Monthly Archives: August 2007

Team India for ODI against Scotland and England Lions

Posted on 16 August 2007 by | 12 Comments

India plays Scotland today (Thursday 16 August) in a ODI match at the Clydesdale Cricket Club grounds in Glasgow. Not surprisingly, it has been raining in Glasgow and a tinge of optimism is required to believe that this match will run its full course. If the weather does not have a say in curtailing the match duration, the Indian team might! Scotland are definitely not pushovers and since the World Cup, they have shown some improvement. But I can’t really see them offer the Indian team anything more than a pleasant sightseeing opportunity!

India follow this game with a ODI against England Lions at the County Ground, Northampton.

After that the 7-match circus commences on 21 August at The Rose Bowl (Southampton).

From the Team India contingent for the Test matches, Anil Kumble, Sree Santh, Wasim Jaffer, Ranadeb Bose, V. V. S. Laxman and Ishant Sharma have departed for India while Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma, Piyush Chawla, Ajit Agarkar and Munaf Patel have joined the squad.

It is likely that all of the above will play in the game against Scotland and also in the game against England Lions on the 18th. It is also likely that the players with minimal work-rate in the Test series will also play both games — namely, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Ramesh Powar.

We could add to this list Rahul Dravid, Dinesh Karthik and Sourav Ganguly for the game against Scotland and Sachin Tendulkar, M. S. Dhoni and R. P. Singh for the game against the Lions.

So the likely teams for the games are:

Against Scotland:
Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Dinesh Karthik, Piyush Chawla, Ramesh Powar, Ajit Agarkar and Munaf Patel.

and

Against England Lions:
Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, M. S. Dhoni, Piyush Chawla, Ramesh Powar, Ajit Agarkar, R. P. Singh and Munaf Patel

It is likely that Zaheer Khan will sit out both games.

– Mohan
– Mohan

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The Tipping Point… Where to from here for Team India?

Posted on 15 August 2007 by | 7 Comments

There is a time in its journey when a sporting team could find itself perched on an important cusp. An opportunity presents itself to break itself away from a state that it is in and launch itself into a higher state. I believe that Indian cricket’s first break-mould moment was in 1971. Its second moment arrived in 1983. Its third was in 2001. It is presented with another opportunity now. Whether the team takes it or not is upto the individuals in it and the team manegement.

India has, without a coach, managed to beat England 1-0 in England. This is a creditable result for the team which is in a strange rebuilding phase that the team found itself in after the World Cup debacle.

There can’t much doubt that the most exciting period in recent memory for a Team India fan was the one from 2001 to mid-2003. This was the period when John Wright was Team India coach. India won important matches overseas and India won a massive series in Pakistan. Nothing will matter to an Indian cricket fan more than that win in Pakistan! It seemed like Indian cricket had finally turned the corner. It was after then that the wheels started falling off a bit.

The departure of John Wright and the arrival of Greg Chappell gave one the impression that the upward momentum was going to continue. Sourav Ganguly was a terrific captain — a player who has fascinated me for a long time with his unique brand of leadership. He was, though, rightly asked to step aside. There was a staleness to his leadership as well as his batting. He had to go and Greg Chappell made a tough call — a right call, in my view. Rahul Dravid came in as a breath of fresh air. Together Chappell and Dravid crafted their vision and put in processes. They tinkered with batting orders to put personnel in hitherto unfamiliar roles; to test them in environments of pressure that they may not have otherwise encountered. Losses were seen as tactical gains; as necessary sacrifices in view of the bigger picture. India had won an important away series in the West Indies. India also won several important games in India and started making some impressive strides in the ODI arena. Ganguly went away and transformed himself. Even Ganguly’s re-entry was welcomed.

But all of that came to nought when India crashed hopelessly out of the 2007 World Cup. All the experimentation and short-term-pain-for-long-term-gain strategy fell completely flat and there was a hollowness to it all. Greg Chappell had taken over when the foundations to the house were in place. He left Indian cricket after having seen the construction of a fully built house. But the manner of his leaving and the mess that he had left behind suggested that the house wasn’t built to specifications. Urgent reinforcements were in need, lest the house fall in a heap.

Moreover, within a few months of his leaving, the house needed to be looked into critically. It was almost like we had to build an extension to the house a few months after it had been newly constructed!

These extensions and reinforcements were attempted shoddily, hastily and arrogantly by the BCCI. The extension was secured but did not quite sit well with the rest of the house!

And in amongst this mess, four months and 10 days after India’s torrid exit from the World Cup, India conjured an away series win in England! Set in this context, this was an impressive win for the team. Not perhaps as impressive as India’s ground-breaking win in 1971 against a strong England team. Not perhaps as comprehensive as the win in 1986 when Kapil Dev’s team won 2-0 — and almost won a third match too!

Nevertheless, it was an impressive series win. Some people have knocked the win as a shallow one, given the absence of Flintoff, Harmison and Hoggard. Perhaps they, in their haste to knock the teams’ and the fans’ celebrations have ignored three basic issues: (a) It was Englands’ batting that let the team down, not the bowling, (b) Barring Anil Kumble who did not have too much of a role to play in the series, the Indian bowling was as (in)experienced as the England bowling, (c) A team plays with the team that it has! Period.

