Time to take stock of future batting depth

The selectors must be complemented this time for having a plan and believing in it despite the heroics of the old horses at Perth and using the correct words like “dropped” and “not considered” rather than “rested”. The thinking is changing in Indian cricket and we need bold decisions like this to move forward and attain a dominant position in the field that our fans always dream about.

Along with the joy of Perth win in my mind, it was always coming back to me that what will happen after these four. Who will we run to for cover? Our main hope Yuvraj has been exposed badly in Australia. This is the right time to take stock of our batting future. Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma are touted as the big hopes for the next decade. So, it’s necessary that they are thrown into the battle field early to gauge their potential at the highest level. Their exposure to Australian conditions early in their career will test their mettle and help them develop their game. Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid will always be rated as champion one-day players for India. Hopefully, they understand the process and focus all their energy in test matches. I just wish they will be given another chance to exit gracefully out of the ODIs at home.

One can always argue that the top order will be void of experience. I think Sehwag and Yuvraj have played enough cricket to guide the inexperienced ones. The youngsters need to grab this opportunity with both hands, so that we don’t go back to recalling Sourav and Rahul full time again. I think they can be rotated with Sachin for sometime to lengthen their test careers. But the selectors need to show maturity here and should give the young guys a fair run after choosing to follow this path. I can’t wait to see the energy levels and our fielding once the VB series starts.

Now, the selectors need to show one more mature decision and give Wasim Jaffer some more chances before dumping him. Remember, Rahul Dravid’s batting fell into pieces when he toured Australia for the first time. Jaffer has shown enough spark at the highest level to earn a few more chances. Before the VB series, we have a test match to win and a series to square. Let the Adelaide test begin.

As good as it gets

The Aussie juggernaut finally halts! Hats off to Team India for the sensational victory. Anil Kumble showed great leadership skills to pull the team through this. To win a test match at Perth, Australia’s strongest forte to date is just beyond expectation.

After the Sydney trauma, no one would have thought India could come back in such a way. As a cricket fan I was so depressed that 4-0 was the only result I could imagine. The reasoning behind the thinking was not being able to draw the Sydney test would have crushed the morale of the team and the strains attached with the loss would have sapped all the energy out of the guys. Then coming to Perth, where no sub-continent team had won a test match till date, with the ambition to get the first win is wishful thinking. Winning a match against Australia when the series is already gone is different, but to win when the series still hinges in the balance has to be bravery. After getting the 16^th win at Sydney, the Aussies might have thought that Perth is going to be a piece of cake looking at the history. But surprise, surprise, here come India again to spoil the party and Aussie record of 17^th straight win.

Man of the match Irfan Pathan needs to be handled pretty carefully from now onwards. India can’t afford to loose a gold pot like him again. He just adds so much value to the team. And the unpredictable man, Virender Sehwag, should never be dropped from the test team. Only the selectors can answer why he was dropped from the test team in the first place given the number of wins he has setup in tests both within and outside India. No praise is enough for the spell Ishant Shrama produced in the first session. He should go on from here to play for a long time for India and bring more laurels for it. India’s pace stock is rising by the day and that just means that our future is bright. Once you have bowlers to take 20 wickets in a test match, you can only win more matches than loose.

Well coming back to the win, Kumble has already rated it as his best. Sunil Gavaskar said it’s the greatest in the last 40 years. I’m not sure about that. The Kolkota test was won under more difficult circumstances, especially India following on. The Adelaide win in 2003-04 was equally great. India was 85/4 in reply to the first innings score of 556. Rahul Dravid’s teary eyes at the end of the chase told the story. This test under the circumstances when nobody in the world gave them even 10% of chance is definitely special. Had India went down in the match after showing a lot of fight, still no one would have blamed them. Through out the match India had the upper hand and the Aussies could not win even one session. I could not agree more with Rahul Dravid when he said “this win sounds more special because it is at present and fresh in our mind”. Greatest or not, this definitely is as good as it gets.

The very very secret Video

Folks,

I got hold of this video after reading something about VVS standing for Very Very Secret. Don't know what's the fuss is all about. But if you are curious about it, here you go Click

Hail the Master

There was a time, so to say my very impressionable age, when Sachin was everything as far as cricket was concerned. He was also hardly disappointing those days and routinely destroyed world’s best attacks to score scintillating centuries or match winning scores. This was the story of Indian cricket from early to the mid-nineties. Post 1996 World Cup two more of the famous “fab-four” of Indian middle order announced their arrival with breath-taking batting display at the Mecca of cricket. But talented cricketers a plenty have promised a lot to fade away into oblivion eventually. For the first time since I started following cricket seriously, two guys other than Sachin made match winning contributions in a test match played on foreign soil, yes that’s right, in the 3^rd test against South Africa at Johannesburg in the 1996-97 series. And these two had just made their debuts in the previous Indian tour to England. Why I rate their performance better in the Johannesburg test is simply because it created an opportunity for an Indian win only to be denied by weather. One of these two, Rahul Dravid went on to score a half century in each test in the following Caribbean trip just to confirm that another great has arrived. In 1996-1997 still Ambrose and Walsh were guarding the West-Indian shores, so getting a half century in each of the tests is no mean achievement for an Indian tourist in his first opportunity. It’s a pity that Indian could not chase a target of 120 in the Barbados test and lost the series 1-0. Had India won that test match Sachin might also have conquered the captaincy front.

