India: Best in all Formats by 2016?

Browsing various cricketing websites and forums, an almost religious tendency of mine during any given day, I get the distinct impression that many Indian pundits and fans alike are a little ‘doom and gloom’, shall we say, concerning the future prospects of their side in Test cricket. Indeed, some maverick heathens have even gone so far as to suggest that India should treat the game’s longest format as somewhat of a sideshow to high octane limited overs competitions.

As reigning One Day International world champions, and with the ever burgeoning success of the Indian Premier League seemingly gaining precedence amongst a number of supporters, players and of course the money men, the question of whether India are going to be sufficiently equipped to compete in Test cricket in the long-term is a valid one.

Naturally, with the recent retirement of Test batting stalwart Rahul Dravid, and the looming departure of fellow living legends Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, there is every reason for concern amongst the Indian cricketing fraternity. Augment that with recent Test performances packing all the punch of an alcohol free cocktail in a straitjacket and one could be excused in forecasting a rather bleak outlook.

Virat Kohli - Budding Superstar

But is the situation really all that dire? In fact, given the wealth of talent consistently performing to remarkable levels in first class cricket, would it be too preposterous of me to suggest that it is well within India's capabilities to become the world’s greatest side in each and every format over the course of the next five years?

Batsmen possessing the unique obdurate technical and mental qualities of the likes of Dravid are born and not made, but within a fanatical cricketing nation whose booming population exceeds one billion the talent pool runs both wide and deep. The conveyor belt of Indian cricket has historically produced exceptionally talented batsmen, and that is one trend at least that appears unremitting. Where Indian cricket aficionados shudder at the very thought of the retirement of their golden generation of batsmen, I would point them in the direction of domestic run-scoring leviathans Ajinkya Rahane, averaging 68.47 in first class cricket, Rohit Sharma (63.52), Manoj Tiwary (61.07) and Cheteshwar Pujara (53.50). After all, a top seven of Gambhir, Rahane, Pujara, Sharma, Kohli, Tiwary and Dhoni possesses a look as formidable as a rampaging Indian elephant commandeered by a tiger blood infused Charlie Sheen, does it not?

The gulf between Test cricket and Indian domestic cricket may be akin to a child’s progression from Subbuteo to playground soccer, but such records are not attained through inconsiderable talent. Of course, other highly talented Indian youngsters, Suresh Raina being a prime example, have come unstuck on quicker overseas decks, but with youth and talent in abundance there remains significant cause for optimism. Batting aside, the fielding standards of the Indian Test team will also undoubtedly be raised by the inauguration of these children of the IPL revolution. Fast bowling, India’s perpetual deficiency, is still very much the quandary.  

Powered by the financial juggernaut that is the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Indian cricket certainly has the wherewithal to address such a problem, and indeed is already showing signs of doing so. Umesh Yadav, a genuinely express bowler capable of reaching speeds of 90mph, garnered some success during India’s recent humbling on Australian soil, despite at times looking as economically sound as a Greek investment banking group. Varun Aaron, another young speedster, has recently been introduced to ODI cricket and looks to be a real find. Add medium pacer Praveen Kumar, a canny swing bowler that stood out for India in the 2011 tour of England in to the equation and India have a perfectly capable battery of seamers to complement promising spin bowlers in Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

Consistency amongst India’s young seamers remains an issue, but sceptics should remember that the world’s two finest fast bowlers, Dale Steyn and James Anderson, did not find immediate success in their respective Test careers. In Yadav and Aaron in particular therein lies hope that a new breed of Indian fast bowler is arriving on the scene, and that money ploughed in to developing such bowlers by the BCCI is beginning to bear a rather wholesome fruit.

Amongst my suggestions I have of course neglected to mention current Test stars Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan. These two mercurial cricketers still have a significant role to play going forward, despite the advance of years, but if anything their omission here further highlights that India have greater strength in depth than those naysayers would have you believe.

England, South Africa and the re-emerging Australia will no doubt have something to say about India’s chances of ascension to the summit of world cricket, but one key element of my hypothetical Indian line-up is consistency. Those players listed possess the all-round skills required to succeed in each and every format of the game, ultimately creating the possibility of a situation where the Indian Test team mirrors the Indian Twenty20 team. Their adversaries have no such luxury, and it gives India a decided edge.