In that epic 2001 series, India won against Australia without Javagal Srinath and Anil Kumble, its two frontline bowlers! And that series win is still being talked about. It will still be talked about 10 years from now! New players are born when key players are absent. This was an opportunity for a few players to step up and be counted. In that series, Harbhajan Singh and to a lesser extent, Zaheer Khan stepped up to the plate! Kumble was replaced in the three Tests by Rahul Sanghvi (Mumbai), Venkatapathy Raju (Kolkata) and Nilesh Kulkarni (Chennai)!

So, this win cannot be made shallow by claims that England was decimated by the absence of Flintoff, Harmison and Hoggard. Tough luck. Teams have to ride the storm. India cannot whinge about the lack of a coach, for example, if India had lost! Them’s the price that one pays for the relentless amount of cricket that is being played.

Having said that, my own view is that this win has come at a huge cost — Rahul Dravid’s batting. My own view was that on day-4 of the Oval Test Dravid was carrying a huge load on his impressive, strong, resillient, yet human shoulders. A coach relieves the captain of minutae. A coach takes emotion out of the equation by absorbing it. These are the situations when a coach becomes much more than a vehicle that takes the team from the hotel to the ground and back. After having borne the cross for the whole tour, it was perhaps to be expected that, at a crunch hour Dravid simply appeared, to me, to freeze.

So where to from here for Team India? One word sums up the path ahead. Opportunity.

There is a time in its journey when a sporting team could find itself perched on an important cusp. An opportunity presents itself to break itself away from a state that it is in and launch itself into a higher state. I believe that Indian cricket’s first break-mould moment was in 1971. Its second moment arrived in 1983. Its third was in 2001. It is presented with another opportunity now. Whether the team takes it or not is upto the individuals in it and the team manegement.

This opportunity was, I believe presented to the team on day-4 of the Oval Test match. My disappointment was that the team did not sieze the moment and launch itself into the next state. By playing on and playing positively with a we-are-going-to-win mindset, the team could have launched itself into the next state. It did not. But the opportunity still exists.

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, the author presents a thesis that (ideas and) behaviors act like outbreaks of infectious diseases that create social epidemics. The Tipping Point is the moment in an epidemic when critical mass is reached. These are “boiling point” moments. Moments that we often describe using the phrase “the straw that broke the camel’s back”. Dramatic moments when something unique becomes common. Moments at which little changes can make a big difference.

A little change on day-4 would have meant “positive batting“. The big difference could have been, “Hey! We can do it”. Winning is a habit.

India has that opportunity to move forward now. The team has to sieze this moment. These moments don’t arrive often. But when it does, one has got to sieze it and make the most of it, if one wants to.

I’d like to deconstruct this opportunity in terms of 3Cs: Consistency, Coach, Conversion

Consistency

The 2003 version of Team India showed that it could be consistent. This team needs to show consistency too. And it has the chance. I can’t think of too many years when the team plays 3 marquee series in the same year! India has just beaten England in the first of the three marquee series. India play Pakistan in October-November and then immediately take on the might of Australia in Australia from mid-December 2007 onwards. India has an opportunity to show consistency and class in these two important upcoming series. The time to start showing this consistency is now.

Coach

India needs a good, strong coach. I do not believe the team can afford to have Dravid play the way he did in England. Dravid was the core around which the consistent 2001-2003 performances were built. His innings in Kolkata — not much is made of the sterling 180 that he made in Kolkata alongside Laxman’s splendid 281 — started a magic phase for Dravid that has seen him be the bed-rock on which several famous wins were constructed (Headingly, Adelaide, Rawalpindi, Sabina Park, etc). The team needs him to play authoritatively and with minimal emotional burden. And for this, the team needs a coach who would take care of all the minutae relating to the team. The current state of affairs is shoddy. The BCCI needs to fix this now.

Conversion

I have no doubt that the time for blooding newcomers is now. For a long time now, the bare bowling stocks was highlighted as India’s main problem area. It was seen as the area that needed addressing if India was going to win consistently overseas. However, I actually think that this area has come of age in this series.

In Zaheer Khan, R. P. Singh and Sree Santh, India does have a good portfolio. The bench strength, with Munaf Patel, V. R. V. Singh, Irfan Pathan, Yo Mahesh, Ajit Agarkar, Ranadeb Bose, Ishant Sharma, et al, seems steady, if not promising. And some of these players on the bench have been blooded into the international arena already!

Piyush Chawla for Kumble seems to me to be an like-for-like replacement when Kumble decides to call it a day

In Harbhajan Singh — a proven match winner — and Romesh Powar, India has its off spinning stocks covered although the cupboard is bare once you remove these two from the equation! An area of concern is certainly the left-arm spin option. These are two areas for future-investment and development.

The batting is, to me a concern. India needs to convert some of its bench personnel into toughened and hardened international cricketers. This is an opportunity. We can’t have Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman retire in a heap. This will leave the team vulnerable and exposed. I actually think that there are replacements for these four stalwarts in Sehwag-Rohit-Yuvraj-Badrinath for example. And then there are others like Raina and Tiwary waiting in the wings. But these conversions need to be made in a staged manner. And the time to start is now.

