Posts Tagged ‘rahul dravid’

One final chance for ageing superstars to conquer Australia

Posted: November 27, 2011 by Prasad Moyarath in Cricket, India Cricket, Opinion
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Prasad Moyarath

An Australian tour always provided an ultimate test of character for any cricketer and remained a tough frontier to conquer for any team. The pace and bounce of the Australian pitches combined with its bigger boundaries intimidated the batsmen from the subcontinent to such an extent that a big innings in Australia is epitomised as his ability to play quality fast bowling. Off-spinners struggling, fast bowlers bowling a wrong length, fielders struggling with their throw from the boundary, wicket-keepers fumbling are all common problems faced by the teams from the subcontinent in Australia. The Australian media are well known for their attack on opposition captain and almost all sub-continental teams have had some bitter experience in the past.

Yet another Australian tour is round the corner for the Indian cricket team. Indian selectors have announced a 17 member squad for the four test series which looks strong and well balanced in paper. But for any cricket connoisseur, this team does not inspire any confidence. Though this team has a set of talented youngsters and established stars, the way this team has been groomed as a unit and its preparation for this tough tour has raised the eyebrows of many. Having followed many Indian tours of Australia particularly the last two in 2003-04 and 2007-08, this team for me, does not look strong enough to conquer Australia even with their new look side.

Sreesanth and Harbhajan are known to get under the skin of the Aussies. They might be missed. © The Indian Express

India drew the series 1-1 in 2003-04 and lost 2-1 in 2007-08. Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman and Zaheer who were part of those two tours are still there in this team. Dhoni toured Australia in 2007-08. Team with 6 experienced players should have an upper hand against a new look Australian squad. But a look at the performances of the 6 Indian experienced stars makes me jittery. Zaheer is coming out of an injury. Though Sehwag has scored a few half centuries after his come back, his performances have not been convincing. But Sehwag is unpredictable and can fire any time and India’s performance in Australia depends to a great extent on the innings he plays there. Dravid has been in great form and should continue his dream run in Australia. The whole nation is waiting for a century from Tendulkar and this expectation seems to affect the great master. Despite his big knocks in India, Tendulkar does not look to be in a good rhythm. Laxman has always produced some wonderful performances against Australians, but age seems to have caught up with him. His feet are not moving like in his younger days and with his slow reflexes, he can be a burden on the field in Australia. Dhoni has a dubious batting record outside the sub continent and his keeping has also not lived up to the expectations recently. Australians are well known for their meticulous planning and they are sure to exploit the above weaknesses of Indian stars.

It will be the first test series in Australia for Gambhir (though he impressed in the one-day series there back in 2008). Kohli is yet to cement his place in the test squad and his weakness against short pitched balls which became evident in West Indies will be exploited by Australians. He needs to display how he has rectified this short coming. Rahane and Rohit Sharma are yet to make their debut in test cricket and don’t expect to play any part in the test team unless any of the batsmen gets injured. Only one among the two spinners will play in 3 test matches except in Sydney. Praveen Kumar, Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron will relish the conditions and it is up to them to make their presence felt. Saha will be a mere passenger unless Dhoni gets injured. India needs to play Umesh and Varun in all the test matches and knowing the leadership style of Dhoni, it looks a distant dream.

What is lacking in this “strong” team compared to the previous tours? To be honest, this Indian team lacks characters, those who have the guts to fight it out in the middle and those who can inspire others with their cameo. India will surely miss players like Saurav Ganguly, Sreesanth and Harbhajan. It is not that these players should be included in this squad, but this team lacks “something” which these players have which will help them fight against all odds.

What could have been done to improve India’s chances? The West Indian tour to India ahead of this Australian tour is a big blunder. The flat pitches here did not help the cause either. The Indian selectors and the team management never bothered to groom the players. Rohit Sharma was identified as a test batsman very late and the captain did not have the courage to play him in place of an established star even after winning the series. Same is the case with Rahane. The Indian selectors have still not identified the players to replace the 3 greats. They should have played Rahane and Rohit by resting Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman in rotation. Now it is suicidal to blood these batsmen in trying conditions in Australia in case of a crisis. Parthiv Patel as a reserve keeper would have solved the batsmen’s injury worries considering his experience in Australia. Why the selectors don’t consider him as a batsman despite some crucial knocks against Brett Lee and Shoaib Akhtar is still a mystery. By denying a chance for Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron to bowl in tandem in Mumbai, the Indian team management missed a golden opportunity to groom a new fast bowling pair. With a captain who wants the Indian test pitches to assist spinners from the first day onwards, this was not unexpected.

