Sword hangs over India's 'Fab Five' in Aussie series

Sachin Tendulkar at a training session in Banglaore ahead of the Test series against Australia

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NEW DELHI (AFP) — A quintet of ageing Indian superstars goes into the high-pressure Test series against world champions Australia this week hoping to prove their sun has not yet set.

Knives were out for skipper Anil Kumble, and batsmen Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Venkatsai Laxman after India's 2-1 defeat in the three-Test series in Sri Lanka in August.

The hint that the veterans were in the twilight of their illustrious careers came after none did justice to their stature, sparking debate whether the time had come to blood new youngsters.

Kumble took eight wickets, while Dravid made 148 in six innings and was followed by Ganguly (96) and Tendulkar (95). Laxman excelled in patches with 215 runs, but such a collective failure had rarely been seen in recent years.

India's new selectors retained the seniors for the first two Tests of the four-match series starting in Bangalore on Thursday, apparently believing it was not wise to begin a phasing-out process against a strong opposition.

But the sword still hangs over the experienced players, dubbed the 'Fab Five', and the Australian series is expected to provide the answer to how much cricket is still left in them.

Leg-spinner Kumble is the world's third-highest wicket-taker with 616 scalps in 130 Tests, while Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman have a combined tally of 35,011 runs from 480 matches.

But age is fast catching up with the veterans, who have made the nucleus of the team for more than a decade. Kumble turns 38 this month and Laxman 34 in November. Ganguly is 36, while Tendulkar and Dravid are 35.

Their rich contribution to Indian cricket was promptly forgotten after one bad series, with the media even suggesting they had been given an opportunity to plan their "honourable exit" -- reports later rubbished by Kumble.

"We have never discussed that among ourselves. All the talk is only in the media. Age does not matter at all, otherwise I'd have retired long ago," said Kumble.

"In terms of the players' performance, we have performed exceptionally well, except for that one bad series in Sri Lanka. If you go by the record, I don't think the senior players have ever performed badly.

"As far as I am concerned I think we have the quality to go out there and get runs as batsmen and get wickets as bowlers. I think we have the quality to do well. This is the best possible chance we have of winning the series."

Despite Kumble's optimism, India cannot ignore the transition period which Australia have passed through after the retirement of Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Justin Langer and Damien Martyn.

Former Australian captain Allan Border said India did not want to take chances against a formidable side in the initial part of the series.

"The Indian selectors are just going with their tried and tested performers, particularly against Austrlaia," he recently told the Fox Sports.

"They want all the experienced guys there, and their hard heads and I'd say this will be the final fling for that group of players.

"India will need to move on with younger players shortly, but I get the feeling that this is the final frontier for these guys. They want to play Australia for the last time in their own country and go out with a bang."

Kumble not ready to bow out

Indian Test captain Anil Kumble has refused to put a timeframe on when he will retire from international cricket, insisting he will quit on his own terms.

Sourav Ganguly's exclusion from the Irani Trophy squad triggered a raging debate in the media on just when India's ageing 'Golden Generation' should call it quits.

"It is difficult to look too far ahead when you have played for so long," Kumble told the Times of India. "I will take it series by series."

Ganguly was included in the Test team for the Border-Gavaskar series although reports suggesting he had struck a deal with selectors on his retirement have since surfaced.

The 37-year-old Kumble backed Ganguly along with the other senior players - Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman who are all well past 30 - while emphasising that performance rather than age, should be the measure for selection.

"The body responds differently. And it's not the same, I am definitely not the way I was five years ago in terms of the way the body is feeling.

"But I still can't put a date or time on calling it quits, how my body responds will be the clue. As long as I am happy with the performance I will carry on. That will definitely be the yardstick. I would like to certainly take a decision my way rather than someone else asking me to.

"As far as I know I am the only Indian cricketer in history to play on after retiring from one form of the game. I knew when to quit ODIs, likewise with Tests."

Kumble said it was up to the individual players and the selectors to decide when a player should end his international career.

