Tendulkar’s single-minded dedication to run-scoring is something they identify with Down Under

Christian Ryan14-Nov-2009From the beginning, the relationship was about something bigger than admiration and affection. When Sachin Tendulkar set foot in Australia he brought with him rain.Lismore, a place of board shorts and stubby coolers, on the far north hippie trail of New South Wales, was the strange location for Tendulkar’s maiden first-class innings in Australia. Lismore hadn’t seen rain – the kind of rain that wet your shirt – in months. The Indians arrived on a Friday, November 1991, and all that morning it poured, drowning out the net session they’d scheduled. They moved indoors and it poured some more.Local politician Reg Baxter used a homemade super-sopper to get play started. Conditions were grey overhead and green underfoot, which made predicting the ball’s flight path tricky. The bowling was top-shelf – Whitney, Lawson, Holdsworth, Matthews, Waugh, Waugh – and the batting a little gormless, all except for the one who was 18. Under the Oakes Oval pines he took careful guard, his head still, his footsteps like tiny, precise pinpricks, going backwards mostly, unless the bowler overpitched. Fifteen hundred people saw this, the great Alan Davidson among them. Davo was dumbfounded: “It’s just not possible… such maturity.”Tendulkar hit 82 that afternoon, when no one else passed 24, then 59 out of 147 in the second innings. When Australians hear Indians grouch about their hero going missing in an emergency and having no appetite for a scrap, it always comes as a shock.The Tendulkar Australians got to know, the one with the baby footsteps, had played cricket in six countries already. Still he looked like his team-mates’ little brother. He ran faster than them all, a gammy-legged bunch, and as he ran, his eyes would be wide and round, and darting, as if alert to the danger that his team-mates’ barely muzzled huffiness might distract him from important things. And what was important to Tendulkar – and here Australians saw in him something rare and precious, a single-mindedness they fancied they recognised in themselves – was run-getting.Every bolt and screw in the Tendulkar technique seemed put there to aid the getting of runs. Tendulkar was a run-getting machine, except no machine could also be so graceful – or instinctive, for that’s what it was, instinct, which told him that the way to bat was to attack. He didn’t learn this. He knew it, inside himself. Runs were what counted. So nothing outlandish would be tried for the sake of outlandishness. Those footsteps were only as big as they had to be, for footwork was simply the thing that moved your body from its starting position to its ideal hitting position. Once you got there, you kept out the good ones and hit the loose ones hard. And when you hit hard, you did so along the ground – because you cannot get caught and get runs.This is the way of Bradman, the way of Hill, Trumper, Harvey, the Chappells and the rest. Give him a pair of bushy mutton chops and paint a weathered furrow or two on his brow, and Tendulkar could pose for the cover of How to Play Cricket Australian Style.Tacky facial add-ons, or some bleach-blond spikes, say, have never been Tendulkar’s go, and Australians like that about him too. Australia takes its cricket seriously. Your after hours are for sombre reflection and practising your forward-defensive, not for phone-chasey with sheilas or motel-room hijinks in your Playboy undies. You occasionally hear it said wistfully that Tendulkar is the Australian Shane Warne could have been. It is a neat line but it undersells what they have in common. For if any two modern cricketers might be soul mates, it is Warne and Tendulkar, grandmasters of their arts. Bowling legspin comes as naturally to Warne as batting does to Tendulkar, which is to say, as naturally as the rest of us find breathing.

Tendulkar was a run-getting machine, except no machine could also be so graceful – or instinctive, for that’s what it was, instinct, which told him that the way to bat was to attack

Two sublime Tendulkar hundreds lit up his first trip: one, in Sydney, as serene as a stroll through rhododendrons; the other, in Perth, more pugnacious, less repeatable. He didn’t tour Australia again for eight years. But he visited. He went, with Warne, the two of them in beige suits, to see Sir Donald on his 90th birthday. Tendulkar got as excited as any Australian boy – “I consider myself one of the luckiest guys on earth” – and he asked Bradman the questions any Australian boy would ask, stuff about his stance and his grip and his bats.When next he came to play cricket he was captain of India, and perhaps that did distract him from the really important things. But it lost him no admirers. Asked his views on sledging, he replied: “One should expect that at this level. You are playing Test cricket, not club cricket.”Always when he went to the wicket, Tendulkar’s was the scalp on which the afternoon’s destiny hung. Fieldsmen dived further, getting hands to quarter-chances that would normally have eluded fingertips. Umpires concentrated harder – too hard probably, if you tally up the bat-pad rulings that never got a feather, the creative licence applied to some leg-before-wicket interpretations. One never-to-be-forgotten day in Adelaide, Tendulkar was adjudged shoulder-before-wicket. “You almost want him to get a few runs,” Mark Waugh once remarked, “just to see him.” Odd how a cricketer so Australian as Tendulkar could provoke such un-Australian sentimentality.He has toured Australia on four occasions, as many times as Bradman toured England. Like Bradman, he has never gone home without a Test hundred to his name.One particular hundred – Sydney, 2003-04 – might outlive the others. When someone bats for 613 minutes, strung across three sweltering January days, the mind can wander, and as Tendulkar trudged on, making do without the cover drive, for it had caused his downfall too many times already, this mind wandered to Leichhardt and Giles and the famous explorers, who made do without company, without water, surviving on single-mindedness and instinct. He could do things to your imagination, this boy who knew how to make it rain.

