The next master-blaster?

Here's a pic of Sachin Tendulkar's son Arjun on the left at a recent nets session where Sachin is recuperating. Looking to loft the ball over long on, would you say? Though his front foot should be pointing straight down the pitch like his old man's...oh well, dad can straighten that technique out.

The good, the bad and the ugly

The good…

The third Ashes test seems a distant memory and it feels like a fresh start to the series. It almost is! The two sides have had a welcome break. Shaun Tait provided a spark in the bowling missing in any Aussie bowler whose name is not Mcgrath, Warne or Lee, and England have had time to give the over-worked Flintoff and Harmison a breather. Trent Bridge promises a fast pitch and with four bowlers on view on either side who can top the 90mph mark, the toss and the first day might prove to be crucial. But then again, a fast pitch and if England bats first, they won’t be backing away from another Edgbaston-like assault on the first day. The Aussies might be prone to be a little more circumspect given their worrying batting form throughout this series. In six innings, only once have the Aussies been able to hold on; the last innings at Old Trafford, and they only barely held on. Hayden, Gilchrist, Martyn and Clarke have some catching up to do. England on the other hand need to shake off the Old Trafford disappointment and come back firing because the murmurings have begun again…the Aussies are below-par and England are playing their best cricket…and the series is still 1-1.

The bad…

India is in Zimbabwe on a series where they have nothing to gain and plenty to lose. Well, nothing to gain might be an exaggeration, but the whole controversy surrounding the captaincy issue, the unsettled look to the team, Tendulkar’s inclusion when he is less than confident about his elbow, some strange omissions from the side and a botched up itinerary, all paint yet another woeful picture of the working of the BCCI. New Zealand has been in Zimbabwe pretty much on a holiday. While their test credentials are suspect, they remain a strong one-day unit and with Shane Bond back at his fiery best, the Indians and Ganguly in particular have a lot to worry about. Ganguly looked totally out of sorts against the 140kph deliveries of Darren Powell and Jermaine Lawson in the Indian Oil tri-series. Shane Bond is in a totally different league to these bowlers in terms of speed and accuracy. This is a no-win situation for Ganguly. He needs to win the series and have a good performance with the bat to hold on to his captaincy and a place in the 11. A bad series with the bat and say a shock defeat to Zimbabwe in one of the ODIs and he might be handed the pink slip. This Indian line-up is still too suspect and the return of Ajit Agarkar suggests that the bench strength is worryingly bare.

The ugly…

Zimbabwe. They have stooped to whole new level of hapless and desperate. The return of Streak, Blignaut and Carlisle doesn’t seem to have helped much as NZ slaughtered them in the first match of the tri-series. You can’t help but feel sorry for Tatenda Taibu. He has been the one bright light in his side for a while and shows genuine potential to be a world class wicket-keeper batsman. He is captain of his team at an age when cricketers are still fine-tuning their game and have strong senior players to guide them. And much as we admire Heath Streak and Taibu, it is hard to ignore the fact that cricket in Zimbabwe is dying a slow and painful death. Bangladesh still has strong public and financial backing to sustain the game and they have unearthed a few genuinely talented cricketers. Zimbabwe on the other hand has the last of the players who are still involved for the love of the game and pride in representing their country. A pride which is slowly being eroded with every heavy defeat…

Ashes 4th Test Coverage
Videocon tri-series coverage

Money for nothing...

So what do Shaun Pollock, Jacques Kallis, Muthiah Muralitharan and Inzamam Ul-Haq derive from a dubiously set, unwanted, farcical tournament held under the banner of developing cricket in Africa and Asia? (Short answer: Nothing. For the long answer, read on…). “Cricket for Unity” is the slogan of the Afro-Asian cup and the irrepressible Jagmohan Dalmiya, president of the Afro-Asian Cricket Co-operation (!) proudly proclaimed “Singly we are strong, together we are even stronger”. Hmmm…that strength doesn’t seem to convince either the players on the field or the absentee spectators. Nor did it convince broadcasters, who usually tear each other apart for rights to a cricket series. And the much maligned Zee TV, which was on the wrong-end of a court decision, finally got the cricket telecast experience it needed…even though nobody probably bothered to watch the game. Dalmiya’s pet projects in recent years have usually been short-sighted money-making, vote-seeking exercises in disaster. His Asian Test Championship, the Toronto Ind-Pak series and the inclusion of Bangladesh in the test arena are three prime examples. The first and second ones, thankfully, died a quick death. The third one, unfortunately, just holds its nose above water from flash-in-the-pan performances in the one-day game. But give the man credit; if there is a buck to be made from cricket, he knows all the ways.

