Archive for the ‘Opinion’ Category

Impressive Test Return Of Zimbabwe

Posted: August 9, 2011 by The CouchExpert in Australia in Sri Lanka 2011, Cricket, Opinion
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2

 Srikrishnan Chandrasekaran

 9 August 2011


Zimbabwe has pulled off a remarkable come back into test cricket with a win over Bangladesh on their one-off test match series in Zimbabwe. This is a significant achievement for Zimbabwe as they have not played much test cricket at the international level for several years.

Brendan Taylor led Zimbabwe to a winning return to Test cricket.

The coachwof Zimbabwe has invested lot of time and hard work to form a team which has not played much cricket on International front to form a winning team. The two teams on show comprised of lot of young players and it was really good to see them played the test match that was well contested over five days.

As the current trend is for players is to opt to play for shorter formats of Cricket, this match will teach a lesson to the other cricket playing nation about the true value of test cricket. The match had total runs of 1100-plus, 35 wickets, 2 centuries, 2 four wicket hauls which were good good signs between 2 lowest level test playing nation and that their players had it in them to put performances required in the longest format.

Zimbabwe has shown great level of patience and character as the Bangladesh team contains lot of spinners who had really done great work in ODIs and Test cricket against the Asian Countries. Bangladesh will be disappointed that they could’t pull off a victory as was expected of them and they will feel disappointed. The home team has lot of reasons to enjoy and this will really accelerate the momentum for Zimbabwe in cricket arena. Declaration at the right time from the captain and three wickets at the end of day 4 which really set-up the Zimbabwe win.

Let’s hope they can build on it and go back to the heady days of being able to compete with the best which they did not so long ago.

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.

India’s Need For Discipline, Regimen And Belief

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

 Goutham Chakravarthi

 3 August 2011


For sometime now, England have been the most prepared team of all in world cricket. Their regimen is structured to each individual and religiously followed. Now, it has been hailed as the reason for their remarkable success over the visiting Indians this summer.

India, on the other hand have spoken at length over the Kirsten years that his empowerment methods have ensured that players looked after themselves – deciding as to when they needed the practice and when they needed the break. It worked. Now, it hasn’t!

England’s openers have had an average series and so have Morgan and Swann. But, a winning team is a happy team as none of it is being questioned. Their preparation can hardly be faulted. On the other hand, the whole of India is after its much vaunted stars. Their injuries and lack of preparation being the talking point on all Indian sports shows over the last 24 hours.

Dravid and Tendulkar: Epitome of discipline, preparedness and performance

As is the case in any sport, you get players of all sorts: varying in intensity, talent, physical ability, natural ability, approach and attitude. Some are very hardworking and successful. And some are not so hardworking but sometimes more successful. While the fans and sports writers may marvel at a bowler’s ability to party till 5 in the morning and bowl a scorching spell to decimate the opposition, his peers may not. They would, if anything, wonder how much better he would be if he worked as hard.

It calls for immense disciple on the part of the players to keep at it game after game, season after season. It takes one bad game for a high class baseball pitcher to doubt his abilities: the fastball won’t move, the curve is flat and the sinker doesn’t. A great tennis baseliner starts missing the lines and starts to believe the court is narrower than a tightrope.

All great performers have a regimen they stick to. Cricketers approach off-season meticulously to mend and sew their shortcomings or work on upcoming challenges. As the season or a series approaches, each day is an investment on self to be at the best physical and mental frame when the time comes. Distractions are avoided and negativity repelled. Champions don’t show-up under prepared. Their best weapons are well oiled to be called upon the hour of need, their tricks well hidden from the opposition champion and mind well trained to not give-in to the best punch the enemy can throw. It is a champions’ world and there is no place for wanting to be anything less.

India's many injuries in the series is a case of player empowerment on fitness and injuries going wrong

Champions can sometimes be hard on themselves and believe a little less of them – in preparation – can be overcome with aura and skill. Alas, it will come a cropper against a champion opposition better prepared. It calls for immense discipline to be at the peak always, but champions do so for they want to be the best. You don’t win a synchronized swimming Olympic gold with one swimmer not-in-sync. Team sports cannot afford to carry players not well prepared. It can carry out-of-form players, but not ones who might bring the team down for they are not prepared to last the distance.

England and India might follow different approaches to monitor its cricketers, but, both methods are not fool proof of player dishonesty.