Stats highlights from what have been two extraordinary days of Test cricket at Lord’s

S Rajesh28-Aug-2010 To start with, the 332-run stand between Jonathan Trott and Stuart Broad was the highest for the eighth wicket, and it was one of only eight 300-plus stands for one of the last five wickets in Test cricket. That itself is an astonishing statistic, but what made the partnership even more incredible was the position from which it was conjured up. When Broad joined Trott at the crease, England’s total was a hopeless 102 for 7. Of the 97 century stands for the eighth wicket in Tests, only five have come from a worse position, but none of them have yielded more than 127. Of the seven 200-plus partnerships for the eighth, this has easily come from the poorest position. While Trott led the way, Broad’s 169 was easily the bigger surprise, and it fell only four runs short of equalling the highest score by a No.9 batsman – Ian Smith had blitzed his way to 173 off a mere 136 balls against India in Auckland in 1990. Broad’s hundred was the 15th century by a No.9 batsman. Broad’s score in this one innings exceeded his cumulative score in his 13 previous innings, during which period he aggregated 160, with a highest of 48. Broad has become the fourth England batsman to score more than 1000 runs batting at positions 8-11. Among those batsmen, his average is clearly the highest. Trott’s knock pushed him past the 1000-run mark in his 13th Test. Pakistan’s first-innings deficit of 372 is their second-highest in a Test against England. The only time they fared worse was way back in 1954 at Trent Bridge, when England bundled out Pakistan for 157 and then declared at 558 for 6, a lead of 401. England have become the second team to dismiss Pakistan for less than 100 five times in Tests – two of those instances were in 1954, and three in 2010. Australia have done it too, including twice in the same match, in Sharjah in 2002. It’s been a wretched series for the Pakistan top order, most of whom have finished their work for this series after another abysmal collapse in the second innings at Lord’s. The aggregate partnership for the top four wickets in the entire series was a pathetic 498 runs in 32 completed innings. The average of 15.56 runs per dismissal is the worst for the top four wickets in a series in Pakistan’s Test history (minimum of 16 partnerships). It’s worse even than that forgettable series against Australia in Sri Lanka and Sharjah, when they were bowled for 53 and 59 in a Test. Pakistan’s innings lasted 33 overs, which is among their lowest for a completed innings. In their entire Test history, only six times have they done worse. And of their nine such poorest efforts, seven have been since 2000. If England take the remaining six wickets for less than 46 more runs, they’ll achieve their biggest win at Lord’s. Pakistan need to score many more to avoid their worst beating in Test cricket.

Only one result was ever going to be possible on an SSC pitch that was a batting paradise

Sidharth Monga at the SSC30-Jul-2010Had Chuck Norris been here in Colombo, even he would have been reduced to praying – for rain – so that this match would get over without the torture of a pointless final day. Not even the roundhouse kick would have worked on the batsmen. The final day of this mismatch between bat and ball – when Ishant Sharma and Pragyan Ojha batted out almost a session – is not a fair indication because the bowlers had no motivation to bowl by then, but enough happened in the first four days to suggest that this SSC track was not fit for Test cricket.

What they said

Sachin Tendulkar
From a batsman’s point of view, best in the world definitely. It’s s not [result oriented]. It’s a tough track to bowl on. It’s a btting paradise, I can say. Really nice track to bat on. I felt that there is not enough help for the bowlers.
MS Dhoni
On this kind of a wicket, 99. 9 % times you won’t get a result. People talk about sporting wickets. For me, a sporting wicket doesn’t mean it has to seam around or it has to have the bounce. In the subcontinent, it’s very difficult to make a wicket like that. But what the subcontinent is known for is the turning track. Of course, this was a placid track. Nothing really for the fast bowlers. Still if you see in the second innings, there was wear and tear and the bowlers bowled well.
Mahela Jayawardene (after the second day)
I mean what kind of surface you want, the matches where we finish in two days or three days? We shouldn’t complain. In overseas, we have come across some wickets where we weren’t able to lay a bat on [the ball]. That’s still a challenge. These are challenges and you shouldn’t complaint. Test cricket will survive. Today we scored 400 plus runs, which itself is something special. Nowadays it’s not boring.

