Category: Cricket

Pak cricket team and Islam

Interesting article on religion and the Pak cricket team. (Credit to the writer for writing openly and repeatedly on the issue. Its good to see discussion on the issue)

The Pak team might have been united by Islam, but if they continue to look to religion (like they seem to be doing) to unite them, the baggage that comes with religion is likely to rear its ugly head soon. Just look at the religious clashes in Iraq — muslims killing muslims. The bad part about religion is that it tends to divide as much if not more than unite.

Pak has enough muslim diversity to start tensions. Its only a matter of time before there are religious groups formed within the team, the board, the selectors (if they haven’t already). The Sunnis vs Shias vs Ismailis vs Bohras vs ….

Just as the younger players of today’s Pak team are products of an increasingly Islamic Pak so will the officials of tomorrow, as the Inzys and Saeed Anwars graduate to non-playing roles. Those who don’t neccessarily believe in this trend are likely to tow the party line so to speak — possible examples being Shoaib Akthar and Yousuf Youhana.

At a min the Pak board must instruct it players not to publicly display their religious fervor. Its fine to kiss the ground and do whatever when you score a century or pick up a wicket, but group prayers on the ground is a needless display of religion especially when the Kanerias of Pak are still on the team.

Can you imagine an extensive pooja replete with coconut breaking, a fire, priest, bhajans, prasad and what not before a match. Will the Pak officials allow this when India is playing in Pak?

What next? Shoaib Akthar racing into to bowl at Sachin Tendulkar screaming “Allah-o-Akbar” and Sachin in turn smashing it over the fence followed by a chant of “Jai Sriram”.

The Pak board must intervene immediately (subtly to avoid a backlash) before this gets out of hand. If immediate steps are not taken there could be needless tensions especially when featuring teams like India and Pak.

Thankfully, the Indian team has managed to stay away from such issues and the country as a whole deserves credit for this. Its a fine example of India’s secular intent, at least for the most part.

C’mon. Let cricket and religion remain separate. Please.

West Indies: Wrong choice for the WC?

The ICC might have goofed by selecting WI as the venue of the next world cup. The sign up process for the matches is so archaic and disorganized. In this day and age of the Internet the current system of ticketing is a shame! The ICC with all its wealth should have made a better choice. So far, it doesn’t appear as though the WI are capable of hosting an event of this scale.

North Korea celebrates 4th of July!

Sounds like Kim Jong wanted to celebrate 4, July. He just chose missiles instead of fire crackers. The guy is nuts. Thank god, the long range missile Test failed.

The US has the strange knack of driving nuts the world over to scale new heights. Yes, US always gets the blame for anything that happens in the world! That’s the price for being the sole super power.

Every nation wants to have one-on-one negotiations with the US. So maybe its time the US held an “open house” and invited all the Kim Jong-il’s and Ahmadinejad’s of the world for discussions once and for all.

It will be interesting to see how far the UN and its resolutions can help address this current crisis.

Help! Bangalore Calling!

While the world is calling India for help with all the call centers and outsourcing happening, here is one where India is reaching out to the rest of the world for help. The Bangalore authorities are wooing Westerners to invest in the local infrastructure projects.

Amidst all the intense activity in Karnataka politics, there seems to be a recognition (thankfully!) that Bangalore’s infrastructure stinks and needs desperate attention. Hopefully, this effort produces so quick results before its too late!

At last, India wins a Test Series!

India beat the West Indies in the final Test match to win the series! Firstly, its quite a relief to not have another drawn Test.

After 30+ years team India has managed to win a Test series outside the sub-continent (barring the worthless Zimbabwae win). Hats off to Dravid and his boys for this achievement. When victories are so far and few, the team management and the team as whole deserves all the credit they can get.

Dravid has clearly lead from the front, particular in this Test where his scores in both innings highlight his value to the team as much as it underscores his superlative skills as a batsman. Finally, we have a captain who is not affected by the extra load of captaincy? Or is that a pre-mature statement?

Top take-aways from this series:

  • Irfan Pathan might be on his way to the fast bowlers’ bin to join Balaji, Zaheer, Nehra, Doda Ganesh, Yohanan, Aavishkar Salvi and others.
  • Yuvraj Singh though an excellent ODI player, is a highly over-rated Test player and desperately in need of a break. The Jaffers of India who are amassing runs in domestic cricket could do better justice in the Test middle order (Venu, Badani, Mongia, S. Sriram etc.). Its a shame India traded VVS Laxman for Yuvraj in a recent Test match.
  • Jaffer is a safe bet for the next couple of series. His weakness outside the off stump is likely to make him easy fodder for McGrath and co.
  • VRV Singh could use more domestic experience before playing Test cricket.
  • Munaf Patel is proving to be a good consistent bowler. He does seems more effective with a slightly older ball.
  • Sreesanth could use some more consistency. His talent shows only in patches unfortunately.
  • The two out of form players, Viru and Kaif ended up with a fairly decent tour. Viru put in a very impressive show with the ball as well!
  • Greg Chappell has one more feather in his cap and is certain to have further increased his clout in Indian cricket.
  • Ganguly’s hopes of a return to the team should have further receded with the series win.
  • One can only hope that the selectors will be more sensible in the future and pick an extra batsman or a bowler instead of a second wicket keeper.
  • Bhajji is definitely a safer bet in Tests than an inexperience medium pacer.

Fourth Test: WI Vs India

Man, I’m relieved this boring series is coming to an end! In the midst of all the world cup soccer excitement, the current series in WI is such a bore!

