Indian team enters final of the World Test Championship with back-to-back series wins over Australia and England. - Onkar Karandikar

 

India Vs England, 4th Test Match, Day 3:

Finally Indian cricket team has entered into the Final of World Test Championship!! Well done!! 

They have been magnificent throughout. Despite the changes in calculation rules mid-way through the WTC, they have still managed to reach the final with series wins over Australia and England

Final frontier is facing NZ at Lord's. India have only lost one series in WTC and that was against NZ, so they'll have chance to set that record straight too.

Of course qualifying for WTC was important, but these two coming-from-behind series wins- one in Australia and now in India haven themselves been extraordinary. 

Today, once again it was the duo of #Ashwin and #Axar who finished the job with 5-wicket hauls each. India's close-in fielders have been brilliant too. As far as slip-catching is concerned, Ajinkya as has been magnificent. Overall Indians have been good in the field in last 3 games. 

In the first session #Sundar and #Axar put on brilliant partnership and made sure that India got lead of more than 150, sadly both missed out on milestones. 

#WashingtonSundar really deserved the hundred!! 💔 He was left stranded on 96* as he ran out of partners from other end.  Absolutely brilliant knock nonetheless. Well played Sir! Earlier in this series also he had remained not out on 85. Today, #AxarPatel was playing well and accompanying Sundar, but he unfortunately got run out and then it was just a matter of time before Ishant and Siraj got out easily.Axar himself missed out on well deserved fifty. #BenStokes kept it simple, he bowled full and straight; and finished the job.

Yesterday, when India were in deep trouble and under pressure, #Pant and #Sundar played the situation perfectly, pulled India out of trouble and later attacked tired English bowlers. 

This has been a wonderful series for many reasons. Certainly Rishabh Pant's batting and wicket-keeping on these tracks have been simply brilliant. #Rohit made some really important runs including that 161 in Chennai. Of course Ashwin was brilliant throughout with ball as he ended up with 32 wickets in series and with bat as he got hundred in Chennai. Axar had amazing debut series with 27 wickets in 3 games. Sundar has proved himself invaluable with his batting and showed he can bowl well too whenever called upon. 

Form of three senior players #Kohli, #Rahane and #Pujara certainly is a big worry for India. They did play some good innings here and there, but by their standards, this has been a bad series. Of course this is not the time to talk about it. This is the time to enjoy the series win. Despite not being in good form himself, Kohli as captain in last three tests has been really good and Rahane captained brilliantly in Virat's absence in Australia too. Of course Pujara was fantastic in Australia and one bad series doesn't make you a bad player, but these home conditions are his bread and butter, so I kind of expected loads of runs from Pujara especially. 

England certainly made selection blunder in this game by picking only 3 proper bowlers in such testing conditions and even among those 3, Dom Bess is not that experiencd and bit under-confident at the moment. It was always going to backfire despite Ben Stokes bowling his heart out. One extra fast bowler and things could have ended differently. Also on this wicket, there was no vicious turn or extra help for spinners, so no excuses. Of course English team themselves and captain #Root himself never complained too much, it was the loud noise from outsiders only. 

- Onkar Karandikar 

The ultra-defensive approach from England backfiring in the 4th test match! - Onkar Karandikar

Day 1, 4th Test match between India and England: 

Ultra-defensive approach from #England here.

They have picked 8 batsmen and 3 bowlers. Yes Stokes and Root can bowl, but this can backfire. 

Now, look at the first wicket #AxarPatel got today, there was nothing wrong with pitch, ball didn't even turn, it's all in the mind of the batsman #DomSibley who just stood there doing nothing and got bowled inside-edge to a straight ball. After that, #Crawley threw wicket away by trying to go over the top before getting set. If this is how they are going to bat, then Axar will get them out even on glass or cement.

Some former English players have been unfairly critical of the wickets. Especially their former captain #MichaelVaughan really needs to stop this nonsense, he is just looking for attention and embarrassing himself. 

You can't blame the wicket all the time. Technique and temperament of the batsmen are needed to be questioned. 

