Loud Mouth Ashvin

It will help Ravi Ashvin to keep quiet and let his ball do the talking instead of being a loud mouth in the media. Every day we read some kind of statements from the spinner and mostly it puts him in the bad light. He has been growing tall as a spinner in Tests but his fielding skills remain slow and his running even more ridiculous. Not to forget how big a failure he was in Australia where he leaked 100 runs almost every innings and got very few wickets in return.

"Pressure is off me" said Ashvin a few days back in TOI. Well the pressure of playing for India and succeeding never eases off dude and if you fail few times, a motivated Harbhajan Singh is ready to bounce back in Tests as well. 

So keep the mouth shut and keep taking wickets in heaps of dozen!!!!

Kiwis clipped in BiriyaniLand

The new look India's test team won its first test in 16 years without names reading as RS Dravid and VVS Laxman in the team sheet. And this time the team at opposite end was New Zealand who have their wings clipped and fighting ability abandoned somewhere down in the exotic NZ locales. 

They could not play Ashvin who took 12-85, his best match figures and they collapsed in a heap. Unworthy opponents.

159 and 164. 

No wicket for Zaheer Khan, no runs for Sachin Tendulkar. What next for this lads ?

Srikanth's contribution to the team as a national selector will be continued implants from his home state, while most of them failed (Vijay, Mukund, Badrinath, Dinesh Karthik), Ashvin has continued to find success in home tests at least and is contributing to the wins. So as long as it lasts!!!

The biggest find of this test was indeed the coming of age of the much hyped (on the blogs) Cheteshwar Pujara (who justified the hype) and continued increasing the century count we have been used to see at # 3 spot in Tests for last 16 years.

A tribute to cricketing achievements of VVS Laxman - 1

It was the summer of 1996. School life had just ended and it was a time to step into the college life. The pre-engineering exams were just done. India had lost to SL in the World cup semi-final in Eden Gardens and the agony and pain was still afresh in the mind. In the meanwhile India had played in a couple of meaningless ODI tournaments in Singapore and Sharjah before they embarked on England tour. A 23 year old lad had debuted in the Singapore tournament which was more known for the record Jayasuriya or Afridi created in terms of fastest 100. It was Dravid. And in England touring party one name had created flutter which people termed as "quota selection".  That lad had scored back to back 100s in first 2 Tests in England including one in Lord's. That was Saurav Ganguly.

Few months later, I had just decided to drop out of the engineering college I was in after a disastrous first semester exams to try my luck in another college. And it coincided with the Titan Cup followed by a South African test series, first on Indian soil. It was Ahmedabad Test and a new lad had debuted in that test. Some very long name ending in Laxman.

Yeah right. VVS Laxman. Vangirappu Venkata Sai Laxman, hailing from Hyderabad, then known for delivering Azharuddin to Indian cricket.  His debut wasnt very auspicious. That test was more known for a deadlier spell by J Srinath destroying SA single handed. 6-21 led India to first ever Test win over South Africa.

The class of 1996 had been formed which in future would go onto make a golden history in Indian Test cricket.

The boy was forgotten soon. He continued making Test appearances often and used to get lost in oblivion. The new formidable Indian middle order was just getting formed.  Ganguly was at # 3 then, Tendulkar was immovable at 4. Dravid came in at 6 after Azharuddin.

Tours of SL and WI in 1997 followed and VVS Laxman failed to make any significant contributions in those tours. That was a time of disillusionment in Indian cricket. Lot of new faces came in and they faded very soon. David Johnson,  Dodda Ganesh, Noel "Who" David were few of those obscure cricketers who came in and faded soon. Not to mention Abe Kuruvilla, Sujith Somsundar and of course Vikram Rathore.

The turning point came in Laxman's career in 1998 when it was Mark Taylor's Australia team to tour India for a full Test series after 12 years (ignoring one off test in 1996).  The highlight of the series was Tendulkar vs Shane Warne battle. Nothing else mattered then.

It was Navjot Singh Siddhu and VVS Laxman who formed the opening pair then. Siddhu set the stage in almost every innings with his sixes off the spinners of Australian team. And Laxman quietly did the job with 50s and 30s in that series. 

But his marquee moment was yet to arrive and that was in Sydney 2000.

--- To be continued

India the world champs in U-19 format too

And India are the undisputed kings of 50 over cricket, be it senior level or the kids level at U-19. Winning a world cup in Australia by beating Australia is heroic and the credit goes to Unmukt Chand and his team for doing an encore of what Md Kaif did in 2000 and Virat Kohli did in 2008.

