Indian Cricket in Safe Hands

Before the start of the tournament, no one including the players themselves gave a chance for them to make it to the knock-out stage of the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup. The reasons were many, considering that a new young team with a new captain, a team without the holy trinity of Indian cricket, lack of experience in this shortest format with just one game under their belt and the team’s unproven record of winning tournaments.

At the end of the fairy-tale journey, during the presentation ceremony, the winning captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said, “We were not tipped favourites, nobody expected us to reach the Super Eights or knock-out stage. And whenever the expectation is less, the determination is high.” Interestingly, that did turned out to be India’s strength.

The team played with no pressure, displayed some powerful but sensible batting, the bowlers stick to their basics, where they were highly successful in defending moderate totals every time Mahendra Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat and at last youthful exuberance on the field which was beyond belief. It was a team effort as the captain correctly pointed out that this team has no stars.

The team also had established players in Sehwag, Irfan Pathan and Harbajan Singh who were on their comeback trail. The trio was under tremendous pressure as everyone thought, if this short span of time on the field is the right stage for them to prove their worth. But what was unveiled out of them was a brave display. Pathan made a comeback with a maiden first over, carrying on from there he went on to bowl a match winning spell in the final at Johannesburg. Harbajhan proved decisive in the end overs bowling some deadly yorkers and getting crucial breakthrough. Sehwag was at his destructive best in the match against New Zealand and England showing signs of his best.

In Zaheer’s absence, this young bowler from Rai Barelly took the responsibility of leading the pace attack. Rudra Pratap Singh didn’t get any man-of the match award for himself but he was definitely India’s bowler of the tournament. He provided vital breakthroughs at the start of the innings in every match. Supporting him from the other end was Kerala express Sreesanth. He wasn’t at his best in the tournament but he did manage to bowl a match winning spell in that all important semi-final against Australia taking two wickets for just 12 runs in his four overs.

The batting line-up was missing the names of Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dravid for the first time since 1989 but that really didn’t have any effect with the willow. After their loss to Kiwis Indians were in a situation to win every match to take the crown. As a first step they did exceedingly well to knock the home team out and book a place in the Durban final. The mainstay of Indian batting was Yuvraj Singh. Seriously, I have never seen such a clean hitting in the last decade or so. He played no nonsense shorts but still managed to score over a strike rate of 200.

Gambhir at the top of the order was solid with his array of stroke play. He held the Indian innings together in most of the matches providing the team with good starts. One thought he has done more than expectations but he proved everyone wrong by storing his best for the finals. The rest of the batsmen chipped in at needy hours with crucial runs.

The English summer wasn’t a great one on the field for the Indians as there were a dozen of catches being spilled during the one-day series. Contrastingly, what we saw here in South Africa over the two weeks was a young Indian team with vim and vigor. Dinesh Kaarthik pounced on to the one at slips to get rid of Graeme Smith was stupendous. Yuvraj Singh, Rohit sharma and Robin Uthappa were accurate with their throws, hitting the stumps every time. Opponents nightmare, India’s joy; it just appeared as if Indian team was filled with Jonty!

When the whole of India wondering what to expect out of newly appointed ‘skipper’ Mahendra Singh Dhoni, he preferred to stay cool and enjoy the outing. Throughout the tournament he was outstanding with his decision making, even outsmarting the so called cricket pundits. Dhoni never allowed his boys to feel the pressure; he was constantly talking to his bowlers in crucial situations and backing them up irrespective of the outcome. His marshalling of resources captured everyone’s imagination, even his opposite number was no exception. Adam Gilchrist praised Dhoni for his brilliant moves in the semi-final saying, “I thought Dhoni captained beautifully tonight. He just chose the right times to bowl those bowlers in the last three or four overs.”

Overall it was a great team performance, probably the best in the last twenty years. Clearly, India displaying no fear as its captain, outplayed all other teams in the tournament, emerged deserved winners.

As in South Africa, Dhoni and his boys did not fail to make a mark on their arrival in India. “We are told that Mumbai is a city which is always on the move. See, my boys and I have brought the entire city to a standstill today,” he said during the felicitation at the Wankhede stadium. And they certainly managed to do so.

