Author: Bobji

Ponting’s Shaw weakness and Pujara’s slowness

Posted on by Bobji

It is by now rather popular as to how Ricky Ponting, one of the greats of the game predicted the exact mode of dismissal of Prithvi Shaw in the first innings at Adelaide. Shaw was bowled just after. These were infact prophetic words from a former great but was he actually a party to Shaw’s poor technique? Also, Pujara must realise that merely staying at the wicket for 30 overs will not fetch him and the team runs. He must actively look to scoring runs. Let me examine Ponting’s Shaw weakness and Pujara’s slowness.

Ricky Ponting’s famous prophetic words

“If he does have a chink in his armour it’s the ball which does come back into him…

“Quite often leaves a big gap between bat and pad and that’s where the Aussies will target.”

Well spotted Ricky but he was Shaw’s coach at Delhi Capitals. He was under Ponting’s tutelage for a whole 2 months. It is certainly enough time to correct this shortcoming. Ponting could have made Shaw a better batsman with tighter technique. He could have instilled in Shaw the virtue of playing within the body and not play too many shots upfront before he is settled. However, Ponting chose not to coach Shaw on this crucial technical flaw.

In the second innings, Shaw again got out in similar fashion and Ponting had this to say

“In the first innings, Mitchell Starc brought one back through the gate. You see that he tried to make slight adjustments in the second innings. The gap wasn’t big, but the problem, the worry is that his front foot is not planted. His front foot is still in the air. C late on the ball, he’s late moving his weight into,” Ponting explained.

All of these means that he had studied Shaw clearly during his stint as Delhi coach. The led me to think whether these was a wider conspiracy during the whole of IPL. Some of the Australian players were bought by various franchises at exorbitant price. All of them were part of the regular Australian team in various formats. They were aware of the impending Indian tour and the importance of that tour for Australian cricket. Not only Australia had to win the series to ensure that they continue to be number one in the world but they must win to ensure that they play in the WTC finals in June 2021.

Based on past reports, whenever any team travel to Australia, especially the popular ones like England, India & South Africa, the entire Australian continent are known to hunt as a pack. The media will be scathing with their criticism, the spectators at the ground will be hostile towards the visiting team and wherever the opponent team goes around, they will be targeted through a volley of abuse. All of them work as an extension of the Australian team. Their idea is to mentally disintegrate the visiting team.

The conspiracy of the Australian players

I wonder whether the Australian players were involved deliberately in something similar. If we revisit IPL 2020, none of the Australian players performed upto the level they were bought or expected to perform. Smith, Finch, Zampa & Cummins were huge failures. Warner wasn’t that big a success either. In the past IPLs, most of these players did perform. However, as soon as they started to play for Australia, runs & wickets started to come for all of them. They did not want to exert themselves during the IPL and wanted to be fresh for the Indian series.

Ricky Ponting too did not want to rectify Shaw’s problem knowing that if he gets over his technical flaw and him being almost a certainty in the Indian team, could go onto score runs that may ruin Australia’s chances of victory and hence he thought it will be better not to work on Shaw’s technique which will give a slight advantage for India over Australia. Remember, Ricky Ponting retired only a few years ago from cricket. It is clear that none of the Australian players were honest or professional during the IPL.

Pujara’s slowness

Cheteshwar Pujara is one of the mainstays of the Indian batting. He is the one who absorbs pressure and ensures that the batsmen who follow him have relatively easier time in the middle. He did have a fabulous 2018 with hundreds in England & Australia. Infact his runs were the reason India won the 2018 series. However, this does not work all the time. It is all well and good to have the ability to play 30-40 overs but that must result in a score that correspond to the time spent on the wicket. In the recently concluded first test at Adelaide, Pujara played more than 30 overs and yet scored only 43. That translates to around a strike rate of 30. If only he had scored at 50, he would have scored more than 80 and as a result the team’s score would have been higher as well.

What is expected of Pujara!!

Pujara must realise that it is not only important to stay at the wicket but it is also important to score while at the crease. Pujara, by playing over defensively, creates undue pressure of the other batsmen. He resonates a feeling of both the pitch and the bowling is difficult to play and runs scoring is extremely tough. After 50 overs, with runs not coming from anywhere, the team has not moved anywhere.

As a result, the opposition is still very much in the game. He cannot transform himself into a Sehwag but he certainly can and must slightly modify his game. No one is expecting him to score at 80, 90 strike rate. If he is only a bit more aggressive in his approach, he can score a lot more and the other batsmen will also be much more confident. They will be able to settle down earlier and will be able to play freely much earlier.

The sooner Pujara realise this the better it is for the Indian team. He must also realise that the game has evolved and gone are the times when 75 overs a day was what bowled in which team scores weren’t that high and teams used to play for close to 2 days to gain ascendancy. Nowadays, 90 overs are bowled and invariably a teams are able to gain ascendancy rather quickly. This is possible only if the batsmen score runs.

Other articles related to Indian cricket can be read here, here and here.

England cancelled their South African tour

Posted on by Bobji

It is an inescapable fact that all of us are living during unprecedented times. The pandemic has swept the globe with such ferocity that most of the sporting events are either cancelled or held within closed doors. This has led to enormous amount of financial loss for various boards across the globe. Cricket too had to endure its share of financial trouble. England & Australia were able to reduce their loss because of the tours to those countries by West Indies, Pakistan & India. England’s and Australia’s financial position is not that bad when compared to other countries. However, South African situation is precarious. They may not even be able to pay their players. It is in such a situation that England cancelled their South African tour.

