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Mitchell Johnson: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

Mitchell Johnson

What he said:

“I’ve been trying to hit as straight as possible instead of hitting across the line. So I’m not going to apologise, but hopefully I didn’t hurt anyone up there.”

Mitchell Johnson is unapologetic for shattering the safety glass pane of the television broadcast box at the Harare Sports Club.

Johnson scored 20 in Australia’s 350-6 against Zimbabwe.

Johnson added:

“I thought it was going to hit, and I was just wondering what it was going to do.I didn’t see it shatter, I just saw some of the commentators brushing away a bit of glass, so it was a good thing it didn’t shatter everywhere and the ball didn’t go through.

I think another window up here (outside the players’ dressing room) had that shattered look to it, and I’m glad no-one got injured out of it.

But it was a good feeling.

I didn’t see the first ball that was bowled to me from the other end, I was just trying to adjust to being out in the middle again but that one felt really nice, right out of the middle.”

The other shattered window Johnson  referred to was broken by West Indian Chris Gayle in a T20 fixture several years ago.

Johnson laughed:

“I’m happy to be compared to Chris Gayle. He’s obviously a pretty powerful guy, so if you want to compare me to him that’s fine.”

What he really meant:

“I’m a straight-shooting kind of guy. I bowl straight and fast; I’d like to bat the same way too.”

What he definitely didn’t:

“I’m gunning for the commentators. Would they like to step out and face a few of my lethal deliveries? If not with the bat, then with the red cherry.”

Sanjay Patel: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

Sanjay Patel

What he said:

“They can go on holiday, or go back home. They can even come to India if they want.”

BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel minces no words about Team India’s bowling coach Joe Dawes’ and fielding coach Trevor Penney’s options on being relieved of their duties post the disastrous result in the Big Test series against England.

What he really meant:

“What they do now on their own time is none of the BCCI’s business. It’ s a purely professional transaction. They’re hired based on past results and recommendations and fired based on results and feedback. Can they have it any other way? Besides, they deserve a holiday—a well-earned one—and I can recommend no better place to vacation than India.”

What he definitely didn’t:

“How about Tourism India roping in Dawes and Penney as brand ambassadors?”

MS Dhoni: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

What he said:

“Don’t be so jealous of IPL.”

The Indian skipper was quick to respond to a query from scribes whether Indian players would forsake the IPL and work on their Test game instead by playing county cricket in England.

What he really meant:

“County cricket doesn’t pay that much any more, does it? Besides, it’s an Indian league and why should the Indian players be elsewhere? Will our team owners and the BCCI be agreeable? Also, it’s the cricketers main source of income when they’re not playing for the national squad. Why ruin our fun, our time in the sun?”

 

Embed from Getty Images

What he definitely didn’t:

“The IPL’s like my wife Sakshi to me. You malign her(it) and you’ll have me to deal with.”

Cartoon: Director Ravi Shastri shows Virat Kohli the ‘cut’ shot (Fiction)

Cartoon: Ravi Shastri is the ‘director’

Ravi Shastri has been appointed ‘director’ of the Indian cricket team for the ODI series.

The Big Test: Post-mortem analysis

The carcass that is Indian cricket is laid out on the coroner’s slab. The post-mortem begins afresh.

It all seems to be an exercise in futility.

Every serious Indian cricket lover, ex-cricketer, administrator or even current cricketer knows what ails Indian cricket. But not one wants to make a concrete effort to alter the status quo.

The ‘chalta hai’ attitude comes to the fore.

“All this will change when we play in India on our dust-bowls” is the constant refrain.

And that is how it has panned out. The die-hard fans are consoled by wins eked out at home in conditions that suit flat-track bullies.

And the sponsors are happy all over again and our cricketers are worshiped as demigods once more.

What is wrong with Indian cricket?

Why are our players “Lions at home, lambs abroad”?

It is a combination of several factors.

