Yuvraj Singh is going through possibly the worst patch of his career. Injuries and his inability to adapt his game aren’t helping any either

Sriram Veera10-Sep-2008
That uncertain feeling: both fitness and form have deserted Yuvraj of late © AFP
It’s déjà vu. Yuvraj Singh’s shortcomings are not new: we’ve heard about his vulnerability against spin and the moving ball, and his faulty foot movement. Add to those the perennial murmurs about his attitude and how he likes to party. We will hear it all again, now that he has been not selected for the Irani Trophy – which suggests he might not be considered for the Australia series.Yuvraj dazzles your senses with those peachy on-the-up drives, those lunging slog-sweeps, and those gorgeous punches through the on side. When it comes off, it looks great, as it did against Pakistan in the Bangalore Test. But when the bowling and the wicket are more testing, he doesn’t seem to have a plan B. Sometimes your strengths can be your weaknesses.You don’t see Yuvraj grind his way out of tough situations. Mahendra Singh Dhoni has changed from a warrior to a foot soldier, from a murderous batsman to an accumulator, to survive. Not Yuvraj. Death by aggression, by the so-called “natural game”, seems his preferred route.In the recent past you were able almost to predict what would happen to Yuvraj on wickets that offered something to the bowlers. He would make a tiny half-prod forward, misread the length and push the bat tentatively away from the body a few times before breaking free with a clip through the on side. Emboldened, he would then go for the on-the-up flash and perhaps connect once or twice before eventually edging. If he lasted that phase, the spinners would swallow him.In Australia in the Test series, Yuvraj got out in various ways, caught out by his faulty foot movement: poking outside off to Stuart Clark, going back to a flipper from Brad Hogg, and stabbing at a wide one from Andrew Symonds when India were struggling to get a draw. Only the dismissal in the first innings in Sydney – to a full, swinging delivery from Brett Lee – was against a good ball. In the recent series in Sri Lanka, Yuvraj was even troubled by medium-pacers like Nuwan Kulasekara, caught on the forward prod, before he would be put out of his misery by his nemesis, Ajantha Mendis.Then there is his party-hearty image, which has led to the public perception – a touch unfair – of him as a player who is not too serious about improving his game. Reports came in during the Asia Cup that the management was not too happy when Yuvraj went out partying with a couple of team-mates.”I love to party and I have no problems in saying this,” Yuvraj said in a recent interview. “As long as it doesn’t affect my cricket, I am going to keep doing what I’m doing.” Since he is not the only sportsman who likes to have a good time, it’s only fair that we take his word for it. In any case, the experts blame his travails on his technical faults and recurring injuries. Some feel Yuvraj fears that taking time off for surgery and recuperation would be too costly – that other cricketers would rush past him. If that is the case, perhaps the time has now come for him to rethink that position “He is a talent, no doubt, that’s why we have persisted with him, but has he managed to change his game over the years?” a national selector wonders. “Previously if he had already got in and played pace for some time, he wouldn’t struggle too much against spin. But now even if he has batted in the middle for some time, he has problems against spin. For that matter, against pace as well, on tracks that do something. He just needs to go back and work hard, rectify the technical faults and get much fitter. The selectors will obviously pick him. He is too talented to be wasted.”Zubin Bharucha, the former Mumbai player who runs the World Cricket Academy in Mumbai, where Test players such as Mark Butcher, Andrew Strauss, and Mark Ramprakash have come to work on their games, worked very briefly with Yuvraj prior to the Sri Lanka series. “Look, Yuvraj takes his right foot out a touch late, and if the ball is slightly shorter than he thinks it will be, the trouble starts,” Bharucha says. “The back foot stays on the leg stump, and since he has misread the length he immediately pushes his front foot back towards the leg-stump line to hold balance. In the meanwhile the bat is already starting to come down from the high, loose back-lift and he has no option but to follow the ball, away from the body.”Perhaps not being selected is a blessing in disguise that will give Yuvraj time to work on his problem areas. Simon Katich, the Australian batsman, recently revealed how frustrating – and in hindsight how much of a hindrance – it was when he continued to be in the ODI team when he had problems with his batting. There was no time for him to work out the flaws and he feared that if he relinquished his spot he perhaps would not get it back. Once he was dropped he went back to the drawing board and came back a much better player.Yuvraj’s other major problem is his fitness, especially his dodgy knees. The selector quoted above said Yuvraj wasn’t picked because they were not convinced he was fully fit and ready for the challenges ahead. Not just his knees, his shoulder seems to be giving way too. He doesn’t throw much from the outfield, and his fielding has lost its sharpness. One even saw him field at mid-on in recent games.Yuvraj tore the ligament in his left knee during a training session in Mohali during the 2006 Champions Trophy while playing , but refused to undergo surgery. Some feel he possibly fears that taking time off for surgery and recuperation would be too costly – that other cricketers will rush past him. If that is the case, perhaps the time has now come for him to rethink that position.But if his father Yograj Singh’s thinking is any indication, Yuvraj might not go under the knife in the near future. “He can do his surgery years later, after his career is over,” Yograj said. “There is no urgency now. Everyone goes through bad form.
Zubin Bharucha works on Yuvraj Singh’s front-foot technique © World Cricket Academy
“He will be back. Believe me, he is working very hard. He works eight hours every day, doing gymming, swimming and batting practice. Yes, he has some problem with his front foot movement and also the bat is coming down at an angle, but everything will be sorted out soon.”VB Chandrasekhar, the former selector, sees it as a tale of two batsmen. Mohammad Kaif was Yuvraj’s captain when India won the Under-19 World Cup in 2000. Kaif made his Test debut that year and Yuvraj played his first ODI game. While Kaif had to wait for two more years to get into the ODI team, Yuvraj had to wait till 2003 to get into the Test team. Both didn’t last long in Tests, but Yuvraj surged ahead in ODIs, playing 217 to Kaif’s 125.”Yuvraj was given many chances but he has not latched on to them,” Chandrasekhar believes. “He is a talented batsman and I hope he comes back for Test cricket. But it’s nice to see Kaif storming back. Perhaps he was given a bit of raw treatment, but he has gone back, worked on his game and is now once again pushing the selectors to pick him.” Kaif was recently seen putting in the hard yards at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, working on the position of his front shoulder to help his driving through the off side. It seems to be working for him, as his superb 94 against Australia A bore out.Yograj is confident that his son, too, will bounce back in style. “It’s his destiny that he will play and do well in Test cricket. (The son of a lion doesn’t eat grass).”

