The Good, the Bad, and the Fugly

[Fontaine]

Now that the series is coming to a conclusion here are a few thoughts of mine: The Good: 1. Sharma looks the real deal: There's no doubt his pace, bounce and ability to move the ball are vital on away tracks that help the bowlers but he's taken an unprecedented step as such a young bowler to be the best paceman on flat, listless tracks in Sri Lanka. Sharma is vital to Indian cricket as we haven't had his kind of bowler that can hit the deck hard and get genuine movement and great pace for quite some time. He's confirmed his position as one of the most exciting young fast bowlers in the international stage and that's saying something considering how often we've had these young bowlers shine in one or two series only to disappear into oblivion (Patel, Pathan, Balaji). 2. Our openers make a stand: Gambhir and Sehwag really came together at the back of their IPL success and showed they can be one of the most attacking opening partnerships. Gambhir in particular came of age against Mendis/Murali/Vaas. One of the enduring images from the series has to be the way he was batting out of his crease to Sri Lanka's bowlers right from the start. Dismissive, authorative and almost Sehwag like in his disdain of the fast bowlers. A man full of confidence and form. If he can adapt so quickly to Mendis/Murali then it shows he's a natural and will hold him in very good stead in the future. 3. Practice makes Mendis: The entire series is a learning curve for our batsmen to try and get accustomed to picking Mendis and in that regard it's invalueable experience. Even though the batsmen underperformed as a unit, it's vital that guys like SRT, Gambhir, Sehwag, etc got to see Mendis and learn how to play him. 4. Harbhajan learns a lesson: Harbhajan finally started to bowl like the spinner we know he can be. Aggressive flight, targetted accurately in the rough area, and pitching the ball up on a length. Daring the batsmen to take him on in spinning track, Harbhajan learned you can't just hide behind economical bowling but be a team player and do his job rather than just trying to save it. 5. Zaheer looks injury free. That in itself is a blessing. The Bad: 1. Dravid and Goliath: There's no comeback for this underdog I'm afraid. He looks out of form and his range of shots is gone. A man lacking confidence and abused by Mendis' middle finger! Dravid is still good enough to defend well but he's not the same batsmen who dispatches anything loose and wide for boundaries and constant runs. 2. Ganguly: You know he's in trouble when you can't see any timing from him. He's all about timing and he just looks like an ordinary player without it. 3. Parthiv Karthik: Our backup wicket keepers suck. Whether it's dropping regulation catches or missed stumpings and joking around with the bat, we missed Dhoni. 4. Ram/Laxman: SRT got good starts but looked well short of his best as he couldn't continue once he got in. Getting injured now is insult to injury. Ditto with Laxman. The Ugly: 1. Kumble where have you gone: As a bowler he's failed. As a captain he's failed. The only reason we won a test match in this series is Sehwag's monster double century and Harbhajan abusing a minefield of a track. In other words I can't see where Kumble has contributed with the ball, bat or as a captain. Argueably his lowest moment as a captain as the first defeat was one of the worst in Indian history and the third test looks to be going to a similar fate. To further muddle the issue he never looked to have gained handle of the review system. But Kumble biggest failure and argueably the biggest problem in this series has been to continiously, stubbornly, back out of form, tired looking batsmen and stick with the 4 bowler combination when it was never on. Considering how ineffective he's been as a bowler (even before the series) and Zaheer's recent comeback from a nagging heel injury it's shocking how Kumble could have unbalanced this side so much with out of form batsmen and only 4 bowlers. Even before the series started, Kumble showed his hand by giving Dravid preference by asking for a second wicket keeper rather than trying to bring in a promising young bowler/spinner or batsmen. There's no doubt that loyalty is a huge part of being a captain but you're not doing anybody any favours by throwing them into the fire of test cricket when they're better served taking a break from the game to get your form back.

[Holysmoke]

I agree with pretty much all of the OP, except for the Harbhajan part. It is going to take more than 1 test match to make me believe that he is getting back to becoming the bowler he was.

