India is cricket’s number one Test nation
Roar Guru By vinay verma, 22 Jul 2009 Vinay Verma is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- Australian Cricket, Brett Lee, Cricket, english cricket, Indian cricket, International Cricket, Michael Clarke
India's Gautam Gambhir, center, is congratulated by Australian Brett Lee as Indian V.V.S. Laxman, right, looks on as they return after end of play on the first day of their third cricket test match in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2008. Gambhir scored his second hundred in consecutive matches with an unbeaten 149 Wednesday. AP Photo/Gurinder Osan
It is time for a reality check. The centre of the cricketing universe is not Australia. Neither is it England, notwithstanding their comprehensive victory at Lords.
This current Ashes series, for many players, is an audition for the IPL. Who will be the first 2 million dollar man?
Currently, Dhoni,Pietersen and Flintoff have the bragging rights at 1.5 million dollars.
Michael Clarke, Haddin, Hughes and Johnson are being head hunted and I lean towards Clarke being the first to break the magic two million. The Punter at $400,000 is below David Hussey and Brett Lee. Symonds and Gilchrist are both on a million plus.
The Symonds sacking could have something to do with dissent in the dressing room. Dressing rooms around the world are not one big happy family. There are poor relatives aplenty.
Coming back to Test Cricket, Australia no longer has the invincibility of five years ago.
There is a belief among the top six that Australia can be beaten. South Africa, India and England have exposed the vulnerability. In a perverse way, this is exactly what many in Australia have been craving.
They wanted more even contests and now that they have them it is unpalatable.The moral to the story is never to wish mediocrity on your team.
The Test results of 2008 clearly put South Africa at the top, with 11 Test wins and series wins against Australia and England. They also drew a series in India.
Australia played 14 won 5 and lost series to South Africa and India.
Their five victories included one against India and two each against West Indies and New Zealand. India played 15 and won 6. They won series against Australia and England.
In 2009 Australia have played 5, won two and lost two. India won away to New Zealand in 2009 and are the only unbeaten Test side this year. Depending on your nationality, any one of three can lay claim to being the number one Test nation.
If England win the Ashes, then they too can start crowing.
Lets put aside the statistics and money for the time being and speculate on who of the Test players we would actually pay to watch?
I list my unbiased preferences for what I expect to be a contentious debate. I am working on something similar to the marketabilty component of the current CA contracts.
Australia: Ponting, Clarke, Hughes
England: Pietersen, Flintoff
South Africa: De Villiers, Steyn, Duminy
India: Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman and Sehwag
Sri Lanka: Sangakarra, Mendis, Jayawardene and Murali
West Indies: Sarwan
Pakistan:Mohammed Yousuf
Sadly there is no one I would pay to watch from New Zealand, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.
Finally, taking current form, post Lords, I lean towards India as the number one Test nation.
Lest I be accused of bias I base this on the last 8 Tests played between Australia and India and it is 3-2 to India with three draws. In my mind, this situation can only change if Australia win the next three tests against England.
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July 22nd 2009 @ 11:53am
vinay verma said | July 22nd 2009 @ 11:53am | Report comment
All good points Chandra and Rusty and on statistical evidence you are both right. My thrust is that the Rankings are based on past deeds and do not reflect the strengths at this moment in time.
Please read this in conjunction with my “players i would pay to watch” . Cricket is after all meant to be entertaining and I for one am pleased that Test Cricket in the 21st Century is altogether more attacking and result oriented. The draw in Cardiff was not great cricket but it was high drama.
This week I am trying to get people out of their comfort zone and hoping we can celebrate all that is good about this game we a re all so passionate about.
July 22nd 2009 @ 12:04pm
Chop said | July 22nd 2009 @ 12:04pm | Report comment
Talk about the the glass being half full Vinay…..
India is the financial capital of cricket but apart from that….
The Indian team are as badly behaved as the Australian side these day so there’s no moral high ground there.
Even with Australian rebuilding, we have still managed to beat Sth Africa, Sri Lanka in fact everyone but India on their home ground, but India do not compete as well out of their own country.
As for your wraps on Harbhajan, that stinks of double standards after your comments on other threads regarding player behaviour.
July 22nd 2009 @ 12:38pm
vinay verma said | July 22nd 2009 @ 12:38pm | Report comment
No cricket team can afford to take the moral high ground. Show me where I am taking the moral high ground.
As for harbhajan I have said many times before he is a prat. I also said he works to a script. I take very little notice of who said what to whom. I also said I would not pay to watch him . So lets not take things out of context.
India now competes very well out of their country. Just beaten New Zealand in NZ. Beat Australia in Perth where Australia are supposed to be impregnable.
Come on ,Chop,dont let the Lord’s defeat get you down. I note your comments on Spiro’s post and whilst it is laudable you are sticking up for Australia it does sound like sour grapes.
