Sledging - Cricket's inevitable truth

Sledging has been an integral part of Cricket

One of the most distinctive features of Cricket is that it requires patience, a virtue of a gentleman. Also unlike boxing, rugby or even football sometimes, cricket is not a contact sport. These are perhaps the reasons why Cricket has traditionally been known as a gentleman’s game.

But when the chosen ones represent their country to battle it out on the cricket field, where winning means so much to players and fans alike, emotions are bound to run high and the absence of physicality leaves sledging as the only form of manifestation of frustration. Call it friendly banter, intimidation or mental disintegration, as Steve Waugh would put it, sledging has always been an integral part of cricket.

It is believed to have been around ever since the game was first played in the 19th century, but in this age of modern-day cameras and stump microphones, the issue of sledging has come to the fore like never before.

Sledging is believed to be done to create uncertainty, doubt and anger in the opposition player’s mind, prevent him from thinking rationally; in short to disrupt his concentration and cause him to commit a fallacy. This tactic works in many cases.

There are ample examples in the past, where the batsmen have lost their concentration due to constant chirping from the bowler or close-in fielders and given away their wickets.

The ability of players to handle sledging differs. Some fall prey to the tactic, while some like Rahul Dravid simply choose to ignore it altogether. Worse, it can sometimes prove to be counterproductive. It can spur the opposition to concentrate harder and channel their anger into performance, thus defeating the very purpose of it all.

A famous example is that between the legendary Sir Vivian Richards and English county bowler Greg Thomas. In one of the matches, Thomas was bowling to Richards and getting a few to whizz past the bat. After Richards played and missed another one, Thomas said, "It's red, it's round. Now effing hit it!" This angered Richards who proceeded to hit the next ball out of the ground and said, "You know what it looks like, now go and get it."

There are two unspoken rules however, in the inner cricket sanctum. The first says that ‘Sledging does not get personal’ but this has been far from true in many a case in the past. In the heat of the moment, players sometimes go overboard and the so called sledging takes the form of personal verbal abuse.

West Indies batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan and Australian pacer Glenn McGrath would know a thing or two about it. Sarwan had allegedly said something about McGrath’s wife, which, for obvious reasons, did not go down well with him.

The second unspoken rule says ‘What happens on the field of Cricket stays there’. The recent Jadeja-Anderson spat is a case in point where it was needlessly flouted. That the episode reached a stage where hearings took place and the tour was on the verge of being called off was a shame.

Some may argue that sledging is needless but haven’t there been so many famous incidents in the past that have become a part of cricketing folklore and are still fresh in our minds even after decades?

PS: This article by the same author has been originally published by SportsKeeda.com here 

Down memory lane - 2007 World T20 final

India emerged victorious after a high octane encounter against Pakistan at the World T20 in 2007

Cricket has an ignominious reputation for producing one-sided finals, but an Indo-Pak match is seldom that. It often takes a toll on the nerves of players and supporters alike, and the 2007 World T20 final was no different.  Only a couple of weeks back, the group-stage match between the two teams couldn’t separate them in the allotted 40 overs, and it was the first ever bowl-out that eventually decided the winner there. But there was room only for one winner in the finals and what they produced on Sep 24, 2007 was arguably one of the best tournament finals ever.
Both teams were in sublime form coming into the finals, with India beating Australia in a close encounter at Durban on one hand and Pakistan winning comfortably against New Zealand at Cape Town on the other. It was now over to the Bull ring at Johannesburg, one of cricket’s most daunting stadia to decide the winner of the newest entrant to the cricket calendar. The atmosphere was palpably twitchy and it was clear that a close match between the two best sides in the tournament was on the cards.

Gambhir and Yuvraj’s 63-run partnership gives India the advantage
India won the crucial toss and decided to bat first and put Pakistan under the pressure of chasing in a big match. Drama began to unfold from the very first ball as Yusuf Pathan, the surprise opener who playing instead of the injured Sehwag, almost ran himself out. Yusuf did survive and got India off to bit of a flier as he hit Asif for a six off the second ball he faced. But he soon holed out and so did Robin Uthappa, not long thereafter.
India’s best batsman of the tournament, Yuvraj Singh came in, but despite coming into the finals on the back of a scintillating innings a couple of nights ago, failed to get going against Hafeez and Afridi, who were brought in as soon as Yuvraj came into the crease. Nevertheless, he strung together a 63-run partnership with Gambhir, who did most of the scoring and looked like the only batsman who seemed to be in some sort of control. He struck boundaries regularly through the middle overs.

