Archive for the ‘India in England 2011’ Category

Preview Edgbaston: Perspective India

Posted: August 10, 2011 by The CouchExpert in Cricket, India in England 2011
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 Goutham Chakravarthi

 10 August 2011


The week leading to this Test would have given the time the team needed for introspection irrespective of an average outing against Northants. Zaheer Khan’s absence will sting India more than the cold weather of Birmingham.

The riots in England will have disrupted the preparations further. Not that it has been less chaotic on the cricketing front – with the latest expose by Outlook leaving Shastri and Gavaskar to fend off more spiteful media bumpers. Injuries and fitness issues have gotten worse and their returning champion has had less than ideal preparation – worse, still, he doesn’t know if can withstand a Test match without a fully functional shoulder. And given that not much grass will come off the strip, it has got many media pundits predicting a white wash just half-way into the series.

India will hope for big runs from Tendulkar and Laxman

India likes chaos. It even thrives in chaos. Much like our traffic discipline and road habits and the enormous social pressures of day-to-day life, when survival seems impossible, there is calm in approach and over achievement in results in such situations. A mentally fragile team with bite less than a toothless man and bowling dependent on a maverick swinger from days of yore is seemingly stepping-up into a heavy weight boxing bout with both hands tied behind its back. But there is hope that it will survive the round.

Rahul Dravid, Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma have been admirable throughout the series and will long for better support from their team mates. The team will look to its proven champions again to step-up and show the way. It might not be a surprise if they opt to bat on a pitch many would argue best suited for cows.

Their batting has been a huge let down. Their opening pair has been a Russian roulette and their batsmen have changed batting positions more than an Indian politician would change parties. Rahul Dravid has been selfless, but poor preparation and inability of their other batsmen in countering the English bowling and conditions has left their honest bowling with the challenge of passing 12th standard Mathematics examination with 10th standard preparation.

Laxman and Tendulkar will be cursing not to have converted their starts. If anything, they would hope that the return of Sehwag and Gambhir at the top buys them some shield against the new ball and ensure that when the second new ball is taken, one of them is around to tackle it. India’s lower-middle order has looked as clueless against English pace and nip like the young Australian batsmen did against Ajantha Mendis on Monday on a typical sub-continental wicket. Test match cricket can be cruel on the best and greatest of men. And India will benefit if England turn-up expecting India to roll over just because it is a green top. Much of their players spent the week in Europe on a holiday. Perhaps fishing. Indian bowlers will hope they fish outside-off stump when they bat against them.

India’s batting order finally looks in order with still the no.6 spot up for grabs. Captain Dhoni has tried his best to keep his car in the race only to see the wheels come off when he has needed to accelerate. He will hope for his car’s spare parts to be fully functional and operable so that he can plot a canny strategy to pip England to the chequered flag. He will be hoping that Sehwag can give him the extra gears he so desperately needs. It is all stacked against India. If they end-up surprising all by winning, just know that they thrive in chaos!

Preview Edgbaston: Perspective England

Posted: August 9, 2011 by thecognitivenomad in Cricket, India in England 2011
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0

 Chandrasekhar Jayarama Krishnan

Head of Cricket, CouchExpert

9 August 2011

We have just received reports from various reliable sources in England that Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower do not plan to pay a visit to the Indian dressing room ahead of the toss at Edgbaston tomorrow. This means, it is entirely at Dhoni’s liberty to call either side of the coin as it is flipped on Wednesday.

In what would turn out to be a crucial call, as that coin is flipped in the air, adjacent to a wicket which is believed to posses grass with a density comparable to that of the rest of the field, Strauss would probably hope to get this one right. He has called the right shots so far this series, probably barring the Bell incident, and he might hope to get his side of the coin right, a lone facet that blemishes what otherwise has been a dream run for Strauss & co.

The media, and public, obsession surrounding the Trent Bridge controversies – a subset of which majorly includes the recall of Ian Bell and debates over the DRS – must recede in interest if the focus needs to be shifted to two very good games of cricket that are left in this series. Messrs Nasser Hussain and Ravi Shastri have certainly had enough time to polish their high-minded credentials.