#Sundar and #Siraj got prized wickets of #BenStokes and #JoeRoot respectively. 

#Ashwin and #Axar bowled the rest of the side out without breaking much sweat and restricted England to only 205 on Day 1.

Day 2, 4th Test match between India and England: 

Once again #RishabhPant and #WashingtonSundar came in when India were in deep trouble and they have bailed us out. 

Unbelievable hundred by Rishabh Pant and equally well supported by Sundar from other end who himself has gone past 50. That reverse sweep boundary over slip cordon hit by Rishabh Pant off #Anderson was unbelievable, the second new ball had just been taken 2 overs ago and he was facing swing king Jimmy Anderson. Once the new ball was taken, Pant hit two fours in Anderson's first over and Sundar hit two boundaries in Stokes's over. So the onslaught had started before Pant played that shot, still to play that shot while on 89 is just incredible, audacity and talent of different level.

As I predicted before -England going in with only 3 bowlers might backfire and it has backfired despite #BenStokes bowling his heart out and getting wickets of #RohitSharma and #ViratKohli, because in these hot conditions you always need an extra bowler and they went with one bowler short, also their two main spinners #Leach and #Bess haven't been effective enough and haven't bowled enough, so that put more pressure on Anderson, Stokes and #Root who employed himself as fifth bowler. Ben Stokes is tired beyond limit and yet he is asked to bowl again and again, this is only helping Indians as they are milking runs off him. 

Pant and Sundar wore bowlers down with patient approach early on and then attacked to take India's lead to 50+ now. Incredible temperament from both young players. Sundar also got the wicket of Stokes yesterday with beautifully bowled arm ball. So great all round contribution from him in his short career so far. 

Hope #AxarParel will provide something with bat today and take India's lead close to 100. 

Now India is in driver's seat to win this game. India's bowlers will be fresh tomorrow to attack English Batsmen in third innings and it's not going to be easy at all for the English team.

- Onkar Karandikar 

India bounce back with massive win in 2nd test match at Chennai!

Big test match win for Indian Cricket Team!

Of course the series and chances of getting into World Test Championship final are still hanging in balance. So, the job is not yet done, but incredible performance from India to bounce back after  to England defeat in first test.

Rohit Sharma gave India the head start with high-class and big hundred on first day. He played a Sehwag-like knock on difficult turning track. Rohit is kind of an impact player, the longer he stays at the crease the more damage is done to the opposition, because he played with intent and wasn't afraid to play shots. He  scored very quickly; he brought out sweep shot and put English bowlers under pressure. 

Rohit was well supported by Ajinkya Rahane after India lost Pujara and Kohli quickly. Moeen Ali clean bowled Kohli for 0 with an absolute beauty. It was a dream delivery for an off-spinner. Once again Ajinkya Rahane showed how crucial he is for this Indian team, he came in when India had lost two quick wickets and he just calmed things down. He rotated strike well with Rohit and also played some crisp shots. Partnership between Rohit and Rahane was crucial in first innings as it put India in comfortable position on day one itself. Rishabh Pant also scored crucial fifty to take India over 300 while wickets were crumbling at other end. 

Indian bowling attack bowled England out cheaply in first innings with Ravichandran Ashwin leading with 5-wicket haul as he so often does. Debutant Axar Patel bowled really well too.

In second innings India batted a bit longer than expected and needed, but there was lot of time left in game, so nothing wrong with that. It was not just about setting the big target for England, but also about keeping England players on the field for long time and wearing them down mentally and physically.

While India's second innings was crumbling captain Virat Kohli gave a master class of how to play on turning track and later was joined by Ashwin who went on to score a brilliant hundred at his home ground.  Partnership between Kohli and Ashwin was crucial in second innings as it clearly took game away from England.

Great all round performance from Ashwin (8 wickets and 100) and is now close to milestone of 400 test wickets. Only Sir Ian Botham has achieved this feat of taking five wicket haul and scoring hundred in same test more times than Ashwin. 

