The new year started with 2 spectacular batting collapses - playing against the BAPS Lions at the fabulous CBRP Cricket ground in Ft Lauderdale, the Kings collapsed to 125 all out, and on the other side of the world the once almighty Australia playing against Pakistan at the fabled SCG, collapsed to 127 all out.
Now, you can look at these two facts in many different ways. For example, some of my fellow team members may think that the Kings are as good as Australia. It is also justified if you claim the opposite, that Australia are as bad as the Kings. I would point out however, that the Kings were 96 for 2 at one point, which the Australians could only dream about on that day.
I know what you are thinking. Due to the remarkable similarity in the 2 statistics, the obvious question in any reasonable mind would be - are the Kings now ready to take on Australia? On this point many of my teammates would agree with Ricky Ponting, whose likely response if invited to bring his team to Broward county for a 25 over a side friendly game against the Kings will be "you've got to be fucking kidding me mate".
I would however, like to point out to my dejected teammates that the real lesson here is this - anyone can have a bad day on the field of Cricket. We have all heard Ravi Shastri loudly (why does Shastri always shout into the microphone, by the way?) say many times on our TVs that the game of Cricket is a great leveller, and the minute you start thinking you are too good for the opposition, you are brought right back down to earth. That is exactly what happened to Australia against a young but talented Pakistan side on a grassy pitch, and that is also exactly what happened to the Kings on a cold, windy day against an inexperienced but talented BAPS side. At 96/2 with barely 70 runs needed for victory with 12 overs to get them against an attack (if it could be called that - many would object) that had already bowled 30+ wides in the first 13 overs many of our players had already mentally switched off.
We forgot that prophet of Cricketing wisdom, Ravi Shastri, who never tires of telling us that : a. Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties, b. In the short format one over can change the game, and c. the ball went to the boundary like a tracer bullet. OK, that last one does not apply to our situation, specially after Vashi and Naresh got out.
But, it is largely true that the BAPS Lions "set the cat among the pigeons once our two well set batsmen were out, and then they really disturbed the furniture" twice by bowling out Raj Amarnani and Vivek Mishra.
I did not help matters by responding to a wrong call for a run which was just not there. The ball went straight to the mid-off fielder, and it was my call, not the non-striker's. I should have yelled "NO" and sent Raj back, but instead I had a stupid moment and got run out for 1 (my personal worst score ever.)
Things got worse from there, when Vikas skied one up and the fielder, very unexpectedly, took the catch. Vikas had taken two catches during the BAPS innings, and probably felt the need to give back in a friendly gesture. Obviously, we expect the visiting team to react with a friendly gesture of their own and drop the catch, but BAPS were not in the mood to be friendly.
Arun Gidwani, the hero of our last (and only) win, snicked one to the wicketkeeper and was really upset.......... with the umpire, for giving him out. Vic Shroff then decided to run himself out just to make things interesting. Still, we had TK and Rohit, and with TK there is always hope. Not that day though. With 40 to get from 6 overs TK hooked a short pitched ball strongly, and also found a very interesting way to lose the match, by getting out hit wicket!!
All in all, not a day the Kings would like to remember fondly. However, remember it we must, to take a few lessons from it -
1. the game is not over until the target score has been achieved.
2. we need to practice our running between the wickets, specially run calling and whose call it is.
3. younger, fitter teams will always beat us by their fielding, and we can do one of two things (or both) - practice our fielding and throwing more, or run aggressively and take every run from the hits that go in the gaps. Early in our innings we ran a lot of slow singles where we could have run an easy two if not a fast three.
4. this team needs to play more matches, and practice a lot more. The distance to CBRP for practice is a problem, specially on weekdays. We need to find a practice facility in Doral (or maybe FIU) where we can hold at least one nets session a week for the next 8-10 weeks.
5. Any team, even the champion sides like Australia, can have a bad day against not so good opposition. The main part is how we recover from it and learn our lessons and move on. The season is just starting, and we have the beginning of a very good team. We need to recognize our strengths and move on from there. Then, one day maybe, Ricky Ponting may not think we're kidding him when we invite him to Ft Lauderdale.
