Time to reconsider the Sehwag - Gambhir combination In Tests.

                

In the last year and a half after the grand success of the world cup 2011, the performance of the Indian team has tapered off rapidly, with humiliating losses in England and Australia.  Yes it is true that the ignonimity of these huge defeats has certainly dented the psyche of the Indian cricketing system as a whole. What will have even hurt the cricketing fans in India would have been the way in which the Indian team capitulated at home against England in the test series a  month back. For long the Indian team has always been very difficult to beat at home on dead pitches having nothing in it for the fast bowling fraternity. There have been a host of issues which the Indian team will have to address . The bowling is looking very insipid even on Indian pitches. The team is going through a transitional  phase as far as test cricket is concerned. The most worrying aspect which needs immediate attention is the poor form of the 2 openers.  Sehwag and Gambhir as an opening pair have been very inconsistent and have failed to give solid starts to the team for some time now.

It is very easy to dismiss the talk of dropping an experienced opener and the reason given is that there are no replacements for these quality opening batsmen. I find this argument as ridiculous  as any other which I have heard in the recent times. Surely the job of the selectors is to identify the talent at the first class level and I refuse to believe that there are no batsmen who can do a good job if they are given ample opportunity at the highest level. Batsmen like Jivanjyot Singh of the Punjab, Rahul Dewan of Haryana have performed quite well in the Ranji season and should be given a look in to the national setup. We have to assess the situation of Sehwag and understand that his game is primarily based on the hand eye co ordination with minimal use of footwork. He is 34 years old and with his eye sight diminishing it will be very difficult for him to score consistently at the test level especially in the overseas conditions. Do not get me wrong he is one of the finest openers the game has ever seen but once he is out of form like the way he has been over a year it is going to be extra bit difficult for him to get back in good form as his reflexes are bound to get slower by the day. He is also not among  the fittest guys in the team and with an extra bit of weight it makes the matter all the more worrying .If we observe Sehwag over the past couple of years, he  has managed to score a century or two in test cricket but these good scores have come far and few in between as supposed to some years back when he used to regularly torment quality bowling attacks home and away. Sehwag must be dropped for the test series against Australia thereby sending clear signs to the non performing players.

There is a worrying sign for Gautam Gambhir who has not scored a  test century in the last 3 years. If we look at the dismissals of Gambhir lately, we can observe that he has been getting dismissed either by playing across the line or trying to poke at deliveries outside the off stump trying to ramp the ball to the third man region . a shot which is fraught with danger  in the longer format where there are a lot more closing fielders behind the wicket. The selectors have given a long rope to Sehwag and Gambhir and at least one of them needs to be dropped at this point in time. There is always the counter argument that the upcoming Australian is a crucial series and the tried and tested players need to be given one more opportunity to come back in form. To be honest neither of the two even look like getting   into any sort of form at the present moment. The time has come where the Indian team will have to bite the bullet and take some brave steps in order to make the transitional phase as smooth as possible. The  players who are scoring consistently at the first class level must be rewarded at the right time.

Where have all the fundamental basics of the game gone missing?

                  

In the present day scenario, amidst all the hustle and bustle of the T 20, ODI’s and the test matches somehow I get a feeling that majority of the players have either forgotten the basic techniques of cricket or they have not been taught these basic nuances of the game.. Whether it be the training and fitness drills or running between the wickets where the batsmen hold the bat in the wrong hand while turning for a run. The youngsters at the  school and the college level are taught by their coaches how to ground the bat, which side to turn while looking at the partner and holding the bat in the appropriate hand while running between the wickets.

We get to see an experienced player like a Gambhir or even Sehwag trying to plonk the bat in the crease instead of actually making an effort to drag and stretch the bat in the crease as far as possible. Now a days the batsmen are getting run out by just a matter of an inch or so. These basic techniques can surely make the difference between the batsmen getting run out and crossing the crease. There are numerous instances of batsmen just ball watching instead of looking at his partner for a response, the result being a slight hesitation and one of the two  having to pay a price with his wicket. We often as spectators just look at the fielding effort of the fielder in trying to run out  the batsman. No doubt the throw has to be accurate or right close to the other fielder waiting to remove the bails. In the ODI’s and the T 20 or for that matter even in a test, these silly run outs can make a world of a difference to the eventual outcome of the contest. I sometimes get a feeling that the players do not have a proper net session before the match. Most of the times even during the test match we see players just having a throw down from the coach or the other staff. Basics like making an eye contact with the partner or calling loudly and clearly are also not being followed even by the experienced players.

Now a days playing volleyball or football before a match has become a trend or even a part of the so called fitness regime. There are numerous instances of the players getting themselves injured on the foot or even a broken finger while playing football and volleyball. I can completely understand the players trying to warm up for a cricket match but I am afraid all these throw down and football business just makes me go bonkers in the head. We often wonder the reasons for players getting frequently injured especially the pacers. I might add that there is way too much cricket being played but keeping this aspect in mind I also think that the pace bowlers do not practice sprinting for 15- 20 minutes. The fast bowlers also have forgotten the good old method of a proper warm up before  the match or just before a new spell after a long period.  All we see is that the pacers just do a bit of stretching and come on to bowl . The international level of sports demands the professional players to be super fit in all conditions to perform at the highest level.

