Do you know the details of Test no. 25 played at Sydney in Jan 1887 and why Indians search about that test after the first day debacle of Bengaluru ?
It is improper to compare players of different era, yet a medium-fast bowler with a batting average of 15.55 in 102 tests compares better than the mighty Isaan Vivian Alexander Richards! – if you are to say that statistics would not lie !!
Timothy Grant Southee has captained New Zealand cricket team in all formats of the game. He is more of a right-arm medium-fast bowler who can bat too. He has 382 test wickets; 221 ODI wickets & 164 T20I wickets. In his debut at the age of 19 in Feb 2008, against England he took 5 wickets and made 77 off 40 balls in the second innings.
It was shambolic below par performance by the much hyped Indian batting line-up getting bowled out for measly 46 – and at day 1 end, NZ were leading by 136 runs – this morning, it appeared as though the lead could be contained around 200-220 but Southee and Rachin Ravindra had different ideas as they took the score to 402, a lead of 356!! Indian reply gave hope to lot of dreams at 231/2 but off the last ball, Virat Kohli got out !!
After the ignominy at Multan where they last by an innings after scoring 556 - Pakistan boldly made big changes to the squad for the second and third Tests against England. They dropped their star batsman Babar Azam and also their fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah. A PCB statement termed it had "taken into account the current form and fitness of key players" before leaving out the three players for the remaining two Tests. The decision to leave out arguably Pakistan's three highest-profile players was not stunning but perhaps the need of the hour. Nobody should take their place for granted and be complacent !!
Now without them, Pakistan has won the 2nd test. Noman Ali and Sajid Khan combined for the second time in the match to bowl out England and seal Pakistan's first win in a home Test since 2021. Eight wickets fell in less than two hours as England went down in a flurry of sweeps and reverse-sweeps. Noman claimed seven of them himself to finish with 8 for 46 and 11 for 147 in the match, both career-bests. With Sajid, who took 7 for 111 in the first innings, picking up the other two, they became the first pair to take all 20 wickets in a Test since Dennis Lillee and Bob Massie in 1972. A crushing result, achieved within three-and-a-bit days on a re-used surface that Pakistan had hoped would help their spinners, means the series is level at 1-1 ahead of the third Test in Rawalpindi. It also provided Shan Masood with his first victory since taking over as captain, after a horror run of six consecutive defeats.
Back home at Bengalure, Indians had started dreaming of some miracle when Kohli Sarfraz partnership blossomed but the last ball out of Kohli has dashed some hopes. Lot would depend on whether Rishab Pant would walk in and bat his usual way, reducing the deficit and whether Indians can manage to get some lead too.
Now about that test at Sydney in Jan 1887, touring England were skittled out for 45 yet won the match by 13 runs !
Today morning Tim Southee with his big six hitting skills breezed past cavalier Virender Sehwag’s 91 sixers – Southee is playing his 103rd test, a performance, every no. 9 would be proud of. Statistically, Sehwag played 10234 deliveries to get 91 – Southee stormed it in only 2606 balls. Now only Ben Stokes 131 in 106; Brendon McCullum 107 – 101; Adam Gilchrist 100-06; Chris Gayle 98 I 103 & Jacques Kallis 97 in 166 are above him. The super Star IVA Richards hit 84 sixers in his 121 tests !! Indian young star Yashaswi Jaiswal has hit 32 sixers in his 12 tests / 22 innings career.
So, what would be the action taken by the BCCI / Selection Committee/ Coach for that poor performance of 45 all out ! in Indian soil.
One sadly remembers the tale of Ajit Wadekar, who catapulted to lead the Nation from leading Bombay – a side that included Sardesai, Gavaskar, Abid Ali, Jayanthilal, Salim Durrani, Jaisimha, Bishan Bedi, Prasanna, Venkatraghavan and Chandrasekhar. India won a Series in WI under his captaincy and beat England too in their soil. A couple of years later, WAdekar captained India in their first ODI in 1974 and in that summer, Indians were bowled out for 42 – following that debacle, he was forced to retire and played just one more First class match after that disastrous tour.
With regards – S Sampathkumar
18.10.2024