Monthly Archives: December 2007

BCCI to send delegates for Australian tour

Posted on 18 December 2007 by | 2 Comments

The BCCI has decided that the members of the selection committee need not go on tour with team. But they have said that officials of the 26 cricket associations will go as ‘delegates’ to Australia. I was reminded of a conversation in a Tamizh play from the late sixties by ‘Cho’ Ramaswamy.

Indian Prime Minister: I have decided to make an official trip and visit America.

Press reporter: What is the need at the moment?

PM: Naan mattum America paarkka vendaama??? (Should I also not see America?)

– Sanjay

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Posted in BCCI

Less than ideal preparation

Posted on 14 December 2007 by | 6 Comments

(Warning: Rant content rating – High)

The Indian team has reason to be happy – they’ve just won a test series against Pakistan in home soil after quite a few years. Sure, they deserve a pat on the back and all that – but the fact remains that this was a boring series and was a less than ideal preparation for the Australian series.

The real measure of a team these days comes from playing Australia in Australia – and how do we prepare for such an important tour?

  • By laying and playing on the flattest and dullest of pitches that we’ve come to witness in recent times
  • By packing the cricket calendar with so many games that the gap between the last game of the the previous series and the first tour game of the next is just over a week (a side effect of having the calendar packed with cricket is the number of injuries it causes – but that is another story)
  • We play just ONE tour game – a three day match against Victoria to get acclimatised to the conditions in Australia
  • By appointing a coach way too late.

It is all fine and dandy that the India top order scored plenty of fifties, hundreds and even double hundreds, but the conditions have been far from trying. To start with, the pitches were flat and batsman friendly. India are flat pitch bullies and when the bounce is low and the ball comes nicely on to the bat, they are unstoppable. To add to that, the opposition bowling barring Shoaib Akthar in the first test, has looked pedestrian (not that the pitch helped their cause).

…and when the Indians come to Australia – they are going to be in for a big surprise. Shock! Horror!! The ball bounces well over the knee roll and the bowlers are bowling fast and are accurate. And don’t forget that it is not just the batsmen, but also the Indian bowlers who need to get used to these conditions.

This is one of the reasons that teams coming to a place like Australia need to get here 3 weeks before the start of the series and play at least two tour games. But I know how the board thinks – “What? Tour games do not bring in any money. We could easily play a couple of one day games instead and earn more money for the cricket boards. So, why play them? Plus being top players who get paid top $$$ they should automatically adjust.” – This is probably the kind of attitude that has let visiting teams down. They should realize that it affects the quality of cricket played. It is unlikely that India will win the series in Australia, and most Indian fans know it. But what Indian fans like to see is a good fight – and the cricket board needs to prepare them for it.

One additional thing is the late (or non-) appointment of the coach. You can carry on arguing that India won the T20 WC and the test series in England and the one against Pakistan without a coach, and that we don’t really need one. But the fact of the matter is that modern cricket needs coaches and for a tough tour like Australia, they will struggle without one. (Kirsten will apparently join the team after the first two matches. IMHO, it is better that he stays away as he will be more of a distraction joining them in the middle of a tour.)

IF India do end up doing well in Australia, it will be in spite of the way the board prepares them, not because…

-Mahesh-

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Team India for Australian Test Series :: Virender Sehwag in!

Posted on 13 December 2007 by | 10 Comments

In a surprise move, Virender Sehwag has been drafted in to the Indian Test team for the 4-Test tour of Australia!

Sehwag wasn’t in the initial list of 24-probables. However, he got the call ahead of Gautam Gambhir who has been advised three weeks rest with a sore shoulder. The Indian fan cannot be blamed for being a tad cynical of these mysterious injuries that do have a habit of troubling Indian players when tough selectorial decisions have to be made! And here we have yet another instance of a mysterious injury rearing its ugly head again!

Ian Chappell did write a few days back that the Indian selectors erred in not picking Sehwag in the initial list of 24 probables. Were the selectors swayed by his outpourings? Were they honest outpourings or was it a red-herring? One never knows. Many on this blogsite too felt that Sehwag ought to have been included. However, this move to induct him from outside the list of 24 makes a bit of a mockery of the whole selection process. In particular, Aakash Chopra would be right to feel a bit miffed at the craziness of the selection process! Having said that, I do think that Sehwag’s choice is a smart decision. He has performed well against Australia and his aggression at the top will work well for India. One slight problem is that he hasn’t been setting the Ranji world alight with his bat in recent times.

