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May 11, 2008
Posted 1 day, 1 hour ago in Indian Cricket
With his IPL success, Rohit Sharma has jumped the queue to take the tag of Indian cricket’s ‘next big thing’. Sandeep Dwivedi, writing in the Indian Express, profiles a youngster who has retained his grace in this slam-bang format.
Also read Rohit's interview to the same paper, where he says: ‘People don’t remember you for the number of innings but for the number of years you played’.
May 6, 2008
Posted 5 days, 20 hours ago in Indian Cricket
VVS Laxman has wowed fans across the globe, not least in Australia, with his wristy elegance and sweetly-timed jabs and cuts. And despite his struggles in the Twenty20 format, fans in Hyderabad are buzzing to get a glimpse of their hero, finds out K Shriniwas Rao of the Indian Express.
Today, the fever of Twenty20 has gripped Hyderabad. Both the Indian Cricket League (ICL) and the Indian Premier League (IPL) have seen fans queuing up at the stadiums. Players such as Shahid Afridi, Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds and Herschelle Gibbs have been recruited as ‘locals’.
And yet, it is VVS Laxman who happens to be cheered the loudest. The Deccan Chargers website has seen some anti-Laxman messages, but not once has the right-hander been booed at the ground — even as his team lost three matches at home and he’s struggled to come to terms with this extremely short format.
“He’s not one for masala cricket. We’re sure he’s playing here because he is Hyderabad’s biggest name in cricket,” says a fan at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium.
May 1, 2008
Posted 1 week, 3 days ago in Indian Cricket
"Sumit Khatri is only a fringe-local featuring on the Rajasthan Royals’ extended roster of 25 and the only chinaman bowler in the IPL," writes Shivani Naik in the Indian Express. "But his oddity may be lost, especially since Khatri might not see any real action in the tournament. Even some cricket websites have slotted the left-armer as right medium-pacer or off-break bowler."
At 20, Khatri has survived the biggest storm for a chinaman spinner. That of retaining his bowling-style, which comes with copious cautionary notes, equal in length to a chinaman’s definition. Predominantly a batsman in his seven years at Sawai Mansingh Stadium’s RCC nets, Khatri was called aside one day by the late Hanumant Singh three years ago. His left wrist had twisted a couple of deliveries prodigiously from off to leg, during what Khatri calls a “faltoo, time-pass practice session”, and Hanumant was impressed.
April 15, 2008
Posted 3 weeks, 5 days ago in Indian Cricket
Though he thinks the series ended with a fair result, Jacques Kallis is keen not to play in Kanpur for a third time. It was a gamble, he writes in the Hindu, to order such a poor wicket and it could have easily backfired.
I am a traditionalist when it comes to pitches and I believe that the surface for a Test match should have something for everybody. Some pace and movement for the quick bowlers, good batting conditions in the middle and then help for the spinners on the last two days.
Like India, we have been pretty dominant at home and have lost a series only to Australia on our own turf. But we have also been competitive away from home beating everyone (apart from Australia!) at some point.
India should be aiming for the No. 1 spot, too, but they will need to improve on ‘good’ pitches.
Neil Manthorp can't wait to leave Kanpur as well. He writes in supercricket website:
If the Proteas could be accused of leaving with indecent haste, think again. Given the fact that nobody in the world of cricket was thinking of a three day finish when the third day began, not a single bag was packed nor extras bill paid. Yet the home side were on a bus pulling out of the city within an hour of returning to the hotel. The best Goolam Raja could manage for Graeme Smith and the boys was a 6.00am departure the following morning. Is Kanpur really that bad? Yes.
The Indian team and media can't stand coming here and actively encouraged the South African media and players to highlight how unacceptable it is as an international venue and to lodge formal complaints, where applicable.
April 12, 2008
Posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago in Indian Cricket
Paddy Upton, India’s mental-conditioning coach, writes for Moneyweb.co.za website to explain how he and Gary Kirsten adapt to supporting India when they are both South African.
And what does it feel like to be planning and putting our every effort into beating our home country? The truth, for both of us, is that with every part of us we want and are willing India to win. The disappointment of defeat at the hands of the South Africans in the last Test burned us as much as it did the Indians.
April 10, 2008
Posted on 04/10/2008 in Indian Cricket
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Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh should get a pitch tailor-made for spin in Kanpur
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South Africa's bowling coach Vincent Barnes is not worried about the brownish Kanpur pitch, writes Sandeep Dwivedi in the Indian Express.
Since South Africa’s tour to India followed their trip to Pakistan and Bangladesh, Vincent Barnes has a ‘been there, seen it and done it too’ expression on his face as he takes a look at the Green Park track. He speaks about the pitch in Dhaka during the Bangladesh tour and how his team’s fear proved unfounded. “We first thought the pitch was certain to break in the first couple of days. It actually lasted for five. The same thing happened in Chittagong as well,” he says, highlighting how modern-day tourists to the subcontinent aren’t that fussy about the dust bowls they encounter.
However, Anand Vasu writes in the Hindustan Times that the players were surprised at the state of the pitch.
Mickey Arthur, the South African coach, who had made it out to the middle a little before his team, was not particularly impressed by what he saw and actually had a chat to [Graeme] Smith, asking him to take a deep breath and relax, warning him not to be too perturbed by what he saw.
April 9, 2008
Posted on 04/09/2008 in Indian Cricket
This week extracts from the new Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, published today, are running in The Times. In the latest one, Ramachandra Guha looks at Mahatma Gandhi’s role in the development of India's game.
An Indian journalist met an old classmate of Gandhi's, who remembered a “dashing cricketer” who “evinced a keen interest in the game as a school student”. If these oral testimonies are reliable, Gandhi spun a cricket ball long before he spun khadi, the hand-woven cloth he argued should be worn by all Indians in preference to machine-made textiles.
