Zaheer Khan talks about the frustrations of missing the England tour, rehab, and his performances in South Africa and New Zealand

Interview by Nagraj Gollapudi01-Jul-2014You are eight Tests away from becoming only the second Indian fast bowler to have played 100 Tests. Do you fancy getting there?
It definitely will be a big achievement, but I have not really planned my career around it. Injuries have played a big part in my career, right from 2004. I have always enjoyed just playing the game rather than chasing some number. Even now nothing has changed. I am doing everything possible to get back on the field. So if 100 Tests happen, it would be well and good but it is not something I am bothered by.But keeping in my mind those injuries, would it not feel like an achievement if you were to reach that landmark?
Keeping in mind the kind of injuries I have faced, what I have achieved so far is in itself a great achievement. I am happy with whatever my career and my life have offered me so far.What is the latest on the injury?
I have a tear in the tendon in a lateral muscle on the left side. Because it is a tendon injury it takes its own time to heal. I am told I am only the second bowler to get this kind of an injury. I am right now working on recovering, strengthening and fitness. The timeline given to me was about ten to 12 weeks from the date of injury. Right now I have finished six weeks.Your coach Sudhir Naik feared this injury might be the end of your career, considering you are not getting any younger. How did you react to hearing that?
There have been a lot of injuries I have faced in my career which were quite serious. Every time I get into such a situation, the best thing has been to check the progress of the recovery and control the controllables. Right now it is no different. I first have to get back to bowling. That is the key, but that is still a considerable while away. I have not held a ball after picking up the injury. I am still [going to take] about four weeks before I start bowling.I have to see how my body is responding. It is about how I’m feeling in terms of my bowling – whether I am able to bowl exactly the way I want to bowl, whether I’m able to meet my expectations in terms of bowling.So I respect him [Naik]. I respect his opinion. Right now I am in no position to say anything more. If you are 35 then obviously there will be more questions asked than when you are 25 or 27. The important thing is to keep working on what you believe in. Ultimately it is about performing: if you are able to match the expectations and fulfil the demands that come from playing at the highest level of cricket, then the rest should take care of itself.Before the IPL you played back-to-back Test series in South Africa and New Zealand on your comeback to the Indian team after a year. How would you analyse your bowling?
I was very happy with the way India performed in those two series. Out of the four Tests, we were in a winning position in three. I was very happy with the way I dealt with the workload, and that was possible only due to the routines I was following and putting in a lot of effort to make sure that I was getting strong. There has been a lot of scrutiny [of my bowling] but keeping up with that kind of workload I felt I did a very good job.I was also impressed by someone like Mohammed Shami, who was able to perform the pace bowler’s role very nicely. For a successful bowling unit you require a bowler with very good pace, like Shami, and that helped me cope with my workload. You need a balanced bowling attack. You can’t have bowlers with similar styles. It was a perfect combination we had, I felt. Ishant [Sharma], being a very tall guy, adds that extra bounce on helpful pitches. If conditions are suitable for swing, I come in and also bring experience. And Shami is a very versatile bowler. He is still young, but you need that raw pace with good direction and he provides that. So Shami and Ishant have made my job easier.

“If you are going to tell me I have become slow, it is not going to register because what matter to me is the variations, control over line and length, and to set up the batsman”

