Cover Points : Harbhajan Singh

Symonds fishing for respect

dcsiva — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:28:00 GMT

Soulberry has put together a sort of tribute to Andrew Symonds:

People I have interacted with before on BBC's boards might recall of those positive views of mine. They might recall my support for Symonds' inclusion into the test team way back before he was actually inducted, and my reasons thereof. They might recall my awe at his all-skills prowess in the one-day game.

Things changed, Symonds became Symo for some and Roy for others. Andrew began trying to men something to everyone. And dissociation is a dark confusing world. But all this I have gone over in earlier posts and is not the focus of this post.

I just wanted to record my appreciation for Symonds, one of the most complete one-day players ever....and who could have become a decent test player if the devil times hadn't descended upon when he finally had the chance. can you ever forget his WC innings and the all-round performance in that.

The links he provides are very interesting. Meanwhile, The Age carries a story that Symonds falling enthusiasm for cricket can be dated to Bhajji abuse scandal:

To this day Symonds has not forgiven Cricket Australia for what transpired in an Adelaide federal courtroom eight months ago. It was there that he and three teammates were convinced to downgrade an initial charge of racial slander against Harbhajan Singh to one of verbal abuse, a ploy the Australians were advised would help ensure a long suspension after the Monkey-gate scandal, but one that eventually resulted in Harbhajan escaping sanction.

Harbhajan's reprieve infuriated Symonds, who felt abandoned by administrators he believed were more interested in kow-towing to India than protecting their own. Team sources say Symonds has bluntly refused CA's attempts to resolve the issue, and the lingering resentment has fuelled his deteriorating attitude to work.

Those close to the 33-year-old do not believe he will retire, but there is grave concern about the way he feels.

And the Times of India has a pair of editorials on the basic question behind all this that could have been asked of any number of wonderful cricket players. Does team discipline trump individual greatness?

The team management felt that Symonds failed to recognise, and adhere, to the team ethic so central to its success. Australia's success in the recent past is remarkable when we contrast it with that of other teams. Team India, despite boasting of some of the world's finest batsmen, have flattered to deceive. And Brian Lara's brilliance with bat did little to help the cause of the West Indies. Simply put, individual talent need not necessarily translate into success for a team unless the team has a clear plan and will to achieve its goals.

The alternative point of view, that greatness is better than rules:

Cricket, like most other sports, is not your usual nine-to-five job. At the highest level, sport is akin to art. Like artists, sportspersons cannot always be bound by rules and manuals. Too much discipline could stifle creativity and kill sporting genius. The trick is to get the balance right so that a great athlete has adequate freedom but at the same time doesn't fritter away his talent.

Meanwhile, Jrod reckons Symonds is really in trouble now:

Dean Jones, he of the self proclaimed legend status, is on his side.

Never a good sign in an argument.

Spinning the Indian ODI selections

dcsiva — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:21:00 GMT

The Indian ODI squad have been selected, first for the series against Sri Lanka, and second for the Champions Trophy. Soulberry post on the selections generated many comments. Mohan speculates that Parthiv Patel will play in third Test and that Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla and Robin Uthappa have been given enough opportunities to perform. Mohan on the likely team selection:

Given the combination that the team has gone with, unless one of Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh sit out (quite unlikely), India will go in with only 4 mainline bowlers — possibly Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh! Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh will need to bowl out the 5th bowlers quota. This lack of balance has always been India’s weak suit — especially considering that Irfan Pathan is one of these 4 frontline bowlers! If any of these 4 bowlers has an an off day — and Irfan Pathan can have them easily — the bowling can get taken to the cleaners!

The tough alternative would be to replace Suresh Raina with a bowler. It is unlikely that the team would do that, particularly after Raina’s good showing in the Asia Cup!

Scorpicity develops an argument about Harbhajan Singh. Perhaps India shouldn't bother with playing an off-spinner at all?

This is not a call to drop Harbhajan but to seriously start considering… if he can consistently bowl well, good for him and India. But looking at his dwindling consistency, India better quickly start looking out for the next off-spinner and start featuring him. Alternatively, they should consider dropping the idea of entertaining an off-spinner for the mere sake of variety and question whether it is contributing to a win. Why not feature two leg spinners then? I’m not convinced that variety in styles plays such an important role. It does when the quality is good… otherwise we might be better off featuring two quality leggies and my choice is Amit Mishra.

