Watching Shami Ahmed in the debut of my dreams

I have watched matches at Eden Gardens since 1988. Although I have not been remotely as regular a visitor as some other avid cricket buffs, I have attended enough for Eden to give me a 'home' feeling whenever I arrive there.

It all started in 1988. A 13 year old attended an India West Indies ODI (in whites, those days) with mama. And somewhere down the line when I returned to play at my mohallas I developed this secret dream: of making my Test debut as on opening bowler for at the Eden Gardens. Polished red cherry in hand,  raring to go at the end of my runup decked in sparkling whites. All set to bowl my first delivery in a Test match playing for India.

Of course I didn't chase my impossible dream and it didn't even take shape. But it remained – as my favourite impossible dream.

In all these years, I doubt if I have been on the ground when an Indian quickie has made his Test debut and opened the bowling. Perhaps certainly not. Before yesterday, the only Eden test I attended on opening day was India-vs-England in 1993..and I am pretty certain no Indian quickie made his debut in that match.

On 6^th November we went to the ground on first day of Sachin's 199^th Test. The whole point was to say goodbye to Sachin Tendulkar. That's an entirely different post, and I will not go on about Sachin here.

Takking our seats, we found that Shami Ahmed has been picked in playing eleven. This will be his Test debut. Shami would the bowling along with Bhuvaneswar Kumar, the only other medium pacer in the side.

My impossible dream came rushing back as the Indians took the field. As Shami took the ball and walked up to the end of his run-up I slipped into a trance…as if I was reborn as a spectator on the day of my dream debut..and Shami was me. All decked up in sparking new whites, raring to go with a red cherry in hand.  This was the moment I have repeated visions of, even to this day when I no more follow cricket with any devotion.

I watched him closely when he delivered his first ball. From the slow start of run, to the acceleration, ending in the brisk delivery action which generates decent fast-medium pace. I don't remember what happened after he delivered. I had made my debut and the rest mattered little at that point of time.

"Sapne hona zaroori hai". It is important to have dreams. Coz sometimes you can live them through another person.

A friend of mine had asked me not to give up on this dream, as it will happen one day if I keep on nurturing it. Well, in more ways than one 6th November was my "Joy of giving" day, sort of. I ended up relinquishing my dream to India's newest Test player, Shami Ahmed.

That recurring moment of my dreams has now passed into reality with Shami's debut delivery. I do not see it returning again in my daydreams. Perhaps I shall now be content to die without having bowled a 'real' delivery in my first Test match at Eden.

Update: I guess I should also give up a second, and very lately nurtured, secret hope - to earn tributes like this when I retire : http://pavilionview.blogspot.com/2012/03/dravid-tributes.html?m=1

My alter ego

I always thought I had jussssst a bit of Rahul Dravid in me....and that did me proud. Now I am ecstatic - 'coz I just learnt that Dravid too perhaps has a bit of me in him!!
Check his 'tree analogy' for Test cricket, while trying to explain why other forms of cricket don't have a hope in hell to survive without it, even though these other formats do not 'appear' to depend much on Test cricket right now: http://post.jagran.com/rahul-dravid-bats-for-daynight-test-matches-with-pink-balls-1376997540


Now check the 'family analogy' this old Pavilion View post, supporting Dravid and Pink Ball Cricket while the former started actively promoting the latter couple of years back: http://pavilionview.blogspot.com/2011/04/need-your-support-in-favour-of-marching.html

If you find similarities in the two analogies, I will buy you a drink. Not that such analogies are unlikely to come to anyone's mind, but forget that mundaneness and imagine how much happy a Dravid admirer can be when he finds that his idol's mind thinks along the same (albeit obvious) lines as his own on while thinking of the same issue!

Ready for the drink I offered? Now give me your sweat analysis report....:-D

The Great Indian Team Performance Curve: A Thesis

I read a friend’s Facebook status post, wondering about the changes we are witnessing  in the Indian team’s performance. To be precise, his questions were “how so much” and “how so quickly”.

A while ago, I had read an extremely well-conceived article by Cricinfo’s Siddharth Monga on the contribution of the “system” to India’s Champion’s Trophy win last night. Here it is.

Armed with the thoughts that came while reading Monga’s thoughtful piece, I set about trying to construct a quickfire “thesis” to explain the path charted by the Indian cricket team

Part A: how so much?

