England vs India: Player ratings for the series (Part 1)

So, it’s over. The series, the #1 ranking, and the bubble of unquestionable success that enveloped India after the World Cup win.

It’s just one bad series, India may just continue to win from this point, but this still happened. Their best performances with the bat all series came in the final two innings, but were still nowhere near enough what was needed to even save the game.

There will be some sort of official review by the BCCI, and maybe it will reveal that they are coneheads, maybe it won’t.

Srikanth looked quite effeminate before the beard.

Speaking of reviews (because I like good transitions, unlike Indian cricket), here’s my bit. No haggling on these marks (out of 10).

India

10 – Praveen Kumar (15 wickets @29.53): Performed exactly how we expected him to perform – whole-heartedly. Light on pace, he made up for it with magnanimous swing and superb control in conditions that suited him perfectly. He bowled 158 overs, second to Ishant only because he missed the final Test after bowling himself into the ground. He also scored 110 entertaining runswith a strike rate of 105, including an unforgettable 40 off 18 balls.

"Lemme at 'em!" - Praveen Kumar

9.0 – Rahul Dravid (461 runs @76.83): The Wall was as Wall-ish as he had ever been, carrying his re-discovered form over from the West Indian tour. He was India’s rescue team in every game, and would have scored even more if not for a couple of dubious decisions, and if someone had stuck around with him. I can’t believe people wanted him to retire just a few months ago – he still has the most interesting defense in the world. I cut a whole mark for terrible catching.

"No. I won't go back in. I want to bat some more."

6.5 – Ishant Sharma (11 wickets @58.18): This guy, who turns 23 in 10 days, was forced to co-lead a three-man attack twice in two Tests, and sort of in the other Tests too, when Mishra was as effective as a solar-powered torch. There were some menacing spells in the 173 overs he bowled, but these were often separated by some listless periods of spraying it around. He’s getting better though, and missing the ODIs is the best thing for him right now.

5.5 – Sachin Tendulkar (273 runs @34.12): Just a couple of fifties in 8 innings, and a very below-par series for the man, despite not looking as uncomfortable as some of his teammates. Could have saved the last Test and got himself that century of centuries, but neither was meant to be, despite it looking that way when luck was going his way. I’m now doubting that he’ll ever score that hundred, stuck on 99 for eternity with that one Bradmanesque flaw. Man, that was poetic.

5.0 – Yuvraj Singh (70 runs @35): Middling marks for him, because he played just the one Test, which portrayed both his weaknesses and strengths. He was pretty lucky to get that one fifty, too.

5.0 – Zaheer Khan (2 wickets @9): Had the ball on a string in that first session at Lord’s. His subsequent injury ensured that all hell broke loose as far as India’s bowling was concerned. Needs body parts like Iron Man, and must walk around in a Hazmat suit until it’s safe for India to play without him.

4.0 – MS Dhoni (220 runs @31.41): His first series defeat as captain, and he has really been defeated. Things didn’t go his way one bit, his keeping, while good enough in the subcontinent, was shown up, and so was his batting technique. He’s got to attack when he bats, even if it leads to a dismissal, because it’s quite simply the only way he can bat. It’s not the same question of responsible batting that crops up with Sehwag - MS clearly must bat this way, at least in Tests. Also, what’s with the ‘no third man’ field?

3.5 – Sreesanth (8 wickets @61.62): Started so well with those three wickets before he started getting whipped. His lovely outswinger was present, but it failed to trouble batsmen who were in the form of their lives. Bowled 111 overs in three matches, and looked flat for around 90 of those. Time to give other bowlers a go, because this guy’s going nowhere.

Now it's OK to cry.

3.5 – VVS Laxman (182 runs @22.75): Very very disappointing, to say the least. He was successfully targeted with the short ball, but was also unlucky to be at the receiving end of some unplayable deliveries. Like Bell, he is a natural #3 who got to bat at that position due to injuries to others. Unlike Bell, he didn’t make the most of it. I’m pretty sure that he made the least of it, if that phrase ever catches on. How much longer is he going to play Tests – no one ever talks about this.

3.5 – Gautam Gambhir (102 runs @17): He gets all these marks just for thecojones to bat injured, concussed or in a coma or whatever bad luck befell him at that point. Played loose shots after getting starts when he was fit. ScrewKKR, man – you need to be fit for Australia.

