Victory has many Fathers; Let them all be !

Victory has many Fathers; Let them all be !

Disclaimer: This is my most serious post ever. I have never been so serious. No, not even while I was waiting for my daughter’s arrival through a complicated Cesarean section 12 seasons ago. I am so very dead serious because I am seeing a good chance of winning ‘A Cup for Mr. Tendulkar’ is going up in smoke thanks to a few rectifiable factors. So I am making a serious attempt to find a way of of the mess.

I have often been accused of trivializing the serious issues with my mirth. It hurts but what else can one do when the team one adores continues to play like idiots when it matters the most.

Let us take stock. India are No. 1 side in Tests and No. 2 in ODI format. They won the T-20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007 when none expected them to. They white-washed New Zealand recently with an under strength team. They also played pretty well without the bigwigs in the recently concluded ODI series in South Africa before going down 3-2.

But what happens to India when an ICC event comes up ? It perhaps isn’t Team India that turns up. It must be some other team. You, Me and Hum don’t know this team. This is my inference. Why do I think so ? Let us understand what is happening.

Captain not so Cool

Why does the Cool go Captain Fool during ICC events. His fixation with certain players and dislike for some others has cost us dear. It was His Highness Ravindra Jadeja during the T-20 World Cup. It happens to be Piyush Chawla and Munaf Patel this time.

Why does Dhoni want Munaf to bowl at death ? It invariably means instant death for the team. Munaf doesn’t have the pace. He can’t reverse swing and he bowled his last yorker about 9 years ago and that too accidentally.

Batting Disorder

Dhoni also is experimenting too much with the batting line up. It is fine if and when it works. But we saw it went wrong not once, not twice but thrice. Why do you want to upset the rhythm ? Well, Dhoni should know better. Both Virat and Yusuf stand undermined in confidence. If we want to win from here, Virat should bat higher and that means higher than Gautam.

Gambhir is capable of switching gears quicker. Hence he should be made to understand the importance of batting at No. 4. Yusuf should never bat before Yuvraj. He perhaps gets complacent when he knows there still are Dhoni, Yuvi and Virat in the pavilion waiting to bat. Best of Yusuf has come when he has batted with back to the wall with only the tail to follow. Let him carry on with his brand of Cricket.

Power Play Problems

Time and again, things have fallen apart during the Batting Power Play. This happened in the 5th ODI in the South Africa series. Yusuf Pathan was indulging in savage hitting with a spread out field scoring 8 -10 runs an over without breaking much sweat. Then they took BPP and Yusuf fell promptly. India collapsed against England and then were decimated by South Africa. Why is it so happening ?

The answer is simple. We have a batting line up full of gigantic Egos. Left alone, they have the capabilities to clear any ground in the world. When the batting power play comes into action, somehow our boys think they have to hit every ball and score may be 100 runs from those 5 overs. And thus we end up getting all out from unbelievable positions.

So what do we do ? Simple again. Tell the boys, “Never bother about the Batting Power plays. When you have wickets in hands, runs will come. Don’t throw your wicket.” Sehwag and Pathan can be excused to a little extent for being impetuous but not others. Against England, Yuvraj and Dhoni got out in back to back overs playing injudicious shots and India were bowled out for at least 20 – 25 runs short of what would have been. Against South Africa, Sachin and Gambhir fell in back to back overs and that turned the tide.

Reverse Swing

Like it or not, Asian teams did well with reverse swing in the past. But now, all other teams have picked up and are in fact doing better. Taking BPP once the ball starts to reverse has proved counter productive. Even England lost the plot against India during BPP against Zaheer Khan’s reverse swing.

What is the solution ? Take BPP earlier. If we have wickets in hands with batsmen in good nick, take BPP soon after the 15 overs. Then play those overs just like the first 15 overs. What are the benefits ?

1] Sachin / Sehwag or Sachin / Gambhir or Sehwag / Gambhir or Gambhir / Kohli pair can manage to score about 30 – 35 or even 40 runs from these overs without much risk. The wickets will be in hand for the final assault.

