Innings Win at Dharamshala - some statistical delights including Sixers !!

Back in 1976 India outplayed NewZealand at Chepauk and I was keen to see Glenn Turner – their Captain.  High expectations as he had scored 171* & 114* in 1975 World Cup.  He scored close to 3000 runs in Tests including 7 Centuries but is an unlikely topper in a list of records – Imagine what ?

 

Today at Dharamsala – India cleaned England to close the series 4-1.  The score card reads :  India 477 (Gill 110, Rohit 103, Padikkal 65, Sarfaraz 56, Bashir 5-173) beat England 218 and 195 (Root 84, Ashwin 5-77, Bumrah 2-38) by an innings and 64 runs.  Call it Bazball or whatever, it was meek submission as wickets kept falling like being struck by an avalanche in Himalayas.  What started as having reached the peak, ended in ignominy. 

Some matches are statisticians delight.  This one too as it was the 100th test for Ravichandran Ashwin and Jhonny Bairstow.  After today’s win India’s record reads : 178 – 178 !!  - for the first time, their wins is not lesser than the losses.  Four Teams have a positive win record – Australia, England, South Africa & Pakistan. 

 

As expected Ashwin opened the bowling and had another five for.  9 for 128 – is  Ashwin's bowling figures in Dharamsala, the best for any player in their 100th Test. Muralidaran's match figures of 9 for 141 against Bangladesh in 2006 were the previous best in a 100th Test.  There was another bowling achievement, KUldeep Yadav had a 7 wicket haul and was the player of the match.  James Anderson became the first pace bowler to take 700 wickets – the other two above him are : Shane Warne 708 and Muttiah Muralitharan 800 

In Cricket, a Six is much relished one just as clean bowled or a straight drive would be !! remember Srinivasan Venkatraghavan hitting a clean six over mid wicket off Peter Petherick in that Chepauk test in 1976.  International cricket has witnessed several devastating batters dominate the game around their six-hitting abilities.  In our younger days, we read that Salim Durrani was devastating, crowds would demand a six, and he would oblige with one – he ended up hitting 15 sixers !  - then Vengsarkar burst into the scene with six hitting capability, later it was Kapil Dev, Sandip Patil, Krish Srikkanth – Yashpal Sharma too delighted with some sixers in the 1983 WC – in 1987, a dour Sidhu changed gears to become Six hitting Sidhu ! – there have been many touted to be big hitters like Atul Bedade, Amay Kurasia and .. .. ..

This Series has thrown up many youngsters as pearls from the Ocean and topping the list would be - Young Indian opening batter Yashasvi Jaiswal,  the left-handed batter has scored 712  runs.   It took 16 innings for Yashasvi  to complete 1000 runs in Test cricket, the second-fastest for an Indian in the format. Vinod Kambli remains the quickest, having got there in only 14 innings.  However he is the fastest Opener to reach 1000  , bettering the record held by   Rohit Sharma: 17 innings.   Only  two batters in history have managed to score 700 or more runs in a Test series played between India and England. Former England skipper Graham Gooch achieved the feat in 1990,  in three Tests  when he amassed a total of 752 runs, and during the five-match series played in 2021–22, Joe Root scored 737 runs.  Most runs in the Series record is held by Donald Bradman 974 in 5 tests / 7 innings; Walter Hammond 905 in 5/9 and Sunil Manohar Gavaskar in 1971 debut series 774 in 4 tests / 8 innings.

 

Yashswi Jaiswal has been timing the ball sweetly and hitting sixers at will – he has thus far in his short career slammed 29 sixers.  The topper in Test as of now is Ben Stokes 128 in 101/183;  Brendon McCullum 107 in 101/176; Adam Gilchrist 100 in 96/137; Chris Gayle 98 in 103/182; Jacques Kallis 97 in 166/280 and Virender Sehwag 91 in 104/180. 

