Can England finally regain the Ashes?

January 1, 2005 at 2:33 pm (Cricket)

Ashes

England raked up their eighth consecutive test win at Port Elizabeth and stood a good chance of making it nine-in-a-row before darkness denied them of that opportunity at Durban, Karthik and me were discussing about the sudden rise from the phoenix of English test cricket. Just two years back, they were competing for staying on top of the back-pack with minnows like Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. And now, they are now serious contenders for the leadership crown.

As of current standing as per the latest ICC test ratings, only Australia is ahead of England. The Aussie juggernaut though is still rolling, as we can observe by the way they are pummelling Pakistan down under. They conquered their last frontier by beating India in India and right now, looks like no team can stop them. But, one thing going against the aussies is that the team is getting no younger. Most of the members of the team are on the wrong side of 30.

The smart Aussies have realized that they need to be prepared for the Ashes and they need young blood for the same. So, they have dropped Lehmann and Kasper from the team for the Sydney test against Pakistan. In comes Shane Watson, the highly rated 23 year old Tasmanian all-rounder. He and that amazing talent – Michael Clarke, are possibly the only players in the current team who look like making past to the next decade! Even Katich and Gillespie would be touching 30 around the Ashes time. Watson could also be Australia’s answer to Andrew Flintoff.

From England’s perspective, the team is gelling well and Michael Vaughan’s cool and assured leadership seems to be working wonders on the young team. The presence of mature individuals like Trescothick, Thorpe, Vaughan and Butcher has helped youngsters like Strauss and Key make their mark. Strauss has been especially amazing. Four hundreds in his first nine tests including two in two in this South African series. Butcher’s place seems to be in jeopardy, what with Key, Ian Bell and the newly qualified Kevin Pietersen pushing for middle order slots.

Have been following Pietersen for quite some time. He had a great tour with England A to India, where everyone else struggled and has been exception on the county circuit with Nottinghamhire. This season, he has moved to Hampshire, where he has been welcomed with open hands by captain Shane Warne,

“I believe that Kevin Pietersen is the most exciting prospect on the county circuit,” added Shane Warne, Hampshire’s captain. “He is a real matchwinner and a welcome addition to our great squad who will fit in with our guys beautifully. As well as strengthening our batting, his offspinners will be an added bonus. I was very impressed with him when we played each other and I am very excited to have a player of his quality join us at Hampshire.”

And, he has already started making his mark on the International circuit being named Man of the Match during the second one-day international against zimbabwe. Another player who has greatly impressed me is Geriant Jones, the wicket keeper. He has been there when the team needed him most. And of course, the bowling card speaks for itself – Steve Harmison, Mathew Hoggard, Simon Jones, James Anderson and the much be-littled Wheelie Bin Ashley Giles. Now, add Flintoff to the mix and there’s an attack that can get you 20 wickets.

What’s been even more striking has been the self-belief that this England team seems to have. Duncan Fletcher and Michael Vaughan seem to have instilled lots of self-confidence on this young bunch. This was evident by the way they fought back in the second innings at Durban after being bowled out for just 139 in the first innings. Even after SA responded with 332, they did not let their shoulders droop and came back in full flow, scoring 570 in the second innings and almost snatching the win! The England team of yore would possibly not have done that.

All these point to a very intersting Ashes series starting July. Lets see if they can leverage the home advantage and finally regain the ashes.

P.S. During the 1987 World cup, remember jokes flying around that the England team could be called an UN team because they had players born in various countries across the world. This English team also seems to be like that. What with Strauss and Pietersen being born in SA and Geriant Jones in Papua new Guinea!

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Why Sports and Politics make a deadly cocktail mix!

December 5, 2004 at 5:51 pm (Cricket, Current Affairs, News, Politics, Sports)

The main news piece hogging the headlines on cricket sections of all major magazines and newspapers today is the death threat to the Indian cricketers during their tour of Bangladesh. A radical Islamic group called Harkat-ul-Zihad has given death threats to Indian cricketers if they go ahead with their tour of Bangladesh. As a result, looks like the Indian Cricket Board has decided to put off the team’s departure till it obtains government clearance. The Home ministry for it’s part has decided to send an Intelligence Bureau team to look at the security arrangements made by the Bangladeshi board.

