Second Test Day 1 - Honors even

Yesterday, in the course of a comment exchange, I had said this

Chandan,

Two pace two spin - Amit Mishra for Anil Kumble.. If there is juice Sachin bowls seam up. Ditto Saurav. If there is spin, Sehwag and Sachin become the alternates.

Win the toss, bat first and bat long..
The idea is to bat only once in this match because I dont see this 450 overs being bowled in this game.

And I have every reason to believe that the wicket is an underprepared one so it will be suicide batting last.

Cheers,

The Kumble decision was a fairly straightforward one and based on pragmatism. India plays its next two tests at Delhi and Nagpur and it is here that Kumble will be a huge factor. It did not make any sense for him to further aggravate his injury in trying to prove his critics wrong ( although the temptation must have been strong). This is India's series to lose and trying to score brownie points ahead of focusing on the win would have been more grist to the critics mill.

The wicket itself has been said to be a batting beauty. I beg to differ. In the first hour of play itself, there were a couple of bouncers that sort of looped over the batsman after hitting the deck instead of following a more straight line path. And there were atleast a couple of balls bowled by White that gripped and turned ( slow turn and wide off the off stump, but it was there).

And the wicket is under prepared because of unseasonal rains.

These factors lead me to believe that the wicket is not as cracked out as it is made to be. My read of the wicket is that the first day is the best of the wicket we have seen.. Over the next couple of days, if weather is not a factor, the sun will suck the moisture from the surface and there is every likelihood that the top will come off. And then the ball will begin to grip.

Given this, India has to bat once and bat big.

And today, they promised a lot but fell to some soft dismissals.

India needs to stretch its batting atleast until the 5th session ( Tea tomorrow) and look at scores in the vicinity of 450-500. The idea is to bat once and put the onus on Australia to do all the running.

Which is why winning the toss and getting 311 is a good thing. And losing 5 wickets is not.

And the Amit Mishra selection was par for this particular course.

And finally, a day of records for India's bats.

Sachin became the highest run getter in Test Cricket and the first to reach 12,000 runs in Test Cricket. And nearly the first to reach 40 hundreds in the long and short formats of the game.

Ganguly reached 7000 runs and their partnership brought India back into the game after an awkward 6 over period where we lost 3 wickets for not so many.

The way this match is poised, it is there for India to win. Question is, do they want to?

Just plain wrong!

Sairaj Bahutule makes it to the Mumbai team while Nilesh Kulkarni is sidelined.

Squad: Wasim Jaffer, Sahil Kukreja, Sairaj Bhautule, Hiken Shah, Vinayak Samant, Usman Malvi, Rohan Raje, Dhaval Kulkarni, Ankit Chavan, Abhishek Nayar, Ajinkye Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Ajit Agarkar, Ramesh Powar.

And where the heck is Amol Muzumdar?

Seriously Paddy, is this team going to win us the Trophy?

More captain speak

With Bangalore done and dusted, from here on, this is a three-Test series. And as I sit to write this, I must say it's good to be concentrating on cricket rather than anything else. We're feeling good, as individuals and a team, there's a nice atmosphere in the dressing room and we know that if we pull this off, up next is the Kotla, where we almost always have a happy time.

The wicket here looks a good batting track, one on which the spinners will play a role as the match progresses. However, there's been some heavy rain here recently, so there's likely to be some movement for the faster bowlers because of the weather conditions.

It's that kind of wicket, with a little bit for everyone but whenever we've played here, we've got a big score on the board, so I'm looking forward to seeing our batters get big ones.

This will be an ideal opportunity for them and we're all really looking forward to Sachin getting the record here, and not only doing that but going on to get a big 100. And what would really set things up for us if Gautam and Viru fire.

They've got us good starts but if they are able to capitalise on those starts, then it would make a vital difference to the confidence of those waiting in the dressing room to follow them in to the middle. While the batsmen will need to give us that platform, it's also imperative that we continue performing as a bowling unit and especially, start well . Our aim would of course, be to get Hayden out early and try and put pressure on the rest of the batsmen .

