Just got to dig in and get to tea, mate!

*Using Test Cricket to make sense out of the turbulent life of an early-20 year old*

It's an interesting period of play this. You've seen off the new ball and got a taste of how the pitch is. The odd ball has stayed low, but it has come on to the bat as it should on the first day. Suddenly the leggie turns one sharply from the foot marks outside the leg stump. Slightly shaken, you think twice before you committing on to the front foot from now on. It's life. It's Cricket. Just got to dig in and get to tea, mate!

It's an interesting period of play this. The strike fast bowler has come in for an energized third spell. It's starting to reverse on a hot afternoon. They bring back the third slip and the gully. You try hard to look for the shine, and get beaten anyway. More than you'd like. It's ugly and not what you imagined it to be. It's life. It's Cricket. Just got to dig in and get to tea, mate!

It's an interesting period of play this. Pace from one end and spin from the other. In-out fields. Men at catching positions. A man for the drive and a man for the hook. A lapse in concentration results in an uppish-shot. Your heart is in the mouth as you watch it fall just short of deep backward square leg. You thank all your Gods. It's life. It's Cricket. Just got to dig in and get to tea, mate!

It's an interesting period of play this. Plan 'A's have failed, so have the batsmen at the other end. You're still leaving balls outside the off stump but it's time to improvise. You change your guard and push a ball from outside the off stump down to mid-wicket for a single. It's not a boundary, but you've got the bowler scratching his head. Little moral victories are all you need sometimes. It's life. It's Cricket. Just got to dig in and get to tea, mate!

It's an interesting period of play this. With 20 minutes to go, the part timer comes on. You've worked really hard to get here and don't want to throw it away. You cut a short one down to deep point and get to 50. The dressing room stands up and applauds for the valiant effort on a tricky wicket. You acknowledge and realize that the job's only half done. You want to sleep well tonight knowing you've given your best. It's life. It's Cricket. Just got to dig in and get to tea, mate!

Stop blaming Cricket

It’s a joyous occasion this. P.V. Sindhu, Sakshi Malik and Dipa Karmakar have created epic legacies and have inspired one and all in this nation. I have been absolutely overwhelmed. I believe we all are. You got to love the beauty of sport. Divided by religious beliefs, political affinities, it’s amazing how sport unites us. The setting of a billion hearts rooting for one of ‘our own’ to bring us glory, is a real treat to watch and experience. What is also equally amazing to watch and experience is the intensity of the nasty social media blame games and criticism.

No, I am not talking about Shobha De. I believe enough has already been talked and written about that, and making sure this isn’t a clichéd blog is something I have been trying to take a little seriously. What I am talking about, is this whole, “Eh we don’t win medals in Olympics becoz all d importance is given to Cricket and other sports are not even valued.” Let me just stop you right there. Cricket has never asked for all this importance. If you really hate Cricket as much, just stop following it. It’s better off without you. Also, I’m sure Cricket didn’t knock at everyone’s doors and pleaded people to love it and give ‘all d importance’. It’s not Cricket’s fault that a majority are drawn to it. It’s not Cricket’s fault that kids on the streets are playing it instead of any other sport. It’s not going to complain. It’s not going to stop growing and it’s not going to stop becoming more glamorous. No sport should.

And when you come to think of it, no sport is born glamorous. And sadly in a way, the attainment of glamour in initialized by inspired performances at the highest level. Something like what P V Sindhu did! I’m sure a lot of young girls bought badminton racquets today and I’m sure a lot of badminton playing girls started believing in themselves a little more. Likewise, Cricket too was ‘not-so-glamorous’ at one point in this country. Even as someone who’s followed this game very closely over the last few years and have had Cricket for breakfast, lunch and dinner at times, I am not that familiar with the big moments of Indian Cricket from the pre-1983 World Cup period. In fact, before 1983, India was one of the weaker teams, winning only 35 of the first 196 Test matches it played! The point I’m trying to make is, a sport isn’t born with glamour. Glamour is earned. In more ways than one, the 1983 World Cup initialized it for Indian Cricket. And I hope what our girls achieved in this Olympics, does it for the respective sports.