Great stuff guys. 

The victory sounds sweet cos it came in the tough batting conditions of Tony Ireland stadium and the team sweated it out in all games to win the tournament. There were no free wins.  And it was in Australia. 

And if few of this lads could graduate to the national team, especially in fast bowling department, then it shall be a prize well earned. Fast bowlers, I repeat, not the lads belonging to the clan of Venky Prasad, Munaf Patel, Vinay Kumar etc.

Enuff ranted!!!

VVS Laxman

VVS Laxman is the Kishore Kumar of Indian Cricket. Serene, divine, calming.

Enough Said.

England lose their #1 ranking

England are no longer the #1 in Tests and they are no longer in T20Is as well. Very soon they shall be disposed off the undeserving spot in ODIs as  well.  England have lost the Test series 0-2 to South Africa and the latter are the new # 1 in Tests, at least for a while.   For long time in the media including cricinfo, we were fed with the stories how good this England team is and how close they run to the greatest Australian and West Indies team, about how world class their bowling attack is which comes good only in seaming and swinging conditions, how good work culture the team has and all that crap. Yet despite of all this there was a Kevin Pietersen episode who shredded the claim of world class team ethic in the dressing room. The so called world class bowling attack failed to come good when it mattered most.  They took only 2 wickets in the opening test and the team dominated only 2 of the 15 days of Test series.

The South Africa didn't choke this time and the credit has to go to the World Cup winning coach Gary Kirsten.  They outplayed England in all departments and even though they did feel the heat occasionally, like good teams they found their way out and in the end came up trumps.  Beating England in England twice in a row is a significant achievement. And in the times when the English media boasted about the greatness of their team. Overhyped players like Ali Cook, Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad (who had a miserable series with the bat) and of course Ian Bell failed to rise to the occasion and in the end the team bite the dust. The England team, if they were so good, should have held the #1 spot for long time, but they could just hold it for a year. India, with so called shortcomings, managed to hold it for close to 2 years.

The result was forthcoming. During the entire year the England team failed to play like a #1 team. They lost in desert safari to Pakistan, actually whitewashed 0-3, hung to a 1-1 draw in SL and then lost 0-2 to SA, managing to beat WI by 2-0 in between.  Strauss failed to make runs, the ECB had trouble with their best player and he stood out of the team when it mattered most for him to play. The selections were flawed, the ego battles ran supreme and when it mattered the #1 team failed to rise to the occasion and the crown was lost.

They now have a tough Indian series ahead and Indian team shall make it a point to avenge to the 0-4 drubbing last year. Historically England have never played well in India over past 25 years. They lost 0-3 in 1993, 1-1 in 2006, 0-1 in 2001 and 2008.  And this time the result shall be no different.

English media shall now tear apart the team and that shall prove that there is no middle ground in English cricket, either their team and media is outright foolish or they are extremely proud. Right now its time to play the losers music and may be drown the head in shame after a display not worthy of being called a # 1 team.

Perhaps ECB is right in dropping Kevin Pietersen

The KP drama every day leaves the followers with more twists and turns than what Jack Bauer managed in the entire 8 seasons of epic "24" teleserial.  When one thought that finally the episode would be over with KP releasing the apology in a video statement, they were wrong. KP had done more damage than what ECB first thought. And KP has paid the price. He wont play the final test of this series. And ECB have done the obvious which might have been hardest thing to do for them in recent times. 

But they were left with no choice. KP didnt offer any chance to them.  Team unity comes over whims and fancies of any player, no matter it is  KP or any one else. Sending scathing texts about the coach and captain to the opposing team is just ridiculous and outright stupid. KP has paid the price for it and perhaps cost England the #1 ranking in Tests at least. 

He was given 6 hours to set things right owing to the texts he sent, but KP already had done the damage and there was nothing he could have done to win his place back even after all sorts of back-down from the stated positions all this while. 

I think ECB has done right to drop KP and set a precedent in world cricket that no player is indispensable, no matter if he is best player and in-form player. Team spirit and unity come first. And the worst price they are going to pay would be the loss of # 1 ranking in Tests.

ECB are to blame in the way they have managed KP all this years, but KP is no saint either.  Playing IPL ahead of Kiwi Test series wasnt right and so were his demands to pick and choose games / series he wanted to play. Moreover his behavior within the dressing room and outside it left a lot to be desired and led to questions if he was matured enough. But one thing that went always in his favor was his batsmanship. He is England's best player.  And now he stands lost, stands lonely and mocked.

