CRICKET ,JAYALITHA, MAYAWATI  AND MATHS

 For a nation that discovered the ‘ zero’ and made other significant contributions to the science of mathematics we are  notorious for NOT USING  even elementary mathematics in our daily lives. The only group of Indians who  put this science to practical use are ironically the much derided  politicians. These politicos base their every devious move , every calculated statement on electoral arithmetic !

Look at the way cricket fans have reacted to the drubbing our beloved team is receiving at Ahmedabad. By the time you read this piece you may have  gone into a depression on the  innings defeat of our team to South Africa. But let us look at this defeat dispassionately applying math where relevant/.

There is a little known law of mathematics called REGRESSION TO the MEAN. If this law were to be applied  to our team’s performance any novice could have told you that after the ‘ stupendous’ performance of the Indian team at Chennai where everybody and everybody’s uncle scored at least a century[Sehwag scored a triple hundred] it was  mandated by the aforesaid law that the team would perform dismally soon. That ‘soon’ turned out to be as soon as the next test match !

In other words humans tend to perform to their average over a period of time.  A brilliant performance is bound to be followed by a below average performance so that on an average the team performance is –well  -- average  .

You may ask why other teams –South Africa in this instance—do not seem to follow this law. You are right in asking this question.  After all they have done very well at Chennai and   at Ahmedabad where they scored close to 500 runs in reply to our dismal 76. The answer is as follows—Their ‘ AVERAGE’ performance  is  better   than our’s .

As  for our ‘stupendous performance’ at Chennai —the fact is that the Chennai pitch  which is famous for producing results was badly doctored by the groundsmen .It was intended to bolster our batting. This is strange considering that it is our bowling that is considered our Achilles heel. But such is the convoluted  thinking in our camp that we really do not have full faith in our team, batting or bowling.The idea was that our batsmen would score so much that even our weak bowling would ensure a victory.  The benign pitch facilitated normally inconsistent  batsmen  like Sehwag to score a triple hundred and leave a mark on cricket history. I recollect cricket writers extolling Sehwag’s batting in Chennai . One writer went so far as to say that the selection committee would be ‘cringing’  at their folly in omitting   the great Sehwag in an earlier tour.  I had then dashed off a letter to the editor that there was no occasion to cringe since Sehwag had shown his  mettle in conditions where any batsman could have played  well.  I had asked  that our judgement  of the batsman ought  to wait for tougher tests ahead.  I was proved right barely a week  later at Ahmedabad where the ‘ master batsman’ was fumbling with the bat. Of course in the glorious   inverted cricketing  tradition in our country we will not learn any lessons from this debacle.

One  aspect of the debacle ought not to be missed. When the Indians were scuttled out for a mere 76 we were told that the  pitch offered scorching pace and the air offered amazing swing and  that was the ‘reason’ for our T- 20 style batting performance. Any cricket lover then has the right to expect our pace bowlers to  take advantage of the conditions.  Did that happen? Hours later when the South Africans went in to bat suddenly the god’s seemed to have conspired with the South Africans and the pitch  turned into a feather bed !To add to the fun when the Indians batted for the second time the pitch again turned hostile so  our much touted batting line up  could not survive to fight back. The behavior of the pitch would put to shame Mayawati, Jayalalitha and Mamta Banerji  for sheer whimsicality ! There is a possibility that the ‘secularists’  may blame Narendra Modi for queering the pitch for India.

I have always been trying to convince the BCCI to  have a permanent  standby arrangement with say Afghanistan or even Bangladesh. They should be immediately  invited to play a series with our lack luster team so as to ensure a great victory  with all our  batsmen playing to their ‘true potential’  and scoring triple hundreds, bowlers skuttling out the rivals and adoring fans going  home happy that their heroes are not humans but gods! Meanwhile our cricketing stars will endorse some  products and talk of how ‘ consistency’ in quality is the hallmark  of the  blade or undergarment they  are endorsing !

K.R.RAVI

USA