England’s Ashes obsession

England media seems to be obsessed with Ashes. There does not seem to be any other series or events in cricket that they can think or write about. It is good to be prepared for an important series but England should not forget that there is a test series against WI and a small matter of a cricket world cup (T20) in England itself before they pad up against the Aussies in July. I see more articles in English media about Ashes than the current cricket series in WI. Is this the reason behind poor performance of English team in WI? They are thinking too much into future and not concentrating on present.

One could have understood the anticipation if there had been any expectation of competitive cricket between the two teams. But looking at current form, it looks to be one sided contest with Aussies once again favourites to stream roll the Englishmen.

In 2005, we had a good series not because it was Ashes but because it was a contest between top two teams in the world. Now it is looking like an uneven contest.On one side, we have world’s top ranked team who have just vanquished the #2 team and also on a upswing after the low point last year and on the other side, we have #6 ranked team which has just lost to #7 ranked team and the rankings can even get swapped if WI does better than expected in return series scheduled to be held in April-May in England. The England team’s current goal should be to play good cricket in that series and try to salvage some pride before talking themselves up about Ashes. On current form, they have no chance against Aussies hell bent upon proving that they are back as THE top side.

NZ-India: Fifth ODI

India lost another dead rubber. This has been a trend with India for last few series and should be corrected if India wishes to become and stay at #1 ranking in world. The way ICC ranking works a dead rubber is as valuable as any other game in terms of gaining/losing points and treated equally.

For a change in this series, India batting did not fire and whole team was out before playing out the allotted overs. The batting lineup appeared to be on auto-pilot with none of the batsmen except Rohit Sharma trying to apply themselves according to the situation and play slowly but steadily. The batsmen need to realize that not all pitches would be batsmen friendly and there will be times where good old accumulation will be more useful than slam bang cricket.

After batsmen, it was bowlers turn to disappoint as they struggled to maintain tight line and length. It was as comprehensive and emphatic loss as could be.

The only silver lining that one can see is that this loss will keep Indian team grounded. Now they won’t be complacent in test series and would know that in case they slip, NZ team is good enough to take advantage of that and can cause upsets and surprises. Such a pathetic display in Tests could have affected India’s chances of win in test series in NZ after a long time very badly. Hopefully team will be more watchful now.

NZ-India: Fourth ODI

Another ODI, Another good pitch and another massacre and same result. India bt NZ again to take series 3-0. This is first time India has beaten NZ in NZ in a bilateral ODI series. It is all getting repetitive and boring. Better contest was expected between these two teams based on India’s old record here and competitive cricket usually played by NZ in limited overs game but the way pitches have changed here in last few years, it looks like going to be a one-way traffic in this series and test series later.

Virendar Sehwag played a blinder and Gambhir played an anchor role around him to make the target look real easy. Multiple rain breaks did not create any problem for them and they coasted to an easy victory. The one-but-last break occurred when 19.2 overs were bowled by NZ and had there been no further game, the match would have been declared abandoned and India would have missed out on a well deserved victory.

NZ needs to put a lot of thought on how they want to handle Indian batting machine and the way things are going they have a tough task in hand for Test series also.

The flat pitches

There is a lot of hue and cry in English media about flat pitches being made in WI in the current series. Media has been blaming defensive attitude of WI team bemoaning that they are interested in playing for draw only and pitches and playing tactics are designed just to achieve that.

One could understand the frustration of English media with how the series has shaped up so far. Nobody expected WI to give any fight to England. But now WI has a very strong chance of winning the series, leave alone drawing it. English media has not been able to come to terms with reality of its team’s strength and looking for excuses to downplay pathetic display of English cricket team.

I am not sure why would people blame pitches in WI. We had one result, one game had very close finish and it was defensive tactics by England which led to WI escaping with draw. In the current match also, England made a very slow start when they knew they need to win this match to square the series. They just managed to score just 258 on first day in 90 0vers. There was clear lack of intent on their part, so how is this fair to blame WI pitches and team for defensive tactics.

WI had series lead before the final test and it was expected that they would be content with draw and onus was on England to force the pace and look for result. They have clearly failed in doing so. 

