Impact of the IPL - Part 2

Impact on future cricketers

Pre-IPL school kid: Wakes up, dons whites, shrugs on his kit bag, warms up, visualizes his hero (one of top 10 list of run-scorers/wicket-takers on test matches over the last 5 - 10 years) , practises hard, dreams of donning the test cap…

Just over three decades ago, life in India was simplicity itself. Dyanora and Crown were the only widely available brands of television sets, the portly Ambassador or the angular Premier Padmini were the only two passenger cars available, Pele, Cryuff and Beckenbauer were the soccer-loving public’s icons and Sunil Gavaskar was the cricket-loving public’s homegrown ideal. For every kid who fantasized about the epitome of sporting achievement, it was simple; a match-winning performance (a hundred for 97% of the population, a ten-for for the remaining 3%) to win India a test match.

Today, electronics ‘uber’stores showcase 23 brands of plasma televisions and 27 brands of the LCD variety, there are roughly fourteen different models of sedans, each with not less than 3 variants, Raikonnen jostles for poster space alongside Rooney and Lebron, and Yuvraj, Dhoni and Harbhajan are the cricketing superstars. While the fame was based on the on-field spats, chest-thumping sound bytes interspersed with the odd performance of cricketing relevance, it was still relatively easy to separate the wheat from the chaff. Obvious deficiencies in technique leading to failure to make it to the test team (which still counts for something) or to be sorted out by well-prepared batsmen meant that kids were clear about the difference between a Rahul Dravid or a VVS Laxman versus a Yuvraj Singh or a Mahendra Dhoni. The ubiquitous ‘fan’ might already be swooning at the sight of a ‘Dhoni special’ as he bludgeons the ball with the end of the bat describing a full circle as his feet leave the ground but the kid in the nets will still dream of standing tall on the backfoot and punching through the covers like he’s seen Tendulkar do because he knows the supreme balance and coordination needed.

But what of it, three, maybe four years from now, when the IPL will hold consistent sway? When the TRP race will have elevated the bits and pieces cricketers to demi-god status, when those with the ’swishiest’ blades (made that word up, but i think it conveys the meaning) will endorse their team owners’ products? With test cricket relegated to those times of the year when the IPL can’t be played (like monsoon season on the subcontinent), practising the long hit will make much more economic sense than getting in line and playing on length. Those knocking on the doors of the U-19 teams of their respective states will prefer adding part-time slow-medium bowler to their resume in addition to big-hitter than refine that non-essential skill of a backfoot defensive. The simple reason being the prospect of a bidding war that will pit his wares against his peers and that additional skill might tilt the balance. Sure, fielding skills will be significantly elevated in the manner of a season or two (amazing how much less grass burns hurt when they fetch you the additional $200K), but the younger generation of batsmen will look like mass-produced assembly line products, ugly ones, that move their front foot towards mid-on and rapidly bring their shoulders around to take almightly heaves at the ball, irrespective of line or length. The shortened boundaries and the ever-improving bats will ensure that any contact upwards of feathered edges will send the ball ballooning over the ropes and the crowds rapturous. Combine a continuously declining standard of bowling for no reason other than neglect and you only accelerate the decline in the standard of the game.

Post-IPL school kid: Wakes up later (coz of the IPL game last night), dons his multi-coloureds, snaps on the franchise headband of the Ahmedabad Kiteflyers, remembers the roar of the crowds as he attempts to launch each delivery out of the ground while complaining about the tinge of grass left behind by the groundsman, dreams of franchise cap/helmet/paraphernalia…

The doomsday scenario about the cricket has been overdone to highlight one thing, the short-term (hopefully) impact of the IPL will be to narrow the gap between the great and merely competent, between the sublime and the almost ridiculous. The impact on the next generation of cricketers might be enormous and far-reaching. Everyone has to have heroes, important that they be the right kind.

Impact of the IPL - Part 1

This is the first of a 3-part post on the potential impact of the IPL on the game of cricket as we know it. I think of the three key components that will undergo change; current cricketers (international and domestic), future cricketers (little kids donning the whites) and the game of cricket as it might exist 5-7 years down the line.

