The son of one of the best Indian batsman, Sachin Tendulkar, has been picked up by Mumbai Indians during the IPL auction. Players from a lot of countries are picked up by various franchises and similarly, Arjun Tendulkar was also picked by Mumbai Indians. At the outset, there isn’t much wrong with the signing. However, there is a lot of difference between signing a player who has played the game at a certain level and a player who hasn’t played any competitive cricket at all. Naturally, the charges of nepotism will raise its ugly head. Let me try to analyse Arjun Tendulkar and the charges of nepotism.
What is Arjun’s qualification?
Arjun is a 21 years old left arm fast medium bowler. He is at an age when a lot of players would have played the game at a certain level. So what is Arjun’s experience? He has a couple of T20s. That is it. Just 2 T20s. This was just a month before the IPL auction. It seems that he played those games only to fulfil a criteria so that he could enter the IPL auction. It seems that everything were arranged for him to be picked by MI. Come auction day, no one else even bid for Arjun and why would they? They don’t know anything about Arjun or for that matter no one knows anything about him. The charges of nepotism will certainly stick.
Mahela Jayawardene says that Arjun was picked purely on merit. If that is the case, why is that none of the other franchise bid for him? The fact is that his father is from Mumbai. He is much respected amongst the cricketing fraternity. Everyone are inclined to believe that he may have pulled some strings.
“We’ve looked at it purely on a skill basis,” Jayawardene said after the auction. “I mean, there is going to be a big tag on his head because of Sachin. But, luckily, he’s a bowler, not a batsman. So I think Sachin will be very proud if he could bowl like Arjun.
What Mahela says may be true. He is 21 and has age on his side. You never know. He might even become a good bowler. However, the question is, does he deserve a spot at this moment purely based on merit?
I chose to believe that Mumbai Indians have picked Arjun only based on his potential and not because of his surname and that he goes on and provides the Indian team the much needed left arm fast bowling option.
The Bangladesh nation is as mad about cricket as any sub-continent team is. Infact, most of the games held in their country has more spectators at the stand then you can find in Pakistan or Sri Lanka. Such is the passion for the sport in that country. However, the on-field record of the Bangladesh national team does not serve justice to the millions of fans who follow them. The sorry state of Bangladesh national team is really a tragedy.
Bangladesh joins the big players
Bangladesh joined the Test playing fraternity in 2000 after defeating Pakistan in the preceeding ODI World Cup. The big powers of that time, namely England and Australia weren’t convinced of Bangladesh’s test credentials and as such, they were always opposed to their entry. One tends to agree with such an opinion because up until point, Bangladesh did not make the world sit straight and take notice. They had lost all of their ODIs except for three games.One of the win against Kenya & the other against Scotland. To prove that point, Zimbabwe had a much better test record before being allowed to play Tests. Off late, Afghanistan has much more talent than Bangladesh.
Did Bangladesh really strengthen a particular block?
It was always felt that the only reason Bangladesh were given test status was to strengthen the Asian block of India, Pakistan & Sri Lanka. Back in the day, every country had 2 votes and as such, the Asian block had 6. England, Australia & New Zealand always sticks together with West Indies ending up supporting the so called white block all the time. Zimbabwe will side with the Asian block and South African kept oscillating. As such Bangladesh by being given test status got 2 votes automatically and thereby tilting the scales in favour of the Asian block or more precisely, India.
It was hard to argue with such an assessment because Bangladesh’s performance before being awarded test status did not inspire much confidence and one tends to agree with such an evaluation. However, the white block were really powerless to stop the Indian juggernaut and they had to acquiesce.
Things went into downward spiral
It was felt that Bangladesh with its cricket crazy population will be able to produce enough talent and it was only a matter of time before it starts to compete with the bigger nations. Bangladesh had a good start to their test career. They scored 400 against India but ended up losing the test. From then on, things did not improve for the team. Infact, it was worse and it kept on worsening. They could not win any. What made matters worse was the fact they kept losing to everyone. It is one thing to lose because inexperienced teams losing is par for course but Bangladesh were incapable of even drawing games. They even struggled to post decent innings total. This despite playing some of those games in their own country.
All of these made it look silly to have given them test status. There was a huge cry to strip Bangladesh of their test status for want of better competition or have a second tier in which Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and any other nation can compete amongst themselves. At the sametime, losing too many ODIs did not help their cause either. Certainly, Jagmohan Dalmiya, the man who was instrumental in awarding Bangladesh their test status looked like a fool. This continued much into the 2010s as well. They kept on losing more than 3 times the number of games they won or drawn. This is a damning statistic.
It has been 20 years since Bangladesh were promoted to the higher league and not even a single batsman average in excess of 45 or a single bowler average less than 30. Things were really dicey. If Bangladesh were stripped of their test status, no one would have had any complaint.
