All posts by h716a5.icu

It is a credit to both teams that despite the overkill of cricket between the two nations, despite the dead pitch at the SSC, despite the lack of bowling resources, they played out two tense Test matches

Sidharth Monga in Sri Lanka08-Aug-2010This Indian team is pretty adept at digging a hole for itself. It is equally adept and finding a way out of it too. That’s why writing this side off is hazardous. Here we are talking about the Test side, not other disciplines. It was an incredible show of character that with their most inexperienced attack since 2000-01, on a ground where Sri Lanka have not lost since 1994, with three first-choice and one second-choice player out, India came back to square this series. India, after losing all the tosses, also ended Sri Lanka’s nine-year run of not losing a home Test after winning the toss.When asked if this was the most special win of his captaincy career, considering the huge effort required, considering that for the first 11 days of the series a Test win looked completely out of reach, MS Dhoni sounded blasé. He had reason to feel so. “It’s not the first time I’m the captain and we’re one-down and we have to win to level the series,” he said. “To pick one of the Test matches among the few I’ve played or captained is difficult. Every win is special, like the South Africa Test we played in Kolkata or any other.”There is some truth to that. This team has developed a habit of bouncing back immediately after a devastating loss. In 2007-08 South Africa absolutely demolished India in Ahmedabad, only to see them come back in Kanpur. Later that year India bounced back in Galle after a demoralising loss at the SSC. After the infamous SCG defeat, they stunned Australia at the WACA. Earlier this year, they staged a comeback in the Test Dhoni talked about, immediately after Dale Steyn’s destruction in Nagpur.”It shows what this team is all about and what we can do in pressure situations,” Gary Kirsten, a man known for doggedness himself, said of the P Sara win. That they keep putting themselves in pressure situations is something India need to address.For starters, they haven’t played a single international game – across formats – with their first-choice XI since Sri Lanka’s last tour of India, last November. When they were fighting to justify their No. 1 status, they should ideally have been nursing their niggles, getting ready for a season that will culminate in the World Cup at home. They made a slow start obviously – it took the rookie bowlers three Tests and a helpful pitch to make an impact.The batsmen failed in Galle, for which they had only one excuse, that of Lasith Malinga’s magic, and since then India were fighting a near-impossible fight. Good fortune arrived when Sachin Tendulkar was dropped with India fighting to avoid the follow-on at the SSC, and since then the batting line-up ceased being just Virender Sehwag. Tendulkar, Suresh Raina and VVS Laxman joined in, playing big knocks at crucial times.That to the Indians this drawn series seemed as good as a win is a tribute to how good Sri Lanka are at home. They know their conditions perfectly, they know exactly how to play in those conditions, and they rarely fail to execute those plans. For the first 11 days, it went almost perfectly according to the script, except for Tendulkar’s dropped catch.Kumar Sangakkara batted beautifully for his century, double-century and fifty in the three Tests, Tharanga Paranavitana promised to solve their opening problem, Mahela Jayawardene contributed even though he didn’t look at his flowing best. Thilan Samaraweera wasn’t exactly needed in the first two Tests, but when his team needed him in the third Test, he was there.Malinga and Muttiah Muralitharan made for a heady first Test, a perfect farewell to Murali. The need to preserve Malinga hurt Sri Lanka in the second Test, and even in the third, Sangakkara got him to bowl just six overs on the final day. It would be premature to call it bad captaincy, because perhaps Malinga’s body was at the brink again.It is easy to forget that Sri Lanka were themselves low on resources after Murali’s retirement, a fact underlined by the need to risk Malinga’s body. Suraj Randiv was a good addition, as he showed with that valiant spell over the last two days at the P Sara Oval, but the bowling cupboard looks slightly bare.The first Test wasn’t gripping throughout, but once India started crumbling, it was always going to be an exciting finish. P Sara Oval was perhaps the perfect Test, except for some tired captaincy at times from both leaders. It is a credit to both teams that despite the overkill of cricket between the two nations, despite the dead pitch at the SSC, despite the lack of bowling resources, they played out two tense Test matches. Now for some break in India-Sri Lanka ties…

India have lost four of their last five first Tests in overseas series against the top teams, which suggests it’s becoming an unwanted habit for the side

S Rajesh20-Dec-2010The curse of the first Test has struck again for India in an overseas game. The innings defeat in Centurion means India must now win at least one of the next two matches to return home without a series defeat. Of course, if their aim is more humble – to retain their No.1 ranking – then all they need to do is draw one of those games, but a team which has so many stalwarts will surely have greater aspirations. The Centurion defeat, though, has just made the task harder for the visitors, and it opens up, yet again, India’s tendency to begin poorly on tours.It’s been a recurring theme of several of India’s overseas campaigns – lose the first Test, and then try and make up the damage through the remainder of the series. In their last five tours to one of the top eight countries (including the current tour), India have lost the series opener four times – against Sri Lanka in 2008 and 2010, and against Australia in 2007. The only glorious exception was the tour to New Zealand, where India won the first Test, and then went on to draw the next two to win the series. They’d won the first Test on their previous tour to South Africa as well, in 2006-07, but on that tour India slipped in the next two matches, losing both of them and the series.Since the beginning of 2000, India have played 16 overseas series (excluding the ones in Zimbabwe and Bangladesh). They’ve lost the first Test eight times and won only thrice. There was a period between 2003 and 2007 when India seemed to have rid themselves of this bad habit, not losing the first game for six series in a row (in Australia, twice in Pakistan, in West Indies, England and South Africa), but over the last three years the habit has crept in again.As the table below indicates, India’s results tend to go up after the first Test – they’ve won less than 19% of the first games, but in subsequent matches they’ve won ten out of 35 – a percentage of almost 29. Similarly, the loss percentage comes down from 50 in first Tests to 34 in subsequent games.On the seven previous occasions when India have lost the first Test of an away series since 2000, only twice have they come back to level the series – in England in 2002 and in Sri Lanka earlier this year.

