The Surfer
'Can't blame the spinner if batsmen don't score'
Saqlain Mushtaq, the former Pakistan offspinner, defends Harbhajan Singh in an interview with the Hindustan Times , saying the Indian batsmen simply haven't scored enough runs to support their lead spinner.
Siddhartha Talya
25-Feb-2013
Saqlain Mushtaq, the former Pakistan offspinner, defends Harbhajan Singh in an interview with the Hindustan Times, saying the Indian batsmen simply haven't scored enough runs to support their lead spinner.
He was on the verge of 100 Tests. He was a bit upset to get injured when it was time to play matches where conditions would have suited the spinners more. The criticism of Harbhajan has been unfair. Swann hasn’t done well either but no one is talking about him. He was bowling on the first day at Lord’s when conditions suited the fast bowlers and you are blaming Harbhajan. Not one, two or three years, he has done well for 12 years. The difference is their batsmen have got runs, yours haven’t. There is a negative sort of attitude against Harbhajan. With Murali, Warne and Kumble retired, for me, he is the No 1 spinner in the world. It is important not to confuse him.
A return to form for Dhoni
MS Dhoni has had a forgettable first two Tests, but managed to hit some form in Edgbaston
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
MS Dhoni has had a forgettable first two Tests, but managed to hit some form in Edgbaston. Sandeep Dwivedi writes in the Indian Express about how Dhoni reverted to the carefree, stroke-maker that he was early in his career.
There are days when one cannot help referring to Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni as just Mahi — the boy from Ranchi who didn't hone his cricketing skills at some reputed cricket academy but till late in life was a football goalkeeper. When Dhoni broke into India's celebrated batting line-up — one that had men with perfect high left elbows, men who seamlessly transferred their weight into silken touch — he stuck out with his less-refined brand of batting.
But like in the past while dealing with a run slump, Dhoni turned into Mahi as he faced possibly the biggest test of his captaincy career.
In the Guardian, Vic Marks says this was the first time Dhoni played his natural game in this series.
Dhoni was able to emulate what Broad achieved in Nottingham, when England were 124 for eight. He dragged the Indian score not as far as respectability but at least beyond calamitous. Uncomplicated aggression was rewarded and, briefly, India appeared to be back in the game. The field spread, the run rate galloped and the bowlers became a little ragged. This tends to happen to all bowlers when they are attacked successfully. It is one of the merits of taking the bold course.
Scyld Berry writes in the Daily Telegraph that though the innings showcased Dhoni's fighting qualities it is too soon to say that 'Dhoni is back'.
Full postAnother day of dominance for England
Nasser Hussain writes in the Daily Mail that it is sign of the quality of England's bowling attack that the rolled over India's strongest batting line-up for 224
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
Nasser Hussain writes in the Daily Mail that it is sign of the quality of England's bowling attack that the rolled over India's strongest batting line-up for 224.
In the old days, if you lost Darren Gough or Andy Caddick to injury, there was often a big drop in quality to find a replacement. Now, they lose Chris Tremlett and in comes Tim Bresnan. Steven Finn is waiting in the wings. It’s an astonishing conveyor belt.
Just look at the ball which Bresnan produced to get rid of Dravid. It was an absolute pearler that angled in, then nipped away and took the top of off stump. You need something special to get rid of Dravid — and Bresnan, a bloke playing his ninth Test, had the answer.
In the Independent, Jon Culley salutes Tim Bresnan, who continues to show he has what it takes to cut it at the top level.
Full postA suitably silly trophy
Emma John has an amusing article in the Guardian about the mace presented to the top Test team in the world
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
Emma John has an amusing article in the Guardian about the mace presented to the top Test team in the world. She wonders whether the ICC decided on a mace as a prize since it signifies "authority, power, medieval concepts of feudalism".
Full postAs prizes go, the mace is gloriously bonkers, a surreal reminder of just how trivial a concept sport is. Congratulations, you have won a purely fictitious battle, whose outcome is of no lasting consequence – now have this ludicrously expensive replica of an ancient bludgeoning instrument. And yet, given the chance to have my photo taken with any sort of trophy or even – crikey – hold one, I will go weaker at the knees than Ben Foden at a Saturdays gig. Maybe it's because they're markers of permanence in an otherwise impermanent and ultimately meaningless milieu. As Keats said, a thing of beauty is a joy for ever. And a mace is for life, not just for Christmas.
Rahul Dravid, a true Test match special
Tanya Aldred pays tribute to Rahul Dravid in the Daily Telegraph , highlighting his battle with Shane Warne during a low-profile county match in 2000
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
Tanya Aldred pays tribute to Rahul Dravid in the Daily Telegraph, highlighting his battle with Shane Warne during a low-profile county match in 2000.