2] When the ball reverses, we are not compelled to take BPP. The opponents will not be risking close in fielders to prevent singles during this period even if the ball is reversing. This gives an option for settled batsmen to rotate strike and strike big when you get an opportunity. Four singles and a boundary can still get you 40 runs from 5 overs between overs 41 and 45. But with lesser batsmen at the crease, bowlers like Steyn and Malinga can become lethal. So earlier they play the BPP, better it will be.

3] 2 overs each lesser from bowlers like Steyn, Malinga or Gul during the death means that much lesser problem. Fast bowlers and reverse swing will not be so lethal without the field support and when in form top order batsmen at the crease. This is what happened when Ross Taylor caned the Pakistan bowling.

Middle Over Crisis

Like the middle age crisis, Team India faces middle over crisis. Sachin and Gambhir inexplicably slowed down during middle overs. It isn’t possible to bat in fifth gear all the time. But keep it in fourth or at least third during middle overs. When a run rate of 8.5 RPO drops to just about 6.5 during middle overs, it allows the opponents to regroup. Allows lesser bowlers to squeeze in a lot of overs. And thus we end up with a lot lesser runs than what could have been.

Team > Individual Milestones

The ‘Mantra’ should be to keep the runs trickling. Personal milestones should have no roles and only the interest of team should matter. It was annoying to see Yusuf Pathan’s generosity when he slowed down to allow Yuvraj to reach his 50 against Ireland. Just imagine if India get knocked out of the tourney in a tight tie for fourth place with England. It will be remembered that India lost the cup in a bid to give one of their players a World Cup record. Duminy will tell us that is not done by South Africans.

Bowling Woes

As of now we are unlikely to find a drastic solution. I was right from the beginning criticizing the selection of Nehra, Munaf and Chawla. I would have preferred any three from Irfan Pathan, R P Singh, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha and Sreesanth.

The troika I mentioned bring down the stock of the team thanks also to their fielding and absolute lack of batting. Whatever might have been his problems in longer version of Cricket, Irfan has done well in shorter formats and is a wicket taking bowler. Praveen Kumar is a loss, but he isn’t exactly a Steyn or Malinga.

No use crying over split milk. What can we do with the available stock ? Bring back Sreesanth and give him some confidence. The Captain needs to back all his players. Not the selected ones like Chawla. Bring in Ashwin. He is a wicket taking bowler and can bowl at death or slog. Forget about bowling becoming one-dimensional. It is not. Bhajji and Ashwin are totally different bowlers and Pathan is the non-spinner who keeps things tight.

Squeeze in 10 – 12 overs from Yusuf and Yuvraj but keep faith in main bowlers. Sreesanth and not Zaheer is the best exponent of reverse swing in India. Bowl him in 4 spells of 3, 3, 2 and 2 overs like Steyn does. He just needs some support. Can we expect that from Dhoni ?

Fielding the Best 11

Well, they showed some commitment while fielding against Saffers. If we keep Munaf and Nehra out, one third of the fielding woes are solved. Shield Bhajji from mid-off and mid-on. Keep Sachin in the Third man and Bhajji in the mid-wicket / square leg. Zaheer is another slow mover who can be shielded in the fine-leg. Virat at point adds to the pressure. And we can frequently bring in Raina to cover up for slow movers.

So finally I would go in with…

Sehwag
Sachin
Kohli
Gambhir
Yuvraj
Dhoni
Yusuf
Bhajji
Ashwin
Zaheer
Sreesanth

If we still don’t win, we will have two new scape-goats: Sreesanth and Ashwin. Makes no difference. Let them be !

If we go onto win… Victory has many fathers; let them all be !

Govind Raj Shenoy for DieHard Cricket Fans

A letter to Sachin!

Dear Sachin,

I feel sad. Even after 22 years of playing for the country, you are still expected to win matches on your own.
We forget that apart from you there are 10 more players in the team. You have been the run machine in World Cups with an average …of 60.
Even today while you yet again proved your class with a 111 the others around took it easy. You chased the ball in the outfield and ensured that your throws landed on top of the bails. Others preferred to drop catches or go back to the dressing room for a ‘rest’ while a substitute fielder came in.
Sachin, the current Indian cricket team doesn’t deserve you. They don’t know what it is like to give one’s blood and sweat for this nation of a billion people. For them fame and money has come to easy and undeserving – not commensurate to the ‘supposed talent’ that they posses. Do you remember what you had said to Tom Alter in that interview in 1989? “I just want to play cricket”.

