Day-5, The Inevitable!

There is something wonderful about body language. Even to an untrained eye, it’s easy to sense the feeling of the person in front just by his body language. Watching Indians today, one could feel certain that they had given up before the match even started. With the exception of Dhoni, who shone a like a lone star in a dark and gloomy sky, Indians were a defeated lot even before a ball was bowled. Commentator Harsha Bhogle summed it up nicely when he said, “it’s apt to look up to the sky than to look up to the batting order to save this match!”

It wasn’t that pathetic a display to be fair to the Indians. But the fact that a team that consists of the likes of Sachin, Dravid, Laxman, Ganguly and Sehwag couldn’t last a weather affected day doesn’t augur well for the Indian cricket at all. None of the deliveries to which these batsmen got out were unplayable. These vastly experienced players simply didn’t have the guts to hang in there and do the hard work.

Who knows, in the next test, these very players can again turn the tide in their favor and stage a fantastic batting display. I fully believe in the talent of these guys and that’s what hurts me more. How can such a wonderful batting line up fail so miserably so often? Is it the lack of mental application, is the lack of a spirit to win?

Any ideas?

I haven’t detailed out how the wickets fell, because it’s not worth it. You will be bored of reading the same things all over again!

India vs. SA Day 4 - Report

South Africans set for the kill early on. Graeme Smith promised make more runs than he made in this entire tour. SA batsmen were not short of courage and played some shots. It all ended as De Villiers edged one in VRV Singh’s bowling and later Smith was clean bowled by Sreeshanth. With the early departure of Prince, Gibbs and Boucher, India was suddenly looking at an improbable win.

That’s when Rahul Dravid struck for South Africa.

Yes, you read it right! He struck FOR South Africa and how! Instead of looking to finish off the tail by bringing on his better bowlers like Kumble and Sreeshanth, he persisted with VRV Singh and Sehwag (Can you imagine why?) who endlessly carried on without the sight of any success. The South African batsmen, who were reeling under the pressure of a possible series defeat had the time of their lives with these two part timers bowling and played them with utmost ease.

When Dravid realized the blunder he committed and brought back his strike bowlers, it was too late. SA had set a challenging total for India under deteriorating lighting conditions and a pack of hostile fast bowlers.

Indian Innings
Before the start of the innings, Indians were practically one wicket down as Sehwag will not be considered reliable by anyone in their right mind. To be fair to him, he tried his best; that is, to get out! He nicked a few that didn’t go to anyone. Then he adjusted his game, edged one perfectly and returned back happily to the dressing room, where his true calling lies.

Make no mistake; I am a fan of Sehwag. More than anyone else, I desperately wish for his return to form and I wish to see him thrashing the bowlers as he has done throughout his international career. But off late, he’s had too many chances and he needs to return to the first class cricket and try and get his form back. Look what one break did for Ganguly!

Rahul Dravid is one player on whom you can rely on such crunch situations. I consider his judgment on off stump best in the world. Even better than Sachin and Ricky Ponting. But it seems the pressure of captaincy is getting to him. After facing 25 deliveries and scoring five runs, (One of them a boundary on backward square leg) he nervously poked at one delivery and Boucher gobbled up this New Year gift with both hands. This happened in the bowling of Ntini and with Dravid, India’s hopes of saving this match evaporated in thin air!

When India was 38/2, forces of nature came to the rescue and umpires stopped the game because of bad light. And that’s how it ended. India reeling at 38/2. There are some hopes for India though! Either Sachin, Ganguly or Laxman can play the innings of their lives or it may pour and save India the blushes.

Let’s see how it goes!

India Vs. SA Day 3

Indian Innings
The life is back to normal. After a splendid batting display in the first test, the famed Indian batting line up put up its feet when it needed to dig deep into its wealth of resources and prove that the first test was not a fluke. On a pitch that was much more conducive to batting Indians let the ghosts from the past haunt them and rob them off their place under the sun.

There were two good news for India early in the day. One, Sachin Tendulkar returned to form and another, umpire Benson retired hurt! We all knew yesterday that he was mentally and physically sick not to give some LBW decisions and today it was officially conformed!