Behind Virender Sehwag the Indian list would read :  Rohit Sharma 81; Mahendra Singh Dhoni 78; Sachin Tendulkar 67; Ravindra Jadeja 64; Kapil Dev 61; Sourav Ganguly 57; Rishab Pant 55; Harbhajan Singh 42; Ajinkya Rahane 35; Murali Vijay 33,  Navjot singh Sidhu 32 – Yashaswi 29 and Mayank Agarwal 28.  Umesh Yadav has 24 sixers .. .. Ravi Ashwin and the team coach Rahul Dravid have hit 26 sixers in Tests !! 

Manoj Prabhakar was considered an all rounder and opened in some matches too – he scored 1858 ODI runs but not a single sixer, though he hit 4 of them in his Test Career.  The record in Tests (NO SIXERS IN Career ) is held by England's Jonathan Trott, whose 3835 runs did not include a single six. Vijay Manjrekar of India managed 3208 Test runs and New Zealand's Glenn Turner 2991, also without any sixes.

 
Interesting !
 
With regards – S Sampathkumar
9.3.2024 

flower - Bird of Paradise !

Ever heard of - Heliconia rostrata !! 

The birds-of-paradise are members of the family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes. The majority of species are found in eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and eastern Australia. The family has 45 species in 17 genera. The members of this family are perhaps best known for the plumage of the males of the species, the majority of which are sexually dimorphic. The males of these species tend to have very long, elaborate feathers extending from the beak, wings, tail or head. For the most part they are confined to dense rainforest habitat. The diet of all species is dominated by fruit and to a lesser extent arthropods. A number of species are threatened by hunting and habitat loss.  

It is a plant – known as false bird of Paradise !! H. rostrata is a very large, evergreen perennial with banana-like leaves up to 2m long. In spring and summer it produces hanging inflorescences made up of bright red bracts, each tipped with yellow and green, with yellowish-white flowers  

Heliconia rostrata, the hanging lobster claw or false bird of paradise, is a herbaceous perennial plant native to El Salvador, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, and Ecuador, and naturalized in Puerto Rico. Other heliconias grow in an upright position (e.g. Heliconia bihai), their cup-shaped flower bracts storing water for birds and insects. This plant, however, has downward-facing flowers, the flowers thus providing a source of nectar to birds.  

Heliconias are known to those who grow them as a host flower to many birds, especially the hummingbirds. Because of its unique characteristics, it is often used as a specimen for tropical gardens. Along with the Kantuta flower, Heliconia rostrata, known as patujú, is the national flower of Bolivia. 

Interesting ! – photo taken this morning at Hyderabad Begumpet area in a star hotel.

 
With regards – S.Sampathkumar
6.3.2024 

  

TN out of Ranji 2024 - sack Sulakshan Kulkarni

Sadly the cup of woes is complete for Tamil Nadu, yet another time knocked out of Ranji trophy  - when will we get to see another Balu Alagannan or S Vaduevan ??

Sulkashan Kashinath Kulkarni,  a Wicket-keeping batsman was born in 1967 at  Sadashivgarh, Karnataka, made his debut for Railways cricket team at the age of 18,  switched to Bombay cricket team in the following season. He is best known for his 459-run opening partnership with Wasim Jaffer in 1996/97 against Saurashtra cricket team, Mumbai's highest partnership for any wicket – however, now, he is in news for wrong reasons ! 

Those following Ranji would know but not all old timers – Ranji Trophy is now ‘IDFC First Bank Ranji Trophy’  - the first match of the competition was held on 4 November 1934 between Madras and Mysore at the Chepauk ground in Madras. Star studded Bombay  has won the tournament the most times with 41 wins including 15 back-to-back wins from 1958–59 to 1972–73.  Karnataka which also boasted many Test stars has won 8 times, Delhi 7 times -  Tamil Nadu has won only twice – the  last time Mumbai won was in 2015-16; then it has been lesser fancied teams -  Gujarat, Vidarbha, Vidarbha, Saurashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Saurashtra

Heart burn for TN fans as their team is out of the tournament once again.  After conceding a first-innings lead of 232, Tamil Nadu collapsed once again to lose inside three days.  Mumbai made it to their 48th Ranji Trophy final after thrashing Tamil Nadu by an innings and 70 runs on the third day of their semi-final at the Bandra Kurla Complex. The final will be played at the Wankhede Stadium from March 10.

