Keeping test cricket alive must be the priority!

Be it the buoyant group of Bharat Army on English grounds or the thousands of Aussies trying to superimpose the poms down under or be it the legendary Barmy Army singing and chanting their way to various parts of the cricketing world, each one of them spend their money on cricket in anticipation of something. This is generally associated with high profile players who tend to be the focal point of the match. And when we think of high profile players, is there anyone having a higher profile than Virat Kohli right now? Probably not! Former players like Geoffrey Boycott, Sunil Gavaskar, Shaun Pollock and many broadcasters like Harsha Bhogle and Mark Nicholas have been emphasizing on the need of keeping test cricket alive as it is the purest form of cricket. Many have criticized T20 cricket for the way it is overshadowing test match cricket. Former West Indian fast bowler Michael Holding has been very harsh on T20 cricket but at the same time he also says that there are too many test matches being played that mean very little if not nothing! For example, 2 match test series is probably the most irritating thing there is right now. This is because we can't figure out the better team as there is such a small sample size to look at. 5 match series or even a 4 match series generally gives us the idea of which the better team is because you can't win a 5 match series playing in bits and pieces! Yes, T20 cricket is great for the game. It has brought plenty of positive things to the game. One of biggest positive is that it has attracted new audience which is great. The money T20 cricket generates provides assistance and emergence to many young and aspiring cricketers around the world. But if it has any negatives, one of the biggest negative is that it is shifting the focus from test cricket to itself. This is where test cricket and players playing test cricket must play it's part. And this is where we realise that players like Virat Kohli are great for the game, not only because they produce outstanding performances day in and day out but their enthusiasm and presence on the field makes people look at them. There are many players like Kagiso Rabada, Ben Stokes, Dale Steyn, David Warner, Mitchell Starc who like to show their emotions on the field. These kind of players bring a different dimension to the game. They talk about sledging and banters, but I don't mind players giving send offs or having a word or two just to ignite the competitions within the game. We see Virat Kohli charged up every now and then when there is a fall of wicket. Many people think it is childish and he shouldn't be showing so many emotions as he is the captain. But if it brings the best out him, why not? The Ashes is the best example of charged up atmosphere. Over 90000 people turned up at the MCG last year including almost 10000 touring British fans just to see a defleted England play against the favourites Aussies. Earlier this year, Cape Town saw almost a full house at the Newlands during India's tour of South Africa. And just a couple of days back, Edgebaston crowd was in full swing which witnessed probably the best test match of this year. So there is love for test cricket in certain parts of the world especially when India, England and Australia are playing. But England have preserved test cricket the best. They have a very set schedule where they play 7 home tests every summer and one winter tour is almost a certainty. English crowd still love test cricket and the fact that franchise based T20 league isn't there makes it a little easier for the crowd!
A couple of months back, ICC finally announced the format and the approximate period when the test championship will be held. Does it make test cricket interesting? Probably yes probably not. It will mean more meaningful test cricket will be played. It will surely create competitiveness among the top nations who will fight each other to be in the top four to be eligible to play the test championship. But in the hindsight, it will mean that the lower ranked teams won't have anything to play for and it will again create meaningless matches. This is where Michael Holding gets it absolutely spot on when he says that there should be two divisional cricket in which division two teams will be fighting for a promotion and lower ranked teams in division one will be fighting to avoid relegation. This will make surely that there is competitive cricket throughout the year amongst everyone.
ICC also has to take some steps towards keeping test cricket alive. One of the biggest problems is the punishments and the bans that are handed to the players for non convincing reasons. Yes there should be some limitations on sledging and interactions between players on the field but it shouldn't exceed because if players start to fear to 'sledge' on the field, dare I say it will make the game boring.
And the last but not the least point is the day night cricket. Every country except India has accepted day night cricket and I am completely with it. There have been some very good day night matches especially the Ashes test at the Adelaide oval was truly a spectacle. More importantly, if there is one solution to all of this, it is day night cricket because 10am to 5 pm isn't the ideal timing for people who work. Day night cricket allows all the people to come and watch the game. India's point of view suggests that they are worried about the dew factor but that isn't quite relevant because playing conditions are  same for the both teams and such factors become almost ignorable when there is such a big picture to look at!

The script was written for Virat Kohli but nobody could read it..

