Its time commone sense prevailed.

With too many strategies, too many new faces in the equation, a couple of series in the subcontinent, just before the world cup and an out of form coach not being supported and respected, we need to get back to common sense approach towards this game, which has long been missing from Indian cricket.

After a record run of successful chases, things suddenly started heading south. A spat between Saurav Ganguly and coach Greg Chappell was blown out of proportions. Despite some of the most experienced campaigners being involved in the issue, it went from upsetting to ugly. Discretion with bringing media to join the discussion table always pays well, a lesson learner. Whatever Chappell’s plans were for the world cup, he wouldn’t have pictured, Ganguly in his world cup squad. Well the coach took a lot of heat for the issue from the people and the management.

So much of disregard can have an upsetting effect on this cricketing legend. It must have reflected upon the environment within the team as well. Incidents of arrogance, shirking and sulking are surfacing far too frequently for comfort. Latest being Sehwag not turning up for nets, telling the waiting coach that ‘he didn’t feel like’, when asked why. While all this must have been affecting the team’s performance Ganguly was brought back and he fired to boot. Then came Dinesh Karthik and he fired too. Its clear, given whats happening within the team, players spending time outside the team are a bit at an advantage. Excluding Kumble from ODIs back fired too and now he is back and back with a punch. If Chappell were still playing he sure would be out of form as time seems not as favorable for him.

But we must put it all behind and respect the coach for the good that he has done for the team. And there are quite a few positives to speak of actually. India’s fielding credentials were despicable before his arrival. Recognizing Dhoni and turning him into what he is today. The coach has also shown that a win has always been highest in his agenda and he has shown it a lot of times. Latest example was seen in SA when he put all his personal issues behind and taught Ganguly to roll his wrists over the ball, while playing the expensive off side shots, that he plays through the gulley. Before Ganguly would often find it hard to keep the bowl down playing that shot due to which he lost his wicket a lot in that area. Chappell carries tons of experience with him and the team can learn a lot from him. We learned that he was giving Sehwag a different kind of practice in SA with bowling machine set at the high to emulate SA bowlers’ bowling. Given Viru’s special hand eye coordination, whether it was on Viru’s behest that he was doing that or whatever was the plan, the plan didn’t work as well as they were hoping and both coach and Viru were thwarted while the fact remains that they were trying.

Coach is kind of helpless, the team, till now has failed to regard and support him and his strategies, the coach him self is not the usual genial gentlemen type that Indian cricketers and management are use to, somehow the harmony has been missing. Too much has been found out within the team to be done, we hardly get time to pay attention to the other team, their weaknesses, their strengths; we just keep struggling within ourselves.

But we have run out of time. Its time we set the record straight and get back to common sense cricket. If we get our combination right, we really can take on any team, we have match winners and so many of them in our team. So even if we can do that much, we would be able to put up a great display. And if by some miracle we grow confident enough about our own stand so much so that we are able to also find time to analyze our opponents, without feeling overworked, we really stand a chance of making it to the top.

My idea of common sense cricket is, take each game on its merit. Plan for that game and that game only. Planning too far ahead is not gonna pay off. Don’t clutter your minds with too many things, do the needful as and when needed, just plan and play for the win. And yes, all of the players must back each other and the coach at this stage.

Seems like I know it all :)

With world cup round the corner, we should’ve been trying to recollect and relive our Caribbean experiences, but we are digging far deeper in the subcontinent instead. Almost every thing has changed, since our last visit to the Caribbean. Tendulkar who was missing from the ODI scene there is gaining his form back while Sehwag who fired in two of the ODIs there, is loosing it. Add to that new faces in the equation, bowling line up going through an entire overhauling. The role of the bowling spearhead is struggling to find a worthy candidate. I think Kumble and Harbhajan must gain some experience bowling in tandem as all of it is likely to get back to them. Yuvraj who played well there is short of batting practice but it just might work for him like it did for Karthik and Ganguly. Difference being that he has not being playing domestic cricket either. Only positive to come out of this series with Sri Lanka is some hands on for our group match with Sri Lanka.

A way out !!

Having lost in bulk it seems we wanted to win one- badly. And we did. Good to see Ganguly back. He actually is one of the best ODI cricketers India has ever produced- statistically speaking. Incidentally most animated and ill treated as well. But he is back and so is his BAT. I hope we do not mess it up again.

But there seems to be a taboo on getting back to the best and most successful opening pair ever. Why cant we get back to Ganguly and Tendulkar. Its one thing to choose for the future but have a look at Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey before getting too obsessive about that approach.

What a match though.

A placid pitch- easy as it gets- where every body makes runs. We won it. But what are we doing? We are to name the finals for our world cup squad in a few days time. How will such matches aid us in that process? If Gambhir played well here, will he be deemed- in form? How will such matches help us test the caliber of the players and gauge their form?
If Virender Sehwag had played, he would've had a good time, it was that kind of pitch, but would that mean he's out of his shell?

But I guess we could ill afford to loose any more. At least not at home soil. Loosing here could spell doomsday for all our hopes. So won one. And this match looked pretty much like that. Scripted for an easy win. Scripted as a way out, as we wanted to win one - badly.

To conclude I say
Having done all that we did win it 'badly' enough with WI only 14 runs behind.

Winning is a habit

India v South Africa
Third test, final day - 6 January 2007, Newlands, Cape Town,
We lost by 5 wickets

We got to see a lot of things in the SA v India series decider. There was a plan behind all that – you would think !

