Virender Sehwag justified the national selection panel’s decision with a scintillating 75 on Saturday against India Green before he erred while looking good for a century

Nagraj Gollapudi in Ahmedabad27-Oct-2007

Dilip Vengsarkar, India’s chairman of selectors, stressed on form and fitness when he announced the team for the first two matches of the forthcoming one-day series against Pakistan at home. Virender Sehwag has had trouble on both fronts for a while so it was surprising to see him among the 15 chosen.On Thursday, after a disappointing performance against India Red, where he managed only 9, Sehwag told a television journalist: “What interview can I give when I haven’t done anything”. But the selectors felt he had done enough and drafted him back in to the squad for the first time since the tour to Bangladesh earlier in May.Sehwag will be aware he can’t take it easy now. Even though he said, “I had expected a recall,” he must know he was rather fortunate to have got ahead of S Badrinath, who will once again have to wait on the sidelines before the selectors formulate a clear approach of giving him a fair trial.The selectors did say that Sehwag’s past form in the Test arena impacted their final decision. Sehwag himself was to later admit, “It gives me the confidence to be back against Pakistan, against whom I have done well.” Sehwag’s Test average against Pakistan is a whopping 91.14 from nine Tests, but his one-day average against them is a modest 32 in 20 ODIs.What matters now is where Sehwag will fit into the playing XI, if he does actually gets there. Sehwag said he would let the captain decide what position he fits into, even though his career figures suggest he is better off batting in the top three.Vengsarkar is of a firm view that form is not quanitfiable; instead it’s a personal judgement. And Sehwag justified the national selection panel’s decision with a scintillating 75 on Saturday against India Green before he erred while looking good for a century.Sehwag got into the groove pretty early and flicked the first ball of the innings from Munaf Patel to the fine-leg boundary. It was the sign of the things to come. Sehwag’s skill lies in his raw, unencumbered approach to batting. His batting is not easy on the eye but the ease with which he dispatches the bowlers is dazzling. Once you see it, you can’t forget it.At Motera, for about an hour, Sehwag freed himself and lay to waste the India Green bowlers. Unlike the hesitation he displayed in the first game on Thursday, the tone was set pretty early. Abhishek Nayar provided ideal fodder and Sehwag cashed in on his harmless medium-pace. He struck two boundaries in Nayar’s first over, followed by one more in the second, but Sehwag’s fusillade came with full force in Nayar’s third over: a cover-driven four, a hoicked six over midwicket, a straight lofted four over the bowler’s head and a chopped four to third man which took him two adrift of 50.He went past the milestone in the next over, when he ripped Pankaj Singh to cover and long-on. Parthiv Patel chose not to take the third Powerplay, bringing on the spinners whose pace Sehwag had to adjust to. It was an effective move, with Sehwag throwing his wicket away while trying to cut one that darted in from Iqbal Abdulla, and brought an abrupt halt to a rampaging innings.He briefly acknowledged the spectators’ cheers with a half-raised bat but changed his mind and walked off with his head down. Sehwag had to be angry at himself for missing out on a deserved century. But he didn’t have to hold his head down for long. While he receieved treatment for his back on the massage table, his team-mates broke the good news.

Dileep Premachandran watches Rahul Dravid get down to business at the RSI ground in Bangalore