Those two series were really very good for me overall. I felt that I had actually set the platform after having not played for a year. I achieved what I was looking for in those four Test matches.Which spell or performance in those four comeback Tests was most satisfying for you?
Jo’burg was a very crucial Test. We got them out pretty cheaply and were able to take the lead. That was important, to set that tone. In the second innings we batted well and were on top and controlling the match. So that performance, where I took four wickets in my first Test on my comeback, was fulfilling.That was a test for me in terms of fitness. I have always felt that it is not about how you bowl on the first day of Test matches but [about] the next day, when you back it up. I could feel I had gone from one level to the next when I came back on the third morning and I took three wickets in a spell. It was similar in New Zealand, where, with the new ball in the second innings of the Wellington Test, I got three wickets in a spell.That is what I have been known for: when I get going, I pick up two or three in a spell. And that is what makes you different from others. It is important that you can make that kind of impact.Despite such performances, a popular, possibly hasty, judgement that was delivered was that Zaheer is no longer that quick. He seems tired at times in his second and third spells.
Ultimately what you show in the wickets column and how you have created an impact on the game is what matters. To me it does not matter what pace I’m bowling at. If I am able to create that impact when things are going my way – when the conditions are suiting me and I’m able to take three wickets in a seven-over spell – that is what I look for.In terms of pace, since 2006, when I cut short my run-up, I have always focused on variations, in terms of swing and adding that element of surprise. Pace has never been the most important criteria for me. Obviously you cannot be bowling at 125kph, but if I am able to bowl at 135 with variations and have control over line and length it is equivalent to bowling as quick as 140kph. I have focused on speed-up variations: if I am bowling at an average speed of 131-133kph, suddenly I spike it to 138kph. The odd ball has proved crucial.I have never been an out-and-out fast bowler, at least after 2006. So there is no reason I should be chasing the 140kph mark when I am 35 years old.Rahul Dravid said in February: “I would hate to see Zaheer Khan end his career bowling 120-125 kph and limp away from international cricket. He has done a great job to get himself fit for these two series and to be fair, he has bowled well in patches, he has bowled consistently.” Dravid was your captain and you were his go-to man at one point. How would you respond to that viewpoint?
I do not feel there is any need to respond. I know that even if you wake me up from my sleep, I am going to bowl in the 133kph range. There is a basic pace a bowler has and it is natural. Sometimes a speed gun can be deceptive. My rhythm might be good and the ball might be nicely hitting the gloves of the wicketkeeper but the speed gun might not actually show all that. People will have opinions and everyone looks at things differently. For me the joy of playing cricket is the high [I get] when I am bowling. I know I still have time. At the moment I have work to do with regards to fitness. That has been the case right throughout my career. It is no different at this moment.Is pace really that important at all times to succeed?
It is important. If you can bowl at 150kph, nothing like it. But it is important to be consistent and there are other things that matter too. Just pace alone cannot get you wickets. It is a whole package – there are bowlers who are clicking 145kph, but if they are not consistent with their line and length and not pitching in the right areas, then it will not help. Pace is the basic need, but it is not everything.It depends on what kind of pace you are talking about. If you are saying I was bowling at 145 consistently and I am bowling 130 now, then that is a big difference. But when I was bowling 136 and now I am bowling at 134, it is not too big a difference in terms of the reaction time for the batsman. So if you are going to tell me I have become slow, it is not going to register, because what matters to me is the variations, control over line and length, and to set up the batsman.There is also this view that India cannot play more than three fast bowlers at a time, especially on dry, flat pitches.
It all depends on the conditions we are playing, the kind of team we want to field, the kind of strategy the team has. So there is no thumb rule with regards to what is a good combination.”It is time Ishant stepped into the leadership role”•AFPClearly the team management still retains belief in you. MS Dhoni and Duncan Fletcher have voiced their support at all times. But have they or the national selectors had a word with you in terms of their expectations?
In New Zealand it was communicated to me that I would have an important role to play on the England tour, which is a big series. We knew it was a long tour so I had to put in all the work and be careful in picking up my workload, keeping in mind the England series. It is unfortunate that I have been forced to miss out. But the key right now is for me to meet my expectations.Do you feel it is important for the selectors to reveal their plans to a senior player like you?
Yes. And most of the times that communication has been there. I have always maintained that the more I play, the better I get. In my last four Test matches I was improving match by match and I reached a point where I once again became confident in terms of bowling a lot of overs, staying injury-free, and being able to deal with the workload. So I was looking forward to the England tour. But unfortunately you do not have control over injuries. When you suffer an injury, you have to take your time. If you rush, it will not help.Do you reckon you are still fit to play ODIs?
I am open to it. The World Cup is a special tournament and it is everyone’s dream to be part of the Indian team. But it is still a long way away. Right now, am I fit to bowl? I am not. Things will unfold for me. The Champions League T20 is the first step towards proving I am fit and on top of my game.How much are you going to miss the England tour?
I have been working towards this tour for the last year. I was focusing on Test matches. Even through the IPL, my routines were [related to] working towards the England tour. Considering all that, it was disappointing to miss out. I just hope that the Indian team does well on English soil.What will be the biggest challenge for India’s fast bowlers in England, and what is the key to staying strong across five Tests?
If you hit a good rhythm, a series like this is the best thing that can happen to a bowler. [My advice would be to] play as much as possible. It is important to get the confidence of bowling in those conditions and the two practice matches are crucial for the bowling unit to get used to the conditions and to bowl in the right areas.In your absence, who is the best equipped to take the lead role?
It is Ishant. He has played the most number of matches and he has been around for a while. It is time he steps into that role. For Bhuvi [Bhuvneshwar Kumar] and Shami, it is their first [Test] tour to England, so they will look to Ishant and Joe Dawes for inputs.

Following yet another Pakistan batting collapse, it’s time to take a good long look at team composition and strategy