Ans: The direction that a cricket team – correction, an Indian cricket team goes can be largely explained by measuring the following areas:

(A)   the leadup to selecting the final 15 who set off for the tour – including resourcefulness, non-compromise and vision,

(B)   Captain’s performance as a player

(C)   The captain-coach duo and their (interpersonal) vibes within the team including handling of individual players as well as coaching staff,

(D)   Form of individual stars in the team, if any; and

(E)    Expectations set by the leadership team from the players, series by series (completely on-field stuff, nothing interpersonal here). This includes flexible thinking.

[A, B & D are extremely version specific; hence same set of people can produce different performance curves in different versions of cricket]

• Ganguly's team, in rebuilding phase of 2000-2003, thrived partly on A & B,  a lot on C & D and little less on E (except uncompromising integrity).

• During the latter parts of Ganguly era (late 2004-2005) the team form dipped due to partial dips in B, C & D.

• In Dravid’s (2005-mid 2007) era the emphasis on A & E became supreme; B was very good too, for most parts. However all of that was completely undone by the then coach Chappell's effect in undermining C - so much so that the huge minus in B led to underperformance in D as well.

• MSD's 1^st era (2007--2010), on the other hand, revived team form almost entirely based on C, D & E. In Tests, B almost did not come into picture, such was the overwhelming effect of D [Big four + Viru + Zaheer]!! A got toned down to moderate – which is fine if D is good.

• Dhoni’s 2^nd era (early 2011 to end 2012) saw a virtual disappearance of D, while B did not come up to compensate. This made BIG difference, even as A & E remained very similar and C dipped only marginally compared to Dhoni’s 1^st era. [Not by coincidence, Era-2 was the first days for captain with new coach]

• Dhoni’s 3^rd era is just starting. D is not likely to reach the stratospheric heights of his 1^st era anytime soon (certainly not in Tests). I agree majorly to this article. By accident or by design, Team India's A has shot up in past 3 months, even compensating for seniors' exodus contributing to instability in D (it is also looking up, thanks to performing youngsters).  In fact, A has fared so well that D (at least in Champion’s Trophy) was a factor of A!!   Decisive A has also led to decisiveness in E. Factor C, while still very good, is now so very different from Era 1. These days we see an animated Dhoni who actually tells youngsters what to do…and I believe he is now in sync with India's "new" coach Duncan Fletcher.

Part B: how so quickly?

A & E are the only components that are largely controlled by intent rather than chance. While teams thrive or perish on ‘culture changes’ in either direction it is foregone that culture changes take a lot of time.

A & E can be implemented in a very short time-frame. It is only the start, though. Any major changes in A & E, implemented too quickly, might create a shock-wave in ‘good’ (read ‘comfortable’) times, leading to adverse impact on results. However in THIS case, major changes in A & E were done when the team performance was close to its nadir (i.e. around when Dhoni’s 2^nd era was closing out). Things that would seem to be “upsetting” otherwise...those were perhaps now seen as a “Ray of Hope”.

Everything, absolutely EVERYTHING can happen when people chuck out the resistance and look forward to a change.

That ends my thesis, responding to Shrikant Subramanian’s Facebook question. [wiping brow]

Exciting? Indeed. I was just as excited while force-fitting the pieces of the puzzle. Thanks to you for appreciating. And at this humbling moment of success I would like to thank my…zz-zz-zz-zz

Crappy?? Yippie kay yay…..all theses necessarily are.

Greg Chappell, the cricket visionary: caring(!!) views on Indian cricket

I was going through some of Greg Chappell's articles in The Hindu. They make for intriguing reading, quite far removed from "the guy that rubs everyone up the wrong way", an image that Indian cricket fans make of him due to his negatively eventful 1½ tenure as coach of Indian cricket team (end 2005 to Mar 2007). In fact, on the contrary these articles are a testimony of why then-captain Ganguly thought of him as a personification of astuteness in 2004-05, and strongly recommended Greg to BCCI as next Indian coach.

The articles were especially delightful to read in this tough period for Indian cricket. These are times when fans are not sure if anybody really cares for Indian cricket. If we can detach the much-hated name while going through the content of these articles, these are valuable views and analyses coming from someone with no ulterior motives and wanting to share his knowledge for the betterment of cricket in India.

