Recovered...

My earlier posts.. located at http://obstructingthefield.blogspot.com/ " :)

India's Trip to South Africa... Some Thoughts

After a dismal second season under Rahul Dravid as captain and Greg Chappell as coach, Team India heads to South Africa.
South Africa has never been a happy hunting ground for the Indians, with the last series there an unmitigated disaster ( remember the Mike Denness affair!!).
Despite this, I find myself curiously optimistic about India's chances in the land of the Zulu and here's why...

1.A chance to play away from home - will allow the players to get their thoughts together.After the intense scrutiny that they have been subjected to during the Champions Trophy, an away series might just be the antidote.
2. A complete series - The SL ODI series did not materialise, and playing at Malaysia ( with all the rain), did not do anything to shake off the cobwebs of the off season. Military style training and one on one coaching sessions go only so far but actual game time is what matters. South Africa promises no rain interruptions, and a chance for the players to get complete games under thier belt.
3. True wickets - In the ODIs atleast, the expectation is that the wickets will be true with the ball coming onto the bat. Given the plethora of stroke makers in the Indian team, this is welcome news. It will give the players an opportunity to regain thier touch.
4. The Bowling attack - In Sresanth, Munaf patel and VRV Singh, India has just about the pace battery to counter anything the South Africans will throw at them. Add to this the presence of Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan, and I believe India has the pace attack to take on the South Africans.
5. Team balance - By including Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Kartik, the selectors have effectively put Sehwag and Dhoni on notice. The inclusion of Anil Kumble in the ODI team may be
construed as a signal to the Team management that the era of "experimentation" is over.
6. Lack of expectations - After a miserable Champions trophy, there will be a distinct lack of expectation from the paying public. An away series with not too much expectation from the public may just be the pressure release the team is looking for.

I do not believe India will win the ODI series, but it will be a lot closer than most people think. And I also believe that this Indian team will be the first Indian team to win a test in SA.

And I still stick to my prediction that India will not progress beyond the Super 8's in the WC.

Dear Mr Dileep Premachandran

When the bowlers left their brains behind

This rout summed up India's season so far. For most of it, the bowlers have acquitted themselves with credit while the batsmen have been clueless.

When the clueless batsmen

Sachin Tendulkar (370 ODI)

Virender Sehwag (160 ODI)

Rahul Dravid (300 ODI)

Yuvraj Singh (159 ODI)

Md Kaif (122 ODI)

Suresh Raina (33 ODI)

MS Dhoni (55 ODI)

Dinesh Mongia (53 ODI)

who have a sum total of 1252 ODIs between them, fluff their lines, they get a tame heading like “Cosy in their comfort zones”.

But the bowlers who acquitted them selves with credit

Irfan Pathan (69)

RP Singh (20)

Ajit Agarkar (171)

Munaf Patel (13)

Sreesanth (20)

And who have a collective 293 ODIs between them mess up, its time for “A brain dead bowling display”.

Fair and balanced anyone?

Today, when the batsmen played smart cricket, the pace bowlers had a collective brain failure. Having strained every sinew to post 249 against the most formidable attack in the world, India gave it away within the space of 14 appalling overs that cost a whopping 101.

Did they now? Is throwing you wicket away after scoring a 50 (this after having played 300 ODIs and understanding the importance of momentum in a crunch game) smart cricket? Is playing out 26 deliveries for 10 runs and then throwing it away (this after having played 370 ODIs) smart cricket? Does scoring 65 and then getting out in a manner similar to your last innings constitute smart cricket? Does sending out a rookie who is not in the best of batting forms smart? Does playing out a maiden in the 42^nd over of the game smart cricket? Does not building partnerships constitute smart cricket?

There have been many voices in the recent past calling for India to appoint a bowling coach. But there's not much that a Troy Cooley or a Dennis Lillee clone can do if the bowlers refuse to engage their brain cells.

Here are a few quotes on the question of bowling coach

"If we need a bowling coach then I am happy to have a bowling coach. It is not something I see as being a top priority right at this moment. But from time to time we will call upon experts and I have no problem with that." – Greg Chappell 16/6/2005

"No, we do not need a bowling coach. We have got hundreds of bowling coaches. We have got Michael Holding on television who tells us everything that we have to do. We have Imran Khan on television everyday telling us what we have to do." – Greg Chappell 15/2/2006

We have all seen the effect Troy Cooley had on the English Cricketing side leading up to and including the Ashes. Dennis Lillee is a fast bowling guru. What we haven’t seen is the effect a Bowling coach could have one the “raw” and “inexperienced” bowling attack. Maybe its time we did. At least that would prevent the speculation on your part…

Shane Watson plays his domestic cricket at the Gabba and Adam Gilchrist at the WACA, both surfaces renowned for their bounce, and India's new-ball bowlers decided to test them with the short ball. The results were predictably disastrous.

