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Ind Vs Aus , Delhi Test

2008-11-03T00:30:00.001-08:00

Ferosha Kotla curator was quoted as saying that the grass was cut by a BCCI Pitch Committee, without his knowledge on the eve of the match, making it a lifeless pitch and no wonder it produced a dull boring 5 days of cricket. And with cricket entering a brash new world, of 20-over Slang-Bang games and city franchises where representing your country may no longer be the biggest ambition, the last thing ICC wants is doctoring of pitches. ICC should bring the interest back to the traditional game and demonstrate how 15 sessions in the field can be more rewarding than an evening out between an early dinner and a late bedtime. The wicket was as shiny as a temple floor and 1300 runs were scored in the First Innings by both the teams doesn't come as a big surprise. The Match was well and truly over by the end of 12th Session. Team India were not able to give a Winning Farewell gift to Anil Kumble, as the match ended in a draw.

India scored in excess of 600 runs. VVS Laxman's penchant for attacking stroke play and propensity to score centuries frequently against the Aussies continued as he notched up his Second Double Hundred. Some of his timing would certainly put legendary Swiss watches into the shade. Absolute Stunner. Laxman played a classy innings and his partnership with Gambhir is where the contest changed shades after Australia took the early bowling honours. Gautam Gambhir did a damn good job in tarnishing his double hundred with an exhibition of beastly behaviour. Thanks Gautam, We were able to see the other side of Muscle Power of BCCI. The melodrama enacted on the floor of Kotla on the first day of the test was deplorable. True, Watson provoked Gambhir and Gambir's reaction can in no way be regarded as the right way to express the intent. This was a futile and desperate exercise by Gambhir that has caused Team India to bow their heads in shame. Ideally he should have been handed with a severe penalty than just one test ban. It was comedy stuff by Chris Broad, Match Referee.

Hayden got his mind settled and played a telling innings in his country's hour of need. Katich provided good support to Hayden, which was well capitalised by the Aussie Batting line-up with the likes of Ponting, Hussey and White. Though Michael Clarke survived a large dose of fortune, he played the most dignified and resolute innings and held the Aussie Lower order together. Catches were grounded with appalling regularity by the Indians and Clarke capitalised on that and ensured the Team to Safety. Zaheer and Ishant were not able to replicate their magic. Shewag was the surprise package and he ended up picking his first fifer. Kumble picked up an injury while fielding and that was enough to convince him that his best days were over as he announced his retirement at his favourite ground where he has an awesome record.

When India began their Second innings, Ponting's tactics had been dubious and his attack appeared threadbare. While his faith in his key bowlers is admirable, his reluctance to introduce Clarke earlier, was surprising. And he did not call on Katich at all. For all his potential and contributions in the shorter version of the game, Cameeron White does not look ready for Test cricket. He is certainly nowhere near being an all-rounder at this level. It is impossible to tell how much Aussie miss Andrew Symonds.

Cricket Australia, I'm sure is aware that, a certain retired fast bowler from Narromine and a blond bombshell from Victoria, who has been taking wickets and coaxing victories for them earlier, will no longer be available. Unavoidably, Australia have replaced great bowlers with good bowlers, and it is showing. They need something extra from their bowlers to take 20 wickets in the next test at Nagpur. At Kotla though, they never looked like bowling India out. They have to get the bowling arsenal correct to deal with the conditions at Nagpur. Else, the Border-Gavaskar trophy will be lost.

Salaam Sachin

2008-10-24T01:03:00.000-07:00

It has become a one-off race for Tendulkar to reach the Summit of 11,953 Test Runs, ever since the mercurial lefthander from Trinidad retired. The Bombay Bomber scaled the peak at the PCA Stadium, Mohali against his most respected rivals Australia. Congrats Sachin, who carried the sobriquet of being the ‘best player in the world’ for 19 years now, for achieving the World Record. Wasn't just the sheer inevitability of the event that Sachin has to be number one?

Having watched Sachin's career for a shade over 15 years, I must confess and at times frustrated, what more can one say of a player who has scored 82 Centuries and in excess of 28 thousand runs. What else he has to offer? Tendulkar's penchant for attacking strokeplay(Till early 2000) and propensity to score hundreds after hundreds earned him world wide adulation from lay spectator and the Great Don himself alike. He may not have figured in the Top 5 list of Wisden Cricketers of the Century, yet, we have been fortunate to live in the age of Sachin, just like those who boasted about seeing Hobbs, Bradman, Sobers , Richards and Warne.

When he took guard at 1989 Vs Pakistan against the likes of Akram, Imran and Waqar, he was just yet another Indian Player. Soon, he became a symbol of national pride and aspiration that extended beyond the 22 yards. Indian people go mad for this man and so does the Cricket loving Public all around the world. He bats with the symmetry of straight lines and the geometry of acute angles and at the core of his wondrous play is the purest technician in the business. For spectators, he is worth the admission price alone. Sachin Tendulkar was the lone brightest star in the Indian batting constellation before the likes of Dravid and Ganguly emerged at Lords in 1996.

Let us accept, Sachin is simply not his old self (and maybe he will return to it), but perhaps this was inevitable, for no man could play so artfully, so long. But it is interesting nevertheless, for with genius we want to see how long can he carry on performing almost without blemish. May be some more centuries to swell his kitty, Few thousand runs perhaps !!
If the cricket world is looking for a president, it would have to be him. In a sports culture that increasingly runs on hype, drama and hysteria, Sachin never gets overheated. Sachin has been praised to the skies. And he deserves all the applause, but one of the factors behind his success has been underplayed. He wasn't just an outstanding player but also cricket’s undisputed global brand ambassador.

"Commit all your crimes when Sachin is batting. They will go unnoticed because even the Lord is watching," reads a banner during India's tour of Australia earlier this year. How true, isn't ?

Those who did not see Don Bradman can boast they saw Tendulkar. And believe me, it's a very proud boast.

Ind Vs Aus Second Test Mohali

2008-10-23T01:27:00.000-07:00

Ponting's men were thrashed by a bold and exciting Indian team by a lopsided margin of 320 runs at the PCA Stadium in Mohali. Aussie's outfit were comprehensively outplayed from start to finish by Dhoni's boys. Let us not forget, this is just Australia's second loss in the last three years. The loss gets magnified since this is the second time they have lost to India in the last four matches. Courtesy India, Australia have come face to face with the reality of playing without their two champion bowlers. I haven't seen Aussies getting beaten left, right and centre like this at Mohali in the last 15 years.

India played a rookie spinner Mishra in the place of injured Kumble. Dhoni won the all important toss on a perfect batting track and it was just one way traffic from that point. Surprisingly Ponting opened with a debutant Siddle and Lee and they literally fed the Indian openers with freebies on either side of the Wicket and allowed the game to drift away. Save for the odd patches of excellence by Mitchell Johnson the Aussie bowling shared the discredit.Sachin and Sourav steadied the ship with a century stand. Sachin finally surpassed Lara's record of highest run scorer in Test Cricket. It was a gritty innings from the Mumbai Maestro. Ganguly played well and scored his 16th century and put India in a commanding position. At last, Dhoni contributed with the bat and India scored in excess of 450.

Zaheer and Ishant did the job for India by picking up early wickets. Indian pace duo made mincemeat of the star-studded Aussie batting line-up. Power house opener Hayden might perhaps miss the Ashes 2009 if he doesn't come good in the Delhi test. Half Centuries from Watson and Hussey was not enough for Australia, who conceded a 200+ lead. Debutant leggie Mishra took Five Wickets and it would be an interesting selection for the next test when Kumbles returns.

In India's second innings, Aussies ran out of petrol, and luck(Asad Rauf yet again), while Indian Openers refuelled their tank and pulverised the inexperienced Aussie bowling to submission. Seven bowlers were used but, in the trying humidity, the Indian opening pair defied them with brisk scoring. Brett Lee is dreadfully out of sorts and Australian bowling looked very pedestrian. I wasn't thrilled with Ponting's captaincy either. The need of the hour for Punter is to use both parts of the brain and think holistically by complementing his premiere fast bowler, though he has not made any impact in the series, by setting fields which will suit Lee's bowling. Lee for sure missed the services of Stuart Clark at the other end.

Harbajan ripped through the Aussie top order with three quick wickets. I don't want to sound churlish. Ricky Ponting was a fine captain and a master-stylist as a batsman, who could take fine attacks to pieces. Ever since he scored that gritty not classy century at Bangalore, he looked very confused with his foot work. He got an absolute beauty from Ishant Sharma in the second innings and was comprehensively bowled. Punter certainly needs to tighten his technique and Aussie certainly need Ponting to fire if they want to square the series in Delhi. Zaheer tore the Aussie lower order on Day 5 with high quality bowling. Zaheer sent Haddin’s woodwork in all directions was certainly a delight to watch. Michael Clarke and Mitchell Johnson's partnership later in the innings did just little more than delay the popping of the champagne corks.

Let us understand, Aussies are in a rebuilding phase and they will continue to lose test matches here and there since they doesn't have the bowling arsenal to deal with the conditions. With an attack heavily reliant on Lee and With Gilchrist now part of Australian cricket folklore, Ponting's team might find victories harder to attain and yet, Aussies are still World Champions and a loss here and there will not make them a poor team. One thing is for sure, Australia's dominance is slipping away, which is bound to happen and good for the game. Australia will be treated like mortals instead of being feared as all-conquering superheroes.

India have one hand on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Unless the Aussies raise their game in the next test, Kumble(or Dhoni) and his men will win the series before the teams reach Nagpur. For Australia, the series will not be won by looking backwards but by rediscovering the kind of diamond-hard discipline and professionalism that characterised Australia brand of Cricket over the years. The Aussies have mastered the wondrous art of raising their game during crunch games, and that treasured art has helped them win some of the most important games on a canter. Can we see one more of those at Kotla?

Ind Vs Aus, First Test - Bangalore

2008-10-16T01:25:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a sensible innings by Sachin and Laxman, and to some extent the badlight, India managed to save a gripping test match at the Chinnasamy Stadium in Bangalore and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is pretty much open now. Drawing this game is like passing Class XI with distinction. Creditable, but of no consequence if one fails to secure the requisite marks in the Class XII board exams.(Read Upcoming Matches)

Australian Captain scored his 36th Test Century and his first in Indian Soil, a statistical embellishment that had somehow eluded the batsman on four previous visits.
Ricky Ponting has proved yet again as Australia's best batsman by a disturbing margin. It was a classy innings by the Tasmanian, who was determined to wipe off the bad memories of not scoring a ton in India for 12 years, he had in his otherwise coveted CV . A thousand-runs-a-season batsman with a strong work ethic in the form of Mike Hussey though took just one innings to score the coveted hundred. Perhaps a Hussey Test ton is no longer newsworthy, since it happens so frequently. Hussey's 9th century in his 26th Test. Brilliant One Huss. Simon Katich relished the privilege of opening the batting and played with the greatest aplomb despite the hot, humid, energy sapping conditions. Hayden's stay was cut short by Poor Umpiring decision in both the innings.

Zaheer and Ishant was able to reverse swing the ball and posed greater difficulties to the Aussie batsman. It was heartening to see the pacers picking up 9 wickets between them in an innings on home soil. India’s Spin bowlers gave a new meaning to line and length while the fielders were as shoddy as their ancestors. Bajji and Kumble were pretty ordinary. The Indian Skipper is definitely in need of a long 'perhaps' a permanent holiday from Cricket. It is just the third time Kumble has gone wicket less in a Test but the second time this year. Significantly, it has never happened in India before and Bangalore is his home ground. The turban-topped spinner who seems to save his best performances for Australia, failed miserably on a pitch which was tailor made for spinners. The spinners took only 3 for 350 in the game

The Fab Four was a total flop in the Indian First Innings and it took a sensible innings from Harbajan and Zaheer to bail the team out of the trouble. Mitchell Johnson was a revelation for Australia. He bowled his heart out on a unresponsive wicket and took the prized scalps of Sachin,Laxman,Ganguly. Shane Watson, who is playing his first test match after nearly 3 years, took other bowling honours. Sachin Tendulkar, a player who is a statistical delight is now stalked by some less pleasant numbers. Yet another Test has passed and he is still behind Lara, as the World's Leading Scorer. Since that 153 against the Australians at Adelaide oval, Sachin has scored just 170 runs in the last 10 innings.Iam hoping he is going to knock of the deficit at Mohali with the minimum of fuss. When was the last time Dhoni made a significant contribution to the team with batting.? I'm afraid time has come for the darling of Corporate world, Dhoni to make serious contributions on the field. The manner in which he got out (rather gifted) to Miachel Clarke was nothing but atrocious.

While chasing the Victory target set of 299, set up by Ponting, VVS Laxman and Sachin batted out the crucial middle overs and ensured the team to Safety. Later rain gods were kind enough to see them through. Brett Lee bowled well and he needs one more wicket to go past Craig Mcdermott's tally of 291 test wickets. I was impressed with the way Cameroon White bowled. He was accurate and landed the ball pretty much on target. I just wonder why Ponting under bowled Watson and why Katich was not called at all.

Though Zaheer took the MOM award, he certainly had a tough competitor in the form of Asad Rauf, who had a shocker in the match. If Indians were hell bent on removing Bucknor because of poor umpiring, I just don’t understand why they were so silent this time around. Is this because the match ended in a draw?

Australia is hoping that Hayden and Clarke, who scored 30 runs between them, will come good in Mohali. With Stuart Clark suffering from the elbow injury, Australia will be forced to play a rookie paceman in the form of Siddle or Bollinger. I will definitely play a third seamer in the form of Munaf Patel in place of Kumble, who, to me doesn't look match fit.

I just hope, we will have an absorbing test match coming up in Mohali.

Singh Slap Sree

2008-06-15T01:14:00.000-07:00

So…If you plan to send your kid for Cricket Coaching Camp this Summer, Think Again. You may have to purchase additional equipments besides the normal Cricketing Gear. Yes, Cricket will never ever be the same again. Once a Gentleman's game and now it is no longer the game between the willow and the leather.

Never in my recent memory has the noble game felt so dirty. Harbhajan Singh's Slap on Sreesanth in the ongoing IPL, was a serious offence and the step taken by board to ban him for 11 matches is nothing but a Joke. The Punjab Offspinner, in my view is the most undisciplined Cricketer ever to have graced the field. Ideally he should have been banned for life. This is a serious crime. Slapping a fellow player deserve much more than 11 match ban.

I don't think Opinions about him is heavily polarised: Ask any opposition Captain, they will agree that, Bajji represents a disruptive element who has done more harm than good to the team. Having said that, Sreesanth is no saint either. From the evidence of what I have seen,the temperamental kerala speedster needs to be given strict sentence if another incident occurs in the near future.

One thing is for Sure. The embarrassment suffered by Harbhajan(And to lesser extent BCCI) was acute, and his reputation has been damaged, possibly beyond repair. Had a foreign player been involved in the same incident, it would have been far worse? Thank God, Otherwise Anil Kumble would have hung his head in Shame, for he once complained that Cricket was never played in the "Spirit of the Game".

Adieu Stephen Flemming

2008-03-11T08:52:00.000-07:00

Bye Pollock

2008-02-04T08:32:00.000-08:00

Shaun Pollock, added to the legacy of his father Peter Pollock, an exceptional fast bowler, and uncle Graeme, among the greatest left-handers the game has seen, departed from Cricket in a blaze of glory in front of his home crowd in Durban.

His statistics are phenomenal: Having made his test debut vs England at 1995, he played 108 Tests and scored nearly 4000 runs and took 421 wickets at an healthy average of 23. He played just over 300 ODI's and took nearly 400 wickets.They stack well against the great all-rounders who preceded him in Ian Botham, Kapil Dev and Imran Khan. Shaun Pollock, extraordinarily consistent, the possessor of a perfect bowling action and a character that has never failed because of high personal standards and discipline helped SA to white wash Windies in his Farewell ODI Series and took the Man of the Series award. Pollock's pace slowed perhaps due to his workload with South Africa and Warwickshire, but his effectiveness remained intact.

He started his career as a tear-away fast bowler and formed a destructive pace combination with his best mate Allan 'White Lightening" Donald. He was pretty much the clone of Glenn Mcgrath. His economy rate of 3.69 is just brilliant. Pollock's toughest assignment was perhaps his captaincy which was given to him after the Match Fixing Saga in 2000 when Cronje was banned. He led the team remarkably and played the game with great dignity. One of Pollock's career highlights was winning the gold medal against Australia in the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur. Pollock never had a great WC career. In 1999,though he claimed 5 wickets in the Semifinal Vs Australia, it was not enough for SA to march towards the final as his illustrious bowling partner ran himself out in that Epic Semifinal.

At the World Cup four years later, when captaining the South African team at home,South Africa was favourite to win the title but failed to qualify for the super six stage following a disastrous misreading of the Duckworth/Lewis rule by Pollock which cost the game Vs SriLanka.

Thanks Shaun for your memories.

