Ganguly’s wealth of knowledge, Akram’s game-reading skills and Shah Rukh Khan’s passion are the factors Kolkata’s new coach will bank on to turn the side around

Ajay S Shankar06-Nov-2009You have been the national coach of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and over the last two years you were in charge of the BCCI’s National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. What made you take up an IPL job now?
It’s a combination of factors. It’s a challenge to be successful in a brand-new format that has been around at the international level for only a couple of years. Besides, the IPL is a competition that is popular all over the world, and you are working with world-class players. That’s one obvious lure. The other one is to get back into a hands-on coaching role, which I feel very comfortable in. This one is so different to all the other jobs that I’ve had and represents just the right challenge for me at this stage of my career.What’s so different about being the coach of an IPL team?
The IPL is obviously going to be different because the competition is not in terms of bilateral series. When you are with an international team, you are with a specific set of players almost through the year and the preparation is different. But in IPL, it will be a real test of gelling the group together.Here you have players coming from all corners of the world, with whom you are out of touch for most of the year except for the emails and a phone call or two. It all sort of converges in a very short period of time – you have around 10 months of development and fine-tuning and bingo, it all erupts in six weeks a year, like a volcano.You’ve got to work quickly with a whole range of players whose backgrounds are different: West Indians, Sri Lankans, Australians, New Zealanders, Pakistanis and of course the players from India. So you’ve got to be flexible to be able to get on with all of them. It can be a real daunting task with some world-class match-winners; sometimes there are one or two of those in a team and they can be the hardest to deal with. The challenge is at a different level, to get all these guys gelling as a unit. That will be a major objective for me at Kolkata Knight Riders.You have never coached a Twenty20 team before and no team at all over the last two years. Are you confident that you are up for the new challenge?
Look, the format of this game is totally different to a Test match or a one-day game, but there are certain principles in terms of preparation that is consistent. The players are the ones that play the game and what a coach needs to do in any format is get the players ready and prepared to give their best performance in every game. It helps, I guess, if you have a greater understanding of the Twenty20 game in terms of some experience, but then, not many people have that because it is a brand-new format. Then again, it’s the players who have to play the game, not the coach. So we can do all we can to build up, prepare them for their best performance on the day.I have also kept myself updated in the last two years, even though I wasn’t hands-on with a team. I had a little bit of opportunity with the India Under-19 team [that won the 2008 World Cup], the India A team, and also in the domestic Challenger series, which were all enjoyable. I also had the opportunity to interact with some senior BCCI-contracted players over the last two years at the NCA in Bangalore. So I feel ready.Will your experience with the Indian board’s academy be of any help at all?
Yes, my NCA experience could come into play in two ways. One, the franchise is keen to build a positive name and be of service to the local community in the form of an academy at some stage. Again, having been with the NCA over the last two years is a hell of an advantage in spotting new domestic talent. We have had most of those boys coming through the NCA over the last two years. Having some knowledge of who can deliver now and who may struggle and take a little longer to be part of a successful IPL team in the near future is a huge help.The Kolkata Knight Riders have not done well in the IPL, finishing sixth and eighth respectively in the first two editions of the tournament. What’s your biggest challenge when it comes to coaching Kolkata?
In a sense, the situation in Kolkata represents one that I am quite used to – you are coming in with a team that has been underperforming and you turn them around. For me, it’s basically an opportunity to turn around a team that has been underperforming. There are some good players there and I know they have lost some close games, which could have made the difference. But then, I feel there’s a bit more to that. I mean one run or one wicket can change a lot of things but if it happens often, there are more reasons behind it. Quite simply, we need to get in better performances.

“Having got your best domestic Indian players, you have to build a bridge between them and the foreign players who will possibly arrive a couple of weeks before the tournament. Then you have to ensure that your foreign players are in a good frame of mind during the tournament because you can only play four of them”

