The Greg Indian Tamasha

Greg Chappell’s appointment as Indian team coach came in with huge expectations, considering his reputation as great thinkers of the modern game. However, his promise of ‘Commitment to excellence’ was unfazed by the challenges.

Chappell stressed attitude and commitment from the players. He had a logical reasoning behind grooming youngsters, as their good performances will build pressure and push the seniors to deliver. He reacted quickly when Indian pace attack failed miserably in the Karachi test match which India lost. He made sure that Zaheer and Pathan are out of the team and brought in fresher like Sreesanth and Munaf, the Australian way. These two lead the Indian attack in its tour of West Indies with unlimited success, with India winning the series 1-0. His spat with former India skipper Sourav was a familiar one, having said that, Chappell was the first to shake hands with Ganguly when he rejoined the Indian team at Potchefstroom before the tour match.

Chappell was instrumental in bringing youngsters in the team providing them with various challenges. Things fell in place for the Indian team as they kept winning series after series in the home turf. The so called experiments were carried out as the oppositions were clueless and they deteriorated to the Indian game plan. It looked like the captain and the coach had good understanding of the game and the needs of the team. As the experiments clicked one after another, India went to a high of winning 17 ODIs chasing on a trot. At this point, one thought India is one of the strongest contenders of cricket’s showpiece event.

Here came the first jolt with BCCI annual meeting, which brought up a change in the national selection panel. Kiran More, the man who favoured fresh blood in the team, who nodded head to Chappell’s wishes was succeeded by ‘the Colonel’ Dilip Vengsarkar. The change in the selection panel with just four months away from the world cup left the Indian think-thank shaken.

Adding woes to the selection problem was the dent in Pathan’s form as it disturbed the team’s composition. The team management continued with their experiments to try and fill someone in Pathan’s role ended with no success. This had a great impact in team’s success as they faced defeats after defeats. The poor results had a huge impact, disturbing the mind set of many players, the most affected being Sehwag.

The whole scenario looked improbable with no answers to the problems in hand; the management went back to their old warriors in Ganguly, Zaheer and Kumble. This move did not appeared in favour of the Australian, as he made it clear that he was unhappy with the team. The differences in approach and thinking amplified the gap between the seniors and the coach. The problem is Greg being vastly experienced and rated as one of the greatest thinkers of the game handling someone like Sachin Tendulkar who is nearing two decades of international experience with more than 70 international hundreds to his credit. It’s not only with Sachin, but Sourav, Dravid and Kumble. Each having vast experience of their own, they would think and like to do what they feel is right. Here is where the seniors and Chappell contradicted each other.

The situation was like tug-of-war where two teams at each end of the rope trying to pull each other. The team that crosses the mid-point looses. But unfortunately for Indian cricket, the rope was cut down in the middle as the coach and the seniors never went hand in hand.

Now or Never

In sports, there is nothing as prestigious as winning the World Cup and is always a big dream for everyone to be a part it, starting from fans to the players themselves. We cricket fanatics in India had never lost hope on our boys in blue and nothing has changed this time either. In India, which is considered to be the Mecca of cricket, the height of craziness has no limits.

K Sudhakar, a creative car designer using sports apparel from Hyderabad, using his creativity has designed a car in cricket bat shape, is all set to present the Indian team if it wins the World Cup!! He has 150 such creations under his belt. But above all this there are two legends of the game who will be ready to give anything and everything in them to taste the cherry.

One of them is the senior most cricketer in terms of experience among the contemporary cricketers, the other nothing less worth it. Both have been a part of World Cup squad of their respective teams since 1992. One bats right, the other left. Their batting styles are different but their intentions on the field have been the same – devastating and dominating. They share a lot more in common – passion for the game, legends in their own right, big fan following, bowler’s nightmare and captaincy without much success.

They have batting records to their name – one is the highest century maker in test cricket and the other highest run scorer. Their batting averages ticks above 40 in both versions of the game. However, there is one thing that is missing in their kitty – World Cup.

For Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar and Brian Charles Lara so far this has just been a dream and this will be their last chance to make the most of it. Lara will be having his thumbs up leading the host team for one last time in the mega event. His form with the bat has been good and with players like Gayle, Chandrapaul, Sarwan, Bravo in his line up, also having the home advantage the stage can’t be a better than this one for him.

And for Sachin, a man born to play cricket has achieved all laurels in both forms of the game. He holds the record for most number of centuries in both forms of the game, holds the record for most runs in international cricket, fastest to reach 10,000 run mark in both forms and also have 100 plus wickets under his belt in One day format.

