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‘If we bowl well, we’re favourites in this game. They need 450 to avoid the follow-on. As long as they’re short of that, they’ll be in danger,’ says Gambhir

Cricinfo staff25-Nov-2009This was a traipse back down memory lane to the 1990s when India’s batsmen would pile up huge totals before vacating the stage for their slow bowlers to systematically demolish the opposition. At least, India will be hoping the script plays out that way. The batsmen have done their part, putting 642 on the board at a cracking pace and with the pitch already showing signs of deterioration, the onus is now on Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha to make inroads into a Sri Lankan line-up that amassed 760 in the first Test.Most of the damage at Green Park was done on the opening day, with Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag adding 233 for the first wicket. Gambhir, who has now scored hundreds in each of his last four Tests, was confident that India would be able to drive home the advantage. “If you get 650 on the board, it’s always difficult for the team batting second,” he said. “The way the wicket is behaving now, it’s only going to get more difficult. Stroke-making isn’t easy because the bounce is not that great.”There’s only one team that can lose from this situation and that’s Sri Lanka. If we bowl well, we’re favourites in this game. They need 450 to avoid the follow-on. As long as they’re short of that, they’ll be in danger. And on this pitch, 450 is a lot of runs.”Until the series in Sri Lanka last July, Gambhir wasn’t even an integral part of India’s line-up, but his progress since has evoked all manner of comparisons. After the first day’s play, Sehwag referred to him as India’s best opening batsman since Sunil Gavaskar, and while he doesn’t mind the praise, it’s not something that’s uppermost in his mind. “In New Zealand as well, he [Sehwag] said that I’m the next Wall [Rahul Dravid]. Coming from him, it’s a great feeling. If someone else had said it, I wouldn’t have taken it seriously because these statements don’t matter. Comparisons with other cricketers don’t really make that much difference to me.”These days, Gambhir bats with the same sort of composure and steadiness that once made Dravid such an immovable object. There’s something reassuring about the way he goes about the business of making runs. And while he has gone from one century to another, the original has also regained his touch, with back-to-back centuries in Ahmedabad and Kanpur. “I think he’s a great player and his record speaks for him,” said Gambhir when asked about the Dravid renaissance.”As a cricketer, you go through these lean patches, and he’s such a great player that it was just a matter of time before he came out of that. We’ve all seen that once he got a hundred in Mohali against England, he hasn’t looked back. A lot of credit goes to him for the way he fought it out. The entire team is really happy because he’s one of the great players of the game. Hopefully he can continue the same way for us because he’s one of mainstays in our batting line-up.”Sri Lanka managed to get through to stumps with only one wicket down, but Gambhir was confident that the gremlins in the pitch would come to India’s aid sooner rather than later. “If you see the last session, the ball has started turning and keeping low as well. If we can bowl well tomorrow and for the next two days, it’s going to result-oriented [the pitch]. That’s what we felt even when we saw it before the Test started. We thought something would happen on this wicket. It’s only going to deteriorate from here on and if we can bowl the areas we want to bowl, there’s definitely going to be a result.”At one stage, with the scoreboard showing 613 for 4, a total in excess of 700 appeared likely. But Rangana Herath triggered a lower-order collapse in which six wickets fell for 29, and Gambhir was generous in his praise of the least celebrated member of Sri Lanka’s spin troika. “A five-wicket haul is a five-wicket haul. No one gives easy wickets in Test cricket. A lot of credit goes to him. On the first day, nothing was happening and he still stuck to his line and length and he got all the rewards for the way he bowled. Most of the wickets he got were off good balls. Except for Zaheer [Khan], all the other dismissals were off good balls.”More than 50,000 have cheered themselves hoarse in the stands over the first two days, making a mockery of recent suggestions that Indians no longer love their Test cricket. According to Gambhir, it was only ever thus. “Test cricket can never die in India because of the amount of passion people have,” he said. “It’s the ultimate cricket, if you ask any of the cricketers. It’s what I’ve always said in the past as well. Those who’ve become legends of the game have fantastic Test records. You don’t practise to play four overs in Twenty20, you practise to get 200s and 300s. That’s where your skill and temperament and patience are tested. We’ve got a great crowd here, and even in Ahmedabad we had decent crowds. That’s really satisfying.”With 10 centuries scored in the first seven days of the series, there was some sympathy too for those toiling with ball in hand. “Especially in Ahmedabad, it was a very tough job for the spinners, and for fast bowlers,” he said. “The way both Harbhajan and Amit [Mishra] bowled, my heart went out to them because there was nothing from the track. If you see, even Muralitharan, who’s the best spinner in the world, didn’t have a wicket on the fifth day, only the third time that’s happened. In future, I hope we can have wickets which suit both batsmen and bowlers so that it’s an even contest.”You sense though that he and team-mates, not to mention the thousands in the stands, will be perfectly happy to see an uneven contest over the next day or two. India have Sri Lanka staggering, and at a venue where spinners have always held sway, they’ll relish the opportunity to deliver the knockout punch.

