Awesome batting display by everyone in the 1st inning of the 3rd test at The Oval enabled India post a mammoth 664! Has Indian team come truly of age or is it just another flash in the pan?
Whatever the analysts say, it is a glorious moment to soak oneself in patriotic joy after seeing this tremendous batting on a foreign soil by everyone - not a single person got out in single digits!!! Now how often have you seen this happen with the Indian team???
Kartik once again was fabulous and as Chappell said rightly, he has an Australian heart. He is Super! We need more such hearts please. I love the guts he has and the game he plays. His confidence definitely rubs off on players like Jaffer who for a change, batted fluently and not defensively as he is so famous for.
Dhoni surely has one and except for his immense disappointment in the World Cup, he has been my favourite Indian batsman since the time he joined the team. Watch out for Dhoni, I sued to say before the WC. Isn't he fabulous? Even when given out in the 90's, he comes back to the dressing room in the same speed that he had got out of it to bat - he came, he batted and he went back - no qualms about waiting in the crease, nodding his head with a forlorn face, nothing of that sort - just finished my business at the batting crease and off I go. It definitely brought the test match alive for the spectators and gave India the impetus that always lacked - never seen Kapil Dev and Sehwag has Indian team seen test batting with such ferocity, disdain and speed. Bravo Dhoni!
Anil Kumble is a man at whom many Indians scorned at earlier in his career for his inability to turn the ball, but he is one team man I would love to have - I cannot forget his bowling in the fourth Innings with a fractured jaw - I cannot forget the partnership with Srinath in 1998 to win a ODI against Australians and all odds and who can forget his outstanding bowling figures throughout his career! Take a bow, Jumbo! This is certainly an achievement he deserves. I think "Kumble - the fighter" deserves a separate post, and I shall deliver the same later!
The famous trio of Dravid, Tendulkar and Ganguly too batted well and am I glad that I am not Ganguly - he looked in silken touch till he was robbed - yet again - by poor decision - how much he would have loved to loft the bowlers like Panesar outside the ground time and again! Dravid was superb and his wicket was completely against the run of play. Tendulkar stuck in there thanks to the reprieve of Prior and showed glimpses of Tendlya we all loved at one time.
That man Lax-man was not lax this time and played an elegant knock too! Worth watching when you are relaxing at home. Nice crisp drives and flicks. Everybody feasted out there on poor English bowling and fielding and a batting paradise.
Super knocks by tail-enders eventually ensured India post a 664 and it looks like Diwali is arriving a tad too early this year - ironically - in the month of Indian independence from England!
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
India's Twenty20 Team
BCCI has announced that Dhoni will be the captain of India's team 20/20 World Cup.
This is a good decision, and one hopes that captaincy does not weigh down heavily on Dhoni's strong shoulders. Yuvraj will be his deputy and I like it that way. Seniority should not always decide the position.
However, I am not entirely convinced with inclusion of Bhajji, but Sehwag should come handy in this tournament. Also, India's luckiest cricketer - Ajit Agarkar - is back again!
What really saddens me is that I see no real 'youngsters' being included in this team - That India's bench strength is so poor that we call back Bhajji, Agarkar and Sehwag is indeed a sad state of affairs. Dig deep into the domestic tournaments and one will see bundle of talents waiting to be picked - but sadly, no one in interested. One can only see two promising youngsters in the entire team - Piyush Chawla and Rohit Sharma. India A team did very well in Kenya recently and there should have been more inclusions from that team.
About Pathan siblings, I did not see any stellar performances from Yusuf in the domestic cricket for him to be picked up for the series but I second the inclusion of Irfan and sincerely hope that he is back to his old swinging ways.
This is a good decision, and one hopes that captaincy does not weigh down heavily on Dhoni's strong shoulders. Yuvraj will be his deputy and I like it that way. Seniority should not always decide the position.
However, I am not entirely convinced with inclusion of Bhajji, but Sehwag should come handy in this tournament. Also, India's luckiest cricketer - Ajit Agarkar - is back again!
What really saddens me is that I see no real 'youngsters' being included in this team - That India's bench strength is so poor that we call back Bhajji, Agarkar and Sehwag is indeed a sad state of affairs. Dig deep into the domestic tournaments and one will see bundle of talents waiting to be picked - but sadly, no one in interested. One can only see two promising youngsters in the entire team - Piyush Chawla and Rohit Sharma. India A team did very well in Kenya recently and there should have been more inclusions from that team.
