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Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Pitch and selection issues for Team India ahead of Perth Test

PERTH: MS Dhoni's beleaguered side is being weighed down by pitch and personnel issues ahead of Friday's third Test against Australia that they must win to stay alive in the four-Test series.

Half of India's problems on this tour have stemmed from the playing surface, and it will be no different on a green and pacy WACA pitch that is sure to test the technique as well as temperament of batsmen.

"It will be the same for both teams. It would be a challenge not only for the Indian batsmen, but also for Australians to come good," reminded Rahul Dravid, who had made the highest score (93) in the match when the two teams had last played here four years ago.

"As a batsman, you would like to bat well in these tough conditions, for it also gives you a lot of satisfaction," said Dravid, whose innings was even more special because it had come on the first day of the Test after skipper Anil Kumble had decided to bat first after winning the toss.

There lies India's big dilemma. There is considerable resentment in the team over Dhoni's decision to bat first in Sydney when the conditions were loaded in favour of the pace bowlers on Day One.

No one has said it publicly, and no one may do so even if the series is lost but a few senior players have made it known that the skipper had not consulted them on the issue, and hence were not a party to the decision that backfired and the Indian team was bowled out for a mere 191 in the first innings.

Dhoni, who himself remained unbeaten with a half-century in the first innings, later blamed his batsmen for not putting enough runs on the board. This has not gone down well with the Indian top-order which had to face the music from Australia's pace troika.

The feeling within the team is that had India batted second, our batsmen would have been able to express themselves better on a pitch that had lost all its venom on Day 2, a point underscored by Zaheer Khan during his interaction with the media on Tuesday.

"In Sydney, I felt there was a big difference in the wicket on the first day and the second day. No excuses, but everyone could see that as the match progressed the wicket kind of eased off. That nip and movement in the pitch was not exactly the same as the first day," observed Zaheer, who had reduced Australia to 37/3 in the final session of Day One.

The million-dollar question is whether Dhoni will do what Kumble had done, or once bitten, will he be shy this time? The skipper is open to suggestions, but does not appear to be in a mood to seek it.

It would be interesting to note what transpires at the official team meeting, usually held on the eve of the match, but indications are that there will be no change in personnel as well.

There is merit in the argument for playing R Vinay Kumar, who bowls a disciplined line and length and also swings the ball. The big dilemma over whom to drop - R Ashwin or Umesh Yadav - may, however, see status quo being maintained.

Opinion is also divided over handing young Rohit Sharma his Test debut here, for it would mean either dropping VVS Laxman or Virat Kohli. Both Laxman and Kohli have their backers in the team and Dhoni may like to go with the tide one more time.

Meanwhile, the Australian pacers warmed up nicely for a third fling against the Indians on Wednesday. Bowling coach Craig McDermott marked out a spot on the pitch and ordered Peter Siddle, Rayan Harris, Ben Hilfenhaus and Mitchell Starc to go flat out in the nets. All four of them peppered Ed Cowan and David Warner with fast, rising deliveries, indicating that they are up for the challenge.

Meanwhile, the fumbling Brad Haddin, too, had a special catching session with wicketkeeping coach Steve Rixon, who made the Australian vice-captain take catches diving to either side in a bid to boost his confidence.

Article Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/series-tournaments/india-in-australia/top-stories/Pitch-and-selection-issues-for-Team-India-ahead-of-Perth-Test/articleshow/11455111.cms

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Will India's men of tomorrow stand up?

In the home team's dressing room at The Oval, cricketers in the viewing gallery must keep the company of Thomas Jefferson and Lawrence of Arabia. Or rather, the words they once said which players can read every time they walk into the area that overlooks the field. It is what Surrey cricket manager Chris Adams set up for his team; naturally, during the final Test between England and India at The Oval, only the English could read them.

Jefferson speaks crisply of "mental attitude" two hundred years before Powerpoint presentations and corporate motivational talks. But it is what T. E. Lawrence, archaeologist, scholar, soldier, says that lingers.

"All men dream but not equally," the sign reads. "Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their mind wake up in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible."

The visiting team at The Oval never gets to read this sign. Had any of the Indians walked across that wall on their Tour de Trauma, they would have identified into which category of dreamers their team belonged.

Now, why the waffling on about dreams? Did Lawrence ever open the batting for Arabia?

Fine, here's reality: over six weeks in England, India lost more than a series and their No.1 Test ranking. Eight months after a ringing 1-1 away draw against South Africa, India have been handed a whitewash in a four-Test series after 44 years. What they have lost is their moorings as a competitive Test team of world travellers. It does not, of course, mean that India cannot completely turn England, or indeed any other team, inside out in their own yard. If the two teams were to dash across to Asia this week, India could well do so with interest and fury.

Yet the most respected teams are those who dream beyond their own geography. Their imaginations stretch past the strongest and most obvious probability. It is what gave India their most successful decade in Test cricket at the turn of the millennium, mostly without contracts and often with support staff of precisely four.

