Rahul Dravid - The Master Technician

I don't have privilege of watching any of the Sunil Gavaskar's innings. Never watched Gundappa Vishwanath batting. Don't have any idea how Geoff Boycott and Vivian Richards batted as I never watched them batting. But I am lucky enough to watch Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Jacques Kallis and Virender Sehwag batting. All these stalwarts have class of their own and quite unique also in their way of batting. But one man who stands tall among all these stalwarts is Rahul Dravid, simply because of his great technique which made him one of the finest batsman of all time. Yet lost in aura of all greats. 

I can say one thing for sure, among all the batsmen I watched, I found Rahul Dravid far superior when it comes to technique. Tendulkar have all the records in the world, Kallis is great all-rounder, Sourav Ganguly finest Indian captain ever, Virender Sehwag the crusader, VVS Laxman the elegant right hander. But among all Rahul Dravid stands tall, yet always remained in shadow of all these greats and never got the credit for what he did for Indian cricket. He is player who holds the distinction of scoring highest runs in the test matches which India won. So he is easily the match winner. With the retirement of Rahul Dravid, Team India lost the biggest ever match-winner of all time. When he started his career he was labelled as test batsman but  with his sheer determination and dedication to the game, made him one of the finest ODI batsman as well who went on to score more than 10000 runs in ODIs as well, which is no mean achievement.

What makes Rahul Dravid, the champion? I think its his patience which  make him the champion. I have seen bowlers getting tired because of aggressive stroke-making of Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar, which is quite natural. But Rahul Dravid is unique. He weared down bowlers and made them  look vulnerable with his slow batting which was quipped with great technique. He never scored runs at rapid pace, yet he succeeded in murdering the bowling with his killer patience and cool temperament. There is more to Rahul Dravid, apart from is batting. His advices proved priceless for many cricketers of his era who came to him for tips. Ask Younis Khan, how Rahul Dravid's words helped him in coming out of lean patch. Ask West Indian Kirk Edwards, who scored century after talking to Dravid. Ask Rohit Sharma who learnt to put  price on his wicket after Rahul's advice. Ask Ricky Ponting whose career was saved after getting advice from Dravid and this list is endless. Cricketers across the globe one way or other way benefitted from Rahul Dravid. 

With the retirement of Rahul Dravid, an era has come to an end and it is impossible to replace someone like Rahul Dravid who did so much for Indian cricket and that too selflessly. Truly a great team-man and greater batsmen of all time. I rate him above Tendulkar when it comes to winning matches for India. Rahul is the encyclopedia of batting and any batsmen who wants to make it big in international cricket, must watch Rahul's batting videos. Even he is captaincy record is quite good and most of the matches India won abroad in his captaincy.Team India won series in West Indies, England and also won test match in South Africa. So truly a great captain as well.

I hope BCCI will use Rahul Dravid's experience for enhancing the quality of Indian cricket, so that we get many more great cricketers in future.

Indian Cricket.....The Lost Giant

In 1989-90 season when India lost the series in New Zealand, Bishen Singh Bedi, then coach of the Indian team said that 'Throw this Indian team in Pacific Ocean'. These were very harsh words used by any Indian coach. Now 22 years later, after drubbing in England and Australia, I must say 'Throw This Indian team in Indian Ocean' but before that throw entire BCCI in Arabian Sea which is very near to the BCCI headquarters. 8 consecutive overseas defeats in the span of 7 months is really hard to digest and that too for the team which enjoyed No.1 ranking in test cricket for more than 2 years. Really fail to to understand this dismal turnaround in performance of this very talented team which is considered as best batting line-up in the world and 2 of the highest run-getters are part of this team.

There are 3 reasons for this dismal turnaround. No.1 Defensive Captaincy, No.2 Poor Team Selection and No.3 Too Much Cricket.

Many cricket fans did not agreed upon defensive captaincy of MS Dhoni when I raised this issue in this blog 1 and half years back.  Dhoni's defensive captaincy started 2 years back, but team was winning consistently so nobody bothered about it. But I must say, although Team India earned the No.1 ranking in test matches but never won series in England, Australia and South Africa in last 4 years. It means Team India won most of the matches at home. Many will say Indian team won in West Indies and New Zealand, but one must remember that both West Indies and New Zealand are way below in ranking and not considered quality side these days. So there is big question-mark on that No.1 ranking of Indian team. Indian team had a chance of winning more test matches in South Africa, England and Australia, if Dhoni had tried aggressive strategies instead he opened the field for opposition batsmen after putting them on mat and this happened in South Africa last year, it happened in England and it happened in Australia. Even in the series against West Indies(Home and Away) last year, Dhoni did same mistakes but fortunately we won the series. Dhoni's batting also affected because of the captaincy pressure and wicket-keeping  skills were never great.

