Sports India

T en Indian batsmen have scored 4,000 runs or more in Test cricket, of which all but the all-rounder Kapil Dev have an average of more than 40 (going up to 59 for Dravid). These batsmen entered the Test arena in a steady stream from 1969, starting with Vishwanath and Mohinder Amarnath. They were followed by Gavaskar in 1971, Vengsarkar in 1975 and Kapil in 1978. Then the gap from the birth of one star to the next stretched to five years and more: Azharuddin in 1984 and Tendulkar in 1989. The gold rush was in 1996, when Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman all made their mark. Since then, there has been only Sehwag (2001), who is just shy of 4,000 runs and has a handsome average of 53.

Why should this concern us? Because Ganguly has already left the arena; Tendulkar tragically is more out than in these days, and Dravid and Laxman are 32-33 years old. None of them will be around in 3-4 years. Who will take their place in what was once considered the world’s best batting team? None of the young Turks has measured up to the challenge of averaging 40 runs in Test cricket. Whether it is Yuvraj, Kaif, Gambhir, Jaffer or Dhoni, they all average around 35 runs — which is a journeyman’s record, not the mark of a quality batsman. In short, India is staring at a batting vacuum.

The bowling is no better. The quality cut-off here is an average of 30 runs per wicket — all the country’s bowling greats of the past met that standard: the spin trio certainly did, and so did Kapil Dev and Srinath. Today, only Kumble and Harbhajan pass that test, along with Pathan and Munaf Patel. But Kumble has been playing Test cricket for 16 years and is approaching the end of his career, and Pathan is already burnt out after just 25 Tests. None of the others who are being tried (Sreesanth, RP Singh, VRV Singh, Balaji, Zaheer Khan, Powar, Kartik, Agarkar…) comes within sniffing distance of a 30 average. So there is a bowling crisis building up as well. And remember that we are asking only for an average of 30 — not the 21-25 runs per wicket achieved by true strike bowlers like Muralitharan, Warne, McGrath, Shoaib Akhtar and Pollock.

If Dravid’s men struggle today to get the better of a mediocre West Indies, one reason is bad luck (the weather intervened in the second Test); another has been the absence of strike bowlers (the first Test); and a third has been the lack of batting depth — or the skipper would certainly have pushed for victory in the third Test, when he needed a run a ball from 24 overs, with seven wickets in hand. In other words, the talent famine is beginning to tell on performance, and may affect the deciding Test that started yesterday.

Compare this with the talent feast that Australia enjoys: no fewer than eight batsmen with a batting average of 45 or more! And five bowlers who have an average that is better than 30, with two bowlers at 25 runs/wicket. So while a strong team of batsmen and bowlers would show up with averages of 40 and 30, respectively, Australia has world-beaters with a 45:25 team. There isn’t much to differentiate Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and England — all of them (like the West Indies) have India’s mix of the good and the average. But none of them seems to have talent drying up in quite the same way in both the specialisations. Pakistan is producing attractive young batsmen, South Africa has a better bowling team, and England has greater depth in batting (six batsmen at 40 or better).

This may seem a pessimistic assessment when India has beaten or drawn with most teams in the past year. But the presence of the older generation of batsmen and bowlers in India’s line-up masks the crisis that is building up on account of the absence of young stars. If Australia at the top has a 45:25 team, India seems to be headed for 35:35.

India ended day two on 128-6 in their second innings after restricting West Indies’ reply to just 103 in the final Test at Sabina Park.

Indian captain Rahul Dravid was 62 not out with Mahendra Dhoni the next best with 19 as Jerome Taylor took 3-28.

Earlier, Harbhajan Singh took 5-13 in just 27 balls to skittle West Indies as Daren Ganga top-scored with 40.

Replying to India’s 200, West Indies were dismissed in 33.3 overs, losing their last seven wickets for 31 runs.

“I wasn’t doing anything differently,” said Harbhajan, who claimed 5-147 off 44 overs in the third Test in St Kitts.

“Sometimes you bowl 50 overs and get one wicket. Sometimes you bowl four-and-a-half overs and get five wickets.

“That is the way cricket is. You just have to keep working hard and keep faith in your ability.

“You will get wickets if you bowl good enough balls. That is what I was trying to bowl in St Kitts and that’s what I tried to bowl here.”