Impact on current cricketers

There exists the potential for several tags to attach to any current cricketer; country, state/club, international, test-class, one-day specialist and now, IPL player. Given that the tags are not mutually exclusive, it is fair to think of the impact of the last tag on the others. Scanning the team rosters of the expansive yet unimaginatively named teams, there are 3 kinds of players that currently form some kind of royalty (Super Kings, XI Kings, Royals, Royal Challengers), job descriptions (Chargers, Daredevils), comic heroes (Knight Riders) or just plain passport holders (Indians); Type 1 (Test and ODI regulars), Type 2 (Uni-dimensional type 1 wannabes) and Type III (Greenhorn potential).

Type 1 - Test & ODI Regulars:

Think Adam Gilchrist, Graeme Smith, Shivnaraine Chanderpaul, Brett Lee.

These guys have been around for a while and are no-brainers when their respective country’s team sheets are drawn up.  Not getting into the debate over contentious names like Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly et al, we still have enough to make a sizable set. Their motivations to suit up in the shiny colours is partly curiosity about the new franchised format and partly a need to prove to themselves in the slam-kaboom variety of the game.

T1 Batsmen: Having the technique and the temperament, they are likely to feel themselves through their first few innings and then make the necessary adjustments to open up angles with conventional cricket shots (yes, Gilchrist plays conventional shots, he just picks the length earlier than most others). As pitches are flattened to ensure high-scoring games, these guys will fill take on individual challenges against top class bowlers while mauling the mediocre ones.
T1 Bowlers: The truly hamstrung lot, top quality bowlers will look at varying their lengths and pace to outfox batsmen. Expect some innovative field placings and lengths to put batsmen off.

Type 2 - Unidimensional type 1 wannabes:

Think Yuvraj Singh, Shane Watson, Simon Katich, Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan.

These are those that have been knocking on the doors to be type 1 for a while. They’ve all had their moments but never consistently enough to be considered shoo-ins. In the regular world, these would be the most driven type of player, having tasted some success in their national colours, to relentlessly work to improve their techniques that would make all the difference. In the IPL world however, these blokes stand to lose the most. Why bust your derriere improving against the short fast delivery aimed at the throat when you can make a packet swatting medium-paced dollops in franchise colours? Worst-hit (or rewarded depending on your point of view) will be the Indian (the country not the franchise) Type 2s who strut around with collars raised, preening for the camera as they manufacture dives to play to the gallery.

T2 Batsmen: The format is tailor-made for those who are already on the front foot before the ball has been bowled. Given that bowling is not considered a requisite skill in the newest form, there are enough slightly built slow-medium slingers pretending to be bowlers for this type to flay their bats at and do reasonably well. For the likes of Robin Uthappa, the strategy would be simple, scamper the single off the good bowlers, swing/scoop/bludgeon the others hard, give interviews
T2 Bowlers: Penetration and wicket-taking having been relegated to secondary activities, these bowlers will look at specializing in hitting just the right length with just enough wobble to make stroke-making irritating. Only problem is, all such bowlers will be a blur with their ‘acceptable’ returns of 1 for 42 off 4 overs

Type 3 - Greenhorn potential:

Think Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Virat Kohli.

These are the ‘young turks’, mostly of Indian cricket, with wins at the U-19 levels and dreams of the land of milk and honey of international cricket in their eyes. Which way they go will depend purely on what they are made of. Some will improve from their encounters with top class players. Some will reduce their games to similar to the T2s. Of little current significance, but the future of this lot will have tremendous bearing on that of the game itself

T3 Batsmen: Will have to resist the urge to shut their eyes and mow across the line of every delivery (given even that has its success rates). Instead, to learn more about their game and gain the experience of playing in front of packed houses alongside some of the legends. The choice of international player they model themselves on will make all the difference
T3 Bowlers: The odd spinner might gain operating under pressure, but the format closes the door on young fast-bowlers looking to hone their art, even the good ones will be easy meat for the T1 and T2 batsmen.

Too much of Type 2 and the IPL might just have a truncated shelf-life. At the end of the day, quality cricket is easy to spot.

Technorati Tags: IPL, cricket, 20-20 cricket

Strike One against the IPL

Strike One against the IPL. Those familiar with the American past-time would have heard of the umpire’s exaggerated signal while signalling the first pitch that goes through ‘the zone’, baseball’s imaginary equivalent of stumps. Media restrictions and other totalitarian measures aside, the IPL can still bulldoze its way to being the biggest thing since the Packer series, the teeming mass of Indian cricket fans can ensure that. However, there is one way it can all wither away really fast.

