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Acid test for eves Kiwi set to fly away IN THE NEWS |
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The Indian women’s cricket team is pumped up like never before to make a mark in the World Cup, writes
Vikramdeep Johal
India is crazy about cricket — men’s cricket, to be precise. While Sourav, Sachin, Sehwag and the others hog the limelight whether they play well or not, Mithali Raj and Co. slug it out in the shadows. Mithali who? — you may ask — even if you are a cricket lover. Well, she is the captain of the Indian women’s one-day team, who is determined to win the World Cup beginning in South Africa on March 22. It is a great opportunity for the eves to make their presence felt and improve their track record in the tournament. They have failed to win the trophy in six attempts (their male compatriots haven’t fared much better, winning just once in eight tries). In the words of former Indian batswoman Arti Vaidya, the survival of women’s cricket in India depends on the performance of the team in South Africa. India were the hosts twice, in 1978 and 1997, but failed to take advantage of the home conditions. Their best display was in the 2000 World Cup in New Zealand, where they reached the semifinal but lost to the Kiwis, the eventual winners. Mithali herself was in good nick during that tournament, scoring a match-winning 65 against South Africa, besides knocks of 53 and 35 against the Netherlands and England, respectively.
In the 2005 World Cup, India would be up against the ‘Big Three’ — Australia, England and New Zealand — who have dominated the event since its inception in 1973. Australia were the winners in 1978, 1982, 1988 and 1997, England triumphed in 1973 and 1993, while New Zealand emerged champions on home soil in 2000. The other teams Mithali’s squad would play are hosts South Africa, Sri Lanka, Ireland and the West Indies. The captain is confident of a good show from her team for two main reasons. One, India defeated defending champions New Zealand 4-1 in a home series in 2003. Two, it was in South Africa where the Indian team recorded their first Test win on foreign soil in 2002. Mithali, a right-handed batswoman and a leg-break bowler, is banking on spinners Neetu David and Nooshin Al Khadeer to deliver the goods. Neetu, a left-arm bowler, holds the world record for the most wickets in a Test innings — 8 for 58 against England in 1995. Nooshin, a right-arm off-spinner, took a career-best 5 for 14 against England in the 2003 Mini World Cup. The medium pacers, Jhulan Goswami and Amita Sharma, can also come in handy on the hard wickets of South Africa. Mithali’s own form would be crucial to the team’s fortunes. She was the second highest run-getter in the 2003 Mini World Cup in New Zealand, scoring 98 and 89 against England and New Zealand, respectively. In the 2003 series against the Kiwis, she won the player of the match award twice in five encounters. She also guided India to victory in the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka last year. Mithali won the best batswoman award in the one-day series against Australia at home in 2004, which India narrowly lost 3-4. Mithali has scored 1,629 runs in 48 ODIs, with one century (114 n. o.) and 11 half centuries. In Test matches, her career-best is a record-breaking 214 against England at Taunton in 2002, when she was just 19. With such a superb player
leading them, and Sahara India coming forward with a three-year
sponsorship deal, it is no wonder that the morale of the team is quite
high. It’s high time for the women in blue to outshine the over-rated
men in blue. |
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Kiwi set to fly away
Indian
cricket coach John Wright has decided to call it a day immediately after the end of the India-Pakistan series. Although his contract is scheduled to expire in September, the New Zealander has said he wants to be relieved in April itself. This is a disturbing development for Indian cricket but strangely the Board of Control for Cricket in India has taken no decision to fill the void that would be created by Wright’s departure. The Board has neither requested him to continue till the 2007 World Cup nor made a shortlist of likely replacements. So far the Board has not even sought the opinion of the senior players, a step taken when Wright was first appointed. It is difficult to say why Wright wants to leave at a time when the team is doing quite well and playing as a cohesive unit. Insiders say that the Board’s behaviour with the coach, who has brought about a big turnaround in the performance and commitment of the team, has not been very fair. Some others are of the view that Wright wants to leave at a time of his own choice and not be forced out if the performance of the team falls. Wright had taken over as India’s first foreign coach in October, 2000, in the one-day series first against Kenya and then Bangladesh prior to Zimbabwe’s tour to India and since then has taken Indian cricket to great heights. Wright has been in charge of the team for 50 Tests, of which India has won a record 20, lost 14 and drawn 16. The highlights of Wright’s tenure have been the 2-1 win over Australia in 2001, the historic victory against Pakistan last year and a creditable 1-1 draw in Australia during the 2003-04 tour. In one-day internationals, India have won 66 of the 124 played since Wright’s appointment and lost 52, including the 2003 World Cup final against Australia. But in spite of his good record and his efforts to bring about a sea change in the attitude of the players, Wright has often found his position in jeopardy for no apparent reason. One such step was the appointment of Sunil Gavaskar as consultant for the home series against Australia and South Africa last year, thus undermining Wright’s position. One does not know whether Gavaskar