Tendulkar was bowling well and was most likely amongst all the bowlers to get a wicket, but that’s is not his job. He was getting enough purchase from the surface to trouble the batsmen and ruffle up their psyche but he was wasting crucial time which could be used for testing the 'bowlers' instead.

The ‘bowlers’ who were straying in their line and length had to keep bowling because that is their role in the team. Add to this an unfit bowler and the team gets to learn how to deal with a situation like that in an series decider.

Irfan Pathan was a better batsman than most of the batsmen in the team; he was sent back and for once an absolutely unknown Ishant Sharma was almost on his way to SA while Harbhajan looked on.

Dravid and Chappell spent hours out in the center and studied the pitch (while Ganguly was in nets, he probably didn’t know the plan). They really knew something which I couldn’t comprehend as Harbhajan was strategically kept out. The opposition, however, felt the urgency and called upon a spinner even though we are considered as amongst the best players of spin.

Sehwag played well batting down the order, but he is an opener. If he wants to bat he has to do that up the order otherwise he is useless- according to the plan.

They all must practice and do the tasks that have been planed for them. If they fail, experimenting and testing out as many players as possible has been higher on our priority list off late. We will find new recruits. If we loose a match or two (or more) doing that, we can most certainly afford that.
People shouldn't make a big deal of it. We may not be able to name five trustworthy bowlers and openers etc. having done all that, but ask our management and they will say its all worth it. Our team may not be performing up to it, but they seem to have a plan. They are planning for the world cup - I guess.

We shouldn't disturb them.

Having said that, I couldn't help but cherished the moments of jubilation our players had having won the first test match in this series. I like it when our player are happy and feeling what a win feels like.

Vengsarkar, outside the party hall, sharing his thoughts on that win quite rightly said "Winning is a habit!"

I cant help but pray the same doesn't apply to loosing.

Durban Test: Team can do better playing it on its merit

Not playing it as the second test in the series but a test that they are playing having done a lot of practice in these conditions would do our team a lot of good. Kumble is always lethal on last few days' pitch. Sreesanth should keep his cool. He bowled well but more than his bowling prowess, it was SA batters' uncalled for heroics that let their team down. If you see SA's second innings, they played better. Better than us. Zaheer enjoyed the feast but he still strays and sprays bolls on both sides of the wicket, when would he learn to be disciplined. I would like to see Munaf back in the squad but only if he is match fit. Our batters are all due for performances, I think passing the buck wont do anymore each of them have to contribute. They've had enough practice. Rahul should score and lead from the front which I think he WILL do. Catching/fielding was good in the last match, lets not loose that touch. Tendulkar should stop trying, he should now do it. More so to alleviate the pain from his fiasco last time he was here as a captain. Kallis, Pollock and SA as a whole has a very good record with 8 wins and just 2 defeats in last 16 matches that they have played here. India on the other hand has nothing in past to look at. But a lot has changed since, and the players are much more experienced than before. They actually have not much to learn from the last test either apart from grit and a few bowling performances. More than we won it, it was they who lost it. Last test cant tell us miraculously something we couldn't figure out in years of playing competitive test cricket. No doubt our team has a lot of potential, we should just put our potential and experience to good effect.
What do you say?

Tendulkar vs His Stats - What records wont show

You pile up as many records for or against, what it wont show is the dedication with which he runs every single even to this date. He raises his hand and gets counted whenever there is a situation that demands a quick witted out witting over to produce a quick wicket or two. He runs hard to save singles and throws with exuberance of a school kid on field. He is giant as compared to many of the players who are almost as old as his run in the Indian Cricket History, he can sit back and can still be sure of being selected but he makes the younger look not just older but Old.

Me voicing my opinion in a debate on Little Master

It aint that complex acutally

If there is anybody better, replace Tend, otherwise play him. He brings so much to the team. Hundred percent commitment, exuberance and tons of experience, he is not replaceable at the moment. Here we are debating on his genius, while all the world eleven teams cherish and value his presence like anything even to this date. We Indians really miss out on the respect factor. An occurrence of failure and he sees the crowd on his own home ground booing him. Well we always talk about whether he lives up to it, question once whether we live up to it.

Importance of keeping Tendulkar in team.

He is too precious a player to be kept out of any team.

Even if he is going thru a rough patch it makes sense to keep him in team. Why? Well like I said he is too gifted a player. What do I mean by that? Well, do you remember, during a long partnership between Tendulkar and Dravid, in which Tendulkar was showing the world how easy it was to play the most formidable spinner in the world. Following his foot steps Dravid tried playing paddle sweep, and after a few tips from his senior partner, he was not just managing it but enjoying playing the shot.

Tendulkar is richest as a batsmen in terms of shots that he has. You look at Sehwag, we still often talk about him in terms of how many of ‘those all shots’ he has been able to imitate. He flashed and now it seems he is charging his batteries, and while he is doing that, you often hear him telling newsmen how he hasn’t been able to decipher where Tendulkar, gets all his energy from.

While entire team has his shoulders down, is taking a break away from performing, this veteran is looking as fresh and young as ever. Its actually only by looking at Tendulkar that you feel like thinking about the problem that the (rest of the team) team might be facing or otherwise we would all have given it to the conditions in south Africa by now.

I would like to add, like Srinath's presence helped our younger bowlers; Ganguli's presence allowed many Indian batsmen improve upon their timing and rediscover the art of hitting 'safe sixes', Tendulkar's presence plays a huge role and is a critical factor to the teams growth process.