Friday, May 22, 2009

Irony of Gavaskar's theories

I have always got irritated with the analysis of Mr. Gavaskar on the cricket matches. For the experience he has, first playing cricket for a long-long time, and second being associated in close quarters of cricket as commentator/analyst. I feel, his analysis is repetitive parrating of the age old theories. One of the big gems and stupidities has been this IPL's parrating of "How Indian domestic players cannot play on South-African pitches, and how this has been a great factor". This has been his favourite subject this IPL, and he invariably says this when a Indian domestic player gets out trying to hit the ball outside the boundary line.

In the hind-sight, before the IPL, any body who has a zilch knowledge of cricket would have guessed that playing in South-Africa would be challenging for the young Indian players who have played before, only in placid Indian pitches. But, unfortunately, the great thinker Gavaskar is, parrots the same thing again and again, as if he is the only person under the sun, who has predicted this great phenomenon. But the wonder of the situation is, the South-African pitches played in this IPL have been no different than any other Indian cricket pitch. The pitches have been wobbly and placid, and performance of spinners have been great example of state of the pitches in South-Africa this IPL. Still, our guy Gavaskar goes on and on about the In-capability of Indian players managing the Fast and Bouncy South African pitches. I hope, somebody teaches Gavaskar to talk about other things, which are happening other than this.

Yesterdays match between Royal Challengers (RC) and Deccan Chargers (DC) was a very good example of the capability or incapability of the players. The match was played on a strong pitch, which had nearly all the qualities of the South African pitch. A 19 year old kid, who has probably never seen anything else other than an Indian pitch (or Malaysian temporary pitches) played a brilliant innings and hits a century. This was in a circumstances where, No Indian has ever hit a century in IPL, either in India or South Africa. I started wondering what does Mr. Gavaskar has to say on this subject? He was no where to be seen yesterday, unfortunately.

The second theory of Gavaskar in this IPL was about run-outs. He increases the tone of his voice every time, when he says "One person has to call for the run". I wonder in disbelief who under the sun decides, who has to be the caller? In most scenarios, the situation is very clear as One batsmen is always in a situation to decide on a run and he decides to be the caller. But, most run-outs occur when both batsmen have the ability to decide, and the decision taken by both players are opposite, this leads to confusion and hence leads to run-out. And by the nature of T20 matches, which are fast paced and relatively new format, the factors affecting (Speed of the fielder, natural throwing hand, history of fielding skills, situation of the game, etc. etc.) the decision for RUN are varied and 2 players making the same decision is still improving as players gain experience of the format. Over and above this, players of different nationality, different strengths, different religions, different styles playing together makes more of a confusion and takes time, for players to reach consistent analysis for making a decision on a Run.

Man! complex entity this, taking a decision for a run. But good thing is, the batsmen do not get run-out every time they run. That is because, players use the age-old learning, (parrated by Gavaskar) and hence they do not get run-out every time. As most players are experienced in One Day and Test format of the game, there skills are honed to that affect. I am sure, with the experience of players increasing in the T20 format of the game, there ability to decide on a run will become more consistent and hence reduce the run-outs in the matches. I hope Gavaskar sees this fact and relieves the viewers of his irritating repetitions.

I was wondering and discussing with friends year or 2 back, why Gavaskar doesn't take a coaching opportunity etc. I guess it is easier to blabber theories on TV, rather than fail in implementing them. God save us from this dreadful commentary. And now I wonder, which team can risk implementation of these theories?

-- Madhukar Hebbar

2 comments:

VidyaShankar Harapanahalli said...

Most of the commentators are paid to bark something between balls delivered... Quality is coming down heavily.. Gavaskar is no exception

Atmaram said...

I totally agree witrh you.
Even Gavaskar has some good things about his commentary style. His english is quite good and he can connect to the situation most times
Yes his repetitive criticism of Indian players when they play outside the subcontinent is uncalled for...