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Calling the Right Shots: MSD is the Man

Posted: February 4, 2011 by thecognitivenomad in Cricket, India Cricket, Opinion
Tags: , , ,
2

Chandrasekhar Jayarama Krishnan

Head of Cricket, CouchExpert

4 February 2011

Indian cricket has hardly been without unpleasant instances of brusque departures of captains: not least when Mohammad Azharuddin was forced to walk out after a tryst with match-fixing, a series of incidents that left the global cricketing community embittered. Zonalism, politics and self-worth are not easily untangled, precisely explaining why mistrust had often been an element within the Indian cricketing scenario.

Captains have also often been known to under utilize players in the squad who they didn’t favor. A captain even as late as Saurav Ganguly was known for his suspected treatment of Sunil Joshi, where in the Karnataka spinner was just given two overs in a game, and also sent up the order against an attack where his batting wouldn’t speak for itself. Naturally, he failed to impress and slowly faded in to the wilderness.

Yet, the current Indian captain is one who trespassed the urge to establish the primacy of Indian cricket over the Imperialists. The T20 world cup victory in South Africa has taken Indian cricket a lot further than anyone could have ever imagined with the IPL being the greatest consequence. A bunch of raw, talented youngsters, under his leadership, proved their worth to bring home the trophy. It is very easy to forget how it all started.

MS Dhoni is a captain of great deeds, but confirmed greatness yet awaits him. He has undoubtedly been one of the better captains around since Stephen Fleming, who, in Shane Warne’s words could have made it to the World XI squad in lieu of his captaincy alone. Yet, Dhoni realizes that all this isn’t enough – not when half the nation looks to bite him over his suspected incorrect moves during various periods over the recently concluded series in South Africa. As the saying goes, when the game bites, it takes a huge chunk.

But that the meager voices in corners of India calling for a change in captaincy – on the old principle that people who live in glasshouses shouldn’t throw stones – is easy to gainsay. He’s never tried to reach beyond himself. For one, his penchant for moves from out of the blue – opening with off spinner R Ashwin, throwing the ball to Suresh Raina during a crucial period of play, restricting the Aussies to within 200 in a day on a Nagpur wicket to slow the rate down – are not remotely as ransom as they may seem.

He has always followed his instincts, and more often than not, has backed them up with phenomenal results. Yet, achieving what by far is one of the prouder results from outside the subcontinent, in a land where we have never fared well, goes for a toss. Cynics can be forgiven for disclosing the idle state of their common sense during that period, for I can only see the funny side of it.

In some ways, it is fair to say that Dhoni would have aptly fitted in as a captain during the earlier decades when the team didn’t boast of too many superstars. He’s definitely one of those guys who can portray a team which is significantly greater than the sum of its parts. It takes a shrewd mind to do that, and he is one of the best in the business.

Dhoni’s strokes of genius have often come during periods where India have looked pedestrian, during the course of a test match, after weathering long stretches of ineffectiveness. From out of the blue, a plot is devised, a trap is laid and a pretty scorecard turns its tables. Restricted menace in India’s bowling attacks have often meant that they are likely to be dominated eventually, but clever moves at the apt time have helped India stay way ahead of their game.

These days, the role of a captain is often underplayed. Back then, teams did not have a bunch of analysts with their laptops, cunningly devising a strategy to attack a player’s weakness. The simple and pure art of observation is a lost one, but a rare few have retained it – the subject of the topic being one of them.

Much can be extracted from the current make-up of the Indian squad, but one thought that reassures us every now and then, even if the cynics hate to admit it, is to have the rope tethered around Dhoni. Sure, his batting form hasn’t been the best of late but I’m one of those guys who’d love to believe that he’ll bring the best out of him, and the team, in front of the home crowds during cricket’s biggest event. He did it in South Africa during the inaugural World Cup pertaining to the shortest form of the game – it isn’t hard to imagine him repeating that feat in the upcoming tournament.

Its a shame that great performances alone go noticed in big tournaments, and captaincy is barely a fact that is stressed on. It’d be interesting to see how captains rally their teams this World Cup, for after a very long time, we see no clear favorites in the tournament. If there did exist a Captain of the Tournament award, I’d definitely put my money on MSD.

The thought of looking for an alternative captain, then, is an admission of having a potent weapon on the playing side and a tactically shrewd thinker on the mental side. The question is: is there an alternative? Quite vividly, I see no one. At least, not yet.

The Irresistible Force Paradox: What Physics can teach the younger crop

Posted: January 11, 2011 by thecognitivenomad in Cricket, Opinion
3

Chandrasekhar Jayarama Krishnan

Chennai

11 January 2011

 

What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? The theory notes that the immovable object and the irresistible force are both assumed to be indestructible, and furthermore assumed to be two separate entities.

