The Pitch Turns for Others Too!

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India's captain MS Dhoni finally got what he has been craving for. Rank turners, more turn and bounce, pitches that turn viciously like a king cobra following you and what not. But, he wouldn't have liked the scoreboard reading 119-5 when he walked out to bat today. Thankfully, there were other events that highlighted the first day of the second Test between India and England:

SEHWAG'S 100th TEST:
After Gambhir fell to Anderson on the second ball of the match, Virender Sehwag struck four boundaries in his knock of 30 out of which two nearly sent him back to the pavilion. It did not look like he was batting after scoring a hundred in the previous Test as he produced inside and outside edges off Anderson and finally gave Monty Panesar a reason to throw a party. After playing a responsible and reliable innings in Ahmedabad, he gave his wicket away by playing across the line and missed the ball completely.

SRT:
Not a single delivery hit his bat anywhere but its middle. And the one that got him out, missed it completely. Flicks on the on side, a cover drive, front-foot and back-foot strokes, Tendulkar was putting the ingredients together for what was looking like a potent knock. However, Monty produced a wicket-taking delivery, that pitched on leg and took the off stump beating the master completely.

Che PUJARA:
It's simple: England, who possess one of the best bowling attacks in the world, haven't found a way to get him out yet. Brimming with confidence, he was the only batsman who looked comfortable while wickets tumbled at the other end. He held fort on one end from the third ball of the match till stumps and gave the spectators what they came for: a hundred. His technique looked solid, he played with ease off the frontfoot and backfoot, showed the right temperament in tense conditions and played the bounce well. His real test to play on bouncy pitches will arrive only outside the sub-continent so he can't be doing more on Indian pitches against a formidable attack.

ASHWIN THE BATSMAN:
The way this lanky bowler has been batting in Tests, he could very well become a number seven in India's line-up creating space for another bowler in a feeble bowling attack. Apart from a hundred on a flatter pitch on the same ground last year, he scored 62 at Sydney earlier this year and averages over 40 in 10 matches. Not a bad start eh?

MONTY PYTHON: 
26 wickets at an average of 25.19 in his last three Tests played on spin-friendly pitches and still doesn't get a chance to play in the first Test in India? And when he gets to bowl on a pitch that offers turn and bounce, he gives you the wickets of Sehwag, Tendulkar, Kohli and Dhoni. Sehwag gave the ball more than what it deserved but Monty jumped on the opportunity and that opened gates for his confidence. It took Monty a few overs to settle down as he offered full-tosses and short ones often which were put away for boundaries. Then he made sure he bowled consistently on and around middle and off to not give the Indian batsmen much room to swing their arms. What he produced for Tendulkar was a delicious delivery from a left-arm spinner. His discliplined bowling to Kohli (9 runs from 30 balls) meant the Delhi batsman was under pressure as he was finding it difficult find to the gaps. When he got a chance to drive one through the covers, he handed it straight to Nick Compton. Dhoni's dismissal was another example of extracting good turn and bounce as it got the shoulder of his bat and went like a balloon to Swann at gully who got there in the nick of time. That wicket got him closer to another five-wicket haul - it will be his third in four matches.

We need an overhaul and it has to come from the BCCI: Aakash Chopra

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Aakash Chopra, one of the most technically correct batsmen to have played for India in Tests is as worried about the future of Test cricket in India as you and me. When he was in Mumbai recently after the second Ranji Trophy victory for Rajasthan, I not only played cricket with him but also got a chance to talk to him in length about India's last two whitewashes abroad. A batsman who has scored over 10,000 runs in first-class cricket said four-day games need to be incentivised more by the BCCI for a brighter future in Tests.