India, in first Tests and other Tests, overseas since 2000

MatchesWonLostDrawnFirst Tests16385Other Tests35101213After the match, MS Dhoni seemed to indicate that India tend to start a series poorly even at home, but recent numbers don’t bear that out. In 18 home series since 2000 (excluding a couple against Zimbabwe), India have lost the first match only four times, of which two were before 2002. They’ve won five and drawn nine.India’s batting failure in the first innings ultimately cost them the Test, so here’s a look at how India’s top order has fared in first Tests overseas since 2000 (in countries excluding Bangladesh and Zimbabwe). Virender Sehwag failed in the first innings in Centurion, but his overall first-Test average is splendid – 59.42, with four centuries in 12 Tests, including two in excess of 250. Sachin Tendulkar is equally impressive, with a first-Test average of almost 58, and four centuries, in Bloemfontein, Multan, Hamilton and Centurion.The others, though, have clearly underperformed. Rahul Dravid averages ten below his overall average in these countries during this period, but his recent starts to series have been even more dismal: in the last four years he averages only 21.69 in first Tests, with one half-century in 14 innings. Gautam Gambhir averages less than 40 in the first Tests but more than 70 thereafter, while the situation is somewhat similar for VVS Laxman: an average of 37.86 in the first Tests, which goes up to 56.30 in the second, and 50.57 in the third. Going by these numbers, South Africa should be prepared to be out in the field for much longer in the next couple of matches.

Indian batsmen in first Tests of overseas series since 2000*

BatsmanFirst TestsRunsAverage100s/ 50sOverall away ave**Virender Sehwag12124859.424/ 251.26Sachin Tendulkar14115657.804/ 451.72Rahul Dravid1699341.372/ 551.10Gautam Gambhir427138.710/ 256.13VVS Laxman1587137.860/ 649.88

Ian Chappell thought Baboo Ebrahim better than any white spinner in South Africa. Given the opportunity, he could have played for the country, but his era was not a time for opportunity

Sidharth Monga18-Jan-2011Ismail “Baboo” Ebrahim’s story could be that of any non-white South African cricket in the apartheid era. Except that, by all available accounts, he was not just non-white cricketer. says he would have been a star in “any first-class arena”. Craig Marais, former Boland wicketkeeper and now a commentator, remembers how Ian Chappell said Ebrahim was better than any white spinner in the country. Brett Proctor, who played with Ebrahim and is now Kingsmead’s ground manager, says Ebrahim “may have made it to international level, given the right opportunities”. However, the sixties and seventies were not times for opportunity: even the 48 first-class matches that Ebrahim managed came after struggle, though they left memories to last a lifetime.In January 1957, when watching from the small non-whites section at Kingsmead (“Couldn’t go anywhere else”), 11-year-old Ebrahim saw Johnny Wardle bowl Roy McLean through the gap between bat and pad with a chinaman. “That’s when I said, ‘This is what I am going to do. This is what I am going to be.'”A left-arm spinner he became, and like Wardle, chinamans he bowled. When he grew slightly older, he came to know of a Natal team being picked for a match in Cape Town. “I said, ‘Wow, cricket can make me see the world.’ And I said I was going to be good, I was going to see the world.”Ebrahim was slightly fortunate in that the boards representing coloured, Indian and black cricketers had unified to form the South African Cricket Board of Control (SACBOC), thus ending the era of segregated cricket. Still, non-whites could only play on torn matting wickets, where a delivery could hit you in the head and the next one on the ankle. The outfields were bumpy, the equipment substandard. And even with the boards unified, all the players could manage was three games a year. They didn’t have the money to play more than that.Cricket, at least on paper, was somewhat welcoming, but society wasn’t. When Australia travelled here for what would be South Africa’s last series before isolation, Ebrahim was at Kingsmead to watch them practise. “I asked them if I could bowl,” remembers Ebrahim. “And one of them said, ‘Yes, let him bowl.’ Security steps in and says, ‘No he can’t bowl. He is black.’ But they insisted that I bowl. I remember bowling Ian Redpath in the nets, and suddenly it was a case of ‘Who are you, my boy?’ and this that and so forth. And to this day, Ashley Mallett, whenever he comes to South Africa, still remembers me.”As the leaders of the community fought for independence, the cricketers went about their own quiet struggle. Ebrahim, Omar Henry and a few others decided to test the white clubs’ promise that they were open to any cricketer who merited a place. “Omar joined a club in Cape Town, I joined a club in Durban, Tiffy Barnes in Jo’burg.”They were always saying that they were open to everybody. And we said, ‘Let’s test it.’ We joined them. At first it was a case of the dressing room. We said, ‘No, we want to get into the pub as well.’ You must have heard of incidents when restaurants didn’t want to serve us guys, and we kicked the table and walked out.”I remember the third game I played for the white club, I got 10 wickets in an innings, and they insisted that I come to the pub,” Ebrahim says. “I said, ‘I don’t drink, I am sorry.’ They asked me to just come in and have a Coke. So I thought I’d have a Coke. And there were some people who didn’t like the idea, and the guys told them, ‘If you like it, stay around. If you don’t like it, you can go away. This person and we are staying here.’ That’s how we started breaking apartheid.”Proctor remembers Ebrahim as a bowler who was quick through the air but also someone who turned the ball, and “never gave anything away”. “To be fair to him, he played on green tracks in Durban, and the thing to do in South Africa then was to bowl as fast as you could.” Proctor says. “To wonder if he would have played ahead of Alan Kourie [Transvaal’s left-arm spinner, whose career span was roughly the same as Ebrahim’s] is a question similar to debating how good Barry Richards was. But both could have made it to international cricket at that time.”Neither of them managed that in the end because of isolation, but Kourie did have a first-class career that lasted 127 games to Ebrahim’s 48. Ebrahim rates Denys Hobson, the former Western Province legspinner, higher. Chappell probably saw Ebrahim on the International Wanderers tour in 1975-76, when he got just one game, in Durban, and didn’t even get to bowl in the first innings. In the second, he ran through the visitors with 6 for 66.Ebrahim found the Lancashire League more welcoming. “It was professional,” he says. “If you didn’t produce results, they told you in no uncertain terms. Those days were different. You must remember, many Test cricketers played in the leagues. And the toughest league was the Lancashire League. You had one professional in each team, one of the top guys from world cricket, to draw the crowds from that area, but on the side they had three-four other Test players who played as amateurs, who were just as good.

