The CouchExpert

Chandrasekhar Jayarama Krishnan

Head of Cricket, CouchExpert

28 July 2011

In the good old days of the last decade, in an era prior to the belittlement of Australian cricket, as compared to that of their Ashes counterparts, the issues relating to English cricket were primarily rutted during an attempt to stabilize a solid unit. Barring the Ashes triumph in 2005, there was hardly a period that English cricket went through to demonstrate enough consistency for adding armoury to their intent in fighting for the one among the top 3 spots in the ICC test rankings.

With changes in structure seeming imperative back then, much has changed in English cricket – a stark reaction perceived by many, to years of floating in mediocrity. An Ashes triumph down under, followed by a comprehensive victory over the current Test Number One at the Lord’s earlier this week has given the British media plenty to rave over these days.

England is a nation that has suffered from constant media glare – and they also survive because of it. Just a few months ago, KP’s decision to pull out of the World Cup squad appeared to make every choice of his agonizingly controversial. Today, after his Man-of-the-Match performance at the Lord’s, the papers have gone nowhere short of eulogizing their ‘countryman’. The media has additionally done a great deal to ensure that the morale in the English camp is significantly higher than that in the Indian dressing room.

The second test at Trent Bridge, a venue that is most likely the one that matches to the home team’s bowling strengths in terms of conditions in offer, will only be England’s to lose. Along with morale, the home team carries a lot of form, especially in the bowling and the lower order batting departments –areas that the visitors have simply failed to showcase with conviction. The absence of Sehwag has done England a world of good, but from a rankings perspective, the top test team should have had better answers for the questions posed by the English seamers.

There have been a few reports on the loose mentioning Chris Tremlett’s injury issue with a hamstring. In any case, an able replacement in the form of Tim Bresnan, who is no joker with the bat, and one with the qualities to exploit the conditions that Trent Bridge offers, would hardly disfigure the current England setup.

With doubts lingering over Tremlett's hamstring, the only change envisioned is Bresnan slotting in for him on Friday

England’s other weapon, which did not go unnoticed, has been the form of its wicket-keeper batsman Matt Prior. At number 7, in addition to his brilliant keeping abilities, Prior’s contribution with the bat has stretched that gap between the home team and the visitors. A gothic journey, through the unpartisan excesses of media and ‘experts’ glare, a keeper who was termed “rubbish” has gone a long way in to proving his detractors wrong. In Prior’s case, especially, the course was particularly torturous.

Given that the Lord’s win has aroused almost every special interest extant in England, the onus on the likes of Strauss & Cook to perform will be higher than it was before, primarily to avoid an unseemly spectacle under the best of circumstances. With the exception of the doubt lingering around Tremlett’s fitness, England will pretty much look to play an unchanged squad and target an undefeatable 2-0 lead this series.

Broad and Anderson will have plenty to look forward to.

Chandrasekhar Jayarama Krishnan

Head of Cricket, CouchExpert

26 July 2011

Day Five was clearly a case of poor shot selection metastasizing into embarrassing giveaways. Barring a few, the Indian outfit looked less an eminence champion than a pithy self-promoter that had the tendency to go off the target message.

The build up to this test match, having been served by record-driven statistics, had everything that a modern day test match should – most important of them being a result on the final day. A catastrophic default in a typical Lords test, inflicted by weather and/or a flat track, was thankfully avoided to add to the significance of this historic test.

This Lords test, in reality, backed the modern day selector’s trend of adopting a myopic “One-Test-at-a-time” approach towards team selection. Those who had their performances being viewed under the microscope, from both teams, came out with cementing performances.

Most notable of them being an unlucky Stuart Broad, who should’ve seen a larger number under his wickets tally this test had it not been for very ordinary catching, and a couple of incorrect decisions from umpire Billy Bowden.   A crucial partnership with Prior in the second innings, where he scored an unbeaten 76 to move England from a position of relative danger to acute comfort, offered the selectors a bed of roses to recline on with respect to the depth of their batting.

James Anderson didn't require overcast conditions to topple the Indians

The day’s targets seemed easier for England than it was for India. The situation appeared to be infinitely more complicated with the injured Gambhir and Tendulkar batting out of positions. India’s only comfort lay centric around that nascent hope linking Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, and their feats at Kolkata and Adelaide.

By the time MS Dhoni arrived at the crease, with the brilliant Suresh Raina holding fort at the other end, the skipper was probably leery of the short term ascetic measures that could hurt a seemingly tepid recovery.  With his dismissal, one that added to the growing list of poor shot selections by Indians this test, given the situation, an English victory was only around the corner.

In the end, England unraveled a lot more positives than they would have imagined prior to the start of this test. Jimmy Anderson’s second innings performance, Broad’s rise in ascendancy, and a collective unit’s ability to ride with the momentum and seize the initiatives presented stood atop the tallest monument at the Lords.

With the gradual insolvency of the Great Indian Dream featuring Sachin Tendulkar, the optimistic English dream of dethroning India gained momentum with this comprehensive home team victory.

