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An account of the highs and lows in the life of former Indian wicketkeeper Sadanand Viswanath who now revels in his role as umpire in domestic Indian cricket

Sriram Veera05-Sep-2008

Fame. Tragedy. A battle with the bottle. Hope. Dream. Faith. Sadanand Viswanath has been to hell and back. After 14 years as an umpire, the ‘A’ Test between Australia and India in Bangalore is his first major game – and, possibly, his redemption song.”The angry young days of Vishy are over,” he says as dusk descends on the Chinnaswamy Stadium. “It has been some rollercoaster ride but it’s about finding peace now. I have made my share of mistakes (but) I managed to step out of the whirlpool.”Indian cricket’s shooting star of the 1980s, Viswanath acquired a huge fan following with his sleight of hand behind the stumps, his boisterous camaraderie with seniors and his flamboyant personality. Sunil Gavaskar, in his book One-Day Wonders, says one of the main reasons for India winning the World Championship of Cricket in 1985 “was the presence of Sadanand Viswanath behind the stumps.””Fame does funny things,” Viswanath says. “The adoration from the fans is indescribable. You have to be there to understand it.”He had it all. Then, suddenly, the lights went out.He’d already dealt with tragedy once, when his father committed suicide – following financial problems – in 1984, a few months before he made it to the Indian team. His cricketing achievements helped overcome that but an even bigger calamity awaited.In 1985, just before he went on the tour of Sri Lanka, his mother underwent open-heart surgery. She never recovered. That was the beginning of the end for ‘Sada’; a broken finger hampered his wicketkeeping and, though he picked up six dismissals to equal the Indian record in his last Test against Sri Lanka at Kandy, he was out of the reckoning next season.

Syed Kirmani, whom he had startled as a teenager a few years earlier while hitching a scooter ride – “Kiri, one day I will take the gloves from you” – came back with a vengeance and waiting in the wings were Kiran More and Chandrakant Pandit. Sada, emotionally vulnerable and “trying to get his life in order”, couldn’t handle the competition.There followed a failed relationship and a battle with alcohol, which resulted in his giving up cricket. “Yes, I went over the limit, attended great parties where I had lots of alcohol but, luckily, I never reached the point of no return. To fill that personal void people turn to alcohol but you don’t make it the core of your existence. It was about looking for affection, a shoulder to cry on … a cry in the wilderness.”He refuses to blame anyone for that period, calling it a cause-and-effect situation. “I knew then that if I get my thoughts right and go towards my target I will get back what I achieved.”Having quit the game, he left the country and moved to the Middle East on a 14-day visa. He advertised for a job in the local papers; offers came but he was hesitant to join. “With two days left for my visa to expire, the friend who’d brought me to the Middle East introduced me to an NRI, Raghuram Shetty, who offered me a job.”His salary was 4,000 dirhams; his first paycheque was celebrated over a bottle of Johnnie Walker. But – there is always a ‘but’ in Sada’s life – he longed for India, for home. “They told me the first year is the most difficult in the Gulf. If you survive that, you are fine. But I couldn’t stay after seven months. India was where I was adored, loved and the people I cared for lived there. I returned home and rejoined my bank job [in Bangalore] after a month.”This was in 1991, and for four years he lived a relatively anonymous life. But in 1995, determined to break out of the sedentary lifestyle, he quit the bank when they transferred him out of Bangalore. The finances dried up and he moved out of his rented house into a hotel where he lived for five years.

“Hotel Kamadenu [now closed down] offered me a room at a monthly rent of 2500 rupees, which was cheaper than the house.” Sada shared a room with a chef from a five-star hotel and began thinking his way out of the mess. “Friends suggested a benefit match for me; [the then state chief minister] Ramakrishna Hegde had given me a plot of land in Bangalore after the World Championship of Cricket and I wanted to develop that.”He spoke to Imran Khan and the Pakistanis and a couple of West Indians about an India v Rest of the World game but it never happened. A few years later, a match between “Hansie Cronje’s Devils” and “Indian Angels” fell through when Cronje was found guilty of match-fixing.In between, his second innings – in the game, in life itself – began. A letter arrived from the Indian board asking if he was interested in appearing for the umpiring examinations. “Ten of us, including Kirmani, Bishen Singh Bedi and Lalchand Rajput, landed up in Hyderabad. I did well in the viva…that made me dream of living a life with cricket.”Not long after, he met officials of the Karnataka State Cricket Association [KSCA] including the secretary, the former India player Brijesh Patel, and was informed of his benefit match. “It was 2003, 16 years after I last played the game.”To ensure the money wasn’t frittered away, Patel put it in a joint account with the association. Soon an auto showroom opened on his plot of land and “finally”, as he says, the financial worries eased.However, the loneliness has remained as he looks to take a bigger step in his umpiring career. “I have a coaching camp and i am busy with that for three days in a week. I have been umpiring for the past 14 years. I just wait every year for the season to start. With a promotion, I will be officiating in 15 games, instead of six games currently, which means 60 days of umpiring.”Life is certainly looking up for Sada. “Thankfully, with the help of friends, the KSCA, Brijesh Patel and the BCCI, along with my sheer determination to keep fighting, I’ve kept to the right path. Tomorrow nobody should say here was an Indian keeper who went down the dark abyss. That’s not a good thing to hear.””You should go out on a high and leave the public lingering with a happy memory.”Fate denied Sadanand Viswanath that exit the first time around; now he has a chance to make amends.

