What motivates them to play in the IPL?

Warne, McGrath, Gilchrist, Ganguly, Kumble and Hayden have all retired, from all international and domestic cricket, in the last 2.5 years.

Yet, they all played in the IPL, both this season and the last.

What motivates them to play in the tournament? Is it the competitive urge? Is it the curiosity to find out if they're still good enough to compete with other current players? Is it the money? Did they retire because they were tired of living out of suitcases for nearly 9 months a year? Is it the will to try and master a relatively unfamiliar form of the game? Is it to pass on their decades of cricketing wisdom on to youngsters who'd be in awe of sharing the same dressing room with them?

If it is the competitive urge, why did they retire in the first place? Were they "pushed"? So maybe its a way of cocking a snoop at the selectors or team management.

Again, if it is about wanting to find out if they're still good enough, what's the big deal? They've excelled in their field over the past 10-15 years. So it is plain and obvious that even 1-2 years after retiring, they'd be much better than the average player at the IPL, perhaps even in the 80th percentile (i.e. in the top 20% of the players at the IPL). So why even try checking?

Is it about mastering T20 and learning "new tricks"? Quite possibly so, given that between all of them, they've played 24 T20 internationals and coincidentally, only the Aussies in that list (Hayden - 13, Gilchrist - 9 and McGrath - 2) have played T20 internationals.

Of the lot, it is fair to say that Gilchrist, Hayden, Warne and Kumble (perhaps in that order) have achieved the most in this format with McGrath having a great run last year but strangely not featuring in the playing XI at all this year while Ganguly has had two horrible tournaments barring 2-3 good knocks. Hayden and Gilchrist were the top run-scorers this season while Gilchrist was at #6 last time. Warne was the 2nd highest wicket-taker last time and slipped to #10 this time. Kumble had 2 of the 4 best bowling performances this time even as he got within 2 wickets of the purple cap. McGrath was in the top 10 wicket-takers last time. Ganguly had 2 entries in the top 11 innings scores last time around.

Is it about passing on their gyaan? Again, quite possibly so. I'm sure these chaps are nice enough to try and motivate their teammates through their attitude to preparation, their winning spirit, their focus, etc. Then again, barriers are bound to crop up in a team which has players from multiple countries/cultures. So not all the youngsters would be able to/keen to absorb the gyaan.

Were they sick and tired of being part of the tours & tournaments circus for the best part of 10+ years? Quite possible, because they would have felt the need to give more time to their families and the IPL is just a month-long tournament.

Is it about the money? Most certainly so. The money is huge, and even though McGrath would have been disappointed at not featuring in the playing XI, he earned quite a lot (he was "bought" last year for USD 350,000). None of these players would actually be in a situation where they desperately need money, but hey, who's going to be stupid enough to say no?!

As a parting note, Ganesh pointed me to 53-year old Shirley-Ann Bonaparte. What prompts her to play on, 30 years after she last turned out for West Indies' women's team, now representing the USA women's team?

Labels: ganguly, gilchrist, hayden, indian premier league, ipl 2009, kumble, mcgrath, twenty20, warne

Thus spake Jagadish @ 11:23 pm | Sledge/Read 4 sledge(s)
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Sourav Ganguly's YouTube moments

In commemoration of Sourav Ganguly, who retired yesterday, here are some memorable 'dada' video clips from YouTube.

1999:
Shoaib Akhtar dents Bengal's pride - I happened to volunteer to edit the Cricinfo headlines section, and used that rather provocative headline, when Akhtar's short ball hit Ganguly in the rib cage, resulting in Ganguly retiring hurt temporarily. There was a lot of 'interesting' feedback (by Bongs) to Cricinfo's editorial team after that headline went up!

Teeing off against Sri Lanka at Taunton during the 1999 World Cup.

2002:
Providing a blazing start in the 2002 NatWest Series final after which he forgot to keep his shirt on.

Turned down an offer of bad light and mounted (along with Tendulkar) a thrilling assault on some very tired England bowlers.

In the company of Sehwag, he totally destroyed England at the ICC Knock-Out in Sri Lanka.

2003: A highly motivating century at Brisbane.

2004: A sensational assault in the first one-dayer at Karachi.

2005: Worried about turning up at the match referee's room again, so he makes it clear to Mohammad Yousuf that he doesn't want that situation to come up.

2006: Scintillating comeback which ended up helping India win a test in South Africa.

2007: First international century at his home ground. First test double hundred at Bangalore.