"I cannot say how the issue (of phasing out seniors) should be handled," he added. "It's up to the individuals. It's a selection issue. I can only speak for myself and how I would go about it."

A dicey decisive decision

CLASS IS PERMANENT: It is premature to contemplate omitting batsmen such as Rahul Dravid from the Test side.

Few things are harder to organise in sport than the smooth passing of players into retirement.

As far as a cricketer is concerned it can be a traumatic time. Sometimes injury or an abrupt loss of form eases the passage, sometimes the sportsman withdraws the better to avoid a sour ending. All too often, though, the player is pushed out into the lonely night of the commonplace before he is quite ready whereupon a resentment sets in that can take decades to clear.

Over the years the Australians have learnt to manage older players respectfully but firmly. In recent seasons Australia has bid farewell to several great cricketers. In the antipodean way it has been an unsentimental affair.

Australian supporters are as close to their champions as anyone else but the game is run by hard heads. From time to time, too, the selectors remind observers that they are obliged by their terms of reference to think about the future as well as the present.

Treading a fine line

Now it is India’s turn to tread the fine line between experience and experiment. Perhaps it was too much to expect a new panel to act decisively.

Apart from anything else the collection of Indian batsmen currently in their mid-thirties is as strong as any comparable group produced by any country since the game began. Together they have completed the work begun by Sunil Gavaskar, a nationalist determined to contradict all notions that Indian batsmen were fragile and inept except in their own backyard. The seniors have taken Indian cricket from hope to expectation.

Sooner or later, though, no matter how finely it has been carried, the flame must be handed to another generation. If that time has not already past then it is fast approaching. Not that age is the only consideration, but it cannot entirely be ignored. Nor can the balance of the team. It is not sensible to allow a side to grow old together. A time is reached when such an outfit impresses more on paper than on the field.

Cold logic

Cold logic insists that one of the older batsmen ought by now to have been replaced. Actually it is unfair to lump the middle-order batsman together.

It is not so long ago that Sachin Tendulkar and V.V.S. Laxman were scoring heavily on antipodean soil. Subsequently Tendulkar failed in Sri Lanka but he had not played much cricket and was bemused by Ajantha Mendis.

Also his defensive technique was exposed by the review system. The Hyderabad player batted gamely on the spice island. It is premature to contemplate omitting either of them.

And the same applies to Rahul Dravid. Although his form has been patchy, he has enough runs on the board to justify further opportunities. A tendency arises to forgive the bad patches endured by emerging players but to dump older hands as soon as they falter. Batsmen of Dravid’s class are few and far between and ought not to be lightly discarded.

Most vulnerable

As night follows day so that leaves Sourav Ganguly’s position open to scrutiny. Despite his stirring innings against South Africa and fighting spirit, he is the most vulnerable of the seniors.

Although respectable, his record is not outstanding and his fielding and running between wickets are dubious. Of course he remains capable of producing stirring innings but younger contenders are pressing.

Rightly or wrongly the selectors have decided to let this team run its course. India must hope that the team is fresh in spirit and does not waste time looking over its shoulder. But the time for debate is almost over. Let’s get on with the show!

Elegy for the long player

Once more into the breach, for old time's sake © AFP

Young men in sport are always rightly granted a leniency that older men are not. So this autumn, at the first uncertain innings by India's cricketing aged, at the first legspin spell with no reward, one word will surreptitiously creep into every conversation. Retirement.

These men, whose names stay in the memory just behind family, are clearly older as athletes, their skills fading gently like the evening light, but the question always is: how much of The Gift remains? The faithful will say, look at thousands of runs, hundreds of wickets, behind them. The critics will say: precisely, greatness is behind them. Should they go, stay, wait, make a deal? There is no perfect end anyway to a sporting life. Maybe only Pete Sampras got close on that evening at the 2002 US Open when he shouted savagely into the noise of victory, "I f***ing did it."

Every day pragmatism and sentimentality collide in India's cricketing universe. Once, I incorrectly thought Sachin Tendulkar should retire, then I changed my mind, now I just watch. Goodbye is awfully hard, for them and us, but it is getting closer.