From Sachin Tendulkar to MS Dhoni to Pragyan Ojha to Kumar Sangakkara to Trevor Bayliss, all have expressed displeasure with the pitch that yielded just 17 wickets over five days, and most of them thanks to silly or tired shots. The only time there was a contest between bat and ball was when India had dug themselves a hole by losing three quick wickets on the third day, but Tendulkar and debutant Suresh Raina saw them through that without much trouble.The irony, though, is that in all likelihood this track won’t even be termed ‘poor’. A poor pitch, according to the ICC, is one that provides excessive seam or spin, excessively uneven bounce, or one that displays limited carry, low bounce and no seam movement or turn at any stage in the match.Of course the pitch provided turn, but only on the fourth afternoon and fifth day, which should be enough to keep it out of the ‘poor’ bracket unless the match referee Andy Pycroft takes a stern subjective stand. For by the time that turn arrived, the batsmen had plundered the helpless bowlers into oblivion, and the Test as a contest had lost all life. By the time the pitch started interesting the bowlers, those poor souls knew there wouldn’t be a result, no matter how hard they tried.There was a time when such Test matches were tolerated. That time has passed. The public pays good money for the cricket, and it wants a good, even contest. On the other hand, the administrators want as many matches as possible to go to five days so that TV channels get their money’s worth. To say that runs are coming at four an over as an explanation is to underestimate the fan’s intelligence.When neither of the teams wants to be on the field on the final day, you know the pitch has been a disaster. “We would love to [call off such games earlier],” MS Dhoni said. “If we can get an extra day off, why not? It can be one of the options. They may decide if you have played one innings each and it’s the last day and if there is nothing happening, why waste time? If the wicket is like this, it gets really tough. So may be we should call it off and go for some nice food and drinks.” The Ten Sports cameramen, who slogged it out in the sun to cover today’s ‘anti-cricket’ would have approved.Kumar Sangakkara, always the sensible man, brought up a more pertinent issue. “I don’t know how the sponsors and the TV networks will look at that,” Sangakkara said. “It was not the most interesting final day’s play. Until ICC changes the rule, you have to wait and see.”The pitch provides an interesting threat, and hopefully is not the start of a trend. In the nineties, the Sri Lankan pitches were not known much for producing results, but as Muttiah Muralitharan started growing as a bowler, Sri Lanka grew in confidence, and started producing result-oriented pitches. Sri Lanka hosted 20 draws out of 42 before 2000, and only 11 out of 54 since, a result rate behind only that of Australia and South Africa. Now, with Murali gone, are Sri Lanka going to play safe again?Sangakkara suggests it is the inherent nature of the SSC, and we might be reading too much into it. “The crowds like to see an even contest between bat and ball,” he said. “Unfortunately that wasn’t the case in this Test match. The wicket at SSC has been always flat. I remember when we played against Pakistan, we had to bat out about five sessions to save the Test match and at the end we were 391 for four.”The P Sara Oval, where the next Test will be held, is known to produce results. Two years ago, India lost three wickets in the first session and the match inside four days. Pakistan, last year, lost six wickets in the first session, and the match in three days. Now Sri Lanka go into the match with a 1-0 lead to defend, and no added incentive of becoming No. 1 if they win the match. How the track at the P Sara behaves will reveal a lot about their mindset post Murali.

Although India achieved a creditable draw, South Africa finished with the better numbers in the series

Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan08-Jan-2011Despite the last day in Cape Town being anticlimactic, the three-Test series was a pulsating one, and the 1-1 result was probably a fair indication of how well matched the two sides were. India’s meek surrender and South Africa’s complete domination in the first Test was followed by a superlative response by VVS Laxman and the Indian bowlers in the Boxing Day Test in Durban, a venue where India had not won a single Test. The last match belonged to Jacques Kallis, with twin centuries enabling the hosts to wriggle out of a tricky situation.For South Africa, it meant another series where they haven’t been able to force a win. They have generally been a dominant side at home, but their recent results have been disappointing. They have not won a single series at home since their win over Bangladesh in 2008. A loss against Australia in early 2009 was followed by a tight contest against England. The series ended 1-1 after England managed to squeeze out draws after being nine down in the first and third Tests.For India, on the other hand, the series was a huge improvement on their previous results in South Africa. They did not win a single Test in their first three series in South Africa. While the gulf between the two teams was not huge in the first ever series in 1992-93, India were thoroughly outclassed on the next two tours. They triumphed in a Test in South Africa for the first time on their fourth trip in 2006-07, but went on to lose a close series 2-1. This time, India showed far more fight, though the margin of defeat in Centurion meant South Africa’s numbers were much better than India’s across the three matches.

Performance of two teams in all series in South Africa (Runs per wicket)

SeriesIndiaSouth AfricaDifference (runs/wicket)1992-9325.0333.228.191996-9724.0135.8411.832001-0231.0046.6115.612006-0724.7829.034.252010-1129.3937.938.54South Africa’s top-class pace attack
With all three pitches helping seam and swing, the performances of the fast bowlers were key in this series. While Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel destroyed India in Centurion, the Indian bowlers led by Sreesanth came back strongly in Durban. Overall, though, the South African fast bowlers were far better. Steyn was by far the best bowler on either side, picking up 21 wickets at just over 17 with two five-wicket hauls. Morkel, who ran through India in the first Test, troubled most batsmen with steep bounce and pace, and was unlucky not to finish with more wickets. Lonwabo Tsotsobe picked up important wickets at times, though he averaged nearly 49.Zaheer Khan, who missed the first Test, wasn’t quite in top form, but still managed ten wickets. Sreesanth, who picked up his second five-wicket haul in South Africa in Durban, was quite inconsistent, though. Ishant Sharma was the biggest disappointment for India, finishing with just seven wickets at an average over 48.In the spin department, though, Harbhajan Singh was excellent. He picked up 15 wickets in the series, including his best away figures of 7 for 120 in the third Test. The South African specialist spinner, Paul Harris, was never really threatening, picking up just four wickets at over 64.

Performance of Indian and South African fast bowlers

TeamWicketsAverageStrike rate5WI10WMIndia2640.7668.610South Africa4626.2650.330Super Steyn
Steyn’s record against India has been exceptional and he proved this once again with a stunning display. His genuine pace and movement made it extremely difficult for any batsman to handle him effectively. He dismissed Virender Sehwag three times in six innings, preventing India from getting away to good starts. He also accounted for Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and MS Dhoni on more than one occasion.