July 22nd 2009 @ 5:51pm
Justin said | July 22nd 2009 @ 5:51pm | Report comment
They were spanked 2 nil in Sri Lanka last year werent they Vinay?
July 22nd 2009 @ 6:28pm
vinay verma said | July 22nd 2009 @ 6:28pm | Report comment
This was the series where India confronted the the M&M’s and they slipped on them .Sri lanka one the first convincingly and Mendis made the Fab Four look like ballerinas with their hulas around their necks.Slipe slide and slither. first test to SLanka by an innings with only Laxman resisting in the second innings.
India won the next Test at Galle with Sehwag scoring 201 not out in a masterful display of batting.He scored this in a total of 329 and only took 232 balls with 22 fours and 4 sixes. Mendis still got ten in this match.
Sri Lanka won the third so they took the series 2-1. Menis got 26 wickets in 3 Tests and Murali got 21.
This is why I said in my post I would pay to watch these two. Mendis has this unique carrom ball ala Gleeson but different. He bowls stump to stump and makes you play every ball. Worth watching because he is a special talent.
Not a spanking. Only a masterclass in spin bowling.
July 22nd 2009 @ 2:16pm
vinay verma said | July 22nd 2009 @ 2:16pm | Report comment
Chandra can you help me out? South africa were due to play a Test Series in India in early 2010. This now doesn’t appear on the Future Tours Listing in Cricinfo. Do you know if this has been cancelled?
July 22nd 2009 @ 2:29pm
Chop said | July 22nd 2009 @ 2:29pm | Report comment
This is what I wrote on Spiro’s post, I’d like your answers on these if you think I have a case of sour grapes….Don’t you agree that there were inconsistencies in the process?
“Have you heard ANYTHING about these decisions from the team or Cricket Australia? Have you hear the Australian team is coming home if the umpire is not replaced?
No didn’t think so……”
“I completely agree with you Spiro, the problem is with the process and lack of consistency in applying the process for disputed catches.
The umpires made many mistakes during the match, I can forgive the no-ball for Katich because I’m certain there are many that go both ways in a game and the umpires focus rightfully is at the batting end of the pitch.
What really irked me was the inconsistency. The obviously bad decisions Hughes’s in the second dig and Ponting’s in the first (even though they should have given him out for a different reason) could’ve and in fact should have been avoided by correct process being followed.
Hussey’s was just a very bad decision and that happens, hopefully less so when the referral system become law after this series (from my understanding the poms did not want it for this series against Australa even though they have all the technology).”
I don’t think you can accuse the comments of being sour grapes. Can you disagree that Hussey’s decision was a bad one?
In your post you have said ‘They wanted more even contests and now that they have them it is unpalatable.The moral to the story is never to wish mediocrity on your team.’
To put it in context, this was a while back before the mass retirements and two lots of winning 10′s of tests in a row.
They were saying that other teams needed to get to the Australian teams level, not that the Australian team ‘wished mediocrity’ on itself, though it could be argued that has been what occurred in the last 18 months or so
July 22nd 2009 @ 3:58pm
vinay verma said | July 22nd 2009 @ 3:58pm | Report comment
Hey Chop,only you know if it was sour grapes or the Grapes of Wrath. If it wasn’t I accept your word for it.
With regard to the inconsistencies or otherwise I said very early in spiro’s piece that we were not discussing jack the ripper or Ivan Milat. Carrying on from the Steinbeck theme Cricket is like God’s little Acre(or 22 yards) and we are here to play. It is a game and the inconsistencies and bad decisions even out over time. Sometimes this time can stretch into the afterlife.
The Hussey decision is a non event. My first reaction was “thats a bad shot”. Even Hussey walked off without any show of emotion. He must have thought it was out. Slow mo said otherwise but that was after the event.
I do believe that the refrain for a longtime in australia was that the contests were becoming uneven. Well australia have come back to the pack,and I dare say been overtaken .
Now, Chop you have neglected to let me know where I took the moral high ground and also you besmirch my fair reputation by accusing me of double standards. Pray tell!
July 22nd 2009 @ 5:40pm
Cameron said | July 22nd 2009 @ 5:40pm | Report comment
India are not the top ranked cricketing nation in the world.
India will not be, in my mind, a top cricketing nation until they can consistently prove a threat to top sides away from India. They have not won away series against either Australia or South Africa, the top two Test playing teams in the world.
India may have beaten Australia in Perth but the fact is they lost that series 2 Tests to 1.
India will be the world’s top ranked cricket nation when they move from the third ranking, to the first ranking.
Until then, they will remain the world’s third ranked cricketing nation.