And this is where I believe the team should be thinking in the medium-term of a clear, cogent, planned and convincing rotation policy. Given the amount of cricket that is being played these days, it is not necessary for Dravid, Ganguly, Tendulkar and Laxman to play in every game! One of them could be rotated out — even in a Test match — for cricketers like Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, S. Badrinath, et al to play in the middle order! Apart from providing greater longevity to the careers of the Fab Four, it also provides for a sustainable future.

The Fab Five are going to retire in the next few years. Indian cricket cannot afford to wait until then to think of replacemements. These retirements need to be planned and managed and the way to do it would be through rotations and strong India-A tours.

The Australian rotation policy is centered around providing rest opportunities for key players. I do believe the time has arrived for India to form a core-group of 25 cricketers and devise a rotation policy that is focussed on sustainability and bench-strengh development. Greg Chappell and Rahul Dravid commenced this exercise but I felt that they panicked and took their eye off the ball in the lead up to the World Cup. Cricketers need to be blooded and hardened. Just as Australia slowly brought in Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Phil Jacques, Stuart Clark, Shaun Tait, et al with a view to the future, India needs to do the same through a carefully crafted rotation policy. And the time to start this is now.

India has a few taxing series coming up. By planning for these along with a coach, India can make that Good-To-Great journey from being a good team to a great team. But this requires resolve. It requires a bunch of individuals that care about the future of Indian cricket to make some hard decisions. It requires the ability to realise the tipping point and also realisation of what it takes to tip…

These are mere discussion starters from me… Comment away!

– Mohan

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How are the hopefuls going?

Posted on 14 August 2007 by | Leave a comment

While all the action has been around India’s tour of England, India-A has been playing in Kenya and India U-19 has been playing in Sri Lanka.

In Kenya, Parthiv Patel is batting like a dream while Mohammed Kaif has been stuttering. Parthiv Patel has pushed himself up the order and is batting at #1 and even opened in one match raising the distinct possibility of India playing 3 ‘keepers in a game soon! After a rather insipid start, Irfan Pathan looks like he is coming good. He has been taking wickets in most matches. After strong initial contributions with the ball from Piyush Chawla, Pragyan Ojha has stepped up to the plate as a convincing bowling left-arm-spin alternative for the future. One standout in the entire tour has been S. Badrinath. He has been making the runs steadily and he has been making them in quick time too! Of course, India has been winning everything on this tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya!

The real test will come when these lads travel to England, South Africa, West Indies and Australia. But it is certainly nice to follow the travails of the India-A team.

We have kept our eyes focussed on the U-19 tour of Sri Lanka too. There, one of the key interests was in the travels of Tanmay Srivastava and Abhinav Mukund. They both travelled well in the second match of the series, with Abhinav Mukund scoring a double century and a century in the same game!

– Mohan

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England Vs India: Test 3 Day 5 — An overseas series win…

Posted on 14 August 2007 by | 10 Comments

India pressed hard for a victory on day-5 of the 3rd Test match against England. But in the end, the England batsmen defended their way to the close of days’ play to leave India a few breaths short of victory.

Who knows what may have happened if India had another 15 or so overs? These, and other hypotheticals will surround the match, but the fact is that India won the series 1-0. It was an overseas series win to add to the win last year in the West Indies.

The day of “if only’s” commenced with an if-only off the very first ball. Sree Santh bowled a beauty to Alistair Cook that struck the batsman plumb in front. Umpire Ian Howell chose to not see it that way. During the day, Rahul Dravid dropped Michael Vaughan and M. S. Dhoni dropped Paul Collingwood. Both were difficult chances, but I’ve seen both Dravid and Dhoni take these. These missed catches added to the if-only ponderings.

However, in the end analysis, England had decided to pull down the shutters and play for a draw. The huge target put an England victory completely out of contention. But having decided that they would play for a draw, they proceeded down that path with aplomb. Instead of dour defence, they kept the scoreboard ticking — no doubt helped by the attacking fields that Dravid set at times. Pietersen was superb in his shot-selection as well as his innings-planning. He built the innings carefully and then played the gaps. He wouldn’t allow the bowlers to settle into a rhythm. Collingwood was a rock at one end as Pietersen scored freely at the other end.

The Indian bowlers toiled through the day and kept picking up wickets at regular intervals. But as in Sydney in 2004, India came close to winning the last Test in a marquee series, but not close enough.

Had India done the right thing by batting on? I think so — both in Sydney as well as at The Oval.

Had India delayed the declaration? I think so — both in Sydney as well as at The Oval, with the difference being that in Sydney, they played positive cricket in the second innings.

But all of that is irrelevant now. India has won the series here and that was mightily important to the team, its progress and her fans. The difference between a 1-0 series win and a 2-0 series win would have been (a) a few points on the ICC Championship Table, (b) the opportunity to be number 2 in the ICC table — level with England on 109 points — instead of number 3 — level with Sri Lanka on 107 points, (c) making winning a habit.

The team, through Dravid, sent a message that 1-0 was good enough and that is what we got.

England had battened down the hatches and saved the match, but lost the series. The series win was Dravid’s prime KPI and he, and his team, had delivered.