It was a great team performance, so was their home coming. Thousands of people lined up on the streets of Mumbai braving the heavy rain to welcome their heroes. But now the focus is on the Australian series, with the first of the seven ODIs starting tomorrow it will be interesting to see how Mahendra Singh Dhoni get his act together, specially when the big three are back. What will be the dressing room atmosphere? Will there be any kind of uneasiness among the players and if any, will that have any effect on the team performance?

One has to wait and see, as I am writing this article a day before the start of the first one-day battle at Bangalore.

However, the victory on the big stage has certainly given cricket fans a big sigh of relief that the future of Indian cricket is in safe hands of these youngsters who are willing to fight fire with fire.

The ‘D’ Factor!

Actions are never in short supply in Indian cricket. With one focus on on-field actions in the ICC World Twenty20, there is a high drama happening in Indian cricket off the field. Since taking charge of the Indian team in 2005, Rahul Dravid has taken a couple of best decisions only in the recently concluded England tour. One was to consider the older players out of the Twenty20 side, making the selector’s job easier and the other is resigning as India skipper. Doing so, Dravid has now become the only Indian captain to give away the hot seat when on prime.

For the man known for his commitment and dedication, who have shouldered the responsibility of senior men alongside Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar over a decade to shy away from the responsibility, is very disturbing, even if the decision was right.

Also, the timing of the decision has to be questioned. The Indian team is scheduled to play Australia and Pakistan at home and then will tour down under. Dravid is a thinking cricketer and am sure he would have considered all this into account before taking the final call. So what has made the ‘Wall’ to crack?

The ‘Wall’ cracks

It is a known fact that the administration in Indian cricket has always been under scanner with an unprofessional approach. Dravid was insisting for a media manager and a professional team manager for a long term appointment since the day he took in-charge of the team but that never happened, the one tour one manager formula continued. This kind of approach should have definitely unsettled the team with the captain trying to strike the chord with every single manager every tour. Adding to the woes, BCCI is yet to find the right candidate to replace Greg Chappell who resigned as India coach after world cup debacle earlier this year. However, India is set to play its sixth series with the position of the head coach still left vacant.

The advantage, more so a privilege of being a sportsman along with a few other professions is the opportunity to enjoy every day at work. Being so will allow you to remain competitive and excel at what you do. When the fun goes out, its time to move on and Dravid has just done that. It was evident that his batting took a big dip during the last tour and he was clearly unhappy about it.

There can be a few reasons behind it. It looks like he has no time to concentrate on his batting. Being a captain is an honor, but it’s unfair to expect a captain to keep thinking about contracts, coaches, schedules and other such issues in which case he will hardly have any time to think about the game. And it’s too much of an ask. If this is why Dravid has decided to step down, then it is not a healthy sign for Indian cricket. Even the guy who takes over from him will have to face all such hurdles.

Commanding with confidence

The selectors have decided to pass on the mantle to Mahender singh Dhoni, which is a positive move in the right direction. So far he has done a fabulous job with his thinking cap on. Dhoni and Dravid are like two opposite poles with contrasting personalities. Dhoni goes crazy with big riding motorbikes and his long hair-styles unlike Dravid who is calm, cool and composed. Dhoni knows no technical correctness with his bat in hand whereas Dravid all about technical perfection. Yet, if you have a microscopic view you will find that both are astute thinkers of the game, hard workers and have the willingness to learn and they are on the button all the time.

Dhoni has shown enough evidence of being a captaincy material. The first of it was evident when he opted for slow bowlers for the bowl out against Pakistan instead of regulars. That was a master stroke. He marshaled his troops well especially in two must win games against England and South Africa. His game plan was superb and the confidence he showed on his young team was remarkable. He kept his nerves cool during crunch situations and executed his game plans well. His decision to bowl out Harbajan Singh and R P Singh knowing that the final over might be crucial against Australia in the semi-finals yesterday turned out to be an excellent decision. In spite of Joginder Sharma’s expensive first over he backed his fifth bowler to bowl the last over and the whole plan paid off.

Throughout this Twenty20 tournament it was no surprise that the players where allowed to do what the wanted to. Dhoni has no fear, so was Team India. They fancied their chances, took that odd gamble and more importantly as Dhoni said in one of the match presentations he believes in the teams ability and backing up the same. That was apparent every time he won the toss and elected to bat knowing that batting is India’s strength.