There exists a paucity of quality fast bowlers to take advantage of conditions abroad because Indian pitches do not encourage them. They prefer to be medium fast rather than bowl their hearts out with little reward.

Diagram showing the correct grip for bowling a fast ball in cricket. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Except for Mohali, there are very few pitches that offer the fast bowler any help. It is time that the BCCI drew up a plan to create sporting pitches that will dot all the Test venues in India. It should be a mandate dictated from the top.

Imran Khan wished his team to win abroad and at home in all conditions. He institutionalized a culture of encouraging raw pace as well as facilitated  pacy wickets on the north-west Indian sub-continent.

There are no excuse for saying that it cannot be done. Look due north to our ‘Pathan’  neighbours for inspiration.

Fast, bouncy wickets at home would also make sure that our batters adapt quickly to English, Australian or South African ones.

Secondly, the Indian team selection especially for overseas tours has to be such that core players are constantly challenged by the fringe ones. No one should be allowed to rest on their laurels. A place in the side has to be constantly earned. There should be no passengers in the chosen 16.

Fast bowlers should be groomed and rotated so that they do not succumb to injuries.

Additionally, certain batsmen and bowlers with special or limited skills should be set aside for a specific format. You would expect a Ravindra Jadeja or a Stuart Binny to be a useful asset in one-dayers or T-20s. But expecting them to play stellar roles in Tests is wishful thinking. Similarly, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ishant Sharma are well-suited for Test cricket only.

A system that rewards format specialists is the need of the hour. The BCCI could look into that.

Yes, the Indian team would do better if they had all-rounders in the side. But the unfortunate truth is there is none of the calibre of a Kapil Dev or even a Manoj Prabhakar. The cupboard is bare.

The Indian Test team is thus better off with six front-line batsmen and five strike bowlers.

The series in Australia will show if the lessons learned from the unmitigated disaster in England have been absorbed.

If not, the Indian cricket fan can expect his cup of woe to overflow. Certainly not a good augury for the World Cup to follow!

Humiliating innings defeat completes the debacle at Old Trafford

Team India conceded the initiative  and the series lead once again. The Indian team capitulated in three days at Old Trafford. It could have been all over sooner if it was not for the twelfth man for the Indian side—the rain.

The signs were ominous from the start. Pankaj Singh retained the confidence of his skipper and his place in the side.

Varun Aaron came in at the expense of Mohammad Shami. I truly feel for the UP bowler; he has been bowled into the ground since his début and is not the bowler he was at the start of his exciting career.

Aaron did enough to justify his place in the side. The inclusion of Ishwar Pandey could have made things even more interesting. I would rather have an express bowler in the side than a medium pacer on these pacy wickets especially when the journeyman is not a Zaheer Khan, that is, he lacks variety.

But the real story was that our much-vaunted batting line-up failed once more; the senior bats were made to look like novices against the moving ball.

The attitude of the new batting stars should undergo a sea change. Instead of muttering that things will be different when the English come to India—it was not, they beat us 2-1—it might be better that Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli consider a stint in county cricket to build their technique in overcast, murky conditions. The question is how and when? Will their IPL and Team India commitments allow them to do so? Or are these fancies to be indulged in only by players on the fringe of national selection?

What can MS Dhoni do to stem the rot?

Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan failed to deliver when it mattered. It is time that the selectors selected in-form batsmen for crucial overseas tours and not hope that they strike form on tour—a strategy fraught with obvious dangers.

Dhoni can gamble and have Naman Ojha or Rohit Sharma open the batting. I would go with the latter.

There appears to be no option but to persist with Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli and hope that their twin  failures galvanise them to improve their performances and live up to the reputations of their predecessors—Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar.

Ravindra Jadeja is another perennial favourite with his skipper. It is time he sat out.

Why does one have a sneaky feeling that the Indian skipper prefers  either his Chennai Superkings teammates or players from the North?

Ishant Sharma makes his return to the side conditional on a full recovery from his ankle injury.