Normally, a cricket match in which one team wins by a 2-run margin is classified a thriller. In some rare cases, like in Edgbaston, it becomes an epic. But never is it a dry boring spectacle as it was in Centurion Park today. And the manner in which the match was played, official status notwithstanding, was more a leisurely hit-about on a Sunday afternoon. The African XI had one Kenyan player and the Asian XI had one Bangladeshi player. This match would have made a world of difference for players from these two teams, as rarely do they get to perform on a big stage along side some of the best talent. And they would have brought some more heart and soul into this match. But when has it ever been about the players? And it’s unsettling to think that this tournament has the ICC’s blessings, which not long ago sought to cleanup all meaningless tournaments to prevent match-fixing. Heck! Even match-fixing needs people to watch a cricket match first to earn its dirty money. And it is laughable to think that Uganda or Namibia gain anything out of this, apart from some of the promised proceeds of this series. If the opening match is anything to go by, they would be all the more disillusioned by the quality of cricket and permission to the players given by participating boards to skip the series.

Neil Manthrop aptly sums up the mood of the match in one paragraph

“Players came together to celebrate wickets in the same manner that accountants gather to discuss a book-keeping oddity and the tiny band of Indian supporters waving their national flag allowed it to droop in confusion when Shahid Afridi and Kumar Sangakkara teamed up to dismiss Nicky Boje.”

Cricket probably gained millions of new fans in the space of two pulsating Ashes test matches. But what does holding this series for three years propose to achieve for the game, the players and the spectators? Long story short: Nothing.

The Captain's Corner

Watching the 4th day in the 3rd Ashes test match was fascinating. Not only because of the dominance of the England team but because of two contrasting figures that run their respective cricket teams. An air of total relaxation and fun surrounded Michael Vaughan as he sat in the player’s balcony at Old Trafford laughing, applauding every shot and genuinely enjoying Strauss’ elegance and Bell’s determination. And that in itself is fascinating as there are very few people who can remember that look on an England captain’s face in an Ashes series. And equally fascinating was watching a champion team slowly lose its edge in this series. And Ricky Ponting looked as tired and out of ideas as some of Vaughan’s predecessors. They say that a captain’s actions on the field mirror the form and confidence of the rest of the team. And that has been the stark contrast between the two men on view.

Great leaders come in many forms. In one sense solid leadership is a subjective thing, in another there are certain characteristics that are, by consensus, typical of quality leadership. It is the process of influencing team members to work hard towards, and be committed to, team goals. Steve Waugh was a prime example of that. He took a team of achievers and turned them into a ruthless unit of world beaters that single mindedly focused on destroying oppositions in every way possible, be it on the field or in the mind. Waugh and for that matter Hussain focused on a more task-oriented form of leadership where they demanded the very best from a player in any situation. Vaughan on the other hand seems to have a more people-oriented approach, where he has a set of talented individuals and tells them to go out and have fun. And sometimes it’s important that captains gauge the team dynamics and adapt their style of leadership. Waugh’s leadership had no time for mediocrity and half-efforts and Michael Slater was a player who fell by the wayside. Vaughan seems to be the guy you can hang out with and talk, in Hussain’s words, the “Playstation generation” talk. That is where Ponting has had a hard time, torn between carrying on Waugh’s legacy and at the same time stamping his own authority. Winning consistently papers over the cracks, but a team in adversity reflects the true characteristics of its leader. And if Australia does retain the Ashes from here, Ponting will have found the strength to create his own legacy, much like Waugh did after some hairy moments in the Caribbean series in ’99.

Good teams in the past and present have been characterized by strong and stable leaders. And it’s no surprise that the teams struggling at the moment lack a strong man at the helm. A good example being the musical chairs played over India’s captaincy. Ganguly has done wonders for Indian cricket and should be lauded for his efforts. But to judge Dravid on the basis of one series where the players were rusty and inexperienced was harsh. But the real question the selectors should be asking is the one Sachin Tendulkar answered for himself when he resigned. Who is more important? Ganguly the captain, or Ganguly the batsman? And the answer to this question, hopefully, is the reason for the selectors’ decision. Because, a characteristic of a good leader comes from the ability to perform and hence demand performance from the team. And Ganguly’s personal struggles might leave a legacy that might be hard for Indian cricket to overturn.