A former officer in the Royal Green Jackets, Matthew Fleming – who played 11 ODIs for England – will open a cricket camp in Afghanistan, the newest of the ICC’s one-day international countries

Will Luke29-Apr-2009In another life, Matthew Fleming might have embarked on a trip to Afghanistan waylaid with bivvy bags and ponchos rather than pads, stumps and a weighty remit from cricket’s oldest establishment. A former officer in the Royal Green Jackets, Fleming, 44, is off to Jalalabad on Thursday to open an MCC Spirit of Cricket camp and two school pitches in the country, just two weeks after Afghanistan qualified for one-day international status.Fleming was first dispatched to the country at the end of 2007 following a successful tour by Afghanistan to Britain funded by MCC. “One or two of us argued very strongly that while we’ve created this momentum, let’s keep it going,” Fleming told Cricinfo. “In economic terms you get real value for your buck out there, so anything the MCC can do which fits its remit [is beneficial]. And while there are British soldiers out there, if we can help win the hearts and minds of Afghan people, that must be a good thing. The Afghan Cricket Federation were after help – they wanted help finishing their national stadium and so on – and having looked at everything, the best way we can support is at the grass-roots level, building facilities in schools, to help broaden the pyramid.”The pyramid Fleming talks of is conceptual at the moment, but so rapid has Afghanistan’s rise been that MCC are at the forefront of building the game’s newest of cricketing nations. Their performance in the recent World Cup Qualifiers surprised their opponents – they beat Ireland, Bermuda and Scotland twice – but never themselves. When they shocked Ireland by 22 runs, one senior player told me that they could beat Australia or South Africa on their day. The logic to this was wonderfully simple. “Ireland beat Pakistan in the 2007 World Cup. We have beaten Ireland. And Pakistan have beaten Australia in the past. So can we.”For fiction to become fable, pitches and equipment are desperately needed. Most of the senior players learned the game as refugees in Peshawar, in camps or on dusty roads without conventional kit. The national stadium in Kabul is nowhere near complete, more famous as the forum for the Taliban’s executioners a decade ago. But with the help of the MCC and a charity, the founded and chaired by Dr Sarah Fane, schoolchildren are now able to play the game. Fane has built a network of schools serving over 26,000 schoolchildren – a remarkable feat in itself – and her influence as a force for change, Fleming said, cannot be underplayed. Today, for example, Fane and her crew were in a remote valley in northern Afghanistan, introducing the game to local people.”Sarah’s charity has been absolutely instrumental,” he said. “Firstly, delivering projects in Afghanistan is incredibly difficult. Sarah’s experience out there and the respect her charity has [has been invaluable], but also her relationship with the Swedish Committee, this extraordinary group who deliver projects on the ground, was fantastic. The last thing we want to do is give our money to someone who then disappears with it.”Unfortunately corruption is endemic in Afghanistan. Rather than spend US$100,000 on finishing a stadium, we thought we could spend a lot less than that building concrete and artificial cricket wickets and providing kit, in underprivileged areas, through the schools that Sarah was building.”With the recent high-profile success of the national team, their timing could not be better either.”What’s not to enjoy?” enthused Fleming. “You’re going to an extraordinarily historical country with an amazingly different culture, with this fiercely independent and warrior-like spirit, where they have a natural passion and aptitude for a game we all love, where you can see the very tangible difference that cricket can make on people’s lives. And at the same time, you can help heal, in a spiritual way, a country’s wounds.”Cricket really is an amazing healer. Sport is probably the only true global language. Anywhere in the world if you have a cricket ball, football or tennis ball, you can speak to someone. And that’s just the same in Afghanistan.”

These are players who are deeply religious who understand the opportunity that they have made for themselves, and they understand the opportunity that cricket can provide Afghanistan. And they are to lead Afghanistan. While you’re nervous that some of the money will disappear, the great positive spirit that exists, the desire of enough people to make a difference, and the very low base from which they start means those fears should be offset by optimism and hope

The optimism and feeling of hope is tinged, or singed, by war. Afghanistan remains a nation under siege, a country suffocated by prejudices. To underline the perilous security situation, MCC cannot disclose Fleming’s whereabouts on Thursday and Friday. The aftermath of war brings corruption and, almost as inevitably, potential embezzlement: Afghanistan are now eligible for a vast increase in funding by ICC, and Fleming fires a hasty warning.”The ICC need to be very careful that the increase in funding doesn’t get swallowed up in the wrong way,” he said. “Inevitably some of it will fall between the drains, but if the ICC work with organisations like the Swedish Committee, or the Afghan Connection – proven deliverers – then they’ll make it work.”These are players who are deeply religious who understand the opportunity that they have made for themselves, and they understand the opportunity that cricket can provide Afghanistan. And they are to lead Afghanistan. While you’re nervous that some of the money will disappear, the great positive spirit that exists, the desire of enough people to make a difference, and the very low base from which they start means those fears should be offset by optimism and hope.”The ICC’s latest buzzword is support structures, something Afghanistan need more than most. Their success from obscurity has relied upon their lion-hearted belief, but the framework itself is worryingly flimsy.”They’re not going play in Kabul in the next ten years, are they? That’s not going to happen. Pakistan are talking about playing domestic games in UAE, and there’s absolutely no reason Afghanistan shouldn’t do that,” Fleming said.”I’m not worried about the players or the talent. Somehow linking the top of the pyramid with the bottom is going to be very hard, putting a structure in place, so they’re going to have to overcome and adapt to that challenge. And I suppose the only way you can get that is by getting a good governing body and that’s their greatest challenge: finding an honest, passionate but realistic governing body who actually concentrate on putting a strategy in place that can be delivered. And that’s where MCC should be able to help.”MCC is a terrific force for good. Every time we tour somewhere we leave a financial legacy behind, or a legacy in terms of local infrastructure. We help in areas in the world where others don’t want to go to; we’re committed to as many people as possible in the world, to not only enjoy the game, but enjoying the values that underpin it.”And Afghans deserve to enjoy cricket and have earned the right to be proud of their national team. That much can’t be denied. How long the benevolence of MCC and other charities lasts, however, could determine the country’s long-term future as a nation of cricket, not just of war.