However, initializing it isn’t enough, is it? Indian athletes have won Olympic medals before, the attainment of glamour has been initialized. But to keep it going it is important that they back it up with reasonable performances from time to time. I’m not saying it is the athletes’ fault entirely. There could be other factors like the inefficient IOA, injuries, etc. But such things prevailed in Indian Cricket after the 1983 World Cup as well. And I hate to break it down to you, but, Indian Cricket has followed up the 1983 World Cup win with sizeable performances at the biggest stage. Be it the 1985 World Championship, the 1986 Test series victory in England, the semi-final births in the World Cups to follow, and many more. Even at present, we’re closing in on No.1 rankings in Tests, No.3 in ODIs and No.2 in T20Is. From what Cricket was at one point in this nation, glamour-wise, to where it has come now hasn’t been an overnight achievement. You can be jealous of Cricket all you want, but the truth is India has somehow found talented Cricketers who’ve brought huge victories at the international stage more often than any other sport! I hope the people of this country can wrap their heads around this fact, and if one really hates Cricket, it’s just beautiful. Because then we have someone who will (or should) venture into some other sport and give it the glamour it deserves.

Ravi Ashwin for President!

4 man of the series awards in 28 Tests, an exemplary bowling strike rate of 61 and an average of 32, fastest Indian to get to 100 wickets... and they go on. The numbers will tell their story. They always do. But what excites me the most from this extra ordinary bowler is the fact that he has tried innumerable things to get better every day, failed more often than not but never stopped learning. Having followed his entire career quite closely, I have seen Ashwin go through soaring highs and a few really ordinary phases. I have seen him bowl 6 variations in an over only to get smacked all over the ground. I have seen him dismiss the likes of Gayle, McCullum with attacking spin bowling with the new ball. I have seen him tossing it up to entice the batsman, or at times fire in too many darts. I have seen him doing it all, trying too hard to bring out the extra ordinary. It has worked a few times but fired right back in his face on most. The best thing of it all was, he never repeated his mistakes. You talk about virtues like temperament and character, and in Ashwin you get the entire package.

If you haven't yet, you should listen to Ashwin talk about his game, his preparations. There aren't many out there who read the game as well as he does. He spoke in the presentation ceremony after the 3rd test in Colombo about looking to put more body into the ball here on Sri Lankan wickets which tend to be quite slow. He also mentioned that he picked that up right after the 3-day practice game India played right before the before the first test. I thought that little adjustment he tried to make was top notch. He also hailed Sanjay Manjrekar's article on Cricinfo which helped him sort out a technical flaw after the Sydney test earlier this year. You listen to Ashwin talk about such things, and only wish if every Cricketer out there did these things. Watch this and I won't be surprised if you fall in love with him. But having said all that, the thing that has helped him the most is the fact that he has started to find peace with his stock delivery - the off spinner. It is a difficult thing to do that, mind you, especially when you have so many variations in your armory. He bowls the arm ball just as good as anyone and also has that trademark Ashwin carrom ball. However, the thing with stock deliveries is they are effective for a reason. That's why you have specialist "off spinners" or "leg spinners" and not someone who can bowl everything. It is not rocket science to be able to bowl all kinds of spin, but then had it been effective, people would have done that way too earlier and we wouldn't have specialist bowlers of a type.

What the stock delivery does is, it helps in setting batsmen up. Now here's the catch, you set batsmen up for the element of surprise - the variation. This variation need not be a complete variation in the type of the delivery i.e. you don't completely have to bowl the ball that (say) spins the other way. The variation could be in pace, in length, in flight or, more effectively, in the usage of the crease. When you bowl 8 balls from close to the stumps and suddenly bowl the 9th one slightly away in the crease, it creates a completely different angle and the batsman has to pick that up quickly to survive. Especially when there is not much on offer from the pitch, it is subtle variations like these which enforce the error. And, I think Ashwin is using that to a great effect. Also I believe he has worked quite a lot in developing 2 off spinners. One is his usual off spinner which comes quite naturally and effortlessly to him, but off late he has developed this new one which has a bit more bite in it. He gives the ball more rip by using his body a lot more and also tossing it up a little, thereby allowing more revolutions on the ball. On pitches where there isn't much bounce, the effort off spinner proves to be quite lethal. In this latest tour of Sri Lanka, I believe, he bowled the effort off spinner a lot more particularly because of the slow pitches there and the kookaburra ball which doesn't grip after a certain point.