Even though the Kolkata Knight Riders have performed poorly in the IPL, there’s always a buzz and hype surrounding the team because it is co-owned by Shah Rukh Khan. What’s your impression of the man after having been interviewed by him in Mumbai in August?
Firstly, there is a real genuineness about Shah Rukh Khan and Jay Mehta [the businessman who co-owns the team] about wanting the performance of their franchise to get better. They really do enjoy the game and their team winning and they have a genuine interest and keenness in wanting it to work and turn it around. Sadly, the fact is that in the first two years they haven’t enjoyed the success they would have hoped for. They have entrusted me to lend more than a helping hand to turning the team’s fortunes around.In Mumbai the talk was all about cricket and the team and Shah Rukh came across as being very much down to earth. I mean, the manner in which the interaction happened, Shah Rukh could have been any other normal person rather than a megastar. I was made to feel very comfortable and we had a very meaningful couple of hours.Your support staff is already in place and they include Wasim Akram as mentor. How do you expect the experience to be, especially with Akram?
There’s also Vijay Dahiya [former India wicketkeeper and Delhi coach] as assistant coach, Andrew Leipus the physiotherapist and Adrian Le Roux the fitness specialist. There will be the need to work with a number of local support staff from time to time, which I look forward to because you are helping increase the knowledge level there. I haven’t worked with them before but I am very much looking forward to do that.About Wasim, I think he is exceptional at reading the game. He’s got the uncanny knack of almost seeing something happen before it actually does on the field. Also, he is very useful in creating strategy before the game, especially for the bowling unit, including the quicks and the spinners. Above all, he’s got a terrific amount of knowledge to impart, which will help the boys. It’s a real advantage to have him on the team.Then there’s Sourav Ganguly, who is an icon in Kolkata and a former India captain. Ganguly has had eventful and often controversial relationships with the foreign coaches he has worked with: John Wright and Greg Chappell for India, and John Buchanan for Kolkata. He was removed as Kolkata captain last year and is now back at the helm. How do you plan to relate to him?
Look, I have known Sourav for a long time without actually having ever worked with him. For instance, he played one game for India A, which I was in charge of, before the Australia series last year and it was terrific to have him there. I am pretty confident that my experience in the region will allow me to develop a decent relationship with him. I have a fair idea and a fair understanding of the importance of Sourav in Kolkata and it’s about getting the best out of him as it is with everyone else.He is an icon in Indian cricket and has a wealth of knowledge. He’s been the most successful Indian captain in the history of the game. So he obviously brings with him some decent knowledge, and with his captaincy, I am sure he will want to perform now more than any other time in his career.The other aspect is that I have had some experience of working with strong captains in the past. Obviously, the one that comes to mind is Arjuna Ranatunga, who was very similar in his approach to the game, and we have had some success in the past. So I am looking forward to working with Sourav, not just on the field but off it as well. I will make sure that he gets what he needs to perform.”I have a fair idea and a fair understanding of the importance of Sourav in Kolkata and it’s about getting the best out of him as it is with everyone else”•Getty ImagesSo you have a strong captain and a mix of players who, in your words, have underperformed. How will you turn it around?
Firstly, I think there is a requirement to get the best local talent you can possibly get. That’s a big part of it. Having got your best domestic Indian players, you have to build a bridge between them and the foreign players, who will possibly arrive a couple of weeks before the tournament. Then you have to ensure that your foreign players are in a good frame of mind during the tournament because you can only play four of them.Most importantly, you’ve got to have a positive environment all around the team; otherwise it is difficult to have performance. So it’s very important to be always aware of what we are trying to achieve and be single-minded as much as possible.It is said in international cricket circles that your USP as a coach is your man-management skills. Will that play a role for Kolkata?
It has to. To be honest, I think that skill will be put more to the test because of the variety of people putting the same cap on. You’ve got a mix of all these players under one roof, so things can easily be misunderstood. Before you know it, you could have an issue on your hands – that is, if you allow little things to escalate. You’ve got to be a bit mindful and wary of that and at the same time ensure that everyone is feeling positive towards the group.Looking back on Kolkata’s performance, why do you think the team has failed to perform? What are the weaknesses?
I don’t like the word “weaknesses” but yes, there are areas that we can strengthen.It’s quite apparent that their batting failed, especially that of the Indian players.
Well, that’s one area that we have to patch up.Where are they going wrong?
Look, I am never one to look back, and all I can tell you are the facts: in IPL 1 they finished sixth, and in IPL 2 they were eighth. That’s as far as I will go. I don’t want to look over my shoulder; I want to look forward. At the same time I have an understanding privately of what I think should be done to make the improvements to get the performance. I am more interested in what’s to be done for the future.Last year John Buchanan sparked a debate with his multiple-captaincy theory. What are your thoughts on that concept?
Again, my opinion on what has happened is not for public consumption and is only for the few people that matter in the franchise.Will you employ the concept next year?
No.You will be coaching a team that has a fanatical fan base, probably the most passionate among all the eight IPL teams. Are you apprehensive about whether you will live up to their expectations?
I have been around for about 14 years and I have never felt the wrath of a crowd. Most of the time people have loved me, so I don’t expect that to change. People know that if you put in a real, genuine effort, that’s all what matters. But yes, I am aware that people of the region are very passionate and fanatical about their cricket. It was the same with Bangladesh when I was coach there. In my experience people are not dumb; they understand what’s happening; they know that there may be the occasional heartbreak, but there’s a bigger picture to all this.The KKR franchise is no different. At this stage all I can say is that there will be no lack of effort from anyone involved and I am very confident of that. I just want to be the one that helps them turn their fortunes around. It will be a genuine effort.Where do you see Kolkata Knight Riders finishing in IPL 3?
Sometimes I think it’s good to have a goal like that, but other times I feel you don’t want to limit yourself too much either. But as you saw, in IPL 2 the two teams that finished last and second-last respectively in the first edition ended up being the finalists. So perhaps, hope is the right word to use now. But I would like to know that hope will become a different word as we go along. That can happen.

Stats preview of the first semi-final between Mumbai and Bangalore

Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan20-Apr-2010Mumbai Indians have won ten out of 14 games in IPL 2010 compared to Bangalore’s seven, and not surprisingly, they have the better stats in almost every aspect. Mumbai have been extremely consistent throughout the league stage, but Bangalore made it only after a considerable wobble. On the two occasions the teams met during the league stage, though, honours were even.The table below shows the performance of both the teams in the batting and bowling departments. The higher difference between the batting run-rate and bowling economy rate for Mumbai suggests that it has been a very balanced outfit while Bangalore’s stats are not very impressive.

Overall run-rate and economy rate

TeamMatches playedRun-rateEconomy rateRun-rate differenceMumbai Indians148.697.820.87Royal Challengers Bangalore148.328.090.23Both Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore have been quite successful during the Powerplays. While Mumbai have scored at a better rate and average slightly better, Bangalore have a better economy rate in the Powerplay overs. The performance of the two teams during Powerplay overs is summarised below.

Batting performance during Powerplay (overs 1-6)

TeamRuns scoredBalls facedRun-rateWickets lostAverageMumbai Indians7155048.511547.66Royal Challengers Bangalore6495047.721446.35

Bowling performance during powerplay (overs 1-6)

TeamRuns concededBalls bowledEconomy rateWickets takenAverageMumbai Indians6595047.842131.38Royal Challengers Bangalore6235047.411834.61Both Mumbai and Bangalore have scored heavily in the last five overs of their league matches, though Mumbai have a better scoring rate and average of the two.

Batting performance in last five overs

TeamRuns scoredBalls facedRun-rateWickets lostAverageMumbai Indians75640211.283322.90Royal Challengers Bangalore59232810.822920.41These two teams met twice during the league stage and in each case the home team met with a heavy defeat. In the games played between these two teams, Mumbai have scored at 8.55 runs per over and averaged 26.30 while Bangalore have scored at a less impressive 7.37 runs per over and average 24.08.After the explosions in Bangalore, the venue for both semi-finals was shifted to the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai, which will also host the third-place playoff and the final. Only two games have been played at this venue so far, and both resulted in victories to the teams batting first.Spinners have been extremely successful in this edition of the IPL and have managed to restrict the run flow while also picking up wickets regularly. At the DY Patil stadium as well, the economy rate of the spinners has been much better than the pace bowlers.

Pace vs Spin at DY Patil stadium

Type of bowlerRuns concededBalls bowledEconomy rateWickets takenAveragePace4073048.032119.38Spin1381147.26719.71Both teams are quite evenly matched and the performance of the bowlers on semi-final day could make a huge difference. The performance of the fast bowlers and spinners for both Mumbai and Bangalore is summarised in the tables below. Again, in both departments, Mumbai hold a slight edge over their opponents.