July 22nd 2009 @ 6:05pm
vinay verma said | July 22nd 2009 @ 6:05pm | Report comment
Cameron,you are right in that India is not ranked No 1. They will have to earn that like Australia did and I dont particulary think Australia is about to surrender this without a fight.
My post was about this moment in time and looking at the relative personnel in the three top ranked teams. This is all subjective. Like Federer is ranked no 1 but I believe whenfit Nadal is the current No1.
July 22nd 2009 @ 6:57pm
davido said | July 22nd 2009 @ 6:57pm | Report comment
Look it is as simple as this when India as a team and a nation stop:
- bullying officials;
- threatening to go home when they lose;
- locking umpires out of the ground (remember SA?);
- tampering with the ball (Tendulkar caught and fined);
- rigging home pitches;
- attempting to bribe players;
- start charging the same price for entry for people regardless of the colour of their skin (yes i pay more because i am white),
then they will get respect. There is no doubt they have the talent. And in my humble opinion they will be the dominant cricketing nation in the near future. But respect has to be earnt.
You cant fool me mate, I live in India. I know exactly what goes on, I live about 100m from Dravid’s parents in Bangalore and he tells me a shit load about the dealings going on.
July 22nd 2009 @ 8:38pm
vinay verma said | July 22nd 2009 @ 8:38pm | Report comment
Davido–You make a sweeping statement about India as a team and as a Nation. Le us distinguish between them and also administrators and some politicians,in fact a lot of politicians.
-it is officials who are to blame for the posturing of the last tour when it was rumoured India was going home. Much of it was the fertile imagination of the Indian print and electronic media present. This was astory that developed its own life and blame the officials within the team for letting it get to that stage.
-Sachin was suspended for a match and fined 75% of his match fee for “working on a match ball” by Mike Denness in Port Elizabeth 2001. Mike Denness,a former English Captain,was subsequently not appointed to any Match Referees position and he was totally out of his depth. Sachin took his medicine and for you to insinuate that this somehow is symptomatic of the Indian team in general is grossly misleading . Tendulkar’s reputation is immune to such slander.
-home pitches are sometimes prepared to suit the home team. That is why it is called a home team. Cardiff was a classic point,even though it ultimately confounded the English.Indian curators in the past were sometimes coerced by officals.
-attempting to bribe players..who bribed whom,please elaborate
-you should not pay more if you are living and working in India just because you are white. I dont know the full facts but it is not right.
Yes,respect has to be earned and I am sure the Indian Test players have the skill and integrity to do just that.
And,mate,I am really not interested “in the shit load” that you are told. Hearsay and innuendo I find is wasteful.
As I said at the start make the distinction between players and officals and let us have a discussion that relies on fact.
All the best.
July 24th 2009 @ 1:20am
davido said | July 24th 2009 @ 1:20am | Report comment
Who bribed who? Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja were investigated, found guilty of match-fixing, and banned from playing cricket (for life and for five years, respectively). That’s who for starters.
July 24th 2009 @ 1:37am
2Cents said | July 24th 2009 @ 1:37am | Report comment
Everyone seems to forget that in the Cronje case it was Sanjay Chawla and two Indian bookmakers who were the bribers.
India’s own FBi the CBI had this to say about it ‘The CBI linked the current sophisticated nature and monetary scale of betting in India to organised crime with clear signals of ‘Mafia’ underworld involvement.”
July 24th 2009 @ 1:40am
2Cents said | July 24th 2009 @ 1:40am | Report comment
Oh and I forgot… the Indians even stoop to having to bribe kenyans.
Check out the Odumbe Report if you dont believe me…
http://icc-cricket.yahoo.net/anti_corruption/reports.php
July 22nd 2009 @ 7:30pm
sheek said | July 22nd 2009 @ 7:30pm | Report comment
Vinay,
I would have thought the first act of defiance on a cricket field from an Indian, was Vinoo Mankad running out Bill Brown at the bowler’s end without any prior warning.
It happened in Australia in 1947-48, & it was a very Australian thing to do!!!
July 22nd 2009 @ 7:43pm
marees said | July 22nd 2009 @ 7:43pm | Report comment
I wouldn’t bet my house on India’s performances. When was the last time they won two consecutive test matches in the same tour?
July 22nd 2009 @ 8:53pm
vinay verma said | July 22nd 2009 @ 8:53pm | Report comment
Marees the last time India won 2-0 while touring was 2005-2006 in Zimbabwe. Prior to that 2-0 in Bangladesh 04-05 and 2-1 in Pakistan 03-04. In 2007 1-0 in a 3 Test series in England. You would expect them to beat B’desh and Zimbabwe. But Generally their touring record is improving .Meanwhile they have been virtually impregnable at home.
Wouldn’t bet my hard earned on any sport. But I would pay to watch the Fab Four…Sehwag,Dravid,Tendulkar and Laxman.