Time to move on...

Ravi Shastri mentioned in his post-match analysis that it is time for India to move on from the Ganguly-Tendulkar opening partnership. I could not agree more with him.

Move on to whom is the topic of a separate discussion. But I seriously hope we do not move on to a certain Gautam Gambhir.

Gambhir plays for Delhi in first class cricket where he has a reputation of tearing apart sub-standard bowling attacks a-la Virender Sehwag, his opening partner. He scores a lot of runs and he scores them quickly. But as it has been with many players, the step up to the next level has been not so easy for him.

Gambhir made his debut as an opener in a India - South Africa - Bangladesh triangular series just after India's fantastic World cup 2003 campaign. It was a series none of the seniors wanted to play and Gambhir got his break. It was not a lucky break though. He played 3 games against South Africa, and was snared by an away going delivery from Ntini each time. He crossed 20 only once against Bangladesh. This performance and the return of the starts saw his career taking a long 2 year hiatus.

His second innings, so to speak, started in the Dravid-Chappell era, when building a team with youngsters was the buzzword. He got his chance against Sri Lanka after India had already won the series. He made an impressive 100. But it has been slim pickings since then. His weakness of falling over while trying to play in front of his pads to the on-side has resulted in his downfall on a number of ocassions. And when it is not that, it is playing way outside his off-stump and getting caught by the keeper or the slips.

The worst of his dismissals came against South Africa at Hyderabad. This was back in the days when super-sub was part of the game. Gambhir was a super-sub in the game where India lost the toss and had to bat first. So his game was virtually over. But India lost it's way terribly and was reduced to 34/4. India gambled with using up the super-sub for a bowler. Out walked Gambhir to join Yuvraj. He was walking back to the pavilion after adding 1 run to his and team's tally. He had again fallen to a loose and flashy drive outside the off stump and was caught by the wicket keeper. This was the shot of a person who was not aware of the match situation.

And the numbers tell a very familiar story;

He has played a total of 26 games, scored 775 runs, at an average of 32.29, with 2 100s and 4 50s. Not a bad record for someone who has played that many games. But digging deeper reveals the true picture. Against the minnows (Bangladesh, Scotland, Ireland) he has played 6 games, scored 369 runs, at an average of 92.25, with 1 100 and 3 50s. Against the other teams (Sri Lanka, Pakistan, South Africa, England and West Indies) he has played 20 games, scored 406 runs, at an average of 20.3, with 1 100 and 1 50. Of the 24 times he has gotten out, 18 have been caught by wicket keeper or the slips, or bowled/lbw to the incoming ball. That is a staggering 75% of his dismissals.

And to add to this, he does not bowl, nor is he an exceptional fielder.

So the question I want to ask is, how many more times do we want to see him fail before deciding to move on? As far as I am concerned, we have already passed that time. Last season we suffered because of Greg Chappell's obsession with Suresh Raina. I just hope we don't do the same this season with Gambhir.

Robin Uthappa, who was the toast of the nation pre-WC has not played a single game since. The same guy who was picked ahead of Raina, Kaif and Gambhir is now sitting on the sidelines. Why?

A mouth watering prospect

It was on February 1, 2006 at the National Stadium in Karachi that the contest happened last time.

Sachin Tendulkar, arguably the best batsman to have ever played the game, was looking at a certain defeat in a test match. He was up against overcast skies, a bowler friendly pitch and 2 fired up pace bowlers. And his team needed more than 600 runs to win the match in under 2 days and had already lost 2 wickets. It was certain defeat. But Tendulkar was not willing to surrender. He was hit on the head by a fierce Shoaib Akhtar bouncer. But he responded with some scorching backfoot punches and a pull.

The bowler at the other end was Mohammed Asif. A young tall Pakistan pace bowler who was interested more in pitching the ball in the right areas and getting some movement. Rather odd. From the time Waqar Younis came along, every young Pakistani bowler wanted to bowl fast. Asif's partner at the other end was amongst the fastest bowlers of all time.

