A genius backs another Genius

(Media Watch one for Dec 21 morning papers)

A headline in Hindustan Times today said ‘’Warne Backs Tendulkar to score heavily’’

Just because he is old does not mean he is finished, said Warne. Well, that is something every Indian knows Mr Warne. We all have tried our best to finish him off (Including this scribe on the blog) but he has survived both verbal and on-field yorkers!

Coming back to Warne, and his line of reasoning: Both Tendulkar’s genius and the fact that Wickets in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide are going to be pretty flat.

If Tendulkar does play two–three special knocks, it will set up India really well. But one of them must come at Melbourne.

Fading light denies India? Give a break!

The headlines in ‘’the day after media’’ should have been that it is high time to be bold if we want to be what Australia are. Gavaskar and Imran Khan hold the same opinion.

It is said that if you want to achieve something really badly, nature conspires to give you that. After showing so much resolve, Pakistan desperately needed a draw in the match where they had fought with their backs to the wall, and India wanted to ensure that the hosts did not give Pakistan any chance to level the series. Both got their wish in the end! In the same way as India had got good weather in the 1st test against England with last wicket pair on strike.

Fading light denies India, or some thing similar. This is how the headlines appeared in most newspapers on Thursday morning after India narrowly missed winning the Bangalore Test.

However, it needed former skipper Sunil Gavaskar to point out in a column that it was the late declaration which was responsible for India’s failure to make it count at Bangalore. He says ‘’on such pitches, there was no way Pakistan would have got even 250 but batting for so long India did not give themselves enough overs to bowl Pakistan out’’. (Related Link http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/india-end-contest-with-48-overs-to-go.html)

Of course, the fourth series win against Pakistan in history -- the same number as Pakistan has achieved against India -- should please us but Gavaskar begs to differ a little and believes that it is the main difference between India and Australia.

Australia would have never been satisfied with such result on this pitch while in India there is a tendency to ‘’sit on laurels and not look for more glory.’’

Former Pak Coach Javed Miandad says ''No doubt it was a comprehensive win for India, but one should not expect a miracle in Australia going by this performance''.

Imran was on telly yesterday night, expressing same opinion. (Related Link http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/imran-criticises-late-declaration.html)

Australia bound team will miss character!

A Character, to be precise!

Well, mercurial and temperamental Sreesanth is not among the Australia bound probables so anyone in India or down under, hoping to see another Symonds-Sreesanth tussle will be in for disappointment.

Also, Australian skipper Ricky Ponting will have no chance of assessing if Sreesanth's aggression was real, or fake!

Virender Sehwag, such a prolific score on the Last tour in 2003-04, too does not find favour with the selectors. However, Aakash Chopra does find a place, and could well get a ticket to Australia along with Gautam Gambhir, considering his solid show in domestic cricket of late.

Here is the list of Probables for the Australia tour. Anil Kumble (captain), MS Dhoni (WK and Vice Captain), Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik (WK), Gautam Gambhir , Rahul Dravid, Harbhajan Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Vangipurappu Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, VRV Singh, Murali Kartik,Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, Munaf Patel, Ranadeb Bose, Pankaj Singh, Piyush Chawla, Ajit Agarkar, Parthiv Patel, Akash Chopra.

One dimesional cricket becomes boring

That is what the cricket at Kolkatta was if one is to go by the statement of Imran Khan in a live link to an Indian channel.

The former Pakistan captain said the ideal wicket should have something for the pace bowlers as well as spinners, but there was hardly anything for the pace bowlers which made it one-dimensional.

After witnessing another of great shows by Misbah, he also wondered why Misbah, now 33, never got a chance despite splendid performances in the domestic circuit even as Pakistan middle order continued to be fragile for so long.

Imran also told NDTV that the two problems facing Pakistan were the erratic keeping of Kamran Akmal, and the inability of Shoaib Malik to unquestionably cement his place in the Pakistan team.

When chips are down, the captain has to perform to earn the respect of the seniors, he said.

If one sees his recent records, well, this is something Shoaib has not been able to do regularly, losing his moral authority in the process.

Can Pakistan do the unthinkable!!!

Two sessions remain in a match where only three of the previous 13 have produced three wickets or more. Can Pakistan do the unthinkable and lose their next nine wickets, and the series!

After a convincing first session display by Pakistan in Kolkatta on the fifth day, if they do manage to lose to the guile of Harbhajan and Kumble today, that will make it 12 wickets in a day in Kolkatta Test. Just imagine, previous four days saw just 17 batsmen being dismissed.

This kind of collapse has happened to Australia at Kolkatta before, but in March 2001 they had been punctured by Laxman-Dravid jodi, and were still looking for a win in the first two sessions on the final day . On the other hand, Pakistan should be buoyed by the resistance of Misbah, Akmal and Sami. Their graph is on the rise in the series and they must not squander it on a pitch described as abattoir of bowlers by Javed Miandad

Even Wasim Akram writes that ''good pitches yield great contest. But the one at Kolkatta has belied that expectations because the pitch has become useless.''

He feels that playing on these tracks will not help India’s preparation for Australia.

If Pak do lose on this track, they better pack up and go home. The Indian fans want a fighting Pakistan side, not a side that surrenders even when the going is good.

Battle sure to end in a draw

As we predicted two days ago, the battle between Pakistan and India at Kolkatta may have come to a premature end -- all thanks to a supremely docile pitch.

It is quite clear by lunch on the fourth day, with Pakistan managing to avoid follow on, that this match will almost surely end in a draw.

If we take the ten sessions so far of this match, only one has produced more than one wicket. And that was the pre-lunch session on the third day when Pakistan lost four wickets. Two of the remaining nine sessions have gone wicketless while seven have produced just one wicket each.

The point is, what is the point in producing such pitches in times when results take precedence over processes. It is such a waste of time to see such meaningless matches where teams keep on piling runs at the expense of hapless bowlers.

Hopefully, the bowlers will get some of their lost pride back in the next five sessions. But result still looks an impossibility.

Taking Mind games to silly heights, Buchanan's way!

For a start, Buchanan is one of the top class coaches in World Cricket with envious record for Australia against other sides. But then he was coaching Australia! What about other equally capable coaches like Whatmore, whose reputation ended up in muck teaching teams like Bangladesh.

Take away the Australian team from the equation and put any other team, and Buchanan’s proud record will come tumbling down. That is why he never accepted any offer from any other side.

Now he has handed Australia a blueprint to castle Sachin Tendulkar during the Indian tour to Australia, saying in ‘’The Advertiser’’ that the Indian batsman is susceptible to short-pitched bowling early in his innings.

Now, is there any batsman in the world who is not susceptible to short-pitched deliveries! During the bodyline series, even Don Bradman at times felt helpless when faced with a barrage of bouncers. Buchanan feels Tendulkar's footwork has become sluggish, especially early in his innings, making him vulnerable to quicker and shorter bowling followed by the sucker punch of a fuller delivery.

Not that is the standard format for any top class bowler against any top class batsmen. Yorkers soon after the bouncers have been an art perfected by the pace brigades of almost all the countries.

Why repeat the same old things Mr Buchanan, just to keep yourself in news. Let the new Australian coach get on with the Operation Tendulkar!