The 16-member squad also includes Pankaj Singh, the young Rajasthan pacer. This is again, in my view, a smart move. He has bowled impressively in the U-19 squad and has started his Ranji season well this year. Pankaj Singh ejects Munaf Patel from the team. Patel has been advised to play more domestic cricket.

If nothing else, Pankaj Singh’s pick can be seen as a smart move because the unhealthy ghost of Ajit Agarkar was hovering around in the list of probables :-)

Ishant Sharma probably picks himself after a decent showing in the 3rd Test against Pakistan. However, as I said in my post yesterday, a day after bagging the world record for the maximum number of byes in a Test innings, Dinesh Kartik can consider himself a tad lucky to be on the plane, although it is probably the right decision in my view.

Team India (probably in batting order for the 1st Test):
Wasim Jaffer
Virender Sehwag / Dinesh Karthik
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
Sourav Ganguly
VVS Laxman / Yuvraj Singh
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk)
Anil Kumble (capt)
Irfan Pathan / Harbhajan Singh
Zaheer Khan
Ishant Sharma / RP Singh / Pankaj Singh

A good selection effort in my opinion especially when considered in the background of the recent form that V. V. S. Laxman an Sourav Ganguly have shown. Sourav Ganguly, in my view, is in the form of his life. Although I have always been an unabashed Ganguly-fan, I can say — with a degree of objectivity — that I haven’t seen him bat as effectively, doggedly and in as determined a manner as I have seen in the last 6 months or so. Of course, all of this can come to naught in the bouncy pitches of Australia. However, his defence has tightened. He doesn’t hang his bat out to dry outside off as often as he used to. And more than ever before, he has developed a dogged mental edge to his game.

The team appears to be right for Australia.

  • The right batsmen are there.
  • Ishant Sharma is peaking at the right time.
  • A rookie pacer like Pankaj Singh is better than a break-down specialist (Munaf Patel) especially when the break-dance specialist is injured! Pankaj Singh will learn a lot from this tour even if he doesn’t get a game.
  • Ajit Agarkar is not there!
  • Virender Sehwag’s omission from the initial 24 was befuddling. He just had to go. He is.
  • The team has only 2 spinners — the second spinner would be mostly irrelevant on this tour apart from, perhaps, Sydney.
  • The captain is a good one.

Anil Kumble appears to be captaining the team well, although I will point out that he delayed the declaration in todays’ 3rd Test against Pakistan by about 10 overs. A ruthless captain would not have waited for a teammate — Dinesh Karthik in this case — to score a 50 in Test cricket! However, he has shown enough inventiveness and aggression to convince me that his “better late than never” quip on being chosen as Team India captain is a truism of sorts!

However, there is no time for the team to settle and for that, once again, the BCCI should take a bow. Team India has to play its Test XI in the 2-day tour match – the only practice game before the Melbourne Test match!

– Mohan

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India done in by umpires, groundsmen and bowlers…

Posted on 11 December 2007 by | 5 Comments

I am not one that normally complains too much about umpiring decisions. “Take it on the chin” should be the mantra.

However, after a shocking day in the office for Simon Taufel and, to a slightly lesser extent, Rudy Koertzen, I feel compelled to write. When an umpire of Simon Taufel’s standing and capability starts makes a series of shocking errors, it is quite likely that calls for technology to be used would become more strident.

In yesterday’s game, it is fair to say that the Indian bowlers bowled erratically. On a pitch that was unresponsive — apart from some balls that kept alarmingly low — the Indian bowlers ceded the advantage by being a tad erratic. The spin was slow and was mostly unresponsive to spin. So, one cannot blame the bowlers too much. However, one could expect the Australians to throttle the batsmen with line-and-length bowling, thereby getting the batsmen to make errors. One did not see the Indian bowlers adopt a similar approach. However, having said that, one could mount an argument that Younus Khan and Mohammed Yousuf were ejected in an “Australian manner”. The former, an attacking batsman, was throttled for runs by Harbhajan Singh (bowling around the wicket) and played a horrible reverse sweep. The latter, a dour batsman, was eked out by a sledge — from Anil Kumble no less! One doesn’t know what was said, but words were exchanged and two balls later, Mohammed Yousuf was on his way!

