100dulkar - The Unconquered Emperor

All criticism, all discussions, all talks came to an end with Tendulkar's 100th international ton. The feat which no cricketer conquered in past and none will achieve in future. It was landmark which kept entire country in desperation for more than a year. Finally moment arrived and entire country enjoyed the moment with joy and felt relaxed barring few cricket experts and fans who criticised Tendulkar for the loss against Bangladesh which eventually resulted in India's exit from the Asia Cup.But let me tell you one thing 289 is not a small score to chase, if your bowlers don't bowl proper line and length than any target is achievable. Look at Pakistan which lost to India even after scoring 330. Whom to blame Mohammad Hafeez or Jamshed, who scored century in losing cause and put up opening partnership of more than 200 runs. If someone is not blaming Hafeez and Jamshed for Pakistan's loss than you don't have the right to blame Tendulkar as well, who has done something which is impossible to achieve.

When Tendulkar started his cricket nobody expected him to reach such heights, but this champion cricketer conquered the cricket world and now he is 'Unconquered Emperor' of cricket world. What makes Tendulkar so special. We all know he is genius with the bat but there are many players who were genius and were better than Tendulkar yet not achieved much.One such example is Vinod Kambli, the closest pal of the Master. Both Tendulkar and Kambli started their cricket together and Kambli was considered more talented than Tendulkar but we all know where Kambli is currently. Talent alone don't make champions it is constant focus, hardwork and dedication which makes champion and certainly Tendulkar don't lack any of these. 

These 22 years are like dream for the fans across the world especially for Indian fans who witnessed many great innings from a genius who is known as 'God of Cricket'. Tendulkar created end number of happy moments for Indians, for which Indians will be thankful to him forever. Cricketers came and gone but Tendulkar stood firm with his craftsmanship with his bat and spread the joy and that's what makes Tendulkar special. In these beautiful 22 years Tendulkar recieved lot of accolades but at the same faced equal criticism as well which I think is really disgusting. Man who has given so much to the country how can be criticised. But it happened and that is cruel reality. Tendulkar was blamed for losses as if he is the only player in the team responsible for the lossess. Always criticised that he is playing for his individual records and not playing in the interest of the team. Even after scoring epic ton he was blamed for the team's loss. But I believe it is really unjustice to the man who has done so much for the country. Each of his centuries which came in losing cause don't become less important because Master did his job but his other colleagues failed to perform their duties.

Remember cricket is a team game and one player can't change the fortunes, it is combined effort of 11 players which decides the results, so other 10 are also equally responsible. We must not forget that Tendulkar is our pride and we have to give him all the respect in the word and look towards his positive traits and approach and try to learn from it instead of criticising him without any reason. Tendulkar and Dravid are an institutions in themselves, both on-field and off-field. If Dravid is 'Wall' hard to get past than Tendulkar is 'Unconquered Emperor'.

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.

Senior vs Junior : The ugly game of Indian cricket

It all started in 2007, when Mahendra Singh Dhoni first time took over captaincy of T20 team. He insisted that seniors must remain out of the T20 format and that's why Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar opted not to play in T20 format and Virender Sehwag was also ignored on the ground of injury, later Sehwag himself claimed that he was fit enough to play but he was dropped. Senior vs Junior match commenced in 2007 itself and whatever we fans are witnessing is expansion of that little rift.

In 2008 K.Srikkanth became chairman of selectors and  Dhoni also took over test captaincy from Anil Kumble  in Australia. Same year IPL also started and in auction N.Srinivasan owned Chennai Super Kings bought Mahendra Singh Dhoni at record price. At that time N.Srinivasan was secretary of the BCCI and now he is President of the BCCI. Srikkanth also became brand ambassador for Chennai Super Kings and now these 3 guys (K.Srikkanth, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and N.Srinivasan) started misusing their powers. Moment Dhoni became captain of ODI and test team, he felt uneasiness because of presence of the seniors in the team. He already succeeded in keeping  them out of T20 team, but also wanted to keep these seniors out of the team from all the formats. His first victim became former India captain Sourav Ganguly who was in sub-lime form in 2008 and was playing best cricket of his life since his return to the team in 2006. But Ganguly's days were counting and finally he was forced to announce his retirement in 2008, because of the constant pressure from Chief Selector K. Srikkanth, Ms Dhoni and N.Srinivasan, Dhoni's constant statements opposing seniors, in media during that time created lot of furore and finally Sourav Ganguly announced his reitrement after Australia series.

Dhoni also achieved success in keeping Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman out of the ODI team labelling them slow movers but he and board had no guts to keep Sachin Tendulkar out of the side, so Sachin played ODIs regularly till World Cup last year. Somehow Dravid and Laxman were scoring runs consistently at test level so they were hard to be axed from the  test side, also Indian team failed to find able replacement of Sourav Ganguly in test matches which forced Dhoni to kept playing Dravid and Laxman. India tried all options but couldn't find Sourav's replacement for 3 years and finally Kohli replaced Ganguly in the team after shaky start to his career. But India still have to find able replacement of Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar. But so far no one comes even close to these stalwarts among youngsters, so it is difficult to axe stalwarts like Laxman, Dravid and Tendulkar atleast from the test side. But somehow Dhoni is not happy with the seniors and want young team whom he can control and that's why mediocre players like Raina still finding favour of Dhoni. 