Resuming the day on 353 for 9, Mumbai ended their first innings at 378, with a healthy lead of 232. Tanush Kotian, who was unbeaten on 74 overnight, stretched the last-wicket partnership with Tushar Deshpande to 88. At one point, it looked like Kotian, No. 10, would complete his second hundred in as many matches. But Washington Sundar dismissed Deshpande to leave him stranded on 89.  In response, Tamil Nadu once again had a nightmarish start. Shardul Thakur, who had scored a blazing hundred on Sunday, dismissed N Jagadeesan and Sai Sudharsan cheaply. From the other end, Mohit Avasthi had Washington caught behind to make it 10 for 3.

This time, it appeared Tamil Nadu had a balanced bowling attack – Sandeep Warrier & Kuldeep Sen alongside Mohd Mohammed – a good spin attack of Ajith Ram, Washington Sundar and .. leftie Sai Kishore.   Sai Kishore fought valiantly taking 6 wickets and at one stage had ripped the Mumbai line-up until Shardul Thakur and the tail of Mumbai stood up.

Looking back the  State Team (was not TN then) won at Indore in 1955 defeating Holkar. Holkar put Madras in and Madras made 478 with CD Gopinath making 133.  Holkar were bowled out for 417.  Madras made 311 in its second innings with Kripal Singh scoring 91.   Balu Alaganan was the Captain and the victory margin was 46 runs.

Decades later, in Mar 1988, Tamilnadu defeated Railways by an innings and 144 runs to win the Trophy.   They had only the acting Captain, the suave experienced S Vasudevan, a great left arm bowler and a capable batsman.  The great team player he was – Vasudevan is often quoted for his simple life despite his significant achievements and longevity. He took over 200 wickets in Ranji partnering another great Srinivasan Venkatraghavan.  In  Jan 1980, he played for South Zone against touring Pakistanis and took the wickets of Zaheer, Imran and Mudassar – creditable achievement at that.  Unfortunately, he never played for the Zonal team even again.

Mumbai tail wagging is not new !  -  in their last match, Mumbai were 337 for 9 in Quarter-final against Baroda in Mumbai when last man Tushar Deshpande joined Tanush Kotian. Neither had scored a first-class century before, but by the time Deshpande was out for 123 Mumbai had advanced to 569; Kotian was left with 120 not out.

According to Steve in Cricinfo, there's only one more instance of Nos. 10 and 11 both scoring centuries in the same first-class innings. It also involved two Indian players - but a long way from the Mumbai maidans. In the third match of the 1946 tour of England, against Surrey at The Oval, the Indians had an undistinguished 205 for 9 when last man Shute Banerjee joined the No. 10, Chandu Sarwate. Both of them were actually reasonably accomplished batters: Sarwate finished his career with 14 first-class hundreds, and Banerjee with five. Against an attack containing Alec Bedser - soon to make his Test debut - the last pair more than doubled the score. They eventually put on 249 before Banerjee fell for 121, leaving Sarwate with 124 not out. "  

TN campaign has ended – a semi final heartbreak – further jolted by the ugly ungainly remarks made by Sulakshan Kulkarni, who incidentally is their Coach !!  Kulkarni remarked that TN lost the match right at the toss @ 9 am on opening day, before a ball was bowled.  

Kulkarni alleged unequivocally that  the captain, R Sai Kishore, made the call despite conventional wisdom and his own knowledge of conditions having played and coached for Mumbai, suggesting they should've bowled first. "I always speak straightforward - we lost the match at 9 o'clock on day one," Kulkarni said after Tamil Nadu were handed an innings defeat by Mumbai inside three days at the Bandra Kurla Complex Ground. "The moment I saw the wicket I exactly knew what we were going to get. "Everything was set, we won the toss, as a coach, as a Mumbaikar, I know the conditions well. We should have bowled but the captain had some different instinct."