A slight uptick in Bangladesh’s performance
Towards the latter half of 2010s, Bangladesh’s fortune started to change. Starting with 2015, they began to win regularly. Infact, they won 3 consecutive ODI series against Pakistan, India & South Africa. They were all played in Bangladesh but nonetheless, this was a welcome change. Around the same period, their test credentials began to improve. They won one test apiece against England & Australia. The icing on the cake was the series win against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. Further on, they had an incredible 2019 World Cup campaign.
Finally, it felt that Bangladesh have arrived. They have won some important tests against top teams and have hard a decent World Cup. However, Bangladesh cricket regressed again with the latest test series loss against a depleted West Indies side. They even failed to defend a score close to 400 and failed to chase a score just over 200.
Conclusion
World cricket is only 12 teams strong. It cannot afford for some teams to be just passengers. It is understandable if a country like Zimbabwe or Ireland is unable to raise because they do not have that much talent in their country. However, a country like Bangladesh which has a bigger fan following when compared to Sri Lanka must realise their standing in world cricket and must start to compete against all the top teams. They will do well to think of drawing most of the tests and think about victory only if there is a chance. Atleast this will give their supporters something to cheer about.
The IPL from the time of its inception has only grown bigger. So much so that from 2022 onwards, 10 teams will be competing at the event. This essentially means that the IPL window will be increased from 2 months to 3 months. I am not a big fan of the IPL because I always felt that it promotes club culture rather than country culture and that it is held during the traditional off-season for the players who would have been better off to work on their skills. Having said that, the obscene money spent at the IPL auction last night beggars belief. Now there are so many millionaires that you are left to wonder whether they are all worth that much money.
Who are the top buys?
The top 6 picks, Chris Morris for 16.25CR, Kyle Jamieson for 15CR, Jhye Richardson for 14CR, Maxwell for 14.65CR, Gowtham for 9.25CR & Tom Curran for 5.25CR.
This totals to 60CR. That is an enormous amount of money to be spent of 5 individuals some of whom are not proven at all. Let us take the case of Gowtham. He is an uncapped player from Karnataka. Uncapped in the sense, he has never played for India in any format. CSK had spent 9.25CR on purchasing him. His first class, List A & T20 statistics are not flashy either. He is neither a bowler nor a batsmen. To cap all of it, he is 32 years old. What has CSK seen in him for splurge so much money on him? It is beyond comprehension. This certainly looks like CSK wants only the players who are 30 years old or above.
I cannot complain on purchasing Pujara because this was more out of respect for what Pujara did in Australia rather than anything else although with an important series coming up in England, it would have been better for Pujara to find an English county so that he could have prepared for the series. Money-wise, it would have been higher. The same can be said about Rahane and a few others who will not play consistently for their respective franchise. The dad’s army tag on CSK is not going anywhere.
Do the franchise remove their brains while bidding?
Take for example Kyle Jamieson. He is supposed to be an allrounder. Agreed that he has hardly played that many games to form an real opinion about him but that is also the same reason he does not really deserve the price tag of 15CR. It is hard to understand what were RCB thinking? Not only Jamieson they had spent a further 14.65CR on Glenn Maxwell who apart from one season has been a complete failure. He certainly marketed himself pretty well and went on record in letting everyone know that he wants to play for RCB. He must have even talked to Kohli about it. RCB will look like idiots if Maxwell again fails in 2021. Chris Morris certainly performed decently in 2020 but is he really 16.25CR worth product? That is open to question. Time will tell whether these costly picks will justify their price tag.
Hard to explain omissions
David Malan the top ranked T20 batsman was picked only for his base price. This cannot be explained by any metrics. How is the top ranked player less valuable than a player with not much experience or a player who had failed often? Jason Roy & Alex Hales, proven limited overs players went unsold. Surely a team like CSK with its granddads will want to have some youngsters in the line up but it wasn’t to be. Having said that they were some good omissions too. Aaron Finch went unsold. He completely failed last year and was even dropped for a few games. Smith did not fetch any higher than his base price which makes sense considering his lack of performance in 2020.
Is there a measurement of performance commensurate with payment?
I highly doubt whether the franchises have a performance measurement that will justify such a high price tag on the players. What happens if Maxwell under performs? Will they want to pay him only half of the promised amount? I strongly believe that there must be cap on each player beyond which none of the franchise will be allowed to spend on a particular player. This will also ensure that they have enough funds that could be spent on betterment of the game.
How does the franchise recover the funds?
I am sure none of the franchise owner cares about winning the actual IPL itself and they do not recover the worth of money spent by winning the tournament. No never. Instead they earn money through selling merchandise, advertisement, gate receipts and various other forms. If they are capable of spending so much on the players, they must be earning in millions. How does owners like Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Juhi Chawla who were only movie stars, are able to spend this much amount is beyond reason.