What would you identify as the main reasons behind India's 4-0 loss even though it was believed this team could actually beat Australia in Australia?
I think it will be unfair to pinpoint one reason or a couple of individuals for India for the dismal performance overseas. It's been a systemic failure wherein we have failed to understand the importance or the gravity of situation. When we were whitewashed in England we allowed us to believe that it was just a freak incident, it was just a blip in India's illustrious cricket journey. But there were a few issues that should have been addressed and arrested that time itself which we did not do and now it's been a collective failure. It's been a batting failure more than a bowling failure because I personally believe batting was our strength and when your strength becomes your weakness then you are found wanting more often than not. This batting line-up has brought us a lot of laurels, accolades, pride and everything else but the fact remains that this batting line-up has not batted for five sessions in the last 14 months away from home. We have managed to score over 300 in one innings only four times in about 20 odd innings or maybe more. When that is the case, there is a deeper problem which should be addressed and that is why it's about time we did an Argus type review of how things have gone wrong and why and what needs to be done to get out there and be the number one side once again.

From a batsman's perspective, what do you think went wrong with India's batting in Australia, particularly with the seniors?
It doesn't matter how good you were on the previous tour because previous tours can only help you prepare a little better because you know what to expect and how to deal with those situations, bowlers or conditions. But then, every tour you have to start with a fresh, clean slate. I remember the first time Rahul Dravid went to Australia, he had a very torrid time. But he came back and conquered Australia for two consecutive tours. In this tour, he has not really scored the runs. These things happen, yes, experience counts and counts hell of a lot but there is no guarantee that if you have played in certain conditions or against a certain individual or a team you will always do well.

Why do you think Rahul Dravid was bowled 6 out of 8 times in the series? Was there any technical error you saw?
First of all there is nothing wrong in getting bowled. The entire nation is obsessed saying there is a hole in the wall and how can someone like Dravid get bowled. For heaven's sake, it's just a mode of dismissal. People get beaten, leg before, caught behind, caught in front of the stumps, people get out on full-tosses. There are different modes of dismissal, it all happens in cricket that's why there are so many dismissals and getting bowled is just one of them. And there is no ranking that getting bowled is very humiliating and getting caught is not.
Technically, why he is getting bowled I think is because of the technical change that he inculcated before England or in fact a little before that wherein he eliminated his trigger movement in which he used to go back and across a bit with his backfoot and then would cover the line of the ball, actually always play behind the line of the ball. But now he has eliminated that which has allowed him to bat more freely, his arms are moving a lot as compared to what it was earlier. But then, he is also playing besides the ball which means that if you get beaten there is no second line of defence. So, that is why he is getting bowled quite a few times but it's a bargain or gamble he took because when he changed it, it worked brilliantly in England. And at times, great cricketers, great sportspersons need to reinvent themselves and that's what he did. But now, since he has failed a few times I'm sure he is going to go back and look at how and why things went wrong. I
think why it worked in England was because there the ball moved in the air and you can always cover it. But when it moves off the surface (like in Australia), you get a little late.

Whenever the big 3 retire from India, who are the batsmen you see replacing them in the middle-order?
The first name that comes to my mind is Cheteshwar Pujara. He is the guy who bats in the traditional mould and is someone who knows how to bat time. The other one could be Ajinkya Rahane because for the number of runs he has been scoring in domestic cricket I think he deserves a chance. He is shouting from the rooftop that he definitely does because he is phenomenal in domestic cricket and you need to reward domestic performances. I think Rohit Sharma is a good player too, he is technically very correct and has time on his hands whe he plays fast bowling, he has no chinks in his batting technique. So that tells me that he has it in him to succeed in the longer format provided he is willing to make the sacrifices he is needed to make as a successful Test cricketer. Virat Kohli is already there in the team. If at all we want to go back we can actually draft in Badrinath for a little while because he has also been consistent. Someone like Robin Bist is knocking the doors now but I'd still give him a bit of time to go ahead and prove his worth and if he does that he could be another prospect.

