Category Archives: ODI

Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting

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Sometime back, I tried to analyze whether Ricky Ponting could overtake Sachin Tendulkar in Tests. At that time, the stats stood at

Player Tests Runs Avg 100s Age Comparison
Tendulkar 157 12499 54.58 41 - 4 tons ahead
Ponting 131 10948 56.43 37 -1y 8m 1551 runs behind

Today, it stands at

Player Tests Runs Avg 100s Age Comparison
Tendulkar 166 13447 55.56 47 - 8 tons ahead
Ponting 142 11859 55.67 39 -1y 8m 1588 runs behind

Ponting still looks in striking distance of Tendulkar’s total run aggregate. Assuming that he plays for two years after Tendulkar retires, he only has to get some 800-odd runs a year. Since Australia plays more Tests than the average nation, this is somewhat easy. Consider that in 2009, Ponting only scored at a poor average of 38.77, but because Australia played 13 Tests, he ended up scoring 853 runs for the year. You will also notice that Ponting has played two more Tests than Tendulkar in the same period. But if Ponting overtakes Tendulkar, it is also likely that Kallis will overtake Ponting very quickly. So it would probably be a very short reign at the top.

Overtaking the number of centuries Tendulkar scored looks more iffy. Since the beginning of 2007, Ponting has only scored 6 centuries. On the other hand, no one expected Tendulkar to go on a ton-hitting spree at age 36. So Ponting may be able to tap something similar. Also, India’s Test calendar looks barren at this point while Australia have Test matches lined up against New Zealand, Pakistan and England for this year, so that 8-ton deficit could see some reduction. All the other contenders are way behind at this point.

On the ODI side, there is simply no comparison. Tendulkar is so far ahead that there is no credible rival for the top spot (runs, centuries) for the near future.

Sachin Tendulkar as Opener in New Zealand

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Going by some of the comments on this blog, I think quite a few Tendulkar fans do not know how he became India’s opening batsman in one-dayers. Here is the information right from the master himself:

82 (off 49 balls) against NZ as opener in 1994

I was the vice-captain then and our regular opener Navjot Singh Sidhu woke up with a stiff neck. I requested Azhar (Mohammad Azharuddin) and Ajit Wadekar (coach) to “just give me one opportunity and I am very confident of playing some big shots. And if I fail, I’ll never ever come to you again”.

I remember playing cricket on the same day (March 27, 1994). Since the match was in New Zealand, it took place much early with respect to Indian Standard Time. So we could go and play in the afternoon. And everyone who watched Tendulkar’s innings wanted to imitate it and belt the ball to every part of the ground. A defining innings in every sense of the word.

Serious Thinking Needed for India After Series Defeat Against Australia

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Today’s loss against Australia at Guwahati meant that a full-strength India lost a home series against a depleted Australian side with one match to go. It is too early with respect to the 2011 World Cup to hit the panic button, but make no mistake, this is a serious setback to India’s preparations. And the Indian management have to think deep and hard about the choices that they need to make.

Apologists for India’s performance would point to three close matches that could have gone either way and to Tendulkar’s brilliant century. They would also be right in suggesting that a weakened Australia still has considerable strength in its ranks and also that the experienced team members (Ponting, Hussey) were in good form.

This obscures the details. First, the close matches were bolstered by a rearguard performance from Harbhajan and Co. Tendulkar’s 175 stands alone in a batting scorecard that shows no significant support. India fielded its best lineup in both batting and bowling, and were bowled out for 170 and conceded 350.

There will be a few scapegoats to be sacrificed at the end of this series. Probably one or more of the bowlers will be axed, and perhaps we will see a new No. 6 or No. 7 in the team. But that is not solving the problems that we saw in this series.

The first problem is that the bowling, for the most part, has been toothless. Unable to pick wickets when needed and unable to control the acceleration. Australia crossed 250 four times in the first five one-dayers. This was emphasized clearly when India used 9 bowlers in the just-concluded match to try to force the Australians to make a mistake. Usually, that shows a captain trying hard, but today, it just showed desperation.

The batting has been better, but it has not come together as a unit. The contributions of the lower order has masked the poverty of the performances. It doesn’t look likely that India will change their top five, except if forced to by injury. So it is time for them to step up.

The one blessing of this series has been Dhoni finding his place at No. 5 and not floating around. That is a good spot for him in my opinion and if India can find some better team performances from the top order and get a couple of good allrounders for the next two spots, the batting should be India’s strength at the World Cup.

Australia’s Close Shave

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The first match of the Australia-India series had some fireworks towards the end, but it didn’t quite end in the right climax. Praveen Kumar and Harbhajan Singh took India to the cusp of victory, but then gave it up. So Australia continue their excellent ODI streak (just the one loss to England in a dead rubber match). This was the second time in recent time they have kept their nerve, the last one being against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy.

Interesting lineup for India: Sehwag, Tendulkar, Gambhir, Kohli, Dhoni, Raina, Jadeja, Harbhajan, Praveen Kumar, Nehra and Ishant. This seems like a good template for going into the 2011 World Cup. Assuming no injuries hit and Yuvraj is back, we should see something like this:

Sehwag, Tendulkar, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Dhoni, batsman/allrounder, allrounder, spinner, fastbowler, fastbowler, spinner/fastbowler.