The recall of Ian Bell, and perennial discussions over the spirit of the game turned out to be the cricketing world’s classic media bang-sizzle. But cricket goes on, conveniently at the moment.

And England enter this arena with a wicket which, in the past, spat venom poisonous enough to dock points of Warwickshire due to its poor and relentless nature when a few batsmen from opponents Worcestershire hobbled of injured,  their sky-high confidence will hope to wound the Indians’ morale. After all, they are just one win away from reaching pole position in the ICC Test Rankings, a metric that has recently undergone a lot of shuffle in other categories.

The batting forms of Cook & Strauss are still of major concern to England

The only worry for England would be the form of their openers, one that hasn’t changed since the last time I wrote a preview for a game this series. Cook has probably worked with Graham Gooch harder than he’s ever done before, even if it meant running with six bricks, and Strauss might have consulted Andy Flower for reasons other than visiting the dressing rooms of their opponents. But there is no hiding the fact that England’s concerns largely linger around the starts required from their southpaws at the top of the order.

The absence of Jonathon Trott, due to an injury he picked up during the test at Nottingham, witnesses the return of Ravi Bopara who has been in wilderness since his debacle of an Ashes back in 2009. His decision to snub an offer from the IPL, one for which he received lavish media attention and praise, seemed decisively incomplete when Morgan got the nod of him ahead of the Sri Lanka series.

Bopara’s return appeared to be unthinkable when one gauged the forms of Trott and Bell in the middle order, but with Morgan being the long standing target of test match temperament, there was always going to be an opportunity for Bopara to pounce at.

Bopara returns after a two year wilderness following a poor 2009 Ashes

That he replaces Trott now, due to injury, is not how the script would have seemed. Bell’s form will mean that he will slot in at three, and Bopara will likely play at 5, ahead of Morgan. Bopara’s medium paced seamers, additionally, are bound to come in handy on a green wicket.

England’s dominance in this series owes largely to their pace bowlers and the lower order batting. The wicket-keeping/batting department is one that expands the bridge between England and India, a reflection of the Indian skipper’s poor run of form both from behind, and in front of the wickets. And Matt Prior’s brilliance.

Additionally, the performance of Tim Bresnan, who slotted in for the injured Chris Tremlett, made many wonder why he wasn’t in England’s scheme of a playing XI selection at Lord’s. England’s tryst with replacement players shining instantaneously is one that they have carried since their Ashes victory down under.

On what beckons to be a decisive test match, one that would topple the charts at the top of the rankings, England will enter Birmingham with intent to kill, while India will look to strike back to protect their position at the top. India’s share of injury problems might give England the upper hand, but to assume that this test would be a walkover might be crudely misleading.

The prevailing view is that England will not withdraw and recline on a 2-0 lead. A 3-0 lead might tempt England to try their next generation of wannabe superstars – the pack being lead by Leicestershire’s young batsman James Taylor, and Durham’s all-rounder Ben Stokes. Unlike a lot of the other teams, the world hasn’t seen young English talent in the international arena. This presents as an opportunity to sort that out, and could well be playing in Andy Flower’s mind of late.

If that is a prospect appealing enough, their pacers should continue to hold the key that can unlock the trove to hand them the Number One status.  Their batting should continue to post enough runs to ensure that the bowlers have a sufficient margin of safety.

But hopefully, what shouldn’t continue are talks over what happened at Trent Bridge.

A Statistical Study of India Vs England At Birmingham

Posted: August 7, 2011 by muthumra in Cricket, India in England 2011
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2

 Muthukumar Ramamoorthy

 7 August 2011


AT BIRMINGHAM
INDIA

Vs

 ENGLAND

5

Head to head

5

0

Won

4

1

Draw

1

390
all out

Highest total in an innings

633 / 5 declared

92 all out

Lowest total in an innings

203
all out

122
by Sachin Tendulkar

Highest individual runs in an innings

214* by David Lloyd

6/58 by Chetan Sharma

Highest individual wickets in an innings

5/70 by Ian Botham

Some statistical highlights between India and England at Edgbaston over the years:

