Author: Bobji

Does teams really need a sixth bowler?

Posted on by Bobji

On the 27th of November 2020 and on the 29th of November 2020, a couple of limited over games were played in two different time zones. One was a T20 and the other was a ODI. A day after, a couple of beautiful pieces were published in the most wonderful cricket website, www.espncricinfo.com. One was written by the incredible columnist Firdose Moonda and the other by Siddarth Monga. India lost the ODI against Australia and South Africa lost the T20 against England. Ironically, both of them lamented the absence of a 6th bowler for South Africa & India respectively. Australia scored 374 in the ODI whereas South Africa scored only 147 in T20. Would a 6th bowler turned the game around for either of the team? Does teams really need a sixth bowler?

Let me first concentrate on Monga’s piece

Monga writes “With at least five men inside the ring for 40 overs in ODIs, it gets really difficult to get away with just five bowlers on true flat pitches. You can’t afford for even one of them to have an off day, and it was obvious as soon as Navdeep Saini was introduced that Australia were looking to take down at least two of the three bowlers who follow the opening act.”

“Not only does it put the lesser bowlers under extra pressure, batsmen can eliminate risks against your wicket-taking bowlers.”

Interpretation of Monga’s claim

The Indian team for the first ODI was packed with 6 batsmen and 5 bowlers. This is an ideal combination for any ODI. There were days in the past when the Indian team will be filled with 7 batsmen and 4 bowlers and will actually struggle to get 10 overs out of the 7 batsmen. These bowlers will invariably be taken for runs. It is true that the ODI rules have changed over the years. Short boundaries and flat pitches are not of much help either for the bowlers. Invariably, the bowlers will go for runs. About 15 years ago, a score of 250 was competitive and not that many bowlers went above 50 runs in their allotted overs. Now, because of so many rules that favours the batsmen, scores in excess of 300 or infact 350 has become common place.

With the advent of T20, teams are much more confident of chasing 350 rather effortlessly. As such, now the average runs given away by a bowler is more than 50. 10 overs for 50 runs with 1 or 2 wickets is considered quite economical. Hence, teams will always know that one or two bowlers is bound to have an off day and as such give away lot of runs. Now, if all the bowlers bowled poorly, a sixth bowler will not have made any difference. Infact, I would go on to state that a sixth bowler would have been as expensive as the other bowlers. Instead of wishing for a sixth bowler, Monga should have written about how inept the bowlers were. This despite the fact that most of the bowlers bowled close to 50 overs in the recent IPL.

Monga continues

Monga also writes “The abundance of one-dimensional players has forced India to split their ultra-successful double-wristspin combination of Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav.”

It is true that Kuldeep & Chahal were a successful combination. They had one really bad game in England and from then on, that pair was split. This was wrong on the part of the team management. With Rahul keeping wickets, there is no reason not to unite those two. Three fast bowlers and a couple of spinners will be ideal. If five bowlers are incapable of restricting the opposition within a reasonable score or defend a reasonable score, the sixth bowler will not be able to.

Monga further writes “In terms of squad selection, India have tried their best to fill the breach. They have tried Vijay Shankar, Shivam Dube and Krunal Pandya, but none of them can claim to seal a spot based on one of the two suits.”

Of the trio, none is a good batsman who can bowl or good bowler who can bat.

Who is an ideal 6th bowler?

An ideal 6th bowler must be one who must be pretty good with the bat. If not the likes of Kallis, atleast upto the calibre of Hardik Pandya who was restricted from bowling because of a back problem. Pandya is very good with the bat and capable with the ball. You just cannot have your sixth bowling option like Kedhar or Afridi or even Mitchell Marsh.

Firdose Moonga writes about the six bowler theory

“De Kock is hamstrung by what is available to him. South Africa have gone into both matches with only five frontline bowlers which (and apologies for bringing him up again) du Plessis has repeatedly said is not enough. A team only needs one of those bowlers to have one bad over and the game could be lost. This series is a case study in that.”

South African batsmen scored 147 and that too in a T20. This is 20 runs under par in any T20 game. It is not like there were still another 2-3 overs to go. South Africa lost that game in the last over. This was with five bowlers. These bowlers have done a good job. If only the batsmen had scored another 20 runs, South Africa would have won with five bowlers. Again, a sixth bowler would not have made any difference. All he would have done is, he would have given another bowler some rest and nothing more than that.

Conclusion

It is time to stop harping on six bowlers and ensure that the five bowlers selected does the job. Instead, teams like India and South Africa must concentrate on how to improve the batting abilities of the bowlers which will give the batsmen much needed comfort to play aggressive brand of cricket. Unless, the sixth bowler is of the calibre of a Jacques Kallis or Ben Stokes or Hardik Pandya.

Other interesting topics can be read here and here.

 

Why is India unable to get Smith early?

Posted on by Bobji

Steven Smith is certainly one of the great batsman in world cricket at present. His performances in all the countries against any opposition on any wicket is a testimony to the fact that he indeed is a great batsman. However, all his super human performances have come in the longest format of that game whereas in the limited overs, he has proved to be a mere mortal. Yet, when it comes to India, either Smith raises his game to levels unforeseen or the Indians are so inept that it does not really matter whether Smith raises his game because he will invariably score runs. Why is India unable to get Smith early?

Smith’s performance against other teams

This question is something for which the team as a whole and Kohli & Shastri in particular must answer. Other top international teams have certainly found a way against Smith in the short formats. Just a glimpse at this record reveals how horrible the Indian team have been against Smith in every format of the game. Smith averages 65 against India in ODIs whereas his next best is against West Indies. Against England, South Africa & New Zealand, the current top teams, he hardly touches 40. This is 25 points lower than his average against India.

