The ICC ranking system is completely flawed volume one

Cricket’s ranking system is a rather old one when compared with other sports. It was started in the year 1987. It began just before England’s test with Pakistan in 1987. Football’s ranking system started in 1992. Golf only an earlier when compared to Cricket. Hockey started in 2003. Tennis’s ranking is probably the oldest. It started in 1972 which was a full 15 years before Cricket. Hence, the game had over 30 years to perfect a system but have the ICC really concentrated on having the near perfect ranking system if not the perfect one? Have they even tried to improve the ranking system over the last 30 years? The teams that are ranked currently, is that even correct? Doesn’t it leave a lot of space for ambiguity? Let us examine. Here, I will stick with the team rankings. I will try to dwell on the player’s rankings later.

What is the need for ranking?

Rankings have always fascinated the players and the spectators alike. It helps to differentiate the best from the rest though in the case of Cricket, there aren’t that many teams. Fans almost always discuss which team is the best in the world. It is thrilling to discuss amongst the friends and when discussing with people from other countries, it takes a patriotic fervour. Ranking system also gives every team a purpose. They are completely motivated. Every team wants to be the number one in the world.

Every team wants to be at the pinnacle because not only the number one ranked team is super confident when challenged by others, the other teams feels intimidated. In some cases, it is the fear of failure against the best team that invariably makes the other teams nervous and lose. In the case of the great West Indian and Australian teams, they invariably win even before their opponent team steps onto the ground.

Undisputed number one teams of the past

In the history of the ranking system in Cricket, for a very large part, the number one ranked team was undisputed. Initially it was the West Indies, then Australia followed them and later South Africa. These teams when they were ranked at the top, were accepted by everyone throughout the Cricket playing world as the absolute best. They not only won games and series everywhere and in great style, they were absolutely frightening for the rest of the teams. The other teams always felt that they never had a chance. There were occasional pieces of brilliant of batting or a wonderful spell of bowling which tilted the game towards the lesser team.

Laxman’s 281 against Australia, Stokes’s 135 against Australia, Shai Hope’s brilliant hundred against England. More recently, Blackwood’s second innings 95, Harbhajan’s 5-fer in South Africa that was pivotal for India to win the game, Sreesanth’s brilliant piece of bowling again in South Africa and a few others comes to mind. The reason such spells of bowling or such brilliant piece of batsmanship is remembered is because to defeat Australia or South Africa during their prime requires such herculean efforts.

West Indies ruled the game from 1976 to 1995. Australia from 1995 till almost 2007 when South Africa took over for 4-5 years. Ofcourse the number one position changed in the interim albeit for a short duration. Mainly between India, England & Pakistan but West Indies, Australia & South Africa were always considered the champion.

Despite all of these, does the ranking system even makes sense? Some of the teams who were ranked number one, do they even deserve to be number one? What is even the basic criteria to be ranked number one? Did the ICC really think through the ranking system?

Charm of being the top ranked team

Cricket is a complicated game. It is never ever a level playing field for every team in every country. From the spinning pitches of the sub-continent through the seaming wickets of England & New Zealand until the bouncy wickets of Australia and South Africa, every continent welcomes the visiting team with challenge of their own. The ultimate satisfaction for every team is in manoeuvring the conditions and winning against all odds. Captains like Steve Waugh, Saurav Ganguly, Mark Taylor were obsessed with winning outside of their comfort zone. The West Indies team of the 80s and 90s did not lose a single series outside of their islands. Ofcourse, they did not lose any series within their country either. There are lots of photographs of captains holding the mace that is given to the captain of the top ranked team at the end of the season with much enthusiasm and pride.

Such is the charm of winning outside the country. Ganguly in his book, “A Century is not Enough” talks about making plans for winning outside India. Laxman in his book discusses the same. All of these shows that becoming the top ranked test team is the ultimate goal of any cricketing team. It is the single most reason towards which teams plan their engagements. Having said that, the current system needs a complete overhaul. Too many teams that do not deserve to be ranked at the top have become number one. This is the case in both Tests & ODIs.

to be continued………

Kamlesh Nagarkoti wants to become India’s fastest bowler

Kamlesh Nagarkoti, the promising kid who played a wonderful role in the Indian U-19 team winning the World Cup in 2018 wants to become the fastest Indian bowler. In that tournament, he regularly bowled in excess of 145KMPH speeds. Alongwith Shivam Mavi and the other bowler whose name I do not seem to recollect, Kamlesh is definitely considered as one of the bowlers to watch for in the future. Probably these bowlers will form the Indian new ball attack in a few years time. Kamlesh is young with loads of cricket ahead of him.

Extreme pace is brilliant

Pace is definitely an asset in cricket. Pace has always mesmerised the watching public and it has always induced a sense of fear on the batsman. Bowlers love to bowl at their fastest if they are capable of. There are so many instances in international cricket where batsmen were actually intimidated by the pace generated by the bowlers and have lost their wickets just out of fear. There was this famous instance, back in 1976, when the then Indian captain, Bishan Singh Bedi  declared the innings as closed at 97 for 5 because he was afraid of his bowlers getting seriously injured because of the pace generated by the West Indian bowlers.

A few years ago, Mitchell Johnson bowled with such pace that England’s batsmen did not have an answer to counter Johnson. They promptly went onto lose the series 5-0. On the otherhand, if the bowlers are off the mark, pace will work against them. The ball will easily run to the boundary. Even top edges can go over the boundary. Hence, pace directed perfectly is deadly for the batsman and directed poorly is a problem for the bowlers.

Kamlesh Nagarkoti’s comment

“Yes, I want to become India’s fastest bowler because I know it is difficult to reach those heights so if you are regularly working on it and if it is your dream then you have to work hard that way. You need to work on your routine. So I am working hard and yes I want to become India’s fastest bowler,” Kamlesh Nagarkoti told kkr.in.

