now that the news of duncan fletcher has started to sink in... i started to wonder whether fletcher was the only realistic candidate to coach team india left with as the reports filtering out wants me to believe...?
the template of team india coach was more or less set by gary kirsten...
a coach that has a formidable record... a fierce competitor but not on your face kinda competitor... a trier who will keep coming at you... likes only his work do the talking... likes to remain in background... allergic to media... should have seen the game from close quarters to understand and know the demands of modern game... the more recent one the better...
duncan fletcher meets some of the requirements but if only india not kept its eyes set obsessively on foreign shores it could have easily found the man that fits the above template to the T...
anil kumble...
the man is one of the best match winner india has produced... a fierce competitor but never crossed the line... genuinely respected in cricketing circles... one of the architect of team india being numero uno... knows all players inside out... specially could have been the guiding influence on young players hence could have handled the imminent transition phase more aptly than the most... never runs to talk to media but when he does cricket world listens...
contrary to many beliefs... "only one team was playing with the spirit of game" statement kumble made did more in capturing the gravity of the sydney-gate... made them rise from the slumber to act than the so called arm twisting methods of bcci...
has seen the game evolved from as close quarters as one could get... and most importantly knows exactly where the heart and mind is... of himself and that of indian cricket...
but as i said if only bcci and team think tank were bit more flexible and not obsessed with looking over the shoulder...
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everything that can be said about kumble has been said...in blogsphere as well as media...
have not come across better tributes than these two...
one from uj of oz...cricket with balls...written well before his retirement...
and another...from friend and fellow blogger som of doosra...
his tribute, specially, is very touching, moving and re-assuring...its as much about kumble as it is about life...
but if i close my eyes and try to visualize kumble...the image (and words) that appear in my mind are of kumble sitting at press conference after what they called a 'match' in sydney...
saying in dejected but strong voice...
only one team played in the spirit of the game...
and how world took notice of...the honesty of statement...
and realized the gravity of circumstances...
imagine any other player making such type of statement and you will know what i mean...
but i thank you kumble...
thank you...for giving us many other wonderful moments to cherish...
...and most importantly thanking you for giving many of us, fighting day in day out without that 'x-factor' thing, the belief and confidence that yes...we can too make it count...with dignity...and honesty...
you belonged to and were like many of us...that's why, i think, we never allowed you the luxury of being called a star...or 'the god'...
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next match at mohali...known as the most pace friendly track...something like perth of india...
playing two spinners there seems one too many...
we shudder at the thought of captain being lone spinner in the team...on current form...that is...
so how to overcome this selection dilemma...
pop comes the news...captain is injured...
everybody smiling...the problem is resolved 'amicably'...
this brings me to the question...
why did captain played in this match in first place...carrying injury?
for i am yet to find an incident in this match when this 'injury' happened...
did i miss something?
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teams have scored 430 odd runs and will score against you...
less said about your bowling effort...better...
its nothing new...
but my only grudge against you, kumble, is...
being an IT savvy guy...
why are you still using this outdated 'auto-pilot' verison?
get the new one...atleast...
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to re-phrase kumble...
only one player was playing cricket...
and this is not the first time this has happend...as if its india's official strategy to leave scoring to sehwag only...
and what can be said to our pedigreed fab-four turned fat-fours ?
their's were soft dismissals will be putting it mildly...for the third successive time...
only vvs out of fat-four has shown some inclination to fight it out in middle...but thats that...
no words on sachin. *puts finger on lips*
dravid and ganguly are like competing on live reality show of who will go first...from indian team i.e.
and what the hell kumble was thinking when he sent dravid at no. 3 for all his diffidence...is it rocket science that your best batsmen (who is scoring i.e.) should go there at one down?
its high time he start evaluating players not from his memory but on current performances...mere being goodie wont do...ask dravid he is live example of that infront of you...
take some decision maan...that's what captains are for...
if you forget about big names...i would like to see what worse rohit will do under these conditions...specially when india's next assignment is gonna be oz...
any takers?
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We have won!!! and how!! what a final!!
my first wishes to dhoni, selectors, all youngsters and sachin
...and last but not least...
thanks kumble for instilling the belief in team that this oz team can be beaten...(don't look surprised)...
what a special gift you all have given us...i am feeling like its been a poetic justice...after all they have to go through this summer...
more after a while...enjoy!!
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Its all very easy to say lets forget debacles...lets look ahead and forget what happened in past...move on..lets regroup...and start a fresh...lets not get dejected and focus on what lies ahead...
and its another thing leaving all things behind and winning at Perth...
this is the win which makes you value old virtues bit more...
the old virtues of 'winner win despite all adversities'...when everything is stacked against you...your self belief and hard work always pays...that winners don't look at misfortunes as excuses to crib upon...they take them in their stride and WIN...
and what a win India!!
