Dhoni and Cook, Two Poor Captains Leading Test Teams, India V England Investec Test Series

It is a no brainer to know who are the two worst captains, especially in test cricket, at the moment. The answer is - Alastair Cook (Captain of England) and MS Dhoni (Captain of India). If you want to see most boring test cricket being played, then watch when these two lead their teams in the field. The game of cricket dies every moment when these two gentlemen take care of it.

So far the Investec test series India V England (2014) has been tied at 1-1 scoreline. India won at lords when conditions were more favorable to English team while England won at Southampton when pitch turned square on last day, the conditions that one would imagine would suit the Indians more than the Englishmen. Such results further put captaincy, rather poor captaincy, in focus. The victories are not result of any strategic intelligence of captains but just a lottery.

MS Dhoni, the captain cool, is a wonderful and proven leader in One Day Cricket (ODI's), but has always been found wanted at test level. Since his contributions are not much to the teams cause in 5 day cricket, it makes matters worse. It is clear that he is in team because he is appointed as captain of India, else he will never be able to make as a player into the team just based on ability, wicket keeping and batting, both. This is sad because there are more talented players than him, like Naman Ojha and Sanju Samson waiting to get chance and show their talent to the world.

Alastair Cook is wide known for his strategical incompetence in the field of cricket. He is someone who is known to let the game drift, so much so that other teams often regain the lost momentum and get into position of strength from that of weakness. Of late he has been struggling to perform as an opening batsmen as well. He had a torrid time against Mitchell Johnson, Australian fast bowler, in Ashes last winter. Cook has not scored a test century in his last 28 innings in test cricket. He showed signs of coming back to form with two half centuries at Southampton. But the fact that innings was full of luck, and chances that opposite team failed to grab doesn't quite give the confidence that he is indeed back in form.

Both captains are dependent on couple of players to get the result in their favor. If Ishant Sharma (now out of injury) doesn't fire for India, India cannot pick 20 wickets to win a test match, it is clear. Same is the case with England. If controversial James Anderson, medium pace swing bowler of England, doesn't get it right, no way England cricket team is winning any game of cricket.

Who will win the Investec Test  series India V England 2014, is anybody's guess. Both teams look equally vulnerable at the moment. Even wins does't guarantee anything. Such is the past record of both these teams, full of losses and defeats, that one cannot rule out them being back to worse once they start to loose a session of play.

Now the cricketing carvan move to Old Trafford, Manchester for the fourth test. Since both captains are tied as poor test captains, it will be no surprise that the match ends in draw, followed by another one at oval with similar result and test series ends in a tie. Although the controversy between James Anderson and Ravindra Jadeja, forcing BCCI and ECB to react in a hostile manner, might add much needed spice to contest.

India Cricket Score Over Others

Whether it is about organizing cricket, or developing interest in the game, or unearthing new and exciting talent, Indian cricket scores over the others.

India is a current world champion in ODI cricket curtsy the 2011 World Cup which the won. They also won a T-20 World Cup in 2014. India topped ICC team rankings for test cricket and one day cricket not so long ago.

India scores over other cricket nations when it comes to producing world class test batsmen. Sachin Tendulkar is the highest run getter in the history of international cricket. Rahul Dravid and others are not that far behind. India's Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, and Rohit Sharma are the only batsmen to score double centuries in ODI cricket. Virat kohli is fastest to quite a few thousand run mark early in his career. He is destined to break all records as well.

Indian cricket also scores when it comes to producing mediocre bowlers in world of cricket. India has never produced a genuinely quick bowler in their entire history of cricket.

Among the top test playing teams in world of cricket India has never convinced with their cricketing ability while touring abroad. But where they score over others is their consistency in winning home matches. At home India has beaten even mightiest of teams of their time.

When it comes to money in cricket no one scores over India. India is a powerhouse of cricket when it comes to earning revenue from cricket. Other cricketing nations of the world line up to play a series or two with India every year, not because they enjoy playing cricket with India, but because they also get a chunk of pie of big money which comes through advertisers and sponsors when India in involved in cricket.

