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Youngsters For The Future

Posted: January 10, 2011 by The CouchExpert in Cricket, India Cricket, Opinion
13

Prasad Moyarath

Bangalore

10 January 2011
The recent popularity of Test matches has put the one-day and Twenty20 cricket enthusiasts who predicted the death of Test cricket after the advent of Twenty20 cricket in a conundrum. They are forced to agree to the mantra of Test cricket aficionados, “Test cricket is the actual cricket and it tests the technique and patience of a cricketer and separates the strong hearted from the rest”. Tendulkar’s batting against Pakistan in Chennai with acute back pain, Kumble’s spell in West Indies with a bandaged broken jaw, Graeme Smith going out to bat with a broken hand and the recent Kallis’s innings against India fighting acute pain due to side strain are some of the instances of bravery shown in a cricket field in Test matches.

The Australian strategy of fielding separate set of players for one-day and Test cricket was seen with suspicion by many, but the failure of some of the best one-day players like Michael Beaven, Shahid Afridi and Yuvaraj Singh in Test arena has forced them to accept that there is indeed some difference between Test cricketers and the rest.

Indian Test team had the best four batsmen – Sachin, Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman – in the middle-order and it was almost impossible for any new youngster to get into the middle-order unless any of these four were injured. Indian selectors never nurtured any new batsmen to take over from them and the fact that Ganguly’s replacement has still not cemented his place in the team is a testimony for that.

With Sachin, Dravid and Laxman in the late thirties, Indian middle order will need replacement for these players soon. Indian selectors have already identified Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara and it is their duty to persist with them. I would suggest two more names to fill the void that is going to be created when these greats decide to hang their boots.

Parthiv Patel, the 25 year old Gujarat captain is a Test discard for many. He came in as a 17 year old wicket-keeper with very little first-class cricket experience and played 20 Test matches out of which the majority was outside India. Not many knew that he was the under 19 Indian cricket team captain at that time and that he had got the Border-Gavaskar scholarship for the best talented youngster in the country. Parthiv’s batting ability was never doubted and his compact technique against Brett Lee in Australia, Shoaib Akthar in Pakistan and Harmison in England was applauded even by his critics. Inexperience in keeping wickets in different surfaces against Kumble led to his downfall. Much water has flown under the bridge and Parthiv is an experienced player with a lot of centuries in first class cricket. He has improved his keeping and is the captain of Gujarat.

Dhoni will have to give up wicket keeping soon and concentrate more on batting and the presence of Parthiv in the team will make his work easy. Parthiv can play as an opener, middle order batsman or a wicket-keeper batsman. A batsman coming back after being discarded by selectors is nothing new for Indian cricket considering the history of Siddhu and Ganguly. I will stick my neck out and say that if properly nurtured, Parthiv Patel will be an asset for the Indian Test team.

Virat Kohli is the new find for the Indian One day team for many. For some, he is the former captain of the Indian under-19 team that won the World Cup. But for me, he is the hero of a story which appeared on the newspapers in December 2006. Delhi was playing against Karnataka in a Ranji Trophy match. An 18 year-old Delhi batsman hit a chanceless 90 and saved Delhi from a certain follow-on. When he fell in a dubious manner, instead of celebrating, the Karnataka players applauded his effort. You may wonder what is so special in that innings. Kohli lost his beloved father that morning but decided to continue batting from his overnight 40 and took Delhi to safety. He left for his father’s funeral after his innings.

It is no wonder that Kohli who showed maturity beyond age at such a young age is scoring in tons in Indian first-class cricket and in one-day internationals. More than his runs, it is his attitude towards batting that makes him different. Selectors should spare no time in inducting this youngster to the Indian Test team.

With India touring England, Australia and West Indies after the World Cup, the Indian selectors have got a golden opportunity to test these future stars of Indian cricket. I have no doubt that Parthiv Patel and Virat Kohli have it in them to pass this litmus test.