Don't you think those Indian players who play throughout the year, like Raina and Yuvraj, should play lesser of IPL and prioritise Test cricket, like how most of the players from England and Australia do?
Most of the Test cricketers like Dravid, Tendulkar or Laxman don't play the one-dayers. Someone like Suresh Raina has got chances in Tests but has unfortunately failed. Whether he plays the IPL or not, it will not affect his Test career because he is already playing one-day cricket. He needs to make some mental and technical adjustments and as and when he can, I'm sure he can be there in the Test side also. Yuvraj Singh is probably in an enigma with regards to his Test career because he is extremely talented. I always thought that he would play over a 100 Tests easily, but he has not. I think once he recovers, once he starts playing Test cricket and starts performing consistently that will be wonderful. But I don't think the players who are playing Test cricket need to say goodbye to one of the formats. More importantly, we need to really incentivise and prioritise four-day cricket that's the Ranji Trophy because that's where we are going to get our next Test players and not from the IPL. So if IPL becomes the be all and end all of some of the cricketers then we will produce only T20 specialists. We will not produce Test cricketers and for that to happen Ranji Trophy needs to be incentivised.

Do you think it's time the BCCI took some bold steps like how Australia came up with the Argus Committee and how Sri Lanka have revamped their system?
Something has to come from BCCI because regardless of what others feel, think, say, do, it will not change anything. Yes, I think there is a need to do an Argus like review and it has to come from the BCCI. It may mean overhauling a few things and by overhauling I don't mean changing a few personnel. That too maybe, but then more importantly changing things like the structure of domestic cricket, more India A tours or prioritising and incentivising domestic tournaments, making four-day games your priority. If we are willing to do all that I think that has to come from the top and that is for the BCCI to decide the road ahaead. The blueprint is in their hands in whichever way they want to take Indian cricket. I think they are responsible people and I'm sure they will act responsibly.

I like a few things about DRS and don't like a few: Sanjay Manjrekar

Follow @Vishal1686 Former Indian batsman Sanjay Manjrekar has said he still has his doubts about the DRS (Decision Review System) and if it should be used or not in international cricket. Apart from being unsure about the use of technology, he also said the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) should set its priorities right and do more to nurture young talent in India. Here is all that and much more he told me when I met him recently in Mumbai.

The DRS debate has ignited again, what's your take on the use of technology in cricket?

Currently, I sit on the fence on this one. I like a few things about the DRS and don't like a few.

After being 0-1 down in the series against Australia, do you think India can bounce back and win from here?

Australia at the moment is an unpredictable side. It's hard to predict the outcome of this series.

Were you happy with the team that was selected for Australia or would you have selected someone else?

For me Abhimanyu Mithun was a surprise choice. Apart from him, I have no complaints.

Do you think the BCCI is doing enough to hone the skills and talent of Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron, like how Cricket Australia is taking care of Pat Cummins and James Pattinson?

I think the BCCI has learnt their lessons after the England tour. We will have to wait and see how they handle the two youngsters Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav

What else should the BCCI do to manage players' injuries in a better way?
The BCCI should set their priorities as to which form of cricket is most important for them. Once they do that, they should have someone in-charge who can manage the players accordingly.

Vinod Kambli said recently that the Indian team had decided to bat first in the 1996 World Cup semi-final against Sri Lanka but Azhar decided to bowl after winning the toss. Can you give us some clarity on that?
I think it was an honest cricketing decision the team had taken which eventually backfired.

And lastly, what according to you should be done to promote Test cricket globally?
I think day-night cricket should be introduced to promote Tests.

‘England Will Keep On Improving To Get Better All The Time’

Follow @Vishal1686 One of the finest all-rounders and fielders from England, Paul Collingwood was in India recently during the England-India 5-match ODI series and the one off Twenty20. He is the only captain to have lifted a World Cup in the history of English cricket when England beat Australia to win the 2010 World Twenty20. When I met him in Mumbai, he spoke in length about whatever I asked him about our common love - cricket. In this conversation, he talks about the current England team which he thinks is capable of staying at the top in Tests and doing much better in one-dayers.

India couldn’t win a single match in England and England managed to win only one in India. What were the reasons behind this kind of a result apart from the alien conditions for the two teams?