And why would having dull draws in test cricket lead to death of test cricket. There have been more results in Test crickets in this decade than ever before. Teams score quickly resulting in higher scores and bowlers getting more chances to get wickets resulting in more results than draws. Test cricket did not die when we used to see more draws so how come these draws are going to cause death of Test cricket. I can understand English media’s grief on losing the series but England losing the series does not lead to death of cricket esp. when we had some great test cricket last year between India-Aus and another great match is in progress between Aus-SA.

Instead of bemoaning WI tactics, English media should question team preparedness and players’ attitude. When was the last time the super heroes – Flintoff & KP played a match winning inning – be it tests or ODIs? They are merely showmen who play a good inning once in a while and the whole media goes ga-ga over them.

From a  neutral observers’ attitude this series was between two teams ranked 5 & 7 respectively in the world and cricket was of the quality of the lower rungs team as expected and result is not surprising as though teams are looking closely matched but WI has shown more intent and hunger to win.

 

<Update> On the last day of the last test, England showed some intent and aggression to force a result and they nearly got the required result. Had they applied themselves more in the earlier part of the series, the result could have been different. But as  things stand today, they are #6 ranked team in test cricket.

NZ-India: Third ODI

India won the third ODI too to take a 2-0 lead in the ODI series. The Indian batsmen fired again and in the end the margin of victory came out to be a pretty decent – 58 runs.

NZ gave India a good scare towards the beginning and end of run chase. The start they got from McCullum and Ryder had made the chase look achievable before they had a couple of run outs. Towards the end, Mills & Southee again created a scare as they kept up with the asking rate for quite some time. The drama in Patel’s over and Pathan coming over to complete Patel’s over resulted in the breakthrough India was looking for.

The first ball which was no-balled in that over led to heart burn for Indian fielders and expectedly so. It was no-balled after it was caught and batsman had refused to go. If it was a no-ball, umpires should have signalled it immediately and not waited for batsmen to “appeal” against it. Had NZ went on to win the match, there would have been a lot of hue and cry over this and Indians would have felt cheated.

In the first half, Indian batsmen dominated NZ after a slightly sluggish start and India made highest total scored in NZ by any team. Nearly every batsman joined the party and hit big shots at the expense of NZ bowlers. Sadly, Tendulkar was forced to retire hurt and he could not take a shot at 200 in this form of cricket.

Among the Indian batsmen, nearly all of them had at least one good score in NZ so far except Gambhir. He has not yet fired in any of the games so far and it will be critical for India’s success in Test matches for him to have some confidence and form before we start test series.

NZ tried well yesterday and the total was always going to be too large to chase and the best they can get from this series is a draw. So far, India has dominated them and it looks unlikely that this is going to change now.

NZ-India: First ODI

India beat NZ quite comfortably in the first ODI. This is how it happens when Indian batting fires and this is how it is going to happen on this tour. India batting did not do as well as expected during T20s and India lost both of them but this is not going to happen all the time.

India made explosive start with Sehwag at the fore-front and he tore apart Kiwi bowlers from the word go. The rain break also does not seem to affect him and India kept going at steady pace. Tendulkar was the first to go. NZ is among the few places where Sachin has not scored any ODI century and he should correct this in this tour which is his last in all likelihood. On his dismissal, Dhoni walked in at #3, an interesting move which I would take up in another post. Yuvraj struggled a bit on this pitch but after his dismissal, first Raina and then Pathan combined well with Dhoni and took India to a big total.

NZ innings started poorly with hero of T20s McCullum out cheaply and never got the momentum to challenge Indian total. The rain break also came at a very inopportune time since a wicket had just fallen which increased required total in D/L calculations. Meanwhile, Indian part spinners bowled well and restricted NZ top & middle orders.

Overall a thoroughly professional display by India.  I still believe that NZ team is much more competitive than we saw yesterday and they would still give India a good fight in this ODI series. The series is far from over and Indians should not get complacent after winning the watch so easily.

SL Cricketers attacked in Pakistan

Today we saw a shocking incident in which terrorists attacked SL cricket team while they were on their way to stadium from hotel for cricket match. This was a professionally planned and executed attack and highly audacious since attackers were aware of the fact that SL team would be well guarded and still they went ahead and attacked SL cricket team.

My initial reaction was that probably cricketers got struck in a cross fire and were not direct targets but after reading the reports it is pretty clear, they were the target of attacks. This is going to have a long term adverse impact on cricket in subcontinent not just Pakistan.

