Will Harbhajan's dream be relished?

Well it is or has always been an accepted theory that only batsmen make good captains while bowlers rarely get the chance to captain their side. This was the case some 7 years back when Sourav Ganguly was forced to opt out of the tournament against Pakistan and Rahul Dravid was made the captain of the then Indian side which saw wins in the first test followed by a defeat in the second. However, Ganguly returned back for the third test which saw India register another innings win against arch rivals-Pakistan. Then, there were two batsmen who captained the Indian side.

That tournament was famous for Virender Sehwag's (India's) maiden triple hundred when he smashed all the Pakistani bowlers-Saqlain especially all over the ground at Multan. That apart, coming to the point, news on the web is that the Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh is keen to captain the Indian side which is now on its all time high after their world cup win exactly two months back. But, his dream seems far from being relished when it has been only batsmen who are found to captain the side. However, the Kiwi captain Daniel Vettori becomes an exception. Or else, no other bowler seems to hold the tag.

The other side of the debate also has wicket keepers making good captains like Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Similarly there were quite a few players like Andy Flower and Moin Khan who captained their side as well as kept wickets. But, the lone sufferers have been the bowlers and of course fielders. But, with known fielders hardly available and no other name but Jonty Rhodes making it to the list, fielders can be kept out of the list. Of course, even Jonty Rhodes didn't captain the South African side. Another bowler who made it to the elite list was Shaun Pollock.

Or else, the names which captained their sides were Shahid Afridi, Andrew Struass, Dhoni, Chris Gayle etc who were all batsmen or rather all-rounders, Dhoni being a wicketkeeping allrounder. But, despite being successful bowlers, players like Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Javgal Srinath etc never got a chance to captain their side. There have been successful bowlers like Wasim Akram, Daniel Vettori, Imran Khan, Kapil Dev etc who have been successful captains. And someone like Sachin Tendulkar is the worst captain India has ever seen no matter how gr8 a batsman he is. With the trends showing no signs of reversing, the question left unanswered is whether Harbhajan's dream ever be relished

The 1996 Indian fortune

Well the last time the world cup was held in the sub continent was in 1996 needless to be said and the cup should have been something special for India which included the highest wicket taker and the highest run getter in the tournament when Anil Kumble took 15 wickets and Sachin Tendulkar scored 523 runs. Another interesting fact is that they not only beat arch rivals Pakistan but also expelled them from the world cup after a thumping 39 run triumph against the sub-continent nation. Finally the semi-finals at Eden Gardens against Sri Lanka is worth mentioning which turned out to be a match which yielded no result.

Another interesting fact would be that India never toured any other country despite Pakistan and Sri Lanka being the co-hosts. India started off with their first match against Kenya at Cuttack followed by their match against West Indies at Gwalior. Then, the third match against Australia was played at Mumbai with the fourth against Sri Lanka played at Firozshah Kotla stadium Delhi. Last but not the least the match against Zimbabwe was played at Kanpur. The remaining two matches namely the quarter-finals against Pakistan and semi-finals against Sri Lanka was played at Kolkata (then Calcutta). That was the end of the tournament for India.

Nothing can be done regarding the pool matches which were scheduled in India whenever India was playing. Perhaps! Had the India-Sri Lanka league stage match been held somewhere in Colombo, may be Sri Lanka would have walked away with another win without having had to take to the crease like it happened in the matches between West Indies and Australia against Sri Lanka. Even the league stage matches might have been held either in Pakistan or Sri Lanka and God knows what made the ICC go in for only Indian pitches when Sri Lanka and Pakistan were made to cross the border. For a change, I thinking about nurse's thoughts.

Pakistan played India in Bangalore and Sri Lanka in Delhi and Kolkata. Even the league stage matches for Pakistan were played in Pakistan until the quarter-finals. But, take a look at destiny. India could have qualified in the 4^th place which would have seen it play a team in Karachi which eventually witnessed the biggest upset of the world cup-the West Indies-South Africa match. Likewise, had India emerged on the top, they would have played England in Faisalabad. However, with both semi-finals being held in India, there was no chance for India to move out of the country. Had India qualified to the finals, then, they would have had to tour Pakistan for the match was held in Lahore.

