Back to regular programming

Only ABDe's double was a little hallucinogenic. Actually, if you come to think of it, it was quite mundane. It is not the first time that a seemingly ordinary batsman has played career defining innings' against India. Chanderpaul, Andy Flower, Younis Khan etc. were all seemingly regular crew until they came across India.

Then a West Indian umpire refused to give Kallis LBW on something which someone I know would ve described as 'It doesn't get plumber than this'.

Poor Sree toiled with the new ball. And he was good. Just not as good as Steyn or Ntini were.

Harbhajan started losing it after a while. Combination of turn and bounce is usually enough for him, but it just wasn't working against a patient Kallis, and an unusually adept ABDe.

Arpy and Pathan were sorry. I will soon conclude that they are worthless if the ball will not swing in from around the over, or away from around the stumps. But Akram could make it move anywhere. They're still quite young so, a long way to go to become the complete package. Am even tempted to say that Mitch might have been better than them on this pitch.

So. Get ready for pain, folks.

Hallucinogen cricket

First of all, there was actual grass on the pitch.

Then we see something we were hoping we'd not see from the Indian batting for a while and that was the "spineless batting collapse". Over the past three or four years, one of Sachin, Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly have been able to stand up amidst a few ruins, and occasionally Dhoni, Pathan and Kumble as well. We can hope that this was bound to happen some time, and they have got it out of their system.

We also see something that the pitch at Chennai led us into feeling we'd not see again in a while - the unplayable Steyn ball that got Dravid. The last one was when the recently banned Akthar bowled a couple in the 3.7 overs he bowled during the entire series.

Then the South African openers batted on a completely different pitch.

Then we see a glimpse of Harbhajan's past. Even when the track was not offering much, he created doubt in the batsman's mind. Three wickets, all foxed.

Then. Then a period of batting from Jaques Kallis, that astoundingly enough could only be described as "counter attack", racing to 25 from 35 balls. At the other end is ABDe who is completely in his shell.

We are then given to undersand that the best fast bowlers India could put up are insipid even on a slightly helpful pitch. Arpy Singh has returned to earth and Sreesanth remains unconvincing - though it must be said that neither had their share of luck. Sree did ask the occasional question, bit it is Arpy's performance when he is neither able to get the ball to dip in from over the stumps, or straighten from around the stumps that is worrying.

Weird.

Smirked too fast?

Three South African pacemen had an impact on the game on the fourth day, pulling the match back before it got away. Arpy and Sree struggled to have any sort of impact, and merely laying the blame on the pitch will not help Kumble's team move forward. Knowing how he plays his game, Kumble will have a few questions to ask himself and his fast bowlers in the few days before the team takes the field at Motera on what is expected to be even flatter than Chennai. 

Has the hype over the infusion of life into the Indian fast bowling been proved to be just that? Were the performances on overseas tours over the past years, just an extended flash in the pan? Were we too early to rejoice? Is Arpy Singh the new Agarkar? Can Ishant Sharma sustain his Messianic appeal on soul-destroying pitches? Is he too young and inexperienced to be so critical to our fortunes already? Is not Zaheer bound to have at least another low in his career? Will Sree ever become a true sultan of swing? Should not Munaf, Pathan and VRV be threatening more to wrest a spot in the squad? Or can all the fast bowling woes over the last few days be solved by the induction of Pathan at the expense of Jaffer? 

Not time to panic yet. This was Arpy's first bad performance in a match since he made his return against Bangladesh - and has shown remarkable consistency - but not fitness, until now. Sree has not played a Test since the Oval (?) and is now probably only fourth in the pecking order anyway.  

Not panicking yet, just some questions.

Arpy's first Test at home!