Captaincy Debate: Graeme Smith Will Go When He Has To

Posted: January 9, 2011 by The CouchExpert in Cricket, Opinion, South Africa Cricket
2

Goutham Chakravarthi

Bangalore

9 January 2011
Much has been written about the captaincy of Graeme Smith in the Newlands Test. Questions have been raised about the defensive tactics and if he’d missed a trick by not inserting India at the fag end of the 4th day’s play. Smith is still the same impressive man that took over from Pollock following a disastrous world cup at home in 2003. A South African team still in the doldrums post Cronje-gate turned to him. He impressed with his freshness in approach. He impressed with his performance and leadership. He had never met Hansie Cronje and therefore lay to rest any lingering doubts of his influence on him and his leadership. He said he had hoped to be a captain of his country someday and was expecting it. No politically correct answers, but plain straight talking. That showed in his leadership and his batting. South Africa had found the right man to represent it.

Two double-hundreds followed in his first series as captain. His field placings and reading of the game and tactics reflected a shrewd mind. He showcased an ability to inspire a team of elderly statesmen of the caliber of Gary Kirsten, Shaun Pollock, Mark Boucher, Makhaya Ntini and Lance Klusener. Just like that, at 22, Smith became the leader.

Some controversy followed when he didn’t shy away from calling Klusener overweight and later when he told the media what the Aussies had called him on his first tour there. Inevitably it wasn’t received well, and was seen as soft and a tell-tale by the Australians especially. Soft, he had never been. His courage was never in doubt. His start to the innings in the chase of 434 in Johannesburg showed the Australians that he was not merely a man of talk and that he backed it with deed. He was a fighter and he finally won over Australia when he walked out to bat with a broken hand in Sydney. He needn’t have and the world would have understood for the series was already won. But he strode out to the middle to support a team that showed admirable courage battling a rapid Mitchell Johnson to save the Test. He didn’t want to let down his mates who’d fought so admiringly to save the Test. A nation that saw him as a bully saw him as a fighter and gave him a standing ovation when he walked out to bat.

Along the way he has managed not to fall in the trap of stereotypes and it has showed why his team has been more competitive in India than either Australia or England. He has been shrewd to play two spinners and tie-up Australians in their backyard in one-day games and bombard Asian teams with quick and impact players when playing in Asia. Not that he has never shown ill judgment or never crossed the line. Sportsmen are allowed to lose their cool once in a while – it is inevitable when the tussle is taut and a bad decision here or a bad stroke there can bring efforts carefully structured over sessions to a nought. He has largely been controversy free and has spent less time with the match-referee than most of the captains.

Though South Africa have travelled impressively and often been successful, a major title has eluded it. Agreed that it has briefly claimed the top Test spot and has won an ICC event (inaugural Champions Trophy in Dhaka back in 1998), but is still seen as a unit that can crumble under the weight of expectation. On the back of a historic series win in Australia two summers ago, it was expected to win the return leg at home, but lost tamely to a young but resurgent Australian side. That Australia would go on to lose in England almost straight after would have disappointed Smith and his boys immensely. They were largely seen as the team to take over from Australia post that series, but it wasn’t to be.

The last two home seasons have been disappointing in that regard. They were unable to bowl out a determined English lower order twice last summer. Nor was his team able to match words with deed against the visiting Indians over the last three weeks. His tussle with Sreesanth and Zaheer affected him and showed on his captaincy in Newlands when he was defensive and perhaps missed the chance of declaring early and push for a victory.

Also South Africa have been shown to be in slight in the world cups (both T20 and ODI) over the last 4 years. Sometimes, failures can prey more on the minds. Personnel changes have be sought and tried with little success in major tournaments.

Smith has been smart enough to sense this and has called time on his one-day captaincy post this year’s one-day world cup. It is a smart move considering that he has been at the helm for eight years and captaincy and ideas last only that long. He might want to give-up captaincy to a younger man and concentrate on his batting alone. He will be 30 shortly and perhaps the next three years will be his best as a batsman.

