Sunday, August 14, 2011

Series Analysis

What happened in this series is a lesson for any team playing without a plan. Sehwag's dismissal of the first ball doesn't dilutes the momentum, but the way Dravid plays. He concentrates more on staying in the crease than scoring runs. This is like shielding that gives the opponent ample time and ways to think further on pushing them to the backfoot. That's the way Dravid plays and he alone can withstand the increase of speed and swing, but the rest of the team like to play shots and eventually perish when the bowlers get well settled in a rhythm gifted by Dravid. It wouldn't be a bad idea to play Dravid at 6 or 7 that will give the top order to play an attacking game early on. We have seen India losing wickets trying to defend and see off the new ball in test matches, but the same team scoring 300+ on similar pitches and tough bowlers in one dayers. Dhoni played his usual way and scored runs, and only very few of them came of edges and poor bowling.
A point to note here is that most of them played with straight bat on these swing friendly pitches in England. Masters play more horizontal bat shots in swinging conditions and strait batted shots on bouncy pitches. Sachin Tendulkar & Mark Waugh are good examples to learn from. Both of them go down on their knees bending their right elbow to get enough room to play a square drive or a cut over the point for good length deliveries outside off stump in swinging conditions. Moving to the line of the ball reduce the chances of playing tentatively. High bat lift gives more power and timing to score runs easily. Shots like these are so safe and has the touch of elegance that we have seen them (Sachin and Mark) playing so well.
There were big shots played towards the end of India's 2nd innings with Swann bowling continuously conceding more runs. This is a good strategy by England to entertain the Indian fans and to fill in the stands for the next match.
With the series lost, "India should play the 4th test as an one off test" Harsha says. It'll be good for the Indian team to take a step back and plan well before the one day series. Sure a 5-0 Indian win is on the cards if they play with a plan.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Way to play - being the natural self

Just few months being crowned as world champions in one day internationals, India reclaimed with inspired performances over the last couple of years. Flying to England as favorites and a very much anticipated high profile series is turning out to be a host dominated series so far with two more test matches to go...
Between the good and unexpected levels of performances in the World Cup and England series respectively, India had the IPL followed by the tour of West Indies. Pity that India didn't had time to share the joy and feel proud of winning the WC. As rightly said by Nasser Hussain, India doesn't seem to be playing with the pride of being the number one team in the world. They don't seem to have the guts to stand firm to fight as a champion. Harsha Bhogle says... "It's rather easy to reach the top of the rankings than to keep hold of it for a period of time".
There could be several reasons for being 2 down in the test series, but the bunch of players aren't playing upto the standards of test match cricket. Not one player barring Rahul Dravid seem to be playing confidently or with a plan. Dravid plays in a way that deceives the bowlers to get better and better and be more attacking which is uncomfortable for the rest. A Sehwag kind of start is what will work for India at the moment. We have seen India play better in the shorter versions of the game, but definitely not after the world cup triumph. They lost 2 out of 5 matches against West Indies without Chris Gayle after IPL. A worrying factor is whether India has drafted a plan for the next one year. If this hasn't been done, it would be better to play a second string team for the upcoming series as it would only give youngsters a chance to step up and keep the frontline players on toes.
The current batting lot is playing an unnatural game by getting to a very defensive mode. They are looking to occupy the crease as long as possible. These guys are good one day players by nature and it would be better if they play in the same way. They should try scoring 5 runs per over and not be worried too much about losing the wicket.
The current bowling unit doesn't seem to bowl as in a test match to get 10 wickets in each innings. 90% of the wickets taken by the Indian bowlers aren't wicket taking deliveries in this test series so far.
Spin has been the strength for India and they should persist with its capabilities. Harbhajan could have been given the ball in the first 10 overs. Or even could have opened with Praveen Kumar who oscillates the ball well but not accelerate it.
Parthiv Patel would have been a better choice to open the batting instead of Mukund. Murli Kartik has done exceptionally well in this county season and would have been handy in this series.
Where are the bouncers, yorkers, slower ones, cutters, or atleast bowling to a set field ? It's silly to think that they wouldn't have thought of these varieties, but doesn't matter to be silly.... "Don't they have these options in their minds ???"
The only good thinking from India is that they aren't playing negative cricket, but definitely lack planning. Shame that they couldn't get a wicket in the first 47 overs in the 2 day match against Northamptonshire.
All the hype about Sachin's century has faded away now.
What's going to happen ???