Poor team selection is also one of the reason why Team India lost the plot. Last year Rajasthan won Ranji Trophy but none of the player from Rajasthan team got selected in Indian team. Fast bowler Pankaj Singh who is among top wicket-takers in domestic cricket this year and last year, completely ignored by the selectors. Pankaj Singh bowled is heart out  on slow-low pitches and played important part in Rajasthan team's glory. Instead bowlers like Abhimanyu Mithun and Vinay Kumar who hails from South Zone played ahead of Pankaj Singh just because chief selector is from South Zone. Deepak Chahar had a wonderful debut season for Rajasthan last year, also ignored by selectors for England tour where he could have proved lethal because of his swing. But not selected. Varun Aaron warmed the bench on that entire England tour. Abhinav Mukund was clearly ignored after 2 failures. He started well in England with 49 run innings in his first test at Lord's but not persisted after second test, instead Sehwag was brought back, though he was not fit enough to play and result is in front of everybody. Suresh Raina was persisted even after repeated failures at test level ahead of talented players like Rahane and Rohit Sharma. If this is not enough selectors still not learnt from their mistakes and dropped Rahane from the Tri-Series down-under. Rahane spent close to one month with this team in Australia has come back home without playing a single test match on this tour. Ishant Sharma has done nothing except one good tour of West Indies, got selected for the tour down-under ahead of Irfan Pathan who is in  fantastic form and rhythm this domestic season not selected for test series down-under. So selection played pivotal role in debacle. This year also Rajasthan won the elite trophy and man who made it possible for Rajasthan are ignored once again. It is pure bias of the selectors towards players like Pankaj Singh and Rituraj Singh. There are many more examples but space is less.

Too much cricket is also one of the major reason for this debacle. Look at Indian team's cricket schedule of last year and half and one can easily understand the effect. Not a single month passed without cricket.

- Starting from Oct'10, India played Australia at home (2 Test Match and 3 ODIs). 

- Nov'10-Dec'10, New Zealand toured India (3 Test Matches and 5 ODIs). 

- Dec'10- Jan'11,  India toured South Africa( 3 test Matches - 5 ODIs). 

- Feb'11-Apr'11, World Cup ( 9 ODIs). 

- Apr'11-May'11, IPL (74 T20 Matches). 

- May'11-Jun'11, India toured West Indies (3 Test Matches and 5 ODIs). 

- Jun'11-Sept'11, India toured England (4 Test Matches and 5 ODIs). 

- Sep'11-Oct'11, Champions League T20. Oct'11, 

- England toured India (5 ODIs). Oct'11-Nov'11, 

- West Indies toured India (3 Test Matches and 5 ODIs). 

- Current : Dec'11-Feb'12, India touring Australia(4 Test Matches and Tri-Series(15 ODIs). 

- Future : March'11, Asia Cup.  April'11-May'11, IPL. 

So not a single month gone without cricket which involved Team India starting Oct'10. It is easy to question the performances, but one must understand this work-load which affected team India's performance. It is easy to blame legends like Sachin, Dravid and Laxman but one must not forget Sachin is playing best cricket of his life since 2007. Dravid has scored plenty of runs in last one year and has only one poor series down-under. Laxman failed only in 2 series in last decade. So it is not good to question the performance of these legends. Dip in performance bound to happen in one or 2 series if you play hell of the cricket non-stop for years.

I think if Indian cricket have to come on track then administrators and selectors have to take important decision regarding scheduling of the matches and series. They also have to look at rotation policy. Otherwise, Indian cricket will die soon. Moreover, now Pakistan coach, captain and administrators are making mockery of India team's debacle. Pakistan has won 8 test matches out of last 14 and lost just one. they also defeated No.1 ranked England recently. But one must not forget, those Pakistanis who are laughing at Indian cricket, have won matches  against teams like Zimbabwe, West Indies and  Bangladesh. They have beaten England recently on spin friendly tracks and everybody knows the weakness of English team. But Pakistan is taking revenge because their players are banned in IPL. But our administrators has also given them a chance to laugh at us. Indian Cricket has lost the ground in last few months and its upto the administrators to bring it back on track with some wise decisions.

Respect the legends.

Over decade and half fab four served the country to the best of their abilities. One of them retired 3 years back from International cricket who Is still remained most successful captain of India and that is Sourav Ganguly. It's been 3 years, Team India failed to find his replacement and now entire media and few so-called cricket experts who don’t even stand near to these legends, talking about axing Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. 

I think these former cricketers who have become experts on TV, at times behaves like supreme authority and talks rubbish about the legends. Some of these cricketers must introspect their records. Talking about legendary trio, I think there is lot of cricket left in them and they must not retire under pressure. Look at Sachin Tendulkar, he went through lean patch between 2005 and 2007, but made grand re-entry on cricket field and haven’t looked back since. He scored first ever double century in One-Day Internationals after his re-entry and he’s been playing best cricket of his life since 2007. Although, he has not scored test century in last 1 year but scoring runs consistently with healthy average and still contributes heavily to the team. Tendulkar is necessary for Team India because he play dual role of player as well as mentor.

Talking about Rahul Dravid, one must not forget that he was the highest test run scorer in 2011 calendar year. He scored 6 centuries last year and has been in sub-lime form. Not to forget he went through lean patch in 2009-10 season but got among runs last year. He was the most successful player on that disastrous tour of England with 3 centuries to his credit in testing conditions. Moreover, he opened the batting for the sake of team’s cause. He is a great team-man and always lived upto the expectations of the team. There is lot of talk about his dismissals in the ongoing series, where ball gone between his bat and pad quite often in the ongoing series and crashed into the stumps, but one must not forget that he is having this technical flaw right through his career and in-coming deliveries always troubled him, so it’s not new to Dravid. It only came into lime-light when team is not doing well overseas. But Rahul is still scoring runs. He is the only batsmen in Team India, whose overseas average is better than his home average. Do not forget that he is second highest run-getter in test cricket after Sachin Tendulkar with more than 13000 runs to his credit with 36 centuries. Rahul is still going strong and youngsters in the team can learn a lot about batting from this great wall.