The willingness of other boards to release their players for IPL
The power of IPL is clear from the way the England team is treating their players. IPL mainstays like Bairstow, Buttler, Archer, Stokes, Curran and a few others were given regular breaks despite an important series against India. In the guise of protecting their players from mental fatigue because of the bubble, the England have ensured that they leave their players right till the end of IPL. This is probably done to ensure that their players do not revolt because the money that they earn through IPL will be equal to 2-3 years of their annual income from the ECB. The ECB when IPL was initiated were very much against it and now things are completely different. T
he English players who will play in the IPL will miss the test series against New Zealand. The ICC itself have bent over backwards and have ensured a spotless window for IPL. The less said about the other boards the better it is. They certainly do not have backbone to stand up to the Indian board. Such is the power of the IPL and the Indian board. Will sense prevail?
Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa are at loggerheads following the cancellation of the Australian tour to South Africa. It is only fair to say that South Africa had lot of hopes pinned on this tour. They would have been able to cover some of the costs. With international cricket limited because of the pandemic, sporting boards around the world are scrambling to minimise the loss. This is the reason West Indies and Pakistan toured England, India toured Australia and England are currently touring India. Additionally, there were few other tours as well. Just when everyone thought that atleast cricket will go on, Australia have refused to travel to South Africa. Now, Graeme Smith is not thrilled and has not minced any words while criticising the Australian board. Also, Kohli is facing one test ban. Let me analyse Graeme Smith’s accusation against Australian board and Kohli’s suspension.
“The game needs leadership and to understand the complexities (around the pandemic). I don’t think world cricket wants three nations competing against each other in ten years time. How does that benefit the game? It doesn’t. That will amplify the (T20) leagues, and leagues will get bigger and bigger. And the rest of the member nations will have little to no content. The leadership at the ICC need to address this.”
It is certain the Smith has not taken kindly to the decision of the Australian board. Reports have since then emerged that South Africa have escalated the matter to the ICC’s dispute resolution council and will demand adequate compensation from the Australian board. This is unprecedented. All the boards have always managed to reschedule a scheduled series and none of the board have ever gone to the ICC for conflict resolution and certainly none of the board have ever demanded to be compensated. This is the first time and it remains to be seen whether ICC will be courageous enough to take a decision against Australia.
My personal opinion on Australia’s decision
Having said that, I do think that Australia must have toured South Africa. Yes, the world is in the middle of a pandemic but that has not stopped other teams from touring. Australia themselves travelled to England just for a limited overs series when the pandemic in The UK was at its worst. South African board certainly had arranged for an entire resort for the Australians comfort and they had given all possible assurances that any board would have given in these circumstances. When most of the teams are travelling to various countries, I do not see any reason for Australia not to travel.
Kohli likely to be banned for one test
Kohli as we all know is among the worst behaved player on the field. He abuses the opponents and the umpires even when not provoked. Now reports have emerged that after his recent altercation with an umpire during the 2nd test against England, Kohli is likely to receive 4 demerit points which means one match suspension.
Article 2.8 in the ICC’s Code of Conduct covers “dissent at an Umpire’s decision”, and includes “arguing or entering into a prolonged discussion with the Umpire about his/her decision”.
Article 2.8 states, “It shall not be a defence to any charge brought under this Article to show that the umpire might have, or in fact did, get any decision wrong.”
However, the decision rests with Javagal Srinath. Will he have the courage to ban a player like Kohli who is such a massive figure? With the next test sold out, Kohli’s absence will be felt. Will the board influence Srinath not to impose the ban? We will have to wait. I however feel that Kohli must certainly pay for his poor behaviour. He has brought the game into disrepute so often that it is really a wonder he hasn’t been banned even for a single game yet.
Conclusion
An example must be made out of the big fish so that others will fall in line. The game needs to be cleared of all kinds of poor behaviour on the field of play.
What do you think of Smith’s accusation as well as Kohli’s likely ban? Please comment below.
The Chepauk pitch has invited lot of criticism. There is a certain charm, a certain contentedness when a test is won outside of one’s own confines. That charm and contentedness is increased manifold when that ends up in a series win. This is because it is that hard to win an overseas test series. It is the single reason why teams take great pride whenever they win overseas and especially in alien conditions. It is also one of the greatest thing to admire about Test cricket. Unlike the limited overs for which the rules and conditions is more or less the same across the world, Test cricket has its own way to telling the shorter ones who the boss is.
Home teams are getting stronger
The current India against England is one such series because it is that difficult for a visiting team to win in India and it is the same case for a visiting team to win in England. Nowadays, even New Zealand are proving to be masters in their surroundings. Every country and infact, every pitch offers unique challenge to the players. Wicket in Australia and South Africa offers bounce to the bowlers which makes life difficult for the batsmen. The world renowned fast wickets like Perth and Johannesburg. Pitches in England and New Zealand offers seam movement. Pitches in the sub-continent offers the spinners who are otherwise rendered impotent in the above conditions, something of their own to get one back. It takes great deal of skill, persistence and perseverance to overcome such odds and emerge victorious.
