My Wager With Ajay!

As published in #TablaSingapore on January 11, 2019

I want to tell you a story, about a wager, between a very dear friend Ajay and me.

Ajay had introduced me to a group of like-minded cricket fanatics in Bengaluru, all of whom had one thing in common, their love for cricket and the Indian team.

You could find every type of Indian cricket fan in this group. From the never-say-die faithful to the India-will-never-win cynic. But all celebrated every India win and hurt every time the team lost. 

It was just before the 2007-08 India-Australia series in Australia. Most hoped India would win, but Ajay was certain. He always was. I disagreed and even offered him a 10-year window for India to win a series Down Under. The bet was on.

It became the mainstay of the banter between us, especially every time India travelled to Australia thereafter.

The series under the leadership of Anil Kumble was lost 2-1 and remembered mostly for the monkey-gate scandal that nearly saw the tour being called off. 

In 2011-12, one just knew a series win wouldn’t happen. As a last hurray sounded for Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and V.V.S. Laxman, it was an ageing Indian side and it got creamed by the Australians 4-0.

I asked Ajay if he would like an extension of our wager for another 10 years. He declined. He remained confident it would happen the next time.

In 2014, it looked very promising with a new-look Indian side and the legendary M.S. Dhoni leading them. But defeats in the first two Tests put paid to those hopes very quickly. It stayed 2-0 till the end for the Australians. 

Last Monday was a difficult day for me. I usually start writing my article on Sunday, but in this case I just had to wait one more day. I wanted to see history being made. I was desperately looking forward to losing the one wager I never wanted to win in the first place.

Ten more wickets is what India needed. Australia would not get the required 300-odd runs they were trailing by. The Indians had a stranglehold on them. It was not about whether but about when.

Rain cast a wet blanket by denying the Indians the satisfaction of what would have been a 3-1 series win. 

For the Australians, the rain offered some respite, a break from the onslaught this Indian juggernaut had unleashed on them: 2-1 does not sound as bad as 3-1.

Many have pointed out that the Australians did not have their two best batsmen in the side. But then I could give 72 ifs and buts on why India should have won a series earlier.

We could start the debate from 1947, but that would be trivialising what is a huge moment in the history of Indian cricket.

To understand the magnitude of India’s series win, one needs to know that India first visited Australia in 1947. Since then teams from Asia have played 98 Tests, of which the Asians have won 11 and the Australians 66.

This was the 12th tour to Australia for the Indians in a total of 31 done by all Asian teams, under 29 different captains. Only eight of those captains know what it feels to win a Test in Australia.

Finally, after 72 years, the team led by Virat Kohli became the first Indian or Asian team to win a series in Australia.

Kohli was very philosophical at the press meet. India had been competitive in South Africa and England recently but did not have the results to show for it. 

In Australia, there was a horrible sense of deja vu when India were 41-4 on day one of the series. But that is where things also turned around. The Phoenix finally rose from the ashes.

Kohli talked about the work they had put in to build a world-class pace attack, how much this win meant to him and the mantra “team first” that the whole team embraced. He does seem to have a true vision for the Indian team especially in Test cricket.

Coach Ravi Shastri, on the other hand, seemed to be on the top of his game, firing no blanks, shooting only tracer bullets.

This has been a series of many firsts. Never before has an Australian batsman failed to score a century in any Test series of at least four matches. Their poor batting form reflected in the fact that it was the first time they were made to follow on in a home Test since 1988.

Rishabh Pant became the first Asian wicketkeeper-batsman to score a Test hundred in Australia.

But to me the most pleasing first was Kohli not being the highest scorer in an away series for India since becoming captain. Not because one does not want to see Kohli do well, but because it was high time the rest of the batting unit stood up.

I would, however, have liked to see the Man of the Series award shared by Cheteshwar Pujara and Jasprit Bumrah. If Pujara was the glue that held the Indian batting together, Bumrah was the detonator that caused the Australian batting line-up to implode time and time again. It was given only to Pujara.

This year is going to be busy for the Indian team and their fans. It is going to involve a lot of white-ball cricket. Three one-dayers against Australia, starting in Sydney tomorrow, followed by five ODIs and three T20 matches in New Zealand.

Australia will then travel to India at the end of February to play five ODIs and two T20s, probably the last international games the Indian team will see before the World Cup starts in England in May.

It is only wise that Bumrah has been rested. He will be India’s premier fast bowler in the coming months and those batteries need to recharge. It will allow the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar to get much needed match practice. 