It comes down to adapting your skills in the conditions. I know everybody is saying that it can’t just be the conditions but it’s very alien for the Indian batsmen to bat and bowlers to bowl on wickets like that and English batsmen become very accustomed in their conditions. Likewise, when we come over here it’s very difficult for us to adapt to the conditions. But, I guess it’s the mentality as well. Known that we haven’t done well here in the past, it becomes a bigger challenge and the pressure of going 1-0 or 2-0 down is huge. So the mental side is obviously a huge factor too and it comes down to the skills that you have in these two completely different conditions.

Number 1 in Tests, number 1 in Twenty20s but number 5 in ODIs. What do you make of the current England ODI side and what’s the way forward for them?

If you look at the World Cup coming up in 2015 in Australia I believe 70% of the players who are involved now will be involved then. England’s one-day side has a broad spectrum of skills that will work very well in Australia. We’ve got a lot of power in the side now and we do have some serious pace and we’ve got one of the best spinners in the world which we haven’t had in previous occasions. They are a learning side and they will move forward, they will keep on improving their skills to become better all the time. So I don’t think there will be a major change and they won’t panic about the situation, they will learn a lot from playing in India and in these conditions.

The Test team won the Ashes this year, beat Sri Lanka and whitewashed India in the summer to become the number one team. What does the team need to do now to stay at the top in the long run?

It’s simple you got to keep winning. That’s what you gauged and that’s what people want you to do and to stay at number one. You don’t sit back, you don’t relax thinking we are number one and I’m sure they won’t do that. They are very driven, very ambitious and each and every player will want to get better and better by playing in different conditions.

Will staying at the top be a bigger challenge than reaching the top?

I think it’s a huge challenge because people would want to knock you off from the number one spot. So people subconsciously try a bit harder against you to beat you. Obviously once you’ve gained some things as the number one spot, you do sit back and relax a bit but I don’t think this England team will. I think they will all keep moving forward and get better and better.

We have some new faces in the England team like Jonny Bairstow, Scott Borthwick, Stuart Meaker. What do you make of them and what are their prospects in the future?

They are a very talented set of players and England haven’t had many leg-spinners in the history and he (Borthwick) is a very talented cricketer, not just leg-spinner but good batsman and a very energetic fielder as well.

We talk about power and Bairstow has serious power, something in the one-day game that we have probably lacked at times. If he can find his game and play at his potential, he is going to be a serious asset to that side.

Stuart Meaker has some really good pace and I’m sure will develop all the time, it looks as though he has a good action and can trouble the batsmen with his pace.

The next Tests series England play now is only in January 2012 against Pakistan in UAE. Do you think this long gap will break the winning momentum they have had?

No, not at all, it will probably work the other way. I think it’s a good time to sit back and relax. England haven’t had a break from cricket for such a long time and they have hardly had a 2 or 3-month break. It’s great they have this break now and that will put them in good shape, they can recharge their batteries as individuals. It’s amazing how that recharging will help to become a better side and it’s crucial you do get those kinds of breaks and in many ways it will work for them.

So instead of breaking the momentum, this break will work in their favour?

I think the preparation time before they play the next Test series is crucial. You want to give your bowlers enough time to get into their rhythm of playing and the batsmen to get used to the conditions out there. So, it will be a real drive forward in terms of wanting to keep the momentum going in the Test side and they will certainly do that.

The Prince of Indian Cricket

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The career of Mansur Ali Khan, the Nawab of Pataudi reads like a romance. A man who was a cricketer in more senses than one is unfortunately not with us anymore.

Mansur Ali Khan, the ninth and last Nawab of Pataudi, was arguably the best captain India has ever produced. He was handed the captaincy of India at a tender age of 21, the youngest captain in the world until that record was broken in 2004 by Tatenda Taibu. Something worth a mention is that he severely damamged his right eye in a car accident well before he made his debut for India.

After his debut in 1961 and only three Tests, he was made the captain of the national team ahead of some senior players in the team like Chandu Borde, Vijay Manjrekar and Polly Umrigar.