2008:
Edged and 'caught' by Michael Clarke at Sydney.

A match-winning 87 against South Africa.

Off the field:
Looking very out of place while dancing in a commercial.

Appearing in a commercial asking for everyone to support the Indian team.

---

Oh, and by the way, I will be at the test cricket tomorrow!

Labels: aus v ind 2008, ganguly, retire, video, youtube

Thus spake Jagadish @ 11:18 pm | Sledge/Read 7 sledge(s)
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Breaking news: Sourav Ganguly announces retirement

News trickling in just now - Sourav Ganguly has announced his retirement. He will be quitting after the test series against Australia.

It is unclear if he will be retiring from all forms of cricket, including book cricket. Remember, he captained the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL last year. Will he play in the 2009 edition?

The retirement, in my opinion, is poorly timed. The announcement means that he will definitely be picked for all four tests. It puts immense pressure on him, and the team. Just think back to Steve Waugh's farewell series against India in 2003/04. I'm fairly sure that Waugh's decision to announce his retirement before the series definitely impacted Australia's performances.

The other reason it is poorly timed is that it basically ensures that the likes of Kaif, Badrinath, Raina or Yuvraj have no hope of playing the series, barring injury affecting the rest of the middle-order.

Almost exactly a month ago, he declared that he had two more years of cricket left in him. So what has changed now in the meantime, especially considering he was picked for the first two tests?

There's so much you can write about him - being picked in 1992, a comeback in 1996, becoming India's best batsman in ODIs for 3-4 years (despite the presence of Tendulkar), his captaincy, the fact that the Indian team drastically improved its away performances when he was captain, driving opponents nuts with his own version of 'mental disintegration', the shirtless celebration at Lord's while continously mouthing obscenities, his repeat visits to the match referee room, the brilliant knock at Brisbane, his spat with Greg Chappell, being picked as an all-rounder, being picked for the tour of Pakistan in 2006, his batting in South Africa during his 2006 comeback, his double hundred late last year, his brilliant 80-odd against South Africa a few months ago, and so much more!

Will we hear of another retirement when the series ends?

Sourav, thanks for the memories.

Labels: aus v ind 2008, book cricket, breaking news, ganguly, india, retire

Thus spake Jagadish @ 5:04 pm | Sledge/Read 4 sledge(s)
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A very predictable Indian squad for first test against Australia

With no intention of rocking the boat, for e.g. by agreeing with Ricky Ponting's claim that Ganguly was going to be left out, the new bunch of selectors have included Amit Mishra and S Badrinath in the 15-man squad for the first two tests against Australia.

It was always on the cards that Ganguly would be included. I never understood the fuss. A new selection committee was highly unlikely to take a bold decision like leaving Ganguly out, especially when Australia was the opposition.

There're a few surprising aspects of the squad though.

• Ganguly has been included without any sort of serious match practice. He wasn't in the Rest of India side for the Irani Trophy. He wasn't playing for India A. He played a couple of local tournaments (JP Atray Trophy & Pearls Trophy).
  
• There're only two openers - Sehwag and Gambhir. I'd have thought three openers would need to have been named to account for illness or injury. Of course, if the selectors, in their immense wisdom, wanted Rahul Dravid (batting avg. 32 as opener from 17 innings, with 2 centuries and 1 fifty) to open, then there's a huge disaster around the corner.
  
• What's the need to have a 15-member squad for a home series?
  
• Why is RP Singh included when his Irani Trophy performance (9-0-31-0 & 13-2-49-0), as well as his recent test record (no wickets from the last 4 innings he bowled in), give no hope?

PS: Over an hour after the squad was announced, the BCCI website has no such update.

Update: The BCCI website now has a press release.

Labels: aus v ind 2008, ganguly, india, squad

Thus spake Jagadish @ 4:24 pm | Sledge/Read 3 sledge(s)
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Ponting preempts Indian selectors

Ricky Ponting told CNN-IBN that he thought it was interesting that Ganguly wasn't named in the initial squad for the Border-Gavaskar trophy.

He seems to have far more knowledge of the Indian squad than we do. The selectors have not yet named any 'initial squad'. The only squad named is the squad for the Irani Trophy.

But if Ricky Ponting is a little surprised (& feels it interesting) that Ganguly isn't in, then I wouldn't mind it. The last time he said he was surprised at Ganguly's exclusion, India won the tournament.