Pant is missing from the Australia ODIs, but the chairman of selectors M.S.K. Prasad made it clear that he remains an integral part of India’s World Cup plans.

Throw in the Indian Premier League and Indian fans will be watching non-stop cricket for the next seven months.

I never really finished my story of the wager with Ajay. That is because I never really got a chance to pay up.

On Jan 11, 2016, my friend passed away in the most bizarre of accidents. 

I always imagine how he would have bellowed with laughter, collected the money from me and ordered drinks for us with it.

If he were still around, I would have tempted him to another wager – that India will not win the World Cup this year. He, being the quintessential Indian fan, would have taken me on in a heartbeat. Of course, we would both want that I lose again!

Can India Make History?

Unabridged version of article in #TablaSingapore

The Boxing Day test at the MCG has always held a special place in cricketing hearts. It is one of the most anticipated test matches of the year, not just in Australia but the global cricketing fraternity, no matter who Australia plays. 

It’s popularity has now led to most test playing nations in the Southern Hemisphere  adding a Boxing Day test on their calendars, offering viewers the world over marathon viewing of test Cricket for the period right after Christmas. 

However in Australia, it is special. Given the stature of the mighty MCG as a Cricket ground, especially when it fills up as Australia take on the old enemy, England, or India their new arch rivals. 

Perth had turned out to be a huge setback for India, not because they lost but because of how they did, especially after they won their first test in Adelaide. 

Kohli himself admitted they had fallen for what the wicket looked like and what they thought it would do. For the second time in the year, India played an all pace attack. 

However, unlike Johannesburg in January last year the outcome in Perth in December turned out to be a defeat. 

The Australian pace battery exploited the conditions perfectly, but the man who had the Indian’s undone was once again, their off spinner Nathan Lyon. 

To turn around from the setback of 146 run defeat in a test match is never easy, especially when you are playing Australia in their den.  

Sir Winston Churchill had once said: “Success is going from one disappointment to another with no loss in enthusiasm”.  

If there is one thing this Indian team has shown throughout the year, is their ability to move on from the setback of a defeat and turn up the next day, with nothing but winning on their minds.  

Defeats have had minimal impact on the way they have played their cricket or on their mindset which has always remained positive, and the credit for that must be given to the team leadership, especially their captain Virat Kohli. 

For all the criticisms one may level at Kohli as a strategist the one thing you cannot take away from him is his insatiable appetite for getting better and winning, especially overseas.

The man does not have a “negative” ion in his body. Which is why one often wonders about his thought process when he play’s tests with only four bowlers or some of the defensive field settings especially to tail-enders, but I digress. 

Not only did the Indians bounce back, they won the third test in Melbourne by a huge margin of 137 runs. 

Santa Claus handed the Indian team and its fans a Christmas present in the form of Mayank Agarwal. 

The gutsy Karnataka batsman was not only asked to make his debut at the MCG but was also asked to open the batting along with another makeshift opener in Hanuma Vihari. 

Success they say is when opportunity meets preparedness and Mayank had been preparing for this moment through 47 first class matches that include 8 centuries and 21 half centuries. 

It also includes a high score of 304 not out, which according to commentator Kerry O Keefe was scored in a Ranji Trophy game against the “canteen staff” of the Indian Railways. 

O’Keefe was left smelling the coffee as Mayank finished with match scores of 76 and 42 and took 3 outstanding catches 2 at short leg and one at short mid-wicket. 

Perth is probably the last time Indian fans will see Murali Vijay opening the batting in tests for India. 

If Mayank continues on his merry way, then the prodigious Prithvi Shaw will have a ready partner when he returns to open the batting for India with Lokesh Rahul still being part of the plans.

It was a ‘bold’ decision to win the toss and bat, but ‘bold’ is exactly how Kohli approaches the game. Tim Paine was honest in admitting he would have bowled had he won the toss, given how green the wicket looked.  

The two youngsters Agarwal and Vihari scraped their way to an opening stand of 40. More importantly they battled for 18 overs, something India had not done in the previous two test's. 

The MCG test however belonged to one man. Jasprit Bumra made 2018 his own as he finished with match figures of 9 for 86.

For those that heard him speak in post-match interviews at the MCG, Bumrah made crystal clear his desire to play test cricket, not just now but from the time he started playing the game as a kid.

From making his debut for India less than 12 months ago to taking what is hopefully his first of many man of the match trophies, he has now grown into the spearhead of what is a very potent fast bowling attack that India has. Some rate it amongst the best in the world even, but to me such comparisons are odious and irrelevant. 