Should Kamlesh concentrate on pace?

We have all seen Kamlesh. He is not a well built fellow. He is of average height probably even below average and he does not have the physique of a fast bowler. With such physical features, should he really concentrate on pace? Ofcourse, he can but in the region of 145KMPH range and certainly not more than that. He wants to become India’s fastest bowler which is in the 150KMPH and above range. Srinath, Varun Aaron and a few others have bowled at that pace. Varun has a fast bowler’s physique. Srinath had height. If Kamlesh concentrates on pace all the time, he will miss the important aspect of a bowler’s armoury of moving the ball just a little to catch the batsman’s edge.

More importantly, he risks frequent injury which will make him miss lot of games not to mention the long term effect of such injuries on the body. In that case, India will miss the services of a young fast bowler. This country in which fast bowlers are quite rare, it cannot afford that luxury. Kamlesh would do well to concentrate on bowling at 145 and moving the ball from the correct length. The BCCI must ensure that India does not lose the services of an excellent fast bowler.

Classic case of Shoaib Akhtar

Shoaib Akhtar, one of the fastest bowler the world has ever seen was obsessed with pace. He always wanted to be the fastest bowler in the world. He wanted to touch 100MPH speed and rarely worried about picking up wickets. His case is one of the classic cases. Due to his obsession with pace, he frequently lost his line and used to deliver the ball everywhere. If the ball pitches on a perfect length, he was deadly. Otherwise, he was taken for runs easily. This obsession over pace cost him enormously. He was not only frequently injured and missed lot of games he eventually lost his place in the team.

He should have actually won a lot of games for his country but he wasn’t able to only because of his obsession to bowl quick. As a result, a bowler who should have been remembered as one of the excellent fast bowlers, is not even remembered as someone who contributed enormously towards wins.

Conclusion

Kamlesh must avoid such a fate and forget about bowling at extremely high pace all the time and must aim bowling at good pace, in the 145KMPH range and try to maintain a good line and length and movement of the surface.

Is Suresh Raina required to justify his absence from the IPL?

Is Suresh Raina required to justify his absence from the IPL? We all are aware of the fact that Suresh Raina has withdrawn himself from this year’s IPL to be held in The UAE because of his fear of the pandemic. He has cited his young family as the reason for his withdrawal. He feels that if something untoward happens to him, what will be the plight of his young family? It absolutely makes sense. He is completely correct in withdrawing himself from IPL because of the affection that he has towards his family. He is well within his rights. It does not make any sense to lose one’s life over a tournament that is nothing more than an entertainment.

He stands to lose certain millions because of his decision and he is perfectly happy with his decision. What bothers me is that, over the last 3 days, ever since Raina announced his decision to withdraw, he is either being vilified for his decision or made to justify constantly about his withdrawal. I really do not understand why the media cannot accept the fact that a player has a perfectly valid reason to not play in the IPL. Yes, he is among the most important player for the Chennai team but that does not mean to keep the focus on him all the time.

Raina’s fears

“When the bio-bubble is not safe how does one take a chance? I have a family with two little kids and elderly parents,” Raina told Outlook. “For me returning to the family was more important.

“It was a tough decision. CSK is also like my family but when the face of my kids surfaced in Dubai and the Covid situation was not looking good, I decided to return.”

Raina feels that he does not want to take a chance by playing the IPL. Thirteen of the CSK players and the support staff were found to be Covid positive. Remember, this time, the contingent is not that huge as with the regular IPL. There are only about 25 persons including the cricketers and the support staff. If 50% of the total number of persons are tested positive, it is only a matter of time before it spreads to everyone. It is only natural for a person with a young family and older parents to be conscious of them. The media and the CSK management will have to understand and must not harbour any grudge or ill-feeling towards Raina. However, based on the reports that are emerging that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Srinivasan’s insult

Srinivasan in particular does not seem to have taken Raina’s decision in the correct spirit. He was in his ungracious best when he commented that Raina is behaving like a ‘prima donna’ which in other words means someone who is extremely self-centred. Srinivasan has also added that someone will behave like this when success goes to their head. Raina’s international performance notwithstanding, has been extremely successful for CSK for more than 10 years and yet for the franchise owner to use derogatory terms against one of his successful player does not speak high of him.

Srinivasan used the same trick that everyone in a similar situation uses that he was misquoted or he didn’t mean it like that. It did not happen like that. Srinivasan is the person who must be ashamed for this outburst and Raina is not even required to feel for it. On the contrary it seems it is Raina who seems to feel guilty for his perfectly legitimate decision.

Raina considers Srinivasan to be a father figure

Raina compared Srinivasan with his father and has said that Srinivasan has all the rights to insult Raina. Come on Raina, have a little bit of honour. Raina, you do not have to bend over backwards to please your master. You could have said something else. You could have kept quiet but to compare Srinivasan to your father is insulting.

“He is like a father figure to me and he’s always stood by me and is close to my heart. He treats me like his younger son and am sure a lot of what he said was taken out of context. Ek baap apne bacche ko daant sakta hai (A father can scold his son),” Raina told Cricbuzz.

Raina might go back to Dubai

It probably is because of pressure and a bit of coercion Raina may go back to Dubai. There is not going to be a major improvement with a pandemic that is still running wild across the world for close to 8 months. How can Raina even think of going back? I could not think of anything else but tremendous pressure. Alright. Now that Raina has decided he will go back to Dubai if the situation improves. We will be right to expect that the CSK management will invite him with open arms but was he? The same Srinivasan seems to be non-committal on whether Raina will be accepted into the CSK fold. He has left it to the captain and the coach because he feels that this is not his area of expertise. He only owns the franchise but not the players.

“Look, please understand, that that’s not my domain at all,” PTI quoted him as saying. “We own a team, we own the franchise but we do not own players. The team is ours but players are not. I don’t own the players.”

