Celebrating Sunny

Sunny may not be the commentator that you would die to listen to, in fact you might choose to die than listen to him at times! But as bad as he is as a commentator, that should take nothing away from him as a cricketer. He was a colossal figure not just of Indian Cricket but World Cricket during his playing days. I find it irritating when people club him with the likes of Boycott. Sunny can't be insulted more. I was reading a Peter Roebuck article in SMH about Sachin today. In that article, he goes on to explain why he rates Sachin as the best batsman in the last 60 years. Along the way he describes the significance of SMG in beautiful words:

"No batsman has been as rewarding to watch in the past decades, and none has been superior. Among past masters, Viv Richards and Sunil Gavaskar stand out. Gavaskar ruled with meticulous technique. Often he played within himself, relying on patience and precision to build his score. As much was the duty of the stoical opening batsman. Not that he was always cautious. Indeed, he played some of the most breath-taking innings the game has known. Then his range of shots was extraordinary and the execution vibrant. Before him, too, Indian batsmen were regarded as frail. After him the word was never again spoken. That is the measure of his triumph."

For all those guys who were brought up on the stories of Sunny's legendary patience and the ignominy of batting through 60 overs for an undefeated 36, please reread those words - "Indeed, he played some of the most breath-taking innings the game has known. Then his range of shots was extraordinary and the execution vibrant". My dad used to tell me that no one had the mental strength that Sunny had. He said that Sunny would never play a flashy shot outside the off stump, even if you keep feeding him there all day. But what he didn't tell me was that he scored a hundred off 94 balls against a bowling attack boasting of Michael Holding and Malcolm Marshall! How many test hundreds has Sachin or Lara scored at better than run a ball? So surely it was not a question of ability to counter attack. Its something more...

His style of batting had a lot to do with the state of India Cricket during his times. He played for a champion team in Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy for sure. But what's comfortably forgotten about Mumbai's supremacy in Indian Domestic Cricket is that for such a successful team, they predominantly played defensive cricket. Their first idea is to shut the opposition out of the game and if there is still time left, then go for a victory.

And when he started playing for India, we were so hopelessly bad as a team that we were happy to just compete with the top sides. So naturally when competing is the height of your ambitions, survival is your natural instinct. Ironically had Sunny been more attacking and aggressive, it wouldn't have helped the team's cause as much. What if he scores 110 off 158 balls and gets out, the rest of the batting would fold quickly and the opposition would amass a huge score and have time to bowl us out again. Remember Sachin's 155 at Bloemfontein? So in a lot of ways, it was appropriate that Sunny rarely allowed room for any indulgence because that could have been adverse to the team. But on the few occasions that he did, he was as good as any.

For someone who was brought up on the misleading stories on Sunny, some cricket classics video in Star Sports led me to the discovery of Sunny's attacking batsmanship. It was an ODI against NZ in Brisbane in the Benson& Hedges world series Cricket (not the Championship of Cricket). NewZealand had batted first and set India a target of 260 to win off 50 overs. By the way, 260 was a bloody good score in ODI's of those days especially in Australia where the boundaries are so long.

Out came Cheeka and Sunny in pursuit of a huge score and guess what - they decided to swap their roles. Cheeka played relatively sedate cricket but Sunny really took on Hadlee and Chatfield. It was just a cameo of 27. But what a brilliant cameo it was. Almost on par with Sachin's 40 in Nairobi. 27 off 17 balls with four 4's and a six. More than the boundaries, it was the manner in which he was scoring those boundaries that made me sit absolutely dumbstruck in front of the idiot box. I had never imagined a picture of Sunny playing across the line because my dad didn't allow me to think so. He said Sunny would never do that. Well,I saw him do that and do that in such a breathtaking fashion. That's when I realized Sunny was GOD too....in his own way.

This is just a random post triggered by Peter Roebuck's beautiful words. Shall discuss "The legend of Sunny" in detail in a later post.

"My Name Is Tendulkar and I'm not a mortal"

Unbelievable but true. Out of all Sachin’s achievements, this must rank very high in the list. He made RK sound tolerable for once, for once…Yes….high fives all around…RK was explaining Sachin’s great innings immediately after the end of the Indian innings and he went “ He had the blah, he had the blah today, he was blah blah, he was blah blah and today, he was simply Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar” – Wow…

I wonder if I got as many calls on my Birthday. What wonder? Surely not. Simply nothing spreads such infectious happiness like a Sachin masterpiece. There is so much to write about this innings. Not because its one of his very best – surely not. But it’s one of the most significant. It’s so appropriate that one of the most coveted records in ODI cricket is eventually owned by the greatest player of this format of cricket. It’s impossible to write anything coherent about this innings and its significance at the moment. I am on the verge of choking as if I scored all those runs.

