More »
Showing posts with label Karun Nair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Karun Nair. Show all posts
India’s second opener? Mayank Agarwal & Prithvi Shaw seek closure.
From being
the third choice opener at the start of the England series, KL Rahul is now the
only certainty on top of the order. Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan find
themselves together again, both discarded from the Test squad. What took Vijay
just two Tests, Dhawan accomplished in four.
Which
brings us to Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw. Shaw was part of the squad in
England, which, if you go by the Karun Nair selection logic means that he may not
play in either of the upcoming Tests. Agarwal is 27, Shaw is 18. Both have robust
numbers.
Before Agarwal
was picked, it appeared Shaw’s name had already been inked in the team-sheet.
Not so simple anymore.
In the West
Indies’ tour match, the two opened the innings. Agarwal made 90, Shaw 8. A two-day
game rarely gives batsmen second chances. Going by the team management fixation
with ‘current form’, Agarwal would walk in with his latest mark-sheet. Going by
the team management’s inclination towards young guns (take Risabh Pant for
instance), Shaw could walk in. And going by the team management inclination towards
muddled thinking, both could walk in, with KL Rahul at three, and Pujara on the
bench.
It’s
happened before. This is a home series. There’s a ticket to Australia up for
grabs. And India is already thinking ahead at chasing down 500 in the fourth
innings in Adelaide.
This of
course means little to Shaw or Agarwal. Both aware that they will soon be sharing
the Indian dressing room. Yet, in all possibility, only one will become the 293rd
Indian Test cricketer.
Agarwal and
Shaw found themselves together in the Board President’s XI dressing room after
the second and last day’s play. With them was India’s 292 Test player, Hanuma
Vihari.
There was a
shyness between the two openers, one that led to an awkward silence. It took
Vihari to break it.
Hanuma
Vihari (HV): Have you spoken to Dravid sir….y’kno I called Dravid sir
the day before I made my debut and told him I was making my debut.
He spoke to me for a couple of minutes and gave his
inputs and I thought it eased my nerves a little bit, because it is coming from
a legend and you know that you belong here. He just told me that you have the
skillset, you have the mindset and the temperament, just go out there and enjoy
yourself. I would like to give him a lot of credit for that because my journey
with India A was very important for me to come here, because not only that I
performed there, but the way he gave us inputs, that made me a better player
Both Shaw
and Agarwal look at Vihari dazed.
Prithvi
Shaw (PS): Bro…you just made a speech…nice one…
HV: No
problem…it’s what I told the press too. Not seen my name in print like this
before so I read it a few times. It was fun. Now I know it by heart.
Mayank
Agarwal (MA): They’ll tell us the day before…
HV:
Yes…y’kno, jokes apart, how this team goes by current form, maybe both of you
will play and I will be dropped
PS:
Bro…don’t say that…you’re always 292…and we’re openers…
MA: You’re
middle order da…
HV: You
made 90, Prithvi made 8 and I made only 3…so current form…
Vihari
walks out, leaving the two together.
PS: Bro…you
think we’ll open together…that’s crazy…Rahul will definitely open
MA: Rahul
will definitely open da…
PS: Should
we both call up Dravid sir…how to chill bro…before they announce the team…
MA: Dunno
da…we have to use it like phone-a-friend, why don’t you just call Rishabh…he’s
No. 291…he made his Test debut last month only da…call Rishabh...he’ll talk to
you like a bro da
Before
Agarwal can finish, Shaw is on the phone with Rishabh Pant
PS: Rish
Bro…how’re you bro…big question bro…how was it before your Test debut…I’m
asking for Mayank…he’s nervous as sh…
Agarwal
snatches the phone…
MA: Rish…Prithvi
just talking rubbish da…he wants to ask for himself…passing the buck…he’s going
to make his Test debut…
Rishabh
Pant (RA): M’ynk …put it on speaker yaar…I gotta message for both of you…both
of you are like my brothers and I love you both…and y’kno 4th
October is my birthday and I will be very happy if we are all playing together
but if say, only two of us are…I don’t want the third to have bad feelings…it’s
ok…dressing room is good…maybe third guy will come on as substitute fielder and
we’ll all be on the field together in a Test match for India…bros I’m getting
very emotional too…
PS: All
that is ok, how do we handle the build-up to the Test cap, bro
RA: What
build up?