2.5 – Suresh Raina (105 runs @13.12): If you take away the 78 he scored atLord’s, he made only 27 runs in the other 7 innings. Problems with the short ball, problems with spin… he was useful in one department though. He took 4 wickets, more than either Harby or Mishra. Maybe let him cook until well done in county cricket or something, with Pujara, Kohli and Rohit lurking.

2.0 – Abhinav Mukund (64 runs @16): Considering that the West Indianbowlers had him hopping around, his out-of-depth batting and failure in England comes as a surprise only to optimistic blind people. He can either tighten his game or remain a domestic bully.

"What? Mukund failed? What's a Mukund?"

2.0 – RP Singh (wicketless): Fitting, because this is RP 2.0, if upgradeactually meant severe downgrade. He won’t be happy about being plucked from Miami or wherever he was. We weren’t happy either. None of that great movement from four years ago, no pace – just a little control that didn’t mean much because he got tonked anyway.

1.5 – Amit Mishra (3 wickets @106.67): Marks just for that superb innings that drew everyone into watching the game, only to get out leaving us to witness a horrific collapse. Thanks a lot. I wouldn’t pick him in Tests ever again, not with Ojha around.

1.0 – Virender Sehwag (41 runs @10.25): Played when he was still unfit and bagged a historic king pair. It’s just one bad series for him, there’s no need to panic, but will he ever be fit enough again?

0.0 – Harbhajan Singh (2 wickets at 143.5): New low for him. No words for how utterly useless he was. In retrospect, “no words for how utterly useless he was” were actually words for how utterly useless he was. Right, I’m done.

Coming up, part 2, featuring England.

Contributed by DHCF Rishabh Bablani
Rishabh’s personal blog

Panic button in the times of Knee Jerks !

England on the verge of thrashing India 4-0 in the Test series. There are reactions galore. One of my friends said, “What happened all of a sudden that the batsmen, bowlers and fielders; all have failed except for one”.

Geoffrey Boycott  declared, “India look like a pale shadow of an ordinary team”. There are a lot of reactions, over-reactions and knee-jerk reaction with doomsayers abundant.

In spite of a lot of criticism, Dhoni declared, “No need to press the panic button”. Sreesanth said, “This is not the toughest series we have played”. Not much has been heard from the likes of Laxman, Sachin, Sehwag and of course Gambhir.

Facebook, Twitter and all social networking sites are overflowing with snide remarks, tweets and offensive comments about the greed of our players. It hurts to see a team lose like this. I don’t remember Team India playing such spineless Cricket since the 2003 New Zealand series.

For one who predicted a 2-1 or 1-2 or 2-2 result for the series, I too am taken aback. So I decided to sit back and doing a postmortem of the series. Keeping the knee-jerk out, here is what I feel about the series.

What went right for England

England were playing full strength with very few carrying injuries. Playing at home, they had abundant supply of replacements. They had walloped Australia in Australia and were very very eager for the No. 1 spot. They played ruthless, efficient and Champion brand of Cricket, no doubts. They deserve to be No. 1 now and no contesting that either. But if we look closer, so many things went in favor of England. Almost all things.

Home conditions, swinging pitches with bounce and carry.
All top order batters in form and even one who was out of form came out on top as the series progressed.
Their bowlers were definitely in supreme control and never allowed Indian batsmen to relax.
Every Umpiring and UDRS decisions went in favor of England. They got the Bell run-out reversed and sent Dravid packing when there was no clear evidence.
Overall they were fantastic on field and absolutely ruthless in every aspect including gamesmanship.

What went wrong for India

Sehwag and Gambhir in full form and fitness have terrorized best of the bowling attacks over the past 4 years. Both of them were coming back from long lay off and lack of match fitness showed.
Laxman and Tendulkar have done fabulously well for 4 years since 2007, the last time India toured England. Every time there was a crisis, one of these two had stepped in to lift the team. It was just the law of averages perhaps. Both failed in tandem.
During the series, India never completed test without someone breaking down.
Losing 2 out of 11 players on a tour can be tough. Then how about entire half of the team ? Gambhir, Zaheer, Harbhajan, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Sachin and then Praveen Kumar were hampered by injuries at one time or the other. Three of them were completely sidelined.
Umpires were reasonably kind to India but UDRS was not.

I have no complaint about the Cricket India played. The best of the teams can lose. But the way they capitulated to the pressure mounted by England to call back Bell was deplorable. For me, that was the defining moment in the series. If India had stood the ground, it would not have escalated into World war-3. But it definitely would have sent a message across. It was all downhill from there. The tough have thumped the soft-bellied meek.

