INDIA IN AUSTRALIA, 1ST TEST - HOW CAN UMPIRING GO OUT OF FOCUS?

I was far too young to follow India's tour of Australia in 1991-92. Once I started understanding and following the game of cricket, India has toured Australia in 1999-00, 2003-04, 2007-08 and the current one now in 2011-12... and each time, umpiring has been a subject of sharp focus!

If that is not enough, the scrutiny of umpiring decisions have started in the 1st Test on all but one of the above tours. Only in 2007-08 did the opening Test at MCG on the Boxing Day go through without an umpiring decision worthy of remembrance years later! Unhappy with how incident-free the 1st Test was from an umpiring perspective, the cricketing Gods put in all their efforts to ensure that the 2nd Test would not only compensate for the 1st one, but also supersede all other incident-involving Australia-India Tests of my living memory.

1999-00: The first Test was in Adelaide... and it will always be remembered for the infamous shoulder-before-wicket LBW decision by Daryl Harper against Sachin Tendulkar of Glenn McGrath's bowling. Even in that era, that particular decision gathered a lot of inches and minutes in print and television media respectively. I shudder to imagine what would have happened had such a decision been given in this era!

It was a marginal call, as the ball could have clipped the top of the stumps or gone over it. In normal circumstances, the benefit of the doubt goes to the batsman. Only when the batsman does not offer a shot does the benefit of the doubt go to the bowler. Was that a case of no shot offered? In my view, definitely not! When a batsman ducks under a bouncer that hits him on any part of his body and goes for runs, it is given as leg byes. When no shot is offered, and the ball is deflected of the pads of the batsman, no runs are given. This rule may be farcical, but as long as it exists, ducking cannot be deemed to be a case of no shot offered, and the benefit of doubt in that case should have gone to the batsman.

While I remember just this incident clearly from that tour, I do remember that there definitely was discontentment about umpiring during that tour. I have read that that particular tour accelerated ICC's plans of implementing the concept of two neutral umpires in Tests. This article from the Cricinfo archives points out that there were arguably three contentious decisions against Sachin Tendulkar alone in his 6 Test innings on that tour.

2003-04: The first Test was in Brisbane... and the central figure was once again Sachin Tendulkar. The bowler this time was Jason Gillespie and the umpire was Steve Bucknor. Again, the media coverage was immense and even Gillespie had admitted that his appeal had only been academic and that he wasn't actually expecting to get the decision in his favour.

While the ball pitched outside off and seamed in, even the naked eye could tell that the bounce was far too much in that ball to be able to hit the stumps. Truth be told, I think that this ball would have passed the stumps at a higher altitude than McGrath's bouncer four years previously that resulted in the shoulder-before-wicket dismissal. That same article to which I have provided the link above talks of the coverage that followed this Steve Bucknor decision.

2007-08: Like I said, the first Test at MCG was more-or-less incident-free, and the second Test at SCG overcompensated for that! There has been more than enough coverage of the Sydney Test of 2008 - both the racial abuse allegation as well as the collection of umpiring errors! Andrew Symonds was reprieved thrice (twice by Steve Bucknor and once incredibly by the third umpire Bruce Oxenford!) and Ricky Ponting was reprieved once and then given out when he shouldn't have been. Sourav Ganguly was ruled out caught by Michael Clarke by umpire Mark Benson in consultation with Ponting rather than the third umpire.

There were some more incidents (I remember Rahul Dravid too falling victim of a Steve Bucknor error), but the key one definitely was the first reprieve that Andrew Symonds received on Ishant Sharma's bowling. Steve Bucknor (once again!) failed to see/hear a very clear edge with its big woody noise and a clear deflection of the ball on its way to MS Dhoni behind the stumps. That decision was very clearly a result-impacting decision. Symonds was on 30 then, and Australia 193 for 6. Australia ended up with 463 with Symonds unbeaten on 162. Even though India had no business losing the Test on Day 5, there might have been a completely different result had Symonds been ruled out there and Australia slumped to 193 for 7.

2011-12: The first Test at Melbourne, Day 1... and both umpires in the limelight for one caught-behind decision each. Maraius Erasmus ruled Michael Hussey out for a golden duck off Zaheer Khan's bowling and soon thereafter, Ian Gould ruled the debutant Ed Cowan out for 68 off Ravichandran Ashwin's bowling.