The great Vinoo Mankad was out hit-wicket at Edgbaston

  1. The last time these two teams played a test was at 1996 which England won
  2. Nasser Hussain scored his maiden test match century in this ground and won the man of the match award. (Rahul Dravid who was substituting before his debut that he played at Lords in the next test match held the catch offered by Hussain off the bowling of Javagal Srinath)
  3. Javagal Srinath scored his only half century (52 off 65 including 9 hits to the fence) of his career at England and top scored for the Indian batting line up. He batted at no.9. He also bowled his record spell at England in Tests picking up 4 wickets for 103 runs at this ground.
  4. Sachin Tendulkar scored his 9th century in Tests and his first at this ground. Incidentally that’s the only test he has played here thus far. Also interestingly, none apart from sSchin from the current Indian team touring this time has played before at this ground. Not even Rahul Dravid!
  5. In a bizarre dismissal, Vinoo Mankad’s was out hit-wicket when his hat fells on his wicket, England v India, 3rd Test, Edgbaston, July 6, 1974

India’s hopes now rest on Virender Sehwag’s creaky shoulder

Posted: August 5, 2011 by The CouchExpert in Cricket, India in England 2011, Opinion
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4

 Goutham Chakravarthi

 5 August 2011


Watching Sehwag bat is to see a batsman enjoy his trade. He seems just another kid from the Indian grounds who loves to swing it to the fences and detests any running whatsoever. But he is a clever man in disguise. He attacks at every opportunity, swings his blade with the speed of a Ninja and maneuvers it with hands that could make pottery. He is clumsy with his feet, but has the balance of a tightrope walker, eye of a hawk and the heart of a champion. On Friday, creaky shoulder and all, the whole of his country will be praying he brings the best of himself to Northampton.

India's hopes now rest with Sehwag even with all the mystery shrouding his fitness.

Sehwag has scaled heights few can imagine. Often, he approaches games with one objective – to score runs. There is no bowling or field placement that will restrain him from scoring. Critics will argue that he hits in the air and has dodgy feet movement, but he knows how to keep the good ones from getting him out. He is a determined soul who is not afraid to get hit. He will score runs in all directions and off both feet and of all bowling. His strokeplay is skillful, bold and adventurous with its roots deep in his imagination. It is no more a question of bowling to your field for the bowler; it is a question of bowling to Virender Sehwag. The most sanguine of bowlers start doubting the skills they spent their whole lives perfecting. With him, it is not a carefully structured plan that is about to take its course, but an adventure dipped in his imagination more wonderful than a Pixar movie.

They say it is fun to sit alongside him and watch cricket. As the new batsman might play himself in, you would get to hear him say, ‘that’s a four gone begging… and that one should have been hit to the stands’. His approach to cricket is uncomplicated as are his press conferences. Once asked how he would encounter a particular swing bowler, he opined that he would go after him and two boundaries later, the ball would stop swinging for the bowler is put off his game plan straight away.

His confidence reflects in his approach. He plays with a smile on his face. He despises being dictated to and swears to die by his game. He reckons spinners shouldn’t be allowed to bowl and relishes them like when a child sees ice-cream. He has indeed a tremendous record against the best spinners of his time. Only Muralitharan has bamboozled him early on in his career. He has since played one of the great modern day innings against spin at Galle when he carried his bat for a blistering 201 against a rampant Mendis and Muralitharan.

The downside of his enormously charmed batting is his mode of his dismissals at times. Like he can manufacture the most impossible scoring opportunities, so can he in getting out. For a man who is considered to have frailties against quick bowling and wet pitches, it must be a surprise to his critics that he scores any runs at all. It is a method that works because he is as good a player as his track record and reputation suggests.

For a man who has based his game on extraordinary strokeplay, his determination to score runs is as invaluable an ingredient. His preparation is immaculate. As scintillating his drives can be, his most incredible quality is to keep going for long hours once he is in. He terrorizes bowlers and sends them on a leather hunt all day long. That he has come within 7 runs of being the only batsman to three triple hundreds is a reminder of the extraordinary heights he has scaled as a batsman.