Umar Farooq at the SSC17-Aug-2014The tale of the Pakistani batting slump is nothing new. A combination of poor shot selection, insecurity, lack of confidence and a fear of Rangana Herath led to a familiar story repeating itself at the SSC. Pakistan was given a target of 271 to chase down in four sessions but it took only one session for their batting to unravel to an extent where victory was only a remote possibility.The famous victory in Sharjah this January is a one-off in recent years as Pakistan have rarely been strong chasers. It isn’t a lack of ability, but more about losing it within their mind.On day three, Grant Flower tried to make sense of Pakistan’s problem, but Herath dominated his answers; several times he applauded Herath and put Pakistan’s first-innings collapse down to his skills. Perhaps his responses reflect the sense prevailing in the dressing room, that the opposition can dictate their fate.Flower was also confident Pakistan could do well the second time around. That did not happen; their top order did not look comfortable at all. Sarfraz Ahmed is the only positive Pakistan can take forward. The average opening partnership in their previous 13 Tests is 26.15, and the experiment with Ahmed Shehzad and Khurram Manzoor does not seem to be working. Both have been guilty of throwing their wickets away with poor shot selection. While Shehzad will be persisted with, Manzoor is not likely to get too many more chances.Azhar Ali suffered a dip in form in 2013 and was replaced by Mohammad Hafeez, but his impactful hundred in Sharjah pushed him up the pecking order once again. Expectations of him grew as well, but he hasn’t been able to meet them. He resisted hard while scoring 32 in the first innings, before falling to an inadvisable shot to Herath in the second.Younis Khan, apart from his 177 in Galle, has scored just 34 in three innings. Being a senior player, the attempted sweep which led to his dismissal today, with the side already reeling, could be termed erratic. Captain Misbah-ul-Haq has scored 67 at 16.75. He is having a hard time as captain, too, with Pakistan not having won a Test series since beating England in the UAE in early 2012. A 2-0 defeat here could be decisive for him.While the defeats must hurt, what could hurt Pakistan more is if they do not learn from them. It is vital that the team management gets the team selection right. The likes of Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq seem to be the future for Pakistan, but Umar Akmal and Fawad Alam could probably work well too. The captain and coaches have also rarely been critical of the batting in public.Minutes after the stumps today, the team had packed up its stuff and left the ground. The media had requested that coach Waqar Younis attend the press conference, but they were told none of the Pakistan contingent would be taking questions. Even if they do not do so for the media, one hopes that Pakistan is answering the many questions that persist over their batting for themselves.

Ishant Sharma is an odd sort of ‘attack leader’, averaging over 37 in Test cricket and not given the new ball, but extracting England’s middle order on a docile pitch showed why he is persisted with

Sidharth Monga at Trent Bridge11-Jul-20142:25

Agarkar: Bhuvneshwar swung the ball consistently

Taking the third question in his press conference, Ishant Sharma stropped mid-answer and nearly let out a shriek. “I’m sorry, I’m cramping,” he said. A Test player cramping in a press conference. In enough discomfort to stop answering a question. It was an endearing moment. It was also one thing that we can be absolutely sure about with Ishant. He goes out on the field, and leaves everything there.The cramping immediately took you back to the 59th over of the innings. Ishant was in the middle of an intense spell, and fielding at long leg. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was bowling at the other end, and as had been the case until then with Mohammed Shami and him, was releasing the pressure.The second ball had been short and cut away for four, the fourth was too full and on the pads. Ian Bell clipped it through midwicket, but Ishant – who had already bowled five overs in that spell and would bowl two more – gave the chase his all, and nearly made it. He even put in a dive, but could not prevent the boundary. Had he not gone hard at this ball, he would have been excused, but that would not be Ishant. With the bat, with the ball, in the field, Ishant is the ultimate team man, ready to, as Dhoni demanded of his players back in 2007, run through a wall.Ishant Sharma’s dismissal of Sam Robson was the perfect example of perfect planning for the conditions•Getty ImagesThat, though, does not, and should not, sum Ishant up. He has a beautiful run-up yet often his wrist is not behind the ball. He can go months without looking threatening yet takes wickets in a bunch. He has ordinary statistics yet is persisted with by the team, for which he gets a lot of ridicule from the Indian fans; both “unlucky” and “lucky” are adjectives used in a pejorative sense for Ishant. He has all the physical attributes of a good fast bowler – he is tall, he is strong, he is fit and hardly gets injured – yet somehow it has never come together for a consistent period of time.Popular assessment – and it could be wrong – is that Ishant is the least smart of Indian quicks yet the most experienced. A nicer way to say that is, he does not overthink. That sometimes is an asset for an Indian fast bowler. You have to bowl a lot of dirty overs or dirty pitches at dirty times. If you overthink, pitches will demoralise you. Every bowler has at some point tried to not bowl a certain kind of overs. Ishant, though, does not. This is different from being an “honest trier”.No one will argue against Ishant’s stats, but part of why he is persisted with is because he does not complain about those dirty overs. He was India’s best bowler in New Zealand yet did not get the new ball here. The leader of the attack, as Zaheer Khan wanted him to be, coming in when India had tried the plan A, and seen it fail. Ishant was introduced at a time he has become used to: when nothing was working for India.India knew they were not going to burst through England on this pitch, they had to bowl dry and wait for mistakes. India did manage those dry periods in the first hour – seven runs off the first 38 balls – but they were releasing the pressure. Following those 38 balls, Shami was picked away for fours square on both the on and off sides in one over. Shami actually kept bowling too straight. It was getting dirty on a dirty pitch, and India called on “the leader of the attack”.”I didn’t think about all these things,” Ishant said when asked if Zaheer’s expectations made any difference. “It’s just that I have played some more matches than the others. But we are all in the same age group. I am not the kind of person who really shows it to the team that I am the leader of the fast bowling attack. Obviously, when I am on the field, I share my experience that I have gathered through all the Test matches, and it helps me and them.”The difference showed in the bowling, though. There were few soft leaves, only 22 in 22 overs, which is a remarkable stat and vital on this pitch. You either bowl dry and consistently wide outside off to a seven-two field, which reduces your chances of getting wickets, or go at the batsman without straying too straight. Ishant chose the latter. He hit the pitch hard, which exploited whatever uneven bounce there was to be exploited, and crucially bowled fuller than usual.”I have played enough matches to understand the length to bowl on different surfaces,” Ishant said of the adjustment he made. “Sometimes it will get reverse, so it’s about knowing the surface and the batsman you are bowling at to get the right length.”Another significant aspect of his bowling was the use of the short ball. Liam Plunkett bowled a lot of them, the other England quicks hardly did. Ishant, though, used it but sparingly. It surprised the batsmen, and this pitch was hardly the kind where you can take your eyes off and duck. Sam Robson was hit on the glove when fending, Moeen Ali when ducking. Moeen was caught off that short ball, Robson later fell to a fuller ball.Ishant had the intensity and the variation to once again go through those dirty overs. Usually he goes for runs at such times, and his stats get worse. Today on a pitch that suits him, he got the wickets that triggered a collapse, and can still give India a big lead. Listening to him you know it did not happen by accident. As usual, though, the question remains where Ishant goes from here. You can rest assured, though, that he will not be bothered about the cramps.