This clearly shows that those teams have consistent plans against Smith and is able to get him for a pretty low score. The Indians could be forgiven if the difference is slim, say in the region of 5-10 but 25 is extremely high and it shows that the Indian team does not know how to get Smith out for a low score.

In this day and age, when a player’s every move is bisected, trisected and vivisected thoroughly, it is difficult to imagine that India have not been able to keep Smith quiet if not get him early. Kohli is not the person solely responsible for this. The whole support staff must be questioned. What is the video analyst doing? What is the coach Ravi Shastri doing as well as the batting coach? None of them seems to have a clue. The job of a video analyst is to analyse the players from the team as well as the opposition and yet Smith is making mincemeat of the Indian bowlers in whatever format and wherever he plays.

The most recent games at the time of writing this article

In both the recent games at Sydney, in the year 2020, Smith came to the wicket after more than 25 overs elapsed and found a way to score twin hundreds at more than a run a ball. Granted that the wicket was flat and there wasn’t anything for the bowlers. Even the Australian bowlers went for more than 6 an over. The point is, Smith made the bowlers look like children who lost their candy. One quick hundred can be called as freak but two consecutive quick hundreds are not. The Indian team as a whole needs to take the blame.

Smith performance against India and the others in Tests

It is not only in ODIs that Smith is making a mockery of the Indian team. It is also in Tests where he enjoys much better performance against all the teams but fancies in particular, the Indian bowlers. His average against India in Tests & ODIs are atleast a few points more than his average against the other teams. Against India, his average is 84 and against England, New Zealand & South Africa, well below 70. To be fair to the Indian team, Smith in Tests is altogether a different beast. He has scored runs against all kinds of bowlers. Smith was the reason Australia managed to draw the Ashes in 2019.

Some statistics

He has scored only one hundred against South Africa and he needed 17 innings to score that one hundred. He average a pretty moderate 40 against them. This clearly shows that South Africa have found a way to stop Smith. He has 11 hundreds against England but needed 48 innings to achieve that whereas against India, he has 7 in only 20 innings. If the current one day series is anything to go by, he looks good to add few more to this tally in this test series.

The Indians must have plotted for the downfall of Smith, Warner & Labuschange and must have planned for Cummins, Hazlewoon, Starc & Lyon. Instead, they were busy playing in an event that does not have any bearing on the series. I am afraid that the Indian team is in for a leather hunt in the test series if the first couple of ODIs are anything to go by.

Conclusion

What is it that that makes Smith so good against India? It can be adhered to the fact that any game against India attracts the largest cricketing audience. First, Smith probably wants to showcase to the world his prowess and his credentials. Second, Kohli with whom he is often compared for the current best batsman, is in the opposition. He compares himself with Kohli and wants to prove to everyone and to himself that he is certainly a better batsman than Kohli. His performances or lack of it in the limited overs notwithstanding. He wants to show who is better in a head-to-head contest. Third, he loathes failing against a team ranked in the top 3. Otherwise, there isn’t any reason for Smith to raise his game to greater levels against India because Australians in general consider wins against England much more valuable than anything against any other country.

Other topics related to Australia can be read here and here.

Will BCCI take action against Mumbai Indians?

Posted on by Bobji

Will BCCI take action against Mumbai Indians? It is now official that Rohit Sharma will not be part of the first couple of tests against Australia. If the pandemic induced quarantine is taken into consideration, it is highly unlikely that Rohit Sharma will be part of the last couple of tests either. He is not part of the limited overs squad either. This effectively means that Rohit’s Australian tour has ended even before it has started. Rohit is an important member of the limited overs squad and as opener, he was expected to tackle the short pitch bowling in Australia rather easily. With his experience, he would have been the ideal factor to support Mayank Agarwal though Rohit’s credentials as a test player is yet to be proven.

Unfortunately, that will not be the case in this series. Why? The reason being first, The BCCI and second, Rohit’s IPL franchise, Mumbai Indians.

Why is the BCCI responsible?

The BCCI went ahead and staged a full-blown IPL just before an important series and that too against Australia. Australians are in high spirits and are in good form with the return of Smith & Warner and the coming of age of Marnus Labuschange. They have had a successful 2019 with series wins against Pakistan, New Zealand and a creditable drawn Ashes in England. Also, the Australians are currently ranked number one in the traditional rating as well as the World Test Championship. This makes them doubly dangerous and it calls for peak physical fitness as well as form on the part of the Indians. However, what did the BCCI do? They staged an IPL, a T20 event and that too in Dubai for more than 2 months.

This ensured that key players like Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma & Bhuvneshwar Kumar are injured just before the important series. IPL also ensured that the players will not have sufficient practise before the first test though a couple of practise games are scheduled before the first test. A couple of T20s are scheduled on the same days as the first practise game. This clearly shows how little or no importance is given by the players and the board to practising before the first test. All the 3 will be vital for the team’s success. Ishant Sharma is in very good form over the last 15 months before the pandemic. It is another story that Ishant, who has been a non-performer throughout his career is suddenly being missed because of his recent performance.

Conflicting reports about Rohit’s availability

To top all of this, the BCCI, especially, the loud mouthed president, Sourav Ganguly, released conflicting statements to the media. Initially, Rohit was not part of the entire Australian tour and later he was added to the test squad and now he is again out of the entire series. Did the BCCI talk to the Rohit’s franchise to ascertain his injury level? Were the BCCI kept in the dark by Mumbai Indians? Was it deliberate on the part of either Rohit and / or Mumbai Indians? What do they gain out of that? Only Rohit can gain because as argued earlier, Rohit is quite clearly afraid that his test career at this late stage, may derail if he fails in Australia. The second thing is that, Rohit does not really care about playing for the country.

Rohit’s injury was clouded in so much secrecy that even the team management is not clear on the injury level.

