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The Roar

Anindya Dutta

Roar Guru

Joined March 2016

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Sports Fanatic. Sports Writer. Author of 6 books. Wizards - Cricket Book the Year. New book Advantage India - Story of Indian Tennis - just released. I can be contacted on anindya@thecricketwriter.com Twitter and Instagram @cric_writer. Do visit my website www.cricketwriter.com

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It’s an interesting idea and clearly the data extracted today and can be used in the future for statistical comparison in the future. But in sport is there really any measure that can adequately capture a comparison in this manner? Lets take a golf example since you use par scores. Was Jack Nicklaus a better golfer in comparison to Tiger Woods? Is data sufficient to tell us that conclusively? What did Tiger learn from Jack and improve on that made him so good? He actually triumphed on some courses Jack himself built. Move to cricket. You can equalize all factors and assume data existed Pre WW2. Was Hedley Verity a better left-arm spinner than Bishan Bedi or vice versa? Will the data conclusively tell you that? For me sport is about visual and mental enjoyment as much as it’s about achievements. Context is critical not just the pitch, the team composition, weather and opposition. It’s a fool’s errand to try and definitely make an argument about “better” players even within a generation. Enjoy and soak in the present as you see it. Wonder at the romance of the past. The future will take care of itself. That’s sport for me.

Cricket may need to adopt the par score system to measure the skill level of its Test batters

That’s correct. I also think it might help manage the clamour for 4-day Tests by providing a compromise solution. By the way I think the turning pitch for the pink ball Test was a fantastic experiment. It shows a completely different element to the ball and conditions which have been missing in Australian conditions for example. And if you want it to be a global sport the ball and the format must work under all conditions not just by making the ball
Move away or into batsmen at speed with exaggerated movements as had happened so far.

Pink-ball Tests should only be scheduled to last four days

By that logic the list of draws on the 5th day that could have resulted in a win on the 6th demand that a normal Test should be 6 days? There will be some draws, otherwise we lost the flavour of the longer format.

Pink-ball Tests should only be scheduled to last four days

The re-submission was sent much before any of you commented on this piece. But I deserve that criticism for submitting when I am half asleep in the middle of the night so I take that on the chin. Cheers.

Pink-ball Tests should only be scheduled to last four days

Hopefully the revised piece when uploaded will make that clearer. And it’s 4 days in the correct version. Which I think does make sense.

Pink-ball Tests should only be scheduled to last four days

Dave – Was England’s batting much better in the fourth Test? I think their batting overall in the series was terrible other than Root’s double and a couple of innings here and there. Other than Rohit India’s top order wasn’t much better. The Aus-Ind series was a much better series.

Pink-ball Tests should only be scheduled to last four days

You are absolutely right Jeff. My apology note for wrong version of the article being sent through is below. Waiting for the corrections to appear.

Pink-ball Tests should only be scheduled to last four days

Ok guys. I must apologise. There are factual errors here because I had by mistake submitted a much earlier version of the piece that was incomplete. I actually call for 4 day Tests and explain better why so. And the South Africa mistake is corrected. Waiting for the Editorial team to take note and put the correct version.

Pink-ball Tests should only be scheduled to last four days

Nice one Suresh. I would in fact go a step further and say Australia lost the series mentally at the MCG. SCG mounted unbearable pressure and it fell apart at the Gabba. Fantastic work by the team management and a huge shout out to the newcomers. The bravery of the entire line up in the face of some intimidatory Bodyline bowling clearly designed to deal bodily blows rather than take wickets, didn’t work. As Geoff Lawson said recently, when you bounce and hit batsmen and they look back with steely eyes at you, what do you do? A very interesting video interview of Indian fielding coach Sridhar in Cricinfo talks about how the whole team strategy for the rest of the series was redesigned the night after 36 all out before Kohli left. And the role the support staff, the coach and indeed Kohli played needs to be looked at alongside the perfectly executed leadership by Rahane.

India Down Under: Rise like a phoenix

As you can see from my comment above Paul, I agree.

'Summer of 36': Yet another wake up call for Indian Test cricket?

There was a Times of India article earlier today that suggests they do. Let’s see.

'Summer of 36': Yet another wake up call for Indian Test cricket?

Very true Matt. Good to be back here after a very long time!

'Summer of 36': Yet another wake up call for Indian Test cricket?

Honestly I think it has less to do with the pink ball and more to do with lack of application. And the BCCI will know that.

'Summer of 36': Yet another wake up call for Indian Test cricket?