Problems in South African cricket

This has especially been a very difficult year for South African cricket. Their players weren’t able to get into the ground for international cricket. A complete overhaul of Cricket South Africa. Misigivings about Smith, Kallis & Boucher. The Black Lives Matter movement. Harsh exchanges between Ngidi and former players and to top it all, the financial mess that CSA finds itself in. They board dearly needed this series to go ahead so that they can recover a partial amount. However, the England team decided to cancel the series and return to England.

Did England do the right thing?

Now there will be conflicting views on whether England did the right thing. A couple of their players were tested positive and there was a breach of the secure bubble. It is natural for a human to be apprehensive and be afraid for his life and his family’s well-being but to cancel a series is not something England must have done. Instead they could have waited and with no immediate international series to be played, they could have requested the South African board to schedule the ODI series a few days later until things settle down. This would have ensured that the loss incurred by CSA was minimised.

England only needed to look at their home summer when West Indies, Pakistan, Australia & Ireland helped the ECB to recoup the losses that they would have suffered if none of the game were held. Those teams were magnanimous with their presence but England chose to leave the cricket field as soon as something went wrong.

The KP impact

It probably requires a player and captain of the stature of Kevin Pietersen. A few years ago, England toured India for series of ODIs & Tests. This was when the Mumbai Taj Hotel attack happened. Just like now, the England players panicked and everyone left the tour and returned to their country after the limited overs series. There were still Tests to be played. It was Kevin Pietersen who convinced his teammates to come back to India and play the test series. The 3 test series was reduced to 2 and the first one proved to be a rather good game with England just a wicket away from victory but for some resolute batting from Sachin and Yuvaraj that ultimately got India the victory.

I think Eoin Morgan must have done something similar and he could have brought everyone it the England team around to the fact that their summer went well because certain teams were accommodating. Especially Australia who flew well over 10 overs just for 3 ODIs. It is time they give something back to another board who is facing financial crisis.

Other articles related to South African cricket can be read here and here.

Shubnam Gill must restrain himself

Posted on by Bobji

The first test between India and Australia will begin at Adelaide tomorrow. Shubnam Gill has voiced his opinion about the alleged chin music of the Australian bowlers. Here is a young Indian player who is thought to be a supremely talented batsman who instead of letting himself score runs against one of the finest attacks in cricket, has talked about sledging. Shubnam Gill must restrain himself. Also, the Indian team for the first test was announced a few hours ago and there is one particular name who has been selected to open the innings when he should not have been considered. Let me comment on these in this article.

Let me begin with the Indian team for the first test

Most of the squad members were a foregone conclusion. In that they were expected to be in the playing eleven if not in the later part of the series, atleast in the first test. The opinion was split only when it came to the opening partner for Agarwal, the keeper and the lone spinner. It was a good decision on the part of the Indian team management to select Saha instead of Pant as the keeper. This despite the fact that Pant scored a rollicking hundred in the 2nd practise game albeit when the wicket became easy to bat on. The lone spinner position went to Ashwin and not Kuldeep.

This is understandable because being the first test of the series and being a day-night game which is expected to help the bowlers, India wants an extra batting option so that the tail will not be lengthy. The 3rd selection is that of Prithvi Shaw. Now, this is a stupid decision and I hope that it will not come back to bite the Indian team.

Prithvi’ Shaw’s struggle

Prithvi Shaw had a wonderful start to his international career. He scored a couple of quick hundreds eventhough it was only against the West Indies and in India. However, for a 18 year old, this was a fabulous start. Much was expected of him after his debut but injury and other off field issues stunted his growth. He was back into the Indian team for the New Zealand series earlier in 2020 and that was where his lack of technique was thoroughly exposed. He has such a loose technique that on helpful wickets, he is a walking wicket. His failures continued in the 2 practise games.

At the sametime, Shubnam Gill, though he hasn’t had a spectacular run in the practise games, had a decent outing in 3 innings. It was expected that Gill will open with Agarwal though I would prefer Vihari to open with Gill in the lower middle order. However, to my surprise, Shaw has been named in the playing eleven. The only reason for this will be the fact that Shaw is senior at the international level to Gill and being the first test, seniority is given preference over talent. This is stupid and ridiculous. I do not have anything more to add to this nonsense decision.

Coming to Shubnam Gill’s comments

As mentioned above, Gill seems to be an excellent talent. Someone the greats like Allan Border & Sunil Gavaskar have praised. He is young and with lots of cricket ahead of him. He has given some outrageous comments

I am not the sort to keep quiet all the time, but I am not likely to say something each time too. So it depends… We sledge too. When teams come to India, we do get involved,”

“Things might have been different earlier, and maybe some of our batsmen were not as aggressive [in terms of scoring], especially in Test cricket. But now you get a result in almost every Test match, so if they come to us with chin music, we have plenty of moves to deal with their chin music.”

Shubnam Gill has lost his mind

These are not comments of a player who is about to start his international career. These are comments of a player who is arrogant and somewhat self-opinionated. Who does he think he is? His comments seems to suggest that  he already is a batsman that is equal to some of the batting greats. He suggests that some of the past Indian batsmen weren’t aggressive when it came to scoring. Has he even seen some of the innings played by a Dravid or a Tendulkar or Laxman or for that matter, a Sunil Gavaskar? Not for nothing are some of these players are accepted as great. They were aggressive in their own way. Gill will do well to watch the rerun of some of the games these players played to understand what aggression really means.

