An overhaul in equations

One of the pre-series promos for the Indian series down under on Star Cricket featured a few Australian cricketers saying something that went like this - "Every ball that would be bowled down under...will be a total ripper". Well after all that we have been privileged/unfortunate to see during the series, you can easily say the whole tour did live up to it's billing on all counts of entertainment value. It was such a roller-coaster ride for everybody: the players, the supporters and the media on either side of the hemisphere.

I am of the opinion that the whole tour had enough number of eventful occasions that could leave quite a few equations in cricket changed/reversed.

Aussies are beatable at home - tests or one-dayers
So what if the Aussies ended up winning the test series 2-1. It wasn't achieved by them convincingly enough to say they are invincible. Excepting the first test, they looked to be in trouble in all the other 3 tests. Had it not to be for some shocking umpiring decisions (I do agree test cricket are full of umpiring errors but what happened in the second test was hardly acceptable) and the sensational collapse of India on the last day of the Sydney test, India could well have come up trumps. Remember we had fallen just 2 wickets short the last time around. Given these Indian performances, there should be a general understanding around the world as to what kind of combination teams touring Down Under should have to have a real chance of achieving the so called unachievable feat of beating the Aussies.

Now lets look at the one day series. When was the last time, since Australia began their domination after the 99 World Cup triumph, that Australia looked so vulnerable? My mind dates back to a few years back when the Kiwis, led by speedster Shane Bond seemed to have a measure of them - but they didn't go on to win the series. England did achieve the feat in the last series - but England didn't get their due because they had struggled in the league fixtures and it was seen to be a flash in the pan more than anything else. The recently concluded series was probably the first time Australia seemed to be under pressure all throughout. Right from the time India beat them in the early stage Australia looked uncomfortable, even while playing the Lankans. So when India went into the finals, Australians weren't exactly the favourites. And the outcome is there for all of us to see!


Youth is the name of the game
One of the fall-outs of the Australian loss the hovering axe around old men in the Aussie camp. There is a realization for the need to build a younger side and they are now trying to revamp the team in favour of more youngsters. Everybody's been complaining about the amount of cricket that is being played. In fact, I was unhappy about the amount of cricket the Indian team had been playing going into the tour. They had just one preparation match to start with! But how did India end up winning? It has to be down to what lot of people thought would turn out to be their problem - picking many youngsters in the side. Now that India has succeeded with such a young side, the focus in world cricket is bound to move towards picking younger cricketers - stressing on fresh legs and fearless minds. Such is the impact the Indian team's victory down under will have. Most modern day sports have tended to go the youth way - football, tennis, F1 and cricket is no exception.

The clout called BCCI
It's unmistakable! BCCI with its huge influence backed by it's money is going to have it's say in matters its thinks are important to it's interests. And the racism-row was the perfect example for it. No matter what the ICC had to say to downplay the role of BCCI in getting it's favoured judgment, there's no doubt the Indian cricket board is turning out to be the big brother of world cricket. The introduction of IPL and the display of huge bucks involved is another thing that' clinches the issue in BCCI's favour. Watch out, IPL could be the next big thing in cricket!

Umpires can't go scot-free
Bad umpiring has been a bane of Test cricket. But the ICC has been playing down the issue with the excuse of human error. It isn't always easy to stomach it. When things got worse in the Sydney test, BCCI again showed it's clout to get Bucknor out of the whole series - probably for the first time ever. Even if you attribute it to the clout of the BCCI, it does send a strong signal to erring umpires and to the ICC itself about the importance of bringing in more technology into umpiring decisions. It also brings up another point - the best umpires should be allowed to stand in the most important matches. So Simon Touffel - the best umpire at this point in time shouldn't be prevented from standing in an Aus Vs India match just because of his nationality.

Aussies can get "mentally disintegrated" after all
Well this is a case of one's medicine turning into his own poison. Aussies are well known to sledge to gain a mental upper hand over opponents. But this time around, when they're sportsmanship was rightly questioned and in fact criticized widely by their own media, it got to them. Ponting was under pressure right through the series and his loss of form - from the best batsman in the world to being a 19-year old's bunny is the testimony to the fact that the pressure tactics had backfired on him. Andrew Symonds and Matty Hayden, two men who seemed to have issues with Harbhajan were both out in both the final matches to Harbhajan himself - while perhaps trying to prove a point or two.