India definitely scores when it comes to bullying down other cricket boards. BCCI is considered as 'hitler' of cricket and is capable of doing anything. Rules of cricket can be compromised and even playing conditions can be forced to be different, suiting to India.

India's Cricket schedule can be prepared by Indian cricket board officials only even if they are touring to a foreign nation. Foreign nation better comply with the schedule prepared by BCCI and his bosses. Otherwise the foreign board might have to bear heavy financial losses and suspension to the naughty board member on their side who tried to prepare his own schedule. Ask Haroon Lorgat of South Africa, if you have any confusion about what I am saying.

The only thing where Indian cricket seems to be scoring less is in the filed of play. Indian cricket team in recent times has managed to score lesser runs than their opponents. And this is where India actually needs to score versus others if they want to be known as champions of cricket. Currently they are outscoring others in things which won't make difference as far enhancing their reputation in cricket is concerned.

Sandip Patil, a man whose cricket was cut short due to one bad stroke

Sandeep Patil, currently the chairman of indian cricket team selection committee of BCCI, was one of the most exciting players of that early 80s generation. Along with srikanth and kapil dev he could provide great entertainment to fans plus his looks, style made him a great persona. Real pity that one bad shot led to his being dropped and thereafter circumstances conspired against him with his replacement Azharuddin scoring 3 consecutive hundreds. There was no way back. He could have contributed to indian cricket for at least next 5-7 years. 

Sandeep Patil, chairman of selection committee,
 was also popular for his style and looks apart
from cricket

The one argument against his potential was his lack of success against the West Indies fast bowlers of that era that defined greatness of technique, character like Gavaskar, Amarnarh, Vengsarkar and even to some extent Yashpal Sharma. Barring this, great hero to follow in that era. Pity it couldn't last long enough.

Enjoy sandeep patil's batting video, 174 runs vs Australia 1980/1981 where he is at its attacking best against australia.

Sandeep Patil was known for hitting sixes into the sea - however this was from the Hindu/ Parsi/ Islam Gymkhana grounds on Marine Drive, not the Wankhede Stadium. The club games would always attract a large crowd when Sandeep Patil was at the crease. One of his great post-playing days achievements was coaching the Kenya cricket team during the 2003 World Cup, when they made the semi-finals. Now, as n Indian selector he has been making tough calls, which the K. Srikanth led panel was reluctant to make.
Sandeep Patil was a real stroke maker and in the days when scoring at 2 runs per over was the norm in test cricket, he scored at much higher rate. I don't recall the exact test but in a late session on 4th day he scored almost 100 to move a test heading for a draw to result by giving India enough runs and time to bowl the opposition out. He could have served India well for many more years! He was also a great fielder.

I also remember this guy - probably the most handsome batsmen I have ever seen - I mean he was good looking, had the physical presence and the way he used to punch rising deliveries into covers off the back foot - I just could not believe it. Just a little handsome flourish and it was gone. For many of my Mumbaikar friends, he was the man who displaced even Sunny as "our guy".

Its amazing that he went on to be a pretty handy coach and selector etc....he was a bit of a Philanderer in his playing days. Anyway, thanks to him for some incredibly joyous moments watching him bat.

I got my frist glimpse of Sandip Patil before the Bangalore Test against Pakistan in 1979. It was a toss up between him and Roger Binny as to who would play. Finally Roger got the nod. I saw this ext remely macho cricketer walking back dejected,into the pavilion. That Pakistan team was unique. Most of them had this Packer mystique. Apart from that most of them were very good looking. I remember there was Majid in his typically Oxbridge walk.Zaheer anaemic with spectacles and every bit an intellectual Imran of regal disdain and of course balanced with Wasim Raja the brother of Rameez, whose father was from the Pakistan Civil Service and the unique Javed. Against such a bunch handsome men I thought India could have done with their own movie star in the form of Sandip Patil. It was not to be sadly. I had read about his exploits of in domestic games in erstwhile Bombay.and got to hear of his courage and big hitting later in Australia in 1980/81 against the formidable Lillee and Pascoe.

