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Plays of the Day for the fifth day of the third Test between India and West Indies in Mumbai

N Hunter26-Nov-2011The silly act
There were quite a few inexplicable mistakes committed by the West Indies batsmen but none as silly as the one from Marlon Samuels. It was only his third delivery. Pragyan Ojha had already accounted for Darren Bravo off the first ball of the over. India were in a hurry to bat again and Samuels had no reason to give Ojha the charge, but he did. Ojha cleverly pitched on off stump and made the ball turn away. Samuels was deceived completely and MS Dhoni knocked off the bails.The dropped catch
Ravi Rampaul bowled a length ball to Virender Sehwag, who played from his crease, trying to hit straight over the umpire’s head. The drive did not have enough momentum, though, and the ball went in the air towards Rampaul and bounced off his wrist. Rampaul could not believe it and covered his face with both hands. In the first Test in Delhi as well, Rampaul had failed to grasp a return catch from Sehwag. Today, Sehwag was on 6 and India were 17 for 0. By the time he was dismissed for 60, India were scoring at a rate of more than five an over and needed only 142 from 44.5 overs.The reverse-paddle
With runs coming quickly, Devendra Bishoo opted to bowl from round the stumps to try and restrict Sehwag, who opened his stance slightly to counter the changed line. Sehwag went for a premeditated reverse-paddle of the first such delivery. The ball, a full toss, took the leading edge before floating into the hands of Darren Sammy at short fine leg. Sammy had given Sehwag his third reprieve earlier but this time he took the catch safely. Sehwag went down on one knee, embraced his bat like a child who had committed a mistake, and walked back hugging it.The gift
India needed 12 runs off 19 deliveries. Rampaul had kept Ishant Sharma in check for four balls. Ishant pushed the final ball of the over towards cover and rushed for a tight single. Sammy, the fielder, had been getting treatment through the afternoon for a leg strain. His throw at the striker’s end could have found Ashwin short but he missed by some margin and also conceded an overthrow, which kept Ashwin on strike for the next over. An annoyed Rampaul could only stare at his captain.The winner …
… was the Mumbai crowd. They came out in large numbers on all five days, peaking on the third and the fourth, when the figures crossed the 20,000-mark. Today around 18,000 people turned up. A slap in the face of those who thought people cared only about Sachin Tendulkar’s landmark.

Rajasthan’s bowlers were struggling in the early stages of the Ranji Trophy. Then Meyrick Pringle took over as the bowling coach and turned their fortunes around

Nagraj Gollapudi28-Dec-2011It was the final day of their penultimate league match and Rajasthan had just 72 overs to bowl Saurashtra out and claim the outright victory they needed to keep their dream of defending the Ranji Trophy title alive. The task before them was not easy one, with the likes of India batsman Cheteshwar Pujara and Shitanshu Kotak in the opposition batting line-up.It was then that Meyrick Pringle, Rajasthan’s short-term bowling coach, called a fast bowlers’ meeting. It was a first for Rajasthan’s fast men. Never before had such a meeting been called at such short notice.”He asked us to focus on the beginning,” Sumit Mathur, Rajasthan’s senior most fast bowler, recollects. “If we get a good start, we walk in with a positive mind, then we can win. If we could get two to three wickets in the first ten overs then we can dominate.”Pringle, a former South Africa fast bowler, put the responsibility for the opening breakthrough on Pankaj Singh, Rajasthan’s leading wicket-taker this season. Mathur, along with Rituraj Singh, who was making his debut at 21, were told to build pressure in the middle overs. The strategy worked beautifully.”Before the lunch break they had lost three wickets,” Mathur said. “Pringle asked us to play it by ear: if they attacked us, then we need to go slightly on the defensive. But they were on the defensive, then he stressed we had to attack the opposition more. The plan worked and Saurashtra came under pressure and collapsed.”Saurashtra were bundled out for 143 in 56.5 overs as Mathur picked up 6 for 33, the second-best figures of his career.In the final league game, Rajasthan demolished Orissa inside three days. Mathur took a five-for in the first innings while Rituraj picked up 6 for 75 to wrap up the match. The bonus point for an innings victory proved crucial, enabling Rajasthan to pip Saurashtra for the final spot in the quarter-finals.You can draw a distinct line between before Pringle joined Rajasthan and after. The defending champions had only four points from their first four games. In three of those matches, opponents had piled up 500-plus scores. Twice, against Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan had been forced to follow-on, indicating that the pitches had something in them for the bowlers. Somewhere, Rajasthan’s quicks were missing a trick.Pringle had arrived in Jaipur in February to coach at a private coaching academy. The offer from the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) came unexpectedly, just days before the game against Punjab in the first week of December. In the preceding months, Pringle had learned how things were done in India. That made it easier for him to fit in with the Rajasthan dressing room. In addition, he had watched a few of Rajasthan’s home matches earlier in the season, so he had some knowledge of their fast bowlers.”My inputs were mostly on the technical and mental side of fast bowling,” Pringle said, hours before leaving for South Africa to celebrate Christmas with his family. “I just showed them and gave them inputs based on my experience at the first-class and international level.”In his first match as bowling coach, there was no evidence that Pringle had brought in a change of any sort. Playing in Jaipur, Punjab made 597 against a Rajasthan bowling attack comprising three fast bowlers: Pankaj, Mathur and Deepak Chahar. Between them they shared four wickets. Pankaj took a further two in Punjab’s second innings but Rajasthan gained just one point. Their ambitions of clinging to a place in the Elite group, which they had earned after much hard work the previous year, was now in danger.Pringle, though, had been focused on building camaraderie. “He built a good atmosphere. As a person he is very cool, calm and (very nice),” Mathur said. “He never made us realise there was a gap between us and him, a former international fast bowler. He treated as like a friend.”The first sign that the relationship was working came in the match against Saurashtra, who also needed a good result to bolster their chances of making the knock-outs. The visitors’ fast-bowling attack, comprising Jaydev Undakat, Siddharth Trivedi and Sandeep Maniar took all 10 wickets as Rajasthan made 396. It was clear that the pitch was conducive for seam movement. Pankaj lead Rajasthan’s response with a five-wicket haul and received good support from Mathur and Rituraj, who took two wickets each. Rajasthan eventually set their opponents a target of 373. Mathur then finished the job.