What to say about VVS Laxman, man is known as ‘God of Crisis’ in Indian cricket. In last test series against West Indies he scored brilliant century (176*). This wrist magician has bailed out Team India India from many crisis situation. In his debut test against South Africa in 1997, he bailed out India from trouble with brilliant half-century. He did fantastic partnership with Anil Kumble and helped India to win that test match from hope less position. I think it is unfortunate that touch player like Laxman don’t have lot of centuries to show but he has scored 17 hundreds and that too batting at No.6 position where he didn’t get much support from the other end. Had he batted up the order I believe, he would have easily ended with more than 30 hundreds. But he never complained about his batting order and did his best for the team and won many matches for India from hopeless situations. After Sachin Tendulkar, he is the biggest enemy of Australian bowlers. In current series things are not going well for him but I am damn sure, this lean patch will get over very soon.It is VVS Laxman who scored brilliant 96 against South Africa last year at Durban, which helped Team India winning the test match. So, it is wrong to say that Laxman is burden for the team. If we look at his career in last decade starting 2001, he hasn’t hit lean patch. He has failed in only two series in last decade. So, Laxman is still very special.

I feel, we must respect these legends and have to back them till the time they don’t decide to retire. I feel, trio of Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman has lot of cricket left in them and they have lot to offer. Cricket is a team game and 3 players can’t win you matches. It is upto all 11 players to put up combined effort to win matches. Don’t forget, it is Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman have given us lot of enjoyable moments in last decade and brought back smile on our faces which was non-existent in our cricketing history barring one or two incidences.

Acid Test is awaiting Dhoni at Perth...

Acid test is awaiting captain Dhoni at Perth, when Team India will take on resurgent Aussies in 3rd test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. India already down 2-0 and will be playing at Perth to save the series. Loss at Perth will shatter all the hopes of Indian fans and win will certainly bring smile on the grim faces. But it is not going to be that easy for Team India. Although, history is with Team India, if Team India take some inspiration from last tour, in which they won at Perth, then I believe their task will become simple. 

Talking about resources, I think team India have all the arsenal in the world to beat Aussies, only thing required is little application by batters and bowlers, also require some impeccable and offensive strategy from Captain Dhoni. If Dhoni continue his defensive tantrums, then it will going to be difficult task for Team India at Perth.First of all, Dhoni will have to select correct personnel to fight this battle and first change he has to make is to replace out of form Virat Kohli with talented Rohit Sharma. Everybody knows Rohit Sharma is far more talented than any other youngster at present. So its right time for Rohit to make his debut. There is also good sign for Team India, as all the batsmen except Kohli have the half century under their belt going into this test, so form of the batsmen is not going to be a problem. Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Gambhir and Sehwag had spent fair bit of time out in the middle in last two test matches only problem they faced, that they couldn't convert those 50s into big hundreds and that's where these batsmen have to be careful. Especially, for Tendulkar, it will going to be a important test match to score his 100th ton and he can take inspiration from his 1991 innings, in which he scored brilliant hundred at the same venue and announced his arrival in International cricket. Tendulkar must get rid of that monkey on his back which is haunting him for last one year. 

Talking about bowling, I believe India have all the resources in place in this department and bowlers need little cushion of runs. Bowlers also need aggressive and appropriate field placings as Umesh, Zaheer and Ishant are bowling quick with good rhythm, if they get little support from Dhoni, then I think they can pick 20 wickets without any problem. Conditions in Perth will also favour the bowlers as pitch is going to be green top and will have lot of bounce which will assist quickies to pick wickets, only thing is required from the bowlers is to put the ball in right areas and allow the pitch to do the trick. Perth wicket is heaven for the fast bowlers, if bowlers apply their mind then they will be able to trouble all the Aussie batsmen. Toss will going to be a crucial factor in this game as whoever wins the toss will opt to field first. So, its important for Dhoni to win the toss and go for the kill. Ashwin will certainly enjoy bowling at Perth due to good bounce from the pitch. He is tall and will extract good amount of bounce which will trouble Aussie batsmen. It's going to be golden chance for Rohit Sharma to prove his batting prowess, if he gets the nod to make his debut. 

As far as Australia is concerned, they will be under no pressure, whatsoever, going into this test match, as they are enjoying unassailable lead in the series. Ponting and Hussey are back among runs and got rid of sword which was hanging on their heads before  start of the series and this is not going to make life  of the Indians easy as they allowed Ponting and Hussey to got among the runs in last two test matches. Captain Clarke is in sublime from, must be in immense confidence after hitting that brilliant triple hundred at Sydney. So Aussie batsmen are in full form and looking good to score few more runs. Bad news for Australia is that, young bowling sensation Pattinson is ruled out of the series due to injury which can be a good news for India but Aussies have able replacement for Pattinson and that is Ryan Harris, who had dream test match against England on the very same venue last time when he appeared for Australia. Siddle, Hilfenhaus and Harris makes formidable combination to trouble Indian batsmen, taking into account, the pitch condition. I believe they will certainly trouble Indian batsmen. So, Indian batsmen have to apply themselves hard to   tackle these world class bowlers who are deadly dangerous in their home conditions.

News of rift between Sehwag and Dhoni will certainly not going to help the cause of Indian team and they have to forget all the differences going into this test match. So, its going to be hard fought contest at Perth and looking at all the points, I believe Aussies are favourite to win this test match as well unless they make any mistake, as they say 'Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties'. This 3rd test will also decide the future of Dhoni as test captain of Team India. Hope, India come out of Perth with flying colours, just like they did last time. But, at the moment it is highly unlike.  

 

Series win for Team India is a distant dream....