Fresh from his feats in the IPL in South Africa, West Indies’ spearhead is raring to take a crack at the rest of the world. “We want to take the trophy back home,” he says

Andrew Miller01-Jun-2009Is it possible to transform a team from makeweights to contenders merely through a subtle shift of attitude? If the West Indian experience of the last few months is anything to go by, going from the top of one’s game to the bottom is as easy as sitting on a waterslide. Getting back to the form they showed in Jamaica at the beginning of February, however, may not be quite such an easy assignment.Nevertheless, for Fidel Edwards, West Indies’ one shining light throughout a dismal tour of England, the ICC World Twenty20 offers his side the opportunity for a fresh start, and he believes his team-mates will go into the competition with a point to prove, given all the criticism that has come their way during their capitulation in the Test and ODI series.Had their schedule not been altered late last year following an agreement between the ECB and the WICB, West Indies would have arrived in England last week, along with the rest of the competing teams, having enjoyed a four-week break from international cricket and – in the case of star players such as Edwards and Chris Gayle – a lucrative stint at the IPL in South Africa.Instead, an extra tour was shoehorned into the calendar, those IPL stints were reduced to two weeks, and though Edwards himself excelled in the Tests, taking 6 for 92 in England’s only innings at Lord’s, his team-mates let him down in the field with dropped catches and a sullen demeanour from first ball to last. Not least the captain, Gayle, who arrived 48 hours before the first Test and managed a solitary fifty in six innings.”We are all cricketers and professionals, but that tour was put together at really short notice,” Edwards told Cricinfo. “We’d just beaten England over four Tests back home, so it was pretty hard to lose the series in only two Tests here. But it was a learning experience for us, and hopefully we can put it behind us, move on, and get a good run in the Twenty20 and win it.”Such lofty ambitions may seem a world away from West Indies’ passive surrender earlier in the month, but Edwards knows that the shortest format suits his team down to the ground. In recent encounters, they have beaten England twice (once, in the guise of the Stanford Superstars, by a humiliating 10-wicket margin), and Australia in a rain-reduced shoot-out in Barbados, and on Thursday at Wormsley they finally registered their first victory of the tour, by 14 runs in a warm-up against Scotland.”Any win is good for a team that has been losing,” said Edwards, who was attending the launch of the Barclays StreetChance initiative in West London. “It’s been pretty hard for us on this tour, so coming out on top against Scotland is a step forward. But we haven’t won a game yet, other than a warm-up, so everyone has to make a team effort. Everyone has a point to prove because we want to take that trophy back home.”West Indies did not fare well in the inaugural World Twenty20, losing both their group-stage matches, first to the hosts, South Africa, despite an astonishing innings of 117 from 57 balls from Gayle, and then decisively, to Bangladesh by six wickets in Johannesburg. In that second game, however, Gayle made a third-ball duck, and Edwards was sure that his captain, in the spotlight for the wrong reasons so far, would be pivotal to their fortunes.A fine IPL campaign for Deccan Chargers has set Edwards up for the World Twenty20•AFPEven so, Gayle himself was typically inscrutable on the eve of the tournament, declaring to the gathered media at Lord’s that, contrary to Edwards’ assertions, he would have nothing to prove at all come the start of the action. “He’s pretty cool all the time,” said Edwards. “Even when he’s angry, he still keeps a certain coolness about him, but all of the guys know what he’s about. We don’t need him to tell us. Chris is crucial in all forms of the game. He’ll give us a good start.”Talking of good starts, that might well prove to be Edwards’ speciality with the ball in this tournament. He made a sensational start to his IPL career, delivering four overs for six runs in his opening game, against Kolkata Knight Riders, then bowling Jesse Ryder with his very first ball of the second match, against Bangalore Royal Challengers. With him leading the line, Deccan Chargers won all four of their opening fixtures en route to claiming the title, and though he took only five wickets in his six matches, his raw pace claimed first-over wickets on three separate occasions.Though Edwards masked his disappointment impressively by bowling with gusto against England, it was clear he would have preferred to have remained in South Africa instead of leaving with 10 games of the campaign still to go. “I would have loved to be there at the end, but I’ve got to represent my country to the fullest and that’s a cricketer’s life – you can’t do nothing about it,” he said. “But those guys at Deccan were really great. It felt like home, like a family, and I fitted in from the first day. We played some really good cricket and guys like Gilly [Adam Gilchrist] and [Herschelle] Gibbs were terrific.”All of which adds to the mystery of why he has been overlooked in the format by his native Barbados. Edwards played two full matches in the original Stanford 20/20 in 2006, but was entirely overlooked for the second (and, by all accounts, last) edition two years later, which meant he was ineligible for the Stanford Superstars squad, and so missed the chance to become an instant dollar millionaire against England in Antigua last year.”I’m still asking that question,” he said. “I was really disappointed not to be selected, but I’ve moved on from there. I watched every game they played and they did terrific, but it’s something you’ve just got to get past. There are a lot of fast bowlers in Barbados so you’re always fighting for a spot, especially when you’re off playing for West Indies.”It’s unlikely Edwards will be omitted from any line-ups in the near future, however, especially given the success with which he has switched between formats in the past few weeks. “I’ve been playing for a while, so I’ve got the experience to change my game,” he said. “In Twenty20s you have to bowl a lot fuller, especially at the death, and you’ve got to be mindful of what you’re doing. But it’s still cricket.”For all the riches and excitement on offer in Twenty20s, however, Edwards still has a strong affection for the five-day game, as his recent displays against England amply demonstrated. “When we beat England in the Caribbean, which is something we’d never done since I started, I saw a lot of older cricketers and understood how it must have been in the old days. To have done that in the Caribbean was really terrific for me.”During the second Test in Durham earlier this month, Edwards bowled unchanged throughout the morning session of the third day, and as his duel with James Anderson showed, he relishes the opportunity for dogfights that aren’t available in four-over bursts.”Test cricket should be No.1 for every cricketer,” he said. “I love to play Test cricket, it’s the main cricket. Twenty20 is different and more exciting, and shorter as well, so you get more time off, but every cricketer should want to play Test cricket. Especially when the weather is cool! The more you run in, the more heat you have in your body.”But the weather is hotting up in England at the moment, and so too is the cricket. With the sun on their backs and a new fire in their bellies, West Indies have the ability to beat both Australia and Sri Lanka, and escape from the toughest group in the tournament with their pride restored. For Edwards, however, such mood fluctuations haven’t entered the equation. He’s been going flat out all year.

