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Strutting into disaster
‘Best for India that Sachin missed ton’
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Man U canter to victory
Arsenal agree to sell Nasri
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Strutting into disaster
The lowering skies over Delhi and many other parts of India reflect the gloom that has fallen over Indian cricket. The heroes of the willow have been crushed, their record shattered, confidence cut down to size and arrogance pushed down their throats, leaving them gagging and spluttering, with excuses and justifications that only make things worse. The reasons are many, making for a sorry, unending chain, ranging from physical to psychological ones. This is our take on what the Indian team’s sins were. Arrogance and complacency
Pride, one of the Seven Deadly Sins, is not such a bad thing if backed up by performance. A little bit of cockiness and a strut in the walk as all very well, if you are winning. But if that is your main, and as it turned out, only weapon against a worthy adversary, you are in trouble. Nasser Hussain had put it perfectly right at the beginning of the series. “You cannot expect to arrive in England from various airports around the world and expect to win,” the former England captain had said. Half of the Indian team flew there from the West Indies, the rest flew from assorted hometowns in India and later from the US, where they were vacationing, from India, and lastly from Australia. The Indian team and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) thought England weren’t quite such a challenge. After all, we had beaten them last time, hadn’t we? That seemed to be reason enough. So much so that Sachin Tendulkar thought the better of going to the West Indies, since a 100th century at Lord’s would do nicely, thank you. But they didn’t factor in English pride. They were keen and waiting. India just walked in, prime lambs in the English lion’s den, with no defence barring arrogance. Batting disasters
India were on the backfoot from the beginning, as the batsmen could not handle the heat. No mysteries why Rahul Dravid succeeded. He has the best technique in the team, which carried him over practically everything the English bowlers had to offer. Abhinav Mukund was clueless about English conditions. As was Gautam Gambhir. Virender Sehwag stayed injured as opposed to other stars. That took care of the openers. VVS Laxman is largely a backfoot player, perfectly suited for bouncy tracks. Late lateral movement could be a little bit of an issue, as it was proved frequently. Tendulkar doesn’t handle bad form well. He was keen to get his landmark and became more frantic as it began slipping away. In any case, he never was the player to turn to in dicey situations in Test cricket. The rest were a ridiculous combination of lack of will, technique and ability. Suresh Raina is not a Test batsman. Neither is Dhoni. Most of the pitches were rather batsman-friendly, really, as the English batsmen proved. For the Indians too there were patches of longevity, but that is when the Duke cricket ball went soft, on placid tracks. Such was the case with Mishra. But even Harbhajan Singh and R.P. Singh also got a few runs, as is the wont of bowlers to do when they don’t get wickets. When the ball was new and the seam proud, it was a procession. Poor bowling
India were always in trouble in this series since they would struggle to get 20 wickets in all Tests. Zaheer Khan carried his injury into the Lord’s Test. Harbhajan conveniently cultivated one as things got hot for him. In any case he was too defensive to get wickets. Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth were actually not bad in patches, but on placid tracks, with their batsmen having let them down, they were always up against it, especially since Praveen Kumar is a good bowler only in perfect conditions. “The bowlers would have looked as lethal as the English, if they had 500 runs to bowl with,” says a former India spinner. “But when your batting struggles to survive even one day, it is always a difficult task.” Zaheer, Sehwag, Gambhir, Harbhajan, Praveen and finally Ishant. The series looked more like an assault on Tiger Hill than a game. All of them declared themselves fit, barring Sehwag, who did stay away for a while. Zaheer is eternally just “bowling fit” while Gambhir was felled by blows to the elbow and then a whiplash to the neck. The bowlers simply blew a gasket out of sheer overwork. Harbhajan developed a mystery stomach strain which brought on Mishra, who was way too slow to be effective. The replacements never got a look-in barring R.P. Singh, who was reportedly vacationing in Miami when called up. He was taking it easy, as was evident from the bowling. The rest - Pragyan Ojha and Virat Kohli - did nothing. Neither did Munaf Patel, the biggest mystery of all. Zero accountability
The BCCI will not take responsibility for any reverses, only for successes. The tour programme wasn’t the guilty party, since these series are planned way in advance. They just don’t think the team needs more time in England, or any other country for that matter. In any case, where is the time? When the selectors did choose replacements, friends and cronies got called up and proved to be sheer misfits. The emerging players and the rest were thought of when the when the wheel turned a full circle, and back went Sehwag and Ishant. It takes more than just paper strength to win, especially against rivals that matter. For all the song and dance about India’s successes abroad, there aren’t any series wins - just draws. It just took a side in good form and of great faith to tip them over. Getting to the top is just half the job. Staying there needs hard work. And humility. |
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Former players slam Indian team
