committee. Smith will be confused because he would not know the direction the scheme of things will take back home. He has a solid batting unit in Kallis, deVilliers, Duminy and Amla and Steyn, Morkel and Harris with the ball. It is going to be battle of wits and both teams are going to put up a strong challenge. I am excited with the prospect of some high quality test cricket. Keep reading my updates here.

GOD 20 n.o.

S achin Ramesh Tendulkar aka God aka Tendlya aka Little Master completed twenty years in office on the 15th November. Playing test match cricket for 20 years is a herculean task by any yardstick that is out there. I mean just imagine the number of hours that he has spent on the field playing, practicing, travelling etc. The average sportsperson has a much shorter ‘active’ lifespan and considering that Sachin started playing at a very tender age this achievement is definitely special. On top of that he also stayed in top form for a very large part of this illustrious period. The records and the achievements on the field are a byproduct when one scales peaks this high.

The man is still a simple middle-class Maharashtrian boy and has his both feet firmly planted on the ground. He is a proud Indian too and that is why I liked his latest salvo at the so called Mumbaikars about Mumbai belonging to India. No airs, no tantrums and no big celebrity histrionics. There have been some controversies both on off the field and he has always answered his critics with his bat. He is absolutely the role model if one is starting his career.

Here is wishing that his dream of winning the World Cup for India gets fulfilled. All the best Sachin and all of us would like to see you keep playing on and on.

David Shepherd RIP

U ndoubtedly one of the most consistent and popular cricket umpire of this generation passed away yesterday fighting a his battle with cancer. It is not very often that you hear players across continents praising a cricket umpire. David was known for his inimitable style of signaling the boundry as if he was caressing ripples on a lake and more commonly he was known for his one legged Nelson when the score reached multiples of 111. His judgment even in the days of technology were spot on and that is probably the reason he was loved by the players. May his soul rest in peace.

Amusing Brits

D uring the Ashes series, I came across some real gems from the CricInfo commentary team. I wanted to share these classics for the sheer British sense of humour, have a read.

On day 1 of the final test, the commentary team announced the as follows.
If you have work to do, children to take to school, groceries to buy or a cat to kick, then you could swallow the loser's pill and do just that. Or, you could be one of life's winners: sack the wife, expel the husband, shoot the boss and eBay your children: this is where you should be for the next five days.

And followed that up on day 2 with
So, we're nearly ready. Put down the brown bag; empty the mind wok and stop your blue-sky thinking. It's Friday - you never work on a Friday - so sit back and refresh like the cricket-crazy thugs you all are.

Finally, the statistical nightmare that I was referring to in my earlier post is nicely captured in the article When the numbers didn't add up.

The Ashes 2009: Final Test @ The Oval – Hats off to England!!

E ngland regained the Ashes by comprehensively defeating the Australians in the last test played at the Oval and they deserve all the accolades and the celebrations. As a unit they stood up and ensured that the test match and the series was won against the form book. More importantly, at the key moments in the game when it called for raising the intensity and creating an opening they were the ones who did that. So Strauss’s role in the victory cannot be underestimated.

This series is a statistician’s nightmare. Consider this. Australia has 8 centuries against 2 for England. The top three wicket takers are all Australians. Yet in the final analysis the Ashes remain with the English team. This is because Australians failed on three key occasions and all of them made a huge difference to the outcome of the series.

First, the final session the first test match. The Australians had the victory in their pocket with the last pair batting. But they did not force the play. They should have used pace and got Monty out, but he hung on and defended the pedestrian spin bowling thrown at him. They lost a golden opportunity to go 1-0 up in the series.

Then at Lord’s it was the magical spell from Freddie that spelt doom for them. That one session was enough for them to lose the test match.

And finally, the Chris Broad’s spell on Day 2 of the final test, provided England a match winning lead. To their credit, England batsmen also batted sensibly in the second innings and put up a total to take ‘win’ out of Australia’s reach.

Apart from these key sessions, I think the English team played with a lot of maturity and purpose. They too had their middle order batting problems, but they managed to create a wall around it. Jonathan Trott is an excellent find and showed lots of commitment and solid temperament. He has a great future ahead of him. It is not easy to make a debut in a high voltage test match like this and that too against the chirpy Australians. England created heroes out of regular players.

Australian selectors made a mess of the team selection and the touring party also failed to read the wickets. The result was that they lacked penetrating bowlers and did not have the usual strong batting lineup that one would expect.

