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Under pressure to keep his place in the side, VVS Laxman produced an uncharacteristic but vital knock under pressure

On the Ball with S Rajesh25-Jun-2006To say that VVS Laxman was under pressure going in to bat in the third Test in St Kitts would be a huge understatement: in his three earlier innings in the series, he had scored 29, 31 and 0. It wasn’t just that he hadn’t got the runs; he had made it worse for himself by getting out in utterly irresponsible fashion. In fact, the pre-match talk was all about Laxman making way for an extra bowler.On the fourth day of the match, Rahul Dravid will be relieved he didn’t make that decision, as Laxman grafted a hundred that might have saved India from defeat. The way he went about his innings spoke of the pressure he was under: initially he was all circumspection, carefully defending deliveries he would normally have caressed quite emphatically to the fence, and letting plenty of balls go by. His first 50 runs took him all of 143 balls, a scoring rate of two runs per over. He defended or left alone almost 62% of deliveries, and even his 42 drives only fetched him 30 runs.Gradually, though, the rhythm returned, and his second 50 took him only 88 balls. His driving improved too as the innings wore on – he went on the drive 35 times, and scored 34. And even though he was dour and circumspect for much of his innings, his in-control factor was still a high 92% for the entire innings, indicating that his defence was sound. He never reached the heights that he is capable of, but for a batsman in the throes of a slump, this innings was a vital one, and it could be even more crucial if India end up saving the Test.

Wretched limited-overs tournaments, upset wins, Gilly’s hundred, Sangakkara’s run, and more

02-Jan-2008

Sambit Bal

Best: Zimbabwe beating Australia
It is not a coincidence that some of the warmest sporting memories happen to involve heroic feats by underdogs. Victories for Ireland and Bangladesh were the only redeeming feature of the 2007 World Cup, but the best of them was without doubt Zimbabwe’s stunning upset of Australia in the World Twenty20 in South Africa. The shortest format of the game is said to bring the teams closer. Still, the gap between Australia and Zimbabwe was so wide that it was virtually insurmountable. But blow by blow, run by run, a miracle unfolded. A few of the Australians fell to arrogant strokes, but the Zimbabwe bowlers held their line and the batsmen their nerve – none more spiritedly than Brendan Taylor, who marshalled the chase and managed to knock off the 12 runs needed off the last over.Worst : The end of the World Cup final
The whole World Cup will qualify – it seemed to carry on forever, soullessly and joylessly – but zeroing in on one moment isn’t that difficult. Australia and Sri Lanka ended up playing out a farce in the dying moments of the final because four ICC officials – three umpires and a match referee – couldn’t correctly interpret a rudimentary law. Thirty-three overs had been bowled in Sri Lanka’s run-chase when fading light forced the players indoors, and that should have been that: 20 overs had been completed, the minimum required for a result to count, and Australia were ahead on run-rate. But after the officials insisted that a further three overs had to be played the next day, and the players emerged to play out a charade in near-darkness. Australia’s spinners lobbed the ball down and the Sri Lankans patted it back. It was a fitting end to a dire tournament.

Kanishkaa Balachandran

Best: New Zealand winning the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy
Battered after being eliminated in the CB Series in Australia, New Zealand had an opportunity to redeem themselves before the World Cup with a three-match formality at home against a depleted Australian side. The world could scarcely believe what followed, as Shane Bond, Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton, Craig McMillan and Brendon McCullum combined to script an incredible 3-0 whitewash and bring smiles to millions of fans sickened of Australian supremacy over the years.Without their stars, who were either rested or injured, Australia got a taste of what was to come in Wellington when they were rolled over for 148. At Eden Park, New Zealand overhauled the target of 336 with room to spare, and sealed the series. In Hamilton, Australia made 346, but it still proved inadequate, as the two Macs, Craig McMillan and Brendon McCullum, bailed New Zealand out of trouble from 116 for 5 and got to the finish line with three balls to spare. Ross Taylor made it to the front page of the country’s leading newspaper for his hundred in the second game, and McMillan, who had earlier contemplated quitting the game and starting a new career as a salesman, had announced an emphatic return.

Worst: The Afro-Asia Cup
The ICC had its heart in the right place, conceiving the tournament as a means of pumping funds into developing the game in lesser-privileged countries in Asia and Africa, but it failed to generate enough crowds and excitement. The primary reason was the scheduling – April is easily the worst month in which to play an outdoor sport in India. The news of star players from either side pulling out was a big turn-off. Then Nimbus, the broadcaster pulled out, and worse still, the Asian team couldn’t find sponsors. The sapping weather in Chennai, which hosted two of the one-dayers, took a toll on the Africans: four players were reportedly unwell for the last match. Apparently the venue-rotation policy of the Indian board was to blame for the scheduling. And while the games were well contested, a 3-0 victory to the Asia XI was a poor advertisement.

