Cricket Quickies: from Vengsarkar to Yuvraj and Younis

Yes, I promise to keep this short, for I’ve been rambling too much and I’m short of time but not of enthusiasm.

While channel surfing today, I caught a special on India’s tour of Australia in 1986 – an ODI at the MCG. Sunil Gavaskar was batting with a somber looking South India, whom I correctly guessed to be our very own Chika. While Chika’s simple style (at least of what I’ve seen in this innings) was catching indeed, what surprised me more was Dilip Vengsarkar. I’ve only known this man for the unkind words he’s had to say of Dravid. Today I got to the see the batting talent (among other things) that got him to the place from which he barbed. What struck me most in his expansive use of the crease, the sort of which reminds me of some 20-20 batsmen of late. The disregard for the stump guard that Vengsarkar displayed in this innings seemed very contemporary and is certainly not something I would have attributed to the batsmen from that age. Another thing that surprised me is that the next generation – Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman and Co – did not seem to have this disregard for the stump guard, but in fact meticulously guarded it and in effect seem perhaps rather orthodox given such precedents. If you’re thinking I’ve watched only one innings from the 80s and that my observations are off-base, do enlighten me.

Meanwhile, “flat-pitch-bully” Yuvraj slammed an impressive century at Rajkot and the cricket site are abuzz with polls of whether Yuvi should make it to the Test middle order. Strangely 72% of cricketnext visitors seemed to think so, while 52% of cricinfo visitors seem to think not! Strange isn’t it? I’d be interested in knowing the age groups of the folks to who’ve voted and their vote. In case you’re wondering, I voted against, on both the sites. 🙂

Another thought struck me today while watching parts of Pak vs. WI clash today. While I’ve labeled most of India’s recent ODI matches as boring, I found this one to be the contrary. I was not yawning, or absently glaring, waving my hands unconsciously when a four was hit, but was actually watching. There was class in Younis’s batting today (Ten Sports interrupted this with the ICL). There were elements from the ’90s batting, wristy flicks and “towards the ground” shots reserved in Indian cricket only to Tests nowadays. Call me old fashioned, but this was good ‘old cricket, without the fracas. May it live long!

Australia’s tour of India 2008-09: Series Overview

The much awaited Australia’s tour of India is over. India has won it 2-0. There is a sense of euphoria over the victory, but also disappointment over the quality of Aussie cricket. This was supposed to be the Border Gavaskar Trophy, the revenge series to avenge Sydney 08, the spirited fightback from both sides, with every session, if not every ball. There were phases of that, but sadly, what was supposed to last an entire series lasted only three sessions. The series was essentially one sided and I won’t be exaggerating in saying that we, Indian fans, were robbed.

Let’s look at this in a bit more closely, if you will.

Australia Batting: Top heavy, middle mostly missing except for Hussey with a fairly long tail. Yes, that’s the sort of batting that India had in the mid 90s. Their reliance on Hussey was reminiscent of India’s on Dravid until a very lately. Hayden was unable to score and by the time Katich found his foot to convert starts, the series was over.

Australia Bowling: Pacers did not take wickets, spinners made up the overs. Not much of a story there. Watson learnt some towards the end, but it was too little too late. Kreja is a definite prospect, but has a long way to go.

Disappointed: Brett Lee, Mathew Hayden, Michael Clarke, Mitchell Johnson (to some extent)

Ousters: Shane Watson, Cameron White, Stuart Clark

Still Shining: Michael Hussey is the lone Aussie shining

Captaincy: Ponting’s chinks in captaincy (and batting) are showing. Nagpur Day 4 overrate tactics was shocking, even raising suspicions of match fixing in some minds. That apart, we’ve seen nothing more than less than average captaincy. He’s been riding on the good fortune of having some champion performers in the past. Now that they’re gone, some creativity was required, which was lacking. But then again, the captain is as good as his team!

India Batting: Satisfactory, but could have done better given the big names and the conditions. Only Bangalore had low bounce, others seemed to aid batting more than bowling. So we should have gotten more runs. Harsh? Yes. We are a greedy lot when it comes to our famed batting line up. Gambhir did well, but has more to prove. If he survives the New Zealand series test, I’ll put a check mark next to his name. Viru, was his usual self. Dravid had a nightmare series, maybe when the Waugh curse passes, it will take the bad form along with it. I’ve said much about Dravid, so I’ll pass here, and just pray he finds his foot and grandly. To me, he’s still got it for two years at least. Sachin was again typical self- explosive at times, inglorious at other times. Ganguly impressed the most, and succeeded in his attempt to prove that he really shouldn’t be retiring. There was a sense of purpose in his batting, one so obvious in his ever since his 2006 comeback. Sad it had to be him, but the cries were almost deafening. Laxman, mostly good, mostly typical, but that is expected isn’t it? Dhoni, also typical, will butcher on a flat pitch and flop on anything else. I still think he’s got a long way to go as batsman. He’s banking on the “fear factor” he creates for the opposition. The new recruit and Ganguly-recommended Murali Vijay seems very solid. Is he the next Rahul Dravid? It’s too soon to give such huge tags.

India Bowling: Pacers very impressive on bata wickets. Spinners, could have done better, given the reputation, but maybe that has to do with the fact that the pitches didn’t exactly crumble. New recruit Mishra impressive, but again, lot to prove.