“Security steps in and says, ‘No he can’t bowl. He is black.’ But they insisted that I bowl. I remember bowling Ian Redpath in the nets, and suddenly it was a case of ‘Who are you, my boy?’ And to this day, Ashley Mallett, whenever he comes to South Africa, still remembers me”

“When I went there I was already 30-plus, and couldn’t tell them that I was that age. Took off a couple of years, acted a bit younger. I was much skinnier, fitter. After all, I had to take the place of one of the great cricketers of the world, Garry Sobers.”It was here that Sulaiman “Dik” Abed took 100 wickets and scored more 1000 runs in a season on more than one occasion. Unlike Ebrahim, though, Abed never managed to play first-class cricket. There were others too who missed out. “I don’t think I will go into names,” Ebrahim says. “At the time the bodies [non-coloured ones] got together and got cricket going, we had a lot of good cricketers.”The only way you judge them is by who they played against. One cannot just judge playing one-two games, which is all they got then. Coming from matting to turf was a big challenge for our boys. Unless you play it, you have no idea of the difference. We didn’t even know how to doctor a wicket. We only learned it afterwards. Where did I learn it? Playing in the Lancashire League. Home game, make a wicket that suits your spinner. Matting was the same thing for both sides. Only given the opportunity did we learn these things. You don’t know where those guys would have been.”Now, at 64, Ebrahim is a respected figure in Durban cricket. His son has coached Kwazulu-Natal. Ebrahim says he doesn’t feel much bitterness when he looks back. “As you got older, you get wiser,” he says. “So many other things come into the equation. Thank almighty. Through cricket he has made me see a lot of places, meet a lot of people. I thank god for that.” That happened mainly through the Lancashire Leagues, and Masters events, where he finally got to represent South Africa, and where, as he proudly mentions, he got Viv Richards and Gordon Greenidge out in the same game.And he always has happy memories to fall back upon. Like this story.”Rohan Kanhai used to play for Transvaal. Rohan Kanhai, the great West Indian. The ground is packed and a lot of people have come to see Kanhai. And in the second innings – there were about two hours – we made a declaration to see if Kanhai wanted to have a go. They tossed me the ball. ‘Bowl to him.’ I told him, ‘ [I’ll toss them up for you].’ He was finding it difficult to hit the ball because I was turning it so much. The more air I gave, the more it bit [the surface]. And after a couple of balls he comes down the wicket and he tells me, ‘Eh, [They have come to watch me, not you].’ These are the small things that happen in cricket, and then you look back and say, ‘What a wonderful experience.'”

While USA require intense work in all three departments of the game ahead of next year’s global qualifiers for the World Twenty20, they should also consider a change at the top taking into account captain Steve Massiah’s prolonged form slump

