Cricket's Outside Edge - A World Cricket Blog

The Importance of Average Bowling

2011-01-23T19:03:00.001Z

A superb performance of deliberately average bowling from both sides confirmed that the relatively low scores could not take away from the glory of the India-South Africa series ensuring in the process that cricket remained the winner.

The rank unadulterated failure of the Indian bowlers in turning the recent home series against New Zealand into a batathon (including lack of long-hops bowled to Jamie How, Ravichandran Ashwin’s inability to live up to the selectors’ expectations of being toothless, despite New Zealand bolstering their batting lineup with the considerable prowess of Martin Guptill) has now been atoned for in the South Africa series. The two bowling units, well aware that their batsmen could not resist throwing away their wickets on friendly pitches, have tactically reduced the quality of their produce. They ensured that they at the very least cut out dangerous seam and swing movement, before reducing their respective speeds and stopping short of dishing out utter trash.

The epitome of the mastery of the two units over well-intentioned average bowling came in the second ODI at Cape Town, brilliantly making up for the batsmen’s indulgence in picking the fielders, by toning down their deliveries to straight, harmless medium-pace offerings and ensuring that the batsmen’s appalling lack of quality would not be the only thing to be remembered. Then when the batsmen looked around sheepishly as fielders plucked their offerings, they made sure the lack of venom and quality in the deliveries that brought about their dismissals did not go unnoticed in the process deflecting heavy criticism away from some of the batsmen.

For their part, the batsmen will be delighted that having underperformed with such determined persistence, they were able to prove that ultimately ODI cricket is still a batsman’s game. A few of them did show good form and would be hoping that they will be shown the same consideration by the bowlers in the future when the inevitable law of averages catches up with them.

The bowlers from England and Australia are also averaging out spectacularly. England in particular will be happy at allowing Australia to wriggle out of jail in Hobart while Australia would be content in the knowledge that despite winning in Melbourne so convincingly their bowlers allowed the opposition to reach a highly respectable 290. A couple of low scoring games at this stage would likely have proven fatal for the success of the World Cup.

Australia have been preparing for average bowling throughout the Ashes series avoiding the IMC (involuntary momentum carry) that organizers of ODI cricket fear. (It was an admirably consistent performance throughout the series akin to Ram Gopal Verma dishing out flop movies or Roger Federer winning Grand Slam titles.)

Mitchell Johnson’s throat infection also bodes very well for the hosts. He should not be able to come up with one of those inexplicable great destructive spells of bowling by happenstance.

New Zealand bowling out Pakistan for 120-odd in Wellington (described as “not a good advertisement for cricket” by Daniel Vettori) should not detract from their expertly executed average bowling efforts in their 11-match losing streak that preceded this game, whilst their opponents will be overjoyed that they resisted any hint of temptation of taking the bait and returning the Kiwis’ favor. Indeed, their only worry would be whether their bowlers inadvertently make the return in the next game against the game plan.

Sri Lanka and West Indies should be relatively certain that their bowling units wont defer from mediocre harmless averageness in the forthcoming series given the nature of the wickets in the island nation, whilst Bangladesh will be hoping that their whitewashing of New Zealand had little to do with any special exploits of their own men with the ball. All in all, cricket is still a batsman’s game.

Does India Really Want To Find The Right Combination ?

2009-10-24T14:31:00.002Z

This series is being billed as a test-ground for India to find its "right combination". Personally, I'm not so sure they want to do it at all. Anyone can see that in ideal circumstances - Sehwag, Tendulkar, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Dhoni will form India's top 5 - and with a little more persuasion - will agree that Raina will take up the last slot in the order. So there is nothing really to "find" in the batting order.

The all-rounder's slot has been thrown open by Yusuf Pathan's ouster - and Ravindu Jadeja looks the likely candidate to be given a trial.

Once fit you would also have Zaheer in the squad and no matter how poorly Harbhajan continues to bowl he will always find a place in the side. So the battle essentially boils down to two key questions:

1) Who will be the two medium pacers backing up Zaheer ?

2) Will Amit Mishra be the second spinner given that the World Cup is going to be held in India ?

For the first question we presently have Nehra, Ishant, Praveen, Tyagi and Munaf in the race. Nehra has resurfaced out of nowhere - thanks purely to IPL performances. Ishant has inexplicably lost it - although I feel he should really focus on only real cricket - Praveen is at best an enigma, Tyagi is totally new - and Munaf is a play-one-match-sit-out-the-next-eight kind of person.

We tried RP Singh and he flopped - mind you we are not always known for showing patience with bowlers - and given that Dhoni and Harbhajan are in power at the helm it is impossible for Sreesanth to play cricket for India ever. Again.

So I go back to my original question - do we really want to find the right combination ?

Empty Stadiums Make No Noise !

2009-01-17T05:31:00.002Z

Congratulations Mumbai for winning the Ranji Trophy for a record 38th time - but what's with the empty stands for the premier domestic game in the country ? While the sad state of support for domestic teams is well-known that effect was exacerbated this year due to the decision by the BCCI to hold the knockout games at neutral venues - the argument being somewhat moronically that people don't come to see these games anyway. None less than Sachin Tendulkar has come out strongly against this policy.

What is your opinion ? Should knockout games in the Ranji Trophy be held at neutral venues ? Moreover should there be knockout games at all ? Why can't we just have a league system like the premier leagues in football where the team with the most points wins ? Get your thoughts flowing in ...

Most Promising Young Batsman ?

2009-01-15T13:17:00.003Z

This seems to be a good time for raising this question what with a couple of test spots beginning to open up - Yuvraj has staked first claim to Ganguly's spot - largely thanks to Dhoni's friendship I think - and Badri has been in the hunt - however I don't really think of these batsmen as young.

So I have come up with this list of 6 - Virat Kohli- India U19 captain and stylish strokemaker, Suresh Raina - a consistent performer for India in the ODI squad this year, Robin Uthappa - audacious right hander who has gone off the boil a bit, Rohit Sharma - classy, elegant, cool, will deliver under pressure, Cheteshwar Pujara - scores triple hundreds as easily as brushing his teeth in the morning and Ajinkya Rahane - has had a very consistent domestic season for Mumbai.

My vote clearly goes to Rohit but that may be just because of my weakness for lazy elegance. What do you guys think ? Vote away !

New IPL Blog !

2008-05-02T04:29:00.002Z

I am blogging at The DLF Indian Premier League for the duration of the IPL. Please visit and bookmark it. Will also occasionally post here, especially on non-IPL issues, but the main action will be out there. You can also subscribe to the feed directly by email.

Pleasure ....

2008-04-30T19:00:00.002Z

Fabulous to see Dravid bat the way he did today. Didn't help the team in the end, but looked so fluent and confident and showing signs of returning to the Dravid of old ! This is great news for Team India in the near future !

On The Rise, Slipping Up - IPL Table

2008-04-30T18:40:00.003Z

Teams on The Rise:

1. Rajasthan Royals: After a slow start the overwhelming underdogs have humbled three major teams. Definitely the biggest surprise package so far.

2. King's X1 Punjab: Another slow start with Yuvraj looking completely clueless in the first 2 games, but they have got their act together with back to back wins. Finally, the impressive star cast is coming to form - Sangakkara, Katich, Lee, Hopes, Yuvraj, Jayawardene all delivering.

3. Deccan Chargers: A terrible start finally seems to have been halted with a Gilchrist special. If Gilchrist continues in this vein, this is the team to look out for.

4. Mumbai Indians: The worst imaginable start with 4 defeats in a row but finally a great win over the Knight Riders with the overseas stars coming to the party has got the campaign going. With the imminent return of Tendulkar, things might have turned a corner for the Mumbai Indians.

Teams Going Down
1. Kolkata Knight Riders: Two defeats after two wins and the batting really coming up with nothing after McCullum's fireworks.

2. Bangalore Royal Challengers: After a painstaking win at Mumbai, things are going from bad to worse for Dravid's men. Three consecutive losses and the morale can't be anywhere but in the dumps.

Holding Steady
1. Delhi Daredevils: One of the more consistent lineups, had a bit of a hiccup at Mohali, but got their campaign back on track with today's win.

2. Chennai Superkings: Yes ! Rock solid baby ! Right at the top ! With no competitor in sight ! This is beginning to look more and more like a seven team competition to see who can challenge the roaring Lion !!

What is Ashok Malik Trying To Say ?

2008-04-30T18:12:00.004Z

There is a line of thought which believes a rape victim owes some responsibility in the crime in the form of provocation. I think this article by Mr. Ashok Malik subscribes to that philosophy.

Throughout the article Mr. Malik finds no reason to delve into specifics satisfying himself with very broad and general terms. He says this about Sreesanth's behavior in the IPL:

He has sledged, abused and provoked rival players, even junior batsmen and plain tyros.

Pray, could you give at least one specific instance ? I do not deny Sreesanth has been chattering away but no one has come up with any complaint with regard to abuse, sledging and provocation. What is sledging anyway ? Sledging is a term that is used very loosely these days. In its classical sense sledging is one gets abusive personally and starts talking in terms of the opponent player's family tree in not very polite language. Well Sreesanth might have done that but there has been no specific incidence, evidence or complaint from anyone. On the other hand several other players have also clearly been indulging in it.

With this solid start, he launches in a further attack:

The fact is Harbhajan is not the best behaved sportsman in the world. Sreesanth hasn’t slapped anyone yet but, overall, he’s even worse.

Fact ? Wouldn't it be more realistic to base this as your perception or opinion ? Or at least the majority opinion ? Do you know how a fact is defined ? Pray what kind of behaviorometer did you use to measure these players, do let me know.

Further:

Waving his bat, exercising his pelvic muscles mid-pitch, screaming and shouting, bearing his teeth, grimacing menacingly without reason, Sreesanth is the most visible face of this cricket boor; at least on television. The face, let us accept, is ugly.

Boor ? The English dictionary defines a boor as a churlish, rude or unmannerly person, a peasant, rustic, country bumpkin or a yokel. You might find the face ugly Mr. Malik, I personally found the waving of the bat and shaking of the hips charming and like a breath of fresh air. Yes, he is not a choir girl. No one claimed he was. But why should we just accept what you want us to ? And why should the face matter so much ?

As a parting shot here is what Malik comes up with:

By making a public scene, playing the wronged guy, crying on camera, blaming it on his “fever in the morning”, Sreesanth has betrayed a streak for exhibitionism and a low emotional quotient.

I mean come on - give the guy a break. He is going through a rough phase in his career. His teammate slaps him in public. He is a temperamental emotional guy. Does Malik seriously believe that those tears were fake ? It is one thing to say he could have handled it like a man, some men are different.

The whole piece rakes of callousness deep-seated hatred against one individual.

No Country For Old Men ?

2008-04-29T18:39:00.002Z

So what are these old buggers doing playing the IPL anyway ? Ganguly Dravid and Laxman ? There has been a positive uproar amidst sections of followers over the place of these guys in their respective sides.

My take on this is simple - this is club cricket, not international cricket. Traditionally in such games there are always the old local pros who have been around for donkey's years. They are there to knock some sense in the heads of the young tyros. Imagine how much Kohli would be learning sharing space with Dravid ! Not just about how to bat in this hit-or-miss thing (of which perhaps Dravid might know precious little) but of approach to cricket in general which would help the young kid in the long term in what really matters - his test career.

Often it might happen that these old pros might not come up with the goods. I'm totally okay with that. I think they should be afforded that luxury for their services and reputation. They are the ones who are giving identity to these local teams after all.

Bravo Bravo

2008-04-29T18:36:00.002Z

West Indies cricket is alive folks ! Continuing in the list of gloriously gifted batsmen from time immemorial to Sobers, Lloyd, Richards, Lara etc. is Dwayne Bravo !!

What an innings that was against the Knight Riders ! What wrists ! What strokes ! What grace ! What Calypso flavor !

Do not miss out on the highlights - will post the Youtube link when it arrives !

Shivamani and Dhoni and Rayban Glasses in Kolkata

2008-04-29T18:27:00.002Z

Some of the search terms that attract visitors to this site:

1. sivamani bangalore cricket
2. SHIVAMANI AND DHONI
3. price of Rayban glasses in Kolkata
4. about sreesanth
5. Harbinger singh slapping sreesanth
5. ball trajectory bowling cricket images
6. cricket spectators boundaries want cheer four banners
7. dhoni support of sivamani
8. chennai crowd cricket

I loved #3 and #5 the best

A Tale of Two Cities

2008-04-28T07:19:00.001Z

Cross-posted on Chennai Super Kings Fans.

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. It was July, last year. I was coming off a painful period in life, when the whole World seemed against me. I arrived in Bangalore for a three month internship. I fell in love with the city immediately. Bangalore literally recalled me to life. I owe a lot to the city and my stay there.

The period was pretty much like the present. I landed in Chennai earlier this year. I was to spend a semester as a visiting student at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences. It wasn’t quite love at first sight. Chennai taught me a lot, and I am richer for the experience. I remain indebted to this city for that.

Bangalore was truly my first home away from home – a wonderful experience. The city was amazingly free, a wonderful cosmopolitan place where I enjoyed the good life. Chennai seems to be more conservative but very friendly and more personal. Here, I am really enjoying getting to know the local people and their way of life. Bangalore was explored on a bike, Chennai in trains.

So when these two lovely cities go head to head in the IPL clash this evening, I have more than a minor conflict of emotions in my heart. I know that for the locals this is a needling rivalry and I have friends on both sides who wouldn’t really like me sitting on the fence over this one.

Picking up the cricket connection I have reason to support Bangalore, as Rahul Dravid my most favorite cricketer ever, is leading the side. But the cricket loving people of Chennai have endeared this place to me. My forays at the Chepauk for the test match and the IPL games have left indelible memories of the place. I guess when the curtain lifts on this blockbuster clash – I’m going to have to say “Go Super Kings!”

Sieving Out The Trash

2008-04-27T19:08:00.002Z

Lot of people crib about the fact that T20 has no role for bowlers. In fact this IPL has shown this to be completely untrue and quite contrary. One can easily see what an impact the likes of McGrath, Warne, Lee, Chawla (occasionally), and a few other genuinely talented bowlers in the odd game have made in this championship.

In T20 cricket, like in Test cricket, only the best of the best bowlers can survive. That is why a McGrath will always survive over a Bracken, a Lee over a Sanjay Bangar. These dibbly dobbly bits-and-pieces type bowlers (think Styris, Harris, Larsen, Robin Singh, Bangar, and a whole bunch of others) who made a career out of bowling the "boring" middle overs in a 5050 game will have no place. They will be ruthlessly shown the door and that can only be good for the game.

