Virat Kohli Has Landed

I’m still not persuaded that the Indian team is a good talent incubator, but I hope Kohli’s maiden ODI century won’t be his last. Note two things: first, the boy’s just a year into his 20s, which means he could be in our living room televisions for the next decade if he plays his cards right. Second, he came out of the India U-19 squad, which also produced Yuvraj Singh. (Dinesh Kaarthik, Ravindra Jadeja and Manish Pandey, the first Indian to score a century in the IPL, also claim the same pedigree.)

I’ve heard it said that Indian domestic cricket isn’t trusted to consistently produce international-caliber players, which forces selectors to choose ‘em young (this is opposed to the Australian system, which likes its players to mature sometimes deep into their 20s before selecting them). But the U-19 and ‘A’ squads travel abroad, get a taste of foreign pitches, and face toucher challenges. They’ve got the better stuff — or so they say. The truth is, after a decade of Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman, we’re still holding our breath for the future.

The Umpire Referral Process Is A Failure

And I wish we could just dismiss it as such, reform it as I said we should, and be done with the latest post-series rituals wherein: a losing team in a series that didn’t have the process available cries that had it been an option, they would not have lost; but a losing team in a series that did have the process available cries that it had not been an option, they would have won.

But the underlying problem has much more to do with larger, philosophical questions than a simple tinkering here and there. I’m not just talking about the traditionalist discourse of cricket — which argues that the game is, more than any other, about chance and fate, whereas modernists — drunk on human agency — think we can know everything.

There’s also the “truth” issue, that is, whether we can attain a semblance of objectivity in the human realm. On the one hand, we have people who argue for relativism, which dismisses a transcendental Truth as an earthly possibility (you say potato, I say potaato, etc.). On the other, we have old-school curmudgeons who say the Truth is out there, and we can get it (either through religion or our moral reasoning).

How does this very much butchered rendering of the debate pertain to cricket? For whatever reason, those pushing for technology seem to think we’ll have the answers as soon as it’s introduced. In many cases, they’re correct — it’s hard to argue with those white dots on Snick-o. But many times, they’re not — as we saw in the First Test between South Africa and England. Rather than ending the interpretive urge, camera replays only seem to propel them, and don’t get me started about Hawk-eye: just because that lovely red line may hit wickets, I’m not so sure the ball will.

So the modernists mistakenly think that the Truth is somehow always attainable here, and that they keep being let down should sound a note of caution. We could all just be pragmatists about it, and go along with what I’ve said before: let umpires review their own decisions if they’re unsure (and that too only about a particularly ambiguous aspect) and allow for a certain amount of fun and chance to still remain in the game. The goal here shouldn’t be to know definitively each time if each decision was accurate, but rather to keep cricket enjoyable, take pleasure in umpire cock-ups and decision debates and let things plod on.

Or as one famous pragmatist put it, “Take care of freedom, and truth will take care of itself.”

Dinesh Kaarthik Needs To Calm Down

What’s wrong with Dinesh Kaarthik that he always messes up spectacularly when pushed into the limelight? He’s lucky India won the third ODI, or that fumbled run-out of T. Dilshan (and the near-fumbled stumping of K. Sangakarra) would have landed him in serious danger.

But Kaarthik, believe it or not, isn’t all that bad a wicketkeeper, and he’s not at all a bad batsman either (I still remember him opening against England in England a couple of years ago, dealing with swing and a fiery R. Sidebottom).

On the other hand, you have to appreciate Kaarthik’s predicament: he only gets to play when he’s replacing M.S. Dhoni, India’s captain and best ODI batsman for some time now (and recipient of a Padma Shri award, apparently). That’s enough to add some pressure, not to mention Kaarthik’s unfortunate ability to look like a naive waif begging to be bullied (as his own teammate Ashish Nehra did during the IPL).

