Sporting Nirvana

Lost my mojo

2006-01-27T11:15:00.000Z

Sorry to whoever is still coming here (is there anybody at all?). I have lost my mojo, and until I recover it, stuff here stands temporarily suspended.
Enjoy all.

Have a fantastic New Year

2005-12-28T12:41:00.000Z

Me off on a holiday - should be back hopefully in time for the India -Pak series. You have a nice, warm and happy holiday season and a great year ahead.

Enjoy!

India win the series comfortably

2005-12-22T09:58:00.000Z

As expected, India won the series against Sri Lanka 2-0. The Lankans were really struggling in India right through the ODI and Test series - surprisingly, if I may add. I expected them to do a whole lot better than they did in this tour. Did India not allow them to perform, or was it something else?

India won on the back of a wonderful performance from Kumble and Harbhajan on pitches that are perfect for them. In fact they outshone Murali - which is neither easier said nor done. Of course, Murali had to shoulder the burden all by himself, which would have made a huge difference. India's top order was the only minor drawback in this series - with some inconsistent performances. Sachin and Laxman got a century each and Yuvraj showed some form. However, there were a few collapses, and the lower order bailed them out every single time. Hopefully these are just minor aberrations - because such a performance against Pakistan will be costly. Pathan improved greatly as a batsman in this series, and he seems destined for bigger things.

This win sets up the Pakistan series beautifully!

Beautiful. Balanced. Perfect.

2005-12-22T09:55:00.000Z

Rohit Brijnath (my favourite cricket writer) on Tendulkar. Read it.

Great series in prospect

2005-12-14T17:37:00.000Z

Aus V South Africa promises to be a cracker. I remember the high expectations that the world had when Teams 1 and 2 in the world in 2001-02 clashed - everyone expected a close one but Aus thrashed SA home and away.
I sincerely home this home and away series (3 Tests apiece) is as keenly contested on the field as it already is off it. Cricinfo has a preview, and this paragraph summed up the contest so far:

Symcox expects more harsh words on this tour; Smith would be disappointed if he
didn't receive any, and Warne would be happy to give some more work to South
African psychologists. It all points to more feather-ruffling, brotherly
elbowing and verbal intensity. Despite Malcolm Speed's bizarre intervention,
both teams will find it satisfyingly gripping.

Australia are looking to continue their rebuilding after the Ashes, and South Africa led by Graeme Smith and a good pace attack looks good. But Warne holds the key. SA suck at playing spin, and Warne loves getting the South Africans out - perhaps he sees Cullinan's face every time he runs in to bowl! Now if only the time difference between the UK (where I live) and Aus was more manageable!

The Ganguly saga

2005-12-14T15:54:00.000Z

The Ganguly issue is one of the trickiest ever that Indian cricket has had to face, and the BCCI has screwed it up as only they can. Here's my take on this entire issue:

- The elite committee comprising Shastri, Gavaskar, Venkat, Dalmiya and the two stooges had a great chance to take a clear decision. They didn't due to political compulsions and lack of balls. That move to not take a clear-cut stance either way is coming back to bite all of us in the backside.
- Ganguly is a much better ODI batsman. Once said committee did not sack Ganguly, he should have been picked for the ODI side. By not picking him (as I had written earlier) for the version of the game he was better suited for, they were probably giving him a signal that it is the end of the road. I still feel that in the ODIs, a fit and performing Ganguly has more to add to this team than his replacements (Venugopal Rao and Raina). They are youngsters who need a chance, but they will have to wait. Ganguly is a wonderful ODI player in full flow, and if he could recapture that form, India will be better off for it.
- The decision to ignore him for the ODIs, but then pick him for the Tests was equally bizzare. He is not a good Test match batsman anymore - he may score against Lanka, but will surely be exposed against Akhtar, Harmison and Freddie. Also, in the Test side, he is clearly blocking a more deserving Yuvraj's place in the 11. That all-rounder crap was just a horrible joke that turned sour.
- Two wrongs do not make a right, but they got the third decision wrong again! After having taken him into the Test squad, where he did no wrong in Delhi (scored 79 runs and was generally enthusiastic) they fired him again. When you pick a guy you shouldn't have picked in the first place, the least you can do is give him a long enough rope. One more Test was the minimum that he needed to get. Prem analyses what could have been done beautifully.

So now we have a situation where Ganguly, who deserved a chance in the ODIs has not got a chance there. He did get a chance in the Tests, proved himself, but is out in the cold. How did we end up with this tangled mess?

Pure and simple - politics (which is anything but pure and simple). Dalmiya and gang thrust Ganguly into the Test squad, and that was the last decision they would take. Maybe the team management resisted these pressures for the ODI series that preceded the Tests, but Dalmiya had his say for the Test in Chennai. Now that they new committee is in place, top priority is to undo the previous regime's decision - and prime target is poor Ganguly. So India's finest captain is being kicked around like his beloved sport - football. Sad, really sad!

Bowl the last 3 balls, dammit!

2005-12-13T11:14:00.000Z

One of the many rules in cricket that pisses me off kicks in when the bowling side takes a wicket in the last over of a session/end of day's play. Take today's match for instance. Bhajji was bowling beautifully, and with the Lankan backs to the wall, there were men around the bat. Bhajji bowled a straighter one/doosra (couldn't tell which) which took the outside edge and Rahul took a good low catch at slip. Wonderful dismissal - but they all troop off after that! Why can't the next batsman come out and play out the remaining three balls? Why penalise the bowler for getting a batsman out in the last over? Imagine the tension and activity that would happen in the last 3 balls - the pressure on the batsman, the bowler trying extra hard to get another one, the fielders on edge - isin't that what Test cricket is all about?
This also happened in the Ashes - I had written about it here - when Harmison bowled Clarke with that beauty of a slower ball, and then they all went away to the pavilion. I bet you that Lee who was scheduled to come in next would have shed bricks while facing the 2 remaining balls that evening.
Something for the ICC to consider - such drama moments are worth preserving.

Kumble takes the draw out of the equation

2005-12-13T11:00:00.000Z

When India set Sri Lanka a target of 436, only two results were possible - a win for India (by lunch on Day 5 as predicted by this writer yesterday) or a draw. Of course the draw hinged solely on Atapattu and Jayawardene - the rest of the batting cannot bat whole sessions against Kumble and Bhajji. One over from Kumble at the end of a long hard day took the draw out of the equation. Atapattu was foxed by a slightly slower ball, and drew uppishly back at the bowler. Kumble, who had wheeled in 15 overs by then, lunged forward and took the catch inches from the ground - and has handed India victory in this match. Just to make things even more certain, he took out the nightwatchman Bandara in the same over. It must be a formality now.

Maybe just after lunch tomorrow.

Why did they let him go?

2005-12-12T12:25:00.000Z

Troy Cooley (whose surname is open to all forms of racist slurs in the West) was widely touted as one of the major factors in England's resurgence. His coaching was instrumental in creating cricket's best fast bowling attack currently. So why did they let him go? That too to join the enemy, especially when all the enemy wants to do is to thrash England next year same time? The lure of moolah? Guilt pangs for said gentleman who played a role in defeating his own country? The Aussie sun? England's over-confidence? Will this bite them in the ass in Ashes 2006-7?

BBC Sports Personality of the Year

2005-12-12T11:41:00.000Z

Freddie Flintoff was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year yesterday. That he would end the year with this award was a foregone conclusion. There is no doubt at all - in a football crazed country, he has done more than most to bring cricket right back to the sports pages. Even with England struggling in Pakistan after the Ashes euphoria and the Premier League action reaching a cescendo, cricket gets covered in the UK now - and Flintoff is the reason why. Flintoff looked suitably zonked (at 3 AM in Lahore) while receiving the award from another zombie, Botham.

Warne was voted best overseas sports personality of the year, beating the likes of Lance Armstrong, Justin Gatlin and Federer! The English love Warney because he is all they want their sporting heroes to be - brash, super confident, extremely talented and sucessful. Warne has captured the imagination here like no overseas cricketer has save Brian Lara. Tendulkar may be God for us Indians, but in this neck of the woods, he is not anywhere close to being that. Flintoff, Warne and Lara take top billing as cricketing superstars here.

I enjoyed the program on BBC yesterday because of Gary Linekar. His understated presentation skills are so refreshingly different from the over-the-top stuff you see everywhere else on telly. His transformation from goal scorer to TV presenter has been amazing, and he is now going to be the BBC's golf presenter as well. Aah, how cool would it be for Indian telly to get a presenter as good as him. We can only hope!

India in front

2005-12-12T11:23:00.000Z

India can wrap this up by lunch on Day 5 if Kumble and Harbhajan can do the damage in the 4th innings. This Test has been an interesting one - played on a slow, low pitch that would normally suit Sri Lanka's spinners. However, Lanka is not the team it once was with a bunch of spinning all rounders. Therefore Murali had to do the damage, and he did it with 7 wickets in the first innings. Sachin got his 35th century - which was fantastic more so because it got the monkey off his back. He was trying too hard to get there and it showed against Pakistan at home, but hopefully this will spur him on to kick in and play more aggressively. Murali's wonky hand prised out the rest of the batting order cheaply - if his doosra to get rid of Dhoni is legal, I am Sir Don Bradman! I thought they were 100 runs short, but the wicket was not the best to bat on.

When SL batted, a champion bowler in these conditions came to the fore. Kumble is the best bowler in Indian conditions, ever! He knows exactly how to bowl on these pitches, and his 6 wickets got India a valuable lead of 60 runs - which India built upon in the 2nd innings thanks to Pathan! Chappell's biggest contribution so far has to be Pathan's emergence as an all-rounder. He has been given chances to express himself with the bat, and has passed admirably. His 93 really dampened SL spirits, and with a lead of close to 300, India seem to be sitting pretty. Even Murali was exhausted at the end of it all.

Some other asides from this Test so far:
* Saurav Dada Ganguly seems to be intent on winning his place back, and proving his billion detractors wrong. That is great news for Indian cricket. A disciplined Ganguly can add value. I have written here before that he is a better ODI batsman than in the Tests - I still think Ganguly should have played the ODIs first, and then carried his form (if he was successful) to the Test arena. His real test will come when we have Shoaib and Flintoff steaming in - but so far his approach has been good.
* Dravid, India's best No. 3 batsman ever, has opened in this Test, and then came in at 5 in the 2nd innings. While this is great for flexibility and stuff like that, too much of that is also not good. Dravid should (and will) return to and stay at No. 3, now that we have Gambhir and Sehwag as a reasonably settled opening pair. There was a time some years back when Dravid should have opened - and he didn't then. Now is the time to build upon existing strengths, and Dravid at 3 and Sachin at 4 is India's biggest asset.
* What's with the crappy commentary? The Sri Lankans suck, and Arun Lal, Srinath and Siva are no better. This has to be the worst commentary ever on Indian telly!

No Sehwag, maybe no Dravid as well!

2005-12-09T11:12:00.000Z

India's start to the home Test season was painstakingly slow - thankfully the match in Chennai lost 3.5 days to rain, else we would have struggled to save that one. So, it's back to basics for Team India while they try and gather themselves for the better form of the game.

Delhi does not look very good either - Sehwag is down with a fever and is out, Dravid is struggling as well, and the stadium is still in a shambles. Sri Lanka have bounced back well after the ODI drubbing. I still think India are favourites - but fear that lack of initiative and unresponsive pitches will turn the remaining Tests into draws. Shudder - 0-0 is very much on the cards.

Aus-pak-africa

2005-12-08T17:26:00.000Z

Apologies for a long absence from these pages. Didn't get to watch too much cricket, and the cold here in the UK is getting to me. What better way to get rid of the cold weather than to watch some cricket Down Under? Sunny New Zealand is playing host to Aus-pak-africa. Seriously, what's with that stupid colour Aus are wearing? It is a mesh (horrible one) of their green-and-gold, the Pakistan green and South African colours! They look terrible (almost as bad as my attempt at humour!).

I just saw what the wonderful people at Fox Sports provided as highlights of 5 minutes (link here), but the stand-out moment for me from the 2nd ODI was Clarke's throw in the final over. The bowler Lewis had given up on the single and didn't bother to back up, but Pup Clarke's direct hit turned the game in his team's favour. Wonderful fielding under great pressure. Breathless Lee is at his beamer-throwing best again, and after devastating the Kiwis in game 1, and getting hammered in game 2, he has decided to go home for a nasal ailment. But I wish someone would rap him on the bum for his beamers. They are an absolute disgrace.

So Aus win another series, and are shaking the Ashes defeat away. England, on the other hand, are up against it! Not so easy being on top of the world eh?

Highlights package

2005-11-29T12:37:00.000Z

With so much happening in the world of cricket, I have put together a highlights package.

*******

India won the final ODI in Mumbai to level the series 2-2against South Africa. It was perhaps a fitting result, with SA showing lot more spirit and gumption than the Sri Lankans last month. India did well in Mumbai after a dismal show in Kolkata - with the bowlers squeezing SA to just 221. Pathan and Harbhajan were fantastic, and India's fielding was too good to be true.
Sachin and Sehwag did the initial damage with the bat, and Dravid batted according to the situation and saw India through. That knock must have been particularly satisfying for Rahul - to be there at the end, to level the series and to cap a fine run in the ODIs (8 wins out of 11 matches) as captain. Yuvraj has progressed in leaps and bounds in this series, and played well for his 49. All in all, it was a good ODI series (something we haven't seen for a long time - 6-1 V SL was great for India, but the quality of cricket was not the best), with a fighting SA team and a spirited India dishing out some absorbing stuff.

**********

Lara got yet another record in his name, overtaking Border to be Test cricket's highest run-getter. It looked unlikely coming into the third Test, but Lara did what he does best - score a big 'un. I missed the double century, but it must have been something to watch. One of life's biggest regrets will be that I may never get to see Lara play a big knock in a Test match live. He has played just 3 Tests in India - and his record against India is surprisingly poor (averages below 40!). Mzybe I should plan a trip to the Carribean just to watch him bat next summer. It may be worth my while.
There have been endless debates about Lara's position in the Batting Hall of Fame - suffice to say, in full flow, and I mean FULL FLOW, I think there is no better sight than him batting.

**********

Inspite of Lara's sheer brilliance, Aus won the series 3-0. Ho hum!

**********

England's woes in Pakistan continue. Needing a win in Lahore to level the series, they don't seem to have done enough at the end of Day 1 to achieve that result. 248/6 is not a winning first day score on such a pitch. England's batting continues to disappoint, with no consistency overall. They have a terrific pace bowling unit, and an explosive middle order - but not much else. Unless they get a quality spin option and some consistent batting in the top order, they will struggle in the sub-continent.

*********

In what could be a seminal moment for Indian cricket, Sharad Pawar has been elected the President of the BCCI. Dalmiya's reign (directly or by proxy) is finally over, and a fresh committee takes charge. Time will tell if this set is better than the ones that preceded it, but atleast the BCCI and Indian cricket can expect something new. Everyone will now wait and see if new=better.

**********

India hammered

2005-11-25T17:06:00.000Z

Kolkata - 4th ODI:
India 188 (45.5 ov)
South Africa 189/0 (35.5 ov) . Scorecard.

A green pitch in Kolkata (which has conspiracy theorists rubbing hands in glee) and a lost toss meant India were up against it in conditions that resembled Durban more than Kolkata. Dravid mentioned that he had never seen so much grass in Kolkata, and Smith had a smile throughout and said it was like a home match for them! Of course, the fact that the crowd in Eden Gardens seemed to cheer SA more than India (thanks to Ganguly's absence from the team) would have further strengthened Smith's belief. This is a shameful but very real phenomenon in sport - I remember a match in the Windies where the crowd refused to turn up because their local hero Cummins was not chosen. It has also happened in Bangalore where Ganguly was booed when India were playing Pakistan, and happens often in football in the UK.

However, that is no excuse for the batting collapse. Dileep Premachandran analyses Pollock's performance in these conditions, which contributed heavily to India's low total. Only Yuvraj and Kaif got going, but no one played through the innings, and therefore paid the price. Smith really came out blazing, and his hunger to win really showed. When a batsman scores 134 n.o. chasing 189, you know he was possessed and in terrific form. Only Bhajji bowled well inspite of the dew, but no wickets fell in the rout.

India have to all to do in Mumbai - no one knows how the pitch in Mumbai will play, but South Africa can be pardoned for thinking Christmas has come a month early. Two perfectly suited pitches for their strengths, and a rain-off in spinning Chennai means that they have a real chance to win the series for the first time in India. Meanwhile, India's cricketing politics may have once again made India's chances difficult on the field.

When will India reach this state?

2005-11-24T18:02:00.000Z

Well, maybe not to this extent, but you will soon know what I mean. Australia's cricketers (the Aus. Cricketers Association) are concerned that young sportspersons are choosing Footy over cricket, and are considering various options to reverse the trend.

Footy obviously offers more options for player contracts - they have more top-flight footy clubs in the country (Melbourne itself has over 8) with decently paying salaries and game fees compared to just 6 state teams in cricket. The article talks about150 cricket contracts with the states, compared to 640 offered by footy clubs.

