K asks a pertinent question

I dont know why it is becoming fashionable to change our game, especially with us Indians. A bowler who bowls quick and fast sacrifices his speed for swing and cut, both of which never eventually come to him, a batsman changes from being a dasher to a nudger, citing stability as the reason.....I wonder if all this really pays off. Is the player really doing the team a favour by changing his game? I doubt it.

Ok, the player might have been young and impetuous when he first started playing the game, and then later realized the value of not throwing his wicket away. But that doesnt mean you have to cut out all risks in your game, does it? Gilchrist took risks all the time, and he pulled it off most times. Jayasuriya still does.

Any answers?

Please explain this

some one .. please....

What is Pradeep Magazine on about? Is this an exercise in speaking a lot and saying nothing?

It is a muscle tear which seems to have torn asunder India’s cricketing world and created a media storm bigger than the T20 World Cup itself.

Virender Sehwag’s shoulder injury and his subsequent withdrawal from the team has made sleuths out of ordinary men and the world’s most destructive batsman has all of a sudden become a reviled man in India.

Did he hide his injury? Has he created a division in the team? These and many other questions have been raised in righteous indignation and our mob mentality has found a victim and has nailed him to the wall.

To lend the whole drama a theatrical touch has been Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s holier than thou attitude, where he parades the entire team and even the support staff in front of the media to prove that all is well with his world. He even has a skirmish with a TV reporter but such is his clout, power and popularity that no one dares to criticise him.

In the end, Sehwag has to not just contend with the fact that he may not be able to play cricket for a few months, but also deal with a very hostile media.

In this world of black and white there are no shades of grey to be seen anywhere, especially when it involves the players.

I am not sure whether Sehwag did hide his injury or not. Nor am I sure whether he caused a rift in the team. I, like everyone else, knew that Sehwag was injured before the World Cup began, as that was the reason for his missing the warm-up matches. And any captain would go to any length to ensure that a player of Sehwag’s ability plays, even if it means waiting for longer than normal for his injury to heal. Players like Sehwag are central to a team’s strategy and their absence can lead to disaster.

That he is out of the World Cup is sad for the team as well for the fans, whichever world one belongs to and whichever conspiracy theory one agrees to.

If one goes into these blame games, then the first target should be the support staff, who train the players, treat them and even detect injuries. And what about the Board itself, which chalks up non-stop playing schedules, where a cricketer has to be on the road for what seems forever.

India should consider themselves fortunate that the gruelling IPL schedule, coming as it did on the heels of the tour to New Zealand, has resulted in a serious injury to only one key player. No one would have been surprised had there been many more victims.

Even if we agree that Sehwag may have been underplaying his injury — in the hope that he could play the World Cup -is it still such a crime as is being made out to be?

I know for a fact that some of the more sensational TV channels have told their anchors and reporters that they should treat cricket stories like they do crime stories. To do so, it needs a victim a day and unfortunately for Sehwag, it was his turn last week

11(23 balls 0 x 4, 0 x 6)

And Dwayne Bravo. That was the difference between the West Indies and India today.

Bravo played a blinder, both with bat and ball. 66 in 36 balls with 4 boundaries and 3 sixes is part of the story. 4/38 in 4 overs is another part.

But the most impressive part to Bravo's cricket was his composure. Being carted around 16 runs in the 15th over did not faze him. Neither did the loss of Gayle in the 8th over wth 42 runs on board did not fze him either.

And when a player is in that zone, there is very little the opposition can do. India was beaten by one man's brilliance.

And another's incapacity to play the big shots. MS Dhoni is a lot of things, but in the main he is the Indian version of Adam Gilchrist. Or so I thought.

But ever since he decided that playing shots was not the way to go in T20 cricket, his batting is starting to become a liability for India.

11 runs in 23 balls without a hit in anger - rebuilding is fine, but what about momentum?

The biggest problem India face is the prospect of a 3 way tie between themselves, West Indies and South Africa. India not only has to beat both England and South Africa, but do so with handsome margins.

Or they can be on their way back home. Which plays right into the hands of the waiting Indian media!

Test Match Special

MS Dhoni c Fletcher b Bravo 11 (23b 0x4 0x6)

11 in 23 balls in a T20 match! Is this an ad where MS Dhoni morphs into Chris Tavare?

Gee Skip, nice marker for the rest of the team to emulate!

The Big Fight

Q and Damith in a no holds barred, take no prisoners, hell in a cell fight to the finish.

dot com versus dot net.

Who will come out on top?

Read all about it!

The Fletcher gambit

Anonymous, in the previous post, made a telling comment

"Agreed.

The home series loss had more to do than just Fletcher stint. Dale Steyn's form with the ball, Smith batting of his life and add collective slump of Australian batting.

