Please please please BCCI

let him continue writing even if he breaks into the India team.

No gag orders please!

On Fielding

(comments made by me on Prem Panicker's blog during the Third ODI versus England)

Let us take it as an article of faith that India’s ground fielding is going to remain solid and never move into the realms of the spectacular.

Forget the usual suspects like Ganguly and Munaf, people like Uthappa and Gambhir also cannot be expected to be anything more than solid.

And if that is the case, maybe we need to recalibrate our expectations on what this Indian team can and cannot do.

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And why blame these guys alone - ever watched kids play in the maidans?

Isn't that when there is purity as far as the game is concerned with the kids playing the game for the joy of playing - ever noticed how many kids sign up to field?

And ever noticed how the fielding slacks off significantly after the first couple of overs or if the opposing batsmen start a run barrage?

And if that is the case, how can one expect attitudes, hardened over the course of the better part of a young life, change dramatically on wearing the India colors- especially when the India colors were earned on the back of batting and bowling and not fielding performances ?

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The contrast with the Poms is sharp, especially in the ODI arena, but India’s ground fielding was never top drawer even during the WC 2003 campaign.

Now, as an aside, I was reading in the Times or the Telegraph that the lights in Bristol were not even club standard and that may have affected the Indians sighting the ball.

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The high point of India’s fielding was when we took the field with Kaif, Yuvi, Raina, Sehwag, SRT, Pathan andAgarkar - agile bodies ( the first three) and strong arms ( the latter 4). But even then, there were 3 fielders who had to be hidden in the field

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Take Manoj Tiwary for instance - kid threw himself after the ball and hurt himself during practice. And that dive has cost him an India cap for the near future. And then he had to endure BCCI shenanigans - over which doctor he could consult with and who would pick up the medical bills.

So not only was his income being impacted because of him not playing, he was in a position where he would have had to foot his own medical bills!

And with sports medicine not as evolved in India, the medical tab is significant.

And so the question becomes, why would anyone exert themselves on the field when 1) there is no guarantee of income during the rehabilitation phase and 2) there is no guarantee of re compensation for medical bills incurred.

Also, what coaching is given with regards to fielding and throwing techniques during the formative years of a cricketers life? Whatever sliding and diving that kids do today is because of what they watch on television, not because there is a program in place that teaches kids the right techniques in fielding.

Forget sliding and diving - what about fundamental throwing? Why is it that Rahul Dravid has to harp on about "weak" arms in the field?

The unfortunate thing is that if these trends continue, with the world leaving India by the wayside in Twenty 20 and ODI cricket, India's ODI cricket is likely to go the way of India's Hockey.

Maybe then the BCCI will wake up and smell the coffee.

Third ODI - India versus England, Edgbaston

Plenty to think about for India after a crushing loss. England 281/8 India 239 all out.

First, the toss. And the choice to bowl first with one batsman short.

Two, the bowling composition. If Munaf Patel bowls 5 overs to Yuvraj's 7, Piyush Chawla bowls only 9 of his 10 overs, Sachin Tendulkar does not turn his arm over, there is something wrong here.
Munaf Patel was expensive, the slower bowlers were doing a good job, so much so that the part time bowler was given an extended run. So what about the front line spinner and his non completion of overs? And what about the other part timer with his all sorts?

Three, the lack of cricketing nous. When Ramesh Powar spends an inordinate amount of time and balls when the need of the hour is to get Yuvraj on strike as much as possible, when Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh get into a tangle running between the wickets, when the Poms run two after hitting the ball straight to a fielder - there is someone fundamentally wrong with the Indian approach and mindset.

India will need to step up and step up quickly else this series will be over by the time we reach Headingley.

And as I type this, Mike Artherton takes special delight in rubbing it in during the course of his interview with Ian Bell.. Well!

Second ODI - India versus England, Bristol

India take the long route to victory. India 329/7 England 320/8

With the English scorecard reading 239/7, India decided that it was time for a siesta. How else can one explain England clawing back from 239 to 320/8 at the end of the game?

Agreed that the Pom lower order was expected to throw their bats around, but this is ridiculous.

Then again, 2 Indian batsmen were Goulded. And we dropped 4 catches early on. And England were on a tear, reaching 75/0 in 10 overs.