Virender Sehwag has taken the art of opening to new levels and Strauss briefly managed a passing impression of him

Andrew McGlashan in Durban27-Dec-2009If the Durban weather plays ball over the next three days – and sadly that is anything but certain – this match has the makings of an extremely compelling contest. Each time one side has seemingly grabbed the advantage, the other has evened the scales, never better illustrated than by the cameo nature of the batting so far in this game.Batsmen have threatened to dominate, but then have been cut off either by a good ball or poor judgment, and that has made for engrossing viewing. It started with the dual efforts of Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis, who thwarted a hostile new ball in tough conditions before succumbing meekly after tea; it continued with AB de Villiers’ punchy counter-attack and Mark Boucher’s bustle on the second morning, then Dale Steyn’s tail-end hitting which lifted South Africa to 343.England continued in the same vain with Andrew Strauss looking in prime form. He so often does these days, but he failed to build on an aggressive 49-ball half-century – the fastest of his career – when he was dramatically bowled by Morne Morkel to be left with one stump standing. Although Strauss’s innings ended too early for England’s liking, it was a vital response from the captain after the frustrations of South Africa’s last-wicket stand of 58 between Steyn and Makhaya NtiniStrauss and Steyn are separated in batting talent by almost the full length of the order; a tailender and an opener, one whose runs are a bonus against one who is expected to lead the scoring. But they both played equally valuable roles for their sides. Without Steyn, South Africa would have been dismissed for under 300 and without Strauss’s counter-attack the home side would have had the chance to build on that lower-order boost.There is nothing better for a team than to be boosted by a tailender who bats above his means, not least because of the frustration it brings to the fielding unit. It’s far better for an innings to end with a bang rather than a whimper. Then, at the other end of the spectrum, there is the impetus that a positive opening batsman can bring when the opposition have hoped to make inroads with the new ball. Michael Slater and Matthew Hayden were masters of it, Virender Sehwag has taken the art to new levels and Strauss briefly managed a passing impression of them all.”I came out of the shower, and he was already on 30, and I don’t take that long in the shower,” said Graeme Swann. “It’s great to see him go out there and play shots from the word go. He’s very disappointed to have only made 50-odd and lose his wicket after tea, to a very good ball.””We didn’t sit down and say ‘let’s go all guns blazing’ to get back on top,” he added. “But it was important that we did that, because it’s wrestled straight back the initiative that South Africa have taken from us.”Strauss has developed into one of the premier opening batsmen in the world and is finishing 2009 in the same positive form he has shown throughout the year. His innings included three fours in four balls off the struggling Ntini, and was Marcus Trescothick-like in its impact. That was a role he tried to perform in Australia in 2006-07, when Trescothick pulled out of the tour, but he mislaid his disciplines in his quest for aggression, and that played a part in his career-threatening dip in form. The latest version of Strauss can play in variety of guises, however. He also took the pressure off Alastair Cook, who was able to concentrate on survival in his battle for form.It looked for all the world as though Strauss would be the batsman who would build on his start, but Morkel has caused him problems throughout the tour – having him caught behind in the second innings at Centurion from round the wicket – and ended his stay via a thin inside-edge. In 16 balls Strauss faced against Ntini he scored 24 runs, but the 21 deliveries from Morkel produced just 11 and four of those came from an outside edge through gully which shows the difficulties he posed.It also means that the wait for a substantial innings in this match goes on, but the bowlers have managed to hold sway. This contest is crying out for a hundred. It could prove to be a matchwinner.

Down Galle way lies a village where one of the world’s leading fast bowlers delivered slingers with a softball on the beach and swam in the local lake

