Sports : life magnified

A few days ago I asked the question, “Has England let the opportunity slip in the battle for No. 2 and chasing Australia?”

A win in Mumbai is now needed for England to remain in the race. Very difficult but it is the only way England can stop the opportunity from slipping. No one said the battle was ever going to be easy!

England did win in Mumbai and showed strength in the face of adversity. The persistance was evidant in the way England batted in the post tea session on Day 4 - with planning to go for the shots only once England felt safe. The persistance was also evident on Day 5. The pitch had not deteriorated. It was playing much better than most 5 day pitches play. England kept the ball in a line which made Indians play. Ball after ball this line was maintained. There was hardly any straying. The discipline and superb bowling effort was a pleasure to watch.

Defensive mindset

India has been defensive in mind set in this series. In the first test they went for the shots very late. That was when the score line read 0-0. Here the score line was 1-0. So it was unlikely that they would go for runs and risk drawing the series. The plan would be to play out the first session and a half or two sessions and if wickets are in hand after that, see if going for the target during a small phase is a good option.

This is where I think India erred. Defensive play is never a good option regardless of the situation. Dravid almost got into a shell and Tendulkar survived a few close LBW shouts which would have been plumb had they been a bit closer to the wicket. Safeguarding your wicket is needed in such situations. But in the process playing the natural game as far as possible should not be forgotten. If you let the bowlers dominate, they will gain in confidence and get on you sooner rather than later.

With the dismissals of Dravid and Tendulkar the inevitable occured. A game which was always going to be near impossible for India to win (no team has ever chased 300 in the 4th inning in India in more than 70 years of test cricket) would not be a battle of survival. But did India have a man for the job? An injured Sehwag, flashy Yuvraj and ultra flashy Dhoni do not enthuse confidence.

Lack of responsibility

Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh decided there was no chance India would win this match. Dhoni skied one but Monty Panesar was unsighted. Dhoni skiwed another one with the same shot. Panesar made no mistake this time. Harbhajan Singh played agressively and played a suicidal shot to get out while a specialist batsman in Yuvraj Singh remained at the other end. It didn’t matter what shots Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh had played to get out. The arrogance of the shot plays were infuriating enough.

It is never easy to lose a test match. That India did not compete against a battling England caused much more pain. There is no shame in fighting bravely and losing. But to not fight at all smacks of irresponsibility which has to be shunned. I do feel sorry for Anil Kumble here. He personifies consistent persistance. If only others had similar attitudes.

Chasing Australia

The race for number 2 continues to be enthralling despite India falling further. England, despite it’s throwing matches away from comfortable positions (Multan and Mohali) have managed regain lost ground. South Africa fought but lost the first test versus Australia. They have to do better in the remaining two tests. A fourth team in South Africa competing for the sport would make things much more interesting.

As things stand right now, England and Pakistan are neck and neck. It is nicely setup for Pakistan’s tour of England. I hope Shoaib Akhtar is fit and both teams are able to play their First XIs. England would want to come back strongly after their recent series loss in Pakistan. Pakistan would want to show that they are a team to be taken seriously and not a bunch of inconsistent performers. Pakistan has already started walking on this road with their recent performances. It is a matter of whether they have it in them to take the next step in England.

Applauding Freddie

All said and done, the England in India series will be remembered most for the performances of Andrew Flintoff. He sacrificed the joy of seeing his son being born. He stood up to the challenge of captaining his side. He bowled. He even batted. In all this he kept battling on and inspiring his team mates to do the same. Flintoff won the Man of the Match for his performances in the third test and the Man of the Series. In between all this, he has also gained much more respect from cricket fans from around the world.

A superman in every sense of the word.

With Sehwag missing most of the time in the field in England’s second inning due to injury, he can bat only lower down the order.

Debate between Jawagal Srinath and Dean Jones occurs on who should open with Jaffer. Jones reckons it should be Munaf Patel.

No he wasn’t joking as he backed it up:

I would say Munaf Patel. If he gets quick 15 runs, India could be off to a flyer. Certainly he is wasted at number XI and should bat up higher.

Hmm.

Rahul Bhatia wrote a wonderful small piece on his blog where he fears India wont matter once Tendulkar is gone. The following is what I have to say on the same:

Some generations leave their darlings on people. Some players who are chrished a lot more than the game itself.