Look out for more big names among the bowlers to shine - Dale Steyn, Zaheer Khan, Mohammad Asif - just to name a few. Oh how I wish Shane Bond was here.

Umpiring The Umpires

2008-04-27T18:59:00.002Z

So the umpires in the IPL can award team points for fair play but who will judge the umpires ? Just today, Rudi made two howlers in a 20-20 game. This would have been an ideal testing ground where captains could have rated umpires publicly just like the fair play award, so that everyone knew where we stood with umpires.

Good (K)Night Kolkata !!

2008-04-27T09:36:00.001Z

This post of mine also appeared on Chennai Super Kings blog where I am now a part-time co-author.

The Biggest Crowds

So far, I had been lucky to be able to travel in largely empty, comfortable trains to and from the stadium. All that changed today, with the infrequent afternoon local train being crammed with an ocean of humanity in a narrow pipeline bursting at the seams. There were cricket fans, of course, flocking in large numbers to attend the “big game” but there were also non-cricket-fans, notably a group of young girls, extremely annoyed with the unexpected hardships in travel they were subjected to. Initially, I was quite thrilled by the rush, for, what is the experience of train travel in an Indian metro if not one defined by one such? Later, however, it got a bit irksome, as I discovered I was being acted upon by several external unbalanced forces, made to undergo random Brownian motion over which I could exert no control. In all the chaos, I was most concerned about guarding my Ray-Ban glasses and more importantly, my match ticket. Luckily, I managed both. Such chaos continued out of the train onto the platform and all the way till I entered the stands, where, luckily things were more orderly.

Up Close

As earlier, the Chennai Super Kings were going through their warm-ups close to our stand. Stephen Fleming was so close he could have virtually heard any whisper in the crowds. Fleming’s is an awesome presence – watching him on TV all these years, did not give me the true picture of how tall he actually is. Of course, Ishant seems actually taller and he too made his way towards us during their practice. Besides, Ravi Shastri also passed by a couple of times, he went past the stands somewhere and I could have literally shaken hands with him through the fence if I wanted to. And then there was the large Zimbabwean Pommie Mbangwa, who, quite astonishingly looks even more deadly up close than on TV with his flashy hair locks.

The Game

As was speculated, Shah Rukh Khan did not make an appearance at the game. Perhaps, he knew his superstar status would have competition here in the South, unlike in the rest of the country. Perhaps he feared that the Chennai team was going to be too strong for his Knight Riders anyway and he stayed away. Perhaps he was simply busy with something else. Anyway, he did send over a couple of his giant 10-feet tall knights (the mascots) over.

Like he did to Steve Waugh in that famous 2001 tour, Ganguly chose to keep Dhoni waiting at the toss too. I must say, it is a most annoying and unsportsmanlike gesture. Back then, I had joined the rest of the Indian fans and applauded it as a masterstroke. But sitting in the stands I appreciate that it leaves a bad taste in the mouth if both captains do not walk out for the toss together.

As the game began, McCullum’s massive six hit the roof of our stand just a few meters away from where I was sitting, it was a phenomenal stroke but soon after that he got out and then Ponting followed; and that was the beginning of what was to be an extremely one-sided game.

The Lights

I have now been at the Chepauk for day games and night games but today was the first time I was there in day-night game, so to say; and I had the pleasure to see the lights turning on. They follow a very systematic pattern - it is the two central columns which light up first, starting with the top row and going down to the bottom. Then the adjacent columns light up and so it spreads outwards. Llike almost any other landscape in the World, a cricket stadium looks its prettiest at twilight; when illuminated partly by nature and partly by man. It was in this light that Parthiv Patel hooked a short ball from Ajit Agarkar up in the air right into the hands of Ishant Sharma in the deep, one whose trajectory I am happy to say I followed from start to end.

Sivamani

Lastly, I was honored to have the opportunity to shake legs to the beats of the living legend Sivamani. This guy is absolutely amazing. I already mentioned the fact that he moves around the stadium with his drums so that all sections of the crowd can enjoy him. But what I noticed yesterday was that he also plays while he is on the move and his assistant is carrying the drums for him. Besides a great percussionist the guy is also a magnificent showman as I discovered and has the ability to carry the crowds with him. When he parked himself at our stand and beat the drums for our dancing pleasure, I focused on the way his hands moved the sticks.

It was as graceful and subtle as a very skilled batsman with a bat in his hand.

Unfortunately the cricket today was all about brute force and lacked that grace and beauty.

On Site View: IPL Rocks Chennai!!!

2008-04-24T09:11:00.001Z

This article of mine appeared under a guest column at Chennai Super Kings Fans Blog by Robin.

The IPL Party finally arrived at Chennai yesterday – the last of its eight stops all around the country. I had returned to Chennai only the day before and presumed that I was too late to join in. Tickets, it seemed, had sold like hot cakes and I had resigned myself to watching the game on the TV in the hostel room.

With the match scheduled to start at 8 pm, I set out with some vague plan after 5. I had been told by sources that the best chance of picking up tickets at this late hour would be at one of the Landmark bookstores in the city. I tried and failed. Faced with the choice of returning home and taking a chance at the stadium, most likely on a black ticket, I opted for the latter without much hope.

Even before getting off from the train at the Chepauk station, the floodlights from the stadium stared right into my eyes. It was an awe-inspiring sight. I had seen the same light towers day in and day out when I was there for the test match, but at night, the towers are a completely different spectacle. By the time I detrained, and joined in the thronging crowds I was welcomed by the loud music that was doing the rounds inside. The ticket counter was surprisingly still open. Anxiously, I asked for the ticket and I could scarcely believe my luck as the old man calmly told me to hand over Rs. 1000 and tore out one. For the second time in a month, completely unexpectedly, and hence unprepared, I found myself walking through the gates of the Cognizant stand and into the Chidambaram stadium. I had done the right thing by taking the chance.

Though there was still more than a hour and a half to go for the game, the players were already on the field doing their warm-ups, the crowd was already sizeable and the entertainment show was on full blast. This was my first time at any live sport event played at night and the spectacle is awesome! The lush green outfield blends beautifully with the blue of the Mumbai Indians and of course, the yellow of the Chennai Super Kings. Once I was in my seat I tried to figure out who the performer was. Luckily the stage was right opposite to our stand; yet it was too far away to identify the people. Then I vaguely remembered reading somewhere that it was Hariharan who was supposed to be the artist today. Later of course they showed him on the big screen. I haven’t been following that guy’s music too closely but it seems he is projecting himself as more than a musician, more like some sort of a rock-star and he did some dance moves that appeared a bit scary, to be polite. His music was good though and he mixed Tamil numbers with Hindi ones – notable among those I remembered were “Kay Zala?” and “Krishna”.

The crowd was understandably, quite different from the test match crowd a month ago. It was very young, very vibrant crowd, mainly of teenagers and people in their early twenties. And it was a completely festive atmosphere with everyone partying their hearts out, dancing and singing. There was ample amount of cheering and applause for players from both teams as well as for the entertainers. And in the middle of it all suddenly everyone went crazy and I couldn’t understand why – and later realized it was Vijay, the super star of South India and the Star Ambassador of the Super Kings who did the rounds of the ground.

Once Hariharan was done with his show some time before the toss, Sivamani, the famous Tamil percussionist took over with his drums. He was great – throughout the Chennai innings he stirred up the crowds with his beats and moved all around the perimeter of the ground so that all sections got a chance to soak him in. Dance and music was the theme of the night and for once, a purist like me, did not crib about cricket being only a part of the whole. If you have been watching IPL on TV thinking it is big, you haven’t seen anything yet. You have just got to go out there in the stadium to feel what passion, what heat this thing has generated all over young India.

As the game began and Chennai Super Kings batted each boundary was greeted with a new piece of music from Sivamani and others, and the crowds rose to his beats and tunes. There were cheerleaders, yes, of both camps; and the poor gals and guys of the Mumbai Indians got very few chances to cheer during the Chennai innings. But we loved their anthem and some of their numbers. In fact I could relate more to some of the Mumbai numbers because naturally I was unaware of some of the super-hit Tamil numbers that had the rest jumping from their seats and me a bit confused. The weird part though was that the cheerleaders were fully clad in trousers perhaps bearing in mind the relatively conservative culture of Chennai. I mean what next? Cheerleading with sweaters on in this heat?

Coming to the cricket, I can now appreciate how difficult it is to catch those high catches under lights. Several times looking straight up into the lights I completely lost the ball. Yet several wonderful catches were taken – notably by Bravo, Joginder, Raina and Badrinath. We cheered Hayden as one of our own yet he didn’t really show much appreciation after reaching his 50. The strokeplay on either side was spectacular – Raina for Chennai and Bravo, Jayasuruiya, Utthappa, Nayyar and Bhajji from Mumbai. The new fast bowler Gony from Chennai was most impressive. He was bowling away from us and I could feel the weight his ball generated troubling the top players like Jayasuriya. I also noticed Harbhajan completely lost as a captain and towards the end of the innings Jayasuriya was taking the lead helping him out adjusting the field and swapping fielders.

As the match reached a climax, the crowd tensed up just a little bit. It was an open game with three balls to go but somehow with Dhoni on our side I never believed we could lose. It was oh so similar to the T20 World Cup final with Joginder messing up at the start before holding his nerve to win. It was a massive roar and a collective sigh of relief that followed the win. It had been an amazing game and an astonishing spectacle of cricket and one grand party. To make it even more special the presentation lasted beyond midnight which meant it was Sachin Tendulkar’s birthday. There were several attempts to attract attention to this fact and that we remembered it by the crowd, unfortunately Tony Cozier during his presentation didn’t quite lap it up and I don’t know if Sachin received our wishes. Of course, he was cheered everytime he made an appearance on the big screen.

The Indian Premier League like a superhit Bollywood (or Kollywood) movie has enjoyed a grand opening. I hope it can sustain this success because it is just great. It has managed to harness the passion and energy of a whole generation of Indians. There is no reason to believe why it can’t go on to match the Premier Leagues of football in Europe. I want to be there again when Chennai take on Kolkata on Saturday. I want to be part of the phenomenon of this cricket revolution. The party has only begun. There are going to be many more such wild and glorious nights to follow. Cheers!

Dear Dear ! Rahul Will Never Change !

2008-04-23T09:44:00.002Z

When Mohammad Kaif was going through a bad patch during the West Indies tour of 2006, he approached the then skipper Rahul Dravid for help. What he expected was probably a couple of technical tips and lots of words of encouragement. Whether he got these or not I'm sure but what he definitely got was a book about batting to read. He was, apparently, completely befuddled and did not know what to say.

Such incidents resulting from Dravid being the erudite, classic scholarly captain leading a team of brash young street-smart cricketers from the play-station generation little intent on bookish knowledge with short attention spans did ultimately contribute to his having to resign from the post.

Now, the other day, when leading BRC against the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede, when Mark Boucher went in to join Jacques Kallis at a crucial juncture, Dravid chose to encourage him in his own unique style again - instead of a pat on the back or exhorting words, he merely reminded Boucher that he and Kallis had at the same venue 8 years ago built a match-winning partnership to win a Test match against India.

This time it worked !

Rahul's Statesmanly and Magnaminous Gesture

2008-04-21T09:43:00.002Z

It is no surprise that no-one noticed this gesture - tiny, subtle and easily glossed over, but at the same time magnaminous and one that has prevented potentially cataclysmic effects in the cricketing world. As usual it is the gentleman at the fore of it all. As usual, simply because he chose to do it with so little fuss, he will never get credit for it. As usual, he did it in this manner because it was the right way to do - even though it was not going to help him get the limelight.

When Harbhajan got him caught and bowled, there was sufficient reason to question the catch and Dravid did for a moment. One could see him shake his head and actually look at the square leg umpire before he asked Bhajji and took Bhajj's word for it. Whether or not it was a clean catch is another question. I'm sure Bhajji was in his mind, completely honest he had caught it. But I'm also sure if it had gone to the third umpire, Rahul would have got the benefit of the doubt.

But I'm sure after that initial instinctive reaction Rahul immediately looked at the bigger picture. What repercussions would there have been all over the World especially in Australia if the picture was painted that Indian players themselves did not trust Harbhajan's word ? It would have been Christmas in Australia, it would have damaged Harbhajan's international career and had at least some medium term effects on the morale of Team India.

Kudos to the great man for his statesmanship and big-heartedness once again. Salute !

How Do You "Leave It Be" ?

2008-04-11T09:11:00.003Z

There is this commentator on Cricinfo - I suspect it is George Binoy, who today seems to be using this phrase quite often often for deliveries not played a shot at. I mean, I have heard of "letting it go" and "leaving it alone" ... but how the hell do you leave a delivery be ?

Weird. Here is a sample commentary.

56.4 Sreesanth to de Villiers, no run, better length outside off stump, de Villiers leaves it be this time

On a related note - what's up with Sreesanth and all these slower balls ? So boring.

Dhoni - Shape Up or Ship Out !

2008-04-04T16:28:00.004Z

Daryll Cullinan is not too far off the mark when he says that India's focus is not on the game but on the IPL to follow. In particular I'm terribly mad at Dhoni. This guy is getting a free ride in the Test team IMO and has done extremely averagely for the last 6 tests or so. In fact other than that match-saving innings at Lord's and his sole hundred against Pakistan Dhoni has practically nothing to show for as a batsman at this level. Yes he has a couple of 60s and the odd 90 but overall, terribly inconsistent. His average of 33 tells a story.

If anyone in this team needs to be under the scrutiny it is this man - MS Dhoni. Mr Superstition who believes in sacrifising lambs and in exercising his power over senior players who have achieved heights he can only dream of at this stage.

2008-04-03T10:25:00.000Z

Cricinfo has gone bonkers. It is crazily exaggerating the so-called 20-20 fever that has gripped the country. It might be the most lucrative form of the game – I don’t know why that should make writers like Dileep Premachandran jealous of its success. Anyway it is highly doubtful if it can be classified as the least-skilled form of the game as from whatever I have seen it extracts more skills out of bowlers than the boring 50 over format.

Live From Chepauk Day 5

2008-03-30T17:46:00.001Z

It was going to be a draw, and I must admit, the thought of skipping the day’s play did cross my mind – particularly because, it is, after all, a major investment of time, and with a no-result looming on the horizon, one is bound to consider whether that investment is indeed worthwhile. However, I told myself that stranger things had happened in Test cricket before and if they did occur today, I would be kicking myself for missing out. So I chose to go lest I should regret. Also, I told myself I’d reassess the situation at lunch (and perhaps at tea) and probably make an early return. Well, the miracle did not happen. But I did not regret my action either.

