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The Battle For No.1 Off The Field Gains Momentum

Posted: July 29, 2011 by The CouchExpert in Cricket, India in England 2011, Opinion
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 Goutham Chakravarthi

 29 July 2011


It is now a power struggle. It is proving to be one mighty battle for power between England and India: BCCI vs. ECB, English press vs. Indian press, ESPNStar com box vs. Sky com box. Of course, also the small matter of battle for ICC’s no.1 ranking in Tests.

Michael Vaughn wrote a piece on how to get Tendulkar out at the beginning of the series. Now, one Test into the series, Nasser Hussain has written a piece on how Anderson is proving to be too smart for Tendulkar. Simon Hughes wrote an article on how to get the better of all Indian players (bordering on something like get the batsmen out and don’t lose wickets to Indian bowlers!). Scyld Berry swears Tendulkar wouldn’t have crossed his highest score of 37 at Lord’s had he even batted the whole of the last day of the first Test. Boycott calls it the beginning of the end for the Indian team as no.1, but, Botham is already convinced that England are the new kings.

A story such as this is what media is after.

Not to be outdone, Sourav Ganguly called the English attack pretty much the same as the one he faced in 2007 and how India will tough it out and win this series. One Test in to the series, he is convinced that India will get better – a thought reflected in another former captain Anil Kumble’s recent article. Meanwhile, Sunil Gavaskar has appealed to the Indian media to get behind the home team like the Australian press and stop being negative about them (in other words, you or I can’t have an opinion of our own).

Long gone are the days when journalists described batting as art and poetry or the art of re-constructing a bowler’s clever plot in beguiling a champion opposition bowler. It is hyperbole madness today with media looking for quotes and stories. A Manjrekar calling Dravid “not talented” is a bigger story than a gutsy, carefully engineered Dravid hundred. A journalist who ekes out “Ganguly divides the team” from the coach is put on a higher pedestal than a wonderful analyst reporter who picks a pattern to a team’s issues with leg-spin bowling.

Bloggers and journalists have been working overtime to prove their points-of-view. Some English writers have even put this English team on par with Clive Lloyd’s West Indians and Steve Waugh’s Australians. The health of their bowling riches is compared to the ancient flourishing civilizations on the banks of river Nile and their seemingly endless supply of talented young batsmen are expected to back-fill any holes in their batting should there be such a need. Some credit the African and Asian immigrants’ contribution in the English uprising in the world rankings. The standard of county cricket is apparently on the rise while simultaneously they are taking a swipe at the state schools for not contributing even one English player since Collingwood.

On the Indian side, cricket enthusiasts have been digging-up stats of tours where India start poorly and stacking the series end result to be convinced that there is going to be a turn around. Health and injury history of Zaheer Khan have been researched more than will the protein pattern matching at the Indian Institute of Science. A team’s seriousness of the first test is being questioned and even alleged to be used as match practice by Sanjay Manjrekar. Never the ones to miss an opportunity, the whole of England is hell bent to point at the IPL for every Indian failure anywhere else – from the player fitness to mental fatigue.

The same can be extended to how both the cricket boards operate. Both like power and both don’t have a history of being very affable when wielding it. Like ECB’s willing and what proved to be a fatal association with Standford and now the enormous urge to protect its players from theIPL, BCCI is no different with wanting its stars playing in IPL – even at the cost of an international tour – and not the other T20 leagues around the world. Both like taking pot-shots at each other, don’t expect it to be very different should one of the two teams lose on the field either on a dodgy umpiring decision or the proverbial “player integrity” over a match altering low catch.

The team that stands tall at the end of the series will be regarded as among the finest by its fans, ex-players and its media while the losing team will face the wrath of their fans, ex-players and media. You see, they all need the men on the field to give them the bragging rights over their counterparts.

God save the team that wins. God save the team that loses.

Preview Trent Bridge: Perspective India

Posted: July 28, 2011 by The CouchExpert in Cricket, India in England 2011
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 Goutham Chakravarthi

 28 July 2011


Zaheer Khan was always going to miss this Test. He would be lucky to be match-fit even for the third Test. It was obvious. But in today’s age, playing the cards close to the chest is the norm. That a press release from the team management said he might bowl in the second innings of the Lord’s test was a testament to it. In Zaheer’s absence and with Gautam Gambhir also likely to sit out, Trent Bridge will confirm if India are on the way down from the lofty standards they have set for themselves over the last three years.

