Zaltzman on Yuvraj's magnificence not reflecting in his stats

Here's a compliment for His Gloriousness Yuvraj Singh from the unlikeliest of quarters - cricket comedian Andy Zaltzman.
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Yuvraj is one of those few fascinating cricketers who combine majesty with vulnerability. As a Test player, he has mostly disappointed, the average of 35 that you see in the record book at odds with the left-hand Wally Hammond that you see at the crease. That GraemeFowleresque, ShivSunderDasian figure of 35 is often used by atheists, when set alongside Graeme Smith’s equivalent of 49, as an aesthetic argument that proves the non-existence of god.


Even Yuvraj’s distinguished ODI career had taken a pronounced downturn over the preceding 18 months. This tournament, the visual splendour of his stroke play has been matched by its assurance and determination. 57 not outs rarely glow like beacons on scorecards, but in a match that was not merely spell-binding, but presented witchcraft’s top 20 recipes boxed up in a commemorative gold-plated folder, and that was played in the tightest margins between defeat and victory with big players on both sides exerting significant impacts on the drama, Yuvraj decisively broke the Australians.

------------------

I was touched by that note from Andy. This rather special couple of paragraphs, and their perspective, befits a cricket historian like Ramachandra Guha, or a cricket romantic like Neville Cardus.

I always knew all along Yuvraj has been stealing many more hearts with this batting than his stats would ever, EVER suggest.

Like he stole mine 5 years back.
First with his performance (blogged here at the time)...
Then with his opulence. Sorry, no blogs on it - for lack of words to make posts on what he makes me feel with that arc of bat swing he paints when he is in unrelento-creato-destructo mode.

Match outcome of Quarter final against Australia, and its bearing on Indian gameplan

Ghosts (notions) that India have exorcised today by their winning performance in QF:


1) India can't win in WC knockouts without Sachin playing a big role (before you shout - I said 'big role'...it last happened in 1996 QF; counterpoint - a weak one, 2003 Kenya SF;-)


2) India can win WC knockouts without Yuvraj Singh in playing 11 (it seems irrelevant - but ahead of WC his position in side was under threat, so much so that Dhoni hadto qualify his left arm spin as the main reason why he started ahead of others like Raina)
3) India cannot score more than 30-40 for the last 7 wickets against Test teams (counter-point - all those collapses happened while batting first)
4) India don't know about anything about taking advantage of batting Powerplays
5) Aussies forget all setbacks and come blazing in knockout matches - they didn't really recover from the loss of a 12 year old record to Pak and missed out on 10-12 crucial runs in the first 10 overs (a case for MSD sending a flower bouquet to Afridi? They better do it fast - in another few days bouquests will be the last thing MSD can think of for Pak)
6) Raina still has a serious problem with short bowling - but after today maybe he can learn to live with it like Steve Waugh did
----------------------------






New ghosts that will haunt them for next 2 matches:


1)A non-bowling Sehwag chasing against a top team is like your 11th player sitting at the sidelines, just like a non-bowling Pathan batting first in ANY match. Time to think hard. Every time India chased the 7th batsman has come into play. Is it better to take Pathan and leave out Sehwag (as Gauti, with the form he showed today, can easily do Sehwag's job)???
2) Non performing captains are good in Davis Cap tennis matches. Skipper coming in at no.6 and becoming a walking wicket is a BIG worry. He is not playing either seam or spin well. Things are likely to get tougher as after 1 month of crickt on all grounds there will be no more batting beauties to get back in form.
3) Munaf or Sreesanth....(who gets injured by a Yuvraj on-drive at tomorrow's nets?

4) Playing just 2 quicks with Ashwin-Harbhajan-tiddly-widdly can backfire big time. We saw tip of the iceberg tonight with Munaf getting carted for a few runs.To play or not to play the 5th bowler???


---------------


AND THE BIGGEST GHOST:
Pakistan bowling attack is virtually unsurvivable to right handers with even a the slightest chink in spin / pace technique. Sachin, Yuvi and Gauti are to be used as GOLD. Sachin & Gauti are easy...how best to use Yuvi in SF?? Best not to tamper with the order - but these guys will need to be at peace with the need for all three of them will need to score AGAIN next match...while Raina can keep his cameo warm.
Update:
One more ghost that has been exorcised: Bhajji would have been a better choice than Nehra in the last over of South Africa match.....he has shown solidarity with skipper Dhoni by bowling the 50th over of Aussie innings and yielding 13 runs in it [ Note: He conceded 5 wides before the first delivery - so only 8 runs were officially scored. those 5 wides were the real mark of solidarity with skipper;-]

Hunt for the "ODI Sobers"

We look at the contribution of cricket's genuine ODI all-rounders to matches won by their side. We are silenced in awe.
1) Jayasuriya averaged 41.3 with bat and 27.5 with ball in the 233 ODI's he has played for Sri lanka and ended up on winning side. Essentially he provided an additional player to his skipper: a specialist bowler (it was not occasional partnership breaking spin - he got 222 wickets in those 215 matches) and a specialist attacking batsman

His stats in Sri Lankan wins featuring him in playing XI:
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/49209.html?class=2%3Bfilter%3Dadvanced%3Borderby%3Dstart%3Bresult%3D1%3Btemplate%3Dresults%3Btype%3Dallround%3Bview%3Dmatch



[And inspite of many requests Cricinfo still refuses to show strike rates for modern batsmen in lmited overs cricket - THAT would have revealed his full value]

2) We come to the other great all round contributor of our times: Jacques Kallis.


