The Jaffer question

And as the Indian top order comes apart before the Lions, the time is ripe to ask: should we open with Jaffer at Lords? Many critics have pointed out, it is not that Jaffer keeps getting out, it is the way he gets out, ever late in coming forward. Today he was struck on the pads before he could get the bat around. This technical glitch, they say, will result in a horror run of opening partnerships throughout the series. It is not something a good batting coach can iron out in an hour.
He, however, is a batsman capable of huge scores with tremendous experience at the first class level. Remember that he capped off a disaster run in South Africa with some great batting in the third test - yes, the one we lost. I think Dravid should give Jaffer a chance at Lords.

Two spinners?

Let's be honest. On the basis of the evidence so far on the England tour, neither Bose nor Ishant Sharma deserve a place in the team for the Lords Test. So when we can use both Ganguly and Tendulkar as back-up seaming options, why not go with two spinners? Admittedly it is a little unorthodox, but it is certainly not stupid. In the last match, Bose looked tamer than a pussycat. In the words of whoever it was that was doing the ball-by-ball on Cricinfo, "when he got it straight it didn't swing, and when he got it to swing it was too wide to matter". Ishant Sharma already sent down nine no balls today, the first day of the tour match against the England Lions. Problems galore clearly, in the heads of these rookies, and Lords is not the place to throw them into the deep end. R P Singh has a proven ability to be predictable. A little more zip in his bowling, and he would move from 'predictable' to 'metronomic'. But in any case, a second left-armer will lend a certain sameness to the attack, which a captain certainly does not want. (Remember the Karachi Test?) Powar gets my vote.

Laxman made his case for inclusion, scoring 95 against Sussex. Mukul Kesavan blogs in Cricinfo that Dravid need not necessarily be faced with an either/or situation concerning Laxman and Yuvraj. He argues that with Kaarthik almost a certainty, dropping Dhoni to play both Laxman and Yuvraj might be the more prudent approach. Not only does Yuvraj provide all the firepower options of a Dhoni, there is also Yuvraj's left-arm spin option available.

The reason that this may not sit well with Dravid is that asking Kaartick to open the innings soon after keeping wickets for two days could be taking things a bit too far. Of course, Sangakkara often walks in very early on in a Sri Lankan innings after keeping wickets, but to be sure, no team is quite prepared to place such a burden on a 'keeper.

As of now, the top seven are likely to be: Jaffer, Kaartick, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Ganguly and Dhoni. Dravid has said that the match against the Lions would see the best Indian batting line-up.

"The greatest cricketer of the modern era, was a smoker."Michael Atherton walks down memory lane in the Sunday Telegraph.

Zaheer in England

Zaheer put up an inspired display for Worcestershire in 2006, and was along with Ganguly's return and Sreesanth's seam position, one of the stories of the South Africa tour. He had Grame Smith's number for most of the series, and was constantly on the lookout for wickets until the patience of Ashwell Prince thwarted him.
Zaheer returns to England to play a Test match, after almost six years. The last time around, it was a lacklustre display. In four matches he had a haul of eleven wickets. To be fair, Ajit Agarkar fared even worse while Ashish Nehra picked up five wickets from two matches. This time, Zaheer is expected to show leadership at the head of the pace bowling pack. With Strauss and Alistair Cook - the mature head on a young body, a left-handed opening pair, Zaheer has a proven ability to make an impression at the top of the order, swining the ball bothways. After almost eight years in the international scene (not counting the break when he was dropped shortly after the 2003 World Cup) he is by far the most experienced of our pacemen in England. If India are to win, he will need to use his extensive experience with playing in damp, overcast conditions to effectively mentor Sreesanth, Ranadeep Bose and Ishant Sharma. And this is turning out to be a much wetter late summer than we hoped for.

The Laxman-Yuvraj problem. Again!

