India Hit Back To Crush Australia In Melbourne By 8 Wickets, Level Test Series 1-1!

India have come back in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test Series with a resounding victory in the second test in Melbourne today, defeating Australia by 8 wickets. A sweet revenge for the debacle in Adelaide, striking back with the same victory margin. But for the specter of 36-all-out the visitors could perhaps have won the first test too. And, the specter loomed large again today when two Indian wickets fell for 19, chasing a paltry victory target of 70 runs. Fortunately, the Starc-Cummins-Hazelwood threat did not become a reality again as captain Ajinkya Rahane, the hero and the player-of-the-match, joined debutant opener Shubman Gill who continued to be confident and as solid as in the first innings. The victory came in the 16^thover and the Test Series is now one-all with two tests to follow.

 

We mentioned in our last post on cricket that the top-form Indian bowlers just needed that much support from the batsmen to not allow the opposition snatch a sudden-death victory. Rahane along with Jadeja, Gill and Pant ensured that. It had been an incredible performance of the bowlers, continuing from the Adelaide test, to get the visitors out for 195 and 200 in the first and the second innings on their home turf. More so, because the hosts won the toss at the MCG, elected to bat first and obviously aimed at putting up a commanding total in the first innings, with India to bat last. Jasprit Bumrah with 4 scalps, Ashwin with 3 and Siraj with 2 never allowed the Aussies to get a foothold at any stage of the innings. Perhaps, the consistent failures of Steve Smith contributed largely for this, and the Indians should well be wary of him in the remaining two test matches.

 

Captaining the team in the absence of Kohli, Rahane finally bloomed in this tour and led from the front in all spheres of the match: restored full faith in Ashwin, arguably the top spinner of India at the moment who, unfortunately, would perhaps have been rested in the first test but for the injury of Jadeja; made strategic bowling changes giving the bowlers longer overs at a stretch and intelligent field placements; made the huddles much more interactive; and of course, scored that superlative century of 112 runs in the first innings allowing his team to take a crucial lead of 130 runs. His performances as the captain give a powerful argument in favor of having a split-captaincy regime for the shorter and test formats for Team India too. His leadership in the remaining two matches would be crucial for this.

 

There are a few concerns too for the visitors: consistent failures of Mayank Agarwal as an opener and Cheteshwar Pujara yet to prove his mettle; the place for Hanuma Vihari is also in question. If Rohit Sharma does join the team from the third test Mayank can be replaced seamlessly; else, KL Rahul who has been in top form in the shorter games should get a much-awaited look-in.

 

Team India has ended an unprecedented year of 2020 with a rollicking victory and should immensely look forward to starting the New Year with promise and high spirit. The third test match starts from January 7, 2021, the decision about the final venue is yet to be taken. The match was originally scheduled in Sydney, but the outbreak of cases of the mutant COVID-19 strain in the region favours Melbourne being retained as the venue for the third test too, a rare feat of having back-to-back tests at the MCG. Meanwhile, attendance of crowds at the MCG is capped at 30 thousand per day which is set remain in force for the upcoming match too, if Melbourne gets it. 

Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Australia Destroy India Batting In Adelaide Pink-Ball Test To Go 1-0 Up!

Ashwin's Laugh of  Frustration?

Australia have won the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Series defeating India by 8 wickets inside three days in Adelaide which had been the first ever d/n pink-ball match between the two teams, and the hosts lead the series 1-0 with the second Test starting on the Boxing day, that is from the 26^th of December in Melbourne.

 

Last night at stumps it had been advantage India with a lead of 53 runs that seemed to be crucial and 9/1 as the night watchman Jasprit Bumrah saw off the day successfully. A very exciting third day’s play was anticipated with the Indian batting depth promising to score sufficient runs to corner the hosts who would be batting last. However, the very first hour of the ‘morning’ session destroyed India batting thoroughly as the visitors ended up with the their lowest ever test score of an unbelievable 36, the previous lowest being 42 against England in England in 1974. It was not simply that the Aussie pacers bowled incredibly well and were unplayable. They did bowl furiously dot on length and seam no doubt, but as skipper Virat Kohli pointed out later on there was a lack of intent on the part of the batsmen. Four wickets fell at the score stuck at 15 for over half an hour, and it was all over when Kohli too followed suit at 19/6. It had all been edges outside the off stump flying behind to the wicket-keeper or the slips. Not a single ‘famed’ batsman showed a resolve to stick on and score runs.