But I can do something better - paste the tweets that have flowed in since Sachin was nearing the record till a few minutes after the end of the innings. This is just fabulous – Cricket writer, Cricketer, Cricket administrator, Ex-intelligence agent, Business Magnate, Journalist, Humorist, Gaming Industry Analyst, Banker, everyone that you can imagine tweeting about Sachin.

1. prempanicker
Off to toast Sachin with a couple of friends. Be well all. +poof+18 minutes ago via UberTwitter

2. pragmatic_d
Govt of India must consider enhancing the sheen of its highest civilian award Bharat Ratna by awarding it to one Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.32 minutes ago via webRetweeted by Vikram_Sood and 5 others

3. prempanicker
Oh god! I feel WFH RT @Sumantics: If I had a salwar suit in our tri-colour, I would have worn it to work tomorrow.#sachinisgod #sachin30 minutes ago via UberTwitter

4. sidin
This Tendulkar fellow has potential.

5. anandmahindra
On my way to ndtv Indian of the year awards.But wonder if any other indian matters tonight after sachin's double ton...37 minutes ago via Echofon

6. sidin
Hello people who are upset at #Sachin choking your Twitter. Do you see this tiny little rat's ass in my hand? I will not even give you this.38 minutes ago via Seesmic

7. LalitKModi
Watch Sachin Rock the IPL now. We know he will.38 minutes ago via UberTwitter

8. eshers
@sidin Can that man score another 200 !!!41 minutes ago via web in reply to sidin

9. vijivenkatesh
@cricketwallah Just revel in this madness drink this heady wine and to hell with views am flying back home over traffic to catch the game: )43 minutes ago via web in reply to cricketwallahRetweeted by cricketwallah

10. _Howard_Roark_
@cricketwallah come on! give us a moment to catch our breath. This is the finest thing we have seen on a cricket field.about 1 hour ago via web in reply to cricketwallahRetweeted by cricketwallah

11. eshers
Many needs few series to score 200 Ｙｏｕ　ｒｏｃｋ　ｓａｃｈｉｎ42 minutes ago via web

12. souvikspeaks
@cricketwallah Sachin 's 200 is impressive than Mamata's Rail Budget ..!! It's a Duronto Express ..!!45 minutes ago via web in reply to cricketwallahRetweeted by cricketwallah and 5 others

13. sa_lil
@cricketwallah Views? You gotto be kidding... Let's have a drink :Dabout 1 hour ago via Seesmic in reply to cricketwallahRetweeted by cricketwallah and 2 others

14. MirzaSania
Congratulations sachin:) proud to be indian and a sports person in his era!wooww!about 1 hour ago via UberTwitter

15. cricketwallah
This is the first ever double century in one day cricket. Is this also Tendulkar's best every one-day innings? Let's have some views guysabout 1 hour ago via web

16. ranjona
Sach-intertainment! Tendulkar too good at 200. whiners? Baah! Who cares about themabout 1 hour ago via webRetweeted by cricketwallah and 6 others

17. cricketwallah
SA attack flayed like rarely ever before. But India wld do well t remember that they've once chased down 434 versus Oz. Match yet to be wonabout 1 hour ago via web

18. lavsmohan
RT @sidin Dear @shashitharoor, please provide Hashim Amla immediately with full citizenship with voting rights and 2BHK in South Mumbai.about 1 hour ago via Twitterrific

19. cricketaakash
200 :)about 1 hour ago via web

20. lavsmohan
If only dhoni wasn't on the other end, sachin wouldda scored 250. Effin moron.about 1 hour ago via Twitterrific

21. cricketwallah
Tendulkar's mental toughness makes him such a prolific scorer for so long. Doesn't take success for granted, hunger for runs keeps growingabout 1 hour ago via web

22. LalitKModi
Sachin - the greatest ever Player ever - without any doubt.about 1 hour ago via UberTwitter

23. eshers
Awestruck !!! Amazing is an understatement.. Its another sachin"s special when you run out of superlatives !about 1 hour ago via web

