Madcap Recap Part II

Continued from Madcap Recap, the World Cup diares, Part I,
March 24, 2014.

Another great performance and I think my prediction has gone terrible. Yet again. The last thing I predicted was Virat Kohli will fail in South Africa. The last time Dhoni lost a toss, the match was abandoned. That was the luck of Ms Dhoni and tosses. With the bowling attack built around spin, he can’t afford to lose the toss he has been successful so far. Yesterday was all about great bowling, captaincy-which cannot be said often- and terrible fielding. Surprisingly Dhoni was spot on with team selection (once again) and bowling changes with Indian bowlers made Raina’s prematch comments (or trash talks as you would say) look legendary. The West Indians never bothered to rotate the strike nor hit sixes like their Captain reckoned in the pre match presser. Chasing was all successful and it was done without a sweat under the guidance of master chaser Mr. Virat Kohli.  However the great take away from this game is the confidence boost in Bhuvi-who had a bowling figure that would make Steyn and Malinga jealous- and Rohit Sharma letting his bat speak after a considerably long time. Dhoni was all usual Dhoni in the presser wanting Yuvraj to get his mojo back. By Dhoni standards, he won’t be dropped but you can never guess whats up with our cool captain.However the point of discussion yesterday was about India not going for NRR. In my opinion, I dont think it will haunt us later and the outrage was all just for the sake of it surprising the folks who didnt expect a comprehensive win. First thing being, the rest of the teams has already lost a game in our group. (Not considering Bangladesh for obvious reasons. ) and my prediction is we will win the remaining games even. Hopefully my prediction is right at least this time.

March 29, 2014

You don’t often see an international game-not just cricket- with two team’s national anthem written by the same person. The person is Rabinthranath Tagore and the match started in a predictable manner right from the toss.It looked liked the replay of the previous game which indeed looked like the replay of the first game. There was a heavy discussion if India played the same game thrice in succession. Virat Kohli did what he was supposed to. He could do no wrong and he didnt. It was all simple and Dhoni wanted some batting practise which he got. India became the first team to qualify for WT20 semi-finals making my prediction look like a joke. Yet again. 

March 31, 2014

What just happened? I missed most of the game and I am literally shocked. My title favourites were knocked out and they were preparing for a battle of wooden spoon with Bangladesh. I did follow Yuvi blitz though. As usual, not surprisingly, Dhoni fans wanted the credit for their thala. I didnt have any clue and didnt offer any opinion for obvious reasons. Another surprise though, was Ashwin claiming more wickets than Mishra and I am pretty sure the guys who accuse me of regional hatred would have been happy. Happy for you, guys. 

April 4, 2014

My first full game of cricket since the New Zealand series. 
& ofcourse, from hopes to stakes to nerves to tension, everything was pretty high. It was India playing the Ch.. err sorry, Proteas in the second semifinal in Dhaka. With weather issues looming large, MS Dhoni did what he does the best. Lost yet another important toss. Du plessis decided to bat first & why not, MSD with a few guts to leave Dhawan & Shami out, playing the unchanged side from the Kangaroo roasting a few days ago.
With a deck that looked 160-165 par to Shane Warne, Africa lost de Kock right up, unsuccesfully fending at an outswinger & guiding it right into the trusted hands of Captain nowadays-not-so-cool. Amla, Faf got going but then a screamer from Ravi Ash that got Dada gushing cleaned Amla's middle stump up. It was the carrom ball that turned. Many, post match, termed it as the ball of the century in T20 cricket. Ashwin, a wizard of words as he is giggled & defended it with a straight bat. "To be honest, I have no idea if I can bowl that one again." Du plesis, Duminy - after a brief quiet period, put their feet right on the 4th gear. Amit Mishra, ineffective for the first time in the tournament added another frown to Dhoni's forehead. Suddenly one from Ashwin turned again & the next moment, Faf was on his behind, bewildered that how it hit his stumps. But there was no time for a breather. Abraham Benjamin de Villiers coming out, marking his guard - it was as if the nation took the notice & offered a collective prayer to the almighty.