The years 2003 and 2007 left the Indian cricket lovers broken hearted due to the Boxing Day test matches in Melbourne. The year 2011 seems to end in the same note. Unless the Indian openers give a sound start and our team management gives up their defensive thinking and our new fast bowlers rip through the Australian batting line up, this Indian team don’t seem capable of presenting a happy 2012 to its fans. Good Luck Dhoni and team.

Kallis is a colossal giant

Posted: November 20, 2011 by The CouchExpert in Cricket, Opinion
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Goutham Chakravarthi

Greatness in sport is a strange thing. It has no cut out definition. But it can come from anywhere – from the streets of Karachi or the hills of Kandy. Nor is it predictable to a pattern.

As a kid growing up Javed Miandad was a man who I believed to be the all conquering god of batting. He had smashed Chetan Sharma for a six on the last ball to win a one-dayer for Pakistan and ever since, he was one player all budding Indian batsmen secretly admired and hated. I was no different. He was the epitome of a scrapper and street fighter. A cagey man and an astonishing batsman, he was a great batsman. Perhaps a shade less than Viv among his contemporaries. Viv imposed his pride and will on the game like no one since.

Kallis is the best all round cricketer since Sobers

Not always is greatness bestowed on a cricketer very early. It is not a mere test of ability, but of character, endurance, will and the know how to seize a moment. Champions are recognized for the long haul. Every champion has holes: more so with batsmen as they are measured often against one failure each time. Occasions such as world cups and tests against arch rivals often determine their fate. A Lara is remembered for his immortal unbeaten 153 against Australia in Barbados whereas a Gatting for getting out playing a reverse-sweep in a world cup final. Often, that is the lasting legacy of cricketers: what they do in the critical hour. Every one has a highest peak. For some the highest peak of failure outweighs their highest peak of success.

In that regard, some are not given the due they deserve. Like Rahul Dravid, Kallis doesn’t get his due. Like Dravid, Kallis never got the coverage he deserved when he got to 12,000 Test runs. It is a shame.

Make no mistake, he is a colossus. As a batsman alone he counts among the best five batsmen to have played the game in the last 20 years. As an all rounder, he is the best since Sobers.

Some keen observers point out that Kallis likes to look after himself: a clever way of saying that he plays for averages. Often he is criticized for that in the one-day games. The entire South African team ignored him at breakfast following the world cup defeat against Australia in 2007. His numbers are staggering in all formats and in all levels. His longevity and consistency are startling considering his work load as a bowler, a very skillful one at that in his pomp.

A man of strong basics, he has built his game on sound technique. Australians tried exposing holes in his drive, which, in turn was an examination of his mind and not of his game. Unnerved and solid, he has passed the test. As he has all around the world scoring runs on dry wickets and on the wet ones, against swing and seam, and against spinners on dust bowls. Not to mention seeing his team through in tough situations. Yes, there will be eternal argument in not seeing his teams through in world cups, but to pin the failures of a generation of South Africans on one man is preposterous.

I often believe the many struggles all cricketers go through are in the hope of achieving something substantial and special – as players and as a team. Long after they are done playing the game, it is moments of collective peaks that bring them a sense of satisfaction. And Kallis has often been at the center of many of the brightest moments of South Africa’s cricketing success. Perhaps he is comfortable now than before. He seems a lot more willing to impose himself on the opposition. He even lets out an occasional smile and shares a light moment with the opposition.

It is hard to imagine anyone as good as him who has got lesser recognition. He has won more games for South Africa than any other (most Man of the Match awards in Test history). Yet his calm is mistaken for insecurity and weakness. He knows his game and knows what it takes to succeed. If anything, his last few years have been better than ever before. Perhaps a lesser bowling load and a shift down the batting order have helped. Age and form will eventually catch up, but at current evidence, they seem many summers away.

When he is done playing the game, the game will remember him as among its very best.

Series Review: When 100 overs a game proved impossible!

Posted: September 17, 2011 by The CouchExpert in Cricket, India in England 2011, Opinion, Series
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Srikrishnan Chandrasekharan

Indian team will be very much pleased with their performance over the last 3 weeks against England in the ODIs. Even though the series score tell us that England beat India 3-0, the psychological feeling of players reveal that the team India played much better cricket than England. The Indian team was fooled by ICC / ECB / BCCI in awarding the shorter format cricket through D/L method as 50 Overs One Day international Tournament. England captain won the toss for five consecutive games reveals that there is fair amount of good time / luck surrounds him and his team.

ICC cheated fans across the globe by completing a 50 over ODI series without a single match completing the quota of 50 overs by both the sides. This is ridiculous act by ICC and shame on them on not utilizing the basic technology available to them in framing the fixtures of the series. When there was a clear indication of weather issues before start of the ODI series ICC either would have called off ODI series or changed to a format of 35 over new International format for the 5 games scheduled for the tour. One should not measure the performance of Indian bowlers during this series as none of the match played the quota of 50 overs.

