When India might have lost the World Cup to food

From 1983 World Cup to 1987 World Cup, many things changed in the realm of Indian cricket. From mere underdogs at the 83’ Cup to potential title winners in 1987, Indian cricket came a long way. They proved to the world that the 83 world cup victory was not a fluke by winning the Benson & Hedges World Series in Australia in 1985. In 1986, India won the Test series in England under Kapil Dev’s captaincy, but that series is more known for Dilip Vengsarkar’s exploits in the first two tests. His 3^rd consecutive test hundred in Lords (2^nd in that series), also gave him the tag ‘ Lord of Lords’ ’.

Dilip Vengsarkar continued his form in 1987, a year considered by many as Annus Mirabilis in his career. He also entered Wisden cricketers of the year listing that year. The two home series with Australia and Pakistan were perfect preparation going into the world cup at home. By then Sunil Gavaskar announced his retirement at the end of the world cup and Indian middle order was primarily revolving around Vengsarkar and India went into the World Cup as one of the contenders for the title. India almost cruised into the Semi Finals without any hiccups except the loss in the first league match against Australia.

Setting: 1987 World Cup, Semi Final between India and England in Mumbai, then Bombay. The preparation was fantastic and some Mumbai players got to stay at home too. However, the morning of the match threw up a big shocker as news of Dilip Vengsarkar not playing trickled in. The reason: he was down with food poisoning. Being a great fan of Vengsarkar those days, I was completely shocked knowing this, as many other fans would have been. When the match started and I read the starting XI and the replacement for Vengsarkar, my heart sank. It was Chandrakant Pandit, the stand-in wicket keeper, who was drafted into the team as a specialist batsman.

It would be harsh on other players to say that we lost the match because of the absence of Vengsarkar. But it certainly had an impact on the end result as he was the mainstay of Indian middle order during the period. It would be surprising to realize all that a sportsman has to consider with care these days, while the playing season is on, and more so when a major event is happening. Food certainly is one of them and today there are coaches and other support staff who ensure that these are taken care of. But do coaches and support staff really control what cricketers eat or drink?

World Cup 2011 - Fight for supremacy between oriental artistry and molded perfection

The world cup returns to the sub continent after a gap of 14 years. This will be a world cup which will see a battle between the artistry of sub continent teams and the laptop based analytical approach. Over the years teams like South Africa and Australia have used the latter technique to perfection. By analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of each opposition player methodically, they tried adapting their game accordingly. It has yielded its own results. What that approach didn’t teach them, however was how to react in pressure situations, how to stay calm in crunch games and how to churn out class players year after year. South Africa have never won the world cup. The closest they came was reaching the semi finals. Australia, though they have a record to die for in world cup history, are fast realizing that cricketers can’t be churned out of laptops. However strong the lower level systems are, it finally boils down to the skills of the individual players, their perseverance and discipline and spotting those players early. All the success they achieved was not just due to the systems they had in place at domestic level, but because of a few individual players, all of who played together for a large part of their careers.

This is where the sub continent teams like India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan had been different. Lot of people described that watching some players from these countries was like watching a painter with a brush in hand. Today, these teams too have realized the importance of using analysis before games. But I don’t think these analyses really matter to players like Virendar Sehwag when they go out on to the field. So, players from these nations still are artistes. When you see Mahela Jayawardene you recall the word ‘touch artiste’ very much associated with tennis players like Ramesh Krishnan, for whom brute force was never an option. While one finds both types of players on either side of this divide (A Shoiab Akhtar in the mould of Brett Lee and Shaun Tait, A Graham Swann with fine spin skills) the divide itself is pretty much present and clear.

So, as the curtain rises for the start of the World Cup, this battle between artistic finesse and molded perfection is renewed. The pitches suiting spin bowling will surely test players from outside the sub continent. Whichever team adapts quickly to the grounds and conditions will come close to entering the last four. But one thing that can be assured is total entertainment for all cricket loving fans the world over. Let the entertainment begin!!!

Sachin creates and breaks his own records

Much like the famous pole vaulter Sergey Bubka, Sachin Tendulkar creates records. Since there is no one around to break them, he then breaks those records himself. A couple of years after Sachin made his debut, Sunil Gavaskar commented that if Sachin were not to score 15000 runs in tests and 20000 runs in One day internationals by the time he hung up his boots, he would have done gross injustice to his talent. Tendulkar is close to both the pinnacles today.

