Steve Waugh may be voicing the opinion of many people who saw Jaffer's flop show at Melbourne. He did look to be the fish out of water as he kept fishing at deliveries going outside the off-stump. The former Australian captain is in favour of one more chance for Dravid-the-opener, who could be a perfect foil to Sehwag.
http://www.rediff.com/cricket/2007/dec/31waugh.htm
However, it looks unlikely that India could see any opening combination apart from Jaffer-Dravid or Jaffer-Sehwag. If an opener has to go, then it will only be the makeshift opener in Dravid. They are likely to give at least one more chance to Jaffer as opener.
Meanwhile, the Indian Team management has denied reports in the Australia media that there was unhappiness about Yuvraj's attitude. Their denial should also be a lesson for the home media that such reports should be lapped up only after verification with the person concerned. At least, have 'no comment' or 'failure to reach' from them.
http://www.cricket365.co.za/story/0,18305,14005_3012859,00.html
Monday, December 31, 2007
Do not create another Controversy Mr Rajput, India have enough on their plate!
It was indeed funny to read a report in the Times of India, quoting Assistant Coach Ralchand Rajput in Sydney Morning Herald, that Yuvraj’s air of indifference was likely to cost him in a place in the middle order.
A similar report appeared in the Hindustan Times, titled ‘’Team upset with Yuvraj’s attitude’’ and it quoted the Newspaper, The Age.
The HT report said Yuvraj’s attitude during Melbourne ‘’infuriated the members of the Indian team.’’Unfortunately, there was no quote from Yuvraj, not even a mention that the media tried to contact him. Now where does any of the reports mention what exactly was this attitude problem.
For example, did he tell the other players to look at their own batting first before commenting on his (Yuvraj’s)! Or was there anything else.Why malign a man (who will not reply due to disciplinary reasons), whose heroics at the World Cup helped India snatch it, and whose tremendous batting at Bangalore along with Ganguly saved India from a possible defeat.
If you do not want to play him at Sydney, do it little more gracefully.What is Yuvraj without attitude? And what is the problem with flaunting it! Only men with attitude can take on the Australians. The likes of Botham, Flintoff, Shastri and Harbhajan have shown it in the past.
And the point it, why should Rajput be talking to the Australian media about the attitude of the Indians, and play into their hand!
Rajput wants to have one-on-one with him at Sydney, but has no problem in talking to the media on the issue even before that chat! That is strange.
A similar report appeared in the Hindustan Times, titled ‘’Team upset with Yuvraj’s attitude’’ and it quoted the Newspaper, The Age.
The HT report said Yuvraj’s attitude during Melbourne ‘’infuriated the members of the Indian team.’’Unfortunately, there was no quote from Yuvraj, not even a mention that the media tried to contact him. Now where does any of the reports mention what exactly was this attitude problem.
For example, did he tell the other players to look at their own batting first before commenting on his (Yuvraj’s)! Or was there anything else.Why malign a man (who will not reply due to disciplinary reasons), whose heroics at the World Cup helped India snatch it, and whose tremendous batting at Bangalore along with Ganguly saved India from a possible defeat.
If you do not want to play him at Sydney, do it little more gracefully.What is Yuvraj without attitude? And what is the problem with flaunting it! Only men with attitude can take on the Australians. The likes of Botham, Flintoff, Shastri and Harbhajan have shown it in the past.
And the point it, why should Rajput be talking to the Australian media about the attitude of the Indians, and play into their hand!
Rajput wants to have one-on-one with him at Sydney, but has no problem in talking to the media on the issue even before that chat! That is strange.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Sitaree (Stars) lose their glow!
Media watch on Sunday
If you are a loyal friend, blind admirer, or really (rather real) close relative of an Indian cricketer, reading newspapers today will be as tough and soul-sapping as watching the stars in ‘royal inaction’ yesterday. The papers were full of criticism and advice for the rest of the series.
