Author: Bobji

India against Australia 2001 the greatest series – 2

Posted on by Bobji

India against Australia 2001 the greatest series – 2. Part 1 can be read here.

Was it the turnaround I expected?

Yes, this was it, this was the turnaround I expected. It is only a question of time before Australia are bowled out for a score less than 275 and India will pile up a huge score and will stop the Australian juggernaut. Alas, it wasn’t to be. Steve Waugh, the gritty warrior, took centre stage. Together with Gillespie, he took Australia past 400. It was unbelievable. Just when I thought India were back in the game, they actually went behind by many miles. It was a heart breaking partnership but credit to Steve Waugh for the gutsy innings and to Gillespie for sticking with him captain. It is another story when Gillespie formed a similar partnership, this time with Simon Katich and denied India a series winning victory.

India’s sorry first innings

Then came the familiar sight of the Australian bowlers running through the Indian lineup with absolutely no one able to offer any resistance with the exception of Laxman. Laxman played some delightful shots in his brief innings. Watching from Jeddah, I thought to myself that Laxman must be sent at number 3 for the rest of the series. Now, it was the turn of Steve Waugh. He had a decision to make. Whether to impose the follow on or to continue batting. It was a decision that not only proved to be a game and series changer but it changed the perspective of Indian cricket itself. The Indian team were reeling under match fixing allegations and lot of fans had deserted the team. This series not only brought the fans back to the game but certainly reinstated the faith on the players.

Steve Waugh took the correct decision

Looking at the decision now, after all these years, I do think that Steve Waugh was spot on. Under the circumstances, he took the correct decision. Here was an opponent who were bowled out cheaply for 3 innings in a row, who were down in confidence, whose batsmen does not seem to have a clue against an extremely good bowling attack and who was ripe for the taking. The Australian bowlers were hardly stretched for 3 innings in a row. The Australians were about to make history. Just one good day with the ball in the field. Any sane captain would have certainly imposed follow on. Afterall, how many times have teams managed to even to draw the game when they were behind by 274 runs?

How many times have teams managed to post a tall score for the opponent to chase and win? Just a few times in the annals of cricketing history. Steve Waugh must have thought that evenif India were able to go past the innings defeat mark, they will not go ahead by much and the Australians had the batting to score the required 50-60 odd runs. Never in his wildest dream would he must have expected what was to unfurl. As report emerged later, he didn’t take much time to think and imposed the follow on.

Start of the 2nd innings

This time, India got off to a good start. The opening partnership was worth 52 runs which in the context of the series was a good effort. However, it wasn’t enough. Within the space of another 20 overs, India were 3 down including Tendulkar. An innings defeat seemed imminent. Just then, Ganguly decided to do something about his form and added a further 80 with Laxman who was batting superbly. When Ganguly got out, India were still behind by another 40 runs. I was getting excited. Come on guys, just one partnership of 100 and we will set a good 4th innings target and create enough pressure for the Australians to succumb.

I certainly did not expect what was to unfold. Dravid joined the impressive Laxman who was delighting everyone with his strokeplay. Dravid was under pressure because of not so impressive returns until then. Common Dravid, just innings. Show this world who you actually are. What can you do to the best of bowling attacks. Dravid chose the perfect moment to showcase his calibre. I have always held that Dravid was a much bigger match winner than Tendulkar. He started cautiously. Happy to give the strike back to Laxman. In the meanwhile, Laxman had already gone past 100. The end of day 3 with India behind by 24 runs.

Day 4 and the real magic started

Australia had taken the new ball and expected to run through India but it wasn’t to be. Laxman and Dravid took the score past the Australian score and the team score touched 300 for the first time in 4 innings. A lead of 26. No enough but a lead nevertheless. Enough has been written about the innings and I do not want to add to that existing memorabilia. I took the day off watching the innings unfold. There was a strange realisation. I am watching something special. Laxman was sweating. Dravid was panting. Drinks was served on the field. They both were exhausted even before the final session was underway but they kept going.

I kept marvelling at their resilience. Their determination to salvage the situation was incredible. Laxman and Dravid were expected to bat but were never expected to bat the Australians out of the game. Surely, both of them must have lost enough calories that day and must have lost weight by 4-5 KGS. In all these, they kept adjusting their pads, their helmets, took fresh guards and prepared themselves to play the next ball, the ball after that, the ball after that, the over after that, the session after that. That day, my respect for Laxman and Dravid increasing manifold. The Australians for once were tiring as well. They just didn’t know what to bowl. Instead of India, it was they who were looking for inspiration. They could sense that the chance to win a 17th consecutive tests is slowly but surely ebbing away.

Just then day 4 ended

with India ahead by close to 300 runs. Surely, the Australian winning sequence had ended. I was really elated by that thought. That it was India who stopped the Australian machine. There was a strange sense of pride in that. Here is a chance to pull off one of the greatest victories but I was satisfied with having stopped the Australians. Not just me but it was the feeling across the nation.

I really could not imagine what could have happened in the dressing room that night. Whether the players partied or were they simply exhausted to do anything? The body must have had enough and could not take anything anymore. Will both Dravid and Laxman be able to stand up and come back to the wicket the next day?

Yes they did. Now the expectation shifted to Laxman becoming the first Indian batsman to score a 300. Alas, it wasn’t to be but he had done more than enough. Soon after, India declared and now ambition grew no bounds. Can India pull off a famous win?

The Australian chase

to be continued…..

Also read a youngster’s dream fulfilled here, here and here.