From the very beginning he was known for his skills, his ambitious attitude, his poise and panache as he had already captained Sussex and Oxford University. He then changed the course and direction of Indian cricket.

The Indian team till then played more to represent the country and not so much for winning. The team lacked the belief that they could play a Test and bowl the opposition out twice in a single Test.

Pataudi is known as the man who changed that and instilled feelings of self belief, confidence, faith and taught his team how to fight. Between 1961 and 1975, he captained India in 40 Tests, of which India won nine. This included the magical feat of leading India to its first ever Test win at Dunedin in 1968 and the team's first ever series win abroad in New Zealand.

If his successor Ajit Wadekar was successful as a captain in the early 1970s, it was only because Tiger Pataudi had impregnated the idea of playing the team to its strength of match-winning spinners - Bishan Singh Bedi, BS Chandrashekhar, Erapalli Prasanna and Venkataraghavan.

Apart from captaining the side, he made a name for his personal achievements too. Six hundreds, including a double hundred against England in Delhi, and 16 fifties bear testimony to his gumption. He was a Tiger on the field being one of the finest fielders in the covers in the history of Indian cricket.

Tiger was once smacked on the jaw at the Eden Gardens against West Indies in 1975 by 6 feet 2 inches tall Andy Roberts. He was back on the field with a wired jaw as soon as the next wicket fell to hit six elegant boundaries.

One innings which stands out in his career is one he played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1967. Pataudi came to the green pitch when the scoreboard read 25 for 5 and came along with a runner as he had pulled his hamstring. This innings of 75 is regarded better than his six hundreds and is referred to an innings played with one leg and one eye.

It is because of his and his father's services to Anglo-Indian cricket that the bilateral Test series between India and England have been named the 'Pataudi Trophy'. His father Iftikhar Ali Khan is the only cricketer to have played for both India and England.

While some of us shed tears and some hold them back, one question which will always remain unanswered is, what all would the Nawab have achieved with two eyes?

The Benefits of Sachin Not Scoring a 100 In The WC Final

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There is more to Indian cricket beyond Sachin Tendulkar. He may have dominated the headlines for all sorts of records over the last two decades but this World Cup final was not just about him. The World Cup has been his burning desire since childhood and he gave it his everything like he does once in four years but it wasn’t won by him alone even though the 31,000 crowd at the Wankhede wanted him to score his 100th international ton on his home turf.

The World Cup might be his now, though not just his, and the final was certainly not about him. It was about the skillful Zaheer, about the uncomplicated Munaf, about the new avatar of Yuvraj, about the determined Gambhir, about a promising Virat Kohli, about the leader Dhoni and about 120 crore other people of the country.

After the World Cup was won almost all Indian players dedicated the cup to Sachin Tendulkar. In fact, even weeks before the tournament started players had started saying that it’s his last World Cup and they want to win it for him.

Were the celebrations and the enjoyment overshadowed by the fact that this meant a lot to Sachin and that it was mostly about him, this being his last World Cup? Most of the post-match discussions were about him, all players were asked about him and what this meant to him, all the players wanted to dedicate this to him, all pictures had Sachin all over them, the newspapers had his pictures on the front page showing him in front of Gateway of India even 48 hours after winning the trophy and of course our ‘sensible’ TV channels also had nothing else to show as usual.

No doubt it was most disheartening and frightening to see Sachin’s wicket fall that evening as I saw it in the stadium itself as there was pin-drop silence for a few minutes. But it was nothing less than a pleasure to see that in the World Cup Final, which must have been the most important match of the players, the youngsters stood up and performed.

Yuvraj took the ball once again as the fifth bowler and broke the crucial Sanga-Jaya partnership which could have taken them closer to 300 and gave runs at less than 5/over. Munaf did not take a single wicket or bowl a single maiden but not many realized that despite being criticized the most, he had the most economical figures. The deadly duo of Raina and Kohli saved at least 20-25 runs which made our chase easier. Kohli played like a matured and experienced player and made crucial 35 runs and then the match-winning knock from Gambhir who came to the pitch when the scorecard said 0-1 and made the most runs under pressure. If I had to make a sequel of True Grit, I would star Gautam Gambhir in it.