His stats in South African wins featuring him in playing XI:
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/45789.html?class=2%3Bresult%3D1%3Btemplate%3Dresults%3Btype%3Dallround

Batting avg. of 52.8 and bowling average of 26.3 (186 wkts in 201 ODI's) in South African wins during his career...


[Kallis' stats look significantly better than Jayasuriya's, but the reality of the impact made by these two guys is not exactly in line with the figures. Kallis' comparatively slow pace of scoring and inability to accelerate at key situations often makes him an also-ran in those wins, which very rarely happens to Jayasuriya.]


Anyone else coming to YOUR mind to compete with these two - amongst current players or from yesteryears?



Then please propose your man in the comments column....it will help if you add a statsguru summary of the player's filtered stats of batting avg & bowling avg in all matches won by his side during his career. We can discuss the contenders thereafter.


[Min. qualification: 75 matches won over career length of 10 years+]

[cross posted on Facebook on 23rd March 2011]

As things stand for India ahead of World Cup 2011 Quarter finals:

Summary of Indian show in 2011 cricket WC league phase:

 1) Ind go into QF without having chased against a Test team.



2) Ind had top order collapses each time they batted second (against minnows) and lower middle order collapses each time they batted first (against Test sides).



3) Outcome of pt.#2: The extra batsman, taken at the cost of a 5th bowler, has been wasted EVERY TIME India batted first.



4) Paradoxically it has been useful to have the comfort of a 7th batsman in the top order collapses against the minnows, although the 7th guy was never really needed.



5) The Yusuf Pathan problem: In the last 4-5 months Yusuf Pathan's performances while batting first & batting second are like chalk and cheese. It was no different in WC league phase. He left his mark in the only chase he participated in, but sank without a trace in 'bat 1st' innings.
[As per cricinfo statsguru, in the last 14 matches he averages 82 with bat in the 9 matches he batted 2nd but a meagre avg of 12 in those he batted first. Even his overall career stats are heavily tilted towards batting 2nd - avg of 42 against 22]


6) Yuvraj Singh is impersonating 1½ players (combining bat and ball) and so far making a good show of it with some aid from luck. In Sachin and Yuvaraj, India practically have 3 players with 2 heads showing. One of these two have ALWAYS fired in the matches played by India.



7) Bowlers – Bowling & tail end batting:


a) Indian bowlers are not able to support Zaheer / Harbhajan. They are really looking like having only 40 overs in them - and that includes the contributions of Yuvraj and other part timers.


b) Worse, tail enders have not got a bat in any of the two Indian chases. And when they did - in the 'bat 1st' games - they have collapsed each time they were required to contribute.


This is vastly different from the period before WC, when the bowlers were defending seemingly dead matches and doing so with both bat and ball. Crucially, the batting failure includes Harbhajan who was changing matches with bat for the last 4 months.

 Dilemma:


Pt#7a, combined with pt#3, are reasons why MSD needs to have 5 bowlers in the Indian playing X1 for QF.


Pt#7b, combined with pt#4, are reasons he will be pushed hard to take that decision. For pt#7b, adding another non batting bowler in liew of a batsman lengthens a non-performin tail further.






The options are:


A) Take a gamble: Ask Bhajji to take responsibility as no. 7 (25 runs is all he must look to make each time he comes out – and we know he has it in him), ask ALL batsmen to take responsibility ANYWAY for the side to play with 5th bowler instead of 7th batsman. MSD can take comfort from pt#6 and take the plunge.


B) Take a reasonable gamble: Get someone like Irfan Pathan in the 15 man squad instead of a non batting / non fielding bowler (Gavaskar apparently suggests Ojha – who is stupedous in later overs while defending scores but will be one more non batting / non fielding bowler). Even in his worst days as a bowler Irfan was generally a decent batsman (can get quick 25-30 runs) and very decent in the field. He can replace the 7th batsman.


C) Inspire the bowlers: Play 7 batsmen and ask BCCI to spruce up the pitches so that the 4 bowlers are enough to handle oposition batting with the help of conditions. Batsmen will need to take responsibility and be suitably ‘ugly and effective’ for periods of play to support this strategy. Also, going by the South Africa experience, the good bowling conditions also inspired the bowlers to own their roles and bat well down the order. That will be a huge plus.