MA: Anxiety
da…stress, tension…should we call up Dravid sir?
RA: Why?
I’m telling you don’t take stress. You’ll either be 293 or 294 or 295…it’s coming
guys…I know it…and in the evening, treat for my birthday…
MA: What
treat? You know we’ll be eating in the team hotel and management picks the
bill, da
RA: It’s
nice to say bro…don’t spoil my birthday
PS:
Bro…thanks…talk soon bro
Shaw shrugs
as he looks at Agarwal…the two decide to call Test Cap No. 290, Jasprit Bumrah
PS: Hi Jas
bro…how’re you? gotta minute…
JB
(overstepping): Hi..Hi…Prithvi…thanks in advance
PS: Oh
right, bro…congrats…great win…bro…can I ask you a question…how did you handle it
bro…before your Test debut
JB: It was
ok…I had already made by ODI debut 2 years before…so it was good…ok…why are you
asking? Oh right, for yourself? But what if Mayank A…
MA: Hi
Jaspreet…Mayank here, congrats, great win da…loved it…we’re here together…just
wondering…what prep…
JB: No…no
prep…enjoy the moment…
As there
are no answers from Bumrah either, the two decide on one final call. No 289.
Hardik Pandya. They make a video call.
Hardik
Pandya (HP) (in a bathtub): Hi guys…wasup? Just taking it easy…back is
screwed…ready for Test debut and all…good luck…don’t take any stress…if you’re
nervous…enjoy the nerves man…it’s a once in a life-time opp…I’m telling
you…nothing like it…will miss not being with you…but we can do a video call
that day in the evening…would love to speak to both of you…no hard feelings…oh
what did you call for? Seeing me in a bath tub…you dirty boys…
Feeling
better after speaking with Pandya, they decide to call No 288, Kuldeep Yadav
It was
either the phone line or Kuldeep’s thickly accented American-Australian English
fusion, that they understood very little of what he said. They quickly
congratulate him and get off the phone.
Enjoying
this sport way too much, they decide to call No 287, Karun Nair.
Karun Nair
(taped message) Hi…this is Karun Nair…if you’re calling to ask how I felt being
in the squad for England…and not playing a game…press 1…if you want to know how
it feels being left out of the squad for the West Indies’ series press 2…if
you..
They hang
up. And look at each other blankly. They then hug each other. Suddenly aware of
certain realities.
(However
plausible this may sound, this is largely a work of fiction)
First published here
Dravid, are you Delhi Daredevils or Cautious Caretakers?
Before Delhi Daredevils became a heap of cricketing waste, before they lost to Kings XI Punjab in Mohali, they actually had a positive net run rate. For the bottom ranked team to have a positive NRR is an anomaly of sorts – it just doesn’t add up. Higher ranked teams had far more abysmal NRRs, but here was DD, in spite of the abyss it was inhabiting as usual, it continued to cling on to one positive, if you can call it that.
Before the DD-KXIP mismatch, DD’s NRR stood at +0.514. Rising Pune Supergiant, ranked fourth, had a NRR of -0.240, KXIP, Gujarat Lions, and RCB, ranked at five, six and seven, all had NRRs that were negative. The defeat to KXIP, set straight some of this irregularity. After eight matches with six defeats, DD slid into the negative.
Looking back, DD lost its first match to RCB by 15 runs – 19 year old, Rishabh Pant played a lone hand, 57(36). This was also the first of Karun Nair’s many failures with the bat. This was also the only match Carlos Brathwaite played in IPL 10. And one of the four games left arm spinner, Shahbaz Nadeem played – two against KXIP, one each against RCB and RPS.
