A Welcome Change for India!

The Indian team has many reasons to be proud of the victory over England in first Test at Ahmedabad. After all, this would be termed as their first legitimate victory post the consecutive 0-4 setbacks in England and Australia. This win clearly showed that the English were the second best team to India in almost every facet of the game over the last 5 five days.  Their skills and strategies to play in the sub-continent need serious re-thinking. Without over-ruling the fact that England can bounce back from this situation, they will have to look ahead in a very optimistic manner – without being over-ambitious of course.

India clearly had a hero in both batting and bowling departments – Pujara and Ojha respectively.  Ojha was clearly ahead of any other bowler in the match – yes, even better than Swann! Bowling tight lines has always been his strength. What he also did well in this match was tossing the ball up almost every time the skipper threw the ball into his hands, therefore bagging those many wickets in both innings. His successful stint with the ball also more than made up for Ashwin’s rare failure on the subcontinent pitches.

I like Pujara more after every match. His knocks in both innings were flawless – if I might say so. He gave glimpses of both Dravid and Laxman at times. His forward defence is almost as solid as The Wall. The way he comes down the track to play the wristy drives toward on-side against spinners sure reminds me of VVS. Yet, it would be quite premature to compare him with those batting stalwarts.  But keen observes would have already started looking at a future prospect in the dressing room; like they had done when two youngsters in Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly made their debut at Lords more than 16 years ago. The thing about Pujara that stood out (and he admitted that himself too) was the price he put on his wicket; he seldom played a shot in the air. That reminds me of another batsman who did well in the match but got out playing a needless shot in the air - Virender Sehwag.

Sehwag’s run-a-ball century in the first innings was a trademark Sehwag knock; though he was a little slow early on. He must have breathed a sigh of relief after that. I would have loved to see him return to the dressing room un-dismissed though.  Yuvraj Singh played a wonderful innings before being dismissed cheaply off a full-toss from Samit Patel. That innings did show some resolve and was a clear indication of the man’s pedigree.

Another player that impressed was Umesh Yadav. The lad bowled his heart out on a pitch that hardly had anything in it for the seamers. He looks a promising young fast bowler (yes, you read that right – fast bowler!). He also extracts some reverse swing from the old ball that makes him a really deadly customer to deal with. Zaheer Khan, though not among a lot of wickets, looked like 100 per cent after a long time. The way he set up Nick Compton before dismissing him in the second innings speaks volumes about his ability with the ball.

MS Dhoni again failed to make any difference with the bat. It won’t be long before India would need his service in that area as well. Kohli was partly unlucky in the first innings, with the ball that got him out coming out of the rough area of pitch; but looked good in second. Sachin Tendulkar got out quickly after he looked like being in a positive frame of mind – obvious from the two convincing boundaries in that small innings.

Despite the lost affair, England still have some hope to draw from the match. Spare a thought for the captain, Cook and their most successful spinner Swann. Alistair Cook’s century would certainly be rated among the top. Swann strengthened his claim for the best off-spinner in the world at the moment. Matt Prior would have a lot of positives to take from the fact that he outshone his Indian counterpart in at least one area – that is no mean feat!

In all, India would be more than happy with their performance and would like to keep the momentum going with few improvements in a couple of areas. The English side, on the other hand, would like to learn a lot of lessons on how to play in the subcontinent from their Indian counterparts. For them there is certainly a ray of hope at the far end of the tunnel; but only the upcoming matches would decide whether that is of an incoming train or thanks to a stag with a torch in his hand! 

A new era beckons

Only a couple of days away from the beginning of the Test series between India and England, I realize that I have never before looked forward to a Test series with such desperation as this one. There is more than one reason behind the excitement. Whatever the score-line might read at the end of four test matches, one can rest assured that both teams will have some interesting challenges coming their way. Though this series has been constantly billed as the “revenge” series, I believe that would not affect the teams much, for they have far bigger issues at hand to deal with.

As far as the English line-up is concerned, the return of Kevin Pietersen will surely boost the morale of the side but they cannot afford to get carried away. Of late their middle order mainstay Jonathan Trott has not been able to keep up to the high standards he has set for himself over the last couple of years. Injuries to Stuart Broad and Steven Finn have given them more reasons to worry about. Nonetheless, flamboyant KP is always a force to reckon with. If he can successfully put his frailties against slow left arm bowling behind him, the English supporters will be in for a delight.