While this competition is obviously cause for concern for Cricket Australia, the other way to look at it is that a young sportsperson Down Under has a choice of sport to build a career in. Contrast that with the choice a 16 year old Indian boy who is inclined towards sports has - cricket is really the only viable option to make any money. The other sports simply suck in terms of return on investment of time and effort. Little wonder we come away with one medal every Olympics, whereas Australia is confident of emerging as the second largest medal winner in Beijing in 2008. And no prizes for guessing why the BCCI has really no motivation to professionalize the game fo cricket.

I think the emergence of other sporting alternatives will benefit not just the boy on the street, but also cricket. With competition from other sports, the cricket establishment and team has to be on their toes, which can only be good. Any chance of that happening in the next 10 years?

Hat tip to Cricinfo for the link.

Draw suits Pakistan just fine

2005-11-24T15:15:00.000Z

England 446 and 164 for 6 (Flintoff 56, Pietersen 42) drew with Pakistan 462 and 268 for 9 dec
Bulletin

England required some rearguard action from Freddie and KP to salvage a draw from this Test. After yesterday's reasonable position where all 3 results where possible, England allowed Inzy to run away with the game. Strauss has been a pale shadow in this series, and when he dropped Inzy, birthday boy Botham said on air that that was the end of England's chance to win this game. Inzy was colossal - playing in his own unique, immovable fashion. He got 2 centuries in this Test and overtook Javed Miandad as top century-getter for Pakistan.

After ruining England's chances, Shoaib and Naved did fantastically with the new ball to leave England and 20/4. Shoaib's revival in this series so far has been stunning. How long will it last? Flintoff and KP dug deep and put together a partnership that got them the draw.

Well done Pakistan - I don't see them losing in Lahore, with a docile pitch and a draw a most likely scenario. England's run of over 6 series wins ended here. Who would have thought it likely 3 days into the first Test?

Freddie Superman

2005-11-23T16:54:00.000Z

Day 4:
Pakistan 462 & 183/6 (66.0 ov)
England 446

England's reliance on Flintoff is complete. Batting woes? Fred will blast a 50. Bowling worries? throw the ball to Flintoff. KP and Vaughan dropping a dozen catches? Put Flintoff in the firing line. He will snaffle them up. Spirits low? Andrew will gee everyone up with a backflip and hands-in-air. Need some crates of beer polished after the game? Look no further.

After playing a HUGE role in winning the Ashes, many expected Flintoff to play a more subdued role in Pakistani conditions. Well, with 12 wickets and counting in this series, he seems to be the one guy who can get England back in this Test series. Yesterday, the match seemed headed towards a draw at best. Today, with two rip-roaring balls to blast out Yousuf and Afridi, he got England right back into the game.

The match is set up beautifully now, even though Pakistan are still favoured to get a draw. But who is prepared to bet against Freddie blasting the 4 wickets tomorrow early, and then scoring a quickfire 75 to take England home in complete darkness? Great final day in the offing!

Joke of the year

2005-11-23T16:40:00.000Z

Ganguly pipped Zaheer Khan for a place in India's Test team because he was a batting allrounder! We will never know what forced Kiran More to say this - but it would have been bloody funny if it wasn't so tragic. More than anything else, it is definitely an insult to Indian cricket fans. Prem Panicker analyses why Ganguly kept stressing his bowling performances in the Duleep Trophy. So did Ganguly know beforehand that he would get the nod, and that the allrounder tag would be used to justify the decision? Ridiculous!
If I was Zaheer, I would be pissed. If anything he performed just as well in the Duleep games, and his attitude would have been easier to accomodate in the new-look team than Ganguly's.
It was apparent to most keen observers that Ganguly would be given another chance in the Tests, but to use such stupid reasoning simply sucks.

Manchester United going through a rough patch

2005-11-23T15:39:00.000Z

Manchester United is one of sport's most iconic brands. People the world over watch the team play week after week in the Premier League and in Europe. For long they have been the dominant team in England, winning the Premier League, the Champions League and making lots of money along the way. However, this year started from being a bit shaky to now downright teetering on the edge.

First, the Glazers from America bought the club for over 1.4 billion $, and loaded the club with a huge amount of debt in a very unpopular move among fans. Then, Chelsea have now taken a nearly unassailable lead in the Premier League, and look like runaway winners this season. Just few days ago, Roy Keane, their inspirational captain and midfield general suddenly quit. This shook Man Utd fans worldwide, and weakened their team considerably. Man Utd are currently struggling to qualify for the knock out stages of the Champions League after yesterday's 0-0 draw against Villareal. The financial fallout of failing to qualify is reportedly around 12 million GBP (through TV revenue, gate receipts etc).

The latest is that Vodafone have withdrawn their sponsorship of the club's shirt. The 4 year deal (36 million GBP, or 9 million GBP a year) was in the second year. Vodafone are apparently shifting their focus to Europe and the Champions League, where they should strike a sponsorship that includes content for their 3G services. The United Commercial Director was on telly saying that this is actually an opportunity for them to significantly raise the shirt sponsorship amount for the next deal. While this is true, it is very strange that they did not finalise on a deal before announcing Vodafone's withdrawal. Did Vodafone not give too much advance notice of their intention? if they did, it would have been great for Man Utd to announce a replacement brand at the same time, to reassure worried fans that atleast financially they are ok. Man Utd expect to get more than Chelsea did from Samsung (they raised 10 million GBP a year for 5 years), but given the team's current form, it will be a challenge for them. Sponsors may wait to see how Man Utd progress in Europe this year and in the EPL leaderboard before committing money.

Rooney is playing some brilliant football, but it seems like he is the only one pulling his weight for Manchester United, both on and off the field.

PS: This is crossposted on my new blog on sport business. That blog will exclusively contain posts related to the business of sport.

Even my blog gets spammed!

2005-11-22T15:31:00.000Z

You know spammers have taken over the world when even my crummy li'l blog gets spam comments! Go elsewhere you spammers - I barely manage 20 visits a day on a good day!

Anyways, I hate deleting comments and anything else to do with general maintenance of the blog - so am turning on word verification for comments! Hopefully that will deter most spam. Sorry, regular commenters, and please do comment. It is a measly 5-6 letter word you have to enter, after all.

Quick and effective action by the ICC

2005-11-22T14:47:00.000Z

It is not often that the ICC is credited with quick and effective action. In numerous cases (Zimbabwe, chucking, match fixing come to mind immediately) the ICC has chosen to see the other way until the water reached waist high in the kitchen. However, yesterday the match referee appointed by the ICC (RoshanMahanama) acted swiftly, and slapped a ban on Afridi for a Test and 2 ODIs. For those who came in late, Afridi was caught on TV using his spikes to create more dents on an already wearing pitch. He did it on both sides of the pitch inbetween overs, assuming that none of the 14 cameras on the ground will bother focusing on the pitch. In fact, he actually seemed to brush off KP's question immediately after, expecting no detection and action from anyone.

Afridi is a terrific player - I had written earlier that he definitely needs to be in the Pakistani side. But not when he goes about doing stuff like this.

England are up against it

2005-11-21T12:22:00.000Z

End of Day 2: Pak - 462 all out
Eng - 113/3 (KP - 4*, Bell - 36*)
Scorecard

England's Ashes euphoria is evaporating rather quickly in the Pakistani smog. After a stunning loss in the 1st Test, they rushed a semi-fit Vaughan and a distracted Trescothick to battle, but after two days and a gas cylinder explosion in Faisalabad, Woolmer's Pakistan have had the better of this Test. Pakistan, batting first got along quite well. Inzy does what he does best - scoring with languid elegance, Yousuf Youhana/Mohammed scored as well, but the star was Afridi. I had written earlier that Afridi is a must-have in the Pakistani line-up, because he does bring so many things to the team. His demolition of Harmison, Hoggard and their so-called spinners was amazing. Clean hitting down the ground - it looks wonderful when he does it against anyone else but India! 462 was a good score for a team already 1-0 up in the series. With bad light coming to play every day, England had to do all the running. Well, Strauss disappointed again, and so did Vaughan. Trescothick is the one batsman in form, and his dismissal late in the piece is probably a blow too hard for England to recover from. Sure, KP/Freddie may score a blinder, but can they win this Test from here? Unlikely.

Today was full of controversy though. Inzy's run out (not his fault for the first time in his illustrous running career) showed us again just how complicated cricket rules can be. Then a gas cylinder burst on the field - and everyone thought it was a bomb. The players huddled in the middle, fearing the worst, but luckily it was just a gas cylinder used to create the Pepsi fizz! Thankfully no serious damage to anyone, but just an indication of the tense times we live in. Lastly, Afridi was clearly shown screwing up the pitch with his spiked boots - creating the rough for Kaneria to be deadlier than he already is. Now this is the one facet of Afridi's game that we do not want. Hopefully he will be kicked out of this game, and perhaps the next as well - to set an example for the rest to follow. We love his batting, but this is unacceptable! Come on, your team is doing so well, don't go on and spoil that with such crap.

Spin does it for India

2005-11-21T12:13:00.000Z

After a seaming pitch screwed up India's top order and consequently their chances in Hyderabad, India went back to their tried, tested and successful technique of preparing a slow, spinning track in Bangalore. And won easily. Of course, it was not all spin that did it for India - Pathan bowled beautifully with the new ball, and once Bhajji and Murali Kartik came on to bowl, SA batsmen were all at sea. They just about managed to get to 169, which was never going to be enough on a pitch like this. Especially since they don't have a spinner who can get into India's top Ranji teams!
Thankfully SA's winning streak ended - nothing against them holding a record, but we don't want India to be part of that record, ok?
Pathan's emergence as all-round potential has been heartening. His batting has gone from strength to strength, but his bowling has been a bit inconsistent. He seems to have the ability to work hard, and that in-dipper is beautiful to watch. However, he has to learn to keep his chin up and work hard on unresponsive pitches. Early days yet, but the prospect is exciting.
SA will continue to struggle in these conditions - Chennai (if it does not rain), Kolkata and Mumbai can't be much different than Bangalore. With Bhajji in the form of his life, this series seems headed India's way now.

Lots of cricket around the world

2005-11-17T11:54:00.000Z

India lost the first game of this ODI series against South Africa. Didn't get to watch it, but is very heartening to see Yuvraj Singh put his hand up, and Bhajji continuing the good form. South Africa are a good team, but I would like to think this pitch (a bit on the seamier side) had as much to do with the defeat as anything else. While that does not augur too well for India's chances overseas, I think better batting tracks in the remaining games will see normalcy restored at home atleast.

England shockingly lost against Pakistan. This England batting order looks decidedly weak - surely not world beating enough on sub-continent conditions atleast. If Trescothick also returns to England, they will be seriously short of batsmen prepared to grind it out. Flintoff and KP can hit all the shots in the book, but they need the solidity at the other end, which no one is able to provide. And Kaneria is bowling beautifully. His googly to get rid of Udal was pure joy to watch. And oh, Shoaib seems to have turned it on this match. Will it last? England's bowling attack is good enough to get Pak out twice, but the batting has to come good for them to get back in this series.

Aus, ho hum, are destroying the Windies. Terrible one-sided cricket down under. Hopefully Lara can get a double or so before this series gets over.

Multan may go either way

2005-11-14T15:54:00.000Z

The Multan Test seemed headed England's way yesterday, but Pakistan showed why they are a different side nowadays with some good fighting spirit to slowly squeeze their way back to contention at the end of Day 3. After a first innings collapse on a good batting track by Pak, Trescothick was the only England batsman who was in any form to take advantage of the conditions - he scored 193. Bell made the most of his opportunity thanks to Vaughan's injury with a 71, and that man Freddie got 45. 418 was not enough on this pitch, and Pakistan's disciplined response would have caused a few jitters. They are still 19 behind, but with 8 wickets in hand including Inzy and Yousuf Youhana (or Mohammed!), a lead of 250 is not out of question. England's batsmen are out of form at the moment, and may struggle against Kaneria in the 4th innings.
But where is Afridi? He is a dangerous floater with the bat, can be deadly at times with the ball and is a terrific fielder. Does he not fit into Woolmer's scheme of things?

India - South Africa series preview

2005-11-13T19:17:00.000Z

South Africa and India are the two form teams in ODIs at the moment. SA are coming off a streak where they have won 16 of their last 18 games (the other two being washed off), including 4 wins against a strong England team, 5 clean against WI in WI, and the most recent 4 against a very good NZ team that won easily against India in ZIM recently. (Stats link to recent SA matches).

India, on the other hand, after having struggled for the better part of the last 2 years, have suddenly discovered their mojo. A comprehensive 6-1 win (Author's note: feels nice to be writing comprehensive win and India in the same sentence) on the back of some wonderful performances by the youngsters and seasoned veterans alike has given everyone fresh hope.

South Africa's win against NZ was a team effort. They scored against Shane Bond (who went for over 5 runs an over), and the only bowler who earned respect was, tellingly, Vettori. Smith, Kemp and Gibbs got the runs, but Gibbs does not do India any longer. Vettori's success will give India every reason to throw in two spinners (including Bhajji in terrific form) to throttle the SA batsmen. Ntini, Pollock and Nel were the bowlers who did the damage, but on these slower pitches, it will be interesting to see how they go against Dhoni, Sachin and Dravid.

Clearly, the conditions will play a huge part. SA are not the most 'culturally adaptable' team going around, and will struggle to cope with the unique Indian conditions. Smith's abrasive captaincy could have wound up Ganguly, but I doubt the phlegmatic Dravid will fall for it.

Also, SA embark on a far more important tour of Australia after this - and I bet Smith will gladly trade a loss in this series for a good performance Down Under.

Given recent form, the series could be a cracker. However, India's form in these conditions and the spin attack gives them the edge. I predict a win for India, but it may not be as easy as it was (surprisingly) against Sri Lanka.

More hands put up to be counted

2005-11-09T17:11:00.000Z

Must admit, didn't see most of the match today - just managed to watch Yuvraj hoist spinners and pacers alike over long on and long off, and that was a pleasing sight.

Great to see newcomers like RP Singh join the party, but I cannot believe that SL could be dismissed for 196 on this pitch. Did they shift pitches inbetween innings or did it really get much easier to bat on as the day progressed? Amazing to see one team play so fluently, while the other gets bundled out cheaply.

With Yuvraj also getting his act together, only Sehwag among the top order has not done justice in this series. What are the chances he will score a big one in Baroda? Methinks he looks a bit out of shape - nothing that a good, hard stint at the nets will not resolve. His Test match form seems ok - hopefully he will be ready for the South Africans.

And oh, Sri Lanka without Murali suck, bigtime!

Read this verdict on Cricinfo for a good report of the match, and India's rotation policy.

Mittal loosens purse strings

2005-11-08T14:41:00.000Z

LN Mittal is bloody rich - everyone knows that. He is apparently the third richest man in the world, worth 25 freakin' billion $. And yeah, as all Indian newspapers so proudly proclaim - he holds an Indian passport! Wow, how wonderful, the media gushes, he still retains a desi accent that he has not lost.

Baby, when it is the 25 bill speaking, he could have an Iraqi accent for all you care, and everyone would listen!!

Anyways, it is also no secret that he likes movies, and more recently, sport. He was part owner of B4U, the movies channel (he has since withdrawn his stake), and was recently reported as being interested in sponsoring India's cricket team when the Sahara deal ended this November, if the BCCI could handle the bidding in a transparent manner (fat chance!).

Now comes this news of his spending 40 crore Rs (around 9 million $) to set up a Mittal Champions Trust to fund promising athletes in India who have a chance of winning medals in the Olympics and Asian Games. They will be provided funds to train and live abroad - thereby enabling them to compete on an even keel in these events. Joshna Chinnappa (is squash an Olympic sport?) is one of the recepients, and others in line are Pankaj Advani and Anju George. This trust has some good guys on the board like Mahesh Bhupati, Dravid and Gopichand.

9 million $ is pocket change for a man who spent 50 million $ on his daughter's wedding and 70 million pounds to buy a house in london, but hey, something is better than nothing. Hopefully this money will actually make its way to the intended receipients in a clean fashion, without too much red tape and delays. If this can spur atleast one of these athletes to greater glory in Doha (2006) and Beijing (2008), it will be money well spent.

Well done Mr. Mittal! God knows these athletes need such support.

Is Ganguly's ODI career over?

2005-11-07T10:22:00.000Z

India, on the back of a series win against Sri Lanka with 2 more games to go in the series, have picked Kaif and VRV Singh to replace Venugopal Rao and JP Yadav. No place for Saurav Ganguly in the squad. Two selection meetings have happened since Ganguly's tennis elbow kept him out of the ODI team, and he was not considered in either one.

With Sachin back and scoring wonderfully, and Gambhir scoring a great century in his only chance in the series so far, is this really the end of the road for India's second-most successful ODI player? His record in ODIs, any way you slice and dice it, is fantastic. Over 10,000 runs at an average of 40 and 22 centuries - he is in an exalted league of players. However, it is obvious that he does not fit into the new scheme of things (the Chappell and Dravid Way), and with the team in rebuild phase, Ganguly's days seem to be over.