 

It was actually a great opportunity lost, because even a total score of 150 would have been competitive for the Aussies batting last. The Indian pacers and the lone spinner Ashwin bowled very well in the Australian first innings restricting the hosts to 191 despite all the fielding lapses and gave their team a lead of 53 precious runs. In the Indian first innings too, the total could very well have crossed the 300-mark had skipper Kohli not been run out under very unfortunate circumstances. A repeat of the Adelaide match in December 2018 when India won by 31 runs was a distinct probability this time too. But it was not to be.

 

The hosts added more humiliation to the visitors by making a perfect mockery of the target of 90 by romping home in style and in good time. Wade and Burns scored freely to build a partnership of 70 runs before the former was run out. Burns scored a half century and he was the only wicket claimed by the Indian bowlers, namely Ashwin. For the hosts Cummins and Starc captured 7 wickets each in the match while Hazelwood got 4 scalps. In totality, the pink ball did not display any special favors for the seamers with some the commentators saying that in a pink ball the seam remains visible for the batsmen which is an advantage for them.

 

As the Indian skipper Kohli goes home, probably two days in advance now, the upcoming test matches pose a huge challenge for Team India. Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal and the would-be stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane continue to fail miserably despite their active participation in the IPL, and their replacements do not look practical at the moment. Either of KL Rahul or Rohit Sharma could replace Kohli for the next three Tests. However, KL Rahul could be seriously considered for replacing Shaw with Rohit included in the team. Cheteshwar Pujara, the hero of the 2018-19 Series and taken out from the wilderness of more than a year, has performed reasonably well in the first innings and is going to be the key for the next matches. The bowlers are in top form and eager to go for the kill, only the support of the batsmen can make them win matches. 

The Life Shiner!

My most used pair of shoes needed a polish very badly. The shoe-color container dried up long back. In the prolonged lockdown period, it was not possible to visit a shoe store and could not order online as well as it was not an essential item. Even after the unlock had gradually widened I didn’t think of venturing out due to the transport hassles. Instead, I started looking for a shoe-shiner shop on my customary evening walks, but found that most of those shops were yet to reopen. Even that lone shoe-polish guy sitting on the roadside with a box was missing.

 

On my walk that evening I changed my normal route, and started looking closely around as I walked on. Luckily, on a solitary corner of a by-lane that branched off to my left from the main road I found a shoe-shiner shop. I marched towards it feeling like a victorious commander. But as I neared my target I had to stop on my tracks. A lady, well clad in ordinary clothes, was sitting there bent over something that she seemed to be stitching.

 

It was an unusual sight. In my lifetime I never encountered or saw a lady shoe-shiner. Now, I hesitated even to ask her if polishing was done there, forget about getting my shoes polished by a woman. Not done, I just thought.

 

Seeing me standing there uncertainly the lady looked up at me and asked what was the matter. Her matter-of-fact tone assuaged my escapist mood, and so I had to answer her,

“Is shoe polishing done here?”

“Yes, sure!” she immediately offered me the pair of rubber slippers that served as an interim arrangement to wait upon.

 

I started taking off my shoes, albeit unwillingly and feeling somewhat ashamed of myself, handed the pair to her and stood on the slippers. And looked around rather sheepishly.

 

She got busy with the pair expertly and dexterously. Presently I heard her murmur something. As if prompted by my still apologetic mind I immediately asked her if anything was the matter. The lady shook her head ever so slightly, and with an imperceptible smile, perhaps, still immersed in her work. Not happy with her response, I leaned towards her and asked again, “Any problem, behenji (sister)?”

 

This time she did look up at me, but indicated something that I failed to understand. She got back to her work and murmuring, now, it could be called chatting.