It is difficult to predict the bowlers for two reasons. One is injuries, obviously. The other is that there are several months before the World Cup where you have T20′s and other World Cups. It is quite easy for a good bowler to get smashed up badly in a critical match and then be dropped and not be considered for selection. The top 5 of the Indian batting lineup don’t have such problems.

I am of the opinion that Raina and Ishant be dropped. Neither have done much in recent times. Raina doesn’t have a great career record to begin with. And Ishant’s body language surely speaks volumes about his low confidence.

I am rather worried about the spinners. Harbhajan Singh has been on and off, but we don’t seem to have any good alternatives, either. The pace front doesn’t look too bad, but it is a matter of clicking at the important moments.

Still, it is early days. Let’s wait and watch!

India v Australia One Day Series Schedule

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It starts from Sunday. Here you go:

October 5 (Sunday) at Vadodara – starts at 9:00 am IST

October 28 (Wednesday) at Nagpur – Day/Night starts at 2:30 pm IST

October 31 (Saturday) at Delhi – Day/Night starts at 2:30 pm IST

November 2 (Monday) at Chandigarh – Day/Night starts at 2:30 pm IST

November 5 (Thursday) at Hyderabad – Day/Night starts at 2:30 pm IST

November 8 (Sunday) at Guwahati – starts at 9:00 am IST

November 11 (Wednesday) at Mumbai – Day/Night starts at 2:30 pm IST

I don’t much like the 7-match ODI formats. Maximum 5 would be better. But India v Australia does seem a good competition. So as long as the matches remain closely fought, it should be okay. Australia should generally be the favorites, but on Indian soil, the home team may be able to pull some surprises. And India also has some players coming back from injuries. So game on!

Dravid Dropped from ODIs

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And so the soap opera continues to unfold.

This is just another example of why India is on the path to destroying their hopes of winning the World Cup on home soil. Instead of building a strong core team and finding backups, they decided to go with Dravid for short-term gains. The gains didn’t materialize and lots of time lost.

As of this moment, India has the following:

  • No set of primary team members who are available all the time for critical matches.
  • No strategy of backup players for essential team members.
  • No fixed team structure, as in no batting order.
  • A captain under siege.
  • No unique strategies or tactics.

Count in me as not impressed.

Delayed Humor of the Week

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I meant to post this at the time (October 6), but better late than never. From Achettup (SOAL):

Heads of boards representing England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies announced moments after the Champions Trophy’s closing ceremony that they were withdrawing from the ODI format. When pressed by every reporter present on whether the decision had been influenced in anyway by Australia’s undisputed dominance of the format, all eight shouted in unison “NO!”

Maybe they should have an ODI tournament that does not have Australia playing. Or start placing some cricket balls in strategic positions when the Australians are in practice. Even at this early stage, I cannot see why Australia could not win a fourth World Cup in succession.

Champions Trophy Predictions: Bronze Model and Wooden Spoon

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I did okay on the predictions at Commentary Position, ending up at the third position. The major points haul was choosing Australia as the eventual winner of the tournament. If England had played more to form in their first two matches, I might have ended up winning.

But I crashed miserably with Fantasy Cricket, ending up last in the BCC! league. Since it was my first attempt at it, it was par for the course. Maybe try better next time. It is, of course, easier to predict teams than players. So we will see.

All I can see is that I am lucky I didn’t bet any money on any of this.

2011 World Cup Format Much Better than 2007

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The ICC seem to have learnt something from the 2007 World Cup fiasco by coming up with a new format for the 2011 World Cup. Last time, we had this 6-week marathon that was marred by the pre-mature departure of India and Pakistan. This time, there will be no such thing – the eliminations will happen late in the game and we will be guaranteed matches between the main cricket nations.

So here are the groups:

Group A: Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Canada, Kenya

Group B: India, South Africa, England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland, Netherlands

The top four in each group advance to the quarter-finals. So the final winner will have to win three consecutive knock-out matches which may help someone stop Australia this time. The only bad news is that one semi-final is supposed to be played at the R Premadasa Stadium, where winning the toss will be key, unless they come up with something. I really hope they fix it, because it could come back to bite them, if Sri Lanka reach the semis and is forced to chase.

Group A seems pretty harmless for the top teams. At this moment, it doesn’t seem that Zimbabwe, Canada or Kenya can do any serious damage to the other teams. However, there is always the danger of rain and an upset combining to take out one of the top 4.

Though that seems more likely to happen in Group B which seems to be the more exciting group. There is the potential for many upsets. Bangladesh definitely can win against one or more of the top teams at home. Ireland is always dangerous – we saw that in 2007 and this year’s T20 WC. Netherlands is also improving enough to give someone a scare.

Pity South Africa. Group B does seem like a choke-field for them. Two tough matches against India and England and a tricky one against the West Indies. A possible loss to Bangladesh at home. Rain washing out an Ireland or Holland match. And they are out once again!

Finally, I am glad that they did away with the Super Eights this time. It is nonsense to have two round-robin leagues in the same tournament. The soccer World Cup has a short set of group matches and then it is all knock-out. They have 64 matches and almost all of them are meaningful.