The grand opening ceremony and the theatrical introduction of the captains followed by the signing of the ’spirit of cricket’ was all fine. The cavorting Washington Redskin cheerleaders, more so. The droning speeches from the chairman of the BCCI and the ‘IPL commissioner’ were greeted by boos. You have to wonder what makes these gents think that the ticket-buying public cared about listening to bureaucrats looking to sound important.

The main event however, the game itself, was a damp squib. The Knight Riders did everything right by the script of those looking to make the IPL success, but the Royal Challengers were blown away by Brendon McCullum’s blitzkrieg. For the realistic, the game was over once Shah Rukh Khan’s team had posted over 200 against a side boasting more technically correct test batsmen than most test teams. Once Rahul Dravid had been dismissed to Ishant Sharma’s first ball, the writing was on the digital scoreboard. More than the dismissal, it was swing across the line followed by the ball cannoning into leg stump that underlined how T20 is no place for high left elbows and backfeet moving to get in line.

While Vijay Mallya might be wondering about the composition of his team, the other owners should be wondering what a few more one-sided games will do to the lustre of the IPL. The remaining games of the weekend take on significance, not just for the teams, but for every investor in the expected blockbuster.

Technorati Tags: IPL, Knight Riders, Royal Challengers, Rahul Dravid, Ishant Sharma, Brendon Mccullum, Shah Rukh Khan

Daylight Robbery II

When Graeme Smith set forth for South Africa, some of the factors he would have considered would be the Indian team, partisan crowds, turning tracks and weather conditions. What they would not have imagined would be how they would be up against not just the Indian cricket team, but the entire machinery of the cricketing organization in India.

The last glaring instance was in 2004 when Ricky Ponting’s team decimated India in India in the first two test matches in Bangalore and Nagpur to conquer Steve Waugh’s “last frontier”. When the powers that be of Indian cricket found that the Aussie batsmen, especially the statuesque Mathew Hayden had come prepared to face cracking surfaces and sustained spin attacks, they exercised some of their enormous influence to ensure a surface in Mumbai that was as hard as butter left in the sun enabling the ordinary Murali Kartik to pick up his cheapest wickets to complete the formalities. The result was only symbolic since the Aussies had already won the series.

This time however, the BCCI managed to avert yet another home-series loss by its timely ‘intervention’. There were no pretenses toward preparing a surface. The surface was dusting before the first ball was bowled and it was a credit to Graeme Smith’s team for not refusing to play on a surface that was substandard for a school game, let alone test cricket. Those who believe that the sand pit at Kanpur was the ‘home advantage’ equivalent of a bouncy track at ‘The Wanderers’ know about as much cricket as Mike Tyson knows sportsmanship.

Pitch preparation is an art and a science, involving weeks of rolling layers of soil accompanied by regular watering to compact it into a surface that will offer enough reactive force to the cricket ball to enable it travel without absorbing too much of the force applied by the bowler. The grass primarily serves to hold the soil together and the amount of it showing above ground causes lateral deviation (seam movement because of irregularities in the surface and swing because of the humidity close to the surface caused by the evaporating moisture) Too much water, and the surface remains soft causing the seam to grip on the surface causing slow loopy bounce (referred to as tennis ball bounce). Too less, and there is nothing holding the surface together and the surface where the ball repeatedly pitches and the bowlers follow through disintegrates causing mostly ankle-high bounce with the odd one that takes off after hitting the edge of a crack. Thus, a fast green track is still true to bat on provided batsmen have the technique to counter the moving ball. But an under-prepared track like at Kanpur, makes batting a lottery with the odd ball taking off and the odd one keeping low. It is indeed ironic that the best curator of the series will probably lose his job for the fast belter at Ahmedabad.

One can only react in one way to Dhoni’s act of sending a thank you note accompanied by a cheque for Rs 10,000 to the curator of the Green Park; he should have sent him the entire amount won from the farce. Don’t be surprised if next time around, the street-smart, brash and flamboyant young captain of India will be sending similar tokens to hotel chefs for accounting for the fastest bowlers in the opposition with e. coli laden delicacies. Surely, the man-of-the-series can be a non-playing contributor!

