Long Stop
Arrogance felled India
This has been a strange series
Suresh Menon
25-Feb-2013
After the Board President’s XI match in Hyderabad, I asked an Indian player about Australia’s offspinner Jason Krejza. The poor man had been hit for 199 runs in 31 wicketless overs. The expression on the player’s face said it all. He then underlined it with an elaborate gesture which suggested that Indian batsmen would thrash him in their sleep. “I don’t think he will get a wicket in India,” he summed up.
Yet, what a strange debut Krejza has had. Most runs conceded and most number of wickets taken. Talk of meeting those two imposters triumph and disaster in the same innings. Indian batsmen loved him, and as a token of that love gave him their wickets. The grapevine is pretty efficient in cricket. Word spreads quickly. And my expressive friend would have passed on the good news: Krejza won’t get a wicket in India.
Indian batsmen in Nagpur seemed to agree. Virender Sehwag treated him with such disdain it was painful to watch. It was like a heavyweight taking on a flyweight in the boxing ring. A six in the first over, boundaries at will. I think it was Sunil Gavaskar who said on television then that Sehwag was mourning the lack of a challenge. Perhaps that is why he tried to create strokes against the offspinner, moving back to play to third man when he could have done half a dozen other things. He was bowled for his troubles, just as VVS Laxman was caught behind while trying something similar.
Full postBCCI's tiresome bullying
Gambhir is young, and will learn, but only if he is forced to pay the price for crossing the line
Suresh Menon
25-Feb-2013
The Indian cricket board’s muscle-flexing is getting tiresome. Like the schoolyard bully, it threatens anyone who touches one of its own with or without reason. In the case of Gautam Gambhir, there was good reason for the ICC to take the action it did, banning him for one Test. That Gambhir elbowed Shane Watson cannot be denied - millions saw it on television. That he has done it before, to Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi is a matter of record too. He was fined then, he is banned now. Open and shut, as lawyers say.
And yet the BCCI wants to defend the indefensible. It has used its enormous financial clout for the good of the game, spreading it across borders, lifting other boards in need of funds, and generally keeping the sport alive and kicking. It has also misused that power, rushing to defend players who have transgressed, and often behaving as if the ICC is part of the BCCI and not the other way around.
Full postPonting owes Bedi an apology
The Australian captain has said, “I don’t know how Bedi landed up there.” It is rude, and shows a regrettable lack of grace from the captain of the No
Suresh Menon
25-Feb-2013
Ricky Ponting owes Bishan Bedi an apology. The spinning great was invited by Australia’s bowling coach and team manager to the nets to help the Aussie bowlers. And Bedi, who believes knowledge should be shared, was only too happy to oblige. Yet the Australian captain has said, “I don’t know how Bedi landed up there.” It is rude, and shows a regrettable lack of grace from the captain of the No. 1 team in the world. Gate-crashing team practice is hardly the kind of sport international players are wont to indulge in, and to suggest that Bedi “landed up” uninvited is ridiculous.
Especially since Bedi has, over the years, been one of the most generous of players, magnanimous in sharing his experience with the young and old. Even in his playing days, Bedi was always ready to help out a player, regardless of whether he was a team-mate or in the opposition. In 1972-73 against England when he and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar claimed 60 wickets between them in India’s series win, he took time out to bowl to the struggling opening batsman Dennis Amiss. The coaching session worked so well that Amiss made 112, 158 and 99 in Test matches in Pakistan that followed, and never looked back after that.
Full postO captain, poor captain
Till the other day, Ricky Ponting was the finest captain in contemporary cricket, one who led by example, and got the best out of his players as captains are meant to
Suresh Menon
25-Feb-2013
Till the other day, Ricky Ponting was the finest captain in contemporary cricket, one who led by example, and got the best out of his players as captains are meant to. He was - not without reason - expected to be the link between generations, his own and the next, perhaps Michael Clark’s.
His Test record is impressive. Only five defeats in 46 Tests, and 33 victories, statistically the same as Steve Waugh’s.
Full postLet Kumble continue as captain
Should Dhoni be asked to continue, or should the job revert to Kumble, the original choice as skipper
Suresh Menon
25-Feb-2013
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is clearly a long-term India captain. He brings to his job a flair and an obvious enjoyment of its possibilities that is thrilling. To lead a team with seven players senior to you, four of them ex-captains, requires a combination of self-belief and indifference to the pettiness that hierarchies can throw up. Dhoni’s decision to be himself, both as a person and as an attacking player made this outing one of the most relaxing he has had.