D) Do nothing: Play 7 batsmen and continue hoping that your 4 bowlers (who will certainly NOT bowl more than 30 to 32 worthy overs) are supported by 18-20 good overs from part timers: steep ask in batting beauties.






I suspect the team management and the selectors will tend to go the option D way, the one that looks most useless to me. The other options may or may not come off but at least those will be definite attempts to succeed, instead of hoping.

The Sho's coming to a close

Won't say much....as the feeling is yet to sink in.

Just got swept off my feet reading the man's words on 'his most special moment' during the press conference announcing his imminent retirement. Shoaib Akhtar truly is one of a kind..a rather heterogenous one.

Links to other very readable cricinfo articles on the occasion:
Remembering the 'colours' of Shoaib: http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/506747.html
Agony & Ecstasy (mid career article): http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/251280.html
Career timeline: http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/42655.html?index=timeline
Gallery: http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan/content/current/gallery/506727.html
His best six: http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan/content/current/story/506631.html
And last but not the least, lend him your ears: http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc_cricket_worldcup2011/content/current/story/506743.html

Sachin's ton comes again while travelling

Sachin Tendulkar. This guy's too much. I was returning from some urgent work, driving on the road. Having caught a glimpse of India's good opening stand at Nagpur, I turned my car radio on....and sure enough I hear: 'Sachin Tendulkar on 99...and here comes his 100th run!' Another century. He scores so many of them, you can't miss them tons even on the road!!
But somehow this one sounded familiar…coming back home I thought hard about the reason and now I know why. I had once learnt of another Sachin ton while travelling, that's why. It has happened before. I was travelling when Tendlya got his 2nd ODI ton in 1994 – a month or so after his 1st ODI century that came in the 5th year of his career. I got to know of it waiting at a station somewhere in Southern India…returning from our trip of Chennai-Bengaluru (then Madras-Bangalore)…from a co-passenger waiting like me but strategically armed with a radio.
Next time Sachin does his 100th run of his innings, it would be 100th ton of his career..but no use discussing things that half the world knows (the cricket playing half). I won’t like to be travelling that day – that’s all.
By the way, there is a bit more of travel-cricket combo involved in my date with this particular date – 12th March 2011. As my buddy Pratyush pointed out, this is the day on which 5 years back SA chased down Australia’s 434 in Jo’burg. Here's my excited schoolboyish blogpost on what I experienced through my friends during my travel while that epic chase was unfolding.

2006, can you please recur in 2011....

Here's a thought for those excessively worried about Indian batting collapses  in the last two WC games against unfancied Ireland and Netherlands:
Yuvi scores 58, 50* & 51* in successive matches. Good news? YES, even though 2 of them are against Minnows. He got them three scores in three different situations, exactly as Yuvraj Singh mark-2011 should have got them. Not as Virender Sehwag, Paul Collingwood, Kamran Akmal, Mike Hussey or Kevin O'Brien should have.
In those matches Yuvi-MSD score partnerships of 69, 67 & 52*. Two of those have still come against minnows. Is it good news? NO...it is GREAT news! 'Coz again they got the runs exactly as Yuvi-Dhoni mark-2011 should have got them.
Note: Not that Yuvi-MSD of 2011 need to bat any differently than they did in the unforgettable 'masti-ki-pathshala' Pak'06 ODI's when the situation comes...it only means they have more ways than that these days. Just seeing them together for more than 50 runs in three consecutive matches has been such a pacifier.
 
And those additional options for Yuvi/MSD are all borne out of the WMD** that India NOW have in their batting lineup: YK Pathan.
 
**WMD=MSD++

Pak-NZ match 1st innings: gems from Cricinfo commentary & readers' comments

These 'How'lers were compiled from today's cricinfo commentary page during the last 10 overs of NZ innings during today's Pak-NZ match
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Episode 1: "How boring" - Readers' comments during the innings of Jamie How who scored 4 off 29 runs



..after How concedes a maiden to Umar Gul when the latter is introduced in 11th over:
Cam: "How do you put a person to sleep? How."


..and a Pakistan fan is anguished when How is dismissed in Gul's next over:
Ridhwaan: "Getting How out was a mistake by Pakistan!! He was eating up deliveries and doing Pak a favour!"


..also a hopeful NZ fan:
Wilko NZ: "Surely that will be How's last chance at this level. And what a final contribution - a paltry 4 runs from a 47 run partnership. "

----------------Episode 2: Kamran moments of the match


..after Kamran drops Taylor twice in 14th over (off Shoaib, brought back in 2nd spell for a breakthrough)
vinny: "Even tho I am 40+ and tubby, I could not be worse a keeper than Kamran, I think. I can drop catches just as good as him."
Sunil: "If Pakistan do win they World Cup, at least they now know who not to hand the trophy to, while celebrating :)"
Shridhar Jaju: "Kamran Akmal's favourite pickup line - Can I DROP you somewhere?"