Dileep Premachandran31-Oct-2007

It may have been a warm-up, but Dravid’s approach was as meticulous as ever © Getty Images
Strolling around to a shady spot under the trees, I was just in time to watch theshot of the afternoon. Coming off a long run, the pace bowler pitched the ball afraction outside off stump. The batsman leaned forward and the bat arced gracefullydown. Both the fielders in the covers started to move but then froze as the ballsped between them to the boundary. Even from that distance the high elbow and theflourish with which the stroke was played were unmistakeable. This time, though, theyweren’t accompanied by any frenzied applause from the crowd. In fact, there washardly a crowd, just a couple of dozen stragglers, a handful of journalists, and acamera crew waiting for their exclusive.Rahul Dravid came down the pitch to pat it before settling back into his stance. Asthe men he had led for two years prepared for a marquee one-day series against Pakistan,he was back where it had all began, with his Karnataka team-mates, preparing for theRanji season and the two matches that he will get as practice before the three-Testseries against Pakistan starts on November 22.The opposition was provided by a Kerala team on its way to Nagpur. As their coachwatched from a bench, taking notes every so often, he was joined by Tinu Yohannan,one of Indian cricket’s recent what-might-have-been stories. Four years beforeSreesanth made his debut and became the focal point of Kerala’s media and garishadvertising hoardings, Yohannan had been a trailblazer, dismissing MarcusTrescothick on an impressive debut at Mohali.Unlike Yohannan, who faded so fast that he no longer even inhabits Indian cricket’sfringes, Dravid is far from finished. And even though this was the playing field ofthe Rajendra Singhji Institute and not the Eden Gardens, his approach was asmeticulous as ever. Good deliveries were patted back, the time between overs spentworking on the stance, and the loose balls put away across an outfield that was morecabbage patch than Bermuda grass.With spin at both ends, Dravid found the gaps easily enough, even playing a finelap-sweep that raced to fine leg. On a pitch so sluggish that most cuts went throughthe covers, and against bowlers who weren’t in the class of Mohammad Asif or DanishKaneria, the only danger appeared to be a lapse in concentration. When he miscuedone off the leading edge to midwicket, there were a few chirps of encouragement forthe bowler. No one dared, however, to sledge the batsman.Just before tea, as Sunil Joshi – another man who owns an India cap or two – crasheda few fours himself, the Kerala side had their moment in the sun. Dravid rocked backto cut a delivery too close to him, and the edge was smartly taken at slip. BPrasanth, the left-arm spinner who got the wicket, will no doubt treasure the momentfor a lifetime.Dravid walked off slowly, staring ruefully at the outer edge of the bat. As practicewent, it had been a decent outing – 49 runs from 86 balls in a shade under two hours. When he emerged from the tiny dressing room minutes later, thetea was waiting, in little plastic cups rather than bone china. As he was sipping it andtalking to Joshi, who continues to be a domestic titan a decade after hisinternational career fizzled out, he was immediately besieged by the TV crew.”For two years all I’ve done is talk for the cameras,” he told them with a smile.”Just leave me be for now. Let me just enjoy playing a match and spending some timewith my friends.” Having warded off the lenses, he took his time to sign a handfulof autographs, including one from a man whose pocket diary had a picture of Dravidon the front page.As a press photographer clicked away, Dravid even found time for some levity. “Make sure you don’t stop here. Anil Kumble will be here tomorrow. You’d better be around totake pictures of him as well.” Even from that distance the high elbow and theflourish with which the stroke was played were unmistakeable. This time, though, theyweren’t accompanied by any frenzied applause from the crowd The next three weeks will be devoted to the serious business of rediscovering the form that deserted him against a relentless Australian side in the recent one-day series. “I have two games, one against Mumbai [starting on November 3], and another against Himachal,” he said. “It will be good to spend some time in the middle.”The brow was no longer creased with worry, and there was more than a laugh or two ashe caught up with old mates and young hopefuls who were clearly delighted by the opportunity to spend time with one of the game’s greats. In some ways, with the open space, the traffic noises from the MG and Cubbon Roads, and the huge trees dotting the ground, it was a surreal image – a bit like catching Mick Jagger and Keith Richards playing on a street corner in Soho.Four years ago Shane Warne started his rehabilitation in the wake of the drugs ban in thesimilarly nondescript surroundings of St Kilda’s Junction Oval, in a match for Victoria’s second XI. He went on to enjoy three glorious years before the triumphant exit in Sydney last January. If the final chapter of Dravid’s career is anything near as productive, this little piece of parkland in the heart of Bangalore would have done Indian cricket a huge favour.

Stats highlights from the first day of the Kolkata Test between India and Pakistan

S Rajesh and HR Gopalakrishna30-Nov-2007

Three years ago the Indian board put down its objectives in a vision document. How many of those promises has it fulfilled?