Meanwhile, as for me, I'm really hoping that I'm going to be able to play the match but while I am certainly getting better, I'll have to wait till just before the game begins to take a decision.

I have to be completely sure I'll be fine to bowl and play not just one session or through Friday but for the next five days. If, unfortunately, I can't go out to toss on the morrow, I can only say that I totally believe in my team and know that they have enough firepower, self-belief and confidence to pull this one off. I believe India can win here.

The Guru

runs the numbers

The many hats of Ricky Ponting

Captain, batsman, fielder, on field umpire, curator, counselor and now, selector.

And after all that, he still ends up with a "bargain basement" price. The poor thing!!

Dramedy!

England will press the International Cricket Council to prove today that it retains credibility as the game's governing body by curbing the excesses of the Indian Premier League and imposing the official policy that Test cricket remains of paramount importance.

It has not been a good month for naked capitalism but it continues unchecked as far as Indian cricket is concerned, as the IPL increasingly enforces divisive deals that could have huge repercussions for the game......

......England - for reasons not just of their own financial health, but the future integrity of the game - have refused to bow to India's every unpredictable whim, seemingly unlike Australia who have abandoned their oft-stated suspicion of Twenty20 and are now waving begging bowls with much enthusiasm. For the ECB it is a principled but lonely position.

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India v Pakistan at Edgbaston. Sri Lanka v Bangladesh at Old Trafford. Such could be the shape of Test Match fixtures to come.

The England and Wales Cricket Board yesterday announced they are to investigate hosting five-day games between Asian nations, with ECB chairman Giles Clarke revealing his hope that such clashes could even prove more marketable here than on the sub-continent......

......The development came as Surrey confirmed they have spoken to Indian Premier League sides about hosting games at the Brit Oval, as long as the ECB give them the go-ahead.

Chief executive Paul Sheldon said: 'We have spoken to certain IPL franchises about staging games here. If it was possible within the calendar and with the blessing of the ECB, we would look at it.'

In reference to Clarke's Asian Test plan, Sheldon hinted that a Twenty20 game may have a greater chance of coming to fruition, at least at his county.

'I think a Test match, five days and all the associated costs, would obviously be more difficult to arrange,' he said.

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A major split between the England and Wales Cricket Board and the counties is developing over the future direction of the English Premier League Twenty20 tournament

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So there we have it then - The Stanford Twenty20 runs into legal trouble, the counties and the ECB cannot decide on the EPL, the ECB wants to oppose the BCCI over the IPL but also wants the Asian countries to play in England.

And don't even think of insinuating that this is about money... Oh no, that is the BCCI's prerogative! :)

At a loss!

Siddharth Monga writes about India being haunted by past failures.

And I am at a loss to decide whether to laugh at the ill constructed arguments put forth or to cry at the declining standards at Cricinfo.

The Captain speaks.

Over the past few days, given all the media attention I have received before and during the match, with various uncharitable comments on my fitness and retirement and performance as a player and captain, it does seem like I'm back in Australia again.

That time, 10 months ago, saw me unfortunately having to split my time between playing cricket and handling a host of unnecessary off-the-field issues, instead of being able to concentrate on playing the game and handling my team. I didn’t really expect to have to go through this all over again, on my home turf.

What has also been somewhat unexpected is the way the Indian media seems to have delighted in analysing and sensationalising every little action, remark or gesture. Also, there's been this high praise for the way Australia played. Well, good for the Aussies, but I have a point to make here: In all the talk of aggressive, champion sides, it might make sense for someone to ask why 83 overs on a fifth day pitch wasn't enough time to finish the job.

It's perhaps easy to say one must ignore the media but for any normal person, that's a difficult ask, given the media's overwhelming presence in cricket. I would really appreciate if certain people realise that cricket is not spoken, it’s played and we, the Indian team, are out to play it.

