Lankan Tigers or Mind Demons?

What a defeat! It took me several days to come to terms with the fact that the Indian team loaded with seven world class batsmen could not successfully chase 228.

To list but a few of a host of reasons: the wicket was difficult to bat on, the Lankans bowled like men possessed, their fielding was exemplary and Indian batsmen guarded onto their rustiness throughout the Asia Cup. Unfortunately, even all of these reasons together can not explain the way Indian batting proceeded, or more appropriately got stuck. Only one reason gets close to explaining it: Mind Demons, Indian batsmen shackled by their own mind demons.

Probably the prospect of facing Murali on such a turning track was too daunting. The policy of utmost caution resulted in two fatal tendencies: undue respect for balls that should have been gladly dispatched to the fence and an inability to rotate the strike. Not to take away the credit from Lankan team for on-the-mark bowling and tight fielding, but there were ample balls to be hit and enough gaps to push the ball into for singles.

Indian batsmen just forgot all the basics and were too afraid to try hard enough! With Virendra Sehwag as opening partner, Sachin's job description has changed--to that of holding his end. Sachin is still struggling in his new role-- not so much in providing stability to his end, but switching gears at the right moment. This had happened en core during the game against Pakistan. It is not only difficult to change gears, it is even more difficult when you are continuously loosing wickets on the other end. But we would all hate not to see Sachin dominate the bowlers the way only he can!

The problem is gravely compounded when both Sehwag and Ganguly depart without making much of a dent in the required total. Scoring is only fettered when Very Very Shackled Laxman arrives on crease with Sachin's new avatar. No singles to rotate the strike, no innovative shots, just unnecessary pressure building.

Ganguly's captaincy was a shade disappointing too. The man known for his keen observation and out of the box thinking failed to see the need of the hour. What India needed was a pinch hitter to break the shackles: Promoting Harbhajan or Zaheer might have done the trick; fearless Balaji's hitting might have come in handy, but then who knows... The Indian think tank should consider the flexibility of batting order for Kaif. If wickets fall early, he should be sent in at number 4. Laxman will have to take a leaf out of Dravid's transformation into the great ODI player that Rahul has become, till then he seems like a misfit in the team.

The same team that was revelling in its newly established reputation of not giving-up the fight even as the last 18 balls of the last league game against Srilanka were bowled, became completely overpowered by their own mind demons in the finals. More than Coach John Wright, Indian team needed Tantrik Sandy Gordon to rid them of their mind demons.

The die-hard optimist in me tells that Men-in-Blue will be back very soon without the Chokers tag. Maybe before the next final, the song in the huddle should be "Hum honge kamyab...."

What's the Point?

Men in Blue somehow managed to sneak in to the Asia Cup finals, knocking out the defending champions Pakistan in the process. And it was all by a whisker, a bonus point that has been much talked about. Chasing 301 for victory against Pakistan, India lost its way and just in time decided to at least salvage the bonus point by chasing 241 instead. Loss of the bonus point, suddenly made the rules flawed for Bob Woolmer. "To receive a bonus point for losing seems quite ambiguous to me. It needs to be re-looked at. If a side gets a bonus point even after losing by 59 runs the system needs to be looked again" He even made "flawed" suggestions about how to fix the system, such as instead of a percentage, it should be 20 runs margin etc. Well, a team could get 3 points in washed out game not even playing so why shouldn't a losing team get a bonus point for a good-even if not the best- performance to avoid getting trampled over. It is very difficult to quantify win or defeat and assign a number to it. My gully wisdom tells me, even if it is possible to have fair and unflawed rules, there are practical issues that make their implementation impossible. The "toss" in the beginning of the game seems the most unfair and flawed rule to me. Won't it be extremely fair if each team bowled one ball and then switched roles. And haven't we been living under the clouds of Duckworth-Lewis rule.

Most interesting point talk came from Shoaib Akhtar, who was disappointed with the "cowardly" act of Sachin Tendulkar in going for a bonus point instead of outright victory. Shoaib, should indeed be disappointed, but not with Sachin who used his discretion to distinguish bravery from bravado. It was Moin Khan who dis(hed)-a-point to India by missing two throws. Not to talk about disappointing 122 allout and Pakistan not even managing a bonus point from Bangladesh.

But then, there is no point in this discussion. Everyone knew the rules and they were same for all the teams. And as a passing note, Mr. Woolmer let us refrain from campaigning for walkie talkies as they will only turn Cricket into American Football.
Can't help mentioning Irfan Pathan, he has been an amazing revelation. Loads has been written about the young cricketer -- he appears to be the find of the decade for India. "Touch Wood". Hope he continues the good work. Reminds me of Sachin's early days, skills as well as modesty, all-round abilities: not just bowling but batting potential too. And that brings forth my last point, with Dravid keeping the wickets and Pathan's batting potential, India should seriously experiment with 5 regular bowlers. Yes, I mean Laxman still has to cross the ODI rekha!

Go Team India, get the trophy home!