Discussing Declarations….

The third Test match at Bangalore ended in a draw giving India a 1-0 series win. India won against Pakistan for the first time in many many years, Anil Kumble won his first series as captain, the Indian batting was never seriously threatened, Irfan Pathan bowled and batted well, Wasim Jaffer batted brilliantly, Sourav Ganguly was majestic, Rahul Dravid was able to get a start every single time without ever making the opposition pay, none of the batsmen looked out of touch, Ishant Sharma got better and better as the third Test progressed, and like it was after the English series, we will discuss whether or not the Indian captain has “guts”, “confidence”, can “back himself and his team” and “make things happen”. In addition, this time around there is another elephant in the room along with our armchairs – Australia. This word is currently so overloaded with meaning, that it would require a post in itself to explain what it meant. Very briefly, Australia is not only the unstated final frontier in cricketing terms, it is also the entity which embraces everything that may present itself in our hazy armchair dreams for the Indian team. Australia are “aggressive”, “confident”, “believe in themselves”, “win” etc. etc. etc.

Coming back to mother earth, Cricinfo’s comment on the Bangalore Test is a classic armchair critics manifesto. The statement of the thesis is:

“In hindsight I probably should have bowled medium-pace in the first innings,” Kumble said after the draw. In hindsight, he should have perhaps backed himself, and the rest of the bowlers, and declared half-an-hour earlier”.

This is advice, admonition and commentary about strategy all rolled into one. Cricinfo are always fair though, and they present both sides of the story. Balance, you see. The arguments favoring the choices Kumble made are stated as follows:

“Those in favour will echo Kumble, who said India “had to get to a situation where we could absolutely ensure a series victory.” India were, after all, defending a 1-0 lead and were justified in wanting to shut the door completely. Another argument is that the poor light was unforeseen and, but for it, they would probably have comfortably picked up those last three wickets given the speed with which the first seven fell.”

Then comes the killer paragraph:

“Convincing, but not as emphatic as the counter to those arguments. India’s lead was 310 by lunch and the probability of Pakistan chasing a target of such magnitude, on a pitch where the bounce was getting lower by the over, was almost zero. Importantly, had the declaration come ten overs earlier, at the cost of 35-40 runs to the target, India would have had a buffer against the weather. The timing of the eventual declaration, little more than an hour after lunch, leaving Pakistan 374 to chase and 48 overs to save the Test, betrayed a defensive mindset.”

Really? Declaring 10 overs earlier would have given India a buffer against the weather? Doesn’t this fly in the face of all normal logic? The reason India got all those wickets was because Kumble decided to bowl seam up, after tea. Would declaring 10 overs earlier than he did, enabled India to squeeze in 10 overs more after tea? Or is it the cricinfo author’s case that Kumble would have thought about bowling seam up 10 overs into the innings anyways, and that the break at tea time which allowed then to take a moment and think things through had nothing to do with the development of the idea? Also, would 10 overs have given India a “buffer” against an “unforeseen” weather disruption? Is that not a contradiction? India’s lead was 310 by lunch, and there the Cricinfo author makes the beginnings of a good argument, but does not pursue it further for some odd reason .

The Cricinfo’s commentators argument, made so shamelessly with the benefit of hindsight, hits all the right buttons – “aggression v defensive mindset”, “aversion to risk”, “what of Australia”. It also suggests that this is somehow becoming a habit, reminding us of the Oval Test, where

“India left the declaration until an hour after tea on the fourth day, when they had accumulated a lead of 500, after having earlier decided not to enforce the follow-on. England finished the fifth day 131 short of their target with four wickets in hand.”

India made 59 runs in the hour after tea in that Test and about 90 runs between the hour after lunch and the hour after tea, having suffered a rare batting collapse (5/89) in this innings. Had India declared say an hour before tea, then would England have ended up 40 runs shy with 4 wickets in hand? Would giving Zaheer Khan two hours less to recover been in India’s favor? Would it have been wise to have allowed that kind of situation after having fought so hard to win the series?