Thursday, August 4, 2011

A Gentleman's Game - only played by few...

They call it (Cricket) a "Gentleman's Game"... We have seen many instances of it all these years where the friendliness in the game is shown. However, it gradually started fading in late 80s though few thoughtful 'gentlemen' played/playing it with good spirits. Who other than 'Sachin Tendulkar' could be a better example with perfect sportsmanship and maintained friendship & respect. Hansie Cronje was one to have played it with good heart but unfortunately left his mind to think crazy. It really needs the same strong mind and heart to admit it publicly and rightly staying away from International Cricket.
Adam Gilchrist was another guy who can be called 'A Gentleman' among the rough and tough Aussies.
Incidents like Sachin's run out in the test match against Pakistan at Eden Gardens, Steve Waugh handling the ball in the test match against India at Chepauk, Michael Vaughan handling the ball in a test match against India, Peter Kirsten's dismissal in a match against India (Kapil Dev incident), Sachin's dismissal of Glenn McGrath when hit by a delivery that didn't bounce and given LBW, a player's helmet falling on the stumps, ball popping out of Gibbs's hand in '99 World Cup, etc., do happen. These dismissals leave a dark spot on everyone and in the game. They were unexpected (except the Kapil incident), but a lesson to be learnt and a bonus for the media to fill in their dailies.
The recent one on Bell's dismissal turned out with showering praises on the Indian captain and the team. But it's a shame on Bell to argue on the field and later coming on to bat after the generous decision by the Indian team. Though Bell admitted later, he had the same time to think and decide as Dhoni had and did at tea. Bell should have walked off and that would have shown professionalism. India had to decide and let Bell play play down safe on the dismissal.
If this could be revised, then each of the incidents mentioned earlier could have been reviewed and the decisions revised.They call it (Cricket) a "Gentleman's Game"... We have seen many instances of it all these years where the friendliness in the game is shown. However, it gradually started fading in late 80s though few thoughtful 'gentlemen' played/playing it with good spirits. Who other than Sachin Tendulkar' could be a better example with perfect sportsmanship and maintained friendship & respect. Hansie Cronje was one to have played it with good heart but unfortunately left his mind to think crazy. It really needs the same strong mind and heart to admit it publicly and rightly staying away from International Cricket. Adam Gilchrist was another guy who can be called 'A Gentleman' among the rough and tough Aussies.

Incidents like Sachin's run out in the test match against Pakistan at Eden Gardens, Steve Waugh handling the ball in the test match against India at Chepauk, Michael Vaughan handling the ball in a test match against India, Peter Kirsten's dismissal in a match against India (Kapil Dev incident), Sachin's dismissal of Glenn McGrath when hit by a delivery that didn't bounce and given LBW, a player's helmet falling on the stumps, ball popping out of Gibbs's hand in '99 World Cup, etc., do happen. These dismissals leave a dark spot on everyone and in the game. They were unexpected (except the Kapil incident), but a lesson to be learnt and a bonus for the media to fill in their dailies.

The recent one on Bell's dismissal turned out with showering praises on the Indian captain and the team. But it's a shame on Bell to argue on the field and later coming on to bat after the generous decision by the Indian team. Though Bell admitted later, he had the same time to think and decide as Dhoni had and did at tea. Bell should have walked off and that would have shown professionalism. India had to decide and let Bell bat again to play down safe on the dismissal.

If this could be revised, then each of the incidents mentioned earlier could have been reviewed and the decisions revised.