Technorati Tags: test cricket, South Africa, India, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Murali Kartik, Mathew Hayden, Graeme Smith

World domination

Chapter 4 of Arithmetic in Standard I: Inequalities (made up of course). Fundamental concept: If A > B and B > C, then A > C. Decisive and categorical. Just the way you want things to be when you’re 3 feet and bit tall and looking to get your homework right, or atleast more right than wrong. It wouldn’t do if the concept said "If A > B (most of the time) and B > C (most of the time, one could be reasonably certain that A > C (some of the time) except when C finds B more tiresome than it does A"

And so, in the cricketing world, when team A beats B consistently and B beats C consistently, we like to think that its safe to assume that A would thrash the living daylights out of C fairly consistently too. Logical. So, its not outlandish to nod in agreement when Andrew Flintoff and team spoke of the changing world order by their humbling of the Aussies in the 2005 Ashes series. Flashforward to the early 2008 and similar sound bytes, this time from members of the Indian team, except maybe the accent was on being confrontational.

But how credible are the challenges of teams other than Australia to dominate the game?

Winning much more than losing

 

Clearly displayed dominance over ALL opposition

 

The table above shows the teams in vertically descending order of win percentage over the last 10 years and each value in a specific cell shows percentage of games won by the team in that row against the team in that column. The blue-shaded cells mark those where the win percentage is greater 50% to indicate a clear advantage of the team over its opposition (hence the completely blue column for Zimbabwe).

Since the teams are ordered in descending order of wins, almost all cells to the right the of grey-shaded diagonal should logically be blue, but that is not the case, except for NZ, WI, Australia and to an extent, South Africa. For example; India have struggled to win any games against New Zealand (11%) who have however been more regularly beaten by Sri Lanka (33%). However Sri Lanka has been a relatively easier opponent for India, with India winning 43% of their test matches. Also, South Africa, who have long been considered the challengers to Australia have only managed to actually beat the world champions once (8% of their encounters), less than India, England, West Indies and Sri Lanka.

The ODI table however is a lot more conventional with the teams with higher win percentages having had the advantage over teams who haven’t won as many games. Even here though, SA have clearly dominated India (57%) but have won a fewer percentage of their games against SL (49%) than India have (53%).

The prevalence of several such ‘relationships’ indicate that barring Australia, most other teams have consistently found certain sets of conditions or skills in the opposition very hard to beat inspite of their perceived superiority.

So while India have become tougher nuts for the Aussies to crack, frailty against the likes of New Zealand among other sides will still undermine their claim to being the 2nd best. The same goes for the likes of South Africa, Sri Lanka and others. Simply put, to be number 1, teams will have to learn to win, all the time, against everyone. And that is a very tall order.

Technorati Tags: Test Cricket, One Day Cricket, Australia, India, West Indies, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, England, New Zealand, Zimbabwe

Lessons from an Australian summer

Mark Taylor said it was one of best summers of cricket he has seen in a long time. Others have been claiming that Australia V India is the new Australia V England, which isn’t saying much given those weren’t ever in the vicinity of being contests barring 2005. The long-drawn Commonwealth Bank Series is over and apparently India have had their best overseas tours in history. A 1-2 loss in the test series and winning the ODI series (which is how the marketers would prefer it anyway). Creditable results, those of a dramatic bent of mind can even see signs of an inflection point in the dynamic of the cricket world that is no longer dominated by default by Australia. For me however, the cynical yet idealistic observer, things don’t seem quite right.

Sore winners?

Felicitations by senior politicians and stadiums filled with delirious spectators watching cheques for obscene amounts of money being handed to the team have seem to become the norm since the T20 world cup. The day after Dhoni held the trophy aloft, I was desperately scouring news sources to see a mention of where the team would be touching down on their return trip and heaved a sigh of relief only when I saw mention of the Pherozeshah Kotla. After all, the T20 victory parade in Mumbai cost two (additional) hours of my life during my morning drive to work. The GABBA in Brisbane was not at capacity during the 2nd final because of the fact that it was a working day. Here, you get packed stadiums for a 4 hour presentation ceremony.

Talk is cheap, wickets aren’t

If cricket writers are to be believed, India is going through an economic resurgence and that is evident in the behaviour of its young cricketers. They say the new Indian does not back down and gives as well as he takes. And this explains India’s success. Hence the glorification of every act of pettiness, and of its worst perpetrators. Every news channel currently shows Harbhajan Singh giving lessons in the art of winning. A comparison against Australia’s beleaguered spinner Hogg shows the turbanator to be behind on every parameter except the economy rate. Maybe chest-thumping and flag-waving do not necessarily lead to sporting success.

