We miss you Adam

I am watching a gripping day of Test cricket on TV. Pakistan versus Australia at Headingly.

Pakistan have dominated most of this Test Match, almost entirely due to their wonderful fast bowling resources. Australia's fightback in the second innings was rudely halted on the third morning by a wonderful spell from the young Pakistani sensation Mohammed Aamer. Australia 164 for 5, still 6 runs away from making Pakistan bat again, with their backs to the wall. 3 years ago this would have been the perfect setting for Adam Gilchrist to come in and turn the game on its head.

What a player Gilchrist was. I remember the Mumbai Test in the 2000-01 India-Australia series. After having dismissed India for 176, Australia were reeling at 99/5 when Gilchrist walked in. The Indian bowlers were on top. The counterattack Gilchrist launched was typically brutal. He scored a blistering hundred that took the game completely away from India.

We miss you Adam!

How important is fielding ability in cricket?

I have a theory to improve Indian cricket. It is based on my experience while playing for my hostel team in IIT Delhi almost 27 years ago.

Our hostel captain was a guy called Sanjay Savur. Sanjay was a wicketkeeper batsman from Bombay, studied in the Bombay Scottish School and played a lot of his cricket at Shivaji Park. Sanjay's theory was very simple - you played for Kumaon hostel if you were totally committed. And it was fairly easy to assess your commitment to the cause when you were fielding. Therefore Sanjay made sure that he did not pick people who were not totally committed in the field. Sanjay's theory was just fine by me. Fielding was my favourite discipline in cricket, and I loved throwing myself around to save any runs I could. However Sanjay's selection method meant that one or two really good batsmen or bowlers did not make it into the playing eleven due to their fielding. These were not popular decisions, but the message came through loud and clear. We won the inter hostel championship two years running - I do not think it was a coincidence!

I really think that Sanjay was way ahead of his time - he was almost a visionary. If Sanjay's yardstick were to be applied to Indian cricket today, Munaf Patel would never make the team. And judging by what I saw today, Abhimanyu Mithun would not have made his Test debut for India in the Galle Test match.

Selection Madness

The brainlessness of our cricket selection is coming home to roost in the Sri Lanka Test series that has just started. As I said in one of my earlier posts, our cricketers are playing an awful lot of international and IPL cricket these days. Therefore some sort of intelligent partitioning is required to keep our lads fresh and motivated. There is also the difference in approach required for limited overs and Test cricket. All this cries out for creating specialist teams for different forms of the game.

We seem to understand quite well that increasingly attacking forms of batsmanship are required as we move from Test cricket to ODI to T20. For batsmen, we seem to have a reasonably clear understanding of who the specialists for different forms fo the game are. Other than occasional howlers like sticking with Yuvraj in Tests. However we are completely confused when it comes to bowlers.

Once upon a time, Sreesanth and Ishant were wonderful attacking bowlers who were capable of bowling long testing spells in search of wickets. They were occasionally expensive, but would not give up their aggression just because they got carted around for a few boundaries. Whenever these guys bowled well in Tests, we threw them at batsman in ODIs. And very often they got hammered. And lost confidence.

Our current selection committee chairman Krishnamachari Srikkanth was an entertaining batsman. He played the signature innings for India in the finals of the 1983 world cup - fearlessly hooking Andy Roberts for a six, and imperiously smashing him through the covers on his knees. However one thing Srikkanth will never be accused of is thinking and planning. I remember him smashing Dipak Patel straight down the throat of deep-midwicket in the initial overs of a world cup match in 1992. Patel was a Newzealand off-spinner who opened the bowling in that match. The only man outside the circle was deep midwicket, and Srikkanth hit the ball right down his throat.

That brings us right back to the current Test match in Galle. It should come as no surprise to anyone that our bowlers are struggling. The second day getting rained off came as a welcome relief.

The Unflappable South African

Watching Louis Oosthuizen play the last round of the British Open Golf tournament yesterday reminded me of the original unflappable South African - Retief Goosen.

I never saw the great South African Gary Player play golf. He is probably the greatest South African golfer ever - certainly the most famous. However the first South African golfer I became a fan of was Ernie Els. To this day, I cannot fathom how he advances the ball with that silky smooth "easy" swing.

But it was Retief who really captured my imagination in 2004. It was the US Open at Shinnecock Hills. Retief had already won the open a few years ago, and he was leading at the start of the fourth round. I have never seen such clutch golf - until yesterday.

Retief was absolutely sensational during that last round at Shinnecock Hills. He nailed approach shots when he had to. He drained putts when he had to. And not once did he show any emotion, until he won it all. To this day, I try to copy him as far as my demeanour on the golf course is concerned. Even keel. You miss a 2 footer or drain a 50 footer - same expression, same body language, same attitude. Take it in your stride. I wish I could do it half as well as the great man.

Oosthuizen was absolutely clutch yesterday. The toothy grin was on right through the day, and so were the clutch shots. As Paul Casey said, he didn't flinch at all. Louis was mentored by Ernie Els, but I am glad he has a little bit of Retief in him. The unflappable South African.

Horses for Courses

Lately our cricket selectors have been a really confused bunch. They have had trouble picking the right teams for the different formats of the game and have cause a lot of grief to the players and the followers of the sport.

Yuvraj Singh is a good example. Yuvraj is a good limited overs player, thanks to his attacking batting, great fielding, and useful bowling. However he does not belong in our Test side. Never has. Test cricket is about technique and tenacity, not flair and flash alone. For the life of me, I do not understand why we keep selecting him again and again for Test matches.

Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma are good attacking fast bowlers. They are the kind of bowlers who will take wickets when they bowl with attacking fields and pitch the ball up. However limited overs cricket demands accuracy, and these bowlers are not going to be accurate enough over 10 overs from match to match. The moment they show some results in Test cricket, we automatically assume that as in-form bowlers we need to pick them for ODI and T20 cricket as well. Wrong. Limited overs cricket places a different set of demands on bowlers, and these guys end up getting punished, and then dropped from Test cricket as well!

The latest guy to become a victim of this selection circus is Cheteshwar Pujara. Pujara is a technically correct batsman in the classical mould. He should be a certainty in our Test side, but cannot play because the selectors do not have the courage to drop Yuvraj Singh. When Yuvraj is hurt, these jokers pick Dinesh Karthik, a talented batsman, who is neither here not there - certainly not a patch on Pujara in terms of technique and staying power. However Pujara is playing plenty of T20 cricket in the IPL! If we do not put him in our Test side soon, we are likely to lose one of our most promising Test players in a long long time.

Tomas Berdych

I had picked the big Czech Tomas Berdych to win the French Open this year, but he lost a close 5-setter to Robin Soderling in the semi-finals.

For Wimbledon this year, I had picked Soderling or Berdych to win. Soderling is out, dismissed by Rafa, but I think Berdych has a real chance against Rafa in the finals. When Rafa is free from injury, he is extremely difficult to beat. To beat him, his opponent has to be HOT for 3 sets, and hope that Rafa will make some crucial mistakes. Berdych is playing extremely well, and it wouldn't surprise me if he is hot in the finals. The only question is whether Rafa will make some mistakes - all I can say is that he is due.

It promises to be a gripping final - Go Thunder Berd!