Is Harbhajan Singh all we have got?

Harbhajan Singh had another forgettable match with the ball at Motera in the first test against Sri Lanka. His performances over the last few years in test matches haven’t been so impressive when compared to the earlier half of his career. His performances have especially deteriorated on pitches that are loaded in favour of the batsmen.

We shall dedicate this post entirely to a number summary of Harbhajan Singh’s test career. We shall, in the process, highlight his growing ineffectiveness of placid wickets, his poor record away from home and why he is far from being the best spinner India have at the moment.

Harbhajan has 216 test wickets from 44 home test matches and only 116 test wickets from 35 test matches played outside India. If we have to count out the 23 wickets he has taken in 7 test matches in the spin-friendly Sri Lankan wickets, the record is even more abysmal outside the subcontinent. He is yet to take a test match wicket in Pakistan after playing two test matches there.

His bowling averages in Australia and South Africa are 73 and 56 respectively which are far from being impressive. His strike rates in these two countries are 126 and 108 which signify that he has been required to bowl atleast 20 overs to guarantee him a test wicket in Australia and South Africa. He also averages 52.65 in test matches in which India have bowled first.

In the recent past, he has bowled flatter and without any sting in test matches played on placid wickets. In the acrimonious Sydney test in early 2008, he bowled 60 overs for 200 runs and picked up just four wickets in the match. In the Adelaide test match that followed, he gave away 148 runs and picked up just one wicket from 48 overs. In Bangalore against Pakistan in early 2007, he bowled 38 overs, conceded 131 runs and picked up just two wickets. The list is quite an exhaustive one that culminates in his miserable performance at Motera last week.

We can see that these are not the figures of a top class spin bowler whom we hail as the spin spearhead. It is high time India looked for talent beyond him and gave some youngsters a longer run at the international level.

If there is any consolation, he seems to be batting a lot better now than ever before. That is still no reason to have him in your side as the leading spinner.

Docile pitches and tame draws

There is so much being written about the preparation of docile test match wickets that make the contest between bat and ball lopsided. It is annoying to read so many reports about this topic in the last few days. Tendulkar’s 20 years and the future of test cricket seem to be the hot topics of coverage everywhere. We shall intentionally stay away from all that hoopla and write about something that is becoming a global syndrome and not something that is specific to Indian wickets.

In the last five years, Lord’s, the home of cricket, has been no exception to tame draws. Since 2005, only two test matches played at Lord’s have produced results. England defeated West Indies in May 2009 and they defeated Australia in the Ashes earlier this year. Counting out the match against West Indies, that makes it 6 draws and a solitary victory.

Earlier this year, when India toured New Zealand, the test match at Napier petered out to a dull draw where India batted close to five sessions to see the match off. Only two out of 8 test matches played at this venue since 1979 have produced results.

The test matches played at Lahore’s Gadaffi stadium in the last two years have been high scoring draws. We need not remind you of the kind of surfaces England got in West Indies earlier this year when they failed to win a single test match after going down to Jerome Taylor in Jamaica.

In his column in the Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Roebuck doesn’t hide his disappointment about the slowing SCG surface:

With every passing year, the tracks seem to be slowing down. Take the mottled surfaces seen at the SCG this season. A more docile bunch of decks it’d be hard to imagine. Admittedly, the new ball had a bit of carry but it did not last long. Doug Bollinger had plenty of gas but before long was obliged to bowl stump to stump. Already Stuart Clark had adopted the same strategy. These blokes are top-class operators.

As we can see, the problem with batsmen-friendly pitches is becoming a global syndrome and is not specific to  the wickets of any nation as such. What is more worrying is Mr. Daljit Singh’s retort to the criticism about the Ahmedabad pitch. He says that the curator’s act was justified as they did not want India to go down in a session like they did in the game against South Africa two years ago. India  are better off preparing dust bowls and earning international censure as opposed to preparing such lifeless wickets where there is no turn even on the fifth day.

If there is any consolation, it is just that the wickets in South Africa continue to be sporting and produce results almost everytime. Maybe the curators there have a thing or two to teach their Indian counterparts.

Aussies Back On Top

The Australians were depressed after their loss in the Ashes but will feel overjoyed after their series win in India. Yes while it may have been a victory in a meaningless series but from  it, there is the chance that Australia can reap long-term benefits.

Normally Australia finds that its opposition is ravaged by injury and has to call for replacement after replacement. Australia will be a bit more sympathetic after what it has been through on this tour. Tim Paine, James Hopes, Brett Lee and Peter Siddle all left the original touring party. Moises Henriques was called up as a replacement player and he himself had to be replaced.  This was combined with Callum Ferguson and Brad Haddin not being in the original squad.

Filling the breech were Clint McKay, Doug Bollinger and Burt Cockley. Bollinger really stood out. He took nine wickets from his first four games at the average of 19.33. He is definitely a find of the tour and one Australia can look forward to in the future.

With 313 from his first 6 matches, Michael Hussey has been the form batsman. He still will want to atone for his shaky test form but doing well in the one-day series is a good start. Hussey faces a crucial summer. At his age, one can’t be sure how much longer he has in the team, but by the same token it’s not the time to be blooding another middle-order batsman.

Even less so when one considers the injuries that Michael Clarke is suffering from. He hasn’t really lifted a bat since the Ashes and it’s hard to say what kind of form he’s in.

Brett Lee was in sparkling form before he left the team and hopefully he will be able to return for NSW in order to impress the Australian selectors. Cricket betting isn’t sure if he will win back his Test spot.

