Tag Archives: Kaif

Composition of India-A Teams

Posted on 5 July 2007 by | 6 Comments

I was recently reading this interview in The Hindustan Times by Dilip Vengsarkar, the Indian Chairman of Selectors. There was a comment by Vengsarkar on the composition of India-A sides that got me thinking.

Vengsarkar said that in his view, “the BCCI must organise [India-A tours] on a war footing“. I don’t think any Team India fan would disagree with him on that view. I am not sure if the BCCI is listening though! There is no reason why India-A should not be continually on tour to some part of the globe. An alternative would be for India-A and India-B to constantly play against each other! Why not? How else would you know if, for example, Munaf Patel has tested himself in a match situation?

Vengsarkar then says that, in his opinion, “the right age group would be the under-25s“.

I am not sure I agree with that view. I think India-A should include players who are on the fringes of national-team selection and if they happen to be under 25 years of age, then so be it.

If we take the current Team India that is in the UK as the representative team of the moment, then we can think of the following players who are on the fringes of national selection (for Tests matches).

Openers:
Virender Sehwag, Aakash Chopra, Gautam Gambhir

Middle-order bats:
Dinesh Mongia, Suresh Raina, Mohammed Kaif, S. Badrinath, Venugopala Rao, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Cheteshwar Pujara, Robin Uthappa

Wicket Keepers:
Parthiv Patel, Puneet Bisht

Pace-bowlers:
Munaf Patel, Ajit Agarkar, V Yo Mahesh, Rakesh Patel, Ashish Nehra, Irfan Pathan, Joginder Sharma, V. R. V. Singh

Spinners:
Harbhajan Singh, Rajesh Pawar, Piyush Chawla, Murali Kartik, K. P. Appanna

I may have missed some names. If I have, please add them to the Comments section and I will update this list a few days later…

Note that only some of these 27 players are under-25. But most of them are often mentioned in the context of being on the verge of consideration of national duties. I think that a subset of this set of players should constantly play either in some part of the world or in India against each other. That is the only way to (a) keep the seniors honest, (b) ensure that people like Irfan Pathan and Munaf Patel are match-fit, (c) ascertain true bench strength, (d) sharpen match skills of players in a slightly higher-intensity setting than the Ranji Trophy setting.

Views?

– Mohan

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Rebuilding India – Drawbacks on the bowling front!

Posted on 14 May 2007 by | 5 Comments

Yes, we have won the series and, yes the batting which has been the talking point for a while, has clicked, even though sloppily and sluggishly at times. As many have pointed on other blogs, this series was meant to favor India despite the WC loss. Despite the yo-yo(ness) in our batting, I do not believe that has been of concern. Strategically, it really does not matter if Gambhir, Uthappa, Tiwary, Mongia, Karthik, Rohit Sharma, Venugopala Rao etc. play. For the time being (at least till the next world cup) it does not seem necessary to seriously disturb the seniority in the side. You should have a combination of Dravid, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Tendulkar, Ganguly, or even Kaif play in the side. What really concerns me is the bowling department. This not just in the one dayers but more importantly in the tests. (Te batting seems even more solid and set in the tests, no concerns whatsoever!).

We do not have a match winner in the side!!One who can bowl a side out twice (or once in a one day). We can afford to give away 240-250 runs to a side like Bangladesh on a consistent basis. With Kumble on his way out and Harbajan findings ways to find his way out, the situation is pretty grim. I like what I see in Piyush Chawla (so does Bruce Yardley for what it is worth) but he isn’t there yet. Zaheer may have improved leaps and bounds but he still is a mystery to me. Sreesanth is a song and dance kid. Munaf Patel is good but does not inspire. Romesh Powar is rated well, but I fail to see anything more than the real good ones in Chennai leagues. I really do hope that this factor is addressed and dealt with soon.

Any thoughts!

- Srikanth

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Posted in Bruce Yardley, Cricket

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ODI team for Bangladesh – Ranji ODI stats giving some pointers?

Posted on 11 April 2007 by | 3 Comments

As we have already started speculating about the ODI team to Bangladesh I just pulled up some stats from the Ranji ODI competition. This is the stats according to most runs scored for the top 10 batsmen.