Srinivasan does not make sense

The same Srinivasan who had recently admitted that he saved Dhoni from being removed from the captaincy now says that Raina’s inclusion is not within his domain. How ironic and how ridiculous. If he can instruct the BCCI to not replace Dhoni as the captain despite being a honourary president he can certainly instruct the CSK management to include Raina as and when he returns into the CSK fold. This clearly shows that Srinivasan has not accepted Raina leaving Dubai for legitimate reason. Come on Mr. Srinivasan just behave a little bit like a grown up towards Raina who considers you to be a father figure.

Do you think Raina is required to justify his absence from IPL? Do you think his reason is sound enough?

Is Akram and Inzamam justified in criticising Misbah?

There was a news report this morning in which it was mentioned that the great Pakistan fast bowler, Wasim Akram and Inzamam-ul-Haq had criticised the Pakistan coach Misbah-ul-Haq for his negative expressions during the recent series in England. When I first read that, I found it quite interesting and at the sametime, amusing too. I really thought that why should the former players criticise every small aspect of what the current players or support staff are doing? Is Akram and Inzamam justified in criticising Misbah?

Did these former players behave or react differently when they were playing? It is absolutely perfect if they criticise the performance of these players or the coaching staff but to pick on their dressing room antics is not correct. Remember, dressing room is considered sacred by all the players and the support staff so much so that anything can be said within the confines of the dressing room.

What did Misbah do to invite criticism?

If one can look at the pictures that have emerged, Misbah had his hands on his head probably because of a poor shot played by a batsman or a poor throw or a dropped catch or because of a poor piece of fielding or because he was having a headache. He did all of these within the confines of the dressing room. If not for the camera, no one would have even noticed these expressions of his. This is perfectly normal for a human being. A human is bound to be dejected or depressed or get angry when something is not following a set process.

Misbah is the coach of a team that has significant following in Pakistan. He definitely will be under tremendous pressure because he will have to ensure good performance on the part of the players. It is pretty easy to criticise from the commentator’s box or in your YouTube video. These players who have played the game at the highest level, would definitely know the pressure the coach will be under and must be able to understand and empathise with the coach. They should not be criticising his mannerism.

Akram’s comment

“The head in his hands was not the best sign from the coach. The team and the bowlers are getting hammered but body language is so important for any coach. It doesn’t matter what the situation is, it is his job to be positive. At least look positive”

Inzamam’s Comment

“During the fifth over of England innings, the camera showed Misbah and he had his hands on his head, which suggested that something really bad had happened. You are giving a wrong message by doing these things. If you respond like this, then this will have a bad effect on the team,” Inzamam said.

In the above comments, the former players did not comment on Misbah’s coaching method or his way of motivating the players but instead they commented on something so trivial that almost every coach & every captain displays when things are not going well. There are perfectly valid criticisms by former players which was genuine and directed towards the performance of the players and the coach. This link is one such example.

Behaviour of these former players

These so called former players, while they were still playing, did they portray positive behaviour all the time? Hasn’t Wasim Akram shouted at the fielder right there on the ground when a catch was dropped? Hasn’t he abused a player because of poor fielding? Hasn’t Inzamam made a fool of himself or his partner by running himself out or his partner multiple times? Sanjay Manjrekar in his book “Imperfect” talks about Pakistani cricketers abusing their own team members more than they abuse the opponents. Shouldn’t Akram or Inzamam reflect upon those moments before directing their criticism on a hapless Misbah-ul-Haq? When a team is losing, it is perfectly alright to criticise the coach on his performance but not on his natural reactions. Instead of targeting Misbah, Akram and Inzamam should have offered advise or should have provided suggestions but they did neither.

Other comments by former players

Akram and Inzamam are not the only ones to be faulted. They are not the first ones to criticise the current players and the coach on their non-performance related activities nor will they be the last. I have read or heard a lot of the so called former greats who criticise the current players on something that the former players themselves would have done during their playing career.

One famous criticism showered on the current players, especially on the captains is the method of spreading the field when number 11 walks in and mainly when a proper batsman is at the other end. In other words, the captains will want to prevent boundaries being scored by the regular batsman and instead will allow them to score a single so that the bowlers will have a chance to get the wicket of the number 11 batsman who is generally considered as someone not that good with the bat. I have heard a lot of commentator criticise this tactic.

They will go onto say that the captain must try to take the wicket of the regular batsman as well and should not mind few fours and sixes. There are lot of instances when a game has turned because of the runs scored for the last wicket. Not just the runs but even the psychological part. These players would have done exactly the same when they were captains. It is nonsense to criticise the current captain for following the same tactic.

These criticisms will increase exponentially in the shorter formats. Mid-on must be up, midwicket must be in the boundary etc.

Conclusion

It is high time these former cricketers realises that even they were once players who have played the game at the highest level for a long period of time and that they have done much of the same throughout their career. They must stop picking on the current lot on trivial issues and actually direct their energies towards constructive criticism. In short, they will have to be critiques.

Are Akram and Inzamam have the moral authority to criticise Misbah? Let me know your comments.

A joke called BCCI volume one – best team in the world forever?

Yes, you have read the correct. A joke called BCCI. We all know that The Board of Control for Cricket in India is among the richest sports body in the world and the richest in the cricketing world. The resources at their disposal are enormous. Their power is incredible. The clout that they enjoy in the cricketing world is equal to none. They have their own set of commentators who do their bidding. The commentators are not allowed to criticise the board, the selectors or anything related to cricket. The disdain with which the board treat every other board is a testimony to the fact that their power is absolutely complete and that none of the other board can afford to antagonise BCCI.

However, having this much wealth, power and clout is not good for the board or for the game. BCCI is a big failure as a sports body. Despite such wealth and resources, the Indian team is not even close to being the absolute and undisputed world champion. It does not really matter who the board president is, whether it is a complete administrator like Srinivasan or Manohar or a former cricketer like Ganguly, the board has failed the team and the supporters in this country. They have done a great deal of disservice to the nation. Let us completely analyse the functioning of the board over the last 30-40 years.