Gill also states that the Indian team too sledge. It is ofcourse a well known fact and especially under Kohli, the behaviour of the Indian team is worse. Alongwith Bangladesh, India will be among the top 2 worst behaved teams on the field. However, Gill being a youngster must refrain himself from these and must concentrate on his batting. His primary job is to score runs and not sledge the opposition. His comments seems to suggest that he will not be averse to sledge which is going in the wrong direction.

Conclusion

Gill has played 3 ODIs so far and has scored 49 runs on the whole including a 33 in one game. This means that he hasn’t really had a decent start to his international career and already he has started voicing his opinion about the past cricketers. Gill will need 10 years of consistent scoring to be considered among them. He better keep his mouth shut and let his bat do the talking by piling on runs. If the likes of Border and Gavaskar are impressed, it does mean that he has the game to succeed at the international level. He must not spoil his talent by indulging in activities that may affect his batting.

What do you think of the team selection? Do you think Prithvi Shaw deserves a chance or do you think Gill must have played? Are you of the opinion that Gill should not have commented about the past cricketers? Do let me know your comments in the section below.

Other articles related to the Australian tour can be read here, here, here, here & here.

India vs Australia first test preview

Posted on by Bobji

In about 3 days, the first test between India and Australia will begin in Adelaide. This will as we know be a day-night test match. The first such instance for India in Australia and their first day-night game against a top team. This is going to be a new experience for the Indian team and probably the toughest test for the team since the time they went to England and were hammered 4-1. Both the sides have some exciting cricketers and quite a few nervous ones. Both the sides have some excellent fast bowlers and save for a couple, pretty ordinary batsmen. Everyone seems to be expecting a cracker of a game but I do think that it will one sided favouring Australia. I want to be proved wrong. India vs Australia first test preview.

The Adelaide track

Adelaide is traditionally a batting wicket in that scores in excess of 450 is quite common. Games in Adelaide will usually last the entire 5 days. Since the invention of day-night tests, the pitch and the pink ball have changed the nature of Adelaide ground itself. A lot of grass is left on the pitch to ensure that the pink ball lasts for 80 overs. This has certainly helped the bowlers to a great extent. As such, only one test out of the three that was played in Adelaide have lasted the whole 5 days. The other games were completed within well below 4 days. The bottom line is, batting under the lights at Adelaide is not easy. The bowlers have found lateral movement when the lights are switched on and the pink ball have helped the bowlers in that.

Australia have bowlers of the quality of Starc, Cummins & Hazlewood who are all capable of taking complete advantage of the pink ball and the movement under the lights. Added to that, Nathan Lyon has an impressive strike rate at Adelaide. All the 4 bowlers for Australia will be a nightmare for the Indians.

India too have bowlers who are capable to taking advantage of the prevailing conditions. However, the 3rd fast bowler and the lone spinner is somewhat unproven in Australia. There are rumours going around that India intends to play 4 fast bowlers with the rest being 6 batsmen and a keeper. This is flawed thinking. Not only will the 4 fast bowlers be unable to complete the overs within the stipulated time but will also leak runs on the big outfield in Adelaide if the lines are wrong. A spinner is very much required to keep the rampaging Australian batsmen quiet.

Why do I think Australia holds the advantage?

First,

This series is being played in Australia. The Aussies are well accustomed to their grounds and it takes a colossal effort on the part of any team visiting Australia to defeat them when they have their best side. Only the great South African team of the late 2000s and the early 2010s were able to defeat them consistently. The English were supremely confident and the Australians under Ponting in 2011 were a spent force. India in 2018, we know who wasn’t there. Smith singlehandedly was the reason for Australia retaining the Ashes in 2019.

Second,

The early form shown by Steven Smith. He is an extraordinary batsman at the Test level and against India, he has always always scored runs wherever the game is played and in both ODIs & Tests. Something happens to him when it comes to Test cricket that he becomes a different beast.

Third,

The form of the tourists in the couple of warm up games. The Indian team almost lost the first game if not for Saha’s fighting innings against a good bowling attack. Except for Pujara & Rahane, the rest of the batsmen struggled. Even those 2, did not perform in the 2nd innings. The bowlers didn’t have a good game either. The familiar site of unable to get the wickets of tailenders returned and it is depressing enough. Concession can be given to the Indian team in that they played a red-ball game after 8 months and players are bound to feel rusty. Also, the Aussies came up with a decent enough team with some Test hopefuls and Test regulars.

However, the same cannot be said about the 2nd game. The Indians were bowled out for a score less than 200. Yes, the pitch was lively but save for Bumrah’s innings, the Indians would have been embarrassed with a score less than 150. The Indian bowlers were able to bowl the opposition out for just over a hundred. Looked closely will reveal great details. There was only one batsmen, albeit a keeper, Alex Carey, who is an Aussie regular and the Indian bowlers struggled in the first innings to get him out. The Australian batsmen and the bowlers for that game wasn’t of top quality. The Indian management must realise this.

Fourth,

The inexperienced or poor technique of the Indian batsmen. Shaw is so bad that he must not be in Australia. Gill is inexperienced and so is Vihari. Rahane and Pujara cannot be depended which leaves Kohli as the only batsman of repute. Unfortunately, Kohli will leave Australia after the end of the first game.

About the Aussies

This is not to say that Australians are on top of their game. They have their own problems. In the absence of Warner and the continued struggle of Burns, they do not have an opening pair. Wade & Head have question marks over their head. The one thing the Australians absolutely have in their favour is Steven Smith. It is difficult to see the Indian team getting Smith early. Their bowling is settled with Lyon having impressive credentials in Adelaide.