In Indian cricket, nothing can ever be said with such certainty, but when reports come out that Mr. Dalmiya has sacrificed Ganguly to deflect attention from the elections to the BCCI (according to Bindra, a charge Dalmiya refutes, obviously!), things look bad. Sad but true. As I had written earlier, India had to do very badly under Dravid for Ganguly to have any chance of coming back. However, an emphatic series win for India with Dravid's golden batting streak has made it bloody tough for Dada.

What will happen in the Tests though? Reports suggest that India may go in for 2 captains, with Ganguly back for the Tests. I think that will be a terrible decision. If anything, Ganguly is a better ODI player and surely does not deserve to be in the team for the Tests. Also, having 2 captains at this stage of the team's evolution will undo all the good work that has gone in, and create further confusion and divisions. Now no one wants that eh?

The streak ends,but that's ok

2005-11-07T10:06:00.000Z

Ruthless teams want to keep extending their winning streak. Just ask Australia. Even South Africa (India's next opponents) have now won 16 of their last 18 matches (the other two being rained off). So one is tempted to say India took the foot off the pedal here, and let Sri Lanka in through the door instead of ramming it on their foot.

However, the context is important. India is a team in rebuild mode now. A new captain, a new coach, a fresh bunch of inexperienced players - we may be witnessing the emergence of a huge shift in the way Team India performs - attitude wise and performance wise. The coach and captain are in the process of picking the best bunch of cavalrymen to take to war, and the only way to identify that bunch is by throwing the men into the deep end in smaller battles. And yesterday's match was one such battle. India rested Tendulkar, Pathan and Harbhajan, and gave Gambhir, RP Singh, Sreesanth and gang a go. And did well enough to come close. India scored 286, which Dravid admitted was 25 runs short. But it was not because of his failing - he scored a fantastic century to continue his golden run with the bat. Gambhir, one of the new guys, got a great century as well, putting pressure on the established guys like Sehwag, Yuvraj and Kaif. India lost their way a bit in the middle, but recovered well to get to 286.

Sri Lanka made the most of good batting conditions, and even though they lost the top order quickly, Dilshan and Arnold finished off the game in great style. The spinners struggled on this pitch with the dew, but the partnership was very good.

Sure, India have let Sri Lanka gain some confidence for the Test series coming up, but the positives are there. Gambhir was terrific, thereby giving India more options top of the order. With Sehwag still not in top gear, India can experiment with Gambhir and Tendulkar to open, and Sehwag coming in at 5 or 6 to provide the punch. The bowlers were pacey - Sreesanth and RP Singh showed glimpses of what they could achieve if handled well, and the fielding was quite good.

Winning streaks are important, but when you have a settled team of 15 to pick from. India is not yet there, and therefore the experimentation must continue, for now.

In fact, to extend on that theme, India have picked Kaif and VRV Singh for the next two games, resting venugopal Rao and JP Yadav. I don't think this is the end of the road for either, but just casting the net wider to identify the core bunch. Kaif was due to come in anyway, and India are looking at pace, which VRV can provide. If India can have 20 reasonably experienced players to pick from come World Cup 2007, they would have done well. These 3 games (including yesterday's game) are crucial in that respect.

Match verdict.

The young 'uns see us through

2005-11-03T12:02:00.000Z

What a fantastic start to India's cricket season at home, and Rahul's fresh guard as captain! 4-0 and counting, and this is apparently India's first series win in ODIs in India for over 2 years.

I missed the bowling effort, but the scorecard looks pretty special. Agarkar picked up 5, with swing (with the new ball) and reverse swing (at the death), but Bhajji with his economical bowling has been, as Shastri said in the presentation ceremony, the unsung hero. This series has been fantastic for him. Harbhajan has an average of 19.8, strike rate of 36 and an economy rate of 3.2 an over. This performance, on pitches where the par score is 280, is just HUGE! As Rahul mentioned, his performance is on par with Dhoni's 180. He just strangulates them in the middle overs, thereby putting too much pressure on the batting, which saves India critical runs. Agarkar has a comparable average, but his problem has always been economy rate,which is 5.1 at the moment.

The chase (which I saw) was beautiful to watch. The new look Sachin (which is actually the old look Sachin revisited) took risks, which paid off with a top-edged six, but got bowled charging down the track to Vaas. Sachin seems to be enjoying his batting here, and that is great news for Indian fans. Sehwag was lucky, but stuck it out to get a score under his belt. Yuvraj was the latest No. 3 for India, but threw away his opportunity. Venugopal Rao played really well. His shots square off the wicket on the off were amazing, none more so than the flat-batted six. He favours the back foot, which should see him doing well on bouncier pitches. Dravid played a terrific innings. His trademark drives through mid-wicket were a treat to watch - and he got 3 of them today. But just when he was needed to stay and see India through, he fell for the bouncer temptation. At that stage it looked touch-and-go.

But the partnership that sealed the match was coming up. Suresh Raina (the super-sub) and Dhoni the Destroyer came together. With over 80 to get at a run a ball, my money was on Sri Lanka pulling through. But I had not factored Atapattu's dismal captaincy. He seems blown - does not know what has hit him really. His bowling changes were wierd - allowing the two inexperienced batsmen a chance to settle in against the lesser bowling, instead of biting the bullet and getting Murali and Vaas on. Saving up for later is great, but when you end up with 5 overs between Murali and Vaas unused, you have wasted your savings!

Raina was terrific - taking singles and twos with ease. His innings of 39 off 30 balls had just 2 4s, and even Dhoni, recalibrating his style to suit the situation, played his part. Soon, the rate of scoring went up, the batsmen got into their stride and even Murali's bowling couldn't make it happen. Dhoni couldn't resist the temptation, and pulled off two huge sixers to finish it off in style. But these 2 shots masked an excellently paced innings, which had just 1 boundary before that in a score of 33. Dhoni is not all slam-bang, and this innings was proof of that.

All in all, great performance, Heartening to see the young 'uns like Rao, Raina, and Dhoni put their hands up to be counted. Augurs well for India, whereas Sri Lanka resemble the rabbit stuck in the lights of an oncoming train. India seem likely to rest Sachin and maybe the pacemen for a couple of games. Can Sri Lanka play for pride and fight?

If you want to be World champions..

2005-11-02T11:00:00.000Z

..start acting like one, starting now! And that means the press and the establishment - not just the team. Why does England always have to be so moaning, whining and cribbing?

Every neutral wanted England to do well against Australia because they wanted the Aussie dominance to end. England won the Ashes, and now want to be the best in the world - fair enough. But their team, which is quite good, seems to be the only one playing the part so far - the press is back to its famous ways, complaining about the Indian Board's lack of thought shown to a 1000 English tourists who will accompany the team. Now don't get me wrong, I am all for tourism to be given a boost using sports as a vehicle. But surely the more important priority is to get millions of Indian fans an opportunity to watch a "world champion" team play against their heroes in their home town. To reschedule a tour to align with the tourist track is ridiculous! Prem's excellent blog suggests that the next match should be scheduled at the Taj or in Mauritius then!

Sports tourism is important, but not as important as the opportunity that Indian fans in these cities who get to watch live cricket once in 2-3 years. Let's take a look at the actual issue here - the venues for the Tests are Ahemdabad, Nagpur and Mumbai. The tour operators and the press have problems that Ahmedabad and Nagpur are not 'touristy', and that Ahmedabad is a 'dry place', with no alcohol! Valid problems, but not important enough! After all, how many tourists will come? 1000 at most? This article says one tour operator expects 150. Take 10 such operators, and you still end up with 1500 beer-drinking Poms. Misplaced priorities, surely!

England's team is very exciting to watch, and can be worthy champions - if their press allows them to be. If they continue with their moaning, I will be tempted to join this bloke who is rejoicing England's dismal performance in the side game against a Pakistani C side!

Rustic and effective

2005-10-31T14:51:00.000Z

It has been said that India's cricket future lies outside the main cities. With the urban dwellers having so many distractions (this is a time and age in cities where cricket is not so cool - F1, the Premier League and gasp, golf is), India's love, sorry, passion for cricket is being fanned far away from the cities, where cricket is a path to achieve glory, a method of self-expression. This phenomenon has given rise to a bunch of cricketers in the Indian team who are not from bustling big cities - Harbhajan Singh (Jalandhar), Sehwag (Najafgarh), Kaif (Kanpur), Pathan (Baroda) are the notable ones. However, ask any Indian which is the most rural/rustic place of them all - and everyone will point to Bihar/Jharkhand. And that is where our man of the moment, Dhoni comes from.

Today's innings is undescribable. Whatever I try and say is inadequate - it was complete destruction - plain and simple. When someone can score 183* off 145 balls, there is nothing anyone can do. That he did it after keeping for 50 overs is just awesome. Whatever Sri Lanka threw at him (yes, they actually did, if you know what I mean:-)) was demolished. 9 sixers, gazillion fours - this innings had it all. Dravid likened it to Sachin's innings in Sharjah in 1998, and that is very high praise in India, where fans rate that innings as the best Sachin has played.

India take a 3-0 lead, and all is well with the world again!

And word has it that millions of Indians from Bihar, UP, MP, Rajasthan etc are practising their slog sweeps in the paddy fields.

Snooker in the UK

2005-10-28T18:55:00.000+01:00

Snooker is a relatively big sport in the UK. They have their own World Championships (where most players are from the UK, pretty much like the Baseball World Series), and a series of events like the Grand Prix, the Masters and of course the World Championships. Ronnie O' Sullivan is the reigning superstar, but he is apparently bored with this all, and wants to go to America to try pool.

India has some history in snooker and billiards - with champions like Michael Ferriera, Geet Sethi, and recently Pankaj Advani. Of course, these guys are world champions - but in a different world championship! They have won the tournaments conducted by the IBSF (The Billiards and Snooker Federation), which is a quasi-pro/amateur tournament - and definitely not as rich as the British World Snooker. Unfortunately, they don't make much money, and the sport is very very insignificant in India - which is a real sad issue.

I did see the recent Grand Prix on the BBC, and the coverage was fascinating. TV cameras all around the table and on top as well, beautiful and insightful commentary - world class production values. I am no snooker fan, but the coverage had me hooked. I particularly liked the section where star players like Stephen Hendry take questions from spectators and actually show some shots on the table in response to the questions asked. Very interactive and informative.

Now comes the news that the BBC has retained the rights till 2011. The deal is apprently worth 5 million GBP a year (around 40 crore Rs. a year), which is not huge money, but perhaps good enough to support this sport.

Snooker makes for good viewing - coloured balls, reasonably fast-paced action (compared to billiards anyway), a format that has in-built tension (breaks, snookers, century breaks), low cost of production - all point towards a reasonably good TV product in the making. Scores of youngsters in India play pool in the cities, but since snooker is hardly ever televised in India, there is zero following for the game and its stars.

Interestingly, China is fast emerging as a major snooker center, with one of the World Snooker events actually being held in China. However, the rest of the Asia - Pac region has taken to pool in a big way. Indian viewers may remember the occasional TV program on pool on ESPN, snuck inbetween their wall-to-wall cricket programming!

Sad that in India, with a rich history of table games, there is really no traction at all, not even for pool.

Two good..

2005-10-28T16:55:00.000+01:00

If Nagpur was good, this was sheer domination. India demolished Sri Lanka at Mohali today with a fantastic team display. If the batsmen set the tone in Nagpur, the bowlers at Mohali got 10 Sri Lankan wickets on a good batting pitch.

Dravid's luck with the toss continued, and rightly inserted SL into bat. With the lights on, it is better to chase - the fielding side would normally have to contend with the dew. However, India's bowlers ensured that dew was not a factor - the match ended at 7:30 IST, around the time the dew was beginning to set in.

Pathan and Agarkar bowled very well - with swing and control. But the batsmen had themselves to blame. I think they were influenced by the way Tendulkar and gang batted in Nagpur - and wanted to rattle up a score in excess of 275 here. However, this was not that kind of pitch - and Jayasuriya, Jayawardene and Sangakkara all perished playing shots in the air way too early. In Sri Lanka, even when the top order was dismissed, Dilshan and the tail usually stuck around and posted a decent total. However, that was not to be here - with one wicket always leading to another very quickly. In fact, both Pathan and JP Yadav were on a hat trick.
Bhajji bowled very well to get 2 wickets - and his bowling around the wicket to the lefties seems to have given a fresh lease of life to him. The bowling overall was neat, but SL erred in guaging the ideal target - 230 would have been enough, but they perished trying to get 275.

India got in before the break, and looked like they wanted to end it before they went for dal makhni! Sehwag looked terrific today - and got off to a flyer. Tendulkar just carried on from where he left off in Nagpur with some fantastic drives and lofts down the ground.

In came Murali, much sooner than he had expected. Ball 1 - bang, down the track and loft over head for 4. Ball 2 - four again. This signalled to me that Tendulkar has chosen a completely different approach to batting for this series. In fact, the deliberate attempt to hit Murali seems to be a team plan, to not allow him to settle. Remember, there is a 3 Test series in December as well. Murali looked completely bemused - not quite sure where to pitch the ball. Tendulkar played his trademark cheeky paddle sweeps as well. However, right at the end of the innings, Murali bowled one great over to Sachin, where he had him guessing whether it was the doosra or the offie. Even Rahul at the other end was smiling and relishing the contest between Murali and Sachin. Murali is not down yet - fascinating to see how this progresses over the next 5 games and indeed the Tests.

Yet another massive display by Tendulkar, who is looking fit, trimmer than ever before, and keen to get on top of the bowlers. Long may this approach continue.

And fantastic for India - everyone pulling their weight, bowling, fielding and batting well in tandem. Has been a while since they have given us so much joy.

the things I can get up at 4:30 in the morning for...

2005-10-25T14:04:00.000+01:00

... can be counted on one hand, and I would still have a few fingers left over to scratch my chin with.

Watching Tendulkar flick bowlers OVER midwicket is one such thing.

Being in the UK in the winter is a double whammy - it gets quite cold, and there is hardly any cricket on TV. One therefore has to make do with some grainy videos sent through a coughing, spluttering broadband connection. Of course, once realisation dawned that there was more to Nagpur than oranges, the Indian diaspora worldwide swung into action, and the poor streaming video service provider choked. Thousands of desi fanatics either stayed up all night (if in the US), or got up early like me (if in UK/Europe) and huddled in front of their computers, hoping to view some of the action and re-live what millions back home in India were experiencing first hand.

Getting back to the Tendulkar innings. There was a time a few years back, when I had conflicting thoughts whenever Tendulkar was in the middle. While it was exciting to see him take risks and hit the ball in the air, at the same time I was silently praying that he could take a single and get off strike, so that he could see India through and get more runs. We have always had unfair expectations from Sachin, but hey, sue us! He is God, and if he couldn't do it, who else could? However, in the last couple of years, Tendulkar decided to play a different game. He said he was maturing as a batsman, and that his batting had changed - he publicly committed to take the risk out of his game and play the waiting game. Suddenly, the aura slipped - the same critics who had accused Tendulkar of being too aggressive and not staying long enough were now claiming that he had lost his edge!

Of course, fans like me wistfully longed for an actual 'Tendulkar' innings, where he would get free from his self-imposed shackles and go for it! Well, when you least expected it, it happened. One could be forgiven for thinking that today would be his day for accumulation, getting back to form and match fitness after a long layoff. But obviously Tendulkar works to a different drum's beat. I suspect he took even the Sri Lankan bowlers off-guard with his approach today! It was refreshingly aggressive, reckless even at times, and oh so spine-tingling! It had those flicks over midwicket, those cute lil dabs round his legs off Murali, those wonderful drives - straight and through cover on the rise. Wow, it was everything and more. What's more, he departed (like he so often did) when he had the bowlers begging for mercy. Cramps probably curtailed what would have been an amazing century. Sure, it had some iffy shots, some lucky edges - but thats what comes when you take a risky approach after 6 months of nursing a tennis elbow. He ran the singles, guided Pathan through his innings, and set a platform from where India couldn't lose.

There were many positives for India from this match. In fact, it was a determined team effort, but to me the highlight was Sachin's knock. It is probably one of the most significant innings he has played, coming as it did after a terrible period for Indian cricket, and for him personally after an injury. This has made cricket fans want to believe again, and has put a smile onto many million faces.

Good for Dravid - he played a great innings himself to maintain the tempo, and captained the team well to a resounding victory. He couldn't have asked for a better start to this captaincy stint, and would be very pleased to see his senior batsman strike himself into wonderful form. - the trick, as always, is to maintain this for long periods of time.

I'll be there Friday, coaxing my computer to do justice to Tendulkar's talents. Hopefully Dravid can coax this team to deliver an encore.

The business of golf - or how TV decides everything

2005-10-21T10:35:00.000+01:00

It is no secret that TV pretty much dictates how professional sport is run nowadays. The broadcasters bankroll sporting bodies and the stars, and it is your eyeballs and mine that dictate how much money actually goes to the sport and the players.

