My comments on Cricket

Let me take a dig at Mr. Speed. Malcom Speed has once again tried his best to stir the Indian nation. He can’t digest Indians as economic superpower of cricket. But, Mr. Malcom Speed should also read business pages of his tabloid and learn that India, as a nation is emerging as a superpower. Tata Steel has bought Corus, the UK national pride. Mr. Speed also talked about Indian performance in recent matches; he must look at his own team which has been reduced to nothing except that they won Ashes 2005. I am ready to discuss about his team performance before and after Ashes 2005 and Mr. Speed will not find the discussion interesting. Mr. Speed, if we Indians want, we can have our own world cups and we don’t want ICC as a governing body of cricket which does nothing but provoking racism on and off the cricket field. Mr. Speed, please wake up and accept Indian superiority or mind your own business.

Indians were humbled in the current ICC Champions Trophy in its own den. It doesn’t happen frequently with our lions. The Indians look tough to beat in India but anything is possible with this team in its current form.

The problem starts from the beginning, be it bowling or batting. Virender Shehwag is not firing in the ODIs and it is taking a toll on Indian Team. The question is why we are giving him too many chances? Just because he is vice captain of the team or Greg Chappel and Rahul Dravid are more than happy to bet on this endless gamble?

Virender Shehwag needs to emulate Chris Gayle who is responsible for West Indies performance in ICC Champions Trophy. Chris Gayle is improving day-by-day as a cricketer and contributing more than handful in all departments of the game.
The number three position is being rotated ridiculously as a music chair in Indian Team. Any team must ensure in One day Cricket that its best batsmen plays maximum number of overs. Going by this logic, Mr. Dependable should come at number three and play an anchor sheet role to provide smooth and robust platform for our aggressive batsmen. What business Irfan Pathan has to do here? Let’s play cricket in a simple and no-nonsense way. Innovation is an important ingredient of strategy; however, it should not come at the cost of compromising with the basic fundamentals and start resulting in losses. If India needs to chase more than 300 score, I can understand the logic of Irfan Pathan walking at number 3 and showing intentions to blast 50 on 40 balls. But if India is batting first, a grafter should play at number three.

Irfan Pathan must concentrate on his bowling and his job is to get India early breakthroughs. When Irfan Pathan doesn’t get early wickets, Indian bowling looks pathetic and toothless. If Irfan Pathan doesn’t get back to his bowling rhythm, he will go Zaheer Khan’s way and it will be cruel for the youngster. Irfan Pathan is only good as a bowler, he should aim to be great and join the league of Walsh, McGrath etc.

The team India has lost confidence after West Indies debacle. The body language of players shows it. Their body language had conveyed the match result against Aussies. The team was looking awfully short on match preparation part. When we were batting, we could not hit boundaries, feeling as if 22 players were fielding in the ground. When we were bowling, we had forgotten that Ponting was in bad form but we bowled him on his strength and helped him immensely to gain form.

We have to look forward now. Indian team is going to face South Africa where we have not won for last 14 years. Dravid and Chapel should select 11 appropriate men on the match day and win all the matches. I have seen Dravid doing blunders when it comes to last 11. The recent example is match against West Indies. The liftman of the hotel, where the Indian team stayed, will tell you that West Indians are weak against spin bowling. I could not understand playing R. P. Singh against West Indies when Ramesh Powar was need of the hour.
I think Dilip Vengasarkar is right where he commented about talent available in India. It calls for the reforms in Indian Domestic tournaments. There must be a prime tournament where only 6-7 teams should participate. We have more than 20 teams playing in Ranji Trophy where there is yawning gap in talent across teams. It reduces the intensity of the matches and batting or bowling performances can’t and should not be compared. The tournament must ensure matches on variety of pitches and there we can find talent which will match to international standard or will be closer to international standard. Greg Chapel should understand the difference between Indian Domestic Cricket Structure and Aussies Domestic Cricket Structure. I have heard Dennis Lilee saying,”I enjoyed playing for Shield tournament more than Test Matches some times.” Therefore, when it comes to selection, Domestic as well as International experience and performance, both should be taken into consideration. I believe V. V. S. Laxman is better bet than Raina. I heard somebody talking about fielding. Okay, if you don’t have enough runs on board in the first place, what will you achieve by saving 10 odd runs in the field??? I don’t find our batting line up convincing on the South African pitches against their pace battery.