In defense of Sachin Tendulkar

"Sachin Tendulkar is selfish and is playing for his average. Why? Because he chose not to farm the strike and instead, exposed numbers 10 and 11 to face the music."

This seems to be the overwhelming consensus on message boards/comments sections of the various blogs/site I perused this morning.

I beg to differ.

India was ahead of the Australian score when RP Singh strode out to join Tendulkar.And the need of the hour was runs, not time.

Farming the strike makes sense when the team is behind the 8 ball and it is imperative that the more recognized batsman shield the lesser batsman and, in the process, prolong the innings. But when you are ahead and the opposition captain decides to spread the field for the more recognized batsman while over- attacking the lesser batsman, there is every possibility that the lesser batsman will get more opportunities to score. And score quickly.

Which is exactly what happened.

It is also a matter of trust. I can bet my bottom dollar that if Sachin saw anything awkward in the way RP Singh and Ishant Sharma approached their batting, he would have shielded them for the simple reason that it is the easiest way to both prolong the innings and keep the score card ticking. But with RP and Ishant both capable of taking care of themselves, what was the need for Sachin to protect them?

And trust works both ways.. When a batsman of Sachin's calibre places that kind of faith in your batting ability, there is an instinctive desire to repay that faith.. Happens at the work place, happens in relationships, happens on the cricket field.

And finally, in terms of mind games, think of the message it sends the opposition - I don't rate your bowlers highly enough to shield my tail enders.

Memories of Melbourne

The Ganguly dismissal today triggered memories of Melbourne 4 years ago. Then, as now, the Ganguly dismissal triggered a collapse ( or a mini collapse as is the case today). Then, as now, India squandered the early advantage gained to let the Australians into the game.

The scorecard from that test - here.

Rant!

Does the BCCI have any sense of history and occasion at all? If they do, can someone from the BCCI please explain to me this.

Kolkata was the scene of the greatest comeback in the history of cricket. Mumbai was the scene where Australia were rolled for less than a 100 in their 4th innings.. Bangalore witnessed India crash to a 217 run defeat versus the Aussies.. Nagpur has gone down in infamy for THAT test in 2004.

And Mohali can be a mean place to bat depending on what side of the bed Daljit Singh woke up on.

So, why on earth would the BCCI schedule the 4 test series at Mohali, Bangalore, Delhi and Nagpur?
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Nilesh Kulkarni was selected in place of Iqbal Abdulla for the must win game against Saurashtra. Which is not the issue. The issue is, why was he dropped in the first place?

Starting with the Ranji finals last season, Kulkarni found himself in the dog house. His non selection for the Muhammad Nissar Trophy did not provoke any outrage. And then, a 19 year old kid was selected ahead of him in the Ranji team.

And the Mumbai selectors, in their infinite wisdom, had chosen to play Abdulla in the ODI and Twenty 20 competitions last season.

Which is about the worst possible way to groom a kid who is looked upon as the future of left arm spin bowling in the city.

Per the Mumbai Mirror, the Kulkarni non selection was because the selectors wanted to "teach him a lesson". In that case, why the volte face? If the selectors had the courage of conviction, they should have stuck to their guns and not played Kulkarni. The fact that they did gives us a fair indication of the length of their spine..

And what about Sudhir Naik? For a must win game, he rolled up what was possibly the flattest wicket on view in domestic cricket. Flatter than the Kotla.

“You cannot live in a fool’s paradise,” “You can’t carry the burden of the past. You have to accept that Mumbai has lost it’s sheen. In times like these one can only look to the God. We have to regroup and that has to happen fast.”

Indeed Mr Rege! With leadership like this, fools paradise is about the only place we can be in!

Season's Greetings

First off the bat, A Happy New Year to all of you good people out there. Having binged on the food and the drink and the cricket in India,I had very little time to blog - there is only so much a man can do in a day ( especially if u factor in long hours of siesta to go with the food and the drink !).

2007 ended the way 2007 began - with a crawl.