India have now built up a lead of 225, which means the West Indies will have to score the highest total of the match and the most ever to win a Test at Sabina Park. The three-Test series is poised 0-0.

India stumbled to six for two at the start of their second innings as Wasim Jaffer fell to Taylor for a single and Virender Sehwag succumbed lbw for just four.

The visitors reached tea at 41-2 but lost VVS Laxman for 16 shortly after, followed by Yuvraj Singh (13), Mohammad Kaif (6) and Dhoni (19).

In West Indies’ first innings, fast bowler Sri Sreesanth did the damage for India early on.

Chris Gayle saw his off-stump knocked out of the ground in the first over, and Brian Lara (26) edged a rearing delivery to slip.

Marlon Samuels dragged his back foot clear of the crease to be needlessly stumped off Anil Kumble and Shiv Chanderpaul edged a Munaf Patel half-volley, both men falling cheaply.

The stage was then set for Harbhajan, who elicited some generous turn, and took wickets at regular intervals.

Yuvraj Singh held two catches at short-leg, and Ramnaresh Sarwan, batting at seven because of his knee injury on the first day, holed out to mid-wicket.

A comical run out ended Taylor’s innings while Pedro Collins was the last man out, caught in the deep for a duck.

India were 128 for six in their second innings at stumps on day two of the fourth and final Test against West Indies at Kingston on Saturday, taking an overall lead of 225 runs.

As many as 16 wickets fell in the day for 231 runs.

In a repeat of the first innings proceedings, the Indian top order yet again put on an inept display with only Rahul Dravid standing tall amidst the ruins.

At stumps, he was unbeaten on 62, his 46th Test fifty. Anil Kumble on two was at the other end.

The Indian openers failed yet again and were back in the pavilion for just six runs on the board.

Substitute Runako Morton stretched himself to the limit as he held on to a blinder at third slip off a Jerome Taylor delivery to get rid of Wasim Jaffer for just one.

Virender Sehwag was then trapped leg before by Taylor and India were six for two.

VVS Laxman and Dravid came together to stem the rot, putting on 43 runs for the third wicket.

Laxman was on 16 when he was caught by Brian Lara at second slip as he edged a Collymore delivery and India were 49 for three.

Fourteen runs later, Collymore dismissed Yuvraj, also caught by Lara at slip. He made 13.

Mohammad Kaif again failed to get going and played on a Pedro Collins delivery onto his stumps for six runs.

M S Dhoni looked in good touch and his four fours were all signs of his class. However, his innings did not last long and he was done in by a Taylor delivery that stayed low and crashed into his stumps. He made 19.

Dravid and Kumble then saw off the remaining overs on a pitch that surely has some demons in it.

Inspired bowling

Earlier, India put on an inspired bowling display to dismiss the West Indies for 103 runs in their first innings – their lowest ever Test score against India.

S Sreesanth bowled a blistering opening spell to push the hosts on the backfoot from the word go and Harbhajan Singh then picked up his 19th five-wicket haul in Test matches.

India, who scored 200 in their first innings, took a 97-run first innings lead.

Sreesanth struck with the fourth ball of the first over as he removed Chris Gayle for naught. The southpaw erred in judgment and the ball knocked the off stump out of the ground to give India a perfect start.

With one wicket down for no score, Brian Lara promoted himself up the order.

Lara and Darren Ganga then saw off the initial spell adding 42 runs for the second wicket, before the Windies captain became Sreesanth’s second victim.

Lara played awkwardly at a delivery that climbed on him and the edge carried to Wasim Jaffer at third slip. He made 26 off 40 balls with six hits to the fence.

Anil Kumble then got into the act. He beat Marlon Samuels in flight and M S Dhoni quickly removed the bails to send him back to the pavilion for two runs.

Dhoni was involved in the next wicket to fall as well when he held an edge from Shivnaraine Chanderpaul off a Munaf Patel delivery. The former skipper made just 10 and West Indies were 72 for four.

Harbhajan Singh then picked up three wickets in a span of eight balls to put India firmly in command.

He first trapped Darren Ganga leg before for 40. The two teams took lunch at his dismissal. The Turbanator came back and dismissed Dwayne Bravo for a duck. He was caught at short leg by Yuvraj Singh.