Peter Della Penna25-Jul-2011Contrary to 2010 when they were handed a wild card spot for the eight-team World Twenty20 Qualifier despite being in ICC World Cricket League Division Five, USA clinched a berth on merit this past week in Florida for next year’s 16-team global qualifier in the UAE. USA finished second behind Canada at the ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 tournament to claim one of the two available spots from the region, along with Bermuda who finished third, while Canada was already assured a spot in the global qualifiers by virtue of their ODI status.USA completed the job they were expected to do this week, roughing up the likes of Argentina, Cayman Islands and Suriname for big wins before finishing the event with a strong victory over Bermuda. However, USA’s loss to a second-string Canada side exposed some glaring weaknesses. If they are to have any chance of finishing in the top two at next year’s global qualifier and make it to the 2012 World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, they’ve got a lot of work to do to.The bowling attack is a bright spot for USA. Bhim George took 13 wickets to finish on top of the tournament’s top wicket-takers’ table. While the rest were solid also, but USA lacks sufficient depth should one of the frontline bowlers go down with injury. Such was the case with Timroy Allen last August and it opened up the door for problems with team balance at ICC WCL Division Three in Hong Kong, which contributed to the team getting relegated to Division Four.The fielding in Florida was below average. At next year’s qualifier, USA’s best chance to neutralise the advantages teams like Ireland and Afghanistan have in the batting and bowling departments will be to one-up them in the field. On the evidence they showed this week, USA will be lagging behind in all three disciplines unless they do some intense work on their catching and ground fielding. For a nation teeming with all-round athletes, USA’s cricket team is not very athletic.Yet, the team is definitely capable of producing a few upsets as they proved at the qualifier in 2010 by notching a six-wicket win over Scotland, a match which USA dominated all through. But that team had four players – Sudesh Dhaniram, Kevin Darlington, Lennox Cush and Carl Wright – who had first-class experience in the West Indies and each of them contributed to that win. Two of those four were also part of the squad that won the inaugural ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 last year in Bermuda.All four are now gone and while some of their replacements were picked with an eye for the future, the fact is that they are a long way from reaching the standards of those before them. It once again highlights the lack of attention given by the USA Cricket Association to establishing a proper development system.The batting depended heavily on Gowkaran Roopnarine, Aditya Mishra and Sushil Nadkarni. It’s no coincidence that the success of Nadkarni and Mishra can be tied to their experience playing Ranji Trophy cricket in India prior to migrating to USA. The fact that Nadkarni finished with the most runs and highest average for USA shows what a major mistake it was when selectors dropped him when the squad was originally announced, before doing an about turn ten days before the tournament.The most alarming performance of this past week was turned in by captain Steve Massiah. Over the last year his technique has turned into a mess. Six times in his last nine innings for USA he has gotten out lbw. This week he scratched his way to 21 runs in four innings and looked completely out of sorts.Since his first Twenty20 match for USA at the 2010 World Twenty20 Qualifier, Massiah has managed 121 runs at 10.08 in 13 innings, including four ducks, at a strike rate of 72.46 – dreadful stats for a top-order batsman. Massiah is not a slogger, but even if a player’s game is not suited to clearing the ropes the least he should be able to do is knock the ball around for ones and twos. It can be a struggle for him to turn over the strike and the team’s momentum stalls when he is at the crease.His position as captain has become untenable because his batting doesn’t merit a place in USA’s Twenty20 team for the global qualifier. A new captain should be appointed in order to let Massiah focus on his batting in 50-over cricket, a format where he still has some value, before WCL Division Four next summer.At the post-tournament presentation on Saturday night, USACA President Gladstone Dainty spoke of the potential opportunities that might arise for dozens of regional Associate players if the domestic Twenty20 league, which they are hoping to form in conjunction with New Zealand Cricket, comes to fruition in August 2012. The World Twenty20 Qualifier is to be held in March. USACA rather needs to focus on preparing players for this crucial ICC event, to give them some hope of fulfilling the vast potential they possess.

While their bowling attack has been weakened by retirements, there are no excuses for Sri Lanka’s batting failures in this series, and the batsmen took what was, perhaps, their last chance to assert themselves

Daniel Brettig in Pallekele11-Sep-2011This might easily have been the day that ended the series. When Michael Clarke declared Australia’s innings closed at the overnight tally of 411 for 7, all he required for an innings victory and an unbeatable 2-0 series lead was a Sri Lankan top-order display consistent with their prior performances in this series. What he received instead was a far spikier batting performance from a team that was on its very last chance to gain a foothold against the visitors, and last perhaps to avoid a raft of reactive changes to a transitional team.Clarke’s declaration was made with the weather in mind – rain was predicted to cause significant disruption to the final two days of the Test, and threatening clouds ringed the ground more than once while 79 overs were bowled on the fourth day. He must also have reasoned that the morning air had been the most useful for bowlers seeking wickets, having yielded five wickets before lunch on the first day and the opportunities for more on the second and third. There was some early movement to be found, and Ryan Harris beat Tharanga Paranavitana three times in succession in the first over with his nasty habit of hinting at movement one way through the air then getting it to go the other way off the pitch.For the first time all series the early deviation wrought by Harris and Trent Copeland did not bring a gaggle of Sri Lankan wickets, as Paranavitana and his captain Tillakaratne Dilshan fought their way through the initial Australian spells, on a pitch that offered them more in the way of hope provided their bats came down straight to meet the ball. Dilshan’s innings was ended by a characteristically rash swing at Harris in the shadows of the lunch interval, but he had at least managed to give Kumar Sangakkara at No. 3 something to build on – for once Sangakkara walked out without having to glimpse the manufacturer’s logo on a still-new ball.That there were no more chances for Sri Lanka to assert some kind of influence on the series was beyond question. Dilshan himself had stated the case with a passionate public address on the first evening, after his men had been splintered for 174 on a surface that had many more runs in it. Sri Lankan cricket is in a state of unease, whether it be financial, strategic or tactical, and the team’s lack of fight for most of the series had been deeply unsettling for those who had become used to strong performances over the five years that spanned the captaincies of Mahela Jayawardene and Sangakkara. While Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas have left vast holes in the bowling attack, there are no such manpower excuses for the batsmen.”Definitely there is something wrong in the batting,” Dilshan had said. “We are talking, discussing, we are doing a lot of hard work in training and we are discussing a lot of things, but now is the time to deliver. We can’t say the wicket is bad. They’ve bowled really well but we’ve played the last series in England, where there was a better attack, and on a difficult wicket we batted really well. Now the players should put their hands up and deliver, they have to deliver, now is the time, we can’t wait anymore.”The example was set, as it had been in England, by Paranavitana, who is not a stylish player but shows a strong willingness to fight out his innings. It was he who had hurried the collapse on the second day in Galle by setting off for a run that Jayawardene could not complete. The burden of that dismissal weighed heavily on Jayawardene in the second innings of that match, and Paranavitana exhibited a desire to atone for his part in the mix-up once he was past the perils of Harris.His dismissal, burgled out by Michael Hussey – the man of the series to date – brought Jayawardene to the crease to join Sangakkara. So much of Sri Lanka’s success has been built around the two of them that the failures in the first three innings of this series had a lot to do with the fact that only once had either passed 50. But it is also instructive to note that they have never had much success in Test match partnerships together against Australia. As the most prolific batting pair in Sri Lanka’s history, it stood to reason that eventually Sangakkara and Jayawardene would get themselves in together against an Australian attack that for all its determination and planning, and the leadership flair of Clarke, lacks the fearsome armoury of previous teams. More composure with the bat in Colombo and Sri Lanka can hope to place Australia under the sort of scoreboard pressure that made them wilt during the Ashes last summer.The hosts were still trailing by 109 runs when Jayawardene walked to the crease, but the two former captains set about their work with purpose, frustrating Australia, who had more overs to attack Sri Lanka in the day than they would have predicted when the clouds first rolled in towards Pallekele in the morning. The second new ball remains a threat, but some more sturdy work on the final morning and Sri Lanka may yet have a chance of reviving their tilt at the visitors. Victory in the final match would mean a drawn series and Sri Lanka’s retention of fourth spot in the ICC rankings. Such a conclusion remains a long way off, but now there is hope for the hosts, and a contest for Australia. A day ago both were decidedly lacking.