A brief history about the BCCI

The Board of Control for Cricket in India was formed in December 1928 as a society registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act. It has its headquarters in Mumbai. The board does not depend on the Government of India for financial assistance. The board is worth 3730 Crores INR. The board’s arrangement with the ICC, the world’s cricket body, only makes it richer. Under the current revenue-sharing model, BCCI gets close to 3-4% of the surplus earned by ICC.

This may go up as it is likely to get 21-22% of the gross revenue over the next six-eight years. If the ICC earns anything between $2.5 and $3.5 billion, reports say that BCCI may is expected to get $550-770 million over the eight-year period. It recently contributed a measly sum of 51 Crores towards the PM Cares Fund for Corona relief. This is actually slap in the face of every Indian who watch the game.

Board’s president and their term

The first president was Grant Govan in the year 1928. The latest president is Sourav Ganguly whose tenure has just ended. Till date, there has been 35 presidents. The post is an honorary one but it is considered prestigious because of the popularity of the game and the financial clout. The post is rotated among all the zones in India and a person can hold the post of the president for a maximum of three years.

With such clout, with so much funds has the BCCI done justice? Let us further examine.

Best team in the world forever?

India should have been the best team over the last 30 years at the minimum across formats. Are we really the best team even over the last 5 years considering the resources at the board’s disposal?

Following for the game in the country

This is a country where the only sport that is played by the masses is Cricket. It is not only a game but a religion. There simply isn’t any sport in the world that has such a huge following. EPL attracts a huge audience. Bundesliga and Brazil’s La Liga attracts crowds as well. Formula One with its exorbitant ticket rates have their own following. Tennis has its brand of cheer leaders. None, absolutely none of these sports can come close to the fervour that Cricket is to the fans in India. This games fascinates the youngest of the young to the oldest of the old, equally. In every family in the country, atleast one person follows the game religiously.

The length of the game adds to the popularity of the sport because whenever the TV is switched on, some game is played in some part of the world. Children are fascinated by the game that most of the children in the country wants to become the next Kohli, next Rohit, next Tendulkar, next Dravid. It is another story that the children are not that thrilled to follow any bowler. This gives advertisers ample amount of time to advertise their products. In some cases, throughout the day. Who is the ultimate beneficiary of this? It is the BCCI.

An estimate of the following for the game in the country

An article in Business Standard shows the extent to which Cricket viewership has increased in the country. It is increasing by the year so much so that a tour by India is considered among the brightest of the calendar by every cricket board. It can be Australia or England or Zimbabwe. One Indian tour will ensure that their debts are paid. This is because of advertisements which inturn depends on the viewership.

Cricket coaching centres

Cricket coaching centres around the country are mushrooming by the day. The fees charged for each student is certainly high. Cricket coaching is a major business in this country though I will not fault that. It is another way to make a livelihood. Whether the coaches in those centres are upto scratch, that is open for debate. In the city of Bangalore, within a small confine, it is quite possible to find 4-5 coaching centres.

During the weekends, if one takes a tour within the city, it is easy to find the game being played everywhere. Ranging from league games in proper grounds, tournaments for school and college children, tournaments for corporates, tournaments where individual teams can participate to leisure cricket played in the gullies, apartments, on any open ground etc. There are lot of structured and unstructured games played every day, every week, every month and every year.

Numbers game

Easily, 5000 players will be engaged during the week and weekends. This is the case in one small city (relative to the rest of the country). Now just imagine the scene across the entire country of more than 1.25 billion. Such is the passion for the game across the country that easily 100 million will watch the game and follow the scores or the performance of their favourite ones. If I have to take 10% of the 100 million as active followers of the game, that is 10 million. That is a significant number because in most of the cricketing playing nation, the active followers will be much less than that number. If I have to drilldown further for the active participants, that number will easily be around 1 million. This means that there are around 1 million active cricketers in this country.

Mind you, we are talking only about the men. If we have to drilldown further, we will definitely end up with around 100,000 active cricketers. With such high number, it must be possible to find lots and lots of batsmen, bowlers – both spin and genuine pace – excellent wicket keepers among the men. This essentially means that India should have been the best cricket playing nation if not forever, atleast over the last 30 years since the board’s finances grew manifold.

Questions and questions and questions

As things stand, is India really among the top teams in the world? Did each position have atleast one readymade replacement? Did we have world class fast bowlers and world class spinners? The Indian team over the years, did they have world class batsmen? The answer for these questions are NO. Ofcourse, we had Gavaskar, Tendulkar, Dravid, Sehwag & now Kohli. We had a Kumble. However, these players were spread over the last 30 years. We might even say that the current fast bowlers are the best in the world and yet, we lost 2 tests rather meekly in New Zealand. The last series in South Africa and England were lost comprehensively.

Moreover, these players are not because of the board but despite the board. After Gavaskar retired, we had a Tendulkar. Towards half of Tendulkar’s career, we had Dravid & Sehwag and after all of them retired, we have Kohli. Are we to be satisfied with such measly pickings among more than a million? With such resources at their disposal, shouldn’t the Indian team have multiple players with similar abilities of these great cricketers?

More questions

Hasn’t the board failed to produce bench strength in such abundance that the loss of any or all of these players for a few games should never have mattered? Wouldn’t it be possible for the BCCI to be able to find not one not two but more than 250 high quality batsmen, genuine fast bowlers, great swing and seam bowlers, spinners of all variety and wicket keepers if the board had cared about the game rather than their coffers?

This is not just for one format of the game but for all formats. To loss one or even 5 players through injury or some other reason should not be a problem at all. How many Indian bowlers have been ranked at the top for more than a year? There was Kumble for a short period and now we have Bumrah at number two in ODIs.  So little for a country with enormous population. The answer for most of these questions will be in the negative.