-------------------
 Episode 3: Slow NZ.. On NZ conceding a lot of dot balls (led by Jamie How) in the 1st part of the match*:

..after a particular stretch of dry period when Ross Taylor was batting tentativelyAllan: "Wrighty will be fuming away in his seat at the number of dot balls. The batsmen haven't been listening!"



..after NZ pick up 4 runs in the first 4 balls ofa Gul over 'against the run of play'
Zohaib: "singles flowing like honey for NZ."
Paranoid Android gets in to details: "@Zohaib - Honey actually does not flow that well. Is that the simile that you wanted to highlight?"




..after James Franklin, sent as pinch hitter, departs in 2 balls:
Lance: "Can NZ Cricket check to see if Kevin O'Brien has Kiwi grandparents? Maybe the Black Caps could swap him for Jamie How or James Franklin? Surely he is a cousin of recent Black Cap Iain O'Brien."


..by the end of 40th over (just before NZ pressed accelerator pedal in 41st)
Matthew: "As a frustrated NZ supporter, should I be pleased or worried at the relative ease Taylor and Styris are accumulating runs without taking risks? I can't help but feel that Pakistan will do the same in reply!"


-----------------

 Episode 4: Fun of another kind - Ross Taylor turns it on its head..47th over yields 28, 48th over produces 15 and 49th over produces 30 runs..all off different bowlers...




48.2 Abdul Razzaq to Taylor, SIX, carnage! this has got to be stinging for Pakistan, more so after the millions of chances Ross has had, down on a knee and swings him over deep midwicket from outside off stump


48.3 Abdul Razzaq to Taylor, SIX, they just keep coming, full toss on off stump, Ross hits it into orbit, somewhere over deep midwicket, keep disappearing from the moment he bends the knee and swings them
[excerpts from commentary text]


..parting thought from a neutral reader on the birthday gifts from Kamran to Ross with love:
ragu: "How much of that applause was for Kamran I wonder?"

------------------as I complete the compilation, the 50th over has yielded a moderate 19 runs. NZ end innings at 302/7, up from 210/6 at end of 46th over...92 runs in 24 balls.
That deluge came at the end of an innings in which one batsman had scored 4 runs in 29 balls. Anybody still predicting a quarter-final elimination of New Zealanders in the knockout stages??




[source: cricinfo commentary for NZ-Pak match]


*Update:



Here's a nice quote from cricinfo match bulletin at halfway stage. It aptly summarises the early innings show put up by NZ batsmen:

"Guptill carried on batting solidly, reaching his half-century off 71 balls, while Taylor, whose early struggle was substantial by normal standards but incomparable to How's, slowly grew in confidence."

Tribute to the England - South Africa WC match on 6th March 2011

Shane Warne dozes off in front of TV on Saturday night and soon ventures into a dream....he is participating in a British WC Quiz conducted by Liz Hurley:



-------------------

Liz: Which are the two sides making news in 2011 WC for both great spin bowling as well as their skippers' imaginative use of it?
 Shane: One is England..LOL..



Liz: Complete the answer please..



Shane: The 2nd is South Africa..ROTFL
 Liz: You are NOT allowed to ridicule teams with 100+ years of cricket history on sensitive issues - you are suspended from the show..."
 -------------------


Shane wakes up on Sunday morning,laughing uncontrollably at that joke of a dream. Come afternoon and he realises that he had foreseen another England WC match result..twice in a 3 match span.


"I must have retired 200 years ago for things to have changed this dramatically about those 2 teams," Shane texts to Liz. Liz, ever the patriotic UK citizen, adds a tally mark to her count of 'dirty sms received from Shane'.


And then a familiar smile appears on Warnie's face - the TV channel is now flashing the individual performances of both teams' batsmen against spin in the Sunday match.

Lively pitches for lively cricket in league phase

Ireland overcame a big target yesterday on a batting pitch against Test side England. You would not see it happen nine out of ten times. [That's my humble take on the 'epic upset']

But to be fair to Ireland, they have been the only associate country which, over the years of Kenya's decline as 'potential Test material' during last decade , have looked like bringing about this type of 'upset'. Ireland are better than the average 'minnow' at all times, and were more so on 2nd March 2011. Come Sunday and I expect them to give India as much fight as a team like Bangladesh can.

Today's Can-v-Pak match, however, perfectly illustrated the need for this World Cup's wickets offering something to bowlers...at least during the league stages. With a helpful pitch due to moisture, Canadian bowlers did well and reigned in Pak batting. They would have pulled off this target if one more Canadian batsman would support Hansra.

