Podcast: India's tour of Aus

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Rajdeep Sardesai

Maharaj or Dada, Ganguly's legacy lives on

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So I think it's been 7 years since we saw that magnificent batsman of the late 90s who dominated every bowling attack. And I frankly don't know what to make of his current form in Australia. It's magnificent, I've celebrated. And most of all, I think there was a point where Sachin threatened to be immortal and then settled for being merely great. Now I think he's bidding for immortality again.

H R Venkatesh: Now onto the other perhaps contentious subject - Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh. Is it fair to judge one person's, say one-day form and bring it over to the test side like the selectors did to Sehwag who doesn't have a great one-day career or one-day statistics? And Yuvraj Singh on the other hand, he's been a brutal batsman in the one-day arena - couldn't quite do it in Australia.

Mukul Kesavan: I think that's a very acute question. I think what's happened is that Sehwag has suffered partly on account of his lack of fitness and seeming casualness and mainly because of his failure in one-day cricket. Now, Sehwag has an extraordinary five-day record, test record. Even the last year he played in test cricket, before the current series, he did reasonably well. He didn't set the world on fire, but he did reasonably well but his limited overs performance counted against him.

In the case of Yuvraj Singh, as you so sharply pointed out, here you have a person who has had a patch record in test cricket and yet has sometimes threatened to displace one of India's great test batsmen VVS Laxman, there was a series in which he actually played two matches in his stead. I think that this series has borne out that at the highest level, Yuvraj is not a test batsman. He is a good test batsman on flat, subcontinental pitches against mediocre attacks, but on competitive pitches, against first-rate seam attacks, he just doesn't seem to have the technique. And Sehwag, triumphantly has demonstrated that despite the so-called unsoundness of his method, he scores runs at such a rapid rate, that the interval between errors is long enough for him to make substantial scores.

H R Venkatesh: What do you make of Anil Kumble's test captaincy, there have been a few good things written about him, especially the way he handled the Sydney test and its aftermath?

Mukul Kesavan: You know, he should have succeeded Ganguly. I think Dravid is such a cultivated and wonderful man but I don't think he's a good captain. Actually, strike that, I think he was a very bad captain. And he wasn't helped by the fact that he couldn't distance himself from a contentious coach, Greg Chappell.

I think Kumble brings to the captaincy, not dignity which is what people have been mentioning a lot of, but he brings a kind of ferocity in terms of competitiveness and a kind of gravitas that makes opposing teams sit up and listen when he makes an allegation such as the one he did about the spirit of cricket. I think appropriately for someone who has a nickname like Jumbo, he has a massive integrity as well as a ferocious competitiveness that makes him the ideal vanguard for India.

H R Venkatesh: One final question. We seem to have a very good bench strength as far as the bowling attack goes, the pace attack. Sometimes the substitutes end of performing better than the No. 1 choice bowler. So are you optimistic, looking ahead, at test cricket?

Mukul Kesavan: I think you're right about our bowling bench strength in seam bowling except...with the one proviso that sometimes they seem to be constructed out of glass, cause the rate at which they break down is truly alarming. But I think we're doing very well, with Ishant Sharma especially on the fast bowling front, with Pathan back in form.

Our batsmen seem to be good for a couple of year more yet, I'm afraid in the matter of spin bowling that we have a difficulty. I don't think Harbhajan Singh should be in the team anymore. I think the Indian team suffered for playing him, though ironically his contribution as a batsman was crucial. But I think as a bowler, he's past his best and after Kumble I think there's a serious question about who will do the bowling for us.

H R Venkatesh: One final question. We have the one-day series coming up, I think the 3rd of February, what did you make of the team that was announced by the BCCI?

Mukul Kesavan: I think Dhoni has taken a strong line in this matter, I think he's decided that regardless of current results, we need built for the future. I think he feels more comfortable as well, with a group of contemporaries and younger players.

I tend to be conservative, so I would have liked to see Sourav Ganguly in this team. I don't think Dravid claims a place in this team on current form. I would have liked to see Ganguly in it, but on the other hand you know, perhaps it's reasonable to give someone like Raina another chance to come good and to build an athletic young team.

H R Venkatesh: That's about all, thanks very much for speaking to me on The News Junkie Podcast.

Mukul Kesavan: Thank you.