A preview of the prospects of Vidarbha and Uttar Pradesh ahead of the 2014-15 Ranji season

13-Dec-2014VidarbhaBy Vishal DikshitHaving switched from Karnataka to Vidarbha, Ganesh Satish will want to hit the ground running with his new team•K SivaramanYuvraj, Harbhajan to miss Vidarbha game

Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh, have decided to skip Punjab’s Ranji Trophy league game against Vidarbha in Nagpur.
“Bhajjupa is still to recover from the bout of fever, while Yuvi paaji has requested for a break,” Mandeep Singh, who will lead Punjab for the second game in succession in Harbhajan’s absence, told reporters in Nagpur.
Harbhajan hasn’t featured in a first-class game since the Irani Cup tie in February, while Yuvraj set up Punjab’s victory against Haryana with a second-innings hundred in Patiala last week.

Where they finished last season
Seventh in Group A, or third from bottom, with one win and three losses out of eight matches.Big Picture
Vidarbha have had a topsy-turvy ride in the last few years. They were promoted to the top groups in 2012-13 after acing Group A in the 2011-12 Plate League. Sairaj Bahutule had taken over as coach, but inconsistent performances under him led to his sacking and Vidarbha have roped in Paras Mhambrey for this season.They started 2014-15 with three wins in four Vijay Hazare matches, but could not go beyond the quarter-finals. Batting is their stronger suit with an in-form Faiz Fazal joined by Ganesh Satish and S Badrinath, who will captain the side. They have promise in the form of Shalabh Shrivastava as well. Rashmi Parida though has moved to Himachal Pradesh after the lone season with them in 2013-14.Their bowling will be depleted without Umesh Yadav, who is in Australia and is unlikely to be available with the World Cup also around the corner. So left-arm pacer Shrikant Wagh will marshal the pace attack while offspinner Akshay Wakhare will lead the slow bowlers. Inexperienced left-arm pacer Ravikumar Thakur earned some recognition recently with 11 wickets in the Vijay Hazare Trophy at an average of 17.00, but converting that into the longer format will be a steeper challenge, and vital, if Vidarbha want to get closer to the knockouts.Players to Watch
After scoring a hundred in last season’s Ranji final, switched from Karnataka to Vidarbha citing lack of opportunities. He has already scored a one-day hundred for his new team in November, and representing Vidarbha will give him the exposure he would want as a top-order batsman.Shrikant Wagh was not as effective in the limited-overs matches, but he was their leading wicket-taker last Ranji Trophy, with 23 in eight matches, and is one of their experienced bowlers.Uttar PradeshBy Amol KarhadkarWhere they finished last year
After finishing second in Group B, Uttar Pradesh lost in the quarter-final to eventual champions Karnataka.Big Picture
Uttar Pradesh are sometimes compared to Pakistan for their unpredictability, a characteristic that came to the fore during last season’s campaign. While they registered outright victories against Baroda and Services, they were also routed by Bengal. In the end, the two outright victories played a huge role in their qualification.UP have traditionally banked on individual brilliance to see them through to the knockouts. Last year, however, they built on a team effort before crumbling against a formidable Karnataka outfit in the quarter-finals. No batsman scored more than 500 runs and no bowler took more than 30 wickets but Uttar Pradesh still made the knock-outs with relative ease.This year, Mohammad Kaif has moved to Andhra, Sudeep Tyagi has switched to Saurashtra and Suresh Raina will miss the whole campaign due to India duties. Still, their bowling unit yet again emerges as a key weapon. Praveen Kumar and RP Singh’s availability for domestic cricket would have bolstered their attack but they will have to compete with Ankit Rajpoot and Amit Mishra for a place in the side. Fitness will also be important as UP will have to play all eight league games in succession, just like last year.Players to watch
Kuldeep Yadav hasn’t played a Ranji Trophy game yet but the chinaman has spent some time in the India ODI dressing room and has been marked as one for the future, as indicated by inclusion in the World Cup probables. It would be interesting to see how the UP think-tank handles him, especially with captain Piyush Chawla leading the side and left-arm spinner Ali Murtaza having proven himself with the ball and bat.Tanmay Srivastava has been on the first-class circuit for eight years now. Still, the left-handed opening batsman has failed to raise the bar and make a case for national selection. Last year, he was the only UP batsman to score more than one hundred, but despite his two centuries, Srivastava tallied 369 runs from nine innings at 46.12. It’s high time he steps up his performance and emerges as the leader of UP’s batting unit.