Ever since Sachin, Ganguly and Dravid were the spine of our batting in ODIs, we have been wondering how they will be replaced. Now, only the first one is left in the team and I’m more than happy to say that the baton is being passed on to some responsible cricketers. Sachin played only two ODIs in 2010 and still our team’s performance was consistent.

Coming back to the World Cup, it was exhilarating to see these youngsters play some fantastic cricket and that it wasn’t yet another victory just because of Sachin. It very well could have been…But a part of me says, I’m glad it wasn’t.

Mind you, I am not taking any credit away from the senior players like Sachin, Zaheer, Dhoni or Yuvraj, I am only giving a lot of credit to these youngsters which they deserve…

The Return of the King: Sourav Ganguly

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“I thought we played good cricket for the first 10 overs and for the next 30 we were just absolutely rubbish. In one line, we were rubbish” This is what Sourav Ganguly said in the press conference after KKR lost to RCB on 10th April, 2010.
“Let's be honest. I can talk, I can lift them up but they need to lift themselves. I can't go and field for them. I can't go and bowl for them.” This is also what Sourav Ganguly said immediately after the first line mentioned above.

It shows the kind of passion he has retained even years after his controversial descend from captaincy of the Indian team. It is not just this but his recent commitment and leadership on the field during IPL-3 which shows his dedication towards the sport and the loyalty he feels towards the side he represents as he nears the age of 38.

He has thrown himself around so much that in a recent interview, the bowling coach of KKR, Wasim Akram said that Ganguly is currently the best fielder in the side. This means that the best fielder of a side need not be as athletic as Gibbs or needs to fly like Jonty Rhodes. He just needs to be more than willing to contribute towards victory, towards stopping those extra runs or take those catches which make you win matches (and of course, the others need to be worse than you because Ganguly was never even close to being the best fielder in the Indian side).

‘The Prince of Calcutta’, known for his audacity and aggression from the beginning of his captaincy career has shown those signs yet again after being pretty unsuccessful in the first 2 seasons of the Indian ‘Paisa’ League. This time he led from the front and at least did not finish last like the last time and the team did show better performances, though towards the second half of the league.

When in the Indian team, he brought about big changes after he took over the baton of captaincy from Sachin Tendulkar in 2000 after the latter stepped down. The team at that time was over-dependent on Tendulkar and had no-one dangerous in the bowling attack. And when Ganguly left, we had a much more balanced side, the batting lineup could win matches without Sachin and the bowling attack had names like Zaheer, Bhajji, Irfan, Ishant, Nehra who are certainly match-winners in themselves. They all may not match up to the other international best bowlers, but our side looks much better on paper and on field.
All the credit cannot go to Ganguly only but a lot of it does. Players like Yuvraj, Sehwag, Bhajji, Agarkar, Kaif and more have said that Ganguly has played a vital role in shaping their careers.

He was unorthodox, maverick and did not hesitate when it came to fighting for himself or for his players. He always pressed on selectors to give the above mentioned players extra chances when they were not in form because he saw the talent in them.

He was also one of the few Indian players who verbally also gave it back to the opponents whether on the field or off. During the 2003 Australian tour, Steve Waugh asked him to be on time for the toss to which he replied, “If you behave, I will.”
During the England tour in 2007, in one of the one-dayers, Stuart Broad was ‘trying’ to sledge, people expected Ganguly to reply with the bat or sledge back. But our dear dada scolded Broad saying, “You should know how to talk to your seniors. You must have been in your nappies when I started playing for India.”
There are many more instances and quotes but the highlight of his gestures was when he took his shirt off at the Lord’s balcony when India beat England in that Natwest Series final in July 2002. Who doesn’t remember that?

After retiring and having a spat with Greg Chappell, we all counted him out and not many apart from some from Kolkata cheered for him when IPL started. But after two years, in the third season he came back and came back strong. He put his foot down, performed and led by example in all departments on the field. But when the other players didn’t do much and some didn’t do anything at all, he gave up and gave it back to them during the press conference.

