What does Sachin and India want to prove?

Hmm..this is for the second time in the tournament that India have lost with Sachin Tendulkar scoring a century. But, as most of the tongues wag, I don't blame it on the maestro keeping in mind various superstitions. When cricket is a team game, leaving something completely upon one player is just stupid and a shameful act as well as cowardly. One can go through the scorecard of yesterday's game between India and South Africa at Nagpur to see what actually happened. If not for the opening duo, no other batsmen really stood to the occasion. Of course, Gambhir did.

But, with the likes of Yousuf Pathan, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh being there in the team and that too in full form, things should have been a lot better. India were at one stage charging in at 267/1 at the end of the 40^th over at over six an over and with ten more overs still to go. The total seemed to be somewhere close to 400 with all the aforementioned batsmen and tail-end batsmen like Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan who can do their bit with the bat at the fag end of the innings. Oh! I forgot to mention Kohli.

With such a strong batting line up and with such a great initial start, something much was expected and unfortunately, the total ended 4 runs less than 300. But still, all was not lost with the Indian bowlers being capable of doing things as expected with Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra being among top wicket takers for the team. They did well initially when South Africa were at one stage 247/6 after at one stage being at 223/3. 13 runs were needed from the last over and my goodness! I wonder how that was possible under that much pressure!

Failures with both the bat as well as the ball should and must draw all sorts of criticism no matter who scored a hundred or who held their nerves to restrict the opposition when there were 6 other batsmen who got out scoring single digit runs or just above the ten run mark and someone like Ashish Nehra who gave away 65 runs from 8.5 overs at 7 and a half an average that included the last over. I don't discourage Dhoni for giving the last over to Nehra instead I criticize him for under-using his bowlers when Sehwag & Sachin Tendulkar could have bowled.

No2 for India

For the third consecutive time, India have got into the super eights stage of a world T20 tournament without losing a single game in its league stage. In 2007, India had beaten Scotland (taken for granted) and Pakistan while in 2009 India beat Bangladesh and Ireland to reach the super eights of the tournament. Now, as expected by all, India beat Afghanistan a couple of days back and yesterday they beat South Africa to keep the tempo moving. It was interesting too India battle Afghanistan today and face South Africa tomorrow. The games involving India were held back to back.

However, no one complains with India winning both the matches effectively and with it being a T20 game, even if two games involving one team is held on the same day doesn't matter. Indian batsmen never had problems of any sort when Suresh Raina did most of the scoring becoming the first Indian to score a century in a T20 international. Of course, there is no Sachin Tendulkar playing T20 cricket to score a century there. Anyways, with that apart, the match had only notable contributions from Yuvraj Singh and Raina who with the rest only filling the vacancies that were relevant.

It is not anybody's fault with Dhoni hardly getting anything to play and his score was an unbeaten 16 runs off 6 balls with one six and a boundary. Raina and Yuvraj together played 90 balls which was 75% of the match. It shouldn't matter who played with every batsman having his day. Whatever, it was foolish for Smith to stick to the six bowler formula when four bowlers bowled their quota. Whatever, chasing 187 is a tough job though Kallis on the top had the Indian bowlers running for cover when he struck 73 from 54 balls. May be that was too slow for T20 cricket especially when chasing.

Kallis stood for nine overs scoring at less than 9 runs an over which is quintessential in T20 cricket. Guys who came in later namely AB deVilliers, Morkel and Boucher scored quick runs but not enough ones to secure a victory. It was because of those batsmen that South Africa crossed the 170 run mark with the margin of victory limited to 14 runs. Towards, as there would be a man of the match who is responsible for his team's victory, there would also be a man who would be solely responsible for his team's defeat and it was Kallis in yesterday's match.

South Africa requires improvement

Yesterday, the most experienced South African cricketer-Jacques Kallis asks for some improvement from the South African players who could all do is to take home a consolation win in their recently concluded one day series against India after winning the third and inconsequential match at Ahmedabad by 90 runs. This was against an under powered team India which didn't have the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan, which South Africa made use of to the fullest extent at Ahmedabad. A victory was more than less guaranteed for South Africa than expected. This was without Graeme Smith to head RSA.

However, even though the series against India be sidelined, South Africa have hardly anything to justify by its side in one day cricket. The last time South Africa won a one day series was in January last year against Australia (excluding all the under rated teams like Zimbabwe which is fresher than the one under discussion) . That was also an under rated performance which saw the Proteas gasping for a 3-2 finish in the 5 matches that it played. Prior to that, South Africa had defeated Australia in Australia by a margin 4-1 in the former part of the Commonwealth Bank series.