Apart from personal highs, he has always been a dedicated team man. He his efforts to get India to the final of the Coca Cola cup in Sharjha in the 1998 against Australia still remains the most defined moment of Indian cricket. He single handily took India to the final scoring a scintillating 143 almost won the match for India that day. His down the track sixes against Shane Warne still lingers in the memories of all. He didn’t stop there; he went on to score another towering knock against the same opposition on his 25^th birthday sealed the match in India’s favour.

His knock of 136 against Pakistan in Chennai test match is another feather to his cap. He not only battled with Pakistani pacers but also with a severe back pain. He almost won the match for India, falling short by 12 runs in the end. He has always stored his best for the World Cups piling 523 runs in 1996 edition and 673 runs in the last edition in South Africa. His effort of 193 runs against England at Leeds in Headingley test match was a match winning one.

Sachin tops the fan following list among cricketers in the world and it will be like a king without a crown if team India fails to win the Big Prize. Hanging up his boots without a World Cup honour will be a huge disappointment not only for him but for the whole nation. Let’s hope that his glorious career comes to a memorable end.

Now the stage is all set for these two greats to realise their dream, to end their illustrious career in grand style. The two men with one dream, one vision will have one eye on the cup but there can only be one winner!! Will be interesting to see who among the two will end up smiling :-)

The last word – it’s Now or Never for Sachin and Lara.

The Final Lap

In preparation for the world cup, now just a month away, Indian team has reached its final lap before finalizing the team for the mega event. With just two more matches for the selectors to make up their mind, skipper Rahul Dravid said that he is happy and satisfied with the way things are shaping up for the team.

Many players being a certainty to travel to the Caribbean Islands, the selectors’ job will be to identify the fringe players who can fit in well as a back up, providing variety and flexibility to the team’s requirements according to the match conditions.

A good thumping series win against the Windies might have lifted the team’s morale, yet the Indian team has to address some fitness problems which in luring them that bounced from no where. Yuvraj Singh with a stiff back, Irfan Pathan with a sore shoulder and Munaf Patel who just recovered from an injury have to prove their fitness and form.

Fitness concerns, if solved, India looks a strong contender for the crown, at least on paper. The team is desperately lacking, in number of genuine all-rounders they have at their disposal. Irfan Pathan is the only one whom we can rely upon to do the dual role but his poor form with the ball has put the team’s strategy into jeopardy. It is vital that he proves his form in the limited opportunities he has.

Munaf Patel is the next man in question. He has just now recovered from an injury making his way back into the team after a long lay-off. For him proving his from with the ball is not the only concern, his reputation of showing poor application on the field might hold against his selection for the world cup.

The batting order after being under the scanner since Guru Greg took over as coach, finally looks settled to fire. On the other hand, Sri Lankan side without Chaminda Vaas and Muralitharan cannot be underrated either. Their batting looks solid with the old war-house Sanath Jayasuria firing all cylinders since his comeback could be a huge threat to any formidable bowling attack. With Jayawardane, Sangakkara and Attapatu anchoring the middle order it will not be an easy task for the India bowlers to root them out.

The Hero Honda cup will be a significant one not only because it is a preparation for both the team before the world cup but also that they will once again face-off in their preliminary round of the mega event. Hence, they will try to have that psychological advantage over the other.

The stage is set for some interesting battle on the field and also in the minds of selectors. Let’s wait n watch!!

Assuming the players will be fit, my Indian team for the world cup:

Rahul Dravid, Robin Uttappa, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Mahender Singh Dhoni, Virender Shewag, Dinesh Karthik, Anil Kumble, Harbajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Irfan Pathan and Munaf Patel

The Verdict: Perform or Perish

The national selection committee met at Rajkot yesterday to send across a clear message to the players as the team selection for the first two one-day internationals against West Indies were on expected lines.

Dropping Sehwag was on the cards after he failed to find his feet on the ground for a too long time. Selectors made all the right moves by dropping out of form Kaif and Dinesh Mongia and bringing in experienced Sourav Ganguly. It is a little surprise that Irfan Pathan had failed to convince the selectors considering his role as an all rounder in the team.

Now that the Ranji super league matches coming to an end and Delhi not making into the semis will prove too costly for Sehwag being ruined of an opportunity to perform. All that he can do now is go back to the nets and get his basics right.

Irfan’s fate is much better for the fact that only his bowling has been the problem where he has clearly struggled to get his rhythm right. He lost his swing which was his potent weapon helping India to get an early break through. The message is loud and clear form the chairman of selectors, India needs Irfan – the bowler.