Bowler	Test series (wickets)	Test Series (Runs/wicket)	ODI Series (wickets)	ODI Series (Runs/wicket)	ODI Runs/Over
H. Singh	8	61.25	8	34.62	4.25
B. Hogg	8	60.12	8	29.50	4.33

What’s that saying about form and class?

As far as Dhoni and his ‘young brigade’ theory goes, the Indian batting looked like a house of cards till its most senior member found form and scored 48% and 35% of the teams runs in the two finals. Apart from Gambhir, the rest of the batsmen looked like walking wickets for most of the series. Allowing an adjustment to the average for not-outs, the averages and strike rates of the ‘brash new India’ was not anything to do cartwheels for.

Batsman	Runs	Average	Strike Rate	Not outs
G. Gambhir	440	55.00	82.70	2
S. Tendulkar	399	44.33	85.25	1
M. Dhoni	347	69.40	73.98	4
R. Sharma	235	33.57	75.56	3
Y. Singh	202	22.44	84.51	0
R. Uthappa	142	20.28	66.35	1

Australia…daylight…the rest

India played some stirring cricket through the tour to run the hosts close in almost every match barring the first test and an ODI. But how much of it was enabled by Australia’s shortcomings? Their top five batsmen with the exception of Hayden and Symonds in the tests had a largely forgettable summer.

Batsman	Test Series	ODI Series
M. Hayden	82.00	37.25
A. Gilchrist	21.42	32.20
R. Ponting	38.28	19.10
M. Clarke	45.14	39.25
A. Symonds	68.33	19.33

Did India close the gap between itself and the world champions or did the world champions slow down? Not to say that the Indian bowling did not have anything to do with the meager returns, but a few of the dismissals were more batsman error than sustained pressure from the fielding side. But then a flashback to several of Shane Warne’s dismissals (especially against teams like South Africa, England and New Zealand) would show good batsmen playing daft mows at rank long hops and holing out at deep square-leg. Point is that I had never seen as many, to use tennis parlance; ‘unforced errors’ from an Australian team as there were this summer.

It was said that cricket needed a strong West Indian side to flourish. I think cricket needs a strong Australian side to even survive. One can hope that this summer was an aberration and not an indicator of decline in their superlative standards. I for one fervently do so.

Technorati Tags: CB Series, Australia, India

Saved by the bell

India’s first win in over two decades against Australia at the MCG took a superlative bowling effort that bowled out the hosts for their fourth-lowest first innings total at home. While it is being touted as a stirring performance by the Indian attack, it was really the performance of young Ishant Sharma supported by some steady bowling combined with a couple of fortunate decisions that set up the win. The seemingly comfortable margin of victory has served to inject life into the CB series and if Sri Lanka beat India at Canberra on the 12th, it will throw the series wide open. From Australia’s perspective, they will a tad concerned about the batting capitulation but a closer look will indicate that a more solid start from the openers will go a long way towards correcting the problem.

Some points to ponder after the game:

1. India’s batting frailty: The absence of some of the old hands and the indifferent form of some others means that the Indian batting order looks more fragile than it has anytime since the late 90’s. A look at the teamsheet shows only three batsmen (Tendulkar, Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh) who have anchored innings in the past on a regular basis. Of these, the latter two are in indifferent form leaving Sachin Tendulkar in the familiar position of being required to be the bulwark of the innings. The difference from the early years however is the presence of some quick-scoring batsmen who can push the rate along thus eliminating the pressure of pushing the runrate along.
2. The untested core: Following on from #1, Gambhir, Rohit Sharma and Uthappa who form the middle order have little or no experience of playing in salvage situations post top-order collapses. Yuvraj, while having significant experience, is battling his own form slump. This could prove decisive in must-win situations later in the series where the workman-like technique of Dhoni and Pathan won’t always be able to bail the team out.
3. No witchhunt for rogue umpires: When one of the best batsmen on your team gets a bad decision that is not even marginal and the best in the opposition gets a reprieve, it is safe to say that the umpiring had an impact on the game. However, Ponting’s post-match interview made barely a reference to them that too on being specifically asked by the interviewer. While the ridiculously partisan coverage for the subcontinent continues, Ponting and his team will work out the factors under their control for the next game.
4. Nothing tests like test cricket: If the Aussie defense of the subpar total was valiant, it was encumbered by the artificial restrictions posed by One-day cricket on captains to limit the usage of their best bowlers. Each Brett Lee delivery was counted down by the Indian batsmen knowing that he had only 60 legal deliveries to unleash (hence the title of the post). I say artificial because it is apart from the first 12 odd overs, not about the best bowler versus batsman. If the quota on overs is to ensure that teams with more balanced bowling attacks perform better, why not the same rule for the batsman? Of course, that would be akin to tying the hands of both boxers in a ring behind their backs. Maybe a solution would be give to let a fielding captain extend spells for two of their bowlers by a couple of overs each if the batsmen let go of more than a certain number of deliveries.