Performance of fast bowlers and spinners for Mumbai

Type of bowlerRuns concededBalls bowledEconomy rateWickets takenAveragePace159311797.875329.2Spin5074326.932123.76

Performance of fast bowlers and spinners for Bangalore

Type of bowlerRuns ConcededBalls bowledEconomy rateWickets takenAveragePace170312158.215033.28Spin5424497.061731.11Mumbai have batted first 10 times, winning seven and losing three. While chasing too, they have been impressive winning three times in four games. Bangalore on the other hand have preferred to chase, and their performance when batting second is six wins and four losses, while their record batting first is quite poor with just a single win and three losses.

Makhaya Ntini led South Africa onto the field with his son alongside him, and the standing ovation he received had barely abated when he bowled his first ball

Andrew McGlashan at Centurion17-Dec-2009It’s easy to forget, having been fed a diet of one-day cricket, that Test matches are capable of surviving on the slow burn for lengthy periods. After more than two sessions of slumber, the Centurion Test sparked into life on the second evening.Makhaya Ntini led South Africa onto the field with his son alongside him, and the standing ovation he received had barely abated when he bowled his first ball. He had already been cheered to the rafters on two prior occasions – first when he came out to bat, and again when he got off the mark with a boundary to third man. Coupled with the emotion generated by Ntini’s 100th Test appearance was the fact that England’s openers, Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook, had to switch into batting mode after 153 overs in the field over two blisteringly hot days. Something was going to happen.With the fourth ball of the innings Cook sparred outside off stump and AB de Villiers, possibly the best fielder in the world, spilled a head-high catch at third slip. It was travelling at some speed, but the gasp that went round the ground reflected the feeling that this was a rare aberration.Not only did the error deny Ntini an emotional wicket, but it also meant every punter in the ground aged over 18 (sadly considerably less than on the opening day) had to wait a little longer to claim their free pint of lager that is on offer for whenever Ntini does open his account. Those who aren’t returning tomorrow have missed their chance.Maybe, though, all the fanfare surrounding Ntini didn’t help the South Africans as they allowed England to score quicker than at any stage during the first two days. “I thought we did well to get to 420,” Jacques Kallis said. “But then we were very disappointing this evening with the way we bowled. We gave away too many freebies and the guys were very disappointed with that. We bowled nowhere near how we should have done.”England scoring at four-an-over was because we bowled really poorly rather than them being aggressive. If get our lines and lengths right I think you’ll see scoring will be tough again.”Still, it was a passage of play where England’s day could have gone very wrong. South Africa’s tail-end resistance had not only added valuable runs, it also left the openers with a tough period to negotiate through to the close. Suddenly, with a new ball and fresh bowlers, the pitch started to play tricks on the mind. When Cook’s off-stump technique was exposed once again, it was danger time for the visitors.”I think that could have quite easily been a tricky session towards the end,” Graham Onions said. “With those overs to face, we could have been four-down. But we batted really well and we’ve got a great opportunity to bat the whole day tomorrow.Looking at the days’ numbers – taking 6 for 156 and replying with 88 for 1 – the case can be made to suggest the honours went England’s way. It took the bowlers a lot of sweat and toil to work through South Africa, but at no stage did the scoring rate run away from them. Actually, it slowed to a crawl during the afternoon session and it meant the final total was not out of reach, considering the volume of overs faced.”Perhaps we could have been a little bit more consistent [with the ball], but I don’t think we bowled badly at all,” Onions added. “They were only going at 2.9 an over and we’re going at 3.9 now. Wickets usually get a little bit worse as Test matches go on, and there’s no reason why we can’t bat really well tomorrow and get ourselves in a really strong position.”The mental resilience of Strauss is leading the way for England and continues to be mighty impressive. If this Test goes wrong he will face plenty of criticism for a combination of team selection and his decision to bowl, and watching South Africa reach 418 has left him with ground to make up. But the way he timed the ball during the final session showed a man focussed on the task in hand.”He’s a quality player and good players come through,” Kallis said. “He had a fantastic tour last time [656 runs in 2004-05] but we had some plans that we didn’t execute this evening which was disappointing. They have a lot of quality players in their side and certainly weren’t going to lie down and not fight. We’ve got to be on top of our game if we want to come out on top in this series.”

England wrapped up an easy 2-0 victory in the Twenty20 series that left Pakistan desperate for a positive result in the one-dayers to lift them out of the mire

Andrew Miller at Cardiff07-Sep-2010Pakistan’s captain, Shahid Afridi, offered no excuses after his team capped a dreadful week by collapsing to their lowest total in Twenty20 history. In front of a paltry crowd of 5,821, one of the lowest gates ever seen for an England international, Pakistan were brushed aside for 89, en route to a six-wicket defeat with a full six overs to spare.”We were very bad, very inexperienced and immature from my side and from all the batsmen,” said Afridi. “I think we played very bad cricket. I didn’t want to sound negative before the game – I wanted to be positive as the captain – but we didn’t play well and we’re still making mistakes. At this stage all we want is one victory, because that would be really good for the team to keep the morale high.”With three of their key players suspended by the ICC- their senior opening batsman Salman Butt and both of their front-line seamers in Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir – Pakistan played as if they were on a hiding to nothing. “We are not enjoying ourselves in the field,” said Afridi. “We need to forget everything [that’s going on]. I know it’s difficult but we should be professional cricketers and focus on the cricket.”England’s victory was their seventh in a row in this format – a feat that equalled the record jointly held by South Africa and Pakistan’s World Twenty20-winning team from 2009, of which Afridi was an integral part. The contrast between then and now is stark. “England are united because they are winning continually,” he conceded. “Victory brings unity to the team.”Regardless of the bleak circumstances of the contest – with the autumnal conditions, a concurrent England football international, and the off-field issues all conspiring to undermine the attendance – Collingwood was delighted to be able to follow up his team’s achievement in winning the World Twenty20 with a clean sweep in their next outing.”In this form of the game it can be tough to win consecutively,” he said. “It just takes one performance from the opposition to take it away from you, and to have that World Cup, you can have added pressure on you as well. But the way we’ve played over the last two games, the boys are enjoying that added pressure. They tried to come hard at us today – you could sense that was their approach – but we kept taking wickets and really applying the pressure.”On the subject of the scheduling, however, Collingwood was unequivocal. “We’ve been saying that for ten years,” he said when asked if the game was suffering from overkill, adding that a wet Tuesday in September was every bit as likely to have scuppered the gate receipts as Pakistan’s ongoing problems.Afridi, who has rejoined the squad since quitting Test cricket back in July, believed that a change of format – and the addition of two new players in Asad Shafiq and near seven-foot-tall fast-bowling sensation, Mohammad Irfan – would help his team emerge from the doldrums and get that all-important victory.”It’s not easy, it’s very, very hard, but I’m not letting my team down like this, not in the one-dayers,” he said. “At the moment our morale is very down, day by day, so it will be a big challenge to compete in the one-dayers. But we have some time, and me, my coach and the team, we will sit together and talk.”However, there was not, he insisted, any talk about wanting to quit the tour and get back to the sanctity of Pakistan. “I think we are all enjoying England because it is like a second home,” he said. “A lot of players have families here. You’d have to ask them personally, but I am happy to be here.”