Pankaj Singh—at last—made the record books claiming two wickets in his second game. He is more suited for the shorter format of the game where containment is the name of the game.

My team choice for the Kensington Oval:

Rohit Sharma, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Varun Aaron, Mohammad Shami/Ishwar Pandey.

The Big Test: India fail at Southampton, options for Old Trafford

It was the same old story all over again. Ishant Sharma, the hero of the Lords test, looked on dejectedly, while his teammates squandered all his hard work and repaid him with a Sisyphean task for the final Test—if it comes to that.

Sharma injured his ankle and will be sitting out the fourth Test as well.

His replacement, Pankaj Singh, proved to be an inadequate replacement. His time is past though he is a game trier.  A few chances of this bowling went a begging  but if Dhoni was brave and honest with himself, he would have admitted that Varun Aaron or Ishwar Pandey were better bets. You do not replace your main strike bowler with a medium-pace trundler.

Rohit Sharma’s entry into the squad in place of Stuart Binny upset the balance of the squad. Just four main bowlers and two-three part-time spinners is hardly the recipe for a side looking to seal the series.

The Indian skipper does not have a lot of trust in his top order and preferred to either go in with an extra batsman or a couple of all-rounders. This decision seemed sound in the first two tests in retrospect; it was the lower order that saved the team blushes in the first three innings.

It is time MS Dhoni had a hard look at his resources and what he’s trying to do with them.

Gautam Gambhir should come in. Shikhar Dhawan exits.

Gambhir has the gumption and the patience to play long innings. Bring to mind his effort at Napier, New Zealand in 2009.

Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli stay. Class will tell.

Rohit Sharma goes out. The talented Mumbaikar has even his most ardent fans tearing their hair out in frustration; I am but one amongst them. Duncan Fletcher should have a quiet word with the young man and tell him  that if this continues he will be touring a lot more—with the India ‘A’ side.

Dhoni continues and should back himself to the hilt about being aggressive with the bat.

At the start of the series, Dhoni said:

“I’ve realised that I have to be far more aggressive in my batting because I play much better that way than when I try to play like a proper batsman. It’s important to back your instincts and not think too much about the situation. I shouldn’t look to bat out time because there are other batsmen who can do that. If the ball is in my slot – whether it’s the first or the last – I should go for it.”

Ajinkya Rahane and Murali Vijay have done more than enough to silence all debate.

They were not the most heralded of the Indian bats when the series began. But they have quietly become the mainstays of the line-up.

Ravindra Jadeja, bat and moustache twirled, sits out. Ravichandra Ashwin comes in.

(How the selectors could overlook Amit Mishra and Praghyan Ojha for such an important series is anybody’s guess. Among the back-ups, are two wicket-keepers who may probably never get a game. It is effectively a 15-member squad.)

Varun Aaron and Ishwar Pandey lend much-needed support to Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Shami.

My side for Old Trafford:

Gautam Gambhir, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni, R Ashwin, B Kumar, M Shami, V Aaron and I Pandey.

India versus England: Ishant bounces out the Pommies

Australian cricketer Mitchell Johnson fielding during a tour match against Northamptonshire during the 2009 Ashes. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ishant Sharma at Adelaide Oval (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ishant Sharma came to the party and how! Since he made his debut in 2008, the lanky pacer has disappointed more often than not. So much so that Indian fans came to believe that his name was not Ishant but “I shan’t”.

But on a Monday afternoon, the Delhi native bent his back with the old ball and destroyed the much-vaunted lower half of an English side in rebuild mode. Joe Root and Moeen Ali may have hoped to lead England to a much needed morale-boosting victory, especially for beleaguered skipper Alistair Cook.

But it was not to be. Once Ishant Sharma started bouncing them, it was all over bar the shouting.

Were the English recalling the pummelling they received at the hands of a venomous Mitchell Johnson in the recent Ashes series down under? Or did they feel they could pull off a Ravindra Jadeja as well? Whatever the reasons, the spectators were bemused to find a procession of English batters making their way back to the pavilion. The English plan to counter-attack merely provided catching practice for the Indian fielders.

