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November 20, 2008
Posted 1 week, 4 days ago in Australia in India 2008-09
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Call it heads, Punter
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In the Sportstar, S Ram Mahesh lists ten points that made the difference between the winner and the loser in the recent India-Australia series. Here's No. 1:
The simplest thing Ricky Ponting could have done to revive his side’s fortunes was to change his call to heads. He didn’t, and Australia lost three straight tosses — not all-determining, but serious concessions in these conditions. It wasn’t a coincidence that the only Test Australia dominated was when Ponting got lucky. Champion teams often take the toss and the conditions out of the equation, so flexible and varied are their cutting edges, but thi s Australian side, considerably less formidable than its predecessors, suffered. The batsmen were denied access to the best batting conditions; the bowlers, forced to go first when the surfaces were less abrasive, were often deprived of reverse swing.
November 12, 2008
Posted 2 weeks, 5 days ago in Australia in India 2008-09
Is the Australian cricket team being written off too soon?
Aakash Chopra agrees with the thought, since it would be too premature, considering that the Australians had held top spot for more than a decade. Dominic Cork, in his rebuttal, believes that the spat between Ponting and Lee is just the tip of the iceberg. Read the engaging debate in thier blog on the Guardian website
November 11, 2008
Posted 3 weeks ago in Australia in India 2008-09
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It wasn't a series to remember for Ricky Ponting
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Peter Roebuck writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that although India were the better team and deserved their win, the way in which they completed the series left a lot to be desired.
India stooped to conquer. Only 21.3 overs were bowled in the morning session, a ruse designed to slow the scoring and to bring bad light into play in the event of the Australians putting up a sustained fight.
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If this is the best Test cricket has to offer, then it is not worth the bother. For all the weight it carries, it is still a game. Slow over-rates are a blight and an insult to the paying public. Hereafter, lunch must be taken not at a set time but once 30 overs have been bowled, with play to resume on schedule. That'll hurry things along.
In the BBC, Mihir Bose writes that aTest series win, even one as emphatic as India's over Australia, does not change the cricket world. But what made this series remarkable, he feels, is how often Australia played like India and India played like Australia. Australia specialised in letting India off the hook. The script when playing Australia is not meant to be like this.
An editorial in the Hindu says that after their 2-0 defeat, Australia remain the No. 1 side but have lost their aura. It says the main difference between the two sides was the bowling.
... confronted by difficult conditions, Australia’s bowling was exposed for its lack of skill, control, and imagination. The absence of a front-line spinner — before Jason Krejza’s expensive but potent fourth Test debut — hurt the visitors badly. Great sides have versatile and balanced attacks that can take wickets differently in differing conditions.
In the same paper, Steve Waugh writes the Australian team lacked a spark right through the series. He also has some high praise for Man-of-the-Series Ishant Sharma.
the true superstar in the making is Ishant Sharma ... He has incredible accuracy, is fast, has height and is a quick learner. He reminds me of Glenn McGrath in his accuracy and of Jason Gillespie in his hand speed.
Continue reading "India stooped to conquer"
November 10, 2008
Posted 3 weeks ago in Australia in India 2008-09
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It is doubtful that Warne ever would have fretted about over rates, and certain that no captain with Warne in his side would have bothered
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When the Australian cricket team was at its best, it followed process, but also hunches and inspiration, writes Greg Baum in the Age.
In concentrating all its thinking on its incredibly slow over rate on Sunday night, Ricky Ponting's team appeared to obsess itself with crossed Ts and properly dotted Is and neglected the essence of its mission in India. It failed where it was once infallible, in its imagination.
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But Ponting then had the advantage of Shane Warne in his side. In the context of today's debate, Warne had three great strengths. His wicket-taking exploits emboldened Australia in a way that it cannot be bold now. The thinness of Australia's attack in India has forced it onto the defensive, and it looks to have become a mindset. Mere wishing will not make it otherwise.
Warne also was a maverick who was sceptical of cricket's painstaking processes. He could afford to be in a way that others could not and cannot. It led him into conflict with team management, but it also meant that he could see possibilities, however absurd, when Australia was in trouble and, being Warne, realise them.
It is doubtful that Warne ever would have fretted about over rates, and certain that no captain with Warne in his side would have bothered.
Thirdly, Warne was both a spin bowler and indefatigable. It meant that he bowled many overs, quickly, giving Australia a perhaps unmerited tract of the high moral ground in the over rates debate.
Jon Pierik in the Herald Sun writes that how Ricky Ponting reacts to criticism of his captaincy in the next couple of weeks will be crucial for Australia's longer-term prospects.
Posted 3 weeks ago in Australia in India 2008-09
Seduced by the notion that 350 runs in a day's play is entertainment, we sometimes ignore that it can be a chore to sit through when the bowling lacks penetration, writes Gideon Haigh in the Daily Telegraph.
For the media to complain about the entertainment value on the basis of the runs scored was like a complaint against Picasso for using too few brush-strokes.
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Here is a tension. We are anxious that Tests justify themselves as spectacle, but can't abandon the idea that more is at stake. It is a neurosis rooted in Twenty20's intimidating popularity, and Test cricket's abiding hold on our imaginations. In fact this Border-Gavaskar Trophy has given great value. Two exquisitely-matched teams with a lot of history and good cause to distrust one another have shown a ton of courage, skill and even civility.
Posted 3 weeks, 1 day ago in Australia in India 2008-09
Empty stands, defensive tactics, too many draws - the series in India has not been what Test cricket required after a year in which Twenty20 has taken the game by storm. Robert Craddock in the Daily Telegraph paints a grim picture.
This is a heartbreaking sentence to write but it is the inescapable truth - Test cricket is in big trouble. Series between Australia and India are traditionally a magnificent pep pill for the game, providing storylines that stimulate the cricket world.
Test cricket needed that to continue this series but instead we got a batch of grim arm-wrestles on featureless wickets before poor crowds, enhancing the suspicion that Test cricket is in decline. After 131 years she is a robust old thing and won't die overnight - she might not even die at all. But she will be systematically downgraded by a thousand small cuts and it's started already.