While I wouldn't call either of those decisions a 'howler', the debate on it shall be no less than the other decisions of the past... because we live in the era that has tasted the implementation of DRS. Where I stand on the issue of DRS is absolutely unrelated to what this post is about, and so I'll refrain from getting into that. But it must be said here that there is a difference between a marginal call and a howler, and DRS is starting to obliterate that line. Had it not been for the debate on DRS, the Hussey and Cowan dismissals might have been talked about just for a few hours, and then archived somewhere in history. But now, we'll have gigabytes of data to tell the future generation different versions of what actually transpired there!

NOSTALGIA

My mind goes back to that morning 8 years and 10 days ago. 16th December 2003. I was 15, had just finished a class at my boarding school, and rushed out as it ended to find my Physics professor. I knew he would have the score.

When I found him, I did not need to ask. I knew. His smile (and he rarely smiled!) made it obvious. India had won by 4 wickets at Adelaide, and Rahul Dravid had hit the winning runs. "Poetic justice!" is what he had said back then!

I had followed that Test series (from Brisbane to Sydney) by snatching updates on All India Radio and begging for more updates from professors whom I knew had internet connections. Despite the fact that we were clear underdogs, I still had hopes from our team. Back then, I was less of a realist and more of an optimist! I still remember thinking that during the World Cup less than a year before that series, India had clearly been the second best team. The time seemed ripe to take on the best team in their backyard!

And take them on we did! That Adelaide Test took my love for the game to a different level... particularly Test cricket! India had won after conceding more than 550 runs in the first innings. If the Eden Gardens miracle of 2001 was not enough, this one just reaffirmed my faith that there is no game quite like Test cricket!

And then, on the next day (17th December 2003), Rohit Brijnath became my favourite cricket writer with this wonderful piece on the front page of The Indian Express. Yes, those three "architects" of our win deserved no less!

That Australian summer changed a lot of things about my relationship with cricket! I had followed India's tours to England and the West Indies earlier in the decade with considerable studiousness, but this was the tour that created an impact... an impact that made cricket a lot bigger than a mere sport for me!

An hour before the Boxing Day Test match kicks off at Melbourne Cricket Ground, memories of that match at Adelaide (and to think that I managed to watch just the highlights) create a nostalgia in my mind. I hope that this series is just as hard fought and fairly-fought, and when "dusk begins its quiet descent", the winners are wearing blue caps!

INDIA'S GREATEST ODI TRIUMPH OUTSIDE OF THE WORLD CUPS

This is an interesting thought that came to my mind when I was reading the Times of India article about the Raina / Yuvraj / No. 6 slot debate. There was this line in that article which said - "Lord's was the venue of India's greatest triumph outside World Cup when it chased down a target of 326 set by England in the 2002 Natwest Trophy and in which Yuvraj had played a critical knock of 69 runs."

While Lord's 2002 was undoubtedly a great win - one of the most memorable ever - but was it India's best ODI triumph outside of the World Cup? Immediately, two other triumphs come to my mind - the 1985 Benson and Hedges World Championship Finals against Pakistan at MCG, and the more recent 2008 Commonwealth Bank Series win over Australia.

If ever a vote is taken on this debate, I am sure that these 3 wins will pile up the maximum hits. Each one has something special about it...

Which was the greatest of them all?

1985 - I was not born back then, so wouldn't really be able to put describe much about the feelings and emotions of that occasion. But one look at the facts - a win over Pakistan in the finals, an unbeaten run in the tournament, a chance to show that the World Cup win in 1983 was not a flash in the pan, and the surroundings of the MCG - that win has to be special! A fine moment for Sunil Gavaskar as the captain, top-3 run-scorers were Indians, top-3 wicket takers were Indians, Ravi Shastri had a dream tournament and won an Audi for his efforts. The flowing champagne and the Audi ride after the win are some of the lasting images from that win. One reading of this Ravi Shastri interview leaves you in no doubt about the importance of that World Championship of Cricket triumph! In many ways, that win did just as much as the World Cup triumph of 1983 to redefine the status of cricket in India, and in effect, the status of India in the world of cricket!