About Pathan siblings, I did not see any stellar performances from Yusuf in the domestic cricket for him to be picked up for the series but I second the inclusion of Irfan and sincerely hope that he is back to his old swinging ways.
Friday, August 3, 2007
Jelly Beans
I swear that I had to Google up what a "jelly bean" means after the whole controversy regarding it in the last test.
Seriously, I think that every player sometimes needs the extra drive (if playing for the country or money is not a drive enough) to outperform himself and the sledging and pranks played by Englishmen probably acted as that drive for Zaheer. At the same time, the nerves and sledging got better of Sreesanth and the English nailed him all right.
Coming to think of it, sledging is now a commonly accepted phenomenon in World Cricket.
Gone are the glorious days of West Indian domination, where sledging was not required to take a wicket or to hit a bowler out of bowling attack.
The bat and the ball did everything.
Aussies started sledging in their typical aggressive way as a psychological ploy and soon mastered it. Instead of following the best practices of Australian cricket, the rest of the nations followed Aussies in this bad habit. So much so that soon, this became a norm. Now you can see the umpires turn blind eye when a bowler is allowed a mouthful at a batsman and the wicket keeper / close in fielders can be a chatter box all the time. As of now, a physical contact is disallowed but soon, I fear that the ICC will allow soccerisation of cricket where certain physical contact would be allowed with some conditions.
Yes yes, I know a fast bowler today has to be aggressive and all that, but still, I prefer the good-old game of cricket.
The game where a fast bowler comes in furiously and swings the ball beautifully, the batsman defends it with his best abilities and nods to the bowler appreciating the ball and the bowler lauds the batsman's technique and goes back to his bowling crease.
No sledging, no bad blood, and definitely no directed beamers!
Seriously, I think that every player sometimes needs the extra drive (if playing for the country or money is not a drive enough) to outperform himself and the sledging and pranks played by Englishmen probably acted as that drive for Zaheer. At the same time, the nerves and sledging got better of Sreesanth and the English nailed him all right.
Coming to think of it, sledging is now a commonly accepted phenomenon in World Cricket.
Gone are the glorious days of West Indian domination, where sledging was not required to take a wicket or to hit a bowler out of bowling attack.
The bat and the ball did everything.
Aussies started sledging in their typical aggressive way as a psychological ploy and soon mastered it. Instead of following the best practices of Australian cricket, the rest of the nations followed Aussies in this bad habit. So much so that soon, this became a norm. Now you can see the umpires turn blind eye when a bowler is allowed a mouthful at a batsman and the wicket keeper / close in fielders can be a chatter box all the time. As of now, a physical contact is disallowed but soon, I fear that the ICC will allow soccerisation of cricket where certain physical contact would be allowed with some conditions.
Yes yes, I know a fast bowler today has to be aggressive and all that, but still, I prefer the good-old game of cricket.
The game where a fast bowler comes in furiously and swings the ball beautifully, the batsman defends it with his best abilities and nods to the bowler appreciating the ball and the bowler lauds the batsman's technique and goes back to his bowling crease.
No sledging, no bad blood, and definitely no directed beamers!
Wicket Keeprs and Spinners
One decade ago, India was a country of spinners.
A country which had at least 2 spinners in playing 11 if not more.
A country which looked up and tried to emulate the famed trio of spin bowling in the whole world - Bedi, Prasanna and Chandra.
A country where spinning tracks were prepared for playing cricket.
A country which had only one wicket keeper in the team without a back-up.
A country where the leading batsman and Vice Captain had to play a role of a wicket keeper because we could not afford a specialist wicket keeper.
How times change!
Today, Indian team has 2 wicket keepers in the playing 11 . Plus, there is a third wicket keeper (Parthiv Patel) waiting in the wings and scoring centuries for India A.
Today, Indian team has only one place for spinner in the playing 11. Apart from him, there are only 3 names doing the rounds from all over the country - Bhajji, Powar and Piyush Chawla.
For good or bad, the times do change!
A country which had at least 2 spinners in playing 11 if not more.
A country which looked up and tried to emulate the famed trio of spin bowling in the whole world - Bedi, Prasanna and Chandra.
A country where spinning tracks were prepared for playing cricket.
A country which had only one wicket keeper in the team without a back-up.
A country where the leading batsman and Vice Captain had to play a role of a wicket keeper because we could not afford a specialist wicket keeper.
How times change!
Today, Indian team has 2 wicket keepers in the playing 11 . Plus, there is a third wicket keeper (Parthiv Patel) waiting in the wings and scoring centuries for India A.