The satisfaction in winning an away series
Series wins at a foreign location is rare. A lot of things will have to fall in place to achieve that. Excellent batsmen backed up marvellous bowlers and fielders are a must to achieve series wins. They are the ones who will transcend the prevailing conditions and will raise above everyone else. It is pretty difficult for the sub-continent teams to win in England or Australia or South Africa. It is the same for those teams to win in India. New Zealand have always struggled against South Africa and mostly against Australia. This shows the impossible it is to win and when it is successful, the feeling of having amassed something extraordinary can be felt by fans of the team.
This is the reason the West Indies team of the 80s and early 90, the Australian team of the 90s and early 2000s and the South African team of the early 2010s are special. For those teams, nothing mattered. Not the pitch, not the ball, not the opposition or not even the crowds. They won against every odd and in every country. They had players capable of outstripping the host nation and succeed.
The Chepauk test match
It is in the light of these that the 2nd test between India and England must be looked. England instead of looking at this as an opportunity, have gone on a complete whingeing mode. They have complained about how the pitch behaves. The entire English media have criticised the Chepauk pitch feverishly. The media have conveniently forgotten the inability of the English batsmen to play spin.
Reality bites, as have India’s spinners. Pant, Ashwin and Foakes outstanding today,” Atherton tweeted.
“Pitch very tricky but worth repeating point made y’day, it has been very tricky from the start. Toss not decisive.”
Infact, Vaughan agreed that if he were an Indian, he could have done the same.
India’s performance on the same strip
However, what most of them conveniently forgets is that on the same pitch, Rohit Sharma scored a scintillating 160. You can say that he played on the first day when the pitch is generally good for batting. If that is the case, what about the hundred that Ashwin scored on the 3rd day towards the end? He showed that if you have the skill, you can score runs on this wicket.
India on this wicket scored more than 600 runs which would not have been possible if the pitch was a horrible one. The fact of the matter is that the English batsmen and the English bowlers did not have the skill to succeed as correctly pointed out by Nasser. England spinner failed. England were defeated in the minds even before they had set their foot on the ground.
Every country prepares pitches to suit their team
There is a reason England & New Zealand prepare seaming wickets whenever an Asian team travel. There is a reason Australia wants the visiting teams to play at the Gabba first. Every nation prepares pitches that will help their team or rather that will not have any sort of help to the opposition. England prepared a Lord’s pitch a couple of years ago when India travelled which wasn’t that different from the outfield. Graeme Smith complained a few years ago that the pitch at Kingsmead resembled a sub-continent pitch and that his team was disadvantaged.
Back in 2014, when the first test at Trent Bridge was drawn, England made a huge issue out of it stating that the pitch did not offer any assistance to their bowlers. In all the cases, the opponent were India. I do not remember the Indian team or the media complaining. Infact, it was quite to the contrary. The Indians were roasted because they failed to adjust to the situation.
The Dukes ball is used for every game in England. It helps the swing bowlers immensely. The English bowlers have bowled with it ever since cricket was born. Is it proper to ask them to stop using Dukes and instead shift to Kookkabura or SG? It is not.
Conclusion
It is better to leave the pitches in various parts of the world as it is. If the pitches are going to be standardised, it will lead to the same game being played over and over again. The recent Indian victory in Australia will be cherished by the Indians for a longtime because that was achieved in the bouncy Australian wickets. Every nation must understand that to become the undisputed number one, they must be capable of winning on any type of pitch. Countering the argument that seaming pitches like the Lord’s one will deteriorate and become good on day 5 whereas spinning pitches will deteriorate and become worse on day 4. There is nothing wrong if the game finishes in 4 days. There will eventually come a day when test cricket will be reduced to 4 days.
What do you think of the Chepauk pitch and other pitches around the world? Please leave your comments.
I read a nice piece on a newspaper from the distant country. New Zealand. It proved a fastinating piece to read in that it talks about making the cricket field much more quieter. After having read that article, I really cannot help but wonder how will it be? Whether it is really necessary to quieten the players? Do we need a code of conduct the discipline the players? Let me try to analyse shaming cricket’s elite and Michael Vaughan’s stoked.
The thing in that paper that caught my imagination
The New Zealand cricket team is one that plays tough, aggressive yet fair cricket. It started with Brendan McCullum and Williamson has continued with that spirit. It probably is because of the laid back nature of the country. To read that a game between 2 school teams was stopped because of abusive behaviour is really sad. What have the players over the last 30 years have brought the game into? This is the effect of their crass on-field behaviour. If this is the situation in a country like New Zealand, I really shudder to think about the upcoming cricketers in other countries.
West Indies the proof of win but be fair
Cricket was known as a gentlemen game. A game that was played with lot of dignity Back in gold old England, it was known as rich man’s game. A sort of a game only the elite plays. Events over the last 3-4 decades have proved that cricket is anything but a gentleman game. Cricket has increasingly become an unruly sport. The number of instances when players have abused or insulted their opponents or the umpires is far too many even for a database to maintain. This is not to single out an individual or any nation because a majority of the players are anyway guilty of misbehaviour on the field of play.