Aus Vs Ind , Adelaide

2008-01-30T08:29:00.000-08:00

Indians failed to repeat the heroics of Adelaide 2003, while Australia were not able to reproduce the believe-it-or-not victory over England last season, as the fourth and final test match ended in a draw. Though, Australia won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-1 they were not able to give Adam Gilchrist a farewell winning gift as Shewag played a classy innings to secure a draw. Although Kumble and Co were not able to square the series they have exposed the fears of life after Warne slash Mcgrath for Ponting and Co.

Anil Kumble won the vital toss and opted to bat first. India took the gamble of playing 5 specialist bowlers. Rahul Dravid,VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly were not able to produce master pieces in their last test match on the Australian Soil. But Sachin Overcompensated that with a classy century and he now has scored tons in all Major venues in Australia except Gabba. Those who did not see Don Bradman can boast they saw Tendulkar. Believe me, it's a very proud boast. The last appearance of one of the game's greatest players at one of its most revered cathedrals turned out to be very Very Special, as the Mumbai Maestro scored his 39th Test Century just like West Indies' Brian Lara signed off in Australia with scintillating 226 in 2005. Tail wagged and India posted a huge 500+ total.

Australia's bowling is the main concern and some new names need to be looked at, particularly after the Indian batsmen have exposed this weakness in recent series. With an attack heavily reliant on Lee. Ponting's team will suffer more painful blows and find victories harder to attain. The bowling was substandard, catching woeful, ground fielding sloppy and the captaincy lacked any meaningful leadership. This is very unlike Australia. Catching has been a problem for Aussies this series and it has become bad to worse in this final test as they have dropped 8 catches.Gilchrist's drop of VVS Laxman convinced him it was time to retire. If Australia continue to drop chances regularly then the loss of Warne and McGrath will be more harshly felt.

The Australian batsmen, again led by powerhouse opener and Run Machine, Matthew Hayden ensured they bat out long periods to overhaul India's mammoth score. Hayden's century was his third this series after tons in Melbourne and Sydney, but he missed the third Test in Perth because of hamstring soreness and not surprisingly the Aussies have lost. With scores of 124 and 123 in the Boxing day and New Year Tests, he scored his 30th Ton at Adelaide Oval in only his 94th test match. Before this innings, Ponting looked like a sailor marooned at sea while facing Harbhajan. This time around, Punter was determined to turn things around as he scored his 34th century and has now scored centuries Vs India at Adelaide on three successive occasions (1999,2003 and now 2008). Miachel Clarke scored a fluent century and Aussies took a slender lead over India.

I feel sorry for Kumble, as RP Singh was ruled out because of side strain and he didn't take the field on the last 3 days. Still, on a pitch which was assisting the spinners, Iam perplexed why Harbajan was not able to make any inroads into the aussie batting lineup. Bajji's performance with the ball has been abysmal to say the least. He never looked like taking a wicket. Infact Shewag was more effective on this pitch when compared with Turbonator. Seamers did a good job on this track.

India batted well on the last day to secure a draw. Though Aussie bowlers put the brakes on India by taking wickets on regular intervals, Shewag played a mature match saving innings though he survived a large dose of fortune. To me, Dhoni is much hyped cricketer and he is not good at test level. He scored 140 runs in 8 innings. Selectors has to be ruthless while making changes and I was surprised Dinesh Karthick was not picked. This gives an indication that Indian team is full of over paid prima donnas.

Now that Gilchrist has joined Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer on the sidelines, teams from around the world will approach a series with Australia in a much more positive fashion. Australia's influence on world cricket is unlikely to be further enhanced !! I just sense how England will feel at the moment. We definitely have a game on our hands in 2009 Ashes.

MOS: Brett Lee MOM: SR Tendulkar

Bye Gilly

2008-01-28T08:28:00.000-08:00

There have been great batsmen, and great wicketkeepers, but few have coalesced the two skills together quite like Adam Gilchrist. "He is a once-in-a-generation talent," Steve Waugh once said of Adam Gilchrist. Indeed he was !! After 96 consecutive test matches, nearly 300 ODI matches, 32 International centuries, Adam Gilchrist, the world record holder for the most dismissals by a wicketkeeper in both tests and one-day internationals bids adieu to Cricket.

Gilchrist is quite simply the most exciting batsman in world cricket. His arrival at the crease creates a sense of anticipation no other player can match in the modern era. I doubt if his record number of sixes in Test matches will ever be overtaken; his other Australian records, the fastest century and fastest double-century, will likewise take some beating. So will his Test-match run rate of 82 per 100 balls. He is, without doubt, the greatest wicketkeeper-batsman in the history of the game. He averaged 48 in Test Cricket. His strike-rate in one-day internationals is 96 runs per 100 balls

The man who revolutionized the role of Number 7 in test cricket, has been the ultimate luxury item for the last 9 years for Australia. Australia now, is facing a long-term operation where it will effectively miss two players: a wicketkeeper and a batsman. Throughout his career Australia has been playing with 12 men. His statistics bear testimony to his incredible talent both as a wicketkeeper and a batsman but it was the manner, rather than the cold numbers, of his performances that was most significant.

Some of my favourite Gilly Innings

Vs India in India 2004 Test Series.

During Ricky Ponting's absence, Gilchrist captained with energy, batted with customary flair and he went an extra yard to be an ambassador as well as a leader. Steve Waugh's "Final Frontier" was atlast conquered by Australia who broke its 32-year Indian hoodoo,under Gilchrist as they beat India 2-1 in a four test series.

Vs Srilanka in Srilanka 2004

At Kandy, Australia were routed for 100 odd in the first innings. They were 100 runs behind when Australia started their second innings. Gilchrist surprisingly walked in at No#3 when Ponting was injured, scored a chanceless 144 against the likes of Murali and Vaas. He shared a marvelous partnership with his Western Australian mate Martyn, as Australia thrashed Srilanka in their own backyard.

Vs Pakistan in Hobart 1999

Pakistan had Australia on the mat when the hosts were reeling at 130 odd for 5 and still 230 runs to win the match. Having started with 81 off 88 balls in his first, he scored 149 not out to secure a very unlikely fourth-innings victory against a dumbfounded Pakistan in Hobart in Just his second Test.

Vs India in Mumbai 2001

Australia were 90 odd for 5. Enter Australia's "one-man strike weapon" Adam Gilchrist. In his first test innings in Indian Soil, he turned the match with the bat in the blink of an eye as he counter attacked the Indian Spinners with the Company of Matthew Hayden as Australia annihilated India. This was the 16th successive test victory for Australia under Steve Waugh. He decimated Indian bowlers and he was as brutal as his style would allow him to. It wasn't just a flat deck and a reluctant attack, it was a batsman who wore the cloak of majesty.

Vs Proteas, Johannesburg 2002

Adam Gilchrist thrashed the South Africa's strong attack to all places in the Bull Ring, as he smashed the then fastest double century. It was brutal hitting. He sent the ball into improbable distances. His astonishing shot-making skills was very much visible in this innings. This was Gilly at his very best. He produced numerous meaty blows thereby forcing weary fieldsmen to clatter over concrete to fetch the bruised leather at the Wanderers

Vs Srilanka, 2007 WC Final at Barbados.

Gilchrist's ability to assess the length of the ball in an instant, plenty of power, and a wide range of strokes off both feet were all evident in his final innings of the WC as he scored a sublime 149 in the final at the Kensington Oval. Bigger the stage better the performance for Gilchrist. Having notched up half centuries in his earlier WC finals in 1999 and 2003, Gilchrist treated the crowd to a brilliant display of Scintillating Power Hitting. It was a wonderful exhibition of fearless, brave and brutal hitting of the most destructive order, and to do that at the Kensington Oval on a final morning, against an attack comprising of the unique Muralidharan, fire and brimstone Malinga and the cunning art of Vaas, has to be saluted from every conceivable sense. In short, Adam Gilchrist single handedly pulverized Srilanka and helped Australia to win the World Cup for the third consecutive time.

Astonishingly, Adam Gilchrist lost only 11 of the 96 Test matches he played - consecutively - since his debut in 1999-2000. Five of those defeats came against India, and four at England's hands. The other two were to South Africa, at Durban in 2001-02, and in the famous match in Antigua in May 2003, when West Indies chased a world-record 418 to win. Gilchrist's influence on the game has gone well beyond statistics, both in terms of the dignity with which he has played the game and his respect for the traditions and the spirit of cricket. The guidelines set by Gilchrist are unachievable.

The departures of Damien Martyn, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Justin Langer and now Gilchrist over the past two summers signals a remarkable changing of the guard in the Australian team. More importantly, with Gilchrist's departure, Australia will be treated like mortals instead of being feared as all-conquering superheroes.

Thanks Gilly for your memories. Gilchrist, a man worthy of being every Australian's hero..

What have you decided, Mr.Andrew?

2008-01-25T01:12:00.000-08:00

There’s no doubt Adam Gilchrist has brought more to the game than any other wicketkeeper the game has ever seen. Gilchrist is a true Legend. But his performance, both behind and infront of the stumps, since the Ashes 2005 has been poor. But Gilchrist, in a side so recently shorn of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Damien Martyn and Justin Langer, is surely worth more to the Test XI than runs and catches alone. Iam certain Cricket Australia CEO, James Sutherland is pretty much aware of that !!

I understand, his experience is invaluable considering he is the second most capped player next to Ricky Ponting in the current set-up. But with his batting on the slide, and his keeping has been nothing short of abysmal, time has indeed come for the selectors to make a call. I can vividly remember at least 3 absolute sitters he has put down this series and a few other half chances that have gone begging. The Aussies ability over the years to turn those half chances into wickets has been one of the reasons for their success. Aussies strength has indeed become a tactical weakness in the ongoing home series Vs India.

Gilchrist is definitely in the twilight of his careers. He has been a wonderful ambassador for Australian Cricket and hasn't missed a test since his debut vs Pakistan at the Gabba in 1999. At 37 and with the packed Australian Cricket Schedule coming up, perhaps the selectors should look beyond Gilchrist for the next month tri-series.
Apart from Brad Haddin, the wicket-keepers from the other states like Manou, Hartley and Paine are waiting in the wings. Who knows, the time has come for another hard hitting West Australian Wicket Keeper / Batsman to pull on the baggy green - Luke Ronchi .

I just hope it doesn’t get to the situation of Border, Boon, Healy and the Waughs where they were more or less forced to call it quits when they didn’t believe their time was up. Surely more respect should be afforded to a man who has provided so much entertainment over the years, not just to Australian crowds, but to crowds all over the world.
I would not be surprised if the career of one of our all time greats may have to be ended by another ruthless decision by the selectors.

I sincerely hope, Gilchrist goes out on his own terms before he was tapped on the shoulders by the Chariman of Selectors, Andrew Hilditch !!

Aus Vs India , Perth

2008-01-21T05:33:00.000-08:00

In 2006 at this very venue Perth, Ponting and Co regained the Ashes. In 2007, Vs India, Australia have lost their first test match in 874 days. The record-equaling 16 Test winning streak is finally over. As they say Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties. Indeed it Was !!

Congrats to Kumble & Co for this splendid victory. This is Australia's first loss at home Since the Adelaide 2003. They have won 22 of the 23 matches(One draw again came at Perth Vs SA in 2005, when Jacques Rudolph batted through out the day) they have played against England, the West Indies, South Africa (twice), Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India and something called the ICC World XI, since the once unthinkable occurred in Trent bridge 2005.

India won the toss and batted. It was a good move. Australia went without a specialist spinner for the first time since Shane Warne was dropped 16 years ago. As they say, You don't realize the worth of a spinner until you don't have one. Ponting didn't read the conditions well, which he later confessed. Lee and Johnson were bowling at Wrong ends to start with. Though they manage to get two wickets early, they were not able to make further inroads as Dravid and Sachin steadied the ship. Dravid, relished the privilege of batting at three and played with the greatest aplomb. He played the most dignified and resolute innings until an ugly swipe which cost his hundred. Sachin, on the other hand composed a neat half-century.The Aussie bowling attack did look a bit lost for answers.Australia certainly missed the controlling and calming effect of McGrath. India manage to score 330 rather they were allowed to. Aussies fielding were embarrassingly butter-fingered.

When Australia batted, they were undone by smart swing bowling by Indian bowlers in the hot, humid, energy sapping conditions. Aussie batting fell like nine pins and were left 120 runs behind. Congrats to Anil Kumble,One of the finest cricketers to represent India, a player for whom the adjective 'great' is permissible, on his 600th Wicket.

In the hindsight, it might look Aussies erred by playing Tait, who is playing his first test match in nearly 2 years. Considering the history of WACA, Four Seamers were pretty much on cards in the post-Warne era. . In the second Innings, Ponting was almost on the Verge of Missing the Adelaide test because of ban, when the Aussies were eight over's short. Four Semers didn't help to improve the over rate either. It was a crucial phase of the game when Laxman and Dhoni were setting the target. Ponting had no other go than to call his Part Time Spinners of Symonds and Clarke. This is where the contest changed shades. Laxman and Dhoni played out 17 odd over's with little discomfort and seized the initiative back from Australia. Aussies pace bowling cupboard suddenly bears a distinctly threadbare look. Johnson was not impressive and Tait bowled just 21 over's in the entire test match. Clark and Lee took the bowling honors.

VVS Laxman played a mature,defiant and telling innings in his country's hour of need. Laxman seems to save his best performances for Australia scored a priceless 79 in the second dig. Once Laxman helped India's lead to 413, I felt Ponting & Co, were destined to remain forever level With 16 wins which was achieved under Steve Waugh's side 7 years ago.

Hayden was badly missed by the Aussies as he has always been the torch bearer when it comes to chasing the fourth innings total. Ponting and Hussey started off the day well, but the Indians outsmarted the hosts with splendid exhibition of swing bowling from Sharma,Pathan and RP. Sharma was extremely impressive and he deserved the wicket of the Ausssie Captain, whom he dismissed in both the innings. Hussey and Symonds were followed soon after. Indians were back on top !! Billy Bowden the gentleman replaced Steve Bucknor, perhaps showed the Aussies that Cricket is a great leveler :-) Just when things seemed sealed, there were some late flourish from Clark and Johnson. One has to praise them for their brave fight back with the bat, during the run chase, though the writing was always on the proverbial wall.

When RP Singh rattled Tait's stumps, it was India's first win at the WACA Ground and just their fifth ever on Australian soil in 60 years!! While it was the batting that stopped the earlier Aussie juggernaut of 16 wins in Kolkatta 2001, it was the bowlers who did the trick this time around.

Finally, India got its combinations right!! Shewag and Pathan,the comeback boys played crucial roles and helped India to take control at the start of the innings with both bat and ball. I still believe they should have played Karthik in place of out-of-form Jaffer. They most likely will play Harbajan in the next test at Adelaide Over at the expense of Jaffer. In this case Dravid will Open.

So, How good is India? Well, greatness should be judged over a 10-year-period, not by one or two wins here and there. They are a good team and really have to work hard if they want to become great, otherwise they will settle for Silver all the time. Now the series is well and truly alive. Can India square the series in Adelaide?

One thing is for sure. India's success gives England hope for Ashes 2009. Well Done India !!

Sydney Test Fiasco : Umpiring Standards

2008-01-08T08:23:00.000-08:00

Hi BCCI,

Whilst I admit the standard of umpiring was poor, it seems some players and officials have conveniently overlooked the poor decisions which have gone India's way. For example, Michael Clarke had Tendulkar PLUMB LBW in the 1st innings when he was 30, and the little master went on to score his 3rd century at SCG and his 79th International Century Overall. I haven't heard that mentioned when people have complained about the apparent bias towards Australia. Dont you think, This represents poor journalism on the part of the media and selective memories on the part of the complaining Indian players and officials. You take the good with the bad and nobody likes a whinging loser.

Iam certain you will understand, Umpires have got a pretty tough job, some of the 50/50 decisions did go Australia's way. But to say that it cost India the game is a cop out. They lost the game due to not being as good as their opposition. Their fielding(courtsey Yuvraj), their running between wickets(Courtsey Fab 4), and their negative bowling(Bajji) was not as good as Australia. Both teams got rough decisions over the whole match. To simply point at a few decisions and say they decided the match is both naive and pointless. When you appeal for a wicket it is because you think it is out, not because you know it is. If the umpire believes the batsman is out, then he gives him out, based on the evidence HE has before HIM, not all this other crap the “expert” commentators prattle on with. Anil Kumble himself, has over 150 dismissals with bat-pad catches etc, and he will be the first one to put his hand up and admit he got some lucky ones as well. !!

On the umpiring - I’ve heard(have been hearing) lots of people saying “we need to improve the standard”, but not one suggested including you,BCCI, on how to actually go about it. Do we get rid of the older ones? Do we get more stringent umpire coaching in place? Do we search the junior ranks for likely candidates? I do think there’s been a decline in the standard, but don't you think it’s been exaggerated by the intense television scrutiny. When I last checked the list of elite umpiring list, I found ONLY two umpires were from Sub Continent and both are from Pakistan :-)

How quickly the team, have forgotten all the terrible decisions Australia recieved in their last couple of test match series in India !! Perhaps cast your minds back to the Eden Garder Test in 2001. Australia would not have lost, had the umpiring decisions not went in favour of India in the second innings. The irony is , Aussies lost when then need to bat out around 70 odd overs which is similar to the one which the Indians failed to do at SCG. Australia never publicly went whinging about the umpiring and always getting on with the task at hand. Australia never complained when Michael Kasprowicz 'gloving' it to Geraint Jones of the bowling of Harmison in Ashes O5 - effectively losing Aus that match and eventually the Ashes, when replays clearly showed otherwise. !!! They took that on the chin and responded with a 5-Nil White wash when England toured downunder!!