Today, Indian team has only one place for spinner in the playing 11. Apart from him, there are only 3 names doing the rounds from all over the country - Bhajji, Powar and Piyush Chawla.
For good or bad, the times do change!
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
India wins!!!
Great win for India - Team India which saw almost everyone chip in their unique styles.
Especially outstanding efforts by Dinesh Kartik and Zaheer Khan! Great contribution by Saurav, Sachin, Jaffer, Laxman, Kumble and RP Singh!
Finally it was a team effort which saw this victory come India's way - and deservedly so.
Rejoice !!!
Especially outstanding efforts by Dinesh Kartik and Zaheer Khan! Great contribution by Saurav, Sachin, Jaffer, Laxman, Kumble and RP Singh!
Finally it was a team effort which saw this victory come India's way - and deservedly so.
Rejoice !!!
Taufel and Tendulkar
Everyone is talking how unfortunate Sachin Tendulkar was to miss out on yet another century when he was wrongly given out by Simon Taufel. More so when Taufel himself admitted it being wrong.
For me, it brings out three points:
1) If Taufel understood his mistake while seeing it on the big screen when Tendulkar was walking back, why did he not call Tendulkar back - like they had earlier called Pieterson back at Lord's?
2) What about so many other instances in the same innings when Tendulkar was out, but not given out ?
3) Even if Taufel would have called Tendulkar back and it would have been justice for the batsman, what about the instances when a player is out but not given out due to an umpiring error? Can the bowler also claim for similar justice?
This glorious game, sadly, is not perfect because it allows for these errors and mistakes to rule and decide the fate of the game being played.
That is why it is utmost important for those in governance to give more freedom to technology and to stop treating umpires as if they are gods. Someone at the top has to understand that umpires are human and if the umpires can take help technology, it will benefit the game in the long run. Why is it that umpires get away with their mistakes when players don't? The point is not that players should also get away, but that there should be no mistakes. That should be the aim of ICC.
Till the time this knowledge dawns upon them or they do something about it, there will be missed centuries, lost games, and god knows whether it is true, but fixed matches too!!!
For me, it brings out three points:
1) If Taufel understood his mistake while seeing it on the big screen when Tendulkar was walking back, why did he not call Tendulkar back - like they had earlier called Pieterson back at Lord's?
2) What about so many other instances in the same innings when Tendulkar was out, but not given out ?
3) Even if Taufel would have called Tendulkar back and it would have been justice for the batsman, what about the instances when a player is out but not given out due to an umpiring error? Can the bowler also claim for similar justice?
This glorious game, sadly, is not perfect because it allows for these errors and mistakes to rule and decide the fate of the game being played.
That is why it is utmost important for those in governance to give more freedom to technology and to stop treating umpires as if they are gods. Someone at the top has to understand that umpires are human and if the umpires can take help technology, it will benefit the game in the long run. Why is it that umpires get away with their mistakes when players don't? The point is not that players should also get away, but that there should be no mistakes. That should be the aim of ICC.
Till the time this knowledge dawns upon them or they do something about it, there will be missed centuries, lost games, and god knows whether it is true, but fixed matches too!!!
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
India in England - First Test
Hi All, mercifully, my employer has re-opened the rights to blogger website (as a probable measure to reduce the side- effects of the peanuts (I mean increments) that came out last month) and I can breathe (blog) again!
Yes, I know - it feels like the birds can fly, Govinda can dance and rivers can flow again!
Hum-ho! OK! Back to cricket!
Where shall I start after such a long break? OK - Let us start with the first test with England that was completed (!) yesterday.
To sum it up, England were hard done by the rains - they deserved to win fair and square. And obviously, there were more take-aways for England than for India
Takeaways for England -
1) James Anderson - Amazing bowler, why he was out of playing 11 for such a long time is a mystery. England's bowling line up should be ideally - Harmison, Flintoff, Anderson, Sidebottom, Monty.
2) Monty Panesar - Improving continuously and impressing everyone with his attitude
3) Matt Prior - Good Wicket keeper, Better Sledger and still better as a Batsman - will go a long way to play for England
4) Kevin Pieterson - England's best bet to survive and do well in World Cricket - Rightly the next leader for England -> My take - KP = 2 times Yuvraj Singh in his best form.
He was busy hammering Kumble all around Lord's , while our 'masters blasters' struggled against Monty.
5) England almost won - without Flintoff and Harmison!