PS: What's with Australia 'A' and New Zealand 'A' playing in India when Cricket Australia is concerned about the main team's visit? Are some lives less precious? I'm actually even more surprised that New Zealand Cricket hasn't withdrawn their team on security grounds, given that they'd normally do so when someone farted loudly or if a transformer burst.

I'm not trying to trivialize the effects of the blasts in Delhi on Saturday. I'm just pissed off at the double standards: It's ok to play in Jaipur and in London, but not in Pakistan. It's ok for second XI players to continue with their tour, not first XI players.

Labels: aus v ind 2008, australia, ganguly, india, ponting

Thus spake Jagadish @ 11:46 am | Sledge/Read 4 sledge(s)
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Let's embrace IPL, but with a little more maturity

Graeme Smith's catch off Ganguly was looking perfectly right to me. It was as fair as you can get and I was baffled when the third umpire ruled it not out. Also, Ganguly should not have asked the on-field umpire to check with the third umpire. I expected a few words to be exchanged, knowing Ganguly, Smith & Warne and that did happen.

But, what I saw on news channels this morning was atrocious. They were trying to make it yet another India v Australia issue. There were even clips of the Sydney test where Australia clearly played foul. But, for heaven's sake, let's not mix the IPL with international cricket.

Everyone should learn to see IPL as a stand-alone league and it will definitely help the game in all ways. Let's not drag in issues in international cricket and extend the verbal warfare to IPL as well.

I have started to love IPL and I'm not particularly concerned about all the talk of Bollywood, cheergirls and too much glamour, as I love the cricket that's being played and it's extremely nice to see McGrath and Sehwag celebrating Dravid's dismissal or Afridi knocking fists with Rohit Sharma after the latter's sixer or Sohail Tanvir getting ecstatic after dismissing Salman Butt and being hugged by a lesser known Indian cricketer or Laxman, along with Symonds and Gilchrist, plotting ways to dismiss Watson.

To me, instances like these make IPL very interesting though I still like international cricket and Test cricket is definitely my first love. IPL is superb cricket entertainment without the international boundaries. Let's keep it that way and not create unnecessary controversies. Things are bad as it is with two Indian cricketers having a go at each other. Let's not make it worse by bringing international cricket's enmity into IPL.

Let IPL live for long and forever as I definitely feel that it would reduce animosity among players and it would be carried over to international games as well which is eventually what we are all looking for, in the best interests of the game.

Labels: ganguly, graeme smith, india, indian premier league, ipl 2008, twenty20, umpires, walking, warne

Thus spake Ganesh @ 1:59 pm | Sledge/Read 2 sledge(s)
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Dhoni and Kumble reading from different sheets

There's dissent in the Indian team ranks, and the vice-captain is to blame. Yesterday, in the run-up to the Adelaide test, Dhoni said

It's a moral victory, coming to Australia and not letting them beat us comfortably.

Three things to remember, Mahi.

One, the series is not yet over. A whipping at Adelaide (I don't expect a whipping, but I'm expecting a 3-1 series result) throws away any claims of a moral victory or not being beaten comfortably.

Two, there are no moral victories in sport. You win or you lose. Rohan Bopanna breaking Roger Federer may seem like a moral victory, but it doesn't count if the scoreline reads 6-1 6-0 6-0.

Three, you're in public disagreement with your captain. After the recent drawn Eden Gardens test against Pakistan, skipper Kumble responded to Pakistan coach Lawson's comments about escaping with a draw

I don't believe in moral victories. It's really crazy, I don't know why people talk about moral victories.

The last thing the team needs right now is people publicly disagreeing with each other. The Australian media are having a field day, writing about a schism in the side following Ganguly's omission from the one-day squad. I have no idea why Indian news channels extend their 'exclusive' chats with the likes of Ponting, Clarke, etc. to asking them about India's one-day side. Obviously Ponting isn't going to let go an opportunity to create some more confusion. So on his 'exclusive' chat with NDTV yesterday [Can't find a link to the video], he said

I am surprised and shocked that he is not in the side because right through this Test series, he has certainly looked good with the bat.

Why're the likes of NDTV or Times Now still having exclusives with Ponting and Clarke, when they both were significantly responsible for the controversies at Sydney 2008?

This is something that we sort of touched upon over 3 years ago, during Australia's last test tour of India. Perhaps it is time that the BCCI relaxed its rules for players speaking exclusively to the media. Right now, it makes for some pretty one-sided coverage.