But more importantly, it was a good team effort. India went with an unchanged team in all three Test matches. The team played well together — without a coach — and came away with a fantastic win at Trent Bridge after being under the pump at Lord’s in the 1st Test. They had won a series in England after 21 years. They played smart cricket through the series.

Lets not take that away from this Indian team.

– Mohan

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Why the approach

Posted on 13 August 2007 by | 3 Comments

Rather than posting my thoughts as comments to Mohan’s post, I thought I’d make a separate post on the reasons why Dravid decided to not enforce the follow on and then bat slow:

  • Not enforcing the follow on was actually not a bad decision as a lot of us agree. It has plenty of merit such as not batting last on what may become a crumbling pitch, giving the bowlers a rest, etc, etc. So, I won’t delve much into it 
  • India have struggled to win a series overseas in spite of going 1 up in the series in the past, and this would have been on the back of Dravid’s mind. To him winning the series is more important than winning the match itself.
  • Although the Indian’s have taken 50 English wickets so far, Dravid still does not trust his bowlers fully – Zaheer, the best bowler on display so far apparently has a mild niggle, Sreesanth has been erratic and RP Singh is inexperienced. To top that Kumble has not had the best tour so far. Dravid must have felt that they may not be able to take 10 wickets, hence he wanted to ensure that even if England had wickets in hand, they did not stand a chance of chasing the score down
  • To ensure that England did not have enough overs to chase down the score, Dravid wanted to use up the overs and probably felt that he should occupy one end – hence his go slow approach

I am not trying to justify his approach, merely trying to reason why India played the way they did (and some of the reasoning is mere speculation). Whatever the reasons, it will not be an easy win for India, but I will not rule out an England batting collapse. India first need to get past the two openers, for I believe the Indian bowlers are far better bowling to right handers than left handers.

If India do win the match convincingly, the way Dravid batted will be a distant memory.

-Mahesh-

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England Vs India: Test 3 Day 4 — Memories of the past…

Posted on 13 August 2007 by | 14 Comments

This was a day when the current crop of Indian cricketers, led by the stoic Rahul Dravid — one of its cleanest, finest and most faithful servants — had the opportunity to write themselves strongly into the history books. Instead, it appeared that the team collectively jumped into the history books to slip comfortably into clothes that were easily, comfortably and regularly worn by Indian cricketers of the past as they mapped out three of the darkest few sessions in recent memory for Team India.

Rahul Dravid’s men had the opportunity to (continue to) set the pace of this Test match; to set themselves a wonderful platform from which they could claim a 2-0 series result. Team India had played strong, determined and positive cricket ever since that first innings at Lords’. But, like rabbits caught in the headlights, they reverted to type! They were on the threshold of a move to being recognised as a good team.

Team India did not sieze the moment.

Instead, they signalled very early in the piece that they were comfortable with a 1-0 result. A safety-first mediocrity mindset ruled. The “adjust kar lenge” (we are happy to settle for this), “bus, yeh kaafi hai” (this result is enough) mindset ruled. They put safety first and history-creation last. They gave too much respect to this England side. They also allowed England fans the opportunity to ponder, “But for the rain at Lords’…”

Would an Australian side have played the way India did? I do not believe so.

Would an England side have played the way India did? Perhaps not.

It was a confusing day for everyone. India started off the day by bowling R. P. Singh and Kumble. This telegraphed the signal to almost everyone that India would enforce the follow-on. After 26 minutes, when Kumble had Panesar out and India had a lead of 319, India chose to bat instead! Apparently this decision was made the previous evening itself! Now if that was the case, why open the bowling with Kumble and R. P. Singh?

The rationale for batting on was there. I actually think that ‘not enforcing the follow-on’ was the right decision, given the series-context. Mark Taylor, as astute a reader of the game as we have had in recent memory, always said that a captain in a such a situation should entertain thought of enforcing the follow-on for only a brief moment before chosing to bat again! India — and in particular, Kumble — would have wanted last use of the pitch. India would have wanted to set the pace in the game. India would have wanted to retain control of the momentum of the game. India would have wanted their bowlers to rest a bit before coming back again — after all, by not bowling Sree Santh and Zaheer Khan in the morning, they telegraphed to one and all that what they were interested in was in giving their prime pace bowlers a bit of a rest! This was complicated a bit further by the news — that filtered through later on — that Zaheer Khan was nursing a mild thigh strain. So, all of these pointed to India batting again. And if all of the above did not convince India to bat again, there was always the memory of Kolkata!

India was 319 runs ahead and one would have thought that the team would try and get about 150-to-180 runs in quick time and then put England in with lots of time to spare. Instead what we got was a slow-crawl to the finish line. The mental approach defied belief, defied the 1-0 series-scoreline and defied the current form of this England batting side. The style of play that emanated from this mindset was a throw-back to the days of the past when Indian cricketers would run to occupy a safety-first, eliminate-the-opposition-win-out-of-the-equation position before even entertaining the possibility of an India win! It was depressing, to say the least.