India against Australia 2001 the greatest series – 1

Posted on by Bobji

India against Australia 2001 the greatest series – 1.

When I look back to the good old days, not that many series stood in mind. Sure there were odd brilliant test or the 1983 World Cup win. However, I just could not recollect an entire series. A series that stood the test of time and that is brought up in almost all conversations related to come from behind wins, David against Goliath etc. A reminiscence as though the series happened just yesterday. One such series came to the rescue. It has stood the test of time. It has brought smiles on the faces of millions of fans around the world. Also, it will rated as the greatest come from behind series win. That was probably the greatest test series and it was between none other than Indian and Australia.

Before the start of the series

I had just stepped out of the college and stepped into the mad world of working in a corporate company. It was surreal. Just like the millions of Indians, I was also a part of the IT culture. Work took me to various countries around the globe and my first port of call being Saudi Arabia. Flying from a conservative Madras to an ultra-conservative Jeddah, I was able to feel a world of difference. The bustling crowd at the Jeddah International Airport, the sheer beauty of the airport and the swift frisking to the hotel where a group of 4 of us stayed.

Initially, I was reluctant to travel because I did not want to miss the series because cricket in Saudi Arabia is an unknown commodity. Bowling of Warne & McGrath against Tendulkar, David & Laxman. The young turbaned genius Harbhajan Singh. The street fighter attitude of Steve Waugh. All of these are hard to miss and I have to be among the familiar environs to be able to completely enjoy the series. Fortunately or unfortunately, I had to travel and in hindsight it was a better decision because I don’t think I could have handle the stress of that series well.

Upon reaching Jeddah, I just could not live without watching the game. I alongwith my friends somehow managed to find a satellite television provider and signed a contract immediately. The time difference between India and Saudi Arabia did help. I was able to watch the game almost till tea before I had to leave for work.

And then the series started

27 February 2001. The first test at Mumbai or was it Bombay? I don’t remember. The name of the city hardly matters when the games great players are in town. The Australians were on a roll. They had just won 15 tests in succession. The Indians were under added pressure to stop their juggernaut. The start of the series was extremely nervous for me. I can only imagine the pressure the players were under. It certainly looked like the Indian players were in awe of the Australians who had won everywhere they have played. Added to that, Steve Waugh terming the series as the last frontier not only increased expectations but increased the pressure on the Indian player manifold. Australians were super confident. McGrath was in top form.

Gilchrist had redefined the art of keeper batsman. Ponting was sitting on a mountain of runs. Matthew Hayden, began to redefine the art of opening the batting. All of these showed in the first test and Australia went onto win the game with relative ease.

The mood around the nation was quite sombre. Sitting in Jeddah I could feel the same. Everyone were of the opinion that Australia were too strong and not even the combined might of Tendulkar, Dravid & Ganguly will be able to save the team from losing the series. I resigned myself to the thought that if at all we have to lose the series, we would have lost the series only to one of the two greatest sides ever to have walked on earth.

And then the second test started

Kolkatta or was it Calcutta? The venue for the 2nd test was bustling with spectators. They were all hoping for an Indian revival. All of us were hoping but were not certain. The Australians not only intimidated the Indian team but they intimidated the entire Indian population. Australians were cruising at 250/4 and a sense of déjà vu swept around the country. A thought of here we go again. The Australians are going to pile up a huge score and bowl India out twice. Just then, something told me that this is going to be different. This series is being played in India and we seldom lose in India. The Australians themselves have struggled in this country for more than a couple of decades. Surely, someone or something will standup to be counted.

Strange sense of well-being

Suddenly, I was expecting and not really hoping. There was a sense of euphoria. I grew more and more convinced that India cannot and will not lose. A turnaround was just around the corner. We will definitely be able to stop Australians from continuing with their winning run. Infact, it became the primary motivator for not just me but for the entire nation. Then the miracle happened. The sardar decided to announce his arrival on the international scene.

Harbhajan Singh enters the arena

There was Ricky Ponting who would go onto become one of the great batsman produced by Australia facing the young and ebullient Harbhajan. Just in the previous game, the offspinner had got rid of Ponting for a duck. It was thought to be an aberration. There is no way, Ponting is going to fail again. There was quiet anticipation.

The offspinner was on top of his mark and came ambling down the wicket with arms waving like a traffic constable trying to keep the flow smooth. After a lot of thrust, the ball pitched nicely on the offstump and turned back in sharply. Ricky Ponting went on the backfoot and was stuck right in front of the middle stump. Harbhajan and the close in fielders blurted out an appeal. The umpire’s finger went up ever so slowly and Ponting went for a low score and again to Harbhajan. Has he become a bunny? I don’t know yet.

Next to fall in line – Adam Gilchrist

In came the destroyer in chief in the first test. Adam Gilchrist. He who murders even the fasters bowlers with his strokeplay and what chance does a spinner have? He is such a free flowing batsman. Gilchrist marks his guard, surveys the field and must have thought to himself, “There are some close in fielders. Let me drive them to the boundary”. Again, Harbhajan ambles in, the ball pitches on the leg stump and hurries towards Gilchrist. It was delivered at a quicker pace. Gilchrist looks to defend but before he could bring his bat down, the ball had stuck the pads. A huge appeal followed and the umpire’s finger raised slowly again. I was thrilled because I wanted one wicket but I got two.

