Andrew Symonds’ ill-discipline gave Watson the chance to show he could be a fully-fledged international batsman. In his fifth Test, he took it

Ali Cook19-Oct-2008
Shane Watson: “It’s great when the things you’ve been working on come off and I can bat for long periods of time” © Getty Images
Mark Twain said three weeks were required to prepare a good impromptu speech, but for Shane Watson it took eight years of first-class studying to become a Test batsman in a day. Watson, 27, achieved the upgraded reputation on Sunday with a classy innings in the most examining conditions.It was not because the 78 almost doubled his previous best in Tests, but because of the poise and sense he showed in a crisis. Australia were in a disastrous position and with each hard-earned run, forward push or back-foot pull, he dragged them closer to India’s distant total. Australia have Watson to thank for giving them a chance to save the game over the next two days.Seeing Watson relaxed yet committed for so long was strange. For most of his international career he has been the one-day man trying to blast late or early runs in a muscular style. In first-class matches in Australia and England he has scored 12 centuries, including two doubles. He knows how to bat. This was his chance to prove it in Tests.Watson walked out to start the day with Australia 102 for 4 and shortly before lunch the situation was a dire 167 for 7. Mostly because of his fragile body, Watson has also had to put up with regular murmurs of mental weakness. This innings showed he is a cricketer with fight.”I’m learning a lot, I learnt a lot from the last innings in Bangalore and was able to take that into this innings today,” he said. “It’s not as tough as it’s going to get, but it’s one of the tougher innings I’ll play.”When the ball wasn’t swinging, it was spinning from the hands of Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra. With every over, Watson was scrutinised and for more than four hours and 155 deliveries he succeeded. Only when he went back to Mishra and the ball stayed low could India remove him. A century was out of reach – there were only two tailenders for company – but he deserved to remain unbeaten.Showing surprisingly soft hands for a player brought up in pace-friendly Queensland, Watson countered the spinners in comfort. Once settled, he was happy to go down the pitch, but he was quick to step a long way back when given the opportunity, like Damien Martyn four years ago. Sometimes he was so sharp it was like watching the footwork of Michael Clarke.To Harbhajan – and, at times, to some of the fast men – he took guard on off stump for extra protection. “I find it gets me in line with the ball a lot more, especially with the ball turning into me,” he said. “It’s just something I’ve been working on the last couple of years.”In his stance Watson is so regimented, like an amateur golfer trying to remember four coaching tips at once. Then the downswing starts and everything becomes natural. He was pleased his technique held up so well under such heavy testing.”My batting has evolved a lot over the past three or four years,” he said. “I’ve had a couple of really good batting coaches, working on a few things to the quicks and spin. It’s great when the things you’ve been working on come off and I can bat for long periods of time. It was such an enjoyable, challenging day.”Over the past couple of off-seasons Watson has spent thousands of hours in the nets working on a method that will gain him this success. Andrew Symonds’ ill-discipline gave Watson the chance to show he could be a fully-fledged international batsman. In his fifth Test, he took it.

Mitchell Johnson is like a wind-up toy. He’ll tear in at the same speed all day but he has to be pointing in the right direction when the string is pulled

Brydon Coverdale at the WACA18-Dec-2008
Mitchell Johnson’s effort to be a bit more aggressive has worked wonders © Getty Images
Mitchell Johnson is like a wind-up toy that sets off at the same speed every time but he has to be pointing in the right direction when the string is pulled. If he’s slightly off line he might go flying off the table but if he’s on the right path he could run through any obstacle in his way. With help from Dennis Lillee, Johnson set himself on the straightest course possible at the WACA and demolished South Africa’s batting line-up and their spirits with a brilliant late spell of 5 for 2 from 21 balls.It was one of the most devastating Test spells in recent memory and it brought back memories of some of the finest WACA fast-bowling efforts. Curtly Ambrose crashed through Australia at the same venue in 1992-93 with a spell of 7 for 1 that set up Australia’s most recent series loss at home and Glenn McGrath mauled Pakistan in Perth in 2004-05 with 8 for 24. But the fast man most associated with the venue is the local bowler Lillee, who is now the president of the state’s cricket association.Lillee also happens to be the man who discovered Johnson as a 17-year-old and called him a once-in-a-generation bowler. Fittingly, when Johnson left his trail of destruction on the second day he did it while running in from the end of the WACA dominated by the Lillee-Marsh Stand. Johnson sought Lillee’s counsel in the lead-up to the game and the advice was short and to the point. “He said at the WACA you probably want to be a little bit straighter,” Johnson said, “try and get the guys to play a lot more.”It took a little while for the technique to kick in after Johnson began the day with a few of his familiar sprays well wide of the batsmen. He readjusted his radar and picked up Neil McKenzie and Graeme Smith, and late in the day he displayed the precision of a master craftsman. The aim was to use the Fremantle Doctor, the afternoon sea breeze in Perth, to help bring the ball back into the right-handers and then slip in one of his more standard deliveries angled across the bat.It worked. AB de Villiers and Jacques Kallis, both of whom had scored 63 and appeared to be guiding South Africa into an advantageous position, succumbed to the trap and edged behind to fall to sharp catches from Brad Haddin. The collapse that followed left South Africa at 8 for 243 at stumps and handed Australia the momentum they had been missing all day.The other factor that worked in Johnson’s favour was aggression. Once the two established men were gone, he made the debutant JP Duminy uncomfortable with a bouncer that popped up off his gloves and then Morne Morkel succumbed to the bouncer/slower-ball combination. The fire is a relatively new part of Johnson’s psyche – in his younger days he seemed too nice to be a fast bowler – and he said he had made a conscious effort to become more hostile.In an attack missing Stuart Clark, still trying to find its way in the post-McGrath and Warne era and fighting off a challenge from the world’s No. 2 team, Johnson’s form spike is superbly timed”[I’m trying to] bowl that bouncer, bowl the ones up into their ribs and then try and get that ball to cross the right-handers or other way round for the left-handers,” Johnson said. “I’m trying to be a little bit more aggressive, be a bit more in their face, be a bit more confident.”It’s easier when you’re pumped up after a couple of wickets. Johnson’s rampage lasted 33 minutes and if Australia’s first half hour on the opening day, when they lost 3 for 15, harmed their plans then South Africa’s finish to the second day almost killed theirs. Johnson’s demolition ended with the penultimate over of the afternoon and while South Africa were pleased to have a night’s rest that might quell Australia’s spark, Johnson had pushed himself as far as he could and suffered cramps when he bowled his final ball.He finished the day with a career-best 7 for 42 and he provided an irresistible period for the spectators who had stuck around on a day of South African grit. Johnson moved to Western Australia from Brisbane during the off-season because of the lure of his Perth-based girlfriend. He has not yet played for his new state but by the end of the day the fans were claiming him as their new “local” hero.”I was copping a bit of flak earlier, they were still calling me a Queenslander,” Johnson said. “I just let that run off my back and I started getting a few wickets and the crowd were right into it. It’s a crazy feeling when the crowd’s standing up and applauding you and you almost don’t know what to do. But you just appreciate it and take it all in.”It was his first game at his new home ground since making the switch. He ended up with his second five-wicket haul in Tests after collecting his first at his home venue, the Gabba, less than a month ago. Since he completed a disappointing tour of the West Indies, Johnson has picked up 34 Test wickets at 21.08. It is a period that has thrilled his mentor Lillee, who said: “It’s very pleasing to see the coming of age of any fast bowler, and Mitchell on his new home ground stepped up to the mark today to show that he has definitely come of age as a Test bowler.”In an attack missing Stuart Clark, still trying to find its way in the post-McGrath and Warne era and fighting off a challenge from the world’s No. 2 team, Johnson’s form spike is superbly timed. If he keeps pointing in the right direction whenever that string is pulled, his master Ricky Ponting will have a big smile on his face. And it’s not even Christmas yet.