Plays of the day from the opening match of Group A between Australia and England

George Dobell at the MCG14-Feb-2015Dismissal of the day
James Taylor suffered an agonising end to his innings. Poised on the brink of an excellent maiden international century, but left with only the No. 11, James Anderson, for company, he was given out leg before to Josh Hazlewood for 98. While he reviewed the decision successfully – Hawk-Eye suggested the ball would have missed leg stump – it was all to no avail: more replays showed that Anderson, backing up desperately, did not reach the striker’s end before Glenn Maxwell threw down the stumps with a direct hit. So Taylor had been given out, reprieved and left stranded all from the same delivery. Afterwards, the ICC confirmed that the dismissal should not have stood, with the ball considered dead after Aleem Dar’s original decision was made.Change of the day
It appeared that England had a settled line-up. It appeared that, through the tri-series and the warm-up games ahead of this tournament, they were going to play Ravi Bopara at No. 6 as a batsman who finishes and a bowler who can contribute if required. It appeared they had invested in allowing players to familiarise themselves with their specific positions and roles. But, at the last minute, they had a change of plan and Bopara made way for Gary Ballance, who had not played a List A game since September 2 and was not in the ODI tour party when England toured Sri Lanka just before Christmas. And, as England decided to bat Ballance at No. 3 it meant moving James Taylor. In 10 of his 11 ODI innings he had batted at No. 3 (the other was at No. 5) but now, in perhaps the biggest game of his career to date, he was asked to fulfil the finishing role.Celebration of the day
The moment Aaron Finch flicked the ball to the leg-side boundary to bring up his century, he punched the air and gave an enormous leap of pure joy. This century clearly meant a great deal to him. As well it might: not only was he playing on his home ground, but it made him the fourth Australian to score a century on World Cup debut. Trevor Chappell, Geoff Marsh (whose son, Mitchell, also took a World Cup debut five-for in this game) and Andrew Symonds are the others.Finn-ish of the day
With 2 for 71 from 9.3 overs, it seemed Steven Finn was destined to leave the MCG with unremarkable figures. That changed in his last three deliveries – also the last deliveries of the Australia innings – when he claimed an unusual hat-trick and finished with the second five-wicket haul of his ODI career. They were hardly taken in the style traditional for a fast bowler, though. Two were due to outstanding boundary catches, one by Stuart Broad at third man and the other Joe Root at long-off, while the third came when Mitchell Johnson thrashed a slower ball to mid-off. The damage had long been done, though, and it may be a haul Finn recalls with little pleasure.Drop of the day
England were desperate for early wickets. They knew that the best way to contain a batting line-up with a man at No. 10 – Mitchell Starc – who has scored 99 in a Test, was to strike with the new ball and force Australia into a more cautious approach. So when Finch mistimed the fifth ball of the match, deceived by Anderson’s inswing, and offered a catch to midwicket it seemed England had made the perfect start. But Chris Woakes, nerves having made his limbs stiff and his hands hard, was slow to move to the ball and instead of claiming the catch, let the ball burst through his hands. The ball was above his head and hit reasonably hard but, by international standards, it was not an especially difficult catch. It was a mistake that Finch punished severely.Miss of the day
Beating Australia at the MCG is always tough. But if you drop both openers within the first five overs, it becomes desperately tough. The second drop – and in truth, Moeen Ali hardly laid a hand on the chance – came when David Warner drove ferociously at Anderson, but was unable to keep the ball on the ground. Moeen, diving to his left at mid-off, seemed slow to react and barely made contact as the ball sped to the boundary. Anderson, who could have had both openers out inside his first three overs, had the look of a man who could drink hot blood.Catch of the day
Australia’s fielding effort was not without its blemishes, with Finch dropping Taylor on 20, but they also took some very smart catches to back up their superiority with the bat. Brad Haddin’s diving effort to claim a toe-end edge of Eoin Morgan was notable but the pick of the lot was Steven Smith’s screamer to send Jos Buttler back. Mitchell Marsh had pitched the ball up outside off and Buttler struck a powerful drive that was on the rise as it went to Smith’s left, standing at extra cover. Smith seemed to have anticipated the stroke, however. and leapt to take the catch with both hands. Australia were not letting this one go.