There are plenty of trials and tribulations ahead for India’s latest crop of hugely exciting youngsters, of that there is no doubt. Batsmen will need to adapt their technique for faster and swinging conditions, as the great Rahul Dravid did before them, and bowlers will need to alter their lines, lengths and variations to suit. India sit on the cusp of seeing another golden generation break through, and their emergence couldn’t be timelier if it’d come disguised as a Rolex watch.

Will they rule the cricketing world within five years? Only father time holds that answer, but contrary to the beliefs of a dispirited nation I for one envisage India being a considerable force for years to come. Like any new relationship, there may be doubts and hiccoughs along the way, but once the dust settles India should be feared once more.

County Cricket: Where Should Loyalties Lie?

With news reaching the cricketing world that batsman Alviro Petersen will be joining Essex as their overseas player for the first half of the 2012 County Championship season, it is the second such announcement of late that I must admit to finding slightly baffling. The other announcement, of course, was that all-rounder Vernon Philander would be linking up with Somerset for a similar time period.

The problem with this? Petersen and Philander are both South African, and which country is visiting England this summer in what should be a crucial top of the rankings clash? That’s right, South Africa.

Home advantage, something which has become exceedingly more pronounced during the last twelve months, is undoubtedly the trump card that many a host relies upon. It may only be a sphere of cork and leather, but the cricket ball is a rather elaborate character with a tendency to act and behave in a vastly different manner dependent upon the part of the globe it happens to be visiting. To the touring side, a series can be lost before the necessary adjustments to individual techniques can be applied. England’s horror tour to the UAE of late provides rather pertinent evidence of that.

Vernon Philander - Impressive.

Alviro Petersen is of course no stranger to English conditions, having completed a past spell at Glamorgan, so in all likelihood anything that he was to learn about English conditions will already be firmly embedded. Vernon Philander, on the other hand, has had a great deal less experience. A rather unsuccessful spell with Middlesex will be Philander's abiding memory of England, and one has to question whether he should be given an opportunity to erase that.

A rookie by international standards, Philander has made a mere four Test appearances; and what an entrance in to international cricket it has been. Notching up four 5 wicket hauls and one 10 wicket haul in eight bowling innings has seen Philander average just 13.23 with the ball, somehow outperforming his habitually peerless team-mate Dale Steyn in the process. One would expect Philander’s average with the ball to rise in time, but it has been a heck of a start.

Herein lies my grievance. Philander, it would seem, is going to prove an incredibly dangerous adversary for English batsmen this summer. Combining metronomic accuracy with prodigious lateral movement, the 26 year old possesses the ideal attributes required to wreak havoc in the swing friendly conditions of England.

The problem goes beyond that, though. It may well seem that Philander is going to turn up and be at his devastating best right from the first ball he bowls, and indeed he might well have done, but whilst England is notorious for its assistance of swing bowling, it can be equally difficult for a bowler to master and control that same prodigious movement. Given only a warm-up match or two prior to being plunged straight in to the Test series could have forced Philander to ‘learn on the job’, so to speak, whereas there is no doubt that half a season of playing in such conditions for Somerset beforehand should bring him up to speed nicely.

Somerset are well within their rights to sign an overseas cricketer that will be lining up against England later in the summer, of course. With financial gain in the English domestic game remaining somewhat thin on the ground it is difficult to begrudge a county placing internal interests atop their priority list.

We are often told, though, that county cricket exists almost as a breeding and training barracks to supply the front lines; in this case England. Many at the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will tell you so, as will numerous journalists and supporters of the game alike.

Where then should loyalties lie? Should we expect counties to forego opportunities of financial growth purely to gratify England’s requirements? And, if that is indeed the expectation of counties, will the quality of player produced by those counties reduce in time through a lack of capital to invest in the nurturing of youngsters and facilities in which to do so?

Perhaps it is time for the ECB to make clear their stance with regard to the English domestic system, because there is no doubt that at present the signings of the Petersen’s and Philander’s of this world prior to a huge home series with their home nation is doing England few favours. English counties rely upon the ECB to maximise their money making opportunities through innovation and efficient scheduling, yet the current trend of keeping their friends close, but their enemies closer, bares a hint of biting the hand that feeds them.

Perhaps I am overplaying the significance of such developments, but I certainly wouldn’t argue if the ECB were to introduce a blanket ban upon English counties signing overseas players that were due to tour England that same year. From this author’s point of view, affording upcoming adversaries an opportunity to fully acclimatise just isn’t cricket.

The most respectable of foes...