Sometimes we don't recognize what is in front of our eyes and don't give enough credit to it. Ravichandran Ashwin is an absolute legend in modern-day test cricket and one of my all-time favourite cricketers. 

He is intelligent, he has mastered his craft and more than anything else, he has big heart. Just a little bit of help from the wicket and he can run through the line-ups. Even on flat wicket in previous test, he bowled more than 70 overs and took 9 wickets, that shows his stamina and patience. More often than not, he takes the wickets of best or impactful batsmen in opposition team. He is currently on 394 wickets in 76 test matches and closing in fastly towards that elite 400 test wickets milestone. Along with his bowling master class, Ashwin also scored a hundred on very difficult wicket. The important thing is he has solid technique so he can defend and grind it out if needed like we saw in Australia and can also play shots and score quickly like we saw in this game against England. Hope he plays many more games, takes many more wickets and scores many more runs for India. 

In second inning Axar took 5 wickets and justified his selection and was well supported by Ashwin and Kuldeep who was under-bowled a bit, but that can happen to a third spinner when other two are already doing so well. I am happy for Kuldeep that he eventually got two wickets. Axar bowled well with great control and created chances regularly. Towards the end he was hit for 3 sixes by Moeen, but by that time game was already over. 

Most important thing was- Indians were brilliant in the field, except for one catch dropped by Siraj in the end, they held on to almost everything.
Rishabh Pant kept wickets really well and has certainly improved his glove work. He took two brilliant catches while keeping for fast bowlers and then contributed with two stumpings while keeping for spinners. Also throughout the game he was really comfortable and in control while keeping except for one sharp edge from Burn's bat, that he did put down off Ashwin's bowling. It is great to see that he is performing well with both bat and gloves. That's what happens when players are backed by captain and team management. 

England's wicket keeper Ben Foakes also gave a wicket keeping master class; he was brilliant with his technique, almost let nothing past him.

Of course this wicket was friendly for spinners, but it is expected in India, no one says anything when they make seam and swing friendly grass-wickets in England.There was a lot of talk from former English captain Michael Vaughan about how this wicket was really terrible and unplayable, but Rohit, Ajinkya and Pant in first innings and Kohli-Ashwin in second innings showed that it's not unplayable, if you apply yourself, give respect to bowlers early on and later start playing shots, you can score runs. Hope this wicket will not be judged as a bad one, because India being the host team might lose test championship points because of it.

There has been a lot of controversy with umpire's call rule when it comes to impact in DRS's LBW decisions, hope ICC does something about it, because it has been really frustrating for both batting and bowling sides on multiple occasions. Once decision is referred to third umpire, on field umpire's call should not be considered or they should figure out a way to balance it. Because it is okay to use technology, but common sense should prevail in some situations, like in Joe Root's case yesterday when you could clearly see that he was trapped in front and was plumb LBW.

Overall massive win for India and an important win from world test championship perspective. If they lost this test, it was over. Now they sit at the second place. Still can't afford to lose remaining games or even draws.

Let's hope Indian team wins remaining two games and gets into World test championship final comfortably, because they really deserve it, they had been leading the table since the start and they won away series in Australia and West Indies, also they have played so many games and have won lots of games. If Australia hadn't cancelled their South Africa tour, New Zealand wouldn't have automatically qualified for final, not that they don't deserve to be in final.

- Onkar Karandikar 

My favourite sports campaign - '#GameBanayegaName'. - Onkar Karandikar

My favourite sports campaign - '#GameBanayegaName'.

In last few years, we have seen some truly brilliant sports campaigns on digital media and TV also. 

Fan engagement is an important aspect of it, but I think what's even more important is the inspirational thoughts and wisdom being conveyed to young fans through these campaigns.

That's why I loved this '#GameBanayegaName' campaign that was run before and during #VIVOIPL2019 by Star sports India.

Some really important things were told subtly through this campaign.

We see the huge glamour and big money these sports stars get, but what we don't see is the hours of hard work they put in to get to the top level.

