Should Have Stayed on Vacation

Last year, while traveling through India, I was able to sporadically follow India's Boxing Day triumph over South Africa (I bought a newspaper, at Cochin's airport, detailing India's win at Durban). This year, I was traveling again over the Christmas/New Year's break; and again, I was able to remotely track India test cricket in the holiday season. This time, of course, it featured a defeat at Melbourne (I sent text messages, from Puerto Rico's Culebra Island to a bunch of friends asking for scores and details; the responses, even if not the scores, were gratifying).

On my way back from Puerto Rico, I noted (to my mysteriously less-than-enthusiastic wife) that even if I missed the first two days of the Sydney test, I would be able to watch the rest of the action once I got home. Well, the Sydney test is over; one day of cricket action has not been used; and really, when I come to think of it all, it might just have been best if I'd stayed on vacation and ignored the cricket altogether.

Two more heavy losses overseas, and for many who will not have paid sufficient attention to the home series against the West Indies, it will seem like the 4-0 thumping of the summer has now been transformed into a running 6-0 scoreline (and perhaps one equally deserving of a response consisting of equal parts hilarity and grief). I will conduct my best impression of the mature, sage, experienced, reasonable, long-suffering Indian cricket fan soon enough, and urge patience, forbearance, and sympathy. Soon, but not just right now. For now, I'd like to just indulge in a bit of chest-beating and wailing (if you have speakers, turn them down now; the terrible keening sound I'm emitting is truly ghastly.).

What makes this all so terribly embarrassing is just how old-fashioned it all is. Imagine that India had lost to a pair of off-spinners on a New Zealand green-top, or perhaps they had conceded a 230-run victory target to a pair of Bangladeshi or Zimbabwean openers. Then, we'd all be chuckling about the novelty of it all, about how the Indian cricket team had somehow contrived to pull off a unique loss, one unprecedented in its cricketing history.

But the problem is that even that minor comfort of disastrous novelty is not present in the current circumstances. For the Indian loss at SCG was made singlularly rank by the utter familiarity of it all: India are playing overseas; when their batsmen bat, the pitch turns green and hilly; when the opposition bats, a squad of alert groundsmen runs out, flattens the pitch and mows the grass; when India bat again, the gremlins take up their usual positions underneath the pitch. The batting line-ups crumble; the fielders (when they are not giving the crowd the bird), stare blankly into space; the chief traffic-policeman (sorry, fielding captain) is a flurry of brisk arm direction; and finally, at the end, there are the bromides of the post-match ceremonies. And the wait, equal parts horrified anticipation of the remaining games, and resigned acceptance of the inevitable home-series triumphs that will make the memories of the overseas disasters a little more palatable.

Plenty is going wrong right now, plenty to be picked through and dissected. Who could sift through the debris of this latest disaster adequately? Only those who have recovered from the grinding weariness of similar efforts conducted through the summer. A brave, if not very numerous, bunch.

Court transcript for Greig vs. Insole

One of my biggest regrets with regards to the ICL fiasco was that the ICL didn't long last enough to trigger a court case or two. It would have been interesting to see what courts (in any jurisdiction) would have made of the various national boards' actions during that sorry mess. The Indian Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission, had of course, launched an investigation into the BCCI's actions but I have no idea if a report was ever submitted. A pity; a proper legal dispute would have clarified board-player relationships and also enabled an examination of the contracts players all over the world sign (I'm particularly curious about the BCCI contracts - has anyone seen one?).

Meanwhile, for your reading pleasure, here is the transcript for perhaps the most important labor dispute in cricket history: Greig vs. Insole from 1977, shortly after World Series Cricket was launched. Here is a little summary. Here is little Wikipedia article on World Series Cricket for all the young 'uns out there (this also includes a very useful summary of Greig vs. Insole).

Here are some other significant legal disputes in cricket.

Podcast Number Three - Oval Test plus Gavaskar/Shastri/BCCI

I think this file got clipped at the end; sorry about that. I'm not sure why Audacity played up like that. I just had a few sentences after that where I say "conflict of interest is pretty simple really; look it up!".