The Pakistan allrounder is happy to take the new ball and keen to work on his fitness as he joins the national side after two years away

Nagraj Gollapudi20-Jun-2009Now that he is back on the international track, Abdul Razzaq can’t stop talking cricket. Barely minutes after reaching London, following a two-hour bus ride from Nottingham, Razzaq is in the hotel lobby, picking the brains of Pakistan’s bowling coach Aaqib Javed. Aaqib is weary and desperate to get into his room, which is taking rather long to get cleaned up. In contrast, Razzaq is fresh and eager, having left his wife, two young kids and the kitbag in the room.”I was thinking I should work more with the old ball. I feel a little stiff, too,” Razzaq points out to Aaqib in Punjabi. Aaqib thinks for a moment before nodding. Both agree things will pick pace with time. It is easy to sense at the moment that more than anything Razzaq is searching for motivation from his team, having left it two years ago.Razzaq’s game against New Zealand last week in the Super Eights was his first for Pakistan immediately after he had cut ties with the unauthorised ICL. He had joined the ICL having decided to retire in frustration as the Pakistan selectors dropped him from the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007. Little did he imagine that he would bounce back, and play a crucial role in Pakistan’s route to the final of the second edition of the tournament.Razzaq replaced the injured Yasir Arafat and played New Zealand, barely 24 hours after flying into London. Obviously he was gripped by nerves. Luckily Wasim Akram, his former Pakistan captain and bowling legend, walked up to him minutes before the game to help him relax. “It was nice of him [Akram] to speak to me. He understood he didn’t need to tell me about my bowling as I’ve played 250-odd ODIs [237] but the talk did motivate me,” Razzaq said.Between being asked to join the squad in England and playing New Zealand, Razzaq decided to keep an open mind about his role in the team. “When I left Pakistan [to join the team in England] I was willing to fit into any role.”Little did he know that Younis Khan would tell him to take the new ball. With Sohail Tanvir off colour in first three games, Pakistan desperately needed a senior strike bowler to complement the talented left-armer Mohammed Aamer. Younis admitted it was a brave move on his part to gamble with the experienced Razzaq. Still it was a well-thought out move.When he ran in for that first ball, Razzaq had made sure he had kept his mind positive. “I was not nervous. I backed myself a lot and never allowed any negative thought to enter the mind like ‘I’m coming back after two years and what would happen’.” His impact was immediate: Pakistan managed to keep New Zealand tied down during the Powerplay overs, which Aaqib repeatedly mentions as the most pivotal period in a Twenty20 match. Before Razzaq replaced Tanvir, Pakistan were lagging behind in the first six overs: 63 for 2 v England, 37 for 1 v Netherlands and 65 for 0 v Sri Lanka. Once Razzaq came on board, Pakistan took control: 37 for 3 v New Zealand, 37 for 1 v Ireland and 40 for 1 v South Africa.”We want a good start in the Powerplay from Aamer and Razzaq,” Aaqib said. “He [Razzaq] has a big, big responsibility due to his experience.”Razzaq, who Shahid Afridi reckons is one of the best allrounders in the game, is not shying away. “I understand it is a challenge to start with the new ball, but it is the team’s requirement so I have to bowl in the first six overs,” Razzaq said. “The key is not to give runs. That is the most important thing to succeed for a bowler in Twenty20.”Going into Sunday’s final, Aaqib’s only concern about Razzaq is his lack of pace since he is feeling a little tired. But Aaqib is not after some quick-fix solution that will boost Razzaq’s speed. If anything, Aaqib is confident about Razzaq’s sharp bowling acumen. “He is an intelligent bowler,” Aaqib said. According to him Razzaq can mix the deliveries along with his natural inswinger into the right-hander. “He also uses the slower ball cleverly, so that could be very crucial in the first six overs.”Another positive Razzaq brings to the team, Aaqib said, is his ability to hit the yorker-length balls. “He is one of the few batsmen who can hit big off yorker-length delivery. In Twenty20 cricket most bowlers cramp the batsman for space and Razzaq is so good to score big still.”After spending two years in the minor-league cricket witnessed in the ICL, Razzaq admits international cricket has become fast and fitness is the most important thing for a player now. Clearly, that’s his priority. “My aim is to lift my fitness to the required level.”And if he can get fit he can gain the desired pace, too. “I’m not bothered about the speed. When the fitness is achieved, speed will increase simultaneously.”