Labels: australia, dhoni, ganguly, ind v aus 2008, india, kumble, perth 2008, ponting

Thus spake Jagadish @ 12:59 pm | Sledge/Read 5 sledge(s)
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Four years wasted

On the verge of the start of one of India's most important test series, it is a good idea to take a trip down memory lane. Four years ago, India ended up competing rather well with Australia, and falling just four wickets short of a totally improbable and unprecedented series win in Australia.

The way the individuals involved in that series overall conveys a picture to me that the intervening four years have been wasted mostly.

It is probably a measure of how well India were playing, or the absence of sufficient backup, that only 13 players played the four tests. This is how the 13 have fared between Australia-2003/04 and Australia-2007/08
Chopra - Nearly out of the reckoning now. Played four tests after being identified as the fall-guy to accommodate Yuvraj at Rawalpindi. His confidence was shot, and he responded with 0, 5, 9 & 1 against Australia in 2004.

Sehwag - Promised so much for a couple of years, giving hope to Indian cricket followers that he would be India's next-generation batting hope along with Yuvraj & Kaif, as he piled up a triple ton, the second fastest double ton, nearly scoring two doubles in a series and almost 100 before lunch on day one of a test. After that, his form dipped alarmingly, and Australia is perhaps his last chance of getting a permanent batting slot.

Dravid - Consistent, as usual, except for the past few tests. But one expected him to make that giant leap and start getting mentioned in the same breath as Lara, Steve Waugh, Tendulkar, etc. (to list out some contemporaries) after his great run last time. But his inability to convert 50s into 100s even as Ricky Ponting scored hundreds for fun means that Ponting now gets categorized as 'great' while Dravid, in the eyes of many [not me], despite breathtaking stuff like the twin gems at Jamaica in 2006, is seen to fall just short.

Tendulkar - Injury and loss of form have contributed to a marked decline in his aura. He is no longer as authoritative as he used to be, or can be! Was the Sydney 2004 innings was perhaps an indicator of things to come? Instead of moving ahead, after his Multan near-double, the consistency has certainly been lacking. Shockingly, he is just about managing one century per year now!

Ganguly - Poor form leading upto the 2003 series in Australia was forgotten once he scored his Brisbane century. Questions about his form didn't quite result in anything, but once Greg Chappell took over, he read out the riot act, resulting in Ganguly being out of the team for a long duration. He's back now though, and in a new & improved avatar, hopefully! Yet, it is plain and obvious that his inability to sort out his batting mess resulted in him losing out on more than a few test matches!

Laxman - Like Dravid, he didn't kick on after the last tour. Every now and then he promised to make the leap from good to very good, and thereby become indispensable. But no, until a couple of months ago, if someone needed to be accommodated in the middle order, or an extra bowler needed to be played, there was every chance that his name would be scratched out. He was vice-captain for three tests. No-one knows why he was appointed, and why he was sacked from the job!

Parthiv - Perhaps his fall was inevitable, given that he was never a good wicket-keeper to start off with. The rise of Karthik and then Dhoni resulted in him being cast aside, despite some ability with the bat. Apparently Parthiv Mark II is a much improved keeper, but will he get the opportunities to succeed or fail?

Agarkar - He symbolizes what this post is all about. If he had done anything after his Adelaide 2003 showing, he'd be the leader of India's pace attack. It is so cruel that although he is just 30, he's never going to make it back to the test side. But he probably has himself to blame, as 7 wickets in 150 overs (6 tests), a strike rate of 128 and an average of 74 in the tests he played after the last Australian tour show.

Harbhajan - In the lead-up to the 2003/04 series, Harbhajan was the #1 spinner, with Kumble missing out on quite a few games (especially on tour). He got injured at Brisbane, but he only had 1/169 against his name. Aside from the odd-game now and then (two hauls in the West Indies, a 7fer against South Africa and a superb showing at Bangalore against Australia and a match-winning show against Sri Lanka), he has done precious little to suggest that India's spin bowling attack is in safe hands when Kumble retires. He has had sufficient opportunities to do so, despite sometimes being at the receiving end of Chappell's ire. It is likely that he may feature in a couple of tests this series. He needs to do something to show that the selectors must continue to have faith in him. There are a few young spinners around and they'd really benefit from learning under Kumble.