In the video interview that I have shared above, Ashwin also talks about a very valid point about bowling with long sleeves and dirty actions. Apart from Ashwin, the other offies who have been successful lately are Ajmal and Narine. Both bowl with long sleeves and dirty actions and are now paying the price for it. There is of course that 15 degree rule, but then it is very marginal. It is always better to bowl with a clean straight arm action and that 15 degree leverage is for the odd ball where your delivery stride or rhythm messes up a bit and you don't release the ball properly. If you start playing with that 15 degree rule in order to give you more oomph in your bowling, you are constantly flirting with danger and it is just a matter of time when you are going to get suspected for it. I am very glad the ICC has been quite strict about it off late and is bringing the hammer out more often than not. A lot of spinners across the globe have come under scrutiny and it has given quite a few setbacks to teams depending heavily on that spinner. And as Ashwin rightly mentions in the interview, the harsh scrutiny is in turn laying out an even playing field for all spinners and that's how it should be.

When you think about it, that strike rate and that average by an action as clean as his, Ashwin is right up there among the best off spinners of the modern era. Add to that the exceptional attitude, a shrewd mind and a quick learner. What else can you ask for? It is true he struggled in away tours of SA, NZ, Eng and Aus, but then, every spinner does (at least in their first tours to the respective nations). At times, the fields set were slightly iffy or it was just hard luck. But if you look at his performance graph in all these tours, you will get a monotonically increasing curve and that is something he should be proud of. I thought he bowled really well in Australia. There might not have been a big 5 wicket haul but he kept it tight and gave those crucial breakthroughs here and there. In the world cup too, India in general performed quite good as a bowling unit and whenever you saw Ashwin bowl, he kept prodding away at the batsmen. Also, one must not forget the crucial batting depth he gives down the order with his exquisite technique and the ability to take on the bowling when required. Given his attitude and the rate at which he keeps on getting better with each game, I am quite certain he is going to be nothing but legendary for India in the years to come. With his smart ability to read the game, he might even be captaincy material. But we will have to wait for that. Although, I think it is not that bad an idea for him to be made the vice captain. A fitting candidate for that, has decent anount of experience and also a good rapport with Kohli. I'm excited for India's series with South Africa which starts next month. SA has a lot of left handers, Ashwin would be raring to go.

High on life

            The last time I wrote here, I was agitated. I almost lost hope in Indian Cricket. I felt we were up to no good. I ended the post by undermining India's great run in ODIs off late and how because of it, India's Test Cricket debacles go unnoticed. Well, it might be true, it might not be. Today is not a day to talk about that. For today is the day when we could just sit back, ideally with a hot cup of coffee (that is if you can't afford champagne), and marvel at how India has managed to put together an ODI side that is EXCELLENT in every single facet of the game.

Now, as every other individual my Cricketing experience is limited to my particular era or generation. I don't know the Indian teams of the 80s which won the World Cup and the Benson and Hedges World Championship as well as I know the Indian teams of the last 10 years. In my 12 years of following Cricket like a nerd, I haven't seen an Indian ODI team, so clinical in every aspect of the game. I have seen the Australian teams of 2003-2008 being like that, I have seen the South African teams being like that far more consistently too and it is an incredibly proud moment as an Indian to have a team with not even an infinitesimal chance of criticism. You could say I'm sounding like every other cliched commentator out there, but the fact is I'm not trying to be an exception. I'm not trying to stimulate a different contradictory point of view on this Indian side, because frankly there just isn't one. There's no denying the fact that each individual in this team has lifted himself to to a whole new level at this big stage of the ICC Cricket World Cup. The batting and spin-bowling, which historically have been India's key strengths in the game have retained their likewise reputation, but it is the fielding and the fast bowling which has been absolutely jaw-dropping.

