Thank You Kumble

After bowling his heart out for 18 years, the legendary Anil Kumble has at last announced his retirement from International cricket. After Amit Mishra took a 5 wicket haul in his debut test and Dhoni led India to crush the Australians in the second test, the pressure was always on on Anil Kumble to call it a day.
Thanks a lot Anil for entertaining us for such a long time. You deserved a better exit.

Where is fair play in Cricket?

Sunil Gavaskar made a revelation that the ICC match referee Chris Broad is racially biased against Asian cricketers, for he has fined, Zaheer Khan 80% match fee alleging that he abused Mathew Hayden. Well, Suni Gavaskar might have been correct, but hasn't Zaheer Khan really breached the spirit of the sport. In a sport, there is obviously a winner and a loser. But sport is no war. There is no loss of life, other than ego. 

It isn't fair to sledge just because the other team does so. But better replies can be given with the bat and ball, than with the mouth. All players need to take a leaf out of Sachin Tendulkar, as I don't remember a single occasion, in which he has ever sledged or shown any gestures against the opposition. Even when Brett Lee bowled a beemar at him, the ball approaching his face at a speed of 140 kph, he took on his shoulder and just rubbed it off. He didn't even stare at Brett Lee. But the reply was given 2 balls later, when he made the fielder fetch the ball from beyond the boundary ropes. 

On another occasion, when India were facing South Africa, Sachin and Ganguly, were going great guns. Andrew Nel was brought into attack. After bowling every ball, he ran all the way upto the batsman had eye ball to eye ball contact, frowned and returned to his bowling mark. Ganguly was unsettled and began to play some wild shots of Andrew Nel. This is exactly what Andrew had wanted. To unsettle the opposition player psychologically and he had gained a partial victory as well. 

Sachin switched ends he just paid back Andrew Nel by making the South African fielders do some leather hunting. No wild shots, just firm push through point and straight past the diving mid on fielder. This time, it was Nel who got unsettled and began to bowl eratically giving 4 wides. 

The game itself is a true leveller. Players like Zaheer Khan should take a leaf out of Sachin's book and try to practise it, instead of getting involving in verbal fights. Please bring back fair play into cricket. Let cricket remain a gentleman's game. 

Salute to the Master

"This kid is going to make more runs than you AB", this is what Merv Hughes remarked to Allan Border the then Australian captain about Sachin Tendulkar. Few would have considered his remark. But today, when Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, eclipsed Brian Lara's record of being the highest run getter in Test cricket, an entire nation was elated. Breaking records is not new to Tendulkar, as he has the highest number of runs, centuries, match et al inthe limited overs cricket. But in test cricket, other than the maximum centuries scored, he didn't have until today, no other record. 

What an occasion and what an opposition to outscore the highest run getter in Test cricket. We all salute you Mr. Sachin Tendulkar. 

It is all about Defeating, rather than Winning

Any sport is about winning the game. Teams and individual always want to win. But test cricket, which is often termed as a slow and boring show is all about defeat. It is all about sustaining the endurance for 5 days to defeat the opponent. In an one day international match or in T20 the latest form of cricket, a team can win the match by performing better than the other team. But in test cricket, a team can't claim to be the winner, if it hasn't defeated the other team. 

In an ODI or in a T20, a team doesn't have to necessarily defeat the other team to be a winner. It is all about scoring runs within the allotted overs and trying to contain the opposition in not allowing to overscore. But the ball game is completely different in test cricket. It is all about posting a target in excess of what the other team coudl get and conquering all batsmen as well. That's why a required run rate of 4.5 in a test cricket, is still very much a difficult target to achieve, which is considered to be a lower than average required run rate in an ODI or in a T20 game. 