The two offspinners, Jason Krejza and Harbhajan Singh, had a day to remember in Nagpur. Cricinfo looks at a few statistical highlights for the two

Cricinfo staff07-Nov-2008:

• After his poor showing in Australia’s tour game – he took 0 for 199 in 31 overs – Krejza was overlooked for the first three Tests, but he finally got his chance in Nagpur. After taking 3 for 138 on the first day, a devastating spell of five wickets in 26 deliveries restricted India to 441. He finished the innings with 8 for 215, the eighth-best figures in an innings for a bowler on debut – the fourth-best by an Australian bowler, after Albert Trott’s 8 for 43 and Bob Massie’s 8 for 53 and 8 for 84.
• Harbhajan became the third Indian bowler, after Kapil Dev and Anil Kumble, to take 300 Test wickets. He’s the fifth spinner – Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne and Kumble top the list of wicket-takers for all bowlers, and Lance Gibbs is the only other spinner in the list of 22.
• Krejza’s eight wickets cost 215 runs, the most conceded by a bowler on debut. He’s only the third Australian bowler to go for more than 200 runs in an innings – his team-mate Brett Lee was the second, against India in Sydney in 2004.
• Harbhajan’s 300th Test wicket was also his 200th at home. He fares far better in India than away: in 40 home Tests, he averages 26.74, while his 100 wickets away have come at 39.69 apiece.
• Krejza’s is the most expensive eighth-wicket haul in an innings – Saqlain Mushtaq had previously taken figures of 8 for 164. Among bowlers who have taken more than five wickets in an innings, only two bowlers – Bishan Bedi and Kapil – have conceded more runs.
• Harbhajan’s 300th victim was Ricky Ponting, fitting perhaps given their rivalry. Ponting is the batsman Harbhajan has dismissed the most – no other bowler has been as successful, in terms of dismissals, against Ponting. It was the tenth time Harbhajan got Ponting out, and to cap it off, he bowled Ponting for the first time. His 73 wickets against Australia is his best against any team. Thirty-two of those wickets came in the three Tests at home in 2001. (Click here for Harbhajan’s career bowling summary.)
• Krejza’s figures were the third-best by a visiting bowler in India – Lance Klusener’s 8 for 64, also in his debut Test, being the best – and the best for an away spinner in the country. Krejza, Klusener and Stuart MacGill, who took 8 for 108 against Bangladesh in Fatullah, are the only non-subcontinent bowlers to take eight wickets or more in an innings in Asia.
• With Anil Kumble’s retirement, Harbhajan now takes over as India’s leading spinner. Of his 300, 220 have come in Tests where he has played alongside Kumble. While Kumble averages 28.36 in those games, Harbhajan’s wickets have come at 32.60 apiece. In 18 Tests not involving Kumble, Harbhajan’s average improves to 26.81. His strike-rate is 56.6 for those 80 wickets; in matches with Kumble, it’s 69.1. The two had become only the second spin pair to play 50 Tests (among bowlers who have bowled at least 90 balls per Test on an average) in April this year.

Dhoni and Kirsten have turned out to be just the partnership India needed at the helm