Sidharth Monga17-Jul-2010Rathgama. One of the most violent villages in Sri Lanka, announces Saman, the auto-rickshaw driver.”But they seem nice people.””Yes,” says Saman, “They are nice when you are smiling at them. Actually, they are very nice people, but that’s only when they are nice. When they get bad, they get really bad.”Saman uses his thumb to make a throat-slitting motion, pauses, and then says, “Like Lasith himself. He is very nice, I have played with him, played only two balls and got out twice. Gem of a person, but when he fights while playing cricket…”Rathgama is, of course, the village, 12km from Galle town, that Lasith Malinga comes from. It’s a small place, with a population of about 1000. You ask anyone where Malinga lives and they will tell you. And they say “lives” even though the Malinga family has moved to Moratuwa, because they have not left the house; they still come here on weekends.Everyone can tell you the way, but directions are not enough. It’s an intricate village, green, with myriad twists and turns. It’s extremely easy to miss a turn. After having missed three, up the hill, we reach this house that has nothing extraordinary about it. Nobody is around, but it is clean, with two easy chairs and two neat pairs of slippers on the veranda. The front of the house looks renovated, but they haven’t bothered about the dilapidated back.SK de Silva, neighbour, keen cricketer in his day, and former captain of Kaluthura Maha Vidyalaya, says Malinga came to the house two days ago – four days before the Galle Test.In this “violent” village, playing in the grounds nearby with a softball, Malinga perfected bowling round-arm, slinging balls at high pace. The softballs were light, the sea breeze heavy, it wasn’t possible to bowl fast with a high-arm action. Uncoached, untaught, Malinga developed his low-arm action. Some people know just what to do.There is another theory: that Malinga can pull off that action because the strength in his shoulders comes from years of winning swimming championships in the lake that’s barely a few hundred metres from his house. Free-style swimming is round-arm, not high-arm.”Every New Year [Sinhala New Year, mid-April], we have the competition,” says a kid biking around the lake, “We start from here [pointing to the start of lake], and go until there [pointing to a rock just before a small island inside it]. Last year he finished fourth. The winner was a 10-year-old kid. This year he missed the competition.”This year of, course, Malinga was responding to some of the loudest chants in cricket, “Ma-lin-ga, Ma-lin-ga”, in the IPL. The boy remembers how Malinga came soon after the IPL and fished with them. “He comes often and plays cricket with us,” says Bovidu Sammu, a 16-year-old neighbour.”He plays softball still. In some random competitions, he goes and plays,” says Champaka Ramanayake, former Test bowler and now national bowling coach. “He goes and takes hat-tricks and all. It’s proper softball competition, proper professionals playing. Loves, just loves playing softball. Just goes and bowls yorkers.”The Malinga residence in Rathgama, where the family returns to spend weekends•ESPNcricinfo LtdIf Malinga comes to Rathgama for a peaceful weekend, he gets it. “Only the first time he came back from playing for Sri Lanka did a huge crowd gather, and we had a big cultural thing,” says de Silva. “Now nobody bothers him.” Says Saman: “Why should they bother? He is just another man.”Except Malinga isn’t. He is one of the few men who bowl really fast today. He is perhaps the most recognisable face in Sri Lanka, with his funky hairstyles. De Silva, though, remembers a shy kid, “as ordinary as others”, who just played well.Ordinary Malinga wasn’t, when at 16 he caught the eye of Ramanayake. “It was probably 1999, 11-12 years ago. The first thing I saw about him was… I was batting, facing him, but I never batted after that. I had the privilege of telling him, whenever he came to bowl, ‘Lasith, you come later, not now.'”I don’t know what he bowled, I couldn’t see the ball. I was doing a talent search, he came for that, so I went and batted, and couldn’t see the ball. I went and said, ‘Lasith I am going to pick you for my team, Galle Cricket Club, and whenever you have time, you come for practice.'”Malinga was a skinny kid then. Ramanayake’s biggest challenge was to get some muscle on him to sustain the heavy-duty action. Also, he had to get Malinga, son of a man who did small jobs for a transport company, to a better school. He had to fight with clubs, get him a job. The strength and the muscle came, and Malinga showed good aptitude for studies, having moved from Vidyaloka Mahavidyalaya to the better Mahinda Vidyalaya.”He was an ordinary boy, but very studious,” remembers Ramanayake. “Good at studies. O level also he did well. That helped him grow as a cricketer.”His action, his uniqueness, we didn’t want to change, but his skill had to be developed. He was fast all right, and fast meaning, at 16, he was around 135ks. But he didn’t bowl reverse swing – he learned that. He didn’t know his fields and all, and the bouncer. Slower ball, he never had. But whenever I said something, he tried, tried, tried.”Ramanayake, the captain, coach and manager of the Galle Cricket Club, had a role to play in Malinga’s first-class debut too.”It was the year 2001, the first time he was selected for the squad, not for the playing XI,” says Ramanayake. “We used to play Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but one Thursday I had a stiff neck. I was the opening bowler, and we had two or three seniors. So I thought I would introduce this boy, 17 years old, against one of the leading cricket teams in Colombo, Colombo Cricket Club. He took eight wickets in the match and won the match all by himself. I never forget that. Because I didn’t play, he played.”Ramanayake is working hard with Malinga, who is going to play his first Test in two-and-a-half years on Sunday. The action, despite the strengthening work, has taken its toll. Malinga has slowly and gradually made his way back from the injury setback, playing Twenty20 first, then ODIs, and is now a day from a Test comeback. Ramanayake lays to rest fears that Malinga might want to play only the lucrative and less taxing short forms, as many a fast bowler nowadays does.There are nerves, but also there is excitement. “He is perfectly fit at the moment,” says Ramanayake. “Bowling one-hour spells. Our trainer has done good work on him. Lasith is very keen, needs seven-eight for 100 Test wickets.”Last year, during the Test against Pakistan, Malinga walked into the Galle International Stadium unannounced, every bit an ordinary Galle man except for the hair and the piercings, and watched, from among the crowd, his team win the Test. This year he will want to do it rather than watch, and tick an important box in any player’s career: Test cricket.

On the occasion of Harbhajan Singh’s 400th Test wicket, a look back at five of his most memorable spells in the format