And yet we won.

India did the hard yards and while Mascarenhas and Broad added some artificial excitement to the game by tonking the ball around, India held its nerve when it mattered.

The batsmen came to the party, the bowlers were steady, the fielding was all over the place and Ajit Agarkar was on a one man mission to ensure an English win. But when the crunch came, India's nerve held. And England cracked.

All of which points to a good, hard fought series over the remaining 5 matches.

Bloody ridiculous

Just what were the Mumbai selectors smoking when the decided to drop Nilesh Kulkarni from the Mumbai squad scheduled to take on Karachi?

Per Cricinfo,

He has not even signed up with the Indian Cricket League (ICL), but Nilesh Kulkarni is already feeling the strain. Mumbai's selectors named their team to take on Karachi in a four-day match for the Nissar Trophy on Saturday and Kulkarni figured in the squad. With speculation rife that he was set to join the ICL Mumbai Cricket Association officials got in touch with Kulkarni to check what the exact situation was.

When they learned that Kulkarni, who is currently playing league cricket in England, had indeed been offered a contract by ICL, and was dilly-dallying over whether to sign or not, and reportedly asked for a few days time before he made up his mind, Mumbai's selectors made theirs up. They dropped Kulkarni for the Nissar Trophy match, replacing him with Mundeep Mungela, the medium-pacer.

"We wanted to send a strong message to Nilesh," a senior MCA official close to the selection committee, comprising Dilip Vengsarkar, Abey Kuruvilla, Milind Rege and Kiran Mokashi, told Cricinfo. "He wanted a few days' time but we decided to take our own decision."

Huh?

Nilesh Kulkarni has soldiered on for Mumbai with distinction for over 13 seasons now. He also has the distinction of captaining Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy. And this is not the first time that Nilesh Kulkarni has been treated shabbily either.

So what message are the selectors trying to send exactly?

Are Mumbai captains, past and present, to be treated like dirt once their perceived utility is over?

Or are they to be tossed around to placate the real or imagined embarrassments of Sharad Pawar MP ( Baramati, Pune District)?

If this is the message sent, are Dilip Vengsarkar and Milind Rege, ex captains both, listening?

And do the Mumbai selectors honestly think that Iqbal Abdulla is ready to don the mantle of lead spinner?

First ODI - India versus England, The Rose Bowl.

England comprehensive winners in the end - 288/2 to India's 184 all out.

We were outplayed. England was the hungrier team, their batting was exceptional and their bowling more honest.

And India was not even in the contest once we lost the early wicket of Saurav Ganguly.

34/4 is too deep a hole to come out of, though India tried gamely.

But the thing that most impressed was Paul Collingwood's captaincy - Brilliant vision, very hands on, wonderful field settings. There was not a thing that he did wrong today.

And that does not mean Rahul Dravid was bad. There was not much he or India could have done on a day when England was on fire.

So more power to the Poms for their effort.The thing to note at the end of this game is - can England sustain this kind of inspired performance over 7 ODIs?

Outrage.

In the aftermath of the Sreesanth beamer to Kevin Pieterson, English newspapers and sports columnists were besides themselves with rage over the incident.

Beamers must be punished with ban - By Mike Atherton, Sunday Telegraph

Beamer-bowling Sreesanth handed fine for barging - By Jon Culley at Trent Bridge

A deliberate beamer is just throwing a punch by proxy - Mike Selvey

Pietersen shaken by beamer

It was, therefore, with some interest that I perused the English newspapers following the incident (listed below) during the Friends Provident Trophy finals between Durham and Hampshire

48.3	Tremlett to Gibson, SIX, short, straight and crashed into the crowd behind midwicket - what a shot
48.4	Tremlett to Gibson, FOUR, now he goes through the off-side - such power, great cover drive, down on one knee
48.5	Tremlett to Gibson, 2 no balls, no-ball immediately signalled as a Sreesanth-like beamer has Gibson ducking and falling back
48.5	Tremlett to Gibson, 2 runs, that's big again, but in height rather than distance - Gibson launching a top edge that nearly makes the rope and plugs in the ground near Pietersen
48.6	Tremlett to Gibson, 1 run, cuts into the ground