It is not just about the 48 wickets he has picked in eight tests, but the fact that he picks them at an average of 21 runs giving no more than 2.65 runs an over, striking once every 8 overs which has placed him among the best of the world.

The Indian coaching staff has copped a lot of criticism for where it has not done well.  But, it would only then be fair to call out the splendid work done so far by Bharat Arun, the bowling coach. 

As Michael Clarke rightly observed, the beauty of the work done is not in how the bowlers are bowling but evident in the back up available. On the bench are top class pacemen  Bhuvaneshwar Kumar or Umesh Yadav and fine spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja.

A special mention here for the opponents especially Pat Cummins, who typifies the Aussie fighting spirit. I have often wondered if he is a Gladiator or the Energizer Bunny, and have firmly concluded, he is both. 

As if match figures of 9 for 99 are not enough, he fields like a man possessed and you might as well use a crane to haul him away from the crease.

His 63 in the second inning was a lesson in batting not just for tail-enders but for all top order batsmen who have struggled in this series. 

Had it not been for his resistance, Australia would have struggled to add respectability to their score line. 

By winning the third test India have ensured they cannot lose this series, which means they retain the Border Gavaskar Trophy.

However, if the attitude of this team is anything to go by, just like their defeats, they won’t be making much of this win either. Not because it does not matter but because the job is not over. 

History beckons Kohli and his men,  as they seem set to win the first series in Australia by any Indian team. 

The 6 test defeats in South Africa and England, were painful lessons that propelled them to work harder and prepare better. 

In Sydney they will have the opportunity to etch their names in the annals of Indian cricketing history, forever! 

Same Old, Same Old - December 20 (As Featured in Tabla Singapore)

Last Thursday saw the All Blacks Coach Steve Hansen announce his retirement from the job he loves so much. He will step down after next year’s world cup where he and his team will attempt a record 3^rd world cup in a row. 

The 59 year old New Zealander who has been on the All Blacks coaching staff for 18 years - eight of them asahead coach - and won the world rugby coach of the year award three times, has an unbelievable record of 85 win’s from 96 matches while in chargeof the New Zealand side.

Hansen’s legacy however, was best defined by New Zealand Rugby CEO Steve Tew who talked about how Hansen has “enhanced” the “special thing” that makes the All Blacks what they are. “We still have men who make mistakes, but largely this group carries itself outstandingly well" said Tee.

The rugby officials measure of Hansen’s legacy was not related to winning, but touched on how he had transformed the conduct of an All Black on and off the field – much like what captain Brendon McCullum did with the New Zealand cricket team.

Compare that to all the bad press the Indian captain Virat Kohli has attracted over the past few days. He has been hammered for his poor behavior on and off the field. The 30 year old is building a legacy for sure, but one is just not sure what it’s going to be.

Former Australian skipper Allan Border said he has never seen any captain behave the way Kohli does. Legendary Indian actor, Naseeruddin called the delhi born the greatest player in the world and the worst behaved in the same sentence.

Ex-Australian batsman Michael Hussey described Kohli’s behavior in the second test against Australia – which India lost by 146 runs on Tuesday – as concerning, while former Australian captain Mark Taylor described the players state of mind as "being on edge."

Personally, as much as he is my my favorite batsman in the world, I never can be a fan of the way he conducts himself on the field and off it - where he confronts the press or anyone who disagrees with him. 

He has made it amply clear that he does not care what people think of him. There is always a mongrel in every side, but rarely is it the captain.

In the pre-match press meet, Kohli made a snide remark: "I hope they dont trim any more grass off the (Perth) wicket." I thought it was cocky to say the least. 

It was little wonder then to see India start the test without any spinner - preferring to go in with four seamers. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was out injured. So, the only question should have been to play Kuldeep Yadav or Ravindra Jadeja, both left arm spinners, instead. 

India not only messed up their team selection by not picking a spinner, they opted for Umesh Yadav as the fourth pace bowler. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has a far better record as a strike bowler. 

The result was a thumping loss to Australia, whose off spinner Nathan Lyon picked up 8 wickets in the match. Umesh returns figures of 2 for 139 from 37 overs - getting hit at almost four runs an over. 

Kohli later said "(The thought of including) Jadeja never crossed our minds when we looked at the Perth wicket." The reality, the Indian think tank got duped by the pre-match hype: The Perth wicket would be lightning fast. 

It was not the first time that they had got it wrong. They have read match conditions wrongly on more than one occasion recently - based on what others have observed rather than sensible judgement. 