“Before we had the selection meeting in Dubai, we had got an email two days before that, which said that he is unavailable for selection [as] he has picked an injury during the IPL,” Kohli said at the virtual media briefing in Sydney. “And it mentioned there was a two-week rest and rehab period. The pros and cons and the implications of the injury has been explained to him and he understood that. And he was unavailable for selection. That was the information we got on mail before the selection meeting. After that he played in the IPL, so we all thought he would be on that flight to Australia, which he wasn’t. And we had no information whatsoever on the reason on why he is not traveling with us.”

If the captain himself is unware of his player’s injury, what can be said?

Why is Mumbai Indians responsible?

Let me assume that Rohit Sharma was genuinely injured. He really had a problem with his hamstring and that there wasn’t any hidden agenda behind the entire episode. This is an injury that will heal itself with sufficient rest. With 2-3 weeks of complete rest, Rohit would have been absolutely fine to board the flight to Australia. However, what did Rohit do? He went on and played the IPL qualifiers and scored a match winning 68 in the finals. From being a player on the sidelines to playing a match winning innings, ends certainly do not meet. There is certainly something sinister going on.

Mumbai Indians are certainly aware of the impending Australian tour. They were aware how important Rohit will be in Australia given his limited overs record in that country. However, they choose to place their interests above that of the country. They must have forced or convinced Rohit to play in the qualifiers.

All of these points to severe negligence on the part of Mumbai Indians and as such some kind of an action will have to be taken against that franchise. Will the BCCI be bold enough to take such an action? Will the BCCI be strong enough to take on the might of Mukesh Ambani? The most richest businessman in India and among the top 10 richest in the world? Knowing the BCCI and the current president, leave alone an action even a warning will not be forthcoming from the board.

Conclusion

I sincerely hope that whoever replaces Rohit Sharma in tests, performs admirably alongwith Mayank Agarwal and Rohit is shunned out of test cricket forever. This must serve as warning to anyone who places franchise or state over the national team. However, this will never happen. All those years ago, even the so called great, Sachin Tendulkar, chose to rest himself from an international series rather than IPL before the England tour.

The unfulfilled talent of VVS Laxman – 2

Posted on by Bobji

Before proceeding to read this article, the unfulfilled talent of VVS Laxman – 2, please read part one of the two part series.

The lack of consistency throughout his career

Laxman took another 13 tests to register the 3rd hundred of his career. Between the 281 and the third hundred, he did score 7 fifties but for a batsman of his class, those are meagre returns especially after having played the innings of a millennium. In a little over 30 tests, Laxman had only 3 hundreds to show for. This was followed by another lengthy period of lull. Infact, for a substantial part between 2004 and 2006, Laxman hardly scored. During this period, he had far too many low scores that it was a miracle that he still continued to be part of the playing eleven.

During this period, India depended a lot on Dravid, Sehwag and to a lesser extent on Sachin with absolutely zero contribution from Laxman and Ganguly. A player of Laxman’s class and calibre must definitely have felt unimportant because of lack of contribution. A technical problem seemed to have crept into Laxman batting. He left sufficient gap between the pad and the bat for the ball to sneak in and crash onto the stumps or hit the pad.

This was his mode of dismissal for a large part of his career. This was something Laxman must have eradicated from his play. If only he had done that, he could have contributed a lot more towards the team’s cause. This is not to say that Laxman was a selfish player. However, he didn’t have the temperament to adjust his game. It did not help that he carried far too many injuries probably because of lack of fitness.

Far too many low scores

It is really hard to explain the far too many low scores in a convincing manner. Less than 30 in half of his test innings. Laxman after switching over to the middle order cannot complain about lack of consecutive opportunities. He was virtually among the top 6 names who will always be in the team. The consistent opportunities that Laxman got was so enormous that the likes of Amol Mazumdar or Badrinath, KP Baskar and the rest would have wished that they had similar opportunities. Yet, Laxman failed to achieve more than he should have. In a way, he actually let the team and the nation down on more than one occasion. He probably made amends for his innumerable number of failures later on in his career.

Laxman if I remember well, has ever had only 2 consistently successful series and both of them against the best team of his time, Australia. His 2001 exploits and the 2004 series in Australia.

The latter part of his career with lot of match winning knocks

Towards the last stage of his career, Laxman played several match winning innings. These were not the typical daddy hundreds that Graham Gooch would like to call. They were rather excellent fifties that proved to be the difference between win and a loss. The 96 against South Africa at Durban, the second innings hundred against Sri Lanka in Colombo, the brilliant 73 against Australia with only Ishant Sharma for company all comes to mind. These innings goes onto show what Laxman failed to achieve. For me, he is not far behind Sachin or Dravid or Sehwag when it comes to ability.

Yet, he finished his career with an average lower than all of them. There was a period when his average went as low as the early 40s but eventually he was able to retire with a decent enough average with several match winning knocks. Laxman must have be spoken about along the same lines as Gavaskar, Sachin & Dravid but he will always be remembered as someone who came second or infact fourth. If only Laxman had taken care of his fitness probably he would have performed much better. Alas, it wasn’t to be.

Retirement and commentary stint

Now that Laxman has joined the commentary team, he has been steady instead of spectacular. He is able to hold himself against the established commentators. The one advantage that he has is that he has had a really long career and his fellow commentators with the exception of Gavaskar cannot claim that. This will ensure that his views will carry more weightage. Hence, he has one more opportunity to really shine and be rated along the likes of the greats of commentary. Namely, Gavaskar, Benaud, Boycott, Holding. I would like to wish him all the best and hope that he strives for excellence and does not settle for merely being good.