He was an exciting batsman to watch.I remember a photograph of Sandip Patel in the Pakistani magazine The Cricketer captioned "India's Batsman of the Future." It seems he didn't fulfill his potential.

He should have been a batting great. He kept India alive in the series against the Aussies in 1981. I remember him getting hit by a Len Pascoe bouncer in Sydney (surprisingly he credits Rodney Hogg in his autobiography for this). He wore a helmet for the first time in this Adelaide innings you mention. One particular shot where he goes down on his knees to cover drive Dennis Lillee is still fresh in my memory. If I remember correctly he and Kapil Dev were dropped after India lost the Delhi test against Gower's English Team. He never really was the same player after that.

Yes Sandeep Patil was a conjurer of magic. A  familiar radio comment when he batted : Patil drives - four runs; the briefest pause between 'drives' and 'four'. Such was his stroke play, clean, elegant and yes, classy too - no ugly slog. In a way the dominant Indian batting style then was Gavaskar's - which as captain he tried to impose on the likes of Vengsarkar, Mohinder and Patil. Patil fell away unable to match his style with what was thrust upon. Even Vengsarkar survived the phase and came out of Gavaskar's shadow after Gavasakar was no longer captain and India was luckier with a more positive version of Vengsarkar. Possibly it did not help Patil was too new in the team and hence could not properly flower. I am a fan of Gavaskar's for his effectiveness as batsman and his conquering all conditions - but he was far too counter productive as captain.

Sandip Patil was dropped after playing a rash shot in the Delhi test against England (along with Kapil Dev). He was replaced by a young kid named Azharuddin in the next test. Azhar went on to score 3 hundreds in his first 3 tests and there was no way back for Sandip Patil. Today cricketers get many chances before being dropped. In Patil's case it was just one bad shot and he his career was over.

Should IPL7 happen or not?

IPL(Indian Premiere League), if it happens this year, will be in his 7th edition. This controversial league saw its worst days last year when few of the players caught red handed fixing matches, overs, and what not by Delhi Police. Given its history and controversial nature - Should IPL 7 take place or not?

Will fans see Auctioned IPL 2014 players playing
matches hitting sixes

To start off, there is already a problem that organisers of IPL are facing. Sushilkumar Shinde, home minister of India has made a statement "Due to general elections, it will be difficult to provide adequate security to IPL matches." Rumors are floating in cricket world that the 7th edition of IPL might be conducted in rainbow nation, South Africa.

South Africa? But didn't we read a lot about the boxing that is going on between the cricket board bosses of India and South Africa. Wasn't it right that Haroon Lorgat prepared schedule for India's tour of South Africa last year, and did it without consulting Indian counterparts, the Indian board felt like an upper cut was delivered to them. But BCCI members are tough elephants and they responded by delivering one below the belt by preparing a new schedule and tour was cut short to a length of micky-mouse film.

But confrontation among boards and how it will be organized is not the only problem which IPL7 is facing. There is more to it. The recent record of Indian national team, especially on foreign tours.

I have heard that most sportsperson have a huge self-respect . Given how Indian players performed in South Africa and New Zealand, will it not be a problem for them to captain players who did much better than them! McCullum will be playing under the leadership of MS Dhoni for Chennai Super Kings (CSK). The man who scored a triple century recently in Wellington Test, against a side captained by MS Dhoni. And MS Dhoni who? A man who  is now dropped from team and Virat Kohli is given the onus to captain India instead of misfiring captain.

See: Virat Kohli to captain India in Asia Cup

There will also be national elections, general elections 2014, during the time of IPL matches. With people having issues, and mad about getting them solve this time, and IPL without cheerleaders, it will be difficult for IPL 7 to attract interest. For the first time people will be more interested in Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal , and other neta's then MS Dhoni, N Srinivasan, and Gurunath Meiyappan. Country will be more important, for once, than the cricket VIPs.

