Dheemtha nakadheem mera naam.. Bheem Singh Beta Goorgaa Raam..
Kya Maangtha Hai Bolo Jee.. Bhaaiyon beheno Namasthey Jee...
Believe Me !-a Tamil song only !!Sivaraman, unable to find a good job, joins a colony as a security guard, identifying himself as Ramsingh. Geetha lives in the colony with her daughter. Geetha's husband works abroad. A police officer Rajagopal comes to the colony along with his daughter Latha. Latha is Sivaraman's ex-lover.
Subject matter of the post is “Night-Watchman”. In 1977 Indian Team lead by Bishan singh Bedi toured Australia – all the five tests produced results.First two won by hosts,India came back strongly in the next two at Melbourne and Sydney and lost the close fought 5th test at Adelaide.
In Dec 1977, it was the 2nd Test at Perth.Scorecard reads :India 402 & 330/9d;Australia (T:339) 394 & 342/8.Australia won by 2 wickets.It was a pulsating finish, arrived at with 22 balls remaining, a fitting climax to a match in which fortunes fluctuated with almost every session. Both sides approached the match with commendable enterprise - 1,468 runs were scored, the Australian victory was largely owed to their veteran captain, Bobby Simpson. Coming in at 65 for three in the first innings, and that only after a brief rest following a long stint in the field, Simpson rallied Australia with a dogged 176, lasting six hours forty-one minutes.The match also belonged to a leg-spinner – made his debut at 32, played only 4 tests, all against India in the same Series.
In Cricket – who is the Night watchman and is there real need ?it is a paradox when an inferior batter walks in, trying to protect the better batsman, in an adverse condition especially with fading lights or when the day is drawing close !! How do analysts expect a lesser equipped batter to come out and play those few balls or couple of overs – a sacrificial goat !!
If the nightwatchman gets out immediately, it further exposes the incumbent batter and what would be expected of him, the next day, to hang around, or try and score some quick runs ?In 2014 against India, the Australian side protected wicket-keeper Brad Haddin by sending out Nathan Lyon with half an hour to play. Lyon only lasted 4 overs, forcing Haddin to the crease to face a handful of overs and being dismissed on what became the final ball of the day.The concept of a nightwatchman in cricket is an enigma.
One cannot fault the idea itself !Test cricket is the rare sport where an adjournment in the evening followed by resumption the next day is woven into its fabric. The nightwatchman is as much part of Test cricket as white clothing, the follow-on, a new ball after 80 overs, and so on. Nightwatchmen have existed right from the first Test onwards. The Australians under Steve Waugh attempted for a while to change this. A top-order batsman was expected to bat whatever the time of the day, and it worked.
Not to get confused, it is not about batsman (rather non-batsman) getting promoted and sent higher up in the order – to stall, do pinch hitting or whatever -‘Nightwatchman’ though no definition exists, is one who comes at the top of order (rarely opened too !!) when the match is about to close for the day, try and ensure that the star batsman does not get exposed to adverse conditions.
The decision of Rohit Sharma (& Team management) to send Mohammad Siraj as nightwatchman was leaving a pigeon amidst cats ! – mind-boggling decision.Ravi Shastri and Simon Doull, who were on commentary at that time, criticized it outright.Siraj, got out on the very first ball that he faced, he also burnt a review as he decided to refer the on-field 'out' verdict. It was rank foolish on the part of Siraj and Gill to have taken the review as it was wrong on all 3. Former Team India head coach Shastri did not mince his words, and criticised Siraj for wasting a DRS.Doull, who was on air, echoed Shastri's thoughts and said, "Not necessarily has to be a lower order batter or a bowler that bats a little bit. He is there to protect the batter but also to survive in these type of conditions. Ashwin, I totally agree. Quite astounding." Siraj comes as nightwatchman to protect Virat Kohli.
In the 18th over, Ajaz Patel first sent Yashasvi Jaiswal back to pavilion and to the surprise of all – it was not Virat Kohli but Siraj, disguised as a nightwatchman. On the third ball of the 18th over, Siraj was adjudged leg before wicket. The ball which was tossed up, hit him on the pads as he failed to read the line perfectly. Michael Gough did not hesitate before raising his finger. Siraj, after deliberating with Shubman Gill, opted for a review, but to no avail, as the replays showed the on-field was bang on. He walked back without opening his account. Kohli failed to get going, as he was run-out before stumps on Day 1.
Nightwatchman’s sole job will be to prevent further losses before stumps. The rationale seems to be that using a top-order batsman will place him in a no-win situation; he cannot achieve much in the short time available, but if he gets out the team’s fortunes are set back further.Looking at Test history, it appears that, in spite of its popularity, the nightwatchman tactic has never really been evaluated or proven – perhaps the working average of nightwatchman is lesser than 15 and % of outs too higher !!
If the idea is to protect Star batter, and if the nightwatchman rabbit gets out first ball, would the Captain think to send another nightwatchman or the regular batter walk out ?In Colombo in 2015, India had secured a lead of just over 100 runs after tea on the third day. Around half an hour's play remained. Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane batted in their usual positions and were dismissed. India finished the day at 21 for 3.
If the idea of sending in a nightwatchman is to protect a top batsman from an unplayable ball, sure it will not work out. An unplayable ball can be bowled at 2 mins close, 2 mins after the start in the morning or at any point of time and a lesser technique batter would never handle that with ease. If a top batsman is expected to have problems, how can a less skilled batsman be expected to handle difficult bowling conditions? - if and when he survives, what should he do next morning. Does he continue batting the way he batted the previous day - blocking out balls? If so, he might be depriving the better batsman of strike. A better option might be to score quickly, but is he capable of such a transition in batting approach? What about rotation of strike?
Great established batters like : Mark Waugh, Mike Atherton, Desmond Haynes, Dilip Vengsarkar, Mike Hussey, Mohammad Azharuddin, Krish Srikkanth, Damien Martyn – could not score a double-century in their careers - a landmark achieved by bowler, nightwatchman Jason Gillespie.At Chattogram on 17th Apr 2006, Gillespie walked in as night watchman and remained unbeaten at 28; at day 3 close, he was 102*, added 320 runs with Michael Hussey – while team waited for Hussey’s double, he got out at 182, Jason completed his double century when declaration was effected. Though this was an innings under no pressure, against an average bowling attack, the sheer size of the innings played as a nightwatchman makes it one of the great batting achievements. Gillespie's ten-hour tenure of 425 balls was epic yet he may not have happy memories of that. Despite taking 3 for 11 in the first innings and winning the player of the match award, he never played in Tests again !- what an irony !!
Our image of Ishant Sharma is a bunny, yet he played 12 innings as a nightwatchman and faced close to 350 balls says one Statistics.In that Perth test (see 3rd para) in the second innings, India held a commanding position, with Gavaskar (127) and Mohinder Amarnath (100) staging a record second-wicket partnership of 193. After Amarnath was fourth out at 283, five more wickets went down in seventy-five minutes for only 47 runs. Bedi declared because he did not want to risk injury to himself or Chandrasekhar.Bedi took five wickets in each innings.
In that test on day 4 when Dyson was out to Bedi, legspinning allrounder playing only his 2nd test walked as nightwatchman – took the score to 172, got out having made 105 !!He ended up playing 4 tests only.
The song at the start is from ‘Annanagar Mudhal Theru’ a comedy directed by Balu Anand starring - Sathyaraj, Ambika, Radha; a remake of the 1986 Malayalam film Gandhinagar 2nd Street
Regards – S Sampathkumar
2.11.2024