Steyn and Roach

Steyn and Roach in two recent tests at the Oval and North Sound have resoundingly proved why fast bowling is so vital to cricket. Newzealand and England earlier had some hopes of drawing the tests but Steyn and Roach had other ideas. The West Indies were at their best and it must have been after a long time that they had a double century first wicket stand. In Narine, they have a very aggressive spinner but it is their third seamer spot which leaves a lot to be desired.Sammy may be a good captain but he is hardly in Brearly class and even if he is he should play as a batsman who can bowl. After all unless he is better than  Taylor,Edwards and Russell, there can be little justification for him in the bowling line up. Russell as a bowling all rounder will bring more value to the attack., 

Another Challenge

Last year when the series in England promised a cracker,all we got was one where India were pummeled 4-0, from which they are still to recover.South Africa England test series promises to be a competitive one to attract some attention even with the Olympics round the corner. Whoever will win  the series will be ICC No.1 and listeners and viewers in India have a prime time evening viewing of at least an hour or so each evening to look forward to.
The two other formats of cricket on TV or radio can never match this: prime time soap live on TV with contours changing from day one to Five.

the t20 specialists

The West Indies Cricket Team have amidst all despondent comments about them performed creditably in limited overs game more so in t20.They were combative even on the English team, displaying a fighting skill greater than perhaps even than the Australians who are currently touring England.Now they have beaten New Zealand to pulp in the USA.It is an early pointer to the t20 World Cup.This form of cricket is flourishing in the Carribean.The shortest format is actually the game's oldest format except restrictions on number of overs bowled.If t20 keeps West Indian players in business so be it.If Test matches cannot be marketed, it would still be better than say Kabddi in terms of following.May be Test matches could become an amateur pursuit where individuals with jobs other than cricket can play over a short period taking leave of absence.May be in India's case there is a need of state and National association for cricket outside the BCCI and ICC regime.BCCI selects its own team and so is comfortable with the fact that while Gujarat has three teams playing in Ranji Trophy,Chattisgarh and even more populous Bihar has none.This kind of  inequity can only be followed when pleasure of playing is not the main purpose of sport.There is very little evidence of BCCI having done anything at all for those who want to play cricket for fun.An alternate platform for participative and non commercial cricket could be a way out with the Test Cricket set up being handed over to this body as the crown jewel.

What do they know of cricket, who only cricket know?

I have been reminded of C L R James' question every time I read that Test Match Cricket needs to be protected and made attractive and so on.While a Test Match played over five days in the peak working hours especially in India does pose a problem, what really surprised me was Harsha Bhogle's distinction between those who follow Test cricket and those who watch it.Those who follow Test cricket are generally the universe from which will emerge those who will watch Test cricket.That universe may be small but is surely as big as the following of Golf or Tennis.Test Match cricket has been around for over a century and thirty years and has been adapting with the times.Mukul Kesavan recently wrote about the Test Match lovers being put on notice by the band of writers and commentators who are benefitting from IPL ant T20 formats.However,Test Matches have little or no competition to flourish as a minority sport but it is the Formats of cricket which require attention span ranging 4 to 8 hours that are at the peril of the TV driven popularity.

And the notice coming loud and clear from Poland and Ukraine and the TV watching kids is that India will soon be a football loving and following country.IPL and the ODIs will have to compete for the same eye balls.I would shudder what would happen to our mediocre cricket team if our foot ball team breaks into the top 50 or so. Leagues like IPL will not know what hit them when the I league starts attracting some of the leading players.Imagine Rooney or a Ronaldo, even five years from now plying their ware at Yuba Bharti Krirangan. would Eden Gardens be able to get a full house for IPL? A test match will still attract 10000 or so and that would be enough for the Test Match economy. Those who follow will follow it on the Smartphone or in the news and some will venture to the ground as well.

Things will change to the extent that a cricketer playing Test matches may be paid significantly less.May be none at all.May be Test Matches will make it  a sport for Universty Cricketers who are gainfully employed in occupations ranging from Finance to Medicene and  will take a few weeks off to play test Cricket.May be a three Day First Class structure with matches beginning only on Saturdays or Fridays will be needed.Those who fear for Tests need to be reminded that Test Cricket has survived two World wars, the decline and fall of the largest empire of all times and will survive the onslaught of limited overs cricket as well.

Rally round the WEST INDIES.

