The moniker says it all

A wicket-keeper’s job is to keep wickets.  If he can bat as well, that’s great; but batting cannot make up for inadequate keeping skills.  We should not underestimate the importance of a good keeper.  The Indian selectors need to remember this, lest it cost us dearly.  Take the case of the young Parthiv Patel.  He did India no favors by missing the stumping of Pointing when he was on zero on the final day of the Sydney Test during the 2003-04 tour of the Outback.  It, perhaps, deprived Indian cricket of its greatest achievement.  Yet the selectors persisted with him in the face of some horrendous keeping.  And he was then universally criticized and unceremoniously dumped after contributing to concede the test series to the Aussies on their tour to India.

That brings me to all the recent brouhaha over Dhoni.  Let’s not be hasty in comparing him to possibly the only contemporary cricketer who would walk into any All-Time XI side.  I am not going to comment on his batting technique; it is his keeping that I am more concerned about.  In the last three ODIs, I have seen him miss two stumping chances and spill a fairly easy catch in the 135.3 overs that he has kept.  And this does not include all his fumbles during the regular takes.  So let’s not jump the gun in replacing Karthik with Dhoni in the test arena, as Jagdish over at 24×7 suggests (and more so if Karthik is as good a wicket-keeper as Jagdish claims he is).  Dhoni needs to prove that he can keep well before he can earn a test cap.

Cricket comes first

Scyld Berry and Christopher Martin-Jenkins have expressed their discontent at the proposed English tour schedule announced by the all too fallible BCCI.  While their concerns are valid, my biggest disappointment is that once again there will only be three tests (not to mention another 7-ODI series).  In his brilliant piece, The unique drama of Test Cricket (a must-read), Mike Marqusee posits why three-test series are not ideal.  In this case, however, the blame lies not with the Indian board, but its English counterpart: the last paragraph in Martin-Jenkins’ piece reveals that the ECB had turned down BCCI’s request for five tests this time around.  Sure, that was before the English resurrection, but surely somebody must see the reason of having one or two additional tests between these two top sides now.  The next time these two outfits go head-to-head in the subcontinent, their constituency could have altered vastly.  This time around, two ODIs could easily make way for an extra test without adding any more days to the tour.  With two more tests, the Englishmen’s request to see some well-frequented tourism spots in the list of test venues could also be accommodated.  Hopefully, somebody will insist on putting all issues aside in order to give the fans what they crave the most: some riveting Test cricket.

Space Filler

I apologize for not having posted anything in the last few days, but time constraints prevent me from blogging often.  I have a post coming soon.  Meanwhile, to appease those who’re looking for more reading material, here’s a link to an article that I came across during the recently-concluded Ashes series.

Cricket’s Superpowers

I don’t agree with everything David says, but it makes for interesting reading nonetheless.  Particularly comical is his comparison of Ricky Ponting to George Dubya.