“It was bundled up in their mind that they had to perform and people are watching them, the defending champions. It was a mental block.”

According to Pringle, who shot to fame with a spectacular performance in the group match against West Indies in the 1992 World Cup, he wanted to focus on the simple things given his limited time with the team. “There were some useful things they needed to take into the game and learn which they did not have and now they do and that added quite a lot of value to their bowling.”However, he first had to get them to forget their start to the season. “Because of the season Rajasthan had in the beginning, the fast bowlers thought they had not performed,” Pringle said. “It was bundled up in their mind that they had to perform and people are watching them, the defending champions. It was a mental block.”Pringle, who has coached like the Netherlands and Namibia in the past, also noticed that the fast bowlers were training hard. “They train a lot more here in India than in South Africa. They tend to put too much pressure on themselves.” So he told the bowlers to relax and enjoy themselves. “They were very tense in the early part of the season. They thought they had to take wickets and win games quickly because other people were knocking on the doors to take their place. So I worked on their psychology.”As for the technical stuff, it was mostly minor fixes. “Mathur was not following through properly at times,” Pringle said. “At time he used to bowl at 80% and not 100%. It just needs someone to stand up or clap a hand or give a signal that ball was not 100% and mentally recharge him.”As for Rituraj, Pringle said he has problems with his front foot but they are being addressed. Aniket Chaudhary, a left-arm fast bowler out of the Jaipur Cricket Academy, is working hard with Rituraj. “I tend to push him a lot but he has a good future if he continues in the same vein.”Pankaj’s problems, on the other hand, were medical. Pringle has told him to sit out the domestic 50-over tournament that starts in February to let his knees heal. “He can only get better from where he is now,” Pringle said. “He has to follow the programmes, the eating habits and he will definitely get better. Once he follows the programme and takes a break to sort his knees I am confident Pankaj can easily add another 20-25 kph to his speed.”All three bowlers said Pringle had made a difference. “Many times you forget the basics,” Mathur said. “You then need someone like Pringle to point out the minor things, essential in those moments, to get back on the track.”Having played for some time we have the idea where to pitch the ball and such. But there are small, minor things that need to be pointed out from time to time, which is what Pringle did. For example when you take two or three quick wickets you tend to get over excited at times. He has stressed that on such occasions you have to stay calm and continue bowling [the same way]. And he taught us how to use the angles and how best to use the crease to create good angles.”
Pringle is pleased with the “vast” improvement he has seen in Rajasthan’s fast bowlers and would be keen to come back if the RCA offers him for a long-term contract.For the moment, though, the man who turned around Rajasthan’s fortunes is happily enjoying a family holiday in Port Elizabeth.