India’s fielding and bowling remain a worry for their captain MS Dhoni as they embark on the final leg of Sri Lanka’s tour

Cricinfo staff14-Dec-2009India’s fielding and bowling remain the focus for their captain MS Dhoni as they embark on the final leg of Sri Lanka’s tour, a five-match series starting in Rajkot tomorrow. India’s one-day fortunes have dipped in the last few months and Dhoni, while confident of their chances in the series, was keen to iron out the chinks that threaten to turn into gaping holes.”We want to win the series that’s what we are supposed to do, [but] at the same time not being overconfident is also important,” he said. “We have to be in that phase of mind where you are very confident but at the same time not to cross that line. We are taking care of the things we need to do, including fielding and death bowling. We have quite a few areas we need to improve and are focusing on that. At the same time whatever our strong point is we need to be up there throughout.”Mike Young, formerly with the Australian team, has been appointed India’s fielding consultant for the limited-overs series but the team’s catching was abysmal in the two Twenty20 fixtures. “Since Mike has joined us we are laying emphasis on fielding … he also needs a few specific sessions as coach,” said Dhoni. “It’s a very important aspect of any format of the game. If you can see the impact [of Young joining] in three days that will be great.”According to Dhoni, the results would be seen over a period of time. “We need to get our basics right and fielding is an area where if you are not in a good position [to field the ball] there are very good chances you can injure yourself,” he said. “If you get your basics right and are also practicing well there are very good chances you would field well and the injury list also goes down at the same time. It will take some time but will start to reflect soon.”As for the bowling, Dhoni felt the bowlers would need to concentrate most on bowling in the last ten overs of an innings. “Variation is important [but] at the same time you have to bowl good yorkers. That is the key. Whoever is a good death bowler has to have yorkers. We are improving and [have] done well in patches. To be a very good side we need to be consistent, especially in the last eight or ten overs.”India will welcome back Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh, who were rested from the two Twenty20s. This will be Zaheer’s first ODI appearance in ten months, following injury woes. “They are the most experienced bowlers we have got – Zaheer in the fast bowling department and Harbhajan as a spinner,” said Dhoni. “It is very important to get early breakthroughs with the new ball, but at the same time put pressure during the middle overs, from the 15th or 20th to 40th … to not give easy singles and attack with your best spinner and look to get wickets. We have seen wickets are so good to bat on and the only way to stop [the] opposition from getting runs is to take wickets.”

The home side’s in-form seam attack, led by newcomer Abhimanyu Mithun, squashed Uttar Pradesh’s hopes of making a third straight Ranji final by dismantling them for 208

The Bulletin by Siddarth Ravindran in Bangalore05-Jan-2010
Scorecard
Captain Mohammad Kaif resisted for three hours, but couldn’t prevent UP from surrendering a first-innings lead•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