Ryan ten Doeschate is Netherlands’ star player by a distance. He may not be back at the World Cup again, but his best may be yet to come

Nagraj Gollapudi25-Feb-2011″Are there any endorsements I do?” Ryan ten Doeschate mulls the question briefly. “Can I make one up?” he asks with a chuckle.ten Doeschate is the most consistent and sought after Associate player in the game today. He is one of the few full-time professionals from a minnow side, playing for teams in both hemispheres- from first-class cricket for Essex to Twenty20 competitions for Tasmania, Canterbury, and Mashonaland Eagles (Zimbabwe). He is the ICC’s Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year currently, but are there sponsors lining up at his doorstep? “Unfortunately not,” he says.He’s not worried. Not as long as he can carve out magnificent innings like the hundred against England in Netherlands’ World Cup opener on Tuesday in Nagpur. ten Doeschate started on an edgy note before picking up the pace steadily and eventually breaking free, to help the Dutch to 293: it was the second-best total by an Associate against a big brother side. Later he delivered a disciplined bowling performance, which cramped the English batsmen and put Netherlands back in contention, before England went on to win by six wickets. There were accolades for the Dutchman, not least from England’s captain Andrew Strauss, who remarked on how ten Doeschate had managed to elevate his game on the big stage.Later that evening in Nagpur, three Englishmen walked into the Dutch dressing room to congratulate ten Doeschate. “Andy [Flower], Goochie [Graham Gooch] and Ravi [Bopara] had a beer and we had a nice chat,” ten Doeschate says. Flower and Bopara played with him at Essex. But it is Gooch, a former Essex player and coach, who ten Doeshcate regards as his mentor, one who’s been instrumental in the South African-born Dutchman’s success.In 2003, Gooch was on tour with Essex in South Africa and saw ten Doeschate’s talent for the first time in a match against a Western Province second XI. Against Essex, he first excelled with the ball in a four-day game. He then did well with the bat in a one-dayer. It did not take long for Gooch to talk to old friend Peter Kirsten, one of the Western Province coaches, who mentioned ten Doeschate’s Dutch passport that would make him eligible to play in England.”So they asked me to come for a trial and signed me up pretty straightaway,” ten Doeschate recollects his first days at Essex, around the time Twenty20 cricket was taking off. He got there midway in to the 2003 summer. At the same time he was committed to playing club cricket in Netherlands and had to be back on the weekend. “Goochie would drive me to the airport on Saturday night or the early hours of a Sunday, so that I would be back playing [for Bloemendaal Club] in Holland.”At 22, he was not sure where his life was heading. Till then he had played competitive cricket at his school, Fairbairn College in Cape Town, which had never produced a famous cricketer. “I never really looked like making a career when playing for school and later for the province.” If not for Gooch’s guidance, ten Doeschate says, he would probably never have recognised his own worth. “For me Goochie was the guy. He has always been impressed by how good a cricketer I have become, about my work ethic, always reminding me how much I have progressed in the last five years. He has always given me confidence. For me that is all I can really ask for.

“His real strength is, he is a total professional. He brings to the unit that professional approach – we can all learn and watch how he goes about it, and that rubs off on the rest of the squad, most of which is inexperienced.”Netherlands coach Peter Drinnen on ten Doschate

“I was quite astounded by the lengths that he went to, to keep me involved,” he says. As payback, ten Doeschate never forgets to get Gooch some of his favourite red wine from Cape Town.”In those days we looked at him as a bowling allrounder but credit to Ryan he has turned himself into a fabulous cricketer,” Gooch says. It took a couple of years for ten Doeschate to make himself a certainty in the team and that arrived via a make-or-break moment in a 45-over Division One match against Middlesex. Darren Gough was leading Essex at Lord’s. Middlesex had made 243 and ten Doeschate was having a miserable game – Scott Styris had belted him for 25 runs in the only over he had bowled.”That was the turning point of my career,” ten Doeschate says. “That would’ve been my last chance. They left Dale Steyn out to allow me to play. We were in trouble when I came in at 152 for 6. But I managed to get the runs in the company of the tail and we won by one wicket with two balls to spare. I got 50 not out,” he says. He has not missed a one-day game after that at Essex.Subsequently, he made his name in the Intercontinental Cup in 2006-07, with 686 runs at a phenomenal 228.66 in three matches. More recently, injury hampered his performances in the English county season, where he finished with average of 40. And he was the Most Valuable Player in the HRV Cup, New Zealand’s Twenty20 competition, for Canterbury.”Ryan is a super player without question,” Peter Drinnen, the Queenslander who is now the Dutch coach, says in praise of his best player. “His real strength is, he is a total professional. He brings to the unit that professional approach – we can all learn and watch how he goes about it, and that rubs off on the rest of the squad, most of which is inexperienced. His work ethic is superb. His approach to the game is one of pure determination to succeed. That, for me, is the massive strength.”ten doeschate says he enjoys being a key player but he does not want to be the one in charge. “It is important to not try and take too much onto my own plate. There are a lot of decent players in the Dutch team who have come on and taken big strides. It is important to take the focus away from me in this environment, and everybody has equal responsibility. I am certainly not feeling any extra pressure or responsibility in this World Cup.”Still, he understands that for Netherlands to make a mark in what is likely to be their farewell one-day World Cup, he will need to step up and make major contributions. “I am lucky enough to be able to play full- time, compared to the other guys, who are training hours after work and weekends. So if I can give them a sense of how things are done and how efficiently training can be done, in terms of looking after yourself, then hopefully they will learn and progress the way they play,” he says.ten Doeschate feels the side has come a long way from the previous World Cup, but says it lacks the “limitless resources” to perform at a consistently high standard. He himself can’t be in the Netherlands as much as he would like. He says he has spent roughly five days in the country in the last five years. “When I join up with the squad sometimes I feel a little bit awkward. I miss quite a bit of hard preparation they do.”ten Doeschate is one of three professionals in the side. Tom Cooper at South Australia and Alexei Kervezee at Worcestershire are the others. At times he finds it difficult to slip back into the side straightaway. “Just that thing, the professional aspect, is missing. I am not criticising – there are some aspects you can’t expect from guys who don’t play all the time. That is little bit frustrating. That is a challenge for me, something I need to address.”When days like June 25, 2009 (when the Netherlands shocked England in the World Twenty20 at Lord’s) come along, the belief grows. The intensity was high once again in Nagpur this week. ten Doeschate reckons it is sad, then, that the ICC has planned to pull the plug on the Associates from the 2015 World Cup. “The fact that I have will not have another opportunity to create such special moments is disappointing.” He is 30 – too late, he says, to think about playing for England or South Africa.Gooch says the best for ten Doeschate is yet to come. “All that he has achieved is down to his desire, to his sacrifice, and to his discipline. He has become desirable as a cricketer. I have nothing but admiration for him.”In addition to playing in a World Cup, ten Doeschate may soon fulfill another long-standing wish. Jacques Kallis was one of his heroes as a teenager, but he has never spoken to the South African allrounder yet. “I guess I will now, since both of us are in the same IPL team [Kolkata Knight Riders].”I ask him what is the question he gets asked most. He laughs and says, “At the moment it is about the IPL.” ten Doeschate knows he has a second life.