At 37, in 1987 Sunill Gavaskar said he wanted to retire when he realized that he didn’t find the same enthusiasm going for the game. Sachin is at that age today. At an age when the passion to do more in a sport like cricket will be on the wane, it is amazing to find Sachin Tendulkar maintaining the same levels of excitement that he showed at the age of 20. He seems more determined to win more games for the country than ever before. Lot of critics and experts had written him down after the debacle of 2007 World Cup. He might have had a few doubts himself with a few injuries, including the career-threatening tennis elbow, taking a toll on his body. But how well did he cope with injuries and criticism alike. He has come back even stronger after that disastrous world cup campaign and since has hit the form of his life. But what does form have to do for such a player.

He owes much of what he achieved to his self-discipline, the inner calm he maintains, his determination to work his way through injuries and pain and above all his sense of purpose and his ability to stay grounded in the face of pouring admiration. He is a role model not just for cricketers and other sportspersons, but for everyone in any walk of life. One gets the feeling that he is highly focused on the ultimate jewel missing in his crown, the coveted world cup. If and when that happens (and the entire country hopes that India wins the world cup), even the World Cup will be privileged being in his hands.

Injured Laxman much worse…for the opposition

VVS Laxman has delivered one more knock-out punch to the Aussies. It is really surprising to know that he did all the damage today, nursing a back injury. Laxman’s last two fourth innings knocks (today’s and the 103 not out against Sri Lank a couple of months back) came with a runner. Both of them turned out to be match winning knocks. Even in the 3^rd test against Sri Lanka in 2008 (Ajanta Mendis Series), when India were fighting to save the test match, Laxman was batt(l)ing with an ankle injury, made 61 not out, but India lost that match and series 2-1. He averages 50+ in 2^nd innings compared to his career average of 47+. So, going by the record, India doesn’t mind an injured VVS, especially in a 4^th innings chase or 5^th day. In fact he could turn out to be a bigger tormentor to the opposition with an injury.

Laxman fielded throughout the 1^st innings of Australia. But when he had to bat, he was constrained by back spasms. When he came out to bat in the first innings he looked really stiff and lasted all of 3 balls. Knowing that he is not in his best physical condition, Ricky Ponting would have discounted his ability to an extent when India started their chase in the 4^th innings. Pressure invariably has brought the best out of him, once again. Commentators have used up all epithets trying to describe his heroics. His pull shots were audacious in the situation, his drives through the covers delectable, his flicks through mid-wicket were classy. But what makes him so indispensable in such crunch situations is his ability to build partnerships, be it with top order batsmen or tail-enders. And partnerships typically do win matches.

Even if Laxman were to retire today with nearly 7500 runs, his match-winning knocks would be the talking point, of many a folklore for a long time to come. But for his own sake we wish that he comes out of his injury soon; may be the opposition teams too, as he might then be little less dangerous.

Listening to Cricket - an altogether different experience

I had been following cricket since my early childhood - as early as my 2nd standard, along with my brother. Very early on, it was radio commentary. I still remember when once I ran into my dad's room shouting Gavaskar scored a century and my dad's colleague who was present there said it wasn't Gavaskar but it was Chetan Chauhan, just to tease me a little. Unshaken, I insisted that it was Gavaskar. He asked me how I knew it and I told him that I had been following it on radio. It is another matter, Chetan Chauhan didn't score a single century in his entire test career, though he came close to achieving that a few times.

A few years later, my father bought a stereo cum radio and we started getting BBC and ABC commentary. We immediately fell in love with their commentary, especially the voice of Chris Martin Jenkins on BBC. It was so refreshing compared to the commentary on AIR. The excitement came from the analysis provided by the veteran commentators on those channels compared to the bland description of the proceedings on AIR. Once in a while we used to have a few good voices, but they were very far and few in between. There was a huge gulf in the quality of commentating.

We regularly used to tune in to these radio channels whenever there was a test match being played. Of course, we used to do lot of circus like keeping the radio in a specific angle, trying for that exact position of the frequency where clarity was maximum, moving the aerial in different directions to get the best possible audio and sometimes moving the whole set into a different room for better receptivity. But we never gave up.

Slowly this has given way to watching cricket on TV starting with the Benson and Hedges world cup in 1995 and the Sharjah Cup tournaments. Of course many of those radio commentators graduated to TV and also did a great job. I can't remember how much of live action we actually used to miss owing to advertisements those days. It was pure and live cricket all the way. We had even the chance to see the players in between overs. For example, we would watch very carefully whether Gavaskar and Vengsarkar communicated at all in the middle while batting together to see and interpret whether there is anything amiss in their relationship. Compare that with the rationing of cricket we get on television today in between advertisements and one wonders whether we were better off following cricket on the radio in the good old days. Alas! there is nothing like pure cricket today (I am only talking about the audience experience and nothing else). Like everything else in modern world, cricket too has become impure making one more facet of life boring and dull.