'When the going gets tough, the tough gets going' couldn't be more relevant than right now as Virat Kohli dished out another masterclass when the odds were stacked highly against him. He was booed by the British public as he made his way to the middle and was greeted with a standing ovation as he left after scoring a magnificent 149. Virat is too good a player to not score a hundred in England so he was always going to succeed in England at some point and was there ever any doubt? But very few expected him to score a century as early as the 1st innings of the 1st test.  But it wasn't a typical Virat Kohli innings was it? This was probably the toughest of his 22 hundreds so far. Players have made some adjustments in the past to counter a particular weakness. When I think of adjustments, my memory straightaway takes me back to Sydney 2004 when Tendulkar didn't play a single cover drive on his way to a majestic 241 or to Matthew Hayden when he swept everything out his sight in 2001 to counter Harbhajan or to more recent one in 2012 when Kevin Pietersen smashed 180 in Mumbai where he swept, he reverse swept, he danced down the track and embarrassed Ashwin and Ojha. But the adjustment Kohli made was more of mental than technical. He was constantly shuffling across the off stump, he was standing outside the crease, he was taking the off stump guard at times but it was his determination which was the constant in what was an uncharacteristic Kohli century. Anderson's figures give no justice to the way he bowled because I think he was outstanding especially to Virat Kohli. There was so much hype around Anderson versus Kohli that it had to live up to the expectations and it did. Anderson was all over Kohli like a rash in the initial stages. He went past Kohli a number of times. He beat Kohli on the outside and the inside and he troubled Kohli left, right and center. He was even successful in getting Kohli to nick a couple. One of them carried to Dawid Malan at second slip but poor fellow couldn't hold onto a dolly. Kohli was on 21 and Nasser Hussain said on air- ' Now see how much it costs.' That's the kind of aura Virat Kohli has created of himself. That's why when Virat gives you a chance, you have to take it! Just imagine if that catch had been taken, what effect it might have had on Virat as well as what it might have done to boost Anderson's confidence. There was another opportunity when Virat nicked another one off Ben Stokes but was grassed by Dawid Malan again, far difficult than the first one! As there were talks about the heatwave, Thursday morning produced overcast conditions which made things even more difficult for Kohli as he saw things falling apart at the other end. I couldn't believe Kohli got through that spell from Ben Stokes because I thought Stokes was unplayable in that spell where he removed Rahane and Karthik.
Once Ashwin was gone and Kohli was left with numbers 9,10 and 11, he opened himself and flourished with a typical Kohli swagger attached to it. Ishant survived a couple of LBWs via DRS and eventually got out to Adil Rashid when Virat was on 97. Umesh had to play two balls and I couldn't think of a worse situation than Umesh being trapped plumb in front off a wrong'un. But he survived and Kohli reached the 3 figure mark with a hard push through cover point off Ben Stokes. A big 'come on' roar came in satisfaction and a kiss to his wedding ring in shear joy with a big smile. Once Virat had nothing to lose, he played almost every shot in the book which included the trademark cover drive which went burning the carpet splitting the field in half. But the damage had been done, the deficit had come down to 13 when Virat cut one straight into the hands of Stuart Broad at backward point. But the point had been proved, the horrors of 2014 had been put to bed and there was a man with tremendous determination and hunger to succeed wherever he plays. Virat isn't the most gifted cricketer like Sachin Tendulkar or Vivian Richards or Allan Border or Brian Lara but he has made himself what he is right now. 15 years down the line, Virat will look at this innings and giggle at himself thinking about the background and the build up around those 134 runs 4 years ago. Dickie Bird once said that Geoffrey Boycott was probably the best self-made player but there was perception that he played for himself. Nobody can ever say that Virat played for himself because when Virat has a good day, he makes sure his team has a great day! So what are we looking at? We are witnessing a modern master at the peak of his powers dectating the terms and a player who will be regarded as the best self-made player there has been in the history of the game.

Rohit Sharma has come a long way....

From those frustrating 40s and 50s to scoring daddy hundreds, Rohit Sharma has come a long way in white ball cricket especially the 50 over format. When you think of Rohit Sharma, you actually have to go a long way back in 2007 when he started. I remember two of his innings in early years very clearly. One of them was against South Africa in the 2007 World T20 in a must win game when he got a fifty and bailed India out of trouble to get to a respectable total. The other one was in a one day international at the SCG when he scored 60 odd runs in a partnership with Sachin Tendulkar while chasing a good total. Sachin actually went on to get a hundred and India won the first of the three finals comfortably. Rohit's first two hundreds were actually in losing courses in 2010 in a tri series involving Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, a series which India would dearly like to forget.
     But when you think of Rohit Sharma's rise as an opener, your mind straightaway goes back in 2013 Champions Trophy when MS Dhoni made him open the innings with Shikhar Dhawan. Though he didn't score any hundred, he got a decent amount of runs and was consistently giving India good starts. But the breakthrough series was about to start a couple of months later. He got nearly 500 runs in 5 matches against the mighty Aussies which included that famous 141 when chasing 350 and the first of his three double centuries! Since he hasn't looked back, scoring runs consistently against every opponent in all the conditions he has become a reliable opener for Virat Kohli.
     He probably is the most destructive batsman when in the mood. The average size of his hundred is over 140 which is not an ordinary number. But three double centuries in One Day international is a joke, it really is! One can understand a man scoring three centuries in T20 internationals but trust me, three 200s is a very cruel joke on bowlers! I don't think cricket had ever seen a man scoring tons of runs with such a lazy elegance. Rohit has always had that extra bit of a second than most of the others. I always think if ever there is anyone in this generation who can pull or hook the great West Indian fast bowlers without the helmet on, it's Rohit Sharma. He is arguably the most pleasing batsman on the eye when he gets things right. There is no better sight than watching Rohit Sharma bat, dare I say not even Virat Kohli can match his elegance! As Harsha Bhogle says- If Rohit Sharma makes a 100 runs, you remember every bit of it. If he makes 10 runs, you remember those two shots!
    Rohit gets criticized for not being as consistent as a player of his calibre should be and I wouldn't blame the critics because I am one of them! The reason behind this is the amount of talent that the guy posseses. If you take Virat Kohli out of this team, Rohit Sharma is easily the best Indian limited overs batsman and if there was no AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli, he would have been the best limited overs batsman in the world! He is 30 right now, clearly in the prime years of his career and we can expect a lot more from Rohit Sharma but that is where the disappointment hits us, doesn't it? Rohit Sharma is a rhythm player so let's hope he stays in good touch and has a great World Cup next year.