The Indian team

I am certain that Agarwal will open but he must be partnered with Vihari and the top of the order. Yes, this is a bit unfair on Vihari but he has shown good technique. He will be able to play the long innings. Let the youngster Shubnam Gill, who will be making his debut, play at 6. He is certainly short of confidence but the reserve batsmen in the team do not inspire much confidence. However, I think Rahul will open with Agarwal and Vihari will bat at 6. The ball moves at Adelaide in the evening. Hence, a good keeper is needed. Saha will be that keeper. In the absence of Kumar and Ishant, Ashwin must be the spinner to support Bumrah, Shami & Siraj. Umesh has let the team down far too often that he must not be considered.

Wrapping up India vs Australia first test preview

I just hope that India will utilise the conditions to nullify the threat of Smith & Marnus and win this test.

Other articles related to the Australian tour can be read here, here, here, here & here.

India’s first practise game and the problems

Posted on by Bobji

The Indian A team just completed their first practise game of the current Australian tour. It was a 3 day game against Australia A. This was the first of 2 practise games planned before the first test at Adelaide. Unlike the previous tours, the Indian team took this game seriously and played with 11 players. This was a welcome change. However, the performance of most of the regular players was somewhat disappointing.

Some of the regular players like Bumrah, Shami & Agarwal were not part of the squad. With them not playing in the T20 series, it is only logical for them to play in the practise game but that wasn’t to be. However, the other regulars like Pujara, Rahane and Vihari were part of the team. These players have not played the game for a longtime. Except for Rahane, the other 2 weren’t even part of any IPL franchise. So the wait for them was even longer.

Importance of tour games

Tour games like these are not that important from a result perspective but they do provide some valuable match practise. Especially, at this time when sporting events have become rare. These games offer the batsmen to get used to the bounce and carry off the wicket and for the bowlers to bowl the line and length that will be required on these pitches. Pujara, Rahane & to a certain extent Vihari & Saha played lot of deliveries which will improve their confidence ahead of the first test. Saha can be especially pleased in that he actually was able to save the game for India. At one stage India were ahead by only 85 runs in the second innings with more than 40 overs yet to be bowled. It would have been embarrassing for the team as a whole if India had lost the game and that too well inside 3 days.

Gill & Shaw

The biggest worry for the Indian team management will be the twin failures for both Shubnam Gill and Prithvi Shaw. One of these players is expected to be part of the eleven either as an opener with Mayank or once Kohli leaves, in the middle order. Both of them failed miserably. Infact, Gill was out of the very first delivery he faced in the first innings and Shaw followed him a few deliveries later. Shaw has such a poor technique that he is becoming a sitting duck. He has problems against both the moving ball and the bouncing ball.

The moving ball accounted for him in New Zealand and on the available evidence so far, the bouncing ball in the tour game. The way Shaw plays, reminds me of Sadagoppan Ramesh. He was a similar type of player. Ramesh never used to move his feet and just rely on his hands. Shaw is similar.

The poor form of Shaw & Gill

Shaw & Gill are both openers and the Indian team cannot afford to have them in the playing eleven when the other opener, Agarwal, is not that experienced at the international level. Both Shaw & Gill are young and they have time at their disposal. It will be better if both of them are sent back to Ranji trophy and included in all kinds of A team tours to the SENA countries so that they can improve their technique against fast bowling. A stint in English county cricket will also help. Unfortunately, for young Indian players, IPL has become much more important that honing their skills against different bowling attacks.

An opportunity for Rahul

Either of them or one of them will once again get an opportunity in the next couple of days to impress. However, I do feel that Rahul will be back to open the innings in the first test. Rahul who hasn’t proved himself either in Test cricket, will get one more chance to claim a permanent place in the test squad. If Rahul finally manages to fulfil his talent, that will be a great news for the team, however, it is unlikely to happen because as soon as Rahul goes back to opening the innings, he will forget stroke play and will be overcautious. This has happened regularly in the past and there is no evidence that this will not happen in the future.

Indians will also be pleased

The Indian team will be pleased that the Australian first choice opener, Joe Burns and the player who is most likely to open the innings if Warner is ruled out, Will Pucovski, didn’t have a good outing either. Especially, Burns with scores of 4 and 0, the Indian bowlers will be super confident when they are up against him at Adelaide. It was unfortunate that Pucovski got hit on the head and may not be available for the first test. Umesh Yadav gave a good account of himself and is in contention for the Adelaide game as the 3rd seamer. In the absence of Ishant Sharma, Umesh is the 2nd most experienced of the bowlers but the least likely to pick up wickets or keep the batsmen quiet.

A word about the opposition

The opposition as really strong and the Indian management will only have to thank the Australian board for arranging such a strong team. The bowlers that included James Pattinson who might as well go on to play in Adelaide was part of the bowlers with a couple of others who were part of various Australian team in the recent past. The pitch was bouncy as well. This was ideal preparation before the start of the series.

Kohli and Shastri who are not fans of such tour games because they often site the lack of good opposition or good sporting pitches, certainly will not have any complaint in this game. Such was the quality of the opposition. Hopefully, the next tour game, which will be with pink ball, offers the same kind of opposition and an identical pitch so that the likes of Kohli, Agarwal, Bumrah & Shami will get the much required red-ball practise.

Other articles related to the Australian tour can be read here, here, here, here & here.

