James McKeown
India's mauling at Durban- Time to face some facts
November 26th 2006 13:46
India skittled out for 91 in less than 30 overs chasing 249 for victory. I had seen a bit of the Durban pitch last year when Shoaib Akhtar and Zaheer Khan bowled superbly for Asia XI against Africa XI. The Durban pitch has everything a fast bowler looks for.. a pitch that is so rare to find these days...
Everyone has been talking about the extra bounce India will have to face...the pace...the lack of experience of the Indian batsmen etc etc.. And that was clearly evident when the Indian batsmen clearly had no clue how to face Andre Nel..
This is the same Andre Nel India hammered at their home ground.....yet here...when things are going Nel's way....the batsmen fell like nine pins..
My earlier article Commercialization of cricket which can be found here http://www.cricketingbrain.com/the-failure-of-the-subcontinent-teams/ talked about precisely this...the inability of the subcontinent batsmen to handle genuine pace and bounce...the reason being the placid dead wickets they play cricket on at home.. As a result...they can score mammoth totals on placid wickets but when the ball does a bit....they have no idea..
Batsmen these days actually have the audacity to give excuses like "the ball swung, the ball bounced" after getting out. .Fucking hell...the ball IS supposed to swing..and the ball IS supposed to bounce..thats why you have the willow in your hands to play it..
About a month back..Pakistan had to face this South African attack on a bouncy Mohali pitch and they crumbled to 89 all out..
These teams have players averaging over 50 in test cricket..these teams have players who have more than 10000 runs...yet these batsmen cant play swing and bounce..
Cricket is a business in the subcontinent... It is played with the sole purpose of earning money...and how to earn money??? more crowds..how to attract more crowds?? More runs...high scoring games...how to acheive that?? prepare flat wickets...make it easy for batsmen..
Taking this into consideration... it puzzles me that India have not picked V V S Laxman...he has sound defence...and loves playing on such wickets...with Tendulkar out of form...he would brought the much needed stability to the fraglie Indian batting line up..I dont know what Chappel and the Indian selectors think.. but I DO know that if the keep thinking this way..India is going to get further humiliated in this series...
Everyone has been talking about the extra bounce India will have to face...the pace...the lack of experience of the Indian batsmen etc etc.. And that was clearly evident when the Indian batsmen clearly had no clue how to face Andre Nel..
This is the same Andre Nel India hammered at their home ground.....yet here...when things are going Nel's way....the batsmen fell like nine pins..
My earlier article Commercialization of cricket which can be found here http://www.cricketingbrain.com/the-failure-of-the-subcontinent-teams/ talked about precisely this...the inability of the subcontinent batsmen to handle genuine pace and bounce...the reason being the placid dead wickets they play cricket on at home.. As a result...they can score mammoth totals on placid wickets but when the ball does a bit....they have no idea..
Batsmen these days actually have the audacity to give excuses like "the ball swung, the ball bounced" after getting out. .Fucking hell...the ball IS supposed to swing..and the ball IS supposed to bounce..thats why you have the willow in your hands to play it..
About a month back..Pakistan had to face this South African attack on a bouncy Mohali pitch and they crumbled to 89 all out..
These teams have players averaging over 50 in test cricket..these teams have players who have more than 10000 runs...yet these batsmen cant play swing and bounce..
Cricket is a business in the subcontinent... It is played with the sole purpose of earning money...and how to earn money??? more crowds..how to attract more crowds?? More runs...high scoring games...how to acheive that?? prepare flat wickets...make it easy for batsmen..
Taking this into consideration... it puzzles me that India have not picked V V S Laxman...he has sound defence...and loves playing on such wickets...with Tendulkar out of form...he would brought the much needed stability to the fraglie Indian batting line up..I dont know what Chappel and the Indian selectors think.. but I DO know that if the keep thinking this way..India is going to get further humiliated in this series...
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