Posts Tagged ‘sachin tendulkar’

Time India Groomed Its Youngsters For The Future

Posted: August 30, 2011 by The CouchExpert in Cricket, Opinion
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 Srikrishnan Chandrasekaran

 30 August 2011


Indian cricket players have failed to make an impression on any of the three key areas of cricket during this series (batting, bowling and fielding). Each of these attributes fell short of their standards day after day and each one of them is interconnected to the other. The series has shown not only lack of preparation from our players but also their responsibility towards alerting their board on their fitness. They really forget about the billions of people who will be cheering them up on their matches.

The time has come for Indian cricket board to form a team for the next generation. The series against England gives the opportunity to the selectors to pick the right talent for the coming years. The trio (Sachin, Laxman and Dravid) have been serving Indian cricket marvelously over the past two decades, but are now more closer to the end than ever before. Therefore it is imperative for them to groom the younger generation to build a stronger Indian team before they make their way out.

Time is running out on India's big three. It's imperative they groom the next generation before they leave,

In the recent times some of the top emerging teams have got a higher proportion of young blood with an eye to form stronger teams for the future. The Indian team needs to work out a plan to reduce the one man dependency either on both bowling and batting. Retired cricketers like Kumble and Srinath need to come up with a plan to design young talent into spirited and well organized bowlers. May be, putting Kumble’s blueprint for Indian cricket into practice could be a good place to start for the board.

Out of Sachin, Dravid, Laxman and Sehwag, only 2 or 3 of them should be picked up in the playing XI. These players have already proved to the world how wonderful players they are and immensely contributed to the Indian cricket over the years. The next 2 years their focus should be towards building a stronger Indian team for the future. Many players can score centuries or win tournaments for the country, but only few players can sacrifice and help to build a strong team.

Each of these experienced players should be ready to play at different batting positions in the test cricket to give the opportunity for the young generation to play along with them in the Test cricket. This will really help to groom 3 to 4 young players into the team. Players like Kohli, Raina, Mukund, Rohit should be given more opportunities to transform their talent into performances in the longer format of cricket. As these young players are very good on the field, they will also improve the fielding standards drastically.

On the bowling front Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma and Ashwin have shown enormous talent and proved their selections match after match. Apart from these 3 players Ohja and Amit Mishra have improved a lot. These players should be given additional guidance and enough chances to be in playing XI.

Wishing the Indian cricket all the very best and expecting the Kumble, Srinath, Ganguly and Gavaskar to train and utilize the right talent to form a next generation cricket team so that the fans around the globe will enjoy the immense talent the Indian youth have on offer.

The Oval Preview: Perspective India

Posted: August 18, 2011 by The CouchExpert in Cricket, India in England 2011
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 Goutham Chakravarthi

 18 August 2011


India scored over 500 runs in the first-innings at the Oval in their last two Tests here. Anil Kumble scored a Test hundred last time around! This time, however, Indian batting, has been a collective failure. In four Tests in 2007, not one top-order batsman got to a hundred though all but Dravid got close to it on multiple occasions. They were strong as a unit. This time, barring Dravid, hardly any one else seems capable of wielding the willow.

Still, it is hard to give up on this batting side. It is a far cry from the last time India were subjected to losing three Tests in a row – in Australia back in 1999-00. That was a team never expected to win and here is a team, which after three successive defeats, each progressively bigger than the previous one, there is still hope of a turn around. Only just.

Will the smiles return?

The break between the second Test and the third was expected to give them time to clear their thoughts as individuals and as a unit. Instead, they were handed a mauling by an impressive England unit with no apparent chinks. As the prospect of a whitewash looms large, India, with its perceivably wafer-thin bowling attack and a batting side equally thin on confidence, will need a remarkable turn around to stop England.

They are a team of impressive individuals made of the right stuff. Things that have defined them over the last decade – resilience, doggedness, scrap – have gone missing. Big runs have eluded their batsmen. In fact, they have been deprived of any runs at all. It has left the players and the fans stumped.

English bowlers have shown enormous precision in carrying out their plans. Their quick-bowling reserves seem to run deeper than the mental scars they have inflicted on Indian batsmen. Their lengths have been fuller, none more so than Broad, and they have managed to move the ball late both ways to make life suffocating for the Indians.

It is in this cauldron of relentless pressure that India’s batsmen have been found wanting. Rahul Dravid has been the lone exception. He has shown exceptional skill in handling the conditions and bowling. Tendulkar and Laxman have not been allowed to get away. The younger batsmen have been found out and must be wondering if they are good enough at this level.

It will take enormous discipline, grit and patience to wear such a potent bowling side. You would have expected this Indian batting side to do just that for they are good at it. For starters, they would, for a change want the openers to grind and battle conditions. Sehwag has had his success overseas giving this first session to the bowlers. He can make for lost time better than most. Gambhir needs a score. That both are coming back from injuries hasn’t helped India’s cause.