Since then, South Africa has hardly played any international one day series in 2009. And, whenever South Africa played an international one day series, it was found crashing unpredictably. South Africa couldn't even make it to the semi finals of the ICC Champions Trophy after losing to Sri Lanka and England, at a time when everyone thought it would be South Africa to emerge at the top of it group. South Africa gave no fight to either Sri Lanka or England against which it lost in a one sided manner. All the aforementioned developments happening when South Africa hosted the ICC Champions trophy.

And then, South Africa played their next one day series after the ICC Champions trophy only after a gap of 2 months when it faced England. But, the result was no different for South Africa. For, South Africa yet again lost the five match series to England unexpectedly by a margin 1-2 with the remaining matches being washed out. This was followed by the recently concluded one day series against India, the result of which is needless to be highlighted specially whatsoever. Despite being a strong outfit, South Africa's run in ODI cricket is fairly below par compared to the expectations that it draws from the cricketing world.

India not targetting a whitewash against RSA

With the first two matches already being won by India and with it the series as well, suggestions are that India would be looking in for a whitewash. One need not specially cite the way India won the first one dayer against South Africa where the match went on until the last legal delivery was bowled. Anyway, that is a different issue altogether. However, the fact that seems evident after Dhoni's decisions to rest Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag is that Dhoni doesn't have the idea to whitewash South Africa. Instead, Dhoni's idea seems to give youngsters some international match practice.

This would be the first whitewash imposed by India over South Africa if at all India succeed in doing so. I just cannot remember as to when last did South Africa ever play an ODI series against India in India. From the past 6 years since the 2003 world cup, South Africa have been to India only for the test series if not for the 5 match ODI series that was played in October 2005 which was leveled 2-2 with one ODI being abandoned. In 2004, South Africa visited India for only a 2 match test series and so was the case on its earlier tour in 2008 where the Proteas played just 3 tests.

As a matter of fact India has hardly whitewashed any team barring Bangladesh. The only ODI series that I can recall in the recent past is the 5-0 victory over England in November 2008. That was a 7 match ODI series that was cut short to 5 one dayers owing to the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai. The second best to this would be the 6-1 series win over Sri Lanka in 2005 and 4-1 against Pakistan in 2006. As a matter of fact, India were unable to whitewash Bangladesh on its earlier tour when India lost the 2^nd one dayer at Dhaka in 2004-05 by 11 runs.

And now though this is no golden opportunity, India has given up the idea of going in to whitewash South Africa. Dhoni has included the likes of Abhimanyu Mithun, Rohith Sharma and Murali Vijay who will be replacing Tendulkar and Sehwag. And as usual, there is no Harbhakan Singh and Zaheer Khan which completely rules out India's chances of winning the 3rd and the final one dayer at Ahmedabad. However, some chances despite the absence of key players would be absence of Smith in the South African team and the presence of Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina etc among a few others who can put pressure on the visiting team.

400* in tests and 200* in ODIs: The new landmarks

This was perhaps the only record that Sachin Tendulkar had not made his own. I remember the way Sachin Tendulkar was looking helplessly in that particular match against Pakistan at Chennai that played more than a decade back when Pakistan's Saeed Anwar belted Anil Kumble for three consecutive sixes enroute to his 194. Finally, it was in the bowling off Sachin TendulkarSaeed Anwar's dream run came to an end when he was 6 runs short of scoring a double hundred. May be Sachin had told this to himself that these 6 runs would be scored by "me" which turned into a reality yesterday when he scored the world's first double hundred.

People would have gone sick looking the way Sachin Tendulkar scoring hundreds the way sun rises and sets every day. But, it would be wrong to consider this a hundred. The ICC and all major cricket websites must open a new column in batting records indicating the number of double hundreds scored by a batsman, which would at present contain only one name-SachinRamesh Tendulkar. The record, until yesterday was against a player who had achieved it by an unfair means when Saeed Anwar had a runner when his individual score was 70 and had no problems when he took to front foot to send Anil Kumble out of the ground on 3 successive occasions.

It is a bad fortune of the record that it remained unbroken until last August when Charles Coventry notched an unbeaten 194 which is considered to be better than the one set up by Saeed Anwar for the fact the the Zimbabwean batsman remained unbeaten. Finally, the unfair record set up by Saeed Anwar will never ever pop up as the highest individual score in one day internationals anymore. For, the score of 200* by Sachin Tendulkar is not only the highest individual score by a batsman in one dayers but also a new landmark called the double hundred that'll be the one for ever.