A few key skills and attributes needed to be succesful against spin bowling

Aakash Chopra20-May-2010Haven’t we heard a zillion times that batsmen from the subcontinent are not comfortable against quick bowlers on bouncy tracks? A lot of Indian batsmen received flak in the recently concluded World Twenty20 in the Caribbean for their ineptness against bounce. But are the same experts and critics equally harsh on overseas players who are found wanting while handling spin on the subcontinent? Isn’t playing the turning ball as difficult an art to acquire as handling short-pitched stuff? I think it is and if you don’t believe me, ask Ricky Ponting about his horror series in India in 2001.Playing the turning ball on a spiteful pitch needs not only technical prowess but also a certain amount of decisiveness in terms of foot movement, and courage in shot selection. Not that the slow bowler can hurt you physically, but the mental scars, at times, are more difficult to heal.This is an attempt to outline the basics of playing spin bowling effectively.Reading it from the hand
The reason most English batsmen struggled against spin for the longest time was that they were told to play the spin off the surface. Instead of trying to read the spin from the hand, they waited for the ball to pitch before setting themselves up, which was obviously way too late – though they managed if the ball spun in the expected orthodox manner, i.e. from leg to off for a legspinner and off to leg for an offspinner. But the moment the bowler bowled a doosra or a googly, they were at sea.On the contrary, batsmen from the subcontinent are taught to read the ball right at the time of the release. A bowler needs to deliver a doosra or googly in a completely different manner to his stock ball, and if picked at the point of delivery, the batsman is always better equipped to handle it.It doesn’t end there. The seam position after release tells a story too. The direction in which the seam is tilted gives you a fair indication of which way the ball will spin after pitching. The shine on the ball informs you a bit about which way the ball will drift and also if the bowler has bowled an arm ball. An offspinner keeps the shiny side facing his palm for an arm-ball.These may not be foolproof methods of reading spin, but isn’t batting a lot about educated guesswork? Of course, all of this goes for a toss if you’re playing a spinner like Muralitharan, who likes bowling with a scrambled seam; in which case you have to completely rely on your judgement at the point of release.Playing late and using your feet
Your job doesn’t end with managing to read the spin from the hand and drift in the flight. On the contrary it starts there. Just like while playing fast bowlers, you must allow the ball to come close to you and play as late as possible. Your foot movement needs to be decisive and distinct if you are to be a good player of the turning ball. Since the deviation off the pitch is far greater for a spinner than for a fast bowler, it’s mandatory to get to the pitch of the ball to smother that movement. While getting to the pitch of the ball is always advisable, it is more practical against a spinner rather than a quick bowler.Good players of the spin also use the depth of the crease to good effect. Michael Clarke is one of the best players when it comes to using the feet. I watched him from close quarters (standing at short leg) when he scored a century on his Test debut, in Bangalore. Gautam Gambhir is equally competent when it comes to using his feet.The golden rule while stepping out is to wait for the bowler to release the ball, so that he can’t alter his length or line. Another rule of thumb to use is to advance against balls that go higher than the eye level.Body-weight transfer
Correct transference of body weight is absolutely crucial while playing the slower bowlers. Since there isn’t any pace to work with, it’s the transfer of body weight at the time of impact that generates power and timing. Playing on the up is rarely an option against spin bowling and hence the weight must go forward in the direction in which you intend to play the shot. Good body-weight transfer also ensures that you hit the ball along the ground and not in the air.The importance of the hands
Contrary to popular belief, keeping the bat and pad together while defending isn’t the best method. Yes, there shouldn’t be any gap between the bat and pad, but the bat must always stay slightly in front of the pad for a proper impact. Keeping the bat beside the pad occasionally results in the bat being hidden behind the pad, and it also gives the impression that you didn’t offer a shot.

The golden rule while stepping out is to wait for the bowler to release the ball, so that the bowler can’t alter his length or line. Another rule of thumb to use is to advance against balls that go higher than the eye level

Another thing one must keep in mind while playing spinners, especially in the longer formats, is to keep the hands very soft. The top hand should hold the bat firmly, while the bottom hand should be there just to support. Soft hands will ensure that the ball doesn’t carry to close-in fielders.Hands and wrists play a bigger role in manoeuvring spinners and putting the ball into gaps, as compared to while playing the quick bowler. Watching VVS Laxman or Mohammad Azharuddin play slower bowlers was like watching a painter working his magic on a canvas. Obviously the lack of pace allows you to work it around, but it’s still an art.Pushing the fielder back and sweeping
Being aggressive on rank turners is extremely important, because regardless of how solid your technique is, pushing and prodding won’t be enough to survive. Vikram Rathour, a brilliant player of spin at the domestic level, told me that you must take the aerial route to push the fielders back. Once the bowler employs a long-on and long-off, batting becomes a lot easier.A lot of non-Indian players are taught to sweep spinners as much as they can. While sweeping is a good option to disrupt the rhythm of the bowler, you must have other tricks in your bag. Matthew Hayden was one of the most ferocious sweepers of the cricket ball, but what made him dangerous was that he didn’t shy away from using his feet. If the bowler knows that you only sweep, he varies his length and speed to make it tough. But once you start using your feet, along with sweeping, even good bowlers find it tough to negotiate. Brian Lara’s epic series in Sri Lanka comes to mind straightaway.Playing the ball from the rough outside leg
Negotiating balls pitched in the rough is extremely tough for a couple of reasons. One, since the ball pitches outside the leg stump, there’s a blind spot to deal with. Two, you can never be sure of the amount of spin when it pitches in the footmarks.Virender Sehwag has a unique way of handling it. He stands in his stance with both his feet in the crease. He reckons that this allows him to make the length shorter and play the pull shot. Laxman, on the other hand, has a completely different method. He steps down the track frequently and gets to the pitch of the ball, and he doesn’t hesitate to play against the spin. But the majority of batsmen like to pad it away for as long as possible before trying an occasional sweep – normal or reverse.A player is, more often than not, a product of his environment. If you’re exposed to quick and bouncy tracks early, you’ll automatically become comfortable against pace. Similarly, if you play your entire cricket on dirt-bowls, you’ll be at home against spin. But like Clarke, Hayden and Lara, you could also work your way towards mastering this craft.