Indian batsmen against Dale Steyn

BatsmanRuns scoredBalls faced4s6sDismissalsVirender Sehwag4991803Sachin Tendulkar70166902Rahul Dravid2668301Gautam Gambhir61120702VVS Laxman3266313MS Dhoni4667713Harbhajan’s improved display
Harbhajan was India’s leading wicket-taker, with spells of 4 for 10 in Durban and 7 for 120 in the third Test in Cape Town. Alviro Petersen fell to him three times and Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla twice each. Kallis played him superbly throughout, though, even employing the reverse sweep on occasions to counter the turn. Kallis, the top run-getter in the series with 498 runs, was not dismissed even once by Harbhajan in the three matches.

South African batsmen against Harbhajan Singh

BatsmanRuns scoredBalls faced4s6sDismissalsJacques Kallis147251500AB de Villers81153521Hashim Amla4693212Ashwell Prince40106400Graeme Smith2534502Alviro Petersen2430113India’s best in away wins
Laxman, with his 96 in the second innings in Durban, helped set up another Indian away win. He has made ten fifty-plus scores in Indian away wins (matches not involving Bangladesh and Zimbabwe) since 2000, a record he shares with Rahul Dravid. His average in away wins is second only to Dravid’s 64.77. However, his performance in the team second innings in wins is unmatched; he has five fifty-plus scores, followed by Dravid who has three.

Best Indian batsmen in away wins since 2000 (matches not involving Bangladesh and Zimbabwe)

BatsmanMatchesRunsAverage10050Rahul Dravid14142564.7737VVS Laxman13109957.8428Sachin Tendulkar12108757.2143Virender Sehwag1196556.7631Sourav Ganguly961751.4115South Africa dominate batting
South Africa were the better batting unit in the series with four century stands and eight fifty partnerships. India, on the other hand, had a far tougher time stringing up partnerships, and the middle order (wickets 4 to 6) failed to put on a single fifty stand. The lower order however was effective, contributing vital runs in the second and third Tests. The Indian opening pair of Gautam Gambhir and Sehwag were less successful this time with just one century stand in four innings. Dravid had a poor series, averaging just 20. Except in the second innings of the final Test when he put on 79 with Gambhir, he was not involved in a single fifty-plus stand.Kallis’ superb form meant that he was involved in three of the four century stands for South Africa. He was involved in two 200-plus stands with AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla. The opening pair of Smith and Petersen was quite successful, averaging over 52 with one century and two half-century stands.

Partnership stats of both teams

TeamAverageHighest100s50sSouth Africa(wickets 1-3)46.9323024India (wickets 1-3)38.4417621South Africa (wickets 4-6)42.3822412India (wickets 4-6)24.404800South Africa (wickets 7-10)25.8710312India (wickets 7-10)25.0017212

If Brad Haddin had settled with a half-century in this innings his contribution still would have glowed. By stretching it so far he delivered the greatest performance of his life

Peter English at the Gabba27-Nov-2010Brad Haddin was on 77 when Richie Benaud, a man who has watched more Test cricket than anyone, called it “the most valuable innings he has ever played for Australia”. Benaud rarely over-states a situation and initially it seemed a premature rating. Nobody knew it at the time, but Haddin was only just halfway done.He had stepped out to join Michael Hussey at 5 for 143, with Australia well in arrears, and eventually left after 398 minutes with the side in such comfort that it felt like previous one-sided Ashes Tests at the Gabba. Haddin’s 136 contributed towards his record-breaking stand of 307 with Hussey, which was 47 more than England managed in their first bat.This position was not handed to Australia. Often Haddin looks like a man for easy runs, but before his century they were as difficult as any he has earned in a baggy green. He had fought on the second afternoon to be 22 off 71 balls, an unusual tempo for him, and the second morning began in a similar hard-working fashion. Ground was taken slowly until the pitch turned white, the bowlers wilted and the fielders grew sloppy. Then Haddin’s attacks became more frequent.The one stroke Haddin will be remembered for is the six he unveiled to reach his third Test hundred. When he lofts down the ground everyone else on the field is a frozen object in a photograph. Haddin is the only one who seems to move, slowly, his foot striding forward and his bat dropping and then rising with the ball. There is no more graceful sequence in the game.Graeme Swann was tempting Haddin to launch him straight and the batsmen obliged. Haddin likes risk and regularly finds himself succumbing to an early rush. On 94 there was no danger, despite the fielders peppered inside the boundary.”Get out of the 90s as quick as I could,” he said of his thought process. “They cut my areas off pretty well. I could see what they were doing. I just had a clear head and went for it.” The extravagance had been earned.The stroke was so perfect that the man at long-off was not in play, even though the ball landed on his side of the sightscreen. Haddin arrived at a neat 100 and after a second bear hug of the day with Hussey, he looked towards the dressing room and rehearsed a straight-bat shot.There were no gaping holes between bat and pad when he had aimed cover or off drives, and the tighter technique was partly responsible for his hundred coming in 222 balls, an age for a Haddin innings. While he was content with his output, Haddin continued to power on until after tea, when he pushed at Swann and was well taken by Paul Collingwood at first slip.Previously, more down-the-ground artwork was delivered with a straight punch in the air off Swann after he raised three figures. He had already done the same to James Anderson before reaching the milestone. The productive shot created a moment of tension when he pushed too early at Collingwood on 63, but the ball stayed just far enough away from Alastair Cook at deep mid-off. Another boundary sailed towards long-on later in the over.At 33, Haddin has entered a new stage in his 28-Test career. The winter was spent recovering from tennis elbow, which prevented his left hand from lifting a bat, but no longer bothers him. During Haddin’s time away Tim Paine appeared in four Tests and impressed with his glovework and batting temperament. No wicketkeeping understudy has received so much game time in Australia’s Test side since the 1980s, leaving Haddin to worry about the strength of his position. Paine now has a broken finger and Haddin has shut down all the challengers.There was a dropped catch off Peter Siddle on the opening day but nobody could complain about the effectiveness of his batting. It was intelligent and cautious, muscular and beautiful. He has opened both his Ashes series with centuries, but the one he rushed to in Cardiff began with his side at 5 for 474.If Haddin had settled with a half-century in this innings his contribution still would have glowed. By stretching it so far he delivered the greatest performance of his life. Benaud realised that well before everyone else.