After witnessing the tiny crowds in Nagpur, Simon Barnes wonders in the Times whether the pursuit of excellence is a legitimate reason to run a professional sport.
Most players are agreed that the complexity and infinite variability of Test-match cricket make it the highest form of the game. It's just that fewer spectators are interested in the higher form of the game, at least as a paying spectacle. The primacy of Test cricket is being maintained, but it is for reasons other than spectacle or money.
Continue reading "How to innovate Test cricket out of existence"
Posted 3 weeks, 1 day ago in Australia in India 2008-09
Robert Craddock writes in the Courier-Mail that Jason Krejza's Test debut has been difficult to rate. He has taken 12 wickets but will he be a success in the future?
The temptation is to say the Australian selectors must be doing handstands over Krezja but we remember that Nathan Hauritz took seven wickets on his debut in the corresponding Test of the last Indian tour and never played another Test.
Beau Casson showed some promise in his debut against the West Indies this year – and he hasn't been sighted since. Off-spin is a devilishly tough trade, particularly on hard, unsympathetic Australian decks, which explains why no Australian offie has taken 200 Test wickets.
November 9, 2008
Posted 3 weeks, 1 day ago in Australia in India 2008-09
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Ricky Ponting may have denied his side the chance of retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy
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Ricky Ponting has denied his side a deserved chance of securing a famous victory by using part-timers instead of his seamers in an attempt to up the over-rate, writes Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Somehow, a group of experienced cricketers and leaders managed to convince themselves that the over rate was more important than the match. At tea, Indian were in trouble. In the ensuing two hours, Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh stroked the ball around cheerfully, adding 100 runs in 100 minutes. It was the most staggering passage of play seen on a day that also included five penalty runs when the keeper threw a glove at the ball, and four overthrows given away by a fieldsman tying his laces. Indeed it was the most incomprehensible spell seen from an Australian team for a quarter of a century.
In Sydney's Daily Telegraph Jon Pierik writes that Ponting had every reason to hang his head in shame last night after allowing India to escape the noose in the fourth Test.
What a joke. With wickets desperately needed, Ponting had to roll the dice and unleash chief strike weapons Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee or Shane Watson immediately after tea. Instead, he turned to the part-time spin of Cameron White, who has five wickets in the series, and Mike Hussey, who has never come close to one in his Test career, to hurry through the overs with frontline spinner Jason Krejza.
The Australian's Malcom Conn calls it Ponting's worst day as captain while Dileep Premachandran terms the post-tea session "surreal" in the Times.
Posted 3 weeks, 1 day ago in Australia in India 2008-09
After a day when only 166 runs were scored, Peter Roebuck was so bored by the cricket that he thinks spectators ought to have been paid to watch. He writes in the Sun-Herald that the worst thing about all the accusations of defensive cricket this series is that they are true.
At the very time the five-day game is most vulnerable it has been treated with contempt. Cricket is not let down by snorting fast bowlers prone to occasional lapses but by the sort of tactics and tacticians prominent during this self-absorbed series. Far from nurturing a game they supposedly cherish, they have harmed it.
In the Times of India, Bobilli Vijay Kumar takes a different view. He praises Dhoni's tactic of packing the offside field and choking the runs by keeping the attack a foot outside off stump.
And in the Hindustan Times, Pradeep Magazine marvels at the new world-class stadium in Nagpur but is unhappy with the lack of effort to attract crowds to the Test.
Posted 3 weeks, 2 days ago in Australia in India 2008-09
New Zealand are looking to take inspiration from India on how to overcome the Australians. Dylan Cleaver in the Herald on Sunday feels one of the tactics would surely be to curb Ricky Ponting, who has been reduced to mere mortal in the ongoing Test series. While Iain O'Brien could serve as an Ishant Sharma for New Zealand, across-the-seam bowling coupled with the lack of a world-class spinner may also prove to be Australia's Achilles heel in their next assignment, at home to New Zealand.
The other tactic India have used more successfully is across-the-seam bowling, an art that has become trendy again, particularly on flat, dry pitches.
Basically, once the immediate effects of the new ball have worn off, in the subcontinent that could be before the first 10 overs is complete, their bowlers will bowl across the seam to hasten the process of roughing up the ball that, in turn, hastens the arrival of reverse swing.
November 8, 2008
Posted 3 weeks, 2 days ago in Australia in India 2008-09
Peter Roebuck is surprised that Rahul Dravid's lean patch has extended for so long and points out two faults: a) his strokes seem to have lost power and b) his front foot is moving laterally instead of forwards. Read on in the Hindu.
Dravid’s famous wall was built with cement not dust. As a rule, too, heavy batsmen fall back before those light on their legs. They start to lumber, arrive a fraction late to play their shots and make a mistake. Dravid is as light as a dancer. His footwork and reflexes ought to be unchanged from his days of clover.
Posted 3 weeks, 3 days ago in Australia in India 2008-09
Alex Brown writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that Australia’s selectors must be held accountable for their decisions.
With the possible exception of Vatican City missionaries and Peter Sterling's barber, Australian selectors have held down the cushiest posts of the past decade. A superstar line-up, coupled with mediocre international competition, left the panel with little to do but maintain the status quo and watch as the Australian cricket juggernaut vanquished all before them. Fishing with dynamite, you might say.
Those days are gone. Retirements and injuries to key personnel have greatly eroded the Australian team, placing increased focus on selections. And while the selectors were initially praised for the manner in which they drip-fed the likes of Phil Jaques, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson and Beau Casson into the Test side, the same panel must stand accountable for the untried and unbalanced squad it sent to India - one that requires a major reversal of fortune if it is to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
In the same paper, Brown speaks to speaks to six coaches of Test nations to find out how they view Australia’s decline. Here’s a sample of what John Dyson, the West Indies coach, has to say.
I think everyone has begun to realise that this current Australian side is human and can be beaten. And that's good for cricket. I remember playing against the West Indies in the mid-1980s, and once the rest of the world realised they were beatable, it ushered in a good period for the game. I think the same is happening here.
Posted 3 weeks, 3 days ago in Australia in India 2008-09
Peter Roebuck, in the Age, looks at the remarkable achievement of Jason Krejza in capturing eight wickets on Test debut.
With the possible exception of family members, did any Australian seriously expect Jason Krejza to take a swag of wickets? Australia has been struggling for wickets all campaign and suddenly one bloke took eight in one fell swoop. In a trice, he has become the team's second-highest wicket-taker on tour. Good on 'im. He has a big heart.
Krejza was amazing. His head could easily have dropped as he was repeatedly ignored in the last few weeks. Everyone capable of sending down a spinner of any description was preferred to him. Players were flown in from Melbourne, the ball was tossed to occasional colleagues and still he was not given his chance. At one stage, he looked about as likely to get a go as the manager's wife.
November 7, 2008
Posted 3 weeks, 3 days ago in Australia in India 2008-09
The decline in Australia’s cricketing fortunes in India, the ‘defensive’ nature of their game, and their weakened spin attack, has affected the enthusiasm of their supporters for the sport, writes Alan Lee in the Times. He attributes the retirement of Shane Warne as a decisive factor for the current situation, and laments the withering away of the “leg spin revolution” he wrought.
Shane Warne is a different matter. It is not only the absence of the man himself that is mourned but the non-appearance of the promised generation of Warne wannabes. Where are all the young wrist spinners with surfer haircuts that seemed certain to queue to replace their hero? The leg-spinning revolution was a romantic notion and should have been a fitting legacy, but it has withered on the vine.
November 6, 2008
Posted 3 weeks, 4 days ago in Australia in India 2008-09
Robert Craddock writes in the Daily Telegraph that the struggles of Brett Lee and Stuart Clark on the India tour could have more long-term consequences than some people anticipate.
It was assumed Stuart Clark and Brett Lee would be around to carry Australia's attack into the 2009 Ashes tour and beyond. They were earmarked as anchormen of the next generation. But life can change quickly when your team fades at the seams. Days become longer, the workload more taxing. The body feels five years older than it is.
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Jason Gillespie went from being a rampaging force in India in October, 2004, to cannon fodder in England 10 months later. Gillespie was gone at 31. Paul Reiffel went at 32, as did Merv Hughes. Craig McDermott was gone, through injury, at 31. Australia's expectations about the longevity of their quicks may have been unduly inflated by the stunning durability of Glenn McGrath, who left at 37. But he was a one-off.
In the Age, Peter Roebuck looks at how Jason Krejza fought back from an early pasting on his first day of Test cricket.
To his credit, Ponting kept his spinner going. Although it was not much of a consolation, at least the batsmen were hitting the ball in the air. Nevertheless, the new man's breakers seemed too gentle to worry established batsmen. Spinners need to have as much snap, crackle and pop as Rice Bubbles. Krejza does not so much rip his off breaks as release them, does not so much flight them as float them. But he persisted, and had the sense to change his line so that the ball turned back towards the off bail. Also, he pushed the ball through a little faster so that opponents could not so confidently step out or back.
November 5, 2008
Posted 3 weeks, 5 days ago in Australia in India 2008-09
Australia will end their glorious reign as the No. 1 team in Test cricket if they were to lose in Nagpur. Heralding a new era, Lawrence Booth in his blog on the Wisden Cricketer website believes Sri Lanka are the most likely to pick up the baton, though India may be the conventional favourite, as he takes a look at the possible successors.
Sri Lanka's nucleus of top players may be small, but it is unrivalled in its quality: Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene score most of their runs; Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis take most of their wickets. So what a shame it is that Sri Lanka’s next scheduled Test match was May in England, a tour that will almost certainly not now take place.
Posted 3 weeks, 5 days ago in Australia in India 2008-09
S.Dinakar, writing in the Hindu, believes M Vijay, who's been included in the Indian squad for the Nagpur Test, has the right ingredients to play the role of an opener on the bigger stage.
Importantly, he can ‘play’ and ‘leave’; a vital attribute in an opener while coping with the new ball. Vijay’s balanced stance and an initial, but non-committal, trigger movement forward enhances his judgement in the corridor.
Talent, performances and a combination of circumstances have earned Vijay a place in the Indian squad for the high-stakes final Test against Australia at Nagpur. He deserves the opportunity.
Posted 3 weeks, 5 days ago in Australia in India 2008-09
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Laxman: "'Those early failures gave me a lot of insight into my character".
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VVS Laxman, in the lead-up to his 100th Test, speaks of the highlights and disappointments of his career in an interview with Ajay Naidu in the Times of India.
The first four years, I was opening the innings and after a couple of chances people would call me a non-regular opener and I would be dropped. To be honest, those early failures gave me a lot of insight into my character. It made me tough and it gave me the confidence to be able to bounce back from any setback.
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They've (Australia) been top class with their batting, bowling and fielding and for me it started with the under-19 series. They are very aggressive and they don't give you an inch. Their style of cricket brings out the best in me.
November 4, 2008
Posted 3 weeks, 6 days ago in Australia in India 2008-09
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Rahul Dravid averages 32.95 this year, his lowest in a calendar year
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Shashank Shekhar, in the Times of India, writes that Rahul Dravid requires some "urgent maintenance work" following the slide in his batting form since he resigned from captaincy. His performance in the Delhi Test, where he was dismissed in ways inconsistent with his technical correctness, is indicative of his failure to counter some new problems that have crept up in his game, Shekhar feels.
Dravid’s loss of touch is strange because in cricket it’s generally believed that technically sound batsmen have a better chance of coming out of form slumps than those who rely on individual skill and flair. But Dravid’s blues have stretched a bit too far for his own comfort. But it clearly has more than just a technical facet to it. When Dravid relinquished captaincy, it was well understood that the decision was a direct fallout of the stress he was carrying. To add to his woes, this unseemly debate over the place of seniors in the team came at a very inopportune time for him, when he was fighting his own battles.
Meanwhile, Harsha Bhogle, in the same newspaper, writes that Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India's new captain, must back Rahul Dravid to the hilt, given the pressure on him to deliver in Nagpur.
Posted 4 weeks ago in Australia in India 2008-09
Adding to the numerous tributes to Anil Kumble following his retirement, an editorial comment in the Hindu emphasises Kumble's contribution to India's success overseas in the recent years, and how he demolished the myth about his ineffectiveness away from home.
The Bangalorean leaves behind a unique legacy. He has bowled India to wins in Australia, England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies, demolishing the myth that he was dangerous only at home. During the fractious tour of Australia, India gained from his clear-sighted leadership; in fact, he might be the best captain India almost never had. In the final analysis, Kumble leaves Indian cricket immeasurably better than he found it when he made his Test debut in 1990.
An opinion piece in Daily News and Analysis singles out Kumble's statesmanship in India's acrimonious Test series in Australia earlier this year as his greatest achievement. With India's 'old guard' gradually disbanding, the article does hint at some apprehension towards a "newer, brasher India" replacing the gentleman-like demeanour that Kumble exemplified.
Kumble’s greatest achievement, however, could be the statesmanlike quality that he brought to the field during the last Indian series in Australia which was fraught with tensions between the two teams. As accusations flew through the air, Kumble rose above it and took his team with him
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But this is still an occasion that must be marked, and that is why the sporting world has stood up to salute Kumble. He represents the best of a sport that is often lauded for being a “gentleman’s game” — in spite of enough evidence to the contrary — because he is a gentleman. Now, the newer, brasher India takes over.
An editorial comment in the Business Standard lauds Kumble for starting and sustaining the "golden era" of spin bowling along with Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan, at a time when spin bowlers, particularly of the wrist variety, were relegated to the margins by fast bowlers.
November 3, 2008
Posted 4 weeks ago in Australia in India 2008-09
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'Cheers': Kumble calls time at the Kotla, the venue where he picked up all ten in a Test innings
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Anil Kumble was determined to leave behind a legacy for future cricketers and captains and the team Dhoni will lead starting from Nagpur owes Kumble for its unity, writes Kadambari Murali in the Hindustan Times. She also recounts a meeting with Kumble in his Bangalore home eight months ago.
Eight months ago, sitting under a lovely afternoon sun outside Kreeda, his elegant Bangalore bungalow, Anil Kumble casually said he didn’t think he would last out the year, career wise. “I’m hoping to make it to the Australian series this October,” he added, equally casually, “but it depends on my body”. That Bangalore day, he grinned as wife Chethana disapprovingly commented, “He needs to think about himself”. “She’s being a wife,” he quipped, smiling at the woman he dubbed his “support system” and “partner in everything”.
Harsha Bhogle, in his tribute in the Indian Express, says the the retirement announcement itself was typical of the man: no grandstanding, no ostentation, no farewell tour. Anything else would have jarred, it wouldn’t have been Kumble. He changed the perception of spin bowling, suggesting a variation from the established pillars of guile, spin and turn.
Bowling with a fractured jaw in Antigua was the most visible expression of his commitment. But it wasn’t unexpected. Sourav Ganguly once said that if the opposition was 250 for 1 and he was looking around the field, there was one man who was looking straight back at him because he wanted the ball.
In the Independent, Angus Fraser hopes Kumble is not lost to cricket and that the BCCI use him to get a better perspective of what is good for the future of the game.
Throughout Anil Kumble has retained his dignity, it has been an immense contribution, and he did not outstay his welcome by a single day. Even in his retirement he served the side and Indian cricket, writes Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald.
He must have yearned for one last victory and, best of all, a series win against the Australians. It was not to be. Always something is left on the table. Cricket is like that, not exactly cruel but not sentimental either. Kumble worked hard in the first innings and must have been happy with his game. But 22 yards away it did not happen. The ball flatly refused to skip or skid or bounce or turn sharply. Instead, it meandered through, giving batsmen a precious second to adjust their strokes. Previously, Kumble only needed one victory for a wicket. He bowled straight, attacked the stumps and preyed upon error. Now opponents could escape his clutches.
Rarely has there been a sportsman who has combined flintiness and dignity so adeptly. He was hard, really hard, but utterly fair. Kumble forever walked the line, but rarely if ever crossed it, write Rob Smyth in the Guardian.
And so he went. Not at the end of the series, or the end of the year, but now, when the arguments for his going were only as strong as, not stronger than, those for his continuing—and that, perhaps more than anything he has done on the field in course of an extraordinarily distinguished 19-year career, sums up all there is to know about Kumble the human being, writes Prem Panicker on his blog Smoke Signals.
G Rajaraman has known Kumble from the time he was known as K Anil and played under-19 cricket for Karnataka. He offers a few snippets of a wonderful human being and a great friend in his column in Cricketnirvana.com.
In Daily News and Analysis, Dilip Vengsarkar salutes Kumble for his attitude and the fact that he ensured the game was played in true spirit, without crossing that fine line even once.
In the Deccan Chronicle, R Mohan says Kumble was too refined a person to think negatively of anyone.
November 2, 2008
Posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago in Australia in India 2008-09
Kerry O'Keeffe knows a thing or two about slow bowling and in his column in the Sunday Telegraph he lets fly at Australia's selectors for their spin decisions. He says India's batsmen have Australia by the googlies.
Last Wednesday, Australia began a crucial Test in Delhi needing to take 20 wickets to level the series. Our panel came up with the slow bowling trio of Cameron White, Michael Clarke and Simon Katich. This grouping is unlikely to take 20 first-class wickets in a calendar year on doctored decks in the Gobi Desert.
Is Jason Krejza sleeping inside the Taj Mahal with Stuart MacGill's alarm clock? And why is baby-faced chinaman Beau Casson considered fruit out of season? Casson's situation demands a public explanation from selection chairman Andrew Hilditch, who the media feel is harder to catch than the multiple top edges he provided fine leg during his hooking days.
O'Keeffe knows that Casson might not be the answer but he believes the bowler at least deserved a chance after making his Test debut in Barbados.
Casson has to develop his momentum on slow pitches where batsmen tend to play him a little too comfortably off the back foot. These are challenges he has been denied by selection panel perceptions. Perhaps Casson's googlies will return against New Zealand this month in Australia. The Kiwis would have trouble picking Bill Lawry's nose.