Conclusion – The unfulfilled talent of VVS Laxman – 2

After more than 10 years, where among the pantheon of Indian batsmen, do I rate Laxman? Definitely not in the range of Gavaskar, Sachin or Dravid because their success and their consistency was something Laxman had fleetingly. Sehwag, Kohli & Pujara have had much higher success rate than Laxman. Vengsarkar scored against the ferocious West Indies attack. Based on the available evidence, Laxman will comfortably rank alongside his state mate Mohammed Azharuddin. This is certainly a climb down for a player whose ability is equal to the most successful Indian batsmen.

The unfulfilled talent of VVS Laxman

Posted on by Bobji

The name VVS Laxman immediately conjures up images of the powerful pull shots of the calibre of Brett Lee. The silken cover drives both of the front foot and of the backfoot. The inside out shots and that too out of the rough against bowlers of the quality of a certain Shane Warne. Such a batsman who can play both pace and spin with nonchalant ease and who on his day, can be a nightmare for the opposition, must have had a long and successful career and must have finished his career with an average in excess of 50. However, Laxman, despite his incredible talent, wasn’t able to reach such heights. Yes, he did have a long career but was he as successful as his talent suggested he would be? The answer, sadly, seems to be in the negative. This is about the unfulfilled talent of VVS Laxman.

Laxman was a player of such ability that he always had lot of time to play a shot. He can send the slightly over pitched delivery towards the cover boundary but he can also shuffle his wrists and send the ball scurrying across the ground to the midwicket boundary. Some of the shots he played in his career will have to be seen to be believed.

The early career of Laxman

Laxman when he played for Hyderabad, always came in at the fall of the first wicket. He made his debut for Hyderabad in 1992. He had a good season and followed it up with a better season in 1993. It was clear even at that stage that Laxman was someone who will play at the higher levels in the not distant future and it duly arrived in 1996 when Laxman was chosen to make his debut against South Africa. However, the start to his international career was along the expected lines.

Infact, for more than 15 tests, his career was uneventful. Eventually, he lost his place in the team. After being recalled, he was forced to open the innings because there wasn’t any space in the middle order with Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly & Azharuddin occupying all the positions. Laxman never used to open and to open at the highest level proved to be much too difficult to him to overcome. His one knock of 167 albeit in a lost cause in Sydney against the ferocious pace of Brett Lee ensured that he was able to continue for a few more games. It was his very first hundred in international cricket. It must have certainly enhanced his confidence and that one hundred did make him feel that he belonged to the highest level. Laxman was to remark later,

“It removed doubts and apprehensions I had about my game. I started to feel that I belong to international cricket and that I can go out and perform against the best bowlers,” added Laxman in a chat with popular cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle.

Laxman’s momentous decision

He played in one more series against South Africa as an opener and that was when he took the momentous decision of never to open the innings ever again. It was actually a very brave decision on the part of Laxman because for someone who had hardly played a few international games, someone who may not find a spot in the middle order and for someone who hasn’t performed as was expected, it was a very brave decision. It ultimately proved to be a success for Laxman and he was also lucky in the sense that Azharuddin was nearing the end of his career and a middle order slot opened. Laxman duly filled that spot. Whether he was a success at that spot, I will analyse further.

The breakthrough that Laxman was waiting for

If at all there is one innings that has influenced every captain thereafter of not enforcing the follow-on even when they are ahead by more than 300 runs, it was the special innings of 281 in 2001. The architect of that innings was none other than our very own Laxman. Enough has been written and spoken about that innings for a very long time. It will be considered a sacrilege if I don’t write a few words about that innings.

The Test

The Australian team had brought their best players for the series. For Steve Waugh, India was the last frontier. The Australians were at their absolute best before the start of the series and in the first test. Even the great Sachin Tendulkar was unable to stop the Australians. The first test was a crushing defeat and half of the 2nd test went along similar lines until Laxman played a beautiful cameo. This little innings gave Laxman the crucial spot of Number 3 that he has always coveted for in the 2nd innings.

That small cameo seemed to have induced the much needed confidence in Das & Ramesh who put on a near 100 runs opening partnership. Laxman who came in at 3, took over not only the innings but he absolutely led from the front from there on. The inside out shots of Warne, the majestic pulls of McGrath and other fast bowlers were an absolute treat. His footwork was exceptional. Shane Warne had proved how attacking bowling wide of leg stump can be but then, Laxman took several paces down the wicket to hit it in front of the wicket and for a similar delivery, he went back to play the ball towards midwicket. It was exceptional footwork.

Steve Waugh ran out of ideas and he even had to employ Slater & Ponting to bowl a few overs. Laxman not only ensured that India will not lose that test but he actually ensured that the other players gained tremendous confidence that India went onto win the series. Till date, the 2001 series remains one of the top 2 series over the last 25 years. Only the 2005 Ashes thriller was able to top that series.

Tributes from the players who played that test

Shane Warne:

“There are a few players who tried to play shots like that, but if they tried it twice or thrice I generally got them out. The key was how consistently well he did it – inside-out or through midwicket against the spin on a track that was turning big”

Jason Gillespie:

“I remember Shane standing there with his hands on his hips thinking, “There is not a lot I could do here. I have bowled the best ball I could bowl but he is hitting it where he wants to.” We had no answer to him.

If I am honest, I was pretty sick of the sight of Mr Laxman”

Venkatapathy Raju (The spinner):

“Kolkata was the first time I saw that Australian team set defensive fields.

Laxman suddenly got up and said: “We have a good chance to win the match.” I thought to myself: “He must be crazy!”

His innings was rated as the best innings of the 2000s by Wisden. After this one superlative innings, much was expected from Laxman. Again, Laxman wasn’t able to match upto the expectations or rather I should say that he wasn’t able to live upto his own high standards.

to be continued…..

Other topics

Is the BCCI hiding something when it comes to Rohit?