I reject the “aggression” argument. Not declaring does not imply an aversion to risk or a lack of aggression, anymore than using the reverse sweep against Harbhajan Singh implies a liking for risk or an instinctively “aggressive” mindset on the part of Younis Khan. This was the juxtaposition repeated time and again by Bruce Yardley (who seems to really believe in earning his money – he talks all the time). The reverse sweep as used by Younis Khan was a carefully prepared method against a particular bowler. Harbhajan Singh has an aversion to coming round the wicket to the right hander, hence his line of attack is usually outside off stump. He also bowls without a cover point most of the time, choosing to have a silly point instead. Thus, the reverse sweep is a “risk free” option against him. The batsman can’t be LBW because he’s outside off stump, the batsman runs little risk of being bowled because the pad and the body is between the ball and the stumps, the batsman runs little risk of being caught close in, because the expansive stroke invariably causes the close in men to duck. It worked almost every time for Younis while Harbhajan Singh was bowling over the wicket. When Harbhajan came round the wicket, it became a different ball game altogether. Now, the LBW came into the picture, as did bowled, because the ball pitched in line with the stumps and straightened with the break, causing the batsman to be offside of both the stumps and the line of the ball. Younis went for the reverse sweep nevertheless, and was promptly bowled. Now, was this a fatal attraction to risk? Or did Younis Khan simply miss the point? Or, with the tables turned on him, and with Harbhajan doing something that the batsman did not expect, did Younis lose the plot? Or was he bull headed and stubborn in sticking to the same ploy?

I raise this simply to show how shallow and inadequate arguments about “aggression” can be. Why didn’t Anil Kumble declare at Lunch? Thats an excellent question. I wish some one would ask it. Then again, how many times has a Test match been won with a side being bowled out in the last two sessions of play? Almost never. Why did Kumble declare immediatly after Dinesh Karthik was dismissed? Could he have been swayed by VVS getting hit on the elbow? Could he have decided that it wasn’t worth risking either himself or Harbhajan with the Australian tour coming up? What did he expect when he declared with 48 overs to be played? Was it simply a case of “at this point, we would rather bowl, instead of exposing our bowlers to Shoaib on this wicket”?

There are clues to Kumble’s thinking in what he said, and indeed in the scorecard. The spinners achieved nothing of note in this game (Kumble’s success came bowling seam up). There was “no turn or bounce” in Kumble’s judgement. There was therefore nothing significant to work with. With a second string pace attack consisting of a rookie and a third seamer, could Kumble have seriously hoped to achieve what Shoaib and Sami with their tailor made styles for uneven wickets (pace, a habit of attacking the stumps) couldn’t? Did the wicket, prepared by the KSCA with the help of pitch experts from New Zealand, not defeat everyone in the end?

If the wicket was as bad as it was, how can you explain the fact that until Yuvraj Singh came along, and Anil Kumble’s seam up style paid dividends, the scoreline for the match read (India 626 and 284/6 d, Pakistan 537 and 144/3)? In fact, if you leave out the fact that the Indian and Pakistan tail end folded rapidly in the first innings, India reached 600/6 and Pakistan reached 500/6 respectively.

Pakistan went into this series 1-0 down. If Younis Khan was indeed interested in taking risks and winning, why didn’t he declare immediatly after the follow on had been saved? Then if India had batted on, he would have at least have tried to win but been thwarted by India’s refusal to make a game of it. Why is the onus for enforcing a win on the side that is ahead 1-0 and not on the side that must win to save the series? Did the ease with which Pakistan were batting in the first innings not suggest that they might have fancied a chase of say 350 in the last 8 or 9 hours of the game? Given that they were behind, and had conceded 600 in the first innings, would a 350 run chase not been worth going for? What happened to the “lets go for the win, it doesn’t matter if we lose 2-0” argument? With Shoaib back to full fitness (he bowled 17 overs in the 3rd innings), would it have not been worth the gamble?

