Cricket commentary and analysis

08/10/2018

Dissecting Azhar Ali's technical issues...

Azhar holds the key for Pakistan since he is one of the most experienced players in this line-up and his ability to bat for longer periods

04/09/2018

Discussing angles and trigger movements here...

As Ishant can swing the ball in one direction mostly, he is a different proposition from round-the-wicket as it forces the batsmen to put bat on ball.

28/04/2018

01/04/2018

“Uss din toh Wasim bhaiya bahut gussa ho gaye,” Sanjay Ramaswamy still sounds a tad sheepish when he recalls the day Wasim Jaffer scolded him. It was the day before the final match of the Bapuna Cricket Tournament, the de facto trials for Ranji selection in Vidarbha, and the right-handed opener desperately needed to score some runs. He’d come off a poor run and had let a slight technical glitch grow into a chronic batting disorder. But like he admits now, Sanjay was too scared to go looking for a solution at this eleventh hour, especially with his place in the state side on the line. But as he walked off from the practice session that morning, Jaffer was waiting for him.

“He walked up to me and said ‘what’s wrong with you? Why won’t you talk to me and seek some help? That’s why I’m here, to help youngsters like you’,” recalls Sanjay. The former India opener then proceeded to take Sanjay to the indoor facility at the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) complex—where Jaffer generally stays during the Ranji season—and the two spent the next seven hours working on the youngster’s batting.

“We were there between noon to 7 pm. I had developed this troublesome trigger movement where both my feet were going back and across leaving my alignment in a mess with no clue where my off-stump was. His suggestion was to just do it with my back leg and ensure the second movement is only after the ball is bowled. I must have faced some 600 balls that day and Wasim bhaiya stood there through the day passing on tips,” says Sanjay. Then with his tone turning to delight he adds, “And I was suddenly playing shots that I never knew I could, the cover-drive and straight-drive were flowing.”

A number of Vidarbha batsman have benefited greatly from spending time with Wasim Jaffer.

24/03/2018

Just a quick word on Markram - Talk about the right shoulder coming in through, on the left we have Markram's right shoulder coming through and he ended up sort of slicing the ball to gully which was dropped.

A couple of balls later, the correction was made and this time around, the front shoulder (on the right) was used perfectly and the bat face came through the ball very straight!

18/01/2018

I see a couple of Indian batters have been making few adjustments during the ongoing series against SA. Should I talk them through here?

08/01/2018

Talk about the nip off the pitch... Ponting on Philander

13/12/2017

Few words on the batter

09/12/2017

Okay so how do we measure length from the footage? Any suggestions?

01/12/2017

I've discussed how Australian bowlers can play on Root's mind, given few technical issues in his batting. There is a plan...

Alastair Cook and Joe Root are the two most experienced batsmen in the line-up and getting them dismissed early certainly gave Australia an edge.