24. cricketwallah
Amazing innings this, swashbuckling shots interspersed with deft placements, but most impressive perhaps being the hard runnin between wcktsabout 1 hour ago via web

25. sidin
You are free to say selfish. I am free to slap.about 1 hour ago via SeesmicRetweeted by you and 4 others

26. sidin
Dad retires. @kaaliya's birthday. And now Sachin's double FREAKING century. What. Ay. Day.about 1 hour ago via Seesmic

27. cricketwallah
legend of Tendulkar gets more heft. First ODI double ton, god knows how many centuries in all..heck, do we need to qualify his gr8tness?about 1 hour ago via Tweet via HungamaLabs

28. lavsmohan
Haiyya ippo ellaarum nimmadhiya bathroom polaamabout 1 hour ago via Twitterrific

29. LalitKModi
Wow what a run barrage by india.about 1 hour ago via UberTwitter

30. lavsmohan
My Name Is Tendulkar and I'm not a mortal.#sachinisgodabout 1 hour ago via Twitterrific

31. sidin
Dear @shashitharoor, please provide Hashim Amla immediately with full citizenship with voting rights and 2BHK in South Mumbai.about 1 hour ago via SeesmicRetweeted by you and 28 others

32. prempanicker
RT @warne888: yes yes yes !!!!!! well done Sachin my friend ... congrats and well done !!!!! awesome ...about 1 hour ago via HootSuite

33. bigfatphoenix
Right. Free to breathe. #sachinisgodabout 1 hour ago via SocialScope

34. lavsmohan
Macha. I was THERE when sachin hit 200. I WAS THERE!about 1 hour ago via Twitterrific

35. LalitKModi
I salute Sachin.about 1 hour ago via UberTwitter

36. lavsmohan
THALAIVAAAAabout 1 hour ago via Twitterrific

37. LalitKModi
My heartiest congratulations to Sachin the worlds greatest sportsman. We can see him only rise. Insperation to us all.He is the best.about 1 hour ago via UberTwitter

38. lavsmohan
NOW. NOW.about 1 hour ago via Twitterrific

39. Vikram_Sood
Last over. Either way Sachin is God.about 1 hour ago via txtRetweeted by you

40. lavsmohan
dhoni should be sacked, macha. Traitor!about 1 hour ago via Twitterrific

41. lavsmohan
someone tell dhoni that 200 is so the fuck greater than a 6! UKG fail, captain, UKG fail.about 1 hour ago via Twitterrific

42. sidin
Dhoni, you little law of averages maintainer you!about 1 hour ago via Seesmic

43. lavsmohan
Of all the times they had to have Hindi commentary on AIR. Dei dei deiabout 1 hour ago via Twitterrific

44. lavsmohan
Singam is one single away. Mudila.about 1 hour ago via Twitterrific

45. rajaramansport
s10 stuns!about 1 hour ago via mobile web

46. prempanicker
RT @SpiceBoxofEarth: Darren Morrison on commentary while Tendulkar bats is like a cheap plastic frame for a masterpiece. #cricketabout 1 hour ago via HootSuite

47. lavsmohan
Easy. Easy. Singam single dhaan adikkum.about 1 hour ago via Twitterrific

48. sidin
Shut up.about 1 hour ago via Seesmic

49. prempanicker
RT @warne888: nervous for my good friend Sachin everything crossed for you mate !!!! ps glad I'm not bowling to him today hahahaabout 1 hour ago via HootSuite

50. lavsmohan
Dhoni, Po Nee!about 1 hour ago via TwitterrificRetweeted by you

51. lavsmohan
Tweeet. As in whistle. Not social networking. Sreesanth tweets. Yuck.about 1 hour ago via Twitterrific

52. prempanicker
So we now have a new record for the highest in ODIs. Appropriate that Sachin added this to his CV. Now for the big one.about 1 hour ago via HootSuite

53. sidin
Can't... breathe....can't... breathe...about 1 hour ago via SeesmicRetweeted by you and 1 other

54. lavsmohan
get dhoni away! Someone distract him with a jar of buffalo milk or somethingabout 1 hour ago via Twitterrific

55. cricketwallah
more amused than appalled that some ppl still question Sachin's greatness. But not much can be done about misanthropesabout 1 hour ago via Tweet via HungamaLabs

56. cricketaakash
10 to go for 10dulkar :) :)about 2 hours ago via web

57. prempanicker
RT @warne888: congrats re Sachin and his innings awesome to watch lots of respect to my good friend Sachin great to see him back to his bestabout 2 hours ago via HootSuite