India’s familiar story of lions at home and lambs in alien conditions continued as the new comers were still learning their trade. Especially Dravid was acquiring the art of converting the 50s into triple figures and hold an innings together. But his batting fell into pieces in his first tour of Australia and the series was whitewashed by Aussies despite some scintillating knocks by Sachin and Laxman. Yeah, this is where the last one of the “fab-four” Very Very Special Laxman signaled his arrival with a top notch 167 albeit in a losing cause. That knock made sure that Laxman will not be thrown to the domestic grind so soon and would get a fair run at the box office. Sachin could not take it anymore and gave up captaincy for good after that humiliating loss against Aussies.

So, India got their best captain by accident rather than by planning as has always been the case with BCCI. He took on the Aussies head on and was able to stop their juggernaut at Eden Garden, Kolkota after 16 straight wins. As they say, India created history and moreover Rahul Dravid reinvented his belief against the Australia with an anchoring 180 to the sublime 281 of Laxman. Sachin although did not do that well with the bat at Kolkota, scripted a magnificent 126 at Chennai to seal the series in India’s favor. Dravid soon became so deft at his own art that India went on to draw a test series in England in a long time and rightfully earned the nickname “The Wall” for himself”. Slowly these guys took pressure off Sachin and certainly Indian batting was no more about Sachin anymore.

As the new millennium progressed, Sachin’s body started to break down and he started to slide from the position of number one batsman in the world. Soon, allegations became louder and louder that Sachin has not produced match winning knocks like his peer Brian Lara at the test level. If you go through the record book, there is also some truth to that argument. From the biggest fan of Sachin, I started to become a critic of Sachin. India scored series win in Pakistan for the first time in the history without major contribution from Sachin when it mattered. Yeah he scored a big century there, but he was outdone by Sehwag and Dravid. To everyone’s pleasure India started winning outside India. Dravid went on to win a test series in West Indies without Sachin and Sourav in the team. Although the West-Indian team was nothing compared to their mighty predecessors, the fact that India won after more than 30 years was an achievement.

I started to wonder whether Sachin will ever be able to do something substantial in an Indian win on foreign soil. Sachin has adapted a new avatar of playing according to the needs of the team. My heart was filled with joy to watch him grind out the England bowlers and turn the series in India’s favor. Sure, he did not score big centuries, but he had a substantial contribution in all probability his last tour to England. Slowly, it was evident that Sachin still has it in him to deliver at the highest level. But I doubted, whether he could attack again when the need arises. Taking blows on the body is not the Sachin we grew up admiring.

At Eden Gardens in the second test against Pakistan, Sachin smashed a quick fire 82 according to the team need. In the Melbourne test, he tried to take the attack to the opposition from the word go. Unfortunately he could not score a century there. When his turn came to bat at Sydney, he displayed one of the perfect test innings and stole the applause of the Aussie crowd. It’s pity that India could not even save the test for some umpiring blunders and insensible batting in the second innings. But my doubt for sure is erased that Sachin can play according to the team need and can attack when necessary. Another century at Perth would remind everyone, how fortunate we have been to watch a Master hold a bat in our time. Touch wood!

Blame the Aussie way if you may

“We play our game hard but fair” seems to be the tag-line of CA. Their administrators, national captain, players, ex-players all seem to repeat the same line in their defense after the Sydney disaster. Australia is the world champion cricket team of the past decade. Many of my friends and I are in awe of the amazing consistency they are able to maintain for more than 10 years. They have almost changed the definition of cricket that it is a game of uncertainties at least when Australia team is involved in it.

Right from our childhood we are taught to look at successful people and follow them to bring success in our careers. In school, we look up to the successful seniors and try to mimic them for our own accomplishments. Other than the national figures, who are like universal heroes every region has local heroes who people look up to for inspiration. After the television revolution, as a kid when you follow sports you try to mimic your heroes’ styles, their body language and their actions when you hit the ground in your backyard. Cricket is no different. Kids try to match the bowling styles of Murali, Kumble and Warne when they try to bowl spin or try to follow Sachin, Lara when they bat. Although India has many cricketing icons, which school kids try to follow, the national team has not been as successful as we want them to be. So, you can’t fault anybody if they look to the champion side Australia and try to do what they do to win games.

Here comes Australia’s responsibility as the champion side. So, other than their work ethic, what kids do try to learn is their “hard and fair way” of play which includes sledging. There is no doubt that guys like Sreesanth and Harbhajan would have tried to learn this hard way to gain the competitive edge in their age groups. Kids try to match them so much that a teen-ager like Parthiv Patel sledged a legend like Steve Waugh in his farewell test. And remember English is not our first language and especially now when players are coming from all corners of India they might be refining their English skills only after joining Team India. So, being provoked in the heat of a battle by players from the English speaking countries, the non-English speaking guys can utter the first word which comes into their mind irrespective of racial or non-racial relevance of the word. Remember, how Pakistani captain Shoaib Malik apologized to all the Muslims of the world after loosing the T20 world cup, when the winning team had a Muslim as their Man of the Match. Most of us believe that Malik had a slip of tongue especially talking in English which he is definitely uncomfortable with. Austarlia’s hard and fair way of play is responsible in creating sledgers like Sreesanth, Harbhajan and co. in the Indian team as this new generation of cricketers wants to match everything they get from opposition.