So then, the hot seat of world cricket is dominated by the D factor at the moment. It was Dada, then Dravid and now Dhoni donning the leadership role.

Perseverance needed

So far so good, the selectors have done well to look out of the trinity of Indian cricket – Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dravid. Now it is time for the younger generation to take the responsibility and drive Indian cricket forward.

It is now more important for the selectors and the BCCI to give Dhoni a long run and support him by providing him with all his needs. It really doesn’t matter if we lose a few matches, it is more important that we build a good competitive team. And for Dhoni, it will be a challenging season ahead. A packed schedule with lots of travelling involved, strong opponents in Australia, Pakistan and South Africa Dhoni’s biggest challenge is to keep his head cool.

Passing on judgment on his captaincy now or even after the end of this grueling schedule will be unfair towards Dhoni. Instead it is very important that the selectors, the BCCI, the media and the fans support Dhoni and his young Indian team all along the journey of building a vibrant outfit for the 2011 World cup to be played in Indian sub-continent.

Therefore, it is time for us to get prepared to face a short-term pain for a long-term gain. And let’s hope the ‘D’ factor delivers well for Indian cricket.

Cricket Boards’ Unison to Venture into the Unknown

Only a week ago cricket’s new baby, ultra-limited over cricket, as referred by Sunil Gavaskar in a television program during an innings break, was unveiled with the launch of ICC World Twenty20. But now with hardly a week in this new game of excitement, the format is all set to produce an ultra wave as the cricket boards’ of India, Australia, England and South Africa has joined hands to launch the Champions Twenty20 League last week. Possibly, this may be a sign of things to come ahead and promises to induce a sea change in world cricket.

For a sport that was so far been dominated by international bilateral ties this is an exemplar of taking the so far neglected domestic level of the game to the public. Many would think that the launch is a counter attack by BCCI over the Essel Group’s ICL but considering that the initiative was taken by cricket boards of four nations and with the presence of super stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Glenn McGrath and Stephen Fleming during its glittering launch a few days ago, this clearly is a serious business. Serious enough to make ICC President Ray Mali to take a flight to India, just a few hours after the start of World Twenty20 extravaganza in his homeland.

The first of the Champions Twenty20 will start next season in 2008 comprising of eight teams which will include the finalists of the domestic Twenty20 competition of these four nations. The domestic T20 has more significance in other countries unlike India where the inaugural competition this year went almost unnoticed.

To counter this, BCCI has announced their next move, that is, to launch Indian Premier League (IPL) to be held next April, lasting for 44 days with 59 matches. In contrast to this year, domestic T20 next year is expected to rule the domestic season.

The BCCI has taken a cue out of Football’s English Premier League of franchising teams, a significant step that will change the dynamics of the game. The teams can be bought by a corporate, can be owned and managed by themselves including the selection of players. Now this is a unique concept in cricket where so far the players were associated to only one broad can now be bought for a competitive price to play for their team.

So how much will Tendulkar cost? Then what about Shane Warne? The Indian is the richest cricketer in the world. Will he be the most expensive? Which teams will these guys sign contract with and for what price?

All this will create a public interest ultimately making them to follow domestic cricket. Now this looks a nice way to keep the people pinned to the game but to what extent will this be successful? This is something that we have to wait and watch.

We all know BCCI is a king maker when it comes to marketing telecast rights and the in-stadia rights but what about pulling crowed to watch matches in grounds? The Indian board has done its best to schedule all these matches in the evenings hoping to have a capacity crowd.

Financially this format is more rewarding for the administrators, is so for the cricketers. The total cash prize involved in Champions Twenty20 is $5 million, including $2 million for the winners, the highest for any domestic competition. Now this is clearly a big motivation for the players, specially the fringe ones.

What will this do is it will make the domestic competition more competitive and enthralling to watch. This initiative will also boost interstate cricket.

All this is fine. We all know that no competition can be a success without star presence. The international fixtures are jam packed for team India that they play almost the whole year. This not only yanks the cricketers but also the spectators. It takes too much of time and energy for a person to keep track of everything that’s happening in world cricket. Having taken all the initiative to take the game to a new level the ICC and the BCCI has to find out ways to cut short some of the international schedule of the Indian cricket team enabling the players to take part in such domestic tournaments.