In these times we forget that the game goes on. It went on after Bradman in Australia and many cherished players in many eras.

For us, who have been priveleged to have our cricketing ‘wonder years’ in the era of Tendulkar, specially Indian fans as others may cherish a Lara or a Warne, and not necessarily to the same extent, cricket will indeed never be the same.

But we will look back and feel proud about being in the same era as Tendulkar. Our love for the game wont decrease. We are likely to appreciate many finer aspects of the game once there isn’t a Tendulkar. We often have done the same (appreciate the game a lot more) when we watch tests of other nations for example.

That said, I am confident it is not over for Tendulkar.

After the news of the FIR against Jagmohan Dalmiya comes the news that Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) will not host any Champions Trophy matches. A CAB representative wasn’t even present at the meeting. Was it because of the FIR and thus a means of protest? Also was the reason to not distribute the match because the CAB wanted the latter matches? Did CAB put strict conditions because of the FIR? Did CAB put strict conditions at all?

We might never know.

The English Team was at cross roads in Pakistan. I had written on the same nearly 3 months ago which can be read here. I titled it facing adveristy. In the period which has followed since then, England has enountered a lot of adversity. A menacing Shoaib Akhtar in Pakistan and a series of unfortunate events leading 4 of their first XI to withdraw from the tour of India being unquestionably the biggest external adversities. The internal weaknesses they have shown shouldn’t be forgotten.

With the collapse in Pakistan and throwing away a match England should have probably drawn in India in the second test of the series in Mohali, it has probably let slip the opportunity to challenge Australia for now. From being the unquestionable number 2 side, it has gone down a step in the close battle of the number 2.

In fact, it also finds itself at a position inferior to Pakistan. Pakistan appear to have lost Shoaib Akhtar for the immediate future. However there is some time to go for Pakistan’s tour of England. If Pakistan can manage even a draw in that series, it would mean that Pakistan has set itself above the current English side.

And what about South Africa? South Africa played superbly in Australia. It is now involved in the home series versus Australia. If South Africa can manage a victory or even a draw, it can be accepted as a strong team despite Glenn McGrath not playing in the current series and despite what Chris Fogarty has to say regarding only the Ashes mattering, test cricket is about more than just The Ashes. John Stern analyses the current situation and the mouth watering prospect which lies ahead of us much more judiciously.

India may be finding bowlers (Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla) who might show some potency in times to come. However, with it playing just 2 test series in the run up to World Cup 2007 and having lost the series to Pakistan (despite it being like a 1 test series), India finds itself behind the pack in this chase. Did New Zealand not go behind a huge distance in one session in their home series versus Pakistan where Shoaib Akhtar wrecked them? It did India no favours that for them that the home series versus England was always going to be The Nothing Series. India in fact loosened their noose in the tussle they failed to win their last series in the West Indies. That they lost the home series versus Australia did them no favours. They have been chasing as a back runner since then and will have to keep persisting. They do not find themselves in the picture before the pyajama cricket - World Cup 2007 is done and dusted with.

Climbing up the ladder is difficult. It requires consistent brilliant performances. New Zealand is finding it out the hard way. It is doomed in mid table for the time being. Has England let it’s opportnity slip by two collapses, one in Pakistan and one in India? The importance is not in that England lost. England would be respectable losers after drawing their first test match in India. The importance was in the manner in which a match which should have been drawn was lost. A win in Mumbai is now needed for England to remain in the race. Very difficult but it is the only way England can stop the opportunity from slipping. No one said the battle was ever going to be easy!

Pakistan does have a small lead ahead of the rest of the pack - England, South Africa and India. South Africa has the best chance to contend with Pakistan. While all this is going on, Australia cannot work out who the right players are for their international side. A side which boasted of depth finds itself bringing back older warriors who were discarded after the Ashes war was lost. The batsmen are not showing consistency. There is no sign of a future Glenn McGrath or Shane Warne. Most importantly, Australia has set such high standards for themselves that they will themselves find it difficult to maintain these levels. Even if McGrath and Warne do manage to play for a few more years, it will be very difficult for Australia to not slip from it’s high intensity performances is now characterized with. Some would argue that the slipping has already started.

Very interesting times to be a test cricket fan.

