Indian Cricket: Who Would Be Or Ought To Be The Test Captain?

The sudden stepping down, somewhat inevitable, of Virat Kohli from test captaincy has started a raging speculation in India about who would be or ought to be the new Test captain. Earlier in the year 2021 we had suggested a split-captaincy regime, particularly after the stand-in Test captain Ajinkya Rahane led India to an incredible Series victory over Australia in Australia overcoming the 36-all out syndrome and the departure of Virat for home. Rahane had been the test vice-captain for quite some time and therefore, there should’ve been no hassles to make him the regular captain, relieving Kohli the burden of captaining all three formats. In hindsight, we can say that had that decision been taken Kohli would’ve continued to be the white-ball captain thus the confrontations and ego-plays between BCCI and Kohli could’ve been avoided. However, that was not done, and during the last one year Rahane has been in very poor form and perhaps he had played the last innings of his test career three days back in Cape Town. So, Rahane is out of any contention for test captaincy. For similar reasons, Cheteshwar Pujara cannot be considered either.

 

KL Rahul has been an ideal test player, but thanks to reasons unknown he was mostly left out of the test playing eleven except for the latest South Africa series. In this series he captained the second test in Johannesburg without much to be noticed about his leadership and that is the only experience of test captaincy for him. Although he has been captaining an IPL franchise, this cannot be taken as a justification to appoint him as a national test captain. Instead, he should always be in the test playing eleven as a no.3 batsman rather than trying out all means to play him as an opener. He is rock solid, dependable and a fluent batsman at no.3 positiion which is applicable to all three formats.

 

Cricketing legend Sunil Gavaskar has strongly favored batsman-wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant for the post while talking to a private news channel. But we feel that at 24, Pant is too young and too inexperienced to take charge of a very important position. Again, captaining an IPL franchise is not justification enough for the appointment. He is also a headstrong and an impulsive cricketer often going for very adventurous shots, be it tests or the shorter formats, and making hay only on his day. Further, in the just-concluded Test Series against South Africa his scores had been indifferent but for a 100 in the last innings of the tour, that too for a losing cause. Rishabh first has to cement his place in the test team with dependable and consistent batting. If youngsters are to be considered for a long-term plan then Shreyas Iyer would be a better option, because he is almost sure to make it to the test team after the consistent batting failures displayed by the older batsmen in South Arica. However, in all such cases of experimenting with youngsters they have first to be groomed under an experienced skipper like Virat had gained so much from MS Dhoni.

 

There is another option of considering a bowler for the job. In this scenario the name of Ravichandran Ashwin comes to the fore, because he is very experienced and successful, possibly the best India spinner at the moment, both at home and away, and very handy too as a batsman with two centuries. In fact, Virat Kohli came under a lot of criticism for leaving him out of the playing eleven in most matches in the last two years, particularly in Tests. It’s been a long time since a bowler was given the captain’s job in Indian cricket.

 

Therefore, at least for the time being, the natural choice seems to be Rohit Sharma who is already the regular white-ball captain and would definitely lead Team India into the ICC Men’s World Cup-2023 to be played at home during October-November. Apart from the emerging fact that Rohit too has become too big a superstar for the comfort of the BCCI and has often been in and out of the team due to injuries or ‘personal reasons’ which makes it rather tricky to give him the charge to lead in all three formats, he continues to be the ideal choice at least till 2023. During this time youngsters like Rishabh or Shreyas and also the regular vice-captain KL Rahul can be groomed for the job in the long term. Whatever be the decision it ought to serve Indian cricket in the best possible interests for its future in international cricket. All is not well in Team India at the moment, fans like it or not.  

India Qualify For The WTC Final Beating England 3-1 In Test Series!