We did win the World Cup back in 2011, with a side as good as any at the time. We did have a clinical batting order, but yet the bowling wasn't this fiery then and we did carry a couple of donkeys in the field. Sachin was on his last legs, Sehwag wasn't the most agile outfielder in the world. Munaf and Nehra were slow, and Zaheer had skills other than those of quality fielding. We did have smaller grounds in India unlike here in Australia which helped us to some extent. The out fielders didn't have to make a lot of ground to prevent a boundary or restrict the threes to twos and so on. But, it was always clear that the same fielding unit would be found wanting the moment Cricket was played on bigger grounds and juicier pitches. When it came to fast bowling, we were incredibly lucky I feel to have Zaheer peak at the right time. If you look at his record on either side of that particular World Cup, it wasn't exemplary. There was always an injury somewhere around the corner or a patch of predictive bowling which usually was just enough to take a 1-50 and make him retain his place in the side. The other pacers we had were Munaf, Nehra and Sreesanth. Munaf was pretty handy in the middle overs, but you always knew he could be effective only on the slow drop-in pitches by taking the pace off the ball and bowling wicket to wicket. Sreesanth had pace but was wavered. Nehra was injury prone, and certainly not at his 2003 best. All in all, you could say we had a fast bowling unit just decent enough for the team to be able to make-do especially and probably only in the conditions the subcontinent had to offer. The death bowling was still a worry, even in the finals SL belted us for more than 100 runs in the last 10 overs. This, mind you, was with the old Cricketing rules of being able to have 5 fielders on the fence in the non-powerplay overs. We did win the World Cup then, but saying we had a world class balanced unit was a bit of an overstatement.

Now let's rewind a bit more, shall we? Let's go down to early 2008 when we won the ODI tri-series in Australia featuring Sri Lanka as the third team. This was well, the very beginning of India's rebuilding phase. Dhoni was pretty new to the captaincy role, we had left out Dravid and Ganguly from the ODI squad too. The Rohit Sharmas, the Praveen Kumars, the Ishant Sharmas were slowly being exposed to this beast of international Cricket. We did have a pretty settled unit then. The fast bowling looked fresh and filled with vigour, for we had a bowler who could bowl 140. Tendulkar was in the form of his life, we were still considering Irfan Pathan to be that fast bowling all rounder we have always wanted. However, we didn't have the most settled middle order then. Yuvraj was struggling big time. Dhoni hadn't yet become the finisher that he is. There was no Raina and you couldn't depend on Irfan at No. 7. If you look at the Indian team now, every single member of the squad knows specifically what his role is in the side. And, these players are matured enough to alter their roles depending on the situation. Today if India were suddenly 30-3 with Dhawan, Kohli and Rahane in the hut, you could expect a Rohit Sharma and a Suresh Raina to build an innings from scratch. However, if India were 30-3 back then with Tendulkar, Gambhir and Sehwag back in the hut, stabilizing the innings was too much to ask of the then out-of-form Yuvraj and the then inexperienced Rohit Sharma. Yes, the fielding wasn't all that bad and neither was the bowling, but the batting screamed inexperience after the top 3 were gone.

We could rewind back and forth again, only to find a team much weaker than what we have now. We could very well go back to 2003 when we made the finals of the World Cup in South Africa, the bowling clicked but the fielding still well below than most of the international teams at the time. We could fast forward to the one which won the Champions trophy in 2013, a pretty decent batting and a fielding unit. But death bowling was a major worry. It took a real stroke of luck in the finals too to get over the line. The point I'm trying to make is we have never had a side that has ticked all the boxes like the way we are doing now. And, we ought to be mighty proud with that. A lot of credit for this has to go to the support staff. We have been critical of Duncan Fletcher, but it appears that he was in it for the long haul and was laying a pretty solid foundation. Sanjay Bangar, Bharat Arun and Sreedhar too seem to have added great value to the side, making the boys go through the motions pretty comfortably. And, you just simply cannot shy away from giving Ravi Shastri the credit he deserves. A very astute thinker of the game, I have no doubts in my mind that Shastri must have had a phenomenal hand in shaping Indian Cricket the way it has in the last 6 months.

  But then again, I might just be a bit too high on life. Why would't I be?! Rohit Sharma has finally played a matured knock and WE HAVE TAKEN 70 WICKETS IN 7 GAMES! There's still a tough semi-final to be won. But, I don't think we are going down without a fight like the way we did at the Oval just before my last post on this crappy blog.