 

Then it dawned on me. She had been talking on her mobile phone all the time, even before I approached her. But I failed to detect the phone or the headphones anywhere around her, even under the numerous folds of her dress starting from the head covering. Perhaps, she resorted to the discretion to all her tasks smoothly and simultaneously, not taking the risk of shooing off or distracting the potential customers. She must be taking full care of her home and all members of the family while doing the job not exactly cutout for her, I decided. And my mind raced.

 

Hard-working ingenious people! nothing can ever bog them down, not even the most distressing times like the lockdown and the drying-up of all sources of earning. Nothing can ever derail them from their life struggles, howsoever hard, painful and hopeless at times. Instead, they’ll carry on with full-family spirit or the community spirit, helping and complementing each other in all kinds of odd jobs, and most significantly, go on enjoying the small pleasures of life and the joy of togetherness. No job is lowly for them, any work is just work, and work is always worship for them. Not like us, the cantankerous, delicate and the ever-complaining lot! Getting panicky and wanting to escape at any inconvenience or at the slightest hint of a problem!

 

I in my mind saluted her indomitable spirit and the love for life, and in fact, I wanted to bow down to her in true admiration. But that would be more embarrassing for her than for me if at all, I decided again.

She finished her work and handed me the pair back. I very much wanted to pay her more than the bill, but decided against it instantly. They always have the great asset of self-respect, and know how to keep it.

I resumed my walk happily and in a very positive frame of mind, humming a good tune cheerfully.

Indian Farmers’ Crisis: Bharat Bandh Tomorrow!

It is extremely ironical that the only Indian sector largely unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic should get embroiled in a seemingly endless crisis. The Farmers’ agitation, some people detest calling it that, has entered the 12^th day with the farmers still camping in the Delhi-Haryana border, braving the unusually cold winter this time and blocking most of the highways leading to the capital. Three rounds of talks with the Government of India have failed to yield solutions that the farmers wanted, and the fourth round of talks has been scheduled on December 9. With the Union Agriculture minister still adhering to the government line of argument that the reforms as promised by the Farm Laws would be beneficial for the farmers in the long run, the distressed and tired farmers want a repeal of the laws, and demand an answer of ‘yes or no’ to that. Therefore, despite the government’s promise of presenting a set of concrete proposals on the 9^ththe farmers are going ahead with their plan of observing a Bharat Bandh in protest tomorrow, the 8^th of December 2020.

 

Nobody would deny the fact that reforms are urgently needed in the agricultural sector with the Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMC) becoming obsolete and a growing burden for both the farmers and the government, and the continuing exploitation of the farmers by the APMC-centric middlemen and of course, the money lenders nobody is talking about whom, but it has been a fact of life that the stranglehold of the moneylenders drives scores of small and marginal farmers to suicides every year.

 

Except for the states of Punjab and Haryana the APMCs do not play a significant role in many other states where the state governments had either dismantled these or allowed the farmers the option to sell to the private traders too. So, it is not surprising that only 6% of Indian farmers actually sell through the APMCs or that only 25% of the total farming transactions are done in APMCs. Further, the system of Minimum Support Price (MSP) is applicable to only 23 commodities, and this system is largely responsible for overproduction in food grains leading to tremendous wastage in the warehouses, and also it cannot stop the mechanism of distress selling by farmers during hard times. Most of the states had already delinked the sale of vegetables and fruits from the APMC mandis long back.

 

So yes. Reforms are indeed needed. The earlier governments also wanted to either change or abolish the APMCs. But the almost covert, majority-based and rushed way the government of India pushed the Farm Laws and passed these in Parliament could hardly be justified, and in fact, this high-handedness had led to the creation of fears, uncertainty and unrest in the farmers across the country. In terms of policies and reforms the Indian agricultural sector, still the bane of the economy, has a legacy since the pre-independence period, and therefore, to have an ideal system of farming with easy and profitable market access to the cultivators free of the sucking middlemen and the traps of the money lenders, a chain of storage facilities, appropriate mechanism to encourage commercial crops and so on, one needs a long process of deliberations, brainstorming, constitution of panel of experts, submission of reports etc. taking all political parties and all stakeholders on board.

