Is it time for India to look beyond Yuvraj?

Note: Wrote this on March 21st  after India's first match. Sent to Cricinfo but they declined to publish this time (may be they thought this was harsh). Thought today is a very apt day to put it on my blog at least.

When Yuvraj was selected for New Zealand’s T20 leg during their 2012 India tour, it marked a comeback which was hugely emotional for one of India’s favorite sons of the past decade. Many questioned the selection and many felt it was made purely on emotional grounds and less so on cricketing grounds. But, Yuvraj did perform on the field. Although his comeback game in Vizag got washed out, he did well in Chennai where he bowled a couple of overs and almost took India home in their chase (India lost by a run with Yuvi making 34 off 26).

After that, he played 10 more T20 international games before the opener against Pakistan this T20 WC. Among these knocks, one stands out. He hit an unbeaten 77 in 35 balls to successfully chase down Australia’s 201 in Rajkot, 2013. However, it has to be said he did not exactly set the stage on fire and neither did he consistently replicate his heroics of the past. Yes, there are those six 6s but who can forget his superlative knock against Australia in the 2007 T20 WC? 

Even though Yuvraj didn’t have a particularly successful domestic season, his selection to this World Cup squad was largely expected.  There were slight concerns if he will make it to the starting XI but those died down once team India played him at number 4 in both warm-up games.  He didn’t bowl in either of the games and although he hit 30 odd against Sri Lanka, he did not look very comfortable in these 2 games.

All the eyes were on India’s opener against Pakistan. It was a pretty comfortable win for India and most players played their part. But, it was a game to forget for Yuvraj. He bowled an expensive over, dropped a catch, and then had his stumps rattled after scoring just 1 run.  He walked in with India relatively comfortably placed at 64/2 and had time to settle in. He didn’t last long as he was undone by a full delivery with his feet going nowhere.

When Yuvraj made his comeback in 2012, Dhoni said ‘he gives us the right kind of balance we need’. However, with him not bowling a lot and fielding not as sharp, is Yuvraj now starting to be a liability in India’s middle order? The answer has to be yes. Stuart Binny had a terrific domestic season and it is time he is given a long run. Kohli, Raina and Dhoni can form the middle order with Jadeja, Binny and Ashwin being the lower middle order. The other option India has is to pick Rahane as an opener and play Rohit Sharma at 5.

Dravid as coach? Surely yes. But now? May be not.

March 9^th, 2014 marked the day when Dravid completed 2 years as a former India cricketer. Soon after, Gavaskar came out openly and suggested Dravid should replace Fletcher immediately as the next India coach. Wow, that was unexpected from Sunny. It is in fact good for Indian cricket that we now seem to have an outspoken Gavaskar. Barring a few like Bedi, most former Indian cricketers and commentators are very reserved and diplomatic about their views on Indian cricket.

Is Gavaskar right? He is definitely right when he says Fletcher should be replaced. More than anything, it is India’s test record under Fletcher that is most concerning. In the 15 away tests Fletcher has been in charge, India has won just one of them and lost 10.  Yes, it is a team in transition. Yes, the bowling options are limited.  But, you are not made the head coach of the number one team for nothing. There are challenges and there are expectations. It can be safely said that expectations haven’t been met. As many suggest, Fletcher is a technician and an expert in fixing flaws of batsmen. But, I don’t think there are any Indian batsmen who have greatly improved under him. For example, Rohit Sharma is still not tight in his defense and Raina continues to have it difficult against the short ball.

Now, to the more interesting and debatable part of Sunny’s comment. Should Dravid succeed Fletcher? At least, twitter was abuzz with a lot of positive reaction. Even a few former cricketers like Farokh Engineer felt Dravid would make a good coach.

If you look at successful India coaches of the past, John Wright and Gary Kirsten are the names that immediately come to mind. And if you look around for current coaches in International cricket who are doing well, Darren Lehmann easily tops the list. In the shorter form of cricket like the IPL, Stephen Fleming is comfortably the most successful coach. What’s common with all these guys? All former cricketers, all of them had fairly successful playing careers, all of them are respected and all of them have a pretty astute cricketing brain. Dravid easily ticks all these boxes. On a side note, I do think Dravid is one of the most underrated Indian captains. He was a good tactician and led to key test wins abroad, but events like 2007 World Cup dented his reputation.