New Delhi, August 23 The former cricketers said it was time to infuse new talents in the team and groom them properly while also stressing on the need to monitor the fitness of the players in the light of frequent breakdowns. "Even in defeat a No. 1 team has to look the part. Think Australia here. Having all these veterans in the field doesn't quite help India when the chips are down. "VVS Laxman's lack of athleticism has been taunted, albeit discreetly, here in England. At some stage Indian cricket will have to set fitness standards in the field, and when they decide to do that people like Laxman, for all the value he brings with the bat, may find it difficult to carry on playing for India with just one skill," former player Sanjay Manjrekar said. Mankrekar was critical at the fitness level of the Indian players during the series. "I have been very disappointed with Sreesanth. After his performance during the South Africa tour I thought India had found a world-class bowler to complement Zaheer, but once again Sreesanth has shown that he can only provide occasional flashes of brilliance amid a lot of mediocre bowling. "Maybe that mediocrity has a lot to do with his overall fitness. India cannot place faith in such players," Manjrekar wrote in his column. Former Indian captain Kapil Dev was also severe in his attack and said an overdose of cricket could have been the reason for the humiliating defeats. "Indian players did not play as a team. I am not trying to blame anybody but I think they played too much cricket. Within four days of winning the World Cup you play IPL. They then travel to West Indies for a tour and then from there to England. I think our players were going through the motion more than their love for the game," Kapil said. Former Test opener Arun Lal was scathing in his attack on Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men and said that the country cannot rely on the 35-plus cricketers for long. "England were decidedly far better side in the series, there is no doubt about it. It did not matter if India had some of the top cricketers in the world but under the conditions England were way way ahead," Lal said. "We need to bring in new blood. You cannot go on with 35 or 38-year-olds till eternity. There might be slowing down of the reflexes, weakening of eyesight etc. So we need to infuse new talent," Lal said. Legendary batsman and former captain Sunil Gavaskar said he was surprised at the manner the Indian team capitulated in the four-match Test series. "It was very disappointing. Everybody thought it would be a great series, but it was an abject surrender. This was not the way a number one team plays. They normally lose by close margins, not like this," Gavaskar said. "Maybe the approach was wrong and the attitude wasn't there," he added. Another former captain Dilip Vengsarkar felt that the Indian cricketers had become complacent after their recent good run and that is the prime reason behind their dismal performance against England. "To be honest, I knew that it will be a tough series for India considering the fact that they were up against a formidable team that's on song and consistent in their performance in recent times. I guess, Indians had become a bit complacent after their good run in the last few seasons," said Vengsarkar. Former spinner Bapu Nadkarni said he never thought that the team would be outplayed the way it has been. "It (Test series rout) came completely out of the blue, I never thought we could be so poor. We did not play even five per cent of what we were capable of. They made mistakes again and again," Nadkarni said. "Some seniors appeared to be mentally fatigued. There are occasions when the body is willing and the mind is not and there are times when the mind is willing but the body is not. I thought they looked to be mentally fatigued. "Overdependence on one bowler, Zaheer Khan, was also not good. I have the highest regard for Zaheer for what he has done for Indian cricket but the question is was he fit enough after his lay-off to play Test cricket?" he asked. Former opening batsman Nari Contractor said the tour was always a disaster waiting to unfold given the poor preparation. "The preparations for the tour were not ideal. How can some top players expect to perform at the highest level after having not enough match-practice?" he questioned. "All your top players like Sachin (Tendulkar), Yuvraj (Singh), (Virender) Sehwag, (Gautam) Gambhir did not have enough cricket under their belt before the series. Net sessions are not enough. They kept committing the same mistakes again and again. However great a player you may be it takes time to get into the groove," Contractor explained. Former spinner Maninder Singh felt that youngsters at the Under-19 level should be properly groomed so that they can shoulder the responsibility of the national team later on. "You will not get a Tendulkar or Dravid or Laxman everyday. The BCCI will have to ensure that the Under-19 players remain interested in the game and handle responsibility properly. They should be groomed as the future India players," he said. Former India wicket-keeper Farokh Engineer lashed out at team's strategy for the crucial tour and also came down heavily on team's support staff. "This team was unprepared. They underestimated the England side. England in England are a very strong team. We did not prepare well, we did not play enough practice games. I don't know what the hell Duncan Fletcher and these highly paid coaches are doing," he said. — PTI
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‘Best for India that Sachin missed ton’
