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DreamCricket Views
November 2010 - Posts
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By Suresh Menon
Who is the best bowler in the world today? The more relevant question probably is: Are there any great bowlers in the game today? Watching England pile up 500-plus runs for the loss of a single wicket against Australia, it was difficult not to recall the days of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath. It was only the other day that these two were bowling, but already it feels like decades have passed since they quit.
Australia have no great bowlers, nor do the West Indies, both of whom became world beaters on the power of their bowling attack. At one time, the West Indies produced fast bowlers by the bushels. One lot came and went, then another, then another till fast bowling itself was seen as a West Indies speciality. But the conveyor belt has come to a standstill. There are no Courtney Walshes and Courtly Ambroses in the team, and no whiff of the fearsome foursome of Andy Roberts-Michael Holding-Malcolm Marshall-Joel Garner.
Good batting tracks, quality bats, shorter boundaries and perhaps the needs of television (which needs matches to last full five days) have made the job of the bowler more difficult than it already is.
Where are the bowlers? India struggled to beat at home the second team from the bottom in the ICC rankings because they just lacked the bowling. Zaheer Khan apart, no one looked the part consistently as New Zealand held on for two draws before losing the decider.
England’s Graeme Swann, the most successful bowler this year with 53 wickets from 11 matches, has already invited comparison with Jim Laker, with the cricket historian David Frith willing to stick his neck out and declare that Swann is already as good as Laker. Will he make the difference in the Ashes series? Traditionally the Aussies have been more uncomfortable against off spin than any other kind (as Erapally Prasanna and Lance Gibbs will tell you even if you ignore Laker’s 19 in a match).
The other important contemporary off spinner is enjoying an Indian summer as batsman. Harbhajan Singh’s back-to-back Test centuries against New Zealand might be some compensation for his largely forgettable year as bowler His 35 wickets have come in 10 matches but at an average of 43 and a strike rate of 93. Perhaps he was taking his frustration out on the hapless New Zealand bowlers.
Swann apart, the bowler of the year, the one who has risen above the problems afflicting his tribe has been the fast man Dale Steyn. He has 45 wickets in nine Tests at an average of 23, and awaits the arrival of the Indian batsmen in his country.
Should something be done to make the bowler’s life easier? The former India cricketer, the late Kripal Singh suggested years ago (during another phase of unproductive Test days for bowlers) that in a close call, like the leg before, for instance, the benefit of the doubt should go to the bowler. It sounded radical then, and it sounds radical now.
But it illustrates just how much some bowlers – Kripal was an off spinner – think the game has tilted in favour of batsmen.
There is much skill in contemporary bowling, considering how such innovations as the doosra and the reverse swing were unheard of a generation or so ago. So why do bowlers struggle so much?
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Bowlers, had one existed, might have had something to say about the Gabba wicket which saw two partnerships of over 300 in the match (the ground record stood for just two days!). There is no joy in watching a batsman, unchallenged, go from milestone to milestone while bowlers merely go through the motions after a while. The essence of sport is contest, and when that is sucked out of a game, there is nothing to keep interest alive.
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By Sunil Gavaskar
India’s win over New Zealand in the final Test keeps them on top of
the rankings, but the first two drawn Tests have not helped much in
garnering points that would increase the gap between them and South
Africa.
Luckily, Pakistan played some determined cricket in
the United Arab Emirates to deny South Africa wins in the two Test
series there, and that has not helped South Africa with the points
table too. Once again as happened earlier in the year when the Proteas
came over to play in India for the number one ranking, it will now be
played in South Africa and that gives them a clear home advantage. The
South Africans had agreed to play two Tests instead of the seven match
one-day series then, just like the Australians did at the start of this
season and like the Australians, they had come earlier to India to play
a practice game before playing the Tests.