The day began promisingly for Indians as Sachin played some exquisite shots, mainly on the off side. He threatened to take full advantage of the dropped catch and make SA pay for it dearly. The man who played such commanding shots to almost all the SA bowlers got out sheepishly trying for a non-existent upper cut over the slips and ended up giving a catch to wicket keeper Mark Boucher. His 63 runs (115 balls) consisted of 11 fours and the Tendulkar of the bygone had era had almost returned.

Almost

When Ganguly walked to the center, India hoped for another rescue act from the man in form. But he lasted only two deliveries. Caught in two minds as whether to defend or attack a rising delivery from Ntini, Ganguly didn’t do any of these and gave a simple catch to Gibbs at gully and returned to pavilion faster than he had arrived.

Dhoni came, he saw and he nearly conquered. He hit some, he edged some, he missed some and finally he nicked one! His stay was short, on the edge stuff. While Dhoni lasted, nobody knew what was happening the next ball and sadly, that included Dhoni too!

While all this drama unfolded, poor Laxman stood on the other side and watched it helplessly. He was the only batsman not troubled by the SA bowlers. He was not his fluent self but he was composed and he was lucky! Lucky because in the 45th over, there was a huge appeal against him for caught behind and our dear umpire Benson had just retired hurt (god knows what happened to him). The stand in umpire Ian Blackwell was in no mood for fun and he declined the appeal. But other than that, Laxman’s innings was calm and composed. He made his fifty and was not out till the end.

Shreeshanth, who made 28, played some courageous shots. On some occasions he came down the track to hit the fast bowlers and got a boundary off Nell very early in his innings, just to remind who was the boss! He got out attempting another shot down the track edging it to the keeper. VRV Singh came, hit a four, suddenly wanted to bowl and threw his wicket away!

So that was Indian batting, which revolved mainly around the patient innings of VVS Laxman while other showed flashes of brilliance. Overall, SA is all set to equal the scores in the second innings unless they do something really stupid in their second innings!


The SA Innings
Nothing much to write about the SA innings. They only had to play 10 overs. The highlight of the day being Smith not giving his wicket away to Zaheer Khan.

Well, there is always another day and another chance!

India vs. SA Day 2 - Report

When India resumed business on Day 2, they would have hoped for a quick finish for the South African innings. They almost managed it when they got Ashwell Prince early. But by then, the wrecking of the ship had had begun. Prince actually played like prince unleashing a range of strokes not witnessed during his entire stay yesterday. His partner at the other end, Morkell, gave him good company. It took a magnificent catch from VVS Laxman in second slip to bring an end to a very good innings from Prince.

After Prince’s departure, the Indians hoped to wrap up things quickly and get started with their batting. But Ntini and Morkel had other ideas. On a pitch that was fast loosing its fizz, both Ntini and Morkel batted like seasoned pros and punished loose balls whenever they were on offer. With SA crossing the 300 mark, it was always going to be an uphill struggle for the Indians. Finally, it necessitated the guile of Kumble to remove Ntini and some luck on India’s part. Some luck because the umpire suddenly remembered people can be out LBW too and gave Ntini out! Hat’s off to that courageous umpire who had the guts to give a plumb LBW out!

South Africa all out on 328.

Indian Innings
If Graeme Smith is Zaheer Khan’s bunny, Sehwag is everybody’s bunny! In the last few tours, you just have to throw ball at Sehwag to get him out. On the very first ball he faced, Sehwag stood rooted to his crease and had a swing at the ball as if he was batting on 150. The ball promptly took the edge and De Villiers took a blinder in second slip. Nobody was shocked in the Indian camp. Gautam Gamhir might have been shocked because he doesn’t get a hit yet.

Dravid started off with a couple of confident boundaries. Just when the partnership between Dravid and Jaffer looked good, racist Benson did it again! The idiot who had not given out SA batsmen even when they were plumb in front gave out Rahul Dravid when the ball looked to be sailing comfortably over the stumps! That wicket belonged to this idiot umpire rather than Nell.

Later, it was Jaffer’s turn to follow suit. Although he had played some splendid strokes for boundaries the end was coming as he was often seen poking at deliveries outside the off stump. So, the end came in a predictable manner, an edge to the slip.