It would be worthwhile to refresh some of the recent past memories !!As for Bucknor, it is easy to forget just how silent the Indian Cricketers were last year when the same umpire did not give Sreesanth out in the fading minutes of the first Test against England. Most commentators believed the bowler was LBW, and had he been given out, the English would have won the Test and the series would have finished one-all. Indians finally were saved by Rain Gods !! They can't save you everytime right !!!
You remains silent about that.

Steve Bucknor got the Rahul Dravid decision horribly wrong, when the bat and ball were definitely in different postal districts. He had a shocker in the match,he certainly looked like a man in need of a long holiday. Agreed !! Don't you honestly feel, cricket faces dark days if one individual,is bullied out by player power. However poor the umpiring may be, However formidable the opposition can be, I still believe no way in the world, you would have allowed the opposition to score 450+ when they had backs to the wall at 130/6. If that is poor, the worse is yet to follow. If your king,queen and jack can't play out the last 12 balls to secure a draw, you have lot of tinkering to do off the field than pointing fingers at the Umpires !! The saving grace was the fact Bucknor is Jamaican, Benson is English and the match referee, Mike Procter, South African. As poorly as they umpired, Thanks Heavens, at least their neutrality could be celebrated by the Team India !!

How come at first place you have decided to accept Bucknor's appointment for the Test Series, which I presume you would have known atleast a month back. If you are hell bent on Bucknor's grudge Vs the Indians, why you didn't oppose then and Iam certain you know that umpires are appointed from Dubai and not from Melbourne. Whilst I admit, there were decisions went against you, Don't you think, you have set a bad-precedence of changing the umpire mid-way? If this conduct is acceptable then we could have, say, the US threaten to withdraw from the China Olympics unless drug charges were withdrawn against a particular athlete. It would really be comical, if you say the axe that swung on Bucknor's head doesn't bear the BCCI's finger print !! It was Mike-Denness before then Clive lloyd and Now Steve Bucknor(and to lesser extent Mike Procter). Iam pretty certain you will back your own mate Javagal Srinath, when any of the opposition team brings the game to dispute by pointing finger on Srinath !!

Can you ask some of the NZ cricketers how they feel about YOU, when you removed them from the Bollywood cricket film, simply because they had signed up to play for their rivals. What are you going to do on the fellow New-Zealander, Billy Bowden !!! What Next? Have you prepared the draft version of your letter asking Billy Bowden to be removed, just in case he perform miserably at Perth. Henceforth, you have lot of tasks to do. Guess you not only have to select the team, but you also have to select the Umpires as well. !!

A glimpse of the future. We can have teams of umpires turn up at each ground. Everytime they make a dud decision then bam - they're out. A Captain of one side can put their finger up and eliminate them. We can 'rankd' the umpires acording to how useful they are for results wanted by the bookmaking fraternity. Are you going to organize a sort of reality TV game where viewers can get in on the umpire axeing as well - if enough viewers want to execute an umpire than whack - he's gone. They can dial in or SMS! Have you thought about this in the upcoming Ranji Season ?

For heaven sake, can you take a lead and do something for the improvement of Umpiring Standards, by devoting time,money and energy instead of over ruling the decisions made from Dubai.

My two Cents:- Wouldn't it be much easier for umpires to not have to rule on no-balls? The technology used for tennis Grand Slams could surely be modified for cricket. Therefore the umpire could focus solely on watching the batsman as the bowler delivers, instead of looking down then up. The technology would beep if there was a no-ball. I guess one problem is this technology would have to be installed on all major cricket grounds, but with all that money coming in to the ICC from media empires surely it could be afforded

Sydney Test Fiasco : Spirit of the Game

2008-01-07T08:19:00.000-08:00

Hi BCCI,

Anil Kumble accusing Australia of not playing in the "spirit of the game", revived memories of Bill Woodfull's infamous Bodyline statement 75 years ago, after Ricky Ponting's side pulled off the incredible 16th Consectutive win at SCG with only seven balls to spare, does it not look ridiculous?. What is harder to fathom is , it came from the person who himself breached the Spirit of the Game,by using deliberate time wasting tactics in the field on the last day, and then the No 11 batsmen came out with two right handed gloves in a bid to waste further time, players taking 5 minutes to get to the crease(He should have been given Timed Out. Is itn't?) None was as ridiculous as the same Indian Captain, who appealed for one of Hussey's cover drive earlier in the day!!! Does all these things come under "Spirit of the Game" , BCCI?
You remains silent about that.

If the ace leg spinner is hell bent on the Aussies not playing the game in the "Spirit of the Game", then don't we need to look no further than our own history which suggested, 1) None of their players bribed the coach/selector to get into the team 2) None of their captains was involved in doctoring of the pitches 3) None of their players faked the injury and played the test match, when they were clearly unfit, 4) None of their opening batsman came out of the tour mid-way, when they had differences with the board, 5) None of their captains pulled out of the test match in the last minute just because the curator never prepared the pitch of his liking 6) None of their captains came late for the toss 7) None of their players were banned for excessive appealing. Don't you think, the aforementioned facts clearly depicts, our cricketers themselves can never ever be called the "Holy-Cows" ?
You remains silent about that.

When you know you are out and you don't walk, it is cheating. Call it anything else is pure hogwash; If that is the case, Anil could well have a look at the Last ODI in Mumbai last month as well as the 1983 WC Vs England, to name a few. Sunil Gavaskar admitted that he nicked the ball in 1983 WC Vs England and he never walked. He scored a "breezy" 36 Not out of Just 60 Overs !!! And Murali Karthik who confessed at the end of the match he nicked it, helped India to win the match. !!! Indians are no walkers themselves !! It didnt matter to the Indian Cricketers if Murali Karthik walked or not during the 7th ODI in the recent ODI series between India and Australia. We didn't portray Murali Karthik as a cheater but as an Indian Hero. Then why does it matter if Symonds walked or not?
You remains silent about that.

The Indians complain about two catches claimed by Australians in the match, but remain mute about a catch that captain-in-waiting Mahendra Singh Dhoni claimed in the Test against England. The umpire gave batsman Kevin Pietersen out when Dhoni appealed, but the decision had to be changed when replays showed the ball clearly bounced first.
You remains silent about that.

One of the most famous was Harbhajin's Singh's action to defy an umpire and swear after he was clean-bowled by Kevin Pietersen. With the keeper standing up to the stumps, it is arguable that Singh could claim the keeper's gloves had lightly grazed the stumps, but the umpire had clearly indicated Singh was out and it is one of very few crickets incidents where a clean-bowled decision had been referred to a third umpire.Singh can also be heard uttering the explitive "word" during the proceedings.
You remains silent about that.

Does this not "Double-Standards" ? There was another incident when Gavaskar threatened to take his team out off the field, just because he was given an incorrect decison. Indian Cricketers are by no means "the saints" by any stretch of the imagination !! When I last checked, Gavaskar,Karthik,Dhoni,Harbajan never played a cricket match with the Baggy Green Cap !! Iam sure you will also comprehend this fact !!

If Kumble and Co, feel they have been let down by Australia in the "Spirit of Game", don't you think, they should probably book the flight and proceed to Bermuda, the ONLY team, which they managed to beat in the WC 2007. Iam pretty certain, he won't complain there. Don't you think, BCCI should make an honest attempt to clean up its back yard first before make sour grape claims that others are cheats and liars.

Aus Vs India, SCG

2008-01-06T08:14:00.000-08:00

Australia retained the Border Gavaskar Trophy at Sydney, just minutes before the close of play at Sydney Cricket Ground. It was an extraordinary match and surprisingly it was Miachel Clarke who took the final three wickets in the space of 5 balls to register Australia's 16th consecutive victory. A Phenomenal Record indeed !!

There were five centuries scored and quite remarkably, century on each of the five days !! And each of those centuries were unique in every sense.

India had Australia on toast in the opening two sessions of the Test, when they took six quick wickets. Andrew Symomds and Brad Hogg played a counter attacking innings and took the Aussies to safety. Symonds were given let-offs by umpire Bucknor, who looked like a man in need of a long holiday. Symonds made full use of the luck and scored a scorching 150* runs with great support initially from Hogg and later from Lee and Johnson. The words that came to mind watching Symonds were aerial bombardment. Pickups and pulls and slaps and sweeps were all evident from this big Queenslander !!

Reprising his role as Australia's nemesis, VVS Laxman resumed his love affair with Sydney to score 109 - his third hundred in as many Tests. He looked in sublime touch and had a special liking on Mitchell Johnson, whom he dispatched to the Cover Boundary at will !! He showed why he was virtually impossible to contain when in form as he manipulated the ball into gaps on either side of the wicket with wrists that rotate either way to a greater degree than others can really dream of. In his two Boxing Day Test innings at the MCG, Dravid plodded his way to 21 runs off a staggering 180 deliveries. Here he showed great determination and put together a nice little partnership with VVS Laxman. Sourav Ganguly Scored his glimpses of batting talent before he played a loose shot to Brad Hogg

When Sachin Tendulkar entered SCG, the crowd gave a rousing reception !! There was a banner which read "Commit all your crimes when Sachin is batting. They will go unnoticed because even the Lord is watching" !! The little master didn't disappoint the fans as he scored his 38th Test Century. He played with his traditional high elbow, a still head, a golfer's deft touch, and in short gave a batting exhibition to the cricket loving SCG Crowd. Not many batsmen have this complete package. For spectators, he is worth the admission price alone. Sachin showed why he is still the brightest star in the Indian batting constellation !! No wonder, Indian people go mad for this man !!!

Besides The Fab-4, Indian tail has finally wagged and helped India to score 500+ as Aussies conceded the lead for the first time since the Adelaide Test Vs England in Ashes 2006. Of course, Australia had an off-day at Sydney. Adam Gilchrist is unlikely to drop dollies-after-dollies in a match for many moons to come. The Western Australian Glove men had a shocker test match behind the stumps !! Except Brett Lee who picked up five wickets, others were not hostile and penetrative.Mitchell Johnson was not impressive as he bowled too wide and repeatedly he was driven through Cover by the batsman. He was backed by Ponting though as he bowled the bulk of the overs. This match was not the one to remember for this Queensland left-armer!!

Matthew Hayden's love affair with the Indians continues as he notched his 5th Century Vs the visitors, and his second in successive Test Matches. It was the range of strokes he played against India's guileful spinners on a wearing SCG Pitch on 4th day, that stood apart. The shots were flicks through mid-wicket, adventures down the pitch, pulls executed without inhibition, cracks through cover, none of them restrained by doubt.

A steady, if stodgy, Mike Hussey might soon earn the sobriquet of the wall of Australia if he maintains his high standards. He scored his 8th Century in his 20th test and now has scored centuries at all the major cricket grounds in Australia !! The century(145*) he scored on the last day was just a treat to watch. This is easily the best innings he has played in his short career, considering he scored his runs Vs the two quality spinners on Day-5 of the wearing SCG pitch !

Ponting delayed the declaration for a while and when the declaration finally came, India needed to bat 72 Over's !! Jaffer, Laxman and Sachin got out early. Dravid and Ganguly tried to glue the scattered pieces before luck struck Aussie way, when both were given out to dubious decisions. Kumble played a gutsy effort but his king,queen,jack failed to play out the last 12 balls that was required to draw the match. Miachel Clarke scored a single in his combined two innings, removed the Indian tail in the space of 5 balls and became an unlikely hero !!

Ponting & Co certainly cannot be blamed for the failings of other international sides; Unfortunately for the Australian team, being the best also makes them responsible. It is not enough to win games. They need to try winning them with grace, try winning them with style, walk if they have to. Maybe even lose a game now and then !!After all, viewers need a bit of a contest !! Its touch disappointing that Australia's come from behind victory were not given due credit because of this and this.

I feel Perth will suit India, if they get the Team Composition right !! There will be swing if the bowlers choose the right ends and India have two good left arm swing bowlers. I will play Pathan inplace of Bajji. Will drop Jaffer and Yuvraj and play Karthik and Shewag. Aussies will certainly play Tait but Iam not sure how effective Tait will be since he hasn't played Test Cricket since 2005. There are speculations that Hayden might sit out as well.

For Kumble & co, Let's stop worrying about the Sydney Test and play hard on the field, irrespective of the Number of Umpiring Decisions go against you. I still feel, India is a formidable opponent and are capable of leveling the series by winning the last two matches, provided they get their minds right, since Cricket is more often than not played between ears. !!!

Aus Vs India MCG

2007-12-30T07:50:00.000-08:00

Australia have one hand on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Unless the Indians raise their game in the next fortnight, Ricky Ponting and his men will win the series before the teams reach Adelaide. Indians were literally mauled at the MCG as they failed to reach 200 runs in the two innings. It is the fickleness of cricket that makes a man appear impregnable one day and vulnerable the next. None of the heroes of three years ago has been batting fluently. The so called Fab-Four who have collectively scored 30,000 Test Runs and has experiences of over 450 test matches, put a shoddy performance against the bowling attack which has the combined experience of tick under 100 test matches.

Indian batting woes were initiated by the team management's decision to put the best batsman in the team at the top of the order - against his wishes - to accommodate one hit-or-miss player like Yuvraj. Rahul Dravid's record is among the most glittering in the history of the game at One Drop, there are twenty thousand international runs adorning him but the single eluded him for forty balls and thereafter, he only scratched out a total of five. In the second dig, he batted for two hours and managed only 16. This is very unlike Dravid. Sachin played beautifully in the first innings. He tried to glue back the scattered pieces with Sourav before he chopped on to Stuart Clarke's delivery. The left-hander in his 100th Test match, seemed in great touch, timing the ball superbly, to conjure a couple of pretty cover drives, until he missed Hogg's Flipper. VVS and Sourav managed a decent partnership in the second innings before Clarke removed VVS Laxman. Yuvraj fresh from 160 odd Vs Pakistan couple of weeks back against the dibbly-dobbly Pakistan Seamers on a life-less pitch, scored Nought and Five Vs the Aussies Pace Band of Clarke/Johnson and Lee.

Ponting's captaincy has certainly come of age ever since he lost the Ashes 2005. He set smart field placements and never over attacked. Steve Waugh Over attacked last time around and there were lot many boundaries, which eased the pressure on the batsman. Here Ponting literally Suffocated the batsman with brilliant, innovative placements and bowlers complemented the field settings. It was a clinical dissection of an excellent World batting line-up . On paper, it looked unstoppable, capable of quick and heavy scoring. On MCG,though, it looked all at sea.

Hayden's love affair at the MCG continues as he scored his 6th century in seven innings at this very ground. It was a magnificent innings by the Queensland opener, as Zaheer and RP Singh were very hostile early on. Indians did a great job in the field but failed to back it up with the batting.Kumble was brilliant on day 1. He took 5 wickets and was nicely supported by the two left arm quickies. Though Harbajan took three wickets in the second innings during the run of play, he never looked threatening.

In two weeks we play a Test match in Perth on what is bound to be a fresh, bouncy pitch. India will need three seamers in the playing eleven. Today, we cannot find two to pick in the first fifteen. Red-faced officials will still be scurrying around for excuses and explanations, but harsh as it may sound, the simple truth is that the Board of Control for Cricket in India got what it deserved. The team hit a nadir in the MCG and perhaps more to follow.

It might not be easy for Rahul Dravid to recapture the skill and stoicism seen on his last visit, or Tendulkar his majesty, or Sourav Ganguly his measured classicism or VVS Laxman his virtuoso demolitions. None has had much time to adjust to Australian conditions. Still, Dravid might build a partnership with Sachin, or Sourav or with Laxman, a prospect to delight any follower of the game.

Unless Indians regroup, Stuart Clark's prediction will come true !!

Congrats Muralitharan

2007-12-21T05:36:00.000-08:00

And Finally, Shane Warne’s Test wicket record has fallen to Muttiah Muralitharan, who passed 708 victims against England in his hometown of Kandy. The man with the mischievous smile has claimed his scalps at a quicker rate than Warne; One could perhaps argue about his strike rate because of his bloated record against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, but he can only dismiss who is before him.

Congrats Murali. He could well end up with One Thousand Wickets and this record as Warne pointed out, will never ever be broken Yet, Shane Warne remains the greatest bowler the world has seen - and probably ever will. To me, Mutiah Muralidaran’s world-record cracker that knocked over Paul Collingwood’s off-stump in Kandy doesn’t change that since Iam one of those who argues that Murali never bowls a legitimate ball. Period !!