Cheating Indians

Might as well get it out of the way. But Bell was out, just like Kris Srikkanth was out (eons ago against England, if I'm not mistaken) when he went walkabout after playing the ball.

The problem of course, is that Bell didn't try and take the fourth run. But neither was Srikkanth.

Is this "sharp practice"? I suppose. But wasn't it "sharp practice" when Srikkanth was run out? Back then, everyone seemed to agree Srikkanth had been shown up to an inattentive, silly young lad, who forgot the rules of the game.

Anyway, no word on whether India will ask the umpires to overturn the decision. The summer hots up.

And well, well, India have taken back the appeal and Bell is not out. Phew. There you have it.

That sinking feeling

As England appear to run away with this game thanks to a wonderful ton by Ian Bell and some characteristically mixed stuff from KP, India appear to be flagging. Part of the problem, of course, is that everyone on the field is cursing themselves internally for having stuffed it up two days in a row. Resilience is needed but with a noisy crowd cheering everything the *other side* does it isn't so easy. The other thing that doesn't help is the knowledge that England bat very, very deep, and India bat very, very shallow.

When MS Dhoni won the toss and put England into bat, he was gambling on seizing the early edge so that India could take a decisive lead and negate the fourth-innings disadvantage of batting last. That fourth-innings advantage is now firmly back with England, and with them scoring at almost four runs an over in this session, its been further cemented.

Not a great feeling to watch a team fall apart so quickly - but as Sreesanth misfields again, and Harbhajan can't even be bothered getting angry, its getting worse.

Careful Man, Thats My Initiative You're Handing Back

Over at Trent Bridge, India have managed to play themselves into a position, where they could lose by a day to spare. On the first day, they had England by the throat at 124-8 and then, thanks to a Stuart Broad counterattack and a rather depressing reappearance of what I can only term "the eight-wickets-down-blues" saw them get away to 221 (by this I mean bowlers stopped doing whatever it was that had gotten them the eight wickets thus far, the captain's field lacked imagination and the fielding grew ragged). Yesterday, thanks to the Dravid-Yuvraj partnership, India looked like building up a 150 run lead, and then suddenly, spectacularly, everything went pear-shaped. Broad was back again; this time with a hat-trick, sparked off by the Indian captain's dismissal. Dhoni continues to have a poor series; one wonders how he is going to dig himself out of this hole.

A lead of 67 with more than three days left in the game is simply not good enough (as I write this, England are already 57-1, and have been rattling along at almost a run-a-minute this morning). Chasing anything over 200, given the flakiness in the current line-up, is going to be supremely difficult. More to the point, the team chasing is going to have to work hard to move their minds on from the thought that they never should have been in a sticky situation.

This is a test match; strange things happen. Initiatives are gained by hard work, and handing them back is never a good idea. Especially away from home, and especially when you are 0-1 down.

Why is India bowling?

Oh Good Lord, why is India bowling at Trent Bridge? Green pitch? Grey skies? Jeez, deal with it, get to lunch. This looks like a pretty defensive move. One hopes Dhoni's Midas touch, which deserted him at Lord's has returned.

PS: the last time I groaned this much about an Indian captain winning the toss and electing to bowl was Rawalpindi 2004, and that turned out OK. That precedent is about the only thing that makes me hopeful.

As I write this, Cook is gone. Phew. More please.

The Indian XI for Trent Bridge (according to moi)

Zaheer is out and Gambhir looks doubtful. If Gautam can't make it, then, well, here we go. In batting order:

Abhinav Mukund
Rahul Dravid
VVS Laxman
SR Tendulkar
Suresh Raina
Yuvraj Singh
MS Dhoni
Harbhajan Singh
Praveen Kumar
Sreesanth
Ishant Sharma

This is not a good position to be in, but it is the best there is.

Advance whingeing (after a win, no less!)

If India comes back in this test series, it will be because of bad umpiring, which thanks to the lack of a DRS, will go uncorrected:

Flower is fearful that England might lose out later in the series. "We almost saw it happen in this Test match. It would have been wrong if the outcome of the game had been seriously affected by a couple of those decisions."