I do realise that talent is something that one is born with but one can achieve wonders with a little bit of talent but lots of hard work and coached along the way. Dravid is a prime example of such a cricketer. Kumble is another one. When I realise the magnitude of board’s failure, that is when I am certain that whenever India perform well, it is not because of the board but it is because of the passion of the players.

Success of Australia with a lesser pool

Australia which is a multi-sports nation with less active cricketers compared to India, have won 5 World Cups. They were also ranked as the absolute number one in Tests & ODIs for more than 10 years. They are holders of a record 17 consecutive test wins twice. Australia have won a test series and one day series everywhere they have played during their reign as the best team. They were unbeaten in more than 20 World Cup games consecutively stretching over 2.5 World Cups.

Their players changed the way the game is being played. There was a period in which Australia were able to field TWO teams at the international level and both were capable of defeating any other country. Infact, during one of the annual World Series tournament in Australia, they Australian board fielded 2 teams because they felt that the other teams, England & probably Sri Lanka, will not be able to give the Australia main team a tough competition and as a result of that crowds will not come to the stadium to watch the games. To prove them correct, it was these Australian sides that played the final.

When I think about all these achievements of an Australian team I cannot help think that it should have been India with its rich resource pool that should have accomplished these achievements.

The best team in the world forever? Conclusion

The fact is that the board has never cared about the performance of the team and the standing of the team. Neither are they worried about the fans of the team. They are interested only in filling their coffers. With such resources at the disposal of say an Australian or an English or a South African or even a New Zealand board, certainly they would have been the undisputed numero uno for well over 20 years. The Indian team is nowhere even near to be considered as the best team thanks to an inefficient board.

To be continued…………….

Rahane at number 4 in ODIs

Let us talk about Rahane at number 4 in ODIs. Rahane has come out in the open and has said that he should have played at No. 4 for India in ODIs and especially in the 2019 World Cup. Rahane had been a dependable (though this is debatable of his dependability any longer) No. 5 in the test team for a longtime. Did he really have the credentials to bat at No. 4 in the ODIs? Was he really consistent enough and quick enough to bat at that position? Was he given a decent run in the team?

Rahane’s comments

Rahane not only feels that he should have been playing at No. 4 but he says that he wants to comeback into the One Day team. Rahane’s words

“I was actually thinking I will be there in the World Cup batting at No. 4, but it is gone now. You cannot think too much about it. My goal, my aim, is to come back into the ODI team, do well in white-ball cricket which I am really confident about. I don’t think too much about it [the World Cup], [but] yes, especially when I was playing county cricket when World Cup was happening…as a player everyone wants to be a part of the World Cup team, especially when you know you have worked really hard, your record in the past was really good”.

Yes, it is true that the Indian team really struggled to find a reliable number 4 for more than 4 years. Again, this is debatable because the candidates were many. We will look at that in another article. Fortunately or unfortunately, the team management did not feel that Rahane was a good fit at No. 4. Infact, Kohli went on record saying that Rahane was the team’s third opener. Rohit & Dhawan were performing well. Rahane was their backup. It means that only if one of them has an extended run of low scores will Rahane be in the team as an opener or if one of them wasn’t playing. Natually, Rahane’s ODIs chances were few and far between.

Numbers game

Rahane opened the innings in about 54 games in which he has three hundreds and 15 fifties. It will be 18 games in which he had performed as an opener including four of his 15 fifties that he scored in the last four innings when he had opened the innings. It essentially means that he failed in close to 70% of the games. For an opener, that is a high failure percent because the team would have got off to a bad start in 70 games out of 100.

Rahane’s problem has always been his consistency. It can be in ODIs or it can be in tests. His good knocks are frequently interrupted with a string of very low scores. Most of the time, it is below 15. For about one year, between January 2017 and February 2018, he had a very good run with 8 scores of 50 and above and one above hundred in 15 games. Apart from that, he has been very much inconsistent.

Rahane’s performance in England

However, the crucial aspect that we are trying to focus is India’s Number 4 at the 2019 World Cup that was held in England. Contrary to Rahane’s performance in other parts of the world, his performance in England is pretty decent eventhough he had only opened the innings in all those games. He has also scored those runs at a decent enough strike rate which leads us to the question whether Rahane would have been the ideal No. 4 at the World Cup? Especially, considering the players who were selected to play at that position. Shankar, Pant, Karthik & Pandya. Would we have won the World Cup itself with a reliable middle order batsman who has performed decently albeit as an opener in England? These are questions for which we will never know the answer.

Fault lies with the management

The blame must be placed squarely upon the shoulders of Kohli and Shastri. They first wanted him to be the third opener and later Kohli said that Rahane will be a good candidate for number 4. This must have really confused Rahane and he would not have known whether to consider himself as an opener or a middle order bat. Having said that, Rahane cannot complain of not playing too many games. He has played 90 games which is a very good number of games to decide about a player.

Conclusion

Now, the team have gone past Rahane and have finalised Shreyas Iyer as the middle order batsman with Rahul to follow at No. 5. Rahane has had his chances and he has blown it. There are other players who are waiting to get into the playing eleven. Shubnam Gill, Manish Pandey and a few others in first class cricket. I do not think that the selectors will have to go back and bring in Rahane because by the time the next ODI World Cup comes around, Rahane will not be any younger.

In praise of the England cricket team

This is in praise of the England cricket team. I have always wondered why is that the England cricket team is ridiculed by a lot of persons? What is that about them that makes the wider cricketing fraternity to make fun of them? Sometimes, even their own media and fans are very much harsh on their cricket team. The Australians call the British as Poms though I do not know the meaning of such a word. All of these despite some very good performances by the England cricket team. It does not really make any sense whatsoever. I have thought long and hard on this subject. I tried to analyse the reasons and come up with a satisfying reason as to why should they not be ridiculed.

