Murali mesmerises Bangladesh again
Muttiah Muralitharan has now taken 55 wickets in 13 innings against Bangladesh. He averages 11.65 against them and has a strike-rate of just under 27
Cricinfo staff25-Jun-2007
|
|
|
Muttiah Muralitharan has now taken 55 wickets in 13 innings against Bangladesh. He averages 11.65 against them and has a strike-rate of just under 27
Cricinfo staff25-Jun-2007
|
|
|
A stats lowdown on the forthcoming Test series between England and Pakistan
S Rajesh12-Jul-2006
Inzamam-ul-Haq was in awesome form the last time the two sides played © Getty Images
In the early days, an England-Pakistan series meant a huge opportunity for England to rack up the wins, but in the last 22 years, it’s mostly been one-way traffic in the opposite direction. In the eight series that the two teams have played since 1983-84, Pakistan have won six and drawn one; England’s only moment of glory during this period came in 2000-01, when they snatched a twilight win at Karchi to seal the series 1-0. Both teams have had mixed fortunes at Lord’s, the venue of the first Test. England and Pakistan have each won three Tests, with the remaining five matches being drawn. The likelihood of a decisive result this time is high: only one of the last six Tests between the two sides here has ended in a stalemate. Pakistan’s pace attack has been hit by injuries, but the presence of Danish Kaneria should still give England plenty of cause for worry, and Pakistan plenty of encouragement. In the last three series between the two sides in England (1992, 1996 and 2001), England’s batsmen have floundered against spinners, especially in the second innings. In 1992 and 1996, Mushtaq Ahmed lorded over them, taking 18 wickets at 13.33 in the five second innings. Kaneria only averages 40.86 in his five Tests against England, but these stats might be enough reason for Kaneria to be licking his chops in anticipation.
First innings 17 50.41 113.40 Second innings 22 15.18 47.09 As the table below shows, Marcus Trescothick and Ian Bell have handled Kaneria much better than the rest of England’s batsmen. Kevin Pietersen has had plenty of success against Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan – can he now improve his stats against Kaneria as well?
Marcus Trescothick 96/ 75 0 – Ian Bell 205/ 65 1 65.00 Paul Collingwood 113/ 51 1 51.00 Geraint Jones 103/ 41 1 41.00 Kevin Pietersen 77/ 58 2 29.00 Andrew Flintoff 69/ 31 2 15.50 Andrew Strauss 8/ 7 1 7.00 England’s will look to Harmison and Hoggard for wickets, but both were handled quite easily by Pakistan’s three main batsmen – Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan – on England’s last tour to Pakistan in 2005-06. Inzamam scored 151 runs against the two and was dismissed just once, Yousuf hammered them for 141 without being dismissed, while Younis made 51 and was dismissed once each by both. Inzamam will clearly be the most feared batsman for England. The last time he played a series against England, he scored two hundreds and three fifties in five innings and finished with an average of 107.75. Overall, Inzamam averages 58.78 against England, but that figure comes down to 44.14 when playing in England. Yousuf, too, has an excellent record against England, averaging 59.15, but in England it drops to just 21.25. England’s most experienced batsman, Marcus Trescothick, on the other hand, has underperformed slightly against Pakistan. Compared to a career average of 45.15, he averages 40.53 against Pakistan. Flintoff, out of the first Test but likely to return for the remainder of the series, needs to redress his stats against Pakistan too, averaging just 20.83 with the bat against them.
Sourav Ganguly entertained his faithful fans at Eden Gardens by scoring his maiden Test hundred at home
Anand Vasu in Kolkata01-Dec-2007
|
|
|
At 12.55pm on December 1, time stood still for a moment in this laid-back eastern city. When Sourav Ganguly pushed Danish Kaneria just wide of mid-off and ran a single, hands aloft in the air, the 50,000-strong crowd at Eden Gardens had finally witnessed something more than a decade in the making. All through his career Ganguly has had a sense of occasion, an uncanny knack of claiming what is rightfully his.He might have begun his career with a hundred at Lord’s but he did not deserve to end it without a Test century at Eden Gardens. That he finally had a Test hundred against traditional rivals Pakistan will not mean as much to him as the fact that he had, in some token, paid back his faithful and often fanatical supporters, for Ganguly shares a bond with his fans that no other Indian cricketer does.Sachin Tendulkar is loved in Mumbai, but no less anywhere else in the country which adopted the curly-haired 16-year-old as a national treasure soon after he made his debut. Rahul Dravid is respected in Karnataka, but not celebrated as much as a son of the soil as Anil Kumble or Javagal Srinath. VVS Laxman is the sort of character no-one can dislike, but sections of Punjab grudge him his success as he’s seen as the one delaying Yuvraj Singh’s inevitable installation in the middle-order.For Ganguly, Kolkata feels an unconditional love, the kind that asks for nothing in return and yet blindly accepts whatever it gets. There’s nothing objective about the manner in which Ganguly is assessed as a cricketer, and anyone who dares to contradict the overwhelmingly positive image is not spared. He’s the uncrowned prince of Kolkata, and on Saturday, in the company of VVS Laxman, the man who earned the position of the lord of Eden Gardens with his 281 against Australia in 2001, Ganguly rattled off a century as easily as he was batting in the bylanes of Behala, and not a Test match.Ganguly was helped along by a hamstrung pace attack and a pitch so dead you wondered if it was prepared by a mortician rather than a curator. But still, there have been flat decks and weak attacks in the past, and this no guarantee of a century. What does help is having a free mind. Coming in to this Test match on a back of a crucial and positive 48 in the first Test in Delhi, and walking out to bat with the score on 313 for 3, Ganguly appeared to be completely free of pressure.