The West Indies team of the 70s, 80s and early 90s were winning everywhere. The opponents were absolutely fearful of the West Indian fast bowlers. I never heard about the great West Indian fast bowlers abuse their opponents on the field. Partially because they are genuinely good and they do not need to resort to such crass behaviour and partially because they were all genial. This was an era when most of the players were well behaved. There weren’t any extravagant celebration nor were there constant chirps on the field. The West Indian team showed that it is absolutely possible to win despite not being abusive towards your opponents.
The ugly Aussies
The Australian team of those years and the subsequent years changed all that. Steve Waugh who renamed sledging into Mental Disintegration is the architect of horrible and downright insulting on-field behaviour. The Australians had an exceptional team and they did not have to indulge in such things but they did probably because they thought that this is the way the game is supposed to be played. We all know where such a nastiness have led them to. Into the ball tampering scandal of Newlands.
It is really unfortunate that looking at the Australians, some teams like India, Bangladesh, England, Pakistan & South Africa seems to have understood that to win abusing the opponent is the only way. The sooner they realise that it is not the better it is for world cricket.
Furthermore on the paper
The article on the paper wants the volume on the stump microphone to be increased so that everyone can listen to what the players are saying to each other. I do support that and call upon the ICC to take severe action, not fines, but 10-15 games ban for the offending player.
It is time poor behaviour is brought to an end. The ICC must be firm and action must be swift. Fines will never be the answer but match bans will be.
Vaughan who has lot of opinion feels that England will probably win 2021 Ashes in Australia. He feels that England have given the Australians a severe warning after their performances in Asia. He wants the Australians to get their house in order for them to be able to challenge England. Vaughan may be correct. England have played well so far. They are a slightly different team from the last time they toured Australia. Now, they have bowlers capable of bowling at 150KMPH speeds. A requirement very much essential in Australia. They now have batsmen in Sibley and Burns who play time. However, will any of these make any difference? We will have to wait and see.
The strength of Australia
Vaughan must realise that the exact same team played Australia in England about an year ago and that series was drawn with 2 wins apiece. England must have lost that series if not for a wrong decision against Stokes when 3 runs were required. Smith was unstoppable in that series and Marnus had a decent series. This year, Smith will be much more motivated because the Australians lost a series to India and Marnus is playing really well. Cummins have grown from strength to strength and Warner always does well in his country. Above all, Australians are super inspired whenever they play England. Afterall, this is Ashes that we are talking about. The last couple of series England played in Australia, they were humiliated. Losing 5-0 and 4-0. Unless England find a way to dismiss Australia’s 3 prime batsmen, it will be difficult for England despite their own strength.
Ask any Indian supporter. Who do you think is the best batsman in the world currently? You will get the answer immediately. Who do you think who can perform under pressure? You will get the answer immediately. Who do you think is the best Indian captain? You will get the answer after a slight pause. In all the cases, the answer will be Virat Kohli. For the Indian supporter, everything starts and ends with Kohli. I will leave the topic of who the best batsman currently is for another day. As for the other two, I certainly do not think Kohli is the best Indian captain nor do I think that he can perform under pressure. Let me analyse Kohli’s captaincy and the tag of performing under pressure.
Virat Kohli just as a batsman alone is certainly among the best currently. His exploits in every form of the game in every country stands as testimony. He has hundreds against all kinds of attack and some of them were scored on pitches that helped the bowlers. However, performing under pressure is something Kohli still lacks.
Performing under pressure
Kohli always had this tag that was attached to him wherever he played whomever he played. That when the pressure is high, Kohli is at his best. However, in reality, this is far from the truth. Kohli has seldom performed under pressure. Infact, because of his failure, he had added additional pressure on the rest of the batsmen. There are numerous instances of such happenings.
The instances where Kohli failed to win Tests
Kohli has never played a match winning innings in the 4th innings of a test match till now. As recently as 3 years ago, Kohli had multiple chances to win tests and that too in a foreign land. He had a couple in South Africa and a further couple in England. The South African series was a low scoring affair. Not once did either team manage to score more than 400. All the games were closely contested as well. Ultimately, South African won that series 2-1.
In the very first test, India were set a target of 208 to win. It was reasonable to expect India to score that many runs and win the game with Kohli in the team but Kohli scored only 28 and what was worst was that he wasn’t even the top scorer in that innings. In the same series, in the 2nd test, India were again asked to chase in the final innings. This time the target was somewhat stiff. 289. Kohli scored a brilliant 153 in the first innings but fell for a single digit score in the 2nd innings. In the same year, against England Kohli had 2 more opportunities to score match winning innings and he wasn’t able to.
Kohli’s failures in important ICC events
During the 2015 World Cup, India proceeded serenely till the semi-finals when they came up against Australia. Australia had piled on a massive 330. India in response were 76 – 0 when Dhawan got out. In walked Kohli. Being the best batsman in the team, he was expected to take the bull by the horns and runaway with it. Instead, he got out immediately thereby converting a good start into a pressure situation. Likewise, in the 2019 World Cup, again in the semi-finals, this time against New Zealand, India had lost Rahul very early. Kohli followed him within the space of one over thereby increasing the pressure on the rest. The 2017 Champions Trophy finals is painful to remember.