Smith and team will try its best to win the world cup no doubt. His team stands as good a chance as any of the other leading teams and will enter it as one of the favourites. They might go on to win it. That he has already relinquished captaincy post the tournament shows that he may have recognized that he is coming to the end of the road as a captain. Smith has never been the one to shy away from reality. He will go when he knows that he no longer is the right man for the job.

Dhoni Should Go

Posted: January 7, 2011 by The CouchExpert in India in South Africa 2010-11, Opinion
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Prasad Moyarath

Bangalore

6 January 2011

“A captain is only as good as his team,” is a popular saying in the cricketing world and if this holds good, Mahendra Singh Dhoni should be the best Test captain in the world at the moment. No doubt, the Indian Test team has been doing well under his captaincy and has attained the no.1 ranking. Fighting back and winning Test matches abroad has become a habit for India, but still find satisfaction in drawing a series abroad and are not disappointed in not winning it. Indian team still gets worried about the green top wickets even though they boast of the best batting line-up in the world. Don’t you think that there is something missing in the overall performance of the best Test team?

Though India with Azharuddin as captain and Ajit Wadekar as coach won a lot of Test matches, those wins were never appreciated by critics as the majority of these wins were in India and on spinning pitches. It was Saurav Ganguly who changed the face of Indian cricket team with his aggressive captaincy. Those who switched off their TV sets after the exit of Sachin Tendulkar till then started watching the whole innings. Ganguly was a players’ captain and also a people’s captain. He stood for the players through thick and thin and instilled confidence in youngsters. Don’t forget that when Saurav Ganguly took over in 2000, Indian cricket was in dire straits after the match fixing controversy. That young Indian team has matured under the subsequent captains Dravid and Kumble. Now under Dhoni, the team is still winning due to the performances of the experienced players.

Any cricket fan following the development of Indian test team will notice that the performance graph of this team is not on a big ascent after the exit of Ganguly as captain. From a losing team abroad, India reached the level of drawing team abroad under Ganguly and now after a few years under Dhoni, the team is expected to be a winning team abroad. That has not happened and don’t seem to happen in the near future and that is when we look at the strategies and skills of a captain. No new strategies, poor man management skills and the team lacking killer instinct, Dhoni as a captain stands exposed after the South African Test series.

Attacking the opposition team verbally before a Test match is a common tactic used by Australia and South Africa and Dhoni played into their hands by criticising Sreesanth in public. Sreesanth’s good bowling in South Africa despite his captain’s public criticism shows his strength of character and not Dhoni’s man management skills. He forgot what Andre Nel and Allan Donald had done to Indian batsmen years back and found fault with Sreesanth. This was never expected from an experienced captain.

With South Africa in dire straits in the fourth day of the final Test, Dhoni had no back-up plan to counter Kallis and tail enders. The fact that the fielder who went to the boundary to fetch the ball after Kallis reverse swept Harbhajan never came back to his actual fielding position showed Dhoni’s lack of confidence. With Harbhajan bowling well from one end, any captain would have bowled a left arm seamer from the other end to help the off-spinner with the rough created by the left-arm seamer’s foot marks, but not Dhoni. He preferred to start the fourth day with Sreesanth.

Dhoni doesn’t seem to nurture talent like Ganguly. Abhimanyu Mithun, who bowled decently in the dead tracks in SriLanka was never selected to represent India again even though Dhoni had praised his performance. There is no doubt that Mithun would have bowled better than Ishant Sharma in the bouncy tracks in South Africa. Is Dhoni like Azharuddin, not having the back bone to fight for his favourite players with the selectors? If India was playing for a draw on the final day of the third test, why didn’t he send Pujara at No.3 after the fall of Sehwag? That would have given a big boost to the confidence of this youngster.