Captaincy doesn't need you to be experienced if you can be aggressive
Quite a few eye-brows were raised when Dhoni was selected as the 20-20 captain. But it paid off in the best possible way. Yet Dhoni's accession to the hot-seat of Indian one-day side wasn't seen as something that would come through easily. Yet Dhoni showed that he could pass the litmus test in a series as tough as this with, flying colours - through sheer audacity and maturity. He's showed that he could play a sheet-anchor's role to perfection as well as his typical flamboyant game. His ability to make instinctive decisions and bold ones at that has been quite a revelation as far as I am concerned - for example he was prepared to go with Praveen Kumar instead of an experienced Sehwag and how well that paid off!

Sachin is Sachin anywhere, anytime!
This tour possibly was the last Australian tour for Sachin. And how well he played to make it a memorable one! His test match form had been good since the England series and he took it a few notches higher with the performances at Sydney and Adelaide. It was amazing to see him attack bowlers, specially Brad Hogg - very reminiscent of his scathing attack on Warne in India a few years back when he single handedly won us the series while showing Bradmansque form.
Sachin's test performance notwithstanding, when he failed to bat at his usual best in the one-dayers, his detractors were back at it again calling him a failure specially while chasing runs. And has Sachin silenced these critics forever with those finals' performances! May be they (read Indian detractors) should take a leaf out of the Aussie media and learn to give the great man all his due respect. Rest assured, all his doomsday naysayers can now sit back, with mouths taped and watch the master walk into his dusk as gloriously as he rose in his dawn. Sanjay Manjrekar, are you listening?

Much ado about nothing

So it took the materialization of IPL for people to realize that there is huge money in cricket. But the funny part is that the high-profile player auction has been seen as a dirty money-game so much so that the main reaction to the event has been from quarters in the country who are crying foul over the clout of the haves and talking about disparities in the country. I was surprised to see Medha Patkar talking in a news programme which focussed on the IPL and the big money on CNN-IBN. I guess she said something to the effect that the display of money would depress people who live in poverty. And Even the Shiv Sena supremo had something to say against the overt commercialization of cricket. Is it really that 'dirty' to see so much money poured into IPL? The answer from my side is an emphatic No.

Firstly, people who are reacting so cynically do not understand the strength of sports in attracting big money. They should have a look at how much moolah there is in football, specially in the UK which probably has the most commercialized football league - the English Premier League. The biggest transfer that happened for this season was that of Fernando Torres to Liverpool at a whopping $50million or so - effectively he would get a payment of close to $200,000 a week. That would make it close to 10million a year. And what is the highest grossing Mahendra Singh Dhone getting paid? A mere $1.5 million and that too for a 3 year contract. Now after reading that tell me if you still thinking that it's a dirty money game or beginning to wonder if cricketers could be under-paid.
Whichever way you look at it, the fact of the matter is that it's all about market forces controlling the stakes. It's about where the game is being played and what value the player would bring to the owning teams. India happens to be a cricket crazy nation and at the same time, the second fastest growing big economy with a huge consumer base. The maximum saleability of cricket among the cricket playing nations is in India. So in such a scenario, if the BCCI thinks that cricket could do a football in terms of entertainability and comes up with the IPL it's nothing but profit maximization - the basis of any business. Business heads in India readily saw that as a oppurtunity to cash-in and hence all this so called frenzy for buying players.

I guess the high profile fashion in which the bidding was carried out for capturing players' services acted as a trigger for people to react to the whole event the way they have. I have to say it's more or less the same way that players are brought by football clubs. But really these guys seriously need to do a rethink about what they are objecting to. What is their problem? Display of big money?
But tell me if an Ishanth Sharma, who's only playing only his first away tour get a few crores, why should anybody think that the money he's making is dirty? Isn't it absolutely amazing to see talent getting rewarded. Wouldn't that be an added inspiration for youngsters to give it a real go in trying to make a career out of cricket? In a country of a billion, where the youth invariably start off playing cricket in their backyard and aspire to play at the highest level, wouldn't this scenario prevent parents from discouraging their children from taking cricket too seriously.
Actually if you look at it, these guys have to be happy that merit (read talent) can make one rich - no matter where a player comes from. And what better way to see wealth distribution in a country that is plagued by huge disparities in income distribution.

To look at the cricketing part of the whole saga, you can't quite say that the quality of cricket could take a hit. Sports world-wide change due to commercial reasons and more often than not, these changes only auger well for the quality of the sport in question. Look at the English Premier League, with more influx of money, the quality has gone up so high that the Champions League is seeing a increasing domination of the English clubs (3 of the 4 semifinalists last year were English). Look at women's tennis, has increased glamourisation done anything bad? No, instead women's tennis has gotten intensely competitive and full of power! It's going to be the same with cricket too. More money will mean more pressure on teams to win. When there is pressure to perform, only the best will be picked to play and so quality will always get the precedence. May be ICL, even if it hasn't been that successful, needs some patting on the back for coming up with idea of club culture in modern cricket. At the end of the day it's we the spectators who're going to be entertained watching the best play in our backyards. So what is there to be worried about? Sit back and enjoy the sixes!

