Sunday 23 March 2014
How to build an inning?
Staying at the crease
and scoring maximum runs is common in all great batsmen in the world. So when
we come on crease, how to settle and start scoring runs is the main thing in
building a long inning. But the fun part is everyone does it differently
depending upon their strengths and weaknesses. Also building an inning will be different in different formats of the game. It will be very fast process in T20 where as it can be relatively slow in test matches. Irrespective of style of batting
of any player some things we can always find similar when they are in early
part of their inning. Generally as everyone knows that when we are new at
crease we should more concentrate on seeing the ball. When I say seeing the
ball it means not only looking at it but our eyes should fit on to the ball
that is concentrating. Also we have to observe certain things like how much is
the bounce in pitch, how much speed it reduces after the bounce, how much swing
it is generating in the air and all. Generally all batsmen tend to play with
straight bat in early in their innings. They tends to play the shot in the area
between the mid on and mid off fielders. Also generally they do not tend to
play very hardly but they play with soft hands and uses bowlers pace as much as
possible. While playing against spinner’s batsman should generally avoid playing
against the spin till the time he understands the amount of spin the ball is
generating. There are some misbeliefs in some of the batsmen that when we leave
the ball or playing defensively means that they are not playing well. Actually
both the things should be taken positively. There will be some deliveries which
will be almost perfect in that condition so defending them properly is not at
all wrong thing. Defensive game doesn't mean negative game. At the start of
inning play only at your strengths. Bowlers will definitely do their homework
and they know your weakness so play only at your strengths. Just avoid playing
late cuts and the shots which will require great timing in this period. At the
same time look into it that the scoreboard will be moving with singles and
doubles to keep run rate well.
When you will feel
confident enough play all the shots you can. But don’t get into the
overconfidence because in latter stage as well we might have to respect some of
great deliveries of the bowlers. At this stage we can accelerate inning as much
as we want to get the planned run rate. Finally I will say only one thing that
put a very high price tag for your wicket, don’t through it for free...
Saturday 22 March 2014
Talent is not everything...
Just having talent does not
guarantee success. When I say this I would like to give example of Vinod
Kambli. He was considered by many as more talented
than Sachin Tendulkar. Even there Coach Ramakant Achrekar also agrees with this
fact. The two shared unbeaten partnership of 664 runs for Shardashram
Vidyamandir in interschool match in Mumbai in 1988 in which both of them made
not out triple centuries. It was world record till recent. Then exactly what happen to India’s or
May be world’s greatest cricket talent Vinod Kambli? When I say world’s
greatest cricket talent we have the figures to support it. Vinod Kambli matched
Don Bradman and Wally Hammond by getting successive double Test centuries.
Kambli also became the fastest Indian to complete 1000 Test runs. He also
reached the 200-run mark before Sachin Tendulkar by getting 227 against
Zimbabwe in 1993. Kambli had two double centuries and two hundreds in his first
eight Test innings!!!!!!!! He played 17 tests in which he scored 1084 runs with
the average of more than 54. Till now only Sachin matches with this average. Can
anyone tell me how many players in cricket have played there last test match at
the age of 24 and leaving with average of 54???
In test he was dropped for consecutive 3
series. So In very early stage of his career he lost the form and eventually dropped
from the test side. He played one day cricket comparatively longer than test.
But then he slowing lost his form in one day matches as well and then
eventually sidelined by the selectors for life long. Cricketer of this level
did not get the chance to do comeback again.
Cricket was always the first love for
Vinod Kambli as the case with his close friend Sachin Tendulkar. As he lost his
place in Indian team frustrated Kambli looked out for all the other chances
where he could survive for longer than cricket. So he tried television. But it
didn’t work out as good as cricket.
According to the cricket greats Vinod
was lacking in discipline because of his flamboyant lifestyle. In some 3 to 4
years period Vinod and Dravid played together in one day games. Dravid’s solid
defensive style was at that time considered as not suitable for one day games,
and Vinod’s explosive Caribbean style was considerd as most suitable for one
day games. Still dravid finishes it at 344 matches, 10889 runs, 12 centuries,
83 half centuries and average of more than 39….and Vinod at 104 matches, 2477
runs, 2 centuries, 14 half centuries with the average of merely more than 32…
So this must have reasons. It was
discipline and hard work that helped Dravid to become what he is today. He was
also sidelined for more than 2 years from one day games. But he used that time
correctly to fast pace his game. And now we can see that he is playing T20 as
well with lot of confidence. He captained RR very well and now from this year
onwards he is going to mentor RR.
So it’s very much true that talent is
not everything. There needs to have right combination of talent, opportunity,
Discipline, Hard work and right Attitude…Also one has to decide whether he want
to become a sprinter or a marathon runner…
Friday 21 March 2014
My favorites
Some days back one of
my friends asked me who is your favorite cricketer? Actually it’s not cricketer
but cricketers. So here are the players which I picked as my favorites.
1. Sachin Tendulkar
2. Rahul Dravid
3. Saurav Ganguly
4. Sanath Jayasurya
5. Adam Gilchrist
6. Brian Lara
7. Virat Kohli
8. Jack Kallis
9. Daniel Vittori
10. Wasim Akram11. Courtney Walsh
12. Glenn Mcgrath
13. James Anderson
14. Zaheer Khan
15. Andrew Flintoff
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