The performances of Sarfraz Ahmed and Aizaz Cheema played a critical role in the outcome of the Asia Cup final

Siddarth Ravindran at the Shere Bangla National Stadium23-Mar-2012Pakistan’s biggest star may have won the Man-of-the-Match award, but the Asia Cup would not have been won had it not been for crucial contributions from two players who are less celebrated. Fast bowler Aizaz Cheema’s bowling at the death and wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed’s career-high, unbeaten 46, after walking in at No. 8 played a huge role in separating the sides.In Pakistan’s versatile attack, Cheema is seen as the weakest link. Shahid Afridi’s mix of legbreaks and fast googlies have routinely confounded batsmen, Saeed Ajmal and his mystery variations make him the top-ranked spinner in the world, Mohammad Hafeez has shown himself as a credible option for regularly bowling 10 overs of tidy off-spin, and Umar Gul, despite a recent dip in form, with his reverse swing and on-demand yorkers is seen as a threat.Afridi bowled out early and strangled the runs in the middle overs, while Hafeez finished his quota in the batting Powerplay. As the match headed to the final ten overs, though the asking-rate had climbed, it was felt Bangladesh weren’t out of it – Cheema or Hammad Azam had to still bowl four overs, which could be targetted.That seemed to be Bangladesh’s plan as well, as Shakib Al Hasan launched the only six off the innings on the first ball of Cheema’s final spell, immediately putting the bowler, who is still in his first year of international cricket, under pressure. Cheema, though, bounced back superbly, mixing up his lengths and his pace to not concede a single boundary for the rest of his spell.More importantly, he got the potentially-decisive wickets of Shakib and Mushfiqur Rahim. A confident Shakib was shuffling around the crease every delivery, but he missed a paddle off a length ball and was bowled behind his legs. Another length ball that Mushfiqur wanted to send to the grand stand only went as far as the deep square-leg fielder.Still, Bangladesh didn’t give up, and they took it down to the final ball. Cheema again delivered, with a yorker on leg stump that was too good for Shahadat Hossain to hit what could have been the most famous shot in Bangladesh cricket history.”I think Cheema was very confident, and Misbah [ul-Haq] did a great job as a captain,” Hafeez said. “It was a pressure game and Cheema was the one who was really confident to bowl the last over, and on the last ball we were confident he would bowl a good ball.”Shahadat would have needed to hit a six off the final ball if it wasn’t for some shoddy fielding off the previous delivery, when the man at long-off wasn’t quick enough to stop the second and Sarfraz then flicked the ball towards the stumps to concede an overthrow.But for that gaffe, Sarfraz fully justified the faith shown by the side in picking him for the final. Despite having Hafeez and Afridi as the two allrounders in the XI, Pakistan haven’t nailed down the balance they want in the side.They have grappled with the wicketkeeper conundrum for a while now. Is it better to pick a specialist gloveman, especially with three quality spinners in the side, or go in with either a specialist batsman or bowler or an allrounder in that spot? Pakistan have tried everything in this tournament: playing Sarfraz and the extra batsman in Asad Shafiq in the first game, Sarfraz and an allrounder Azam in the next, replacing Sarfraz with the extra bowler in Wahab Riaz against India. Riaz’s meltdown in the India game, and the fact that they would have exactly five bowling options in case Shafiq played, forced them to go with Sarfraz and Azam in the final.When Afridi’s typically manic cameo came to a close in the 42nd over, Pakistan were seven down and looked unlikely to last the full stretch. It was down to Sarfraz to lift Pakistan from what seemed a sub-200 score, which even their world-class attack would have had little chance of defending, to a more competitive one. His boundaries off Shahadat, including in the final over when the bowler doled out freebies, boosted both Pakistan’s spirits and their score.When it came down to the crunch, both the headliners and the unsung players did their part for Pakistan, the combination of which proved good enough to take down Bangladesh.