The hat-trick ball

Now, Harbhajan was looking for a hattrick. In walked the greatest spinner of all-time but a suspect batsman. Shane Warne. He walked to the wicket wearing his famous panama hat. Extra fielders were brought in trying to get that wicket. Harbhajan again came ambling down the wicket and unfurled a ferocious offspinner. It pitched on leg and all Warne could do was turn it around where Ramesh swung to his right and came up with an incredible catch. Warne just stood there in disbelief. Harbhajan has taken a hattrick. India were back in the game. Within the space of 3 deliveries, he changed the complexion of the game.

Was it the turnaround I expected?

Also read a youngster’s dream fulfilled here, here and here.

to be continued…….

Indian team is unable to crack the T20 code

Posted on by Bobji

Indian team is unable to crack the T20 code. It has been a longtime since the world started to play T20 cricket. It was in 2007, when the first world T20 was held and South Africa and the following year IPL was introduced, T20 cricket exploded out of sight. So much so that every nation have their own T20 league. India by far is having the most lucrative league among all of them. Has this led to India having the best T20 team in the world? Has the team won more T20 titles than any other country? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Let me analyse further

For some reason, India, despite having the richest league in the world and the Indian players playing amongst some of the finest players with top facilities and support, is still not able to crack the T20 code. It really is a mystery. Over the years, there had been some good performers in IPL but the selectors never considered them for selection and instead depended on most of the players who had played test & ODI cricket. The selectors and the board failed to realise that T20 itself is different even from ODI and that they need an army of specialist in this format of the game. It is almost as if IPL does not even matter. I am not saying that IPL must be considered selection into the test and ODI teams but certainly it is the yardstick for selection in the T20 teams.

Other teams have understood the format

Some of the top T20 teams like England & Australia seems to have understood the needs of T20 cricket and have adapted their game accordingly. England are currently the trendsetters. They pack their team with batsmen who can hit the ball from the moment they walk in and with bowlers who can bat. They are not afraid to play shots and invariably end posting a huge score or are able to chase one. This has its drawback. England’s method at the top or the order is pretty clear. Jason Roy is in the team only to hit the ball to all corners of the ground. He is not required to stay in the wicket.

India on the otherhand, it completely confused what to do in a T20 game. Granted, they do have a lengthy tail in Bumrah, Chahal, Shami, Natarajan, Kuldeep and any of the other bowler. The top order is unsettled. Dhawan who was considered as a misfit until recently is back in the team. Rahul who was handling the wicket keeping section has now lost the gloves with the recall of Pant. Pant is not used appropriately to awaken his destructive best.

Shreyas Iyer is shuffled in the batting order far too often. As a result, a lot of responsibility for scoring runs has fallen on the shoulders of Kohli and Rohit. From the outside, it looks like the players and the team is one confused lot. No one seems to understand their role. It is not the fault of Kohli and Shastri but the selectors and the board who does not seem to understand how the game must be played.

Rahul under tremendous pressure

After the first 3 games against England, Rahul is under tremendous pressure. He failed in all the games and with Ishan Kishan scoring a breadthtaking 50, the pressure on Rahul has increased manifold. Now, that Pant is back in the team (I don’t think Pant must be in the T20 squad) the wicket keeping gloves has come off of Rahul. Rahul’s performance over the last few years was down purely to him keeping wickets. It sort of gave him license to play freely because he knew that he can contribute in one of them if not both. Also, Rahul enabled the team to play an additional player. Without the gloves, he feels one part of his body was removed without his permission and it shows in his performance.

Shikhar Dhawan and Rishabh Pant

It is time to condemn Shikhar Dhawan to the ODI format alone. Whatever he does in the IPL, he is a misfit when it comes to international T20. He contributes significantly in the ODI format and he must be left to concentrate only on that format.

Rishabh Pant is like Sehwag. He will be a tremendous test cricketer but an average limited overs cricketer. Sehwag said that because the field is up in test, scoring opportunities are more whereas in the limited overs, the field is spread and the scoring opportunities are also less. However, because of his exploits against Australia and England, he is back in the team. He must be used judiciously. The experiment of sending him at number 4 or 5 must stop. His ideal T20 position is at 6 or 7. He must come in with about 5-6 overs left and not with more than 10 left. He will be destructive if used properly.

Other changes

Time has come to bring in host of changes and with the World Cup only a few months away, it is imperative. Except for Bumrah and Natarajan, the team must be filled with batsmen. Chahal, Saini, Kuldeep and their like must not be considered. Only exceptional bowlers must be allowed to play as specialist bowler. Stop experimenting and play with proper team. Let Rohit open the innings with Ishan followed by 3 proper batsmen followed by Pant and few allrounders. The top and middle order must be free to play their shots and ensure that the score is always around 180 or capable of chasing high score.

Unless and until there is a drastic change in the mindset, it will be tough for the Indian team to be the best in the world.

other topics

Kohli’s behaviour

About Kohli

Umpire’s call and Bavuma the captain

Posted on by Bobji

South Africa have appointed a new captain for their limited overs squad. It will be Temba Bavuma. He has taken over from Quinton De Kock after de Kock had had a horror run in Pakistan with the bat as well as being the captain. Even during that series, it was decided to replace de Kock as the captain. Honestly, de Kock did not have the credential to captain the South African team in any format of the game. Elsewhere, umpire’s call will have to be taken away. Let me analyse about umpire’s call and Bavuma the captain.

Temba Bavuma becomes the first African black to become the captain

In a country destroyed by years of apartheid, for a black to be playing for the South African cricket team is in itself a huge achievement. Bavuma went onto score a hundred in the first few games and increased expectations to a fever pitch. However, he had a slump post that hundred and he hasn’t come out of that slump till now. It is clear that if he hadn’t been a black African player, he would have been dropped. Now, he has become the captain of the limited overs team. I cannot help feel that he has become the captain for want of better option. Otherwise, if performance alone is the criteria, Bavuma certainly does not qualify.