Bad thing is that most discussion on politics are televised at prime time, 8 pm to 10 pm, in India. This is the same time when night matches of IPL are played. Not many people, excluding unemployed ones, watch day matches. I can't see how IPL7 can be successful this year. We might not see Chris Gayle hitting sixes and fours for RCB ( Royal Challengers Bangalore).

Is India powerhouse or power mouse of cricket?

Indian Cricket, especially under BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India), is seen as  a powerhouse of cricket. Almost 80% of revenue earned from cricket, comes from India. This basically helps cricket to remain functional in rest of the world.

India is power mouse of cricket - Gavaskar

But cricket is a sport and in sport 'performance' matters along with 'sportsman spirit'. No matter how much money you can bring into the game, for the game, and to help other cricket boards run the sport, if your team is not performing, it is hard to get the respect of rest of world.

India's performance in cricket, in series played outside India, has been so disappointing that the former great of Indian cricket Sunil Gavaskar could not resist himself  and commented -

 "India is a cricketing powerhouse, but over the last 2 years or so, overseas, they have only shown themselves as a powermouse" - Sunil Gavaskar

Sunny always have had a good sense of humor, and while this quote made me giggle for a while, it also once again made me realize how important is for a team to perform well in order to gain the respect.

Sunny also suggested improving the domestic cricket structure, especially the rules under which it is conducted. In India's domestic cricket, ranji trophy etc., a team taken a lead on first innings is declared as a winner in case of match ending up into 'no result'. This makes teams a bit lazy and make players to develop habit of not going for outright win once they have done enough to take the first innings lead. This restricts the development of first class players, especially captains and bowlers, to think about how to get the 10 wickets of opponents in the last innings of the match.

This is the exact problem the indian national team of cricket is facing at the moment. They haven't been able to close the matches and get an outright win despite creating situations to do so. In international cricket there is 'no win' for taking first innings lead.

It is about time that India show themselves as 'power lions' of  cricket than 'power mouse' of cricket, as they will always remain 'powerhouse' of cricket on the basis of financial strength in cricket.

Cricket Australia must be shameful of their performances in India

Australian cricket is riding on one man's shoulder at the moment - Mitchell Johnson. It is making australian cricket look as if their golden days are back. But in real, things are entirely different. Aussies can't be accepted as champions until they improve their pathetic cricket record in India.

In last 50 years, Australia has won only 1 test series in India. That too was marred with controversy and crucial players missing out from India's cricket team. Due to fight between cricket association at Nagpur and BCCI, the curator was ordered to prepare a track completely suited to visitors. Not a single ball turned and it was all green. Australia fielders claimed one bounce catches, appealed profusely and shamelessly, and took advantage of not having to face Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble. Also there was honest (only in context of aussies) and mad (in context of indians) australian media publishing stories and events which never happened. Also they were assisted by some former Indian Captains who think they will get a free pass to clubs in Australia if they join India's opponents in criticising the indian captain. The captain of India, then, was Saurav Ganguly, a man who got Steve Waugh mentally deteriorated.

Steve Waugh got mentally disturbed by a young captain, Sourav Ganguly

It's not only the number of test wins, which are very few in India for aussies, but the pathetic show that their batsmen and bowlers have put on display. Ricky Ponting, the great aussie, managed to average a mediocre 20 odd despite touring more than thrice to the shores of country on whose name indian ocean is named. There is no Australia ocean, of course. Shane Warne, the so called great leg spinner, managed average of about 45 with the bowl. Less said about other's records, the better it is for Aussies.

The shambolic performances put up by Australia, and also by likes of England, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, over the years, and the way they shout about India's overseas performance's, shows that they are mentally disturbed, at least the cricket analysts and cricket fans of these countries.

Just last year, after ridiculing India's performance in Australia, Cricket Australia's boys put up such a pathetic display of cricket, loosing 4-0 and no match lasting more than 3 days, that made one wonder if the wins of Australia vs India in Australia was real or fluke.