IPL is a great platform for young aspiring cricketers to showcase their talent and share the field & dressing rooms with some of the best players in the world. It is an opportunity for them to learn more and more about the game. We have already seen that with examples of players like Yuzvendra Chahal and Jasprit Bumrah.

The message is clear- budding sports players need to focus on developing their game and believe in their own unique styles and techniques. The fame will follow automatically.

And who better to convey this message than likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni. All of them came from humble backgrounds and became the best players in the world.

As former Australian cricket captain Allan Border used to tell young players," You take care of runs and dollars will take care of themselves".

It is also an answer to the criticism that IPL gets. It shows that IPL is not only about glamour and fun; it also means sincerity towards the game itself.

- Onkar Karandikar

Sports leagues are playing crucial role in making India a multi-sport nation. - Onkar Karandikar

For many years, Cricket is the only sport that has been followed at such large scale and cricketers have been worshipped by masses. One reason is the tremendous success that India has enjoyed in Cricket at the top level, but also the financial support and exposure it has got.

It's not like fans in India do not like other sports and players in other sports, but they were never exposed to other sports. How can you like something if you haven't seen it, right?

Obviously there were some examples of occasional individual brilliance in other sports that had caught the attention, but certainly not at the large scale.

Things changed dramatically after 2008!

Since the launch of Indian Premier League in 2008, in the last 10 years Indian sports industry has grown so rapidly. Success that IPL (Cricket) got, started a revolution in India for other sports as well.

Leagues in other sports like Premier Badminton League (badminton), Indian Super League (football), Pro Kabaddi League (kabaddi) and Pro Wrestling League (wrestling) were started in few years after IPL and now they have created their own audience. It is still early days, but India is now taking steps towards becoming a multi-sport nation.

There are few very important aspects to this budding sports-league culture in India.

First is the platform to perform, second is financial stability and third is sports infrastructure.

Players in sports apart from Cricket never really had big platforms to perform in front of large crowds and also the millions who watch from Home. Now players from other sports have opportunity to show that they are equally great in their own right. They have started getting their own fans. Not just that, they can now use it as an opportunity to earn place in national teams as well.

With these private leagues, they got financial support which is very crucial, because players from other sports like Kabaddi and Wrestling used to find it very difficult to make living out of playing game they loved and also had to work somewhere else to earn money. Now they can focus fully on playing and developing their game.

Another important part is lethargy of Indian government bodies towards other sports many times leaves players with poor training facilities as we have seen during commonwealth games, but private leagues have provided them with world-class training facilities and help of technicians and analysts to take their games to next level.

In cricket as well, apart from top international players, other players didn’t have as much financial stability, facilities and exposure as they do now after IPL.

This all-round improvement will inspire more and more young kids to take up sports.

- Onkar Karandikar

A tale of Indian fast bowling: Where it all really started? - Onkar Karandikar

As a kid, I used to listen to the stories of the fearsome fast bowling quartet West Indies had in 70's and 80's and of brilliant spin bowling quartet that India had in 60's and 70's from my parents. 

I myself grew up watching likes of Brett Lee and Shane Bond terrorizing batsmen with their genuine pace and watching Kumble and Harbhajan spinning web around batsmen as well.

I always dreamt about Indian Cricket team having best fast bowling attack in the world, but never actually thought this would become reality so soon.

This doesn't mean India never had good fast bowlers before, but we never had 4-5 fast bowlers together at their peak with level of fitness, consistency, discipline, attitude and pace that the current crop has. We had Kapil Dev in 80's, then Srinath in 90's and Zaheer Khan in 2000's- these three were consistent and played for long time, others played for brief periods of time and perished. Some due to lack of fitness, some due to lack of pace, some due to their antics.

We could not have imagined in our wildest dreams about Indian fast bowlers taking 20 wickets on Indian pitches. Virat Kohli deserves a lot of credit for seeing this dream about India having best fast bowling attack and instilling it in his bowlers, backing them and getting best out of them and thereby taking the pitches, conditions and tosses out of equation and playing like champion side in any conditions.