It was a frustrating morning. Certainly, the wicket was a bit more helpful to the bowlers today than any earlier time. All the ingredients of a turner were there, it was just that it did not happen soon enough for this test to live. The spinners bowled quite well in the morning. We saw Sreesanth drop a simple catch – this was also a new experience, to see and feel a dropped catch on the field – and RP a tougher one off his own bowling. The crowd was expectedly a bit less and less vocal today.

I experimented with my seating position in the stands today, given the status of the game. It has long been an accepted axiom that the best place to watch the game is from behind the bowler’s arm, and staying true to it I had got myself as close to this angle as physically possible in the stand. It is also said that the mid-wicket view, the side-ways view is the worst. Today, after tea, I decided to try out this particular view. It was a revelation. It shattered years of blind belief in what had been passed down as gospel. Like several others, (play in the V, get your foot to the pitch of the ball, play out the first few overs) this was a cricketing myth. It was enlightening and wonderful. While it is obviously true that the line of the ball cannot be judged from that view, it is just as obvious that it is the optimal position to follow length, and resultantly, bounce. Duh! It is just simple geometry, when one comes to think about it. If line is what you want to observe, stay behind the bowler’s arm, if it is length, stay at mid-wicket. And who is to say which is more important? Michael Holding, famously said, “Line is optional, length is mandatory”. I guess it depends on your perspective for the moment. Today, when there was little turn, and Harbhajan relying on the bounce, it was the right choice I made.

If there was one aspect of the game I had not been able to witness it was a great catch. And that discrepancy was rectified when RP Singh pulled off a blinder at square leg. I saw the ball from the time it left Bhajji’s hand till it reached RPs. It was a matter of a fraction of a second! Wonderful. It was at this point that I felt sure that I did the right thing in coming today.

All along Harbhajan was bowling beautifully. This was one of the things I enjoyed most in the Test even amidst the towering batting performances of all and sundry. He takes some time to settle but once he gets the line and loop going he can be beautiful to watch.

The bounce is the best part to watch in Harbhajan’s bowling, along with the flight. Ashwell Prince’s wicket was memorable for me. I was a bit distracted today given the state of the match but luckily just focused on that particular delivery. It was slower, given good flight bounced and ended up in the hands of short leg. Again, I followed the trajectory of the ball all the way. Awesome.

With the wicket of Amla just before lunch the last dire hopes were rekindled and I decided to stay on. A bit surprisingly so did most of the crowd. But it was not meant to happen. It was petering out to a tame draw. Kumble left the field – and with part-timers Sehwag and Laxman on, there was no denying the inevitable. Yet, it did not get boring. The crowd did not leave or turn silent; on the contrary it turned more vocal. And strangely, I felt the same way too. What was happening? Suddenly it dawned upon me. The match was over as a contest between two nations, but the cricketing contest was still on. India were still trying to take wickets. They were putting the fielders right, trying to create the pressure. Once again, I mentally noted how important the role of the bowler is in this great game. The bowler is the one who acts first, the batsman only reacts. If the bowler chooses to challenge the batsmen the game will always be alive. At the first drinks after lunch, Dhoni called a huddle meeting – and it seemed to have worked wonders. India were suddenly more pumped up. And the crowd was at its best at this point. “Will you be watching right till the end?” I asked a young kid. “Of course” he replied with no little amount of scorn. The spirit of the crowd never sagged. Indeed it kept rising throughout the day. I saluted the Chennai crowd. In five hot days I had been tanned, as well as Tammed !! I was Tamned !! Even with all the record-breaking cricket and dazzling skills on display it was the crowd, the colors, the noise, the enthusiasm that made the experience all the more memorable for me.

It ended rather abruptly, and quite aptly so. It would have been overkill to have gone on any longer. The presentation was expectedly a major anti-climax. There was no mention of Dravid’s achievement. However Makhaya Ntini once again obliged us with his dance. He ventured almost into the stands and shook hands and signed autographs for several kids.

The match was over. Cricinfo reported it as a boring draw. I reported it otherwise. I guess they were right. I don’t care about them though. I will remember these five days for the rest of my life.

Live From Chepauk - Day 4

2008-03-29T18:05:00.000Z

The excitement was tremendous. It had been perfectly set up. The expectations were endless. More history was anticipated. No one wanted to miss out. All roads led to Chepauk.

I had to be on time. I could afford to slack on earlier days but not today. I didn’t. And it was a good thing. Sehwag turned the very first ball for a single and broke his own record for the highest ever individual score by an Indian. A couple of boundaries later the hearts began racing. Pictures of the world record were already being formed. Only to be rudely woken up from the dream. Sehwag was out, caught in the slips. An epic had ended.

The applause was staggering. After a pause for a fraction of a millisecond it resumed again to welcome Sachin Tendulkar. This ground is like a home away from home for him. But he disappointed. No matter. We cheered again, this time for Ganguly. Some of his strokes were beautiful.

But another milestone was coming – 10000 runs for Rahul Dravid. It came via a single, played in our direction. The reaction was quite special. It was a massive ovation from crowd renowned for its knowledge ability. Dravid appreciated it. It meant a lot to him. He celebrated in a manner he seldom does. Rarely does he celebrate hundreds like the way he did his eightieth run today. For some reason he seemed to have taken a particular liking towards our section. This could not possibly be true, but I’m pretty sure I could feel him looking me in the eye and raising his bat as I saluted. Dravid is legend and my admiration for him is beyond description. Even on this monumental day people cribbed about his batting. He didn’t care. I didn’t care. We didn’t care. It was very special for him and for me.

Today was the first time I felt under some pressure to protect my vantage point seat in the stand with the larger crowd. Also, I believe I came on camera today. At least it was very difficult for me not to have, since the cameraman shot right at us from about 10 feet away. I was holding up a banner proclaiming I had come all the way from the USA to see history. Perhaps I was seen on TV at some point, perhaps not. These camerapersons are unfortunately all male and hence the girls in the crowd are always most likely to make their way on the screen, despite the fact that often girls and cricket do not go hand in hand.

As Dravid played some crisp strokes towards the end of the innings I was also treated to some Very Very Specials from Laxman. Just like watching Sehwag in the stadium as opposed to on TV is special, so is it with VVS. The thump is replaced by the touch. The loud thud is replaced by a sweet ting. But the end product is just as spectacular. Dhoni, however, disappointed. Steyn’s bowling towards the end was quite superb especially the two consecutive bouncers he bowled at Dhoni and the way he shattered the tail. It was high quality pace bowling the full weight of which can only be experienced when live than on TV. This was preceded by another very good spell by Ntini in the morning in which he removed Sehwag, Tendulkar and Dravid all caught at slip. The overcast conditions could have been a factor too. And then in the evening Harbhajan and Kumble just about began to pose some problems. It was wonderful to see so many different art forms (fast bowling, swing bowling, off spin, leg spin) all being exhibited on a day.

One of Dale Steyn’s express deliveries hit Sreesanth badly on the hand when he was batting. Sree was in pain, but clearly he was mentally ruffled too. He fielded right in front of us for most of the time and was fiddling with his hand all the while. Several times he had the physio look at it. Also he seemed very angry about it. Usually he responds to the crowd cheering with a wave but this time he was only looking away. Later, however, he himself took the initiative and got the crowd – which had gone somewhat silent – involved. He egged us to cheer on which we duly did of course, not that it helped. A lot of Indian players have been more interactive with the crowds because of Makhaya Ntini. Ntini really is a hit with the crowds, perhaps because this is going to be his home ground in the IPL. At first he was a bit confused, but once he realized the crowd was gaga over him he responded fabulously – every time he is placed on the boundary the crowd went wild, and Ntini broke into some African dance jig. It should be fun having a character like him for the IPL.

This match as of today appears dead and it has been somewhat of a letdown after the highs of yesterday. However I am not one to crib – not after being as honored I have been over the past 2 days. I still hold out hope for some possibility of a result tomorrow.

Live From Chepauk – Day 3

2008-03-28T17:58:00.000Z

I was there. I witnessed history.

I wasn’t expecting to do so as I boarded the by now familiar train to Chepauk. After all who does ever? The day began with a tinge of cloud in the air. It was the first minor weather concern for the test match. Luckily, it blew past. Maybe the heavens, unlike me, expected history to be written today and did not wish to interrupt.

I missed the first couple of overs. That was all I missed. What happened after that has been written in one glorious chapter in the annals of cricket, and, in a very small way, I was part of it. I stood up to applaud as Sehwag completed his 100, his 150, his 200, his 250 and his 300. I cheered 42 boundaries and 5 sixes. It was the fastest triple hundred ever and Viru was only the third man to cross 300 twice – the other 2 being some little known cricketers, Bradman and Lara. Though I still did not carry my camera, I recorded that moment in the evening when he flicked Makhaya Ntini towards square leg for a single in my memory forever.

He always looked in the mood to attack today. Up until yesterday I was looking at the field, figuring out the possibilities where runs could be scored and deliberating about lines of attack for the bowlers. All such trivialities were thrown out of the window today. The fields, the lines, the bowlers all became irrelevant. Sehwag was seeing the ball, Sehwag was hitting the ball.

A lot had been said up until today in all sorts of places about the flat Chennai wicket and the way it was detrimental to the cause of test cricket and depriving the fans of a good contest. That might be so, but all I can say is, while I might have missed a “good contest”, I had the opportunity to witness history. I am not complaining. My only grouse is that because I am not a historian I may be incompetent to narrate it. Therefore, I shall not attempt to do so. I would make a fool of myself trying to confine the magnificence of Sehwag’s innings by bounding it in adjectives. I will leave it at that.

Throughout the innings Dravid was supporting Sehwag superbly, maybe not in the best way in terms of rotating the strike, but certainly in terms of providing encouragement and appreciation. At every landmark he patted him on his shoulder, egged him onto greater heights and when the big moment came, entered into a great hug. But the most wonderful moment of the day came at the end of the day’s play. Sehwag was just done with the customary Ramiz Raja interview when Tendulkar all padded up walked out and broke into a most wonderful brotherly hug. At this point, I was only a few feet away from the action and the smile on Sachin’s face was to be cherished forever.

Later, while Sachin was waiting for his net session to begin, Yuvraj and Dhoni were pulling each other’s legs. Dhoni tried to mimic Yuvi by taking a left-handed upright stance and Yuvi returned the favor completely taking a right-handed slightly crouched stance tapping the bat a few times like MS usually does.

The stadium was almost 80% full today. This figure increased to 90 by the end of the day. There was a group of rather vocal MBA students sitting right behind me. They were apparently terribly distressed by the fact that not many people agreed that the best way to be enthusiastic about the game was to shout at the top of their voice. The content, while irrelevant, was mostly inane. At least one of them seemed particularly angry with the way Jaffer and later Dravid were batting and made it known to all that he had paid Rs. 300 to buy the ticket and he wanted every paisa worth. He very wisely described the Chennai crowd as “too knowledgeable” and “too sporting” and went gaga over how wild the Mumbai crowd could get. He further went on to say, nay shout, that he wanted to see Tendulkar bat today, that he didn’t care about how many wickets we lost and reiterated that he had indeed paid Rs. 300 to get in.

While this was a bit stupid and grew tiresome at times, the group as a whole was nice lively company. In their attempts to get wild, one of the things they did was to try to initiate the Mexican wave. Now, I have already described how I was part of the Mexican wave yesterday. To join it is great fun, but to initiate it is a job that requires a lot of patience and persistence. Several times it dies out within the first few degrees across the stadium. But once the spark is lit it spreads like wild fire. And it is even greater fun knowing you were one of those who lit the spark.

Once again, at the risk of repeating myself I stress – I witnessed history today. Some souls, undoubtedly more lucky than me, watched the ICL.

Live From Chepauk - Day 2

2008-03-27T19:50:00.000Z

The Indira Nagar station had another surprise in store for me today. I had, I thought walked for an eternity once again until I reached the location of that most wonderfully isolated ticket counter only to find it absent. I was a bit ruffled, after all I needed to get the ticket. Soon, I realized, that I needed to walk down towards a further eternity. Eventually I got there. The person at the counter today was not as helpful, but efficient nevertheless.

I planned to attend the afternoon sessions today ostensibly to prove to myself that I was spending some time at work and to leave open the opportunity to report to my advisor. India had been suffering at the hands of South Africa all morning and the situation hadn’t changed much by the time I reached. I had a quick lunch before taking my seat. My arrival it seems, inspired India to lift their game. The screws were tightened, Amla was fantastically run out, and after one more mid-sized partnership, the tail was eventually wrapped up. When Mark Boucher went for an almighty ho-heave to be caught by Dravid at slip, for one instance I felt that the ball was going to come towards me.

I really enjoyed watching Harbhajan’s spell this evening. He bowled a very good and tight line, got good bounce, kept tempting the batsmen and was rewarded. There was a brief period when he chose to go round the wicket. I could clearly see the move was flawed, looking at the offside field which was right below my nose. I could see that with the angle several gaps were available for exploitation. Luckily he figured this out soon and switched back.

When India finally came out to bat, it was the best part of the day. Sehwag’s bat made an awe-inspiring sound as it stroked the ball. I have marveled at Sehwag’s shot-making for ages, and it is fantastic viewing on TV, but what TV does not give you is the feel of the weight of the ball as it strikes the bat. Today Sehwag’s strokeplay was a sight to behold and a sound to ring in the ears for a long time to come. Jaffer’s striking was also delightful.

Today I tried to focus on what players do between overs. Why is it that over-rates are so poor? Of course with a right-left batting combination things always get complicated with continuous field changes. I saw both bowler and captain make changes to the field right up to the last moment pulling the boundary fielders couple of feet closer, a few degrees wider and so on. I saw players, particularly Ganguly taking their own sweet time to assume position. In this aspect it has to be said that South Africa were much cleaner with their act, but of course this might change as the innings progresses.

The lasting memory for today will be the Mexican wave in the crowd. I have always loved this phenomenon which seems to be shockingly banned at some venues in Australia. The way it goes around the ground in circles is awesome and despite myself I stood up and joined in.

At the end of the day’s play today I waited for a bit and tried to get right down on level with the playing field. RP Singh was coming out for a bat in the nets and Dhoni was already having kids throw at him as he tried to perfect his shots. This was happening barely about 10 feet away from where we were standing. I hung out for some more time as Gary Kirsten, Prasad and Sreesanth also made their way out. I made a mental note that this was perhaps the best opportunity for photos/autographs if any.