Ajay S Shankar11-Dec-2008
India’s captain and coach are different as men, but they’ve come together well and built and intuitive understanding © AFP
“I would call one the facilitator, I would call the other, well, just fantastic to work with.” It was a throwaway line from a key member of the Indian cricket team, but it managed to capture in a nutshell what others before had struggled to pin down.That one line – simple, direct and to-the-point – also contained all the qualities that players, officials and team associates insist is the secret behind the captain-coach combination that is currently steering Indian cricket through an incredibly confident phase.Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Gary Kirsten have won all three Tests they have combined in so far, against top-class opposition – South Africa in Kanpur this April, and Australia over the last two months, in Mohali and Nagpur. They have not done too badly in the one-day game either, except for an early, embarrassing loss to Pakistan in the final of the Kitply Cup in Dhaka last June. They also reached the final of the Asia Cup in Pakistan, showed the way against Ajantha Mendis in Sri Lanka, and swept England away last month.Now, as they prepare for their first full Test assignment together, against England, the coming together of Dhoni and Kirsten is being described as an “intuitive partnership” between two diverse men with common ideas and ideals.It is said that both want to win at any cost, have a lot of respect for each other, prefer to be low-profile, and come across in one-on-one interactions as refreshingly humble. Interestingly, and some say importantly for Indian cricket, both can be brutally honest too.”There are some of us who have been close to Dhoni, spending a lot of time together before he became captain,” says a former Indian team member. “The way it goes in India, some of us have expected Dhoni to carry over that friendship when it comes to team selection, or while taking decisions on the field, but have ended up disappointed. He is not an angel and still does the funny things that he used to with his gang, but he has made it clear by his actions that when it comes to his team, winning is all that counts. He is selfish that way, and also ruthless.”Kirsten is no different. “Don’t get fooled by that smile,” a former coach who worked with him in South Africa warns. “He knows when to step in and draw the line. In fact, that is what I feel has worked for him in India where he is managing superstars – keep a low profile, but make your presence felt within when it matters.” Kirsten’s stress has been on making the coaching approach as broad as possible, allowing some to go on gut instinct and others to pay more attention to planning and strategy, if that is what works for them From the time they got together in Australia early this year for a few “tentative chats” before Kirsten flew down to India for the Test series against his home team, Dhoni and he have clearly identified their areas of authority.Kirsten and the support staff – Venkatesh Prasad, the bowling coach; Robin Singh, the fielding coach; and Paddy Upton, the mental conditioning coach who also doubles up as physical trainer – are the facilitators. Together they ensure that they don’t stand in the way; that they talk to players, not down at them; most importantly they “aggressively ensure” that each team member is fully involved and participates in discussions.A clear-cut division of roles
Dhoni is the executioner, completely in charge of what happens on the field, reading the game like a card sharp, operating on instinct, often dumping elaborate plans without a second thought. He has been described as a patient listener, soaking in inputs and “taking support from everyone within the team, as long as he is sure that they are giving him 100% and more”. What really works for him, a team-mate says, is his uncanny ability to spot match-winners for every game and even for specific match situations.Kirsten, meanwhile, is a believer in personalised interactions with players, and knows that in the case of somebody like Sachin Tendulkar it is not a matter of batting tips but more of ensuring that the master is mentally in the right space. He believes in handing out responsibilities, doesn’t over-react, and ensures he gives the players their space. The stress has been on making the coaching approach as broad as possible, allowing some to go on gut instinct and others to pay more attention to planning and strategy, if that is what works for them.In short, what Kirsten does off the field is a mirror image of what Dhoni does on it – remember the way the captain let Zaheer Khan set the field for Ishant Sharma during the crucial batting Powerplay against England in Bangalore last month? Like Dhoni, Kirsten allows players to take on responsibility, and apparently the players have responded. “What Gary and Dhoni have repeatedly suggested to the players is, ‘It is not about us, it is about you’,” a team official says. “The message that has repeatedly been underlined is that the coaches are not there to boss the players around, an approach which is destined to meet with more resistance than not.”
Paddy Upton’s area of focus is the team’s overall mental and physical well-being © AFP
Both captain and coach have largely similar long-term goals too. For instance, Kirsten and Dhoni, like Anil Kumble earlier, are committed to a rotation policy to prevent fatigue, injury, and subsequent loss of form. “It won’t be easy – it never is,” Kirsten wrote in June about implementing such a policy, “but I’m sure there is a sufficient level of maturity and understanding among the players to accept that there is simply too much cricket for any single player to perform at his best all the time.”One month later, after the idea failed to gain much ground within the Indian board, Dhoni decided to show the way by pulling out of the Test series against Sri Lanka. Since then the team has rested its two strike bowlers, Zaheer and Ishant, in a “planned manner”.Modus operandi
Dhoni’s idea of a team-bonding session often is to plonk himself down in the team hotel corridor, order tea, and catch up with his team-mates as they join him one by one for a chat on everything under the sun, including, of course, cricket. Kirsten may not be quite so informal, but he can be innovative when he wants to: he once asked his staff to bring along to a meeting anything that caught their eye which captured their character best. One of them brought along a bottle of water, to indicate that he would fit in anywhere. Crucially, both captain and coach are each comfortable with the other’s methods.Dhoni has exceptional leadership qualities, Kirsten told the recently. “He’s a very street-wise cricketer and likes to think out of the box. That’s lovely, because I like to think out of the box too.” Both apparently seem to agree that every person is an individual, with unique gifts, strengths and dislikes, and so the approach would be to accommodate these as far as possible while remaining with a common team framework.The support cast
It has helped, of course, that Prasad, Robin and Upton are on the same page and are proactively involved in the support role, each playing his well-defined part.Upton looks after “the mental and physical well-being of the team as a whole” and organises “team activities”. “During the pre-Australia series Test camp in Bangalore, he took the team to a nearby resort, divided the boys into groups of three, and got each group to make its own version of popular Hindi movies,” a team member reveals. One group had Virender Sehwag, in a wig, as its heroine. DVDs of the exercise, with mock titles, were distributed later and acting awards handed out. “It was hilarious, but it also set the team in the right frame of mind before an important series.”Prasad works individually with the bowlers and talks to them separately, listening more than talking, taking the time to understand their mindset. The rehabilitation of the temperamental Munaf Patel is a case in point.In fact, a large share of the credit for the Dhoni-Kirsten chemistry goes to the base that was laid by Robin and Prasad, who took over the team’s training after India’s disastrous World Cup last year. Equally important was the role played by Ravi Shastri, the interim coach, in settling the nerves of the team that flew to Dhaka for a Test and one-day series barely a month after the Caribbean misadventure.Dhoni’s idea of a team-bonding session often is to plonk himself down in the team hotel corridor, order tea, and catch up with his team-mates as they join him one by one for a chat on everything under the sun The team was in tatters after reports of a divide between senior and junior players under Greg Chappell, the previous coach, and Shastri, a former captain, who is close to many Indian players, began the tour by delivering an intensely personal speech, asking players to bury their differences and get to know each other. “That was the beginning,” a team regular says. “From there, the team went on to win the Test series in England under Rahul Dravid, and the Twenty20 World Cup under Dhoni.”Crucially, we beat Australia in Perth under Anil Kumble. In fact, Anil was instrumental in taking team unity to a level never seen before. So there were a lot of important contributions down the line and things were falling into place when Gary took over full-time. But the key was, he knew exactly where to pick up from.”Kirsten for his part was quick to acknowledge, on arrival, the differences in the way the game is played in the subcontinent. “They play with enormous flair, and they’ve got great hands on the ball. We’ve got to encourage that. When people talk about me being a foreign coach, I don’t feel like a foreign coach because I’ve integrated my thinking, my philosophies and my style of coaching, along with Paddy’s, into how the Indians go about their business.”With the team on a high, Kirsten’s main focus was to understand what was working well and to keep those things going – the first tentative step was a low-key two-day workshop in March before the South Africa Test series. The next step was to identify areas of improvement, build relationships with the players and gain their trust. It was only much later that the actual coaching began.A break with the past
The subtle differences in the approaches of Chappell and Kirsten present important clues to what is going right this time. Kirsten would admit that Chappell possesses a superior cricket brain, but where Kirsten seems to have scored is in his understated man-management skills, his ability to be a “good listener”, and his aversion for the limelight. While Chappell aggressively promoted his vision through the media – which ultimately backfired – Kirsten, after a few early mistakes, has shut the door on the hundreds of cameras and microphones that are now part of the Indian cricket caravan.
Venkatesh Prasad has played a vital role in ensuring continuity between eras © AFP
It’s quite the same in the case of Dravid and Dhoni too. Dravid, from a public school background, was not a big fan of open displays of emotion, not given to theatrical flourishes, and preferred to talk to his team in his language, not theirs. Dhoni, by all accounts, has a finger on every pulse, employs a flashy Bollywood style that is popular within, and is prone to emotive gestures, like, for instance, letting Sourav Ganguly captain the team for a few overs on his last day in international cricket.When it comes to handling the increasingly soundbyte- and controversy-hungry Indian cricket media, Dhoni has learned to adapt quickly. Unlike Dravid, as captain he doesn’t fret over what has been written about him or his team, and has quickly learned the art of coming up with inane comments that say nothing. Why, you could say that Dhoni’s “Well, of course, it’s good to win” has now upstaged Dravid’s “To be honest, the boys did well.”After the honeymoon
Yet the new regime has its share of doubters, many of whom point to a similar euphoria during the first half of the Dravid-Chappell partnership. That was when Team India, under “Guru Greg”, could do nothing wrong, having blown away the Sri Lankans, and coincidentally, England too. Then, a historic series win against West Indies was followed by India’s first-ever Test win in South Africa. But we all know how that story ended.Mickey Arthur, the South Africa coach, has already sounded a gentle warning, suggesting that while Dhoni’s tendency to operate on instinct, and his aversion for theories and processes seems to be working fine for him, there may be others in the team who might need the help of a more structured set-up. As two former India players point out, all the talk about Dhoni and Kirsten sounds new and refreshing now, but it’s simply too early to take a call.Obviously the real test is when the team starts to lose. As Chappell and Dravid will testify, that’s when words like “vision” and “gut-feel” begin to start sounding hollow; when the media and the fans switch off the smiles and snarl for blood; when the pressure builds within and cracks snake across the façade; when whispers become scandals, and friends begin to sharpen the knives. It will be no different for Dhoni and Kirsten too, but till then, as their team will tell you, let’s just worry about the next ball.

