Time for Yuvraj to take a call on his Test career

December 22, 2012
yuvaraj


Mumbai, December 22: If Yuvraj Singh has been looking for a clue about charting the remainder of his cricketing career, the first T20 against England at Pune offered it.

There was Yuvraj Singh scything through the England top order with a three-wicket burst and tearing the visitors’ bowlers apart with a powerful cameo. He was the guiding force behind India’s comfortable five-wicket victory at the Subrata Roy Sahara stadium on Thursday.

Knowing Yuvraj’s vulnerability against spin in the early stages of his innings, England captain Eoin Morgan introduced tweakers Danny Briggs and James Tredwell from both ends, only for the Punjab left-hander to milk some easy runs.

Now, replace that image with Yuvraj in flannels. You’ll find a batsman struggling to impose himself on the opposition, all at sea against top quality spin of Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann. Admittedly, Briggs and Tredwell are not quite in the same class as their seniors, but in coloured clothes Yuvraj seemed a lot more liberated. There was that sense of belongingness in his performance.

Even Yuvraj himself admitted it. “It was T20. So I played with a lot more freedom.” Yes, he has nailed the issue. Yuvraj needs that free atmosphere to express himself, and the subtleties of Test cricket demands a meticulous approach, and careful planning over multiple sessions. At times a batsman even needs to vary one’s game session by session.
Rahul Dravid had showed us that several times. Sometimes, he would go into a cage in one session, blocking ball after ball and waging an intense battle in the middle. All of a sudden he would come out of that dimly-lit boxing ring with a flurry of boundaries, upsetting the well-charted out plans of opposition. It was wonderful pacing of innings.

A batsman like Virender Sehwag would approach that in a different way, muscling the opponents down like a street bully. But then he’s an exception than a norm. It was Yuvraj’s struggling point. He never could find the patience and meticulousness of Dravid, and he couldn’t overcome the technical susceptibilities against spin, like Sehwag did early in his career against short-pitched ball, not allowing him to express himself fully. Hence, there was always that tentativeness about Yuvraj’s batting in Tests.

In that sense, Yuvraj has a predecessor -- Michael Bevan of Australia. Despite being hailed as one of the finest one-day batsman in history, Bevan never really managed to translate that potential into Test cricket. Initially, the left-hander found it hard to digest the fact that he would never make it big in the traditional format, but once that reality set in Bevan transformed himself into a wonderful finisher in 50-over cricket.

There was a time when Yuvraj would react strongly to questions regarding his fight for a place in the Test side, and let the world know of his disappointment about not cementing a place in the longer version despite a decade long attempt. Then he would have stressed on his desire to be in the pantheon of India’s Test greats, but on Thursday, there was a difference when that inevitable question about his Test career was thrown at him.

There was no fight. There was no standard “confident of coming back strongly soon” reply. There was only an air of acceptance.

“Honestly, I don’t want to reply to that question. I am quite happy that I am living, and I no longer care what format I play -- Tests, one-dayers or T20s -- as long as I play for India,” he said rather stoically.

It’s quite tough to trace the source of that detachment. It could be his triumphant battle against cancer or his failures in the recent series against England. But that awareness about his limitations and accepting it would only make him a stronger player in his pet formats.

India are due to face England in the second T20 here on Saturday, and then there are two more T20s against Pakistan, followed by one-dayers against Pakistan and England. A focused Yuvraj could be India’s biggest asset.



Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
February 7,2020

Sydney, Feb 7: "I received a message from Brett Lee," said former India cricketer Sachin Tendulkar on Friday when asked as to who recruited him to take part in the Bushfire relief fundraiser match.

Tendulkar will be coaching the Ponting XI in the upcoming Bushfire Bash on Sunday, February 9 at the Junction Oval.

"I received a message from Brett Lee. Brett said that Kevin (Roberts, Cricket Australia's chief executive) would like to be in touch with you. It was a no-brainer. From the moment I was asked, I said, 'yes I'm more than happy to come here," cricket.com.au quoted Tendulkar as saying.

Bushfire Bash was originally slated to be played at Sydney on Saturday but weather forecast prompted Cricket Australia to reschedule the game to ensure the best possible pitch and outfield conditions for the final of Big Bash League.

The match will be played to raise funds and all match profits will go to the Australian Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund.

"This is an alarming situation, it's catastrophic - that's an understatement. You see the number of lives it has affected, not only humans but also wildlife which sometimes people don't talk about. That is equally important. I'm so happy I'm here in whatever way to support the cause, to raise money," Tendulkar said.

