In defence of the defender

Just a few weeks after the disappointing end to the WTC final, Indian cricket is in the midst of some very avoidable confusion and uncertainty about a few things:

After Shubman Gill's shin injury ruled him out of the England series, the Indian squad in England asked the selectors to send two replacements for the series - one for Gill and another backup batsman - so that in the event of any first-choice batsman's injury on this long tour, calling for a replacement would be no good due to 14-day quarantine requirements. Both valid and proactive requests.

But as I write this, there has been no official response from the selectors and not even a communication to carry on with the standby players in the squad. Quite needless and avoidable. At least the team management has the right to get the team strength it is looking for. If nothing else, knowing who all are to be considered (and who not) will give them the necessary clarity on proceeding and planning accordingly.

And abhi toh I'm not even getting into why the much experienced and much more in-form Prithvi Shaw is not being preferred over Abhimanyu Easwaran for England. If the team management wants him to be in England instead of SL post-Gill, why not and why wait? You could always keep Easwaran in the standbys but fly Shaw to England well in time and prefer him over Easwaran any day. What's wrong in that? 

As for the SL team, we can have replace Shaw with Sheldon Jackson in the team for SL. Sheldon was already unlucky not to have made the cut in any of the teams, despite being a consistently heavy scorer in domestic cricket. Blessing in disguise too.

Anyway, I'm just another fan and for whatever it is worth and howsoever strongly I believe these to be the right decisions, these are after all, just my thoughts.

Onto the next and even bigger point:

It's about a certain Cheteshwar Pujara.

Now, I know human memory can be short and fickle. But to banish or overlook someone's historic performances (in general) and barely a few months ago in particular, is truly next level stuff.

Image Credit: Ashish Magotra, Scroll (https://s01.sgp1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/article/153679-ncwqqblsnv-1611228214.jpg) 

Imagine this: 

Just a few months ago, at the start of the year, he was the toast of the town, having done what very few #3 batsmen can claim to have achieved: playing (AND ARCHITECTING SERIES WINS) as #3 batsman on consecutive tours to Australia.

Beating Australia in Australia on consecutive tours.

Being the architect of both those series wins at the crucial #3 spot on both tours.

How many batsmen do you know who could achieve this?

Yet, in just a few months, he is now battling for a place in the side?!

Sure, he gets stuck and not that it is something he shouldn't work on, but it's not entirely unexpected of him either. Honestly, he just needs to get out of the belief that he needs to only defend the ball initially. And in any case, he does accelerate well after reaching 100 - but of course, that hasn't happened enough in the last few months but so what?

He was not hitting hundreds in Australia in 2020-21 but go ask any Aussie bowler whose sight repulsed them the most, and they'll name Pujara.

As with any other batsman, Pujara is also not perfect. Sure, he needs to keep the scoreboard ticking too and not play out only maidens all the time. We can ask him to avoid stonewalling and deadbatting all the time, alright. Continue with it 90% of the time but at least try 5-10% more because you know you have Puji for that role - to hold one end up, and let others play around him. And that's it.

That's Pujara's only fault - of not scoring quickly enough - but should we just drop him for that?

Why are not considering all the other qualities he brings to the table?

And by the way, if not attacking enough is a yardstick for Pujara, shouldn't the same yardstick (like not defending at all or not defending well enough) be applied to our other batsmen, including the captain?

Is it only Pujara's failure?

If not, why should only he pay the price?

His solidity, his doggedness, his resolute defence and his determination. He hardly gets out to loose shots but only to good balls. Yes, he can show more intent but that does not mean he should be dumped from the team. It's a message that can still be given more subtly without dumping a player of his stature.

The great Mr. Sunil Gavaskar also made the valid point of Kane Williamson also batting so slowly in the same match. Yes, he did accelerate too. But the point is that others around him batted well too and he also opened up later. For India, hardly anyone flowered in our innings. So defence is not the issue. It's just that he is not scoring enough, which can still be sorted out.

