Iqbal Abdulla

was drafted by Mumbai in their semi final line up in the Ranji Trophy. He is a precocious talent from what I hear, and this performance goes a long way in confirming the rumors.

Mumbai has had a history of fine left arm spin bowlers, with Paddy Shivalkar, Bapu Nadkarni and Ravi Shastri being the stand outs.

So here is my question - What is the MCA in general, and Dilip Vengsarkar in particular, going to do to ensure that Iqbal Abdulla fulfills this early promise and goes on to wear the India cap?

Update :- I forgot to mention Nilesh Kulkarni in the list of slow left armers.

Plenty of worthies who can take the young kid under their wing and help him get better and mature. Is the MCA game ?

R.I.P Subhash Bandiwadekar

Ex-Mumbai stumper Bandiwadekar dead


Mumbai cricket will miss their Bandi

Mumbai are...

37 times over!!!!!

Congratulations Amol Muzumdar and your band of gritty warriors..You have put the K back in Khadoos!!!

The Trophy is coming Home!!! YIPEE!!!

Congratuations also to the Bengal Team, especially Ranadeb Bose and Manoj Tiwary. You have the heart of Champions!!

Is the Indian finger spinner obsolete?

is the title of this post by Mukul Kesavan on the CricInfo website. With such a provocative title, some research and a long post becomes mandatory. So here goes -

1. Nature of wickets

Nilesh Kulkarni, long time servant of Mumbai cricket and ex-captain, also left arm spinner, was dropped from the Mumbai squad for the finals of the Ranji Trophy as the coach deemed the need to take 4 pacers on the Wankhede wicket.

When was the last time 4 pacers were taken in the finals of the Ranji Trophy? I have been around for a while, and have been following the domestic scene for a while longer, and 4 pacers going into the finals was blasphemy even 5 years ago.

And dropping a quality spinner for a pacer was sacrilege.

But it has happened and will continue to happen.

Looking at the leading wicket takers in the Ranji Trophy ( 2006-07), 6 of the top 10 wicket takers are pacers. 4 of the top 5 wicket takers in the country in India's domestic championship are pace bowlers.

So what changed?

In the early 90's, we used to lament on the need for pace bowlers, of domestic cricket being dust bowls, of pitches being so benign that batsmen would score 300 before lunch and then another 400 between lunch and tea.

Then came the move to change the nature of the wickets across the land. Some of the wickets were re-layed, some other had their soil- clay content altered, some others made the move to leave the grass on the wickets.

Today, if one looks at the match stats of the games that had a definite result versus games that ended in draws ( point of reference - Ranji Trophy 2007-07), most of the games with outright results have not lasted the total distance. 4 day games have gotten over in 3 and 5 day games have gotten over in 4.

Swing and seam have done most of the damage, and so, for the most part, unless the game has dragged on to the final day, the spinners really havent had a significant role to play.

2. A problem of plenty( or how we treat our spinners)

Think back to the time, in the early and late 80's, when we used to moan about not having a single left handed batsman in the team. Think back about how much joy swept through the land when Vinod Kambli took guard in Indian colors.

Think also of the time when Rashid Patel said "Left arm over" and the nation went into raptures coz finally, finally we had a left arm pacer.

Today, we gleefully omit a left arm pacer without playing him for a single game, ditto a left hand bat.

Ditto left arm spinners ( Sunil Joshi, Murali Karthik, Maninder Singh, Venkatapathi Raju, Nilesh Kulkarni).

Ditto off spinners and leggies ( L. Sivaramakrishnan,Sarandeep Singh, Rajesh Chauhan, Narendra Hirwani...).

Piyush Chawla was drafted, with much fan fare,into the Indian squad against England. He played a test. And then he was dropped. And has not been heard of since ( unless u follow the fortunes of UP in domestic cricket and U-19 in International cricket).

Amit Mishra, good leggie with nice variations ( atleast when i saw him on telly), was taken to Bangladesh for, get this, an ODI tournament. And then dropped. And has not been heard of since ( unless u follow the fortunes of Haryana in the Ranji Trophy).

Today, we are secure in the thought that Anil Kumble has sort of reinvented hinself and will be around for a year or so, if not more. We are also secure in our thought that Harbhajan is our off spinner for the present and the future.