Praveen Amre never won the Ranji Trophy as a player, but in his three years as Mumbai’s coach he has won the Ranji title twice. He shares Mumbai’s journey to their 38th Ranji crown

Interview by Nagraj Gollapudi16-Jan-2009

Two years ago when you won for the first time, you said you should be judged down the line, and not over one season. You must be a proud man now?
This was something special, especially after last year’s disappointment. We knew Mumbai is a champion side, but I still had a role to play: preparing advance training modules, keeping the dressing-room atmosphere positive, picking a balanced team every game, taking bold decisions.The journey was terrific. It is great to see that happiness on each and every face. The icing on the cake was sharing the moment with Sachin [Tendulkar] and Zaheer [Khan], and they also enjoyed the victory. Last evening we had a team dinner. Sachin congratulated each and ever member of the team for working hard and playing a part in winning the title. He said, ‘Zaheer and I only joined in the semi-finals, but you were the guys who made us win the title.’ He thanked me for putting in the hard work behind the scenes, and Wasim [Jaffer] for leading from the front.What were the mistakes from last year that you eliminated?
I had spoken to John Buchanan few years ago. He was in a similar position as me – everyone in Australia wants the team to be champions always. Since Buchanan’s team had a lot of star players I checked with him how he handled them in particular. The first thing Buchanan told me was I needed to keep my ego in the back pocket. That has helped me a lot in handling the Mumbai team. Without disturbing the egos of the star players, I had to get the best out of them. That was the most difficult thing.What were the challenges before the season had commenced?
The first challenge was to get a proper composition: whether to go with six batsmen or with five bowlers. Last year we fell short by a bowler so we added one this time, and probably that helped us to bowl out the opposition twice maximum times.Thanks to Dilip Vengsarkar we travelled to Anantapur to play practice games against Andhra as it was raining in Mumbai. Even if we lost three out of the four games it was a very important to get into the rhythm after the off-season. Then we lost to Saurashtra in Buchi Babu, and the critics started to pan us. But it did not matter to me. In those pre-season matches I was working out the individual strengths. At the same time the management decided that we would continue with only those who performed in Anantapur first and then in Buchi Babu. We wanted performers to help us get outright victories. Another key thing was I wanted Wasim to get a feel of his players as we had decided to appoint him the captain for the new season.That appointment might have raised a few eyebrows especially as Amol Muzumdar was a Ranji-winning captain two years ago, and the side’s highest run-getter last year. So what was the idea behind replacing him with Jaffer?
Firstly I must give credit to Wasim for staying with Mumbai. Before the season began Maharashtra had given him an offer and were willing to pay him any amount of money, but he opted to stay with Mumbai. That was the wisest decision he took as he would have ended up playing only league games there. Now he has won the Ranji Trophy, and also topped the run charts. Personally I felt Wasim, too, was going through a lean phase as he had failed at the international level, but he still had it in him to play for the country and needed to prove himself once again on the domestic circuit. He is a quality opening batsman, and we felt that the additional responsibility would motivate him further. So we dragged him out of the comfort zone to become more responsible for himself and the team.Was there a vision plan after last year’s exit?
I knew we had talented players who could go to the next level. If you look properly we have had the same team mostly – the only difference has been we started more intelligently this season. I got TA Sekar to screen a pool of 25 fast bowlers and categorise them as ‘potential’, ‘raw’, ‘developing’, or ‘flawed’. As a coach I shared my work with him, and that part was very important. For the first time the management knew there were back-up bowlers, which encouraged a healthy competition.

Travel was going to be another impediment if not handled properly. If we played 10 games counting the final that would mean a total of 41 playing days, about 65 including the travel. That was a tough itinerary as, at times, there was only a two-day gap between matches. That meant the bowlers would not get enough time for recovery, so we had to shuffle them.Was there any form of team-building exercise you worked on?
Every player voted after every game for a Man of the Match, and I would declare the name so the player would know he had his colleagues’ support. Then I decided that if any player was late, not only him but the entire team would play the fine because I wanted them to think it was their team and everyone needed to be responsible.Around the halfway mark in the league stage you were forced to follow on against Saurashtra, and you just about managed to avoid defeat. Was there any complacency after two outright victories?