The thought is appealing, even if the evidence of the printed record runs in the other direction. In his autobiography, which deals extensively with his childhood and schooldays, Gandhi does not mention cricket.
Cricket barely touched Gandhi, yet, by virtue of who he was and what he did, he had a substantial impact on cricket in India. As I argued in A Corner of a Foreign Field, the Mahatma's teachings profoundly influenced the way the game was played and perceived.
Posted on 04/09/2008 in Indian Cricket
After the featherbed in Chennai and the lively pitch in Ahmedabad, on which India were shot out for 76 in the first session, the Kanpur wicket will undoubtedly be under scrutiny ahead of the third Test between India and South Africa. Sandeep Dwivedi spoke to Chotelal, the groundsman at Green Park, in the Indian Express.
“In 1983, I prepared a green pitch for the India vs West Indies game and the consequences weren’t great,” Chotelal says. It was the game in which Malcolm Marshall’s fiery bouncer saw Sunil Gavaskar’s bat falling from his hands and India suffering an innings defeat. What followed was brickbats and Chotelal’s shelved his green experiment for good.
Then in 1996, Sachin Tendulkar led India against South Africa in the final game of the series in a do-or-draw scenario. A wiser Chotelal rolled out a brownish carpet with myriad designs on it. India’s big win had then coach Madan Lal appreciating the groundsman with a Rs 25,000 award. “Even Tendulkar was quite happy. He met me after the game and was so happy that he gave me all the money that he had in his pocket,” says Chotelal.
Alex Parker, in the Johannesburg's Times, writes that the Indian team is famous for being a collection of monstrous egos sloshing about in great vats of self-importance.
"The Indian team and it's administrators appear to be very close to a state of disarray," writes Neil Manthorp on Supercricket.co.za. "They might want to think about seeking an answer to an important question before they finalise the XI for Kanpur. Who actually wants to play Test cricket."
April 7, 2008
Posted on 04/07/2008 in Indian Cricket
If India take a few gambles in Kanpur to try and square the series, it might mean their playing three spinners and just one full-time seamer to share the new ball with Sourav Ganguly. This plan, Jacques Kallis thinks, could backfire for three reasons. He writes in the Hindu:
Firstly, South Africa really isn’t that bad against spin as our record over the last five or six years shows. Secondly, I believe the new ball is still the best way to take wickets and, with respect to Sourav, he isn’t a great threat. And thirdly, if the pitch is dry and uneven, then Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini and Morne Morkel will be just as dangerous as Anil and Harbhajan.
In the Hindustan Times, Mark Boucher writes that India missed Sachin Tendulkar in Ahmedabad.
April 5, 2008
Posted on 04/05/2008 in Indian Cricket
As a country India has begun to achieve a lot and grow in confidence so it is no longer appropriate for the cricketers to lose focus after every famous victory, writes Peter Roebuck in the Hindu.
Nothing in India’s performances after the triumph in the World Twenty20 or after taking the one-day spoils in Australia suggests that the cricket culture is strong enough to sustain success. On the contrary, India immediately looked flabby. It is not entirely the players’ fault. Locals seem to relish awards. Pictures of people shaking hands are widely featured in the newspapers. It is well intended. No-one wants India to be a boring place full of people talking about property prices. But when joy turns into delirium it becomes corrosive.
April 1, 2008
Posted on 04/01/2008 in Indian Cricket
After Virender Sehwag plundered his second Test triple-century, Jaideep Varma argues in holdingwilley.com that Sehwag is the most under-rated cricketer in the world. Only one batsman in the modern age, Adam Gilchrist, has numbers to match Sehwag's eye-popping strike-rate of 77 allied with the astounding average of 53. Varma contends that Sehwag has already done enough to be considered an all-time great and that he is a shoo-in for a spot among the top five Indian Test batsmen of all time.
Sehwag’s uncluttered and simple see-ball-will-hammer approach has been more than just effective. It has a brought a different way of looking at the game, because before him, no one in the history of the game has had as much success doing this. If cricket was film, fiction or music, Sehwag would be a genre of his own.
Posted on 04/01/2008 in Indian Cricket
Former Test batsman and current Tamil Nadu coach WV Raman recalls the days when, even as an Under-19 batsman, Rahul Dravid showed an aptitude for correct technique and a stomach for a fight. He writes in the Hindu:
The young skipper was crowded but his ability to smother the spin with solid defence indicated that he had the stomach for a fight. The taunts from the close-in fielders were ignored and he went on to bat out the overs without allowing the bullying to ruffle him. A word of appreciation from me at the end of the innings was acknowledged with a measured smile and softly uttered thanks.
March 31, 2008
Posted on 03/31/2008 in Indian Cricket
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Virender Sehwag was at his aggressive best in Chennai as he went on to score the fastest ever triple-hundred in Tests
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| RK Pachauri, the chairperson of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (which shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore), and an active cricketer in his spare time, praises Virender Sehwag for his epic 319 in the first Test in Chennai. His opinion piece in the Indian Express has more.
Virender Sehwag’s strength stems from his feeling of self-belief. He obviously has unwavering faith in himself and his brand of cricket. All the while he was going through a drought of runs, several critics called him irresponsible in getting out to extravagant shots. But Sehwag never deviated from his extravagant style and reliance on aggressive stroke play every time he took the crease, irrespective of the situation the team was facing.
He continues…
The Chepauk performance should help rebuild Sehwag’s self-confidence and restore his belief in his own talents. Of all the outstanding batsmen who have performed at the international level with such elan in recent years, he displays the most uncanny coordination between limbs and eyes.
Elsewhere, Graham Gooch talks to the Telegraph about Sehwag's innings, and his own triple-hundred, the 333 against India at Lord's in 1990.