If the English press are to be believed, TrentBridge will snake and spit on the batsmen. Anderson has a Sydney Barnes-esque track record there and even with Tremlett out, Bresnan is expected to bend the ball later than Schumacher would on a chicane bend, and at pace to expose the visiting batsmen. Indians are expected to wind-up in a corner and wave the white flag.

India will rely on their famed middle-order to put big runs on the board

In the wake of a troubled hour such as this, India will call on their most seasoned and the best of their batsmen to stand-up for their team. In style and craft there cannot have been many better than their middle-order champions. With individuality they have been original and have been proven  to be men of substance. May be a Jack Hobbs from yester year would relish the challenge of facing a menacing attack on a spiteful pitch with masterful footwork, judgment of a sage and strokes of an artist. In Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman India will believe they have the men to stand-up to the very fine English attack’s precision, strength and discipline like Hobbs did. In short, expect the ageing, but sagacious Indian middle-order to put their chests out and fight the most complete bowling side in these conditions.

Not that India hasn’t been found wanting early in the series newly. 1-0 down in Sri Lanka last year, India went in to the final Test without Zaheer and Harbhajan. They won. As a team, they have surpassed the sum of their individual parts often over the last three years. In a strange Laxmanesque way, they have delivered with their backs to the wall. Perth and Durban are recent memories and India will want to refresh them with a performance they can be proud of. They won the last test they played at Trent Bridge, albeit Zaheer Khan and RP Singh will not be around this time. India will know that they can bowl England out twice in these conditions and that gives them a chance of scoring more runs than England to win the test.

If India shed their early season skin and snake their way to play some good cricket, we could still be in for Diwali-lit-night-sky-like English summer. At the end of this Test it remains to be seen if India can show they are good enough to retain the Himalayan peak or if England will hoist their flag and send India tumbling down.

Dhoni’s Incompetence Gifts England The Opening Test

Posted: July 26, 2011 by The CouchExpert in Cricket, India in England 2011
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0

 Srikrishnan Chandrasekaran

 26 July 2011



Once again on a last day of a batting-friendly pitch Indian batsmen failed to put up a fight. All the top order batsmen played very silly shots and threw away their wickets. Dravid knew the first session was crucial and has failed in other test matches like this in earlier years too. He would have tried out an option of retiring hurt for an hour or so and came back to bat again from second session. After being well set, losing wickets on a final morning is really losing the test match. D & L clearly knew Gambhir and Sachin can’t bat for a long and they would have played much better cricket than what they actually did.
Even though we have got strong batting line up, it might have been a better practice to deploy a bowler to play after the fall of Dravid’s wicket in the first session as the first session on final day is very crucial.

Dhoni had to bowl himself with India a bowler short.

Raina played a very good innings but there has been not much support from the other end. Bhajji as usual at a crucial time of the match played a rubbish cricket shot to throw his wicket. It is not ideal to expect a bowler to play decent cricket, but can try not to play some loose shots to throw their wickets. No words about Dhoni, time and again he is proving that he is not even an average batsman in test cricket. Even in our last tour to WI, he didn’t score much runs against a lesser attack. Few years back, he averaged over 50 in test cricket and today it is 32. It clearly shows how much contribution (or the lack of it) he is making for the team match after match, series after series.

India need to really work hard in next few days and come up with a fresh mind to compete well this tour. Indian selectors should consider basic changes. They should think from a basic standpoint and need to make the following changes which will really help India to fight back:

  • Bhajji with Amit Mishra / Ashwin (Probably Bhajji can retire from test cricket, since he is good only on spinning tracks and not on other ones)
  • Zaheer with Munaf Patel  If he is not fit then bring Sreesanth (Sreesanth has got pace, line and length, but problem is consistency, field behavior and long spells. On other hand, Patel is slow medium bowler and it is difficult on England conditions but very effective as he put the batsmen to play at least 4 out of 6 balls which really makes huge difference in test cricket)
  • Dhoni with Yuvaraj Singh (Since Dhoni has not done much with bat / keeping / captaincy over the last few years in test cricket. Just for the sake of attending the toss, press interview, these things he can do without playing the match also)

Even as an Indian, in one way am feeling happy with result of first test match, otherwise the whole world would still believe Dhoni is a good test cricket captain too. He still has the excuse to say some players got injured and we have played in a different batting order / umpiring decision against us etc.., so couldn’t win the test match. Dhoni’s inner stuff will tell clearly that he lacks the basics of captaincy.