We met the Great One in 1989, when he introduced himself to us with high notes hit by bat and vocal chord. Tendulkar may have two children, but for my generation he is always favourite son. Then the rest came. In 1990, The Precise One, a scholarly warrior who unveiled his spinning craft with devotion; in 1992, The Defiant One, a steely, stylish man of amusing, aristocratic belligerence; in 1996, The Intense One, cricket's student who batted like a monk upholding a vow of discipline; and finally The Elegant One, who was a Japanese haiku master in a previous life.

They were, and are, our champions, our companions, our obsessions, our sporting best days and our very worst, a part of the calendar of our lives. Remembering the last time I went home to Kolkata requires no thought: it's when VVS Laxman wrote his finest concerto. Whenever life seemed to get away from us, when the water dried in the tap on a hot day, and bosses stank, there was always them. When Tendulkar stood on tiptoe to drive, as if God had him by the collar, or Sourav Ganguly hit an off-side drive with such style he might well have been wearing a tuxedo, life somehow got better.

But if these men once exuded a certainty, now it is less so. Confidence comes, then it dries. Tendulkar has no control over his body's misbehaviour, Rahul Dravid no idea why technique abandoned him for a while without even a farewell note, Ganguly no certain explanation why timing briefly eluded him. Mind and body are in a slow divorce. These men have fought and defeated everything: selectors, derision, pitches, Australians, but age is beyond beating. Of course there are five-wicket hauls left in them, and strong centuries, and even great series, but they will arrive at a slower frequency. So why not go, leave to an applauding nation; why sit, in cricketing middle age, alone at home, as Ganguly must have, waiting for a phone call? He was reprieved, but still it's intriguing how many heroes become tragedies.

	Competition is an addiction that keeps them here, that brings them back, an addiction so deep that even the perfect ending is somehow imperfect. In a way, this makes sense: how can finishing what you love most ever be satisfactory?

But in sport the fairytale ending is mostly an illusion. Mostly men just fade from the memory. Or exit a shambles. Or go to a sigh of relief as Kapil Dev did. From our safe distance in jobs where we can work till we're 60, where no public calls for us to go, it is wondered: why do they still play, what for, what's left, aren't there enough runs and rupees? It is, in fact, an ignorant question: they play because they love it, because they ache for competition, because they don't do anything else as well, because they can still play, as Laxman might tell you. They achieved greatness because they believed in themselves, because they didn't give up, because they were problem solvers, it's inscribed in their DNA; so perhaps we can't expect them now to suddenly stop believing, give up, run from the problem.

There is more. Men in their 60s often struggle with retirement, their lives suddenly without adequate purpose, minds still active but not constantly activated. In the morning there is nowhere to go, and it can be debilitating. So what of men in their 30s, so young yet reminded constantly of their use-by dates, men who have known only cricket and are unsure what life holds for them. In trousers not coloured white, Tendulkar is mortal. So, of course, they play on.

When Marilyn Monroe returned from entertaining the troops in Korea, she told her husband, the New York Yankees star, Joe DiMaggio, "Joe, you never heard such cheering." Dryly he replied: "Yes I have." This life athletes lead, this ability to bend a nation in praise of you with a few strokes of the bat, is an intoxication without parallel (which is why sex is constantly used as a comparison in sport). It is a tremendous power, accompanied by the knowledge that nothing will compare to this in their lives, everything else will be second best. To play on is to know that high is still possible.

Competition is an addiction that keeps them here, that brings them back, an addiction so deep that even the perfect ending is somehow imperfect. In a way, this makes sense: how can finishing what you love most ever be satisfactory? Michael Jordan faked an opponent to the floor, elevated, sank a jumper that won the Bulls and him a sixth NBA championship. We swooned, he retired. Then, inexplicably to the rational mind, which saw a neatness to his exit, he returned; which makes you wonder whether this "go-out-on-top" business is more an obsession with us, the unathletic. Indeed, a cricketer says, "If I get dropped, so be it, it's part of sport," and perhaps some part of them wants someone else to make the call, not them.