And John suggests that something truly is amiss with selecting spinners.

Looking back and pressing forward

dcsiva — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 12:31:00 GMT

Will has put together an excellent collection of Michael Vaughan's best and worst moments as captain of England, including the obvious high:

England regain the Ashes

The 2005 Ashes was hyped like no other. Here was a team mentally ready to take on Australia, equipped with a brace of quality fast bowlers and led with ferocious determination by Vaughan. It began predictably enough with a hammering at Lord’s, but the early signs in the first Test were that England wouldn’t die wondering. Harmison rattled Justin Langer and cut Ricky Ponting’s face during his 5 for 43, and England immediately bounced back at Edgbaston in a spectacle that lit up the summer. Sneaking home by two runs, England were led by a man unafraid of taking Australia on head-to-head, with seemingly the entire country roaring them on. Vaughan’s 166 at Old Trafford nearly gave England a series lead, but that would have to wait until Trent Bridge where Ashley Giles and Hoggard nudged England over the line. England held off Australia at The Oval, and Vaughan found cricketing nirvana to become the first captain to win an Ashes series since Mike Gatting in 1986-87.

Mark has a report card on the English players. And Duckingbeamers has the over, Flintoff to Kallis. It's a real shame about Mark Nicholas' commentary though.

Following the India/Sri Lanka series, Kartikeya has a great history of the ground the next match is being played at, P Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo:

This ground hosted Sri Lanka's inaugural Test Match in 1982. Test Cricket returned to this ground in 2002, when Australia played Pakistan.

Since 2002, the P Saravanmuttu ground has hosted a number of notable Test Matches. The Australia - Pakistan Test match was played on a true wicket, and the rampaging Australians predictably won the first innings against a young, inexperienced Pakistan side, taking a first innings lead of 188. The Australians were working their way towards an insurmountable lead, when Shoaib Akhtar ran through them like a hot knife through butter with a blindingly fast spell of bowling. Left with 316 for a win, Pakistan fell 42 runs short, being all out for 274 after having been 4/230 at one stage. Shane Warne took 11 wickets in the match.

Stephen Fleming made 274 at this ground when New Zealand toured last. South Africa have lost a Test match here despite setting Sri Lanka 350 to win in the 4th innings. Mahela Jayawardene made 123 and Sri Lanka sneaked home by one wicket.

And Ottayan makes an untimely intervention: should Harbhajan be in the team?

Bouncing back wins

dcsiva — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:30:00 GMT

Sri Lanka may have rubber wristed spinners, but as Dileep Premachandran puts it, the Indians have bounced back big. A huge victory for India. Sehwag, Harbhajan, Gambhir, and of course Ishant Sharma all had roles to play in the comeback series leveller. Samir Chopra is glad that Sehwag's battling double century didn't go to waste as all the other batsmen fell to Mendis:

Phew. So India didn't waste Sehwag's classic 201 in the Galle Test (this is only the third time that India have won a test in which Sehwag has scored a ton; a more criminal waste of a cricketer's contributions would be hard to find).

Srikanth, tongue firmly in cheek, suggests that Delhi beat the Lankans:

The two Delhi openers and their opening fast bowler (on the final day) with a significant contribution from their Punjabi neighbor won the test for India handsomely. The Sri Lankan batting looked very ordinary on the final day as the Indians through some lethal pace bowling and good catching ran through the line up. It was a good team performance on the final day but it is impossible not to recognize that this test match was hardly an Indian victory but for the fact that Sehwag single handled carried the Indian batting.

Five days to Colombo and the series' decider.

Testing the IPL style

dcsiva — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:16:00 GMT

Will playing the IPL effect how Test match cricket is played. King Cricket writes about McCullum's innings in the first New Zealand/England Test match:

He’s a batsman on the up and maybe yesterday’s 97 was a sign that he’s starting to think he can do the same in Tests.
Why not use the same approach? It’s been working for him. If anything, he could be even more successful. In Twenty20 and when opening one-day innings, you’ve really got to go after every ball. In Tests he’s got the luxury that he can leave some of the more dangerous deliveries while still flaying everything else.