58. lavsmohan
200. 200 once. Do I see a 210? 220? Anyone for 250?about 2 hours ago via txt

59. LalitKModi
All watch sachin hopefully break 200 barrierabout 2 hours ago via UberTwitter

60. cricketwallah
tendulkar''s gone berserk; looks good to become first batsman past 200 in an ODI. Fire of ambition burns brighter than everabout 2 hours ago via Tweet via HungamaLabs

61. LalitKModi
Broken it - fantastic. Now double century we want.about 2 hours ago via UberTwitter

62. LalitKModi
Congrats to sachin. Waiting for him to break his record.about 2 hours ago via UberTwitter

63. sidin
Don't say it. Don't say it till it happens. Don't jinx it. Let Sachin be. No. Don't.about 2 hours ago via SeesmicRetweeted by you and 11 others

64. sidin
Sachin's innings beginning to remind me of that amazing innings in Sharjah when I played with my cousins.about 2 hours ago via Seesmic

65. cricketaakash
But I won't mind it today if Sach gets to his double :) :) Go Sach.about 2 hours ago via web

66. lavsmohan
Since sachin is so awesome today, we can be sure that india is going to lose the match.about 2 hours ago via txt

67. lavsmohan
Omg, whatay awesomeness sachin is today!about 2 hours ago via txt

68. RajaSen
When the lord God chooses to bat like this, it makes everything better. Ma and I both loving cricinfo. Anywhere I can SEE this online, guys?about 3 hours ago via web

69. AjayJadeja
Did you watch the show in the morning. I had predicted a Sachin 100 :)about 3 hours ago via NDTV Social

70. cricketwallah
super innings from Sachin, paced beautifully making up for early loss of Sehwag. He's been on a roll this seasonabout 3 hours ago via Tweet via HungamaLabs

71. sidin
Every shot Sachin plays adds to his personal total. Selfish again.about 3 hours ago via Seesmic


72. cricketaakash
Watching Sachin's masterclass...about 4 hours ago via web

Strange incidents

"The ball ricocheted off the stumps and went for a magnificient four" said the one and only entertainer par excellence Mr.RK in Neo Sports of that delivery to Nehra in the last over of the first ODI. I don't know which one was more entertaining - the incident or RK's magnificent description of that!

I have heard so many people (including some well known cricket writers and commentators) say that they have never seen any incident quite as weird as that on a cricket field. I do remember 2 weird instances which can match up to if not better this:

1) Mushtaq Ahmed bowled a flipper (I vaguely remember it as a flipper) to Pat Symcox in Faisalabad (this was the same series in which Azhar Mehmood and Ali Naqui made their debut) which went in between the off stump and the middle stump without disturbing the bails! I tried to google about this to confirm my memory and guess what? This incident is mentioned in Symcox's introduction in the player page in Cricinfo!

2) This memory is even more vague. Sometime around the mid 90's Star Sports used to telecast English County Championship matches. I remember a match in which the umpires decided to play without bails for sometime as there was heavy wind blowing across the ground because of which the bails kept on falling down even before the ball was delivered.

These are two top of the mind recalls. I am sure you guys can come up with more. Lets see if we can make a XI out of this...Over to you guys...

There’s something about Eden

What’s it with Eden Gardens? The drama is almost inevitable for the theater not just demands but commands it. Trust me, it's not a retrospective romanticistion. Even as the South Africans were going hammer and tongs, as if they resumed from where they left in Nagpur, the buzz around the ground was unmistakable (that’s with less than half the capacity!). The same buzz which can make or break the home team. You can treat them as the 12th man when you are doing well and a whole gladiatorial crowd waiting for your execution when you are not. There’s no middle ground with the Eden Gardens crowd.

After a real thrashing in the hands of Peterson and Amla in the first 2 sessions, MSD & co came back with a lot more intent. It was Ishant’s short burst which really started it all. Amla not only looked as undismissable as he was in Nagpur but also looked more dangerous for he was scoring them at will and scoring them fast too. It took every ounce of energy from the off-colour Ishant to unsettle the assured Amla with some real good short stuff. Just when he looked to be overdoing the short pitched stuff, Dhoni handed the ball to Zaheer, who completed the job his partner had started – sent Amla packing with a short delivery which he duly edged to Dhoni. And a medley of the crowd, the buzz, the noise, a more penetrative Harbhajan, a moment of brain freeze from the monk and a little brilliance from Laxman on the field gave the most vital breakthrough. Then on…Eden just took over!