By all means you want to unsettle the opposition players in the field. But sledging is not the way. The champion team has great batsmen in its rank who can hit the bowlers out of park and bowlers who can easily take opposition wickets. Having said all that, I still believe that racism is not acceptable in any realm of society, forget about sports. Harbhajan deserves the harshest punishment if he has crossed the line. But for that to happen the match referee or the judge whoever it is has to have concrete proof before declaring the verdict. Because, racist is a very cruel tag to carry with for the rest of your life. But if the evidence does not come from the umpires or any audio or video recording of the match, then I’m sorry the Australian players’ words can’t be taken as evidence after we saw what happened on the field. Ricky Ponting definitely exploited the loophole in the verbal agreement he had with Anil Kumble before the series started regarding taking players’ word for disputed catches. What is shocking is that Ponting tried to scare an Indian journalist that he is honest even when there is clear video evidence of the ball touching the turf (unsuccessful appeal for Dhoni’s wicket). Same with MJ Clarke’s catch of Ganguly. Ponting is referring to his denial of Dravid’s catch in the first innings to justify his honesty. Do us a favor Mr. Ponting, please do not force your honesty on us. If the umpires would have referred your first innings claim to third umpire, that incident would anyway have been awarded as not out. You might be the captain of a champion side, but your side has no morale. You don’t need to look beyond Clarke’s dismissal in the second innings to understand their hard and fair game. Knowing Bucknor’s bad form in the match Mr. Clarke tried to take him for a ride even after edging to the first slip.

Sledging, mental disintegration or a crack at the opposition or whatever you want to call it, you are setting a wrong precedent as a champion side to follow. ICC must have a zero tolerance policy for sledging now onwards; otherwise storms like this will become regular occurrence. I won’t be surprised if it is not stopped here, teams will go on to have secret coaches for sledging as the game progresses.

The Power of Positive Play

You might have already seen all sports page headlines or in India front page headlines about the superb innings of Very Very Special Laxman. It is a sensational innings under pressure, there are absolutely no two ways about it. This is the kind of positive play we had been waiting for to take the message to Australia that we mean business, not by Harbhajan Singh’s press conference that “we are here to win the test series”. This innings can change the fortune of India in the ongoing test series if they can hang on to the advantage for two more sessions.

Let me come back to Laxman’s innings again. The best thing about this innings is the pace of the innings. Mind you; had the strike rate been 50, still the innings would have been top class. But what a strike rate of 77 at the top of the innings has done is that it has bought time for India. More importantly, it could let Rahul Dravid do all kind of mental experiments out there. He got time to reinvent himself a little bit in the middle. That is why I have been shouting for Sehwag. Dravid’s half century is equally important in the context of the test match, even if it was tortuous to watch a batsman of his caliber scrape so much for each run. Hopefully, he has re-gathered his thinking process and ready to shine from the next innings onwards.

Dravid’s batting is the first benefit India got from Laxman’s positive play. Second thing is India has a healthy run rate and time on its side to dominate the test match provided Sachin and Sourav make this opportunity count. Both are looking positive and we need a little bit of luck. If they can put another hundred runs on the board without loosing any more wicket, it will be fun to watch Australian body language. If India can at least match Australia’s first innings score, there is every chance of anyone winning the test match weather permitting 5 days play. The reason behind my prediction is that Australia will try to score quickly so that they can have enough time to bundle out India for the second time. And that is where India has a chance of wrapping up the Aussie innings quickly. Indian bowling has proved twice in two test matches that they can take ten wickets.

Ricky Ponting, the world’s best batsman at the moment has a fine battle going on with Harbhajan. By taking Ponting’s wicket twice in two tests, Harbhajan has created just enough doubt in Ponting’s mind to add spice to the battle. Knowing Aussie nature Ponting will try to dominate Harbhajan and if we can get Ponting out early the match will be wide open. But these are mere speculations unless India can match Australia’s first innings total. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope for that eluding century from Sachin’s bat in this innings.

Sehwag must open in the Sydney test

So, we have got the first taste of Australia’s strength. India arrived in Australia with heavy ammunition in their batting. Out of five batsmen to play 100 tests for India, the fact that three are in this team speaks volumes of the batting strength. The question was whether India can take 20 Australian wickets. The first occurrence of Adam Gilchrist batting for the first time on the first day of a test match in about a year justifies the question. Indian bowlers did exceptionally well to bundle out Australia under 350 in the first innings. All genuine cricket lovers hailed the situation, so much so that even Australian crowd thought that finally they will see some contest.

But then came the reality check situation for India. Although India was not well acquainted to the Australian conditions because BCCI does not care about it, one hoped that the three century-makers regarding the number of tests played would use all their experience to take advantage of the situation created by bowlers. India’s greatest bowler ever had already made a mistake by not including Sehwag in the playing eleven. Sehwag is not in the best of form, agreed, but once he is in the team he should play at the first instance to take the fight to the opposition like Australia. You can not use Sehwag after the initiative is lost in the first couple of tests. Once you have a wrecker in the form of Sehwag use it, if it is a false one then we can go back to the traditional way. I don’t think after you loose first couple of tests, you can reinvent yourself by bringing Sehwag. If he will not play, why he is in the team is hard to understand. What will he learn form the dressing room? Someone like Badrinath would have learned so much from this trip.