When Laxman eases a drive through covers, all’s well with the world. But when he clubs one through mid-on, you just grimace

S Aga13-Mar-2010
Deccan’s batsman played some daft shots but Rohit Sharma’s was the daftest of all (file photo)•Associated PressSofter, softest: Three years ago, Manoj Tiwary was being spoken of as the future of Indian batting. Since then, he’s endured a severe knee injury, indifferent form and two seasons on the fringes for the Delhi Daredevils before the transfer to Kolkata last December. Change of fortune in home colours? Not quite, with a first-ball dismissal that was eiderdown-soft.Slap-happy: Few have as much experience of the format, are as adept at it or have as many runs as Brad Hodge. Having launched the first six of the competition over wide long-on, he was then undone by an innocuous delivery from 20-year-old Jaskaran Singh, at the opposite end of the experience scale. It was wide and asking for a caning. Instead, Hodge slapped it uppishly to Herschelle Gibbs at backward point. And unless the batsman in question is a certain SR Waugh, Gibbs knows how to hold on.Lack of finish: “We lost it in the last few overs of our bowling, and the last few overs of our batting.” said Adam Gilchrist afterwards. Without Fidel Edwards and his toe-crushing yorkers or the bustling pace of Ryan Harris, the death-overs bowling was dismal. From 81 for 4 after 14 overs, Angelo Mathews and Owais Shah biffed and bludgeoned 80 from the next six. Full tosses, half-volleys on leg stump, long hops – the full buffet-bowling spread was laid out, and neither batsman forgot to tuck in.Beauty and the beast: When VVS Laxman eases a drive through the covers, all’s well with the world. But when he clubs one through mid-on as a right-handed Atul Bedade might have, you just grimace. Laxman’s 14-ball 22 was a perfect example of how some of the game’s stylists have to adapt to stay relevant in this format. Having smashed Laxmi Ratan Shukla over long-on for six – he has just eight hits over the rope in 13 years of international cricket – he fell going for an encore off Murali Kartik. There’s only so much you can go against the grain.Drop, drop, caught: “We should have had him twice before we got him,” said Dav Whatmore with typical candour when asked for the game’s turning point. Gilchrist had 2 when Hodge failed to hold on to a slip catch, and was on 41 when a chance slipped through Charl Langeveldt’s fingers at long-on. Tiwary though held on a couple of overs later. And from 99 for 1, Deccan’s batsmen went AWOL.This ain’t Newlands: As recently as a week ago, Gibbs and Langeveldt were Cape Cobras team-mates. On opposite sides of an IPL divide here, it was Langeveldt that finished on top, darting one past the outside edge and then having Gibbs caught at long-off. Like a golfer in a sand-trap, Gibbs got under the ball and this time there was Mathews to ensure that Langeveldt’s catching would not be reprised.What was that?: “The shot selection was very poor,” said Gilchrist after the game. He didn’t bring up individual names, but if there was an award for brainless stroke of the day, Rohit Sharma would have won it unopposed. The tennis-forehand-like effort to mid-off was truly grotesque, and raised some uncomfortable questions about the state of mind of a batsman whose game has regressed in the past two years.Swipe out: Competition for Rohit came from Andrew Symonds and a wretched heave across the line against Ishant. It went only as far as Sourav Ganguly at midwicket. From 99 for 1 to 116 for 4. And there would be no recovery.I aim, I miss: Jaskaran was way out of his crease when Ishant dived full length to stop a straight drive from T Suman. With all three stumps to aim at, Ishant got up and had a shy. No fun-fair awards for him, with the throw so wide of the target that they managed to run one anyway.Variety and spice: On Indian pitches, merely dropping the ball on a length is asking for a flogging. Slower balls and cutters are popular options on placid pitches, and Ishant showed how to do it in the final over. With 17 needed and Suman pre-meditating big heaves across the line, Ishant rolled his fingers across the seam and flummoxed him twice. And that was pretty much that for a game littered with far too many mistakes to be memorable.

Makhaya Ntini’s announcement that he was hanging up his international boots brought tears to the eyes of those involved

Firdose Moonda02-Nov-2010″When my body can take no more, and my arms are broken, that’s when I’ll go.”Those were Makhaya Ntini’s own words playing out on a video that was being screened at a Cricket South Africa (CSA) press conference in Johannesburg on Tuesday. It’s not surprising that there was an air of disbelief in the lavish room at Summerplace Conference Centre in the swanky suburb of Hyde Park.Everyone could see that Makhaya looked in perfect health. So why was there a mini-film recapping all the best moments of his career? Why was the biggest loudmouth in the sport looking so pensive? Why were there tears welling up in the eyes of the man we all thought was invincible?On the stage, Gerald Majola, the CSA chief executive, sat with his head slightly bowed. He couldn’t look up, almost as though doing so would hurt too much. As Ntini approached the stage, Majola couldn’t hide that something hugely significant was about to happen. His pained face gave way to a trickle of tears.Ntini was smartly dressed in a black suit and crisp, white shirt. His tie was a striped monochrome mix. Truth be told, he could easily just have stepped off a shoot for GQ magazine. “I wasn’t sure what to wear today,” he said smiling. “I thought I would wear my green and gold blazer before handing it back to Gerald but then I decided not to.”It was true. His body was not broken, but he was saying goodbye to international cricket.
He had prepared well for this day, because he knew the people he was breaking the news to would not take it well. He was no ordinary cricketer, he was one man who represented almost 80% of the country’s population. For over a decade, Ntini had been the face and voice of black South Africans in cricket. Although he had been out of the international fold for almost a year, and a comeback had always been unlikely, he was regarded as the one of the most popular sportsmen in the land.”I know everyone will be grumpy and ask why I am deciding to leave, but it is time,” said Ntini. His voice broke as he recapped his career, but he managed a grin when he spoke about his first match. “Playing for the first time for my country was one of the most tense situations I’ve been in. I don’t know how I got through it. I was so tense and so nervous.”He painted a picture of himself in the early years that was completely different to the one the world had become used to. Ntini was known as a natural noisemaker. That, along with bowling, was his special talent and he put it on show whether or not he felt up to it. His attitude was always that he was an entertainer and whenever he was in public he had to do just that.His eyes grew redder as his speech went on and the tears were always on the brink of spilling over. But he also didn’t want to make anyone else cry, so he quickly reassured everyone. “I’m not done yet, you’ll still see me on the Warriors team and I will be involved for as long as I am allowed to make sure that cricket in this country does not die. Whatever I do, I am not going to go away from CSA and I am going to try and work with them. I was meant to be a cricketer and I was meant to be a sportsman.”That was proof that Ntini saw the people involved in cricket as his family and he wanted them to prosper. He has pledged his time to nurturing young cricketers, in the same way he was once supported. Dr Mtutuzeli Nyoka, president of CSA, said he believed Ntini was a beacon of hope for many. “There are many children in SA who have the same background of you,” he told Ntini. “Children who live in a universe of despair and without hope. We hope you will give them hope and tell them that there is a place for them in this game of cricket.”The president was the last to bid Ntini farewell during the official proceedings. He usually reserves Tuesdays for his medical practice, but was in attendance at the special request of Majola, who said he didn’t want to handle Ntini’s retirement alone.”It is the greatest pleasure of my life to share in this historic moment,” said Nyoka. “Makhaya is by far the best black cricketer South Africa has ever had. He did was he was not expected to do and he fought against the odds.”Majola’s tears were no longer disguised. He was clearly the hardest hit by the loss of his favourite son. The usually tough CEO was not ashamed of his emotions. “Makhaya meant a lot to all of us,” he explained, before going on to heap lavish praise on the fellow Eastern-Caper. “I put him in the same category as Nelson Mandela because what Nelson Mandela meant for South Africa, Makhaya meant for cricket. None of us can do what Makhaya did.”