In the aftermath of the analysis, one comment that caught my attention was about the lack multi-racial multi-cultural representation on the Australian team. They must evaluate that option considering what the SA has done successfully. If one also connects this story with the racial attacks on Indian students, somewhere down the back of the mind this also raises a question as to whether the Australian culture is indeed multi-racial.

With that I wrap up this coverage on the Ashes. Watch out for my notes as things develop down under when the post mortem truly begins.

Headingley Fire Alarm Theories

There are some interesting stories around the fire alarm that went off in the England team hotel on the night before the first day. One theory is that an australian supporter staying in the same hotel intentionally set the alarm off to create nuisance. There is also another explanation which mentions that a lady guest staying in the same hotel had washed her lingerie in the wash basin and left it to dry near the light bulb. The heat from the light bulb was sufficient to make the clothes warm enough to generate smoke. Take your pick on which story you want to believe. :)

The Ashes 2009: Fourth Test Headingley

A nnihilation. That is the exact one word that describes the fourth test of this series. Australia came into the match and showed their intent from the very first over while England seemed to have lost the game in their minds before it began. They had no plan, showed no gumption for a fight and were unimaginative.

Partly, I think Strauss had a bit too much on his mind after winning the toss. In the morning there was the mishap involving Matt Prior and that unsettled his concentration and they also had to deal with the absence of Andrew Flintoff. What followed was a quick search for a replacement wicket keeper which was nullified after Prior recovered quickly from the back spasms. So after winning a good toss, when Strauss walked on the crease to open the innings his mind was cluttered. He should have been out on the first ball but was spared by Billy Bowden. But he failed to capitalize on that life and England collapsed for 102 in their first innings. Australia, in reply, were clinical and amassed 445 runs thus gaining a match winning 343 runs lead. As I write this, England are 8 wickets down in their second innings and are looking down the barrel. I think Australia will go into the final test with lots of positives and quite a few players from their team who were struggling have gained in confidence. England on the other hand have no clue with the absence of their biggies like Flintoff and Pietersen. They have nobody to rally around and Strauss looks like a completely detached uninspiring skipper when in this mode.

A couple of notes on Australian team selection. First Stuart Clark has made his presence felt in this match. I think he and Shane Watson are two people who are out of favour with Ponting and he selected both of them very grudgingly. Both of them proved their mettle. Secondly, I think on a dry looking wicket Ponting gambled and selected an all pace attack and that did pay off.

All eyes on the final test now. I had predicted a 2-1 series when it began but did not know which team would win it. I think I do now. It is going to be 2-1 Australia.

The Ashes 2009: Third Test Edgbaston

W eather was the winner in this test match from day one. It had rained heavily prior to the test match and there were theories of spongy pudding like outfield. Ricky Ponting was not going to be fooled by all that talk after the mistake he committed on the last tour here. He decided to look at the pitch and then take the call. Five clear days of good weather were almost impossible and in my mind Ponting should have gambled a bit to wrestle some initiative. He did not and in the end England collected all the brownie points from this test match.

First of all Australia did not play to win if you ask me. Their team selection was almost defensive and short of imagination. Mitchell Johnson is having a wretched form on this tour and this was a perfect opportunity to try and give some match exposure to Stuart Clark. He is steady, does not leak runs and has been taking wickets when fit. But Ponting decided to keep faith in Johnson who again continued to bowl an erratic line. He compounded his woes by picking up an altercation with some English batsmen and that is not going to win him friends on the boundary line. He is going to be targeted by the spectators and it is an uphill task for him to come back on this tour. Ponting gambled and selected Shane Watson and that gamble paid off. He scored valuable runs in both innings. But if you think about it, this is almost a slap in the face for the selectors. They had backed Hughes and not even selected a reserve opening batsman and here you have the captain dropping their trusted opener after 4 innings.

This Australian squad is also very soft in their minds possibly due to the ban on sledging from CA. As Tim de Lisle describes in his article they are England in disguise. A possible reason is that they are themselves not very sure about their chances and that reflects in the on-field behavior. That is why you have Mr. Cricket who is so bloody confused that he leaves a perfect delivery only to be clean bowled. The hay days of their ruthless supremacy seem to be over. Let us wait and watch what happens in the rest of the series. But I would put my money on England for they have shown some courage and have fought well.

PS: There are reports that after he was clean bowled by Swann in the second innings, Ricky Ponting smashed the door in the dressing room.