Chokers Inc.

A World Cup final, a drawn test series against the Aussies down under, an unprecedented watershed tour of Pakistan, three of the greatest one-day batsmen in the team…all this looks good on the resume of any cricket team. And yet, the Indian cricketers seem to sweat and freeze at the same time when confronted with a difficult situation on a big stage. A situation that can be resolved by applying themselves to the basics suddenly turns into an exercise of performing the extraordinary. Basics?!? You would consider that to be the last thing a professional would screw up. But strange are the workings of the mind under pressure. From my own realm, the crappiest pieces of software in the market today are works of the best professionals under extreme deadlines and pressures.

In a brilliant article by Malcolm Gladwell titled “The Art of Failure”, he describes why some people panic or in sporting parlance, “choke” in the face of a challenge. He recreates that mind-boggling ’93 Wimbledon final between Jana Novotna and Steffi Graf, when Novotna leading 4-1, 40-30 in the final set inexplicably contrived to lose the match and the championship from there. Those brilliant volleys went into the net, that powerful forehand barely made it across…and he asked the question which Novotna herself could probably never answer. At that stage did she look across the net and suddenly realize that she was beating Steffi Graf, the greatest player of her generation? And in there lies the invisible boundary the mind suddenly crosses over and skills that becomes second nature to you, suddenly seem to desert you. A mind focusing on the task at hand suddenly becomes distracted with trying to the do the basic things right. In last night’s final, the Indians were 209/4 after 40 overs; the exact same score as the Sri Lankans at that stage. But then the aura of Murali probably took over at sometime, which resulted in trying to run non-existent runs and playing shots that weren’t on. And they made Murali, Chandana and Vaas look better on the day than they actually were. As they did on another forgettable day in Sharjah in 2000, when Indian cricket probably hit its nadir, match fixing apart. The Australian team is sensational and brilliant not because their cricketers are more gifted than any other cricketer, but because they have the belief in their skills to take them through in any situation. And that will be Greg Chappell’s biggest responsibility in his current assignment. His contribution will be valued not if he can coach Dhoni or Raina to have better techniques, but if he can coach them into performing on the big stage in pressure situations.

Confidence and self-belief are virtues often bandied about in post-match talks and pre-tournament discussions but rarely found in character on a cricket field. So doff your hats to the Flintoffs, the Dravids and the Warnes of this world because when they loose, it will be because the opponent was better, not because they “choked”.

Brilliant!

Winning entry of the caption contest on Cricinfo. Absolutely brilliant!

A day of nerve-wrecking fightbacks

"If we'd have lost the game and gone 2-0 down I don't think we'd have come back from there - not against a team like this."
-Michael Vaughan

“I thought 262 was a good score and we were sailing at one point. But it got too close for comfort in the end”
-Rahul Dravid

Two teams, one at the top and one almost at the bottom of the ladder, showed us the importance of why it’s never over until the fat lady decides to holler. Australia and West Indies came agonizingly close to creating a shudder that would have been heard around the cricketing world and relegated two teams to utter despair. India’s woes have been of their own causing persisting with a four bowler strategy when time and time again in this series the folly of that approach has been discovered. And England’s Ashes campaign almost came to a thundering halt when a routine two wickets to end an already incredible test match turned into an astonished heave to break the determination of Lee, Warne and Kasprowicz. The Aussies have now been involved in a tied test match, a one run, two run and a three run losses. But in the end, neither Ricky Ponting nor Sylvester Joseph, who captained the team in Chanderpaul's absence, would begrudge the fact that the better team won in the end.

West Indies came to Sri Lanka with virtually no hope of winning. Despite the encouraging sound bytes from their manager and captain, the only expectation anybody had was akin to the expectations people have of the Bangladesh or Zimbabwe teams; if they could show some semblance of fight in them. But in the two test matches, they troubled Sri Lanka plenty but did not have the batting skill to counter Vaas and Murali. Had these two players not been there, it might well have been a different story in those matches. And when India arrived for the triangular, again everybody rolled their eyes and muttered about meaningless triangulars where the final was already decided before a ball had been bowled. But the Windies bowlers were spirited and quick and troubled virtually every batsman, and shocked a few spectators who probably thought bowling at 120kmh on line and length was the only way to go. And finally when their batting clicked, the bowlers demolished the SL top order setting up a do-or-die match for the Indians. After today’s match, in which Darren Powell sent Ganguly to the hospital with a sickening blow to the hand, the Windies go out of the tournament as expected, but only after exposing glaring weaknesses in both of the more fancied teams and discovering some wonderful new talent for a bright future nobody thought existed.