Of the contentious moments, none was quite as unappetising as the beamer Chris Tremlett bowled at Gibson. No doubt it was accidental, but since Gibson had hit the previous two balls for six and four, suspicion could not be immediately allayed. - Stephan Brinkley in the Independent

Ottis Gibson warmed up for his opening burst by ducking a beamer from Chris Tremlett then smacking the ball as Barbadians used to do - Scyld Berry in the Sunday Telegraph

This included a horrible beamer at Gibson after Tremlett had been struck for a massive six from the previous delivery. We assumed this to be accidental rather more swiftly than when Sreesanth delivered his beamer during the Trent Bridge Test. - Vic Marks in the Guardian

For Hampshire, Pietersen was out for 12 to continue to modest record in one-dayers at Lord’s, while Chris Tremlett bowled nine overs for 60, in the last of which he served Gibson with that darkest of deliveries, a beamer, straight after being hit for six and four. - Simon Wilde in the Times

GIBSON RELIEVED TO MISS BEAMER

Umpire referral rules confuse Phil Mustard - By Michael Atherton, Sunday Telegraph
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And just so you know, Chris Tremlett is a member of the England One Day squad for the first 4 matches against India.

Mumbai play Karachi

from the 8th through the 11th of September

The Mumbai Team - : Wasim Jaffer (capt), Vinayak Mane, Sahil Kukreja, Hiken Shah, Vinit Indulkar, Abhishek Nair, Omkar Gurav (wk), Avishkar Salvi, Rajesh Verma, Iqbal Abdulla, Vikrant Yelligatti, Prashant Naik, Ajinkya Rahane and Nilesh Kulkarni.

And on a tangential note, given the number of players being pulled from the domestic setup by the ICL, how competitive will the Ranji Trophy be this year?

And now, guard against complacency!

India play England in 7 ODIs following their series victory in the Tests. And I do not expect England to push India too hard - 7 ODIs are 7 ODIs too many for the English palate.

There may be the odd game when England will come hard at India, but I believe we have enough nous to overcome that.

The problem that I foresee is in the period following the ODI series.

India has had a tendency to go off the boil after a big series ( Test or ODI), especially when they have performed well.

This, coupled with the tendency of being slow off the blocks, does not augur well for us.

India plays the 20/20 World Cup in South Africa and despite 20/20 being a slog fest and India playing a relatively young team ( both in age and experience), the words "World" and "Cup" will ensure a media frenzy.

Heightened expectations, coupled with a touch of complacency and the inability to hit the ground running implies that I do not see India doing too well in the 20/20 World Cup.

And just as well ( what with Test Cricket being the real cricket and all that).

Given that, it will behoove us ( fans and players) to temper our reactions a touch and keep in mind the bigger challenges ahead - Pakistan and Australia beckon.

Test 3 Day 5 - India take the series 1-0

India win the inaugural Pataudi Trophy. Just like they won the inaugural Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

By the identical series scoreline.

Onto the ODIs then.

A question of Intent

or questionable intent?

Here is what I wrote after the Sachin-Rahul crawl fest at Cape Town.

"His imitation of the "Strokeless Wonder" will be criticised by one and all, and understandably so. But what will fall through the cracks is the lack of ownership and responsibility shown by Dravid during this passage of play.Given that Sachin was not stroking the ball, not taking the initiative,"pottered and scratched, padded and swiveled, nudged and tapped and the Indian innings came to a standstill'", what was Dravid doing in the meanwhile?For a batsman who was well set, the onus was on him to take the initiative. As the captain of the team , it was his responsibility to take the initiative. As a senior member of the side, it was his duty to take the initiative. And he fell short on all three counts.Watching Sachin scratch around brought back memories of Bangalore 2004 and Mumbai 2005. A once great batsman unable to battle his inner demons.But watching Rahul play the way he did was the clearest example of "processes" gone bad!!"

And today,

R Dravid c Strauss b Collingwood 12 (96b 1x4 0x6) SR: 12.50

this, when India is leading the poms by 319 runs in the first innings.

Test 3 Day 3 - No Follow On

England are precariously placed at 326/9, trailing India by 338 runs. And there is some talk of India enforcing the follow on.

