Random musings 3 - Bits and pieces

(In this column of I shall put forward thoughts that course through my mind - too small to be separate blog posts but too long to be mere passing fancies).

1) MS Dhoni is one of the most successful captains in modern day cricket (and is fast moving up the ranks of the all-timers). I have read as many articles about him as I can in an effort to figure out what he thinks. Lately, he has openly admitted that he does not attend the bowler's meeting prior to a match as he does not want to go in with a pre-conceived strategy. This is admirable, because it clearly shows that he is willing (and able) to think on his feet during the game.

I think his captaincy is based upon a simple principle - shorten the game. As long as he can sustain control over the proceedings by not giving away too many runs or by losing too many wickets, he believes that the Indian team has a better chance of winning. By reducing the number of sessions (or overs) in which India has to outplay the opponent, he is taking the risk that the other team may just as well take the match away from him. The mentally stronger team is the one that will win these battles most of the time. He is banking on his team being mentally stronger more often than not. His results definitely appear to back him up.

The first time I noticed this ruthless passive-aggressive streak was during a series that heralded the Test captain in him: Nagpur 2008 against Australia.

2) Did you ever want to know how, when, and against whom Sachin Tendulkar has scored his 99 international centuries? Well, you don't have to worry about that any more if you click here.

3) Here's Venkat Ananth doing his best to raise the issue of the elephant in the Indian dressing room that nobody in the team management wants to talk about publicly - the wicket-taking prowess (or lack thereof) of India's #1 spinner - Harbhajan Singh.

The problem -- and the unquestioned elephant in the team's living room -- is the fact that Harbhajan's bowling has been in terminal decline for some time now. Since March 2007, he has played 34 Tests in India, and picked up 142 wickets at an average of 36.16 runs per wicket. Significantly, he has played 27 of those Tests in the supposedly spin-friendly conditions of India, and only 7 Tests away from home.

During this period, he has managed one ten wicket haul and five five-wicket hauls, at a glaringly poor strike rate of 75.4 balls per wicket. In other words, it takes him the better part of 13 overs to get a wicket -- a rate that compares unfavorably with Graeme Swann, who has a strike rate of 55.6, or even Shakib-al-Hasan, who has a 67.7 rate. Keep in mind that it is Harbhajan who, on repute, is the better spinner of the three -- and the problem those figures highlight become glaringly obvious. (Incidentally, at the time he retired because he was no longer thought fit to lead the Indian attack, Anil Kumble had a strike rate of 65.9 -- and that high figure is reached only because his last year in Test cricket, 2008, was particularly horrid with the leggie getting a mere 28 wickets at an average of 51.07 and a strike rate of 99.18.).

The problem posed by Harbhajan's poor strike rate is further magnified when you consider that Swann, not rated as highly as the Indian offie, has in a relatively shorter career taken a wicket in the first over of a new spell 25 times -- that is to say, when his captain needs a breakthrough, Swann can be counted on to hit the spot straightaway, and to deliver the results his captain is asking for. Not so, clearly, Harbhajan.

(So why is Economy Singh the holy cow of the Indian 11? I hope and pray it has nothing to do with this.)

4)Statistically, Rahul Dravid is the greatest slip fielder of all-time. And no matter how many people cross his mark in the future, he will always have been the first to 200 Test catches. Here's a wonderfully detailed interview with the fellow soon after he reached that milestone.

You spoke of switching on. What about switching off between deliveries?

It is very similar to batting. Slip catching does help your batting in terms of your routines. Between balls I talk to my co-slip fielders. You talk sometimes about the game situation, but lots of other times about various other topics, not cricket. That keep you focused, keeps you relaxed. Like me and [VVS] Laxman talk about kids, house construction, plumbers, electricians, running errands. You cannot keep talking cricket the whole day - you have to switch off. But as soon as the bowler starts running in, you switch back on.

And if you are wondering who among his contemporaries has a shot at crossing his mark, click here to find out.

5) This one's for you, AV/BRB. Sachin Tendulkar has been the top scorer during an India inning a mind-boggling 48 times.

In comparison, Laxman has top scored 18 times including the 2nd Test of the India-South Africa Test series where he topscored in both innings with 38 and 96.

6) Siddharth Monga of CricInfo writes about Laxman's efforts under pressure just after the afore-mentioned innings in a match that India went on to win.

Despite a good bowling effort, India found themselves in trouble in the second innings, with four wickets gone for 56. This was home territory for Laxman. All boxes that bring the best out of Laxman were checked: the top batsmen were gone, there weren't many on the board, a failure then could lose India the series, and most importantly batting here was not easy.

It took you back to his debut Test, on a cracking pitch, against the same opponents. India then were effectively 70 for 5 in the second innings when the legend started: out came a fifty (with Laxman it is rarely headline-hogging hundreds) and partnerships worth 32 and 56 with Sunil Joshi and Anil Kumble. Javagal Srinath got enough to defend, and ran through South Africa.

If this was a test of technique, Laxman passed it in flying colours.

Here are some stats to back up the fact that Laxman is one of India's best second inning heroes in wins.

Muul Kesavan writes one of his best pieces in recent times on VVS. His final paragraph alone makes it worth your while to click on this link.

Yesterday, I was trying to explain Viswanath to my son by using Laxman as an analogy. Viswanath, I said, bailed India out of trouble time and time again in exactly the way that Laxman does today. I invoked the sacred memory of the 97 and 46 he hit against Andy Roberts and Co. on a fast Chepauk pitch in 1975 to help us win the match, then cited that gallant 113 against the English at Lords in 1979 that saved us from almost certain defeat. But even as I spoke, I felt the frustration of trying to convey the non-measurable magic of men like Viswanath or Laxman or David Gower to people who haven’t watched them play. My son heard me out and said: “So he was good in a crisis and a loser the rest of the time?”

Maybe that’s how they will see Laxman in the 2030s. It’s not the worst cricketing epitaph in the world (it’s better, for example, than being known for being a flat track bully), but we know it doesn’t come close to describing Laxman.

And finally, let's hear the man himself describe his get-out-of-jail performance in Durban against the SAffers.

Laxman admitted he was disappointed about missing a century. "You're happy that you've been able to absorb the pressure and perform when it's required and play an important knock for the team, but from a personal milestone point of view you will be very disappointed. As I always feel, my conversion rate hasn't been great, with 49 fifties and 16 hundreds. From a personal point of view I would have been more happy to get centuries in these games, but from the team perspective I've done reasonably well to bail the team out of tough situations."

He might have missed the hundred, but he talked of something that meant more to him. "You always want to be remembered as somebody who contributed to winning matches for the country. The biggest recognition you can get is when your team-mates know that you are somebody who can go in during tough situations and bail the team out, or when the opposition feels that they cannot take it for granted that the match is over till you are out. It also gives you added responsibility that you have to go and do it whenever you play for the country."

7) If you get a chance to see this documentary, folks like Samir Chopra suggest that you must!



8) Ricky Ponting's century against India in a losing cause in the World Cup quarter-final might have made articles like this, by Peter English, a little too premature. What do you think?

9) I don't follow the IPL for reasons mentioned elsewhere on my blog and are not worth repeating here. But my curiosity was piqued recently with the county/club debate that has come up since Lasith Malinga retired. Well, here's how much the players who came up in the IPL 4 auction make per year. I will let you decide who is overpaid and who is underpaid. (My understanding is that some players were not put up for auction and that their cost price is arbitrary and could be more than the ones listed here).

10) Finally, I leave you with the beauty that is Pixar: