Wednesday, April 18, 2012

DEATH (OF) BOWLING


It has been two weeks since the IPL started and it has been a captivating ride so far. After a few one sided matches to get the tournament underway, the last week has thrown some nail-biting last-ball finishes at us. Starting with the Mumbai-Deccan game right up to the thriller in Bengaluru last night, it has been some exhilarating stuff. 

There have been some scintillating batting displays (Rahane, Owais Shah, Gayle, Albie Morkel) so far in the competition. There have been some fascinating last ball boundaries and thrilling chases, most notably that of Mumbai vs Deccan (where Rohit did a Miandad), CSK vs RCB (Virat Kohli won’t forget this one in a hurry), KKR vs RR (where Shakib once again proved his class), RR vs DC (powered by Brad Hodge) and RCB vs PWI (when the Gaylestorm hit Rahul Sharma, Ashish Nehra and Pune as a whole). While it has been great to watch from an audience perspective, with fours and sixes galore, what bothers me greatly is the quality of bowling; or the lack of it actually. Amidst the entire boundary hitting chaos, the highlight for me personally has been Dale Steyn’s fiery spell against the Mumbai Indians. It was genuine, threatening and dangerous fast bowling at its best. Dale Steyn showed his class and reiterated why he is not only the best test bowler, but the best fast bowler going around the world at the moment.

Dale Steyn: The best fast bowler in the world?
The quality of bowling, especially death bowling, has been alarming to say the least. Death bowling is an art. Having grown up watching the likes of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis bowl those deadly reverse-swinging, toe-crushing yorkers, to now watching bowlers dish out half volleys, length balls, wide slower balls and full tosses is a highly unpleasant change. The commentators in this IPL have generally gone overboard describing the quality of the shots and the batsmen who have played them. Yes, the shots have been good. But at this level, in this format, you would expect the batsman to dispatch half-volleys or full tosses out of the ground, and that is precisely what they have been doing. What you would not expect though, is an international bowler like Dan Christian or Vinay Kumar (who has been hit for the most number of sixes in the ongoing IPL) or Ashish Nehra to dish out some absolute rubbish in the slog overs. This has also been India’s plight for a long time now. With Zaheer being the slight exception, no other Indian bowler has been able to deliver when the heat is on.

Vinay Kumar: Worth a million dollars?
Death bowling, like everything else, has to be practiced and mastered. Ask Malinga, who has spent hours on end, toiling, trying to hit a shoe in practice by keeping it exactly where a batsman’s toe would have been. Umar Gul is another exponent of this art, he rarely bowls a bad ball at the death and his yorkers are almost near perfect and swinging consistently (not a surprise at all, that he comes from the land of Wasim and Waqar). It is amazing that with so much technology, support staff and video analysts around, only these select few can bowl a good yorker consistently.  When Nehra got rid of Gayle through a perfect yorker, why he could not reproduce that same delivery 4 or 5 times in the last over baffles me. Missing a Yorker is one thing, missing it by a mile so that it becomes a waist high full toss or a rank half volley is totally another.

It comes down to skill and dedication. It requires special efforts to become a Wasim or a Malinga or a Gul. If a bowler is not prepared to toil hard to sharpen his death bowling, it is not worth paying him a million dollars just to turn up and bowl rubbish. The batsmen are good, the bats are better, but any batsman will tell you that putting away a good, well directed yorker or bouncer is still a very tough thing to do. So let us not go overboard in praise of the batsmen, they are merely putting away bad balls. Let us hold the bowlers accountable as well for not having control over their art. Good death bowling is essential to limited overs cricket. Cricket is a contest between bat and ball. The moment it becomes a boundary fest and the bowlers are taken out of the equation, it ceases to be a contest. The greatest sight in cricket is always a good batsman consistently tested by good balls. I hope good death bowling returns again, the contest returns again. I hope this lack of good death bowling doesn’t lead to the death of bowling in the shortest format of the game.           

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

IT’S THAT TIME OF THE YEAR AGAIN


That bug caught up with me again. It made me feel I was quite busy and I did not have the time to write and I should sacrifice it for the more “significant” facets of my life. True, I have been a bit busy, but not so much that it has taken me a month to come up with my next post. Devoting time to this blog is a promise I have made to myself and is one I will try to stand by. 

So, it’s that time of the year again. The IPL is upon us. In all probability we are going to witness another huge opening ceremony today before the IPL takes us around the country for an extravaganza of glitz, glamour and of course let’s not forget, T20 cricket. There has been a lot of debate on what the IPL has done to Indian cricket, it terms of impact. The opinions are diverse and far-ranging. Some say it is the way ahead and some say Mr. Lalit K. Modi has unleashed a monster on Indian cricket, which the current regime has continued to feed, thereby making it more hazardous. My personal opinion is a bit divided. 