|
|
|
Sure, there are always nerves at the highest level but the manner in which he played his strokes, and the regularity with which the placement matched the timing, suggested that the pressure of batting for his place in the side, of having Yuvraj knocking loudly on selectoral doors, had lifted. This was not the Ganguly of old, the god of off-side batting, but an improved version. This was the Ganguly who could score runs even when the going was tough, even if it didn’t always look pretty, and one who was smart enough to cash in when the going was good.Ganguly’s first boundary was an open-faced poke past slip off Danish Kaneria, and the second was a forcing drive straight to Sohail Tanvir at point, who somehow managed to let the ball go through his feet, but the strokes that followed were unhurried and decisive. Shoaib Akhtar, normally played with the weight on the back foot and a state of readiness for the bouncer, was disdainfully slapped through point off the front foot. Mohammad Sami was timed through cover, pure style, and Tanvir’s awkward angle was negated by Ganguly’s left-handedness.Ganguly’s innings progressed at a steady clip, his fifty coming off only 72 balls, and his hundred – the first against major opposition in almost four years – off 144 balls. If he felt any nerves as he approached the milestone, he didn’t show it, taking only five balls to get through the so-called nervous nineties and reach three figures. If there was one disappointment – and in Kolkata on a day like this you want be careful what you criticise – it was that Ganguly threw it away straight after getting his hundred, holing out to long-off. In the context of the game, though, it mattered little, and it would take a cruel person to hold this against Ganguly on his day.The crowd, which had cheered so lustily every time Ganguly’s face flashed on the giant screen as he waited for his turn to bat, certainly didn’t mind, and gave him a rousing reception as he walked off the field. The moment was made that extra bit special because this crowd hadn’t got sight of their hero in the flesh for a while. The last ODI here was washed out without India batting, and the one before that was the time when Ganguly was out of the side. Today, with his maiden Test hundred at home, Ganguly made that wait worthwhile.
Pakistan’s ever-malleable domestic structure has for long suffered from apathy and polarised opinion among the country’s cricket insiders. Now yet another series of changes may be in the offing
Saad Shafqat20-Jan-2008
The public stays away in droves for the 2008 Quaid-e-Azam final © Faras Ghani
The final of Pakistan’s premier first-class tournament concluded recently, surrounded by empty stands – as it has for many years – and without television coverage (it was due to be broadcast but the channel is currently off-air). Match reports appeared in the sports pages but were glossed over. Even cricket nuts, the kind who set 3.30am alarms to catch New Zealand v Bangladesh, did not take notice. Karachi’s centrally located National Stadium hosted the game. Entry was free and there were no security barriers. A number of Test heroes, including Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi and Danish Kaneria participated. Yet the event felt like the proverbial tree falling in the forest, leaving you wondering if it made a sound.All the same, there is no shortage of people – players, administrators, analysts, observers and casual fans – offering opinions on Pakistan’s domestic game. Imran Khan, one of its most trenchant critics, keeps calling for a radical overhaul, while Javed Miandad, one of its foremost supporters, argues for preserving its basic ethos.Administrators are either sanguine about its prospects or – like an ex-PCB chairman who recently said there was nothing wrong with it – in denial about its flaws. Journalists lament that it is no longer a nursery for future stars. Fans blame it for the chronic maladies that afflict Pakistan’s national side.First-class cricket in Pakistan does have some unique peculiarities. In addition to regional teams there are outfits representing corporate organisations such as banks, airlines, and energy companies. Few of Pakistan’s internationals participate domestically. And there is not one first-class tournament but (in most years) as many as three, arranged in a structure that never sits still.”In 60 years, no two domestic seasons have been the same,” says Abid Ali Kazi, a statistician and contributor who has compiled an authoritative reference work on Pakistan’s home seasons. The number of participating teams, competition formats, criteria for promotion and relegation, and even the number of tournaments, varies yearly. This bewildering complexity is in striking contrast to other countries. Australia, for example, has one first-class, one one-day, and one Twenty20 tournament, all competed in by a fixed number of regional teams in an unchanging configuration.The leading tournament is the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, which has traditionally comprised regional teams. Alongside that has been the Patron’s Trophy, which typically features corporate teams. Often the top five teams from the two have also competed in a Pentangular. There is also a one-day tournament and, since 2005, a Twenty20 tournament. Apart from the Twenty20 games, which are televised, generate water-cooler talk, and fill stadia, little else gets noticed.One of the chronic ills of Pakistan’s domestic season is believed to be its lack of intensity, which ill-prepares players for the international circuit. Imran blames it on the presence of departmental teams. He has frequently said that teams representing corporate entities are sterile competitors, because they cannot generate excitement or inspire fan following.Yet these corporate teams, the brainchild of Pakistan’s first captain, Abdul Hafeez Kardar, serve a crucial purpose. Kardar realised that Pakistan’s cricketers would have a very limited professional base if they relied only on district cricket associations, because these bodies inevitably struggled for financial viability. Rather than take up an impractical crusade against corruption and nepotism in regional cricket bodies, he convinced a number of government and semi-government companies to employ cricketers by developing and fielding teams in first-class cricket in the early 1970s. It may be a contrived formula – imagine Barclays Bank and British Airways playing alongside Sussex and Surrey – but it has been the economic key to sustaining cricket infrastructure in Pakistan.The PCB chairman, envisions a not-too-distant future when Pakistan will have a single flagship first-class tournament in which 16 teams compete. A strictly enforced system of relegation will add prestige and intensity. This new structure will incorporate both departmental and regional presenceA number of leading players, including Miandad, support this system, further arguing that since Pakistan’s domestic game has thrown up a fair share of world beaters, it must be doing something right. Miandad often cites his own example. A proud product of the local system, he more than held his own around the world, and cannot see why the same is not possible for any other hardworking lad with a reasonable amount of talent and luck. Miandad is the archetypal example of what is best about Pakistan’s first-class system. He spent his formative years in the thick of it, and developed a close relationship with his employers, Habib Bank, that continued fruitfully until well after his playing days.If anything, contrasting views on Pakistan’s domestic game confirm that the system is ripe for meaningful reform. Nasim Ashraf, the PCB chairman, envisions a not-too-distant future when Pakistan will have a single flagship first-class tournament in which 16 teams compete. A strictly enforced system of relegation will add prestige and intensity. Ahsan Malik, the board’s marketing director, explains that this will incorporate both departmental and regional presence, as was the case in this year’s Quaid-e-Azam trophy. “We are aiming to develop regional teams partnered by corporate sponsors,” he said during a training camp recently. “We are even considering opening team ownership to private investors as a franchise, along the lines of the business model seen in American sports and European football.”These ideas are promising, yet hurdles exist. Convincing national-level corporations to become identified sponsors for one city or region won’t be easy. In parallel, an efficient administrative structure must develop to promote and maintain world-standard facilities for domestic cricket in every corner of Pakistan. External circumstances must also be favorable. There might not be a Twenty20 tournament this year, for example, because when President Musharraf declared a state of emergency last November, he also banned the local television sports channel that had successfully bid for domestic cricket rights. Without TV coverage, sponsors aren’t interested.Despite all this, cricket followers continue to hold out hope for a permanent and successful reconfiguration of Pakistan’s first-class season. The odds are against it, but sometimes that is just how Pakistan prefers it.