England’s test performances

When England became the No.1 Test team in the world, there were lot of murmurs that they do not deserve to be No. 1 and that they are at best a middle rung team. It is another issue that they didn’t stay as No. 1 for as long as say Australia or South Africa but that does not mean that they weren’t deserving No. 1 team. To prove my point, I went through some statistics in www.espncricinfo.com. England and Australia are the oldest cricket playing nations. The first test was played between these teams more than a hundred years ago. Later on, India, West Indies, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa joined the cricketing fraternity by 1960 though not necessarily in that order. A few years later, the rest of the countries were given test status.

To be ranked No. 1, a team must have performed consistently and must have definitely won atleast one series in every test playing nation where they have played. Agreed that England having played the game for more than a century and that too when other teams weren’t that strong may have won some series during the early part of the 1900s.

Performance over the last 30 years

So let us take a much smaller sample. Let us take their performance over the last 30 years. Even in this short period, England are one of the three teams to have won atleast one series in every country they have played. The others being Australia & South Africa. England have won in Asia, Africa and also in Australia. Against all odds England won a series in India in 2012. They won the test and series against Pakistan in 1999 in utter dark conditions. They clean swept Sri Lanka in the  last series played in Sri Lanka.

Against Australia, England emerged victorious in 2011. Apart from Australia, England are the only team to have won multiple series in South Africa. India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, New Zealand and West Indies are yet to win a series in atleast one of the cricket playing nation. These performances must be more than sufficient for England to be considered as No. 1 as and when they become No. 1.

England’s short format performances

Yes, England’s performances in ODIs and T20s were not that great to write about. It is another matter that they never took the short format seriously enough and hence their performance wasn’t always that great. Having said that, they still managed to reach the finals of 1975, 1987 & 1991. Creditable achievement for a team that never took white ball cricket seriously. They have also had some horrible World Cup campaigns with the 2015 World Cup the absolute nadir when they lost to Bangladesh and crashed out of the World Cup. It was then the ECB decided enough was enough and they started to change their fortunes in the short format. The ECB packed the team with hitters right through the team with bowlers who can bat following them.

They played a brand of cricket after 2015 that was unseen in all these years. They were able to pile up more than 350 quite consistently. None of the opponent team felt secured against England even after scoring 375 because they knew that England had the firepower to chase any total effortlessly. Suddenly, England became the benchmark for playing the short formats. So much so that Eoin Morgan even talked of the team achieving the One Day Mount Everest of 500. This is definitely not a mean feat. England are the current holder of the highest individual team score. 481. The second highest team total is also held by England. They are worthy of every adulation that they get. Their entire efforts paid off in the magnificent 2019 World Cup win. After 2015 the team set out to win the 2019 World Cup and they ended doing just that.

England’s horrible whitewashes

Probably the first reason why England is ridiculed as a team quite often is because of the number of whitewashes they have suffered in their cricketing career. They were whitewashed 4-0 or 5-0 multiple times first by West Indies and later by Australia. They were also blanked in some of the series by India & Pakistan. This is something some of the bigger teams have not endured.

England’s shocking collapses

The second reason will be the number of times England’s batting imploded completely. There were instances when they lost all the 10 wickets in one session as happened against India and Bangladesh.

Not too many stars

Finally, England is a cricket team that does not have too many stars or for that matter not even a single star. There were Gavaskar, Kapil, Sachin, Dhoni & Kohli for India. Warne, Ponting and the rest for Australia. Kallis & Steyn for South Africa. Imran, Wasim, Waqar, Miandad, Inzamam for Pakistan. England’s biggest stars are Botham all those years ago and now Root and Stokes. When compared to the above, even they are not that big a star.

Conclusion

Despite all of the above, I do not think that England deserves ridicule. England were and are definitely not an all-conquering team but they were and are definitely not a pushover. Their test and ODIs team’s performances over the last 30 years must be good enough for them to be considered an excellent side and eyebrows not raised if and when they again become the No. 1 ranked test team in the world.

What is your opinion of the English cricket team? Do you think they are ridiculed rather unfairly?

England vs Pakistan series to forget

One more series just concluded in England during these difficult times. Rain played a major spoilsport in two of the three tests which means this wasn’t a series that will be remembered even for a few months except for Anderson’s 600th wicket. Having said that, we will have to appreciate the efforts taken by the England cricket team, Pakistan cricket team, the West Indies cricket team, the commentators, camera crew, organisers and last but not the least, the medical staff for ensuring a incident-free couple of series.

Pakistan always does well against England

It is not really clear how Pakistan always manages to perform well against England. It can be in Pakistan or UAE or in England itself. They have always managed to punch above their weight. It is another issue that everywhere else, they are lambs to the slaughter but against England they raise their game. In could also be a case where England lack confidence to defeat Pakistan in a series. Just sample this. It has been 10 years since Pakistan have lost a series against England. From January 1, 1987 till the last test, Pakistan and England have played 47 tests. England have won 13 and Pakistan have won 18. This includes 10 tests that Pakistan have won in England as against just one that England won in Pakistan. Overall figures still stands in favour of England with 26 wins against 21 defeats but barely. Over the last 10 years, Pakistan managed to draw a couple of series when they were expected to lose heavily. In one of the series, they managed to win two tests. It was the same series in which Misbah led the team admirably. Younis Khan and Yasir Shah won one game each for Pakistan.

Probably because of the controversies

What makes Pakistan perform above their weight against England? It is a million dollar question for which we may never find the reason. I feel that the animosity between the teams in the late 1980s and early 1990s that is still inspiring Pakistan. The Shakoor Rana – Mike Gatting incident, the ball tampering incident in the 1991 series when Akram and Waqar were absolutely unplayable with the old ball and the controversies arising out of these incidents seems to motivate Pakistan to perform much better than they are expected.