Bhajji then had Ramnaresh Sarwan caught by Mohammad Kaif at midwicket for seven.

The off-spinner picked up his fourth wicket of the match when he had Denesh Ramdin caught at short leg by Yuvraj for 10.

Jerome Taylor was run out for six and Harbhajan wasted no time in removing Pedro Collins for a duck and finish with figures of five for 13 from 4.3 overs.

The teams:

India: Rahul Dravid, Wasim Jaffer, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel, S Sreesanth.

West Indies: Brian Lara, Darren Ganga, Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnaraine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, Denesh Ramdin, Dwayne Bravo, Pedro Collins, Jerome Taylor, Corey Collymore

THE FULL impact of Sachin Tendulkar`s injuries and a prolonged form slump was known with the batting star slipping out of the top 20 in Test batsmen`s rankings for the first time in 14 years.

Tendulkar has managed to remain among the top 20 batsmen since 1992 and the fall in his rankings had as much to do with his missing the tour of West Indies due to a shoulder surgery as his poor run in the past few months.

While missing the series in Caribbean counts against Tendulkar, his Test match form in the last couple of years has been well below his career peak, his world record 35th Test ton against Sri Lanka late last year notwithstanding.

The Mumbai batsman averages just 28 in his last 10 Tests compared with an overall average of 55.39.

And while Tendulkar`s mark of 650 rating points may have been enough to put him in the top 20 in times gone by, it is not enough now with other batsmen in world cricket scoring heavily.

The good news for Tendulkar is that he appears to be regaining fitness after surgery with two effortless centuries for English club Lashings.

India still have two players in that elite group, captain Rahul Dravid, who remains in second place behind leader Ricky Ponting, and Virender Sehwag, down one place to 13th in the latest LG ICC rankings.

Further down the batting rankings, VVS Laxman has moved up two places after scores of 100 and 63 in the drawn third Test in St Kitts and he now lies in 27th position.

India also has two players in the top 20 of the Player Rankings for Test bowlers, with Anil Kumble slipping down one spot to eighth position while Irfan Pathan, who missed the third Test, is 13th.

The bowling list is headed by Sri Lanka`s Muttiah Muralitharan, clear of Makhaya Ntini of South Africa and the Australia duo of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.

The West Indies has new entries into both the batting and bowling top 20s with Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Corey Collymore heading in the right direction.

Collymore remains his side`s leading Test bowler in the rankings, up four places to 17th place, the only West Indies bowler inside the top 20.

Further down the list Jermone Taylor`s impressive form in St Kitts, where he took four wickets, has seen him move into the top 100 for the first time, and he is up 22 places to 91st, with his best-ever haul of rating points.

Among other batsmen, Chris Gayle is 23rd and Ramnaresh Sarwan, another centurion in the drawn match, is in 30th place.

The full impact of Sachin Tendulkar’s injuries and a prolonged form slump was known yesterday with the batting star slipping out of the top 20 in Test batsmen’s rankings for the first time in 14 years.

Tendulkar has managed to remain among the top 20 batsmen since 1992 and the fall in his rankings had as much to do with his missing the tour of West Indies due to a shoulder surgery as his poor run in the past few months.

While missing the series in Caribbean counts against Tendulkar, his Test match form in the last couple of years has been well below his career peak, his world record 35th Test ton against Sri Lanka late last year notwithstanding.

The Mumbai batsman averages just 28 in his last 10 Tests compared with an overall average of 55.39.

And while Tendulkar’s mark of 650 rating points may have been enough to put him in the top 20 in times gone by, it is not enough now with other batsmen in world cricket scoring heavily.

The good news for Tendulkar is that he appears to be regaining fitness after surgery with two effortless centuries for English club Lashings.

India still have two players in that elite group, captain Rahul Dravid, who remains in second place behind leader Ricky Ponting, and Virender Sehwag, down one place to 13th in the latest LG ICC rankings released.

Further down the batting rankings, VVS Laxman has moved up two places after scores of 100 and 63 in the drawn third Test in St Kitts and he now lies in 27th position.

The full impact of Sachin Tendulkar’s injuries and a prolonged form slump was known on Wednesday with the batting star slipping out of the top 20 in Test batsmen’s rankings for the first time in 14 years.