[King]

1. Dravid and Goliath: There's no comeback for this underdog I'm afraid. He looks out of form and his range of shots is gone. A man lacking confidence and abused by Mendis' middle finger! Dravid is still good enough to defend well but he's not the same batsmen who dispatches anything loose and wide for boundaries and constant runs.

You may have spoken a little too soon. Doesn't matter his form he's a fighter and one every team would like to have. Despite his terrible form often he has scratched around for some valuable runs that has won India games. He lives to fight yet another day. The last time I saw him bat like this was in Australia. There he was ugly but here he look all right. I'm hoping he'll make you eat your words tomorrow and am sure you will appreciate that.

[King]

Honestly you have been very kind to Tendulkar. Doesn't matter what his past records are he hardly looked the best in the world in this test series.

[putrevus]

why is it with every ball sri lankans bowl it looks like they might get a wicket against people who are supposed to be best players of spin.

[Rohan495]

yea thats why Laxman needs to be promoted up the order.Hes not playing his natural game at number 6 hes a better batsmen than his average. He averages 48 up the order. Time to drop Ganguly who is 36 and is anything but done. Dravid can have another year, but i dont know about Tendulkar either, All i hear is god god god if hes god why he is constantly letting india down as harsh as it sounds time to send a strong message to him it doesnt matter who you are no one should get any special privileges. I want to see a line up like this eventually 1. Sehwag 2. Gambhir 3. Laxman 4. Dravid 5. Sharma 6. Yuvraj 7. Dhoni 8. Harbhajan 9. Zaheer 10. Ishant 11. RP Singh Time to phase out Ganguly and Tendulkar as they are approaching an old age atleast Laxman is only 33 and Dravid can still play

[Brainfade]

Now that the series is coming to a conclusion here are a few thoughts of mine: The Good: 1. Sharma looks the real deal: There's no doubt his pace, bounce and ability to move the ball are vital on away tracks that help the bowlers but he's taken an unprecedented step as such a young bowler to be the best paceman on flat, listless tracks in Sri Lanka. Sharma is vital to Indian cricket as we haven't had his kind of bowler that can hit the deck hard and get genuine movement and great pace for quite some time. He's confirmed his position as one of the most exciting young fast bowlers in the international stage and that's saying something considering how often we've had these young bowlers shine in one or two series only to disappear into oblivion (Patel, Pathan, Balaji).

Another excellent post! You're making quite a habit of this, now :) I have just one disagreement (in hindsight, of course) - I am not as optimisitic about Ishant Sharma's future as you are. His initial performances and our reactions to them are eerily similar to those other bowlers you paranthesized, not to mention Sreesanth and even Nehra. My pessimism has nothing to do with Ishant's skills, stamina or performance thus far. It has to do with our rather bad history with managing injuries to fast bowlers; every one of them has struggled after coming back their first big injury. I hope I am horribly wrong in Ishant's case, but until such time, I will worry!

[fineleg]

Honestly you have been very kind to Tendulkar. Doesn't matter what his past records are he hardly looked the best in the world in this test series.

But his "concentration powers" looked the best in the world :P We idiots dont appreciate such finer details of artistic batting :D

[Desi Cartman]

The Good : Mendis , Jaya's captaincy & Batting , Murali , Parsad , Bhajji , Sehwag , GG , Ishant The Bad : SRT's form , Vaas , Vandort , Zaheer The Ugly : Karthick , Parthiv , RD , SG , Kumble , VVS I hope RD and VVS do something magical tomorrow

[fineleg]

The Good : Mendis , Jaya's captaincy & Batting , Murali , Parsad , Bhajji , Sehwag , GG , Ishant The Bad : SRT's form , Vaas , Vandort , Zaheer The Ugly : Karthick , Parthiv , RD , SG , Kumble , VVS I hope RD and VVS do something magical tomorrow

You havent learned ur lesson fully yet. Watch the first half of day-4.

