Finally a place under the sun

India thrashed a hapless Sri Lanka at the Bellerive Oval at Hobart and took its rightful place in the finals and will not have to wait for or worry about a now meaningless league tie between Australia and Sri Lanka that will be played on Friday. Significantly India is making it to a final in Australia after the World Series of Cricket in 1986 that many of us saw live for the first time on our newly bought colour televisions. Make no mistake; this is a really competitive Indian team that could make history again in a week’s time. It is being led with flair by Dhoni who despite all the smiles is hard as steel and showing some of his batsmen at least, what it means to bat responsibly. It has one outstanding fast bowler in Ishant Sharma who has troubled the best and spearheaded the bowling. It has an emerging talent in Gautam Gambhir who has demonstrated a quality that is so rare amongst Indian batsmen – consistency. In Yuvraj, it has a batsman who can dismantle most bowling attacks, even if he has not yet done that on this tour of Australia. In Rohit Sharma it has a player of great promise. In Uthappa it has a bold stroke maker whose press pronouncements seem more potent than his current batting. More than anything else it has the confidence of being the T20 champions of the world and more critically in the context of this series, this team does not seem to have any scars of previous Australian defeats unlike other world teams and Australia seem to have less of a swagger against this team than they seem to have in with the rest of the world.

Aggression that could make us lose focus
This tour has been marred by controversies - some real and some imagined- but almost all fuelled and clouded by media. As someone who has watched the tests and one days ball by ball, I must confess that India have hardly been lily white. Symonds now claims that he was complimenting Ishant after being bowled which seems a little hard to stomach. But equally hard to comprehend was Ishant letting forth a volley of abuse that was obvious to see even if our networks never showed that vulgar display again and kept focusing on Symonds. Ishant can complain till the cows come home about how Symonds provoked him but the offences that have been booked are against his name and they all add up even if the ICC conveniently misplaces offence records. And I was shocked to see Ishant sending off the veteran Jayasuriya last week in a similar fashion. Jayasuriya is one of the mildest cricketers that one has had the privilege to watch over the years however explosive his batting may be and he has probably been playing international cricket even before Ishant was born. Clearly this amazingly talented lad must be reined in. And speaking of bad behaviour, how can one not speak of our worst ambassador on the playing field Harbhajan whose behaviour continues to shock me. In the same match against Sri Lanka he jumped up and down and thrust his tongue out after he got Sangakkara out, reminding us of an animal that had caused all the tension at Sydney. Sangakkara, another decent cricketer with an outstanding record did not deserve this. Clearly we are not even discriminatory in our bad behaviour and do not reserve it for Australia. Harbhajan is a rotten apple who has no place in this young, emerging, motivated team and clearly his bowling is pedestrian. I am sure we can find a better spinner and most certainly a better human being. India has done enough for him, perhaps far more than he deserves and the time to move on is now. My worry too is that aggression is better demonstrated by hitting the stumps, carting the ball over the fence or holding a spectacular catch. That will hurt Australia more than this volley of abuse and complaints about how they are starting things. They have been doing it, are doing it now and will continue to do it in future as well. The trick is not to get side tracked or lose focus but stay with our game plan and our strategy. I remember Zaheer Khan’s needless aggression in the World Cup finals of 2003 and the disastrous first over which led the way to a humiliating defeat.

A breath of fresh air
Amidst all these allegations, counter allegations, complaints, whining and controversy there have been some moments of sanity. Dhoni, like Kumble before him, has been pragmatic and restrained without being weak. Gilchrist continues to walk and Lee has been making conciliatory statements though the cynic might well say that he knows which side his bread is buttered in. But the most special act and words came from VVS Lakshman who in my book at least is India’s best batsman in and against Australia. He declined his iconic status and accepted a much lower fee for the IPL than youngsters who are just making their debuts, for the interest of his team and came out openly to say that Symonds was his friend and had been his friend for years now. Courage! a rare commodity in today’s mercenary and sycophantic world.