Just a quick word, then, on the axing of former captain Ricky Ponting from the Australian One Day International squad. 'Punter' is due to hold a press conference in Australia today, one in which the cricketing world will be hoping that the Tasmanian doesn’t decide that the time is right to bring the curtain down on the most illustrious of careers.

Australia’s most successful captain, highest run scorer, highest century maker, Ashes winner and twice world cup winner; the list of honours is exhaustive.

Ponting had, until recently, endured the most rotten spell in his lengthy cricketing career over the past 24 months. A string of failures with the bat and a comprehensive defeat on home soil to arch-enemies England led to a resignation of the captaincy, handing over the reins to long-time understudy Michael Clarke. Away from the burden of captaincy the lean patch continued; a situation that saw many an observer calling for his removal from the side entirely.

As far as cricketers go, Ponting is of the old school. A more tenacious character you would be hard pressed to find, and it was by this very virtue that one of Australia’s favourite sons clawed his way back in to something resembling the Punter of yore. It wasn’t easy, in fact at times it was all rather excruciating, but run by insipid run the old master compiled a painstaking 138-ball 62 during the fourth innings of the final Test against South Africa in Johannesburg to perhaps save his ailing Test career, and simultaneously prove any doubts to have been a touch premature.

In Australia’s most recent Test series, a sound 4-0 thrashing of the hapless India, Ponting confirmed that the old adage of ‘form is temporary, class is permanent’ does indeed still ring true when returning a remarkable series average of 108.80. Punter was back to his infuriating best (from an Englishman’s point of view, at least).

Yet it is this irritating, waspish persona that us ‘Poms’ have grown to begrudgingly love. Yes, there have been the expletives aimed at the England balcony following his run-out dismissal by the infamous Gary Pratt during the 2005 Ashes and the foul mouthed tirades aimed at umpires when things haven’t quite gone Australia’s way, but we saw beyond all that. What we saw was an incessant will to win in what is the greatest event on the cricketing calendar – The Ashes. What we saw was an opposition captain that epitomised the true spirit of the Ashes, that utilised every ounce of his brilliance both as a masterful batsman and resplendent fielder to provide us with cricketing memories to last through the ages.

Few batsmen are akin to Ricky Ponting. Whether it be that trademark lunge at the ball as he began his innings, that gunshot sound as he pulled a ball to the boundary in dismissive fashion (one of the finest purveyors of the pull shot in living memory, I might add) or that rare ability to almost always provide when his country was in need; I’m thinking back to that incredible 159-ball 143 to complete a tight run chase against South Africa at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 2006, here.

As an Englishman, I can only hope that Ponting’s announcement later today is purely to inform us of his decision to retire from One Day International cricket forthwith, and that he plans to continue his epic journey inside the Test arena up to the 2013 Ashes series and perhaps beyond. I realise that may sound a little daft, given the seemingly endless occasions on which the flashing blade of Ricky Ponting has put England to the sword, but should he announce his retirement from all formats of cricket this evening one thing is for certain: the sport will be a lesser place for it.

Should he retire, he will have gone out on scores of 221 and 60 not out in his ultimate Test match; perhaps a fitting finale for a batsman of such genius. Whatever the outcome may be,  thanks for the memories Ricky, and I hate to admit it but us Poms didn't just respect you, we actually liked you.

Paceman Pat and his immediate impact...

When South African maestro Dale Steyn is bowling with his tail up, that trademark snarl etched across his face, that demonic look in those piercing eyes and the wind rushing through his hair as he tears in toward the popping crease at breakneck speed, it is safe to assume there is no specialist batsman in world cricket that enjoys the prospect of facing him. Unleashing outswinging and unerringly accurate exocets in excess of 90mph, Steyn is a menacing presence.

In the second and final Test between South Africa and Australia at the Wanderers a fortnight ago, that is exactly the proposition 18 year old paceman Pat Cummins was greeted with when walking to the wicket with his side 292-8 with 18 runs needed to win, and just two wickets remaining in Australia’s second innings.

One could have forgiven Cummins for thinking that this wasn’t part of his job description when his prodigious fast bowling talent saw him picked to earn his first Test cap. Crucial passages of play in a high pressure atmosphere are often where hot prospects sink or swim. Cummins, it seems, has an element of Michael Phelps about him. Where more experienced and illustrious names had failed, Cummins took to his task with the fearless youthful exuberance that only the inexperienced can, swiping the mighty Steyn and co for two boundaries on his way to making 13 not out and winning Australia the match and a share of this compelling and criminally under scheduled Test series.