It would be keen to see how Chawla, if plays, nails Phil Hughes and Michael Clarke. "

And I completely agree.. There were enough valid cricketing reasons for why South Africa beat Australia in Australia.

But let us not underestimate the importance of the sideshow.

For as long as I can remember ( after news papers went online) , ex Australian cricketers of all hues have targeted the opposition as soon as they land in the country, the captain being the local favorite.

And some of the comments made were laughable, others moronic while some others were deeply insightful or cutting close to the bone.

But the sum total of these comments was that they became talking points for the press. And that in turn made it very difficult for the opposing captain/team to avoid them.

So captains and teams spend a lot more time than they had budgeted deflecting/answering/counter questioning these points. And its the kind of distraction most teams want to avoid in the lead up to a big series.

Which brings me to the Duncan Fletcher/John Buchanan/Piyush Chawla situation.

Duncan Fletcher's presence in the Protea support staff meant that Ponting had to answers questions about him in the lead up to the series. Not a big deal, but when a team is shaking off rust and having been soundly beaten in Indian, the last thing a team needs is for the sideshow to be the main topic of conversation.

Consider Piyush Chawla.

Ponting was made to look ordinary by Chawla in the warm up game that was the prelude to the Border Gavaskar Trophy. Couple that with the fact that Australians have, as a team, forgotten to play spin.

Now consider one of two scenarios - Chawla fires and Chawla misfires.

If Chawla fires, you can bet you bottom dollar that Ponting will be inundated with questions on his team's ability to play spin.

If Chawla misfires, you can bet your bottom dollar that Ponting will spin it as proof that his team has conquered spin.

And even if the two extremes do not materialize, just consider if Chawla gets Hussey out early. Ponting still has to field questions on Mr Cricket's ability to eke out a run.

Now consider Buchanan.

If the Plions do badly because of Buchanan, Ponting will be questioned about the impact of Buchanan on the Plions , on the Australians, on the KKR, the whole nine yards.

And if the Plions fare well inspite of Buchanan, Ponting will have to field uncomfortable questions about the impact of Buchanan on the Plions, the bearing of this on the Ashes, Buchanan's loyalties, his patriotism, on how they will room together in the KKR dugout, the whole ten yards.

And given the proximity of the game to the start of the Ashes, it is the kind of distraction Ponting would love to avoid. Even in good times.

Given that the Australians were bundled out of the first round of the T20 World Cup and have had to spend a couple of weeks at Leicester, playing amongst themselves, it is a team under pressure.

And given that this is the biggest series Ponting has captained, given his record as captain in England and the build up to the Ashes, he is a captain under pressure.

And distractions are the last thing he needs. Which is what the Buchanan " consultant role" is. As is Piyush Chawla's presence.

Either ways, someone in the England hierarchy has finally put his/her thinking hat on!

Diabolique

Remember this

RT Ponting*	b Chawla	41

MJ Clarke	lbw b Chawla	18

B Lee	lbw b Chawla	0

MG Johnson	c Chopra b Chawla	5

PM Siddle	lbw b Chawla	2

The tale of the day was best captured by Ponting's struggles against legspinner Piyush Chawla in the second session. It got off to a familiar start: crease-bound, he pushed out his bat tentatively. He picked the googlies dangerously late, mistook the sliders for legbreaks and, as a result, often played with the bat facing cover and saw the ball rolling away off the inside edge.

Chawla offered Ponting a brief respite with a long-hop and an over-pitched delivery, which were hit for fours, but won the battle with a fizzing googly that found the yawning gap between bat and pad. Ponting had lunged forward to play for the legspin but lost his middle stump.

Now get this

Sussex has roped in Indian leg-spinner Piyush Chawla as a short-term replacement for Pakistan pacer Yasir Arafat. The 20-year-old Uttar Pradesh leggie will make his Sussex debut on Thursday, against Worcestershire in the LV County Championship.

"We've been looking for a bowler who can potentially change the course of a game and we're sure Piyush will fit the bill," Sussex Professional Cricket Manager Mark Robinson said.

Australia play Sussex at Hove starting June 24.

Cred.

Remember this

Of course, this blueprint is subject to change at any stage, with flexibility being the management’s mantra. But, for now, it is one they believe will take Team India through the tense opening act of the biggest show of them all: World Cup 2007.

and this

Irfan nods back, returns to a serious conversation with coach Greg Chappell, his assistant Ian Fraser, the team’s physical trainer Gregory King. The Vadodara star, once India’s brightest prospect, now just an embarrassing shadow, is recovering from a shoulder injury. My ears perk up, I was told he’s not part of the team’s gameplan in the group matches. So what’s up?

But then, the next afternoon, Irfan steps in to bowl the opening spell against Holland — at 114 kmph! Even Anil Kumble tops 100 kmph occasionally.