England fear nothing about the challenge that awaits them on this tour. The only way they’ll be beaten is on the field, not in the head

Andrew Miller at the Gabba29-Nov-2010Australia’s formidable unbeaten run at the Gabba remains intact for another year, but that was one of just a handful of records that withstood England’s flood of runs on the final day of the Brisbane Test. With Alastair Cook eclipsing Bradman as the highest individual scorer on the ground, and Australia’s own triple-century stand being knocked off its perch by Cook’s 329-run partnership with Jonathan Trott, England secured themselves a moral victory as invaluable, if not more so, than their last-ditch escape at Cardiff in 2009.Cardiff was uplifting for England, without a shadow of a doubt, but the game still finished with questions in almost every department. The spinners had been ineffective, Andrew Flintoff’s knee was a cause for concern, and while the elation of their last-ditch let-off was real, it could not disguise the fact that England’s tenth-wicket pairing had been forced to save the day at a venue where Australia had themselves racked up 674 for 6, the highest total in post-war Ashes history.Sixteen months later, and the scenario is very different. After conceding a scarcely credible 517 for 1 in the third innings of the match, Australia’s immediate reaction to a day of deep humiliation was to call not one, but two fast bowlers into their squad for Adelaide. It was an instant admission that, for all the jubilation that surrounded Peter Siddle’s hat-trick on an emotionally charged first afternoon, there was only one team in this match that ever looked capable of claiming 20 wickets.”One for 500 is a pretty demanding scorecard,” admitted Ricky Ponting at the close. “I felt I exhausted all options in terms of trying different things with the field, but we couldn’t break their top three or four players. I thought they played exceptionally well against the new ball, and it was hard work for our boys. If we get another flat wicket in Adelaide, we’ve got to make sure we’re a whole lot better than we were in this game.”Had this match been taking place in Ahmedabad or Lahore, the focus at the end would surely have been on the pitch – a dreadful slab of tarmac that got flatter as the match wore on, and later caused Ponting to remark that he’d never known it slower. And while inquests are to be encouraged, because such benign surfaces are a blight on Test cricket as a whole, the immense scale of England’s achievement cannot be overlooked. This is the Ashes, the longest and most storied Test series in the game, and right at this moment, they’re writing a major chapter.England’s captain, Andrew Strauss, was his usual cautious self after the match, as he sidestepped leading questions about “all this momentum chat”, and settled for reiterating the deep well of confidence within the squad. But the contrast between the frazzled emotions of day one and the insolent contentment of their batting on the final day could scarcely have been more stark.”At the end of day three it wasn’t looking good, so to come back and draw [gives us] a lot of belief we can go on and win the series from here,” said Strauss. “We’ll have a spring in our step going to Adelaide, but we have to transfer that to the pitch. It’s all very well strutting about in the hotel lobby feeling good about yourself. You need to make sure that turns into runs and wickets.”There’s no doubt, however, that the Gabba experience will have emboldened the squad far more than he was letting on. Ashes openers are contests in which England have habitually been slaughtered. In 11 series spanning the past 21 years, they’ve succumbed to eight thumping defeats and two losing draws, and only once in that time, at home in 1997, did they manage to buck the trend with an astonishingly unlikely win. The team in those days was too fragmented to capitalise, however, and Australia roared back with three wins in the next four games.Do the Australians of 2010 possess the necessary bouncebackability? It’s hard to see how they can cultivate a winning feeling overnight, especially against an England side who’ve settled into their Australia tour with such ease that they were able to treat the last day of the Test match as an extension of their warm-up itinerary. After two wins and an impressive draw at Perth, Adelaide and Hobart, they were able to batter their Test opponents against an echoingly empty backdrop, before electing to have a two-hour bowling work-out, just to see what they could do. Not a whole lot, as it happens, but at such a late stage of a previously tumultuous game, that wasn’t really the issue anymore.What was far more relevant was the quashing of preconceptions, particularly those that abounded about the Gabba, a venue whose reputation had been built up so ferociously before a ball had been bowled, England might have been forgiven for thinking they were playing the Test in a mediaeval dungeon, with buckets of burning oil being poured down from the stands for good measure.For the first day in particular, that really did seem the case, and the wall of sound that greeted Strauss’s duck was incredible. But the final day echoed only to the chants of the Barmy Army, with English fans making up more than 80% of a paltry 7088 crowd. “I forgot where I was at one stage today, it was like being back at The Oval,” said Ponting. He said it with a smile, but the grimace was hard to suppress. With the Melbourne and Sydney Tests sure to be similarly colonised, regardless of the weakness of the pound, this was Australia’s banker venue, as it always has been. And between the performance and the support, they blew it.Whatever happens in the remainder of the series, England will not be as racked with anxiety as they were in the opening stages of this match, a fact that Cook – whose first-innings 67 was arguably the most crucial of his twin contributions – was keen to point out. “The night before I was probably the most nervous I’ve been,” he said. “The drive into the ground, the hype, the national anthems… it’s a very nerve-racking time. I was very disappointed after getting out for 67, and I was ultra-determined to make it count if I got in again. But getting through the first couple of hours gave me a lot of confidence because I hadn’t done it in an Ashes series.”On Tuesday the team relocate to Adelaide, a ground that harbours arguably the most painful Ashes memories of England’s recent past, following the nature of their final-day capitulation back in 2006. As it happens, the fifth day at the Gabba had dawned with one or two references to that match, seeing as the lead at the start of play had been 88 with nine wickets standing, compared to the 97 and nine that ebbed away four years ago.But the comparisons were shelved almost before they were raised. England fear nothing about the challenge that awaits them on this tour. The only way they’ll be beaten is on the field, not in the head.