In the proposed league, the gains are substantial in financial terms but how much will it cost the game itself?

What will be the state of the traditional test match cricket that we all love this game for? Will such a raze take away the shine of the game? Are these proposals the signs of end of an era and beginning of a new one? Rather passing the judgment now let’s welcome cricket’s baby and enjoy its beauty as we did for the last one week.

Twenty20 – Survival of the Fittest

Mobile phones have replaced landlines; fast food centers have substituted restaurants reflecting a huge transformation in terms of urgency. The globe is moving towards an era where time is everything which resulted in Twenty20, cricket’s latest avatar.

Twenty20 cricket match is like watching an Indian movie where the three hours is packed with action drama and comedy mixed in equal proportions. Similarly, the ‘mini-pyjama’ version is no different. It supplies action in the form of powerful hitting, drama on the field with some sizzling stops, dropped catches and some verbal exchanges which was an ingredient this English summer and the range of innovative shots like scoops along with butterfingers on the field will showcase you the funny side.

This version gratifies those who have no time and patience to sit through the entire day’s play to savor the excitement they look for. It will be raining sixes and fours amid those glamorous girls - the cheerleaders, dancing to the tunes of hip-hop music around the boundary line.

The new born version is all set to take the center stage in South Africa as International Cricket Council (ICC) is looking forward to establish the game in the countries like U.S, Canada and Japan and restore the fan following in England - the home of cricket.

Neophytes

Though all the teams are relatively new to this format with a few games under their belt, there will be no shortage of excitement. England are more experienced in the format as they have played six Twenty20 internationals while Australia, New Zealand and South Africa have played five each, Pakistan have played in four games, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Bangladesh in three matches.

Surprisingly cricket’s financial powerhouse, India has played only one game against South Africa in Durban last year along with Zimbabwe. The other teams in the tournament are Kenya and Scotland who qualified after topping the World Cricket League earlier this year.

What to expect?

Entertainment is a guarantee though what is unclear are the teams’ tactics. At the same time one thing is clear is that the Indians will be without their most experienced and celebrated trio of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. Zaheer has also been rested and leading the team will be the poster boy of Indian cricket, Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Indian team management has looked at this tournament as a platform for those out of the team due to poor form but proven match winners in Sehwag, Hanbajan and Irfan Pathan to stage a comeback. They have also provided some promising youngsters to make their claim for a place in one-day and the test team.

On the other hand, Australia will be at full strength bolstered by the return of Brett Lee replacing retired pro McGrath from their World Cup squad. Ricky Ponting’s men have sent out a strong signal to the rest of the teams that they are all set to add another Championship trophy to their kitty.

Interestingly, England have packed their squad with specialists in this format but at the same time there are players like Jeremy Snape and Darren Maddy who are unsuccessful internationals in their mid-thirties.

The Rules

There are a few new and interesting rules scripted for this format. The most interesting and eye-catching one will be the ‘free-hit.’ The batsmen will get a free hit everytime the bowler oversteps, the batmen cannot be dismissed except that of run-out. The field cannot be changed and it will remain the same as that of the previous ball.

Another interesting aspect will be the bowl out concept. Cricket’s answer to penalty shootout in Football or Hockey, in case of a tie, where the captain has to nominate five players who will have a roll of their arms at the stumps.

The Favourites

Australians will be the favourites to start with though the experience that England, New Zealand and South Africa posses with Twenty20 featuring in their county circuit, these teams will have a chance to win their first major tournament as they are the only teams among the top eight test playing nations not to win the World Cup.

The recently concluded World Cup in Caribbean failed miserably to provide any kind of excitement for the fans as it was stretched for over six weeks involving lots of one side matches. However, it will all be different this time. A two week tournament with only 20 overs per side there is very little time to react or recover.

Twenty20 will provide instant delight to the viewers as the cricketers will tune themselves for the hit-and-giggle formula. It can also be said as, the game of cricket for people who don’t like cricket.

As the cricket’s shortest version is all set to kick start in a couple of days time the Twenty20 mantra should be ‘survival of the fittest.’

