Sunday, August 10, 2008
Monday, August 4, 2008
Cricket- Lovely Cricket
What an incredible weekend of Test Match Cricket. The two test matches at Edgbaston and Galle were a fitting reply to all those who keep on saying that T20 is going to kill test match cricket. The skill, emotions and quality of cricket displayed at Galle and Edgbaston can never ever be replicated in T20. That is why Test cricket is the most amazing and ultimate form of the game and it will remain so.
There is so much to write that I do not where to start from. Which was the better innings – Sehwag’s 201 or Smith’s 155? For sheer audacity and brilliance Sehwag’s 201 will stand out. Second ball, after a two hour rain interruption, from Chamida Vaas, was smashed over the midwicket boundary for a huge six. I can’t think of any player in world cricket who would have done that. But in terms of sheer determination and perseverance, Smith’s must be one of the greatest test innings. Most teams would have folded after being 94/4 chasing 280. But South Africa looked up to their captain who was battling Monty from the rough, Freddie and his invincible delivery. For six hours on Saturday, Smith was in the zone and he played an unforgettable innings.
And what about Paul Collingwood’s innings? He was apparently one innings away from being sidelined back to county cricket. He responded with an innings of character and determination and watching the Edgbaston crowd stand up to him (after booing him the previous evening) was a pretty special.
An apology is due to Harbhajan Singh. I had questioned his credentials in my last post but he bowled beautifully in the Galle Test to silence his critics. And the Indian team also silenced their critics. (Where is Arjuna Ranatunga?) Fellow blogger VM has asked all folks who doubted the Indian team to eat crows. It a sentiment shared by most Indian fans who had faith in their team even after the first test defeat.
There was some riveting cricket played though. The third evening when Rahul Dravid came out to Bat, witnessed test match cricket at its very best. The great batsman was obviously short of confidence after having failed in his previous three innings. He started cautiously, scratched around a bit but slowly, with time spent at the crease, his confidence started growing. He played some lovely shots and just as one felt he was getting back in form he was out. Cricket can be a cruel game sometimes.
Galle 2008 is a good a victory as team India has ever achieved overseas- right up there along with Headingly 2002, Adelaide 2003, Perth 2008 and Johannesburg 2006. If India does manage to win this series, surely, it will be one of the greatest comebacks witnessed in modern cricket.
But for the moment let’s forget winning and losing and lets savor the cricket witnessed by us. Cricket, Lovely Cricket.
There is so much to write that I do not where to start from. Which was the better innings – Sehwag’s 201 or Smith’s 155? For sheer audacity and brilliance Sehwag’s 201 will stand out. Second ball, after a two hour rain interruption, from Chamida Vaas, was smashed over the midwicket boundary for a huge six. I can’t think of any player in world cricket who would have done that. But in terms of sheer determination and perseverance, Smith’s must be one of the greatest test innings. Most teams would have folded after being 94/4 chasing 280. But South Africa looked up to their captain who was battling Monty from the rough, Freddie and his invincible delivery. For six hours on Saturday, Smith was in the zone and he played an unforgettable innings.
And what about Paul Collingwood’s innings? He was apparently one innings away from being sidelined back to county cricket. He responded with an innings of character and determination and watching the Edgbaston crowd stand up to him (after booing him the previous evening) was a pretty special.
An apology is due to Harbhajan Singh. I had questioned his credentials in my last post but he bowled beautifully in the Galle Test to silence his critics. And the Indian team also silenced their critics. (Where is Arjuna Ranatunga?) Fellow blogger VM has asked all folks who doubted the Indian team to eat crows. It a sentiment shared by most Indian fans who had faith in their team even after the first test defeat.
There was some riveting cricket played though. The third evening when Rahul Dravid came out to Bat, witnessed test match cricket at its very best. The great batsman was obviously short of confidence after having failed in his previous three innings. He started cautiously, scratched around a bit but slowly, with time spent at the crease, his confidence started growing. He played some lovely shots and just as one felt he was getting back in form he was out. Cricket can be a cruel game sometimes.
Galle 2008 is a good a victory as team India has ever achieved overseas- right up there along with Headingly 2002, Adelaide 2003, Perth 2008 and Johannesburg 2006. If India does manage to win this series, surely, it will be one of the greatest comebacks witnessed in modern cricket.