On a flat track at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Karnataka showed just why they have been the most fearsome team this Ranji season. The home side’s in-form seam attack, led by newcomer Abhimanyu Mithun, squashed Uttar Pradesh’s hopes of making a third straight Ranji final by dismantling them for 208. For two days, Karnataka’s batsmen had enjoyed themselves against a UP attack brimming with internationally-experienced players, but the visiting batsmen floundered on a surface that still had little to excite the bowlers.Rahul Dravid’s batting masterclass on Monday had already dimmed UP’s chances of progressing, the first four overs of the third day extinguished them: the two highest scorers of the season, Tanmay Srivastava and Parvinder Singh, were dismissed and UP were stuttering at 13 for 4. Srivastava reached out to a wide delivery from Mithun and bottom-edged it on to his stumps while Parvinder missed an incoming delivery from R Vinaykumar to be lbw. The first-innings lead, and with it a place in the final, was an unthinkable 563 runs away.Mohammad Kaif and Rohit Prakash Srivastava then awkwardly survived a barrage of bouncers from Mithun, taking several blows to the body. Kaif was fortunate to survive on 16 when an edge off Mithun hummed between the wicketkeeper and first slip.Life became easier once Mithun and Vinay were out of the attack, Rohit got his cover drive going, finding the boundary in successive overs from fast bowler S Aravind. Left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi wasn’t getting the ball to turn alarmingly, but he kept the batsmen on a leash, giving away only five runs in a four-over spell.Karnataka looked set for a long stay in the field after Kaif and Rohit defied the bowling for two and a half hours, dragging UP past 100. That was when Mithun was brought back for another spell; he struck with his third delivery, getting the big wicket of Kaif, who defended a fullish
delivery with an angled bat, only to see the ball roll back onto the stumps. That wicket kicked off another UP collapse, four falling for 37.Piyush Chawla was the next to get a working over from Mithun, but he managed to keep his wicket intact with a series of aggressive shots that boosted him to 22 off 12. Mithun also softened up Rohit with short balls, but when he induced the edge with a fuller delivery, the chance dropped short of second slip. Rohit didn’t last too long, though, closing the face too soon against Sunil Joshi to pop a catch to Robin Uthappa at silly point. Mithun’s fiery bowling finally got him another wicket soon after, when Amir Khan was undone by a delivery that stopped on him, and a checked pull lobbed to square leg where Uthappa snapped another catch.With UP at 130 for 7, Praveen Kumar walked out determined to show his top-order batsmen what an easy-paced track it was. In a whirlwind of clean hitting, Praveen galloped to a run-a-ball half-century which had four sixes and four fours, almost all of which were in the arc from long-on to long-off. Joshi, in particular, was taken apart: three of Praveen’s sixes, including a monster hit that went into the second tier, was off him. When Praveen reached his fifty, he gesticulated furiously with the bat towards the dressing room, making his scorn on the specialist batsmen’s efforts clear. There was one more Praveen six – a flat, powerful hit over long-off – before No. 11 RP Singh was bowled by legspinner Amit Verma to end the UP innings.With a gargantuan first-innings lead in the bag, and a place in the finals virtually assured, Karnataka decided to not push for the outright win, perhaps wanting to rest their bowlers because there is only a four-day break before the final begins. The match meandered meaninglessly, with the home side’s openers watchfully playing out 16 overs. Chawla though gave them a bit of a jolt by striking in three successive overs, but his efforts aren’t likely to have an impact on the overall result.

Corrie van Zyl, South Africa’s coach for the tour of India, has said his biggest challenge is making his side adapt to new conditions in the limited time available

Cricinfo staff04-Feb-2010Corrie van Zyl, South Africa’s coach for the tour of India, has said his biggest challenge is making his side adapt to new conditions in the limited time available. South Africa only played a two-day warm-up game in the lead-up to the two-Test series, and van Zyl said he was satisfied with the preparation thus far.”My biggest challenge is to prepare the players in such a congested time to these conditions from the bouncy wickets of South Africa,” van Zyl said. “We have to get in as many practice sessions as possible and obviously the two-day game has helped tremendously. The key lies in making sure our mindset is right for the challenge in these difficult conditions.”van Zyl, 48, who took over after Mickey Arthur’s resignation, expected the track in Nagpur, the venue for the first Test, to take some turn. South Africa have two spinners, Johan Botha and Paul Harris, in their squad but the pair were far from effective in the warm-up game. However, the visitors boast a strong pace attack, including Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Wayne Parnell, which, according to their coach, more than makes up for the weakness in the spin department.”If you are a fine fast bowler, you should adapt to any kind of wicket,” van Zyl said. “Having quality fast bowlers capable of bowling at 140 km-plus, and three of them at that, those guys are going to be effective on any kind of wicket. It’s a question of getting the right line and length on surfaces like that and that’s what we are working on. You need to assess what’s the right length and control. We are working on the control issue.”The first Test in Nagpur gets underway on February 6, while the second will be played in Kolkata from February 14.