Canada would not run Pak close on batting pitches like the ones used in England's last two matches.

Put WI / NZ against minnows on similar helpful pitches and the QF line up might get more interesting.

[Note: I only caught snatches of the Can-v-Pak match on telly]

WC2011 - Ind-vs-Eng ODI@Bengaluru

Another bashing festival on a bowler killing pitch! Only the result and the build up to it (i.e. final 10 out of 100 overs) will stay in memory, besides the rather indifferent captaincy by MS Dhoni before PP3 was taken by England.



Interesting takeaway of match:

Powerplay 3, dreaded by fielding captains, came to the rescue of both skippers when they were cluelessly ultra defensive in the face of slaughter by opposition batsmen. These Powerplays yielded crucial wickets. Instead of aiding the batting side who chose it, the PP3 of each innings produced important breakthroughs and upset the smooth 'milking operation' that the batsmen were carrying out in the face of inert captaincy combined with placid pitch.

I see merit in introducing an additional 5 overs of Powerplay (say 26th to 30th over). Modern captains are feeling the pressure and tend to give up on aggresive strategies altogether. Together we saw another example of a skipper, a celebrated one like Dhoni, not showing aggression even when defensive strategies had leaked runs badly without looking like producing a breakthrough. It was almost as if he was prepared to lose the game that way rather than try something more positive to upset England.

By having another middle over powerplay, skippers will be FORCED to be positive at and left with no choice but to back their bowlers with wicket taking field settings. We saw today what a major difference positive fields (resulting from PP3) can make even in a match that was virtually dead by 92nd over. Time for PP4

[source: expanded from my Facebook wall post after the match]

WC'2011 Pak vs SL group league match: Watching Pak after a long time

Once again pals, I can only share my match summary as posted on Facebook a while ago after the SL-vs-Pak match ended:
 

SL vs Pak: At last a proper WC match...where we got good batting and good bowling in both innings..Would have been a very good match with close finish if Chamara Silva would have scored more than 13 in his first 40 balls...

First the backdrop of my Pakistan review that will follow:

I was watching Pakistan today in an ODI after God knows how long..certainly more than 18 months. The last was perhaps the Ind-vs-Pak match in ICC trophy 2009 - which came after a similar previous gap.

It is no better in Tests, and perhaps slightly better in T20's. I have missed all the controversial stuff tht Pak were involved in. I missed the entire career of Mohammad Amir..except in highlights. I barely followed even Indian cricket in the last 3 years, and hence the only familiarity I have of non-India teams / players are those that played against India.

So here's my observation, again from Facebook:

Pak reminded me of old days.



Early wickets while batting , followed by great middle order work, followed by stop start final overs (inspite of having magnificent hitters)..


And then while fielding they showed variety+quality in pace & spin.......combined with good outfielding and terrible catching.



And a proud, fiery skipper who bowls brilliantly at crucial times and backs his players @ 'unforced errors' (While also getting livid when they serve up poor stuff) - almost saw reflections of another mighty Pathan lurking in Shahid today



Only change from those days: their keepers used to be ALWAYS good...(Akmal can cost them the cup)...and their pace bowling was even greater!!! [Qadir looked like a relief to most - so you imagine].



A rejuvenated Pak was much needed for the Cup...now there is an outside chance of this edition becoming a bowlers' cup!! May be Afridi's..



Abdur Rehman / Shahid Afridi / Umar Gul / Akhtar can make life difficult for right handers coming their way - it is a little too much variety for 'sameness' fed right handed batsmen of today to handle over 50 overs...Sri Lanka needed their left handed opener to last today.

Some 'fresh additions', in case you think I have sold out to the dark world of Facebook:


1) Ahmad Shahzad looked like the only one capable of catching anything, just as Mr. Sania Mirza - or whatever his name is with same initials - did in matches played 8-9 years back. [Well I am being dishonest here for sake of crude humour - I rate Inzy as a good catcher]


2) In 12 WC matches over last 3 world Cups spanning across 2 other decades, Shahid Afridi pouched only 7 wickets. 2 matches into this World Cup, he has bagged nine scalps. Five of which are all to him (bowled / lbw). He also leads his team in 2011.


Compare that to Dravid's WC career who started with Shahid in 1999. Tell me you have seen any greater paradox??!!

The videotapes that never were

I was searching for youtube videos of our featured player of the day. We share those amongst a FB forum of colleague friends trying to make the most out of the cricket World Cup. Each day we have decided to have a World Cup great as a player of the day.

I picked up a number of videos from the net to pay tribute to this man...for example this one, or that one - even this.

Then I tried to search for a final video, the pinnacle of his achievements..only to remember I CANNOT show it.
No one can. It was never videotaped, that's why.



"Why are India perched at number 1 position in Tests?"
'Coz they have great players for some years.


"Why do India have great players?"
Because so many people in the country play and follow this game.