That was the toughest game although we saved it in the end. But whatever happened was good, and I told the boys that we were much better than the result showed. And when your last pair can bat for a long time like Usman [Malvi] and Dhawal [Kulkarni] did in the first innings, and then Ramesh [Powar] played an uncharacteristic 171-ball 23 in the final innings, I knew my team was back on the track.The presence of Tendulkar in the dressing room must have been a welcome change for you?
Once he was there my job was that of the caretaker. He should communicate with the players more as he has tremendous passion for Mumbai and its cricket, and is always concerned about its welfare. Even after the Saurashtra game he was there in the nets to boost our morale. So with him around. I could be relieved and didn’t need to cover every point. His presence was important.Apparently Tendulkar had an honest chat with the entire squad after the semi-final against Saurashta. What was his message before the final?
We had scored 647, but still struggled to bowl out Saurashtra. We were lucky to escape as the rain arrived just half hour after play was called off on the final afternoon otherwise we would have missed out. Sachin’s message was that if we had to be real champions the attitude and approach had to be important. For that we needed to be more fearless. At times in the semis, he pointed out, players were going through motions but a champion side always dictates the events.Last year you pointed fingers at the batsmen for playing the wrong shots. How did you work on that?
I made my own plans on how each batsman would contribute. The way they got out never helped the team. There were not many hundreds, and only Amol got 500-plus runs. This year you have two batsmen – Wasim and Ajinkya [Rahane] – who crossed 1000 after eight games. I pointed to each batsman which areas they were getting out in, which strokes they were more susceptible to playing around a particular score in their innings, and how they could nullify the mistakes to get to the target of hundred. We also decided that four batsmen should score at lease 800 each in the season. But more importantly we put a challenge to them by letting them know they would get four innings to grab the opportunity, do well for himself, and do well for the team.

As for the bowlers the target for the seniors was to achieve a minimum count of 25 victims, but I knew this would be difficult. The other area, where we found ourselves really weak, was in the fielding, so we worked hard on that, especially on our slip catching. We had high-intensity sessions of at least 50 catches each, which helped us a lot.Was dropping Amol – the first time ever in his career that he has been benched after being named in the 15 – was the most difficult decision of your coaching career?
That was very, very tough. It was also emotional as we had won the Ranji title under him two years ago. That was my first year as coach and it was a very, very special moment for me, too, because I had never won the title during my playing days. But this time around we had to take the decision for nothing else but winning the tournament. There were only two other names apart from Amol’s – Abhishek [Nayar] and Sairaj [Bahutule]. Abhishek had been batting well, and was giving us that extra balance. The main reason behind finally opting for Sai was because this was the first time in two years that we were playing a five-day game. We thought we might need a second spinner, and did not want to take a chance. Also Sachin was batting at No. 4, Amol’s position.It was a tricky thing, conveying the message to him. The timing was important so as to not break his confidence. In the end it went fine. Both me and Wasim went to his room on the eve of the game, and told him. Obviously he was disappointed, but agreed his was not an extraordinary season but he could still play a part. But if the seniors felt they needed to drop him, he would take that on the chin.Is it true that Jaffer initially opposed the idea of opening with Samant?
Forget him, if I had proposed it to any other senior he would have first made sure I was actually serious. But I was, so I asked Wasim to think about it. In end it worked out. Didn’t it?What does the victory mean for you?
It just means Mumbai cricket has not gone down. If we had lost, our cricket would have gone back by three years. I vouched that each and every member worked hard. There were no shortcuts.

Spinners have had a huge role to play in IPL 2009, but one bowler hasn’t quite made the impact you’d have expected in conditions in which many other, lesser bowlers have done extremely well

S Rajesh18-May-2009Spinners have had a huge role to play in IPL 2009, but one bowler hasn’t quite made the impact you’d have expected in conditions in which many other, lesser bowlers have done extremely well. Shane Warne has been an inspirational captain, no doubt, for Rajasthan Royals, plotting brilliantly with limited resources, and coaxing the best out of his young and inexperienced players. As a spinner, though, he has been overshadowed by others, many of whom have none of his experience or class.With 14 wickets from 12 matches, only four bowlers have taken more in this competition, but Warne’s wickets have been relatively expensive, at a relatively high economy rate, especially in the context of a tournament which have seen several low scores and several matchwinning performances by spinners.Among spinners who have taken at least eight wickets, Warne’s average is worse than all but two other bowlers, Harbhajan Singh and Piyush Chawla, while his economy rate of 7.41 is poorer than everyone else in the list. Some of that is also a function of how he bowls, tossing it up and inviting the batsmen to have a go, but on these slow pitches bowlers who’ve adopted a more defensive approach have had plenty of success as well. Rohit Sharma’s 11 wickets have come at an average of 11.45 and an economy rate of 6.63, both of which are outstanding by Twenty20 standards. His bowling index (average multiplied by economy rate) is better than anyone else’s among those in the list below.Next in the list is Shadab Jakati, Chennai Super King’s left-arm spinner who has taken 103 wickets in 41 first-class matches at an average of 36.38. Anil Kumble and Muttiah Muralitharan are in the top five, but so is Pragyan Ojha, a bowler who has played only nine ODIs for India.

Warne has hardly bowled during the Powerplay overs in this IPL, keeping himself mostly for the eight middle overs. He hasn’t taken too many wickets during this period, but that’s also because most batsmen would prefer to play him off and look to take more risks against other bowlers. In the last six he has gone at nine an over, but has also taken more wickets.

As you’d expect, Warne has had more problems keeping the left-handers in check than the right-handers. With the stock ball coming in to them, the left-hand batsmen have had it much easier against Warne, getting him away for 136 runs from 96 deliveries and losing their wickets to him only five times. Against right-handers, on the other hand, Warne has kept it much tighter, and struck more often as well.

The table below further illustrates the point: among the six batsmen who’ve played ten or more deliveries from him in this IPL and scored at eight or more per over, five are left-handers. Irfan Pathan, Suresh Raina, Matthew Hayden, Yuvraj Singh and Kumar Sangakkara have all been pretty successful against Warne, while Andrew Symonds is the only right-hander who has dominated Warne. On the other hand, S Badrinath and Virat Kohli have utterly struggled against him. Sachin Tendulkar had a memorable battle against him, but Warne clearly won that won, conceding eight runs from as many balls and dismissing him once.

Symonds makes his markA few Australians have joined the IPL after their series against Pakistan, but the one who has undoubtedly shone brighter than the others is Symonds. In four innings he has scored 174 runs at an impressive average and an outstanding strike rate. Symonds is quickly moving up the run-getters’ chart, and his strike rate means his batting factor (average x strike rate) has been bettered only by four batsmen (among those with at least 150 runs). In the top 15 there are four Australians, which is a pretty healthy percentage. Only India have as many players, while South Africa have three.