A lot has changed since M.S. Dhoni smashed that famous six off Nuwan Kulasekara to propel all of India into a frenzy on a breathless Mumbai night four years ago.

Rahul Oak13-Feb-2015A lot has changed since MS Dhoni smashed that famous six off Nuwan Kulasekara to propel all of India into a frenzy on a breathless Mumbai night four years ago. Although he did not play a major role in the finals, the quote on everyone’s lips as India won the ODI World Cup was “We did it for Sachin.” Virat Kohli echoed the sentiments of every Indian who grew up watching Sachin Tendulkar when he pointed out that carrying him on their shoulders was the least the Indian team could have done for him after he’d been carrying them on his shoulders for more than 20 years. There were speeches, there were tears, there were celebrations. However, that turned out to be the happy ending for a lot of the players on the team in more ways than one.The ephemeral nature of sport is truly reflected in the personnel changes that the Indian ODI team has experienced over the past four years. Of the XI that played in the final of the 2011 World Cup, only three are expected to feature against Pakistan on Feb 15. Sachin has retired from all formats and Virender Sehwag has all but followed his idol out of the game. Gautam Gambhir is a distant memory. Yuvraj Singh, India’s best player of the 2011 World Cup, fought cancer before making a heart-warming comeback only to slowly fade away. The entire bowling attack has undergone a massive overhaul. To get a sense of how far the team has moved on, you only have to remember that the three fast(ish) bowlers that accompanied Harbhajan Singh in the final in 2011 were Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, and (drum roll) S Sreesanth!Of the survivors, Suresh Raina will always be suspect on Australian pitches that offer bounce to bowlers who are willing to hit the deck. Although Dhoni retired from Test cricket in the middle of the series against Australia and sat out a Test through injury, he looks more jaded and in need of a break than most players who have been on tour. The grey hair growing around the captain’s temples makes him seem a lot older than his years. Kohli too looks spent after his exertions in the Test series. Rohit Sharma and, to a certain extent, Ajinkya Rahane are the only ones in the squad who look fresh, in form, and ready for the challenge. While the situation for most Indian fans seems all doom and gloom, fear not! Let’s try and look at a few things we can do to make the best of it.Firstly, we need to learn from the English. No, I do not mean the English cricket team. In as much as we’d like Umesh Yadav to replicate the control and swing of Jimmy Anderson, that’s just not about to happen in a hurry. I’m talking about the English cricket fans. Just like their football fans, their best and most endearing quality is an acute sense of realism and a coping mechanism built around dry humour and a generous pint of bitter ale (or three). They understand that while their team is unlikely to win the World Cup, they could still have a good time if they’re able to find little victories. Travelling fans will enjoy the Antipodean summer and warm beaches, sing sardonic songs on the terraces and treat every wicket taken and run scored as a bonus. And given that India’s World Cup prospects are even worse than England’s, we could do no worse than to follow suit.That is not to say that we shouldn’t hope for our team to win the thing. Far from it. The format is such that it does not reward the best or the most consistent team at the end of the tournament. And that is a good thing! It only means that any team could pull off a 1992 Pakistan, do just enough to reach the knockouts and then hope for three good days. India’s best chance of winning comes from a smash and grab approach. The XI just about picks itself: Shikhar Dhawan (due to lack of options), Rohit, Kohli, Rahane, Raina, Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar / Mohit Sharma, Yadav and Mohammed Shami.Let’s look at our matches, one by one:India v Pakistan: This is one of those self-fulfilling prophecies of our time. Because we’ve never lost means we can’t lose this one, right? Superstition and omens aside, however, Pakistan aren’t at their best either and this is one match that we could seriously think of winning. Plus, something about Pakistan brings out the best (or worst, depending on what side you’re on) in Kohli. Three points and four years of bragging rights.India v South Africa: I hate to be a negative Nelly on this, but we should assume that we are going to lose this one and move on. Let South Africa win every match in their group only to be beaten in the semi finals by New Zealand. The usual.India v UAE: Win.India v West Indies: Trickier than it looks on paper. The Windies may have their troubles and more infighting than Pakistan but given that India play them in Perth, this could turn out to be a challenge. India’s best chance is to bat first, score a decent total and get Gayle early. This is one of those matches on which India’s challenge rests.India v Ireland: Given that Boyd Rankin has decided to join the English, Ireland don’t have the serious pace and bounce to trouble India in Perth. This is the kind of match where Dhoni can pretend it’s the subcontinent, unleash the spinners and enjoy the show.India v Zimbabwe: They may have beaten Sri Lanka in the warm-ups, but this is still Zimbabwe. Please refer to UAE match note for instructions.If the stars align, India actually have a chance of finishing No. 2 in the group. To give the team the best chance of proceeding to the semis, we need things to conspire in the other group so that Sri Lanka end up being the opponent for the quarter finals. I, for one, will be watching the England v Sri Lanka game with utmost interest since it seems to be key to determining the 3rd and 4th place teams in the other group. Once it gets to the semis, it’s time for Dhoni to channel his inner Imran Khan, hope that Kohli/Rohit/Rahane wake up on the right side of the bed and that by some miracle, India’s bowlers manage to land enough balls in the proverbial ‘right areas’.So there you have it. I have put together this foolproof plan that I hope the Interwebs delivers to the Indian team. At this point, I feel like a war general who has done all the hard work of strategising and all that the team needs to do is the simple job of executing. Lady Luck has already started fluttering her eyelashes at the team if Ishant’s injury is anything to go by. It’s almost time to grab that ale, look for those minor victories and hope that Sir Jadeja proves each and every one of us wrong. Let the games begin!If you have a submission for Inbox, send it to us here, with “Inbox” in the subject line.

