Cricket – Page 2 – mere funde

Sports writing

February 15, 2016July 25, 2010 by Amit Goyal

American History X remains one of my all time favorites. And there is a line in the movie which I really love.

Derek says it’s always good to end a paper with a quote. He says someone else has already said it best. So if you can’t top it, steal from them and go out strong.

Dileep is one of the best sports writer of our times (and you guys might want to look up Aakash Chopra as well), and he has followed this rather good piece of advice to the hilt in this tribute to Murali.

Neville Cardus once said of Learie Constantine: “When Constantine plays the whole man plays, not just the professional cricketer part of him. There is nothing in the world for him when he bats, save a ball to be hit — and a boundary to be hit over. When he bowls, the world is three wickets, there to be sent spinning gloriously. Cricket, indeed, is Constantine’s element; to say that he plays cricket, or takes part in it, is to say that a fish goes swimming. Constantine is cricket, West Indian cricket…”
For nearly two decades, Murali was Sri Lanka’s Constantine, the prime factor in his nation wresting respect from a grudging world. There are a few more one-day scalps to claim and Twenty20 batsmen to embarrass. But for now he can put his feet up and contemplate a job that no one could have done better. Top of the world on the field, and a different class off it. Truly one of a kind.

Go read this piece on Murali. And to Murali: You Sir, will be missed!

Calling Wisden’s bullshit

February 15, 2016April 15, 2010 by Amit Goyal

Had it been printed in TOI, I would not have bothered to respond. However, when a respected publication like The Wisden Almanack says something as outrageous, I think it warrants a few words. And no, it is not about selecting four Englishmen in the top five cricketers of the last year. The piece I am talking about, appears as “If the ICC move to India, we might as well say ta, ta” in the current edition under “Notes by the Editor“. Some lines and my response below.

“Were the ICC to be based in New Delhi or Mumbai, the power-base of their next president Sharad Pawar, the staff would become predominantly Indian as the main current administrators would find it too difficult to relocate their families there, and the organisation would cease to reflect the attitudes and values of all its members.”

Where would you, Mr. Berry, have it relocate to? One would think it has to be one of the Test playing nations, given the lack on interest in cricket in the neutral venues like Dubai. If so, would not a city in the sub-continent, with four of nine test playing nations, be more representative of the members? And I would stick my neck out and say that Delhi or Mumbai would a top choice in the region. Also, with a large number of expat population, I see no reason why administrators would find it difficult to relocate here vis-a-vis London or Sydney or Johannesburg.

“It is not a business, or an industry like steel, to be taken over.”

In case you have missed the memo Sir, the game is a business, and the clout of India is proof enough. Unless Mr. Berry wants to stick his neck in the sand and pretend that we are still in the 50s, he should know that the game needs money to be run efficiently and ensure the further development of the sport.

All said and done, I believe the piece was out of place. While I agree that India wields more than necessary influence on the ICC, one has to be cognizant of the fact that India is where cricket gets most of its audience from. So get over your fears and accept reality.

And for God’s sake, please let Tata and Corus be in peace. It’s not like we have made you slaves.

The Man, The Master, The Boy Wonder

February 15, 2016February 24, 2010 by Amit Goyal

Sachin's 200* against SA — Sachin gets the double!

No one else has deserved any record any more!

Does India deserve to be number one!

February 15, 2016December 25, 2009 by Amit Goyal

There has been a lot of nonsense written about why India does not deserve to be the best test team in the ICC Rankings. Example here. There have been a lot of rebuttals as well. Example here. This post is yet another rebuttal of the same.

Let’s look at batting for a while. In the past three years, starting 01 Jan 2007, five of the top ten run scorers in the Test format, excluding runs scored against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, and WI, have been from India. SL, SA, Australia, England, and WI have one each in the top 10. Not too bad I would say. Even the great Ricky Ponting is on the 15th step, which really makes you wonder why no one calls him over the hill anymore, but I digress. A team that has the best batsmen of the last three years must have something in it.