Hardik Pandya must be retained for Tests

Posted on by Bobji

I have always thought that Hardik Pandya is an overrated cricketer and that at best, he wilI be an asset for the Indian team in T20 cricket. I thought that he is in the Indian team only because he is playing for Mumbai Indians in IPL. However, I must confess that I never thought I will be convinced that Hardik Pandya is required for Tests and that he will be ideal batsman at number 6 in Australia.

Problems for the Indian team

Pandya was never part of the Indian Test squad for Australia. He was selected for both ODI as well as T20. The reason for not selecting Pandya for tests was because he will not be able to bowl and in Tests a fifth bowler is very much a necessity in Australia. This will give some rest to the likes of Bumrah & Shami. Though I do agree with this line of thinking, I do believe that this is not entirely solid argument.

First, the Indian team as a whole has not played international cricket for close to 8 months and as such most of the bowlers are well rested. Ofcourse, all of them were involved in the exhibition called IPL but at the most, every bowler would not have bowled more than 150 overs over the last 2 months. Hence, the bowlers are well rested.

Second,  the Indian batsmen are currently short of experience, especially once Kohli leaves. Prithvi Shaw, Hanuma Vihari & Agarwal has played less than 10 tests. Shubnam Gill is yet to make his debut. Rahul is an unproven player at the test level. This leaves only Pujara & Rahane as the most experienced for 3 of the 4 tests .The entire series will be decided in that 3 tests.

Third, Shaw has severe problems with anything that is quick or that swings. Vihari though talented is yet to the sort of consistency that displays confidence on a tough tour. Rahul & Gill may also have problems with the short ball.

The reason I am convinced

Pandya though as inexperienced as the others in Test cricket, has lot of confidence in his abilities. He does not have any sort of problem against the short ball. He is an aggressive player and someone with that ability lower down the order will be great for the team. If the Indian top and middle order score lot of runs, Pandya can completely take the game away from the Australians. This is what Gilchrist used to do.

Now that Pandya is not required to bowl, he can concentrate on his batting alone. His innings in the ODI where he was watchful for most part of his innings and later on he played an aggressive brand of cricket is enough to convince me that he has the game for succeed at the test level. I do agree that Test cricket is completely different. Red ball will swing more than the white ball and also the pitches will have a bit more bounce but Pandya is certainly capable of overcoming them.

Michael Clarke’s & Vaughan’s comments about Pandya

Vaughan feels that Pandya is likely to be the next superstar of the game after his performances in the limited overs series.

“MS Dhoni, he had that mantle for many years. Virat Kohli has it now. It’s generally the Indian players that get put onto that pedestal and I think Hardik’s got a chance to be the next superstar.”

This certainly is high praise and it remains to be seen whether Pandya can achieve the heights of Kohli or Dhoni, the fact that Vaughan who is a great thinker of the game feels so, says volumes about Pandya’s improved batting.

On the otherhand, Michael Clarke is surprised that Pandya is not part of the test squad.

Kohli’s reasoning for Pandya not being retained

“We need him to bowl. That’s when he becomes that one guy who brings a lot of balance for us. If you’ve seen our cricket overseas as well, in South Africa and England, we were able to compete for longer periods through Test matches because of the fact that he brought a lot of balance in terms of his bowling. We’ve communicated that to him.”

Kohli wants Pandya to be able to bowl decent volume of spells in Test cricket which is fair enough. However, the current situation calls for Pandya the batsman rather than Pandya the allrounder. The Tests at Adelaide and Brisbane will probably not require a fifth bowler. Adelaide is a day-night game and the ball is expected to move a lot during the twilight hour. Day-night tests at Adelaide have not gone to the fifth day.

This shows the importance of having a sixth batman. Brisbane is known to assist fast bowlers. It is only in Melbourne and Sydney a fifth bowler will be needed but it is not mandatory. Far too long teams have managed to play and win with 4 bowlers even in Melbourne and Sydney. This occasion is not any different. With the pandemic induced break, even the pitches in Melbourne & Sydney may offer assistance to the fast bowlers which means 4 bowlers will be able to do the job for the team.

Conclusion

Pandya is beginning to prove that he is not someone who can only play the spinners well. With his consistency in the short format, he has shown that he can play the fast bowlers too. Instead of worrying about Pandya the bowler, it is better the utilise the services of Pandya the batsman in the current series because the runs from Pandya’s bat may well prove decisive than the overs Pandya is required to bowl. However, Pandya has a young family. He wife has given birth recently and it is ony natural for Pandya to spend sometime with the family. Having said that, Pandya must still be retained unless, Pandya himself is not willing to spend more time in Australia. In this case, he must be allowed to go back home.

Other articles related to the Australian tour can be read here, here, here, here & here.

India vs Australia T20 series review

Posted on by Bobji

India and Australia completed the 2nd leg of the 3 leg series with T20. India emerged victorious in the series with 2-1. This was not really a surprise because the Indians were involved in a 60 day IPL tournament and they were much more T20 fit than the Australians. The Indians were infact expected to win both the ODI series and the T20 series but they were able to win only one of them. As expected in T20 cricket, 2 of the 3 games were really high scoring games with scores of both the teams in excess of 175. The first game was much more sedate when compared to T20 standards with India winning with just 160 on the scoreboard.

Success of the series

There were some really good performances with a couple of great performances. There were a couple of belligerent fifties for Matthew Wade. He may have given one more opening option in the T20 format for Australia but age may work against him. Maxwell was at his best in one of the game. Zampa was tidy in the middle overs. As for India, Dhawan, Kohli & Rahul had one fifty each and Chahal bowled a match winning spell in the first T20.