The reason behind shuffling the batting order is Yuvraj. He has to wait for his turn, how much frustrating the wait may be. If he has to play then he should open or if he is so good then replace one of the middle order batsmen with him. If Yuvraj is the player who can win us the series and the management is clear about that then they should have replaced Dravid or Laxman whoever it is. But playing with everyone’s position just to accommodate one guy is not a mistake but a blunder. Dravid agreed to open the innings because of the eternal team player he is. But he himself told that opening is not about the technique but about the thinking. He is our best batsman for the last five years and the team decided to disturb his mindset when he is clearly going through a barren phase. Just after the Pkaistan series Sourav has owed his less number of centuries to batting lower down the order. Here was an opportunity to bat higher up, why did not the management ask him or he himself put his hand up to open the innings.

Sachin’s approach in the first test looked like a breath of fresh air and if he continues in the same frame of mind he can make an impact in the series. For that to happen we need a good attacking opening partnership. Jaffer usually takes time to adjust and hopefully he will get used to the Aussie soil by the second test. Hopefully, good sense will prevail and Kumble will rope in Sehwag for the Sydney test. I expected Kumble to be a tougher captain and take smart decisions like the one to include Sehwag in the team to Australia. But that bravery will not prove anything if Sehwag does not get a chance in Sydney and the series might as well slip out of our hand.

PS: Folks I had written the blog before the start of the second test, but could not post it because of my laziness.

The lesser team lost at Delhi

Anil Kumble’s honeymoon with the Kotla does not look like going to end before he hangs his boots up. He has the perfect start to his imperfect timing of captaincy career by earning the man of the match award in his first outing as captain against the arch-rivals. Kumble is a seasoned campaigner and is expected to do a decent job at the helm if not spectacular. Nevertheless his captaincy in the 1^st test was spectacular. But more than him the cricket community needs to stay grounded because his master-stroke, as mentioned in most of the columns, of giving the new ball to Ganguly is not going to earn him a couple of wickets in one over everyday. So, rather than hailing his captaincy after just one show, let’s appreciate what we have seen and not increase our expectations more than required.

Honestly this Pakistani team is no match for this Indian team and India should have shut the game in the 1^st innings. Thanks to the Indian batsmen for making the match interesting. Pakistan is playing with one genuine wicket-taker and if our batsmen see his overs through, they can pile up huge totals. Sachin’s run-out in the first innings was unfortunate and after that Dravid should have focused more. He will be the first one to admit that he played a wrong shot considering the team situation in the first innings. Laxman and Dhoni made a good recovery. One logical decisiopn Kumble can take at the beginning of his captaincy career is to promote Laxamn to no. five. Two reasons for this: first Laxman is a better batsman than Ganguly. So, he deserves to bat higher than him. Second, Ganguly’s game fits more for the no. 6 to play with the tail-enders. With the tail Ganguly has the ability to give the ball some thumping which Laxman clearly lacks and believes in rotating the strike even with the tail-enders. You don’t need to look any further than the last Lord’s test to understand how well Dhoni managed his stay at the crease with the tail to save the match for India.

Karthik was predicted to have a great future because of the tenacity he showed in England. So, let’s not be critical of him at the first instance of failure. This series is going to be the true test of his character. People like Sehwag and Gambhir are knocking for another chance. Another reason is that he has never faced someone like Akhtar before. The selectors should have faith in his ability as he has shown a lot of promise till now. Hopefully, he will come out no later than Eden Gardens with flying colors.

Munaf Patel needs to grab this chance as his last hope of breath in international cricket at least to stay in the loop before selectors throw him into the domestic circuit for good. Expectantly the injury concerns of Sreesanth and RP Singh are trivial and they would last at least till the end of Australia test series.

Both teams were competing with each other for the number of mistakes in the Kotla test which eventually made the match interesting. Thankfully, Indian batsmen managed to keep the mistakes to the minimal in the 2^nd knock and India won comfortably. To be precise; the lesser team lost in the end. Hopefully, both teams would be able to raise their game at Kolkota and produce a more gripping contest.

The most lackluster Ind-Pak One-Day series ever

At the start of the one-day series a realistic goal for India was to win the series either 4-1 or 5-0 to believe that we are moving in the right direction. The Indian team needs to be congratulated first for the 3-2 series win over Pakistan in some three decades in its home soil. But where does this win actually stand when we put things in cricketing perspective. It is clearly visible that this Pakistan team lacks punch and the Pakistani youngsters are less impressive in comparison to their Indian counterparts. Moreover they came to India with series losses both in test and one-day matches to South Africa. Sure, India did also loose their last home one-day series against Australia. But South Africa is no Australia especially when it comes to playing in sub-continental conditions in the recent past.

But at the end of the series, here we are celebrating the win. During India’s last tour to Pakistan (2005-06), India won the ODI series 4-1, that to coming back from a 0-1 series opener. That Pakistan team was definitely better than the current team. So, if anything has happened in this series, the Pakistan team with less impressive personnel has moved forward with two wins in the series. What we don’t want at this stage is another false dawn like we felt after all those record wins at the start of the Dravid-Chappel era. If anyone in the Indian establishment believes that we are a competitive team to be reckoned world over after this series win, then that belief is soon going to be shattered as soon as we touch the Australian territory next month. Did not we win both our practice one-day series against West-Indies and Srilanka just before world cup and started mission-2007 world cup as one of the major contenders? So, as long as we don’t start winning abroad in one-day games we can’t be reckoned as a force. The 2-1 series win over South Africa in Ireland was a good display. Making it into the final of the triangular one-day series in Australia with at least two wins against Australia in the league stage will be a good start.