From hairstyles to stomach upsets, bibs to pre-match rituals – a look at the best quotes from the IPL season gone by

Carlyle Laurie28-May-2012″Stress and carrying Shah Rukh Khan.”
May 27, 2012
“[At the end of the season] everyone was getting each other’s signatures on their jerseys. I said I should get everyone’s signature on my bib, since I wore it most of the time.”
May 26, 2012
“When someone gets a stomach upset, it’s because of the IPL. If someone gets an outside edge, it’s because of the IPL.”
May 26, 2012
“Chennai is like putting your head into an oven and turning it to 200 degrees and baking yourself.”
May 25, 2012
“The IPL is on but they [Pune Warriors] haven’t kept me in the team and have sent me back. After returning to my village, I have started working out. After practising in the morning, I help my brothers in the farms.”
May 24, 2012
“I don’t see anyone with a hairstyle that is similar to mine.”
May 14, 2012
“Earlier, the men wanted to be introduced to Preity; now, the women want to meet Shah Rukh.”
Kolkata Knight Riders’ May 14, 2012
“I sleep the whole day after breakfast to get in shape for the game.”
May 12, 2012
“Take a single and give me the strike, I shall do the rest.”
May 6
“Maybe I’ll give my hair gel to him (Sourav Ganguly) cause I haven’t used it in last 3 months.”
April 21, 2012
“Those who are questioning my action are evil … If I was hit into the galleries, my action would never have been questioned.”
April 20, 2012
“Zaheer is as good a doctor as he is a fast bowler.”
Apr 19, 2012
“Chill, I’m fine. Don’t be sad. Keep hitting them in the stands.”
April 18, 2012
“We fielded like an Under-14s side. They are professional cricketers, they should be able to catch. They should be able to stop the ball going through their legs.”

Sunil Narine had a pleasant surprise for Sunil Gavaskar•AFP”Actually, I was named after you.”
April 15, 2012
“You’ve got world-class players who are sitting in England now wanting to play the IPL when you’ve got some second-rate Australians getting gigs here.”
April 12
“They ask me, ‘Is it as mad as it looks?'”
Apr 13, 2012
“We have been strictly instructed by Preity [Zinta, Kings XI’s owner] to go slow on serving the players any oily food, even if the cravings are intense.”
April 8

In Indian cricket’s brand landscape, once you get past the big two, there isn’t any one name that commands universal attention

Tariq Engineer27-Jun-2012It is no surprise that MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar are the two Indian sportsmen – and the highest-ranked cricketers – to feature in magazine’s list of the top 100 highest-paid athletes for the period June 2011 to June 2012, having made $26.5 million and $18.6 million respectively. India is cricket’s biggest market and Tendulkar was India’s first national sporting brand, while Dhoni has arguably been better than any Indian sportsperson at spinning on-field success into endorsements.When a brand looks for a sporting celebrity to associate with, the first criterion is naturally sporting success. You can’t be a celebrity without fame, and (in most cases) you can’t be famous without consistently performing at the highest level of your sport. Both Dhoni and Tendulkar are at the very top of their field. After that it comes down to how relevant the player’s image is to a particular brand. “That’s when the personality kicks in,” Samir Kale, the founder and president of SportzPR, a sports communications firm, told ESPNcricinfo. “There has to be a personality fit with the brand.”Personality has been Dhoni’s trump card. He is cool under pressure, seemingly fearless, yet easy-going and relatable to his small-town, middle-class background. He has also presided over a winning team (save for the last 12 months), for which he has often played a pivotal role, especially in the limited-overs formats, and that has made him even more of a coveted celebrity than Tendulkar.”Sachin Tendulkar came into Indian cricket when India didn’t win so often,” Kawal Shoor, planning head at advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather, said. “So his greatness came from the individual records he has accumulated. Whereas if you were to look at Dhoni, the three or four big milestones against his name are not centuries or runs; it is about getting India wins.”The timing of Dhoni’s rise as a cricketer also coincided with the India growth story. It came at a time when the country’s economic engine hummed along at a pace exceeded only by China. In effect, Dhoni became a metaphor for a changing India, where small-town boys could dream of becoming world beaters. Dhoni’s contribution to the team’s success cemented his appeal across demographics, allowing brands of all kinds to court him.Look beyond Dhoni and Tendulkar at the next generation of players, however, and it raises the question of who might step into their commercial shoes in the years to come. The answer is not straightforward, say brand and advertising experts. This is partly because the next generation has not yet established itself, but more importantly the nature of the advertising industry is changing too, which will make it much more difficult for one player to corner the market as Tendulkar and Dhoni have done.”People are not going to follow one person,” Ramanujam Sridhar, the head of brand consulting firm Brand-Comm, said. “There is a void to find a person of that stature. So rather than one big punt on a Dhoni or a Tendulkar, I think you are going to get a slew of cricketers rather than one cricketer or one sportsman taking the lot.”The possible exception is Virat Kohli, perhaps the only one of the heirs apparent who has come to close to cementing a place in the Indian side. Kohli also seems to be the only one with an outspoken personality. His modern, somewhat devil-may-care attitude was showcased in a series of flirtatious ads for Fastrack bags, products aimed at teenagers and young adults, with the tagline “Move On”. In one of the ads, Kohli and a girl (played by a Bollywood actress) are in an elevator alone. When they start to get cosy, he points out the video camera in the corner. She promptly empties her Fastrack bag and uses it to cover up the camera.Kohli’s advantage is that in his own way he represents the next stage in India’s transformation. Where once a clean-cut image in the mould of a Tendulkar was a necessity, India’s youth now are a lot more confident and fearless than previous generations. “To that extent, somebody having attitude or being in your face is perfectly acceptable, and in fact there is a perverse sense of aspiration to be like that,” Sridhar, said. “This is why Kohli could do well as a model.”