But for the moment let’s forget winning and losing and lets savor the cricket witnessed by us. Cricket, Lovely Cricket.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Fairly Gloomy
It was a disappointing effort by the Indian batsmen in Colombo on Friday and Saturday. Indian batsmen have traditionally always struggled in the first test match of an away series. In 1996 at Durban, India scored 100 and 66 in its two innings against South Africa. But that was against Donald, Pollock, Macmillan and Klusenar on one of the world’s fastest and bounciest wicket. Last week the Indians capitulated on a slow low wicket against two spin bowlers. That surely is a matter of concern.
Infact no batsmen apart from VV.S Laksman looked comfortable against Mendis and Murali. Tendulkar and Ganguly, two very fine players of spin bowling, were more intent on sweeping rather than using their feet. Gambhir and Sehwag looked like they were still in the 20-20 mould and the less I write about Dinesh Karthick the better. The way the Indians played Murali and Mendis reminded me of the way the Englishmen played against Kumble, Raju and Chauhan in 1993-Totally clueless and groping for answers.
However the biggest question that needs to be asked is to about the great wall of India- Rahul Dravid. Statisticians will point out that India’s greatest ever test match player has just scored one meaningful test hundred in his last 18 test matches. (Leave aside Bangladesh). Statistics aside, Dravid has just not looked the part since the tour to England last year. At his best, Dravid has always looked solid, assured and confident at the crease. These days he looks tentative and lost at the crease. Twice this year he has been hit by short deliveries (at Adelaide and Kanpur), something that you never associated with the Dravid of the old. Although he received a beauty in the first innings, he looked out of sorts again in the second innings. The question needs to be asked- is the Wall crumbling. I hope I am proved wrong but it seems that it is.
Overall the Indian team looked very listless. The bowling hardly created an impression and maybe it is about time to look beyond Harbhajan Singh as the second spinner. Bhajji has been in the news for all the wrong reasons this year and he has hardly looked threatening apart from the test match at Kanpur. But come to think of it even if we do look beyond him, whom can we turn to. The cupboard of spin bowlers looks very bare.
The momentum gathered after the Perth test win seems to be lost. India looked to challenge Australia for the number one spot after that win but instead it has won just one of the next five test matches that it has played and has faced two humiliating losses.(at Ahmadabad and Colombo).
The future looks fairly gloomy.
Infact no batsmen apart from VV.S Laksman looked comfortable against Mendis and Murali. Tendulkar and Ganguly, two very fine players of spin bowling, were more intent on sweeping rather than using their feet. Gambhir and Sehwag looked like they were still in the 20-20 mould and the less I write about Dinesh Karthick the better. The way the Indians played Murali and Mendis reminded me of the way the Englishmen played against Kumble, Raju and Chauhan in 1993-Totally clueless and groping for answers.
However the biggest question that needs to be asked is to about the great wall of India- Rahul Dravid. Statisticians will point out that India’s greatest ever test match player has just scored one meaningful test hundred in his last 18 test matches. (Leave aside Bangladesh). Statistics aside, Dravid has just not looked the part since the tour to England last year. At his best, Dravid has always looked solid, assured and confident at the crease. These days he looks tentative and lost at the crease. Twice this year he has been hit by short deliveries (at Adelaide and Kanpur), something that you never associated with the Dravid of the old. Although he received a beauty in the first innings, he looked out of sorts again in the second innings. The question needs to be asked- is the Wall crumbling. I hope I am proved wrong but it seems that it is.
Overall the Indian team looked very listless. The bowling hardly created an impression and maybe it is about time to look beyond Harbhajan Singh as the second spinner. Bhajji has been in the news for all the wrong reasons this year and he has hardly looked threatening apart from the test match at Kanpur. But come to think of it even if we do look beyond him, whom can we turn to. The cupboard of spin bowlers looks very bare.
The momentum gathered after the Perth test win seems to be lost. India looked to challenge Australia for the number one spot after that win but instead it has won just one of the next five test matches that it has played and has faced two humiliating losses.(at Ahmadabad and Colombo).