Test cricket is the best arena to display a team's endurance and skills. It provides a level playing field for all the players in the team, be it batsmen or bowlers. In a race between a prowling panther and a deer, the deer might outrun the panther for a few minutes initially, with its speed. But it is the endurance of the panther which enables it to conquer the deer. The panther hasn't won over the deer. For the deer had outrun the panther. But the panther defeats the deer in its hunt. That's why purists still rate test cricket as the epitome of any form of cricket. Other shorter forms of cricket can still be glamorous. But the swing of the game, that happens in a test cricket has no parallel in any other format of the game.

A test match is not said to be won, if a team doesn't conquer all 10 batsmen in both innings, inspite of posting a target in excess of what the opponent could score. Great teams defeat the opponent to gain a victory. Newspapers should change their headlines to say that "Team XXX defeated Team YYY", when it comes to test cricket. It is much more than just a game.

A Golden Opportunity

It would have been quite a bit of a surprise, when Saurav Ganguly was also named in the list of people selected for the upcoming 4 test series against Australia. The entire media has written off Saurav Ganguly, when he was dropped for the Irani Trophy. Worst he didn't even feature in the 'A' team, taking up New Zealand. But this kind of a come back is not new to Ganguly, for having observed sanyaaas from international cricket for more than a year, made an amazing comeback against South Africa. In an ad campaign, he would say, "My name is Saurav Ganguly. Bhule tho naheen". Very few would have thought that he will be given a second chance. 

But the Bengali southpaw not only came back to the Indian National team, he even went on make his first double century in test cricket against Pakistan. But his scores against Sri Lanka and his performances in Australia and IPL didn't prompt the selectors to pick him for the Irani Trophy. But the new selection panel headed by Srikaanth has brought him back to the Indian team. This is a golden opportunity for Saurav Ganguly.

This is not an opportunity for Ganguly to prove his mettle as a batsman with more cricket still left in him. But to use this opportunity to announce his retirement and take a graceful exit from International Cricket. No matter whatever form he is in, how many runs he scores in this series against Australia, Ganguly has given more to Cricket. Only under his captaincy did India win the ICC champions trophy (joint winners with Sri Lanka), and were runners up in ICC Champions trophy and the world cup as well. India even won the Natwest Series under his captaincy. He has got the credit of stopping the Aussie jaggernaut from posting the 17th straight test victory. After giving so much to Indian cricket, it is time up to hang his boots now. He has to set an example to other senior cricketers to make way for budding youngsters.

Other than Sunil Gavaskar, I couldn't think of any other cricketer who has announced his retirement and played his last match. All past captains of India, Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri, Vengsakar, Srikaanth, Azharuddin were sidelined from Indian cricket and they had to make an unceremonious exit from Cricket. Ganguly having served Indian Cricked for over a period of more than a decade should take a feather from the Aussie's cap, who have the habit of announcing their retirement before playing their final series. In fact Australia lost great players like Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Justin Langer and Damien Martyn in one series. They all had announced their retirement before playing their last match.

A cricketer commands respect not only by playing well, but also by timing of his retirement. Ganguly by announcing his retirement will command more respect from the fans and media and other co-players. The selectors have created an avenue for Ganguly to make his own exit, rather than being sidelined and thrown away from the Indian National Team. Having retired, he can nurture the next generation guys and also concentrate more on domestic and of course IPL, which is more remunerative.

It is time up for you Dada. Thanks a lot for entertaining us so long.

Time up for the seniors

It can be undoubtedly said that the Sri Lankans took away the 1st day honours in the deciding test. Much was said about the pitch, with its green top, which could assist swing bowling, but it appeared to me as a belter of a track, after all the Sri Lankans also know about their batting limitations and India's newly developed skills in fast bowling.

The famed middle order once again were not just upto the mark. The debutant bowler Dammika Prasad had done his homework, in producing that kind of deliveries, for which Dravid and Tendulkar are the most vulnerable. The delivery, which comes in to the batsman and straightens after pitching has been daunting these two batting prodigies for ages together. And they both succumbed to the same delivery. Once the top order was cleaned up, Ajantha Mendis had a roll over on the Indian middle order, which has never looked so vulnerable.