What about coaching experience? Coaches like Flower, Kirsten and Lehmann weren’t part of a whole bunch of coach certification courses. And hence it is fairly certain that you don’t need to be certified to be a good coach. However, all these players did have a feel of what it takes to be a coach.  Kirsten set up his own academy, Lehmann did coach at various levels before he became head coach of Aussies and Flower was an assistant coach of the England national team previously.

Dravid has a little bit of experience with Rajasthan Royals and will also be their mentor this year. Is this good enough to take over national reigns? I don’t think so.  I would love to see Dravid drafted in as a batting consultant for Team India for England and Australia tours. And of course, he should continue in the same role for the 2015 World Cup.  This should not only greatly help India’s young guns, but also give Dravid valuable experience.

Finally, it is all up to the man himself to take a decision. He has a young family, and wouldn’t want to be on the road again so soon.  However, a few abroad tours till the World Cup shouldn’t be too bad and Dravid can be offered the full role once he thinks he is ready. 

Let them be the new Pujara and the new Kohli

 In Johannesburg, there was a hoarding up in the stands which said ‘Pujara is the new Dravid, Kohli is the new Tendulkar’ and very aptly, this was shown when Dravid himself was on commentary. Dravid’s immediate response was “He is the new Pujara, doesn’t need to be the new Dravid”.  Classic response, and it means a lot too. The same applies to Kohli as well.

Yes, there is every reason to be excited with what Pujara and Kohli have done in their short test career, and especially with their performance in the Johannesburg test. But, these comparisons do no good to the players themselves.  Gavaskar didn’t replace anyone and neither was Tendulkar the new Gavaskar.  You never replace great players and you don’t look to find replacements for greats either. You look for players who fit in certain positions and luckily, India has found a couple of very promising players who are playing in positions previously occupied by two Indian greats.

However, let’s answer this question. Have Pujara and Kohli shown potential to take up positions three and four respectively in the Indian test lineup for a long term? Most definitely, yes. More than the huge second innings partnership, the way these two have taken India from a precarious 24/2 to 70/2 on the first morning(pre-lunch) at Wanderers against the number one pace attack in the world proves this. In my mind, this was the most defining session of the entire test, and India would have lost if not for this partnership.

I am already looking forward to the Durban test.  Steyn and Philander running in hard to India’s young guns is a mouth-watering prospect. Oh, how I wish this was a four-test series?  But, glad that there are three meaningful and testing tours post this for India – New Zealand, England and Australia.  If the sample of Jo’burg is anything to go by, the world can look forward and see if this is the beginning of a new batting era.  I hope it is. Let us all look forward to the new Pujara and the new Kohli. And no, I am not jinxing them.

My latest piece in Cricinfo

What makes Rajasthan so likeable?

Awesome Twosome, but who after?

Scene 1 – Lord’s, 2002. ODI - India were struggling chasing a record 300 plus target. A great English player of the past who was commenting then said – ‘If I had to pick two batsmen in the world who can do this, it would be these two and no one else’.

Scene 2 – Lord’s, 2011, Test – India were struggling again under overcast swinging conditions, arguably facing the most potent bowling attack. Same two at the crease, and a famous site quoted – ‘This is what cricket is all about, folks’. How true?

On both these occasions, these two have only provided glimpses of their true might, but on most occasions, there was no one else that India could look up to. I write this, days after these two have become the most successful batting partnerships in test match history passing the great West Indian pair of Greenidge and Haynes. They already hold the record for the most hundred partnerships by a pair in test cricket. Some numbers for the statistics lovers – these two have contributed close to 57000 of their country’s international run count in the last 20 odd years. And, a staggering 10600 runs have come while batting with each other.

No points for guessing, Rahul Sharad Dravid, and Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar are easily the best batting partnerships of the past 15-20 years. Some of the few pairs who come very close are - Mahela and Sanga, Hayden and Ponting, Inzamam and Yousuf, Hayden and Langer, and Dravid again with Laxman. But Sachin and Rahul have done it all. They have held their own against the best of the attacks – Wasim and Waqar, McGrath and Warne, Murali and Vaas, Pollock and Donald and to some extent, Ambrose and Walsh. For most part of their careers, they have played under enormous scoreboard pressure (India two down for nothing, after the opposition amassing a huge score). And these two complement their games enormously well even though the foundation for both is solid technique.

