Did Dravid need to retire from ODIs?

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Rahul Dravid has indeed celebrated his 38th birthday. In fact he will be turning 39 in little over three months time from now. But did it mean that he needed to retire ‘officially’ from limited overs games at this point of time when runs were flowing as naturally from his blade as in the past.

I don’t understand the logic behind this particular decision of his. Did someone in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) or anyone of the selectors prompt him to announce his retirement or was it a personal move to conserve energy and extend his Test career?

Dravid was not playing One-day Internationals or Twenty20 Internationals all that regularly during the last few years when Mahendra Singh Dhoni appeared more comfortable leading a bunch of youngsters who were sharper in the field for sure.

India used to turn to Dravid in ODIs only in case of emergency when the pitches were livelier and the conditions were tougher for batting. That was a fair enough tactic, selecting him only for those matches where he was needed most.

After having scored three centuries in the four-Test series he was an automatic choice for the ODIs against England. In fact he was also selected for the one-off T20I. His announcement to retire from the limited overs cricket at the end of the ODIs was shocking to say the least.

May be someone from the BCCI or the selection committee approached him to declare his retirement plan in advance so that they didn’t face criticism for ignoring him in the event of the youngsters failing to deliver.

Obviously the BCCI officials were under enormous pressure after the debacle in the Test series and they were looking into ways and means of damage control. Dravid was the only batsman to get going in Test matches and he could not have been dropped from the ODIs if available.

As the whole world saw Dravid has lost none of his batting prowess. His continued success highlights the point that cricket is a game of technique and mind power. Even in ODIs and T20s skills are needed to score consistently. A slogger or a dasher can score heavily on a given day but he can’t be expected to do it in every outing.

Dravid still has the hunger and passion to score runs. If the Indians are finding it difficult to get high quality young batsmen then they should persist with those having proven record and whose capacity is beyond doubt.

Dravid’s decision to quit means he won’t be considered for the upcoming ODI series at home against England. More importantly he won’t be in action, until he reverses his decision to quit, in the one-dayers during India’s demanding tour of Australia where the pitches will have bounce and carry. Will the youngsters having accumulated heaps of runs at will on docile Indian tracks will come good in the more challenging environment or will they succumb again?

India’s ill-fated tour of England finally over

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

It was one tour which every member of the Indian team, originally in the squad or summoned there as a replacement, would like to forget quickly. It was the most nightmarish of all their outings in the recent past. It was the summer, not much different in terms of results, to the ones of 1959 and 1974 when they had been whitewashed in England.

It would certainly be unfair to hold the Indian Premier League (IPL) wholly and solely responsible to the recent debacle. There were a few other factors as well, beyond the much-criticized Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) which contributed to the downfall of the Indians on a tour where literally each and every thing went against them right from the first day of the tour to the very last day.

India’s solitary warm-up match before the first Test at Lord’s was hit by weather, limiting their practicing opportunity. Rains kept chasing them at the wrong time throughout the ill-fated tour. Even in their final outing where they posted a massive total, rains intervened to ensure England didn’t need an arduous task of overhauling 300-plus target at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff.

This could lead one to believe that it was a very wet summer. If that was the case how did India lose all the four Test matches?

It’s not often that the spin of the coin follows the same trajectory on successive days. India lost all the tosses in the limited overs games and batted first on all occasions. Almost every time their batsmen put runs on the board in bowler-friendly conditions. Yet that side was blanked in all games quite extraordinary to say the least.

Whenever and wherever India scored heavily and then stuck early blows the rains arrived to rescue England. The Indian bowlers and fielders put up brave show in conditions when the late evening dew made it exceedingly hard to grip the ball. They could have only tried their level best which they did. But they didn’t possess the awesome power to win a game.

England must be wondering if their side was good enough to win all eight matches that produced results. Their fringe players, having struggled in the past and likely to do the same in future, came up with performance of lifetime. The ordinary mortals became champions, outshining the seasoned campaigners in the opposing team.

Injuries are part and parcel of modern day game but you can never expect the top eight players getting sidelined. The Indian team has had the tendency of falling apart whenever their heavyweights are missing. They were severely jolted by the absence of the star performers and they didn’t have the luck to escape punishment.

Who would have imagined India, having been crowned as the world champions only a few months ago, would return from England empty-handed? Who could have thought of the top-ranked Test side for the last three years getting whacked in every game?

Probably the only saving grace for India was the ‘safe’ return of skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who braved everything with a smile on his face until the final day. He may not have scored the quantum of runs expected of his blade but there was hardly anything to complain about his captaincy with the limited arsenal at his disposal. That he kept himself fit, physically and mentally, throughout the tour spoke volumes of his mental toughness.