But, why target a cricket team whose only focus is to entertain and enjoy? Possibly, the popularity enjoyed by the Indian cricket team has instilled them as desirable targets for violent revolting terrorists. The more popular the target, the more focus from the media on their demands. It provides them with an avenue for publicizing their agenda and making the world pay heed to their arguments. These kind of terrrorist threats are nothing new to the Indian cricketers. With fame comes animosity and threats and they have possibly learned to take it as part of their life.

Not so long back, Indian captain Saurav Ganguly and the maestro Sachin Tendulkar were advised of a plot by Kashmiri separatists to kidnap them in order to further the cause of muslims in the endeavour to have Kashmir declared independent of India. But, excellent security arrangements ensured that an Indian team that included both Sachin and Saurav enjoyed an incident free tour to Pakistan last April. This team, in fact created history by claiming the first ever series victory for India on Pakistani soil.

But, such security arrangements come at a price. The price is paid dearly by the fans. Maybe, the stringent security arrangements was the deterrent that kept pakistani cricket fans from attending the matches. The attendence was so poor that during the course of the second test, somebody jokingly wrote that crows outnumbered people watching them match! Think only the cricket crazy fans of India would be insane enough to wait in queue hours at a stretch to get past the security barricades and watch some miserably slow dour play as evidenced during the recent India – SA series.

And this is not the only politically charged cricket tour underway. The England tour of Zimbabwe has been in the news for more than an year. Right from the time of the World Cup when Andy Flower and Henry Olanga brandished their black arm band protest against atrocities committed by the Zimbabwe government under president Mugabe, this tour has been in the soup radar. Then, there was the suspension by the Zimbabwe cricket board of the band of revolting players that included captain Heath streak. England then thought about boycotting the tour on grounds of morality and then ICC stepped in and said they would suspend England if they boycotted. It was such a woeful tug-of-war, that enticed somebody explaining the connundrum faced by the ECB to reuse the famous quote – Damned if they did, Damned if they didn’t!. In simpler words, either way they were screwed!

Finally, caving in to the ICC pressure, England decided to go ahead with the tour. But, the drama had just begun. In typical whimsical style, the Zimbabwe government banned Some of English cricket’s most senior correspondents, including those from the BBC from entering Zimbabwe. And the England cricket team duly cancelled their flight. And then the zimbabwe government realized their arrogant folly and lifted the ban and the tour was underway again. As expected, the second string zimbabwe team got whipped by the English cricket team that is suddenly looking a serious challenger on the world arena.

Why do these cricketers need to get tangled up in the web weaved by the powers atop the political arena? Why can’t they just be allowed to go ahead and proceed with their jobs like everyone else does? Sports and Politics make a deadly potent combination and shouldn’t be mixed together. It is almost like drinking and driving. Those involved live to regret the wreck they cause by mixing the two together.

On another sad note, looks like a Dempo player died during the course of the finals of the Federation Cup Football Championship in Bangalore on Sunday. In fact, the Brazilian striker Cristiano Junior had scored a brace to help Dempo Sports Club, Goa, defeat Mohun Bagan in the finals. Now, this really was a sad case of death on the field. Only last year, a cameroon mid-fielder – Marc-Vivien Foe died during the course of a confederations cup semifinal win against columbia. Are these incidents just aberrations or does the high-profile manner in which soccer is being played nowadays have something to do with this?

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Let the Ranji trophy begin!

November 9, 2004 at 12:08 am (Cricket, Sports, TV)

The 71st edition of the Ranji Trophy started off this sunday. Being an avid cricket fan, have always followed all forms of cricket including domestic matches. Apart from the Indian domestic season, also try and follow the English county season during summer and the Sheffield Shield matches down under during their summer. And this is not a newly formed habit, still remember the good old days when me and my dad used to listen to BBC world and ABC for updates on matches down there.