While a practice
game by itself does not always help, the more time that a team gets to
get used to the weather and pitches makes a world of a difference to
the result. India have been notoriously slow starters overseas and
often that means that India is playing catch up with the opposition all
the time and are thus under more pressure. The ICC schedule for India
has invariably been crowded and so India will play a Test series
straight after playing the one-day series against New Zealand which
again will mean getting the mindset changed from the shorter version of
the game to its longer format. It would have helped if the one-day
series had been played first and then the Tests, so that the team
despite not having too many days to get used to the South African
pitches would have at least been in the mental makeup for the longer
and definitely sterner Tests against the Proteas.
Now there
is talk that some players will go to South Africa earlier, so that they
get used to the conditions and pitches there, but while they get used
to the conditions who are they going to play against. In any case how
many are going to go earlier and what does it achieve if its only half
a dozen players who are going to get there unless they can play some
proper matches and not just play against their own in the nets.
Yes,
having local net bowlers especially the quicker variety will definitely
be a big help to the players but we also have to get our bowlers used
to bowling the length that will trouble the South African batsmen who
seem to be in terrific form against the Pakistanis in the Dubai and Abu
Dhabi Tests.
Graeme Smith’s injury means that South Africa
could well be with a new skipper at least for the first Test and that
will also mean that they will be having a new opening combination and
if it is not a right and left-handed one then that will be a lot better
for our bowlers to bowl without having to adjust their line too much.
Sreesanth bowled India to a great win in the first Test in 2006 with
his late outswing causing enormous problems to the Proteas batsmen and
if he can keep his cool like he did in Nagpur, then he will continue to
bowl wicket-taking spells. Yes, there can be frustration for bowlers
when batsmen can get lucky with dropped catches or even playing and
missing and even the odd leg-before appeals going against them, but it
is here that bowlers need to stay calm and not show their exasperation
which only helps the batsmen to believe that all he needs to do is stay
a bit longer and the bowler will spend himself with expressing his
annoyance. In the second innings at Nagpur he once again let his
feelings get in the way and so wasn’t quite able to reproduce the
superb deliveries he bowled in the first innings.
Like
Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman let their bat do the talking, Sreesanth
also should learn to let the ball talk for him. He is too good a bowler
to get distracted by other issues. The same goes for Ishant and while
it is understood that new ball bowlers have to be aggressive and
sometimes show it to the opposition, it is not easy to stay focused on
your bowling if that is not the way a player has played his cricket
before he breaks into international ranks. What the Nagpur Test showed
was that Sreesanth and Ishant get lifted by each other’s performances
and get goaded into bowling better. This is healthy competition and
needs to be fed by the think-tank for the Indian team’s benefit.
India
may have missed out on the chance to see how well Amit Mishra is
bowling by stubbornly sticking to six batsmen and thus struggling till
the last Test to post a win over the number 8 ranked team in the world.
Leg-spinners don’t need any help from the pitch since they rely on loop
and guile and can turn the ball on any surface. Mishra’s type of
bowling is not often encountered by teams like New Zealand, England and
South Africa, so he would have been an asset if only he had been given
a chance in the Tests against the Kiwis. Now he is out of the squad
which has been expanded to 17 to accommodate a player with hardly any
wickets even in the plate division of the Ranji Trophy and who will be
a glorified net bowler at best in South Africa.
Still it’s
been a winning start to the season and hopefully it will culminate in
bagging cricket’s biggest prize, the ICC World Cup in April 2011.
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By Partab Ramchand
A hard fought victory over worthy
opponents. That should be the final verdict on the just- concluded
three-Test series between India and New Zealand. The visitors came over
as no hopers. The cynics predicted a clean sweep for a rampaging Indian
team. They said there would hardly be any interest in a contest pitting
the No 1 Test team against the No 8 Test team especially with India
having made a clean sweep of the two match series against Australia and
given their formidable record at home. But if New Zealand have
traditionally missed out on having great players – with a few glorious
exceptions – they are doughtiness personified. What they may lack in
dynamism they make up through sheer grit and determination.