The bottom line is that Kohli is susceptible to pressure as any other cricketer and he certainly does not deliver under pressure.
Kohli’s captaincy credentials
Some amount of credit must be given to Kohli for evolving a pace bowling based attack. India now have a decent pace bowling attack that is capable of taking 20 wickets. However, the results under his captaincy is not at all encouraging. He is yet to win a series in the SENA countries. Yes, some will site the 2018 win in Australia but we all know it wasn’t a complete victory. He is now lost couple of series in New Zealand, in South Africa and was humiliated in the last series in England. Added to that, he lost the only test in Australia where he was the captain. He has now lost 4 consecutive tests. Most of his wins as captain have come in India and West Indies and Sri Lanka.
His captaincy in limited overs is even more baffling. He does not have a world title to boast about in multiple attempts. He had also been the captain of RCB for 8 years but hasn’t won the IPL even a single time. It really is a miracle how RCB have retained him as the captain despite so many failures.
Virat Kohli is certainly one of the best batsman the world has ever seen. His exploits in all the 3 forms bears testimony to that fact. Among his contemporaries, Root is the only one who can come close the Kohli’s mastery across all the formats, whereas, Williamson and Smith lack consistent performances in the short formats. However, his on-field outrageous behaviour is certainly not doing anything good for the game or for the team. This has gone on for too long and it must stop. Let me try to put my case forward for Kohli and his outrageous on-field behaviour.
Kohli’s attitude towards his team members
From the time Kohli was made the captain, he seems to think that he is a larger than life figure. He is under the impression that the entire Indian team revolves around him and that only he can perform at the highest level. He seems to think that the others in the team are there just to make up the numbers. In the recently concluded series in Australia, Ashwin made a comment that the players felt much more relaxed at Melbourne.
Rahane was the captain in that test and Kohli wasn’t even there in Australia. This signifies the fear or the intimidation that the players feel when Kohli is around the team. If a captain can intimidate a senior player like Ashwin what hope does a junior like Shubnam Gill or Pant can have? They will be absolutely terrified of Kohli. It is one thing to be in awe of someone but it is quite the opposite to be afraid of the same person.
In the case of Kohli, it is the latter. This clearly signals that Kohli has failed in man-management. He wants everyone to follow him and certainly does not approve of any statements or comments to the contrary. During a game, Kohli can be clearly seen abusing or staring at a player when that player had made a mistake.
Case in point
There were couple of lovely moments during the Australian tour of 2020 and both involving Rahane. In the first test, Kohli was runout because of Rahane’s mistake and in the second test, Rahane was runout because of Jadeja’s mistake. The way both of the reacted told the whole story. Kohli walked away while glaring at Rahane all the way whereas Rahane just patted Jadeja and walked away. Mind you, I am not a big fan of Rahane being in the team. If at all he must play, he must play as captain only and not as a batsman.
It certainly looks like Kohli has enormous clout and he is using his power to the fullest extent. The Anil Kumble saga comes to mind. Kumble left his coaching role stating that his position with Kohli had become untenable. Kumble as we all know is a genial but a tough man when it comes to the team and the game. If Kohli had managed to ruffle the feathers of such a person, nothing more needs to be said.
Kohli’s attitude towards the opposition
Kohli’s on-field behaviour towards the opposition is the worst by any player leave alone the captain of a team. His celebration after the fall of a wicket and especially when he is under pressure had definitely crossed the borders of decency on more than one occasion. There are so many examples of such stupid behaviour. YouTube is full of Kohli abusing the opposition. He not only denigrates the game but he also denigrates the Indian team and as an extension the entire Indian nation itself. There is growing realisation that Kohli is considered a disgrace to the nation because of his behaviour.
There have been poorly behaved players. Warne, Steve Waugh, Ponting, Anderson and a few others but no one absolutely no one can be compared to Kohli. Kohli has stooped to such a low that anyone else will always be above him in terms of behaviour.
Towards the start of 2020, India lost 2 tests in New Zealand under Kohli. Towards the end of the 2nd test, Kohli abused the monk of cricket Kane Williamson with unprintable words. Shouldn’t he have realised that New Zealand are only 10 runs away from winning the series 2-0? More recently, against England in Chennai in 2021, he reacted to the wicket of Burns by swearing at England’s dugout and England at that point were ahead by 250 runs. His brush with Tim Paine in 2008 is rather well known.
Impotent commentators and media
What makes the whole thing a farce is the silence of the commentators, former players and the media. Even Sunil Gavaskar who played cricket when West Indies were ruling without abusing anyone, refuses to speak up against Kohli behaviour. It is onething for Karthik or Siva or Dasgupta not to criticise Kohli because they are fearful for their job. Criticising Kohli means they will lose their contract as Harsha Bhogle found out when he criticised Dhoni. I really cannot understand why a Gavaskar or for that matter non-Indian commentators refuse to condemn Kohli? Gavaskar has reached a point in his life where he does not need to worry about money. He is at an age which has past retirement age in the corporate world. He certainly must condemn Kohli for his behaviour.