There's nothing wrong with the odd bouncer if you bowl at Brett Lee or Makhaya Ntini's pace. But when you're kissing the deck at just over 80mph, you may as well run in with a placard that says: Hit me.

Surely you do read the ball by ball commentary published on your website. If not, here is a refresher.

2.2 Bradshaw to Watson, OUT, Bradshaw draws first blood. It was banged in short and Watson fetches it from outside the off stump and pulls, but ends up lobbing it up towards mid-on where Sarwan comes under the ball.

6.4 Anderson to Watson, OUT, and we have a game on! Banged in short, Watson tries to pull but the ball keeps low and crashes into the stumps SR Watson b Anderson 21 (40m 26b 3x4 0x6) SR: 80.76

Guess no one told Ian Bradshaw and James Anderson that Shane Watson plays his cricket at the Gabba and bowling short to him is “predictably disastrous”. And I guess no one told you that Ian Bradshaw and James Anderson are not, by any stretch of imagination, anywhere close to Brett Lee’s zip code when it comes to pace.

It made you wonder what they had been watching from the dressing-room in the afternoon, when the incomparable Glenn McGrath bowled six overs with the new ball for 12 runs and the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar.

It makes me wonder too. Surely Rahul Dravid had seen the amount of turn extracted by Andrew Symonds bowling his off spinners. Given that his frontline bowlers were being carted around, surely he could have held off the second power play and brought on Dinesh Mongia (given that Harbhajan was off the field at the time)? Or Virender Sehwag? Surely Rahul Dravid was in no way, shape or form handicapped to exercise these options. Makes me wonder!!!!!

It was all the more disappointing to watch because the batsmen had done a sterling job on a pitch where stroke play was never easy.

This, when all commentators of every hue on TV were saying that the wicket was a belter and a par score was 270-280. Why take my word for it, here is your own ball by ball commentary

Cricinfo homepage is screaming 'Australia restrict India to 249'. And that's the story of the day. India looked to be heading towards a huge total but slowed in the middle overs and couldn't break away in the end-overs

In the final analysis, the rawness of India's pace resources was their undoing. Between them, Pathan, Munaf and Sreesanth can point to 99 ODI caps, while Lee alone has 140 stashed away.

A little nugget of information for you

Shane Watson (50 ODI) - 9 0 48 1 5.33

Nathan Bracken (44 ODI) - 10 2 56 2 5.60

Mitchell Johnson (9 ODI) - 8 0 33 1 4.12

Harbhajan Singh (137 ODI) - 10 0 49 0 4.90

Australia’s inexperienced bowlers had 4 wickets between them, unlike India’s most experienced bowler, who had none.

Rahul Dravids comments following the match in which he "placed responsibility" (blamed) the "rawness and inexperience" of the Indian bowling attack for today’s loss. So do you.

But what of the captaincy? And what of the backroom planning? And Team Selection? Is Rahul Dravid the golden child who can do no wrong?

Surely, the captain must shoulder some blame for his utilization of his bowlers. If the bowlers had left their brains behind, did the captain and the “senior” players do so too? Could not anyone of them step up and talk to the bowlers? And what of the strategy? Surely, bowling lines must have been discussed during team meetings? And if these were not being implemented, surely one of the playing XI could have had a chat with the said bowler? I saw the game from beginning to the end, and I cannot recall one instance of this being the case.

India went in with 7 frontline batsmen and 4 frontline bowlers into today’s game, jettisoning the 6 bat 5 bowler combination so favored by the Team Management( a misnomer, surely). Little surprise then that India was able to last out 50 overs and post a healthy, if not competitive total.

Given that Irfan Pathan is low on bowling confidence, and Sreesanth made his way back to the team because of Ajit Agarkar’s injury, and with not too much cricket behind him, did Rahul Dravid expect much else?

Rahul Dravid has a say in the team being selected. He has his say on who makes it to the final XI Hiding behind homilies like "inexperienced bowling attack" and "rawness' has become quite the fashion to explain away defeats that were more the outcome of poor planning and execution than the ineptitude of a few.