Nitin Sundar07-Jul-201113 for 196 v Australia, Kolkata, 2001Matthew Hayden was at his best in the 2001 series, but Harbhajan Singh’s 32 wickets helped India finish on top•AFPHarbhajan Singh chose one of the most gripping Test matches of all-time to announce himself to the world. Matthew Hayden’s robust 97 seemed set to give world-champions Australia full control on the first afternoon when Harbhajan intervened with his wicket, and followed it up with Mark Waugh’s. He then sliced through the middle order, dismissing the out of form Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne off successive balls – the first Test hat-trick by an Indian bowler. Despite his seven-wicket haul, India fell behind quickly and were forced to follow-on after a batting collapse. VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid then produced an epic 376-run stand, including a close-to chanceless vigil through the entire fourth day, to set Australia 384 to win in a little over two sessions. The tea-time score of 161 for 3 suggested the game was headed for a stalemate, but Harbhajan’s bounce and loop combined lethally with Sachin Tendulkar’s irresistible turn in the final session. Gilchrist and Warne collected pairs, while Ponting added a duck to go with his scratchy first-innings 6 as Australia disintegrated on the dusty track in the dying light. Harbhajan trapped Glenn McGrath in front moments before stumps as India surged to an astonishing win to end Australia’s 16-match winning streak and level the series.15 for 217 v Australia, Chennai, 2001Australia, with the exception of Hayden, had clearly not managed to decode their nemesis in time for the decider in Chennai. Hayden again propelled Australia towards dominance on the first day before Harbhajan scythed through the middle order on the second morning. Steve Waugh’s freak dismissal, palming away a back-spinning ball after dead-batting it, gave India the opening and Harbhajan barged in rampantly. Gilchrist managed a single this time, while Ponting collected his second successive duck, and Warne his third as Australia lost their last seven wickets for 51, rendering Hayden’s magnificent double-hundred futile. Tendulkar’s measured century, ably supported by the rest of the top order, gave India a 110-run lead, allowing Harbhajan to bowl with attacking fields. Hayden and Michael Slater added an attacking 82 for the first wicket, but Gilchrist’s promotion to No. 3 ended in failure as he once again fell lbw to Harbhajan. The Waugh twins scrapped in the Chennai heat, but Harbhajan’s persistence and the devils in the pitch finally broke their resistance, before the tail surrendered. Chasing 155 on the fourth day, Laxman scattered the field with a sublime half-century as India sped to 101 for 2 before Jason Gillespie and Colin Miller dismantled the middle order. With two wickets remaining, and McGrath charging in with purpose, Man-of-the-Series Harbhajan squeezed the winning runs through the covers, completing one of the most remarkable comebacks in cricket’s history.10 for 153 v Sri Lanka, Galle, 2008Harbhajan’s best performance in Sri Lanka is mostly forgotten since it came in a series remembered for Ajantha Mendis’ grand arrival, and in a match remembered for a mind-boggling double-century from Virender Sehwag. Unmindful of his team-mates’ travails against Mendis, Sehwag battered an unbeaten 201 off 231 balls to steer India to 329. Malinda Warnapura, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene set up a strong response before Harbhajan, supported by Anil Kumble, began to chip away. Warnapura was enticed into slicing a loopy delivery to point, before Sangakkara scooped a leading edge back to the bowler. Thilan Samaraweera was pinned on the crease by a slider, and Tillakaratne Dilshan – still a middle-order batsman – jabbed at a rapidly dipping offbreak to be caught close-in. Sri Lanka finished 37 runs behind, before Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir ensured they would need more than 300 in the fourth innings. Ishant Sharma and Zaheer removed the top order cheaply even as Samaraweera resisted, while Harbhajan ran through the lower order in haste to finish with a ten-wicket match haul.8 for 123 v South Africa, Kolkata, 2010Harbhajan Singh celebrates after helping India retain their No. 1 ranking in the dying moments of the Eden Gardens Test in 2010•AFPIndia’s No. 1 ranking was at stake after Dale Steyn and Hashim Amla mauled them in the first Test in Nagpur, and Harbhajan copped his share of criticism for failing to pull his weight. The pattern seemed to be repeating at Eden Gardens as debutant Alviro Petersen and Amla slammed tons to push South Africa past 200 for the loss of only one wicket. Zaheer Khan broke the momentum by accounting for both batsmen in his afternoon spell, leaving the middle order prone to Harbhajan at his favourite venue. Jacques Kallis top-edged a topspinner before left-handers Ashwell Prince and JP Duminy were nailed by straighter ones from round the stumps as the visitors slumped from 218 for 1 to 296 all out. Sehwag, Laxman, MS Dhoni and Tendulkar replied with centuries as India piled on a lead of 347. Their push for a series-levelling win was interrupted by intermittent rain and poor light on the fourth day, though they managed to pick up three wickets. On the final day, Amla, in the form of his life, was determined to stone-wall India’s intent, forcing the hosts to concentrate their efforts on the other end. Harbhajan led the way with a mixture of drift and bounce that made him lethal from round the stumps. Prince’s defiance ended when he stabbed at an overspinner, before Duminy and Steyn were foxed by sliders. The tail hung in gamely as Amla threatened to save the game. No. 11 Morne Morkel survived for well over an hour and South Africa were minutes away from a draw when Harbhajan struck Morkel’s pads and took off as Eden Gardens roared.7 for 195 v South Africa, Cape Town, 2011The new year Test in Cape Town was lit up by a battle for the ages involving Tendulkar and Steyn, and by Kallis’ masterclasses in both innings. It also featured the best and worst of Harbhajan. He had gone wicketless in the first innings, as Kallis countered Sreesanth’s verve and zip to take South Africa to 362. Gambhir defied the new ball ably, but his and Laxman’s dismissals just before the advent of the second new ball exposed the lower order to Steyn’s fury. Tendulkar stood up to his menace with his 51st Test ton, while Harbhajan contributed a ballsy 40 to help India match South Africa’s effort even as the pitch wore away to resemble a subcontinental sandpit. Harbhajan got to work immediately in the second innings, making clever use of the uneven bounce to trap Graeme Smith, Petersen and Paul Harris in front. He then got Amla to miss a sweep as South Africa stuttered to 64 for 4. Kallis then produced his second classic of the match, defying a side strain and a brute of a wicket to tame Harbhajan at his best. He neutered the offspinner’s intent to use the rough outside the off stump by deploying a series of reverse-sweeps, and with each stroke managed to deflate Harbhajan’s confidence. Inevitably, Harbhajan slipped into a defensive mindset and the lack of support at the other end allowed Kallis to push South Africa ahead. He was immovable, but Harbhajan accounted for the tail to end South Africa’s resistance. It took a gritty Gambhir rearguard on the final day to earn India a draw.

