Indian cricket - own Argus-like review

The Argus review has been completed in Australia recently and the committee has suggested a number of moves, some of them ratified by the Board so far. If a similar review was done for Indian cricket, what would we find?

1. The true fact is that there have been quite a few bowlers blooded by India in the post-Srinath era. Not just bowlers, there have been middle-order batsmen and spinners in this list. Barring a few, none of them have gone on to be consistent in their approach. Quite a few have been injured while most of them have lost their way. Other than giving them their first chance, has the BCCI given them any directions? Not much. Have there been any opportunities these players received, other than the odd match or two as part of the senior squad? Nope. 
2. Similarly, quite a few bowlers have been given chances in the ODI squad. They have been part of the regular circus undertaken by the BCCI on tours and series at home. Once again, no one takes care of these players once they are out of the team. How many times have we heard that Failure is the stepping  stone to success. Even Laxman, Tendulkar did not make it big in their first few attempts - it was over time they have matured to the Greats they have become now.
3. What can one say about the Indian cricket schedule drawn by the BCCI? Is there any say of the players in drawing up this ridiculous schedule? Or is the BCCI just keen to milk the cow that Indian team is now. Such a schedule will only lead to injuries like the ones suffered by Zaheer, Gambhir and Sehwag.
4. The amount of money being paid by IPL franchises to the players is much more than what the BCCI plays as per their contract. This obviously shows where the players' priority lie. Can the BCCI take care of this disparity and ensure that the players are compensated well if they represent the nation. National pride aside, compensation plays a big part in the individual's interests.
5. The top-20 list of batsmen and bowlers who have done well in the domestic tournaments still shows veterans who are no longer considered for national selection. The other players have been given few chances but there is no one in the BCCI who can vouch for the greatness of these cricketers, can they? The pitches being used on the domestic circuit are either completely supporting the bowlers or the batsmen - there is no place for bounce, seam on these pitches.
6. Cricket academies where the younger players are groomed are no longer serving the purpose. Kiran More remarked that the NCA was a joke. Karsan Ghavri also added that he had not seen a youngster bowl 140kmph in the Bowling Academy ever. Even now, the MRF Pace Academy manufactures bowlers who are good in their art and have represented India for a decent period of time - latest being Varun Aaron. The first bowler from these stables was T A Sekhar who is the current coach in the same academy. Can the BCCI formalize this Academy so that more bowlers come out of this production-line to play for India?
7. Can the administration of the state cricket association be separated from the cricketing aspects? There used to be a concept of TRDO (talent scouts) earlier in the domestic circuit. Various cricketers like MS Dhoni, Irfan Pathan are examples of players who have been identified by such scouts. Can these scouts/officers be re-initiated?
8. How much of the domestic cricket is being watched by the selectors? Can one get more accountability being drawn out of the performance of first-class players? Will a player like Bhargav Bhatt (leading wicket-taker) get more chances to ply his wares? Or will he get demoralised like Mithun who after getting his chance at the senior level (and making a decent performance) is back to the root-level without knowing what he needs to further his chance once again. Communication and Feedback to the players is an important aspect that needs to be included. Rahul Dravid had no clue that he was coming back to ODI after being dropped for a long while. Similarly, Murali Karthik has no idea why he is still out of the favor with selectors.
9. Will there be a clause in the contracts of the players where performance of the individual will have a bearing on the compensation he receives. It should be a reflection of the players presence in the next year contract as well. Only then will the players get a feeling that they are being watched for their performance and compensated accordingly.
10. Will Duncan Fletcher get a say in the selection as well as the injury management of players? Hope players like Sehwag and Zaheer (even though they were not fit enough after injury) are not fast-tracked to the playing squad.

Obviously, these 10 points were collected after reading the comments of ex-players, bloggers and other columnists. If one talks to other players like the Argus Review did, one can come up with an even bigger list.

Eng-Ind series - Time for Post-mortem - Part V

Is the Indian domestic cricket strong enough? Are we producing cricketers who are capable of representing the Indian national team? What are the performances seen in the domestic cricket that one can take solace from?