India is an ageing side and if they have to escape the phase that Australian team is going through now, BCCI has to take some bold steps. Dhoni doesn’t seem to have the skills to take India to the next level and we should not get fooled by the statistics. It is time to think beyond Mahendra Singh Dhoni as captain.

Series Review: A Keen Battle To The Finish

Posted: January 6, 2011 by The CouchExpert in Cricket, India in South Africa 2010-11, Series
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John van der Westhuizen

Johannesburg

6 January 2011

 

It seems like just yesterday the TV news networks were advertising Test Cricket’s clash of the titans. The series was eagerly anticipated and commercially it promised to be the series that ‘has it all’. Seems like the ponytails weren’t far wrong. Aside from there being no clear winner, the series served to stand as a great advertisement for Test cricket, and a confirmation if there was ever any doubt, of the two teams’ respective rankings in world cricket.

After the first Test at Centurion where SA won by an innings, many punters predicted a landslide series win for the local side. SA punters mostly. That India is ranked number 1 for their performances over time, should have warned us that they would come back fighting. And so it turned out to be, much to the relief of Indian fans I am sure, who knew all along their team was better than the Centurion result indicated.

On a difficult wicket in Durban, the Indians gave as good as they got (no, they gave better than they got), and we were all set for a series decider in Cape Town. That the third Test and indeed the series was drawn should not detract from what was a great series. In the hearts and minds of neutral supporters (if those even exist anymore) this series competed for face time with another reasonably well-followed rivalry, The Ashes. While England grow from strength to strength, even they will concede that the current Australia team is a shadow of its former self. Apart from the fact that Australia were outplayed in every facet, and England fans got to enjoy a long awaited series win, the series was never in the balance, there was always one team with the ascendancy.

The SA-IND series offered both sets of fans a glimpse of potential glory, and when Boucher strode out to the wicket on Day 4 at Newlands, a billion people thought the time had come for India to break their duck in South Africa. 4 hours later, SA would have definitely fancied their chances having set a 340 target for the visitors on a tricky final day wicket. As it turns out, the Indian top order held on for the draw, and fought the pace battery off with distinction to obtain it.

Only 6 centuries were scored in the 15 day battle, and 3 of them belonged to 1 man. Kallis was at his vintage best and any thoughts of him being past his prime must now well and truly be out the window. For now. You see the thing is, as Mark Boucher so rightly put it in his press interview after day 4 in Cape Town, that we have “one of the greatest cricketers in the history of the game” right here among us, and that many South Africans still do not appreciate his value to the team over the last 14 years. Despite 40 Test tons, and over 250 wickets, many local fans still somehow point out his low strike rate as a weakness. I choose my words carefully when I say that despite Tendulkar’s longevity and ability to perform at the very highest level for such a prolonged period, I believe Jacques Kallis to be the greatest cricketer that ever lived. Better than The Don, better than Viv Richards, better than Ricky Ponting. As a batsman alone, obviously Tendulkar is the best ever, but Kallis’ wickets in the Test arena puts his nose in front as a cricketer.

It must be pointed out that Tendulkar’s contribution to the series and the way he fought especially in Cape Town, went a long way to securing the draw for India. Without his ability to stick around and keep the board ticking, the relative failures of Sehwag, Laxman and Pujara would have cost India the series. The same could be said about SA to a lesser extent, where without King Kallis’ 498 runs, only Amla really stood up to be counted, with 250 runs at an average of 50. For SA, Prince, Petersen and Smith were all disappointing.

Since the series was not played on a host of flat tracks, it was a rare chance for bowlers to see their names up in lights, and for the most part, as long as Neither Kallis nor Tendulkar were at the crease, the trundlers took their opportunities. 5-wicket hauls however, were in relatively short supply despite consistently good bowling from each teams’ top 3. Dale Steyn was head and shoulders above the rest, and is destined to get a career haul over 400. Along with his 21 wickets, he often bowled wicketless spells where one felt he deserved better.