Plays of the Day from the ODI between Bangladesh and India in the Asia Cup

Siddarth Ravindran in Mirpur16-Mar-2012The decision
Third umpire Ruchira Palliyaguruge won’t be a popular man in Bangladesh today, and he would have been more disliked if the home side had lost. His decision to rule Shakib Al Hasan stumped at a critical juncture in the game had many Bangladesh fans fearing this match might turn into another case of so near yet so far. After Shakib had transformed the game with a rapid 49, he was beaten by a big turning offbreak from R Ashwin. Dhoni showed off his quick hands again by breaking the stumps, and after several replays it wasn’t entirely clear whether Shakib had made it back in time. Palliyaguruge was convinced, though, and a stunned Shakib had to drag himself off to the pavilion. He seemed sure he had dragged his foot back, and was seen looking at replays of the dismissal in the dressing room.The six
When Bangladesh needed 33 runs off the final three overs, the match could have gone either way. It swung decisively towards the hosts with a pair of sixes from Mushfiqur Rahim that reduced it to 19 off 15. The second of those came off a friendly full toss from Irfan Pathan, bludgeoned towards the grand stand, almost exactly the same area where Mushfiqur had clubbed the penultimate ball of last year’s Twenty20 against West Indies to secure victory in a fluctuating game.The fielding
Rohit Sharma punched the first ball of the 49th over firmly to substitute Sunny Elias at extra cover and attempted an impossible single. Sunny’s throw, though, was wide, leaving the bowler Mashrafe Mortaza screaming in frustration. Mashrafe’s mood improved tremendously after the next delivery when Nasir Hossain, probably the best fielder in the side, ran out Rohit with a direct hit from long-on.The reprieve
Of India’s two centurions from the previous match, Bangladesh had dismissed one early, when Gautam Gambhir played on. The other, Virat Kohli, could have been sent back for a golden duck. Shafiul Islam got the ball to swerve sharply in towards the pads, and Kohli could not get bat on it. A huge appeal was turned down, though replays suggested the ball was going on to hit the bails. Kohli cashed in on the reprieve and made 66.The close call
With Sachin Tendulkar taking his time getting to his 100th century, Bangladesh’s fielders lifted, pouncing on everything to not allow easy runs. Tendulkar attempted several sharp singles before changing his mind and scrambling back. On one of those occasions, when on 89, he just managed to beat a throw from Shakib at backward point. The throw narrowly missed and Shakib ruefully watched the replay on the giant screen to see just how close he had come to extending Tendulkar’s wait.The celebration
Jahurul Islam removed his cap, raised his bat and bowed down to do the Sajda after he reached his half-century. It was a first for the 25-year-old batsman, who was playing only his eighth ODI. Jahurul’s exclusion from the Bangladesh side in 2010 was perhaps not justified at the time and his prolonged wait is often a point of sympathy whenever selection meetings end. The delight was a natural reaction, though perhaps slightly over-the-top, given that another man had quietly celebrated a much bigger milestone.

Michael Clarke again demonstrated his captaincy skills but the more modest player pool at his disposal hampered Australia’s efforts

Daniel Brettig at Lord's29-Jun-2012A winning record, it is often said, does not necessarily make a captain great. Ricky Ponting has won more Test matches than any other captain in the history of the game, yet opinions on his leadership of Australia are mixed. Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards were similarly considered fine players and strong leaders, but their tactical ability was often called into question because of how a rich supply of West Indies fast bowlers and batsmen meant they were seldom short of options. By contrast, Stephen Fleming is regarded as a great leader of New Zealand, for he extracted the very most he could from a modest talent base.Michael Clarke has greater resources at his disposal than Fleming, but considerably less than Lloyd and Richards. Certainly he has less than Ponting enjoyed in the first half of his captaincy. As a result, Clarke will have numerous days as captain of Australia where his own contribution, be it in the field or with the bat, will not be enough to guide his team to victory. At Lord’s in Australia’s first encounter with England since 2010-11, Clarke experienced one of those days. He did most things right in the field, and performed ably with the bat, but walked off at dusk with a 0-1 deficit to his opposite number Alastair Cook.Before the match Clarke had said the major improvement in his side since the last Ashes was in work ethic, their willingness to train hard for a common goal. Asked whether the team’s skills had improved he was less sure. “With hard work and a lot of training you hope your skills improve,” he said. “I guess we’ll see, over the next couple of weeks, how we go when we’re under pressure against a very good and confident one-day team.”It turned out at Lord’s that Australia’s skills and composure were not yet at the level required to better England. The visitors may be No. 1 in the ICC’s ODI rankings but it was the hosts who showed greater presence of mind at the important moments, and better skills at the right times. Eoin Morgan’s late-innings hitting took the target beyond Clarke’s ideal, then piercing spells by James Anderson and Tim Bresnan destabilised the chase. They were helped by Clarke’s involvement in a run-out just when it seemed he and Matthew Wade might threaten the target, one of only two miscalculations Clarke could be said to have made across the day.Clarke’s captaincy for the majority of England’s innings was admirably alert and typically assertive. He favoured slips and catching men long after the balls lost their shine, posted three men in the arc between gully and point to restrict Jonathan Trott’s pet cut shot, and worked his angles neatly to limit the number of boundaries that can flow quickly at Lord’s if field placings are imprecise.His choice of bowlers was also shrewd, calling on Pat Cummins after one rain break for instance, then calling on Xavier Doherty for the first over following the conclusion of the batting Powerplay – a gambit for which he was rewarded with Trott’s wicket. As a batsman Clarke is known for capitalising on the drifting nature of an ODI’s middle overs, pushing singles here and there. But as a fielding captain he does not allow himself to be lulled, constantly seeking wickets and challenging the batsmen to hit through or over his field settings.

“Steve Smith’s place in the Australia team remains hazily developmental, the one blind spot in the ‘role clarity’ espoused by captain and coach”