Coming to think of it the Kiwis have always proved to be tough
opponents in this country. More often than not they have gone down in a
three-match series only by a margin of one Test and in fact on the last
tour to India in 2003 they drew both the Tests. In the first of these
they ran up a total of 630 for six declared, had four batsmen getting
hundreds in the same innings for the first time ever and then enforced
the follow on only to be thwarted by a VVS Laxman special.
Of course it can be said that in the past the Indians were not the
numero uno Test team. All the same given their recent record in India
it was perhaps incorrect to write them off completely. After all one
must always remember that whatever the might of the Indian batting
there is always a question mark over the bowling. Over the years the
strong Indian batting line-up has made up for the weaker aspect the
bowling and the just-concluded series was no exception. Their role in
shaping the lone win in rather helpful conditions at Nagpur
notwithstanding the bowlers did not exactly cover themselves with glory
and one shudders to think how they will fare in South Africa in the
face of a much stronger batting line-up. One look at the bowling
figures for the series and just that thought is enough send shivers
down the spine of the Indian cricket fan.
Indeed it is fascinating to dwell as to how the series would have ended
had New Zealand not missed a trick or two in the first Test when they
had India on the ropes at 15 for five on the fourth evening. While
giving full credit to India for staging a marvelous recovery after that
to force an honourable draw somehow one can’t get over the feeling that
India came very close to defeat on that occasion.
Looking back at the contest other than Harbhajan’s much improved
batting there were hardly any plus points. The established players
finished among the runs with the exception of Suresh Raina for whom I
am sure the series was just an aberration. He is too good a batsman to
be short of runs for too long a period and it is hoped that the
selectors will give him an extended run even if Yuvraj Singh and
Cheteswar Pujara are waiting on the sidelines. The bowling as I said
did not cover itself with glory and again the exception was Zaheer
Khan. The second spinner’s slot continues to be vacant as Pragyan Ojha
has not exactly filled the bill. There are others waiting in the queue
– Amit Mishra, Piyush Chawla, Ravichandran Aswin though I am not sure
if the chances of a comeback for Murali Kartik are totally nil.
For all his batting feats Harbhajan can look back on the series only
with mixed feelings. His bowling continues to be in decline, the zip is
missing and a return of ten wickets at 42 apiece at a strike rate of
91.5 is not one expects of the country’s spin spearhead. A further
cause for worry is that with his improved batting his bowling could
deteriorate further and that’s the last thing India would want. The
team needs Harbhajan the bowler much more than Harbhajan the batsman.
New Zealand too would recall the tour with mixed feelings. They will
look back proudly on having held their own in the first two Tests
against formidable opposition even if they lost the final Test on the
first day itself. The batsmen acquitted themselves creditably their
four hundreds comparing favourably with the Indians’ five. They also
notched up the only double hundred of the series and more significantly
had the only two five-wicket hauls in the contest. And in Daniel
Vettori they had a captain in the best cricketing traditions – a fine
player and a true gentleman.
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By Suresh Menon
As I write this, Rahul Dravid has just completed his third century
of the calendar year; statistically it has not been his best year, nor
has it been his worst. The spotlight has been so firmly fixed on Sachin
Tendulkar that the resurrection of Dravid and V V S Laxman has gone
almost unnoticed.
So often in the recent past has the famed Indian middle order been
written off that the mere fact it can continue to surprise and give us
glimpses into its best days says something for its remarkable
character. It is when success comes calling despite slowing reflexes
and ageing bones that it is most welcomed. Tendulkar is having another
of his Indian summers, not having made so many runs in a year since
2002. His six centuries were made with the same authority and
enthusiasm as his previous 43. The start of every innings he plays now
will be seen as the beginning of the road to his 50th Test match
century. This is rather like the anticipation ahead of Pele’s one
thousandth goal in soccer.
India have not done well in the current home series against New
Zealand. Their batsmen struggled in the first two Tests – with the
line-up, middle order and all reduced to 25 for five in one spell of
fast medium bowling by Chris Martin in Ahmedabad – and however exciting
Harbhajan’s emergence as a century-maker has been, India have lacked
the authority of being the number one team in the world. They found it
easier to beat the second best team, Australia, than the second worst
team in the world rankings. No professional sportsman will make the
excuse – as has been made on behalf of the Indian team – that he finds
it difficult to motivate himself against lesser opposition.