Andrew Miller

Best: An ICC hoarding falling on Malcolm Speed
After an apology of a World Cup, the world was finally given an apology – but it didn’t quite go as intended. On the morning after the farcical twilight finish to the tournament, the ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed faced the media to grovel on behalf of his organisation. But at the very moment the word “sorry” was passing his lips, the fold-up ICC hoarding behind his head decided to fold up. Slowly and inexorably it teetered forward, as journalists shouted their warnings and Speed braced for impact. In the end it merely brushed his shoulder but the moment was captured on camera and formed the centrepiece of a thousand news bulletins. It was arguably the most symbolic moment of the tournament.Worst: The death of the ARG
Earlier in the World Cup I took a tour around the husk of the Antigua Recreation Ground. Once, it had been the most vibrant focal point of the island, arguably even of the Caribbean. Now it was a decaying hulk, with paint and splinters peeling off the stands, and weeds and rubbish spilling out of every nook and cranny.Sir Viv Richards’ house was just a brisk walk down the road; the newly built stadium that bears his name, however, was half an hour’s drive out of St John’s. A grand design, maybe, but oh so soulless, and perpetually disowned by the island’s people. Nowhere was the World Cup’s betrayal of the West Indian heritage better encapsulated.

Nishi Narayanan

Best: Gilchrist’s 100 Test sixes

If records could be held only by those who symbolise the feat in question, then no one deserves a hundred sixes in Tests more than Adam Gilchrist. He reached the landmark during the second Test against Sri Lanka in Hobart with back-to-back sixes off Muttiah Muralitharan. “There is a point in time when you and you only know – the rest know it a second later – and it’s the best feeling as a batsman,” he said later.A six is not only one of the most exciting sights in cricket but also one that most often brings the spectator into the game for a brief moment. Gilchrist has allowed spectators to be part of the proceedings a hundred times over, and that is what sets him apart from the other top batsmen in the world.

Worst: India’s fielding in the ODIs against England

India went into the one-dayers having won the Test series 1-0. They had the momentum, the confidence, and the team to take a lead and clinch the series against a side with a very patchy one-day record. Instead, they chose to forego the advantage and lose their confidence with some very shoddy fielding. Their throws from the outfield were weak, they allowed singles to be converted to twos, dropped catches and mucked up run-outs. By the end of the third game, in Edgbaston, India had conceded 134 runs through errors on the field, while England had given away only 42. England won the series 3-2, but if India’s fielders had anything to do with the close result, it was contributing considerably in the three defeats. What is worrying is that there seems to be no difference in India’s quality of fielding four months on.

Ashok Ganguly

Best: Sangakkara’s golden run
Kumar Sangakkara produced two of the finest innings of the year on his way to becoming the No. 1 Test batsman in the ICC rankings. One was his valiant 192 against Australia in Hobart and the other his 152 against England in Kandy. With that he became the first batsman to make 150-plus scores in four consecutive Tests.Sangakkara’s batting in Australia was magnificent. He displayed fortitude while adding 107 runs for the fourth wicket with Sanath Jayasuriya, but it was only after reaching his century, when five wickets fell for 25, that he launched his assault. His shots were executed with pinpoint precision. Farming the strike to ensure that Lasith Malinga stayed on, he carted the fast bowlers over the covers, and when the ball was pitched short, pierced the packed slip cordon with remarkable frequency. Bad luck robbed him of his double-century, when Rudi Koertzen did not see the ball miss bat and brush his shoulder.Sangakkara’s prolific run continued at home. His 92 in the first innings at Kandy carried Sri Lanka to 188 when they
batted first. They had conceded a 93-run lead, which was made insignificant in the second innings, where he continued his tryst with the off-side boundaries and made England pay for dropping him on 98. Graham Ford changing his mind about coaching India
Graham Ford plunged Indian cricket into further chaos when he declined to become coach days after accepting the job. His reason: family, which was why he declined a a stint with Sri Lanka in 2003. The Indian board was left red-faced after going to the press about his credentials; the one thing that missed their eye was his staying power. Ford is now enjoying his low-profile stint as director of Kent’s academy.

The chilly weather accentuated the pain of the Old Trafford loss

Ross Taylor29-May-2008

A week in Manchester left me in no doubt as to which sport dominates in this country. The noise in the streets after Manchester United beat Chelsea in the Champions League final was so loud I couldn’t sleep. There were literally thousands of people dressed in red, the like of which you’d never see in New Zealand. In contrast after England beat us in the second Test, the town was pretty quiet on Monday night.That was little consolation for us, though. When you play poorly and get thrashed losses are easier to take, but we had got ourselves into a winning position and could not kick on. Monty Panesar bowled well in the second innings, and our bowlers couldn’t match his effort.It seemed a gutsy call for Michael Vaughan to go for the heavy roller prior to England’s second innings. Looking back, it probably helped flatten out the wicket a bit, which did not help us. A combination of below-par bowling and a fielding effort not up to the standard we set ourselves meant we didn’t apply enough pressure – on Andrew Strauss, especially. As a result England were able to score at three runs per over, which was quick in the context of this series.Coming off the field on the losing side was bad enough; feeling like an icicle made me wonder whether they really do have a summer over here. It was seriously cold at Old Trafford, and windier than at Basin Reserve when those notorious northerlies blow, so having Iain O’Brien in the side was timely. He’s a regular into-the-wind bowler for his province, Wellington, and did a brilliant job on his Test recall.I’ve heard a few people question Daniel Flynn’s decision to not bat again after that blow to the face caused him to lose two teeth. I was at the other end, and the view I had of his injury was pretty nasty. A player’s health is the first priority, even in a game of this importance. That said, had we been batting last with victory in sight, Daniel probably would have batted.The loss overshadowed my 154 in the first innings, which at the time was incredibly satisfying after it had all gone a bit pear-shaped at Lord’s. My defence was much surer, there were no nerves this time, and as a result I was able to score freely when the right ball came along. The first 120 or so runs felt like they came in the traditional Test manner, while the last few were more IPL-like as I looked to clear the fence.In a funny sort of way, Jamie How has benefited from the IPL more than most. Being our stand-in captain at the start of the tour while Dan Vettori was in India, Jamie was exempt from being allocated team duty. Somehow he’s stayed under the radar and still has no job. Though with Peter Fulton battling to deliver an acceptable standard of music for the changing rooms, his role has Jamie’s name written all over it.