Tendulkar and Ganguly: men in their 30s; young but reminded constantly of their use-by dates © AFP

Ego drove Jordan, as it does all of them. Athletes arrive at greatness by believing, then proving, they are better than the rest. Muhammad Ali just had the chutzpah to say aloud what his kind think: I am the greatest. At his hearing over the incident at the Belgian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton would haughtily say to his interrogator: "I know pretty much every single manoeuvre in the book and that's why I'm the best at my job." For such men to admit they're not good enough, that other men (in the cricketers' case, younger men) are better, is indigestible. When they go, eventually, they'll gallantly say, "It's time to make way for younger men," but they're not really in the giving-way-to-anyone business. They've built their lives by leaping and scrambling over others.

And so these men play. They still seem to love the field; it is the getting ready for the field that must be exhausting: the travelling, the unpacking, the practice, the hotel-room walls, the family left behind (which is what eventually might make them fold). They were good enough to be the best in India; now they must remain good enough to play for India. They have changed. They might compromise, gently and subconsciously: where once 80 was a minimum, now they might settle for 20 fewer. This deal is somewhat understandable. What is not is the appalling suggestion that they will be "accommodated" in the team as long as they agree to retire soon, so as to be given a fitting send-off. It puts individual before team, and these men surely will not stand for it.

They are exceptional, these five, great players and good men, and this is not easily found in sport. I was, for a long while, just another Indian journalist to their cricketer (now I live elsewhere), and found them articulate, well-mannered, interesting, generous, devoted (to team), mainly devoid of arrogance. Yes, they were imperfect too. There is a reluctance now among sportspeople to play the role model, as if it is some unreasonable, excessive burden, but these men wore that responsibility with a fine dignity at most times. India is lucky to have had them.

I am less enamoured of world cricket these days. It is a noisy game, full of boastful official chatter, where manners on the field have become disposable, and Twenty20 threatens to derail everything else. The best love affairs, anyway, come in our youth, and these men I grew up with. Always I watched them. Now especially, even though occasionally it is painful to see them lurch and stagger, feet mixed up and bat late. But I have to watch. Because they're Great, Precise, Defiant, Intense, Elegant. Because soon enough, a few months, a year, whether they walk away or must be pushed, there will be an Indian team without the names Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Laxman, Kumble. Imagine that? I'd rather not.

Team India practices hard for series against Australia

Bangalore, Sept 30 (ANI): The Indian cricket team held a vigorous practice session here on Tuesday during its six-day fitness camp ahead of its four Test match series against the visiting Australian team.

All the important players of the Indian team were engaged in a net practice session to iron out the deficiencies, if any, under the watchful eyes of coach Gary Kirsten.

Rahul Dravid, Indias middle order batsman, practiced with tennis ball hurled at him by the trainer with the help of a tennis racket.

Sachin Tendulkar also wielded the willow at the nets after an injury lay-off following his elbow injury during the recently concluded series against Sri Lanka.

M.S. Dhoni and Anil Kumble also practiced for the forthcoming series.

Dhoni, while talking to press on hype created around every tie involving India and Australia, said, “People expect a good game of cricket and the Australian team is top ranked and we as a team have really played well and done well at our venues.

People expect good cricket, competitive cricket and at the same time they want to see aggression on field. That is one of the reasons why there is so much hype whenever there is an India and Australia test match or a one-day series,” added Dhoni.

The Australians have dominated world cricket for the past decade but presently with a young and ”inexperienced” team the Aussies feel that India poses a big threat.

However they are confident to meet the challenge.

India defeated Australia in the triangular one-day series, but lost the Test series 2-1 in Australia.

The test series will begin from October 9 in Bangalore followed by matches in Mohali from October 17 to 21, in Delhi from October 29 to November 2 and in Nagpur from November 5 to 9. (ANI)

Cricket-India's ageing five urged to make graceful exits

MUMBAI, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Five veteran India players have been told to plan their retirements by December to avoid unceremonious exits from the national team, Indian cricket board officials said on Wednesday.