The Ashes 2009: Second Test at Lord’s

Incredible!! That is the only way one can describe the way England came back into the series and won the second test at Lord’s. This test match truly belonged to Freddie Flintoff who has announced his retirement from test cricket at the end of this series. England had a great start in the first innings and although the middle order frittered away this great start, they had a decent total on the board. Mitchell Johnson who was so successful as the spearhead of the attack in South Africa seemed like he had a bottle of vodka for breakfast. Nothing landed on the proverbial penny or 3 feet on either side of it. Then when Australians came out to bat Jimmy Anderson produced a fine spell of swing bowling to rock Australia back. Once the Australians conceded a 200+ runs lead, their only hope of saving the test match was praying for rain.

But this test will be remembered for the classic British heroics of Andrew Flintoff. This was his last test match at Lord’s and therefore he had to produce some heroics. He did that in the only way he can in his own style. There are lots of articles written about his antics on the final day and some of these are really noteworthy. Peter English titled his article “Flintoff, bloody Flintoff” and Dean Jones commented that he played a great game but the pity was that he is not Australian. I think these gems like Flintoff, Kapil Dev, Botham, Tendulkar, Imran Khan, Graeme Smith have something wired differently in their brain that just gets them to behave abnormally under pressure. That is why all of them are greats. Well played Freddie!!

I thought Strauss did a wise thing by batting despite having the option to enforce the follow on. Chasing 100-150 runs in the fourth innings is not a very good prospect. Also once the target was set at 500+ runs, the Aussies must have realized they cannot win. This ‘not enforcing a follow on’ is a new trend that is emerging these days and I think the captain puts a lot of premium on his bowlers in reaching this decision. Bowling continuously to get 20 wickets on the trot is a herculean task and in a tight schedule you do not want to lose your main frontline bowlers to injuries. You have got to keep them fresh. Plus a quick fire 200 odd runs makes the job of chasing the target that much difficult.

The umpiring in this test match was very pedestrian and almost all the dubious decisions went England’s way. One can live with a few wrong decisions as long as the umpires are consistent about it but here it was a bit inconsistent. Once in a while it is good to see the Australian side on the wrong end of the stick. Be that the lbw/caught dismissal of Ricky Ponting in the first innings or the dismissals of Phil Hughes and Mike Hussey in the second innings. To their credit the Aussies took these blows on their chins and made no mention of this in the post match comments. From what Shane Warne has been telling on the commentary they have some unique methods of showing dissent in the dressing room that is. For example, he mentioned Michael Slater dumping his bat in the toilet, so that he would not use it again would you believe? Broken chairs, broken glass etc must be routine ordinary stuff. I wish there was a gallery of these pictures after some of the most controversial dismissals. Like Ganguly in Sydney.

Emosional Attyachar (with Apology to DevD)

While the Ashes series has generated a lot of excitement, we have the other two series going on in parallel, West Indies vs. Bangladesh (The wooden spoon contest) and Pakistan vs. Sri Lanka. I can only call these matches as emosional attyachar for the players, for the officials and for the fans.

Look at the state of affairs in the West Indies. Their players have been through a lot. First the Allen Stanford fiasco where the players lost a lot of their hard earned money and probably their life’s savings due to bad investment decision. Secondly, they have lost a lot young players to basketball where there seems to be a lot of money. So the team is in shambles, there is a continuous dispute with the board and they play with their second or third string players. How do you expect this team to put up a fight?

The other series has Pakistan which if you ask me needs to go through a thorough rebuilding process if they have to stop these 90 all out and 9 wickets out for 35 runs sort of scores. They are a collection of individual contributors not a team at this stage and the situation at home is not helping them. Sri Lankans on the other hand seem to have recovered rather rapidly from that ghastly attack in Lahore. Their team under Sangakkara is showing a lot of character and they have played some good quality cricket in the T20 championship and in this series too.

So there is the reason for my silence on these two contests.

The Ashes 2009 : First Test at Cardiff

New venue, unknown ground conditions and a series opener. We had all the ingredients for an absorbing game of cricket but barring the last one hour of the final day there was not much to keep people interested. England batted well in the first essay but failed to capitalize on some good starts. Someone should have scored a big hundred and ensured that they would not lose the test match. They posted a middle of the road total and the Australian response was great. Now here is a team that absolutely thrashes the opponent into the ground and ensures that they stay on the ground. They built up a massive lead and put England under pressure. They used the ‘sledge’ hammer too to get the results they wanted. Pietersen was provoked and lost his wicket when the need of the hour was to stay.


