The Surfer

One of my coaches once saw me play an ugly hoick and said: “I don’t care where the shot starts as long as it ends in a correct way”. Tendulkar started by charging down the track to a ball that was away from his body. He then struck the ball away from his body. He finished as if he had creamed a text-book perfect cover-drive. All in less than five seconds ... No batsman can be taught to bat this way. No batsman can be made to look so beautiful even when he is actually doing something that’s against the textbook.

Getting the World Cup to move anywhere from England was hardly likely to be like shifting a Ranji final from Mumbai to Delhi. There were objections galore—of history, legacy, lack of infrastructure and, not the least, lack of money. The last two mentioned were not hollow objections. While cricket was a craze in the subcontinent, facilities were primitive. Moreover, release of foreign exchange was the preserve of the government; and governments in the subcontinent were moribund in such matters.

To overcome the first problem, Salve hit on the brainwave of including Pakistan as co-host. The difficulty quotient of this hardly needs telling, but Salve found an ally in retired air marshal Nur Khan, then head of the Pakistan Cricket Board. Khan convinced president Zia-ul-Haq of the viability of the project, Salve prevailed upon Rajiv Gandhi and a major hurdle of having enough stadia was crossed. Getting money out of the two governments was not easy, but Salve had the Indian prime minister’s ear and strong connections with Indian business.

If we can’t win in the sub-continent then England are a one-dimensional team. We are very good if pitches are true and the seamers can dominate. As soon as the pitch becomes a slow turner and demands adjustment in technique and temperament from the batsmen we make silly mistakes ...

When are England going to learn? We have so many backroom staff now. There is a full-time batting coach in Graham Gooch and a full-time senior coach in Andy Flower. Both have excellent Test match records yet nothing has changed.

Several questions remain. How long will Laxman last? Has he stuck a deal of retirement with the selectors? Will Tendulkar carry on for the next world cup? Will Virat Kohli mature quickly to don the captaincy when he eventually gets? Will Rohit Sharma step up? Will Suresh Raina be able to iron out his flaws? Will Cheteshwar Pujara be ready after his injury? Will Sehwag bounce back ? Will Gambhir able to put back the disappointment of losing vice captaincy? Will Ishant Sharma take a step forward instead of forever walking on the treadmill? Will Umesh Yadav prosper? Will Zaheer Khan last long or is his body screaming out in pain? Can Dhoni the batsman show up in Tests?

What has helped you perform better in the past couple of months?

The board is all for continuing the traditional relationship with the International Cricket Council, one of the reasons why the Woolf report recommending independent governance for the ICC was rejected. "The fundamental recommendation [on restructuring the board] is something we cannot accept," he says. That could mean a possible loss of clout for India. "They want to change the management. After all, the ICC is funded by these full members." says he. "This is not a listed company. You have to look at it differently."

Such stances have contributed to the already negative perception about the board. In Srinivasan's view, there was no need to put the blame on BCCI's attitude. "We don't go public, like sometimes [Haroon] Lorgat [the ICC chief executive] has done," says Srinivasan, in a rare moment of on-the-record candour. "I don't respond. We don't respond to that. Because we don't want it to be seen that publicly we are having a [difference of opinion]."

“Our whole business is built around Moneyball,” Ramky says. “That phrase didn’t exist when I started, but for the last 12 years, it's been all about looking at stats differently.” Ramky’s company, Sports Mechanics, has provided analytical support to nearly every IPL team. “All four seasons so far, the champions were our clients,” he says.

Ramky says that insiders look at players’ performances in a markedly different way to casual spectators. “Performance should be mapped to team interest,” he says. “Imagine a bowler asked to bowl stump-to-stump, bowl dot balls, and the other guy gets a lot of wickets. If you judge both on wickets taken, you are penalising the first guy for being a team player.”

The backs-to-the-wall final day at the Basin Reserve, with Kane Williamson leading the heroics after captain Ross Taylor was sidelined with a broken forearm, offered the hope that better may, indeed, be around the corner. Coach John Wright has undoubtedly made progress towards creating a more robust and more resistant unit, and there is the promise of a good crop of young players on the horizon.

The problem for Wright this summer was that the search for quick fixes meant plucking players from relative obscurity. Unsurprisingly, this proved fraught. For every Dean Brownlie and Doug Bracewell, there was a Rob Nichol and Brent Arnel.