skip to main |
skip to sidebar
India's One Day team has put up another horrible performance in Dambulla. There are cries that I hear about poor umpiring. Granted, the umpiring was poor... but the only ones who lost out due to that kind of umpiring were Sehwag and Yuvraj.
Sehwag is in top form and will feel genuinely disappointed at being given out on a ball where most Elite Panel umpires would kept have fingers to themselves. Yuvraj, on the other hand, was getting some very valuable practice in match conditions in a lost cause... but considering that he has been in a very bad form and really needed that practice, he will feel wronged on being cut short by an Asad-Rauf-howler.
Well, as for Dinesh Karthik... the decision may have been wrong, but the umpire just reduced the suffering for Dinesh Karthik and the Indian fans. That guy has now had more than enough opportunities. How he manages to maintain his place as the first replacement to a top-order batsmen with just 20s and rare 30s is beyond my understanding (actually not, it's obviously the Cheeka factor)! And Suresh Raina just had to shrug off his piece of bad luck after having encountered good luck just a few moments before.
And there is no excuse for Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni. Rohit Sharma frustrates an Indian fan like very few others can... he is so obviously full of unconverted talent! I now fully appreciate the angst of a Bangladesh cricketer over the case of Mohammed Ashraful. In fact, I have a feeling that even I can get Sharma's wicket on my bowling. The only thing I do well is bowl those gentle dibbly-dobbly off-cutters... but then, that is how Rohit Sharma gets out! I can keep bowling those in the knowledge that very soon Sharma will get his front leg across and I will catch him plumb in front!
And MS Dhoni... the skipper! I have always been of the opinion that he is a master of mediocre attacks and mediocre conditions. Once in a while he may come up with a truly astounding performance in a pressure situation... but those occasions are very rare now... and have happened more often for Chennai Super Kings than Team India in 2010. If Dhoni really wanted to play a captain's knock today, he'd play himself higher and not wait till 4 wickets are down to finally show his presence.
But I am still not worried about India's batting scene... because with the entry of Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir, not only will a lot of stability be instilled in the team... but also the frustrating figures of Rohit Sharma and Dinesh Karthik will vanish! And considering that the World Cup is in the sub-continent, Dhoni will not be very troubled either...
Tamim Iqbal has hit a purple patch. At 21, the purple patch seems to have come a bit too soon for him. He is already his country's second-highest Test century scorer (1 behind the Most Talented and Under-Performing Youngster Mohammed Ashraful).
Comparisons have been drawn with the Indian opener Virendra Sehwag... and given Tamim's style of batting, it is a fair comparison. But it is far too early to call him the next Sehwag of Test cricket. Tamim has gotten into the habit of falling after reaching his 100... Sehwag, instead, has a habit of going on after getting to a 100. Sehwag has hit 3 scores of 290+ (including 2 triple-centuries). Tamim has a miles to go for that feat to ever happen.
But in Tamim, Bangladesh have unearthed a talent that can find a way in many World XIs based on current form. With Shakib Al Hasan, their captain, Bangladesh have two genuinely world-class Test players. And in the likes of Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmadullah, they have some good street-fighters.
For India, the follow up of the work done by Sehwag is handled by a middle order of Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman... While Bangladesh cannot hope of having such big names in their team sheets at any time in the near future, they needs players who have the desire and the ability to make it big on the world stage... if not that big!
In Ashraful, they have a wasted talent! They do need to look beyond him now... stagnation just does not help! Bangladesh cricket fans will be praying to their Gods that Tamim Iqbal does not go the same way as Mohammed Ashraful... a lot of promise early in the career... never to deliver after that!
Tamim does look a good find for Test cricket... and I hope he is handled well by the Bangladesh set up. They will do well to remember that Sehwag was once dropped from the Indian team... and when he came back, he's been a rejuvenated force.
So if there does come a time when Tamim needs to be dropped, they should do it. Just sticking on to him, like they have done with Ashraful, will just harm them as well as the player more.
A square cut for 4 and Rohit Sharma got to his second ODI century in 3 days... this time against a more reputable opposition and in a winning cause as well.
I had read of Rohit Sharma first time in early 2007. He was just a name in the newspaper then. When he got selected for and played in India's victorious World Twenty20 campaign in South Africa that year, he looked good. He was then selected for the ODI tri - series Down Under in early 2008.
The famous match-winning partnership he shared with Sachin Tendulkar in the first final of that Commonwealth Bank Series won him many fans and admirers... including the likes of Ian Chappell. He made 60-odd in what was an extremely mature knock coming from a very young player in a high-pressure situation. It did help that he had the guidance of a certain Sachin Tendulkar at the other end.
After that, the inaugural edition of IPL was held. Rohit Sharma was the only bright spot in a very disappointing campaign for the Deccan Chargers. After that, things started going wrong. Since then, whenever Rohit has had an opportunity to play for India, he has looked good... till a bad shot at the wrong time does him in (much like I mentioned about Mohammed Ashraful in my previous blog).
His inconsistency and a change in selection panel meant that he was no longer a regular in the Indian team. Every good performance for Deccan Chargers since then has caused a lot more heartburn for Team India fans, who keep wondering why he cannot perform just as well for the country as he does for his club. Every outing in the Indian colours, which is usually another frustrating failure, makes the fan in me wonder that is this just another extremely and obviously talented youngster that will be wasted like many before him?
His twin centuries here may have redeemed him somewhat... but I am still not satisfied, like many others. He needs to perform on a big occasion... when the chips are down. Rohit Sharma needs to do full justice to the enormous skills that he possesses alongwith that cool head. He needs to play and perform for the country more consistently against stronger oppositions. Sri Lanka is a good team... but in Zimbabwe, they are a second-string unit.
Rohit Sharma has a lot of fans... but most of them are angry fans! They are waiting to see if he can truly become what he is capable of. For that to happen, he will need to stay grounded. There were a few moments during IPL 2010 that made me feel that he will need a few keep-your-feet-on-the-ground lessons... and here is where Gary Kirsten could help.
He might have a bright future ahead of him... but the journey will have to be undertaken manfully. RG Sharma, do you have it in you?
The commentators were calling it one of the best they had ever seen at Lord's... I wouldn't go quite that far. But Tamim Iqbal's 100-ball 104 in Bangladesh's second innings (after following on) against England was certainly amongst the better hundreds there have been!
Tamim Iqbal is one of the two reasons why Bangladesh have been looking more and more promising lately... the other being Shakib Al Hasan.
At the moment, Bangladesh 309 - 3 in 76.3 overs... with each of their top 4 crossing 50. I think it's a first for Bangladesh... and it's come away from home at Lord's. Their No. 5, the ultimate underachiever Mohammed Ashraful is 19* (11)... and he looks good to make it 5 out of 5 to cross 50 for Bangladesh. But then, he always looks good... till he plays the shot to which he gets out! That is, usually, extremely ugly.
Even at this stage, Strauss would not have given up. He knows that England is still in with a decent shot, given how Bangladesh has a history of collapsing just when things look good for them. They might capsize any moment... England will then just have to capitalise. But Bangladesh should be proud of this performance!
Whatever may be the result tomorrow, Bangladesh have played good solid Test cricket at Lord's... something that cannot be said very often about this team. I hope this trip to the home of cricket marks a point of transition in the history of Bangladesh cricket. If they become a more competitive side like the one on show in this match, it will mean that Test cricket is in very good health!
