Rajasthan have invested in the youth and are willing to withstand initial failures

Jamie Alter in Mysore02-Dec-2007

“I just wanted to get it done with,” says Robin Bist, when asked about the miscued pull that ended a determined innings on 99. His cheeks turn red momentarily, the way they did when that one lapse in concentration cost him a maiden first-class hundred, as he looks down at his feet. “It was a silly shot, but batting in the nineties is so very tough that it seems like you’re stuck there for ages and you just want to get past the hundred.”For nearly five hours Bist had defied Karnataka, weathering two mini-collapses and displaying maturity beyond his 20 years, but getting out one short of the deserved landmark was tough for the rookie to digest. Slamming his bat into the ground with a yell, Bist stood alone for a lonely minute before walking off. “I couldn’t believe it. I had played well to get there and it feels bad. Hopefully more chances will come.”The way Bist batted, it seems they will. Bist was one half of a defiant fifth-wicket partnership that overcame a collapse on day one, after a 120-run opening stand between debutant Manish Sharma and Vineet Saxena. Bist lost his overnight partner Rohit Jhalani for 62 early in the day, but didn’t err in his task of consolidating Rajasthan’s position. At 288 for 7, Karnataka, favourites on experience and Ranji form, had a prime opportunity to skittle out the tail, but Bist shepherded the tail.”I’ve always been an aggressive batsman, it’s my style, but here the situation was different and the pitch wasn’t easy to bat on.” Short and compact, Bist tackled the pace bowlers and spinners with aplomb, getting right inside the line of the ball and picking the gaps like a seasoned pro. His major scoring shots were the flick and cut, and he used these aplenty against a jaded Karnataka attack.Impressively, his strokeplay was matched by an ability to bat with the tail. With medium-pacer Pankaj Singh, he crafted a 46-run eighth-wicket partnership. Effortlessly, Bist kept hold of the strike until he became confident of Pankaj’s abilities. “Pankaj can bat, he’s an aggressive allrounder. He got a half-century last season, but I just told him to stay at the wicket and not think about scoring that much. ‘I will handle that,’ I said. We were in a tough situation and I asked him to just support me.”That partnership inspired Pankaj to dig further, and with his captain, veteran Mohammad Aslam, he added a further 52 to frustrate Karnataka. “393 is a good total, but I feel we could have gotten more,” says Bist, his eyes focused on the 22-yard strip in the background.

Rajasthan’s batting has let them down this season, and with no points from three games they languish at the bottom. Bist, with 234 runs at 33.42 in his fourth game, is one of the three youngsters who have contributed in this game. “Most of this team is made up of youngsters, such as Manish [Sharma], Rohit [Jhalani] and I, all in our first season. We’re all positive and ready to learn from seniors, like Gagan Khoda. We believe we can do well for Rajasthan.”The belief may not be the answer to Rajasthan’s worries, but it’s a positive start. Watching Rajasthan wind down after play offers a glimpse into the mentality of a young and inexperienced side. During a modified version of volleyball, played with a football and a row of plastic chairs, every player cheers and at the same time, has a dig at his team-mates, with coach and assistant coach involved. Laughter fills the cool Mysore air and the camaraderie can be seen.”This all started last season, after we became Ranji one-day finalists,” says Bist. “We lost [to Mumbai in Jaipur] but we were all so enthusiastic that it became something of a superstition for us. We’re all so young and want to do well, that we make sure to laugh both on and off the field. It’s very important to be happy.”KP Bhaskar, a former Delhi captain who took over as Rajasthan coach this season, believes youth is the way forward. “The game has changed; there’s so much evolving and more is expected of the players. It’s good to have youngsters like Robin and Manish do well. We’ve got a core group of young players we’ve identified as key going forward. Youngsters put pressure on seniors, which is a good thing. At the same time they have so much to learn from experienced players.”I’m here as part of a plan, and I’m confident we can develop Rajasthan cricket. It’s going to be an interesting journey.”With youngsters like Bist on the way to becoming the aces that Rajasthan so badly need, Rajasthan seem headed on the right track. There will be bumps along the way, but it will be interesting to see if what’s important for the youngsters today stays important.