Dungarpur was highly opinionated, terribly impractical, a cricket romantic and Indian cricket’s unofficial ambassador. A pity his memoirs remain unwritten

Ayaz Memon12-Sep-2009With Raj Singh Dungarpur’s death, Indian cricket has lost perhaps its most ardent well-wisher.For almost half a century, Dungarpur was a prominent fixture in the country’s cricketing firmament, looming larger than life not just because he stood six-foot-three in his shoes, but also because of his opinions and decisions, some of which were path-breaking or diabolical, depending on how you looked at them.For instance, as chairman of the selection committee in 1989, he elevated Mohammad Azharuddin to the captaincy, to stymie the rising tide of player power. His poser to Azhar, “? [Will you be captain?]” is now a part of Indian cricket lore. It left not just Azhar flummoxed, but the entire country.It was assumed that Azhar’s appointment would be temporary and a different captain chosen after the incipient revolt led by Mohinder Amarnath, Kris Srikkanth and Dilip Vengsarkar – among others – was quelled. But Azhar’s reign continued for almost a decade, in which time he found unstinting support from Dungarpur at every stage, including during the match-fixing scam.Azhar’s elevation, as it transpired, was part of a grand plan by Dungarpur to create a “Team of the 90s”, driven by youth, in which the precocious Sachin Tendulkar was to play the central role. While his grand vision see-sawed subsequently and then settled for a mix of the new and the old, it was responsible to some extent for the emergence of players like Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble.Dungarpur’s clout in the BCCI began to wane after he finished his term as president. He failed to find a firm footing in the administration in the 2000s, being content to guard his fiefdom, the Cricket Club of India (CCI), with extra zeal. Over the last couple of years, plagued by illness and controversy, he lost control of the club too.Hailing from a princely state, Dungarpur was weaned on cricket in his childhood, and as he grew into manhood became obsessed with the game. His skills as a medium-fast bowler were extremely modest, but his passion was gigantic. He lived, ate and slept cricket.His privileged background gained him not just a firm footing in Indian cricket, but also easy access to the sanctum sanctorums of the game worldwide, and he used this to his great advantage to acquire deep knowledge and a network that would serve him all his life. Tall and patrician, for many years he was the unofficial ambassador for Indian cricket, hobnobbing with star players and administrators across the world.There were those who accused him of being snobbish and pompous and of throwing his weight around, but personally I found this exaggerated. He was highly opinionated, loved an audience, and could at times be terribly impractical. But at his core he was a complete cricket romantic, in many ways a denizen of some other world – one in which cricket was not just a game but life itself. Among media persons in India, he was called cricket’s Majnu (Romeo), so transparent was his love for the game.I experienced this passion often, after he decided that I would ghost his book. We chose as the working title for his memoirs. This was circa 2000, in Indore, where I had been invited by him to meet several members of his family and old school associates who would fill me in on his early years. He had recently finished his term as president of the BCCI, and I could sense that his resolve to remain in the power grid of the country’s cricket politics – for which he was terribly ill-equipped in any case – was waning. He was still supremo of the CCI, and his one vote was still priceless, but he was clearly losing his grip over how the game was being run.The BCCI was undergoing a cultural upheaval, as it were. Indian cricket was starting to become the financial Godzilla it is today, and talk in the corridors of power was more about moolah and marketing than about talent and matches. Dungarpur would go on to guard his fief, the CCI, with greater flamboyance (which earned him many enemies subsequently). Wanting to write his memoirs was, I suspect, subliminal resignation to the disorientation he was experiencing then.”I don’t know if that’s the right title, though,” he said with the guffaw that was his trademark. “As it is, many people think I am a relic of the Raj in any case, and they’ll think I am only furthering that agenda.” I brushed aside his objection, saying it was the most appropriate title because these were to be his personal experiences, which as anybody who has spent any time with him would vouch, were richer than several hundred books put together.

I had occasion several times to visit his bachelor pad, opposite the Wankhede Stadium. He would show off his memorabilia with pride: 8mm films of old matches and masters, rare photographs preserved with the care of a manicurist, scores of books, many of them out of print, and hundreds of ties and miniature bats

I had occasion several times to visit his bachelor pad, opposite the Wankhede Stadium. He would show off his memorabilia with pride: 8mm films of old matches and masters, rare photographs preserved with the care of a manicurist, scores of books, many of them out of print, and hundreds of ties and miniature bats.His knowledge was encyclopaedic because he was a seeker. But it was the personal touch he brought to his anecdotes that was the more compelling. From Bradman to Bedser to Borde – so to speak – he could speak about cricketers with an authority that was not just bookish but in many instances gained by personal interaction.From his father Dungarpur learned of the deeds of CK Nayudu and Mushtaq Ali (“India’s lions”, he often called them), and they remained iconic for him throughout his life. He met Duleepsinhji in his youth, and gained rare insights into Ranjitsinhji from him. He saw enough of Lala Amarnath, Vijay Hazare, and particularly Vinoo Mankad, to become a die-hard fan. He rated Sunil Gavaskar 10 on 10 for technical perfection (even if he disagreed with him on several issues), was an unapologetic fan of MAK Pataudi, and was completely besotted with Tendulkar.But Dungarpur was also often guilty of hasty judgments. His dropping of Amarnath in 1989 was clumsy and earned him a lot of flak. In the late 90s, he became strangely disdainful of Dravid as a one-day player (“he can’t hit the ball off the square”) and later had to eat humble pie. He also became overly critical of Ganguly towards the latter half of his captaincy, which in some ways I suspect was because of his resentment of Jagmohan Dalmiya.But I am digressing from the memoirs. We met in Pune (where he had relocated), or at the CCI (where he still had his room), or the Willingdon Sports Club, whose ambience he loved. We discussed issues old and contemporary, and worked out a list of chapters, from the Merchant and Hazare era, through the Bedi-Gavaskar imbroglio, to the Team of the 90s and the way ahead for Indian cricket.Midway through this decade, the historian Ram Guha was once privy to a small conversation between us and remarked that ought to be completed while Dungarpur’s memory was still intact; for by this time Raj was beginning to lapse into forgetfulness. I made haste, but illness and disillusionment had begun to dog him.A little less than two years ago, having heard that he had Alzheimer’s, I went to the CCI to meet him. He stared back at me vacantly. “Who are you?” he asked in a low voice.The many bitter battles in the CCI had seemingly taken their toll. Moreover, his closest friend, Hanumant Singh, had passed away suddenly. Dungarpur’s disconnect with the world seemed complete.I am now left with enough memories to write a book on him, but , alas, must be stillborn.