Tendulkar remained among the top 20 batsmen since 1992 and the fall in his rankings had as much to do with his missing the tour of West Indies due to a shoulder surgery, as his poor run in the past few months.

While missing the series in Caribbean counts against Tendulkar, his Test match form in the last couple of years has been well below his career peak, his world record 35th Test ton against Sri Lanka late last year notwithstanding.

The Mumbai batsman averages 28 in his last 10 Tests, compared with an overall average of 55.39.

While Tendulkar’s mark of 650 rating points may have been enough to put him in the top 20 in times gone by, it is not enough now with other batsmen in world cricket scoring heavily.

The good news for Tendulkar is that he appears to be regaining fitness after surgery with two effortless centuries for English club Lashings.

India still have two players in that elite group, captain Rahul Dravid, who remains in second place behind leader Ricky Ponting, and Virender Sehwag, down one place to 13th in the latest LG ICC rankings released on Wednesday.

Further down the batting rankings, VVS Laxman has moved up two places after scores of 100 and 63 in the drawn third Test in St Kitts and he now lies in 27th position.

India has two players in the top 20 of the Player Rankings for Test bowlers, with Anil Kumble slipping down one spot to eighth position while Irfan Pathan, who missed the third Test, is 13th.

The bowling list is headed by Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan, clear of Makhaya Ntini of South Africa and the Australia duo of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.

The West Indies has new entries into both the batting and bowling top 20s with Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Corey Collymore heading in the right direction.

Chanderpaul, who made an unbeaten 97 in the first innings of the St Kitts Test, is up five spots to 17th, and that means the home side now has two players inside that top 20 with captain Brian Lara unchanged in ninth position.

Collymore remains his side’s leading Test bowler in the rankings, up four places to 17th place, the only West Indies bowler inside the top 20.

Further down the list Jermone Taylor’s impressive form in St Kitts, where he took four wickets, has seen him move into the top 100 for the first time, and he is up 22 places to
91st, with his best-ever haul of rating points.

Daren Ganga, who made 135 – his third Test hundred – and 66 in the third Test, has risen 20 places in the batting list to 68th position and is another player with a career-best rating, while Marlon Samuels is up 13 places to 84th spot.

Among other batsmen, Chris Gayle is 23rd and Ramnaresh Sarwan, another centurion in the drawn match, is in 30th place.

SACHIN Tendulkar came up with another big score for Lashings World XI, hitting 147 before electing to retire in a charity match against Reigate Priory Cricket Club, Surrey.

Tendulkar was supported by his skipper Richie Richardson who chipped in with 95 runs as Lashings declared at 292 for four in 41.3 overs after winning the toss and electing to bat on Sunday.

In reply, Reigate Priory made 197 for seven in 51 overs with Jon Gale top-scoring with an unbeaten 64 and Aleks Richards contributing 31.

Vasbert Drakes took two wickets for 12 while Aaron Pope was the most successful bowler for Reigate, snaring three Lashings wickets for 61.

Tendulkar, testing himself in match conditions before making a comeback to international cricket, had hit a strokeful 155 in his first outing for the star-studded club last Wednesday.

The Indian batting star underwent a shoulder surgery in March this year and had to miss out on the one-day series against England at home and the entire tour of West Indies.

He is looking to make a return to the top league in August when India play a tri-series in Sri Lanka.

Arjun Atwal’s struggle with his form continued as he missed yet another cut on the USPGA Tour when he failed to make the weekend at the Buick Championships.

Atwal carded one-over 71, which included an eagle-two but even that could not rescue the Indian as he found three bogeys on his second nine, the front half of the TPC River Highlands, missing the cut by three shots.

Atwal’s birdie came on the 11th and the eagle on 15th, but four bogeys on first, sixth, eighth and 12th put paid to his chances. He has now missed 12 cuts in 18 starts is hard pressed to finish inside the top 125 to maintain his card for 2007.

The 36-year-old Darron Stiles sank a 10-foot birdie on the final hole to get to the top of the leaderboard at 8-under 132. He is still looking for his maiden US Tour title since joining it in 2003.

Stiles shot his second straight 4-under 66 to take a one-stroke lead over Peter Lonard and there are 25 players within four strokes of the lead.