Facing a barrage of bouncers, short stuff, abuse/sledging/mental disintegration/call-it-what-you-will, snorting jaffas and what not, but never losing composure, and coming up trumps, time and time again. 

Eating up time and balls to tire the bowlers down and bring the opposition on its knees.

Now then, show me how many batsmen can claim to match Pujara for all such traits.

Anyway, of course, these are just my thoughts, for whatever they are worth. But for someone who has stood up for the team time and time again, been a big reason for some of our most memorable wins, and remained an unsung hero without too much fanfare. 

If nothing else, you deserve a lot of fans batting for you and defending you this time, Puji. We know that more than anyone else, you yourself are hurting from the lack of runs and want to turn the corner and improve the scoring rate too - anything that helps the team. Keep the faith, good luck, may sanity prevail and may you be back in favor and among runs soon!

Haan thoda dard hua, par chalta hai..

Yes, it is heartbreaking.

Yes, another session of batting, even another 50-60 runs or so, and we should have been able to at least draw the match and share the trophy.

Yes, it hurts even more when you realize that our team came so close and yet, was so far.

But then, you see who you lost to.

You see who played better cricket over the entire length of the match.

You see how we still lost to a team that is truly THE most liked team for its conduct..

Haan thoda dard hua, par chalta hai.

And of course, you see this and it feels like the same wind is now blowing a lot better suddenly:

Yes, the world is a better place because of good, genuine people.

I'm pretty sure that both Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson are thorough gentlemen off-the-field.

It's just that when it comes to Kane, one can say that about him on-field too.

As regards Virat, for all the histrionics, the energy, the aggression, the animated + abusive send-offs, howsoever integral, natural, and 'necessary' they might seem to be to him, they pale in comparison to the classy and impeccable conduct of Kane.

I certainly believe that Kohli has no ill-will or personal grudge against anyone off-the-field but the reactions are in poor taste when you think whether such a person/cricketer (let alone a captain) can be a role model for the next generation. Great batsman yes, works for him yes, but do I want to advocate that as the way to be for others? I personally don't think so at all.

No coincidence then, that India is now a much fitter and more aggressive team under Kohli. On the other hand, Kane's team has one or two aggro folks but even they never cross the line and it is also largely thanks to Kane that the Kiwi team reflects its unflappable captain cool's personality. 

There's been a lot of talk about how NZ had an unfair advantage in that the conditions suited them - true. 

They even enjoyed the invaluable edge of having played two Tests just prior to the Big Final in English conditions - yes, tick that one too. 

It's also true that they had a much easier road to the final, having played mostly at home and not having had to scrap for wins like India did in Australia against Australia despite historic setbacks and adversities.

And credit to India, we never complained or gave any excuses either.

Even Shastri or Kohli asking for a three-match final is justified and not a case of sour grapes. But by the same logic, should we then not apply the same rule before we celebrate 1983 - our win exactly 38 years ago as I write this today on June 25?

Even the more optimistic Indian would concede that had the finals been a best-of-three, India would have struggled to be World Champions then. And obviously, we know of many other winners too who could have lost to their opponent, had it been a three-match result.

So why complain now, especially in Tests where even over a 5-day period there are enough twists and turns? I am all for a best-of-three too but how do we schedule it? How do we stall the already crammed international cricket calendar and ask team to park one month of valuable time for the eventuality of them being in the finals for 15 possible days of cricket (excluding recovery breaks required in between)?

And even if we imagine that this does happen, atleast one of the three Tests could still get rained out or hampered by various factors like the weather, the pitch or the conditions favoring one finalist more than the other. What happens if we can have only 2 matches with 0-0 or 1-1? One might still crib what was the point then. A team might say there were unfair advantages to one finalist due to any factor like weather or toss or anything else too So while in an ideal world, it would be great to have three matches, I suspect even then, it might not be able to guarantee to a world where everyone will be happy for sure.

So let's make the big day count, till we find a better option. And let's not forget, how New Zealand behaved after the tied final, which they eventually lost in the 2nd Super Over! In a World Cup final! 