India ended up in a fair position by the end of day and I can’t wait for tomorrow’s action to begin. Of course I plan to be there all day tomorrow (Friday is part of the weekend for me) and hope to see more scintillating strokeplay from India’s batsmen and hopefully the test will be alive and poised by the end of it.

Live From Chepauk – Day 1

2008-03-27T19:19:00.002Z

The metro station at Indira Nagar (the one closest to my current abode), quite conceivably like several others in Chennai, is a weird specimen. It blends a majestic ballast with a shabby exterior. The station is well-designed but extremely poorly maintained. As a result of the unseasonal rains that lashed the city last week, there were several pools of water greeting one on arrival. When you arrive here, particularly for the first time, you are bound to feel a wee bit awed. The light is insufficient, even in daytime, and contrary to what you might expect in any place in India picked uniformly at random, the population density is distressingly low. I had experienced this earlier and this was part of the reason why I was apprehensive about using these trains. But I had put these thoughts out of my mind given the surprising resolve with which I had set about my task.

After walking for a seemingly endless time through spaces that seemed to be created exclusively for me, I reached the tiny ticket counter. Luckily, I knew that Chepauk was one of the stations on the track in the direction of Chennai Beach and that the stadium was right next to it. (Thank you Google Maps). The person at the ticket counter was extraordinarily helpful. “You going to watch the match?” he asked me. “Yes”, I said, speaking the half-truth. Why does he need to know that I am only going to buy tickets for the weekend? “I’ll give you return ticket” he offered. Evidently, he was quite happy. Perhaps it was a sign of things to come, that things were about to look up pretty soon. I bought the return ticket for Rs. 10 (25 cents) – an American would easily pass it off as a joke that I could buy a return ticket as cheap as this – and proceeded towards the platform. One really good thing about these metro stations is that directions are very clearly marked and there is very little chance of even the dumbest of people getting lost.

The train arrived soon enough. Now I have very rarely traveled in local trains, only once in a Mumbai local train, and that was the afternoon local from Churchgate to Victoria Terminus. I know of course what train travel in Mumbai is via accounts from friends and the media. Yeah, you can call me a spoilt child, I know. I knew Chennai wouldn’t be as bad as Mumbai, but was extremely pleasantly surprised to find that it was almost a ride in the park – it was not crowded at all, which could either mean the operation is a big success or a big failure depending on the way you look at it.

On the train was another young guy wearing a Google-ACM-geekish looking T-shirt and carrying a backpack on his shoulder. After some time, he asked me (in Tamil of course) something related to Chepauk. Naturally, I expressed helplessness. He asked the same of another man and was apparently satisfied with the answer. I do not know an iota of Tamil but I could figure out that he was asking about Chepauk station. I ventured to ask him (in English) whether he was going to see the match. He was. He seemed a nice bloke. I felt happy to see someone eager to go to the match making sure he made it on time. “Stay back, enemy, you still have some way to go so long as we have our staunch loyalists fighting.” – I thought to myself. At the same time I felt a tinge sad that I was not going to be there at the stadium today.

I knew that the stadium was close to the station and was reasonably confident of finding my way around but I received another pleasant surprise on discovering that I was already there as soon as I put my foot outside the complex. Surely, things were falling into place today. Surely, I would not have any problems in getting tickets now? I asked for the ticket counter, for the stands that my friend had recommended as reasonable yet offering a good view and comfortable seats. Just outside the counter I met another young guy who seemed quite desperate to sell one of the tickets he had bought. It was a ticket for all 5 days worth Rs. 1200. He was willing to sell it for Rs. 1000. I, of course, was planning to buy tickets only for the weekend, which would have cost me about Rs. 600. But, right at that moment, looking at the crowds streaming in, I found the offer too tempting and surrendered myself to my instincts. I had a 5-day pass and I could if I wanted to go watch the Test any time I wanted. I was still not sure I had the energy to do this but I wanted to go in right at that moment and not be on the train back to IMSC. My return ticket was valid for the whole day after all. I confirmed with the guy that the ticket was indeed genuine, handed him 2 notes of Rs. 500, felt a bit awkward with so many policemen watching me trade in the black market and then walked in through the gate.

Security check was a breeze. No problems whatsoever. As soon as I entered the stands I was convinced I had been stupid all along to even hesitate about coming here. I have watched a few ODI games in Nehru Stadium, Pune with varying degrees of enthusiasm and enjoyment but none of the experiences come close to watching real cricket in an arena. The Chidambaram Stadium is quite beautiful. The officials have done a good job in making sure that the stadium retains a sense of cool because as is well-known the heat and humidity can get brutal here. Towards that end, not only are all stands well-covered and the better ones provided with adequate cooling facilities but the colors are most soothing – green and blue. In addition, the stands are covered by cement material which helps to keep them cool.

The crowd was great. It was by no means a full house, but equally you could not call it disappointing. It was a vociferous crowd making plenty of noise. It had groups of youngsters flocking in, it had couples – young and old, fathers explaining to their sons nuances of this great game, and sons, in turn, asking curious questions. It had a fair sprinkling of the female population of all ages – another pleasant surprise and also a few South African supporters, both black and white. The crowd made a lot of noise using all sorts of improvised musical instruments but the show-stealer was the African group singing at the top of their voices. A group of Indian youth tried to compete with them, most unsuccessfully. But, importantly, the crowd lived up to its reputation of being extremely knowledgeable. It cheered the fall of wickets as also delightful strokes, it applauded the great bouncers as also the maiden overs, it appreciated the delightful flicks as much as the solid forward defensives. And no, there were no thugs or goons or politicians in there. Yes, there was a fair number of policemen, who also got a chance to enjoy the game. Indeed, the fact that the crowd was lesser in quantity as compared to what it would have been in an ODI enhanced its own quality and made viewing a pleasing experience. Test cricket is alive and kicking in this country. “Boo, Enemy, Boo”

All in all, I realized that the idea of cricket watching in stadiums in India being a bit of a drag held no water. I still have to give my certificate to the toilet facilities though since I did not use them all day today. Water bottles could be carried in (a welcome relief) and the food facilities outside the stand were quite decent and exceedingly cheap. The icing on the cake was the fact that one could leave and return whenever one wished – spectator comfort in India still has some way to go but progress has been made.

The view from where I sat, while not being optimal was quite a decent one. It was the fineleg-long-off angle from the point of view of a left-handed batsmen. Several of the players fielded close to our position at different times and we could look at them up close. Most players were responsive to the crowd’s appreciation – Sreesanth, RP Singh, being the foremost. Harbhajan Singh also spent a fair bit of time at our boundary and while Sachin never patrolled it, he came halfway towards on occasions. I had heard that cameras were on the list of prohibited items so I had opted not to risk carrying mine. I have a poor recent history with cameras, but apparently smaller cameras could be sneaked in quite easily. Of course mobile phone cameras were omnipresent. One interesting tidbit in the day was when Sreesanth was fielding at the boundary a couple of the ball-boys while offering him water also passed on some advice. Sreesanth smiled and patted the kids on the back then told them that he would be catching the ball on the boundary pretty soon and showed them how he would do it. Of course that catch never came.

The cricket itself was reasonably entertaining. Not the best ever seen, by any stretch of imagination. I enjoyed the strokeplay by Smith and McKenzie as also their wickets taken by Kumble and Harbhajan. But those moments when the game gets boring when you watch on TV are conspicuously absent when you are in the stands – possibly because there are so many things going on that you can keep track of – on the pitch, in the outfield, on the boundary, in the stands and in all other places. Besides you also do not feel the frustration of your team not doing too well that you do when watching from home. I think this is because you see the players so close out there performing and realize that they are trying their best. This I think is very similar to the difference between watching cinema and watching theater. Watching test cricket in the battleground arena is the ultimate theater.

Amidst this awesome experience, I always knew at the back of my mind that I needed to report for work at some point in the day. Reluctantly, I returned at tea time. I would be back however – maybe in the afternoon tomorrow and then all through the weekend. This is going to be an experience to cherish.

Live from Chepauk - The Night Before

2008-03-27T17:16:00.000Z

Tomorrow is the big test between India and South Africa. I say “big” with a pinch of salt because Test cricket seems to be on the wane these days, at least in the minds of the general public, or so we are led to believe.

I am not sure I am going to watch the game. This is the first time I am living in a city when a Test match is being held there and hence my first real opportunity to watch a “live” game from the stands but somehow I’m not too enthused about it.

Maybe the enemy has worn me out – the enemy in this case being the general notion of the decline of Test cricket doing the rounds. The enemy does its job well. It issues propaganda about how this series is squeezed between two “major” events – the CB Series and the IPL and makes it out to be little more than a minor distraction. It proclaims loudly and proudly about how the Chepauk is all set to be the home of some individuals who collectively call themselves “Superkings” – if only they could come up with a less terrible name! Sigh!

The enemy is not the only obstacle though. I need to get myself out of my usual inertia. I have heard many stories and have had some first-hand experience of how watching cricket matches in stadia in India can be a harrowing experience. Yes, I have heard of toilets in which one needs to enter with one hand over one’s nose and the other holding your jeans a foot above ground. I have heard of people collapsing with their heads bursting in the intense sun. I have heard of hooligans and politicians’ yes-men creating chaos in the stands, walking in without tickets and I have heard of poor earnest fans having to go home without being allowed in despite having their tickets due to overselling and aforementioned politicking. And I have partly experienced all of these when I attended a few ODI games in Pune.

Plus, this is a new place for me. I have never ventured into Chennai city in the one month I have been here, having confined myself to the area around IMSC. I have no idea about how public transport works in this place – and presume, maybe somewhat unfairly, that it would not be too good.

I don’t even know where I can get tickets – which are the good seats and how available the tickets are. My earlier experience in Pune tells me that you get the tickets – very expensive ones if you wish a decent view – through some contacts and then hope all the mayor’s thugs do not come and kick you out of your legitimate seat. How am I going to handle all this here in this foreign city ?

Also, I have few friends around here and I am convinced none of them will be willing to accompany me – not because, I am particularly obnoxious company but simply because they have already succumbed to the enemy or endorse the enemy themselves. Or maybe they don’t want to spend time and money watching the test match, again a passive way of supporting the enemy. Doing all of the above all by myself? Conducive to inertia, I must say.

Moreover, I am supposed to be doing research here. I have just come back after spending a week vacationing in Sri Lanka. Can I really afford to spend five more days watching a Test? To be completely honest, yes, but I become politically correct and say “No” and use this as another justification for my inertia.

All these put together mean I have pretty much resigned myself to missing out on this experience. To make matters somewhat worse, I am not going to be able to watch the game on TV either. The game is only shown on NEO Sports which is not available here at the guesthouse. Great! Looks like a complete victory for the enemy.

Late at night, I am killing time on the Internet, chatting, reading trash and visiting cricket forums, when one of my “net-friend” confirms he is going to be there in the stadium for the last 3 days of the Test match. This is the first time that a little bit of spark is ignited in me.

I begin to consider the possibility of stepping out of my inertia, of standing up to the enemy. Why, I ask myself, am I letting go of this rare opportunity? Why am I meekly surrendering to the two enemies – the enemy within and the enemy outside? No, I decide, I must make an effort. As I go to bed I entertain thoughts of taking the Chennai metro (which I have never given much thought to before and which I only vaguely know takes me to my destination) to Chepauk.

I decide to compromise – I need to work I say, so I shall probably get tickets only for the weekend. But I’ll buy them tomorrow morning at the stadium which will give me an idea of how to find my way around the city. I feel contented. I have taken a small step standing up to the enemy. I sleep.

Moments From Down Under

2008-03-11T17:10:00.000Z

So what will be the abiding memories from the tour Down Under ?

Anil Kumble's statesmanlike stewardship and his master stroke of "only one team is playing in the spirit of cricket" ?

Sachin Tendulkar laying his finals demons to rest with that astonishing performance ?

Harbhajan fighting his way out against the entire Australia ?

The smirk wiped from Ricky Ponting's face ?

What is your abiding memory ?

I'll tell you mine - I don't think many of you will share it and maybe it is just my personal bias - but for me it is that over on that glorious morning in Sydney when VVS Laxman hit 4 boundaries off Mitchell Johnson. Up until that time Indian batting was as pathetic as you could possibly imagine and those 4 shots virtually broke all the shackles - Indian batsmen rediscovered freedom with them ... what a player ! What an artist !

To Cricket Australia Officials

2008-02-29T15:28:00.001Z

Sir

Allow me to henceforth refer to Sir Matthew Hayden as "An Obnoxious Fat Pig". So the "Obnoxious Fat Pig" called one of our players "mad boy" in one of the games and I have reason to believe that "boy" when used to address persons from the subcontinent is a racist term.

This is because in history since people from the subcontinent were short in stature and used to work as "coolies" in Africa the Europeans often referred to them as "coolie boy", hence the connotation.

Needless to say I am deeply offended by it. It could well be that you had never had any idea of this just like we never had any idea that "monkey" was a racist term, however that should not matter, and something must be done to redress the insult we as a race have felt.

It is possible that you may not find any writen documentation on this and you may accuse me of creating this as a figment of my imagination. Let me assure you that in Indian culture passing of knowledge has largely been verbal and not documented and I can vouch that this knowledge has been passed on to me via my family right from the time of my great grandfather's second cousin's father-in-law who was similarly racially insulted when Britain ruled over India.

I hope you realize that every culture needs to be respected and our tradition of passing on knowledge verbally needs to be too. I hope you will act upon my grouse.

Sincerely

Taare Zameen Par

2008-01-27T05:17:00.000Z

So I was listening to this song while in the shower today and I kept thinking how it applied to our Indian bowlers. Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, RP Singh – all fine bowlers lost due to the minefield that is one-day cricket. Irfan Pathan to some extent. It is awful how we let this happen.

Just earlier this year these bowlers (well Zaheer and RP at least) bowled us to one of our greatest series wins ever and then within six months we have lost all of them to injuries. All because they played so many one day games. schedules, officials, ignorant public !

It is obvious that the India Australia test series is the most important thing in cricket and yet these fools made no effort to preserve these valuable resources for a important series.

Today when our bowlers are unable to create an impression on the flat slow Adelaide wicket my minds goes back to thinking how Zaheer Khan and Sreesanth and RP Singh could have made a difference. And even if they hadn’t isn’t it important to have our best possible men serving at such an important time.

Mark me, I have nothing against Ishant Sharma. He is a fine young bowler and I believe he has a great future ahead (Oh hang on has he ? Who is to say that he won’t succumb to injuries like Zak and Sreesanth and RP did due to that ODI cricket ?)