Graeme Smith said

“We wanted a captain in the white-ball format, which is Temba, and we felt that Dean was the best man for the Test side – and he will work with Temba as vice-captain to try to create continuity.”

Only time will tell whether captaincy will rejuvenate Bavuma and whether he will become a much better batsman.

DRS and umpire’s call

Even since DRS was introduced, umpire’s call has had a major role to play in a lot of decisions. It has always been controversial because when DRS shows the ball to be hitting the stumps, even a small part of the ball, what role does umpire’s call have?

Pat Cummins is completely against umpire’s call

“They measure the 50 per cent of the ball not from the top of the bail, but from the line you see from the top of the stump,” Cummins said.

“So you almost need 70 per cent of the ball. It brings down the area you’ve got to be hitting the stumps to quite small.

“It almost has to be a half-volley for someone who’s quite tall, or you have to be bowling so straight from stump to stump.

“Nathan Lyon bowling here in Australia obviously gets quite a lot of bounce — it’s so hard for him to get an lbw.”

He has some valid points. It is tough on tall fast bowlers and on wickets with lot of bounce. It remains to be seen whether the ICC will completely remove the umpire’s call from DRS.

Players must not defend pitches

Posted on by Bobji

Right in the middle of the second test between India and England, there were lot of criticism about the pitch and it continued into the 3rd test and even after the tests were complete. The players who were defending were Indians players who are currently playing in the series. My point is players must not defend pitches because it is not their job to do so.

Virat Kohli

“There is always too much noise and too much conversation about spinning tracks,”The unfortunate bit is that everyone sort of plays along that narrative and just keeps making it news till the time it is relevant.”

“I still maintain the result in the last game was purely down to bizarre batting.”

Rohit Sharma

“…The pitch is the same for both the teams, so I don’t know why this topic is raised every time. Both the teams play on the same pitch. People say pitches shouldn’t be like this or that but for years Indian pitches are made like this only,”

Ashwin

“I have a question back. What is a good cricket surface?”

The bowler wants to win the game. The batsman needs to bat well to get runs. No question about it. What makes a good surface? Who defines this? Seam on the first day and then bat well and then spin on the last two days? Come on!” Ashwin added.

Top players defending the pitch

Virat Kohli, Ashwin & Rohit Sharma are the mainstays of the Indian team. They need to plan for the next game and plot of the downfall of their opponents. Instead, they were made to defend the quality of the pitches in almost all the games. This is utter nonsense. Their job is to take wickets and score runs and ultimately win the game. Yes, I agree. Questions will invariably to asked to whomever attends the press conference and that poor fellow is required to defend the pitch if he is an Indian player or oppose the pitch if he is from the opponent. It must stop with that one press conference and must not be carried on even after the game is complete.

Repeated questioning

However, the reality was different. The players were asked the same question by the press about the pitch every now and then. Before the start of the test during the test and at the end of the test. This is ridiculous. Not all the players will be good in communication. They are not required to be good in communication because they are not required to be. Someone might say something that he never intended or whatever he said could have be interpreted in another way. This results in unnecessary comments like what Andrew Stauss said

“To say the pitch has no fault to play, I totally agree with Cooky. Kohli’s looking after the groundsmen there to a certain degree

This is something Kohli does not really need to hear. These comments will certainly have an effect at the sub-conscious level.

Who is responsible?

So the question arises. Who must answer questions related to the pitch?

The answer is pretty simple. It must be the host board and in this case, this must be the Board of Control for Cricket in India. In this case, the President of the BCCI which is Saurav Ganguly. The ground is in the control of the board. The pitches are laid by the curators who are employed by the board and therefore it is the responsibility of the board to answer the questions.

The board knew quite well that the pitches in Chennai and Ahmedabad are criticised for helping spin and Ganguly must have immediately attended the press conference or sent someone to attend the post match press conference and answered all the questions. The board could have directed the players not to talk about the pitch and direct all the questions to the BCCI appointed representative. It would have allowed the players to concentrate on their game. This is actually one more failure on the part of the board. However, knowing the BCCI, who never takes responsibility, this is something they will never follow. They will rather have the players face the heat rather than go out and defend or explain the situation to the press. Hence, I think that this is a wishlist that will never come to fruition.

Other topics related to BCCI

BCCI brought down to knees

BCCI & Hundred

A joke called BCCI – 1 -2 –3

Gains and loss for England after the Indian series

Posted on by Bobji

Gains and loss for England after the Indian series. England came to India on the back of a wonderful series win in Sri Lanka. Infact, they have now won 5 consecutive tests in Sri Lanka. This is an incredible achievement. Except India, I do not think that any other team has achieved such success in Sri Lanka. It is truly a wonderful achievement. The icing on the cake was ofcourse the form shown by Joe Root and James Anderson. Leach and Best were performing well as well. The English were quite confident when they set foot on Indian soil.

India vs England history

History has it that over the last 20 years, India have struggled against England. Ofcourse, except in 2012, India have mostly won the series but it never was convincing save for one series in 2016. Nasser Hussain came with the mindset of not losing all the tests and went back with losing just one. Flintoff even managed to draw a series and Alastair Cook won in 2012. India on the otherhand have lost the last 3 series in England. Infact, India were annihilated in each of that series. 4-0, 3-1, 4-1.