ABC used to have Sports Saturday and my dad would have the radio all wired up with an external antenna. The strewn wires would drive my mom mad. But, we thoroughly enjoyed the fare that was aired. We even listened to the horse race updates that used to hog airtime when there were no international matches. Hmmm. Nostalgia is cruel and it’s making me deviate from the crux of this blog! The advent of Star Sports, ESPN and the ilk moved me away from radio to television. These channels were my first initiation to NBA, Golf and Professional club soccer. And still to this day, remain a stickler for any kind of sports.

Cricket of course continues to remain my all-time favorite sport, though being in this land means that I have to make do playing tennis and volleyball. In my early days, used to be a stats lover. On my birthdays, more than the dresses, I cherished the Indian Cricket edition for that year the most. My dad used to make it a point to gift me one of the stats books – Wisden, Indian Cricket or Benson & Hedges year book. And I used to pore over those books way into the night. Now, recollecting that, find the whole thing funny. The only places they have helped me have been in quizzes! But, cricket numbers have always fascinated kids like me and will continue to do so. The mantle will just keep passing from generation to generation.

Coming back to the Ranji trophy, after two consecutive losses to the Mumbai team, the TamilNadu players must be hoping that this is their year. But, Chandrakanth Pandit has started talking about the 15 year old streak from 1959 to 1973. It is a bit premature and cocky I would think to talk about such grand things before the season has started. The advantage that Mumbai has been their more balanced bowling attack. They have an excellent (in Ranji trophy) array of spinners in Bahutule(Leg), Ramesh Powar(Off) and Nilesh Kulkarni(Left Arm). Now, add to the mix the pace battery of Agarkar, Salvi, Munaf Patel and the all round skills of Robin Morris and you’ve got the team to beat. Their batting is no slouch either with Kambli, Mazumdar, Jaffer and Mane. Add to that the combative batting talents of Powar and Agarkar and that’s one strong team!

TamilNadu’s plight is very similar to that of the Indian team. They have possibly one of the most exceptional batting lineups in the country – at least on paper! Imagine a team that contains proven players like Ramesh, Sriram, Badani, Sharath and young guns like Badrinath, Vidyuth Sivaramakrishnan and the current Indian Keeper KKD Karthik. Except for maybe Sharath and Badrinath, the rest of them all could well be in contention for an India spot.

Both Badani and Ramesh were part of the Indian cricket team that almost shocked the aussies down under. Ramesh performed creditably in the tour matches but unfortunately the success of Sehwag and the now out of favor Akash Chopra meant that he didn’t get to play any of the international matches. Badani played pretty well and in fact outshone his challenger for the No. 7 slot Rohan Gavaskar. But, surprisingly both of them have been overlooked after that. They get one more chance to display their wares during the Board President’s XI match with the visiting proteas. It’s a toss-up though between Ramesh, Gautham Gambhir and Dheeraj Yadav for the two openers slots in that match. Ramesh may well come one-drop. The most successful one among the trio will in most probability walk out with Sehwag for the first test.

Sriram has been included in the one day team for the one-off against the pakis. But, Prabha has an interesting theory on this. He feels that Sriram will anyways not get into the playing XI. So, by picking him, they are keeping him off the BP match with SA. If he had played that match and scored heavily, the selectors would have needed to pick him in the 14 for the two test series. Hmmm. Interesting theory, but don’t think it holds much water.

Badani also finds a slot in the President’s XI while Sharath will be lost to Indian cricket as one of those Ranji stalwarts like Ashok Mankad and Ashok Malhotra. At least those guys played a few games hither and dither for India but poor Sharath’s capable talent only got him till the A team grade. My dad is such a believer in Sharath’s capabilities that he drafts him occassionally to play for India in his fantasy games on Cricket 97 – the game that keeps him occupied in this difficult post-retirement stage of his life. But, we all know that Sharath will never play for India in this lifetime.

Badrinath was the top rungetter for TN last season and he seems to have started on the same note in the match against Hyderabad. Vidyuth’s come a long way from scoring 115 at No.11 to scoring a century now opening the batting for TN. Reminds me of Ravi Shastri who started his career at No. 11 but ended up being that dour opener that everyone hated. And to boot, Vidyuth is a capable left arm spinner as well. Sriram and Vidyuth both were successful left arm spinners in the international under 19 matches, but now both seem to be shining more with the bat.