Just when it started to look like one-way traffic, Umar Gul, continuing his brilliant form in the tournament, struck twice to get rid of Yuvraj and Dhoni. Despite the barrage of yorkers and slower deliveries from Pakistan in the death overs, India managed a respectable score of 157/5 helped with a late flourish from Rohit Sharma. India would have felt they were 20 runs short at halfway stage, but it was an India Pakistan match we were witnessing, and even a paltry score was sure to test the Pakistani batsmen.

India bowled well and took wickets at regular intervals
India needed quick wickets early on. RP Singh, as was the case throughout the tournament, got Hafeez and Kamran Akmal out cheaply, although Imran Nazir was scoring rather freely at the other end. India soon got him though with some brilliance in the field by Robin Uthappa, probably the only way he could have been out. Runs kept coming, but India kept striking regularly too and midway through the innings Pakistan looked down and out at 77/6, after Irfan Pathan got the important wickets of Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi in a single over.

It seemed as if India would seal it from there, but Misbah-ul-Haq had other plans. He batted sensibly, farmed the strike and struck big blows regularly to bring Pakistan back into the game. With 54 to win off the last 24, Pakistan needed a big over soon to have any chance of winning. The game turned on its head in the space of the next 2 overs, Misbah smashed Harbhajan Singh for 3 sixes and Sohail Tanvir struck a couple of meaty blows off Sreesanth in the next over to bring Pakistan within striking distance.

Rohit Sharma (L), Gautam Gambhir (C) and Joginder Sharma(R) celebrate after winning the world T20

The Joginder Sharma show

At the end of the 19th over, Pakistan needed 13 runs to win. Joginder Sharma, the most unlikely of bowlers to bowl the last over, started with a wide and a full toss, which Misbah pummelled over long-off for six. With just 6 to win off 4, you would have thought it was game over. But one last twist still remained; Misbah moved across and tried to play a scoop off the next ball. He mistimed it, and a billion hearts held their breath in anticipation as Sreesanth lined himself under it. He did take the catch and the stadium erupted.
It was a match worthy of being the final of the first World T20, with two of the greatest rivals in the cricketing world fighting it out over 3 hours. No one deserved to lose but in the end, India edged past Pakistan by holding their nerves in the moments that mattered.

PS: This article by the same author was originally published in SportsKeeda.com here

Virat Kohli - India's man for 2015 ICC World Cup

Virat Kohli heaves a sigh of relief after scoring his 20th ODI ton

Cricket in the Caribbean sunk to a new low when their players decided to pull out midway from the bilateral series against India due to an ongoing pay dispute between the West Indian Players Association (WIPA) and the West Indian Cricket Board (WICB). They didn’t stand too much to gain out of their short trip except the ire of the Board of the Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). India, on the other hand, got back something that they were in pursuit of since the last few months: Virat Kohli’s form.
The abrupt end to the tour may have cost the BCCI dear; however, as an Indian cricket fan, if the series managed to bring Kohli back to form, it doesn’t bother me too much. The replacement ODI series against Sri Lanka to compensate for the BCCI’s losses would probably only help his confidence further. The Delhi batsman has often brought out his best against the Islanders, scoring 5 out of his 20 ODI centuries so far against them. His 133* at Hobart in the 2012 CB series, when India needed to chase over 337 in less than 40 overs, immediately comes to mind.
The true mark of a great player is to perform on the greatest of world stages, and what better stage in cricket than the ICC World Cup? Didn’t the legendary Sachin Tendulkar always bring out his best at the mega event? He scored 2278 runs at an average of 56.95 (substantially more than his career average of 44.83). His batting was instrumental in India’s successful campaigns in the 2003 and 2011 editions of the World Cups.
But does Kohli have it in him to score big in Australia? His record suggests so. He made his mark during India’s last tour Down Under, in 2011-12, when he was India’s highest run-getter in the 4-match Test series. Also, when India toured New Zealand earlier this year, he made centuries in both Tests and ODIs. In fact, his recent tour of England and the West Indies tour of 2011, when he first burst on to the scene in the Test arena, seem to be the only aberrations in his otherwise largely consistent 6 years of cricket so far.