For India, Singh, Khan and Sreesanth were the standouts, but in the end they weren’t as consistently menacing as Steyn and to a lesser extent, Morkel. It must also be said that SA got the benefit of the toss in 2 of the 3 games, and as a result SA’s bowlers would have enjoyed marginally better conditions over the course of the 3 Tests.

All said and done, I think 1-1 is a fair result. A one-eyed South African supporter can seldom say that without going into the ifs, ands or buts. The reality is that whenever SA had India on the rack, the Indians fought back. When SA were in trouble at Newlands early on day 4, they too fought back. An excellent series that lived up to its billing, long may the rivalry continue.

Bring on the ODI’s.

IPL Auctions 2011: The Right Decision By Kumble

Posted: January 4, 2011 by The CouchExpert in Cricket, IPL
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Goutham Chakravarthi

Bangalore

4 January 2011

A sportsman’s shelf life is only so much. The travel and time away from family does take its toll, but as all sportsmen will tell you, they miss the mateship and competitiveness and the sense of battle and accomplishment on a daily basis is hard to replace. A void so deep that it lures many back into the game as experts, administrators, selectors, mentors, coaches, umpires ad referees. And some as players again in the IPL.

Anil Kumble’s decision to stand down from the IPL auctions is most welcome in that regard. When he did show the inclination of playing this season I was vocal in disagreement on some forums. He was already the chairman of the National Cricket Academy and also the president of his home cricket association – Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA). Continuing to be an active player after all that seemed to be complicating matters. Also, there was always the danger of him not being picked in the Royal Challengers’ squad the moment he was not retained by the franchise. Even if he was picked, he might not have been its leader considering his age and other commitments.

If anything, it would throw up unnecessary situation of him perhaps potentially not being the leader and therefore not even in the playing eleven. As the president of the KSCA that would perhaps make the younger local players not know how to deal with the situation – of having to take sides involuntarily.

With him having volunteered to mentor the youngsters at the NCA and as its chairman, he had clearly moved on as a person. Then he ran for office for his home cricket association. Countless days were spent speaking to the stake holders and the district associations in convincing them of his vision for Karnataka cricket. A clean sweep at the elections showed that people were tired of the ones running its cricket and their belief in him and his team.

His willingness to choose administration where many cricketers have tried and failed impressed the keen followers of Indian cricket. As impressive also have been the measures his team has laid out already. Among the many things that annoy locals about administrators is when people get elected time and gain and do nothing time and again.

Accountability isn’t much of thing with our administrators. Karnataka’s cricket has taken a beating from the highs of the mid-nineties. Among those proposed by his leadership is a cap on the maximum terms one can serve at the office: two. For long, it has been the bane of all sports administration in this country. This might pave the way for cricketers getting into administration. Rahul Dravid is expected to get into administration once he is done with cricket.

When Brijesh Patel and a set of cricketers took office at the KSCA back in ’96, similar expectation and the hope of change lingered. After a promising start, the inevitable daily petty challenges that administrators have to face took its toll and they became just another set of blokes who couldn’t be the change. Kumble, with his stature could have chosen far easier and more lucrative positions. That he has chosen to run office for his home state is typical of the man wanting to be associated with the game for all the right reasons.

The reasons behind Kumble opting out of the IPL auctions might be more than a clash with business commitments. In a world where excellence is a quick-fire 50 in a Twenty20 game, Kumble stands for it with deeds spanning close to two decades. Now, he pursues challenging tasks as an administrator of a state with its cricket in decline, as a chairman of young boys in the academy confused between the honour of Test cricket and the glamour of IPL. Now, as the chief mentor of Royal Challengers, he has made another impressive decision.

Many an administrator has failed duty. Many an ex-Indian cricketer has attempted and failed at administration. Kumble may or may not achieve everything he sets out to achieve, but it is the step in the right direction. Opting out of IPL auction is not a step backwards. He has moved on as a person. We won’t see him again on the cricket pitch. But, all for the betterment of the game.

Alas, the same cannot be said of Brian Lara.

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