With the injury to Shoaib Akhtar, and Pakistan’s decision to stick to only four specialist bowlers, meant Pakistan allowed India, as well as the series, out of their grasp on the opening day

Osman Samiuddin08-Dec-2007

Shoaib Akhtar’s back injury meant it was not just the bowler, but Pakistan, in a must-win situation, on all fours on the opening day of the Test © AFP
Without a genuine allrounder in your side, playing five bowlers, or at least havinga viable fifth bowling option, in a Test is kind of like that special suit – ordress – that you keep locked up for most of the year: you only bring it out forthose special occasions when nothing else will do. For Pakistan, everything aboutBangalore suggests one of those occasions.First, a win and nothing else would do to salvage something from this tour; four menstruggled to take ten wickets in Kolkata so one more would only have helped takethe 20 that wins you Tests. Then, given India’s own injury concerns and severelydepleted bowling, surely a specialist batsman could have been replaced by a bowlingoption? They even called up a fast bowler – Iftikhar Anjum – from Pakistan forthis Test, yet didn’t feel it necessary to use him.And finally, when the attack Pakistan settled for included one debutant bowlingallrounder, one whose bowling average has touched 50 and had yet to take a wicket inthe series and a leg-spinner, all led by a bowler who is now, sadly, under apermanent fitness cloud, the situation simply screamed for another option.Instead, once Shoaib Akhtar broke down and Yasir Arafat, Mohammad Sami and DanishKaneria tired, Pakistan had Younis Khan, Salman Butt and Yasir Hameed as options.Commendable as it is that they are trying to get Hameed and Butt to gel with oneanother as an opening pair, bowling them in tandem is perhaps not the brightest wayof going about it.It allowed India to not only recover from 61 for 4, but do so in such explosivefashion that they ended the day in charge. Not only were further wickets hard tocome by, but scoring runs and boundaries became impossible to prevent. Had they beenmore assertive and gone for Anjum or Sohail Tanvir in place of one specialistbatsman, one of the two bowling columns would surely have shown better reward.Apart from building a hospital instead of an academy for their fast bowlers,Pakistan has to address one issue very soon. Nobody any longer doubts Shoaib’sskill, fewer people than before doubt his commitment and what he does off the fieldis mostly his concern; the most vital, in fact the only question, is whether he canremain fully fit and sustain it over a series or tour, because Pakistan simplycannot afford watching him pull up during a Test for much longer.In his ten-year career he has lasted a full series on only a handful of occasionsand in most of them he has, by the final Test, been a diminished force. The issuehas lingered through this series and having bit Pakistan hard in Kolkata, it did soharder here because at lunch, they had a genuine chance. He went off, worryinglywith a new problem in his back, only 10 overs in the bank. If there is frustration,is it at Shoaib? Or the management, for not drafting in cover? In his ten-year career he has lasted a full series on only a handful of occasionsand in most of them he has, by the final Test, been a diminished force It put an unnecessary burden on the rest, especially Arafat, who after a fizzingfirst spell, fell away physically, with alarming haste. Pakistan might be better offlooking to build on his batting and turning him in to a handy allrounder, ratherthan relying on him as a specialist bowler; only now is Abdul Razzaq’s carelessfrittering away of form and fortune coming back to haunt Pakistan, for the balance agenuine allrounder provides is difficult to better.Of course, neither quality allrounder nor fifth bowling options might have made adifference with Yuvraj Singh in this mood. To call his contribution to the day, thisseries even, simply a hundred is to call Shane Warne merely a twirler. This was muchmore, a summit meeting of mind, body, timing, power, placement and attitude, all ata place called the zone. Nothing would stop him, not good balls, not bad balls, notordinary bowlers and probably not good ones either.Still, the Test is not fully lost for Pakistan. Rather, from 365 for 5 on theopening day, it is India’s to lose. For some hope, Pakistan can look at the CapeTown Test India squandered last year and one in Melbourne four years ago, havingbeen in similarly strong positions after day one. It is a long shot, but it is onenonetheless and if Pakistan do it, it will be a greater escape than the last timethey were in Bangalore.

Sriram Veera at the Wankhede Stadium02-Nov-2007

Mumbai and Karnataka, all set for a cracker of a match, have more in common than being favoured to win the Ranji Trophy – they are coached by men who would have wanted more of their international careers. Yet Pravin Amre, the Mumbai coach who never got his due as a national player, and Karnataka’s Vijay Bharadwaj, who never replicated the dream series he had in Kenya, have taken different paths to their current positions.Bharadwaj’s first-class career was cut short by a laser eye operation that went awfully wrong and he was left with nothing to do. “I never thought I would retire that early [he was 30 then], but, frankly, I was not confident of being able to play consistently well at that level. My eyesight affected my fielding and the laser surgery still has some side effects. Sometimes I cannot keep my eyes open for long.”Like many cricketers, Bharadwaj didn’t know what to do once his playing days were over. “That [coaching] was my only way out,” he says. “I was missing being a player. Being a coach allows me to be with the team, enjoy the competition, have fun with them and pass on my experience. After a two-year gap I decided to get a degree and start coaching. I finished Level 2 two years ago, and topped it, and finished level 3 last year.”I wanted to coach only Karnataka, whether Under-22 or Under-19. I don’t have the passion to coach any other side. Suddenly, Venkatesh Prasad became the India bowling coach and the other appointee went to the ICL. They gave me the opportunity and here I am.”Bharadwaj has the confidence of Javagal Srinath, who has played with him for Karnataka for a long time and believes Bharadwaj is an astute thinker. “I was sad that he didn’t live up to his potential in his international stint,” Srinath says. “But there is always a new beginning. Your judgment is far better when you are out of the game. I see him as somebody who can stay in the profession for long.”