Oh AB, not today.

Oh AB, not today.

Reverse swept for four on the fourth ball.

AB please.

AB please.

And he scoops it up to Rohit on the boundary.

As if we won the match already. Thank you Bradman, Sachin, God, Heavens, Ashwin & whoever else did that. Phew.
But Duminy didn't listen. Adding to Bhuvaneshwar's newfound wayward deliveries & foreverfound death woes, he took him & Mohit for the cleaners along with some god-awful raw striking from David Miller to give South Africa a possible non-choking total of 172.

Big ask. No joke.
But there was something inside each Indian fan, now as confident in chasing as an Entrance examinee writing a 5th grade paper,
"You know, if there is someone who can pull this one off, it's us." The belief that radiates from the team itself to the fans, the worshippers, the lunatics but misses a few nutjobs on Twitter, hitting on all the positive energy with their negative titbits.
Oh shut up you guys.

Out came Rohit & Rahane, determined to set up a launchpad. All thanks to Faf who had Steyn fielding the boundaries when Duminy was taken for 14 in the first over itself. No sight of the shit scary mohwak even in the second over. 

God bless Faf du Plesis.

39 good runs & the maggie timer went off. The neurons in Rohit Sharma's brain had this sudden urge for a nap & the next thing you know is the ball is soaring higher & higher & higher, complimenting the chords of Sanjay Manjarekar in the commentary box.

Drop it.
Drop it.
Drop it.

Nah, out of luck. Caught. Gone. Idiot.

Rahane's neurons, proven to be far better than Dhawan & his just dismissed counterpart kept faring well. But the focus had changed.

On the other end of the crease was a man whose jersey resembled the 10, the 19 & it only knew to score. & score. & score.

He was the center of all the hopes. Focus of the spotlights. Topic of the discussions. Demon of the opposition.

His name was Virat Kohli. He came, dropped the anchor & sealed it with superglue. Not looking to match the set Rahane, playing his own game, in some zone of his, in some other world where cricket balls appear like footballs & fielders go invisible.

Single here. Single there. Bad ball, four. Single. Bored with singles. Let's play with the in field. Two. Two. Two. I dont like spinners. Six. Rotate. Repeat.

Before you finished your first nervous coffee of the evening, Kohli sir stormed into the thirties. Rahane, in a sudden bug, pulled one straight to de Villiers. 

Damn, son. Why let the boat toddle? Bad, very bad.

He although, played well. Shikhar certainly needs to pull his socks up. Now what happened with Yuvi coming in, on a pitch tough to accelerate rightaway, the proteas smelled a long shot at victory, effectively cutting off the twos, some dots, decreasing the boundary frequency & making Virat execute all his this-is-crisis-I-did-not-expect expressions on the other end.

Calm down, son. This is a run chase, no? You have them for dinner all twelve months, no? 

Calm down Virat.

Don't get out.

Don't mess this up.

We can do it.

You can do it.

He listened. He did. Smoking a rememberable maximum off Imran Tahir, notching up his 50, going past the Netherlands duo to sit firmly on the top of the leading run getter list. 
Yuvi didn't look like he did against the hapless Oz, spooning one up & giving the proteas some more hope, yet again. We could lose. We had to do what our opposition does the best. Choke.
NO, said Virat.  You don't lose matches when I'm in. 

Stow the negativity, kids. I'm taking this home. Now.

He didn't wait. Not long enough to let his & Dhoni's different finishing methods have a giant clash. Suresh Raina, like a well instructed,supremely oiled machine, took on Wayne Parnell like he had eaten his quota of ice cream every single night this month.

Bang. Six.
Two.
Flunk. Four.
Whip. Four.
You could smell it.
23 runs. 18 balls.

Final chance of any mess up. Dale Steyn running in. Steyn who? I can only see a football. & it's coming for the middle of my bat, said Virat. Eighteen runs. Steyn scratches his head, looks at his captain, then at Kohli, takes a deep breath & starts walking towards long on.
Something you don't see everyday.
You could smell it.