From the mix of Tendulkar, Kumble, Srinath, Ganguly, Dravid and Laxman came a generation of dreamers who redefined Indian cricket, particularly outside the subcontinent. From the confidence of Test wins overseas, a World Cup final in South Africa, Test series wins in Pakistan, West Indies and England came the environment that a new generation of Dhoni, Gambhir, Ishant and Raina now works and plays in.

The defeat in England is not the end of the world; it is not the end of cricket as India knows it. It is merely a sign of the day after tomorrow in Indian Test cricket. At the moment, it is not good. What Indian cricket, replete with resources and talent, needs most now is a new generation of Lawrence's Dangerous Men. Not merely men of ability but of a larger appetite. Of the greed to succeed, of the hunger for improvement.

If a few of them emerge from the new selection panel or the BCCI itself, the Test team's life will be far easier, methodical and rationally planned (and we will all die happy). For the moment though, the banana peels on the way to the tour of England - a World Cup victory that could not really be relished by those who won it because a seven-week Frankenstein's seductive monster could not be resisted, an unthinking Board and loopy selectors - are not going to be cleared. Neither will what awaits the Test team in less than six months, the one event to try and repair their reputation - a tour of Australia.

India's first overseas Test after 4-0 (or what is now called the 0-val), will begin in Melbourne on December 26. In between there is the Champions League Twenty20, whose qualifier featuring a hopefully-robust Gautam Gambhir begins less than 72 hours after the final ODI against England in Cardiff. MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, R Ashwin, Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma and Munaf Patel will also resume play within a week. Then there are ten ODIs West Indies and England and three Tests against West Indies at home before the Indians jet off to Australia.

At one stage in this series Andrew Strauss did say, "In order to keep improving as a side you've got to keep improving the set-up and sometimes that means different personnel, sometimes it means different methods of preparation."

The BCCI have asked for an additional practice match in Australia, but other than that, sorry, boys, looks like you are pretty much on your own.

The tomorrow of Indian Test cricket is about to reveal itself. Not only in terms of runs scored or wickets taken but about who despite all the hurdles - BCCI, Twenty20, schedules, fatigue, celebrity - can emerge, visibly improved, the greediest of new dreamers.

On the tour of England, India's lack of runs and wickets was quantifiable. What was not was the intangible imbalance between those striving to compete and those content to coast. Those with the big dreams, even if only for personal excellence, and those with pocket-sized aspirations. It is easy to single out India's most recent Dangerous Men in Test cricket; it is those from the next generation - the era of plenty - who at the moment are hard to identify.

The best Test sides in the world have always had enough of Dangerous Men. Between them they can pull, push, lift, blaze and chart the course of every iconic squad's most unforgettable voyages - Lloyd's West Indies, Hussain's England, Ganguly's India, Taylor's and Waugh's Australia, Imran's Pakistan, Ranatunga's Sri Lanka, Howarth's New Zealand, Bacher's South Africa.

England 2011 has established that India's Test cricket must now arm-wrestle with this day after tomorrow. The degrees of difficulty between the long and the short game are considerable but the rewards remain far too skewed.

A player can fake it in short-form cricket but not in Tests. It brutally scrutinises every skill a cricketer may have been born with, developed or dreamt about. Beyond their physical and mental abilities in the craft itself, it also strips bare over and over again, personality itself. England has done that to every man on the Indian team and each of them know, more than a rival or an expert or their own family, just who they are and where they stand - as batsman, as bowler, as fielder, as captain, as team man.

To lift itself as a Test team beyond England, India require more than their new coach; they will need a collective of individual hunger and ambition. Maybe it will be sparked by a revitalised young leader, maybe by a brat-pack of skill and character deeply stung by 4-0.

The tomorrow of Indian Test cricket is about to reveal itself. Not only in terms of runs scored or wickets taken but about who despite all the hurdles - BCCI, T20, schedules, fatigue, celebrity - can emerge, visibly improved, the greediest of new dreamers. Who have decided - as Edmund Hilary so perfectly understood it - not that they want to be extraordinary, but want to accomplish extraordinary things. If those numbers dwindle, so will India's Test team.

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Sunday, August 21, 2011

Doherty, Marsh star in Australia's cricket win

COLOMBO — Xavier Doherty and Brett Lee took four wickets apiece as Australia defeated Sri Lanka by five wickets in the fourth one-dayer on Saturday to gain an unbeatable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.

Left-arm spinner Doherty, who was named man of the match, finished with a career-best 4-28 and paceman Lee with 4-15 as Australia dismissed Sri Lanka for 132 before achieving the modest target with 22 overs to spare.

Opener Shaun Marsh (70) was Australia's batting star as he put on 97 for the third wicket with skipper Michael Clarke (38 not out) after paceman Lasith Malinga removed Shane Watson and Ricky Ponting in the same over.