Posted on by Bobji

Rohit Sharma was not in the original squad that was selected by the board for the tour of Australia. Rohit Sharma suffered a hamstring injury in the middle of the IPL and was not able to play 3 games for the Mumbai Indians. On the day the touring party was announced by the BCCI, Rohit Sharma was seen practising in the nets for Mumbai Indians and ready to play in the next day’s game. Infact, he went onto to play in the remaining games. On the whole, a total of 3 consecutive games. It never looked like Rohit was injured at all. His situation is completely confusing. Is the BCCI hiding something when it comes to Rohit?

Rohit Sharma will indeed travel to Australia

Now it has emerged that Rohit will indeed travel to Australia for the tests but he will not be part of the limited overs squad. Rohit Sharma plays 3 consecutive games in the IPL including a match winning 68 in the IPL finals. He will be part of the test matches that starts on December 17. However, he is injured and needs rest in the interim. Someone will have to explain the absurdity of the whole situation to me. I find this a complete nonsense. A player is either fit or not fit to play. It cannot be both.

Rohit Sharma played in the finals and he scored a match winning 68 including 5 boundaries and 4 sixes which translates to 44 runs. This means that for the remaining 24 runs he must have taken singles and doubles which involves lot of running and sometimes quickly too. Someone with a hamstring tear will be able to tell you that this is simply not possible.

T20 cricket places a lot of stress on the body because of its very nature. Scoring boundaries also requires lot of power and timing which will place undue stress on the hamstring. The fact that Rohit scored 50% of his runs in boundaries and the rest by running says that he never had any issue with his hamstring or he recovered quickly. The selectors and the board must have known this and must have named him in the original squad but they didn’t. The whole affair is extremely messy.

I am thinking about few theories about this whole episode

First, the physio who assessed Rohit before the squad was named must have been extremely incompetent that he wasn’t able to diagnose the actual problem.

Second, the board and the selectors were deliberately misled by the physio and hence he wasn’t able to find a spot in the touring squad. In such a scenario, severe action must be taken against the physio who assessed Rohit.

Third, Rohit himself wanted to avoid playing in Australia and especially as an opener so that he can avoid not performing in the series will be able to save his test career which at this late stage, promises to finally explode.

Fourth, at this stage of his career, Rohit sees more of himself as a limited overs specialist and thereby is not willing to play test cricket. However, he is unable to admit that fact.

Fifth, with increasing success as the captain, albeit in limited overs, with one international tournament victory, Nidahas trophy, to go with 5 IPL trophies, there a growing voices to make Rohit Sharma the captain of the T20 side and Kohli’s unwillingness to relinquish captaincy.

“If Rohit Sharma doesn’t become India’s captain, it’s their loss, not Rohit’s,” Gambhir told ESPNcricinfo

Michael Vaughan

“Without question Rohit Sharma should be the Indian T20 captain .. fantastic man manager & leader .. & he knows exactly how to win T20 games .. it would also give Virat chance to take a breather and just be the player .. it’s works for all other teams around the world ..#IPL2020,” he wrote.

Sixth, the above maybe the reason for Rohit playing only in the tests and not the limited overs in the garb of giving him rest.

Seven, disciplinary action has been taken against Rohit Sharma eventhough it is not clear for what.

Time the board and more precisely, Saurav Ganguly comes clean

Saurav Ganguly, the loud mouthed board president has said that Rohit Sharma is only 70% fit and because of that he is in the test squad thereby giving him more time to recover. This was barely a few days later when Dilip Vengsarkar criticsed Ganguly for treading into areas into which he must not tread.

“Rohit is still 70 per cent [fit],” Ganguly said in an interview with The Week.

“If he recovers, he plays.”

This after Rohit played 3 straight games in the IPL. Let us remember the fact that Rohit Sharma was completely left out of the entire series because of his injury after which he went onto to play lot of games in the IPL. At that point, the board clearly mentioned that Rohit is not in the squad because he was injured. Ishant Sharma was also injured during the IPL but the board was categorical when he was included in the squad hoping that he will play in the tests which was anyway he will be selected for. If the board can be so clear about Ishant Sharma’s injury, why weren’t they unclear about Rohit’s injury? What are they trying to hide? More precisely, whom are they trying to save? These are questions for which I don’t think we will ever get an answer.

Wrapping up is the BCCI hiding something when it comes to Rohit?

In the meanwhile, the Indian touring team have reached Sydney and at the moment are in quarantine for the next 14 days with limited areas to access. The series starts on the 27th of November with the first test on the 17 of December. With Kohli out of the last 3 tests, let us hope that India puts up a decent fight. What do you think of the BCCI’s secrecy? Do you think we will ever come to know of the situation with Rohit Sharma? Please pass on your comments in the section below

Steven Smith’s confidence and murmurs about captaincy

Posted on by Bobji

Steven Smith is certainly one of the bona fide greats of the modern game. His exploits wherever he has played is a testimony to that fact. Smith was the one and only reason Australia were able to share the last Ashes series in England in 2019. His brilliant hundred in the 2nd innings against India on a Pune spinners paradise is among the great innings played by a visiting batsman. His career so far is marked with so many brilliant innings that it is almost impossible to pinpoint which one was his best so far. Such has been his impact that the moment he was withdrawn from the Australian team, they looked so vulnerable and devoid of any confidence.

It was sheer luck for the Australians that they did not play too many games during the time when Smith was banned because otherwise, they would have lost majority of those games. Now that Smith is back and performing, he has exuded confidence ahead of the series against India and there are infact murmurs about him being reinstated as captain. Let me analyse Steven Smith’s confidence and murmurs about captaincy.

Smith has expressed confidence ahead of the Indian series

There is a strange feeling around the cricket circles that the best way to contain and remove Steve Smith is by bowling short. Short and fast at his ribcage. Last year, Neil Wagner was able to achieve success against Steven Smith albeit at a lower level by bowling short pitched balls aimed at his ribs. It is another matter that Smith still ended the series with more than an average of 40 which ofcourse is pretty low by Smith’s standards but not enough to completely make him redundant.

