Anil Kumble was known to us as a humble, shy folk from Bangalore, who couldn’t even step over an ant.

But this series has allowed us to get some interesting scoop on him.

* Right-headed. Likes to think of the big picture and over the long-term. Keeps reminding players to set goals and not sweat the small stuff, like pitch conditions, weather, etc.

* Takes calculated risks. Or maybe it’s better to say “doesn’t” take many risks. Delayed declaring the second innings in the third match to ensure a series win, even if that decision threatened to kill the match itself.

*Intuititive. Called Ganguly in to bowl at a crucial time during the first match. Some laughed, some cursed him, but Ganguly went away with two wickets. Same goes for Laxman. Oh yes, Laxman took a wicket.

*Shares a great rapport with the players. That you could easily make out by observing them on-field.

*Likes to have his way. Was under tremendous pressure to play Yuvraj, but kept him out for the first couple of tests. (I like this about him, btw)

*Is losing his “spark”. No surprise there. He is ageing. Gets tired quickly. And appears to lack energy toward the end of his spells.

Did I miss anything?

Post from: EveryJoe

7 Things We’ve Learned about Anil Kumble

India called in the reserve bench on ocassion of the last trivial ODI, and as was expected, they took it easy. A friendly Indo-Pak match. Here’s to world peace.

In retrospect, although India-Pakistan fixtures mean good business for all — advertisers, BCCI, players, Bollywood (how they flocked in to garner free publicity for their movies?), this one lacked spice; everyone complained of Pak’s seemingly lack of zest.

From India’s side, we’ve got few questions:

* What are we going to do about Sehwag?

Barring a few flashes in the pan at England, Sehwag hasn’t has much to offer all this while. He’s been India’s trump card for a long time, so the team went over lengths to give him cover. He failed to live up to their expectations, nevertheless. Considering how rare is his type of class and talent, what are we going to do about him now? Move him up to the opening slot again? Everyone’s not a Dravid, and some players work best at certain spots. Or “rest” him, to use BCCI’s terminology. He’s a player you don’t want to lose easily.

* What’s Robin Singh being paid for?

Rameez Raja, remarked candidly (and for the first time in his life, rightly), “India and Pakistan are two of the world’s worst fielding sides,” India’s fielding wasn’t awful, to be honest, and they certainly dropped fewer catches than Pakistan, but the gliding, sliding characteristic of white men (call me racist, will ya?) was missing. Their throws could be smoother, and their direct hits on the stumps didn’t produce as many run-outs. Robing Singh is on board as their fielding coach. Either his North American accent is unintelligible, or well, let’s just say, he isn’t doing the job as well, which is queer, since the man does have international coaching experience.

* Ganguly: Gone with the wind?

If India had lost the series, Ganguly’s form would have spurred debates like dal sprouts. No one’s complaining since it’s a series win. But just because it’s a series win, Ganguly’s form doesn’t become above reproach. He was “rested” for the last couple of matches, I assume. This is the right time to cull him. The kind of morbid look he has on his face these days doesn’t do anyone any good. A respectable man would “quit”.

*Should we let Sreesanth have his way?

No discussion is complete at SixandOut without the angry young man of Indian cricket. He and RP are Indian bowling’s future. Despite his antics, you can’t downplay his prodigious talent. Though his frantic reactions at out calls still freak me out, I think we can accommodate him. People like Freddie Flintoff, Shane Warne, and Sreesanth do their best when you let them have their way.

New kids on the block

This was definitely a great opportunity to test the waters with the newbies. Pravin Kumar, although couldn’t snap any wickets, impressed with this economy and composed bowling in the death overs.

Robin Sharma’s half century might have gone unnoticed, but we can see there’s good raw material. We need to exploit him.

Fawad Alam kid looked great. Something tells me he’s not just another probot.

Individual Records and Achievments

• Sachin Tendulkar, with his 403rd ODI, equalled Sanath Jayasuriya’s record most ODI caps. Plus,with his 393rd innings, he also transcended Jayasuriya’s record of 392 innings.
• Zaheer Khan, who’s another one on the brink of culling, claimed his 200th wicket in his 144th ODI, his 200th victim being Shoaib Malik. He is now the fifth Indian bowler to have bagged 200 wickets or more in ODIs, joining Anil Kumble (337), Javagal Srinath (315), Ajit Agarkar (288) and Kapil Dev (253).
• With Shahid Afridi’s dismissal, Sourav Ganguly completed his 100 wickets and completed the triple of 10,000 runs, 100 wickets and 100 catches in ODIs. He is only the third all-rounder in ODI history to have completed the triple, joining India’s Sachin Tendulkar and Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya.

Looking ahead

Test series comes next. I am curious if, and how, they are going to accommodate Singh, and whether Sreesanth and RP make it (chances are slim, but you never know). With Kaneria being roped in, it’s going to be interesting. Asif isn’t coming. And that’s bad.