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the Day from the first day of the second Test between West Indies and India in Bridgetown

Sriram Veera at the Kensington Oval 28-Jun-2011Redemption of the day
Redemption was in the air at the Kensington Oval. Darren Sammy, who dropped Rahul Dravid – and perhaps the game – in the first Test got his man on the first day in Bridgetown. He nearly did it with his first ball when he got one to straighten just past Dravid’s outside edge. Not long after, he produced another beauty to get the edge. He ran away from his team-mates, past backward point, and pumped his fist.The stunner of the day
The ball did not kick up all that much but Virat Kohli just froze. He held his bat limply as it rose below to just below his chest and went off his glove to the wicketkeeper. Perhaps Kohli’s mind was stunned into numbness when the ball was pitched short. Twice in three Test innings now he has been dismissed by a short ball. His next innings should make for fascinating viewing. Will he come back in style?The late adjustment of the day
When Suresh Raina was new to the crease, he got a ball that reared up at him. He too started to freeze like Kohli. The bat was in an ungainly position, the head was falling away, and it appeared he was going to fend it to a catcher. Right at the last instant, he adjusted and somehow managed to get behind the line and tuck the ball down in front of him.Bouncer of the day
In the first over after lunch, Raina received a nasty lifter from Ravi Rampaul that he couldn’t get out of the way of. It flew up, crashed into his helmet and bounced away. Rampaul stared, Raina had a look at his helmet. Two balls later, he swivelled to pull away another short ball to the boundary.The inevitable dismissal of the day
It came from Praveen Kumar. Twice he lunged forward to try to thrash Devendra Bishoo out of the park. Both times he was beaten. There was a long-on in place. Could Praveen control himself? He doesn’t think like that. In his mind, perhaps, he couldn’t connect with the previous two deliveries because he hadn’t stepped down the wicket. And so, he charged out to the next ball and of course was stumped.

Shakin Al Hasan’s removal of captain has raised questions about the precedent it sets while Mushfiqur Rahim is seen as the only candidate to replace him

Mohammad Isam06-Sep-2011The Bangladesh Cricket Board’s decision on Monday to sack captain Shakib Al Hasan and vice-captain Tamim Iqbal wasn’t the most unexpected, but the unprecedented haste of the dismissals has prompted some observers to question the reasons for the decision.Among some board directors, there is a feeling that BCB president AHM Mustafa Kamal’s hand had been forced into making the decision on the urging of a faction that did not want Shakib and Tamim to continue leading the team. There is also some concern that the sacking sets a dangerous precedent as not all the directors were consulted before the decision was taken and future captains could be undermined if they think they don’t have the support of the full board.What is clear is that with Shakib and Tamim having run out of the several “get out of jail” cards provided by the board, a new captain will lead Bangladesh against West Indies next month and it is also obvious who that would most likely be, given Mohammad Ashraful’s uncertain presence in the side and Mashrafe Bin Mortaza’s injuries: Mushfiqur Rahim.More than his leadership experience and his maturity, it is Mushfiqur’s assured place in the side that is his biggest advantage. Apart from Tamim and Shakib, Mushfiqur is the only other player who is guaranteed to be in the playing XI, although the names of Mahmudullah Riyad and Shahriar Nafees are also in the mix.If the 23-year-old Mushfiqur is made captain, he won’t be the first wicketkeeper to lead the side. Khaled Mashud was Bangladesh’s second Test captain and though he was the least successful, his leadership is still regarded highly, especially in the National Cricket League, where he shaped Rajshahi into the country’s top first-class side.It was in the Rajshahi side where Mashud first saw Mushfiqur seven years ago, a fresh face from the Bangladesh Institute of Sports, and Mashud believes Mushfiqur won’t have a problem earning the respect of the rest of the team.”I think everyone already respects Mushfiqur for the work that he puts in. He is a very disciplined person and I like that in a player,” Mahsud said. “Before a match, you’ll see how beautifully he’s set up in the dressing room. That says a lot about Mushfiqur and I’m sure he is respected within the team.”But the former national captain wants a strong setup around whomever is the new captain. “If the people around the team can handle the players properly, give them adequate mental support, it frees up the captain’s duty. Then he will only lead the team on the field and make sure he represents the country in the right manner.”I think Shakib has a huge role to play here. If he gives the necessary support, the new captain, if it is Mushfiqur, will feel more solid ground under his feet with the best player in the team with him. If he doesn’t get a supportive management, he will be busy putting his house in order. In that case, who will stand up as the country’s cricket captain?”Mashud, who has experienced life as a quality wicketkeeper, dependable middle-order batsman and captain, doesn’t think leading the team will be difficult for Mushfiqur. “I don’t think it is a difficult job. I say this under the condition that the new captain gets people within the team management who are good at man-management. Dav Whatmore used to do it very well.”Even if it someone else as captain, he mustn’t be bothered about the trouble that has already happened. He has to lead from the front and garner respect from all around. I would like to suggest that the board doesn’t name a vice-captain so soon. Frankly, Shakib, Tamim and Mushfiqur are the automatic choices and the rest, for reasons aplenty, are not.”So maybe they may have someone like Riyad or Nafees in touch with the management when holding meetings so that one of them can take over if Mushfiqur is injured but not in any official capacity, at least not now.”The absence of solid management was at the heart of Bangladesh’s woes over the past year, including the disappointing World Cup campaign. A better set-up can can only be put in place by the BCB, but they have shown less professionalism than the players and this week’s decision sets another harmful example. If they don’t get it right in the future, the captaincy could become a poisoned chalice that no one in the dressing-room would want to hold.

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the Day from the second day of the third Test between Australia and India in Perth