In case by a freak chance someone is able to overtake Sachin's record, still Sachin Tendulkar will be the man to have first scored a double hundred. And no one would highlight Saeed Anwar as the first batsman to have crossed the 190s. This can no doubt be considered to be in par with the unbeaten knock of 400 by Brian Lara against England which became another mark in test cricket. If the difference between these two batsmen is that one player plays right handed and the other left handed, similarities exist with both batsmen using a MRF bat. So cool isn't it!!

Patented Records

Well, yesterday in the third day of the 1^st test match between India and South Africa, SachinTendulkar recorded his 47^th test hundred and Virender Sehwag his 19^th test hundred, which is not the discussion here. But, Sehwag's feat of 100 in just 87 balls is one. It has been almost a decade since the newspapers make headlines whenever Sachin Tendulkar scores a hundred. On the otherhand, whenever Sachin Tendulkar used to get out in his nineties, that used to make headlines. So, would be Sehwag whenever he scores a fastest hundred or a fastest double hundred.

In the ongoing 2nd test at Kolkata, Sehwag made headlines for not scoring the fastest fifty when at one stage of the match he was found having a score of 44 from just 22 balls. This has been the usual way that Sehwag's innings have been in the recent past. If anyone scores a hundred with a strike rate of more than hundred the first name that would strike anyone's mind would be that of Virender Sehwag. This can never seems to be broken atleast in the near future. So would be the number of matches played, number of hundreds scored and the number of runs piled by none other than Sachin Tendulkar would be hard to even come closer.

It would take more than a century or even more than that for anybody to come closer to the batting records held by Sachin Tendulkar. The other record that still stands unbroken is the batting average of 99.99 held by Sir Don Bradman that can never be beaten. Then comes the unbeaten score of 400 by Brian Lara and his two scores above 350 and 375 (to be precise). Then on the list would be the perfect 10 taken by Jim Laker and Anil Kumble that can happen only may be once in a century. One has to be lucky to have survived throughout the nineties to have witnessed two such feats.

Scoring 36 runs off an over may not be a distinct feat though it is spectacular and might raise eye brows, with teams like Bermuda and Holland out there. A Last ball six to win a match is also a record of the past when at present there are three such records held by Javed Mianded, a batsman from Zimbabwe (name unable to be recalled) and by Shivnarine Chandrapaul. Though there has been a chase of 400+ total, in the coming years one can expect few more such chases. Some unclaimed records are a perfect 10 in LOIs, 6 wickets in an over, a double hundred in LOIs and a 1000 run in an innings of a test match for a winning cause to mention a few. Are we lucky enough to see them in our life time???

Curators play for India

Well, rumor has its say that the curator who will be preparing the pitch for the 2^nd test between India and South Africa- Prabir Mukherjee is asked to prepare a turning track which will be a special one exclusively for Harbhajan Singh we can guess. After losing the 1st test match at Nagpur and that too by a margin of an innings and 6 runs, India have to look out for some or the other means to settle the series by winning the 2^nd one scheduled at Nagpur and with it secure their number one position in test cricket which India is now enjoying.

This is not the first time that India will be going in for a track that will best suit them and a track that is sure to trouble the opposition. And the main weapon for India and that too against South Africa is no doubt the spin bowling department and more so when they are playing under home conditions. The secret is now revealed that India will be playing South Africa at a turner in Kolkata where unofficially India will have the upperhand. This is not the first time that India has taken such a stand when it is hosting its opponents.

If India's past series' against South Africa alone is considered, in the last tour in 2008, India lost the second test at Ahmedabad after the first test ended in a draw (which saw Virender Sehwag scoring his 2^nd triple hundred) by an innings and 90 runs. In that particular match, not only did India go all out for a score of 76 on board but, the spinners returned with just 5 wickets between them. And, in the 3^rd test at Kanpur, Indian curator took no sorts of risks and prepared a turning track where Harbhajan Singh had 7 scalps and spinners in particular taking 14 wickets en-route to their 8 wicket win.

So was the case in 2004 where the 1st test at Kanpur ended in a draw with Harbhajan Singh taking just 4 wickets and Kumble taking 6 in the 1st innings and going wicketless in the 2^nd. Once again in the 2^nd test at Kolkata the track suited spinners which Harbhajan Singh made full use of when he was found taking 10 South African wickets. This was also the case in the Border-Gavaskar trophy 2008-09 where two test matches ended in draw with the pitch aiding batsmen and the remaining two tests being won by India where spinners had their say.