Solid middle order Ajinkya Rahane was dropped for the first Test against South Africa in Cape Town in January earlier this year, while Bhuvaneshwar Kumar was kept out for the second test after he had performed well with both ball and bat, in the first test. 

Dependable no. 3 Cheteshwar Pujara was dropped for the first test in England in the summer, while two spinners were picked for the Lords Test on what was a seamer's wicket. There are many more such instances that cost India dearly. 

Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar was very direct recently when he questioned Kohli's and head coach Ravi Shastri's roles in a side which has been fumbling worryingly overseas. 

If India do not win the remaining tests in Melbourne and Sydney over the next few weeks, the tour down under would be considered an utter failure, especially given the absence of the experienced David Warner and Steve Smith from the Australian ranks. 

Kohli has carte blanche to run the team as he choses. He is the best batsman in the world without doubt, but as a captain he has failed to make his mark - either as a strategist or an ambassador of the game. 

For all those who defend Kohli by the clichéd “a captain is as good as his team”, I offer the counter: A leader in any field should be able to “hire and develop a world class team.”

If the team cannot deliver results then the players and in time the captain must take responsibility and make way for others. The great Sachin Tendulkar was humble enough to realize this and stepped down as captain. Both India and he benefitted from this.

Nobody is bigger than the game. The Indian cricket board’s Committee of Administrators member Diana Eduljee has revealed that rules were flouted in the sacking of the previous coach Anil Kumble and Kohli was allowed to have Shastri as the replacement – much against the wishes of the Cricket Advisory Committee comprising of Indian greats Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly and VVS Laxman.

Despite “his man” Shastri being in charge, India’s batting standards have declined significantly from the time Kumble was in charge. This in turn even raises questions about what the batting coach Sanjay Bangar does?

Kohli and PUjara are the only ones to have scored more than one century during tests in South Africa, England and Australia this year.

India have failed on six occasions this year to chase down fourth innings targets – 208 in Cape Town, 287 at Centurion, 194 at Birmingham, 245 at Southampton, 464 at The Oval  and 287 at Perth. At least 3 of these should have been achievable, if not 4.

Kohli while celebrating what was probably his best hundred yet, at Perth, pointed towards his bat to suggest he was going to let it do all the talking. He better do that effectively in the next two tests.

No cricketer is up for a fight like he is. But his players should also take the fight to the opposition rather than squabbling amongst themselves like Jadeja and Ishant Sharma did at Perth.

Maybe it’s time for Kohli to focus more on talking less to the opponents and more to his team – about what needs to be done. Or maybe he should remain quiet and let his silence speak for itself.

In life there is always time for talking and a time to stay quiet. Wisdom is knowing when to use the right one.

A Win For Test Cricket - December 14 (as featured in Tabla Singapore)

A Win for Test Cricket

In January 2011, when Michael Clarke was named the new Australian Captain in place of Ricky Ponting he announced his retirement from Twenty20 cricket to concentrate on the longer versions of the game. 

Fourteen of his 28 test hundreds came thereafter between 2011 and 2015 - including his highest test score of 329* versus India at Sydney.

In the case of Cheteshwar Pujara, it was a simple case of him not being endowed with anything that would make him "look good" on TV.  issue of him just not having anything that would make him “look good” on TV. No athletic demeanour, no trendy beard, no pony tail, no funky tattoos. 

His batting at times is even less exciting to watch than grass growing. This was patently visible in the Indian Premier League games he participated.

And yet, the greatness of his game lies in his humble acceptance of who he is and his commitment to stay true to his style - along with his immense powers of concentration.

It is that lost skill of batting in test matches, that proved once again last week how valuable it can be in difficult situations. It’s where a batsman’s strength is not his booming cover drive, but his meticulous judgement in leaving balls outside the off stump.

India made history on Monday by winning a tour-opening test in Australia. It is their 10^th visit down under and their 6^th win overall in 41 attempts there. It could not have happened if it weren’t for that one man: Cheteshwar Pujara.

If Dravid was called the wall, I like to call Pujara “The Anchor”.

Once again India had started a test series with little preparation and were 5 down for less than 100 in the first innings of the first test of an overseas tour this year. But that is where the script changed this time round, in Adelaide.

Pujara was like King Leonidas leading 300 Spartans to war against a Persian Army of 300,000. Or at least that is how it might have felt to him at 41-4 with Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc in full flight with only the middle and lower order for company.