Golf is an interesting story. The PGA tour, riding on the popularity of Tiger Woods and its affluent supporter base, sold their TV rights in 2001 at a 50% premium over the preceding 4 year deal - they apparently garnered around 850 million $ from the US networks for 4 years, till 2006. (source: Business Week)

In fact, McKinsey Quarterly did a review of professional golf and tennis, and termed golf as a commercial hole-in-one, commending its success in making the sport a viable business model. McKinsey also highlighted golf's unique bundled sponsorship sale, which basically means that the PGA sold the sponsors the title sponsorship, AND some air time on TV. This helped reduce the risk the broadcasters took while signing on the rights, and also provided value to sponsors by guaranteeing them better air time as well as on-ground coverage.

However, the latest Business Week article seems to go against this grain. Golf seems to be losing it a bit. Thanks to Tiger Woods' relative slump in form in 2003 and 2004, ratings fell (from 3.6 on an average in 2001 to 2.9 this year). This resulted in a 50 million $ loss for broadcasters. Many broadcasters, quoted in that article, said they are considering a reduction in the broadcast fees for the next 4 years, AND perhaps a reduction in the number of events they would broadcast.

Competition from other sports has also put pressure on golf. While the NFL is the gold standard as far as sports is concerned, NASCAR and even the MLB have revived interest, therefore vying for eyeballs.

Another of golf's problems, which the article alludes to, is the "never ending season". Golf has 42 events, thereby taking up almost the entire year! Now Tiger, Phil Mickelson and gang can only play so much. They therefore accumulate as much money and points as they can, and taper out at the end, choosing to skip the smaller events. This creates rating problems for broadcasters, and sponsors put pressure on the PGA.

The PGA Tour stoutly denies they have a problem, insisting that their unique model of pre-selling air time to their sponsors helps reduce any risk the broadcasters are taking. However, they are said to be seriously considering a change in the calendar - trying to adopt a points system, leading up to a set of few tournaments in August where all the biggies have to play. August is a good time, because come September, NFL kicks off, and American sports fans pretty much forget most else.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out - my guess is that rights fees will remain the same, or probably even go up slightly. Tiger Woods has regained his form in the Majors, and that is a good enough reason for people to watch. It is pertinent though to note how much a sport, actually an entire industry, depends on that man. No wonder he is earning over 80 million $ a year. Come to think of it, he is probably worth more than that - take him out of the equation, and rights fees for golf can fall dramatically!

It is also interesting to note how sporting bodies are ready to change the way they function, almost solely driven by TV.

Lastly, from an Indian standpoint - to just compare figures - the bidding for Indian TV rights for cricket (India's largest sport, by a 1000 miles) for 4 years were around the 300 million $ mark. Golf, which is way down in America's pecking order of sports, gets 3 times that amount for the same duration. Of course, not counting other sources of revenue like sponsorship, merchandising etc. Whichever way you cut it, golf is big money, and Indian cricket is still minor league.

5 ball overs

2005-10-20T11:18:00.000+01:00

India is back to 5 ball overs again.

The BCCI, pushed to the wall with the TV rights issue (all its own making, by the way) has taken the only way out and granted the TV rights to good old Doordarshan again. The production will be done by TWI (IMG's TV arm). DD has offered 7 crores (approx 1.55 million USD) per match for the 12 ODIs (7 vs Sri Lanka, and 5 Vs, South Africa). Of course, these rights are just for India - probably the BCCI will sell overseas rights soon.

While it resolves the uncertainty for these series, the bigger issue still remains at large. Zee Telefilms is doing what it can to get the rights - but the ruling faction in the BCCI is against them. This faction wants to grant the rights to ESPN Star Sports, but court case after court case by Zee has prevented them from granting the rights to Mr. Murdoch. This has led to a stalemate which is holding Indian cricket at ransom for the last year or so.

While the rest of the cricket world has world class coverage (Channel4 is simply awesome, Channel9 quite good as well, and Sky is fantastic) - Indian fans have to endure crappy 5 ball overs, horrible scrollers and squigglys on the screen when a ball is being bowled, and disastrous pre-and post game shows. Mercifully TWI is doing the production - so the basic match coverage must be good. Hopefully they will get a good bunch of commentators to spare us the agony.

Surely Indian fans deserve better!

As an aside, BCCI's greed in pushing up the cricket rights value has come to bite them in the ass very often these days. They are losing on an average of over a million USD atleast per match. Not to mention loss of face for Indian cricket worldwide. The ICC has written a letter to the Indian Prime Minister on this matter as well (awarding rights to the public broadcaster by default). It's all happening, but the BCCI just moves on from one short-sighted decision to the other.

Saliva, mint - what are we talking about?

2005-10-19T18:07:00.000+01:00

Nathan "Born Again" Bracken holds the key to the Da Vinci Code that bamboozled Australia in England - reverse swing. He reckons it is the fresh mint that the English bowlers chewed on that bowled Clarke, Langer, Hayden, Ponting, Gilly, Martyn and Katich over. He says that the saliva produced after chewing such mint makes the ball go "Irish" - and was used quite frequently in county cricket! Of course, wrecker (chewer)-in-chief Simon Jones has denied it, and in turn asked wierdly if Aus had not done it themselves?!?

Maybe the ICC will now consider banning mint on the ground. Maybe some boffins sitting in Dubai will decide that 3 mints per session per bowler is legal becayse they can go undetected, and anything over that can be detected by the naked eye and therefore not legal. The bowlers' chewing habits will then be referred to an expert technical committee, and they will, of course, have a chance to appeal against the verdict! The Asian countries will go up in arms the moment any of their bowlers get caught - detecting a conspiracy against them by the Western powers. India will figure out a way to manufacture mint cheaper and better than anyone in England, and soon a huge industry will flourish in Meerut. Biomechanical experts in Perth will analyse mastication action of the jaws to detect unusual movement, and cricket will move on to its next controversy.

No, really, what are we talking about?

Someone told me this was a simple game. Why can't a bunch of sensible cricketers and people with common sense get together and figure out what the hell is this reverse swing, why does it happen, and is it legal or not? lay down the law, and then implement it. Get this done with, NOW.

Why does cricket have to be so infuriatingly complicated? Saliva and mint - for crying out loud!

Dravid is in control, nearly!

2005-10-14T16:12:00.000+01:00

When Indian cricket was going through that crappy phase (it's probably still not over yet) with Ganguly, Chappell, the BCCI and everyone else making merry at the expense of you and me, one man who probably stood to gain the most by taking sides maintained a very dignified silence. Dravid is a really nice man, and came out of this mess with his reputation enhanced. Now, with Ganguly doing a Tendukar and picking up a tennis elbow of his own (Sania Mirza has really popularised tennis in India!!) and therefore not playing the ongoing Challengers, it was a certainty that Dravid would be named captain. Of course, given the way the BCCI functions, most expected another stop-gap announcement for 2 matches, before Ganguly returned from injury.

Well,the BCCI surprised all by nominating Dravid for 2 ODI series (against Sri Lanka and South Africa). Harsha Bhogle is critical of the BCCI, calling this stop-gap, but hey, given the BCCI track record and decision-making abilities, I think a nomination for 2 series is better than for 1. Anand Vasu of Cricinfo gets it right, and throws some light on the probable reason for this decision. Apparently Dravid made it clear to the BCCI that he was no longer interested in playing the spare tyre, and was happy to walk away from vice-captaincy if needed. The decent man has a tough core!

Methinks this is pretty much curtains for Ganguly if India do half decently and Dravid maintains his form. Ganguly will be hard-pressed to come back into the team as player, with Kaif, Yuvraj, Raina, Venugopal Rao and Laxman fighting for just 2 places in the team. Also, the next assignment after South Africa is a 3 match Test series, where Ganguly's place is even more doubtful. In fact, the only scenario for Ganguly to come back as captain anytime soon is for India to lose very badly, AND Dravid to make obvious tactical mistakes, AND for Dravid to struggle with the bat, AND for Ganguly to set the scene on fire with a few centuries in domestic cricket and for India if selected, AND for a bunch of top order batsmen to be struggling for form, AND the Dalmiya group winning the BCCI elections, AND for a rebellion within the team from the Ganguly backers. Reasonably unlikely eh?

This is probably good for Indian cricket, but sad for Ganguly, if this is indeed that last we will see of him for a while. He has been fantastic for India, but has gone past his use-by date, and failed to realise it. As Vasu says, his stubborn refusal to let go has made it very difficult for the media, the fans and eventually the selectors to give him a dignified farewell that he richly deserves.

It has been a good week for Dravid, with an addition to his family (a baby boy) and now the captaincy for 12 matches. It is finally his, and it is now upto him to make the the probationary period a confirmed one. Can he top it off with a century tomorrow against Australia in Sydney?

Cricket to the rescue once again

2005-10-12T11:37:00.000+01:00

The Indian sub-continent seems to be going through a rough period in its relationship with Mother Nature. First the tsunami in 2004, and now this earthquake in Pakistan and Kashmir (northern India). Tens of thousands have died, and many more are still dying because of the delay in rescue efforts. They live in very unhospitable terrain, with poor infrastructure and bad weather - all ideal ingredients to worsen the impact of a natural disaster that is said to be the worst earthqauake in a cenury. No one should die this way, and as Nature would have it, the poor always are the worst hit in situations like these. My heart goes out to the survivors and family members of those who lost all they had.

So, it's time once again for cricket to come to the rescue. Cricket is uniquely placed - it is the most popular sport in the subcontinent, and a good vehicle to generate funds and awareness on a global scale. The tsunami relief match in Melbourne generated close to 15 million A$ and was simply magnificient for the sheer spontaneity and generosity of the ICC, the cricketers and the citizens of Melbourne. The Lord's match organized by the MCC was good, but did not have the same impact as the one down under - perhaps because most of us tend to forget and get on with our lives as time progresses. Of course, our very own Asian Cricket Council chaired by Right Honourable Dalmiya screwed up and indefinitely postponed it's edition of the tsunami relief match. Utterly despicable that the same ACC could organize a crappy Afro Asia series but couldn't put together one ODI game in Kolkata to raise funds for a tragedy that occured in their own territory. The general opinion at the time was Dalmiya didn't think he could match Melbourne's level of fund raising, and didn't want to look anyway lesser than the Aussies!

Ah well, back to this earthquake. Just when this was happening, the ICC was organizing yet another fund-raising event (oh, by the way this was to fill its own coffers) - the Super Series in Australia. They have now decided to grant US$500,000 AND dedicate one day of the Test coming up for relief efforts. While this is commendable, it is no way near enough (the Red Cross head in Australia says so). In fact, if I was the ICC I would have dedicated the entire profit from the Test match for the relief efforts of the Red Cross, for starters.

Of course, the bunglers in the ACC have swung into action, wanting to schedule a ODI match sometime soon. And, as is the trend these days, they have asked for official recognition. And how can the ICC say no? Haven't they burnt all bridges of reason by granting it to all the tsunami games, the Afro Asia crap and the current Super Series? No one knows if this game will happen, but the dangerour trend of 'official status' is turning into a huge monster.

Interestingly, Shoaib Akhtar has apparently asked for a fund raising game - which the ICC politely turned down and dedicated one day of the Test match instead. Now where was this side of Mr. Flamboyant Show Pony so far? Does he want to stand for President now, alongside Imran Khan?

On a serious note, cricket can and does change the lives of the billion plus people in that part of the world. I sincerely wish the ICC and the ACC act responsibly and generate funds and goodwill for the poor sufferers. This is no time for one-upmanship, politicking and the like. There are people dying!

Team Australia beat 11 good individuals

2005-10-05T17:51:00.000+01:00

The World XI is made of 11 world class cricketers, but is still not a team. They have hardly had any time together, and there is only so much Wright can do as coach to get them gelling as a team. Of course, Pollock as captain is a ridiculous choice. He does not have the power of personality to kick some egoistic and foreign butt and get some perfromances out of his star cast. I would have nominated Flintoff instead - would have motivated him and he knows how to defeat the Aussies.

I did not see this match. I am currently in the UK, and without the pleasures of satellite TV ( I now know why there is such a debate on Sky getting exclusive rights for UK cricket) I had to satisfy myself with Cricinfo. The key moment for me was no one in the World XI batted through. Dravid or Kallis could have played that role - they didn't, and therefore lost.

Hopefully World XI will pull up their socks and play to potential in the next 2 games. If they don't, we might have a terrible damp squib of a 6 day Test in prospect.

What a shame!

2005-09-26T11:25:00.000+01:00

It depresses me utterly that at a time when we should be readying ourselves for a hectic cricket season ahead, with 9 Tests and gazillion ODIS against Sri Lanka, SA and England at home, and Pakistan away, the nation is debating breathlessly about:

- Ganguly's presence/absence in the team
- Chappell's email about Ganguly that got leaked to the baying media.
- The fiasco that is the BCCI and the elections during the AGM
- Harbhajan's out of turn rantings to the press supporting Milord Ganguly

Makes me want to take up lacrosse or some such thing! More from my end when my depression lifts!

Important match for India

2005-09-06T08:18:00.000+01:00

I will be looking for the following in this match:

a) Can India's top order play out Bond? Even a 10 overs for 40 will give them a huge boost of confidence to face up to sterner challenges ahead next year.

b) Can Ganguly shake off his terrible run of form? A good 50 will do a world of good to him, and I suspect to the Indian team as well.

c) Dravid's recent 'bowled' record must end here.

d) Can Yuvraj/Kaif carry on from the one big knock each, and follow it up with a decent score here?

e) Can Sehwag knock the stuffing out of Bond, like he almost did against Adams and gang?

f) Can Pathan and Nehra swing again? IF they do, a target of 240 is defendable. They have batting depth, but quality is suspect.

g) Bhajji has to shake off the defensive mindset, and go for wickets. He has had an indifferent series - great time to put his hand up.

h) Will India carry on the reasonable work in the field? They have clearly improved in this series, and this will be a great opportunity to build on this.

If India do half of the above, they should beat this NZ side. Never mind the ICC rankings, India has a good side. A good win here will give them tremendous confidence in the ODIs. Remember, India play 12 ODIs at home against Sri Lanka (7) and South Africa (5) in the next few months!

Old man Tendulkar?

2005-09-06T06:43:00.000+01:00

Gawd, that does not sound right, does it? Atleast not to me!

Having grown up watching his cricket, he has always been this perennial young man taking on the world. We have been bombarded by this surfeit of cliches from commentators (led by the Right Honourable Sunil Gavaskar and his trusted cronies, Ravi Shastri and Manjrekar) on the exploits of the 'young man', 'little master' and other such. Either this, or Tendulkar's smiling, boyish face, or whatever else be the reason, but I always felt Tendulkar is, well, a young man.

Therefore, my first reaction when I saw this was that this 'old man' bit does not sound right. It is a wonderful photo of Sachin's kid holding an oversized bat (no MRF yet, mind you) - good find, Ashwin.

So far so good, but she's just started!

2005-09-05T12:03:00.000+01:00

Sania Mirza is a very popular person in India nowadays. She is the face on billboards, TV ads and acres of newsprint - fast replacing some of India's cricketing demigods. All for good reason. She is the first Indian girl to make an impact in the big, bad world of tennis. In a nation starving for superstars, she was a good looking, talented one. The media love her, and so do the masses now.

I hadn't watched any of her previous matches in the US Open primarily because it was too late in the night, AND frankly I did not expect her to reach this far. Having seen some of her matches in previous tournaments, I felt her game was promising, but extremely erratic. I therefore did not give her much of a chance to reach the 4th round, albeit her #42 ranking in the world.

Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised to reach this far, and the double bonus of seeing her and Sharapova play on the same court was incentive enough for me to stay up and watch!

Well, the scoreline says that she lost badly.

Sania started well enough, breaking back after losing her service. But even to a tennis laymen like myself, some flaws were apparent.

Her service sucks! There is nothing else to say about that service. Sharapova was like this dog waiting for a juicy second serve morsel to be served so that she could tuck it in.

Her backhand is weak! She manages to keep the ball in play, but can't score too many winners with it.

Her fitness is questionable. I know she is carrying some injury, but her movement on court was not smooth. Good players (sharapova is very good) will make her pay for it by moving her around the court.

Her net play is abysmal. She hid that aspect of the game in this match, but some highlights of previous matches made that aspect very clear to Mr. Layman.

However, she has one bloody strong aspect of the game. That is her deadly forehand. She really gives that shot her all, and quite often blasts winners, even against very good players. She outhit Sharapova in the forehand department, and while this "all-or-nothing" attitude generates quite a few errors, she will win quite a few matches on the back of this shot alone. It is really something to watch!

Coupled with a strong attitude (her interviews are very aggressive, and her attitude on court matches it), she has the werewithal to improve on the 42 ranking, and stay there for a while.

However, the big issue is fitness. Can she take the rigors of international tennis - day in day out travelling, non-stop playing? Not easy, on evidence of the US Open. That, and the fact that there are obvious flaws that she needs to work on, will mean that there will be periods of time where her performances will dip. Which is acceptable in an individual sport like tennis.