The most amazing victory ever!

You might wonder if it's really appropriate for me to call India's victory at Perth as the most memorable victory ever for India. Well, I have my reasons for thinking in the affirmative and those reasons are quite overwhelming.

Going into the series, The Aussie record-chasing run notwithstanding, India had realistic chances of overpowering the Aussies. It's not that I am saying this as a typical "over-optimistic" Indian cricket fan, I'm saying it because India were just 2 wickets away from achieving the feat the last time around. And knowing that India went in the best batting line-up in the world right now, it wasn't entirely unreasonable to think about a series victory down-under.
With Australia winning the first test very convincingly India could very easily have clawed back into contention at Sydney had it not been for those unfortunate things that conspired there. Sydney Test was an absolute fiasco to say the least. The gravity of damage done by the incidents around that test can be felt by the fact that it is being compared with the Bodyline series - the worst advertisement for cricket if there was any! India could so easily have let their guard down after having lost that match and with that the prospect of winning the series. They could very well have let their interest slip by sympathizing with themselves especially as a vast majority of cricket followers around the world had acknowledged they had got a raw deal .

What makes Australia such a difficult country to travel to is the sheer fact that they have some of the fastest and bounciest tracks around. Perth is easily the worst wicket for a touring side to bat on. The wicket at WACA is generally tailor-made for Aussie fast bowlers to dismantle the opposition batting through sheer intimidation. It is bound to be more difficult for the sub-continental sides and it's a fact that no side from Asia had won at Perth before this test! The idea of Australia bringing in Shaun Tait to replace a fairly successful Brad Hogg was a testimony to the fact that they were leaving no stone unturned in keeping their record streak going. With the fast and furious Bret Lee and Stuart Clark, who bowls with a Mcgrath-like accuracy, Australia were easily the favourites going into the match.

With such odds against his side, Kumble's decision to bat first was looked at as being naive by most people. But that was a bold statement to say the least. And add to that, the idea of going with Sehwag, the dasher at the top clearly showed aggressive intentions. I had the feeling India had missed a big trick by keeping Sehwag out of the first two tests. And though Sehwag didn't go all guns blazing, he did give an idea what he brings to the table. A quick start of 40-50 runs with no loss can make huge difference and that's what was achieved by him at the top. Sachin, Dravid and Laxman did their bit with the bat through the match which is expected of seasoned men like them. But the victory was made possible by the young and probably the most inexperienced pace attack in the world right now. Irfan Pathan was back to his swinging best. What a reversal of fortunes for him since the 20-20 WC! RP Singh was not easy to counter. And Ishanth Sharma was such a revelation - though he didn't take too many wickets, the role he played was vital - getting rid of Ricky Ponting in the 2nd Innings, which was my turning point of the match.

India have gone from poor travelers in the last decade to successful ones mainly in this decade. They have won series in WI, England, Pakistan. But those victories had not been achieved in such sensationally charged atmosphere. Today India have beaten the World Champions at their home, quite convincingly. They have once again come in the way of the Aussie dream of a record-breaking streak. They've risen like a Phoenix in defying all the off-field distractions and achieved a near impossible feat. History apart, it's a victory that will be relished by all those who were left with a bitter taste in their mouths post Sydney test. Indians have one again shown they do have that killer spirit in them. Well done guys! Take a bow!

Shambolic! Disgraceful!! Cheap!!!

What is happening down under??? Is it the gentleman's game that we are witnessing there? Ahh...whatever is happening is just not cricket at all.

India went down meekly to Australia in the first test. That was more or less expected given India had no time to prepare nor the energy after a series against Pakistan. Fair enough, Australia went up 1-0 on the strength of their own expoits.
Come the second test and we see that everything that can possibly go against India making a comeback has happened.