Yet again visitors lost the  1st test match of  series. It has happened end number of times in the past gets repeated again and again. This time also many excuses given but I think those excuses are of no use because, Team India reached Australia well in advance. So Team India had enough time to prepare for the series and get used to the conditions down-under. Team India can't complain about practice matches as well because they got 2 practice matches, which I believe enough for the preparation. Team India lost the first test match because of poor selection and some defensive strategy by its captain. So what lies ahead for Team India. There is close possibility of England tour horror show to continue. Series loss is confirm and I can bet on it anytime. I won't be surprised if result will be 4-0, which  is likely to happen, after watching India's performance in the 1st test match at Melbourne.

2nd test match of the series starting tomorrow at Sydney Cricket Ground, it is a happy hunting ground for few Indian players and conditions will be home like, so I think Sydney provides best chance to Team India for squaring the series. But this is not going to  happen because Indian team have the problems in plenty. Gambhir is not in form. Big question-mark on Sehwag's consistency. Captain Dhoni is going through rough patch in test matches. VVS Laxman didn't look in commanding position, as he was in past against Australia. To top of these selection will going to play crucial part as well. If team management decides to play Virat Kohli again, who failed to impress everybody, especially overseas, will back fire badly. Although, as I mentioned SCG is like home away from home for Team India but this time it is going to be a green top as per the curator and Team India will not going to get the rank turner which is the basic nature of SCG pitch. So ghost of trouble waiting for Dhoni and his men at Sydney.

So, What India can look forward to in 2nd test match at Sydney. I think to win SCG test, they have to play out of their skins. Gambhir, Dhoni and Laxman have to get among runs and Rahul Dravid will have to rectify the chinks in his technique, which often result in his downfall. Incoming delivery which passes between his bat and pad, get crash into the stumps. As far as master is concerned, I think he has to forget about his ton of tons and play naturally. Sydney is happy hunting ground for master where he averages over 200. After Sachin, if anybody like SCG the most, is VVS Laxman, who has distinction of scoring 3 consecutive hundreds on this very ground in last 3 outings, if he scores one more here than I believe Indian team have the chance of winning this match but that is highly unlike at the moment because of poor performance in first test. 

I believe, time has come for Rohit Sharma to make his debut. We all know how much capable and talented Rohit Sharma is among all the youngsters but team management have to take this call by dropping out of form Kohli, who don't have the technique to survive in test arena. For Gautam Gambhir, this test match is going to be a do or die game. One more failure and he will be out of the squad as Rahane is waiting in the wings to replace him, so he will be under immense pressure going into this test match. But we all know Gambhir is a very good batsmen and hopefully will get into the form in 2nd test match as he has done in the past and he is class act. But to come out of the slump he has to play straight and play few shots through cover, mid-off and mid-on rather than playing them through slips and gully. He also have to bring out his pull shot which he used early in his career. If Gambhir does this minor adjustment, I am confident he will get big runs. 

Aussies are ready with all their arms and ammunition to tame this Indian team. They successfully did that at MCG and they are sighting victory at SCG to take that unassailable lead. Mindgames started once again which includes, putting Sachin Tendulkar under pressure by talking about his 100th ton. They are talking because they have fire power to tame this Indian team and top of it all their experienced pros in Hussey and Ponting are back in form, thanks to the poor strategy of captain M.S Dhoni. Aussies have very good bowling unit and will go on all out attack tomorrow at SCG. 

So, looking at the situation, this time also, series win is a distant dream for Team India and I am sure about it. I hope they prove me wrong but that is highly unlike. Experts like Sunil Gavaskar and Ian Chappell has already written-off this Indian team. This is centenary test match for this Sydney Cricket Ground and both team will give their best to make it more memorable.

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Will Team India break the jinx down under : Preview - Agneepath Series

Agneepath! Agneepath! Agneepath!

9 tours, 36 test matches and only 5 wins, is the history of Team India down under. It can be considered worst performance for the country which produced legends like Gavaskar, Mankad duo, Amarnath duo, Tiger Pataudi, Kapil Dev, Mohd. Azharuddin, Dilip Vengsarkar, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag. Above all, in last 9 tours Team India failed to win series as well, in Australia. As a cricket fan I really fail to understand why we were not able to win a single series down under so far inspite of having players, who are considered as legends, kings and gods of cricket. Its really sad for the fans of this country that they witnessed only series loss and draws down under in last 60 years. There are individual performances which really kept alive the interests of Indian fans but in terms of team performance it is really a sad state of affair for the country where cricket is considered as religion.

Michael Clarke vs Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Again Team India is on tour, down under, stage is set, all tickets for the Boxing Day test  match which begins on 26th December, at famous Melbourne Cricket Ground has been sold out in advance. One last time legends like Tendulkars, Dravids and Laxmans will go at Aussies and Indian fans hoping that this time team will not return empty handed. There is reason behind this hope is that Aussies are not the best test side in the world today as they used to be couple of years back and it will  going to be easy to beat the depleted Aussies. But I must say, it will not going to be easy for Team India to win the series this time round as well, no matter how vulnerable Aussies are currently. Aussies don't have the brilliance of Waugh Duo, Gilchrist, Langer, Hayden, McGrath, Warne and Brett Lee but they have the players who will certainly upset this Indian side and main reason for this,  is poor team selection by Indian selectors. India already looks more vulnerable than Aussies atleast in bowling department as their two main bowlers in Ishant and Zaheer are not 100% fit, moreover, they have very poor back-ups in Abhimanyu Mithun and Vinay Kumar who are not test class bowlers. So Indian bowling is weak and to win the test match you have to pick 20 wickets. If any of the bowler breaks down mid-way, in the test match then it will certainly not help the cause of Indian team. So onus of bowling more is on the shoulders of young Ashwin and Yadav who will be playing their second test series of their career and that too on the soil of Australia.

