CRICKET from the couch: Why India should play a second spinner

I saw India beat the living hell out of a Kiwi team that hadn’t a clue what hit them. Sure, it was a practice match and there wasn’t much at stake – but Dhoni’s men in blue served notice again – this World Cup could well be India’s. It is in the sub-continent, India has the hopes of a billion people riding on their shoulders, the team has struck form in the last year or so and most batsmen in the team seem to have hit a purple patch.

India has an embarrassment of riches in the batting department. Sehwag and Sachin are any one-day side’s dream opening combination – between the two of them, they have over 70 one-day centuries and over 25 thousand runs.  Then at number 3, there is Gautam Gambhir – who has been batting well, can open and seems to have a wise head on young shoulder. He served notice by a run-a ball 89 at Chepauk’s warm up game, consolidating when needed and accelerating at the right time.

Let’s not forget, the top contender for the number 3 spot is Virat Kohli. He’s  also from Delhi and  has had  a year to kill for – almost 1400 runs since January 2009, at a 50-esque average and a strike rate touching 90. He has scored 4 centuries and has made the crucial No 3 spot his own with some sensible, yet scintillating batting. So clearly then this is a toss-up… not just for who gets into the final playing eleven, but also for who bats where.

The other big face-off for a slot is between Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina – both are southpaws, bowl a bit of spin and are certified partnership wreckers. So who gets in? Raina has had a disastrous series in South Africa… true he did get to fifty in just 25 balls against the Kiwis, but is that good enough for him to be picked over Yuvi? Solely on recent form, I’d pick Yuvi any day of the week and twice on Sundays. There is little to choose from between Raina and Yuvraj as batsmen. Yuvraj is also a useful left-arm spinner and has played more-than-double the number of matches  (265 to Raina’s 111). Add to that his previous experience in the World cup and he is your go-to-guy in that ‘hallowed’ middle order.

Captain MS Dhoni picks himself – after all he’s also the wicket keeper of the team – so barring any mishaps he slots in at No 5 or 6. With an unbeaten 62-ball century  in the warm up against New Zealand , Dhoni looks like he could lead the team by example with the bat – in the middle overs and at the death. And after his marauding performance against South Africa in the ODIs there, I’d say Yusuf Pathan is also a shoo-in.

So in the batting department, India has a problem of plenty – that’s both good and bad… Good - because bench strength is required to get through long tournaments and some amount of healthy competition within the team helps raise the bar. Bad – because it makes selecting the playing-eleven difficult.

And with such names in your side, there is a great urge to play all of them – so you could end up with a team that has 7 batsmen then Yusuf Pathan as an all rounder and just 3 specialist bowlers. The other day, I heard, Sunny Gavaskar say India should play 7 batsmen – pitches in the subcontinent are batsmen-friendly and the team must put up 300-plus scores or chase them down.

I read an op-ed which suggested Dhoni should come in at number 7 – and Yusuf Pathan should follow at 8. I have one question – if 6 batsmen can’t score, what makes you think the 7th or 8th can? Also on Indian pitches, having scored 350, you’d still need to defend it or if the opposition bats first, you need a bowling line-up which can give your batsmen a shot at a ‘chase-able’ total – whatever that may be.

So, with my cricket-fan common sense and perspective from the couch, here’s what the Indian playing 11 should look like.

Gambhir and Sehwag open and set it up with a right-left combination. Virat Kohli follows at number 3 – a spot that he’s made his own. Sachin, the man with the 51 centuries and nearly 450 ODIs, should come in at number 4 – good if we lose a few quick wickets and he needs to bat with the lower order, almost an anchor for the side.

Follow that up with a Raina or Yuvi (yeah, one of them should be 12th man) at 5, the skipper MSD at 6 and a Yusuf Pathan at 7. If you need quick runs, promote Pathan up the order – he’ll hit irrespective of his place in the batting line-up.

And then the bowlers, Bhajji – he’s no mug with the bat and can slog a few, a Piyush Chawla or a Ravichandran Ashwin, both handy with the bat and then Zaheer with either Nehra or Sreesanth.

What this would allow India to have is 4 specialist bowlers – who’d in an ideal world (and I know there are aberrations) will bowl 40 overs. Then Dhoni would need to rely on Yusuf Pathan, Sehwag and Yuvraj or Raina for just 10 overs. Of one of the bowlers has an off-day, use your part-timers for more. Under the lights on low, slow tracks, an Ashwin will be extremely restrictive and a Piyush Chawla wicket-taking as the warm-up match against Australia proved.

But this is what I want – what are the odds of it happening?

Well, there are indications that Raina may have to sit out and wait for Yuvi to goof–up, so that’s one on the checklist. Ashwin getting the nod is a long shot – conventional wisom suggests that with Bhajji in they won’t play another off-spinner. Of course, proponents say the part-time bowlers Sehwag and Yusuf also bowl off-spin, so there are enough options. I’d like to see Ashwin play because he’s a very different kind of bowler – flat and straight – ideal for keeping runs down. Piyush Chawla  is one googly even the team management may be foxed about. Chawla  has clearly proven his wicket-taking abilities, but a leg-spinner in a one-dayer is always a bit of a risk, especially when the bowler has the tendency to bowl a 4-ball each over…

India’s first match against Bangladesh may give some indications, but I think the final shape of the playing (and, I hope, winning) eleven, will be seen in the match against England on the 27th – India will be keen to pull out all stops to win against one of the strongest sides in their group. 

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CRICKET from a Couch: Bruised at Eden

The World Cup is back in India after 15 years and the enthusiast in me wants to travel across the country and track the fortunes of the Indian team.