DD went on to smash RPS by 97 runs, while Sanju Samson’s 102 (63) set it, Pant and Morris sealed it with blazing cameos - 31(22) and 38(9). This was one of those near perfect games, where pretty much everything went DD’s way.
Four days later, DD notched another score and beat KXIP by 51 runs. Two overseas’ players, opener Sam Billings and Corey Anderson at six set this win with the bat. After back-to-back wins, DD started its five match losing spree.
A peep into these defeats could also be a peep into mentor, Rahul Dravid and his thought-partner, Paddy Upton’s minds. In spite of the defeats, not much has changed – DD has stuck on, largely to what it considers the core of its batting – a top order packed with Indian batsmen with little or no international experience.
To overcompensate for this lack, the big hitters bat lower down in a cluster – the first aim for the DD batting is to hang in, and not lose the game too early, to not show its hand too soon, to let the game go as deep as it can. DD’s batting strategy is born out of a handicap acquired at the auctions – one that hopes to make a mark in IPL-14, when these Indian batsmen are far more influential on the international scene. Samson aside, none of the Indian top order batsmen has made much of a mark. By the time they’re done, invariably, the innings is in a stasis – there’s way too much for Pant and Morris to do.
What is quite perceptive is that DD’s brain trust has almost preempted their batting problems – they have also arrived at a solution, to let Samson, Tare, Nair, Iyer bat early, use the batting power play and set it up before the death overs. What this has often meant is that whatever early momentum Samson achieves in the power play overs is squandered in the next 10 overs or so.
New captain Karun Nair has a highest of 33, his other scores are 4(3), 0(3), 21(27), 5(15), 15(17), 11(10). Often he’s been scoring at less than run a ball, far more than often he’s looked clueless in the middle – of his seven dismissals so far, he has been clean bowled four times and LBW once. He has come in at one down six times, and opened once. The only time he did not bat, DD scored over 200 runs, winning their first match. The other occasion when he was dismissed for a duck, DD managed 188 and won their second match.
Yet in Zaheer Khan’s absence, he has been made captain ensuring he both plays and leads the team; that when he can barely put bat on ball and defend his stumps. It is unthinkable that Dravid-Upton cannot see the mess that Nair is in, to make him captain, and continue to play him is largely responsible for the 67 all out against KXIP. Whether it is born out of belief or stubbornness, or a complete lack of options, cannot defend this move.
That Zaheer Khan has bowled in six matches, and 1.1 overs in the seventh is nothing short of miraculous. Zaheer retired from international cricket in October 2015, and IPL-9 was to be his last season. However, after an extended break from cricket in 2016, Zaheer decided to make IPL-10 his last season. While Zaheer has been inspirational as a captain, and often held his own with the ball, for him to last the season was asking too much of him. Zaheer as captain, is no different from the many myopic moves made by DD, they are far more invested in a safety first approach than embracing the aggression of the format.
Picking Angelo Mathews as captain, still recovering from injury, was another such pointless move. So far he has played in two out of eight games – in his second knock, he was controversially sent in before DD’s biggest hitter, Chris Morris – that when DD was chasing 191. Morris did not face a ball in the innings, remained not out at 0. DD lost by 15 runs. The irony wasn’t lost on anyone. Mathews hasn’t played since that day.
There are other sub-plots too, like not playing the only overseas’ top order batsman, Sam Billings for two games, persevering with Corey Anderson, that too lower down the order, waiting for DD’s sixth game to play a top bowler such as Kagiso Rabada, not using Amit Mishra as an attacking option, often underbowling him – it doesn’t end, as you’d expect with a side sinking fast into the quicksand of defeats.
DD is being beaten, more off the field than on the field. With an attitude that is seeped so deep in caution, it appears they’re playing an altogether different format. While it is the 10th season, it does bring back memories of an RCB team put together when Dravid was their icon player – jokingly it was often referred to as the IPL Test XI, Dravid at the helm, there was also Wasim Jaffer, Jacques Kallis, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Misbah-ul-Haq, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan and Sunil Joshi in that side. That side lost 10, won 4.