Raina however smelt like something is burning in the dressing room. Lobbing Hendricks up to mid off on the 19th with just six runs required. Nuthead.

You could smell it.

In comes MS Dhoni with a bat that looks heavier than himself.
Helicopter time.
Virat pulls one off Hendricks. Takes a single.
Scores are level.
YOU CAN SEE IT.
MSD WILL SPANK THIS ONE TO MOOOOOON......
Virat gives his biggest, cutest, bubbliest My-job-is-all-done grin to his skipper.
SPANK SPANK SPANK.........
He plays it down quietly.
ERM?
Ah he wants his boy to score the winning runs.
There comes Dale Steyn.
Outside off.
His eyes light up like Diwali.
Whip to midwicket.
Favorite shot. Favorite son.
A roar to the sky. A thanks to dad. Some love to Yuvi paaji.


Be prepared, Sri Lanka.


10.00 AM, 6th April, 2014

I have this non-final like cheery vibe today....
Maybe because it's India vs Sri Lanka for the shitllion-th time....
Maybe because we have been so clinical throughout the tournament.....
Maybe I am overconfident. Let's not mess it up.

7th April, 2014

Yet to forget last night. 

We messed up.

Big time.

You can't win any T20 on a subcontinental pitch with 130 on the board. Unless your bowlers had magic performance enhancing & multiplying potion for dinner. 

Neither did we.

It was awful. Yuvraj, out of sorts, out of everything, didn't middle a single ball.
It's all bad karma & not to forget, some stunning death bowling from the Lankans.
Hoped against hopes.
But not to be.
The oldies stole it comfortably in style. Sangakkara, Jayawardena. Farewell.
200 million ounce of sadness.
You couldn't look at Virat Kohli's face.
A man, so selfless, scoring almost 60% runs of the team total, breaking a handful of records.
For nothing.
So near, yet so far.
Even the heartless would've felt for him.

Come 2016, we will.

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C for Change

On the general notions, MS Dhoni will go down as the most successful captain of the Indian Cricket team. It’s hard to argue the other way with him having his name on the two World cups and a Champions’ trophy to his honour. But the never ceasing overseas embarrassments will suggest otherwise.

What possibly could be the reasons behind a highly regarded captain’s deficiency in inspiring the troop overseas? Or he isn’t great as he is perceived to be? Or he is just a home great? (You have to exclude the England's tour of India though. But it doesn’t matter. Just like having one odd success of Champions Trophy in the dry pitches overseas.)

‘A bad captain can make a great team look ordinary’, this was from the India’s youngest and the greatest captain ever, Nawab of Pataudi lately Mansur Ali Khan, thanks to Indira Gandhi. Statistically again the current captain has far better numbers. If this is not the citation why statistics is not everything then not any could ever be.

Now, this is a great team? Certainly not.  A team that boasts to have one whose legs tremble with the short ball, the team which has openers of iffy technique, the team that has a lead spinner who has forgotten the art of picking wickets can never be termed ‘great’. If you read it again, this is the other place where the captain has failed apart from the oft repeated tactical flub ups.

“Captain is as good as his team”.

The above statement is partially true and certainly it isn’t dubious. The lazy perception will prompt to close the argument in the favour of Dhoni. A close look will suggest the glitches. The captain is sworn to pick and choose his team. Pick a good team, lad.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has a policy of picking players and giving them a long-winded rope. This is a great thing to do especially in this age of hasty and nasty decisions. No issues, if there are going to be viable returns to the ‘investments’. A rope is fine as long as it doesn’t get longer enough to get snapped. 

How worse were/are the ropes? Here are the prominent undeserving ropes that were offered.

Raina, the CSK mascot, was picked in the team to face New Zealand even after averaging 26.11 in his last 27 games in which he boasted one fifty against Zimbabwe. He played three more in New Zealand. How does a longer rope matter with Raina? This would make sense at least if there were enough ‘away’ numbers with him. He doesn’t. He averages 27.27 against the non minnows outside sub-continent. He has no centuries to his credit and has two half centuries in 53 games.