That apart, I felt that the main bowlers tried too much on a pitch that did not allow them that luxury. Ironically, it was Sourav Ganguly that showed how a wicket could be taken on a pitch like this. He bowed stump to stump, giving nothing away. In the end, Salman Butt poked at a delivery and was caught behind. The rest of the bowlers had an ordinary day at the office on a pitch that seemed alarmingly like the Kolkatta graveyard that was prepared for the 2nd Test.

I feel that two groundsmen have, together, done Indian cricket a great disservice just prior to an important tour against Australia. However, being a part of a cricketing system that lacks the capacity to look beyond the immediate future, the groundsmen would perhaps expect a hefty bonus from the BCC!

Apropos, a bad-day-at-the-office, apart from the Indian bowlers and the groundsman, Dinesh Karthik would want to forget his shocker of an appearance! Parthiv Patel shouldn’t be blamed for checking yesterday if his passport is in order. I can’t see Dinesh Karthik on the plane to Australia.

The umpires had shockers yesterday. There were at least 7 LBW appeals that the umpires could have gone India’s way. In one terrific spell of bowling, Ishant Sharma and Irfan Pathan created plenty of problems for Misbah Ul-Huq and Faisal Iqbal with the new ball. Misgah Ul-Huq is plain lucky to be there. He was plumb in front on at least 6 occasions. Faisal Iqbal was also let off once. Poor Ishant Sharma was at the receiving end of about 4 of these bad decisions. Sharma kept bringing the ball back in at pace to the right handers and troubled the batsmen in this spell of bowling. If the selectors had been there to see this spell, they may have well inked him in the team-sheet for Australia. Irfan Pathan suffered at the hands of Rudi Koertsen. Two overs from the close, Anil Kumble was at the receiving end of yet another shocker from Simon Taufel. One can only hope that these two gentlemen get up on the right side of the bed on day-4.

– Mohan

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Posted in Cricket, India, Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan, Sledging, Test cricket

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What’s the team for Australia going to be?

Posted on 9 December 2007 by | 4 Comments

I am sure there is strong reason for postponing the the team selection for the tour of Australia.  But as I mentioned in an earlier post, I don’t see any reason to name 24 probables to only cull the list a week later – they might as well have waited a few more days and named the actual team.

In any case, here is the list of 24 players -

Batsmen Bowlers Keepers
Jaffer Kumble Dhoni
Tendulkar RP Singh Karthik
Dravid Munaf Patel Parthiv Patel
Ganguly Zaheer Khan  
Laxman VRV Singh  
Yuvraj Singh Pankaj Singh  
Chopra Ishant Sharma  
Gambhir Murali Karthik  
  Harbhajan Singh  
  Piyush Chawla  
  Bose  
  Pathan  
  Agarkar  

 

It is funny how the probables list has 13 bowlers, even more than the batsmen and wicket keepers combined.

The ones in italics are certain to tour – Jaffer, Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Kumble, RP Singh, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh and Dhoni. That leaves room for another 5 players. I would think that of the 16 players – the break down would be 7 batsmen, 7 bowlers and 2 keepers.

Based on that, there is room for just one regular batsman and based on current form, this is most likely to go to Gambhir although Chopra has prior experience playing in Australia. My preference would have been Sehwag, but he is not in the mix here.

Of the bowlers – taking more than 2 spinners would be a luxury, so Murali Karthik and Chawla will have to miss out. For the other 3 spots, Munaf should get the nod ahead of the others and Pathan may be picked based on his all round ability. The other seamer slot is a tough one to pick. As Ishant Sharma was picked for the last test, it is very likely that he may get the nod ahead of the others, but Agarkar has a knack of getting into the team when you least expect him to.

I really don’t expect the fifth player to play any games unless the others are injured. Why not have an  extra batsman instead? My preference would be Sehwag, but he is not in the mix here. Did I say that already? Doesn’t matter how many times I say it – he is unlikely to be included now. Maybe, the selectors should think of including someone like Badrinath in team. Oh, he is not in the list of 24 either! Oh, well…The only option the selectors have is to pick Chopra, and this may very well happen.