The Times of India had an interesting one, ‘Sitare Zameen Par’’ where the paper wrote that the ‘’Indian papers, long dazzled by the glitz and glamour of international cricket, showed once more that they do not have the stomach for fight when odds are staked against them.''
Well, this blog had indicated this very fact during the Pakistan series itself when it criticized the Indian defensive mindset during the third test. Please read the links below
http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/india-end-contest-with-48-overs-to-go.html
http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/imran-criticises-late-declaration.html
So India being defensive is nothing new!
Skipper Kumble now says that it is a collective batting failure and the team needs to find the answers collectively. He wants them to be relaxed and positive.
Well, that should have been the advise before the tour started. One fears it is too late. Batsmen, barring Tendulkar and Ganguly, did look too tense and in negative frame of mind. There was simply too much pressure on Dravid, who did not want to fail as opener, and Yuvraj, perpetually on trial and this time more so as an opener had been sacrificed to accommodate him.
HT had ''Suffocated, India Self-destruct’’. It started with Anil Kumble’s quote as to ‘’I wish I knew what went wrong.’’ He only has to see another article in the same paper where HT analyses whey India failed to stretch Australia at Melbourne. Of course, arguments (the ten reasons) are nothing new and we have been hearing them on TV and Print ever since the tour started, but the writer has compiled and argued them really well. That one page needs to be read by the whole Indian team.
HT also has a quote from Kumble saying ‘’if Veru and Karthik were in great form, we would have thought differently.’’ Come on skipper, even Dravid was not in 'great form' during the Pakistan series and by excluding an opener, Laxman and Dravid were forced to play in unfamiliar positions against a lethal attack.
Laxman has not been at number three for very very long time and the strategy was as much counter-productive for him, as for Dravid.
The Indian Express had not much surprise by way of ‘’Early New Year’s Party for Australia as India Crumble.’’ It has a graphics which showed the India’s three worst ever defeats (in runs) had come in last three years, beginning the one at Nagpur in 2004 when Australia had humbled us by 342 runs followed by the one at Karachi in February last year, when Pakistan beat us by 341. And now 337.
Well, we seem to be losing by a mile of late, which shows how fallible we are in the fourth innings. That should be a big matter of concern.
The Hindu’s headline seemed to have been made by tea on the fourth day. Australia victory march continues was simple, a matter of fact statement without too many emotions attached to it.
Viewers who chose not to watch the match on the fourth day and rather went for a fun trip on Saturday, must have felt the same way before giving the telecast a royal ignore.
Related Link
http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/india-look-doomed.html
If you are a loyal friend, blind admirer, or really (rather real) close relative of an Indian cricketer, reading newspapers today will be as tough and soul-sapping as watching the stars in ‘royal inaction’ yesterday. The papers were full of criticism and advice for the rest of the series.
The Times of India had an interesting one, ‘Sitare Zameen Par’’ where the paper wrote that the ‘’Indian papers, long dazzled by the glitz and glamour of international cricket, showed once more that they do not have the stomach for fight when odds are staked against them.''
Well, this blog had indicated this very fact during the Pakistan series itself when it criticized the Indian defensive mindset during the third test. Please read the links below
http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/india-end-contest-with-48-overs-to-go.html
http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/imran-criticises-late-declaration.html
So India being defensive is nothing new!
Skipper Kumble now says that it is a collective batting failure and the team needs to find the answers collectively. He wants them to be relaxed and positive.
Well, that should have been the advise before the tour started. One fears it is too late. Batsmen, barring Tendulkar and Ganguly, did look too tense and in negative frame of mind. There was simply too much pressure on Dravid, who did not want to fail as opener, and Yuvraj, perpetually on trial and this time more so as an opener had been sacrificed to accommodate him.
HT had ''Suffocated, India Self-destruct’’. It started with Anil Kumble’s quote as to ‘’I wish I knew what went wrong.’’ He only has to see another article in the same paper where HT analyses whey India failed to stretch Australia at Melbourne. Of course, arguments (the ten reasons) are nothing new and we have been hearing them on TV and Print ever since the tour started, but the writer has compiled and argued them really well. That one page needs to be read by the whole Indian team.