Ajay S Shankar30-Sep-2008

— The Cricket Board in the 21st Century, A Vision Paper, BCCI, December 2005

Cattle class: the BCCI may be the richest board in the world, but you wouldn’t know it from the spectator experience at a typical Indian cricket ground © AFP
Three years have passed since the paper quoted from above was distributed among those attending the first working committee meeting of the newly appointed Indian cricket board. During that time India won their first Test series in the West Indies in 35 years, claimed their first Test victory in South Africa, crashed out of the one-day World Cup in the first round, lifted the Twenty20 World Cup, and rattled Australia in Australia. The board itself signed TV deals worth millions of rupees; gagged its selectors, then kicked them out; experimented disastrously with a coach, was turned down by another, and appointed a third in secret; watched a captain quit in dismay; launched the IPL; dominated the ICC boardroom; and to round it off, hosted a game of musical chairs featuring the same old faces in last week’s election farce.”I look back with a lot of satisfaction and contentment,” Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president during the period, said. Another senior official, who was involved in preparing the vision paper, admitted: “Let me put it this way. We have achieved 90% of what we set out to achieve in that document, but there is still some way to go.” Quite some way, actually, if you run through those four pages carefully.”The buzzword should be transparency,” says the document. “There can’t be a better start to the new-look board than resolve that everything we do from here on will be transparent and in the game’s and public interest, be it election or allotting television rights or the team selection.”Except for a few influential BCCI officials and television executives, nobody knows what transpired during the hectic negotiations that led to Nimbus bagging the home television rights in 2006, and Sony walking away with the rights to telecast the IPL. The selectors were gagged early last year, which put paid to what little “transparency” there was in team selection. And the less said about the recent elections the better: a day after the new office-bearers announced the country’s first paid selection panel, one of the five new selectors had yet to be officially informed about his appointment.The rest of the vision document is an exasperating mix of ticks and crosses. Yes, the BCCI flaunts an income of Rs 1000 crore this year, but no, it didn’t fulfill its promise to deliver a world-class viewing experience for the paying public. The board hiked the wages for domestic cricketers, but it didn’t do enough to make sure its best international cricketers were available to play domestic cricket. It promised professionalism, but its cricketers are still forced to fend reporters away in hotel lobbies because there isn’t a qualified media manager to help.Apparently the BCCI now plans to begin work on a second vision paper. But before that, “we all need to introspect and touch our hearts” and ask: what happened to the first one? Cricinfo attempts to join the dots between the promises and the results.Professionalism Vision
The BCCI said it would appoint a chief executive, who would be assisted by various professionals, including separate managers for international affairs and domestic cricket, and separate directors for the print and electronic media.While the idea of keeping a month free of international cricket has been repeatedly stressed by several former players and experts, it has not happened in practice. The board has a fixtures committee that decides on series dates and schedules, but all that it has done since 2005 is cram the calendar with back-to-back games Verdict
After three years the board has clarified that its secretary is its CEO. However, the CEO’s post remains “honorary”, thus ruling out accountability at any level – including the sort of rigorous annual appraisal that is mandatory in any professional organisation. Currently the board’s domestic affairs are run by a chief administrative officer, who is a paid employee and is assisted by a set of junior employees. Two other vital positions, in finance and marketing, are still occupied by elected board members. Imagine a multi-million dollar business without a marketing head or a chief financial officer.Also missing are a professional administrative manager to accompany the team (this position is usually handed out in rotation to state association officials who retain valuable voting rights), and of course, a full-time media manager who travels with the team. The result: chaos in the team hotel, wildly exaggerated news reports based on inaccurate information, news leaks by vested interests, captains having to organise everything from jackets for the team to meetings, and ultimately, a very harassed bunch of cricketers.Domestic cricket Vision
The BCCI promised to “make domestic cricket attractive” by making sure at least four weeks a year, possibly in the month of October, were kept free of international cricket for the team. It was supposed to make it “mandatory for international cricketers to play in the Irani Cup, Challenger Series and Duleep Trophy before the commencement of the international programme”. A significant hike in prize money and match fees was also promised to domestic cricketers.Verdict
The only domestic tournament that has consistently seen significant attendance by international cricketers over the last three years is the Challenger Series, simply because it serves as a national selection platform.While the idea of having a month free of international cricket has been repeatedly stressed by several former players and experts, it has not happened in practice. The board has a fixtures committee that decides on series dates and schedules, but all it has done since 2005 is cram the calendar with back-to-back games, leaving little time for the cricketers to rest and recuperate. MS Dhoni, the one-day captain, virtually lived out of a suitcase for three months at a stretch last year. The only breaks the India cricketers got were not by design: they came thanks to an abandoned tournament in Sri Lanka in 2006, an early exit from the one-day World Cup in 2007, and now the cancelled Champions Trophy. Otherwise it has been a frightening overdose of tacky one-day assignments, like the DLF tri-series in Kuala Lumpur in 2006, and the Kitply Cup in Bangladesh this year.

Ratnakar Shetty (right), the board’s chief administrative officer looks after the organisation’s day-to-day working with the assistance of a set of junior employees © AFP
What has been welcomed across the pitch is a substantial revision in the rewards for domestic cricketers. The BCCI’s outlay on prize-money payments is now Rs 12.6 crore per season. The Ranji Trophy winners get Rs 50 lakh, a seven-fold hike from the previous Rs 7 lakh. Domestic cricketers now get Rs 37,000 per match day.However, it remains to be seen how competitive Indian domestic cricket is. If it was to any significant degree, the top-performing batsmen and bowlers in first-class cricket would be playing in the Indian team – or at the least be among the frontrunners for a place in it. Yet Vinay Kumar, the Karnataka allrounder who was the leading first-class wicket-taker last season, was not deemed good enough to play in the Irani Trophy, the season opener, last month.Also, while the best cricketers of the domestic season receive awards, umpires and coaches are yet to be recognised similarly, as promised.InfrastructureVision
The board’s stated aim was to create infrastructure of international standards across the country, for the players and the paying public. “The president [Pawar] is very clear that there cannot be any compromise on facilities to players and paid spectators as they are the gods for cricket administrators,” says the vision document.Verdict
Indian cricket’s chief stakeholders are the paying public, who with their remote control buttons and ticket purchases made the BCCI the billion-dollar board it is. Yet, cricket-watching remains a nightmare in the common stands of most stadiums (the IPL ensured that the wealthy at least got to sit on plastic chairs), where the basic facilities are, well, less than basic.It’s not very different in the drawing rooms, where the first and last balls of overs are buried under an avalanche of TV advertisements. The standard of cricket commentary during home series and domestic games is generally abysmal. The commentators during the IPL sounded more like salesmen than cricket experts, and the “layman” anchors in the studio didn’t help matters any.The only consolation, if you can call it that, for spectators is that facilities for domestic cricketers are not much better. Only a handful of cricket centres in India have world-class facilities such as indoor nets and gymnasiums. The Punjab Cricket Association stadium in Mohali is one. Two others, Bangalore and Jaipur, owe their infrastructure to the fact that they host the National Cricket Academy and the Rajasthan Cricket Academy.The Ranji Trophy semi-final between Uttar Pradesh and Saurashtra last year was played at Vadodara’s Moti Bagh Stadium, where a derelict building served as dressing room, and a tent as the press boxThe IPCL Stadium in Vadodara, where the Irani Trophy was held, can be termed basic. According to a cricketer who played the match, the venue is “just passable”. Last year’s Irani Trophy was played at Rajkot, the home ground of the then BCCI secretary, which has managed to host important domestic matches or tour games every year, and where players had to manage with plastic chairs in the dressing room.The Ranji Trophy semi-final between Uttar Pradesh and Saurashtra last year was played at Vadodara’s Moti Bagh Stadium, where a derelict building served as dressing room, and a tent outside the extra cover/fine leg boundary as the press box. Even Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, which has gone into renovation now, has neither an indoor facility nor a gym. In fact, most state associations don’t own stadiums and rent them from the local government instead. UP is a case in point.Asked in a recent interview whether the state associations had been able to deploy their funds effectively, Pawar admitted, “There are some problems in getting land for building stadiums and other necessary infrastructure.”PitchesVision
The board had promised to “make a conscious effort to help the state associations to maintain proper grounds and pitches of international standards”.Verdict
There has been a positive shift when it comes to pitches in domestic cricket. Significantly larger numbers of matches produce results now, pace bowlers get much more assistance, and the days of boring one-innings draws seem to be past. The BCCI has held a number of seminars for curators, which were attended by senior officials and experts.Daljit Singh, the head of the board’s pitches committee, says many smaller venues, in states such as Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Tripura, now have sporting pitches. Daljit has put together a comprehensive instruction manual, which is soon to be translated into various regional languages. There is also a plan to grade curators, as is done with umpires, so that the best in the country can be identified.