England high on confidence

After Sri Lanka, seeing England with confidence, the Indian team must have been jittery if not outright scared. England went onto win the first test by a large margin and it must have surely dented Indian confidence but for some reason, England lost the plot from the first day of the 2nd test and they never recovered. Infact, most of the batsmen, including Root, seemed uninterested and were rather happy to complete the game quickly evenif that meant losing.

Former England players have rightly criticised the England team for showing absolutely no fight after the first test. Some of them have blamed the rotation policy that the ECB have devised for the players. Yes, I do agree that the players must be rotated not just because of the overload but also because of the bio bubble. However, the manner it was done did leave a lot of questions unanswered. Why would you rest your best players against a top team? Why would you rest them when the series was still on the line? What is the reason to rest them when a slot in WTC finals is at stake?

Some inexplicable decisions

ECB must have left the team management to take a decision regarding individual players. Ideally, England’s best players must have played the first three tests and depending on how the series has progressed, some of them could have been rested of the final one. England’s obsession about Jofra Archer’s pace must stop. He is someone who has his own mind. In that, he will bowl quick only when he thinks he must. Otherwise, he is not quicker than a fast medium bowler. England must have allowed Anderson, Buttler & Bairstow to play the two tests in Sri Lanka and the first three in India. Moeen Ali, who has always performed well against India got just one game. All of these points to the fact that though the ECB had the best intention to protect the players from mental agony, they went about it in the wrong way.

Gains for England

The form of Joe Root and the evergreen bowling of Anderson are the major gains for England from the Asian leg. Root who has struggled to score for a major part of his captaincy, finally seems to have found his enthusiasm back. He has scored 4 double hundreds over the last 18 months. Anderson is nearing 40 and the way he bowled in Sri Lanka and India, it looks like he is not in a hurry to become a spent force. India will have their hands full when they tour England. At this rate, Anderson will likely become the first bowler who is not a spinner to get to 700 wickets. It may never be surpassed like Sir Don Bradman’s career average.

Jack Leach is another English player who looks promising. The question remains whether England will support him and allow him to grow into a fine international level spinner. Off late, England have this tendency of expecting runs from their bowlers. That will probably limit Leach’s chance because he certainly cannot score.

Loss for England

There were so many of them. The inability of the openers to safely negotiate 15-20 overs. The lack of bite of the bowling of Dom Bess. Except for Root, no other batsman looked even remotely interested to bat. Broad and Archer’s lack of hostility. Above all, the resignation after the end of the first innings in the second test. This was the biggest loss for England. A non-performing player can suddenly start to perform if he spends enough time at the wicket or enough time to bowl but it is difficult for an entire team to motivate themselves if they have lost the plot mentally.

This is where India ran roughshod over England in that they sensed a deep anxiety on the part of the England batsmen and exploited that.

What does the future hold?

Now England will be back in their familiar environs and they have a couple of test against New Zealand followed by a full series against India followed by the most important, The Ashes. The batsmen may probably hold themselves against New Zealand and India if the wickets aren’t seam friendly. In Australia however, they need their batsmen to be able to post huge scores if they entertain any hopes of a win.

Also, please read gains and loss for India.

Gains and losses for India after the England series

Posted on by Bobji

India and England have just completed if not an acrimonious series but somewhat not cordial. There were lot of criticism regarding the pitches in the 2nd and 3rd test. So much so that at one point, England even thought about filing a formal protest about the pitch. Ahmedabad & Chennai. Especially, after they were routed in the 3rd test inside 2 days but better sense seems to have prevailed. There were quite a few positives as well as lot of disappointments for both the teams throughout the series. In this article, I will concentrate on the gains and losses for India after the England series.

Indian team needs to be praised

First of all, some praise for the Indian team. This is not because they won 2 series, one in Australia and one against England consecutively. The team won both the series against all odds. For this, every individual in the team alongwith the support staff must be appreciated. Most of the Indian team members are inside bio-secure bubble for close to 8 months. It started with the IPL in September, extended through the Australian series and now is still going during the England series. Immediately at the end of the series, again all these players will be playing in IPL followed by the WTC finals. For any human this is an extremely tough situation.

For a player, it is even more hard. They have to be resilient and perform under such immense stress. Atleast England have the rotation policy which the Indian team does not have that. A few players missed a few games but they were still with the team. To make matters worse, India lost the first test comprehensively and England were on a roll having won 6 consecutive tests in Asia. It was under such circumstances, India came back to win the series 3-1 which was nothing short of incredible.

Best performers

There were quite a few excellent individual performances throughout the series. Ashwin as usual was brilliant throughout the series and to finish with 32 wickets from 4 tests was an incredible achievement. Ashwin getting wickets and that too in India is not something that is surprising but the hundred that he scored at Chennai was the standout performance. It was his first hundred against a team not named West Indies. That hundred certainly deflated England. They never recovered after that. The match was in the balance when Ashwin played that wonderful innings and it will not be an exaggeration to say that the Indian team gained much confidence after that innings.

Rohit Sharma

Ashwin’s match defining innings was preceded by Rohit’s brilliant 160. On a wicket where most of the batsmen struggled for timing, Rohit played a sublime innings that defied the course of play. From then on, Rohit was pretty much consistent and his runs in the 3rd and 4th tests contributed significantly towards the series win. However, Rohit will do well to remember that he is on borrowed time. Far too many players were dropped or shuffled just to accommodate him and it is absolutely imperative on his part to justify his selection in every test.

