Cricket Shastra

Notes from the day one of the India-SA 1st Test at Chepauk, Chennai…

• India needs to re-think the four-bowler strategy, especially in the Indian sub-continent where the pitches are generally conducive to batting. But to accommodate the fifth bowler, whom do you drop? The only route I could think for this is to take Karthik in the team instead of Dhoni (God knows he needs a break, he has been the busiest cricketer in the world – give him a break for a test or two, get him back fully fit and refreshed), drop Jaffer or Sehwag (for no fault on their part), make Karthik open, and get Pathan in as a bowling all-rounder.
• I know Sreesanth is a quality bowler when he gets into rhythm, but the problem is his rhythm lasts for 3 balls, and the fourth ball would generally be seen crashing in the hoardings. He reminds me of another Indian fast bowler of the present era: Ajit Agarkar – of the six balls in his over 4 would beat the batsmen, the other two would beat the fielders.
• RP Singh was not at all incisive, and Zaheer Khan was sorely missed. Ishant Sharma has to prove himself in the Indian subcontinent before we miss him
• And why was the Indian fielding so pathetic? I did not expect Dhoni to drop a catch that he would have generally taken with his eyes shut…

While the rain played spoilsport at Brisbane, and promising to do so in Sydney too, a ray of sunshine broke through.

I just read about Haladhar Das, a wicketkeeper-batsman from very humble roots (he hails from a small village in Orissa) and cannot help but think why were the nineties so bleak in terms of quality wicketkeepers who could just bat a bit. Right now we have no dearth for quality wicketkeeper-batsman – Dhoni being the numero uno, Karthik pushed his way into the Indian Team just on the basis of his batting (and also out of it currently only because of his batting, anyways I think he deserves more chances), and remember Parthiv Patel (yeah the one to whom Steve Waugh retorted in the last Australian tour that he has been playing cricket even before Patel was born) – he has been scoring prolifically in the domestic arena (had he been scoring such runs few years back, Dhoni would have found it very difficult to break into the Indian team); and now Haladhar Das. Where were the wicketkeepr-batsmen in the late nineties and early years of present decade? Anyways because of that problem, at least India found one of its premier batsmen – Dravid saved his ODI career owing to the same problems.

I’ll be surely following the career of Haladhar Das and hope he gives Dhoni, Karthik, Patel some sleepless nights, and the Indian Team a happy dilemma to be in.

No, I am not talking about Ishant Sharma. Granted that he is without a doubt a very promising fast bowler, but I am talking about the “Find of the Series” in context of the TV viewers – namely us. I am talking about the commentator – Michael Slater.

If the matches are being telecast on DD, generally I watch the match on mute preferring not to listen to the pathetic Hindi commentary. But Star, ESPN do have an amazing army of commentators with Harsha Bhogle in command. When Harsha Bhogle is the one on mike, sometimes the comments get more interesting than the actual cricket being played. Another favourite is Michael Holding dead-panning the one-liners. This tour of Australia has unearthed Michael Slater – with his amazing wit, and his recounts of the recent events concerning the current players, he is on the way to become my favourite commentator.

His observations on the cricket are amazing, but better than that is his ever present sense of humour. Yesterday during the first match of the CB series, Sachin had just pulled a ball for three and Michael Slater gave an analysis of why it was a very difficult shot to play considering that SRT is short. I don’t remember exactly how but his conversation with Gavaskar veered from the technique of a short guy to the hair styles of Dhoni and Bracken, and somehow relating both of them – the hair and the technique of the short batsmen. Whenever Slater is paired with Harsha Bhogle, you are in for a treat.

I was never a fan of Michal Slater – the batsman, but I have become an ardent fan of Michael Slater – the commentator.

So the 2007-08 India-Australia Test Series ended yesterday, with the Australians winning it 2-1; I would never say fair-and-square, a couple of decisions here and there, and the result could have been any of 1-1, or 1-2 in India’s favour. Let’s have a look back on the series.

Underprepared @ Melbourne
This is the only way I can summarize Indian Team’s performance at MCG. The bowlers did a commendable job of restricting Aussies to around 350 in both the innings. Zaheer Khan bowled the ball of the match to rattle Ponting’s stumps, and Kumble was exemplary. Although the batsmen let India down. Only SRT, VVS and SG were able to make decent contributions, rest of the batsmen were just giving bowling and fielding practice to the Australians. RD lost many of his fans with the atrociously slow batting – he scored a sum-total of 21 runs after facing 257 balls.

Umpiring Chaos @ Sydney
The Cricket lost focus in Sydney, and the Umpires were in the full glare of the international media. India put up a valiant fight while playing against the 11 Aussies, and the three umpires. The Lady Luck had long deserted India in this match, and Australia emerged winners. This test-match was one which turned on a single decision. SRT, VVS, SG again did well, RD redeemed himself a bit and the lower order Indian batsmen could have given proper batting lessons to MSD and YS. Kumble was again the standout bowler, RP too reaped rewards. Ishant Sharma replaced the injured Zaheer, and was unlucky not to have wickets against his name. And then there was the Bhajji Saga.

Trial by Pace @ Perth
It was supposed to be an already won match for the Aussies. Shaun Tait was supposed to run through the Indian batting lineup. What happened was that the Indian pacers understood the pitch better – they bowled up, let the bouncy pitch do its wonders, and to finish off they swung the ball late: it was trial by pace for the Aussies. The result – a comprehensive Indian victory. Ishant Sharma was the standout bowler, and he would be always be remembered for that spell to Ponting. RD, SRT, VVS were yet again the batting pillars, and believe it or not the other major contributors were RP and Pathan. Sehwag made a comeback at the expense of YS and did not disappoint, but his best was yet to come. It was a complete all-round display from the Indian team, and one of the sweetest victories ever.

Flat Pitch and Flat Match @ Adelaide
India batted hard – scored 500+, Australia batted harder – scored 550+, India batted again – the story ends. A pitch that was expected to crack 3rd day onwards was still a batting paradise on the 5th day. SRT was the batting mainstay in first innings, VS & VVS helped themselves to fifties and Kumble and Bhajji rubbed salt into the Aussie wounds by putting together a century partnership. No bowler – apart from a brief spell from Ishant – was penetrative on a flat pitch. Sehwag showed why he is valued so highly by the players by getting a huge century in the second innings that eliminated any chances of an Aussie win. This was one of the best Sehwag innings I have ever seen, just for the amount of control he was in.

Takeaways from the Series

• You just cannot ignore the 1st generation Indian batsmen. 90% of the work was done by SRT, VVS, RD, SG. The 2nd generation players – YS, MSD, WJ still have to develop the technique to play in Australia.
• Fast bowlers must be singing, “We all fall down”. Before the series Sreesanth, Munaf were injured. Zaheer, RP joined the injured list during the series. But still the Indian fast bowlers walked away with accolades. Ishant is surely the find of the series, and Pathan has regained his swing and the pace.
• Kumble is still India’s best bowler. The last match where he was not fully fit (he had some shoulder problem), the Indian attack rarely looked menacing.
• MSD was unnoticed behind the stumps, which is good for a wicketkeeper, but I just hope he plays his shots while batting. It is never pretty seeing him trying to grind the opposition.
• SRT is GOD!