This series, apart from featuring two teams battling for pole position, also involves what possibly could be described as the two most ‘feared’ media entities in the world. The Indian and the British media are known for their ruthlessness during the dark times, and their mollycoddling nature when things look bright.

Before the blamestorming and hero-worshipping pieces are out, it is wise to surmise that it stands 1-0 England now. With India’s pride and Fletcher’s early reputation at stake, we could be in for a thriller at Trentbridge.

Chandrasekhar Jayarama Krishnan

Head of Cricket, CouchExpert

22 July 2011

The occasion could have so easily gotten on to you! A series, unheard of in Mathematics, constantly buzzed through the minds of ardent cricket lovers yesterday: 2000, 100, 100, 100, and 100? The statisticians have clearly had a ball of a time during the build up to this series: 2000^th Test Match in the history of the game, 100^th test match contesting India and England – the earliest of which was played in the Pre World War II era – back in 1932, Duncan Fletcher – former coach of England and current coach of the Indian team – approaching his 100^th test match as coach, the batting trio of Tendulkar, Dravid & Laxman approaching a grand total of 100 test centuries between them, and finally, to the common spectator and billions of Indians from around the world, Tendulkar – approaching his 100^th international ton in a career that has spanned over 22 years.

And the drama was to take place at Lords – a befitting venue for an occasion of such titanic magnitude!

And all this before a wet outfield delayed the start of the game, much to the agony of a packed Lords. The conditions, gloomy and overcast, didn’t require too much thought over what the teams would favor to choose on winning the toss. MSD’s call at the spin of the coin was probably one of the few calls that went India’s way yesterday.

After an alarming batting performance against Somerset, it probably wouldn’t have been the greatest start to the series to have the top order up against the world’s leading swing bowler in overcast conditions.

But having said that, the Indian bowlers never really came across as attempting to use the conditions – especially through the tricky first one hour of play – to their favor. The lengths weren’t full enough, the pace was a few yards short, and the lines never really made the batsman play.

The best of the Indian bowlers, Zaheer Khan, who hasn’t played first class cricket in a long time, seemed like the only one who could trouble the openers, both left-handed and within Zaheer’s zone of predatory instincts. The English openers were happy to graft and leave during the first hour of play. It took a ball that zipped on to Cook’s pads, after he moved considerably across his stumps, to create India’s first breakthrough of the day in the 11^th over. Getting rid of the dangerous Cook, for a few paltry runs, was pretty much about the only positives of the day for the Indians.

Zaheer's hamstring pull was the last thing MSD would've envisioned

Zaheer’s bunny Strauss stayed in, after getting through the difficult initial session before his attempt to pull a ball wide outside off-stump was top-edged to safely land in to the hands of Ishant Sharma at fine leg, who barely had to move. The English skipper would definitely look back at that shot with disgust, especially after having got through the tricky passages of play during session one.

What surprised me, and many to my knowledge, is the positioning of Dravid at first slip all day. There was a belief that he was standing too deep, a thought that was reflected during the Caribbean tour by many. This theory was justified when Trott was dropped twice – both difficult chances. The first was off the bowling of Harbhajan Singh, when an outside edge died down on its path to first slip. Maybe if Dravid was closer, he would have clung on to it – nobody can doubt his test catching record! He is the best in the business.

The second chance was probably more Dhoni’s than it was Dravid’s. Zaheer’s around the wicket approach to Trott, a tactic that worked so well with right handed batsmen during India’s previous tour to England back in 2007, enticed the number three batsman to have a poke at a ball that was moving away from him. The outside edge flew between Dhoni and Dravid, who once again might have clung on to it had Dhoni not initially appeared to go for the catch, which in all common logic, he should have. It was quite evident once again that first slip was positioned a touch too deep as the ball died down on its way.

Whether India will live to regret dropping Trott twice will be evident soon after he battled his way to a half century. Trott, England’s most consistent batsman over the last 18 months, proved his worth once again by neutralizing England’s early setback of losing both their openers with a gritty knock. Trott has always looked calm and assured at the crease, and he did leave Dhoni plenty to think about. Trott’s strengths on the leg-side invoke most captains into setting a stronger leg side field for him, which would mean that the slip cordon would be trimmed by one. The frustration on Ishant’s face was vivid when Trott edged one down to the third man boundary, a trajectory that 3^rd slip would have happily settled for any day.

Unglamorous, but effective - Jonathon Trott

It is still early days in this test match, and MSD will surely look back at this day as one where many an opportunity was buried. Kevin Pietersen looked vulnerable on the front foot, and had it not been for Zaheer’s injury, India might have scalped another couple of wickets before play was called off due to bad light.

In hindsight, the first day of play didn’t quite live up to the build up to this test match. With the weather forecast not looking too promising over the next few days, this test match could well be about the battle of morale. With Zaheer’s absence inevitable, the Indian think-tank has plenty to ponder over.

It should be an interesting second day.