Twenty numbers from the IPL matches so far

Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan02-May-2011*All stats updated till the end of the 39th match of IPL 2011, played between Chennai and Deccan on May 1.Lasith Malinga has the highest number of bowled dismissals across all seasons of the IPL•AFP19 – The most runs scored in the first over of matches in this edition of the IPL, by Kolkata against Bangalore. Rajasthan have scored the highest across all seasons (22 runs) against Kolkata in Durban in 2009.298 – In the match between Delhi and Punjab in Delhi, 298 runs were scored in fours and sixes, which is the highest number of runs scored in boundaries in a match in IPL 2011 and the joint third-highest across all editions. The highest overall is 336 runs in the game between Chennai and Rajasthan in Chennai in IPL 2010.3 – The number of hundreds scored in defeats in all IPLs so far. Andrew Symonds’ 117 for Deccan against Rajasthan in 2008 is the highest individual score in a defeat.242.85 – Adam Gilchrist’s strike rate during his 85 against Delhi in the semi-final in IPL 2009. This is the highest strike rate for a captain for a fifty-plus score in the IPL. Sachin Tendulkar’s century against Kochi in IPL 2011 is the only hundred by a captain in the IPL so far.10.16 – The scoring rate per over of Paul Valthaty in the first six overs in IPL 2011, which is the highest among batsmen who have scored at least 100 runs in the first six-over phase in this edition of the IPL.19 – The number of successful chases by Rajasthan across the four editions of the IPL, which is the most games won by any team while chasing. Bangalore are second with 18 wins.6 – Number of century partnerships in Kolkata and Hyderabad, the most at any ground in the IPL.13 – The number of wickets that have fallen in the first over of IPL matches. Praveen Kumar has picked up three wickets in the opening over across the four editions of the IPL.1.34 – The number of fifty-plus scores per match in IPL 2011 so far, which is the second-lowest after IPL 2009 (1.29). The corresponding ratio for IPL 2008 is 1.53 and 1.53 for IPL 2010.158.4 – The runs scored in boundaries per match in IPL 2011, which is the second-lowest figure among all seasons after IPL 2009 (145.6).27 – The number of bowled dismissals for Lasith Malinga, the highest for any bowler in the IPL. Irfan Pathan is next with 16 bowled dismissals.48 – The number of sixes conceded by Praveen Kumar across all seasons of the IPL, the most by any pace bowler. Irfan Pathan and RP Singh are next, having conceded 47 and 43 sixes respectively.726 – The number of runs scored by Delhi in boundaries in IPL 2011, which is the highest for any team in this edition. Chennai are next, with 678 runs in boundaries.7 – The number of five-wicket hauls in IPL. Three of these have come in IPL 2011. The best bowling is Sohail Tanvir’s 6 for 14 for Rajasthan against Chennai in 2008.11 – The number of times teams have been bowled out for scores below 100 in the IPL. Three of the 11 scores have come in IPL 2011.116 – The lowest total successfully defended in the tournament, by Chennai against Punjab in IPL 2009. In 2011, the lowest total to be defended successfully so far is 129 by Deccan against Kochi.167.06 – Virender Sehwag’s strike rate, the highest among all batsmen who have scored at least 400 runs in the IPL. Yusuf Pathan is next, with a strike rate of 160.08.4 – Tendulkar, David Warner and Jacques Kallis have each held four catches in an innings, the most by a fielder in a single innings in the IPL.70 – The number of runs scored by Mumbai against Deccan in the last five overs, the highest for the last five-over period in IPL 2011. Chennai are next, with 69 runs in the same phase in their game against Deccan. Kolkata’s 86 runs against Deccan in 2008 is the highest in the last five-over period across the four seasons.5 – The number of matches in IPL 2011 in which at least 15 wickets have fallen. The highest number of wickets to fall is 17 in the matches played between Deccan and Kochi and Delhi and Kochi. The match between Deccan and Rajasthan in Nagpur in 2010 is the only one in which all 20 wickets have fallen.

Twice Gautam Gambhir had two potentially great ODI knocks cut short by careless run-outs. Today, when he dived full length, it seemed he was on to something special