While Virender Sehwag emerged as the key batsman for India, the
focus was on Laxman and Dravid, especially as a talented younger lot
was waiting in the wings ready to take over.
Yet it was important for the South African tour to follow that the
middle order came together and made its mark. Laxman’s 790 runs this
year (two centuries and six fifties) may be statistically inferior to
the efforts of Tendulkar and Sehwag, but he was there when it mattered,
guiding India to victories in Sri Lanka and Mohali or preventing late
collapses. He did all this without compromising on the essential beauty
of his batsmanship, driving with a flair seldom seen in contemporary
cricket.
Dravid’s struggle in the first Test against New Zealand was
palpable, yet he finished with a century. This is the lesson youngsters
will have to learn, especially as the caravan moves to South Africa.
Batting in Tests is as much about scoring runs as denying the
opposition time to get back into the game and force a win. Dravid may
have been slow then, but in getting back to the basics and refusing to
roll over and die, he provided an important clue to greatness.
His century in the final Test, by contrast, was a flowing effort;
clearly whatever had clogged up his mind and his strokeplay had been
unclogged. The quick dismissals of Tendulkar and Laxman on the third
morning merely underscored the importance of the Dravid style of
batsmanship at number three for India.
It has been a fabulous season for the middle order as it has
rediscovered the methods that made it great in the first place.
Watching some of India’s greatest batsmen remind us all over again just
why they are held in the kind of esteem they are has been a treat.
There are two Tests remaining this year – and India’s middle order
has prepared well for South Africa where its record needs some serious
refurbishing.
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By Partab Ramchand
For 70 years Don Bradman stood alone. He was the only batsman to score two triple hundreds in Test matches. Brian Lara equaled this feat in 2004 and now there are a total of four with Virender Sehwag and Chris Gayle having made it to the list.
The growing number does not diminish the greatness of the feat even though with the proliferation of Test cricket more players could join the list. However I venture to guess that the figure will not be unduly large. To get one triple hundred is itself an outstanding achievement and beyond the reach of numerous great players which is why one must savour the rare quality of such a feat.
To be candid I am not surprised that Gayle is now a member of an exalted club. I have always felt that the 31-year-old former West Indian captain is capable of touching great heights – certainly greater than his present record which is pretty modest. When a batsman averages a shade over 40 with just 12 hundreds from 88 Tests (before the Galle game) he is dismissed as an average performer especially these days when every other batsman it seems is averaging fifty plus. But then Gayle is an entertainer pure and simple. The tall left-hander has been one of the hardest strikers of the ball and has been the architect of some of the most amazing knocks in both Tests and limited overs cricket. But somehow in the avalanche of swashbuckling deeds performed by others of his ilk like Shahid Afridi, Virender Sehwag, Sanath Jayasuriya and Adam Gilchrist, Gayle’s feats have not been given their due which is pretty unfair considering that while his strike rate in
ODIs is a little below than those of other buccaneering batsmen his average is the best among the quintet.
Consistency is one quality not associated with the kind of big hitting that these batsmen excel in but all things considered Gayle has produced a number of knocks that are high on high octane skills. This has resulted in not only a Test average of 40 plus but an ODI average that is virtually 40. His strike rate of almost 84 in ODIs is as I said below that of the four others but is right up there with the best in the business. And with 19 hundreds in just over 200 innings he comfortably ranks among the top ten.
Like the other swashbucklers there is not much change in Gayle’s approach when it comes to cricket’s traditional format. He plays thrilling shots at will and is one of the few batsmen who can toy with the bowling even as he gives the bowlers a chance. His kind of adventurous batting that pulls in the crowds is not associated with long innings but now that Gayle has two triple hundreds in Tests perhaps that perception will change. Again one would not associate Gayle with the feat of carrying the bat but that’s what he has accomplished against Australia at Adelaide while scoring 165 a year ago.
