Ashes in England 2013

Australian team is a shadow of their recent champion team. Their basic problem is lack of quality or skill players available and nothing Michael Clarke or selectors can do to fix it. I think Michael Clarke is a good captain but then you are as good as your team.

If I were in Michael Clarke’s shoes here is what I would do for the 3^rd Test which is a must win game to keep the series alive. Selecting the playing 11 is the first important task. This is not time to be methodical but follow the gut feeling. Australia desperately needs game changing players who can turn around fortunes quickly. I would immediately call back Warner who just scored 193 in South Africa and make him open. He is very much in Sehwag mould, if he sticks around for a session he can dominate the bowling attack. Drop Watson to number 6; he wouldn’t find a place in a strong Australian team going by the way he has thrown away his wicket in the past. Another opener is a toss-up between Chris Rodgers or Phil Hughes depending upon how they fare in the 1^st class game currently in-progress. Usman Khwaja at number 3, he needs a long run to prove himself if he belongs at this level. Michael Clarke has to bat at number 4; you want your best batsman in at 4. Steve Smith bats at number 5 and Brad Haddin bats at number 7.  

I would immediately get back Mitchell Johnson, he was in a very good form in IPL. His rhythm was back and he was enjoying the game which is a very important reason for a players success, some would argue bowling 4 overs versus bowling roughly 15 overs a day is not the same but Australia do not have a lot of choices. I think at best Johnson is a good number 2 bowler and the reason he hasn’t delivered in past is because Australia expected him to be their number 1 bowler. Unfortunately Siddle is also not their number 1 bowler; he is a war horse and very much like Andrew Bichel. James Pattinson is their bowling attack leader even though he is young. He has all the attributes what one needs to be a leader. Third fast bowler would be a toss-up between Mitchell Starc and Jackson Bird. I would pick Nathan Lyon for the spinners slot; I think Michael Clarke has not handled properly and backed Lyon all the way.

This is the best 11 I think Australia have to give England a run for their money. England on the other hand looked really settled with each batsman looking good expect for Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen which is strange since they are their mainstays in batting. Bowling wise James Anderson is clearly their lead with ably supported by Stuart Broad. Graeme Swann takes the spinners slot. The only open area for England is their forth bowler which they keep rotating based on conditions and partly due to lack of good bowler. I wouldn’t mind playing Monty Panesar as a fourth bowler even though Australia has plenty of left-handed batsmen because nobody is a good player of spin bowling. Australia would be least prepared to play two spinners and that is where Cook can be imaginative.

A part of me wants an even contest between both the sides for the sake of Test Match cricket but on the other hand as an Indian supported want Australia to be humiliated.

Why is it so hard to achieve success?

This is exactly how I felt after losing an elite play-off game. We (99ers - team that I play for) are a good team and on paper deserve to win the elite cup for every tournament we participate but every time there is some screw-up or something does not go our way and we just do not make it. Last weekend against Packers we posted 58 in 15 overs, I scored scratchy 17(32), strike rate of 54 which is unacceptable but I tried really hard but I just couldn't get going. The only positive to come out was that I did not give up and fought it out (earlier I would have thrown my wicket away). Nonetheless we were 10 runs short but still 59 was very much a defendable total but thanks to lapses in the field (missed catches & poor ground fielding at crucial moment) and a bit conservative approach on-field we lost the game in last over.

Every elite game loss is bitter and after the game one thought always crosses my mind, is succeeding really this hard. The feeling crossed my mind because of loss in a cricket game but I am sure the feeling is same when one fails after a sincere effort in any other venture. I do not know when a day will come when everything is perfect and we succeed. I am really tired of losing and feeling bitter after it.

Hopefully things change in the near future. 

Respect the Wall

Thank You, Sir.

Technically correct and huge appetite for batting are the first qualities which come to my mind when the name Rahul Dravid comes up. I am a huge Ganguly fan but I must admit that I am Dravid fan too. I am lucky that Rahul Dravid  was a cricketer from my generation. I followed his career from start to finish and grew up idolizing him. He played a huge role in the way I have approached batting. I learned so much just by watching him not only about batting aspects but the way he handles himself on and off field. He respects the game, very disciplined, and willing to fight it out no matter in what batting form he is in. He had a dogged approach to batting. I remember when I used to play with my friends at Sital Baug (toughest place to play - bowlers used to bowl of 16 yards and it was really quick and good bounce) I would just imitate him, try to play as correct as possible, long hours and not worry about scoring runs.

The first time I came know about him was after 1996 WC Semi-Final debacle in Calcutta, India was suppose to play an ODI series in Sharjah and he was picked after the side had undergone major changes. He played a couple of ODI innings but didn't do too well. Later India were off to England where he got his chance at Lord's at number six, he had a perfect technique for English conditions (hist record in England is immaculate). He was unlucky to be out at 95 but that was a start to a magnificent career. Initially he and Azhar had some wonderful partnerships and you could see he was learning from the senior. There was a time in late 90's when he almost fell into the trap that destroyed Manjrekar's career, delving too much on batting technique and forgetting that batting objective is to score runs, this cost him ODI place. The quest to regain his place in ODI team led him to be more positive and play more shots which also helped him immensly in Test matches. He played his best cricket once he comeback to ODI and formed a strong middle order.