Ishant Sharma

Selectors have done big mistake by not picking Irfan Pathan and Ashok Dinda ahead of Mithun and Vinay Kumar. Both Dinda and Irfan are in superb form and picking up wickets consistently in domestic tournament in India but I think selectors have already decided the fate of Team India and if fans are thinking that India will win the series this time then I think this is a day dream, because this will not going to happen. Conditions will be tough and Austrlians will come hard at Indian team. Mindgames have been already started from the Australian side and the way Aussies are preparing and targetting Indian players off the field is the indication of what will happen on the field where Aussies will try and dominate the Indian side. Only hope for India, is from its world famous batting line-up which boasts of Sehwag, Gambhir, Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman who are capable of winning the test matches  but they also need back-up from the bowlers which is not in existence at the moment. Only fully-fit and in-form bowler is Umesh Yadav in pace department and Ashwin in spin apart from these two rest of the bowlers are not fully fit or they are not in great form.

Rohit Sharma

I believe Team India must play Rohit Sharma ahead of Virat Kohli because Rohit has better technique compared to Virat and will do wonders but I know this will not going to happen as team india will go with Virat Kohli and I am 100% sure that he will fail. This is also a very important series for Tendulkar, will be remembered for long time if Tendulkar get to his epic ton because wait has become too long and fans can't wait anymore. This series will also test the cpatain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's captaincy, he will be under immense pressure during this series because of drubbing in England where first time Dhoni lost the test series as a captain. This will going to be a acid test for Dhoni and Fletcher.

Warner, Cutting, Starc and Pattinson

As far as Aussies are considered they do have the problems in plenty, but they have the advantage of playing in home conditions and their batting line-up will face mediocre bowling attack so they are in poor position, but in better condition than Team india. I am damn sure Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey will get back among the runs as both are class act and as they say 'Form is temporary and Class is permanent'. So there will be no surprise, if Ricky and Hussey  score big runs in this series. After departure of Simon Katich it looked like Australia don't have any opener but they found Warner and with the return of Shaun Marsh they have pretty good opening pair. It is good that Aussie selectors dropped Phil Hughes who failed to impress anybody but I think dropping Usman Khwaja is bit harsh, to the guy who is considered as promising youngster. Aussies have good bowling line-up now, even though they don't have Johnson and Watson in their line-up. They have some in-form bowlers like Pattinson, Hilfenhaus and Siddle who are capable of bowling in excess of 90 MHP speeds, will prove dangerous on bouncy wickets for any opposition in the world. So Aussies are in advantageous position going into the series and India has damaged their chances of winning by picking up the unfit bowlers which will going to hurt India big time.

So less than 48 hours remaining for this  'Agneepath Series' and Indian fans will certainly wake up at 5.00 AM to watch all the action from down under in a hope that Team India starts the seires with a winning note and finally win the series and end the drought but Indian selectors and team management are not serious enough to win this series.Will india  be able to hit, knockout punch on boxing day? My guess is as good as any other cricket fan.

Selection of injured players continues in Indian cricket.

Disaster of England tour is still fresh in the minds of Indian cricket lovers but I think Srikkanth led selection committee and BCCI have forgotten that disastrous tour of England and that's why they again repeated the mistake by sending injured Ishant Sharma on the all important tour of down under. How often we see injured player travels with the team and enjoy the paid holiday from BCCI. Zaheer khan returned from the tour of England after bowling just 2 overs in the  test match at Lords. Zaheer failed to complete the tour down under twice in the past and this time also scene is not that great as well.

It is good that Harbhajan is not selected for this tour otherwise one more injured player had travelled with the team. Recently it is revealed that Harbhajan is carrying the shin injury for long time and he will going to miss out entire Ranji season for Punjab. Actually BCCI don't have any plan in place to control the injuries to its key players. Cricket fan can understand that injuries cannot be controlled but BCCI can atleast take an initiative that injured player don't board the plane for the important tour. But that is also not happening. Every player try hard to get selected despite injuries and eventually fan suffers due to  below par performance of the team.I think time has come to punish the players who hide their injuries and make themselves available for selection. Recently Anil Kumble resigned from the post of Chairman-National Cricket Academy because  board didn't accepted his injury management programme. So it is clear that BCCI is not serious about injury management. Not accepting Kumble's word is disaster because Kumble is legend and he hhas played cricket at highest levels and knows all about injuries that hampers the player's career.

Even after getting to know that Ishant is not fully fit, he has been not replaced and board allowed him to continue on the tour. What happen, if Ishant play first test in Melbourne and breaks down after one or two over? Just like he broke down and  left the ground in Canberra practice match where he just bowled 5.3 overs and for rest of the match he was sitting in dressing room with his troubled ankle. Even team manager Shivlal Yadav also lied to the media and fans, stating that Ishant was supposed to bowl only six overs. What kind of excuse is this? I remember, when Greg Chappell was hooted by the Indian fans he showed his middle finger which created lot of anger among fans, but the BCCI, Vice-President Rajiv Shukla gave senseless statement in favour of Greg Chappell that finger of Chappell had some pain and he was trying to cure his finger by raising it. Such senseless statements are regular from BCCI officials and selectors in defence of their acts. If we hear some senseless statement from K.Srikkanth about Ishant's injury, we will not get surprised at all, because we Indian fans are ready for such senseless statements.