Coming to the personnel gain, RP Singh’s consistency and Rohit Sharma’s batting display in the only chance he got are the two most positive things to emerge from this series. Of course Sachin’s sublime batting and Yuvraj’s consistency are praiseworthy, but now they are expected to perform like this. The moment Sachin stops performing like this, questions will be raised against him. Yuvraj has to take his game to the next level as he is going to be the future batting mainstay. Although Robin Uthappa has caught people’s imagination with his sensational and audacious hitting, whenever he bats in the top order, his faulty technique gets exposed. He has to work on his technique for a permanent slot in the team. Sehwag was disappointing. He gets out in the same ridiculous way no matter who is the bowler. I think it’s time for other youngsters to be given a look in. Zaheer Khan looked a little jaded. I think India should preserve him more for the test matches and can do without him in the one-dayers once in a while. Harbhajan’s true test will be the test series to judge his return to form.

The high voltage drama was missing from the start of this series. This is the most lackluster Ind-Pak series I have watched in my time as a cricket follower. If this is how the future Ind-Pak bilateral contests are going to look like then it does not deserve the term “mother of all battles”. Hopefully the test series will be much better and will show some intensity of the past. Anil Kumble’s appointment as captain is a great decision and he will have to justify it with at least a 2-0 win. I hope the decision to appoint Kumble as the captain is based on cricketing logic and not as a parting gift to the best match-winner India has ever produced.

Funny animation

I just got this funny animation today. So want to share with all.

http://www.endofworld.net/

A Case for Rahul Dravid

The Indian selectors’ decision to “rest” Rahul Dravid for the first two ODIs against Pakistan is appalling to put it softly. The job of selectors in not to please people and a place in the one-day team is not anybody’s birth right, forget about Rahul Dravid. What is Dillip Vengsarkar afraid of and whom is he trying to fool by saying that Dravid has been rested? Does he think that out of all the mad cricket fans in India Dravid himself will take the line that he has been rested? If the selectors are really looking forward and they believe they have to look forward, then please use a straight face and declare that X, Y or Z has been dropped. The chairman of selectors first tells that Dravid has been rested and the next line is he has to prove his form and fitness in domestic cricket. Did he really hear those two contradicting lines in his mind before speaking in front of media? If Rahul Dravid really needs to prove his form and fitness then why was he “rested” from the challenger series? The more I think about this, the more I’m getting convinced that there is more to Dravid’s resignation from captaincy then visible to the naked eye.

By the time anybody reads my blog the team for the last three ODIs might have been announced. I just can’t stop thinking how chaotic that meeting will be. They asked Dravid to prove his form and he did in a way none of the future looking chairman’s recalled players have done. Yes you are right; I’m talking about Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag. Both of these batsmen’s performance in the domestic level had been average when they were called back into the team. The logic Vengsarkar used during Ganguly’s return is that nothing can substitute experience. To his credit Ganguly has performed credibly after making his come back. Even if you believe the selectors are now looking for form and fitness, it’s hard to justify what criteria Virender Sehwag fulfils. To be honest his form in the T20 world cup was just above average and if one half century in the challenger series proves anybody’s form then why the young and in form batsmen like Suresh Raina and Manoj Tiwary are not there in the team. One can argue Sehwag is a proven match winner. My simple answer to them is that has he won more matches than Dravid for India! Now by performing well in the first opportunity Gambhir has made things more complicated for the selectors. I just want to give one example here to validate why Dravid should be in the team. In the last one-day series against Australia Brad Haddin produced two match winning innings when got the chance because of Ricky Ponting’s injury. But as soon as Ponting became fit, Haddin was dropped and could not get a chance even at the cost of the totally out of form Brad Hodge. Players like Dravid do not replace anyone in the team; they have their own place in the team. Flamboyance aside Rahul Dravid has been the best batsman, best team man, best player for India in the last 10 years and yes definitely better than Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar as far as results are concerned.

It was really amusing to see that some in the media are writing that even Suresh Raina and Manoj Tiwary have scored double centuries in their respective Ranji games. When will our media grow up? It is completely unfair for Raina and Tiwary to get compared to Dravid. They might go on to become the next stalwarts of Indian cricket, but at this point of their career they should simply be compared with each other not with the already great Rahul Dravid. Some argue they should be blooded into the team now otherwise it will be late and they might loose form and interest. If they are playing cricket for any other reason than pure love for the game then they will last the distance anyway. Do our media know how many good seasons like this Mike Hussey and Stuart Clark put in year after year until they earned their Baggy Green? We need players like them if we want to become world beaters.

Although this post is about Rahul Dravid and already long enough I just want to mention one more unprofessional behavior of our selectors. In their last press conference they told that they want to watch Dhoni for two more games before deciding on the test captain and soon after news came in that Sachin has declined test captaincy, Vengsarkar gave the statement that Sachin was the selectors’ choice. They continue to contradict their own statements within a matter of few hours. Although the feelers are already there according to “reliable sources” all over the media that Dhoni is going to be the test captain, I won’t be surprised to see someone else actually becoming the captain.