"Why do so many people follow this game?"
Because it shot up in popularity after India won the 1983 world Cup.


"Why did they win the 1983 world cup?"
 Because...


....as much as all other reasons in all other games of India in that Cup, one man - their captain and best player Kapil Dev - emerged from the pavilion with his team grovelling at 17/5 & played one astonishing innings of 175* to win India a lost cause against Zimbabwe at a venue called Turnbridge wells in UK.


He did that on a day when the British media went on strike....

Top batting averages in world cups: facts that we expected and facts that we didn't

These days we are playing a little cricket quizzing game in a closed Facebook forum of a few old friends...and trying to answer each others questons without using the net.

AD Prasad, one of my friends, asked about the guy who comes in this WC with highest World Cup batting average. Turns out to be Shane Watson (112). Holland hero Ryan ten Doeschate is number 5 with a figure in the 80's from 4 matches.

Then AD, as he is famously called this side of Motera, filtered out the guys with top World Cup averages and run tally >400.

His findings:
1) Andrew Symonds at 103.00 is tops
2) Michael Clarke comes in at no.2 with 98.80
3) Scott Styris
4) Peter Kirsten (he played just one cup)
5) 'The King' [Viv]
6) Rahul Dravid
Sachin is 9th on this list, while Ponting is ranked in 30's

Surprised at the 6th name? So were we...

Now AD decided to do a further bit of study based on our queries. Dravid is number 6..which is quite something. But his runs may have come slow, not as valuable as some others maybe?

AD took the top 50 scorers in World Cup (by aggregates & not by averages). He multiplied their World Cup averages with the corresponding World Cup strike rates (avg 100 ~ 1.00 & so on proportionately). There may be (and SHOULD be) a formal name given to this value - perhaps it is there already - but we called it the 'factored average'.

Here's the new leaderboard (pasted straight from AD's Facebook post):

1) SCOTT STYRIS (62.107).
2) King Richards (53.845),
3) SRT (50.342),
4) HH Gibbs (49.064),
5) RR Sarwan (48.787),
6) ML Hayden (48.268)
7) R Dravid(46.047),
8) MD Crowe (45.964),
9) ME Waugh (44.243),
10) V Sehwag (43.483),
11) SC Ganguly (43.307),
12) Kapil Dev (42.786),
13) S Anwar (42.561),
14) AJ Lamb (42.437) &
14) DC Boon (39.639).
..
..
..
Ponting comes in at no. 20.

Conclusions we drew:

1) This last list brings out the true greatness of Viv 'da' as ODI player...To have anyone playing half of his WC's in the 70's (when 30+ avg & 60+ strike rate was very good) as high as no.2 on this list....it is simply out of this world. 


These were his world cup specific averages, but his overall stat also reflects a batting average of 47 & strike rate of 90....effectively 42.3 factored average. We wondered if any player with >5000 runs in ODI's still exceeds that*..and we are not even talking about advantage of batting with protective gear / field restrictions / bouncer restrictions / lack of pacers / shorter boundaries etc

2) This part is a completely unexpected side-effect of the fun study that AD undertook:

One Indian player has played out the whole of his three-World-cup career between the last sub-continent World Cup (1996) and the current one. Over those 3 tournaments, Rahul Dravid bettered all but one of his all time great contemporaries from the sub-continent in World Cup averages - both normal AS WELL AS factored ones.

Famous for his away performances in Tests, this stat captures one whole career of stellar 'away only' performance from Rahul Dravid in the decidedly lesser facet of his game - ODI's. Not quite the King or the Master but a man for all occasions nevertheless.

Update: For a perfect contrast to Dravid's World Cup career, have a look at Afridi's World Cup career as it looks 10 days (& 2 Pak matches) into the 2011 WC. Both started their ODI careers in 1996, WC careers in 1999 World Cup.

Update 2: See what I mean when I say no one expects Rahul Dravid on that list, least of all at a position that high?
-------------
* Michael Bevan is the only possible suspect that comes to mind

MSD's masterclass in communication

I simply love this guy's communications...most willing to make him my communication guru.



He might be the only skipper in the history of all cricket to speak exact same things at press meets as well as team meetings - and be respected by all concerned for doing that!!


Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a genuine trailblazer in this field. He has blasted all previously held notions of discreetness by following a simple code of lipwork: what cannot be uttered at one place cannot be uttered anywhere..and the rest will have to be consumed everywhere.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc_cricket_worldcup2011/content/current/story/501317.html

Check the above crystal clear yet impersonal pre-WC communication on an issue that, with any lesser communication skills, would either be kept away from the press or would be shared in a manner that it became a potential source of ambiguity to the key middle order batsmen  of the Indian team. Far from it, the skipper's current communication has made it clear to all concerned the strategy that will be adopted for certain eventualities. No cobwebs...no murmurs...no role confusion - all clear. Get on please.