A series that will be remembered as much for the rains as anything else.

Injuries to several key players during the tour, the Indian team shown exemplary performance on their batting and improved show in the bowling with the resources at their disposal. The weakness of England bowlers was exposed during so called the ODI series. Except Swann, every other English bowler failed to make any impact against this young and inexperienced Indian lineup. Indian bowlers tried their best but it was really hard for them to bowl in English conditions where the match format changed after every rain interruption. India would have ended up with a more respectable series scoreline if any of the match been played the quota of 50 overs on both sides.

Parthiv making a comeback, Rahane on other hand making his debut, Rahul inclusion to the side after to ODI format and these 3 players formed the most critical batting position and made a reasonable contribution to the team in the series. On the other hand, Dhoni and Raina, short of runs in Tests, came back strongly and played some wonderful cricket. Jadeja played some good cricket when the team needed. India made a commendable total against tough bowling attack in English soil [274 (50) – 1st ODI, 187 (23) – 2nd ODI, 234 (50) – 3rd ODI, 280 (50) – 4th ODI, 304 (50) -5th ODI]. Once the top players are fit and make a comeback to the side, team India might easily score 300 to 350 against this English attack on Indian soil.

The team management and BCCI should look at the positives from the tour and build the stronger team for the future. The focus of BCCI should be picking right talent and framing a team that can play for next 5 to 8 years. Also BCCI should not make any hasty decision on players / captain / coach of the team based on one or two series failures. India needs to have backup players and use them effectively in the case of injuries to their main players. They need to be given fair chance to play in every series by resting the main players.

The team management should keep focus on these players and enhance their skills both in Test and shorter variants (Kohli, Raina, Rahane, Rohit, Manoj Tiwary, Jadeja, Ashwin, Praveen, Munaf, Varun, Parthiv, Ishant, RP Singh). In the recent series Indian pace bowling lacked line, length, mixing of deliveries and pace. Former fast bowlers should come forward and guide the young bowlers to scale up to the next level. Also, the batsmen should stay at the crease for longer duration and convert their scores in to bigger ones.

The truth of life was revealed during this series. The team which is World No. 1 on Test International and World Champion on ODI’s failed to win a single match on the tour with their class players who helped the team to win plenty of series for India at home and abroad. Before start of the series, fans, reporters and former players across the globe predicted that India will beat England on their home soil comprehensively. The reality is different of course and may there be enough steps taken to get the team back on track. And quickly.

Dravid announces retirement from England captaincy and umpiring

Posted: September 16, 2011 by The CouchExpert in Fiction
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 Goutham Chakravarthi

 16 September 2011


It is the last day of a miserable tour for India. Yet, all eyes will be on the Indian captain when India hit the field. He is known to send off greats in his signature inimitable style. He carried Kumble on his shoulders (Ravi Shastri bets he heard Hussain utter “donkey” under his breath) after his last Test and let Sourav Ganguly lead the team the last few minutes of the next Test which would be Ganguly’s last. He has set his bar high. What will he do for Dravid’s last?

Dravid thanked his England teammates before announcing retirement from England captaincy.

“Perhaps, I’ll let him keep wickets,” said the captain. Pried further, he said “Dravid is the ultimate team man. Since this will be the last ODI before the new one-day rules kick in, we have unanimously decided that every batsman will use Dravid as a runner. He will run for both the striker as well as the non-striker. He will even be his own runner. We want the world to celebrate the ultimate team man.”

Alastair Cook, not to be left behind, chipped in “Rahul has been a massive hit in our dressing room this summer. We have not been able to get him out and he has walked off when he was not out and has been given out when he was not out and he has still walked off. No complains at all. Such a gem! We have decided to honour him by declaring him as the captian of the England ODI side for the last ODI.”

The new England T20 skipper, Graeme Swann, having become the first international captain to release official press statements on twitter, tweeted “Dravid’s defence is impenetrable. I urge that he be made our Defence Minister #queenareyoulistening”

Dhoni, seemingly feeling that he is losing his Midas touch on retirement policies as well, made a quick attempt to pull things back. He said, “Rahul Dravid will also be the umpire and will umpire from both the ends and will also be the TV umpire and the fourth umpire. Umpires need to know when the batsman has nicked it and when he hasn’t. Rahul will demonstrate how to use the technology the right way. He will even open the bowling for us. You will see Rahul bowling and umpiring to his own deliveries and keeping to his own bowling. Yes, he will also be fielding in the slips.”

ESPNStar and Sky also announced that Dravid will be miked up, separately, and will speak to both the channels, simultaneously, on two different mikes on two separate topics. In a joint statement, the channels said, “Though it is one man answering the questions, it is two separate channels, moguls both, with its own esteemed commentators commentating on the game, and, therefore, will need its experts the privilege to pick on Dravid’s brains. Should a situation occur that both channels be reaching out to Dravid at the same time, we will leave it to Ravi Shastri from the ESPNStar box and Nasser Hussain from the Sky box to thrash it out and decide who should get the first go.”