Actually, I’m pretty happy with the way things panned out after we lost the toss. From the look of the pitch, this was a track on which 600 could have been made batting first and that the Australians took five sessions and more to make about 400 is a reflection on how wonderfully well our bowling unit performed.

While the spinners played their part by keeping the Australian batsmen quiet the first two days, Ishant and Zaheer bowled with heart and spirit to shape the way this series might go.

While Zaheer has been an integral part of our strategy, to watch how Ishant has developed as a bowler, now understanding the nuances of not just bowling with the new ball but also using the old ball well at such a young age, has been a pleasure. It bodes well not just for him but also for the future of Indian cricket.

Again, with the batting, the top order got us a start but when we lost quick wickets, Harbhajan and Zaheer stood up and made sure they not only cut down the lead, but also showed everyone that our tail can handle this Australian attack with ease.

It may also be noted that our four senior batsmen, Sachin and Rahul, Sourav and Laxman, all played a part in this Test. We all, especially the Australians, know what these men are capable of and I believe that when our main batsmen come to the party fully, it will fetch us big scores and hopefully, a winning platform.

So yes, I'm really, really pleased with 'the Indian way' of doing things. What people sometimes forget is that cricket is a team game. At different times, different people play a decisive role. For instance, I definitely didn't have a good game as a player, having my third Test in about 130 with no wickets and a 100 runs given but then again, I'm the only player in current cricket to have over 100 Australian scalps.

And for those who are wondering, I'm feeling good, I am hopeful the shoulder injury I picked up during the match (after bowling 40 overs in the first innings) should be fine by the second Test and that it will be business as usual thereafter. But what's infinitely more important to me is the way we've fought as a team. We've backed each other up, believed in each other and given ourselves confidence going into Mohali.

I'd like to add one final comment here, one that should hopefully settle things for a bit and let us concentrate on our cricket.

I can't promise things I have no control over, but the one thing that I can guarantee is that I wont give up the fight. We won't. The belief that I have in my team, and the belief that the team has in me is what matters the most. When I decide to make a final bow, I'll go on my own terms.

Not cricket!

Sri Lanka�s cricketers, involved in the Canada Cup T-20 tournament in Toronto, Canada came under threats by a group of LTTE supporters after their game against the hosts at the Maple Leaf Stadium in Toronto.

On their way to the hotel, the team bus was blocked by LTTE activists causing panic among some players. Later, the bus proceeded after the mob dispersed.

The group abused the players while the play was on from the road adjacent to the Maple Leaf Stadium and Ajantha Mendis, Thilina Kandamby and Nuwan Kulasekara manning the boundary close to the road were targeted.

After the incident was reported, the Canadian police promised action against trouble makers and better protection in the future.

\"We have informed Police and they have promised to take action,\" Nishantha Ranatunga Sri Lanka team manager said.

Earlier, the LTTE sympathizers had held banners protesting against Mendis, as he was a member of the Sri Lanka Army.

Mendis, however only plays domestic cricket for the army and is not involved in military activities.

Raj reflects...

Cricket c players b media

Surfing the net a day before the start of the first Test in Bangalore, I chanced upon Australian captain Ricky Ponting's comment to the visiting media that he found Virender Sehwag's charge that the Australians claimed half-volley catches to be 'fairly insulting'.

"It's amazing how they've picked out a lot of negatives from the Sydney game and don't seem to be speaking about the Perth Test (the third Test which India won), where we probably had the same things happen to us," Ponting said.

"Not one member of the Australian team has spoken about that -- we go about our cricket in different ways."

I thought Sehwag had done well to draw first blood before a ball was bowled in the series, having rattled the Australian captain and said as much in a text to the Indian opener. His reply was simple: "I did not say anything [like that] to anyone."