A round-up of the first day’s action in the fourth round of the RBS Pentangular Cup

Cricinfo staff19-Jan-2010Habib Bank Limited (HBL) turned in a strong batting performance at the National Stadium to extend Sialkot’s poor run in the tournament. Though none of the HBL batsmen went on to make a hundred, each of their top six crossed 30, and three half-centuries took them to 368 for 8 at stumps. Captain Hasan Raza was the top scorer with 75, opener Shan Masood made a patient 61 and Abdur Rehman slammed two sixes and seven fours in a quick 58 to power HBL. Prince Abbas and Nayyer Abbas shared seven wickets between them in a day of toil for the Sialkot bowlers.Four wickets for left-arm spinner Saeed Anwar jnr handed The Rest the early advantage against Karachi Blues at the Niaz Stadium. Choosing to field, The Rest were given an early lift by the seamers, in particular, Mohammad Talha’s twin strikes. Sheharyar Ghani’s well-composed 86 ensured there were some fightback, but his departure paved the way for Saeed to weave his magic. He accounted for the lower order in haste, as Karachi succumbed in the 60th over for 198. Umair Khan’s 55 put The Rest in control during the reply, as they took stumps at 91 for no loss.

The Indian allrounder has said he sought prior approval from the BCCI

Cricinfo staff15-Feb-2010Ravindra Jadeja, the Indian allrounder who was banned from the IPL 2010 season for allegedly trying to negotiate a contract outside of Rajasthan Royals, has said he sought prior approval from the BCCI before taking his decision, the reported.In his letter to the BCCI, reportedly written two weeks before Saturday’s ban, Jadeja said his contract with Rajasthan had expired on December 31, 2009 and that they did not give him any indications they were going to renew his contract.”It is my understanding that my contract with Rajasthan Royals has expired and they have not at any stage offered me a renewal for Season 2010,” Jadeja said in the letter. “In addition, I have never refused until this day to sign such a contract. Hence, I believe I am free to sign a contract with any franchisee.The deadline for announcing the squads was February 12, and it passed without Jadeja signing a fresh contract.”If there is any delay on my part, I regret the same in view of my preoccupation with playing cricket at domestic and international levels,” he wrote. “In view of this, I seek your approval and guidance as to whether I am free to sign with any other franchisee. I seek your guidance in the matter and await your decision.”As per 2009 player regulations, Rajasthan Royals had an option until 7 January, 2009 to sign me for two years commencing from January 1, 2009. Despite this option (clause 35 & 36 of Player Regulations 2009) Royals signed me for one year only from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2009. I became an India player in January 2009 and was therefore paid Rs 40 lakhs. However, in my contract, my category continued as a 2008 World Cup Under-19 player and my contract continued at Rs 20 lakh. Even as per IPL Player Regulations 2010 (clause 14) I continue to be in the category of 2008 World Cup U-19 player.”The report quoted IPL sources as saying he could be allowed back into the IPL if he appeals to the governing council.Jadeja, 21, has 19 ODIs and five Twenty20 games under his belt. He was a key member of the team that won the U-19 World Cup in Malaysia in 2008, which pitchforked him into the limelight and an IPL contract, worth US$30,000, with Rajasthan. He was one of the key performers in Rajasthan’s victorious campaign in the inaugural IPL, leading Shane Warne, the captain and coach, to single him out as a special talent and a “superstar in the making”.