It was only towards the end of the innings, as Morgan tilted the match with a series of brazen blows that reaped 48 runs from the final four overs, that Clarke briefly resembled a more ordinary one-day captain. The bowlers did not let Clarke down entirely, as loose deliveries were few and each man generally bowled to his field. But they did not find an extra gear to match that reached by Morgan, and left a batting line-up of middling quality with about 20 more runs to chase than they would have preferred on a day when cloud and cold aided the England attack. With time, that gear will be found more often, as bowlers like Cummins, James Pattinson and Mitchell Starc develop, but it was absent here.Australia’s reply began soundly enough, David Warner showing typical spunk in his first international innings on English soil, and the No. 3 George Bailey aiding him in a useful partnership, though the Tasmania captain remains a somewhat optimistic choice at first wicket down. Clarke came to the crease with the task still in hand, and it would never slip away so long as he was there. However David Hussey and Steve Smith did not do enough to help him in the middle order, and were to be put in the shade by the combative Wade.As captain, Clarke is responsible for Australia’s batting order, and he appears to have erred by placing Smith ahead of Wade, who already has one match-winning Test innings to his credit. Smith’s place in the Australia team remains hazily developmental, the one blind spot in the “role clarity” espoused by Clarke and the coach Mickey Arthur. He is a batsman and legspinner, but seldom bowls, and so far has not looked capable of holding his place with the bat alone. To play him at No. 6, ahead of Wade, was Clarke’s second misstep, one that can be argued to have been made as much at the selection table as in the dressing room.Brett Lee’s bold rearguard came up short, leaving Clarke with a few areas to ponder ahead of Sunday’s second match at The Oval. Where should Smith and Wade bat? How might his bowling attack be better balanced to cope with a late-innings acceleration? And what can be done to prevent Anderson and Bresnan, those familiar Ashes tormenters, from making the pivotal breaks? Clarke did little to detract from his growing reputation for agile captaincy at Lord’s, but to win this series his team will need to be better.

A look back at how some of the big names in international cricket fared at Under-19 World Cups

Devashish Fuloria09-Aug-2012The first edition of the Under-19 World Cup played in Australia in 1987-88 featured a number of future international stars but it took another ten years for the second edition to be organised after which the ICC made the tournament a biennial event. At the start of another edition, this time in Australia, ESPNcricinfo looks back at how some of the big names in international cricket have fared in the tournament.1987-88 (Australia)

Brian Lara had an indifferent start against Australia but he immediately made amends in the next game against New Zealand with a half-century. He batted at Nos. 3 and 4 and scored 222 runs in the tournament to see West Indies through to the semi-finals, where he scored 42 in a narrow loss to Pakistan.One of the three bowlers who revived legspin in the 1990s, Pakistan’s Mushtaq Ahmed was among the leading wicket-takers in the tournament with 19 wickets from nine matches at an average of 16.21. He was consistent through the tournament, with three-wicket hauls in five games, and his best – 3 for 28 – in the league match against West Indies.Other future big names in the tournament included New Zealand allrounder Chris Cairns, Pakistan’s Inzamam-ul-Haq, Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya and England’s Mike Atherton and Nasser Hussain – all of whom went on to captain their national sides in the future.1997-98 (South Africa)

Chris Gayle announced himself on the international stage with a half-century against Australia but his century stand with Darren Ganga was not enough on the day as West Indies lost by 71 runs. Gayle added two more half centuries – against Denmark and Namibia – before exploding in the plate final against Bangladesh when he scored an unbeaten 141. Although West Indies lost that match, Gayle ended up as tournament’s leading run-scorer with 364 runs at an average of 72.80.In contrast, Virender Sehwag, a middle-order batsman then, failed to leave any mark on the tournament and managed only 76 runs in six outings. He scored 38 in India’s opening game against hosts South Africa, but his form tailed off thereafter, and in the last match, against Pakistan, he was out for a duck.Other members of the Class of ’98 – Harbhajan Singh, Graeme Swann, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shoaib Malik.1999-2000 (Sri Lanka)

Graeme Smith led the batting charts with 348 runs in six innings. He scored four half-centuries in the tournament with an unbeaten 38 being his lowest score. His best effort, 82 not out, came against Zimbabwe in South Africa’s penultimate match.Michael Clarke had a tough initiation at the international level as he could only manage 72 runs in his five innings. Clarke also struggled with setting the pace as his runs came at a strike rate of 46.15.Other graduates – Shane Watson, Yuvraj Singh, Danish Kaneria, Brendon McCullum, Ian Bell2001-02 (New Zealand)

South Africa’s only Test triple centurion, Hashim Amla, led his side to their first appearance in the tournament final but lost to Australia. Amla showed glimpses of his batting ability as he scored two half-centuries – 53 against Bangladesh and an important 62 in the semi-final against India. Amla finished with 191 runs from seven innings at an average of 27.28.Pakistan fast bowler Umar Gul was on the “verge of walking away” from cricket before he picked up 11 wickets from five innings. “I owe it big time to the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2002. If that opportunity had not been provided to me at that time, I would have left cricket and reverted my attention and focus to academics,” Gul said recently.Other graduates: Irfan Pathan, Tim Bresnan, Ross Taylor, Upul Tharanga, Dwayne BravoVirat Kohli led India to the Under-19 World Cup title in Malaysia•International Cricket Council2003-04 (Bangladesh)

Unlike his Test debut, Alastair Cook started the Under-19 World Cup with a failure – against Nepal. But in the second week of the tournament, Cook slammed back-to-back centuries; both times 108 not out off 131 balls, against New Zealand and Zimbabwe and followed it up with 87 against eventual tournament winners Pakistan. Cook’s three big innings put him on the second spot for tournament’s leading run-scorers; he scored 383 runs at an average of 76.60. Suresh Raina laid the foundation of his ODI success in this tournament with three fifty-plus scores – one of them, a brutal 38-ball 90 that helped India crush Scotland by 270 runs.Other graduates: Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul2005-06 (Sri Lanka)