Plays of the Day from the fourth day of the second Test between India and Australia in Bangalore

Sidharth Monga at the Chinnaswamy Stadium12-Oct-2010The call
When Sachin Tendulkar is on 199, and he calls you for a sharp single, you just put your head down and run. If you refuse the run, you must be a brave man, pretty convinced in your judgement, and preferably the captain of your side. That’s what MS Dhoni did when Tendulkar called for a single that didn’t exist. The call was clear and loud, and Tendulkar made it back in time. It helps that Dhoni was at the non-striker’s end when Tendulkar completed his ODI double-century too. It has to be some kind of a distinction.The slower-than-slowest bouncer
We would have thought that Peter George wouldn’t be able to bowl bouncers slower than he did to Tendulkar on day three, but we were obviously wrong. He just happened to drag another slower one too short, and it looped slow and wide. Dhoni thought he would let it go but, having strolled to square leg or nearabouts, saw the ball was still there, tried to swat at it and missed. The laughs.And it was not some mistake from George. Far from it. “I actually told few of the guys about it night before to look for that,” George said of the one he bowled to Tendulkar. “I thought I might actually get a leg before with that one!”The collision
When Tim Paine glanced Harbhajan Singh down to fine leg in the 50th over of the Australian innings, both Paine and Ricky Ponting were a bit too conscious of avoiding running on the danger area. The problem was, both thought in the same manner and ball-watched. As a result, they collided with each other on the adjacent pitch. Neither man was hurt, though.The wicket
It wasn’t just that Sreesanth had finally grabbed a wicket when he got Tim Paine to edge one through to MS Dhoni, but it was also the people involved. In the first innings, Sreesanth had come awfully close to getting the same man out, caught by the same man, only to be denied by a late no-ball call by the same umpire, Ian Gould. Sreesanth was just relieved that nobody was asking the batsman to wait. It must have been a big wicket, for Harbhajan then hugged Sreesanth.

New Zealand know that Canada shouldn’t cause them many problems and their stand-in captain was suitably bullish ahead of the contest

Nagraj Gollapudi in Mumbai12-Mar-2011Unsurprisingly for a team that won their previous match by 110 runs against Pakistan, a meeting with Canada doesn’t hold any fears for New Zealand. Ross Taylor, their stand-in captain, believes if his team are assertive Canada are bound to crumble in Mumbai where the renovated Wankhede Stadium, the venue for the final next month, is staging its first game of the tournament.”We know that if we can put the so called minnows under pressure earlier on, we can try to dominate from there,” Taylor, who is covering for the injured Daniel Vettori, said confidently. “But we have to try and restrict them. We know the result should be a win,”Taylor also ruled out New Zealand playing with the specific intention of bettering their net run-rate in order to strengthen their standing in terms of who they may face in the quarter-finals. “Net run rate may play a part but the focus is to win the next two games whether chasing or batting first,” he said. “Playing Canada you don’t start doing things differently compared to playing against India for example. You’ve got to do good preparation.”Taylor is leading New Zealand on the back of his thunderous, unbeaten 131 against Pakistan which included brutal assault in the final overs where New Zealand ransacked 112 runs from the final six overs. Kyle Mills and Tim Southee then bowled aggressively to demolish the Pakistan batting top order so maintaining that momentum is the key for New Zealand going forward.”We know we are a good side,” Taylor said. “We believe in each other to put up good performances. The confidence in the camp is getting higher. Once you are on a roll and in cricket if there is some momentum going you get a bit of confidence from the momentum and you start playing better.”His counterpart, Ashish Bagai, will expect nothing less from his own team either after they scored a convincing victory against an out-of-sorts Kenya in Delhi. That win came after demoralising losses in the first three matches. “We are getting better and better with each game, the performances if you have noticed is getting better and better,” Bagai said.But Canada have had some tough few weeks. At the outset they had singled out the contests against Zimbabwe and Kenya to earn points. However, the brittleness of the batting was exposed against Zimbabwe where, chasing 298, Canada’s top six fell for 66. Bagai likened their team appearing the World Cup as turning up to the Olympics once every four years without enough quality preparation and didn’t want to be too harsh on his batsmen, but admitted mistakes had been made.”In the first three games, and even the practices games, it was disappointing for us with the bat,” he said. “We talked about having some self-belief for the guys coming in, getting to another level. Yes, we have a few young guys up the order who are struggling. But I still feel that senior guys like me, John [Davison] and Rizwan [Cheema] have to take some responsibility. We did not do that. Hopefully, the last two games, we can use the last game as a confidence booster for us.”Davison, Canada’s most senior batsman, needs to stand up for his team. He began the tournament with consecutive ducks before being left out and on his return he was moved into the middle order agains Kenya where he came in for the final moments. Canada have played New Zealand at the last two World Cups in South Africa and West Indies and, on both occasions, Davison has hit sparkling fifties – the first one in 2003 was the third fastest at the time. The time has come for Davison to refresh those memories and create a new mark.