Sure, Peter might not know what an iPod is or what music is cool these days, but some music would be better than nothing at all.Musical tastes in the team are split. Jamie, Iain and Michael Mason are keen on bogan music (heavy metal and pub rock bands; they wear black t-shirts). Dan, Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel and myself are into R&B. Being from Oxford in North Canterbury, Peter must have thought R&B meant Red and Black when he produced his rugby team’s theme song.I, too, need to get my act together after leaving the New Zealand flag in my room more than once. Still, it’s time we were much tougher on duty evaders and the time for bigger fines must be near. In Peter’s case, surely the words “you’re fired”, from are not far away.Next up is a three-day game against Northamptonshire, which has probably come at a good time for us. It’s an opportunity to get in some important practice away from the Test-match crowds. I’ll probably go to the cinema this week, and I’m hoping the wait for a taxi will be shorter than the one hour people lined up for on the night of Ricky Hatton’s fight in Manchester last Saturday. That was the longest queue I’ve ever seen.

In many respects, India once again resemble the side that crushed all-comers during the last decade of the 20th century

Cricinfo staff30-Oct-2008

With three days to go in this game and a series to save, Australia can
only hope Matthew Hayden and friends don’t binge on the prawns as
Mike Gatting so famously did back in 1993. In many respects, India once
again resemble the side that crushed all-comers during the last decade of
the 20th century, and Australia need all hands on deck to avoid a repeat
of the thrashing they got at Eden Gardens in 1998.The only good thing to come out of that four-day debacle was Steve Waugh’s
involvement with Udayan, but charity will be the last thing on Indian
minds when they take the field tomorrow. Already, Zaheer Khan has got
disconcerting movement into the left-handers’ pads, and a couple of
deliveries from Anil Kumble and Amit Mishra spat off the surface from the
rough. Hayden and Simon Katich survived 15 overs before stumps, but as the
ball softens and the bounce becomes even more uneven, the close-in cordon
will be so proximate that mouthwash tips could be exchanged.The 3-0 annihilation of England 15 years ago established the blueprint for a generation. Once they won the toss, and sometimes when they didn’t [like at Eden Gardens in 1998], India’s batting line-up would proceed as serenely as Tennyson’s brook. The only threat would be boredom or satiation. With
Sachin Tendulkar often to the fore, and support from the likes of Navjot Sidhu, Mohammad Azharuddin and Vinod Kambli, monumental totals would
be constructed before a spin trident punctured visiting hopes of survival.It was relentless cricket, and the batting usually followed a pattern.
Never gung-ho, the leading lights would steadily wear down the bowling,
easing along at more than three an over to give themselves ample time to
force a result. There were echoes of that in the way this Indian innings
was constructed, with Tendulkar and then VVS Laxman playing around a
superlative effort from Gautam Gambhir.

There were often lulls, especially against Stuart Clark and Shane Watson,
the tidiest of the pace bowlers on view, but the pressure never built
because the ultra-defensive fields set by Ricky Ponting made the
accumulation of singles as easy as cherry picking. More impressive though
was the treatment of the errant ball. Almost nothing was spared, with
Laxman’s wristy flicks through midwicket from outside off stump especially
demoralising.Even during a morning session that gave the impression of slowness, India
moved along at a cracking pace, gathering 97 from just 26 overs. It wasn’t
the new-age cricket unveiled by Ponting before the series – has anyone
seen it? – but it was a return to the tried and tested ways of the past.
As Laxman said later in the evening, that strategy was fine-tuned to such
an extent that India had success with it at venues as diverse as Multan, Headingley and Sydney.In decades gone by, Mumbai batsmen would be accused of being
khadoos, a term that combines bloody-mindedness with the desire to
bury the opponent in the fifth-day dust. For more than two decades, it
helped them mentally disintegrate domestic opposition and the presence of
so many Mumbai stalwarts in the national side meant that it eventually
became part of the big picture. Neither Gambhir nor Laxman is from Mumbai,
having emerged from the vastly different cricketing cultures of Delhi and
Hyderabad, but the cold-eyed approach has been imbibed by every successful
batsman given his cap during the Gavaskar-Tendulkar era.India scored 317 runs from just 72 overs on the second day, with Laxman
and Gambhir stretching their partnership to 278. Astonishingly, it was the
fourth stand in excess of 250 that Laxman has been involved in against
Australia. And after his latest killing-them-softly masterpiece, he will
only hope that the result is similar to Kolkata [376] and Adelaide [303],
rather than Sydney [353], where Steve Waugh managed to salvage a draw from the wreckage of his Test farewell.