This piece should not be dismissed as rantings of a disgruntled Indian fan. Just remember how England bumbled through World Cup 2011 and then kept complaining about everything including the size of the shrimps served for dinner.

Before we castigate this team for this series, let us not forget they had ‘Won’ the World Cup less than four months ago and had not lost a Test series since 2008. This just was one really sad series where nothing went right for India and everything worked perfectly for England. That will not happen all the times. India will bounce back and we have enough talent to sustain us in the Top-3 if not the top spot.

So, cheer up guys and gals and relax. Tomorrow is another day and Poms will fall sooner than later !

Govind Raj Shenoy for DieHard Cricket Fans

Dead Man Walking – the Indian cricket version

It hurts.

The last time I felt like this was when India were knocked out of the 2007 World Cup in the first round itself.

This time, the pain is worse. Watching your team lose its number 1 ranking is never a pleasant thing, but the manner in which they lost it is the most galling. Its hard to come on Twitter or read any news related to the on-going series because of this. A lot of people have been waiting for India’s reign to end, and now that it has happened, they are in what can only be known as ‘orgasmic’ delight.

The much vaunted batting line up has failed to fire. The bowlers have been inconsistent. The fielding has been in shambles. The players look disinterested in the field. Every other day, a player gets injured. All in all, it has been one of the most depressing and soul sapping tours for an Indian cricket fan, let alone an Indian player.

There is still some light at the end of the tunnel. When England got whitewashed in the 2006 Ashes in Australia, the ECB reviewed what went wrong and took some steps, which has ultimately resulted in their team being crowned as Number 1, 5 years down the line. Even Australia have taken some dramatic steps based on the Argus review of their disastrous Ashes performance recently. While it would be too much to expect the same from the Indian board, I hope that they keep aside their obsession with money for just a while, and take some important and necessary steps towards correcting the inherent flaws present in the system, which is preventing the Indian team from being better than they can actually be. There is no shortage of well meaning former players and other experts with intelligent suggestions; hopefully, the BCCI will take heed.

For what its worth, here are some ideas:

• Appoint someone like Anil Kumble or any other respected former player to review what went wrong with the same team that fought better when they toured Australia and South Africa; and implement the suggestions.
• Something which has been repeated ad nauseum – we need more practice games when we tour abroad. We just can’t afford to start slow everytime we play an away series.
• There is no dearth of talented players in the country, and many of them seem to do well, when they play A tours or other Emerging Players tournaments; but when they make the leap to the international arena, they are being found short. Its not only about the cricketing skills; players need to be mentally ready when they make their debuts. This is where senior players like Tendulkar, Dravid and Zaheer have just vital roles to play. Their best days might be over but now it is necessary for them to train the younger generation in matters which even the IPL can’t prepare them for.
• Players are not machines. Unless the Board realizes that, they will just have to do with the all too frequent injury breakdowns. Review the packed schedule and ensure sufficient recharging time for the players, so that the best team is always available to play when marquee series are round the corner.
• Cricket can be a cruel game. One day you are feted as world champions, the next you are being pilloried by all and sundry for one lousy series. This team is lucky to have a level headed skipper and battle hardened coach who has seen his share of disastrous tours; but some of the players could be psychologically scarred, what with all the spate of cricketers confessing of depression during their playing days and this is where a sports psychologist is handy. Employ one on a full-time basis, so that players learn to handle depressing days like this better.

These are just some ideas, and there are more experienced people with wiser ideas out there. Hopefully, something good can come out of this right royal mess.
Meanwhile, kudos to the English team. They have played like champions and deserve top billing. All credit goes to Flower, Strauss and his band of merry men, who have the attributes necessary to stay at the top longer than India did. While they will look to win a series in India to establish indisputable credentials for the top ranking, they would do well to take note of an opposition who might be following the proceedings keenly: South Africa. With a new coach and a bunch of world class players itching to prove that they are the best, South Africa remain as their biggest threat to the top ranking. At least THAT would be a contest to savor!

Benny for DieHard Cricket Fans
Follow Benny on Twitter @tracerbullet007

England’s Perfect Equilibrium Takes Them To The Top of Test Cricket

At Edgbaston on Saturday 13th August 2011 England beat India by an innings and 242 runs, a mammoth victory that saw them climb to the top of the ICC test cricket rankings, replacing India at the top after their comprehensive 3-0 series victory.

Quite a feat, and to quantify that further, its scarcely two and a half years since Andy Flower was appointed Director of Cricket and Andrew Strauss became Captain of an England side languishing in sixth in the same ICC rankings.