Its a thin line between attacking and loose, and Bhajji ain't walking it. His good balls have been few, and there have been several hit-me balls.
Arpy Singh on the other hand, is not even a shadow of his self in Australia and England. Playing in his first Test at home, he looked among other things, lazy - which is not something I thought could be said of him. And it is not as if he is a stranger to batting beauties. His debut was against Pakistan on a dead Faisalabad track. (We use a term in Malayalam to refer to er.. less endowed women which directly translates to "the frog over which a Tamil goods lorry has passed".. well, suffice to say that it was that kind of a track. Afridi mauled Bhajji, Arpy took 4-for in a MoM performance, and Pakistan made 588 in the first innings, and India responded with 603)
Is he unfit? Unlikely considering he picked up five wickets in a domestic Deodhar game. Not only were there a few bloopers on the field, his first spell was consistently in the mid 120s while Sree - not so Santh anymore, was regularly in the mid 130s. Sree might have gone for almost as many runs, but those who watched him bowl will know he created far more chances on what appears to be the flattest of tracks. If Arpy does not pull up his socks - a lot, in the second innings, the choice of who to drop when Ishant returns will become easier.

What's your ideal Indian ODI atack?

Okay, the assumption here is that Pathan is not an all-rounder, and if he needs to fit in, has to be one of four bowlers. And I am not including Praveen Kumar, Munaf or Powar in the equation. You are welcome to question that. I am also assuming that we will very rarely be in a position to play both frontline spinners together. Here are the options:

A. Zaheer, Arpy, Pathan, Bhajji
B. Zaheer, Arpy, Pathan, Chawla
C. Zaheer, Arpy, Sreesanth, Bhajji
D. Zaheer, Arpy, Ishant, Bhajji
E. Zaheer, Arpy, Sreesanth, Chawla
F. Zaheer, Arpy, Ishant, Chawla
G. Zaheer, Pathan, Sreesanth, Bhajji
H. Zaheer, Pathan, Ishant, Bhajji
I. Zaheer, Pathan, Ishant, Chawla
J. Zaheer, Pathan, Sreesanth, Bhajji
K. Zaheer, Pathan, Sreesanth, Chawla
L. Zaheer, Pathan, Ishant, Bhajji
M. Arpy, Pathan, Ishant, Bhajji
N. Arpy, Pathan, Ishant, Chawla
O. Arpy, Pathan, Sreesanth, Bhajji
P. Arpy, Pathan, Sreesanth, Chawla
Q. Arpy, Ishant, Sreesanth, Bhajji
R. Arpy, Ishant, Sreesanth, Chawla
S. Zaheer, Ishant, Sreesanth, Bhajji
T. Zaheer, Ishant, Sreesanth, Chawla
U. Pathan, Ishant, Sreesanth, Chawla
V. Pathan, Ishant, Sreesanth, Bhajji


Have I missed a permutation? In fact, I am certain that there are more.

But that is quite a few options if everyone is fit. It will be quite lovely if one of Pathan or Praveen Kumar is able to fit the Hopes mould, in which case, Yuvraj Singh will never have to bowl. Yay!!

All's well with the world

Right now, life seems to be clothed in a mellow light, there are birds singing outside my window and they aren't annoying, and the weather in Delhi is just the perfect mix of cool, breeze and sunshine. Also, India have just won themselves the most signifcant match since I started watching the game.

Even if India go on and lose badly at Adelaide, to script the first half of a turnaround from 2-0 down, is remarkable for a touring Indian team. Forget the events at Sydney. Forget that it was Perth. Forget that the legendary Hayden was sitting out. This match is one for the ages, simply for the confidence-injection that it will give the likes of Arpy, Pathan, Ishant, Dhoni and Sehwag. Here is a team that can now create its own winning streaks, provided they continue to look forward.

Ishant Sharma will leave Perth knowing that he made the best batsman in the world today, look like a tailender. Pathan and Sehwag know that they belong in the international arena. Arpy knows for sure that he can lead an Indian attack in years to come. Dhoni hasn't messed up with the gloves all series.

Can we forget the role of the Chief? Lead kindly Kumble. Credit to him for lifting the team from Sydney. Hope he lingers as captain for more years. What a champion! Nineteen wickets in the series already. Talk about leading from the front!