Eden Test 2007 - Ind Vs Pak

2007-12-20T07:33:00.000-08:00

Younis Khan played a chanceless knock along with Mohd Yousuf and ensured the test series is alive. Pakistan at one stage were reeeling with 4 wickets down and still 40 odd overs remaining in the days play. But Yo-Yo stood between India and a series-clinching victory with an unbeaten century stand at the Eden Gardens. This was Younis Khan's third 4th innings century in the last 4 test matches. This is just incredible. He now averages 91 vs the arch rivals.

The Indian batting prospered, courtesy the toss. Jaffer made full use of the lack-lusture Pakistan Bowling line-up and scored a brisk double century.
Jaffer was well supported by Dravid and Tendulkar. Later, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman completed their centuries and India piled up 600+ runs.
Literally, Pakistan were never in the game for the first 2 1/2 days. At 150/5, Pakistan were standing down the barrel. Enter Kamran Akmal. The man thrives under the pressure and never afraid to play positively when his team is backs to the wall. Akmal and Misbah scored 200+ runs and ensured Indians bat again even after posting a massive total. Misbah-ul Haq has been like a colossus for them in this series, very stubborn and played the spinners beautifully. He has been a revelation for Pakistan. I just hope Pakistan wont lose precious talents like Misbah in their domestic circuit since Misbah is a very late entrant to the Pakistan line-up. He is 33 now and would have lost a good 3/4 years of international cricket experience.

Kamran Akmal is now a specialist in thwarting the Indians as he scored his 4th century vs India. He played remarkably well . Another gentleman who surprisingly contributed with the bat is Mohd Sami. He showed brave commitment vs Kumble/Harbajan and it required a part-time VVS Laxman to dismiss him. This is the area where the Indians lost the plot. If a tailender like Sami is allowed to bat for two sessions, then Kumble and Co simply don’t deserve to win. Unless there is a bowler who can clean up the tail with pace, India will continue to suffer like this as tailenders continue to make merry. Indians were in a similar position when Jason Gillespie played a similar innings in the Madras Test of 2004 along with Damien Martyn. A perennial problem that seemed to have been solved in the last few seasons continues to rear its ugly head again.

Chasing a target of 345, Pakistan saved the match on the final day by playing out 80 overs. Indians failed to deliver the knock out punch and lacked killer instinct. There is no point in blaming the pitch as life-less. It only further reinforced the fact that Indian bowlers(Read Spinners) can stamp their authority only on bad wickets. Harbajan who took 5 wickets in the first innings, bowled poorly on the final day and never looked like getting the wicket. Kumble was ineffective as well. Pakistan's game plan was pretty simple. They played Kumble on the front foot and Harbajan on the back foot. Iam not absolutely certain what Munaf patel was doing. He looked not even 50 percent fit to me. Zaheer was off-colour as well and might be carrying a niggle. The bowling were not hostile which ideally they should be, if they have to win the match. Fielding is pathetic to say the least. Indians definitely need to lift their bowling and fielding. They really have to increase the tempo while batting and especially while setting the target, which they failed to do in Kolkatta. Pakistan have to get the batting order right. Yasir Hameed could be dropped.

Dinesh Kaarthick, who played splendidly during the tour of England and SA, looked out of sorts in this series. I would like him to have a word with Sachin/Dravid and analyse his foot movements. The need of the hour is to get the technical deficiencies corrected. Rahul Dravid, a master craftsmen himself, had a session with Sunil Gavaskar before this test match and it really worked. There is no harm in learning new things. I would love to include Wasim or Waqar to share their wealth of knowledge to the young Pakistan Seamers. Sami and Tanvir definitely need some guidance the two W's.

Iam just hoping, we will have an absorbing test match at Bangalore!!

SL Tour of Australia 2007

2007-11-20T22:45:00.000-08:00

The question marks that most of the cricketing nations must have had, like how Australia would cope without Warne or McGrath, have been answered in pretty emphatic style by Ricky Ponting and his new-look side as they crushed Sri Lanka 2-0. Although Ponting could be criticized for not completing the kill of a downtrodden opponent earlier, Hobart's pressurized finish wasn't necessarily a bad thing for an attack adjusting to life without Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath. Brett Lee bowled superbly in this series and thoroughly deserved the MOM and MOS honors for his 16 Wickets in the series. On the contrary, The five frontline Sri Lankan bowlers only managed 10 wickets between them and never came close to bowling Australia out. Murali took 4 wickets in the series and conceded 400 runs. He needs 5 more wickets and now have to wait for home series against England to claim the World Record. Sri Lankan bowling basically let them down in the series and one would have hoped they should have capitalised more on the absence of Warne-Mcgrath as well. !!

To me, the Sri Lankans got it wrong from the word go in Brisbane when quite inexplicably they left tear away paceman "Slinger" Lasith Malinga out of the team. And even more shockingly Mahela inserted the opposition after won the toss at the Gabba. Dear oh Dear...Nasser Hussain did the same thing in the Ashes 2002 and never captained England after that series. It seemed the Sri Lankans were mentally defeated from the outset. Phil Jacques scored a hundred and he was joined by the two Michaels, Hussey and Clarke as the Aussies took the Sri Lankan bowlers to the cleaners.Australian domestic system is so sound that, they continue to produce high quality batsman time and again. Jacques had a great season with NSW over the years,got his runs at a good clip and he is just the perfect replacement for Justin Langer. The bench strength is just sensational and as former Aussie Captain Kim Hughes pointed out, Aussies could well have a Australia-2 team which can compete with other nations. Just imagine the prolific run scorers with the likes of Simon Katich, Brad Hodge, Marcus North, Adam Voges, Chris Rogers, Brad Haddin waiting in the wings !!!

Marvan Atapattu played beautifully in his last test series and was nicely supported by the Captain Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara.What the Lankan failed to do was taking the attack to the opposition for longer duration. There have been some delightful cameos played by three of their finest players showed some glimpses of their class but that was not enough !! Lack of Support bowlers for Murali and Poor Fielding were the major concern for the tourists. Kumar Sangakkara played one of the best innings on Australian Soil in the recent times(Perhaps after B.C Lara's 200 odd in the Adelaide Test in 2005). He was desperately unlucky not to score his double hundred when Umpire Rudi Koertzen gave a shocker.Sangakkara is perhaps "English Version of David Gower". Very Elegant. He was so pleasing to the eyes unlike the slam-bang cricketers !! Be it the cover drive or the pull, it was just sheer timing and placement. It was compelling viewing, and I must admit the world champions did not handle this counter-attack at all well when he was going great guns with Atapattu in the Second Innings of Hobart and later with Malinga.

Mike Hussey nicknamed as "Mr.Cricket" scored two hundreds in the series. So does Phil Jacques. Hussey has been a revelation for Australia and he is averaging 84 now after 18 test matches. Second only to Sir Don Bradman. I would be interested to witness his batting on subcontinental pitches when the bounce will be low. That will be a true test for this champion southpaw. Hussey has never played in a losing test match in his short career till date. Aussies have not lost a test since the Ashes 2005. Adam Gilchrist lofted Murali's last ball in the Australian Soil into the Hobart Beach and in the process became the first man to hit "centuries of sixes".Oh..What a cricketer !!

As Ponting hinted, Indians will provide a stronger contest than Sri Lanka and can the Indians live up to the expectations. It was VVS's 281 that stopped the Aussie Juggernaut of 16 consecutive Test Victories @ Kolkatta in 2001. Can he deliver it again !!! Australia has won 14 Tests in succession and is on track to break its own record of 16. :-)

Future Cup

2007-10-16T01:48:00.000-07:00

The last time India got past the hurdle of batting second and winning against Australia was way back in 1998 @ Sharjah, in a match made famous by Sachin Tendulkar's outstanding 134 on his 25th birthday !! India now have won just one ODI match Vs the Aussies in Four Years when they beat them at Chandigarh.
Of course, Australia had an off-day at Chandigarh. Ricky Ponting’s bowlers are unlikely to send down 31 wides in a match for many moons to come. Australia perhaps also got some rough decisions from the umpires.

Australia have also won each of the nine games in which they have scored more than 300 against India. This is a phenomenal record indeed. Their consistency is out of the top draw. Almost in all the the matches of this series, Aussies have been reduced to 120 odd for four, Yet they managed to squeeze thro and end up scoring six runs an over with stellar contributions from Symonds,Haddin,Hopes and Hayden. Mind you, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting and Brad Hodge have not looked in top nick. Indians on the contrary failed to capitalise on the start provided by Sachin and Sourav in the Nagpur ODI and lost the match. 140/1 in 25 overs, with one powerplay to be used, everyone would back India to win. Lack of application by the Indian batsmen proved too costly. Why on earth, Dravid was moved up and down the order. Can you imagine Kallis or Ponting being moved up/down in the batting line up. The Indian batting — whether at Kochi, Vadodara or Nagpur — has displayed an alarming tendency to collapse under the pressures of chasing.

Indian team’s fielding — to do some plainspeak — was simply atrocious. It was ragged and embarrassingly butter-fingered. You can't win matches consistently when you drop those absolute dollies!! If someone believes that Dinesh Karthik is the next Jonty Rhodes,we ought to be living in a la-la land. Aussies have developed a thumb rule that "hit to ramesh powar and run two". You could probably replace powar with any of the bowlers !!

Cricket is not just four's and Sixes...There is a critical element called running between the wickets. I just wonder when this Team india is going to learn those.
India need to score around 7 runs in an over in the last 15 overs of Nagpur match. They never looked for Ones's and Two's!! Incredible Indeed :-)

Grim jokes circulate on the web; humour keeps beeping on the mobile regarding the Indian Bowling!! Consistently leaking 10 runs an over in the last 10 overs.
As Ian Chappell pointed out, Sreeshanth would probably end up his career with the bank balance exactly the same when he started his career. What is this guy doing in the cricket field!! Celebrating the dismissal of a batsman in the 48th over when he scored 80 odd and his own team is starring down the barrel. India is developing a clone of Akthar. RP Singh was not picked in couple of games!! I just wonder what the selection policy is?
Barely couple of weeks ago , Mumbai became stand-still with the so-called new Team India on a high with a great win in the Slam-bang-lottery cup(Read Tonti-Tonti Championship :-))
Now, A few thousand tall trees might have been sacrificed too, to address the dismal performance of the Indians in the Future Cup,in print media!! Ah, what a foony business cricket is, as Mr. Geoffrey Boycott might say.

There is no shame in losing to Australia provided the lessons are learnt well. The last day-night encounter in Mumbai has now been reduced to academic interest but Dhoni & Co will look for a consolation win to reduce the margin.

Dhoni might just be thinking 50overs is just too much. May be he could have a word with ICC for a 10-Ten Championship :-)

Bye Inzamam

2007-10-16T01:47:00.000-07:00

First it was Warne and Mcgrath, then Lara and now Inzamam made an exit from international cricket after spending 16 golden years in international cricket. One of the finest batsman ever from Pakistan, Inzamam as a batsman is peerless.

What an extraordinary journey it has been for Inzamam. As a young kid in the block, he exploded into the international arena with two sublime innings in the 1992 World Cup. He had lot of great moments. A test triple hundred, scoring a hundred in his 100th test, 17 out of 25 test tons have helped Pakistan winning the test matches, phenomenal 80 odd ODI Fifties(Uh....) et all. He was a wonderful cricketer and time and again he had produced an inspired innings at an important time and swung the match to his side. One could probably look at his match winning innings vs Bangaladesh in a Test Match.

I would rate Inzamam a touch higher than Sachin and Lara, while facing genuine quick bowling. Sachin in the past had some weaknesses while facing quality pacemen. Lara however struggled a bit while facing genuine swing bowling. Inzy is a master class. His lazy elegance and the timing is a sight to behold of!!

It is the fickleness of cricket that makes a man appear impregnable one day and vulnerable the next. Inzamam is a prime example. He scored an unbelievable 90 odd in a test match in SA in Jan 2007 which Pakistan had won. He followed up with a string of low scores in the 2007 WC and was made a scapegoat for his team's miserable first round exit in the WC. He never played Cricket until the Lahore Test match, which incidentally turned out to be his last !!

My best picks..

Bangalore 2005
Pak were reeling at 7/2 in the 4th over. Enter the Big Inzy in his 100th test. He scored a scintillating 184 and was involved in a big partner ship with Younis Khan who scored a double hundred. The result, Pakistan thrased India by a huge margin. Inzy reserved his best in his 100th Test.

Mohali 2005
Pakistan were trying the save the match after conceding a lead of around 200 runs to India. Inzy came to bat in a familiar situation when Pak were reeling at 10/3. He scored a counter attacking chanceless 80 odd runs of 100 balls which set the tone. Though the lower order saved the day for Pak(Kamran Akmal and Razzaq), without the big Inzy they had nothing. His batting, as they say, a hostage to his moods, has touched extraordinary highs in this series!!

Karachi 1994
Chasing 300+ runs to win the test, last batsman Mushtaq joined Inzamam when Pak needed further 50+ runs. Though Warne took the MOM for his 8 wickets, it was Inzamam who won the match for Pakistan.The winning runs came when Healy missed the stumping of Inzamam facing Warne that went for 4 byes!!!

1992 WC SemiFinal and Final
Inzamam smashed the ball to all corners at the Eden Park, Auckland Vs Martin Crowe's Newzealand and helped Pakistan to reach the Final. It was a fearless innings by Inzy and he backed up with another in a breezy little innings Vs England in the Final at the MCG which helped Pakistan to win the WC.

Bye Brian

2007-05-02T03:14:00.000-07:00

Brian Charles Lara, one of the finest batsman of the modern era, who brought the spectators in the stadium to their feets with an array of attractive strokes for 17+ years, bid adieu to International Cricket. Brian Lara was someone I’d set the alarm for 3am/4am to get up and watch. Then head to bed again should he be dismissed. Such a great entertainer.

Lara the batsman is peerless, light years ahead of his compatriots with the likes of Sachin/Dravid/Inzamam/Ponting/Kallis . Sachin is probably more consistent(Not now though), Kallis and Dravid perhaps technically more correct, Ponting more robostic and Inzamam with more classicism, Yet for talent, toughness, flair, genius, arrogant, unpredictable, flamboyant and standing up when nobody else would, and flaying the best bowlers of his generation Viz Wasim and Waqar, Donald and Devilliers, Mcgrath and Mcdermott, Warne and Murali ,this batting prince from Port-of-Spain is streets ahead of the rest with his unfurled strokes of transcendental brilliance.

To me, No one has ever stood out as much as Lara and shared all the aspects of a great such as determination, courage, dominance, selflessness et all . The big thing for me that separates him from the others is that no one aside from former Australian Captain Allan Border has carried a struggling team on his shoulders throughout his career, mind you Border did that for only around 5 years whereas Lara did it for 17+. The best of Brian Lara sadly didn’t coincide with the best of the West Indies, with this mercurial southpaw coming into his prime after their 80s golden age. One of the finest attribute of this left-hander is his versatility. He seems equally happy against pace or spin, up or down the order, defending or attacking, on hard or soft pitches, in five-day or pyjama cricket. Having watched Lara tear apart the best bowling attacks in the world with his trademark backlift, sublime off-drive, scorching straight drive, pulls, cuts, flick of the wrists and fabulous placements, it’s hard to imagine anyone matching his skills.

No matter what era he played in, he would have excelled;Statistics not necessarily reflect the true value of the Champions. Lara’s average of 52.88 is perhaps not as high as you would think (lower than Ponting, Dravid, Kallis). That doesn’t make sense until you look at the number of not-outs he has had in 131 tests. Amazingly,just six. Brian Lara was an example of how to play the game brilliantly, without compromising your personal standards and how to carry yourself with dignity. He was a traditionalist who always accepted the umpire’s decision, and also always took a fieldsman at his word if a dubious catch was claimed.Time and again he took West Indies from hypothetical to hopeful to realistic to almost certain and still see that his team failed to deliver the knock out punch. You could probably look @ SL Series where in Lara Scored nearly 50% of the runs and yet Windies lost Three-zip.

How good is Brian Lara? Where should be placed in the pecking order of All-time great batsmen? He’s easily the best batsman of the world in the last 17 years or so, as he has proved himself to be a better batsman than Sachin Tendulkar. Is he better than Viv Richards, Graeme Pollock and Barry Richards? Is he better than Gary Sobers and George Headley? Is he better than Bradman, Hobbs and Trumper? Perhaps he should be in the top 5/6 of all-time greats, just behind the likes of Bradman, Hobbs, Headley and Sobers/Richards.

He’s easily the best player of Spin the world has ever seen. No-one has played spin better than him. No-one plays spin better than him. If someone would play spin better than him, I’d hope to have a good eye sight then – even if I were to be on my death bed at the age of 92. Even if we were to produce a clone containing the spin playing skills of Ian Chappell, Viv Richards and Sachin Tendulkar, the genius of Lara would easily outshine that monster in terms of clinical at the same time eye-catchy destruction of spinners. He’s simply that good.

He has struggled against quicks from time to time and one would have to say that the likes of Sunil Gavaskar (with his technique) and Viv Richards (with his audacious strokes) were better at handling the fast men. But Lara has destroyed enough fast bowlers in his lifetime to remove any lingering cobwebs of any sorts. McGrath (1995-96 and 2000-01), Allan Donald (1999-2000), Andy Caddick (2000) and Harmison (2003-04 (first three tests)) had Lara in a leashed spell during the aforementioned periods.