March 29, 2008
Posted on 03/29/2008 in Indian Cricket
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Test cricket: The real gauge of a cricketer's skill
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| Ramachandra Guha, writing in the Telegraph, compares the three different forms of cricket to alcoholic beverages, and makes it amply clear which form he prefers.
In my opinion, Test cricket may be compared to the finest Scotch, 50-overs a side to Indian-made foreign liquor, and Twenty20 to the local hooch. The addict who cannot have the first or the second will make do with the last.
He continues ...
But proper cricket can only be Test cricket. Spread out over five days, the game unfolds as in an epic drama. No restrictions are placed on anyone. The bowler can bowl 40 overs at a stretch; the batsman plays on until he gets out. Even the fielder has greater opportunities to display his wares. He can (as in limited-overs cricket) dive to his left at cover point to stop a boundary; and he can also (unlike in limited-overs cricket) dive to his right to take a low catch at short leg. In this long, leisurely, civilized form of the game, a villain is allowed to redeem himself, a hero to reveal his flaws, a team to show reserves of character one could have scarcely thought it possessed. As with the finest Scotch, one savours every sip; and yet, as with the finest Scotch, the whole is infinitely greater than the parts
Posted on 03/29/2008 in Indian Cricket
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Virender Sehwag on his way to an unbeaten 309
© Getty Images
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| Virender Sehwag's unbeaten 309 is now the fastest triple-hundred ever. His captain, Anil Kumble, while writing in his column in the Hindu, hopes that Sehwag goes beyond Brian Lara's record 400.
It’s a great opportunity to get Test cricket’s highest score, and he knows he can’t really get a better opportunity to do it. We have some special records, but it would be absolutely great to see an Indian on top of that list as well.
I’m glad Sehwag’s back to doing what he does so well. He’s definitely a match-winner for me.
I’m really happy after backing him for the Australia series. I’m also really happy for him, the way he’s come back to the Test squad after a year. He showed a lot of character in Adelaide, even if he was a bit subdued.
By the way, he wanted a bat from me if he scored a double. I don’t know why. So, at the end of the third day, I told him, you get your 400, I’ll give you two. I gladly will.
March 27, 2008
Posted on 03/27/2008 in Indian Cricket
Writing in his blog at Espnstar.com, R Mohan explores the attitude of Indian skippers to home Tests.
Pitch preparation was badly hit by all the rain around. Even so, I got the distinct impression that curator Kannan Parthasarathy was acting under instructions from either Team India or BCCI who were merely passing on the desire of the team.
'Pacha' kept the pitch very dry, which means he simply did not prepare the pitch as he normally would have. He may have been seized by the fear that if he prepared the wicket with regular watering it would be the typically hard Chepauk pitch at the start of play.
There is more than a suggestion in all this that Team India would have been happy to avoid a showdown with Dale Steyn, the South African quick who is making waves with his swing to the extent of becoming the man of the series in three successive series for South Africa. Any moisture in the pitch would have aided lateral movement of the new ball and India simply wished to avoid this.
March 25, 2008
Posted on 03/25/2008 in Indian Cricket
It was exactly ten years ago that Harbhajan Singh made his Test debut against Australia in Bangalore. Harish Kotian spoke to Harbhajan in an interview on Rediff.com.
At the start I was afraid to share a room with a player like [Navjot] Sidhu, whom I always admired. I was thinking of what I would talk him [about], how I would talk to him and all that. When I reached the room and met him, he congratulated me on making it to the international stage. He told me not to be under any pressure and just play as if it were another Ranji Trophy match. 'Just continue bowling the same way; there is no difference in the way one bowls in international matches. Just try and do the best you can, but don't get overawed by the atmosphere in the ground. Once the match starts, you won't realise how the five days of the Test match go,' he said.
Posted on 03/25/2008 in Indian Cricket
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Iqbal Abdulla
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The Madrasas of the Muslim-dominated Mau-Azamgarh belt in eastern Uttar Pradesh have traditionally frowned upon cricket, but the recent success of one of their alumni [India under-19 spinner Iqbal Abdulla] has given the sport some legitimacy in the religious schools," Sunita Aron writes in the Hindustan Times.
This rural belt may not have produced any remarkable sportsmen, but its barren fields are dotted with scrawny children wielding the willow and tossing tennis balls. A little known fact is that Mukhtar Ansari, an imprisoned mafia don from Mau, is such a cricket buff that he has converted part of the compound of the Jaunpur jail — where he is lodged — into a makeshift cricket ground, and has taught many inmates how to bat and bowl. But despite the ‘Iqbal effect’ on youngsters in the religious schools, Madni was keen on explaining why his school did not encourage cricket. “We do encourage sports that help boys build their bodies,” he said.
Posted on 03/25/2008 in Indian Cricket
"It’s been quite amazing how India have shaped up under [Anil] Kumble, a man many believed would be a stopgap measure till [Mahendra Singh ]Dhoni was handed over the reins of the Test captaincy too, more sooner than later, writes Kadambari Murali in the Hindustan Times.
He [Kumble] just smiles when asked how it feels to suddenly be dubbed the best thing to have happened to Indian cricket in the eventide of an illustrious career. The irony wasn’t lost on him. “I’ve always done things the way I thought they should’ve been done, accepted whatever’s come my way. I never went after the captaincy but when it did come, it was an honour. I’ve always believed that life should be taken as it comes, you need to plan and do the things you can as best as possible, not worry about things you cannot control.”
March 23, 2008
Posted on 03/23/2008 in Indian Cricket
In the Independent Online, Iqbal Khan interviews Gary Kirsten, the former South African opener, and discusses his new role as India's coach.
India's new cricket coach is chauffeur-driven each day to where he wants to go and is quickly getting used to simple things like when the department stores open and being mobbed by people who want his autograph.
Kirsten says he will manage fine during the upcoming series against South Africa.
"I'll feel a bit weird being in the opposite camp when we face South Africa in my first hurdle as coach. But I suppose I'll get over it. I won't let emotions get in my way."