Day one, Australia are reduced to 134/6 by a beleaguered Indian attack in the absence of their strike bowler Zaheer Khan. India looked set to level the series and what do we see? Symonds gets a thick edge which only the old ears of Steve Bucknor couldn't hear. Later, even the third umpire, assisted by all the possible technology, didn't think Symonds was out stumped when his leg was clearly in the air. Ricky Ponting wasn't given out either when he'd edged to Dhoni. And the result, Australia post a very good score. All the wise men of the yesteryears come out to give their suggestions as to how the technology could be improved. In the end, it was just "one of those days" and life was supposed to move on.
India did put up a fight in the first innings, courtesy the class of Laxman and Sachin. What's more, even Bajji came to the party and showed he's got a few shots for test cricket and threatened to put India in the front. And the cheap Aussie attitude comes to the fore - sledging! Symonds provokes Harbhajan and they have a chat. It looked like the most innocuous chat that you'd see on a cricket field with everything seeming to settle down in the end of it. And yet, at the end of the day, you see Ricky Ponting accusing Harbhajan of making racist taunts at Symonds.

I was like, Dear me! of all people, the Aussies are incriminating their "known to be sober" Indian counterparts. It was a level 3 charge that would keep everybody following the series more interested in the hearing than the outcome of the game. Misbehaviour apart, India still had a huge task of saving the game on the last day. 333 to score in 70 overs on a turning SCG wicket. Always a tough bet to go with India in the fourth innings and yet we knew there would be a fight to watch out for. Dravid, one guy who you'd count to keep India in the hunt in such scenarios, is given out by, yet again, the age-old Steve Bucknor. It clearly looked to have come off his pads. I wonder why this guy is even in the elite panel of umpires when he makes so many mistakes. Does he know anything called benefit of the doubt? Sure, he was one of the best. But those days are gone. And you're forced to think he could be running some kind of vendetta against Indian team - remember the Indians have never been happy with the quality of his umpiring and he's been complained against many a times.

And the worst was yet to come, this time a howler by umpire Benson. Ganguly is keeping the Indian ship sailing and suddenly he edges one to third slip. My first thought was that it wasn't taken cleanly. Ganguly seemed to think the same an stayed his ground. And what does Mr. Benson do? He doesn't ask the square-leg umpire, doesn't refer it to the third umpire but asks Ricky Ponting, the opposition captain who's "very confident" it was clean. Ans so, he's given out.
Television replays and you see it was not out, on two counts - one, it bounced before being taken and two, Micheal Clarke, the catcher, touched the ball to the ground while completing the catch.
Even the normally controlled Sunil Gavaskar let his ire out on the umpire, on air. Any person would. Here you are supporting your team playing the best team in the world at their backyard and making a match of it and how can you take all non-sense that is on exhibition? I'm sure every Indian's blood would have been boiling when Ganguly was given out and because of that India were looking down the barrel, facing defeat. Though, as I write this piece, Dhoni and Kumble are battling it out, irrespective of the outcome, what we have witnessed here at SCG , in terms of umpiring decisions and behaviour is not a good advertizement for cricket. We as fans are getting more and more impatient about the way cricket is becoming more and more unfair for players and teams.

Well, while Dhoni and Kumble had been fighting it out, I had taken a break from writing this blog and as I try to resume now, the news is that India have been beaten! As far as I am concerned, I am totally shattered. India, as acknowledged all around, was the only team which looked like beating Australia in Australia. Whats more, this is more or less the last tour to Australia for the famed combination of Sachin, Saurav, Dravid, Kumble and Laxman. They came close to achieving this seemingly impossible task the last time around. And going by what they did in the first innings at SCG, a historic series was in the offing. But the cricketing world has been robbed of all the excitement just by poor umpiring.

It feels so bitter in the mouth that this has happened. The attitude of the Australian team is even more deplorable. I am just flabbergasted they want to be the best team in the world with such an abysmal attitude and no respect for the game. When Sunil Gavaskar was explaining how wrong umpire Benson was in taking Ponting's word while adjudicating Ganguly out, they showed how poor the Aussie team has been in it's conduct. Micheal Clarke didn't walk after gloving the ball to the slips. He had to be asked to go. He would surely have known he hadn't taken the catch of Ganguly and yet he celebrated as if it was the cleanest catch ever taken. Ricky Ponting claiming a catch after taking a diving catch but with clear indication that he had grounded the ball, was nothing but shameless from the Australian captain. That apart, the Australian team have accused Harbhajan of racist comments. I just hope they have concrete evidence to back it up. If they are found to have wrongly accused Bajji, I hope they're punished for the simple reason that they have brought the game to disrepute and more so an individual. Whatever the outcome is going to be, it's gone too far beyond repair.

With India losing today, I've just decided not to follow the series any more. If anything, I'd only be watching Sachin bat for this is his last trip to the place which could be called his second home. I'm sure cricket would have lost a number of fans today. Congrats ICC!