Why Kohli at No. 4, and not at No. 3
But is his current batting position necessarily right for the team? He was sent in at number 4 in the second ODI against the Windies, while Rayudu was promoted to number 3. MS Dhoni, in his post-match presentation, mentioned it was a move to ensure that the most experienced players viz., Kohli, Suresh Raina and the captain himself bat in the lower-middle order. Kohli did get a useful 50, only to be sent in at his usual number 3 again in the next match. The logic behind the move is hard to decode, but, in hindsight, no one questioned it, either, since Kohli scored the much awaited century in the 4th ODI.
Still, I believe that it will serve India well if Kohli is slotted in at number 4 for the World Cup. With Rohit Sharma out of the side with injury, Rayudu, who is not a regular in the side, batted at number 3 in the 2nd ODI and couldn’t make the most of the opportunity. But once Rohit gets fit, the Indian think-tank will face another conundrum as to whether Rohit or Rahane should open with Dhawan. With Rahane giving good starts fairly consistently with the southpaw, I feel he should be continued in that position, as he wasn’t too useful at number 4 and plays to his potential only while opening.
Rohit, in a recent interview, conveyed that he too is inclined to open, since the discipline that is needed to face the new ball gets the best out of him. In such a situation, it would make all the more sense to bat Rohit at number 3 and Kohli at 4. That way, it would be a win-win situation for everyone.
Rahane would play at a position he is best utilized in, Rohit would get to bat at the next best position to opening and get to face the new ball (something similar was done with Gambhir when Sachin and Sehwag opened for India in the World Cup 2011, and he did quite well) and Kohli, Raina and Dhoni at numbers 4, 5 and 6 would bring in utmost solidity to the lower middle order.
Statistics don’t lie. They reveal more than they hide. In this case, they are in favour of playing Kohli at number 4, too. In his 30 innings at number 4, he has scored 5 centuries, which means 1 in every 5 innings. At number 3, he has scored his remaining 14 centuries, in 93 innings: 1 in every 6.5 innings. He averages 62.54 at number 4 as against 51.97 at number 3. This should really clinch it for him.
Also, after the recent slump in his form, he should come out stronger as real champions do. He said all the right things in the post-match interview after his match-winning performance in the 4th ODI against the Caribbean side. He admitted that he has realized the importance of both good and bad times and learnt to take successes and failures in the last few months. Hopefully, he will have to build on from here. If India are to have any realistic chance of having a crack at defending the crown next year, they need to zero in on their opening pair, sort out their death bowling woes and, most importantly, need Virat Kohli to fire.

Although the men in blue did win their last two bilateral series against England and West Indies, they couldn’t win a single match in their previous two outings against much stronger teams, South Africa and New Zealand, away from home. It remains to be seen whether they can raise their game come February 2015.

PS: This article by the same author was originally published in SportsKeeda.com here

Could New Zealand finally win the ICC World Cup?

The Black Caps are strong contenders for ICC World Cup 2015

In an interview ahead of South Africa’s three-match ODI series against New Zealand, AB de Villiers said that New Zealand are “one of the favourites” for the 2015 World Cup.
Are New Zealand really favourites and not just the dark horses this time around?
They might currently be at number seven in the latest ICC ODI rankings, but if rankings could decide who won World Cups, South Africa would have won it at least once by now.
New Zealand has been in the World Cup semi-finals on six occasions (1975, 1979, 1993, 1999, 2007 and 2011), a feat no other team has achieved.
De Villiers knows a thing or two about New Zealand’s knack for punching above their weight – the Kiwis ousting South Africa in the quarter-finals of the 2011 World Cup. One could argue that game was more a case of South Africa choking in the knockout stages, but New Zealand’s ability to perform in big tournaments cannot be doubted.
The current New Zealand ODI team boasts fearless young cricketers in Corey Anderson, Jimmy Neesham, Kane Williamson and Trent Boult. Add to that the experience Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor bring to the table, and New Zealand are a force to be reckoned with. Throw veteran spinner Daniel Vettori’s possible comeback into the mix and the squad is strengthened further.
New Zealand also have the advantage of playing at home this time. In 2011, India proved it was indeed possible to win a World Cup despite the pressure of expectations from the home crowd. New Zealand will play all their league games at home, and if they manage to make the quarter-finals and semi-finals, they will play those at home too.
They should be quite comfortable with the Australian pitches as well, which suit their bowling attack, and they should benefit from the crowd support whether at home or in Australia.
The last time New Zealand hosted the world event they came agonisingly close to winning it, making them all the more desperate to finally get their hands on the coveted trophy. That they thrashed the current World champions India 4-0 at home earlier this year would have done their confidence no harm.
For me, New Zealand definitely have a strong chance this time.