Bangladesh’s ace allrounder Shakib al Hasan had a modest tournament but he proved his all-round worth with 150 runs and seven wickets in six matches. But Shakib was at his best in Bangladesh’s four-wicket win over Pakistan as he picked up the top four in the batting order to return with figures of 10-1-34-4. He also scored an attacking 67 as Bangladesh beat hosts Sri Lanka by 98 runs at the SCC in Colombo.Other graduates: Rohit Sharma, Sunil Narine, Angelo Mathews2007-08 (Malaysia)

Virat Kohli led India to their second Under-19 World Cup title and even though he wasn’t one of the leading scorers, he played a few key innings. The best of them was a 73-ball 100 against West Indies which helped India to a 50-run win. His 235 runs in the tournament came at an average of 47.00 while he also picked up four wickets with his slow medium-pacers.2009-10(New Zealand)

Fast bowler Doug Bracewell made a quick jump from representing New Zealand Under-19s in the last edition of the tournament to playing Test cricket. Bracewell started with 3 for 31 against Canada but went wicketless in last three matches to finish at No. 35 in the wicket-takers list.

The first ODI against Pakistan epitomised how much Dhoni’s safety-first approach has benefited him as a batsman, while shackling him as a leader

Nitin Sundar in Chennai30-Dec-2012It was the end of the 40th over of Pakistan’s chase. India had jousted their way back into the contest through a frugal Powerplay, which cost just 13 runs and accounted for Misbah-ul-Haq’s wicket. Ishant Sharma and R Ashwin had bottled up the new batsman, Shoaib Malik, who remained run-less after eight balls. The equation narrowed down to 55 off 60. For the first time in two hours, the near-full stadium was buzzing. The contest assumed a whole new complexion, even as Chepauk’s canopied stands glistened under a gorgeous sunset.India could have nosed ahead with another wicket at that stage. MS Dhoni had nine overs to come from his main bowlers, who had all bowled impressively. Yet, he turned to Virat Kohli. At the game’s most pivotal moment, with a contest waiting to be taken control of, Dhoni thought it wiser to get the one pending over from his fifth bowler out of the way.Kohli trotted in, allowing seven runs off the next five balls. Just like that, there was release – Shoaib Malik began to get the ball off the square, and Pakistan were flowing again. By the end of the next over, the fight was collectively knocked out of India when Ashwin dismissed Malik off a no-ball.As captain and as batsman, safety-first has been Dhoni’s mantra for a while now. This game epitomised how much that approach has benefited him as a batsman, while shackling him as a leader.India’s disastrous run in Test cricket, and their indifferent ODI form since the World Cup, have led to all sorts of questions being raised about Dhoni’s role in the set-up. The Test argument is for another day. As far as ODIs go, Dhoni is now the best batsman in India, and arguably the best middle-overs man in the world. Today he marched past 7000 ODI runs, while averaging 52.00 per innings. That’s seven runs clear of Sachin Tendulkar’s average when he got there, and a whole 10 runs more than Ricky Ponting’s. And despite restraining himself in the middle overs in recent years, Dhoni has got those runs at a strike-rate of 88.45. Those are the stats of a master.When Dhoni took guard today at 29 for 5, Junaid Khan and Mohammad Irfan were getting the ball to dance devilishly off the seam. Each of India’s top four had lost his stumps, undone by nip and zip, but Dhoni thrived by falling back on first principles. In Tests, Dhoni is prone to the odd waft outside the off stump, but he’s so much surer of himself while starting an ODI innings. Overnight rain, spicy pitch, extra bounce, crisis situation – no problem. Dhoni stayed on the crease, covering the line and playing with a straight bat, nudging and gliding singles, and running like the wind. His first boundary came only after 78 balls, which had yielded a mere 34 runs, but he changed the rhythm with seamless ease in the end overs.Unlike his younger colleagues, Dhoni likes to tuck into the short stuff, climbing over the bounce and pulling powerfully whenever the chance comes. With dehydration sapping him of his speed, Dhoni opened up emphatically in the second half of his innings. The inside-out six off Irfan that brought up his hundred captured the essence of Dhoni’s batting – it was brutality at its most beautiful.As a batsman, Dhoni always backs himself to take the game deep and turn the tables in the end game. It’s a marked difference from how he played when he first emerged at the highest level; with seniors such as Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and, now, Sachin Tendulkar, exiting the scene, Dhoni has assumed more responsibilities as a batsman.As a captain, however, the story is vastly different . Several India captains of the past – be it Mohammad Azharuddin (in Perth and Kolkata), Sourav Ganguly (in Ahmedabad) or Sachin Tendulkar (in Mohali) – have shown the imagination to attack with their best bowlers when the game is in the balance, even if that meant holding a weak over for the end. With Dhoni, especially in the last couple of years, you’d be hard-pressed to single out one such instance.It’s not just the handling of the fifth bowler. Nasir Jamshed betrayed a diffident approach to the short ball early in his innings. Dhoni responded by pressing backward square leg into service, and getting his seamers to bounce Jamshed. They had him hopping for a while, but eventually Jamshed began to settle down. By the end of the chase, he was displaying as much assurance against the short ball as Dhoni had shown earlier in the day. That, however, didn’t stop Ashok Dinda and Ishant Sharma from trying to bounce him out, seemingly at the cost of trying something else.Through turbulent times, to his credit, Dhoni hasn’t shunned his responsibility as the face of the team. As much as he receded into the background when his team was winning, he is now in the forefront taking the blame for the team’s reversals. “I feel good that I’m the punching bag because there’s less pressure on the team,” Dhoni said after this defeat. “You need to have a few punching bags in the side. Sachin has been there for quite some time now, he takes away all the tension. I don’t think everybody gets chance to be the punching bag, so I am happy that I can take a bit of tension for my team.”Tendulkar is gone, and with him India’s last link to a different time in the ODI game. Dhoni the batsman facilitated a transition by reinventing himself. Will the captain follow suit?