What’s wrong with Irfan, I want to know. Well, who doesn’t? Coach Chappell tells me once again that it’s a matter of confidence, Irfan says it’s just a dip in form, something that can happen to any cricketer, former coach John Wright tells millions of TV viewers that it’s a problem with the position of his right arm, Andy Roberts blamed it on his run-up, Jeff Thomson points to his rhythm.

Okay, but can someone please explain what’s really wrong?

No answers. So I turn to Rajkumar. Rajkumar? Well, he is the president of the local Indian association. He is also the liaison man for the Indian team, the ‘facilitator’. Cheap T-shirts? No problem. Shopping trips? No problem. SIM cards? No problem.

and this

He says a session with sports psychologist Rudi Webster will help him turn the corner. Maybe, he’s hoping that Webster, scheduled to be with the team for a while some time during the group stages, will dish out the same magic potion that saw him score that superb 180 in the West Indies Test series last June. Maybe.

But what has kept Sehwag from falling apart over the potholes? That supreme self-confidence — the one shining quality that, thankfully, seems to be intact. “They (the coach and captain Rahul Dravid) know I have a talent and an ability to do well, and so they support me. I had never thought that I would miss the World Cup because I had faith in myself that I am a good player. I have done well in the past, and I knew I would definitely get another opportunity,” he says.

The captain will agree, he would say that he has always backed players who he believes can deliver for the team. The coach might just shake his head, even if he didn’t really despair when Sehwag was dropped for two one-dayers against the West Indies after the disastrous South Africa tour - apparently, to help him regain the hunger, prove that he is really committed to the thinktank’s blueprint.

and this

On the surface, it’s a quiet evening, a normal day in the world of international cricket. But yes, holed up in a distant corner, waiting for the World Cup to begin, the warm-up games playing on their minds, you can sense the simmering tension behind it all.

The Indian stars are obviously pleased with the break, even if the BCCI refused to let some of them bring their wives along this time. At least they don’t have to be glued to the mobile phone, obliging friends, fans and sponsors.

But the coaching staff is a bit worried. This eerie lull reminds them of that 11-day Diwali break in the middle of the Champions Trophy that they believe destroyed the team’s rhythm, that disrupted the “momentum”. There’s another nine-day gap coming up between the group matches and the super eight games, and they are working on team activities that will keep the “guys” engaged.

and this

But that famous smile flashed once, leaving the ‘fan’ beaming, before he trotted off to join his friends. Maybe, I wonder, this is what a World Cup is all about. Beyond the games, the gameplans, the headlines.

Soon, the dignitaries walk in, and the players start trooping out through a corner, into the reception hall. But not for long. Mahendra Dhoni sneaks out. “Jerk chicken, jerk chicken, jerk chicken,” he mutters. Obviously, he has had more than his fill of the local special over the last week, he heads to the hotel restaurant. Irfan Pathan joins him, there’s Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar, and even Dravid.

Minutes later, Munaf Patel swaggers through. “Hum to halaal meat hi khaate hain, yahan badi mushkil hain inko samjhaana,” he says. But ‘Munna’ doesn’t slip away, like the rest. He hangs around, obviously awe-struck by the star cast. He waves to Shaun Pollock, winks at Fleming. The question, as always, is the same: will India win the World Cup? “Khuda se yahi dua hain, har din, ki hum final mein pahunch jaayen,” he says. “Phir is se bhi bada reception karenge, apne gaaon Ikhar mein.”

and this

The Bangladesh coach, though, wouldn’t even discuss the possibility of an upset win over India in their tournament opener. “Who wouldn’t want that. But I would like to focus more is on how we achieve those little goals that we have set,” says Whatmore.

“Maybe, you can say we are the best prepared for the conditions. We landed here on February 20, at least a week before all the teams, and got down to some physical conditioning, considering that we haven’t played much over the last 2-3 months.”

Of course, it’s not as if Bangladesh’s World Cup campaign hinges on the backroom work put in by the coach alone.

Captain Bashar says the coach, after all, can take the players only up to the edge of the boundary line. “We have the players, and all of them are eager to fight it out, every ball. On a given day, with two or three good performances from them, anything can happen,” says Bashar.

and this

Anyway, let’s hear how India played out before the world.

• Ricky Ponting: “India will be very dangerous in these conditions. Just about six months back, the same coach was copping a fair bit of flak because the team wasn’t playing all that well, but they have turned things around very quickly. They are playing very good cricket, and these conditions will be pretty similar to what they often play on in back home in India. But the negative is that the team has never travelled too well, so we will have to see how they go here.”

• Graeme Smith: “They are a very competitive side with many world-class performers. They have quite a lot of options in both batting and bowling. The challenge is not to get those options to come off. They have got back some experience in the shape of Sourav (Ganguly) and (Anil) Kumble. India have a very good chance of winning the World Cup, like a lot of other teams have.”

