Off Stump

An edited version of this piece was published on ESPNcricinfo here . Given that he's the most celebrated cricketer India has had (with the possible exception of Tendulkar), feels a bit strange to say that Dhoni's under-rated but I feel compelled to say that he's not given due credit for his achievements as a Test match wicketkeeper-batsman. Partly, I think its his excellence as an ODI cricketer ( second highest batting average amongst all players with 4000+runs) that overshadows his achievements in the Test arena. And partly the fact that he looks somewhat ungainly (both as a keeper and a batsman), and for some unfathomable reason most people have the view that great Test match players need to be elegant/graceful. The recent Test match thrashings meted out to his team in England and Australia have given more fodder to his bashers to begin the "Oh but he can't play Test cricket" refrain. I say, bullshit. Ultimately, there is one currency alone that matte...

This Numbers Game piece (said column by the way is probably my favourite staple on Cricinfo) got me thinking about how many batsmen have passed the litmus test of having batting averages home and away that are in excess of the magical 50 mark. To me that is the ultimate test of how good a player was more than the number of runs, hundreds or overall batting averages. Applying a threshold of at least 2000 runs scored (both home and away) to ensure that no outliers get included, the lists of players averaging above 49 (just to widen the margin a touch) can be seen here (Home) and here (Away). First off, its easy to see that 45 players average over 50 in home conditions whereas only 24 do so away demonstrating how much more difficult batsmen have found it over the years to excel outside their most familiar environs. Not surprisingly, Australia and England have the most players in each category given the two teams have been the only ones playing since the inception of Test cricket but...

I've always found that it takes a while for a big event to sink in for me, in all spheres of life. The notion of what is big of course varies from person to person but not watching Dravid walk out to bat at the fall of the first wicket for India in a Test match will certainly be a hole in my cricket universe for some time. Its been nearly a month since he announced his retirement and I finally feel like I'm ready to pen down my tribute to him. If I had to summarise my view of Dravid in a phrase it would be "he made effort beautiful". The most talked about and written sportspersons are either those whose skills and athleticism take your breath away or those who spill their blood and guts out for all to see in a very visible manner. The biggest compliment that can be paid to Dravid is that he was probably both of these archetypes rolled into one supremely effective cricketer but you couldn't attach either label to him. There were times when the blood, sweat and t...