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)

MSD is everywhere post CWC2011

After India won the 2011 World Cup, MS Dhoni seems to be in news all over the place - for good reasons. His match-winning performance in the final when the team required it desperately, has won praise from all quarters. Other than the batting, his captaincy that ensured his dream became true, has made several players his fan. Rewards are pouring in from everywhere and he seems to be covered on road (Hyundai), train (Railways), air (Kingfisher). But, monetary rewards are not what MSD will look forward to - he has enough in his bank and more to come from future engagements. How did the yesteryear greats rate him?

First, it was Sachin Tendulkar who praised MSD as the best captain he had played under, for his sharp mind and calm demeanor. Sourav Ganguly also rated Dhoni as the greatest Indian captain in all three formats - high praise from a person whose record is not bad as the leader. Ian Chappell, known for his captaincy skills, also mentioned that Dhoni was among the greats like Imran Khan, Arjuna Ranatunga and Mark Taylor - with moderate attacks, he was able to steer his team to the title (his performance in the final being the icing on the cake). The person himself, was pleased to hear from Sachin and said that he was also trying to serve the country like Tendulkar - the words he uses in the press conference gives an insight to the person. He so easily could have spoken about breaking records (if that is possible) about longevity or on the batting front but he was more concerned about serving the country - very humble indeed.

TOI has done an exciting analysis about the personalities of the Indian players - MS Dhoni falls in Type 3 (Virat Kohli also of similar type). The description given is so true of Dhoni

Optimistic, adaptable, success-oriented, self-assured, and charming. They can also be status-conscious and highly driven for advancement. They are diplomatic and poised, but can also be overly concerned with their image and what others think of them. Consequently, they can be impatient and image-driven. They seek to be loved for performance and achievement. Masters at appearances-they are able to recover quickly from setbacks and charge ahead to the next challenge, staying informed, knowing what's going on, competent and able to get things to work efficiently and motivate others.

This is as good an analysis of Dhoni as one can be. Doesn't this say a lot of the person and how he reacts on and off the field? If that was not enough - look at how Gary Kirsten rates Dhoni as a captain?

He leads by example. He always gives the team a 100% of his effort and his energy. He never loses his temper. He is a great strategist. He has got fantastic ideas on the field. And he canvasses opinions and then he makes his own assessments. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with him. I think he takes that responsibility full-on on the field. He expects the coach to take the responsibility to prepare the team for him, and he leaves that to me 100%. We really combine well in terms of our dual responsibilities as leaders of the team.

Again, great words from the outgoing coach. Some insights into the man that one does not get to see in public. It is high time, he became the subject of a management topic - so much has been achieved by the team with him at the helm in such a short time. No wonder, he is the darling of the nation.

Imran Khan remarked that there are captains and there are leaders, MS Dhoni is a Leader. Period.

World Cup 2011 - India wins the 10th edition of World Cup

India with the 2011 World Cup (courtesy Yahoo ICC Cricket Site)

After a disastrous 2007 World Cup performance, the Indians have come back and won the 2011 World Cup with a great performance by the team, soaking in all the pressure. This was one of the qualities that the Indians have displayed throughout the Knock-out matches in this tournament - not letting the targets get into their mind but concentrating on the smaller sub-targets to get the scoreboard ticking. Sachin Tendulkar's sixth sojourn turned out to be lucky for him, even though he did not make a big contribution to the final game.

MS Dhoni's selections may not have worked always but he had the courage to accept his mistakes in public. The Lankans had made wholesale changes in the bowling attack, considering that the opposition was India. Kulasekara was brought in to swing the new ball as well as utilize his high strike-rate against Sehwag. But, the Mumbai pitch did not favor him at any time - his bowling turned out to be the right cannon-fodder for the batsmen, releasing the pressure that was being built by Malinga. Suraj Randiv was again preferred to Ajantha Mendis since the Indians had worked out the leg-spinner very well. Perera was brought in as he was in the similar mould as Angelo Matthews.

After the controversy in the toss, the match started on the right note for the Indians. Zaheer Khan, after his disastrous spell in 2003 final, had made up his mind to put the ball in the right place and ask questions to the opening pair of Sri Lanka. The openers, also, were reluctant to be more aggressive than usual because of the loss of confidence over their middle-order. The loss of Angelo Matthews hit them more and the openers were looking to keep wickets in hand more than run-scoring. The hesitation led to the dismissal of Tharanga by a good delivery by Zaheer. Sreesanth, as Ian Chappell had predicted in the pre-game show, was a gamble taken by Dhoni - not working as much as he had liked. Munaf Patel was brought in his place and very quickly MSD realized that he needed to get rid of Sreesanth's ten overs quickly.