In what’s been a fascinating trend in the IPL, some batsmen are creating their own room by staying either beside the line or creating their own line by shuffling to off
Sriram Veera13-May-2008
Rohit Sharma: “Playing late has come naturally to me and so I have just concentrated to stay outside the line” (file photo) © Getty Images
Perhaps the purest, the most classical square drive of the IPL came from Misbah-ul-Haq’s bat in Bangalore Royal Challenger’s disastrous match against the King’s XI Punjab. The ball from Sreesanth was on the fuller side of good-length, and Misbah went on his knees to send the ball crashing past point with the bat describing the loveliest of arcs.However, there was only one vital deviation from the classical. The ball was on the middle stump, and Misbah was a good foot away from the leg-stump while executing the stroke. Elsewhere, Shane Watson takes an off and middle stump guard before shuffling a touch towards off to nonchalantly muscle a length delivery over midwicket. Swapnil Asnodkar stays on the leg stump beside the line of the ball and slashes one on the off stump over point.These are some of the fascinating batting vignettes emerging out of the IPL. The batsmen are either creating their own room by staying beside the line or creating their own line by shuffling to off.”I think you have to forget your stumps in Twenty20.” Martin Crowe’s insight just about summarises the batting approach in this briefest form of the game. “You just got to bat down the line the bowler will bowl. To me, my strength is the on side and so if I were batting in Twenty20, I would create an angle to hit on-side. So there is no point in taking a middle stump guard if a bowler like Glenn McGrath is going to bowl a foot outside off stump. So I would stand on off stump, even outside off. If he wants to hit my leg stump then good luck. He has probably only got three people on the on side and I am strong there.” Misbah, perhaps, took forgetting the stumps to the other extreme when he went back and stepped on his stumps in the match against Kings XI Punjab.Sehwag has teased the bowlers in this tournament by his approach. Many a time, as he would do usually, he would stay beside the line and flash deliveries on the off stump through the off side field. The bowler, as Manpreet Gony of Chennai Super Kings did in a game, would then try to bowl closer to the body when, suddenly, Sehwag would walk to the off stump, get outside the line almost and unfurl a swivel-pull over square leg.All this hasn’t come overnight. The teams have been practicing differently for this tournament. One batsman, not known for his big hitting, revealed the special practice drills. The coach made him hit everything across the line for thirty minutes and it was a huge mental challenge given that he’d spent his entire cricketing life trying to play within the V. “I had to forget everything I had learnt. It was a huge mental adjustment and a nice little challenge. The aim was to unlearn stuff.”The young Mumbai batsman Abhishek Nayar says his practice involved hitting shots to his areas of strength and he picked length as the key to determine which shot to pull off. “If it’s short it usually goes over midwicket unless it’s well outside off, in which case I would hit it over the off side.” The line is not that important to the likes of Nayar. By moving around and at times across, he can either drill through the line or swing across it.Rohit Sharma, who is currently third on the run-charts, believes Twenty20 batting is not about slogging or playing those risky paddles and reverse-sweeps. “Perhaps, the change is that you don’t get too much behind the line but stay just outside it. Then you can hit it over extra cover or straight over the field. So I stay on the leg stump or move outside leg a little, give myself room but am trying to maintain a good head position and hit the balls in front of wicket. Playing late has come naturally to me and so I have just concentrated to stay outside the line in this tournament.”The other approach that has stood out is that of S Badrinath. Often, he has retreated well inside the crease. So what could be a yorker-length ball had he stood at his usual position has become a full-pitched delivery. It allows him to get under the ball and swing it over the infield.Gautam Gambhir, one of the highest scorers, uses a similar approach and has been very successful in staying alongside the line and hitting length deliveries through off side. He has taken care not to press either his back or front leg across so that his body doesn’t come in the way of the bat swing. He has maintained a still head that allows him to maintain balance while driving on the up.The other approach that has stood out is that of S Badrinath. Often, he has retreated well inside the crease. So what could be a yorker-length ball had he stood at his usual position has become a full-pitched delivery. It allows him to get under the ball and swing it over the infield.However, there is the risk of the batsman trying to fit everything within his predetermined framework. Ross Taylor, the New Zealand batsman who played a few games for Bangalore, employed smooth swings across the line to his favourite on side. But, on occasions, he was dismissed going for these swipes. “It’s a risk but that’s my strength [on side] and I was confident of getting the bat in line.” Perhaps, for a batsman who has a lovely off drive in his repertoire, he could have deployed that shot to the deliveries outside off stump more often but again, it’s the case of the batsmen trying to forget the stumps and trying to hit to their favourite areas.The interesting thing to watch out for is when these batsmen, who are avoiding getting behind the line, play Test cricket. It won’t matter for a Sehwag who tries to stay beside the line in most forms of the game but will the others revert to the conventional form or will they continue with the new approach since they have tasted success. And if they do, will they be as successful?