Is Sehwag the reason for Gambhir's slump in form?

Not long ago he was the mainstay of Indian cricket in all 3 forms of the game. And someone was even gutsy enough to call him the 'Second Wall' of Indian cricket. When he stepped out of the crease in his inimitable style, he would invariably middle the ball with all the sweetness. He showed loads of patience sticking around the wicket for long periods of play, that was so unusual of him. The same patience earned India a draw in the 2nd test in New Zealand recently. He followed that innings up with another masterly 167 in the 3rd test.

Yet, when one looks back at his batting since the end of NZ series, one wonders what has gone wrong for Gambhir. A few stats tell the story of Gautam in recent times.

T20 Format:

World Cup - Played 5 matches for 148 runs at an average of 29.6 and SR of 109.62 (with only one score above 50)

IPL - Played 15 matches for 286 runs at an average of 22 and SR of 102.87 (with only one score above 50)

ODI Format:

Vs WI - scores of 13, 0 in the first two matches.

One of the prime reasons why India didn't do too well in the T20 World Cup is Gambhir's failure with the bat and he could have done much better than his average of 22 and strike rate of 102 considering the form he had been in, in recent times.

A much bigger problem than the stats seems to be his inability to strike and time the ball at will, that has been so much his strength. The silken leg side flicks coming off the middle of the bat are missing, the pull shots are mistimed and he is not sticking at the wicket for longer periods. So, then what is it that is baffling Gautham Gambhir - Is it the fatigue of playing too much cricket? Is it because of a lack of focus and concentration that was so much his strength until recently? I have a strong feeling that it is the absence of Virender Sehwag, his partner for more than a year now in all three forms of the game, that is causing a flutter or two in his batting. He derived so much strength and encouragement from Sehwag, who is also his Dellhi teammate, that Sehwag's mere presence lifted Gambhir's game. So much so that, he would score faster than Sehwag on a few occasions. Sehwag being the Vice Captain also probably helped give the needed confidence to him that he would get much longer look-in than a game or two. With Sehwag being sidelined due to an injury, all of that confidence seems to have gone.

It may not be such a big worry after all. It could just be a temporary loss of form or just sheer coincidence that Sehwag is out of the team for some reason and Gambhir has started hitting a trough in form. But, certainly there is need for someone in the team management, a senior player and ideally the captain, to tell him that he is too important a player in the team's scheme of things to be sidelined in the absence of Sehwag. Gambhir needs to be given the confidence and nurtured well for the sake of India's prospects in all three forms of the game. He is such a wonderful talent, once he has the backing of the team management, can blossom and can play a significant role in lifting India's chances.

It only happens in IPL

The 2nd edition of IPL is currently underway in South Africa and has generated more than anticipated enthusiasm from the crowds there. As I watch the IPL, there are some things that seem to be quite unique to IPL. Let's look at some of them:

1. Graeme Smith facing up to Dale Steyn in an international match
   
2. Flintoff and Hayden who had been on opposite sides of many a battle in the past, finding themselves rubbing shoulders with each other under the roof of Chennai Super Kings.
   
3. When two teams play an international game on South African soil, when do we find both captains that come out for toss hailing from India? (Dhoni and Sachin or for that matter any match involving, CSK, MI, DD and Kings XI in the 2nd edition of IPL)
   
4. Manpreet Singh Goni and Mahendra Singh Dhoni - playing along side each other. Of course, if they both happen to play for India, this can happen again.
   
5. Where do you have a break in the game for other than cricketing reasons. Though it is called strategic time out, it is more of an advertisement time out, this is certainly unique to IPL.
   
6. A current player who is injured can't play but can travel with the team as part of 'strategy' team. Yes, I am talking about a player and not coach. S Sreesanth, travelling with Kings XI team to SA as what - I think I read, bowling coach - hmmm.
   
7. Brothers - Yusuf and Irfan, playing for different teams.
   
8. Ravi Shastri, the ever so soft commentator, yelling at the top of his voice at the toss and at the presentation ceremony. May be he wants to build up the excitement, add to it or just be heard in the loud noise of the crowd.
   
9. Lot of players playing against their home/state teams. Harbhajan (part of MI) playing against Kings XI Punjab team, Dinesh Karthik (part of DD) playing against CSK etc.
   
10. You have some of the biggest power hitters in the game in the team and the team still finishes at the bottom of the table (of course the reference is to IPL 1) - Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Hershelle Gibbs, Shahid Afridi, Scott Styris all played for Deccan Chargers in the first edition.