It mainly depends on India’s seniors now to rescue India to safety. Sachin is batting out there with some exquisite drives and Laxman is chipping in. There are Ganguly and Dhoni to follow and India can still be back in the game.

Our prayer for Sehwag’s return or form didn’t heed any results yesterday. Hope that god listens to us at least now!

India Vs. SA 2nd Test, Day 1

Graeme Smith tried to do what Rahul Dravid did on the occasion of first test, bat first and seize the initiative. The decision almost backfired as South Africa was reduced to 28/3 in less than an hour and it looked as if the SA batsmen were headed for another catwalk session to the pavilion.

Zaheer Khan started the proceedings for India in typical fashion. He bowled a good line and length and in the process scalped the SA skipper, the usual stuff! Smith tried to hook his way out of bad form only to find Sachin Tendulkar completing a good catch in the square leg region. Zaheer struck again in his fourth over to dismiss Amla and Shreeshanth finished off AB de Villiers’ resistance reducing SA to 28/3 and making a mockery of their decision to bat first.

But SA found their saviors in a demoted, but determined Herschelle Gibbs and some reluctant umpires who forgot what the LBW rules were all about. At least on three occasions, the batsmen looked plumb in front but the umpires didn’t budge. Edges were flying away in the vacant slip areas and the Indian team slowly promised to get out of the match as fast as they got in it. To add insult to the injury, Smith, who was tentative to start with, started putting bat to ball and played some breathtaking strokes to every bowler in sight. On the other side, Ashwell Prince gritted it out with the help of the umpires who turned down every LBW against him as a matter of policy.

After a sumptuous lunch and a healthy scoring rate, Gibbs’ confidence was soaring high and when Sreeshanth returned to bowling, he decided to take his revenge against the young seamer. In Sreeshanth’s fourth over after the lunch Gibbs had an almighty heave at a short pitched delivery outside the off stump only to edge it to first slip. A diving Dhoni completed the catch but umpire Benson, who was daydreaming in his own little world, refused to lift his finger. Finally, even Gibbs got bored and he walked out by himself, leaving Benson to slump into his daydreaming again.

But Mark Boucher, who came in after Gibbs was not daydreaming at all. He continued from where Gibbs left and played some scintillating strokes. With a stubborn Ashwell Prince on the other side, SA looked threatening enough to take the match away from India.

That’s when Sreeshanth struck.

It was an in dipping Yorker to which Boucher tried one of his customary flicks to square leg. The ball escaped Boucher’s bat and cleaned up two stumps opening the floodgates for India once again. Boucher had made a valuable fifty by then and SA desperately needed Shaun Pollock to carry on the good work.

He started off aggressively. Hit a couple of adventurous boundaries and then tried an ambitious shot to VRV Singh only to find Sehwag taking a sharp catch at Point. Then there were tail-enders and then there was Kumble. The master craftsman trapped Andre Hall and big-mouth Andre Nell in quick succession before the umpires woke up from their sleep and decided to offer the light to the batsmen, which was gleefully accepted, ending the day’s proceedings.

With SA 257/8 on Day 1, India clearly has the upper hand in the test. India will look to finish off the SA innings early on Day 2 and pray Sehwag and Jaffer find some form to give them a good start.

Let’s see if their prayers will be answered!

Bowling, Shane!

As Andrew Strauss missed Shane Warne’s flighted delivery spinning towards the middle stump, greatness beckoned Shane Keith Warne. The round shaped bowler, who revived the dying art of leg spin with his square turners, secured his place under the sun as one of the all time great bowlers to have played the game.

Creating news is not new for Shane Warne. Sometimes he made news and sometimes the news channels made him (Remember that “ball of the century” nonsense?). His ability to turn the ball is legendary, which is fiercely competed by his appetite for good looking women. Many a times, his tongue turned sharper than his deliveries and he made as many enemies on and off the field, which sadly includes his own wife. But everything said and done, for the all the test playing nations (except India) Warne was a nightmare with his lethal leg spin bowling.

And that’s why it’s time to say, “Bowling Shane!”

