Will the BlackCaps be a walk-over?

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Mark Greatbatch has ridiculed his team publicly about their performance in the recently-concluded Bangladesh series. He has set the expectations so low that whatever the team does in the forthcoming series will be a bonus. It is now expected that the Indians will whitewash the Kiwis in the 3-test series. In fact, the coach is not looking at a win at all - they would consider a draw (2 of them, as Greatbatch mentioned) to be a 'moral win'. But, the question on one's mind is whether Greatbatch is qualified enough to coach the team? Why not change to Stephen Fleming, who has proved himself on the IPL scene?

With this public lashing, what will be the morale of the team? How will it affect the team spirit before they reach the Indian soil? In fact, if one looks at the history of NZ test cricket, there is hardly a series where they have played with their full-strength team. They have been the under-dogs in every series, which has suited them just fine. After the recent series debacle, the Kiwis will be raring to go. They will be looking to catch the Indians by surprise. There is news that McCullum might bat higher in the lineup to shore the batting which seems to be the weakest in the eleven - whether this will help them remains to be seen.

The Indians must ensure that they are not complacent in the test series for that is when the NZ team can be most dangerous. If they play as well as they did against the Oz, the whitewash result is a foregone conclusion. My take will be a 2-0 win for India - maybe rain will prevent the whitewash in one of the test matches. Let us wait and watch. What is your prediction?

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Sachin and Kirsten in demand

The Oz tour is done and dusted - the teams have gone back to their bases but still talk about Sachin Tendulkar has not gone down.

Whether it is the Oz press talking about the width of his bat or Hussey being inspired by him playing so well at this age, Sachin cannot stop getting news bytes. He cannot stop getting awards either - Lebara People's choice award recently was another feather in his cap.


Similarly, Gary Kirsten is another person in high demand. It looks like his country now wants him back, after noticing his exploits with the Indian team. Will the Indian team let go? It would depend on Kirsten himself. I would add Stephen Fleming as the replacement probable for the Indian team coach role after his exploits with Dhoni's CSK team in IPL and CLT20.

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2011 World Cup - who should be No.7?

MS Dhoni mentioned recently that there are a few spots for grabs - one point is quite interesting to hear

We don't have a world-class all-rounder, which means that place is also up for grabs. Also, one more big-hitting batsman who can fit down the order

Let us face it - we dont have any "world-class all-rounder" in our bench - Irfan Pathan is the only allrounder in India, who comes close. But, he is not in the spotlight for any teams in the country.

The first 6 slots are taken care by Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni. No. 7 slot is up for grabs - who do we have? Yusuf Pathan and Ravinder Jadeja have been given many opportunities to showcase the talent but haven't delivered for some time now.


What is the other option? Why should India look for a batsman only (who can bowl part-time)?

Why not a bowler who can bat decently? On current form, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar and Ashish Nehra qualify for the bowling spots. There is one slot which needs a suitable player.


Let us look at the options for part-time bowlers first

• Yuvraj Singh - average of 40+ and economy-rate of 5+
• Suresh Raina - average of 54+ and RPO of 5.4+
• Sehwag - average of 40+ and RPO of 5.2+

These are the 3 bowlers who usually bowl part-time in ODIs - all with an average of 40+ and economy rate of 5+. This means that if they bowl 10 overs in an innings, they will leak 50+ runs in the match at a minimum. On their lucky day, they might get 1 wicket max.

Compare it with a bowler who can restrict the runs given to 45+ in a match - a saving of 10 runs easily. If he can contribute with the bat for more than 10 runs consistently, the result is the same. If he is a good bowler, he can definitely get more wickets than the part-time bowler. Wickets, as we all know, are much better in ODI matches than runs conceded. Thus, the case for a bowling all-rounder gets strengthened. I am trying to assume that the fielding skills are same here.

So, why are we still looking for the batting all-rounder? Can we not include 5 bowlers in the playing eleven? Ramachandran Ashwin is one player who can be looked into - let us hope he gets enough chances in the run-up to the World Cup and proves his potential.

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India-Australia ODI series - Second-hand treatment

The India-Australia ODI series are scheduled to start tomorrow at Kochi. The series has been given a second-hand treatment by both teams by resting several of their main players. Australia started the trend by resting their captain and key players like Johnson, Watson. India reciprocated by resting most of their senior players (Sehwag, Harbhajan, Zaheer).