Which brings us to the question: should he be asked to continue after his brilliant showing in Mohali, or should the job revert to Anil Kumble, the original choice as skipper? And the answer has to be: Let Kumble continue as captain; Dhoni was a stop-gap arrangement.
Full postTwo gaping holes
When Rahul Dravid quits, he will leave behind two gaping holes - one in the middle order as a batsman of the highest class, and one at slip as the best India have produced
Suresh Menon
25-Feb-2013
Mark Waugh, holder of the Test record with 181 catches, said he hoped Rahul Dravid made a pair in the Mohali Test and would be dropped for the rest of the series, and presumably forever. Dravid, in case you are wondering why Waugh should be so unkind, has 176 catches, and should soon overtake the Australian.
There might be debates over who the greatest Indian batsman is, or which of the spinners deserves to be No. 1. But one such assertion is beyond argument - that Dravid is the greatest slip fielder we have had. And in keeping with both with the character of the game and the character of the man himself, it is not something that has used up column inches in newspapers or whatever it is that is used up in cyberspace.
Full postFoiled fantasy
What would we have given for a Sachin Tendulkar to have taken the game by the scruff of its neck and shaken it up?
Suresh Menon
25-Feb-2013
Most cricket lovers have a recurring dream: their team is losing a Test match at Lord’s (or Eden Gardens or elsewhere). But they come out to bat, and take the game by the scruff of its neck. Beginning with a cover drive Walter Hammond would have been proud of, they go on to hit the dangerous fast bowler over his head into the stands.
The details might vary, but the result is the same - they make a spectacular century in about an hour, and take their team to an incredible win. As the nation exults, they remain modest sportsmen just doing their job.
Full postGanguly reverts to type
If Ganguly made the remarks credited to him, then the BCCI has no choice but to reprimand him
Suresh Menon
25-Feb-2013
So much for dignity. Sourav Ganguly has kicked it in that part of the anatomy normally protected by the batsman’s box. If Ganguly made the remarks credited to him, then the BCCI has no choice but to reprimand him. Probably ban him for a Test. And that would be ironic considering the cosy arrangement the player and the board had come to just before the start of the series.
Quite the remarkable thing about Ganguly the captain was that he was both Brahma and Shiva - creator and destroyer - of team spirit. And now he has done the Shiva act again. The retirement announcement that caught everyone by surprise was made with a fair amount of decorum. Now it seems Ganguly is reverting to type.
He has spoken ill of his team-mates, charged that every Tom, Dick and Harry has played for India. “Everything is possible in Indian cricket,” he is quoted as saying. “When Greg [Chappell] dropped me, TP Singh was my replacement. Where is he now?” He took a swing at the previous selection committee too, saying, “If the present committee had come three years earlier, the situation would have been slightly better for me.”
Full postDone with dignity
Whether Sourav Ganguly jumped before he was pushed or it was part of a deal he struck with the selectors is immaterial
Suresh Menon
25-Feb-2013
Sportsmen, especially those from the subcontinent, are not known for going gently into the night; they rage against the dying of the light. Or, to put it less poetically, they usually have to be dragged out of the team kicking and screaming. Whether Sourav Ganguly jumped before he was pushed or it was part of a deal he struck with the selectors is immaterial. In the end, it was done with dignity. The question that hangs like the monsoon cloud over the Australia series now is - how will this affect the other seniors?
The last dignified retirement was Sunil Gavaskar’s two decades ago. Ravi Shastri too went on his terms once his media career was ready. Gavaskar called up a few journalists during a Test in Bangalore, thanked them for their support and then broke the news. He made 96 in his last Test on a turner, one of his finest innings. He finished with 188 at Lord’s, his last first-class innings. Strangely, not one of his 34 Test match hundreds was made at Lord’s.
Full postStrange silence
Is this Australian team so focused on redecorating their house after the recent retirements that they have no time for taking potshots at their rivals?
Suresh Menon
25-Feb-2013
The silence emanating from the likes of Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting is strange. It is un-Australian and uncomfortable. Is this Australian team so focused on redecorating their house after the recent retirements that they have no time for taking potshots at their rivals? Or is the Indian media doing their job for them, putting pressure on the top five players with endless discussions about retirement plans?
Hayden famously said at the start of a series in which Australia were expected to steamroll India that Indian batsmen were selfish and more worried about individual performances than team results. Glenn McGrath then chipped in with something or the other. Shane Warne, always ready to jump in where angels fear to tread, could be relied upon to add his bit. Whether this was a chapter out of Steve Waugh¹s book on mental disintegration or not, it was lively, it was rude, and it put bums on seats.
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