Disappointed: Rahul Dravid

Ousters: None

Still Shining: Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Ishant Sharma, Zaheer Khan

Captaincy: Kumble, satisfactory. It’s sad that both the drawn matches were captained by him. Dhoni, also satisfactory. Some of the field settings were refreshing, but I thought a couple of times, his keeping dipped ever so slightly during captaincy. Time will prove whether he can indeed keep and captain. He’s got a lot to prove before we can truly hail him.

In summary, perhaps it is Greg Chappell, who seemed to be behind Ponting’s century in Bangalore! Again, promising much and delivering nothing. After all of RCA’s hospitality, 22 odd different pitches, extra practice matches and all, this is all Guru Greg could do! Couldn’t resist that dig! 🙂

Sourav Ganguly: What he’s meant to me

Yes, the Australia series, is over. Yes, India have won it 2-0. Yes, Ganguly is really retiring. Yes, I’ve already written my Ode to Ganguly. But this is a little different and more personal, more rambly and possibly incoherent.

There is one person I always think of when I think of Sourav Ganguly: my friend from school. If it wasn’t for her, I would never have understood what it is to be a Ganguly fan. When we first discussed Ganguly – it came up casually, as we were discussing the 99 World Cup- she not only re-kindled in me the passing interest I had in Indian cricket then, but planted in my heart the love of a generation of cricketers and the glorious game. Here’s to you, my dear friend, and thank you a million! I may never have thanked you for this, but I mean every word of this. I may have detracted you that I was a Dravid fan (thought I turned out to be that too), may have hid my excitement when Ganguly was made captain, 8 years ago to this very day, but I think you know that I was a truly a Dada-fan (and continue to be).

Ganguly on Debut at Lord's

Pic Source: Cricinfo

With Ganguly’s retirement today, I feel a sense of void, for apart from other reasons, his moving also takes away a bit of the childhood that I’ve continued to live to this day, for Ganguly’s India brings to me many cherished memories: the sneaking from school to find out the score, the discussion over whether Rani Mukherjee or Sourav Ganguly represented Bengal better, the yearning for rain in May just to reminisce the World Cup ’99, watching cricket at night from different time zones with red eyes and having to go to a ghostly early class the next morning, that fateful March ’03 night of the World Cup final, the stupid match day superstitions, and many more. Maybe some memories will linger along with Tendulkar and Dravid, but the spirit of the Big Three, the Holy Trinity, the triumvirate, or whatever you want to call that, retires today, though the legacy will live on. Perhaps it was only fitting that Ganguly’s last battle was against Australia and that very apt that he left more people asking why Sourav and why not somebody else. But a fan will always rue his idol’s retirement!

On a sillier note, I feel for not being able to the wordpress tags ‘The Big 3 of Indian Cricket’, ‘The Big Three of Indian Cricket’, ‘The Fab Four’ anymore! The tags will retire along with Ganguly, but Sourav Dada Ganguly Maharaj – as fellow blogger Soulberry calls him – will forever remain in my heart entwined with cherished memories of my own childhood.

Thank you, once again, Sourav, and Best wishes for a happy and healthy new innings!

Draw Looming – Ind vs Aus 2008-09: Day 4, 3rd Test

After promising much the Delhi Test is moving slowly and boringly towards a draw. As butter-fingered India dropped as many as four catches today, to let Australia off the hook, the most worrying aspect was the attitude and general lack of purpose. Ishant was wayward, Mishra didn’t look like the guy who took 7 wickets in the last match and Kumble toiled spiritedly to end up with three after largely disappointing spells, given his stature. While Sehwag weaved magic with the ball, he disappointed again with the bad. Where was the need for that shot? Ishant played a horrible shot for the first delivery he recieved as nightwatchman, and would have been gone that very ball. But it was his fate to face a carbon copy of that delivery and play the same shot only with a different result. So much for being nightwatchman. But perhaps it was Dravid’s fate to have to walk out today. Fellow blogger Soulberry sarcastically takes a dig at Dravs here. Was I the only one who was nervous for Dravs?

Tomorrow, most likely will not produce a result (unless we mess it up horribly), but India can use this well for batting practice. Dravid, this is your chance! The others have got their face saving centuries. For Heaven’s sake, Dravid, grab this, with both your hands, and show us some magic. And no runs per ball ratio nonsense.

Another VVS Special – Ind vs Aus 2008-09: Day 2, 3rd Test

While Gambhir continued his onslaught to get his maiden double century, VVS showed why he is a very special player and why the people who advocated dropping him for a fifth bowler should be embarrassed and hide. He plays very quietly, knocking it around and before you know it, he’s got a hundred. Give it some more time and he’s past 150. Vintage VVS was what we saw today. What struck me the most was his reaction on the century (gesturing a bowler). Why are the seniors taking the media so seriously? Media scrutiny has been happening for some time. Granted, it’s more targeted towards the Fab four now, but the best way to get them off your back is by ignoring them and performing.

That apart, there are many questions/concerns from today’s proceedings. First, Dhoni’s irresponsible innings. He isn’t captain, so he didn’t care enough. What does that tell you of attitude? I can point to several such instances now. Secondly, I thought Kumble declared a bit too early. They should not have given Aus more than 10 overs to bat. Why? Thirdly, can India bowl Aussies out twice on this track? Doesn’t seem to anything in it yet. Furthermore, what does this innings mean for Laxman? He may have got the monkey off his back for the next match, but there are now two monkeys on Dravid’s back. I will save my thoughts on VVS at #3 for after the Delhi Test, but there will certainly be some talk about this.

As for tomorrow, the first hour will be key. India will need 2 wickets in the first session. Post lunch is often a sleepy session and nothing much happens. If India don’t act quickly, we might be headed for a draw.