The only interesting session was the last session when Collingwood was fighting a lone battle to save the test match and Australians were coming at him with everything. He played a gem of an innings. Once he got out, he left a small window of opportunity for the Aussies to claim the last wicket in about 12 overs. That is when the drama started and Australian skipper Ponting once again showed his ugly side. They claimed catches that did not exist and appealed and put a lot of pressure on the umpires. Monty and James Anderson stuck around and as the number of deliveries kept reducing the Aussies became more frustrated. These scenes were reminiscent of the scenes against India (Sydney) or South Africa. I wonder why Ponting did not use Hilfenhaus or Johnson to claim that last wicket. Aussies are making a habit of having the last pair frustrate them and they need to show the same level of ruthlessness to stop the tail from wagging. In this case it was the difference between 1-0 up in the series and going to Lord’s with a 0-0 score line.

Sunny @ 60

Sunil Manohar Gavaskar turned 60 last weekend. He has been a cricketing hero to a lot of people of my generation who grew up listening to his exploits in the test match cricket. I was in primary school when he went on his first tour of the West Indies and I was quite upset to see a few new names on that tour. Because I did not have their photos in my collection!! Very soon that was to be set right because after that tour he became a household name in Indian cricket.

On that team we had Ajit Wadekar as the captain for the first time. He had become the captain because of a casting vote used by Vijay Merchant. The new players, whose photos I did not have in my album, were Sunil Gavaskar, Rusi Jeejeebhoy(wk), P. Krishnamurthy(wk), Jayantilal Kenia (Opening) and D. Govindraj (medium pace). India returned victorious from that tour and Dileep Sardesai, Eknath Solkar and Sunny along with Ajit Wadekar were responsible to a large extent for that result. Sunny did not play in the first test but in the remaining four tests he scored 774 runs ( 8 innings, 4 hundreds including 1 double) surpassing Sardesai’s 642 runs (8 innings, 3 hunreds including 1 double).

It is very difficult to write anything about Sunny’s records because he has so many of them. I think he brought professionalism into Indian cricket and that to my mind is his single largest contribution other than hundreds of runs he scored. He has carried on with the same professional attitude post his retirement and his comments during the tests are worth a listen. He is a true Indian at heart.

I am sure like in the test matches, Sunny would have taken a fresh guard, reassessed the situation and will go on past the milestone.

Well played Sir, and here is wishing you a great great Century.

The Ashes 2009 - Curtain Raiser

I I have been away for the past couple of months or so primarily for two reasons. Firstly I did not feel motivated enough to cover the India NZ series because it was kind of one sided. The only reason for me to cover that would have been if things had not gone per the form guide. Less interesting series, but I watched it all the same. The second reason is that these past 2-3 months have been completely flooded with the T20 games. We had the IPL-II and then the T20 World Cup. Like to watch those games but that is slam-bang cricket not classic cricket. This time though there was some level of strategy in IPL because the teams had more experience and the choice of venue brought the bowlers in play.

Now Aussies are in England for a revenge series and they would like to retain and defend the Ashes. For Ricky Ponting this will be a personal agenda for he was the captain of the Australian team that handed over the Ashes to the Poms in England last time. That is an unforgivable sin as far as the Australian public is concerned and any captain would not like to be in that situation. Having already committed that sin, the only thing Ponting can do is to comeback and thrash the English team and win the Ashes in a convincing manner. But that is easier said than done. In my opinion both teams have undergone massive changes some planned some unplanned. They are rebuilding and therefore it is going to be an interesting contest. Aussies are a step ahead in their preparation but they are away from home turf and they have the motivation to win. England on the other hand are a bit demoralize after Pieteren fiasco and the happenings on their Windies tour. But they are capable of putting up a fight. Hence I am quite eager to see the start of the first test match.

Finally John Buchanan is in the news again. After his controversial stint with KKR in the IPL he has been chucked out and has been recruited by the English team as a consultant. Now that should bring a smile on Punters face because John will cast one of theories again and will spoil England’s preparations. Some of the old Australian players have already expressed their opinion and I liked the comment from Shane Warne. He said that John will probably conduct a boot-camp and have Freddie and Pietersen with bruised knees. On John Buchanan and his preposterous theories one can only say that the dog’s tail will always curl up.