But, will our craving Indian media and public understand? They are not used to heroes in individual sports, and a 6 month blip in form may result in daggers being sharpened.

The truth, as always is somewhere in between. She is good, but not good enough yet. Whether she can get to the next level or not is up to her. Lots of hardwork, perseverence, failures and tribulations will make her a stronger tennis player?

Will we allow her that space? Unlikely!

Good job done!

2005-09-05T09:23:00.000+01:00

Yuvraj and Kaif have received their share of criticism - mostly fair, some unjustified. However, they have both played a match winning inning each in India's last two matches - to see us home from a position of sure defeat. Well done gentlemen - whatever be the flaws (attitude, technique, application, temperament whatever) - it takes some doing to score 100s and win matches for your country. Never mind the opposition bowling quality (the Kiwis without Bond, and Zim) - these guys have got the runs on the board.

Now here's my fear - they have both flattered to deceive several times in the past. I therefore hope and pray that they don't go back to their old ways of scoring one big knock every year or so! With some consistency, they both have the potential to be India's batting future for the next 5 years, and they do bring that spark in the field. Please, pretty please carry on from here! If they can, this trip to Zim would have been really worthwhile!

Ind - NZ - timepass match

2005-09-02T13:47:00.000+01:00

Yet another timepass ODI in progress in Zim. Play out the finals today and get it done with, I say!
For the record, Fleming won the toss, rested Bond and VEttori, and then went on to score 278. Surprisingly, Agarkar followed up a good bowling performance with another good one - but hey, it was too good to last. His last 2 overs were pure mayhem, and finally he ended up with standard figures of over 6 an over!

Sehwag went for it with the bat because there was no 140kmph balls coming his way, and Ganguly liked the bowling as well. Both threw it away when they had the chance to set stall for a 100, and now it is up to Dravid to see them through.

As I write this, Kaif has got a couple of 4s, and India seem to have the runrate under control. Don't read too much into what happens today though. Without Bond and Vettori, this bowling attack is close to Zim's.

He will be just perfect!

2005-09-02T13:43:00.000+01:00

Fantastic news coming in from Baroda - Mr. Nayan Mongia wants to join the party now. No sir, not as coach, not as commentator, but as selector, no less! To correct the injustice that has been meted out over the years to poor, honest blokes like him!

What do we have next? Azhar as Head of the Anti-Corruption Unit, Prabhakar as arbiter of clean actions? It happens only in India!

Very Un-Australian like

2005-09-02T07:32:00.000+01:00

To leave things till the last minute is a very Indian cricketing trait. I was really surprised to see Australia haven't decided on who their next coach will be. Buchanan's contract expires next month, and super-efficient Cricket Australia have not decided yet!

Of course, in hindsight, probably a good thing. IF Australia relinquish the Ashes, Buchanan may be on his way out. But I am certain CA did not expect the Ashes to spool out like it has. So why did they leave it till this late? Very un-Australian. Another sign that the dominance has ended.

Of course they spit!

2005-09-01T08:26:00.000+01:00

"Cricketers don't spit. Women really hate that."
The Guardian's chief sports writer Richard Williams posits his theory that not spitting is the chief reason - above all others - why more women are seeming to prefer cricket to football

Cricinfo's Quote section is quite amusing. Cricketers past and present are quite good at generating soundbytes that keep them in the news for that 30 minutes of fame. This one on spitting from chief hack at the Guardian was however factually incorrect.

Spitting is a very common phenomenon in urban and rural India. You see people of all socio-economic categories spitting, on the roads, in staircases, in offices, in elevators, cinema halls, sporting events, hell, even into the house next door! You see well-dressed men rolling down their AC car shutters to spit out paan (betelnut, I think!), autorickshaw drivers spitting at every traffic junction, pretty much everyone does it. Gosh, it is an epidemic in India!

But when I switch on Tv to watch a cricket match, I notice a whole bunch of cricketers spitting on the ground. Our heroes, irrespective of nationality, spit away to glory. Either it is the heat, or the pressure, whatever the reason, the dude just has to take out his helmet and spit a nice, big globule onto the ground. Ponting spits on his hand like he is ready to take on Mike Tyson next. Most cricketers drink water on the ground, and spit out half of it rightaway. Bowlers use shitloads (not the right word to use, but anyways) of spit to moisten the ball, and get it to, yeah, you guessed it, reverse! Heck, Steve Bucknor spits every second ball, especially when he has made a tough decision!

When men of that stature spit, can you really blame the average Hari on Indian roads for using India as a giant spitoon?

And what game is the Guardian chief editor watching anyways?

Tendulkar pulls out of tour

2005-08-31T12:53:00.000+01:00

Why does this not surprise me? Given Tendulkar's injury, and his ambition to go on till 2007 and beyond, I always felt that he would give the Zim tour a pass.

I thought the only reason why he would have played was to get into some form before the Super Series. Now that he is in both teams (Tests and ODIs) for the Super Series, I think he is saving up for those matches. I suspect he wants to do desperately well on a global stage, to announce to all the non-believers in India and worldwide that he is still a strong force to reckon with. His last big show on the big stage was during the World Cup. Ever since, even though he has scored a couple of tons in Australia and Pakistan, his performances have been overshadowed by his teammates as well as players from other countries. The Super Series is a fantastic opportunity to announce to the world that he is still right up there!

My only fear is - will be be undercooked? Having played no competitive cricket for over 6 months, even Tendulkar will find it tough to get into the groove and pad up to McGrath rightaway.

Fascinating to watch how Tendulkar goes.

Refreshing writing from the players

2005-08-31T10:10:00.000+01:00

Ghost written or not, the articles being written by the English and Aussie players during this epic Ashes makes for good reading. Warne's articles are great to read, and Giles has created enough furore with his reactions after Lord's. Read this article after he scored the winning runs in Trentbridge. Nice, refreshing, different. It may not be a literary masterpiece, but gives the lay reader some insight into what goes on in the dressing room, in the minds of the players, and how they deal with pressure.

Compare this to the tripe we usually get to read from our players and ex-players in India. Everyone, from Ganguly to Ravi Shastri, Gavaskar, Srinath, Kumble write the same old crap which any half decent cricket fan can generate. Hardly anything can be found in those articles which would suggest that the author has played over 100 Tests for India!

India V Zim - surely we should win this one!

2005-08-29T10:23:00.000+01:00

Nearly the end of the 2nd innings: Zim 37/8:

Superb bowling by Pathan and gasp, good stuff from Agarkar leave Zim clueless. Mayhem caused by some good swing bowling from Pathan. While not much can be read into this huge win, surely it reinforces the fact that India's new ball attack is quite good. It is the follow up stuff from bowlers 3, 4 and 5 that is the worry, not to mention the batting top order.

As an aside, now that Agarkar has taken 3 wickets (and counting), what's the bet that his next 5 games will yield 5 an over!

End of 1st innings - India 226/6:

Dhoni really made up for his teammates' failure to push the score along. A sub 200 score looked likely, until Dhoni came along and took the attack to the cleaners. He showed the team that these bowlers are not McGrath and Warne - heck, only Streak looked good. The rest were made to look great! Yuvraj got into the act at last, and 226 was possible. 25 runs short in my book, but perhaps good enough for Zim.

Over 26 - India 96 for 3:

Following such slow progress on the Internet is no fun. Sehwag turned up sick (do we read more into this, or do we leave it at face value?), and Venugpoal Rao was handed more responsibility that he could have bragained for. Well, he didn't make use of it at all, departing early. Out strode Kaif, and in company of his captain made very very slow progress. Both looked intent on scoring for themselves, which is ok, but giving too much respect to the opposition bowlers is not good. The Zim bowlers are honest triers, but nothing more. Ganguly didn't get too much of the strike, and eventually got out to someone named Ireland! How on earth can anyone get out to such a name?

Kaif and Dravid plodded their way through at just 3.6 an over, showing way too much respect to mediocre bowlers. Kaif scored at a strike rate of 50, and Dravid was equally slow. Just when some singles were taken, Dravid was cleaned up by a nameless off spinner. There we go - the top order gone, and it's now up to the wondrous talents of Yuvraj and Dhoni to take us through the next 25 overs!

India will need to score 250 to get back some confidence. That score is not easy to attain now, with 25 overs left to get 150 more. Will Yuvraj put his hand up? Will Dhoni be sensible? Will Kaif score singles atleast?

Scorecard.

India bowl well, NZ bat deep but bat poorly, and India disintegrate

2005-08-26T12:00:00.000+01:00

Andre Adams comes in at XI in this NZ batting lineup, and they expected to last 50 overs at a minimum, and in Fleming's words, a high 200s score. Well, they barely lasted 43 overs, getting bowled out for 215. After the start they had (30 odd for 5), they must consider themselves lucky to get to 215, but that loong batting line up helped. The tail wagged quite well, and McCullum and gang scored heavily to post a reasonable target.

India's opening bowlers were terrific - nice inswing bowling from left arm over to the right handers. It looks great when they can get the ball to swing back in and rap batsmen on the pads, or take the outside edge of the left handers. If only they could do this on a regular basis, we will do quite well overseas. Pathan was good, but Nehra looked deadly, with decent pace and good swing.

Of course, Agarkar came and did his best to let them post a good total, but India did well overall. The familar problem of not being able to finish the innings surfaced again, and India left the Kiwis with 50 more runs to defend.

The pitch looks ok - India should finish this off quickly. Here's hoping Sehwag gets some runs - long overdue.

Bulletin at lunch

Update:

Disastrous batting by India's demi gods let to an awful defeat. How can the top order play like this so consistently? Words fail me at the moment - if not for JP Yadav and Pathan, the defeat would have been humiliating. What in the world is going on? Come on Ganguly, show some of that old spirit! Chappell, strik the damn whip if you need to. Yuvraj, please resign from your position! Do something, do anything, for chrissake!

World XI teams

2005-08-25T07:20:00.000+01:00

The world XI teams have been announced - the team as well as the reaction from around the world were on predictable lines. It is quite impossible to please all while picking a World XI team, and players who have missed out are miffed, their supporters are livid, darker conspiracy theories abound, and the tournament is gaining its publicity free of cost!

Might as well weigh in with my thoughts on the Test squad:

World XI Test squad Graeme Smith (capt), Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid (vc), Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Jacques Kallis, Andrew Flintoff, Shaun Pollock, Mark Boucher, Steve Harmison, Shoaib Akhtar, Muttiah Muralitharan, Daniel Vettori.

a) Smith as captain is a total surprise for me. I always expected either Vaughan or Dravid to be nominated skipper, and perhaps Lara as an outside chance. Smith has the attitude, but can he manage a team of superstars? My vote would go to Dravid, but hey, I am Indian.

b) Sehwag, Rahul, Lara, Kallis, Flintoff, Pollock, Harmison and Murali pick themselves. No one can really complain about these selections.

c) Tendulkar's exclusion would have lead to riots in Mumbai, but his inclusion is also not a watertight decision. He has not picked up a 3 pounder for a while now, and is severely short of match practice. I personally do not think he is fit enough to be rushed in to the matches, irrespective of the fact that he is in the Test team to Zim. As Osman Samiuddin says, this is clearly a selection to pander to many extraneous constituencies - dropping him would be blasphemy, sponsors would be miffed, and hey, his record against Aus is probably still the best.

d) Dropping Inzy has raised many hackles in Pakistan, but I do not think he would have such a major impact. I would pick Tendulkar over him in any case, fit or not.

e) Dropping of Kumble has pissed the man off. He does have a fantastic record over the last 2 years, especially against Australia, and there is a case for him to be in the team. However, I believe that Vettori is equally capable, and brings a few runs with the bat. In any case, if they play just one spinner (very likely), Murali would get the nod in any case, making this position redundant.

f) Shoaib's inclusion is clearly for oomph! He can turn the match around with a spell, but can very easily pull off after 5 overs, leaving Smith with a bowler less. They have enough firepower in Harmison and Flintoff, and the steady influence of Pollock, Kallis and Murali - to avoid the unpredictability of Akhtar.

All in all, a good Test team. My team would have included Vaughan instead of Smith, and opened with Sehwag and Vaughan, with Rahul, Sachin, Lara and Kallis to follow, with Flintoff at 7, Boucher at 8, and Harmison, Pollock and Murali as the bowlers. The batting is very strong, they have 3 good all rounders, and a good bowling attack.

Now coming to the ODI squad:

World XI ODI squad Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar (vc), Jacques Kallis, Brian Lara, Kevin Pietersen, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Flintoff, Shaun Pollock (capt), Kumar Sangakkara, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar, Makhaya Ntini, Muttiah Muralitharan, Daniel Vettori.

a) No Rahul Dravid - I think this is ridiculous. Most ODI teams now need a batsman who can anchor the innings and finish games for the team. Dravid's record is not the best, but his performances in ODIs over the last 2 years have been phenomenal. All substance, and not a fair bit of style as well. He will be missed!

b) Pollock as captain is stupid! A player who does not command respect from his own team members is now chosen to lead a bloody World Team.

c) Sachin - same reasons as in the Tests. Can't ignore the man.

d) Sehwag has struggled in the ODIs - but he does have that oomph that can turn the match around. If he tucks in to McGrath, the match is won!

e) Ntini is not the best choice, in my opinion. I would have gone for Harmison or Vaas. This bowling side looks weak!

f) Again, two spinners are redundant, and Murali should get the nod in any case.

g) I would leave Gibbs out, and pick Dravid. The batting line up is full of explosive players - with not too much of a calming influence save Kallis. Afridi, Sehwag, Gibbs, KP - god, that is enough to either ignite the stadium or self-combust.

In summary, the ODI team is a bit weak. The bowling is weakened because there is no Harmison/Vaas, and the batting is too volatile.

Look forward to watching these men in action, though!

Talkative curators

2005-08-24T08:19:00.000+01:00

The curator of the pitch in TrentBridge made some bold statements yesterday that made me wonder - how the hell is he being allowed to talk like this? He said:

"One thing is certain as far as the Test pitch is concerned," Birks said, "there shouldn't be anything in it for that spinner of theirs until the fifth day."

Well, that spinner of their's was not too impressed either. He rightly asked that gentleman to clam up. I agree with Warney - the curator has no business talking too much about the pitch, and definitely has no business commenting on any specific individual of the opposition team.

I want England to win this match, but I want Warne to get a 10 wicket haul, just to send a message out to curators to not exceed their brief!

This bloke bowls fast

2005-08-24T07:42:00.000+01:00

and dreams big. Shaun Tait has bowled his way into the Test team for Australia, and I look forward to seeing him in action.

His economy rate is a concern, and if both Lee and Tait have off days, England will score at a run a ball. However, he seems to have this raw ability to knock people over, and spill some blood. Interesting decision by Australia - and a positive one. Gillispie and Kasper were struggling in any case, so might as well go in with someone who could cause some serious damage if things fall into place.

His dream is to develop a Lillee-Thommo partnership with Lee - no small dream that! Can't pass judgement till I see him in action, but the Lillee-Thommo dream is a toughie. Can he swing the ball? Can he bowl with the same intensity over the duration of a Test? Will he break down like Shoaib Akhtar? Time will tell. Bold statement, nevertheless.

Contrast that with the statements from a rookie Indian fast bowler - he would first thank the selection committee for reposing faith, look forward to working with his 'seniors' in the team, promise to learn from Tendulkar, say Ganguly is God, and will go for 5.2 an over for the first 4 matches, thereby prodding the selectors to get Agarkar back into the side. Have we seen any bowler in India proclaim that he wants to be the next Kapil? Any batsman openly dreaming of being the next Sachin? Dreaming is seen as taboo in India - with everyone waiting for the dreamer to fail, so that he can be dumped in the press and chucked out of the team.

Different strokes for different teams, I guess!

Wright coach

2005-08-22T12:51:00.000+01:00

John Wright has been nominated coach of the Rest of the World to take on Australia in the Super Series this October. Of course, the role of the coach is severely limited when it comes to coaching a team like the World XI, but given the fact that someone has to be nominated coach, the selection committee could do a lot worse than select Wright.

Wright has had some success against Australia, being the only coach in the recent past to have done well against them in Aus. His success in India against Aus will not count for much because that was achieved on the back of a very strong spin component, which may not be too relevant for the Super Series.

It will be interesting to see the final team picked - quite a few Englishmen pick themselves up automatically.

I am looking forward to this Test and ODI series - it should be good fun.

Good old Indian cricket

2005-08-14T05:59:00.000+01:00

There has been shit loads written and said about the Ganguly V Dravid captaincy imbroglio. The fact remains though that Ganguly has been handed back the captaincy for this upcoming cricket series. While this is tough on Dravid, I frankly did not expect anything different. After all, Dravid got the nod only because Dada was unavailable, and he had to abdicate. That's the way we work here, and that's just the way it is. Of course, our performances in Sri Lanka did not help either, and made the decision-making process a lot easier.

Sure, Rahul will be feeling a bit deprived, and to feel that is just human. However, he is a team man, and will forget it all the moment he dons the blues to take the field in Zimbabwe. Ganguly is a lucky man - he has a deputy who will not sulk for ever, like Azhar did when a similar saga took place with Sachin some years back.