All eyes, undoubtedly, will be on Dravid and Kumble, the two best friends.

India are definitely the clear favorites. 1-0. Whadya think, cricks?

Now the secret stuff

Gee, not so much of a secret, but it’s a really cool link I found today. This is what the Indian and Paki cricks were doing after the Green Park ODI. I’ve never seen Sachin so animated. And Ganguly is having his last laugh, for sure.

Post from: EveryJoe

Why care about the Indian Oil Cup? (and some secret stuff…)

While the media is surely going to go gaga over it, I’ll admit we aren’t faking any joy over or interest in it. That we are actually discussing genetics at school these days should be a clue to how much interested we really are in it. I am glad it’s going to be over soon. Just one (match) more to go. [We are more into the as-of-yet not started Australia tour, actually. Move over Pakistan, Australia is our biggest rival now.]

But then I thought that it’s not fair to dismiss it just because I did not enjoy it as much. There definitely were a few fireflies to be spotted in the dark night.

* Yuvraj’s way looks forward and up. From what he said at the Green Park match ceremony, I can see he’s desperate to prove himself on the Test circuit. Going by his current performance, looks like he’s finally got to key to unlock the door to the revered spot number six. To accommodate him, someone else might get ass-kicking might have to go. We know who. In an ideal world, we could keep both, but this is not, uh, an ideal world.

* Sachin’s here to stay. (a big round of applause) There’s been ho-hum about his missing centuries, but that has in no way overshadowed his splendid knocks. So the pro-senior culling camp will have to wait.

* Sreesanth’s decadence. Looks to me that he is on the verge of becoming another case of the failed prodigy/one-time wonder. He sat through the whole series, and whenever cameras zoomed in on him, he blew kisses in a most ludicrous style, defying all behavior codes. Reminds me of the roadside jerks. You don’t expect international cricketers behaving like that.

*Gambhir and Afridi Anglo-Saxon exchange. Rameez Raja lamented this series is no fun. True, but there were some bright flashes of the kind of fun he was looking for. Watch video here. Although both the players were fined, Afridi piled up and locked the matter with his “sincere” apology. Like I’ve been saying for a long time, never trust Rameez Raja. Oh, and not to downplay Gambhir. He became a tough guy. Great mile, that.

* Pathetic ground and pitch conditions. Is India really ready for the 2011 World Cup? Guwahati, the venue for the first ODI, has such a low-grade infrastructure. Gwalior had a most unpredictable pitch. The Green Park was in luck though, no dog tresspassings this time.

* Sohail Tanveer’s flying kiss. This will go down in the history of cricket as the first of its kind. Watch video here.

* Dravid’s culling. Most sane cricket fans (emotional element alert) accepted this with a grain of salt. But aloof to all this, he was busy spinning his trademark calculated double century, and if the forces that be want, a comeback’s not impossible. When I write this, he’s hit another ton. Whatever happens, Dravid is still going to be our go-to man for critical situations and giving finishing touches in Test cricket.

* The Curse of the Grasshopper. Pakistan, on a good day, can be a dangerous team. Looks like these good days are going to be hard to come by from now on. We can remember this point as the start of the post-Inzy degeneration of Pakistan cricket.

* Yet another chapter in Dhoni’s captaincy. With an exception of some of the fielding decisions he took, especially in the death overs of the 2nd ODI, he mostly did fine. Thanks to his shrewdness, even the volcano called Zaheer Khan is showing signs of eruption again. Add to that, he and Yuvraj have done the good job of filling Dravid’s void. Dhoni, you too are here to stay.

* I’ll leave this one for our readers. What are you going to remember this series for, if at all?

Post from: EveryJoe

A forgettable series (and 10 reasons we’d have to remember it anyway)

* The Green Park has been declared a no-flying zone. (Argh. You need to go tell that to the birds.)

* Once you are inside the stadium, there’s no going back.

* No cameras allowed. No mobiles allowed. No bottles allowed.

(The above two points don’t apply to my dad. He’s heading the medical team.)

* The area around the the Park has been sealed. Anyone who dares to trespass will be fined. No surprise there, but they have been overly protective this time out.

* Some people got “physical” at the ticket counters.

* There have been threats from (insert the forbidden t-word). They want to blow up things all the time.

* Diwali was just yesterday. So, the cops have no idea how they are going to go about handling everything. They have rejected pass requests from Shahrukh Khan and some other celebs.

Wow, looks like we are gearing up for some kind of war.

Post from: EveryJoe

On the eve of the third game

Context #1 Akhtar’s opening over. Ganguly smacks a four across cover point off a short delivery.

Rameez Raja:

When Gul comes in, he’ll teach Akhtar how to bowl at length.

Ganguly is played on by Akhtar over the next ball, which is by no means short.

Context #2 Sachin and Gambhir are trying to settle down in the first few overs.