Curbing the rage. Or trying to.

  It is Friday, the 15th of August. You're inspired as an Indian. You're feeling patriotic, you're humming Vande Mataram all day after you heard it maybe on a radio or on your TV set in the morning. You're receiving and sending 'Happy independence day' whatsapps, you're liking and retweeting posts related to the same. It is a happy morning. As a Cricket fan, you look forward to the afternoon as well, as India take on England at the Oval in the 5th Test Match of the series. The Indian team hasn't done too well recently in the 3rd and the 4th test, you're hoping for a turnaround. You're hoping for energy, at least on 15th of August.

  Ishant Sharma is fit, they've also decided to drop Jadeja. Your eyes lit up. It's a good pitch but there's a bit of rain around, Dada says in the pre match show that they need to bat cautiously for the first session and then it'll be a batting paradise. India are 43-5 at Lunch. You sulk, you curse, but you knew this was going to happen all along, didn't you? In the Lunch break, they talk about what Kohli and Pujara did wrong. They've been talking about that throughout the series. There comes a daddy innings from Dhoni to get us to 148. You know it is going to be 3-1.

England seize the day, they're 62-0 at stumps. On day 2, they pile on a lot more. India continue to drop catches in slips. Some of them being very difficult to drop. This is another moment when you feel like banging your head to the wall. You feel like shooting the Telly with a gun. But, you curb your rage. Or at least try to. At stumps on day 2 they are 385-7, 237 ahead. On the third day, Joe Root gets to a century. Ishant gets him out on 110 on a no ball. You again curb your rage. Or at least try to. When England get all out for 486, 338 runs ahead of us, Root is left not out on 149. That is more than what the entire Indian team scored in the first innings. In the process, we have given away free runs, bowled too many loose deliveries, not had fielders in catching positions. The experts try to decrypt Dhoni's captaincy, but it just is on a completely different level. A level that even a cunning and a defensive captain like Alaistair Cook cannot attain in his dreams. You again curb your rage. Or at least you try to.

You know we are going to lose. You hope against all odds, that they will at least try to give a fight. You try to convince yourself that this is a very young team, and that most of them haven't played Test Cricket in England before. You also consider how an Indian team with established and reputed players lost 0-4 in 2011 there. You look at the positives, you look at Rahane, Ishant, Bhuvi, Aaron and say to yourself that here are some players who have improved. You also think that the players must have been tired as it has been a 5-test series, something which none of them had played before. You know deep down that most of these feel-good factors are rubbish, but still those are something that help you in trying to curb your rage if you haven't completely lost it yet.

But, in the end you don't want to see India gift wrapping the victory to England. It is something no one wants to see. You want a contest, you want to be able to say in the end that we tried. You want Vijay to regain what he had in Trent Bridge and Lord's. You want Gambhir to do well. You want to see Kohli, Pujara taking some steps to get rid off their weaknesses which England have figured out. At best, you don't want India to lose again on the third day of the Test match. Especially with a bit of rain in the air. Murali Vijay is outfoxed by some top bowling by James Anderson. Gambhir is struggling to see the ball. You think he is going to get out on every ball he's getting ready to face. You know they have to bat out of their skins to make a contest out of this. You think they know that too. Gambhir taps a ball to short mid wicket and runs to take a single that is not there. There's a direct hit, and he's out. You don't have to be an international Cricketer to understand the value of your wicket in a crunch situation like this. It is fine if you get an absolute beauty of a ball to get you out. But throwing your wicket away like this is just surrendering without a fight. You don't care anymore if they lose on the third day or the fourth. You stop hoping.

You cannot curb your rage at this point. You simply cannot. When they pick you to be on that plane to England, it is a privelege and also a responsibility that they bestow upon you. You represent India. That is close to 2 billion people. We don't expect you to win. No nation does that to its players. What you did at Lord's was out of this world. We felt lucky to have you representing us. But when you go down without a fight, not just once or twice, is when you start to be a disgrace to the country. I'm not blaming just Gambhir or the players for this, it is the entire Indian contingent. There are serious questions that need answers. For starters, questions like what are Joe Dawes, Trevor Penney and Duncan Fletcher have been doing. Or why was Rahul Dravid signed up as the batting consultant just for initial matches and not for the entire series? There are many more.