Is this justified completely?

Well until last year, the third team that would go on to make it to the champions league T20 tournament would have been the team that finished third in the points table at the end of the league stages of the tournament. As a result of this, the third team would have made it to the champions league by pure luck and nothing else. Obviously, the two teams out of the three would have been the teams that make it to the finals of the tournament. The confusion was regarding the third team, with two other teams getting knocked out from the tournament after the semis.

In case a team that finished first in the points table and gets crashed out in the semi finals of the tournament, the team has to be considered as the third team when it would have been eligible to become the number one team to make it to the champions league. Of course, it has to be agreed that it is the number of teams that make it to the champions league and not the position at which they qualify. But, as far teams' status is concerned, they'll have to compromise with that. However, if the other side of the coin is considered, the idea is quite bad.

If one goes through yesterday's match between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Deccan Chargers, unfortunately the Royal Challengers Bangalore who beat the Deccan Chargers no matter what the odds had to say. Prior to the semi finals, it was the Deccan Chargers who had finished in the second position of the points table while the Royal Challengers Bangalore finished fourth which happens to be the last in the second stage of the tournament. If the format is viewed from this angle, it is indeed a bad idea to go by. Though there is hardly any options, something should be thought about seriously.

One can imagine the way the Delhi Daredevils crashed out from the earlier edition of the Indian Premier League in South Africa after losing to the Deccan Chargers Adam Gilchrist in the semi finals. Delhi Daredevils had finished the round robin stage with 10 wins from 14 games that included 2 wins against the Deccan Chargers against whom they lost in the semi finals. However they deserved to make it to the champions league T20 which they did successfully. And earlier in 2008, it was the same Delhi Daredevils who finished third in the points table. And, if the IPL was set up the way it was this time and imagine Delhi crashed out, what an injustice it would have been!

Amazing!

Well at one stage in the tournament, even though the Mumbai Indians were on a run, winning most of the games they came across, most of them were Sachin Tendulkar oriented who scored most of the runs for the Mumbai Indians, having the man of the match in 4 matches out of the 13 games he played and 10 which his team won. Moreover, if not for Sachin Tendulkar, there was not even a single international batsman in the Mumbai Indians squad after Sanath Jayasuriya was shown the benches to warm despite the fact that it is summer in India. Just joking!

When the West Indian 22 year old fresh face was purchased in this year's IPL auction, most of them thought that to be a bad investment and would harldy make it to the playing XI only to be deceived. For the second time in a row, this 22 year old was solely responsible for his team's success and this matterred more in the semis which didn't halt the Mumbai Indians' run in the tournament. Much to everyone's surprise, when Sachin Tendulkar wanted to lose the match against KKR, he rested Kieron Pollard who would have otherwise seen his team end up victorious.

Unlike Sachin Tendulkar, Kieron Pollard's contribution didn't last only with the bat but also with the ball when he had 3 wickets against his name in the semi finals yesterday giving away just 17 runs at over 4 runs an over. Regular bowlers like Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan conceded more runs and took less number of wickets compared to this part time fast bowler. Perhabs! He was the only West Indian who shone in this year's IPL second to not even Chris Gayle. Of course, hardly any players from the West Indies have made it, with Chanderapaul, Sarwan opting otherwise.

When it came to nig hitting for the Mumbai Indians this season, one and the only player who comes to people's minds would obviously be Kieron Pollard though there was Harbhajan Singh who had an innings of 49 runs from 18 balls. But, this was nothing when compared to Pollard's 13 ball 45 runs against the Delhi Daredevils at Mumbai. With the West Indian team losing out on many occasions owing to lack of performance by most of its players, Kieron Pollard can be of some delight watching him in the upcoming T20 world cup and that too at Caribbean. Wonderful!

What does one mean by home advantage?