A list of the batting performances (combined numbers from Ranji and Duleep trophies) will show the leading run-scorers (in descending order of runs)


Many questions arise after looking at the list. The top 20 batsmen in the country shows two veterans in the list - two players who represented India as openers in the recent past - Aakash Chopra and Wasim Jaffer. Either of them were not in the contention when India lost Sehwag and Gambhir in the English series. They were not spoken about in any of the probable list either by the selectors or by the expert panel. Was age a factor in their rejection? Are we not ignoring these players and choosing others who are younger but not so competent enough? Though, one must mention that Abhinav Mukund appears second on the list.

Badrinath has been playing and scoring heavily on domestic pitches - one wonders why he was not part of the Emerging tournament? Has the selection committee already taken an opinion about him? Will he not make a comeback to the international team?

Manish Pandey appears as No.3 but if one remembers, he was banned by the IPL Governance Council for few T20s (trying to bargain his way with various IPL teams). A similar offence was done by another youngster (Ravindra Jadeja) in the previous version of IPL. What has the BCCI done in this matter? How are the younger players being mentored on the issue of money management? Anil Kumble had given a presentation to the BCCI on these aspects - has it moved forward? No word on how this is progressing now.

Rohit Sharma appears on the list - another player who has lost his way in the limelight. Cricketers like Ian Chappell have praised his technique so many times in his regular columns but Rohit is still not the list of players that the selectors will put up for any tour.

Similarly, a list of all bowling performances shows the list below


Bhargav Bhatt played the Emerging Tournament in Australia but if one remembers right, he was sent as a replacement once Rahul Sharma was injured. Sreenath Aravind was another bowler who got injured after getting selected for the tournament.

As in batting, the bowling list contains veterans like Jai Prakash Yadav, Sunil Joshi and Murali Karthik in the list of top wicket-takers. Another reflection of the lack of bowling riches in the country. One wonders where is Pankaj Singh as the No.2 wicket-taker - he is one who has potential if one listens to the likes of Aakash Chopra. Iqbal Abdulla is another player to watch in the future.

It is good though to see players like Mithun, Vinay Kumar, Ashwin, Yusuf Pathan, RP Singh in this list - proof enough that they are plying their wares in the domestic tournament earnestly.

Similarly, the Emerging Tournament squad contained players who have the potential - Ajinkya Rahane being one of them - but need the right exposure to hone his technique. The Tiwarys - Manoj and Saurabh - have been around for long time now but have not done the path-breaking performance to get noticed by the world. Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron are the two bowlers whom India expects to bowl 140+ (if they dont get burnt out that is).

The others in the list are not so famous right now and there has been no sound-bites about these players in the media as well. Will they get proper chances in the future? Or are they one-off performances by these players only to fade away from the forefront? Have the Talent Scouts (are they still on BCCI rolls?) identified any future stars from these players?

Related articles

• Eng-Ind series - Time for Post-mortem III (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Eng-Ind series - Time for Post-mortem - Part II (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Eng-Ind series - Time for Post-mortem (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Eng-Ind - MSD needs a break (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Indian cricket - Beginning of the End (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

Eng-Ind series - Time for Post-mortem - Part IV

The above table shows interesting insights into the basic needs of the Indian players. The first column shows the contract money being provided by BCCI to the players concerned as per the grades. There are 3 grades defined (base price of 1 Crore, 50 Lakhs, 25 Lakhs each) by BCCI. For comparison sake, the contract values are converted to Dollar value (1 USD = 46.07 INR being used) Similarly, the IPL franchises pay these players a given price (as per the auction when they bid for the player). If one considers that a player in a year has been selected for 20 test matches, 40 ODIs and 5 T20 matches, he will be compensated accordingly by BCCI (7 lakhs per test, 4 per ODI, 2 per T20I). Adding this to the base price, one gets the compensation every player receives from BCCI. The last column shows the comparison between the IPL prices of the players (versus the contracts being given). The table above has been sorted by the comparison number calculated. This reveals very interesting facts and it is no surprise that the players on the top of the table are the ones who have been 'injured' at various teams (thereby missing test/ODI series) or not selected (because of non-performance issues). Similarly, the ones at the bottom of the table are those for whom the Indian cap matters (even considering the fact that is for purely monetary basis alone). If one sees the English contracts, as per this article, the players are paid between 420,000 to 700,000 USD in a year. This is the base price and the match fees, win bonuses and sponsorship opportunities add to this base price. Aakash Chopra in this interview talks about a further parity in the Indian first-class cricketer's salary (forget international players)

