Three games, three heroes

It was a disappointing end to the one-day series for India. They had a great chance to score a whitewash against the South Africans for the first time, but they preferred to rest their key players and tested out the bench strength, which resulted in a rather one-sided victory for the Proteas. Yet, the matter of the fact was that India won the series rather handsomely and there were some memorable performances even in such a short series. Presenting a rewind of top three performances of the series.

Game 1, Jaipur

Jadeja’s all-round act (22 and 2/29)

In a high-scoring game, where most of the batters were at ease, it was Ravindra Jadeja’s tight left-arm spin that made the difference. The Indian pacers, Ashish Nehra and S. Sreesanth went for plenty, and though they did pick up three wickets among themselves, they also ensured that South Africa stayed in the hunt. On the contrary, Jadeja not only kept the runs down, but also picked up two wickets, crucial ones at that, to derail the Proteas’ chase of 299. He cut short one-day specialist Herschelle Gibbs’ promising knock and later cleaned up AB de Villiers, who was also looking dangerous.

His cameo with the bat towards the fag end of the innings also came in handy, considering that India ended up winning by a solitary run, thanks to a late surge by the African tail. Jadeja is certainly turning out to be a good utility player for India.

Game 2, Gwalior

Sachin makes history (200 not out)

This was Sachin Tendulkar’s show all the way. Virender Sehwag fell early after India won the toss and batted. But, that did not deter the Indian master. He went on the rampage from the word go and the carnage did not stop till the very end. Come pace or spin, Sachin had an answer to every trick of the South African bowlers. He cut, pull, drove and lofted the bowlers with disdain on a ground that seemed too small for the Indian giant.

Dale Steyn, who destroyed India in the opening Test, was despatched for 89 from his quota of overs. Worse, Wayne Parnell went for 95. The others weren’t spared either. Charl Langeveldt went for a somewhat respectable 70 while Kallis and Duminy combined to leak over the 80. The Sachin magic was very much at display in Gwalior.

There were other handsome contributions in the game as well. Dinesh Karthik registered his highest ODI score of 79 while Dhoni slammed a hurricane like 68 not out. A B de Villiers too impressed with his sublime ton, but the match with undoubtedly be remembered for the indelible Sachin Tendulkar touch.

Game 3, Ahmedabad

de Villiers winning ton (102 not out)

The series was gone. However, the South Africans still had a lot to play for. After all they had never been blanked by India in a one-day series. And that record will stand, albeit with a little help from India themselves. They decided not to field a full-strength and de Villiers decided to take full toll of the inexperienced Indian attack. His 59 ball 102 included 11 hits to the fence and 3 over it. It was as if he was avenging the humiliation meted out to them at Gwalior, with great support from skipper Kallis.
The Indian bowling figures read similar to those of the Proteas in the previous game. Here was Sreesanth’s chance to lead the attack, but he failed miserably, conceding 83 in nine overs. As such, much couldn’t be expected from rookies Sudeep Tyagi and Abhimanyu Mithun. All were slammed. The de Villiers magic was in full bloom and the Indians had no answer to it.

There are cricket stadiums and then there is Eden Gardens. Yes, a match at the Lord’s of India brings along with it humongous expectations every time, that of a historic Indian win. Mohammad Azharuddin always scored runs here — even when he batted with his eyes closed, his protégé of sorts VVS Laxman has scored four hundreds and over a 1,000 runs in nine Test, and Harbhajan Singh would die to play cricket over here game after game.

Undoubtedly, this ground at Kolkata holds special memories for India. Can we ever forget that miraculous turnaround in 2001 against Australia? It was only fitting then at India retained their numero uno status with yet another superlative performance against the chief contender for the throne, South Africa.

So what is it about the Eden that makes cricket viewing such an amazing experience? The main reason, without an eye blink, has to be the wonderful crowd (1996 being an exception of sorts) that turns up in huge numbers to witness a Test on all five days of a game. Rarely, even in India, will we see a full house for the traditional version of the game.

It happens only in Eden! Sad then that the venue doesn’t get a chance to host enough Tests, while lesser venues keep getting opportunities time and again despite producing dull draws. A lot of it must be due to the political battle between Bengal’s cricketing association and the BCCI in recent times. True, the crowd too isn’t the most sporting when India loses, but then that isn’t reason enough not to give the ground its due, at least not yet.

After all, the Eden Gardens has given us so many wonderful, unforgettable memories. It was here that VVS Laxman became Very Very Special and Harbhajan Singh turned into the Turbanator. Some of the shots Laxman played during that knock of 281 will be etched in our memories till time immemorial.

And for not one moment during that innings did he ever come even close to getting out. Once again, it was the Eden magic at work. The unbelievably high decibel of noise the crowd makes gives the opposition the illusion that they are playing against 60-70 thousand people instead of 11. Laxman has played many good knocks elsewhere, but it’s at Eden that he has always looked at home.