What he achieved a Test later at Perth was very much like the Gayle the cricketing world knows, loves and admires. It was typical that he should hit the fifth fastest hundred in Test cricket – off just 70 balls – and reaching it with a six. But perhaps this was not a new experience for Gayle for at Cape Town in January 2004 he had reached three figures off only 79 balls – and this in the face of a South African total of 532. This no-holds barred approach is so inimitable of the maverick cricketer.
In a lean era for West Indian cricket Gayle’s pugnacious approach has stood out. As the leading personality following the retirement of Lara he has taken upon himself the responsibility of bringing out an upswing in his team’s fortunes – a daunting task given that the personnel is largely short on class, skill and experience. But despite his casual exterior Gayle is a thinking man’s cricketer and leading from the front came naturally to him. He lost the captaincy following a dispute over contracts but perhaps now that he can concentrate on his batting his best is yet to come.
An imposing figure at the crease Gayle loves to carve through the covers off either foot, and has the ability to decimate the figures of even the thriftiest of opening bowlers. Critics are quick to dismiss his lack of technique, his weakness in defence but batsmen with little footwork or unorthodox methods often baffle the experts and this is what Gayle has done. He is a crowd puller symbolized by the 800,000 dollar price tag paid out for his services by the Kolkata Knight Riders. A natural for cricket’s newest and shortest format Gayle hit the first hundred in Twenty20 internationals during the inaugural World Cup in South Africa in 2007 reaching three figures off only 50 balls and hitting ten sixes in all against the hosts.
Gayle also bowls reasonable off spin – good enough for him to take 70 plus wickets in Tests and over 150 in ODIs. He has a five- wicket haul in both formats so it can be said that his bowling is under rated. But it is right and proper that he should concentrate less on his bowling for it is his batting that empties bars and attracts a worldwide TV audience. It is hoped that with his latest feat that puts him in a rather exclusive club he will get the acclaim he richly deserves.
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By Suresh Menon
You only have to look at the career options 40-year-old Anil Kumble
has, to realise what a stunning decision he has made – to roll up his
sleeves and get into the messy world of sports administration. Messy
because good intentions come up against politics, small men with huge
egos and officials who have made a profession of being officials.
As
one of the legends of the game, Kumble could have used his brand name
profitably in so many different ways. Even within the sport itself, as
one of India’s most dignified and intelligent captains, he could have
focused on coaching, on media work, on what the marketing folk call
brand enhancement. If you can’t trust a man who has nothing to lose,
then the reverse is equally true: you have to place your faith in the
man who has nothing to gain in a new avatar.
When there are a
range of options available, it takes a strong mind with a commitment to
the next generation to act as Kumble - and others like Javagal Srinath
and Venkatesh Prasad – has done. They have the support of Rahul Dravid.
These are men of intelligence with a reputation that spans not just the
cricketing world but spans the history of the game itself.
There
are no guarantees in elections. After all, Gundappa Vishwanath, most
loved of players and an icon in Karnataka lost the last time around to
the current President Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wodeyar, the
Maharajah of Mysore.
Former players are fond of mouthing the
cliché about giving something back to the game. Usually that is a
euphemism for discovering how much more the game can do for them. By
ignoring the path of least resistance and choosing to take one that is
fraught with pitfalls, Kumble might just inspire a whole generation of
players. Those who want cricket associations to focus on the game
rather than on politics.
The Karnataka State Cricket
Association elections on November 21 will be as important as the one 12
years ago when another player, Brijesh Patel, unseated a generation for
whom power had become an end in itself. In recent months and years, the
two factions, Patel’s and Wodeyar’s have been unable to get along, with
disastrous results for the state’s cricket. At the national level,
Patel was seen as a Jagmohan Dalmiya man, and unacceptable to the
current dispensation. Kumble as President and Srinath as Secretary hope
to change all that.