KKD Karthik, of course needs no mention at this time. He’s already in the Indian team and looks to have won the wicket keepers slot for the upcoming series against SA. All the best to the lad. TN’s achilles heel over the last few years has been the bowling. Now, with Balaji injured and Kumaran disappearing without a trace, they must be hoping for the other bowlers to step up. The performance of Ramkumar in this first match must have raised hopes. Remember, the last time TN won the Ranji trophy was in 1987 and the bowling lineup at that time boasted the likes of Bharati Arun, Robin Singh, Venkataramana, Sunil Subramaniam and Vasudevan! Even L Siva was there, though his prowess at that time was on the wane. Hope and pray that for TN, this year round – it is third time lucky!

And also always wonder if my obsessession with statistics is what made fate leave a cruel statistical imprint on my favorite player. Azza, for all his wrong-doings finished on 99 tests and also think remains the only player to have scored a century in both his first and last test innings!

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The Last Frontier – Conquered!

October 31, 2004 at 2:19 pm (Cricket)

Different places take the coveted position of The Last Frontier within the minds of different people. For most within the US, it is Alaska. For most others within the world, it possibly signifies Antartica. But, Steve Waugh and the Aussie cricket team, have always made it clear that India was their last frontier.

During the 2000 tour of India, they almost conquered the last frontier. Two men with their bats and one turbaned crusader with the ball ensured that it was not to be. But, this time around, the aussies came more prepared and in a ruthless exhibition of relentless force never took their foot off the indians jugular! We could argue that if the weather Gods had’nt intervened on the final day of the chennai test, the Indians would still be in with a chance to even things out at Mumbai. But, remember that even during the decider in chennai during the 2000-01 series, the Indians just scraped through by 2 wkts when left with just 155 to get in the last innings! This time they had even more – 200, to get. So, could have been anybody’s game especially considering the woeful form that the Indian batsmen including the crucial duo of Laxman and Dravid have been showing. But rain really did scupper out a classic.

So, what’s up with the Indians? They seem to have become like me. My mom always used to crib how I disappoint (academically and practically) when they expect me to do well. And when they least expect me to do well, out of the blue, I perform creditably. So much so, that even to this day, my mom insists that she has no expectations from me 🙂 The Indian Cricket Team does the same to perfection on a more grandiose scale! When least expected, they sparkled during the last aussie tour of India. This was followed up by poor home series against the windies and England. Even Zimbabwe was a struggle – remember Ray Price and Tendulkar? Then came the World Cup, after the initial disappointment, they won everything in front of them, till they hit the aussie juggernaut again in the finals.

Then came the trip down under and what a transformation! They almost won the series and riding on the high, they went on and beat the Paki’s on their own land. Wow! What a team. This is the only team that can challenge the Aussies. But, somebody spoke too soon. Coming back from the break, they performed way under-par at the Asia cup in Sri Lanka. Even worser in the ICC champions trophy. But, this was all pyjama cricket. Bring on the real game of test cricket and we would show the Aussie’s who’s the tiger! But, unfortunately now, this series has also been lost. So, where did we go wrong?

The Opening Gambit

The opening combination has always been the achille’s heel for India. One of the reasons, the Indians did so well during the series of Australia was the gritty support of Akash Chopra which was ideal foil to Sehwag’s blasting. But suddenly, as Yuvraj got into the team, Akash found himself out of favor. And after failure in the first test of this series was dumped for the second with Yuvraj being preferred. And suddenly, in the third test he was back in the team with Yuvraj getting dumped! Now, someone definitely seems to love playing musical chairs. Maybe, they just flip a coin and voila out comes the person who’s going to open next with Sehwag!

Now, it’s going to be either Gautham Gambhir and Dheeraj Yadav. Hope, whichever one it is, is given an extended run! Remember Ramesh? He was the third opener during the tour of Australia, scored a gritty 80+ in one of the tour matches. but after that tour, he couldn’t even get a spot in the A team! Sanjay Bangar also did creditably in the limited opportunities but the whims and fancies of the selectors!