Well just one day prior to the first semi finals between the Mumbai Indians and the Royal Challengers Bangalore, one expects the Mumbai Indians to have an upper hand in this year's Indian Premier League not for topping the charts in the round robin stages and not even for the fact that the Mumbai Indians have thrashed the Royal Challengers Bangalore less than a week before playing them in the semis once again. The reason for the Mumbai Indians to have an upper hand is because they are playing the semis in their home town - Mumbai. Is this really justified?

If their statistics between both the teams are taken especially in this edition of the Indian Premier League, both the Bangalore team and the Mumbai team have defeated each other and coincidentally, both the teams have defeated each other not on their so called home grounds but on that ground which is to be believed to be the home ground for the teams that have lost. Anyways, with that being a different issue, the real issue is regarding the definition of the term "home team" especially in the IPL. Age old definition of the home team refers to the team which is hosting the match and playing there as well.

But, if the teams of the IPL are considered, though the team refers to their home town, the players making up the same doesn't imply so. In the first semi finals of the IPL, the Mumbai is bound to host the same which contains players like Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan, the only two players who hail from Mumbai with Rayudu hailing from Andhra Pradesh while Sourabh Tiwary coming from Bihar. So is the case with the Royal Challengers Bangalore who are a little bit lucky when it comes to local players when they have the likes of Kumble, Uttappa and Rahul Dravid.

Likewise, the Deccan Chargers should not have been in the second position at the end of the league stage, one for having played none of the games at Hyderabad and secondly for the fact that if not for Laxman no other player hails from the state. For someone like Harbhajan Singh, playing at Mohali would be a boon rather than playing at Mumbai. Commentators keep on pointing to the home team when only few of their players would have been from that state. One advantage that the so called home team is bound to enjoy is that the crowd would surely be filed with locals who support the so called home team.

How long will we see them play?

Well it was a boon in the form of IPL which saw players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly play in the T20 format of the game since the BCCI closed all the gates for these three prior to the inaugural T20 world cup in 2007. And, with India winning the same without the services of these gentlemen, the BCCI became even more firm with its decision which towards the end also extended their omission from T20 to ODIs. On the other hand, the IPL also provided the fans with a chance to watch players like Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne play despite retiring from international cricket.

And in addition, there were players like Shaun Marsh, David Warner, David Hussey to name a few whose hard hitting capabilities were hardly known to the cricketing world and it was possible only because of the IPL. However, with time the players are also found aging themselves which would surely put a break from featuring in the T20s and obviously the IPL as well. The list includes a lot like Anil Kumble, Shane Warne, Sanath Jayasuriya etc to name a few. If a player can play the comparitively longer versions of the game until he closes in on late 30s, he should be able to play T20 matches atleast until 45.

If this has to be true, one should be able to see all retirees from international cricket play in the IPL and should be picked up by the franchisees in the upcoming auction next year when the contract for the three editions of the IPL would have expired. Sacin Tendulkar - who is now just above 36 if picked would be playing until the age of 40, which is now being done by Sanath Jayasuriya and Shane Warne. Both Jayasuriya and Warne are now aged 40 and Jayasuriya has lost his place in the playing XI though not being justified. And on the other hand, Shane Warne is found playing for the lone reason that he is the captain.

Warne would be 43 and Jayasuriya 45 if picked. And there is no problems with Gilchrist, Sachin and Hayden who would be aged 39 respectively and will play until 43 which is still less than 45 and should have enough fuel in them to take their team forward. Anil Kumble is now 39 and if picked will be there until he reaches 43. Likewise, Glenn McGrath has not featured in the 15 member squad of the Delhi Daredevils and Chaminda Vass has been made to follow Sanath Jayasuriya despite at one stage of the tournament found wearing the purple cap.

At the end of the day, the million dollar question is irrespective of whether they have the potential in them to make it big or not, will the team owners go for these old warhorses? And in addition, though their body supporting them, will these players' mind support them which has seen them doing the same since more than a decade? Well, there is money involved and so nothing can be said in particular.