One cannot imagine an Indian batting line-up without these two. No one would have proven the old cliché ‘Form is temporary but class is permanent’ more than these two gentlemen. Dravid’s glorious revival has meant that true batting lovers will have at least a year more to watch these two together in whites.

But, the burning question is - Who after? Not just in Indian cricket, but also in the international arena. Sadly, there is not much on the canvas. In this era of T20 free-lancers, who can showcase true batting for years to come? Very few current pairs come to mind – Bell and Trott for England, de Villiers and Amla for SA, and Sehwag and Gambhir for India to name a few. And especially in case of India, it would be foolish to expect someone to replace the golden era, but I firmly believe two of Pujara, Rahane and Kohli would keep the Indian batting flag flying high. As for other nations, Shaun Marsh and Usman Khawaja can go long for the Aussies.

Flatter pitches, weaker bowling attacks and lesser test cricket would do no good to offer quality batting. To sum it up, if someone questions my era, I would say I grew up watching cricket in the Sachin-Rahul era, but I wonder what the younger lot has to say.

Test Team of the decade

Oh well, my turn to pick my best test eleven of this decade.

Openers:

Contenders: Hayden, Smith, Sehwag.

Haydos is an automatic choice, but difficult to choose between Viru and Smith. Viru scored 6248 runs @ 52.50 and Smith 6451 runs @ 49.62. But Viru’s ability to turn a match on its head(his strike rate is 80.44) gets him my vote.

Picks: Hayden & Sehwag.

Middle-order: (3, 4 and 5)

Contenders: Ponting, Dravid, Tendulkar, Lara, Jayawardene and Yousuf.

Number 4 is an automatic choice. Sachin takes it.

Now, the all important 3, and it is between Dravid and Ponting. Dravid scored 8558 runs @ 55, and Ponting 9458 @ 58. But, Dravid averages 56.03 abroad, compared to Ponting’s 49.77. And, Ponting had the luxury of a great opening pair, whereas Dravid was in at India 1 down for nothing (for most part of the decade). So, I would go in with Dravid at 3. Perfect player to follow Haydos/Viru.

Ah, the tough bit now. Number 5. For me, Mahela and Yousuf never proved their worth outside the sub-continent. That leaves with Lara. Lara scored an impressive 6380 runs this decade. But he retired in 2006. Lara would surely make it to my all-time test eleven, but this decade, it is really hard to ignore Ponting. For my convenience, I will play Punter at 5.

Picks: Dravid, Tendulkar and Ponting.


All-rounder: (6)

Contenders: Flintoff, Kallis and Pollock.

Both Flintoff and Pollock are less reliable as batsmen for number 6. In fact, Pollock’s batting blossomed only towards the end of his career. Flintoff has the charisma, but amazing consistency (and thereby his unbelievable stats of 8630 runs and 205 wickets) of Kallis gives him the all-rounder spot.

Pick: Kallis


Wicket-keeper Batsman: (7)

Contenders: Gilchrist and Sangakkara.

Sanga has an astonishing 7549 runs @ 55.10, and Gilly 5130 runs @ 46.63. But, Sangakkara for me is in the Dravid-Kallis mould and this team doesn’t need a third batsman in the same type. Even though Sanga is a better keeper against spinners, Gilly was rarely at fault for most part of his keeping career. So, Gilly is my pick.

Pick: Gilchrist

Bowlers: (8, 9, 10 and 11)

Contenders: McGrath, Muralitharan, Warney, Ntini, Pollock, Lee, Pollock and Kumble.

Well, Warney and Murali for sure. Now, for the two pacers. McGrath has 2197 at a superb average of 20.53 (best of the decade). Surely he would be part of my team. Tempted to have a real speedster in Lee, but Pollock’s consistency would make him my number 8.

Yes, there is a disappointment in having no real fast bowler, but Pidge, Polly, Warney and Murali (with Kallis to support) is not a bad bet to get 20 wickets.

Picks: Pollock, Warne, McGrath and Murali.

Final Eleven:

Hayden, Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Ponting, Kallis, Gilchrist, Pollock, Warne, Muralitharan and McGrath.


Captain: Oh well, Warney? I wish. But, his lack of experience as an international captain, and lack of no other real contender, I will choose Ponting.