Increase the remuneration in the Ranji and Duleep Trophy. At the moment a player gets Rs 1 lakh (US$ 2200 approx) per first-class game, but in the IPL the average player gets about Rs 30 lakhs ($65,000) for 14 T20 matches. So why should he sweat earning Rs 5 lakhs ($10,900) for playing one full season of first-class cricket? That gap needs to be bridged. You need to start rewarding players in domestic cricket.

Is this not proof enough that the central contract system of the Indian team needs a revamp? If the numbers are comparable to the ones the player gets from IPL, why will the players select the franchise compared to the country?

Related articles

• Eng-Ind series - Time for Post-mortem III (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Eng-Ind series - Time for Post-mortem - Part II (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Eng-Ind series - Time for Post-mortem (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Eng-Ind series - When India had a chance (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Eng-Ind - MSD needs a break (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

Eng-Ind series - Time for Post-mortem - Part III

One must be talking about scheduling of Indian cricket - how the Indians have been tired of playing so many matches. Others might be thinking why such a big deal is made out of such a small issue. To get a low-down on the actual dates, I tried to map the schedule of the Indian team from the time Australia toured in September 2010. The end-date was till the time India finish their tour Down Under. Each column below represents a fortnight in the calendar.

I have entered all the matches for IPL and CLT20 though a player will not play all the matches in the tournament. The schedule for the return tour by Windies is still not clear and that has been represented approximately (3 tests and 5 ODIs). The BCCI has now accepted Anil Kumble's proposal to play a warm-up match in Australia - but when is the slot available?

This schedule will give everyone a clear insight on the amount of cricket the team is subject to. Of course, the BCCI will say that they give the players an option to rest, if required. But, is this policy actually in practice? That is the question to ask the people concerned.

Related articles

• Eng-Ind series - Time for Post-mortem - Part II (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Eng-Ind series - Time for Post-mortem (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Eng-Ind series - When India had a chance (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Eng-Ind - MSD needs a break (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Indian cricket - Beginning of the End (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

Eng-Ind series - Time for Post-mortem - Part II

Following up on the earlier post, I decided to look up the number of players blooded by India in the last four years who can potentially step up to the test arena (numbers looked up are from 2007 Jan)

• Shikhar Dhawan is the only other opener who has played in ODIs (apart from the usual suspects - Sehwag, Gambhir, Murali Vijay). He captained India in the recent Emerging Series tournament, performing decently. Though he was given ample chances in the Windies ODI, Dhawan did not justify his selection, often falling early to the quicks. Considering the record so far, it does not look like Dhawan's career will go anywhere until he shows a brilliant knock somewhere.
• In the middle-order department, again the familiar names of Yuvraj, Raina, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Badrinath appear. Those who have only played ODIs so far include Yusuf Pathan, Robin Uthappa, Ravinder Jadeja (can one call him as an all-rounder - not likely), Manoj Tiwary. Uthappa does not seem to be in the contention for any slot in the ODIs, forget test matches. Similarly, Jadeja has utilized all the opportunities he has given without cementing his place in the playing eleven - he is in a direct fight with Yusuf Pathan for the all-rounder slot (even though both of them are not present in the current squad chosen). Pathan has the potential to be a big game-changer for India and it might be a good gamble to bring him in the squad. Just imagine the impact he can make to the opposition if he gets his eye in. For a player who hit the Proteans for a century in their own backyard, he should be considered seriously.
• Ashwin is the only spinner who has not played test matches so far. Ex-players like Sanjay Manjrekar and Ajit Wadekar suggest that he should be tried out as soon as possible in the test arena, avoiding the (short-form specialist) label that everyone has in mind. Iqbal Abdulla did a good job in the Emerging Tournament - will he be given the next chance to make an impact? A spot in the tour-game against visiting West Indies will be worthwhile. Rahul Sharma and Bhargav Bhatt are the others to keep an eye on.
• The pace bowling department sees the usual names once again. The ones who have been given a chance in the ODIs are Asok Dinda, Sudeep Tyagi, Abhishek Nayyar, Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Manpreet Gony, Joginder Sharma, Pankaj Singh. A long list of bowlers on display where only Vinay Kumar is in the current squad. Vinay with his variations and ability to move the ball will help him in England ODIs. Yadav with his pace will be observed for a longer period just like Varun Aaron who has been selected as Ishant's replacement. Dinda played in Zimbabwe but could not make any impact with the ball. Nayyar was in the limelight as the Mumbai all-rounder but once again his performances did not match the hype. Will we see the younger bowlers like Tyagi, Gony and Pankaj Singh once again? Obviously they are not in the contention now but one never knows in the future how they will turn out to be.
• Naman Ojha is the only other wicket-keeper who has played for India in the ODIs. His exploits as an opener for Rajasthan Royals ensured that he was given an opportunity - obviously he has not exploited it to make a name for himself. 