As the west Indies make another attempt to retain the respect gained in AUSTRALIA in 1960_61,it looks like a lost cause.I have been following them giving the IPL A MISS BUT Shannon Gabriel disinterested with hands in pockets as the bowler is bowling is hardly inspiring.The work ethic has all gone.A debutant at Lord's on the second morning should be perked up. It does not lok to be inconsistent why a host of players are in India when they should be in ENGLAND.The commitment is missing and it is convenientthat IPL is available to them.Playing for the regional team is hardly a priority for many as they hardly bring in money or make them a brand which the selection for the Indoan team does ad in India.So much so that not havong played for Indoa keeps ypu as journeymsn in the IPL. The saving grace is that the IPL and smaller t20 leagues will keep people playing cricket in the Wesy Indies.

Cricket in Kabul

Afghanistan has not only beaten Netherlands in an ODI sson after I thought they needed more ODIs, they also defeated them in a First Class match.Afghanistan are perhaps the only team to have little British heritage or presence of expats from cricket playing countries and yet become a decent cricket team.Of course, they learnt their cricket from Pakistanis in Pakistan and have brought the game back to their homeland.Still Cricket is richer by this accident and it lends to delightful fancy where NRI kids living in Europe can lead India into a footballing era.

Exceptional Overseas Performance

South Africa seems to be the exception to the rule.They drew with Pakistan in the UAE and won in New Zealand.It will be good if England fight to draw the series.Otherwise,English victory against any team in England will not really advance their reputation.Just as England are discovering that cricket is little different outside the UK, Afghanistan are also discovering that t20 and ODIs are different sport.The Netherlands have been playing ODIs for much longer and it will be some time before Afghanistan can be considered as a regular ODI side.

Overseas Win

The travails of English and Indian cricketers in overseas tours makes the South African victory in Newzealand a creditable one.While following the Test Match at the Basin reserve,on the last day, the radio sport commentary team and their impassioned description highlighted why the TV commentary cannot match up.The cricket follower is wiser as he gets a more informed view.The summariser is privileged ex cricketer and gives his view as if talking to the uninitiated not one expert talking to other expert.
Kane Williamson set up a fighting draw and South Africa should have declared earlier and keeping him company for much of the way was Kruger van Wyk, a blue blooded South African.Gayle cannot be accused of being the only mercenary cricketer.

The winner comes second.

Five thousand Englishmen and women are in Sri Lanka for the test series.Test Matches appear to be alive in the UK at least.And the smiling and jumping West Indies supporters at Gros Islet on.Friday also are good tidings for the game.So is Bangladesh's spirited Asia Cup Campaign where the winner actually came second.
The t20 qualifier established Afghanistan as an up and coming t20 team.The Associates are playing cricket of high quality and popularity is.on the rise.The Afghans have aem with no expats and soon cricket will be a majot sport itrhete.r. sport

No Free Lunch

If he Indian cricketers thought Sr Lanka will toil to get them through to the Asia Cup Finals, they were befooling themselves.They simply failed to realise that as per the playing condition,the Bangladesh match was a must win because Bangladesh were playing the last match and they merely needed to win.So India inspite of defeating Pakistan for which the media went gaga,find themslves knocked out after having beaten both Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
The obsession of the media and fans with Pakistan needs to be put into perspective.An India Pakistan match up should be given just the mileage it deserves.Pakistan has been doing well in Tests but are struggling in ODIs under Misbah and it would be in fitness of things if Bangladesh win the Asia Cup.

Waiting for the 50th ODI 50

Now that Tendulkar has reached his hundredth international hundred,albeit in a match which was more about young Bangladeshis batting their way to glory, the Indian media more than its fan can rest easy.The dedicated cricket follower can heave a sigh of relief.The hectic cricket across so many continents means that few matches register for long.However Bangladesh defeating India coincided with Sachin's hundredth Hundred and we will cherish the match.From pure cricketing point of view it has thrown the Asia Cup wide open.Any of the three teams can join Pakistan for the finals.

However, there is a milestone Sachin's 50th ODI hundred to look forward to.It will be the beginning of a fresh count, ten more,may be twenty, who knows what the count will be by the time Sachin has played his last match.It will be really replicate the record for oldest ODI player.Maharaj Singh was 72 and Governor of Bombay,it will be fitting if Sachin is a governor of an I.ndian state when he goes past this record.

Sachin in a Raj Bhavan will be a greater thing than a Bharat Ratna.

Regional Carribean Cricket and Asia Cup

The two regional matches between T&T and Jamaica and Guyana and Barbados finished mid way through the last day.The West Indies batting will continue to be in an unsettled position as the best bet yet appears to be Chanderpaul.However with the changing nature of wickets the spinners will be more than handful for the Australians.