The game’s charm has been lost
The finals could be gripping as India could come firing, what with Hayden just calling Harbhajan an “obnoxious little weed”. If Australia wins again as they have done in the past it could be just another trophy in their already bulging cabinet. If India wins, we will not forget it in a hurry, nor will we let them forget it. But for me the regret is that this entire summer which had some fantastic cricket will be remembered for the wrong reasons. Between Ponting, Hayden, Clarke, Symonds, Harbhajan and the BCCI with its threats, Sunil Gavaskar and Harsha Bhogle who kept fuelling the fire and incompetent and self serving television channels in India and rags in Australia that published bilge they have ensured that I watch less and less cricket however absorbing and fascinating it is. And believe me you; we did have some outstanding cricket on view this Indian summer in Australia.

(Ramanujam Sridhar is CEO, brand-comm, and the author of One Land, One Billion Minds)

Mid Series Crisis Down Under

We are half way through the Common Wealth bank series and it seems quite different and bizarre even when compared to the ones that we have been watching earlier in the same country. Australia have played well below par, a sign of their distraction or the fact that they are slowly going down hill as a team, or are tired and jaded at the end of a long, challenging and controversial summer. Be that as it may, but here are some of the things that have happened to the Australian team over the last few weeks. Australia have been bowled out for 159 in 43 overs against India and for 203 on a good wicket at Adelaide again against India. Andrew Symonds who a few months ago, was being called the best one day player in the world has scored 38 runs from 5 innings. Ricky Ponting the premier batsman in the world for the last three years has eked out 53 runs from 5 innings and Hayden easily the most dominant batsman in world cricket has only done slightly better managing 84 runs in 4 outings. Australia have dropped more catches this summer and in this series than one can recall. And yet Australia have won three of their last four completed matches, getting bonus points in all the three matches that they have won and that to my mind is the most worrying part of this whole series. Remember Sri Lanka was the losing finalist at the World Cup in March 2007 and India clearly has been the team that has troubled Australia most in recent times and yet Australia who are playing at 70 per cent of their ability are so far ahead in points if not in superiority. The best thing that can happen to world cricket will be when other teams start beating Australia regularly. That will certainly make cricket more watchable.

The new young India
Ishant Sharma is doing what Shane Bond did to Australia six years ago, if my memory serves me right. He has made the Aussies jump and be on edge in more ways on one. But back to the past. The other two teams in the tri-series of six years ago were quite-strong New Zealand and South Africa, both these teams made it to the finals and Australia and Steve Waugh struggled. Australia did not make it to the finals and Steve Waugh lost his one day captaincy to Ricky Ponting who is struggling now, just like his predecessor was. The only difference is that Australia seems to have made it to the finals already despite their poor showing this summer so Ricky Ponting might get to keep his job after all despite whatever Peter Roebuck recommended! But to return to our own young team that Dhoni leads so masterfully. He wanted a young team and perhaps had a lot to do with the removal of Dravid and Ganguly. This Indian team has top flight bowlers and young legs in the field. The team also lends credence to the fact that it is bowlers who win matches as Warne and McGrath did for Australia over the years. It is also ironical that India will probably win far more significant matches, events and titles than in the last ten years when the big three of Indian cricket Sachin, Saurav and Rahul scored so many thousand runs between them. Yet I do feel that India missed a trick and the experience of Saurav, Rahul and the timing of Lakshman in the one day games. I cannot imagine those seniors struggling to make 203 runs on a good batting wicket at Adelaide, or conceding a bonus point. After all it can be argued that the World Cup is in 2011 and there is enough time to build the team. But a series victory when the competing teams are Australia and Sri Lanka should gain precedence over our plans for the future. Yet the young Indian team has managed a significant win at Adelaide over Sri Lanka just yesterday and now seems well placed to make it to the finals and I do believe that on current form India has a greater opportunity to beat Australia than Sri Lanka who somehow have been found wanting against the Aussies particularly in recent times.

So what's the crisis?
To my mind the biggest crisis that Indian cricket is facing is from the much hyped IPL. It is a marketing coup, it is media hype, it is “camera, lights, auction” as a columnist mentioned but to my mind this is something that has the capability to divide the cricket world as it is an opportunity for the BCCI to only again cock a snook at the rest of the world and for us to indulge in more chest thumping about our money power and also remind them about the Harbhajan incident and the posturing that we did. But more seriously the fact that world cricketers who complain so bitterly about the work load should drop everything to earn some, (actually a lot of money) makes one wonder if this is really the game that one grew up loving. Now there is talk of the Australian tour to Pakistan likely to be shortened if not cancelled to accommodate this charade. Maybe it is the ramblings of an old man but I am really enjoying the tri-series for a couple of reasons. For once the ball has dominated the bat, the matches have been tight and not one sided and Australia has struggled. Who knows how many more national contests we are likely to see with such intensity with all this talk of regional teams with Australian players with huge contracts slugging it out in twenty-twenty for teams that they care a fig about.

