I had the following interesting conversation about cricket with a writer friend of mine. Towards the end, it dawned on me that this is a useful way of articulating an argument. Some of it may be difficult follow on account of the vagaries of chat software with respect to message sequencing. I post this with sincere thanks to my friend:
Me: whats youre take on the oval game…… whatever happens to pietersen
Writer: i think we head in as favourite
Me: yes
the question is – how does India see Trent Bridge
as scarcely believable good luck? or as expected outcome?
Writer: i think we are a slightly superior side
Me: yeah
Though im not convinced about the bowling
they can’t have a bad day again
sides don’t win test matches when bowlers have a bad day
Writer: i think we have the bowling to take 20 wickets
Me: but it has to bowl well
i half expect zaheer to be all over the place
Writer: barring one session at lord’s
Me: and if it doesn’t swing, we don’t have anything….
while England have Tremlett
and possibly Broad in place of Anderson
Writer: if it doesnt swing, they are struggling too
Me: one session at Lord’s when all three bowlers bowled rubbish, the whole of the Trent Bridge test where Sreesanth bowled rubbish (and appeared slightly mad to be honest)
Kumble doesn’t seem to bother the English batsmen
This is still not a reliable Test quality pace attack
Writer: ur expectations are quite high, i dare say
Me: RP had his indifferent spells at Trent Bridge too
Yes they are….. because the batsmen are blamed all the time for “not playing when it matters” without an appreciation for the spots the bowlers keep putting them into…..
The bowlers are not world class
the batsmen are
Writer: and yet they have been the ones who have set up and secured victories
Me: yes obviously
thats how test cricket works
6 bradmans wouldn’t win you test matches without 4 bowlers to bowl out the oppposition
McGrath and Warne made Australia’s recent record – one look at Ponting and Waughs record without one of both of them available tells you that
Thats why
Writer: hmmm
Me: i don’t buy the argument that Tendulkar hasn’t played “match winning” innings while Lara and Inzamam have
Lara hasn’t played a single one after Ambrose retired
Writer: i am not getting into any argument
Me: And Inzamam played in sides with Wasim, Waqar, Saqlain, Mushtaq and Shoaib
All im suggesting is that India do not have a single fast bowler today who is the bowling equivalent of a batsman who averages 40 in Test cricket
Zaheer is getting there, if he continues his recent improvement…….
Writer: how does that have any bearing on tendulkar playing match winning knocks or not?
Me: What im trying to get at is…. expectations from the bowlers are non-existent…… but results from the team are still expected
It does
India don’t win most of the time when Tendulkar makes runs because the bowling cannot bowl out the opposition
Writer: i dont that is right at all.. bowlers are expected to take 20 wickets and quickly
batters are expected to make more runs that the opposition and quickly so that the bowlers have the time to take those 20 wickets
Me: yes
but they have to do so against bowling superior (and decisively so) to their own (which the opposition faces) in both quality, depth and variety
Writer: if they dont like the challenge, they should stay home
Me: They obviously do like the challenge
They have the finest records in the world
They can’t help it if the bowlers keep conceding 500
Writer: i have seen people praise tendulkar for his 91 in TB.. he made 30 runs in a session when batting with ganguly
Me: yes
but that was at best a par innings
Writer: the lara praisers point is simple.. he never seemed to struggle against an bowling
Me: thats not true
Lara has passed 50 in 2 out of 18 innings in Australia in the last 10 years
both times at Adelaide
That tells me that he’s struggled in Australia
yeah….. his genius is that on his day he’s the best….
Similarly in England – Lara’s has passed fifty in about 1 in 5 or 6 innings
compare that with Tendulkar or Dravid – inspite of those two getting far fewer opportunities than Lara of playing in those conditions
Writer: ok boss.. lara was bad.. tendulkar is great..
Me: Thats a little bit unfair
Me: id say the blame the batsmen attitude (batsmen never deliver), bowlers do (even though bowlers average 33+ with the ball)… is a function of the batsmen being the bigger stars….. hence the juicier targets
but cricket doesn’t work like that
the side with the better bowling nearly always wins
irrespective of who the batsmen are
Writer: why r u defending the batsmen? did i accuse them of letting india down?
Me: no
im merely pointing out what i think is an all too frequent folly
never more evident than during the Lord’s Test
nobody, and i mean nobody…. pointed out what the batsmen did wrong
Writer: so the batters did their job at lord’s i guess
and the bowlers were pathetic
Me: seriously……. they didn’t make runs is hardly an argument
Except Tendulkar in the first innings (and even that is keeping in mind his greatness), none of the batsmen in either innings could have been said to have gotten out to an unforced error at Lord’s
Writer: playing with bat tucked behind pad to monty?
Me: The conditions enabled the bowlers to force errors ALL the time…… the ball swung for 80 overs………. the English batsmen forced errors more frequently than the Indian’s….
that was the story of Lord’s
The Monty dismissal was a freak …… Monty himself admitted that
Writer: so boss i agree.. our bowlers are crap and the batsman are gods
Me: Tendulkar was leaving the ball….
It wasn’t an unforced error
Writer: does that satisfy u
Me: no
because that isn’t my point
The Monty delivery was correctly read by Tendulkar….. it behaved freakishly…. held its line up the slope inspite of being a conventional SLA as Monty himself revealed on TV
Writer: the next time i see zaheer and company.. even kumble, i shall whip their backsides off
Me: well……
look at James Anderson at Lord’s. He achieved a pitch map which McGrath would have been proud of
Writer: the batters can do no mistake yaar
Me: yet…… nobody gave him credit…
yes of course they can
Writer: the bowlers are bloody idiots
Me: but the point is…… just because they don’t make a 50 or a hundred, doesn’t mean that they made a mistake….