Mat I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct St Team

W Jaffer 7 7 1 394 170* 65.66 84.18 2 1 2 – BOM
K Goel 7 6 1 369 111 73.80 74.69 1 3 3 – PNJB
BM Rowland 7 7 2 341 102* 68.20 87.66 2 1 2 – KNTKA
M Kaif 6 6 1 340 151* 68.00 88.77 2 1 3 – UP
SA Asnodkar 5 5 1 325 104 81.25 72.06 1 3 1 – GOA
D Mongia 7 6 1 299 97 59.80 81.91 – 3 4 – PNJB
G Gambhir 6 5 0 296 116 59.20 87.05 2 – 2 – DELHI
RG Sharma 7 7 0 296 102 42.28 82.91 1 1 5 – RAJ
AS Jain 6 6 1 286 95 57.20 69.24 – 2 – – RAJ
S Badrinath 7 7 2 278 120 55.60 87.69 1 1 4 – TN

From the above I really want to see Jaffer in the team. I think Mogia also should come in. Rohit Sharma does not seem to have scored in this competition, but he has done a lot this year apparently and he can bowl usefully.. I think Kaif may also get a call again. Though Tewary is not in the above list, he has done more than enough this year. The no 2 on the list Karan Goel is very young and is only 20.

Jaffer, Uthappa, Tewary, Dravid, Yuvraj, Mongia, Dhoni/Karthik, Powar, Munaf, Zaheer, Sreesanth, with Ranadeb Bose and Gambhir completing the 14. What say?

- Sanjay

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Hollow symbolism

Posted on 11 April 2007 by | 2 Comments

Sachin Tendulkar has landed in a controversy over cutting a cake that had the India tri-colours. Apparently he has defiled the Indian flag and hurt peoples sentiments

In another incident, Narayana Murthy of Infosys has been accused of disrespecting the National anthem by not singing it.

What do these incidents tell us?

To me both Tendulkar and Murthy are the real ambassadors of India, the real geniuses and the true patriots.

My heart swells with pride when people talk highly about Infosys in the same breadth as IBM, Microsoft and Oracle. Murthy did not sing the anthem because it may put his international employees in an awkward position. This is not being disrespectful but on the contrary very respectful and sensitive.

We often read in the papers that some sections of the society take offence to defiling statues and idols. But then the same junta look the other way when real atrocities happen to real people.

My point is, this misplaced values and hypocrisy is carried through to sports as well and that is one of the root causes of India’s collective under achievement. When some one achieves something great, there are a thousand prying eyes to find fault. The media is to be faulted as well for giving them undeserved importance.

Imagine the pressure on a player like Kaif and Dhoni whose effigies have been burnt and houses stoned.

‘Indianness’ is about tolerance, co-existance and secularism. As long as these sections of the society are allowed to get away with it, and the politicians stand by it progress can never happen.

Mohan Krishnamoorthy in an earlier post aptly wrote that “this is a truly sad reflection of a society that is bursting to be recognised a modern and a civilised one…”

It is time that the law comes down hard on these elements.

- Vish

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India Team moving forward…

Posted on 8 April 2007 by | 12 Comments

The BCCI has requested its selectors to choose a “young” team to visit Bangladesh early next month to play a round of ODIs there. So, who will go?

It seems likely that a few of the “seniors” will be rested. It is likely that Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh and Ajit Agarkar will be part of the players’ group that is “rested”.

Sourav Ganguly may (just may) hang on to his place. But I somehow doubt that too.

The “rested” senior players could be replaced by players like Manoj Tiwari, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ishant Sharma and Romesh Powar. S. Badrinath may come in for Anil Kumble. I can’t see Irfan Pathan going to Bangladesh. Joginder Sharma may come in for Pathan.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is another big question mark. He doesn’t quite fit into the “truant seniors” block. However, it is likely that the selectors may look at his endorsement-mania and use this as an opportunity to send him a message too. I won’t be surprised if he is taken along and does not get a game.

The XV for Bangladesh could then be:

Robin Uthappa
Gautam Gambhir
Suresh Raina / S. Badrinath
Manoj Tiwari
Rahul Dravid
Rohit Sharma / Mohammed Kaif
Dinesh Karthik / M.S.Dhoni
Joginder Sharma
Romesh Powar
Munaf Patel
S. Sreesanth / Ishant Sharma

This team is still short of a proven all rounder. It is also probably weak in the bowling department. So, it is likely that Irfan Pathan will get a back-door look-in.

– Mohan

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Vengsarkar disappoints…

Posted on 4 March 2007 by | 5 Comments

I have recently had high praise for the way in which Dilip Vengsarkar and the rest of the selection committee have conducted themselves. In particular, I have been quite impressed with Vangsarkar as an exemplar of direct-talk.

However, if this report in today’s papers it to be believed, I believe Vengsarkar has let himself down badly.

I am not sure when Indian officials will realise that what is said in the room stays in the room. If nothing else, in the interest of “cabinet solidarity” or “committee solidarity”, one should not — just should not — ascribe committee decisions to specific members of the committee! Indian officials have to learn that all debates must be and should only be held within the four walls of the committee room. Once the committee has decided on a composition the members need to learn to hold their peace forever…

This latest revelation on inner-dealings in the committee room is most disappointing. While he has been direct in his responses, in this interview, on issues such as Mohammed Kaif and Romesh Powar, Vengsarkar has blotted his copybook by spilling the guts on Sehwag. He has disappointed me. More importantly, he has been rebuked by the BCCI — that august organisation and upholder of prim internal processes that has more leaks than a rotten water pipe!

It is right of the selection committee to relent to the captains’ wishes for the team he wants. In my view, it is immature of the committee to then spill the beans to the press.

– Mohan

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Rahul Dravid :: The best World Cup batsman India has ever had?

Posted on 2 March 2007 by | 11 Comments

This article was prompted by a statement that Chinaman made in response to an earlier article that I had written on this blog.
In full flow
In that comment, Chinaman said, “I fail to understand why Rahul Dravid is in an ODI team. In the past he has kept, so did perform dual tasks, but now he is occupying a position as a single attribute cricketer. When all players are being encouraged to improve their weaker attribute, why do I not see Dravid bowl? That because he is ‘the wall’ we cannot do without him in ODIs is a myth. He has fallen for low scores time and time again. And when he does so, he has nothing else special to contribute for the rest of the match.”

He did raise a few good issues and questions. But if he had a few facts at hand, his fears may have been dispelled!

I could have responded to Chinaman in the comments section. However, I was in the midst of constructing this article anyway! So, here goes…

If we look at the performance of a few top Indian batsmen in World Cups (min qualification of at least 10 matches), we have the following — arranged in the descending order of their batting averages:

Name |M |Runs |HS |Avg |100s |50s |W |Best |BowlAv |
Dravid1977914564.9125---
Tendulkar33173215259.7241262/2878.16
Ganguly1884418356.264193/2231.44
Sidhu124549345.4006---
Kapil26669175*37.1611285/4331.85
Vengsarkar112526336.0001---
Gavaskar19561103*35.0614---
Jadeja21522100*34.801232/3247.66
Azharuddin308269339.330853/1921.80
Sehwag112998227.180221/344.00
Srikkanth235217523.68020--
Amarnath142548021.1601163/1226.93
Shastri141855718.5001123/2632.41

And yes, I do know that there are other factors to consider in ODIs, such as Strike Rates, fielding, etc. But please humour me as I only consider the batting average metric for this exercise.

It is clear from the above table, that Dravid’s performances in World Cups have been excellent. Given that he also ‘kept wickets in some of the games (in 2003) this makes for a fascinating contribution from a great Indian cricketer. But even if we ignore his ‘keeping, he would be in my ODI team any day just on the strength of his batting.

There are others like Sanjay Manjrekar, who have 11 games, but with an average of 26.81 (as a pure batsman in World Cups), do not really count. I think I have captured all the relevant personnel in the above table.

Let’s now look at performances of the top batsmen in the current Indian scene over their last 20 ODI appearances for India — the number 20 has been picked somewhat arbitrarily; we could carry this analysis over (say) the last 2 years. However, I decided to look at the last 20 games.


Name |M |Runs |HS |Avg |100s |50s |W |Best |BowlAv |
Yuvraj2063010342.001462/3434.50
Tendulkar20637141*39.812462/2550.83
Dhoni2050567*38.8404---
Dravid205497834.3106---
Ganguly205569832.700511/29105.00
Sehwag204629725.660341/2263.25
Kaif2030966*19.3103---
Raina203225318.9401---
Dhoni2050567*38.8404---

Dinesh Karthik has an average of 21.28 from 10 games and Uthappa has an average of 39.25 from 5 games (clearly, early days yet).

Great Shot from DravidThe fact is that Indian batsmen haven’t been faring that well lately. However, even here, it is clear that Dravid’s place in the team is dictated purely on the basis of his batting strength. He earns his ticket purely as a batsman in form. The other batsmen who bowl a bit haven’t really set the world on fire with their bowling in recent games. Dhoni is the only one in the above list who can claim an effective dual-role. It is also perhaps clear from this why Kaif and Raina were dropped — perhaps they have only themselves to blame!

Given Table-1 which shows Dravid towering above the rest when it comes to performances in World Cup games, it would be safe to assume that he would have been the second (if not the first) name-pencil in the team sheet — just on the strength of his batting prowess!

– Mohan

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My Great Indian Moments at the World Cups

Posted on 28 February 2007 by | 7 Comments

I am sure every one of us have had our moments-to-cherish in each of the different World Cups. My own World Cup connection began in right earnest during the 1983 World Cup campaign. Just in time for the commencement of the World Cup, a television appeared in our living room! This was a first for our household! It was a big moment for all of us at home — certainly for me, since I could stop being a pest with the neighbors; I no longer needed to ask them for permission to watch games and programs on their television and in their living room!

The World Cup final was when I had my first of many encounters with built up nervous energy. I remember pacing up and down and sweating it out like a nervous teenager on his first date, egging India to win. I doubt I will ever forget that moment when Kapil Dev took that brilliant catch — that was almost the defining moment for Indian cricket itself!

This then brings me to the topic! Here are my Indian moments at all the World Cups since 1983 (inclusive).

1983 Prudential World Cup

The final was certainly it. The six by Kris Srikkanth of Joel Garner was a big moment. At home, it felt as though we yelled so hard and loud, we felt we had broken the sound barrier! Until then, it seemed as though Garner was this unpenetrable bowler. Kapil Dev’s catch to dismiss Viv Richards and the final wicket of Michael Holding made up some of the brightest moments for me as far as I can remember. The semi-finals did have its moments too — with Sandeep Patil taking on Bob Willis and Yashpal Sharma making a fine half century. In the lead up game, India beat Zimbabwe after being 17 for 5 at one stage. This was thanks to a terrific 175 from Kapil Dev! Unfortunately, there is no video footage of this match!

1987 World Cup

This world cup should have been India’s but for some bad mistakes by India in the semi-final game. The best moment for me in the tournament was the amazing century partnership between Sunil Gavaskar and Kris Srikkanth in the game against New Zealand at Nagpur. The sweep shot off Martin Snedden by Kris Srikkanth was etched into memory. Gavaskar rained sixes on the ground and scored his one and only hundred in ODIs — as though to prove a point! This match had John Wright opening for New Zealand. It also had a moment for trivia-buffs — Chetan Sharma took the first every hat-trick in a World Cup!

The first game against Australia in Chennai was quite the finish — there certainly were some deja vu moments for me that night with Maninder Singh being the last man out again against Australia in Chennai (remember the tied test!) with one run to tie… In the semi-final against England, the man with brooms — Graham Gooch — and poor shot selection by Kapil Dev were moments worth erasing from memory.

1992 World Cup

While it is generally believed that this was one campaign worth forgetting for India, I cannot speak much about it since I was in Godforsaken land then and did not have a chance to watch a single game. This World Cup was marred by poor team-selection (for India) and also poor rain-rules (this was pre-Duckworth-Lewis days). However, I do remember that India should have won the games against England and Australia early in the tournament and this may have made a big difference. It is also worth noting that when Tendulkar scored, India won those games.

1996 World Cup

While this saw the emergence of Sachin Tendulkar as the most dominant force in World Cups, the magical moments for me were all in the quarter-final game against Pakistan in Bangalore. This match saw a terrific platform-setup by Navjot Sidhu followed by fantastic knock by Ajay Jadeja that included an amazing six of Waqar Younis. The other big moment was when Venkatesh Prasad took Amir Sohail’s wicket — the Jadeja-six and the Prasad-wicket events are two moments are worth entry into any all-time-World-Cup-memory DVD collection. The tension and excitement in the game against Australia at the Wankhade Stadium could be felt even when we watched it on television..

So, you want to watch the Prasad-Sohail incident? Well, here we go…

1999 World Cup

The Ganguly-Dravid partnership at Taunton in the game against Sri Lanka was a particular highlight of this edition of the World Cup. In particular, it was a joy to see the way Ganguly handled Muthiah Muralitharan. Ganguly made 183 in that game. We also witnessed a superb century by Tendulkar on his return to the World Cup after travelling to India to attend the funeral of his father who passed away during that World Cup These were some of the brighter moments in an otherwise dark World Cup for India.

2003 World Cup

This will be remembered as the World Cup that we should have won, but did not! I still wonder what went wrong! This was the perfect campaign for India till the very end, when we came up against a rampaging Australia in the finals. India’s campaign in this World Cup was very similar to the 1985 Benson-and-Hedges World Championships. India played like a champion team throughout the 2003 World Cup tournament. There were so many special Indian moments, it is hard to pick one.

The demolition of Caddick and his ego by Tendulkar at Kingsmead was a special. So also the Sehwag-Tendulkar show against Shoaib Akthar in India’s game against Pakistan. Mohammed Kaif’s almost forgotten gutsy performance in the same game against Pakistan in the presence of a resurgent Waqar Younis (the cover drive that he played of Waqar Younis to kick off his innings was breathtaking!) was one for the special-DVD too. We also saw some superb piece of swing bowling by the pace trio of Zaheer Khan, Javagal Srinath and Ashish Nehra against Sri Lanka and New Zealand were also terrific. Nehra’s magic against England was a joy. Ganguly’s liking for the Kenyan attack was as good as it gets. My particularly special moment was Alec Stewart getting caught plumb in front by a peach of a delivery from Nehra. This itself was worth every penny of the 180-dollars I paid for the tournament telecast.

2007 World Cup

I am sure the 180-or-so-dollars that I will be paying this time around will be worth every penny too. In this context, I think I spoke too soon about ATN and its magnanimity. They are charging a fair bit for the telecast… But I will subscribe. Because of those special moments.

Go India!

-Srikanth

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Posted in Cricket, Muralitharan, Sohail, Viv Richards, World Cup

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Irrelevance of Batting Orders

Posted on 25 February 2007 by | 1 Comment

Increasingly, the relevance of batting orders has come to question across all international teams in the one day format. While it may be a worthy exercise to analyze this trend across the different teams, it certainly is worthwhile looking at it from India’s point of view.

In ODIs, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar shared over a hundred opening partnerships. To be precise, they had 117 opening stands in ODI cricket for a total of 5621 runs at an average of 48.88 per outing, including 15 partnerships (12.82%) of 100+ runs.

After Virender Sehwag’s emergence, the Ganguly-Sehwag combine opened in 42 games. They had 42 opening stands in ODI cricket for a total of 1705 runs at an average of 40.60 per outing, including 5 partnerships (11.90%) of 100+ runs.

The Tendulkar-Sehwag opening partnership combined extremely well too. They had 57 opening stands in ODI cricket for a total of 2459 runs at an average of 43.14 per outing, including 9 partnerships (15.79%) of 100+ runs.

Of course, I recognise that one other metric that we haven’t considered in all of this is the partnership strike rate.

However, with injuries to Tendulkar and with Ganguly being in and out of the side, the opening stands have changed hands periodically. At various times, Irfan Pathan, Dinesh Mongia, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Rahul Dravid and others have quite often accepted the opening role. With Rahul Dravid, Mohammed Kaif, and Yuvraj Singh being regulars in the side, the middle order seemed fairly consistent and intact for quite a while.

The Rahul Dravid and Greg Chappell team has completely changed the philosophy behind batting orders and I think for the right reasons. Factors including but not limited to, types of pitches, bowling standards, powerplay rules and fielding standards have essentially required batsmen to adapt fairly quickly in various conditions to produce results.

Imagine a situation that we have seen before: Irfan Pathan would have three wickets in a couple of overs at the start of the game and you have the number 5 playing pretty much as an opener. Or imagine another situation wherein Dravid walks in in the 45th over as a number five and has to obviously get quick runs if batting first. These are not rare occurrences as we have to come observe. The rationale adopted by Chappell and Dravid seems fairly obvious, the top seven in the batting order should be in a position to bat at any position and at point during the game. Tendulkar’s injuries and his own evolution as a batsman, leader and guide/mentor (a topic for a separate discussion that I will work on) have played a role in the team. Dhoni’s transformation from a slam-bang type of player to a responsible bat (another topic for a separate discussion) has also contributed. The forced transformation on Sehwag further seems to validate the point. And what about Dinesh Karthik!

It is quite amazing actually. India’s top seven batsmen (they can pretty much be any seven batters in the fifteen) are flexible enough to play anywhere, anytime.

This is an enviable position to be in. In fact, it almost seems to set a precedent for any new/emerging/re-emerging players trying to get into the team. The remaining four could, in these circumstances, be specialist bowlers with atleast two in the top seven in a position to complete a 10 over quota. I believe that this unique strength of the Indian team gives Team India an advantage over teams like Sri Lanka or New Zealand who try and fill their teams with all rounders and three or less specialist bowlers.

Srikanth

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