Bharadwaj knows coaching is not easy. “It’s very challenging,” he says. “It’s not a five-minute job, sitting in the dressing room and telling them to do this and that. You have to stay with the boys always. It’s about one-to-one interaction. I speak to them every evening, observe how they behave, how they interact.”For Amre, what started as a pastime to enhance his knowledge has now become a full-time profession he loves. He took the coaching exams during his playing days to put his free time to good use. The idea came to him during a lonely stint playing on the domestic circuit in South Africa in 1999; he returned to play first-class cricket in India but reconciled himself to the fact that he would never be able to play at the highest level again. “I knew I was not going to play for India. I then completed the level 3. Even then there was no definite plan.”He started off with coaching the U-13 boys in the Shivaji Gymkhana club for free. He enjoyed the experience, began coaching the Air India team and soon was hooked to coaching. When he was asked to become Mumbai’s batting coach, he couldn’t refuse. He repaid the faith with a much-cherished Ranji triumph. “I had never been part of a Ranji Trophy-winning team and when this victory was heralded by former Mumbai cricketers as one of the best wins ever, I felt really good.”

Amre, who says he is still learning, prides himself on pushing the case of youngsters and is happy with the result. “When I took up the job, I asked the Mumbai cricket committee, What’s your goal in appointing me as a coach? Do you want to win the Ranji Trophy, do you want India players or you want to players to develop consistently? They chose development. The target was right; we were patient and gave exposure to the youngsters. We are fortunate we have young talent; they are not going to deliver in their first game and we have to groom them well.”Bharadwaj, in his first season, doesn’t want to look beyond the Karnataka team but success in the Ranji Trophy last season has prompted Amre to look at the India coach job as a logical progression – he had a taste of it as coach of one of the India teams in the recent Challenger Trophy. “I would like to take it [pushing for an India job] step by step,” Amre says.Amre has tasted success, likes the flavour and wants more while Bharadwaj, though he has a recipe in mind, knows he has lots to prove. Time will tell where they end up on their respective journeys.

Stats highlights from the first final of the CB Series between Australia and India

Cricinfo staff02-Mar-2008
Sachin Tendulkar got rid of some jinxes in Sydney © Getty Images
Sachin Tendulkar’s unbeaten 117 brought to an end quite a few streaks. Tendulkar hadn’t scored a century in 38 ODIs in Australia prior to this match, but came up with one in his 39th to put India 1-0 ahead in the best-of-three finals. The hundred also brought to an end Tendulkar’s quest for his 42nd ODI hundred. It had been 37 matches since his last one, against West Indies in Vadodara in January 2007, and compounding the drought was fact that he was dismissed six times in the 90s, including a record three occasions on 99. It was Tendulkar’s 16th hundred while batting second, and his first since March 2004, when he scored 141 against Pakistan in Rawalpindi. An impressive 14 of those 16 have resulted in wins; however, the last match-winning innings came in Harare against West Indies in 2001. The knock was also Tendulkar’s first hundred in the finals of a tournament since 1998. Tendulkar has scored eight hundreds against Australia, which is the highest by a batsman against a specific opposition. Saeed Anwar and Tendulkar have scored seven each against Sri Lanka. India ended their Sydney jinx against Australia; this was their first ODI win at the SCG against the hosts in 12 matches. The win also brought to an end India’s dismal streak while playing in the finals of the tri-series in Australia. In three earlier occasions when they made it to the finals – in 1985-86, 1991-92, and 2003-04 – India ended up losing the best-of-three contests 2-0, all to Australia. With Sunday’s loss against India, Australia have now been beaten in three consecutive games in the finals of their home tri-series, having been upstaged by England 2-0 in the best-of-three finals in 2007. It’s only the second occasion that Australia have been on the losing side in three finals’ games in a row; the last time was during the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons, when they lost twice to West Indies and once to South Africa. After this defeat, Australia need to win the next two games to clinch the finals. They have done this three times in the past in triangular tournaments at home – in 1993-94 and 1997-98 against South Africa, and against Sri Lanka a couple of seasons back.