This mindset suddenly saw India reeling at 11 for 3. This also saw Dravid make a painful 12 off 96 balls. The history books will not say that Dravid was booed on his last appearance at The Oval. But he was. It is likely that he will point everyone to the scoreboard and say, “Hey the score reads 1-0 in India’s favour”. But the point would be lost. Here was an opportunity to make history. Instead, we were dragged back into a rather ugly past-mindset. While Dravid displayed an ugly, bloody-minded and stoic preference for a safety-first approach, Sourav Ganguly bucked the trend to play an attractive game.

In the end, India set England a total of 500 in 110 overs at an almost impossible asking rate of 4.54!

The England openers played solidly to end the day at 56 for no loss. England are still 444 runs adrift. With 90 overs remaining, England need to score at nearly 5 runs an over to win. This would be most unlikely. In setting such a high — and potentially unachievable target — India did wipe the possibility of an England victory out of the books. It would require something of heroic proportions to fashion an England victory from here! But there again, India missed a trick. If they wanted to win this series 2-0 and head to second spot on the ICC Table, India ought to have set England a ‘gettable’ target.

One could be pardoned for asking for a blood sample to test what Vaughan had been smoking if Vaughan had said, “Mate this is an easy gig, we are going to go for a victory“, in response to the target his team had been set! A gettable target would have meant that England would have gone for it. This in turn would have yielded India wickets and a possible 2-0 result! Once again, this safety-first mindset had dominated and clouded thinking.

India need 10 wickets and this is still possible. However, the opportunity to keep the foot on the pedal was lost. The opportunity to complete the series 2-0 was probably lost. The opportunity to take the winning momentum into the ODIs was lost. The opportunity to future-build — as opposed to current-secure — was lost.

It is not necessary to play chest-thumping, fist-pumping, adrenalin-rush-creating, attractive cricket all the time. Not every Australian cricketer plays attractive cricket all the time. But it is necessary, in my view, to play positive cricket. The game is all about mindset and momentum. India had a terrible mindset on this dull day at The Oval. India had the momentum, but gracefully handed it on a platter to England, who, by my calculations, won all three sessions of the day; the session-by-session scorecard reads 7-4 in India’s favour.

On a day when things ran contrary to plan, it was nice to see consistency from one quarter though! Umpire Ian Howell continued his command performance by sending Wasim Jaffer packing! Ian Howell declared Jaffer out lbw to a ball that was so high it would have struck Matt Prior in the mouth; the same mouth from which he appeared to remove the sock that Ian Chappell had shoved into at the start of this Test match! A few years ago, cricket fans ran a petition to get the name of Ashoka DeSilva, the Sri Lankan elite umpire, changed to A-Shocker DeSilva. Unless Ian Howell’s umpiring standards lift, fans may start a petition, requesting Ian Howell’s name to be changed to Ian Howler!

The days’ play went completely against all the pre-game positive talk that Dravid had indulged in. So, was that all purely rhetoric?

It is at times like this that one yearns for a coach… It is possible that Dravid’s mindset was dictated by fear of the flak he would have received had he returned home with a 1-1 series result. A coach may have dispelled these dark thoughts and erased the nagativism in his thinking. Who knows? These are hypothetical ponderings left for another day and place and confined to the yet unwritten history book titled: “If Only…“!

India may still win this game. But by setting an unreachable target of 500, India has made the draw the most likely outcome. One almost yearns for England to still go for the target and perhaps even make it — for the sake of the romance of the game, if nothing else.

– Mohan

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Partnerships

Posted on 12 August 2007 by | 4 Comments

In an earlier article, I spoke about the importance of partnerships. Here is a comparison of both the Indian and England Partnerships.

Wicket India England
1 62 12
2 127 66
3 10 41
4 77 5
5 78 78
6 63 86
7 91 15
8 62 2
9 21 0
10 73 21*

The eight 50+ partnerships that India put up is of course a World record and we can’t expect it to happen in every innings, but it tells a tale of a great team effort. Given the choice of great centuries from two or three top players or a team effort like this, I know which one I’d prefer – Consolidated team effort over individual brilliance.

-Mahesh-

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England Vs India: Test 3 Day 3 — Another good day in the office for India…

Posted on 12 August 2007 by | Leave a comment

The pre lunch session was another India session, thanks to two late wickets by Anil Kumble. Team India looked a bit ragged in the field though in this session. A dropped catch, some wayward bowling and a slow over rate did not help India’s cause. It was a session in which India only bowled 25 overs!

Given the match situation, it was somewhat surprising that India’s over rate was as poor as it was. There seemed to be a sluggishness and languidness to the play when what may have been required was urgency and fervour. It was also surprising that Kumble got to bowl only 5 overs in this session. I am not sure why he wasn’t given more of a bowl!

But perhaps Dravid was having things in reserve. He swapped the bowlers around in short-sharp spells. Given the hot and humid conditions and against the backdrop of the knowledge that India may need to stay on the field for a long-long time to squeeze out a victory, it is likely that short-sharp spells was the plan.

The dropped catch did not help either. Again it was Karthik that dropped a simple catch at leg slip. Dravid had placed Karthik strategically at leg slip to snatch Alistair Cook’s uppish leg glance. The shot was played off Sree Santh and Karthik fluffed it. It was a somewhat shoddy display indeed. Following tight on the heels of a thorough and professional display on days 1 and 2 of this Test match, this was a somewhat sorry showing from India.