"They have been given the next two home series to time a graceful exit following which they are open to the axe," one of the officials, who did not wish to be named, told Reuters.

Cricket-mad India is fiercely debating whether it is time for their record-breaking batsmen Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Vangipurappu Laxman as well as spinner Anil Kumble, the test captain, all well into their 30s, to quit.

Ganguly, 36, India's most successful test skipper, was retained in the squad on Wednesday for the first two tests of this month's home series against Australia along with the other seniors, belying media predictions he could be dropped.

The official said the five players would have to decide on their futures by the end of the home series against Australia, starting on Oct. 9, followed by England.

They have played together for 12 years and have individually or collectively led India to most of their wins, although signs of decline are evident with only Tendulkar still part of the one-day set-up.

"It is not just Saurav," the official said. "Rahul, Laxman, Sachin and Anil have also been put on notice. They have six tests to decide and have been informed about it."

India play four tests against Australia and then two against England. They then tour Pakistan in January.

Indian reported a 'voluntary retirement' plan had been drawn up by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

"The new president (Shashank Manohar) has made it amply clear to the seniors," one of the officials said.

Kumble, the third highest test wicket-taker, is the oldest at 37 and is being named captain on a series-by-series basis since Dravid abruptly resigned the job last year.

Tendulkar, 35, made his test debut in 1989 but has suffered a spate of wear and tear injuries while Laxman, the youngest, is 34.

The debate over their future has gathered pace due to good one-day performances by a younger set of players and follows a 2-1 test series defeat in Sri Lanka where the batsmen dubbed the "Fab Four" struggled for runs.

Tendulkar needs 77 runs to overtake West Indian Brian Lara as test cricket's highest run-getter and said last week he had no plans to slow down after achieving it.

Some method in mad world of Indian cricket

New Delhi: If we were ever to find any method in the madness that is Indian cricket, this could possibly be it.

For once, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has thought up of something that provides a respectable exit clause for the players, as opposed to the normal pattern -- drag them out by the heels, and leave them on the sidewalk.

The whole saga of Sourav Ganguly staying in the Test squad (quite different from the 'comeback' being touted, since he wasn't out of the Test squad, only the Irani team) boils down to some forward thinking by the new BCCI bosses and their actually talking to the player.

If the sources are to be believed, the whole 'deal' was a well thought out plan, something akin to what was offered to Steve Waugh by Cricket Australia, and that makes it a welcome change.

It is understood that the big guns, including president Shashank Manohar, formulated this whole plan, which would give the left-hander two Tests at worst, and four at best.

Essentially one thing remains constant -- Ganguly calls it quits after the series, irrespective of how he fares. If he does well enough in the first two Tests, he gets to play the next, and possibly the last one too. But after that, he retires.

All this irresepctive of how many runs he scores in the series.

However, the fact that Ganguly went on to deny any 'deal', goes to prove that this is not going to be as cut and dried as the BCCI expected.

So more fun and games in the near future can't be ruled out.

But given that even the current inclusion against Australia is for only two Tests. First he will have to do well enough to get two more games, and the BCCI in any case won't be keen on dragging this indefinitely.

This, for a change, is understood to have been communicated to the batsman, as opposed to finding out from media, when players are normally sacked. So any way you look at it, it seems like a good move. At least it offers the player in question some sort of respectable exit plan.

Furthermore, there are strong indications that more senior players would be moving out after the England series, which follows the current Australian outing.

As for the rest, its all pretty predictable. S. Badrinath has been scratching at the entry door for a while, and it took a predictable benevolent pair of hands from Tamil Nadu (in new secretary N. Sreenivasan and chief selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth) to open it for him.

The 15th member of the Indian team seems to be a floating commodity. The first spinner whose name the selectors manage to remember gets into the side. Central Zone has a leg-spinner as selector, so a Central Zone leg-spinner was selected. Simple mathematics.

But all said and done, it was possibly the best plan formulated by the BCCI, and the new camp needs to be congratulated. Whether this good work will continue or not remains to be seen, but at least there is finally some method in the insane world of Indian cricket.