South Africa can proudly lay claim to having India’s number throughout the Motera Test

Jamie Alter in Ahmedabad05-Apr-2008
Graeme Smith: “For the first time I have a bowling line-up that can do well out here and I’m most comfortable with this side” © AFP
“This was the perfect Test match for us,” Graeme Smith said after the crushing win in Ahmedabad. “We dominated from the start.” Once South Africa grabbed the jugular, they never let go. It was startling in its routine, impressive in its results.Smith needed no second invitations to declare on an overnight 494 for 7 when he showed up at the Motera and saw a bit of cloud cover over a slightly damp pitch. That gave South Africa a huge platform from where to seal a 1-0 series lead and the manner in which they proceeded to do it was most clinical. Their energies were high all day, the bowlers never wavered from their plan, and the fielding was first-rate. South Africa never forgot the basics, contrary to India.Unlike on the manic first morning when sheer pace rattled a trigger-happy line-up, today was about mini-battles and outfoxing the batsmen. Virender Sehwag set about like a runaway caboose, hitting two sixes in Dale Steyn’s first over – perhaps for the first time in Test history – but did little to inspire hopes of a great escape. Makhaya Ntini saw that Sehwag was keen to pull the short stuff, and bowled a full one to take him out, lbw. Tick one to the brain-trust.That method set the tone for the rest. Steyn really turned it on against Wasim Jaffer, hitting lovely lengths and getting the ball to lift. Smith could’ve easily called back Steyn after Morne Morkel had just removed Rahul Dravid, but he gambled on Jacques Kallis and it worked like a charm. After being shaken up by Steyn, Jaffer was drawn into an overconfident drive against Kallis’ gentle medium-pace.Morkel’s dismissal of Dravid was also excellently schemed: pepper him with short deliveries while Ntini invited drives with a fuller length. Notice the sequence of deliveries before the wicket: short and kicking, fuller to draw him forward, back of a length, short on the body and then the quickest of all, banged in short for Dravid to edge to second slip.VVS Laxman dazzled with three early boundaries that almost took the breath away – a smooth off-drive, a caress off the back foot, and a soft-handed straight drive past the stumps – but stunning shots do not always a battle make, and he eventually fell to Morkel. Having just seen an edge fall short of second slip with a full delivery, Morkel pitched full and wide again to draw a fatal nick.Even when Sourav Ganguly and Mahendra Singh Dhoni delayed the inevitablewith a 110-run fifth-wicket partnership, South Africa didn’t wilt. The fielding remained athletic, the pacers ran in hard, and the lone spinner, Paul Harris, didn’t retreat after being thumped. Ganguly got an unlucky decision but Dhoni was also set up well: Ntini and Steyn pushed him further and further back, before Ntini slipped in a full one. Dhoni took the bait and fell hook, line and sinker for a near replica of his first-innings dismissal.Ntini’s performance in the subcontinent had been below-par compared to his career numbers, and with all the attention focused on Steyn he remained almost a phantom in Chennai. But today he followed up three huge wickets on day one with three more, netting Sehwag, Dhoni, and Sreesanth. He ran through short spell and long, irrespective of which end he was bowling from, and his captain was all praise. “It was a transition that Ntini needed to make as the leader of the pack, and he’s led by example. It was hard work for the bowlers today on a heavy outfield but he stuck to it. I’m proud of him.”South Africa’s quest for a win began with a frenzied opening morning’s play and ended in the dying stages of an extended third day, and bar today’s second session, they can proudly lay claim to having India’s number the whole timeSouth Africa were also supreme in their ground fielding. AB de Villiers was excellent wherever he went, pulling off superb stop-and-flicks from short cover and even closer, but it was in the covers that he was sublime, like a ravenous hound after a hare. Even Hashim Amla, whose calm exterior and flowing beard betray a sage, saved plenty of runs with excellent dives up-close. The slip catching was top-draw, none better than Kallis’ blinder of a catch towards the end of the day, taken in front of his face as he fell backwards. It was in such examples that South Africa were leagues ahead of India.The visitors backed their instinct and it paid off superbly. “This is a very balanced side. We’ve had some tough tours of the subcontinent but we’re better for it. For the first time I have a bowling line-up that can do well out here and I’m most comfortable with this side,” was Smith’s assessment of his unit after the win.South Africa’s quest for a win began with a frenzied opening morning’s play and ended in the dying stages of an extended third day, and bar today’s second session, they can proudly lay claim to having India’s number the whole time. India were beaten in three days by an innings and 90 runs, the first at home since South Africa toured in 2000. This looks the best South African touring side and Smith has a lot to be proud of going to Kanpur.