Sidharth Monga at the Wankhede Stadium02-Apr-2011There is a photo from the World Cup final that Gautam Gambhir can be truly proud of. Yes, he will enjoy the victory pictures along with his team-mates, but this one is more personal. And no, he didn’t score a century, so this is not a celebration photo. It is a picture of his completing a second run after he had punched Muttiah Muralitharan in the 19th over, two runs that took him to 49.Gambhir doesn’t like the 40s and the 90s; he prefers racing through those phases. He had tried to cut the previous ball even though there was a slip and two backward points at an arm’s length from each other. Gambhir was a bit edgy, and the shot was uppish but fell short of one of the points. The next ball he punched straighter of point, and immediately called two. Midway during the second Gambhir realised he was struggling, and what happened next was the defining moment of his innings. He dived full length, legs and waist forming an inverted C along the ground, elbows scraping against the pitch, head inches above the turf. It will be a significant image in Gambhir’s career.Twice in the past Gambhir has had two potentially great ODI knocks cut short by careless run-outs. Had those innings reached appropriate completion, they would have taken him from being a very good batsman to an absolute class act.The first was against Pakistan in a Champions Trophy game in 2009. To say Gambhir was charged up that day would be an understatement. India had been shoddy in letting Pakistan get 302, but Gambhir was a man possessed during the chase. He stepped out and slashed, he cover-drove like a dream, he flicked off the pads, and despite Sachin Tendukar’s early dismissal, he stunned Pakistan. But just when a match-winning knock against Pakistan at a world event was being played, Rahul Dravid hit powerfully to mid-off, and both he and Gambhir took few instinctive steps, then decided against the single. Gambhir, 59 off 46 then, turned around to see Younis Khan hit the stumps direct. Had he dived then, or attempted to hurry the fielder by trying to, he would have been allowed to continue what was looking like a dream effort. Instead he had to walk back, cursing himself, and India collapsed.Against Australia in the quarter-final a week ago, Gambhir had begun another match-winning effort. He came in early at the fall of Virender Sehwag and serenely took India to a position of control. In the 40s, he started running absurdly. Twice either Yuvraj Singh or Gambhir could have got run out, and on the third occasion Gambhir ran himself out, giving Australia an opening. That time Yuvraj absorbed the pressure and took India through, but Gambhir was cursing again. It could have been perfect riposte to those who were calling for his head in the initial stages of the tournament.Failures, especially these careless errors, torture Gambhir, an introspective person who is hard on himself. And so they should. He is an intense person, a fiery character, a superb batsman who loves the big occasion and the strife. And yet he can be casual with the running. Not sliding the bat, not diving, overestimating his legs. Tonight he dived, and the moment he did, it seemed he was onto something special.Gambhir played the second half of his innings with obvious back pain; he even seemed to have taken a painkilling tablet during one of the unscheduled drinks breaks. For this special occasion, however, Gambhir was not only charged up, he was prepared to be a workman too. Diving was not the only new thing he did. He also played the orthodox sweep, something he rarely does. The paddle sweep that guides the ball fine yes, but not the proper sweep, where he needs to get down on one knee.Perhaps Gambhir is so good a player that he doesn’t need to play the sweep. He uses his feet to get to the pitch of the ball, and also to go back after a decoy half step forward, creating a cuttable length. After he had looked good against pace, Gambhir tried to come down the track against spin. The first time he tried it, he nearly lost his wicket to Suraj Randiv, who got extra bounce because of his height and tall action. Then Gambhir swept the next ball. It wasn’t a pretty shot, it was a shot of a man who doesn’t often need to sweep. It was an effective shot though. He went on to, awkwardly again, slog-sweep Randiv for four. Kumar Sangakkara had blocked the chip and the cut with strong off-side fields, and Gambhir was improvising. Charged up for the big night he was.In the 90s Gambhir got edgy again. Tiredness, back pain and edginess are hardly good bedfellows. He reached 90 in the 38th over, and in the 42nd he was still on 97. Those who have seen Gambhir enough knew he was going to charge at the bowler. Charge he did, and played a tired shot, falling three short of a match-winning century in a World Cup final, at a ground where he also has a century in a Ranji Trophy-winning final. Had he got those three runs, he would surely have been Man of the Match too.As he walked back, Gambhir kept admonishing himself. Only when he was near the stairway to the dressing room did he realise the huge cheer from the crowd and acknowledge it. Despite that shot, though, Gambhir had done his job tonight, leaving MS Dhoni, Yuvraj and Suresh Raina not many to get. And that photograph is just as priceless as the hundred he should have got.

On World Cup final day, let us remember the man who stamped his name on the first two

Sriram Dayanand02-Apr-2011It was like someone had pulled the plug on our sanity. The television screen suddenly blacked out and everything went nuts. It was instant pandemonium.Parents yelling at kids, they in turn screaming back. The father bellowing incoherent instructions and curses:”Try turning the bloody fridge off.””One of you stand there, touching the antenna connector””Goddamned government-controlled television! How can they be trusted with this?”The mother at the window, shouting into the neighbour’s house, checking if they had miraculously escaped our disaster.I was put in charge of raising the BBC on our shortwave radio. Like Richard Burton in “Broadsword calling Danny Boy. Come in Danny Boy. Over.” Calling in air support.June 25, 1983. day. And match. And now the inhumanity of it.Just as we had begun to believe that maybe, just maybe, there was a glimmer of hope: Sandhu had just laid out a banana peel and Greenidge had obliged by stepping on it and landing on his buttocks. That had to be an omen.But then had walked out. Walked out with walk, which screamed out his intent to exorcise any demons that might have wandered into the minds of Lloyd’s heroes.Madan Lal was just beginning to have a bout of existential introspection.Now the dreaded (“We apologise for the interruption”) on the black-and-white television screen. Depriving us of what media hacks love to brand the “defining moment of the match”, Kapil Dev’s 25-yard gallop to judge the skier descending over his shoulder. The only time in my life that I had prayed fail miserably – and he did, after a brief violent burst – and I missed it!It was years later that I even saw the catch by Kapil that well and truly dictated the rest of the match. I really didn’t need to. The catch had taken on such mythical proportions and imagery that it needed no validation. The passing years definitely hadn’t changed one aspect of it: I have never doubted that had Kapil lost sight of the cherry and spilled it, he would have dropped not just the Cup but also handed his second consecutive Man-of-the-Match award in a World Cup final.That final was the first one to manifest itself on our television screens in India. But though bereft of imagery beamed into our living rooms, it is the first two that still glow in my mind, rife with minutiae that leave me convinced I was in the Tavern Stand, viewing the action. I wasn’t. Images from those games flit across the screen of the eyes, their drama so intensely familiar that it is mystifying. How could it have happened?It was Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards.Every epoch needs an archetypal hero. In cricket Richards brooked no contest in the years preceding the 1983 final. For someone cutting his teeth on cricket, he utterly dominated the mind.Vishy might have been the first cricketer whose name had escaped my lips, but when Richards arrived, it was instant capitulation. The intensity of his presence in my mind from those days hasn’t dimmed. “I took interest in cricket the moment I set my eyes on Dennis Lillee” said Mick Jagger. I was a lost cause when I saw Richards.1974, Bangalore.As I walked into the KSCA (now Chinnaswamy) Stadium, gripping my father’s shirt-tails, the wonder of watching my first-ever cricket match was intense. It was the first Test of the series between India and Clive Lloyd’s West Indies. Things would never be the same again.Slack-jawed I sat and gawked at Andy Roberts marking out his run-up from what appeared to be the sight screen, the genius of impish Kallicharran, and the mayhem unleashed by Lloyd: a shot he launched whistled over my head for six.Oh, there were two debutants in Lloyd’s team that day: a certain Gordon Greenidge wasted no time in stamping himself on cricket with stunning knocks in each innings. Richards was the other, and he made nary a ripple in the match. Superman was still trying his cape on for size.

