The cricketing week's thoughts ....

If everyone joins the praising chorus, you too need to see who the muse is - The exact reason why I had to watch the kid, Umar Akmal. It was a double delight that the Test match at Dunedin turned out to be a real gem too. Sambit Bal couldn’t have put it better in his article at Cricinfo.

To be frank, Umar Akmal doesn’t look a cut apart, from his stance or shuffle. But the appearance has never been a reflector of genius. What I liked about him was his audacity – the single most feature needed to succeed in the current cricketing world. His movement in the crease is ungainly, but his unfettered bat arc-movements are equally mesmerizing. His one pick shot off Vettori was a treat to the eyes. Certainly a player to look for in future, but let’s wait before anointing him another Miandad or Tendulkar. Imran Nazir too had evoked similar feelings when he had stroked his way into limelight.

I couldn’t watch another debutant, Adrian Barath’s century. I had watched him in the Champions League though. He too looked a marvelous player, another one of ‘the League of Stroke Makers’. No wonders, he succeeded in the first chance itself at the highest Test Level too.

So, what is this ‘Attacking Instinct’ that brings the riches? A puritanical heresy, but the need of time – I must say. I can’t imagine a player who plays defensively to succeed now-a-days. Not only now, but also in the recent history, Dravid, Kallis and Chanderpaul haven’t been given the same kudos and accolades as Tendulkar, Lara and Ponting. This only-Test-Match batsman ship –undoubtedly great though- is going to be less bankable commodity now for the players. No batsman can afford to be good only in Test Matches, and dispensable in Twenty20 or One-Dayers. It was really ridiculous to hear Simon Doull say once that Daniel Flynn should be given extra incentive, read money, to keep honing his skills only for Test Matches. Bullshit but ever more harmful for Flynn.

If you analyse the current decade for the best batsmen to come out trumps in all forms of the game, you would undoubtedly zero in on Sehwag and Pieterson. They have exceptional records, but more than that, a no-fear psychosis to grind the opposition. Harsha Bhogle recently observed Gambhir, along with Duminy and de Villiers, as the best crop of batsmen currently on form. But a few good years more are needed for them to be put into higher bracket.

So, while we celebrate some new batsmen coming along the way, let’s also pause, ponder and pray for similar kind of bowlers too to emerge. Ajantha Mendis was such a delight, and I hope he is not finished yet. But look at the rest. A litany of average performers. The drab pitches are culpable, but also is the inability of the bowlers to adapt, or more importantly, to attack as the batsmen have done to override them. What delight if we can again see the hurling bouncers of Garner, Ambrose and Thomson, or the spitting spinners of Warne, Qadir, and Kumble!