Sample this one: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/greg-chappel/karthik-thrown-a-deserved-lifeline-sreesanth-could-do-with-one/article4702845.ece?ref=sliderNews

Even more than his fine take on Karthik in that piece, the discussion on Sreesanth's cricketing talent was my takeaway - perhaps because Greg kept the section to just that: discussing Sreesanth's cricketing talent (even after the IPL spot-fixing fiasco). However he has also touched upon the latest controversy. Like a wise statesman, he has clearly  hinted at the fact that accepting Sreesanth as an eccentric talent and handling him accordingly JUST might have avoided him from turning into a wasted cricketer with unfulfilled potential. I liked the tone of that comment. 

There is a hint of sadness as he witnesses the fall of Sreesanth, a player that Greg still believes to be a major talent. He suggests that there was scope of improvement in the way Sreesanth was handled, but he makes his point without looking to transfer the blame of the errant cricketer's own indiscretions towards BCCI's incompetence at talent management.

Greg himself was hardly better at managing talent....while he was excellent at spotting talent, he failed abysmally in turning it into finished product. I reckon he still cares for these young guys he backed, if not for Indian cricket. Perhaps he realises today that HE could have done things differently as well.

[BTW, this is not the first time that BCCI's talent management woes are costing Indian cricket of its talents. If they had been even half decent at it, then Yuvraj Singh should have been India's next cricketer to retire with 50+ Test average, and Zaheer would have been our spearhead much before 2007..not to be.] 

And this marvellous piece on what EXACTLY is needed to be done for improving a batsman's concentration: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/greg-chappel/curing-crickets-attention-deficit-disorder/article4769944.ece

What I found during this phase, was that I tired very quickly and actually began to make mistakes after a relatively short period of time. If I did succeed using this method, I was usually so tired that I couldn’t relax easily afterwards and I was generally ‘flat’ for a few days.

On reflection, it dawned on me that this method was bound to fail and I had to find an alternative method. The alternative I chose was to train myself to concentrate for one ball at a time.

Concentration is the ability to focus on what is important at that moment.
From that point, my practice sessions became a contest with myself to see how well I could manage the conflicting messages in my head. Training was no longer an exercise in polishing my technique, but a mental exercise in engaging with the bowler at the appropriate time.

What I learnt to do was to switch-on to the bowler once he reached his bowling mark. The fiercest concentration was saved for the time that the bowler reached his delivery stride until that particular play was finished.

In between balls, I had a quick look into the crowd to give my mind a break before returning my attention to the field of play. I re-engaged with the bowler again once he got back to his mark.

The look into the crowd was an important part of my concentration routine. If I was playing at home, I would pick out someone whom I knew to look for. I astounded my family and friends when, at the end of the day, I could tell them what time they had arrived at the ground, who they had spoken to and what time they had a drink or something to eat.

Once I perfected this routine, I was never fatigued during play nor was I exhausted at the end of a long innings. Effectively, I had only concentrated at full intensity for a matter of minutes, even if I batted all day.

This is a pearl of wisdom coming from one of the finest batsmen ever. I wish to take printouts of this article and share with cricket crazy kids in our backyard. It is a must read for anyone who wants to become a better batsman at longer versions of the game (i.e. longer than 20 overs).

Last but not the least, Chappell’s article celebrating Sachin on his 40^th birthday: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/greg-chappel/sachin-still-pushing-the-boundaries/article4648090.ece?ref=sliderNews

What did surprise me was the meticulous attention that he gave to his bats.

I had seen others who were quite protective and caring of their bat, but I had never seen anyone who showered their bat with such loving attention. He constantly altered the batting grip and spent hours with a scalpel scraping and cleaning the blade so that it was pleasing to his eye.

As he explained it, he did not want anything out of place when he looked down at his bat when standing at the crease. I can’t say that I ever noticed my bat to that degree. It was an implement that I used, and as I often had to get used to another one, I did not want to be too attached to my current bat in case we were separated, for any reason.

Sachin built a symbiotic relationship with each bat that he used. Batting, I began to realise, was why Sachin lived and he was taking every part of it very seriously indeed.

A special and sensitive insight from a great batsman admiring another within the sacred confines of the Test match dressing room. Another section of that article discusses about the changes Sachin made in his batting stance and preparatory movement over his career.

