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Sunday, June 6 2004

Welcome to this new monthly news oriented column which will take you through all the latest happenings in Indian Cricket, from the good, to the bad, to the ugly. Written by myself, Sudeep Popat, it will go deep down a handful of stories every issue, and analyze their impact on the country's cricket.

Without further ado, let's get on with the first article of hopefully a LOT to come. In today's article, I trace the comebacks of Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh to cricket, plus provide an in depth look in to the Abhijeet Kale controversy. So, here it goes...

Zaheer: The Eternal Struggle

Zaheer Khan's ordeal with injuries continues as he had to head back home from English county Surrey, ahead of his final game for them. He had been called up by the county for a handful of games as an unpaid amateur (because he doesn't possess a work permit for England) while their overseas choice no. 1 Saqlain Mushtaq nurses his knee problem. Zaheer had been hoping to use this experience to get some valuable match practice, as well as prove his fitness, ahead of the Asia Cup, a six-nation tournament starting in July in Sri Lanka. However, his weak hamstring has given way again, thus forcing him to leave for India earlier than he would have wished to.

Zaheer's performance for Surrey was mediocre, as he managed only three wickets from the two matches he played - one Totesport League match (a one-dayer) and the other a County Championship match. His problem with restricting extras seemed to haunt him, as he gave away eight of them in the Totesport League game.

Zaheer has now missed more than six months of action due to his hamstring problem. The injury first troubled him on India's tour to Australia, where he had to sit out of three of the four Tests. His hyped return too didn't live up to the expectations as a similar injury made him limp off the field during a Test Match in Pakistan in March. Unfortunately for him, he has followed the Ashish Nehra path, failing to stay fit for a period of time required for international standards. Though his absence has proved a blessing in disguise for the national team, as Irfan Pathan has filled in his shoes as best as was possible, if he doesn't avoid another break down, he might well be history.

Turbonator Back In The Spin Of Things

Harbhajan Singh, another player who missed all of India's action in the last six months, would be hoping that his comeback trail is better than Zaheer's. After undergoing surgery to repair a ruptured ligament in his bowling hand during India's tour of Australia, he hasn't featured in any cricket match since. To prove his fitness ahead of the Asia Cup, he has signed up with wealthy Kent based club Lashings to play for about a month.

Harbhajan is set to arrive at the club next week, to play along side the likes of Allan Donald, Courtney Walsh, Shahid Afridi and Richie Richardson, who are all expected to feature in the club's side. While he wanted to play full-time for a county this season, he shouldn't be disappointed to return to some form of action in Club Cricket.

Harbhajan's presence had been dearly missed by India during the Australia series and well as the one in Pakistan, despite the draw and the win respectively, as neither Railways player Murali Kartik, nor Mumbai's Ramesh Powar proved as effective as The Turbonator.

Kale Caught Out

Maharashtra batsman Abhijeet Kale has been banned by the BCCI till year end, after being found guilty - to an extent - of trying to influence the national selectors for an Indian call-up. Kiran More and Pranab Roy, members of the national selection committee, had last year accused him of offering them bribe to ensure himself a place in the famous Indian tour of Australia.

After the selectors reported Kale, he was suspended immediately. But what followed was a series of actions and counter-actions, both legal and personal, which made the issue one of the most infamous in the history of Indian cricket. While Kale still doesn't accept the guilt he has been accused of, he has come out and said that he did try to influence the selectors, but" without the bribery". More and Roy had been adamant in trying to prove him guilty, brining in personal friends, who according to them were present when Kale decided to offer the money.

BCCI though acted in the best interests of each party, after enough evidence couldn't be gathered against Kale, by banning him for a seven-month period ending on December 31 this year. While many believe the ban on Kale isn't severe enough to set a strong impression, it has been taken in context of Kale submitting a written apology to the board. But what the controversy has eventually done is bring down Kale's chances of an Indian call-up down to zero, despite his prodigal performances in domestic cricket - an average of 58, which itself speaks about his batting.

The after-effects of the controversy though may arouse another one, as the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) are planning to request the BCCI to reconsider their decision, for the seven-month ban will not Kale to appear for two or three of the Ranji games the forthcoming season. MCA seems to have missed the obvious part of the decision, that is to have Kale do just that - miss a few games, so that a similar step isn't taken by another cricketer ever again.

But even after all this, the most astounding thing to have happened is Kale saying in an interview - I still hope to play for India. Someone needs to tell him, he has kissed his chances GOODBYE.

COMMENT: NEW Cricket

While Zimbabwe's ultimate fate will be decided upon during ICC's annual meeting this month, another discussion, probably of equal importance, if not more would be that of the introduction of a few new rules that have been suggested by the Playing Cricket Committee headed by Sunil Gavaskar.

What the recommendations, if decided to be legal, will do is complicate the game further, instead of making it more tactic oriented, as stressed by the committee. One of the most controversial of them is that of the batting side choosing the 15 overs for which the fielding restrictions will apply. The committee seems to have neglected the fact that already the balance is so much titled towards the batting side. The obvious negative aspects of this rule are: (a) it would be time consuming (b) it would provide unfair advantage to the batting side against spin bowlers, and more drastically the fifth bowler combination.

However, this rule with appropriate modification could still be worth thinking for, such as - 10 overs up front with the fielding restrictions, with the remaining five as per the batting side's choice. This would probably provide the tactical aspect the committee is willing to insert, without being too advantageous for the batting side.

Another rule, that hopefully shouldn't make its way through, is the Double Play. According to this recommendation, clearly a base-ball inspired one, two batsmen can get out of the same ball, i.e. the ball doesn't become dead after a fall of wicket. This is how it works: Bowler appeals for LBW. Batsmen attempt a run as the umpire ponders over the decision. Someone like Steve Bucknor takes time to uphold the decision, while the batsmen decide to run, and the non-striker falls short.

Where the confusion aspect arises is which of the two new batsmen takes the strike. This also means that a batting side with eight wickets down cannot breathe easily with even only one ball to spare. Plus, there is the absolutely bizarre possibility of a double-hatrick for the bowling side. While the other rules are at least debatable, these two shouldn't find their way in the rule book, for as I said earlier, they seem to be complicating enough to keep out.

So that's all I have for this issue. A major story that could be developing in the next couple of weeks is regarding South Africa's tour of India, with the UCB's reluctance of sending Gibbs and Boje on the tour, and problems with the tour itinerary. I'll have deatils that, with a few other latest happenings in the next issue.

Before signing off, there's just one little, but important thing I would like to address. As any columnist would say, feedback, on the writing, and the material, is important. Not only does it provide the writer self-satisfaction with his work, it also helps him look a few ideas that might be alien to him. So, keep your mails coming, whether it is comments on yours truly, or any of the stories discussed in this article. My e-mail address is sudeep.popat@cricketweb.net. Hopefully, with enough support, we should be able to start a regular MAILBAG section, that can be featured in every issue.

Thanks for hanging out through the column, catch you all later.

Sudeep Popat

Posted by Sudeep