India have crushed England by an innings and 25 runs in the fourth and last cricket test match at the Motera, Ahmedabad today and won the Test Series 3-1, thus qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) Final to be played at Lord’s from 18^th June 2021. India needed to win the Series by at least 2-1 margin and had this match been won by the visitors the Series would have ended in a 2-2 draw in which case Australia would have qualified. There are three priceless innings from the Indians that contributed to this emphatic win at the Motera today. First and foremost, the man-of-the-match Rishabh Pant for his incredible century of 101 in just 118 balls coming in to bat at a time when India had lost 4 wickets for 80 still trailing by 125 runs to England’s first innings total of 205. There was tremendous pressure on him to stick on and at the same time pile up enough runs to help his team come back in the game. Rishabh played against his normal attacking style defending a lot with Rohit Sharma till 121 runs and then taking command with Washington Sundar coming in, slowly opening out to launch his known attacking shots all around the park, and reaching his century with a six. His handling of veteran James Anderson with the new ball had been breath-taking. Rishabh Pant’s innings can be called match-defining as it started building a crucial lead for India.

 

Second, the astute and stylish innings of 96 runs not out by an emerging bowling all-rounder, Washington Sundar, only on his fourth test after a brilliant debut in Australia, giving support to Pant in their most valuable partnership of 113 runs, and then taking over command with Axar Patel for company in the match-winning partnership of 106 runs. Unfortunately, he missed out on a most deserved maiden century.

 

Third, spin-bowling sensation Axar Patel, only on the third test of his career, played a priceless innings of 43 runs, partnering with Sundar for a hundred-run partnership that gave India an unassailable lead of 160 runs. Unfortunately, Axar got run out, missing his half-century and not being able to help Washington get his ton, at the team score of 365 which eventually became the final score as the last wickets fell on that score.

 

Ravichandran Ashwin who achieved the feat of 400 wickets in just 77 tests in the last match at the Motera was deservedly judged the man-of-the-series for his incredible haul of 32 wickets in the four-match series and his astounding century in the Chennai second test. He has also become only the fourth bowler of test cricket for maximum wickets in a series thanks to his 32 in only 4 tests. In this this match he and Axar have evenly divided the wickets, thus each registering a fiver. Axar in fact has had four fivers in his first three test matches with the incredible total catch of 27 wickets. For pacers, Mohammad Siraj chipped in with two wickets in England’s first innings and Ishant Sharma did not need to bowl much.   

 

No England batsman could hold the fort for a much-desired duration except for a half-century by Stokes and 46 by Lawrence, mystery replacement for Archer, in the first innings. Captain Joe Root has virtually become the reverse ‘Root cause’ for defeat, not able to contribute anything of significance in the last three games. In this game England perhaps missed the services of Jofra Archer who was dropped inexplicably in view of the fact Anderson and Stokes captured 7 Indian wickets and that a second spinner was indeed brought in place of Broad whose selection in the last two games had been another mystery. Dom Bess who bowled quite well in tandem with Leach in enabling England win the first test in Chennai got dropped for the next two games, and he could not regain his form after being brought in for this game. England’s second innings was an absolute disaster with the whole team collapsing for 135 runs, just a lone half-century by Dan Lawrence.

 

This match has also definitely given some relief to the new pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium after the raging controversy that emerged as the inaugural pink-ball test here ended inside two days. Now it’s likely to be accepted as a challenging pitch where each playing team must prove their skills and application, because the fourth test went on for almost three days and while England again had the advantage of batting first and could not again capitalize, Indians, particularly the tailenders, showed the pitch to be an easy one in stages, by building a total of 365 that should be considered as massive on this ground.

 

Thanks to this test series win that also marks the 13th home series win on the trot during 2013-21 India has become the top team in ICC Test rankings and is sitting pretty at the top of the table of the WTC, with co-qualifier New Zealand next and Australia on the third position. With excellent youngsters and newfound talents India would be looking at the WTC Final against New Zealand exuding confidence. For the sixth, seventh and the eight batting positions India have players like Pant, Sundar, Ashwin, Axar and others. For the sixth position the form of Rishabh Pant has been revealing now, and his constant improvement as a wicket-keeper augurs very well for the team. Only the famed top-four Indian batting has been a disappointment except for the consistently useful knocks of Rohit Sharma. The forms of Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane are real concerns at the moment. However, such class cricketers can turn the tide in their team’s favor anytime and instantly. 

Celebration times now for India with cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar's 50 years of his sensational international debut this day in 1971 against West Indies in West Indies making way for India's majestic away Series win. What nicer gift than this win and qualification for the WTC Final in the legend's honor. Not to speak about the brilliant away series win in Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy this January. 