James Franklin and Iain O’Brien put pressure on India with testing spells

Sidharth Monga in Wellington03-Apr-2009A day before the Basin Reserve Test, even as India trained in one part of the ground, the home team, Wellington, were having a special gathering. The Test players from Wellington, James Franklin, Iain O’Brien and Jeetan Patel, changed from their training clothes to Wellington whites, and joined Mark Gillespie, Grant Elliot and other Wellington players for a team photograph.Everyone took their places but just as the photographer got ready to click, Virender Sehwag – from one end of the ground – pulled one straight into the gathering and scattered the Wellington players. Sehwag is used to hitting those big shots in the nets and didn’t spoil that party on purpose, but the Wellington boys, Franklin and O’Brien, did spoil Sehwag’s party today, and there was a certain sense of deliberation to it.Thirteen overs into India’s innings, New Zealand’s gamble of fielding first seemed to be going horribly wrong. India had coasted to 64 for 0, and as is generally the case with Sehwag if he plays till lunch, a century in the first session cannot be ruled out. Surprisingly Tim Southee had been given the new ball ahead of the local boys; he couldn’t control the swing at the start and the result was as expected.But once O’Brien was introduced, New Zealand regained control. Immediately he hit a perfect area, just short of good length, and got extra bounce from the pitch. In his second over, he surprised Sehwag with the lift. The batsman looked to punch with a vertical bat when he would have been better off cutting with a horizontal one.When James Franklin was introduced in the 17th over, it translated into pressure from both ends. Franklin got the ball to swing in, creating doubts in the batsmen’s mind. How Franklin set Gautam Gambhir up in his first over was the bowling highlight of the day. Getting the ball to consistently move away from Gambhir, he got the batsman to step out of the crease. In doing so, Gambhir walked across the stumps and Franklin slipped one in straight through, with a scrambled seam, and caught him plumb in front.The dangerous openers gone, New Zealand could now look to implement their plans for the other batsmen and exercise some control on the game. O’Brien was particularly impressive in troubling Rahul Dravid with ones that held their line after looking to come in towards the batsman.”We caught Wellington on a pretty good day today,” Franklin said. “There wasn’t much wind. Obviously Iain and myself have grown up here so we know ground conditions pretty well.”The two are completely different kind of bowlers: O’Brien likes to hit the deck hard and relies on bounce and pace, while Franklin relies mainly on swing. O’Brien picked the Southern End to bowl from, so he would be running into the southerlies if they showed up. He has made himself a bit of a reputation for liking the difficult task of bowling into the wind. Franklin from the other end could get more help from the pitch. In their first spell of six overs each, they conceded 22 runs between them and brought New Zealand back into the contest.They provided Chris Martin with a base for the second comeback of the day, in the middle session when he nicked Sachin Tendulkar out and started a collapse. Twice in two sessions New Zealand managed to rein India in. “Last hour of the first session we bowled pretty well, and last hour of the second session as well,” Franklin said. “We were pretty slow to start off with in the two sessions, but once we got our lines and lengths right, the ball swung around quite nicely.”In the third session, though, there was no comeback. The bowlers went on the offensive and tried to blow the tailenders away rather than bowl them out. O’Brien, though, came back to get Zaheer Khan’s wicket but not before he had been taken for 18 runs in the over. In the process New Zealand gave away about 50 runs more than they would have liked to. It could have been much worse but for the opening spells from O’Brien and Franklin.

At the end of a year he this week described as the toughest of his career, Ricky Ponting’s outstandingly fluent 101 on Boxing Day was an excellent sign

Brydon Coverdale at the MCG26-Dec-2008
Ricky Ponting’s 37th Test century – and fourth at the MCG – was particularly pleasing following some intense criticism © Getty Images
Controversy has followed Ricky Ponting over the past 12 months but generally not when he has made runs. At the end of a year he this week described as the toughest of his career, Ponting’s outstandingly fluent 101 on Boxing Day was an excellent sign. He is the kind of captain who needs to lead by example and appears happier and sharper in the field when he has been successful at the crease. His hundred will therefore be a great relief not only for him but for the entire team.By his own high standards Ponting’s figures are slightly leaner than normal in 2008 but only by similar criteria to Warren Buffett, who might have been left a few billion short due to the financial crisis. Ponting has still made four centuries, 1,000 runs and averaged 45. However, it is when he has failed to perform with the bat that Australia have faced their greatest challenges.From the controversial Sydney Test in January to the over-rate fiasco in Nagpur to the criticism of his poor body language as the Perth Test slipped away last week, Ponting’s captaincy has pleased few people outside the squad this year. In each of those matches he was condemnedfor his leadership, particularly in the field on the final day.In none of those games was Ponting happy with how he had batted. His best score across the six innings was 55 and he averaged 20. It was the same story during the 2005 Ashes, when his captaincy was queried after he handed back the urn for the first time since the 1980s. Ponting’s own form on that tour was well down – he averaged less than 40.Ponting is not a tactical guru or first-rate man-manager like predecessors such as Mark Taylor. That rarely mattered while he was surrounded by champions whose roles were so clearly defined they could have been in a dictionary. Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and AdamGilchrist never had to be told how to do their jobs.But in an evolving side that features a mix of new men finding their feet at Test level and older mainstays trying to justify their spots, Ponting must bring something concrete to the captaincy table. The best thing for him to do is lead by example. When Ponting scores runs, thecontroversy, criticism and danger from other sides tends to die away. If he wants a less thorny 2009 as leader then piling on a stack of centuries would be the best thing he could do.When he is in the sort of form he showed today, it’s easy to imagine him having such a year. Ponting at his best makes batting look about as hard as tying shoelaces and he was close to his peak in this innings. There were some nerves before lunch, particularly when Dale Steyn bypassed the outside edge with a cracking outswinger and then found the bat only to see Neil McKenzie drop a sitter at third slip when Ponting had 24.”You always try to capitalise on those sort of chances that come your way,” Ponting said. “I think that summed up what my mindset was a little bit before the lunch break. It was just a half-hearted ‘Do I play or do I not?’ and tried to drag the bat out of the way and it caught the bottom on the way through.”Ponting came out after the interval in a more attacking frame of mind and his first shot of the session was a classic straight drive that raced away for four off Makhaya Ntini. He timed his drives down the ground perfectly and especially enjoyed Ntini, who he dispatched forthree consecutive boundaries, including a superb pair of back-foot drives just forward of point.”After the lunch break I came back and decided to be a bit more positive,” he said. “The lunch break just happened at the right time for me. I started to feel like I was moving a bit better, started to see the ball a bit better and I just had a lot clearer mind. I decided to be a bit more aggressive and put it back on their bowlers a little bit.”Ponting was frustrated to get an inside edge to short leg just before tea, shortly after reaching triple figures for the first time since the opening Test against India in October. He felt he was the only batsman to accurately pick the pace of the wicket and had a huge hundred in him. But after stumps he was cheerful and pleased with the wash-up. It is a positive frame of mind that Australia will hope rubs off on the rest of the squad