Pathan has become a very smart cricketer, and I suspect he is fast turning into what Uncle J Rod calls a Probot. When asked to bowl when the ball is flying around, even a television viewer is arrested by the sense of calm that he brings in. You can almost see him make an assesment of the situation, and quitely determines the line and length that is largely required. That he had evolved into someone who could look beyond the storm, was clear in the T20 World Cup itself. In Tests, he is not only a bowler who can make the new ball talk in helpful conditions, but also someone who can be relied upon to keep it tight when the strokemakers are set, and perhaps induce an error. With such an abundance of left arm swing bowling options, he may not always make the team, but his presence will make Zak and Arpy persevere for improvement. Man of the match in the T20 finals, a hundred in his comeback Test match, and now another MoM performace when it counts.

Sehwag should go forward from here and he should not give anyone a reason to question his spot at the top of the order. His contribution to this team cannot be measured in terms of his runs, wickets and strike rates alone. "Work ethic" was one of those sound bytes floating around when he was dropped and it is up to him to make sure that not even demented selectors and BCCI mandarins have a reason to say that again. But what a bowling performance, na?

Jaffer remains the only one to have not made a contribution in Australia, and the knives are out. I hope they persist with him, but I have no words in his defence. But I will stick by my point that as a team looking to challenge Australia consistently, a settled opening partnership is important, and that means identifying openers who will do the work for you over the long run and then sticking with them through good times and bad.

Australia will need to reconfigure their bowling attack, and in all probability, so will India. But Mitchell's skills as a swing bowler are under some doubt, and Wasim Akram keeps criticizing his new bowling action on air. Ponting needs to do something about that fast, or find a better third seamer. He also needs to ask himself if he got carried away by the hype. Why did he not include a spinner at Perth? Was it because the part-time spinners did better than Hogg in Sydney? Or did he believe that this Perth wicket required a four-man pace attack? He will need to question how he arrived at that conclusion. It is strange when a visting team assesses conditions better than the home team.

As for Adelaide, expectations are already sky high. Mather Hayden will be back, and India have a chance to level the series. I cannot wait.

Moment of the day (so far)

Yorker from Arpy bowling over the stumps to Symonds who gets the bat down. Ball meets bat, continues in the direction of middle stump, bounces lightly and then spins off trajectory, down leg. After that, Symonds went crazy.

Was that India playing out there?

It was a performance too clinical to believe, one worthy of India's next opponents - the Aussies. Recovering well from a stumble on a lively pitch against the quality bowling of Pollock, Morkel and Ntini, they bowled and fielded with an intensity that not only got them through, but in an amazing reversal of fortunes, the knocked out the previously unbeaten South Africans. A young Indian team, under its young captain, posted a comprehensive victory without its best player. And that is far more significant than the Aussies thumping the Lankans without Ponting.

Anyway, Arpy again. What a bowler he is turning out to be! After a three-over first spell when he showed Sreesanth the virtues of bowling the new ball on a tight line and length, he returned to fire in yorkers and bouncers in a last over where he clocked 143 kmph. Pietersen certainly wasn't lying when he called him a "highly skilled swing bowler".

And Rohit Sharma. Eased into international cricket with four off his first fourteen deliveries, and then caught the South Africans napping with some sensational driving and cutting. A deserving man-of-the-match, he also got a crucial run out of Justin Kemp to cap a sensational night for the young batsman. He seems to have the attacking technique and temprament to make it at the highest level in all forms of the game. Quite significantly, his first international effort has come on a fresh pitch at one of India's least favourite grounds, when the chips were stacked high against him.

What of MS Dhoni? His batting in this series has been a revelation. I know that many will disagree and say that captaincy has made his eschew his customary hammer-and-tongs approach, but I have four words for them. Proof of the pudding. Especially at a time when our line-up is filled to the brim with lovely shotmakers, it is not a sin, even in T20, to have someone around to shepherd the innings. And the fact that he has done so quite a few times in this series, speaks highly of his thinking - someone capable of looking beyond the immediate.

Against Australia though, India's traditional failings might stand exposed. Today India were placed in a situation where Rohit Sharma absolutely had to fire. Giving the Aussies an opportunity like that would be akin to suicide. Similarly, the Aussies would certainly make the several extra deliveries bowled by India count. Sreesanth has to be careful.