Selection only partly responsible for India's loss

Well the moment India lost their first test match to South Africa, the first person to whom all the fingers pointed towards happens to be the selection committee, followed by the captain and in some cases the coach. I don't think that anyone reading this post needs to be reminded specially that cricket is a team sport unlike badminton and table tennis. It was of course not a good selection when someone like Saha, Badrinath and Abhimanyu the included in the squad. If the scorecard of the match is given a close look at, Badrinath and Saha did play upto expectations and Abhimanyu was not included in the playing XI.

Not much was expected from Saha and Badrinath but, they did live upto expectations when Badrinath scored 56 in the first innings that included a 40 run partnership along with Sehwag in the first innings. Later on in the second innings, Saha had his say when he scored 36 runs and stood for 150 balls or 30 overs and almost 2 hours at the crease. All these despite not guaranteed a place in the coming test. Even Murali Vijay was pretty decent with the bat when he scored 32 runs in the second innings. Most of the damage was first done by the bowlers when they let the South African bowlers cut loose.

It is justified the way the Indian bowlers despite playing in the home conditions could allow the South African batsmen not only to pile up 556 runs on the board but also allow a 300+ run partnership between Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis. If there were no Laxman & Dravid in the squad, there were Sachin, Sehwag, Dhoni and Gambhir who could have solved the issue related to batting. Of course, Sehwag and Tendulkar came up with hundreds in the 1^st and the 2^nd innings respectively. But, Dhoni and Gambhir were absolute failures with the bat in the Nagpur test.

In the bowling department, if not for Zaheer Khan's first spell in the first innings, even he was not upto the mark and so were the other bowlers viz Harbhajan, Ishanth Sharma and Amit Mishra. The bowling department indeed requires some or a lot of refinement. For, someone like Sehwag had to bowl as a full time bowler and that too in a test match under the conditions where the South African batsmen were in full bloom. Luckily Sehwag got a wicket which is a different issue altogether. No matter what the first test squad had to say but, the inclusion of someone like Raina and Sreesanth would be just another blunder for, the former is a new comer to tests and the latter battles injuries most of the time.

A Total Confusion In Team India

Well the last and the final match of the ICC T20 world super eight between India and South Africa was not only a formality for both the teams playing out there but at the end of the day, one could come to the conclusion that the opposite of India is South Africa. For, if South Africa had won all three matches in the super eight stage, the other team namely India lost all of its three matches that it played in the super eight. Whether India could have won the match or not being a different issue altogether, there was no reason as to why South Africa despite being cautious in their batting could not cross 150 run mark.

The South African team lost just 5 wickets at the end of their batting innings. And there was a time in the South African batting innings when they had been without a boundary for as many as 55 balls. And the entire South African batting never saw the ball clearing the ropes. On the other hand, team India could do this on two occasions, one by Harbhajan Singh and the other by Yuvraj Singh. Though India could not as a team score more runs than South Africa, they could score more number of sixes and bowl just one wide delivery as compared to the 4 wides bowled by South African bowlers.

After the match against South Africa, the Indian team join hands with New Zealand who could just beat minnow teams like Ireland and Bangladesh and that too in the initial and inconsequential stage of the tournament. New Zealand had wins only against Ireland and Scotland and were no match either for Pakistan or for Sri Lanka. In fact, Ireland could pose some trouble for Sri Lanka than the New Zealand could do. However, India came close to winning matches against both South Africa and England where the margin of victory was too little. A little bit of initiative from Dhoni as a captain and as a batsman could have made things comfortable for team India I suppose.

Both South Africa and India in this particular match were playing for pride with India trying to convince its fans back home with a consolation win and South Africa maintaining their winning streak and extend their winning tally to 7 in a row (2 against Australia,1 each against India, West Indies, New Zealand, England & Scotland). It was fascinating to see the strike bowlers for India viz Zaheer Khan R P Singh being dictated by the South African batsmen while lesser known bowlers in Suresh Raina taking the wicket of Jean Paul Duminy. Yuvraj bowled 4 overs while Zaheer bowled 3 and R P Singh bowled just 2. Nevermind Dhoni for not giving the ball to the hands of R P Singh.

Similarly, Harbhajan Singh scored a six and a four when Yousuf Pathan, Suresh Raina and Dhoni himself could not cross the double digit mark successsively. I think that this is the ghost haunting India and in turn responsible for their debacle in this world cup. Bowlers are forced to turn batsmen and batsmen need to take wickets. Should one feel happy for the batting skills of bowlers or is there a need to make the players realize where their real talent lies is still an unanswered question.