As for India, they played well but were always a step behind the Australians. In the sixth game, they only needed to score another 50 runs but folded badly. Too much relied on the old guard of Dhoni, Tendulkar and Gambhir. Apart from that, many of the batsmen let India down such as Sehwag and Yuvraj.

Apart from Australia, the real winner of this series was 50 over cricket. Everyone is in love with Twenty20 cricket and feel that the longer form of the shorter form of the game is in danger. This series proved there is a place for 50 over cricket.

David Wiseman writes for this blog. He also writes about greyhound betting.

Why India are what they are

There is no doubt in my mind why India are what they are in International cricket. As much as the advent of the IPL, the player’s sloth, cricket overkill and the BCCI can be blamed for the perennial mediocrity and inconsistency with which the team performs, the selectors deserve some stick too for inheriting the poor selection methods of their predecessors and reapplying it a thousand times over and over again even when they don’t produce results.

The team selection for India’s home ODI series against Australia is a case in point – the employment of the same old methods. The team selections in India have traditionally centred around regionalism and parochialism. Invariably, the coaches have used their power as a vehicle to promote players hailing from their region to the international stage. These players may have been the best representing their regions but would generally be far from the best India as a nation has to offer. Numerous names of cricketers who benefitted from such politics come to mind and could constitute the subject matter of  a different post altogether.

The Indian selectors always fail to look beyond that pool of 30 odd cricket players. They dropped Ravindra Jadeja and went for Abhishek Nayyar before the Champions trophy. Now they have dropped Abhishek Nayyar for Ravindra Jadeja. Nayyar did not have much of a role to play in India’s defeat in the Champions trophy. It baffles me what prompted his exclusion and why he is being made the scapegoat for the failure on the part of the Indian bowlers.

Nehra was almost forgotten before he resurfaced from oblivion. Rahul Dravid doesn’t quite know if he should retire from ODI cricket. He might soon get a call when India are back on a losing streak. Rohit Sharma, technically sound and compact so-to-speak is out of contention. Tomorrow when Virat Kohli fails to fire, Rohit Sharma might replace him in the squad.

If this is how the Indian selectors go about picking the team, the results that India have produced in the recent past are not any surprising. They typically begin their experimentation by playing 17 and 18 year olds in the international side. If they taste early success, they’ll stick to them for a while. The moment they start failing, they’ll revert to experienced players, giving them a second life. Suddenly the fielding and running between the wickets will become talking points. The experienced would be sacked. The same youth brigade would be brought in and the vicious cycle would continue.

They have never persisted with a youngster enough to blood him. They expect instant results from their new recruits and expect those that are good to repeat the feat consistently. The administrators do not care a fig about the players’ packed international calendars. They have packed it even more with two T20 competitions every year. How do they expect these youngsters to consistently perform on top of their game in so many matches that they play in a calendar year? They fail to rotate the players for different tournaments, turn a complete blind eye to player burnout and still expect them to produce results.

Venkatesh Prasad, though not an exceptional bowler himself, has done a commendable job behind the scenes in preparing a good stock of pace bowlers. When the bowlers failed to deliver in two consecutive tournaments for reasons that are beyond Prasad’s control, he has been axed. The selectors, who have been tolerating India’s mediocre fielding all these years have suddenly decided to blame Robin Singh for the lack of any conspicuous improvement on the fielding front. There can’t be worser knee-jerk reactions taken by a selection committee.

The Indian selector is no longer holding a honorary post. He is being paid for his selection decisions and is equally responsible for the team’s poor show. How about sacking the selectors if the team underperforms?

The day is not far away, one should think.

Early Observations from the Champions League

After the first round of matches has completed, four of the 12 teams have gone home. Eight progress through to the second round and from here we will lose 50% of the teams until we are finally left with one.

The impressive teams to date have been New South Wales and the Cape Cobras. New South Wales are a team to die for and have ridiculous depth for a provincial side. Players such as David Warner, Phil Hughes, Simon Katich are good enough but then they have an all international bowling line-up of Brett Lee, Nathan Hauritz, Stuart Clark and Doug Bollinger. They are a fantastic side, easily won both of their first two matches and will take some beating.

The Cape Cobras are just as star-studded. They have Herschel Gibbs, JP Duminy and Justin Ontong. They are capable of turning something into nothing and are a very dangerous side.

From Group B, the Eagles advance with NSW after defeating Sussex in a bowl-off.

From Group C, Bangalore will join the Cobras in the last eight. With Anil Kumble, Mark Boucher, Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Dale Steyn, Roelof van der Merwe and Vinay Kumar there is a strong Indo-South African flavour to the side.

From Group D, the Delhi Daredevils and Victoria are progressing. All sides won one and lost one and both of these sides will be a stern challenge to the Cobras and Bangalore. The Devils are a good side. They did very well in the IPL this year and in Tillakaratne Dilshan, Dirk Nannes, Virender Sehwag  and Amit Mishra they have a quality squad.  Victoria and the Cobras will hold the advantage of bringing two points with them from the group stage.

Group A wasn’t decided until the final ball of competition. Somerset joined Trinidad and Tobago in the second round when Deccan lost to the West Indian side by three runs. The defending IPL champions bow out of the competition without winning a match and in both instances they were very unlucky.

It is good for West Indian cricket that Trinidad and Tobago go through to the next round. They are somewhat of a dark horse with the cricket betting world. There are two sides from India, Australia and South Africa in the final eight with one each from the West Indies and England. Each side only plays twice in the second round so those teams who bring points through with them only have to win once to advance to the final four.  This is a huge advantage and you would expect all four to progress.

David Wiseman writes for this blog. He also writes about the Melbourne Cup.