Even Irfan Pathan – although in his case the immediate reason was slightly different – but it was still ODI cricket that did him in IMO. Anyway I don’t see any one do any thing about it. The BCCI of course don’t care at all. All they are bothered about is the money. No long term planning, no goals no targets whatsoever. Oh yeah there are targets in terms of money but no targets in terms of cricketing achievements.

If they had they would have marked out the tour to Australia as a important (what an understatement) event in their calendars and tried to conserve and optimize their resources for it. Once they identified the fast bowlers who bowled us to victory in England every effort should have been made to conserve them for the big series down under.

This is certainly not the way to go about it. Between the 2 big series India played 20 one day internationals not to mention another 3 test series and 8 2020 games. Not just that so many of our resources were expended on these largely meaningless ODIs.

Zaheer played in 17 of these ODIs, Sreesanth 5 and RP a 13. Add to that Sreesanth and RP played in all 2020 games too. Predictably Sreesanth missed all 7 tests, RP missed 4 and Zak missed 4 more importantly almost all the ones in Australia.

To be continued …

I Can Spend My Entire Life ...

2008-01-03T13:23:00.000Z

... watching VVS Laxman bat !!!

(On January 4, 2008 the virtuoso artist painted a most magnificent masterpiece on the grand canvas that is the Sydney Cricket Ground as he had in Januaries of 2004 and 2000)

WTF ...

2008-01-02T06:58:00.000Z

... did Anil Kumble not think of bringing on Harbhajan Singh when Brett Lee was just settling down today ? What is the point in bowling Tendulkar at a new batsman ? And then taking the new ball without even letting Harbhajan have a look ?

A Firecracker Diffused

2007-12-16T21:27:00.000Z

Sreesanth’s injury is the worst piece of news to hit India as they embark upon their challenge Down Under. To make matters worse is the knowledge that that injury came up as a result of a freak dive to save one run in a meaningless dead ODI game against Pakistan. Really, ODIs are, in my opinion, always meaningless. It is indeed tragic that a young bowler, so full of promise has had to miss out on what could have been the most definitive career-launching series for him. And, from India’s point of view, it could have been the rise of a bowler, who, again in my opinion, has it in him to serve the country with distinction for a very long term.

By the time Sreesanth might get a chance to tour Australia again, it will be 2011. He will be almost 29 years old and while he could be a much mature bowler he might have lost that youthful zing, enthusiasm and aggression that he brings today.

I am of the opinion that a tour of Australia is one that is more likely to make a fast bowler and it is important to go there when you are young. That would prepare one extremely thoroughly for the more mediocre challenges in the rest of the cricket world. It is less interesting going there as one who has seen the World and is on a pilgrimage in his later years. There is not much to be gained out of it at that stage.

Unfortunately will a youngster be able to think this far ahead? Won’t it be drilled into his head that he should dive to stop every meaningless run and risk life-changing injuries? Or is it just that our youngsters while having the desire to field out of their skins don’t have the necessary technique? Is the bowling coach to be blamed here? Should it be his responsibility to make sure that a fielder has the technique to dive before allowing him to do so in a match especially if the most important series in the World, his long term career and the entire future of Indian fast bowling is at stake?

The questions are many – was it just destiny? Could it have been avoided at all? Can he still make an entry later in the series? (Note: TEST series, not the meaningless ODIs to follow). Well the bottom-line remains: a confident Indian team after conquering England could have had the best chance to beat Australia in Australia even surpassing the astonishing heights of the last tour. We could still expect to see fireworks from Team India but one fire-cracker has been a non-starter in sad circumstances.

Viru's Comeback

2007-10-31T02:05:00.000Z

Is he really replacing Dravid?

Does the term replace have a meaning any more in the Monkey's reign ?

Clearly Dravid had no defined role in the side. Then how is Viru a replacement for Dravid ? Will Viru know what is expected of him ? Will anyone bother to tell him ? Does anyone care ? Do roles matter any more in this side ?

Since he is alleged to have replaced Dravid will that put extra pressure on him ?

Beware ! There is a Hunter On The Loose !!

2007-06-14T15:52:00.000Z

... and he is none other than our feared seceretary of the BCCI - Niranjan Shah. He says the hunt for the new coach will begin soon.

All you coaches out there, save your skins. Ford might have scored one over the great hunter, but the rest of you might not be so lucky !!!

Breaking News: Indian Cricket Dead.

2007-06-12T15:15:00.001Z

Indian Cricket was found dead today. More updates to follow ....

Update: It is emerging that Indian cricket was in fact murdered. Dileep Vengsarkar, the chairman of selectors, is thought to be the prime suspect.

More later ...

Telecast merry-go-round

2007-05-31T19:41:00.000Z

When Nimbus pulled out of the telecast for the meaningless Afro-Asia cup, I thought that sensible demand supply economics of quality cricket vs. public interest had caught up with telecast of tournaments. Nimbus' disinterest in the telecast due to lack of the big players reflected just how much people would be interested in such tournaments as well. However just as Nimbus backed out, ESPN-Star swooped in with a lower bid (possibly with an eye on future contracts with the BCCI) to keep the tournament alive. That was a big disappointment, more so since ESPN-Star who have probably the only respectable team (read Harsha Bhogle) covering cricket, are reduced to covering irrelevant matches. And just when you thought Nimbus did the right thing in backing out, they in turn swooped in to cover the only marginally more meaningful India-SA series in Ireland, after Zee backed out of that one! Will the BCCI finally stop this telecast merry-go-round, contracts issues and other peripheral problems and please focus on the real cricketing ones facing the system?

When Steve Harmison Fires ...

2007-05-31T16:40:00.000Z

... it can be one of the most destructive days in cricket. It can be one of those joyous things to watch - those rare things in the World that are destructive yet beautiful.

Time and again, England's depleted pace attack has been praying that this does happen. Because sometimes with geniuses it is beyond their control when they want to fire. For all of Harmison's known homesickness and motivation problems, his retirement from ODI cricket and his supposed mental fragility - while all of the Ashes heroes have succumbed to injuries around him he is the one man standing - he is the one man who has featured in nearly every test England has played - and so often hoped that he will stand up and take charge - will inspire the younger lesser bowlers and carry the attack.

It has happened on very few occasions - last year's Old Trafford Test against Pakistan is a case in point.

Harmison will continue to command a place in this not-so-rich England attack by delivering even 50% of his potential which is still good enough - but everyone is just wondering when that next bolt of lightning is going to strike. Because when it does it is going to have monumental significance. Geniuses are like that.

With Flintoff, Jones and Hoggard out the onus is on Harmy yet again - at Old Trafford. Will he deliver ???

Looking Forward To The New Season ...

2007-05-06T17:51:00.000Z

Well, things go so fast in World Cricket that before I could stop and reflect on the World Cup final, already a new season is upon us. Too bad, WC final, you won't get my review.

So India will be touring Bangladesh later this week. What can India hope to achieve from this mini-series ? Revenge ? Well, we'll leave that to the idiotic Indian mainstream media. What I'm looking for India to achieve is 2 things:

1) Win the series 3-0
2) Identify some players for the long-term in specific roles.

Often these objectives can be contradictory and conflicting. Luckily, this time, the selectors having picked a revamped young team these two can be made to collaborate.

So what I'm thinking is this:
1. Do not persist with tried and tested failures like Gambhir. Instead give Utthappa the full backing for the opener's slot.
2. Give Sehwag the role of a Hayden. He should be told that what the team now expects from him is big hundreds, not quickfire 30s or 40s. Those days are over. It is for the Utthappas to do that now.
3. Promote Yuvraj to a permanent #3. That is the spot he deserves and I'm sure he'll do well there.
4. Give a go to young Tiwari.
5. Have big hitters like Dhoni and possibly an all-rounder who can hit like Mongia/Chawla down the order with Dravid controlling the rear-end. I would say Mongia is preferrable given Chawla's potential with the ball he should be possibly groomed in for that specialist role.
6. Give a consistent run to Sreesanth and Powar.

MAHASANGRAM ??

2007-04-27T14:52:00.000Z

Finally, can we expect to see the grand battle that this World Cup never gave us ? Can we expect to see to champion teams go head to head, not a quarter given, none asked for ? Not a close encounter between two no-hopers like England and West Indies, nor an upset which South Africa caused over Sri Lanka in the Super 8, not even an admirable yet evidently insufficient fight by a lesser opponent in the England-Sri Lanka game ... this World Cup has given us these three good matches - but none of them has been a battle among equals like this one, one would hope to be. For when can one expect a battle between two powerhouses going at each other with full gusto if not in the decider of the most prestigious trophy in the World ??

History however shows that World Cup finals have seldom been such grand contests. In fact in my cricket-watching memory, never can I remember a classic World Cup final - semifinal, yes, Birmingham 99, but not a final. In the last three finals Australia played an Asian team and only way back in 1996, when they actually lost did the game come close to being a contest.

One can always hope, however. On paper, the teams seem to be well-matched though even here Australia clearly have an edge. Here is a look at the respective strengths and weaknesses of the teams.

1. Explosive Keepers: Adam Gilchrist v Kumar Sangakarra
Neither has had a World Cup to write home about by their own lofty standards. I would say neither team shares an advantage in this respect. Gilchrist has scored 304 runs at an average of 34 with 2 fifities while Sangakkara has scored 296 at the marginally lower average of 33 with 3 fifities. Both have done well in the keeping department.

2. Vintage Baldies, Goldie Oldies: Matthew Hayden v Sanath Jayasuriya
Both have had excellent tournaments. Hayden is the leading run-scorer with 621 and all set to break Tendulkar's World Cup record. He averages a mammoth 78 at better than a run-a-ball with 3 hundreds. Jayasuriya has done well but nowhere close to the lofty Hayden. He averages a "mere" 45 at almost a run-a-ball with two hundreds. Australia will enjoy the clear advantage in this battle.

3. The Senapatis: Ricky Ponting v Mahela Jayawardene
Hayden and Jayasuriya may be the destructors at the top of the order but these are the players who control the direction of the battle, not just on the field but also with their bat. Jayawardene's hundred in the semi-final was an all-time classic and enough has been written about Ponting's innings in Johannesburg 2003 to be convinced that these are the players who can rev it up when it matters most. Ponting has scored 523 runs at 71 at a rate of almost a run-a-ball with a hundred and four fifties, while Mahela almost matches him - he has scored a few more runs at a slightly lower average of 67 and lower strike rate. But essentially I don't think either leader has a weakness that will let one team get the advantage over the other.

4. The Young Guns: Michael Clarke v Upul Tharanga
Clarke clearly enjoys the advantage being in better touch throughout the World Cup without really looking like he was threatening to make the tournament his own. Tharanga went through a pretty lean patch mid-series, however he has scored in some of the most crucial games including the semi-final. He has this tendency of never looking as if he is out there to dominate yet surprisingly often goes on to play the big innings. I'm going to stick my head out and say this will be an even contest despite the contradictory information provided by the figures. Clarke averages 86, Tharanga a mere 29.

5. The Hitters: Andrew Symonds v Chamara Silva
This might sound like a bit of a mismatch but make no mistake, when Silva first came into the Sri Lankan side he was in there for his big hitting. He can hit some huge sixes. We all know of course what Symonds is capable of, sometimes painfully so, but fact of the matter is he hasn't had much of a hit in the Cup, Silva has had a very fruitful one so I shall stay even on this one too.
Symonds 55, Silva 47

6. The Finishers: Mike Hussey v Russell Arnold
Ditto 4 and 5. In almost every situation a clear-cut no contest, except perhaps this one. Hussey has had a surprisingly subdued World Cup in large part because he hasn't had much to do, yet fact is he hasn't really had much of a feel for the conditions. Mr. Cricket he might be and we all know his obvious calibre especially in comparison to Arnold, this will make me say he only has a slight advantage in this particular scenario. Arnold averages 39 at a strike rate of 82. Hussey, make sure you hear this correctly, averages 17 at a strike rate of 75.

7. The All-Rounders: Shane Watson v Tillekaratne Dilshan
Watson hasn't been dismissed in the tournament scoring 142 runs in just 82 balls overall in the 5 innings he has been in. Dilshan has a more modest strike rate of 82 and an average of 34 but on the plus side he has been in more situations and worked his way out unlike Watson who missed half the thing and had to basically do a blasting job alone in the other half. It is as a bowler however that Dilshan completely outshines Watson, though differing very much in style. Plus, he is a brilliant fielder. I believe Watson could be the one man Sri Lanka should look to target in what is clearly an attack with hardly any loopholes. On the other hand Dilshan could be the man who will do a lot of bowling especially if the fourth bowler (a major weakness for Sri Lanka, as we shall see later) flops. So all in all, I'd say a decisive vote in favor of Dilshan here.

8. The Battle of The Spinners: Brad Hogg vs Muttaiah Muralitharan
This has been discussed in detail in an earlier post. This should have been one advantage Sri Lanka could have easily exploited and mind you, Murali has done nothing wrong, contrarily he has been outstanding. It is just that Hogg has also bowled really really well and though he will never be a Murali he has done enough to negate Lanka's edge here. So, only a slight advantage to the Lankans in this case. Hogg has picked up 20 wickets at an average of 16 at an economy rate of 3.9. Murali obviously has bettered that - 23 wickets at 13 with about the same economy rate.

9. The Support Bowler: Nathan Bracken vs Dilhara Fernando
No contest whatsoever. Australia win this hands down and I predict that this will be the key difference that could decide the outcome of the match, on a close par with the Hayden difference. Figures should be enough to settle this - Fernando 4 wickets at 51 apiece and an economy rate of 5, Bracken 15 wickets at 15 at a rate of would you believe it 3.4 !!!

10. The Whacky Slingers: Shaun Tait vs Lasith Malinga
Again a very close one with Sri Lanka perhaps edging it. Both are young, both are new, both are fast and have slinging actions and have that X-factor about them. Both have had brilliant tournaments. Tait - 23 wickets at 18 at a slightly high rate of 5.4, Malinga 16 wickets at 16 and a more economical 4.7

11. The Metronomes: Glenn McGrath vs Chaminda Vaas
What fantastic bowlers both have been over the years - both would have a legitimate right to include the word accuracy in their names, although in Warnakulasuriya Patabandige Ushantha Joseph Chaminds Vaas' case that would be rather cruel to add another one in there. But McGrath I believe has that little bit of extra edge more than just the accuracy and that would help him edge out this contest. McGrath has been slightly expensive at 4.4 runs per over this series by his own lofty standards but he has been more attacking - the leading wicket-taker with 25 at an average of 14 breaking the World Record of who else but WPUJC last time, Vaas has been miserly as ever with the runs 3.3 the rate but has been less wicket-taking this time - he has picked 13 wickets at 18

Battle Of The Spinners

2007-04-25T16:15:00.000Z

Im hopping over to the finals. Normally, Muralitharan vs Hogg would have been a no-contest but in this particular World Cup, look at these figures.