The Indian government on the other hand dedicated the hike in petrol prices from midnigh tlast night to Rahul Dravid. A press release said “Rahul’s been the most invaluable player for this team for many a year. Like the dwindling fuel reserves everywhere, Rahul is a rare fossil that is extinguishing by the day. To mark respect for such invaluable fossil, to show its value in increased light, we have decided to hike the price of petrol. Petrol is invaluable and Dravid is its personification.”

When Dravid finally addressed the press conference, speculation was rife amid the British scribes if Dravid would want continue after retiring from the Indian team as the captain of the England cricket team and were contemplating what his first policy would be as the Defence Minister if he would be sworn in as one by the queen.

Dravid straight batted all questions with this statement: “I’m deeply moved by the gesture of my teammates, opponents and my government and Britain’s. However, I must say that I will be retiring from my captaincy position of England with immediate effect and would like to thank my-would-have-been-teammates-but-never-will-be-teammates in the England dressing room. I’m sure it would have been an honour playing with you boys. I also withdraw from opting to umpire and keep wickets and bat at both ends while running for all people. I will however substitute for anyone in the crowd who needs a break and watch the game from the stands.”

Chants of “Rahul Dravid for Prime Minister,” were heard in the media boxes as Rahul Dravid quietly walked off after he had made his press statement. It brought about a fight between the Indian and the British media contingent as both had uttered the chants at the same time. Television channels across both nations are running debates if Rahul Dravid would make a better Prime Minister of India or of Britain.

Rahul Dravid is expected to make a press statement on this matter after the practice session today.

Old Trafford T20I Preview: A Glorified Practice Game

Posted: August 31, 2011 by The CouchExpert in Cricket, India in England 2011
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 Goutham Chakravarthi

 31 August 2011


A one-match T20 series sandwiched between four Tests and five one-dayers hardly serves any purpose. With also the accepted norm of there not being more than three T20I games in any country each year, perhaps it is a reflection of it being just a world cup format at the top level.

Rahul Dravid will make his T20I debut

India, as can be understood, have not picked a separate team for the lone T20I game. With Dravid and Tendulkar having expressed their disinterest to partake in international T20I games, it was expected to be left to the young guns who have had a good time of it in the three warm-up games, to take charge. With Gambir, expectedly going back home, and BCCI, expectedly not having someone on stand-by, Rahul Dravid, Indian cricket’s most abused cricketer, will make his T20I debut in a couple of hours’ time.

It must be a tough one for the Englishmen as well. Stuart Broad, the T20 captain for England, will want to try out some of the cricketers in his pool in preparation for the world cup in Sri Lanka next year. Some of the young guns like Jos Buttler were on display on the domestic T20 finals day over the weekend. The inclination is clear from the Flower camp that this game (and the two additional games at the end of the summer against West Indies) will be used as a testing ground in the quest for arriving at the best combination for next year’s world cup.

India will use this as game to test their combination ahead of the one-dayers. It is quite incredible to think that they had picked a squad where it is difficult to fathom who would bowl the fifth bowler’s quota unless they wanted to play five bowlers, which isn’t how India plays its cricket. Ravindra Jadeja’s call-up will ensure that India play four bowlers plus Jadeja.

Also will be interesting to see India’s batting order for tonight’s game. With Tendulkar opting out and Dhoni returning to the XI after opting out of the warm-up game against Leicestershire, one of Rahane or Parthiv Patel, who opened the batting in that game, will have to sit out of this game. This might mean, Rahul Dravid will have to open the innings on his T20I debut! Perhaps he would prefer opening in this format than having to bat at 5 or 6.

A lot of the Indian bowlers are used to playing a whole lot of T20 cricket. Expect India to use a lot of spin to counter what the young English batsmen might have to throw at them. Ashwin will bowl a lot with the new ball and late in the innings. He is a clever bowler who relishes a fight. A good show in the remaining leg of this tour might earn him a berth in the Test squad against the West Indies in October. Scratch your head as you might wondering how limited overs’ performance can sew a Test spot, but then, that is the Indian way.

The weather coming to September in England will also be a big factor. The wickets, India will hope, be tired at the end of the season and will aide spin. Night cricket in the north of England might be quite a challenge for the Indians who are used to the warmth of the Indian sun.

England will hope the scars from Tests will still linger and India will hope the arrival of a new set of players will change their fortunes. Both teams will use this match as a stage for two separate reasons – England to test their pool for the world cup and India for the one-dayers – which begs the question if this will just be a glorified practice game?

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