CSK - The most consistent IPL team so far
When the IPL was announced and exhibited 5 years ago, like everyone it caught my fantasy. Indian players playing with overseas players in the same team combined with the prospect of Indian players playing against Indian players in different teams was indeed a mouth-watering prospect. Jayasuriya opening with Sachin, Brett Lee sharing the new ball with Ishant Sharma, Dhoni and Yuvraj walking out together, not to bat, but for the toss were some of the possibilities which could get any cricket lover excited and I was no different. Four seasons later the world has turned upside down. India went to the top - and were then unceremoniously dislodged - as the world’s no. 1 Test playing nation; India won a World Cup after 28 years - thereby bringing joy to a billion hearts; and have also suffered an 8-0 mauling in away tests recently. To say it’s been up and down would be a serious under-statement. So where does the IPL fit in all this?

One thing that you can’t take away from the IPL is that it has unearthed a lot of new talent and also provided a wonderful platform for existing talent to showcase their skills. Ravichandran Ashwin, Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay, Umesh Yadav, Rahul Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Saurabh Tiwary, Shane Watson, Shaun Marsh are just a few of those names in a long list who owe their inclusion/resurgence at the international level to the IPL. It has given us a unique opportunity and privilege of watching greats like Warne, Hayden, Gilchrist, Murali and now even Dravid in action again. The IPL has also led to the development of India as probably the most formidable force in limited overs cricket at the international level. It has inculcated a confidence and a sense of belonging at the highest level amongst the younger players. It has also been a huge source of income for numerous young players and pulled more youngsters towards the game. Like it or not, but lots of households are enjoying a better standard of living thanks to the IPL. Another pleasant aspect of the IPL is that it has almost a created a sense of nonchalance towards chasing huge targets when it comes to the Indian players. They believe in their ability and know that as long as they stay out there any target is gettable. We have seen two examples of it in the recent past, one against Sri Lanka in the CB series and one against Pakistan in the Asia Cup to go along with a lot of other brilliant chases over the past 4 years. It is all thanks to the IPL that any required run rate is no longer is out of reach for the next generation of Indian cricket. The confidence and self-belief is abundant.

On the flipside though, the Indian team plays too much cricket throughout the year. Even in the 10 days between the Asia Cup and the IPL, the team travelled to South Africa for just one T20 game. To add to the cramped international schedule, we have the IPL in which they play at least 16 high intensity games and travel across the whole country, from Punjab to Chennai, from Mumbai to Kolkata, which does take a toll. Physical fatigue is just one part of it, what often gets neglected is the mental fatigue. Imagine life for someone like a MS Dhoni or a Gautam Gamhir. They play for India consistently in all 3 formats. Dhoni is captain, keeps wicket and is a very important batsman for the team. Gambhir opens the batting and till very recently was Dhoni’s deputy for Team India. Then they come to the IPL where Dhoni continues to captain the team, be the wicketkeeper and is also the most important batsman for his franchisee and Gambhir also leads KKR and bats at the top of the order. These are just two names but most Indian players, not to mention fast bowlers, are subjected to this fatigue, mentally as well as physically. Fitness-wise, Dhoni is probably the fittest cricketer in the country and is almost a machine, but it is the mental fatigue that is bound to catch up with him sooner or later. When team India uses Zaheer Khan sparingly, only for selected matches, him playing all 16 or 18 matches for RCB is certainly not fair. Another potential problem is that it has exposed youngsters to the lure and riches of T20 cricket and the fame and glamour associated with it. It could prove to be a costly distraction and can undermine the importance of the longer version of the game. This is an area where guys like Dravid, Sachin, Ganguly, Gilchrist, Jayawardene, Kumble, Vettori must come in and stress on the importance of the longer versions and make sure that the youngsters realize that test cricket is the ultimate form of cricket. It is these senior guys and the coaching staff around the young players that need to ensure that they don’t fall prey to any such distractions.

Sachin and Dhoni - Talismans for MI and CSK 
To add some sense of balance for these overworked players, we could have a solution where these players play only a stipulated number of games, say 10 or probably 11, out of the 16 league games and then the 2 or 3 knockout games if their team makes it through. They can probably take a small break or continue to stay with the team and impart their experience and knowledge to the youngsters. This will also create a window for more youngsters to play in the 11 when these senior pros are sitting out. It will prevent the over-exertion to an extent and give a few reserves a chance to play in the 11 and rub shoulders with the big boys of international cricket, thereby giving them invaluable experience. This is just a suggestion and I am sure quite a few of you may have a different opinion and I would be glad to know and discuss them. The bottom line is that these players need some kind of break from this continuous grind and for me, an Indian player playing his full quota of IPL matches and then later seeking rest from international commitments is totally unacceptable.

As a viewer though, it makes for good viewing and great entertainment. It generates a huge buzz, a brilliant atmosphere and has surely captured the imagination of this cricket crazy nation. It is a win-win situation for the players, the board, the television channels and the viewers. Analytically speaking, it is a fantastic business model. So what do I have to say about IPL 5? Bring it on!!!