To add to that, they have not yet gotten to taste the kind of spin bowling they are about to face in the upcoming Test matches. I would not bother myself going into the details of the reason behind that (that sure is worth another story in itself). But that does bring me to an over-hyped issue about the fragility of English batsmen against spin bowling. This is not the first time they are touring the sub-continent. Neither is this the best spin attack that India has had in the recent times. So give them a break. They know what they are doing. In case they aren’t, they better do!

The Indian outfit, on the other hand, will take on a serious opposition without Dravid and Laxman for the first time in years (no offence meant to the Kiwis). This series shall prove to be the litmus Test for the likes of Gambhir, Sehwag and Zaheer. Gambhir will have to prove that he is not just good for small innings and that he can go on to score some big runs as well. Sehwag will have to make his followers believe that he has not lost his touch while Zaheer’s fitness will be tested once again.

Pujara and Kohli showed promise in the series against New Zealand. If they continue their form into this series, England sure would get a run for their money. Yuvraj has given the selectors reason enough to select him for the no. 6 spot. For some reason, he has not been able to do justice to his talent. By now he should have been a permanent member of the Indian test line-up. Ashwin will be the one to watch out for. He has done extremely well in home conditions. He might prove to be the eyesore to most English batsmen.

Inclusion of Harbhajan in the squad renders the equation pretty interesting and open to speculations. It would be interesting to see if Dhoni leaves out Harbhajan from the playing eleven to include Ojha. If he doesn’t, it would be a huge injustice to poor Ojha who did very well in the New Zealand series. Dhoni himself has a few questions to answer as far as his batting goes. A batsman of his mettle batting at no. 7 is always a huge advantage to any side provided he is in good touch – or at least in the kind of form he is in the limited overs cricket.

Moving on to the last and certainly the most talked about issue of late – would Sachin Tendulkar announce retirement after this series or maybe after the series against Australia? All these speculations have gained some credibility after Sachin himself hinted that he cannot keep playing forever (contrary to what I had been thinking for the last 16 years). He has always been known to hit back hard whenever he has been criticized. Now is one such time. How well does he come back will be a key factor in determining how long he keeps playing from now on. Though there is still some part of me that believes he would keep playing till eternity!

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The year gone by – an afterthought

Phew! It has been one long year. I landed on American soil for the first time in September last year in pursuit of the American Dream. There have been some upsides and some downsides between then and now. Lately, one fine day an unusual - though not bizarre - thought came to my mind – that I should look back at the past one year and translate that into words. So here we go! Before I begin, let me ask for a little excuse; I would take the liberty to be quite selective in putting forward the events that I please to.

Almost everything about this country has surprised me, pleasantly of course. There has seldom been an instance where I have found myself complaining about a thing or two. I feel sorry to disappoint the cynics who might already have read between the lines and arrived at the conclusion that I’d hail everything that I have come across in this land and deride similar occurrences eight thousand miles away. That certainly would not be the highlight of the next few paragraphs!

I have always been fond of seeing new places. Unfortunately I did not get a lot of chances to set out and go places that are home to some amazing people, amazing culture. Therefore I made it a point to visit as many famous places as I could manage to in this busy schedule of mine where even thinking of a leave, other than the ones already designated, is criminal. And I’d be the first one to admit that I have not been very successful in this pursuit. But whatever little success I have had, have left everlasting memories.

So far I have explored only a few famous places in this region. Nonetheless, I have chosen different directions to head to almost every time – places varying from Toronto in north to Florida in south; New York in east to California in west.  Every trip, however small it may have been, brought with it some amazing experiences.

Located in the mid-western vicinity of St. Louis, there are not many big tourist destinations to bank on. But that couldn't stop me. It had hardly been a month since my arrival in US, when I, along with another friend, set out for a road trip to Toronto, Canada approximately eight hundred miles away. We halted at Chicago, Illinois (for leisure) and Detroit, Michigan (for visa stamping) before eventually reaching Toronto where we were very warmly welcomed by a good old friend and a couple of his cousins. Those three days in Toronto during the Thanksgiving vacation accounted for some real fun after which we started our journey back home which was very brisk after all the exhaustion in Toronto. The journey itself can be a lot of fun - that is something I realized then. But the time in Toronto was by no means less fun-filled – a visit to the Niagara Falls and the CN Tower (owing to my huge liking for skyscrapers) bear testimony to that.

