Hello Madhusuden

A Rashid 12-0-90-0

India 336/7 Stumps Day2

Why is it always so?

India versus the Plions
Lunch - 128/2 Plions ( RR 5.12)
Tea - 225/7 Plions ( RR 4.16)

Overs 57 through 69 in the post tea session was a fascinating period of play. Two spinners ( Sachin and Powar), one a leggie and the other an offie, bowled in tandem and brought the run scoring to a stand still. Only 25 runs were scored in this period.

Please do bear in mind that there is a cap of 100 overs per team in this game, so not only were we running through the overs quickly ( with the two spinners in operation) but also not letting the score get out of hand.

An additional advantage of bowling two spinners in tandem was that we would have spent less time on the field on the morrow, what with us getting through to the 90 overs ( and more) today in double quick time.

All of this ( quick over rate and a static scorecard) contributed to a build up of pressure for the batting side.. While we can crib all we want with regards to India's inability to run through sides, this passage of play was a classic in that we had total control on the pace and tempo of the game - we had the opposition where we wanted them.

Getting Yuvraj on at this situation was a master stroke in my opinion. Whether it was prompted by tiredness on Sachin's part or whether this was the game plan all along, getting a lesser bowler when the opposition is under the cosh is a great ploy.

Because the opposition will then try to belt the lesser bowler to all parts as they feel this is their best opportunity to break the shackles. And this over confidence will result in their down fall.

And that is what nearly happened. Except it didn't.

69.5 Yuvraj Singh to Broad, no run, dropped by Dhoni. It was full and landed outside off stump. Broad took a step forward and played for the spin but it went straight on, took the edge and went to left of Dhoni who palmed it. He had got up a touch too early and found it difficult to go down.

And that brings me to the crux of this post.

What has followed after that dropped catch is an all to familiar tale - of drooping shoulders, long faces, listless bowling, shoddy fielding.

Time and time again we see this happen - we build the pressure, we control the game, a chance goes abegging, we fail to regroup quickly enough, we lose control of the situation.

And this is not just at the international level . Watch a gully game and the same pattern surfaces. Watch domestic games and the picture is no different.

Contrast this with the Australians of whom I read some where that when a chance goes abegging, the general thinking is that since they created an opportunity, they are good enough to create another. And that it is the batsman, not the fielding side that is feeling the heat ( tinged with relief at the let off but fearful that another lapse is just around the corner). And that the bowler has a hold on the batsman since he induced a false shot.

Unlike us.

So, here is the question - why?

Comments welcome

Here

Today...

There is a feeling when you are playing what are essentially warm-up games that you don’t really need to win; that if your batsmen have had a decent amount of time in the middle, if your bowlers have bowled a reasonably lengthy spell without bowling to first slip or on their own toes, then it is mission accomplished. Looked at from that limited perspective, India had a good game against Sussex. Most of the top order produced runs at some stage and the bowlers got two opportunities to acclimatise.

I suspect though that India missed the opportunity of making a statement. Had India beaten Sussex with a bit of fuel left in the tank, it would have told the opposition, currently in strife over their one-day form, of their intent. This was at best a decent Sussex side; not a single player there was likely to play a higher form of cricket in the immediate future and by beating them handsomely, India would have discovered a thing or two about themselves.

Harsha Bhogle

England's chances of beating a side who, for all their notorious travel-sickness, still boast one of the most glittering middle orders in the business may depend on how well Panesar holds his nerve. He remains something of a star-struck adolescent, who was so excited to have claimed his hero Sachin Tendulkar as a maiden Test wicket in Nagpur in March 2006 that he keeps the ball - signed by Tendulkar with the words "once in a blue moon, never again" - in his bedroom at home.

Lawrence Booth on Monty Panesar

The most memorable image of perhaps the most brilliant era of Indian cricket is of a half-naked man on a handsome terracotta balcony. He is waving a shirt above his head, a tangle of gold and amulets are heaving across his chest, and all the while rather forcefully wishing somebody what looks a lot like "luck".

Rahul Bhattacharya on Saurav Ganguly

These are boom times for English spinners. With Monty Panesar already standing at No 6 in the world rankings, another talented young Anglo-Asian twirler will be on display at Chelmsford today for the England Lions match against India. And when I say young, Adil Rashid is only 19.

Simon Briggs on Adil Rashid

Sometimes it is the opponent that freezes a player, sometimes it is occasion that disrupts the normal working of the mind.

Imagine if we could peer into the working brain of the sportsperson, see the grey cells conspiring, note where resolve grows and doubt collects, where fear lurks and intelligence glows. Imagine if we could understand why some athletes collect themselves more ably, bringing their best day after day, and why some athletes fail to be the model warrior. After all, for all subtlety of stroke and soundness of technique, victory is designed, and defeat arranged, in the head.