Will the selectors try out any other youngster in the forthcoming series? Let us see.

Eng-Ind series - Time for Post-mortem

The series is over. India have been white-washed by the English team convincingly, 4-0 being the verdict. There was no doubt who was the stronger team and the No.1 ranking at the end of the series was apt for the winners.

The jury is out. Ex-players are out with their comments and suggestions on how to improve Indian cricket but one thing is common among all the commentators - they are like the Indian industrialists who do not want to support Anna Hazare in the Anti-Corruption Drive. For fear of being an outcast in the eyes of BCCI and thereby losing their potential income, they do not blame IPL as one of the reasons for the Indian loss.

No longer the No.1

Sanjay Manjrekar in Cricinfo states that India needs a few urgent repairs. Manjrekar talks about pace bowlers first and then spinners.

Stating that India needs to look beyond Zaheer Khan, Sanjay lists the likely bowlers who can lead India's new-ball attack - Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma - while being disappointed with two other bowlers - Sreesanth, Munaf Patel. From the period Javagal Srinath retired from the international scene, India has played quite a few number of pacemen.
Let us look at the ones who are still in the hunt:

• Irfan Pathan - played 29 test matches for India. Has a hat-trick to his name but lost his prodigious swing somewhere. Everyone criticized him for losing his pace which never was his strength. Injury further sidelined him, making it difficult for getting a look-in to the pace attack. Definitely should be in the plans for the future of Indian cricket. A fully-fit and in-form Irfan would have been a handful for the English attack with his swing and batting skills. 
• RP Singh - Eric Simons mentioned that he was selected over Munaf Patel because of his ability to swing. Neither swing was on offer nor pace was visible during his spell in the final test match. After having lost pace (more than 10kmph compared to the earlier English series in 2007), RP did not look like making any impact on the batsmen in any way. 
• Balaji and Ashish Nehra played test matches for India last in 2005. Injuries crippled them to cut short their promising careers. Though Nehra made a comeback to ODIs and has performed creditably, he has not been looked (by the selectors) as a possible candidate for tests (even though he was keen on coming back to the test arena). Balaji made a comeback two seasons ago in the IPL bowling at slower pace.
• VRV Singh, Jaidev Unadkat were given chances on the tour to South Africa but they never capitalized on the opportunities. While VRV has fallen away, Wasim Akram has spoken very highly of Unadkat and one might see him make a comeback (provided he can add muscle to his slight frame). Abhimanyu Mithun on the Sri Lankan tour (in the absence of the leading bowlers), however, performed better than expected. But, he has not been seen once again in Indian colors. Will the selectors revert back to him for the Australian tour?

Similarly, in the spin bowling department, Manjrekar feels that Ashwin should be given a chance in the home series against West Indies. Who else have played for India in the same time-frame as above?

• Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha are the ones who have been given the maximum number of chances after Kumble and in the absence of Harbhajan Singh. But, as Mishra showed in the recent series, on wickets that do not support spin, these bowlers do not make any impact on the bowlers. Pragyan Ojha should continue his previous assignment that was agreed with Surrey and gain experience on the county circuit. This will keep him in good stead for the future.
• Piyush Chawla and Romesh Powar are the other spinners who have played a couple of test matches for India. Though Chawla made a surprise comeback to the 2011 World Cup and has age on his side, he is not thought to be in the same frame as the other spinners. If he can be a bit faster in the air, Chawla can still help India in the long run. Powar continues to ply his wares in the Ranji tournament with average success.
• Murali Karthik is the other bowler who has performed well whenever given a chance (which is mostly in a crisis situation). But, the selectors seem to consider him as over-the-hill even though he plays with success on the county circuit.

Sanjay finishes the article by suggesting that VVS Laxman does not have much time to play for India. Just a few test matches ago, the entire sub-continent was singing praises for VVS but look at the reactions now. There are obviously no other players who are good enough to take his role, yet. Who are the other middle-order batsmen whom the selectors have given a chance so far?

• Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina have been given enough chances to prove themselves. Both have showed that they cannot translate their potential shown in the shorter format to the longer arena. How longer will they continue to get chances their way? Should the selectors not look elsewhere now? Probably yes.
• Cheteshwara Pujara, Virat Kohli and Badrinath have been given a few tests to show their prowess. Virat and Badri have shown that they have technical weaknesses against the short ball (Badrinath would have felt unlucky to have started his test career against the searing pace of Steyn). Pujara did well against Australia at home but in the series against Proteans, did not make a big contribution.  
• Rohit Sharma is the other name suggested by Anil Kumble in his comments after the debacle but these players should earn their spot in the playing eleven rather than being selected purely for youth sake.

In the opening department, Sehwag and Gambhir have been playing well but as this series once again showed, injuries and illnesses need to be planned in a proactive manner. 

• Aakash Chopra and Sanjay Bangar had performed the role of opener very creditably on the tours to Australia and England. Though they still play domestic cricket, they are not on the short-list of selectors any more. Aakash would have been the ideal opener to replace Sehwag on the recent tour, even though it was a short-term option.
• Murali Vijay, Abhinav Mukund hail from the state of Tamil Nadu. They have done well in few of the opportunities given to them so far but it is injustice to them that they have not been given the exposure to challenging pitches overseas on 'A' tours. Will the BCCI make the necessary changes to groom these players?

Ravi Shastri, the IPL veteran, remarked in his column - It's time for Indian cricket to identify players who are specifically suited to the different formats of the game. A way has to be found to encourage those cricketers who want to give Test cricket priority. There ought to be superior remuneration or compensation. How do you suggest this will happen, Ravi? Especially when the BCCI is filling its coffers with IPL as well as CLT20 tournaments, how can young cricketers get encouraged by the longer version? Is BCCI planning to start a new tournament on similar lines? Or are they going to increase the prices of central contract? What is your detailed proposal to achieve this, Mr. Shastri?

Pataudi, who gave away the trophy (named after his father) to England at Oval, predicted the next action that one can expect from the BCCI very correctly - The BCCI is not going to show a great deal of vision. Cricket will continue [in India] the way it is, but I sincerely hope that some sense does come in.

Related articles

• Eng-Ind series - When India had a chance (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Eng-Ind - MSD needs a break (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

Eng-Ind series - When India had a chance

Though England have won the series against India convincingly, there were incidents when everyone involved felt that the Indian team had a fair chance of matching the English, at least in the first two test matches


First test at Lords

Zaheer Khan walks out of the attack after bowling a little more than 13 overs, reducing the Indian attack to a three-bowler (including an off-color Harbhajan). From a total of 62-2, England launch a score of 474-8 before declaring their innings. MS Dhoni is forced to exchange his gloves for the ball and comes close to taking Pietersen's wicket (denied by the DRS)

Dravid and VVS Laxman are going good at 182-3 when VVS gifts his wicket away. The Indians fold up for 286, barely avoiding the follow-on. 

Ishant Sharma puts his best in an inspired piece of bowling to reduce England to 62-5. He does not return after lunch, giving Morgan and Prior enough time to break away and eventually Broad decides to cut loose against the tired bowling (162 runs in 28 overs). England set India a target of 458. 

Gambhir gets hit on the elbow in the 2nd innings, ruling him out of the opening slot in the crucial final innings of the test next as well as the test match. 

Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni take tea on the final day at 218-5 in 81 overs. With one more session to follow, all hopes are on these two to take India to safety. Dhoni had been there and done the rescue act during the Lords test on the previous tour. This time, he edges behind to start the procession of the Indians to end at 261 in the 97th over.

2nd Test at Nottingham. India were supposed to be the comeback Kings.  

• They did start on the right note by reducing England 124-8. Broad and Swann came together to take the total to 221 (adding 97 runs in a little more than 18 overs).
• Rahul Dravid (again) and Yuvraj Singh were going great guns at 267-4 when Yuvraj poked to one outside off against Broad. Result was that India folded out to 288 (just 67 runs lead!)
• Harbhajan Singh picked up an injury, once again reducing the Indian attack to a three-member show. Yuvraj and Raina bowled the additional overs to spare MSD the plight of bowling.
• England were 24-1 by end of 2nd days play and quickly went to 57-2 before the Ian Bell show started. KP, Morgan, Prior and then Bresnan and Broad dismantled the Indian bowling to such an extent that the team was demoralized. The team must have lost their confidence during this innings - so much that their intensity got lower and lower after this mark. There was no way the Indians were going to extend the match to the final day. The humiliation was complete when the team was reduced to 55-6. After taking a 67-run lead, the match was lost by a whopping 319 runs - unbelievable.

After these two test matches, India were always playing catch-up. If only some of these chances were taken, the outcome of the series would have been different. Do you agree?

Related articles

• Eng-Ind - England go up 1-0 (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Eng-Ind - MSD needs a break (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Did the Indians have any luck at all against England (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

11 ways to encourage the Indians

No point in writing any more posts about the on-going test series between India and England. Hence, decided to see how the Indian players can encourage themselves to come back in the last test at Oval - eleven different means

• Sehwag should not play conventional shots any more - he should take advice of Ranbir Kapoor and play 'Upar Cut' whenever possible
• Gambhir has to decide that he has to 'Make it Large' in every innings he gets a chance
• Dravid has to go back in time when he was the face of Gillette just like other ex-champions (Roger Federer, Tiger Woods) and make (another) comeback
• Tendulkar should have more Boost after spending all the hours on the field to get back his energy
• VVS Laxman should apply Vaseline on his face and ensure that Michael Vaughan gets to see it clearly. 
• Suresh Raina should drink Pepsi Ghatak-Ghatak before going to the ground and play as though he is playing IPL for Chennai Super Kings.
• MS Dhoni should intimidate the English 'bowler rascals' and ask the bowlers to 'mind it'
• Amit Mishra, RP Singh, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth do not need any other encouragement than the time they need in the pavilion after spending three days on the field (for the fourth test in a row)! 

Will this be good enough? Let us hope so.

Did the Indians have any luck at all against England

In the ongoing test series between India and England, the rub of the green often went against the Indians - few instances noted below:

• Zaheer Khan was ruled out of the first test at Lords due to injury - this reduced to the Indian bowling attack to three bowlers (one of them being an out-of-form 400+ wicket-taking spinner) and occasional captain-bowler. This was felt sorely when the English team (second innings) was at 62-5 and 107-6. The main bowlers were tired and without any backup bowler, the captain was direction-less.
• Praveen Kumar pinged Kevin Pietersen's on his foot, looking very plumb only for the umpire to reject the appeal. A DRS review would have resulted in KP being ruled out, depriving him of the double century he eventually went on to score.
• Gautam Gambhir, at forward short-leg, was hit by a strong pull-shot that made the Indians lose their other half of a great opening partnership which was till then crucial for the No.1 position in test cricket.
• Stuart Broad's hat-trick had Harbhajan Singh edging the ball on to his pad which was not noticed by the umpire. Without DRS in this series, the Indians had no chance to review the decision. Thus the hat-trick hastened the closure of Indian innings and gave them a small lead over the English.
• Harbhajan Singh, during the second innings of second test, pulled up a muscle which rendered the Indian attack again to three bowlers. 
• Rahul Dravid was beaten by unbeatable deliveries in the test series - only such balls could break the Wall in this series. 
• The weather was overcast for most of the Indian innings so far while the English had only one such instance (1st innings of second test) when they were bowled out by the Indians.