South Africa’s batsmen struggled through one of the more ferocious spells of the summer as Peter Siddle finished the day with 3 for 24 from 13 overs

Brydon Coverdale at the MCG27-Dec-2008

Peter Siddle’s nickname is Vicious and judging by his post-tea spell at the MCG it’s an appropriate description. The moniker didn’t come from his attitude but from the great Australian tradition of nicknames evolving unpredictably – Siddle, Sid, Sid Vicious, Vicious. None of that mattered to South Africa’s batsmen, who struggled through one of the more ferocious spells of the summer as he finished the day with 3 for 24 from 13 overs.A week ago Siddle looked as likely to revitalise Australia’s series as the battling Dale Steyn did to recapture his best form. Both men came good in Melbourne and Siddle can draw inspiration from Steyn, who also took a few games to hit his straps at the start of his Test career.Siddle was poor in Perth, where he alternated between bowling too short and too full, and he was lucky to keep his place in the side. Ben Hilfenhaus came into the squad and it was not until 24 hours before the match that the selectors decided to give Siddle another
chance. They hoped he would be boosted by playing his first international at his home ground the MCG, where the drop-in pitch suits his style of hitting the wicket hard.”There were a lot of players that could have missed out [after the WACA loss],” Siddle said. “You always doubt when you’re the new kid on the block and I’d [had] a disappointing effort out there in Perth so I didn’t know it was going to happen. I found out Christmas morning and it was a good thrill, a good Chrissy present.”Playing at home did lift him, as did the faith shown by Ricky Ponting in entrusting Siddle with the second over. Immediately the energy and belief that were lacking at the WACA were evident. His first ball was 145kph, he rattled Neil McKenzie with a short one and took his off stump with the fifth ball of the over. A spontaneous roar erupted for
the local man, who was desperate to perform in front of friends and family.His first spell of 1 for 11 from six overs was impressive, especially while Brett Lee struggled at the other end. The show really started when Siddle returned after tea. Again he struck in the first over of his spell, enticing Graeme Smith to drive a wide ball that was edged behind. Smith had 62 and the jubilant leaping and wide smiles from Siddle’s team-mates proved how important the breakthrough was.With every ball that beat the bat or cramped the batsman the noise from the crowd increased, as did Siddle’s confidence. Advertising hoardings were drummed as he ran in, as if he was on a hat-trick every delivery. A day that had threatened to meander had become irresistible viewing.”The crowd was good,” he said. “It always gives you a bit of confidence when they’re cheering you on and you get that wicket early on. It was an amazing feeling just hearing them cheer, it was excellent.”Siddle continually nudged the 150kph mark – while Lee headed south
into the low 140s – hit a good length and attacked the stumps. They
were traits that were missing from his game in Perth, as was a tight
partner at the other end – here Nathan Hauritz leaked less than a
newly fixed tap.”I was a bit disappointed [in Perth], I probably didn’t bowl as
aggressive as I would have liked and with not as much pace,” Siddle
said. “Today I wanted to get out there and show them I could bowl
quick and bowl tight lines and work hard.”He tended too short later in the spell but his work was done. He
proved to Ponting that in an attack where Lee continued to struggle –
his lines were wrong and he bled 68 runs from 13 overs – Johnson is
not the only man who can be turned to for an impact spell. It’s a
useful thing for a captain to have.Over the past year Graeme Smith has had that with Steyn. Unlike
Siddle, who is in his third Test and is still learning, Steyn came
into this series weighed down by the reputation of being the leading
wicket-taker in Tests in 2008. It is not a bad burden to carry but it
affected Steyn in Perth, where, like Siddle, he battled to find the
right length.

At the MCG Steyn resembled the man who has terrorised batsmen the
world over in the past 12 months. The strongest winds at the Perth
Test in a couple of decades had affected his power there but here he
was energetic and constantly thinking.Against the left-handers Simon Katich and Michael Hussey, on the first
day, he had come around the wicket and picked them off by using the
angle. He did the same to Johnson today, darting a quick ball in that
was edged onto the stumps. Against the right-handers he found some
outswing and added Lee and Hauritz to his tally before lunch to finish
with 5 for 87.Most importantly he made the batsmen play, as did Siddle. Energy and
accuracy are hard to beat as key fast-bowling traits. Siddle needs
only to look to Steyn, who also has swing in his armoury, to discover
what a young fast man can achieve in a short space of time.

There can hardly be a more reassuring sight than Rahul Dravid at the crease when your team is in a slight bother. As on innumerable times over the past decade, he calmed Karnataka’s nerves on the second day at the Chinnaswamy by blunting the UP attack

Siddarth Ravindran at the Chinnaswamy Stadium04-Jan-2010The previous time Rahul Dravid played more than three Ranji matches in a season was in 1997-98, when he made a double-century in the final against Uttar Pradesh to help Karnataka to the trophy. Since then, he has hardly been available for Karnataka, his international duties erasing any chance of being part of a full campaign. Since then, his state has won one more Ranji title, but it has been mostly a decade of struggle.This season he’s played four matches, and Karnataka are again showing the all-conquering form of the late 90s. After years of being also-rans, Karnataka’s revival also started with a match against UP last November – a 185-run demolition of Mohammad Kaif’s side in the campaign opener in Meerut. Dravid was instrumental in that victory, compiling a measured 97 in a match-turning 277-run association with the gifted youngster Manish Pandey after Karnataka were reeling at 27 for 3.When the two sides met again, it was in the semi-finals at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, which hasn’t been a bowler’s favourite over the past few years, with hardly any side managing to take 20 wickets. Ahead of the semi-final, both teams knew the match was likely to be something of a replay of the last time when Karnataka and UP met at the ground – the home side making 511 in nearly two days, only to see Kaif’s boys pile on 567 and snatch three points for the first-innings lead.The first thing Dravid did right in the game was win an important toss, but Karnataka were in danger of frittering that advantage after RP Singh’s two-wicket over reduced them to 138 for 3. All three dismissed batsmen – in their early twenties age-wise – had been in for at least an hour, and each had crossed 30 without carrying on to a score that would really hurt UP.There can hardly be a more reassuring sight than Dravid at the crease when your team is in a slight bother. As he done for India innumerable times over the past decade, Dravid calmed his team’s nerves by blunting the UP attack. There were no flash strokes in the hour till tea, the only
boundaries he stroked were a textbook cover drive and a whip to midwicket off a legstump half-volley. Otherwise, it was classic Dravid, solid defence mixed with a few singles to dissuade the opposition. In the 18 overs of the final session, he grafted 20 runs, persevering even after Pandey threw away his wicket for an eye-catching 66.