Ishant Sharma, JaspritBumrah and Mohammad Shami together took 142 wickets in 10 test matches between 2018 and 2019 and it is world record. Their averages and strike rates were also brilliant. Umesh Yadav's numbers at home in last two years have been exceptional- 43 wickets in 9 tests despite being in and out of the team. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is struggling with back pain at the moment, but he's been around for a while and in conditions conducive to seam and swing bowling, he's as good as anyone in the world.

In addition to these top 5 bowlers, there are players like Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar waiting in the wing. Young lads like Kamlesh Nagarkotti are coming through the ranks. Very promising picture overall- one thing that bothers me is except for Khaleel Ahmad, we haven't really found left arm fast bowlers in recent years. In last decade we had 4 left arm bowler- Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, RP Singh and Irfan Pathan. There is nothing wrong with playing all right arm bowlers, but having left arm bowler add variation to attack and gives more attacking options.

We are lucky to witness this era of genuine fast bowlers coming from India and it leads me to one question- where it all really started?

If we open the history book of Indian fast/medium pace bowlers, it will take us back to pre-independence era. We had two notable bowlers back then- Mohammad Nissar (who, in his first game, had dismissed legendary English batsman Herbert Sutcliffe) and Amar Singh. In 60's we had genuine fast bowler in Ramakant Desai, who had given legendary West Indian bastmen like Rohan Kanhai run for their money.

These stories do make us proud, but if we have to name one bowler with whom the revolution started- it is Kapil Dev. 

He was truly great and world class fast bowler. Let alone his batting-fielding prowess and all-rounder status, even if he was just a specialist bowler, he could have walked into any of the Indian teams ever played till date and arguably in any team in world as well. He had pace to hurry batsmen and had genuine beautiful out swinger as well. He retired with 434 test wickets- which is still a record for Indian fast bowler and probably will remain for a long time, because for a fast bowler to remain fit for as long as he did is very difficult, he was natural athlete.

There was one more important thing that happened in same era that gave impetus to fast bowling revolution in India- MRF Pace foundation started in 1987 under tutelage of Australian legend Dennis Lilee and now guided by his compatriot Glenn McGrath. A lot of bowlers have come through it over the years and some of them have gone on to play for India.

We had medium pace bowlers like Roger Binny, Madan Lal, Balvinder Singh Sandhu in 80s along with Kapil Dev and they were effective too. We have had genuine swing bowlers like Ajit Agerkar, Praveen Kumar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, R P Singh over the years and they did produce some important performances. Some bowlers like Irfan Pathan and Shantakumaran Sreesanth had genuine pace when they first burst onto the scene and they also had ability to swing the ball both ways. Who can forget Irfan's hat-trick vs Pakistan with scoreboard showing 0-3 and Sreesanth dislodging stumps of Gilchrist and Hayden in semi-final of T20 WC 2007 or his steamy bouncer that woke up Jack Kallis from his sleep and made him arc his back like a cross-bow. He also had one of the best seam presentations and beautiful out swinger that you rarely see these days. Point is promise was there, but with whatever reasons they didn't become the world class bowlers we thought they could. Ajit Agarkar had record in white ball cricket, but he could not reflect that in red ball cricket except for that 6 wicket haul in Adelaide. RP Singh too had great run in T20 WC in 2007, but he too disappeared quickly. Ashish Nehra had so many injuries that meant he did not play regularly, but he produced one of the best performances in ODI cricket with that 6 wicket haul vs England in 2003 WC, but again could not reflect that in test cricket.

For a long time, Zaheer Khan was a lone warrior on fast bowling front. He had genuine pace when he started, then as his pace declined with age he added other skills in hir armour, he could swing ball both ways, he developed knuckle ball, and he used to hide the ball in other hand to deceive batsmen. He was first bowler after Kapil Dev and Javagal Srinath to have equally good record in longer and shorter formats of the game.

