Author Archives: blogesh

Two closely fought Tests, one of them a nail-biting humdinger. India blanks Australia. Sachin Tendulkar is Player of the Series. There’s little more an Indian fan might ask of a Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series. Squeezed in to fortify India’s hold on the pole position in the ICC Test Rankings, it transcended the script of a potboiler in its journey from sleeper hit to blockbuster. Oscillating, as it did, between the subdued and the sublime, it rode the grind to showcase the grand. Blue collar in effort and yet blue chip in dividend.

Tendulkar has hardly ever given in to boisterous celebration of personal milestones, quite a few of which punctuated the latest duel with the Antipodeans. The roar of exultation that escaped him on completing the winning run though, betrayed the special regard he holds for the collective. The rare vulnerability to emotion provided a fascinating insight into what the latest achievement meant to the team. The legitimacy of India’s ranking is still sub-judice, but their A-game, as and when they unleash it, befits their top billing. For the first time since they reached the top of the totem pole, they played like they belonged there. Although stiffer challenges lie ahead, Dhoni’s men deserve to be proud of the last fortnight. A textbook Test series, gritty, intense and keenly contested, has also helped clear some of the murkiness brought on by the sleaze of spot-fixing.

The biggest peeve with 50-over cricket is its rote formula. And yet how fascinating was it to watch two Tests follow identical plots; screenplays whose singular idioms were the slow-burner and status quo. Except for days 3 & 5 in Bengaluru, neither team bossed a full day’s play across both matches. The said two days of Indian domination perhaps separated both the sides, by a margin that seems heavily exaggerated. Both stories unravelled slowly, proceeded in flux, seemed destined for stalemate until the cusps of climax, when a potluck of skill, fate, nous, gut and spirit contrived to produce a result. The much lamented absence of a third helping may have been rendered moot by the 2-0 result, but one cannot help but wonder if some of the tactics deployed by Australia may have been different in a longer rubber.

India will take a lot of heart from the fact that almost every individual did his two bit for the larger cause. Sachin lorded over the entire series and Laxman’s masterpiece in minutiae stole the thunder at Mohali, but an unfit Gambhir apart, not one member of the side can be accused of not making his presence felt. Dhoni himself didn’t have the best of times or tosses, but rang in an assortment of inspired moves to seize initiative. He enjoys the 90% luck that Richie Benaud deems crucial for captaincy, but also possesses the critical 10% skill without which the grey eminence of commentary doesn’t recommend taking up the job. When it mattered, both skipper and team always found an enforcer. It was a major triumph for Test cricket as the world’s leading T20 star played ombudsman to the grievance against awarding Tests to venues which don’t cherish them enough. BCCI’s deign off their high horse to scrutinise UDRS is also a significant step forward.

Watching Vijay & Pujara bat together on the final day made me rack my memory for the previous instance of 2 top order Indian batsmen in concert, neither of whom answered to the names of Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman or Ganguly. The best I could come up with was Jaffer-Karthik in 2007, and before that, Das-Ramesh in 2001. For a middle order pairing, we may have to go back to 1995. The duo also manned silly positions on either side, in a throwback to 1998, when 2 of India’s current slippers – Dravid & Laxman – cut their teeth at short leg & silly point. It isn’t quite end-of-an-era, but a reality check has never appeared as emphatic. Already, Raina has woken Yuvraj up to the rude fact that an injury might cost you more than just one game. Vijay, with Abhinav Mukund not far behind, must certainly have Gambhir sweating. Pujara, earmarked to step into Dravid’s shoes, tried them on for size, and found that he quite liked them. Amidst a flurry of piercing drives & rousing pulls was a nifty back foot punch, as he persuaded a grubber through extra cover to exorcise the ghosts of his first innings dismissal. A pinch of salt is not out of place, for the young guard, with a combined experience of a dozen Tests, is yet to be stretched beyond our shores by the rigorous investigations of swing, bounce & the end of honeymoon.

Let’s spare a thought for Ricky Ponting, who has surely played his last Test in India. Like England, it hasn’t been favourite destination for Punter the captain, and unlike the Old Blighty, for Punter the batsman too. It is a pity since he is one of the most captivating batsmen to watch. While he only managed about half the runs that the alpha male in the opposite camp scored, I hope his abbreviated masterclass in his final innings on our soil leaves a lasting impression in our hearts. May that rasping pull shot live on.