Zaheer - After Srinath's retirement, and since Agarkar was unable to show any sort of consistency, Zaheer had a great opportunity to cement himself as India's #1 quick bowler. Yet, far from it, he did poorly enough to get dropped, spending most of 2006 playing domestic cricket in India and England. After that, he hasn't quite looked back. With competition from Sreesanth, Munaf, RP Singh and a rejuvenated Irfan Pathan, he needs a good showing in Australia. But he most certainly is nowhere near where he ought to have been. He is nearing 30, and should aim to play test cricket for the next 3-4 years at least.

Nehra - He played one test after the last tour of Australia and hasn't played a ODI since September 2005! He either kept getting injured, or bowled pathetically. Even if you ignore the one test he played in 1999, he has played 16 tests in 6 years, and is now totally out of the reckoning as far as a place in the Indian team is concerned, and he's not yet 29. What a real waste!

Kumble - He's probably the only one who has made progress after the last series in Australia. He is now captain, the #1 spinner for the side, has 1000 first-class wickets, is at #3 on the all-time wicket-takers list and even scored a test century! He is definitely conceding more runs per wicket, but he's getting the wickets quicker than before, with some beautiful changes of pace [up and down!]. He probably has 2-3 more years of test cricket still left in him - sufficient time perhaps to get 50 wickets a year and end up behind Murali on the wicket-takers chart, and on the way help nurture the next generation of Indian spinners.

Pathan - A surprise package last time around, he was named the Emerging Player of the Year in 2004 and by 2005/06, was considered all-rounder material. Yet his bowling fell away shockingly, and he spent nearly 1.5 years without playing test cricket and wasn't picked too often for one-day cricket either due to his own bowling form, entrances by Sreesanth & RP Singh and Zaheer's comeback.

---

In summary, the Indian team has regressed majorly since India's last tour of Australia. The intervening four years have been wasted. India should have been challenging Australia for the top spot. But now, they've to contend with Sri Lanka, South Africa and England.

Labels: agarkar, akash chopra, australia, dravid, ganguly, harbhajan, ind v aus 2008, india, irfan pathan, kumble, laxman, nehra, parthiv patel, sehwag, tendulkar, wasted, zaheer khan

Thus spake Jagadish @ 11:48 pm | Sledge/Read 1 sledge(s)
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A stat question

Yuvraj and Ganguly helped India recover at Bangalore from 61/4 by putting on 300. This must be one of the rare instances of a 300-run partnership on day one of a test match.

A couple of others that come to mind are Taylor & Warne Marsh in the 1989 Ashes and Gibbs & Smith against West Indies in 2004. How many such instances are there?

Labels: bangalore, ganguly, india, pakistan, statistic, yuvraj

Thus spake Jagadish @ 6:45 pm | Sledge/Read 4 sledge(s)
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The Dravid imbroglio

The selection committee's decision to drop Rahul Dravid for the first two one-dayers against Pakistan was totally on expected lines. But what is bizarre is the fact that they still consider him to have been 'rested'. He had been 'rested' for the last one-dayer against Australia, despite having had a 3 week break after the England one-dayers since he opted out of the Twenty20 World Cup and despite batting a total of 89 minutes in the one-day series against Australia.

The honourable thing for him, and indeed the BCCI administrators (including selectors), was to have decided that he was no longer going to be part of the equation for ODIs. At the risk of flogging a dead horse, I repeat. I have always felt that it is high time Tendulkar and Dravid stopped playing one-day cricket. If this needs to be done in a phased manner, then at most only one or two of the troika should play each ODI.

Ganguly, despite his at-times bizarre batting methods, is far more likely to single-handedly win a ODI than a test match. Dravid is far more likely to single-handedly win a test than a ODI. Tendulkar is capable of both, but given he is pig-headed about opening the batting when there are at least 4 other batsmen (Ganguly, Uthappa, Gambhir, Sehwag who should be doing the job, it is high time he was presented with a fait accompli - drop down the order or exit ODIs. I hope he chooses the latter option.

I've seen a lot of articles arguing about how stupid it is for the BCCI to pick Sehwag despite him having played only a handful of Twenty20 games recently and not having done anything of note (barring a 60 against England in the Twenty20 World Cup). But at least the BCCI is being consistent. Dravid has been sent back to domestic cricket where he will get to play 2-3 4-day games for Karnataka to prove that he is good enough to find a spot in the Indian ODI XI. Go figure!