If there exists an irresistible force, says the theory, there cannot be anything such as an immovable object, and vice-versa. Strangely, I’ve just finished witnessing it.

If you asked me, what was the most fascinating cricketing event I’d witnessed over the last year, I wouldn’t shy away from mentioning that I’d seen the irresistible force paradox in motion up and until the end of the recently concluded series between the top two teams in world cricket.

Sachin Tendulkar and Jacques Kallis are far from refraining to the pleasure of playing the sport.

As the paradox would once again question: Can God create records that are so mighty that they cannot be broken, not even by God himself?

People often think of champions as repositories of unique skills, who, by reason of their immense talent can survey things that others cannot. Mortals are inspired by a certain awe, one that is directed towards their ability and stardom, if not for the human being that occupies it.

But it is that very human being within that fights out the battles ranging from the ones within his mind, to the ones penned down by nefarious critics who yell out to those who care to listen. Tendulkar and Kallis have had their share of critics over the years, critics with obnoxious perspectives on the approaches taken by these greats during games when they haven’t been at their best.

If these loudmouths had known better, they’d have been on the field playing in their national colors. But the fact is that they didn’t, for they don’t, and will never possess the repertoire of skills that champions possess – commencing from a sheer work ethic to the ability to outmaneuver opposition in their territory. Alastair Cook and Michael Hussey, who’d endured through a nightmare pre-ashes window, ended up topping the batting charts for their respective teams, with the former even collecting the inaugural Compton-Miller medal.

With stardom often comes a lot of controversies, but these two men have shied away from anything that attracts media glare. A lot of talented sportsmen have come in to the big arena and vanished instantaneously as they couldn’t quite handle their exponential rise to stardom. To sustain one’s star status over a span of more than a decade, or even more, is no doubt a daunting task. Few have managed to sustain thus far.

This moves me towards addressing the focal point of this discussion. The advent of T20 cricket and more so IPL in particular, has enabled the world to witness cricketers who, in some cases, were unheard of. The recently concluded IPL auction does justice to the statement. Although I must admit that personally, tagging players with numbers & running an auction surely is a precarious approach towards hurting the ego of cricketers, but I haven’t seen an alternative that works better – so there ends my displeasure.

Cricketing greats were dwindled to insignificance because of their inability to do a Babe Ruth in cricket. Relatively unknown and unproven players have gone for unimaginable sums of money owing to their ability to bang attacks out of the park. That is what T20 can do to you, yet, when you examine the last few IPLs closely, one can’t hesitate to point out the fact that two men under the scanner in this prose have done exceedingly well to expand their game to adapt to this version of the game.

This certainly calls for the younger crop of players to model their game and approach based on Tendulkar and Kallis to be successful in all forms of the game, and more importantly, not let the idea of stardom get on top of their heads. Rohit Sharma, one with immense talent and from what I gather, one with a poor work ethic, has been lucky to have got the number of chances, after repeated below-average performances, to sport the blue colors of India. I’d be very keen to see how he mends his ways to cement a place in the team, in all formats of the game.

There’s a lot of talent around the globe that needs to be tapped, and tapped with caution. A few young batsmen have caught my eye during the last year or so, and I’m quite sure that the world is going to see a lot more of the likes of Dinesh Chandimal from Sri Lanka, Lendl Simmons from the West Indies, Ajinkya Rahane from India, the lattermost being a heavy run-getter in the domestic and India ‘A’ circuits.  What I like about these lads is their fearless approach towards stroke play at a fairly young age.

Eoin Morgan of England and C Pujara of India have their names carved in the cricketing Rosetta Stone, batsmen destined to achieve greatness, with the former stamping his authority in limited overs & T20 cricket, and the latter proving to be another immovable object in the longer form of the game.

Kemar Roach is a youngster who has been around for a while, and is definitely one of those bowlers from the Caribbean who can bring back memories of the pace bowling armory that they’d once possessed. Suraj Randiv, the spinner from Sri Lanka, seems another impressive talent and with the height he possesses, I’m sure he’s bound to mature and trouble a lot of batsmen around. Mitchell Starc of Australia has looked every bit a potential weapon, from the little that I’ve seen of him.

We’re also seeing a lot of players, who’ve been around for a while, slowly stamping their authority in international cricket and paving their paths towards greatness. Cook and Bell from England definitely seem to have the temperament to carve their names alongside the likes of Boycott and Gower from England, possibly even out-achieve them. AB de Villiers is on his way towards cricketing greatness, and one can only hope that the additional duties as keeper do not have detrimental effects on his batting. Hashim Amla can be bracketed in a similar category with a large section of the South African crowd looking up to him as the man to replace Graeme Smith as captain of the South African team – even though that is quite some time away.