Perhaps this ouster is temporary and is short-lived. Perhaps it is not. The ODIs against Saffers and T20 world cup follow, it remains to be seen if KP makes it into those teams. But for now its ECB leads in the ego clashes against KP.

Test team selection

My tidbits on the Test selection and T20 World Cup selection:

Test Selection:

This will be the first series in 17 years India plays without Rahul Dravid and ironically its against the same team, it last played against. New Zealand in 1995 in India.   And his spot has been up for grabs. There have been a lot of contenders for his spot. The # 3 spot has been very critical in modern day Test matches and more often than not Dravid has been termed as virtual opener(less since Viru – Gautam opening) in Tests. And there have been 3 contenders:

·         VVS Laxman

·         Virat Kohli

·         Cheteshwar Pujara

VVS Laxman has been the fallback guy whenever Dravid has been not playing (injury or rest) and his most prominent innings has come in at the # 3 spot. So till the time he plays around, the # 3 spot should go to VVS Laxman.  And the talk of this series been a farewell series for VVS has been farfetched. India play next 10 Tests at home within 1 year and if Laxman is gone, then Tendulkar is the only experienced hand in the middle order.  That will not be a very good idea to lose 2 experienced middle order folks back to back and so it's imperative that Laxman stays around at least for 10 Tests, form and fitness permitting.

The top 4 should read as Sehwag, Gambhir, Laxman and Tendulkar.  Tendulkar is back after the break and he should be rejuvenated and keen to set those critics wrong.  Also the talk of having a replacement for Sehwag in overseas tour is wrong. He is 33 and is in good form.  He has had a quiet Australian tour, but with Sehwag, you never know when he will be back to destructive best. And for revival of Test fortunes, its important that the experienced hands remain at helm on the top of order.

Kohli goes in at 5 and Pujara at 6.  Good thing is Raina is back in the fold and that should be good for his confidence. The next 10 tests are at home, so the short ball talk should not bug his mind.   But for now Raina should be warming up the bench with Pujara getting in a look.  

Reserves: Rahane, Raina

Rahane as a reserve opener is again a farfetched talk as the lad has always batted at 3 in domestic cricket for Mumbai.

Bowling:

No Harbhajan yet. Fair enough, he hasn't found form yet. A stint in English country hasn't helped him either.  Ashvin continues to be the prime spinner and supported by Pragyan Ojha.  So this two lads should be the pair bowling to hapless Kiwis and nothing less than a 2-0 win should be expected and accepted.  And guess who's the 3^rd one. Piyush Chawla!!!!

Bizzare selection, but that's been the way of Mr Kris Srikanth's term and this was the last team his committee selected and it would be on its way out by the end of September. That shall be a relief.

Ishant Sharma has been fast tracked into the team and I am not sure if he has had match fitness.  Injuries and lack of match fitness have been few of many reasons for the 0-8 scoreline on away tours and it seems that the selectors haven't learnt anything from those tours.  Zaheer Khan and Umesh Yadav should be the 2 fast bowlers followed by 2 spinners in the playing XI.

Overall the team looks good enough and since its NZ, the results should be in India's favor.  And it shall be an awkward moment for the players and of course the serious followers of Indian cricket to see no Rahul Dravid stepping in on the field after 16 long years.

England as #1 ODI team is a joke

Holy Shit. England are new # 1 in ODIs too. A team that was knocked out in the Quarters of the world cup, a team that lost 0-5 in India twice is now # 1 in ODIs. And on what basis ? 10 out of 10 wins in 2012. Darn!!!

England give two hoots to ODIs, they dont care a damn about this format of the game. They have even discontinued the 50 over games in their domestic setup. None of their players has ever scored 6000 runs in ODIs and a handful of players have played 200 ODIs. 

Such a team is # 1 in ODIs.

And a team like India who has had few bad series in last 2 and half years are # 3.

Update:

Here is the breakdown of the W/L for the last 2 years (01 Aug 2010 - 04 Aug 2012)

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=2;filter=advanced;home_or_away=1;home_or_away=2;home_or_away=3;orderby=won;spanmax2=04-Aug-2012;spanmin2=01+Aug+2010;spanval2=span;template=results;type=team

And its clearly evident that England have a w/l ration of only 1.33 whereas India, Australia , Pakistan and South Africa have better win loss ratio.  The best team indicates its SA and then India who have W/L ratio of 2.0.

By what standards England are # 1 team, no one knows. ICC has got it all wrong.