The future looks fairly gloomy.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Just a small post. In one of my previous posts i had mentioned that Rohit Sharma and not Yuvraj Singh should be the reserve test batsmen on the Sri Lanka tour. The selectors have done just that. Its a sad turn around for Yuvi but a tremendous development for young Sharma.
Friday, July 4, 2008
I did not have much idea about the apartheid in South Africa when I was growing up. All I knew was that South Africa as a country did not participate in any sporting event. I had of course heard about Mahatma Gandhi’s struggles there and knew about Nelson Mandela. But I remained largely unaware about the political situation in the country.
About 2 years back I happened to read a very moving biography of Basil D’ Oliveira. For those who are unaware, Basil was a very talented South African colured cricketer. Denied the chance to play for South Africa, he took the long route of moving to England and qualifying to play for his adopted country. He scored five test hundreds for England and ultimately it was his selection in the England team to tour South Africa in 1972 that led to the rainbow country’s ban and sporting isolation.
The book made me realize the absolutely ridiculous conditions that existed in South Africa pre 1991. Blacks or coloured cricketers had to face a lot of hardships. The book recounts an experience of an individual who could not meet his father and mother because they were classified as coloured and he was classified as black. Basil and his friends could not play at a proper cricket ground, could not visit hotels and could not lead a normal life.
South Africa’s isolation meant that better sense prevailed and normalcy (at least on the face of it) was restored. Basil D’ Oliveira was the guest of honour at the opening match of the 2003 World Cup at Cape Town, a match in which Brian Lara inspired the West Indies , a predominantly non- white region to beat South Africa.
Why am I writing all this? Because the issue of Zimbabwe has suddenly taken centre stage in the world of cricket. There is no doubt that there are large scale human right violations happening in Zimbabwe. ( But aren’t they hapenning all over the world). There is also no doubt that the Zimbabwe cricket is virtually non existent- Their first class structure has collapsed- Their international team is made up of school boys and their Board has been accused of corruption by an audit carried out by a independent entity.
The larger point here is whether a ban on Zimbabwe is going to improve the political situation there. In South Africa’s case it obviously worked but South Africa were isolated with respect to all sporting events. There is no obvious movement at the moment to ban Zimbabwe from other sports. Hence the question to be asked is whether a cricketing ban would have any effect on the country?
I am not debating the ability of Zimbabwe cricket in this post. If the full ICC membership of Zimbabwe had to be removed for cricketing reasons then it should have been done 3 years back. If it was not done then, there is no point doing it now.
Now to the role of the BCCI in this entire affair. It seems Zimbabwe’s greatest supporter in this entire saga has been the BCCI. If the BCCI is doing this to ensure a confirmed vote at the ICC meetings then it is a disappointing and needs to be addressed immediately. Mukul Kesavan one of my favorite cricket writers made a very valid point when he wrote “The BCCI has to decide whether it wishes to be the patron-in-chief of a dysfunctional, politically compromised - and in the light of the audit, very likely corrupt - Zimbabwean board. It has to work out whether it wants the ICC to continue to financially subsidise such an organization, a subsidy that, in effect, makes the ICC and the BCCI complicit in the violence of Mugabe's regime (of which ZC is a client). It shouldn't be a hard decision to make.”
But there is another side to this argument.. The English and the South African cricket Boards have decided to cut off ties with Zimbabwe only after they received directions from their Governments. Till date the BCCI has not received any instructions from the Indian Government. Why then should the BCCI act on its own?
Wonder what Basil D Oliveira thinks about all this?
About 2 years back I happened to read a very moving biography of Basil D’ Oliveira. For those who are unaware, Basil was a very talented South African colured cricketer. Denied the chance to play for South Africa, he took the long route of moving to England and qualifying to play for his adopted country. He scored five test hundreds for England and ultimately it was his selection in the England team to tour South Africa in 1972 that led to the rainbow country’s ban and sporting isolation.
The book made me realize the absolutely ridiculous conditions that existed in South Africa pre 1991. Blacks or coloured cricketers had to face a lot of hardships. The book recounts an experience of an individual who could not meet his father and mother because they were classified as coloured and he was classified as black. Basil and his friends could not play at a proper cricket ground, could not visit hotels and could not lead a normal life.
