Yes, you read that correctly. Ganguly does not want the Indian team to win in Australia. Flabbergasted aren’t you after reading such a line. You may not be wrong if you think this to be blasphemous. Well, I will not fault you afterall, Ganguly is the President of the BCCI. Why would he being the president would want the team to lose? Let me try to explain.

The Australian Tour

As we all know, India are supposed to tour Australia towards the end of this year for a series of 4 Tests and 3 ODIs. The first test is slated to start on the 3rd of December. The 2nd test on the 11th December. A gap of 3 days. The 3rd test on 26 December and the 4th 3 Jan. This time, the tour promises to be an extremely tough one for the Indian team. It is on par with the 4-0 drubbing under Dhoni. The Australian team are good though not great on their own wickets. They have batsmen who can score quickly and who can score daddy hundreds. They also have a good bowling attack with Cummins the top ranked test bowler for quite sometime now and also because Lyon is a much better spinner.

Why am I saying all these things?

We or rather the team and the board must understand that the Australian team is now supremely confident. Especially, after the wins and the amount of runs their batsmen scored last season. Australians are generally tough to beat. Even the poorest Australian team is tough to beat outside of their home. A supremely confident Aussie team will be virtually unbeatable in their backyard. The players need all the help that they could get. Remember, none of the team member would have played a single test before the first test in Australia.

The team will have to be exposed to the change in time as well as the Australian grounds well in advance. The team will have to play as many as 3 PROPER practice games before the first test as I had argued in my earlier post. You can read them here and here. This will not only provide the players with much needed match practice on grounds that will be the same as the ones to be used in tests but will also ensure that the players are in good frame of mind going into the first test.

What has caused a disruption in the schedule?

As you may have had noticed, the board have decided to go ahead with staging IPL between September and November. It will start on the 19th of September and complete on the 10th of November. The first test starts on 3rd December. That hardly leaves the team with 3 weeks. Remember, we are in the middle of a pandemic. For 2 weeks, the players will be in quarantine after their arrival. This essentially means that the team will have only a week to get ready for a very tough first test and that too at the Gabba. Gabba is an Australian fortress.

They have never lost a test in that ground for over 30 years. A week will allow only one practice game. As we all know, Kohli and Shastri as happened in South Africa, will think that they are better off without a practice game and go into the test with Zero first class game in about 8 months. This certainly is not the way to prepare for a series in Australia.

In the IPL, the main players will be made to play every game because the franchises may want them to play. If someone like Bumrah or Shami or Kohli gets injured, we must not travel to Australia because there is no point.

Ganguly wants the quarantine period to be reduced

Ganguly is on record stating that he will ask the Australian board to reduce the quarantine by a week. I have had high respect for Ganguly but the board President Ganguly seems to be an idiot. The 14 days is stipulated by the Australian government and not by the Australian board. This is afterall a cricket series. I am pretty sure that Australian government will not relax a rule for a small matter of a cricket series. There are bigger issues at stake. We must also remember that the Indian team will be travelling from a country that has very high number of cases compared to Australia. How the hell does Ganguly think that he can get away with a reduced quarantine period? Does he even realise that we are in the middle of a pandemic? Probably he has stopped thinking.

Without any match practice (IPL cannot substitute proper first class game) now when the team promptly loses the first and second tests, the team will be blamed. They are earning in millions and they do not care about the game or the supporters. All kinds of allegations will be made but the real culprit, the Indian cricket board, who refused to support the team with adequate practice games will escape without a blame.

Captain Ganguly vs President Ganguly

I have always had high respect for Ganguly the captain. He, the one who caused a turnaround and the team started to win outside of India. He instilled the much needed confidence and aggression that not even Sachin, Azharuddin and the rest weren’t able to instill. On the otherhand, President Ganguly is the exact opposite. I do not have any respect for him. He is not different from the previous presidents. Money seems to be the only criteria for President Ganguly. This is so disappointing.

I will not mind losing a few thousands because of IPL cancellation. Especially when it will help the team to compete against a tough opponent.

Conclusion

Bottomline is that when the team is humiliated in the series, the players deserve to be criticised but the real elephant in the room, THE BCCI, must not be allowed to go scot-free.

If you think that Ganguly does want the team to win in Australia despite the evidence to the contrary, leave your comments.

