A kingdom well built!

Last week, we saw how India overcame the challenge to its reign and made short work of the potential threats which did indeed loom large for brief perior. In the world cricket scenario, apart from the draws in the Ashes and Sri Lanka-West Indies contests, nothing interesting has happened. Australia pushed their luck too far and met with resistance from England’s top order, ending up thereby with a tame draw. After two draws, Chris Gayle’s triple ton in the first Test was the only commendable feature in the SL-WI series. It was only to be expected that Indians would finish the Test series against NZ with their no. 1 Test ranking intact. However, the challenge from hereon lies in battling those jitters of uncertainty, if any, in South Africa. But, is the current formidable Indian Test line-up the best in the world? Let us run through an analysis of the Indian line-up with the others in the top-five – South Africa, Sri Lanka, England and Australia.

Virendar Sehwag – Gautham Gambhir, arguably the best opening pair in the world today in any format of the game, are closely followed by the England pair of Andrew Strauss – Alastair Cook. While South Africa still struggles to find a dependable partner for opener Graeme Smith, Sri Lanka has trouble with the inconsistency of Tillakaratne Dilshan at the top of the batting order. With Shane Watson proving his destructive versatility, something is lacking in Simon Katich for the pair to make it to the top league of Australian openers. Considering all this, India enjoys a humungous advantage over any other team as far as the opening pair is concerned.

The middle order slots of 3, 4 and 5 look very formidable, occupied as they are by Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and V.V.S Laxman. The weak link is the No.6 slot, which is being juggled between Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh after the departure of the great Sourav Ganguly. While the middle order boasts of 34000 runs between them in Test cricket alone, does any other middle order come even close to matching the credibility of this trio? Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB De Villiers and Ashwell Prince of South Africa are consistent enough, while Sri Lankans Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Thilan Samaraweera and Angelo Mathews have only performed well enough to put some decent scores on board. England’s middle order comprising Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell hold the key for a potential England win in the ongoing Ashes series; and the rejuvenated Michael Hussey led Australian middle order consisting of Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Marcus North need more stability right now. India is way ahead even in this aspect.

MS Dhoni, the deadly unorthodox player, complements his work behind the wicket with scintillating batting in the lower middle order. He takes the slot all for himself, with no competition from any other wicket-keeper batsman. Although Australian Brad Haddin has made his comeback from injury, he needs time to prove his worth. South Africa’s Mark Boucher, England’s Matt Prior and Sri Lanka’s Prassanna Jayawardene are spent forces now, included in their respective sides only as specialist batsmen and not as all-rounders.

The second weak link of the Indian team is their bowling. Although Indian bowlers have proved their ability to take 20 wickets in a Test time and again, they are not at the apex, the only exception being Zaheer Khan.  Pragyan Ojha and Ishant Sharma have been performing decently. Harbhajan Singh seems to enjoy working with the bat more than bowling. South Africans Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Johan Botha and Paul Harris seem to be in excellent shape. England’s James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Steven Finn, and Graeme Swann need more fire in their performance to rout Australia, whereas Australia’s Mitchell Johnson, Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle and Xavier Doherty are totally out of synchronization. Sri Lanka’s bowling combo keeps changing with every match, but the absence of Lasith Malinga has hurt them badly.

India taking top place in three out of the four aspects discussed above can only mean that India is also very strong in terms of their reserve players like Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara and S Sreesanth. The other teams are clearly lacking bench strength. And they are in no way a threat to India’s current dominance. With South Africa performing as befits to their second position, they can bully India and it will be a good contest between Indian batsmen and South Africa’s bowlers performing under favourable conditions. With Ashes followed by the India-SA series later this month, it will not be long before Test cricket commands the highest TRP ratings – and this is what a true fan is waiting for!

N-India shining?

In 2003, India faced an acute power shortage of 70,000MW. Seven years later, the country isn’t doing any better, although it is the fourth largest producer of power after USA, Russia and China. Despite power sector being an inherent part of industrial growth, India still lags behind demand and potential. Traditional technology of thermal power is by and large causing problems, with the high-ash content of coals from Central India and the high-Sulphur content of coals from the North-east. A report from Jharsuguda, Orissa, says India’s largest power plant of capacity 2400MW came into operation for a single day. The affair was restricted to the length of a T20 match, not because of intricacies in the Power Plant but, the smoke cloud and the ash rain that followed. Even though the country has the potential to outstrip standards previously set, environment concerns hinder progress.