More than whether Tendulkar scores runs (which hasn’t been great in tests lately), there is disappointment at large at the way he scores his runs.

I think this is where people are largely mistaken. He can’t score runs the way he did in 1998. I remember he was even more aggressive in his early days and used to get out so much more in the 1992-1996 period.

I do see Tendulkar has curtailed the risk in his batting and removed getting out shots a lot. Despite this he is getting out. So people say he should play in way x, way y. I think it should be left to him to figure out, or him to consult who ever he wants, if he wants.

Just to speak about batting styles, Dravid comes to mind. His one day batting was highly criticised. He has been such a good one day player because he has the batting base required to adopt.

Tendulkar too has the batting base required to adopt. Has his body deteriorated so much that he cannot perform at test level? I strongly don’t believe it but we can only ascertain after he finishes his career for sure.

I do not buy the logic that he has lost it mentally. Maybe he is doing things wrong mentally, maybe he isn’t. But how can a player who has one of the best cricketing brains lose it mentally when mental prowess is bound to increase over a cricketers career.

India had a go at the target much later than they should have. Winning matches when the smallest of windows exists is what makes a great team. With 40 overs to go and 250 to chase, why did India not go for at least quick singles so that they would be in a position to chase the target later on?

They made a dash with 8 an over required and when it was too late. A lot of praise in the media was heaped on them. I wasn’t impressed by the lack of steel which would have been required to go for the target earlier.

Unfortunately, I didn’t highlight this aspect earlier engrossed in other sports. Thank god Tim de Lisle does the needful in his latest piece.

The selection panel keeps making a joke of themselves. I had spoken regarding the inconsistencies which they are displaying. It keeps getting worse.

First, Mr. More decides to state that Sourav Ganguly will not find a place in the squad in the tenure of the current selection panel:

We took a decision that we have to look ahead. We decided that so much has been said on this issue, that we wanted to send a message across that, this is what we are looking at, and as far as this committee is concerned, this is what we have decided, that we will not look back at. We are definitely looking beyond Ganguly even if he were to perform well in domestic cricket.

How can they say the selection committee has shut the door completely on any player? We do not know what a player will do in the future, what situation the team is going to be in. If Ganguly decides to carry on playing, which he has, it is his right. To rule out any player, despite his age or just because he isn’t performing to satisfactory levels of a panel speaks of autocracy. The statements made by Kiran More have been irresponsbile. They show an irrational streak and lack of judgement - lack of qualities which show a chairman of a selection panel cannot do the job at hand with discretion and maturity which is required.

Other teams have looked ahead in the past and it is not uncommon to look beyond specific players. Australia have done it with Steve Waugh Mark Waugh, Michael Bevan, Darren Lehmann and Matthew Hayden. India may well have done it with V.V.S.Laxman and Anil Kumble recently. Even during the captaincy of Ganguly, Robin Singh was discarded on the same lines.

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One word which charecterises this English team and separates it from teams of the past is fight. Whatever the match situation, whatever the crisis situation, the team will give it their best shot. A sharp contrast to the frequent collapses we saw from English teams of the past. You will say that they did collapse in Pakistan but that was a one off rather than a norm.

I doubt if any one expected England to fight back the way they did after being down 246/7 at the end of day 1. No one certainly expected them to end up with 393. Bravo Paul Collingwood. He showed a few English batsmen who let a situation of advantage (winning the toss and thus having India to bat last on a crumbling pitch) slip the worth of staying at the wicket and limiting stroke play for the larger team cause. The support from the tail was admirable. It highlighted that word again - fight.

Of course the highlight of the match so far has been the youngsters coming to the party. If it was Alastair Cook showing common sense yesterday and Sreesanth showing that he has loads of talent, swinging ability (not related to his break dance ability) and yes, common sense. Its funny how in test cricket loads of talent means nothing if you do not have common sense. You don’t need to be flashy, you don’t need to be a Sachin Tendulkar or a Brian Lara. You can be a Paul Collingwood, a Sreesanth or a Alastair Cook and still do a good job. The saying - test cricket is as much played in the head as in the field - is very true.

Coming back to today - I have a strong feeling we are seeing the future of both these teams in this match. If Suresh Raina and Piyush Chawla get a run later on in the series, it might well be looked back as the series where certain people showed their mettle for the first time. Like India in Pakistan(1989) is looked back upon for instance.