There are quite a few memories of his career which has stuck with me, debut innings at Lord's, fighting innings on 1996/97 tour of SA in Durban where India was all out for 66 and 100, six to Donald in a final in 1996/97 series, couple of 100s in NZ where batting was tough, 2001 Kolkata test, 2003/04 series in Australia and the list goes on. He was one of the reason India started doing well abroad in 2000's and one person who thrived in foreign condition's. The only time I didn't like him was when he captained the side, I am not sure if Greg Chappel had a part to play or not but he was never in control. Looking at the way he captained Rajasthan Royals in IPL6 (2013) which was brilliant, I think India was robbed of an astute leader.

Wish you all the luck in life after cricket Sir.


Note: I started writing this piece when Rahul Dravid announce retirement in 2012 after Australia tour only to complete it now.

Time to Think about 2015

Right time to build for 2015 World Cup

Next World Cup is three years away in Australia/New Zealand but India has a long way to go to stake a claim. Last world cup being in sub-continent, India relied on strong batting and good slow bowling (part-timers) to win but it will be a different proposition next time around. Fitness and fielding will be a huge factor for any teams fortune and India has a lot of work to be done in those department. Mind you not four or five great fielders will be enough, you want all 11 to be great with strong throwing arms. Although New Zealand grounds are smaller so mis-hits will sail for six and strong throwing arms will not be a factor but most of the important games will be played on the big grounds of Australia where fitness and fielding does matter.

Selectors in India are appointed only on annual basis which is a huge hole if you are planning for 3 years ahead. I do not care who but some one needs to fix this or come up with a way to devise a plan so no matter who the selector is, final goal and planning process is not compromised. First thing is to identify a captain who they think will lead the team and he should have a say in the planning process too. Despite Dhoni's poor test record he still is the best man to lead India in next WC and he is one of the fittest guys in the team. I would like him to give up test captaincy because I do not think his place is guaranteed in the test side and also not to lead an IPL team too so that he always fresh for ODI's.

The first thing I would do is drop Sehwag, Gambhir, Tendulkar and even Zaheer (or keep him to groom younger bowlers) because I do not expect world class fielding from them by 2015. I would identify a pool of 30 players who have potential to become great fielders and also are good players too and keep tab on their fitness and give them chances in the team provided they make progress on their fitness and fielding. The downside is we will not do to well in short term but if it will put India in a great position for 2015 WC then why not. To have a chance of even identifying 30 players, the domestic standard has to improve significantly in every aspect(number of tournaments, number of teams, nature of pitches, etc) how on earth its going to happen, god only knows that. Lets take the current crop of players who stand a chance for 2015:

Batsman
Yuvarj - A real gem in the team if fit.
Kohli - Definitely and a future captian contender too.
Raina - Definitely but would need to work on his short pitch stuff.
R Sharma - Definitely but can be slacky at times
R Jadeja - Definitely but needs to learn to finish games
M Tiwari - Definitely, needs more chances
A Rahane - Definitely
R Uthappa - Definitely (Well has faded away, but should be kept in the sights)
S Dhawan - Definitely
D Karthik - Definitely
M Vijay - Definitely

Need to identify more batsman

Bowlers
I Sharma - Definitely, I do not know why he is not selected if burn out is issue then manage him well but yes needs to work on his fielding.
U Yadav - Definitely, Great athlete
V Aaron - Definitely, needs more chances and needs to be fit
V Kumar/P Kumar - weak fielder, I wouldn't count on them
R Ashwin - Not pick him, he seriously needs to work on him fiedling/fitness
B Kumar - Is still raw, needs to be groomed

We seriously need to manage our bowling resources.




Note: This piece was written in Feb 2012, right after India's disastrous tour of Australia.

Another Flop Show Down Under

It is frustrating to watch India play Australia and manner in which they are playing. It was foolish of me to expect a great Indian series victory against a weak Aussie lineup (inexperienced top 3 batsman and bowling, struggling Ponting & Hussey) and settled & proven Indian batting and bowling but I was proved wrong very quickly. When I separated the emotions attached to Indian cricket and took a look at a couple of stats I was surprised and asked myself why am I so disappointed with the dismal show.

In last 12 months playing outside India, starting with series in SA 2010-11 till the current Aussie series India has crossed 300 mark only thrice (twice in SA and once in WI). Click here. To win Test Matches and give bowlers a chance to bowl at, team must score atleast 300-350. A look at the Indian batsman's performance over last 12 months abroad reveals why India has not crossed 300. Click here. Only Dravid is the lone century maker & others have such pathetic average. Another problem is opening batting too, India's opening partnerships in last 6 tests 63,19,0,6,8,0,8,49,22,17,0. Are selectors really sleeping, can't they see the stats, why pick players who are not performing and go by reputation. Why not make tough decisions? What warrants selection of Sehwag, Ghambir and Laxman in the side with poor recent performance instead give chance to youngsters atleast we will know if they are good or not. This can't go on for long else there will be more disappointments but luckily India do not tour outside subcontinent for next two years so Indian fan can breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy Indian performance in sub-continent.