I don’t think anyone has played the late cut/back cut better than him in the entire history of the game. Perhaps he’s the best in terms of finding a gap in the field when there’s none – next only to the peerless Bradman. The best thing about his batting is the fact that his first 100 would be quick; the 150 would be quicker; the 200 would be a speedier express train; the 250 and 300 would come even quicker. That’s the way the game of Cricket has to be played and he did indeed play it that way and that’s why he’s easily the best batsman of our times.

Some of my Favorite Innings of Lara.

Lara Vs Australia(Read West Indies Vs Australia) .Brian scored just three hundreds and each of those were absolute gem. I had the privilege of witnessing Brian Charles Lara in full flight(Of course on Tele) during the 1999- Frank Worrell Trophy , his masterful 213 at Sabina Park, followed by unbeaten 153 in the famous 1 wicket victory at Kensington oval, then a scorching 100 in a session at the Antigua. These are Innings of the lifetime. That 153(NO) @ Barbados was certainly the best I have seen. Chasing 300 odd, Windies slumped to 100-5 and when Ambrose joined they still need to get 70 odd. Lara stood like a rock and played one of the all time greatest innings one could ever see. Lara had a great duel with SK Warne, who threatened to quit cricket altogether when he was dropped for the final test. Aussie attack comprised of Glenn Mcgrath and Jason Gillespie in their peak of the powers.

Vs SA in 1996 WC QF + 2003 WC Game
Lara always has special liking for the Proteas and here he dispatched the SA bowlers to all parts of the ground and in the process knocked out the SA from the tournament. It was vintage Lara. Plus his Innings in the 2003 WC which Windies managed to scrap thro the Proteas on their home turf.

Vs Aus in Perth in 1996-1997(ODI)Windies needed around 100 runs in the last 10 overs. Brian Lara played a chanceless innings and sealed the victory. It was a cracker of an innings and he turned an impossible run-chase in to a cake walk. Lara’s magic.

Vs Aus at Adelaide OvalHis last test innings vs Australia, he belted 200 and surpassed Border’s record of leading run-getter in Test Cricket. This was the match when we witnessed Leading Wicket Taker Warne bowling to Leading Run Scorer Lara. We may never witness this again. (Unless Ponting plays Murali sometime later)

Vs India at Barbados in 1996Lara scored a crucial 40 odd in the second innings which helped WI set a target of 120 to India, which the Indians failed to chase.
The cricket world will be poorer for Lara’s departure.

Thanks BC Lara!! YOU will be remembered as one of the most special batsmen in the history of the game and perhaps the third best West Indian batsman ever to have graced the field after Gary Sobers and IVA Richards!!
Thanks Brian for your Memories!!

Aus Vs SL 2007 WC Final

2007-05-02T03:11:00.000-07:00

“Convincingly” was the answer Ricky Ponting gave when he was asked “What was the difference between 2003 WC and 2007 WC when you managed to win without losing a single game”. Indeed he meant that!! 53 runs were the margin of Victory and incidentally it was the lowest margin for Australia in this edition of WC. This says it all. Australia won the world cup for the third time in succession and send “The Pigeon” out in the blaze of Glory. And now Australia has avenged its WC defeat of 1996 in the most brutal fashion. Ricky Ponting, still baby-faced, but now 32 years old hasn’t lost a match yet as Skipper as Australia still remain unbeaten since the 1999 Headingley Game vs Pakistan.

There have been great batsman; There have been greater glove man. Yet only a few have matched the two skills together like Adam Gilchrist, who at 35, continues to confound biology by sending the ball soaring unimaginable distances, and more frequently, than ever seen at a World Cup and in the process brought up the fastest ever century in the WC final , which is most likely be his last WC innings. Watching Gilly bat has been a delight to put alongside sipping a saravanabhavan Filter coffee, reading Kannadasan’s fabulous works, eating a ripe mango, and listening to Ilayaraaja. In other words, this once-in-a-lifetime Cricketer, satisfies the senses. He certainly did and infact more than that. Gilchrist’s batsmanship had an exhilarating, sensual quality about it that is perhaps unmatched in the annals of the game and easily the best innings played ever in the cup final.

After a sedate start, he pulled, drove,slapped, swept as only he can for better part of 32 overs. He scored a record-breaking century of 72 balls and scored a further 49 runs before being dismissed. He then took couple of catches in the fading light to cap a mar-vel-lous(Courtesy Richie Benaud) yet memorable all-round high quality display and still had the strength in his legs to come and claim the MAN of the FINAL award in front of 20,108 fans It was a special innings from a special cricketer.

Ponting won the toss in this rain affected 38 over game and had no hesitation in batting first!! Australia scored only 46 runs in the first 10 overs. Surprisingly Mahela opted against the Power Play and for next 9 overs it rained in the form of runs from Gilly’s blade. Gilchrist pulverized the Lankan bowlers in such a brutal manner and thrilled the Kensington Oval Crowd with a super-human efforts. Murali came onto bowl in 12th over and went wicket less and never looked threatening. Gilly and Haydo put on 172 runs for the first wicket. Not Surprisingly, Hayden who has wielded the bat like a sledgehammer and scored in excess of 600+ runs, played a second fiddle to the Western Australian Dynamo.Finally, Aussies set the target of 282 with as many as 230 runs came in just 28 overs

Thanks to Sanath Jayasuriya and Sangakkara, Srilanka batted splendidly in the run chase and just when everyone thought, we have a match in our hands, Brad Hogg broke through with a crucial wicket of the SL wicket keeper. 123/2 after 20 overs. MVP of 1996, Jayasuriya reached 12000 ODI runs when he scored his 64th half century. Now comes the Ricky Gamble..He threw the ball to Clarke and the left arm part timer delivered in his sixth ball when he bowled Jayasuriya. It was pretty much Game Set Match. Finally Lankans fell short by 53 runs(DL method) after a brief stoppage in the form of Rain and Bad light.

Given the kind of domination that the Australians have exhibited throughout this tournament and the last two World Cups might mean that the name of the tournament will have to be changed to Australia versus the Rest !!

Aus Vs SA 2007 WC Semifinal

2007-04-26T03:12:00.000-07:00

Rain Rule in 1992. Lara in 1996. “Gibbs Drop and Go-Allan-Go” in 1999. Lara again in 2003. South Africa entered into the 2007 WC as the No ranked team in the world and had a great chance of upstaging the Aussies.But six weeks later, they lost in the Semifinals(Yet Again…Oh No) and one should say, one of the pretty lopsided semi finals one could ever see. Smith managed to win only one thing. That’s the Toss. The rest is history !!

Australia thrashed South Africa at St Lucia with 18 overs to spare and romped to the World Cup Finals for the Fourth Consecutive Time. Ponting and Co thumped the Proteas yet another time in the Semifinal with stunning exhibition of Cricket. Australia now have won 28 consecutive matches and haven’t lost in the World Cup Since 1999 when they lost to Pakistan. This is a staggering statistic. No mean achievement by any stretch of the imagination. Mcgrath who along with Ponting will be making his fourth consecutive appearance in the final @ Barabados on 28th, sealed the victory with three quick wickets in his opening spell. Right on cue, it was typical Glenn McGrath. Accurate, miserly and successful. Australia virtually confirmed the place in the final , after the first power play itself, though the pitch does not contain any demons.

SA were 27/5 at the end of the tenth over after they won the toss and batted first thanks largely to the reckless strokes of the top order batsman Viz Smith and Kallis. It was just poor batting. Dismal performance by the top-order. Kallis ideally should have blunted the bowling spearhead and instead he showed his aggressive intent and was castled by searing McGrath’s Yorker. Barring Boucher who got a McGrath special, all the other batsman perished when they tried to send the ball to the orbit. Gibbs survived a large dose of fortune, thanks to Bucknor, played some delicate strokes and perished to the pace of Tait. In the end they managed to score 149 and Kemp made an unbeaten 49.

Glenn McGrath produced the much awaited master piece on the big stage yet again with three top order wickets and was supported beautifully by Shaun Tait , Bracken and Hogg. Tait came whistling in like the wind to touch the 90+ mph mark with his slinging action and picked up 4 wickets. I was pretty impressed with Ponting’s leadership and especially the ploy of delaying the second power play which paid off rich dividends.

Australia lost Gilly early while chasing 150. Gilly was undone by an explosive delivery from the young speedster Charl Langeveldt , which moved a bit to detonate the middle stump . This was probably the only silver lining moment for Smith. Enter Punter Ponting. Started with a stunning on drive, he dispatched Langeveldt with three stunning Pull shorts in the next over and ensured the momentum is not lost with breezy-little innings and also reached 500+ runs in this WC. After Nel cleaned up Ponting for 22, Smith had a glimmer of hope with 100 runs to defend. Enter Young Pup Clarke. Hayden and Clarke tried to glue back the scattered pieces with a decent stand. The left-hander with 600+ runs in the series, in great touch, timing the ball superbly, to conjure a couple of trademark booming drives, while the skipper-in-making Clarke ground out the runs at the other end. Just when things seemed sealed, Hayden perished with a big heave. Symonds and Clarke completed the final formalities with utmost ease.
Micky Arthur’s pre-match mantra of confidence/calmness and patience was seldom in evidence as they were humiliated by Aussies with top-class Professionalism and they have to wait for another four years to break the jinx of not qualifying for the finals. Did they really choke? Infact they did more than that

Watch out for a Cracker of a Contest @ Barbados when Srilanka Play Australia. Last time(1996 WC Final at Lahore), Lankans came out on top Vs the Canary Yellow Brigade . Can they do one more time

India in 2007 WC

2007-03-28T22:49:00.000-07:00

The late Jawaharlal Nehru wrote in The Discovery of India: “A small country might easily be overwhelmed by superior power, but a huge, well-developed and highly civilised country like India cannot succumb to external attack unless there is internal decay, or the invader possesses a higher technique of warfare. That internal decay is clearly evident in India.” How prescient of the great man! Like Nostradamus, he knew what would happen in 2007 in Trinidad, and I presume he wasn’t exactly discussing cricket. Leave alone the Carribean Calypso!!!(Collapso?)

Some of Indian cricket’s biggest names embarked on a mission to resurrect reputations, salvage careers, and shut up critics. Thank heavens for the presence of Bermuda. India team's solitary victory came over a bunch of Sunday evening public park amateurs (Read Bermuda). The team which had 50,000+ runs, 1000+ ODI experiences, 75+ centuries and 600+ wickets yet managed to put up a shoddy performance on either side of the Bermuda game, as they were thumped by tigers first and humiliated by lions next. The much hyped batting lineup failed miserably. On paper, it looked unstoppable, capable of quick and heavy scoring. On Port of Spain(Should I say Pain) though, it looked all at sea. Bashar and Co crushed the cream of Indian advertisers(Read Cricketers) and sent the shock waves in the Carribean.

Our critics, or rather publicists, are such that Yuvraj is considered an absolutely brilliant fielder, a veritable Jonty Rhodes II. Nobody ever notes the number of times that Yuvraj tumbles and falls as he reaches for the ball, invariably getting a grip on it only at the second or third attempt and sometimes he helps the opposition to take two runs by his half-stop.Phew...This over-hyped cricketer(Is he) failed time and again and yet managed to keep his place in the side....Why Raina/Badani wasn't given this many chances.?

Then,there's our batting – repeatedly trumpeted in the last few seasons(years) as being the best line-up in the world. "Best", we say, and we don't have a reliable opening pair. Leave alone the middle order.6 batsman or 5 batsman..it doesnt matter. The situation there is so bad that our captain thinks that one slot there can be given to Dhoni – the so-called keeper,who instinctively plays on the back foot on a turning wicket and that too against Murali. Why did the selector pick Karthik?

Then we have a person who believes footwork is for maiden aunts, doddery uncles and English coaches.His surname is Shewag who scores once-in-twenty-innings yet managed to stay in the team(Ala...Dravid).One century against Bermuda is enough to rescue Sehwag’s reputation as a swashbuckling cricketer...Uh.....

This is perhaps the nth time, Sachin had failed to deliver in crunch games and the irony is Sachin might already have played his last WC ODI Match and perhaps has the dubious distinction(along with his illustrious colleagues) that he was(he probably never will) never part of the Victorious Team in any of the Major ODI Tournament. Tendulkar may flop in match after match, World Cup after World Cup, but his cricketing income never suffers. Big failures against the world’s best teams do not dent his bank balance. Instead, he gets rewarded with even more lucrative endorsements. (For heaven sake, pls discount the innings he scored Vs Kenya/Namibia et all..What needs to be looked @ is his contribution in the Crucial games.)

If anyone doubted how good this WC can be for the so-called minnows, their queries have been answered in emphatic and lasting fashion.

Kudos to Ireland and Bangaladesh for their entry into the second round after their splendid wins over Pakistan and India.

WC 2007 Aussies Vs Windies

2007-03-28T22:22:00.000-07:00

Australia came to the WC with five successive defeats and everyone was saying they have lost the aura of invincibilitiy.Now,they have just won the 23rd ODI match in WC in succession.The last time the team beat Australia in the WC was Pakistan seven years ago!! They now have scored 300+ runs for the sixth time in a row which isn't easy by any stretch of the imagination. Ponting and Co is peaking now at the right time. It would be interesting how the canary yellow brigade performs if it chases down the total which they haven't done for quite some time now.

Having watched Hayden's innings at Antigua, I can say, it is easily his best performace in a ODI match. Mind you,he was very scratchy when he started. Remember he scored the fastsest hundred couple of days before and he is in peak form. But the manner in which he adapted to the situation was commendable. It was Vintage Hayden..He played himslef in and never tried to lauch the ball into the orbit like the sub-continent openers. It was a classy knock by this big queenslander. He had produced the awaited masterpiece.The form of the top order looks alright at the moment and middle order has not been tested fully yet.

Hogg is a big surprise package as far as the bowling goes.This orthodox left arm spinner now heads the list with 11 wickets in just 4 matches. Stunning Performance. From the evidence of what I have seen, Iam quite impressed with Tait. Glad to see that Ponting is using his raw fast bowler in short spells which is providing rich dividends. Mcgrath will certainly end the WC as the top wicketer and he is doing good as the first change bowler.I would love to see the likes of Clark and Johnson in the upcoming games.

Couple of areas of concern now is the form of Hussey and the ground fielding. Hussey is in a peculiar situation now with four single digit scores sounds more like a PIN number. I would not be surprised if he swaps his position with Clarke just to ensure he gets a decent hit in the middle. Form of Hussey is crucial as the days progresses and will be essential if the team bats second. Fielding to some extent has been pretty sloppy. Aussies were not hitting the targets on a regular basis.

No doubt,Australia have been in a league of their own.

WC Preview

2007-03-08T00:22:00.000-08:00

The game will need every splashy headline it can muster. Now its the time for Australia to top the headlines for all the wrong reasons. They have now lost 5 successive ODI matches and people are already talking about the decline in Australian Cricket.Sporting blogosphere, no doubt, is filled with all sorts of advice to Canary Yellow Brigades. A few thousand tall trees have been sacrificed too, to address the issue in print. To me, it is just baseless. Yes, they have been crushed by England first and then decimated by NZ next. Come the WC, they will be back to the business.Too much has been written too soon. Aussies have been shaken a bit. No doubt about that. Steve Waugh's 99WC team was far more flexible than this Current team. Agreed!! Yet, I feel this team will manage to scrap thro'.

Iam not too convinced that Brad Hogg is the best spinner around for Ponting and Co.This is the area where the Selectors lost the plot.I would rather have a spinner who goes for 50 odd runs and pick up couple of wickets than none for 40. Hogg is certainly a gamble. They played in SA last wc and managed to come thro' bcos the wickets were not helping the spinners. But in this WC this could be very critical. I have read reports that Stuart Clark shouldnot be in the team just because he looks a clone of Mcgrath...Huh...I dont mind having Five Glen Mcgrath's in my side..Don't you?He is the bowler in prime form and should have been picked lot earlier. Considering the firepower in the Aussie batting, I wont be surprised if Aussie opts for run chase everytime Ponting wins the toss. Aussie will miss Symonds more than Lee. Symonds will be a handly spinner in the carribean. Leave alone his Fielding and belligerant Batting. My gut feeling is Symonds might not play.
It will take a very nasty virus to stop Australia winning for the 3rd consecutive time, whoever else reaches the final.

India...This WC is perhaps a very realistic chance to repeat the WC83. On paper, this team to me is the very well balanced outfit. Its high time Dravid and Co settle in the batting order to make an impact. The best four should play in top 4. No more experimentation folks. Two spinners has to be in the team. No compromises on the seventh batsman. Iam always critical that, if six men cant get the job done, Seventh invariably dont. Dont tinker the bowling line-up. Fielding is one area of concern considering Kaif and Raina not playing. But it shouldn't matter much if you have a strong bowling line-up. Dravid has to be ruthless in his decision making. If Shewag/Pathan failed to deliver, he should opt for readymade replacements. No Waiting game. This could well be the last WC for lot of India's illustrious Cricketers and hope they will bring back the glory. I wont be surprised if India play Aussie at the Kensignton Oval on April-28 :-). I wont be bowling Zaheer Khan in that First Over.