While everyone around him was swashbuckling their way back to the pavilion, he remained calm, collected and resolute. Slowly but surely, he wore the opposition down

His effort in the first innings lasted 246 balls yielding 123 runs - almost half of his teams score of 250. His match returns including the second innings an aggregate of 194 came from a staggering 393 balls, almost a third of the total faced by his team in the test match.

It was his partnerships of 45 with Rohit Sharma (37), 41 with Rishab Pant (25) and 62 with R Ashwin (25) that ensured India got out of jail and scored 250 - giving their bowlers something to work with.

Picking 4 bowlers to me is less conservative and more fraught with risk. It needs all of them to be on top of their game and at least one of them carrying a huge workload, which is difficult to sustain in a four or five test series. 

But once again the Indian bowling unit responded magnificently, as they have done all year round.

Ishant Sharma has been a revelation in 2018. His 33 wickets in 9 tests at an average of 22.03 and strike rate of 49.27 a far cry from a career average of 34.7 and a strike rate of 64.91. 

He is troubling top-order batsmen, bowling immaculate lines with radar like accuracy.

Bumrah is robotic. He is ‘mechanical efficiency’ combined with high levels of intelligence. If his body can hold up over the years, one will see him win many more matches for India. 

He is also a keen student of the game with a very mature head on his shoulders This makes him in my opinion a leadership candidate of the future.

The pick of the Indian bowlers for me however was R Ashwin. As much as I would love to see him in a more attacking role - conceding a few more runs and probably taking five wickets or more, he responded to his skippers ask of being stock bowler with incredible professionalism, and delivered great results.

I don’t think taking wickets was his job description for this test as much as it was keeping one end plugged. So any criticism of his numbers particularly in the wickets column is unwarranted.

Bowling a staggering 86.5 overs in two innings, with 22 maidens giving only 1.72 runs per over to pick 6 for 149 in the match is nothing short of a herculean effort.

However I don’t think this is sustainable, and more importantly, I do not believe it is what Ashwin is best meant to do. He is a match winner and needs to be given the same latitude as given to Nathan Lyon his opposite number. 

Unfortunately for India Ashwin wont figure in the second test starting at Perth today, as he has a side injury. Rohit is also out with a back injury. 

Thanks in large part to Ashwin’s effort, India were able to make up for the disappointment of Shami’s indifferent form in the first test. 

The medium pacer just does not look the part. His bowling is mostly inconsistent with intermittent flashes of brilliance. His batting an atrocious effort to say the least, and he looks like he doesn’t care.

Personally I am surprised he even made it into the XI ahead of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar. 

Having taken a lead of 15 runs in the first innings, one that had more of a psychological bearing, India needed to do a lot better than the first innings if they were going to win this test. 

Lokesh Rahul got out playing a terrible shot 6 short of what could have been a good 50. You think he would have learned something watching Rohit throw away a similar start of 37 in the first innings.

What was good however, was to see everyone that followed in the the top order willing to fight it out.

Kohli’s was a patient knock of 34, while Pujara was “The Anchor” once again. It was most heartening however to see Ajinkya Rahane finding form and playing "the shot of the match" -  cover driving Pat Cummins to the boundary.

He is the vice-captain of the team and his form is going to be vital to India’s chances in the series. It also takes a whole lot of pressure off Kohli - which in turn will allow Kohli to score more freely. 

India’s overall lead of 322 was eventually enough, but only just with the Australians getting to within 31 runs of the target, thanks mainly to the rearguard.

The contribution of India’s lower order of Ashwin, Shami, Ishant and and Bumrah is incredibly disconcerting. They scored 35 runs in the first innings and only 5 in the second! 

Compare that to the Australians produced - Cummins, Starc, Lyon and Hazlewood totalled 49 in the first innings and 107 in the second. This has been the story all year round.

Either it is the Indian tail that can’t bat to save their lives, or their bowlers are unable to wrap up their opponents lower order quickly. To me such a vast gap in runs will continue to hurt India and cost them games unless something is done about it, immediately. 

I had said that the Adelaide and Sydney pitches would offer India their best chance to win in this series in Australia. The Perth test will be tough but India can do well given that they have started on a winning note.

Despite missing the experienced David Warner and Steve Smith in their batting line up the Australian's gave an incredible account of their fighting abilities.Things will start to get more interesting if their top order starts to fire. I am hoping they do so sooner rather than later for it will make for more enthralling contests between the two sides.

The Adelaide match showed us how important it is to have top skills to play Test cricket. What a great advertisement it was for my favourite format of this amazing game.