• Michael Vaughan: “India are a very good team with vast experience and talent. They have a lot of depth and a lot of options, and there is every chance that we will meet them in the Super Eight stage. But as far as we are concerned, in any game, we focus on our performances. If we can turn up andplay well, we will give any team a game. India are one of the hot favourites for the title, of that there is no doubt.”

• Mahela Jayawardene: “When we played them the last time in India last month, they played very well in the last two games. They have got a lot of experience in their ranks, and some proven performers. It all boils down to individuals performing at the right time. Everyone goes out knowing that they must perform on a particular day. But it is not just enough to have the big names, it is necessary to get performances out of them.”

World Cup or India Cup?

and this

The Montego break

Dravid: We are working hard, but the World Cup is also about having some down time. When we can relax, we enjoy the atmosphere, we enjoy the tournament. I would like my boys to soak in the atmosphere, soak in everything that goes around the World Cup. Obviously, we are working hard on the side, but we need the boys to relax, too, take their minds away from the cricket, as well. So that when they come back to the ground, they are fresh and refreshed and really keen.

Yuvraj: I think it was a very good place to relax. On the day off, we went snorkelling, went on a boat ride for about two hours. And everybody had fun. So it was a very good thing to unwind. Everybody had a good time off, then came back and had a good practice session again.

2003 and now: 2 roles

Yuvraj: Obviously, we were very young in the last World Cup, our roles were different. We are much responsible now because we have had some experience after that World Cup. For me, it is high time to put my hand up and say I am going to be the person who’s going to do it.

Harbhajan: Last time, we were not as matured as we are now. At that stage, I had played only around 50-odd one-dayers. The responsibilities have changed, it is nice to be in that kind of position where the team expects you to win the game, wants you to do well. As Yuvraj said, it’s time for us to put up our hands. I am sure if we can keep up our fitness, and the mental part, in the right frame, we should be able to put up some good performances.

There are more expectations, the captain my ask me to bowl the first over, or it could be the 50th, I should be ready to bowl at any stage. I should also be more responsible with my batting, I should be more responsible for the team as a whole. It’s not just cricket. Even after the game, you should learn to enjoy time with mates as well.

No pressure cooking

Chappell: They have been playing in India and abroad for years. I don’t have to tell them about pressure. They know what pressure is all about. The group is well prepared for all eventualities and everything that can be expected to come their way in a world cup. There is no real need for anything extra in that area.

and this

Both Mahabir and Imran would love to be there for India’s World Cup matches in Port of Spain, over an hour away. The tickets have been sold out, frowns Mahabir, while Imran has no time away from his business. Then, they smile indulgently as Imam Dipoti, a bit homesick, comes out with a little wish of his own: meet Munaf Patel, speak to him in Gujarati.

and this

I hung around for some more time, and took in Tendulkar’s speech, where he picked out a personal anecdote: of a physically challenged boy who stood up on his own when his one big dream came true: hold Tendulkar’s bat, and play against the master himself.

Later, Tendulkar handed over T-shirts to the local cricket team and told them: “I would like to ask the little champion team to come to the Bangladesh match on Saturday and support us.” Then, turning to the crowd, he threw them this line: “See you in the finals.”

The crowd went wild, I turned to leave. Wait, he will speak to the media, warned a cameraman. I didn’t. Is there anything new left for Tendulkar to say, after what we have squeezed out of him over the last 16 years? As it turned out, I was not way off the mark, except for this one line: “I don’t know if this is my final World Cup. The one in 2011 is quite far from here but it all depends on how my body is holding up.” Hmmm.

Question: Is Tendulkar really a superhero? Maybe yes, because millions of us still live and die a hundred times whenever he walks out to bat.

and this

So which version of Dravid will the world see this time? As a captain, you can expect him to go into the tournament with his eyes wide open, knowing that his team is still a long way away from its best. And yes, you can also expect him to take some tough decisions based on the cold experience of having managed a bunch of such disparate characters for over a year, having honed his tactical skills against almost all his possible rivals.

As a player? He will continue to perform that crucial role that he has so effortlessly, and so skillfully, slipped into over the years: holding up the crucial middle, letting the flamboyant strokeplayers gather the applause, then step in gently to steady the ship, stepping on the gas when needed, even taking the team through to the finish line. Ricky Ponting? Naah, Rahul Dravid anytime

and this

Beyond the obvious, the truth is that never has a cricket team gone to the World Cup with so much at stake. And here’s why.

• You have a coach who is at the end of a contract, hoping that the BCCI would ask him to stay on for two years more. For Chappell, a semi-final slot is the least he needs to bring back to the table when talks for the future start. The hard-talking Aussie has, by and large, managed to push his gameplan through over the last year, but if there’s one area where he has stumbled, it is his communication with senior players like Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh.