For a leg spinner, Warne had amazing control on his line and length. You rarely saw Warne loose his control on line and length. He bowled where he wanted to, and turned the ball as much or as little as he wanted to. Players from England, South Africa and New Zealand are reluctant to use their feet against spin and they let Warne have his way! Still, Warne deserves a place in the hall of fame just for reviving the art of leg spin. When you think of leg spin, you can think of only Shane Warne and India’s Anil Kumble among the current players. Leg spin is a difficult art to master. At a time when the finer aspects of test cricket are being killed by the batsman friendly ODIs, you have to salute Warne for his contribution to leg spin bowling.

Where does Warne stand in the list of all time great bowlers? Some believe he was the best. Being an Indian and having seen him suffer against Indian batsmen, I beg to differ. With the new ICC ruling, Murali is a legal bowler now and if you can forget the legal issues with his bowling, he is way ahead of Warne in terms of sheer craft. For any spinner in the world, performance against the Indian batting line up is the litmus test of his capabilities and Murali comes out with flying colors in this test.

Is Warne the best leg spinner ever? I don’t think that either! He has fierce competition from India’s B S Chandrashekhar for that title. There may be other good leg spinners in the past like Subhash Gupte and a host of other leg spinners who bowled as well as or better than Warne did.

In his glittering career on and off the field, Warne always had one wish that was never fulfilled. He could never dominate the Indians either in India or in Australia or even in any neutral avenues. He made his debut against India and Ravi Shastri made a double century in that match! He was later taken to task by Navjot Sidhu. Unluckily for Warne, Indians, good players of spin, always regarded him as easy prey and feasted on his leg spin bowling whenever they had the chance. They came down the track more than batsmen from any other country and negated the spin, which in my opinion, are the major reasons for their success against Warne.

But whatever is the reason of Warne’s failure against India, it’s an undisputable fact that he has succeeded tremendously against all other countries. He is a true legend of the game irrespective of his sexual escapades off the field! So at the time he is retiring and at a time when he has just crossed 700 wicket mark, it’s time to raise a toast to the one of the most charismatic players of the cricket and repeat a phrase which was often said by his team mate Ian Healy.

“Bowling Shane!”

The rise and fall of Irfan Pathan

The BCCI has finally woken up to the harsh realities with Irfan Pathan and decided to do some thing about it. They called him back! The way we have treated Irfan Pathan in the last few years have been insensitive to say the least. I am not claiming that Irfan is a baby to be treated delicately. But he was an allrounder, a rare breed in Indian cricket, and hence, he needed to be treated carefully.


If you try to make a list of 50 greatest batsmen of all time in the history of world cricket, I think you can do it easily. If you are a follower of cricket, this is easily achievable. Same is true for the bowlers. If you make a list of 50 great spinners and 50 great fast bowlers, a cricket historian can still do this with ease. But ask any cricket historian to make a list of 50 greatest allrounders who have changed the face of the game, and that is a difficult task.Simply put, allrounders are hard to find.In the history of cricket, we as cricket fans remember very few allrounders. Gary Sobers, Ian Botham, Imran Khan, Kapil Dev, Richard Hadlee, and who else? Did I miss any great allrounders from the previous era? I don't think so. Even in the current scenario, we have very few allrounders. Jacques Kallis, Andrew Flintoff, and Abdur Razaq are laboriously carrying the mantle of allrounders plagued with frequent injuries and unforgiving schedules. A few months ago, I would have included Indian bowler Irfan Pathan in this list.

But not now.

The rise and fall of Irfan Pathan in the Indian cricket reminds me the story of golden goose that was killed by its greedy owner. Replace greed with desperation of Indian cricket and you can see the story being repeated all over again. When Irfan Pathan appeared on the international circuits, he was hailed as a genuine allrounder. After Kapil Dev retired, there were many players in India who aspired for the title of allrounders but they failed miserably, at least in one department. When Pathan found success with both bat and ball, things started looking rosy and the next thing we knew, Pathan was batting at number three and opening the bowling. It was both shocking and saddening to see him come ahead of the likes of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar and trying to win the game for India with the bat. Somewhere down the line, the pressure started showing on Pathan. The pace dropped, the accuracy disappeared, and the once lethal medium pacer has now been turned into an unwilling victim who runs in and just performs his duty.