A poem for Richie Benaud, who enthralled the cricket world for decades

Jon Cocks13-Apr-2015One Wednesday in December 1960 we remember
Image for the ages, a run-out tied the score
Fall of the last wicket brought joy back into cricket
Worrell’s tour Down Under elevated to folkloreCaptain of that series, an adventurer with theories
On cricket when distilled might say risk is not a sin
Six down at tea, Hall firing, self-belief inspiring
Benaud said to Bradman: we’re going for a winAnd so the many clashes versus England for the Ashes
Bowling May behind his legs a series-winning ball
Playing days completed as captain undefeated
In television Richie found new ways to enthralLess more in his precision of words to colour vision
Never in winter painting pictures of the game
Driving evolution, the Packer revolution
Unassuming, private, humble with his fameFor decades every season, voice of summer reason
Now the wordsmith leaves us. Nothing is the same
His canny story-telling of cricket was compelling
Now silenced, flags half-mast. Vale, legend of the gameIf you have a submission for Inbox, send it to us here, with “Inbox” in the subject line.

Richie Benaud’s style and innovative bowling turned him into an idol for a little boy in India during the 1950s

HL Cadambi12-Apr-2015Panache. It is a difficult attribute to define, but it is easy to recognise in a person, albeit it is very rare. Older readers may remember, Maurice Chevalier had panache. So did Cary Grant, and for Hindi movie buffs there was Dev Anand. JFK had it, in large measure. Greg Norman is full of panache, as was René Lacoste and Garry Sobers. At least the equal of all of them, in the panache-scales, was Richie Benaud.He had panache all his life; he might have been born with it! I was about 8, and had just begun being interested in cricket, when my father sat me down and told me how Richie had turned a losing situation into a win, almost on his own, and with a (for then) completely revolutionary tactic. He went around the wicket to right-handed Englishmen and bowled leg breaks into the rough, grabbed a few wickets in no time from a befuddled English team, and hey presto! A team that was cruising to victory slid to quick defeat.One photo in in Delhi was all that was needed to stamp the man’s panache on this little boy. A slim wavy haired bowler in delivery stride, shirt unbuttoned to just-over-the-navel, devilishly handsome and sexily athletic, wrist cocked over the ball, spinning the Englishmen to a bewildering defeat: this little boy had a hero for life!Soon came THAT Test series, West Indies in Australia, 1960-61. A tied Test! A series, test after test, of two teams with……panache! A series that redefined Test cricket, that has gone into legend. Made possible by two men of panache, Benaud and Frank Worrell.The years rolled on, and Benaud grew into another role in cricket – as the Voice of the game. No, that is limiting – it does not include the unusual but oh-so-stylish cream jacket, the wavy silvery hair, the laconic turn of humour, the crisp summation of dramas, the erudite description of a strategic flaw – all with an abundance of grace, a complete lack of rancor, a depth of analytical insight and…..yes, panache!Make no mistake, Richie was a hardened professional, as a player and as a commentator. His great gift was that he humanised that hardness, so that while there was a great display of skill and hard work and commitment and a will-to-be-the-best, it was all couched in courtesy, dry humour, a sense of enjoyment, an obsessed apathy for bias, and a deep desire to communicate joy to the average spectator or listener or viewer.They don’t make too many men like Richie. They never did. They never will.And that, in essence, is what makes his legacy invaluable to us all. RIP Richie. You are a sweetheart!If you have a submission for Inbox, send it to us here, with “Inbox” in the subject line.