An early end to India’s World Cup will mean the simmering tension is bound to pop up again —something that Indian cricket could definitely do without. And of course, there’s his vision still waiting to turn into reality, his process of forging a new Indian team, one that will emerge from the shadows of veterans like Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.

• You have a captain who is eager to establish his leadership with the biggest prize ever after the slump that followed a dazzling beginning. Dravid’s captaincy was the toast of the country during the amazing 17-match chase streak. But thereafter, it was a string of uncomfortable moments in the West Indies, Malaysia, during the Champions Trophy and of course, the rout in South Africa.

All of a sudden, questions were asked within the team and outside, about his conservative leadership style, his ‘aloof’ nature, even his hunger to lead. But the warm-up series this year against the West Indies and Sri Lanka has brought that shy smile back on the gentleman skipper’s face. It’s a smile that millions of fans will hope remains till the end of April — for the team’s sake, for the skipper’s sake.

• You have Sachin Tendulkar, named vice-captain, desperate to stamp his seal once again in world cricket during what will surely be his last World Cup. If India fails, and Sachin too, it will mean the beginning of the final chapter of one of the greatest cricketers ever.

After a nightmare date with a series of injuries, Sachin just about came into form in South Africa, but never quite managed to survive those blips in focus that cut him down in mid flight. He missed out on two Test centuries, barely salvaged a horrendous start in the one-dayers, and finally got going in the twin series against the Windies and the Lankans. Oh yes, Tendulkar has a lot left to prove.

• You have Sourav Ganguly, desperate for that final blaze of glory after the trauma of being dropped and then having to virtually gatecrash his way back into the team after a year. Surely, all eyes will be on Dada, whose comeback is already one of the biggest fairy tales of Indian cricket. But Ganguly, it is believed, is far from satisfied, and is eyeing that one big score that will cement his place in the team. Already, this master of man-management has made an impact among the juniors with “valuable tips” and suggestions. He will play a key role, says Chappell, but even Ganguly knows that a flop in the West Indies would have the knives out again.

• You have Virender Sehwag, struggling to come to terms with a clutch of demons hovering over his head. Sehwag’s story is the most bizarre to have come out of this Indian book in a long, long time. Everyone agrees he is the match-winner that India needs, even Chappell says he can turn a match on his own — but except for that flicker in Vizag against Sri Lanka, he has done little to keep the faith. As chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar remarked, “He keeps getting out in the same way (slashing to slips) again and again.”

For Sehwag, a bad World Cup would virtually mean a full stop—even the few senior players who have been backing him over the last few months may not be able to help. Not with a powerful section of the BCCI, livid over his strident stand on the unresolved contracts issue, gunning for his head.

• You have Harbhajan Singh, still struggling to come to terms with a coaching manual that he has never come across before. Harbhajan, an extremely emotional character, has had his problems with the blunt style of Chappell, often struggling to get on the same page with the coach. He may believe that he knows better about the art he purveys, and has often been baffled about why the thinktank does not seem to share the supreme confidence that he has in his capabilities. He may not rate his competition very highly, too, but he knows this World Cup is his best chance ever to turn the corner—in every sense.

• You have Anil Kumble, eager to make an emphatic closing statement to his one-day career. “What is the big deal?” he retorted when asked about his statement that the World Cup would be his last one-day tournament. But those who know Kumble would also know that gritty, sometimes bitter, leg-spinner will use every ball, every over to remind the selectors of what India missed out by keeping him out of the one-day squad for most of the last two seasons. In case you missed out, just check his figures during the one-day series against South Africa, his big comeback tournament.

• And then, you have a bunch of youngsters, the new face of Indian cricket. Yuvraj Singh realises that this tournament will be the biggest test of whether he is able to live up to the tag of the next great Indian hope. There’s nobody who times the ball better, says Chappell, who strongly believes that Yuvraj is the axis around which the new India will emerge. Yet, the Punjab youth icon has failed to live up to the hype - you could blame it on a bad back, and that knee injury. But Yuvraj is sure that this time, he can. And if that fabulous half-century in Vizag is any indication, he will.

Finally, there’s S Sreesanth, Dinesh Kaarthick, Munaf Patel and Robin Uthappa, all aware of the competition breathing down their collars, aware that one stumble here would push them back into the shadows.

So much at stake, then. So many individual aspirations that can, hopefully, unite to form a common target: The World Cup.

and this

The clouds are still hovering over the Queen’s Park Oval, Bermuda has been crushed, and the same fans who had called Rahul Dravid a ‘loser’ after Bangladesh are crowding around the team bus. They wave their flags as Dravid clambers up, then rush towards Sachin Tendulkar, one of them wraps Virender Sehwag in a huge hug.

