Eyebrows raised over toss fiasco

[DesiChap]

Eyebrows raised over toss fiasco LOKENDRA PRATAP SAHI Dav Whatmore

Calcutta: Indications are that there’s nobody to really challenge Dav Whatmore in his quest to become the Team India coach. That, however, hasn’t stopped eyebrows from being raised over his role in the toss fiasco which has almost given the (ongoing) final Test and series to Rahul Dravid. There’s bewilderment that Bangladesh’s outgoing coach ignored conventional widsom and didn’t convince his captain, Habibul Bashar, to bat first at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium. In the subcontinent, only the foolish prefer to field. According to The Telegraph’s sources, Sunil Gavaskar, who is one of three former captains on the committee empowered to select Greg Chappell’s full-time successor, is likely to have a real big say when it meets in Bangalore on June 4. If his widely read columns are anything to go by, then Whatmore’s backers probably have reason to sweat. On Friday, at the end of Day I of the mismatch in Dhaka, Gavaskar didn’t mince words: “… Bashar will no doubt be criticised by the media after India finished the first day without losing a wicket, but don’t forget that he would have received advice from the dressing room too. It raises the next question as to what kind of tactical advice Bangladesh get…†Such advice comes from the coach. Earlier in the week, after Bangladesh employed safety-first tactics in the closing stages of the Chittagong Test, Gavaskar wrote: “It is no secret that Bashar is not the greatest tactical captain. So, what was the dressing room doing?†No prizes for guessing where that missile was directed at. Gavaskar had also been on the committee which picked John Wright’s successor, Chappell, two years ago. It’s hardly a secret that he’d then favoured a desi — Mohinder ‘Jimmy’ Amarnath — but didn’t find much support as Chappell had influential backers. Come June 4 and much of the attention is again bound to be on the line taken by Gavaskar. Srinivas Venkatraghavan and interim cricket manager Ravi Shastri are the other ex-captains on the committee headed by Board president Sharad Pawar. Both had been on the last one as well. Board secretary Niranjan Shah, joint-secretary Mohinder Pandove and treasurer N. Srinivasan are also on the committee set up last month. Whatmore has formally expressed his “keenness†to come on board. He did so at a meeting arranged by Shastri in Chittagong last Saturday. The 1996 World Cup-winning coach’s interaction with Shah and the Board’s chief administrative officer, Ratnakar Shetty, lasted between “five-ten minutes.†The meeting took place in Shah’s suite at the Peninsula Hotel. Whatmore, who was being wooed by Pakistan, has said ‘no’ to working with the Shoaib Maliks. That, at least, should go down well with the desi lobby within the Board. Whatmore, clearly, has bet big.

[Cricketics]

i still fail to understand why would any nation send a good batting side on batting after knowing that the opposition has better batting line up and our their own bowlers aren't good enuff to bowl India out so easily.. were they thinking to bowl India out on day 1 for under 250..

[Miraz]

I have posted one of my article in another thread, but I think this is a more appropriate one. Moderators can delete the previous entry of reqd.

The way Bangladesh coach and Captain brought misery to the team. When whims dominate over common sense Khondaker Mirazur Rahman When whims dominate over common sense, no team can expect to escape humiliation, especially when its Test cricket. No wonder, Bangladesh are paying the price of being whimsical, in short term – a shambolic defeat on Test return, in long term – more depressing developments are on the way. It takes quite some time to build any image, and takes no time to tarnish it. Bangladesh took a very wrong time to ruin its hard earned image in a series which was branded as grudge series, especially after the happenings of March 17 in Trinidad and Tobago. Fierce and relentless criticism is a part and parcel of Bangladesh Test history. After some significant developments over the last few years, it appeared Bangladesh have finally managed to leap forward, and those dark old days will remain as the birth pain of Bangladesh cricket. The coach and captain, who led the renaissance of Bangladesh cricket, made a horrendous mistake to remind everyone the dark old days of Bangladesh Test cricket, ironically in the last Test of Whatmore as Bangladesh coach. Nothing could be more shameful for him to see the largest dip in performance graph during his tenure, and he played a crucial role to create this painful mess. Everyone expected Bangladesh will put up a good show after drawing the Chittagong Test, and Whatmore’s farewell Test added some more light into it. Habibul Bashar, who rued his luck with tosses in the past, managed to win the toss and through that gained the right to use the wonderful batting surface ahead of their opponents. Bangladesh were already depleted due to absence of Shahadat Hossain, one of the hero of Chittagong Test, another premier bowler Mashrafe Mortaza was struggling with fitness, and Mohammad Sharif made a Test comeback after 5 years injury break. Bashar probably had the ideal stage to take the easiest decision on earth after winnings the toss, bat first, give the bowlers some time to recover and use the fresh legs to dismantle India after posting a good total on a placid surface. Unfortunately for Bangladesh, the decision which looked obvious didn’t turn out to be reality, for inexplicable reason, Whatmore and Bashar decided to play the worst gamble of Test cricket history. They invited a batting line-up to use the surface first in which the first five batsmen share about 500 Test caps and 30,000 Test runs between them. What went through their mind in the very moment will be never known, misreading the wicket is a lame excuse, a captain of 43 Tests and a coach with 13 years experience in the sub-continent should be able to assess the wicket condition. India took the unexpected gift with both hands, and piled a mammoth total to take the game away from Bangladesh. To be honest, Indians have only played according to the merit of the situation, its Bangladesh, who threw the game away at the very beginning and Indians were lucky to be at the receiving end. In the process of posting an imposing total of 610-3d, Indians made records after records to rub the salt to the wound generously exposed to them by Bangladesh. After 160 overs of testing time under hot and humid conditions, India finally decided to give some relief to the Bangladeshi bowlers. They could have easily broken many other batting records, but they decided to toy the batsmen, after dismantling the bowling attack. And the inevitable happened, Bangladeshi batsmen came in the middle with a mountain to climb, after the exhausting two days in the field; they were battered mercilessly by the Indian new ball bowlers. Bangladesh, initially reduced to 7-4, finished the day on 58-5, and the captain, who brought so much misery to the team with the decision, have contributed only 4 with the bat. Bangladeshi players have finally got some rest in the pavilion, but definitely not they way they would have liked.