The 2nd keeper is probably not that easy to pick either. Parthiv Patel is in very good nick in domestic cricket and has played well when he has represented India A and Karthik has had a poor run with the bat in the current series. Parthiv Patel has played in Australia before and he plays the pull and cut quite well, which could come in handy down under. But, if the selectors still have faith in Karthik based on his showing in England he still has a chance of making it to the squad. He is my also my choice ahead of Parthiv Patel.

Assuming that the players who missed out the last test are all declared fit, here is what the team would end up looking –

Jaffer, Gambhir, Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Dhoni, Karthik, Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma/Chopra.

-Mahesh-

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The Sehwag gamble

Posted on 9 December 2007 by | 6 Comments

Ian Chappell in his column has asked “Where’s Viru?”  and I concur with his assessment that India have made a big mistake in not short listing him for the Australia tour.

Chappell has this to say in his article –

Now was not the right time to give up on Virender Sehwag. His selection for Australia would have been a gamble worth taking. Forget about whose nose might have been put out of joint, the Australians still fear Sehwag from the last tour, and it’s rarely that you have a chance to put one over on the Baggy Green caps, so when the opportunity arises, you grab it with both hands

As soon as the shortlist was announced, I was expressing similar thoughts to a friend of mine. As a matter of fact, I do not even understand why the selectors had to announce an interim 24 member short list if they couldn’t decide on the exact players. What purpose does it serve? (Visas, maybe?) IMHO, they could have waited till one more round of Ranji games had finished to see how Sehwag goes against Maharashtra.

I also felt that India should have included Sehwag in the squad for the Pakistan series in preparation for the Australian tour. He has a Bradmanque average against them and it would have been ideal preparation for him – it would have helped him regain both his confidence and form.

Australia has this ability to choke the opposition of runs and the wickets automatically fall due to the pressure. This is where someone like Sehwag would be have been invaluable as he scores both against fast bowlers and spinners at an excellent strike rate. This not only helps in putting the pressure back on the bowlers, it helps the other batsmen playing around him to take their own sweet time to settle down and then start scoring.

The selectors have not recognised this and the selection this year has been a bit short sighted by relying on a makeshift opener (even though Karthik did a terrific job in that role in both South Africa and England) to fill an important role in the team.

From their point of view, Sehwag’s run in the domestic competition has not been that great. Both his Delhi team mates Aakash Chopra and Gautam Gambhir have done better than him and someone like Parthiv Patel or Dinesh Karthik fill in the role of reserve ‘Keeper, while also filling the opener’s slot for India.

With Yuvraj’s success against Pakistan with the bat, I have a feeling that Dravid will be asked to open with Jaffar for the Australian tour so that they can somehow fit Yuvraj into the playing XI. Although, Dravid is more than capable of opening the batting for India, it is a role he has had reservations with in the past. Being a team man, I am sure he will oblige.

Although I am not sure whether this move will work out, I have a feeling that is where we are heading towards…

-Mahesh-

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MacGill injury may be blessing for Australia

Posted on 8 December 2007 by | Leave a comment

I have been reading a lot of reports in Australian newspapers that Stuart MacGill’s injury is a big set back to Australia when they play India this summer. IMHO, it is the exact opposite.

No disrespect to MacGill – he is a great wrist spinner, probably the best in Australia since Warney retired. But the fact is that India have always played spin well. Even the greatest spinner of all time – Shane Warne has struggled against India. His average of 47.18 is in stark contrast to his career average of 25.41. Clearly the Indians play spin well. If you look at MacGill’s stats against India, it is a modest 14 wickets @ 50.78 in 4 tests. Even if McGill played he wouldn’t have been a big threat. Now that he is out of the equation, the other spinners in the scheme of things appear to be an even lesser threat -

  • Brad Hogg, who has bowled reasonably well against India in ODI matches but Test cricket is an altogether different game
  • Dan Cullen, who bowls off break and has played one test against Bangladesh 
  • Bryce McGain, the Victorian leggie who is the leading wicket taker among spinners in the domestic tournament this season.