Full postWarne, who had claimed supremacy over Dravid, pulled every one of his multiple tricks; Dravid, who had claimed he could read Warne from the hand, watched, waited and masterfully dispatched; the holiday crowd who had paid just £9 to get in sat in rapt concentration. The winner? Dravid, with 137, 73 not out and a Kent victory to his name. And as he walked off after his 137, every Hampshire player, every spectator and every journalist, stood and applauded.
Relief from riots
Cricket as a retreat from the harsher realities of the world does not please everybody, but the game's sense of moral compass has never seemed more valuable, writes David Hopps in the Guardian
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
Cricket as a retreat from the harsher realities of the world does not please everybody, but the game's sense of moral compass has never seemed more valuable, writes David Hopps in the Guardian.
Full postSeven hours at a Test match was an opportunity to become absorbed in something different. There was talk of spectators who had become caught up in the riots, whose houses had been broken into, or shops damaged, and as the crowd became silent one wondered if thoughts were straying elsewhere. Then Gautam Gambhir dragged Tim Bresnan on to his stumps, driving, and the crowd roared its approval. It was a powerful, communal roar. It has rarely sounded so good.
Hungarian cricket prepares to go international
Gergo Racz, writing in the Wall Street Journal , says cricket isn’t as popular among the Hungarian youth as football, water polo or handball, but the Hungary cricket league has been making headway over the years.
Nikita Bastian
25-Feb-2013
Gergo Racz, writing in the Wall Street Journal, says cricket isn’t as popular among the Hungarian youth as football, water polo or handball, but the Hungary cricket league has been making headway over the years.
[Hungary] aims to become an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council in 2012. The Hungary cricket league has been in existence since 2007, with seven teams and about 150 adult players. There’s also a national squad, where two of the players are women.
Pakistan's other form of cricket
Emmad Hameed traces the history of tape ball cricket in Pakistan in Dawn
Dustin Silgardo
25-Feb-2013
Emmad Hameed traces the history of tape ball cricket in Pakistan in Dawn. The tape ball is harder than the tennis ball, swings more, and flies faster off the bat he explains.
The transition from tennis to tape tennis ball came around the time the Kerry Packer revolution hit international cricket, the introduction of white balls, coloured clothing, black sight screens and floodlit cricket brought a new dimension and thrill. While closer to home, tape ball generated a new interest in players and fans alike.
England's shot at No .1
Stephen Brenkley looks at the times England have struggled to complete the job in Test series over the past couple of years and writes in the Independent that this time against India, it should be a different story
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
Stephen Brenkley looks at the times England have struggled to complete the job in Test series over the past couple of years and writes in the Independent that this time against India, it should be a different story.
On three of them, as it happened, their opponents merely delayed the inevitable, on the other, the series ended in a draw.Today at Edgbaston, gloriously revamped at a cost of £32m, England will embark, riots notwithstanding, on their attempt to ensure that they are not deprived by India. Delay this time may prove costly. There is much to suggest that England can win the third Test to go 3-0 ahead, which will secure both the rubber and the No 1 place in the world Test rankings.
Rob Bagchi writes in the Guardian that Edgbaston would be a great place for England to reach top spot.
Lord's is more majestic, Trent Bridge more picturesque, Headingley had more comically lugubrious characters, one of them famously selling choc ices, and the ambience at a packed Old Trafford or The Oval can sometimes match its peak fervour, but Edgbaston, where the third Test is scheduled to begin this morning, has such a knack for producing a raucous atmosphere and dramatic matches that it is easy to understand why most England players cherish it as their favourite ground.
In the same paper, Mike Selvey also expects England to reach the summit. He says that though England lack the bowling firepower of the great Australian and West Indies teams which dominated cricket over the past three decades, they still have the muscle to be No. 1
The England side of the Andrews, Flower and Strauss, understand to the full not just their strengths but also their limitations. They bat well, brilliantly at times, but not so well or consistently that they could compete, in theory anyway, with the stellar nature of India's top order. But then they know that the lower-order batting, unmatched in the game at the moment, can compensate. This is not arrogance but the sort of trust in one another forged in places as disparate as Melbourne and the Bavarian Alps.
In the Daily Mail Nasser Hussain looks at the newcomers in this Test, Virender Sehwag and Ravi Bopara.
Full postIndia need to hunt in pairs
When Rahul Dravid clicked, no one else did
Nitin Sundar
25-Feb-2013
When Rahul Dravid clicked, no one else did. When Praveen Kumar bowled well, he had no support. When Ishant Sharma wreaked havoc, runs were leaked too easily at the other end. Kanishkaa Balachandran, writing for firstpost.com, says that India can bounce back in the series only if they figure out a way to work as a team.
India just needs to turn the clock back four years to their previous tour of England for inspiration. Curiously, for a side high on numbers, only one player, Anil Kumble, managed to score a century. Their 1-0 series win was built on crucial half-centuries and a staggering 16 fifty-plus stands, boosted by a stable opening pair. Zaheer then complemented their efforts with a match-winning 5-wicket haul at Trent Bridge. England found India’s synchronicity too overwhelming.