Mohali is that rare beast, the top-class Indian cricket ground © Getty Images
All is not well, though, as the Kanpur Test against South Africa this year showed. The pitch was deemed to be substandard and the ICC issued an official warning to the BCCI saying as much.Funding for statesVision
The board promised to try and help state associations get sponsors for their teams, as part of its marketing strategy. “Again, in tune with domestic cricket elsewhere in the world of sport, all domestic teams will have brand names that will fetch them sponsorship as well as help them create fan clubs to follow their fortunes,” it said.Verdict
Most of the major state teams do have sponsors, but the line about fan clubs is surely a joke. Then again, the IPL has moved the goalposts by providing Rs 203 crore this year to be distributed among the state associations – 70% of the fees paid by the franchises to the board. This payment is in addition to the states’ share of the BCCI’s television-rights revenue, which totalled Rs 371.89 crore in the financial year 2007-08. This renders the issue of sponsorship moot in many cases. As Pawar said, “When they were getting less money, they certainly needed sponsors . Now that they are getting grants in crores, they need not worry about sponsors.”The vision paper adds: “All avenues for marketing and merchandising which are exploited internationally in disciplines like soccer, golf, tennis, NBA, NFL, World Series Baseball etc. should be done in respect of Indian cricket. Some of the areas are: corporate hospitality, clothing and cricketing memorabilia, brand and image building including protection of copyrights and registration of logo in international market, exploitation of rights in emerging areas like the Internet, cellular including G-4, broadband etc.” When Cricinfo read this section out to a state association official, he laughed out loud. “This can only be Lalit Modi [the IPL chairman],” he said. “This would probably apply to an IPL franchise, but not at any state association that I have heard of. I have no idea what this means.”Marketing and television rightsVision
The board claimed it wanted to end speculation over the sale of television rights. It said in the paper that it “would like to come up with a transparent method which will not only benefit the Board financially, but will also help in restoring its image as an organization which has become the epicentre of international cricket”.There has been a positive shift when it comes to pitches in domestic cricket. Pace bowlers get much more assistance, and the days of boring one-innings draws seem to be past. The BCCI has held a number of seminars for curators, which were attended by senior officials and experts Verdict
This is one area where the BCCI, predictably, has exceeded all expectations. Nimbus Communications bagged the TV rights for all international and domestic games in India for 2006-2010 with a bid of $612 million (approximately Rs 27 billion), which meant the BCCI raked in Rs 559.31 crore from media rights last year alone. In fact, the money has been flowing in faster than anyone can count: Rs 415 crore for team sponsorship, Rs 215 crore for kit sponsorship, and so on.The board clinched a massive US$ 1 billion (Rs 45 billion) deal with Sony for ten years for the IPL, and one with ESPN-Star worth US$ 975 million (Rs 43 billion) for the rights to the Champions Twenty20 League.The BCCI also launched its website last week, 36 months after it promised to. The internet rights to Indian cricket have gone for about US$ 50 million (Rs 2.2 billion).The big question, again, is this: when will all this money translate into a better experience for Indian cricket fans, the so-called “gods of cricket administrators”?The National Cricket AcademyVision
The BCCI wants the NCA to be a year-round technical institute where players can train regularly and interact with experts. “It should be the epicentre for world class coaching facilities so that players from other countries also make use of them. Renowned Indian and overseas cricketers will be part of the faculty,” the vision document says.Verdict
This part of the vision would have been ridiculed as a bad dream until maybe a couple of years ago. But in the last year and a bit, especially after Dav Whatmore, the 1996 World Cup-winning coach of Sri Lanka, took over operational responsibilities, the NCA has developed into the hub of Indian cricket training. New pitches and floodlights have been installed, and the fitness-training facilities have been spruced up. It has also been made compulsory for the players to get fitness certificates from the academy. Experts from India – GR Viswanath, L Sivaramakrishnan – and abroad are invited as consultants, and this year the academy launched a pace wing of its own.Not so long ago, during the height of the agrarian crisis in India, Pawar, who is also the central minister for agriculture, admitted in the national parliament that he was able to devote only two hours a week to cricket administration. Judging by the promises that were made to Indian cricket and the results achieved, Shashank Manohar, Pawar’s successor, will have to spare a little more than that from his busy legal practice.