On the point that it's not a retrospective romanticisation – I had tweeted Aakash Chopra immediately after the fall of Hashim Amla: “@cricketaakash a tad romantic or is it real? y do I think a b'tng collapse looks more imminent in a stadium buzzin with ppl dan otherwise”. I was very serious when I said this. I really felt a batting collapse was imminent. The atmosphere created that sense. And in less then 10 min, I tweeted him again: “now I am convinced it is real :-)”.

As important as the pitches are, the audience at the stadium also makes it real hard for teams visiting India. But of late, dwindling attendance for tests have worked in visiting teams’ favor – an important challenge (since low turnout is taken for granted) is out of their way even before they step onto the field. Its such an irony that BCCI uses ad slots during a test series enticing people to come to the stadium to watch IPL (which already gets near full houses all the time), when the test itself is being played in a near empty stadium (I mean the Nagpur test). So much for BCCI’s priorities!

And did anyone notice any expression of regret or condolences for the bomb blast in Pune during the match? Not even the token expression of wearing a black arm-band? It’s a shame…

Refreshing is the word...

In these days of "protocol" defence, Cheeka offers a refreshing change. When asked about not picking enough reserve batsmen, he admitted that it was a mistake and added like only he can - "Generally we have an opener, a middle order batsman, a spinner and a seamer in the reserves. But in this Test match alone we thought we would encourage two more fast bowlers. But to our bad luck, you had one batsman walking out." No stupid justification of settled batting line up, conviction on the selected replacements' ability, providing greater flexibility in choosing the bowling line up to the captain - none of that non-sense, just a casual bad luck. Man, he simply speaks like he bats...Come to think of it, that's all that it was - bad luck.

Sehwag seems to be just a far superior version of Cheeka both on and off the field!

A glimpse of the future.....

There used to be a time in Indian cricket, when the openers would get out cheaply, Sachin would come in and play an absolute blinder and India would go on to lose the Test match. The last time this happened was in Kingston 2001, and after that if somebody had said to me the next time this would happen is in 2010, I would have laughed myself to death. But, yes this is a sign of India's growth as a Test team and forget what happened today at Nagpur, we can still claim a right to the number 1 spot(come on guys , Dhoni eventually will have to lose one someday). But on the brighter side, Indian cricket and public would have known the true value of Rahul Dravid, and had he been there he would have only got out after tea to Steyn(i wouldnt blame Indian batting, the spell if it had been painted would be hanging in Louvre now!) and that would have been crucial in the long run. I am not even angry that India lost inside 4 days. What made me angry was an article in Cricinfo referring about India's so called bleak future!

http://www.cricinfo.com/indvrsa2010/content/story/447467.html

Bleak future? The so called explanation given was that, in the absence of Dravid and Laxman, and also the see saw form of Yuvi, Indian batting future looks very bleak in the presence of a quality bowling line up.

I could agree with only one fact in the above statement, about SA's bowling, but since when did the future become so bleak for India? And, add to that based on this Test's batting line up?

Poor Saha...For no fault of his, he was dropped from the frying pan into the fire to face the fury. But to his credit, he did bat decently in the second innings for a man playing his first test. Vijay, had his first twin failures in a test match, and that too in his 4th test match to be precise, and Badrinath played a responsible innings which showed more of his temperament than class, and for a debutant showing temperament is very good indeed! Now put your hand on your heart and say that if you are thinking of India's future batting line up, the top 6, will these 3 feature in that?

Surely Vijay, may be Badrinath, but Saha? Ok, let us just say for argument sake that these three would make the future Indian batting line up, the author goes on to say the steadiness of Dravid, the classiness of Laxman would be missed and cannot be replaced. That is true, inspite of whatever we have in future. Just because, we are going to miss something good doesnt mean that whatever we have is bad? And to prove the point, the author goes on to say that when India won after following on Laxman and Dravid were its prinicipal architects!

Agreed- but that was in 2001, while Laxman made his debut in '97 and Dravid in '96. It took them 5 years to come up with a masterpiece like that. To take matters into perspective, India's fab 4 as it was called before Sehwag came into the picture cut a sorry figure when it failed to chase 120 at Barbados against the WI, with only Sachin and Azhar being the experienced guys in a young batting line up consisting of Ganguly, Laxman and Dravid! And I dont have to mention, Bangalore, Karachi, Cape Town, Mumbai etc..( the list is long if we start talking about Indian batting collapses)

We are in the process of making the same mistake the Windies did, trying to replace a legend with another player and expecting him to match the legend's feats.