Ishant, the hairy bowler with scary consistency, who has the fourth worst economic rate in the ODI history of who had played at least 50 ODIs (Second worst in Indian ODI history), was given the chance to don the blue for the seventy first time. A long rope. After getting one more game, he gave away 118 runs in the fifteen overs he bowled.

Now, questions to Captain after his comment of having “invested heavily”

• Will Ashwin-who has an average of 198 and a strike rate of 216 in his last 8 games, be given an even longer rope?

• Ajinkiya Rahane who has a career average of 22.30 and an average of 9.83 in his last six games will get another game? If yes, why?

• With Rohit’s reputation of inconsistency and Dhawan’s Raina syndrome, how long will the investment last?

• What is the reluctance in testing the bench strength even after a series of underperformances from the heavy investments? Does he not know the result of prolonged and improbable investments?

Sunil Gavaskar speaking to NDTV puts it better, "By sticking to those who have failed, the impression given is that there is no faith in reserve players."

As a captain of a cricket team, you certainly need not to be a tactical commander which he isn’t. The key here is team rotation. The man management. The recipe lies in picking the right men and equally crucial is discarding the misfits. With a meticulous plan letting them know their respective skills, the next step is to get the most out from every member of the team.

With the world cup approaching, we may have to forget about defending the trophy if the captain-apart from the tactical blunders- is going to err in the team selections. We are badly in need of new ideas, better thinking and a better plan. Will Dhoni step up? Will he get rid of his underperforming core for the deserving people who are warming the benches? I will leave you these questions which probably will remain unanswered.

Hope the Indian cricket doesn’t pay for his farfetched, imbecile and imprudent investments. We can only hope. 

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Blackboard CWC '15 - issues, issues, issues

So it's been over two months & nine International matches since the Men In Blue won a game of cricket. Sometimes they came close, sometimes agonisingly close, sometimes threw it away, sometimes succumbed to pressure & sometimes never made a human chance out of it. No, before you assume that I'm here to throw my furnitures at the Indian cricket team regarding their recent heroics abroad, as much as I'm tempted but that's not the case. They escape today, marginally so.
My agenda today is a little far sighted, approximately three hundred & eighty two days away. It is the cricket World Cup 2015, to be hosted by Australia & New Zealand & to be defended by erm, us.
I'm writing this specifically to emphasize that "erm" there. And ofcourse, I have enough details to scare you guys a bit more if the boys haven't done enough already.

The pre & the present math : source of the scare 

© CFL 

What happens if you grab your goldfish out of the aquarium & put it on the desk for a minute? It starts trembling, crawling & waving it's fins desperately in need of the oxygen it's used to. That goldfish is Indian team, outside the subcontinent, on the bouncy green decks, facing an average to a good bowling lineup, exposing the familliar woes, out of sorts, moving in no direction. No kidding, the current set is brave, brave enough to overcome these but then my friend, you ought to say that the results are yet to show up. The overseas record since the last World Cup in 2011 has been well, shameful. Yes, big enough word but 4-0 (England), 4-0 (Australia), not making the finals of the CB Series, 2-0 (South Africa), 1-0 (South Africa) & now 3-0 (New Zealand), the list just keeps getting longer & longer & painfully longer. And you know what's worse? The schedule coming right up involving tours of England & Australia just threatens to add a bit more to the sorrow.

So brace yourselves, I intend to break down the issues neat & clean. If at all, we are to retain our glory, a serious postmortem is in order.

Opening woes : once resurrected, twice fatal 

We thought we had this in the bag, damn it.

