on holiday

I'm on holiday right now. will be back in london in early january 2005
cheers
karthik

A rare Gem

It is often said ''the value of something is seldom realised until it is lost''. This is a saying which would go very well with Indian cricket.We celebrate our cricketers when they do well,and criticise them when their performances do not meet out never ending expectations.However, when it comes to recognising the performances of our players over a period of time, little credit is given to the genuine champions.
Anil Kumble is one such cricketer who has hardly got his due from Indian fans.The words 'commitment' and 'determination' fit Kumble better than anyonelse.He has now reached a very significant milestone in his career. When he dismissed Mohammad Rafique leg before Anil Kumble became the leading wicket taker for India in test cricket,to add to the achievement of him being the leading wicket taker in odis too.Kumble has been through many ups and downs in his career,but the single common factor in all these experiences is his fighting spirit.A gentleman to the core,he channelises all the aggression and energy into his bowling,as he sets up the trap for many a batsman.

An Indian win at home has almost always been associated with an Anil Kumble 5 wicket haul at home. True,Tendulkar and Azzharuddin played a major role in the 1990s when it came to putting up runs on the board, but they always had the comfort factor that Kumble would never fail the team when it came to delivering when they needed it the most.It all began at home with Gooch's Englishmen,who ignored him at their own peril.Kumble,Raju and Chauhan spun a web around the Englishmen, and before they knew what had happened,the series was 3-0 in Indias favour.A whitewash of Srilanka then followed as India went through a golden period when they were invincible at home.It must be noted here that India have never lost a home series under the captaincy of Azharuddin,a very proud record to have indeed.When the Australians arrived in 1998,Kumble was the key bowler.Ricky Ponting had no clue as to how to play his quicket one,and finished the tour with just a single half century.The same happened to Flintoff when England toured under Hussain.

The icing on the cake is definitely the 10-74 he took against Pakistan in Delhi.I have a collectors edition of that bowling performance,which displays photographs of each of the batsman he dismissed that day.Everytime I look at this it fills me with pride. Pride that we as a cricketing nation have such a fine performer amongst us.Kumble bowling with a broken jaw in Antigua is one of the bravest acts in cricketing history without a doubt. Such gems are rare and come few and far in between.We need to learn to cherish these moments and appreciate our cricketers for what they are. Shane Warne may have a bigger fan following,but then there are few cricketers who have a reputation as tarnished as Warnes! Some day soon,maybe in a couple of years,Anil Kumble will call it a day.When he does,Indian cricket will be poorer for it,believe you me.

Time to experiment

Wicketkeepers in Indian ODI teams have been mere passengers in recent years,with Rahul Dravid donning the gloves which enables the team to play 7 batsmen,a strategy which has met with quite a lot of success,regardless of what critics say.There has been the odd game when a specialist has played,like in Lords earlier this year when Dinesh Kaarthick was given a chance.

I myself am a big fan of the 7 batsman strategy, one of the reasons being that we do not have a wicket keeper good enough to bat 7. We have tried several wicket keepers: Sameer Dighe,Vijay Dahiya, Parthiv Patel to name a few but none of them met with much success.It was during the tour of the WestIndies that Rahul Dravid started keeping regularly,and he has carried on ever since. However with the selectors dropping VVS Laxman from the shorter version of the game, I believe the time has come to 'experiment' with a new gameplan.

Although Laxman might feel a bit hard done at being dropped,I believe it is the right move. With the result of the Bangladesh series a foregone conclusion, it would not harm India to play their new wicket keeper,Mahendra Dhoni,in all the three games. Dhoni batted beautifully in the games hes played for India A and is a powerful hitter of the cricket ball. This is the perfect time for India to try him out.If he proves himself capable to play at the international level,it would be fantastic for India as it would reduce the burden on Rahul Dravid.

Although VVS Laxman batted beautifully in the VB series last year,his inability to bat at positions but for number 3 affected the team balance. A good one day player must have the ability to adapt to different batting positions.
Tendulkar,Ganguly,Sehwag have all,at some point of their careers had to bat at positions alien to them,but they were good enough to adapt to the team's game plan. When Laxman bats at numbers 4 or 5,he struggles to keep the strike rotating as a major chunk of his runs are usually scored in boundaries.

India could always revert back to the 7 batsman theory if Dhoni at 7 doesn't work out very well but then,we got to give it a go!

Cricket round up

A win in need is....

India did very well indeed to beat South Africa by 8 wickets in Kolkata. It was a much needed win to boost team India's morale and to silence all the doubting Thomases,albeit for the time being. Couldn't help but notice the sarcasm in Saurav saying ''we'll try to beat bangladesh'' and he did make his displeasure known about the pitches when he said ''South Africa played well but they dint get the spinning tracks touring teams usually get''. Valid points indeed dada.


Kumble's 434

A fantastic and well deserved landmark indeed for Anil Kumble, the genial leg spinner who has bowled India to so many victories over the past 15 years.Kumble has always been criticised for his bowling away from home but superb efforts down under and across the border earlier this year have taken critics by surprise.At home Kumble is one of the most dangerous ever. Visiting teams have taken him lightly at their own peril- ask Gooch's Englishmen who found that out the hard way in 1993, in what must surely be one of the most underprepared teams ever to visit the subcontinent.Kumble has had success in almost every single home series with his 10-74 against Pakistan standing out for it was just the second time in test history that a bowler took all ten in an innings. (More on this in the next article)

Best ever

Have had enough of this nonsense about Tendulkar not being the player he was. Give him a break people,hes just back from injury and it does take time, even for a supremely talented genius like him. Sachin is the best judge of himself and has said in the December 2004 issue of Wisden that he thinks hes got a good five years left atleast and people are jumping the gun by saying hes past his best. Tendulkar, for me, is the best batsman of his time without a doubt, and one of the best ever to have played the game, and so shall it always be.


Tough times


Pakistan slide to a morale shattering defeat in their tour opener against Western Australia's 2nd eleven. Tough times ahead,given that 10 proper batsmen couldn't chase 94 (it was a 11 to field,11 to bat game where pakistan rotated amongst 15 players) but it wasn't enough apparently! Australia have cleverly slotted in a 3 day game at Perth and then the first test match too is at Perth. By the time Pakistan go into the second game, there are gonna be a few bruised egos, and bodies! Although the bowling is pretty good,must be said that Pakistan's batting is a bit raw and they need some time to settle in.