Bird’s Opening

McGrath bowled his heart out during the last tour of India and picked up 17 wkts at hardly 15 runs a piece. But, it was all in vain. And he had to miss out the Indian trip down under last year due to injury. This time around, certain to be his last opportunity to conquer the last frontier, he put in a determined performance. The Pigeon opening the bowling in full flight was something that the Indian batsmen weren’t prepared to contend with!

Two knight’s defense

Attack is the best form of defense and one of the reasons India made that amazing comeback at calcutta and also did so well down under was their rate of scoring. The two knights – Dravid and Laxman scored at such blistering pace that they gave enough time for their bowlers to bowl the opposition out. But, this time around Laxman hardly spent any time at the wicket but Dravid did at times, but did nothing during that time! He was suddenly the dour defensive Dravid, who cannot win matches against the aussies playing like that!

Keep me. Keep me

Parthiv Patel came up with some gritty performances with the bat but failed in his core competence – keeping. I still remember the story about a certain pakistani player being dropped by Imran Khan for a test against India. Just in the previous test, this guy (name eludes my memory) – a left arm spinner had scored a century coming in as night watchman. But, he had not bowled all that well during the test. When Imran was questioned about this, in his typical dictatorial style, Imran is purported to have responded that the guy was picked to take wickets, not score runs. And if he scores runs, it is a bonus! Well, Parthiv’s been given a very extended run and dropped catches and stumpings, definitely are not going to keep the bowler’s spirits up! Let’s hope KKD Karthik is the answer to this question!

There are hordes of other things like the hastening of Sachin’s return from injury, the impact/non-impact of John Wright etc. But, now if I try to delve into them, we would run out of possibly both time and space! Though we have both time and space here, this is noway related to the time-space continuum 😉 But, one thing is for sure, if ever there’s anyone who could beat my propensity to raise hope and then disappoint – it’s the Indian cricket team!

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Damien: Omen – II bad for the Indians!

October 26, 2004 at 9:31 pm (Cricket, Sports, TV)

This is Halloween season and this Sunday is halloween. The night of October 31 i.e. the evening beginning October 31 through midnight November 1 is halloween night. So, what is halloween? One story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. That’s possibly the last thing on the Indian Cricket team’s mind. But, they too could have a sleepless October 31 night, thanks to one man playing like a man possessed – Damien Richard Martyn!

To celebrate halloween, AMC channel is screening a series of movies of the monstrous and ghost ilk called MonsterFest. Yesterday’s movie was Damien:Omen II. And was it a co-incidence or what! As the Antichrist Damien was wreaking havoc on AMC, Damien Martyn was pummelling the Indian bowlers to submission at the other end of the world in Vidarbha C.A. Ground, Nagpur. But that’s where the similarity possibly ends. If the Antichrist Damien is all dark forces and evil, this Damien Martyn is all silken grace and style.

Just like the Omen movie series, Damien has had a pretty good run in recent times. But, its not been all hunky dory for the lad from Western Australia. Less than 8 months back, after a bad start to the VB triangular series down under, almost everyone was baying for his blood. And, our man was so pissed at the antipathy that he preferred to make his feelings public with the now famous finger salute towards journalists. He got rapped for it by his skipper Ponting and rightly so.

During the next series in SriLanka, as any great player would do, he let his bat do the talking. In every match of the series, the aussies surrendered the first innings lead. But, in the second innings they made massive scores that broke the Srilankans. And Damien led the charge. His second innings scores in the first two tests were 110 at Galle and 161 at Kandy. He finished the series with poor scores of 14 and 5 at the SSC in Columbo but the damage had already been done. The shattered lankans duly lost the third test despite the thorn failing!

Then came two tests against the visiting lankans at home and Martyn averaged over 50 in them. Now, the Aussies are in India to try and conquer The Final Frontier and they are doing very very well. The comprehensive win in B’lore was followed by a ‘thanks to the rain’ escape at chennai. Now, in the city of oranges, they have reached a commanding position at the end of day one. And Martyn’s been prolific – the 104 in chennai has been followed up by the majestic 114 here.