Axar Patel

Axar ended the series with more than 20 wickets albeit on helpful wickets. I for one never rated Axar. Especially because of the fact that he came into the limelight following IPL and I strongly feel that someone must be selected into the test team based on his performance in Ranji cricket rather than IPL. Having said that, Axar certainly made me eat my words. He actually outbowled Ashwin by picking up the top order wickets regularly. However, the jury is still out on Axar. Will he be able to sustain this over the long run? Will he be effective when the pitch is not conducive? Only time will tell. With the imminent return of Jadeja and the next series in England & South Africa, Axar’s test cricket will be limited anyway.

Rishabh Pant

Pant has certainly matured into a wonderful batsman. He has already played a couple of match winning innings in just 20 tests. This is something that eluded the likes of Sachin for a longtime and Kohli. If his innings at the Gabba was a thing of beauty, his innings against England was even better. Added to that, his keeping has become better. If I were in Kohli’s position, I will resist the urge to play Pant in all the formats and have him as a test cricketers for the foreseeable future.

The real find

The real find of the series for me will be Washington Sundar. Just like Axar, I never rated Sundar and wasn’t thrilled that he was selected in the test team because he came into the team because he did well in the IPL. He has certainly proved me wrong. He played two innings in Australia that was sheer class. To prove that it was a fluke, he followed it up with a brilliant 82 and a magnificent 96.

It was unfortunate he missed hundreds in both the innings but the maturity he showed, the class and the shots that were on display showcased his talent to everyone that he will serve the team for a longtime to come. I will want him to concentrate on his batting and become a proper batsman who can bowl. Infact, I will not for a moment hesitate to replace Rahane with Sundar. This will give the team one batsman who can bowl in the top 6 plus a left hander. Sundar certainly has all the necessary attributes to be a proper top 5. Infact, he can even open the innings. Such is his composure at the crease. For someone who played only because of injuries to a number of players, he has shown enough evidence to be considered in the top six.

Disappointments during the entire series

There were quite a few disappointments. The continuous failure of Pujara to score despite playing lot of deliveries. The failure of Kohli to make a substantial contribution in any of the 4 tests and the miserable life that Rahane is having in the middle. It really is a miracle that Rahane despite years of non-performance is still considered an automatic selection. Now that there are adequate replacements in the form of Sundar, Pandya, Vihari and others, it is time to show the door to Rahane. He has had enough chances and it is time to let him go.

The biggest disappointment in this entire series was however Shubnam Gill. Gill who had a great start to his career in Australia, wasted lot of opportunities in the tests against England. Granted that some of the pitches were tough but he must have definitely scored one hundred in the series. Gill will do well to look back at the person who he replaced in Australia. Mayank Agarwal. Mayank had a stellar home season in 2018 where he scored 2 200s and yet after he failed in 4 tests, he was dropped. Gill is young and promising and has abundance of talent but he must realise that he will not be given umpteen number of opportunities just because he has talent.

What does the future hold for the team?

The future for this team is really tough. WTC will be followed by 5 tests in England. New Zealand will be a tough opponent in the finals and the tests in England is sure to be played on green seamers. India can expect England to be much more determined to avenge the loss and as such they will want to prepare pitches that will suit their bowling attack.

Rohit is unproved in swinging conditions and same is the case with Gill. Pujara has forgotten to score runs and is rather happy to stay at the wicket. Kohli can be expected to be determined again but Rahane must be replaced. 2 spinners unless both Ashwin and Jadeja can contribute with the bat will be a luxury. Seam bowling attack is adequate but not spectacular. If India has to win in England, the batsmen will have to score and there are no two ways about it.

Later on, India will travel to South Africa and they are expected to win the series if not sweep the series 3-0.

Also read, gains and losses for England

RCB’s costly purchase and other series

Posted on by Bobji

A few weeks ago, IPL auction for 2021 was completed and there were some really costly purchases, most notably from Royal Challengers Bangalore. Glenn Maxwell went for more than 14 Cr and Kyle Jamieson, the unknown quantity when it comes to T20 cricket was bought for 15 Cr. These were outrageous sums. Nothing can be done about them now and it remains to be how will these players perform. Will they justify the price tag? Will they be able to help RCB win the IPL 2021 for the very first time? This remains to be seen. In the meantime, let us see what these expensive purchases as well as other RCB recruits have done in various games since then.

Kyle Jamieson, the New Zealand all-rounder

Australia & New Zealand are engaged in a series of T20 games in New Zealand. All the RCB recruits are playing in this series and that includes Maxwell & Jamieson. The performance of the players are not upto expectation. Kyle Jamieson has scored only 40 runs in 4 games and has taken just a single wicket and his averaging 175 and he has gone for 11 runs an over.

This is exceptionally high by any T20 standards. Yes, Jamieson is new to international cricket and he may improve but the point is, has RCB blundered in picking him over others? Could they have waited for a couple of years to assess how Jamieson shapes up in international cricket? Will Jamieson find Indian wickets much more flatter and therefore not conducive to his bowling? We will know the answer in about 2 months. However, Twitter is having complete fun at the expense of Jamieson.

Glenn Maxwell, the overrated Australian batsman

Maxwell too hasn’t set the games on fire. He is someone who has been playing at the international level. He has played all format of the game for Australia. Maxwell is known as someone who will be able to change the game within the space of a few overs. He has played IPL for 10 years and except for one year, never managed to score runs. That is one reason he has been released by a lot of franchises over the years. When the franchises are willing to retain lot of players, why didn’t they retain Maxwell? It is because of non-performance. RCB or more specifically, Kohli seems to have fell into the Maxwell’s web. Kohli and RCB will keep their fingers crossed.