Sayanora Shane

2007-01-08T17:48:00.000-08:00

The news which the whole of Australia has been dreading for a while has finally come. Yep... The man who once only wanted to be an Australian football star became the top wicket-taker in the 127-year history of Test cricket, "The mozart of legspin" Shane Keith Warne bids adieu to Cricket at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Its fitting that he has decided to call it a day at SCG where he incidentally started his career in 1992 albeit in inglorious circumstances.

Cricket lovers all around the globe will probably never able to see the blond leggie taking three slow but purposeful strides and bowling his arm over to deliver the bag of tricks with the likes of leggies, toppies, zooters, shooters, sliders, flippers and what not....Oh Dear Oh.. Dear...What a sight...It was cruel for batsmen and delicious for the rest.

With all the personal history of Beer,Blondes,Beaches,Banned Drugs,Bookmakers, this lovable rascal from Victoria took the game to the next level with his leg spinners. He is a great entertainer. Warne single handedly have been able to lead Australia to dizzy heights of success. The Australian juggernaut wouldn't have powered on flawlessly without this champion leggie.

Some of Warne's standout performances in my view.
1996 @ Mohali Aus Vs Windies...Semifinal..Windies on a roll while chasing a modest Aussie Total...Enter Warney. Picked 4 wickets and wrapped up the Innings. Aussie won the close contest. But Warne was not able to weave his magic as Aussies lost to SL in the 1996 WC Final @ Lahore.

1999 @ Edgbaston Vs the Proteas...Semifinal Again The match was more famous for Steve Waugh saying " You dropped the cup mate" To Gibbs...However the demolition act was later done by Warne. Proteas off to a rollicking start with Kirsten and Gibbs.Steve Waugh throw the ball to Warnie and the leggie obliged with the wickets of Gibbs/Kirsten and Cronje...Later he picked Kallis. Game Set Match Australia. Warne went on to win the MOM award Vs Pak @ Lords and incidentally it was Warne's last WC appearance.

Can't pick up the same kind of Warne's genius in the longer version of the game as the list is pretty high. Probably his series in SL after the drug ban was pretty special. Warne picked up four straight 5-for and Aussies cleaned up the Lankans in their own backyard. It was Ponting's first series as captain.

Predictably with the ball and surprisingly with the bat, Warne resembled a one-man band against an English team during 2005 Ashes. Took the Aussie Player of the Series award for his 40 wickets and 200 odd runs during the epic 25 days of pulsating test series. Warne went further ahead as he pocketed a world record 96 victims during the 2005 calender year and thereby breaking his Idol Dennis Lillee's record of 85 Wickets.

Though he played under four captains during his illustrious career,Its a shame that this talented cricketer with one of the smartest brains in the field, never managed to captain Australian side because of off field behaviour. (He lead the team in some ODI's though)He might well end his career, by being the only cricketer in the Wisdens 5 Cricketer of the Century,not to be knighted.

Australia's decade of dominance will eventually be tested perhaps for the first time, as Ponting and Co..will take the field in November with Shane Warne probably
in commentary box next season. There'll be a lot of batsmen thankful for that decision and the fact that he's taking McGrath with him.
No cricketer is irreplaceable but Warne comes mighty close..

Test Hattrick...1000+ International Wickets...3000+ Runs....120+Catches....One WC Winning Medal....
Oh, Warney...what could he not do on a cricket field, what could he not do with grace and style, power and passion!!!
Watching Cricket will never be the same again!!The game will certainly be poorer without him..

Thank You SK Warne...and Well Bowled Warney:-)

Goodbye Glenn Mcgrath!!

2007-01-07T17:44:00.000-08:00

Glenn Mcgrath...

He is not express quick. He wont crack your skull. He doesnt shatter the stumps either. Instead he bustles in over and over and decimates the batsman with clinical efficency.He doesnt involve himself in the market place wherein runs and wickets are exchanged. He is the meanest of opponents. He has taken wickets all around the globe..all types of wickets...and in every form of the game. The man who spearheaded the pace attack of the strongest team in the planet...played his last test match at his home ground SCG and It was fitting that Mcgrath took a wicket incidentally in his last ball in Test Cricket. Sydney's favourite son ended his final test match on a winning note and part of the all conquering Aussie Team. Accurate, miserly and successful. Right on cue, it was typical Glenn McGrath.

Some of Glenn's Masterpieces....
The stage was Lord's. Ashes 1997.A rejuvenated England were one-nil up in the series and confident of holding the Ashes for the first time in a decade. Enter McGrath. After the first day was washed away, McGrath stepped up and completed a demolition job. On his first visit to the famed ground, he took 8-38 as England were bowled out for just 77, later saying that they crumbled like biscuits. The match was drawn, but an important psychological battle had been won. The Australians went on to win the next three Tests. Glenn took an astonishing 36 wickets in the series and took the man of the series honours.

WC 1999 in England..
Aussies got thumped by NZ first and then Pakistan. They are in a virtual do-or-die situation Vs the Windies. Mcgrath bowled remarkably and bowl out the windies for a low score and helped Aussies to sail through....The delivery to get rid-off Lara was a real beauty.

Perth Test Vs the Windies
What a way to pick up his 300th wicket. BC Lara was the victim and Mcgrath went on to take a hat-trick as well. Mcgrath consumed Lara 14+ times in the heat of the battle in test matches. Its a nice feeling to claim the hattrick at the place where he made his debut @ the WACA when he replaced Merv Huges(This was a match where in Craig Mcdermott took his 200th Test Wicket)and went on to take his first test wickt- Mark Greatbatch. He added further 562 since then..

Lords Ashes 2005.
Glenn took his 500th Wicket and it was Trescothick. Glenn went on to take the MOM award as Aussies maintained its unbeaten streak in the mecca of cricket - LORDS. Aussies lost the Ashes in 2005 by two games to one and incidentally Mcgrath didnt play in those two losing games.
Ask Miachel Atherton for instance how to face Mcgrath...The former England skipper became virtually paralysed by the sight of McGrath running in to bowl, falling to him an almost cruel 19 times. Mcgrath is a bowler for all occasions. He is the most successful pace bowler in the history of test cricket.

My wife will be relieved that he is gone(He is taking Warne with him as well). He has taken away a very good reason to reach for the remote at 5.30am every time there is a Test in Australia. Australia will perhaps continue to win without him, but watching them will never be the same again. We may never witness McGrath assumed his now famous 'double teapot' stance of disbelief with both hands firmly on hips and shaking his head and sharing few conversations with the batsman..:-)

Ashes Test Five SCG

2007-01-06T17:41:00.000-08:00

Yep. Perhaps for the first time which incidentally is his last as well, Glenn Mcgrath has got its Predictions of 5-0 Right!!! England Agony...Aussie ecstasy.

The dream ending to two of the finest bowlers in the history of test cricket became reality , as Aussies completed the first white wash over England in 86 years at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Shane Warne, Glenn Mcgrath and Justin Langer left the SCG audience in tears, like all the great performers do. Cricketers like Warne and Mcgrath are very rare. They are the two Once-in-a-generation bowlers and will certainly be missed. I could sense the rival captains thinking now "Bring on the Aussies now....". Aussies will eventually take the field in Nov Vs the Lankans @ the Gabba and it will be interesting how they respond with Warne perhaps,in the Commentary Box and Mcgrath probably watching the matches in television in NSW.

Predictably,Warne took his 1000th international wicket and he could add only one more to his tally, as he finished with 708 Test Wickets including 195 Ashes victims. Surprisingly it was Warne's batting that basically set the tone for the Victory. The Man who will go down in history as the player with most test runs without a century, smashed the highest score in Australia's innings,his 12th half century to help Aussie gain an invaluable 100+ runs lead. Its a bit of a shame that Warne went for a slog when Mcgrath was at the other end as Mcgrath was instrumental in helping Steve Waugh to reach the three figure mark for numerous occasions. Glenn could have done one more time by helping his illustrious partner to reach his maiden ton. Perhaps Warnie didn't have confidence in Mcgrath. Never Mind....The game was pretty much in Aussie bag by then.

England played well but only in patches. Strauss didn't fire at the top. Collingwood despite a good start in the first two ashes tests, didn't contribute much either.
KP played in and got out at crucial times. Freddie joined than party with a neat half century in the first innings and was stumped by Gilly of Warne in the second essay and Flintoff entered into the history books as Warne's final test victim. It was classical Warne..Though England used a revolutionary bowling machine called Merlyn to study the variations, it can't replicate the drift. For one last time, it was beautifully bowled and Gilly clipped the bails in the flash!!For Warne, it ended where it all started 15 years ago against India.

It was Stuart Clark who has done the damage yet again by picking the wickets at crucial times. The difference between the two sides was Aussies winning the crucial moments as they put the hand up and shut the doors for Poms when ever they looked like coming out on top. It would have been nice if Glenn was awarded the MOM for sentimental reasons as he picked up Six crucial wickets including KP on the final morning. Instead they give it to the Glenn's clone Stuart Clark, who has done a tremendous job and probably spearheading the next era in McGrath's absence.

As expected, the "new Bradman" Ponting was awarded the player of the Series. Aussie Skipper couldn't have scripted this better. The much hyped Series of the Century has gone pretty much one sided as Aussie send the retiring Shane Warne, McGrath and Justin Langer out in a blaze of glory.

Since the once unthinkable occurred in England in Ashes 2005, Aussies have now won 12 in a row and have won 16 of the 17 matches.
It would be interesting how the Aussies Juggernaut power on without these demolition men who have taken just 1250+ wickets between them.

Australia have been in a league of their own for a decade now. Can they sustain without Glenn and Shane...?

Ashes Test Four MCG

2006-12-30T08:28:00.000-08:00

Shane Warne bid adieu to his home ground and hometown fans with a splendid Man of the Match Peformance, as Aussies routed England by innings and 99 runs in the 4th ashes test at MCG. Aussies are now just one step closer to the 5-0 Whitewash which Glenn Mcgrath predicted earlier. It was a stunning performance by the Aussie bowlers as they demolished the Poms Second Innings under two sessions. Aussies now have won 11 test matches in a row Under Ponting.

Aussie heavy weights with the likes of Ricky Ponting,Mike Hussey,Justin Langer,Miachel Clarke and Adam Gilchrist, all scored centuries in the previous three ashes tests, contributed a meagre 40 odd runs between them in this Boxing day test. Yet Ponting and Co thrashed the English Team with clinical precision. Hayden for the first time in six years failed to score 1000 runs in a calender year notched up his 5th Boxing Day test hundred and perhaps saved his place with a fighting innings under pressure. Andrew "Roy" Symonds joined his Queensland mate and his fishing partner scored a scintillating hundred when Aussies were starring down the barrel @ 80 odd runs with 5 top order batsman in dressing room. England had Aussies on the mat on all the 4 test matches, but they were not able to keep the pressure intact. They were just blown away by the ruthless Aussies on each of those occassions.

Flintoff who spent most of his time in the Operation Theatre before the Ashes, might probably have to revisit the place after the Ashes as well. He doesn't appear to be match fit. His batting is horrible. His captaincy lacks imagination. I feel sorry for this bloke. England has been plagued by Injuries/Stress related illness to the key players of Vaughan,Simon Jones and Trescothick.

Shane Warne never has - and likely never will - been comparable to others in the slow-bowling fraternity showed his class yet again in his final MCG appearance. Like his three previous captains, Warne was given the red cherry by Punter on the cloudy morning at Melbourne when England was well placed at 100 odd runs for loss of two wickets. The ace spinner took his 700th Wicket on his 20th ball of the match with a beauty by clean bowling Andrew Strauss. The rest is history. Yet another 5-for the champion leggie as he routed England for a paltry score of 159. He added couple more to his tally and now sits with 999 international wickets. What a moment it will be at Sydney when he picks up his 1000th wicket.

This test match was pretty special. Yep, Two legends announced their Retirements just after Aussies regained their Ashes. One , Glenn Mcgrath arguably the finest pace bowler and perhaps the "Bowler of the Century" and another Shane Warne, the next best thing happened to Cricket after Don Bradman. played their last BOXING DAY test match @ MCG with Warne picked up his 700th wicket while Mcgrath picked up his 150th Ashes Wicket.

Sydney is gearing up for the farewell test match to the living legends of Australian Cricket.

One thing is for sure. Watching Cricket will NEVER be the same again !!!!

Ashes Test Three Perth

2006-12-20T08:30:00.000-08:00

Ponting and Co. wrapped up the third Test in emphatic style on the final day at Perth to regain the Ashes and secure a 3-0 Lead in the 5 match series. Australia now have won 14 of the 15 matches(Only One Draw Vs SA in Perth last season) they have played since the Oval test in 2005.

In 2005, When Aussies lost the Ashes, couple of guys were playing county cricket in England. One Middle Order Batsman for Durham and another Pace bowler for Middlesex. And now when Aussies regain the Ashes in 2006, those two guys played a greater part in these Victories. Its none other than Mike Hussey and Stuart Clark. Hussey now has made 50+ score in each of the 5 innings he has played in this Ashes and Clark now has more wickets than any other bowler in the series. This is incredible stuff. If it was Ponting in the first two tests, its time for the young guns to make an impact. Young "Pup" Clarke scored a flawless hundred and sealed his place in the middle order.

The game is pretty balanced in the middle of the Fourth day. Enter this REAL "gentleman" who made a four ball Duck in the first innings on his Home Ground. Remember he is on a Pair. He started cautiously as expected; Freddie threw the ball to his young left arm spinner Monty hoping for some wicket. Atleast cut down the flow of runs. This talented wicket keep batsman took the attack to the opposotion immediately. The slash was followed by the most sublime of off-drives. Well....Gilchrist took couple of steps and lauched the ball into the Mid wicket region for three sixes and a four. 24 runs in one Over. Yep....Test Cricket is Alive. Flintoff should have told Monty "Dont worry mate. You can't do much"; Adam Gilchrist,one of the true gladiators and champions of the game of cricket scored the second fastest test hundred of 57 balls. He scored(Should I say Cracked) the second fifty of just 17 balls. Uhhh.....

Alistair Cook and Bell played smart cricket while chasing a big total. Just when things seemed to drift away, blonde leggie has a final say as he claimed the wicket of Bell. Cook was undone by Warne's partner in Crime Glenn Mcgrath during the dying hours of the fourth evening and pretty much game set match!! Ponting delivered the KNOCK-OUT punch much before the BOXING day test, when he handed the red cherry to Warne and the spinner obliged with three wickets on the final morning.

AS RICKY Ponting said, Shane Warne couldn't have scripted it better himself as the greatest leg spinner ever to have graced the cricketing field left the WACA Ground with 699 Test scalps to his name. What a moment it will be for this Victorian Super Star when he is almost certain to claim his 700th wicket in front of his 100,000 fans at his home ground ala Melbourne Cricket Ground.

What Next...2009 Ashes. Realisitically Poms has a good chance then. Iam hoping the Haydo,Alfie Langer, Pigeon Mcgrath , Gilchrist won't be around for the next ashes.England could probably have a go with Phil Jacques/Adam Voges/Mitchell Johnson and Brad Haddin. Shane Warne might still play.....You never know. He could well be the difference between the two sides, as was the case Since 1993 @ Old Trafford when he delivered the Ball of the Century!!

Ind Vs SA Wanderers

2006-12-19T08:29:00.000-08:00

India thumped the Proteas @ the Wanderers with a comprehensive 125 run victory. Well…It was a sensational achievement by Dravid and Co, as they registered their first Test victory in South African Soil since 1992.
Its great to see Ganguly back in action and making significant contribution. Well…his last wicket stand with VRV in the first innings turned out to be handy. So does the Zaheer-VVS partner ship in the second innings which basically helped in setting a huge target. The irony of this test is Indians managed to squeeze through without much contribution from the Big Three Sachin/Dravid/Shewag. Dravid and Sachin should find some kind of form before the second test in Durban. Well…Shewag has to be dropped for sure. I cant imagine how he is in the Team. We dont want someone in the team who performs once every 10 odd innings.
Inject some new kids so that they will get the exposure. Dinesh Kaarthik to me is the ideal fit. One has to be ruthless in the decision making. No Sentiments. Look @ Aussies. Except Gilchrist all the Aussie top order have been dropped before.
Iam quite impressed with the manner in which Sreesanth bowled. He shouldn’t be carried away with the Performace. One has to be very consistent and lets see how he comes out after the series. VRV Singh seems to be a good prospect provided he does the basics right. Ian Bishop during Windies series spoke abt this young seamer as for the future.
SA has lot to worry about. Iam not too convinced with Amla being in as a Specialist batsman in top4. Changes have to made to this batting lineup and may be bring Jacques Rudolph or Andrew Hall to strengthen the batting. Gibbs form is a bit of concern. Bowling looks quite alright and Ntini has to fire. Touch disappointed that new sensation Dale Steyn wasn’t fully fit. He was one of the guys I was looking forward to see.
Unless SA regroup themselves, it will be another stroll in the park for the Indians @ the Durban.