It is really unfortunate that in the current series against England, Indians are not able to listen to Nass, Athers & Bumble. Hopefully, they would have condemned Kohli.
The refusal of the former players and the commentators to condemn Kohli’s on-field behaviour seems to imply that they would rather condone his on-field actions. They always give the excuse that that is the way Kohli plays. It is aggression and not abuse. Complete nonsense.
It is time the BCCI and the ICC takes up this issue seriously. They will do well do warn Kohli once to change his behaviour. If Kohli refuses, action must be taken against him. It could be to the tune of banning him for 1-2 years. Abusive on-field behaviour is quite serious and must be tackled with all firmness. This not only makes viewing tough but it also clutters the minds of younger generation. Knowing that the BCCI is a spineless body, the ICC must impose strict penalty on Kohli. If the big fish is taken care of, the little ones will fall in its place.
What can you say about a player who has become a dinosaur in limited overs? What can you say about a player who is the best Indian opening batsman in ODIs? Now, think about this. What can you say about a player for whom too many players were dropped? What can you say about a player for whom to be accommodated, the batting order was changed quite often in the longest format? If the answer for the first couple of questions will be great and answer for the next couple will certainly he doesn’t deserve such a special treatment. In both the cases, the player in question is Rohit Sharma.
On the otherhand, there is one more cricketer, who is pretty much inconsistent but stays in the team because once in awhile he plays an innings and India wins that game. This player is none other than Ajinkya Rahane. Let me analyse about Rohit Sharma and Rahane’s value to the team.
Let me first discuss about Rohit Sharma
As stated above, Rohit Sharma is a colossus when it comes to ODIs and T20s. Agreed that he wasn’t that big a success towards the early part of his career but ever since he started to open the batting, his consistency is mindboggling. He topped it with 5 centuries in the 2019 World Cup. A feat none of the India batsmen have ever achieved. So much so that he is now being talked about as potential captain in the short formats atleast mainly because of his success leading the Mumbai Indians in the IPL.
However, does this means that he must be an automatic selection in the Test team? Does he even have the credentials for that? History suggests that he does not have. Rohit Sharma started his Test career with 2 centuries albeit with West Indies. One of them, with Shami as his partner and then his runs tailed off with hardly anything worthy of mention. It was around this time, he became a colossus on the ODI field and selectors thought that he might afterall be a good opening batsman at the Test level. Infact, he seemed to have proved them correct with a stellar series against South Africa but then, his runs dried after that series.
He had a wonderful opportunity in Australia & at Chennai against England but he failed to make use of it. It is to be noted that he is 33 years old and not much cricket left in him. Off late, he has also gained enormous amount of weight. So much so that, there was a joke on Twitter that Rohit Sharma is in the team only to increase the average weight.
The efforts to accommodate Rohit
Rohit as we all know, started as a middle order batsman. He has all the strokes and as such the selectors and the team management felt it to be prudent to persist with him despite his failures. He was shuffled within the batting line-up all to help him score. There was a period in Sri Lanka when he scored only 10 runs across 5 innings. Agreed that he didn’t get consistent run in the test team but that is mostly because of his inconsistency and the performance of others.
Despite that, he was always part of the squad, be it test cricket, ODI cricket or T20 cricket. Still, to help him achieve his potential, someone else was dropped or shuffled. Sometimes it was Pujara. Some other time, it was Rahane (does he really deserve his place? I will come to that later) and sometime one bowler was sacrificed. Yet, his performance has not improved. With the latest failures, despite playing in some batting friendly pitches, the time has come for Rohit to be dropped from the test squad forever. As Shubnam Gill has shown, there are players who can replace him. Even a Sundar will be better opener than Rohit.
Other topics about Rohit can be read here and here.
Ajinkya Rahane, the once in awhile player
Rahane is another who had a fabulous start to his test career. He scored runs in South Africa (when they were at their best) in Australia, in New Zealand and it is hard to forget his hundred at Lord’s that India won. It was thought that India have found a player for the next 10 years. To a certain extent, it was true. He did play for 10 years but did he perform? That is a big question.
After the incredible start to his career, he never managed to reach those heights. His scores across the world is a testimony to that fact. Yet, he still managed to be in the playing eleven all the time. It was the runs scored during the early part of his career that provided him with cushion. This must have run out longtime ago but it never did and he still continues to be in the team when much better players are languishing outside. As in the case of Rohit, Rahane is also 32 and with his current level of performance, I cannot see him play even for another year.
India, nowadays prefer to play with 5 batsmen and a couple of all-rounders which means that atleast 3 of the 5 must score runs all the time. Together with Kohli and Pujara, Rahane is the most experienced and his lack of runs has become quite serious, especially when the opposition scores in excess of 450.