After the second test, those familiar tunes of Aussie decline will be played until the third test begins and not all of it is unjustified. The Aussies have held onto the belief that whatever England does, they can do better. And who can blame them? It’s worked for over a decade. But the quality of a champion team is to show respect to the opposition and somehow the Aussie demeanor, watching some of the dreadful shots played, never really suggested that. It is a different England team and as much as they almost choked today, they have the players who can return every Aussie shot or bouncer with equal, if not greater, zeal. A team that is undefeated for 18 months beating the likes of SAF away cannot be undermined. And Ricky Ponting and co. would do well to go back to their drawing board and devise a plan not to play England on intimidation, but on the age-old characters of sound batting and tight bowling, as playing a waiting game is as effective as playing the bully. There is a long way to the end of the series and Mcgrath might very well not be part of it anymore.

Final shots…

Asked whether he preferred tight, testing matches like this, or flattening the opposition the way the Aussies so often do, Ponting laughed. "I'd rather be flattening 'em - at least I'd have some fingernails left!"
-Ricky Ponting

“We came into this series having no hope at all and we leave with a lot of positives for the future. I couldn’t have asked for anything more from the boys”
-Bennet King (WI coach)

Ashes 2nd Test Day 3 - A test match for the ages

"I'm Andrew Flintoff, and this is the way I play."
-Andrew Flintoff

That line sums up the day today as one man battled a legend at the peak of his powers and leaden-footed batting from his mates, and ended up establishing arguably the most dominating individual performance since Botham’s test in 1981. If there was a player England can’t afford for to tread on stray cherries on the field, it would be this man. And if England does go on to win the Ashes from here, the most defining moments of the summer could well be the over Flintoff bowled to Langer and Ponting to turn a spirited run-chase at 47/0 into a fight for survival at 47/2.

England began the day at 25/1 facing up to a bowler who took his 100^th wicket on English soil in the same way he took his first. And things quickly got worse as Lee discovered the fire missing in his first innings effort and blew away Trescothick, Vaughan and Hoggard after England had added only 6 runs. From then on, it was the Warne show as he turned back the clock and displayed the blinding genius that people thought was eroded due to the ravages of age. At one stage England were tottering at 75-6 and in very real danger of handing the match back to the Aussies .Then cometh the man who battled Warne, Lee and a suspected dislocated shoulder to single handedly set a total which would require some batting from the Aussies to overhaul. The Aussies were more circumspect in their approach when they started out and got the chase off to a good start with Hayden and Langer slowly playing themselves in. At 47/0 there must have been a few flutters in the England camp. But a toss of the ball to Flintoff and in a flash of an over, the match turned on its head and the Aussies never got back from there. If there was evidence needed of the Aussie bemusement, it was seen in Adam Gilchrist’s shocking shimmy down the pitch to Giles and hit the ball down mid-on’s throat off only the fourth ball he faced. Flintoff’s desperation to win this match was none the more evident when during the England innings he went down the pitch to give Simon Jones an earful after the no. 11 had swished at one outside off. That final wicket partnership of 51 proved to be the turning point of this match.

Shane Warne, who was out there at the end of the day at 20 not out, I’m sure, would not be begrudged by the state of affairs. After all he’s played so many Ashes series where the opponents have lost the match in the mind even before it started. A willing opponent this time gives him the chance of a perfect story he would like to script for his swansong Ashes campaign…just like the end of a long running soap opera. Final shot…

"Whoever writes my scripts seems to be doing it right - 599 going into Old Trafford, which is a very special place for me. And my parents are coming over, which was always planned. So I hope to get at least one wicket there for the 600."
-Shane Warne

Ashes 2nd Test Day 2 - Wheelie-bin strikes back!

“I don't come out saying things to the press just to wind myself up. I'm just happy that having done my preparation I've come out and done well today."
-Ashley Giles

“The Return of the Empire” has been an oft repeated theme England has been promising after 18 months of unbelievable success. But it has taken 75 days since the Aussie touched the English shores, for the hyperbole and the expectations of a nation hungry after years of living on appetizers, to finally get ready to feast on the main course. When the madness of this test match dies down and Ashley Giles reminisces about this day, the one thing he would wish would be to take back that insecure emotional spewing of last week and let the events of this test match play out the way it has.