But thanks for making our heaven drop right back to Earth & now inching towards hell, dearest Rohit & Dhawan. They batted like a dream, not putting a wrong foot forward, it was unreal to think that we found Viru & Gauti 2.0 so soon. Oh yes, too soon. Dhawan averaged 24.00 in the 3 ODIs vs South Africa & 6.00 in the 3 ODIs vs New Zealand till he was dropped on the fourth one to make way for Ambati Rayudu. Not to dwell on the results but it was his manner of dismissals that would make you frown. Cross seam deliveries at a genuinely quick 140+ pace, short of good length or banged in short. He pulled, it went to the keeper. He pulled, he mistimed it. He pulled, straight to the man on the boundary. Personally a fan of his, I was gutted. He was last person I wanted to put in the Raina-Yuvi category. Rohit on the other hand, threw it away mostly like a Rohit Sharma can do, fired up by verbal duels or a string of fishing outside off. So what do you do? Bring back Gambhir & Sehwag? Stick with these two? Make Virat open? Make Rahane open? Make it a combination of experience & youth? Drop Rohit back to the middle order & let Dhawan stay? More options the merrier? Not. Bringing back Gambhir doesn't seem like a bad idea after all. He has the experience, he has the anchor as long as he doesn't wish to poke. Him & Dhawan will do. The latter has some serious sorting out to do though. Or Che Pujara. He provides the solidity & consistency a Kane Williamson does for New Zealand. I'm not with Virat being made to open, although there is not much difference, the no.3 position has some blood-flesh relationship with him. Why not let the man have it?

Overdependence on the men in charge 

Just because they don't disappoint you 99.99% of the times, if you're banking on Captain & Vice-captain to win you every match, day in, day out, I'm sorry, that's called burdening. There are people who would blame it on Virat & Dhoni, saying that they got out at the wrong time. Maybe they did. But for heaven's sake, what are the nine other men doing? Is it just their responsibility to take you over the line all the time? No, it isn't. Virat Kohli & MS Dhoni are your trump cards, key players, they'll set it up, they'll finish it off but you ought to have another guy or two stepping up, supporting them. 

Swing 'em, eh?

I remember the cricket pundits nodding in approval when four succesive balls went past Md. Hafeez's bat in Bhuvaneshwar Kumar's debut match. It was fun to see him playing the Oh so close oh so close game with the top orders of the oppositions. He didn't have the pace but the accuracy was admirable. It's been a while since he has looked a bit ordinary. Be it Md. Shami bowling in tandem or whatever, too many down the leg, too many loose balls & barely any swing. On the other hand, Shami, having the pace, the ability to take wickets, does save the day more often or not but he's quite expensive as your leading bowler. All you can hope for is that these two too don't end up in the eventually swingless, ineffective list of the Kumars of Indian cricket. Varun Aaron, fresh off a prolonged injury break, I'd give him some time before I judge him. But he looks raw, pacey, lack of direction &  variations so far. So is Umesh Yadav where Ishwar Pandey & Rishi Dhawan are yet to be given chances to prove themselves. This 3rd option will cause some headache & if fit, Irfan Pathan is my man.

Oh, I forgot Ishant. Keeping him on the bench looks like good karma, we should stick to it for some time. (i.e forever)

Part time options, the lack of quality 

The fifth bowler. It's like you have to choose between candies, sugar & honey. Yuvraj Singh & to an extent Suresh Raina were the best we had. Had. When you see Virat Kohli bowl those nasty leg cutters & full tosses & no balls off the wrong foot with that ridiculous to the power ridiculous action of his, you know you don't have many choices. Seeing Ambati Rayudu bowl yesterday, it felt like even Virat would've been better. Rohit being the other option & all three being good enough to give away 20 an over, you have to pity Dhoni.

So what do you do? Keep your fingers crossed that Binny bowls as hardcore as he looks. For now.

Captaincy : Y u no attack? 