What stood out in his innings was the determination, showcased by his annoyance at not finding the gap with a square cut when on 194 – Karnataka were in control with the total exceeding 550 by that stage, but he still chastised himself and practiced the stroke several times before the next delivery

With the knowledge that even 500 will not be sufficient, he began the second day carefully as well. Only after the main threats, RP Singh and Praveen Kumar, had been seen off in the first hour, and Karnataka’s score had crept past 300, did he unveil his full repertoire of strokes.
Legspinner Piyush Chawla was carted for three fours in two overs, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was deftly leg-glanced for a boundary followed by a superbly timed on-drive for four more. There was even a late cut off Chawla to bring up the 350.Dravid rarely took the foot off the gas after that, his final 147 runs consuming only 36 deliveries more than his first fifty. Even so, his first ugly stroke was only after he reached the double-century – an attempt to shovel a delivery from way outside off towards midwicket. He compensated for that, though, with a sweetly timed straight hit that cleared the top of the sightscreen.What stood out in his innings was the determination, showcased by his annoyance at not finding the gap with a square cut when on 194 – Karnataka were in control with the total exceeding 550 by that stage, but he still chastised himself and practiced the stroke several times before the next delivery.He returned to a standing ovation from the dressing room, which had at least four young batsmen ruing the shot selection that denied them a potential century. After navigating Karnataka towards their first Ranji final in 11 years, Dravid termed it a “truly satisfying day.” He will be hoping his juniors have absorbed the lessons from an instructive innings because if Karnataka make the title clash, they won’t have the failsafe Dravid to rely on, as he will be in Bangladesh for the Test series.

Stats highlights from what have been two extraordinary days of Test cricket at Lord’s

S Rajesh28-Aug-2010

• To start with, the 332-run stand between Jonathan Trott and Stuart Broad was the highest for the eighth wicket, and it was one of only eight 300-plus stands for one of the last five wickets in Test cricket. That itself is an astonishing statistic, but what made the partnership even more incredible was the position from which it was conjured up. When Broad joined Trott at the crease, England’s total was a hopeless 102 for 7. Of the 97 century stands for the eighth wicket in Tests, only five have come from a worse position, but none of them have yielded more than 127. Of the seven 200-plus partnerships for the eighth, this has easily come from the poorest position.
• While Trott led the way, Broad’s 169 was easily the bigger surprise, and it fell only four runs short of equalling the highest score by a No.9 batsman – Ian Smith had blitzed his way to 173 off a mere 136 balls against India in Auckland in 1990. Broad’s hundred was the 15th century by a No.9 batsman.
• Broad’s score in this one innings exceeded his cumulative score in his 13 previous innings, during which period he aggregated 160, with a highest of 48. Broad has become the fourth England batsman to score more than 1000 runs batting at positions 8-11. Among those batsmen, his average is clearly the highest. Trott’s knock pushed him past the 1000-run mark in his 13th Test.
• Pakistan’s first-innings deficit of 372 is their second-highest in a Test against England. The only time they fared worse was way back in 1954 at Trent Bridge, when England bundled out Pakistan for 157 and then declared at 558 for 6, a lead of 401.
• England have become the second team to dismiss Pakistan for less than 100 five times in Tests – two of those instances were in 1954, and three in 2010. Australia have done it too, including twice in the same match, in Sharjah in 2002.
• It’s been a wretched series for the Pakistan top order, most of whom have finished their work for this series after another abysmal collapse in the second innings at Lord’s. The aggregate partnership for the top four wickets in the entire series was a pathetic 498 runs in 32 completed innings. The average of 15.56 runs per dismissal is the worst for the top four wickets in a series in Pakistan’s Test history (minimum of 16 partnerships). It’s worse even than that forgettable series against Australia in Sri Lanka and Sharjah, when they were bowled for 53 and 59 in a Test.
• Pakistan’s innings lasted 33 overs, which is among their lowest for a completed innings. In their entire Test history, only six times have they done worse. And of their nine such poorest efforts, seven have been since 2000.
• If England take the remaining six wickets for less than 46 more runs, they’ll achieve their biggest win at Lord’s. Pakistan need to score many more to avoid their worst beating in Test cricket.