Coming from Western Australia and being brought up on the bouncy pitches of WACA have ensured that Martyn’s an excellent player of the horizontal bat shots and pace bowling. But, his superlative performances under trying circumstances on the turners of SriLanka and India against quality bowling of the order of Muttiah Muralitharan, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh has been a revelation! Remember this – Murali and Kumble, just between them have taken nearly a 1000 test wickets! After the end of the first day in this third test, India seems to have been relegated to the back seat. Lets see how the Indian first innings pans out. That may hold the key to this match.

Another interesting thing to note has been the good showing of Murali Kartik. This is the same bowler, who after performing so well in the TVS triangular cup one dayers went to Australia amidst great hype only to be reduced to tatters. After that, he was thrown into the oblivion of representing India A. Harbhajan’s injury has been a God send for Murali Kartik and he’s come up with a commendable performance. One thing to notice is the fact that Karthik’s always performed very creditably when Dravid has been leading the team. TVS cup, he was the best bowler on show and Dravid was leading India then. This match also, Dravid is leading. Is there something to read between the lines here? Personally, I feel that more than Bhajji’s bout of flu, it’s been Dada’s thigh strain that’s possibly helped Kartik more!

Going back to the Nagpur test, think the Indians may well need the help of The Exorcist to exorcise the ghost of Damien that’s haunting and hunting them!

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Monday Morning Blues

October 11, 2004 at 1:57 pm (Cricket, Entertainment, Hollywood, Sports)

Long weekends are special and if the holiday falls on a monday, it seems to make it even more special. Possibly the woes of Monday Morning Blues make the monday off more prized than have friday off. This ehow article tries to scientifically reason this behavior and also detail steps that we could take to overcome the blues! As if that were possible! I am skeptical.

Today is Columbus day – the day a sailor aboard the Columbus captained Pinta sighted the Americas. The first recorded celebration of Columbus Day in the United States took place on October 12, 1792. Organized by The Society of St. Tammany, also known as the Columbian Order, it commemorated the 300th anniversary of Columbus’s landing. From then on, Columbus day is celebrated the second monday of October every year. Today, many Americans celebrate Columbus Day as a day of rest and relaxation. And I intend to celebrate Columbus Day, the same way 🙂

But, it hasn’t been a merriful monday. The day has been downcast by news of the passing away of two great men, each a legend in his own stead – Super Man Christopher Reeve and one of the 1948 all-conquering Aussie Invincibles Keith Miller. These were two super human men who wore their blue vests and baggy green cap respectively with pride and splendor. Along the way, these charismatic men wooed millions of fans with their style, talent, dedication and inimitable charm. They were both poster boys of their times.

Surprisingly, my initiation to Christopher Reeve was not through his famous superhero representation. It was his emotional address during the 1996 Oscar awards where he pleaded with Hollywood to do more that touched my heart. The year before, he had been rendered paralyzed from neck down due to a horse accident. This incident was sadly ironic in that one of his last roles before the accident was that of a paralytic in Above Suspicion. At the time of the accident, he was doing a film on equestrian safety before fate played a cruel ironic part!

Proving to the world that he is a superman not only in reel-life but also in real-life, Reeve set up the first US center that helped the paralyzed to be independent – The Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation (CRPF). Unwilling to allow the paralysis get the better of his life, he worked hard through painful physiotheraphy. He even broke his leg falling out of his wheel chair during a workout. But, even superman isn’t immune from nature and death has done us part.

Keith Miller – An allrounder extraordinaire, he and Ray Lindwall posed a deadly new ball pair in the 1948 Bradman led invincibles! His experiences as a fighter pilot during WWII during which he had near death experiences made him appreciate and enjoy life to the fullest. Miller was an inveterate partygoer, who is noted to have once arrived to captain for NSW still wearing his tux from the previous evening’s festivities, and then set the field with a single command: “Scatter.”

His don’t-give-a-damn attitude did not seem to have jelled with the more serious Don Bradman and that possibly limited opportunities towards the end of his career. Stories about his cavalier character became legion. One, probably apocryphal, has it that Don Bradman answered a knock on his door one night to be met by dinner-suited Miller, who was doing his captain the courtesy of saying that he had been in bed at curfew, as demanded by Bradman – and now he was going out.