Rohit Brijnath

Dilip Sardesai’s death has taken away from our midst, the second of the two batsmen who literally turned Indian cricket around and gave it the belief that it could cope with pace, and that too on overseas pitches. Dilip’s partner in that epic stand in the West Indies in 1971 was Eknath Solkar, who left us suddenly two years ago. There is no doubt that if cricket is played up there and a team is in a critical situation, then the ‘Sardi-Ekki’ partners hip will take them to safety.

Sunil Gavaskar on Dilip Sardesai

The Future Cup trophy India won by beating South Africa in Belfast on July 1 may have gone missing. India took the three-match series 2-1.

Amol Karhadkar

There is to India’s Test squad to England a peculiar familiarity. It pertains to the middle-order. Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and V. V. S. Laxman, when in England five years back, would have fancied their chances of making this trip. They have, but it hasn’t been straightforward.

It was expected then that India, through a golden age of batting, would begin to challenge Australia’s supremacy; no more would the bullies-at-home-wimps-abroad tag be so glibly applied. India then held Australia to a 1-1 draw over four Tests in Australia, dominating passages of play, giving further credence to the theory that it might well be India’s decade. Those were heady days primarily because of the promise they offered. Watching a team being wrought is captivating.

S.Ram Mahesh

“Mr Bindra must surely have spoken to him by now,” Pandove said on Thursday afternoon. Till late in the evening, though, that hadn’t happened.

“I haven’t talked to Bindra,” Kapil told The Telegraph from New Delhi. He added: “Of course, I’m willing to speak to anybody… I don’t have anything to hide… I haven’t robbed anybody and don’t see myself in the wrong…”

LP Sahi

Opener Aakash Chopra hit his 17th first class hundred and first for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) against a strong Sri Lanka A attack in a three-day game at the Arundel Castle Cricket ground in Sussex on Thursday.

R E S P E C T

MUMBAI: The Cricket Board on Wednesday announced that the best Indian batsman during the Test series between India and the West Indies henceforth would receive the 'Dilip Sardesai Award' in memory of the former cricketer who died here on July 2.

A decision to this effect was communicated through a condolence message to Sardesai's family by BCCI President Sharad Pawar during the condolence meeting organised jointly by the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) and the Cricket Club of India here.

Pawar, who is also the MCA President, also said in the message - read out at the meeting by BCCI Chief Administrative Officer and MCA Treasurer Ratnakar Shetty - that the association would bear the expenses of an under-19 Mumbai cricketer annually to undergo a 3 to 4-week training at the Australian Cricket Academy.

So here is a question for Mr Bhogle - if the President of the MCA, who also happens to be the President of the BCCI, fails to show up at the condolence meeting called for by his own association, why rail against the young Mumbai cricketers?

Doesnt attitude reflect leadership?

PS:-

In the end, it is the respect for what came before that symbolises a culture. Mumbai’s young cricketers let themselves down by not paying respect to one of their best.

Mr Pawar?

Here is my team...

to take on the England Lions starting Friday the 13th.

Wasim Jaffer
Gautam Gambhir
Sachin Tendulkar(c)
Saurav Ganguly
Yuvraj Singh
MS Dhoni(wk)
Zaheer Khan
Ranadeb Bose
Ishant Sharma
RP Singh
Ramesh Powar

Here's why

• Jaffer needs a good workout before the first test and his showing against Sussex was not upto scratch.

• If Karthik is to play the first test as a keeper, then it will not be prudent for him to open. In that case, Gambhir becomes the automatic choice for opener.If Karthik plays as opener,then Dhoni should don the gloves.
• Sachin and Saurav need a hit in the middle and so become automatic selections.
  
• Yuvraj Singh, like Wasim Jaffer, did not have a decent outing against Sussex and so, makes the cut.
  
• Dravid needs rest and recuperation for his strained calf. And Laxman had a pretty decent outing against Sussex, so both he and Dravid can sit this game out.
• MS Dhoni like Yuvraj, needs some time in the middle. If the finger injury has sufficiently healed, it will behoove India to have him as first choice wicketkeeper.
• Zaheer Khan picks himself
• Ranadeb Bose as opposed to Sreesanth will be contentious, especially given the proximity of the three day game to the first test. But as the three day game is more an assessment of the resources and their match fitness, it would make sense to play both Ishant Sharma and Ranadeb Bose. Also, going into the first Test, if India choose to front up a four seam one spin attack, the identity of the fourth seamer is better established now than during the game.
  
• RP Singh hit his straps in the game against Sussex and it is a line call playing him versus Sreesanth. While RP Singh participated in the ODI jamboree in the detour that was Ireland, Sreesanth was recovering from the flu. However, Sreesanth was impressive against Sussex and seems to have gained decent match fitness.
• Ramesh Powar because he needs a game. Anil Kumble was, as is his wont, accurate. And looked in good nick with the ball in hand.Does he need another game before the first test? I don't think so. I would rather have the bench get some match time and assess how they are shaping along rather than over play the guys who are automatic selections for the first test.