Plays of the Day from the first day of the Hamilton Test between New Zealand and Pakistan

Andrew Fernando at Seddon Park07-Jan-2011Stoic celebration of the day
New Zealand is in laidback, summer-holiday mode and Pakistan seemed to have caught some of the Kiwi nonchalance when they celebrated Tim McIntosh’s wicket in nearly complete silence. The Seddon Park crowd also remained thoroughly unmoved at the dismissal. So vexed was McIntosh at the lack of jubilant whooping from the opposition that he even hung around to make sure he was out – moments after edging the ball directly to Younis Khan at second slip. No matter though, for the Pakistan players found their voices soon, when they loudly appealed for caught behind after the ball missed the edge by four inches.Shot of the day
Brendon McCullum had threatened to explode throughout the morning session with a series of boundaries square of the wicket, but he well and truly signaled his intentions off the first ball he faced after lunch. An over-pitched Umar Gul delivery was met by a rapid swish of the bat and the ball sailed over cover for the first six of the match.Brain explosion of the day
Having struck Gul for two sixes, McCullum was clearly in an aggressive mood. But just as he has done many times before, McCullum failed to temper aggression with sense and threw his wicket away. A short, wide delivery from Gul found the middle of McCullum’s flashing blade, but it also flew straight into the hands of the deep-point fielder, who had been placed 10 metres from the boundary for exactly that stroke. Another start wasted.Disappointment of the day
Martin Guptill had plodded his way to a 222-minute half-century off 162 balls and looked good to kick on to a big score, but was undone by perhaps the worst delivery that had been bowled to him all day. Abdur Rehman delivered a thigh-high full toss that even most club cricketers would have put away. Guptill, having lulled himself into a defensive daze, attempted to gently drive it down the ground and ended up providing a leading edge that was gobbled up at cover.Fielding blunder of the day
Ross Taylor may be one of the fastest men in the world between wickets, but even he will count himself lucky to have survived the seemingly suicidal single when Azhar Ali misfielded his cover drive. The ball was deflected from cover towards the stumps at the bowler’s end, when the batsmen decided to scamper the single. All Wahab Riaz had to do as he ran in from mid-on, was to pick the ball up and move not more than two feet to the stumps. Somehow, Riaz managed to get his ankle in the way of his unnecessary throw (he could have simply taken the bails off with ball in hand), and Taylor was reprieved.Strangle of the day
Rehman was under no illusions that any extravagant turn could be achieved by flighting the ball on the unresponsive Seddon Park pitch and opted instead to attack by drying up runs. After the lunch break, over after over of fast, flat left-arm spin choked the already flagging run-rate and Rehman delivered five consecutive maidens. The plan worked a treat, as he picked up Taylor’s wicket in his sixth post-lunch over as the batsman attempted to break free.

R Ashwin’s presence, or absence, in the game against West Indies may well indicate how India will head into the World Cup’s knockout phase.