When India returned from England this summer, selectors clearly said that they will pick up only fit players for the next tour but they again repeated their mistake and picked up injured player like Ishant Sharma for the series against West Indies where Ishant performed below par and picked up just 9 wickets in 3 test matches. Everybody knew Ishant picked up ankle injury on that England tour, yet selectors selected him.Selectors still had that chance to test the Ishant Sharma ahead of all important Australia tour by asking him to play in Ranji game during ODI series between West Indies and India but selectors failed to do so and that's why injured Sharma is on that tour. Now Indian bowling looks hopeless as there is question mark on Zaheer's fitness as well and only solace India have in bowling is new pace sensation Umesh Yadav. Abhimanyu Mithun and Vinay Kumar failed to impress in the first practice game at Canberra. I think Ishant must be recalled and Irfan Pathan must replace him immediately as latter is in good form and rythm while former is injured and don't look good to complete the tour.

In the decade of 90s, injured players were easily got selected for the matches because of their good relations with then physio Dr. Ali Irani who always recommended injured players for selection just on the basis of relationship and that's why he was fired from the job and foreign physios took over but trend still continues and injured players are still finding place in the team and in-form players are ignored. I am not at all hopeful of India doing well down under this summer as well, where they failed to win single test series in past and this is just because of wrong selection. I hope BCCI wake-up before its too late.

Vangipurappu Venkat Sai Laxman - God of Crisis for Indian Cricket

281 V/s Aussies, 2001

If Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is God of Cricket then I must say Vangipurappu Venkat Sai Laxman is God of Crisis. This Stylish Hyderabadi  has added lot of glory to Indian Cricket by his ability to play in crisis situation and turn the games in favour of India. Who can forget his epic 281 at Eden Gardens. Team was on the doorstep of losing that test match in 2001 after follow-on but this Stylish Hyderabadi turned the match in India's favour with fine stroke play and beautiful wrist work and won the match for India and gave the confidence of winning the series as well. But I  must tell you it was not easy for Laxman at the start of his career. No player comes close to him in using the wrist while playing and that is his great asset and makes him elegant and stylish.

96 V/s Proteas, 2010 

He was on the domestic scene since early 90s but never selected because that time team was having some good players in its rank. Likes of Azhar, Manjrekar, Tendulkar, Dravid, Sidhu, Ganguly, Kambli. So it was difficult for the selectors to accommodate 'Very Very Special' Laxman in that star studded batting line-up. But finally he got his due in 1996-97 season when he made his test debut against South Africa at home. Even in this first test match, when India was in trouble, when they lost 4 wickets for just 82 in second innings, it was Laxman who bailed them out of the trouble by scoring gritty half-century in that second innings and did fantastic partnership with Kumble and helped India eventually to win that test match by 64 runs. So, Wristy VVS Laxman is the crisis man for Team India since his debut. It is unforutnate that he did not participated in single World-cup ever since his debut and after spending more than a decade in International cricket though he was more talented then many other cricketers who played for the country and played in World Cup. He never featured in ODI team consistently which I feel is loss to the Team India. But he never complained about that and did his job to the perfection for the team. 

91 V/s Kiwis, 2010

Intial 3-4 years, he was in-and out of the team but not because of poor performance but due to changes in his batting-order. He was never allowed to settle on the one spot. He opened for India and he batted on almost all the spots for India when required and that too without hesitation or questions and when it comes to drop somebody from the team then sword was always hanging on his head and was dropped many times. Come 2001, credit goes to Sourav Ganguly who insisted selectors to include VVS Laxman in the team after Laxman's good show in domestic cricket and rest is history. After 2001 Laxman became integral part of this Indian batting line-up and never looked back since then. He played some fabulous innings for Team India and always played crucial role in team's success in India or Overseas. The way he bats, he looks like a painter who is painting green canvas with his silken strokes. His bat turns into brush and runs becomes the creation. I believe if he played in top-order then he also owned more than 30 centuries but he often played down the order and mostly with the tailenders which reduced his centuries to just 17 which is not a true reflection of his talent.

103* V/s Sri Lanka, 2010

Looking at Laxman's contribution  in Indian cricket and his ability to play crucial innings in crisis times makes him greatest batmsen of all-time. If we look at second innings batting of all the Indian batsmen then I must say nobody is near Laxman's average. He is averaging more than 50 in second innings which tells about his temperament and ability but on the sad note I must say  Stylish Laxman never got that fame which his other colleagues got. I feel he is unlucky because he is playing cricket in the era when we have Great Tendulkar, Wall Dravid, Dasher Sehwag and Gutsy Ganguly until his retirement. Laxman just lost under the shadow of all these great players but I feel he is the biggest superstar of Indian Cricket because when it comes to save or win the game for the country then Laxman is the man for that hour. No other player gives you confidence of winning or saving matches like Laxman gives you. In the last one year he won 3 matches for Team India from losing situation and saved the match once. 

178 V/s Australia, 2004

He may not be endorsing big brands like Dhoni and Tendulkar , may not be giving too many interviews, may not be a popular man among media but he is God of Crisis for Indian cricket and time has come now to recognize his service and give him his pending dues and that will be great tribute to him and his services. His initials VVS tells the story of this charismatic cricketer. Indeed Laxman is Very Very Special for Indian Cricket. I must say he is very good human being apart from great cricketer which is most important.

Team India aims for white-wash at Wankhede

 

After a gap of 4 years, ‘Test Cricket’ is returning to the Wankhede Stadium, a ground which saw Team India lifting ICC Cricket World Cup trophy this year. Third and final test match between India and West Indies will begin tomorrow at this historic venue and Team India will aim for the white-wash.