The only ray of hope for these two players is that they will have a chance to make it into the team provided they perform in domestic competitions. However it is not the case with Kaif and Dinesh Mongia as they might find it extremely difficult to make it into the team even if they perform well as the there is only one slot to compete for. Successful come backs from Sourav and Zaheer should enlighten their hopes.

On the other hand, the decision to pick four openers in the squad bemused everyone. With Skipper Rahul Dravid, Suresh Raina and Dhoni being the regular middle order bat in the team it raises question of finding solutions to India’s batting woes. Suresh Raina has been provided with a life line and he should make it count. Dinesh Karthik has been rewarded for his gritty performance in the limited opportunities that came his way during the South African tour. His ability to adopt and excel well as a team player has to be appreciated.

The Indian fans will be pleased to see the reunion of Tendulkar – Ganguly partnership at the top of the order. The duo still holds the world record for the leading opening pair with 5,621 runs that include 16 century partnerships! One has to wait and see the role of Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uttappa in the team. With Sachin Tendulkar making his intensions clear to open the innings, one among the later will accompany him at the top. Sourav might have to bat in the middle order to provide some stability to the batting line-up.

The inclusion of Haryana’s Joginder Sharma is surprising too with just eight games to go for the world cup. He is making a come back into the national team after a two year hiatus. His last appearance for India was against Bangladesh in the three ODI series where he managed a solitary wicket. If he makes it into the playing eleven the selectors will want him to fit into the No. 7 slot expecting him to play some cameos at the end of the innings and provide some good spells with the ball.

The bowling department didn’t throw any surprises as Zaheer and Sreesanth back from a rewarding South African tour will shoulder the burden. Ajit Agarkar is an experienced bowler and his ability to bowl in the depth will be crucial.

Harbhajan Singh has a good track record in the limited over version of the game in last one year and his spells in the middle stages of the innings will be vital. Ramesh Powar has retained his place in the team and RP Singh recalled into the team will be hoping to come up with good performance.

Not very often you see big names hit the selection headlines in Indian cricket. Now that the BCCI making sure that they will just take care of the administrative matters, the on- field cricket will be controlled totally by the selection committee, the coach and the captain. The board has also decided to pay the players according to the teams performances is a welcoming note.

The selectors gave an alarming signal to the players – perform or make way for others.
Indian cricket at last once looks like sailing in the right direction.

A Historic Test Victory

December 18 2006, a day to remember and cherish for the people of India. A historic test win, the first one in South African soil!!

Who would have thought India can post a win? No one even dared to dream an Indian win against the formidable South African side. Not many gave India a chance of winning a test match in the African soil. All one expected was India to timidly surrender 3-0, especially after South African white wash in the one-dayers.

Rahul Dravid won the toss for the first time on this tour and took a brave decision to bat first on a bouncy pitch. It really showed the confidence he had in his team and gave a warning signal to the opposition that they are ready for the challenge.

On the fourth day, some accurate bowling from Zaheer Khan who managed to trap Boucher in front of the wicket gave India an early break through. But some energized batting by Pollock and solid occupation of the crease by Prince looked like they might pull of a miracle. There came Kumble, a man who have bowled India to so many victories, yet again came to the party, rattling the South African lower order giving India an emphatic 123 run victory.

In spite of the delayed start due to rain, the Indians didn’t loose their focus and managed to put up a decent total of 156 for 5 at the end of first days play. Thanks to a good partnership between Dravid and Sachin. But the man who anchored the Indian innings was the comeback man Sourav Ganguly. One was able to witness his inevitable determination and self belief in his 101 ball knock, helping the team to post a good competitive total on the board. His innings was well supported by Laxman who was involved in a valuable partnership of 46 runs with Sourav before getting out on the last ball of the day’s play.

The wickets started tumbling at one end the next day as the South African bowlers made inroads at the start of play. But some hard slogging by VRV Singh with Sourav at the other end saw India reach 249.

A pleasing sight was to see Sourav playing comfortably; a flawless batting display, moving his feet well and facing deliveries right on the middle of the bat. His timing was simply superb and to see him hitting those trade mark cover drives from the sweet part of the blade only confirmed that he is all set to play a long stint for the country. His determination and relaxed approach was evident from the statement he made before the test match, “In the last 10 months I understood that cricket in not the only thing in my life.” One was also got to see a few glimpses of his destructive batting that made him bowlers’ nightmare in earlier days of his career, when he positioned himself to pulled a short of good length delivery outside the off stump form Makhaya Ntini for a six!!