Team-mates pay tribute to former India allrounder Rusi Surti, who died at the age of 76

Nagraj Gollapudi13-Jan-2013Chandu Borde, former India team-mate
When a batsman hit the ball hard, Rusi, usually standing at a close-in position, would rush to the ball. That approach was completely in contrast to the rest of fielders who would normally wait for the ball to come. He was a very good allrounder and if he had played one-day cricket, he would have been really successful. He was an asset to the Indian side.Unfortunately, he was not consistent and that played against him. But his best quality was his grit. He was a (braveheart) cricketer. He would never take things lying down, he always liked to fight it out.Bapu Nadkarni, former India team-mate
He was a very old colleague of mine. We played together for about 18 years for Bombay and Times of India in the local Mumbai leagues. He was a really bold, big-hearted cricketer. Take the example of the second Test of the 1967-68 tour of Australia: it was a horrible wicket, an absolute green pitch with lot of movement. There was no chance we could face the likes of Garth McKenzie. India won the toss and elected to bat and were 25 for 5. Surti had retired earlier, hit just that once by McKenzie, but returned later to give Tiger (Nawab of Pataudi Jr) good support. If not for their daring knocks (and partnership worth 74 runs for the eighth wicket), India would have faced the disgrace of getting out for a low total. Rusi’s 30 was the finest innings on one of the fastest pitches, and he was proud of that innings, but would never talk about it himself. I have not seen a bigger fighter than him against all odds. Whatever side, tournament and level he played for, Rusi was a great team man. Farokh Engineer, former India team-mate
[how would it matter to him?]” was the line Rusi loved to use from his young days. Delivering it with that Parsi-Gujarati accent, he made it sound more interesting. He once said it reacting to Bill Lawry in the 1967 Mumbai Test, after the Australian had missed an easy full toss. Rusi, standing at silly mid-on, had turned his back as the batsman went for the stroke, but as soon as he heard the Australian captain use curse words, he instinctively came up with his favourite line. I had to pacify him in native Gujarati, but Rusi would not listen.I had known him from our days at the Dadar Parsi Colony Sporting Club and our careers ran parallel. He was an extremely talented player and a brilliant fielder. Along with Tiger Pataudi, Eknath Solkar, Abid Ali and myself behind the stumps, we comprised a very good fielding unit at one time. I would thank Rusi for improving my wicketkeeping skills. Playing for the Parsi Cylicsts in the Kanga League on horribly wet pitches, he would turn the ball from wide outside the leg stump and curl it outside off stump. He should have played more Test matches considering he was an extremely talented cricketer.

From Rahul Oak, United States

Cricinfo25-Feb-2013
Indians loved Kapil Dev since he at least made the batsmen think about coming in to bat with a helmet•Bob Thomas/Getty Images I’ve often wondered what it must have been like being an Indian batsman in the pre-Kapil era. Say you toured a place like the West Indies and found yourself staring down the pitch to find a fire breathing Marshall or Roberts or Holding … basically someone who, from your point of view, looked at least 20 feet tall and was trying to decimate you by hurling a heavy object in the general direction of your helmet-less head at a million miles an hour. The reason the post-Kapil era was different is that you might have found yourself in that situation as well, but at least you had someone like a Kapil or a Prabhakar (hey, beggars cannot be choosers) or Prasad (ok, that’s going a bit too far – cancel Venky) on your team who might have been able to return the favor every once in a while. But to look at your dugout only to find Bedi, Prasanna and some other fairly unathletic looking types playing cards, sipping hot tea and discussing grips that impart maximum spin on the ball must have been a disheartening experience.That is the biggest reason Kapil was such a revolutionary figure in Indian cricket. Batting ability and athletic fielding aside, people just simply loved him for the fact that he at least made opposition batsmen think about coming in to bat with a helmet on and actually ponder going on to the backfoot every now and then. After the heady moments of 1983, every Indian supporter imagined it to be the start of a new era where Kapil’s success gave rise to a new generation of truly genuine and hostile fast bowlers who would make batsmen the world over shake in their boots. Twenty-seven years later, we are yet to unearth such a species.It’s not like India haven’t produced any fast bowlers in that period of time. Javagal Srinath and, lately, Zaheer Khan have been the torch bearers of the pack and deserve all the accolades that they have received. Zaheer, at his rawest, probably made every Indian sit up and take notice: he had the physique, the action and the skill. So also with Srinath at the beginning of his career (although Srinath was probably more raw than Zaheer at that point). But then they were the lone warriors – due to the serious lack of back-up (except for Srinath when Prasad was at his peak), they had to assume the role of leader of the pack, swing bowler, stock bowler and third seamer. With it came torn rotator cuffs and a host of other injuries which only accelerated (ironic how an adjective used to describe an increase in speed is apt here) their journey towards medium-fastness.Of course, none of this is to say that we don’t appreciate Zak and Jaggu’s contributions to Indian cricket – far from it. But we are still obsessed with raw pace! Why you ask? Well, here’s a little insight into the psyche of the Indian supporter. Every time their team does well (or poorly), they take a look across the border at our dear neighbors. As long as they are doing worse, we are happy. This is one area where we have never been able to match Pakistan who seem to have a nearly unending supply of genuinely quick bowlers. From Wasim to Waqar to Sami to Shoaib, every generation seems to throw someone who absolutely rouses the speed gun and makes it sing. Compare this to our very own Praveen Kumar who barely manages to tickle the speed gun behind its ear as it stirs a little bit out of its slumber only to turn the pillow and fall back into a deep, dreamless sleep. We might laugh at their administration and politics and a bunch of other things that make Pakistan an entertaining team to follow, but for their fast bowlers we always have a grudging admiration.The most annoying thing of all is that there have been times of real hope! From Ashish Nehra to Munaf Patel to Irfan Pathan to Sreesanth and more recently, Ishant Sharma – they have all showed promise. There has been at least one moment in all the above mentioned careers where they have bent their back and produced the odd delivery at over 140 kph. The next day Indians all over the world have YouTube’d the video and have stared at it in admiration and awe. But then something happens to them and they are somehow coached into bowling “line and length” at anywhere between 120 and 130 k’s an hour.It could be a combination of many factors – maybe the diet (Srinath, for all that he was, was also vegetarian and ate the odd egg when a gun was held to his head), maybe it’s the pitches – but whatever it is, it is doing Indian cricket a serious disservice. Of course, one cannot fail to mention stupid selection policies. Remember Abey Kuruvilla and Salil Ankola – The tall pair of Bombay fast bowlers who used to bowl with pace and bounce? What happened to them? One was picked at the ripe age of 29 when he depended on slow offcutters for most of his wickets whereas the other decided that there was more promise in a television acting career. The absolute nadir, however came when on a tour of the West Indies, both Srinath and Prasad broke down and Kumble was shouldering the responsibility of being the leading spinner as well as quickest bowler in the team (Dodda Ganesh is said to have bowled faster than him on occasion, but it is hard to distinguish between truth and legend in this case).But then, say what you will about Indian supporters, we are an optimistic lot. We will continue to forward each other YouTube videos of promising pacemen. We will continue to keep watching the speed gun hoping for a streak of 6 deliveries over the 140 kph mark. We will continue to hope that someday, at some point in the future, a generation of Indian supporters will be able to talk about how they saw an Indian paceman running in from a long run up, with the wind in behind his back, bowling fast as lightening and making the batsman (preferably Aussie or South African) hop, skip and jump before getting out fending a delivery in front of his face. Until then, we have Ijaz Butt.P.S. Agarkar was not excluded from this article because he was forgotten. He was not mentioned for a reason.

Haseeb Ahsan was everything a selector ought to be, and his impact on Pakistan cricket was long-lasting

Saad Shafqat09-Mar-2013The qualities that have left the deepest impression about Haseeb Ahsan are his sharpness and shrewdness. They reflected his character and approach to life, as much as they described his offspin bowling. Born in 1939, Ahsan debuted for Pakistan in 1958, and went on to serve in a series of administrative cricket roles. His influence thus straddles generations; he was as much a figure of the 1950s as of the 1980s.The art of administration and management came naturally to him, and eventually came to be recognised as his true forte. Success outside of cricket confirms this judgement. As an employee of Pakistan International Airlines, Ahsan rose to become general manager of the carrier’s UK operations. Later in life, he joined American Express and became country head for Pakistan. He was astute at handling people and understanding their motivations and reactions.Yet he was no diplomat. Not above holding grudges, he did not shy away from confrontation when it mattered most. This was most evident when Ahsan was manager of the Pakistan team on the 1987 tour to England, which perhaps most dominates his legacy. In Imran’s Summer of Fulfilment, an account of that tour published by the author Khadim Hussain Baloch, Ahsan is described as “a genial man whose smiling exterior masked a character with endless reserves of strength, and whose determination to succeed was as fierce as that of the captain, Imran”.It was a time when Pakistan were in ascendancy, and had begun to assert themselves as one of the strongest teams around. At the start of the tour, Ahsan bluntly asked the English cricket authorities not to appoint Ken Palmer or David Constant as umpires, as they had left previous Pakistan
teams unduly aggrieved. This outspokenness made Ahsan immediately newsworthy, and he was in the crosshairs of the English press for the rest of the tour – which brought out his combative best. “It was a role he relished,” recalls Javed Miandad, Pakistan’s batting mainstay on that trip, which eventually produced Pakistan’s inaugural series victory in England.Ahsan also served at different times on the PCB’s selection committee, including stints as its chairman. He is remembered as an honest and commonsensical selector who called it like it is. One of his most courageous positions, unpopular at the time but eventually vindicated, was to advocate for the sidelining of Imran Khan from the 1983-84 tour to Australia, after the Pakistan captain developed a stress fracture of the shin. It brought Ahsan nothing but grief – including a much-publicised dust-up with the board’s formidable chairman, Nur Khan – but the needless aggravation of the injury proved Ahsan right.

