Different Strokes (old)
Indian Catching-7: Wicket Keeping
Wicket keeping must be the big daddy of all Indian catching worries
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
Wicket keeping must be the big daddy of all Indian catching worries. Since the safe days of Mongia, India have hurtled from one disastrous wicket keeping experiment to another. Syed Saba Karim was the first keeper to succeed Mongia in Tests, and the first of a series of keepers who were better with the bat than with gloves.
A freakish eye injury Karim received from a Kumble delivery in Bangladesh's 1st ever Test match unfortunately ended his career in late 2000. That incident also triggered off a never ending procession of keeping prospects. They came, they kept, and they kept changing.
Samir Dighe was a very good keeper batsman in his younger days. Many in India remember him as a dynamic and gutsy cricketer playing a gem of a finishing knock in an exhibition match played in English territory against arch rivals Pakistan during the no-Sharjah days of Indo-Pak cricket [early 90's]. However it was pretty late in the day when he won a post-Karim Test selection and, barring a crucial finishing act with the bat (ahem..) in a famous one wicket win over Australia during the 2001 home series, Dighe did not prove to be adequate.
Ajay Ratra was picked for a very short duration in early 2002 before being dumped for the 17 year old Parthiv Patel. Parthiv Patel promised much in his first year and then petered away with the gloves, all the while improving with the bat. Dinesh Karthik succeeded Parthiv and looked the best Indian gloveman amongst the boys that donned the gloves in this millenium.
Full postIndian Catching-6: The Skipper's Catch-22
Dearth of dependable catchers engenders a dilemma for the Indian Test skipper with more rookie bowlers bowling for India now than ever before
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
Dearth of dependable catchers engenders a dilemma for the Indian Test skipper with more rookie bowlers bowling for India now than ever before. The skipper would like to spend more time with them at mid-off / mid-on and talk them into bowling to his plan. This is all the more imperative in a team with no senior pace bowler in the side.
But for skipper Dravid that results in removing the only trustworthy catcher from the slip cordon. So the skipper often helplessly leaves VRV, Sreesanth and Patel to their own methods. That partly explains the blow-hot-blow-cold performances of Munaf Patel, Vikram Singh and S Sresanth.
This dilemma virtually disappears in the shorter time frame of one dayers as the bowlers' spells get shorter and they generally pull it off by themselves as per predetermined strategies. Even so the 3rd one dayer versus Pakistan this year comes to mind, a match where Sreesanth saw three catches go down off his bowling in first 15 overs.
Going to the larger picture we have another Catch-22. I would not be surprised if this catching lacuna is as much reason behind the Indian team management's decision to abstain from playing two specialist spinners in Tests as worries about Harbhajan's form or lack of batsmen in the side that are part-time seamers.
Full postRound 2
Unlike when the presale began, today when the MCG Ashes tickets sale got underway, I was in pole position
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
Unlike when the presale began, today when the MCG Ashes tickets sale got underway, I was in pole position. I had awoken early to beat any possible crowds, and made my way down to the Ticketmaster office. I had started a queue at 8:20am, 40 minutes before opening time. Living in Newcastle, some 10 hours drive from Melbourne, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised about being the only person there. Pulling out a list of questions, I waited for someone else to show up.
At 8:35 I was joined by a lady named Nuatali. Nuatali was here to purchase 2 tickets on behalf of herself and a friend who is currently in America. About 5 minutes after Nuatali's arival, we were joined by a middle aged gent named Andrew, and when I was beginning to think it was going to be just the three of us, a young man named Matthew arrived. With time to spare before the doors opened, I started my poll.
Ken: Who's your favourite cricketer?
Nuatali: My favourite cricket is Shane Warne. Warnie is hysterical. He's just funny. My friends don't get it, but I think he's a riot.
Full postIndian Catching-5: Remembering Akash Chopra
The omission of opening batsman Akash Chopra from the Indian scheme of things is a cause for lament
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
The omission of opening batsman Akash Chopra from the Indian scheme of things is a cause for lament. His contributions were perhaps bigger than the physical count of his runs and his absence feels like this little spare falling off a big equipment that consequently runs with lots of noise and leak. A player in the Chopra mould had something to add to Indian long term prospects on the wickets of Eng/Aus/RSA.
Digressing a little from the topic, Akash's solid batting and ability to leave deliveries early in the innings raised hopes and he looked slightly more capable of forging that invaluable opening 50 runs with Sehwag on a regular basis in those livelier conditions than the other openers India have tried out in the recent past, including the successful Wasim Jaffer.
With no disrespect to stylish Jaffer's considerable talent, the Mumbai opener is a batsman in the VVS mould and his presence makes sure we are playing 7 middle order batsmen (in terms of methods employed to score runs) in our lineup. It is fine, even recommended, when the team plays in the subcontinent or the present West Indies, but that is as far as I dare advocate.
With a catching crisis looming large the Indians are learning of a silent value addition from Chopra that has gone missing since his departure: back in 2003 Akash used to be a brilliant close in catcher who snapped up many touch-and-go half chances in the 2003-04 tour down under.