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England’s tour to India was always going to be a big series. England, coming off a series loss in Pakistan, had it all to prove in India. A Test team has to show that it can compete in all conditions and circumstances – then, and only then can it be recognized as one of the better teams of an era. India, having just lost the series in Pakistan, needed to set things straight - mouth watering prospect for a cricket fan.

Then Ashley Giles, England’s number one spinner, gets injured. Marcus Trescothick withdraws for personal reasons, Michael Vaughan, England’s inspirational captain, gets injured and finally Simon Jones, vital in the scheme of things in the subcontinent, decides to join the injury brigade.

So England’s pace attack is left with Steve Harmison (who hasn’t been as effective off late) and Matthew Hoggard (who relies on movement and wasn’t going to be the most important player in the subcontinent anyway). James Anderson, Liam Plunkett, Shaun Udal, Monty Panesar and Ian Blackwell aren’t exactly expected to set the world on fire in India. How will England then get 20 Indian wickets? It is certainly an uphill task.

A win looks improbable then. How about a draw? The English openers are likely to be Andrew Strauss (in poor form) and Alastair Cook (making his Test debut and again, not expected to set the world on fire). Kevin Pietersen still has a lot to prove. Owais Shah or Paul Collingwood (whoever is selected) do not compare to the Indian batsmen. England would have to rely on Ian Bell and some heroics from Andrew Flintoff. The more you look at the English squad, the more you realize how weak it is. (more…)

There was a time when I used to reflect on the composition of the Indian test team. There used to some basis for team selection then. The test squad chosen to face England is the latest in a series of many whimsical selections.

Picture some recent inconsistencies in selection -

Famously choosing Ganguly to play as an all rounder in the team.
Dropping/choosing him regardless of match performances.
The treatment of Yuvraj, Kaif. (In and out of the XI, team)
Choosing Parthiv Patel above Dinesh Karthik as reserve wicket keeper for tour of Pakistan. This despite Karthik not doing much wrong.

And we haven’t even gone to the bowlers yet.. The first two tests in Pakistan were on flat tracks. No bowler should be judged based on that. The third test at Karachi was a failure for Zaheer Khan. Ajit Agarkar wasn’t even included in the first XI for that test. Without given a proper run, the two players were dumped.

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With India’s population, it surprises many that India is not a force at the Olympics. R.J.Elliott wonders the same in a comment in Aaman’s recent article:

I’ve always found it a bit baffling that India, with over one billion citizens, doesn’t seem to have much success in either the Winter OR the Summer Olympics…and that they don’t seem to have many (any?) nationals playing at the professional level in the US in any of the four major American sports. Surely there is a 7-foot 6-inch Indian fellow out there who would like to make millions playing in the NBA. Or a 35-pound Indian who would make a good offensive lineman in the NFL. But where are they?

Winter Olympics

Most commonwealth nations have performed poorly at the Winter Olympics. Apart from Canada who had won 31golds and was at number 10 in the all time Winter Olympic medal table before the games started, Commonwealth nations have had little to show. Poor performances at the Winter Olympics is not an India specific or South Asia specific phenomena.

Great Britain have won 8 golds in all, and among them are medals from an era when not many nations competed in the Olympics. Australia hadn’t won a medal before 1994. Australia loves its sport passionately and evidence of that is its improvement in the Winter Olympics. 40 athletes are competing for Australia at the Torino games, almost double the size in recent times. However, I might add that the latest gold medal winner for Australia, Dale Begg-Smith, is Canadian born.

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The England under-19 team got thrashed by India under-19 in the semi-finals of the under-19 world cup. Abu Nechim Ahmed was the wrecker-in-chief. At one stage England were 17/5. England ended up with 58 in all and a massive 234 run defeat.

The match was all evens-stevens, any one’s game. Then Dhoni, no stranger to playing match winning innings, hit four after four after four till he hit 72* off 46 balls. In total, Dhoni hit 13 fours. In the end, India coasted to victory. Not that the Pakistani bowling or captaincy was great. Zainub elaborates on Rana’s waywardness and Inzy’s errors. But that is no discredit to Dhoni who came in with the game nicely poised and took the game away from Pakistan.