One can look at in contrasting styles - this will give India a good chance to look at alternates for their open slots (all-rounder, second spinner, reserve pace bowler, reserve batsmen). The one whom everyone will be looking out for will be Ashwin, who had a wonderful T20 season with CSK. Ravinder Jadeja will have a last chance to seal his slot with a good performance.

But, there is another school of thought which says that the full-strength Indian team has not played for a long time now. Sachin Tendulkar last played in ODIs when he scored his world-record 200. Probably, the selectors are expecting the team to be played in South Africa later this year. Whatever the strategy is, there is no doubting the calibre of MSD and Gary Kirsten - the proof of their work is visible for everyone in test matches.

The matches are held at 3 coastal cities - Kochi, Vizag and Goa. With inclement weather likely, one wonders whether there will be any match tomorrow. The latter matches should give us some interesting cricket to witness. Let us hope the ODI series is at least half as exciting as the test series.

India series - Where did the Indians score?

The Indian team retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with a good performance in the 2-test series. How did the players contribute?

1. Virender Sehwag - The first innings of Mohali test saw Sehwag in his usual flow. A top-edge saw him get out after scoring a fifty once again (11 consecutive test fifties). Later, the Aussies managed to restrict him to average scores and restrict the potential damage he could cause in the test.
2. Gautam Gambhir - Was unlucky to be given out wrongly in both innings of the first test match, Gambhir missed the next one because of injury. He seems to have lost his touch in test matches after great 2 years of high scores. He has competition in terms of Vijay now.
3. Murali Vijay - Vijay has managed to play whenever one of the opening slots has been left vacant. He has shown glimpses of talent that augurs well for the Indian team. Definitely part of the 3 openers who can be part of the Indian team for a long time to come.
4. Sachin Tendulkar - Is anything left to be said about SRT? At this age, he must be more worried about the repeated question that everyone asks during interviews ("How long are you going to continue scoring runs?") rather than the problems on field.
5. Rahul Dravid - The Wall has fallen from the great standards. His jinx in Bangalore also didn't help. The forthcoming series against NewZealand should see him back to form. If not, it is definitely high time he declared his innings.
6. VVS Laxman - VVS ! He has proved his value to the team many times in recent test matches. He is definitely the man to handhold the team and be the bridge between the two generations of batsmen.
7. Suresh Raina - Raina did not do as well as he could have in the 3 innings he played. He could not face the short ball in the Mohali test match and doubts still continue about his deficiencies.
8. Cheteshwara Pujara -Pujara faced an unplayable ball in the first innings but made up for it in the 2nd innings. He has to be tried out in various conditions so that he can take up the positions of the legends once they hang up their boots.
9. MS Dhoni - MSD should learn how to toss the coin so that he can win it next time. His batting has fallen a notch in test cricket whereas he dropped couple of important catches in the first innings of the series. His captaincy has not suffered though and that must be reassuring to the team.
10. Zaheer Khan - Returning from injury, Zaheer showed that he did not take time to get back to prime bowling form. His talent with the new and old ball was a lesson for all bowlers - Indian and Australian.
11. Harbhajan Singh - He took wickets but not the major ones nor at the right time. His performance has gone down and he could not contribute with the bat also. Bhajji has to improve his bowling quickly - he cannot go on with this form for a long time.
12. Pragyan Ojha - Ojha bowled beautifully in all the innings and proved that he was the 2nd best spinner in the country.
13. Ishant Sharma - Ishant suffered from no-balls but got the vital wickets in the 2nd innings in Mohali to start the Oz downfall. He has to get back to domestic cricket this season and resolve his problems.
14. Sreesanth - This man still retains his spot in the team thanks to his talent but he was not able to penetrate the Oz  batting in the last test.

The next series will be easier for the Indians - a NewZealand team that has suffered losses against Bangladesh at home. A good opportunity to improve one's career scores and averages.

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India series - Where did the Oz fail?

India finished the test series against Australia at home on a winning note though the difference was not big. The Oz team scored 400+ runs in the first innings of both the test matches but still lost. Where did they fail? Let us go through the team members that formed the composition of the Australian team?