Cheers and tribute to one of the most successful captains of India ever and the man who took Indian crickets to new heights.

Sach an Innings!

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Time and again it has been said that Sachin Tendulkar plays for records. Time and again it has been said that Sachin Tendulkar chokes when India has to chase a target of more than 250. And time and again Sachin Tendulkar replies to all his critics in his own style, by letting his bat talk.

5th November 2009 was no different when India had to chase a target of 351 and many, including Ponting thought that it would not be possible. This match reminded us of many other matches. The very score of 350 reminded me of the 2003 World Cup finals when Australia scored 359. A terrific start by Sehwag reminded me of two matches: one against Pakistan in the same World Cup and the Natwest Series finals in July 2002 in which India successfully chased 325.

And when Sachin took command, his Sharjah centuries of 1998, the CB Series finals last year and most of his marvelous innings came to my mind again because he was simply at his ‘best’. He started slow no doubt which showed that he did not want to lose his wicket at any cost. Slow and steady, when he reached the score of seven, the nearly 40,000 people present were on their feet cheering his 17,000th run not knowing that was just the tip of the iceberg.

The part of his innings which amazed me the most was his strike rate which got better even though he was running out of partners. When the pressure was mounting, he got a better grasp of the match by hitting consecutive sixes off Hauritz which were from the meat of the bat. And his earlier six off Shane Watson was an identical twin of the six he smacked in the 2003 World Cup off Andrew Caddick.

His innings was tailor made to take his country to victory. Hitting the boundaries at the right time, converting the ones into twos and the twos into threes, rotating the strike, and of course, preserving his wicket almost till the end.

But time and again it has happened that Sachin scores a big chunk of the total and still India loses. Everybody remembers the 1999 Chennai Test against Pakistan in which after he scored 136 of the required 271, the last three batsmen could not score the remaining 17 runs. Why blame the last three for losing? Couldn’t the frontline batsmen stick around for a little more time? And again, this time against Australia, he scored half the runs while most of the others went back to the pavilion in a hurry as if they had been holding their pee since birth.

With that mammoth score of 175 while chasing, I believe he surely scored one of his best centuries. No doubt, he wanted India to win more than anything else whether it was 175 or a 200. I hope with that remarkable century, some barmy critics do not question his ability again. I hope they do not ask him to retire again as they did a few times in the last couple of years. A man at 36 who reminded us of two of (Sharjah) innings he played more than a decade ago is surely unfit to retire. By taking India to victories in the CB finals in Australia last year, by scoring a flurry of 90s in 2007 and now, by showing the world that he does his best to make his team win, critics should focus only on the other players who need to be more responsible and dependable in times like these.

Critics will surely say that he has scored 45 tons but why has India won only 32 of those matches. Please realise that apart from him there are ten more players in the team who do not always score when they are supposed to and a few others give away too many runs which makes his half-centuries and centuries a part of records and not victories.

The Failure of Champions League

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When you think of Champions League, you think of football don't you? If someone says, 'the Champions League is a big failure', you'd call him foolish won't you? And if Champions League is such a big affair in football, why couldn't Lalit Modi & Co. think of a better name for the cricket version of it?

Whatever the name, it was indeed a failure. If you are a cricket fanatic, and were expecting something as good as, say, the Liverpool-AC Milan (3-3) final of 2005 or the Barcelona-Arsenal (2-1) final of 2006, then you were asking for too much.

Not much was gained from this league. T&T showed a lot of potential, and some guidance to the WI team, some stadia might have become marginally better and some ground workers might have become a little better off. But much more was lost than how much was gained. The most recent one being, Brett Lee being sent back home only the first ODI in the 7-match series in India. What were the chances of Lee not getting injured if there had been no CL? Surely, the chances would have been far less. Does Lee regret it? Even if he does, will he still play in every season of IPL and CL? Only time will tell...