Same is the case with Harbhajan. This was the same ground at which he had resurrected his international career with a match-turning bowling performance against the Aussies. Before this game, he was miserably struggling to find his rhythm. But look what the return to his favourite venue did for the heavily under-fire off-spinner.

Not only did his performance lift to incredible heights, but the team’s fortunes turned around astoundingly as well, despite a Nagpur-like start for the South Africans with the bat. One is not sure if Harbhajan will repeat such heroics at other venues, but be rest assured that the next time he steps on to the Eden turf, he will deliver something out of the ordinary.

Yes, that’s the magic of Eden Gardens!

In a two-match series, when you are 1-nil down, it is next to improbable to make a comeback. But, the present Indian team, under MS Dhoni has made it a habit of constantly delivering the goods when the chips are completely down.

And the second Test against South Africa at Eden Gardens was no exception. India had been humiliated at home in the first Test, a rarity in itself, and two of their main batters weren’t fit for the Kolkata challenge. There was extreme pressure on Harbhajan Singh, in particular, to perform following the team’s miserable bowling effort at Nagpur.

Add to it, there was hardly a few days’ gap between the two Tests and there was plenty of pitch talk, pertaining to the grass on the wicket. Yet, when the moment arrived, Team India stood up to be counted.

The South Africans, who were ruthless in the opening Test, floundered with their batting after winning the toss, and it was just the window of opportunity India needed to comeback into the game.

Zaheer Khan, who unfortunately could not bowl much in the second essay, was brilliant in the first innings and set up the game nicely for India. He has had the knack of grabbing the big fishes, and did exactly that at the Eden Gardens.

For the other experienced bowler Harbhajan, it was almost like a do-or-die game. He hadn’t performed well in the recent past and was severely criticized in the media, some of it was fair and some rather derogatory.

But, the offie took things in this stride and answered the critics in the only way a cricketer can. He must thank his stars that he was playing at Eden Gardens, without doubt his favourite ground. Once he got a wicket, he was a different bowler altogether.

The manner in which he foxed Ashwell Prince and JP Duminy on the final morning reminded one of the carnage the Aussies were subjected to by the Turbanator at the same ground 9 years ago. Of course, he has lost a lot of the zip he possessed in those days, but if he can come up with more such performances, there is no reason why he still can’t remain India’s number one spinner.

Harbhajan’s lack of success has been attributed to the absence of Anil Kumble, who retired two seasons. While that’s a pretty fair assessment, the good news for him is that Amit Mishra proved he can be quite a potent weapon.

I am in no way comparing Mishra to the legendary leg spinner, but the delivery with which he took out Jacques Kallis was hint enough to suggest that he could be the next special thing in Indian cricket. That’s still a long way away though. For starters, he needs to maintain consistency over a reasonable period of time, and provide the requisite support to Harbhajan.

And while it wasn’t surprising that India put up an exceptional batting performance, they still need to be credited for it. After Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar played their part, India still could have been in trouble.

But, VVS Laxman demonstrated why he was so sorely missed at Nagpur. It was his and Dhoni’s ton that buried the Proteas. And though Hashim Alma and the tail kept India at bay till the closing moments, the magic of Eden had the final say.

There are plenty of lessons for India to learn from the debacle at Nagpur, none bigger than the fact that they shouldn’t pick unfit players in the side no matter how big a player is. As we all saw, there was talk that VVS Laxman could be drafted in at the last moment if fit.

However, it wasn’t to be and, as sheer bad luck would have it, stand by Rohit Sharma also twisted his ankle, moments before the game. It didn’t cost India the Test, but must have surely dented their psyche severely, as they had no option but to pick Wriddhiman Saha as the seventh batsman. India’s plans completely went for a toss and their performance in the Test reflected it.

Except for the initial half an hour, when Zaheer Khan struck two deadly blows, the Indian bowling look completely insipid. Nothing should be taken away from Hashim Amla, who batted brilliantly as well as Jacques Kallis, who proved that there is still enough fire in his belly to fight tough battles. However, there are no two ways about it that India could and should have definitely done better.

The bowling has been a worry for quite a while now for India and the signs are hardly encouraging. Zaheer Khan is the only quality bowler around, and he too is approaching the dangerous mid-30s. Ishant Sharma may have done well against Bangladesh, but against a quality opponent like South Africa, he was back to his insipid worst. The change in action hasn’t made an inch of difference. Ishant has to do some real soul-searching.

There was a time in Indian cricket was spinners used to run through the best of opponents at home. But, since the retirement of Anil Kumble things have definitely changed, and how. Everyone now seems tired of pointing out that Harbhajan Singh is not the same bowler he was in 2001. He has lost the zip and nip that made him such a force to reckon with.