Gautam Gambhir has been an India regular for some time now but has played many more List A and First class matches in proportion to ODIs and Tests.This is a good trait.One that is evident in Ganguly's penchant to lead Bengal quite some time after having retired from international cricket.Playing for Bengal when he could easily do cushy commentary is what marks out genuine cricket lovers from only the players.

Into Hey nonny, nonny. Into Hey Nonny,Nonny

"Converting all your sounds of woe
Into. Hey nonny, nonny."
That's how "Much Ado About Nothing" ends and we are perhaps in a similar situation when a troubled tour to Australia has been converted into a comedy, with Kohli and Raina playing deftly at Hobart.so much so that the eventual failure of India to make it to the finals was hardly noticed.Viewers have moved on to Live election Coverage which will be followed by Holi and the Asia Cup.

Which will mean that for sometime now the spectre of away matches does not loom on the horizon.India can rebuild and even though it might be some time before India could push to the No.1status in Tests,the future will depend on how good we are at home.That was what launched decent performance abroad.If India is not good at home,they can hardly be good overseas.For that to happen our spinners have to be good, keeping has to be good (Remember Mongia keeping to Kumble) and of course batting has to be good.

So with Asia Cup and one off ODI in South Africa notwithstanding, it is the English visit that we must look forward to.Redemption must start from there.

Joy in Hobart

Irrespective of the qualification for the CB Series Final, the win with a Bonus point has served the purpose that sport ultimately is all about.The participants and those watching should be filled with joy.Sri Lanka batted well but clearly Kohli and Raina were enjoying their game.This was the element missing in Australia earlier.Belief in oneself and a pivot of the team are necessary.In Kohli India has found that crucial playmaker.

Joy in Hobart

Irrespective of the qualification for the CB Series Final, the win with a Bonus point has served the purpose that sport ultimately is all about.The participants and those watching should be filled with joy.Sri Lanka batted well but clearly Kohli and Raina were enjoying their game.This was the element missing in Australia earlier.Belief in oneself and a pivot of the team are necessary.In Kohli India has found that crucial playmaker.

Et tu Brute! Done in the ODIs as well!

Something must be rotten in the BCCI world,as the World Champion team has been playing sub par cricket in CB Series and have quickly managed to get itself eliminated.England rallied from a 3-0 whitewash to win the ODI series in the UAE, however Indians have gone from one defeat to another with such aplomb that it is difficult to appreciate that this indeed is the World Cup winning team.Only Yuvraj singh is missing from the Team that won the World Cup and the team is playing poor cricket all round.

Several myths appear to have gone bust.One is something that is not borne by sustained set of convincing data about Sehwag being a good one day opening batsman,his 219 notwithstanding.Even at the World Cup, his ordinariness was covered by Gambhir.He may be scoring at a quicker pace but Saurabh Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar outpace him by miles in matter of partnerships and winning matches.Another is that the young players are good enough to carry on on their own in ODIs.They will do well at home but struggle against good teams on sporting surfaces.Only Kohli looks to be a genuine prospect and settles one middle order slot for sometime.Sehwag has lost the plot by thinking that natural game and genius that he possesses is siuted to ODIs.He is best suited for tests.It will not be for the first time that he will lose his Test place because of continued failure in ODIs.

Ranji Trophy is played in the best season in this country for outdoors.BCCI can make it a spectacle.Imagine a Bengal vs railways Match in Central delhi with a bengali Food Festival for four days.Ticket Prices could include a buffet.there could be some music as well.Two of the days could be weekends.It is not as desperate as it sounds.
Television does not necessarily make an event a success.India vs France was low quality hockey with medium or low TRP but 15000 people in the stadium madefor a festival atmosphere.Cricket should learn.With so many children playing Tennis and Football and following various leagues around Europe, it is matter of time that cricket will face competition to generate eyeballs.

The generation now in their forties have all been weaned on diet of well attended domestic matches and ALL India Radio providing them ball by ball coverage.This generation will retire in over a decade but live for at least three decades thereafter.several of them will be well healed pensioners.Cricket could build on this generation like in England.The grand children they take to the matches Tests and Domestic would make for the future generation of cricketers.

