Ignominy of Defeat

Before the beginning of the ongoing test series with England, our cricket superstars dubbed the series as the revenge series for the lashing we got in England last summer. And the Indian cricket fans like me believed them blindly, thinking that we are really going to avenge the drubbing. Alas, we became bakras again! :-(  The last thing we expected is to lose the series in a humiliating way which is what is going to happen most probably (still the 4th test remains).

Vainglorious English commentators, English cricket fans, haters of Indian cricket like Paki pigs are ripping apart Indian team on television and internet forums respectively for our loss and if our cricket stars are not thick-skinned, they would be feeling like being naked on a busy Indian street. But I guess our stars are used to getting this kind of torrent of criticism and they know the best way out - shrugging off just like pigs shaking off the mud. Next best way is to plan a series with Zimbabwe (not Bangladesh as it is a better team than India) in India and give a lifeline to the forlorn heavyweights in the team.

Much of the flak is directed against Sachin, Gambhir, Sehwag in the batting lineup which is as usual and Dhoni escaped with light criticism which is also as usual. Whatever is the criticism of Dhoni, it is not about his batting but about the captaincy and the possibility of losing it after the latest humiliating flagellation. If his test batting statistics are looked into then one conspicuous fact emerges. He stopped performing well from the middle of 2010. From then on, save 3 or 4 innings on the whipping boys of test cricket -West Indies and New Zealand, he is a failure. A few times he made half centuries on England etc after ugly slogging and when the defeat is a foregone conclusion.

In the press conference yesterday, Dhoni talked about the leadership quality of leading the side when in crisis and taking up responsibility and not thinking of running away. Rather deceptive words for the undiscerning. I dont know why this responsibilty didnt come to his mind when he came to bat in first innings of 3rd test only to play a careless shot of the first ball he faced almost into the hands of fatboy Samit Patel in midwicket. If only Samit was more athletic, Dhoni would have not made a fifty. His captaincy was something which I never liked. I always held that he was lucky to get a team with players at peaks of their careers. Now that the players are not at their best Dhoni is cut down to size. He doesnt deserve a place in the test team. A bowler like Ashwin is a better batsman with better technique than Dhoni. I just hope India loses the 4th test and he loses his place.

For someone who has seen Sachin playing in his glory days, the sight of Sachin looking bewildered at some ordinary ball from a commonplace bowler like Monty or Swann or some insignificant Kiwi bowler is a letdown. Sachin is almost 40 now, he played international cricket for almost 24 years and he has achieved whatever is achievable. His reflexes are not going to improve anymore and he is getting bowled most of the times. Except a few hardcore fanboys who are in denial mode, everyone wants him to vacate the place for an youngster but he is not listening. It no more amuses anyone when Sachin says he is enjoying playing cricket just as much as he did some 23 years ago. It actually leaves us sulking. He is gradually becoming a butt of jokes which is pitiful. I dont know what is stopping him but I guess it is the advertising contracts.

One important thing which begs for attention in Indian team is the famed spin bowling. After the retirement of Kumble our spin department continues to look precariously weak with inefficient spinners like Harbhajan, Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Piyush Chawla, Rahul Sharma. etc. Ojha is not as penetrating as Harbhajan once used to be, leave alone Kumble. Ashwin can only do well when the opposition is Windies or Kiwis on spinning tracks. Our batsmen too are very susceptible on not just fast spinning tracks like that of Mumbai but ordinary spinning tracks like that of Eden. Dhoni has become a butt of jokes after Mumbai debacle for his stubborn demand for rank turners which backfired badly. A classic case of hunter becoming the hunted.

With this series, the halo of invincibility at home that India has been wearing since long is shattered for good. I hope this loss sets in motion the requisite amends. Our imbecile selectors should show some spine in dropping the white elephants which are past expiry date.

Playing Against India

Before the series with India, the last time he made a test century was 2 years back on Pakistan. After that his form dipped. He played 16 tests since that match till the series with India. he played against New Zealand, Pakistan, India, England, Sri Lanka, South Africa, again New Zealand.

He made only 6 half centuries in those 16 tests. 3 against India in 4 innings. After those 3 fifties it appeared to many as though Ricky Ponting got back his form. But no, he had to wait for another India series. Meanwhile axe was dangling on his neck. If India series didnt happen he sure would have been shown the exit.

Before the India series, when Rahul Dravid was talking about Ponting's form, I had a hunch that Ponting would get his form back in this series. I had in my mind many instances of cricketers gaining their form by scoring against India, nameless cricketers becoming overnight stars by performing against India. Remember Henry Olongo, Douglas Marillier, Matthew Hayden, Javed Miandad, Saeed Anwar, Graham Gooch, Sanath Jayasuriya, Jayawardena etc, who were only a few of them.

I was right on spot!! He scored 2 centuries including a double century, 3 half centuries in 6 innings!!

I bet, every out-of-form batsmen would long to play against India and fancy their chances.

