ICC RANKINGS GO FOR A 'TOSS'

A number of things that have happened in quick succession have prompted this thought in me. First, I'll tell you what events happened.

First, Kumar Sangakkara criticised the ICC Ranking system (he's not the first one to do that!)... Second, in his latest article on 'It Figures' in Cricinfo, S Rajesh, the extraordinary stats-man observed that Sri Lanka has the most imposing home record after winning the toss. They have never lost a Test in last ten years at home after winning the toss. And third, on the comments page in this article by S Rajesh, I read someone's comment that said that the ICC Rankings should also consider the factor of tosses won / lost.

I have been thinking more and more about that comment. And it does make a lot of sense. Most of the Test matches (and even ODIs between competent teams, for that matter) are being decided at the time of the toss itself (unless ofcourse, you have captain called Ricky Ponting who always starts with "We'll have a bat!" after every toss win)!

So if a team can defy the odds, lose the toss and still end up winning the match, then it does deserve some more respect than other ordinary wins! There might also be cases of dilemma where a captain is unsure of what to do on winning the toss. The two captains may have different opinions. For example, at the Leeds Test, Ricky Ponting elected to bat first on winning the toss... but I am sure Salman Butt would have preferred a bowl had he won the toss!

In such cases, a problem arises. Pakistan won this game... and had the system of accounting for tosses been in place, they would have earned more points as they won that Test after losing the toss. Had they won the toss and then won the Test in a similar manner, they would have earned relatively lesser points.

To provide for such a problem, I have a solution. It's pretty simple. Just before the toss, the two captains must separately reveal what they decide to do in case they win the toss. If both captains had pre-decided at bat-first or a bowl-first strategy, then the toss factor should be considered important and extra points should be awarded to teams that lose the toss and win the match. But if one captain says bat-first and the other says bowl-first before the toss, the toss factor should be considered as 'not crucial' for that match and there will be no need to provide bonus points at the end of the match to either winner.

This would make the points system a lot more meaningful, especially in this day and age when teams are almost guaranteed not to lose a Test after winning the toss at Colombo. Even MS Dhoni will be thankful... considering the fact that he's not managed to win a single toss in Test cricket in his last six trysts with the spinning coin!

PAKISTAN DESERVE TO WIN

Its inches away now... the win for Pakistan! The long awaited win for Pakistan over Australia... and its neither in Pakistan nor in Australia, it is going to happen in England! So now we know where Pakistan might want to organise all of its future 'home' matches till the security situation in Pakistan improves!

Pakistan thoroughly deserve this win... and in my opinion, they deserved a series win! Because they had the better bowling unit... more suited to excel in the playing conditions than their opponents. It was the inexperience and the resulting immaturity in batting that led to their downfall in the first Test, not to mention the less-than-inspired leadership of their former 'Test' captain Shahid I-Can't-Play-Test-Cricket Afridi.

This has been a wonderful start to the Test captaincy stint of Salman Butt. But after this win, I am afraid, the expectations from him will sky-rocket! More pressure... that's the last thing he needed!

WAT - SON!

Oh God! Shane Watson has picked up 6 wickets as Pakistan stand on 254 for 9 in the 2nd Pakistan - Australia "neutral" Test at Leeds. That makes it 11 wickets in this series for him... off his rubbish bowling! Is there no justice in the world?

INDIA'S FIRST TEST JINX AND DHONI ON THE BACKFOOT

Oh well! It wasn't unexpected at all! This tour of Sri Lanka is the 15th 'away' Test series that India has started, against a Test opponent other than Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, from 1st January 2000. And this was their 7th loss in the opening Test of such a series.


I thought that being the No. 1 team now would have meant a little bit of change... but then some thing don't change at all. So as Sri Lanka celebrate the great achievement by their favourite son Muttiah Muralitharan to notch up 800 Test wickets... India need to sit back and introspect.


India's record in 2nd Tests on tours where they have lost the 1st one is a little difficult to analyse... out of the 6 previous occasions where India has lost the 1st Test of a tour in 2000s, India has bounced back to a win 2 times, slumped to another defeat 2 times, and managed a draw 2 times. So, it currently stands at 2-2-2.


Whatever the past record says, I will be surprised if India don't fight back with a much better performance in the 2nd Test at Colombo. In particular, I am sure that the batting unit will perform admirable once again. But will India manage to win the Test? That question remains unanswered in my mind.


India's bowling is weak. And Dhoni's captaincy was uninspiring today. Dhoni is fast going the Ponting way. He is a bat-first bully as a captain. In conditions where it is not favourable to bat second and he is forced to do so after losing the toss, he is being found wanted. And the problems have been compounded by the fact that he has now lost his last 5 tosses as a Test captain for India (and batted second in all of them).


Here's an analysis of Tests in which Dhoni has lost the toss and was made to bat second by his opposing captain:


v. South Africa, Kanpur 2008 - India won by 8 wickets - This win came due to the fact that South Africa was rubbish at playing spin on a crumbling pitch. Paul Harris managed to pick 4 wickets in that Test - that should tell the story! I don't think that Dhoni was spectacular in his part-time role as a captain (he was filling in for Anil Kumble then).


v. England, Chennai 2008 - India won by 6 wickets - Dhoni's 4th Test as captain and he was definitely found wanting when the opposition batting unit clicked. Andrew Strauss hit a hundred in each innings, as India crumbled to hand over a 75-run 1st innings advantage. In the second innings, Dhoni couldn't separate the pair of Strauss and Collingwood for a long time. In the end, India managed to win only because of Sehwag's belligerence on the 4th day and Tendulkar's composure on the 5th. Otherwise, this might well have been Dhoni's first loss as a captain.


v. Sri Lanka, Mumbai (BS) 2009 - India won by an innings and 144 runs - When Sri Lanka was batting in the 1st innings, the signs were not good for India. Dilshan and Mathews batted brilliantly and Dhoni was always one step behind the game as Sri Lanka notched up almost 400. Again, Dhoni should thank Sehwag for his brutal 293 that ensured that India managed 726 in reply. Dhoni chipped in with a 100* himself... but then India was already 200 runs ahead when he came in to bat... not exactly a knock under pressure by the captain!


v. Bangladesh, Dhaka 2010 - India won by 10 wickets - Well, it was Bangladesh after all! They have indeed made very decent progress in Test cricket, but they are still Bangladesh!


v. South Africa, Nagpur 2010 - India lost by an innings and 6 runs - Dhoni's first loss as a Test captain was an embarrassing one for the No. 1 Test team. Dhoni looked absolutely clueless as Amla and Kallis piled on 340 runs for the 4th wicket. This showed in an absolutely clear manner that when the opposition is on top, Dhoni starts to sink.


v. South Africa, Kolkata 2010 - India won by an innings and 57 runs - India did manage a win, but Dhoni did look helpless in the first two sessions on Day 1 when Amla and Peterson put on a 209-run 2nd wicket stand. He fared much better once Zaheer and Harbhajan had engineered a collapse to dismiss South Africa eventually for 296. And yes, another ton for the captain... after all, he came in to bat when India was just 12 runs shy of a 100-run lead!


v. Sri Lanka, Galle 2010 - India lost by 10 wickets - I don't need to say a lot. The bats of Paranavitana and Sangakkara did the speaking.


Back in February this year, after India had lost the first Test to South Africa at Nagpur, Avjit Ghosh had written on his blog: "Dhoni is a master of mediocre bowling but is hardly the same batsman against stronger attacks."


I really want to add further that his captaincy is not very different. He needs to start a Test match strongly to be able to dominate. Where India starts a Test on the backfoot, like batting second after losing the toss, he looks helpless and uninspiring as a captain. He still has managed to give a few positive results in such cases, but any captain would have managed that if he had Sehwag and Tendulkar playing the way they did in those cases!