I have seen corporate houses making loud noises on 'aligning' people across the hierarchy, while deliberately keeping the same people in dark on key issues...MSD can go to such orgs, ask CEO's of such companies to stand up on the bench holding their ears and teach them a lesson or two on alignment! And that being honest, frank and respectful have no disharmony with each other.

To make full use of MSD's unparalleled combo-offer of vision, leadership and communication, we need MSD to be around for the next 30 years to Indian cricket - 7 as a player, 10 as a coach, 5 as a Chief selector and 8 as an administrator (4 in BCCI and 4 in ICC)...and this is IRRESPECTIVE of Indian team's progress in the 2011 world cup.

When he reaches age 60 we can finally release him - he will be free to go and win the Prime Minister's post hands down thereafter.

Update: Here's a cricinfo quote from Dhoni on what he has suggested to Sreesanth to control his temperament:

I told him that he should not cross a few boundaries. If you want to irritate someone that should be the opposition and not your side.

Once more, the Alignment Man of Indian Cricket is direct, clear, precise...but fair considering the guy in question (a still temperamental Sreesanth).

Update 2: I suspect some of the readers may be having furrowed eyebrows while reading this article. It may seem to be a fan post eulogising Dhoni.




To them I warn: You are taking good things for granted; good things like having captains with pride and vision, captains supportive of their players.



India are fortunate to have such skippers for 11 years now.





For anyone having slightest doubts on the value that these leaders have brought to Indian Cricket through good communication, commitment & pride, I recommend this Prem Panicker article hailing from an era where it was missing in the leader of Indian team....an article written with a lot of angst but with fairness ahead of another World Cup campaign 12 years back.
[As always, I still remain an ardent fan of Azharuddin the batsman - the single biggest reason for my getting hooked to cricket]


Update 3: Even the master communicator can have his sloppy days at press meets when made to answer same questions over and over!!

Dhoni offered a rather strange explanation for the fields he has set for Harbhajan so far. "At the group stages, I don't want to have a forward short leg or silly point because I don't want any player to get injured. That is one of the reasons we have been restricted to using a leg slip."

The Magnificent B*****d

You have read millions of articles on 'Dada' evoking love and hate alike. Dileep Peemachandran's cricinfo article on the same topic does not offer new insights to start with...you can skip the "oh no, not again" parts in the first 10 paras.

I suggest you go to the 11th paragraph straightaway, where Dileep begins his account of Ganguly's 144 at Gabba. Indeed it was Dada's finest hour of both batsmanship and leadership.
 
THAT is when the journey to No. 1 got its wheels.
 
The last 2 para's are too good, especially in context of a bit of 'unmentionable' history attached to Eden Gardens 2001!

Minutes before he raised his hundred, I'd gone down to the stands where the Fanatics stood, waving their Boxing Kangaroo flags. Some of them had history with Ganguly. On the tour of India in 2001, when India did a Houdini at the Eden Gardens, one of them had told me that they had footage of Ganguly and Harbhajan Singh showing them the middle finger after the victory.







The men and women I was surrounded by weren't admirers. It was fairly apparent that they'd love nothing better than seeing him run out for 99. But when he wasn't, after he had charged between the wickets to make his ground and then run a third of the way to the sightscreen to celebrate, I asked one of the flag-wavers what he thought of the man.






"He's a bastard" was the reply. After a small pause, he added: "But what a magnificent bastard."

That was a delightfully memorable anecdote, Dileep. Thanks a ton.

FB wall posts on 'silly' ODI's

Disappointed at the tame end to the 3rd Test with South Africa, and also sensing some upheavals on personal / professional front, I made this 'wall post' on Facebook couple of days back:

Apologies to my non-cricket loving friends for an overdose of cricket (Indian cricket, actually) related messages on my wall. For next 3 months there will be overdose of silly ODI's and sillier T20's, so not much chance of me getting as excited as the SA series...

However after the 2nd ODI with SA ended THAT way (see commentary in the link) I am on the backfoot once again (like Team India at the start of any series these days):

Did I say ODI's were silly? Smelt some egg on my face during the closing stages of 2nd ODI with SA today..Today I played in a cricket match** and watched another to re-learn that 'catches win matches'..glad that India did better than learning it bitterly.

**Don't laugh, I actually did - but managed not to raise howls around the field by avoiding bowling and batting in the 12-overs-a-side tennis ball match. We missed catches offered by the best opposition batsman during their chase and he made us pay dearly by leading his team to an eventually facile win.

I issued that 'retraction statement' to mitigate my humiliation, but I suspect I may have to keep eating some of my words steadily till the current series is over.