Debutant leg-spinner Seekkuge Prasanna dismissed Marsh and the Hussey brothers, Michael and David, in the space of four deliveries, but Australia needed just 10 runs to win with five wickets in hand at that stage.

Marsh, playing his first match of the series, hit one six and 11 fours in his impressive 80-ball knock.

Sri Lanka were earlier 95-3 following a 71-run stand for the third wicket between Mahela Jayawardene (53) and Kumar Sangakkara (31), but lost their last seven wickets for 37 runs in a dramatic collapse.

Skipper Tillakaratne Dilshan (12) was the other batsman to reach double figures in Sri Lanka's dismal performance on a slow wicket.

Jayawardene, dropped on 34 by wicket-keeper Brad Haddin off paceman Mitchell Johnson, hit just four boundaries in his patient 102-ball knock before falling to Lee in the 39th over.

Lee and Doug Bollinger did not allow Sri Lanka to make a solid start after the hosts elected to bat as they struck in their opening spells, removing Dilshan and Upul Tharanga (eight).

Sangakkara, hit on the helmet by a Bollinger bouncer off the first ball he faced, steadied the innings with Jayawardene before Doherty bagged three wickets in two overs.

The Australian spinner broke the partnership when he dismissed Sangakkara, caught by Lee at long-on while attempting a big shot. He then trapped Chamara Silva leg-before in the same over.

Doherty got his third wicket when he had Angelo Mathews stumped for six runs in his next over before accounting for Prasanna.

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Tuesday, August 16, 2011

No let-up by England ahead of fourth Test: Swann

LONDON: While praising Rahul Dravid for his resolute batting, England off-spinner Graeme Swann on Tuesday said that there will be no let-up from their side when the fourth and final Test against India starts on Thursday.

"We are not thinking (the) series is over. Any backslapping and pat on the back can save itself for November," Swann, whose side has already taken an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series and the world No. 1 ranking, said.

Swann cited the example of last Ashes series in Australia where England entered the final Test in Sydney with the 2-1 advantage in the series, but showed no signs of complacency, winning the game by an innings and 83 runs.

"After Melbourne Test, everyone said the hard work had been done and wouldn't blame England for taking their foot off the pedal. But we reserved our best in Sydney.

"If we are at the halfway mark in this Test, we would be doing very well. Besides, nobody would like to be in the room with (coach Andy) Flower if we did take our foot off."

As far as Dravid was concerned, the offie was full of praise.

"He has been exceptional. He has challenged our bowlers the most. He has used his feet and crease very well. He's looked in real good form. He's the wicket which is cherished the most. Once you get him, you sense it should send shockwave through the Indian batting -- the wall or rock or whatever you call him is gone. You sense you're a little further into their batting," Swann said.

England's pace bowling has been devastating in the series but they were dealt a blow after James Anderson was reported unfit for the Oval Test.

"He's fine. I didn't know he was injured. He didn't seem to be limping when out of car. He said it was just stiffness. When he's doing well, he is hungry to keep it going. If not, he doesn't mind a week's off."

Despite the Anderson blow, England are not worried as they have a strong bench strength.

"When we missed Chris Tremlett, we thought it as a big loss but (Tim Bresnan) Bressi has been unbelievable over the last two Tests. We have a vast stock of fast bowling -- I don't know from where they all are coming but they all are around at the same time."

While his side has dominated India in all the three Tests, Swann himself hasn't had a very good series, picking up four wickets at 80.25.

"It would be nice to play a bit more role. I did bowl well at Edgbaston but was disgusted with my bowling at Trent Bridge. It's my home ground but you feel like taking leave when Tests come around at that venue.

"It hasn't been a hot and dry summer. Someone up there looked after us by giving cloudy and moisture conditions. I hope it's dry out there but there are 3-4 guys hoping it's a bit damp."

Despite the Indian batting's failure to reach the 300-mark in six innings here, Swann felt the visitors could give a better account of themselves at the Oval.

"The break India had from Test cricket worked in our favour. India went to West Indies which is 100 degrees and not swinging. Conditions are completely different here. I certainly wouldn't write off Indians. We need to be on top of our games to keep them under 300."

Swann also found it hard to believe that the series has panned out in a way he had wanted, but added that the real test would be the tour of the sub-continent where they play against Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India later this year.

"When we went to Loughbrough (cricket academy), if anyone had looked how we plotted, he would have found it incredibly implausible given the results we have had. Anyone would've seemed sensationalist what we had on the board but it has panned out exactly so.

"The litmus test though would be where we are as a team if we do well in those very hostile conditions."

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Inder's Sports Blog

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Pitch and selection issues for Team India ahead of Perth Test

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Will India's men of tomorrow stand up?

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Doherty, Marsh star in Australia's cricket win

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

No let-up by England ahead of fourth Test: Swann

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