Takeaways for India-
1) Rain is always not a spoilsport. - Good revenge for India - I am still not able to forget how Cullinan and rain thwarted Indian win (and spirited Kumble bowling) on SA soil years back - and so this feels good.
2) R P Singh - bowled really well (on a bowler friendly wicket)
3) Dhoni - Sensible batting - shielded the tail enders as much as he could - please note that this trait was / is never seen before in Indian cricket.
4) Dinesh Kartik - the guy has a spunk - thankfully, sense prevails sometimes in Indian cricket corridor and he is in the team.
As far as the much famed Indian line up(!) goes, this is my take:
Another point to be noted in this match was coming back from being dead of KP - a reversal of decision. I fully support this and hope that it should be a norm soon. However, similar facilities should also be provided for the bowlers who feel that they are served injustice at times.
Justice should prevail in this glorious game - at the cost of anything and everything!
Off to Trent Bridge now, for another match at the mercy of weather I'm told.
Yes, I know - it feels like the birds can fly, Govinda can dance and rivers can flow again!
Hum-ho! OK! Back to cricket!
Where shall I start after such a long break? OK - Let us start with the first test with England that was completed (!) yesterday.
To sum it up, England were hard done by the rains - they deserved to win fair and square. And obviously, there were more take-aways for England than for India
Takeaways for England -
1) James Anderson - Amazing bowler, why he was out of playing 11 for such a long time is a mystery. England's bowling line up should be ideally - Harmison, Flintoff, Anderson, Sidebottom, Monty.
2) Monty Panesar - Improving continuously and impressing everyone with his attitude
3) Matt Prior - Good Wicket keeper, Better Sledger and still better as a Batsman - will go a long way to play for England
4) Kevin Pieterson - England's best bet to survive and do well in World Cricket - Rightly the next leader for England -> My take - KP = 2 times Yuvraj Singh in his best form.
He was busy hammering Kumble all around Lord's , while our 'masters blasters' struggled against Monty.
5) England almost won - without Flintoff and Harmison!
Takeaways for India-
1) Rain is always not a spoilsport. - Good revenge for India - I am still not able to forget how Cullinan and rain thwarted Indian win (and spirited Kumble bowling) on SA soil years back - and so this feels good.
2) R P Singh - bowled really well (on a bowler friendly wicket)
3) Dhoni - Sensible batting - shielded the tail enders as much as he could - please note that this trait was / is never seen before in Indian cricket.
4) Dinesh Kartik - the guy has a spunk - thankfully, sense prevails sometimes in Indian cricket corridor and he is in the team.
As far as the much famed Indian line up(!) goes, this is my take:
- Yes they were great.
- There are times when everyone fails to a wonderful delivery, a situation, a mistake, opposite captain's / bowler's acumen etc., and so did they at times.
- Overall, they have served Indian cricket well - for years together.
- They have changed over time - their strengths, their thinking, their objectives all have changed in the years that have gone by - but we have not changed - our expectations still remain the same - that we, a nation in cricketing despair, will be saved by these armoured knights on white horses - they will save the game for India, they will destroy the opposition so on and so forth
- The only thing to do is accept what they themselves have - they are not what they were before.
- Yes, they were brilliant and gifted cricketers and that gift will show on occasions - but consistency? Sorry mate, consistency has shifter her residence now.
- Let us stop expecting that Tendulkar / Ganguly / Laxman / Dravid will save us anymore. They will come and try their best, but sadly, their best is not so good anymore. Tendulkar's dismissal to Monty in second innings was - yet again - a sad one for me. For a batsman at his level, getting LBW to an arm ball - is somehow not digestible. But this is where our digestion power needs to change - because this is a common thing now - we will need to digest such failures from these one time greats - till they retire gracefully (!) or are asked to retire like Kapil Dev.
- So my amigos, let us not start dreaming after yet another century by Ton-dulkar, another miraculous knock by That-man-Laxman, another aggressive century by Dada and another display of dogged defence by the Wall. - let us applaud the knock it deserves, but let the expectations not start coming out of your pocket again - put them and lock them up. Open them for someone like a KP or a Karthik or a Chawla, but not for the ones that ruled once.
Another point to be noted in this match was coming back from being dead of KP - a reversal of decision. I fully support this and hope that it should be a norm soon. However, similar facilities should also be provided for the bowlers who feel that they are served injustice at times.
Justice should prevail in this glorious game - at the cost of anything and everything!
Off to Trent Bridge now, for another match at the mercy of weather I'm told.
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