Michael Parkinson has played and followed cricket for half a century and has interviewed some of the game’s finest. “it never was a matter of life and death, it never will be,” he tells Cricinfo
Interview by Nagraj Gollapudi09-May-2008Parkinson
|
|
|
Would you describe yourself as a fan of cricket?
Yes. I was born in Yorkshire where there’s a great cricketing tradition, and I’ve followed cricket all my life. My first cricket started when I was three. I played for Barnsley in the Yorkshire league when I was 15 or 16. I tried becoming a professional and had trials for Hampshire and Yorkshire but wasn’t good enough, so became a journalist instead.Your father wanted to name you Melbourne, didn’t he?
Mainly because we had won a Test match in Melbourne [when I was born]. Imagine if we’d won in Adelaide!My father was a very, very keen cricket follower. For him, no matter what I achieved or did on television, I was a failure, because he thought playing cricket for Yorkshire was better than being a TV star. And that’s the difference between fame and immortality – if you wore the white rose of Yorkshire on your cap you were immortal, but if you do a talk show you’re just famous.What to you makes a great cricketer? And who would you rate as great cricketers?
A great cricketer is a great athlete, who brings to the game character and charm, a personality and style that very few others have. Sachin Tendulkar and Fred Trueman are great players. Trueman and Dennis Lillee were the two greatest fast bowlers I saw. The greatest cricketer is Sir Garfield Sobers without a single shadow of doubt. The greatest bowler was Shane Warne because he played the game like nobody else ever played it.You haven’t mentioned Keith Miller, for whom you had a special affection.
Keith was a boyhood hero of mine. When I was a child he was almost a kind of a film-star figure for me because he was so good-looking. He was dashing, hit big sixes, was a big fast bowler, and women adored him. Then when I went down London to Fleet Street in London to work, he was the cricket correspondent for the , which I worked for. They had a cricket team and I used to stand at second slip with him at first slip. We became firm friends and were until he died. I treasure that friendship. He was remarkable.Nowadays people take the game too seriously – they talk too much of life and death and that’s nonsense. Keith and his generation didn’t believe that because they’d been in the war, so they were able to put cricket in proper perspective and play it that way. They understood that, no matter how hard you play, you are playing a game. That’s all it is, a pastime, not life and death. It still stays with me. There was his great saying on pressure. He told me on my TV show that what he couldn’t stand about today’s game was the use of the word “pressure”. He said pressure was having a Messerschmitt up your arse. All today’s cricketers will do well to remember that.You’ve seen the game for more than 60 years. How have things changed in that time?
I’m prepared to tell you that cricketers of today are fitter and in many ways overall better than they were in my day. The one thing that’s happened in all of sport is that the standards of fitness have lifted the players and the game itself to a different level. Today’s teams would murder the teams of my day simply because of their athleticism in the field and the way they chase down balls. In my day the thought of a fast bowler flaying himself around the field was unthinkable.But what’s been lost to the game is a bit of charm. The older guy wasn’t just the captain, he was the voice of wisdom in the team and stopped younger guys from making asses of themselves. That’s missing too, maybe.
| The one thing that has really fundamentally changed about team ethic is, it’s a much more comprehensive unit. In my day teams were generally a collection of gifted individuals. These days guys are assembled like a piece of engineering to become a very, very tight unit | |||
What’s really missing is, like I said earlier, the sense that we are playing a game, and the word “pressure” is much overused. We should think of another word to describe the joy of playing cricket for living. These guys are very lucky men indeed – very good at what they do, but the demeanour of a modern player sometimes leaves a bit to be desired. It’s not just cricket, it’s in almost every sport. In other words, it’s taken too seriously. They believe it is a matter of life and death. It never was, it never will be.Is there also a perception that cricketers of today play for themselves?
I don’t think that’s true. The collective team effort nowadays is much more concentrated and important than it ever was. That is one thing that has really fundamentally changed about team ethic – it’s a much more comprehensive unit. In my day teams were generally a collection of gifted individuals. These days guys are assembled like a piece of engineering to become a very, very tight unit.Speaking of teams, which is the best one you have seen?
The recent Australian team that had Warne and Glenn McGrath were without a doubt possibly the best team I’ve ever seen. I did see the Invincibles in 1948. They were a wonderful, glamorous team that played cricket to a very high standard, dominated by the world’s greatest batsman ever, Donald Bradman. But the England team they played against was a very, very impoverished collection of players. So you have to actually judge them against that background.You write in your book that you tried interviewing Bradman but were never successful.