At the moment Team India is dominating the series with 2 assailable wins and series is already pocketed by Dhoni and his men. So what lies ahead for Team India to achieve in this  final test match. Well it’s a good time to test the bench strength.I think selectors have done good thing by dropping Yuvraj Singh and included Rohit Sharma, who is in sublime form at the moment. Sharma has done no harm to his reputation this season, as he scored two magnificent big hundreds in Ranji Trophy, so it is good time to get him in the playing eleven. Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane also deserves the chance but only one of them can be included but for that team management have to rest either Dravid or Laxman which is highly unlike but if it happens then this move will give clear idea about the selection for Australia tour. Kohli got his chance in West Indies as he played 3 test matches their but failed to deliver that time, so it is right time to test him in the final test match before selecting the team for Australia.

Experiment can be done in bowling as well, if Dhoni and Fletcher wish. I think it is wise to give chance to Varun Aaron by replacing him with Ishant Sharma who failed to grab the opportunity in two games played so far. Aaron have the pace and he has already promised a lot during the ODI series against England. In spin department, I think Rahul Sharma must be included in place of Ojha or Ashwin. So good time  for experiment, if team management wants to do. Third test match is equally important for Sachin Tendulkar as well. So far Tendulkar has managed only one century on his home turf in his illustrious career. Tendulkar is also on the verge of creating history. His epic 100th ton is much awaited in cricketing fraternity, as well as among the fans and everybody hoping that it will come in Mumbai, but I think we have to wait till One-Day series because it is highly unlike that his epic hundred will come in this test match looking at his performance on Wankhede in past, so we have to wait for sometime.

I think Team India must try youngsters in this final test match. Look at Umesh Yadav and Ashwin, both grabbed the opportunity with both hands and performed very well. So I think we can trust on youngsters and must blood them in.

As far as pitch is concerned, it is going to be fairly quick at Mumbai as per curator but remember in Mumbai pitch is made of red soil which have little carry initially but from Day 2 onwards it becomes dust bowl and support spinners. Who can forget test match between India vs Australia four years back on this venue. Pitch turned square in that match and troubled the mighty Aussies, so I don’t go by curator’s word and I firmly believe pitch is going to be a turner with little carry initially. Dhoni’s injury scare is also a worry for Team India as he skipped the morning practice session. Let’s hope Dhoni gets fit in time to lead the team at Wankhede.

As far as West indies is concerned they are coming in this match with series loss, so they will definitely try to redeem themselves and will look to save some pride. Second innings of last match must have given them some confidence of how to tackle the Indian spinners. But they have to work hard on their basics if they want to win the final test match. They have very good young and talented batsmen, who can do well but these youngsters have to show application like Darren Bravo showed in the last match. Bravo scored brilliant hundred at Edens and took Windies score past 400 hundred.  If West indies have to  win this test match then their bowlers have to bowl in channel otherwise strong Indian batting line-up will eat them.

West Indies also looks in little trouble as Shivnarine Chanderpaul picked up calf injury in last match and that has not healed yet, so there is suspense on his inclusion in the final eleven. if Chnderpaul don’t take the field tomorrow then it will dent the Windies chances of winning the final test match of the series.

So far this test series remained one-sided, let’s hope Windies give some fight and make the final contest exciting enough to watch.

Purest form of Cricket is Real Cricket.....Test is Best

 

Since last two years there is lot of concern spread among the cricket fraternity and media about the survival of test cricket which is also know as purest form of cricket. Cricket experts feel test cricket is losing its popularity and too an extent they are correct as well because spectators are not turning up for the test matches at the venues where it is played. But I must say still people love test cricket and there is audience which watch the test cricket as well but on television and on Internet.  So it is too early to say that test cricket is vanishing. According to me purest form of cricket is still test cricket, only thing require is to promote this format of the game aggressively and intelligently.

The first officially recognized Test match commenced on 15 March 1877, contested by England and Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground(MCG), where Australia won by 45 runs. England won the second ever match (also at the MCG) by four wickets, thus drawing the series 1–1. From this first test series in 1877, more than 2000 test matches have been played in a period spanning over a century, so it is not correct to say that test cricket is vanishing. It has survived for more than century which itself shows that people love the longer format of cricket.

It's hard to believe that Test cricket is in trouble, especially as India and England play out the first of their clashes to be the top-ranked Test nation in front of packed stands at Lord's. But the possible demise of the sport's oldest, most testing, most complex and most loved format has been a talking point for some time. Ongoing series between India and West Indies is drawing very few people to the venue but one has to remember that West Indies is not the same team as it was in 70s and 80s. So lack of contest is solely responsible for less crowd. I think BCCI must take test cricket out of the metros and play it at smaller venues where till date people have been deprived of live test cricket. Live test cricket will definitely become novelty for the people of smaller cities and will definitely go and watch the test match and this way it will get more popular and its reach will become more wider.

As International Cricket Council Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat pointed out last week, Test cricket has never been marketed as aggressively or cohesively as ODIs and T20s. That's partly because, with its endless bilateral series, the only outcome of which is to move up or down a ranking decided by an complex mathematical formula. Test cricket lacks the sort of focal point provided by the World Cup or World Twenty20. The solution is the World Test Championship, recently confirmed for England in 2013, where the four top-ranked teams at the time, right now, it would be India, South Africa, England and Sri Lanka will battle it out to be the first ever official champion of Test cricket.

It's a good idea, but cricket has never done anything like this before and inevitably there are complications. One is that the sport would have three different world title-holders but then, with the rankings, it sort of does already. A bigger problem is that the Test format has never lent itself to knock-out competitions as it involves a lot of draws, and obviously people don't want joint world champions, and audience certainly don’t entertain drawn semifinal. But I think for semi-finals rules can be changed and which every team scores more runs in entire test match must be declared winner and this way draw can be avoided. Same rule can be  applied for the final as well.