An Englishman who made an art out of obduracy

Gideon Haigh21-Mar-2010Some years ago I adjourned with a friend to a nearby schoolyard net for a recreational hit. On the way, we exchanged philosophies of cricket, and a few personal partialities. What, my friend asked, did I consider my favourite shot? “Easy,” I replied ingenuously. “Back-foot defensive stroke.”My friend did a double take and demanded a serious response. When I informed him he’d had one, he scoffed: “You’ll be telling me that Chris Tavaré’s your favourite player next.” My guilty hesitation gave me away. “You Poms!” he protested. “You all stick together!”Nearly 30 years since his only tour of Australia, mention of Tavaré still occasions winces and groans. Despite its continental lilt, his name translates into Australian as a very British brand of obduracy, that Trevor Baileyesque quality of making every ditch a last one. He’s an unconventional adoption as a favourite cricketer, I’ll admit – yet all the more reason to make him a personal choice.Tavaré played 30 Tests for England between 1980 and 1984, adding a final cap five years later. He filled for much of that period the role of opening batsman, even though the bulk of his first-class career was spent at Nos. 3 and 4. He was, in that sense, a typical selection in a period of chronic English indecision and improvisation, filling a hole rather than commanding a place. But he tried – how he tried. Ranji once spoke of players who “went grey in the service of the game”; Tavaré, slim, round-shouldered, with a feint moustache, looked careworn and world-weary from the moment he graduated to international cricket.

His name translates into Australian as a very British brand of obduracy, that Trevor Baileyesque quality of making every ditch a last one

In his second Test he existed almost five hours for 42; in his third, his 69 and 78 spanned nearly 12 hours. At the other end for not quite an hour-and-a-half of the last was Ian Botham, who ransacked 118 while Tavaré pickpocketed 28. As an ersatz opening batsman, Tavaré did not so much score runs as smuggle them out by stealth. In the Madras Test at the start of 1981-82, he eked out 35 in nearly a day; in the Perth Test at the end of 1982, he endured almost eight hours for 89. At one stage of the latter innings, he did not score for more than an hour. Watching on my television in the east of Australia, I was simultaneously aching for his next run and spellbound by Tavaré’s trance-like absorption in his task. First came his pad, gingerly, hesitantly; then came the bat, laid alongside it, almost as furtively; with the completion of each prod would commence a circular perambulation to leg to marshal his thoughts and his strength for the next challenge.That tour, I learned later, had been a peculiarly tough one for Tavaré. An uxorious man, he had brought to Australia his wife Vanessa, despite her phobia about flying. Bob Willis, his captain, wrote in his diary: “He clearly lives every moment with her on a plane and comes off the flight exhausted. Add to that the fact that he finds Test cricket a great mental strain and his state of mind can be readily imagined.” You didn’t have to imagine it; you could watch him bat it out of his system.Tavaré could probably have done with a psychiatrist that summer; so could have I. Our parallels were obvious in a cricket sense: I was a dour opening batsman, willing enough, but who also thought longingly of the freedoms available down the list. But I – born in England, growing up in Australia, and destined to not feel quite at home in either place – also felt a curious personal kinship. I saw us both as aliens – maligned, misunderstood – doing our best in a harsh and sometimes hostile environment. The disdain my peers expressed for “the boring Pommie” only toughened my allegiance; it hardened to unbreakability after his 89 in Melbourne.Batting, for once, in his accustomed slot at No. 3, Tavaré took his usual session to get settled, but after lunch opened out boldly. He manhandled Bruce Yardley, who’d hitherto bowled his offbreaks with impunity. He coolly asserted himself against the pace bowlers, who’d elsewhere given him such hurry. I’ve often hoped on behalf of cricketers, though never with such intensity as on that day, and never afterwards have I felt so validated. Even his failure to reach a hundred was somehow right: life, I was learning, never quite delivered all the goods. But occasionally – just occasionally – it offered something to keep you interested.

Australia have played each of their three games so far against teams from the subcontinent, and the short ball has served them well against batsmen who don’t particularly like these deliveries

S Rajesh07-May-2010Australia have played each of their three games so far against teams from the subcontinent, and the short ball has served them well against batsmen who don’t particularly like deliveries which are aimed at their chests. The match against Pakistan was at the relatively slow St Lucia pitch, but even there Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson got a wicket each with the short-pitched ball. Bangladesh were completely clueless as well on the bouncy track in Barbados, while India’s numbers look slightly better only because of Rohit Sharma’s late charge. From the 14 short balls that were bowled to him by Australia’s fast bowlers, Rohit scored 21 runs, including two fours and a six. Exclude his numbers, and India’s stats tell a rather sorry tale. His knock still couldn’t prevent India from suffering their worst defeat, in terms of runs, in a Twenty20 international.Australia, meanwhile, have matches against Sri Lanka and West Indies to follow, and with the Sri Lanka game to be played in Barbados, it’s likely there’ll be another show of short-pitched stuff in that game.

Bowling teamBatting teamShort ballsRunsDismissalsAverageRun rateAustraliaPakistan141226.005.14AustraliaBangladesh332939.675.27AustraliaIndia3348316.008.72Rohit’s unbeaten 79 boosts his average in World Twenty20s to 74.50 – in nine innings he has three half-centuries and a strike rate of 139.25. Among those with 250 runs or more in these matches, only Matthew Hayden has a better average. Rohit’s 79 made up 58.52% of India’s total, which is the fifth-highest contribution by a batsman to a team’s score.Most of the records from this game, though, went Australia’s way: their 16 sixes is the second-best in a Twenty20 innings, next only to the 17 that South Africa managed against England in Centurion last year. Dirk Nannes’ three wickets, meanwhile, took his overall wickets tally in all Twenty20 cricket to 94, making him the highest wicket-taker in this format; Albie Morkel has 93.