Player	Mat	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	BBI	Ave	Econ	SR	4	5	Ct	St

Hogg 10 79.5 6 313 20 4/27 15.65 3.92 23.9 2 0 4 0
Murali 9 77.4 1 307 23 4/19 13.34 3.95 20.2 2 0 5 0

They are almost identical, another contest within the contest that is really close.

I plan to come up with a series of contests within contests for the finals that will help us to see why both teams are so well-matched and yet the Aussies will be favorites. The fact that Hogg has managed to match Murali is certainly one of them - one big advantage Sri Lanka would have enjoyed has been blunted to some extent.

News

2007-04-25T15:59:00.000Z

My good friend Atul joins me on this blog. I respect his views and believe that having him here will enhance the quality of the blog and make it more interesting. Join me in welcoming him.

The Second Semifinal

2007-04-25T15:51:00.000Z

Australia v South Africa.

South Africa in tatters at 104/8.

Can Kemp pull off a Klusener ? He needs to look back at this match to see that things can still be kept open.

11:06 CDT- What do you reckon the best SA can hope for in this situation ? 180 ? To stay in with some chance ?

11:31 CDT- Nel cannot hang in there long enough. Gee, now this is going to be tough for Kemp to make it even anywhere near worthy of consideration.

When The Game Bows Down To An Individual ...

2007-04-21T14:32:00.000Z

... it is said that the game is always bigger than the individual.

But what when the whole game itself decides that it should stand as one to salute the individual ???

What if the World Cup which has seen empty stadiums so far, for this last game produces a grand setting with several thousand supporters cheering for one man ??

What when those supporters are not just of his own nation but also of the opposing team and from every other nation that understands this the greatest game of all ??

What when the opening batsman after playing a splendid innings gets out but rather than feeling disappointed hugs the indivdual on his way in coming in ?

What when the whole world cricket community stands up in applause ??

What when the opposition provide the guard of honour right at the time he walks in ?

What when even the umpires don't feel like being left out ?

What when that individual has scored over 20000 runs and broken nearly all individual records in batting ?

What when that individual has time and again single-handedly carried a pathetic team, on occasions, declaring it was upto him to bail the team out and then gone on to live up to his word producing some of the most amazing unbelievable innings in living memory ?

What when he has given every cricket lover in the World moments to cherish for a lifetime ? Strokeplay that will quench the thirst of the most insightful eyes ? Produced innings of audacity in times of most difficult and challenging circumstances ? Been a source of inspiration and joy to all and sundry ?

What when that individual is a living legend ? The Last King Of Trinidad ? The last link to an era of glory in one of the ancient powers in cricket that is now in ruins ? A beacon shining amidst a heap of coal ?

What when that individual answers to the name of "Sir" Brian Charles Lara ?

It is at moments like these that World Cricket stops .... to salute one man ... to salute the greatest batsman of the modern era ... and of the rare magicians the game has every produced ...

Australia vs Sri Lanka (THE BIG ONE)

2007-04-16T14:24:00.000Z

... and a dress rehersal for the final ? Almost surely, barring miraculous upsets.

And Sri Lanka seem to be in the woods a bit at 38/3 in the 12th over with Jayasuriya, Tharanga and Sangakarra back in the pavillion. But Jayawardene has just signalled his intent with a most gorgeous hook shot and I do believe this is not really a done and dusted affair yet.

The big news today - Sri Lanka have "rested" Vaas AND Muralitharan - for most people, at first glance, could look like a stupid move - one that if results in a loss might lead to a loss of momentum and brownie points, but IMO this is quite a well-crafted decision.

The idea is to tell the Aussies - let us see what you can do when three of our best are out. If you have a tough time beating us with this team, just wait for what we have got when we come to the finals. The key for this move to pay off is that the team needs to put off a challenge. Absolutely no harm in losing here - the key is they should be able to make Australia sweat. If they can do that and then have to endure defeat in this game, it might be well worth it in the bigger scheme of things.

10.38: Some super-hitting by Jayawardene ... his innings while they last are always masterful and classy ... the big question is how long will this last ??

Bangladesh v England

2007-04-11T16:11:00.000Z

Bangladesh 123/8 as I write. Will the results against India and South Africa still be categorized as "upsets" and not "wins" ? After today's show one might tend to go with this line of thought again. How many times have we thought Bangladesh had turned the corner only to follow up with something like this ? Admittedly, a challenging pitch, but still ...

A thumping win here will keep England in the tournament and Bangladesh out of it ... well not entirely, but almost.

14.42: Did I speak too early ... yet again ? I left with England at 48/2 anticipating a stroll in the park, when I return it is 110/6 and this is a tense scrap yet again ! The Desi Boys seem to have finally arrived on the big stage and they are here to stay. Or are England just too weak ? I do think they will manage to scrape through this one though.

West Indies v South Africa

2007-04-10T14:26:00.000Z

HUGE game this for both sides more so for the West Indies and once again right at the start they seem lacklustre as usual. After 9 good overs they have given up 27 runs in the last 3 with Kallis and Devilliers looking really aggressive.

Hmmm. One thing I cannot understand though is why the experts keep saying this is a do-or-die for the hosts. As I can see it, even if they lose this game, they can still go on to beat Bangladesh and England to get 6 points. If South Africa win this they will have 6 points and stay on 6 if they lose to New Zealand and England. England will have 6 points too and it would well be a 3-way tie for the fourth slot.

11.04: 183/1 in 33 overs as I write and I am frankly quite aghast at the West Indies performance so far, well as Kallis and deVilliers have batted. I don't want to sound a cry-baby but I can guarantee that even a team like India would not have given as poor an account of themselves in the field as the hosts have. Quite frankly, West Indies have looked by a wide margin the worst team in this Super 8 stage with both Ireland and Bangladesh looking far more impressive. Brian Charles Lara or Chris Gayle may yet go on to produce a miraculous innings that takes them home in this one but that cannot and should not take away from the fact that the West Indies do not look like they belong at this stage; they should not belong here. Nothing is as untolerable for me in a cricket side as lacklustre fielding. The fielding today has been quite diabolical to say the least. While players like Lara and Bravo are still trying their best to prop up the fielding unit, others like Bradshaw, Pollard, Powell just to name a few have been thoroughly listless.

11.45: Some astounding hitting by AB Devilliers; but yet again that 200 in ODIs remains elusive. Bit of a soft dismissal but Collymore has no reason to really beam and gesture - this is a hopeless effort by the West Indies - notwithstanding the fact that they can still win as I said earlier. Now Mark Boucher is at the crease and would you believe it, Lara has STILL not taken the third powerplay !!!

New Zealand v Ireland

2007-04-09T15:27:00.000Z

After a surprising run of good contributions the New Zealand's tail has finally come a cropper against Ireland. The experiment of promoting the tail-end batsmen like Fulton, Marshall, Styris, McMillan and Fleming (to a lesser extent) continued today but unlike the earlier games they could not quite make it big and hence and finally the big guns like Oram and McCullum will get their chance to get a good time in the middle. Of course Peter Fulton one of the strongest tail-enders is filling his boots against lowly Ireland today.

11.29: After a well-compiled innings, Fulton gets out on the stroke of lunch. This surely is a blessing for New Zealand. Wonderfully commited though Fulton's innings was this will give their best batsman McCullum an opportunity to get set before he can launch into the onslaught. Now, New Zealand's top two batsmen at the crease.

11.38: Oram out !! Is there going to be a hint of another upset in the air ?? Although New Zealand have a strong "middle" order in Vettori and Franklin to follow.

Nightmarish Commentary !

2007-04-09T15:25:00.000Z

If nightmarish commentary was the criterion, which teams would win it ??

I bet Rameez Raja-Aamir Sohail would play against the deadly combination of Ranjit Fernando-Laxman Sivaramakrishnan in the finals !! And it would be a close game.

Gavaskar-Shastri would lose in the semifinals.

Your thoughts ?

Standings

2007-04-09T15:14:00.000Z

1. Australia
2. Daylight
3. New Zealand
4. Daylight
5. Sri Lanka
...

Australia v England !

2007-04-08T15:39:00.000Z

It's the Ashes contest and so far a cracking game. Unfortunately, Ian Bell is out after a most well-played innings - now it is down to Pietersen, Collingwood and Flintoff to make sure England put up a challenging score - so far, the fight is on, the Aussies are under pressure and I'm loving it.

10.46: Colly out. Must say a bit of a disappointment after his exploits in the CB series.

11.13: If Collingwood has been a "bit" of a disappointment, Flintoff has been a massive one. Things going decidedly Australia's way now; but I think England would be better off now aiming lower - 250ish - than aim too high and implode. As I said it has not been easy chasing in this tournament and in the later stages of the innings it is difficult to get the ball away.

14.31: What do you guys think ? Nicely balanced, eh ? Australia need 152 from 28; 8 wickets in hand. Ponting biding his time. Anyone's game at this point ...

15.38 So Ponting chose the moment to open up. Sajid Mahmood has been nothing but rubbish, really, today. So Aussies now coasting home. They are showing yet again to the rest of the World how totals should be chased. What was a keen contest for about 80 overs has become a bit of a stroll in the last 5-6. Is there still a twist left ? I would think not ... but can never say ...

15.55 Ponting run-out and maybe I'm just being too optimistic and naive to think there still could be something in this ???

Bangladesh v South Africa (should have been India v South Africa)

2007-04-07T17:06:00.000Z

... and tell you what ... I don't really regret that it is not India playing today for Mohammad Ashraful is playing wht in my opinion is a gem of an innings probably one of the best of the tournament so far in terms of quality of strokeplay on display, the artistry of the strokes, the quality of the opposition and the game situation. Keep in mind, I say this, in the light of some stupendous innings by Hayden, jayasuriya etal in this event.

Magnificent innings. And note, I'm usually not very genrous with these terms. He just played an inside out shot over extra cover that was one of the most miraculous shots ever and prompted the great Barry Richards to say that there was an element of a young (emphasize young) Tendulkar in that shot.

He has just got out for 87 but make no mistake, this is an innings that will be remembered for years to come in the annals of Bangladesh cricket.

Update: What a magnificent victory ! Now this innings will definitely go down in history. The Desi Boys have shown the Saffers their rightful place and thrown this tournament open - open enough for themselves, England and West Indies to have a hope. This is the just the tonic that this tournament needed - now if the Poms can pull one over the Aussies tomorrow - that will really put the cat among the pigeons !!!!!!!!

England v Sri Lanka !!

2007-04-04T17:07:00.000Z

This could well turn out to be a match !! So far in this tournament, totals of 240+ have been defended easily, while those below 210 have been chased down easily. This total is likely to fall nicely in between these 2 points and so should be an exciting afternoon !

Man Of The Series ?

2007-04-04T15:05:00.000Z

So who is likely to be the Man of This World Cup Tournament ? I say likely to be, because I believe it has not really yet begun in the true sense - only when the top 4 teams have played against each other will I believe that we will come to know something.

My vote goes to Shane Bond. I believe he can be the single largest factor in influencing this tournament. Figure this - the top 4 teams so far have been Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and South Africa. Sri Lanka and South Africa played a really close game and South Africa were thrashed by Australia. So I think going with the old school thought of bowlers being the one winning matches, I think the attacks of South Africa and Sri Lanka though good still don't measure up to Australia. But what the Aussie attack lacks is that X-factor that Bond provides.

The name is Bond, SHANE Bond.

Finally The Bugger Speaks ...

2007-04-03T22:20:00.000Z

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/india/content/current/story/288710.html

What he has said might be utter crap, of course, but at least he has shown the effort to speak rather than hide in his Bandra home ...

Ireland vs South Africa (should have been Pakistan v South Africa)

2007-04-03T15:11:00.001Z

... another one to put me to sleep ...

Rain ... almost a relief ....

Bangladesh vs New Zealand

2007-04-02T16:36:00.000Z

What, in your opinion, would be a good nickname for the Bangladesh national cricket team ? Bengaboys ? Desi-Boys ? Pour in with your ideas ...

Meanwhile Shane Bond has returned obscene figures of 10-4-15-2, both wickets in the same over clean bowled, were a treat to the eye though.

Grrrr.

It's World Cup Time ...

2007-03-06T16:18:00.000Z

... the action has already begun, as I write.

The first group of warm-up games that took place yesterday threw up quite a few interesting tidbits.

1. Bermuda have a 270-pound left-arm spinner. Apparently he was bigger but he lost some weight for this tournament. He bowled a really tight spell against England. Bermuda are in India's group. You put two and two together. Tight, irritating left-arm spinners, Tendulkar, ... we know where this could go ... Ashley Giles, Ray Price, Paul Harris .. ring a bell ?

2. South Africa just scraped through against Ireland. This is the World's Number 1 team for God's sake ! They also played their whole squad with the exception of Ntini ! Minnows are not to be taken lightly this World Cup !

3. Both England and Sri Lanka, easy victors though they were had some tense moments during their innings. This could well be the kind of tournament where minnow bowlers have a bit of a honeymoon while the batsmen suffer - a low-scoringish affair if the early signs are any indications.

4. Then again, I believe the venues for the warm-up games are almost totally different that what are going to be used for the main event. So we might never just know.

This tournament keeps whetting the appetite more and more ... can't wait for the real thing to begin ...

Plan To Be Back ...

2007-02-15T16:31:00.000Z

So it seems the ball was coming straight out of the middle of the bat and resultantly the Outside Edge out of the picture for the last few months. Well, with the good news that my friend Kartikeya's CricketingView has been nominated for the Indibloggies award for Best Sports Blog (evidence that the efforts of cricketing experts like him are indeed appreciated) one is inspired to resume blogging. Now, would be a perfect time considering that the World Cup is upon us and it is not quite end of semester hectic time.

Watch out this space for more ...

India Fielding Pathetic

2007-01-04T15:02:00.000Z

India's fielding display today has been quite despicable to say the least with Munaf Patel being the major culprit. But the others haven't been angels either. Dravid, Sehwag, Kumble, Zaheer all have at various times appeared extremely lacklustre. Sehwag's catch to dismiss Smith was the only saving grace.

However, Munaf reminded one of Ashish Nehra. Words are hard to find to describe the abysmally low levels of fielding he stooped to on both days. His throws were directed about 100 feet in the air and way short of their mark, several balls were let towards the boundary through various gaps in his body appendages and singles were converted to twos and twos to threes when the ball went to him with remarkable and predictable ease. Often he was specifically targeted for these purposes. Also his running gave an appearace of an absent-minded giraffe much like Nehra did.

