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Showing posts with label Graeme Swann. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Graeme Swann. Show all posts
Should we believe in Indian cricket again?
For Test match eve I felt nothing. In the morning, still
nothing. Like Ganguly I didn’t make it for the toss, but I was on target for
the first ball.
Imagine if the selectors had the balls to toss the team on its head – instead the Indian team continues to play because it’s a highlights’ package. So when the day’s play doesn’t deliver, they dig through the archives.
Just the other day there was a piece about Sehwag’s retirement from T20 internationals – Sehwag’s twitter account denied it the next day.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve tossed the team composition in
my mind. I’d have been quite happy if we
had a new playing eleven. This team meant nothing to me, they were not a team –
they were the front of a Player Management Firm.
Yeah, I was jaded bad, almost as if the reality of pro-sport
was eating me up. I tossed the team in my mind some more – I would have
retained Che Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ashwin, Ojha. Maybe Yadav, I still wasn’t
decided on him.
I was at a place where I didn’t want to see some of these
guys bat or bowl or keep or field. I wanted to see Rahane, Mukund, Manoj, Saha,
Dinda, someone who didn’t have the backing of our big boys.
Imagine if the selectors had the balls to toss the team on its head – instead the Indian team continues to play because it’s a highlights’ package. So when the day’s play doesn’t deliver, they dig through the archives.
Yet I watched today. When the wickets fell, I felt nothing.
Though when Che Pujara mistimed one past mid-on’s reach, I swivelled out of my
chair. When Trott claimed Kohli, I was on edge throughout that replay. I was
relieved enough to not even abuse Trott on twitter.
I watched Sehwag and Gambhir (and even Raina). Instead all I
heard was talk, talk, talk. Player management firm talk. Opening Partnership of
53, Have you seen my catch, Built for Test cricket.
When did our openers become so needy? It wasn’t the runs
they did not score, but who was advising these guys? 2 years’ back they were on
form the best bets to replace Dhoni. Now they will be content to be just not replaced.
Forget them, have you heard the stuff Sachin’s spoken over the
last few months – from not thinking about retirement, top of his game, to it’s
natural to be thinking about retirement.
Why do I always feel that everything they say is determined by
their form. And then you have the
captain who doesn’t miss a beat to undermine his players.
It has been obvious for a while that Indian cricketers are
now playing a game through the media.
Just the other day there was a piece about Sehwag’s retirement from T20 internationals – Sehwag’s twitter account denied it the next day.
In spite of all this, I had one of my better day’s watching
cricket. Even more than the runs, I love catches being dropped. England was
messy, “donkeys” was buzzing in my ears.
Sehwag defended. There are few more articulate cricketing
moments than Sehwag tilting his bat ever so slightly in a faux straight defence.
There is the probability of a single, there is the hint of a mind. There is the
soundtrack – “keh ke loonga”. There is
helplessness, when you can’t help but forgive Sehwag his trespasses.
And then Rajiv tweeted – “Did you seen my six?”
That’s what Viru is – he makes you call him Viru, Sehwag,
Jatman – and hordes more. To truly love your sports’ hero, you gotta be able to
get real pissed with him. But why so long? Can a 50 plus average accommodate a
2-year slump?
And then there was Che Pujara, Test cricketing encyclopaedia.
Volumes on how to leave the ball and the straight defence. But before that,
almost always, early in his innings, bat, swordlike coming down on one around
middle, even off sometimes, playing it through midwicket. It’s a shot that makes
me nervous. But it also signals his intention to breathe, like his pull – you can’t
always play straight, what’s the fun? But still I think, why so early in the
piece?
Down the wicket, jigging in the crease, back, front, sideways
– it’s as if Che’s cricketing engine is being oiled as he plays. And just when
you think it’s stumps, one purrs through the covers. And another.
From 90 to 98 in the 90th over. Stumps, Day 1.
And I’m a believer for today.