Rahul Bhattacharya's comment piece on Dravid's omission is lovely because it argues that Dravid is only human, warts and all. Adding on to his theme on Dravid's selflessness, let me point out that Dravid agreed to don the wicket-keeping gloves in 2002 when with the likes of Sehwag, Yuvraj and Kaif nearly having nearly established themselves in the team, he was faced with a situation where he would have been left out. So, along with helping the balance of the team, he ensured that he was a certain pick for ODIs.

It is a testament to his mental strength and cricketing ability that he batted at many positions, doing fairly well in most of the roles he played, and ending up with 10,000 ODI runs. That doesn't necessarily make him selfless, but it certainly makes him great, in my book!

Labels: dravid, ganguly, india, odi, retire, tendulkar, twenty20, twenty20 world cup

Thus spake Jagadish @ 4:08 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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India's best XI for the one-dayers

Especially after the Twenty20 tournament win and the abysmal quality of fielding in the one-dayers in England, it seems obvious to me that the Indian team cannot afford to have Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly in the same XI.

In fact, I really think only one of them should be in the XI. This would ensure that they don't get burnt out playing one-day cricket when they (especially Dravid and Tendulkar) really need to help the Indian team achieve more in test cricket. In addition, it would automagically improve the quality of the fielding.

So my 11 for Bangalore would be: Gambhir, Uthappa, Rohit, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Dravid, Pathan, Harbhajan, Powar, Zaheer and RP Singh. Dinesh Karthik/Sreesanth is the 12th man.

I'd get the likes of Rohit Sharma, Gambhir and Uthappa to have the maximum opportunities to bat up the order. Someone like Yuvraj should be given the opportunity to become India's #4. Dravid is a good enough batsman to adjust to any batting slot/situation.

The series must be used to give the fringe cricketers the opportunity to succeed (or fail). The question is not about whether Dravid, Tendulkar or Ganguly are still good enough to play for India. There is no doubt about it. They are still among India's best batsmen in one-day cricket.

Even now, we have no idea about who India's ODI openers for the future are, once Tendulkar and Ganguly stop playing ODIs. There're too many options: Gambhir & Uthappa, Gambhir & Sehwag, Sehwag & Uthappa, for starters. Throw in Dinesh Karthik, Yusuf Pathan and some others who did well in the previous few domestic seasons. While it seems like an abundance of riches, the truth is that the succession planning has never come to the selectors' minds.

The BCCI has a vested interest in continuing to see the trio play ODIs, for their presence guarantees revenue. A lay-spectator probably switches off from the game (either walks out of the ground or away from the TV set) if he/she realizes that Tendulkar is not playing that day. While it is a noble Gandhian thought to think of such a follower while picking the side, unfortunately, the same spectator is highly likely to spout venom when the team loses.

The only thing that should matter is the good of the Indian cricket team. If it means politely asking the trio to step aside, then the BCCI must be strong enough to do so!

Labels: australia, bcci, dravid, ganguly, india, odi, retire, tendulkar

Thus spake Jagadish @ 12:29 am | Sledge/Read 6 sledge(s)
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Wanted: Twenty20 specialists for India

I started writing this piece a couple of days ago, after reading reports of how the ECB selectors picked a non-specialist Twenty20 side against West Indies and instead decided that those who played the fifty-over game would also fit into the scheme of things in Twenty20.

This led me into thinking about how the BCCI should also not make the same mistake. There're a few one-day players among those who played against South Africa recently who would be misfits in Twenty20. The list starts with one of my most favourite cricketers of all-time, Rahul Dravid. He's a brilliant batsman, and has totally turned it around in one-day cricket over the past 6-7 years. But he's unsuited for Twenty20. Simply because of his strike-rate (71) is not good enough in a game where teams score at between 8 and 10 runs an over.

The second person who shouldn't figure in the list is Sourav Ganguly, for similar reasons (strike rate 74) and in addition, his average fielding. His bowling is never going to be threatening in a Twenty20 game anyway!

I'm ambivalent about Sachin Tendulkar. He can really score quickly in one-dayers, when the mood seizes him. He's a pretty decent fielder too, especially in the outfield and he's snapped up quite a few nice catches after his return to the slip cordon. I'd pick him for the tournament because of his batting and fielding and I hope he doesn't ask the captain to let him bowl :)

Ramesh Powar has been quite impressive with his bowling, but his batting and fielding have so far been very unconvincing. Hence, he too must not figure in the final squad.

Sreesanth still doesn't seem to have figured out how to bowl in one-day cricket. His bowling length, which is a great asset in test cricket, allows batsmen to belt him around in the limited overs game. Hence, he too must not feature in the final squad.