Full postIndian Catching-4: The Australian Connection
Coming to that 1990's Australian side, they had some truly great catching fieldsmen supporting Taylor - Junior, Warne and Punter immediately come to mind
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
Coming to that 1990's Australian side, they had some truly great catching fieldsmen supporting Taylor - Junior, Warne and Punter immediately come to mind. The Ponting that leads their 2006 team is still right up there but Tubby & Junior are gone and Warne is ageing. The others, Hayden and Martyn, are pretty decent but not in the class of their predecessors. And they are nearly 35. What's more worrisome for Australia, the people designated to replace them may even struggle to match them.
With most Australian batsmen today making debut at the fag end of their 3rd decades in life, reason tells us not to expect Australian catching to reach any new highs in the immediate future. In a way the Australians are also feeling the pangs of fielding succession, albeit to a lesser degree than the Indians under Rahul Dravid.
[next: Remembering Akash Chopra]
Full postIndian Catching-3: The present
Right now India have two brilliant infielders from the one-day side Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif playing in Tests
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
Right now India have two brilliant infielders from the one-day side Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif playing in Tests. "Wow - Yuvi and Kaifu? India must be having a great time pouching half chances!" Not quite! The principal areas of concern with Yuvraj and Kaif are highlighted in this post of Jagadish.
The two young men are indeed jumpy i.e. they fail to stay still and low till the last possible time, flaws that define the line between ordinary and great catchers that have prowled near the bat. They are still on the learning curve but their fumbles stand out in a setup that offers little cover for them.
Laxman looks like having lost some of his reflexes and / or concentration, and it has come earlier in his career than expected. The decline shows in his recent batting displays. [I wish I could explain how sad that is from a personal point of view, and how desperately I want to be proven wrong.]
Jaffer is passable as a fielder but from whatever little we saw so far he has some way to go to be called a good slip catcher. Jaffer is missing a few on slower tracks because he has problems with catches requiring a lunge to the front. Quite the same with Yuvraj and Laxman. Sehwag is as inconsistent in positions around the stumps as he is brilliant in front of it, armed with a bat.
Full postIndian Catching-2:The recent past
Let's not go into the divine era featuring Solkar-Yajurvendra-Brijesh-Kirmani-Kapil-Sunny and just take a passing look at the Indian Test side of late 1990's
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
Let's not go into the divine era featuring Solkar-Yajurvendra-Brijesh-Kirmani-Kapil-Sunny and just take a passing look at the Indian Test side of late 1990's. Even that generation of Indian cricket had two world class close-in fielders in Azharuddin and Dravid. Both were excellent at more than one position. They were good at forward short leg, silly point, short midwicket, covers and certainly at slip.
The two were ably supported by a young Sachin, often seen doing 1st slip duties those days. The team also had a naturally gifted keeper, Nayan Mongia. Mongia was as comfortable keeping to Kumble on Indian tracks as he was neat collecting Cronje's leg side nick to Srinath's fast rib-cager at Capetown 1997.
Sachin stopped fielding in slips after taking over captaincy in 1996 and spilling a few. He never returned to that position. Then came the stormy year of 2000 when Azhar and Mongia were discarded. These were quite some blows to the Indian catching department.
Dravid took over slip catching duties in the Tests and delivered the goods. [We shall come back to wicket keeping later in this series]. By this point of time Dravid automatically qualified as a top Test batsman and therefore took care of one catching position.
Full postIndian Catching-1: Intro
The deteriorating Indian standards of catching in Test matches have prompted a number of written and verbal screams from the cricket fraternity.
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
The deteriorating Indian standards of catching in Test matches have prompted a number of written and verbal screams from the cricket fraternity.
A young-ish Indian team was under considerable pressure during most of the recent England series, and a few misses were expected from inexperienced hands. Most hoped to see improvements in the ongoing series in Caribbean but the lapses have continued even with the team in driver's seat, suggesting a deeper malady.
Close in catching is an aspect of fielding that depends as much on innate ability as on training and fitness. Only so much of it can be taught and then it is up to the individual's reflexes and common sense.
The present vacancies for close at fielding positions within the Indian team look like taking some time getting filled up, so I might as well post my two words on it. More than two words, or even posts actually. This is going to be a longish rant, spread over s-e-v-e-n posts, one a day (as I plan it now, but I offer no promise to stop there).
Full postWhen elegance went on a holiday
The other day I sent this interesting excerpt from a cricinfo throwback to a friend:
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
The other day I sent this interesting excerpt from a cricinfo throwback to a friend:
"David Gower was certainly not in the same league as any of the others on this list - indeed, it could be argued that he was one of the worst bowlers ever to have been unleashed on Test cricket. Nevertheless, he became the eighth person - and second Englishman - to be no-balled for throwing in a Test. He had few complaints. With New Zealand needing one to win in the second Test at Trent Bridge in 1986, Gower came on and openly threw his first ball which Martin Crowe smacked for four to end the game. But Ken Palmer at square leg called a no-ball, and so Gower ended with the figures 0-0-4-0."
Howlarious as the incident was, its narration also earned this note of appreciation from the friend:
"(I) liked the word "unleashed" - imagine using it to describe someone like Gower!"
Full postTaking the Sting with the Ring
You strut into a home Test series as skipper of the overwhelming favourites to win the series.
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
You strut into a home Test series as skipper of the overwhelming favourites to win the series.
You start your 1st day on that note but then ...
Your opponents shock you with a fighting display least expected of them. They make you slog over a drawn opening match. It is a moral victory for them, assuming any such victories exist.
You come back strongly and win the 2nd convincingly. Everybody expects you to hammer the final nail in the coffin but...
Full postMost Read
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