[Dhondy]

A tiny nation of a few million people has its phallus deeply buried in our hindside, with litres of semen coursing through the veins of the vanquished where blood should. Apart from that, everything else is alright, and I see a bright future ahead of us.

[Desi Cartman]

You havent learned ur lesson fully yet. Watch the first half of day-4.

even u r hoping for something special but ofcourse its highly unlikely but hope kurnay kay kounsay $ lug rahay hain :icflove: after all we are desi fans ..

[cowboysfan]

our test team is in deep trouble and it could be years before we can get it back together.I wish kumble would retire after the aussie tour and ganguly should not be picked for an indian team EVER AGAIN.

[Fontaine]

You may have spoken a little too soon. Doesn't matter his form he's a fighter and one every team would like to have. Despite his terrible form often he has scratched around for some valuable runs that has won India games. He lives to fight yet another day. The last time I saw him bat like this was in Australia. There he was ugly but here he look all right. I'm hoping he'll make you eat your words tomorrow and am sure you will appreciate that.

I sincerely hope so. Signed, Fontaine.

[Fontaine]

Another excellent post! You're making quite a habit of this, now :) I have just one disagreement (in hindsight, of course) - I am not as optimisitic about Ishant Sharma's future as you are. His initial performances and our reactions to them are eerily similar to those other bowlers you paranthesized, not to mention Sreesanth and even Nehra. My pessimism has nothing to do with Ishant's skills, stamina or performance thus far. It has to do with our rather bad history with managing injuries to fast bowlers; every one of them has struggled after coming back their first big injury. I hope I am horribly wrong in Ishant's case, but until such time, I will worry!

Yes, the evil empire (BCCI) has a long and storied history dealing incompetently with our nation's fast bowlers. There would be plenty of English county teams that would sign Sharma and use his naturals skills and in turn he would learn much about fitness in world class facilities, and how to fine tune his art in conditions suited for bowlers. Two years of county cricket and we could have ourselves the next Glenn McGrath. That's how highly I think of Sharma. He's got something you can't teach, or train. Natural height, a smooth natural run up, uncomplicated delivery that just beautifully has it's release point at the highest point above his head, and raw pace. Plus the heart of a lion in bowling long spells and maintaining his speed which is something that cannot be under rated. Every test playing captain would give his left testicle for a young bowler like Sharma and develop him to his full potential, but the BCCI can't be concerned with such matters when they have much more blood money to make by creating a 20/20 monopoly at any cost. The brutal truth of the matter is that with a stagnant, flat tracked domestic cricket league, and piss poor support structure, the Indian Cricket setup doesn't deserve good fast bowlers.

[flamy]

A tiny nation of a few million people has its phallus deeply buried in our hindside, with litres of semen coursing through the veins of the vanquished where blood should. Apart from that, everything else is alright, and I see a bright future ahead of us.

:cantstop::cantstop::cantstop::cantstop::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:

[Fontaine]

Well the series is over now and nothing much has happened to change my opinion above. Dravid play ok in the last innings but it was a tortured knock where he was clearly struggling and surviving rather than playing with any form. Overall, I'm actually pretty disgusted at how our spinners performed. Apart from Harbhajan benefitting tremendously from a cracked surface in the 2nd test our spinners under performed and played like crap on a spinning surface. Kumble in particular has been utterly dismal. Batsmen are playing him well because he hasn't come up with anything new for quite sometime now. He's tired, old and past his prime as a captain and as a player. We can't afford to carry bowlers in this team who aren't performing. If Kumble is going to get just 8 wickets (half of them tail enders) in three tests, in more than 130 overs then he needs to give way to Chawla or Ojha as those stats are on par with part time spinners. I would rather have Sehwag as captain and he can bowl spin along with Harbhajan in the next series against Australia, which would allow us to go with three seamers and still keep 7 batsmen.