2002 - A shirtless Sourav Ganguly on the Lord's balcony in a show of brilliant passion is the lasting image from this triumph. Two youngsters on the scene - Mohammed Kaif and Yuvraj Singh - scripted an unbelievable win when all hope seemed lost. Kaif came in to join Yuvraj at the fall of the big wicket of Sachin Tendulkar and India at 146-5. In a previous era, the fall of Sachin would have been game over for India... but these two young men changed that era right there. That match had passion all right - English captain Nasser Hussain's gestures to the media box on reaching his hundred, Sourav Ganguly's aggression at the start of the Indian innings, his disappointment when he got out, and then the final shirt-waving before pinning Kaif to the ground with his hug! That win changed Indian cricket to an extent that is still being defined, and laid the first slab in the creation of the legend of Sourav Ganguly!

2008 - A young captain, a young team, coming to an end of a bitter tour of Australia, history against them, and what do they do? The Indian team beats Australia in the first 2 finals at SCG and Gabba to win their first ever triangular tournament in Australia. During commentary in the 1st final, when India was closing on to a comfortable win thanks to a Sachin Tendulkar century, Ian Chappell suggested that while Brisbane might favour Australia, the Indians might fancy their chances in Adelaide - the venue of the 3rd final, if needed! How unlike Ian Chappell (or any Australian, for that matter) to even think of losing a match! India certainly did not think that way, and with Sachin Tendulkar scoring over 200 runs in the 2 finals, and some good bowling by a young Praveen Kumar, India sealed a memorable win. The passionate celebration, not only after the win but even on the fall of key wickets of Hayden (the obnoxious weed episode) and Symonds (the monkey-gate saga), in the 2nd final, tell you just how important that win was. It gave a young team of MS Dhoni the confidence to walk ahead and carve its own identity... a win that might well have eventually led to the World Cup triumph of 2011!

I'm not sure which one would I vote as the greatest ODI triumph for India outside of the World Cups of 1983 and 2011. There are other triumphs like the 1998 Sharjah win, 5 Asia Cup wins and 1993 Hero Cup, but these do not have the same feel to them as the wins of 1985, 2002 and 2008. What do you think?

THIS TIME IT WAS RECKLESS

I am, for a change, disappointed with Virender Sehwag. Usually, I always leap up to defend Viru even when he throws away his wicket. But today, I am going to be the prosecutor, not the defendant.

The shot that Sehwag was trying to play when he got out might well have connected and the ball would have screamed towards the deep cover boundary. But it would still have been a reckless shot.

That delivery was the first time Sehwag's bat made contact with the ball during this tour of South Africa in a match situation. And given the kind of shot he was attempting, it's no wonder it landed in the hands of that bearded fielder at third man.

A few Indian players reached South Africa early to get acclimatised with the conditions. Gary Kirsten did thousands of throw downs in the nets and at his academy to get his batsmen ready. But none of that can get you into match rhythm, especially in difficult and alien conditions as India encountered. So in such a situation, for Sehwag to go for that wild swing of his bat without having felt the ball even once during the match, it was reckless and irresponsible.

Most observers would agree that Sehwag, of late, has become a more dangerous proposition than he originally was because he has now become a little more selective in his shot-making and more aware of the match conditions and the team's dependence on the starts provided by him.

But there was nothing selective or responsible about that shot today... and I am utterly disappointed with him. I know Strauss went for a third ball duck at the Gabba and yet England are not too far away from retaining the Ashes now. But expecting something similar here will be stretching imagination beyond reasonable boundaries.

I just hope now that our weakened pace attack of Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma and the debutant Jaidev Unadkat show a bit of fight tomorrow and manage to strike a few telling blows early. Lets see if the contest becomes more of a contest tomorrow...

GAMBHIR TICKS THE UNCHECKED BOX

The first South Africa - India Test match starts in just a couple of weeks from today at the SuperSport Park, Centurion... and in the lead up to that Test match, it is great to see Gautam Gambhir get a century against New Zealand today. He was the only unticked box remaining in our top and middle order.

Virender Sehwag - He is in roaring form... second highest run scorer in this calender year (2010)... and could be the key for India's series win in the Rainbow Nation. Back to the land where he embarked on his journey in Test cricket, there are high expectations of him this time round. With the pace that the South African attack can generate, his fiery slashes may carry all the way over the third man boundary!

Gautam Gambhir - It was good to see him get some runs against the Kiwis. He did get lucky with a couple of streaky inside edges... but the crucial thing is that he capitalised on the luck. And once he got closer to three figures, he looked as comfortable as he's looked this entire year. Surely the signs are good for the Indian opening partnership...