March 22, 2008
Posted on 03/22/2008 in Indian Cricket
Writing in the Indian Express, GS Vivek says the Ranji Trophy replica handed out to winning teams is bit of a joke.
... At no place did it mention either the name of the winning team, the season, or even the tournament. All it had in terms of legend was the manufacturers’ nameplate. And, just so you don’t forget, the word ‘Silver’ was engraved at the base like a hologram of authenticity. But to top it all, the quality of craftsmanship was such that the figure of the bearded man taking a batting stance — Ranjitsinhji, after whom the tournament is named — that wobbled at the time of presentation has already fallen off.
March 21, 2008
Posted on 03/21/2008 in Indian Cricket
In a free wheeling chat with Hindustan Times' Subhash Rajta, IS Bindra talks about his role as Principal Advisor to the new ICC President.
On BCCI's alleged domination: We have never had any intention to rule to international cricket. In fact we have fought hard to bring in democratic polity in the ICC. Earlier, a president of the MCC, a club, used to be the president of the ICC and Australia and England had the veto powers. We fought for equality and managed to bring in democratic polity when Colin Cowdrey became the first elected ICC president in 1994. In that light, BCCI just can't be party to any domination, including it's own. But we will certainly use our financial clout to promote and popularise the game. We want to be the engine of growth for the game and that's exactly what we are doing through IPL.
Posted on 03/21/2008 in Indian Cricket
Irfan Pathan talks to K Shriniwas Rao of the Indian Express about his time away the national squad and the lessons learnt from the experience.
A lot of things [changed]. I’ve come out stronger from everything that happened. Even at the worst of times, at the back of my mind I knew that things would change for the better. I felt I would soon make a good comeback, and that’s what happened eventually. But I’ve learnt a lot about myself in the process. Time can teach you a lot of things — be it cricket or your personal life. You come to know who your friends are and, interestingly, this is the phase when you realise that you don’t have too many friends.
Posted on 03/21/2008 in Indian Cricket
Harsha Bhogle writes in the Indian Express about his concern for the future of Indian spin after Anil Kumble, and whether the hype and glamour of the celebrities associated with the IPL will detract from the cricket.
Meanwhile, I am starting to get a little concerned, for the first time, about the IPL. Everyday there is a new report about a film star being signed up to do something and everybody seems to be worried about the entertainment around the IPL games. I must be seeing it wrong because I thought the Twenty20 format itself was entertainment. The one thing that the ICC World T-20 taught me was that nothing, absolutely nothing, could compete with the thrill of the cricketing contest. Now I get the feeling that people are trying to stage a variety entertainment show where the cricket match is but one of the components.
March 20, 2008
Posted on 03/20/2008 in Indian Cricket
Whether IPL is a boon or bane to Indian cricket remains to be seen when it begins, but one thing is absolutely certain that young Indian cricketers will manipulate all possible loopholes in the system to make it to the under-19 or the under-22 , writes Makarand Waingankar in the Mumbai Mirror.
March 18, 2008
Posted on 03/18/2008 in Indian Cricket
By banning the ICL cricketers from participating in tournaments and stopping the pensions of former cricketers, the BCCI could face a legal confrontation to match the same between the English board and World Series Cricket in 1978, writes Makarand Waingankar in the Hindu.
The ICL-IPL tussle has sidelined the issue concerning the cricketers’ livelihood. During the Insole-Greig case hearing, one of the main questions that Justice Slade asked was how could the cricket boards deprive the professional cricketers from earning their livelihood.
In his judgment he agreed that though respective boards had acted in the best interests of the game, he felt, legally a professional cricketer is entitled to make as much living as any professional in other fields.
March 14, 2008
Posted on 03/14/2008 in Indian Cricket
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Mahendra Singh Dhoni: Small town, big success
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Shantanu Guha Ray goes to Mahendra Singh Dhoni's hometown of Ranchi to try uncover the reasons behind Dhoni's rise to the top despite hailing from a small town and not having either formal training or a godfather to push his case. He writes in Tehelka:
In a world of desperate image-building, it’s important that Dhoni doesn’t care. The core value he brings to the job is level-headedness — the clear sense of reality that helps a small town boy prioritise life. This means he has the ability to treat cricket as a game, not as religion. This means it makes him unafraid to take his chances, to run the impossible risk and win the impossible gambit.
He retraces Dhoni's progress from the initial interest in football to the current standing as a cricket icon whose fans "buy garlands and worship — in the absence of the man himself — his bikes". He also compares Dhoni's captaincy with that of his two immediate predecessors.
In Dhoni’s ability to walk the middle ground lies the essential metaphor of his personality: character is fortune. Saurav Ganguly wore the cloak of captaincy with the arrogance of a Caesar, the mantle falling easily on his stylish shoulders. Rahul Dravid, on the other hand, wore the coveted badge almost like a crown of thorns, as if acting out a middle class mindset in which success or failure are the only parameters that define ability ... In Dhoni's worldview, playing is more important than winning, and winning is more important than verbal duels.
March 13, 2008
Posted on 03/13/2008 in Indian Cricket
"How was [Mahendra singh Dhoni] Dhoni from Ranchi spotted? Neither Greg Chappell nor Dean Jones know the way to Ranchi. Like many others, they too don’t know the process that has helped these district boys make an impact on Indian cricket," writes Makarand Waingankar in the Mumbai Mirror.
In 2001, as the consultant of the Karnataka State Cricket Association, I had introduced the system of Talent Resource Development Wing (TRDW). The success of this concept made the then President of the BCCI Jagmohan Dalmiya form a Talent Resource Development Wing for unearthing the talent in India. The job description of the TRDOs was to assess the talent in a prescribed form and feed the data into specially developed software for it to get analysed. The talent-assessment system of the TRDW convinced the selectors that there was enough talent to choose from. Today the majority of players who are in the Indian team are the product of the TRDW.