IPL Vs BCCI Vs Cricket: Days After The Supreme Court Interim Order!

The world knows India as a cricket-craziest nation and its tremendous fan-following for the game; the world understands India’s potential as the ultimate market for cricket for all formats of the game; the world acknowledges the Indian cricket Board (BCCI) as the richest one with influence and hold running effortlessly through to the very top and the world sees the IPL as India’s answer to the football league and as one of the largest sports tournaments benefiting everyone’s coffers from cricket owners, officials and players. Besides, for the IPL there are huge players’ interests, particularly budding cricketers, and numerous stakeholders cutting across India. All these factors concerning the ‘spirit of the game of cricket’ finally seemed to have shaped the Supreme Court of India order as a somewhat ‘favorable’ one for the BCCI considering the circumstances preceding it.

On the historic day of 25^th March, 2014 the Supreme Court asked BCCI Chief N Srinivasan to resign giving him 48 hours to do so. The power-obsessed Chief did not do so and as on earlier occasions offered to step aside till the inquiry is over. Sticking to the ‘very serious allegations in the sealed envelope of the Mudgal report’ observation the Supreme Court came down heavily on the BCCI on Thursday, the 27^th of March, in a proposal putting the future of the seventh version of the IPL in great peril. It proposed cricket’s living legend Sunil Gavaskar take over as the interim Chief of BCCI; the bench also proposed to pass an order barring India Cements (company owned by N Srinivasan) officials from getting involved with the functioning of BCCI after senior counsel Harish Salve, appearing for Cricket Association of Bihar, pointed out that many such officials including India Captain MS Dhoni, Vice President of India Cements, are at present part of the BCCI team and it proposed the suspension of Srinivasan or India Cements owned Chennai Super Kings (CSK) along with Rajasthan Royals (RR) from IPL-7 till the settlement of the case of betting and spot fixing  scandal before it. The court gave the  Board 24 hours to respond.

And the debate over the ‘spirit of the game of cricket’ took over throughout the country including prominent media houses. Emboldened, the BCCI appealed for allowing IPL-7 to go on as scheduled and proposed that President N Sriinvasan would step aside till the case is settled. On its interim order on Friday, the 28^th of March, the Supreme Court withdrew its proposal to suspend two IPL teams asking the Board to follow on the other proposals, now made officially binding in its order. The Supreme Court asked Gavaskar to look particularly after the IPL-7 and asked Shivlal Yadav, the second-in-command of the BCCI,  to look after the admin matters. The BCCI, rather promptly, offered full compliance realizing the importance of IPL-7 being allowed to continue and that N Srinivasan would in effect continue to wield power unofficially leading to one more ‘cold war’ or ‘power struggle’ within the Board. But then, the fact remains that the BCCI has finally been forced to come down on its knees. Genuine cricket lovers would hope the IPL Spot Fixing Case is brought to logical conclusions and results by the Supreme Court in near future.

In another happy ‘coincidence’ as far as the ‘sprit of the game’ is concerned Team India have performing quite well in the ICC World Twenty20 in Bangladesh reaching the semi finals still remaining as the only unbeaten team of the tournament. India have topped Group 2 and would meet South Africa in the second semi final on Friday, the 4^th of April while the first semi final would be played between defending Champions West Indies and Sri Lanka on 3^rd April. Major setbacks of the tournament include elimination of Pakistan and England, and total annihilation of Australia and hosts Bangladesh. England seem to be the most unlucky side losing a promising match to New Zealand on D/L method and then losing a thrilling encounter against South Africa. In the last few days the pitches in Bangladesh look to be broken up leading to low-scoring matches and the chasing teams unable to reach even the lowly targets.

In the meantime Gavaskar started functioning as the new interim BCCI President and the process of throwing India Cements Ltd officials out of the BCCI is in full swing. MS Dhoni was believed to have expressed his anger at being associated with the scam and had reportedly vowed to walk out from his post in the Srinivasan company. As far as the world of cricket is concerned it has been made apparently clear that Srinivasan could no longer represent the BCCI in international meetings or conferences. However, his bid to become chairman of the ICC in July-August this year seems to remain unscathed at the moment.