To say that Kumble was not “aggressive” is to miss the point. It is to reduce every decision into two clear and ultimately useless categories – aggressive or defensive. Kumble the captain did not let down Kumble the bowler. Kumble the bowler was useless on this wicket. It was Kumble the “bowler”, bowling seam up who found something that he could exploit. Ironically Kumble the “bowler” was a creation of Kumble the Captain.

A left arm spinner, who would have out of necessity attacked the stumps more than an off spinner might actually have been effective on this wicket. Both Abdur Rehman and Murali Kartik will wonder about this.

As for India, Kumble and the Australian tour, we can rest assured that Anil Kumble will not do anything reckless in Australia. As for “aggression” – the Vengsarkar committee has just selected Virender Sehwag for the Australian tour, on a hunch, with no runs to his name in the Ranji Trophy. Almost exactly a year ago, this same committee made one other selection like this. That player made 534 runs in the current series and has made over 1100 runs since his comeback at an average of about 60.

This is a hunch, much like Kumble’s hunch about bowling seam up (note than Ganguly in his seam up avatar was not as effective). Hunches ought to be made when there is nothing to lose – either when everything is already lost, or when nothing significant can be lost if the hunch doesn’t work. Until such time, the Anil Kumble approach is the way to go.

Bangalore Test Day 2

Southpaws continued their dominance on Day 2 of the Bangalore Test. The bat dominated the ball again. Sourav Ganguly, Irfan Pathan and Salman Butt all prospered and at the end of the day, India are almost certainly gauranteed a series victory. India’s batsmen mastered whatever bowling Pakistan could throw at them. Early indications are that Pakistan’s batsmen have reciprocated. However, this can be definitively said only after the morning session tomorrow, for batting in the morning has been significantly more difficult than batting in the afternoon and evening sessions.

It was barely a contest between bat and ball and Sourav Ganguly will probably tell you that his runs yesterday were some of the easiest he has ever made in his test career. The Pakistan bowling this series has been disappointing barring Shoaib Akthar’s bowling at Delhi. Danish Kaneria has been unable to control the runs. Mohammad Sami has been unlucky at times (he should have had Dinesh Karthik in the morning session) and wayward at others. Yasir Arafat had a five wicket haul on Test debut – in itself a fine achievement. It was however one of the most pyrrhic five wicket hauls one could ever imagine.

When India bowled, the new ball attack was easily negotiated by the Pakistan openers, and whatever trouble they had was of Yasir Hameed’s own making. Ishant Sharma bowled an opening spell where he delivered nothing that would have gone on to hit the stumps. As a bowler, with 5-6 methods of dismissal available to him, he was clearly not bowling for 2 of them. This didn’t deter Hameed though. He seemed intent on knocking off much of the deficit yesterday itself going hard at balls wide outside off stump. His partner was much more composed and showed very sure judgement of his off stump. Coming as it did after 5 sessions in the field, it was an impressive innings, aided by some lacklustre bowling.

Anil Kumble started off poorly, but with Yasir Hameed, it was a matter of time. There was much discussion in the commentary box about Hameed having opened his stance. Just as Aamir Sohail was completing his sentence, Hameed planted his front foot down and was struck low down in front of off stump. He was plumb. Dismissed in exactly the same way as before. Having reduced everything to “learning from your mistakes”, Sohail found himself at a loss for words. There was one other delivery from Kumble which skidded along the ground under Younis Khan’s forward defensive blade and missed the off stump by a whisker. It will give the Indian captain a lot of hope.

Having watched the first two tests and now the first two days of this one, one can’t help feeling that this is a Test series between a veteran Indian side which is surprised by nothing in the Test Match arena any more and a Pakistan side which is going through the motions and can be roused only when it is threatened with defeat. Misbah Ul Haq, Salman Butt, Younis Khan, Kamran Akmal and to some extent Yousuf have shone with the bat. Mohammad Sami has shown himself to be a great trier with bat and ball, and Danish Kaneria has wheeled away inspite of knowing that the Indian batsmen are not really troubled by him. In all three Test’s however, Pakistan have thrown away the advantage in their first innings, and had to play catch up for the rest of the game. They’ve gone through two captains, been a bowler short in two consecutive Test matches thanks to Shoaib. Being a bowler short is the worst possible thing that can happen to a team in a Test Match (well, being 2 or 3 bowlers short is much worse obviously). It kills the game as a contest, and only one team can realistically win the game, unless it chooses to engage in sporting declarations.