India will hope that papering over the cracks will be enough to win against Sri Lanka in Canberra but going by the slow nature of the track in the practice game, the surface will be more suitable to Sri Lanka’s slow bowlers than India’s attack.

Technorati Tags: Australia, India, CB Series, MCG

Of champions and twilight

The Border-Gavaskar trophy has been handed out and before one could say “skill-be-damned-bring-on-the-mayhem” three games of the pajama variety have concluded, one where the ‘reigning champions’ were given some lessons and two that fell prey to the age old enemy, weather. The hysterical nature of the cricket calendar means that by the end of the month, there will be a whole new set of statistics (both Win-Loss and Averages) to be dissected and commented about. The street-smart cricketer who by definition is one who has learnt the intricacies of an endorsement deal before having scored a run on a difficult pitch then will not fret over an inability to get the ball off the square for the duration of the test series or the majority of the triangular series. All he needs is a couple of well-timed innings preferably against opposition that is resting its best bowlers. The blinding but myopic glare of every media vehicle will ensure that he will still count as one of the successes of the tour.

The test series nevertheless will be long remembered by a few for being the swan-song of the most prolific wicket-keeper batsmen of all time. Adam Gilchrist remarked on the reception he got when coming out to bat in the MCG 20-20 that he now realised how Sachin Tendulkar felt everytime he went out to bat. That one of the most destructive and awe-inspiring batsmen only felt that kind of pressure that is completely independent of the match-situation itself and is purely of an externally imposed kind is a damning testimony to the kind of supplicants we, as a cricket-viewing public have been.

Just as fervently noted, and more poignant, was how this would most likely have been the last appearance down under for the run machine from India. Due to cricket’s dependence on all the variables in the mix - pitch, outfield, weather, opposition (not in any particular order), all runs scored or wickets taken are not equal. The value of a hard fought counter-attacking fifty on a difficult track in a match where the opposition comes out guns blazing is far more than a dreary innings worth three times that against an insipid track and opposition. Kumar Sangakarra, the only man within range of reaching Gilchrist’s stratospheric heights said in his column that playing in Australia is an examination of one’s cricketing abilities.

Burning the statistics books (or hard-drives to be correct), the most watchable sights in cricket are fast bowlers steaming in on a hard-grassy track, top-class batsmen in full flight on a true pitch, lush yet quick outfields and picturesque grounds with noisy crowds that appreciate good cricket. Tendulkar playing test cricket in Australia was that irresistible combination although the odds were rarely, if ever, in his favour. One can only imagine if he had half the support from numbers 1,2 and 3 that Ricky Ponting has had. What made the contest so riveting was that the best of the opposition bowlers would be operating, exerting every sinew to get him out. Glenn Mcgrath, Jason Gillespie, Shane Warne and now Brett Lee, all have wanted the wicket of India’s #4 more than that of any other name on the list. The hostile conditions down under have seemed to bring our the best in Tendulkar - decisive footwork, crisp punched drives, definitive pulls and even the odd hook. While Australian pitches and teams will still produce quality cricket, some of the sparkle will be forever lost when Sachin Tendulkar walks off an Australian pitch for the last time.

Technorati Tags: Sachin Tendulkar, Adam Gilchrist, CB Series, Australia, India, Cricket

The WACA - Conquered!

“Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war!” - William Shakespeare

My limited exposure to classical literature as opposed to  mainstream fiction means the phrase “Dogs of War” conjures up images of a grizzled bunch of mercenaries sponsored by an American industrialist laying siege to the rudimentary military of an obscure African nation. The intent of the siege, to replace the despot leader with another who would sign over the mining rights to the mineral-rich expanse of the country. The magic of Forsyth’s writing is his ability to go into the nuts-and-bolts details of every operation that his characters undertake and so, the first half of the book is a ‘dummies guide to procurement for mercenaries’ with everything from combat jackets to rocket propelled grenade launchers.