That set me off on a bid to try and reconstruct that episode, starting with the AAP report a day before the opening Test. It claimed Sehwag had alleged that the Australians had cheated to win the Sydney Test at the start of the year.

Its first paragraph was quite dramatic. "Indian opener Virender Sehwag has dramatically raised the temperature surrounding Thursday's first Test against Australia in Bangalore by loudly claiming the Australians cheated to win the spiteful Sydney Test match in January."

Clearly, Sehwag was responding to a question if India would accept any attempt to have an arrangement with Australia. The question itself had its genesis in Ponting expressing a desire to reinstate the catching pact, after demanding the highest standards of on-field behaviour from his players during the coming series.

"I will have a think about it and see if I think it is the right idea to bring it up again," Ponting said in Hyderabad after the lung-opener against the Board President's XI. "Anil was the one who did not want that after the Sydney Test for one reason or the other. We will have a chat and it's important to us Australians to play the game in the right spirit and embrace the culture."

Let me use the same report to reproduce what Sehwag actually told ESPN-STAR Sports. "We suffered the most in the catches pact during the last series," he said. "There is no point in having such an arrangement when the Australians are claiming one-bounce catches. We'd have won the Sydney Test if they hadn't claimed catches off half-volleys in that game."

The AAP writer did not take any of this into account when concluding that Sehwag had called the Australians cheats. Of course, any one is free to make inferences but to attribute the word to the Indian opener defied logic and smacks of sensationalism.

Barely a day later, former India captain Sourav Ganguly had to issue a denial against an interview that he had purportedly given to a Bengali newspaper. The interview – reproduced in substantial chunks by English newspapers – was damaging, not just to his team-mates and selectors but also to the man himself.

Ganguly's insistence that he did not give anyone any such interview has a note of truth. From what we can put together, the reporter was eavesdropping on a private conversation that Ganguly was having conversation with someone else. Now, this is as good – or as bad as a sting operation – and raises questions about the ethics prevalent in modern cricket reporting.

That brings me to the point I am making here. There is a third team involved in the series – and this is the media. Reading between the lines is a tricky art and not everyone, Australian or Indian, can do it right. The cricket teams have enough going between themselves and the media to fuel the fire. Yes, the media has to inform, educate and analyse. But to incite?

The degeneration of cricket reporting is easy to understand, given that news TV seems to set the agenda for all media. Nearly all news TV channels in India draw eyeballs with their cricket programmes and make some money as well but there are only a few channels that really care for cricket. Others prefer to track cricketers and spice up even the slightest of controversies.

Some years ago, the then Chairman of Selectors Dilip Vengsarkar told me in an interview that TV had no credibility. Unless other sections of the media exercise caution now, I am afraid credibility will not be a quality that is associated with any media any more. That can lead to all media being dismissed as sensational. And that is not a healthy situation at all.

Wierd!

He also supported wicket keeper Brad Haddin despite the 39 byes that marred the scores. “On this pitch it gets difficult. I have never kept wickets and I don’t think you have either so it is better that we don’t comment,” Ponting said.
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An extended net

Among the many things to emerge from the Brisbane Test of 2003, one of the storylines was of Rahul Dravid's extended hit in the second innings and how it helped him for the rest of the series ( coming as he was with no record to speak of in Australia and relatively poor form into the match).

Forward fast to 2008 and Bangalore. India goes into the first Test with three of the Fab 4 not having a hit for the better part of a month and a bit. Sachin, because of injury and VVS and Saurav for not being part of the Irani Trophy ( or the warm up game against Australia. Granted that Saurav had a hit against New Zealand A, but that was neither here nor there).

Step forward Ricky Ponting. And his insistence on bowling his part time spinners for extended periods to the three batsmen.

49(126) SRT , 42(142) VVS , 47(115) and 26(68)SCG later, history may just be repeating itself.

PS:- VVS Laxman played in the Irani Trophy.. My apologies for mis-stating this in the post. Thanks Rahul for pointing this out :).