I am looking forward to his Hindu articles hereafter, expecting those to be the best insights into Indian cricket that I am going to get on print or web in coming months.

Update: Here's another offering from Greg - discussing the reasons for India's cricketing upswing (barring those two 2011 away series) coinciding with Australia's downswing: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/greg-chappel/things-to-be-learnt-from-the-indian-model/article4902529.ece

My Brian

"I just want that someone in their 50s or 60s, when they talk about Brian Lara, they say `I enjoyed watching that guy playing cricket'. "
That's how Brian Lara wanted to be remembered by cricket lovers. Back in June 2002.....5 years before calling time.
It is nearly six years since he played his last international match. It is also for six years that I am drifting further and further away from this game that I wanted to live my life on. I wish I could just stop at saying: "I enjoyed watching that guy playing cricket."

From Big Boots to Big Gloves

Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff never ceases to amaze.
Retired Test cricketer? Apparently he is a heavyweight boxer now!

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/594632.html

'Defending beautifully'

"Never seen anyone defend so beautifully," says Sambit Bal on Sunil Gavaskar at cricinfo's Legends of Cricket.

Against best bowling under bowler friendly conditions, I have felt the same for RD when he was on song. It is a pity that the bowling attacks of his era, combined with the pitches, seldom threw up such situations.

"Waqar essentially just did one thing with the ball"

When Wasim & Waqar were in their playing days, I used to hang around in a group of late teens / early 20's chaps who were more attracted to Wasim. That variety in swing and seam, that lift from a seemingly innocuous action, that magic surrounding his towering persona. In comparison Waqar appeared to be more of a ramrod to breach defences, the guy with perhaps the most imposing bowling action of his time.

However subsequently I have watched more cricket. And with the increasing dominance of the bat, I have come to value bowlers who had an aura of inevitability. With that realisation,  Waqar Younis and his craftwork during the 90's is a subject of particular interest to me. 

This passage in a lovingly written article on Waqar precisely describes why some of us find the Waqar phenomenon so intriguing: the inevitability of what the batsmen already knew was coming:

"International batsmen generally have half-decent balance, but the Waqar Younis inswinging yorker made fools of them all. Given a choice between losing their toes or losing their dignity, most batsmen opted for falling flat on their face, a position from where they could better hear their middle and leg stumps going their separate ways. Where Wasim was an expert lock pick with a wide array of tools at his disposal, Waqar just burst through doors with a battering ram so immense he could just as easily have gone through the wall. Wasim could do a million and one devious things with a cricket ball, but Waqar essentially just did one. And he only needed to do one. The Waqar Younis reverse-swinging yorker might just be the most destructive delivery in the history of cricket.

Maybe all of this is painting him as one-dimensional, but it was that yorker that grabbed me when I finally got to see him bowl, and it was that yorker that largely explains his phenomenal ability to run through a batting order in the time it took a dismissed opening batsman to say, "Mind your toes." Delivered with a different, more round-arm action to the one he used when opening the bowling, it was a virtually unstoppable delivery, and one of Waqar's greatest strengths was that he acknowledged that fact and was perfectly happy to bowl it again and again and again, where other bowlers might have held it in reserve as a surprise weapon. It didn't need to be a surprise, because knowing what was coming simply didn't help the batsman all that much."

Here's a video of that one thing that Waqar did incomparably. 

The circle of a day

In the morning this daily quote flashed up on my office desktop as I booted up the comp:

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” – Calvin Coolidge

12 hours later I was preparing to shut it off.
I checked gmail and, as I was about to log off, I found a link on Virat Kohli's phenomenal rise.
I am pasting an extract from the article:

"His work ethic is brilliant, his focus is immense," says Yuvraj Singh. "Since the time he has joined the Indian team, I saw his work ethic and wished and wondered why I didn't have that work ethic when I was his age."

I reckon Yuvraj and Rohit are even more talented than Virat.They always were.
At the end of the day, my working day, Virat is pipping those two at what Calvin Coolidge quoted to me when I started the day.
Good night, folks!!

How do we say thanks to personalities like Laxman

‎2008. 

IPL 1st season player bidding. 

5 Indian cricketers are declared as icon players by their respective 5 teams (icon player to get 25% more than highest. 
One of them finds that his team has limited buying power and to maximise his team's chances of winning, more top players are needed. 