Nevertheless, this was a session that belonged to India. England scored 100 runs but lost the wickets of Anderson, Cook and Vaughan. This session was India’s and the session-by-session score reads 6-0 in favour of India!

Sree Santh, who was somewhat listless before lunch, bowled with fire after lunch. He had Pietersen in some trouble in one over — an over that incidentally contained 3 no balls and also contained a few out swingers, a few in swingers, a wide delivery, a bouncer, a slower ball and much much more! The young man wanted to exhaust his entire repertoire in the one over!

The post-lunch session was a rebuilding session for India and one would be forgiven for having visions of it being the first session that belonged exclusively to England. That was until the penultimate over before tea. Off Sachin Tendulkar’s first ball in the match, Pietersen had a brain explosion that resulted in him launching into an expansive drive the moment he saw the ball above his eye sockets. The premeditated launch defied the match-context and the result was almost predictable! That was a big wicket although I still think that that session belonged to England, its first in the match.

The pre lunch session did, however, contain yet another Howell gem! Off the second ball Collingwood faced, he was plumb in front to a beauty from Kumble. I received an immediate SMS from a friend that read, “If that ball won’t have hit the stumps, call me a banana“! As if to make up for that bad call — a really silly goof up at this level — Howell waved Collingwood away to the pavillion when the batsman appeared well set for a gritty century! He was declared out LBW to a ball that was sliding way down leg side! Howell should know that righting a wrong does not cut it at this level! He, like Matt Prior the England ‘keeper, has had a forgettable match!

Bell played positively but the bells were tolling for England and he too went to a good ball from Sree Santh. The second new ball had removed Collingwood and Bell and as with the other 4 innings of this series, the rest of the batsmen — sorry, we do have to call them something! — offered no resistance at all.

One could be forgiven for starting to wonder why Matt Prior is in the England team! Certainly it can’t be for his ‘keeping! On the evidence of this series, it can’t be for his batting? His puerile yapping then?

Dravid had handled his field and his bowlers well. He bowled them in short spells and rotated them around. He did not overbowl Kumble. He even gave Laxman a bowl!

The session-by-session score card reads 7-1. This too has become somewhat futile and almost irrelevant in this Test match! The only question that needs to be asked is whether or not India press the follow-on. India are 338 ahead. Under normal circumstances I’d have said no. I’d have thought India should bat for at least a session and a half, make a really quick 160 or so and then get England to bat 5 sessions to either make the 500 runs or implode. This would ensure that the bowlers get a bit of a break and come back fresh. This would also ensure that India had the last opportunity to use the wicket.

However, two things ride against this decision. There is a threat of rain in the air. Moreover, this is the last match of the series and the bowlers’ workload may not be that much of a large issue. The pitch is also not that much of a threat. So India may need all the time that she can get on this pitch. With this in mind, imposing the follow-on may be the way to go. Either way, we have a few good sessions of cricket left in this game.

– Mohan

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England Vs India: Test 3 Day 2 — Team performance from Team India…

Posted on 11 August 2007 by | 2 Comments

It was a magical day for Team India. Almost everything seemed to go according to plan. India ended her first innings on 664 and in reply, England are 24 for 1. England need a further 440 runs to make India bat again!

It was a day where India, in my calculations, won all 3 sessions. The session-by-session score card reads 5-0 in India’s favour and with 9 sessions left in the match, I strongly believe that India have helped eliminate one of the 3 possible results. I do not believe England can win from here. It will take something of heroic proportions for England to win this game; for that to happen, England would have to win all 9 remaining sessions and India will need to play remarkably badly. With a series win on the line, I can’t see India playing consistently badly for the remaining 9 session. While I am not that confident of an India win — thanks to the benign nature of the pitch — I believe that a thrilling draw may still be on the cards.

The one factor that could weigh in India’s favour is British pride. Peter Moores, the England coach said at the end of day-2, “Everyone’s motivated because it’s the last Test of the summer and we’re playing to try and save the series. All the batters are going out to get a score, for themselves and for the team, and one thing that’s in our favour is the speed you can score at. The outfield’s very quick and the wicket is very good. The batters are looking forward to having a go on it, so we’ll just see where we get to.“

If England goes out in a positive frame of mind, and with a view to still winning from here, India could squeeze in for the kill. Kumble can afford to bowl with 3-4 around the bat. Dravid could look to choke the runs at one end and attack all-out from the other end. This will be a test of Dravid’s captaincy aggression. There is not much in the pitch, but the batsmen have delivered the runs on the board. The pace and the aggression was dictated by the captains’ pre-match sound-bytes as well as his purposefulness while batting. It is now upto the captain to set the same tone on the field. That, mixed with Britsh pride and aggression may well give India the game. The next 3 days will tell us which way this cookie is going to crumble!

It was a terrific team performance from India. Just as Dinesh Karthik and Rahul Dravid laid the foundations on day-1, the second day saw Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid build a strong foundation in the first session. Sachin Tendulkar was keen to ensure that he batted England out of the game. Laxman on the other hand, mixed caution with class. He had once again done the hard work and also enjoyed the benefit of a let-off — once again from Matt Prior behind the sticks. However, yet again, Laxman could not press on the advantage and departed after yet another classy 50!