A captain is as good as his team. Yes, most certainly. Although a certain Tiger Pataudi would've disagreed with the cliche. To him "A bad captain can make a great team look ordinary." This is certainly not a great team but MS Dhoni the captain isn't great either. Why does your part timer bowl 3 overs at 7.25 & the allrounder you picked in the expense of an One Day veteran bowls just one when you are defending 278? When the best test lineup in the world is as cornered as it could be, why do you start the final session with your 5th bowler? Just because you lost two matches chasing, why choose to bat first when your bowlers are inable to pick wickets at the right time? Oh the questions are endless. To be honest, we all know that MS Dhoni does pull out a rabbit from his hat but overseas, if you cancel out the Champions' Trophy, I see the hat but where is the rabbit? You have to question his field sets, his decision to "back" non-firing players for longer than any captain should, his approach to win a match, his favoured team combinations with the luxury of two spinners on foreign tracks & ofcourse, his prized tactics. I think Gideon Haigh, the master of words has put it right. "Dhoni isn't a tactical commander, rather a supervisor. He leads by ineffectual experience."
( Reference : Here)

Mind you, this is about Dhoni the skipper & has nothing to do with Dhoni the batter.

There is a level till which one can tolerate, hoping for magic, luck & even fairy tales.
But that level has been crossed by far, don't you think? As a friend said, he has to be a very lucky person to be asked to lead the team with the dubious set of overseas records he carries with his ever so cool, ever so calm, ever so smiling persona.
He is the luckiest, no doubt. I cannot imagine another captain from any other country, continuing or being asked to continue with half the burden from Dhoni's records. But then, Indian cricket doesn't work that way.
Maybe we need to believe in some supernatural overhaul that takes away all the cool & calm and transforms Dhoni the defensive to Dhoni the aggressive overnight.

Or you could try out a Virat Kohli. Please, enough of that he's yet to mature shit. There was a smooth transition possible a half century ago with Tiger taking the responsibility from Nari contractor and if we have to believe the history books, there wasnt any outrage seeking maturity from a 21 year old.

There is a famous footballing philosophy saying, "You are old enough if you are good enough" He is good enough and with that he should be allowed to take the reigns from a captain who is struggling to turn the tides overseas. Why?

 I'd rather lose with the youth who learns from his mistakes.

Death bowling : well...

When it comes to the bowling department, we are still in the same phase wherein we are still looking at who our permanent bowlers are. We know the spinners and they look good and we know they are the ones who will carry on until the World Cup provided there are no injuries. Fas bowling, we are still not sure who our choices are and what individuals we are looking forward to. Back at home we talk about pace & bounce. We get bowlers who bowl quick but they end up giving more runs without even bowling at the slog. So we have to find a fair balance.

That was MS Dhoni in his press conference yeserday. There, you have your answers. We don't have the crop of fast bowlers to bowl you out anywhere, forget the death. Bowling is our main worry, as always, heading into an international tournamnet but giving away 80-100 runs in the last ten like they are now, is an alarming practice to be beheaded as soon as possible. Easier said than done & then batting has always been our aura. But it is time when batting marvels are unable to bail you out, there is just too much to do. It is time when our bowling is disappointing & disgracing our batting.

So what do you do? There is not one pleasing answer, unfortunately. You groom Shami, who looks the best bait so far, you hope Jadeja-Ashwin keep up the good work since the 2nd ODI & then you have a blank to fill in the form of your 3rd go to man. Bhuvaneshwar is sincerely, not cut out for death.

There are so many more problems, so many more issues to address, so many weaknesses, so many gaps.

There is slip fielding that make you pray that may Rahul Dravid gets out of the commentary box & take the field. There is the familliar issue of tackling short balls. There is overall deep fielding, in the form of Ashwin, Aron who needs to improve by far. There is Suresh Raina, whom you have to decide on. There is the lack of a genuine allrounder, you have to stress about. There is the toss factor, the pressure, the expectations & well, I will just stop and let you enjoy the depression.

It is easy to say, based on the present that Cricket World 2015 looks like a dream with thousand stairs leading up to it. We have to climb & climb hard, solving the issues, giving the answers & showing the results. Dare I say, it looks unlikely with every passing match we lose & ofcourse, the credit is mine for reverse jinxing if they make the finals after all.

But we can't just give up, can we? We are world champions. We bleed blue. We will fight.

Here's crossing my fingers & hoping for the best. 

[ I think I'll check for white hairs now that I'm done with the piece. You should too. ]

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