Lonard followed his opening 65 with a 68, while Stewart Cink (65) and Notah Begay III (66) are at 6-under along with Scot Verplank (69) and Todd Fisher (68).

Joe Ogilvie shot 7-under 63, the best round of the tournament so far, to move from tied 101st to seventh.

For the up and coming drivers in the country aspiring to enter the Formula One race, India’s lone F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan today launched the Amaron-NK Racing Academy to nurture young talents. “The academy, the first of its kind in the country, will identify and nurture young talent and give leverage to the existing racing infrastructure in the country,” Karthikeyan said launching the academy. The initial activities of the academy would be held at the Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore.

“The activities will begin with racing workshops. It will also conduct training programmes for the up and coming talent,” the Williams test driver said.

Four young drivers would be identified through a rigorous selection process and then they will be allowed to represent Amaron and Speed teams in the JK Tyres Formula Roll on National Championship to be held from August third week onwards.

Describing the establishment of the academy as a major step in the right direction, he said: “We aim to support those who want to take motorsport as a viable professional option. It’s also a part of our long-term plan to promote motorsport. I have gained experience over the years. Hopefully, I will be able to guide these youngsters in a better way.”

Amara Raja Batteries Limited Managing Director Jayadev Galla said his company would support inter-school karting challenge programmes to promote the sport at the grassroots level.

An ODI innings of mammoth proportions appears about as often as a record-breaking win for Zimbabwe these days. Given the cavalier, swing-for-the-skies approach of many One-dayer batsmen in international cricket today, it’s a well coveted privilege to be able to witness a knock that goes way beyond the three figure milestone, a knock that ventures into the 150s and beyond.
Here at C365 we watch a lot of cricket okay…a lot. If you’re thinking bucket loads of cricket, think again. Buckets wouldn’t cover a mere morsel of the amount of the ‘other beautiful game’ we witness here at our esteemed HQ.

On Saturday the 1st of July 2006 Sanath Jayasuriya hammered his 21st ton in his 363rd One-dayer. It was the second highest score of his awesome stint in the Sri Lankan spotlight and the third time he has passed the 150-mark in the 50-over format. His other two 150-plusses both came against India, one in Mumbai and one in Sharjah. How easy it is to wow…or bore with statistics, sometimes we have to stop ourselves from researching for research sake for then we would be all-knowing…and nobody likes know-it-alls. Sanath’s recent 150-mission could loosely be blamed for the following little piece of our two cents worth.

Anyway, here’s the deal. We want to take a little trip down recent memory lane capturing the sheer brilliance of a handful those somewhat bigger willow-wielding expeditions out in the middle.

Herschelle Gibbs’ 175 against the ‘mighty’ Aussies in The Greatest Game Ever sticks out like a very pleasant sore thumb. The guy fires so infrequently you can count your lucky stars if you watched live or on the telly, that great day South Africa triumphed over Oz in a game that will probably never be matched again. Hersch’ strode to the crease at three for one and took his beloved Proteas all the way to 299 for three before perishing to one heave-ho too many in the end. 21 fours, seven sixes and just 111 balls later Gibbs had made Mick Lewis run home to his mommy, Brett Lee wish he had never gotten out of bed that day, Stuart Clark consider really early retirement and Andrew Symonds rethink his role as a spin-bowler in the Aussie set-up.

Then there was Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s 145-ball unbeaten 183 against Sri Lanka back in late 2005. It was really just a matter of time before Dhoni launched into one of the most…if not thee most devastating innings ever seen. 10 sixes in one go at the crease, that’s unheard of, and 15 fours to boot. Did someone say genius? Dhoni has subsequently unleashed his fury on many more opponents but is yet to whip up another storm like that great day in Jaipur.

It’s a tried, tested, well documented, well proven fact that it’s the big guns from the big gun countries that get the big gun runs, but ol’ Lou Vincent gave that theory a sweet slap in the face the day he stepped up to the plate for relative small fry New Zealand in Bulawayo. Yes, we know…Bulawayo’s in Zimbabwe so he must have scored the 172 against um…yes Zimbabwe. That’s no real feat but it was still good to see a Black Cap muster up the million-dollar knock. The last time we saw a Kiwi score something as substantial as 172 we also remember falling off our dinosaurs we were so pleased.