To sum it up, Rahul Dravid should be brought back into the team at the earliest, not because it is his birth right but because he is still the best number three batsman after Ricky Ponting in ODI cricket.

Sachin, Test captaincy and the right decision!!!

I got up to the greatest logical news this morning as far as Indian Cricket is concerned. I think Sachin declining the test captaincy is the best decision for Indian team to move forward. I’m not against Sachin becoming the captain of the test team even if his record as captain is not very impressive to put it mildly. Making Sachin captain is simply illogical for the plain fact that he is still playing one-day cricket. It will be a clash of personalities and how will Dhoni be able to mould the one-day team into his team with Sachin still around and being led by him in the test team. Neither would be able to make their imprint on the team, because I genuinely believe Sachin has more than 2 years of active cricket left in him. So, I feel Sachin should have either accepted both the one-day and test captaincy or none. Some teams like Australia and England have had different one-day and test captains, but in those teams the test captain is/was not playing one-day cricket anymore, Steve Waugh and Michael Vaughan are the examples here. I’m not saying that what Australia and England have done is the only way to split the captaincy. I’m not against the split captaincy, I just feel Sachin is not the right choice as long as he is playing One-day cricket. I also believe that Dhoni is not ready yet for test captaincy, so we need an experienced guy at the helm of the test team. Please don’t get carried away by the T20 euphoria. If the one-day series against Australia has not opened our eyes, the Australian tour will certainly do. We can see that Dhoni has great leadership qualities from what has been on display till now. But test cricket is altogether different and please don’t shatter his confidence just at the beginning. Were not we discussing his place in the test team just in the last test series in the Lord’s test when he failed in the first innings. To his credit he proved that he is a fast learner and saved the match for us in the second innings. Dhoni is the future; there is not even an iota of doubt in my mind regarding that.

My personal preference at the current scenario would be either Kumble or Laxman. Both have been spoken highly about their leadership abilities and especially Kumble coming for effusive praise from John Wright. If I remember John Wright’s exact words, it is like this, “It’s a pity that Kumble is not considered for captaincy in India because he is a bowler”. I have no preference between these two and would be happy to see anyone of them leading the test team right now and if it is Kumble then at least for next six months to one year and may be more if the choice is Laxman. I read Sanjay Manjrekar’s analysis about the captaincy this morning and he favors Kumble for the reason that Laxman’s place is not assured in the team and Yuvraj Singh is breathing at his neck for a test place. Please for God’s sake stop fiddling with Laxman’s place in the test team. Yes Yuvraj deserves to be given a run in the test team, but if it is done then please do it at the expense of Ganguly not Laxman. How many match-saving and match-winning innings in difficult conditions does that poor guy need to play to prove his worth?

Sanjay Manjrekar has also put a very valid point in his analysis that Sachin should have discussed with selectors regarding the choices if he declines to lead. And if they are going to give it to Dhoni if he says no, then Sachin should have led for at least six months. One would expect that kind of discussion in a professional set up, but knowing the BCCI administrators and the selectors, especially after the dropping of Dravid from the One-day team, who would like to do that is anybody’s guess. Sachin has done Indian cricket a big favor by declining the offer. I feel even if “the bunch of jokers”, as once referred infamously by a great Indian cricketer, do give the test captaincy to Dhoni that would be a better decision than splitting the captaincy with Sachin. Moreover I salute Sachin for his decision and at this stage of his career I expect more test innings like he produced in the last series and prove his critics like Ian Chappel that he is still playing for the right reasons.

PS: Ian Chappel is the best contemporary cricket critic according to me.

End of Summer 2006

I was clearly on a high after clearing my prelims. The main (or serious as it is called among Desis in Manhattan) cricket tournament was there just after my prelims week. Main or serious is it called because this is a proper cricket tournament with 11 players in each side. Owing to the small Indian community in Manhattan we had 3 teams participating in the tournament. But that was good enough to make the tournament lively and interesting. To add to the color we had day-night matches scheduled under light. We had a decent enough team, but all the teams were more or less the same when it comes to the batting. We felt we have a slight edge over other teams because of our bowling and fielding abilities. We had almost the same team like last year with a few changes and the determination was even more this time to win because of the trashing (all losses) we got in the previous edition. This time the tournament was in a two day format and we had both our league matches on the first day (24th June Saturday). So, soaking in the great pain of getting up early on a Saturday morning our team made to the ground in time. We won the toss and decided to bat first which was pre-decided. We did not know what would be a good score, so to be on the safer side initially we thought 120 in 15 overs would probably seal the match for us. But our scoring rate was not picking up in that way because of some good consistent bowling from our opposition. And we lost too many wickets towards the end in the pursuit for big shots and were on the verge of getting all out before the stipulated 15 overs. Our 9th wicket fell in the beginning of 15th over and a score of 85 was also looking unlikely at that time. I was the last batsman to walk in and we had like 5 balls left in the match and the batsman at the other end was Sushanth. I discussed with him whether to go for the big shots or make sure of playing out the entire quota of overs and see what is possible. Finally I asked Sushanth to do whatever he feels like and I knew he will go for his shots once I said that. And to my and my teammates' surprise that's what he did and scored around 18 runs in the last over and I did not get a chance to do anything but running. It’s not like he was not capable of that, but the timing of the heroism to give a perfect finish to the innings brought back the smiles on our face and we had a defendable 90+ score at the end. Then the biggest drama, personally for me, was there to unfold. As planned I started our bowling and the batsmen complained about my action. After a couple of balls the umpire started calling it no-ball for my action. There was always a talk going on about my action among my friend circle also. So, I had accepted the fact that probably my action is not 100% clean. But I always believed that it's not chucking either. Anyway it's the umpire's call and I have to take it. But the frustration came from the way the umpires and the organizing committee handled the issue. The bizarre situation of some opposition players running into the field to discuss the issue with the umpire infuriated me. I felt it's the umpire's prerogative to decide about my action and if he thinks it's not proper, I have to accept that in open arms. For me it was as simple as that. The involvement of other people in the decision making really irritated me and at one stage we even considered staging a walk-out. But good sense prevailed and we decided to carry on with the game and beat them which will be more appropriate for the entire episode. So, after bowling some 3-4 balls I was made the wicket-keeper of the team. But we had enough bowlers in our team as back-up. Then we maintained our disciplined line and length bowling as per the game plan and let the opposition take the risk. But after that embarrassment of being called for chucking I was feeling a little low and in that time I believe I dropped a catch. But that did not prove too costly and we got plenty of wickets very soon and that 90+ score was suddenly too big a score for our opposition. And in the end we won the match pretty comfortably.