Gary Player once said

The more I practice, the luckier I get.

This quote more than sums up the performance for all the points mentioned above. Ishant Sharma's dismissal in the first innings of 3rd test was an example of how everything went right for England in this series.

One can give similar instances where the Indians contributed to their downfall with reckless shot-making, dropped catches as well as superb bowling by the English pacemen. No wonder, no one is talking about luck playing its part in the English ascent to No.1

Related articles

• Eng-Ind - England go up 1-0 (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

Indian cricket - Beginning of the End

It might be early to herald the demise of Indian cricket, with three days to go in the ongoing 3rd test match against England. But, that is inevitable looking at the performance of the two teams in the test match - other than half a session when MS Dhoni and Praveen Kumar were fighting back against the English attack, the Indian team has been listless throughout. The Indian team resembles a boxer who has lost two close rounds and has run completely out of steam in the third. The team seems to be going through the motions, just waiting for wickets to fall by chance.

Noted commentator, Henry Blofeld, explains in his own way India's fall from grace. Sachin & Co. have not done well in the series so far while the juniors also have not put their hands up. Can we blame the younger players like Abhinav Mukund, Suresh Raina? No, for they have never had a chance to work on pitches and conditions like these, let alone a team like England at their prime. The current Indian team is a mirror reflection of the English team that toured India in 1992-93 (which was comprehensively beaten 3-0 by Anil Kumble and gang). England should prove themselves on the sub-continent to prove that they can stay on top for a longer period but that is a story for another day.

Harsha Bhogle, meanwhile, talks about three players (Harbhajan, Yuvraj and Zaheer) who are at crossroads. But the problem is not limited to these 3 alone - where is the next generation players and what are the opportunities provided to them? An odd tour to Australia for the Emerging Tournament is what one sees regularly - where is the once famous 'A' tours? Why is BCCI not arranging them? Is it because there is no money to be made there?

The Indians were lucky in many ways to reach the pinnacle in test cricket as well as the World Cup win in ODIs. None of this was achieved by strategic planning by the BCCI. Gary Kirsten, MSD and other senior players planned the triumphs despite the bureaucratic organization that runs the sport. The fact that the ODI World Cup was played in the sub-continent meant that strengthening the batting department was a sure-shot path for success.

Similarly, the test team saw the nucleus remain the same for a long period without any planning for injuries or illnesses (I am not even talking about the retirement of the 3 stars in the Indian lineup). Sourav Ganguly has retired for quite a while now but his replacement position has been filled by Yuvraj, Raina, Pujara. During the current series, Sehwag and Gambhir (for 2nd test) were not available and what did the Indian team do? Go back to Rahul Dravid and the young batsman with no experience of these conditions.

Are there any others on the horizon we can look at?

• In the opening department, other than Murali Vijay and Mukund, Ajinkya Rahane is the only other name that comes to mind. 3 names from a two-tier Ranji format - does it not say loudly that there is something drastically wrong here? 
• Similarly, in the middle-order, there is (as Harsha says, a coalition group of ministers) Cheteshwara Pujara, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma other than Raina. How many of these can stand up and say confidently that they can face the 90mph pace with ease? Look at Manish Pandey - a youngster who showed his talent in one Ranji season but the IPL bandwagon make his head spin around and go on journeys where money mattered more than everything else.
• The wicket-keeping duties when MSD is not available is being rotated between W Saha and Parthiv Patel. Dinesh Karthik has fallen away in form and hence not on the nearest horizon.
• During the last series against South Africa, J Unadkat and U Yadav were among the trio of bowlers on tour. Today, they are in Australia playing the Emerging Tournament along with Vinay Kumar and Varun Aaron. Where is Ashish Nehra who had mentioned that he would be available for test matches after World Cup was over? RP Singh was not deemed suitable for the Emerging Tournament but gets called when Zak is ruled out of the series.
• The spin department shows similarly lack of riches - what happened to the Spin Academy that was launched by the BCCI? Why are we going back to Harbhajan for all overseas tours? If there is no one else suitable, why not go back to the good old Murali Karthik. 