Coming back to the series

There wasn’t much to write about the series in which two tests were almost washed out. The first test was excellent. I watched the entire last day’s play when England somehow managed to crawl out. There were some good performances from Shan Masood, Babar Azam, a couple of classy fifties to win the game from Buttler and Woakes. A huge double hundred by Crawley and a hundred by Buttler.

Biggest success of the series

Zak Crawley scored a mammoth hundred. A daddy hundred as Gooch would like to term it. Good consistent scores from Buttler including a match and series winning 80odd. Contributions with both the bat and the ball from Woakes. Despite all that, the outstanding player for me in the series was Stuart Broad. It was Broad who broke the back of the Pakistan in the second innings of the first test. His quick blows to get rid of Shadab Khan and Yasir Shah derailed Pakistan and curtailed the lead within manageable level. Without Broad’s wicket, the lead would have been in excess of 300 after England’s shocking first innings capitulation.

Biggest failures of the series

This is a toss up between Yasir Shah and Jofra Archer. Having had England on the mat, Yasir Shah was expected to bowl Pakistan to victory in the first test. He was bowling on the final day with a huge enough target and the England team all but down and out and who are not that good players of leg spin bowling. Woakes & Buttler couple of blinding innings but Yasir Shah failed miserably. His four wickets should not hide the fact that a couple of them came almost towards the end of the game. England were only a few runs shot off victory.

Jofra Archer was the biggest bubble that burst, atleast in this series. His pace was down, he went for more runs, too few wickets (4 at almost 40 per wicket). Against Pakistan who are not that good players of fast bowling and that too in England, he must have got more wickets.

Finally, I settled on Yasir Shah because his lack of impact on the final afternoon in the first test was the reason England won the series.

About Joe Root

Joe Root is among the excellent batsmen in modern day cricket. He is considered among the Fab-Four of Smith, Kohli, Williamson & Root. Off late however, Root’s performance is well below average. For a player who averaged over 56 about 2-3 years ago to average less than 47, that is a huge fall. The fall is so drastic that there is no Fab-Four any longer. It is only Fab-Three. England will have to decide whether they need Root the captain or Root the batsman. With the emergence of Crawley & Pope alongwith the brilliant Stokes, England does appear to have a solid middle order but how will they perform in Asia and in Australia where Root the batsman will be much more required, remains to be seen.

About Pakistan

Pakistan do appear to have found a couple of good fast bowlers in Naseem Shan & Afridi. They are quick and impressive with years of international game ahead of them. As always with Pakistan, you never know. After the exit of Akram & Waqar and to a certain extent Shoaib Akhtar, Pakistan does not want to give their fast bowlers too long a rope. So many have fallen by the wayside. Amir, Asif, the tall lanky bowler. I don’t even remember his name and a few others. So it is too early to say whether Pakistan will stick with these bowlers over the next 10 years.

If you would like to read other series review.

BCCI seems to be planning their own The Hundred

It looks like the BCCI is planning their own The Hundred. Colin Graves, the ECB’s outgoing chairman has claimed that several countries and especially the BCCI seems to be particularly interested. The Hundred has the potential to generate millions in revenue for the ECB. Hence, the BCCI wants to tap into that.

What is The Hundred?

The Hundred is an Eight Team Hundred Ball competition that was designed by the English Cricket Board. The ECB seems to be off the opinion that this will bring new audience to watch the game. Each team will feature 15 players with a maximum of 3 overseas players. One over consists of 10 balls and each bowler is allowed to bowl a maximum of 20 balls.

I am not so sure whether this is revolutionary or one of those money making exercise. One thing is certain. It is one more tournament where the bowlers are basically considered excessive to the requirement. It is another tournament where the bowlers will be treated as second-class citizens.

Colin Graves’s claim

“I know that some of the countries abroad, India in particular, are looking at their own,” Graves told Sky Sports, on the first day of the final Test between England and Pakistan in Southampton. “They have been talking to me about it for the last year on a regular basis. So around the world it has created a lot of excitement.”

Thankfully, atleast one of the stalwarts of modern day cricket is against this format. Virat Kohli feels that the commercial aspect of the game is taking precedence over the quality of the game. This is absolutely true. It is really brave of Kohli to come out and say what he feels about one more nonsense format.

Will BCCI ever stop their greed for money?

Now, BCCI is very much interested in this concept. This is not really a surprise because where there is money you will be able to find BCCI. Over the last 15-20 years, BCCI is much more interested in making money from every source possible rather than the improving the performance of the national team and the standard of the first class game or in improving the livelihood of the women cricketers. Why would BCCI want to invest in such a concept is beyond me.

They are already the richest cricketing board and probably among the top 3 sporting bodies in the world. The board does not seem to be satisfied with the millions that they earn through TV rights for bi-lateral series, they are not satisfied with the millions that they earn through IPL and not to mention the exorbitant share that they receive from the ICC from global tournaments like World Cup, T20 World Cup & Champions Trophy. Still, the BCCI’s greed never seems to be satisfied.

It is not that The Hundred is BCCI’s own concept. For that matter, none of the concept is BCCI’s brainchild. Tests, English invention, ODIs English & Australian, T20 English and now The Hundred, English. I could have understood the need to create a brand if The Hundred was conceptualised by the BCCI but it is not. They are merely copycats.

Where will this new format leave the game in the country?

The answer for this is pretty simple. The BCCI will create one more two-month tournament, probably during November & December. They will add few more franchises and will have another set of auction to pick mercenaries. The board will also arm twist the ICC and other boards with their muscle and will make ICC announce a separate window for The Indian Hundred. It will ensure that the key players from other teams can also participate in the new tournament.

Between October and March is the traditional period for the Indian first class tournaments. By having such a tournament right in the middle of the season, BCCI will kill the first class structure. Now the first class players will have two tournaments to tune their game. They will not be worried about the traditional format and will want to modify their game that is suited towards IPL or The Indian Hundred.

