CHANGE OF ROLES?

For the second innings in a row, Harbhajan Singh managed to upstage his more legendary teammates and scored a century.Harbhajan took four wickets in the first innings but could not make much of an impression on the New Zealand batsmen so far in the second innings.

Since announcing his arrival into the big league of test matches with a bang in Sri Lanka, Suresh Raina has failed to back his supporters. Even when he scored a half-century against the Australians, Raina looked extremely suspect when it came to the fast and rising balls. If one remembers correctly, Raina offered not so pleasant pictures when facing the short balls even in the IPL. What is worse is the fact that Raina tries a big shot and gets out as he did in the first innings of the Hyderabad test.But interestingly, Raina got the wicket of Ryder.

So is Harbhajan the new batsman and Raina the new off-spinner in the Indian team?

WHAT A 100

 

In the just completed test at Motera in Ahmedabad, India managed to stave off an embarassing defeat to lowly ranked New Zealand thanks to the efforts of     V V S Laxman and Harbhajan Singh.

Laxman once again showed everyone in very clear terms why he is really ‘very very special’.This statement is fast becoming a cliche thanks to the exploits of Laxman in the recent matches against Sri Lanka and Australia.

While Laxman’s abilities and credentials cannot be questioned, Harbhajan Singh demonstrated his attitude and brought up his maiden 100 in first class cricket when it really mattered most.Not to forget the half century in the first innings in the same match.

With the 100, Harbhajan joined 3 other Indians who scored their maiden first class 100 in test matches.One of them is the great Kapil Dev.Predictably, after the match, some managed to ‘unearth’ a new all-rounder in Indian cricket. Mercifully, no one has the gall to draw comparisons between Kapil Dev and Harbhajan Singh!Of course, Sunil Gavaskar wants the selectors to make a batsman make way for another bowler in the wake of the 100 from Harbhajan.

Even as praises are showered on the batting efforts of Harbhajan, we have ignored the most important contribution that the off-spinner has to bring to his team. It is a matter of concern that while Harbhajan’s batting has improved, his bowling has gone into downhill. It is a worry that Australia and New Zealand managed to score in excess of 400 runs in the first innings of the previous three test matches in India.The primary role of Harbhajan is to take wickets although runs from his bat are also welcome.

A GAIN TO CRICKET

There are unconfirmed reports of Andrew Symonds calling it quits the international game. This news should please a lot of Indians since he was regarded as the villian of the Sydney test match involving Harbhajan Singh.

Symonds has always loved the Indian bowling attacks. He scored runs as an English county player when India was on tour. The last time the Aussies toured India, Symonds scored a lot of runs in the one dayers. Besides, he is an excellent fielder and also a useful bowler. With his absence, the Indians can feel relieved. However, it should also be remembered that Symonds was a total failure when he faced the likes of Muralitharan in Sri Lanka.

If anything, the absence of Symonds will give precedence to cricket over allegations and counter-allegations.  

VERBAL BOUNCERS

Harbhajan Singh is not too worried over the inclusion of Brad Hogg in the Australian squad. The statement of Harbhajan does not make much sense since the off-spinner does not have any record of repute bowling away from India. Even in the recent series at home in India against Pakistan, Harbhajan looked anything but threatening. Looks like he relishes the idea of ‘mental disintegration’ rather than do his bowling do the talking.

Even the normally sensible Kumble also seems to have taken up the challenge of speaking out his mind. Shane Warne did not have much success against India and the leg spinner was the first to admit his inability while bowling to the likes of Sachin, Rahul and Laxman. So Kumble’s assertion that the home team would miss Warne is not on the mark.

Not to be left behind in the statement race, Shoaib Akhtar took time out from his search to find any takers for his Mumbai film career to give some valuable advice to the Aussies. Shoaib wants the home team to include Shaun Tait just to scare the Indians away. Is Tim Nielsen listening?

The coach of Pakistan Geoff Lawson (an Australian) feels that Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke are capable of taking the responsibility of the spin department. Wonder why Lawson did not think of any such innovative ideas whilst in India! The Pakistan team did not feel the need to field a specialist left arm spinner when the faster bowlers were not able to make any impact on the Indian batting.

Cricket is slowly degenerating into slanging matches that are a regular feature of boxing contests.

PLAYING FIRE WITH FIRE?

During the series against Australia and also during the T20 World Cup, the Indian players displayed aggression in the form of shouting at the opponents and showing unnecessary emotions. For a long time, the average Indian fan felt unhappy because the Indian players were at the receiving end of verbal bashing from the opponents, especially the Aussies. Any gesture or a verbal was misconstrued as an insult to India and Indians. So the newfound aggression got a lot of support. The win in South Africa added to the tall tale. It is not for nothing that George Orwell called sport ‘war minus the shooting’.

The Australians are past masters in the game of verbal volleys. Ponting and his team have taken the art of ‘mental disintegration’ to a new level. The Aussies do not like to lose and the loss in South Africa only added to the decibels.

With cameras everywhere, players like Sreesanth and Harbhajan did their best to keep the spectators interested. Even Robin Uthappa talked about ‘playing fire with fire’. Sreesanth’s behaviour was boorish. The Aussies succeeded in their ploy and the Indians concentrated more on verbal aggression and lost the one-day series.

The media that projected the new found show of aggression with a lot of enthusiasm suddenly did a volte-face after the racist allegations leveled by Symonds. Suddenly, the Indian players were advised to show restraint.

A win in the T20 World Cup is not sufficient to give bragging rights forever. The Indian team surely deserves the adulation since it is in a long while that the Aussies have ended up on the losing side four times in a space of two months to India.