His batting heroics were nevertheless only the icing on the cake of what was a terrific Test debut for the New South Wales man. Whilst Cummins had looked the most threatening Australian bowler in South Africa’s first innings, his modest return of 1-38 did him little justice. It was the second innings, however, where this rising star of Australian cricket really began to burn at its brightest. One over in particular caught the eye and was rather poignant, as an 18 year old novice gave 40 time centurion Jacques Kallis an almighty working over, before removing the great man with an angled delivery outside off stump; Kallis clearly softened up by the earlier barrage of venomous short deliveries. The cunning old fox had been out-thought and out-smarted by the new cub on the block.

Australia, it must be remembered, were still busy peeling themselves from the canvas after that crushing and traumatic trouncing in Cape Town. This was a side carrying more issues than the average Jeremy Kyle guest line-up, and how it showed here in Johannesburg. Ricky Ponting was embroiled in his own almighty struggle for each and every run as he looked to finally post a score of note, Mitchell Johnson was bowling off a shortened run up as an experimental means of gaining accuracy and swing, and wicket-keeper Brad Haddin had clearly decided that blazing his way back in to form through a series of audacious slogs and extravagant drives was the solution to his own batting woes.

A man whose only issue was how much carnage he could wreak on a stellar South African batting order was Pat Cummins. Experience is key in any sport, with participants constructing a mental portfolio which sees them through the toughest of situations. As a consequence, the mental scars of past failures are often etched deep into their psyche, with the potential to inhibit a mind that was once reliant on natural instinct. One suspects that the absence of these embedded psychological terrors was of greater benefit to Cummins in this pressure cooker situation than years of experience could ever have provided.

India’s master batsman Sachin Tendulkar is one such example of experience, and therefore expectation, altering the way that various situations are approached as time passes. At the age of 18, Sachin played with all the freedom of a chick flying the nest. In recent times, and with the hopes of over one billion fans sitting squarely on those small shoulders, the pressure is at times visibly telling. The hook shot has almost disappeared from the little masters game, no doubt a concession to prolong his stay at the crease, and the whole experience of watching him bat is somewhat diminished (though still a pleasure) from that of his youthful exuberance, as he plays to his strengths with minimal risk. Such a situation is something that may present Pat Cummins with problems of his own in the future, but it is likely the very reason that he was the coolest head in the house at the Wanderers.

Whilst his effect upon this particular Test match was undoubtedly critical, it is the wider impact that the emergence of Cummins has on Australian cricket which is likely to be the most resounding. In truth, Australia have struggled for a fast bowler with genuine quality and a real cutting edge since the retirement of the peerless Glenn McGrath. Mitchell Johnson is a mercurial bowler capable of destroying the best of line-ups, but those performances have become all too infrequent of late. Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle are what you would call solid performers that won’t let anybody down, but there is no doubt that a world class attack needs a leader that oozes class and wicket-taking threat whenever the ball is in his hand. It is early days, but could Pat Cummins be well on his way to filling this void already at the tender age of 18?

Cummins bowls with a maturity well beyond his years, and is clearly a ‘thinking bowler’ always looking to out-smart batsmen. Such attributes were consistently on display throughout the T20 Champions League tournament where he found great success with New South Wales on the flat pitches of the Indian subcontinent. Tall, fast and with the ability to extract prodigious bounce from just back of a length, the raw materials of a world class fast bowler are there in abundance. Add to that the promising early signs that he has an ice cool temperament required for the big occasion, and Australia may just have unearthed themselves a gem.

Only time will tell just how far Pat Cummins can go, but based on these initial glimpses the potential seems to be there for a long and successful Test career. One thing is for sure, his emergence will add much needed spice to the Australian bowling unit ahead of the next Ashes series in England, as the selectors look to revitalise an attack ground in to the dirt by the relentless blades of Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott last winter.

Of course, it is often English practice to get carried away by talented youngsters that display early promise. In this instance, one has to wonder whether that enthusiasm is more closely related to the possibility of a hotly contested Ashes series against a Cummins led Australian bowling attack, after the relative ease with which the little urn was retained last time out. It couldn’t be that English supporters miss having an Australian bowling nemesis, could it?

The curious case of Jacques Kallis...

Twenty years on since the re-admission of South Africa to world cricket following their exclusion due to the government's policy of apartheid, the once banished nation is standing tall alongside the other behemoths of the sport.