When the Aussies came out to bat today, everybody expected an English shellacking on a much meatier scale than what the home team doled out to the Aussies on the first day. But very few people expected an England bowling attack determined this time not to let the opportunity pass by like they did at Lords. The Aussie batsmen were caught between trying to attack and fend off some tight bowling especially from Giles and Flintoff. Case in point being Ricky Ponting’s frustration and eventual dismissal after a quiet period. Hoggard began the day for England brilliantly by dismissing Hayden first ball and Harmison decided that Langer needed some reminding of the pain from Lords. But Ponting and Clarke looked in good touch and Langer resolutely fought off the bowlers. But like the England innings on the first day, none of them were game for a grind and wickets fell pretty regularly to some tight but not extraordinary England bowling; the most shocking dismissal being Warne’s ugly heave across the line to Giles. In fact the best bowling during the day came in the latter part of the Aussie innings when Simon Jones bowled briskly and got some swing and Flintoff cleaned up the tail in the old-fashioned reverse-swinging yorker way. And an important achievement for this England team was to keep Adam Gilchrist away from the strike and prevent him from launching into his famous counter-attacking assaults.

It’s been a long time since England have come out on top two days in a row and it is important for them to keep batting throughout the day tomorrow and then some on the 4th day to set a big target for this Australian team. It’s going to be tough as seen by the one English wicket to fall today, when the ball from that great man turned square to bowl Strauss behind his legs. Because if the Aussies get a scent at a gettable target, a 4th and 5th day deteriorating pitch might not help England, as in the wheelie-bin’s own words; he ain’t no Shane Warne. Final shot…

So what sort of total would the Aussies ideally like to chase? Langer grinned again. "Well, we're already 125 behind - about 150? You saw how Warnie was turning it at the end ... That ball hopefully will have worried England, not just for this game but the whole of the series. The more Shane Warne demons we can get into the England dressing-room, the better."
-Justin Langer

Ashes 2nd Test Day 1 - The Edgbaston gang-bang

"I've been letting my side of the bargain down for a while now, haven't I, so it was nice to spend some time with him in the middle. If we bat together, I think we're going to score quickly. He's in fine form, and hopefully I'm coming into some myself."
-Andrew Flintoff

If God writes a script for the perfect start to a Test Match, then Lords would have been his trial production and Edgbaston would be his finished product. In keeping with the nature of this series, the opening day produced some of the most bizzarely thrilling moments seen in a test match since another day in Calcutta in 2001 when VVS Laxman weaved his magic. And somehow the Aussies seem to bring this quality out of opponents; the need to do the extraordinary to get on top. 407 scorching runs were scored in 79.4 overs and 10 wickets fell. And it wasn’t so much the run rate, which was an equally unbelievable 5.13, but the way they were scored, inclusive of 55 fours and 10 sixes. And it’s a tribute to this Aussie team that at the end of the day, most pundits believe that they have the edge going into the second day.

The day started bizzarely enough when Glenn Mcgrath was ruled out of the match having twisted his ankle after stepping on a cricket ball and then Ponting misread the pitch and invited England to have a bat. The decision probably came looking at the history of the ground where only twice before had a team batted first and won. Steven Rouse, the curator, was wary about the pitch but obviously the batsmen thought nothing of it as they battered Gillespie, Lee, Kasprowicz and Warne around the park. None of the batsmen, stung by some of the criticism heaped on them after Lords, took a backward step against this attack. Obviously they were blessed by the absence of Mcgrath, against whom this tactic might have backfired. But they also discovered the caveat with this approach when a day they could have ended at about 360/4 with some measured batting at the later stages, ended up at 407 all out. Flintoff and Pieterson produced the most breathtaking passage of play before tea, when they put on 103 runs in 17.3 overs. Flintoff was especially brutal on Brett Lee hooking him for three sixes, all of ‘em with his eyes closed, and conjured visions of doing another Botham. But it wasn’t to be and his knock reflected the England innings at the end of the day; short, but boy was it sweet.

The Aussies were given a painful glimpse into the future with life without Mcgrath and Warne. If not for Warne, the score might have been higher putting huge question marks on the rest of the bowling. Gillespie looked a lot better with a little extra responsibility and Kasprowicz was steady despite the madness around him. But Lee needs a lesson in defensive bowling, especially when he is losing the battle against a batsman. England should be disappointed at not batting enough when they had the Aussies on the run. And they need to pray for a huge cloud cover tomorrow for Hoggy, Harmy and co., as there is the very real danger of seeing Hayden or Gilchrist blast back to form on this pitch. And looking at the corker Strauss got, Warney might easily get his 600 in this match. Final shot...