still holds the position of consultant with the Board because one did not see him in Mohali during the India-Pakistan Test. The Indian batting legend was in Chandigarh prior to the commencement of the Test on a commercial assignment. It is not hard to appreciate the honest professionalism and simple sincerity which Wright brought to his job. He was appointed at a time when Indian cricket was going through a period of uncertainty and the match fixing rumours had belittled a large number of players. It was a period when Indian cricket was looking for results and some respectability. He brought his own backroom team of physio Andrew Leipus, now replaced by John Gloster, psychologist Sandy Gordon and South Africa trainer Allan King. Wright’s appointment was backed by skipper Ganguly and his deputy Rahul Dravid, who had played for Kent where Wright was the coach for four seasons. The two Indian seniors were convinced that Wright was the best man for the job since the team had not been doing well under the stop-gap coach Kapil Dev and then Anshuman Gaekwad. Wright brought with him a methodology which worked very well. The players were told their roles and responsibilities and asked to perform to their full potential time and again. His work became easier because of the unstinted support he got from the captain and all senior players who understood that whatever Wright was doing was the best thing for the team. He united a group of talented players into a team and this could well be his best contribution to Indian cricket. The players would even now like a foreign coach. Bob Woolmer was once in contention, before he took up the job of coaching Pakistan. Another name doing the rounds is that of Australian Greg Chappell, who was in the running even when Wright was selected. Chappell was involved as consultant with the National Cricket Academy but fell foul with the Board for reasons which are still not clear. Even the senior players will probably not back his candidature. Another Australian who has express his willingness to take up the job is Steve Waugh, who was quoted as saying that he would like to take up the challenge of coaching the Indian team. But here, too, the senior players might not like to work under him. Waugh’s differences with Ganguly during Australia’s tour of India in 2001 are well known. The other names doing the rounds are that of Rodney Marsh and Tim Moody. |
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IN THE NEWS
If
the Pakistan team touring India were to give an award for the least hospitable Indian, they would certainly pick Virender Sehwag. The way he has smashed their bowlers in the Mohali and Kolkata Tests shows that he hasn’t been carried away by all the bonhomie. Following his 173 and 36 in Mohali, Sehwag hit 81 quickfire runs in the first innings of the second Test at the Eden Gardens. His phenomenal run against Pakistan began last year, when he pulverised the Pakistani bowling to score a record-breaking 309 at Multan. In the three-Test series, which India won 2-1, Sehwag amassed 438 runs at an average of 109.50. In a team that boasts of world-class batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, Sehwag has managed to get the lion’s share of the spotlight in the past year or so. This is not only due to his flamboyant style, which puts off the purists, but also because he has been a very prolific and fast scorer. There is no better batsmen than him in the team when it comes to building on a good start. He has so far scored nine hundreds and an equal number of fifties, which shows that once he gets going, he often crosses the three-figure mark. Sehwag’s great form is rubbing off on fellow Delhiite and opening partner Gautam Gambhir. The pair added 113 and 85 in the Mohali Test, besides 80 in the first innings at Kolkata. With age very much on his side — he is just 26 while the other top Indian batsmen are in their thirties — Sehwag is fast becoming the linchpin of India’s batting line-up. |
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A job well done India
did a commendable job by wrapping up the Asia-Oceania Davis Cup tie. They devastated China 5-0 to set up an encounter against Uzbekistan. Indian team captain Leander Paes’ gamble of making way for Harsh Mankad paid off as Harsh put up a confident and splendid display to outplay China’s Sun Peng to give India a headstart. The 1-0 lead was consolidated when Prakash Amritraj disposed of Wang Yu Junior without much ado. Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, though they had to struggle a little in the doubles, sealed the fate of the tie by prevailing over Zhu Ben-Qiang and Wang Yu Junior. The reverse singles were rendered redundant but the youngsters Harsh and Prakash once again rose to the occasion as they won their matches. The duo can be called worthy successors to their seniors Paes and Mahesh, who are heading towards the twilight of their illustrious careers. Tarsem S. Bumrah,
Batala
Cricket coverage excessive Cricket is being given excessive coverage in The Tribune. There are several Indian sportspersons who are performing better than cricketers but people hardly know about them. Even if India loses a cricket match, there is a news item and photo on the front page. India’s Mithali Raj made a record in women’s cricket but there was no mention of it in the newspaper. The achievements of Vishwanathan Anand, Narain Karthikeyan and India’s Davis Cup victory over China should have been on the front page. In the edition dated March 8, there was a front page photograph of Sourav Ganguly and Inzamam-ul-Haq even though the first India-Pakistan Test had not even begun. On the same day, Chandigarh Tribune devoted almost two pages to cricket. Unfortunately, even if cricketers go to a salon or a religious place, it is treated as news. Tarika,
Patiala
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