Tendulkar looked set for a big one, when against the run of play, Mohammed Asif got one to sneak through Tendulkar's defenses and crash into the off stump. The ball had kept low. Tendulkar was literally floored. The replays suggested that the bowler was trying to bowl a short one. The ball did not rise up. The seam was pointing towards the slips. But the ball landed on the seam and came back in.

'The great man brought to his knees', read a newspaper article.

Now Pakistan is coming to India in a couple of months to play 3 test matches. And we will see Asif bowling to Tendulkar.

What makes this contest so interesting?

Tendulkar has shown throughout his career a very strong desire to make a bold statement against bowlers who have gotten him out in embarassing ways. Any average Indian cricket fan would remember what happened to Henry Olonga, Shane Warne and Saqlain Mushtaq. In the one-day series that followed the test matches in Pakistan, at the same ground, Tendulkar thwarted Asif on a seaming pitch with brilliant ease.

Asif has grown by leaps and bounds in the past 15 months. He has become Pakistan's #1 bowler. He has travelled and bowled to batsmen like Kevin Pietersen and Jacques Kallis with much success. He now has the confidence, bordering on arrogance, of a man who knows he can get the best. He is considered by many (and I agree) to be the best young bowler in cricket.

Tendulkar, post world cup, has shown the consistency that had abandoned him since his return to cricket following his shoulder surgery. He is now comfortable playing a waiting game.

And the one thing common between the veteran and the rookie is that they are not going to take a backward step.

Waiting for November....

A victory...well deserved

"This victory will be ranked right up there at the top" said Sachin Tendulkar after India completed a historic series win against England at the Oval. It's no wonder he said that. It was 1986 when India last won a series in England and he was only 13 then. But, it was only after 18 years since the master batsman started his career could he taste the series win on English soil.

Rahul Dravid had mentioned when Indian team left for the tour of England that he has been assigned a job to win a test series in England and one can only say "Job Well Done". It was especially very satisfying after the World Cup debacle not a long time ago.

It all started at Lords, the mecca of Cricket. Rain gods came to the rescue of Indians at Lords. But, we also witnessed Mahendra Singh Dhoni's clear-headedness and ability to adapt to different conditions and why he is an asset to this Indian team.

At Trent Bridge, when English players were busy throwing jelly beans on the cricket pitch, Indian players(barring Sreesanth) were focused on the most important task of winning the test match. It was obvious from the way Tendulkar and Ganguly batted on 2nd and 3rd day and also from the way Zaheer bowled in the second innings. That gave India the 1-0 lead in the series.

Along came Oval and it also brought bad memories of Georgetown in 2001, Melbourne in 2004 and Durban in 2007 where India frittered away the advantage after going 1-0 up in the series.Rahul Dravid won an important toss and decided to bat first. All Indian batsmen batted superbly with all 11 players in double figures. Anil Kumble hit his maiden hundred and India piled up 664 in the first innings. Indian bowlers also bowled very well to restrict England to 330. Then came the all important all-bit controversial decision to not enforce the follow-on. It was understandable from the point of view that Indians wanted to block the last ray of hope for England to win the match and also wanted to make absolutely sure that they hang on to the 1-0 series lead. And something which had not happened for last 21 years happened! A rare series victory for India in England. Although critics can come up with thousand and one reasons why Dravid should have enforced the follow-on, it's still trivial compared to the series win.

This series victory meant something for everybody in this team because it was a collective effort. Unlike the Indian team in the nineties which was heavily dependent on individual performances rather than a team effort. We also saw some personal landmarks being reached.

• Sachin Tendulkar completed 11,000 test runs.
• Anil Kumble hit his maiden century and he also went pass Glenn Mcgrath in the tally of most number of wickets in test matches.
• Zaheer bowled his best spell ever at Trent Bridge.

If we look at history, it all started under Sourav Ganguly's captaincy when India started winning test matches outside sub-continent. They won a test series in West Indies last year and now it's England. Success is a gradual process and one can only say Team India is on the right track. The tipping point may not be far away when this team will travel to Australia in December in all important test series against the world champions.

However, now is the time for this team to enjoy the warmth of success after all the hard work paid off. As Michael Vaughn said in his post-match interview, "Some series wins are far more important".