"Keep It Simple Silly"

“Keep It Simple Silly”

Yes we have lost 4-0 to England. Why ???  The obvious question every body would ask.  Few of the reasons I have tried  to explain ---

If we have watched the series  there was no lack of effort  or commitment from the Indian bowlers , they always  stayed in the hunt  but  the English cricket  which  always gave importance to Test cricket  & put hard work  paid them good returns. In 2010 Ashes  also England Team looked integral,  well prepared , & more importantly  mentally  tough.  Apart from the Perth test   England team  showed their class,  grit &   literally outplayed Australia in their  home soil  despite  the likes of Peter Siddle, Johnson,  Bollinger  bowled their heart out.  The reason for transformation of the England team  who were used  to loose  6 out of  5 series  they played every year  is the preparation, attitude & binding as  a team. Apart from the Ian Bell incident there was no nonsense  cricket  or incident associated with England through out.  Their bowlers used the pitch with command , swung the ball with classical English swing & bowled  the bouncer when required with fruitful result. At situations  when  India  had upper hand someone like Broad ,Bresnan or swan  came with spirited spells  & turned the  momentum and outcome of the match in England’s favor  example second & fourth test  of the series. & batting …. After South Africa  England team  looked  with depth in batting as even  No. 9 scoring more  consistently. Three double centuries in one series that too on friendly pitches shows the class of  English batting.  Most of the England batsmen played to the delivery, rarely tried to force the shot ( exception being Pieterson who has his own style of  playing  using the crease  according to the bowler.) forcing the bowler to bowl at them, make him  tired  & score runs.  

If we look at India’s struggle in all the four tests we hardly played 90 over,  Saving a test match on fifth day  looks like mounting  Everest.  Sachin, Dravid , Laxman  are just  few steps  away  from the retirement door & still Yuvraj, Raina ,  Dhoni  Murli Vijay   not finding the way to   fit  in the slots.  New  players don’t want to come out of  the glamour of IPL & Champions league  which are played on the dead wicket. Our fast bowlers  were  not willing to bowl  above   135 km/hr  mark.   We have to nurture at least  6 fast bowlers  with long term plan if we are to become a good Test side.    

Everybody laughed at Shane Warne when he predicted that England would win the series 3-1. Having played  so much  matches against England & also in the county cricket  Shane Warne ‘s  experience  & his opinion  should not have been neglected. 

No tag of star player,  No  discussion of  records,  Not relying on single player,  not  rushing half  fit player . Just select 11  good players  as per the requirement&  condition  plan  for the day , focus to achieve plan versus actual  & carry on.   That’s the success story of England’s  24 carat performance.

 Most of the time we ignore simple things & try to solve the complex.

Moral of the story  :--à     “Keep It Simple Silly.

So called "Spirit of The Game"

Did Dhoni take the right decision to reverse his run out appeal against Bell..?  Third test is around the corner but still the memories of that incident are not forgotten.  What influenced Dhoni to reverse his appeal is not the question of debate.. But had the same thing  happened with India 90% of critics &  former player would have blamed  the player for his casual behavior  & lack of basic knowledge of  the rules of the cricket.

Technically speaking  Bell was out as the umpire declared him rightly & England as well as Bell should have accepted this  & resumed the play. David Lloyad the former umpire, cricket player & commentator  wonderfully explained the rules, & the player’s mistake in this particular incident. If we are speaking about  the spirit of the game  then where it was when the same Ian Bell threw few  pieces of jellies on the pitch when Zaheer came to bat in 2006 series, Matt Prior of England claimed that Johnson was bowled despite the fact that he removed the bails with the hand against Australia ,  Andrew Strauss claiming the bump catch in Ashes series,  In 1999 series  Sachin collided with  the bowler & was just short of the ground  when the ball hit the stumps during taking third run,  Akram didn’t reversed his appeal. Many incidents area associated with Australia the great cheaters of the game –

Trevor Chappel bowling underarm against Newzeland,  Steve Waugh pretending to claim the catch when it was clear that he fumbled & took it on one bounce in 1985 World Championship series, the famous Sydney Test of 2008  series against India & Australia, Ian Healy deliberately clipped the bells by hand &  successfully appealed for the hit wicket against  South Africa.

It is always India  who is supposed to play in the spirit of the game,  & when other teams violate the so called spirit  then they give it the  polishing  name like  Mental disintegration,  in the laws of the cricket, part of the game, heat of the moment, umpire’s decision is final, Human error.

