Category: Cricket

Team India continued its winning streak in ODIs under Dravid pulling off a fine win after England seemed completely in control at 117 for 3 chasing a modest 203. India’s total was quite impressive given that the bulk of the batting was back in the hut for less han 100 runs. In defending the modest total India pulled of a seemingly improbable win thanks to some fine bowling from Bhajji, Yuvraj and Pathan.

Here are a few key takeaways from this game for Team India..

• Bhajji delivers under pressure: The presence of Romesh Powar seems to have produced an inspired show by Bhajji both with the bat and ball. Competition is good and keeps everyone honest. I thought India might go in with Powar given his batting talents and his current bowling form. Hats off to the team management for persisting with Bhajji. A gamble that paid off given his run of poor form at least from a wicket taking perspective.

• Viru’s struggle continues: It might be time to think of a counter strategy since the situation has persisted for a while. Open with Dhoni (or someone new) and drop Viru down the order, perhaps. He could come in very useful in the last 15 overs.

• Lack of a genuine allrounder: Yuvraj might have done a great job with the ball today, but if the plan is to groom him for the fifth bowler slot India’s think tank should make sure that he bowls his quota in every match. These recent victories are hiding India’s primary weakness — Lack of a genuine all rounder. Someone who routinely bowls his quota of 10 overs and is capble of making a big score from time to time a la Flintoff, Symonds, Kallis, Dilshan, Styris, Afridi, Razzack. Since the team is on a winning streak there is no talk of it these days and JP Yadav has quietly dropped out of sight. In short, the team is back to 3 seamers plus one spinner and no real genuine 5th bowler. In difficult times, this weakness is likely to be exposed. This series is India’s best chance to explore all rounder options.

Lastly, a salute to the curators at the Kotla. ODIs don’t have to be run fests! Here was a pitch that had plenty for fast bowlers and spinners and for batsmen who were wiling to apply themselves. Naturally, we ended up with a well fought ODI where both bowlers and batsman had a role to play. Lets hope to see more ODI pitches of this kind!

In this fast paced global economy, the age of instant gratification, even an ODI is fast becoming a luxury. Twenty-twenty matches have started to take off so much so that a World Cup is being planned. India, Pak and SL have been slow in adopting this. Its in their best interest to start early. These three countries are key to filling ICC coffers, so its unlikely that the ICC can pull of this World Cup without their active participation. In any case, as this form of cricket gains acceptance, it makes sense to adapt to this sooner rather than later.

In fact, I think 20-20 matches must be started at the domestic level right away. At a minimum it will help identify key talent for the 2007 World Cup. India still lacks a good all rounder. 20-20s might be the road to finding this elusive player.

The performance was certainly disappointing. But I think there is reason for optimism. There is no doubting the fact that this team management is very keen on experimenting. This means that there are lessons to be learnt at every stage. The learning from these experiments has resulted in swift changes in the team and I think that it is likely to continue. I would give credit to Dravid and Chappell for experimenting rather than call for their sacking!

The Toss
Putting England to bat was an experiment that failed. The thinking was that India would bowl England out cheaply and pile up a big score and not have to bat again. This experiment failed. If it had succeeded all the the team management would have been praised to the skies by all and sundry. Notice that Dravid accepted that this was a mistake. A rare admission by an Indian captain.

The Batting:

Dropping VVS was a mistake. Yuvraj is still very much an ODI player and is far from capable of replacing VVS in Tests. Again, another experiment that failed. The lesson here is to bring back VVS into the 11. I suspect this will happen on the WI tour.

Five Bowlers:

I think this is a positive move. As Dravid pointed out India needs five bowlers in order to win a test. Unfortunately, the five are not in their best form. Bhajji and Pathan are struggling while the other three are showing good results. The lesson here is to play five “in form” bowlers. Sreesanth and Munaf are two new finds who are likely to remain for quite sometime. Agarakar, Nehra, Balaji, and Zaheer have been swapped out for good. Bhajji is feeling the heat with Powar knocking on the door wit superb domestic performances. Pathan will be shown the door if his bowling deteriorates. None of this would be happening but for the recent experiments.

The Dropped Catches

Again, Dravid rightly pointed out that because of changes in the team, India didn’t have the right fielders in specialist positions. Yuvraj in slips and other close catching positions for instance. I am not sure there is an easy fix for this. But at least the captain appears to have recognized this shortcoming.