Update: Siddharth Monga of cricinfo has noted this incident, as a fallout of a strict commandment issued by World Bowlers' Association stating "Thou shalt bounce Suresh Raina whenever thou spot him":

"The moment he saw Suresh Raina, Lonwabo Tsotsobe went on a bouncer spree. So excited was he that he nearly bounced himself with one, pitching it at his toes in a way that the ball almost hit him in the face during his follow-through. Smith, fielding at straighter extra cover, had the best seat in the house and fell down laughing."

"Believe it or not" stuff at the 2nd Ind-SA ODI at the Bullring

I am not referring to India's thrilling 1 run win defending 190. I stopped short of stating a cliched "yet another comeback from MSD's men", in case you did not notice..

It is a curious few seconds of unusual sight that struck me. I thought I actually watched Munaf Patel running like a gazelle and fielding off his own bowling even with a close-in fielder around. In FB jargon I "superliked" it.

Something more in Munaf may have changed than physical fitness. Besides NOT looking forever disinterested at all times except the delivery stride like the Munaf of old, "Munaf 2011" also spoke about bowling a lot at the nets at the MoM award ceremony. [Besides the point: I do not see the point in organiser making these chaps struggle with a language they have not been educated to speak - how about well-spoken skippers doubling up as translators in absence of better alternatives?] 

Does IPL and his RR skipper Warnie have something to do with this transformation? Or is it primarily the work of the MSD-GK combo?

To make things better, Munaf Patel is bowling well in successive ODI series spread across nearly half a year, in surfaces as drastically different as in Sri Lanka and South Africa. If only his pace goes back to the early-2006 stuff...

Overheard after 3rd day at Capetown

"This looks so familiar....
- India plays the best Test opposition available on earth.

- At close of 3rd day of 3rd Test little separates the 2 teams; all 3 results are possible @ 33.33% each in the Test, and in the series too.
- Laxman has won the 2nd Test, scoring more runs than one of the opponent's innings. Zaheer Khan joins the playing 11 in the same 2nd Test.
- Indian bowling, ragged in 1st Test, is back with vengeance since the 2nd. That guy in turban is not doing too badly.
....This must be Chennai Test, March 2001...what's wrong with all the clocks??"

"Are you demented? Zaheer Khan took 3 wickets in the very first innings he bowled in the current series. That was Zak's series tally against Australia in 2001, same as that of Tendulkar the bowler. Oh yes - the latter scored his 25th ton in that match, not the 51st. The opponent is South Africa, not Oz. And we are playing in the opponent's backyard, nor ours."
 
"Maybe...how am I supposed to know? I came out today after serving a near-decade sentence in a high-security prison and find so little has changed...Tell me, what is India's position in world Cricket now - must be the same as then, six or seven? And who is that new keeper behind the stumps for India - another delayed debutant like Samir Dighe? I tell you he can come in real handy in tense final moments of the match..."

Laxman's feat in the Durban Test

Indian batsman VVS Laxman scored 38 and 96 in the Durban Test, thus totalling 134 runs in the Durban Test. In the process he helped his team set 300+ as a 4th innings target to hosts South Africa on a seamer-friendly track.
South Africa scored a mere 131 runs in their 1st innings as the Indian bowling attack punched way above their perceived capabilities under the stewardship of Zaheer Khan.

As the match closed out, doubts crept into my mind as to which was the more important contribution of the two -
A) Laxman leading the batting out of a collapse twice in a decisive match, or
B) Zaheer doing a Moses on the Indian bowling to transform a bowling  unit conceding 620 runs for 3 wickets in 1st Test, to a pack taking 10 wickets for 131 in the space of just the one Test

From yielding 620/3 to getting the same opponents 131 all out in the span of a match must be an achievement for Indian bowlers that may remain unparalleled. Zaheer's role in that improvement is undeniable.

However, that bowling turnaround was still a Team Achievement that was LED by Zaheer Khan. Part of it was inspiration from his return to the playing 11, and the team performance was not wholely dependent on his individual on-field performance. The win was achieved through sterling bowling performances of self (i.e. Zaheer) as well as others, at least one of whom was statistically as good as Zaheer in match performance. Zaheer was also overtaken by Steyn as the highest wicket taker for the match in either side. 

This is where Laxman is streets ahead of all competition. Like Zaheer, Laxman too inspired good innings from those who came in after him. But Laxman also literally came forward and "went through the roof' & produced a special ('very very' is cliched these days) personal match performance @ Durban. 

• Laxman got the highest individual score of 96, which is more than double the next highest individual score in either side - 39 (Prince in 2nd innings).
• The lower of Laxman's innings scores, 38, was also the 3rd highest score.
• Laxman's match aggregate (134) exceeded South Africa's 1st innings total, a feat than is comparable to the "620/3 to 131/10" bowling turnaround of his team's bowlers.

Historic figures indeed..and not quite unexpected from a man who, for a decade, has been re-writing favourable historic scripts for India in many matches and series well after the world unwisely makes predictions to the contrary.