Now, you can look at these two facts in many different ways. For example, some of my fellow team members may think that the Kings are as good as Australia. It is also justified if you claim the opposite, that Australia are as bad as the Kings. I would point out however, that the Kings were 96 for 2 at one point, which the Australians could only dream about on that day.
I know what you are thinking. Due to the remarkable similarity in the 2 statistics, the obvious question in any reasonable mind would be - are the Kings now ready to take on Australia? On this point many of my teammates would agree with Ricky Ponting, whose likely response if invited to bring his team to Broward county for a 25 over a side friendly game against the Kings will be "you've got to be fucking kidding me mate".
I would however, like to point out to my dejected teammates that the real lesson here is this - anyone can have a bad day on the field of Cricket. We have all heard Ravi Shastri loudly (why does Shastri always shout into the microphone, by the way?) say many times on our TVs that the game of Cricket is a great leveller, and the minute you start thinking you are too good for the opposition, you are brought right back down to earth. That is exactly what happened to Australia against a young but talented Pakistan side on a grassy pitch, and that is also exactly what happened to the Kings on a cold, windy day against an inexperienced but talented BAPS side. At 96/2 with barely 70 runs needed for victory with 12 overs to get them against an attack (if it could be called that - many would object) that had already bowled 30+ wides in the first 13 overs many of our players had already mentally switched off.
We forgot that prophet of Cricketing wisdom, Ravi Shastri, who never tires of telling us that : a. Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties, b. In the short format one over can change the game, and c. the ball went to the boundary like a tracer bullet. OK, that last one does not apply to our situation, specially after Vashi and Naresh got out.
But, it is largely true that the BAPS Lions "set the cat among the pigeons once our two well set batsmen were out, and then they really disturbed the furniture" twice by bowling out Raj Amarnani and Vivek Mishra.
I did not help matters by responding to a wrong call for a run which was just not there. The ball went straight to the mid-off fielder, and it was my call, not the non-striker's. I should have yelled "NO" and sent Raj back, but instead I had a stupid moment and got run out for 1 (my personal worst score ever.)
Things got worse from there, when Vikas skied one up and the fielder, very unexpectedly, took the catch. Vikas had taken two catches during the BAPS innings, and probably felt the need to give back in a friendly gesture. Obviously, we expect the visiting team to react with a friendly gesture of their own and drop the catch, but BAPS were not in the mood to be friendly.
Arun Gidwani, the hero of our last (and only) win, snicked one to the wicketkeeper and was really upset.......... with the umpire, for giving him out. Vic Shroff then decided to run himself out just to make things interesting. Still, we had TK and Rohit, and with TK there is always hope. Not that day though. With 40 to get from 6 overs TK hooked a short pitched ball strongly, and also found a very interesting way to lose the match, by getting out hit wicket!!
All in all, not a day the Kings would like to remember fondly. However, remember it we must, to take a few lessons from it -
1. the game is not over until the target score has been achieved.
2. we need to practice our running between the wickets, specially run calling and whose call it is.
3. younger, fitter teams will always beat us by their fielding, and we can do one of two things (or both) - practice our fielding and throwing more, or run aggressively and take every run from the hits that go in the gaps. Early in our innings we ran a lot of slow singles where we could have run an easy two if not a fast three.
4. this team needs to play more matches, and practice a lot more. The distance to CBRP for practice is a problem, specially on weekdays. We need to find a practice facility in Doral (or maybe FIU) where we can hold at least one nets session a week for the next 8-10 weeks.
5. Any team, even the champion sides like Australia, can have a bad day against not so good opposition. The main part is how we recover from it and learn our lessons and move on. The season is just starting, and we have the beginning of a very good team. We need to recognize our strengths and move on from there. Then, one day maybe, Ricky Ponting may not think we're kidding him when we invite him to Ft Lauderdale.
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