It is like the famous Hindi phrase :-  “ हमने   आह्ह  भी  भरी  तो   हो गए  बदनाम ... उन्होंने  क़त्ल  किया  तो चर्चा  भी नहीं  होती ....!“

Ritesh R Kadam
ritesh05@gmail.com
rityakadam@rediffmail.com
Cell:-09011020015

The Lord’s” The lord of the grounds”

When we discuss about the cricket grounds for the pitch, outfield, facilities, stands & the history 10 out of 9 people would choose the name The Lord's as the first choice. The oldest & if I am not wrong the first ever official Test match between Australia & England was played on this very ground (Around 1884). Every player dream to play on this ground to make himself a part of the history. It is motivation & also the pressure that sometimes gets good out of a normal player & below par performance from a great player. The Great sunil Gavaskar could not score century on this ground even Sachin have not scored half century on this ground but the Mumbai duck Ajit Agarkar holds that privilege of scoring the hundred (109 ) on Lord’s though we lost that match.

It is said that 3 W’s of London shall not be believed ( Wine, Woman & Weather.), add to it the nature of Lord’s pitch. This ground has seen the lowest scores as well as mammoth totals. The lowest team score on this ground is 42 by India !- 1974. & the highest being 729 by Australia in 1930. (In most recent 682 by South Africa in 2003). This is the same ground on which Graham Gooch murdered Indian bowling during 1989-90 series scoring triple century & century in the same match. & Glenn McGrath took 8/38 in 1997 to bowl out England on 85 odd runs.

Generally Lord’s pitch does not offer much to the swing bowlers after the first two hours of the game unless the weather is cloudy & breeze flowing across the ground specially from pavilion end as the Lord’s has the slope on one side of the wicket. The genuine fast bowlers in the likes of Brett Lee, Andrew Flintoff or the spin bowlers like Shane Warne , Muralidharan can extract good out of it.

India does not have the good,,, it’s better to say bitter memories on this ground. Out of 15 matches India have lost 10 & managed to win only one in 1982 thanks to Kapil Dev’s all round performance in that match. Be the 100th test match between India & England at Lord’s bring luck to the lucky captain Dhoni or the Ashes winning team keeps their good record against India at Lord’s….. I expect the close encounter, as close as the World cup tie match……

Ritesh R. Kadam
9011020015
rityakadam@rediffmail.com

West Indies - “The Lost Glory”

What we remember when the name West Indies comes ahead. Blue seas, beaches, Pineapple and.. and The legends… The Richards, the Gary sobers, The Clive Loyad along with the fierce bowlers The holdings, the Garners, The Marshal ,The Ambrose. The late 70’s, 80’s & some part of 90’s known as the reign of West Indies. These legends had the impact on world cricket. Be it Gary Sobers all round Performance, Clive Loyads effortless elegance, Viv Richard’s dashing & powerful hits aligned with the whispering death Holding’s bouncers, Garner’s teasers, &  swing bowling of Marshal. This team played like  “the dada” but at the same time gave respect to the cricket & stayed in the code of conduct. Their batsmen always believed they are in the middle to score runs & the bowlers always remembered they are bowling to take the wickets. The world of cricket always remembered the team as the fearless performer…….& the honest players.

But what is the current status. The team west indies is now playing as the individuals from the various Irelands jamaika, Tobago, Trinidad… The batsmen are lagging the then player’s fearless attitude, focus & technique, though the bowlers have shown some promise in the likes of Roach, Rampaul, Edwards & the new leggie Bishoo , they are not able to click as a unit consistently .  Unlike other teams the players in the middle look casual in their approach, down shoulder body language, & lacking in determination, the conflict between the players & the board is not helping the cause either.  The lone Gladiator Lara tried to lift his team leading from the front  in his playing days but could not go far ahead. The second stream Indian team beat them in their own den. Though they went on to win the last two matches it did not bring any difference in the series result.

As a die hard cricket fan & passionate about fast bowlers I always had a special place for the west indies in my mind. It gives the pain when  Sir Viv Richards says that West Indies is going through the bad patch or build up phase just to hide their disappointment or in a hope that West indies would bring the lost glory.

The likes of Gayle, Pollard, the bravo brothers, the veteran Chanderpaul, Sarwan,  has the ability to present west indies as a respectable team if they give their combined efforts towards the team ‘s goal. Oteis Gibsson need to bring these individuals together , Inculcate the importance of playing for the nation, introduce the new ideas , & bringing the discipline. And the last (need not to say the least) players has to understand it’s not the individual but the efforts of the bunch that will lead the team to the road of success. Let’ see how the three test match series undergoes. 

Ritesh R. Kadam
09011020015
ritesh05kadam@gmail.com
rityakadam@rediffmail.com