When I read Dravid’s comments I sense there is some “learning” from these mistakes. The responses are sensible and thoughtful. Besides Dravid is clearly not afraid to admit his errors and take responsibility.

This defeat is not new considering historic data. The Indian team has almost always failed when chasing a total on the last day (recent Pak series, Pak in India in Bangalore are just two recent examples). But what is positive here is that India now has a learning captain (as seen in his comments) and a thinking coach neither of whom are afraid to experiment.

Sachin (I suspect!) was deliberately rested from the ODIs with an eye towards the World Cup. I think Powar will play in first ODI ahead of Bhajji. Venu and Raina will keep Kaif and Yuvraj honest. Gambhir must be motivated to excel while Viru is under pressure to get out of his slump. RP and VRV are waiting to replace Sreesanth and Munaf or Pathan.

When is the last time India had so much prime talent waiting in the wings?

When I saw the score card this morning with India at 18 for 1 and Kumble batting while Irfan was back in the pavilion, I thought this was part of new strategy to lead with the tail! After all Kumble and Pathan have batted better than most in this series. It was when I read the details that I realized that Viru was down with an injury.

Don’t be surprised if you see Dhoni walk in next. It might not be a bad bet to send in the in form stroke players first and then pull down the shutters if the ploy fails! 🙂

With repeated failures, Sachin Tendulkar has once again sparked of speculation over the end of his cricketing days. The booing from his home crowd was easily the lowest point in his illustrious career. His glory days are clearly behind him. But the truth is that when he does come good he is still a world beater. The biggest and most valuable accomplishment he can and should focus on is the next World Cup. I think Sachin should stop playing Test cricket until after the next World Cup. Meanwhile, he should play only ODIs. His natural stroke play style is more suited to ODIs than Tests. Besides, he is struggling in Tests while performing quite creditable in ODIs. In ODIs his bowling has also come in very handy.

In short, I think Sachin should pass on Test cricket until the next World Cup and focus entirely on ODIs. This will give VVS, Kaif, Raina, Venugopal Rao, or Badani a good shot at Test cricket.

The final ODI between SA and Aus was no doubt an exciting one. It was the same pitch on which India succumbed without even a fight at the last World Cup final. It just shows that with proper planning and execution the 368 on the same ground that the Aussies set for India was not an impossible task.

Hats off the Graeme Smith the “outspoken, bragging, get under the opposition’s skin” captain of SA. Gotta hand it to him. He showed some real spunk. He lead from the front with a fine knock when it most mattered and ensured SA’s greatest ever ODI victory. It just shows that Aus can’t expect the next World Cup to be easy. SA, England, Pak and India are all capable of beating Australia. Will be interesting to see if Warne is brought back into the Aus ODI team.

I think its time cricketing countries made a conscious attempt to balance the matches so bowlers have an equal role to play in the ODIs as the batsmen. Why not prepare tracks on which batting is very difficult? Turning tracks, bouncy wickets etc. Why does it always have to be run fest? Why not a low scoring ODI where runs are extremely difficult to score? This might add some challenges to team compositions. Specialist batsmen might actually have more of a role to play as will specialist bowlers. If the current trend continues in a few years time ODIs will be phased out in favor of 20-20s.

India wrapped up the second Test quite comfortably. The most encouraging fact of the match for India was the success of Munaf Patel. Finally, India has a bowler who can bowl over 145 km/hr, send in the toe-crushers and even shake up the batsman, something India batsman have been used to for years. As Dravid rightly pointed out, India can return the favor. One can only hope that his pace doesn’t deteriorate with time as in the case of most Indian fast bowlers (Pathan being a prime example).

One can’t help feeling for Piyush Chawla, he was hopelessly under bowled on his debut Test. With Dravid’s, “I won’t swap Anil [Kumble] for anyone in any conditions.” mindset, Chawla can reset his Test hopes for now. His best bet is to break into the ODI team. I was a little surprised that he was sent in after Bhajji despite being a batsman (he top scored in the India U-19 final against Pak).

It was a little disappointing to see England succumb without a fight. I thought India will lose 4-5 wickets before reaching the target. England will be under severe pressure going into the last Test on pitch that has known to aide spinners. But I suspect India will bring back VVS in place of Chawla and go in with four bowlers.