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The Indian cricket pitches

Whenever, a side from one of England, Australia, New Zealand comes to India, the one talking point is about the pitches. There will be lot of editorials on their newspapers stating that a minefield is awaiting their teams during their visit. Every pitch in any Test series will be doctored to suit the Indian spinners or to stump the visitors because of their lack of ability against spin. However, none of them thinks about the poor technique displayed by the visitors against spin. Not the perfect one but a better technique would have ensured that they prevail. Having said that, the Indian cricket pitches will probably have to change. Defeating India in India is one of the most toughest in the cricketing world. Defeating Australia and defeating South Africa are the other tough propositions. I have not included England or New Zealand because both the teams have lost rather a few games more than that is allowed. Over the last 23 years, India have lost less than 10 Tests at home with only 2 series losses. That is an incredible record to boast about. The sheer dominance at home is something no other team could achieve. Accusation against the team Despite that, the talk invariably turns to the pitches. There were lot of accusations on the Indian team that they will not be able to win so many games if the pitches weren’t so spin friendly. A few years ago, in 2015, against South Africa, both the teams, India and South Africa were unable to cross 300 once because the pitches turned square from ball one. The Nagpur pitch for the 3rd Test was rated poor. It left Kohli fuming. “Well, there have been three scores of under 50 runs in South Africa but I haven’t seen any sort of articles on that. Teams have been bundled out under 100 for about six times in South Africa,” he said. “The situation in our country is highlighted a bit too much and that’s a fact. Because the only thing we talk about is the pitch and when we were in South Africa, the only thing we talked about was how badly we played. We are criticised for our techniques but when visitors don’t play well, it’s always the wicket.” It is true what Kohli had said. There are lot of games in Australia and South Africa that have not exceeded 3 days. Especially, in South Africa, the pitches are overly favourable to the fast bowlers. Since South Africa can churn out them by the dozen, they have always prepared pitches that has incredible pace and bounce. They have always maximised the home advantage and particularly against the Asian nations. WTC Points system is another reason Likewise, India is also justified in preparing pitches that does not suit the opposing batsmen. Here I say the opponent’s batsmen is because even the Indians are not that good against spinners any longer. Just look at the number of games the Indians were tied down by spinners in white ball cricket that has prevented them from scoring huge runs or chase down one. The situation is not that better in Tests either. Nowadays, spinning pitches are prepared not because it is comfortable for India but because it is uncomfortable for the opponents. One other factor that warrants results oriented pitches is the WTC points system. It awards 12 points for a win and only 4 for a draw. It places great importance in playing attacking aggressive brand of cricket. WTC points is a significant motivator. Teams need wins to be in contention to play the final. Where does the chances for winning most of the games lie? It is at home where you know the conditions and you know how the pitches will behave. Hence, the need to prepare pitches where you give your team the maximum chance to win. “There is a huge premium on results,” Dravid said before the fourth Test. “You draw a game like Kanpur against New Zealand, where you take nine wickets in the second innings, you draw that game and that sets you back, in a home game. “Every team is getting results at home or are putting in really good performances at home, so there is a premium on results. You get four points for a draw and you get 12 for a win, so there is a premium on that, there’s no question about it.” It is time to return The downside of all this is that the averages and the performances of the batsmen have dropped drastically and the spinners are having inflated strike rates and averages. One will only have to compare the statistics of both Ashwin and Jadeja with their away record. It will clearly establish the fact that these two spinners, ofcourse they are good, are not as great as they are made out to be. Perhaps, the time has come to return to the more batting pitches that helped the Indian batsmen outscore their opponents. The spinners will have to really use their guile and intelligence to pick up wickets rather than just drop the ball and leave the rest to the pitches. There was a period, against England in 2017, where both the teams amassed runs and yet, India won handsomely 4-0. Ashwin & Jadeja still emerged as the highest wicket takers but they had to move out of their comfort zone. The Indian fast bowlers too had long bowling sessions. This was in stark contrast to how Bumrah asked to be left out of the squad in 2020 against England because he hardly had to bowl. Wrapping up the Indian cricket pitches The problem is not the turn but the dust that comes out of the pitch everytime there is an activity. Sri Lankan pitches have also turned but the soil does not come out. India have had similar pitches and it is time to return to that. 2 and 3 day games will kill the game. Let the batsmen be able to bat confidently. For inspiration, India will only have to think about the pitches against England in 2017.

Whenever, a side from one of England, Australia, New Zealand comes to India, the one talking point is about the pitches. There will be lot of editorials on their newspapers

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