It is high time Australia improve their performance in India. It will happen only when Australia improves its domestic cricket and prepare pitches that spin. This will help producing spinners of worthwhile class and batsmen who can survive more than 6 balls while facing them. It's laughable how Australia's batsmen play a spinning ball. South Africa, New Zealand, England batsmen are equally pathetic. They say that even a sun can rise from west, but the dog's tail cannot become straight. Same is the case of overseas batsmen playing in India.

Shocking revealings of IPL probe done headed by Mukul Mudgal

Justice Mukul Mudgal's report on IPL controversy revealed some shocking things that are hard to believe for Indian cricket fans. Six astonishing lines from Mudgal report has highlighted the corruption in IPL and has managed to raise quite a few eyebrows. Already cricket lovers want to get rid of Meiyappan, Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Rajasthan Royals and others whose name has come up in investigation.

Raj Kundra (owner of rajasthan royals) believed, as per report, that betting was legal in India. He is UK citizen
and betting in cricket is legal there. He is in trouble now.

As far as Gurunath Meiyappan is concerned, this is what report has to say: "The Committee is of the view that Mr. Meiyappan was accredited/authorised (though implicit at times) by the Franchise Owner i.e. India Cements, to participate and be present when various crucial decisions were taken in relation to CSK. One such example of authorisation is, the fact that India Cements themselves forwarded accreditation requests for Mr. Meiyappan, every year for the last six seasons, requesting for grant of accreditation access cards in the name of Mr. Meiyappan under different nomenclatures (i.e. Owner and Management)."

It seems like Meiyappan had extra constitutional power at CSK and although he claims to be just a cricket fan he could sit in team meeting, sit in a dugout, and also can wander around the cricket pitch.

Cricket fans, especially those who love IPL cricket are understandably angry and have their view points. Here are some angry reactions from cricket lovers:

GrindAR says "Probably Gurunath is not as slave as Mr Singh... mostly because he knew how to quench his desires silently. Poor Singh has to be ideal example of being a pawn of worthless party wanted to rule the country by divide and conquer.... Wait.... something very similar term we refer to somebody from west who looted the country until 65 yrs ago.... wait.... people still have the same situation... in fact worst than 65 yrs ago."

Mriganka Shekhar Chaliha says "Our ex cricketers including Shastry , Gavaskar and some others ( take out Dravid , Sourav and Laxnan )are mere pawns of the big corporate known as BCCI . BCCI under Srinivasan and India cements is a farce in a democracy like India and this commercial house , the way it us being is being run now , has become the greatest threat to the survival of the beautiful game not only in India but in the world. Some of the cricketers and businessmen are playing with the passions of the millions like us. BCCI should be revamped and IPL should be stopped this year. If at all its run it should be run in a different format under a different body in future. Its becoming too much and fans will soon run out if patience looking at these unbearable events."

Sachin Endulkar says "BCCI has 'officially' made cricket all about money. The first step that government of India or the courts should take is to scrap BCCI as an institution and all other sports federations as well. A law should be passed on structure, organization and working of all sports bodies in the country, with special mention of their priorities. Development of the sport and sportsperson should be the number one objective of all sports bodies. Finally in order to minimize political interference no active politician (i.e. member of any state or national party) be allowed to take any part in the functioning of any sport federation. Only then will we have a clean sports culture and see ourselves grow as a true sporting power in the world." 

There are some other interesting views as well. You know how people can react in India. Someone suggested that they should now officially change the name of India Cricket team to India Cements. There are calls that MS Dhoni should step down from captaincy.

This is a very troubling development. There seem to be ominous implications for Srinivasan, who is the head of BCCI and the future Chairman of the ICC. His role in both these organizations should be in jeopardy. The Big 3 (India, Australia, England) now have a big headache.

The BCCI should be run by our past eminent Cricketers. There should be no place for technocrats and power brokers in managing cricket. And in the end, What are the odds of different betting laws in India?