One can of course give him the benefit of doubt saying, he bowled on the first two days of the Test when the pitch was at its best. However, the fact of the matter remains that such performances have become far too common for comfort from India’s point of view. Unfortunately, he is still the best spinner we have on offer. Speaking of Amit Mishra, he had an impressive debut against Australia, but has done precious little since. The leggie needs to prove sooner rather than later that it wasn’t a one-off.

Despite the disastrous batting performance, one would do well not to read too much into it. Gautam Gambhir’s failure was long overdue. Virender Sehwag could not carry on to make a big hundred and Sachin Tendulkar’s ton wasn’t enough. Also, one cannot replace legends like Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman overnight. The duo has led the Indian fight back on innumerable occasions and was sorely missed. Even so the youngsters need to be given some time to settle down into the scheme of things.

Amidst all the calamitous happenings, there were a few positives. Debutants S Badrinath and Saha did show some spunk, which augurs well for the future. Murali Vijay looked good, but yet again fell in his nervous 30s. At the end of the day, India may have lost embarrassingly, but it wasn’t a bad result considering the long-term targets of the team, as they unwittingly got a peek into the future.

Can India retain their numero uno status in test cricket? If so, for how long?

India got to number one by beating Sri Lanka. To be at the top of the Test level for long it is vital that all facets of the game are covered be it fielding, bowling or batting. Today, I will be doing a SWOT Analysis of the Indian cricket team which will tell us whether India are a long term number one or whether Australia and South Africa are coming back to take the top post away.

As Ian chapell famously said with India its not India who has taken the top post from Australia. Australia have come down to the level of India after having lost their great players—India haven’t pulled themselves too high.

S-Strengths—
Batting—India’s batting remains a huge plus for them. They seem to un-ending talent when it comes to the batting department. An example to this is how great players like Rahul Dravid and Sourav ganguly have been replaced with such ease at the ODI level. I don’t think any team could have coped with the loss of such great batsmen that easily. After laxman and Tendulkar India seem to have talent in young virat kohli, subramaniam badrinath, rohit Sharma and plenty others.

The batting department seems to be covered. Bowling- India’s only bowling strength seems to be Zaheer khan. He is the only bowler who seems to have done well in the past 18 months. Harbhajan who has been the other permanent feature in the line-up has under-performed which is a major concern for the Indian team.

W-Weaknesses
Bowling-
Harbhajan singh—Bhajji continues to be a worry for India. His performance after anil kumble’s retirement has gone down immensely. He hasn’t assumed the role of the main strike bowler as of yet and is a grave cause of concern for the 6 wise men (Selectors).
India’s lack in bowling depth—VVS Laxman recently mentioned in one of the papers that India doesn’t seem to have that kind of bench strength when it comes to the spin bowling department. Bench strength doesn’t mean the number of players it means the number of quality players. Hence India in spite of having lots of pace bowlers—barely one or two quality ones are to be seen.

Fielding-
India’s fielding is a worry. They have to pounce on to their catches and there is no athletic fielder in the Indian test ranks especially after Yuvraj seems to have given his belly some working. Perhaps that will be sorted once the seniors make way for the youngsters.

O-Opportunities
Bowling-
Since India have one of the longest bowling line up in the world clearly they can convert some of them into good ones. With BCCI (Board of control for cricket in India) being the richest cricket board in the world they can develop a lot of camps not just at state levels but also at the junior level which will help develop bowlers for the future and will stand in good stead for India in the future.

T- Threats
With cash rich leagues like the IPL and champions league coming in young talent could sway towards the money part of the game in order to support their families. Hence, it is vital for the Indian board i.e. the BCCI to take the required actions and prevent this from happening.

Another possible threat could be India could just over rely on their batting strength which would not develop their bowlers. We saw how Irfan Pathan started concentrating on his batting more than his bowling. The same seems to be happening to harbhajan Singh too.

If India indeed want to stay at the top level, especially with Australia slowly but surely coming back to full strength they would have their task cut out. The main challenge for India will come when they will tour South Africa, England and Australia especially without the likes of VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid and the master himself Sachin Tendulkar.

Whether or not the young guns would be able to produce the goods under such un-friendly batting conditions is yet to be seen. But, as of now India need to work on their bowling skills. They need Ishant Sharma to get his rhythm back so that he gets his pace back. Once his pace his back to the mid 140’s the nip back in to the batsmen would be more effective. India cannot be too content with Harbhajan Singh. They need to use Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha a lot more in all forms of the game. Only once the pressure is there on harbhajan will he need to perform.

All good teams have wonderful fielding units; although India have a wonderful set of catchers; they need to make sure they need to improve their work in the outfield. However, the most important thing and the fact of the matter still remains that to stay at number one you need to win test matches all around the world and you won’t win test matches without taking 20 wickets too often, in other words you need quality bowlers to win you test matches.