Improve the bowling

There are certain bowling deficiencies that need to be overcome if India are to become a top-notch T20 outfit, writes Gopal Sharma

Yes, it was a truly historic win by India at Mohali, where Yuvraj was simply stunning and Virender Sehwag was as merciless as he is when he is middling the ball well. The fans went berserk when India scored 211 for 4, levelling the two-match T20 series. This is the best successful chase in T20 internationals, surpassing 208 for 2 by South Africa against West Indies (205/6) at Johannesburg on September 11, 2007.

All the euphoria notwithstanding, there are certain inconsistencies in the team which should not be glossed over if the 2007 T20 World Cup champions are to become a really a top-notch T20 outfit.

Skipper Mohinder Singh Dhoni was far from pleased after the win.

"Had we taken those catches, the Sri Lankan scoreboard would have been different. We would not have chased down 200-plus, it’s a big total," Dhoni said after India spank Sri Lanka by six wickets in Mumbai.

"We need to improve our bowling, not merely in T20 but in ODIs also. Because chasing 200-plus in T20 is not ideal. Ditto for ODIs. We have the firepower in batting," Dhoni said, even as a whopping 17 wides were conceded by the Indian bowlers in the second and the last game.

This was the second T20 game in a row in which the opposition had compiled runs in excess of 200, thoroughly exposing the inadequacies in Indian bowling. Unfortunately, S. Sreesanth, on the comeback trail after being in the wilderness for over a year with a remarkable success in the three-Test series, was indisposed and could not play any part in the two T20 games. The absence of Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh, both rested, exacerbated the problems on the bowling front.

Ashish Nehra, who staged a comeback to T20 after not being part of the Test squad looked lacklustre in both the games with figures of 4-0-52-1 at Nagpur and 3-0-44-0 at Mohali. Yusuf Pathan was pathetic as well, conceding 54 runs in his four overs without success at Nagpur, while he had the scalp of Sanath Jayasuriya to show at Mohali, giving away 29 runs in the three overs that he bowled.

Bowling deficiencies remain a worry. This was highlighted once again in the Nagpur game, when Indian bowlers took pounding from even Chamara Kapugedera and Angelo Mathews as the visitors put 215 on the board.

This brings to the fore the question of the absence of a bowling coach. One wonders why Venkatesh Prasad, who was doing such a decent job with the Indian team, was dumped unceremoniously along with fielding coach Robin Singh. Traditionally, these have always been the two weak areas of the team.

Indians have never been agile while running in between the wickets, capable of converting ones into twos or twos into threes.

The continued failure of Yusuf Pathan as an all-rounder at this level of the game has not helped the team’s cause either. The all-rounder was a revelation in the IPL matches. Playing for Rajasthan Royals under wily Shane Warne as skipper, Pathan won rich plaudits when he struck the ball clean and hard. Pathan has miserably failed to replicate his IPL success at this level of the game. Neither has he done anything of note with the ball.

Despite all the promise shown by Raina, big knocks have really eluded the Uttar Pradesh batsman.

The search for a quality all-rounder seems endless. Ravinder Jadeja is yet to find his feet. If India have to emerge a more combative unit in T20 or in the ODIs, the presence of a quality all-rounder in the mould of Shane Watson, Dwayne Bravo, Albie Morkel or now Angelo Mathews is a must.

It will certainly take a while before India’s search for a quality all-rounder ends. But what they must do is to re-appoint bowling and fielding coaches without further delay.

Fit Zone
Winter warmers
Bharat Thakur

We can well learn from nature how to embrace every season for its unique beauty, but it’s most normal for most of us to have a resistance towards the last season of the year. The days grow shorter and the nights longer, and when morning comes, you don’t want to leave the comfort of the warm blanket, while fellow earth dwellers understand that it is a time to conserve energy and go into hibernatation.

We humans, however, lead a lifestyle that does not always afford that luxury, so what we need is a way to stay warm and energised to take on the winter chill with a smile, and there’s no easier or wiser way than the practice of dynamic yoga. It is important that you practice yoga indoors during winter, out of respect for the forces of nature, we need to stay adequately warm for best results.

Solar plexus chakra (manipura) activating postures: The solar plexus is the region where heat is generated in the body. By activating this area, we feel warm and the winter cold is not able to get us down.

Surya bhedi pranayam

The practice of pranayamas (yoga breathing exercises) is ideal to maintain a healthy ENT zone, the area most effected in this season.

• Surya bhedhi pranayam(right nostril reathing) is designed to keep you warm while cleansing your ENT).
• Keep your head, neck and spine erect in any comfortable meditative posture. Close your eyes and shut your left nostril with your last two fingers.
• Now, inhale deeply and slowly through your right nostril, then shut both your nostrils and hold your breath for a few seconds.
• Exhale slowly through your left nostril, with your thumb on your right nostril. This constitutes one round; you should be doing at least five rounds a day.