HT also has a quote from Kumble saying ‘’if Veru and Karthik were in great form, we would have thought differently.’’ Come on skipper, even Dravid was not in 'great form' during the Pakistan series and by excluding an opener, Laxman and Dravid were forced to play in unfamiliar positions against a lethal attack.
Laxman has not been at number three for very very long time and the strategy was as much counter-productive for him, as for Dravid.
The Indian Express had not much surprise by way of ‘’Early New Year’s Party for Australia as India Crumble.’’ It has a graphics which showed the India’s three worst ever defeats (in runs) had come in last three years, beginning the one at Nagpur in 2004 when Australia had humbled us by 342 runs followed by the one at Karachi in February last year, when Pakistan beat us by 341. And now 337.
Well, we seem to be losing by a mile of late, which shows how fallible we are in the fourth innings. That should be a big matter of concern.
The Hindu’s headline seemed to have been made by tea on the fourth day. Australia victory march continues was simple, a matter of fact statement without too many emotions attached to it.
Viewers who chose not to watch the match on the fourth day and rather went for a fun trip on Saturday, must have felt the same way before giving the telecast a royal ignore.
Related Link
http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/india-look-doomed.html
Saturday, December 29, 2007
India must make their own statement!
Getting up at four (IST), well an hour before the Indian batsmen undertake an arduous, rather a near impossible, journey for glory at Melbourne, reminds me of the days in the eighties when we would not be able to sleep the whole night in anticipation of a great telecast from Australia.
It used to be a tremendous telecast with crystal clear pictures and mind-blowing action replays considering the telecast standards that prevailed in India at that time. One can still recall with amusement how Srikaanth backed away nonchalantly and fooled everybody after dislodging a bail. He even had the gumption to put it back on. But for those action replays, one would have never known that kind of drama. That the Indian team was almost equal to Australia in mid-eighties also helped the matters a lot.
Coming back to Melbourne, I could not sleep tonight (the whole neighbourhood is still pitch dark), because I still hope that this Indian team can leave Melbourne with a good batting display, a display which may not win them the match, but which will surely be a solid statement for the next three matches.
India will badly need to make a statement with the bat because Ponting, by setting a target of 499 when he could have easily gone for 525-550, made a statement that the Australians were brave enough to be prepared to lose, in order to win. After all, statistically speaking, a strike rate of 47 should be good enough to take India through. Even though no team has lasted hundred overs in this match.
Now the Indians must be brave enough to resist even if they lose some early wickets. As Sunil Gavaskar had said yesterday, they must not think of 180 overs or 499 runs. They must play it ball-by-ball, session-by-session and keep rotating the strike.
They will also do well to remember Steve Waugh’s words at Sydney four years ago. Faced with a daunting Indian first innings score of around 700 and in danger of losing the final test and the series, the about-to-retire skipper had said that Australia will fight till the last man standing. And they managed to escape with a draw!
Surely, a draw is impossible here unless bad weather intervenes, and an Indian defeat looks the most likely outcome, but the visitors must go down with all guns blazing. They will make their own statement this way.
Related Links
http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/if-you-do-not-score-australia-will.html
http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/india-look-doomed.html
It used to be a tremendous telecast with crystal clear pictures and mind-blowing action replays considering the telecast standards that prevailed in India at that time. One can still recall with amusement how Srikaanth backed away nonchalantly and fooled everybody after dislodging a bail. He even had the gumption to put it back on. But for those action replays, one would have never known that kind of drama. That the Indian team was almost equal to Australia in mid-eighties also helped the matters a lot.
Coming back to Melbourne, I could not sleep tonight (the whole neighbourhood is still pitch dark), because I still hope that this Indian team can leave Melbourne with a good batting display, a display which may not win them the match, but which will surely be a solid statement for the next three matches.