No player is greater than the game nor is
an individual greater than the institution, but players like Kumble
symbolise the best in both. In practical terms it means better working
relations with the Board of Control for Cricket in India regardless of
the power equations there. Kumble’s opposition will be not just from
the Maharajah but equally from those in the BCCI who are threatened by
player power and might react today to a counter a perceived threat to
their positions tomorrow.
Players do not automatically make
the best administrators. Hyderabad’s Ghulam Ahmed was an exception, as
was S Venkatraghavan to some extent. Yet most of the best have shied
away because they do not want to go through the rough and tumble of an
election. They prefer to be elected unopposed. A few, like Bishan Bedi
in Delhi and Patel himself have led players into administration, and
discovered that after a while it becomes difficult to distinguish
between those who fought for a principle and those who were defeated
for lacking it.
Kumble cannot be unaware of this. He belongs
to the modern school of management which abhors hierarchies, a
refreshing change from the feudal system which is the hallmark of our
sports administration. Both he and Dravid have held the post considered
the second most difficult in the country after that of the Prime
Minister. That of the captain of the national cricket team. Quietly and
without fuss they changed the way things are done there, pushing for
the system of payment which benefits the internationals today.
Cricket
administration is increasingly becoming a specialized job. Part of the
BCCI’s problems with the IPL, for example, arise out of the refusal to
recognise this. It is about quick decision-making; it is about
transparency and accountability. It is about focusing on what is really
important to the exclusion of anything that has no bearing on the game
itself.
Karnataka cricket has floundered for lack of
leadership in the recent past. Too many egos, too many private battles
and too much muck-raking has sapped it of the energy it once possessed.
Skipper Kumble’s team promises a breath of fresh air.
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By Sunil Gavaskar
Ever since India was ranked the number one Test cricket team by the
ICC rankings system, there has been a trend especially by those from
the old powers to try and make fun of the rankings and question India’s
place at the top. The simple fact is that, the rankings system was
approved by all the Boards after due consideration and accepted as
such, so now for some people in those countries to ridicule it makes
little sense.
Rankings are not an individual hobby which
can be argued for or against, but one that has a method to it. You may
not agree with the method and suggest a better one, but till that time
it is wiser to accept it for what it is. The method applies to all
teams and is not subjective and therefore the objections to India’s
ranking does seem petty at best. When other teams were ranked at the
top there was not much comment against the method, so why should there
be any comment now is beyond the understanding of most right thinking
cricket lovers.
Sure, India has yet to beat South Africa
and Australia in their countries, but the last two tours of those
countries, India has held its own and but for a bit of bad luck may
have even won there. They have the opportunity to do so in the next
couple of months when they tour South Africa and next year around the
same time they go to Australia and have the chance to win there too. Of
course, there is every possibility that India’s team may have a totally
different look about it with some younger players replacing some of the
more established and revered names in Indian cricket, but that remains
to be seen. The manner in which India saved the first
Test against New Zealand in Ahmedabad showed just why they are so high
in the rankings. India were down in the dumps with five of their top
batsmen out for only 15 runs and with a lead of 28 they were only 43
runs ahead at that stage. There was a recovery of sorts from a
partnership between V.V.S. Laxman and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni that
seemed to stabilize the innings, but India were not yet out of danger
when Harbhajan Singh joined VVS Laxman.
Harbhajan had got
his highest score in Test cricket in the first innings, so when he came
in to bat he was pretty confident. However, he has been known to be a
little too cheeky in his shots and can get out just when he is looking
good. That was the worry that he would go for an ambitious shot too
soon especially after the confidence of his first innings knock, but
that didn’t happen as Laxman shepherded him to the close of play. New
Zealand were in with a chance if they could dismiss India before lunch,
for that would get them ample overs and time to get the runs and they
wouldn’t be chasing too many either. It is here that Harbhajan showed
how improved his temperament as a batsman is. Yes, he did try the
reverse sweep but having got away with it as well as the shot where he
danced down the pitch to Chris Martin, the destroyer of the Indian
innings till then, he proceeded to play such a controlled innings that
it was a surprise when he was eventually out.