Harbhajan was introduced and started to bowl in a strange round-of-wicket line mostly. Luckily, he got the prize wicket of Dilshan with the help of an inside edge. Dilshan's stay at the crease was largely uneventful, not the kind that he would have been proud of. Jaywardene walked into the crease then and started consolidating the innings in a way that is unique to him. He was scoring at run-a-ball without making a 'shot in anger' (as the commentators would say). Sangakkara has liked the Indian attack so much that he makes big scores very frequently - he seemed to be on his way to another big score before he got out to Yuvraj Singh. Again, the left-armer picking up a wicket to break the partnership, as he has done all tournament.

Samaraweera and Jayawardene conjured a fifty-plus partnership, keeping wickets in hand while rotating the strike. The Indian fielding so far had been really impressive, just like their performances in the earlier two matches. Dhoni had an additional fielder in the circle to cut out singles that would have been on offer. All this came to naught in the last 10 overs - the Lankans through Mahela, Kulasekara, Perera hit more than 90 runs to post a challenging target for the Indians. At the innings break, one felt that the Indians had given 30-40 runs more than what was on par. The pitch was not difficult but the pressure of chasing a target in the final would be high.

The final was another match where Dhoni knew that he had to answer the public for his selection of Sreesanth. His form was patchy but he decided to take the brave move of promoting himself ahead of the hot-favorite Yuvraj Singh. This was not only for the right-left combination but also because of Yuvi's well-documented record against spinners, especially Murali. What a master-stroke the promotion turned out to be - Dhoni combined very well with Gambhir after the early dismissals of Sachin/Sehwag to produce a partnership that kept the required rate under control without taking undue risks. Kohli had done his bit to settle the nerves once the openers had been dismissed till Dilshan took a wonderful one-handed catch to get him out. Gambhir has been orchestrating run-chases successfully many a time in the last 2 overs - this was the occasion when he could use all the learnings of those chases.   

Yuvraj Singh was regarded before the tournament as one of the biggest hitters of the ball and how truly he justified his reputation. He came into the crease when nearly fifty runs were required by India. Dhoni had whittled down the target considerably and all that was required was to stay till the last run was scored - nothing beyond Yuvraj's capability. The batting PowerPlay was a mixed experience for the Indians throughout the tournament and they rightly decided to keep it away until the last five overs of the innings. In the Batting Powerplay, Sangakkara relied more on Kulasekara than Murali (more so because of the dew) only for him to falter. Murali did not have a farewell that he expected, partly due to his injury and partly due to the dew factor.

The Indian team sounded confident even before the tournament and were very keen to get the victory for Sachin Tendulkar. The team was well-prepared before the tournament and that proved vital for them in the final analysis.

WELL DONE TEAM INDIA!!!


CONGRATULATIONS TO THE ENTIRE NATION.

Related articles

• Dhoni hails team effort (skysports.com)
• India Takes the World Cup in Grand Style (hindu.com)
• 'I couldn't control my tears of joy' (espncricinfo.com)

Interesting news on the cricket front

Quite few interesting bits of news today that merit reading...

• Aakash Chopra writes about how domestic matches in India need to be restructured - he has very good suggestions on how to improve domestic cricket. He has been building his reputation online for his frank and insightful opinions on cricket (domestic, in particular).
  
• Ranji trophy Final - this final seems to be the most followed domestic match of all time, especially in the day and age of T20. The match has tilted towards Mumbai today, thanks to the performances of its bowlers. Salvi, especially, was in the background so far in this season until now. He has lived up to the initial promise of a Glenn Mcgrath-type in this match.
• Ian Chappell does not think that India is a long-term No.1 team. He says that there is no champion bowler in the team. I do not agree that there are no bowlers though they are not consistent. Are players from the current Ranji final potential Indian new-ball bowlers? Possibly.
  

UDRS controversies

The DRS system seems to be getting into controversies gradually.

During the trials, the Indian team did not like it during the trials in Sri Lanka. Is it the reason why it was not used in the previous series nor the next one against Bangladesh?

Sri Lanka was not happy with the decision not to use, probably because they did well with the UDRS system.

The ongoing test between Pakistan and Australia saw multiple challenges with varying degrees of success - commentators like Ian Chappell were not so convinced about the accuracy of the technology.

West Indies, who faced the system last series, also were not so keen about the system.England also do not know how to use the system!!!



Is it because teams do not know how to use the UDRS effectively? Interesting times ahead with the UDRS.

What is your  say on the UDRS?

PS - Watch the India-Bangladesh series live in the US here.