India will badly need to make a statement with the bat because Ponting, by setting a target of 499 when he could have easily gone for 525-550, made a statement that the Australians were brave enough to be prepared to lose, in order to win. After all, statistically speaking, a strike rate of 47 should be good enough to take India through. Even though no team has lasted hundred overs in this match.
Now the Indians must be brave enough to resist even if they lose some early wickets. As Sunil Gavaskar had said yesterday, they must not think of 180 overs or 499 runs. They must play it ball-by-ball, session-by-session and keep rotating the strike.
They will also do well to remember Steve Waugh’s words at Sydney four years ago. Faced with a daunting Indian first innings score of around 700 and in danger of losing the final test and the series, the about-to-retire skipper had said that Australia will fight till the last man standing. And they managed to escape with a draw!
Surely, a draw is impossible here unless bad weather intervenes, and an Indian defeat looks the most likely outcome, but the visitors must go down with all guns blazing. They will make their own statement this way.
Related Links
http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/if-you-do-not-score-australia-will.html
http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/india-look-doomed.html
Friday, December 28, 2007
India look doomed
Got up at Seven for two reasons. Not to spoil my wife’s birthday as early morning noises from Melbourne in Indian winter have the potential to disturb the whole neighbourhood, not to speak of my household. And second, did not wish to wake up at five and see the Indian bowlers carted to all parts of the ground and would rather dream of India bowling out Australia for less than 150 by lunch!
Dream did not happen (it happened four years ago at Adelaide thanks to Agarkar and I should be satisfied), and felt happy that did not miss much, though Indian situation at lunch looks much beyond redemption.With Australia leading by a good 282 runs with eight wickets in hand and eight sessions remaining, read an article where Tendulkar defended Dravid’s approach and said the match was far from over.
"We were in a good position yesterday. Today (After Dec 27 play) it's not the same for us. But it's part and parcel of the game. We'll continue to fight (in this Test)," said the batsman in that article and added, "It's possible to chase 400 runs on this wicket. The match isn't over yet. We would try to take 10 wickets as early as possible. We would look to break it down session to session.''
If it was not just for the consumption of the press, it will be a very good statement of intent. Though I have not seen an Indian team successfully chasing even a 300+ score ever since Sachin Tendulkar debuted. But then, India’s rare series win in England too had come 18 years after his debut, so we can hope that India will make it count.
Second, as of now it looks Australia will end up well above 400. May be around 475-500 by the end of play today, which will leave India with a massive task of surviving the last five-and-a-half to six sessions. If we are lucky, weather will intervene.
As of now, India look doomed. Who had said before the series started that if India have to win the series, they will need to win it 2-1 because Australia will try and win every match, and they will win at least one? I think it was Ian Chappell, but may be I am wrong.
Dream did not happen (it happened four years ago at Adelaide thanks to Agarkar and I should be satisfied), and felt happy that did not miss much, though Indian situation at lunch looks much beyond redemption.With Australia leading by a good 282 runs with eight wickets in hand and eight sessions remaining, read an article where Tendulkar defended Dravid’s approach and said the match was far from over.
"We were in a good position yesterday. Today (After Dec 27 play) it's not the same for us. But it's part and parcel of the game. We'll continue to fight (in this Test)," said the batsman in that article and added, "It's possible to chase 400 runs on this wicket. The match isn't over yet. We would try to take 10 wickets as early as possible. We would look to break it down session to session.''
If it was not just for the consumption of the press, it will be a very good statement of intent. Though I have not seen an Indian team successfully chasing even a 300+ score ever since Sachin Tendulkar debuted. But then, India’s rare series win in England too had come 18 years after his debut, so we can hope that India will make it count.
Second, as of now it looks Australia will end up well above 400. May be around 475-500 by the end of play today, which will leave India with a massive task of surviving the last five-and-a-half to six sessions. If we are lucky, weather will intervene.