Timeless test match is also an good option to fetch the result and I think, the way batsmen play aggressive cricket, timeless test will not last long more than 6 days. So timeless test is also a very good option to be looked at. Apart from this audience must be treated like VIPs at the venues and ticket rates must be slashed, so that common man can afford it. I think creating picnic like atmosphere at ground will certainly popularise the test cricket. I must say test cricket is  still the best format and recently we witnessed one of the best test match of this decade between South Africa and Australia at Capetown which eventually won by South Africa even after conceding the lead of 188 runs and lot of spectators thronged to ground to watch this interesting test match, so it is really hard to believe that test cricket is vanishing. If it is played between two competitive sides than it will certainly attract the crowds to the venue.

I think ICC also have to take initiative in promoting its  associate countries to play test cricket. According to me, ICC have to make a pool of 8 team each. One pool will have ICC ranked Top 8 team and another pool will have ICC ranked Bottom 8 teams. ICC have to promote 6 good associate nations like Ireland, Netherlands, etc. to play test cricket. This will definitely increase the interest among the people of associate nations in test cricket.

The team which tops the Bottom 8 group over the period of one year will automatically qualify for the Top 8 group and team which ends last in Top 8 group will automatically gets demoted to the Bottom 8 group. This fear and happiness of going up and down in the pool will certainly increase the competitiveness and quality of test cricket as Bottom 8  group teams will look to get promotion and Top 8 group teams will certainly try to avoid the demotion and this will definitely make the spectator happy. test cricket will get more teams with this formula and become very exciting as well.

So there is way forward for test cricket and I am sure test cricket will never die.As a cricket lover I don’t want it to die, no matter any number of shorter formats introduced, test cricket will always remain closer to my heart.

Wait is getting longer and longer for epic 100.

 

The ‘GOD OF CRICKET’ once again missed on his epic 100th international hundred and fell for 76 at Feroze Shah Kotla stadium in New Delhi on 4th day of 1st test match between India and West Indies. Wait is getting longer and longer for the epic ton. Master batted beautifully for his 76 runs and increased the curiosity of spectators by playing an authoritative cricket, especially today morning. The way Sachin was batting it looked like he will reach his goal but to his and fans disappointment, he fell well short of his epic hundred while pulling short ball of leggie Devendra Bishoo. Decision looked 50-50 but umpire ruled it in favour of the bowler and great man walked away from the ground to pavillion after putting India in commanding position but without completing his 100th ton. This shows that even GOD can’t get everything when he wants. Now fans and GOD have to wait for Eden Gardens. I think this epic hundred is destined to come on this historic ground.

As far as Indian team is concerned, they regained their confidence of playing test match which was  vanished in the last series against England. Season at home , so far has been good for MS Dhoni and his men as they white-washed England in ODIs and now won the first test match against West Indies and will be hoping to win the next one at Eden Gardens. Although first 2 days belonged to West Indies in this test match which really disappointed the fans but Indian team clawed back very well on 3rd and 4th day and won the test convincingly in just 3 and half days.

Lot of positive things happened in this test match for India as they found new hero in R.Ashwin who single handedly crushed West Indies batting on 3rd day when all were hoping of another disaster in Indian cricket. This offie from Chennai bowled with lot of guile and variation to which West Indian batsmen had no clue and fell like nine pins in their second innings. Indeed it was spectacular performance by R.Ashwin on debut. Now this performance of Ashwin will certainly jeopardies the situation of Harbhajan Singh who is fighting hard to make comeback in Indian team.

Harbhajan have played one game so far in Ranji Trophy and remained wicketless even after bowling 28 overs in the entire match. After such a sterling performance of R.Ashwin certainly selectors will not favour Harbhajan. So now it is upto Harbhajan to do something extraordinary in domestic cricket if he wants the ticket to Australia. Two more test matches to go in the series against West Indies, if Ojha and Ashwin continue their good form in next two test matches then certainly Harbhajan will go out of the schemes of selectors, so either Harbhajan have to bowl brilliantly in Ranji Trophy or Ojha and Ashwin have to bowl poorly in remaining two test matches. in only either of the scenarios. lies the chance for Harbhajan Singh.

Pacers Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma bowled with their best of the ability but didn’t get much help from the slow-low wicket of the Kotla but nevertheless both Ishant and Yadav looked impressive while bowling and given lot of hopes to the Indian team. Finally India found real fast bowlers who can trouble any batting line-up in the world. Both of them bowled  with lot of pace and line-length were emaculate. Both claimed two wickets each in the match. I think if they will get little support from the wicket then they can do wonders. Talking about Indian batting, I think Sehwag made an impressive comeback to the side, scoring half century in each innings of the test. Gambhir was bit disappointed as he got out after getting a decent starts. Rahul Dravid lived upto his reputation and bailed India out of the trouble in first innings by scoring patient half-century. Laxman as always played crucial knock in the second innings and helped India in  winning the test match. For Yuvraj Singh this test match was quite disappointing as he failed to score big runs in both the innings after getting good starts. I think time has come now to try out Ajinkya Rahane in next test match instead of Yuvraj Singh, as Yuvraj got the plenty of chances in a test team but failed to cement his place.

Dhoni’s captaincy was remarkable but he disappointed his fans with the bat as he couldn’t continue with his good form of ODIs in this test match. Overall good test match for India and they will go with positive frame of mind and confidence in the next test match at Eden Gardens.