One thought that the Coach would have more heart for the Team that he is Coaching than his home team – if that be the case, he would better be standing by the side of the team he prefers rather than making money elsewhere keeping heart away.

Dinesh Karthik, the India wicketkeeper, termed Kulkarni's comments as "so wrong" and "disappointing", while former TN captain Hemang Badani felt Kulkarni had "thrown Sai Kishore under the bus" with his comments in the aftermath of their defeat. Sai Kishore's decision to bat first backfired spectacularly as TN were tottering at 42 for 5. They were eventually bowled out for 146. Then they had Mumbai reeling at 106 for 7, before a century from Shardul Thakur hauled Mumbai out of a tricky situation. They eventually managed to make 378, which all but ensured TN were batted out of the game. 

Memories flood that Sulakshan Kulkarni, who served Mumbai as Coach  from 2011 to 2014, then was unceremoniously moved away.  There were news that  years later,   he was initially interviewed for the post by Dilip Vengsarkar, chairman of the MCA's Cricket Improvement Committee (CIC), he was offered a remuneration of INR 24 lakh for one year,  as posted in MCA website. However, Kulkarni  retorted that  the MCA delayed his appointment and sent him a contract in mid-August with an offer of INR 14 lakh,   which he turned down.

Not sure what transpired, not sure of what was his pay cheque for Tamil Nadu – whatever it be, he was on an assignment and has now spoken against the interests of the Team that he coached, simply criticising the performing Captain. What TN should perhaps do – is sack the Coach immediately and look to some Senior TN player as Coach.

With regards – S Sampathkumar
5^th Mar 2024 

Pirates of Caribbean - glorifying criminals and wrong-doers !!

 

Mani Ratnam directed Nayakan released in 1987  starring Kamal Haasan was a hit.  It purportedly was  based on the real-life story of underworld don Varadaraja Mudaliar,  sympathetically depicting the struggle of South Indians living in Bombay.  Be it Nayakan or The Godfather and so many other films, the thin line to success is the rise of poor in the competitive World.  In one scene, a man would get killed in a car accident, to save the person who was about to be married, the hero would ask one of his henchmen to surrender posing as the ‘driver’ – poor can struggle in jail on payment of a few thousands – but not the rich, even when they commit any crime ! The staple of traditional Bollywood is the triumph of the underdog against the rich and the powerful – often depicting the rugged wrong-doer as saviour of poor.

God Father is often spoken high – the crime film   directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film starred Marlon Brando, Al Pacino,  among others. It focuses on the transformation of his youngest son, Michael Corleone (Pacino), from reluctant family outsider to ruthless mafia boss.

Miles away, is Puerto Plata, officially known as San Felipe de Puerto Plata,  a major coastal city in the Dominican Republic, and capital of the province of Puerto Plata.  The city is a major trading port. Puerto Plata has resorts such as Playa Dorada and Costa Dorada, which are located east of the city proper. There are 100,000 hotel beds in the city. The first aerial tramway of the Caribbean is located in Puerto Plata, in which visitors can ride up to the Pico Isabel de Torres, a 793-meter (2600-foot) high mountain within the city. 

In a match, when the West Indies players were  peppered with shortballs,  Michael Holding wielding the mike said, in his playing days -  we were instructed to stay till the cows returned home (sound familiar) and went on to explain, in Caribbean, the farmers would go out with their cattle &  return late in the evening when Sun would be setting !  .. .. then went on to question the bouncers being bowled by Ben Stokes .. .. he fogot his own deeds and what their team was doing earlier  – more specifically the bloodbath at Sabina park.  At Port of Spain in 1976, India created record chasing 403 with ease under Bishan Bedi and bloodbath followed at Sabina Park in Apr 1976.  No Andy Roberts – it was Michael Holding, Wayne Daniel, Bernard Julian and Vanburn Holder.  West Indies won the Jamaica Test by picking up just 11 legitimate wickets. Anshuman Gaekwad, Gundappa Viswanath and Brijesh Patel suffered serious injuries in trying to counter the terrifying West Indian bowling, in fact Mohinder, Gavaskar, Vengsarkar and every other batsman were hit and were bleeding. 

