Wednesday, August 11th, 2010
“Gee” the guys who played the first ODI must be saying, “the players who can actually play swing and bounce get dead pitches and we get this sponge bounce track. How unfair”! Just out of IPL and other Twenty-20 games, they must be wondering why BCCI hasn’t influenced ICC yet to declare it a no-ball if the ball doesn’t follow the straight line as expected by the batsmen and swings to confuse him. Or, after pitching, it rises above the waist height. Imagine having to play on the back-foot!
But seriously, it’s a good coincidence that the next ODI World Cup is in India and BCCI can control the pitch preparation. Otherwise teams the world over now exactly know how to handle India, especially the batting. This is becoming increasingly common now for the ODI/T-20 team players. Great IPL followed by early exits from international tournaments.
I have no doubt that the current players are what we need for ODIs on pitches where teams score 350+ and their fielding, when they focus, is definitely much better. But when there is swing and bounce and the scores are around 200-250 mark, it might make sense to have a Dravid or Laxman in the team.
The low score in the first ODI itself is not unusual. While it’s unlikely that anybody will get all out for under 100 against anybody in Sri Lanka, India does this occasionally - the first ODI after a good test series (or vice versa), players suddenly don’t know how to adjust. The best such example was the mixed test-ODI home series against Sri Lanka in 1986. Yes that was the time when people had to adjust between formats almost every week as ODI games were planned in between two test matches. In the Kanpur test that year India scored their then-highest score of 676. Two days after the test they played an ODI and were bundled out for 78. Same players, same opposition, same ground, 676 in test and 78 in the ODI!
Posted in cricket, India, Dravid, Dhoni, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Twenty20, World Cup, BCCI, IPL, Laxman | No Comments »
Friday, December 4th, 2009
Will Sri Lanka go for a possible win in this match? At the end of the third day of the Mumbai test they are 322 behind with two full days remaining. Of course saving this game will be the first priority and I know for a session or two they will first look to ensure that. But whether they will be just satisfied with that will tell us how far they are ready to go to get to the top of the international rankings.
In the recent years both India and Sri Lanka have won a lot of matches, they have even won abroad and in statistical terms there isn’t much to separate them. India gets more visibility probably because they have won more at places like Perth, Leeds, Johannesburg and Jamaica, and may be another reason is India’s fierce rivalry with Australia in the last decade.
(Source: Cricinfo Statsguru) In the last 10 years Sri Lanka have won 44 of their 96, India won 39 of 105. In the last 5 years it’s 23 of 45 and 21 of 53 respectively. India’s record is better ‘away from home’ - India has won 11 of their 29 matches abroad whereas Sri Lanka have won 7 of their 23. But consider that some of these matches were played against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe and we realize that the overall record is not massively different, at least statistically. In terms of the quality of the opposition India has a better records in last 5 years where they have won at least one match in each away series except the one in Pakistan in 2006.
Where these teams are also similar is the apparent lack of the intent to go for it when there is a choice. I think in the third test in New Zealand Dhoni was criticized for not declaring early enough to account for rain to force a result. The situation was a little different then though as India was already leading and so even with the draw India won the series. Here Sri Lanka faces an entirely different situation - they have never won a test match in India. So if they lose or draw this it will be no different anyway. But if they are able to win it it will be a big thing. Of course there will be criticism but the rewards of success are much bigger for them if they win.
The three scenarios appear to be like this, in the sequence of likelihood:
India win: This is where either India gets them for under 333 or just over it and achieve it. India has enough time to do this.
Draw: For this to happen Sri Lanka needs to either bat out the whole time, or score enough runs by the time they are all out that India can’t get those in the remaining overs. So they need either bat very long for whatever no of runs or bat really fast and get more than 500.
Sri Lanka win: For this Lanka needs to bat at least 4 sessions and that too with a high run rate. That would mean they might get 400+ by that time and have a chance to bowl at India on the fifth day pitch. But it’s a delicate balance as if they declare too defensively they will neither leave India enough overs to get those runs nor for them to get India out. If they need to have about 60 overs for a chance they need to make around 510 runs in 120 overs. Not entirely impossible but very difficult - and then you add a chance that India can still get those runs in 60 overs. As we have seen most of the times both India and Sri Lanka seem content to declare only when they know they won’t lose.
But Sri Lanka have in front of them an opportunity to show that they can take these risks in their pursuit of being the no 1 team. If they go for it, apart from other things what it will also mean is that this match will get very interesting to watch!
Posted in cricket, Australia, India, Ganguly, Dravid, West Indies, Dhoni, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kumble | No Comments »
Monday, November 24th, 2008
Let me clarify this before I write further - I have always felt that if Dravid feels he still has enough cricket left in him he should take a break, go back to domestic cricket and then when he feels ready announce his availability. He should not have to “prove himself” by making big scores in domestic, although if he is in form that should happen automatically. But for players who have been tested internationally for a long time, such a condition should not be necessary. If he feels he is ready we trust him enough. Right now he is hardly visible in the game and has been like that for quite some time now. Personally, my “fan’s judgment” is his problems seem to to be in his mind. So a break for a series or two shouldn’t be a bad idea. There could be a situation where his replacements play so well that Dravid can’t even get in. That will be a good problem to have, but you don’t replace Dravid because some player X scored 150 on a flat track in India. The real test of who can replace Dravid will come only when India tours abroad - the next one outside the subcontinent is against New Zealand in March. Until then we can never be sure as on the subcontinental pitches the value of the replacement can’t really be judged. In either case Dravid should get a preference once he is ready.
Having said that I find it surprising how we all react differently to similar situations involving two different players: Saurav Ganguly faced a similar situation 3 years back when he was making those scores in the range of 30-35 against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. He was subsequently dropped again. In general the public and press opinion was “Ganguly’s career is over”, “He is history” and so on. There were a few who sympathized (I can humbly brag that I was one of them) but the overall tone was that there was no need to consider Ganguly ever again.
Now Dravid finds himself in a similar situation. But this time generally his failures are being played down. In general the critics are not bringing the issue to forefront. Even us, the supporters find ourselves ignoring it.
Why could this be? Is it because of the personalities of the players involved? Ganguly always looked arrogant while Dravid has the quiet hardworking type image which Indian people typically support. There is no difference in the stature: Dravid will easily be amongst India’s top 5 batsmen ever. His captaincy didn’t click much or he didn’t get enough time, we will never know that. Ganguly will be amongst India’s top 2-3 captains ever and certainly the most successful one so far. We will never know how good a batsman he might have turned out if he was never given the captaincy, but his last two years definitely made us think there was something more than what we saw. So in a way they are players of same stature. That’s why I found it very surprising. May be Ganguly’s failures as a captain and a batsman coincided with the overall season of everybody being out of form and somehow he was held responsible for it. In Dravid’s case right from last year others like Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman are playing well so his failures are not costing the team that much. I think it’s just the personality that attracts a different reaction.
Posted in cricket, India, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Chappell, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, BCCI, Laxman | 1 Comment »