In 2007-08, came Ishant Sharma, who started his career by giving nightmares to Ricky Ponting. He didn't have control initially and frequently drifted onto the pads of right hand batsmen due to his natural wrist position and despite his efforts he didn't get as many wickets and often relied on bowling short and hitting the deck hard, it did get him wickets, but not as many as he should have. He still produced memorable match winning spells like the one in 2014 Lord's test 4th Innings. The Ishant Sharma 2.0 that we are seeing right now is completely different. He is disciplined, he has control, he doesn't give anything away, he pitches the ball on good length and even fuller if conditions are conducive, he's leading the young bowlers like an experienced campaigner that he is.

Another bowler who had pace, but didn't have control was Umesh Yadav. He actually has one of the most simple and uncomplicated bowling actions, he could move the ball both ways. He was very unlucky on some occasions with bad slip fielding or umpiring errors, but more than that he didn't get as many wickets because he didn't produce as many wicket-taking deliveries. He too has changed in last 2-3 years. He often remains on bench and is picked if someone is injured, but whenever he gets chances, he reaps wickets. Especially on Indian pitches, he has been absolutely brilliant.

Then comes a bowler who probably has the best seam presentation in the world, can move ball both ways, can hit the deck hard, produces more wicket taking deliveries than anyone else and now with the desciplined attitude, he's literally taking wickets in bulk. His name is Mohammad Shami.

Now last but not the least- Jasprit Bumrah. This awesome journey of Indian fast bowling has now reached its peak with bowler who is genuinely world class, has discipline and consistency like a machine, has genuine pace, has impeccable control over line and length like no one, can take wickets, can stop runs and within 3 years he's established himself as best bowler in the world across all 3 formats. If he remains fit and let us everyone wish that he will remain fit for a long time, he will go on to become one of the greatest fast bowlers in the history of world cricket. He's already impressed West Indian fast bowling legends Andy Roberts and Curtly Ambrose with his ability. In his first season of test cricket he's taken 62 wickets in 12 test matches with an average of 19 which is unthinkable for Indian fast bowler. He's played those 12 games in 4 countries overseas and managed to take fifers in all 4 countries. He is yet to play a home test. When he first came in lime light as rookie fast bowler with awkward action playing for Mumbai Indians in IPL, no one would have thought this guy would go on to become best bowler in the world, but within few years he broke into Indian limited overs team and inevitably into the test team. He's to bowling what Virat Kohli is to batting. He has got that hunger and fire in his eyes. He does not say anything to batsmen, he smiles even if catches are dropped and gets back to his mark and bowls again until he gets wicket. He recently had his first long injury break and now he'll be back and raring to go. I can't wait to see him in action.

Through this article I don't mean to undermine the contribution of Ashwin and Jadeja towards Indian test cricket. They have been world class and their work has been invaluable! They have taken over 550 test wickets between them and won India so many matches.

But, as Indian cricket fan watching current Indian test team winning games on home turf without any significant contribution of spinners is refreshing, not that they could not contribute, they didn't even get chance as fast bowlers finished things quickly. This might be due to lack of quality batting in SA and Bangladesh, but you can't take away anything from Indian pacers. 

It will be interesting to see how India's fast bowlers perform against the Australian team that now has Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne. But, we will have to wait for almost a year to witness that. With T20 WC coming up towards the end of this season, there is not much of test cricket lined up for India except for 2 tests against New Zealand.

I have praised current Indian pace attack so much and mentioned some greats in past, but to be honest- contribution of each and every medium pace/fast bowler who had played for India was important. As they say next generation is better because they stand on shoulders of previous. There is no summit without the base.

Jasprit Bumrah: A legend in making - Onkar Karandikar

Let's all hope Jasprit Bumrah remains fit and plays for a long long time.

What a bowler!! A very special player!!

He has incredible accuracy, lightening pace, can swing the ball both ways, has toe-crushing yorkers, a well directed bouncer.
He is a complete fast bowler with every weapon ready his in repertoire.
One more thing which makes him lethal is he's relentless, does not give a breathing space to batsmen. He has calm and shrewd head on his shoulders. 
He seems to be in control and with the plan all the time. One of the hardest working players and a quick learner. 
A find of IPL now taking test cricket by the storm! 

I know this is too early to say, but this guy is an absolute legend in making.