But when it comes to cricket, I’ve firmly settled  on the couch – or in this case an office chair (a rather comfortable one, if my colleague Kumud will spare me his). That’s from where I intend to watch most of the games – cricket is a 4-letter word in my house – I’m allowed an innings of T-20 or sometimes if the wife isn’t there a couple hours of test cricket… after all monopolies aren’t a good thing and with so many regular demands on the TV, cricket takes a back seat.

But why the couch? For starters its comfy, I get to eat and drink while I watch – distance provides perspective, and in these days of snick-o-meters and stump cams, great perspective .

AND the only World Cup match I went to the grounds to watch left both for me and the nation bruised and sore.

Eliot wrote ‘April is the cruelest month of the year’ but in Kolkata, March can be equally cruel, if not more…

Over 90,000 people crammed into Eden Gardens at around noon – the match would begin at 2pm – but security concerns meant that almost everybody was seated an hour early.  In the L-stand at mid-on  I rued my decision of not going with my father to the clubhouse  - by 1pm the ruing had turned to cussing – oh what I wouldn’t give for the Bijolygrill lunch-packets and  the shade of the club house ( there was no AC then, but at least there were some fans).

But India was taking on Sri Lanka, it was the semi-final of the world cup  and I had Bhoomba for company. (Boomba- aka Amitava Ghosh- my friend from school, who had both a scooter and a car at his disposal, and a girl from the neighbouring  ‘sister’  school -  which made him an uber cool 17-year old to hang out with.  Sometimes such names of endearment make me think Bengali parents and relatives are just, plain cruel.)

On producing our tickets as we entered the stands, we’d been handed a 1.5 litre pet-bottle of cola – and by the time the captains walked out for the toss, I’d finished mine – Boomba was wiser, he was doing his best Lawrence of Arabia imitation and held on to his cola bottle as if we had the Sahara to cross…

Azhar (the Eden favourite) won the toss and invited Sri Lanka to bat – we gasped… Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana walked out  and we wondered how many would they put on… A few days ago in a league game in Delhi they’d  taken the Indian bowlers to the cleaners  and chased down 272 with ease…  That memory must’ve  been fresh in  the Indian skipper’s mind – he did not want to set them up for another chase…

In the first over Jayasuriya slashed – Eden roared – he was caught on third man – and the next ball, Kalu went playing a mirror image – 2 gone for just 1 run on board and India couldn’t have asked for a better start – we were jumping for joy… the cola pet-bottles becoming poor ‘champagne’ substitutes for many… (Boomba  was still waiting for his oasis to arrive)

In walked Aravinda – he crunched a few – at the other end Gurusinha gave him company – but he perished when Sri Lanka was 30-odd… 3 down in the  first 15 overs – Srinath on fire, Lankans on the mat…

And that’s  when  the plot started to unravel – first Mahanama, then Ranatunga – the Lankan middle order started getting a few – nothing spectacular but still enough to keep them in  the game (or so we thought at that time) They ended up with 250 -51 from their quota of overs and India needed just over 5 runs an over under the lights.

That was easy-peazy – Sachin ‘smashing’ Tendulkar could get them all… at 6 pm the crowds were pleased -  India was almost there… Boomba went hunting for water – his cola bottle firmly tucked under his arm…

India did not begin tool well either – Sidhu went within the first 15- 20 minutes. Sachin and Sanjay Manjerakar looked to keep us on course… not spectacular but efficient enough – almost a 100 runs were added…

And them started the tumble, first Tendulkar, then Azharuddin for a duck and then Manjrekar – India lost 3 wickets for 5-6 runs as Jayasuriya tightened the screws -  Dharmasena, Murali chipped in…

And another 3 went – a deluge. India lost 7 wickets for 22 runs (I did research this one) and that was simply too much for us to take. First paper sunshades rolled into balls, accompanied by boos, newspaper rolls, etc soon followed, as did the empty water bottles… The crowd was too fried to think rationally – India had collapsed and that was perhaps the only way to express their frustration…

 We stood up on the concrete benches (no bucket seats back then in the stands) and joined the ‘hai-hai’  chorus. Clive Lloyd called-off the match , awarding it to Sri Lanka, Kambli walked off in tears (why I wouldn’t know, he’d played painfully slowly for his 10 runs).

Riot control personnel of the Rapid Action Force had been deployed around the boundary when the crowd had started to get restive – may be that’s what allowed the match to go on for a bit more , for India to slide further…  These personnel now tried dispersing the crowd from the stand  - they tried to shoo us away….

And at that moment Boomba let go off his cola bottle – all 1.5 litres of it filled with a now-lukewarm cola drink – straight at on of the riot control cops. As it transpired he wasn’t alone – some others had (perhaps  of social politeness) ‘nursed’ their drink – and had the same idea…

Which bottle hit the blue camouflaged men, I don’t know… I ran almost the instant Boomba threw – the wicker batons flashed, the cops charged and we ran – out  the compound of the stadium, out on to the road, past the Gostho Pal statue, right across the Maidan. Mounted policemen everywhere not wanting to spare the rod, eager to ensure that as the team buses rolled out, the players were not attacked by the irate (and by now bruised and fast-dispersing) mob.

I ran till the Grand Hotel, my father had asked me to meet him there… Baba got his disheveled son something to eat, and as we drove back, innocuously told me ‘some Mike Jagger’ was sitting right behind him – ‘very disturbing it was’ he said as people wanted this Jagger guys’s autographs.  Wow – that was just how I wanted the day to end… Mike Jagger-ed…

So  now for one-day internationals in general, and the World Cup in particular, I’ve confined myself to the couch… that from where I stand, has the best view in the house… and no ‘Mike Jagger’ surprises.