Andrew Miller presents the plays of the opening day between England and South Africa at Lord’s

Andrew Miller at Lord's10-Jul-2008

Man of the day
When Ian Botham broke Dennis Lillee’s world wicket-taking record in his comeback Test in 1986, Graham Gooch famously asked: “Who writes your scripts?” After today’s supreme performance, nobody ever needs to pose the same question to Kevin Pietersen. For three years and 39 Tests, KP has been plotting this moment, his glorious return against the country of his birth, and how magnificently he played the lead role. He gave furious notice of his intent back in February 2005, when he lacerated one-day centuries in Bloemfontein, Border and Centurion in a hate-suffused series in South Africa, but this was the innings that really counted. His 13th Test century in his 40th match, but the first that will leave him truly fulfilled.Nervous starter of the day
“I sure he’s going to be hugely motivated to perform well, but I’m sure he’ll feel a touch of pressure as well.” Graeme Smith was prophetic in his pre-match assessment of Pietersen. Rarely has KP looked so ill at ease in a Test situation – he arrived at the crease with England in the midst of their wobble, and he would have run himself out second-ball for a duck if Makhaya Ntini’s shy from mid-on had been gathered cleanly at the stumps by Hashim Amla. Pietersen had progressed no further in his innings when Dale Steyn sconed him with a brute of a bouncer – a helmet-rattler that required a lengthy break for running repairs. But crucially, he endured, and inevitably, he flourished.Déjà vu delivery of the day
Some might say that Steyn has enjoyed a meteoric rise as a Test cricketer, and with 78 wickets in the past 12 months alone, it’s hard to argue with his recent statistics. But for Michael Vaughan, one of only three English survivors from the 2004-05 tour of South Africa, Steyn’s abilities have been as unequivocal as a 90mph leg-cutting yorker. That was what he was served up in the second innings of Steyn’s Test debut at Port Elizabeth, and both men remembered the moment only too well. Steyn needed only two deliveries to repeat the dose today – and though this version was arguably less venomous, Vaughan’s footwork betrayed a man who feared what was coming.Collapse of the day
It had all been going so swimmingly for England. A century opening stand on a misleadingly sluggish surface, against a South African attack for whom only the veteran Jacques Kallis had located the right line and length. But then, as can so often happen, their progress was stymied by a duff lbw decision, and suddenly the pitch was livid with demons. Andrew Strauss fell first, to a Morne Morkel offcutter that pitched outside leg, before Vaughan attracted the wrath of Steyn. Then to complete a meltdown of three for three in 13 balls, Alastair Cook fended a snorter off the splice, for AB de Villiers to pouch a dolly in the slips.Serene starter of the day
Ian Bell, by contrast, arrived in the middle with scarcely a care in the world, which is not what the scriptwriters had envisaged. In the assessment of many, not least the South Africa coach, Bell is a man living on borrowed time, odds-on for the chop as and when Andrew Flintoff is ready to reclaim his place. And yet, while Pietersen prodded and fretted in the early moments of his stay, Bell slipped onto the offensive like the mouse that roared. His first delivery, from Steyn, was eased delightfully through the covers for four, and he added four more in 14 balls to reignite England’s innings. One of them, admittedly, was rather streaky, but the intent was what really counted.Decision of the day
When Smith won the toss, he chose to bowl first – a no-brainer on the face of it. After a week of torrential rain, the pitch showed signs of real juiciness, and Vaughan admitted he’d have made the same choice. But instead of a springboard, the track was a bog, and South Africa’s pacemen sunk deeper and deeper into the mire in a lacklustre first session, as Strauss and Cook helped themselves to a century stand. A brief glance at the honours board might have changed Smith’s mind – he hardly found Lord’s a minefield when he made 259 here on his last visit, while England’s batsmen had mustered 21 centuries in their last nine appearances. But the die of the day had been cast.