I hope this doesn't go away, like it has in the past. Maybe we'll win the ODIs and the T20 which is to follow and all this will be forgotten. I hope that doesn't happen. About time, we start preparing for that long tour of Australia which is later this year and then the World Cup. Heads will have to roll.

Will we see a fight this time?

It’s a pleasant adjustment this. Almost like getting back to your comfort zone. No more Yes Bank maximums, no more (well, fewer) darted in straight balls by spinners, no more “Dude, that match was fixed” speculations, no more Sidhuisms, no more Cheerleaders in the pre-match show studios; the list goes on. Having said that, I must confess that this has been the most astonishing and competitive IPL I’ve seen so far. Have never seen teams fighting the battle of net run rates such valiantly before. Never thought a talent like Manan Vohra could pull fast bowlers for sixes over long on, never anticipated the Akshar Patels and the Aditya Tares to become stars overnight. Ah, and Pravin Tambe wouldn’t have happened without the IPL too. 42-yrs of age, seasons spent playing competitive club Cricket in Mumbai, one of those who probably got overlooked because of the dirty politics that exists; gets picked by the Rajasthan Royals and the rest is history.

I’ve profoundly hated the IPL since its very beginning. This season probably made me realize how naïve I had been. Among all other things, I feel like I’ve found the beauty of the IPL, which is probably one of its kind. It unearths some of the most hungry-for-opportunity and overlooked talents this Cricket crazy country is blessed with. With talents like these in store, you dream and hope for India to be a world leader in Cricket. It is one of those feel good factors which almost makes you forget the dismal overseas record India has had in recent times. However, with the all-important England tour coming up, there is a considerable chance of the scabs getting peeled off.

In the little Cricket that I’ve seen, I’ve always loved it when India tours England. There’s a different aura that surrounds these tours. There’s always that odd remembrance to Lagaan and The Indian Freedom Struggle when these two countries clash. England also puts up challenging pitches to its visiting teams, just making the Cricket a little bit more exciting. And, the English media is probably the most biased one you’ll ever find. There’s always a little controversial statement or a tweet here and there by the ex or the current English cricketers ridiculing the opposition. You can never love the British, especially if you’re Indian. And as a fellow Indian who just wants the best players in the country to be selected to go on that tour, the selection that has been done appears a bit iffy. It is a matter of shame when we need as many as 18 members to be on that plane to England. It is also a matter of shame when players are picked just to be on the fringe. I will be surprised if Ishwar Pandey gets a game, same with Aaron. They’re neither in exceptional form, nor do they have ample experience to be picked on reputation. It is like one of those messed up *PS allotments, in which you are alloted a dream company but you aren’t going to get a meaningful project.

I was overjoyed when I saw Gambhir making it back to the Test squad. I strongly felt that he deserved it. He had a good Ranji season, scored runs in the IPL, and looked hungry to make a point. I also believed Zaheer’s exclusion was a must. I have enormous respect for the bowler, who has arguably been India’s best fast bowler ever. But, there are serious doubts as far as his fitness is concerned. With the growing age and injuries, the pace has dropped. So has the ability to bowl effective long spells. The ordinary fielding doesn’t help either. Pankaj Singh on the other hand, seems a reasonable inclusion. He has been among the top wicket takers in Ranji Trophy Cricket for 5 years in a row now. He certainly deserved a national call-up, particularly when we were touring England. This should be a great learning curve for him. Stuart Binny, someone who can bat and bowl decent medium pace, appears as a good selection too. He is probably a back-up for Jadeja or in case our bowling fails and we are forced to go in with another fast bowler without reducing the batting strength to a greater extent.