PS: This article by the same author has originally been published on Roar Australia here

Cricket - A part of me

Cricket is a way of life in India

Cricket is the game that Indians love, the game that can bring the nation to a standstill and the game that is nothing less than a religion to us. The fact that I learnt playing pool when I was 20, table tennis when I was 19, chess when I was about 9, football when I was 8, but first held a cricket bat when I was 6, says it all.

Being from a small town, where cricket is such a ubiquity, unlike some other sports, I played cricket from a very young age. There is nothing else that I have done in my life over such a long period of time so far. I have played cricket in the evenings after school, day long on holidays and even in school recesses. No wonder, it has played a key role in shaping the person I am.

I played competitive cricket in school for the first time when I was in 9^th grade. I vividly remember the finals. Our team was chasing and I was one of the openers. My role was to hold an end and build partnerships while others around me played their shots. My opening partner and I didn’t give a wicket away while we chased down the total easily. I learnt how to just play for my team, without the need to be in the limelight. I also experienced the other side while still in school, when I was in the 10^th grade. I along with some of my teammates were considered to be among the best players in school and were favorites to win the tournament We were so over-confident, we didn't practise enough; the result, we lost the first match and were knocked out from the tournament; important lessons from both winning and losing.

After about a break of two years, I got a chance to play cricket again in college. That was the first time I played season ball cricket for more or less four straight years. Set out to be an opening batsman, I ended up being a spinner (born out of a decision to bowl a few offies in the nets, more to hold a season ball for some more time before I was thrown out of selections than anything else). I was selected, not for my batting, but bowling. Guess I was just destined to be in the team. It was simply meant to be that way. Playing cricket in college was an incredible journey in itself. There were both ups and downs, but just being a part of it was special.

I remember, in my first year, I was not a certainty in the playing XI for the first match of the season. No one played the second spinner at the cost of sitting a batsman out; certainly not my team. Unfortunately, it was a knockout tournament; we lost the first match, and were thus eliminated from the tournament. On one hand, I was excited to have watched my college team play the first match of the season, but disappointed to see us lose from the sidelines. I just kept bowling consistently accurate in the nets, and it was becoming more and more difficult to keep me out of the team. I eventually played in the third tournament of the season and put up one of my best shows till date on debut. That was the time I realized the importance of persevering.

I took a lot of wickets especially in the first two years of college. To be honest I did not think much while bowling, especially in the first half of my college cricket years. In the latter half, I used to try and outwit the batsman, anticipate what the batsman might do and bowl accordingly. I was miserly in doing this and hardly gave away runs, but I took far less wickets. I wonder if there was a pattern to it. Either ways, I can say that somehow for a large part, I used to bowl at the same uncomfortable spots to the batsman consistently. I believe, focusing and constantly keeping on doing the right things is a part of my personality as well.

Being a team sport playing cricket taught me a lot about team spirit. Our team had never gone on beyond quarter finals in the home tournament. In my first year, unfortunately, I was not available for the last match that we lost (the quarter finals). Probably, the word ‘finals’ made us jittery; sport is as much about the mental strength as it is about the physical aspect after all.

But over my four years in college, we kept improving. We reached semis in my second and third years, and went on to play the finals in my last year. After I had graduated from college, our team did finally make it the next year and went on to win the home tournament. Probably, the cultural shift in the team required time to take its full effect.

Our only tournament win in my four years in college apart from many semis and finals came in my third year. The finals will forever remain etched in my mind. We were batting first and were 5 wickets down for barely anything. We were staring at another choke on a big day. The mood in the sidelines was gloomy and our last pair of batsmen was our only hope. Everything was so dull, me and a friend of mine decided to change things a bit. We went and talked to our team mates one by one and tried to cheer them up and they did smile. Their smiles grew wider as our last two batsmen put up a fight and played out the remainder of the 20 overs. We put on a paltry 120, but the mood wasn’t bad. We had something to defend. The opposition started well, and we soon looked deflated. We needed an inspiration and inspiration we got, a brilliant diving catch! That was the opening we were looking for and we pounced on it. We dived and fielded like our lives depended on it and went on to win the match by a small 13 run margin eventually. That match taught me how a team that is down and out can be inspired back to win. It just takes someone to lead the change with individual brilliance and inspire the team.

I don’t think I am ever going to give up cricket in my life, I will continue following the sport if not actually playing it. It has after all been one of the most important things to have shaped my personality. Life has different way to teaching everyone. Cricket has certainly been that for me.

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