A senior player has been given reason to feel slighted, while youngsters have been made to feel less sure of their aptitude. vision and transparency are conspicuous by their absence

Sidharth Monga15-Oct-2009The secrecy with which the Indian board works sometimes has the air of an undercover nuclear project to it, but the muddled thinking suggests that the plans, if any at all, have long been mislaid.Rahul Dravid, a proven performer in ODIs despite the image he bears of being a misfit in the format, with close to 11,000 runs and 350 caps, and physically fit to play the energy game, would have expected to be selected despite being 36. Wrong.He was selected for the Champions Trophy at a time when the selectors thought the younger stars were not good enough, or experienced enough, to face quality fast bowling in testing conditions. On the surface – a conjecture because nobody really knows – it seemed age was not a criterion, form and fitness were. Moreover, Dravid would mentor the youngsters to ensure a smooth transition. So far, so good.In the six matches he got, Dravid brought to the middle order the stability that was missing, opened the innings once, and scored 180 in five innings. Nothing spectacular, but the question is, did he do the job given to him? He wouldn’t be able to tell you because he didn’t know what was expected of him. Then he was dropped when it came to playing on the batting beauties in India.The second question: Are the Rohit Sharmas and Virat Kohlis so inept that they can’t be trusted to fight through one hint of adversity, but at the same time so good on batting tracks that they suddenly again become the future of Indian cricket? How much do they need to be pampered?Thursday’s decision has given a senior player reason to feel slighted, while the youngsters have been made to feel less sure of their aptitude. Vision and transparency are conspicuous by their absence. Neither has Dravid been given time to provide solutions to the issues that existed – and they did and do exist – nor have the youngsters become better batsmen. Two important tournaments have amounted to zilch, if not negative.Was the selectors’ thinking actually so short term, as to bring Dravid back just for the Champions Trophy? Are they now suddenly thinking as far ahead as the World Cup on the subcontinent in 2011? Will Dravid come back when India travel to South Africa next year? Will he come back if Suresh Raina gets out to a bouncer again, as he did to one from Ashok Dinda in the final of the Challenger Trophy? Oh for simple answers. But the Indian selectors, unlike their counterparts in the rest of the world, are not allowed to make clear their rationale.If they always had the World Cup on their minds, couldn’t India have punted on the bright youngsters in a limited-overs tournament? Will their Test careers too begin like this? The first few matches on placid tracks, then dropped in favour of a better technician when India travel abroad, and back again for flat pitches? Are we moving into an age of separate teams for home and away matches? Again, no answers.

Those deciding the fate of players, held accountable by the millions, are seemingly not accountable to anybody – not the public, not the players

All it takes is a press conference – every international team has one, especially when four international players are dropped in one go (and spare a thought for the two coaches who had their jobs terminated on Thursday without the courtesy of a phone call or even an SMS). But apparently the BCCI doesn’t think the selectors are smart enough or responsible enough to shed light on the decisions they make. Those deciding the fate of players held accountable by millions are seemingly not accountable to anybody – not the public, not the players.To their credit, this selection committee hasn’t been implicated in planting malicious stories or convoluted conspiracy theories in the press, except for one occasion when one unnamed worthy spoke about MS Dhoni’s alleged support for RP Singh. There’s enough juicy material here, though, for an anonymous selector, or a source close to him, to resume the time-honoured tradition of alluding to a rift between Dhoni and Dravid, the kind we once read of as existing between Dravid and Sourav Ganguly. If only there was a press conference to explain what they thought when they brought Dravid back and then dropped him – because otherwise they are just too thoughtless to make sense of.