Laxman, of
course was the crisis saver again and Harbhajan was quick to admit that
it was the calm of Laxman at the other end that helped him to keep cool
too. By saving what seemed like a lost game, India showed
that they have enormous self-belief and don’t capitulate easily
anymore. They played like the number one team that they are and by
drawing the game lived to fight another day. Whether they will be able
to go on to win the series and increase the points difference between
them and the South Africans who are number two in the rankings will be
seen soon enough.
The South Africans are playing Pakistan
in a Test series in the United Arab Emirates and so have the chance to
narrow the gap and if they do that, then they would fancy their chances
of toppling India from the number one spot if they beat them at home.
That series thus will in effect, be the fight for the number one
ranking in Test cricket and should bring in plenty of crowds and
interest. The Australia v England series will also help those teams to
climb up the rankings ladder as also the Sri Lanka v West Indies series. There
is thus plenty of cricket ahead for the cricket lovers and between well
matched teams too and if the pitches are good then there should be
interesting cricket. When each Test matters, then the series is always
a closely fought one with neither team asking for nor yielding any
quarter.
Of course playing at home is a big advantage, for
not only are teams familiar with the pitches and conditions, but home
teams also get the chance to spend quality time with their families in
between Tests and that can take away a great deal of the pressure that
teams feel when they are overseas. India thus must capitalize on that
in the series against the Kiwis, for when they go to South Africa next
month they will be the outsiders in more sense than one.
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By Partab Ramchand
If at all the first Test between India and New Zealand proved anything
it is that the hosts have great batting depth. A lot has been said and
written about the lustrous top order batting order which of course has
frequently performed in keeping with its lofty stature. I am not sure
whether any team has entered a Test match with the first four in the
order averaging fifty plus during an extended career (though of course
Gautam Gambhir has since slipped just below the half century mark
following his double failure at Ahmedabad).
That the Indian batting is strong enough to carry the weaker bowling
has been known for some time but this is generally said keeping in mind
the feats of the famed quartet. What is generally forgotten is that MS
Dhoni has more than added his mite late in the order and now with
Harbhajan Singh joining in it can be said that the Indians bat till No
8. Let it also not be forgotten that Zaheer Khan holds the record for
the highest score made at No 11 in Test cricket. In the course of that
75 he added 133 runs with Sachin Tendulkar for the tenth wicket – an
Indian record.
When a team can recover from 15 for five to post a total of 266 it can
only underline the depth in the batting besides constituting one of the
great recoveries in Test cricket. The events at Ahmedabad underlined
the fact that there is no cause for worry as far as the Indian batting
is concerned. In the first innings the top order performed in keeping
with their reputation while in the second the late order came off.
There will always be more than one player to stand up and be counted in
a crisis.
Harbhajan has frequently spoken about getting a Test hundred and taking
his batting seriously. Hardly anyone however took him at his word.
That’s because the nature of his batting always had an element of risk.
An attacking bowler, Harbhajan tried to adopt the same approach to his
batting and though he has met with sporadic success more often than not
he could be a pretty embarrassing failure. Now and then he has also
spoken of becoming an all rounder but of course there is a long way to
go before he achieves that status – if at all.
However, combative cricketer that he is – though he does go overboard
with his emotions at times – Harbhajan cannot be dismissed lightly as
the New Zealanders discovered. In the first innings even as the innings
floundered after some excellent work by the top order it was Harbhajan
who kept it going displaying his attacking skills in abundant measure.
Second time around of course it was a pressure cooker situation with
India 65 for six when he entered late on the fourth evening. But one
thing that has always stood Harbhajan in good stead is his
aggressiveness, the quality of never being overawed by formidable
opposition or a grim situation. He counter attacked as only he can and
ere long the hunter became the hunted. That he was responsible for a
feat done only once before in 1935 – a century and half century at No 8
– speaks volumes of his never say die attitude and his determination to
get to the goals he has set out to achieve.