Posted on 03/13/2008 in Indian Cricket
"Right from my first tour to Australia in 1991, it has been tough, but fantastic. It was challenging for a 17-18 year-old youngster. The hundred at Perth in 1991 changed me as a player and I felt I had arrived in international cricket," Sachin Tendulkar told G Viswanath in an interview in the Hindu.
Clayton Murzello also interviewed Tendulkar in the Mid-Day.
March 11, 2008
Posted on 03/11/2008 in Indian Cricket
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It will be a while before Zaheer Khan returns to the international game
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| Zaheer Khan is back in India after undergoing rehabilitation for his heel injury at the Centre of Sports Medicine in Johannesburg. In an interview with G.S. Vivek of the Indian Express, he says that he will wait on his fitness instead of rushing his return.
The important thing is to take your time to recover and not rush back. You have to be not just 100 per cent, but 120 or even 200 per cent fit when you return to action. I don’t want to have any doubts running in my mind when I am playing an international game because it’s a pressure game and you cannot let your team down.
Personally, I would like to play some domestic games or even club games to be sure about myself. That’s what the doctors also said, you need to build it up, because you lose a lot of strength in the area of injury and one has to get it back slowly and not injure other muscles.
March 9, 2008
Posted on 03/09/2008 in Indian Cricket
The startling figures paid for the star players at the IPL auction stands testimony to the power of the new Indian market, writes Mike Marquesee in the Hindu.
Before plunging head first into IPL-mania, cricket fans should consider the down side in the comparison with the English Premier League, which has become widely associated with venality and dishonesty, on and off the field. There have been extensive allegations of bribery and corruption, many highlighting dubious trade-offs between agents and managers. The newspapers are full of the pathetic misbehaviour of over-paid, under-educated 20-year old football stars, and the public is not amused. The danger is that the IPL will emulate the worst of English football, and not only in its paper thin culture of instant celebrity.
The IPL isn't the only league drawing foreign players. Two decades after touring apartheid South Africa, John Embury is at it again, coaching in the unofficial Twenty20 league in India and dreaming of a global inter-city event, writes Will Buckley in the London-based Observer.
Also read an interview with Shane Bond, another ICL recruit, in the Indian Express.
March 8, 2008
Posted on 03/08/2008 in Indian Cricket
Indian cricket teams have owned this belief before, but never held onto it, because their commitment to excellence, and each other, was fickle, writes Rohit Brijnath in the BBC website.
These fellows wear the insolent bravery of youth and a cloak of effrontery, though at times they needed to clutch at the experienced hand of Tendulkar. Australian cricket is somewhat a faded photocopy of itself, but beating them at home required from the Indians substantial commitment to the cause and each other and they found it. Opportunity knocked and was tackled to the ground by the Indians.
Also in the same website, read Sanjeev Srivastava's interview with Rahul Dravid.
March 7, 2008
Posted on 03/07/2008 in Indian Cricket
Iqbal Abdulla, the India under-19 left-arm spinner, was entrusted with taking the World Cup from Bangalore to the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai. He stored it in his kitchen, worried about it getting stolen. Read more in the Indian Express.
March 4, 2008
Posted on 03/04/2008 in Indian Cricket
Anand Vasu looks back at the under-19 Indian players who were involved in the World Cup in 2000 and tracks their progress. Read the piece in the Hindustan Times.
Meanwhile Mid-Day has the story of how 80 college kids (who had not even heard of U-19) were hired by event management company to cheer the U-19 champions.
Bishan Singh Bedi is not enamored with the Under-19 boys. Read it here.
'All said and done, their (juniors') on-field behaviour was deplorable. Don't confuse this kind of behaviour with aggression; it was absolutely terrible and atrocious. 'There was no finesse, no grace. When you are winning, you should be graceful. It was herd mentality ... And a few of the players did not look under 19 years of age; faces of under-19 boys look different.
Bedi has also expressed unhappiness over Harbhajan's behaviour in Australia.
Harbhajan is setting a bad example. Matthew Hayden was perhaps right when he said what he said. After all cricket did not originate in villages; it has a long history and tradition.
February 28, 2008
Posted on 02/28/2008 in Indian Cricket
'Agent-sharks and youngsters with 'attitood' have queered the pitch for India's promising cricketers,' writes Dileep Premachandran in his Guardian blog.
It was a mundane party in the middle of another nondescript one-day series, and the conversation was inanity itself. A young man who had played for India for a couple of seasons was part of our group, and speaking shyly about his chances of playing in the final that weekend. Out of nowhere, his agent stepped in and caught his eye. "I've got two girls arranged at an apartment," he said, oblivious of the fact that there were at least four others listening in. The player's face went pale, and he was quiet for a good few seconds. "Come on, let's go," said the agent. The player was hardly the picture of enthusiasm, and pointing to his India blazer, he said: "I can't come wearing this."
The agent just laughed. "Don't worry, I've got a change of clothes for you in the car," he said. And that was that. Within five minutes, the two of them had left. The player did little of note in a final that India lost miserably, and it's fair to say that his on-off career has hardly scaled any great heights in the half-decade since he was whisked off into the night.
February 25, 2008
Posted on 02/25/2008 in Indian Cricket
Sanjay Manjrekar lists Tendulkar's statistics when chasing and wonders why "no one wants to talk about Sachin's failures." Read the piece in the Times of India.
In the last 51 One-day internationals, Tendulkar’s batting average when he bats first is 62.10 in 24 innings. In contrast when he bats second, it’s 26.00 in 27 innings. After a brilliant Test series, it’s not so much his form in this One-day series that is the concern but his contribution, at that crucial opening position when India is set bigger targets to chase. If you look at it, it’s a simple batting issue that the maestro along with the team management should professionally address.
But with Tendulkar, it’s like the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about.