Rank	Player	Country	Mat	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	SR	100	50
1	V Sehwag	India	21	38	2137	319	57.75	91.52	5	7
2	SR Tendulkar	India	26	47	2126	160	50.61	54.96	6	12
3	DPMD Jayawardene	SL	18	31	2081	275	74.32	52.06	7	6
4	VVS Laxman	India	29	50	2053	200*	52.64	49.86	4	15
5	JH Kallis	SA	22	39	2009	186	55.80	49.50	8	9
6	MJ Clarke	Aus	24	40	1983	145*	55.08	51.33	7	10
7	R Dravid	India	29	54	1966	177	40.12	41.07	4	11
8	S Chanderpaul	WI	22	37	1933	147*	71.59	42.06	7	13
9	G Gambhir	India	14	27	1869	206	71.88	50.91	7	7
10	KP Pietersen	Eng	22	40	1830	152	46.92	55.92	7	3
11	KC Sangakkara	SL	17	29	1793	192	64.03	56.03	7	7
12	SC Ganguly	India	21	41	1761	239	47.59	59.01	3	9
13	AJ Strauss	Eng	22	40	1757	177	45.05	45.45	5	8
14	HM Amla	SA	22	40	1730	176*	48.05	47.51	5	11
15	RT Ponting	Aus	24	41	1699	150	42.47	60.78	4	11

Now for the bowling. The list is much more evenly distributed this this. Three of the top ten bowlers, with same filters as above, are from India, with SA claiming another three, Australia two, and England and SL one each. Though bowling still remains a concern for the Indians, it is no better for the other teams. SA is arguably the strongest in this department, but then with Steyn injured and Ntini fading quickly, they might not enjoy the same status for long.

Rank	Player	Country	Mat	Inns	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	Ave	Econ	SR	5	10
1	Harbhajan Singh	India	23	41	1209.5	182	3465	105	33	2.86	69.1	4	1
2	MG Johnson	Aus	23	44	942.4	168	2937	104	28.24	3.11	54.3	3	1
3	DW Steyn	SA	17	32	598.2	107	2119	96	22.07	3.54	37.3	7	3
4	Z Khan	India	22	40	821.4	168	2640	83	31.8	3.21	59.3	4	0
5	JM Anderson	Eng	22	41	839.4	174	2867	82	34.96	3.41	61.4	4	0
6	M Ntini	SA	22	42	724.5	142	2527	76	33.25	3.48	57.2	3	0
7	A Kumble	India	18	33	902.3	147	2767	72	38.43	3.06	75.2	2	0
8	PL Harris	SA	22	37	828	172	2290	71	32.25	2.76	69.9	3	0
9	B Lee	Aus	15	30	612	117	1941	67	28.97	3.17	54.8	2	0
10	M Muralitharan	SL	15	25	808.4	123	2381	67	35.53	2.94	72.4	4	1
11	Danish Kaneria	Pak	13	25	759.4	124	2278	62	36.74	2.99	73.5	2	0
12	RJ Sidebottom	Eng	14	25	582	140	1573	60	26.21	2.7	58.2	4	1
13	FH Edwards	WI	18	32	507.3	61	2020	59	34.23	3.98	51.6	4	0
14	MS Panesar	Eng	20	33	782	141	2305	58	39.74	2.94	80.8	2	0
15	CS Martin	NZ	18	32	652.2	142	2061	57	36.15	3.15	68.6	0	0

The thing to note is that this data is for a three year period, and not for a one off year. So its not really a flash in the pan, but rather some sustained good performances by the Indian team. During this period, India has played an almost equal number of tests home (15) and away (14), so there is no real home advantage for the team.

I know that statistics don’t really tell everything, but they do tell you a few things, and what it does tell here is that India really has been a world’s best team for the past couple of years, even though SA are right on their tails.

All data from Cricinfo’s Statsguru. Batting and Bowling.

Failed promises

February 15, 2016November 5, 2009 by Amit Goyal

Failed promises – that is what the youngsters in the Indian team are. Not one young player, since Dhoni and Gambhir debuted in 2004, has kept the promise shown in the initial few matches.

Ishant has been but a pale shade of the bowler who bowled that amazing over to Ponting during that awesome Oz trip. Sreesanth was moved more by movies and glam than cricket. About the batsmen, the lesser said the better. The Jadejas, Sharmas, Pathans, and Utthappas have just shown a lot of promise and then quietly faded away after an initial hoopla has subsided.

Not one player, other than Raina probably, has shown any sort of consistency. Yes they look good on the field on the occasional days that India fields well. Other than that you can’t depend on them for anything. And yes, we have given them enough chances. They just don’t have the balls to grab the opportunity and prove that they are good enough. Heck they even lack basic cricketing knowledge – Jadeja was a classic example today! What on earth was he running for?? As Jrod says,

Those were the ten dudes. A collection of shit hot batsmen who were made to look like dribbling fools compared to Sachin.

And I am just talking about the ODI team. I don’t even want to imagine what happens to the Test team when Sachin, Laxman, and Dravid retire, with Sehwag not too far behind.