There is no need of blaming the umpire when we play a match, since it is regularly happening over the last 2 decades in every match for us. We missed several chances and those were very costly.

England might be dreaming that they are No 1 etc.. and even their senior retired folks will be day dreaming that they are the best test team. The headlines talk about Indian batsmen playing some loose shots to throw their wickets which shows that they haven’t got the wickets through their real bowling class. The bottom line is their bowlers are clearly not up to the mark for a test match against India. This is really the true side of England team, so this is an advantage for us to be positive and look for a better display on the next test match.
Few positives out of this match for both teams:

Positives: England

· Broad finding his form both with ball and bat
· KP’s turnaround with a double hundred
· Prior with a century
· Anderson with a five-wicket haul

Positives: India

· Mukund got off a good start in both innings which will give him and the team lot of confidence in the coming up matches even if Sehwag isn’t fit
· Rahul, Laxman played some good innings
· Raina played a fighting innings, deserved for a century but missed it
· Praveen & Ishant bowled some good spells

Day Four: Ishant and Prior Dazzle

Posted: July 25, 2011 by The CouchExpert in Cricket, India in England 2011
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2

 Goutham Chakravarthi

With time, details fade and only memories remain – the sweetest and darkest. Day 4 of the 2000th Test will be remembered for an outstanding spell of 3 for 1 by Ishant Sharma. Sure, Stuart Broad and Chris Tremlett later conducted an interrogation of India’s top order, but Ishant, in a spell articulating perfect rhythm, when body and mind danced to the heartbeat, composed a telling tune that exposed the English middle order of holes it didn’t know existed.

Ishant looked nothing like the highest wicket taker in tests in 2011 in the first innings. He lacked the rhythm and confidence he exhibited in the Caribbean only a month ago. His rhythm was cranky and Kevin Pietersen bullied him. But, today, Ishant, in a magical spell of fast bowling, his long locks billowing in fresh summer air, his run-up so smooth it was a glide, he unleashed magical, unplayable deliveries. He was in such a trance that the batsmen can be forgiven for being unaware of the ambuscades about him. Whilst it lasted, each ball was poetry that warmed the hearts over and again.

Ishant Sharma produced a memorable spell of fast bowling before lunch

Even cruelly, I thought Zaheer’s absence was a useful expedient to get Ishant to a new level. Ishant had left England in tatters as lunch was taken. Former cricketers of India and England paraded the hallowed turf celebrating the 100th contest between the two countries, while the crowd feasted on the cake and the ale, and the prospect of a potentially cracking test in the making loomed deliciously upon us. But only till India came back on to the park and Raina was introduced to up the over rate!

What followed was a session of some very poorly constructed cricket by the visitors. With only three fit bowlers, the hard yards of the first innings had taken its toll and a determined Prior and Broad ran them ragged. From the Himalayan heights of titanic struggle between bat and ball, it turned to a contest of India doing the last stage of Tour de France by foot and England by motorcade. England ran the fielders and captain ragged and when the bowlers returned with fresh legs, they had already been lapped twice over by the English. Prior will get his opportunity at 6 should England struggle to bowl India out on day 5 and feel the need to go with five bowlers. His century was well constructed with almost a Usain Bolt sprint to the finish line.

Injury and illness to Gambhir and Tendulkar meant Indian had to go in with a re-jigged batting order. Facing a rampant trio of English quicks who fancied their chances against a tired batting side, they bent and bounced the ball in rapid cadence. Old hands Dravid and Laxman, architects of some of the stoutest batting accomplishments, battled and survived. It was exhilarating cricket. The old firm of Dravid and Laxman held fort for India to fight another day. Their methods so precise and contrasting, but complement each other.

Sophistication is easy to be associated with Dravid – who combines the technical mastery of his art to suit the wicket and the opposition, the situation of a drying wicket and the waning strengths of opposition trundlers. He plays the attrition game as well as anyone to have walked a cricket pitch and his powers of concentration are of a Grand Master. On the other hand, Laxman, India’s best 3rd and 4th Innings man is as intense but with a game so pleasing, it makes you wonder if batting was ever so pretty anywhere else. He can look clumsy in his set-up and dodgy wafting without much feet movement early, but he can hardly ever made an ugly run. It is almost fitting that he produces his best when his team needs it the most.