As for other players, Adam Zampa is alright but the same cannot be said about Richardson or Philippe. RCB are at the mercy of these players for 2021.

What is happening around the world?

Surprisingly, the number of series that is going on currently or the ones that went by and ones in the future is certainly on par with the usual. It seems that the cricketing world is back to normal though the bio-secure restrictions still remain. South Africa and Pakistan have just completed a series of tests and limited overs series which South Africa promptly went on to lose. South African cricket really is in bad mess. They do not seem to produce enough talent and they have enormous amount of loss because of lack of cricket. India will do well to support CSA. A few years ago, India and Australia used to play each other every year. Something similar must be arranged with CSA. Graeme Smith is on record that his bonding with Ganguly will help CSA secure more games against India.

Other series

Elsewhere, India and England are involved in a series now. Sri Lanka and England completed a series recently. IPL 2021 will start in about a month. All of these points to the fact the all the boards around the world are co-operating in these testing time with the exception of the Australian board which was somewhat unfortunate. They have cancelled a series with South Africa citing the Covid situation in that country. CA didn’t seem to understand that the players will be under bio-secure and as such, there is little chance of the players being infected. Almost all the boards are going out of their way to accommodate series but unfortunately, CA who themselves were set to lose huge amount of money if India hadn’t toured, refused to travel to South Africa.

Conclusion

We will have to hope that other boards will not be so hasty and postpone or cancel series which will be quite detrimental to the game itself.

Other reads

Obscene money at the IPL

Suresh Raina and IPL 2019

Vivo IPL sponsor

Sanjay Manjrekar and IPL commentary

Responsibility on the bigger nations

Posted on by Bobji

Cricket is a game that is played amongst a handful of teams and rightly so. It must stay that way probably forever. It is implicit that with only a few teams playing the game, every game remains competitive most of the time. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. There are far too many instances of lopsided contests throughout the history of the game. Yes, it certainly is not possible for every game to be highly competitive but a majority of them must be. However, that is not the case and hence, there is a huge responsibility on the bigger nations. Before that,

International test cricket must be restricted to a handful of nations

The shortest form of the game lasts for more than three hours. To put that into perspective, Hockey & Football lasts for a maximum of less than two hours if it goes into extra time. There are lot of Tennis games, especially involving women, that have lasted for less than an hour. Every other sport is less than 3 hours. On the otherhand, test cricket is over seven hours everyday and for 5 days. Not that many persons have the time to sit through that much time unless the game is really good.

Hence, it is absolutely imperative that a majority of the games are watchable. Now, this will require teams to be evenly matched and high on quality. There is a gulf of difference between the current top 3-4 teams and the rest. So much so that most of the series are one-sided. This must change and the bigger nations must help.

Test cricket is the ultimate

At the moment, there are 12 countries that play test cricket. A further 20 including the 12 plays ODIs. T20, there are a zillion countries that play but it does not really matter. What matters is ofcourse test cricket. It is the ultimate test of a player’s ability either as a batsman or as a bowler. With the pitch being flat for the limited overs throughout the world and the white ball that hardly swings, the batsmen always have a good time in those formats. However, when it comes to test cricket, a lot of things are challenging. The pitch as India and England are finding out now, the red ball, the catchers etc. Hence, let me concentrate on what sort of responsibility on the bigger nations is there.

Responsibility on the bigger nations

Some of the big nations like India, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Pakistan is having a huge role to play in terms of building the capabilities of other nations. I am not talking in terms of funds but in terms of opportunity. All of these nations have a robust first class structure. It is competitive enough. Infact, some of English or Indian first class teams are of the same quality as say a Zimbabwe or Ireland. It is not the fault of either of those countries because cricket is more or less an unknown quantity in those nations. There population is not that high which makes cricket playing population rather thin. They will have to work with whatever is available and ensure that the national team remains competitive. This is where the bigger nations come into the picture.

Teams that need help

Every nation mentioned above must allow a couple of teams from Sri Lanka, West Indies, Ireland, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe & Bangladesh to play in their local first class competition. The squad strength can be capped to a maximum of 20 players per team which gives 40 players an opportunity to further their cricketing education. In a country like India where there are more than 30 games every year per team, this will ensure that these teams play a lot of competitive games even if not of international quality, certainly better than their current strength.

Australian Sheffield Shield and English Country Championship is known for being of good quality and a total of 40 players from these nations will benefit from playing in such a structure. The players will be able to understand the nuances of the game. They will benefit from some of the professionals in the game. They can understand the fitness required to be able to compete at the highest level. The players will also benefit from some of the top fitness experts who are employed by various first class teams which in the case of some nations, severely lack.

With this much experience, teams like Ireland or Afghanistan will get sufficient experience to be able to play against the bigger nations on an even keel.

Conclusion

International cricket certainly cannot afford too many games that lacks competitive edge. Test cricket drags on for the whole day. Yes for the team winning, it will be good to watch but for the mutual observer, it will be boring. Already, games involving one of the bottom nation hardly make heads turn. One only will have to go back to the tests involving South Africa and Zimbabwe and the one involving India and Afghanistan. Those games finished in a little short of 2 days. Such was the gap in quality between the teams. These sort of games will happen regularly unless those players are given an opportunity to improve. Unfortunately, with the international schedule being too tight, it is not always possible for India or Australia or England or even South Africa and Pakistan to have a lengthy tour against those teams.