The significance of ‘the Home advantage’ in sport has been such that many an encounter has been marketed with the classic setting showing the ‘Away’ team’s attempt at storming the citadel. So it was with Lambeau Field and the Green Bay Packers (until their near-perfect home record was vapourized over the last couple of seasons). So it is with teams going to Australia. A record of 22 wins out of 25 played over five years highlights the massive gulf between the world champions and the rest. It is for this reason that one can’t help but visualize the fourth day of the third test as an army launching an enthusiastic assault on the impregnable fortress that is the WACA.

Past campaigns by other teams saw half-hearted charges at the ramparts only to be either cut down by sharp-shooting snipers like Mcgrath and Lee. The first charge dismantled by the likes of Hayden and Ponting followed by Symonds and Gilchrist who line up opposition bowlers in the sights of their Howitzers before blowing them to smithereens. Jan 19 saw a spirited charge by a team that was light on heavy artillery that had, for three days dodged and weaved the pounding from the four heavy guns that were expected to anhialate the Indian ranks. Inspite of the additional ammo of a 413 run lead and 2 wickets, none expected it to be easy. It took sustained accuracy from Ishant Sharma to take out one of the big guns before some lucky ricochets got rid of Hussey and Symonds. Even then, the Aussies blazed away, going after a victory that every other team would not even consider. Clarke manned the guns supremely well, raking the Indian charge, putting doubts in their minds. Even with 5 wickets down, the writing was not on the wall, and it was only when Sehwag’s revolver shot that took out Gilchrist and Kumble took out Clarke, the defences were breached. With the Indians into the stronghold, Johnson and Clark put up some vicious hand-to-hand fighting that pushed the attackers back one more time temporarily causing confusion before being finally overwhelmed by the invaders. The WACA…conquered!

My ode to the stereotypical war movie sated, its worth considering that the margin of 72 runs after having been dominated for almost every session of play over four days shows how gritty an opponent, the world champions are, and you wonder the difference a certain healthy hamstring would have made, in the form of the massive Mathew Hayden. Another difference between champion teams and others might be evident in how they probably won’t be raking the umpires over the coals for two decisions that had their own telling impact on the day. In Melbourne, Roger Federer almost looked human in his five set marathon against J. Tipsarevic. Funny thing, sport.

Technorati Tags: Test Cricket, Cricket, WACA, Australia, India

The WACA, Perth - home of attacking cricket

At the end of day 2 at the WACA ground in Perth, India lead by 170 and the world is an unrecognizable place. Touted as ‘red-hot’ by journalists and anyone within earshot of a microphone, Australia swapped their lone spinner for another frighteningly fast bowler in Shaun Tait and were expected to blow the Indian lineup away with a lethal mix of pace and bounce. Over articles, talk shows and water-cooler discussions at the office, only one thing was evident, that India were going to play on the scariest pitch in the world.

Even though India last played there over a decade ago, I have followed most matches that were played at this venue, purely because it is, in my opinion one of the best cricket wickets in the world. Best, because it gave everyone a chance; seam bowlers, spinners and batsmen - all for the same reason, because it is hard and affords bounce.

A batsman cannot afford to be indecisive about his shot selection at Perth, he either goes back or forward, leaves or plays. There is not enough time to change your mind as the ball comes down. For that reason, it is a haven for top-quality batsmen, weaknesses in technique are quickly exposed here. It is also a popular misconception that seam bowlers only need to turn up to get wickets by the bagful. The WACA pitch rewards only those who bend their backs and bowl the right length. Gentle floaters and half-trackers quickly reach the fence. Even top quality spinners, Shane Warne to name one have done well here, because the extra bounce makes the difference between a gloved catch to silly point and a thick edge straight to ground.

Most importantly the WACA does not allow defensive and insipid cricket, the kind we saw in the recent India-Pakistan series. Teams that turn up at Perth with trepidation are usually ground into the dust within 3 days, but when both teams turn up for a fight, the quality of cricket transcends the outstanding. That Australia will regroup and go hard at the Indians starting Day 3 is not to be doubted, but if India can maintain the standard of competitiveness from the first 2 days, it will be the test match of the season and the WACA pitch will deserve a lot of the credit.

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