Anderson, Tremlett, Broad and Swan will believe that there is enough in the wicket to produce nine mistakes on day 5, but India will be confident that they can survive the overs. It quite resembles the Lord’s test from 2007 and it promises to be as tight this time too. England have dominated this test, but India have shown tremendous determination to be not blown away. They will hope the D/L (Dravid/Laxman) method saves this test for them.

Bring on day 5.

Day Two: Irresistible KP Puts England In Charge

Posted: July 23, 2011 by The CouchExpert in Cricket, India in England 2011
1

 Goutham Chakravarthi

 23 July 2011

 

Kevin Pietersen is either a genius or he is not. I know not which one. He may have looked out of his depth as a captain when he came to India – both with England and as captain of Royal Challengers in the IPL. But he always seems to have a sense of big occasion whilst batting. He has made many left-arm spinners look like Bedi, but also has dominated the better bowling of his time like few others have.

It is difficult to pin his success to one thing. Most keen observers think it is his desire in wanting to be the best as the reason. Even as early as 2002, when he was still two years away from being eligible to represent England, he spent the winter in Sydney playing grade cricket. Why? Because he wanted to learn more about off-spin and Sydney University had Greg Mathews in its ranks. He has had this immense desire in wanting to associate himself with champions all through his career so that he could be one himself. Of him wanting to be the best, he has never doubted.

Kevin Pietersen was scintillating on day two of the Lord’s test

His early years are quite revealing. He went to Maritzburg College, and reckons he never missed school on Tuesdays as it was cricket day. Even more telling is the culture that was built there to win and KP can’t remember losing more than two games in six years of cricket for the school. Almost as a rule, Kevin could never settle for ordinary. His early years never had many people marking him out for outright greatness. If anything his off-spin got him into the Natal team only for him to lose it to a coloured spinner from Guateng as the quota went up to three from two. He picked a fight with Dr. Ali Bacher on this matter and then decided to consider a future elsewhere. Clive Rice from Trent Bridge offered him a future there, Bacher advised against it, but Peter Pollock told him to go for it. The rest is well documented.

Coming in to this test there was the story of Kevin Pietersen saying he was a “South African” and he only “worked in England”. Although Kevin Pietersen has publicly pledged his allegiance to his adopted country, it has been quite a debated topic. Kevin’s professionalism can never be in doubt as he never leaves anything to chance. His methods have never been the most traditional and his penchant to impose himself on the game and the opposition has often been his way. But he bided his time battling tough conditions and the swing of Zaheer and Praveen on Thursday and cashed in on the start all through Friday. His discipline to the innings showed his remarkable ability to seize the moment. Not having to face Zaheer would have been an obvious plus, but to have resisted going after the bowling knowing its limitations showed his match awareness. Strauss got out after doing the difficult bit; he wasn’t going to give away a good start.

He constantly shuffled across to the seamers and his battle with the cagey Praveen Kumar was worthy of a chess match with two Grand Masters plotting moves to check-mate the other. Praveen Kumar would perhaps have benefited had Ishant found his rhythm and gave him better support. Nonetheless, a swinger of gentle speed but with skills of a trapeze artist against the most gifted English batsman of his generation was engrossing. Praveen bent the ball both ways from over and around the sticks. Pietersen shuffled to the off-side, chipped down the wicket to upset the bowler. Praveen Kumar, every now-and-then tried bowling Pietersen around his legs and tried trapping him in front. Suffice to say it was the battle of the day and quite an enjoyable one between the two heroes of the day. Pietersen survived a few close calls, but emerged victorious in the end.

Kevin Pietersen’s last fifty was a breeze. He had spent enough time at the crease to do as he wished and Ishant looked short of ideas bowling to him. He composed an array of audacious flicks and drives and got to his double ton so quick he gave England a chance to bowl at the Indian openers for 30 minutes.

The wicket still has a lot on offer for good bowling and as Kevin Pietersen has shown, batting isn’t impossible either. India, hamstrung with Zaheer’s absence, will hope to bat long and well in the first Innings so as to take this test to safety from their view point. England will want to bowl out India cheaply and consider batting for a bit to tire the three-man bowling attack further with the second Test starting just three days post this test.

Lot to look forward to on day three. Day two belonged to Kevin Pietersen.

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