However the biggest success was Ravindra Jadeja whose extraordinary 44 in the first T20 was the ultimate difference between a series won and series lost. Without his innings, India would have finished probably below 140 and Australia would have won easily. For Australia, Swepson was their biggest gain. He bowled tidily and pickup wickets in the middle overs which is very much required in the middle of the innings. Ofcourse, Pandya played a special innings. I will write about Pandya in a separate article.

Failure of the series

There were multiple failures during the series. Though Dhawan & Rahul have a fifty each, Rahul in particular really struggled to score. This is again because he was opening the innings. I have said this before and I will say this again. Rahul must never ever open the innings in any format. His position is in the middle order.

The biggest failure ofcourse was Steven Smith. The Test goliath is proving to be an amateur in the T20 format. He doesn’t seem to understand the shortest format. This is the difference between Kohli & Smith. Kohli has mastered all the formats whereas Smith struggles in T20. He is bound to struggle in next year’s T20 World Cup in India with the pitches being slow.

Inconsistent Indian team selection

The Indian team is the only team in the world that experiments right after the end of one world cup, throughout the time for the next world cup and during the next world cup. The management of Shastri, Kohli and the others seems never to make their mind up. Everyone remembers their quest to fill the number 4 slot in the ODI line-up for the 2019 World Cup. Just when Ambati Rayudu seemed to have filled that slot, the selectors dropped him and the team went into the 2019 World Cup with bits-and-pieces cricketers at the crucial number 4 slot. Pant, Karthik & Shankar all proved to be big failures at that slot.

Now, just a year to the 2021 T20 World Cup, it was Shreyas Iyer in the ODIs at number 4 and now Sanju Samson at that position in T20 with Iyer at 5. Manish Pandey is never thought by the management as someone who can by the solution at the crucial number 4 slot in both T20 and ODI. Why is he not given consistent chances is beyond me.

Struggle against spin in the middle overs

It is a growing worry that Indians, who are renowned players of spin is actually struggling to play spin over the last several years. In the recent T20 and ODI series, Adam Zampa and Mitchell Swepson were able to keep the batsmen quiet throughout the middle overs. A couple of years ago, Lyon took a lot of wickets both in India and Australia. Little known Steve O Keefe won one test in Pune. The Indian batsmen struggle against Swann & Panesar led to the loss of a test series against England a few years ago.

The reason for this is because the Indians, as soon as they start to play for India, they completely forget first class cricket and are not involved in any Ranji game. Ranji will certainly help them play spin well. The board must make it mandatory for every Indian player to play atleast 3-4 Ranji games every year so that the skill to play spin bowling will not be lost and the Indian batsmen will not struggle against that type of spin.

In praise of Natarajan

Natarajan has certainly impressed everyone on his international debut. He bowled brilliantly in all the games. It was impossible to imagine India winning an international limited over series without Bumrah but Natarajan made it possible.

In Kohli’s and Pandya’s words

“Natarajan – special mention to him because in the absence of [Mohammed] Shami and Bumrah, he’s been the guy who has stood up and really delivered under pressure which is outstanding for the fact that he’s playing his first few games at the international level.”

Pandya was even more magnanimous in his praise of Natarajan. He even handed over the player of the series award to Natarajan because he felt Natty deserves it more than Pandya himself.

“Natarajan, you were outstanding this series. To perform brilliantly in difficult conditions on your India debut speaks volumes of your talent and hardwork

You deserve Man of the Series from my side bhai!”

This is indeed high praise. Hopefully, Natarajan will be able to maintain his form and be part of the T20 World Cup squad. I know he is close to 30 but if he could somehow add a few more KMS, he can even be part of the test squad. A left arm fast bowler bowling at 142 – 144, and with the skills that Nataraj has will be an excellent asset to the Indian bowling.

Other articles related to the Australian tour can be read here, here, here, here & here.

The Indian team for the practise game

Posted on by Bobji

As some of us know, one set of Indian players were involved in the 2nd T20 game against Australia in Sydney. At the sametime, in another ground in Sydney, the Indian A team was involved in a game against Australia. With a bench strength of more than 20 players, it is possible to allocate a set of players for the T20 and another set of players for the first class game. What however must be noted from the Indian perspective is that not everyone who are likely to be part of the first test were part of the practise game. Also, the BCCI, have planned to expand the IPL 2021 with the addition of 2 more teams. Whether this is going to help or otherwise, let me analyse.

Importance of practise games

Any tour that is outside of a team’s comfort zone requires the team to be involved in a series of practise games prior to the start of the first test. This will not only help the team to acclimatise to the changed weather and the different timezone but will also help in adjusting to the pace and bounce of the wickets in that country. All over the world, the pitches in one country does not change drastically. They are more or less the same. The importance of practise games increases manifold when the opposition is a top team and is ranked at the top of the rankings. The two practise games that are scheduled for India must be approached along these lines.

The Indian team for the first practise game

Naturally, one would expect the Indian team to take these games seriously and ensure that whoever is slated to play the first test is certainly part of these games. Unfortunately, the Indian team though considers these games as an important preparation exercise, chose to rest or not play certain players who would have gained valuable experience before the first test at Adelaide.

Mayank Agarwal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami & to certain extent, Navdeep Saini are guaranteed starters in the first test. However, none of them were part of the first practise game. Granted, these players will certainly play the second practise game but in the absence of longer duration game in general and red ball cricket in particular for more than 6 months, to get two consecutive games just before an important test is like a boon. The Indian team management must have realised that and must have ensured that their best 11 plays in both the games.

