The Reverse Swing
One winter afternoon, as I sat in the company of old friend Kapse,
surrounded by groundnut shells and no trace of the nuts - because they had been
duly eaten, of course - I found myself
thinking of Jasu Patel from over half a century ago, leading India’s fight in the Kanpur test.
February 1964, Green Park Stadium - When Bapu Nadkarni bowled maiden
after maiden over, the advance of time could barely be noticed save for the advancing
litter of peeled groundnut shells and packets of salt at the feet on the
lookers on. Tens of thousands of spectators shelling groundnuts in the open public
stands by the banks of Ganga - we may take some credit for nurturing the
fertile Gangetic plain in our enthusiasm for cricket.
Those were the days when cricket in Kanpur, with the exception of a huge
loss to West Indies in 1958 and a huge win over Australia in 1959, was known
for its dreary draws. Whether a draw or win or loss, test cricket made great
memories for many a school boy of the late 1950s, not to mention this one. Besides
our own Indian heroes, Alexander’s West Indies, Richie Benaud’s and Bill Lawry’s
Australia, Ted Dexter’s and MJK Smith’s England had so many heroes to mesmerise
us. Sir Garfield Sobers’ masterly batting, Wesley Hall’s fearsome bowling,
Allen Davidson’s calculated run-up, John Price’s stylish bowling action, Ted Dexter
and Polly Umrigar’s grace, Vijay Manjrekar’s technique, Subhash Gupte’s and
Jasu Patel’s web and Bapu Nadkarni’s miserly bowling accuracy have been etched
in memory for ever. After bowling maiden overs, Bapu Nadkarni propped it up
with his batting at 52 n.o. in the 1st innings to follow on with a
match saving 122 n.o. in the 2nd innings!
Cricket used to be simple. The cherry swung one way, either in or out.
Off spinners neither tried leg breaks (or carom ball) for variation nor bowled the
doosra. Only the leg spinners practiced genuine deception
in the form of a googly. Perhaps this prompted to me to take on bowling leg
breaks, not quite successfully, although I had my days as a bowler too.
Going back about fifty years from today, we get an interesting trail of
changes in the game of Cricket. As it happens in every age, the current generation
will like to see changes as improvements while some old timers will refuse to
budge from established ways of the past. Not in the mood to risk being called
an old timer by the young brigade and wary of being seen as siding with the
youngsters in my camp of old timers, let me acknowledge that there being
nothing absolutely black or white in this world, I am calling the change
neither good nor bad.
Until mid ‘80s
Limited overs cricket had started in various countries in the ‘60s and
‘70s, albeit in a different form compared to the one we know today. We also
played 30 overs a side league, but, with a difference – the two best bowlers in
the side bowled 15 overs each. My chacha,
Sharad Athawale, the state off spinner, did so for his prestigious club, “The
Tilak Society”.
The first World Cup in ’75 really set the stage for limited overs
cricket. While the World Cup was played in whites, coloured pyjamas were introduced
by Kerry packer’s rebel World Series Cricket for channel 9 Australia, to be dubbed
as Pyjama Cricket.
Technically a vital change of approach from test cricket, one day cricket
provided an obvious advantage for the not-so-pure uppish driving batsmen and
sans-flight-variations bowlers. This even prompted the purist Bishan Singh Bedi
to call it a game of the mediocre. But much as there was opposition and
apprehension, one day cricket began influencing the test version of the game. Sunil
Gavaskar took time to accept it, to the extent that he lost his place as test
captain to Kapil Dev, a naturally gifted one day player besides being a fine
Test bowler. Kapil Dev led India team to
the first World Cup victory in ’83. Gavaskar, a tough competitor, later
adjusted well to regain Test and One Day captaincy and brought back more
laurels for India.
Mid ‘80s to the Turn of Century
Pakistan, masters of brazen ball tampering, invented the Reverse Swing.
The invention of ‘Doosra’ also goes
to the credit of their talented bunch.
By the mid ‘80s, Test cricket too had begun to see the unintended uppish
drives going past fielders by luck more than by masterful batting technique. In
time, this even came to be accepted. By the ‘90s, uncontrolled uppish drives came
to be appreciated as great shots – the result mattered more than how it was
achieved.
The fundamental principle stayed – one became an established player first
by proving oneself in the longer format.
However, natural short game abilities (despite lack of technique and
temperament for the longer version) influenced selectors while picking the Test
side. In later years, Yuvraj Singh finding favour over VVS Laxman remains the
finest example of this selection minsdet.
By now, the team of 11, instead of combining to synergise, unknowingly
wanted everyone to be a sprinter. The best slip fielder could lose his place
because replacements would run faster.
Bowlers began to trade off flight variations for simple tight bowling.
Lesser Test Cricket for accommodating more ODIs shifted glamour and focus off tests to adversely affect career opportunities for Pure Test Cricketers.
The 21st Century
Sports writers and cricketers (past and present) all over the world call
test cricket 'The Thing'. Surprisingly, that expression remains in fashion!
However, at the end of the Centurion Test in South Africa, I am brought
to realise that the Reverse Swing in
the game of cricket is now complete and is here to stay unless we take a few
drastic measures (which I will save for the end of this piece).
Some paradoxes evident to old timers are:-
- The art of saving a match has been
totally lost by all teams in the world – Test matches regularly end within four
days.
- Test matches are like battles. Why can’t
the Indian team touring South Africa decide that if they can't win, they will
not lose either?
-
Earlier, a player had to first learn
to hold the bat straight to get behind the ball, prove himself through Ranji
Trophy into internationals if he was good. Now, players are getting into the
Test side on the basis of their IPL (slogging) performances.
- An ageing captain retired first
from the limited version to play Test cricket for a while longer. Now, they
leave the shortest (and most paying, no surprise!) version the last.
What Next?
If the whole world has
lost the art of playing Test, that’s no consolation for us. Our Ashwins are
capable of scoring many more runs in Tests. They have to be reminded about the
art of playing within their limitations instead of trying to match Kohli for
strokes. Ravi Shastri did that in his days to become a more successful opening
batsman than many more talented competitors.
In home series’ wins,
there have been many lessons – only that we don’t seem to have learnt any. Our
approach in Tests is certainly getting affected by the limited overs glamour.
Do we want to do
something? My thoughts:-
- Isolate Tests from
ODI/T-20 administration.
- Separate captain for
Tests and other formats - even if Kohli is the best, there certainly is another
next best waiting to prove even better.
- If Kohli opts to captain
the limited overs version, pick someone else as the Test Captain
(Pujara, say).
- If separate captains
don’t work well, consider appointing different coaches also. The idea may look
absurd. But, absurd looking ideas can sometimes turn into winners.
- Reward the team for
saving a test in the face of a certain defeat.
Cricket shall survive –
the purists may or may not. Reverse swings are a sign of changing times and
swings will keep reversing, in that sense. It will be interesting to approach
an ever-changing game with as much hindsight as foresight, with an eye on how
and also how not we would like this beloved game to transform.
Cheers!!