Look again at the list of the leading wicket takers in the Ranji Trophy. Of the 4 spinners in the top 10 list, 2 are 20 years old and one is 27.

What happens when Anil Kumble retires and Harbhajan Singh hurts his finger?

We will draft, we will dump but we dont groom. Thats how we treat our spinners.

2. Impact players

Sarandeep Singh is a contemporary of Harbhajan Singh. From what I have heard and seen, he was as good if not a better off spinner than Harbhajan ( and definitely more in the classical mould). So what happened to Sarandeep?

Paddy Shivalkar and Rajinder Goel are the most famous examples of players who were of domestic gods who never wore India colors.

Think also of Stuart McGill and Shane Warne.

What is the difference? One is an impact player, the other is not.

Anil Kumble made the leg spinners job his own during the England whitewash of 1993. Harbhajan's entry into Test cricket is all too well documented for me to repeat.

Both bowlers made a huge impact in the initial opportunities given to them, and basically sealed the deal on their presence in the side. In the meantime, just about how many trundlers have plied their wares in the domestic scene while being fully aware that they will never get the opportunity to wear the India cap because they either did not or cannot make the sort of immediate impact AK and HS had.

3.Role of the slow bowler

What exactly is the role of the slow bowler in Ranji these days? Strike bowler? Stock bowler? Attacking option or defensive option?short spells of 5 overs or longer spells of 30 overs? spread out fields saving runs or attacking fields to take wickets?

4. Captaincy

Saurav Ganguly did not have a clue on how to handle Murali Karthik. Nilesh Kulkarni was made to bowl round the wicket into the rough as a defensive option ( in a match that India was in the drivers seat and eventually won).

Rahul Dravid is the best captain Karthik could ever have, but now finds himself in the sidelines.

Just how important is captaincy in the maturation process of a spinner?

Everyone talks of Bedi and how great he was. But let us not forget that his first captain was one MAK Pataudi. Can you imagine if Nasser Hussain had been Bedi's captain? Or Monty Panesar's for that matter?

In the domestic scene today, just how many captains understand slow bowling and slow bowlers? When Bedi got tonked for a six, he would applaud the batsmen, and the field would not alter. Today, if a spinner gets tonked for a 6, with the opposition score reading 103/6 chasing 550 to win, the captain will immediately push long on and long off back. And take out the slip and move him to deep extra cover.

5. Maturity

Spinners take time to mature is what we get to hear every time the question is raised. If one were to discount Sunil Joshi, Nilesh Kulkarni and Sairaj Bahutule, most of the current crop of spinners in the domestic circuit are fresh graduates from the U-19 circuit.

Saurasish Lahiri and Rajesh Pawar, along with Ramesh Powar, are the only 3 spinners who can be considered to be of the age where they can be considered mature enough in their skill set to take the next step ( ie: international cricket).

However, what support systems do Bengal or Baroda or Mumbai have to facilitate this next step?
--

Sure, One Day cricket has made an impact on how bowlers think, and sure short boundaries and heavy bats have made the spinner's job more difficult.

Slow bowling is an art that needs time and space to come to fruition. But in this age of instant gratification, do we have the necessary patience to let our slow bowlers mature? In our search for the next "impact" player, are we sacrificing someone of quality who might take a little longer to find their feet?

Do short term gains justify long term losses, especially in the domain of slow bowling where it is the long term that matters ( spinners have a longer shelf life than pacers and generally tend to get better with time) ?

If so, must we rephrase the title of the post and ask - Is the Indian spinner obsolete?

Corollary - Have Indian batsmen forgotten how to play spin bowling?

World Cup Predictions

Sri Lanka will win the World Cup.. There - I said it .

A suitable boy.

Mr. Berry, meet Ehsan Mani.

A Disgrace!!!

Nilesh Kulkarni was the captain of the Mumbai Cricket Team last season. And now he finds himself out of the team and is not even informed about it!!!

Sachin makes up for lost time

reads this article by Sidharth Monga on the CricInfo website.

Few points here

1. What have the Mumbai selectors been smoking? For all the talk of overhauling the team and getting fresh talent into the team and watching them flower, the selectors have done Mumbai cricket a great disservice.
   