Spin bowling appears to be the weakest link in the Australian bowling attack.  The best strategy for Australia would be to play all four fast bowlers – Lee, Tait, Johnson and Clark. Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke can act as relief slow bowlers. Fast bowling is Australia’s strength and they should use it. They should do this even in Sydney and Adelaide where there is chance of turn in the wicket. If MacGill is fully fit, the thought of playing 4 fast bowlers would never arise (except maybe at the WACA), and that is why MacGill’s injury is a bad thing for India and its supporters.

-Mahesh-

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India recover after shaky start

Posted on 8 December 2007 by | Leave a comment

India went into the third and final test against Pakistan with 4 changes to the team – Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Ishant Sharma and Irfan Pathan coming in the place of Tendulkar, Dhoni, Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel, owing to injuries.

It is a well known fact that the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore is not a great ground for India – especially when they are playing Pakistan in test cricket. I am sure Kumble, the Indian captain, would have been well aware of this when he won the toss and elected to bat first in his home ground, hoping for a huge score in the first innings to break the jinx. But by lunch, Kumble must have felt a bit of deja vu, when India had lost four wickets and were struggling at 64/4.

But he needn’t have worried. The next two sessions were a completely different story – both Yuvraj Singh, (who has been in good nick in the one dayers) and Saurav Ganguly (who was had a great comeback to test cricket) pummelled the bowling and added 300 runs for the fifth wicket. Yuvraj Singh was finally out just before stumps for 161. He also scored at a hectic pace of nearly 5 runs an over.

At stumps, Ganguly was on 125* with Karthik for company. India is now nicely placed at 365/5. It is a crucial game for Karthik, who happens to be the only batsman not amongst the runs for India in this series – it will be interesting to see how he plays tomorrow. Earlier Gautam Gambhir, who is the main contender for Karthik’s opening slot  scored just 5 runs. Dravid’s poor form at his home ground continued when he was out for just 19.

For Pakistan – Yasir Arafat, the debutant had a good start to his test career as he took three quick wickets before lunch. Since then, the bowling has not been threatening and with Shoaib Akthar injured, Pakistan were struggling to take wickets and to keep the scoring rate down.

-Mahesh-

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"Harbhajan is a chucker!"

Posted on 2 December 2007 by | 5 Comments

That is not my statement, it is spin legend Bishen Singh Bedi’s. Feeding some fodder to the Aussie media before the India series is to begin, this is what he had to say -

A lot of people have questioned Harbhajan’s action and they are right to. He has the same problem as Murali

Bedi of course has openly criticised Murali before. When he was once asked about Murali’s doosra, Bedi reportedly said “Arre, uska pehla hi theek nahin hai tho, doosra ki kya baath karoon mein” (Although the punch of the line is lost in translation, it loosely reads – “When his main delivery itself is not right, what can I say about his doosra”).

Bedi in the interview to the Sunday Age also sees chucking as a bigger problem than even match fixing –

Chucking is a bigger disgrace than match-fixing because it is done out in the open. It is the scourge of cricket and must be stopped

Oh, well…

Also read: A world of bent elbows and javelin throws

-Mahesh-

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The tale of two centuries…

Posted on 1 December 2007 by | 5 Comments

At the beginning of the Pakistan series, there were two batsmen whose position was in doubt.

One of these players had reached the pinnacle of glory with a mammoth 275 against the best test team in the world at this very ground. The other called Eden Gardens home and yet didn’t have a century to his name here. The two players, Laxman and Ganguly have a lot in common – Both players are great to watch when in song, have similar averages in the forties and have never scored a century against Pakistan – actually, if you leave Ganguly’s century against Bangladesh, they hadn’t scored a century in a while. Both players are also nearing their use-by-date as far as cricket is concerned and are considered to be a bit of liability in the field.

Both these players also had a good series in England, and yet with Yuvraj Singh putting up a strong case for his inclusion with good performances in ODIs, a lot of questions were being asked about their inclusion in the playing XI.

Today both scored hundreds.

Forget the fact that the bowling attack was insipid and uninspired. Forget the fact that it was a benign pitch for batting and it offered nothing to the bowlers. Also, forget the fact that when these two got together, there was no great pressure.The hundreds they got were still very significant and their position in the Indian team is secure – at least for now, anyway.

Yuvraj, you’ve just got to wait longer, mate!

-Mahesh-

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