In the past 2 years Flower and Strauss have transformed England into a well-oiled machine which has demolished Australia, Sri Lanka and now India in successive test series, winning 8 out of the 9 series the two have presided over, drawing only the 2009 tour of South Africa.

So how have Strauss and Flower orchestrated England’s masterplan? Let’s start by looking at the bowlers.

The term “hunting in packs” might be slightly clichéd these days but it does accurately describe how England go about their business with the ball. There isn’t necessarily a stand-out bowler that you would throw the cherry to to get a much-needed wicket as you would have in the Andrew Flintoff era perhaps. Instead pressure is built by the whole bowling attack, bowling consistent lines and lengths, asking questions of the batsmen with every ball, testing their patience and technique and not letting them settle or get a free hit at the other end.

Look at how England took Indian wickets Edgbaston. Apart from Dravid in the 1st innings, who got a snorter from Bresnan, the rest of the Indian batsmen gave their wickets away, lacking patience and not being able to cope with the short stuff that was served up. England bowled to plans and India obliged by succumbing to the pressure.

And we’re not talking about inexperienced batsmen here – England’s bowlers have dominated the likes of Tendulkar, Laxman, Gambhir and Dravid in this series, probing away on a consistent line outside off stump and not giving any runs away, waiting for the batsman to try and force the issue and make a mistake, which has invariably happened. If that’s failed, a few short balls has done the job, either way, India haven’t been able to cope with it.

And it doesn’t half help that England are the best fielding side in world cricket too right now. The bowlers know that any edge they induce is almost certain to be pouched. Imagine being an Indian bowler on the second evening at Edgbaston when Eoin Morgan was dropped at slip by the normally-dependable Rahul Dravid? No wonder Indian spirits were so low during that mammoth England innings in Birmingham – India had chances to make inroads, but they dropped a sack-full of chances.

Having a bowling attack like England’s certainly helps, but the batsmen still need to score runs, and right now England’s batting lineup are delivering some big scores. Alastair Cook has broken all sorts of records of late and is taking a lot of the plaudits right now, but all of the top 7 have contributed runs in the last year. Teams know England are capable of scoring colossal totals now and will wonder or even doubt that they’ll be able to compete with that.

I remember the days when England would struggle to pass 300 on a regular basis. Now it is the teams England play, not England themselves that falter with the bat.

Right now England have the perfect equilibrium between their batsmen and their bowlers; the batsmen are scoring big which gives the bowlers plenty to work with and the bowlers are running through batting lineups and giving their batsmen low targets to aim for. It’s a simple game when both components are firing!

Some people have said that England are top of a form of the game that is dying a death and that perhaps their opposition, rightly or wrongly aren’t as concerned about test cricket as they once were and as England still are. It’d be foolish not to acknowledge that fact, but at the same time England can only beat was is in front of them. Australia and India are undoubtedly going through transitional periods, but these things are all cyclical – they will be back. And don’t forget, Australia took great pleasure in tearing through England series after series, so we shouldn’t feel too bad for them!

For now England are top dog and deservedly so. With the first Test Championships taking place in England in 2013, they will be hoping for a long reign at the top of this great game.

Tom Huelin for DieHard Cricket Fans
Follow Tom on Twitter @tomhue1

That’s not funny, MS

Not much to say at this point.

Contributed by DHCF Rishabh Bablani
Rishabh’s personal blog

  

Some Reasons for Defeat in England

Some reasons that I have shortlisted for India’s defeat

1) Selection: The selection of the playing XI has been a bit tricky, India have not picked horses for courses…Selecting Raina ahead of Yuvi in 1st test was baffling and more so baffling by picking raina for 3rs test, after a poor 2nd test Raina should have been replaced. Virat Kohli could have been given chance and he would also have added more value by his medium pace bowling which would have come handy in English conditions and we have been missing a handy 4th medium pace(slow) bowler.Picking Mishra for 3rd test was more surprising, the wicket was very green; on the 1st day of the test it was difficult to find a difference between the wicket and the outfield. India should have gone with all 4 pace attack. Picking Mishra confused me no end because England had 4 left handed batsmen in top 7, hitting with the spin made their life easy.