He was very elusive. He used to write me letters, and I’ve still got four or five authentic Bradman letters. Sadly, the one interview he did do before he died, with Channel 9 in Australia, could not be described as a raging success. Perhaps it was the wrong time for Bradman, who was too old by then. Maybe he never quite got to grips with the medium of television and never quite understood what it was that I wanted.At the time I had said to have Bradman talk about cricket was like having Mozart talking about music. Bradman invented the modern game. There were only two figures in cricket who profoundly changed the game – WG Grace and Donald Bradman.What about your old pal from Yorkshire, Geoffrey Boycott?
After I got the knighthood, he called me from South Africa, where he is living now, to check why I got the knighthood and he hadn’t. I replied that it was because I’m better looking and I always was a better cricketer.At Barnsley I played with him where I opened with Dickie Bird. Geoff used to come at fourth wicket down. He hasn’t changed but he always had the making of a top-class cricketer. He had all the dedication that you require, and became a force to reckon with.How would you define the spirit of Yorkshire cricket?
There used to be a great tradition in Yorkshire – it was about that. We felt about cricket very much like the Indians felt about cricket: it was our sport. You had to be a cricketer in Yorkshire otherwise your father would kick you out of the house. So you grew up playing cricket and every child’s ambition was to wear the white rose of Yorkshire before the England cap. And the Yorkshire leagues were very, very high standard indeed.
|
|
|
Did you know Sir Len Hutton?
I knew him – not very well, but I knew him. He was a strange man, was a very, very fine player. When he was appointed captain of England, he took elocution lessons and it was one of the most mangled versions of Yorkshire and Queen’s English you ever heard in your life. He used to place the “h”s in the wrong place.You’ve never been too fond of the MCC.
When I was growing up in the 1940s and 50s, England was a very class-ridden structure. And if you came from a mining community from Yorkshire as a working-class boy, you weren’t like these people who’d been to posh schools and things. They talked differently and you were judged by your accent.I got on the wrong side of the MCC very early on in my career, which I was delighted with because I hated the bastards. They (MCC) ruled cricket in those days.Fred Trueman was a classic example. They disliked Fred’s attitude, the way he wouldn’t kowtow to them, because of which he missed at least three or four tours. He never toured the subcontinent, for instance. At one time he missed out an Ashes tour after he’d taken 185 wickets at 7.5.Now it’s changed. Society has changed now and those barriers are no longer there. But still I like teasing them: I insisted at my knighthood that the only people who call me “Sir” are the MCC members.What was the most memorable interview you did?
Muhammad Ali.When it comes to cricket, it would be Shane Warne because he is an extraordinary man, and I’ve said before that he was the most gifted, remarkable bowler I’d ever seen. But it was more than that. He was an impresario. He came on to the field and you felt he ran the game. His sense of theatre and drama was unmistakeable. He was a star. He was like Trueman. When he walked on to a field people looked at him, watched him, because all of sudden it was happening. These people are important for who they are.Was there an interview you regretted never doing?
Bradman was the only one. Sobers wasn’t a good interview because he couldn’t explain to me what he did – because he just did it. He was a genius.One great cricket spectacle you watched live.
The nice thing about watching sport is, you always feel that at any given moment of time something beautiful or wondrous might happen. Watching Warne bowl at any time was a joy. Recently I saw VVS Laxman score a beautiful innings in Sydney and I was transfixed at every shot of his.You’re known to have strong views on many aspects of cricket. What’s your take on walking?
Every game must be played honourably and to not walk is to cheat. Basically, what I believe is, every game belongs to the players. Players themselves must decide what kind of game they want to play.I still remember one game at Barnsely where I snicked a ball very faintly to the keeper and the umpire gave me not out. My skipper was at the other end. He walked up to me and asked, “Did you hit that?” I said “Yes”. He said, “F*** off”. And I went. From that point, I walked. So it’s up to the players. Watch English football to see how corrupt the game can be when players decide they’ll dive, cheat and try to get the other fellow sent out.What has cricket taught you?
I’ve learned about companionship and humour. It’s the most beautiful of games, most complex of games. It’s a game of many, many facets and that’s what fascinates me. And I never met a cricketer I didn’t like, actually.
Sourav Ganguly fired Bengal’s imagination. He was a talisman the state had waited too long for
Soumya Bhattacharya10-Nov-2008
For all Bengal: in Ganguly came the answer to years of prayer for a hometownboy who had made good © AFP
I am writing this in the early-morning Sunday quiet of my Mumbai flat, aneye on the clock, my nerves tingling a bit, the sense of keyed-upanticipation that all addicts know flowing through my system as I wait forthe fourth day’s play in Nagpur to begin.I am relishing the wait; the hours leading up to the first ball are anexcruciatingly slow, gorgeously pleasurable wind-up. Thank heavens for Testcricket – : play gets underway as early as 9.30am.It’s a big day in a big game in a big series. But hang on. Isn’t theresomething else too? Yes, at some point later today, Sourav Ganguly is likelyto come out to bat for the last time in his international career.I have just returned from Kolkata, my – and Ganguly’s – hometown, and thepublic discourse over there in clubs, bars and street corners (sorry, thatmay not be a fabulously representative sample, but those are the places Itend to hang out at when I go to Kolkata on my annual visit) was dominated bythe former captain and his decision to quit. Was he pushed? hehave quit? Couldn’t he have played for a little while longer? Oh, Dada!Hell, the largest-selling Bengali daily put Ganguly in as part of the headline theday Sachin Tendulkar got his 40th Test hundred. (Ganguly was 27 not out atstumps.)You wouldn’t think it talking to the man on the street and reading theBengali papers but there is among many members of the educated elite inKolkata a tendency to go against the grain and profess no extra love forGanguly. The way it works is to specifically say that the