India Continues to Gamble with All-rounder Slot

With three matches to go in the on-going Natwest trophy, India’s quest for a complete all-rounder is still on. Indian team has underperformed in all the four ODIs so far and their batsmen have let them down yet again. The team filled with super stars faces deficiency in their batting line up, killer instinct in their bowling department and their fielding is no where near international standards.

The impact of pyjama cricket has resulted in batsmen easily manage 300 runs in single day of a test match. A decade back a score of 225 was considered to be a challenging one in the limited version but today teams easily chase 350 plus totals. If you carefully look at the transformation that the game has undergone you would notice that batsmen at No.7 & 8 have contributed far more with bat and ball than it was in early days of cricket.

Today teams like England, Australia, Sri Lanka and South Africa play with eight batsmen and six bowlers who can do the job at any given time. For England, this summer, contributions from Stuart Broad, Ravi Bopara has been outstanding in all departments. And not to mention Paul Collingwood and Andrew Flintoff, they have always delivered when it most mattered. The former has been their mainstay for the past two years and the later has a big heart and fires every time with bat and the ball. Stuart Broad batting at number eight has the ability to hold the crease and also to hit some boundaries at will. England’s fielding is a big plus, especially in this series against India. They managed to save nearly 30 to 40 runs every match because of their eye-catching field work.

Looking at the other side, India was clearly outplayed in three of the four matches played so far and the absence of a complete all-rounder has exposed the team under the bad light. The only match they won at Bristol was a narrow escape by nine runs after scoring a mammoth 329 was over shadowed by the brilliance of Dimitri Mascarenhas with the bat as the required run rate was reaching the sky. This just proves the importance of having a quality all-rounder at number eight.

This same Indian team was highly successful in 2005 during which they even managed a record 17 successful chases in trot. The only difference now and then was the presence and the thriving performances of Irfan Pathan. Many looked and portrayed him as the next Kapil Dev in the making but that hope took a twist when he lost his rhythm completely. He is out of the team for nearly eight months now and his current performances in the African tour with the A side was not up to his potential.

There are not many in the wings to fill that slot either, and that is a huge concern for the team management as well as the selectors. Ramesh Powar and Piyush Chawla have not contributed with the bat and their failure has taken a big toll on the other members of the team. In the ODIs at Edgbaston and Old Trafford both these players failed to occupy the crease, to rotate singles and give the strike to Yuvraj on both those occasions and neither of them managed to clear the rope consistantly.

Ajit Agarkar still surprisingly considered to posses the all-round ability from selectors point of view has never managed to contribute significantly with the bat throughout his ten year career. He is one of those rarest breed of cricketers who has been consistent in being in and out of the team and probably has made the most number of comebacks!

Though Sachin, Sourav and Yuviraj provided India with the option of some slow bowling, they haven’t seen any success in this series so far. The trio have bowled 26 overs at an economy rate of 5.65 with just one wicket between them.

With India struggling to fit in six bowlers and players who can contribute some valuable runs at number 7 & 8, the presence of two wicket keepers in the side is to be questioned. It is accepted that keepers who can contribute well with the bat are considered to be an all-rounder but what is the point in keeping one as a specialist batsman when the team is in need of someone like Jacques Kallis. Taking no credit away from Dhoni and Karthik, I believe one of them should be dropped to accommodate someone who can bat and bowl well.

There are not many in the pipeline, though there are the likes of Praveen Kumar from Uttar Pradesh, who can bowl some good medium pacers and has the ability to vary his pace and can be handy at during the final overs. The other is the elder brother of Irfan Pathan, Yusuf who is an off spinner. Both these players are hard hitting batsmen. Yusuf has been provided with an opportunity to exhibit his talent and Irfan, a proven match winner has been provide with a comeback platform as Pathan brothers are set to tour South Africa for the Twenty20 World Cup this month. Praveen Kumar should consider himself unlucky to miss the flight but he can keep his hopes alive as India is set to play more ODIs in the days ahead.

The Natwest series might be decided today at Headingly but India should be prepared to look ahead and give many of these hopefuls a look in.

It’s high time that the selectors throw these talents in the deep as India is set to play more ODIs against Australia and Pakistan at home. There cannot be a better stage for these youngsters to prove themselves than their own backyard.