We have always believed that terrorists will never target cricketers in this part of the world as this will result in them losing people’s sympathy. This used to reduce risk perception to cricketers in our eyes and the only perceptible risk was that cricketers can get struck between a crossfire unintentionally and this can be handled by controlling their movement when they are here. But when terrorists have decided to mark cricketers to be their targets then they are just sitting ducks and this can happen anywhere not just in Pak but also in other sub continental countries.

Lets see what kind of impact is there on Indian cricket due to this. As far as Pakistan goes, it is pretty clear, we are not going to see any major cricketing nation visiting it for some time now.

Modi loses Rajasthan Cricket Association election

Lalit Modi, BCCI Vice president and commissioner of IPL has lost elections for his home state cricket board – Rajasthan. His position had become untenable since the time new government took over in Rajasthan and it was a matter of time before Modi had to give up on presidency of RCA.

Will this have any impact on IPL? I doubt this. The stakes are too high in IPL and one person’s electoral defeat which has no direct significance for IPL should not worry us. BCCI was ruled by Dalmiya some time back but he is no where near its top echelons now and it has not impacted marketing or cricketing prowess of BCCI. Similarly I do not think Modi’s loss will have any impact on IPL. He would still continue to be part of BCCI and IPL anyway.

Moreover, Cricket in India is driven by passion of people for it, presence of a strong market and corporates that want to target this audience for promoting their products. An individual losing an election will not change any of them and IPL will not see any long term adverse impact on it. The stakes are very high for people involved with IPL and they would make sure that show continues to go on.

NZ beats India again

McCullum played a key role as NZ beat India in 2nd T20 International also. With this result NZ has maintained their clean slate against India in T20 Internationals. NZ is clearly a superior side in this format under the conditions and they will be tough to beat in ODIs also. India would have settled by then and acclimatised to conditions better, hence I think India would be a 3-2 winner.

This match was much closer that previous one and at one stage India looked like in a better situation to win it but McCullum's composure under pressure clinched the game for his team. Hopefully India will maintain the trend and keep improving with each match and soon we will see India leading in ODI series.

NZ tour starts

India began NZ tour with a loss in first T20 international. Not a surprise since NZ is very competitive team in shorter formats and Indians did not get any practice game. It was very similar to last year’s Aus series when India got thrashed badly in T20 international but came back to win ODI series. Like the last time, Indian team tried to impose itself on the opposition and win psychological points for a long battle which remained ahead. Last time, it went very badly and India lost the T20 comprehensively. The result this time is not that bad.

This match has actually given me hope that India would do better than I initially expected in this series. Indian batsmen did not feel much uncomfortable on pitch and scored freely though they went overboard in trying big hits. If nature of pitches remain same over the next weeks, India would be favourite to win test series though ODIs will still be close affair.

In terms of team composition, Irfan looks to be a liability and Praveen or Munaf would be a better choice. In batting, Rohit Sharma is slowly becoming a problem as it has been a long time he has played any useful inning. He had a great opportunity yesterday and he should have stayed on the crease and stabilized the innings with Raina but he missed another opportunity. Hopefully, Yuvraj will get into his elements soon. NZ tour would be a great opportunity for him to cement his place in Test side and also make people stop talking about his records on difficult pitches abroad.

Will ICC ever approve ICL?

I doubt if this is going to happen. And the reason is not BCCI as projected by everyone but insecurities of all ICC members. Though in short run, BCCI is the affected party as its market is getting affected immediately but in long run, ICL has the potential to affect all boards and even finish off ICC.

Indian Cricket market is huge and can sustain two parallel leagues. Though BCCI will be affected if ICL is approved and its profits hit but it will still be profitable. A rebel league in other markets can finish off the member board itself. Consider the scenario that ICL is approved and it looks for growth beyond India. Of course, Pak and BD are going to be the first targets and it is very popular in pak also. What happens if it schedule matches in parallel with any international series going on in Pak? Won't PCB be hit? Some of its players may prefer to play in ICL depending on returns and it will slowly be curtains on Pakistan's international cricket.

The country most hit would be Eng. Its local season is from Jun-Aug when it is typically off-season for most countries. An extended season of ICL or any other league in parallel with English Season with most of world's cricketers available to play will surely kill English season and slowly whatever control ICC has on cricket will be lost to corporates. Is this bad, I do not know but this is the reason ICL is facing issues and not because of BCCI only.