His carefree attitude radiated onto the cricket field as well. He is supposed to have been an imperious batsman, freakish slips fieldsman and wild card of a bowler who did not bother with a run-up. He was such an exceptional cricketer that John Goddard, the former West Indian captain once sighed after a Keith Miller century, “Give us Keith Miller and we’d beat the world.”. Though I’ve not been privileged to watch Keith Miller in action, his short run-up fast bowling, imperious batting and dashing long hair and good looks reminds me very much of Wasim Akram.

Asked about death, at the time of his 75th birthday, he had said: “Never think about it. No regrets. I’ve had a hell of a good life. Been damned lucky.”. And check out Christopher Reeve’s interview with Larry King. The title, coincidentally says ‘I am a lucky man’! That exemplifies the character of these two great men!

Superman and The Australian in excelsis, you have taught us the important lesson that life is to be lived to its fullest come what may. May your souls requiescat in pace!

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The Win-dies

September 26, 2004 at 1:46 am (Cricket, Sports)

Today, marks a significant day in the world of one-day cricket. It is the day when the West Indians rediscovered at least part of their past glory. The past force of World cricket which many critics shunted off as a spent force is now back to glory days with their first championship win of significance in 25 years! After the 1979 world cup victory against England, this is the first time that they’ve won any tournament with more than 4 teams participating and coincidentally this final was also against England. Suddenly, from being relegated as one of the minnows of world cricket, the windies are now champions of the Champions trophy!

If ever there was a team that did not deserve to lose the finals, it was England. They had been playing so very well and when they got the wicket of Chanderpaul, Vaughan and the rest of the England team must already have been thinking about opening the champagne. But, it was not to be. The three B’s have played a significant part in the windies victory – Browne and Bradshaw in the finals and Bravo in the previous matches.

The windies are naturally more suited for the one day game than the 5 day because of their attacking style. Gone are the days when they could call upon their pace battery to demolish any batting team. Their bowling resources are just passable but in one day matches in England, just line and length bowling could serve the purpose. The Indians used this to their advantage during their 1983 world cup triumph. Even a restrictive line can be very successful as shown by Wavell Hinds, who did a mohinder and took three wickets in a crucial spell of seam bowling.

Have always loved the carribean cricketing style as all they seem to know is attack. The existing aussie juggernaut also has a similar policy of all out attack. That is the style of cricket that brings crowds back to the stadium. England have learnt the lesson and have vastly improved their aggression. The success of attacking players like Flintoff and Harmison has defintely helped their cause.

It is also a morale boosting win for Brian Lara. When everybody from former players to former coaches to selectors were blaming him for every debacle, he stood his ground and has been rewarded. Kudos to the man.

Suddenly, there seem to be a lot of teams on even keel to challenge the mantle from the all conquering aussiees. England and SriLanka have done very well recently. The mercurial Pakistanis are starting to play well under the tutelage of woolmer. The Windies are now the champion of Champions. So, where does that leave India? Buck up guys, and show the aussies what we are made of!

P.S. Brian Lara’s pledge to dedicate the champions trophy and support to the victims of the devestating Hurricane Jeanne in the carribean is really commendable. Now, that really is the mark of a great man.

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Find us keepers, else Indian cricket fans weepers

September 2, 2004 at 8:57 pm (Cricket, Sports)

It really is heartrending to see the Indian cricket team perform so poorly in their recent one-dayers. They ended last season on a high in the test arena. There was this amazing, unexpected, near series win in Australia. We were giving the undisputed champs a run for their money in their own jungle (bored with the term backyard)! The Indian steamroller did not stop there. Within weeks, the near miss in australia was history. The first overseas win in 10 years and first ever series win on Pakistani soil was achieved. The Pakistani’s did not know what hit them! Two extraordinary tours for the team termed as ‘Tigers at home but Paper Tigers abroad’. The batting was outstanding. Everybody was outperforming the other. Kumble was bowling at his best. Everything was so rosy. It seemed like nothing could go wrong! This and the euphoria of reaching the world cup finals early the previous year had the media touting the Indians as the only team capable of challenging the aussies.