Ofcourse, it is hard to blame them afterall their cricketing career is even less than the international player and they will have to make the best out of that. There was a time when Ranji Trophy games used to attract a decent crowd but it is not the case any longer mainly because of the year around Cricket played by the Indian team and later because of IPL. With the introduction of The Hundred, this will go down even further.

No offseason to work on performance improvement

Already, a major part of the usual offseason between March & July is taken over by IPL. It is precisely because of that Indian players no longer find the time to work on their weakness during the offseason. It is one reason the likes of Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma and a few others have taken more than 10 years to learn the game and that too at the international level. Once The Indian Hundred is introduced, four months will be taken out of the calendar every year which means that it will be impossible to work on someone’s weakness and become a better cricketer even at the first class level. This will ensure that the supply chain to the international team is either disturbed or substandard players are selected which will further weaken the performance of the national team.

Saurav Ganguly has failed once again

I have said this before and I will say this again. Saurav Ganguly is the biggest disappointment of all the BCCI presidents.

Conclusion

The sooner The BCCI cat is belled, the better it is for the entire cricketing world. I do not see a great deal of enthusiasm for the game in other countries to challenge the might of BCCI.  The only remedy will be if 3-4 sports gains enormous popularity in the country and the sponsorships, the endorsements and other perks are diverted to these games. Only then the BCCI will wake up and will want to improve the game and the international image of its team.

If you think BCCI can go ahead with their own version of The Hundred, comment below.

Ricky Ponting will have a hard discussion with Ashwin about Mankading

Ricky Ponting will have a hard discussion with Ashwin about Mankading. At first when I read this sentence, I was really stunned. I thought it must be a mistake. Hence, I reread it. Ricky Ponting will have a hard discussion with Ashwin about Mandaking. I just cannot believe it. Could this be true? Was Ponting really serious? Does he even have the moral authority for such a discussion?

In support of Mankading

Firstly, I am very much in favour of Mankad. The game is already heavily loaded in favour of the batsmen. Absolutely flat wickets, short boundaries, exceptionally heavy bats that even mishits are carried across the boundary, archaic laws etc. Even in a country like Australia where about 15 years ago, batsmen will be able to run a 5, boundaries are shortened. All of these and a few others have ensured that the bowlers are there to support the batsmen. The batsmen are the stars of the game. Hence, bowlers need every possible support they can get. It includes Mankading.

Ponting’s comments about hard discussion with Ashwin

“Look, I know he’s done it, there’ll be others around the tournament who’ll think about doing this well but that’s not going to be the way that we play our cricket. We won’t be doing that’. “So, that’s going to be a conversation and that’s going to be a hard conversation I will have to have with him, but I’m pretty sure he’ll take it on the chin.

“I think, even him, looking back now, probably he’d say it was within the rules and he’s right to do it, but this is not within the spirit of the game, not in the way I want, at least with the Delhi Capitals anyway,” Ponting said. “I think there’s ways that you can actually stop batsmen cheating like that. If the bowler was to stop, and the batsman was a foot out of his crease for instance, why don’t you just penalise him some runs or something? Then they won’t do it again.”

Does Ponting really have the moral authority to talk about spirit of the game? Does he think that he has always played the game in the correct way? Well, evidences seems to suggest the exact opposite. It looks like Ponting has conveniently forgotten the fact that he played for a team that is not exactly known for their sportsmanship. There are so many instances involving Australian cricketers that they were known as the ugly Aussies. Now, let us see how Ponting has always upheld the spirit of the game? How Ponting has displayed sportsmanship and have conducted himself extremely professional on the field of play?

The infamous Sydney Test of 2008

The first video is from the famous Sydney Test of 2008. At 00:26 seconds, it will be crystal clear that Ponting grassed the catch, it is another matter whether was it a catch, and he scooped the ball from the turf and then appealed. This is the person who is speaking about the spirit of the game. Further on, in the same test, at 02:07, one more appeal by Australia for a grassed catch. This time it was Michael Clarke.

As Gavaskar says in that video, the ball touched the ground when the fielder was in the act of taking the catch. That is clearly not out and to add insult to injury, it was the captain, Ricky Ponting, who gave the batsman out. It is another matter the umpiring was atrocious. Why should the umpire consult the fielding side’s captain before declaring a batsman out? That is utter nonsense but Ponting being the captain must have been held accountable. Again, Ponting must be the last person to talk about the spirit of the game.

Ponting cheating again, against Pakistan

In the second video, at 00:23 seconds, you can see that Ponting got a huge deflection of the bat and yet stood there and until the decision was referred to the third umpire who eventually declared him out. This is the gentleman that talks about spirit of the game.

Mindblowing spirt of the game showcased by the Aussies

In the third video, at  02:04, Langer casually walks past the stumps and dislodges a bail and then the Aussies appealed that the batsman had hit the wicket. So much for spirit of the game.

Ponting fighting with umpire

In this video, just look at how Ponting is seen fighting with the umpire Aleem Dar. The Australians appealed for caught behind, the umpire refused and it was referred to the third umpire. It was clear that the ball never touched the bat and Pietersen was ruled not out. Ponting should have accepted and must have carried on. No he doesn’t. He shouts at the umpire and Aleem Dar is seen to explain to Ponting why was it not out when he was not required to.

Conclusion

These are only a few of cheating Ponting’s exploits. There might be more if I could dig in. Having said that, Ponting did all that he could during his playing career that dismembered every part of the spirit of the game. Maybe he was within his rights to stand guard until the umpire has given him out but he must look at himself more than 10 times before giving spirit of the game advise to anyone.

Do you think Ricky Ponting has the moral authority to comment on spirit of the game? Do you think he is justified in talking to Ashwin? if you have any question, feel free to write your comments in the box below. I will try to answer.