Earlier there were a few angry and grumpy faces when he displayed these skills but towards the end the rest of the team had pretty much given up even moaning about him. It was taken as granted that he would come up with another diabolical effort everytime the ball went to him.

That he is coming back from an injury is known. But this is completely inexcusable behavior. If he was not completely fit he should not have been playing at all. And it is not as if he has done anything special with his bowling either.

How Much Are 10 runs really worth ?

2006-12-12T21:57:00.000Z

A question that boggled my mind while I was proctoring an exam today ? So what difference does it make if an opener gives a quickfire start of 30 runs or 20 runs ? Is it that big ? What is the difference between a 0 and a streaky 10 ? Between a 40 and a 50 ? A 90 and a 100 ? A 50 and a 60 ?

From an opener ? From a pinch-hitter ? From a tail-ender ?

In the slog ? In the middle overs ? While chasing a huge target ?

While batting on a minefield ? On a batting beauty ?

In all these multitude of scenarios what is the value of 10 runs ?

Clearly it is different, clearly it depends a lot on all these circumstances, maybe initially I thought it was not too much but maybe I need to analyze this further.

Actually the motivation I had for this question was initially quite different. I was working on the fact that prior to the start of 2004 Sehwag averaged 35, since then he averages 28. Is that such a drastic decline as is made out to be ? Well I guess for that I have to look at other avenues, like considering more than just averages.

But I hope I have raised some interesting questions and look forward to the opinions of all of you.

Such Are The Ways Of World Cricket ...

2006-12-10T20:25:00.000Z

... particularly in the ODI format.

So Australia still are the World Champions. They finally managed to win the one tournament that had eluded them and also won the DLF Triangular prior to that against opponents who were at that point of time considered, well, dangerous.

However on both these occasions they dropped one game to the West Indies and people began to talk about the West Indies emerging as a serious challenger to Australia in the near future. The same West Indies however, are not having too easy a time in Pakistan. That Pakistan who was absolutely annihilated by South Africa last month. Yes, the same South Africa whom the West Indies thrashed in the ICC Champios Trophy.

Confusing enough ?

Let us try to summarize: Australia are still the World Champs, but West Indies emerge as a strong contender by beating them a couple of times and reaching finals before losing to them. On the way they thrash South Africa whom had in turn annihilated Pakistan. But now West Indies find the going tough against Pakistan.

Such is cricket, really. So I guess one shouldn't really devastate oneself too much over India's travails in South Africa. Because it all comes around in circles ...

How Cumming ?

2006-12-07T17:40:00.000Z

People might think of several weird interpretations of the above title but believe it or not, it is opening pair that New Zealand has put up against Sri Lanka in this current test match ?

How cum ? You might want to ask ...

Interesting Piece Of Trivia ?

2006-12-07T16:59:00.000Z

Other than England, which country holds the record for maximum born players who went on to play the Ashes for England ? Name these players if possible.

...
...
...

Answer: Not South Africa, as many might guess, but India. The more prominent among thse include Ranjitsinghji, Duleepsinghji, Douglas Jardine, Nawab Pataudi, Colin Cowdrey, Bob Woolmer, Nasser Hussain.

Others are Emmett, Wynyard and Young.

Why These Obituaries ?

2006-11-05T18:32:00.000Z

Read a fine piece by Osman Samiuddin that gave Shoaib the cricketer a lot of praise while rightly lambasting his shortcomings as a sportsman. However what I wonder is why he so readily concludes that this is not merely a 2-year ban but the end of Shoaib's career. After all he will be 33 when his ban ends. Remember Shane Warne was already 34 when he was banned and yet we all know where he stands today.

Is this due to the implicit (and quite likely true) assumption of Shoaib's lack of mental strength ? In any case there is always a possibility that this will give him some time to introspect and return with a fervour for what will be the last 2-3 years of his career. Maybe this will provide him the strength to channelize the energies he lacked and come out and prove to the World his innate unfulfilled potential.

There is always reason to hope, right ?

What An Utterly Boring Affair !

2006-10-11T15:04:00.000Z

Just when you think they could possibly go no lower, the ICC comes up with something even worse. The first couple of editions of the ICC Champions Trophy (or the ICC Knockout) were fine as they were. Then they were not satisfied with the number of games because that meant less money.

Then under the guise of giving teams a second chance the ICC increased the number of matches by making 4 groups of 3 teams each in 2002 and 2004. Of course we know what happened. Each group had one obvious weakling and 8 of the 12 group games were no-contests.

So now just to give an appearance that they are doing something different they come up with this stupid round roubin qualifying round idea where it is as clear as daylight that West Indies and Sri Lanka are going to make it to the main draw without any hassles. Really pathetic stuff. I could not care less about what is happening in these meaningless matches.

Now They Cast Aspersions On Our Civility ...

2006-09-29T16:15:00.000Z

As if creating a ruckus in World cricket by the Inzy incident was not enough the ICC have essentially declared that the subcontinent is not a place safe enough for gentlemen like Hair to officiate and that people living here are uncivilized brutes who are likely to waste no instant in shooting down the man at the first sight of him. That is what I interpret from the decision to not appoint Hair for the Champions Trophy on security grounds.

Excellent going.

So what does Mr. Hair get ?

2006-09-28T16:42:00.000Z

So the guy who was proven innocent of ball-tampering is slammed with a 4-match ban for an action that was a direct consequence of Mr. Hair making what have now been proven false accusations against him. And what does the man who sought to tarnish the reputation of one of World Cricket's greatest and most likeable cricketers and a true genteleman get ?

Nothing.

Oh yeah, perhaps $500000 ? Wasn't that what he wanted ?

True Colors

2006-09-25T15:35:00.000Z

So Ravi Shastri has finally shown his true colors. Remember less than a month ago, this guy was equating Dravid with Steve Waugh as batsman and captain !!

Flintoff The Right Choice

2006-09-16T15:45:00.000Z

I fully support Andrew Flintoff's appointment as England captain for the Ashes. Mind you, I believe Strauss had done an excellent job with the team as well.

But Flintoff had led superbly in tough conditions in India and hence should be rewarded with a return to the throne upon comeback.

The only question mark that should remain will be about his fitness. He will get a chance to prove that in India.

Humble Tribute

2006-08-27T01:03:00.000Z

To The Great Sir Clyde Walcott who passed away yesterday in Barbados.

Hypothetical Super Series

2006-08-27T00:57:00.000Z

Stuck in the mire of ball tampering, national honors, cheating and forfeiture and the glue that holds all this together, the Spirit Of Cricket, I thought why not move away from all this for a little while, take a breather and talk about a totally different *cricketing* issue. This is a favorite pastime of mine. To make XIs. It was around this time last year that the ICC World teams were prepared to take on Australia in the Super (Flop) Series. Although there can be no doubt that the series flopped, I rather liked the idea at that time and continue to be thrilled about picking a World XI again today to take on Australia. Let us start off today by picking an XI for Test cricket. Because that is easier and more interesting. I shall list it first and then elaborate.

Sehwag (Ind)

Strauss (Eng)

Dravid (Ind) - CAPTAIN

Yousouf (Pak)

Younis (Pak)

Sangakarra (SL) -- KEEPER

Flintoff (Eng) – VICE-CAPTAIN

Kumble (Ind)

Hoggard (Eng)

Muralitharan (SL)

Ntini (SA)

So my captain is Rahul Dravid and the vice-captain Andrew Flintoff. There was no debate in my mind about the captain. However there were several contenders for the vice-captain’s slot viz. Sehwag, Strauss, Younis and Sangakarra. But Freddie took it in the end.

Sehwag has had an inconsistent year. He had an astonishing 254 against Pakistan but other than that had pretty lame series against England and Sri Lanka at home before returning to some sort of form in the West Indies.

Strauss has also had an up and down season until the recent series against Pak but of course he had that crucial hundred against India at Mumbai.

But despite not quite being at their best these 2 were the best openers on show. Hence Sehwag retains his spot and Strauss picks it from Graeme Smith, last year’s captain who himself has had a pretty poor injury ridden year. Besides, Sehwag was the one shining success in last year’s game.

Dravid was clearly quite the opposite in the fixture last year, an abject failure. Yet such is the class of the man and his consistent form over the season makes him an automatic reselection at number 3.

Mohammad Yousouf has quite easily been a revelation this season and easily grabs the #4 spot. The incumbent Brian Lara has had a poor year (a century in Adelaide apart) and finds himself out.

Younis Khan also has had an outstanding year and although he has not vowed audiences like Yousouf with the beauty of his bat, his scores have been just as if not more impressive. He takes the place of injury-ridden and off-form Jacques Kallis from last year.

Sangakarra is the keeper batsmen. Quite clearly he deserved this place last year too. Really Mark Boucher was no competition. Well he gets his deserved spot anyway.

Flintoff – despite suffering an injury he is there. The fact that this is only an on-paper team helps. He is the vice-captain. He was quite superb as captain in India IMO. And his all-round skills speak for themselves.

Kumble – he gets his rightful place replacing Daniel Vettori. Admittedly Vettori did well in the ODI series last year but really in 5-day cricket (and assuming this match will again take place at Sydney, hence the 2 spin-theory) Kumble has to make it. Besides he has given a match-winning and historic series-winning performance for India in the West Indies.

Hoggard – Again IMO deserves his spot, despite a below par series against Pak simply because of his consistent performances prior to that. In India mainly. Hoggard is also an additional bowler replacing Inzamam from last year’s squad.

So I have shifted to a 5-bowler attack where Freddie does not have to bear the burden of opening the bowling like he did last time.

Murali – period.

Ntini – replaces Harmison in last year’s squad. Has had a good year and is continuously on the up.

So finally in the XI we have

3 Englishmen (Strauss, Flintoff, Hoggard) as opposed to 2 last year (Flintoff, Harmison)

3 Indians (Sehwag, Dravid, Kumble) as opposed to 2 last year (Sehwag, Dravid)

0 Kiwis () as opposed to 1 last year (Vettori) – which I still maintain was a quota choice

2 Pakistanis (Younis, Yousouf) as opposed to 1 last year (Inzamam)

1 Protea (Ntini) as opposed to 3 last year (Smith, Kallis, Boucher)

2 Sri Lankans (Murali, Sangakarra) as opposed to just Murali last year

0 West Indians, Brian Lara dropped from last year

The players who merited consideration were Kallis (of course), Inzamam (again, of course), Jayawardene (in great form, unlucky to miss out), Pietersen (also in good form) and Brian Lara (patchy season) among batsmen; no other bowler really came close. Shoaib has had a decent year. Asif has had 3 great tests but he is only starting out, he can wait.

So would like to know what you guys think about the team.

SENSATIONAL !!!

2006-08-25T16:37:00.000Z

Absolutely SENSATIONAL is all that I can say at the moment about the now-made-public news of the offer by Darrell Hair to resign for $500000. Well pardon me for being at a loss for words just at the moment, but this will take some time to sink in before analysis.

The Saga Goes On 2

2006-08-24T18:08:00.000Z

Guess what? Turns out I was a bit too cynical in my analysis yesterday. Well at least as far as Pakistan is concerned, they do want the issue to be sorted out early. Can’t say the same about the ICC though whose number one priority seems to be greed as The Burnt Bail here agrees. But I fully sympathize with the Pak team in their desire to get this matter dealt with before playing. Who would want to play with the sword hanging over their heads knowing they will be branded cheats at any possible time?

Meanwhile, here is a very interesting piece by John Stern on Cricinfo. I particularly like the part where he lays down the reason for ICC’s shift to Dubai – that they need more sand to bury their head in.

Also from Cricinfo is an article by Andrew Miller where he talks about bringing the dark arts into light. I don’t quite necessarily agree with all his suggestions but I do agree as always with the pro-bowler theme. Basically, in this hedonistic era of batsmanism, anything that can assist the bowlers in any way should be encouraged. While protecting the doosra even though it is engulfed in clouds of chucking theory is one important aspect of it, the other equally important aspect is reverse swing.

After all the doosra and the reverse swinging delivery are wonderful sights. Miller talks about Simon Jones’ delivery to castle Michael Clarke in the last summer’s Ashes, according to him the most ‘orgasmic’ delivery of the series. He talks about the wonders displayed by Wasim and Waqar. He goes on to argue that “ball-tampering”, which let us face it, is clearly a practice widely followed but never officially acknowledged except on occasions such as these, is an art, a creative, even innovative art and rather than being looked down upon as cheating should be allowed to blossom openly (within certain limits of course.) Yes, I agree. Anything to get one back on those greedy batsmen. I shall always remain a bowlers’ man.

Meanwhile, South Africa have said they would be happy to play England in case Pak pull out. Sure you would, you …’s. Not for you that London is probably as much vulnerable at this time as Colombo, isn’t it? It’s not really purely about security is it ?

The Saga Goes On

2006-08-23T17:20:00.000Z

So now the ODI series will be on because Ranjan Madugalle is (conveniently?) unavailable for the moment looking into personal issues.

Apparently Malcolm Speed looked for other alternatives but it seems “England and Pakistan both wanted Madugalle because of his immense credibility.” Funny I never thought of him as a particularly credible person not even in the short stints of commentary he did. But such are the ways of the World

OK maybe I was being a bit too cynical about the reason for Madugalle’s unavailability. Apparently he did have this personal matter planned in advance and in fact was the match referee for the first 3 tests before handing over to Proctor. Still does not change the credibility stand as far as his refereeing goes though.

Meanwhile if Inzy is indeed banned there is bound to be loud repercussions worldwide, the merits of which is another issue altogether. So yeah, this was the best way to get this series out of the way, cool the tempers a bit and then see what happens.

Here is a question – how about Srinath, the latest entrant in the referee panel, doing the hearing instead of Madugalle ?

Also Bob Woolmer asks for the ball tampering law to be scrapped and while that may sound a bit extreme he usually has a point.
Again at first glance his suggestion that players be allowed to use all natural means to change the ball and get it to assist the bowlers might sound ridiculous at first but on deeper thought it makes lot of sense. After all he goes on to add that all bowlers in the past have tried various ways that are by today’s standards illegal to change the ball and this is unknown to umpires who have never played the game. So, isn’t this similar to the whole chucking issue where history is littered with almost all bowlers bending their arms ? Woolmer’s point about ball-tampering being similar to prohibition is one that makes a lot of sense.

Meanwhile here is a delightful story about another controversy involving Darrell Hair. Thanks Rick for the link.