2) Initiatives: India have failed to grab the initiatives, they made chances but was not able to convert it into something big. India were able to land light punches on England but was not able to give the killer blow on England which was very important. Chances were made like in 2nd test India had England on the mat but still they made a strong come back through broad and swann, which in the end resulted in India’s loss. Even the batsmen have failed to make an impact someone like Gautam Gambhir made a very good 38 in 3rd test but failed to make a big one, some like Abhinav Mukund failed to convert a good start to match winning innings. This is where England have made a big impact, there have been 2 double centuries and 3 100s so far in 3 test matches.

3) Patience: Indian batsmen have not been patient enough to fight it out in the middle. Players like Abhinav Mukund and Raina have given away their wicket too early. They should learn something from players like Kevin Pietersen, Rahul Dravid, and Ali Cook. KP was struggling for form before India series and even during the 1st test where he scored an unbeaten 200, he was struggling for the first 100 runs but he didn’t throw it away, in fact made a fight back against the India. Even Ali Cook had a very poor series till the 3rd test but he made a grand comeback with a double in 3rd test. The impact of the comeback innings shows your real character, it isn’t easy to come back fighting all odds. Someone like Raina is always seen committing same mistake, he should certainly take Cook as an example of how to make the comeback when going gets tough.

4) Runs: I just feel India have not been able to rotate the strike that often easily; they have kind of stuck at one end. Rotating strike regularly disturbs the line and length of the bowlers which India have failed to do it and neither have they taken the attack on English bowlers. Whenever Indian has taken attack on the English bowlers their line and length have been wayward. In 3rd test when MS took an attack on them in both the innings they were found wanting and they were clueless. Indian batsmen have been stuck at same end for long time which leads to pressure, which in turn leads to a wicket. Blaming on the bowlers would be very wrong as batsmen have failed to put up a score on the board. If India would have been able to make a big score in 1st innings, there would have been spring in the stride of bowlers, you would have seen more catching and attacking positions, the bowlers and the captain would have enjoyed the luxury of runs, more pressure would have been created on England batsmen, and more importantly the wicket/pitch would have detoriated which would have benefited the Indian bowlers and spinners specially, India have bowled on fresh wickets which have made batting a bit easy for their batsmen. India has failed to score a 300 in this series so far.

5) Margin of defeats: The margins of defeats in 1st two tests and the way India have lost in this series that is having a huge effect, and coming back from such defeats is never easy. The morale in the dressing must be very low after such huge defeats especially when you are the number 1 team in tests. There was only one man who could have raised the morale of the team, but that man himself has not been able to score a big one. Sachin Tendulkar is the only man who could have raised the morale of the team very easily by scoring a big one, if Sachin was able to score a big 100 then that would have given some thing for the team to cheer about, not only it would have made India make a big total but also made all other players feel happy and good about something. We have had almost nothing to cheer about in this series, other than a few handful performances, we have been poor in this series.

6) Lower Middle order batsmen of England have made a huge impact in this series, someone like Broad, Bresnan, Swann and Prior have added more runs that the top order of India. England have also made comebacks from poor positions, when a team makes a comeback from loosing or poor position it actually raises the morale of the team no end. England would have loved the way Swann and Broad made a comeback in 1st Innings of 2nd test; it would have given them a lot of confidence. Whereas Indian lower middle order like Bhajji, MS have not been able to make a big contribution.
The morale of the team has gone from bad to worse and there has been dropping shoulders too early in the match.

Reasons like No Practice Games, not going to WI, injury to Zaheer Khan and other players actually don’t hold any truth because If you take the reason of Not enough warm up games but then after playing 2 tests and 2 warm up games what has India done in 3rd test, playing 2 test matches and 2 warm up games actually didn’t improve our performance. Reason like not going to WI, we need to consider that WI team was a 2nd string team, and players who went there like MS, Raina have also failed to make an impact in this series. Injury is part and parcel of the game, what happened to Zak was unfortunate it could have happened to anyone at any time you can’t blame excess or lack of cricket to it and since we were the number one team in tests how could we just hope on one bowler to take all the wickets. Even someone like England have faced injuries in this series Tremlett was injured and was replaced by Bresnan who has performed brilliantly with both bat and ball, even their best bat Trott got injured but then Bell has taken his place with utmost responsibility. So players who replace the injured players should be good enough to fill that void in the team to benefit the team.

To end I would say this series have been disappointing but still as a cricket lover winning and losing is part and parcel of the game, sometimes we lose and most often we win. We should stand by the team rather than being critical of the performance. We have been number one for around 20 months which has been a good journey and let’s hope we would reach there once again very soon.
We should accept that England has played well in this series and they deserve to be number 1 but let’s see how long they be number 1.

Ricky Singh for DieHard Cricket Fans