IPL causes India’s debacle in England

By Syed Khalid Mahmood



Different people have different theories about India’s disastrous campaign in the four-Test series in which they were whitewashed by England but in my opinion the Indian Premier League (IPL) was the main reason of the sudden decline of the top ranked country of the last two years.



No matter what the officials or the cronies of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have to say, the injuries to key players, resulting due to the excessive workload imposed on them in the form of the IPL, cost them dearly.



India at full strength could never have met this kind of fate of the hands of Andrew Strauss and company, who find themselves elevated to the number one position in ICC Test rankings. Whether they deserved this slot or not is another matter.



The results would have been different if India had the option of fielding their strongest eleven in the park comprising of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma.



Due to injuries and illness India couldn’t field their best team in any of the four Test matches. They didn’t have adequate insurance because it’s never easy to replace the greats.



The newcomers, no matter how talented, skilled or promised, cannot be expected to emulate the likes of Sehwag, Dravid or Zaheer because it took them years to build their reputation.



The BCCI is solely to be blamed for having shifted its focus from cricket to commercialism. As they say excess of anything is bad. Heavy overdose of T20 cricket day in and day out was bound to affect the cricketers and the burnout has resulted in their recent humiliation in England.



Why the BCCI is joking with the public? Was there any sense of holding a new edition of the IPL, immediately after the 2011 World Cup? What was the point in staging a domestic tournament so soon after having hosted the most prestigious international event?



Wasn’t the BCCI making fun of its own cricketers by asking them to consume energies in the IPL when the tours of the West Indies and England were round the corner? What was more important to them, prestige or money?



Wasn’t it a crime as heinous as treason, depriving the national team of its best cricketers? Shouldn’t the BCCI officials be brought to book for having brought the game to disrepute?



The BCCI didn’t find problems in letting their top performing players abstain from international tours after ensuring that they made an appearance in nearly each and every outing of the terribly long IPL, whose credibility has always been in doubt.



The Indians survived in the West Indies because the home side was not threatening enough to make the most of the depleted visitors. Not England. A lot of key players were carrying injuries and it became evident from the day one of the series that India would struggle from the moment Zaheer had limped off the field.

Zaheer’s ouster dents Indian chances further

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The news has finally broken and the Indian camp has every right to feel shattered. Zaheer Khan, acclaimed as the most complete seam bowler in world cricket, has been ruled out of the remainder of the series against England.

Without him India’s chances of fighting back in the Test series will now be greatly reduced. Although the return of Virender Sehwag for the last two Tests will have boosted their confidence immensely but the loss of Zaheer, the champion left-arm quickie, makes their task even harder if not impossible.

Zaheer, whom his side needed so badly to take care of the new ball, will now be returning to India and will be replaced by left-arm seamer RP Singh.

Zaheer was believed to have picked up a hamstring injury during the first Test at Lord's, but the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has now said that he’s not only has a recurring hamstring problem but also a right ankle impingement that will require surgery, followed by a 14-16 week period of rehabilitation.

He had earlier been withdrawn from the squad for India's recent Test series in the West Indies due to a right ankle injury.

Isn’t it funny that the premier fast bowler of the country was made to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL), after having played a lead role in his team’s success in the World Cup?

Shouldn’t the officials of the BCCI have discouraged their key players from taking part in every match of the IPL thus risking their immediate future?

With the tours of the West Indies and England round the corner, the movers and shakers of the Indian cricket should not have lost sight of the fact that the excessive workload in the IPL was certain to take its toll on the quicker bowlers in particular.

Zaheer, who was quite enthusiastic and vibrant in the IPL, became a liability for the national team right after his return. He had fitness problems from the day one of the England series. In fact he had pulled up midway through his 14th over in the first innings at Lord's.

Wasn’t it a shame that the best bowler of the team was sidelined on the very first day of the series? He was the bowler who held the key to India’s chances was very unlikely to take any further part on the tour although the official statements tried to conceal the facts.

The BCCI functionaries were probably shy of declaring it right away what they have done now. They didn’t desire to get the discredit therefore stories of all sorts were planted to twist the matter.

It was a joke expecting him to bowl again during the first Test, as it was being indicated in official reports. There were reports about his return for second Test that there was hardly any substance in it.

With a bigger gap after the second Test, there were thoughts that he might stage a come back in the third Test but he only got through three overs in warm-up match in Northampton and he has now finally been pulled out of the squad.