November 1, 2008
Posted on 11/01/2008 in Australia in India 2008-09
An editorial in the Indian Express criticises the recent generation of Indian cricketers for showing poor conduct in the field, especially after the punishments meted out to Gautam Gambhir and Zaheer Khan. The papers suggests soccer-style reprimands to set the players right.
India are a team enamoured of aggression but don’t know how to express it any more. They should learn from the Australians, who keep it mean but seldom dirty. And when one of their performers loses the plot, as Andrew Symonds did, they sort him out. The Indians, in contrast, are too secure in the belief that were they to be reprimanded, a chatter of racism-in-cricket would protect them. The Indian board must wise up to this.
October 31, 2008
Posted on 10/31/2008 in Australia in India 2008-09
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Matthew Hayden sought command without trying to take command
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The Australian batsmen were determined to undo their previous performance at Mohali and cast aside the excesses to get back the tempo they had been missing in the earlier matches on the third day in Delhi. Peter Roebuck in the Age doffs his hat to the way they applied their best games.
Batting itself is a constant examination, and Hayden has nothing to prove. He could retire tomorrow safe in the knowledge that he has given outstanding service. History is likely to regard him as among the most imposing opening batsmen to represent the wide brown land. But he is not ready to be put to pasture; he reckons that at 37, a late starter such as him has a few more campaigns left in him.
While Hayden has found some form, Australia's fast bowlers are still looking for reverse swing. On the Cricket Australia website, the bowling coach Troy Cooley explains the art.
Posted on 10/31/2008 in Australia in India 2008-09
VVS Laxman and Gautam Gambhir scored double-centuries for India on day two of the third Test against Australia in Delhi. Harsha Bhogle writes on the two batsmen:
In the Indian Express Of Laxman he writes that there is something deeply satisfying about a man who doesn’t thump his own chest, doesn’t give the two fingers to the opposition, is in the news for the right reasons and doesn’t know what a brawl means.
In the Times of India Bhogle says Gambhir played according to the situation.
When the situation warranted solidity, Gambhir offered it, when Tendulkar was looking good, he provided security and after tea he burst forth with strokes of great pedigree, more than doubling his score. And as the first day drew to a close, he played for the morrow showing what a good team man he is; the opening batsman was ready to take the new ball for his team on Day 2.
October 29, 2008
Posted on 10/29/2008 in Australia in India 2008-09
Picture this. The biggest run machine of our age poised to take guard against one of the fastest bowlers the world's ever known. A contest between two teams that have gone toe-to-toe for the best part of a decade, in a rivalry that has seen everything from remarkable comebacks and hat-tricks to allegations of racism and boorishness. Pencil in, too, a partisan crowd packed to the rafters, baying for blood as the visitors' premier bowler sprints in off his Mercedes-smooth run-up.
Sadly, one part of the picture was sorely missing on the first day of the India-Australia Test at the Feroz Shah Kotla, blogs Dileep Premachandran on the Guardian website.
The crowd roared and the Indian tricolour waved, but vast swathes of green, blue, red and orange seats were empty, shimmering brightly in the afternoon sun. If you needed a statement about Test cricket's health, you couldn't have got a more damning one. Only about 20,000 had braved the trek past the many security checks to get inside a stadium that now seats 45,000. Many might have been in bad shape after the Diwali revelries the night before, but in a city of millions you certainly expected better for a match-up that is now Test cricket's heavyweight clash.
Posted on 10/29/2008 in Australia in India 2008-09
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It was vintage Tendulkar at the Feroz Shah Kotla
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Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald says Sachin Tendulkar's hard work during practice showed on the first day of the third Test against Australia at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi.
Before the Delhi Test, Sachin Tendulkar spent hours in the nets facing a shaved and taped tennis ball fired at him by the coach. Concerned about his technique against swinging and rising deliveries, and aware that the pitch was likely to be faster than forecast, he wanted to be prepared. To that end, he ironed out the kinks that had crept into his game. Twice he had lost his wicket to loose strokes and once to an outswinger. It was not good enough.
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Tendulkar was majestic. Indeed, he has seldom batted better. Called to the crease after Rahul Dravid had indulged in an indiscretion that imperils his position, Tendulkar swiftly settled into his work. Immediately, it was obvious that his mind was alert and his feet were moving quickly into position. As usual, he broke his duck with a neat tuck to leg. Lots of players can improvise on the front foot but none are as creative as the Indian when stepping back. Several times he retreated, examined the ball and, finding nothing untoward, directed it into a gap. Often he was happy to take a single, a currency he has never undervalued. Now and then he pressed for more, once leaning back to guide the ball over the slips, a daring offering previously reserved for one-day matches. It was an astonishing stroke to play on the first morning of a vital Test, and a bad sign for the visitors.
At times you could have fooled yourself into thinking that it was the irrepressible teenager of Perth 1992 vintage batting, and not the 35-year-old veteran who was supposed to be on his last legs. Click here to read more on Tendulkar's innings.
October 28, 2008
Posted on 10/28/2008 in Australia in India 2008-09
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A sore toe puts Harbhajan in doubt for the third Test at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi
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Harbhajan Singh will be desperate to play in the third Test in Delhi. Nursing a sore toe, he may be hampered but will not want to miss the chance to lower the Australian colours, writes Peter Roebuck in the Age.
A dry pitch has been prepared, besides which the dreaded "Bhaji" is not scared of the Australians and never has been. After all he took 30 wickets against them in their first meeting in 2001. The sight of an Australian cricketer sparks something in him, a mixture of competitive fervour and national pride. He tells friends that he does not like the way the Australian team walks about like it's the best thing since buttered naan. Asked to name his favourite Australian players he mentions Steve Waugh and Glenn McGrath and then grinds to a halt. Adam Gilchrist is dismissed as a "sweet knife".
Posted on 10/28/2008 in Australia in India 2008-09
Patrick Smith takes a dig at the Australians after their capitulation in Mohali. He believes Australia are in denial. Read his piece in the Australian.