 

So, it seems that the rushing through of the laws at this pandemic times was just a means to help out the corporates to generate more funds/business for them in the still-prospering agriculture sector which in turn can help the government garner more revenues. And, instead of a well-thought-out process of deliberations directly bringing in the corporates to deal in agricultural produce is bound to create apprehension and doubts, genuine or unfounded.

 

It has become a catch-22 situation as the impatient farmers cannot possibly agree for nothing less than the scrapping of the laws and the government too cannot possibly agree to a repeal since the laws were pushed through so urgently. However, we can only hope that good practical sense would prevail over the rulers to consider at least a stay on the implementation so that a proper mechanism sets in to carry out the much-needed reforms.  They should also desist from making allegations of vested interests or even terrorists joining the farmers’ bandwagon to give a bad name to the agitation, as has been their wont in recent years.

The farmers who are the annadatas (food providers) for all of us should not be allowed to suffer like this, and if they are made desperate only our country and economy would suffer even more. It is extremely critical to have all the farmers on board, rich or small or marginal, with meaningful laws suited to their issues, problems and concerns. All experts/intellectuals/politicians should shed their ideological bias and prejudice, and help the government resolve the crisis in overwhelming favour of our farmers.

India Beat Australia In Sydney Thriller To Win Dettol T20I Series At 2-0!

Finally in Sydney, India has tasted victory beating Australia by 6 wickets in the second T20 international match today, thus winning the three-match Dettol T20I Series with an unassailable 2-0 lead. Hardik Pandya became the man of the moment with his explosive winning innings of 42 off 22 balls, supported ably by Shikhar Dhawan (52), KL Rahul (30) and Virat Kohli (40). Like Australia avenged their home ODI Series loss in 2018-19 by overwhelming India in the Dettol ODI Series 2-1, India have now taken sweet revenge of their T20I Series loss in the 2018-19 tour. India had earlier won the first T20I match in Canberra by 11 runs, and today’s victory marks their third consecutive win in India Tour of Australia 2020-21. This win also marks India’s 10^th consecutive win in international T20 matches.

 

Kohli won the toss, and took a tricky decision by inviting the hosts to bat first. Australia raced towards a huge score from the word go with stand-in captain Wade (in absence of injured Finch) making 58 quick runs before getting run out in an amusing situation. The Indian bowlers, Shami and Bumrah rested, got hit all around the park except for the great IPL-find Natarajan who put the brakes on also capturing two wickets. However, India could not prevent the hosts putting up a very challenging score of 194/5, perhaps about 20 runs more than the visitors desired.

 

India’s chase of 195 started with caution in the first two overs after which both the openers, Rahul and Dhawan, opened up scoring freely all around. In fact, the chase had been a total team effort with every batsman contributing to it significantly. It was again a dicey decision to send Hardik Pandya at no.5 with a better batsman Shreyas Iyer still waiting in the dressing room. After a hesitant start Pandya never looked back, till he hit the winning six. The asking rate had also been kept around 10 per over almost throughout the chase. Indian needed 25 runs from the last two overs. Pandya reduced it to 14 needed off the last over, and he hit two huge sixes to help his team win the match with two balls to spare.

 

The first match in Canberra was a low-scoring one as India managed to set a target of just 161 for the hosts thanks largely to a rollicking 44 by Ravindra Jadeja who got hit in the helmet during the innings and could not field in the Australian chase. That in fact was the turning point as the concussion replacement Chahal sparkled with three scalps. And Natarajan who kept his nerve till the last moments presented the other haul of three wickets as Australia could manage only 150/7 in the allotted 20 overs.

 

On the major takeaways so far Natarajan has been a terrific addition to bolster the pace attack with Bumrah and Shami back in future; the form of Pandya is also very heartening and he should be fit for bowling too as soon as possible; the top four batsmen finally came into the picture in the second T20I match; and the Indian fielders have started taking some very good catches of late. On the flip side the Indian fielders continue to drop catches too including the ever-agile Kohli and most of the bowlers, particularly the spinners, have still not found good line and length. Overall, Team India seems to have steered clear of the pandemic frame-of-mind.

 

The last match of the Dettol T20I Series will be played in Sydney on 8^th December, and thereafter the all-important Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test Series is going to start in Adelaide from December 17 which will be a pink-ball day/night affair. 