Sidharth Monga at the WACA14-Jan-2012The achievement
When Zaheer Khan went for just two runs in the 29th over of the Australian innings, India had finally brought the run-rate down to under six an over. Australia were 0 for 170 after 29 overs. David Warner’s response: he smashed the next ball, from Ishant Sharma, well over long-off for a six.The drop
Chances were at an obvious premium for India. Zaheer, though, produced one. He bowled well in the morning session, in the channel outside off, getting little movement either way. Just before he produced the edge, though, Sachin Tendulkar had been sent into the deep, and Rahul Dravid had gone off the field. That left Virat Kohli at first slip. On cue Zaheer brought about an edge.MS Dhoni didn’t go for it, but he shouted “catch” immediately, and it was all Kohli’s at first slip. The ball dipped a little but not alarmingly. For a second it seemed to stick in his right hand but popped out eventually. Dazed looks from captain and slipper. Warner was 126 then.The move
That edge was produced in Zaheer’s sixth over of the morning. He had gone for only 18, and had troubled the batsmen a bit. Warner was on strike again, and you would have expected Zaheer to get another over in. He didn’t. However, Umesh Yadav, his replacement, soon produced two breakthroughs.The reaction
When he was struck on the head on day one, Warner upper-cut the next delivery for four. Today, one ball hit a crack, nipped back in, and got him in the left elbow. Warner got some attention, and punched the next ball past point for three. The only sign of discomfort that appeared was his holding the bat only in the right hand even when turning around both for the second and the third.The Zaheer moment
“Brad Haddin should focus on his keeping. That looks really fragile to me. He needs to start moving.” That’s what Zaheer had to say of Haddin, who had said India were fragile and were turning on each other. On day one, the two didn’t come face to face. Today, though, Zaheer dismissed Michael Clarke to bring out Haddin. However bad the series might have been for India so far, in such times Zaheer usually comes out the winner. It helped that Haddin was much more subdued out in the middle.First ball, short of a length, from round the stumps, Haddin took his eyes off and got one in the elbow. Zaheer was not shy of a word. A hello, maybe. The next ball, short of a length again, moved in, thudded into the thigh pad. Over break. Next ball, short of a length, held its line outside off, took the edge. Zaheer blew kisses benevolently as Haddin walked back.

New Zealand’s hot new pick is a South African who moved continents twice to realise his cricket dream

Firdose Moonda04-May-2012Don’t be surprised if in the days ahead Neil Wagner is talked about in the same way as wine from a Franschhoek estate or diamonds from Kimberley are. He will not be alone in being regarded as a prized South African export; the names of other cricketers with his journeyman characteristics will come up for discussion again. Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott, Kruger van Wyk and Grant Elliot will be mentioned. The stale joke about cricketers being among South Africa’s most traded commodities will be told again and a few will laugh. Wagner, a Pretoria-born and bred lad, will make his international debut in July, for New Zealand.His story is not too different from that of any person who moves countries in pursuit of work. After he didn’t achieve the success he hoped for in the country of his birth, Wagner tried another, England. There the market was competitive and he felt little inclination to stay, so he moved on to a third. New Zealand was the final stop and it stuck.Unlike Elliot and van Wyk, who moved to New Zealand almost unnoticed, Wagner went with the words “quota system” on his lips as one of his reasons for leaving South Africa, and it will shadow him throughout his career, as much as he wishes it would disappear.”There’s a lot been said about the quota system and some of it has been taken out of hand,” Wagner told ESPNcricinfo during a visit home to Pretoria. “When you are young and a bit arrogant and you don’t really know a lot, you get very emotionally involved. You are not educated around it [the quota system] because no one told you why, and even though I said it then, it’s been made bigger than it is.”Wagner was part of an Afrikaanse Hoer Seunskool (Affies) team that also included AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis, and dominated schools cricket. Many of the boys who played in that team thought they were going to make it at provincial level, and Wagner was no different.He hoped the national Under-19 week in 2002 would be his launch pad. “I had a really good year that year and a couple of people told me I might make the SA Under-19 side after the week,” he says, “but I didn’t.”That snub set the tone for others. The Titans franchise, an amalgamation of two amateur unions, Northerns, for whom Wagner played, and Easterns, was simply too strong for him to break into. They had Andre Nel, then at the height of powers, Albie and Morne Morkel, and Dale Steyn. There was no room for another quick and Wagner was the one who missed out. In pure selection terms, he was not considered good enough.”Neil was sometimes misread. I don’t think people saw his full potential,” Grant Morgan, the current Gauteng coach, who has worked extensively in club and provincial cricket, says. Morgan took a particular interest in Wagner, who he saw as a little different to his peers.”He always took care of his kit, he was immaculate, and sometimes the guys used to rag him and say he was a pretty boy. But the couple of things he got in his life, he took care of. He was very professional.”Morgan sensed that expectation would follow Wagner after his school success and that he would not be able to live up to it. “Not everyone makes it at the same time. The same thing happened with Faf and AB, for example,” Morgan says. “One climbs quickly and the other one doesn’t. That happened to Neil.”He wasn’t like Dale [Steyn], who had blinding pace. He didn’t always know when to bowl his bouncers. When the ball stopped swinging in, he didn’t quite know what to do, but he always had something. He was always naturally fit and committed, and he always took wickets.”Wagner was given a few isolated chances at franchise level but never enjoyed a sustained run. “Maybe I didn’t play as well as I should have or could have, but also opportunities were just not there,” he says. There was some talk of a deal with Western Province if the Titans did not come through, but it remained only talk.When real life came knocking and Wagner had to start looking at ways to earn an income, he decided to give himself a last chance at making it in South Africa. He went on a national academy tour to Bangladesh, and it was there that Morgan saw his progress. “He had started learning how to bowl when the ball stopped swinging,” he says. “On those flat wickets, when the ball stopped swinging, he still hit those areas, working with the angle to the right-hander.”Morgan may have been the only believer, though. Wagner did not get a franchise deal, and in 2008 he left for England. Morgan saw it coming but there was little he could do. “I was disappointed in the Titans. He was always a performer. If you are producing the goods and people aren’t looking at you, it becomes disappointing,” he says.In England, Wagner had a little more luck. After a stint in the Lancashire League, he was invited to play for the Sussex 2nd XI and they even considered a Kolpak deal for him.The big door, though, opened when Otago coach Mike Hesson called. Hesson had been watching video footage of left-armers to add to his squad and was impressed with Wagner. “I really liked his attitude,” he says. “He ran in hard, no matter what the team situation was, so I offered him a deal.”For Wagner, it was just what he was looking for. “Growing up, I always watched New Zealand sport with a close eye. The way they compete, their love for their sport, passion and pride, those are values I grew up with at Affies, so it drew my attention. I never really had the desire to play for England, so I thought it was a good opportunity. Any cricketer in the world would be dumb to pass it up, especially in the position that I was.”Like with every big move, at first everything in Dunedin, Wagner’s new hometown, came as a surprise. “I moved into a house with people I had never seen before, and rented a room, which was a massive shock to the system,” he says. “And the freezing cold weather. I had never experienced that in my life before. Winter in Pretoria is not that bad.”Wagner did not have a car in his first year and had to rely on lifts from fellow players. He remembers Otago wicketkeeper Derek de Boorder picking him up to go grocery shopping and to training.