Hayden, who has made 0, 13, 0, and 29, has said that he believes he has Zaheer Khan on the back foot. For the record the Australian opener has made 17 fewer runs than Zaheer...Hayden's diagnosis that Zaheer is on the point of a nervous breakdown is based on the bowler's abuse of him when the Australian was dismissed for 29 in the second innings of the second Test. Hayden apparently had brought Zaheer to this brink when he charged his first ball of the second innings. That the ball was mis-hit and looped dangerously close to mid-off was, it seems, a victory for Hayden and not the bowler.
Said Hayden: "Zaheer Khan has been put under pressure a lot by myself and Gilly (Adam Gilchrist) in all the tournaments we've played in one-dayers. I have also tried to emulate that when we've played Tests. I just feel he is vulnerable when he's like that."
Not only is it such graceless gibberish, it is also foolish.
Posted on 10/28/2008 in Australia in India 2008-09
At a time when Test cricket's fortunes are at a low ebb, with the threat from the various Twenty20 tournaments around the world, it is necessary for the two most attractive sides (Australia and India) in the world to play out close finishes and exciting sessions to help traditional fans retain their faith as well as to attract a new set which cannot look beyond a 20-over match, writes Suresh Menon on ESPNStar.
The current series, unfortunately, has been too much about failing individuals and not enough about the big picture. You don't need great players to play great cricket; perhaps the rival captains should have a chat before the third Test and work out how they can make their sport more attractive, where victory and defeat are merely by-products of five days of intense, hard-fought but appealing cricket. Test cricket is on trial, and if it fails to excite the public even in India, the spiritual home of the game, then the trial can go only one way.
Posted on 10/28/2008 in Australia in India 2008-09
Other captains are used to making the most of limited resources. Now it is Ricky Ponting's turn. It is also his greatest test, writes Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald.
The days of domination are over. That was the message out of the Mohali Test match. Not that Australia cannot win matches and even retain a high position in the rankings, but the era of crushing all and sundry has passed. Quite simply, the Australian bowling is not strong enough to run through proficient batting orders. Hereafter, it will be a struggle, with tight series, long Test matches and captains constantly under pressure. It is not an easy adjustment to make. The West Indies did not survive it. Inflated players continued strutting around long after the wins had dried up. Australia must not allow its cricket culture to weaken.
It says much about the state of Australian cricket that barely a year after the retirement of the greatest spinner in history, the nation is clamouring for an emergency call-up for a bowler who has spun out just a dozen batsmen at Test level, writes John Townsend in the Independent.
The refusal of Cricket Australia to consider selecting Symonds, referring to mysterious "medical and related issues", has polarised the country. Newspapers and talk radio have been filled to the hyperbolic brim with debate on the issue, with Tom Moody, the West Australian coach and recent Sri Lankan boss, speaking for many fans this week when he argued: "Australia must send an immediate SOS to Andrew Symonds if they want to pick their best team. India is the toughest place in world cricket to come from behind and when the Australian team is struggling for balance, form and cohesion, we simply can't afford to leave him out."
October 27, 2008
Posted on 10/27/2008 in Australia in India 2008-09
That Indian pace should blast the Aussies off their pedestal seems to be sweet irony, writes Rohit Mahajan in Outlook. Assessing a few dismissals from the first two Tests and speaking to members of the Australian support staff as well as Peter Roebuck, the columnist, Mahajan notes that with hostile spells on unhelpful tracks, India's fast bowlers have initiated reverse swing when conventional movement was hard to come by in the first place.
A TV grab of the state of the balls after an equal number of overs bowled by both teams proved the Indians have the art of keeping the shine on one side of the ball, the Australians lack it. No wonder some Aussie batsmen looked like outdated spare parts on the crease. "We got the ball to swing, especially reverse-swing when it was nice and hard," Dhoni said. "We pitched it in the right areas, and the spinners also bowled well.
October 25, 2008
Posted on 10/25/2008 in Indian cricket
India is the real deal and Mohali was no fluke, says Darren Berry in the Sunday Age.
Sourav Ganguly has done well to claw his way back into the team after a bitter falling out under the Greg Chappell regime. Ganguly may not be popular in Australia, but he is treated like a prince in India, loved and respected by the masses. He has announced that this is his last series and I wouldn't be surprised if V. V. S Laxman is heading down the same path. Rahul Dravid and the master, Sachin Tendulkar, are rapidly approaching the end as well. India must stagger their departures to avoid a mass exodus.
The frightening thing for world cricket is that India has some super talent - with both bat and ball - waiting in the wings. Make no mistake, the Board of Control for Cricket in India is the most powerful body in world cricket and its introduction of the hugely successful Indian Premier League earlier this year was a masterstroke. Not only was it a monumental financial windfall but, even more importantly, it exposed and unearthed young talent, albeit in the Twenty20 version of the game.
Posted on 10/25/2008 in Australia in India 2008-09
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Ishant Sharma: Full speed ahead
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He is 192 centimetres and growing, accurate, menacing, creative and captivating, and he didn't shy away from chewing Glenn McGrath's during the inaugural IPL this year. For Ishant Sharma, writes Chloe Saltau in the Sunday Age, this series could well be what Australia's 1995 tour of the West Indies was for McGrath. And a bit more.
Two more Tests will tell whether there is a new world order in cricket, but it is already beyond dispute that India possesses the most exciting young fast bowler in the world. He comes from a working class family in Delhi - and still lives in the modest neighbourhood where he grew up despite his sudden wealth - and a country that has broken the hearts of many a paceman with its flat, spin-friendly wickets.
To top it off, Ishant's got Jason Gillespie all jealous.
In the Indian Express, Sandeep Dwivedi traces trace the making of India’s new pace hope.
Several years ago, the cricketers of Ganga International School in Delhi couldn’t understand their coach Shravan Kumar’s obsession with a recently-drafted, tall, gawky pacer. As the whispering campaign against the erratic bowler with a no-ball problem and a stop-start run-up grew louder, Shravan would often get to hear, “Sir has picked him again!” But despite this small resistance, the coach would have an all-knowing smile as he threw the new ball to his pet without a hint of guilt.