London, August 23 Tendulkar was dismissed on Monday for 91 on the fifth day of the fourth Test which India eventually lost by an innings and eight runs to suffer a 0-4 series whitewash. Hussain, who commentated during the series, says had the master blaster reached the magical figure, it would have also taken the gloss off the Rahul Dravid's performance in the series in which he scored three hundreds. "As someone who has played against him, knows him a bit and respects him so much, I thought this would be a fitting stage and the perfect occasion for him to get there," wrote Hussain in the Daily Mail on Tuesday. "There was a sell-out crowd here with a large Indian support and it also seemed right that the piece of history should come in a big Test match rather than a one-day game. I was also hoping I would be able to commentate on the big moment. But now I think it is best for India that he got out when he did. "If the piece of history had come now, the whole of India would have been celebrating and the partying could have gone on for days. And that would have papered over the cracks in Indian cricket and overshadowed all that Rahul Dravid has achieved this last month." — IANS
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Man U canter to victory
Manchester, August 23 Sir Alex Ferguson once again underlined his confidence in youth with a selection that saw France international Patrice Evra as the only player older than his mid-20s. With Javier Hernandez missing the start of the season with concussion, Welbeck has been given the opportunity of first-team football after a year on loan at Sunderland. And he took his chance by opening the scoring for United just after the hour and within 10 minutes he had set up a second goal for Anderson in some style. Rooney then got on the end of a Ryan Giggs cross to head in late on to make it six points from United's opening two matches. Tottenham's start was delayed by the riots in London causing their opening match against Everton to be suspended - though they did thrash Hearts in last Thursday's Europa League match - and they never looked like coming up with a response once they were behind. Having claimed that Luka Modric, a transfer target for Chelsea, was not in the right frame of mind to feature at Old Trafford, Harry Redknapp did indeed leave the Croatian out of his squad. But Ferguson provided a surprise by including Hernandez, who had been expected to miss another couple of weeks with concussion, on the bench. United dominated from the start, with Rooney having a header held by Brad Friedel after neat work by Nani. And Friedel was called into action once again when he turned a low effort from Tom Cleverley around the post. United's new goalkeeper David De Gea has been the focus of plenty of attention since his £18.3 million move from Atletico Madrid in the summer. The Spaniard did little to cool the nerves when he attempted to dribble past Rafael van der Vaart in his area and was fortunate to be caught by the Dutchman's out-stretched leg. Niko Kranjcar had a shot deflected wide and Michael Dawson headed on to the bar from the subsequent corner as Tottenham began to settle. Gareth Bale also cut in from the left and had a low shot held by De Gea as Tottenham continued to have the better chances. — AFP
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Arsenal agree to sell Nasri
London, August 23 Nasri, who will cost around 25 million pounds ($41 million)according to media reports, was omitted from the Arsenal squad travelling to Italy for Wednesday's Champions League playoff second leg against Udinese and is set to follow former captain Cesc Fabregas out of the Emirates Stadium. Wenger, speaking to reporters at the airport before leaving for Italy, said, "The summer was very difficult because we had Cesc Fabregas and Nasri on permanent transfer negotiations and that is draining in the end. "We've lost two great players and that's the sad side of the story but at some stage it has to be over because you have to focus on the future." He said Nasri was not part of his plans for the match against Udinese with Arsenal 1-0 up from the first leg. "What you want is players completely committed to the long term to defend our chances," he said. Despite talks of a crisis surrounding Arsenal who have started their league campaign without a goal and just one point from two matches after a poor run of form at the end of last season, Wenger said he was under no greater pressure than usual. "I want to win every game for Arsenal Football Club and the rest of the pressure is created by your environment, but I have enough experience to take a distance from that," he said. "I know what I have to do be at my best and that's what I try to do. I have complete belief in the team and the players I have and we have a great opportunity to show we can fight for this club." He also played down the significance of Wednesday's match against Udinese with the winners set to qualify for the Champions League group stages. "It's not critical, it's an opportunity for us to qualify for the group stage of the Champions League and so it's a good opportunity and we have enough to achieve that. We are short in midfield at the moment and that is where we have to strengthen." — Reuters
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First round defeat for Sania Mirza
Dallas (USA), August 23 The unseeded Indian lost meekly 3-6 0-6 to the fifth seed in the opening round of the USD 220,00 hard court event. Sania's campaign ended at the tournament as she is not competing in the doubles event. It's now third time in the last five tournaments that Sania has not moved beyond the first round. She had made the first-round exit at Washington DC and Carlsbad events and could not cross the qualifiers hurldes at Toronto and Cincinnati events after making a comeback to the circuit post Wimbledon break. Sania is now trailing Lisicki one-two this season in head-to-head record. Sania had beaten Lisicki at Charleston and got defeated at Auckland. — PTI
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The lowering skies over Delhi and many other parts of India reflect the gloom that has fallen over Indian cricket. The heroes of the willow have been crushed, their record shattered, confidence cut down to size.
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