This wicket, prepared by the KSCA with expert help from New Zealand has been a disaster with uneven bounce on the first day. It is probably not as slow as the Eden Gardens or Kotla wickets were, but seems to be two paced. Come Boxing Day India’s batsmen will have to make every ounce of their experience count if they are to make the adjustment. These runs will help though.

On the pace bowling front, there are more serious worries for India. Ishant Sharma looks raw, Irfan Pathan is not the bowler he was in 2004, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Sreesanth and R P Singh are all injured. I can see Ponting and co. licking their lips in anticipation.

This Bangalore Test has ceased to be of interest at this point. Pakistan cannot win it from here. It remains to be seen if India’s bowlers hit the right spots on the pitch enough times, with a high enough frequency to eek out 20 wickets before stumps are drawn on Day 5. As it was at Eden, the Pakistan first innings will be the key. If they make 400, it will be difficult for India to force the issue.

So far this series has been a vindication for Dilip Vengsarkar and his masterstroke in late 2006. Sourav Ganguly has made 1034 Test runs in 20 innings since his return at an average of 57.44. He was picked on a hunch, without any Ranji Trophy runs to go by. Since his return, Ganguly has batted as though he belongs in Test cricket, something that was sorely missing in the run up to his dismissal in 2005. He is at ease with his batting technique and feels under no pressure. He has been above the fray, much like Tendulkar was in the early part of this decade when he could and did speak on behalf of the team as he after the Australia defeat early in the 2003 World Cup. He has said nothing at all about Chappell and seems to have put it all behind him. Shaun Tait, Brett Lee and Stuart Clark will Test Ganguly. But he could not be better placed in terms of form, confidence or mindset to take them on.

Unless Ishant Sharma surprises us, it will be Kumble & Harbhajan v Pakistan for the last 3 days of this Test match.

Bangalore Test Day 1

The run up to the Bangalore Test was replete with the debris of hurly burly of Test Match cricket. Injured players, sick players, reluctant captains, eleventh hour confusion about replacements, a selector under siege and an untested pitch promised a interesting Test Match. In a series devoid of any great individual contests, there has rarely been in a dull moment. The atmosphere at the Chinnaswamy Stadium was electric as Anil Kumble won the toss on home turf and decided to bat first.

Shoaib Akthar looked healthy again, and the Indian opening combination – Wasim Jaffer and Gautam Gambhir faced up to some genuinely quick bowling. Shoaib being Shoaib, it was too good to last, and he soon began clutching his back and getting treatment between overs. Given how unpredictable Shoaib’s fitness is, it is not surprising that Younis Khan doesn’t want to captain Pakistan.

Runs were difficult to come by nevertheless, and even though the Pakistan new ball pair did not threaten to take wickets, they did not bowl poorly. The bowled to their field, and with the batsmen choosing to ignore most offerings outside off stump, for much of the first hour, bat ignored ball. Gautam Gambhir fell early to Mohammad Sami, caught at the wicket as he pushed speculatively at one that moved just that little bit off the seam. At the other end, Wasim Jaffer found the fielders with unerring regularity, with the result that India were off to a slow start. Rahul Dravid came to the wicket to a grand ovation and set about the Pakistan bowling as though he meant business. The deceptive Arafat came on as first change, and before long Dravid aimed a square cut at one which seamed in just a tad off a shortish length and also bounced extra, only to see a resulting edge fly to Misbah Ul Haq at first slip. 44/2.