Asking Tendulkar to bat down the order could help India do better, writes Peter Roebuck in Mumbai-based Mid-Day.
Whereas most batsmen move their back foot across their stumps and into line, he gives himself room to play off-side strokes by leaving his right leg in its original perch. That makes him vulnerable to break-backers.
As a result, Tendulkar has been dismissed clean bowled and leg before a remarkable number of times. Often he finds himself forced to play across the ball. His front leg obstructs his bat and causes him to miss deliveries darting back. In his pomp he could adjust his shot and flick the ball away with a late roll of the wrist reminiscent of Viv Richards. But his peak has passed.
Former Indian captain Suni Gavaskar also feels it's time the team changed the batting order.
... which would mean having Gambhir open with Sehwag and Uthappa at three with Tendulkar at four What this will do is protect Tendulkar and Sharma from the moving ball. Dhoni has shown been bold to send Pathan at three and if he shows the same attitude, India may well be able to get a batting order that actually bats deep rather than just being strong on paper.
Read his column in the Hindustan Times for more.
February 22, 2008
Posted on 02/22/2008 in Indian Cricket
The Indian Premier League has been shopping for players; India’s cricketers have been shopping for clothes. Sydney’s Daily Telegraph is impressed by their spending habits.
Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh turned heads on trendy Oxford St when they walked into the Ed Hardy store in Paddington. In the end, the men, who play Australia on Sunday at the SCG, left with a whopping bill of A$9120.
February 21, 2008
Posted on 02/21/2008 in Indian Cricket
Long tresses, spiked hair, ear studs, shaved chests - ever since the Indian Under-19 cricketers in Malaysia heard their matches would be shown live on TV back home, they've gone into overdrive enhancing their appearances. Sandeep Dwivedi of the Indian Express catches up with the fashion-conscious cricketers.
Just before a batsman is about to go onto the field, he gets a few last-minute instructions from a teammate. Along with the usual ‘stay cool, play your natural game,’ there is a small bit of advice delivered in half-jest. “And don’t forget to take off your helmet when you complete your 50. How else can everyone at home see your new hairstyle?” he sniggers.
February 19, 2008
Posted on 02/19/2008 in Indian Cricket
It’s a travesty that a bowler reported for chucking is sent to the NCA, gets cleared and returns, only to be reported again, writes Makarand Waingankar in the Hindu.
There have been more than a dozen bowlers reported for suspect action and though one of them, Mohnish Parmar, is an offspinner from Gujarat, he has been picked for the Duleep Trophy final in place of classical offie Ramesh Powar.
February 17, 2008
Posted on 02/17/2008 in Indian Cricket
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Dav Whatmore: in charge of the Indian U-19 side
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On the eve of the Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia, the Indian Express' Sandeep Dwivedi speaks to India’s coach Dav Whatmore about the days ahead.
Also read Dwivedi's profiles of four relative unknowns in the Indian squad.
It's quite unusual for India’s ODI captain MS Dhoni to say "Baap re" in response to some stunning strokeplay. But that's exactly what happened last season at Eden Gardens when Jharkhand was pitted against Bengal in a T20 game. As a number of Tiwary ‘big ones’ disappeared into the stands and fielders were nursing blisters in their palms, Jharkhand was celebrating the spotting of Dhoni II.
One of India's U-19 stars, Ishant Sharma, is now making a big impact in the world stage. Read Rohit Mahajan's profile in the Outlook magazine.
February 15, 2008
Posted on 02/15/2008 in Indian Cricket
Yuvraj Singh’s life sketch at the moment is incomplete, writes Pradeep Magazine in the Hindustan Times. Whether on completion it will remind people of a genius who lived life on his own terms or of a man who frittered away God’s benedictions, no one knows.
The images of film star Deepika Padukone failing to get a chance to applaud her friend’s stroke play from the galleries did nothing to douse these rumours and as the tour is now almost coming to an end, the man who everyone believed would be the king, has lost his crown even before he could wear it.
February 6, 2008
Posted on 02/06/2008 in Indian Cricket
Christopher Martin-Jenkins has serious reservations about the future of cricket now that Twenty20 is growing and growing. The game, he says in the Times, is at once “a commercial phenomenon and a Frankenstein’s monster”:
A new chief executive for the ICC is being chosen this week and when he starts work in July his first tasks will be first to retain control of the Frankenstein in Bombay and then to restrain the monster so that it does not unbalance the game irrevocably. We want Flintoff's first loyalty to be to England, not the Mumbai Maulers.
But if you missed it a few days ago, in the same paper Shane Warne has nothing but praise for the IPL, not least because of the promotional benefits that can accrue – hair promotion products, anyone?
In the Guardian, Lawrence Booth considers what conclusions, if any, can be drawn from England’s Twenty20 win against New Zealand on Tuesday.
Jack Simmons, the new ECB chairman, makes his feelings clear on Kolpaks in county cricket, as analysed by David Hopps in the same paper.
February 3, 2008
Posted on 02/03/2008 in Indian Cricket
India Today's Sharda Ugra analyses the money flow of the Indian Premier League.
Media planners are wondering how it will all add up. Divya Radhakrishnan, vice-president, The Media Edge, India, the media planning arm of Rediffusion DY&R, says, “If we do the math backwards and divide the monies paid by advertising time, Sony should be selling a 10-second slot at Rs 3 lakh (US$ 7500), which is twice that of an India ODI series.” The figure of $1 billion touted by IPL, say industry watchers, is something of an optical illusion driven by Lalit Modi’s desire to match ICC’s billion-dollar deal with ESPN-Star Sports (ESS).
In the Indian Express, K Shriniwas Rao profiles the franchise owners of the IPL.
Cities have teams, and teams have owners. Can club culture take root in cricket and rake in the dough? Outlook's Arindam Mukherjee investigates.
