A time to kill

DILEEP PREMACHANDRAN hails the brave - and savage - new world of the double-centurion

Australia won more then a Test match against pakistan at hobart in 1999. Adam gilchrist, playing just his second Test, and justin langer, with his place in the side on the line, shot down the albatross that had clung to Australia's necks ever since lan Botham's 1981 Ashes.
The abject collapses at Headingley and Edgbaston that year had cut deep into the Australian cricketing psyche. Each time they chased a target, no matter how trifling, you could sense the demons just waiting to burst forth Australia had made a habit of turning wine into water, losing innumerable matches in pursuit of miniscule targets.


At Hobart, they appeared to be sticking to the same tragic script. Chasing 369, they tumbled to 126 for 5. But Gilchrist was in on mood to wave the white flag, and he tore into the pakistani bowlers with the sort of ferocity rarely seen since Viv Richards was last in his pomp. Gilchrist's unbeaten 149 contained scarcely a false stroke, but more than the runs it was his tempo that caught pakistan cold. It took him just 163 balls to turn the match - and series - on its head as great innings go, it deserves to be ranked alongside Botham's piece de resistance at Leeds.

Gilchrist has hardly stopped to catch a breath since. In the recent series against South Africa - supposedly the second-best side in the world - he aggregated 472 runs at 157.33. He faced just 474 balls, a strike-rate that makes the a cautious plod. The double-hundred at johannesburg was sublime at johannesburg was sublime, but even that paled alongside the effort at Cape Town, where he blasted 138 from 108 balls.

When Gilchrist came to the crease, the match was in the balance. What followed was enthralling and embarrassing in equal measure. It was counter-attacking batsmanship at its finest, as strokes flowed in a torrent with total disregard for the match situation.

Captaincy: a recipe

The interview with Tiger pataudi (‘Talking Cricket’, March 2002) is a revelation on what a captain needs to be. A captain should be a visionary leader. He needs to have the nerve of a gambler, the understanding of a psychologist and the patience of a saint. We haven’t had such a captain in the last four decades. Indian cricket has suffered because of pataudi’s aversion to pacemen, Gavaskar’s negative approach, Azharuddin’s arrogance and Ganguly’s on-field temperament.

No Clubs, please

I don’t agree with Mr. Santosh Reddy when he says (Express Delivery, March 2002) That cricket should adopt the club system like in football. Mr Reddy gave the example of Michael Owen playing 65 matches a year. But Owen has played hardly 10 international matches for England. India played 14 Test and three one-day triangular series last year and they didn’t get a three-month summer break like footballers do. The amount of cricket played took its toll: Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Zaheer Khan and rahul dravid were all injured during the last season.
Players are retiring early enough as it is and if you have a club system they will retire even earlier. Young allrounders will become a rare breed as it is already very demanding, physically, to do both, bat and bowl successfully on a regular basis.
It is the quality of cricket that matters not the quantity.

Er… you forgot these

The effort to shortlist the top ODI innings (‘Viv on top of the world’, March,2002) is novel, but I do think that Wisden has either under-rated or ignored entirely a few performances. For instance:

1 Sourav Ganguly’s 124 V. Pakistan at Dhaka in the Independence Cup in 1998.
2 Robin Singh’s efforts in the same match.
3 Sachin’s 143 at Sharjah against the Aussies That helped Indians qualify for the finals.
4 chris cairns’s 102 not out against South Africa in the VB series.
5 michael Bevan’s unbeaten century in the same series which kept Australia’s title hopes alive.

For country, not century

I agree with sourav Ganguly’s game plan about playing sachin Tendulkar in the middle order (straight bat, March, 2002) especially now that we have an attacking new opener in Virender sehwag.



Personally thought, I think Sachin will mind playing at No. 4 or 5. Over the last two years I have observed that Sachin plays for his centuries rather than for his centuries rather than for his country. He always goes slow once he reaches the eighties and nineties, no matter which over is being bowled. This is why his figures as an individual player are so good.
But what about our team? Afer playing so much cricket we are still struggling in both forms of the game. On the other hand, the Australians are doing great in both Test and ODIs thanks to their team efforts.

Good on you, ICC

Mukul kesavan is right on the money in pointing out how the one-day game in its present form is wholly forgettable (‘rethinking one-day cricket’, March 2002). But I believe the problem lies not so much in the rules but in the insignificance of the matches played. Who would want to remember the seven games between England and south Africa in 1996, even if they were as exciting as they come? The solution would be to make every match count, similar to what the ICC Test Championship has tried to do with Test cricket.

In this context, the much-ridiculed ICC seems to have got something right, at last. By changing the format of the ICC knockout Trophy they have taken a step in the right direction. The 12 participating teams have been divided into four pools of three teams each with only the top teams going on to the semi-finals. This format is much better than the knockout one which puts too much emphasis on luck and form on a given day.

For shame, Mr Bedi

I have always been a fan of Bishan Bedi, but I have reason to believe that he has been speaking through his turban (Broadside, March 2002).

Sourav Ganguly is not the singularly unsuccessful leader Bedi makes him out to be. His captaincy record in Tests (nine Won, five lost, three drawn) is better than those of most former captain; better by far than MAK pataudi – regarded as india’s best captain of all time – who lost 19 Tests and won nine, and even Bedi, who won six and lost 11.

Ganguly has scored over 3000 Test runs at an average of more than 40.His one-day record is surpassed by few. He has won us matches in Zimbabwe, where we had not won before, and in Sri Lanka, in the absence of the likes of Sachin, Laxman, Srinath and kumble. As far as his lean patch as a batsman is concerned, I think his bat has done the talking in the recent one-dayers against England and the Tests against Zimbabwe.

It is depressing to note that Bishan Bedi, who was himself a victim of racism in cricket, has played into the hands of the white brigade who have found pleasure in deriding Muttiah Muralitharan. The ICC is the right forum to decide whether Murali’s action is legal or not. People like Bedi are only losing their own reputations by raising doubts where none should exist. If Bedi believes that there is something wrong with the working of the ICC, he should take steps to reform that process. Does one see a plot in this attempt to discredit Murali when he is on the verge of crossing shane warne as the most successful spinner in Test Cricket?