Of the last 12 ODIs between the two teams in India, the visitors have lost 11

S Rajesh26-Feb-2011There are several reasons why India will fancy their chances in their second World Cup match, against England. Home conditions will almost certainly help them, as should the fact that they have, on paper at least, a far more power-packed batting line-up. India’s recent form and their record against England at home should further boost their prospects.All of these factors are reflected in the table below. The two teams have shared the spoils on the six occasions they’ve played in World Cups, but even there India have won the last two matches, in 1999 and in 2003. England’s only consolation is that they beat India on the one occasion they played the hosts in a World Cup match in the country, defeating them by 35 runs in the semi-final in 1987.The stat that’s perhaps the most daunting for England is their recent ODI record against India in India. In 12 matches since the beginning of 2006, England have lost 11 times, with the only consolation coming in a dead-rubber game in Jamshedpur in the seven-match series in 2006. Of India’s 11 wins, six have been when batting first and five when chasing, which suggests the team is equally comfortable doing either.

India’s recent form has been pretty impressive too, with 37 wins and only 23 defeats in their last 64 ODIs since the beginning of 2009. When playing at home during this period, their win-loss record is even better, with 13 wins and six losses in 20 matches. Out of 15 series and tournaments they’ve played in the last 26 months, India have won nine.England, on the other hand, have had a mixed time. They’ve had some memorable wins – most notably in South Africa and in the NatWest Series against Australia last year, but their 6-1 drubbing in Australia has been a huge dampener.

Yuvraj Singh hasn’t been at his best recently, averaging only 27.50 at a strike rate of less than 70 in 19 innings since the beginning of 2010, but a home game against England is probably the best way for him to regain his mojo. In 12 home innings against them, Yuvraj has scored 589 runs at an outstanding average of 73.62 and a strike rate of almost 110. His conversion rate has been superb too, with three centuries in the four innings in which he has topped 50.England’s bowlers have done fairly well against the rest of the Indian batsmen, though: Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Suresh Raina all average less than 40 in home ODIs against them. In fact, Tendulkar hasn’t yet scored a century in 15 matches against them in India, though he has remained unbeaten in the 80s on a couple of occasions. Overall, only one out of his 46 ODI hundreds has been scored against them.

Among England’s current batsmen in India, Kevin Pietersen has been the stand-out performer, with an average of more than 56 and a strike rate of almost 90. Apart from scoring lots of runs, he has also been extremely consistent in India, scoring more than 25 in 11 out of 14 innings. With Pietersen opening the batting in this tournament, his performance could be a huge factor for England on Sunday.None of the other batsmen have exceptional records in India, though Ravi Bopara has been impressive in his limited opportunities. Andrew Strauss and Paul Collingwood have strike rates of less than 80, while Matt Prior has a highest score of 38 from ten innings in India.

Among the Indian bowlers, Harbhajan Singh is probably the one England’s batsmen will be most wary of. In 16 ODIs against England at home, he has averaged almost two wickets per game, which is much better than his career average of 1.18 per game. Sreesanth’s best ODI bowling figures have come against England, but he also tends to leak plenty of runs.

The stats for England’s bowlers in India will probably worry Strauss. His strike bowler, James Anderson, has struggled to adapt to Indian conditions, though the conditions in Bangalore may not be as inimical to his style as some other venues in the country. In 14 previous attempts in India, Anderson has taken only 12 wickets, the last of which was in October 2006. Since then he has gone six matches without a wicket, during which period he has bowled 45 overs and conceded 302 runs – an economy rate of 6.71. In fact, 302 is also the number of legitimate deliveries Anderson has bowled since picking up his last ODI wicket in India. His performance against Netherlands on Tuesday, when he returned figures of none for 72 in ten, won’t help his cause either.Graeme Swann has been more successful, but even his economy rate is relatively high.

A look at the over-wise performances of the two teams in all ODIs over the last couple of years shows that the middle overs have been the biggest strong point for India, while both teams have tended to struggle a bit in the last ten overs, conceding more runs per over than they score during this period.

Most of the factors are stacked against England, but one aspect which could favour them is the venue. England have won two out of three ODIs against India in Bangalore, though India won the most recent of those games, a truncated day-night encounter in 2008. If the weather continues to stay overcast, as it has over the last few days, the seamers could get a fair amount of assistance.Overall, though, the Chinnaswamy Stadium has been a good ODI venue for India: the home team has a 11-4 win-loss record here, with an 8-2 record in day-night matches. In the most recent ODI here, against New Zealand in December last year, India chased down a target of 316 despite being 108 for 4, thanks to a brutal unbeaten 96-ball 123 by Yusuf Pathan.Out of the 11 completed day-night matches here, six have been won by the team batting first and five by the team chasing. However, eight have gone in favour of the team winning the toss. There’s hardly anything to choose between the teams batting first and second in terms of run-rates too: 5.54 for the team batting first, and 5.37 for the one batting second.

For two days, Mike Horn, high altitude climber and Arctic explorer, offered the Indians some unique insights into the do-or-die mindset