A year and a half have now gone past since the world cup final. Everybody forgot the thrashing that the Aussies gave us. People were just happy to talk about about the phoneixesque rise after the loss to the aussies in that early match, Sachin’s savage assault on Shoaib and of course the famous Dr. Sandy Gordon influenced huddle! As the champions trophy beckons, the Indians look hardly the team capable of challenging the aussies. Other teams like England and SriLanka have moved past us with creditable performances. The English in fact, now have seven consecutive test victories! On the other hand, we seem incapable of even beating other (seemingly on paper) lesser teams.

Where has everything gone wrong? Can’t blame the selectors too much. The batting card is still an ectype of the World Cup finalist team – Sehwag, Sachin(Still not back from injury), Ganguly, Dravid, Yuvraj and Kaif. And to boot, there is VVS, who was very unfortunate to miss the world cup boat as the all-knowing selectors deemed Dinesh Mongia better. Looking at that batting card and their recent performances, Paper Tiger seems a great sobriquet for them. They look indomitable on paper! But, unfortunately, international matches are won on the field and not on paper. Sigh!

The bowling though has undergone a sea change, at least among the pacers. Balaji and more predominantly Pathan have made such great strides that seasoned (pun intended as some of these guys continue to play season after season without much to show for) campaigners like Agarkar, Nehra and Zaheer have had to fight for the one remaining slot. With Munaf Patel and SS Paul performing so creditabily on the A tour to Zimbabwe and Kenya, everybody is on their toes (literally!).

The spin department looks the same with Kumble and Harbhajan. The once copious Akshaya Pathiram that produced spinners at will is now shockingly barren! There have always been pretenders like Rahul Sanghvi, Murali Karthik and more recently Sharandeep singh. But, for all their capable talent, they never would have made it anywhere close to the spin geniuses of the 70’s. Such great talents like VV Kumar, Padmakar Shivalkar, Raghuram Bhat, Dilip Doshi and Rajinder Goel spent so much of time waiting in the sidelines. Little wonder then, that they ended up in the top list of wicket takers in the domestic Ranji trophy! These are people who would have just walked into the first XI of any other international team at that time! It really is cruel for Indian cricket that all these greats were born in the same generation. That was the spin boom and now we have had the .spin bust!

The most contentious issue has been that of wicket keeping. Saurav Ganguly seems bent on playing 7 batsmen and 4 bowlers. That basically thrusts the wicketkeeping duties on Rahul Dravid. Here is a guy, who is acknowledged world wide as one of the best batsmen in the world. In fact, PWC rates Dravid as the top test cricketer in the world right now. Dravid has always insisted that he is not a wicketkeeper by choice but only by situation. But are the decision makers listening? At least, John Wright has publicly acknowledged that there is an issue here.

Two years back, when Dravid first picked up the wicket keeping role, the situation was different. India had tried so many wicketkeeper batsmen like MSK Prasad, Vijay Dahiya etc. and they had all failed to deliver. And the Indian Board’s love-hate relationship with Nayan Mongia meant that he was never going to be considered. So, Dravid, the gentleman that he is, took it up for the team cause. Little would he have expected to still be donning the gloves till this day. You cannot keep forcing someone to do something they are not keen on doing. At some point, it is bound to give. The drag of keeping has started to take its toll on his batting. Hope, the Dada shows some consideration. Dravid is a national treasure to protect and cherish and he is not getting any younger!

It is not like India has a dearth of good young keepers. Parthiv has shown his mettle in the tests. Though, it is true that he has failed in the limited opportunities he has got in the shorter version. Now, they have chosen Dinesh Kaarthick (Read here that he uses this spelling for numerological reasons). But, all he has done through 3 matches is warming the bench. Unless you try someone, it is near impossible to judge his capabilities. To boot, the captain is not doing his bit to keep the kid motivated. From this latest news article, looks like Dinesh will not play a part even in the second natwest one-dayer at the Oval. Does everyone feel this way or is my tamil orientation biasing my judgement?

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