Stats highlights of the third day of the first Test between New Zealand and India in Hamilton

S Rajesh20-Mar-2009
Sachin Tendulkar scored 100 of his 160 runs on the off side © Cricinfo Ltd
For all those who were doubting Sachin Tendulkar’s run-making ability, he has hit back in glorious style during the 2008-09 season. In seven Tests this season, he averages 64.72, and his three centuries during this period have come within the span of seven innings. With 42 Test hundreds, he is now five clear of the second-placed Ricky Ponting. (Click here for the list of highest centurions.)One of the features of his 160 on the third day in Hamilton was the manner in which he repeatedly peppered the off-side cordon : he scored 75 of his runs in the arc between backward point and extra cover, which is an excellent indication of his form. When he is unsure of his strokeplay, he often reins in those cover-drives, and instead prefers to gather his runs on the leg side. Here, though, 100 of his 160 runs, and 18 out of 26 fours, were scored through the off.The way he changed gears was stunning too. When he first came in to bat, Tendulkar was circumspect: after 40 deliveries he had only scored 14, with a solitary four. His first 50 runs required 118 deliveries, but thereafter he turned it on in style, requiring only 50 more deliveries to get his hundred. Though his rate dropped after he reached his century, he still scored at around four runs per over.Among the bowlers who bowled to Tendulkar, the only one who kept him in check was Daniel Vettori: in 66 balls, Tendulkar scored only 22 off him. Even after settling in and reaching his half-century, Tendulkar wasn’t able to dominate Vettori: in 44 deliveries he faced from Vettori after getting his 50, Tendulkar scored 12. In 73 balls from Chris Martin and Iain O’Brien during this period, he scored 66.

First 50Next 50Last 60Balls faced1185092

BowlerRunsBallsStrike rateChris Martin405868.96Kyle Mills1715113.33Iain O’Brien344969.38James Franklin294367.44Daniel Vettori226633.33Jesse Ryder182962.06Tendulkar was also involved in a 115-run stand with MS Dhoni, the 71st century partnership he has been involved in. Only Ponting (72) and Rahul Dravid (74) have been a part of more century stands.Thanks largely to Tendulkar’s 160, India managed their first 500-plus score in New Zealand. It’s also India’s highest first-innings lead in New Zealand, and significantly higher than the 148-run advantage they had in Auckland in 1976.

If he had to sit in the Gabba stands for next week’s first Test against New Zealand for doing everything in his power to win here, he would have been celebrated

Ali Cook10-Nov-2008

Winning at all costs no longer seems to be the Australian way, but it doesn’t feel like supporters have gained a team to love instead of an uncompromising steamroller. The tourists still walk on the confident-arrogant border, sledge in times of strength and weakness, insist there is only one way to play the game, and mention “the spirit of cricket” as a defence when their behaviour or tactics are challenged.It was one of the reasons Ponting gave for calling on his part-time bowlers instead of looking to his fast men when the over-rate became more of a concern than winning the fourth Test and retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Bowling 90 overs in a day, something the Australians hardly managed over the past five weeks, suddenly came under the banner of a “spirit of cricket” issue. It’s not the sort of response that makes you feel all warm and cuddly for the players’ commitment.There were many stages that cost Australia this game, from India’s strong opening partnerships to the visitors’ failure to attempt to disrupt India’s negative line, to the inability of the fast men to strike regular blows and the illnesses experienced by Brett Lee and Michael Clarke. But no point was harder to understand than Ponting using his spinners on Sunday – and then watching them ease the pressure on India – instead of looking for a quick kill and thinking “stuff the consequences”.If he had to sit in the Gabba stands for next week’s first Test against New Zealand for doing everything in his power to win here, he would have been celebrated. That’s the sort of attacking outlook that would charm people. Ponting chose the defensive option instead and his side suffered and he has been heavily criticised.Ponting has now lost two of the major Test trophies for similar reasons. In England in 2005 Australia was slow to catch on and unable to innovate. That happened again in India, unless picking Cameron White as a specialist spinner for three matches is creative. Old tactics were used with defensive field settings and bowling plans, but new trends were missed, especially with reverse-swing.

When Mahendra Singh Dhoni was in charge of India the side looked vibrant and in control compared to the outfits of Ponting and Anil Kumble. It can’t be a fluke that the two games Dhoni led, India won in dominating fashion. Dhoni was helped by a firing unit, but he provided the energy.Ponting can manage that only when a team is in front, which is probably a product of him not being behind too often. That is changing. Ponting has now slipped below Steve Waugh as the game’s most successful captain – his winning percentage is 68.75 next to Waugh’s 71.92 – and it looks like it will drop further.This is not a side that will dominate all-comers any more and the home-and-away battle against South Africa over the next six months will determine whether Australia head to England for the 2009 Ashes as a world leader or a challenger. Despite a 13-point lead over second-placed India, Australia’s No. 1 spot is no longer undisputed.For the past three Tests, Australia have been behind as soon as they have lost the toss. The fast bowlers have not had regular impact and Jason Krejza showed how much a specialist spinner could achieve with his 12 wickets on debut.Krejza’s performance was the only significant bright spot in another difficult game for the tourists, but he must now wait until the series against New Zealand to discover whether he can make it at home. Without Krejza’s performance here, Australia would have been humiliated. Instead they were beaten badly.”This tour we’ve just been totally outplayed,” Ponting said. “With the exception of the first Test, where we pretty much dominated that game, in any other game we’ve got back to level, but never really got in front. Losing three tosses in a row, if you don’t actually get yourself back in front after the first innings, it’s very hard to win here.”