I hate to say it but it seems ICC rankings seem to be biased towards England and am not sure what ICC sees in the results that the fans dont see or the cricket followers don't see. England as # 1 ODI team is a big joke and it casts a question mark over validity of ICC rankings algorithm!!!

India take a 2-1 series in ODI series vs SL

India went 2-1 up in the ongoing ODI series in SL vs SL. And today's win was another example of the depth in the batting team has despite:

• Absence of Tendulkar and Yuvraj from the team.
• Presence of Rohit Sharma in the team.

There were a few milestones set in this victory like:

• Gambhir scored his 11th ODI ton, 6th against SL.
• Pathan and Raina scored 3rd 50 partnership in 7 innings together.
• Gambhir and Raina have already scored 1900 runs in 29 innings together.
• Raina has scored now 3 50s in last 5 completed innings.
• 288/5 was highest score chased down in SL vs SL.

And Tony Greig was made shut his mouth by Suresh Raina who was very vocal earlier on his inability to play short balls. True there were some attempts by Mathews and Malinga to bounce him out, but this is subcontinental pitch, Raina had enough time in his hand to duck it out or play a pull. 

Gautam Gambhir was outstanding today in his 100, but Sehwag was reckless, Kohli and Dhoni were scratchy.  Pathan kept a cool mind to support Raina chase down the tough target and that should settle the debate for the # 7 spot for short term, if not for long term.  Once Yuvraj Singh makes a come back, the debate can be reopened who goes out to accomodate the player of the World Cup. 

Irfan Pathan was good in bowling too taking one quick wicket to reduce Lanka to 3//20 with Zak taking 2 from the other end.  Bad news for Jadeja of course and his half brother -- IPL winner Yusuf Pathan.

But it was sinful to let the Lankans race to 286 from 3/20. The bowling attack has been a worry and the likes of Ashwin and Rahul Sharma havent been no better than Harbhajan Singh when it comes to take wickets.  Dinda gives 100% in every game, but his 100% is not good enough to get him wickets or stake a claim for the # 3 seamer in the team.

Only good he did today was to bounce out Sangakaara who would now get 4-6 week to enjoy travel, food and hotels (read Straight Point's tweet).  Umesh Yadav, if he gets more opportunities, I am sure he would develop into a better ODI bowler and would have more variations. He has that quality which very less Indian fast bowlers have had in present and in past -- genuine pace.

And scoreline of 5, 0, 0 is good enough to dump the non-performing Nohit (Rohit) Sharma out of the playing XI. If this is not good enough, then the fans are not sure what more does he needs to do to be out of the team and give a chance to Manoj Tiwary or Ajinkya Rahane. 

Ever since Sharma made his debut in European tour of 2007 vs SA in Ireland, he has been hailed a guy with lot of promise, flair and ability. But leaving out the Zimbabwe tour of 2010 when he hit 2 100s, 2008 CB series when he played a match winning 66* vs Australia with Tendulkar in company at other end and the WI series of 2011 (home and away), he hasnt showed any glimpse of that ability and flair. He does not have the attitude or temperament to succeed at the highest level. The captain and selectors should now KNOW this. 

He is also been hailed as best of the young lot in terms of quality and pleasure to eyes when he plays those shots. But if you take a look at the other players of his age group then he is left lot behind.  Ever since he has made debut in 2007, he has played 83 odd ODIs with very few substantial innings.  Virat Kohli debuted a little less than year from Sharma and he has been regular in the team only from 2010 Australia ODI series, but from there on, he has been an exceptional ODI batsman already scoring 3000+ ODI runs, 12 hundreds and one Test 100 in Australia vs Australia. He should be in line to come at # 3 in the Test match vs New Zealand starting in less than a month in Hyderabad. 

Ajinkya Rahane and Manoj Tiwary have impressed the fans and experts in whatever limited opportunities they have got at highest level. Rahane has had a wonderful IPL and more than that he has got a lot of time to spend with legendary Rahul Dravid in RR dressing room this IPL and that would definetely help him in the long run. He should be the one who should replacing Dravid in test team and probably come at # 5 or 6 with Laxman moving to # 3 slot (if selected).

There are a few weak points India has to care of before the team can come back on track and find its consistent winning run which led to the world cup victory.  #4 batting spot in ODIs and bowling attack composition are few of those.  Sooner they are addressed, better is for India. 

And a decision on the coach has to be made soon who is quickly nullifying the good work done by Gary Kirsten in 3.5 years.