The Sulieman Benn-Johnson-Haddin Spat

I’m a bit late to this, being nearly 24 hours behind Brisbane, but a nasty little exchange between Benn-Johnson-Haddin on the field. I disagree with Chris Broad’s decision to suspend Benn for two ODIs; he was merely responding to an out-and-out aggressive show from Haddin (pointing bats and what not).

After all, the initial cause for the drama — Johnson and Benn colliding — was hardly rude; just a normal tussle. What escalated things was Haddin’s display, followed by some sharp words. Now, Benn could have just moved on — and he’d have a better case if he didn’t point at Haddin in the middle of the pitch — but cricketers aren’t supposed to be angels.

Watch the episode here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoAOhzcbjqw

Exclusive: Rajkot A Batting Paradise

Around 35 overs, with India just past 300 runs and looking set for 400, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan had this to say: “Rajkot must be a nightmare for bowlers. It’s a paradise for batsmen.”

Huh. He may be on to something.

Sulieman Benn Is A Joker

A good bowler, too, sure, but also a very funny guy. There was a moment on Day 3 when he ran up to bowl at Brad Haddin, went through the action, only to look quizzically at everyone when no ball came out of his hand.

Turns out he left the ball behind on the ground, where its red got lost next to a red advertising poster. Haddin looks somewhat miffed; Benn just looks back as if to say, “Wait — what did I just do?”

And Michael Slater finished the moment off with a great quote: “That’s his mystery ball.” Watch it here, Part IV.

The Tragedy Of Peter Fulton

We just had a brilliant Test match unfold between New Zealand and Sri Lanka. This is what sporting pitches can do (no disrespect to the Kanpur result). I’ll have many things to say about it, but I just wanted to talk about Peter Fulton, who, for God knows what reason, decided not to review his LBW decision in the 2nd innings even though he knew he had an inside edge.

I don’t know much about Fulton; the commentators seemed to imply he’s in dreadful form. But you just watch his face after he’s been given out, and your heart breaks. He touches his bat; sees the red mark; looks at the pitch and his partner (who’s looking down, almost out of shame), and then he walks off, resigned. He’s so low on confidence, the guy actually wanted to be given out and figured he’d be of more use in the dressing room.

This review system has thrown everyone for a loop, but this must be its saddest encounter yet. It’s almost an old-fashioned nod to fate and fortune: I know I wasn’t out; I know I can reverse it — but I won’t, because ’tis my time to go. (Watch it here, Part III video.)

Virender Sehwag Gets Liftoff

The rocket boosters took their time, but Sehwag’s surged past the stratosphere against Sri Lanka in the 2nd Test before anyone figured what he was doing. Dropped on naught, Sehwag went from 6 off 24 at one point to 57 off 64. Brilliant stuff. The magic of boundaries compares nicely to the wonders of compound interest. (Just a side-note in these tough economic times: save, save, save!)

Sri Lanka Tries To Out-India India

Around the 18th over in the 2nd Test between India and Sri Lanka, both Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag disposed of their helmets for some baggy caps, knowing that whatever fearsome trio of Herath-Mendis-Muralitharan would do, they couldn’t hurt their fragile skulls.

But what a thing to behold! Three spinners in an attack, and not an Indian one! Let’s see if they pay enough tribute to the Bedi-Prasana-Chandrashekhar troika. Maybe one of them could don a nice 1970s mustache?

UPDATE: After only six overs of using two spinners at both ends, Sangakarra abandoned Mendis-Muralitharan and brought back a pace bowler. So much for that.

Ishant Sharma Bites The Dust

His descent is nearly complete. Dropped from the 2nd Test against Sri Lanka. But the selectors replace the man with S. Sreesanth, another once-heralded pace asset who quickly fell from grace with bad form, persistent injuries and an absolutely ridiculous on-field persona that even Jerk Supremo Harbhajan Singh couldn’t stand.

I’m already up to sign a “Bring Sharma Back” petition if someone’s passing it around. (Just watch Sreesanth do well in this Test, just to spite all of us.)