massesillogically, irrationally support Ganguly. In a way, this stands toreason: Kolkata is a city of self-conscious irony; it is bashfullyapologetic about itself and is suffused with a severe abhorrence ofself-congratulation in certain circles.Several of my friends resort to this sort of thing. I never have. I havealways been an admirer of Ganguly’s. And I insist that my admiration hasnothing to do with being parochial. Nor do I think I need to go against thegrain in this respect to exhibit my distinctiveness from the masses.But I have been thinking about it this morning. And, you know, I’ve beenasking myself if it is at all possible to entirely divorce parochialism ofsome form or the other from support. Isn’t all support a sort of tribalism?Isn’t that what it’s all ? I mean, I am a big fan of RogerFederer and John McEnroe and Diego Maradona, but with cricket, a sportin which we are actually good? You tell me.Well, Bengal’s fanaticism about Ganguly to do with parochialism. I amnot sure if this is something to be bashfully apologetic about. Sport, yousee, as Nick Hornby writes in , is partof popular culture, however much some of us try to deny it sometimes. AndBengal has been traditionally big on culture – and tremendously proud of it.If you don’t have much else to show – like, say, top industrialists, or alot of money, what else can you do? Culture is your badge of privilege, of genuine distinction.Now we always had people who would talk about cricket; who would pridethemselves on forming the most literate, intelligent cricket crowd in India(a patent lie. I think it went by a name in the popular press: congnoscenti); who would say that the Eden Gardens had the most atmosphere (a nebulous assertion because one isn’t quite certain what “atmosphere” might really, objectively, mean); and who would talk about Kolkata’s culture of following cricket in a, well, cultured way.We had everything, you see. The trouble was, there was no one to follow. Wedidn’t have the players. I mean, okay, Pankaj Roy was from Bengal, but tofind people who could recall him in his pomp – well, let’s just say you won’tfind too many of them hanging around at street corners or clubs or bars.Ganguly fired Bengal’s imagination because he was the talisman Bengal hadbeen looking for for decades; he gave us someone to specifically root for.Every state had its players in the national team. Where were Bengal’s?Here was a state that had historically produced nearly no Test players ofany stature. In Ganguly came the answer to years of prayer for a hometownboy who had made good. And how good he made. But that’s not quite why I admire Ganguly. Or at least that is what I .All this I have figured out, keyed up, in the early-morning, Sunday quiet of my Mumbai flat, waiting for play to begin.I think I am a huge Ganguly fan because of the way he has changed Indian cricket. I have written about this before, but it bears repeating. (Fans can’t ever have too much of repetition.)Becoming captain in November 2000, he forged on the anvil of hisspectacular, stare-you-in-the-eye-and-not-blink, tough, provocativeleadership a side that went from being crumbling-pitch bullies in India tothe team that has beaten the (still) world champions, Australia, on moreoccasions than any other side in this century; the side that has won aroundthe world; the side that has played with audacity and impunity and courageand guts and beauty.Indian captains were supposed to be polite, stoic, decent, notoverly, demonstrably ambitious, middle class in sensibility if notlineage. Ganguly changed all that.He was the fulcrum around which the contemporary game’s premierconfrontation, India versus Australia, was built. Indian cricket was alwaysabout silk, about splitting cover and extra cover with neither fieldermoving. It took Ganguly to put the steel in it.Bengal’s fanaticism about Ganguly to do with parochialism. I am not sure if this is something to be bashfully apologetic about. Sport, as Nick Hornby writes, is partof popular culture, however much some of us try to deny it sometimes This has been a thrilling decade – why, a thrilling century, I realise as I write this – to be an Indian cricket fan. And we shall be remiss if we don’t acknowledge the extent of Ganguly’s contribution to that fact.It is probably true that his record as India’s most successful captain everhas somewhat obscured and taken the attention away from his achievements asa batsman. His Test average has never fallen below 40. He is India’sfourth-highest Test run-scorer and fourth-highest century-maker. He hasplayed more Tests than all but a handful of players in the history of the game, andhe has, in them, offered us numerous beautiful, gutsy, unforgettableperformances.Ganguly himself is acutely aware of this fact. A couple of days ago he wasquoted as saying (in – where else but? – a Bengali daily) that he has mademore than 2000 runs in the past 22 Tests. He is very conscious of hisstats. And why not? If others aren’t, perhaps not as much as they ought tobe, the man who made the most stirring comeback in contemporary Indiancricket ought to be. It’s not something to be exactly ashamed of, is it? Or bashfully apologetic about, perhaps?But the fact remains that more than Ganguly the batsman, it is Gangulythe captain – the “game changer”, as the marketing blokes like to call it – Ishall remember. And I shall miss him when he is there no more to remind meof how he did what he did.Wish you luck, Sourav. Have a good one, mate – as your favourite opponentswould say – now that it is all over. And thanks for what you gave us.It’s still nearly an hour to go for the start of play.
With the debacle in Abu Dhabi, West Indies officials are at their wit’s end to know how to revive standards. Their proposals with respect to player selection are well meaning, but they are also patently unrealistic and unworkable, if not laughable
Tony Cozier17-Nov-2008
|
||
There are any number of instances of the muddled thinking that presently pervades West Indies cricket.
The latest – not counting the bloated, sub-standard, expensive, non-sponsored regional one-day tournament in Guyana, last week’s meeting of the Caricom sub-committee on cricket that did not involve a single cricketer and Carlton Baugh’s disappointing run in Abu Dhabi – concerns a shift in selection policy.Although enunciated separately over the past month by the chief executive of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and by the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA), the stated transformation is so similar in content and timing as to suggest collaboration.At a time when West Indies officials are at their wit’s end to know how to revive standards, their proposals are, no doubt, well meaning but they are also patently unrealistic and unworkable, if not laughable.