If Tendulkar had been dismissed for that LBW for 11 as against 91…..
Writer: IF?
Me: most people would have said….. “fact of the matter is…. that it was yet another failure”
Writer: if zaheer hadnt taken those wickets?
Me: yeah….. he bowled well
very skillfully
Writer: arre nahi yaar
Me: for about the 3rd or 4th time in 50 Tests – on all four occasions in helpful conditions – the equivalent of a batsmen making 4 centuries on flat wickets in 4 Test innings over 50 Tests….
Zaheer doesn’t become Waqar or McGrath …… but i really hope he’s getting there
our batsmen will get more value for their runs if Zaheer is in form….. we will win more……
without Zaheer we won’t win at all
Writer: helpful conditions?
Me: The bottom line is winning
yeah…… ball swung almost all the time
through out the 80 overs
Writer: it didnt swing for the goras did it
Me: both at Trent Bridge and at Lord’s
yeah
and the goras bowled a bit wide
Thats why India made runs
Writer: and i thought james anderson achieved a mcgrath pitch map?
Me: They employed the right method….. but then you expect our batsme
Writer: why r u so harsh on the indian bowlers?
Me: At Lord’s
he didn’t at Trent Bridge
Im not harsh
im realistic
Writer: learn to accept the batters and the bowlers for what they are
Me: Thats precisely what im doing
Writer: do not expect them to be like mcgrath or anyone else
Me: within the context of the contest
Yes….. exactly
Writer: learn to accept critcs with their shortcomings
Me: i do not expect them to be like McGrath or anyone else…… and therefore i do not expect India to be like Australia or West Indies with Ambrose and Walsh, or Pakistan with Wasim, Waqar and Shoaib…….
The press does
Thats why Tendulkar and co get killed everytime they fail
Writer: why r u so concerned by what some chaps write
Me: Because it informs public opinion
It frames events
Writer: does it?
Me: Yes of course it does
Writer: i dont think ppl take print journalists seriously at all
Me: What other source does the public have other than print journalists and tv talking heads?
commentators, columnists……
Writer: the internet.. and tv take pride of place
Me: yes
i didn’t limit myself to print journalists
Writer: nobody reads cricket reports in newspapers anymore
Me: yeah…. most print journalists write on the internet….
Writer: and therefore i do not expect India to be like Australia or West Indies … The press does
Thats why Tendulkar and co get killed everytime they fail
Me: yes….
i use the word press for internet, tv, newspaper etc
Writer: The Press (and not the media) does
Me: Let me put it this way
Tendulkar’s range in marks out of 100 is between 80-100…..
while Zaheers is between 40-100
and Sreesanth on occasions like Trent Bridge – his 20-30
Writer: i wont make the mistake of comparing apples and oranges
Me: The batsmen are better at setting up wins and preventing defeats than the bowlers are at sealing victories
Writer: bowling is the most unnatural of skills in cricket
Me: it is the only skill which can actually win Test matches
Writer: i wdnt compare battters and bowlers and use the same yarsdtick to judge them
Me: im not comparing batsmen and bowlers
im comparing how good a particular batsman is as a batsman and how good a particular bowler is as a bowler…..
Writer: kartikeya.date: Let me put it this way
Tendulkar’s range in marks out of 100 is between 80-100…..
while Zaheers is between 40-100
and Sreesanth on occasions like Trent Bridge – his 20-30
Me: And it is possible to compare batsmen to bowlers
Writer: the same mistake that newspapers do
Me: true…..
but then i have not read a single newspaper report in the last 10 years which points out that Tendulkar not being as “match winning” as some other batsmen is a function of the quality of the Indian bowling vs the quality of the bowling of the sides of those other batsmen
or for that matter Dravid
or for that matter the side in the ODI’s
That in my view is unfair
Writer: so stop reading the newspapers.. u have a choice right
Me: it would be simple to do so
but what i mentioned above is also the result of a fundamental misunderstanding about Test cricket
or ODI cricket
The comment about the batsmen not delivering when it mattered appeared as recently as Lord’s
and will appear again
if India bowl and concede 500
and then get bowled out on a wearing pitch
Writer: kartikeya.. why r u saying all that to man who is advising u not to read the papers and react
Me: because i disagree that papers have no influence
me telling you this may be of no consequence in this context
but the fact is it needs to be said
i do it on my blog
i really do wish you would think about it too….. because i think you write very thoughtful columns
far more well considered ones than the average ones
Writer: u r kind buddy
i dont read the papers at all
Me: my intention is never to run anybody down….
and i believe we revel in running our best players down at the slightest opportunity because we have come to believe a basic fallacy….
about Test cricket
and that this can be changed by pointing out this fallacy
i think most people who run Tendulkar down, genuinely believe that he’s a fair weather player
A Test team is not a class in a school – where you are kinder to the weaker students
Writer: i cant be a spokesman (or a punching bag) for all media can i
Me: no
and i don’t view you as one
but then….. i can’t talk to the whole media can i 
Writer: come on buddy
Me: lets give it a rest
hope India wins at the Oval
it will mean the bowlers would have improved