Come Christmas and we were ready with our plans. This time we were south bound to the beautiful state of Florida. We had planned to see places like Miami, the Keys and Orlando. After landing in Miami, we straight away headed further south to the Keys. The drive from Miami to the Keys on the historic Highway 1 was breathtaking. Honestly, few others would compare to that drive. The Keys is a group of islands. We chose to go to one of those islands called Key West which happens to be the southernmost part of the country. Jet skiing for a couple of hours in the Atlantic Ocean must be an experience of a lifetime; it becomes more fun when you are lost in the Ocean and can see absolutely no one but water in any direction you look. But that surely was not a problem to persist for too long. That night, after dinner and hanging out at the local Hard Rock Cafe, we wandered till late in Key West Downtown (if we got the place right) before heading back to Miami.

The next whole day was spent lazily on South Beach in Miami and the night in Miami Downtown. That to me is the perfect getaway from the rigors of work. It provided for a day where we could get ourselves some rest before leaving next morning for Orlando where two long days were awaiting us. Nonetheless, those two days in Orlando were just amazing. Disney Land is too big a place to be seen in just one day. So we pursued just one of the many theme parks; it was called the Magic Kingdom. The place was packed to capacity primarily because it was the Christmas day. The Christmas parade blew my mind away. The last day of the trip was attributed to the Universal Studios in Orlando. The big roller coaster rides have never failed to fascinate me and this place was no exception. But what stands out for me in the whole Universal Studio experience is the Harry Potter attraction. That was mesmerizing. That sure took me to another world – the world of witchcraft and wizardry where we are called the Muggles.  And that was how the trip came to an end. Next morning we took a flight back to St. Louis waiting for the next vacation to arrive.

That was the last vacation of year - surely one worthy of signing off the year gone by in grand style. The next vacation took a while to come by. I shall continue talking about that and the one after and a lot of other stuff in the upcoming posts.

Time for Retrospection

It would probably be very easy to get carried away following India’s win in the first Test match against New Zealand in Hyderabad. It sure would take a brave-heart to find shortcomings out of such an emphatic win. But let us not forget the consecutive 0-4 drubbings India has had over their previous two test outings. At the risk of being called a cynic, I would like to take this opportunity to point out a couple of areas where the Indian team still needs to pay due attention. Before that, let us have a look at the various positives that can be drawn out of this victory.

Cheteshwar Pujara justified all that was being said and written about him so far. He, no doubt, is a class act. During entire course of the test match, he never looked like an enforcer; neither did he look like a mere survivor. He completely looked like one who belongs at that level. He might not be as aesthetically pleasing as Tendulkar or Laxman; but to call him complete (at his own level) won’t be an understatement. Virat Kohli’s half century was like a breeze of fresh air. He must be very disappointed with himself at the way he threw his wicket away; for he is one player who always likes to be in the thick of things.

Pragyan Ojha bowled like he always does – right on the money. He may not have been successful every time he has been given a chance; but I, for some reason, get the feeling that he is someone who has not always got his captain’s backing. Ashwin yet again showed that he is a lethal weapon on a track that provides some assistance. Though he is just seven tests old, he has shown a lot of promise. Once again, his real challenge would come when he moves out of his comfort zone and goes to countries like South Africa, Australia or England. He did not fare very well in Australia the last time he went there; but that would have been a bit too much to expect from a spin bowler who had played just three matches before that – all in the subcontinent.

There were two aspects of Sehwag that could be seen in this match; one impressed and the other disappointed. First, his slip catching was exceptional. Let us hope that he pulls off similar catches when the pace bowlers are in action. Second was his batting which was not very impressive. Though he did hit a few of his trademark boundaries on the off side during his short stint, he did never resemble the Sehwag of past.

Moving on to the pace bowlers; though they did not get much chance to bowl or assistance from the pitch, they failed to impress in whatever opportunities they got. Their Kiwi counterparts did a much better job in comparison. Zaheer Khan, who has been India’s bowling spearhead over the last few years, went wicketless – that is certainly not a good sign. Umesh Yadav did manage a couple of scalps. But his overall bowling was by no means impressive.

Suresh Raina failed to hold on to another life given to him. He is doing his chances no good. This season may prove to be his last on the test arena if his performances continue the same way. He cannot find a place in the test side just by virtue of his good fielding skills. The overall Indian fielding was a real pleasant surprise though – maybe the injection of young and fresh legs would have done the trick.

To sum up, a pessimist might be successful in finding out weak links in however good a test side. But taking nothing away from the Indian team’s performance, I would like to conclude with this: They not only need to keep up the good work, but also need to focus on a few other key areas if they are to do well in South Africa in 2013 and win back the coveted No. 1 Test ranking.