South Africa’s isolation meant that better sense prevailed and normalcy (at least on the face of it) was restored. Basil D’ Oliveira was the guest of honour at the opening match of the 2003 World Cup at Cape Town, a match in which Brian Lara inspired the West Indies , a predominantly non- white region to beat South Africa.
Why am I writing all this? Because the issue of Zimbabwe has suddenly taken centre stage in the world of cricket. There is no doubt that there are large scale human right violations happening in Zimbabwe. ( But aren’t they hapenning all over the world). There is also no doubt that the Zimbabwe cricket is virtually non existent- Their first class structure has collapsed- Their international team is made up of school boys and their Board has been accused of corruption by an audit carried out by a independent entity.
The larger point here is whether a ban on Zimbabwe is going to improve the political situation there. In South Africa’s case it obviously worked but South Africa were isolated with respect to all sporting events. There is no obvious movement at the moment to ban Zimbabwe from other sports. Hence the question to be asked is whether a cricketing ban would have any effect on the country?
I am not debating the ability of Zimbabwe cricket in this post. If the full ICC membership of Zimbabwe had to be removed for cricketing reasons then it should have been done 3 years back. If it was not done then, there is no point doing it now.
Now to the role of the BCCI in this entire affair. It seems Zimbabwe’s greatest supporter in this entire saga has been the BCCI. If the BCCI is doing this to ensure a confirmed vote at the ICC meetings then it is a disappointing and needs to be addressed immediately. Mukul Kesavan one of my favorite cricket writers made a very valid point when he wrote “The BCCI has to decide whether it wishes to be the patron-in-chief of a dysfunctional, politically compromised - and in the light of the audit, very likely corrupt - Zimbabwean board. It has to work out whether it wants the ICC to continue to financially subsidise such an organization, a subsidy that, in effect, makes the ICC and the BCCI complicit in the violence of Mugabe's regime (of which ZC is a client). It shouldn't be a hard decision to make.”
But there is another side to this argument.. The English and the South African cricket Boards have decided to cut off ties with Zimbabwe only after they received directions from their Governments. Till date the BCCI has not received any instructions from the Indian Government. Why then should the BCCI act on its own?
Wonder what Basil D Oliveira thinks about all this?
Monday, June 2, 2008
IPL Highlights
So the Indian Premier league is finally over. The Rajasthan Royals defeated the Chennai Super Kings in a closely contested final and the 45 days old cricketing spectacle was drawn to a close. The IPL has left a lasting impression on the world of cricket. Some of the highlights for me of IPL 2008 were as follows:
1) Ian Chappell said it, Richie Benaud said it, but we never believed it. It took a twenty- twenty league for us to understand what a magnificent captain Shane Warne is. Warne was inspirational throughout the tournament, motivating a young bunch of cricketers to perform above their ability and engineering a tournament victory that seemed extremely unlikely at the start. His inspirational leadership inspired the likes of Pathan, Trivedi, and Watson to perform above their ability. Why, even Munaf showed a bit of passion. Warne was simply brilliant. While hailing his leadership skills nobody should forget the value he offered as a player - no other captain played as many match-winning hands. More than one Rajasthan player has spoken of the boost the side received after Warne's sensational finish against Deccan Chargers, when he carted Andrew Symonds for 17 off the final over. One team-mate has said how his faith in the captain increased ten-fold that evening. Warne was in the middle in the final too and the crack through covers in the penultimate over, when 12 were needed off 7, set up the finish.
2) Shane Watson and Yousuf Pathan were amazing through out the tournament. Watson was largely instrumental in the Royals turnaround, being MOM in their second game against Kings XI. He batted fluently and aggressively and bowled with a lot of pace and purpose. Pathan was brilliant with the bat, almost hitting sixes at will. He played two vital innings in the semi-final and the final but for my money nothing was more exhilarating than the counter attack he and Kamran Akmal launched against Kings XI in the last league match when they score 54 runs in two and a half overs.
3) Gautam Gambhir proved and showed why he is the best batsmen in the country after the big four. Subramnium Badrinath was very good with bat and in the field for the Chennai Super Kings but the man who was the Indian batsman of the tournament by far was Rohit Sharma. Sharma was thrilling to watch, mixing classical cricketing shots with some huge unorthodox hits. He showed composure and maturity which belied his age. When the Indian Test team assembles in Sri-lanka on July 23rd, it should be Rohit Sharma and not Yuvraj Singh who should be the reserve batsman.