In the last innings of the Bangalore Test, a 22-year-old walked out instead of Rahul Dravid – and made sure he gave those watching plenty to talk about

Nagraj Gollapudi21-Oct-2010For one poignant moment Cheteshwar Pujara was a fan again. Looking over the shoulders of his team-mates at the post-match presentation following his audacious innings on the final day of the second Test against Australia in Bangalore, Pujara did not want to miss out on anything Sachin Tendulkar was saying. When Tendulkar finally mentioned his name, Pujara’s face lit up.It was not that he was feeling empty without an acknowledgement from his senior team-mates. His 72 runs in the final innings had shut Australia out of the contest. He had no doubt he belonged among the elite. He just wanted to hear his name, savour the moment, soak in the happiness.A week later he still is pinching himself in delight. “I am still recovering a little bit,” he says. “It is a great feeling, no doubt.” But he is not getting carried away. “There are many things to achieve in life. It is a very good start but it is in the past now, and as a cricketer I would like to be in the present.”Only Pujara and his father-mentor-coach-comforter Arvind know how hard it was for him to claim the honour of being India’s 266th Test cricketer. Rajkot is no backward town, but in terms of cricketing infrastructure it is the outback. Pujara trained on concrete wickets, with sparse kit, against average bowling, and grew hungry as time ticked by.At 22, he has not waited all that long to earn a Test berth. It just seems that way, though, since he seems to have been scoring big in domestic cricket forever. In the last four first-class seasons Pujara has averaged at least 50: in 2006-07 he logged 595 runs at 59.50 (two centuries and three fifties); in 2007-08, 807 at 73.36 (three centuries and three fifties); 2008-09, 906 runs at 82.36 (four centuries); and last season he had 554 at 79.14 (one hundred and four fifties).His desperation possibly had something to do with the fact that contemporaries like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli seemed to be gaining mileage in the media based on brilliance they had shown in the shorter versions. Pujara did not panic and try and transform his game, though. He suppressed his impatience and kept his focus clear. And when in Bangalore he was told he was in, an hour before the toss, he knew he was ready. He walked in as if he belonged.On the eve of the Test Gary Kirsten told him to be prepared and that he might get a chance. VVS Laxman was to have a fitness test for back spasms on the morning of the match. Pujara went to bed thinking Laxman would probably make it.During the morning warm-up, Laxman walked up to Pujara to tell him he wasn’t feeling okay and that he might not play. “He also said sorry to keep me hanging in the balance,” Pujara says. “Because I was making my debut he understood that if I was playing and got the news 45 minutes or an hour before the match, it was not good. But he couldn’t do anything about it and I told him that.”When he walked in to bat on the third day, he couldn’t have asked for a better partner. Tendulkar was already in the zone, inching towards his double-century.”Sachin told me, ‘You will feel some pressure initially because it is your debut match. You will feel some nerves and stiffness in the body. But just enjoy it, don’t put pressure on yourself. It will go away after 10-15 minutes.’

“When I went in I did not feel anything. But as soon as I reached the crease I saw my name followed by the word ‘debutant’. Everyone started screaming. Then I felt, ‘Oh, this is the moment I have always wanted to be in'”

“When I went in I did not feel anything. But as soon as I reached the crease I saw my name, followed by the word ‘debutant’. Everyone started screaming. Then I felt, ‘Oh, this is the moment I have always wanted to be in.’ It was different from a Ranji game.”Having watched Tendulkar and M Vijay dominate the Australian bowling for many hours on an easy pitch, Pujara was looking forward to batting himself. He lasted only three balls, though, and was defeated by a fast, angled, ankle-height Mitchell Johnson delivery from round the stumps. Tendulkar and other team-mates consoled Pujara later, pointing out it was not his fault.”I was really disappointed and it was really difficult to sleep,” he says. “The wicket seemed very batting-friendly. So I thought things would be easy for me, especially as the bowlers were tired. And I was feeling well when I entered. The second ball I hit a four but somehow I got out.”He did not let the disappointment affect his fielding on the fourth day, impressing with his agility at silly point and short leg, giving India’s spinners confidence and putting pressure on the Australians.Pujara’s hour of reckoning would arrive on the fifth morning, when he was told during the warm-ups that he would have to bat at one-down. “I said, ‘It is perfect,'” he says. He agreed with the team management’s strategy behind the move, which was that they did not want an inexperienced player down the order with India chasing in the fourth innings. “Raina and myself are good players but we are still inexperienced in Test cricket.”The confidence MS Dhoni showed in him despite it being only his second international innings was important to him. “The opportunity I got of batting at No. 3 was one of the best moments. It was a bit difficult – a challenging task,” Pujara says. “As a debutant you want to score some runs in the first innings, to prove you are capable enough to play at the international level. And when you get out for a low score your confidence does go down. I told myself that I did not do anything wrong, so let me be positive. I have done enough hard work and I’m capable enough to play at international level. And when I got to play at three, that was my best chance.”On the fourth evening he read a spiritual book in Gujarati. One sentence made an impression: “If you have worked enough and if you trust God, then why do you worry about the result?” The book is one Pujara has had since he was 12 or 13. It was introduced to the family by his mother, Reena. “She did not force us to read it, she just left it there. One day I picked it up and started to read it. I get life-changing thoughts reading such stuff, as I believe in God,” he says.The second time he went in to bat, that sentence came to mind. “I said I wouldn’t worry about the result. I have worked hard enough. I will try and be in the present. I will just bat,” he says.”The Bangalore innings is in the past now, and as a cricketer I would like to be in the present”•AFPWhen Virender Sehwag got out on the fifth morning the crowd went mute for a minute, then sighed, seeing Pujara and not Rahul Dravid, the local hero, walk in. Did Pujara sense the disappointment of the fans? He begs to differ.”I sensed they wanted me to score runs. They wanted India to win,” he says. But he admits the first ball was difficult. The first-innings dismissal was playing on his mind. “I was a bit more nervous.”He took a risky single and was lucky Ricky Ponting missed hitting the stumps at the end to which Vijay was rushing. The next over, Pujara hit Johnson for a boundary, but the momentum only swung his way when Nathan Hauritz came on to bowl his first over of the day. Pujara charged him second ball to hit an off-drive that went straight, past the right of mid-off, to the boundary – his favourite shot from the innings. Eleven came off that over. “I thought then that I could dominate the bowlers,” he says.The fields set for Hauritz were easy for Pujara to manipulate. He had watched the offspinner closely in the first innings. “I had seen him bowl to the same fields during the first innings from round the wicket to Sachin and Vijay. I don’t want to say if it was the right field or wrong field, but I knew what field he was going to bowl to me,” he says. By lunch Pujara was on 26, including four boundaries.Pujara made his Test debut on October 9 – the day, in 2005, that his mother passed away, succumbing to cancer. “She was one of the most inspiring persons in my life and the one whom I loved the most,” he says. “So I did not want to do anything sad. Wherever she is now, she would be happy.”For Pujara to play for India has not been a dream for him alone. It has been a family dream, one achieved through collective efforts. If there is one person happier than Pujara, it is his father.”He is a modest person,” Pujara says. “People are not aware of how much he has done for me. His contribution to me is tremendous. The satisfaction is, I have met his dream.”