Certainly better than the Team of 1983 in ODIs

The current Indian Team is the ODI World Champion.The Indian Team has had troubled times in tests.But in ODIs, they are still rather good.They first defeated the west Indies and then They lost fighting to England, pummeled them 5-0 and then easily beat the West Indies.And now they have after dropping a game to the No.1 ranked side, defeated the World Cup runners up and the World No.1 back to back in tough matches.The same cannot be said of Kapil's team which was thrashed so badly by the West Indies in ODIs that Kapil was no longer the captain when India won the World Championship in Australia in 1985.
It must be said of KapilDev and his core team that they remained a competitive Test Team and in 1986 won a series in England 2-0 in 1986.That is the biggest margin by which an Indian team has won a Test series away outside of Bangladesh.They had won 3-1 against Newzealand in 1968 but there was one loss, though the margin remains the same.
Gambhir,Kohli, Ashwin and Yadav can be the core of the team which can win by a bigger margin abroad and achieve the first Test series win in Australia and South Africa.India can build a team which can be good across the two formats like the Australians till recently.

Ranji Final epitomises the Indian Test scenario

For the past several months, the Indian Cricket team does not seem to be doing anything right in Test matches overseas.Cricket followers younger than fifty are trying to remember any similar bad patch overseas.The 3-0, defeat in England was followed by a 2-1 defeat in the West Indies, so it has been better for last 40 years or so.And here the Ranji Final won on the basis of first innings offers the epitome of the situation.

Tamil nadu was packed with recent India discards.Vijay,Mukund,Badrinath and Karthik besides Balaji.They missed Ashwin but they still were a stronger batting side playing on home surface.They lost the toss and lost the plot.That has been happening to India so often, a big partnership and they fall back.A batting team so strong collapsed for 295.How often has this happened on the Tours by India recently.And when Ganguly had led his team to Australia they were not fazed by 600 runs at Adelaide and went on to win a match.When Gavaskar led his team in 1980-81,they lost the first test but came back to draw the second test and win the third when Australia needed just around 150 runs to win the match.Those teams were not dominating World beaters of Australia from 1996-2009 or the West Indies in late seventies and early eighties.However, they were not the ones to be cowed down.And no one dared to talk down to either Gavaskar or Ganguly in their playing days.

Inspite of a commanding lead and no realistic chance of losing, rajasthan did not enforce the follow on.If India has not been going for wins,We know where the attitude comes from.There is a case for a six or seven day Ranji Final and no trophy on first innings lead.Rajasthan's victory though creditible is diminished by the lack of desire to win outright.Cricket matches are played to be won.To fight and draw is all right.To settle for a draw with more than a day's play remaining and 326 runs lead shows disrespect to the game.No wonder very few people turned up for the match.Just two finals back in 2010, Mysore had a full house for a Ranji Final.I hope Akash Chopra will write a book on this next.

The Indian batting colllapses so easily facing big totals that one looks back longingly to the days when Gavaskar could bat for a day for close to hundred and on benign pitches nobody ever got him out cheaply. Throughout the seventies and eighties India used the grinding ability to draw matches at Home.Then came Kumble and the rest is history.Losing at home became a rarity.From there they went on to build a team that could fight well overseas.

We have come back many steps and the next two years will be a time when India can rebuild at home.What India can do is to send a strong India A side whenever Visitors come to play Pakistan in the UAE and play a couple of build up matches..They can at least be familiar with conditions similar to home.

The scenario as it unfolds,Indfia has a bigger hole in bowling to fill after Kumble and Harbhajan than the batting.Any four of Raina, Rohit Sharma, Kohli, Pujara, Rahane can make up for the batsmen retiring but Bowling?Only Ashwin among the spinners took wickets in the Indian winter amongst spinners in first class cricket and he hardly bowled to the flat track bullies.We need to regroup and quickly as October comes with little first class cricket in between.Give our spinners "Turners", I say and hope for the Best.

From the BBC in London the TMS on the smartphone

Even as the World's second best team is fighting back at Dubai I have been able to listen to TMS on Five Live Sports Extra on my smart phone.This is the first time in more than thirty five years of following cricket on the radio that I have been able to listen to TMS for an overseas match.Even when TMS was available on the World Service till the eighties overseas Tests were not broadcast on the World Service, though snatches could be heard on the Sports Round Up and Saturday Special which later transformed itself into Sportsworld.
There are rights restriction for International IP addresses on Sports Extra Website.Maybe the rightholders will realise that there is a market out there using phone applications and using internet radio to by pass these restrictions and block these streams.May be it would be a better idea for the BBC to acquire international rights and take their English into what will soon be the largest English speaking community in the World.They will not be able to compete with the American TV and Movies but to a large population on the move in South Asia and further who follow English Football and Cricket, English is the natural language to follow in and what better medium than the BBC.
The English Language as spoken and evolving in the UK will then be in a closer relationship with the "Coommonwealth",whose common wealth it has really become.It will also pave the way for a post colonial impact in a way which would be at once new and unconventional.