Then, it was Newlands. Now, it was Melbourne. And in between, there were plenty of lows to make 2007 the "annus horribilis" for Indian cricket.
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India was fun.. I nearly went to see the last day's play of the Mumbai - Saurashtra game. Mercifully, I was detained with work (who knew!) and so I caught the game on TV. And saw Ramesh Powar and Vinayak Samant play the most horrendous of forehand cross court overheads that basically gave the game away to Saurashtra.

For a team to collapse from 378/3 to 463 all out chasing 484 is criminal. At home, even more so. Against a team that you used to beat for fun; unpardonable.
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Had an interesting conversation with an uncle of mine on the apparent "demise" of cricket in Mumbai. Club cricket, he said, is on the wane in Mumbai. The Kanga League and the Times Shield are no longer the marquee tournaments on the cricketing calender. The Gymkhana system is on the decline with Dadar Union or Shivaji Park Gymkhanas not quite what they were in the 80s. And offices do not recruit cricketers anymore.

The only thing going about is age group cricket.

And the problem with age group cricket is that all of the kids in the age group level are roughly the same age. And because of this, there is no "mentoring" a la club cricket wherein a 40 year old grizzled veteran of many a skirmish would be around to guide a 16 year old colt on the intricacies and vagaries of the game.

And because the "mentoring" no longer exists, there is a lot less cricketing savvy on display - kids have all the skills coaching can get you but implementing those skills and thinking about the game is a whole different story altogether.
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Played some cricket myself while in India..Was an experience.

Here I was with a bunch of 15 year olds who played schools cricket. Every single one of them was coached. And, as with every kid in today's day and age, each one of them was privy to television and the nuances of the game ( batting, bowling and fielding) that the visual medium exposes.

And , to a man, they did exactly what we uncoached neanderthals did when we were young - the fielding was abysmal, there was no thinking when it came to the batting or bowling. Fielders stood on their heels, no one backed up the ball, the batting approach was unplanned and the bowling was about putting the ball there and there abouts...

Some things never change !
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Having spent the 1st of January on the plane and being jet lagged, I missed all of the first day's play between India and Australia at Sydney.

But, I did read all about it in the newspapers and blogs ( thank you!).

I am amazed the term "Bucknored" has not entered the cricketing lexicon as yet.. It could be the 12th mode of dismissal you know.. After the run outs and the caught behinds and the LBWs, there is the "Bucknored". :)
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There has been a lot of talk of using more technology in cricket to minimize umpiring decision. On the face of it, sounds like a plan. But, and here is the catch, technology is not fool proof. And can be tampered with.

I remember reading during one of India's tour to South Africa that SABC had not provided all the camera angles for line decisions involving the South Africans, making the third umpire's job doubly difficult.

And then there was the Scott Muller "Cant bat, cant bowl" comment that was attributed to Shane Warne but was by a Channel 9 cameraman and which was telecast world wide.

Which raises the question of integrity and malice.

What if some overzealous production team decides the home team must get the benefit every time - what is to prevent video or audio tampering?

And can the ICC standardize the tools and the camera angles production companies must make available for umpires?Should "Hot Spot" be a standard? What about "Tracker"? And "Super Slo mo"?

And what of the cost? And what about innovation if production houses are boxed into providing only "X" number of tools to the umpires?

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Saw the Rahul Dravid - VVS Laxman duet in its entirety. And for the first time in a very long time, Rahul Dravid looked in control. Bangalore had been a disaster as had Melbourne.. Even during the 50 against Pakistan, Rahul Dravid did not look in control of the proceedings and his game.

Maybe it was the way he left the ball or maybe it was the forward defense. Maybe it was the desire to run the quick single.. Maybe it was just me.. Whatever it was, the Rahul Dravid innings augurs well for him and India for the rest of the series. Somewhat like the second innings at Brisbane in 2003.

And here is Peter Roebuck on the Very Very Special innings.
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And finally, remember this sledge?

I was reminded of this while watching Dwayne Bravo's heroics against South Africa.. Three years later, there is one guy playing to win against the Proteas while the other is nursing a bruised ankle when he is not busy nursing a drink.

Wonder what Freddie makes of it!