Nagraj Gollapudi19-Feb-2011What do you do when a team of eleven men are about to face the toughest challenge of their career and a mountain of expectation? If you are the Indian coaching brain trust of Gary Kirsten and Paddy Upton, you get help from an unusual expert. For two days, Mike Horn, high altitude climber and Arctic explorer, offered the Indians some unique insights into the do-or-die mindset.Harbhajan Singh’s first question for Horn: just how does a man scale a mountain 8000 metres high without additional oxygen and come back alive?Last July, Horn, an extreme athlete, climbed Broad Peak (8047 metres above sea level, on the border of China and Pakistan) on a Himalayan expedition. “[I wondered] how he could cope with such extremities,” Harbhajan says, pausing midway into his dinner. “Horn recalled how over 8000 metres the oxygen was minimal and he struggled to breathe. It took him 35 hours to climb up, but 56 to climb down, all without eating or drinking. He says when atop the mountain your mind doesn’t work as the brain cells are hardly functioning due to the lack of oxygen. He knew he couldn’t sit down or even stop because if he did, he would have frozen to death.”These kinds of stories are mind boggling,” Harbhajan says, shaking his head.Horn dropped in at Bangalore for a two-day consultation with the Indian team during their World Cup preparatory camp last week. Despite being dressed in the same red-coloured t-shirt as the team’s coaching staff, he stood out in his denims and moccasins, with a wiry physique and skin that looks more weather-beaten than tanned – a testament to the different terrains the 45-year-old had traversed in his years as an adventurer-cum-explorer. As the players went through various drills, Horn kept his distance, observing the Indians keenly while enthusiastically fetching the balls hit to various corners. That was on the first day. On the second day, he sat on the ice-boxes and had some private words with various players individually. It had not taken him much time to become one of them.This was the second time that Horn, who studied with Upton, India’s mental conditioning coach, in South Africa, had come down to share his experiences with the team. In 2010, two days before India faced South Africa at Eden Gardens, having already lost the first Test, Horn arrived into Kolkata sailing from Port Blair in the Andamans, where he was involved in an environmental project. Upton took advantage of his proximity and invited him to speak to the team. “He arrived at 5pm and spoke to the guys at 7pm,” one of the team members says. It was just a two-hour chat in which Horn shared his personal stories of various expeditions, every one of which may seem impossible to a normal human.In one of his first major forays, in 1997, he navigated the 7000 km of the Amazon river using a hydrospeed (human floatation device), hunting for food to survive and resting along the dangerous riverbanks at night. Two years later, he circumnavigated the globe around the equator by foot, bicycle and canoe, a journey that included scaling the Andes mountains and crossing the Pacific and Indian oceans. On his final leg, he walked through the drug zones in Congo and Gabon before returning to his starting point, one that he called Latitude Zero, after an 18-month journey.In 2002, using a boat, kayak, ski-kite and later on foot he became the first human to traverse the Arctic Circle without the use of motorised transport. In 2006, Horn, along with Norwegian explorer Borge Ousland, walked, pulled sleds, and swam in the freezing Arctic ccean to become the first men to travel to the North Pole unaided by dogs or motorised transport.Days after Mike Horn’s first session with the Indian team, Harbhajan Singh’s five-for handed India a tense win against South Africa in Kolkata•AFPClearly this is a man who has triumphed in the face of some of the greatest challenges to human endurance. In Kolkata, the Indian players were stunned to hear Horn tell them how he had accomplished some of those remarkable feats. Five days later, a resurgent India had bounced back to snatch a back-to-the-wall victory to level the series. Horn, however, feels he did not do anything special to spur the Indians and states that it was Gary Kirsten and the players who actually worked hard to achieve success. “What can I really do? I might be able to give them a small taste of my thought process in critical moments.”Horn has also shared his insights with the South African rugby team, some European soccer teams, the French sailing team and was invited by the ICC’s umpires’ and referees’ manager Vince van der Bijl, to speak to the umpires as part of a motivational exercise. To everyone, his message is simple: “I cannot afford to lose. There is no second innings for me in my job. Patience is not one of my greatest strengths, but when in the mountains it is important to stick to the rules otherwise Nature will not reward us with this magnificent victory.”On both occasions on which Horn spoke to the Indian team, he was not paid. What matters to him is that his message is understood. “That passion that drives you to go beyond what you know to be able to progress as a human, to start when all others stop. My role is to be an example to myself and others.”It is easy to see that for a crucial tournament like the World Cup, both Kirsten and Upton wanted to remove any lingering doubts from the minds of the Indian players. According to the players, Horn’s biggest strength is his will. It is the strength of the will that at times makes an athlete achieve incredible things and Horn was the right man to deliver that message. “The fear to lose,” Horn says, is the single biggest fear sportsmen have. “How can you win if you afraid of losing? It is only when your will to win is bigger than your fear to lose that you can win. This is the most important aspect that differentiates sport stars. Some play to win and some play because they are afraid of losing. This is no different to what people fear in their daily life.”According to Horn, a player cannot rely on outside opinion to make himself feel strong and confident. “If people think you are strong and confident, and you are not, there is a big problem. To be honest to yourself and your preparation is the key to success.”It is easy to see how people are drawn to him. Yuvraj Singh, who was not there in Kolkata, was wondering who Horn was when the South African wandered around the dressing room on the first day of training in Bangalore. Hours later, Yuvraj, having heard Horn, was affected by his “impossible” feats. “He makes the impossible things look possible,” says another senior Indian team member.