So while Kohli has not said anything wrong, let's remember how Kane and NZ behaved when they lost the way he did in the World Cup final. I still remember that even at the height of dejection, how Kane remained so graceful and calm without making any statements about rules and the cruel hand that fate dealt to him.

And therein, lies the greatness and likeability of Kane and New Zealand. Which is also why, they remain almost every no-Kiwi citizen's second-favorite team (right after the person's home nation team).

Well done, India and New Zealand - despite all the rains, despite all the delays, you put up a spectacle worth watching and it was quite fitting to get a championship winner on the last hour of the last (6th) day's play. 

In the end, as I said, the picture of Kohli and Kane says it all. Well done, more power to Test Cricket, and more power to both India and New Zealand!

13 years and counting!

Dear reader(s),

I began writing on something or the other on this platform in 2008. 

As you might see from the archived posts on this blog, what began then was just sporadic jotting. 

And while I might not have written anything too elaborate or exhaustive here, I have always tried to use this medium to just keep writing about anything that is current or appealing enough for me.

Most of my posts have been about cricket and sometimes, about the current socio-political affairs of India. The idea is to just ensure that I stay in touch with the habit of putting my thoughts on the canvas of this blog, every now and then. 

In 2008, when I started off on this journey, I would write a few posts here, and a few there, every few months. That was also fine but I wanted to make this blog a habit. Well, not exactly a particularly taxing or strenuous habit (like a daily or even a weekly blog) but at least once a month. 

So April 2009 onwards, I decided to ensure that I would write about something here at least on a monthly basis.

And here we are today, May 2021. 12 full years of at least one blog post a month. That's quite literally an entire schooling (span) in itself. 

A big thank you to everyone who has been following me, and to every reader who has enjoyed the posts and shared their feedback over email. (Of course, I have still not enabled the Comments section but I would like to keep it that way, at least for now, but I always welcome all your emails)

Here's to more such wonderful milestones in future too!

Take care :)

Stay home, stay safe, and vaccinate!

It's been more than a year since COVID-19 hit the world - at least most parts of it.

One could have been forgiven for thinking that things would be fine more than 400 days later. Especially when many nations began coming out of it towards the end of 2020. Or at least began showing signs of improvement and more control over the dreaded pandemic.

However, no one would have thought that despite the knowledge that a second (or third) wave would hit them, most countries were feeling more confident and more secure by the time we welcomed 2021.

However, this turned out to be a disastrous miscalculation, surely in a place like India.

Apart from mistaking the lull before the storm as a complete flattening of the curve, we made two cardinal mistakes.

1) No one bothered to increase mass-scale production of vaccines and begin vaccinations across the length and breadth of this huge country. Governments' failure - both at the Centre and states.

2) With the few people who began getting vaccinated (along with of course, the Corona-fatigue of people who had been locked down), there was a general sense of nonchalance and insouciance towards continuously following COVID-appropriate behavior. Public failure and gross negligence.

To make matters worse, people began congregating in mass gatherings with impudence of I-care-two-hoots for masks and social distancing.

No one bothered to think that even if they would be fine, someone else who could become more vulnerable to any potential virus that their presence could escalate.

The results have been catastrophic and here we are, today. Record number of cases, record number of deaths, horrifying accounts of people dying of lack of oxygen, hospitals turning patients away, doctors and medical staff breaking down and feeling helpless, the list goes on and on.

While we cannot undo the past, we can certainly do much better to improve our present and future. Please do not venture outside of your homes, unless it is absolutely essential. Even then, take every precaution you can, stay safe, and get vaccinated as soon as you are eligible and called upon.

This is also a moment to express our gratitude to all those who tireless helped others. Be it the doctors or other medical staff, the police and paramedical staff or the delivery boys or the sanitation workers who  have ploughed away incessantly.

Thank you, everyone.

If you are a COVID warrior who can help others by donating blood or plasma, please do.

If you are anyone who can help anyone, please do.

This is a time when the entre nation needs us. All of us, together.

Stay strong and please take care everyone. I'm sure we will overcome this soon. Jai Ho!