Rameez Raja:

I think India should have opted to field first. It’s a hard pitch with a grassy patch in the middle. They could have brought their pacers in (this is a pacer-friendly pitch), got an idea of how the pitch was behaving…..The batsmen seem to be struggling….there’s a lot of bounce….

India finishes 321/9 Grassy pitch, my foot.

Post from: EveryJoe

Never trust Rameez Raja

Let’s dig up some stats.

How has Tendulkar fared as India Test captain in comparison to Dravid and Ganguly, the other two recent skippers?

So there. Point taken.

However, unlike Ganguly and Dravid, his batting never suffered during captaincy.

As you can see, his batting average suffered a decline of about 4 points. Not negligible, but not bothersome either.

Stats aside, you may like to note that Tendulkar has quit captaincy in the past. It was silly on BCCI’s part to expect him to lead again. I was unsure if he would agree to the offer. And it comes as no surprise to me that he has turned it down.

Captaining India is no child’s play. It definitely sucks up a lot of one’s time and energy fielding media inquiries, attending conferences, etc. Add to that, one has to put up with the politics that is always doing the rounds of BCCI’s headquarters.

So that leaves BCCI with the following options:
Dhoni, Ganguly, Kumble, Laxman

Kumble and Laxman don’t fit the bill. Not only are they too low-profile, timid, but they haven’t really been with the team much lately. And to be honest, they are not going to be around for a long time either.

Now that leaves us with Ganguly and Dhoni. Ganguly, of course, is India’s most successful captain. But after the Chappell scandal, BCCI would be reluctant to appoint him. And with the current state of affairs in the team, that might not be a very wise thing to do indeed.

Dhoni, as some are opining, is way too young for that spot. Ugh. He’s older than Nawab Pataudi (who took over as captain at age 21), at least, gentlemen. Dhoni’s already handled seniors in the Future Cup, and he did fine. Besides, it’s clear that sooner or later he would have to take up Test captaincy too. So why not give him a chance now? And given that Pakistan’s current team comprises mainly of rookies and not much of a threat, this is the best time to test waters. IMHO, of course.

Kumble has been reported as saying that he’s ready for any “duty” that the board assigns him. Wow, that’s going to make the BCCI jump with joy. They can do anything in this state of desperation!

What’s your take?

Post from: EveryJoe

Tendulkar says “nah”; the captaincy drama continues

Hopefully, we might meet over the next few days. And Chacha, SixandOut promises you some challenge.

ETA: Would you travel across the world to cheer your team if you were paid to do so? I don’t care about the money, but I definitely would if they allow me to sit and chat with the players.

Photo Courtesy: BBC

Post from: EveryJoe

Look forward to meeting Chacha

Yes, we’ve talked about players getting injured and dead beat due to nonstop playing, but on the other end, the spectators are getting a little tired of watching, too. Just like players need a break from playing, I personally feel I need a break from watching it, too, sometimes.

Of course, this is how the ICC’s system works, but couldn’t they make room for some off-time during November and December when no international cricket is played? Just like the WTA and ATP are approaching their end season. When the Australian Open starts next year, everybody is going to be all excited for the next season. Even with football, they have intervals between international tournaments.

What’s the point with playing so much cricket? If they want to make more money, maybe they could have a few more T20 cups.

Post from: EveryJoe

Too much cricket these days?

A lot has already been said about his inadequacy as a Test captain, but Pakistan’s T20 spectacle kind of silenced critics. Consensus: The chap is learning, and he absolutely kicks ass in the limited over version of the game, so there’s nothing to worry about. Granted. But I was dissatisfied with how boring the first match turned out to be, and Malik is my choice for the scapegoat.

His two mistakes:

1. Putting up spinners against Yuvraj and Dhoni, two lads who are dab hands at facing spin. Yeah, the pitch was dry and Indian spinners had success in the first innings, but I think Malik could have brought in Shoaib.

2. Defensive field. That was the biggest put-off.

Is he getting his basics right? I am not sure.

And everything else in between:

*Akhtar looked timid, just like a beast who’s been tamed after being loose for a long time. He did get Tendulkar, but he’s lost his voice.

*There were too many misfields on part of both the sides. I missed much of Pakistan’s innings, but I am told Ganguly dropped more than once. No surprise there. So is he next? I mean, the culling.

* This is one of the worst grounds in the country both in terms of infrastructure and pitch conditions. They shouldn’t play there.

* I didn’t get to see Yousuf’s 83, but he must have been in control of things. Pathan dropped him, I hear.

*And why isn’t anyone sledging? Please discard the good boy mold, and show us some nerve!

My predictions still holds. I think Pakistan can bounce back. They must acknowledge where the Indians are coming from — the clutches of Aussie attack. Every team that faces Australia becomes a little better after playing them. So Malik should try to put on a more attacking persona and try some new stuff.

Post from: EveryJoe

Lessons in leadership for Malik