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On Diwali, sparks flew - did shortsightedness regarding India's match-timings contribute to the team's early exit - with dew making so many matches a no contest, was there a case for slotting one of India's big games as a day game? Watch here
Showing posts with label 2021. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2021. Show all posts
So much thought to lose a game, wow!
Talking about India's defeat to New Zealand in the T20 World Cup, how so much thought was put into it.
Can also watch here
A note to Virat.
To the current all-format Team India skipper: It’s a good thing you’re not formatted
Dear Virat,
Years back, when you rollicked on the verge of batting immortality, I would beseech the boys who had lapsed, to watch cricket again. I would tell them there is no better time, watch for Kohli, watch for what he’s doing with the bat.
They had lapsed so bad, even you couldn’t pull them back to cricket. Instead, they would romance a time they had played the game. They didn’t know what they were missing, they were missing out on you: your batting trance.
***
Then the other day, Asha aunty asked me to write about you. I excused myself then but maybe not entirely, so here we are.
Perhaps your knock against Pakistan compelled me to write about you again. Days later, I’m still thinking about it. The control, the saneness of it, the self-knowledge, yes, most importantly, the self-knowledge.
For the longest time, your batting had been about self-knowledge. About knowing your own abilities. This was far more evident in the white ball game, where you read the course of the innings as a masterful composer – you summoned the ebbs and flows of the innings with your bat; eventually thrown into a tizzy with that final spurt.
You were the batting equivalent of my Black & White TV memory when Zubin Mehta summoned his powers to Delhi in the mid 80s. If Mehta was “Baron of the baton”, you were baron of the bat.
But you know this, or at least I hope you do. Over the last few years, it’s been convenient for many to unknow this.
That is unimportant. Or is it? Has this marred your self-knowledge? Has this compelled you to reinvent yourself?
Probably not. Not from what was evident against Pakistan. My realistic expectation of you is to strike at 120, steer the innings to a shore where the mad hatters and hitters can rave with their bats in the death overs.
In the IPL, as too against Pakistan, you were well within that ballpark of 120. Coincidentally, it’s been similar in the last two IPLs. Not that it matters. You could be AWOL during the IPL, it wouldn’t matter much to me.
Or play fewer matches; when you spoke of player burnout not too long ago, you did mention that India regulars should be given a breather from the IPL calendar – but it doesn’t work that way. Even if the IPL is bang in the middle of a World Cup, chances are, key Indian players will have to play both.
For some reason, my mind always goes back to the aftermath of the 2011 World Cup win – followed by the IPL within no time, followed by the drubbing in England.
***
I cannot make sense of this entire mentor business. Or your twin retirement announcements.
The hype around the mentor business borders on propaganda, akin to those years when every Indian cricketer was thanking Tendulkar for anything good that happened to him. There is a mentor-cam. It’s a soap opera out there.
As with any soap opera, there’s this urge to suck this story dry. So the story goes on and on.
On the sidelines is a coach on his last assignment. There is little interest there.
And then there are your parallel stories, as captain and player. Gracious to a fault after a defeat, thoughtfully eloquent in your interviews.
This is all pretty much autopilot, both you and your handlers have excelled here.
There is you on the field, easily triggered, yet dispassionate in defeat.
There is both restraint and knowledge of the game’s vagaries.
What I wonder though is, how are you coping with the appointment of the mentor? Beyond the platitudes, the laughs on camera, what does it do to a team management already in place – in particular to the captain.
This is team India, not some IPL franchise where a dugout has to be endowed with former greats.
By the looks of it, you seem to be doing quite well. Who knows, maybe you saw an angle to this mentor business that’s eluded me. And if that’s the case, these last few weeks could be pivotal in your career as a captain.
The timing of your twin retirement announcements, the appointment of the mentor, everything moving to steady your batting grip.
That’s probably all that ever mattered. All those years where you just had to bat. Where you notched up those 70 centuries.
There was also a time, not too distant, when you were at your batting peak; you often spoke in post-match interviews of not knowing how long you had in the game.
It was a curious comment. One that made me wonder about you. And yet not altogether surprising, as who would know a sportsperson’s body and mind better than the player himself.
And that’s something you’ve been all along – the player. And Waddaplaya!
There is a point when the soundbites take over, and even through your driest patch, each innings tends to have that one bite, where the voice in the box becomes a child again.
Something which you yourself are quite familiar with – for often, that’s what you are on the field. No wonder you collude so well with Rishabh Pant standing alongside. It’s no mean feat, alongside you, even Pant appears to be the serious one.
And that, for whatever it is, is you, Virat. The prankster, the silly commenter on the field, the compulsive reviewer, the foot soldier hurling one from the boundary. Those uncalled for arguments with the umpire. The entitlement, yeah, that too. It’s far more telling than your post-match corporate avatar.
The comparisons with the mentor will only grow through this tournament – it’s that one narrative that needs no thought. If India wins this World Cup, chances are, the mentor’s guiding light will shine brighter. That’s the lazy narrative, it’s already written.
However, if this is yet another ICC trophy that eludes you, you know how that will pan out.
***
There are other noises which emanate from beyond the cricket field. Trust you have blocked them out.
These 22 yards are your f******g backyard. Your language is your language. Whether it is in Hindi or Punjabi, Hinglish or English. Whether it is served at that West Dilli ka Dhaba or your Peruvian restaurant.
In a few days, you will turn 33. India will take on Scotland that day. You’ll probably make some Scotch jokes with the boys.
Before that though, there’s Afghanistan and New Zealand.
Happy cricket, and Happy Birthday. Prove the naysayers wrong. Whichever way you want to spell that.