Little did the Ganga International boys know that one day they would be flaunting their proximity to that unwanted member of their team. The beanpole-framed bowler has now made a mark in world cricket, and his early colleagues end up dropping his name to spice up stories about their modest initial cricketing days.
Posted on 10/25/2008 in Australia in India 2008-09
Before his call-up to the Indian side, legspinner Amit Mishra, who took seven wickets on Test debut, faced a lot of disappointments and nearly gave up the game. He talks to the Hindustan Times' Varun Gupta about being rejected by the Delhi selectors and his move to Haryana.
Amit Mishra, who had taken wickets by the hatful in local and trial matches, not only did not make the shortlist, he was also told by Delhi selectors that he was surplus to requirements and did not have enough talent. Specific reasons weren’t given, except a point was made. It was suggested he “work on his weight if he wanted to play oonchi (top) cricket”... That Kotla day, he decided to pack his bags, leave the city of his birth and move to Haryana.
And till that unexpected debut at the second India-Australia Test at Mohali, struggle was his glory, perseverance and indefatigability his allies, and shadows his home. Twice he came within a whisker of breaking down and quitting the game. And yet he couldn't, for as he said, he didn't know what he could do with those wrists and fingers other than tweak the ball. The last time he went into a depression was in 2005, when a shoulder injury curbed his potency.
In the Hindu WV Raman writes that though Mishra's emergence has provided relief, he must give way to Anil Kumble if the latter is fit for the next Test.
October 24, 2008
Posted on 10/24/2008 in Australia in India 2008-09
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Can Ricky Ponting and his boys bounce back?
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Apparently, Warren Buffett is buying equities. Whether the "Sage of Omaha" would be game enough to buy shares in this Australian side is anyone's guess, writes Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald. However, the futures prospects of the Indian team don't seem as bleak, at least for the next Test in Delhi.
Everyone is going to fancy a piece of them. Trouncing the Aussies did not look that hard. Previously, it has taken towering performances to bring them down. England took three years to prepare for the 2005 Ashes and another three to recover. Even so, Glenn McGrath did not play in a losing side in that series India won in 2001 but Shane Warne was half-fit besides while Rahul Dravid and V.V.S. Laxman built a miraculous partnership, and some of the umpiring at Eden Gardens was dodgy.
Now the boot is on the other foot. Now the heavyweights are in the opposing camp. Virender Sehwag did not appear in any of the defeats in the recent series Down Under. Nor did his opening partner Gautam Gambhir. The conclusion is unavoidable. When both sides are a full strength, and all other things being equal, India have the edge. And, on the evidence seen in Mohali, not only India. Australia had nothing to grizzle about, not homemade pitches or dubious decisions or queasy stomachs or absentees. Ricky Ponting and his players were beaten fair and square, and by the length of the straight
How will the team's performance affect viewership figures in Australia? Philip Derriman finds out.
Posted on 10/24/2008 in Australia in India 2008-09
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Will Brett Lee be able the swing the SG ball like Zaheer Khan?
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After Mohali, India is somewhat bewildered: is this the world’s No.1 team or some other bouncer-sized blokes wearing stolen headgear?, writes Sharda Ugra in India Today. Things have surely not gone according the type, she says.
Before a ball was bowled, it was Virender Sehwag, rather than any arriving Aussie, who forecast the result: “Either 3-1 or 3-0 to India.” Bangalore Man of the Match Zaheer Khan heckled the Aussies for not scoring quickly and being unable to take 20 wickets. In Mohali, Dhoni asked first slip Rahul Dravid to check out the scoreboard: Australia 22 off 13 overs.
At that moment, an on-field landing of Martians in a flying saucer would have caused less shock. In their four innings in India, Australia have scored their runs at 2.86, 3.12, 2.63 and 3.10 per over, this when their batting is the stronger and more experienced component of their team.
Usually meticulous planners, Australia appear surprised that the Indian SG Test ball acts differently from their familiar Kookaburra and does not do as they want it to, but turns into a stump-seeking missile in Indian hands.
In another article, the magazine says "Australia must do an India, must do what was done to them in 2001: return from the dead."
Posted on 10/24/2008 in Australia in India 2008-09
Harsha Bhogle, in the Indian Express, feels it's too premature to write Australia off on the basis of one heavy defeat. He writes that great teams like Australia tend to question their self belief, analyse themselves relentlessly, identify weaknesses and seek to plug them. The mindset of the new crop of players might just be different compared to those who made their debuts in 1999, at the start of Australia's dream run.
Should they lose the series there, a crop of inexperienced players, the future of Australian cricket, will be made aware of the fact that they o can lose. To an earlier generation, Brett Lee and Adam Gilchrist for example, the initiation years only saw victory. They grew quickly, learnt to win and kept the Aussie juggernaut going. Now if the Johnsons and Whites and Haddins begin their careers with defeat, their mindset will be different. It is there that Australia’s greatest challenge lies.
In the Hindu, Makarand Waingankar attributes India's victory to Mahendra Singh Dhoni's aggressive body language in the field, right from the time he spoke at the toss.
The strategy was clear; if you win the toss, bat for a minimum of five sessions and put the opposition under pressure. Verbal reassurance from the captain acts like a tonic to his players. Not sure what tactic Dhoni uses in the dressing room when he is the captain, one is inclined to believe that he certainly has definite roles for each player.
Posted on 10/24/2008 in Australia in India 2008-09
In the Australian, Ricky Ponting explains just what happened between him and Brett Lee in Mohali.
What Brett couldn't understand is that Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle had the chance to bowl before him. But by the time I wanted to bowl Brett, we were five overs behind on our over rate. If he were to come on and we went six or seven overs down then I could be suspended under the ICC playing conditions for slow over rates.
Once we had a chance to talk it through he was fine with it. He said to me at the lunch break, "I'm a bowler, I want to bowl, and you're a batsman, you want to bat". But there are other things I have to think about on the field as well. We talk about over rates at every team meeting. We get behind and I'm forced to bowl guys I sometimes don't want to bowl in the circumstances.
Posted on 10/24/2008 in Australia in India 2008-09
Malcolm Conn writes in the Australian that as much as Australia would like to have Shane Warne bowling for them in India, the team itself is more unified without him.