"Yeah, it was a pretty amazing day all round," he admitted. "I turned up expecting to have plenty of coffee and tea, and cake - and end up playing in a Test match."
-Michael Kasprowicz

TMS quote of the day:

Selvey: “Hoggard’s last four innings have produced 0, 1 and that pair at Lords”
Maxwell: “Well, he’s due for a big one isn’t he?”
-as Hoggard prepared to take strike for his first ball

Indian Oil Cup - Ind vs. SL

Match Review
There come times when Mahela Jayawardene decides that he wants to remind people why he is so highly regarded in Sri Lanka. His lopsided stats in one-day and tests suggest that he suffers from serious concentration lapses in the limited overs version of the game. And that sometimes hurts Sri Lanka because he is a vital cog at no. 4. But today he kept his cool and his wits about him as he dragged Sri Lanka from dire straits at 95/6 in the 25th over to an absolutely stunning victory with 13 balls to spare. And he exposed a vital ingredient missing from Greg Chappell’s pre-tournament checklist for the Indian team; the ability to keep one’s wits in a pressure situation. Jayawardene and Chandana played beautifully and made this win possible by not only attacking the fifth bowler in Ganguly and Sehwag but also dismantling Harbhajan Singh’s spell with clinical precision. And once again, it wasn’t the lack of runs that hurt India in the end; it was the lack of another bowler. The inherent problem with Suresh Raina coming in at no. 7 is that he gets too little time to contribute anything substantial and more often than not will only have a fantastic fielding effort to show for the game. Irfan Pathan’s relative solidity with a bat should be encouraged a little more and it’s vital for India to bring Anil Kumble into the picture. If flexibility is the key Greg Chappell is looking for then it’s also responsibility at the top that he must emphasize. The top teams today are successful not because they are flexible but they have well-defined roles for the players. And that is the goal that this Indian team should hope to achieve…and hopefully also learn the art of mental strength along the way.

Won't be able to give more updates. It's 8:00am in the morning here in the US and I need to get to work. I'll give a match summary later.

Ind innings

50 overs 220/8 - Brilliant stuff from Irfan Pathan. He hammered 38 from 26 balls and has dragged India to a total that gives the bowlers something to defend. I think Dravid would think he is still 20 runs short on this pitch especially after a fairly decent if slow start. This certainly looks a much better pitch than the first time these two teams met. India now has had enough batsmen getting a hit in the middle and they should now look at playing a more attacking game as the tournament progresses. The tournament shifts to the Premadasa after this and that has traditionally been a good batting wicket. No Zaheer in the team today and Balaji needs to take a page out of Pathan's book and start landing 'em from ball one. Again, a weak fifth bowler for India might make the difference in this match. But then again, SL are without Jayasuriya.

48 overs 194/7 - What's the deal with SL and caught and bowled? Kaif gone caught and bowled for 33 off Maharoof. Good innings from Kaif, not fast but not Ganguly slow either. India should make it over 200, but how much will depend on Irfan Pathan who's batting well. Harbhajan Singh in now.

41 overs 161/6 - This is unbelievable stuff. Dilshan gets number 4. Raina caught and bowled off a brilliant catch. The Indian batting is falling off drastically. SL into the tail and India in real danger of being bowled out below 200 and before their 50 overs are up.

40 overs 157/5 - Dilshan is really hurting India. Dhoni goes caught and bowled. Came down the wicket and hammered him straight back to the bowler. Dilshan has 3. Raina coming in and India need to get it into about 220 for a competetive total. Even without Murali and Vaas, this SL bowling attack just squeezing the runs.

33.2 overs 128/4 - Dravid gone first ball to Dilshan. Very very dubious decision by the umpire. The ball hit outside the line and the umpire walked around a little bit before he gave his decision. Big wicket and India in big trouble. Again puts Ganguly's slow-go in perspective. Kaif in and another big opportunity for Kaif.

33 overs 127/3 - Ganguly gone for 51. Chandana getting one through the gate and this was always the danger of going slow. The run rate has been low and this is the time he should ideally have been wanting to accelerate. Dravid is coming in and these two should look to bat for the next 10-12 overs.