The spectacle prompted Bob Willis to remark:

“I have seen fewer hookers in Soho on a Saturday night.”

India had its first win at Lords in 28 years.

The similarities between MS Dhoni and Kapil Dev keep piling up eerily.

India go into the next three Tests leading 1-0. They will hope that they can emulate Kapil’s Devils of 1986 and clinch a memorable series win. This Indian side does not look very strong on paper, lacking experience at the highest level. But most members of the squad have put their hands up and performed when needed, unlike the side of 2011.

A captain is only as good as his team and , right now, Dhoni’s boys are making him look so much better than the recent past.

London, Rio De Janeiro and Nottingham: A Tale of Tests in Three Cities

Lionel Messi (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Novak Đoković vs Roger Federer on 2010 Rogers Cup Semifinal game in Toronto, Rexall Centre 1:2 (1:6, 6:3, 5:7) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Roger Federer is still a champion.

Flying under the radar, the 17-time Grand Slam winner fought tooth and nail taking the championship match into the final set last Sunday.

Novak Djokovic may have clinched his seventh Slam. But no guesses for who walked away with the plaudits and the kudos.

Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov are amongst heirs-in-waiting to the Big Four. But for now, they are just that.

Brazil’s shocking disintegration against Germany in the semi-final and the consequent shellacking had their fans in tears.

No consolation for them in the third place match either. Holland walked away with the honours—a meeting their coach Van Gaal derided as leaving one team feeling a loser despite having reached the semi-finals. His exact words:

“But the worst thing is, I believe, that chances are that you lose twice in a row. A tournament where you’ve played so marvellously well, that you go home as a loser just because you could possibly lose the last two matches. So, this has got nothing whatsoever to do with sports, not in my view.”

It’s Germany versus Argentina tonight in the final. Two former champions, two great gladiatorial sides.

Germany hold the edge on current form. But Argentina have Lionel Messi.

The Barca galactico was completely out of sorts in the quarters and the semis; the man-to-man marking rendering him ineffectual. Can he do a Maradona and take Argentina home?

Knock-out games are less about scoring and more about attrition. It’s about waiting and hoping that your opponent makes a mistake and then capitalising on it and drawing the shutters down.

That’s how Holland and Argentina played out their semi-final. It made for extremely boring viewing. Van Gaal repeated the mistakes of the 2010 final against Spain when Holland played hard and foul ruining any possibility of their moment in the sun. Hoping to win on penalties should be a strategy for relative minnows such as Costa Rica, not for the team that has dazzled the world with its brand of Total Football over the past four decades.

The first Test Match between India and England got underway this week at Trent Bridge.

The hosts presented the visitors an Indian wicket: flat and lifeless.

The match has already produced a record of sorts. The final wicket partnerships in the first innings produced two hundred-plus partnerships.

If Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Shami showed that the wicket held no devils, Joe Root and Jimmy Anderson rubbed in the curator Steven Birk’s face in it with their world record stand of 198—the highest ever in Test cricket.

Birks copped some criticism for the state of the wicket.

Birk said:

“We wanted to produce a pitch with pace, bounce and carry which hasn’t happened unfortunately. There’s quite a lot of moisture underneath but it’s a hard surface on top which is why it’s lacking pace. The moisture readings taken earlier in the week were quite high and we haven’t seen enough of the sun to really bake it out.”

Ian Botham’s take on the pitch:

“You might as well be playing in Chennai with this wicket.”

Jimmy Anderson had similar views:

“Two days out we could see the pitch was not going to have huge amount of pace in it. That is something you just got to try and put out of your mind. We are as frustrated as everyone else watching.”

Has the mandate to ensure matches last into the final day hastened the death of Test cricket? Indian fans stayed away—their ratio a paltry 10:90.

Draws occur in Tests all the time. It’s the nature of the result that makes all the difference to the enthusiasts.