With the regular practice of this dynamic yoga and pranayam, you can be well assured you will have a healthy and warm winter.

Shalabhasana
(locust pose)

• Lie flat on the stomach with the legs and feet together. And place the arm under the thighs.
• Slowly, raise the legs as high as possible, keeping them straight and together.
• The elevation of the legs is produced by applying pressure with the arms against the floor and contracting the lower back muscles.
• Hold the final position for as long as is comfortable without strain. Slowly, lower the legs to the floor.
• This is one round. Return to the starting position and relax the body with the head turned to one side.

Bhujangasana
(cobra pose)

• Lie flat on the stomach with the legs straight; place the palms beside the shoulders.
• Slowly, raise the head, neck and shoulders. Straightening the elbows, raise the trunk as high as possible.
• Gaze towards the sky. Once you reach in final position do normal breathing. Practice up to five rounds, gradually raising the length of time in the final position.

Chakrasana
(wheel pose)

• Lie on the back with the knees bent and the heels touching to the buttocks.
• Place the palm on the floor beside the head with the fingers pointing towards the shoulders.
• Slowly, raise the body and arch the back, allowing the crown of the head to support the weight of the upper body.
• Straighten the arms and legs as much as possible and lift the head and trunk from the floor. Try to arch the back as high as possible in the final position.
• Hold the final position for as long as is comfortable. Slowly, lower the body, so that the head rests on the floor. And then, lower the rest of the body. This is one round.

Dhanurasana
(bow pose)

• Lie flat on the stomach with the legs and feet together.
• Bend the knees and slowly clasp the hands around the ankles. And slowly arch the back, lifting the thighs, chest and head together.
• Keep the arms straight. In the final position the head is tilted back and the abdomen supports the entire body on the floor.
• Hold the final position for as long as is comfortable and then slowly, lower the legs chest and head to the starting position.

Merry Christmas!

Taking a young team to the SAFF tournament gave India a cutting edge in Dhaka
Catch ’em young
K. DATTA

It was with an eye on the future that the All-India Football Federation chose to send its under-23 team to the Bangabandhu SAFF tournament at Dhaka, and it turned out to be the right decision. By lifting the Bangabandhu Cup, the young team, which was coached by the experienced Sukhvinder Singh, 60, has justified the faith reposed in it.

It was a pleasing sight watching a team of fresh-faced Indian youths determinedly holding their own in the final against Maldives in 120 of the goalless football before snatching victory in the penalty shoot-out.

Back home, happy Indian fans could not have hoped for a better ending to the year. The New Year gift that old Sukhi’s boys have brought home from Dhaka will provide a much-needed feel-good feeling in the game.

In sending out the under-23 team to a full-fledged subcontinental international tournament, the AIFF was not indulging the boys. Instead, it was a well thought-out policy.

Chuni Goswami, captain of the gold medal-winning 1966 Jakarta Asian Games team, rated as perhaps the best ever Indian football team, told this writer: “It is the right policy to promote youth football and build a strong ‘reserve fund’ for the future. I am happy that our under-23 team under Sukhvinder Singh has won the SAFF tournament at Dhaka, but it would have been even more satisfying if the boys had won in regulation time itself. Penalty shoot-outs are always dicey and unpredictable.”

But all credit to Sukhi’s lads for the way they held their nerve in the recent shoot-out last under the lamps in Dhaka’s Bangabandhu Stadium, especially Arindam Bhattacharya, the big-built young goalkeeper who brought off brilliant saves, in the shoot-out as well as regulation play.

Deservingly adjudged the ‘most valuable player’ of the tournament, Arindam, who plays for Churchill Brothers in the national I-League, has a bright future ahead of him. So also a few others.

Indeed, Indian football was seen in a good light that flood-lit night in the Dhaka stadium.

Some of the under-23 players are still teenagers and qualified to play in the national under-19 team, namely, Jeje Lalpeklua, Subodh, Robert Lalthlamuana, and Jibon Singh. But 19 and 23, all of them showed a composure beyond their years.

In beating Maldives, they avenged the defeat of Baichung Bhutia’s senior team in last year’s final.

In providing exposure to the juniors, the AIFF is following the right policy. While giving the “reserve fund”, as Goswami put it, useful experience, the seniors are left time to train and prepare for more the stiffer tests ahead. Besides the SAFF Trophy, India’s under-23 team will be returning home with a prize money cheque of $50,000.

In Football House, the AIFF’s Delhi headquarters, they are thinking of giving the boys more incentives. They deserve it. They are in capable hands. At a well-preserved 60, Sukhvinder has a long track record of coaching national teams of various age groups as well as clubs.