Sachin, let me also not hide the truth – you are not my favorite cricketer – but one plays favorites only with humans – not with Gods for they are revered, emulated and looked at in awe… [We expect Sachin to win this cup for us. But what about the other players? Are they supposed to be playing ludo in the dressing room? I hope that the rest of the team wake up and realize that they are not there to 'play' in the tournament, they are supposed to 'win' it - not for themselves, not for India but for the greatest Indian to have lived - Sachin Tendulkar.

P.S: In the 1992, Hero Cup semi-final in Eden Gardens Kolkata (India Vs. SA), SA needed 6 runs to win off the last over. Tendulkar snatched the ball from Azhar and bowled a magnificent over to win that match for us. (He gave away only 3 runs). Maybe our team needs to watch that over to know what guts and glory are all about.]

Sachin, I hope we win the final in Wankhede. If we don’t a billion people can only hang their heads in shame and ask for your forgiveness. Regards, One of your undying fans who: 1. Still goes crazy when you hit that straight drive and show us the manufacturer’s name on the bat. 2. Stayed awake late into the night before my end terms to watch that 100 in Sharjah in the midst of that sandstorm. 3. Relished every shot that you played to decimate Warne in 1998 and then Shoaib Akhtar in that 2003 World Cup against Pakistan. 4. Will stop watching cricket after you retire.

Courtesy – Some Community Page on FB.

Aman ki Aasha : An India-Pakistan Peace Initiative !

There have been many ‘Peace’ initiatives between India and Pakistan since 1947. So many talks, back channel diplomacy and frontal attacks. But nothing succeeds like Cricket between the neighbors who are perpetually at loggerheads on the Political front.
There have been so many epic encounters. There was a complete psychological domination of India by Pakistan since Thishappened. It took a complete change of generation for India to emerge out of this rut. The tide perhaps changed after the arrival of Sehwag. Unfortunately Indo-Pak Cricket has become a rarity these days.

Pakistan believe India have let them down and blame India for everything that goes wrong with their Cricket, Country and everything else. India on the other hand have become too scornful of the way Pakistan Cricket is being run. There are nincompoops on both sides. Unfortunately the worst of them all runs Pakistan Cricket.

Butt from the Front !

So how do we find long lasting Peace ? Are we wrong if we expect our kids should grow up in a better world ? Is it unreasonable to expect Pakistanis to idolize Afridi and not Kasab ?

There is a place for ‘Peace’ and we don’t want both countries to go into pieces. This is what they call “Aman Ki Aasha” ! ‘Peace process’ means there should be a lot of ‘Give and Take’. So far we have seen a lot of give and take, but all in wrong manner. Pakistan have consistently ‘Given’ us terrorists, insurgents and bombs. And successive Indian administrations have ‘Taken’ almost everything lying down.

This has to change and we should have some meaningful exchange. And here is my principal suggestion !

‘Give and Take’ means what they don’t have, we have to give them. And what we don’t have, they have to give us.

You shake a tree in Pakistan and fast bowlers will fall down. A survey has shown that approximately 67% of all Pakistani men are fast bowlers. Of them, 34% are found to be world class. But they simply can’t play all of them. Even if the best of their lot end up fixing matches, spots and then screwing themselves, they still have enough fast bowlers to supply not only to India, but perhaps to the entire Cricket playing world.

And what do we in India have ? Almost 33 years old Zaheer and Nehra and then nearly 128 years old Munaf Patel. Sreesanth doesn’t inspire confidence in his Captain who prefers Chawla hemorrhaging runs to Sreesanth bleeding runs.

So we know what we want, right ?

Give us this guy and a few more. We don’t mind exchanging 2 batsmen [Including Rohit Sharma] for one bowler. Except the current core, we can let Pakistan choose any batsman they want. Well, we will not give Che, just like they wouldn’t give us their core.

