Virus Installation Successful-Dale Styen

The  Indian Batsmen, who until landing in South Africa for the 2013 bilateral cricket series were rich & fat, both; in form & class need to be flatten at the initial round itself. Dale Styen began the campaign with an outstanding spell of fast & furious seam bowling to Rohit Sharma in the Johannesburg one dayer.

Rohit Sharma who landed in South Africa with a circle of cricketing excellence around him & prime form, struggled to connect a single delivery from Styen up until the 17th ball one which he edged. That hostile stuff from Styen has dented the confidence of Sharma and has shattered his batting skills to such an extent that he is found himself into a black hole of cricketing prodigy.

His dismissals in the recent Test innings has raised questions over his ability as a front line batsman in the team & that his exceptional debut century against the West Indies seems to be like a forgotten dream.

The need of an hour for South Africa was to install a self-doubting virus in the strong Indian batting line up. Styen with his fabulous seam bowling that not only has pace but also has vicious swing was able to grab his kill in those initial 17 balls to Sharma.

If weather permits the second & final Test match is slowly moving towards an anti-climax where each team has enough of a chance to get better over other. The question is which team takes that initiative and who chocks under pressure first.

Tame thy beast!

Whole of India, and it's numerous die-hard Cricket followers would stay awake and wish good luck to the national team that would take on mighty South Africa in their own backyard in the most anticipated test series of the season that begins on 18^th of this month. They call it ‘entering the Lion’s den’ here. And never has Indians survived the brutal assault of the beast and have always returned gruesomely injured if not killed.

 

Dhoni and his warriors have already lost battle in the one dayers; dreadfully to be honest and the wounds have puke blood ferociously. The entry of young blokes into the national team, and since being inexperienced, is expected to continue bleeding during the war of test matches. Africans have, and wisely choose, the tallest amongst the tall lethal fast bowlers that can fright the opposition camp even before the battle begins. Although their batting line-up remains circumspect to post huge scores, but they would rely on the fact that Indians have carried a rigid pace bowlers in their camp.

 

Clearly the strength of Indian team lies in their batting, which in the last decade or so has been the reason behind their overseas success. Dhoni with all his experienced mind and cunning utilisation of resources would like to turn table on the African’s through shrewd yet hostile ways. The equation of ‘Win the toss and bat first’ would come-in handy since their lies the strength of Indians.

 

Open with Vijay (as he is the only option) alongside Dhawan; Pujara next followed by Rahane and the burden of scoring huge numbers to be carried by the young shoulders of Kohli and Sharma assisted by Dhoni and Ashwin in that order. Zaheer, Ishant and Yadav must accept the responsibility to bowl out the shaky batting line up one which Africa posses.

 

The encounter between Zaheer-Smith and Steyn-Sharma appear to bring crowds inside the stadiums in the sport savvy country of South Africa, while we would cheer for team India seating far away here in India. 

 

Although it appears tough but I would put my money on India’s win!

Quinton DeCock – Emergence of a quality batsman

In our age of Cricket, the cricketing prowess of a batsman is established by his hitting powers while the skills such as temperament, determination appear to have become a distant history. In such times of fast-food Cricket the heart of an ardent cricket fan that looks for quality softens a bit when he/she sees the emergence of a batsman who satisfies his inner thirst which defines the very purpose of his existence. The 20 year old South African wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton DeCock has acquired the focus of that keen follower who is craving to watch quality over quantity in this fast paced world.

DeCock’s recent centuries in the one day arena has proved that he posses those qualities required by a batsman to climb steep mountains in his international cricketing career. Couple of things that stand out in his batting are; a) his technique & b) his heart.

In the technical department DeCock has exhibited maturity above his age. The most difficult stroke to play technically is the cover drive that requires a fabulous hand-eye co-ordination besides a steady head and exceptional body position through nimble foot movement. In his short international career which span about a year or so, he has shown that he belongs to the class of Tendulkar and Richards while playing the cover drive. Also his wrist that generates enough power allowing the ball to gather momentum towards reaching boundary line has all but class written over it.

Although the inner mantle i.e. ‘Heart’, of DeCock is yet to be tested as the Indian bowling attack is not the one which can prove his competence in this area and also he needs to establish himself in test matches too. Still one can credit him for the matter that the South African team is going through a rough patch that has now lasted for more than a year and DeCock has answered all the critics in the best possible manner. 

Coming years would prove whether this little cricketer who has raised high hope in the mind of the astute cricket follower will acquire higher lengths in his cricketing career and while doing so would be a blessing for the cricketing fraternity itself, or else would be lost in the ‘speed of lightening’ like cricket played in his generation.

We await and wish Quinton DeCock to become and be known for the former.