He’s not quite a rock star, and he didn’t become a fighter pilot. At least he’s England’s first-choice spinner

Interview by Nagraj Gollapudi21-Jun-2009If you were to bet on Andy Murray winning the Wimbledon or England the Ashes, which one would you fancy?
England winning the Ashes, because Andy Murray is Scottish, so I don’t care if he wins Wimbledon or not.What is the funniest thing someone ever said about you?
I read in the newspaper the other day that I’ve matured a lot.What’s the worst headline you read about yourself?
I don’t know about the headline, but there are sometimes fans who shout words that are a bit tedious at times. Sometimes they shout that my last name shouldn’t be Swann, it should be Duck, which is just appalling. Then there was someone shouting out the other day that I’ve got Swann flu and not swine flu. That is not very clever.Do you like intellectual things?
I like to do the crossword in the , but it tends to be I can’t finish it, so I end up making my own words to fill in.What’s the best book you ever read?
by George Orwell – a super book. I tend to read on tours and I end up reading Tom Clancy and Frederic Forsyth and Patrick Robinson rather than [Fyodor] Dostoyevsky and [Frederick] Nietzsche.Who’s sledged you the most?
Dominic CorkAnd who have you sledged most?
Cork again. I used to reply to everyone, but I soon realised the best way is to just shut up and get on with it.What kind of batsman is most difficult to bowl to?
Unpredictable players, because you don’t know what they are gonna do next. They normally happen to be down the order.What would you write on the whiteboard in the dressing room?
“Enjoy yourself.”Your band is called Dr Comfort and the Lurid Revelations. What’s behind the name?
Dr Comfort was actually a psychologist in the 1970s, and he released a book of lurid revelations about the women who visited him. Apparently at the time it was quite shocking. It made us chuckle, so we thought we we’d go with that.Do you see yourself as a rock star?
No, not at all. I’m a charlatan. I’ve sung in front of at most 200 people.If not a cricketer what would you be?
I wish I could’ve been a fighter pilot. When I was at school there was a US airbase not far from us, and when we were playing rugby the planes used to dogfight over the top. And after watching every schoolboy in England wanted to be a fighter pilot.Tell us something we don’t know about you.
Some people are just cat people, some people are just dog people, but I love both. At the moment I have two cats.You seem outrageous by all accounts. Did you ever fancy being a streaker?
No. But they always make me laugh, and it is a shame people get arrested for doing it. I think there are too many killjoys in the world.What do you think of Duncan Fletcher?
Excellent coach.Have you ever tested your IQ?
I got it tested at school. It’d probably be in the high 150s.What’s the one question the media should be banned from asking you?
The media should be allowed to ask anything, but they should be prepared to get any sort of reply back. It can’t be one-way traffic. You can’t say exactly what they want you to.What has been your best dismissal to date?
[Sachin] Tendulkar lbw in the Mohali Test last year, specially after he got the hundred in the Test match before, and also being the best player by miles in the world. A week before, in Chennai, we’d bowled so much at him trying to get him out. It was like banging our heads against a brick wall, and all of sudden I get him in Mohali, so it was the relief the moment that was the best thing about that wicket.What’s the best compliment you’ve ever got?
Mushy [Mushtaq Ahmed] once told me it’s nice to see me always smiling in the dressing room.One thing you would like from Muttiah Muralitharan?
His .

After his success at the top of the order in the West Indies, Mahela Jayawardene talks of the prospect of playing in that position in the 2011 World Cup