They've never been short of talented crickets, South Africa. Prior to the sporting boycott of the nation in 1970 they were represented by undoubted greats of the game in the form of Graeme Pollock and Eddie Barlow, to name but two, and since their re-admission have seen numerous world class performers don the olive green cap.

Open to debate this may be, but perhaps South Africa's greatest ever performer, and a man that has been a stalwart of the side since re-admission is Jacques Henry Kallis. Kallis, it could be argued, is right up there alongside Sir Garfield Sobers as the greatest all-rounder the sport of cricket has ever seen, boasting an incredible 40 Test centuries, second only to Sachin Tendulkar, at an average of 57.43 (at the time of writing).

Add to this 270 Test wickets at an average of 32.01, in addition to the fact that Kallis is the only man to have scored in excess of 10,000 runs and taken in excess of 250 wickets in Test cricket, and you've got yourself one heck of a cricketer.

Why, then, does debate amongst cricket supporters often see Jacques Kallis being ranked slightly below the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara and Rahul Dravid when discussing the greatest batsmen of his era. Purely in terms of statistics, and despite his all-round credentials, Kallis has a batting average superior to any of the aforementioned. As alluded to previously, he is second only to Tendulkar in the number of Test centuries scored, and also holds the lowest number of innings per half century ratio of the group (2.62 innings per half century, with Tendulkar second at 2.66).

Initially, I believed it to be a reflection of Kallis' batting style. Cricket is, after all, an entertainment business. To the purist, Kallis' slightly cumbersome style and often laboured footwork is not hugely adhering, and his solid but unspectacular technique somehow fails to set the pulse racing in comparison to the sublime majesty of Tendulkar, that West Indian flamboyance of Lara, the poise of Dravid and the tenacity of Ponting.

History has a tendency to be kind to pioneers and entertainers, and Jacques, unfortunately, fails to qualify as either. When assessing the greatness of a batsman, however, surely style alone cannot condemn a man whose record stands up to those of his seemingly more illustrious contemporaries. There had to be something deeper and far more significant as to why this magnificent run machine wasn't receiving his dues.

When racking my brains for any possible explanation as to what makes these batsmen so great, I began trawling through the stand-out innings that each have played - whether that be an innings that alters the outcome of a series, an innings that takes their side from a seemingly unwinnable position and puts them into a winnable one, or an innings that simply sets a new precedent against a certain attack.

If we cast our memory back to the Sydney Cricket Ground in January of 2006, the above point becomes particularly relevant. The two greatest batsmen on display in this game, Kallis and Ponting, both had significant success. Kallis scored 111 in the first innings, followed up by 50 not out in the second. Ponting, on the other hand, made 120 in the first innings, and a match winning 143 not out in the second. Statistically, you couldn't argue with either performance. The manner in which the runs were compiled however, presents a different outlook in its entirety.

During that first innings, it was eminently clear that Jacques Kallis and South Africa were desperate for a big first innings total, betrayed by their snail-like run-rate of less than three runs per over. Conversely, Ponting came out and made his 120 from 174 balls, a brisk enough strike rate for sure. This is of far less consequence to this debate than the second innings, however.

After taking a first innings lead of 92 runs, South Africa's batsmen were required to really push on in order to declare and set Australia an imposing total whilst giving themselves enough time to take the ten wickets needed for victory. Herschelle Gibbs went about this task in the right manner, making 67 from 74 balls before falling, though his partner Kallis looked far more concerned with playing for his average in crawling along at barely a strike rate of 50 once again. Upon setting Australia a difficult 287 in 76 overs, Ricky Ponting strode to the crease and blitzed 143 from just 159 balls to lead Australia to an unlikely victory.

That Test match, to my mind, is a prime example of why Ricky Ponting will always be rated as a greater batsman than Jacques Kallis, despite many of the statistics proving otherwise. It is also potentially the key reason as to why Kallis is rarely regarded in the same league as the other extraordinary batsmen I have mentioned throughout this piece to many cricket buffs. In short, Kallis may have spent far too many years of his career being a great accumulator of runs, as opposed to a match winner. Though there have been signs of late that Jacques has attempted to reverse this trend, he may just have left it too late in the day. This, along with the lack of that one career defining innings to date, might just explain why such a magnificent batsman may be placed on a slightly lower pedestal than his esteemed contemporaries, despite having a record that stands shoulder to shoulder with the best of them.