As marketers start to develop clear ideas about how they want to use cricketers to target the segment of the population they want to reach, they will start looking for brand ambassadors who fit their brand’s unique profile

However, Kohli could well have to navigate a landscape different from the one Dhoni has made his own. The majority of Indian brands have so far typically focused purely on raising awareness and chased a mass audience. Signing any celebrity fulfilled that purpose, irrespective of the brand’s identity. But as marketers start to develop clear ideas about how they want to use cricketers to target the segment of the population they want to reach, they will start looking for brand ambassadors who fit their brand’s unique profile.”Until now, most brands have spoken to mainstream India and hence they have looked for mainstream heroes,” Shoor said. “You will see a lot of so-called fringe players – people who have appeal for a limited set of audiences.”That would bring someone like a Gautam Gambhir into play. Shoor thinks Gambhir, who is serious and intense on the field, would make an ideal spokesperson for the army. Making it even more of a match is that Gambhir had considered enlisting before cricket claimed him, and that his hero growing up was the Indian revolutionary Bhagat Singh. (The army, however, recently made Dhoni its brand ambassador.)Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron, should they establish themselves as India regulars, are two others who could eventually draw commercial attention because “pace bowlers evoke a very different kind of feeling”, according to Shoor. Yadav, the son of a coal miner, has the kind of rags-to-riches story that appeals to everyone as well. Of course, the two need to produce memorable match-winning performances first.Shoor also expects athletes from other sports to begin to challenge cricket for advertising rupees as the sporting landscape changes. Cricket is by far the dominant sport in India and any significant shift is still years away, but the signs are clear. Companies are investing in football academies, while success in individual sports, such as Saina Nehwal in badminton or the boxer Vijender Singh, will inspire others to follow in their footsteps. “It will take time, but India will become a multi-sport nation.”A current ad for Pepsi plays on that potential shift. Ranbir Kapoor, a Bollywood star, tries to convince a teenage boy doing tricks with a football to switch to playing cricket. In the end the boy convinces Kapoor to give football a shot. The tagline: Change the Game.Another of the brand’s ads features football stars Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and Fernando Torres alongside Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Kohli and Suresh Raina in a three-on-three game of cricket.Sridhar believes that thanks to the IPL, mass brands might turn to international players in greater numbers for endorsements. Foreign players have been used in the past – Seagram in India chose to use some of the all-conquering Australians after the 2003 World Cup, and watch-maker Timex used Brett Lee as their brand ambassador in 2008 to great effect – but the advent of the IPL has allowed Indian fans to become more familiar with more international players. Also, most of them cost less than Indian cricketers do.Brand Dhoni: Companies clamour after the Indian captain because of his appealing personality and the team’s success during his tenure•AFPIPL franchises have already begun capitalising on their foreign stars by creating advertising campaigns around them. Last season Kolkata Knight Riders unveiled an ad for the Matrix forex card featuring Shah Rukh Khan, Yusuf Pathan, Jacques Kallis and Lee – two foreign cricketers versus one Indian.At another level, the creation of the IPL and similar leagues in other sports could also throw up their share of sporting heroes, players that could have local appeal rather than national appeal. “There is no reason why you couldn’t create local heroes for local brands,” Kale, the founder of SportzPR, said.Ultimately, though, if a sportsperson, cricketer or otherwise, has the aura, the success and universal appeal, then the sport he or she plays is not all that relevant. Boxer Floyd Mayweather topped list of earners, with fellow boxing star Manny Pacquiao in second place, far ahead of stars in more popular sports, such as Argentina and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi. “Personalities are bigger than the sports they play,” Shoor said. “It underlies the fact that it is the individual’s charisma that helps him rise above the sport he plays.”

Rarely can the defending champions in any competition have come into a tournament with so little expected of them