There’s a chair out there. It has India’s back-up spinner written on it. Before every series India play, a few hopefuls run around the chair to music, and the first man to sit on the chair when the music stops, gets selected

Sidharth Monga26-Mar-2010There’s a chair out there. It has India’s back-up spinner written on it. Before every series India play, the national selection committee gathers around the chair, and invites Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra for a little game. The selectors play music, and ask the two spinners to walk around the chair. Suddenly the music stops. The first man to sit on the chair gets picked for India.Turns out, it doesn’t make any difference, because that man doesn’t get enough chances – that is, if he is lucky enough to get a chance in the first place – to show what he has got, and before the next series, the game is played again. Just that a third member, Piyush Chawla, has now been added to the musical chairs that is India’s back-up spinner’s place. And he will be making the trip to the West Indies.This is not to bring Chawla down. He has worked on his legbreaks, and is a smart Twenty20 bowler. This, though, is to ask what wrong has Ojha or Mishra done. Ojha has played nine ODIs, eight of them against Sri Lanka who can be accused of being anything but poor players of spin. He has given away runs at 4.2 an over, and he last played an ODI in February 2009. From then to now, though, the selectors’ muddled thinking has completed a whole spectrum.Ojha went to New Zealand and the West Indies, but was replaced by Mishra for Sri Lanka and the Champions Trophy. Mishra did well in the two games he got in South Africa, but without getting a single game against Australia at home, he too was dumped. Ojha was back again, for the home ODIs against Sri Lanka, only to not play a game, and lose his place to Mishra for the tri-series in Bangladesh.Soon after that tri-series, Ojha and Mishra would have thought that their time had come at long last. Harbhajan Singh was to miss the home ODIs against South Africa. After months and months of travelling with the team, they would have felt finally they would get a proper go. The selectors, though, pulled another fast one. For every series Harbhajan played in, India felt a back-up spinner was needed. When Harbhajan was not playing, the selectors went for only one specialist spinner, and gave the other spot to bits-and-pieces R Ashwin. Ojha lost out this time. Thankfully for MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja did a decent job, and he didn’t even pick a specialist spinner in the XIs.Reason, logic, form etc. are clearly not important. The message being sent out to these spinners can’t be good. There is no attempt to even sort out who is the Test spinner, and who is more suited to limited overs. Both of them took similar turns in Tests, getting actual caps there. It is also clear that Ojha is a more effective limited-overs spinner than in Tests. Yet, since his debut in June 2008, he has played only nine ODIs and four Twenty20s, but has travelled the world.One can empathise with the selectors. This is not an enviable scenario: to make choices when the spinner cupboard is not exactly bustling with options. What can’t be understood, though, is how they are judging who to select when they don’t see them play, when they keep them busy for carrying drinks when the domestic season is on, and when they don’t quite consider the IPL as a benchmark for Twenty20.Ojha was the standout Indian spinner in IPL’s last edition, Mishra has been the most impressive of the lot this time. Chawla hasn’t been bad, but he hasn’t exactly done anything stunning to usurp Ojha. So far in this IPL, Ojha has gone at 7.12 an over and has taken four wickets, Mishra has seven wickets at 7.31 an over, and Chawla three wickets at 7.38. Murali Kartik, who went for less than a run a ball last year, and whose 5.57 an over is the second-best economy-rate among bowlers who have bowled 10 overs or more this year, will have a seen-it-all smile on his face: he has known such muddled thinking from even before this selection committee came to power.If Chawla’s batting is the logic, it has occurred too late in the day, after having taken the other two for a ride around the world for two years. Of course Chawla has it in him to vindicate the selectors, but it is unlikely he will get a chance, and even if he does it will be more a chance happening than an intended move.As of now, India’s back-up spinner slot resembles that of freeloaders that Sports Authorities of India sends as part of official teams – a new person for a new meet, on a paid holiday to a new country. When it comes to selecting the second spinner, if musical chairs be the food of thought, play on.

Sachin Tendulkar has said IPL franchises should be allowed to hold on to a certain number of players from their existing squads

Cricinfo staff23-Apr-2010Sachin Tendulkar, the Mumbai Indians captain, has said the IPL franchises should be allowed to hold on to a certain number of players from their existing squads as the league prepares for a reshuffle at the end of the 2010 season, when existing player contracts expire. Next year the IPL will have two new franchises – Pune and Kochi – and a fresh auction but Tendulkar wanted teams to be able to retain at least eight players.”About retaining players, my personal thoughts are that we should be allowed to retain four India players and four foreign players,” Tendulkar told the Indian news channel . “As for domestic players, it should be up to the franchisees. I feel it’s a tough call because all teams have made huge efforts in building a good side.”It’s not an overnight result. For three years everyone has been working on what’s the best combination. Even a player’s identity is important. We have to look into these things and then have some changes. I hope there are not too many changes.”For a player who opted not to represent India in Twenty20 internationals in 2007, Tendulkar has appeared to have mastered the art of batting in the shortest format, as his statisticsthis IPL indicate. His batting has been a sensation this season but his captaincy has also drawn plaudits. Tendulkar captained India twice unsuccessfully, but he said he did not have a point to prove to critics as Mumbai prepared to contest their first IPL final.”It’s a big stage but it’s not about proving a point to someone that I can manage captaincy. I have never played for that,” he said. “The runs I have scored in all forms of the game, I was not trying to prove something to someone. I have just played because I enjoyed playing and loved playing and the passion for cricket is there. I have just done that and while doing that all this has happened.”