Arafat was warming to the task on his Test debut and the fact that he came into this Test with 520 first class wickets at 22.43 showed in his bowling. He bowled an immaculate length and made the batsmen play without ever drifting down leg side. Wasim Jaffer fell to one which nipped back from outside off stump off a great length, while VVS fell to one which kept low and sneaked in under his bat to knock back his off stump. 61/4. Both wickets were the result of a fine length.

Having chosen to bat first, India were in trouble at this stage, and all the old memories of the Bangalore jinx came to mind. The wicket seemed perfectly playable and India looked like they were going to throw away the significant advantage of first use. Enter Yuvraj Singh at the stroke of Lunch.

Yuvraj Singh proceeded to play a sumptuous innings. Shoaib bowled a spell after lunch, which Yuvraj and Ganguly navigated successfully. Once he had left the scene, the two Indian southpaws set about the bowling – each in their own distinctive way. Yuvraj was all expansive stroke play with that magnificient high backlift, while Ganguly was all class, seemingly holding himself back all the time. Difficult situations seem to bring out the best in the former Indian captain, and he and Yuvraj proceeded to light up the Chinnaswamy stadium in a triple century partnership in just two sessions of play. Yuvraj first mastered and then dominated a Pakistan attack already reeling from an acute sense of deja vu thanks to Shoaib’s visit to the hospice. Having hammered the bowling into submission, Yuvraj proceeded to milk the bowling in the last hour of the day. He made a century in the session after tea. The Greenpeace army cheered on as the two Indian left handers sizzled – Ganguly’s deftness being matched and surpassed by Yuvraj’s powerful display. Having waited a year and a half after an eminently forgettable run of scores in the Tests in West Indies in 2006, Yuvraj left an indelible mark. Dilip Vengsarkar watched from the stands as his masterstroke from 2006 continued to yield pure gold and Yuvraj Singh proceeded to create another impossible situation for him selection wise.

Younis Khan for his part was his usual magnificient self. He kept trying something or the other and was finally rewarded when Yuvraj fell against the run of play in the final moments of the second day to the second new ball. In walked Dinesh Karthik at number 7, to face the second new ball, under immense pressure with nothing to gain and everything to lose in the final 3 overs of the day. It was here that Ganguly showed his class. In Sami’s final over, Ganguly played the 4th ball towards the point fence and with the man on the fence and hesitated to take the easy single that was on offer, trying to shield Dinesh Karthik for the last two balls of the day. Karthik of course was having none of it, and played out the last two balls of the day with aplomb.

At 5/365, India are not out of the woods by any means. But they have given themselves the opportunity to produce a huge first innings score and seal the series. Until Yuvraj established himself on this newly laid wicket, that looked quite unlikely.

What twists will tomorrow throw up? Shoaib is likely to be available to bowl tomorrow. With Irfan Pathan still to come, India will fancy their chances of reaching 500. This is Ganguly’s chance of making a Test double. I really hope that he makes the 75 runs required tomorrow.

Bangalore Test Preview – Swings and roundabouts

India go into the Bangalore Test leading 1-0 in the series, needing a draw to securing a series victory. The usual story in such an instance, especially with the opposition not having threatened at all with the ball with the bat in the 2nd Test would be one where the side in the leading would reiterate its committment to chasing a win and not sitting on a lead, while the side trailing the in series would claim to have found a second wind thanks to their stirring fight back in the 2nd Test. This is India v Pakistan however, and this series, even though it is devoid of the usual needle (enemies going at each other at cricket and all that stuff), has had its own share of swings and round abouts.

Both sides have been decimated by injuries on the eve of the Bangalore Test. This is something which might have been expected with three back to back Test matches. Only a few years ago, the thought of playing “back-to-back Tests” would have merited a comment from TV Pundits. Nowadays, its par for the course. In this instance, the usual injuries due to wear and tear have been supplemented by sickness. Shoaib Akthar, Misbah Ul Haq, Mohammad Sami and a few other Pakistan players have been sick. In addition to this Umar Gul and Mohammad Asif have both been ruled out of the series due to injuries. On the Indian side, Tendulkar is a doubtful starter with a knee injury aggravated during training. Munaf Patel, RP Singh and Zaheer Khan have all been rendered hors de combat. Dhoni is injured as well. Some of the players have doubtless been ruled out keeping an eye on the upcoming Australia tour, where India are likely to travel with a few players recovering from niggles. If this was a do-or-die Test match with the future of life itself hinging on it, then many of those players might have played, much like Shoaib played at Kolkata when he should have been tucked up in bed.