100 for the 1st wicket. Both Sehwag and Gambhir must be dieing to give interviews staking their claim for the captaincy. #IndvsEng
— BCC! (@BoredCricket) November 15, 2012
Looking at Viru and Gauti bat in Motera, you wonder why do we even bother with overseas' tours? #IndvsEng
— BCC! (@BoredCricket) November 15, 2012
In two overs, Matt Prior has dropped a catch and missed a stumping- don't be surprised if he doesn't appeal for a nick next over #EngvsInd
— BCC! (@BoredCricket) November 15, 2012
Gambhir b Swann. And Prior nearly missed that too. #IndvsEng
— BCC! (@BoredCricket) November 15, 2012
Is this the longest Sehwag has spent in the 90s? - Yes, he went for 1990 to 2000 with a 4 and a 6. #IndvsEng
— BCC! (@BoredCricket) November 15, 2012
For Sachin Tendulkar not to be clean bowled today, three other batsmen had to be castled. #IndvsEng
— BCC! (@BoredCricket) November 15, 2012
Graeme Swann may have to donate his right arm to medical science after this Test series. #IndvsEng
— BCC! (@BoredCricket) November 15, 2012
Don't know about India or England, but it sure as hell has been Bangladesh's day - 449/6 #IndvsEng
— BCC! (@BoredCricket) November 15, 2012
Suresh Raina: hope you saw Che Pujara's innings, that's called 'Built for Test cricket'. You don't say it, you play it #IndvsEng
— BCC! (@BoredCricket) November 15, 2012
Disgraceful England Deserve Censure But The ICC Thanks Them
Ian Bell is a good batsman. Thats all he is. He is not an umpire. He is not a match referee. He is not the sole authority on the cricket field. At some point yesterday he decided he was all of these things. He assumed that the ball was dead. Him and him alone. His batting partner, Eoin Morgan didn't. The bowler didn't. The fielder who had thrown the ball in didn't. And the umpires didn't. Yet in a supreme display of arrogance, Bell trotted over to his batting partner, who looked most uncomfortable about the whole affair since he had just put his bat in the crease after attempting to warn Bell, and knew something unfortunate was about to occur.
Make no mistake, the error was Bell's and Bell's alone, nothing but sheer stupidity. But it gets worse from here. Ignore the indignation from the English, who almost drowned twitter out with calls for Dhoni's head for, well, doing the correct thing. As the umpires asked Dhoni if he wanted to uphold the appeal, they also turned to the English batsmen and asked them to wait on the field until a decision had been made. Bell's arrogance took to the fore again and he marched off, seemingly as oblivious to their request as he seemed to the entire run out fiasco. Note that even at that point the umpires had still not called Tea, it was Bell who took it upon himself to declare the session over. Bell was actually stopped just before he left the ground to his obvious disgust by the fourth umpire, who politely reminded him that the session had not in fact officially ended.
For such blatant disregard to an umpire's authority, a player has already been penalized in this test, too bad he isn't English though, because they are praised for this sort of behavior. Already in this test we've seen Graeme Swann kick the stumps in disgust at his own performance, and despite being his second offence in under three months, escape with a reprimand. "Look here you jolly old fellow, we love your witty banter on twitter, but you can't go around kicking the stumps when you feel like it. Just quickly apologize for it and we'll sweep it under the carpet."
The most petulant and a serial offender in the English side, much like his father before him, and rewarded with T20 captaincy - this is the same bowler who is the only international cricketer to have conceded 6 sixes in an over in a T20 match - Stuart Broad, took it upon himself to step into his father's shoes and check if VVS Laxman had applied Vaseline to his bat. The English seem to think this sort of behavior is amusing, its a bit like throwing jelly beans on the pitch, its all in good fun when you're not at the receiving end. Insinuate that an Englishman might be a cheat and you'll get the response the Pakistani team received after their counter accusations during the spot fixing brouhaha.
Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower chose to approach Dhoni during the Tea interval and ask him to reconsider his appeal. This has been described as "most unorthodox" but the more simple way of describing it is that it was way out of line. You cannot go to the opposition and ask them to play in a manner that suits your players after your very players are solely responsible for an incident because of their stupidity, and especially not after the mob you're leading onto the field has already acted so disgracefully. The trouble is, nobody seems to be telling England that they're behaving terribly. Oh no, quite the opposite.
Here's how Haroon Lorgat, CEO of the ICC, described the incident and the conduct of the players. "Absolute credit must go to Team India, the England team and the match officials - Ranjan Madugalle, Asad Rauf and Marais Erasmus as well as the off-field umpires Billy Bowden and Tim Robinson - for the superb way that they all handled a tricky situation. While the initial appeal and umpire decision may have been acceptable to the letter of the law, the decision by India captain M S Dhoni and his team -as well as the Team India coaching staff - to withdraw the appeal shows great maturity. To see players and officials uphold the Great Spirit of cricket, which has underpinned the game for more than a century, is very special. I am indeed grateful for the way that the teams and match officials handled what was clearly a difficult situation and their behaviour reflects well on everyone."