And here is a ‘Mega Bonus Offer”…

We will give Pakistan, Dinesh Karthik, Parthiv Patel and Naman Ojha. If KAkmal is the only wicket-keeper Pakistan can bring to the World Cup, we know what they are lacking and we have to help them out. Any of the above mentioned can keep better than Yuckmal, even blindfolded. And Pakistan can finally ‘Drop’ Kakmal and do so forever.

So what will Kakmal do ? Pakistan can send him to Afghanistan to Coach the Afghan junior team. He will help them only with batting. They should never allow him to wear a Wicket-keeper’s glove; never again. Just carry out these moves and there will be ‘Peace’ on either side of the border !

Govind Raj Shenoy for DieHard Cricket Fans

A Tale of Two Tails !

The Cliffhanger between India and South Africa was without doubt a good advertisement for Cricket. It could have gone either way. But guys like Peterson, Botha and most importantly du Plessis held their nerves when Nehra lost it.
But in the end if we look at the match, both innings turned head over heals in the 40th over. India lost Sachin in their 40th and then started the procession. South Africa struggling for run rate had a big over of 17 runs by the otherwise brilliant Zaheer Khan and that perhaps pipped India in the end.

Let us talk about the collapse. The same happened against England. Our late order batters just threw their wickets away like they throw rotten eggs at Politicians. Agreed Steyn bowled well. But it wasn’t as if he was unplayable.

Even a few singles and twos and India could have had a score 310 and that would have given Nehra a better chance. But as the cliche goes, Cricket is not a game of Ifs and Butts ! But if that is true, how come Ijaz Butt continues to rule Pakistan Cricket ?

South Africa had their share of idiots too. ABDV and Duminy were stupid to perish the way they did. Botha too played a bad shot. But they had more sane people than in the Indian 11.

Gautam Gambhir dropped a simple catch. Dhoni missed a should have been stumping. Munaf Patel continues to bowl length balls at death and even the No. 10 and 11 can hit him for sixes. He got a wicket solely because of the stupidity exhibited by Morne van Wyk.And Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel and Nehra are so very ordinary in the deep, they bled some precious runs. Virat and Raina were the only saving grace.

Dhoni decided to call Nehra even after Bhajji was bowling pretty well and went for only 7 in his last over. He was high on confidence compared to Nehra. Nehra has done it in the past for India. He has won some tight matches. But of late, he has been just rubbish. India needs to take at least one more look at Sreesanth and definitely not Piyush again. And of course, bring in Ashwin.

Finally, the main difference between the teams was at the rear end. South African tail clicked with Botha and Peterson scoring 41 runs of 22 balls sharing 4 boundaries and 2 sixes between them. Indian tail scored 3 runs of 16 balls with 3 ducks !

Thus in the end, it was “A Tale of Two Tails”; one that sucked and another that Clicked !

Govind Raj Shenoy for DieHard Cricket Fans

The Cup that Counts and Life after Retirement !

The promos of the Cricket World Cup claim this is “The Cup That Counts”. I would love to know how much ? Or better still, till how much can this Cup count ? Or can it count at all ? I would like to begin a Counter that will count all counting and counter-counting.
But before that, and after watching whatever Cricket I could during the past 3 weeks, I have come to worry about our Cricketers. No, not only Indians. But generally a lot of them. What will happen to them when they retire ?

Like failed Actors in Bollywood making mediocre Directors, many will go on to become Commentators and bore us to death before, during and after the play. But what about the rest ?

So I have devised some alternative careers for Cricketers. If anyone else has already thought of this noble thought before, I admit it is just a coincidence. But I invite them to join me in this initiative to found an Employment Agency for Retired Cricketers.

Since I am quite serious about this venture, I am not going to disclose all the details. Here are but a few sample of things to come…

Tatenda Taibu: He played just 6 balls yesterday. But the zeal he showed in trying to reverse sweep everything Murali hurled at him was motivating. He kept his slate clean. The first time he played straight, he was out. He should be made in charge of the sweeping and cleaning committee at our airports. Those places will be better with him and Cricket, without.

Kamran Akmal: Pakistan should immediately appoint him the head of their calamity management team. He can remain calm even during a storm. Why ? He wouldn’t even know there indeed was a storm. He will be especially good at ‘Dropping’ food packets for people stranded in flood hit areas. Who better to ‘Drop’ ?