Then, they all line up in front of an Indian TV channel camera, and start shouting: ‘Jeetega, bhai, jeetega, India jeetega’. Believe me, I saw it with my own eyes.........

Some of this frenzy, he suggests, is probably because of that big Indian fight for eyeballs. Eyeballs? “There has been a huge explosion in the media. The media competes with each other for space, for eyeballs, for viewership. That’s probably a trend that’s going to be there, is going to only keep getting worse and worse. It’s not for me to say whether it’s right or wrong, there are people who make these decisions on what is out on air, what to write, or what sort of lines you want to take. It’s for them to decide what sort of policy they want to take.”

Do you agree with him? I do, but just one question: Don’t the players add to this frenzy, too, with their ‘Hoo Haa’ ad promos, leaked team plans?

and this

Somebody wants Virender Sehwag to strike a note on a guitar, Harbhajan Singh is asked to pose for photographs every three steps, the battle-scarred Rahul Dravid barely manages to breeze through with a fixed smile. Lanka match? They say it’s sold out, they say Sunil Shetty’s going to come. But if we lose? The fan suddenly loses interest, turns his back on me.

Really, what if we lose? Have you ever taken a deep breath and thought about it? What will the effect be on the ad world, the MNCs that have staked millions of dollars on Team India? What about the ICC, where will they get their viewers from? The TV broadcasters, all those expert commentators holed up in studios, counting the money? What will happen to this whole business of cricket, the parasites, the wheeler-dealers, the agents, the circus?

I have to smile here. Maybe, they deserve it, for hyping this simple game to such levels that a coach is found dead after a game is lost. For luring gullible cricketers, the best among millions, into the sleazy world of commissions and contracts.

But wait, of course, I want Team India to win. But I also want them to be able to walk around without being mobbed by buffoons masquerading as fans every other second. I want them to be with people who talk cricket, know about the game, not with agents and ad men. I want them to stay on the sports pages. I want them to be able to spend at least four months a year with their families, wives, children. I want them to put their hearts into the game, not worry about the games being played with their bank accounts by their own relatives back home. I want them to be men, proud, fit athletes, true ambassadors of the game, their country.

And that’s why I won’t jump into the Caribbean sea if we actually lose to Lanka.

and this

It didn’t take much time for the cameras to turn on the returning stars, it didn’t take much time for mobile phones to start leaking confidential messages from the coach. But the real story of India’s World Cup disaster does not begin with that initial fumble against Bangladesh, or the embarrassing surrender to Sri Lanka.

By the time India reached the West Indies on March 1, the wheels had already come loose, threatening to fall off any time. And they did, within 23 days.

The Indian Express talked to some of the main characters in this tragedy — including coach Greg Chappell, captain Rahul Dravid and at least two other senior players — before, during and immediately after India’s World Cup 2007, and it can now reveal that many in this team had little hope of succeeding in the Caribbean, and the skipper was spending a lot of his time and energy repairing a severe communications breakdown between the coach and most of the senior players.

But, for now, it essentially boils down to this:

• Dravid believes it is the failure of youngsters to really challenge the aging veterans, including himself, which led to the team compromising on agility and fitness, and the burden falling back on battle-scarred shoulders. He agrees with the coach that it is high time for a young India to emerge, but strongly feels you can’t simply shut the door on players like Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar, especially when the domestic circuit is yet to throw up the kind of talent that can take over right now. His biggest disappointment is the failure of Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif to seal their slots in the Indian battling line-up over the last 12 months.

• Coach Chappell points towards the BCCI and the selectors for not seeing the larger picture — for succumbing to public pressure and recalling Sourav Ganguly, for bowing to the captain’s wishes and letting Virender Sehwag carry on, for not pushing Sachin Tendulkar enough. He also blames Tendulkar and Ganguly for staying aloof, and not contributing enough leadership-wise, letting Dravid take all the load. In one rare, unguarded moment last week, he even tried to link this ambivalence to the race for captaincy - it’s a charge that Ganguly, at least, swatted aside with a contemptuous laugh.

• As for the senior players, at least one of them was not very enthused by the “bookish” captaincy of Dravid, but stressed that the team would rally behind him in this time of crisis. And both made their disgust at the coach’s methods very clear -they blamed the Aussie for repeatedly leaking team plans and his opinion on various players to the media; they said this finally led to an atmosphere of divisiveness within the side. “He played around with our minds,” said one of them.

In fact, by the time the team reached the West Indies, the relationship between the coach and almost every other senior player, except Dravid, had become so strained that there were days when a player — like, say, Tendulkar — would hardly exchange a word with Chappell.

And despite all the public smiles, it’s doubtful whether Chappell was ever on backslapping terms with Tendulkar, Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan:

• Tendulkar’s relationship with Chappell started going awry almost immediately after his comeback from injury late last year when the coach questioned his fitness. Chappell, then frustrated by the Mumbai star’s repeated flops, slammed in another nail by standing in the way of Tendulkar’s burning desire to open the innings. The coach believes that Tendulkar is denying the team the wealth of his experience and turning away from the tough option of grinding it out and propping up the Indian middle-order - Chappell, besides, prefers to see Robin Uthappa grow as one-day opener.

• The Ganguly-Chappell patch-up is a sham in every sense with the former captain still ruing his decision to back the Aussie for the job almost two years ago, despite being ‘cautioned’ by many Australian players, including Steve Waugh. Not surprisingly, Chappell believes that the decision to recall the former skipper was a step backwards — the fight between the two had always been about who would hold the team’s reins — while the left-hander points to the string of good scores since his return to prove the coach wrong.

• Harbhajan and Zaheer, both perceived to be Ganguly’s ‘men’, got on the wrong side of Chappell following ‘Dada’s’ ouster. Chappell believes that the off-spinner has lost the will and the bite, while the emotional sardar blames the coach for not understanding his art and breaking the team’s spirit by leaking stories about players. Zaheer, who was shown the door by Chappell last year for lack of fitness and the right ‘attitude’, is back with a bang but has largely stuck to himself, and is said to be counting the days.

Dravid remains the only senior player who has been able to strike the right note with the former Australian captain - probably, because of their strong, common faith in motivational tools, in the belief that it’s the mind that counts at the highest level.

The Bangalorean is still a bit overawed by the former Australian captain’s “cricketing brain”, and believes that most of what Chappell has said - on the need to push younger players, on setting up an assembly line - makes sense. But even he is not very happy with Chappell’s obsession with the media, even though he attributes it to the coach’s eagerness to convince everybody about his vision, get everyone on board.

The skipper is also painfully aware that many of Chappell’s off-the-record opinions were being leaked right back to the players, adding up to a lot of heartburn and unrest especially over the last six months.

There you have it then: coach and players on different pitches, an overloaded captain, seniors pulling in different directions. No wonder then, that all it took finally for the world’s richest cricket team to come crashing down was one gentle push — from Bangladesh.

Which begs the question - if the media was aware of the fracture in the team in 2007, why did it not think it its duty to report this faithfully? Why were fans led to believe that all was well with the Indian team in the lead up to the World Cup in 2007?

What does it say about media credibility then?

And given that media credibility is a joke, isnt it a bit rich for them to pontificate on what MS Dhoni's actions?

Vide this gem

Dhoni is said to have been riding high in the popularity chart following his recent performances, but in Trent Bridge he landed up painting a very poor image before the Indian media.

He has declared war on the Indian media that had leaked out the news that he does not get along with Sehwag.

The alleged injury to the opening batsman is being seen as a cooked up story by Dhoni.

and this one

Dhoni has been different from his predecessors in that he believes it is essentially unnecessary to have even a working relationship with the media. In a country where ignominious tournament exits result in players’ housesbeing tarred and their cars stoned, this was a high-risk strategy at the best of times

Damned if you do...

Tuesday was different. For starters, the ICC's media release said unequivocally, "Dhoni will hold a media conference". It was down in black and white, leaving the Indian team no get-out clause. And then Virender Sehwag batted in the nets for the first time during the competition, but only for 10 minutes. There was word that he was out of the competition, but only few knew for sure.

The first question put to Dhoni, who turned up without his team-mates this time, at the press conference was about Sehwag's fitness. The captain swatted it away with a majestic air of finality by saying, "Anything related to fitness, there will be a press release from the BCCI". He wasn't lying.

Having been snubbed by that terse response, no one asked a question about Sehwag for a while. It was the elephant in the room, and 20 minutes later someone began to talk about it. This time the media manager intervened and said the board would send out a release. His answer didn't satisfy anyone, for the question was asked again, this time pointedly to Dhoni, who repeated his lines. It was pandemonium after that, with people losing tempers and the usually uber-calm Dhoni showing traces of losing composure. Just when things were getting to a head, the team manager stepped in heroically and diffused the volatile situation with expert negotiation skills. A truce was brokered - a final decision on Sehwag's fitness would be taken on Wednesday. Or so we were told.

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When India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was, fresh off the Indian team’s first win in New Zealand, he began by saying he was “shocked and sad” that sportspersons had been attacked. Pressed further about Pakistan he went on, his responses containing these phrases, “I am glad I am in New Zealand and I don't have to worry about these things… Sides like us are quite happy not to be there, in this kind of a situation…. I am happy we didn't tour Pakistan, and that the government didn't allow us to tour Pakistan. It may or may not have happened to us. But overall I am happy to be here.”