Phil Simmons, the Ireland coach, has accused his side of ‘complacency’ after they slumped to defeat against Afghanistan in the World Twenty20 warm-up game

Cricinfo staff29-Apr-2010Phil Simmons, the Ireland coach, has accused his side of ‘complacency’ after they slumped to defeat against Afghanistan in the World Twenty20 warm-up game on Wednesday.Ireland lost 3-0 to West Indies XI earlier this month and were also defeated by New Zealand on Tuesday. It’s a sequence of results that does not bode well for a side that has a proud record in global tournaments recently and Simmons could not hide his disappointment after a lacklustre performance that saw Ireland slip to 32 for 5 at one point.”I can’t express my thoughts,” he said. “We didn’t start the game well. We can’t have five wickets down for 30 runs in eight or nine overs and expect to be competitive in a game. It’s a case of complacency and bad batting as a whole. We’ve just got to make sure that we get rid of that complacency.”Ireland’s batting woes have hampered the side since arriving in the Caribbean. They have passed 150 only once in the five Twenty20 matches they have played but Simmons insists his team can bounce back.”We lost four going into the World Twenty20 in England last year and we lost two coming into the [50-over] World Cup here three years ago so that does nothing for us,” he said.”The thing about it is that before yesterday and today we had done everything that we wanted to do leading up to the competition. Two days doesn’t change anything. I think it’s a case of us making sure that between Thursday and Friday morning that mentally we get prepared for what it the biggest game since we’ve been on this tour.”Ireland play their opening match on Friday against Simmons’ native West Indies at Guyana. “We’ve had two bad days but two bad days don’t make a summer, as they say. I think we still have the desire to come on Friday and perform.”

Gary Kirsten has come down hard on some of the Indian players’ “fitness and commitment”

Cricinfo staff13-May-2010Gary Kirsten, India’s coach, has come down hard on some of the Indian players’ “fitness and commitment” after his side failed to win a single game in the Super Eights of the World Twenty20, a repeat performance from last year.Before addressing the team and handing them a dressing-down in the West Indies, Kirsten had a one-on-one interaction with senior players – MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra. Team sources said that Kirsten told the group he was angry to see that even he – a 42-year-old – was fitter than some of the players. Yuvraj and Rohit Sharma got special mention with regards to fitness, the sources said. Kirsten demanded better fitness from the players and gave them one month to show results on that front.Kirsten also said in the meeting that the players seemed content with the No. 1 ranking in Tests and the No. 2 in ODIs, and were not committed to the team cause in the World Twenty20. It is worth noting that only four of the 15 players present there are sure starters in Test matches: Dhoni, Gambhir, Harbhajan and Zaheer.While it is not the first time that a coach has lashed out at a team, the timing and the harshness of this dressing-down suggest the severity of the problem, especially coming from a man usually content with the back seat. India’s early exit from the World Twenty20, their third such effort in last three global events, has drawn harsh criticism from various quarters, but this coming from the coach is the most damning of all. After last year’s debacle too, Kirsten had raised similar fitness and intensity questions. He had blamed IPL fatigue then.His plea bore little result this year. After a six-week-long IPL, India got a five-day break before their first match in the world Twenty20. Yuvraj, coming back from a wrist injury, played all 14 of Kings XI Punjab’s matches. Zaheer sat out of two of India’s five matches in the World Twenty20. Zaheer, Gambhir and Nehra missed matches at various stages of the IPL, and Nehra was picked for India even before he had returned to full fitness for Delhi Daredevils.