So cat fight is on in the team and it is difficult to say whether Team India win the tri-series, down-under or not but one thing is sure Captain and team members throwing their dirty linens in public and BCCI is trying to wash these dirty linens. God help Indian cricket, which has lost its ground and reputation in world cricket.

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.  

 

From Captain Marvel to Captain Zero...

Entire media is after Dhoni's blood after 6 consecutive test defeats overseas. The same media which called Dhoni ' The Captain Marvel' or 'Captain with Midas Touch' or 'Captain Cool' is now projecting the him as a villain and zero. What a turnaround this has been for Dhoni. But this is the cruelty of life. Faster you climb up the stairs of success, eventually come down at double speed. Dhoni, man who made Indian team World T20 Champion, World Champion in ODIs and also made Indian team No.1 in Test cricket has become the biggest threat for Indian cricket nowadays, according to media.

But I must say this has not happened overnight. It all started with the transformation in the mindset of Dhoni some two years back when he changed his batting style from offensive to defensive and similarly that mindset also affected his captaincy. Dhoni won matches in last 2 years but more with luck and not because of his captaincy skills. I wrote this in my earlier posts as well, that although Dhoni is winning matches but he has become defensive captain and lacks vision. But the damage has been done and now situation is such that if India lose next two test matches down-under then that will end the Dhoni's career as captain.

Team India won many matches under Dhoni's captaincy but he failed to win test series in England, South Africa and Australia. India only won test series outside sub-continent was one in West Indies and another in New Zealand and everybody know that both, West Indies and New Zealand are bottom ranked teams in world cricket. So Dhoni has not done anything special overseas in his captaincy stint so far. We won in England and West indies under the captaincy of Rahul Dravid. But failed to win series in England under the captaincy of Dhoni last summer and lost the test series in shameless manner where England white-washed Team India. We drew the series in Australia under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly but there is no possibility of winning or draw in ongoing series against Australia under the captaincy of Dhoni. So I don't think that Dhoni is extraordinary captain as he made out to be by media and he has become villain overnight for same media. But fact is that zing and buzz we used to see in Sourav's captaincy is completely missing in Dhoni.

There is no denying that India won the World Cup of ODI under his captaincy, also won the inaugural T20 World Cup and became No.1 team in Test matches but one should not forget that the team through which Dhoni achieved these success were built by Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid. So giving full credit to Dhoni for these successes will not do justice with former captains whose blood and sweat involved in building this Indian team. Dhoni also lacks the sight of picking up talent. Sourav Ganguly was excellent in picking up talent. If we look at Dhoni's captaincy stint, we will fined that none of the players picked up by Dhoni. Players, whom selectors found suitable got into the team which was not the case with Sourav Ganguly who gave us fabulous players like Zaheer Khan. VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra and list continues. 

I still believe Dhoni lacks leadership qualities and I think Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble were far better captain and man-managers than Dhoni. End of captain Dhoni has already begun. 

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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Defensive strategies of captain Dhoni not helping Team India

Once again Team India started the series on a losing note on foreign soil. Australia won the test quite  easily at Melbourne and Team India is sulking in exile, so are the fans. What a pity, on a part of the team which was No.1 test team in the world few months ago and remain No.1 for more than 2 years but suddenly England tour happened and all those fake imagination of Indian fans washed away as Indian team was white-washed by England. With defeat in Melbourne Indian team lost 5 test matches in a row, now on foreign soil. Captain who was proud on his record of not losing any test series in last 3 years, now suddenly under grief of losing 5 test matches on foreign soil, But I think captain Dhoni have to blame himself for this debacle rather than giving any excuses about batting bowling or fielding. I believe its a case of poor defensive strategy and nothing more than that.

When Dhoni made his debut on International scene in 2004 , he made his reputation of aggressor but over the years he lost his aggression and became to defensive. Especially, after becoming captain, sudden change happened in his batting and captaincy approach. From hard-hitting Dhoni to nudger and pusher, this is quite extra-ordinary transformation. Dhoni's batting transformation affected his captaincy as well and he has become too defensive in his strategy and field placings. Although India have done well under his captaincy but I must say India lost many opportunities in new last few years where they could have easily won the series or match but lost it because of the defensive tactics of captain Dhoni. Latest example is Melbourne test, where India failed to seize the advantage twice in a match. Once Australia was reeling at 214-6 but Dhoni allowed the Australia's lower-order batsmen to get past 300 run mark by setting defensive field. In second innings Australia were 27 for 4 at one stage but Dhoni opened field for Hussey and Ponting and allowed them to pick singles easily which reduced the pressure on Aussies and that 115 run partnership proved too costly for India. Not only that, even last wicket added more than 40 runs for Australia in same innings as Dhoni allowed them to do so. Hence, India lost the game.

