AMRIT MATHUR
The recent record-shattering performances of Virat Kohli and R Ashwin sparked a conversation on their stature, impact on the game and place in cricket history. Considering Kohli’s four double hundreds and Ashwin’s sprint to 250 Test wickets, the question is are these two players good, great, legends or modern masters? One interesting answer is Kohli is the Bradman of batting and Ashwin is the Bradman of bowling.
Bradman, of course, is the gold standard of measuring cricket performances; he is the undisputed all-time Don. Any comparison (let alone parity) with him is an ultimate compliment because Bradman outscored everyone by some distance.
The norm is to assess cricketers by their numbers, and a successful professional once famously said there are only two truths that matter --- the cheque book and score book. Numbers don’t lie and stats are supreme.
While there is no denying the importance of numbers, opinion is rapidly growing that cold statistics don’t tell the full story. Runs are runs and wickets are wickets but all runs/wickets are not equal.
A hit through cover that fetches four and an edged drive that crosses the rope at third man are hugely different.
A better method to determine greatness and compare players from different generations is to put cold numbers in ‘context’ by applying filters such as playing conditions, pressure and the overall match situation. Studies using these yardsticks give perspective and some results of this analysis are startling.
None more than the finding in a book released recently that Sachin Tendulkar’s ‘impact’ is not as significant as commonly believed. His feats (200 Tests, 100 international hundreds) will perhaps never be surpassed but seen in ‘context’, his contribution was only a ‘support act’.
Once all runs are scrutinised, it is Rahul Dravid who emerges as India’s most impactful player, and in overall ratings Pakistan’s Younis Khan and Inzamam-ulHaq are right on top, as is Brian Lara. Among current players, AB de Villiers is outstanding across formats.
Measuring greatness will always remain tricky whether done through conventional number crunching or by applying scientific rigour to available data. But there is another rating system which is accurate and invariably spot on. This is the informal dressing room buzz where players know the exact worth of each other and reputations are made and shredded periodically.
In this, Viv Richards is the king, but a whisper is already doing the rounds --- Kohli is almost there! NEW DELHI: It’s coincidental that India’s first two Test series at home with DRS involve England and Australia --- the two teams most experienced in the art of using the review system. India, however, have thrashed England 4-0 and are expected to defeat Australia too. But if Virat Kohli and his teammates learn from the England series, India can be a smoother operator with DRS in this series.
Why is it so important to get the review appeal right? Because with the amount of edges, batpads and low catches about to come into play because of slow spin-assisting pitches expected to be dished out over the next month, India have to be careful about not wasting their reviews.
The DRS was to be used on a trial basis in the India-England series, that too without the ‘HotSpot’ technology. It was peppered with instances where India got their assessment wrong. Like in the Rajkot Test, where Cheteshwar Pujara didn’t ask for a review for an lbw decision to a delivery that had pitched outside leg-stump.
In Visakhapatnam, Wriddhiman Saha wasted a review on a plumb leg-before. Ravindra Jadeja hesitated from appealing against an lbw where the ball was seen missing the stumps. The gap was threadbare but it wasn’t out.
The problem for India has been the lack of decisive communication between players. In Jadeja’s case, non-striker R Ashwin couldn’t give him the right advice. While bowling, there were a few occasions Saha couldn’t make himself heard from behind the wickets for Kohli and the bowler to take his opinion before appealing.
It’s not as if India were completely off the mark. In Vizag, Jayant Yadav was bang on target with a leg-before appeal against Moeen Ali even though he had come down the pitch. But armed with a longer tryst with the art of using DRS, Australia would be looking to be smarter than India at least in this department.