Ponting XI: Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting (c), Elyse Villani, Brian Lara, Phoebe Litchfield, Brad Haddin (wk), Brett Lee, Wasim Akram, Dan Christian, Luke Hodge. Coach: Sachin Tendulkar

Gilchrist XI: Adam Gilchrist (c & wk), Shane Watson, Brad Hodge, Yuvraj Singh, Alex Blackwell, Andrew Symonds, Courtney Walsh, Nick Riewoldt, Peter Siddle, Fawad Ahmed (one more to be announced). Coach: Tim Paine

The Bushfire Bash exhibition match will be a 10-overs-per-side contest, with a five-over Powerplay, no bowling restrictions, and batters unable to get out from the first ball they face.

Bowlers will not have over limits, fielders can sub on and off as it suits, while captains will have the ability to sub batters in and out during an innings.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
January 5,2020

Mumbai, Jan 5: All-rounder Irfan Pathan on Saturday announced his retirement from all forms of cricket, ending an injury-ridden career that prevented him from realising his true potential.

The 35-year-old's retirement was on expected lines, considering he last played a competitive game in February 2019 during the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy for Jammu and Kashmir.

He did not even put himself in the IPL auction pool, last month.

The left-arm seamer's bowling was like a breath of fresh air when he made his India debut against Australia at the Adelaide Oval in 2003.

He never had express pace but his natural ability to swing the ball into the right-handers got him instant success, also drawing comparisons with the great Kapil Dev.

It seemed India had found the all-rounder they were looking for since Kapil left the scene. Pathan, who last played for India in October 2012, featured in 29 Tests (1105 runs and 100 wickets), 120 ODIs (1544 runs and 173 wickets) and 24 T20 Internationals (172 runs and 28 wickets).

He was part of the victorious Indian team at the 2007 World Twenty20 and was the man-of-the-match in the final against Pakistan.

One of his best performances came on the tour of Pakistan in 2006 when he became the second Indian after Harbhajan Singh to take a Test hat-trick, removing Salman Butt, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yusuf during the Karachi game.

He also played a big role in India winning a Test match against Australia on a tough Perth wicket, which offered steep bounce.

Injuries and lack of form troubled him thereafter and his ability to swing the ball deteriorated.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 19,2020

Geneva, Mar 19: Regional Olympic officials are rallying around the IOC and have backed its stance on opening the Tokyo Games as scheduled, as direct criticism from gold medalist athletes built amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Leaders of continental Olympic groups praised the IOC after a conference call Wednesday to update them on coronavirus issues four months before the opening ceremony in Tokyo on July 24.

"We are living through an unpredictable crisis and as such, it is important that we have one policy, expressed by the IOC, and we follow that policy in unison," the Italy-based European Olympic Committees said.

However, when the International Olympic Committee published an interview with its president, Thomas Bach, after a separate call with athlete representatives, it prompted a four-time Olympic champion to urge postponing the games.

Bach acknowledged that many athletes were concerned about qualifying events being canceled, but noted that there were still four months to go until the games are set to be opened.

"We will keep acting in a responsible way in the interests of the athletes," Bach said.

British rowing great Matthew Pinsent wrote on Twitter that the comments from Bach, his former IOC colleague, were "tone deaf."

"The instinct to keep safe (not to mention obey govt instructions to lock down) is not compatible with athlete training, travel and focus that a looming Olympics demands of athletes, spectators organisers," Pinsent wrote.

Responding to the criticism from Hayley Wickenheiser, a four-time Olympic hockey gold medalist, the IOC said it was "counting on the responsibility and solidarity of the athletes."

Members reinforce faith in IOC

The IOC repeated its steadfast stance after a conference call with sports governing bodies, many of which have not completed qualification events for Tokyo.

"There is no need for any drastic decisions at this stage; and any speculation at this moment would be counter-productive," the IOC said.

That message was repeated after Wednesday's conference call by IOC executive board member Robin Mitchell, the interim leader of the group of national Olympic bodies known as ANOC.

"We share the view that we must be realistic, but not panic," Mitchell said in a statement released by the IOC on behalf of the Oceania Olympic group.

Offering unanimous support for the IOC's efforts to resolve qualification issues, the 41-nation Pan-American group noted challenges facing potential Olympians.

Australian Olympic Committee chief executive Matt Carroll said his organized recognized there was a global health crisis, but equally was assured by the IOC that the games would go ahead.

"We recognize people are suffering -- people are sick, people are losing jobs, businesses are struggling amid enormous community uncertainty. Things are changing everyday and we all must adapt," Carroll said.

"We owe it to our Australian athletes to do everything we can to ensure they will participate with the best opportunity in those Games."

Australia's team delegation leader said the focus now was "moving to the planning of our pre-Games preparation to ensure we get our athletes to the Games healthy, prepared and virus free."

"Clearly that is a major challenge for all National Olympic Committees," he said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.