Plays of the day from the 5th match of the 2010 World Cup between England and Netherlands at Nagpur

Nagraj Gollapudi in Nagpur22-Feb-2011Opening act
Graeme Swann is the best spinner in the world and he proved that again today. He started his World Cup campaign on the back of just a day’s work in the nets (on Monday) having arrived late from England where he was attending to the birth of his first child. The distractions did not matter as he continued with the legacy of picking a wicket in his first over when he had the dangerous-looking Wesley Barresi stumped on his fourth delivery. It was 12th time Swann had picked a wicket in his first over in ODIs.Six of the day
Ryan ten Doeschate’s six off Graeme Swann. With his tendency to flight the ball Swann challenges the batsman to take him on, but the margin for error for his opponent is bare minimum. Still, ten Doeschate charged an off break, before smartly using his wrists to flick the ball over deep mid-wicket for his second six of the match in the 35th over, which opened the flood gates for the Dutch, as they ransacked 130 runs off the last 15 overs.Drop of the day
A straightforward catch: ten Doeschate, on 47, stepped out against Swann to try and clear the straight boundary. He did not time it well as the ball went sky high. It seemed an easy picking for either of the men rushing in from long-on and long-off respectively: Jimmy Anderson and Kevin Pietersen. Yet for some unknown reason both men stopped suddenly, probably thinking the other would go for the catch. Embarrassingly the ball dropped in the yard that separated the two. Both walked back to their spots heads down. Swann stood at the wicket, hands on hips, staring unbelievingly at the gaffe. Look out for his twitter post later.No cheer for England
Stuart Broad, brought back in the batting Powerplay, defeated Peter Borren with a lovely yorker with the bails flying high and wide. But just as the Dutch skipper was about the cross over the boundary rope, he was called back by the umpire because England had placed only three fielders inside the 30-yard circle. It was turning out to be an evening of blunders for the Ashes winners. It was Broad’s turn to kick the ground in disgust.Wake up Nagpur
The Orange were playing the orange city. Yet there was hardly any orange in the ground barring the colours worn by the Dutch team. About two thousand enthusiasts still turned up at the Vidarbha Cricket Association ground, which is located terribly outside the city limits. The fans did keep the tempo somewhat high in the afternoon when ten Doeschate stepped on the accelerator, but as the evening grew old the crowds fell silent. To wake them up the ground DJ used the ‘shout meter’ at the change of overs to increase the decibel level.Seelar turns handball ‘keeper
England needed 23 runs from the final three overs. Pieter Seelaar, the left-arm spinner bowled a straighter one, which Ravi Bopara stepped out and punched hard back down the ground. Seelar, in a moment of reflex, used his right ankle, as would a goalkeeper in a handball contest, to deflect the ball and convert a possible double into one. The Dutch remain inspired till the end with such spirited fielding that kept England on the edge throughout.

Australia have excellent records against Pakistan and in World Cups, but Pakistan have some weapons which could hurt the Australians on Saturday

Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan18-Mar-2011Australia against Pakistan pits one of the most efficient and successful ODI teams against one of the most talented and unpredictable ones. Though Australia haven’t been at their best in the tournament so far, they have still managed to register fairly convincing wins. In contrast, Pakistan have blown hot and cold. They defeated Sri Lanka but lost heavily against New Zealand. The head-to-head contests between the two teams in recent years have proved to be extremely one-sided. Australia have been ruthless in matches played against Pakistan since 2000, winning 26 and losing just seven. With nine wins in 11 meetings since 2007, Australia’s dominance has been even more pronounced in recent matches.Pakistan came close in the ODI series played in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in 2009, eventually losing 3-2. The following series in Australia in 2010 was a no-contest with the hosts winning 5-0. While Pakistan have been able to upset many other teams in bigger tournaments, they have not quite been able to do the same against Australia. They have let Australia off the hook on numerous occasions, in all formats, and allowed them to seize control. Two of the most recent matches when Pakistan had a great chance to win include the infamous Sydney Test and the World Twenty-20 semi-final. In the semi-final, Michael Hussey’s remarkable hitting in the last few overs gave Australia a win in a game in which they seemed to have lost. Pakistan can, however, take heart from their excellent performance in the Champions Trophy in 2009 when they put up a superb fight in a close loss to Australia.Australia’s 34-match undefeated streak in World Cups started just after their 10-run loss to Pakistan in the 1999 World Cup. Pakistan’s unpredictability came to the fore In their next meeting against Australia in the final of the same tournament, where they were bowled out for just 132. In the 2003 World Cup, Pakistan again had Australia in trouble at 86 for 4 before a fantastic century from Andrew Symonds carried Australia to 310 and a comfortable win. Pakistan, having defeated Sri Lanka in a tight contest, will have the advantage of knowing the conditions in Colombo while Australia, whose game at the venue was abandoned, will come into the game hoping for a challenging contest before the knockout stages.