On the otherhand, by spending all of their energy on Smith, the other Australian batsmen were able to pile up a gigantic score everytime they batted. However, in the recent Ashes, Smith showed that short balls do not really scare him. The volume of runs that he scored in that series against the ferocious pace of Jofra Archer and more than decent pace of Ben Stokes once and for all shut any talk of his weakness against short balls to rest.

Now, Smith wants more of the same in the series against India

“If teams are trying to get me out like that it’s probably a big benefit for the team because it takes a lot out of people’s bodies if you continually bowl short. I’ve faced a lot of short bowling in my life and I haven’t had too many stresses with it. I suppose we’ll just wait and see.”

Bowling short for long periods of time is a difficult job. Any fast bowler will vouch for the fact that they are much better off bowling a fuller length than bowl short. Bowling short increases pressure on the shoulder and on the back that results in major injuries that renders the bowler to the sidelines for more than just a few weeks.

India’s precarious situation

It really is a catch-22 situation for the Indian bowlers. What do they do? Do they concentrate on Smith knowing that he is the most vital wicket among the Australian line-up and bowl short to him? Do they expect that once Smith is out of the way, the other batsmen can be easily dealt with? These are some of the questions that the Indian team will have to ponder. Bowling short and fast to Smith, will take a heavy toll on the bowlers who are not among the fittest of the players. In the absence of Pandya, I do not expect the Indian captain to go in with 5 bowlers. It will be 4 bowlers only.

As such, the team cannot afford to lose one to injury in trying to bowl short and fast at Smith. As Smith has mentioned, this tactic will render the bowlers slightly ineffective against the other batsmen. Much depends on how the Indian team as a whole plan against Smith and the rest of the batsmen. It is better they use the current quarantine period to plan. One vital statistic is that Smith averages the best against India. His average against India is 84 and his second best is against England which is close to 20 points lower. This shows how dominant he has been against India. The Indians certainly has a lot to plan.

Growing voices to bring back Smith as the captain

We all know what happened in South Africa a couple of years ago when Smith, Warner and Bancroft were caught red-handed for ball tampering. Smith & Warner were subsequently banned for a year and as a result of that Smith lost his captaincy. Since his return earlier in the year, he has not been considered for captaincy. In the interim, Paine has done a decent enough job to still be the captain. Under Paine, Australia have once again become the number one team in the world and have also retained the Ashes in England. These are not mean feat. Even the likes of Michael Clarke and Steve Smith himself never retained or regained the Ashes in England.

Now, there are growing voices to bring back Smith as the captain and ease Paine out of the team. This despite the fact the Paine has done a fabulous job. Mark Taylor probably the best Australian captain over the last 30 years has opined

“I think the thing that will potentially go against him is how long Tim Paine will play for,” Taylor said. “If he’s still there at 37, 38, then it might be too late for Steve. Conversely, if in the next year or so Tim’s form [drops] or he gives it away, I’d like to think Steve would be considered.

The Australian selector, Trever Hohns, has said that there is every possibility that Smith will return as the captain in the near future.

This is not only unfair to Tim Paine but outright disrespectful to him. Afterall, he has performed admirably under the then prevailing situation and he must be given space and time to go out of his own and certainly not eased out.

Does Smith deserve to return as the captain?

Whether or not Tim Paine has done an incredible job as the captain is besides the point. The bigger question is does Smith deserve a second chance as captain? The answer is plain No. He was not only the captain when Bancroft tampered the ball but he was an active participant in the entire episode. It had emerged that Smith was well aware of Warner and Bancroft’s cunning plan and yet did not intervene to stop it. This makes him equally guilty of tampering.

Shane Warne, who could have been the greatest Australian captain since the end of the second world war was never made Australian test captain because of his off-field shenanigans, which wasn’t that serious, added to his on-field cheating just before the 2007 Cricket World Cup. Smith must also undergo similar fate because he cheated while he was the captain. Yes, everyone makes mistakes and they must be given a chance to return. This was accomplished after Smith was allowed to return as a batsman. The buck must stop there. He made a mistake, he was punished and he has returned as a batsman. That must be it.

Yes the IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals did appoint Smith as the captain for 2020 but these franchises do not have any moral integrity. They only removed Smith in 2019 because of the global outrage. Otherwise, they would have happily carried on with Smith as the captain. This must not be considered the yardstick to bring back Smith as the Australian captain. Every captain must realise that if he cheats, he cannot never hope to be the captain again. Hopefully, better sense will prevail and the Australian board will look for a different candidate after Paine retires to captain Australia.

Australians are planning for key Indian players

Posted on by Bobji

Virat Kohli will leave Australia at the end of the first test. It leaves the Indian team short of their best batsman for three tests during which the series can be won or lost. Kohli is perfectly entitled to be present for the presence of his first child but is India ready with a proper replacement? The Indian board have not yet announced who will replace Kohli as the captain for the final three tests but it is assumed that it will be Rahane. This means that Kohli, Rahane & Shastri must be part of the decision making process all the time though I assume that this is going on. The Australians have already started to plan for key Indian players.

Hazlewood wants to ensure that Bumrah bowls long spells

“Bumrah is probably the standout. He is unique with his action,” Hazlewood told Hindustan Times. Hazlewood continues “He maintains pace very well throughout the day, and the whole series. He is probably the key. He can take wickets upfront or with the old ball. I guess it’s about getting lot of overs into him, try to tire him out in the first couple of games. That will be the key.”