Will describes it reluctantly as a coming of age:

McCullum worked his backside off for his first 30 runs (and yet went to fifty from a relatively slick 65 balls) before exploding; the extra-cover smash off Stuart Broad into the Warner Stand was breathtakingly audacious and classy.
We all love explosive batsmanship, but an innings that combines grafting and sheer madness is doubly satisfying and doubly impressive. Perhaps I’m being too generous in saying he’s come of age, but then again the expectations of him are increasingly high.

The psychologist Rudi Webster is on the record that Harbhajan needs help. Not a big shocker, all things considered. And, finally, Mohan has put together all the IPL team promotional videos.

Bhajji's ban and Barry Richards playing for money

dcsiva — Wed, 14 May 2008 22:12:00 GMT

Ottayan writes about Harbhajan's five match ban, suggesting that the punishment is "paltry." Apparently, any further infringement will trigger a lifetime ban:

"The player (Harbhajan) admitted his guilt in the concerned matter. He prayed for leniency and assured the committee that there would not be any misconduct on his part in the future.

"The committee decided to ban Harbhajan Singh for five one-day internationals (starting today i.e. May 14) and further observed that any further instance of misconduct will invoke a life-ban," said Sharad Pawar, President, BCCI and Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee.

And Dileep Premachandran notes Brian Lara's theory player indiscipline:

It all reminds me of something Brian Lara said in an interview back in 2006. When I asked him about allegations of indiscipline that have bedevilled West Indian sides in recent times, he said: "I don’t think you’d see an indisciplined team if you have a disciplined board. If you have a disciplined board, they would know exactly what they want from their players. You need to see the whole spiral, where it starts from. You can’t just pinpoint the players and say: You guys are indisciplined."

And The Guardian is running some cricket articles from thirty years ago. See this one on that great batsman, Barry Richards, talking about playing for money:

In his first season at Hampshire he was paid £1,300, more than any of his teammates, which created tensions with the senior English players who had already been with the county for 10 or 15 years. Now they accept he has a talent which he is selling to make a living.

They find it more difficult to accept that there are days when he will not be interested in scoring runs even though he is receiving two-and-a-half times their salary. Richards himself is the first to admit he finds it difficult to motivate himself, having achieved all he can outside of Test cricket. His captain, Richard Gilliat, is in a good position to judge: "Undoubtedly there have been instances where if he was on £1 a run he would have made a big score whereas he made a reasonable score. But the biggest incentive is to show him the averages in June and see three or four overseas players up above him."

Ramps up to Test cricket and mental toughness

dcsiva — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:38:00 GMT

Why isn't Mark Ramprakash playing for England? Mark reckons it's all down to...what exactly? Is it social class or race or just being anti-establishment?

Why am I pointing all this out now? Well, there's much talk at the moment as to why Mark Ramprakash can't get in the England side. Well, if you go back and re-read some of the descriptions applied to Trueman in the third paragraph, you might get an idea why Mark Ramprakash wasn't given the extended run in the team he deserved, whilst people like Mike Gatting and Graeme Hick were given every opportunity. It also might explain why Owais Shah wasn't picked ahead of Andrew Strauss last winter.

Also, if Ramprakash's surname was 'Richardson' or 'Roberts' I reckon he'd be in the England team today. Let's face it, with an average of over a hundred in the past two years, and one ton already under his belt this year, he certainly justifies it on form.

Sandy Gordon, he of coaching psychology fame, is doing research on emotional intelligence on and off the field. Perhaps Harbhajan and Sreesanth and all the various mental frailties that good county cricket players are exposed to when they step up to Test standard are related?

"While other sports play a similar form of global entertainment that professional sport has become, only cricket seems poorly equipped to deal with the market forces at work," he noted. "We will leverage off our current research on refining a Cricket Mental Toughness Inventory, which was funded by Cricket Australia," revealed Dr Gordon. He is also the senior lecturer at the School of Human Movement and Exercise Science of The University of Western Australia.