A year back people complained about his ability to play short pitched balls. And to all those who still think so, here is some interesting stats for you. Combining both the innings he faced 28 short pitch stuff, piled on 25 runs out of it, which shows his confidence. Team India coach Chappell is in all praise for Dada said, “He was a mentally different batsman to the one dropped from the side 10 months ago. He's got a will and a desire to play for India that is very strong; it showed through in Potch and in this Test."

When whole of India was all praise for the Bengal Tiger, it was the young pro from the land of Gods who steeled the show. Sreesanth and Zaheer Khan scythe through the South African batting line-up, whose wickets started falling like nine pins. The surprising part was to see South African batsmen had no clue of how to survive in their own conditions.

Sreesanth’s impressive bowling performance, especially his seam position, the line of delivery and the control he had throughout the test match was praised even by greats like Allan Donald and Wasim Akram who where present there as tv commentators. To my knowledge I don’t remember such a penetrating pace bowling performance from any Indian team of past. This shattered the African hopes and enlightened a new hope among Indians of winning the test match.

After taking165 runs lead in the first innings, Indian top order once again collapsed, Laxman and Sourav had to do the repair work, piled on runs at good pace taking India to 110 for 4 form 25 overs. The beauty of this partnership was they didn’t fail to hammer the loose deliveries, scoring 51 runs from just 61 balls with 10 boundaries. They were cool and composed and theirs being a left – right combination further troubled the bowlers to get their line right.

Having said this, the partnership that helped to extend the lead to 400 was the one between Laxman (73) and Zaheer Khan (37). They added 70 runs for the 8^th wicket which actually delivered the knock-out punch. Zaheer’s display with the bat was a sensible innings and the enormous patience he showed is something that should be appreciated.

Both perishing in the same Ntini over, one thought the entertainment and the fight was over. But it wasn’t; Nel bowled a short of length delivery to Sreesanth who completely missed it, the ball whooshing above the stumps leading to exchange of words between them with Nel saying “show me the heart!” One wonders what will be Sreesanth’s reply and to everyone’s surprise he moved out of his leg stump, came down the ground and hit the ball above the bowler’s head for a straight six!!! It didn’t stop there; he started celebrating with his jig, a typical Kerala flavor. And it came as no surprise that his sister is an actor, his brother-in-law a singer and Sreesanth a professional dancer himself.

Yet another impressive point to note down was Rahul Dravid, the skipper, making right field settings and bowling changes keeping the opposition batsman under check all the time.

On the other hand South Africans have to rethink about their strategy. They where really handicapped in their bowling department having no variety. They missed the trick in not playing Paul Adams, the lone spinner in the squad. There was no variety within their pace attack too, with just pace and bounce being their only weapon. Shaun Pollock was the only stand out bowler for them tacking 7 wickets in the match, ending up with 401 test victims. To make the matter worse Dayle Steyn pulled his muscle after bowling just 10.1 overs.

In the South African 2^nd innings Zaheer was right on the button inviting Gibbs for a tempted cover drive getting the outside edge, a catch well taken by Sachin at first slip in the only over that was bowled before lunch. Their batting was a complete disaster with Smith playing an aloof short away from the body, a superb catch taken by Sehwag at point, with Prince alone showing some resistance in both the innings.

Indian players showed lots of patience and didn’t get carried away with temptation of a sighing victory. Instead they were very focused on their job on the 4^th day and completed the formalities.

For Team India, a test match win will be bigger than the one day series doing a world of good. This will induce a big transformation in their approach, especially after a lean patch for the last six months. Indian players are full of beans, celebrating one of the most significant achievements of Indian cricket. It will be interesting to see, how South Africans will respond to the challenge. This win can well change the course of the series and will even be a great one, if India can pull a series win.

Tigers to Fight at Bull Ring

With just few hours away from the start of the first test match between India and South Africa, the men in blue are yet to find out solutions for the ‘n’ number of questions lying before them.

They are now in a pathetic situation where they have lost track of where they are and how to proceed further. With world cup just a few months away, the team management is now facing a huge challenge ahead of them and this test series will certainly play a significant role in terms of preparation and selection.

It is not often that Indians have managed to win a tour match, so the resounding win against the fairly competitive Rest of South Africa side should lift the spirits in the Indian camp.

The attack looks like it can deliver goods. Zaheer Khan is in prime from after shortening his run-up and is able to trouble the South African top order consistently. He has provided India with break through whenever necessary throughout this tour. With Sreesanth and VRV Singh being included in the playing eleven it is very clear that Indians want to have some raw pace in their bowling line up. Who knows VRV Singh might be the trump card for the Indians!