I'm not sure what Lorgat is smoking, but he did get a few things right, so it might not be the best stuff out there on the market. The umpires and the Indian Team deserve praise. Don't discount the role of the umpires here, they could have chosen to act as heavy handed as Daryl Hair did at the Oval during Inzimam's protest and taken the incident to a whole different level. Madugalle's lenient reprimand to Swann and his overlooking Broad's distasteful accusation, doesn't deserve credit. And England's conduct definitely does not either. The "Great Spirit of Cricket" shouldn't win any accolades today, it was in fact insulted because it asks players to play fair, within the rules and to respect umpires. But more so because it promotes equality and equal treatment to players, and by all indications from the ICC's statement, equality seems to be used rather judiciously, and certainly selectively.
Make no mistake, the error was Bell's and Bell's alone, nothing but sheer stupidity. But it gets worse from here. Ignore the indignation from the English, who almost drowned twitter out with calls for Dhoni's head for, well, doing the correct thing. As the umpires asked Dhoni if he wanted to uphold the appeal, they also turned to the English batsmen and asked them to wait on the field until a decision had been made. Bell's arrogance took to the fore again and he marched off, seemingly as oblivious to their request as he seemed to the entire run out fiasco. Note that even at that point the umpires had still not called Tea, it was Bell who took it upon himself to declare the session over. Bell was actually stopped just before he left the ground to his obvious disgust by the fourth umpire, who politely reminded him that the session had not in fact officially ended.
For such blatant disregard to an umpire's authority, a player has already been penalized in this test, too bad he isn't English though, because they are praised for this sort of behavior. Already in this test we've seen Graeme Swann kick the stumps in disgust at his own performance, and despite being his second offence in under three months, escape with a reprimand. "Look here you jolly old fellow, we love your witty banter on twitter, but you can't go around kicking the stumps when you feel like it. Just quickly apologize for it and we'll sweep it under the carpet."
The most petulant and a serial offender in the English side, much like his father before him, and rewarded with T20 captaincy - this is the same bowler who is the only international cricketer to have conceded 6 sixes in an over in a T20 match - Stuart Broad, took it upon himself to step into his father's shoes and check if VVS Laxman had applied Vaseline to his bat. The English seem to think this sort of behavior is amusing, its a bit like throwing jelly beans on the pitch, its all in good fun when you're not at the receiving end. Insinuate that an Englishman might be a cheat and you'll get the response the Pakistani team received after their counter accusations during the spot fixing brouhaha.
Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower chose to approach Dhoni during the Tea interval and ask him to reconsider his appeal. This has been described as "most unorthodox" but the more simple way of describing it is that it was way out of line. You cannot go to the opposition and ask them to play in a manner that suits your players after your very players are solely responsible for an incident because of their stupidity, and especially not after the mob you're leading onto the field has already acted so disgracefully. The trouble is, nobody seems to be telling England that they're behaving terribly. Oh no, quite the opposite.
Here's how Haroon Lorgat, CEO of the ICC, described the incident and the conduct of the players. "Absolute credit must go to Team India, the England team and the match officials - Ranjan Madugalle, Asad Rauf and Marais Erasmus as well as the off-field umpires Billy Bowden and Tim Robinson - for the superb way that they all handled a tricky situation. While the initial appeal and umpire decision may have been acceptable to the letter of the law, the decision by India captain M S Dhoni and his team -as well as the Team India coaching staff - to withdraw the appeal shows great maturity. To see players and officials uphold the Great Spirit of cricket, which has underpinned the game for more than a century, is very special. I am indeed grateful for the way that the teams and match officials handled what was clearly a difficult situation and their behaviour reflects well on everyone."
I'm not sure what Lorgat is smoking, but he did get a few things right, so it might not be the best stuff out there on the market. The umpires and the Indian Team deserve praise. Don't discount the role of the umpires here, they could have chosen to act as heavy handed as Daryl Hair did at the Oval during Inzimam's protest and taken the incident to a whole different level. Madugalle's lenient reprimand to Swann and his overlooking Broad's distasteful accusation, doesn't deserve credit. And England's conduct definitely does not either. The "Great Spirit of Cricket" shouldn't win any accolades today, it was in fact insulted because it asks players to play fair, within the rules and to respect umpires. But more so because it promotes equality and equal treatment to players, and by all indications from the ICC's statement, equality seems to be used rather judiciously, and certainly selectively.
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