There cannot be another Dravid, but surely we have enough strength in Pandey, Pujara, Vijay, Raina, Badri, Mukund, Karthik, and may be a long shot..Kaif to fill in the No.3 slot which is not difficult. The guy need not(cannot) bat like Dravid, but if he bats like a proper No.3 thats more than what we ask from him!

If anything is bleak, its our bowling-who after Zaheer, and who is that turbaned guy who looks like Bhajji? Somebody ask Ishant to start bowling like he did in Nagpur 2008? He is increasingly starting to bowl balls that I bowl and thats scaring me.

Take a bow, Dale Steyn

We started the test on the back foot without Dravid and Yuvraj in our squad and were pushed further back with the non-availability of both Laxman and Rohit on the morning of the test. Dhoni looked sorry at the toss because he didn’t have an extra batsman to pick and was forced to go with Saha as a specialist batsman instead. And the sorry look on his face didn’t go away through out the match – from the toss to the presentation ceremony.

For the all the accolades that both Amla and Kallis duly received, it was the deadly spell by Dale Steyn which sealed the match for South Africa. It's not the first time we have conceded over 500 to an opposition in the first innings. In fact we have done that on wickets with a fair bit of help for bowlers before, so on this flat track, it wasn’t a deviation from the norm at all. It’s a fact that we cannot afford to take lightly – we simply don’t have the firepower in our bowling to consistently take 20 wickets in a test. For a good number of matches in the past, we have batted opposition out of the match or batted our way back into the game from near hopeless situations. Very rarely have our bowlers won matches on their own.

So even though we had conceded over 500, we still had hope. Gambhir had an uncharacteristic failure ( a twin failure at that) for once and then Steyn happened. With the raw pace of a genuine fast bowler and the mind of the most deceptive spinner, he set Murali Vijay up beautifully with a teasing out swinger and followed up with the sucker ball and Vijay duly got sucked. As if to prove that was not a blind dart, produced an absolute Jaffa to Sachin, which is almost a 5 inch wider replication of the dream ball that he bowled to Michael Vaughan in his debut series. While all this was happening at one end, Sehwag did what he has been doing rather consistently of late – just played on a different pitch against a different opponent. Badri overcame his nerves and settled down for a fighting partnership before Sehwag did one more thing which he’s been doing consistently too – gift his wicket away just when he is looking undismissable.

From then on, it was Steyn all the way. There was a ball change. Steyn steamed in for a spell of sustained high quality fast bowling – reverse swinging the ball as his wont – to clean up the rest of the batting order and that was that. The match was sealed there. That Sachin scored a fighting hundred in the second innings and that Indians disgraced themselves by handing a 5 for to “Lord" Harris were all irrelevant in the overall context of the game. It was a Steyn show all the way.

Now that brings me to the choice of Man of the Match award. Amla? I agree that he played a great innings but not Steyn? At the end of the second day, Dhoni defended his bowlers by arguing that there was nothing in the pitch and we all seemed to agree. After all we have seen this in Motera, Chinnaswamy, Green Park and where not? But at the end of the third day, one guy made Dhoni look like a stupid for saying what he did. When was the last time we have seen such a high quality, match turning – in fact match sealing, spell of fast bowling in the subcontinent? We probably have to go back to Imran Khan days. And when was the last time we have seen a great double hundred on a feather bed in the subcontinent? As recently as the last series – this answer would remain the same for every series!

The commentators crib all the time about the lack of balance between bat and ball. And one guy takes it on his own to redress the imbalance, against all odds (a flat track, bigger & better bats, shorter boundaries and what not) and the very same self-appointed custodians of the game fail to recognize it. It’s a shame…

Poor Rohit and a few others...

Of all the people, I feel most sorry for Wriddhiman Saha today. Poor guy, he is already facing a barrage of criticism for being picked ahead of Karthik and Parthiv as a back up for Dhoni. And of all possible eventualities, he makes his debut as a specialist batsman today. If he doesn’t go on to have a good test career, he would be one of the curious cases featured to death in every sports/cricket related quiz shows. Something along the lines of “Name the guy, who was a wicketkeeper for his state team with a batting average of 35 odd, but made his test debut for India as a specialist batsman” and also “explain why?”.