Monkey off the backs of the men in blue?

A couple of days before our historic one day win at the MCG Veerendra Sehwag was handling a media conference in Australia as he is known to handle bowlers. Sehawag has an astute cricketing brain, though one wonders whether he leaves it behind in the dressing room when he goes out to bat on occasion. He certainly made ripples in the conference saying that India is the only team that can beat Australia and that if we won at Melbourne we are through to the finals! Of course he was partly right as India beat Australia at the MCG after 22 years and even if they are not already in the finals, they have made strong strides forward. The Indian cricket fan though went through every possible emotion in watching a low scoring game that we should have won by a mile but ended up winning with just a couple of overs to spare.

The highs and the lows
When Ishant Sharma got Ricky Ponting (again) our feelings were of exaltation, when India crawled in the middle our feelings were of despondency which had been preceded by overconfidence, when Sachin was batting and we thought our bonus point was assured and finally the feeling was just pure relief when Symonds bowled a wide! Beating Australia has not been easy for us, more so in important games .In 1996 we lost to Australia narrowly in a world cup match at Bombay, and if my memory serves me right the margin was one run .In 1999 Australia beat us comfortably at the Oval as we did not make it to the semi finals of the World Cup. In 2003 at South Africa we played wonderfully well till the finals where we again ran into Australia and lost by a mile. In 2007 at the West Indies we played so badly that we did not even get a chance to play Australia. Although we have won the odd Champions trophy game against Australia, last time around they won that too even as they shoved Sharad Pawar off the stage. In fact we have not won a major final or tournament against Australia recently in the one day version of the game .Our win now must and should pave the way for getting the monkey off the backs of the men in blue once and for all, as what would be better than winning the tri series final in Australia against Australia. In this tri- series we seem to have a funny situation amongst the three teams. Sri Lanka has been consistently psyched against Australia over the last several games and Australia too seems to be psyched by India to a lesser extent maybe. The match between Sri Lanka and India did not reveal too much and the one at Canberra on Tuesday could well hold the future to the finals.

Too early to celebrate
Let us not get carried away by our success though it is historic enough .Australia started badly thanks to Rudi Koertzen who if he continues the way he is presently doing should be penciled down for all India matches! Poor Gilly had a baffled look on his face as he was given out leg before after a huge inside edge. Gilly continued to have a baffled look as his confident appeal for a caught behind against Sachin was turned down. Sachin seemed bothered about that as he played distractedly after that and eventually got out. In a close match all these might have mattered but Ponting played it down in the media interaction saying it was the rub of the green something that our Indian commentators might wish to reflect on. I was just wondering what might have been the reaction of Gavaskar if Sachin had been given out wrongly in the first over as Gilly was! But it was wonderful to see Simon Taufel officiating wonderfully in the same game. His positioning of himself for a run out appeal was amazing and his judging brilliant.What a pity that India Australia test matches will never have him and will only have the likes of Steve Bucknor and Rudy Koertzen! But back to the game, while we have two fast bowlers who are bowling brilliantly in conditions that suit them much better than our dust bowls, our batting is still suspect. It was agonizing to watch the chase and Yuvaraj is going through the horrors much as Ricky Ponting is, though Ponting is facing much better bowling. Dhoni is like a rock guiding this team through thick and thin and keeping brilliantly as well, but what about the rest and when will Dinesh Kartick and Suresh Raina ever get a look in?

On to the finals
I do not have the same unreasonable optimism of Sehawag though I am quite confident that we can make it. Australia will be hard pressed to chase any total against us, the way they are batting now. Sri Lanka, however, are a very unpredictable team and must be smarting at the lack of attention their team is getting and their own indifferent start to the series. Yes we have some great contests at hand over the next few weeks and I hope that our form and fitness can once and for all rid the Australian monkey off our backs!

(The author is CEO, brand-comm, and the author of One Land, One Billion Minds.)