Sincerely,
Gaurav Sethi
First published here
Pakistan's winning strategy against India.
On 24th October, 2021, some team in green, playing under the guise of Pakistan, defeated India for the first time in a World Cup match.
The trick was, this team unlearnt everything they knew about World Cup encounters with India. Or at least it seemed so.
Somewhere, someone, not for the first time said, we will treat this as just another match.
Then someone from the team said, but you always say that, or someone always says that. It doesn’t work like that.
Once we are on the field, it always feels like a World Cup match.
Then that voice said: We are in Dubai on a Sunday.
So, it’s not the same as Sharjah on a Friday, pat came the reply.
It isn’t, but you know how close Dubai is from Sharjah, how close Sunday is to Friday?
Pretty close, no?
Pretty close, yes. It’s less than 30 kms away, it takes less than 30 minutes to get there.
That close, Matt?
Yeah, mate, that close. And Friday was less than two days back. What I’m basically trying to say is that, you guys have to transport yourself to Sharjah on a Friday. Got it?
Mathew Hayden, batting coach, man of many passions, was doing his best IPL commentary routine of platitudes with the Pakistani team. If it meant saying strange stuff, so be it. Logic wasn’t about to work with this bunch. He needed to apply some of his meditative principles.
But Pakistan captain Babar Azam was far from convinced.
Pardon my Urdu, Matt, but I’m not convinced.
Hayden was all cracked up – Mate, there’s nothing to pardon, not right now, it’s just that if we lose to India again, they will continue to make those horrendous Mauka Mauka ads. And we as a nation of proud Pathans cannot allow that to happen.
So without a further ado, Hayden packed the team in the team bus, and off they went to Sharjah.
Once there at the Sharjah Stadium, the team couldn’t believe it. Quite a few of them were already believing it was Sharjah on a Friday. For the others, Hayden instructed them to change the day on their phone. There was an initial reluctance, “The match is today, today it’s 24th October and you want us to make it to 22nd – what kind of fools do you take us for?”.
Hayden with his trademark smirk, set off in his patronizing tone, “Exactly that, mate, exactly that…sometime you have to become a fool…to be in love…to be in love with victory…y’kno what I’m saying here, mate. It’s like putting the meat in the fire, and it’s never quite the same – it’s cooked, it’s edible…we need to cook ourselves…Sharjah on a Friday is our grill, and once we’re grilled, we grill those Indians…it doesn’t matter what day of the week it is, we do it, 8 days a week…”
At this Shoaib Malik guffawed, “Matt, easy with the Beatles’ analogies, they don’t know who they are…”
Hayden was pleased that Malik knew. With dates and time machine work accomplished, the Pakistan team stomped back into their team bus. They looked like a changed bunch. With a new found belief, that they could do what never had been done.
But there was a problem. The bus had a flat tyre. A few players thought it was the handiwork of the Indians who didn’t want them to turn up for the all-important-tie, “It will be like all our World Cup teams who did not turn up for the match against India…we too will not turn up, only we will not actually turn up, we will not turn up”
This is when bowling coach Vernon Philander offered his assistance, “Let me swing by…” and with that he was gone. His words were pitched up, moving to the right extent. And within no time, Philander had them all dismissed from Sharjah, back to Dubai, with a new bus, hugging the curves of the road, just as Vernon’s venomous new ball deliveries had, once upon a time.
The players sang a Punjabi English remix of ‘He’s a jolly good fellow’, something that Hayden had taught them as he impressed them with his BBQ skills.
Back at the Dubai stadium, the players were a rejuvenated bunch.
Hayden had one last class for them though, “I want you to start visualizing what you will do after you win this all-important tie against India, this may be getting ahead of ourselves, but sometimes visualisation is the only way to do it, start thinking NOW”
Babar Azam, “I want to shake hands with Kohli after the win. I want to pat him on his…”
Too much information, Babar…but good, you are already there, and shaking hands with the opponent is a sign of your greatness, you are already traversing the great outer space hallowed glory of one gent going by the name of Kane Williamson”
None of them seemed interested in this unnecessary Hayden detail, but were far keener on giving their own two paisas on visualisation.
Mohammad Rizwan opened with, “I want a hug from Kohli. I want to bat through the innings and hug Kohli first”
Hayden shrugged, “One things for sure, you guys are not Australian”
At this, Mohammad Hafeez asked, “Don’t tell me, you want us to imagine that we are Australians now”
And that is exactly what happened. 11 Pakistanis who believed they were Australians took the field on a Friday in Sharjah.
Hayden had also made the boys fall in love with the Coldplay song, Yellow.
Once on the field, the Pakistanis sledged the Indian batting with Sharjah! Sharjah! Remember Sharjah? This is Sharjah! Also doing the rounds was Thank God it’s Friday! Friday! Friday! And oh look, Chetan Sharma! They didn’t stop there. They even started sledging them like Aussies – Remember Ponting from Wanderers, 2003?
Whether it was these sledges, or those two deliveries from Shaheen Shah Afridi, that broke the back of the Indian batting, we will never know for sure.
But both Pak openers visualised well. And they had their moment with Kohli. Sometimes, all you need to do is believe.
Befittingly, Hayden made the boys sing, “I’m a believer” after their triumph. The singing skills were severely tested.
First published here
Preview of the decider (while doing a KL Rahul)
what India should do but won't. Or maybe they will. Because it's hitting them bang in the face. A show with a lotta actions - from a ghazal singer to a KL Rahul.
One all.
Some coincidence - for CricBait’s 100th episode we ended up all coordinated. A lot more than the men in blue surely.
1st T20 lowdown (#IndvEng)
The importance of sticking it out with KL Rahul. Wasup Pant?
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