Players like Tyagi, Siraj are certainly not part of the overall scheme of things. If Ishant Sharma returns, these players will not in the mix even for the final test. I do agree that the fringe players must be given chances to prove their worth but that is not now. In the absence of regular international cricket and before an important series which has the potential to remove a stigma on the Indian team of not winning outside the country, first preference must be given to the players to who will be part of the first test.

The opening gambit

I do agree that a partner for Mayank Agarwal is necessary to be found in these games and as such one of Prithvi Shaw or Shubnam Gill must play to give them exposure and also to help the management to decide who is more deserving to open alongside Agarwal. Rahane, Pujara & Vihari have not played the game for a very longtime and there is no spot to accommodate Agarwal. It is true. However, Agarwal could have replaced one of the bowlers. Traditionally, the Indian batsmen have struggled in Australia. Hence, batsmen must be given as much time in the middle as possible. With Shaw’s and Gill’s failure, the team management is not any closer to finding a partner for Agarwal.

This Australian tour is the very last opportunity for quite a few players like Kohli, Rahane, Pujara, Ishant, Ashwin etc to accomplish what none of the other Indian teams have ever achieved. Defeat a full strength Australian team in their own country. The opportunity must not be squandered.

Performance of the Indian team so far in the practise game

Though not much is required to be read in the manner of the team’s performance, there are certain things that must worry any captain. Gill & Shaw’s failure, especially, Shaw’s who technique is so poor. The number of times he got out because of poor technique is quite a lot. He must be sent back to Ranji cricket for 4-5 years and made to work on his numerous flaws. Pujara & Rahane did spend valuable amount of time in the middle.

The Australian bowling attack is a decent one if not a spectacular one and every effort must be made to derive the most out of it. In terms of bowling, the age-old problem of flourishing tail has come back to haunt the Indians. It is astonishing that the Indian team is still unable to find an answer for this even against club sides. Kohli, Shastri & the wider support staff must explain to the public for this continuous problem.

Umesh Yadav has once again given everyone a false sense of hope by picking up a couple of early wickets. It must be remembered that Yadav has had his chances and has blown them away. Nothing must be read into this performance of his and he must not be brought back. Let the team management decide between Saini and Siraj.

My gut feeling

I somehow feel that the team management have decided to go into the first test with Kuldeep Yadav instead of Ashwin or Jadeja. With the Adelaide game being a day-night affair, it is a foregone conclusion that the 11 will consist of 6 batsmen and 4 bowlers with Saha. A wrist spinner will be much more effective than a finger spinner. Ashwin can bat but it should not be important with 6 batsmen. The question must be is Ashwin or Jadeja capable of taking wickets to choose the lone spinner.

Other articles related to the Australian tour can be read here, here, here, here & here.

Switch hit and Free hit

Posted on by Bobji

Ian Chappell, the former Australian captain and an excellent commentator and thinker of the game, has opined that the switch hit will have to be banned from the game. He has raised some valid points about which we will discuss. More than the switch hit, it is the free hit that needs immediate review and possibly banned from the game. This is much more unfair on the bowlers than switch hit.

Ian Chappell’s comments about switch hit

“It’s very simple. Maxwell hit a couple of (switch-hit) shots and Warner did (Sunday) night. All you’ve got to say is that if the batsman changes the order of his hands or his feet then it’s an illegal shot,”

Chappell feels that the switch hit is blatantly unfair for the fielding team. He wants to make the switch hit an illegal shot. It does make sense when looking at this from the bowler’s perspective. Chappell further states

“How can one side of the game, ie. the bowlers, they have to tell the umpire how they’re going to bowl. And yet the batsmen, he lines up as the right-hander. I am the fielding captain, I place the field for the right-hander – and before the ball’s been delivered, the batsman becomes a left-hander. “One of the main reasons why he’s becoming a left-hander is so he can take advantage of those field placings”

Switch hit is certainly tough on the fielding captain. He is helpless on the field. What Chappell says certainly makes sense. The fielding captain would have set the field for one type of batsman who suddenly changes to the opposite. Chappell raises lot of valid points but it is absolutely tough for the umpires to monitor a batsman when he has so many things on his plate. Only if the ICC steps in and bans switch hit will we see batsmen stop playing this shot.

Switch hit must not be banned

However, I do not think that this shot must be banned. This shot requires great skill on the batsmen to even get it right. Now, if a batsman is able to score a boundary or even better, hit the ball for a six, that is exceptional skill. Bowlers have introduced a lot of variations and likewise batsmen must also be allowed to introduce innovation. If this goes wrong, it sure is a wicket and as such not every batsman will venture into this exercise. One thing the ICC can do is that whenever a batsman changes his grip or changes his stance, balls pitching outside leg or batsmen being hit outside of off must not matter. The wide line will cease to exist. These changes will restore some sort of balance to the bowler and the fielding side.

Free hit must be stopped

Free hit is something that is completely unfair on the bowler. This must certainly be banned. There is no question about that. Bowlers, especially fast bowlers, spend lot of energy throughout the day. Bowling a no-ball is certainly wrong but no bowler will bowl one on purpose and to be penalised for trying to bowl at their best is downright unjust. The game is already loaded heavily in favour of the batsmen. The bowlers will be happy if this rule is taken away.