Dhoni now has 1054 one day runs at an average of 50.19. Yes, we still have to see how Dhoni fares outside the sub-continent. But that is for another day, another time. In the sub-continent at least, Dhoni’s bat speaks strong.

On another note, the Indian one day batting line up is looking stronger after every match. The class at the top of the order is there. The depth lower down with Dhoni, Pathan makes it a very potent combination. And we haven’t seen a lot of Raina till now, have we.

I have maintained for over one and half years that Tendulkar is not past his best. I wrote a small article in December 2004(which I didn’t put on the blog simply because it didn’t exist then) -

It has been a shame people have expressed doubts over the great modern batsman Sachin Tendulkar. There have been news paper articles, television shows, common people on the street and even ardent cricket fans who have asked this question in the last year or so. Tendulkar has had a very strange 2004. It has been a year in which more questions have been asked of his batting than in any year since he made his international debut in 1989.

He hoped this is a new beginning for him. Knowing the fighter that Tendulkar is, he will achieve what he is destined for. People ask if Tendulkar is past his best. But is the best scoring fast centuries or the big centuries and yet remain consistent? That is what should be the question to be pondered over really. As time goes by, the people who question greatness will shut up for good. And Tendulkar will remain as one of the greats to grace the game along with Grace, Hobbs, Bradman, Sobers, the two Richards, Lara and the many other hallowed batsmen to have strode on the twenty two yards we call the cricket pitch.

The last 14 months or so have been worse for Tendulkar as far as media and fan reactions go. The nadir were statements like Endulkar made in leading newspapers in India.

Well hopefully the Tendulkar bashers can stand up now and admit they were wrong regarding Tendulkar. Still believe he is past his best? All I can say is that a lot more people will look silly in the coming few months.

Update - Outside Edge brings to focus some recent performances and a wonderful poem on Tendulkar.

Nimbus has bagged a 4 year year deal which includes broadcast of domestic cricket. I will be very interested to see how much domestic cricket is broad cast in the future and the plans regarding the same.

The win in the series versus India after the series win versus England means Pakistan is on course to be the undisputed number 2 team in the world. They have the challenge in England later this year which I await eagerly.

What if India defeat England in India and then England beat Pakistan in England? We do not have a clear number 2 then.

Meanwhile Uttar Pradesh with solid performances from Piyush Chawla, Kaif and Raina in the match and a crucial first inning lead means that we will, barring some miracle, see Kaif hold aloft Uttar Pradesh’s first Ranji title. Another likely feather in the cap for the guy who held aloft the under-19 world cup trophy what now seems ages ago.

W.G.Grace brushed aside the umpire telling him the people had come to see him bat and not him umpire, allegedly among many other legendary tales. It was the Yadav show in Lalu’s attempt to quote-unquote - popularise the game with even his son making over 100 runs in a Lalu XI vs Media XI. We used to joke that Lalu had so many children that he could form his own cricket team. He has formed a Lalu XI at least with a son of his playing in it. A start for sure.

Reports The Times of India:

An exhibition cricket match played between Lalu XI and Media XI at Moinul Haque Stadium here on Saturday saw not only the Union minister bowling a 50-ball over but also the umpire’s reluctance to rule any of his deliveries as ‘wide,’ ‘no-ball’ or even declare him out. What’s ore, the team strength numbered over 25 and runs were added to the scoreboard in 20s and 30s.

I had the feeling in the first session. Thoughts came back of this match. Jagdish seems to agree.

At National Stadium, Karachi, Pakistan has suffered just one loss. In the last 10 tests here, 8 matches have provided results. India has never won here (losing twice and drawing thrice). Inzamam averages above 70 here. A lot more facets here. Inzamam and Akhtar face injury worries and there are soft mumblings that they may not be as effective even if they play.

The grass is unlikely to be shaved off the wicket as it would mean backlash. There has already been a lot of frustration among fans and media after the first two tests. In these circumstances Pakistan has a slight advantage. A combined effort from India though could see a memorable win. It can be safely said that most people are praying that this match does produce a result. I am hoping that we see some brilliant cricket in the match and a superb inning from Tendulkar, at a ground he returns 16 years since he made his debut, which shuts a portion of the people who feel he is past his best for good.

It is game on!