What I was surprised and disappointed with, was not seeing Umesh Yadav being in that squad. In fact, I’ve been upset about him not making India’s playing XI for quite some time now. He last played a Test match for India in November 2012 against the same opponents, England, in Ahmedabad. After which, he had a back injury. He made a good enough comeback during the ODIs in the Champions Trophy where the pace was there, the ball swung and he also picked wickets. He was in the Test squad in that home series against West Indies and also in the series vs SA and NZ in the respective countries; but didn’t get a single game to play. One could argue that there was no vacancy as Zaheer, Ishant and Shami were doing well. But, now that Zaheer is dropped and the kind of form Yadav is in, you would expect him to make the playing XI. But, the unthinkable happens and they drop him from the squad and that too for a tour to the most fast-bowler friendly nation in the world. He certainly deserved a place in the squad ahead of Varun Aaron or Ishwar Pandey. Aaron and Pandey both had an ordinary domestic season, and history has proven that selecting players for Test Cricket on the basis of IPL performances is a terribly wrong policy.

The other aspect of this selection to the England tour which appears as a gamble and I’m afraid not a measured one, is the inclusion of just the two spinners in the 18-man squad. We all know England doesn’t produce square turners and if you had to pick just the two spinners, you might as well have picked two of the best spinners this country has. Ashwin and Jadeja, in my opinion aren’t the best we have as far as bowling on non-responsive pitches in Test Cricket is concerned. Past records of the duo support my claim. I believe the inclusion of Amit Mishra was a necessity. He is in decent form, high on confidence after the inspired performances in the Asia Cup and the World T20. Apart from that, England historically haven’t been great players of quality leg spin bowling and the variations that Amit Mishra brings to the table are no ordinary ones. I have serious doubts whether Ashwin will find his feet on English turf, and a backup in the form of Amit Mishra just had to be there. Mishra, being a wrist spinner, should probably extract turn irrespective of how the pitch is. Ashwin has had a very ordinary record outside the subcontinent in Test Cricket, we can only hope that he turns the tables around this time.

The batting looks strong except the uncertainty at the top. I’m inclined to play Gambhir and Dhawan, but Vijay hasn’t been out of form. I guess, the two batsmen out of the three who’ll make runs in the practice matches will have to be the final openers. The middle order looks formidable with Pujara, Kohli and Rahane, all capable of scoring runs abroad. I am concerned with MS Dhoni’s Test form, especially when the ball does a bit in the air. Remember, Dhoni hasn’t scored a single Test century outside the subcontinent yet. Add to that the pressure of consistently failing as a captain overseas. This is one role where Dhoni’s ‘gambles’ haven’t worked. Dhoni has a serious point to prove as a captain here. I’ll be surprised if he continues as the Test captain if we lose this one. Various decisions made by him regarding field placing, team selection, bowler selections have gone wrong in the past when we’ve toured abroad. I believe MSD is much comfortable in operating his spinners which he does really well in the subcontinent and in limited overs Cricket. He needs to believe in his fast bowlers a little more, give them fielders at catching positions. Doesn’t matter if they get hit for a boundary or two. Here’s his one chance to prove himself.

This being a 5 match series is going to be a real test of character for the players. It’s going to create some absolute heroes and well, expose some lethal weaknesses. I want this to be a competitive one, unlike the one that happened in 2011. Indians have historically been poor visitors, if you leave out the Ganguly and the Kumble era. Every time we’ve been at the top of the ICC Test rankings, it has always been because we are clinical at home. It has always been a matter of shame for the fans, and unlike the odd ODI defeat here and there which gets forgotten, these defeats are hard to forget. All I’m asking for is a fight. We didn’t see one in 2011, I hope we do this time.

*PS = Internship. A BITS reference.

The problem with Bangladesh

    Another big game, another below par effort and another defeat. Hasn't this been the story of Bangladesh ever since they have started playing competitive Cricket? In their 14 years of being a nation good enough to play Test Cricket, all they have had to show is a handful of upsets and a few bits and pieces Cricketers. It is a very monotonous and a saddening story with Bangladesh's Cricket. Every time you see them showing sparks of good Cricket, you hope (only to end up in despair) that one day they will become a tough team to beat. It hasn't happened as of yet and I strongly believe it won't happen in the near future. It is not everyday that I use such blunt words, but when I do, I try and make sure there is logic and reason behind it.