Free hit was never part of international game until IPL came along. It was IPL that introduced free hit. IPL was pure entertainment and nothing more than that and for international cricket to copy something from that is ridiculous. Already an extra run has been added to every no-ball. About 15 years ago, whatever runs scored that were scored of a no-ball will only be counted and there wasn’t any run for the no-ball. If no runs were scored, one run because of the no-ball was counted. Now things have changed with one run added to whatever runs were scored of that delivery. Even this was copied from the IPL. It is time to change this.

What do you think of free hit and switch hit? Do you think both must be banned or only one must be banned? if one, which one will it be? Please comment on the section below.

other articles

Australia vs India One Day Series Review

Posted on by Bobji

The much awaited series of the year, atleast in terms of viewership, is underway in Australia. The first of the three legs has been completed and Australia have emerged as the victors. Australia won the ODI series 2-1 after 2 superlative batting performance in the first couple of games.

Bowlers must revolt against such blatant abuse

Unfortunately, the first couple of games proved to be a run-fest and the bowlers from both the sides had only to turn up. They were not expected to be threatening to the least extent possible. The pitch at the Sydney Cricket Ground was that horrible. World class bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc were made to look like boys in school. This is not a Sydney specific one. Off late, pitches all over the world are made to favour the batsman and bowlers are not even given any consideration. Coupled with the rules favouring the batsmen, shorter boundaries and other outrageous rules, there is absolutely no point in having bowlers at all. The batsmen can as well play against bowling machines.

Coming back to the series

In the first couple of games, Steve Smith played a couple of superlative innings which was thrilling to watch while it lasted. Unfortunately, for India, Smith’s performance have certainly opened some old wounds. His superior average against India and his consistency in all the formats is a testimony to his hold over the Indian bowlers. Australia racked up an imposing 374 which India would have chased if not for some spirited bowling by Stoinis. It was Stoinis’s 6 overs spell that completely turned the game for Australia. India did lose 4 wickets by the half way mark but the wicket was so placid that Pandya & Dhawan with the help of Jadeja could have brought the score closer to Australia’s and may have even won the game.

In the 2nd game, was another run-fest with more than 700 runs in an one day game. The third game was slightly bowler friendly but was held in Canberra. However, still close to 600 runs were scored. Gone are the days when 250 was a competitive score and 275 was a winning score.

Success of the series

There were quite a few standout performances starting with the twin hundreds by Smith, the consistency of Aaron Finch, the outrageous shots played by Glenn Maxwell and a couple of fifties for Virat Kohli & Rahul. However, the success of the series was the bowling of Moises Henriques and Marcus Stoinis. It was the bowling of those, in the words of Sanjay Manjrekar, bits-and-pieces cricketer, Australia were able to win the first couple of games. They went for less than 5 an over on a wicket where everyone else, including the better bowlers, Cummins, Starc, Bumrah & Shami went for more than 6 & 7 an over. If not for the contribution of Stoinis & Henriques, India would have gone onto win the second game if not the first one. Such was their impact.

Failure of the series

The bowlers on both the sides performed poorly when the series was still alive. None of them were able to keep the batsmen quite. Infact, Starc went for 20 runs of his very first over. Adam Zampa took 4 wickets in the first game but that was towards the end when India were way behind the asking rate. Some of the Indian batsmen failed to make use of such a placid batting track. Kohli and Dhawan scored one fifty each but couldn’t do anything else.

Rahul scored a fifty as well but it was painstakingly slow. Infact, that innings definitely slowed down India considerably and as such they lost wickets quickly in trying to go for runs. However, the biggest failure for me will be Shreyas Iyer. Shreyas has had a fairly long experience at the first class level. He has been the mainstay in the various IPL teams and as such is exposed to fast bowling. Much was expected out of him but he failed miserably. He wasn’t able to make any impact in any of the games. Infact, he got out rather ungainly in the first game.

www.espncricinfo.com has this description about his dismissal

Hazlewood to Iyer, OUT

Snorter does him in. Iyer will not want to watch a replay of that. Hazlewood dug this in short and rising sharply towards his head. An ungainly attempt to get out of the way by Iyer, but his bat was hanging in the air like a periscope above his head. The ball balloons off it towards the leg slip area, and Carey settles under it comfortably.

This shows that he has a problem with short ball. Neither is he is not able to pull nor is he able to get out of the way. The sooner he overcomes this the better it is for him. He is thought to be someone who has sealed the number 4 spot but his performance in Australia is not encouraging.

Gains for either teams

The biggest gain for India from this series is the batting of Hardik Pandya. I must confess that I wasn’t that thrilled that Pandya will play only as a batsman. I always thought that Pandya without his bowling is a liability because he knows to play only one way but he has definitely proved me wrong. He scored in all the games and infact played a match winning innings in the 3rd game. Needless to say, without his 90, India would have ended up well below 225.

The other gain for India was the bowling of Natarajan. Enough has been said about Natarajan’s humble roots and how he has made it to the Indian team. I will not get into that. For someone in his first game, he really gave a good account of himself. There was one over in which he went for 20 runs but overall he bowled well. Infact, he got India’s first wicket in the first powerplay for a longtime.

As for Australia, Smith, Finch & Maxwell’s return to form. Especially Smith who will once again be the thorn in the flesh for India.

Signs for the rest of the series

For Australia, it looks good with Smith in prime form and Labuschagne’s efficient innings though the bowlers will be expected to improve.

For India, the signs are ominous. The Indian team never have taken out Smith cheaply and now combined with Warner & Labuschagne, Indian bowlers are in for a leather hunt. Let us hope that Bumrah, Shami & Kuldeep is able to find their best form and keep the Australian batsmen quiet.

Other Australian series related topics can be read here, here, here and here.