Meanwhile, Sajith points to yet another synergy between film and cricket:

In an event, which has been lorded by the Bollywood, the epsiode was a replica of the
tear-jerkers seen on the small screen. Sreesanth, and his teary face, resembled Tulsi and Harbhajan resembled the strict father-in-law. But, to me it was Gabbar Singh v/s Mogambo. For once, Bollywood was rampant on the cricket field.

Bhajji fines and Cappy Clive

dcsiva — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:43:00 GMT

Bhajji has been banned from the rest of the IPL this year. But all the players are paid pro rata...so the fine is around 2.67 crore rupees! And the BCCI haven't got their hands on him yet.

Meanwhile, Chrispy rounds up the action in county cricket this week. Q goes over the stats so far in the IPL. And Rain No Play congratulates Jamaica on the triple. Finally, a lovely review of the biography on Clive Lloyd, Supercat, by Tooting Trumpet:

But to have seen him live (as I did many times) was to stare as this long, stooped figure, so very black in the bright sun, loped to the wicket, looked up at the umpire through his famous glasses and took guard. Hush, and then the unveiling of those uncoached, but perfectly honed strokes, all around the wicket, with a shot for a ball of any line, any length. Like everyone who has ever met him or seen him at work, my life was enriched by Big Clive and I am very, very grateful.

Bhajji on the bench

dcsiva — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 11:34:00 GMT

Q rounds up the blogging take on the slap. Soulberry reconsiders the big previous Bhajji incident with Symonds. Nestaquin is rightly sympathetic to Sreesanth:

Spare a thought for the victim of his wrath and disrespect, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, who wept openly after the violent snub. I doubt that it was the sting of a slap in the face that caused his tears but the shock and emotional embarrassment of being struck without warning by one of his national team-mates publicly. It obviously cut deep.

Sreesanth is no saint on the field yet by all reports he is a gentleman on the other side of the boundary and it is a mark of his congenial character that he has forgiven Harbhajan unconditionally. Despite the goodwill, I suspect, much like another of Harbhajan’s victims, Andrew Symonds, he just wishes it could all be forgotten as he now has to relive the incident time and time again as it is played out by the administration and the media in the weeks, months and years ahead.

And Homer links to one side of the insider's story:

After the match, when both the teams were shaking hands with each other Sreesanth met Bhajji. Bhajji twisted Sreesanth’s ears for behaving in an appropriate manner. Sreesanth did not respect a senior player like Bhajji and used nasty language for him also. Seeing this Bhajji lost his cool and with his hands he asked Sreesanth to go away. Unfortunately the hand hit Sreesanth below his eyes. He thought that Bhajji wanted to slap him on his temple. Sreesanth couldn’t tolerate this misbehavior and started howling. Standing next to him V R V Singh didn’t know how to stop Sreesanth. He hugged Sreesanth and the TV cameras starting covering it. The whole world then only saw Sreesanth’s tears.

What does the other sides' version look like?

Slaps and tearaway tears

dcsiva — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 11:57:00 GMT

Harbhajan Singh slaps Sreesanth after an IPL game. Or did he? Ducking Beamers has the story about hierarchy just right:

...More than one observer has noted the strict hierarchy that exists in South Asian teams, with junior players required to slavishly do the seniors’ bidding. I think John Wright wrote about how amazed he was to find players scurrying around carrying tea and biscuits as the legends lazed about during team meetings.
There’s something about that here: Sreesanth, who is still in his early 20s, just got chided in public, and rather than being outright angry about it, he falls into himself, distraught and emotional. It reminds me of my days in all-boy Catholic schools in Bombay, when just a hint of reproach from older students would do enough to ruin your week...

Homer has a less than sympathetic take on Sreesanth. As far as Harbhajan goes, this is not just an IPL matter but also directly a BCCI problem, hence the show cause notice.

And see this article for a history of his on-field misbehaviour, which ends:

Symonds accused Harbhajan of racially abusing him during the infamous Sydney Test but an ICC investigation conducted after the BCCI threatened to pullout from the tour found him not guilty.

The Australian team did not take too kindly to the verdict and opener Matthew Hayden even went on to describe Harbhajan an "obnoxious little weed", a comment for which he later apologised.

The whole nation rallied behind Harbbhajan during the furore and the same man now finds himself at the centre of yet another ugly episode but this time against a teammate.