Matt Prior, whose chat level has been greater than his skill level, had a forgettable match thus far. His collection has been ordinary. He dropped Tendulkar and Laxman and he has given away 33 byes — an embarassingly high number! No doubt this was assisted by some wayward bowling. However, Prior will be embarassed to see his name in the record books.

After Tendulkar departed to a terrific ball, understandably disappointed at not reaching a century, we saw some unbelievable pyrotechnics from M. S. Dhoni. He displayed a stunning array of strokes. He played the pace bowlers with panache and simply culled the spinners. It was all devastating stuff. At the other end, Anil Kumble played like a 1-down batsman. He leaned into his cover drives and knelt as his off-drove with skill. And suddenly, Kumble was on the verge of an unlikely century! If he had played a batsman’s innings right through, the shot that got him his century was classic-Kumble though! He somehow got his bat to a ball that was pitched way outside his off stump. The ball was somehow squeezed through between bat and ground and between Priors’ legs. Kumble, who had charged down the wicket to meet the ball, dived back desprately into his crease and was all arms and legs! And lest the umpire declare the resulting four runs as byes, Kumble raised his arms in acknowledgement of potential congratulations even before the ball was halfway to the boundary! Ah, classic Kumble stuff!

I said at the begining of the game that it would be foolish for the press to merely focus on farewelling the Fab Four. Anil Kumble also made his debut in England in the same match that Tendulkar made his first century at Old Trafford. To not include him in the farewell celebrations would be a folly. Well, with his sensational ton here, Anil Kumble has scripted himself firmly into the farewell party! And there may well be more to come from this indefatigable and admirable war-horse!

If India made one mistake, it was in not declaring the innings closed immediately at that point. Dravids’ rationale for batting out an additional 4-5 overs escaped me.

India are clearly ahead in this game and need to go for the jugular. An additional spinner would have helped India’s cause. But they have started the bowling well thanks to a mindless shot from Andrew Strauss. He hooked a Zaheer Khan ball irresponsibly down Sree Santh’s throat at fine leg. But that is what mental fatigue does to you. After nearly 170 overs in the hot sun, the brain does tend to get scrambled and the muscles get weary. Who knows? An additonal 4-5 overs of time may have got India another wicket or two. And I do believe that it is the mental game that will get India ahead on day-3. There is nothing much in the pitch although there were some indications that Kumble will make the ball bite and jump. A bit of aggression and a lot of chatter mixed with attacking close-in fields could deliver India this game.

India could well have had another wicket if Ian Howell had been awake. His shocking match continued when he refused to give James Anderson out. He was struck plumb in line by a wonderful Sree Santh delivery although there was bat-pad doubt. And this is where Howell’s inexperience came through. A bat-first-then-pad would have been normally squeezed square of the wicket. If it did travel straight down the wicket, a bat-first-then-pad shot would have minimal power in it. This ball, however, screamed to the deep mid-on boundary thereby clearly indicating that it was a pad-first-bat-next shot. Howell’s inexperience yielded the benefit of doubt to James Anderson when there was neither a need for benefit or doubt!

In 2003-4 in Sydney, India had put 705 on the board against Australia. There again, Sourav Ganguly had delayed the declaration by at least half an hour. Who knows what that extra half hour would have given him and the team in that match? In that match, India did have two spinners in Kumble and Murali Karthik. In this match, India only have Kumble. So the road ahead is potentially hard for India. But the saving grace is that it is incredibly hard for England. They have almost certainly lost this series. The question in my mind is whether the final scoreline will be 1-0 or 2-0.

It has been a terrific team-batting-performance by India who had as many as eight 50+ parterships — a first in cricket!

India must now hope for an all-round bowling performance as it searches for an outright victory in this game…

– Mohan

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England Vs India: Test 3 Day 1 — India attempt to step up…

Posted on 10 August 2007 by | 8 Comments

Dileep Premachandran asked yesterday in a well-written Cricinfo article if India would be able to step up and cross that last hurdle in the 3rd Test against England at The Oval. It was a question that was posed yesterday on this blogsite too. So often — most excruciatingly in Steve Waugh’s final Test — India have not managed to cross this last hurdle.

But India did the right things right on Day-1 of Test 3. India won the toss, elected to bat and came out in a sensationally positive frame of mind. If this mindset was evident in the mercurial nature of of Wasim Jaffer’s batting, it was palpable in the purposefulness of Rahul Dravid’s stride. This team meant business and they would have reached a much more satisfying destination at the end of Day-1 but for the fact that a certain Ian Howell appeared to have got up on the wrong side of his bed! After giving a marginal caught behind decision to send Dinesh Karthik back to the hut, he chopped Sourav Ganguly at the knees with a shocker of a decision! India ended the day at 316 for 4. India had had a good day, but England are still in the game.

Karthik was playing extremely well and had composed his 91 runs in style; with confidence and energy. On that score he wafted with minimal footwork at a ball from Sidebottom for Matt Prior to pounce on the catch. The England players went up as though they had just won the lottery or a date with Catherine Zeta-Jones, or both! Ian Howell, the umpire, lifted the dreaded finger and Karthik had to make the slow long walk back. I did not hear the snick. Snickometer did not think there was a snick either. However, Karthik did say at the end of days’ play, “there was a small nick, there is no doubt about that“! Phew! One less effigy to construct and then destruct for the folks in Kolkata! The Ganguly decision, however, will have generated a few thousand effigy orders!