Has Ganguly cemented his place in the Test squad? With a memorable display in the tour to South Africa, one would be inclined to think he would be given a few more chances. If that is the case, Jaffer, Kaarthick, Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dhoni have confirmed spots in the batting line-up. Assuming that we play four bowlers, (probably Sreesanth, Zaheer, Ishant Sharma and Kumble), that leaves the spot open for one batsman. And once again, the choice is between Yuvraj Singh and VVS Laxman.
Yuvraj has made an emphatic case for his inclusion, grafting and exploding his way to a series defining performance. Laxman cannot be ignored easily either. Laxman's batting was crucial to the victory at Johannesburg. His batting in the tour to the West Indies would also be remembered more, were it not for the phenomenal efforts of Rahul Dravid. However, Laxman's subsequent failures in South Africa contributed to the series loss from a winning position.
Even if we ignore immediate performances, bith players have enough reason to feel wronged.
Laxman's ODI career was unceremoniously set aside: the rise of more athletic and powerful players like Yuvraj Singh was certainly a factor. Laxman has also been moved up and down the order whenever the interests of "team balance" dictated such a move. Equally, Yuvraj - despite being able to hold a place in the one-day squad consistently for the last seven years, has never been given too many chances to perform in the Test arena. Both started out as classy attacking batsmen, leaving fans drooling at their talent. The compulsions of international cricket have forced both to learn the art of staying at the wicket. In the one-day version of the game, Yuvraj is now seen as "one of the best finishers" of the game - someone who can accumulate, accelerate and change gears easily. Laxman's substantial innings over the past two years have been achieved through a fierce determination to stay at the wicket. The trademark audacious drives and flicks have been reined in substantially.
We are no closer to where we were at the beginning. How will Dravid n' Borde pick between these two without being unfair to one?

Sardesai moves on..

Time, reportage and vedio film have done a bad job of recreating Sardesai for our generation. After he has moved on, the praise flows effortlessly. "A man so good he could open and play in the middle order with equal ease", "The best player of spin India ever had", "A man who surprisingly never cemented a spot in the squad", and the most heard, "The man who took India to the pinnacle of world cricket", having along with the young Gavaskar, sculpted India's first ever series victory in the West Indies. Sardesai's double hundred to bail India out of trouble a second time, is a tale that deserves to be repeated much more.

The Yuvraj Singh show

Sachin was right in sharing his MoS award with Yuvraj Singh. Quite cute really, this "all for one" business. Ganguly did not seem so "aloof" and it almost seemed like the Natwest false dawn all over again. Thankfully, Dravid did not want to take his shirt off.
And hopefully, this will not obscure the tougher challenges that lay ahead: namely Steve Harmison, Mathew Hoggard, Pieterson and Monty Panesar.

An English Swansong?

This is where the world first sat up and took notice of a precocious tiny fifteen-year old with tight curly hair who had just saved his team the blushes with a superb hundred. And as he returns to the island nation of seam and bloody bad weather, one can be certain that thoughts of the karmic circle, mortality and retirement are not too far away. After all, his idol Viv Richards too walked into the sunset after an English summer.

Yesterday, Sachin scored the second of his consecutive nineties against the South African visitors. And what a knock it was, distinct from the touch n' feel nature of the first, and far removed from the trudging nature of his innings' in Bangladesh. Cut, pull, hook, crunching drive, quick single: all the elements that made him the pre-eminent batsman of the late nineties and early 00s. If this is to be his swansong, and he has given us no indication that it will be, then England better watch out.

75

Seventy-five years of Test cricket. Here's to seven hundred more.

Protecting a great Indian from Indians

Shashi Tharoor has written a particularly hard-hitting essay in the Times of India about the constructed "Bharatiya Sanskar" and the violence carried out in the name of all Indians. The focus is on M F Hussain. Read it while you take a break from the cricket.

Void Contract?

Sreesanth, Zaheer and Laxman have reason to be disgusted. While Laxman has been demoted to Grade B, both Sreesanth and Zaheer are in Grade C. Of the two Test victories of consequence in the last 8 months, these three were largely responsible. The Jo'burg victory would not have been possible without their heroics. If I were Dravid, I would be very worried that there were three players in the squad to England who are seriously demoralized. Two of them are fast bowlers, whose bodies can find it very easy to give up on them if the mind is not willing.

Shiv!

I used to be an irrational Chanderpaul hater, repeatedly lampooning him as talentless and undeserving of a spot in a batting line-up that included Lara. And for years, in the face of mounting evidence, I clutched at straws to push my argument. And now finally, I am admitting defeat: any batsman who can survive (yeah, just surviving will do) for eighteen hours at the crease in between dismissals is a good batsman. And in a lineup full of pretenders, he is the only hope. He might not represent the wizardry that the West Indian game symbolises, but right now, he means much more to the team that the more talented Gayle and Samuels.