[jf1gp_1]

so what is this an excuse post. BD wants to be counted among big boys then create a team which can recover from minor setbacks. On day 2 when India hit 280+ in 60 overs BD were 58/5. Track didnt change much its just the quality of team. this whole bd batsman had a mountain to climb and all that is crap. India - Pak last series, yes we lost the final test but look at how India played the first two. Thank rain for saving you twice in chittagong. One question you still want to play a test and ODI series in India ? BD played some exciting cricket in BD but in India its going to be a one way hammering.

[King]

I think it simply is an excuse. Bangladesh were bowled out twice in just over a day on the 3rd day. Even if they batted first they had absolutely no hope :thumbs_down: I don't reckon it was such a bad move. In hindsight it feels so but in the world cup they had the better of India after sending India in to bat. Perhaps they thought Indian batters are suspect if there is a bit of dampness in the pitch??? It had rained the previous night quite heavily. I even wonder if Gavaskar has followed this test match closely at all.

[Ram]

You guys are discounting the psychological effect of having to go into bat when you face a score of 600+... Its one thing to go out and bat frst day , frst session and a completely different proposition to go out and bat last session of the 2nd day with the opposition score on 610/3 --- pitch , weather and opposition bowling not accounted. BD lost half the match when they opted to field , the rest was lost in the overs that Ind batted. After that , it was a question of when and not If..

[karina]

I have posted one of my article in another thread' date=' but I think this is a more appropriate one. Moderators can delete the previous entry of reqd.[/quote'] Hmm, hindsight is 20/20 Miraz. Although I do feel that one should bat first on this pitch, the main problem was that BD batsmen are not used to test batting. So even if BD had batted first, I kinda feel India would still have won. Maybe not in 3 days, but 4. I feel sorry for Basher, he's getting all the blame. And he seems such a softie. Poor thing. His heart must be breaking. :broken_heart:

[King]

You guys are discounting the psychological effect of having to go into bat when you face a score of 600+... Its one thing to go out and bat frst day , frst session and a completely different proposition to go out and bat last session of the 2nd day with the opposition score on 610/3 --- pitch , weather and opposition bowling not accounted. BD lost half the match when they opted to field , the rest was lost in the overs that Ind batted. After that , it was a question of when and not If..

I don't think so. Clearly winning the toss and opting to bowl wasn't a bad option. What was bad was that they dropped few catches in the very first session. Either way they would have lost IMO. If they batted they still would have been bowled out for a paltry score. IMO they don't know how to bat in test match, the only way they know to bat is to just play their shots.

[Cricketics]

I don't think so. Clearly winning the toss and opting to bowl wasn't a bad option. What was bad was that they dropped few catches in the very first session. Either way they would have lost IMO. If they batted they still would have been bowled out for a paltry score. IMO they don't know how to bat in test match' date=' the only way they know to bat is to just play their shots.[/quote'] not really, it was a bad decision to put India to bat.. they should have known that they are putting a team to bat which has Tendulkar, Dravid, Dhoni, Ganguly etc.. and they never had such gr8 bowling attack to to be frank which could bowl India out on first day or perhapz end India's inng around 250.... sure they troubled Indian batsmans few times in odi and test, but did they really trouble.... probably bashar or who ever suggested him to bowl first, over rated their bowling line up a lot.. good that bangla had confidence in their bowling, but its totally different when u get over confident, and thats what bashar and co did.. they did do 100-6 to us in first test, perhaps thats what made them over confident.. before they had decided to put INdia to bat first, they should have thought that they would have to bat in 4th inngs chasing India's total and would have to battle against the likes of KUMBLE

[Guest dada_rocks]

it's simple bangladeshis have more confidence in their bowlers than in their batsmen......