4) VVS Laxman’s 48 against Mohali and Rahul Dravid’s 66 against the same team were as good a innings as you would hope to see. Laxman scored 48 in 30 balls without a six, threading the ball between midwicket and mid on like a supreme artist. Sreesanth kept bowling wider and wider of offstump only for Laxman to hit him wider and wider of midwicket. Dravid’s innings of 66 against Mohali was sheer class. A six over extra cover of VRV Singh was surely the shot of the tournament. Alas for some reason these innings never captured anybody’s attention.
5) Hilarious Quote of the tournament: Ila Arun saying on T.V that Krishna Bhagwan has said that always play on the front foot. Wasn’t aware that Lord Krishna carried a copy of the MCC coaching manual with him. But ILA knows better.
6) The flop of the tournament by far was Robin Utthapa. Utthapa seems to be more interested in playing to gallery and having fancy haircuts then in scoring runs. He needs to get his head sorted out otherwise Indian cricket will very soon lose a very very talented cricketer.
7) Undoubtedly the hero of the season is Lalit Modi. You may like or hate his concepts but you cannot disagree that he has launched a product that has caught the imagination of the cricketing world.
8) And finally, did anybody notice that Sachin Tendulkar has not been included in the Indian team for the Bangladesh series on account of a groin injury. For clarity sake, the official word is that he has not fully recovered. But didnt he have the same injury before IPL. I guess the question to be asked is that if he was not fully fit, why did he play for the Mumbai Indians. But nobody will ask this question. Because after all Tendulkar is untouchable in this country.
1) Ian Chappell said it, Richie Benaud said it, but we never believed it. It took a twenty- twenty league for us to understand what a magnificent captain Shane Warne is. Warne was inspirational throughout the tournament, motivating a young bunch of cricketers to perform above their ability and engineering a tournament victory that seemed extremely unlikely at the start. His inspirational leadership inspired the likes of Pathan, Trivedi, and Watson to perform above their ability. Why, even Munaf showed a bit of passion. Warne was simply brilliant. While hailing his leadership skills nobody should forget the value he offered as a player - no other captain played as many match-winning hands. More than one Rajasthan player has spoken of the boost the side received after Warne's sensational finish against Deccan Chargers, when he carted Andrew Symonds for 17 off the final over. One team-mate has said how his faith in the captain increased ten-fold that evening. Warne was in the middle in the final too and the crack through covers in the penultimate over, when 12 were needed off 7, set up the finish.
2) Shane Watson and Yousuf Pathan were amazing through out the tournament. Watson was largely instrumental in the Royals turnaround, being MOM in their second game against Kings XI. He batted fluently and aggressively and bowled with a lot of pace and purpose. Pathan was brilliant with the bat, almost hitting sixes at will. He played two vital innings in the semi-final and the final but for my money nothing was more exhilarating than the counter attack he and Kamran Akmal launched against Kings XI in the last league match when they score 54 runs in two and a half overs.
3) Gautam Gambhir proved and showed why he is the best batsmen in the country after the big four. Subramnium Badrinath was very good with bat and in the field for the Chennai Super Kings but the man who was the Indian batsman of the tournament by far was Rohit Sharma. Sharma was thrilling to watch, mixing classical cricketing shots with some huge unorthodox hits. He showed composure and maturity which belied his age. When the Indian Test team assembles in Sri-lanka on July 23rd, it should be Rohit Sharma and not Yuvraj Singh who should be the reserve batsman.
4) VVS Laxman’s 48 against Mohali and Rahul Dravid’s 66 against the same team were as good a innings as you would hope to see. Laxman scored 48 in 30 balls without a six, threading the ball between midwicket and mid on like a supreme artist. Sreesanth kept bowling wider and wider of offstump only for Laxman to hit him wider and wider of midwicket. Dravid’s innings of 66 against Mohali was sheer class. A six over extra cover of VRV Singh was surely the shot of the tournament. Alas for some reason these innings never captured anybody’s attention.