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Mar-2015Trent Boult struck in the sixth over to get rid of Imrul Kayes and leave Bangladeh at 4 for 1•Getty ImagesBut Mahmudullah rescued Bangladesh again, adding 90 runs for the third wicket with Soumya Sarkar, who struck his first ODI fifty•Getty ImagesDaniel Vettori struck in the 28th over to remove Sarkar and Bangladesh were 117 for 3•Getty ImagesShakib Al Hasan was caught behind for 23 in the first over of batting Powerplay•Getty ImagesMahmudullah, though, kept the runs coming for Bangladesh and brought up his second successive ODI and World Cup ton•Getty ImagesSabbir Rahman hammered 40 off 23 balls, as Bangladesh scored 104 in the last 10 overs and finished on 288•Getty ImagesBangladesh started with spin and Shakib Al Hasan dismissed Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson in quick succession•Getty ImagesFrom 33 for 2, Ross Taylor and Martin Guptill scripted a recovery with a 131-run stand for the third wicket•AFPGuptill brought up his first century in over a year despite suffering from cramps. He was dismissed for 105 off 100 balls•Getty ImagesGrant Elliott made 39 off 34 balls but was dismissed in the 39th over•Getty ImagesBangladesh used the opening and dismissed Taylor for a 97-ball 56 in the 42nd over, the target was still 70 runs away•Getty ImagesCorey Anderson thumped 39 from 26 to defuse a tense situation•Getty ImagesTim Southee and Daniel Vettori struck crucial boundaries at the end to give New Zealand a three-wicket win•Getty Images

Plus, MS Dhoni in chases, and most Test runs against England

Steven Lynch14-Apr-2015The final at Melbourne was the 400th World Cup match. Who won the 100th, 200th and 300th games? asked Steve Rafferty from the United States
The 2015 World Cup final between Australia and New Zealand at Melbourne was the 400th World Cup match in which there was play – there have been six additional games that were abandoned without a ball bowled due to bad weather or not played because of security concerns. Of the matches that started, the 100th was South Africa’s 64-run victory over West Indies in Christchurch in 1991-92. The boot was on the other foot when the 200th came up in 2003: West Indies beat South Africa by three runs in Cape Town. And the 300 was reached during England’s one-run victory over West Indies in Bridgetown in April 2007.Richie Benaud died at the age of 84. Was he Australia’s oldest surviving Test player? asked David Roberts from Australia
The much-missed Richie Benaud was 84 years 186 days old when he passed away last week. There are currently seven Australian Test players who are older than that: leading the way, at 93, is Arthur Morris, the free-scoring opener who was one of the 1948 “Invincibles”. Morris is the third-oldest surviving Test player from any country, after the South African Lindsay Tuckett (96) and Andy Ganteaume of West Indies (94). The other aged Australians are Len Maddocks (88), Ken Archer (87), Neil Harvey and Colin McDonald (86), Alan Davidson and John Rutherford (85). McDonald made his Test debut in the same match as Benaud, against West Indies in Sydney in 1951-52.How many Tests have been played at Viv Richards’ ground, and how many at the other ground in Antigua? asked Mark Castleton from Barbados
West Indies’ current Test against England is the fourth to be played at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua. The first one there was a drawn match against Australia in mid-2008. The previous three Tests on the ground have produced just one result – when West Indies beat New Zealand by nine wickets in July 2012. The other match there was the infamous ten-ball game against England in February 2009, which was abandoned soon after the start as the ground was unfit. That embarrassment led to an unexpected extra Test at Antigua’s previous Test venue, the Recreation Ground in St John’s: it was the 22nd match there since the first one in 1980-81, which was marked, almost inevitably, by a fine century from local boy Viv Richards.MS Dhoni has remained not out 66 times in one-day internationals. Is it true that India have won on all 66 occasions? asked Sudarshan Samra from Denmark
MS Dhoni does have 66 not-outs to his name in one-day internationals, but 26 of them came when India batted first (they won 15 and lost eight of those matches, one was tied and there were two no-results). Dhoni’s reputation as a “finisher” stems from the fact that of the 40 times he has remained not out at the end of a second-innings run-chase, India have won 38 of the matches and tied one (against Sri Lanka at Adelaide in February 2012). Only one of those games was lost – against Pakistan in Kolkata in January 2013. Set 251, India were shot out for 165 – Dhoni was left high and dry on 54.Who has bowled the most maiden overs in a Test match? asked Keith Jordan from England
The most maiden overs in a Test is 83, by the old Nottinghamshire medium-pacer William Attewell for England against Australia in Sydney in 1884-85. He followed 71-47-53-4 in the first innings with 58-36-54-2 in the second. These, though, were four-ball overs, which obviously made it easier to deliver maidens. The most six-ball maidens in one Test is 75, by the Jamaican slow left-armer Alf Valentine at Lord’s in 1950. He wheeled down 45-28-45-4 in the first innings, and 71-47-79-3 in the second. Valentine’s spin twin Sonny Ramadhin delivered 70 maidens in the same match – 27 in the first innings and 43 in the second – as West Indies completed a famous victory.Is Don Bradman still the only player to score more than 5000 Test runs against England? asked Melissa Gomes from Sri Lanka
Don Bradman remains well clear on this particular list: he scored 5028 runs in Tests against England, at an average of 89.78. Next, almost 1500 adrift, is Allan Border: he scored 3548 runs against England at 56.31, in 47 matches to Bradman’s 37. The first non-Australian is Garry Sobers, with 3214 runs (60.64) for West Indies, while Steve Waugh made 3200 at 58.18. A further 29 players have scored 2000 runs in Tests against England. The leading current player is Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who had 2359 runs against them before the series started yesterday.