In the evening of that day we had our second league match against the third team. This time also I won the toss and decided to bat first owing to the factor that we did not want to chase under light. We had decided to play positively from the beginning this time because of the slow start we got in the last match. Although the scoring rate was good we kept on loosing wickets regularly. I promoted myself in the batting order this time and coincidentally again Sushanth and I were out there in the middle. This time it was my turn and chanced my arm against some half volleys offered by the opposition and scored around 15 runs in one over. As I was going for the attack this time Sushanth decided to block one end but got out. We had lost around 7 wickets by then and had about 5 more overs left. So, I also decided to play out the overs, but failed trying to do that. So, we had only 2 wickets left, but Maneesh and Mazhar played out the overs quite nicely and we again ended almost with the same score like last time. Only humor this time was that Sumit, our opening batsman in the last match went as the last batsman. Although I was hesitating to start the bowling again because of the farce that happened in the last match, my teammates asked me to try my hand as it’s a different opposition and a new set of umpires. But cashing on the morning’s drama they also objected to my bowling and I stopped bowling after being called again. But this time the umpire took sometime to call and I managed a wicket in those 3 balls. I was back my keeping role again, but this time I was more confident of my wicket keeping than last time. But soon I dropped a catch of Praveen and they started building a partnership. I was really feeling guilty for that dropped catch. Although we were not giving away too many runs we needed wickets as it was a low-scoring game like the last one. Soon I was running out of resources to get a wicket. That time Sushanth snatched the ball from me and volunteered for bowling. Although he was not our best bet to get a wicket at that time, we decided to give him a chance as the partnership had started looking dangerous. To our bewilderment Praveen lost his cool in the first ball of the over and offered a simple catch at long-off. Sumit held on to that one easily and I was the most relieved one as I had dropped one earlier. Next ball Sham edged and I grabbed. So, with 2 wickets in 2 balls again Sushanth brought us back into the game. After this we were confident of pulling it off. Then Mazhar’s steady line and length bowling earned him 4 wickets and about 3 more catches for me. In the end we won this match also by a big margin and waited for the next morning’s last league match to know who will be our opponent in the final.

The much awaited final of the tournament came on the evening of 25^th June. This time I lost the toss and the opposition opted for batting first. Though we would have liked to bat first, we were okay with anything as we were very confident of our chances after winning both the league matches. We had a very decent crowd and everything was well set for the day-night encounter to end the tournament. Vamsi and Maneesh started the bowling this time and I was the most confident as wicket-keeper. We got wickets regularly and the opposition was on the verge of getting bundled out for less than 70 runs. But our fielding was not upto the mark this time and some missed catches and run out chances helped them make a final score of 78. The funniest thing to remember for us from the first innings was Karhik’s catch diving forward. Although the target of 79 was never threatening, the pressure of final started to show on our players. This time, Sumit and Sanket were back as opening batsmen. The game plan was to stay at the wicket and play out the overs and runs will come by as the target is very achievable. We lost a quick wicket in the form of Sumit, but Sanket who was the most nervous in the beginning started to middle the ball and rotated the strike very well with Vamsi. So, by the time Sanket got out we had a very good start. Although we had a steady progress in the middle overs; a run-a-ball situation arose towards the end. The tension was mounting. But we had a lot of wickets in our hand and our big hitters, Sandeep Rana and Sushanth, were out there in the middle. We were requiring something like 11 out of the last two overs. Sandeep blasted the first ball of the penultimate over for a six over long-off and literally sealed the match for us. And all our teammates erupted in joy in the stands. Most fittingly Sushanth scored the winning boundary for us. I said most fittingly because he was the savior for us in all the matches. It will be a memorable night at least for me. The turn out for the final was enormous and they were chirpy as well which made some of our opposition players loose their cool under the tense proceedings and made it more enjoyable for us.