To be honest, even though I am a huge Dravid fan, in a crazy way, I think this is the right decision. Assume Dravid was made captain for the series, with Ganguly playing under him. Dada could have sulked and underperformed, thereby further weakening a battered team. On the other hand, I do not expect Dravid's approach to batting change just because he was demoted. The last thing India wants is a senior member (read Ganguly) and his cronies (there are a few in this team) feeling peeved that he is not captain, and therefore performing at less than a 100%.
Therefore, India now have the opportunity to have their two most experienced batsmen focused, and this can benefit the team.

Tough on Dravid - but nice guys finish second best in this setup!

Feel for poor old Greg, what has he let himself into?

Which brings me to something that has gone unnoticed - guess what will really settle our batting line up and our team now - the presence of a certain unassuming bloke who bats with a MRF sticket on the blade. What would India give to have him back, fit and ready? Pretty much everything, I suspect.

Agarkar as specialist batsman?

2005-08-14T05:16:00.000+01:00

The Telegraph in India is a newspaper I read online for a very specific reason - I get to know the inside stuff, thanks to the links this paper has with Ganguly and Jaggu Dalmiya. Prem of prempanix fame has alluded to this link oh so often, and he is right. These guys at Telegraph know what's happening before most of the crickeeters do. If you are not reading it already, you should, starting now.

However, one sentence in an article talking about team selection shook my roots -

The recall of Ajit Agarkar and Murali Kartik, by the way, has much to do with the experimental ODI rules being in vogue during the August 24-September 6 tri-series.
Kartik, after all, can be fielded as a bowler and Agarkar brought on as his substitute — exclusively for batting, that is.

Equally, Agarkar may be played as a bowler and, then, substituted by a specialist batsman.

Huh? Agarkar can be brought on exclusively for batting? What?!?!?!?

England's bigger battle

2005-08-08T09:05:00.000+01:00

The Ashes is a pawn in the bigger battle in England. Granted, it is a very important pawn, the queen even, but the Ashes is not the battle English cricket is waging at the moment. Bigger prizes are to be won, and the opponent is larger and more seemingly invincible than the Aussies. Yessir, that opponent is the most beautiful game in the planet, football.

Cricket writers have been deriding the schedule of this year's Ashes, bringing up the point that the Premiership is starting Aug 13, midway into the third Test. Everyone's horror scenario was that if Aus were up 2-0, that would have been the end of cricket in England, well, nearly. No one would bother watching a team that promised so much, but delivered nothing, and attention would be completely diverted towards the fortunes of Rooney, Alex, Henry and Abramovich's millions.

Thankfully for cricket in England, it is 1-1, and cricket actually managed to push a Chelsea-Arsenal game off the back pages. Whether the 11 men in white turning out for England can manage to do this week on week for the next month or so is questionable, but it was a good enough start.

Cricket writers are mighty relieved that their jobs are secure for the time being, because a loss yesterday would have been unthinkable for the future of this grand old game.

Such problems do not exist in India - if anything it is the reverse. Cricket fans are now feeling bad for other sports, and there is now talk that the BCCI should set up a fund to finance other sportsmen and women! English football enjoys near monopoly position for sporting mindshare, but cricket is rearing its small head now. Will a similar thing happen in India anytime soon?

What a crazy day it was

2005-08-08T07:33:00.000+01:00

Gideon Haigh said it right - Did it really happen? It was crazy cricket, berserk all the time, non-stop excitement, heart stopping moments every over, and a 2 run defeat for Australia, after staring way down the barrel the previous day.

Brett Lee was damn lucky, but damn brave as well. Warney was very lucky to start with, but very unlucky to get out the way he did, kicking his stumps down. Kasper was plain lucky, and a bit plucky as well.

England bowled very fast, but a bit of rubbish, aiming to knock the Aussie batsmen on their chest/head, or their legs off. They gave away many runs in that attempt, and very nearly lost the Test match. There were a bunch of slips and gully fielders who were hardly brought into play. However, justice prevailed, and this attack paid off with Harmison finally bouncing Kasper out with 3 to go.

The English fans had no nails left, and I could feel the tension, being a neutral. I am glad England won, because it sets up the series nicely.

However, a below par Aussie team, playing without McGrath and in poor form with the bat managed to get within 2 runs of beating England playing somewhat close to their best in this Test. Telling, isin't it?

And oh, there is a tri-series in Sri Lanka somewhere, where India nearly managed to lose to the Windies B team. However, they didn't, and therefore face up to the Lankans (who actually managed to lose to the Windies earlier) for the finals on Tuesday.

Notable points from that game - Yuvraj realised that he has to do more than smile from billboards. Anil Kumble bowled wonderfully well, and took a good catch as well. Ganguly haters got another reminder that he can't play the short ball to save his life or hand. Dravid was mighty relieved to have got to the finals.

Slow balls are effective

2005-08-07T08:51:00.000+01:00

Especially when is comes from a 6'5 tall menacing fast bowler who averages 90 mph. Harmison's beauty of a slower ball to Clarke in the last over of the day's play was perhaps the best slow ball I have ever seen. No one, least of all Clarke, expected Harmison to bowl that ball which completly flummoxed him. Clarke, having been peppered by short balls aimed at his chest and ribs, played too soon and all over the ball to be bowled. That was the final nail in the Aussie coffin.

Replays of the ball showed that Harmison held the ball loosely, and released it like a normal ball. Now we see most fast bowlers release the ball from the back of the hand to slow the pace of th ball. But this technique of holding the seam with just the tip of his fingers makes it tougher to detect, I suspect. That, and the context in which he bowled this ball, makes it the best slow ball in my book, and deserves a full post in my blog! So there!

Just a quick point - why is it that the batsmen and the fielders have to troop away with 2 balls to go in the final over? So what if a wicket falls in the final over of the day's play? Why can't the next batsman come out and play the 2 balls? This rule is a stupid one, and must go. If the batting side is bad enough to lose a wicket midway through the final over, they must be forced to facee the music for the rest of that over. Imagine Lee walking out to face 2 searing hot Harmison balls yesterday - chances are that Australia would have lost one more wicket. Why penalise England for taking a wicket? Play out the day's quota of overs, wicket falling or not, I say!

All play and no rest....

2005-08-07T08:42:00.000+01:00

...makes Beckham, Tendulkar and Rooney dull boys.

Cricketers are up in arms criticising the international schedule, which barely leaves them with any time to rest and recuperate. Well, they are not alone. Club footballers at the highest level now have just a month's rest between seasons, with lucrative Asian tours, pre-season US flirtations, and assorted other activities.

Once business starts taking over sport, the players merely become pawns in the whole entertainment machine. However, if far too much sport leads to injuries and hence a fall in quality, the very nature of the entertainment suffers. Sport, just like most other things in life, must always strive to find that elusive balance between quality and quantity. After all, you really cannot have too much of a good thing!

What a Test Match it has been

2005-08-07T08:21:00.000+01:00

Unquestionably, yesterday's cricket in Edgbaston was the best I have seen in a long time. It contained a mind-numbing performance from a man that the English rate very highly. The rest of the world has always wondered what the fuss was all about, but what Flintoff did yesterday was magical. If his fantastic attacking batting with a shoulder injury and No. 11 for company was not enough, his 100% bowling effort had the Aussies dumbstruck. He left nothing behind in the dressing room, bowling with his heart on his sleeve, giving his very best for his country.

Will this Test be called the Flintoff Test, like Botham's was in 1981? I think it should, because he has singlehandedly given England a chance to get back into this wondrful series.

Australia's batsmen seem to be struggling a little bit. I have always felt that they have no idea how to tak the foot off the accelerator. It is always all out aggression, and they either thrive (most of the tim) or perish (sometimes, especially when chasing in the 4th innings) in that attempt. Not one batsman except Langer has displayed the fortitude to play out time, and heck, there is so much time in this Test Match. Sure, the pitch is a bit uneven, but this is not the Mumbai pitch of 2004.

Something else struck me yesterday when I was watching these teams (and they are No.1 and 2 in the world) suffer batting collapses. You could easily put the collapses down to ODI mode batting - all out attack, not paying enough respect to the wondrful bowling talent on display.
This is when I thought - what would these teams do to get a Rahul Dravid into their side? Coming in at No. 3, he is probably the best batsman in the world at the moment to hold a side together, with his calm approach and technique. While everyone else is on 5th gear, his impeccable defensive technique and ability to soak up pressure on one end could well have set Australia a target of over 350 if he was playing for England, or could have resulted in Australia being 150 for 4 if he was born in Melbourne. In fact, in this time and age of attacking batsmanship, I can't think of any other batsman except perhaps Kallis and the New Age Defensive Tendulkar who is willing to play out time, that much derided but very valuable asset in a Test Match. No wonder Test matches get over so fast these days!

PS: Just check out the comments in this post over at Will's. Makes for wondrful reading, with a smattering of English and Aussie commenters charting out the ebbs and flows of the match.

Lady luck is smiling or what?

2005-08-05T14:20:00.000+01:00

Ifyou have had guano droppings on your pin stripe, or your brand new car breaking down yesterday, blame it on the English batsmen. Lady Luck and her fickle army was smiling on the Englishmen in Birmingham - and boy, did they ride it well?

Every mishit of Flintoff went for a 6 or a 4, most batsmen got lifes, and England ended Day 1 on 407 of just 80 bloody overs! What an unbelievable run rate, what a spectacle for those watching.
Of course the biggest dollop of luck that went England's way happened even before a ball was bowled, with McGrath twisting an ankle with minutes to go for the toss. The English took this opportunity with both hands, and made the most of it.

However, they would be still wondering - if 350 for 5 was a better position to be in than 407 all out? After the mauling received by Lee, Kasper, Warney and Gillespie, Australia would be happy that they have dismissed England. There is enough and more time in this match, and as things stand as I type this, Australia are doing ok at 168 for 3.

Interesting match, but I think Australia are just in front. I expect Gilly to get a 100 here, and Warne to wreak some major damage in the 2nd innings. Too bad for England, but their batsmen are just too excitable.

Bulletin

How did India lose yesterday?

2005-08-04T09:17:00.000+01:00

There has been a tri-series on in Sri Lanka, where India is taking part. Not terribly exciting news, I am afraid. These tri-series ODIs are a painful bore, and especially if one of the teams is the West Indies (surely at their nadir) - the whole thing is a bit of a farce.

Therefore, I have not had too much of a dekko. Beter things to do! Watching the Ashes is more fun.

However, yesterday's match promised some special moments - how would Ganguly react to playing under Dravid? How would Dravid handle the field? Could India put it across a weakened Sri Lankan side?

Ganguly reacted quite well, I must admit. He opened for India, dug in, and had mentally decided that no matter what, he would not get out. Damn the team scoring rate, but he got the runs. Slow, but ok, not the worst thing he could do.

Didn't get to see much of Dravid's performance in the field yesterday, but he looked in control. Ganguly was slow in the field, but he got 5 overs to bowl. Overall, no overt tensions. Good signs.

But how could India lose from having SL on the mat at 95 for 6? Jayawardene played well, Chandana played well, but how couldn't they pick the one wicket that would have won the match? I nearly choked on my vodka when I heard that they required 20 from 35 balls! Dravid says they missed the 5th bowler - but hey, couldn't one of the top 4 pick up Chandana?? Lack of pace - I suspect. No bowler in India can bowl over 140 kmph - and that hurts us when facing the tail. Sad state of affairs, because this was a match that should have been won comfortably.

Do I suspect Ganguly silently smirking?:-)

Warne magic rocks England..

2005-07-24T08:30:00.000+01:00

Says Cricinfo! Uh oh, I go again - where have I heard that one before? The drumbeats, the hype, the hoopla about a new, fearless England taking guard and playing the ball and not the bowler, has all but disappeared - in this Test atleast. The old firm of Warney and Pigeon have done the damage, and Mr. Beamer has done his fair share of fist pumping as well.

Just like it was way too early to etch England's name on the Urn just because they won a few ODIs, it is perhaps too early to write them off in this series. This match seems a goner, but Harmison is good enough to create some serious damage. Now who in the batting will put his hand up and "play the ball, not the bowler"?

I can't see Tresco doing anything different than what he has done before (which is not much in the Ashes), Vaughan seems to have gone into a rut, and Bell is not ringing. That leaves Strauss, who has the ability and no mental scars yet, KP who has guts but no technique, and Flintoff surely has one big innings up his sleeve. Not much to work with, but better than what England had to work with earlier (remember Ramprakash, Butcher, Crawley, whoever else?). Sure, Thorpe is a debatable omission, but I would still go with KP. Perhaps Thorpe for Bell would have been wiser.

What can one say about Warne and McGrath that has not been said already? McGrath first innings spell and Warne's spell yesterday was sheer, genuine world class stuff. Two absolute champions at their peak. Feel for England - if these two blokes can maintain their form this series, England don't stand a chance.

Agarkar a role model for the English?

2005-07-16T07:30:00.000+01:00

I was in the middle of a slowish Saturday morning, browsing the Net for Ashes stories (or any cricket story that does not cover Ganguly's ban) when I read this:

Ajit Agarkar has shown England's fast bowlers the way to worry the Australian left-handers. Agarkar is a lightweight cricketer with a patchy record. Now and then, though, he resembles Popeye after a helping of spinach. He is also the last paceman to have bowled Australia to defeat. He did it in Adelaide with old-fashioned outswing bowling that provoked shouts for leg before wicket that, for once, were answered in the affirmative.
Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden are vulnerable to the ball that swerves back into their pads. Langer is inclined to work across the line of these deliveries in an attempt to tuck the ball away. Hayden tends to plant his front foot, making it a sitting target for the moving delivery. Agarkar exploited these weaknesses and Indian romped to victory.

Peter Roebuck's praise for Agarkar resulted in two contrasting emotions in my mind.

The first was of unbelievable mirth and disbelief - since when has Agarkar been considered a swing bowling match winner? If India draws up a list of top pacemen, Agarkar will be pencilled in at No.5 if he is lucky. He has no chance of playing a Test again unless injury raises its ugly head. His inconsistency has been singularly responsible for my initial signs of hair loss. India's most overrated cricketer, constantly hyped up by the Bombay clique of Shastri and Gavaskar, and of course ably and covertly supported by Tendulkar, projected as India's next great allrounder - he has infuriated more than most. I still can't believe that he is in the reckoning to play any game for India, but it just shows why India is still struggling in Test and ODI cricket.

But then the conflicting emotion - come to think of it, that Adelaide victory was really made possible because Australia collapsed in the second innings. Dravid walked away with all the plaudits and awards (so much so, it is now being called the Dravid Test) - but Agarkar snapped a 5-for that set the match up for Dravid. So, that was perhaps the one match where Agarkar shone in a winning cause. Why does he then fall by the wayside ever so often? Where is this Bombay support structure when this guy needs it most? Why does he always appear like he is on a roller coaster? Is he a victim of a poor coaching and support structure? Can he still be revived?

Go KP!

2005-07-16T07:18:00.000+01:00

The English are all ga-ga over KP, and I can see why. His baseball six off a Gillespie bouncer would have left the bowler all dizzy!!!!

He is in your face, mohawk hairstyle and all, full of aggression, has energy on the field, puts English bums on seats (and pounds in the tiller) and can swat bouncers for six! Can Thorpe do any of the above?
Sure, Thorpe has a 45 average in the Ashes, but how many has he won? Zuk!

Give youth a chance, give energy a vent, give unbirdled aggression a place on the cricket field! Go KP! Well done, England.

Peter Roebuck summarizes the character well. One aspect stood out -

Bonds have been formed with Shane Warne and Ian Botham, transgressors, showmen and competitors. Pietersen's flame burns as hot as theirs. None of them ever thinks scared. Repeatedly, they stormed the barricades. It was the outlook Pietersen respected, and wanted in his game. Accordingly he entered their world, and drew them into his.

England may still not win the Ashes, but they have tried something different. Bring 'em on!

BCCI muscle power

2005-07-06T08:37:00.000+01:00

I have always felt that India's dominance of the commercial aspects of cricket is not good for the game. Indian administrators (and dare I add media, spectators and players - basically the whole cricket ecosystem) are immature, power-hungry and do not know how to handle responsibility, well, responsibly.

Check this latest fracas on the Saurav Ganguly issue - the BCCI has raked up this dead and buried chapter again, and has now asked for arbitration. It is now a question of who will blink - I sincerely hope the ICC wins. I am not going into the merits or demerits of the case - this article does it very well indeed. Suffice to say that the BCCI has better things to work on than stick up for a player who is guilty just to show that they can.

Time for Gilly to take charge

2005-07-01T06:45:00.000+01:00

I think the time has come for the best cricketer in the world to stand up and take control. While he is averaging 34, and has a very good strike rate of 97 in the Natwest series so far, you can never measure Gilly's contributions with numbers alone. That X factor has not travelled with him to England so far, and Australia is suffering because of that.