All his achievements as a player will count for little when he hopefully steps on to the park against Northants later today in a practice match. Creaky shoulder or not, his teammates are looking at his shoulder for strength and support. A nation of bruised fans following two defeats at the hands of this mighty fine English side will hope Sehwag can blow them apart. The fielders will tell you that they blow their hands every time they stop a Sehwag drive.

India’s hopes now rests on his creaky shoulder.

Wu ji bi fan

Posted: August 3, 2011 by muthumra in Cricket, India in England 2011, Opinion
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2

 Muthukumar Ramamoorthy

 3 August 2011


“Wu ji bi fan”, says Jackie Chan to Jaden Smith in The Karate Kid after seeing Xiao Dre Parker practicing too much. It translates to “too much of anything isn’t good”.

Well, one must agree that the schedule of modern day cricket has been so packed that the calendars are booked so well in advance. It’s unimaginable as to how the players get to even think of a break with the kind of competition involved to retain their place in the XI, touring opportunities, money and fame – don’t they all hide their greatest demand “family”?

I don’t see any other country than India suffer from this busy schedule. Ahhh, how tough are we the fans and fanatic media here just cursing the team as soon they just lose a match or two.

Looking as of now on the ongoing Pataudi series with India could still do good to bounce back with its potential, it is really disgusting to see the vehement fans and the annoying media critics: Should Dhoni be sacked? Why an under performing Bhajji is in the XI on a swinging turf? Why not a backup opener? So many questions……

When will the schedule allow Indian teams with enough practice games to be best prepared?

Well, it is all obvious that the body language of any of our players don’t show to be as passionate as they were when they went to clinch the World Cup crown only few months ago. So do the fans. They were speaking high on the team’s flamboyance. But this is highly disgusting to see the perception and the reaction now otherwise.

One cannot forget the recent two loses are in a different form of game and the toughest style of the game – test cricket. For an ODI one day of mental prepardness might suffice well. Whereas test cricket is all about getting fit totally!!!

Worldcup ODI, IPL, WI tour with a T20, 5 ODIs and 3 Tests. It has become customary to have T20s also to have as part of the touring schedule as the boards involved know well that they would get the money. Exhausted!

There’s a lack of “prepardness” for test cricket because of the players’ commitments with various franchises, county clubs etc those all who could offer lucrative dollars. Unfortunately BCCI couldn’t blame their own players for this as IPL – the richest contemporary event in the world – is being conducted by themselves – a reason for the world hitting hard on the BCCI becoming the cricket’s economic giant.

Looking at the basic problem in the form of Indian players in the last two matches lost is the inadequate preparation – in the form of warm up games. Few players in the squad were involved in IPL, and others on WI tour, few opting to rest. But did they get to play enough to acclimatize to the local conditions? – No, definitely not.

Gone were those days that the touring team play at least three warm up games against the local teams in which either team evaluates/prepares the playing XI and the bench strength. Has it become more of a formality these days to have one warm up game?

Cricket by all means is a professional sport and not merely a commercial one. Warm up games might not generate revenue, but they ensure that the players are best prepared to put up a tough fight and ensure that each player has played enough to be playing to their fullest potential.

The packed schedules have reduced the number of local trophies and the games involved in it. The Dravids, The Laxmans and The Sachins of India have all grown and come up only playing enormous number of Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy, Deodhar Trophy etc not by playing IPL or ICL or any other domestic T20 leagues. It is high time for the BCCI to safeguard the morale (by not driving them for fancy money) and physical fitness (by not stressing them with back-to-back tourneys) of the players.

Consistent performance can keep the no. 1 spot with Team India but to consistently perform as a team it would require enough breaks, enough practice and age old days relaxed tour schedules. It’s also becoming a serious threat of utilizing the right bench strength. BCCI should think more about the once called India A, India B and India Seniors.

The right mix of bench strength should always be the focus, get the bench involved in more longer versions of the game that they don’t stress out and keep their physical and mental fitness and utilized (by rotating) at the right time. It could then be a real fight for each one in the squad to be in the XI. A healthy competition would prevail and the fans could always remain enthralled and feel proud about “Team India” – onus is on BCCI – time now for a strict change in the tournament planners – both at International and domestic circuit level.

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