29.5 117/2 - Big off-spinner from Dilshan and Laxman is bowled through the gate. Big opportunity lost for Laxman. He was starting to look good there and played himself him. Surprise, surprise! Dhoni in. I think in a quest to up the momentum a little bit. And also get him to run into some form. I think this is a good move.

10,000 runs for Ganguly - Becomes the third batsman after Tendulkar and Inzaman to get there. I believe he's also the fastest of the three. His innings of 33 so far has been painstaking, off about 80 balls. Laxman still doesn't look like he's liking it in there. He's been beaten umpteen times outside off. This pitch looks a little better than the previous games. 240-250 looks par for the course.

18 overs 69/1 - Laxman got a huge letoff off the last over from Fernando. A big sound but Daryl Harper probably didn't hear the nick. No foot movement from Laxman in the dozen odd deliveries he's faced. Ganguly has developed a strange habit of falling over when hitting his leg-side shots. He plonks his right-leg in front of middle and tries to hit the leg side balls around that front foot. Wonder if that is a habit he picked from county cricket or just an after effect of playing really cautiously.

15.1 overs 67/1 - Sehwag finally decides that if the fielders aren't catching 'em then he will drag one onto his stumps from a foot outside. First international wicket for Jayaprakashdaran. This should bring Laxman in. Another batsman making a comeback and hopefully Atapattu should attack more. He seems to be held back with no Murali and Vaas in this team. Probably feels he doesn't have enough firepower to blow this batting away.

13 overs 50/0 - SL has helped India reach 50/0. Helped because there are clearly two out of form batsmen here and 2 catches have gone down, several misfields and Atapattu just refuses to attack. The SL captain seems to be playing this by the reputations of Ganguly and Sehwag. Sehwag decided that he wanted to hit his way out of trouble. The concering thing for Greg Chappell is that Sehwag especially doesn't seem to spend some time in the middle and play the ball around a little bit. Ganguly meanwhile is 12 short of 10,000 runs.

The Art of Criticism

“If my critics saw me walking over the Thames they would say it was because I couldn't swim”
-Margaret Thatcher

So what is a critic? I looked up Webster and came up with these definitions.

1. One who expresses a reasoned opinion on any matter especially involving a judgment of its value, truth, righteousness, beauty, or technique.
2. One who engages often professionally in the analysis, evaluation, or appreciation of works of art or artistic performances.
3. One given to harsh or captious judgment

“Reasoned opinion”, “judgment of value, truth…”, “analysis, evaluation, appreciation”…naah can’t be. Webster probably added the third definition looking at what the art of criticism in the present day has become. The story of a sportsman is defined not only by his performances but also by the media’s perception of his performances. It doesn’t take much to induce the seeds of doubt in a reader and being read is a quality analogous to gaining an individual’s trust. Which is why in the big picture, handling the media becomes a skill as important to the sportsman as the skills he displays on the field.

The Ashley Giles double outburst, at first glance, not only sound like the little-boy cries of a hurt ego, but are a damaging preamble to a test match that desperately needs England to perform out of their skins. But dig a little deeper and a visual of a moderately gifted cricketer emerges; having to constantly lift himself to a level deemed acceptable to play among the sea of talent in his side. Cricket has many such dark stories of men more talented than Giles broken down by the might of the media attack, justified or not. A few days back I read a post on Prem Panicker’s blog about how the dignity of a former Indian fast-bowler on the fringes of national selection was played around with by a cricketing legend turned popular commentator. His words were and still are deemed gospel for most Indian cricket fans, and he abused that trust to achieve a laugh and fulfill his own agenda. The English media covering the Ashes has a bunch of former players, captains and legends who were responsible for building this series as a changing of the guard in world cricket. They sneered at Hayden’s anger, laughed at Gillespie’s form, snickered at Warne’s broken marriage and had a dig at virtually every Australian player. After just one test match, they turned to what was easy for them as it is for cricket writers in most countries; pick a player and blame him for everything that went wrong. And it’s safe because if the player does perform next time, the readers forget the previous lash outs. And if they don’t, it’s always food for their next column.

I had speculated on Giles’ future in a previous post and it’s unfortunate that he has been made painfully aware of his limitations. His frustration is understandable but his method of dealing with it was daft. But to put him in a situation from where he can’t defend himself was irresponsible by the same men who condoned his performances over the last 18 months. Unfortunately, that is what the art of criticism is all about.