Rahul Dravid - Though I am not completely confident about his form and indeed his place in the side, but it cannot be denied that he did get 2 centuries in Tests against New Zealand. That is bound to give him some confidence before the South African tour. But if I were MS Dhoni, I would still tell Cheteshwar Pujara to be on standby mode... just in case!

Sachin Tendulkar - Though the New Zealand series was not that productive, it cannot be denied that he is looking in ominous form. He will be facing South Africa in any form of cricket for the first time after the history-making 200* (147) at Gwalior. This time he'll have a chance to make another history... No. 50 is waiting... will it be SuperSport Park, Centurion, where he had smashed the Pakistanis into submission at a World Cup just under 8 years ago?

VVS Laxman - The South Africa tour will be a difficult one. There will be times when that brilliant bowling attack will put the Indian batting unit under immense pressure. And that will be the time when we'll again look towards Lax to bail us out... for he's a crunch-situation specialist. It will be interesting to see the fields that Graeme Smith sets for VVS.

The anticipation is building up for the clash of No. 1 against the No. 2. I know that a lot of neutrals will follow the Ashes more religiously that this one... but I think that this series will be a lot more interesting and the mini-battles a lot more absorbing. Obviously, this feeling may have come (or may have been strengthened) by the 22-wickets-over-5-days draw at The Gabba and the prospect of another such match at Adelaide next.

So I can't wait for December 16th to arrive... it's time to see the best in action!

THE BRISBANE TEST - FROM THE NEUTRAL EYE

How quickly fortune can change! Three days into the first Ashes Test, Australia was right on top... leading England by more than 200 runs, having gotten 10 first-innings English wickets without even letting the second new ball become due, centuries for batsmen who had had question marks over their places in the squad and there seemed to exist a tremendous amount of optimism in the media all over the island nation.

Two days later, the tables have as upside down as upside down can be! Whereas less than 77 overs were needed to take the first 10 English wickets, Australia couldn't prise out more than 1 over almost double the number of overs in the second innings. The captain led from the front, then the vice-captain overtook him and went further ahead... and meanwhile, the South African born No. 3 continued his dream run against the Aussies.

Since England won the final 2 days of the drawn Gabba Test, there is naturally a lot of optimism now in the English media and there are talks about momentum and psychological advantage... But putting all this aside, what else can be deduced from this match?

England batted for a total of 228.5 overs and scored 777 runs for the loss of 11 wickets at 3.40 runs per over. Australia, on the other hand, batted for a total of 184.4 overs and scored 588 runs for the loss of 11 wickets at 3.18 runs per over. Given that 302 of England's runs were scored by Alastair Cook (that's 38.88%) and 136 of Australia's runs were scored by Brad Haddin (that's 23.13%), it is surprising to see England scoring a good 0.22 runs per over more than Australia over the duration of the match.

So the numbers too, prima facie, showcase England as the better side over the Test match. But the catch is, they were just slightly better. 'Slightly better' will not be good enough to win the urn, maybe just good enough to retain it.

Australia's problems are being talked of loudly and clearly all over the cricketing world at the moment. But England should realise that they have problems of their own. Australia, even at their worst, can put up a huge fight. England's worst fear right now would be a scenario where Ben Hilfenhaus finds his rhythm (which he is soon bound to), Mitchell Johnson producing one of his once-in-10-Tests brilliant efforts, Doug Bollinger returning to the squad with decent match practice (sorry Peter Siddle, but you are not going to be getting hat-tricks everyday... everyday's not your birthday), Marcus North finding grip and turn with his off breaks and the English batting having its once-in-10-Tests batting collapse... all in the same Test.

But then, England will also be cheered up by the fact that the above scenario is unlikely to occur in the 2nd Test... since it is at Adelaide. So what I am left wondering about now is that if Brisbane has produced only 22 wickets over 5 days (10 of which fell under a cloudy Day 1), what is going to happen at Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne? The flip side is that these venues might just provide the impetus needed to spur a certain Graeme Swann back into the thick of things.

Frankly, the first Test was a let down from what I expected. I hope Adelaide delivers a better show...

A SMALL BREAK FROM BLOGOSPHERE

Regular visitors to this blog may have noticed that the number of posts on this blog has come down quite a bit over the last 2 months (September and October) as compared to the earlier ones. The reason is that I have a very important examination coming up just after Diwali (which is on 5th) and it will stretch for a fortnight.