The reason I belive private leagues will overrun ICC's version of cricket is that traditionally Cricket administrators have been very poor in handling business issues and this is the reason most of the boards are facing fiscal issues and are dependent on one country to bail them through. A private league like ICL will have professional handlers and is bound to have more commercial success than cricket run by ICC administrators.

PS: I saw this statement in one of the articles on Cricinfo - "The ICC recently drafted new rules on official and unofficial cricket making it virtually impossible for future ICL models to come up but these rules are effective in June. The ICL request falls under existing rules, which state: "In the event of anybody wishing to stage an 'unofficial cricket event', ICC approval should first be obtained before full members could release their players for the event"."
URL - http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/icl2008/content/story/390559.html

In future there cannot be ICL like leagues as this is what all member countries are scared of and even ICC and they are trying to nip this in bud itself.

What wrong did ECB & Giles Clarke do?

ECB and Giles Clarke have been pillored a lot in last few days due to their decision of aligning with Stanford for sponsorship and generating cash for english cricket. I do not understand why are they being treated in this way. Clarke and ECB did what they thought was an excellent way of generating cash for players and board and also help in revival of WI Cricket. Any person in their capacity would have loved this idea. A few days effort every year which would make them richer by $3.5 m and give English players a strong chance to become millionaires. They would have been fools to reject such an offer. Why do people expect them to verify Stanford's credentials? They are in no position to validate Stanford's accounts and check if he is a fraud. This is something that SEC or similar organizations need to do and none of them had raised any red flag at Stanford when this deal was made. ECB even added clauses in their contract with Stanford which gave them "get out" options in case they cannot continue to handle this type of exigency. So, In my opinion, they did no wrong and this move would have been hailed as a master stroke had English players not made a mockery of themselves on Nov 1 against Stanford XI.

I do understand that they were trying to get even with BCCI and also trying to prevent English players from participating in IPL - this motive is something that I do not agree with and this was probably only fault that Clarke's and ECB's thinking had while signing up with Stanford.

Ricky Ponting will not play in 2nd edition of IPL

A one word response to this - Thanks.

There is no point of someone coming for only two weeks time. This would disturb team's strategy and balance and I am sure Kolkata Knight Riders and IPL management would have said the same thing to him.

There was no point in him making claims of putting country ahead of IPL. The fact that he was negotiating with IPL and KKR for 2-3 months shows that he was trying his best to squeeze in some time this year but IPL and team management did not agree to it. There is also some possibility of him not being picked for matches when he is available and that is going to tarnish his reputation. Ponting has made right decision for himself and the team management but there this is not a case of putting country in front of money.

Who is under more pressure - Aus or SA?

Ponting claimed while coming to SA that SA would be under more pressure as they want to be #1. I am not sure if he really means that or it is just his attempt at mental disintegration of SA. SA team has shown maturity in not responding to Ponting's comments.

Ponting himself seems to be confused about what he is saying as he also mentioned that winning the series is the highest priority for Aus. This would mean that Aus would be under far more pressure than SA. SA will automatically become #1 in August when previous year's results will be taken out (when Aus was a dominant force) and current year's results get higher weightage (when SA is doing better) and even India may bypass Aus though a lot will depend on India's NZ series.

Meanwhile, Ponting must learn from Smith. Smith hardly made any comments before last year's series in Aus but showed greater application on field. Ponting should understand that a quieter SA is more dangerous and should plan better for upcoming series. A loss here would really put pressure on his captaincy.

New Zealand Tour: The most difficult test for Dhoni

Coming NZ tour would be the most difficult test for Dhoni's captaincy so far. NZ, for some reason, has turned out to be most difficult tour for Indian teams in the past. Last time, India was beaten 2-0 in tests and 5-1 in ODIs. This was just before 2003 WC where India was runners up. Whether it is the pitches or conditions, Indian teams have usually struggled there and this time would be no exception. How India and Dhoni comes out of it would be interesting to see as it will define if India has in it to become #1 team in the world.

A number of people have termed India as #1 team after their recent victories but in my opinion they are still way behind SA and even Aus. The away record needs to be improved and also the consistency. As per current standings, India should beat NZ 2-0 or 3-0 in tests and by a huge margin in ODIs as well. Lets see and hope India gets the same result on field also which is expected on paper as per team strength and rating.