Up until that lapse in concentration, Karthik had batted very well. He was all poise, determination, inventiveness and concentration. A step down to caress Andreson through extra cover as well as an inside-out six off Panesar were special shots.

In the morning, after Rahul Dravid had won an important toss and elected to bat, proceedings ran against the normal script. Karthik, the normal aggressor was quiet while Wasim Jaffer, the dour accumulator was in his elements! It was a very different Wasim Jaffer that came to the crease this morning. Indeed, it appeared as though Jaffer and Karthik had reversed roles! We saw a quiet Karthik and a different player to the Jaffer, who normally plays well within himself. Instead, he was playing out of his skin! There were some great leaves by both Jaffer and Karthik initially. Of course, the bowling was shocking to start with. Karthik and Jaffer were served some dross by James Andreson, who gave both the openers ‘ample opportunity to have a look at the ball and what it was doing’. Both Anderson and Tremlett had poor opening spells and they did not make batsmen play enough. Although Sidebottom bowled tightly, he slid too many across face of the batsmen. The openers settled down and slowly opened their shoulders.

I liked the way the openers saw off the new ball. A shot by Jaffer to send an Anderson ball for 6 over third man was so Sehwag that one wondered if Sehwag himself would have been able to execute that shot any better!

The only way Jaffer was going to get out was through a brain explosion. And it did happen. He played a shot that would have done Sehwag proud! It was a strong statement from Jaffer, but I’d think he needs to work on his square-off-the-side strokes to do well in Australia.

India went in to lunch at 117-1 off 28. It was an innings that was paced well. India were well-placed with Karthik on 50, Dravid on 25 with Dravid looking very very determined.

Dravid’s stride to the crease was purposeful. He opened with two fours and looked extremely focussed, determined and positive. If he had a message to convey to the team, he did so with panache. In the days leading to this Test match, he had already telegraphed his positive intentions. He had said that the previous two Test matches were-result oriented even though they only featured 350 overs. He said that with 450 overs expected to be bowled at The Oval, he expected a result. This was positive and tone-setting stuff from the captain.

The hour after lunch saw some awesome batting; perhaps even the best batting-phase of the series from either teams. Dravid and Karthik were scoring at will. They took nearly 70 runs in 17 overs. In this passage of play it was interesting to note that England maintained a very good over rate too. One particular shot by Dravid was really special. Panesar had two men in front of Dravid — one at short extra cover and one at short mid off. The two fielders were really close to each other — within hand-shaking distance. A flighted ball from Panesar invited the cover drive. Dravid leaned into a classic cover drive and threaded the ball through these two fielders with unforgettable panache and sheer style.

He really did look set for a 100 or even higher! After all, the last time he played at The Oval, he had scored over 200 runs! And then suddenly the ball started moving around quite a bit. Although Dravid was bowled by Anderson off a beauty — and normally, it is a beauty that gets Dravid out — it was really the previous over from Sidebottom that probably set up the dismissal. It was a fantastic and searching over; an over in which Sidebottom swung the ball away and asked a few questions. Dravid had played and missed a few times in that over and was clearly annoyed with himself. The first ball of the next over was a terrific yorker length ball that moved slightly away. Dravid lost his middle stump!

Although the ball was a good one, but for the previous over, Dravid may have, on most occasions, presented a straight bat to the ball. Instead, he closed the face and tried a cute flick to leg, perhaps in an effort to score a few off Anderson to compensate for the tightness of Sidebottom’s line, movement and length that did not afford any “gimme” balls.

Soon after Karthik was out too. How Howell could have given that out, I really do not know. There was no sound of a nick. Nor was there any deviation. The benefit of doubt should have gone the batsman’s way. It did not.

All of this happened during a phase in play when it was a wee-bit gloomy and there was some swing around. Andreson was in the middle of a good spell of fast swing bowling. The 50-over old ball was suddenly seaming around. Was it the overcast conditions? Or was there some jelly beans involved too?

Ganguly and Tendulkar set about the reconstruction job. Once again, Tendulkar appeared shaky while Ganguly was playing reasonably well, albeit with some initial scares. I thought England bowled badly to Tendulkar. They overdid the “chin music” stuff to Tendulkar when fully pitched outswingers that invited the drive may have been a better option. Matt Prior, who was asked to “put a sock in it” had a forgettable day. He let through some 20 byes and dropped Tendulkar off Sidebottom! A costly lapse perhaps?

But both teams are still in the game. I’d say that India won 2 sessions (session-1 and session-3) with the middle session being called an even one.

The new ball is only 8 overs old. So, Laxman and Tendulkar will need to see off the first 10-15 overs and then start to play their shots. The stage is set for a crucial 1st session on day-2. If one of Tendulkar, Laxman or Dhoni make a big hundred, they can put the match beyond Englands’ reach. But if England manage to get 1 or 2 quick wickets, they are right back in the game. All of this makes for a fascinating day-2.

– Mohan

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