Is it time for a whole sale revamp for the Indian test team as well? There isn't just any camaraderie in the team. This team is just a collection of raw individual talents, which hasn't fired as a cohesive unit in the recent past. The so called fab five are brought in only for the test series and taken away for the other formats of the game.

As history has taught us, cricket is a team game. Individual blocks of raw talent isn't just enough to be a great team. The team needs to work as a cohesive unit. The cohesion, which is seen in the team led by Dhoni is not just there in the one led by Kumble. This team can always be a team most feared by Australia, as they can only cause upsets every now and then. But could never be a team to exhibit consistent winning performances.

One last word to the fab five. They should learn from the Australians how to call it a day, when they are at the peak of their career. They would be doing a huge disgrace to themselves, if they are forcefully removed from all forms of the game. They have held the Indian team on their shoulders for a long time and have given India great victories at Kolkatta, Adelaide, Perth, Trent Bridge, Headingley, Barbodas, Port Of Spain, Johannesburg etc. Now they should have a graceful exit from the game. It is time up to hang their boots.

Can India do it??

When Anil Kumble goes for toss with his counterpart Mahela Jayawardane tomorrow at the P.Saravanamuttu Stadium, the one thought that would pre-occupy him is, "Can We do it again?"

The team composition hasn't changed much between the one that beat Australia in the famous Border Gavaskar Series of 2001, when Saurav's men rallied from behind to stop the Aussies making it 17 straight successive test victories. Though Kumble wasn't in the Indian team then, the core of the team still remains the same with Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, VVS Laxman, Zaheer Khan and Bhajji.

Having said so, the Indians toured Sri Lanka in July Aug 2001 and lost the 3rd test from a similar situation. A brilliant 96 from Ganguly in the 4th innings enabled an Indian victory in the second test before squandering the 3rd test. To add to the woes, the Indian batting line up hasn't produced anything beyound 329.

The pitch is supposed to play a crucial part in this test, with the groundsmen preparing a green top, fully known with the thought that Indians are very much vulnerable on a pitch that suits pace bounce and swing. But a matter a caution to the Lankans as well. India has won tset matches in the recent past in Perth, Johannesburg, Trent Bridge against a far better seam attack than what the Sri Lankans have in Vaas and Kulasekara. If at all Sri Lanka wants to win the test match, they should go with their strengths which is spin bowling. Maybe another leggie like Bandara can add more armoury in place of kulasekara, who hasn't done anything worth in this series so far.

Indians should have some definite plans to counter the Menacing Mendis and Muralitharan. Not just one plan, but sevaral plans, so that if one plan fails, there are other plans to fall back to. Never in the past has any Indian batting lineup been so vulnerable to spin bowling. The Lankans have given the Indians the taste of their own stuff. Traditionally, visiting teams dance to the turning balls of Indian spinners, where as Indian batters would clobber the visiting spinners. For the first time, history has been reversed.

Let us wait and see, whether India hold on to their position of being the second best Test playing nation.

The Menacing Mendis

Much was spoken about Ajantha Mendis, son of former Sri Lanka cricket Captain, Duleep Mendis before he could make an international test debut. A.Mendis, unlike his father has chosen to be a bowler rather being a batsman and has already hogged limelight in the internation cricket arena both in One Day International and in Test cricket. Indians who have built a reputation of playing spin bowlers better than their fast bowling colleagues have so far been dancing Mendis' tunes.



Mendis broke the top and middle order of the Indian batting line up in the Asia Cup final, and that too when Sehwag was going great guns blazing every ball all around the park. In fact Mendis castled Sehwag in the very first ball, which was a quicker one. There has been no turning back for this young spinner who is still continuing to torment the Indians in the on going Idea test series.