1. Openers - Simon Katich and Shane Watson. The most consistent among the batsmen. Only the last innings in Bengaluru was when they failed to raise a huge stand. They managed to counter the threat of Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth with the new ball but could not manage to score a larger one. Watson did not ball as much as he could have - that might be the only complaint against him in this series.
2. Ricky Ponting - The captain himself agreed that he let the team down by not scoring centuries. He was effective in countering the threat of Harbhajan but not successful in continuing further.
3. The Two Michaels - Clarke and Hussey. While the first one was a complete failure in this series, the second one made starts but again, did not score big (one dismissal was unfortunate in the first test though). It was quite surprising to see Clarke fail since he plays spin so well.
4. Marcus North - He was always under the sword but managed to regain his spot with a century. But still, one feels that he is not convincing as a test cricketer.
5. Tim Paine - One of the successes of the tour - being a replacement of Haddin, he performed well both in front of as well as behind the stumps. Very good prospect for the Aussies.
6. Nathan Hauritz - another failure on this tour. He was not helped by the bad field placement in the last innings of Bengaluru but at no time did he manage to trouble any of the Indian batsmen. Steve Smith will fancy his chances for the Ashes series.
7. Mitchell Johnson - Was the senior-most bowler of the squad but did not behave like one. His performance was up and down in both the tests. Only when he is back in the old form he is known to have, can the Aussie team manage to win test matches with the ease of old.
8. Ben Hilfenhaus - bowled better than the other bowlers and showed that swing was not his only expertise. He could bounce out Sehwag and provide breakthroughs regularly.
9. Doug Bollinger - Injury forced him to miss the latter part of the first test but he showed glimpses of talent that can make him a permanent bowler in the squad.
10. Peter George - Another exciting prospect who learnt test match cricket the hard way. He will have to be tested on home soil once as well.

Overall, the team was talking more of the Ashes rather than the series on hand - maybe that was one of the reasons for the bad performance. There are talks of Ricky Ponting's bad captaincy but who is the next option? Michael Clarke, who had a poor series? These are troubled times for Ponting when he doesn't have the services of all the greats (Mcgrath, Warne, Gillespie, Gilchrist, Hayden) - imagine what would have happened if Clive Lloyd had the current crop of West Indian bowlers as part of his team!

Will the Aussie team bounce back? Definitely. They will show the world that they are still strong at home by beating the English team at the Ashes series.

Watch the Betfair page for betting on the Ashes series.

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ICC's new move on international cricket - what could have been?

The ICC has completely redrawn the landscape of international cricket few days back - a test championship among many things.

The Future Tours Programme (FTP) will now comprise a Test league running over four years with the top four teams at the end of each period qualifying for a play-off event. The first play-off is scheduled for 2013, the same year England are due to host the Ashes, and Lord's is the favoured venue for the final.

Four years seems to be a long period for the test league - let us consider a scenario of the current Indian test team - they are No.1 and might continue for the next 2 years but in the last 2 years of the league, due to the retirements of the legends, the performance of the team might deteriorate drastically. But, because of their initial performances, they will still qualify for the play-off event. A league cycle of 2 years would be of the right time to give a proper perspective to the League. To do this, I would suggest having a 2-tier system that contains 5 teams each. The top-5 will be part of the 1st tier and play between each other, home and away. Each test series should be a minimum of 3 tests (Ashes usually will have 5 and India-Australia typically has 4) with the UDRS system a mandatory use in the tests. Each team will play the other 4 teams in 2 series in the 2 year cycle - a total of 8 series with a probability of 24 to 30 test matches. This can be easily achieved in 2 years considering that a test series (of 3 matches) can be conducted in 4-5 weeks. This will also reduce the probability of multiple series between same countries repeatedly (like India and Sri Lanka recently).

A one-day cricket league - mirroring the existing team rankings - will also be part of the FTP, starting in April 2011 and running over four years to culminate in the crowning of the first ODI league champion in April 2014. The league will run separately from the World Cup, the ICC's flagship event, which has been reduced to 10 teams for the 2015 tournament. 

Why will it run separately from the World Cup? Why is this league required is not known? Already there is a growing criticism around the world about the validity of ODI matches - is this one way that ICC wanted to give more importance to ODIs? Can the ICC not take more power in their hands and ban all tri-series tournaments like the ones played by India and Sri Lanka (who else). Why these tournaments are conducted is also not known (of course the monetary reasons are visible clearly).

The World Twenty20 event will be expanded to 16 teams from the 2012 tournament, due to be staged in Sri Lanka. The success of smaller nations like Netherlands and Afghanistan in Twenty20 cricket prompted the expansion of the tournament, which will continue to have the women's event played alongside it

This is probably a good decision to promote cricket in many countries but care needs to be taken to ensure that there is not a surfeit of these T20 matches. Of course, one has to plan a window of the domestic tournaments like IPL and Champion League matches.