...when nobody gave you any chances...when nobody booked fourth and fifth days tickets fearing waste of money...you had other ideas...
its arguably the greatest test win for india...coming from 2-0 behind...coming after worse that could have happened...at the 'real home of oz'...WINs never tasted better...
there are other issues to discuss...but thats for another post...
lets savior this moment...this win...and join hand in applauding India...and lets which ever part of world you are from not come in the way of true appreciation...
meanwhile...
to the atheist, start finding a place to move to India...
and soulberry...you owe me a drink now...see i am not yet fully drowned by this win...
to symond...
what a moment...'the luck' chose to desert you...
and finally...
"eik aur karega....haan karoonga"
(kumble asking ishant...will you bowl another over? and ishant saying yes will bowl)
you guessed it right, the best moment for me of todays play was how young ishant made veteran ponting finally surrendering his wicket to him...
whats your moment...??
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although i wanted to be proved wrong but somehow i didn't see the fightback coming...when i saw so many peoples airing their optimism that we will go for win...manage at least draw...put up resounding fight to salvage some pride...and i was skeptic coz there were no grounds based on what i saw in first innings...and i was not wrong...
i pity kumble...i really feel for him...you wont see spinner taking five wickets on first day of test match against australia and that too on their soil...
for all the efforts he put up he deserved more...he deserved more from his batsmen who he thought were his master cards...his strength....but he was left to throw his hand in despair coz not a single batsmen looked to guts it out there...there was no one standing to be counted...to fight the 'demons in the pitch' which was more subcontinentish pitch...but as the match progressed we saw that demons were elsewhere...they were in minds...
don't look anywhere than dravid to understand the demons i am talking about...time has come for india to decide what to do of him...he is clearly struggling for his form...his approach...and more importantly his mental strength he was used to known for...will we keep on going for him in the faith that he is just an innings away from his previous best...but somehow i don't see it coming...in these days of back to back test matches...where is the time...but if i am kumble i would have one to one talk with him...this is the time when champion player like him need support.. i would make him feel wanted in current setup...i would not let him fade away in his wilderness so easily...i would give him at least another test...but with an ultimatum...
if a batsman who is stated to be 'in the form of his life' comes to crease like this...there was no body language...no air of confidence...and plays the way he played (and i am not even talking about his scores) it would be better he is confided to the comforts of dressing room...coz by sitting there he served india far better...all other guys were on their toes thinking that there's one sitting outside who can replace them...
it was only Ganguly (and to some extent sachin) who came unscathed and looked at par...special mention must be made to gangly who many thought (uncle included, who famously said that aussies will be having orgasmic pleasure by seeing him coming to bat) that he will be stream rolled by aussies etc etc...but he just refused to lie down...played his shots and remarkably rotated the strike which he is not known for...its not coincidence that only time india looked in control (batting wise) was when ganguly and sachin were batting together...
the fact that aussies hardly crossed 350 in both innings and yet they won by more than 300 runs speaks volume about the 'efforts' of our famed batting lineup...was that a pitch where our illustrious batting lineup could not score even 200 in both innings?? are we living in dreamland where our batsmen score far heavily than in reality...?? are we expecting too much from these lions-on-paper batsmen??? we must look within and search for the right answers...this was by far the worst performance we came up with in recent times...
we will have to find solutions and that too quickly...it would be very interesting couple of days in indian dressing room and specially for kumble of what he comes up with...to counter this 'freezing attitude' in our batting...next couple of days will give us an idea how kumble has taken this defeat and what combinations he would come up with...
coz another bad day in the office and we can safely say tata to this series...
i would go for full leather and would field
jaffer/dk
sehwag
laxman (coz he looked good for more, so no. 3)
sachin
gangly
Dravid (if he has to bat slow better be at this position but as i said with an ultimatum)
dhoni /(yuvraj in case DK gets opening slot)
zahir
rp
kumble
harbhajan (to share burden of kumble i wont place rookie here at this moment)
what will be your final xi...
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with so many nicely put round ups...nothing left to add anyway...so here are my doosras...
those who still feel that kumble was not aggressive in declaration should read very nicely argued posts of fellow blogger kartikeya's discussing declatations...and friend soulberry's hope and hopelessness needless to say i totally agree with them...
at the risk of repeating myself (i have already commented this) i would say that don't get carried away by pak's 'india gate' kind of batting...the way they were getting out...and please uneven bounce was nothing to do with their dismissals...with bats at least a foot away from the line of bowl...would have embarrassed even club cricketers...
that result was possible irrespective of declaration timing but coz another team was hell bent on committing mass suicide...and surprisingly no one has uttered a single word on how pak batsmen started unfolding...