Now coming to the main script - Could it get any worse for Rohit? From being billed (rightfully) as the inheritor of no.4 slot, to not even finding a spot in the initial squad despite injuries to 2 middle order batsmen, life had come a near full circle for Rohit. Before he could fully complete the circle, he got the call of his life as a back up for the susceptible Laxman despite an indifferent domestic season. And oh good god, what happens next? Gets injured 15 minutes before the start of play! I was so looking forward to hearing the news of Laxman’s unavailability so that Rohit would play today. Sachin and Rohit batting together - Wow, I was licking my lips in anticipation of a feast. I felt terrible when I heard Dhoni mention that Rohit is not in the XI at the toss. If I felt as bad as I did, can’t imagine what emotional turbulence he must have gone through. Would he get another chance to debut anytime soon? What if Badri seals the chance? He would further slide down in the pegging order. But for a man oozing with so much talent and class, it should just be a small stumbling block. My money is on him inheriting the no.4 slot when Sachin eventually retires.

With so much happening on the morning of the test, Rohit must not be the only guy cursing his luck. Manish Pandey, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli and who not? If any of them had been in Nagpur, they would have been assured of a test debut. And that - when there has been no vacancy in the middle order for so long and doesn’t appear any will be there in the near future either - was an opportunity too good to miss for these promising youngsters. Maybe Cheeka could have made a secret call to Mr. Mallya, asking him to arrange a private jet to flow in Manish to Nagpur. In the meanwhile Dhoni could have fielded a substitute or prayed that the top order holds up till then – what say?

Now coming to the torrent of tweets that I saw in the morning about the stupidity (and all other synonyms) of our selectors for not picking extra batsmen in the squad. I, along with a majority of our mainstream cricket journalists in the country have cried hoarse against the policy of picking 14 players (this time they picked 15 outside of Rohit Sharma) for a home test. We argued that was too much of a luxury and that the reserve players are better off playing domestic cricket than warming up the bench. Australia picks just 12 for any home test we said. Now today we flip around and say that the selectors should have picked more. That’s the kind of consistency (in logic that is) that would make Mohd. Ashraful proud.

Its fair to argue that the selectors picked a 15 member squad for this series anyway, so they could have planned better and picked the squad accordingly. But think about this - in the last few years, how many times have we had a change in the batting order? Compare that with the number of changes we have had in our bowling combinations – that answers why fewer batting back ups were picked. In a squad of 15, one slot went to the reserve WK because of MSD’s persistent back trouble. Of the remaining 14, 3 extra bowlers were selected to give Dhoni the flexibility to choose either 3 seamers & a spinner or 2 seamers & 2 spinners with an extra back up for both seam and spin option. This might appear to be a luxury but since we had a settled batting line up and the selectors were having the conviction of playing Badri and Vijay in the XI, batting reserves were done away with. Sensibly Rohit was later added to the squad as cover for Laxman. Lets not forget that Laxman was in the XV because he had a realistic chance of being fit for the match unlike Dravid and Yuvraj. So for the sixth batsman’s slot, it was either a fit Laxman or Rohit was the logic. But how on earth could we anticipate both of them being unfit to play on the morning of the test - it was just a highly improbable event ( a “black swan” if we could call it one). This bout of criticism against the selectors seems to be more of a hindsight bias – I can’t remember anyone being seriously critical of the balance of the team before the series started.

Now let’s talk about the handling of the black swan event. As unfortunate as it was, Rohit’s last minute injury was the best premise for MSD to have gambled with a five bowler formula. The selection of Saha would have been a little more justified if Dhoni had played as a specialist batsman and Saha as the keeper. But that was not the case. Dhoni will not get a better chance than this to test the 5 bowlers combination. Surely a genuine bowler would have been more valuable than playing a specialist WK as a batsman whose domestic batting record is not much to boast about. I guess MSD has programmed the idea of a team as 6 batsman, himself and 4 bowlers so hard that he couldn’t change it when the opportunity presented itself. If he didn’t do it today, I cant imagine him playing 5 bowlers ever.

And what’s gotten into Yousuf Pathan? Oh boy, did he play a blinder today (it must have been a blinder - I didn’t see a single ball of the match!). I so regret choosing to watch India-SA live on TV, when I should have witnessed history being made in Uppal stadium, which is not too far from where I stay – its been a day of hindsight biases!