This series is definitely goner unless someone plays a special innings and inspires others. It will keep people interested only because of weak Australian team, had it been a strong team India would have lost 4-0 comfortably. Playing India will boost Pattinson's & Siddle's career and will give Ponting & Hussey a new lease of life. It is a sense of deja vu for an Indian supporter.

English Media Circus

After the Lord’s test match there is so much bashing by journalists & former cricketer turned commentators and it is totally uncalled for. Journalists are fine because it is their job but what I fail to understand is the bashing from the former players who actually have played the game at the highest level and do understand and know what it takes to win and why teams loose. When it comes to criticizing they expect current players to play like robots and not make mistakes at all. The very purpose why they are hired for commentary is that they give key insights of the game and make rational statements based on playing the game at the highest level but now-a-days all they make is bold and smart-ass comments to grab media headlines and create self importance, an ordinary fan is so easily mislead.

A couple of people who have really gone overboard during last couple of days are Geoff Boycott who Indians used to like a lot, Ian Botham, Nasser Hussain, Sanjay Manjrekar & even Kapil Dev. I saw an interview done by Ayaz Memon with Boycott and that English trash kept saying gibberish things about Indian team, their poor fielding but mentions that dropping catches can happen to anybody (in this case happened with England) & casting doubt over India’s no 1 status and bragging about England easily beating India in 2^nd test and claiming deservedly no1 spot.  Ian Botham has blantanly said England will beat India easily too, come on dude you have played cricket at highest level and you also know that your team ain’t playing Bangladesh but India and it will not be easy beating India. It’s funny how people change so quickly, Eoin Morgan thanked IPL for giving him confidence which helped him get the test spot and Nasser Hussain criticizing IPL for India’s 1^st test loss and going gaga over English players being protected and blah blah. What is captain expected to do when he loses his premier fast bowler in first session and due to lack of part time seamers decides to bowl and Mr Kapil Dev lambasted the move as mockery of test cricket, what non-sense is the old man smoking. None of blokes above experienced the amount of success that this current Indian team has tasted so they really have no right to talk crap. The purpose of all this is to create headlines and hog limelight. Ganguly was very honest and rationale in the  post-match show when asked about the loss, he backed the boys to come back strong since a few seasons back he too was in the mix of things. I in past have not liked Sunil Gavaskar for being too biased towards Indians but when I hear these English commentators talk I do not fault Gavaskar at all.

Nobody is really talking about the failures of Strauss, Cook, Morgan & Swann as well as poor catching by England, do you really think you can be no 1 with poor catching? All are just busy trashing Indian team. I do agree with Dhoni whatever had to go wrong actually did go wrong. Yes, still lot of the top order batsman did play stupid shots which were not needed when you are trying to save the game.

I doubt if Indian cricketers really follow the newspaper and check what is actually written about them otherwise they will lose the 2^nd test in two days only. I think Sreesanth will beat Munaf to play and if he has right frame of mind we will not miss Zak at all because he can really be deadly when in rhythm hopefully he quickly finds one (anyways Sreesanth is a much better test bowler than ODI). Another key aspect will be opening partnership, if it delivers than it should set the Indian batting right.

I would love to see India trash England in four days in the 2^nd test and lay all the so called former players to rest.

Movies

Of late I have watched a couple of really good movies which I thought I would share. Except for Friday evenings where I prefer a light movie (mindless comedy) I usually prefer watching movie with some substance to it. Here are few of them which I would recommend.

Amu (Konkana Sen)
This movie is about an NRI who returns to find her roots and uncover a secret and is linked to the 1984 Sikh riots which I knew very little about until I saw this movie. These riots were the reason why a Sikh journalist threw a shoe at P. Chidambaram seeking justice to the riots last year during a media meet.

The Lives of Others:
I had seen this movie long time back but is worth mentioning. This is a German movie set in 1980 when Germany was divided into two parts and focuses on life in communist East Germany side, their struggles and fight for freedom. This movie is a bit slow to start with but is really terrific.

Delhi Belly & Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara:
Well these two are not exactly intense or substance kind of movies but both are out and out comedies and different in their own way. Its really been a long time since I have seen two good bollywood releases back to back. Do not miss either one of them.

Fat Sick And Nearly Dead:
I just watched a documentary on Netflix and I had no idea what it was about. It was one of those time when you are working but still afford to have the movie played in the background but slowly I got hooked on to it. Movie's name is "Fat Sick And Nearly Dead", it is about one of the many ways of losing weight. Its by an Australian who realizes that he is over-weight and decides to go on juice fasting where he will only have juice of fresh fruits & vegetables. During his 60 day fast he comes across many Americans and hopes to inspire many to follow him. He does inspire one and the movie then focuses on this guy's journey.

I thought it is a well made movie, if you get a chance do not miss it.

http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/

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Please feel free to recommend movies in the comment section.