Sharda Ugra in Chennai18-Mar-2011An hour or so after landing in Chennai, a local friend blessed with the wickedest of humour sent an sms greeting. It read, “Welcome to the land of Ravichandran Ashwin.” In a few words, the message swept past a thousand or so years of history, culture, politics and Rajnikanth and went straight to the centre of India’s steaming World Cup campaign.The Indian team’s future in the tournament is largely not dependent on what happens in Sunday’s match in Chennai against West Indies (barring a few possibilities). Offspinner Ashwin’s presence, or absence, in its bowling attack, though, may well indicate how India will head into the World Cup’s knockout phase.In the course of the last month, without bowling a single over at the World Cup, Ashwin has gone from being one of those “promising” youngsters to a mythic figure, kept hidden from the public eye so that he can be unleashed on unsuspecting batsmen at the business end of the tournament and help India storm their way through to the title.Chepauk is where Ashwin will put on his cape and shoot into the stratosphere. That is, if the team decides to play him.The chances of that happening are increasing, like the humidity levels in Chennai. Chepauk is the most spin-friendly of Indian tracks in this World Cup and is expected to give India’s slow bowlers the advantage of extra purchase and with it, help them to turn out their most confident performance of the tournament. Ashwin’s “mental stability” and toughness have been so well-advertised by his captain that he is expected to turn up in his first World Cup match, take five wickets and strike fear.The one buffer in the midst of much overstatement is that Ashwin ‘s debut World Cup appearance itself may well happen on familiar ground, on his own ‘land’. All 22 yards of it. From his first-class debut in December 2006, he has played a total of 15 matches (first class, List A, IPL, international) at Chepauk. He has bowled 470.1 overs for his 61 wickets at 21.50 (economy rate of 2.79, strike rate 46.20, five wickets in a match six times, ten wickets in a match twice.) The numbers are very good, but India v West Indies at a World Cup will be like none of those 15 matches.Ashwin’s coach, Sunil Subramanian, is as baffled by his student’s continued absence from the XI as the rest of the country, but he is not anxious about whether Ashwin can instantly switch on for what could be a big game on Sunday. “Ashwin has the mental framework of Ravi Shastri, Anil Kumble and Venky.” (Whether combined or individual doesn’t really matter.) The Venky being referred to is off spinner S Venkataraghavan, with whom Ashwin has been often been compared, not merely because they share a home town but also a resemblance of craft. Ashwin, however, is a bowler who has arrived and thrived in the most modern format of the game, Twenty20. His IPL team, the Chennai Super Kings, won the IPL and Champions League T20 double last season.Even though he belongs to the city that usually churns out more batting dashers and stylists, Ashwin went from being an opening batsman in his teenage years to concentrating on bowling, first medium pace and then offspin. The consistency and accuracy that is gold dust in the shortest version of the game came, Subramaniam says, from Ashwin’s greed for improvement and his willingness to sweat.One of the practice tools the two men used at the TNCA Academy during their training is called , a 9ft long and 4.5ft wide fluorescent tape used to perfect spot bowling, where lengths and lines can be modified for a variety of conditions. Subramaniam was given the tape for a trial by former India spinner Nilesh Kulkarni, who has patented the practice tool that is meant to help both bowlers and wicket-keepers. Subramanian says Ashwin’s success rate on is close to 80%. In a match the only variant is, of course, the minor matter of the batsman facing him. The success rate could go haywire then but in an interview with ESPNCricinfo, Ashwin spoke of enjoying the mental tussle that bowling involved. In the interview, one of the IPL dismissals he mentioned was that of a batsman he could run into should he play on Sunday – Chris Gayle.Subramaniam tells another story about Ashwin’s appetite: after a Duleep Trophy final defeat to West Zone, in which he had bowled a total of 78 overs, and batted for over two hours on the fifth day, he turned up at practice the next afternoon and bowled another 100 balls at the Academy. No matter how effective Ashwin might or might not be in the World Cup, if he is called up on Sunday, he will at least be ready.India must only hope that they have not left it too late to use him, though Ashwin is used to waiting. In the Chennai Super Kings, he was understudy to Muthiah Muralitharan, and with India he has stepped in every time Harbhajan Singh has been unable to play. It has meant him six ODIs and four Twenty20s in less than a year and given the touring workload now charted out for the Indians over the 12 months, those numbers should increase.Subramaniam says, “Ashwin is here to stay.” And he doesn’t mean on the bench.

Marlon Samuels talks about family, cricket, and getting his life back on track

Sriram Veera27-Jun-2011″Sometimes you are just living carefree. It takes something to happen to you to realise how precious life is. I appreciate life more now. You trust in god and animals. You don’t trust man. Anything happened to me god wanted it to happen to me. This is my story and this is my book.”Marlon Samuels is sitting under a mango tree. Three dogs that he loves – Samson the labrador, Simba the akita, and Sheba the pit-bull are licking his feet and hands. We are at the lovely backyard of his house in a scenic neighbourhood in Jamaica. The grass is green, trees abound, gentle breeze wafts by, and he almost looks at peace. Inside, in a room, nine puppies lie entwined in a big basket. The man loves his dogs. They adore him. He seems a lot freer in their company and he opens up. The world knows his story: the ban, the self-destructing talent … the path to hell. This is a new chapter of his story and he seems to be eager to fill it up with his accomplishments and leave his past behind.”My daughter changed the mindset when it comes to ladies. You have more respect for ladies. Every sportsman will tell you that you can get caught up in the lifestyle.” He says he is off the party scene now. His daughter Dijona, four years old, and a nine-month-old son, Dimitri, are changing his life. Dijona in particular. Samuels’ mind is opening up to a different world, a fascinating universe of a little kid. “She talks a lot. She tells me everything that happened in her day.” She even reads him bed-time stories. “She doesn’t allow me to read, you know,” he laughs. She is at summer school and isn’t there now. His girlfriend is away. The house isn’t loaded with furniture. The dogs have a lot of free space to run around. Samuels’ man-Friday Shaun takes care of the dogs and is the chef. “Samuels is my god. He always look-out for me,” says a grateful Shaun. Back in the city, the street kids too offer more praise about Samuels. They call him Tota. They say he gives them money for school fees and that he constantly helps them.Everything is quiet back at the house. Shaun is at the front, washing the cars. A Toyota Tundra and a Chevrolet are gleaming in the afternoon sun. Samuels is in the garden with his dogs. At times he says he reads a book, sitting under that tree. “Marcus Garvey. Malcolm X. Some people fall by the wayside but remember they are fighting for the positive thing.” He read ‘Who moved my cheese?’ on a successful tour of South Africa. “You know that book? With two little people and two mice. The two mice end up a little bit smarter than the two people. Reading good maan.”Often, through our free-flowing chat, he keeps coming back to his dogs and his mistrust of men. There doesn’t seem to be bitterness – at least it doesn’t show – but he seems a man forever on guard. It’s understandable. Bad things have happened. Much murky water has flown under the bridge. “I reflect on my day and what happened. Dog is a man’s best friend. The only thing they can’t do is talk…they show me signs…if I come and have a bad day…they rest their heads on my thigh, they lick my hands; these things help me totally forget about the bad day I am having.” He hasn’t named the puppies yet and just for fun he names them on the go – “That’s ‘cover-drive’, this is ‘on-drive’, this one is the ‘flick’ – that shot by the master Tendulkar through midwicket you know, he is sleepy, this one loves to sleep .. this is Mishra – the inside-out over extra-cover!”He says he is wary about letting new friends come in. “I don’t need a hundred friends. New people coming into your life is very dangerous.” You could understand his gesture of running all the way to shake the hands of Chris Gayle in the final ODI. He is loyal to his small group of friends, his family and the man he calls his angel, ‘Donald’, who used to be manager for his club. “He is my angel. He doesn’t always agree with me and gives the straight talk. I really respect that. You don’t want to be surrounded by people who say yes all the time.”He admits he did drift. He stepped out of house at the age of 15 to live alone. His parents didn’t like it but they gave in. He wanted to experience freedom and take responsibility over his life. The personality grew, and negative elements slipped in occasionally. “I have seen a guy step on a guy’s shoe and get shot right in front of me….and people pry on you more when you are famous…so I am off the party scene.” The conversation drifts to marriage. “I will get married sometime. It’s a good tradition.”Something stirs in him when he talks about cricket. That’s what gives hope that this young talent is really keen to make it count this time. He talks about a game in India, a shot he played in Pakistan, his match in Australia, his contest in South Africa with a certain amount of buzz. You can sense he is missing it. He is trying to clean up his life.”I used to be selfish with life. But it’s not about me now. I live for my kids. I believe in a supreme being and I give thanks for all the good things in my life. My family has always backed me. I now dedicate each innings to some special person. I am aiming to score as many Test centuries as possible.As he drives us back in his Tundra, he says, “No man know what life has store for them. That’s why you should never give up. Never.”