During fielding many a times we see that the bowler is not standing behind the stumps to inflict a run out but instead is standing in the way of the path of the ball and the stumps  as if showing a bit too eager and a hurried approach towards inflicting a run out. Even in the slip cordon we see the fielders grabbing at the ball instead of keeping the hands loose to complete the catch. In a recent test match against England in Nagpur, Virender Sehwag who has stood in the first slip for a long time in tests  was not even properly bending down and staying low so as to give himself the best possible chance to take a sharp catch and instead was standing upright and the result being that he let go a couple of chances because of his late reaction towards a sharpish catch low down. All these basic techniques of batting, bowling and fielding should be avoided at least at the international level. For this to happen the coaches at the junior levels should be inculcating these basic methods to every player and it is the duty of these players to execute these things at the international level where the level of competitiveness is of the highest order.

Too much tampering with the ODI rules.

                        

Amidst the classical cricket format ie test cricket and the slam bang format of the T 20, it seems that the ODI’s are battling for survival in the long run. The ICC seems to have pressed the panic button a bit too early if the recent changes in the rules of the ODI’s is concerned. The committee consisting of former players should have some logical reason for some of the rules which seem to be a bit bizarre to say the least. Let us have a look at the  recent changes in rules  and try to analyze the effects it might have on the ODI format.

Bowlers allowed to bowl 2 bouncers per over – This rule has been due for some years now and aims to empower the fast bowlers helping them  to restrict the batsmen who are bullying them in the one dayers on flat decks which have nothing to offer for the quicks. This rule will also help the bowlers to create pressure on the batsman invariably resulting in to a dot ball if bowled effectively. Earlier after the bowler had bowled a bouncer in an over  the batsmen could come down the track lining up the bowler  knowing fully well that the bowler was allowed only one bouncer per over. The batsmen will have to think twice before stepping out of the crease. This rule will invariably favour the sides having good fast bowlers and hence India will have very little benefit as the Indian pacers are just not quick enough to exploit this rule. The use of bouncers in modern day cricket has  been on the decline due to the paucity of genuine good fast bowlers around the world.

Five fielders inside the inner circle at all times – This is a very interesting rule and will really challenge the bowlers especially the spinners and the fielding captain. Some experts are of the view that with only 4 fielders allowed outside the circle this could prove detrimental to the spinners who will invariably avoid  tossing  the ball and bowl at a much flatter trajectory. With the modern day pitches very much in favour of the batsmen and the bats getting thicker and stronger by the day, even the miss hits of the batsmen are going out of the park. This rule can become a way of choking a batsman who likes to maneuver the ball for singles and doubles and really does not have a release shot in his armour. All these  tampering with the rules are being done with a view that the period between the 16 -35 overs becomes a tad unpredictable and the game can become interesting during these middle overs. Even during the last 10 overs, the fasters will not enjoy having just 4 fielders outside the inner circle when the heat is on. The captains will have to play it cleverly and will have to gamble at some point of the game. For a spinner, the captain will have to place a fielder at mid –off or at mid –on depending on the strength of the batsman and he will have to bring a fielder inside the circle from the third man or the fine leg boundary at most times assuming that there will be a deep point or a deep mid wicket fielder on the boundary. The spin bowlers will be especially annoyed with this rule. There is also another possibility that a batsman be tempted into playing a risky shot seeing just 4 fielders on the boundary and might lose his wicket in the process if constant pressure is being maintained on him denying him the opportunity of rotating the strike over  with an extra fielder inside the circle.

Use of a new ball at each end.- even though this rule has been in practice for some time now seeing the majority of pitches around the world being prepared for one dayers, it has not been of much advantage because of the fact that there are very few genuine swing bowlers on international circuit. Most of the fast bowlers are  hit the deck type relying more on seam movement rather than conventional swing movement. The use of 2 new balls, one at each end has virtually eradicated the reverse swing phenomenon from the ODI’s with the ball not getting roughened up at all. It has been proven many a times that even a quality batting line up can be exposed if there is enough help from the deck and the bowlers using the age old art of swing judiciously.

All these above rules are being made with an intention of lending some balance between the bat and the ball with the current ODI cricket heavily lopsided in favour of the batsmen. Sometimes we get a feeling that the ICC tries too hard to tamper with the rules for the ODI’s and instead all the cricket boards should just try to produce surfaces which have some grass and help the pacers as well as the spinners who can extract bounce and bite from the wickets.It will be very interesting to see how the captains handle these rules bearing in mind that these rules might end up helping the non sub continental sides who have better quality of pacers as compared with their sub continental counterparts.