On the third day in Nagpur, with Australia resuming at 189 for 2, Ponting hoped his side could draw alongside India’s first-innings 441, but they were unable to innovate against the negative bowling of the morning session and the hope of parity was soon extinguished. “Coming here on the third morning I was really positive about how the game was going,” he said.”India adopted a certain style of play that made it very difficult for us, they chipped in with a few wickets and the scoreboard was going nowhere. Being behind on first innings again wasn’t ideal and chasing 380 today was exceptionally difficult.”Australia needed a miracle and it was not possible for this team. Waugh’s side only collected a chase around that size once. How Ponting and his men recover will determine how far they fall. Spirit will have to be shown in stomachs and hearts rather than being something that is talked about in times of trouble.

Mitchell Johnson, it seems, has retained the faith of Ricky Ponting, all but ensuring that the tourists must look elsewhere within their line-up if they are to accommodate the ever-reliable Stuart Clark for the third Test

Alex Brown at Edgbaston28-Jul-2009Ten days of speculation, debate and general gum-flapping over Mitchell Johnson’s selection prospects could amount to nothing. The embattled paceman is favoured to retain his place in the side for the third Test at Edgbaston, increasing the likelihood that the tourists will field a line-up similar, if not identical, to that which slumped to a 115-run defeat at Lord’s last week.With Australia set to gamble on Johnson’s wicket-taking potential, Stuart Clark looms as the most contentious selection issue ahead of the coin toss on Thursday. Australia have desperately missed Clark’s unerring accuracy and steady temperament in the first two Ashes Tests, and the veteran paceman advanced his case for selection at Edgbaston with a solid return of 4 for 74 from 23 overs in the three-day tour match against Northamptonshire.Given the contrasting nature of Johnson’s performance at Wantage Road (1 for 107 from 18.1 overs), many assumed Clark would enter the starting XI for the third Test in a straight-swap for the errant left-hander. But Johnson, it seems, has retained the faith of Ricky Ponting and Jamie Cox, Australia’s on-duty selector, all but ensuring that the tourists must look elsewhere within their line-up if they are to accommodate Clark.Of all the Australia bowlers in this series, Peter Siddle has performed the most modestly, and, like Johnson, has been unable to settle upon a consistent line. Siddle, though, has many influential supporters in the Australian hierarchy – not least Ponting and Tim Nielsen – who covet the raw aggression and intimidation he brings to the attack. He will be difficult to dislodge, even if raw figures (seven wickets at 44.57) suggest he is the most likely to make way.”I thought Stuart bowled particularly well last week at Northants,” Ponting said. ” Siddle showed some good improvement and good signs down in Northampton as well. As far as a pecking order is concerned, you’ll work that out tomorrow when we pick our XI.”Ben Hilfenhaus is presumably secure, given his nine wickets and general mastery of outswing, but the fate of the man who sits atop the series wicket-taking list alongside him, Nathan Hauritz, is less certain. If current weather forecasts prove accurate, and rain severely disrupts proceedings from Thursday, an attritional spinner armed with a greasy ball would be an unlikely candidate to provide Australia with the wicket-taking impetus needed to force their way back into this series.”We’ve checked the stats for county games this season and spinners are averaging about 60 or 70 per wicket,” Ponting told the on Monday. “The numbers aren’t compelling.”Ponting revised his position on spin bowlers on Wednesday, noting with surprise the dryness of the Edgbaston pitch and predicting that both sides would play at least one slow bowler each. Whether Ponting feels Marcus North fits the job description, as he did for the first two Tests in South Africa, will remain a mystery until the coin toss.Should Hauritz be omitted, the murmurs surrounding North’s place in the XI would almost certainly cease. The strong form of Shane Watson and Andrew McDonald at Wantage Road prompted discussion as to whether North’s position at No. 6 could be under threat, but his part-time spin – not to mention his unbeaten 125 in Cardiff – would provide Ponting with variation and over-rate protection at Edgbaston.Of course, there remains the very real possibility that Australia ignore the aforementioned selection permutations and plough on with the same attack from Lord’s and Cardiff. That would represent either a tremendous gamble or complete obstinacy, depending on your viewpoint, after Australia’s lacklustre performance in the second Test, and another backhander to the dependable Clark.