“A genial man whose smiling exterior masked a character with endless reserves of strength, and whose determination to succeed was as fierce as that of the captain, Imran”Ahsan as described by author Khadim Hussain Baloch

Even by the standards of the 1950s, he had a short Test career, playing only 12 matches between 1958 and 1962. Yet this too is surrounded by lore. Qamar Ahmed, the veteran Pakistan cricket journalist, who played a great deal of first-class cricket with Ahsan, says he never saw an offspinner
turn the ball as much as Ahsan did. His Test figures (27 wickets at 49.25, including two five-fors) are creditable for someone who bowled mostly on dead pitches.In his sixth Test, a drawn affair in Bombay, Ahsan was called for throwing. He went on to bowl in subsequent matches, but the issue resurfaced on the 1962 tour to England, triggering Ahsan’s return to Pakistan before the Test series had even begun. The unofficial word is that Ahsan did not see eye to eye with the captain Javed Burki, who may have exploited the matter to get rid of Ahsan. Regardless, it effectively ended Ahsan’s Test career at the age of only 23.He was born in Peshawar to an Urdu-speaking family. His father was a high-ranking civil servant during the Ayub Khan days, and died prematurely in 1963. Ahsan attended Islamia College in Peshawar, where his cricketing ability was first noticed. Two eight-fors playing for Peshawar in the
Quaid-e-Azam Trophy earned him selection on Pakistan’s 1958 tour to West Indies.Though he never married, Ahsan acquired scores of well-wishers during his lifetime. Friends and associates remember him with much affection. Aftab Baloch, the Pakistani batsman famous for scoring a quadruple-hundred, and who was Ahsan’s colleague at PIA, describes him as a “fine gentleman” and a “perfect administrator”. Qamar Ahmed remembers him as “humble and
down to earth” and unfailingly helpful to anyone in need. Miandad points out that during the 1987 England tour, Ahsan took personal ownership of fund-raising efforts for Imran’s cancer hospital and proved instrumental in netting a windfall.For someone who did not enjoy a long playing career and never held high executive office within the PCB, Haseeb Ahsan casts an unexpectedly long and influential shadow over Pakistan cricket. He will be fondly remembered as a doer, a positive thinker, a patriot, and a man of intelligence and
nous who served Pakistan cricket with sincerity and impact.

Leicestershire still bring through talented players but their prospects for success on the field look limited

George Dobell02-Apr-2013Last year: 7th, CC Div 2; Group stage, FLt20; 6th in Group A, CB40.2012 in a nutshell: One of the also-rans. Leicestershire never threatened to challenge for promotion or in limited-overs cricket. After winning their first Championship game, they failed to do so again until late August and only by winning their final game did they ensure they would not finish bottom. They never got going in the CB40, failing to win any of their first five matches, and were similarly irrelevant in the FLt20, where they lost their first four matches, despite being the holders. There were a few areas of encouragement: only the two promoted teams lost fewer games in the lower division of the Championship and Shiv Thakor emerged as a player of rich promise. Ramnaresh Sarwan settled in well, too, and was rewarded with the captaincy.2013 prospects: There can be few expectations of silverware. Wayne White, easily their leading wicket-taker in the Championship last year, has left for a fresh start at Lancashire and Sarwan’s form has put him back on the radar of the West Indies’ selectors. Matthew Hoggard, who did not take a five-wicket haul last year, is not the bowler he once was and ongoing financial pressures limit the club’s competiveness in the transfer market. Still, Australian Joe Burns has been signed as cover for Sarwan, Niall O’Brien’s arrival from Northants should strengthen the batting and Anthony Ireland, Robbie Williams and Ollie Freckingham will add competition for bowling places. A decent run in T20 cricket remains possible but a promotion challenge looks unlikely. Off the pitch, the club hope they can progress the ground development plans which would enable them to spend more on their cricket budget.Key player: Nathan Buck, the 21-year-old seamer, endured a tough 2012, averaging 47.75 with the ball in the Championship. He is better than that, though, and if used – and rested – sensibly could develop into a match-winner.Bright young thing: Thakor, a 19-year-old batting allrounder, is the latest to emerge from Leicestershire’s remarkable production line. He topped the county’s Championship batting averages last year and is tipped to have an outstanding future. How long Leicestershire can keep hold of him remains to be seen but, for now, he should enjoy and benefit from first-team cricket in all formats.Captain/coach: Sarwan is the Championship captain, with Josh Cobb taking over for limited-overs cricket. Phil Whitticase remains the head coach.ESPNcricinfo verdict: While promotion or a trophy are unlikely, Leicestershire do at least continue to produce players. If Cobb, Thakor, Buck, Matthew Boyce and co. can find form, they could surprise a few.