India in SA 2006 ODI Series

2006-12-05T22:46:00.000-08:00

India haven’t merely lost a series in South Africa; they have been crushed by opponents who have been a few steps ahead of them. Proteas have batted smarter, bowled smarter and set smarter fields. The Indian cricket team is going through its worst phase in recent times. Drubbings in Malaysia, the ICC champions trophy and now the shameful losses in South Africa. Things aren’t getting any better As it happens, the aggregate time of Tendulkar’s television commercials far exceed the time he has spent on the field as a batsman, in recent matches. He has now become Pollock’s bunny.

The pitch does not contain any demons for sure. It wouldn’t take a genius to work out India’s shortcomings. Its just the lack of application by the top order. One of the true gladiators and champions of the game of cricket, Sachin looked like a Sitting Duck at the crease. His feet wasn’t moving and his reflexes has been totally lost. Pollock,Nel,Ntini,Kallis bulldozed through the top order – aided by some stunning catches. Indians never managed to bat out 50 overs in each of the completed three ODI’s.

SA have been in a league of their own.
Watching television would not be the same again, for it would be devoid of advertisements featuring our failed cricketers.

MOS- Shaun Pollock.
India lost the series Four ZIP.

Ashes Test - Two - Adelaide Oval

2006-12-05T22:43:00.000-08:00

England scored 6-551 in the first innings of the match and yet got beaten by six wickets. In 125+ years of Test cricket, no team has managed that. To bat first, score so many, close the innings and get beaten. The game was lost not when Mike Hussey struck the winnings run but when England’s batsmen wrapped themselves in a psychological straitjacket and in 54 overs managed to score a miserable 70 runs on the final morning. When it really mattered, England turned and fled. It was just poor cricket. Brainless batting by Flintoff and KP probably helped Ponting and Co.to go 2-nil up in the 2006 ashes.

Paul Collingwood became the first English batsman to score a double century in Australia for nearly 70 years. Though he batted splendidly in the first innings he lacked common sense batting in the second. When Warne was virtually unplayable, he repeatedly took the singles and exposed the tail to the master leggie. This certainly was not smart batting. Shane Warne who got absolute pounding in the first innings with 1-167 showed to the world why he is the VERY best in the second innings. He is back..!!

I wonder whether Flintoff is carrying a niggle or something. To me, he is not 100% match fit. He bowled well but only in patches and never looked comfortable with the bat. I feel he is overloaded. Being a spearhead of the attack,to bat at 6 and leading the team is a big too much for this Lancashire all-rounder. I would give the captaincy to Andrew Strauss primarily to reduce the workload from the Star Cricketer.

On the other hand,Ponting looks in supreme touch. He must have told Giles “You drop the Ashes”, pretty much the same way his Predecessor Tugga Steve Waugh told to Gibbs in the epic semifinal in 1999 WC. He made the poms to pay for the dropped chance with a classy knock,his 33rd Test Century. Awesome Batting Display. Young “Pup” Clarke played a telling innings and cemented a place in Perth which probably means, Martyn might miss out his place in the next test.

Mr.Cricket Mike Hussey has been a revelation for Cricket Australia. He managed to enter to Aussie Test Team after having scored in excess of 15,000 runs in domestic cricket. He averages in mid-70’s now and showed his value by scoring his third half century of the series and a match winning one.

What England need and need very badly is…A Young Botham. A tear away fast bowler who could swing the ball both ways ala Simon Jones..Fully Fit Miachel Vaughan of old….and preferably asking Ponting to bat lefthanded….

Glenn Mcgrath’s 5-0 prediction is pretty much on cards !!!

Ashes Test - One - Brisbane

2006-12-01T22:44:00.000-08:00

Aussies as expected humiliated the Poms @ the Gabba. Australia deserve to be admired for their regular refusal to die in the series and the chances of little urn returning looks very promising.

Iam not too convinced with the decision of Ponting not enforcing the follow-on. To me, that is negative tactics. This is very unlike Australian captain. He ideally would have nailed the English batsman. Instead he batted and basically took the game away from them.

Freddie Flintoff seems to be in the wrong planet at present. Harmisson’s donkey drops, Anderson’s no-balls, Hoggards’s half-trackers and Miachel Vaughan’s injuries are at the very heart of England’s delicate position.

Ponting hailed as the new-bradman in the Aussie Press, doesn’t disappoint either. He notched up his 9th century in his last 12 innings took the game away from England. As Steve Waugh Pointed out, he might end up with 50 Test Centuries if he maintains his current form. Mcgrath was handful on the Gabba Wicket. So does Stuart Clark-ala Pigeon.

This all conquering Aussies is bit too much for Duncan Fletcher and Co. They are praying for some injury to the star studded lineup.In Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, Australia couldn’t have chosen more diverse protagonists to script their age of dominance. But the Qn is can the Aussies have bench strength in the bowling department. Iam afraid they dont have. They can replace Bevan with Hussey. But I wonder if they could do the same with Dan Cullen or Cameroon White with SK Warne.

Aussies have started the 2006 Ashes pretty much on the same note with that of 2005. Will the Poms come hard?The last thing Australia want is to have Mcgrath slip on the ground just before the toss in the Second Test @ Adelaide Oval which he eventually did at Edgbaston in 2005 and cost the match.

Iam hoping for an absorbing contest in the belter of the pitch @ Adeliade which normally favours batsman.

India in Malayasian Tri-Series(DLF Cup)

2006-10-09T04:21:00.000-07:00

The nature of the drubbing in the DLF Cup,Malayasia should provoke some serious soul-searching within the TeamIndia. It was an embarrassing performance by a much-feted batting line-up(Besides Tendulkar in one innings). The Indians have looked rusty throughout the tournament and deserved to be kicked out of the final.

India haven't merely lost the seriest in Kualalampur; they have been crushed by opponents who have been a few steps ahead of them. India now has just one win in the last ten games.
I really Cant understand the logic of 1)Dravid Opening the Innings 2)Pathan at one drop.This is just atrocious cricket from Chappell.Dravid looked like a sitting duck when the ball moves around.Mind you,he is probably the technically correct batsman going around.If Dravid Can't then who else can...

Sehwag is a fine batsman in disguise. His failings are immediately obvious. As far as he is concerned, footwork is the preserve of maiden aunts, doddery uncles and English coaches.Unless he improves his technique , he wont be able to perform in seaming conditions.
Except Munaf Patel,Bowling looks absoulte pedestrian.What was Pathan doing?This is high time the Team think Tank have a specialist bowling coach.

Badly led, poorly selected, abysmal in the field, lamentable between the wickets, rusty and in some cases distracted, the so called experimental-indian team has been mauled. No sign of improvement could be detected in the work of the Shewag/Yuvraj/Kaif/Dravid as they went down without a whimper.

Unless future limited-overs teams are picked on form, not reputation, the Indian Team faces a quick and ugly death.

Why Harbajjan was dropped from Team for the First Test in Windies.?

2006-06-07T05:27:00.000-07:00

India Tour of Windies - May 2006

2006-05-30T01:09:00.000-07:00

Lara and his men gave a Clear and yet Powerful message to Chappell and Co that they are no pushovers. Chappell spoke about the Windies Team too early and too soon.
Windies didn’t have any star cricketers which we normally associate with them. Instead they had a bunch of talented individuals who was instrumental in thumping India
4-1 in the ODI series. Mind you, India lost four consecutive ODI matches.

Lara’s captaincy was the best I have seen for a while now. He never allowed the game to drift away and was making smart changes .He encouraged the boys to perform under pressure. The manner in which he rally around Edwards/Bravo is just sensational. They are good cricketers and all they need is to have some one who could show the right path to display the talents. Indeed Lara did. Bravo is easily the find of the series. He is young and has lot of promise and might become one of the stars of windies cricket if he has the foot firmly on the ground. Sarwan is enjoying his new role as spearheading the middle order and he is a lot more matured cricketer than before.

Indians on the other hand looked in absolute disarray. They were basically clueless on how to play the mediocre spinners against the likes of Samuels and Gayle in their own backyard. Traditionally Indians are the best players of spin and this ODI series is an exception. Dravid is a big flop here in the last 4 matches which eventually Indians lost. No consistency in the Indian middle order is a big concern. I would definitely have had Laxman in the squad who is capable of holding the innings together. Instead they experimented Raina who is relatively young in International Matches. This team is too young and inexperienced and Indian Selector More had shot himself in the foot even before the Caribbean Series started. You can win matches with the young team and can’t win series with inexperienced lot of talented people. There is definitely no dearth of talent. What they need is, some one should tell the clarity of role each cricketer has to play. This is where Lara outscored his counterpart Dravid.

Indian Bowling lacked penetration. Take Agarkar out, bowling looks like an India A team on performance wise. Pathan never landed the ball in a good length area, Sreeshant forgot the basics of line and length cricket, Munaf patel bowled without Control and Harbajjan unable to perform consistently. Too many runs were given away in the slog overs and Dravid doesn’t have option B when Plan A fails. You can’t set the field for bad bowling. Tough luck Dravid.

Cricket is more often played between ears and Indians forgot to use the brain when it really matters. Crazy running by Dhoni, Reckless shot by Yuvraj, Sloppy cricket by Harbajjan needs to be addressed immediately. With Sachin out by Injury and Saurav by Politics, Laxman by Crazy selection committee, it is high time the Indians pick the playing X1 on form wise and not on past records.

Heartening to see the Windies Smiling again. Good Luck Windies. Great job Lara.

England Tour of India - ODI Series 2006

2006-04-21T05:29:00.000-07:00

Rahul Dravid and his young team thumped the visiting england team 5-1 in the Seven match one day series with one match abandoned due to rain. I feel sorry for England which doesnt have the services of Vaughan/Trescothick/Harmission. Instead they came with a younger team and Flintoff is the only player to have played 100 ODI matches. This clearly shows the experience level. I guess the amount of matches played by England together is equal to the amount of matches Dravid alone has played.

Freddie was given a task of Leading the Team besides sharing the burden of batting and bowling which is a little too much. He ran out of steam after the fourth match and it was a sensible decision to give him a break.None of the matches went down to the wire and it was pretty much one sided. Kevin Pieterson took the batting honours and Jimmy Anderson tops the bowling chart. Others were basically fillers. Unless England plays more ODI,they wont make into the top bracket.

I can't understand the logic of playing seven ODI matches and that too in scorching heat.ICC should try to get their act together and shouldn't allow these many matches and instead they could have tri series.Fun is lost and basically the last three matches were waste and for teams to do the experimentation.

Indians played remarkably well and looked a closed unit.They shouldn't get carried away with this run away success and instead they need to maintain the tempo and take the game to the next level.I would like to see a similar performace by the same team on a foreign soil where in conditions wont suit them.I always felt India has a greater chance of lifting the cup in Windies as most of the oitches will be low and slow and should suit Indian batsman who more often than not wont use the footwork and instead hit through the line. If indians get the act together they will be a formidable side and they are the clear favourites for the WC2007.

Having watched Dravid marshalling the resources,I would say he is enjoying the stint and is not flattered by the tremendous pressure of captaincy.He is more of Azhar mould where in he wont make flamboyant changes like Fleming but still capable of winning.India's major strength has always been their batting and no wonder India are chasing well these days.Having said that,they need to be careful and need to keep the foot on the ground.Great Job Dravid and Boys!!!

Yuvraj,Raina,Santh,Dhoni have impressed a lot and lets revisit those performances as the days goes on.Consistency is the key to Success and the young guns will be keen to improve on the upcoming series.

Aussies Tour of SA 2006

2006-04-20T23:52:00.000-07:00

South Africa were beaten 3-0 by Aussies in their own backyard and The nature of the drubbing here should provoke some serious soul-searching in the SA Thin Tank and the Management.Proteas have now won just one test in the last 12 matches with Aussies winning 10 and One Draw. The Surprise element is an uncapped tall NSW fast bowler with the bowling action ala Mcgrath.Enter Stuart Clark. A dream debut of 9 wickets in the first test and 11 in the remaining 2 matches. Hats off young lad. Has the Aussies found Mcgrath replacement?

Aussies off to a flyer with all the top order batsman except Langer and Gilchrist notched up centuries.Ponting Scored yet another century in each innings and his third of the Season which is an extraordinary effort and I wonder if this record can ever be broken.Sachin's 35 centuries is definitely under threat and I believe Ponting will score 40 test centuries if he stays fit. He has been playing unbelievably great these days and he certainly matured as a finest batsman of this modern era.

SouthAfrica came close in saving a test and it was undone by one blond leggie by name Warne. This is the best I have seen Warne bowl since 1998(After his shoulder operation).There was absolutely nothing in the pitch though it was a fifth day wicket. Wicket looked as shiny as a temple floor He pretty much landed the ball at will which is by no means an easy task for a wrist spinner.He took six wickets and gave the audience plenty to cheer about.He basically gave an exhibiton of Leg Spin bowling...Be it Wrong-uns/Sliders/Zooters/Topspin/Sidespin/Overspin...It was Warne's Special. He is nearing 700 wickets.

Southafrica will be disappointed with the way things have gone. Kallis is the lone silver lining and he didn't get support from his team. Smith looked to be dreaming of that 434 chase which happened prior to the Test Series.Gibbs was cleaned up in almost all the innings with the ball darting in from good length and this showed Aussies came up with a plan and executed perfectly. The differece between the current side and the previous ones is the intensity level which is pretty much the same throughout the series even if it is a dead rubber.

Martyn probably extended his test career with a telling innings-match saving century in his country's hour of need.It was a delight to watch this West Australian.In company of his statemate Hussey, the duo played with utmost ease.It was good to see Players/Batsman leaving the field after the fielder has taken the catch. Shane Warne and Rudolph did that. This is a good advertising of Cricket as they respect the view of the fieldsmen.

It has to be mentioned that SA basically played with one bowler Ntini. I cant understand what Nel was trying to do. Nel is running the risk of being seen as an off-beat entertainer;I felt livid when Nel was charging towards Gilly after the Glovemen had thrashed 24 runs of One over from Nel. Whats happening mate?I would rather have a bowler in my team who could take wickets than characters who does actings on the field. This was absolute ridiculous!!!

Aussies once again under scored their supremacy Vs the arch rivals who never looked like winning a test match.

Man of the Series :Stuart Clark for his 20 Wickets.

Aussies tour of Bangladesh Ap 2006

2006-04-20T23:40:00.000-07:00

Aussies were not quite at their best and yet they defeated the bottom ranked test team Two-Nil; Ponting led from front in the first test and failed to do the same in the second test where he set the bad example of reviewing the umpire decision which is by no means a sensible decision and clearly against the Spirit of the game. He should consider himself lucky with the fine as I was hoping for a one test ban on Punter and Gilchrist will lead the team at the Gabba in Nov at the Ashes 2006.

From Bouncy tracks in Durban to Dusty bowls in Dhaka, Aussies were chasing the leather at the first day of first test clearly showed they lacked conviction and ideally they should have played a warm up game considering they came from strenuous tour of South Africa. As Dean Jones pointed out it was an arrogant decision and it almost handed them the defeat until Gilly in the first innings avoided the follow on and Ponting in the second innings notched up his 31st century there by joining the select band of people who have scored centuries Vs all test playing countries. This forced the Cricket Australia to review the work load on some of the players and players were forced to join to strengthen the Squad. I feel sorry for the Aussie boys as they played Five Test Matches in less than Five Weeks which is hell a lot.

Mike Hussey has been a player for all seasons. Just entered into Test cricket barely five months ago, he became the 8th fastest cricketer to reach 1000 run mark in just 11 test matches. Believe me, having watched each of his test matches till date and considering his current form, I’m sure he will finish his test cricket with an average in excess of 55 which is a tribute to the batsman ship. To me, He is a complete cricketer next to Inzamam and he is unflustered with Pace, Swing, Seam and Spin.

Even and Sachin and Lara had weaknesses with the raw pace and steep bounce even when they are at the peak of their careers.

Hussey has been a revelation and it is a joy to watch him bat. You put him in any situation and he can adapt.

Dizzy has been making headlines for better part of one week with his unbeaten 201; I always felt he is a tough guy to bowl and by no means he is a normal tail ender. Viewers could refresh back their memories of Oct 2004 Chennai Test between Aus and India, Where in Gillespie hold up one end on fourth morning which allowed Martyn to score his century.

Warne wasn't at his best in the first innings and he bowled too many freebies and this was purely due to the constant workload. He came back strongly and picked up 11 wickets in the next 3 innings. Mcgill showed why he should be in the team with his 16 wickets of the series.

Bangladesh played good cricket and it wasn't enough to topple the aussies.They will definitely improve as they play more matches. They basically need consistency and proper guidance.

Scored 434 and Yet Lost...

2006-03-13T01:21:00.000-08:00

My last night @ Bangalore Turned out to be a Nightmare as the Proteas achieved the Unthinkable of chasing the 434 and came out on top at the Wanderers.

If it was Ponting who took the honours during the first half, it was Gibbs who eventually closed out the match in style with a Sparkling 175. What an Innings under pressure...This is by far the best ODI innings played against the Aussies.