George Dobell20-Sep-2012OverviewJonny Bairstow is one of the youngsters in England’s batting order with a lot on his shoulders•AFPRarely can the defending champions in any competition have come into a tournament with so little expected of them. Despite winning the last World T20 in the Caribbean in 2010, winning the majority of their T20 games since and a position at the top of both of the rankings in both limited-overs formats, few expect England to retain the trophy.The reasons for that are simple: England have an inglorious record in Asian conditions and several of the architects of that 2010 success have gone. Kevin Pietersen, the Man of the Tournament in the Caribbean, will be in the commentary box while Ryan Sidebottom, the left-arm seamer whose contribution was seen as so vital, and Michael Yardy, who conceded runs at a rate of just 6.80 an over, have gone. So, too, has Paul Collingwood, the only England captain to have led an England team to success in a global event. While Danny Briggs has replaced Yardy, no left-arm seamer was deemed ready to replace Sidebottom and Stuart Broad remains an inexperienced captain.England’s record in Asian conditions is not quite so black and white as some might have you believe. While they were thrashed in the Tests in the UAE earlier this year, it is worth remembering that they bounced back to take both the ODI and T20 series. Similarly, while England were also thrashed in the ODI series in India less than a year ago and endured forgettable ODI World Cups played in Asian conditions – in 1996 and 2011, when they lost to Ireland and Bangladesh – it is worth remembering that in that same tournament they also defeated South Africa and West Indies and tied with the eventual winners, India.This England squad is not hugely experienced. Danny Briggs has bowled just 12 balls in international T20 cricket, while Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow are talented but raw. But it is also worth remembering that they went into the 2010 event with an unproven team – both opening batsmen made their debuts in the first game – and a relatively inexperienced captain. Just as on that occasion they required much to go their way, so they will this time. The difference is that this time they are without their most likely match-winner.Key PlayerEoin Morgan. In the absence of Pietersen, Morgan is the only proven match-winning batsman in the England side. Blessed with the strength to clear the ropes and the ability to manoeuvre the ball into gaps with a range of idiosyncratic but highly skilful strokes Morgan can, when the mood is with him, devastate an attack. His struggles in the UAE – he was dropped from the England Test team after a gruesome series against Pakistan – and then spent the IPL season on the bench to do not bode especially well, but he bounced back with brilliant performances against Australia and South Africa. His T20 figures are actually unexceptional – he has passed 50 only three times in 25 innings and he has a strike-rate of 132.90 – but he has the experience, the skill and the big-match temperament to be a match-winner and, without Pietersen, England are heavily reliant upon him.7Surprise packageDanny Briggs. Dropped from Hampshire’s County Championship side due to a lack of incision – he claimed just five Championship wickets in 2012 at an average of 49.80 – he has nevertheless emerged as an excellent limited-overs bowler who played a key role in his county winnings both limited-overs competitions. Aged only 21 and having bowled only 12 balls in T20Is, he will be largely unknown to most opponents and, while he is not a huge turner of the ball, he has excellent control, surprising pace and decent variation. If he has a good tournament, it will go some way to his team doing the same.WeaknessThere are a few. The absence of Pietersen is clearly a blow and there is an obvious concern over England’s ability to combat spin bowling on the low, slow pitches that are anticipated. There are long-term worries about the elbow problems of Tim Bresnan and Graeme Swann, too. But it is Ravi Bopara’s lack of form and confidence with the bat that threatens to disturb the balance of the side. Bopara’s well-controlled and skilful medium-pace has been particularly productive in recent weeks and built in a buffer zone for England should one of their main bowlers endure a poor day. But such is his lack of form with the bat that he has been rendered something close to a specialist bowler in recent weeks. Without his ability to clear the ropes, England look over reliant on Morgan and Buttler with the bat and uncomfortably reliant for back-up bowling on Luke Wright, who bowled just one over in the 2010 event.World T20 historyDespite winning the World T20 in 2010, England have arguably suffered more embarrassment in this format than any Full Member. No team has lost more games – eight – than England in World T20s (though New Zealand and Bangladesh have also lost eight) and, in 2007 and 2009, they failed to progress beyond the last eight. In 2007, England’s only victory came against Zimbabwe and they lost all three of their Super Eight games culminating in Yuvraj Singh’s thrashing of Broad for 36 in an over in Durban. They fared little better in 2009 when they were beaten by Netherlands at Lord’s, though England did defeat eventual winners Pakistan and India before they were eliminated. In 2010 they emerged from the group stages despite failing to win a match – they were beaten by West Indies and probably saved by the rain against Ireland – but then won their next five games to secure the trophy.Recent formEngland have won 15 of their last 20 completed T20 games and are currently rated No.1 in the official ICC T20 rankings. They have not lost a series of more than one game since the World T20 of 2009 and, of the six T20s they have played this year, England have won four. They have only played one T20 in Asia (against India in Kolkata), which they won, while in vaguely similar conditions – in the UAE – they won two of their three T20s against Pakistan.

Team-mates pay tribute to former India allrounder Rusi Surti, who died at the age of 76

Nagraj Gollapudi13-Jan-2013Chandu Borde, former India team-mate
When a batsman hit the ball hard, Rusi, usually standing at a close-in position, would rush to the ball. That approach was completely in contrast to the rest of fielders who would normally wait for the ball to come. He was a very good allrounder and if he had played one-day cricket, he would have been really successful. He was an asset to the Indian side.Unfortunately, he was not consistent and that played against him. But his best quality was his grit. He was a (braveheart) cricketer. He would never take things lying down, he always liked to fight it out.Bapu Nadkarni, former India team-mate
He was a very old colleague of mine. We played together for about 18 years for Bombay and Times of India in the local Mumbai leagues. He was a really bold, big-hearted cricketer. Take the example of the second Test of the 1967-68 tour of Australia: it was a horrible wicket, an absolute green pitch with lot of movement. There was no chance we could face the likes of Garth McKenzie. India won the toss and elected to bat and were 25 for 5. Surti had retired earlier, hit just that once by McKenzie, but returned later to give Tiger (Nawab of Pataudi Jr) good support. If not for their daring knocks (and partnership worth 74 runs for the eighth wicket), India would have faced the disgrace of getting out for a low total. Rusi’s 30 was the finest innings on one of the fastest pitches, and he was proud of that innings, but would never talk about it himself. I have not seen a bigger fighter than him against all odds. Whatever side, tournament and level he played for, Rusi was a great team man. Farokh Engineer, former India team-mate
[how would it matter to him?]” was the line Rusi loved to use from his young days. Delivering it with that Parsi-Gujarati accent, he made it sound more interesting. He once said it reacting to Bill Lawry in the 1967 Mumbai Test, after the Australian had missed an easy full toss. Rusi, standing at silly mid-on, had turned his back as the batsman went for the stroke, but as soon as he heard the Australian captain use curse words, he instinctively came up with his favourite line. I had to pacify him in native Gujarati, but Rusi would not listen.I had known him from our days at the Dadar Parsi Colony Sporting Club and our careers ran parallel. He was an extremely talented player and a brilliant fielder. Along with Tiger Pataudi, Eknath Solkar, Abid Ali and myself behind the stumps, we comprised a very good fielding unit at one time. I would thank Rusi for improving my wicketkeeping skills. Playing for the Parsi Cylicsts in the Kanga League on horribly wet pitches, he would turn the ball from wide outside the leg stump and curl it outside off stump. He should have played more Test matches considering he was an extremely talented cricketer.