Criticism about the Motera pitch and the inability of the batsmen

Posted on by Bobji

Criticism about the Motera pitch and the inability of the batsmen. India and England just completed a test in less than 2 days. That is 30 wickets were lost in a little over 25 minutes into the 3rd session on the 2nd day. It is even mind numbing to think that 2 top teams who are among the top three in the world currently, had completed a test in less than 2 days. Remember, it had world class batsmen in Kohli, Root, Stokes & Pujara alongwith some good youngters in Gill, Pope & Pant. These are good batsmen who are capable of playing a very long innings in Test cricket. Pujara himself is capable of playing more than hundred overs.

However, what happened was really shocking. All but 29 wickets fell to the spinners. Was the pitch poor? The jury is still out. Was the pitch difficult to bat? It certainly was. Was it really unplayable? Most definitely. Could the batsmen have applied better? They must have.

Ordinary bowlers made into world class spinners

The fact that some ordinary bowlers were made into world class spinners is reason enough for this pitch to be considered unplayable. Axar Patel who is nothing more than an ordinary tweaker as his first class record suggests ended up with 11 wickets for the game. Joe Root who is never known for his bowling picked up 5 for just 8 runs. To make matters worse, Joe Root even opened the bowling in India’s second innings. England had in their ranks James Anderson who has the highest number of wickets among the seamers, Archer who is a promising fast bowler and yet it fell on Root to open the bowling. This was probably the first time Root has ever opened the innings. That itself speaks a lot about the nature of the pitch. With the exception of Rohit Sharma, everyone else struggled for timing on that wicket.

Criticism about the pitch

As expected emotions have run wild across the cricketing world with some criticising the pitch for helping the spinners and others who found the pitch to be challenging.

David Lloyd was quite critical of the pitch

“I gave this pitch the benefit of the doubt on the first day but, I’m sorry, it was just as bad as the last one. And the big question has to be asked again of the ICC. Is this how you want the game to go? Tests finishing well under time, this one not even lasting two days? We need answers from Dubai but I’m not expecting to get a single one,” continued David Lloyd.

Yuvaraj Singh was even more critical

Finished in 2 days Not sure if that’s good for test cricket !if Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh bowled on these kind of wickets they would be sitting on a thousand and 800.

Graeme Swann, Geoffrey Boycott & Nasser Hussain were eventhough critical of the pitch they were mild in their criticism. Infact, they found lot of faults on the England’s squad selection and their inability to adjust to the pitch. Swann was spot on with his assessment.

“When India come to England, they play on green seaming decks and India don’t complain about it, they try and improve. Virat Kohli worked his socks off to make sure his game could cope with Jimmy Anderson on a nibbling wicket. England will have to work their socks off to cope with Ashwin and more importantly Axar Patel,” added Swann.”

Where are the batsmen?

All of these are perfectly valid. However, should the blame entire be on the pitch? I certainly think not. The batsmen from both the teams must bear equal responsibility. Modern day batsmen are brought on a string of batting friendly conditions that they are unable to play for time. The limited overs format which most of the players from both the teams play, is one of the culprit. It allows a batsman to hit through the line without worrying about the ball going into the hands of the slips who are non-existent.

Added to that, the pitches are so flat that even top quality bowlers are treated like club level bowlers. Such batsmen who are brought up on such flat surfaces when they come across a pitch that is challenging, they really struggle. They stand exposed in front of everyone. Their ego is brought down to the earth. They become ordinary mortals. Statistics take a walk. These batsmen are unable to play a defensive game over a long period of time and wait for the bad ball to score runs.

Ofcourse, one requirement to play for a long period is good defensive technique. A majority of the modern day batsmen certainly lack that. Also, with most of the teams, international or state level, hardly have one spinner in their team and batsmen are as such not used to play spinners all that well even on a surface that does not help them leave alone one which helps spinners immensely.

Yes the pitch was horrible but the batsmen are also to be equally blamed. They cannot hide behind the fact that the pitch was the reason for their downfall.

Dennis Amiss puts it beautifully

“The modern batsman seems to think you have to hit your way out of trouble,”

We used to think you play your way out of trouble”

These are golden words that every current batsman must stick in their bedroom wall.

On such wickets, the key is to frustrate the bowlers. There was an inkling of this in the 2nd innings when India bowled when Ashwin showed a little bit of frustration because he wasn’t getting wickets whereas Patel had already got 3. It showed in his lack of control and he went for more than 4 per over in his first 10 overs. It shows that even on wickets like this, if the batsmen can frustrate the bowler, runs are to be had.

What about the Indian batsmen?

Indian batsmen were once known as the master of spin. They always were fleet footed in that they will always go down to the pitch of the ball of bat effortlessly against spin. All of that has changed over the last couple of decades. Even the hallowed 5 of Sehwag, Sachin, Dravid, Laxman & Ganguly were good but weren’t great when playing on such surfaces. The current batsmen are even worse. They are almost clueless against the turning ball. Look at the success enjoyed by bowlers like Moeen Ali, Mendis and a few others.

This is primarily because all the Indian batsmen have stopped playing Ranji cricket. Most of the Indian batsman play for India after having played just a couple of years in Ranji. As a result of that, they have forgotten the art of playing spin. This shows in the way they struggle against spin in any condition. Leave alone a spin friendly one. If they are 2-1 ahead now in the series, that is due to the inability of the England batsman and not because of the Indian batsmen.

The BCCI must make it mandatory for all the Indian players to play atleast 5 Ranji games every year. Only this will help them to first improve and not lose their ability to play spin. Also, the Indian team cannot and must not rely on such surfaces to win games. If they want to be a world beating team, they must be capable of winning in any surface.

Read about Chennai pitch criticism