Overall, some good decisions but a lot confusing ones.What is your take on the announcement from ICC?

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India beat Australia easily in Bengaluru

The Indian team finally won a match in Bengaluru!!! Easily than what was expected at the end of the fourth day of the test match. Thanks to a debutant and another young opener, the platform was laid for the veterans (Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid) to take the team across the target.


Before that, Sreesanth and Zaheer picked up the remaining wickets in the morning fairly quickly to wrap up the Oz innings. Overall, it was a team effort with the ball which ensured that even after scoring 400 runs in the first innings, the Indian team gained advantage over the Aussies.

The number of sessions won by both the teams was equal (6-6) after the fourth day. India, through the ball and then with the help of the first 3 batsmen, grabbed the first session in a dominating fashion. The next session was consolidation of the innings by the seasoned batsmen followed by a quick-fire 3rd session - commanding performance on the last day to seal the match and the series.  3 fifty partnerships coming one after the other eased the team past the target set by the Australians.

Cheteshwara Pujara did very well and received praise from everyone. His aggressive shots against the spinners and assured technique against the faster bowlers gave a lot of comfort to Indian fans who would have been worried about the future after SRT, Dravid, Laxman retire. Of course it is early days and there will be more harder tests in foreign soils but the promise is good to see. Murali Vijay gave him good support - another talent that requires harder tests to confirm his potential - while scoring runs at a brisk pace.

Sachin Tendulkar had another fifty (this time a second innings one) to add to his double-century. He is maturing even better than old wine - the records speak for itself but the ease with which he is scoring the huge runs is a pleasing sight to watch. The selectors are doing a good job by resting him for the ODIs - one would like him to be back in ODIs by the year-end.

Rahul Dravid had the right occasion to say goodbye to test cricket by guiding the team to victory at his home ground en route to a series win against the dominant Aussies. He has not announced any decision but looking at his struggle, one only wishes (like Sourav Ganguly) he goes earlier than the selectors decision.

MS Dhoni and Gary Kirsten should be credited with the strategy of sending Pujara ahead of Dravid or Tendulkar. All would have thought that Dravid was demoted but the strategy was more to have Pujara face the harder ball and give the much-needed cushion to the inexperienced middle-order. How it clicked was for all to see - these are the tricks that makes MSD the good captain he is. His test record is evidence for all to see - it now does not matter if he wins tosses or not. 

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Mohali Test - VVS, Ishant take India home

It was a sunday - January 6, 2008 at Sydney - India having scored more than 500 in their first innings lost to Australia with six minutes to go for close of play (the match would become famous more for the Harbhajan-Symonds incident). The last man at the crease spent few minutes at the crease, refusing to move, even though he was clearly caught at first slip - it was not that he was unsure of the catch. It was more of dejection that Ishant Sharma had let down his captain in getting a draw result (which we know in Australia, is as good as a win).

Fast forward to October 5, 2010 at Mohali - the same player combined with a proven legend against the same opponents to take the team past the victory line. His batting has improved in recent times and he showed enough spunk in the first innings as a night-watchman. He hadlet down the team in the first innings as a bowler but came back well to take 3 wickets in the 2nd innings that turned the Oz onslaught upside down. He still had a role to play with the bat - and a match to win.


What about the legend himself? VVS Laxman is one of only eight batsmen in Test history to score more than 2500 second-innings runs at a 50-plus average. In his last 7 second-innings, he has scored 2 hundreds and 5 fifties - what more can any team ask? What Sachin Tendulkar couldn't do, VVS has been doing well and consistently. What more, he has been playing like a dream against the Aussies - one was surprised at his early dismissal in the first innings - the pain must have hurt him real bad then.

Despite the first session being equal, the Indians equalized the number of sessions won in the final session. With both teams having won the same number of sessions, the scorecard had to be very close. The umpiring was not top-class but the teams will not complain - both had decisions go their ways. It is time the ICC starts introducing UDRS in all test matches. The test series moves to Bangalore for the 2nd (and final) test - the inclement rains will probably result in the match being drawn. Again, can the ICC not mandate a minimum three-test series for all countries? Anyway, we dont have any reasons to complain today, do we? Well played India.