The pressure to retain ones place in the Indian team is evident and a healthy trend. Viru played an uncharacteristic knock to show that he is not completely out of form and can still justify his presence! The pressure is now on Sachin to deliver on his home ground after a string of Test failures.

The Indian team management under Dravid and Chappell is by far the best India has ever had. I just read the news about the 12 for the second Test. VVS, Kaif, Sreesanth are out from the playing 11, while Piyush Chawla, RP Singh, Yuvraj and Munaf Patel are in the 12. Notice that all the four replacements are very young and have a bright future ahead provided they perform. While Kaif should consider himself extremely unlucky, Sreesanth’s is a fitness issue.

The third change, VVS, is clearly a “daring” move. Hats off to the team management for this bold step. VVS is easily a top notch Indian test player, but the truth is that he has not performed exceptionally for quite a while now and two youngsters Yuvraj and Kaif have been fighting for a middle order spot for quite sometime. With Ganguly out of the way, the message to VVS must have been loud and clear, “perform or you might find yourself on the chopping block”. If VVS had scored runs in the Nagpur Test one can say with a fair degree of confidence that he might not have been dropped. If Yuvraj scores big in the Mohali Test and with Kaif looking very good, VVS might find himself out of the 15 for the third Test. And this could mean the beginning of the end for his Test career unlss of course this change results in India losing the Mohali Test.

On the bowling front, I suspect India will opt for a three seamer attack and give Bhajji another chance to prove that he is still a force. Alternately, they might experiment with Piyush Chawla in place of Bhajji given the Piyush can bat as well. (I think Bhajji will be given a rest and Piyush a break).

In any case, I think its very likely that Munaf will make the playing 11. A five man bowling attack seems certain unlike the first Test where India went in overly optimistic about its spinners abilities. Full marks to the Indian team management for making these bold moves.

The target was 360+ in 90 overs. A modest asking rate of four runs an over. Give the Aussie’s such a target and tell me they won’t go after it? I think India lost a golden opportunity to prove that they are a top notch Test team.

There was no need to panic and go after the bowling in desperation but it would certainly have helped to play with the purpose of winning right from the outset. Until tea time India never looked like it was interested in going after the target. After tea it was just a plain and complete sham. It was a joke to attack with an asking rate of 11 an over. It was simply too late in the game.

One excuse I have heard was that it was a slow, low fifth day wicket. What if this were an ODI on the same wicket? India would not chase the target?

Firstly, I think India was simply scared of repeating the Karachi fiasco. Better to be safe than sorry. Fair enough. On the other hand, all the Indian cricket fans have to accept that India is simply not a good enough a Test team to take on a challenge like this. Dravid lost an opportunity to prove that he is different from conventional India captains. With two solid defensive players in him and Kaif he should have had a fair degree of confidence that India can most likely save the Test. While he was at the crease Dravid should have made sure that the score was ticking along at a reasonable pace to set the stage for a gradual acceleration followed by a final charge. Alternately, he should have sent in Sachin at number 3 with clear instructions to play his normal free stroking game. Dravid could thus have saved himself for a crisis if needed. He did neither but instead stuck it out at the crease and increased the asking to a point beyond which there was no hope of winning.

After England dominated the first four days this was a perfect chance to steal a win on the final day and India simply blew it. Winning this Test required some professional planning and seasoned execution. With this draw, the Indian team proved that it is not yet upto the mark on either front, the use of laptops and other latest technology not withstanding. But I think that none of India’s Test teams from the past would have come even close to what this team achieved on the last day. So if you are an ardent Indian cricket fan, savor the draw, this team is the best India has ever had.

No matter what the truth is, I think Chappell must refrain from making statements about the Ganguly issue to the press. The controversy has just shown signs of settling down with Ganguly dropped from both Test and ODIs. His recent comments have unneccsarily re-ignited the issue. I think the BCCI was right to reprimand him for it. Chappell loves to speak his mind, but it doesn’t always help the team to be constantly mired in controversy. Part of being coach is also about being tactful off the field especially in a setting like India were politics is so rampant and fans following is so extreme. He’ll be doing the team a service but shutting his mouth and avoiding further discussion on the issue.