Can the IPL be the first success story among city-based sports leagues in India? The Economic Times looks for the answer.
The Business Standard also takes a look at the business potential of BCCI's new venture.
February 2, 2008
Posted on 02/02/2008 in Indian Cricket
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Mahendra Singh Dhoni must tell his team-mates to aim for Test cricket
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Peter Roebuck, writing in the Hindu, says Mahendra Singh Dhoni faces many a challenge in leading a young side. He believes Dhoni can put it across to his team-mates to look forward to the challenge of playing Test cricket.
Barely worth his place in the Test side after patchy form with the bat, he must prove that he understands Test cricket is paramount, fifty over cricket is next and twenty over matches are a light-hearted romp that ought not to define a cricketer or his community. Otherwise recent victories in the shorter versions of the game will do more harm than good.
India cricket faces a formidable threat to its production line of players and Dhoni is the man best placed to keep things in check.
In Tehelka, Dileep Premachandran says Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly should have been accorded a dignified exit from ODIs.
The decent thing to do, if the captain and selectors were of one mind, would have been to give them farewell games at home against Pakistan, rather than send them home midway through a tour that both consider cricket’s pinnacle. There could yet be a long kiss goodnight against South Africa in April, but that might be almost insulting after indicating to them that they’re no longer considered good enough to take on the best two teams in the world — Australia and Sri Lanka.
Dhoni may one day be a great captain. But you can’t help but think that he’s flunked his first big test. Words from him, a team-mate, would have meant a whole lot more than insincere ramblings from selectors. Instead, two of Indian cricket’s finest sons have been left to look back in anger. Or sorrow.
February 1, 2008
Posted on 02/01/2008 in Indian Cricket
Dileep Premachandran, in the Sydney Morning Herald, says the BCCI has become sport's biggest juggernaut, and points out that though a few other sporting entities may generate revenue on the same scale, they don't have the political muscle that can subvert a game. He highlights the need for a statesman like Mahatma Gandhi in Indian cricket.
Many Indians are discomfited by the board's greed and naked displays of strength but there's also a new, prosperous brigade that takes perverse pride in sticking it to the old world. The voices of reason look at the lack of facilities in small towns, ramshackle stadia and haphazard itineraries and wonder where all the money goes. Those that burn effigies and parade donkeys on the street couldn't care less.
Nearly a century ago, MK Gandhi returned from South Africa to lead a motley crew of princely states into the modern world. He did so with humility, common sense and an unshakeable belief that truth would prevail. Indian cricket awaits a similar statesman.
In the Daily Telegraph, Garry Linnell writes that we should get used to the fact that the BCCI are the new masters of world cricket.
Pradeep Magazine says India should use its clout to correct the issues plaguing the sport, instead of only reacting when there's trouble. He writes in the Hindustan Times:
India, now for most, is a country for which the business of sport and not the sport itself is the most important business. It is a dangerous sign and the sooner India tries to dispel this notion, the better it will be for its image and for world cricket.
January 30, 2008
Posted on 01/30/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08
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The front of the Age's sport pages reflects the anger inside Australia following the outcome of the Harbhajan Singh hearing
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On the topic of India's over-the-top reactions to the events in Australia, Harsha Bhogle, in the Sydney Morning Herald, explains that it has a lot to do with the change in attitude of the average Indian over the decades.
Since I was a little child, my abiding memory is of visiting journalists and cricketers coming to India and making fun of us.We were a country finding our feet, we were not confident, we seethed within but we accepted. The new generation in India is not as accepting, they are prouder, more confident, more successful. Those bottled-up feelings are bubbling through.
The Daily Telegraph reveals that Ricky Ponting made the decision to agree to have Harbhajan Singh's racial abuse charge downgraded after a series of secret meetings with lawyers during the Test match in Adelaide.
"Just fix it then," Ponting is understood to have said when emotions flared. As Symonds came to terms with the judgment, it's believed he said: "I can't believe this is happening."
The Australian has acquired the full text of Justice John Hansen's decision in Harbhajan Singh's appeal.
Australian newspapers are full of reaction to the outcome of the Harbhajan Singh affair, in The Age it is reported that the Australian cricketers are furious that Harbhajan Singh has escaped suspension.
"The thing that pisses us off is that it shows how much power India has," said a contracted Australian player, who refused to be named. "The Aussie guys aren't going to make it (the accusation) up. The players are frustrated because this shows how much influence India has, because of the wealth they generate. Money talks.
In the Sydney Morning Herald, Alex Brown says, "in matters directly involving the Indians, don't expect an impartial outcome. Both the BCCI and the ICC have shown their hand in that regard during the past month."
In the Australian Peter Lalor writes, "India, the team that bleated about the spirit of cricket after being beaten in Sydney, has again held a gun to the game's head and had its demands met."
Adelaide Now's Geoff Roach tracks the day's events.
An air of anxiety began to stir among them as the start of play drew nigh without any sign of the principal players. That soon turned to frustration when it was learned the Australian participants had performed their own version of an Indian rope trick by driving into an underground car park and entering the building via a basement lift.
Fearing the same would happen with the Indian party, most camera operators surged 80m east to the car park entrance – only to have to sprint frantically back as a black BMW disgorged Harbhajan and team manager Chetan Chauhan outside the front at 10.50am.
The Australian sports radio stations too are abuzz with listeners calling in to air their opinions. Click here to listen to a few stations.
It’s not just inside Australia comment that the result of the Harbhajan hearing has attracted comment. In The Times, Christopher Martin-Jenkins is less than complimentary about the BCCI’s role.
One understands, of course, the particular sensitivity of matters pertaining to race, but either the BCCI, like all other national representative bodies, accepts the rules of the ICC and, in this case, the procedures that everyone has agreed, whatever the outcome, or there is potential anarchy.