S Badrinath talks about his long wait on the sidelines and learning to take things easy

Interview by Sriram Veera17-May-2011You once went on record asking the selectors to give you a chance to succeed or fail. Has that anger dissolved now?
That was three years ago. It wasn’t anger as such, but playing for India is something that has been [a desire] burning inside ever since I started playing cricket, when I was eight or nine years old. Now that I am there I hope I can seal my place.Even your fans were afraid time was running out for you.
When you are playing sport, it’s never nice that you are getting older. I was always very confident. There is not one day when I thought I would not make it – simply because I was playing good cricket. As long as you are playing good cricket, it’s fine. I have this feeling that if you are good enough, nobody can stop you. That’s what I believe in and that’s what keeps me going.Another aspect that I have laid a lot of importance on is fitness. I take a lot of pride in my fitness. Why do they say you’re getting old or why do they differentiate? It’s only because of fitness. And since I have always enjoyed my fitness, I have a lot of confidence in my work ethic and my fitness. I was confident that one day I’m going to make it.Were you ever tempted to ask Dhoni, who is your captain at Chennai Super Kings, about the India selection?
I could have but I didn’t, because I’m not a guy like that. If you are good enough, nobody can keep you out. I didn’t want to go up to him. And he is also not a guy like that. He doesn’t talk much. He just goes about his job and he knows me as a cricketer. So if someone is going to want me in the team, he is going to want me. But I always had confidence in myself and knew that things would come through.How do you keep the frustration away? Have you spoken about it with any particular player?
I spend a lot of time with Mike Hussey. He too had to wait for international cricket quite a while. It’s just the mindset, what he went through, how he went about doing it. It is heartening to hear that I had played a bit of international cricket before I turned 30; he said he hadn’t played a single international game before he was 30. But obviously he is where he is. I have read his book and I’ve learnt a lot from him.I have also learnt a lot from Matthew Hayden. But the most I have learnt is from Sachin [Tendulkar]. The little bit I have been inside the dressing room, I always try and learn from him. Just watching him practise and go out with sheer professionalism… And then someone like Rahul Dravid also. Of course, when it comes to leadership qualities, you can’t keep MS Dhoni out. Having played with him, I think he is one of the fittest players to have played the game mentally. I always try and learn. I think I am a good student of the game.In your first Test, you had a horrid time facing a great spell from Dale Steyn. And tongues started to wag again.
It was tough. It’s going to play on your mind that people are writing shit about you. It happens with every cricketer. It was actually a learning curve. It was a tremendous spell Dale Steyn bowled. I was in the middle of a hurricane.He is the best bowler in the world, but I learnt a lot. I knew exactly what I had to work on to play at the highest level. Like they say, you learn a lot more from your failures than your successes. I think I am a better player now.I know how to go about things while playing at the international level. I think I should be really easy on myself while playing out there because I do well when I am enjoying myself out there. With CSK I have the comfort level. I can go out and express myself. I wasn’t doing that earlier.I’m a very intense person and I take everything seriously. I am a perfectionist in everything that I do. I try and write down a lot of things. It helps me track my progress. Every net session that I have been doing…If someone comes up to me and says, “Go out there and enjoy yourself”, that would probably help me. But if someone comes and says, “You have to do well, it’s a pressure game”, that wouldn’t help me because I always put a lot of pressure on myself. So I have been trying to relax as much as I can.

