Home Advantage? Whats that?

In recent times,after the first India-Southafrica test match there have been some interesting comments been made. One of the articles said something along these lines,
''In the past last couple of year,right from Newzealand's tour of India, our team has not had a good record in home tests.We have won 1 test, lost 2 and drawn 4 of them. ( 0-0 Vs NZ, lost 2,won 1, drew 1 against Australia and now, a drawn test against the Proteas). India have not made any use of the home advantage...''

I was very surprised to read the two words 'home advantage'. Excuse me, Home advantage? Whats that? Its fast becoming an alien concept in our country. Its all hunky dory to just have a glance at the record, but to put things in perspective one HAS to think about the kind of pitches that were provided for these games. In the NewZealand series, the pitches at Ahemadabad and Mohali both produced huge scores in two drawn games, India holding the upperhand in the first and the Kiwis in the second but both pitches almost had nothing in it for India's spinners in the first 4 days of the game. In the Australia series, it must be admitted that the Chennai and Bangalore tracks did suit the spinners but the Nagpur wicket was a green top, suiting the Aussies perfectly.The Kanpur wicket was similar to the one prepared in Ahemadabad, plenty of runs in it but absolutely dead with nothing in it for all bowlers. With pitches such as these, its just not fair to put the blame on the Indian team for their results at home in the recent past. They have been given dead surfaces for two tests (Vs Newzealand and Southafrica) and a green top while playing Australia.

At this point, some readers may get the feeling that if spinning tracks are the only way we will win tests, then it won't be of much help when we tour abroad. I'd like to point out here that India's current captain, Saurav Ganguly holds the record for most number of away wins. Test match wins in Zimbabwe,Australia,West Indies,England were not acheived with the help of spin alone.This alone should be sufficient proof that we do have quality cricketers who can win away from India too. It is just downright stupid that when we have two of the best spinners in the world in Harbhajan and Kumble we keep preparing pitches which have no life in them.

I think its high time the BCCI discuss this issue in detail with the Grounds and Wickets Commitee. After all, why do you think people in India pour into the cricket grounds? For the curator in Nagpur who thought he was 'oh so clever' in making a point with his green top? Or for the Mohali cricket association who take pride in preparing their seaming tracks? No its because they want to watch their stars play and they want to watch Indian win. Since our strength is spin,then so be it that we play on spinning tracks at home. If the opposition wish to win in India, they should be good enough to conquer us in our conditions, like Australia did in Bangalore.The coach and the captain should be able to contact the pitch curator well before a series begins and explain what kind of pitches the team would like, and it should be followed to a T.

A spinning track can be a good cricket wicket, as the Chennai wicket has proved over the years. It does have something in it for the bowlers with the new ball. Batsman usually make big scores in the first innings, and from day 4 onwards the spinners get into the game.

There is still a game to go in this India-South Africa series, and its going to be interesting to wait and see what kind of a pitch we get there. I can hardly wait!
Karthik

Butt and Inzamam secure win

India's loss to arch rivals Pakistan at the Eden Gardens on Saturday was quite unexpected, especially after the batsmen had done a wonderful job in posting a huge total on the board. Yurvaj Singh's return to form was very welcome indeed and VVS Laxman played some amazing shots in the course of his stylish innings.Shahid Afridi bowled very well indeed and brough Pakistan back into the game when Sehwag was looking very dangerous. Although it is in Sehwag's nature to go after almost every bowler I can't help but wonder whether it would serve India's cause better if Sehwag planned his batting a bit more wisely. Afridi is one bowler who fires his stuff into the batsman and it would be a better option to use his pace and place the ball rather than trying to slog sweep him. If Sehwag had been dismissed against Shoaib Malik playing a similar shot then I'd have said that it was a risk worth taking as he definitely had a better chance in succeeding with it than off Afridi.

There are some games when one just has to accept that the oppostion played better, and this was one of them. Pakistan's chase was very well controlled with Salman Butt playing a very mature innings ,of course with captain Inzamam setting an example by putting a price on his wicket. For a youngster in just his 6th match, to play the way Butt did, in front of a capacity Eden Gardens crowd screaming themselves hoarse was indeed very special.He did not let his nerves get to him and appeared composed during his stay at the crease. Once Pakistan reached the last 10 overs with 7 wickets in hand it was always going to be their game as they just had to play sensibly from there on to win, which they certainly did.

One incident in the match I remember very clearly is the 37th over Irfan Pathan bowled to Inzamam. He beat Inzamam with an outswinger and 2 balls later followed it with a short one which hit Inzi on his stomach.This rattled Inzimam who swished at the next one only to get beaten by the bounce.The last ball of the over was a very cleverly disguised slower one which Inzi completely misread and couldn't put bat to ball. Irfan Pathan smile at the end of this over said it all.It was Irfan at his best ,beaming at his own magic,where he made one of the best batsmen in the world look very amateur indeed. Although Inzi had the last laugh,with Pakistan winning, Patahn was one bowler who could leave the ground with his head high.

India now have the South Africans to contend with in the 2 test series at home. South Africa are a rebuilding unit, and for all that their coach and captain may say,it takes more than 'love and care' to beat India in India:) My prediction would be a 2-0 win to India with plenty of runs for our batsmen.More on this in the next post.
Karthik

All is fair in love and war

Finally an Indian win! Believe you me, i savoured each and every minute of it. I know its a dead rubber that we've won but a test match win against Australia is something to be celebrated at any time. This is just the morale booster India needed before the Proteas arrive for the 2 test series.

The pitch was definitely not upto test standard but to be totally honest I would prefer this pitch any day to the one given at Nagpur. I once again would like to stress upon the fact that at home, it is the needs of the home team which should be catered too first and foremost. Australia have no right to crib about the pitch,especially since they were given a green top which suited them perfectly in Nagpur.Credit must be given to India for the fantastic manner in which they fought back after being bowled out for 104 in their first innings. The spin twins,Harbhajan and Kumble bowled very well indeed, but Murali Kartik's performance was extremely inspiring. India now have 3 world class spinners,you might say its too early to judge Kartik but sometimes just a performance is proof enough,just as Clarke's innings in Bangalore was proof of his potential and class. The rainbow nation, depleted already due to Gibbs and Boje pulling out of the Indian tour will have problems aplenty. South Africa don't have much depth in their bowling, and I will be very surprised if India don't provide them with rank turners.

Anyways back to India's win, a word on the performances of Sachin and VVS. Genius does what genius must- their 91 run partnership on an ''almost impossible to bat on'' was a match winning one. Both of them were under pressure, Sachin cause of the high expectations (whats new?) and VVS under pressure to deliver or be sent back to play Ranji cricket. I remember Sachin playing a similar innings in the 1996 tour of the West Indies when he made 44 on a mine field of a track. Here too, he assessed the situation perfectly and knew that postive cricket was India's only way to get back at the Aussies.

Ricky Ponting and company were then bowled out for 93, a miserable effort,whatever the state of the game, pitch,match or series and the arguement that Australia had lost steam cause of the series win doesn't hold a place in my book. The Aussies told anyone who was ready to listen before the game that 3-0 was their goal. Well the Indians under Dravid proved a point to the Aussies,albeit a bit too late in the series.