The Indian team simply lacks the kind of professional approach that is need to win consistently. This effort is identical to India’s failed run chase against England. Once again, India blew it!. Having a talented team isn’t simply good enough. Unless the team can come together and work towards a common goal of winning, the talent is simply wasted.

  • Missing Dada? I must admit that purely from an attitude and approach point of view the team does miss the hey days of Ganguly. (please, I am not advocating his return!). It will nice to witness the passion and aggression that he brought to the team (without his actual presence in the team!)
  • Sunny Days? Rahul Dravid shows shades of Sunny Gavaskar’s captaincy style. “Make sure you don’t loose before attempting to win” seems to be his mantra in Tests. Way too much time and effort is spent in trying to ensure that India does not lose, that there simply isn’t enough time to win! Perhaps this has a lot to do with recent Test defeats against England and Pakistan. Unlike the current team, Gavaskar had relatively less talent to work with. So one could partly justify his approach to captaincy. In Dravid’s case, the team has plenty of talent (esp. in the batting Dept.).

For the second time in the recent past he has failed to inspire these talented blokes to swing a victory for India on the last day. The decision to send Dhoni in late was unimanginative and outright “gutless”. Dhoni should have walked in at the fall of the first or second wicket, followed by Yuvraj. If all these folks had failed Dravid and the rest could have easily parked their backsides on that dead wicket to draw the Test. If they couldn’t do that they deserve to lose. Oh well…

Third Test: WI vs. India

The third Test as it stands today is probably headed for a draw or a washout. But you never know, the Indians are fully capable of gifting the Windies a victory with two rounds of batting failures. Barring this, the next two days are likely to be boring as ever. VVS and Yuvraj have plenty to play for. VVS 28 from 97 balls is ample proof of the pressure he finds himself in.

After a poor show at the start Bhajji did well to wrap up the tail. Perhaps this ability of his might have proved useful in the first and second Tests? Kumble’s form is alarming. 40+ overs and not a single wicket to show for it (discounting umpire Brian Jerling’s dislike for lbw decisions)!

Unfortunately, for India when the batting strikes the bowling fails and vice-versa. India had the spin trio in the 70s but poor batting to backup (barring Vishy and Gavaskar), in the 80s it was Kapil Dev fighting a lone battle, the 90s saw the emergence of Sachin and later Dravid and Kumble, the 2000s unfortunately has been a see saw between batting and bowling failures. The most glaring deficiency appears to be a complete lack of consistent strike bowler. At present, if Kumble fails, India’s bowling is completely worthless. Though Munaf certainly appears to be a quality bowler.

SL has Murali, England has Flintoff, Aus has Warne and McGrath, NZ has Bond, Pak has Shoaib and Asif, all capable of running through the opposition with 5+ wickets. India on the other hand relies almost entirely on the aging and fast fading Kumble. Perhaps its time Chappell and co made a serious attempt to fix this. Wonder why Piyush Chawla was dumped after just one Test? Giving him an overseas tour while Kumble was still around might certainly have helped him and India’s fortunes if not now, at least in future.

Third Test: Five bowlers or not, please win or lose!

Four ya Five? There is widespread speculation that India might opt for five bowlers at the expense of a batsman. This means that based on current form, Yuvraj Singh or VVS will face the chopping block. The last time India was faced with a similar dilemma, VVS was the victim. India eventually went on to lose the Test. VVS is definitely the safer bet in my opinion. Even if India decides to stay with a four bowler combination I suspect the Indian team management might opt to play Bhajji in place of one of the seamers Irfan or VRV.

Result, please: On the eve of the third Test I just hope we are not faced with another draw no matter how exciting it turns out to be! The whole idea of a game played over five days yet not producing any result just doesn’t go with the times. On the one hand the ICC is trying its best to spread 20-20 masala cricket. Unfortunately, on the other hand there is no talk whatsoever about ensuring a result in Test matches.

Smart move by Sachin

Sachin Tendulkar has slowly started his return by playing some charity matches. I think its a great way for him to stay out of the limelight and pressure situations and slowly get back to cricket. India’s lack of consistency ensures his spot in the both forms of the game, at least for now. So his fitness from now through the World Cup season next year is crucial for him and India.

WI vs India: Second Test

Another Test. Similar result. India struggled once again to beat the WI resulting in a frustrating draw. Clearly, the current Indian bowling combination is incapable of bowling the opposition out twice in a Test match.

Pathan badly needs a longer rest. He has lost pace and appears to be struggling. VRV lacks penetration and appears to be too green to be at the Test level. Thankfully, Munaf had a good Test. That leaves only Kumble. Though one can argue that the burden is way too much on Kumble, one can’t help get the feeling that he appears to have lost his edge. He no longer seems to have the ability to run through a side. Viru certainly stepped up to the plate and put up a fine show. But it just proves how weak the Indian bowling side is. Dropping a batsman might be a luxury India can ill-afford at this stage. I suspect the the team management might bring in Powar/Bhajji for Pathan and Sreesanth for VRV in Test 3.

Another seamer or an all rounder in place of D. Karthick in the 15 might have certainly given the team management more options. Given the way the seamers have performed in this series it makes sense to play three spinners. But unfortunately India does not have a true all rounder in its ranks to accommodate this strategy. A daring gamble might be to drop a batsman (Yuvraj or Laxman) and play Pathan as an all rounder and play three spinners. The team management is certainly capable of taking this drastic step under more favorable circumstances. Having lost the last Test to England because of a batting failure (and the same in Pak), I suspect it would take some serious “guts” on the part of the Team management. In any case, India certainly holds the psychological advantage at this stage of the series for whatever it is worth, no matter what Lara says!