He showed strong glimpses yesterday against Bangladesh, but what would Ponting pay to see Gilchrist smash Harmison and Flintoff for two sixers in an over each, on his way to a rollicking 123 of 95 balls in the finals of the ODI series? Intimidation and aggression have been Australia's strongest weapons, and one such innings is the spark they need to ignite the rest of the team, Ponting included.

I have had enough of these West Indies

2005-07-01T06:35:00.000+01:00

Not a day goes by without the player-administrator spat in the West Indies making it to Cricinfo. Frankly, it is disgusting. Lara plays, Lara not to play, Sarwan has a problem, Chanderpaul is made captain, Sobers cries out in anguish, Viv pontificates, Lloyd ho-hums, Digicel pays x million $, Cable and Wireless screws them - who the hell cares?

They are less than 2 weeks away from the Sri Lanka tour, and just take a look at the team they have put together. It is probably the worst ever team - there are more known names in Kenya than in that team.

I really wish they could unearth a super-strong administrator who can take an iron hand and decide once and for all! This wrangling has gone on for way too long!

Thank God for the USA

2005-06-27T12:00:00.000+01:00

and their enterprising bloggers. Where else in the world would you have this?

Full marks for trying..

2005-06-27T11:01:00.000+01:00

.. but are these rule changes to the ODIs a step in the right direction? Scott thinks it is a step backwards, and Will agrees. Jonathan Agnew of TMS kinda agrees with one rule change (the fielding restrictions bit) but hates the substitution rule. Here is my take on Rule 1 regarding fielding restrictions:

The fielding restrictions have now been increased from 15 to 20 overs. We will now hear bowlers from around the world groan in agony. However, the little carrot given to fielding captains is that the first 10 overs have to be on the trot, and then the remaining 10 can be broken into two chunks of 5 overs each, to be implemented at his convenience anytime in the innings.
This rule has come in to try and break the monotony of overs No. 16 to 40, which tended to be quite humdrum. This new rule throws up some possibilities.
- If the pitch is bowler friendly, the captain may decide to hold on to the flexible 10 overs until the very end, hoping to never use them if he bowls the batsmen out, OR to use them from overs 40 to 50, when the tailenders are batting. He would use the normal overs when the established batsmen are batting.
- If the pitch is batsmen-friendly with no likelihood of the lesser batsmen coming into bat, the fielding captain is a bit stuck. He will have to play it by the ear, and use the two chunks of 5 overs when there is some momentum in favour of the bowlers. However this may complicate matters, because a chunk of 5 overs may be just what the doctor ordered for the batting side to regain momentum. Of course, if the batting side is on a roll in any case, the best the fielding captain can do is to just throw the 5 overs in at any time, and hope that he does not get hammered too much.

This increase of 5 overs (from 15 to 20) will surely see 400 breached in the subcontinent. If the whole exercise just means adding another 30 runs to an ODI game, it can't be good for the game. I wish the ICC had also introduced some bowler-friendly measures along with this rule, like an increase in bouncers, or some leeway in the no ball rule for bouncers, or some such thing. That would have balanced the rule change a bit.

Here are the positives to emerge from the rule change:

- There is something new for the viewer to look forward to. There is near total unanimity that the current ODI format is quite boring. This is an attempt to break the monotony.
- This reinforces the role of the captain in the middle. He now has to be on top of the ebbs and flows of the game, and decide when and with whom he has to bowl the 10 floating overs with. Captains who tended to let things drift will not have that luxury any longer.

Meanwhile, the cons are:

- 5 more hit-and-giggle overs. Poor bowlers have no respite at all. 400 may be an on par total in India.
- The innings may degenerate into start-stop-start again bits of play, with batsmen biding their time waiting for the inevitable next tranche of 5 over desserts to be offered, tucking in when laid out, and biding time again.
- Communication - letting the spectators and TV audience know exactly what is happening is a challenge. Suppose you were out and tuned in after 23 overs, you have no idea how much of the 20 overs have been used up. That means one more irritating box graphic on TV (with a goddam sponsor logo as well) indicating that usage. Sport is supposed to be uncomplicated, easy to understand and hardly taxes your brain. Strategies for this new rule may actually require grey matter application, not what you want to use too much of while watching a game of cricket.

All in all, while there are the loopholes, I am all for change to make the ODI format more interesting. This may not be the best rule change in the world, but they could have done a lot worse (like Rule 2 - substitutions - more on that in the next post).

This could have been implemented in some domestic one-day competitions, instead of thrusting it onto the big stage, but I would just go for it, and see what gives.

This girl is not too bad

2005-06-23T09:16:00.000+01:00

I was quite skeptical of Sania Mirza's abilities - the unprecedented hype surrounding her in India after the Australian Open and the Dubai Open left me quite cold. Here was a girl who barely reached the third round in both these events, and the press was talking her up like she won Wimbledon left handed (her wrong hand). Anyhow, as with most overhyped things, this bubble crashed - with her exiting the French Open in the first round, and losing in the leadup tournaments to the Big W.

However, grass remains her favourite, and she met Kuznetzova in the second round yesterday. She has already defeated the World No. 5 once in Dubai, but realistically no one expected her to repeat the feat yesterday.

But what I saw had me thinking - she is quite good. She made Kuz. run for her money, matching her shot for shot. Vijay Amritraj had it covered when he remarked that there was nothing to choose between the No.5 and No.75 yesterday. Her forehand was devastating, but there wee far too many unforced errors. Her service was quite sad as well, but the spirit was there.

It was very refreshing to see an Indian girl on center court, playing with best and managing to keep her head up. I really hope the Indian media and corporates do not screw her mind up with unnecessary hype and publicity. The truth is that she is World No. 75. The truth is she has potential to get into the top 50. The truth is she needs space, time and less attention to work on some obvious technical faults. The truth is tennis is a bloody competitive game, requiring her to keep her eye on the ball at all times. If she gets dazzled by the camera, or the bling bling surrounding her at the moment, the fall will be steep, fast and nasty!

Don't throw it away Sania!

What next? The Loch Ness Monster eats up McGrath?

2005-06-22T07:37:00.000+01:00

Crazy stuff from Angus Fraser - apparently a ghost has been haunting the Aussies in Durham. No, the ghost does not answer to the name Harmison! Alliteratively named, Lily of Lumley is troubling Shane Watson enough for him to sleep on the floor in Brett Lee's room. Some media manager lady gets blank calls in the middle of the night, and she sees people dressed in white walking down the road!

Words fail me.

Link via The Corridor of Uncertainty.

He's paid to say this but..

2005-06-21T10:34:00.000+01:00

.. I tend to agree with John Buchanan when he says
"We will definitely come out of it and I think we will be better for the whole experience,"

He makes a very interesting point and a nice dig at England when he says that while this (4 consecutive losses) is unchartered territory for Australia, wins against Australia is also virgin area for the English. He thinks it is interesting to see how they handle that pressure. Touche'.

Australia can play a whole lot better, whereas England are operating in 4th gear. They may still have a gear left, but Australia have a whole lot more in the tank.

Warney said the same thing yesterday in a TV interview during the Twenty20 game, when he made the point that all Australia has to do is get to the finals of this ODI series. It then boils down to that one game - whoever wins that will gain immense conficence going into the Ashes. Warne basically says that England is getting ready for the feast before the wedding has even started.

Coming back to Buchanan - I don't agree with the one excuse he is offering for Australia's shaky start. He says they are undercooked. Now, since when has a 7 week break become the reason for the best team in the world to go off the boil? All we hear nowadays is cricketers complaining that there is way too much cricket. So you go ahead and give them a 7 week break, and they no complain of lack of match practice! Damned if you do, damned if you don't!

The skeletons tumble out...

2005-06-20T08:08:00.000+01:00

only when the team is not winning. If Australia had (as everyone, his dog and his beloved departed great grandmother had expected) won everything in England so far, this would have never surfaced.

Fielding - Australia was the gold standard as far as fielding was concerned. Innovation is a big part of the Aussie game, and as I had written earlier, Buchanan leads the pack. They had employed a baseball coach, Mike Young to hone their fielding skills, and it was clearly working beautifully. Something went awry down the line, and their fielding deteriorated from their once exalted standards. Scott was noticably upset, putting the blame squarely on Buchanan. He says

Once again, I have to ask when, if ever, Buchanan is ever going to take responsibility for the decline in Australia's fielding standards. It is a sad day when Australia is outfielded by England, and from what we've seen so far, that day is indeed here.

And now it appears they have lost their fielding coach as well. Mike Young says -

"I wanted to stay . . . but I was basically forced out the door. After two or three years working with them, and with my background in coaching, I was getting frustrated and, quite frankly, somewhat insulted. I would love to work with the Australians again and my door is always open."

I always thought such things happen only in Indian cricket. Looks like we are not alone in this world then.

Coupled with the disciplinary problems involving Andrew Symonds, the skeletons have begin to tumble out.

Thanks Prem for the link on Mike Young.

What in the world is happening?

2005-06-20T07:50:00.000+01:00

Australia losing to England in a Twenty20 by 100 runs!
Someset next!
Then Bangladesh! Come on, only India and Pakistan do that!
Then England again!

A F1 race takes place, with just 6 cars on the starting grid! (Different matter than our man Karthikeyan finished 4th out of 6, ahead of the mighty Minardis!).

It'a all happening out there!

Read this for all the gleeful links, and this for a dumbstruck reaction from Down Under!

Warney's articles are cool

2005-06-17T08:20:00.000+01:00

I have been reading a few of Warney's articles in the Times. He (or his ghostwriter) writes wonderfully well - it sounds so different and refreshingly so. Sample his recent take on Australia's loss in the Twenty20 game.

I’ve hardly been able to stop at a traffic light without somebody winding down a window and shouting: “79 all out.” - Typically understated Aussie humour. Why do other cricketers not write like they speak?

His article is quite balanced (probably because he has to pander to his English fans, given the fact that he is making Hampshire home for the next 3-4 years), and he makes some very valid points about not getting carried away with one win.

One observation leapt out and spoke to me for a long time -

Having said that, it is good for cricket to receive so much attention. Being in England for a couple of months has been a real eye-opener. I cannot remember a series — and I am talking about the Ashes now — that has been so eagerly anticipated, even in India, where the passion for the game is almost indescribable.

I was thinking about the same lines myself, but had no way of establishing the fact since I was in India. I always felt that far too much was made of the India - Pak rivalry, and I felt the recently concluded series was quite subdued in terms of frenzy and passion from the fans. I think it is very refreshing that the English are showing a lot more passion for cricket, atleast for the Ashes. Long may that trend continue. Cricket needs a strong England team, AND a committed English cricket audience. For this alone I wish that the Ashes is competitive.

Thanks Warney, this article was a ripper!

342 runs chased down? With 3 overs to spare? Against Australia? No, it was not even the England team?

2005-06-16T09:55:00.000+01:00

What the heck is bloody happening in England? Somerset overhauling 342 runs with 3 overs to spare against McGrath, Lee and Kasprowicz is incredulous. No wonder Ponting is livid - but he perhaps has himself to blame. I never thought I would be commenting on the lack of Aussie ruthlessness, but to retire himself and Hayden out after having been dismissed for 79 in the previous game smacked of complacency, which was quickly shaken off by Somerset's two imports - Jayasuriya and Smith. Both got good centuries in a lot less than a run a ball, and I can imagine Vaughan placing a call to both these gentlemen, thanking them for showing the way.

Again, too much must not be made out of this defeat. While it must be hurting, trust the Aussies to use this as a catalyst to blowtorch the hapless Banglas, and the cautiously cocky Englishmen in the ODI series.

What fun!

It's all happening in England

2005-06-15T11:37:00.000+01:00

Lords hosted cricket's second effort for tsunami relief yesterday. The match was a bit jinxed, with its biggest draw Tendulkar pulling out with a elbow problem, Murali dropping out due to some other injury, and Sarwan not being able to travel on time. In any case, at this time of the year, there are any number of international cricketers peddling their wares in country cricket, and the MCC enlisted the services of Harbhajan, Ganguly and Fleming to fill in the blanks.

The match was a bit tepid, save for a fantastic Lara innings again. Now an innings of 42 is typically not raved about in this fashion, but Lara is Lara. He was awesome when he lasted, and the match fizzled out after he was dismissed. His captaincy was not hard-nosed, getting himself and Chanderpaul to bowl, thereby gifting free runs to the team that batted first (was it MCC or International XI - who knows? who cares?).

Kumble and Harbhajan bowled beautifully, picking up 3 wickets apiece. Kumble in particular was fantastic with his faster sliders, while Bhajji got Cairns stumped with the much-talked about straighter one. Now will the ICC examine that ball? Or is all forgiven in the name of the tsunami?

Anyway, Lara's team lost, Fleming's won, and some money was raised for tsunami relief, which was what it was all about in any case.

However, some assholes decided to play around on eBay, and did some hoax bidding for a novel concept - a person could bid to get trained by Tendulkar for 15 minutes, before facing Warne for an over in the middle in front of a global TV audience. Turns out the bid of 50,000 GBP was a hoax. That ass deserves to be swept away by the tsunami!

* * *

Australia lost shockingly to England in their first Twenty20 encounter. The English press is thumping chests, while Ponting is brushing this aside as something insignificant. The truth, as always, is somewhere in between. Sure, Twenty20 wins do not count for much, but the nature of the loss (100 runs) is significant. England are competitive, but this win does not automatically translate to supremacy over 5 days of Test cricket, let alone the Ashes. OF course, this win sets the Ashes up nicely for us neutrals. Unless Australia demolish England in all the ODIs they play before the Ashes!

India's Gallipoli?

2005-06-07T10:28:00.000+01:00

Australia are the trend setters in pretty much everything cricketing. Their exports coach half the world's Test teams, their scoring rate of 4 an over is what everyone aspires for, they set the standards on the field with bat, ball and with fielding.

John Buchanan clearly is an out-of-the-box thinker, and no, I don't mean it as a cliche. He got a baseballer to teach his boys to field, he gets psychologists to have sessions, and he takes his team to war memorials in Europe to gain inspiration. The last one is absolutely unique - and if we trust this article (may need subscription), the team gained a lot out of it. Hayden talks about it being life-changing, though it was probably more life-changing for the English bowlers who bowled to him in the Ashes after that visit. How much of the success is attributable to this visit is impossible to guage, but full marks for trying something different.

Now that we have an Aussie coach as well, would India take the same route? What would India's Gallipoli be? Kargil? Bangladesh? Venues of the battles with the Brits where our local kings won?

Sheer beauty!

2005-05-27T12:27:00.000+01:00

Nothing comes close to a Lara century. For all of Tendulkar's strokeplay, Dravid's technique, Hayden's brutality, Ponting's flair and Gilchrist's murder, none of these gentlemen come close!

Yesterday's innings was from another planet. Words fail me.
Thank you Lara!

Super series without Tendulkar?

2005-05-25T08:28:00.000+01:00

Startling news from England - Tendulkar has undergone surgery, and could be out of action for 16 weeks. I say startling because there was no inkling of this. Normally, anything Tendulkar does is front page news in India, and I am surprised that no TV channel/newspaper got wind of this until it actually happened.

However, the lack of pre-operation publicity does not in any way take away from the significance of this for India. No, not because he will miss the (not-so-important) tri-series in Sri Lanka, and the (absolutely unnecessary) tri-series and Test series in Zimbabwe. I always had this suspicion that he may opt out of one of those series in any case. What is really significant is that he may miss the Super Series in Australia. If it is 16 weeks, he will recover just in time for the Super Series, but will the selection panel select a man who has had no competitive cricket at all for the last 5 months to take on Australia?

Or, is that a stupid question? After all, a certain Mumbaikar is head of the selection panel.

What would I do, you ask?

I would still select Tendulkar. I will not care if he has not played any cricket in the last few months. He is definitely a big occasion player, has been successful against Australia, is easily still one of the best in the world, his presence in the team will give the Aussies something to think about, and lastly - he is the biggest draw in world cricket!

Yeah, well, I am a biased Indian!

Chappelli to the rescue?

2005-05-20T09:37:00.000+01:00

The long drawn out process is finally over - it's official - Greg Chappell takes up one of the world's toughest jobs, with a 2 year contract (surprise!) to coach the Indian cricket team to greater heights. The contract runs until the end of World Cup 2007.

Unlike many others who feel that this was all that is required for India to start beating Australia on a regular basis, I am more guarded. My reasons are given below:

Here are some positives that Greg can bring to the team:

a) A refreshing new approach. For all of Wright's pluses, his method was getting a bit jaded, after having spent over 4 years with the team. With performances on the team plateauing after the highs of 2003-04, the team needed a change in approach, which Chappell can provide. Chappell has written and spoken a lot about his coaching techniques, and he will not get a bigger platform than this to put it into practice.

b) Confidence of having been there done that: Unfortunately in India, John Buchanan would not have stood a chance. Indians go for names, and Chappell is one of the biggest names in the game. Only he could tell Ganguly to shape up and take quick singles, or ship out! Imagine Moody trying to do that - he would hear snide comments from players, press and ex-players, all gleefully brandishing Moody's average cricketing record for all to see.

c) Ganguly: While the jury is still out on Ganguly's presence in the team, if he remains captain, it is a huge plus that Chappell gets along well with Ganguly. He has gained Ganguly's respect, and that will surely help team spirit and unity.