IPL teams captained by non-T20s

If I'm not mistaken, IPL is filled with the joys of T20 cricket. However, if the captains of all their eight teams featuring in the Indian Premier League since its inaugural launch in 2008 are considered, they have been less captained by T20 specialists and more by test and ODI specialists. In 2008, there were players namely Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble and Virender Sehwag who were termed as icon players and were entitled for a pay of 115% of the highest paid player in that particular squad. V V S Laxman was also termed as an icon player who rejected that offer so that no problems occur in terms of the team's budget.

If not for Virender Sehwag, no other player has made a name for himself in T20 cricket. None of the remaining 4 icon players have featured even in a single T20 game for India to be crowned as an icon player. Moreover, Anil Kumble had quit all forms of cricket a year before the IPL was even thought about. The fun factor in them is that they are not only found playing T20 in the IPL but also found captaining the same. It is not that these players are not fit to play in the the IPL or T20 cricket. But, it the fact that they are made to captain something that they have had least interest for.

Added to that is that, even most of the remaining teams are also found following suit when they are captained by non-T20 players. There are at present only 3 teams who are captained by T20 players namely the Chennai Superkings - who are captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Kings XI Punjab - who are captained by Kumara Sangakkara and the Delhi Daredevils - who are captained by Virender Sehwag. The remaining 5 teams are captained by non T20 players. Though Adam Gilchrist has played in the inaugural T20 world cup, he has been more of a test and an ODI batsman rather than a T20 specialist.

And, Rajasthan Royals are being captained by Shane Warne who - forget about having a T20 experience behind him, but has last played limited overs cricket way back in 2003 before he was banned for a year from all types of international cricket. And then, as mentioned earlier, the Royal Challengers are captained by Anil Kumble whose first T20 game was in the IPL. The year 2008 saw the Deccan Chargers team captained by V V S Laxman who has been a forgotten episode when it comes to even limited overs game and is slightly better than Shane Warne. Finally and fortunately, the DCs realized their mistake and crowned Gilchrist as their captain.

Hardly any Indian flavour in IPL

Well the multimillion dollar IPL was launched keeping in mind to bring up some new talent by giving yougsters a chance to showcase their skills. Keeping in mind that it has to be the Indian players who will have to benefit to a greater extent from the IPL, Lalit Modi put a restriction on the number of foreign players that can be included in the playing 11 to at the most four. However, there is no restriction on the number of players from India that can be included in the playing eleven. But, despite there being three editions of IPL being passed by, hardly any Indian flavour has been seen.

In the previous two editions of the IPL, the winners of the trophy happened to be the Rajasthan Royals in 2008 and the Deccan Chargers in 2009, both the teams which were captained by Australians. Luckily, the runners up happened to be the Chennai Superkings and the Royal Challengers Bangalore which were captained by Indians namely Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Anil Kumble respectively in 2008 and 2009. As mentioned earlier, there can be less than 4 overseas players featuring in the playing XI but the same is maintained at 4 exactly in most of the games. This means that all captains consider the foreign players as trump cards.

It is not an unknown fact that foreign players are included taking into account their credibility and caliber unlike Indian players who are included owing to the rules imposed by the IPL organizing committee. The man of the series awards in 2008 and 2009 was awarded to Shane Watson and Adam Gilchrist respectively, both of whom are from Australia. Out of the 8 teams in the IPL, this year luckily 5 teams have Indian captains unlike in the second edition where 4 teams had foreign players as captains viz KKR (Brendon McCullum), RCB (Kevin Pietersen), Deccan Chargers (Adam Gilchrist) and Rajasthan Royals (Shane Warne).

The RCB and KKR were found having faith in players like Kevin Pietersen and Brendon McCullum who had hardly captained their national sides. There was no reason to consider McCullum over Ganguly who had a better run as captain for India. So was the case with Anil Kumble who was forced into captaincy only after Kevin Pietersen had to return back owing to injury. Had there been no injuries to Pietersen, one could not think of Anil Kumble captaining the RCB side. And, had it not been for Kumble, RCB would have not even reached the semis. And, regarding the coaches of the teams, nothing need to be cited specially.

Chennai 2004 or Kolkata 2001?