Cricket: India On The Backfoot Again In Nagpur Test Against England!

That the normally greenish bouncing pitch in Nagpur behaved like an under-prepared one from the first day yesterday maybe thanks to MS Dhoni’s diktats, he lost the toss though this time. That India included four spinners and a lonely pace bowler called Ishant Sharma. That India managed to put England in a spot thanks not to the spinners galore, but to the lone pacer. That India allowed England to wriggle out of the spot easily and later on in different similar spots too, though India did manage to slow down run-scoring which rather helped England as they would win the Series with a draw. That on Dhoni’s pitch England got to a healthy total of 330 runs thanks to brave low order efforts by Prior and spinner Swann. That England’s two excellent spinners got more of the pitch than the four Indian ones. That England put India on the backfoot reducing them to 87 for 4 at stumps on the second day today with all the top four guns back in pavilion. All these cricketing facts hardly matter. What matter are the news about the game of Indian Cricket, the speculations and the possible outcome not naturally to follow after this last Test between India and England. What finally happens in Nagpur Test is not the concern; the concern is what finally does not happen to Indian Cricket. Indian cricket fans have been focused on devouring more and more news about cricket of late. Pity! (By the way, if you are still interested in this Test here is the Scorecard)

Immediately after Humiliation No.2 in Kolkata the squad for the fourth Test was announced. We have said here that the three replacements were scapegoats, and Indian cricket’s living legend Sunil Gavaskar later in the day called two of the three as scapegoats indeed. Two days later ace ex-cricketer Mohinder, fondly called Jimmy, Amarnath spilled the beans as to why big superstars always get protected by the Big (Money?) for a variety of reasons and vested interests. Amarnath, one of the then selectors in BCCI, asked for Dhoni's sack and he mustered three of the five votes, but nothing happened to Dhoni and instead Jimmy found himself sacked in the next appointment of national selectors.  The speculations got wild with experts, ex-players, lovers of the game and fans crying about a no-good or divided or demoralized Team India. Of course, some of them lambasted the fact that it was not the right time for such debates as Team India had yet to play the last Test and that they should not get demoralized. Well, the boys are always the pampered ones regardless of what they do on the field.

The old Indian story is too obvious. Here the dirty rich ones and the powerful ones get dirtier richer and more powerful as they grow old. They muster so much clout over time that their age never becomes a consideration. They can be found sitting mighty in any field of activity—be it politics, arts, sports or cricket. Therefore, the result of the Nagpur Test is hardly a concern as we have mentioned in the beginning. What might still not happen to Indian cricket in the coming days or months is the overwhelming mystery for all concerned. 

Cricket: Comment and Get Paid!

It’s hardly surprising that eminent ex-cricketer commentators, Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri, are in the payroll of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). There has been a nagging doubt in my mind about the integrity of the cricket commentators in what they say and utter. Hardly anyone you could find among them who speaks or spoke about the policy and wrongdoing of the BCCI. They all sang all the time in praise of the Indian Premier League (IPL), main money spinning spearhead of BCCI, and never even mentioned about it when discussing the phenomenon of ‘too much cricket-no rest’ for Team India. Why only two of them? Most of them are fed and enriched by the richest cricket board of the world. If our beloved legendary cricketer Gavaskar says IPL is healthy wealthy and wise, what can we lesser mortals do but to flock on to the three-hour shows! That’s the crux of business, you see!

BCCI’s money-centric policy is further exposed with the selection of Rahul Dravid. In the overseas fast pitches you need technically sound proficient players who have to be test players only. Dravid was made an icon for the IPL tournament which was done clearly for money. And, he was dropped from limited overs national team, that was too done for money only. In the Indian flat fours-sixes pitches the unorthodox and technically less proficient or even faulty cricketers can deliver more eye-thundering shots. Poor Dravid has no option but to retire from limited overs matches after the England tour, because he knows that he will be dropped again in the near future.

Call it BCCI or IPL or call it Indian cricket, it’s all for money and business. Authentic people are needed to carry it forward. And, who will object to earning hundreds of thousands of bucks by doing a job? While fight against corruption rages on in India, these people are just doing what they would like to call legally and essentially righteous jobs! Who are we to differ?