Here is the WICB man Donald Peters’s take on the issue, as delivered at the opening of the Trinidad and Tobago’s High Performance Centre last month:”If you decide that you are an opening batsman, we will expect you to occupy the crease for at least 75% of the time you go to bat and your batting average will be between 40-60 over at least ten first-class matches.”If you are a top order batsman we will expect you to have a batting average that is consistent with international players at that level/position.”The West Indies selectors, he indicated, would be guided by a first-class average that “should be similar” to that of Mike Hussey, Ricky Ponting, Kumar Sangakkara, Kevin Pietersen, Virender Sehwag and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.The theory, presumably, is that if you’re aiming high, go for nothing but the highest. No Ian Bell, Hashim Amla, Ross Taylor or others of that ilk in there. Only the top performers.The problem is that Chanderpaul and Chris Gayle are the only ones among active West Indian batsmen who meet such qualifications. Clyde Butts and his fellow selectors will find impossible to scrape together an eleven, unless, of course, they simply ignore such nonsense.A few days after Peters made known the WICB’s plan, the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) issued a lengthy, detailed document entitled ‘Selection Policy Guidelines’, covering such aspects as attitude, fitness and commitment. Under the heading ‘Performance Levels’, this is what it states: “All players seeking to represent Barbados at the regional first-class level shall maintain a First Division (club) average of 40 or higher as a batsman or a bowling average less than 15 with at least 35 wickets as a bowler.”All players seeking to represent Barbados at the regional one-day level shall maintain a batting average of between 35 and 40 or higher as a batsman or a bowling average under 20 as a bowler.”It goes further. Those in the Barbados team who don’t maintain the required averages at club level “shall appear before the director of coaching with their club coach to give reasons for their non-performance”. If, “after further monitoring”, the standard still isn’t met then the player won’t even get into trials. The text, the BCA surprisingly revealed, was prepared “in consultation with the selectors” whose initiative it would obviously compromise.All they need do in future is to pick batsmen and bowlers who meet the given statistical specifications and argue over the wicket-keeper, the only category for which none are set.
| All the West Indies selectors need do in future is to pick batsmen and bowlers who meet the given statistical specifications and argue over the wicket-keeper, the only category for which none are set | |||
The problem, short of bringing back Garry Sobers, Seymour Nurse, Charlie Griffith, Joel Garner and others from the generations of greatness, is where to find them.The BCA directive offers no discretion to the selectors. The players “shall maintain” the given averages, full stop. Peters’ plan is slightly more flexible – the WICB would simply “expect”.What both should expect is a mass resignation of those self-respecting selectors whose roles are rendered redundant by such edicts. They are all former players who have been chosen specifically because of their knowledge gained from years of experience in the game. They are not strictly guided in their judgement by runs and wickets but have an eye for the intangibles behind the numbers such as talent, competitiveness and mental toughness.While they get it right more often than not, they inevitably get it wrong sometimes for which they are crucified, especially in these small, scattered, insular territories. Now they would be able to hide behind the bland figures. Had the WICB and the BCA come up with the same ludicrous idea in the past some of our finest players might never have had the chance to rise to stardom.One example suffices to illustrate how absurd these new guidelines are.For the tour of India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan 34 years ago, the panel of Clyde Walcott (chairman), Joe Solomon and J.K.Holt picked a precocious young Antiguan batsman for the first time. His average after 15 first-class matches over three seasons of regional cricket was 26. He had yet to score a first-class hundred.His name was Vivian Richards.
Highlights of the second round of the Ranji Trophy’s Super League and Plate matches
Sidharth Monga14-Nov-2008
Another triple-century: a day in Pujara’s life © Cricinfo Ltd
The run machine
What does a team need at 100 for 4 after having won the toss? A triple-century from the No. 4 and a double from the No. 6, with a 520-run stand between them, should do. It did, for Saurashtra. The triple came from the latest run machine in Indian domestic cricket – the 20-year-old Cheteshwar Pujara. This was his third such score in less than a month’s time. The first two came against Maharashtra and Mumbai in the CK Nayudu Trophy, both in Rajkot.Only the ground changed this time: the first-choice ground in Rajkot had to host the ODI between India and England, hence the match was played at the Khandheri Cricket Stadium. This time he scored an unbeaten 302 not out against Orissa, at a strike-rate of 71.39, hitting 33 fours and three sixes. “There was this feeling that the first two had come at Under-22 level and things were easy for me,” he said later. “But this is the Ranji Trophy Super League. This is first-class cricket. And besides, this one was vital for the team too.”His partner was the 19-year-old Ravindra Jadeja, who contributed 232 to the partnership, which was the world record for fifth wicket. They beat the Waugh brother’s unbeaten 464-run association against Western Australia. This was also the second-highest partnership in Ranji Trophy, falling 57 short of Vijay Hazare and Gul Mahomed’s 577 for Baroda against Holkar in 1946-47.The Gilly trick, and a friendly fine
Yere Goud, the quintessential Railways player in terms of determination and grit, has found a new way to make his top hand more prominent while he bats. While batting in nets, he has been using a custom-made inner glove, with a half-cut ball inside. “I have been using it for some time now. Basically this year, I want to use my top hand more while manoeuvring the incoming ball, and that’s why I am using it during nets,” Goud told the . “I’ll never use them during a match.”Goud, on his comeback to the Railways side, helped them win three points against his team in the interim – Karnataka. Despite his heroics, Railways stayed strict on the discipline: they fined him Rs 500 because he wore a green helmet, as opposed to the team colour, blue. “I wasn’t too comfortable with it. I continued playing with my older one and hence the fine,” he said. “We have a discipline rule within the team, whoever is found breaking it has to pay the fine. We use the money for our juice and tea. Even team captain Sanjay Bangar was fined the same amount for turning up in the wrong training colours.”The hat-trick