Tendulkar’s last average series came against a rampant Ajanta Mendis in Sri Lanka back in 2008. He looked unsure there like he has often done here. When he has been positive, like in the first innings at Lord’s, second innings at Trent Bridge and Edgbaston, he has hardly looked troubled. India will hope for a big innings from him and from another pillar of strength, Laxman, as it looks to pick up the pieces and put them back together.

Expect Kohli, R.P. Singh and Pragyan Ojha to be given a look in. Ojha is a tidy bowler with potential. He should exploit any spin and bounce available and R.P. Singh is a steady swing bowler who might trouble the English openers. India will sweat on the fitness of Praveen Kumar and will hope that he is available. Ishant has blown hot and cold. May be, the bounce at the Oval will be to his liking.

India needs big runs from the batsmen for its bowlers to pose a challenge to a rampant English top-order. It will be interesting to see their approach to this Test. One would think that holds the key to their success.

Batman Bresnan announces Englishmen as the alpha males of cricket

Posted: August 17, 2011 by The CouchExpert in Fiction
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 Goutham Chakravarthi

 17 August 2011


“Indians either need to learn to do banana splits to keep themselves warm or go back to India and start preparing for Champions League T20,” said Tim Bresnan, wearing a sleeveless shirt and a wrestler’s shorts, and flexing his biceps and then resting both his hands on his hips. But for the cape, you would call him Batman.

Bresnan has challenged the Indians to follow suit and try banana splits or go back home!

Bresnan added, “English boys are now the alpha males of cricket. Guys like Cook have reformed batting in the days of ugly swipes and heaves that are influenced by the blasphemy of the IPL. You cannot compare our extremely superior batting line-up to theirs. It is unfair. We pratice it as a sacred art – perfected by the likes of W.G. Grace, Hutton, Hobbs, Hammond and passed on to the likes of Boycott and now Cook. It is art in its purest form.”

Asked if it was a challenge to bowl to the likes of Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Laxman, he said the biggest challenge was not to be bowled over by a dozen middle aged men dressed like Britney Spears on the fancy dress Saturday in Birmingham. Once he could resist keeping his eyes off them, he said he had conquered his biggest challenge and Indians’ batting was nothing in comparison and pointed out that Sreesanth and Ishant couldn’t and suffered as a result.

With the Indian media contingent also not interested in the series after having to go through the arduous task of praising Cook’s batting for three days, the series sponsors, npower, tried to attract media personals to the press conference by arranging for a “Who has more tattoos” contest.England’s long list included two South Africans in Jade Dernbach and Kevin Pietersen and India were represented by Sreesanth.

Vaughan has appealed to stop worshipping Tendulkar and copy Tuffnel's batting instead

Sreesanth’s sledging of Dernbach’s tattoos notwithstanding, it took an accusation from Bresnan again to warrant Indian media interest back in the series. “Sehwag is the joker to this Batman,” he said referring to himself. He said, “Virender Sehwag is the most overrated of Indian batsmen as he is a flat track bully and cowers when touring abroad. Boycott’s mum had better technique against the moving delivery.”

When asked for a reaction, the former English skipper, Michael “Vaseline” Vaughan said, “It is about time people understood Indian ways do not work anymore. The Tendulkar way has not worked for Tendulkar himself and he should learn a thing or two from Cook. No surprise his clone Sehwag hasn’t done well. Time someone like Ravi Bopara learnt the lesson and stopped worshipping Tendulkar. Even mimicking Tuffnel’s batting technique would have given him a hundred runs at Edgbaston. If he did, we will have the best Indian in our team, like we have the best Zimbabwean and South Africans in our team!”

Bob Willis joined the bandwagon and said, “This entire series has been about Tendulkar getting his hundredth 100. Don’t you see that he wants to put himself along Bradman with the perfectly imperfect number 99? Their preparation and prioritization of the English tour has been abysmal. If Strauss wins the toss at The Oval, they should look to bat till lunch on Day 5 and declare. Indians have shown no stomach for fight and will disintegrate twice in the remaining two sessions. England might even win with a session to spare!”

Zaheer Khan is reported to have pocketed the coin that is to be used for the toss tomorrow to check his weight after being accused for being fat by Stuart Broad. The umpires and match officials were busy checking if a substitute coin will be allowed if the designated coin for the toss can’t be recovered and if there was a possibility of the match being called off in such a scenario.

Time India Looks To Rohit Sharma and Rahul Sharma And Build For Australia

Posted: August 15, 2011 by harmeetmehta in Cricket, Opinion
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 Harmeet Mehta

 15 August, 2011

 

Whether India wins or not, the last test at the Oval starting 18th August, one thing is certain, perhaps, that Sachin

It's time technically superior Rohit Sharma is preferred over Suresh Raina

Tendulkar will get his 100th hundred. India, apart from the Oval test, play ten one day internationals against England (5 in India after the current 5-match ODI series) before embarking upon their toughest tour to Australia in December. It would not have been so tough had they not lost the Pataudi Trophy in the fashion they did. If India does end up winning (or drawing) the last match, it would surprise even the India dressing room & selectors. They (the selectors) have had this coming onto them, especially after doing selection blunders like selecting the IPL star hitter Suresh Raina over better technically equipped players like Rohit Sharma. There is lot of retrospection that Indian selectors need to do in the next month or so, as star Indian batsmen from the current series should not be preferred for the Australia tour. If they want India to redeem their lost respect and hold on to the second (or perhaps third) ranking after the England series, they might just start getting their facts right about the team they form for Australia tour. Let’s look at some of them:

Look beyond Zaheer Khan

Zaheer is past the age where he could bowl thirty-forty overs in an innings and looking at the kind of attack we have now new untested ‘young’ bowlers will be as effective in Australia as Sreesanth and Ishant. With an exception of Praveen Kumar, none of the bowlers from current team should get a chance for Australian tour. Build a team for future and let Sree and Ishant build their career around T20.