Sa'adi Thawfeeq09-May-2010Mahela Jayawardene’s outstanding form at the top of the order, in the World Twenty20 and on a few occasions in ODIs, gives Sri Lanka the option to play him as an opener in the 2011 World Cup. He has got his runs at a fast pace and given his side strong chances to win.The indifferent form of the rest of the line-up has forced Jayawardene to take charge of Sri Lanka’s run-scoring in the West Indies. He hit 81 off 51 balls in Sri Lanka’s 135 against New Zealand which they lost narrowly by two wickets. Then, against Zimbabwe, he laid the foundation for a total of 173 with his first hundred in Twenty20s. Sri Lanka won that rain-affected contest to qualify for the Super Eights, where they took on West Indies last week. Once again Jayawardene caressed his way to a substantial score, hitting an undefeated 98 to edge Sri Lanka towards a semi-final berth.The shift to the top of the order began during the Sri Lankan Inter-Provincial Twenty20 tournament, where he opened the batting for Wayamba in their third consecutive title-holding season, Jayawardene revealed.”The provincial tournament in Colombo is where I got the confidence, and I got into a groove and took control of things,” he said. “That’s when I realised that in Twenty20s it would be a good cushion, as well as the few times I opened in one-day cricket. I felt really comfortable in getting those big scores and winning matches.”In the IPL we didn’t have any middle-order batsmen in our [Kings XI Punjab’s] set-up. A couple of the guys were injured and three of the overseas players we had were all openers. The last two seasons of the IPL I’ve batted in the middle order and done the job for them. But when the opportunity came I said ‘Let me have a go at it.’ I had the confidence and I was backing myself to go out and do it. I was left out of the Kolkata Knight Riders game because they were playing a different combination. Then Marshy [Shaun Marsh] got injured in the warm-up. I said ‘Let me open’, since Ravi Bopara was going to bat at No. 5 anyway. It worked for me.”When somebody has to step in, in these kinds of opportunities, I always put my hand up because I like that kind of challenge. Rather than wait for things to happen, you try and create your own destiny. You go with a very free mind and take that challenge and enjoy it.”Jayawardene didn’t open the batting back when he was playing for Nalanda College, where he learnt the rudiments of the game.”I batted at No. 3 at school, but you have to fit into the team wherever possible. When I came into the national team I was quite happy to bat anywhere as long as I was playing for Sri Lanka. Then I got cemented in one position.”I was probably one of the lucky ones where you get a slot and you get to keep it, whereas other players in their careers have been shifted around most of the places. I’ve been shifted around for a little while but I got a permanent place and that is always a good thing. I settled to it probably but I didn’t fulfill what I wanted to do until now.”The two times he scored a century as an opener in ODI cricket were when Sanath Jayasuriya was indisposed in Dambulla against Pakistan, and when Tillakaratne Dilshan suffered an injury in Bangladesh.”Opening the batting, I can control and express myself a little better. You can’t harp on what you’ve done – you just need to keep challenging yourself and be as consistent as possible. The ultimate challenge for any cricketer is to be consistent. If I can do that, it will be great.”Jayawardene said he would sit with Kumar Sangakkara and the team management after the tournament to discuss opening options in next year’s World Cup.”There are guys who have done well as openers in the ODIs and it’s not fair to take them out if they cannot bat in the middle order,” Jayawardene said. “While thinking about that you’ve also got to make sure that the middle order is settled and we have the right guys batting in the right positions. We need to think of all that rather than be selfish and think of wanting to open.”I am hitting the ball well and it’s a different role. I probably have got into a zone where I know how to go about it, but nothing is guaranteed. As long as I am batting well and doing well, I just want to continue and keep challenging myself to try and get better and better in that position. It’s a good challenge for me at this time of my career.

“Batting in the middle order, and being the senior player, I had to take on a lot of responsibility and control things. But batting up the order, there is not much pressure at one end, in the sense that you haven’t lost any wickets, so you just go out there and start fresh”

“Batting in the middle order, and being the senior player, I had to take on a lot of responsibility, and you needed to control things. But batting up the order, there is not much pressure at one end in the sense that we haven’t lost any wickets, so you just go out there and start fresh. The freedom is there, but at the same time you still have the responsibility of taking that burden and making sure you control things.”This is what I have always wanted to do in my expectations. It is probably who I am, in the sense that this is the way I batted when I was playing for school – very free, playing quite a few shots and at the same time I make mistakes. But you back yourself because you know you could win a game. It’s very difficult to do that when you are batting at four.”Situations are such you need to adjust, which was a great challenge as well, which I enjoyed. Now it’s a different challenge and I’m doing it in a bit of a different way as long as the team is benefitting.”There is a big difference batting in the middle order and opening. That doesn’t mean that I can just go and throw my wicket away. I know I have to bat and once I get a start, apply myself and get to the next stage and finish matches off. Just walking in, you need a mindset of being positive, and try and take control of things, which is different but it has suited my game.”Batting at four, maybe I was in two minds about whether to go after the bowling and be aggressive or whether to be cautious and control things. But sometimes when you go in with a bit of a negative mind-frame, saying ‘I shouldn’t get out. I have to make sure I bat to that situation’, then you tend to make mistakes and get out.”Jayawardene said he was fortunate to have got the right breaks. “I am very blessed. I’ve always appreciated the opportunities I have got to play for my team since when I was 20. That was also because a couple of guys got injured and I was given an opportunity and I grabbed hold of that. Those kinds of opportunities don’t come to everybody all the time. I am very lucky to be part of that kind of a group initially, for I learnt a lot from their experience. Every time things happen for a reason and I am sure opening the batting happened for another reason as well.”