Unfortunately even as he can be counted upon to serve his team with his
growing batting skills his bowling has fallen to an alarming degree.
This is a great cause for worry for with Anil Kumble having retired
Harbhajan was expected to take on the senior spinner’s role. But the
sting has gone from his bowling and his career average less than 28 not
too long ago is now approaching 32. The less said about his strike rate
the better. It is only to be hoped that his latest batting laurels will
not affect his bowling further. The Indian team needs Harbhajan the
bowler much more than Harbhajan the batsman his gallant showing at
Ahmedabad notwithstanding. Plainly put had his performance with the
ball been in keeping with his stature the team would not have required
his batting heroics.
For the visitors of course a draw could well be a moral victory
considering the fact that they were written off on the eve of the
series and a clean sweep for the Indians was generally predicted. To
their credit they had the Indians under considerable pressure on the
fourth evening before the hosts wriggled out. How much they will regret
at missing a trick or two when the Indians were 15 for five could well
unfold over the next two Tests.
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By Suresh Menon
While Harbhajan Singh thanked Sachin
Tendulkar for his century (“he encouraged me, and told me that I could
make it”) in the Ahmedabad Test, well might V V S Laxman have blamed
Tendulkar for missing his. Laxman is a mild-mannered gentleman and is
unlikely to blame anyone, not even umpire Steve Davis who was on a
hat-trick, having sent back two batsmen leg before despite inside edges.
Had the UDRS (Umpires Decision Review System) been in operation,
both Laxman and Zaheer Khan would have been reprieved. And the reason
the UDRS is not being used in the series, or indeed in any recent
series involving India is that Tendulkar does not favour it. Nor does
Mahendra Singh Dhoni who has said, “I don't think it gives cent per
cent result. If I am going to buy a life jacket, I want to be assured
that it comes with a warranty. Similarly, I would prefer some sort
warranty with it (UDRS).”
Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid
support the UDRS, the former because he was unhappy with a couple of
recent decisions. Dravid merely wants a guarantee of uniformity.
Neither
Tendulkar nor Dhoni is immersed enough in the physics of projectiles
(or indeed Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle) to argue from a
technical standpoint, but they have a point about the accuracy. The
predictive nature of Hawkeye, for example, is just that – predictive,
and not actual, despite what excited television commentators might say.
Experienced
commentators have observed that the predictive path more often than not
shows the ball hitting the stumps. Michael Holding was once quoted as
saying, “Get ready for the two-day Test if they use the predictive path
of Hawkeye in the referral system.”
But the third umpire has
a range of technology at his command. The equally predictive, but
perhaps more accurate Hotspot is one. Then there is the old friend of
the sportscasters, the slow motion replay and the super slomo which are
not predictive at all. The idea is to arrive at perfection
incrementally rather than in one massive bound. Most captains are happy
to reduce the percentage of mistakes; Dhoni wants it to be a guaranteed
zero before he gives his nod to the UDRS.
This is neither
practical nor desirable. Not desirable because while other countries
get the feel of the UDRS and gather the experience to know when to call
for a review and when to let it pass, India will be denied this
knowledge.
Even if Hawkeye and Hotspot do not inspire the Indians, the slow motion replays could still reduce the number of mistakes.
It
showed, for example, that in Ahmedabad Kane Williamson who went on to
make a century on debut was caught behind off Zaheer Khan on 56. Well
might the UDRS have changed the course of the match.
Against
Australia in that exciting Mohali Test, umpires made mistakes at
crucial moments on the final day. Ishant Sharma was unlucky to be given
out while Pragyan Ojha was lucky not to be given out as India won
narrowly by one wicket.
Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain,
summed it up best: “One thing I know about the UDRS so far is that you
definitely get more correct decisions in a game of cricket than you do
without it.”
South Africa, where India play next, are keen to
have the review system, and although as hosts they can go ahead without
consulting India, they are unlikely to do so.
As Bob Dylan
might have said, “How many dismissals before India realize too many
batsmen have been had?” The answer, of course, is blowin’ in the wind.
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