When Pujara walked out at the fall of the first wicket, a friend dropped me a line. He said, “Pujara in Dravid’s place is the sign of things to come. If you remember, something similar happened in Kolkata in 2001. My hunch is that this is going to help the team win with confidence and also set the ball rolling for the future.” One half of his hunch did come true. Now for the second!

An aside:

Isn’t it curious how a succession of promising Tamil Nadu middle order batsmen starting from S. Sharath (anyone remember him?), across Robin Singh & Hemang Badani and now S. Badrinath, have been passed over for white flannelled honours, in spite of solid first-class records? Curiouser, that the same fate has evaded openers from the land, going back from M. Vijay to S. Ramesh, W.V. Raman and Kris Srikkanth.

- TS Kartik

A 2-0 whitewash of Australia may seem to indicate that India dominated the two test series – far from it, it was a closely fought series and India happened to win the key moments of both games.

In the first test, an LBW decision against Ojha or the Steve Smith run out in the last few minutes of the game would have meant an Indian loss. And even though one team held a slight advantage over the other at the end of each of the five days, the result could have gone either way.

The second test was no different – Even when Australia went in on the fifth day morning with a lead of close to 200 and 2 wickets in hand, the game could have gone either way. Full credit to the Aussies for providing a wonderful contest. One couldn’t help but wonder why they played a 2-Test series – this just doesn’t do India-Australia tests any justice.

Indian positives

• The batting line up showed a glimpse of the future. There were 3 relative new comers in the batting line up in the last test – Vijay, Pujara and Raina.
• At the beginning of the series, I mentioned how important it was for Vijay to score a century if he has to establish himself in the team and he did just that. It couldn’t have come at a better time with India chasing 478 in the first innings.
• Over 3 and half years ago, we pimped Pujara as a prospect for India, and yesterday he finally arrived on the scene with a confident fourth innings 72 on debut. It is a pity that both Vijay and Pujara will have to vacate their places when Gambhir and Laxman make their way back in to the team.
• Zaheer Khan was India’s best bowler on display and he also ended up taking the most wickets in the series. Ishant bowled one good spell in the second innings (which as it turned out was vital in the scheme of things), and Sreesant showed why he should he part of the South African tour later this year. If all three are fit and bowling to their potential, the Proteas better watch out
• The biggest positive for India was of course Sachin Tendulkar. Laxman may have won us the match in Mohali, but it was Sachin who won us the series with his 400+ runs in a two match series. Sachin also regained the ICC #1 ranking during the course of the second test.
• Attitude – Under Dhoni’s leadership, there is a kind of mental toughness in this team. This was clearly evident on the last day of both matches.

Scope for improvement

• I thought Harbhajan Singh could have performed better (although he was #2 on the wickets list in this series). Ojha, IMO bowled better than Harbhajan Singh in this series.
• The number of no balls bowled by some of the Indian bowlers is a concern – particularly when 3 of these no balls resulted in wickets in the series!
• Dravid succumbed to a left arm seamer three times in this series edging the ball on all three occasions (in fact Ponting missed a trick, when Dravid came out to bat – I was surprised to see Hilfenhaus replace Johnson even before Dravid had a faced a single ball of him!) – I am sure he will work on it (TV footage showed him practicing just that in the nets).
• The short ball is another worry. I think the likes of Raina haven’t done enough to prove that they are comfortable against the shorter ball (and the Proteas are taking note)
• Barring Ishant Sharma, the rest of the tail succumbed way too quickly to offer any comfort.
• Gambir’s injuries. Although Vijay has stepped in for him, we need a fit Gambhir at the top of the order.

The Aussie view

• Somehow the Aussies see this tour more of an opening act and that the main act is the Ashes this year.  They had hoped they would have found the answers they were looking for, but there are more unanswered questions than there were before they started the tour
• Ponting came to India as a captain who hasn’t won a single test match here and he went back with that dubious record intact. Some of his moves were brilliant and some of them were pretty ordinary. In the end, when it it mattered the most, his captaincy was just not up to scratch.
• The batting is heavily reliant on the top 3 in the batting order – Katich, Watson and Ponting. The middle order has just not fired. North may have saved his place in the team with a hundred in the 2nd test, but I am not convinced he is the best choice for the spot he is occupying. Hussey and Clarke are another worry – they just didn’t fire.
• Indians play spin well, but that is no excuse for Hauritz. His bowling just looked ordinary. England may be a different kettle of fish.
• Paine was just brilliant – it is a pity, he will have to sit out when Haddin comes back in to the team.
• George may not be amongst the wickets, but I think he is definitely a good find and someone for the future.

-Mahesh-