He gives up his icon status and brings in big players. 
Subsequently he performs poorly and is dropped from playing XI midway thru IPL 2008, as his team now had a pool of better players. This player does not complain. 

Why should he? He did what was right, not because he expected a favour in return.

Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman.
Incomparable.
Unforgettable.

And a total misfit in fast buck cricket...for reasons far nobler than runs or strike rates.

[photo courtesy: www.espncricinfo.com]

Cricket book reco

Do you love books?
Do you love cricket?


Then cricinfo has an article for you.

The "50/100 openers' rule"

‎80 years of playing Test cricket, and Indians still don't understand the basic requirement of scoring big in pitches favouring quicks. 


It is called the "50/100 openers' rule".


This rule is simple: 
Either 
(a) the openers need to play in a way that maximises chances of a 50 run opening partnership, Or 
(b) it really is the plan-B, essentially that in case of an early dismissal of opening partnership the next pair plays to ensure that 2nd wicket falls after team total crosses 100. 


While playing away, I haven't seen India do well in batting other than the 2 conditions getting satisfied.


After that, what more runs the opener gets or does not get CEASES NOT MATTER there will be someone else to score his runs.


Cowboy opening has worked for India ONLY WHEN these conditions get fulfilled..how many runs the opener got individually has hardly ever mattered to outcome of game unless it met the above criteria.


There can be failures even after those criteria are met, but there is certainly no success without it.


Probably it needed 2 series like these (Eng 2011 & Aus 2011-12) to show the value of Akash Chopra in the 2003 Oz series..or a chastised Sehwag in Perth / Adelaide 2008.


There is no 'aggressive opener' barring Michael Slater who has done well in quick-bowling conditions without being circumspect for the 1st 50 team runs. Not Gambhir, not Hayden, certainly not Sehwag. Partly because they did not have the techniques to counterattack fast bowling at its best... in their best innings these guys left the attacking for the stage after team crossed fifty.

[this 3rd straight rant in 15 mins time frame is also cross posted from FB]


PS: If you are wondering who penned the "50/100 Openers' rule" and how long back, then please rejoice at being part of history being created in this post!! This is the first time I am 'publishing' the rule.

On NOT losing the 1st Test of an away series

How important is that?


In that context, I have always rated that Brisbane'03 century by dada Ganguly (after 90/4) as the 3rd big turnaround point of Team India - after Eden 2001 and Leeds 2002. It changed the series from 'chin musicology' to 'unforgettable'. 
And considering it came from a player who never scored another away Test ton against big teams of his time (Oz, SA, Pak), that 144 was monumental.


And then he was also captain. Now we know the importance of a skipper under fire (warne's chin music chant) salvaging a match early in the series. In contrast, MSD has struggled badly in major away series except Eng 2007. Especially at times when a responsible 40 from him against new ball can extend the innings by 70-80 runs.


Aus 2003 was zenith of Dada the skipper. Is it MSD's time to reassess his place in Indian cricket?


I am a Dhoni fan, and no one holds the lack of bowling resources against him..but his presence is making us start behind other Test teams when playing away.
Also, he is into his 5th year of captaincy, a job that has NEVER been carried out this long by anyone except Border without disadvantaging the team dynamics.


[cross posted from FB]

The power of nine

"I respect my wicket a hundred times more now"


A profound, nine word Dave Warner mantra for all talented youngsters like Kohli, Raina who find it tough to complete the big leap from T20's to Test matches.
Why, even not-so-youngsters like Yuvraj can heed it as well.


Rohit Sharma, are you listening?

Day's play

Today Sachin was Sachin of old, and Dravid was nowhere like the Dravid of late.
Yet Dravid is there at the end of day while Sachin isn't.

That's the day's Test cricket for you.

Gains for Team India from 2011 Test series vs West Indies @ home

Gains from WI series:

1) Viru has started getting 2nd innings runs in the 2nd decade of his Test career.

2) Ashwin has stamped his Aussie never say die brand of fighting cricket in Tests too, after T20 and ODIs. What a year for him!

3) Ojha, the other (better) spinner, nearly turns a dead Test into a win on a flat track...in a single sessn. Memories of the 70s & 90s. Dare say Harbhajan needs to unlearn a bit of T20 bowlg and relearn Test bowlg. We need him back.