The trick to Mendis' spin lies in the way he holds the cricket ball. Traditionally spinners have used their wrist to do leg spin and fingers to create off spin. It is this theory with which batsman look out for the way in which any bowler releases the cricket ball. But Mendis holds the ball and gives a push as if, he is flicking a carrom striker. With the same arm action, he creates leg spin as well as off spin, which keeps the batsman guessing.




Also his run upto the crease, which makes the batsman to think as to what pace the ball is going to be bowled at them. Looking at his run up, it would be anybody's guess that the ball would reach the batsman at a pace close to 100 Kph. But it is his deceptive speed and skid that does all the trick. The ball apparently reaches the batsman at 80-85 Kph which creates so much of confusion in the batsman's mind as to whether to go forward and play it on the front foot or take a foot back and play it on the back foot. But at times, the ball reaches the batsman at 100 Kph. Quite often, it is this confusion that traps most of the batsman right in front or leave the line of the ball. The dismissal of Laxman in the second inninigs of the second test at Galle exactly happened in this fashion. He was in 2 minds as to how to play the ball, which was bowled at a pace closer to 100 Kph.

The line Mendis bowls is also impeccable. When a seasoned bowler like Harbhajan Singh is spraying the ball outside the leg stump, creating problems for the wicket keeper, Mendis bowls wicket to wicket, which gives little room for the batsman to freeze arms. In this small battle against Indians, Mendis has been greatly successful. That too against a batting line up, which has won famous test cricket victories.

But Mendis has to be a bit careful while playing on spinner unfriendly pitches. This kind of carrom coin flicking action might not work everywhere. Batsman can come down the wicket and can negotiate the spin very successfully. It now remains to see, as to how he scales his bowling, while playing against great teams like Australia and South Africa outside the sub-continent.

Atlast a Win, But

India may have clinched the second test in the on-going Idea test cricket series against Sri Lanka. But this win certainly didn't come in the most convincing way, looking at the kind of Cricket, the Indians displayed, against a team, which didn't have any other armoury other than 2 spinners and of course a sedate and turning pitch to bank on.

The kind of scores, the Indians put up in both the Innings were certainly not the one to be proud of, given the kind of batting line up, the Indians had. As Sidhu says, the records, which the famed Indian line up has, did reveal more of their weakness against a quality spinner than what it should have hidden. Never in the recent past have all the 4 batting genius have displayed collective efforts in putting up a big score against any team in the recent past.

The one man who made all the difference between the teams were Virender Sehwag. His kind of cricket reminds of George Bernard Shaw's famous quote, "Men See things as they are and Say Why? I dream things that never were and say why not?" It is this attitude of Sehwag, as to why not attack the Sri Lankan bowling, which gave the kind of opening, the Indian team badly wanted. In that process, Virender Sehwag was only the second batsman next to Gavaskar to have carried on his bat scoring a double century and that too in adverse conditions.

While accolading Sehwag, due credit should be given to Gautam Gambhir, who ably supported Sehwag in his quest. However, it is too early to answer the ever haunting question "Has India at last found the right opening combination for the longer format?"

Despite the win, Team test cricket India (I think this is how, we need to address the team, given that there are 2 more teams for the 50-50 and T20 formats) has got to do some serious introspection on how to counter "The Menacing Mendis". Gary Kirsten has got to think out of the box, to counter the variety of spin bowling Mendis has displayed so far. The ball which got Gambhir out in the second innings is no way second to the Shane Warne ball, that castled Mike Gatting around his legs. If this guy can turn the ball away from a batsman, for more than 3 foot, he is the man, whom Sri Lanka has to nurture in the long run. Quite a few batsman would have thought that they are happy to have retired from International Cricket, before Mendis appeared on the internation scene.

Anyway congratulations to the Indian team on levelling the series. The last time, India toured Sri Lanka, the result of the series was exactly similar to the current situation. Hope India doesn't squander away this hard earned Win. Winning the series against Sri Lanka is a must to prove that the earlier wins against Australia, South Africa and England were not just fluke.