Above all, ‘man of commitment’ Kumble can be very handy. When the odds are against him, when people had ruled out the hopes of him being successful abroad, he had proved that he can be devastating by finishing the series as the highest wicket-taker with 24 wickets in just 3 tests that he played against Australia in 2003-04.

What India needs is a gallant performance form one of their players which can lift the morale of the side and can set the tone for the rest of the series. Yes, it is something similar to what had happened in Australia two years back where Sourav Ganguly played one of the best knocks of his career to take India to a competitive total of 409. What that innings did was it induced confidence among players which resulted in all of them performing well throughout the series. This enabled India to score the first win in 22 years down under!!

More importantly the top order needs to fire. This is one of the most vital areas in test cricket. Both Shewag and Jaffer are looking out of sorts but now its time for them to deliver. Their form with the bat is going to be crucial. The return of Rahul Dravid is a welcome sign for the team. He has been the backbone of the Indian batting for a decade now and whenever he performs India have done well and went on to win matches.

The return of veterans like Sourav and Laxman will bolster the India batting and now it looks like a solid batting line-up at least on paper. If India can put a good fighting total on the board then this series may come alive.

The bottom line - Players performing will definitely catch the selector’s eye and will get their tickets booked for West Indies.

The Return of "The Prince of Kolkata"

Indian cricket has taken a full circle in a span of just 10 months when the national selection committee headed by Dilip Vengsarkar announced the name of former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly in the team for the three tests series against South Africa.

Yes, the man who once was popularly known as “Dada” by his boys for his commanding leadership qualities; the man who took Indian cricket form zero to hero is all set to grace the field with his trade mark cover drives and lofted sixes over the long on boundary.

The Indian team under the partnership of rahul dravid and greg chappell has now taken the back seat with their follies of still pursuing with youngsters in the name of experiment has now back fired. With the world cup around the corner and to see the team still struggling to find the right composition is something every Indian will loose sleep.

In a country like India where cricket is a religion, the team’s performance is always under the scanner. They are given the god’s status when they win matches and when thay lose thay are under the microscope of criticism from all quarters, right from the boys in schools to the boys in parliament.

Sourav’s last appearance for India in a test match was at Karachi against Pakistan earlier this year and in an ODI was against New Zealand at Harare last year. His return came in from no where with his name making the news just a week before the team was announced in Delhi.

His century in the Duleep trophy against north zone came at the right time and his valiant 43 runs in the second innings and a match haul of 5 wickets against Punjab in the Ranji trophy match caught the nation’s attention. Then his return was scripted on the ‘wall’.

One should not forget that it was Sourav who took charge as captain when there was no single brave heart including Tendulkar, Dravid and Kumble to come forward and accept the captaincy after Indian cricket was rocked by match fixing scandals.

His first significant move as a captain came in the selection committee meeting where he demanded the selection of Harbajan Singh in the Indian team for the test matches against the Aussies when Anil Kumble was injured. He in fact threatened the board that he will pull out of captaincy if he is not given the team he wants. Even before that he pumped in young blood when players like Shewag, Yuvraj, Zaheer and wicket keeper Dahiya made into the team for the ICC knock-out tournament in Nairobi in the year 2000.

One can’t forget the incident where he played with the Australian captain Steve Waugh’s psyche in the Kolkata test match where he made Waugh to wait for the toss for nearly 15 minutes. He encouraged youngsters and made them perform which was clearly evident when we won the series 2-1 from a hopeless situation. And by this time he had already earned respect from the cricketing community all over the world.

He had the vision for team India. This was evident in the team’s performances in Natwest trophy, World cup 2003, in the tour down under and the historic tour of Pakistan in 2004 and also was the highlights of his captaincy.

Many felt he couldn't play the bouncer while others adored him saying that he was God on the off-side; some criticized his lack of athleticism, others took immense pride in his ability to inspire a side. In short, during his term at the helm Indian cricket was filled with fascinating dramas but at the same time no one can dispute the fact that he is India’s most successful captain ever.

To say the least he fall prey to politics within the cricket board. Since then he was under the dark clouds which was apparent in the blue billion ad where he says, “I am Sourav Ganguly, hope u remember me…”

According to me and many former cricketing greats Sourav deserves a resounding farewell for all that he has done to Indian cricket, something similar to Steve Waugh’s farewell party. And now that he have got the chance to prove, he should make sure that his bat do the talking.

Team’s dismal performances for such a long time have made the selectors to look back to the experienced hands of Kumble, Laxman, Zaheer and Sourav. With all making a comeback to the national side one can only say the Indian cricket has reached the point where it all began a year ago.