It will take a lot for this bunch to win two more matches. During 67 all out, their lowest ever IPL score, DD had not just been beaten, they had been broken – their batting memories had been erased, they were petrified, aware that they were about to be stripped naked on Live television. The batsmen saw it coming, by walking out to bat they made it real.
It wasn’t too different from their early slide to 24/6 or RCB’s own 49 all out. It’s an unforgiving tournament, and even the best in the business are feeling the heat. It may only get worse – and for both RCB and DD to find answers, they might need to look further afield, away from cricket. It’s up to Dravid, as much as it is to Kohli now, to find a way to inspire themselves, only then can they find a way to inspire their team.
For starters, maybe Delhi should try and play like Daredevils. There’s a big difference in going down with a fight as opposed to going down with a fright.
First published here
Why Virat Kohli failed to score a triple century against Bangladesh
And the precise match he will go on to score it
Long before Virat Kohli had even reached his double century, there was a poll on Star Sports – it had to do with his triple century. Anyone who was watching Kohli bat was in no doubt of the triple century. It was just a matter of time. Either before tea or after, but come it would.
On his way, there had been minor hurdles, more like irritants, the odd appeal; he had even been given out. But he reviewed it. It looked out but it couldn’t be – there was that triple for the taking. On being reviewed, the ball was missing the stumps, the umpire had to eat his decision.
However, there was this small matter that everyone was unaware of – there was no way Kohli could make a triple century, because if he did, he would have had to take the drastic step of dropping himself from the following Test match, the first against Australia.
Why? If there’s one thing that Kohli is, it’s that he’s fair to a fault. Dropping triple centurion, Karun Nair, was not an easy decision. Yet in Kohli’s mind, it was the correct call. Made to accommodate India’s middle order mainstay, vice-captain, and proven match winner, Ajinkya Rahane.
While both Kohli and Kumble had explained their reasons to Nair, this decision did not sit easily on Kohli. He admitted to being greatly pained by it, confessing to his teammates that life and cricket can be so unfair – and that dropping Nair was his toughest decision as captain.
He hoped that it did not scar Nair for life, and hoped he would play for India again, sooner rather than later. At the same time, the dressing room was abuzz with the one-off Bangladesh Test being a great opportunity for a maiden triple century – for who else but the captain.
It was then that Kohli had admitted that if he were to make a triple century, he would drop himself from the following Test match. He said, “I want to feel Karun Nair’s pain…I want to know what it feels like to dropped after scoring a triple century…it must be so deflating…yet it is also a great lesson in resilience to rise gain, to feel the crushing pain and then comeback...isn’t that what heroes are made of?”
While Virat Kohli is a man of his word, and there was no way he was not going to stick to his guns if he scored a triple century, it was on coach Anil Kumble’s insistence that there was a change in plans.
Kumble had convinced Kohli to not score a triple. This way he would not go against his word and also play the crucial first Test against Australia.
In the first innings, Kohli’s awareness, of both his batting and the DRS (Decision Review System), had been quite unsurpassed. He had already made a canny call which overturned a LBW decision. So naturally it took everyone unawares when Kohli trooped off when given out LBW with two reviews still in the bag.
How could Kohli not know the ball was pitching outside off? How could Kohli not review his key wicket, after all, an early declaration hinged on how long he batted?
Finally, it was all down to not scoring that triple century. And being fair to himself, the team and the other triple centurion, Karun Nair.
Whether Virat Kohli will ever allow himself to score a triple century nobody knows. But he was heard whispering to nobody in particular, “Maybe I’ll only score a triple in my last Test.”
Karun Nair shook his head in disbelief, as if to say, “what have I done?”
(However plausible this may sound, this is largely a work of fiction.)
First published here
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