IMHO, That is a big NO-NO.

If India gets the last English wicket in the first half hour tomorrow, India should target to bat such that they get about 8 overs before tea ( including time lost for change of innings) to have a go at England.

Hypothetically, that gives India anything between 40-50 overs to look at a score that is out of Englands reach, anything between 470-530.

Two things will be achieved by this
1. The match will be completely, totally put out of England's reach.
2. The wicket will get a further 40-50 overs to bake under the sun.

And it will give India 4 sessions and a bit to get 10 English wickets.

Let us not forget that we have a series to win, and England must not be given any hope at all. Remember also that there is an ODI series to follow with a lot of the English cast remaining the same.

Test 3 Day 2 - The unlikeliest Indian of them all..

Anil Kumble makes England suffer

England consigned to the point of no return by Kumble century

The jewel in Jumbo's crown

Kumble tops it for India with 100 No. 1

India 664, England 21-1: Kumble's batting heroics put India on brink of historic series victory

Kumble's century drives England towards abyss as India bury remorse
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It was satisfying to see cricketers of this calibre prepared to work so fiercely at the crease. Even as age takes its toll upon their powers, true sportsmen continue to serve their side with modesty and judgement.
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There remains the small matter of a Test to be won. And a series. And three days to do it in.

Test 3 Day1 - India consolidate

India's game plan going into this test was simple enough - bat once, bat big and bat England out of the test and the series.

And for this, India needed to bat- for time and runs.

Every run scored by India is a run that England has to top and every over consumed by India is one less over for England to establish themselves on the game.

India did a fair job in this regard - 316/4 in 90 overs is testimony to that. However, England has kept itself in contention with timely wickets - Jaffer just after the first drinks interval, Dravid and Karthik just before the tea interval and Ganguly just before the new ball was due.

Talking of playing for time and runs, I think Sachin Tendulkar has done a sterling job so far for India. By scoring 48 not out in 132 balls played over 3+ hours means that the runs, overs and hours have been taken care of thus far.

The onus is on India now to consolidate even further on Day 2. The trick is in playing for at least 150 overs which will put India's score in the region of 525-550 given the current rate of scoring. Any additional sessions/runs are a huge bonus.

Alternatively, England will look to stem the rot with the new ball first thing tomorrow morning. Limit India to less that 450 and England will have time on their side. And with conditions supposed to be their best on Days 2 and 3, any score less than 450 should not challenge the Poms to any great extent.

All to play for then. Roll on Day 2.

Dear Mr Miller

Dear Mr Miller,

You write

"Sreesanth, the breakdancing bundle of energy from Kerala, had a shocking Test match. Teased for his apparent resemblance to Harry Potter while batting, he bowled like one of Voldemort's stooges - ineffective, erratic and at times downright ugly. He sent Pietersen, the object of India's ire, crashing to the turf with a whistling beamer, and then jammed another full-toss into Collingwood's ribs after overstepping by almost a metre."

This is from the Ball by Ball commentary from your own web site

59.6 Sreesanth to Vaughan, no run, another massive full toss from Sreesanth - waist high, as opposed to a head-knocker-offer. Vaughan punches it to gully

89.6 Sreesanth to Collingwood, 1 no ball, short, Collingwood ducks and then gives a weary smile as he looks up to see he is being given a stare

89.6 Sreesanth to Collingwood, 1 no ball, even shorter and a second no-ball and again he seems more concerned with giving a hard stare. He was about a yard over the crease when he delivered that ... that was not a slight overstepping that was a full stride and one questions if that is accidental

No full tosses aimed at Mr Collingwood's ribs, mind.

While Sreesanth's antics have been out of line throughout this test match and are unpardonable, does it behoove you to add innuendo to the mix?

Thanks,

Homer

PS:-

Sreesanth, the breakdancing bundle of energy from Kerala, had a shocking Test match. Teased for his apparent resemblance to Harry Potter while batting, he bowled like one of Voldemort's stooges - ineffective, erratic and at times downright ugly. He sent Pietersen, the object of India's ire, crashing to the turf with a whistling beamer, and then aimed a vicious bouncer at Collingwood after overstepping by almost a metre.

Thank you Mr Miller.