Update on 7 July

The BCCI announced a 30-member probables list for the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa. Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar don't feature in the list, because they asked not to be considered. I'm hoping that the BCCI selectors weren't seriously considering them anyway! While you're at it, you might as well vote on if they should be picking and choosing when/where to play.

The list of probables has quite a few recent rejects: Varinder Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Suresh Raina, Mohammad Kaif and Irfan Pathan. In addition, there're quite a few players from the under-19 and under-22 ranks: Manoj Tiwary (who'd have been cursing himself after injuring himself in Bangladesh), Cheteshwar Pujara, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Rohit Sharma, Joginder Sharma, etc.

The two interesting names in the list are Aniruddh Srikkanth and Niraj Patel. Aniruddh is the son of former India opener (and someone who'd have potentially felt extremely at home in Twenty20) Krishnamachari Srikkanth. As for Niraj Patel, I've seen him play quite a few extrely mature Bevanesque (or perhaps we can now call it Yuvrajesque?!) innings in a few domestic one-day games and I was wondering if he was lost to Indian cricket. Turns out that he's been very consistent for his state/zone over the past 2-3 years and scored lots of runs, fairly rapidly, in the Mushtaq Ali Trophy last season.

I wonder who the captain would be. My pick would be Yuvraj or Dhoni.

Labels: dravid, ganguly, india, squad, tendulkar, twenty20, twenty20 world cup, world cup, world cup squads

Thus spake Jagadish @ 5:28 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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Wrong award choice - part 3

It is the time for yet another post on a wrong choice of awards by administrators. In 2005, Jacques Kallis was overlooked for the man of the match award for his brilliantly relevant batting display in game five of the one-day series in India. In 2006, Kevin Pietersen's inability to play his role as his side's best one-day batsman was not rewarded either with a man of the series award.

Yesterday, as West Indies chased 339 against India at Nagpur, Marlon Samuels played the kind of innings Jacques Kallis would have been proud of. He came in with the score reading 102/1 in the 17th over, after Gayle and Chanderpaul had waded into some extremely ridiculous bowling on a superb batting track. West Indies had to get 7 an over over nearly 34 overs, certainly a tough ask. Samuels made it even tougher for his side. He did have his moments, especially with a couple of blows against Harbhajan, but West Indies were really handicapped by the fact that Samuels monopolized the strike during his partnership with Chanderpaul. When Samuels came in (102 in 16.2 overs), Chanderpaul had scored 40 in 38 balls. When Samuels left (175 in 33 overs), Chanderpaul had scored a further 27 runs in 44 balls while Samuels made 40 in 60 balls. They scored at 4.4 runs an over in those 16-odd overs. Obviously credit must be given to the bowlers (Agarkar and Harbhajan especially) when they bowled some tight overs early on in the partnership.

India maybe made a mistake by dismissing Samuels, because it allowed Lara to come in and express himself and gave West Indies a real chance of a win, which would have been a record in most other circumstances, except for the fact that they'd still have fallen short of the record by nearly 100 runs!

Ok, now lets set the snide remarks aside. But why was Chanderpaul given the man of the match award? Yes, a score of nearly 150 with his side chasing a huge total was a brilliant effort. But this was, all said and done, a great wicket for batting. In contrast, the bowlers might as well not even have turned up. Well, except for Zaheer Khan. He bowled brilliantly, except for a couple of overs early on. He finished with 2/48 in 10 overs, streets ahead of every other bowler in terms of economy rate. When West Indies needed 8.5 an over, he bowled 3 overs for 13 runs (and dismissed Samuels). The moment he finished his spell, the impact of his parsimony was felt as Chanderpaul and Lara cut loose against Sreesanth, Tendulkar and Harbhajan. When Zaheer came back for his final spell, West Indies needed 11.5 an over in 7 overs. He conceded 15 in 2 overs, and dismissed Bravo.

Why should a batsman be named man of the match when both sides scored over 325 runs? Why wasn't a bowler recognized?

Meanwhile, in other news, there's an absorbing finish in store at Port Elizabeth as Pakistan chase 191 for victory against South Africa. I'm tempted to put money on South Africa though.

Update: I really need answers in the form of comments here. What was Sourav Ganguly on when he told BBC Sport that England would fare well at the 2007 World Cup? Was he clearly inebriated by his brilliant 98 in his first one-day international for India since a triangular series final in Zimbabwe, after which Chappell's leaked email took the spotlight and Dravid was named skipper?