   When Bangladesh had beaten Australia in that ODI at Cardiff on the back of that blistering hundred from Ashraful, I certainly believed that it wasn't a fluke. It wasn't anything like Australia dropped a lot of catches or had rested their key players. It was a typical full-strength Australian side and I thought Ashraful played a remarkable knock to see Bangladesh home. Now scoring a hundred against Australia in alien conditions that too while chasing a stiff target is no child's play. You would expect Ashraful to grow and emerge in confidence and become a player to watch out for. It never happened. Yes, he was always the best batsman Bangladesh had but he never delivered when it actually mattered in the matches later on. Call it pressure or whatever it was, but Ashraful never became the Cricketer we all thought he had it in him. And, the way his career ended was absolutely disgraceful for his fans, at least for me.

  Now the next crop of Cricketers like the Mortazas, the Tamim Iqbals, the Mahmadullahs and the Shakibs did catch peoples' eyes with sparkling performances from time to time. There was never a shortage of talent or ability in Bangladeshi Cricketers. It is their poor temperament which makes us believe that all their wins have been flukes. The 2007 World Cup upset by Bangladesh had a lasting impression among many a Cricket fan. Then when they also won against South Africa we all thought that it was finally time that Bangladesh had arrived on the big stage. But, still it wasn't to be. They even lost to Ireland in the Super 8s. They lost almost everything post the World Cup too. They haven't made a knockout stage of any of the ICC events since then. They did reach the finals of the Asia Cup in 2012, but gave it away in the end. Flawlessness was never a virtue of Bangladesh Cricket. The negatives have often been greater than the positives.

  Bangladesh had been awarded the status of being a Test playing nation back in 2000, when they played their first Test match against India. Till date, Bangladesh have won only two Test series that too against Zimbabwe and West Indies. They did manage to draw a series against New Zealand this year and one against West Indies early on, but that's about it. In 14 years of being a Test playing nation, Bangladesh have won only 4 test matches out of the 83 that have been played. It is a very dismal stat this. I strongly believe, Bangladesh don't deserve to be a test playing nation. There are far better talented and determined Cricketers in Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan. Cricketers who are willing to give their 100% every single time and emerge among the finest, which are lacking to a great extent in Bangladesh. Also, there is a general blend of undisciplined Cricketers when it comes to Bangladesh. Ashraful ended up in a fixing scandal; we all know about the lewd gestures made by Shakib in front of the camera recently. The Tamim Iqbals, the Mortazas and the Rubel Hossains with their periodic media chatter and controversies haven't been particularly good boys either. It is time they pulled up the socks and focused on their Cricket.

   You would think that I am going really hard at Bangladesh's Cricket and that it is too early to put them off. But, take the example of Sri Lanka. Even they started playing competitive Cricket at a later stage and were minnows for a while. SL started playing Test Cricket in 1981, however by the 1990s they were already a very tough team to beat. They had a much more settled and a dangerous unit comprising of the Ranatungas, the Jayasuriyas and the Murlis by then. They went on to win the 1996 World Cup. One-two years down the line they even started winning abroad! Bangladesh don't even consistently put up a good fight in their home conditions.

  In a Cricket crazy country like Bangladesh, there will never be a shortage of talent. It's just that they need a proper administration and people who would inculcate the values of hard work and discipline among the youngsters. When I say discipline here, I refer to the Cricketing discipline like sticking to the basics, bowling a consistent line and length, being prudent in the shot selection and so on. Dave Whatmore played a huge role in building up such a foundation in his tenure as the Bangla coach, things would have been a lot more worse if it wasn't for him. But, I believe there is a lot more work to be done at the grass roots level. The Bangladesh Premiere League needs to go, at least for now. With the amount of fixing scrutiny it has come under, things wouldn't get any better with its presence. Building up a clean and a competitive administration should be Bangladesh's priority numero uno.

  I also recommend more competitive Cricket and Test playing status for the likes of Ireland and Afghanistan. In the little Cricket that I have seen them play, I believe they have the talent and the ability that is required at the international level. Short tours of 1-2 Tests and maybe 3 ODIs to bigger Cricketing nations would do them a world of good. Such tours would be a great learning curve and good performances against big countries would motivate a lot of youngsters from these nations. All it takes is one opportunity, one little ray of spotlight.