Excellent first piece Suresh. Congratulations! Just a couple of perspectives here :

1) It was an absolute horror show and abject surrender that must be duly criticised. It is not however a necessity that one makes wholesale changes after one Test in a series. Picking an out of form Shaw was an obvious mistake and hence must be rectified. I would bring Rahul back. Other than Kohli and Pujara however no batsman in the team has the traditional Test batting technique. Hence bemoaning that fact isn’t going to change anything. You need to play with what you have. So Gill in place of Kohli and perhaps give Pant the chance given his overseas record and the knock in the last match. If he comes in, he can only replace Vihari. Saha is one of the Top 3 Test keepers in the world so one bad match doesn’t deserve a drop. I don’t think there is place for Jadeja in this team as long as Ashwin bowls like he did at Adelaide. Jadeja is not good enough to come in as a middle order bat clearly.

2) The batting is an issue and needs to be fixed in the medium term. The batting coach is widely acknowledged to be M.I.A. In this setup and a political appointee at best. The team needs a competent batting coach. Lalchand Rajput, Chandrakant Pandit, Amol Mazumdar, Praveen Amre are all gifted batting coaches and were ignored for the position. I would strongly prefer Rajput but then he is under contract as Zimbabwe Head Coach at the moment.

3) The bowling outfit is what it is because over the past 4-years Virat Kohli has transformed the way this team operates behind the scenes. He has empowered the bowlers to decide their strategy as an unit (unlike almost every other Indian captain before him) and gone along with it. In Bharat Arun he has found a coach who has worked very well with him and the Head Coach and encouraged raw talent. Other than a Bumrah the pace bowlers are the same that Dhoni had and yet they are unrecognizable today largely because of this reason. That’s not an accident.

Keep writing! Look forward to reading more from you here.

'Summer of 36': Yet another wake up call for Indian Test cricket?

I coudnt agree more with you Paul. The key for India in this Test and all the others is how quickly they get Smith and Labuschagne. The rest is academic. The Aussie pace attack at home is awesome but I hope the Indian quick a give a good account of themselves. Umesh Yadav in form could be a thing of beauty on Aussie pitches. Looking forward to a cracking series. Super bummed of course that Virat needs to return but it is what it is.

Who cares who opens the batting for Australia in the first Test?

Thank you so much Kersi ! Well, with Nadal having lost now, Novak’s path to the Italian Open title is clear. But yes he is not in top form. If he plays his cards right, he may just be able to get his 18th at Roland Garros.

Novak calling planet Earth

Thank you so much. I think he is doing all he can to reign it in but he has never been very calm when things don’t go his way so difficult for him to pull it back.

Novak calling planet Earth

Thank you so much Paul! It’s been about a year since I have written on Tennis and probably longer since my last piece on Roar. Enjoyed penning this and so glad you liked it. The past year had been a busy one with my book ‘Wizards’ and some cricket columns I am writing elsewhere keeping me really busy. Have missed interactions on Roar !

Novak calling planet Earth

Great piece as always Kersi! Thoroughly enjoyed it! Steve Smith is an acquired taste, wine that matures with time and tastes extraordinary when it does. I wasn’t a fan as it hurt my puritanical batting sensibilities and made me wince. But now I am in love with the genius of the man.

Steve Smith’s highlights and unusual sidelights of the 2019 Ashes

Could not agree more Ronan. Hypocrisy sadly is hardly the exclusive domain of any one group of people. To add to your list I could go as far back as 1977 when John Lever virtually single handedly won a series against India on benign Indian pitches by producing – Vaseline induced – never before (or indeed thereafter) seen movement of the ball. The evidence was found, Tony grieg years later admitted it, but the MCC managed to browbeat the then weak BCCI into letting MCC make the call about the guilt. It’s little surprise what the end result was. For having the guts to go public, Bishan Bedi, India’s captain, lost his county contract and was labelled a chucker – a man whose bowling action was videotaped and distributed across the counties just a few years earlier by the MCC themselves to teach English spinners the perfect flowing action! As I said, hypocrisy has never been an exclusive reserve.

England have no moral high ground over ball tampering

Waiting at singapore airport to take a flight on 9/11 I thought I might need another coffee but then I read THIS! Absolutely loved it Dane! With work and my new book coming early next month taking all my time have missed Roar and these pieces. Mea Culpa. Back now and waiting for more on Prophet Smith . Keep them coming!

Piece of toast discovered bearing divine image of Steve Smith

Can’t but agree on the ICC angle. They have been on a roll lately. Banning Zimbabwe and throwing the lives of the players and support staff at the altar of politics is arguably even worse than the damage wrought by the boundary rule.

The curious case of the Sunday night angst

Thanks so much !

The curious case of the Sunday night angst

I have written enough about Nick. You can find them on my profile. Two of them are titled ‘Nearly Headless Nick…’ and ‘Complete Headless Nick…’. You will find my views of him there. Nick doesn’t need anyone to end his career. He is doing a perfectly acceptable job himself. Cheers.

The curious case of the Sunday night angst

Thank you so much ????

The curious case of the Sunday night angst

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