Labels: awards, ganguly, kallis, lara, pietersen, samuels, zaheer khan

Thus spake Jagadish @ 11:54 am | Sledge/Read 9 sledge(s)
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Full of farce

It's charitable to suggest that there was one period when farce reigned supreme at Cape Town today. Most of India's innings, especially after the dismissals of Ganguly and Dravid, could easily be categorized as high farce.

The first farcical act was when Sehwag walked out to open. He's had a terrible month or so. But he made some sort of an impact when he batted down the order earlier in the game. Yet, with a test match to be won, he opened. To no-one's surprise, he was out early.

The second farcical act was after Wasim Jaffer got out. We kept waiting to see if someone appeared from the dressing room and no-one did! The commentators began talking about a 'time out' dismissal, unprecedented in the history of test cricket. Then again, a forfeited test and a double-declaration were unprecedented before those events occured!

In my opinion, the umpires got it wrong - they should not have invoked any 'special situation' clause and should have declared that India's #4 batsman was timed out. India's response to that should have actually been to point out that Munaf Patel was about to walk in at #4. Everyone would have been happy, perhaps even Munaf. In street cricket, the concept of a 'baby over' prevails when a better bowler completes the over bowled by a fairly pathetic bowler, mostly halfway through the over, i.e. after three balls have been bowled. Munaf Patel's batting gave me the distinct impression that he was unwilling to even last a baby-ball, let alone a baby over.

Dinesh Karthik was batting superbly at the other end - eking out runs through various means. All that Sreesanth, Zaheer and Munaf needed to do was to take a single, sensibly enough so Dinesh Karthik got most of the strike. They failed, miserably. It is likely that India could have scored 10-15 runs more, perhaps these runs could prove to be priceless in the context of what unravels tomorrow.

In between Sehwag and Dinesh Karthik, there was a wonderful, gritty partnership between Ganguly and Dravid. After them, farcical proceedings resumed. Paul Harris wheeled away, conceding around 2 runs an over. Shaun Pollock conceded less than 2 an over. There wasn't even the slightest indication that the batsmen (Tendulkar and Dravid) wanted to score runs. There's a very high chance that you can't win a test match by batting out time - you need to put the runs on the board!

I'm not sure if this qualifies as a 'deja vu all over again' post, but around 10 months ago, England, batting in the third innings of the Wankhede test, scored ridiculously slowly. India's batting order was then forcibly altered after Sehwag wasn't allowed to open since he'd been off the field for a large part of the previous day!

Dravid has ended the series with 125 runs at an average of 20.8 and a strike rate of 37.6. Purely on a gut feel, I checked his numbers in series where he's averaged less than 40. I find that there's a pretty significant relationship between his batting average/runs scored and his strike rate. In eight out of the previous nine (or 10) seires that he's averaged < 40 (or just over 40, at most), his strike rate has been < 35 (or just around 35). What this does suggest to me is that the best way for Dravid to get back to form is to stop potting around. For example in the first innings in the Cape Town test, he smacked Paul Harris around, and then froze against Shaun Pollock. Singles, Rahul!

Labels: dravid, farce, ganguly, india, sehwag, south africa, tendulkar

Thus spake Jagadish @ 11:51 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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Cape Town prediction

Ridiculous batting by the middle order has meant that India only scored 414 in the first innings at Cape Town. India slipped from 200/1 to 414 all out, with Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman, all getting starts but not going on to make a century on what seems to be a fairly easy pitch to bat on.

Virender Sehwag finally breathed easy, providing some much needed impetus, but after he got out, the rest of the batting collapsed. India's lower order has scored valuable runs in the previous two tests. They've put helped the side go from 205/8 to 249 ao & 148/7 to 236 ao at Johannesburg and 179/7 to 240 ao at Durban. But they couldn't hang around with Sourav Ganguly this time.

My prediction is that South Africa will fall short of India's total, by around 50 runs, but blow away India for around 150 in the second innings, and then easily score the 200-odd and win the series 2-1.

Update: My alternative prediction (after seeing South Africa end on 144/1) is that South Africa will score 450, bowl out India for 150 and chase down 100-odd and win the series 2-1.

Labels: cape town, dravid, durban, ganguly, india, johannesburg, laxman, prediction, sehwag, south africa, tendulkar

Thus spake Jagadish @ 10:37 pm | Sledge/Read 3 sledge(s)
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