and why he wont be getting my vote for India captain.
First reason
| R Vinay Kumar | 15 | 5 | 37 | 0 | 2.46 | ||
| NSC Aiyappa | 13 | 2 | 43 | 2 | 3.30 | (6nb) | |
| B Akhil | 12 | 1 | 45 | 0 | 3.75 | ||
| A Kumble | 22 | 2 | 85 | 1 | 3.86 | (2nb) | |
| SB Joshi | 20 | 1 | 67 | 3 | 3.35 | ||
| C Raghu | 3 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 6.66 |
Despite being not the best bowler on view, Anil Kumble bowled more overs than others on the second day.
Add to this the fact that he brought himself on as early as the 13th over and the warnings signs are already there that he is going to over bowl himself in the game.
Reason 2
Fall of wickets1-118 (Jaffer, 33.5 ov), 2-121 (Rahane, 34.5 ov), 3-125 (Kukreja, 35.2 ov), 4-173 (Muzumdar, 52.6 ov), 5-217 (Nayar, 59.3 ov), 6-231 (Powar, 61.4 ov), 7-274 (Naik, 79.4 ov)
When defending 195, how does a team allow the opposition to get onto a 100 plus run opening partnership?
And when you have the opposition down at 4/173 and then 6/231 with only the tail to follow, what on God's green earth are the opposition doing still batting at the end of the day's play?
The one thing that particularly upset me about Rahul Dravid's captaincy was his innate ability to let the game drift.
The inability to force the issue and to hold on to the initiative is a particular failing of Indian captains and from what has been on display so far, Anil Kumble is neither better nor worse than his predecessors.
Great bowler he is, but captain he is not.
And finally, can someone this explain to me
Vijay Bharadwaj, Karnataka's coach, wore a rueful expression at the end of the day but refused to criticise the bowlers, saying that the pitch had eased up considerably. "It has gone flatter. I won't blame my bowlers."How does a wicket go from a first day rank turner with all signs of not lasting the distance to becoming a "flatter" wicket the very next day?
Sudhir Naik believes that the Karnataka bowlers did not give the ball enough revolutions to purchase turn and that is the difference between the two teams. And that makes more cricketing sense than "It has gone flatter. I won't blame my bowlers."
I mean, seriously, is this the best explanation Vijay Bharadwaj has for his team squandering away the advantage?
7 comments:
Well I am not a great 'Kumble for captain' supporter.. But think the reasons mentioned for him not to be one are a bit off the mark.
I was watching the game at Wankhede so guess that qualifies me to have a view on this.
From what I saw, Aiyappa was the only decent medium fast bowler on view. No other medium pacer was making any impression on the batters.
Being supposedly a turning track, who bowls more overs? the spinners or the seamers? Though Sunil Joshi took 2 wickets, he wasn't flighting the ball. So who does that leave? Kumble I would guess. He was quite ineffective as well, but then if one thinks his bowling is not upto the mark, his place in the team should be questioned..
The pitch had eased up a bit and the fact that Mumbai was positive in their approcah even when they had lost 3 quick wickets helped.. We shall see whether Vijay Bhardwaj was way off the mark in his pitch assessment by eod today.. As I write this, Karnataka go into lunch at 69-0..
As an aside, Kumble was frustrated at Naik stopping him midway thorugh his run up and showed it in no uncertain terms a couple of times. He received some taunts from the Mumbai crowd for that.. Should qualify as reason to stop Mumbai from hosting Ranji matches in future wat say? -)
Rahul,
My source for the game is the static scorecard and the end of the day reports, so I defer to your judgement of the game.
Spinners bowling more is to be expected, but as captain, if there is a tendency to overbowl oneself then that is a red flag right there.
As regards Vijay Bharadwaj and his pitch assessment, how can a wicket go from being a rank turner to a flat wicket in the space of a day? There will always be purchase on the wicket, even if the turn is slow..
As regards Mumbai not hosting the Ranji games,I am sure a lot of teams will vouch for that, given our dominance :)
Cheers
That's not overbowling himself!! Kumble regularly bowls up to 22 overs a day for the national team, even when there are others who are doing the job. In this case, with Powar having done so well, and Iqbal Abdullah performing ok, I guess the onus was on the Karnataka spinners to get the wickets.
I think you are reading too much into that scorecard. Anyway between Sachin and Kuble, who'd you pick?
Homer,
You read the final score for the day right.. Think Vijay Bhardwaj wasn't way off was he? A slow turner may not be a mine field for Indian batsmen I would say..
And now I will blame Kumble for not being positive and go for an outright win.. Chugging along at a run rate of 2.53 with the loss of 1 wicket.. gimme a break.. He won't get my vote for this lack of intent alone.. Whether they manage to even win
John,
VVS is a candidate too.. As is Dhoni.. Time will tell..
Cheers
Rahul,
Slow turner is not necessarily a flatter wicket. The fact that the Mumbai batsmen managed to cope and yet score at a decent rate is a testament to them, unlike the Karnataka batsmen who pottered around despite being in a decent position.
Anywho, I hope Mumbai makes a dash for victory on the final day.. Should be a good chase.
Cheers
Homer,
remember my comment about bias and inflexibilty some days back.. Vijay Bhardwaj was right and the score in the 2nd Karnataka innings proves it.. Watever u might say.. Cheers
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