Other names that hit the top of my mind include Angelo Matthews, Cameron White (a potential Australian captain in my mind –he needs to work on his approach in the longer format of the game), Adrian Barath, Craig Kieswetter, and Tim Paine. Unstoppable and Immovable can be the echelon adjectives for greatness for all these men. Can they defy physics? Only time will tell.

On the other hand, I was forced to exclude a few Pakistani bowlers, as they’ve had their share of defying mathematics to bowl from 18 yards, instead of 22. One can only hope, for the betterment of the game, that they’re cleared or eradicated.

Either ways, I’ll definitely miss watching Mohd. Ameer’s rise to stardom in case the stars don’t favor him.

WILL YOU EVER WALK ALONE?

Posted: December 30, 2010 by thecognitivenomad in Football, Opinion
0

Chandrasekhar Jayarama Krishnan

My couch, Chennai

October 23 2010

The argument here is not that Liverpool failed to do what the big clubs achieved quite brilliantly, so far. There are no stunning contrasts in evidence yet; success and failure are to be measured by very narrow differences. Even the best of clubs have been through phases where their positions were placed under severe strain, by either the constant drain of resources or futile administrative battles.

It takes a great deal of blame storming to specifically examine the causes of collapse, often zeroing down on precise moments in which the destinies of empires were determined: A storm over Persia, the fall of Carthage, a battle for Rome and the rusty gates of Anfield Road. The greatest triumph of one is always the beginning of the end of another.

There is little doubt that each powerhouse that followed the last got better and better in its quest for national and continental glory, by devising devious strategies (through foreign ownership mostly) to proclaim its divine throne on the rest of the nation, stepping over the little clubs and holding them by their leash. Even Manchester City, just like those clubs before this era, will rise and fall, sooner or later. And a day will come when people will talk about such clubs as a long gone, forgotten concept, an idea that was meant to grow endlessly and read about in books of football history, remembered for what it was and what it could have become.

Just like Chelsea before them and Real Madrid FC, the men from Maine Road are now busy with their empire building, both in the continental and global branding sense. They are their own destiny; they make rules and break them – an invincible force trying to clutch the footballing world firmly in their hands of dominion. It sounds crudely mercantilistic to express it this way, but money is needed to acquire and protect glory these days.

If there is any trend that keeps coming back, it is that great powers come and go. No one can stay in the top forever. The cricketing heroes from the Caribbean saw it towards the mid-eighties, the Australian ‘invincibles’  have climbed down to P5 in the ICC rankings, few hardly remember the Chicago Bulls of the 90s, and Ferrari aren’t the dominating force they once were.

Liverpool FC has been through, and is going through, a phase where one too many a decision maker appears a fake conservative. There is no organized power that can restore the glory overnight, and with the dependency escalating dramatically, the only solution towards a repeat of ’89 and ’05 is patience. For a football world wary of Capitalist exceptionalism, this cannot happen too soon.

The argument here is not that Liverpool failed to do what the big clubs achieved quite brilliantly, so far. There are no stunning contrasts in evidence yet; success and failure are to be measured by very narrow differences. Even the best of clubs have been through phases where their positions were placed under severe strain, by either the constant drain of resources or futile administrative battles.

If a club over-expands itself strategically, it runs the risk that the potential benefits from expansion may be outweighed by the greatest expense of it all – a dilemma which becomes acute if the market has entered a period of economic decline. Or if the investments have gone haywire.

The story at Anfield has been a misapprehension towards entangling alliances like those with Messrs Hicks & Gillette. In fact, the loyal Kop were only too happy to see them disown the club and pass it over to yet another American capitalist. But it wouldn’t, essentially, enable us to return to the fairly isolationist posture that had brought many a laurel to the Kop.  Liverpool remain a great club because of the European might they once possessed, but they are in no sense an Empire, nor was there any real chance that they would try and become one.

There is still a great manager who should not be thrown out in haste; Hodgson’s basic views are still valuable and provide the basis for a compelling argument that right now, it is not within our right to be involved in the rat race to the top. The Soviets, once, could have quickly overextended to administer all Europe and would have tipped into an even more rapid decline than the one they eventually sank into. The state of affairs at Merseyside are partially polemical, a purpose to portray Liverpool as a club in decline and to cast doubt upon the most faithful of supporters as to where the fulcrum of the problem lies.

It is okay to get drawn into a rat race, provided that you seek to win it and return the club to its days of glory and preparedness afterwards. But we live with change every day, changes that may prove drastic enough to sweep old standards away forever. The great wheel turns, always forward, never back.

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