Plays of the day from the IPL fixture between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Deccan Chargers at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium

Siddhartha Talya at the Chinnaswamy Stadium09-Apr-2010Harris harries Bangalore
In conditions aiding movement, Ryan Harris troubled the Bangalore openers with the away-going delivery, after initially struggling for direction and bowling a couple of wides. Manish Pandey was beaten, squared up and he managed an outside edge in his first five deliveries but the sixth, one that nipped back in, won Harris his reward as the struggling batsman was bowled through the gate.Roy Fredericks… almost
Rewind to the 1975 World Cup final, when Roy Fredericks hooked Denis Lillee for six but, in the process, tripped onto his stumps to be out hit-wicket. Virat Kohli almost measured up, as he tried to hook a short ball off Harris only to miss it and lose his balance. However, he was alert enough to just about evade the stumps and survive. What’s more, the ball was called a wide, and it evaded Adam Gilchrist to fetch Bangalore five runs.A metallic thud
For fans sitting in the upper tier behind the wide long-on boundary, this one was a treat. Kohli swung Andrew Symonds brutally in the 17th over and the ball appeared to be on its way into the crowd, only to be obstructed by the face of the roof and sent back onto the field. The sound of ball striking metal had the home crowd craving for more, and they weren’t let down, as Kohli and Jacques Kallis plundered the bowlers in the death overs, though these sixes and fours were more genteel than the one that sparked the surge.Kumble’s triumph
Anil Kumble’s jubilation after having foxed Adam Gilchrist with a googly to have him stumped – he was struck for a six over midwicket just three balls earlier – was as much for having deceived an old foe as it was for breaking a threatening partnership. However, T Suman and Andrew Symonds ensured the joy was short-lived.Vinay’s gift
Right intentions, but the pursuit of finding the blockhole has scarred many a bowler due to poor execution. With nine needed of the final over, R Vinay Kumar gifted Symonds with a waist-high full toss that was cannoned into the stands. He did better on the second ball, pitching it up, only to be drilled over his head to seal Bangalore’s fate.

The overwhelming reception for the final in Mysore has lessons for the tournament’s organisers

Siddarth Ravindran in Mysore14-Jan-2010The cliché about attendances in domestic matches is that they are watched
by three men and a dog. When I walked into the swank Rajiv Gandhi
International Stadium on the first morning of a Ranji game
between Hyderabad and Mumbai last month, I was greeted by three scorers
and a black stray, Bunty, which spends its days around the pavilion. A
handful of journalists joined later, and a few dozen spectators turned up
to watch a boring draw on a track meant to kill bowlers.Every shot reverberated around the empty ground, every batsman reaching a
milestone was greeted only by a few shouts from his team-mates in the
dressing-room. A young cricketer looking to entertain, had no one to
entertain.That was perhaps an insignificant league match, but even at the
Chinnaswamy Stadium for the semi-finals only about a thousand, at best,
turned up on a Sunday to support an exciting young Karnataka team that had
swept all before them. Even the presence of Rahul Dravid couldn’t entice
more people to the ground. And with the home side not looking for the win
after taking a massive first-innings lead, there was nothing to interest even die-hard followers on a desultory final day.The only purpose served by such a day is to skew a player’s statistics,
making it harder for lay fans to judge his worth. For example, Anirudh
Singh tops Hyderabad’s batting averages this season with 52.33, but 103 of
his runs came against the bowling might of S Badrinath, Dinesh Karthik,
Abhinav Mukund and other Tamil Nadu batsmen on the final day of an already
dead match. Take out that innings, and his average drops to a more prosaic
35.67.There are already murmurs that, with the advent of the IPL, some players
are reluctant to go through the Ranji grind. Contrast the easy cash and
maniacal support from the stands in those games against the empty seats
and the occasional purposelessness of a Ranji match, you can start to see why the
four-day game may pall for a few cricketers.More matches like the final at the Gangothri Glades in Mysore will
certainly check that trend. The buzzing atmosphere was one familiar to
anyone who has attended an India limited-overs game, and the stadium was
filled to capacity on each day. A fast bowler runs in to bowl to the
crescendo of the fans’ cry and Karnataka’s appeals for caught-behind or
lbw are echoed by a baying throng. Not something the average first-class
cricketer experiences regularly.On Thursday, the combination of a riveting finish and
ensured a packed stadium at the start of play itself. The unlucky ones
found themselves trees to perch on, and others watched from embankments
rising behind the stands. Only one half of the Gangothri Glades has
stands, the other half has a perimeter fence, which also had people clinging
on. When Manish Pandey was blazing away, a Mexican wave got going and even
those by the fence joined in, somehow managing a hands-free balance.Soon after, there was shocked silence for a few moments at Pandey’s
dismissal before the crowd rose for a standing ovation for the youngster –
a fitting postscript to a memorable innings.Post-lunch, with the game on edge, Sunil Joshi and Stuart Binny were
applauded for every ball they left alone; every delivery they
got bat on ball was met with roars of approval, and for boundaries even
the man precariously hanging on midway up a lamp-post screamed and waved a
tiny red-and-yellow Karnataka flag.There were some disagreeable bits of behaviour from the crowd as well.
When they found out the umpire had wrongly ruled Amit Verma’s
caught-behind, the officials were greeted with the unimaginative chants of
“down, down umpires” as they walked to the pavilion for lunch. Once
Karnataka lost the thriller, similar shouts were directed at Robin
Uthappa, who had failed in both innings, by a section of fans searching
for a scapegoat.Overall, though, the absorbing match provided two key lessons for the
organisers of the Ranji Trophy – make pitches result-oriented, and the
future of the tournament is in the smaller cities, where crowds aren’t sated
by regular international cricket.