Is it right to demand for Spinning Pitches?

Hi Guys,

Back to Cricket after a long time. This time I am planning to write about the wayward demand made by MS Dhoni.

Dhoni wants the pitches to turn right from Day 1 and this has created a huge controversy. The logic made by Dhoni is that Home Conditions need to favor the home team. Also in Australia and England pitches seam right from the first ball. Before agreeing or disagreeing to Dhoni’s comments, we need to look into the logic.

Leaving apart the nature of the pitch, we know that a new Ball seams or swings and as the ball starts to wear it starts to Spin. It is true in most of the cases, except that the amount of seam and spin depends on the pitch. Dhoni’s comments is nearly something like Alaistar Cook saying that England pitches should support seam and bounce the same way irrespective of whether its first over or 80th over.

Also in Test matches are not touched until the end of fifth day and the pitch withers according to the nature’s wishes. So, as time goes on the pitch starts to spin more or seam more. This is one of the main reasons why chasing a score above 250 in fourth innings is tough. Asking for a turning pitch right on the first day will make things worse as the match goes on and the match gets over in three days. Dhoni’s logic of saying that there is no fun playing for five days goes against the history of 5 day matches.

Dhoni says that each country has its own Home Advantage and India doesn’t. Indians have always had their home advantage. The blazing sun along with batting and spinning pitches has made the opposition tired. Other teams have found it hard to win in India. Steve Waugh’s dream was to win a test series in India and it never happened. And home advantage does not belong to pitches only. It lies with the environment, surroundings, fans, etc.

In Australia or England all the pitches don’t behave the same way. Perth is a heaven for Pace Bowlers. Sydney always supports Spinners to some extent. Melbourne and Adelaide are completely different. The same goes with other pitches too. Clarke doesn’t say that all pitches should behave like Perth or something like sort of that. Asking for similar conditions in all pitches of India is not a right sign.

With problems aplenty in the team, asking for supportive pitches (even after which we lost) won’t help. Grooming youngsters towards Test Cricket is the right sign. We always find someone to blame with. Similarly two good matches can take a player to extreme highs. A long term solution is more important than a short term one.

Hope to see Indian team performing well.

Happy Reading!!!

Tough times for Indian Cricket Fans!

Hi Guys,

It has been a hard time for ardent fans of Indian Cricket Team. If loss is paining, then the way the cricketing fraternity reacts to it is excruciating.

MS Dhoni has been the most celebrated captain of Indian Cricket team. He won us the T20 World Cup, ODI world cup and he took the team to new heights. But, now suddenly he is on a low and no one knows why. His attitude is low and strategies puzzling. He has always been a man of puzzling strategies, but they worked earlier and now they are backfiring. No one knows why he went on setting defensive field. He stills says that his bowlers bowled well and they didn’t have the cushion of big runs. By any means 4 wickets for 650 odd runs is not good bowling.

More awful, after the West Indies series Mr. Cool said that he wanted pitches that spin right from the first day, because spin is our biggest strength. Is he making a plan for India to lose all the overseas series ahead? What is more puzzling is that Ashwin took 22 wickets and Ojha took 21 wickets in that series (43 wickets in 3 matches). Does Dhoni want them to take all possible wickets?

Our selectors and cricket board are another set of crazy people. India lost the Sydney test match and two hours later, the schedule for next IPL was ready. Is money the only thing they think about? A few days ago, Yahoo Cricket published an article on who will be the replacements for the famed Indian batsmen. They came out with some names and in the end concluded ‘Though these batsmen have piled up runs in the Ranji Seasons, we can say nothing about their talent again seam bowling as they play on flat dead pitches’

By this time, some of the former players have made suggestions that the senior players should retire and fresh blood should be induced. Sachin has been the best batsman in this series so far. Dravid had a fantastic year just now. Former players have said that Laxman should be axed and Kohli should be given another chance. They have said that giving chance for just two matches is not good. They should remember that it is a 4 match series and not a 40 match series. He has hit just 43 runs and also misbehaved in the field (whatever the reason maybe it was irresponsible behavior). He has also wasted chances in West Series. Laxman played well in last innings and maybe it is too early to discard him (considering the fact that Aussies are the opponents and Ponting proved himself after 34 innings!)

Aussies were blasted one month ago. It was said that their bowling was the weakest. Ponting, Hussey, Clarke, Haddin – everyone were criticized. But they bounced back and now they are being celebrated across the country.

Being a fanatic of Indian cricket team, I believe that something like that will happen. Last time Indians won at perth. Hopes are low now, but still anything can happen. The fourth innings at SCG was good. Hope the show continues.

Winning a match from now on will be superb. If it happens, lets see how these intelligent guys react.

Happy Reading!!!

Past is no Good!

Hi Guys,

It is so interesting to note that how people forget the past so easily. This is the worst series India has played in the last 10 years. There are numerous reasons behind that. One main reason people say is that Dhoni failed as captain. A few months back, when India won the world cup people were saying, 'Dhoni is the best ever captain India has got'.

Over the past 4 years he has developed our team to a very good extent and all his good work is now forgotten. Maybe if India wins the ODI series people may say Dhoni never gives in.

Winning continuously is impossible. Even when England won the Ashes in 2005 and boasted themselves, they lost pitifully 0-5 to Australia in 2007. When Australia won 15 matches continuously, they lost the series to India in 2001. When England comes to India next year, the result maybe completely opposite.

This is also an important lesson in life. No matter, how long you keep winning, you will be criticized when you fail. And when you fail, all the victories you achieved will be forgotten. We should not be frightened by the criticism.

Finally, I read these beautiful lines in Facebook today. Thanks to Vijay Dinesh who posted it.

A Person should not be too honest and straight forward.

Straight trees are cut first and straight forward people are screwed first.

- Chanakya

Happy Reading!!!