How can you win if you afraid of losing? It is only when your will to win is bigger than your fear to lose that you can win. This is the most important aspect that differentiates sport stars. Some play to win and some play because they are afraid of losing

Harbhajan, for one, is completely in awe of Horn, who he says is a “real-life hero”. He says there was a lot to learn from Horn’s feat of climbing the Broad Peak. “He says most of the people who go to those places don’t come back. Once you reach a peak, dying is very easy but not to give up is really difficult. A lot of people reach the top and feel this is what I wanted to achieve. But most don’t know how to come back once you reach the top,” Harbhajan says while asking for for dessert. “When you hear something like that, then whatever you think in your mind can be achieved. No one can stop you, no one can do anything if you are fresh in the mind and your thinking is clear and if you are only thinking of only success and not even thinking failure.”When asked how he could translate Horn’s stories to the cricket field, Harbhajan says, “You have to prepare yourself. That was the message Horn was passing. You can’t just hold a ball when you are not even there mentally and instead are getting worried about the results. He says it was important to remove the excess baggage. (This and that), expectations, crowds, pressure are excess baggage we carry on our shoulders.”During his chats in Bangalore, Horn pointed out an important fact to the players. He says, “I saw all of you in the nets. You were enjoying practising, but what happens suddenly in a match situation: people get tight, people feel nervous, people feel pressure. Why? Because your mind is thinking too many things.””Actually he is right,” Harbhajan says. “The mind is thinking . Rather than concentrating on what you are going to bowl we think what if this happens, what if….we are thinking the result before you ever deliver the ball.”Horn does not want to talk about what he says to individual players, but agrees to Harbhajan’s point about preparation. “That could be one thing that he got out of the couple of talks we had. But knowing how to mix the ingredients to bake the cake of success is what he knows now.”Horn has little doubt that India are in pole position to win the tournament: “Gary and his team did an amazing job preparing the individual players and the team. India has never been so well prepared, since the last time I spoke to them in Kolkata to today there is a day and night difference to the better in all aspects.”So can India win it? “That question I will answer not if India wins the World Cup, but when they win the 2011 World Cup.”

England have done the first half of Pakistan 1992 right, now comes the hard bit

Sidharth Monga in Colombo25-Mar-2011When India were playing West Indies in the final league game, a match that would decide which team travels where for the quarter-finals, Graeme Swann foresaw a West Indies collapse, and tweeted, “We could end up in Colombo tomorrow. Last time I was there the tuk tuk man let me drive and I defeated Harmy in an epic wacky race…”As soon as the last wicket fell, thus confirming England would play Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka, not a very enviable proposition at best of times, Swann’s Twitter page read, “Start the tuk tuk…” This is not a team, unlike what many have suggested, that is longing more to go home than to play for a trophy they have never won.Over here in Sri Lanka, a day before the game, Mushtaq Ahmed, their spin-bowling coach, entertained everyone with his impersonations of various bowlers’ actions. On demand it happened. Left-arm spin first. Out came an accurate delivery that turned away. Muttiah Muralitharan after that. And then the surprise ones, the ones that had every one in splits: Malcolm Marshall and Bob Willis, accurate right from the marking of the run-up to the run-up to the delivery stride. Hearty applause followed either side of the nets. Mushtaq looked outside, smiled, and then went back to the team.On the eve of the match that could end England’s World Cup, they didn’t look like a side that has just lost a player who was suffering from depression, having been on the road for five months. They didn’t look like a side that has lost four players to injury (one of them, though, has come back and replaced another injured player). They didn’t look like a side not sure if their most consistent bowler, Tim Bresnan, would be fit to play the quarter-final. They didn’t look like a side likely to try their third makeshift opener of the tournament.England look like a side that knows that what all they have been through is gone, for better or for worse, and matters little in the present moment. People talk about the importance of staying in the present, England have been made to live every moment of this event in the here and now.Their crazily indefinable performance in the World Cup so far – how do you make sense of defeats to Bangladesh and Ireland, wins over South Africa and West Indies, and a tie with India? – does that job for them, making sure they don’t think too far and telling them there is no point looking behind. They certainly aren’t a side that is thinking of the prospect of winning both the Ashes and the World Cup in the same winter.”Whether it’s the Ashes, or the World cup,” Andrew Strauss, their captain, said, “whenever we have looked too far into the future, we have come crashing down in a big heap. All we can do is try our utmost to win this game.”More than anything, England are a side that knows the fun and games are over. They know that if they make the kind of mistakes they did against Bangladesh and Ireland, they will be their last mistakes for a while. “I know the guys are just immensely excited about this,” Strauss said. “We have got a lot of time between the West Indies game leading up to this one, with little else to do other than imagine how we can win this one.”Going by conventional wisdom, it is hard to imagine England beating Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. Their best fast bowler, James Anderson, seems to have momentarily forgotten the art. Bresnan, the next best, likes to hit the deck and extract movement, which is not quite what works the best here. They have too many old-fashioned batsmen in their line-up for the subcontinent’s liking. Also, how much more can they take mentally and somehow stay alive?Then again, England haven’t quite respected conventions. They have been like the erratic fast bowler who we all hate, who can bowl unplayable deliveries while bowling rubbish with a strange action. They have done the first half of Pakistan 1992 right. They don’t know what their best XI is, they have lost matches from winning positions, they have won from losing ones. They have waited on results out of their hands to keep them alive. Their bowling has been hit and miss, going from pedestrian to irresistible. Yet, somehow they are alive, even despite losses to Bangladesh and Ireland.The more difficult part of their Pakistan impersonation, though, starts now. Now they have to beat conventional wisdom. Now everything needs to come together in one unexplainable mass of awesomeness. Not many sides other than Pakistan have been able to do that sort of thing, playing continuous do-or-die games, without a settled XI, without a Plan A. The nature of the sport means if they can’t manage it, England will just be a team that entertained when the tournament desperately needed entertainment, but faded away when the event became exciting on its own and had no need for them. If they do manage it, they will have a good story to tell.