Now, the England Lions ( or Pom Lions or Plions) are fielding an impressive set of players, including Andrew Strauss (capt), Owais Shah, Jonathan Trott, Ravi Bopara and Stuart Broad. Guys who we will see more of during the Test and Twenty20 and ODI series. Players who the Indians MUST target to get the early advantage.

An intriguing battle beckons..

Let the heartache begin

so too the murmurs..

Of India's inability to finish the job. Of how Sussex stretched us. Of a lack of spine. Or bottle. Or both.Of the bowlers not being good/effective enough. Of the batting, bowling and the fielding being below par.

All of which is baloney.

Because the intent of the tour games is not to win or lose but to acclimatize and work towards match fitness.

Because India created for itself a matchwinning situation when there was none.

Because the captaincy, for the most part, was good.

Because the game did not peter out to a dull draw but was a thriller and because the bowlers, the supposed weak link, created opportunities.

A little more luck and the storyline would have been different.

All in all, a bright start to India's tour of England, 2007.

Indians 388/7d & 184/8d
Sussex 300/6d & 190/9

Sussex 131/7

as I type this. Which was not altogether surprising. For two reasons -

1. The bowling team , rather the batsmen from the fielding side, would not have expected to be put in to bat at the fag end of the game. Any realistic possibility of a declaration would have come at around tea time or if Sussex had bundled out the Indians. To bat out 40 overs on Day 4 does not generally figure in the game plan.

2. Chasing 273 in 40 overs in a 4 day game is an unrealistic target. Given that, the thinking is to play for time rather than play for runs. And that mindset is akin to handing over the initiative to the bowlers on a platter.Which is what Sussex did. And what the Indians capitalized on.

India has got what it wanted out of this game.. Batsmen had a hit, bowlers stretched their legs, fielders had their time in the sun.

We also gained valuable insight on the team composition for the first test.

The declaration and the resultant score card sends a message to the Poms. Of intent. Of the fact that India is ready to create and seize initiatives ( not quite like the Aussies, but better than anything the Poms fronted upto this summer).

The worst thing the Indians could do with 5 overs remaining in the game will be to over try in getting the remaining three wickets. Because those wickets do not matter. 140/7 is a much better card to read than 152/8.

Because that would indicate that the Sussex tailenders creamed 21 runs in 5 overs off the Indian bowling for the loss of only 1 wicket. And that India could not quite close the deal despite trying hard. And that in turn will be a huge dampener in the dressing room.

Rather , settle for 140/7 and a draw with all the brownie points in the bag. And the confidence that India can push itself if it wants to. And the fact that India had Sussex under the cosh despite losing the better part of two sessions on Day 3.

And a favorable press is not a bad thing either.

PS:- Okay, now I am confused. The scorecard reads 152/7 at the end of the 41st over and there are 14 more overs to play after this. Are they making up for time lost yesterday or did I misread the CricInfo scoresheet?

PPS:- Bowling Ranadeb Bose for one over - bad idea. There are less cruel ways of killing a bowlers confidence than removing him after one over because the last ball of his over was slogged by a tailender.

And at Hove...

India are 166/8, an overall lead of 254 runs with 45 overs left in the game.

My thought - declare now..Sussex had us on the ropes right after lunch when we lost two wickets in two balls and slumped to 120/8.

Right now we have taken away the momentum from Sussex, we are in a position where we cannot lose the game and having the tailenders slog away does not benefit us in any which way.

Instead, let the bowlers have a go.. Let Ranadeb get a few more overs under his belt. Ditto RP Singh.

Lets test our fielding and catching.

And most important of all, let us give ourselves a chance to win.

Meanwhile,in Durham....

If they are to beat Durham today, Surrey first have to contend with a fast bowler who has discovered a pitch with sufficient bounce to account for accomplished batsmen and whose rhythm and, no doubt, reputation, was such that tailenders backed away when facing him. Stephen Harmison took five wickets in all yesterday, his three in the second innings reducing Surrey to 46 for three, with another searching examination in store for this morning.
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Surrey were scratching around for victory and hoping Steve Harmison would not have the last word when bad light ended play an hour early at the Oval yesterday.
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Surrey begin today needing 107 runs with seven wickets remaining to see off Durham, who were indebted to a spell from Steve Harmison which saw the quick bowler take three for 15 off seven overs as the home side limped to 46 for three when bad light curtailed play on day two of their First Division match.
--

That was yesterday.

This morning, starting from 46/3, Surrey managed to knock off the remaining runs (107), losing just the one wicket.

And they scored at a rate of 4.21 runs/over.

Steve Harmison - 14-5-51-4