Bumrah is the most important bowler in the Indian lineup. In the last series in 2018, Bumrah was the standout performer among all the bowlers including both the teams. Bumrah took 21 wickets that proved to be the major difference between the teams. His delivery to dismiss Shaun Marsh, the slower yorker, was a piece of gem. India has always used Bumrah sparingly. It has been close to 4 years and Bumrah is yet to play a test in India.

If the Australians succeed in their efforts to make Bumrah bowl a lot more, he may lose his effectiveness. If that happens, the chances of an Indian victory will reduce drastically. Hence, the other bowlers will have to step up. Not only do they have to take wickets but they must also keep the runs down. Shami is an aggressive bowler who always strives for wickets and so he must not be told to keep the scoring rate down. Ishant Sharma can be depended to do just that but the 4th bowler, Ashwin or Jadeja, they have enormous responsibility on them. Neither is a match winner outside of India. So they will have to be prepared to bowl more than 35 overs a day and tightly at that. This will ensure Bumrah is fresh to bowl at his best and pick up crucial wickets.

Ian Chappel is all praise for Rahane’s captaincy

“India is very, very lucky to have a stand-in captain like Rahane,” Ian Chappell told ESPNcricinfo in 2017. “I thought he did a fantastic job and it’s not easy to do the job as a fill-in, because you know the full-time captain has got a certain style. What do I do, do I try and copy that style, do I try and captain the same way as him, or do I just be myself, and Rahane did the right thing – he captained in his own way and I thought he did a terrific job. Aggressive in his own quiet way.

It can be assumed that the Indian management team will make plans for the entire series and will change as and when the series moves along.  Kohli must ensure that he isn’t taking decisions regarding the latter part of the series and will have to stick himself to offering suggestion. He must let Rahane do the job how he sees fit.

Final chance for Rahane

Captaining the team for the last 3 tests must be the last chance for Rahane. He does not deserve to be in the team for his batting. Especially, over the last 4 years, his performance has degraded so obviously from the highs of his centuries against England and Australia to the lows of absolutely no significant contribution. It is a puzzle that he still commands a place in the playing eleven. If he fails to perform either as a batsman or in the role of captain, he must not find a place in the team for the next series.

Kohli’s paternity leave impact and Vengsarkar’s Ganguly jibe

Posted on by Bobji

So it is official. Virat Kohli will leave Australia at the end of the first test for the birth of his first child. It is absolutely fine from a personal point of view. A dad is expected to be present at the birth of the child. No one must judge him for wanting to be at the birth of his first child. The bigger question is what will be the impact on the Indian team that their star batsman will leave the team with the series just only one test over? Somewhere else, Vengsarkar, the former Indian middle order batsman and former chairman of selectors, has complained against Ganguly. Let us get on with these. Kohli’s paternity leave impact and Vengsarkar’s Ganguly jibe.

Dilip Vengsarkar feels that the board president Saurav Ganguly is interfering with the work of others in the board

“When the IPL dates and venues were being discussed and organised, he was speaking on behalf of the IPL chairman. Sadly, time and again he’s sticking his neck out on behalf of those who are capable of taking decisions and explaining them on their own. Is he undermining their credentials? Or does he feel he knows more than the others?”

“It’s quite astonishing to see Ganguly wearing so many hats as he speaks on behalf of the supposedly appointed chairman of selectors, Sunil Joshi, as to why ‘X’ was dropped and ‘Y’ was not selected and why ‘Z’ was not considered, besides how somebody is still not fit,” Vengsarkar told the Times of India on Monday.

If we come to think of it, Vengsarkar is indeed spot on. Since the time Ganguly took over as the board president, he has been in the news all the time. He has given interviews and has made is views known to anyone who would listen. It makes one wonder. What is the point in having selectors, IPL chairman and the rest when the board president himself answers all the questions of the media? Infact, Ganguly’s tenure has already ended and he is just there as a caretaker and yet he is always on the news. It is time Ganguly takes a backseat and let the persons who have been chosen for the specific roles to explain to the media and to the general public about their decision.

Kohli’s paternity leave from the Australian tour

The Indian team’s best batsman will not be playing 3 tests out of the 4 in Australia. This is such a massive blow to the chances of the Indian team. Kohli has been the standout performer for the Indian team outside the subcontinent in almost every tour. His exploits on several Australian tours are quite known to everyone. His performance in the last tour was only eclipsed by the brilliant performance of Pujara. Kohli’s wicket is the most sought after for the Australian bowlers. Now, with his withdrawal, the Australians have been handed a huge boost to win and series and regain the Border Gavaskar trophy.

No one can begrudge Kohli for choosing his family. It is absolutely fine. Now it is time to look for the alternatives who can fill the huge boots of Kohli. The contenders are Shubnam Gill, Prithvi Shaw & Rahul. Rahul has experience on his side as well as runs in the IPL albeit in the T20 format. Shubnam Gill is someone who is quite talented. Prithvi Shaw is also talented but he is some severe technical shortcomings. Come to think of it, all of them plus Rohit & Mayank Agarwal are openers. There isn’t any reserve middle order batsman.

Assuming that Rohit & Mayank will be first choice openers, one of Shaw, Rahul & Gill will have to step into the shoes of Kohli. This is assuming that Vihari is part of the original playing eleven. I am afraid we do not have a solid middle order.

Kohli’s absence may not impact commercials

India is a cricket crazy nation. Especially, a tour to Australia is something the entire country will look forward to. Right from my childhood days, a tour to Australia have always captured my imagination. It will not be any different this time either. Indians do adore the players but that doesn’t mean that if a star player is missing we will not be watching. We will still watch and want the rest of the players to win the series. Hence, the commercial side of things is unlikely to be affected and Cricket Australia can be happy about that.