Finally the badminton doubles championship organized by ISA came up our way and Sushanth and I were teamed up again. Surpassing some unexpected blips on our league games we made it to the semi-final against Praveen and Sethu. We knew they are the guys we need to beat to win the tournament. But we were also aware of the fact that they are the best when it comes to badminton in Manhattan. We never gave us any chance of winning against them and just wanted to enjoy the game against them. We managed to surprise ourselves to take the match to the third set by winning the second set. The euphoria ended fittingly as they won the match comfortably in the third set. But it gave us huge satisfaction and confidence that we are not that far behind them. And probably winning a set against them gave us more pleasure than all our wins in cricket. This is because of the simple fact that we were expected to win the cricket matches and had no chance in badminton against our opposition in the semi-final.

This is how it is the most memorable summer for me. Clearing the prelims gave me the belief that I can somewhat manage to carry myself under tricky situations. Being a sports-loving guy, our exploitation in sports this summer (however small the competition may be) will always be a memory to cherish.

The Summer 2006 Part-II

So, that was the happy ending to the fun cricket tournament of ISA-KSU's 2006 edition. But the real heat of the summer was even less than a week for me. The tournament ended on 18th June and my PhD prelim was on 23rd June. Although every second was priceless for me from the prelim point of view, I still managed to go to Rusty's in the evening and had a nice time there with the winning team and some close friends. Althought I wanted to study a lot that night, it ended celebrating the victory and another priceless night gone before the prelim. As far as I remember I became as serious as possible from the next morning and did not move from my laptop and set of papers listed to be read before the exam date. The more and more I read, the more and more insecure I started to become. It was becoming difficult to judge how much is sufficient for the test. And the scary descriptions and questions I had heard from my fellow PhD-mates, who had already take the prelim, were not helping my desperation to read more. And the feeling of I should have started earlier as always with all the tests was even more this time. Somehow I realised that it's not possible to know everything in some mere days and drew a line of what to finish before the test. Having done that I managed to go over whatever was there on my list by the late night of 22nd June. Finally the death day came and I got up early in the morning on 23rd. To test my preparation just asked a few questions to myself to find that I'm all set to screw myself in front of my committee. So, tried to look over all the material once more for the last time and went to the test hall with a blank mind. The meeting started some 10 minutes later than it was scheduled. I started very nervously, got settled in after around 10 minutes. The correct answers to the first few questions of the committee helped calming my nerves down and I was starting to feel confident. So, after about 30 minutes I realised I'm doing good. But then came the toughest part and I got confused for a couple of simple questions and the committee really grilled me over those things. Luckily common sense prevailed on me soon and I could sail over those questions. After this phase I could feel that the storm is almost over and the committee members are also getting tired. So, I finished my presentation in about an hour and 45 minutes. Then the committee asked me to step out for a few minutes so that they can decide on their verdict. Although I think I should have felt the most nervous at this time, to my surprise I was okay and there was a sense of feeling that I have done it. It did not take much time for my committee to raise the curtain and in less than 2 minutes my major Prof Dee came out to congratulate me and then I re-entered the room and all the committe members congratulated me on successfully clearing my preliminary examination for PhD. I don't think I can describe the sense of relief I got at that moment and rathare than shaking hands with my committe members I felt like hugging them. Soon I got a letter from Grd School saying that I have been admitted by the Graduate School to candidancy for a doctoral program in Biochemistry. So, after 2 years at K-State I became sure that I'm going to get a PhD.

Tha last and 3rd part will come soon........

The Summer 2006

Before starting to write about my summer' 2006, I must say that it is Sunil and Praveen's blog that has really inspired me to write something. But still writting about the summer in the end of September shows my laziness. Anyway now that I'm somehow managing to write here, I should start writting why the summer 2006 is really special for me. To start with, in the beginning last summer was really scary as I had to take my PhD prelims. Then there was the regular ISA Cricket tournaments. So, the main concern in the beginning was time. Whether I would be able to manage time with lab, cricket in the afternoon and study for the prelims. So, we started with the Fun cricket tournament and on paper everyone thought ours is the best team to win the tournament. To be honest, we felt we are good, but a couple of other teams are also not bad and at least 3 teams have equal chance of winning. But we managed to loose a match in the qualifying round against my roommates' team and that loss actually brought us back into senses that we should take our opponents seriously. Till then we were always kidding around in the field. So, we took the tournament seriously, had a kind of first proper team discussion and managed to beat others and move to the final. Now again in the final our opposition was Mazhar's team ( The only team we lost to in the league stage). So, this time we were fully prepared and had a proper plan to execute. Luckily even after loosing the toss we were asked to bat as we would have preferred. And we got the best start against the strong team. We had discussed that around 50 runs is competitive and 60 is definitely in the safer side. And to our surprise we scored 70 runs in the stipulated 6 overs and not a single wicket was lost. Everyone clicked and I was not even required to bat. Sumit who was the opener with Sanket came back not out at the end of 6 overs facing only 7 balls (The tournamnet rule allows you to play only 12 balls). This speaks volumes of our good luck that day. So, after having 70 runs on the board both we and our opponents were convinced that it's an one sided affair and there is no chance for them with the kind of bowling we have. And that is exactly what happened and I felt the opposition gave up even before the start. We were hugely relieved to learn that we managed to do justice to our pre-tournamnet favorite tag and came out as champions with flying colors. We had a very good crowd by Manhattan ISA standards for the final match even at the scorching heat of about 95 F. The victory was sweeter for the fact that we did not have a single supporter in the crowd and they were pin drop silent right from the beginning as our batsmen and bowlers never gave them a chance to open their mouth. Although we would have liked a little more sound!!!!!!

To be continued...........