......
everybody seems unanimous that the misbah was the find for pak in this series...while not taking away any credit from him...of how he batted and how he saved pak from precarious positions every time without fail...and people all over calling him another 'wall'...worthy replacement of 'ul-haq' etc etc...
i would wait for another series...just for the reason that in virtually every innings he gave clear and grabable chances to our fielders in very early stages of his innings and had we got some of them his averages (and dare say series result) could have been very different of what they are now...specially after not so good SA series...i know that its not the fault of misbah and he did not let these chances distract him and build upon that...but you can not expect other team to be so magnanimous in their approach...so lets wait for another series...
.......
i still don't know what harbhajan has done in this series to be on oz tour...i thought he has already seen sydney...isn't it??
.......
i should also give credit where its due...me included...some of us infact...no...many of us questioned the probables selection but it also takes courage to correct mistakes...they should be appreciated for that and by giving kumble more say at team selection coz ultimately he is the one who is gonna face the music... they deserve praise too...although i still feel that they are taking one too many rookie in bowling department...but who knows??? this pankaj singh could well turn out to be another ace in a pack of cards??
.......
theories were going on that dravid will be asked to open the innings to accommodate yuvraj...and going by some reports in media even team management started thinking in this line...and suddenly we (and yuvi) see sehwag coming in...by all probability he will play in boxing day coz you dont want to look fool by selecting him only to warm benches out there...
sehwags selection is 'googly' for everyone...without going into that this is another 'feather' in kumble's cap without even landing in oz...that what this selection means to sehwag coz he would be headless chicken if he doesn't know already...i would be interested in how yuvi see this selection...
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with everything about recent test match stated in blogs and elsewhere covering almost all aspects...i am glad that my faith on Kumble was largely right when i posted "Challenges before Kumble"...
although its early days yet...but given his experience the job seemed nothing new to him...he turned out to be an aggressive captain quite contrary to many who thought he will be bit defensive in his approach...
i liked his approach and homework he did for the match and some points stands out, according to me, not necessarily in this order:
- he did not wanted to get distracted by media's bizarre selection reactions by dropping any of laxman or ganguly...coz he had faith in laxman and did not wanted him to sit out and we all know how one part of india reacts when ganguly is dropped...so by keeping the same line he steered cleared of all the tamasha which could have distracted him in his first test as captain and teams preparations for the first teast match. thats why he made the statement "yuvi have to wait" well ahead of first day of test match...so there wont be any kite flying and everyboday will remain focussed to the job and preparations...
- by giving more overs, than any test captain, to ganguly he made it clear to ganguly and everybody that he perceives his role in the team differently than many...
- by giving more overs to ganguly he caught pak off guard coz in first innings they just could not decide whether to attack or defend him and they played to kumble hands in second innings when they blindly decided that they will attack ganguly...triggering the collapse...
- by not giving enough overs at one stretch to harbhajan (specially in first innings) he clearly made the point to harbhajan that his bowling did not inspired that much confidence in him...that lead to improved showing of harbhajan in second innings...though i feel that he is still far away from his 'test' form (still in one day bowling mode..shooting down bowls on leg stump and not giving enough air and loop to the deliveries)...
- by being honest at press conference that he merely wanted to change ganguly's end and not taking the credit of great move that was there for his taking...it requires guts...
- the way he has backed dinesh is also remarkable coz thats what a player specially youngster looking to cement his place in the team wants, is the captains backing...and by backing him openly has thrown a gentle reminder to karthik that his performance is monitored...
so all in all a good beginning of the job which is considered one of the toughest assignment in modern cricket...
what you say?
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As ayaz memon puts it in his latest column :
"He is confronted with his first dilemma much before the first ball is bowled in the three-match series against Pakistan which begins next Thursday. Can he afford to keep the world’s best player in limited overs cricket out of the five-day game?"
modern cricket has changed so much that challenges before captains does not necessarily starts with game anymore and if you are 'newly' appointed to the job, knowing that you are warming the chair for another person to take over and that too almost at the fag end of career...the word 'challenge' acquired new meanings...
but if latest article of Harsha is to be believed, about the way kumble turned up for selection meeting, makes me feel that we are in for something special...
and first glimpse of this will be seen through his selection of final eleven....how he sees yuvi's recent exploits...what he makes of saurav poking at balls of akhtar's pace...how he interprets laxmans recent innings at domestic level (which are nothing much to write about)...the choice of second spinner and composition of team. will he go with the comfort of his tried and tested colleagues or will he choose to tread his own way at the cost of unpleasing some of them...
will he be the gentleman captain he is or will he be the fierce competitor and aggressive captain he is too...if he bowls less or more he will be attacked likely for under or over bowling himself...so how he will tackle always-on-your-face media...the (non)functioning of BCCI...and finally the big ego and mouth of DBV...
lots of questions...and the answers of these is with only one man...our own Kumble...so next few days curtailing to first test are going to be very interesting...
but something tells me that kumble having got the cap, which he desired so much throughout his career and was hurt for never treated as potential one, wont let this chance go away without stamping his class...the authority with which he bowls tirelessly...
one thing is for sure...we are in for some interesting time...
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