Opportunity for Rahane

Kohli’s absence gives an opportunity for Rahane to be the captain. In the only test he has captained so far, he showed good thinking in selecting Kuldeep Yadav who proved to be the match winner against Australia. This was in the fourth and decisive test against Australia in their last tour to India. Will Rahane be able to pull anything out of the hat for this series? Otherwise, there is no point in playing Rahane. He is still in the team because of his past exploits whereas his recent performances are nothing to write about. If Rahane fails to do anything substantial in this series, either as a batsman or as a captain, it is time to ease him out of the test team as well. Rahane has had lot of opportunities and it is time to give chances to other players if Rahane fails miserably.

Rahane is not getting any younger and his reflexes must have slowed down quite considerably. It is time for Rahane to show the batsman he was. Maybe just maybe, him being the captain will bring back the old combative Rahane. With Kohli missing, it is hightime Rahane steps up to the plate.

Conclusion

Australia playing at home is by itself a strong proposition. Now coupled with the fact that India will not having the services of Kohli for more of the test series and the batsmen who is likely to replace him will be short of experience and ability, it is advantage Australia right at the outset. Let us hope India is able to step up their game.

The other Australian tour articles can be read here and here.

RCB’s huge Virat Kohli problem

Posted on by Bobji

Virat Kohli is certainly one of the stalwarts of the modern game. He is someone who has proved himself against every opposition and in every country. He had a bad tour of England in 2014 and he rectified that brilliantly in the next tour in 2018. Kohli is brilliant against both pace and spin. His performance in all the 3 formats of the game have been nothing short of outstanding. So much so that, the other modern greats like Steven Smith, Williamson, Root and to a certain extent, Ben Stokes is brilliant in one format of the game but just above average in the other formats. If one has to search for a great batsman across formats, Kohli wins hands down. However, Kohli the captain is a different problem altogether. Royal Challengers Bangalore is finding it the hard way. RCB’s huge Virat Kohli problem.

RCB’s huge Virat Kohli problem

What makes Kohli’s limited overs captaincy open to question is his lack of success for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL. Kohli has led RCB from 2013. It has been 8 years since he started to lead RCB and yet he does not have a single trophy to showcase. During the 8 years, RCB have finished runner up once and have reached playoffs a couple of times. These are not returns for a team that boasts of a couple of excellent batsmen in Kohli & De Villiers and yet, Kohli is unlikely to be replaced as the captain. If he is not replaced, Kohli himself must resign and must play in the next IPL as a player alone.

Kohli’s lack of contribution to the squad

A glimpse at the RCB team for this year’s IPL will reveal severe dearth of resources at their disposal. They have Finch, Kohli & De Villiers as the most experience players. Added to that, a whole bunch of allrounders in Moeen Ali, Sundar, Morris, Dube and a few bowlers who are absolute millionaires when it comes to T20. In almost every game, the eleven was filled with 3-4 allrounders. Except for Morris, none of the other are capable of playing an explosive innings.

Padikkal at the top was good. Kohli & De Villiers occupied number 1 and 2 slots. Beyond them, RCB was packed with allrounders when ideally there should have been a couple of batsmen. As a result, neither were they able to post huge totals that their bowlers can defend nor were they able to chase big totals. This is not a team that can win tournaments. This brings us to an important question that everyone must raise against Kohli.

What was Virat Kohli’s contribution to squad selection? It seems rather poor. Kohli with so much experience and that too as captain of the Indian team, must know what is an ideal combination that can win tournaments. He has played in a lot of countries and must have interacted with lot of players. He should have known who will be ideal finisher for RCB and must have suggested their names to the RCB management. This would have helped the RCB management during the bidding process. It looks like Kohli failed on this front. This is not the hallmark of a captain wanting to win. It is high time he is replaced.

Virat Kohli’s international record as captain

He has had some memorable wins, notably in Australia albeit without Warner & Smith and some humiliating losses in England, South Africa & New Zealand. Kohli has won most of the tests and limited overs in the sub-continent and he is the only Indian captain to have won more than one series in the West Indies. One glaring weakness in Kohli’s profile is lack of a global trophy. He had been the captain of the Indian team in the 2017 Champions Trophy and the 2019 World Cup. He failed to win either. In both the tournament, India were considered overwhelming favourites to win the title but the team failed. Infact, the Indian team failed miserably in the finals of the Champions Trophy and in the semi-finals in the World Cup and yet there is not even a murmur to replace him as the captain atleast in the limited overs format.

Any captain with about 8 years of leading a side in a high pressure tournament like IPL would have gained sufficient experience and would have certainly won some global tournaments. However, Kohli hasn’t. It looks like his success in test cricket, albeit in favourable conditions, have ensured that he continues to be the captain across all the formats.

Gambhir & Manjrekar wants Kohli replaced

Now, finally, Gautham Gambhir and Sanjay Manjrekar have raised their voice for Kohli to be replaced as the captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Gambhir said: “100%, because the problem is about accountability. Eight years into the tournament], eight years is a long time. Tell me any other captain… forget about captain, tell me any other player who would have got eight years and wouldn’t have won the title and would have still continued with it.

“The problem and the accountability starts from the top, not from the management nor the support staff, but from the leader. You’re the leader, you’re the captain. When you get the credit, you should take the criticism as well.

“The onus is not so much with the captain himself, it’s got to be with the owners because they are the people who appoint the captain and decide what kind of leadership they want for the team,” Manjrekar said.

What Gambhir & Manjrekar says is true. Accountability certainly starts with the captain. A wonderful example of accountability was Anil Kumble. Kumble was the Indian team captain for a very short time. He was injured for one of the test against Australia when Dhoni took over the captaincy for that specific game. India won that test and Kumble must have felt Dhoni to have performed a better job than him. Hence, he resigned his captaincy. Kohli must follow in the steps of Anil Kumble and will have to resign. However, I do not see that happening. Hence, the RCB management must decide for him and relieve him of captaincy.

Other IPL related articles can be read here, here and here.