Ponting is gun-barrel straight, has a tremendous work ethic and desire for success he expects other to share, and has no political agendas. That's why he and Lee have no lingering issues in the way Warne used to take them into the dressing room and on to the field. When Taylor struggled during the 1996-97 summer Warne was the first to begin muttering "How's Tubby's form?"
There was almost a mutiny during the South African tour that followed when Ian Healy and Steve Waugh lined up for the one-day captaincy as Taylor's form slump continued. And Warne, miffed at missing out on the captaincy when Taylor retired, made no attempt to hide his disdain for Waugh during the difficult early stages of the 1999 World Cup.
Waugh had dropped Warne in the West Indies earlier that year because he had not fully recovered from a shoulder operation, and Warne never forgave him. "How's Tugga going," Warne would repeat on the field as Australia struggled at the start of the 1999 World Cup. "How's Tugga going." There is no mutiny in the current Australian side, just a lot of soul-searching after last Tuesday's thumping 320-run loss.
October 23, 2008
Posted on 10/23/2008 in Australia in India 2008-09
India's crushing win against Australia in the second Test at Mohali has certainly spiced up issues related to both teams.
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The heat is on: Ricky Ponting
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The last time Ponting was under sustained pressure as a captain was during the 2005 Ashes. A senior player on the tour confided that after the Edgbaston Test, the Australians had resigned to defeat -- hardly a ringing endorsement of Ponting’s ability to inspire, just as his tirade at Duncan Fletcher at Trent Bridge spoke volumes for his default position under stress. Lawrence Booth in his blog in the Wisden Cricketer says doubts have risen again over the Australian captain's man-management skills after the Australian media's treatment of Ponting’s run-in with Brett Lee at Mohali.
A captain is only as good as the bowlers at his disposal, which is a truth Ponting may only just be discovering. But a good captain will also make the most of his resources and by gifting India’s openers singles all round the ground on the third evening – a policy that allowed Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir to put on 100 in 23 overs before stumps – Ponting got it badly wrong.
On the other side, Prem Panicker in his blog believes that it is up to Anil Kumble to judge his match-fitness of his shoulder, confidence level, reading of the Kotla pitch and the selection strategies that need to be employed to keep India in front and, if possible, nail the series before heading into the final Test.
He will make that decision in the next few days, and in course of the Kotla Test, he will be proved right or wrong. But whatever the outcome of that trial—he could get you a ten for, or go wicketless, and either situation will provide grist for ‘I told you sos’—it is fair to suggest that his decision would have been taken in all honesty. He has never, in all these years, given you reason to think otherwise.
Every successful 'leggie' carries a sense of mystique around, and Amit Mishra, though still a novice is already showing the craft and charisma that could make him a star. Simon Briggs in the Telegraph is excited about Mishra's arrival on the international scene after his flying start in Mohali.
October 22, 2008
Posted on 10/22/2008 in Australia in India 2008-09
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The role of Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke as leaders will be tested
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No need to sharpen the guillotine or write off any players just yet, writes Shane Warne after Australia's 320-run loss to India in Mohali. Experienced players will have to play a vital role during the break ahead of the third Test in Delhi, he says in the Daily Telegraph.
Mohali's gone, deal with it. Say well played and carry yourself well, hold your head high. But deep down use it as motivation and keep that hunger that's inside alive.
Be the man to drag the team along and in the right direction, be prepared for whatever the opposition throws at you, fight and never give up, don't be afraid and start thinking negatives and what ifs. No doubts, or you just start hoping that someone does something, you go into your shell and start looking after your own backside and forget the team.
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This is where experience and calm heads rise to the top, and Ponting and Clarke as leaders will become crucial, sitting around over a glass and chewing the fat with the team and coming up with some new plans. Talking tactics as a group is important.
Posted on 10/22/2008 in Australia in India 2008-09
Mahendra Singh Dhoni may have done enough in his two Tests as captain to prove that he's the right man to take over the job full time, but the man he will have to thank for shaping the team is Anil Kumble, writes Anand Vasu in the Hindustan Times. If Dhoni's brand is synonymous with exuberance and youth, Kumble injected the team with steel, dignity and belief, the focal point being in Australia when allegations of racism flew almost as thick and fast as outside edges.
For once, the Indian captaincy is not a poisoned chalice, this time around, the question of succession has not raised controversy, conflict, challengers, even eyebrows. Other than the sheer joy of lording it over Australia, this Test should always be remembered for this: An Indian captain will not be staying longer than he was popular, and the successor will not have to wait any longer than necessary.
In the same paper, Kumble makes his observations on India's biggest victory in terms of runs. Forced to watch the game from the dressing room, he gushes at Amit Mishra's five-wicket haul on debut and earmarks him as one for the future.
He showed no nerves at all and was absolutely in control from ball one. He used his variations very nicely: The way he came around and bowled a wrong 'un at Clarke showed that he's a thinking cricketer. With an eye to the future, it also augurs well for India that we've found someone like Amit. An orthodox bowler, he spins the ball a lot, uses his flight very nicely and frankly, it was great watching him. I can tell you that this would have given him a lot of confidence. The first five-for I got told me that if I could get one, I could get more.
October 21, 2008
Posted on 10/21/2008 in Australia in India 2008-09
Greg Baum writes in the Age that Australia have had a few false Waterloos over the years, but this one has a distinctly Napoleonic feel about it.
Now, the tour that resonates loudly is 1998. India won the first two Tests by massive margins, then lost the dead rubber. Sachin Tendulkar was in his pomp; he was virtually undismissable. Glenn McGrath did not tour, Steve Waugh injured himself, Warne took 10 wickets in three Tests, but at a high price; he was exhausted. Seamers Paul Wilson and Adam Dale, and off-spinner Gavin Robertson, all appeared for Australia, workaday cricketers who between them would play only two other Tests after this series. It was no contest.
Mike Selvey, writing in the Guardian, agrees with Baum, as does Andy Bull in the same paper, but Patrick Kidd, in his Line and Length blog in the Times, says the Mohali loss |