Richards’ stunning 291 at The Oval dropped Greig to his knees and brought the rest of the world to their feet to acknowledge the presence of greatness. I had by then begun to chew gum as I went out to bat in back-alley cricket matches

The 1975 World Cup will forever remain special for its groundbreaking nature, also merely for the quality of the cricket in that final. The breath catches in the throat to this day just thinking of the line-ups: Chappell, Chappell, Walters, Lillee, Marsh, Thomson, Fredericks, Kallicharran, Kanhai, Lloyd, Roberts and Richards. From the moment Fredericks hooked a ball from Lillee into the stands and trod on his stumps, it was a classic for the ages.Which brings us to the eventual Man of the Match. I am convinced that the Duke of Edinburgh erred that day, turning the wrong way, towards Lloyd, handing him the medallion. Lloyd’s bludgeoning knock did play a role in their victory. But really, what about the heart of the Australian batting ripped out by a muscular forearm? Those swooping direct hits, from side-on to get rid of Turner and Greg Chappell, and another swivelling throw to nail the elder Chappell?Ian Chappell claims now that he has conclusive proof, inferred from still photographs, that Turner was, in fact, not out. Rubbish, Mr Chappell! You should thank your lucky stars that your one-hit wonder, Gary Gilmour, lucked out in getting Richards out in the first place.Richards lorded over cricket in the period between the first two World Cups. To the day, I retain a soft spot for Tony Greig for uttering the word that ignited a fire that was to consume England. That memorable series in 1976 sealed it – Richards’ stunning 291 at The Oval dropped Greig to his knees and brought the rest of the world to their feet to acknowledge the presence of greatness. I had by then begun to chew gum as I went out to bat in back-alley cricket matches.Nineteen seventy-nine was lived courtesy the BBC again. In my neighborhood of Jayanagar in Bangalore, a savvy bookseller laid out his wares next to the Poonam cinema during the final. He had the BBC turned up loud, and did an over-by-over score update on a huge blackboard, causing passing motorists to slow down.The Duke didn’t err this time around when he handed out the awards. How could he? Even if the irrepressible Collis King had made Richards play second fiddle (by his standards) on the day. What a second fiddle it was! Punctuated by a violent cymbal crash as he deposited Mike Hendrick into the crowds off the last ball of the innings. The impersonation of monks that Boycott and Brearley retaliated with was a damp squib, and the Lord’s turf was awash with Richards’ faithful again that day.The passage of time has done nothing to dull his imprint on the occasion of a World Cup final. He looms in Patrick Eagar-esque black and white – only his cap in maroon, and the Rastafari colours on his wristbands – forearms glistening with sweat. That silhouette: the goatee and the regal nose below smouldering eyes endure as emblems, as he continues his swagger across the imagination, rendering it hard to not think about him for even a day.Especially this day.

Plays of the Day from the IPL match between Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders in Jaipur

George Binoy15-Apr-2011The run-out that wasn’t
Jacques Kallis played the ball wide of the fielder at mid-off and ran. His partner Manvinder Bisla responded, but a bit too late. He was struggling as Faiz Fazal, the substitute, ran to his left, swooped on the ball and made the perfect throw to the wicketkeeper. He was yards out when Amit Paunikar broke the stumps, so it was surprising that the umpire at square leg referred it to the television umpire. Replays, however, revealed that the ball had popped out of Paunikar’s gloves moments before he broke the stumps. It was a touch close but there was certainly enough doubt to give it to the batsman. Russell Tiffin saw it differently, though, and gave Bisla out. It was the only wicket Rajasthan took.The catch that wasn’t
The game was almost up for Rajasthan – they had 37 to defend off 32 balls – when Gautam Gambhir pulled Siddharth Trivedi straight to Johan Botha on the deep midwicket boundary, giving them a glimmer of hope. Botha and Gambhir, however, noticed umpire Aleem Dar call it a no-ball. Gambhir frantically motioned for Kallis to go back to his crease and Botha fired the ball in at the bowler’s end. His team-mates, however, were celebrating, having missed the umpire’s signal for no-ball because there had been only three fielders in the circle, when there should have been four. No one was ready to collect the throw as it whizzed past them to the extra-cover boundary for four overthrows.The eyebrow-raising strategies
Shane Warne made two curious decisions. The first was to not send Shane Watson to open Rajasthan’s innings. Watson had joined the team after brutalising Bangladesh, hitting boundaries seemingly at will in Dhaka. He didn’t bat until the 12th over, though, by which time Rajasthan had made steady but far from spectacular progress. Warne’s next offbeat decision was opening the bowling with Ashok Menaria, who is a part-time left-arm spinner even on the domestic circuit. He was out of his league against Kallis and Gambhir, and conceded ground by going for 19 in two overs.The celebration
Shakib didn’t get caned by Watson as much as his Bangladesh team-mates did during the recent one-day series. He, however, began to get caned today. Watson slammed the second ball he faced from Shakib straight over the bowler’s head, and minutes later, slog swept into the stands at deep midwicket. The ball after the second six, Watson wanted a third, and aimed to slog sweep again. He missed this time and Shakib, after watching the ball hit the stumps, gave Watson a send off by making a slitting motion across his neck. Kolkata were on their way to storming Rajasthan’s fortress.The cameo
Yusuf Pathan, Kolkata’s $2.1 million purchase, didn’t have the opportunity to hurt his former team with the bat today. With the ball, though, he made sudden and immediate impact. Brought on to bowl the 12th over of Rajasthan’s innings, Yusuf took all the pace off the ball on a slow pitch and bowled Rahul Dravid before taking a return catch from Menaria. He had dismissed both set batsmen but did not get another over.