On the Pakistan side, there is also the question of captaincy. Shoaib Malik has a tenuous hold on a Test spot. It is hard to imagine that his original deputy was Salman Butt, until good sense prevailed and Younis Khan was recruited for the number 2 job. Younis Khan’s reluctance to become captain has led to speculation (in that peculiar way in which the press can manufacture it) that he is reluctant to lead the squad in Bangalore in Shoaib Malik’s absence. Younis of course has denied any such reluctance. He doesn’t want to be Captain of Pakistan, but will do the job during the Bangalore Test. If his past efforts are anything to go by, he will do a very fine job.

Then there has been the “miscommunication” between Rauf and Rao – two unfortunately similar names which belong to two of Pakistan’s fringe fast men. Abdur Rauf was apparently supposed to join the Pakistan side until it turned out that it was infact Rao who was coming. This quickly gave rise to the speculation that Younis wanted Rauf, but got Rao. All Younis would say in the matter was a cryptic “It goes without saying that a captain should have a big say in team selection”.

As you can see, to suggest that there are swings and roundabouts is an understatement here. But wait – the icing on the cake is the fact that this is an untested, virgin wicket! It is newly laid, and nobody knows how it will play. The 1996 World Cup semi-final was played on a newly laid wicket and that one didn’t last very long. In other instances, newly laid wickets have lasted quite long. This newly laid wicket has been prepared under supervision of two experts from New Zealand. BCCI was blamed (typically – i sometimes wish they didn’t have such a conveniently simple acronym. If it was difficult to use, they might not have been blamed so much) for the Kolkata wicket. It should be noted that the Bangalore wicket is being prepared by the authorities in Bangalore, not by BCCI. The wickets, and the ground belong to the local association. The responsibility lies with them too. It remains to be seen how this wicket will play. If it turns out to be “slow and low”, you know who will get the rap.

Finally of course, there is history. India have lost twice to Pakistan at Bangalore, both times in final Test of a series. In 1986-87, they lost a close game on a horror wicket where Sunil Gavaskar made an epic 96 in the 4th innings before being caught close in off his forearm protector. Maninder Singh took 7-27 in the Pakistan first innings. Iqbal Qasim and Tauseef Ahmed bowled Pakistan to victory. In 2005, it was Inzamam who laid the foundations for Pakistan, making an unforgettable 184 on the first day. Virender Sehwag replied with 202 when India batted, but his dismissal, trying to worked a leg break from Danish Kaneria pitched outside off stump to midwicket only to be caught and bowled, sparked a batting collapse which left VVS Laxman stranded. Shahid Afridi then made a rude century as Pakistan raced to set up a declaration. India collapsed on the final day.

For Anil Kumble, his first series as captain could not possibly have been a greater mess. The redeeming feature is that he hasn’t lost. He will hope that this does not come to pass in his first Test as captain on his home ground. It will be a great occasion for him. I hope Rahul Dravid can mark the moment with his first Test hundred at KSCA. It will be a battle against history for Kumble and India to win the series.

Even though many of India’s supporters will frown at this supposedly defeatist ploy, i think India would do well to go into the match with the extra batsman. My line up would be Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, VRV Singh. It is disappointing that Munaf Patel will miss out on what may be the one wicket in this Test series which might have suited him. But then again, when Indian players are out injured, he’s unlikely to not make that list. I do hope that Tendulkar plays though.

I should leave you with the thought that Younis Khan made 267 and 84 not out at Bangalore in 2005, and that India made 449 in their first innings and still lost by 168 runs.

Bangalore awaits….