2. I am personally against Team India players picking and choosing what games they play or sit out in the domestic circuit. Too much cricket is the oft repeated complaint.. But then these very same people have no qualms in packing their bags and setting off to junkets in Abu Dhabi or Timbuktu or wherever to play inconsequential matches.
3. How fair is the inclusion of Zaheer Khan and Sachin Tendulkar to the guys who have had to sit out ? Sachin and Zaheer were not around when Mumbai scripted what is probably the greatest turnaround in Indian domestic history. So why are they automatic selections for the Ranji Trophy finals?
   
4. How will the presence of Zaheer and Sachin alter the dynamics of the Mumbai dressing room? And how much will that undercut Amol Muzumdar's authority on the field?
   
5. Expanding the team roster from 15 players to 19 players when none of the active players are injured is daft. That the BCCI allows this is dafter still.

Sachin Tendulkar has been a great servant of Mumbai cricket, but his 6 year absence from the domestic scene is inexcusable. If Sachin and Zaheer had been with the team from the middle of the season until the finals ( a la Agarkar or Powar), it would still have been okay. But for them to play on the biggest stage in domestic cricket at the expense of kids who have done all the hard work to get Mumbai to this position is just not cricket.

Of National Importance and some such...

Doordarshan will no longer be forced to straggle by seven minutes in beaming major cricketing events. The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a move to introduce an ordinance that would make it mandatory for private broadcasters to share the telecast of sports events with Prasar Bharati. The sharing norms are meant for sporting events of ‘national importance’,

So far so good.. Since the government wants all us common folk to watch sports events of "national importance", I am all for this ordinance.

The finals of the Ranji Trophy, India's premier domestic cricketing tournament, are underway at the Wankhede stadium. Surely no sporting event is of greater "national importance" than this, or so I thought.

So, I was over at the DoorDarshan website to check if this sporting event of "national importance" was being carried on any of DD's channels.

DD Sports - nothing
DD National - nothing
DD India - nothing

So there...So much for sporting events of "national importance".

Here are some more opinions on the same issue by Bong'oPondit, Jagadish,Nitin Pai, Gaurav, Yossarin, Sandeep and Harsha Bhogle

Update - Devangshu Datta here

What a match!!!

This was the first Ranji Trophy match I saw on TV.

More questions than answers

India won a handsome victory against the West Indies at Baroda,thus sealing the series 3-1. But it also left a lot of questions unanswered.

1. Irfan Pathan's form ?

Irfan Pathan had pretty average returns of 7-0-43-1 in his comeback game in India colors. 43 out of a team total of 181 is nearly 25% of the runs scored off his bowling.

His batting form has been steady in his time out of the Indian team.

Irfan Pathan is the most important cog in India's scheme of things in the World Cup. A fit and in form Pathan gives the Indians a lot more flexibility in their batting and bowling schemes. And he has a pretty strong arm, thus bolstering a pretty ordinary fielding side.

2. Where does Virender Sehwag fit in ?

From Vice Captain to Captain to nobody in the space of 3 weeks. That is the story of Virender Sehwag today. Accused of being a disruptive element in the team, his batting form is the pits today. Given that his ODI form has been below average for an extended period of time, does he even merit inclusion in the XV?

If he does, how does he get slotted into the squad? As a 3rd opener and back up for Uthappa or Ganguly or as a # 6 covering for Yuvraj?

He had an pretty good outing in the West Indies, being the leading run scorer in the shorter format of the game. Plus his spin bowling was a revelation. If in form, he gives India added options.

Omitted out of the squad for the West Indies series, an inclusion during the SL series will indicate that he is in the selectors mind. Non inclusion means curtains to his World Cup hopes.

3. Two spinners or 3 ?

Indian skipper Rahul Dravid on Tuesday virtually named Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh as the two spinners certain to make the World Cup squad and said off-spinner Ramesh Powar was competing for a spot with one of the pace bowlers.

With Sachin and Yuvraj turning their arms over, and Sehwag offering more options if selected, the Captain has basically closed the door on Ramesh Powar's chances for the World Cup.