“I have just been wanting to make a point. Not for selection or for someone else. It was just for myself “

When did that realisation sink in?
I was expecting too much from myself. Steve Waugh said in his book that he played his best in his last year. His mind was so right because he thought there was nothing to lose. Amazing he thought that so late. I am trying to get into that mindset. I try and do as much I can to get into the zone.You lost out on a central contract soon after that Test series.
I was disappointed. Being out of contract means you are not part of the system. But I was not in the side, so the contract really didn’t matter. I sat down before the season and saw where I was and where I wanted to go. That’s what I tried to do this season. I have just been wanting to make a point. Not for selection or for someone else. It was just for myself. To to be honest, it’s not been easy. It’s been draining. And it’s still not done, but I want to keep myself going.For me, it’s about how I apply my mind to the game. I know I’m good enough and it’s just that I have to get it out there. Things that I have worked on over the last two years have to be tested. And I can’t wait for them to be tested.Has the IPL as a platform helped?
In domestic cricket I play only Indian players, but in IPL, if I’m playing against Mumbai and I hit [Lasith] Malinga for a four, people stand up and take notice. You get to play alongside and against international stars. It’s just that the standard of cricket has been much higher in IPL than domestic cricket. For a player who hasn’t been playing international cricket, this is the best platform you can get.But this is not the only platform. It’s Twenty20 cricket, and you can’t be judged purely by IPL. Obviously there is a lot of skill involved, but judging a player should be a combination of his IPL and domestic performances.If you were a selector when would you have selected yourself?
I don’t know, actually, it’s a tough question to answer. Everything happens for a reason. I have been maturing late. I have learnt along the way. You can see it in my batting. First year of IPL, or two-three years, I haven’t been the same. I have improved a lot. Perhaps things don’t come naturally to me and I have had to work on them. But I’m a much better cricketer now and looking forward to the West Indies tour.How do you react to criticism? Sunil Gavaskar has praised you, some other have dissed you.
I am honoured that a great batsman like Gavaskar had such good words to say about me. Criticism is always going to be there when you are in the limelight. I spoke to Sachin about this before my Test debut. He told me that you are at the big stage, people are going to write good things and bad things about you. But at the end of the day, you want that. The trees with the most fruits get stones thrown at them. I thought that was great advice.

The fifth bowler continues to be a problem for Trinidad and Tobago

Siddarth Ravindran at the Chinnaswamy Stadium27-Sep-2011For the second game in a row at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, it went down to the last ball. For the second game in a row, it was two needed off the final delivery. For the second game in a row, the fielding captain chose to keep the field spread out, and the chasing side won.On Friday, Wayne Parnell broke Royal Challengers Bangalore’s hearts with a scuffed two to long-on. In that game, the defensive field for the final ball could have been explained by the high scores in the match and the fact that Parnell, a player with international experience and one accustomed to high-pressure situations, was at the crease and had just muscled his first ball for a boundary.On Monday, in a game where both T&T and Mumbai Indians found run-scoring exceedingly difficult, the final ball was to be faced by Yuzvendra Chahal, who at 21 has little exposure on the big stage and shown modest batting capability. Even as late as three deliveries into the last over, the No.11 Chahal wouldn’t have expected to be needed in the middle, only forced to stride out after run-outs on the fourth and fifth ball of the over.The T&T captain, Daren Ganga, had attacked with helmeted close-in fielders for significant parts of the innings, but decided to keep a deep-set field for the last delivery to be bowled by his brother, the offspinner Sherwin. On the leg side, only short fine leg was in the circle, with three men patrolling the boundary. On the off side, there were three fielders in the ring, and a sweeper and long-off deep.Perhaps the decision to not crowd the in-field and push for a win was a result of a lack of confidence in Sherwin Ganga. The fifth bowler has proved problematic for T&T so far in the tournament, with Ganga and Lendl Simmons going at nearly 12 an over in the two matches in the qualifying phase.The strategy nearly paid off as well, despite Ganga sending down a poor final delivery. It was a low full toss that was flailed toward midwicket. Adrian Barath had to come in from deep midwicket nearly all the way to the circle, but even as he collected the ball the batsmen had just taken off for the second. Even though Barath’s throw was several yards off the mark, wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin had the time to effect the run-out that would have prompted the super over T&T aimed for, but his underarm throw missed the stumps.Most of the T&T fielders sank to their knees in despair, and the others barely moved, still digesting the fact that their valiant attempts to defend the seemingly indefensible total of 98 had left them with nothing to show on the points table. Only Daren Ganga shuffled around, patting his team-mates on the back and lauding their efforts.After the match, Daren Ganga explained why he went for the tactic. “Whenever a team has got two runs to win, you first and foremost ensure that you at least get a draw,” he said. “Judging from the way we were bowling and the way we were fielding, it was very difficult for us to defend one run, we tried to have another bite at the cherry, so to speak, and play the super over.”There should be little criticism of Daren Ganga for the strategy, though T&T lost a match that Harbhajan Singh said Mumbai didn’t deserve to win. Given the fiendish difficulty in stopping the single even with the field brought in, the safety-first approach was probably the sensible option. It would have been fun, though, to see if Chahal would have batted for the super over if all the fielders were positioned in the circle or if he would have gone for glory by hitting over the top.