Look beyond Sehwag

This is the most dreadful thought as Sehwag has single-handedly won a number of matches for India. But, seeing the trend in last couple of years, Sehwag has not been able to play immediately after IPL due to injuries. Why does he have to play IPL when he knows his body can’t cope up with so much of cricket. It’s definitely money over country’s pride. He must learn from English players and retire from either Tests or IPL (unless India does not have any test series after the premier league).

Sachin, Laxman & Dravid’s replacement 

Rahul Sharma might be given a go in place of Harbhajan Singh

When Rohit Sharma started to play, I could see Sachin of nineties in him. His technique and determination was better than many of his age. With time, IPL and selectors indifference, his true talent has not been tapped into. He has a Test future, if only Dhoni looks beyond his Chennai teammate Suresh Raina. Rohit Sharma, of the younger lot, is the best player of short ball and should be preferred for Test matches in England and Australia. He will be the perfect replacement for Sachin, when Sachin retires, but he needs grooming under the guidance of Dravid and Tendulkar. He deserves a chance.

Drop Harbhajan from Australia series

Why is Harbhajan singh a permanent name in Dhoni’s scheme of things? Especially in the overseas tours? I don’t remember when he last dominated a Test match. I would give Rahul Sharma a chance over Harbhajan or Mishra for Australian tour.

These and many more things selectors will have to look into before they can even think about the Boxing Day test where Australia will try to prove a point. After all they dominated test cricket rankings, since the ranking system was established, for 74 months by beating almost every team in their as well as the opponents’ backyards. India dominated for 20 months without winning comprehensively in overseas series. India’s dominance of 20 months is more to do with Australia’s down slide than India’s own game.

The fight for No. 1 spot: Will India bounce back?

Posted: August 2, 2011 by The CouchExpert in Cricket, India in England 2011
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 Eniyan V

 2 August 2011

 

The ongoing England India Test series is one of closely followed and much anticipated in the recent past. It’s expected to be a fierce battle between two strong teams, in their prime form, for the top spot in Test cricket. But, has the contest lived up to the expectation so far? Unfortunately, it hasn’t. To the exasperation of the Indian fans, bliss of English fans and disappointment of the neutral fans expecting close contest, the first two tests have been utterly one-sided – England winning by margins of 196 and 319 runs respectively.

Unlike the ODI ranking, test ranking is not officially updated after each match. It’s updated only at the end of the test series. So, India is still the No. 1 team. But, England is pretty much on course to become the No. 1 team at the end of the series. All they need is one more win or draw the remaining two matches to topple India.

Quality players are mandate for a top class team. But that is not adequate. Characters such as never-say-die and go-for-the-kill are required to stamp the authority. England has shown the characters so far in this series, in coming back from 124-8 in the first innings and scoring 544 in just 120 overs in their second innings and ruthlessly dismissing India for 158 in the fourth innings of the Trent Bridge test. England’s 7 wins (including those two glorious Ashes victories) and one draw in their last 8 test series is not just a coincidence. Indeed, England is a serious contender for the No. 1 test spot.

Time India showed their ranking was not an accident

But, what does India hold? After the annihilating defeat, India could feel shattered. Team India could be wondering what led to this. May be lack of preparation, may be the unfortunate injuries, may be poor captaincy, may be the tiring IPL, but definitely not lack of quality and character. India is not the No. 1 team without a reason. In the last 3 years, India faced all the Test playing nations except Pakistan and didn’t lose any test series, winning 8 and drawing level in 3 test series in this period. India defeated Australia twice, New Zealand twice, England, West Indies, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh once. That’s a remarkable achievement, worthy to be No. 1 in test cricket.

India might go on to lose this series and the remarkable streak could be broken here in England. But, that shouldn’t happen without a fight. The last time India lost two test matches in a row in a series was when India toured Australia in 2007-08. But, India fought back bravely to win the third test at Perth. Such character was fundamental in the rise of India to the summit.

India should show more of such character in the next two tests. Individually, many Indian players have done well in parts. Dravid is amongst runs; Laxman has got couple of fifties; Tendulkar has got into form in the last innings; Praveen is getting wickets; Ishant and Sreeshant have done well in parts. Sehwag, Gambhir and Zaheer could be back in the eleven for the next match. All India needs to do is to regain the focus and hunger for success to stage a comeback in this series. Let’s hope the remainder of the series is closely contested and lives up to the expectation of the clash for the summit.

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