Also look at this very balanced piece of analysis from The Burnt Bail.

Today's Stories

2006-07-28T15:58:00.000Z

Andy Flower – Batsman/Keeper – England ?
After yet another disappointing and listless performance by Geraint Jones with the bat and despite his improved keeping, the calls are getting louder by the day for his ouster. So who will replace him? Well Chris Read is the local favorite, there are a couple of new names that I haven’t even heard of – but one name I have heard of is Andy Flower. Now he has almost qualified to play for England hasn’t he? Surely, if merit be the sole criterion, once he qualifies he should be a serious contender even at this age given the class of the man.

471 runs – Sangakarra Jayawardene
The old firm is at it again. A record 3rd wicket unbeaten partnership. One shudders to think where they will end up. With 3 whole days left, the World Record is definitely not an impossibility.

Today's Stories

2006-07-25T16:14:00.000Z

Prem Panicker talks about the foolishness of rushing back Sachin. I tend to agree, then again, we did have problems with our batting in the ODI series in the West Indies and any match from now on till the World Cup is important from the point of view of maintaining the momentum so …

To Improve Your Average ... PRAY !

2006-07-25T15:58:00.000Z

Since converting from Christianity to Islam, Yousouf Youhana has increased his average from an impressive 47 to a very impressive 52. And his average in that period is a whopping 83. He puts it all down to praying 5 times a day.

Courtesy this Steven Lynch Column on Cricinfo.

And The Predictable Follows ...

2006-07-25T15:48:00.000Z

Dalmiya now says that he does not expect any loyalty from Ganguly and that the email does not concern him nor did he leak it … Fountainhead anyone ?

RUBARU .... Roshni !!

2006-07-21T18:45:00.000Z

Finally ...

By the way how many of you who have read The Fountainhead agree with me that the characters in this saga have a bit of a matching with those in the book:

Sourav Ganguly = Peter Keating
Jagmohan Dalmiya = Ellsworth Toohey
Rahul Dravid = Howard Roark
Greg Chappell = Gail Wynand

More Injury Worries For England

2006-07-21T16:52:00.000Z

Here we go again.

Are We ...

2006-06-29T21:45:00.000Z

... seeing an abrupt, premature, unfulfilled end to one of the more promising careers in recent times ?? This is pretty sad news.

Four Out Of Four

2006-06-28T18:02:00.000Z

The Sri Lankan juggernaut keeps rolling. They have now taken a 4-0 lead with victory at Old Trafford. Most notably it is a second consecutive hundred for skipper Mahela Jayawardene, one of the most stylish and one of my favorite batsmen in World Cricket at the moment, not least because I believe he is grossly underrated and to be fair a huge underachiever, particularly overseas.

England meanwhile won't learn their lessons, 20 wides and a few no balls in a 33 run loss once again with Harmisson being responsible for 9 of those wides. Phew !

Interesting Questions

2006-06-26T04:51:00.000Z

How many times has a batsman hit a bowler for 6 consecutive fours in an over?

Off the top of my head I can remember 3. Sandeep Patil off Bob Willis, Chris Gayle off Matthew Hoggard and recently Ramnaresh Sarwan off Munaf Patel. Interestingly, Willis was a really accomplished bowler and Hoggard as of now seems to be well on his way there. Munaf too has shown a lot of promise in his young career. Clearly being thrashed about once is not such a big deal, it seems.

Talking of Munaf, he seems to be taking a lot of his wickets either bowled or lbw. Who are the other bowlers in history to do this? Off the top of my head I can definitely remember Waqar Younis and to a lesser extent Shoaib Akhtar. To an even lesser extent, Wasim Akram. The key factor here? Reverse swing, a liking for Yorkers.

Staying with Munaf he definitely seems to be a long term prospect for India. Oh hang on. Haven’t we been down this path before? How many bowlers have in the recent past promised so much only to let us down? Off the top of my head and leading the list definitely Zaheer Khan closely followed by Ajit Agarkar and Ashish Nehra. One who seems to be going that way (I hope he doesn’t) is Irfan Pathan.

How many times recently have Sri Lanka beaten England convincingly? 4. The Trentbridge test and the 3 ODIs were as comprehensive thrashings as you can imagine. Throw in a close win in the 20-20 game in there as well. Sri Lanka are clearly a team on a high finally delivering the promise they have held and converting potential into performance in a foreign setting. England meanwhile have serious problems. The Ashes is now only a distant memory. Since then they haven’t managed to win a single test series and have lost ODIs faster than you can say … well ODI.

Munaf 3 out of 3

2006-06-23T15:56:00.000Z

Munaf Patel was thrashed for 24 runs in 1 over including 6 boundaries in a row by Ramnaresh Sarwan yet he has been the most impressive Indian bowler in this Test judging by the fact that he has picked up all 3 wickets to fall. Interestingly, all 3 have been bowled or lbw. Munaf is a bit of an enigma for me. At times he looks to have it all, pace, bounce, length, seam and looks like a World beater. At other times he just seems disinterested which makes it kind of difficult to assert whether he is indeed the next big thing in Indian fast bowling. After all haven't we been flattered to be deceived so many times in the past ? Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar are the names that come to mind immediately.

Test Cricket Is Alive ...

2006-06-20T03:26:00.000Z

... and kicking.

Meanwhile in ODI cricket, SL is on a rampage ... having been on a roll since the test at Nottingham, they now look well set to take a 2-0 lead in the series.

Three In A Row

2006-06-17T21:23:00.000Z

First in the test match, then in the 20-20 game and now in the ODI. From Nottingham to the Rosebowl to the Home of Cricket Sri Lanka have defeated England and seem to be on a roll.

Good job Lankans. Nice slap on the face for those critics who used to ridicule this team for being pushovers abroad. Let us not forget they also reached the finals in Australia earlier this year and gave the Aussies a scare.

Also an eye-opener for those who ridiculed our own series victories over Sri Lanka at home.

Cricket Was The Winner

2006-06-07T03:41:00.000Z

It was bound to happen. A draw was probably the right result for this fantastic see-sawing game of Test cricket. Neither team really deserved to lose, nor win.

India, for one, had definitely gone in with a less than optimal combination. While the decision to play 6 batsmen (and hence to omit Harbhajan Singh) was understandable if not agreeable to all, the decision to omit Irfan Pathan was baffling to say the least. Agreed, he was off colour and looked out of form, but with him there is always a chance that he can return to form any time and when he does he change matches with a couple of wickets at any crucial time; something that for all promise shown VRV Singh cannot do as of now.

Then India capitulated for 241 on the first day. While the fightback was commendable indeed remarkable, it was not quite enough to seal victory. Nevetherless India can proudly claim the honors in the draw. Unfortunately honors do not count as far as series results go and India will have to put in strong performances up front in the next few games as opposed to come from behind efforts if they are to make sure they do not rue this very close miss.

For the West Indies too surely holding out for the draw was an achievement. When Sehwag nailed Ramdin there were a good 20 overs to go and with only 3 wickets in hand India were red hot favourites. But the efforts of Bradshaw, Mohammed, Edwards and Collymore deserve handsome praise. Havind said that it was pretty ordinary cricket that got the West Indies in a situation where they had to fight hard to save the match. Having taken a lead of 130 their bowlers failed to create any sort of impression in the second innings although it must be said Jaffer rode his luck well.

Even as one might argue that the few overs lost due to the Dhoni incident cost India valuable balls it cannot be forgotten that the West Indies got a couple of awful umpiring decisions on the last day - the wickets of Chanderpaul and Bradshaw. Then again the ball that got Dravid in the first innings was a no ball.

All in all, not the best of games as far as umpiring goes but a good example of how despite human errors cricket can still come out the winner. Indeed a great manifestation of the greatness of test match cricket. Is it conceivable to find such drama in an ODI ? Oh Long live test cricket.

Who Is Going To Be England Captain ?

2006-05-02T15:00:00.000Z

For the first test against Sri Lanka ?

Will it be Marcus Trescothick who is back after a mystery illness that took him out of the tour of India and who has been the deputy to Michael Vaughan all these years ?

Or will it be that great warrior Andrew Flintoff who led the team with distinction in the toughest of circumstances in India, who forgoed a trip back home for the birth of his child on account of his country's desperate call and came out with flying colours ?

Update: Latest reports indicate it is likely to be Freddie Flintoff. Good move I should say - Trescothick should pay some sort of price for running away with a "mystery illness"

What An Utterly Boring Affair

2006-05-01T15:44:00.000Z

Well sorry that I have been rather loathe to update my blog these days; well not putting in any long posts at least; but hell when South Africa are playing New Zealand and Zimbabwe are playing West Indies what can one really do ??

South Africa and New Zealand are according to me 2 of the most boring unattractive dull drab and clinical prosaic sides in World Cricket.

And Zimbabwe the less said the better.

I Am Utterly Disappointed

2006-04-30T14:40:00.000Z

... that Asia has won the bid to host the 2011 World Cup.

This just removes all doubts that fairness and cricketing sense still exists in the ICC and is further confirmation is that all that matters is money power and clout. There is no doubt that an increased vote is why Bangladesh was pushed for test status by the Asian bloc and now I won't be surprised if teams like Fiji (Australasia), Namibia (Africa) and Holland (Europe) are pushed by their respective test-playing neighbors for test status for this purpose as well.

Must Take A Look ...

2006-04-28T15:53:00.000Z

Here

Confidence - Great to have but shouldn't it be realistic ?

2006-04-27T02:45:00.000Z

Within the last few days 2 players have made statements regarding confidence and I find both a bit optimisitc.

1. VVS - I am confident of making it to the WC Squad.

2. BC Lara - I am confident of receiving support from all (players officials etc)

Your thoughts ?

Udti Udti Khabar Suni ...

2006-04-26T17:20:00.000Z

That the great man Sir Brian Charles Lara is back at the helm of affairs of West Indies cricket.

That is great news. Congratulations !

More later ....

Akram Defends Tendulkar

2006-04-24T16:26:00.000Z

Or at least so says Prithviraj here.

Ironical, for a man who had attacked Tendulkar, the batsman with ball in hand made such a breathtaking spectacle, him defending Sachin with the pen looks rather pathetic.

Did Sachin appoint him as a lawyer ?? Did Sachin ask for a defense ? Defense against what ??

Strike !

2006-04-17T21:54:00.000Z

When the iron is hot or when the heat gets too much to bear ??

Tim May says that the Aussie cricketers will strike if the ICC keeps organizing meaningless ODIs with no heed to player workload and I completely back the idea.

Always a supporter of any means to reduce quantity in a bid to improve quality.

This is precisely what Tim May says in terms that are in no way uncertain and every word carries a lot of weight and truth.

"We're frustrated, we're concerned, we're disappointed the ICC and the member countries aren't abiding by principles that are supposed to be abided by in the scheduling of tours," May, president of the Federation of International Cricketers Association (FICA), told The Sun-Herald from Austin, Texas.

"It's very, very high risk. It devalues the game because your players aren't at their best. The guys don't have time to prepare professionally for games.

"The stakeholders, the spectators, miss out. You get rotation policies but even that devalues the games and the teams and the spectacle.

"Guys start going through the motions. Their bodies are extremely fatigued. They just can't keep doing it. I don't know what the next step is. Some players might take it into their own hands."

Shahid Afridi "retiring" from Test cricket at the age of 26, Marcus Trescothick's mysterious "virus", the abrupt ending to the career of Chris Cairns, all these are early symptomns of a disease that is threatening to shake the very foundations of the game.

Indeed, the ones who seem to be still enjoying their game in their old age are the players who have quit playing ODI cricket like Lara, Warne or those who have been forcibly left out like Kumble and Laxman.

Get your act together Mr. Money, or strike it will be.

The Best Against The Worst !!

2006-04-10T16:30:00.000Z

... It just keeps getting better !!

Now isn't that a pretty good demonstration of use of adjectives and antonymns and medians and etc etc ??

The Best Against The Worst !!

2006-04-10T03:50:00.000Z

This is unbelievable and definitely amazing. On Day 1 Bangladesh have thrashed an Aussie bowling line up consisting of Lee Gillespie Warne and MacGill for 355 runs for 5 wickets.

Absolutely brilliant. I have great belief in this young Bangladesh side and some of their talents are quite a joy to watch, none more so of course than Mohammad Ashraful but Aftab Ahmed, Shahriar Nafees, Alok Kapali all very gifted players and today Nafees has done his country proud.

Ricky Ponting clearly made a big statement when he admitted that he was wrong earlier about Bangladesh not deserving their test status and maybe Warne will have to write a sorry-note to Murali of whom he complained of using the Bangladesh batsmen to boost his wicket tally.

If you were just told the scorecard at the end of Day 1 I'm sure you would not be correct in guesstimating just who has been bested by whom !!

The Best Of Dhoni

2006-04-03T23:29:00.000Z

The best part of Dhoni according to me is not his average wicket-keeping or his audacious strokeplay or his great ability to chase down mammoth asks with ease or even his new found adaptability.

The best part of Mahendra Singh Dhoni is his attitude to the game which is symbolised by the smile he always sports even when sharing the success of his teammates as was evident when he took the men of the matches for a ride (literally, not figuratively).

In fact this attitude of Dhoni is shared by almost all young members of this Indian side. Irfan Pathan, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan and others - they all seem to thrive in each other's success and really seem to be enjoying themselves. This is quite a change even from the immediately preceding generation - we all know what great cricketers and human beings Sachin, Rahul, Srinath, Kumble, Laxman are and how sincerely they played the game with great passion but somehow this freewheeling attitude is a thing of this new generation. And Indian cricket is the better for it.

That is what makes me fully sympathetic towards Sehwag and Kaif and no matter how many chances they are given I feel they deserve them because they are team-men to the core, through and through. Not a long time ago they were piling on the runs when someone like Yuvraj was going through a lean trot and now the situation has been reversed. Maybe it will reverse again some time in the future. But that important thing is the team work. When one guy is out of form the other contributes and compensates for him and vice-versa.

Javagal Srinath

2006-04-03T22:46:00.000Z

I love the way this bloke does commentary. Many people have several objections (and valid ones) towards his commentary. His difficulty in communicating with precision in English language is the primary of these. Some feel he does not add enough insights.

But tell me which of Gavaskar and Shastri adds any new profound insights to the game ?? I think Sri's observations on fast bowlers are very very interesting if one listens with a keen ear. Also since he has played with quite a few of the current players he knows their personalities better than most.

But the best part of Srinath is that like Manjrekar he is very very candid. Unlike Manjrekar, he is not shrewd. He is therefore an open book and that is what I love about him the most.