4) After years (?) we have seen three 140k Indian bowlers bowling at those speeds on Indian tracks (yes, all of them) and...miraculously, finishing the series injury free. 

5) Team selectn in the series was done with an eye on current series and another on future. It was delightful to see Varun Aaron making his debut in 3rd Test instead of Umesh although the latter scalped 7 in 2nd Test. It is better to have them fly to Oz with 1 each under their belts than 2-nil.

6) THE HAPPIEST PART, PERSONALLY SPEAKING. The decisn to keep pushing for a possible win after 6th wkt fall in 2nd inngs on 5th day, even risking a surprise loss in the process, was a sight I have waited to see for last decade plus. 

Thanks for that, Team India. You are my favourites again

[edited from my FB status msg]

Picture Perfect Wall

In year 2008 and at age 35 this man, Rahul Dravid, was beginning to miss catches which he would grab earlier at slip (and in sleep);  he was suddenly batting as if the wall in him had been breached...and he ran so badly that he was his own worst enemy in any form of the game whenever  a short single was on offer. Even I made a blogpost contemplating his Test future at the time.  No one except MS Dhoni, the man who ironically removed Dravid from ODI team a year before, seemed to believe that he could bounce back in Tests.


3 years later in June 2011, you are allowed to expect that things have dipped far worse for Rahul Dravid. After all he is aged 38½ now, ten years more than the Berlin Wall when it was brought down.  


Voila - instead you have a man who is batting once again like he did at his unbreachable peak in the early parts of last decade. More amazingly, during his last ODI series in Sep'11 and in Tests thereafter he was seen running far purposefully between the wickets than he ever did in the past 4 years.


And just when I start dismissing it all as the 'flicker of a dependable candle before it blows out', he takes this catch [please pardon the poor cellcam video quality - it was taken in haste during midnight TV replay]. 


The second such catch within a year, after this stunning 200th one in Durban, Dec 2010.


What do we have? Masterchef RD presenting  in front of us 5 flowing centuries in 5 months, good rotation of strike and flashes of tremendous slip catching, all on a platter. 


I am almost forced to think now - has  this man hit upon some additional gas reserves within him that can pull him through for a year or two yet??


Cricket is indeed a game of chance...you never know when you rediscover fountains of youth.


Didn't someone tell him that India are running short of an express fast bowler??

The Yuvraj problem, and the terrible Neo-specialists

Bloody Amol Muzumder is now a specialist commentator on Neo, and all they can offer for Yuvi's failure is criticising his technique (without specifying WHAT part) and showing repeated replays of Yuvi taking eyes off the ball and getting hit...and then hinting that it might be due to Yuvi's lack of willingness to guts it out. If he hadn't gutsed it out, Sachin would have retired without World cup.


Yuvraj Singh has all the attacking shots against all types of bowling. Sadly, you need ALL the shots in Tests including defensive ones..even Viru needs them in Tests even if ever so fleetingly.
I believe all the support staff, coach and senior players have failed to drill this into Yuvraj in 11 yrs and thus let India lose its most talented young player to lack of evolution. Which is why I am seriously worried about succession after Big Five.


Before you give them top class support, the young cricketers need to be trained to use & imbibe that support. Those 5 came with that mindset..but who's teaching those whose minds are not as focussed?

Right up the Wall Street

Rahul Dravid couldn't have it scripted any better from a personal point of view.

For the 8th consecutive time this season India are playing on a track assisting bowlers. What better time to strike golden farewell form, and remind the world who used to be world number 1 in such conditions between 2002 and 2006.

Even today he had an answer to everything, including a half tracker that arrived at his ankle.

Indian Cricket team: who stole their cheese?

On a 2nd day home track designed to their strengths, they lost about 20 wkts for 209 all out. Between them, the 2 openers were virtually dismissed abt 10 times to short catches and no balls before they finally got out...this while playing a bottom-halfer team, West Indies.


I pray not, but I suspect the England series whitewash might have disturbed them like the 2004 'Final Frontier' home loss did. Dada lost his bearings as a skipper following that, and Greg C worsened things..


MSD and Fletcher may have a BIG repair job in coming years..even if India scrape thru this series. and they are abt to lose 50+ yrs of Test batting experience in coming months.


NOW...NOW even a World Cup win might start looking like snatching laddoos off infants!


[reposted from Facebook status]