Australia v Pakistan in ODIs

PlayedWonLostW/L ratioOverall8552291.79Since 2000342673.71In Asia since 20005321.50Since 200711924.50In global tournaments8531.67The gulf between the two sides is far more evident if the batting and bowling stats are compared. Australia are far ahead on both fronts in ODIs played since 2008. Pakistan, though, have a slightly quicker rate of scoring which is predominantly because of more matches played in batting-friendly conditions. Australia have a stunning record in India and have a win-loss ratio of 1.87 against India in ODIs in India since 2000. Pakistan, despite having a fairly good record themselves in India, are still much poorer in terms of the batting and bowling averages. In global tournaments since 2003, Australia are unmatched. With 36 wins and only two losses, they are by far ahead of any other ODI team. The difference between their batting and bowling runs-per-wicket figure is an almost unbelievable 29.39.

Batting and bowling records of both teams

TeamPeriodMatchesW/L ratioAvg(batting)RRAvg(bowling)ERAvg diffRR diffAustralia(overall)2008-2011942.2935.755.2226.084.889.670.34Pakistan(overall)2008-2011701.2230.895.2430.415.050.480.19Australia (in India)2000-2011352.7741.535.5027.845.0413.690.46Pakistan (in India)2000-2011151.1434.345.6234.925.53-0.580.09Australia (in global tournaments)2003-20114018.0050.285.6520.874.4529.391.20Pakistan (in global tournaments)2003-2011241.0925.714.8423.684.662.030.18Australia average higher and score at a faster rate in the first ten overs in ODIs played since 2008. Pakistan’s frail top order has meant that they have been unable to stitch together many decent partnerships. In the middle overs, Pakistan have been slightly more adept at handling spin. They have scored slightly faster than Australia and have also been more economical in the same period while bowling. Pakistan’s powerful middle order of Abdul Razzaq and Shahid Afridi has meant that they score at 7.51 runs per over in the end overs which is second only to South Africa’s 7.76. Pakistan, who were guilty of conceding more than 100 runs against New Zealand in the last five overs of their game in Pallekele, have been less economical than Australia in the final overs of the innings.

Performance across the innings for both teams in all matches since 2008

TeamPeriod(overs)Batting averageRun rateBowling averageEconomy rateRun rate differenceAustralia0-1543.724.8529.454.560.29Pakistan0-1535.794.4735.594.88-0.41Australia16-4040.544.7529.454.640.11Pakistan16-4035.145.0732.594.600.47Australia41-5024.367.3917.056.700.69Pakistan41-5021.047.5122.037.080.43Shane Watson has been one of Australia’s best batsmen in the last three years and has scored his runs with a high percentage of boundaries. After an indifferent start to the tournament, he played himself back into form against Canada with an aggressive 94. His partnership with Brad Haddin has been one of the most successful opening combinations for Australia and will be a huge threat for Pakistan. Michael Clarke has been in excellent touch in ODIs while the inclusion of Michael Hussey is a boost to Australia’s middle order not just because of Hussey’s brilliance in ODIs, but also because of his record against Pakistan in all forms of the game. Hussey has maintained an excellent strike rate and has the lowest dot-ball percentage among top-order Australian batsmen.The two batsmen who haven’t showed form so far in the tournament are Cameron White and Ricky Ponting. Ponting, who is the second-highest run-getter in World Cups, has scored just 83 runs in the 2011 tournament at an average of under 21.Of Ponting’s 29 ODI hundreds, 25 have come in wins, but Australia have also won a high percentage of their matches under Ponting’s captaincy when he has scored less than 25.

Batting stats of Australian batsmen in ODIs since 2008 (min 40 matches)

BatsmanMatchesAverageSR100s50s% boundary runs scored% dot-ballsMichael Hussey7848.8787.3002431.0242.44Shane Watson6345.7589.2851553.9854.53Michael Clarke7144.8773.0322131.1952.07Cameron White6638.3379.7921140.8651.34Ricky Ponting6935.3079.4941643.7754.11Apart from Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan, the rest of the Pakistani batting has been highly inconsistent in recent matches. Kamran Akmal, who scored 116 in Pakistan’s most recent win over Australia, has a fairly high boundary percentage and could be a key batsman. Afridi has an extraordinary strike rate over 130 and a very low dot-ball percentage, but he will be up against a high-class pace attack on Saturday.

Batting stats of Pakistan batsmen in ODIs since 2008 (min 40 matches)

BatsmanMatchesAverageSR100s50s% boundary runs scored% dot-ballsMisbah-ul-Haq4547.3180.2301135.7149.59Younis Khan5832.5176.8131234.8550.83Kamran Akmal5030.7386.852754.7357.03Shahid Afridi6825.58130.762356.0038.19Australa’s pace attack has proved to be expensive in the early overs in the last two games. However, Brett Lee, Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson have excellent strike rates and form a potent new-ball attack. The spinners Jason Krejza and Steven Smith have not been very effective, though, and on a track that is likely to assist spin, their bowling could be a vital factor against a Pakistan line-up that generally handles spin quite well.Afridi, the highest wicket taker in the tournament, has also bowled superbly against Australia in recent ODIs. He will however, hope for a far more consistent performance from his pace attack which went for more than 100 runs in the last few overs against New Zealand.While Australia’s pace attack has a better average and lower boundary percentage than Pakistan’s, their spin attack is not quite as potent. Pakistan spinners, dspite averaging slightly higher, have been more economical and conceded fewer runs in boundaries than their Australian counterparts.

Pace v Spin for both teams since 2008

Type of bowlerTeamAverageEconomy rate% boundaries% dot-ballsPaceAustralia26.394.7345.1462.00SpinAustralia34.044.8329.5048.58PacePakistan30.265.1747.2359.70SpinPakistan34.794.6427.5250.88The Premadasa stadium in Colombo is one of the toughest wickets to chase on and is loaded in favour of teams batting first. In day-night games, winning the toss provides a distinct advantage. Teams batting first have won 17 and lost just three of the last 22 day-night games that have been played at the venue.