Now please, think again

Ha ha ha, is all I'd like to tell the BCCI. I guess the BCCI ethic was too far removed from the professionalism and vision of Kent, for Ford to care too much. At least now, contemplate a systematic, reasoned approach. But first, wipe that egg off your face.

The Harbhajan tragedy

With nineteen five wicket hauls in 57 Test matches, his ability is hardly in doubt. A reading of his stats since 2005 does not make for very happy reading.
His average over this period (37.40) is significantly higher than his career bowling average (29.86). During this period, he has gone through three wicketless Test matches, and barring a sterling effort in the last home series against the Lankans, he has not had any significant impact on the outcome of a series. He also had a truly horrific series in Pakistan: no wickets at an economy rate of 4.38. This was followed by an unconvincing series against England at home, averaging 48. The tour of the Caribbean saw what could be a return to normal service: two five wicket hauls and a series average of 24.

Since then, he has not played in too many matches with Anil Kumble making a return as the spinner of choice where there is not enough room for two. Prior to the Bangladesh tour, it was made clear that Harbhajan was being dropped: not 'rested' like Sachin and Saurav.

Harbhajan's travails over the past few years are the true tragedy of the Chappell reign. The bright part is that he is still only 26, and just entering that phase of a spinner's life - as popular wisdom would have it, when he matures like fine wine, finding new subtleties where previously there were none. What he needs now is a truly supportive coach: someone who will permit him the freedom of the whole range of his artistry.

What more?

The lack of transparency in cricket administration has been an almost permanent rant among the sensible fans of Indian cricket. Transparency, the right to information and voluntary disclosure are all part of the corporate governance brouhaha and even six year olds know they breed accountability.
Yesterday, when asked about why Whatmore was no longer in contention for the coach's job, Niranjan Shah refused an aswer. In an ideal world, the media should never have had to ask that question. But making a reasoned decision has never been the BCCI's forte.

It'll have to be Ford, won't it?

A flawed selection process has ensured that the Indian team will most likely be coached by Ford. Actually flawed doesn't even begin to describe it. Try stupid, maybe archaic. To begin with, no one has any clue who wants the job. So instead of evaluating the merits of candidates, we went through a ridiculous foreigner versus Indian debate: something that our economic policy started discarding fifteen years back. And then there were random names picked out of a hat - John Emburey, Ranatunga: and no one, least of all the BCCI had any idea about their availability. In the same meeting, the former frontrunner Whatmore was discarded and the public still has no idea why - except rumours of how Gavaskar believes he lacked tactical acumen.
Anyway, the good thing is at least now we know there are two candidates for the job. The value of "player's opinion" though, means that its a one-horse race.

Kaif

"It's been a strange journey for Kaif, a man often dubbed a future India captain till recently — not just because of an ability to keep a steady head on his shoulders in pressure-cooker situations and win matches for India coming in at a difficult No. 7, but also because he showed none of the off-field quirks of character or unsteadiness that some of his contemporaries displayed. "

Read the full text of an interaction with Mohammed Kaif, that appeared in the Hindustan Times.

Cricket's ultimate failed rockstar

Guardian carried an interview with Paul Smith, ex-cricketer who had to face a ten-year ban for recreational drug taking.

Another English summer

I don't think there is anything quite like watching India tour England. The very first practice match itself will prick every optimistic bubble in my body when the Indian batting will fold before some dibbly-dobblers. And from then on until the first Test match, I will rejoice like a true Indian fan, looking for individual performances - a Dravid hundred, a century opening partnership, a Zaheer five-for, a belligerent rearguard from Dhoni, all interspersed with healthy amounts of rain and polite clapping.
And then the Test matches will begin. If it clicks, it is beautiful - like Leeds. If it doesn't, it is heartbreaking, because the batting would have very likely gifted wickets to a part-timer. Both teams, after having faced West Indies and Bangladesh respectively, know that they will be facing stiffer opposition. The currently wayward English fast bowling (Sidebottom notwithstanding) will be coached by one Mr. White Lightning. India will arrive in England with an as-yet-unappointed coach. We can watch KP against Kumble and Tendulkar against Monty. Hopefully Vaughan will be fit and that will raise Dravid's captaincy game as well - as one who does best when pitted against the best. I can't wait.