Offbreak bowler Pritam Gandhe is 37, is Vidarbha’s captain, and is two short of reaching 100 first-class matches. Last week he took his second hat-trick, becoming only the third bowler to manage more than one in Ranji Trophy. His first came way back in 1993-94, against Rajasthan. His second helped them to a 135-run win over Services.Services’ Joginder Rao, who played only five first-class matches, took three, including two in the same innings – against Northern Punjab, in 1963-64. Anil Kumble took two.The SOS
Oops Ashish Nehra has done it again. Two matches into his first-class comeback, he strained his right hamstring and bowled only 10.2 overs against Hyderabad. Nehra wouldn’t go to just hospital to get an MRI scan done. He called VVS Laxman, who had reached Mumbai airport on his way back home after an emotionally draining series, for what he thought was the best place to go to. It brought Nehra good news: the scan didn’t show any tear. The Delhi team, though, will wait on his fitness before deciding on their final XI for the home match against Mumbai, starting Sunday.Angry young Irfan
A trivia first: this is the first time for Baroda that Yusuf Pathan has been away on national duty, and the younger brother, Irfan, has played Ranji cricket for them.During Baroda’s home match against Uttar Pradesh, Irfan got into a scuffle with some of the fans, reported. During the match, he went out of the ground to argue with fans who were shouting out his name in the parking area. Some fans had apparently got into an argument with Irfan’s driver near the ground. He rushed out on hearing about the incident, Baroda Cricket association sources said. There was a bright side to it, though: a female admirer caught hold of his collar and asked him to dance with her. But she was immediately separated from him and escorted away, the report said.While on the subject of arguments, the Kolkata-based reported on a dressing-room spat between Ashok Dinda and Shib Shankar Paul, during Bengal’s match against Madhya Pradesh in Gwalior. The spat “threatened to blow out of proportions, but timely intervention by the team management prevented a crisis”. What a shame.The battle
Irfan and Praveen Kumar – the latter rather harshly – were left out of the Indian ODI side last week, and also came face to face when Baroda played UP. Both needed to make a statement, especially Praveen, and they did in style. He took five wickets to bowl Baroda out for 235. Irfan paid back in kind, taking five on the second day. After the first two days, they both had identical figures: 26-7-71-5. The difference though was Praveen’s hitting. He came in to bat at 210 for 7, after UP had lost two quick wickets, and in a jiffy he scored 50 to take UP past Baroda’s total, and get them three vital points.Shane Warne’s boys’ corner
Jadeja had a dream week, getting his highest first-class score and best bowling figures in the same match. He hit 23 fours and two sixes in his 232 not out, his first-class century, and then took 5 for 44 to bowl Orissa out after Saurashtra had asked them to follow on.Swapnil Asnodkar had a second good game in a row, following up his 191 in the first round with 93 in the second, against Jammu & Kashmir. Goa won the match by 110 runs, moving up to the second spot in the Group A of the Plate League.Siddharth Trivedi, though, didn’t have good time, as Gujarat slumped to an innings defeat against Mumbai. He bowled 30 overs for no wickets, and scored 0 not out and 1. In the second innings, Gujarat managed only 44, their second-lowest total in Ranji Trophy.Quotehanger
“The selectors want a complete review of the fitness of the team. We want a detailed report of the team in writing by the physio, once the team returns.”
Anil Jain, one of the Delhi selectors, after Nehra’s injury, and reports that a few other players were carrying injuries. Better late than never, then.
Entertaining cricket at Lord’s, but it’s from the other team
Chirag Makwana14-Jun-2009Why I picked this match
I have supported India since I started watching cricket in 1995. I have always remained a passionate fan. Even after the defeat today, I have faith in the team to shine and go further into the tournament. Let’s hope we beat England.Key performer
No doubt Dwayne Bravo was the star of the day, taking four wickets and scoring a classy Caribbean-style half-century. He batted with no fear and put the Indian bowlers to the sword. Sending him in at No. 4 turned out to be an excellent move. Yuvraj Singh also played a great knock under pressure.One thing I’d have changed about the match
India won the toss and decided to bat first. I thought chasing might have been a better option. MS Dhoni should have taken a more positive approach when he was batting. Also, sending Suresh Raina in at No. 3 against a fiery Fidel Edwards may not have been the best idea considering his flaws against quick short bowling.Face-off I relished
Harbhajan Singh v Chris Gayle. A quality bowler against a dominant batsman. Everyone expected Gayle to fire, but Harbhajan’s maiden over in the Powerplay overs to Gayle made the Indian crowd go wild.Celebrity spotting
Sachin Tendulkar and Dilip Vengsarkar were outside the ground, surrounded by fans. Also spotted were Alec Stewart, Neil Burns and Farookh Engineer.Wow moment
At the fall of Lendl Simmons’ wicket, Bravo came on strike and the very next ball he was down the track to Pragyan Ojha and deposited him for six over long-on. To have that confidence must be amazing.Crowd meter
The crowd was great. Even though on the day there were four teams playing, 60% of the crowd was following India. The was good banter and great cheering. There were many attempts to get a Mexican wave going but it wouldn’t. It’s a shame India couldn’t pull off a victory give the number of fans who had turned up to see them.Entertainment
All the entertainment of the day came from the ground; we got to see some excellent cricket throughout the day. The cheerleaders were not as good as those we had in the IPL. Considering the crowd was mainly male, it doesn’t make sense to have two male cheerleaders and one female cheerleader.Overall
It was a good day out, people were out in excellent numbers, the weather was brilliant and the cricket was top notch.