India needs its champions to be honest on their disciplines and regimen and more so to the cause of their team. For now, it needs its players to prepare and believe to be at their best come the third test at Birmingham. They know they have not been at their best these two tests. If they lose, so be it, but they should ensure they lose having given their best.

India Staring At A Whitewash

Posted: August 2, 2011 by The CouchExpert in Cricket, India in England 2011, Opinion
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0

 Srikrishnan Chandrasekaran

 2 August 2011

With players being part of IPL having ruled themselves out stating an injury and it has cost the nation to its no. 1 ranking. As like teaching is a profession, cricket is a profession for players and they look to earn more money and get fame in a short span irrespective of playing longer format of the game. The problem is, in most other professions, the impact is with the person or with the organization, but in a game like cricket, it is a wish for 1.2 billions people and it has harsh impact on their feelings.
When players make their decision to decide which sport to choose from the choices, it will be great / wise if they look from a wider angle rather than from few specific pointers.

India have not put up a fight befitting their ranking so far this series

Engalnd have outplayed India in this series so far. Loss in 2nd test match is primarily on sending Dravid as opener and Laxman at No 3. Not sure who has taken that decision to position these 2 players but not at all a great decision. There have been plenty of occassions where Dravid has had to come in in 1st over itself as no. 3. India would have tried with some lower-order batsmen to open with Mukund even if they last only a single delivery. Laxman should be positioned only at his favorite spot.

Since we are already one down in the series, it is really important to keep our players at the right order as they play freely and confidently at the spot. The Indian batting has looked really odd during these 2 test matches. Even though the conditions here are quite different as there is a lot of bounce and swing, the current team has played lot of cricket (all forms) and they have the ability to cope-up and come stronger, but the way they played is un-imaginable.
Our pace bowlers made a good come back in both innings expect few key areas of improvements. This match is of a huge difference we had to change our batting order which resulted in a loss of the test match on other hand, Bell at no. 3 changed the course of the test match. He set the tone on 3rd morning with his amazing stroke play by punishing all the bad balls to the boundary.
During the last 2 test matches, our bowlers have really struggled against lower order batsmen than the top / middle order. The experienced coach / senior players in the team should have guided the right path for the bowlers as to where to bowl and where not to bowl. It seems like there is no discussion / team cooperation in this regard. On a same ptich, England scored 5 runs per over and Indian team got bowled in less than 2 sessions. The variation in bowling is really missing. They should mix-up deliveries
The non-attacking style of Dhoni needs to be revisited. The approach has now yielded the worlds no. 1 test team to go down to no.2 and will continue to fall further if Dhoni continues the same tactics and doesn’t learn from his mistakes. Even a score of 150 to 175 for India was really going to be difficult to achieve in the 4th innings – we have lost plenty of matches when the score is over 200 on the last innings. Dhoni didn’t have a third-man till the lead went past 275.
On the 3rd morning when Bhajji came to bowl there were only 2 players around the bat, slip and leg slip, but it is not enough on any tracks. If a spinner needs to get wickets there should be at least 3 men around the bat, silly point, short leg and slip. What this makes is, the batsmen have to give respect to bowler by playing soft hand shots. There is a possibility of batsmen making a mistake and end up in either a caught behind, caught at short leg or silly point,  run out,  stumping, slip catch, mishit or sweep popup to the short-fine fieldsman. If there is no one around the bat, there is no risk for the batsmen to get out, the only way the wicket can fall is the batsmen himself doesn’t want to hold his wicket. Even a no. 11 batsmen won’t prefer to do that.
Even if we are going to play to our full strength in next test match, Dhoni should change his approach otherwise it will be definitely 3-0. There has been plenty of Dhoni as the winning captain of world cup, t20 and other tournaments. This is a team game and it is the effort of all the players and not just Dhoni’s alone. Even on the world cup only on the last match Dhoni scored runs. AHe scored only one 50-plus knock through the entire world cup. The selectors should think from that perspective whether he is really fit to be there for both ODI & test cricket. Definitely Dinesh Karthik would have played  much better cricket in both batting and keeping in this series than Dhoni.
All the best to India for the third test match. I’ll feel really happy even if this series ends with 4-0 to England if India can play a fighting come back and lose the match not like what we lost the first 2 test matches.
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