So, this is my last blog for the next 3 weeks... I will not be watching the rest of the Pakistan - South Africa ODIs (I have to say though that after Razzaq's knock today, this feels like a greater loss than I had earlier imagined), the Australia - Sri Lanka ODIs and the India - New Zealand Tests (though I'll keep track of the scores and results of all these fixtures).

I intend to return to the blogosphere by 24th or 25th November... in time for the start of the Ashes (this has been my silver lining on a rather dark cloud). There is no way that I will be missing the first ball to be bowled at Gabba on 25th November.

I know I'll have a lot of catching up to do when I return... especially with 3 Tests scheduled in India, and Sachin Tendulkar in such a roaring form. Just hoping that this form continues...

So then, till the Ashes... ciao!

INDIA'S ALL-TIME XI - MIDDLE ORDER

Cricinfo is doing the selection of India's All-Time XI Team. I had been waiting for this for a long time. Last week, it was the question of openers... it was not too difficult a choice for me. This time, it is difficult. Very very difficult. This time, it is the selection of the middle order.

Over the past decade, India has had the most celebrated middle order in Test cricket... No. 3 Rahul Dravid, No. 4 Sachin Tendulkar, No. 5 Sourav Ganguly and No. 6 VVS Laxman. It just couldn't get bigger! The middle order was so firmly established that many other talented batsmen like Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif had to wait long for their chances. Some others tried a hand at opening the innings in order to fit it... most forget here that Sehwag was originally a middle order batsman before he was nominated as an opener in India's All-Time XI!

But this represents India only over the past decade (two, in SRT's case). One look at the other nominees in the list and the fact that Cricinfo has allowed a choice of only three middle-order batsmen compounds this selection dilemma even more. Here are all the nominees and their numbers in Test Cricket:

In my opinion, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid sealed their places in the Indian All-Time XI lineup quite some years back. As for the third slot, it was a very difficult wrestle in my head. It was a tough fight between VVS Laxman (for his ability to bail the team out from tight spots time and again), Sourav Ganguly (for his ability to make strong statements like at the Gabba... plus the fact that you do need a leftie to create balance in the team... and yes, he was India's best captain EVER), Mohammed Azharuddin (he was class... his 50 to 100 conversion rate in the figures above is mind-blowing) and Dilip Vengsarkar (I never saw him bat... but I do know that Sunil Gavaskar remarked in the late 1980s that the two best batsmen in Mumbai are SRT and Dilip Vengsarkar).

In the end, I went for Sourav Ganguly... for all the reasons as stated above. The team does need a left-hander... and if that left-hander is India's best captain ever with a decent batting average and a useful seam bowling option... then he must be drafted in immediately. And well, no one can deny that Dada was an enigma!

Lets wait and see whom does Cricinfo pick in its selection... though if either one of Dravid or Tendulkar is missing (not that I see them missing out... I'd be ready to bet my Firebolt on it), then I would rate this selection committee lower than the one headed currently by Mr. Cheeka!

THE 'WALKER' WALKS AWAY

Two years ago, on this very day - 4th March, Adam Gilchrist, arguably the best wicketkeeper to have graced the sport, played the last international innings of his career in front of a packed Gabba against India.

The Aussie fans wanted Gilchrist to play another match at the Adelaide Oval - for a couple of reasons. One, to ensure that the best of three final goes into the 3rd match after India had sealed the 1st one. Two, to watch Gilchrist play one more time - a delight very rarely matched.

Though it was not a fitting end (Gilly played on for 2 and Australia went on to lose the match and the series), it was a still a glorious career. "To the team and all the support staff, it's been a magic ride," he said. "It's not a fairytale ending tonight, but it's been a fairytale career. To be involved with you guys is something I'll hold dear in my heart for the rest of my life."

And having watched you bat like just you can so many times is something we hold dear, Gilly! Out of the many qualities that he was renowned for, the one that stood out was his walk-when-you-know-its-out attitude. He was called unAustralian for it, but the world loved him just as much, if not more.

His last appearance in a World Cup match was the finals of 2007 World Cup in the Carribbean, where his awesome 149 all but sealed the tournament in Australia's favour. Though Gilly is till seen playing enthusiastically in the IPL, watching him bat in an international match (especially Tests) was a different experience altogether.

We wish you all the very best in whatever you do ahead, Gilly!