Or, it will be because of Duncan Fletcher:

It will be fascinating to see how India respond. You never know, it might be the result that Duncan Fletcher needs. Maybe he can exert more influence. I’d never easily write off a side with him as coach, that is for certain.

Lets see: unbalanced triumphalism after a win, excuse-making in advance, and assignment of praise in case of an Indian win to an ex-England coach (can't you already see the headlines "Fletcher's tried and trusted English methods enable India to win!"). Yes, all is set for a wonderful test series.

Incidentally, Andy, how English have you become that you feel the need to whinge after a win?

Small potatoes

Despite India's struggles in the field and their depleted bowling attack, England have not managed to score at even three an over. That has to be some encouragement. Small potatoes but crucial.

Praveen Kumar, easily scorned, will kick your ass

Surest Prediction for the summer: Praveen Kumar will make the scorners, the disdainers, eat their words. The man was born to bowl in English conditions.

Bridgetown Blues

Over at Bridgetown, we have a scoreline that makes for interesting reading: India are 44/4 after 27 overs. A certain VVS Laxman has 23 off 52. I have no access to video, but word has it there is plenty of bounce in the pitch. Interesting days lie ahead.

A little trivia quiz

Batsman A: Opened for Pakistan

Batsman B: Opened for India

Batsman A's and Batsman B's fathers opened for the same side in pre-Partition India.

Name A and B.

The best of times could be better

First off, I'm glad to see Krishna is off the mark with his post, which makes eminent sense. One thing Indian fans are used to is the sinking feeling of the false dawn. Most great wins in Indian test cricket in the old days like Madras 1952, Kanpur 1959, Bombay 1964, Port of Spain 1971, the Oval 1971, and Port of Spain 1976, were heralded as the start of something new, but in most cases it turned out to be a case of one step forward, two steps back. With Kolkata 2001, a greater consistency entered Indian test cricket, and even though some depressing old patterns persist (like over-cautious captaincy, weak bowling attacks, and less-than-exemplary outcricket), the team did enough, and riding both the decline of Australia, and the failure of South Africa to transcend their own inability to seize the moment, have risen to the top. Those same structural weaknesses have meant that India's stay at the top is not guaranteed, and some key challenges still remain. Beating Australia in Australia for one, and repeating their 2007 triumph over England. So, even though its a nice feeling to be ranked No.1, January 2012 could feel even better if those tours go off well.

Duncan Fletcher?

Duncan Fletcher as Indian coach? First things first. I'm not a big fan of coaches. Second, Fletcher is a big mouth, prone to talking too much about his wards to the press. This has the makings of a disaster in India's media scene.

If you play a T20 game, they will come. Not!

Does the format of the game really matter? A T20 international is being played today in the West Indies and no one is there to watch it. Why does the world resent Indian "domination" of the game when they can't be bothered watching it, no matter what the format?

Too clever by half

Opening the bowling with Ashwin and then bringing on Harbhajan in the 6th over, is a little too clever for me. Ashwin has a wicket now; lets see how the rest of Dhoni's bowling changes work.

7-50 is better than 9-29, n'est-ce pas?

Well, well, the race is on. I thought I would quickly put this post up to mark India's collapse, and see if I could get it up before India were bowled out. But I didn't make it. For India are gone again, unable to use their 50 overs. So, who is going to buck the pattern? The West Indies to stuff up a run-chase or the Indians to stuff up a defense of a reasonable score (268, after being 218-3)? Another race is on.

Breaking the mold

Well, by batting first, India have set up the first part of their template against non-minnows in this World Cup: bat first, get off to a good start, collapse at the end, and then fail to defend adquately. The early loss of the openers means there is a small blip in the template, and hopefully, there will be others. Otherwise, an unconvincing campaign will look even more insipid.

Skipper not at the helm

A curious display of rudderless batting by Cap'n Team India, MS Dhoni in the final stages of the game. And, yes, India 296 all out in 48.4 overs. Unfreakingbelievable.