It would not be a good thing if it were to become the expected outcome of every appeal that, whenever a nation's pride is ruffled, oil will be poured on troubled waters. Every case has to be judged on its merits.
Also in The Times Patrick Kidd writes that both teams should move on.
1) If they felt that he had done nothing wrong, India were right to fight this to clear his name. They should now refrain from gloating or complaining about being picked on and get on with the cricket.
2) If Australia thought they had heard a racial slur, they were right to complain. They should now accept that they were mistaken, not complain about the verdict and get on with the cricket.
Prem Panicker, writing in rediff.com, wonders whether in the light of the judgement ICC would take any action on Mike Procter.
Is it fair to say that Procter brought the game into disrepute by delivering a contentious verdict where there was—according to the ICC’s own man—no evidence to underpin such a judgment? And if that is a fair assessment of the performance of the match referee, is it fair to ask what, if anything, the ICC does, what processes it has, to monitor its own officials, to pull them up, to ensure optimum performance?
January 27, 2008
Posted on 01/27/2008 in Indian Cricket
In the Sunday Telegraph, Michael Atherton says that the Indian Premier League and Twenty20 cricket is poised to take over, so you better get used to it.
It was said after the Ashes victory of 2005 that cricket was the new football; well, the IPL is cricket's version of football's Premier League, and the consequences, in terms of the finances and structure of the world game, are likely to be far-reaching.
But Atherton warns that rather than complement the traditional game, the new formats and new cash might well swamp it.
Further down the line, English county cricket may find itself threatened and the ECB, by sanctioning the IPL, may not so much have kept the barbarians at the gates, as let them through the front door. If the franchise model expands, as is the hope in India, then there will be a limit to how far a market can serve two masters. Even in India, a much bigger market for cricket, there will be a potential conflict between the new and the old. No prizes for guessing where a young, hip Calcuttan businessman will want to spend his company's dosh - and it's not with the antiquated Bengal Cricket Association. Shah Rukh Khan's Kolkata Red Chillies has far more appeal.
With franchise owners having staked megabucks on the IPL, the Times of India's Indranil Basu crunches the numbers to find out whether the IPL model makes business sense.
January 24, 2008
Posted on 01/24/2008 in Indian Cricket
With the IPL selling the media rights and the rights to own the eight franchises at eye-popping rates, the Economic Times analyses the revenues and expenses of the Indian board and the franchises.
The total inflow for the Board from sale of TV rights and bid money is about $133 million each year for next 10 years.
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The Board will also make money from sale of title rights to the IPL, T-shirts of teams, a certain number of in-stadia boards at each venue and a portion of income from various other sources.
Meanwhile, the Business Standard finds that most franchisees are confident that they will break even between the second and fifth year.
Industry experts say that a gap of $3-4 million can be adjusted as a company’s advertising budget, because of the high mileage the corporate gets through its ownership.
January 23, 2008
Posted on 01/23/2008 in Indian Cricket
"The best thing that the national selectors did was drop the two seniors [Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly] from the ODI squad," writes Makarand Waingankar in the Mumbai Mirror. "It requires courage of conviction. Knowing fully well that regional-minded observers will ignite controversy for dropping Ganguly and Dravid, the chairman of the selection committee Dilip Vengsarkar stamped his authority."
January 17, 2008
Posted on 01/17/2008 in Indian Cricket
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Anil Kumble: An unsung hero?
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Seventeen years into his Test career, instead of a slow wind down towards retirement, Anil Kumble is going from strength to strength. From his appointment as Test captain to his sparkling form with the ball, and now joining the exclusive 600-wicket club. Anand Vasu profiles India's bowling champion in Tehelka.
When you speak to people about Kumble certain words keep coming up. Commitment, discipline, hard work, introvert, perseverance. These are a nightmare for someone trying to conjure up an image of the person behind the steely glare, because their meaning is so well known but so rarely adhered to. Yet with Kumble there are enough instances, if the way a person plays his cricket is an accurate reflection of his personality, to highlight each of these traits.
In his blog on cricketnext.com, Nishant Arora questions the quiet response of the BCCI.
Gentlemen, please spare some time from controlling cricket (as your abbreviation suggests that you do) and take a look at Kumble's achievements.
A silver salver five minutes before a Test match is sometimes not enough. A grand gesture is what this grand cricketer deserves.
"Anil Kumble is a titan and he is still quiet and thank god for that. And he is a substantial man. If he doesn’t feature very prominently in the Republic Day Honours List, he may not feel bad but India should, says Harsha Bhogle in the Indian Express.
The Deccan Herald's R Kaushik says that Kumble's handling of the aftermath of the Sydney Test was statesman-like and that Ricky Ponting should take a leaf out of Kumble's captaincy book.
In DNA, Gautam Sheth wonders whether Kumble would top a list of unsung heroes in cricket.
January 9, 2008
Posted on 01/09/2008 in Indian Cricket
There's a siege at the hotel. A gun is pointed at the baby's head.
No, its not a line from a crime novel, but rather from Peter Lalor's piece in today's Australian. Lalor feels India have ridden roughshod over the ICC and the notion the game must go on. He also taken an interesting look at the Steve Bucknor issue.
Indian cricket is twitching and hasn’t been sleeping. It’s been up all night on the phone, talking across time zones. It needs to be treated with respect and taken seriously.
The Indians are deadly serious on this one.
Cricket needs to examine the Indians’ grievances, but it’s not easy. Trying to work out what the problem is here is akin to a game of Where’s Wally?
Where to begin?
January 6, 2008
Posted on 01/06/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08
The initial fallout to the shenanigans at the SCG has started with Peter Roebuck firing the first shots. In his Sydney Morning Herald column he argues that India were robbed and that no sensible person would take satisfaction at Australia’s win.
It was a match that will have been relished only by rabid nationalists and others for whom victory and vengeance are the sole reasons for playing sport. Truth to tell, the last day was as |