India Win Canberra ODI: No International Cricket Series Should Immediately Follow The IPL!

Even though the Indian Premiere League (IPL) is basically a T20 club-cricket tournament with multinational cricketers, the stakes involved in the tournament are immense. There is the great promise of moolah for every stakeholder: from the richest cricket board of the world BCCI to the national cricket icons or superstars, little-known domestic cricketers and international cricket stars. Every club or franchise is sort of produced by a business group or a rich investor, and all of the investors not only want their money back, but also shares of the net profits. The fantastic popularity that the IPL enjoys brings in the advertisers and commercial sponsors/co-sponsors. So, for obvious reasons nobody would ever like to give up on this annual bonanza, at any cost. No doubt, the BCCI had been desperate to organize IPL-2020 despite the pandemic, and finally grabbed the anticipated slot that was vacated by the ICC as the Cricket T20 World Cup-2020 could not be held. Not to speak of the other benefits that the domestic cricketers are expected to get in their careers.

 

The BCCI has long termed the IPL as a must event. The Indian cricketers, on the flip side, are the worst sufferers in this tournament: like the underworld there is no point of return for them once they get in; even injured players are forced to get fit in no time; the icons or the superstars are always the biggest attractions assuring the flowing advertising money; the rising or little-known domestic players have everything to gain from this tournament; the international players do not ever mind it because of the money and cricketing practice. With the industrialists and business tycoons breathing down their backs the Indian players cannot even think of quitting the tournament mid-way whatever be the reasons/grounds.

 

Naturally, the nearly two-month long tournament leaves the domestic players drained, and what they desperately need after is rest, at least for a fortnight, with families and friends. Therefore, whenever an international bilateral series or a world cricket event immediately follows the IPL the Indian cricketers hardly get enough time to regroup and reenergize. While the international cricketers participating in the IPL can leave the tournament early to attend to the call of their respective national duties the Indian counterparts have to go through to the last ball, despite the ‘national duty’ on which even the BCCI always takes an ambiguous stand.

 

The ICC Cricket World Cup-2019 was a glaring example in this context when the Indian players had only about a fortnight to prepare for the most prestigious world event that comes only once in four years, not annually. The international players got their precious practice and confidence-building in the IPL-2019, and left early to participate in their respective training sessions. And, the Indian cricketers, including skipper Virat Kohli toiling for a lost cause, had had to suffer through the full tournament with no training camps to follow. What happened? Perhaps the best Indian team ever fielded for World Cups could not progress beyond the semi-final, with topsy-turvy performances in-between. The IPL becomes a clear liability under such circumstances, and therefore, we strongly and in agony appeal that scheduling of international series or events must not ever be done immediately following the annual IPL.

 

The India Tour of Australia-2020-21 has been suffering directly from the scheduling with India already losing the ODI Series. With a host of restrictions and quarantine procedures the Indian players participating in the IPL-2020 in UAE since September had been both physically and mentally drained. Yet they had to proceed to Australia the very next day after the IPL final, and had again to undergo isolation for 14 days without any practice matches or sessions. It is only hoped that the Indians would gradually get acclimatized and be somewhat ready by the time the Test Series starts.

 

On the third and final ODI match in Canberra today India made a few changes in the team. Why? Perhaps only the winning Australian team enjoyed this prerogative. Since it has been widely reported in the media that ‘India now play for respect’, why then the management did not field the same team that they did not bother to change even for the decisive second match! The retained star batsmen of Team India for the Canberra match could do no better than on the earlier two occasions, and the pair of Pandya-Jadeja had to bat out of their skin to restore some of the ‘respect’. While Australia registered three centuries there was none from the superstars of India, and only Pandya, an all-rounder who never really bowled, reached the 90s twice.

 

India did get back the ‘respect’ winning a close match in Canberra by 13 runs, and lost the Dettol ODI Series 1-2. Mind you, this was a second Australian team thanks to Warner’s injury and experimentation with reserve players. Can Team India come back at least for the 3-match T20 Series that starts from the 4^th of December, based on the benchmarked IPL-selection procedures exercised since the last few years? Perhaps the Canberra win would make them a little more spirited.