Dhoni Should Retire From Tests

In my opinion Dhoni is the most overrated captain ever. He was only lucky to get breaks even with his stupid decisions. When the team was performing well everyone used to unduly praise him. Now that he lost his midas touch and the team is losing many are criticizing him and showing him his right place.

Going by his form in the last year in tests, he doesn't deserve a place in the test team at all. Even before that, he always performed in fits and starts. He was lucky to captain a good team with all the batsmen in their prime. That made people not to talk about his failures as batsman.

When there were news reports which mentioned that he is planning to retire from tests (which he didnt directly say), I was happy. But going by the latest reports he has no such plans. My happiness is preempted.

Honestly speaking he should go and pass captaincy to Sehwag or Gambhir.

Time To Go (Cont)

Some argue that if all the three are pushed out of the team now itself at a time, India will become new West Indies losing even to Zimbabwe. They argue that Indian spectators may also lose interest in the sport if crowd pullers like these dont play, especially in the longer format. And this is especially bad when there is a perception that test format is fast losing popularity.

These are very much true. No one can attain the crowd pulling capacity of Sachin, and it takes time for the youngsters to reach the level of Dravid, Laxman. So only way out is Laxman should go first, Dravid second, Sachin third, all three with in one or one-and-half years.

If I am not wrong, India's next foreign tour will be in next year. That should be good news for old-timers if they are planning to retire on a high by scoring tons on flat tracks. That should be bad news for Indian cricket if they plan to stick around by scoring heavily on flat tracks.

Young guns should be given opportunities to play on these flat tracks and build confidence that they too can score. Meanwhile BCCI should prepare bowling pitches in at the least 2 regular test stadiums so that these perfect their technique. By the next overseas test tour, they should at the least be able to put up decent performances if not match winning ones. Even if we get defeated we can at least say that we are building our teams!!!

Time To Go

VVS Laxman is 37 years old. Rahul Dravid is in his 39, Sachin Tendulkar is going to 39 in a few days. Tendulkar has been playing for India for 22 years, Dravid and Laxman for 15 years. How many more years do they want to play when the youngsters are waiting for their chances is the question everyone is thinking of.

The purpose of continuing them in the team till now is they can act as backbone to the batting lineup in longer format of the game which requires good technique suitable for all pitches. Which in the opinion of many, is lacking in the possible young replacements like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Chateswar Pujara, Manoj Tiwary, etc. Until these youngsters perfect their technique, these old-timers are to act as fillers.

But they are not doing justice to their assigned roles. Two back-to-back white-wash overseas series are the testimony to that. Tendulkar is better off among them but that is not enough for a man named Tendulkar!!!

Laxman is on the top of the stack of the players waiting to be pushed out of the team. He played an astounding innings of 96 in South Africa in 2010 but after that he isn't able to perform on pitches abroad. No doubt he scored 3 half centuries in West Indies in mid 2011, one or two on tough pitches in that, but that was a depleted West Indies bowling attack. He scored a century on the same West Indies team in India on a flat pitch which doesn't add to his achievements. His England tour and Australian tours are disasters.

Dravid has been fantastic in England series. He rediscovered his form and class when everybody wrote him down. His batting display was the only saving grace in the India's disaster tour of England. Such was his form that he was taken into ODI team against England after some years. He continued his form even on West Indies in India. But his Australia tour didn't go well. He was bowled 6 times in 8 innings!!! If this is any clue, his time has come.

Everyone is waiting for Sachin's 100th century since mid-2011. He was unlucky to miss his century a few times. He got out in 90s, 80s, 70s on England, Australia, West Indies. He got good starts in England in 2nd innings of 3 matches but wasn't able to capitalize on that. He wasn't helped by any on the other end of the pitch in building a partnership. He played well in Australia too in first 2 matches. He was aggressive and hitting the ball well. Among the three, he is the only one who can continue in the team on the basis of merit. But even he should retire after completing his 100th century for every fan's sake. I just hope he wont take another 1 or 2 years to get that. Hopefully he gets it in the current ODI series against Australia. 

Sehwag's double century

Ever since that innings of quick century on New Zealand in 2001 in Srilanka which helped India reach finals in the triangular series, I always thought that if there was one cricketer who had potential to make a double century in ODIs, he would be Sehwag. There were many people who shared this feeling. But he never lived up to our expectations. Sachin achieved that feat before him, which I never thought he would.

Yesterday, while Sehwag was batting on 50s, I had gut feeling that he would make a double century. Couple of times earlier, I had the same gut feeling. Like in that match with Bangladesh in 2011 world cup. But he didnt. Even yesterday, when he played that reckless shot in 170s, for a fleeting moment I thought everything was finished. Thank God, thank Sammy for dropping the catch.

As he approached close to 200, I had this mixed feeling of sadness and happiness. Sadness because Sachin's record was going to be broken.

Even though he was helped by the flat track and weak bowling, one can't take away the credit from Sehwag, for batting in such an amazing way. There were some breath-taking shots, which were eye-pleasing.

Hope this record stays for some years to come, without being threatened by the likes of Shane Watson or Chris Gayle. (That innings of 185 of Shane Watson on Bangladesh was astonishing.)