Rizwan Cheema: What do you expect him to make ? Lance Cairns, Ijaz Ahmed and Eddo Brandes; we have seen them all. And now we have seen Cheema. Never been there as graceful and as artistic a butcher of the Cricket ball before !

Piyush Chawla: Though he is terribly young to retire, I am quite inclined to retire him all the same. He can make a life out of playing the ‘side kick’ to the Hero in Bollywood movies. He is chubby and cute, so little girls will love him. He plays the side kick role to perfection to Dhoni the Master. And he can knock a few small time punches thanks to the ‘confidence‘ instilled by his Boss.

Yusuf Pathan: Since he doesn’t analyze the game much, he is unlikely to be a Coach or a Commentator. For quite some time now, he has threatened to send the ball to the orbit. Hence he should join ISRO after he retires. He might actually be able to launch satellites by just whacking them. We can make huge savings on fuel.

Yardy, Strauss, Ponting, Sehwag, Gayle, Price, Dilshan, O’Brien and name whom you want, we have an alternative career after retirement. IPL oops, IPR application pending.

Govind Raj Shenoy for DieHard Cricket Fans

Making The Dead Rubbers Alive

Near empty stand as Aus play Zim

The format of the world cup has been constantly changing ever since it started. ICC introduced different ideas such as round-robin, league-cum-knockout, super six etc etc. But each one had its drawbacks which resulted in shifting to the other one. The insignificant matches (having no effect on the tournament) and the ‘minnow-powerhouse’ encounters (whose reults are almost always known) being the major culprits slowing down the tourni’s pace in a similar manner in which a romantic song does to a Bollywood movie . Ob there are upset, but it isn’t worth tolerating 15 boring one-sided encounters just for one or two upsets.

Consider the ongoing WC for example. People were more interested in IND-AUS practice match than the IND-NED league match. Also the league phase is a mere formality and the quarter-finalists were known even before the tourni started. Moreover, some of the key matches are worthless now (such as IND-WI and IND-SA) with the only use being getting the right team combination and testing the bench strength. So effectively these matches are serving the purpose what a practice matches did.

These situations occur because ICC has to make a fine balance between appropriate representation of associate members, providing them the necessary exposure and implementing a format considered fair and more interesting than the previous ones. Some of the alternatives can be -

1) Allow only top 8 teams according to the ICC ranking and having a round-robin league i.e. each team playing with the other and top 4 playing the semis (or even top 2 playing the finals, ensuring teams playing well throughout have the max chance of winning) . For the associates (minnows), playing once in 4 years isn’t going to help in any case. If ICC really want them to have some quality exposure, make them play throughout the year in some quad or triangular series (eg. make it compulsory to include a minnow in a series involving more than 2 nations)

2) Another idea can be to have a single team comprising of the best possible combination of all the non-test palying nations (something like Rest-of-the-World team). The team would be far more stronger than any of the minnows and would keep the stronger ones on their feet all the time.

3) Another alternative is to make the 1st round knockout (each match played between a test playing nation and a minnow) and then proceed as league system with the remaining teams. This will on one hand make the ‘minnow-powerhouse’ matches important (as its knockout) while on the other hand, only good teams will be there when the tourni enters into the critical phase.

4) A minor variation of the all-round-robin system can be to eliminate the semifinal and final altogether and the team at the top of the league after all the league matches considered the winner. This system ensures that team emerges as the champ which played well for the max part of the tournament.

5) Point system can also be altered to make the WC more interesting. One way to do it is award only 1 point to beat a minnow where as 2 for beating a strong team. This would give advantage to the teams performing well against stronger teams and will make beating some bigger teams compulsory to enter the knockouts. The concept of bonus points can also be introduced to distinguish the magnitude of results as well as keeping interest in the matches till the end.

The bottom-line is: Its been almost 15 days since the inaugurations and I am still for waiting for the WC to start. The ‘WC-fever’ thing is missing till now. Hope ICC comes up with something more interesting and logical next time round.

Amit Ranjan for DieHard Cricket Fans