However, here are the pitfalls:

a) The attitude: I have no special insight on Chappell's attitude, but from what I have heard and read, he will not take too much of bullshit. After all, he is an Aussie! The fact that he has walked out of two coaching offers (India and West Indies) because of salary issues is proof enough that he is not one to compromise too much. While this is good in most cases, it is a liability in Indian cricket. John Wright blended superbly with this culture, chose the middle path of going along with the various stakeholders, and still managed to get most of his job done. With the BCCI, the selectors, the players, the ex-players and the press each pulling in different directions at the best of times, how long Chappell can maintain his patience is a question mark. Will he just chuck everything away and get back to Adelaide if he does not get his way?

b) Huge expectations: As mentioned before, the common Indian will now expect India to thrash all comers, and be crowned World Champions in 2007. The unending pressure from millions of fanatics will be squarely on Chappell. Will he be able to take on this pressure, especially when nothing short of a win will do? There will be no honeymoon period offered by the press and the ex-players - with daggers already being sharpened for the next series in Sri Lanka. Luckily for Chappell, the next few series will be in the sub-sontinent, where India can still do reasonably well. The true test will come when we go to Pakistan in January 2006, and the Champions Trophy at home. A loss in Pakistan or a first round knockout in the Champions Trophy could be disastrous for Chappell.

c) Public image: Chappell has never been shy of publicity, with his books, articles and website reasonably popular here. The commercial pull from the media in India for his quotes will increase exponentially. There is already talk of agents queueing up to sign him on for contracts. Will he become bigger than some of the players? Wright managed this wonderfully, giving up the limelight completely to the players, preferring a back room role. Chappell will not be as considerate, and that could lead to friction.

d) Clash of vision: Chappell's vision for Indian cricket is deeper than what the 'jokers' of the BCCI can fathom. In fact, it is perhaps more long term than what the media and most other stakeholders can care to see. Indian cricket is so obsessed with the immediate series win, precious little grey matter is spent on thinking beyond the next few months. This conflict of vision is potentially dangerous - Chappell trying to leave behind a long term legacy, and the clamour for short term success consuming him in the process.

e) The Aussies don't rate him highly: I have had some discussions with Aussie cricket fans, who don't rate him at all. This is surprising, but most people tell me that while he was a great player, he is a terrible coach and people manager, and that he will be a disaster. What didn't work in Australia may still work in India, but no one is quite so sure.

In summary, while he may have some things going for him, the system and his own personal attributes may weigh him down in the Indian context.

Among the 4 shortlisted candidates (Moody, Amarnath and Haynes), my vote would have gone for Chappell. So while he was the best available candidate, is he good enough for Indian cricket?

Amarnath, Fair and Lovely and his brother-in-law

2005-05-20T06:12:00.000+01:00

Jimmy Amarnath is never short of unique things to say. He had voiced what everyone in India knew all along, by calling the selection committee a 'bunch of jokers' when he was dropped for the 15,672 nd time in his career.

Recently, when the debate reached fever pitch on a 'white' being made coach of the Indian team, he was quoted as having ridiculed the BCCI (his future bosses!) for their obsession with 'gori chamdi' (white skin), and said that if he knew about it earlier, he would have applied 'Fair and Lovely' (a HLL product which he is not an official endorser for, not yet anyways!!).

When asked about his lack of technical knowledge, he said that while he did not have a laptop, he sure did have a lap! Well, that satisfies 50% of the requirement in any case.

I can imagine Amarnath's wife applying Fair and Lovely all over him the day before the interview, so that he gets that extra coat of white!

Evidently, his lap was not enough for the interview yesterday. He had to get his brother-in-law, no less, to help him with the computer that was being used for his presentation. His brother-in-law was not the computer whiz kid Jimmy thought him to be, because his interview went on well past schedule. Was the presentation PPT hanging in between, was the computer rebooting, was there a virus in the ppt? I wish we knew.

If the 'jokers' finally select Amarnath, they will actually have a team of 3. His brother-in-law as computer expert, his wife to provide the final cosmetic touches, and Amarnath himself with his famous lap. No wonder he says that he does not need any additional bowling and batting coaches - that'sright Jimmy, keep it all in the family.

Refreshing cricket article

2005-05-19T14:42:00.000+01:00

Enough and more has been written about John Wright's departure from the Indian team, and how wonderful he was etcetera. There is nothing more I can add to what has already been said, but this series of interviews by some Cricinfo staff was terrific.

Harbhajan Singh has this to say about Wright:
"I will miss watching him work. He had the look of a person who had to go somewhere urgently and had lost his car keys."

Beautiful!

A very refreshing view from inside the dressing room. Read the whole thing.

World XI preliminary selection - Waste of time

2005-05-11T06:13:00.000+01:00

Back to blogging after soaking up some sunshine in an extended Aussie summer, I couldn't but help wondering about the futility of this preliminary selection for the World XI team for the Super Series.

There are potentially 7 teams from which players have to be selected, therefore making it an universe of 77 players. It does not take an advanced degree in rocket science, OR a combined Test match experience of over 200 Tests (that the 'elite' selection panel has) to whittle this 77 down to 39. How tough can that be, and what purpose does it serve? Malcolm Speed's quotes were quite amazing - praising the committee for selecting such an exciting bunch of 39 cricketers, and articulating the criteria for this selection as well. Why didn't the ICC just empower the panel to go ahead and directly select a team of 14 sometime in August?

I suspect Johnnie Walker had something to do with this - a 3 stage selection process (30 comes down to 20, for God's sake, and then finally to 14) presents 3 global media opportunities to flash their logo and branding. However, I think they may have got it wrong - 3 stages may actually lead to public fatigue and boredom. It perhaps would have been better to have one big bang selection of 14 - and then throwing the floor open to every media person, spectator and his uncle to debate endlessly on why A was selected and B was dropped!

In any case, I will sleep through the next phase of shortlisting, and look out for the final list of 14. Now speculation and controversy surrounding that 14 should be fun.

No cricket down under

2005-03-30T06:33:00.000+01:00

Unbelievably, I am currently Down under in Melbourne just as India and Pakistan played out a good Test series - which India contrived to draw, after getting so close to winning 2-0.

Unfortunately, there is no coverage of this series in Australia, thereby rendering this blog quite ineffective for the series.

Regular service will resume after the ODI series, when I get back to India.

Opportunity lost

2005-03-13T15:32:00.000Z

India's 'famed' middle order needs a kick up their backside. I had blogged at the end of Day 3 that the senior batsmen had let the side down, and had given Pakistan a glimmer of hope to save the match. Guess what, that's exactly what happened.

After being quite dominant for 4 days, India's insipid bowling on Day 5, and some really inspired rearguard action from the 7th wicket pair for Pakistan saw them home with a creditable draw.

All I wanted to say and more has been ably summarized here by Amit Verma. I am to distraught to really comment further - what really pains me is that my heroes have turned back the clock, and played for self rather than team.

Pakistan have come out of this one with all the psychological points. I just hope there is some fire kindled within this Indian team now - because with a bit more desire, India can still win this series 2-0. Oh, and can we just forget about personal milestones and "playing for a place in team" for a while please?

India on the verge of victory

2005-03-11T12:16:00.000Z

The dismal Pakistani top order has squandered the opportunity that India had given them to draw this match. After having dismissed India for 516 (a lead of 204), Pakistan needed to play out atleast 4 sessions to save this Test. But they contrived to lose 3 wickets for 10 runs, and left their best batsmen with Mt. Everest to climb.

Inzy and Youhana reached Base Camp without too many difficulties with some wonderful batting. But once Inzy was given out to a dodgy decision (yet again), they were staring down the barrel. Youhana was cleaned up by Kumble soon after, and losing Asim Kamal at the fag end of the day was the last straw. Balaji and Kumble bowled quite well to get India into this position.

Pakistan at the end of Day 4 lead India by 53 runs, with 4 wickets in hand. At this rate, India will need atleast 20 overs to get the rest of the wickets, and another 20 atleast to knock off the runs.
Now to hope and pray that it does not rain.

Scorecard.

Selfish top order

2005-03-10T12:41:00.000Z

I just couldn't help imagining how Australia would have played Day 3 of this match.

India were so strongly placed on Day 2, with Sehwag slamming the bowlers and India with a runrate exceeding 4.5 per over, and Dravid solidly accumulating the runs. The Pakistanis looked completely dumbstruck, and Day 3 was ripe for the taking. Australia would have kicked the remaining teeth of the Pakistanis and scored over 350 runs today, to put the match way beyond redemption. That's how the best team in the world plays - and if today's play was anything to go by, India canot even aspire to those heights - so what if they end up this series as second-best in the world.

I will go as far as to say that the Indian top order was very selfish today. Tendulkar, who came in at the fall of Dravid's wicket, started off brightly, matching a splendid Sehwag stroke for stroke initially. But he had his moments of trouble against the very good Kaneria, and then pulled down shutters once he sniffed a chance to get a 100, and break all those records. While Sehwag was making merry at the other end, the runrate was steadily dipping.

Once Sehwag got out to an awesome 173, out strode another selfish batsman. If Tendulkar has his eye on the record, Ganguly had his eye only on personal glory. His 21 of 74 balls was the most pathetic batting I have seen in a long time. Caught off a no-ball, dropped off the next, scratchy against pace and spin, getting hit on the body - it had it all. Clearly, the criticism of not having scored a 100 for a long time weighed upon him, and he willingly put self-interest as top priority. The bowlers who were down and out suddenly found half volleys and short balls patted back to them - and were as dumbstruck as I was.

When Ganguly was put out of his misery, it was Laxman's opportunity to hog the crease and not do anything! Tendulkar pulled down the shutters completely, and then drove away from his body to edge to gully. The record will have to wait. Laxman defended his way to a strike rate of 38, trying very hard to get back to some form.

Therefore, with the honourable exception of Sehwag, the rest of the top order, for various reasons, conspired to score just 260 runs in 91 overs - at a runrate of 2.85 rpo today. This, after the bowlers were on the mat, ready for the taking. Pakistan are still in the game for a draw, a result they will accept gleefully.

Sure, the overall runrate is still 3.41, and India are ahead by 135 with 4 wickets in hand. Sure, the pitch is taking spin, and Kaneria was terrific. Sure, India may still win. But the point is - why the foot off the pedal? Why the hand off the neck? Why not apply the squeeze?

I may sound a bit harsh, but the point is that most of the media will paper over this fact completely. I can see glowing headlines that India are well ahead, poised to win. If Pakistan manage a draw, today's play would have had a big influence. What was worse is the sight of looming black clouds - god forbid, if we lose a couple of sessions tomorrow, India are up against it to force a win.

We just hope today's average performance does not come back to bite India in the ass!

Scorecard.

Damp overhead conditions? What's that?

2005-03-09T12:22:00.000Z

Overnight and early morning rain dampened the spirits and the ground somewhat. Along with a loss of 2 sessions, it was feared that the damp overhead conditions would aid the Pakistani swing bowlers, and that India would be under pressure.

Damp, cloudy conditions help the pacemen. A wet outfield slows the pace of the ball. A red ball under articificial lights is tough to sight.

Well, Sehwag does not understand these technicalities.

After a good ball first up that he swished at and missed, he cut, drove, flicked and hoicked away to glory. None of the bowlers got any swing going - they were not allowed to settle into any rhythm. The overhead conditions did not matter an iota - the man with an aggressive bat did.

The wet outfield dried quickly under the scorching heat of Sehwag's batting. And an effervescent six over point did not bother the outfield one bit. That shot was the defining moment of World Cup 2003 for the Indians - and Sehwag has made it his speciality - a deliberate but ferocious cut over point soaring into the stands.

The artificial lights affected the fielders more than it did Sehwag. Taufeeq Umar dropped him when he was on 15 - a sitter at 3rd slip. Then Younis Khan dropped him on 82. These lapses will perhaps cost Pakistan this match. For, more than the quantum of runs he scores, the manner in which he scores lifts his teammates as well. Gautam Gambhir played well above himself, matching Sehwag stroke for stroke - before getting out to his own impetuosity.

With Dravid looking solid, and Tendulkar, Laxman and Ganguly to follow, India can look for a 150 run lead. Sehwag's blistering pace has mostly negated the loss of time in the morning. If the rain stays away, expect India to wrap this up by lunch on Day 5.

Scorecard.

Aside 1: How Pakistan miss Shoaib.
Aside 2: Sehwag puts more bums on seats than Tendulkar does.
Aside 3: Kaneria is a good bowler. With an attitude to match.

Comeback kid

2005-03-08T12:17:00.000Z

A last minute decision by the Indian think tank (wonder who really took it - Ganguly, Wright, Dravid or Tendulkar) proved to be spot on, and India emerged with their noses in front on Day 1 in Mohali. After the decision to pick Balaji (who has been out of action for almost a year) in favour of Harbhajan Singh (on home turf) was made, Ganguly had no option but to bowl first.

The pitch had some bounce and some grass - a typical Mohali wicket. But Perth it wasn't. Ganguly would have settled for 3 wickets in the opening session, and 3 is what he got. Zaheer Khan was brilliant with the new ball, and the three pacemen shared the honours. Inzamam batted like only he can - languid, lazy elegance with all the time in the world to spare. Unfortunately for him and his team, there were just no partnerships. Taufeeq Umar got out just when Inzy and he were liking each other's company out there. Inzy was given out to Kumble just when Asim Kamal was flourishing in Inzy's presence. Razzaq played like he was desperate to get out, and Kamal had no support in the end. His 91 was a good effort, but there was not much from the other end.

Pakistan scored at a great rate (3.6 an over) - clearly a hangover from their Australia sojurn. However, they kept losing wickets, and Balaji's 5-for was just reward for good seam bowling on a reasonably helpful pitch.

312, I suspect, is not enough. The first hour tomorrow is key - but the pitch is showing signs of easing off. If India can get through to lunch without too many wickets, expect a 150 run lead in the first innings.

Tendulkar may break a couple of records tomorrow (so what's new?!?) - 121 runs to get to 10,000, and more importantly, a century would get him past Gavaskar on 35 Test centuries! Lot to look forward to - but the thing I will be watching keenly is Sehwag V Sami. That duel in the first 30 mins tomorrow could determine the result of this match.

Player of the Day - Comeback kid - Balaji.

The first small step for Indian racing

2005-03-08T07:21:00.000Z

This Sunday, one man placed his first small step for Indian racing - Karthikeyan did commendably well to finish his first ever F1 race in Melbourne. In a crazy race, where teams were really screwed by the weather during qualifying and the new rules, Karthikeyan was unfazed finished top amongst the rookies on view.

This surely augurs well for a man who has been there or thereabouts as far as F1 goes - I really hope that he maintains this form and gives the sport a much needed boost in India.

In my opinion, his achievement is just as big as, if not bigger than many Indian cricket superstars. After all, he is in the top 20 in a truly global sport watched by millions worldwide (as opposed to millions in India).

Karthikeyan and Sania Mirza have done the unthinkable - they have actually pushed India - Pak cricket just a little bit to the backburner. Now that is no small feat!

Yet another India - Pak series

2005-03-07T13:10:00.000Z

I can't believe I am actually saying this - but it is precisely how most of them feel in India right now. Surprisingly, the hype for this series is very subdued - no hoopla of the Friendship Series of last year, no hyperbole -except for certain sections of the media trying to pump up the volume hoping to get more ad revenue and viewership/readership!

Sport is run by the media in any case, but in this instance, I can't help get the feeling that the media is whipping a sleeping horse.

My reading of the series (as of today) is a bit different. Two middling teams with their own problems are fighting it out on mostly dull, insipid pitches, in the backdrop of some awful administration and management by the BCCI. Politics, money power and ineptitude has taken centrestage - and has pushed the game in the middle right off the radar.

Terrible scheduling has left Pakistan to indulge in some sightseeing in Dharamsala, instead of getting serious match practice.

I may be too cynical - but the cricket does not seem to inspire anyway.

Pakistan has come with a young, inexperienced team, bereft of any stars. Their batting is reasonable, without being spectacular, and their bowling is almost dull on paper. Rana Naved, Sami and Kaneria may function better as a team without Shoaib, but I can't help thinking that the buzz for the series would have gone up several notches with the showman in town.

India has had no serious cricket for nearly 3 months now (Bangladesh and the domestic matches do not count for scratch). Such rest usually has a terrible effect on the Indian team (remember what happened after the tour to Pakistan last year). The batting looks good on paper, and must do well against this Pakistani bowling attack. The bowling looks solid as well, with the spinners in action on turning pitches (except Mohali). However, one never knows what form India will bring to the ground. So, while the team looks reasonably settled, the X factor is missing. I really hope Sehwag does something magical - to give a kiss of life to this series.

Here's hoping Mohali, with its green pitch, will see a first innings collapse - does not matter if it is India or Pakistan.

My call for this Test series - 2-0 or 1-0 India.