What would have my coach Prabhakar said about the Lahore test? My friend Krishna Prasad came up with the idea of commenting on a cricket match from the perspective of Prabhakar’s theory of cricket and I am shamelessly stealing it. My only justification: he hasn’t written his version after all these years and so I shall do mine now.
After five days and some wonderful batting, I am at a loss. I want to say it would have helped if more cricket had been played. Yet, whatever cricket was played was glorious. Well, batting (and catching) at least. Sure, weather gods didn’t help but the pitch, that’s another matter. Inzamam’s comment (I am the captain of Pakistan and not the groundsman) said it all. You can get all the details about the records that were unbroken, scoring rate (an amazing 5.30 for the Indian innings!) and on the wonderful batting performances from newspaper reports. In his Rediff reports, Prem Panicker said words fail to describe the wonderful batting, especially the audacious strokemaking of Virendar Sehwag. When he bats like that, I don’t think even Tendulkar can match him. But new theories and theorists are already seeking their dues and here is a nice one as far as theories go. Imran Khan got it right: “For a bowler, he (Sehwag) is the ultimate nightmare because he has this incredible technique by which he waits in his crease and does not move his feet at all. His quick eye just allows him to hit the ball on the up. He was late-cutting even fast bowlers and it was quite amazing to watching him pick his spot for the endless boundaries he hit. ” Yeah, bowlers got a raw deal in Lahore. Apparently, our TV pandits commented on India lacking a fifth bowler only to eat their words three days later when they had to say Pakistan lacked a seventh bowler.
Prabhakar wouldn’t have commented on all this wonderful batting. He would have talked about bowlers and their failures. How should one bowl on such a slow, unresponsive wicket, where even Shoaib Akhtar’s 90 + miles per hour pace was reaching batsmen at a comfortable 70 miles after pitching. Here is what Prabhakar would have advised:
- don’t give width and bowl just short of good length into the body, if you are a medium pacer.
- bowl slowly in the air, if you are a spin bowler.
- true, the slow wicket would provide enough time for batsmen to make adjustments but be smart in setting the field and bowl to the field at all cost.
Prabhakar was not only a shrewd cricketer who would search for a tiny edge every single moment (there are many legendary stories which I would reserve for another occasion), he was a superb defensive bowler, who could bowl ten consecutive maiden overs at brisk pace. He was also a slow, wily legbreak bowler. Although, he couldn’t bowl a googly or flipper or top spinner to save his life, his legbreak alone was enough to confuse batsmen. He could alter the pace of his legbreaks at will, change the angle every once in a while and buy a wicket by bowling ever so slowly. Once, many years ago, I was batting against him in a league match, when I had to counsel my partner, a very senior and accomplished cricketer who was struggling mightily against Prabhakar’s leg breaks. Having watched and played his bowling for many years at practice, I had gotten wiser to his tricks and so I advised my elder friend: “after Prabhakar bowls, watch the ball closely, decide on a stroke to play, practice it, then count till thirty and then play your shot.” Our man nodded his head, went back to the crease and offered a simple catch back to Prabhakar two balls later.
Anyway, this isn’t a report on Prabhakar’s legbreaks but a commentary on Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, Kaneria, Afridi and Malik. I realize that One Day cricket and heavy bats have irrevocably changed the art of spin bowling and it is fashionable to bowl quickish leg spin, flippers, topspinners and trick delivaries like doosra to gain wickets. But why not also bowl slowly and give the ball more air, the way a great spinner like Prasanna would? Prabhakar, who became a spinner late in his life and played his cricket against Prasanna and G R Viswanath, learnt his lessons well. I wish our spinners would try to bowl slower in the nets and occasionally, on slow, unresponsive wickets, when nothing else works. Is it too much to expect a little guile, intelligence, planning and yes, ability to make changes to the game plan on the fly? We easily build a dynamic digital archive that creates a website on the fly, depending on what the user requests but we still struggle to make a minor modification to our bowling strategy!
Prabhakar would have laughed at our bowlers, over multiple cups of tea and badam milk in the evening, after our cricket practice; later in the night, though, chicken and rum would have brought out more insights. What are our fitness gurus and coaches doing these days? I wouldn’t mind starting a collection to buy some rum for them, for inspiration and ideas!
Additional cricket notes:
In the other cricketing news, India seems to be impersonating United States in the world of cricket. It is not clear who the freedom hating terrorists are and whose freedom India wants to ensure but this much is evident: like US, India is the biggest market for everything cricket and wants to flex its muscle. So the new BCCI adminstrators - especially the businessman-politician Lalit Modi and Cop-cricket administrator I S Bindra (both of whom, one would imagine, have bigger fish to fry, given their day job descriptions) - seem to want to chart an independent course. ICC is possibly facing its biggest challenge since the Packer revolution and India-Pakistan takeover of ICC itself. Here is what BCCI wants to do:
- bypass ICC’s future tour program and negotiate especially with Australia, England and Pakistan bilaterally to play frequently. India will also not play in the ICC trophy after 2006.
- produce its own telecast (what now BCCI wants to be a TV production company!) and maximize profits.
A nervous ICC warns Indian board, but when you constitute half the market for cricket and can do whatever you want, why worry about anybody? This ain’t no cricket but this is pretty good power politics. ICC be damned!
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