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Mohali Test - India's sorry state tilts match towards Oz

India's start in the 2nd innings has not been as great as they would have expected - losing 4 top-order wickets means that the hopes are now squarely on the shoulders of Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman (will he repeat his usual magic against Aussies) and MS Dhoni other than the bowlers. With Sehwag gone, the scoring will not be as well as we would have hoped but it will be back to good old slug-fest on the final day. The first session (on all days) typically has not yielded wickets in this test - hopefully, for India, this will be what they will expect on the morrow.

Ishant Sharma, through his spell in the morning, showed the Aussies how they have to bowl on this wicket to get ahead in the match. His spell against the Oz in the morning brought India back from the rapid start that the openers gave in the beginning - 10 wickets falling for almost 100 runs at the end. All the bowlers pitched in to take wickets but they were also helped by the bungling umpires (more Gould than Bowden). Gambhir was again hard done but so was Hussey!! Tomorrow, hope there are no more blunders from the umpires (either way).

The sessions won stands in favor of the Aussies - 6.5 to 5.5. If the Indians can win the next 2 sessions, they can scale down the target that has been put in front. VVS did it recently against the Sri Lankans (afflicted with his back spasms) overseas while SRT did it against England at Chennai. Will they combine and do it ONE MORE TIME? Lets all hope so.

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Mohali Test - Honors even on third day still

After 3 days on a ground that is not supporting the bowlers much, the 2 teams are almost on equal terms (a difference of 23 runs). The sessions (out of a total of 9) won by each team are equal (4.5 days each). The Indian team was on course for a huge total but the dismissal of Tendulkar made the Oz team come back in a strong manner.


Sachin lost his chance to score a century but he must have been more disappointed to lose the control that he and Raina had on the match. Raina continued his good start to test cricket but threw away his wicket before scoring what would have been his 2nd test century. Laxman's health problem caused the team lose a batsman (just like they lost the services of Ishant).

The Aussie bowlers were also limited in their variety but they managed to get the lead at the end of the day. They repeated the tricks of the Indian team - right from the poor catching as well as the reluctance to take the new ball.

What next? The Indian bowlers should tighten the screws on the match and ensure that they restrict the Aussies to a total less than 250. That will setup the match for a good finale.

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Mohali Test - Sehwag's dismissal tilts match towards Oz

The Indian attack, handicapped by the non-availability of Ishant Sharma, were made to toil hard by Watson first and then Paine and the tailenders. The Indian bowlers bowled a tight line but with the soft ball, all the bowlers except Zaheer could hardly trouble the batsmen. The Oz batsmen also made the opportunities count and ensured that staying at the crease first made way to the strategy of making runs as well.

Sehwag started the Indian response in his usual manner and Ricky Ponting was very soon worried. But a ball that bounced more than he expected, made Sehwag play a false shot and top-edged the ball off Johnson. Gambhir's dismissal also meant that 2 of the 6 specialist batsmen were back in the hut. Now, it is upto the legends - Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman - and dashers - Raina and Dhoni - to take them closer to the Oz total.

The session-dashboard is at 3.5 - 2.5 in favor of the Aussies because of Sehwag's dismissal. Tomorrow's first session is key to the Indian response.

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Mohali Test - Honors even on first day

3 catches (2 dropped by MS Dhoni and one by Sehwag) would have impacted the first test match between India and Australia even more than the current score that shows the even status of the match after the first day. Compounding India's problems was the fact that first Ishant bowled badly and then hobbled out of the ground. It is quite a serious problem for India since the new ball is due and without Ishant there is no partner for Zaheer Khan in the morning tomorrow. Will Harbhajan be the other new-ball bowler? Probably.

Watson capitalized on the dropped catches and scored a century. Other than him, Ponting (also let off by an Ishant no-ball when MSD actually caught it!) scored a fifty and brought respectability to the Oz total. The only bowler who supported Zaheer Khan's heroics was Pragyan Ojha - he had bowled miserly even in the tour match. He bowled well without any wickets to show but on this pitch, he will be a handful on the latter days of the test match. Harbhajan got Clarke but that was more because of the batsman rather than the guile of the bowler.

The pitch is slow and the slower bowlers will enjoy it - not so much the Oz quicks. Hauritz should come to the party but he is also coming back from injury. Will the Indian batsmen capitalize? But firstly, they have to take the remaining 5 wickets.

1.5 sessions to both teams at the end of the first day - tomorrow's first session will be definitely interesting to watch.

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