It's Rain(a)ing Bouncers !

We have often heard the television-commentators remark on the short-comings in the techniques of the Rainas and the Gambhirs. The wise-men seem to have found a chink in the armory of almost all the batsmen who are currently playing the game at the international level. Well, one cannot blame them for their frank opinions and judgments, for its their job to do so, and moreover, the Indian audience, who have been treated to the impeccable technique of Rahul Dravid (that has set a high- benchmark with respect to the finer aspects of the game) over a good part of the past decade and a half, do not seem to be happy with anything which falls even a touch short of perfection. Also, with the Tendulkars of today and the Gavaskars of yesteryears achieving big milestones against the most dreaded attacks in cricket history, it’s not a surprise that the purists bay for the blood of these young turks who have been bred on the fields of ODI’s and T20s.

With regard to Raina, the word seems to have spread right down to the narrow alleys of gully cricket, that the man has a weakness against bouncers. It’s interesting to speculate as to what exactly goes on in the mind of someone like a Suresh Raina, who has seen a few great players at close quarters go about their business of getting huge runs at the highest level despite the deficiencies in their technique, while he struggles to find his footing in the Big league owing to his dislike for short-pitched stuff. He would have seen a certain VVS Laxman and a Saurav Ganguly (not exactly the best exponents of techique against the quicks) stitch some magical innings for India and earning the praise of many a former greats. It wouldn’t be a surprise if at times Raina thought himself to be an ugly duckling among the lot.

Although VVS negotiated the short-balls very well, he was susceptible to the balls bowled ” slightly short and wide” early on in his innings. In Saurav’s case (with all due respect to this great leader), the “corridor of uncertainty ” actually lived up to its name. The opposition would constantly pepper him with bouncers and then send one sliding across the wicket towards the packed slips and gully (two gullies were employed most times) looking for the outer edge of his bat. It seemed to be a set plan on any given day, by all oppositions. Yet, both these “Mavericks” Of Indian cricket made 16000 test-runs between them and saw India into its glory days.

It’s funny to imagine how a clue-less (w.r.t test cricket) Raina , would be scratching his head in frustration, wondering how Sachin gets his runs ,while everybody from Allan Donald to Ashok Dinda knows about his weakness for the ball jagging back- in from length. “Now how do these guys manage this ?” will be one big question that would have been haunting Raina and co. for sometime now.

Well, there may be people who tell you that cricket is not “Rocket Science”, but its only a Rohit Sharma, a Suresh Raina (representing the entire new breed of Indian cricketers) and in fact the very Rahul “The -Wall” Dravid himself (especially during his last leg of Test cricket), who can tell you how tough it is to”crack the code of test cricket”. Maybe they feel “Rocket-Science” would have been easier to comprehend !