Performance once in awhile
Rahane plays one innings every now and then and either by design or by coincidence, India ends up winning that test. This happened in Melbourne in 2020, in South Africa in the year 2017 at Johannesburg. Earlier at Lord’s. As a result of these, it was always thought that Rahane always performs when the team is under pressure.
However, facts are the exact opposite. The number of times the Indian team have struggled in these last 6 years is far too many. Rahane hasn’t rescued the team every single time. If ratio have to be applied, he plays a decent innings once in 20 attempts and as a result of that, the team either loses the rest or struggles to draw the game. Off late, he has become a huge liability on Indian pitches. He has become a sitting duck or a free wicket. After his recent innings against England at Chennai, Twitter has exploded.
It is hightime that both Rahane and Rohit are shown the door. At the moment, India have enough cricketers who can replace both of them. Let the selectors and the team management not go back to these 2 players in the future. They have had their chances and have blown it.
Before proceeding with part 2 of this series, please read part 1 here and part 2 here
The 2011 tour
The 2011 Australian team was a poor team when compared to the teams from 1999. In an exact replica of 1991, the 2011 Indian team were again aged and over the hill players. Reflexes were down. Nevertheless, the 4-0 thrashing was unexpected because it was a period when Indian team had started to win atleast one test in every series outside India and Australia weren’t that good either. Things were even worse because the same set of players had lost another series in England 4-0 and yet no change was made. Dhoni was unable to turn the tide and he was uninspiring as well. He just didn’t know what to do.
The board was absolutely inept and Dhoni was not replaced as captain despite losing 2 successive series and he continued to be the captain even in 2015 which the Indian team lost 2-0. To see a Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey score so many runs after struggling for more than 3 years, to see Clarke score a triple hundred and Warner score a hundred before lunch, it was all way too much. Infact, after the 2nd test, I stopped watching the rest and I did not even look at the scorecard. The series was that depressing. It was really a wonder how Dhoni managed to keep his captaincy despite such humiliation. Ofcourse, the truth came out later.
Feeling despondent
It was then I lost all hopes of ever seeing India win a series in Australia. If India was incapable of defeating such a poor, untalented Australia when they were at their absolute worst, what hopes do we have when they will eventually find good players? I thought that India must never ever tour and we will have to play only within India. Then, things started to turn. Dhoni resigned and Kohli became the captain. Though I am not a great fan of Kohli’s captaincy, he atleast had the guts to change how we approach series outside of India.
The series win that I was waiting for but…..
Kohli wanted to build an attack with fast bowlers and not rely on spinners and slow bowlers. It proved to be a good strategy and suddenly, India were able to find fast bowlers who were capable of bowling sides out everywhere and the batsmen were ready to play shots and take blows. India went into the 2018 series as the favourites and duly won the first test but lost the next one. I had this strange feeling that we were absolutely better than the Australian team and the loss at Perth was only an aberration and that we will eventually win at Melbourne and Sydney. We won at Melbourne after a marathon innings from Pujara and should have won at Sydney if not for rain wiping away 1.5 day’s play.
Yes, India have won. For the first time in Australia. However, I just like millions of other Indian fans had this strange feeling that this victory wasn’t complete. Australia missed their 2 important batsmen in Smith & Warner. Yes, Australia had a strong bowling attack but they never had the batsmen to score runs for the bowlers to defend. Infact, the first test at Adelaide was too close for comfort because we won by just 31 runs and if those batsmen had been playing, we may have lost that test. There was always an asterix against the win. I wanted the world to stand still so that India would never have to tour Australia again and lose. How wrong was I?
Finally, a dream fulfilled
Within 2 years of an epic win, India again travelled to Australia and this time not only Australia had their complete team, they were ranked number one and have retained the Ashes in England and have thrashed Pakistan and New Zealand. They were quite cocky and were high on confidence and performance. Smith was back and performing like he never went away. To make matters worse, India went into the series somewhat tired after IPL and being inside the bubble. Ishant Sharma, who was to form a three pronged attack wasn’t fit and eventually missed the entire series. What happened subsequently throughout the series is too fresh. After the debacle of Adelaide, I was livid. I wrote a piece that titled A disgrace called Indian team.
I never thought that the Indian team after such a drubbing will even be able to draw one game. I thought 4-0 is nothing but given. I was livid with Pujara for playing too slowly at Adelaide. At Rahane for being useless and at Bumrah for being ineffective. At Vihari and Saha for being so hopeless. At Prithvi Shaw for a waste of space. However, the team’s performance post Adelaide was nothing but extraordinary. On the very last day, I watched every ball.
With the loss of every wicket, I wanted the team to play for a draw because with such a depleted team, a draw was as good as a win. When Pant scored that winning runs, I cried because after 40 years, a youngster’s dream finally fulfilled. We have defeated a strong Australian side. There is no asterix against the win. Infact, an Indian D team defeated an Australian main team. I will savour this win for a very longtime.