Hydro-power is a viable alternative. But the river-sharing problems amongst the states and the neighbouring countries have put the option on hold. India claiming zilch expertise in tapping renewable sources of energy, bio-fuel and solar energy are restricted to High school Science text books with little practical relevance. Wind energy finds itself scattered in territories where it finds its solace.

On a last resort, India turned to the prohibited word, “N-Deal”. Currently producing 4500MW from 20 nuclear power stations, India is exploiting the power play to maximize output to 63,000 MW by 2032. The target would bring a closure to current crises, but as time advances with growth and technology, will it suffice the needs then?

With depleting Uranium resources, India had no place to look for and the blockade seemed tough to overcome by mere search of alternate routes. Thus, India had to sign the N-Pact in 2008, but, stood its ground firmly, ignoring the Non-Proliferation Treaty and making the stand clear that India meant only business. The blow came when India’s Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2010 was written in American English. The Americans had already defended their stand in their engineering collapses which paved the way for extinction of certain species. Once again, they had been provided with the leeway, thanks to India’s Bill. Obviously, the recent handling of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy and the Gulf of Mexico fiasco has not prompted our politicians to stay cautioned; achieving their target of abolishing power shortage has taken the centre-stage over strong legal issues.

No doubt nuclear energy is the fore-runner for the future, but, it cannot be at the cost of safety and credibility. Allowing France, USA, UK and Canada to set-up Indian Nuclear power stations and assisting in operation during smooth periods is not an issue. But, disembarking them during mishaps is not a reason to be proud of. Technology at the expense of lives is unacceptable and the weak link in these episodes is India’s Bill which in a way is the messiah for India’s power shortage.

Numero Uno India?

Test cricket is back on its feet again. The amazing finishes, rewriting of records, splendid bowling performances and dazzling batting display are all a part of the rekindled euphoria. Eight out of nine Test nations are playing some sizzling Tests in the current season. But, has India retained her No.1 team because of her superlative performance or because the other teams have fallen behind in the quality of their play?

With a last-minute breakthrough reminiscent of “Lagaan”, India won a crucial series against Australia last month, brought the eye-balls back to Test cricket. The mediocre Australian team was routed by an ordinary fielding side, which with great bat and ball display, clinched the Border-Gavaskar trophy 2-0. The question arises whether India are really a balanced no.1 side? Carrying the torch forward, India won comfortably against the No. 8 New Zealand, who were earlier thrashed 4-0 by Bangladesh in a Limited-overs One Day International (LODI) series. With nothing more to lose, the NZ team threatened the No.1 taggers time and again, but, lost it all in the final test. Here again, the Indians weren’t performing well enough depending on a specialist bowler to bail them out in batting, not once but twice.

Coming to the world scenario, let us take the UAE series being played between South Africa and Pakistan. Beset by controversies of chasing easy Euros over the runs/wickets, Pakistan was in no position to win the series, dubbing it as dead rubber even before it's start. Lacking the brutality to nail the coffin, South Africa at No.2 instills hope in Pakistan to pounce back. Clearly, a lack of focus is on display from South Africa as they fight their own blacks/non-blacks quota issue.

Having discussed the credibility of Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa, it is now time for the cricket’s king-turned-pauper West Indies. With rows over policies governing the players’, shifting the power balance in the team, the fresh looking No. 7 team under their young captain, are giving Sri Lanka a torrid time at home. Has the No. 3’s quality deteriorated due to the complacency that has set-in after their recent concluded Australian series? We will have to wait and watch.

With the humongous Ashes series starting now, and for the first time in the living memory of this correspondent, No. 4 England is having the upper-hand in away-Ashes. With Australian’s fluctuating performance in the recent past, England with its formidable side is to beat the No.5, in Australia.

The observations in all these brief descriptions carry a single inference - All the international teams have seen inexplicable dips in their performances and have given no room for predictions. The present state-of-affairs of “any team winning” does not augur well for India, being the No.1 test playing team. Despite this fact, India has fared well and maintained consistency in winning. But, the real test is the forthcoming away series in South Africa which will be the best starter to be enjoyed before the Grand Indian Run Feast – World Cup 2011.