4. Yuvraj Singh's batting form ?

By all reports, his knee is holding up well. so, did India miss a trick by not sending Yuvraj Singh up the order ( #3 or 4) in the last ODI at Baroda? The platform was set, and by giving Yuvraj an extended stay at the crease, a better assessment could have been made of his batting form and match fitness.

As things stand now, Yuvraj Singh's batting form is a matter of conjecture.

5. Sachin at 3 or 4 ?

Tendulkar came in at 3 in the first ODI at Nagpur, and then dropped down to 4 in the remaining 3 ODIs with Dravid taking the #3 spot.

In the ideal world ( ie- my playing XI), Sachin would come at 3 and Dravid at 5, with Yuvraj taking the #4 spot. This is because Dravid is the perfect bridge between one set of strokemakers and another and also because at 3, Sachin can do the pinch hitter/team anchor double act.

6. Munaf or Sreesanth or both or neither?

In form, Munaf is a must have in the team XI ( although his fielding makes Ashish Nehra look like Jonty Rhodes at times). He is a valuable asset at the start of an innings and his ability to get reverse swing is important at the death.

Contrast this with Sreesanth, who, while being a wonderful Test match bowler, comes unhinged in ODIs.

But while Sreesanth has the TINA factor going for him, Munaf is battling self doubt and a dodgy ankle (?). Add to this the strong vote of no confidence voiced by the BCCI and the selectors over the fiasco that was the Newlands test and its aftermath, and you are looking at a very shaky competitor.

7. Raina or Kaif or both or neither?

Md. Kaif topped India's ODI batting averages during the tour to the West Indies and had 3 scores of 50 or more to boot. Being the second highest run getter helped too.

However, a dismal series in South Africa and he finds himself out of favor with the people who matter.

Suresh Raina is the flavor of the season at the moment, and while he has undoubted potential, is he the right guy to take on to the World's biggest stage, especially given his form ( over an extended period) has been more down than up?

If a choice in the final XV boils down to a toss up between these two electric fielders with indifferent form, which way will the axe fall?

8. Saurav Ganguly- bowler ?

Will Saurav Ganguly bowl at all? Twice in two games he has left the field with back problems. That does not bode well for him or the Indian team.

9. Uthappa seals the deal?

Is Robin Uthappa the answer for the opening slot? Or does Gambhir still have a shot? Are 2 innings good enough to make a concrete decision on the merits/demerits of a player? Or does Gambhir offer more in terms of international experience?

10. India's batting and the inability to adapt quickly ?

At Chennai, the Indian middle and lower middle order crumbled, losing 7/35. At Cuttuck, the top order lost its way, losing 7/90. Two different wickets, slightly different batting conditions, and the Indians unraveled. Given that the some of the wickets in the West Indies are being newly laid, and some of the wickets are being used for the Carib domestic season, what will be the nature of the wickets and how quickly will the Indians adapt to the change?

( India failed to adapt quickly enough at Abu Dhabi, West Indies, Malaysia, India and South Africa on different conditions. How they do in the West Indies hinges on how quickly the can revise game plans depending on the conditions).
--

India has two more ODIs to closure on these issues ( the WC team has to be announced before Feb 13th), failing which the entire World Cup campaign will be in jeopardy.

Update - Obviously the CricInfo website does not think so :)

A Must Read...

This post by Ugyen over at the Bhutan Cricket Weblog..

Foot in Mouth!!

Why is it that every time some one from Baroda reaches a position of authority in the BCCI hierarchy, they get afflicted by the Foot in Mouth disease?

First Jaywant Lele and now Kiran More.

On batting beauties!!

The common belief, which has been the leitmotif of all Dravid press conferences in recent times, is that the teams participating in the World Cup, will struggle to score in the middle of the innings, between overs 20 and 40. The reason according to the captain and coach Greg Chappell, from whom we first heard of this, is that the playing surfaces in the West Indies tend to get slower and lower as the games progress and there is a need for someone with a big-hitting prowess to bat in this period of play to keep the runs flowing.

Then pray why are all the pitches, bar Cuttuck, are a fairly typical one-day strip, loaded in the favour of the batsmen?

Is it because the Indian bats desperately need to gain confidence in their own abilities or because the BCCI needs the eyeballs, damn the consequences?

Interesting,

this !