Brad Haddin: The next-in-line for Oz captaincy

Brad Haddin was named captain of Aus Cricket team for T20 match against NZ. Michael Clarke was not fit for the match and Ponting was being rested. Haddin seems to have proved his credientials by claiming Brooms out during Ist ODI against NZ when it was his glove and not the ball which actually hit the stumps. It looks to me as tradition of Aus to select captains who use unfair means to dismiss opponents when they are in tight spot.

This tradition is running at least since the time of Steve Waugh who claimed catch of Brian Lara during 1994-95 series in WI which Aus won and staked its claim for #1 rank by becoming the first team to beat WI for 15 years. That catch proved critical as Aus went on to win that match and ultimately series was won 2-1.

Ponting and Clarke have proven credentials in this area as we saw in last year's series against India. Clarke is relatively inexperienced player but still he moved pretty fast in leadership stakes and his flair towards claiming dropped catches seems to have played a critical role in this. It was no coincidence that he was the bowler when Haddin claimed Brooms as bowled out.

Adam Gilchrist seems to be the biggest loser in this race and Aus selectors never saw him fit to be captain of the side as he never dismissed opponents by making false claims. Lst year against India he tried to mend his ways by claiming Dravid in Sydney test when Dravid had not touched the ball but by the end of the match he realized Clarke is way ahead of him and decided to retire after the series.

Brad Haddin seems to have justified the selectors' decision as Aus went on to win the match in a thrilling finish and Aus selectors' would be hoping that they will keep finding cricketers like him who will justify their unfair means as hunger to win and mental toughness.

Is Michael Clarke captaincy material?

Clarke is being groomed for captaincy role in Aus after Ponting. I see him as misfit in this role. Though based on his performance, he is certainity to be part of Aus team, but he seems to be pretty selfish person who likes to put himself before his team.

Clarke was responsible for Symonds being sent back when he went for fishing. This was his first full series as Captain and he was clearly trying to assert himself as the decision making authority. This was ostensibly done because Symonds had broken team discipline and his team members were feeling let down and some action should have been taken. Well done!!!

Aus team have a tradition of team anthem and after Sydney test, who was keen to leave the dressing room to attend to personal matters. Pup did not think about letting down his team mates but was looking at the clock to make sure his personal commitments do not suffer. What an example of mate-ship?

In the recent series against NZ, Clarke showed what he puts first - his record or team's result. He decided to open after being made the captain and batted to make sure he gets a big score to show he is ready for the big role. His slow batting ultimately helped NZ to restrict Aus to manageable total and they won from there. Had Aus won, the headlines would have screamed that the new leader has ensured Aus win and he should be appointed captain immediately. The final result, hopefully, would have sobered him a bit.

Clarke at least meets some of the criteria for qualification as Aus Captain - claiming one-drop catches that is. Be it Waugh or Ponting, they always claim one-drop catches and ask fielder's word to be taken for contentious catches. In thsi regard, at least, Michael Clarke satisfies criteria to be Aus Captain.

India Vs SL T20: Pathan brothers' show

Last evening's T20 between India & SL was highly entertaining and had a thrilling finish with Pathan brothers' showing their talent and might to the world. India looked down for the count at one stage and SL win was looking like a formality and then Pathan bros' weaved their magic. Both played very sensibly and took calculated risks and at the end India looked like comfortable winner.

In hindsight, one can question Dilshan not employing Jayasuriya who was bowling well but the fact is that he made the right decision to move towards medium pacers knowing Yusuf can hit any spinner out of the park. Bandara was doing well with 3/15 in 3 overs before he came up against Yusuf who hit him for 16 in 4 balls out of a total of 22 that he scored. Jayasuriya could easily have got the same treatment. Against seamers, it was Irfan who hit most of the big shots for which Dilshan had no counter-plan.

This win shows Indian team has become mentally tough and can pull itself from any situation. Any team would have given up at the stage when 57 runs were required off 29 balls and only three wickets remaining.

But one would also question how did this team get into that situation at the first place. Raina and Dhoni were doing well and asking rate was not too much and then with some silly shots from them, we reached a difficult situation. Dhoni also needs to think about the batting order. In the current circumstances, it was strange to see Yusuf coming after Rohit and Jadeja. If he wants to give Rohit more chances, he could have been sent at #3 so that he could have settled down and played a longer inning.