“Growing up, I always watched New Zealand sport with a close eye. The way they compete, their love for their sport, passion and pride, those are values I grew up with”Neil Wagner

While he adjusted to New Zealand, New Zealand also had to adjust to Wagner, and on the cricket field that was not always easy.”The first year was all about Neil,” Hesson says. “Players don’t always respond that well to that.”
Wagner was Otago’s top-wicket taker in his first season, 2008-09, and tenth overall, and the early success may have clouded his judgement. In his second season, he took more wickets, 28 compared to 21, but at a bloated average. “After the first year, he may have been a bit complacent,” Hesson says. “Then he realised it’s not just going to happen for him and he started to work really hard.”With humility and experience came more success, and in the next two seasons Wagner topped the Plunket Shield wicket-taking charts.Despite offers to move to other teams, Wagner stayed in Dunedin. Recently he bought a house there and he now regards the student town as his home. It is a special place for him, given that it was through spending months there that he became eligible to play for New Zealand, after being given special dispensation by the ICC, considering he did not spend the requisite 183 days a year for four years in the country.Although some see him as an opportunist, Wagner said the overwhelming sentiment from locals has been that of encouragement, and he hopes to repay their faith in the West Indies in July. “I’ve been getting so many messages from random New Zealand cricket supporters,” he says. “It makes me proud, it gives me a bit of fire in the belly, and it makes me think I want to make these people proud. I’ve never felt like I’ve just used the system.”He even has support in some quarters of South Africa. “Through sheer will power, of having to work so hard to get there and not getting a free ticket, he will do well, like Kruger [van Wyk] did,” Morgan says. “It’s like waiting for the right girl. You won’t stuff it up, because you’ve had to wait. I just hope whoever the coach is does not make him feel like it’s his one and only chance.”It was largely being made to feel he had only one shot, rather than the much-hyped quota system reason, that resulted in Wagner leaving South Africa. Wagner acknowledges that he made some mistakes with the way he branded the idea of transformation as an excuse.”If I look at the players of colour that are in the South African side, they are there on merit,” he says now. “They are top-class players and they deserve to be in the team.”Maybe I did things the wrong way when I was younger. Look at a guy like Marchant [de Lange]. It just shows that when you get that half-chance, you’ve got to make the most of it. Maybe if I had made the most of the chance I got in South Africa, things would have worked out differently. But in the end, I never looked back.”

Shane Watson’s opening partnership with David Warner has removed the opportunity for questions to be asked of the Australia middle order

David Hopps28-Sep-2012Shane Watson, whose three successive Man of the Match awards have confirmed him as the star of the World Twenty20, expressed the hope after Australia’s mauling of India that his destructive opening partnership with David Warner will survive long enough to turn his side from tournament laughing stocks to world champions.Watson grabbed 3 for 34 and struck 72 off 42 balls in a first-wicket stand of 133 with Warner as Australia strode past India’s 140 for 7 to win by nine wickets and with more than five overs to spare. A career that has never entirely delivered, partly through a series of disruptive injuries, is promising to come to fruition at the World Twenty20.”We know how important the part between me and Dave is on top of the order to set the platform,” Watson said. “So far it has worked and we hope to be able to do that for the rest of the tournament. We want to set the scoring rate up higher enough early on so guys lower down don’t have to take risks lower and don’t need to score at 10 an over.”Watson’s match-winning display followed his star turns in the qualifying stage: 51 and 3 for 26 against Ireland and 41 not out and 2 for 29 against the West Indies.Australia were ranked lower than Ireland in T20 a few weeks before the tournament, an occurrence so incredible that ridicule was the only option. That inconsistency could return at any time. Their unexpressed fear is that one night soon Watson and Warner will fail and a middle order that was held to be vulnerable even before it became short of opportunity will prove unequal to the task.Shane Watson and David Warner have formed an aggressive, successful opening partnership•ICC/Getty”We were No. 9, very poorly ranked,” Watson said, “and the reason was that our T20 cricket was very inconsistent. We played some very good games and we played some poor games as well. Things have fallen my way over the last few games. It is a very fine line. You have to make the most of those times because there are always times when things won’t go your way.”Watson has been asked after every Man of the Match award why he is in such good form. In a time of cricketing overkill, his answer is revealing: he puts it down to rest. “I came off a five-week break and I was able to get some physical strength under my belt and have a mental break as well and hit this Twenty20 running,” he said. “We came up once short against England last time and we have to play some very good cricket to get into the semi-finals and hope we then combine as a team in those two knockout games, but there is still a long way to go.”George Bailey is an Australia T20 captain who is clearly capable of building an excellent team spirit. One day soon he might have to go out to bat to win a cricket match.Watson chuckled quietly at a suggestion that India’s reliance on a battery of spinners had been affected by a brief rain stoppage early in Australia’s innings. “In the end you have to make do with what conditions were given to you,” he said. “India went in with three frontline spinners and in the end there is likely to be some rain around, like there always has been in Colombo, so you just have to make the best of the conditions and play as well as you possibly can.””We knew that India were going to hit us with quite a bit of spin. That is their competitive advantage over us. I have been lucky in a way that I have been able to play all those spinners in IPL over the past few years so I knew how they were going to bowl to me and how they were going to try to get me out.”