This was the stadium where play was called off temperately in the 4^th one dayer between India and Sri Lanka after bad light threatened to deny India another win against Sri Lanka which finally didn't happen. That was regarding the flood lights. But, this time it is regarding the day light that threatened India to compromise with a draw when victory for team India was well on the cards. With just 157 minutes of play possible, not much was expected but South Africans would be dancing the whole night with already a win in their hands. Smith will have rejoiced a lot more with his wicket not being claimed by Zaheer this time.

For a change, it was Amit Mishra who got Smith leg before with the South African captain scoring 20 runs when a 200 was expected out of him. May be that Zaheer was sick of getting Smith every time he bowled. South African batsmen could manage to score 131 runs despite losing 3 wickets and that too at regular intervals. This was far too less compared to 357 runs that they were to score in case they needed to avoid an innings defeat. But, the score was too much in the 157 minutes that was played on the day. But, the main spoilsport was of course the bad light.

With India facing summer, there should have been scorching heat and no signs of rain whatsoever. But, the height of misfortune for India demanded a dim sunlight with which the players could just manage to miss the scorching heat on the ground. This has left with South Africa to just battle it out with 7 wickets in hand and India to claim the remaining 7 wickets in case they were to assure the world of their number one test status. Still, the upper hand lies with India, given the pitch in the fifth day of a test match. But, the weather can still come in the way of Indian victory and that'll be what Smith and co. would be looking forward to.

This reminds me of the Chennai test between India and Australia, where India had lost their first test in Bangalore and had a firm grip in the 2^nd test at Chennai to make the 4 match series of the Border-Gavaskar trophy 1-1 with 2 more matches to go. India did well with Anil Kumble returning with figures of 13-141 at the end of the 4th day's play and India needed 219 runs to win out of which 10 runs were already scored. But, misery stuck India when the entire 5th day was washed off by rain without a single delivery being bowled. This was the match that paved the way for Australian victory on Indian soil after 34 years. Australia later won the next test and India the 5th to make the series 1-2.

Momentum is with RSA

It is needless to be said that a team that has taken an initial lead in the test series be it anywhere on earth will definitely have the momentum and the pressure would obviously be on the opposition. This is more so in the case where the series is a two match affair and a win in the first test would guarantee the opposition atleast a level in the series in case they lose the 2^nd test. This is what the Proteas enjoy at the moment, with South Africa taking an unbeatable lead in the series , a loss in the 2^nd test would only see them level the series and a draw would ensure a series win for the Proteas.

However, some positives that South Africa enjoyed in the first test that was played at Nagpur, which might not be the case at Kolkata should also have been taken by A B de Villiers before making any such comment. India were without a second wall (after Rahul Dravid) in V V S Laxman who is termed to be fit for the second test at Kolkata starting day after on Sunday. The second point is that the Kolkata pitch is hinted to be a turning track, playing on which can be a nightmare for the batsmen from South Africa, which will surely haunt them this time as well.

Though there is hardly any noted spinner in the Indian squad for the exception of Harbhajan Singh, Harbhajan Singh is alone enough to put pressure upon the South African batsmen. Moreover, there is Zaheer Khan, who can bring fresh nightmares for atleast Graeme Smith if not for anything else for, Zaheer Khan has been seen getting Smith out in the past 5 tests and 8 innings that were played. The most recent one where Smith was taken by Zaheer being in the Nagpur test. It was the same venue where South Africa lost to India where Harbhajan Singh took 7 wickets in the 2^nd innings and 2 in the first.

In that match in 2004, spinners took 13 out of the 20 South African wickets, with all 10 wickets in the 2^nd South African innings going to the spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan. In 2008, South Africa succumbed to India's bowling in the 3rd test at Kanpur, with needless to be said spinners made the most of the South African batsmen's weakness. It was after South Africa won the 2^nd test at Ahmedabad that they lost the 3^rd test at Kanpur by 8 wickets. Moreover, the Kanpur test lasted for just 3 days, with the South African 2nd innings lasting just 55.5 overs and 121 runs long. Now, one can guess the momentum that A B de Villiers thinks his team to be enjoying!