West Indies were once known as the "calypso cricketers". It was a slightly patronising description which reflected the fact that while, at their best, they could provide rich entertainment, all too often they went home a beaten side. Then something happened. They became good, very good indeed as the authoritative captaincy of Clive Lloyd turned them into a brilliant match-winning machine  The great era of Caribbean cricket, which began with their success in the inaugural World Cup of 1975 and continued into the early 1990s.  .. .. slowly vanished and now we find WI not qualifying ICC tournaments.

West Indies though they play Cricket collectively is not a single Nation but  a region of the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean that includes the island countries and surrounding waters of three major archipelagos: the Greater Antilles, the Lesser Antilles, and the Lucayan Archipelago. The region includes all the islands in or bordering the Caribbean Sea, plus The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, which are in the Atlantic Ocean.  In 1492, Christopher Columbus became the first European to arrive at the islands, where he is believed by historians to have first set foot on land in the Bahamas.

No post on Cricket but on Piracy !!  The era of piracy in the Caribbean began in the 1500s and phased out in the 1830s after the navies of the nations of Western Europe and North America with colonies in the Caribbean began combating pirates. The period during which pirates were most successful was from the 1660s to the 1730s. Piracy flourished in the Caribbean because of the existence of pirate seaports such as Port Royal in Jamaica, Tortuga in Haiti, and Nassau in the Bahamas.

Roberto Cofresí y Ramírez de Arellano [1791 – 1825] known as El Pirata Cofresí, was a pirate from Puerto Rico. He was born into a noble family, but the political and economic difficulties faced by the island as a colony of the Spanish Empire during the Latin American wars of independence meant that his household was poor. Cofresí worked at sea from an early age which familiarized him with the region's geography, but it provided only a modest salary, and he eventually decided to abandon the sailor's life and became a pirate. He had previous links to land-based criminal activities, but the reason for Cofresí's change of vocation is unknown; historians speculate that he may have worked as a privateer aboard El Scipión, a ship owned by one of his cousins.

At the height of his career, Cofresí evaded capture by vessels from Spain, Gran Colombia, the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, and the United States. He commanded several small-draft vessels, the best known a fast six-gun sloop named Anne, and he had a preference for speed and maneuverability over firepower. He manned them with small, rotating crews which most contemporaneous documents numbered at 10 to 20. He preferred to outrun his pursuers, but his flotilla engaged the West Indies Squadron twice, attacking the schooners USS Grampus and USS Beagle. Most crew members were recruited locally, although men occasionally joined them from the other Antilles, Central America, and Europe. He never confessed to murder, but he reportedly boasted about his crimes, and 300 to 400 people died as a result of his pillaging, mostly foreigners.

Cofresí proved too much for local authorities, who accepted international help to capture the pirate; Spain created an alliance with the West Indies Squadron and the Danish government of Saint Thomas. On March 5, 1825, the alliance set a trap which forced Anne into a naval battle. After 45 minutes, Cofresí abandoned his ship and escaped overland; he was recognized by a resident who ambushed and injured him. Cofresí was captured and imprisoned, making a last unsuccessful attempt to escape by trying to bribe an official with part of a hidden stash. The pirates were sent to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where a brief military tribunal found them guilty and sentenced them to death. On March 29, 1825, Cofresí and most of his crew were executed by firing squad.

He inspired stories and myths after his death, most emphasizing a Robin Hood-like "steal from the rich, give to the poor" philosophy which became associated with him. This portrayal has grown into legend, commonly accepted as fact in Puerto Rico and throughout the West Indies. Some of these claim that Cofresí became part of the Puerto Rican independence movement and other secessionist initiatives, including Simón Bolívar's campaign against Spain. Historical and mythical accounts of his life have inspired songs, poems, plays, books, and films. In Puerto Rico, caves, beaches, and other alleged hideouts or locations of buried treasure have been named after Cofresí, and a resort town is named for him near Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic.

 

With regards – S Sampathkumar

5^th March 2024.