As of now, India look doomed. Who had said before the series started that if India have to win the series, they will need to win it 2-1 because Australia will try and win every match, and they will win at least one? I think it was Ian Chappell, but may be I am wrong.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
The perils of being a print journalist (A story on India's ultradefensive approach is below this post)
There are perils of being a print journalist .
Well, this is what one realizes when one is on tour to Australia or New Zealand. By the time you words reach the readers, the 1st session is normally over and, at times, there is a world of difference between what readers read in newspapers, and what is going on ‘live’ on their TV Screens.
At Seven, when I got my papers, India were reeling at 31 for two at lunch, with both the openers gone. Australia were all set to continue their domination as Jadeja had anticipated on NDTV, when he put the lid of realism on euphoria, saying even a first innings score of 350 by Australia on their home ground was very good.
On the other hand, the newspapers were all praise for Kumble’s performance, which had prevented Australia from posting a total in excess of 500 runs, and some were also critical of their somewhat rash approach to batting. But the euphoria had melted by the time the readers got to lay their hands on papers.
Of course it was a superlative show, but it hid one important fact. Kumble bowled too little early in the innings and at no stage could India curb the Australian scoring rate.
The Indian Express had a big photograph of Kumble on the front page titled ‘Australia Krumble’. Well, Australia did Krumble but it was no collapse by any stretch of imagination. They still managed about 100 more than what could have allowed India to be competitive as India will have to play the fourth innings on this ground. As of now, only rain or an unexpected Australian collapse can save them (in that order!)
The Times of India had their picture titled ‘Jumbo Lands the First Punch’, even though it was only a very good counterpunch after the Australian opening blitz, which must have made the Aussie rework their batting strategy for the second innings.
The Hindustan Times, as matter of fact, said ‘’Well Begun.’’ Equally realistic was the Hindu headline to the main story. ‘’Skipper Kumble inspires Indian fight back’’.
As the luck would have it, Kumble also helped India stage a mini revival with a strong batting display, which ended in the Australian lead getting reduced to less than 150.
But again, the events of the 1st and 2nd days showed that being a print journalist can be a very taxing job when new events supercede the happenings day before.
Well, this is what one realizes when one is on tour to Australia or New Zealand. By the time you words reach the readers, the 1st session is normally over and, at times, there is a world of difference between what readers read in newspapers, and what is going on ‘live’ on their TV Screens.
At Seven, when I got my papers, India were reeling at 31 for two at lunch, with both the openers gone. Australia were all set to continue their domination as Jadeja had anticipated on NDTV, when he put the lid of realism on euphoria, saying even a first innings score of 350 by Australia on their home ground was very good.
On the other hand, the newspapers were all praise for Kumble’s performance, which had prevented Australia from posting a total in excess of 500 runs, and some were also critical of their somewhat rash approach to batting. But the euphoria had melted by the time the readers got to lay their hands on papers.
Of course it was a superlative show, but it hid one important fact. Kumble bowled too little early in the innings and at no stage could India curb the Australian scoring rate.
The Indian Express had a big photograph of Kumble on the front page titled ‘Australia Krumble’. Well, Australia did Krumble but it was no collapse by any stretch of imagination. They still managed about 100 more than what could have allowed India to be competitive as India will have to play the fourth innings on this ground. As of now, only rain or an unexpected Australian collapse can save them (in that order!)
The Times of India had their picture titled ‘Jumbo Lands the First Punch’, even though it was only a very good counterpunch after the Australian opening blitz, which must have made the Aussie rework their batting strategy for the second innings.
The Hindustan Times, as matter of fact, said ‘’Well Begun.’’ Equally realistic was the Hindu headline to the main story. ‘’Skipper Kumble inspires Indian fight back’’.
As the luck would have it, Kumble also helped India stage a mini revival with a strong batting display, which ended in the Australian lead getting reduced to less than 150.
But again, the events of the 1st and 2nd days showed that being a print journalist can be a very taxing job when new events supercede the happenings day before.
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