The last word

Simon Barnes has it.

Lets put our hands together and applaud

Lets put our hands together for the Indian team for their courage and fortitude and their heart.. If this defeat crushes us, it will be worse for them..

Our boys battled and battled hard… Against the odds… And they showed character..

And as supporters, we cannot ask for more.

Whats the point of playing?

I thought this was a test match- A contest between two teams. Not a lottery where the odds are stacked in the favor of one team.

Ponting nicked one in the first essay and was not given.
Symonds nicked one and was stumped twice.

In the second essay, Hussey nicked one and was not given.

Rahul Dravid was given caught behind when the ball came off his pad.

And Michael Clarke claimed a bump ball catch ( bumped twice mind you, once before the ball rested in his fingers and second when he rolled over). And Saurav Ganguly was given out.

LBW's I understand.. They are judgment calls. But what about catches? And stumpings?

If the ICC cannot guarantee better umpiring standards for the rest of this series, India will be better off calling off this farce. There is absolutely no point continuing with this tour.

In defense of Sachin Tendulkar

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

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

I beg to differ.

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

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

Which is exactly what happened.

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

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

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

Memories of Melbourne

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

The scorecard from that test - here.

Rant!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Season's Greetings

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

2007 ended the way 2007 began - with a crawl.

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

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

The only thing going about is age group cricket.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Which raises the question of integrity and malice.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wonder what Freddie makes of it!

BLACK FRIDAY

Saurashtra 484 (Kotak 168*, Jadeja 87, Mangela 5-105) drew with Mumbai 463 (Muzumdar 187, Rahane 149, Jobanputra 5-116)

What to make of this?

So, India will have to pay taxes for revenues earned in Australia. Fair enough. There are laws and these are in place for a specific purpose.

What boggles the mind are the numbers - Australian $ 1.5 million for 4 tests and a maximum of 11 ODIs.

Is this the reason why Australian cricketers are signing on to the IPL like it is going out of fashion?

After all, who wants to die poor after "services rendered for the country" :)

PS: Indian Express has put the number as USD 1.5 million.. Even more reason for the Aussies to line up for the IPL :)

Who knew

That this Ranji Trophy season would be the most open and probably the most exciting of the Ranji Trophy's thus far?

Think about it - after 5 rounds of competition, except for Baroda, there is no clear front runner in the fray. And even that could change depending on how the games versus Andhra and Orissa go.

UP beat Bengal by an innings. Who would have expected the finalists from the last two Ranji Trophies to languish at the bottom of a pile that contains teams like Hyderabad, Andhra, Orissa and Punjab?

And what of Pool A? 6 rounds into the tournament and no one knows for sure who will qualify for the semi finals.

Delhi, a surprise Pool leader at this stage, is playing Karnataka at Bangalore, a game impacted by the weather. And there is more of the same in store for them when the take on Tamil Nadu at Chennai during Christmas week.

Saurashtra is poised to beat Maharashtra at Nagothane, requiring only 28 more runs to win ( with 10 wickets in hand). While Mumbai has enforced the follow on against Himachal Pradesh, who currently lead by 33 runs with 5 wickets in hand.

And then, Saurashtra play Mumbai at Mumbai in a virtual shootout for a semi final spot. While Maharashtra play Karnataka at Ratnagiri.

So, if Delhi draw both their games and Mumbai beats Saurashtra and Maharashtra wins against Karnataka, it will still not be enough to determine the two semi finalists because that will be dependent on the points spread.

Mumbai conceded the first innings lead to Delhi and Maharashtra, Delhi beat Maharashtra, Saurashtra beat Maharashtra, Delhi gained the first innings lead against Saurashtra and, if both the Delhi games ( versus Karnataka and Tamil Nadu) are washed out, Delhi may not even be in the contention!

And in case of a tie, the head to head will come into play.

This, after 7 rounds of play in a domestic competition that all and sundry consider to be a waste - of effort, resources and no real arbiter of talent.

Between Mumbai's phenomenal turnaround last year and the topsy turvy season this year, there is no better advertisement for the Ranji Trophy.. Now, if only some one could cash in!!

400/5, We cant lose!

blogs here.

Win or go home

Group A

Team Mat Won Lost Tied Draw Aban Pts
Delhi 5 2 0 0 3 0 17
Maharashtra 5 2 1 0 2 0 15
Mumbai 5 2 0 0 3 0 15
Saurashtra 5 2 0 0 3 0 15
Tamil Nadu 5 1 1 0 3 0 12
Karnataka 5 1 1 0 3 0 9
HP 5 0 3 0 2 0 4
Rajasthan 5 0 4 0 1 0 3

Mumbai has two games left, against HP and Saurashtra. Maharashtra plays Saurashtra and Karnataka while Delhi plays Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Mumbai has to win both its games and then hope Tamil Nadu and Karnataka step up to the plate.

There is everything to play for = will the Champions step up?

JU JU BI

Chennai Superstars 155 for 8 (Harvey 36, Law 34) beat Chandigarh Lions 143 for 8 (TP Singh 35, Hall 30*, Shabbir 4-23) by 12 runs

40 minutes

is the time India batted this morning before declaring. And in that time, they lost 2 wickets for the addition of 43 runs.

And for what?

Every day,around 30 minutes of play has been lost because of fading light. Factor in the 40 minutes that India batted today plus the 10 minutes for the change between innings and we are talking of around 80 minutes of play lost on the last day.

India led by 301 at the end of Day 4. This translated to a run rate of 3.34 per over ( over 90 overs) if India declared overnight. Which, in conjunction with Pakistan's foray in the first innings, was still on the higher side for a run chase on a fifth day wicket.

Also, India controlled the pace and the tempo of the game..We could speed up the game by hustling between overs or slow it down by taking our own sweet time between overs and during them. Pakistan is the team that was that had to do the chasing ( or the saving). Either ways, we held all the aces.

But we chose to bat on. And lost two wickets. And did not exactly set the Hooghly on fire.

The 40 minutes we chose to bat on could be all the difference between an India win and a draw.

Meanwhile, Down Under

Indian summer had better last a while

Australia cant hate India enough