It was the last thing out of his mouth and the first thing that got snapped up. The news channels were happy to call this typical of Dhoni “speaking his mind,”. It was all true, it was gut-feel “honest”. It is probably what every Indian cricketer and every player in the world felt privately at the time. But it was not appropriate.

On a day when some of his peers could have been killed, when a match official was fighting for his life and when seven innocent human beings had lost their lives, the over-arching sentiment from the captain of India called for something other than a statement whose sub-text essentially read: “Ooo, lucky, lucky us”.

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Really???

Virender Sehwag is to return home from the World Twenty20 with a shoulder injury, a development that is likely to affect India's chances of retaining the trophy.

Virender Sehwag returning home because of injury - fine.

"A development that is likely to affect India's chances of retaining the Trophy" - how?

Sehwag has yet to master the shortest form of the game. In reality, the longer the format of the game, the better Sehwag is. And his form in the just concluded IPL has been patchy. A couple of good innings but a tendency to play too many shots too early and throwing it away.

Sehwag's replacement is Dinesh Karthik. Karthik has shown form in the IPL and is a wicketkeeper. And given Dhoni's insistence on playing Parthiv Patel for the Chennai Super Kings on account of the fact that he kept wickets, Karthik may turn out to be an inspired selection.

I really dont think Sehwag will be missed - Rohit Sharma looks comfortable at the top of the order and is in form. Also, between Yuvraj, Rohit, Raina and Yususf Pathan, the Indians have enough part time bowlers to fulfil the role Sehwag often did.

"A development that is likely to affect India's chances of retaining the Trophy" - I think not.

Reconcile this

Australia have be knocked out of the Twenty20 World Championship. It is tempting to blame the pool of death for their demise as they would have most likely qualified for the Super Eights stage if they were in any of the three other groups.

But they were grouped with Sri Lanka and West Indies and were found wanting in all departments.

The main reason for this is inexperience.

Most of Australia's elite cricketers play very little Twenty20 cricket at either domestic or international level. Of the 12 players who featured in the pool games over the past three days, only David Warner, Brett Lee and David Hussey played in the recent Premier League and only Warner, Hussey, James Hopes and Nathan Bracken featured in the Australian domestic competition.

It would be harsh to call Australia clueless at this form of cricket but they are clearly one of the most inexperienced teams going around.

Perhaps Australia should follow reigning champion India's formula for success. Admittedly it was more by accident than design that India adopted a youth policy before the last World Championships, but it has worked a treat and if Australia are to succeed at this format, they will need to pick a team that will play more than a handful of Twenty20 games a year.

India have picked 23 players in the their history of Twenty20 internationals - Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble and Sourav Ganguly have played just one between them. Australia, on the other hand, have used 39 players since 2005.

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It would be harsh to call Australia clueless at this form of cricket but they are clearly one of the most inexperienced teams going around.

23 games, the most by any nation in the shortest format, is a sure sign of inexperience!

Two captains

"We knew their spinners would be the most difficult for us to face, and he's certainly had a big impact on the game.

"It was probably the biggest difference in the game, the fact that their spinners did dictate to us through the middle of our innings.

"A lot of their guys have been playing Twenty20 over last few months, but we've had a few guys at the IPL as well.

"It's irrelevant really. We knew what we had to do and unfortunately, in the last two games, we haven't been good enough to do it."

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"It's been a wonderful experience for everybody. We have about 13 Sri Lankan players in the IPL, a few more going in next year hopefully," he said.

"Even if some of the players don't get consistent games the fact that they are there, they are rubbing shoulders with some of the greats of the game, they're learning from that experience, they're training hard, they're learning to innovate.

"And it keeps them on their toes to see how much they have to improve and really perform to be recognised in world cricket and I think that will drive our cricketers forward and upwards."

Succinct

Len's take on the Australia Sri Lanka game.

Bye bye bye

Today is the 8th of June. Australia plays its first tune up game against Sussex at Hove starting June 24. That's 16 days of nets, time that could have been better used getting match ready by pitting their skills against the world's best.

And this has bigger ramifications for the Ashes.

Australia played its last Test in February. England played its last test in May. England are in the Super 8's. Australia are left to lick their wounds, being eliminated in the group phase itself.

England is getting necessary match practice in high pressure situations. Australia is left to get its bowlers ( and batsmen) acclimatized to English conditions.

And there are questions - of form. Brett Lee has been carted all over the place, Mitchell Johnson hasn't really brought the ball in to the right handers, can Mike Hussey make runs, can Australia play spin?

Suddenly, the Ashes don't seem so dull!

Constant is the only change

Andrew Symonds enjoys a drink while watching an NRL match, Gold Coast, June 8, 2009