One more victim of IPL

Last year, Andrew Symonds was the highest paid foreign cricketer in IPL and see where he is currently - not fit to be part of most important series that Aus is going to have in recent times where their #1 ranking is on the line. Last year would rank among the most tumultuous for Aus Cricket in general and Symonds in particular. No doubt, Symonds had some record earlier also but that does not compare with his infringements last year since he became the highest paid cricketer in IPL - skirmish with Clarke in WI, fishing incident, Pub incident and radio talk.

This year the honour of being the highest paid cricketers goes to Flintoff and Pietersen and results have started coming in. Eng lost the first test miserably to WI. Even before the series there were spats between the captain and coach (both ex now) once it was clear that KP would be among the top money makers in IPL. Would we see the same trend as last year?

Looking at the behavior of Symonds and now English cricketers, my respect for Indian cricketers esp Sachin Tendulkar has increased mani-fold. If this is how cricketers get affected by money in cricket then imagine how well Sachin has coped with this distraction for last nearly 20 years. He has been getting this kind of adulation and attention since the time he started playing international cricket but this has never got into his head unlike some of the cricketers and he has been among the most consistent batsmen. Not only Sachin but other Indian cricketers have been getting similar distractions but hats off to them that we do not see such negative press covergae for them except for a few.

What happened to Australian Cricket System?

For past decade, there have been lot of comments about how good Aus cricket system is, that they have professional cricket system with strong academies for learning, competitive domestic cricket and administrators who were way ahead of others in terms of cricket management and coming up with innovative ways to stay ahead of others and making sure Aus is #1 cricket team in the world. It was supposedly this system which kept Aus ahead of others in field.

Looking at current results, it seems there were two reasons for Aus' success - Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. All Aus captains of recent time had the luxury of calling upon services of these great bowlers whenever in trouble and these two delivered almost every time. They also created enough opportunities for batsmen to play without pressure and freely and there is palpable difference in batting records of same personnel after these two left.

After these two have left, the system, administrators, captains and other players are looking human and Aus will struggle to be among the top 3 cricket nations. One could understand the impact that absence of such players can cause to any team but the way rest of the people have behaved clearly shows Aus System is just like any other cricket system like we see in other countries.

Aus selectors first make Ponting rest for some ODIs and when the team loses the next ODI, they immediately ask him to get back. In the past we did not use to hear people raising concerns on teams being selected, now this is commonplace. In fact, the noise looks like pretty similar to what we used to see after India used to have an overseas series (Losing usually) and then teams being selected to for next series.

Though Ponting is among the best captains statistically but the decisions that he made during India and SA series shows him in very poor light. In the earlier days, all he used to do was throw ball to McGrath and Warne and they would make people call it a masterstroke but now decisions are far more complex. There are too many disciplinary discussions happening, Symonds, Katich-Clarke arguments showing team is not happy and there is no unity among the team. Players are looking mediocre and this is reflecting in on-field results also.

Though some people feel that Aus will emerge again as a strong power in cricket or they still are. The only reason that they will stay at top is that the standard of cricket is falling in most countries and there are not enough teams to challenge them. Only SA and India look to be places where cricket is thriving and Aus will be next to them.

Pakistan players not coming for IPL

As expected, Pakistan players are not coming for IPL. Pakistan Govt itself made the decision making it easier for franchises to make early plans about team composition and replacements. After Mumbai attacks, it was nearly impossible for Pak players to participate in IPL. Either Govts of any of the countries or some political party would have made it very difficult for them to come and play or increase security headaches for IPL-administration.
The decision has been timely and come just before auctions, so would help franchises. Irrespective of Govt stand, it would have been very difficult (if not impossible) for Pak players to come here and uncertainity over their participation would have created problems for franchises in doing their team planning. All-in-all a timely decision for franchises and right one too.

Addendum: IPL has leveraged the situation to its own benefit. Six of the pakistani players see their contract terminated. Not surprising that all these players were pretty ineffective in the first edition and four other players who made some impact last year (Gul, Tanvir, Akmal and Misbah) have their contracts suspended meaning they can play next year on same terms and conditions.