And we still refuse to learn.

If you study the past, you will notice that most allrounders had their strength in their bowling and they batted lower down the order. Even the greats like Richard Hadlee and Kapil Dev rarely attempted to do all things at once. By sending Irfan Pathan at no. 3, Rahul Dravid and co. are putting too much pressure on him. It's a shame if the over hyped Indian batting line-up has to depend on Irfan Pathan's batting to win matches.

The Indian cricket team needs to act before it's too late. Let Pathan do what he does best. Let him concentrate on his bowling and send him down the order. Don't expect him to win matches for you with the bat and treat him like a bowler who can bat. Someday, he will have mental toughness to handle the pressure and enjoy the role of an allrounder.

Until then, leave him alone!

Cheer the boys!

Cheer the boys!

The Champaign bottles overflowed resembling the pent-up emotions of their enthusiastic owners. There was no need to quench the thirst, as it was already quenched by an emphatic win on the 22 yards war field. Bodies were drenched; emotions were soaring and the scene in the Indian dressing room at Johannesburg on the eve of their first test victory in South Africa reminded you of a wild bunch of college kids who had just won their first inter-collegiate trophy. Even as Coach Greg Chappell pretended to be stern with the boys he knew he couldn’t do anything about it. It was like one of those free flowing straight drives of VVS Laxman; it cannot be stopped once it starts!

Boy! Was it worth it?

What transpired on the evening of 18th December in Johannesburg was the culmination of many years of struggles and hard work. If victory was like an oasis for Indian cricket team on other foreign shores, in South Africa, it was simply non-existent. Victory eluded the men in blue every time they set foot in South Africa. The bouncier pitches in South Africa, which assisted fast bowling, had the Indian players on the mat and every time they returned home with their overseas records taking another merciless beating. Even on this tour, coach Greg Chappell and captain Rahul Dravid were in the line of fire as they surrendered meekly without any fight in the shorter version of the game. India lost all the 4 ODIs played, won an inconsequential 20-20 match against a depleted South African bowling attack and it looked like a group of carefree amateurs lost among hardened professionals going for the kill. With a dismal test record in SA, nobody gave India any chance for the test series.

But you see, this is the Indian team!

If spontaneity is an art, Indians cricketers are the greatest artists in the history of cricket. On their day, they can produce moments which take your breath away. On other days, you have to suffer the indignity of watching even the minnows of world cricket massacring the famed Indian cricket team as if it’s just a neighborhood club team. Everything about the Indian cricketers is spontaneous; they reach the heights of glory one day and they are unceremoniously dumped on the very next day.

Success has many fathers, and India’s success at Johannesburg is no different. Indians batted like true professionals, bowled in right areas and caught everything that came their way. It was an uncommon occasion when the all the departments of Indian cricket gelled together splendidly and produced a remarkable win. South Africans made matters easier for Indians by playing some careless shots and bowling over-aggressively on a pitch that begged for proper line and length. But let’s give the devils their dues, Indians were by far the best team in the first test. Period.

Before the first test, there was talk of grooming the young players for the world cup and preparing a young squad full of talent. Indians certainly prepared a young squad, but their talent was open for scrutiny. With each imposing defeat, demand for senior players reached its height and the Indian think tank had to budge. The way seniors like Anil Kumble and Laxman played, it looks like the world cup will be represented by the Indian seniors! Kumble bowled with grit and skill while Laxman sacrificed his fluency to produce and innings that was badly needed by his team. Another sensational recall, Saurav Ganguly produced an innings that was probably a cause for as much celebration as the victory itself. If Ganguly plays anywhere as well as he played in the first innings, no one can touch him in the near future.

Of course, there are wrinkles to be ironed out. Sehwag’s form is worrying to say the least. In every innings, he appears to be desperately searching for fielders to gift his wicket away. His opening partner Wasim Jaffer will no doubt understand as he too suffers from the same disease! Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar are not having the best of times by their standards (hell, by any standards!) and India desperately needs some technically sound opening batsmen. South Africans, having been stung once, will come hard at the Indians in the second test. If Indians continue their good work in the second test too, it will be a good contest to watch.

Something that was amiss in the ODI series!