5) Hilarious Quote of the tournament: Ila Arun saying on T.V that Krishna Bhagwan has said that always play on the front foot. Wasn’t aware that Lord Krishna carried a copy of the MCC coaching manual with him. But ILA knows better.
6) The flop of the tournament by far was Robin Utthapa. Utthapa seems to be more interested in playing to gallery and having fancy haircuts then in scoring runs. He needs to get his head sorted out otherwise Indian cricket will very soon lose a very very talented cricketer.
7) Undoubtedly the hero of the season is Lalit Modi. You may like or hate his concepts but you cannot disagree that he has launched a product that has caught the imagination of the cricketing world.
8) And finally, did anybody notice that Sachin Tendulkar has not been included in the Indian team for the Bangladesh series on account of a groin injury. For clarity sake, the official word is that he has not fully recovered. But didnt he have the same injury before IPL. I guess the question to be asked is that if he was not fully fit, why did he play for the Mumbai Indians. But nobody will ask this question. Because after all Tendulkar is untouchable in this country.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Far away from the hustle and bustle of the IPL, one cricketer is on the verge of achieving immortality. Although Mark Ramprakash is of Indian origin, he has all the characteristics of an English batsman. He is technically brilliant and when he does play his strokes, he is classically correct. Above all he has been a run producing machine and his hunger for runs even at the age of 38 is humongous. Ramprakash is on the verge of perhaps becoming the last first class batsman to score a hundred first class hundreds. The British press has been showering all kinds of accolades on him calling him among other things a batting legend and a modern Bradman.
To score a hundred first class hundreds is a monumental achievement and Ramprakash deserves immense credit for the same. However a closer look at Rampraksh’s record will reveal a true story. Only two of his 98 first class hundreds have come on the test field. Unfortunately for his fan’s (and that includes me) Ramprakash has never done justice to his immense ability on the International arena. Statistics will tell you that he hasn’t played test cricket since 2001 and hardly played any test cricket between 1993 and 1997. By being away from the test scene, Ramprakash has had an extended opportunity to display his batting skills at a slightly lesser stage. That he has done an amazing job on this stage is a credit to his skills and his ability.
One wonders how many first class hundreds the likes of Tendulkar, Lara, Ponting, Dravid and the rest would have scored had they played the amount of first class cricket that the likes of Ramprakash or for that matter Graeme Hick has played.. For instance VVS Laksman scored 13 hundreds in 15 innings before being selected for being recalled to the Indian team in 2001.If he had carried on playing first class cricket he well would have been beyond the 100 mark by now.
The point that I am trying to make is that Rampraksh’s achievement, all though significant should be placed in proper perspective for it has been achieved at a lesser stage. Surely achievements at the test match level will always rank higher than any achievement at the first class level.
Ramprakash is a damn good player but he is no Bradman. Bradman is Bradman because he averaged 99 at the test level.
To score a hundred first class hundreds is a monumental achievement and Ramprakash deserves immense credit for the same. However a closer look at Rampraksh’s record will reveal a true story. Only two of his 98 first class hundreds have come on the test field. Unfortunately for his fan’s (and that includes me) Ramprakash has never done justice to his immense ability on the International arena. Statistics will tell you that he hasn’t played test cricket since 2001 and hardly played any test cricket between 1993 and 1997. By being away from the test scene, Ramprakash has had an extended opportunity to display his batting skills at a slightly lesser stage. That he has done an amazing job on this stage is a credit to his skills and his ability.
One wonders how many first class hundreds the likes of Tendulkar, Lara, Ponting, Dravid and the rest would have scored had they played the amount of first class cricket that the likes of Ramprakash or for that matter Graeme Hick has played.. For instance VVS Laksman scored 13 hundreds in 15 innings before being selected for being recalled to the Indian team in 2001.If he had carried on playing first class cricket he well would have been beyond the 100 mark by now.
The point that I am trying to make is that Rampraksh’s achievement, all though significant should be placed in proper perspective for it has been achieved at a lesser stage. Surely achievements at the test match level will always rank higher than any achievement at the first class level.
Ramprakash is a damn good player but he is no Bradman. Bradman is Bradman because he averaged 99 at the test level.
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