I must say India bowled really well in Melbourne but Dhoni's defensive field placing didn't sync well with Indian bowling and robbed the chance of winning the first test match of the series. This year in Edgbaston test match, Ishant Sharma had taken 3 wickets in 16 deliveries. England had slipped to 62 for 5 . India were back in the match. There was even an outside chance of the winning it. Suddenly there was a competitive atmosphere. England went into lunch with a knot in their stomachs. India chewed with a renewed sense of vigour. But Dhoni again failed to seize the advantage and din't gave bal to Ishant after lunch who tormented England innings before lunch. Matt Prior and Stuart Broad took full advantage of this move and got out of the tangle by scoring easy runs off Praveen Kumar who looked completely exhausted in his spell. Normal service was resumed by the end of second session as England fought back to take charge of the match. 


Poor strategy of Dhoni cost India a test win. Similar tactics, Dhoni also applied last year in South Africa and lost the test match. We have also seen how opposition tail hurts Team India regularly. Actually opposition tail wags not because of India's poor bowling, it is because of poor strategy and field placings by captain Dhoni. We saw that in home series against West indies where West Indian top-order scalped quite easily by our bowlers but their lower- order batsmen made life difficult for Indian bowlers only because of defensive field placings.

I believe Dhoni must talk to Sourav Ganguly, who always played and captained aggressively throughout his career. This will help Dhoni big time in understanding the mechanism of seizing the advantageous moments of the match. Dhoni's poor form with the bat in test matches is also a cause of concern for Team India. his batting form has dipped badly in test matches which is not a good sign.

To Dhoni's advantage, Sourav Ganguly is in Australia on a commentary assignment, so he can easily approach Sourav and immediately renew his magic touch.

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.

Master, Disciple and Double Ton

It was Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 when 'GOD of Cricket' Sachin Tendulkar created world record, hitting first double ton in One-Day Internationals against mighty South Africans at Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh. No player in the history of ODI format achieved this feat before Master. It is unique club of double ton where Master ruled for almost 19 months but finally his record broken by his disciple Virender Sehwag on Thursday, 8th December, 2011 against depleted West Indian side at Indore co-incidently again in the state of Madhya Pradesh. 'Nawab of Nazafgarh' joined 'GOD of Cricket' in this unique club of double ton in ODI format. 

Well lot has been said about these two amazing records but everyone forgot that after hitting 200 Tendulkar clearly said in one of his interview that only one man can break this record and that is Virender Sehawg. How true Master was in that interview. That's why Sachin Tendulkar is known as 'GOD' because god knows everything well in advance. Now I must say, it is unfair to compare both the innings but I feel Master's inning was much better as he played that innings against world's best bowling attack of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel. That innings of Master was chance less while Viru was dropped twice. Master remained not out but Viru got out.  I must say  Master's innings was artistic and all his strokes looked beautiful. Viru played the brutal innings where he butchered and muscled the West Indian attack. It was completely different innings by Viru.

After this innings of Virender Sehwag, entire media started calling him GOD but I believe it is unfair to compare Viru with Sachin Tendulkar because both have different approach to the batting and this unnecessary comparison definitely put additional pressure on Viru. No doubt Viru is master class and he is biggest entertainer in modern cricket and I can vouch nobody will ever match Virender Sehwag in batting, the way he bats nobody today or even in future will bat like him. He simply kills the bowler and their bowling skills on his day. it is impossible to break majority of Sachin's record while it is impossible to bat like Virender Sehwag and that too consistently. Look at Viru's record. When he started his career everybody labelled him batsmen of limited overs game, but over the period, he is more successful in in longer format of the game. His record in test matches is awesome. Every cricket pundit criticised his lack of footwork and technique, but he proved every cricket pundit wrong as he has scored close to 8000 runs in test matches so far with an outstanding average of 53. while in ODIs he crossed 8000 runs recently. He has scored more than 16000 runs in international cricket and in all these, he had hit 37 hundreds which is no mean achievement for a player who relies purely on hand-eye co-ordination.

Talking about Viru, I must say Virender Sehwag always admitted that he is disciple of Sachin Tendulkar, tries to learn from Sachin Tendulkar and I believe he is absolutely correct because Sehwag tries to copy Tendulkar everytime he bats and succeeds most of the time, so Sehwag is real disciple of Tendulkar and thats why he is succeeded in breaking Tendulkar's unique record. Now what else lies ahead, I believe now Tendulkar will certainly look to score another double ton in ODI, i am saying this because knowing Sachin Tendulkar for so many years, he always likes competition and take unique challenges and achieve them. 

So Nobody will be surprised, if Sachin Tendulkar go on and break Viru's record. Difficult but certainly not impossible for a man who has scored 99 hundreds in International cricket. I must say no one else will achieve the feat of scoring double ton in ODI and this privilege will remain with Master and Disciple only, for very long time.

Lastly if 'Tendulkar is GOD of Cricket' then 'Sehwag is Yamraj for the bowlers'.