After this series, the Windies will tour India (possibly without Gayle again) and get beaten comprehensively in Indian conditions. All the outpour of today will be forgotten till the next overseas tour - this case, the Australian sojourn. No point in blaming the new coach Duncan Fletcher and captain MS Dhoni - it is the BCCI who has to show some sense in planning for the future. Will the BCCI consultants, Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar, stand up and do something for the country or are they happy to pocket the crores given by the organization?      

Related articles

• Eng-Ind - MSD needs a break (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Eng-Ind - England go up 1-0 (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

Vaseline and Batsman Recalls

Two off-field incidents made news in the second test between India and England - one obviously was the decision by MS Dhoni to recall Ian Bell after he was run out by the Indian team in the second innings. This led to a huge discussion all around the world whether it was right or not. The Indian ex-players also joined the noise-bytes made over the decision - Anil Kumble and GR Viswanath being two ex-captains from the state of Karnataka who praised Dhoni's decision. Nobody spoke about Viswanath's decision to recall Bob Taylor in the Golden Jubilee test between India and England - a pity that such a decision was not given the right advertisement.

The other incident was about the tweet given by ex-English captain Michael Vaughan. Vaughan suggested that VVS Laxman might have used Vaseline to cheat the HotSpot machine. Obviously, this led to players like Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar to voice strong opinions on Vaughan - in fact, Sunny Bhai even went to the extent of asking VVS to consult his lawyers!! Vaseline too had an earlier connection between India and England test matches - ask John Lever about it. Tony Greig gives a good spin over the incident but this only goes to prove that the English media has very short memory about incidents that do not show their team in a poor situation.

One common thread between these two incidents and the second test match was that England won the matches concerned!

Related articles

• 'Stupid' and 'naive' Bell benefits from India's spirit of the game (guardian.co.uk)
• Vaseline cannot affect Hot Spot - BBG Sports (espncricinfo.com)

Eng-Ind - MSD needs a break

Captain Cool needs a break

What is important for the Indian team is to give MSD a break from cricket. He is clearly feeling (mentally) the fatigue of continuous cricket that he has been involved with. Maybe the bowlers will take a clue and bowl so slowly that the team will be warned and Dhoni will be suspended for the next test match.

His field placement on the 3rd day of 2nd test match was nothing above average. On a day when the English team was scoring so quickly, Dhoni did not do much to curb the run-rate. Agreed that the bowlers were not getting help from the wicket but that has been the case in instances where the Indian team has played at home. Remember how Dhoni used 8-1 field placements to bore out Hayden and the Aussie team in Nagpur? Or there could have been an attempt to ask the bowlers to bowl a negative line to restrict the free scoring. None of them were tried out. Similarly, in the first innings, Broad and Swann took the attack away from the Indians and added critical runs to the English total (an addition of 60-70 crucial runs).

His batting has been affected - it has been a long time since he has scored a substantial knock in test cricket (except for a fifty in the Windies test). His dismissal in the first innings of the second test triggered the collapse of the Indian batsmen (a deficit of minimum of 70-80 runs) - the attitude displayed by him during his stint at the crease was not befitting that of a No.7 batsmen, forget the captain of the Indian team.

If the chances were taken at the right time, the Indian team would have been sitting on a lead of 200 and not just 67. There in lies the tale of this test match. England has done well to come back thanks to sunlight as well as Bell/Pietersen/Morgan/Prior and may continue to make the score-line 2-0 but Dhoni cannot keep blaming the injuries to his bowlers alone as the excuse. In fact, he does not give any reasons and that is the best part.

His decision to revert the decision of Ian Bell in the same test was heralded by the media and the opposition team but it was not right to appeal in the first instance. That it was one of the junior member (Abhinav Mukund) who broke the stumps was pardonable but the appeal should have been rejected by Dhoni even before the 3rd umpire was called for. Anyway, all is well that ends well.

In trying to force him to play continuously, is the BCCI killing its golden goose - not just in terms of the attractiveness of the Indian team but also the longevity of a person like Dhoni. A fresh Dhoni who can revert back to his dynamic ways on the ground is what the Indian team needs. Will he get the break in the next test, thanks to the slowness of his bowlers?

Related articles

• Eng-Ind - England go up 1-0 (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)