Both IPL and CL were plagiarised brainchildren of Modi. With just one motive: EARN as MUCH as you can. The two seasons of IPL certainly earned him a few crores but not every league will turn out to be as successful in India. People in India are not that crazy about cricket that you'll get a full house for a match between two Aussie teams about whom Indian fans have never even heard! For me, it was a pleasure to see empty chairs and stands. It was a slap on Modi's face. I wanted CL to be a disaster. As a cricket fan I should have loved it, but don't we have enough cricket already? Isn't there an overload of cricket matches these days? Specially T20s? What would you prefer? Injury free Ashes, Champions Trophy or several leagues throughout the year and then match-winners like Sehwag, Yuvraj, Zaks, Pietersen, Lee not able to represent their countries when they want to? The choice is yours..you will ultimately get what you want to see and not what you are made to see by millionaires just because they want to become billionaires.

The greed for money certainly attracts the players. From that point of view, I think it's fine till IPL because it gives a platform to tier II and III Indian players to play with players like Hayden, Gilchirst, Warne etc. and some money as well. But greed will kill the game. Numerous cricket lovers have already started disliking 50over matches. What will they do when they are bored of T20s? Hopefully, Tests will not get affected. I hope they are not. If the essence of the game dies, the game will not live long too.

I hope Modi gets picked up by aliens or gets raided by the income tax team so that we can get back to what we had before his dominance over Indian cricket and T20s. Or, I hope he thinks about the game for a change and not about his bank balance...

Jumbo’s Last Flight

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‘It is the end of an era’. How many times have you read or heard this statement when a legendary player retires from any sport? I ask this question because India’s former test skipper announced his retirement on the last day of the third test match in Delhi between India and Australia in October 2008.

Sachin Tendulkar says Kumble is the best bowler India has had; Ian Chappell says it will be hard for India to produce another Kumble and some of the Pakistani players praised the commitment, grit and determination ‘Jumbo’ has shown for the past 19 years. The way he came back to the field after fracturing his jaw against West Indies at Antigua in 2002 is a perfect example of that.

However, I would like to say that no doubt whatever is written above is true but Kumble was never a ‘very’ talented player. One of the reasons is that he was not a big turner of the ball and the other being he got a big chunk of his 600 plus wickets from the lower order. If you carefully look at the way he takes wickets, he often used to beat the batsmen by pace by pitching the ball in line with the stumps and had the batsmen LBW or bowled in case of not very good batsmen. He hardly got batsmen beaten by turn or flight (which was never there). The fact that he was almost always in the team (except for the two year period around 1990-1992), was true because we never had any other spinner who could bowl really well or could even take wickets on a regular basis. So, at least we had some one who could clear the tail away sooner or later. We had Venkatapathy Raju, Ashish Kapoor, Sairaj Bahutule, Sarandeep Singh and a few other spinners as well who could never establish themselves in the team for more than a few months. And since Indian pitches have been favouring spinners since time immemorial, we had to keep at least one spinner who was taking wickets by beating batsmen by pace or by turn. Then came Harbhajan Singh in 1998 but even he did not stay for long. But, it was in 2001 when he made his comeback against Australia and took 32 wickets (including a hat-trick) in a three test series and threatened Kumble’s place as an established spinner in the team. Since then they both have been in and out of the playing eleven (but almost always in the team of 16) because now we had a bowler who could turn, flight and spin the ball. Of course ‘bhajji’ has not been consistently consistent but he certainly has been the best of the lot we have had for the past 10-15 years.
It was only when Rahul Dravid stepped down as the skipper almost a year ago, Mahi was too young to lead a test team and Sachin said it was time for someone younger than him to take over as the captain, that the selection committee made Kumble as the makeshift captain of the test team. Unfortunately, after that his performance got worse which probably made him think of retirement. And as he discovered during the Test series against Australia that he was not getting wickets, he decided to hang up his boots.

It might be the end of an era but it certainly is the beginning of another for the other spinners to take over and take the team to a higher level.