I cant understand the logic of Punter not bowling his slow bowlers when the pitch was bit up and down. Lee was taken to the cleaners and yet Ponting brought Lee in the final over. Lack of imagination by Ponting cost the match. No doubt the Proteas played out of the skin and may never reproduce this mammonth effort. Ponting was clueless and selectors must be hoping for a quick return of Mcgrath and a probable change of mind from Warne. Without Mcgrath-Warne Aussie bowlers looked pedestrian..They were not formidable and this was beautifully exposed by SA batsman at the Bull Ring. Fabulous Performance by Smith and Co.

Also some spare of thougts for ICC?
Where is the game heading to...This particular format seems to be a graveyard for the bowlers. Boundries have been shortened just to ensure more sixers and fours...Bowlers can bowl just one bouncer per over. This is appalling stuff.. As Steve Waugh has said, scoring 1000 runs in a single ODI is not far away and a double hundred by a player is very much on Cards...This is a real shame on format.

Ind Vs England Test#1 Nagpur

2006-03-06T01:23:00.000-08:00

Cricket frenetic Indian fans were given beautiful exhibition of "How to play spin playing" by the England Team who were traditionally poor players of spin bowling. Some one told, 'You could bowl england out with an Orange'. That was not the case in VCA Stadium at Nagpur where the visitors dominated the play for close to 4 days and drew the match.

Even before the toss,everyone was saying Three Nil India. They probably underestimated the England Team. Yes. They didn't have Vaughan(Finest Captain at the moment), Trescothick(Established Opener and a Formidable Batsman) and Jones(Chief exponent in Reverse Swing).
Enter Cook(Got a SOS call from Fletcher when Cook was in Windies),Monty Panesar(Turbon Topped Spinner in English Colours) and Ian Blackwell.

I don't want to be in Flintoff's shoes of captaining the Team with three debutants and Minus Vaughan/Marcus and Simon. Instead this big man Freddie performed admirably on the field.
Won the all important toss and marshalled his resources exceedingly well.

Cook was sensational. It was indeed an old fashioned Cricket yet very effective. The manner in which he handled the spin twins that too in their own backyard was remarkable. He is the second player after Pup Clarke to register his century on Debut in Indian Soil in recent history.
Indian Spinners Jinx of unable to maintain the supremacy over the Left handed Batsman Continues. It was Hayden/Jayasuriya/Jimmy Adams/Andy Flower/Saeed Anwar before and a new entry in the form of Cook.

When England was struggling in the First Innings one man put his hand up and did the Job. Little Durham Dynamo-Paul Collingwood. He is not a flashy cricketer. Still he played his heart out and scored a marvelous century which happened to be his first.

Iam not sure how many bowlers have taken Sachin's Wicket as their First in International Cricket. Young Left armer Monty Panesar did that. He even bettered that with a peach of the delivery to dismiss Kaif who played sensibly and unlucky not to register the century.

Still...The honors went appropriately to Hoggard,who snared 7 wickets in this lifeless pitch with swing and bouce. Great Stuff.

Indians were lucky to save this match. Thanks largely to Kaif-Kumble partnership in First Innings and Jaffer-Dravid in the second. Wasim Jaffer basically played for his place in the team and delivered the goods Job Mate.

I can't understand the Usage of Technology and still produced a Wrong verdict. Kevin Pieterson was clearly out and the third umpire ruled him not out even with the tech support. Atrocious Decision. This is where the ICC should intervene and make good decisions. Had england won, that would have been a crucial decision since KP smashed the bowlers all over the park.

Morale in English Team is on a high and with the second test in Mohali which will favor bowlers England is pretty much inline to cause an Upset to Dravid's Calculations. Can Freddie deliver?

India's Tour of Pakistan 2006 ODI Series

2006-02-21T02:31:00.000-08:00

Pakistan won the first match in Peshawar before being outclassed in the next four games when India made four successful run chases.It was India's 13th consecutive successful run-chase and their 12th victory in their last 16 matches. Yes.The Men in blue is back in business. It is a collective team effort. Thanks to astute leadership of Dravid, career-turning series for Yuvraj, Consistency of Pathan, Brilliance of Dhoni and the re-emergence of our very Own Sachin of 1998.

Pakistan were taken to the cleaners partly because it batted first on all the matches they lost. Poor batting cost Pakistan the one-day series. Inzamam was off-color. Mohammed Yousaf came to the party only in the 5th ODI. No Afridi. Only Younis Khan showed some consistency. On the other hand, Indians were full of energy with all the top six delivered except Kaif. Yuvraj has been in fine nick and one hopes he will carry on atleast till the WC in 2007.

To me, 2007 is a great chance for India winning the WC for simple reason, the pitches will be feather beds and Indians will have absolutely no problem in piling on the big scores. Technical Adjustment is not at all required. Pitches will be similar to the Subcontinent. One can hit through the line of the ball with utmost ease.
Glad to see the youngsters put their hand up in the crunch situations. Suresh Raina,Sreeshant were probably the pick of the lot. The manner in which this Indian Team won the matches was really heartening and Iam sure Dravid will be a Proud Leader.

Fielding is one area where in Pakistan need to lift up enormously. Too many catches have been grassed and outfielding is pretty mediocre. You can't give chances to the likes of Dhoni or Yuvraj. They will just murder you and they showed glimpses in the final ODI. To me, Inzy didn't do anything wrong in the field. He don't have support bowlers who could stem the flow of runs. Rana probably tried bowling too fast and was annihilated by the Indian Top Order. Razzaq was not penetrative enough and Asif was the only silver lining of the Pak Bowling. Akthar's pace would have made a difference but not much though!
Dravid shouldn't be too carried away with this ODI results since all these have come by the team batting second where in the Pitches have eased out and it is a perfect batting strip. Having said, the Men in Blue played with lot of Passion and came out with flying colors.

So..Where does India stand in WC 2007?Yes. They are in prime form now and are primary contenders for the Championship Title. They have to carry forward the winning momentum to the subsequent series and should not allow the complacency factor to creep into the minds.

VB Series 2006 Aus/SA/SL

2006-02-13T17:31:00.000-08:00

Australia were forced to play the 3rd final for the first time since 1993 in the latest concluded VB Series down under. Apart from this, there were no major surprises. Australia yet again emerged as the winners thumping the Asian Lions after being shocked in the first final. Ponting & Co were clinical enough as they clinched the series in style and sent an alarming signal for its competitors as they prepare to win the coveted WC title for the 3rd Successive time in Caribbean .

On the other hand, South-Africans fielded its worst possible lineup because of injuries to key players like Kallis,Kemp, Nel and Ntini and no wonder they failed to make the finals. Smith was pathetic with his bat in his hand and he seems to be more comfortable with a mike in his hand. Bowling lacked penetration and Pollock alone lived up to its expectations. SA played well in patches and seems to have lost the desire to win. Mind you, SA had a great record leading up to the series as they won 21 ODI matches in a row.

Srilanka rided on Jayasuriya in the initial part of the series and was beautifully led by Atapattu. One must not forget the contributions made by Jayawardena,Arnold and Sankakara as they played some top cricket under the stewardship of Tom Moody. Bowling was agile with Bandara being the surprise package. Murali was sent to cleaners in the second final where in he went for 99 runs in his 10 overs.(The most expensive bowling figures in a 10 Over spell). Vaas was good. The problem the Lankans had was in the pitches where there was bounce and seam movement. They played well on surfaces conducive to their strengths. Lot of youngsters should have gained a valuable experience on this tour.

Australia fielded probably its weakest bowling lineup in this series with Mcgrath missing out for most matches due to personal reasons. Lee was superb. So does Bracken. As Punter mentioned Lee is the best ODI bowler at the moment with his ability to take wickets in the new ball and should be preserved as Aussies play too many matches these days. I feel this VB series format is too lengthy and have to be cut short. Mike Hussey has been a revelation this summer and he came up with umpteen number of Super-Human efforts in this series as well. Symonds was brilliant as well and his 151 in the second final is probably one of the best ODI innings played under pressure in Australia. Glad to see that Gilchrist is back to his dominant best as he displayed throughout the tournament as he emerged as the Top Run Scorer in the Series. Katich played with lot of self belief and probably booked his seat to 2007 WC ahead of Jacques. Another noticeable aspect of Australia in the recent past is the Fielding. They took some absolute blinders and they also put down some dollies. Fielding to me is one area where the Aussies has let them down. It hasn't proved costly this series but did prove costly in Ashes though. I prefer to have a fielding coach besides Bowling Coach.

Some Strange reactions from the Australian Public this time around is absolutely unacceptable. Be it the racial outburst on the South-African's or targeting murali has crossed the limits and ICC should intervene and solve this. Atrocious behavior by the spectators is doing more harm to the game than good. I feel Ponting and Co should come out and help the Public to understand the Values of this Gentleman Game. If this trend continues, Cricket will be poorer.

India's Tour of Pakistan- Test Series 2006

2006-02-02T01:34:00.000-08:00

Lack of application by the batsmen, poor captaincy and lack of self belief were all but evident at the Karachi where the Indians were completely humiliated by its neighbor Pakistan in the three test series. After all the talks of Batsman's Paradise in the previous encounters at Faislabad and Lahore, Indians were greeted by a Green Top at Karachi. They did everything right but only for the first half an hour. Pathan was swinging the ball, Zaheer was back to his best, Singh was sharpish. At 39/6, India had Pakistan on the Mat and should have decimated them. Instead they allowed the game to drift away. I'm not taking away the credit which the batsman earned. They played remarkably well under pressure. Dravid was clue less on his next move. He had only Plan A and when it failed he don't have any backup options. He literally waited for Kamal/Razzaq/Akhtar to make a mistake.

To me, Indians made a brutal mistake of not playing a regular opener and should have played Agarkar just to diminish the sameness in the bowling department. They played all Leftarm quicks and they don't have an offspinner to exploit the rough created by the bowlers. Interesting? Why was Singh not called to open the bowling when the conditions did suit swing bowling. I'm always critical of Captains who give importance to some sentiments. You have to play according to the situation and not based on any theory. Why was Ganguly given the extended spell when Younis/Yousaf came together in Second Innings. Ideally Dravid should have brought Pathan just to play the Mind game. Kumble virtually bowled in one end all day. Is this a smart captaincy? Can't understand what Greg was doing in the balcony when things were going horribly wrong in the middle.

Pathetic to see Laxman opening the innings with Dravid. If that is the case, Shewag should not have been sent one down when first wicket went down immediately. Atrocious team think-tank. Laxman got brute of the delivery in both innings and can be forgiven. The rest, it is a kind of Procession. They didn't bat for 120 overs in two combined innings. On the other hand, it was smart move by Younis to set attacking field even the runs were flowing. Asif was the difference between the two sides as rightly acknowledged by Dravid. He is not going to break your skull or crash your toes. He bowls ala-Mcgrath. He is an exciting prospect provided the team uses him well. Kudos to Woolmer and Co for the manner in which they came out all guns blazing when chips were down.
Kamran Akmal along with Sangakkara is easily the best keeper at the moment. I rate him higher than Gilchrist on his current form.

Younis Khan is the most underrated batsman in the Asian Subcontinent may be on par with Aravinda-Desilva. He is not flashy yet he scores the runs. He may not be elegant like Yousaf nor he has a great footwork of Inzamam. It is not easy to score 500+ runs in a three test series on two occasions. Indeed it is a great achievement and he rightly deserved the Man of the Series award.

I really can't understand the logic of selectors picking up a team for the series where in atleast 4 players didn't do anything on the field except playing a waterboy role. I'm furious at the omission of Ganguly from ODI team and to me he was the best player in the third match with both bat and ball. Ganguly on his day can win ODI matches. He is too good a player to miss out.

SA Tour of Australia 2005-06

2006-01-17T04:39:00.000-08:00

Aussies were tested in their own backyard perhaps for the first time since NZ beautifully led by Stephen Flemming. As always Aussies scored points when it really mattered and trounced the South-African's 2-0 in the recently concluded three test series.

It was Ponting at his very best. What a treat to watch when this Tasmanian in full flow. He averages close to 70 since 2002. To me, he is some one who is likely to challenge the Max Centuries scored by Sachin(for the time being) and perhaps might end his career as Highest Run Getter in the history of test cricket. His greatest asset is the ability to pick the length of the ball. He is the best puller the game has ever seen and he is shade above the WI great Gorden Greenidge.

Hussey has been a revelation this Summer. Buoy..What a Cricketer?. Waited for close to 12 years to make his Debut, he is determined not to lose his place. Brad Hodge helped himself with a double century on a flattest of track at the WACA. I felt Ponting waited too long to make a declaration. Haydo is back with a bang by scoring 5 centuries in 7 test matches this summer. Matt Hayden has just scored 24 centuries in the last 5 years...

I'm always critical of the South Africans Captaincy right from Wessels to Cronje to Pollock to Smith. They have their own formula and set very conventional fields. In a sense they follow the old books of Cricket. They primarily play a waiting game for the batsman to make a mistake. I wasn't convinced with the Strategy adopted by Smith when Mcgrath joined Hussey. He should have nailed the Aussies at that time. Hussey played an amazing innings and took the game away from the Proteas.This probably was the defining moment. You can't play such a game Vs the Aussies. They will whack you all over the place and this is what they precisely did.

One good thing about the Series was the Sportive declaration by Smith which allowed the Aussies to win convincingly. You can't win the match in Sydney with Botha as your front line spinner. I'm sorry. Some Positives for the Proteas is the performance of Rudolph and Prince. Both these young southpaw's batted wonderfully in this alien conditions and has good potential.

Sad to see that Glenn Mcgrath is not picking wickets at will. This is his worst series since his debut. He is not hitting the crease as hard as he would have liked. He is not a genuine match winner these days and may be he is carrying a niggle. Hope he will put his best foot forward when he tours SA. Brett was fantastic and is a much improved bowler since the ashes. Warney did his bit as well.

Two Finest Innings of the Series Jacques Rudolph and Mike Hussey(With Mcgrath)
Catch of the Series Ponting took an absolute blinder at Silly Point.
Ball of the Series..Kallis bowled by a cracker by Lee that crashed into his middle stump.

Super Series Aus Vs World XI - Oct 2005 One Off Test at SCG

2005-10-18T14:30:00.000-07:00

Aussies crushed the cream of world cricket starts at SCG to win the one off Super Series Test Match. This was just a one way traffic.!! I'm afraid this is the sad advertisement for the future Super Series.

It wouldn't take a genius to work out World XI 's shortcomings. Team was chosen more on reputation and less on form. The timing was poor. South Africa and Pakistan haven't played competitive Cricket for close to 4 months. It doesn't matter if you had 100 nets..What matters is the time in the middle. Ask Inzy if you have any doubts:-) All the World XI starts should be feeling as if they live in wrong planet at present!!

Everyone was hoping for Lara's Majesty, Shewag's Virtuoso demolition,Dravid's grace, Inzamam's measured classicism. This wasn't the case to be.Everybody wanted this star studded line up to thump the Aussie bowlers to all parts of the ground. Instead, Lara, Flintoff, Kallis, et al, got humiliated in front a global audience of millions, and such contests are of little or no use to Australia. No one stood up from the world XI team. It was just procession from the batsman. Be it Spinners or Pace Bowlers they , have been beaten fair and square; Another notable aspect is the manner in which they lost. No sign of improvement could be detected in the work of the planet's leading players as they went down without a whimper in the previous three ODI's and at the SCG this is no different. Only thing is they have batted 50 overs for the first time in 5 completed innings.

Matt Hayden did in style this time around at the SCG. What a conversion rate this bloke is having. 22 centuries in the last 4 years is a monumental achievement. Can he score 1000+ runs yet again, to add his 1000+ in his four previous years. It will be touch and go.... Shane Warne has already taken a walloping 67 tickets this year alone. Can he take the remaining 33 wickets to become the first bowler ever to have taken 100 wickets in a calendar year. He has five test matches to play before this year end. Special congrats to Mcgrath for taking his tally of wickets to 520+ above Walsh.

Australia is fortunate to have two of the finest bowlers ever to have graced the cricketing field. One arguably the most finest fast bowler of his generation.
Another has a personal history of beaches, blondes, beer, bookies and even banned diuretics still capable of turning things around with his leggie's when he is inside the field with a baggy green cap and a red cherry in his hand. Glenn Mcgrath and Shane Warne. As Sachin pointed out, Warne is a gift from the god to cricket and game deserves to be knighted for his services to cricket. Perhaps he will be.!!!

Hope the Super Series concept doesn't face a quick and ugly death after a disappointing performance by the bunch of lads chosen from Seven Countries.

Lots of soul searching for the ICC officials and the ICC Team Selectors....!!!

Kudos to Aussies!!!

Super Series Aus Vs World XI - Oct 2005 ODI#2 and 3

2005-10-10T19:30:00.000-07:00

Aussies supremacy over the World XI continues as they annihilated the Star Studded line up for the second time in three days. It was a clinical exhibition of batting followed up with improved bowling and agile fielding.
Adam Gilchrist was in sublime form as he cruised to the fastest century by an Australian in Australia and helped the Aussies Seize this Super Series.
The manner in which he came out with all guns blazing was tremendous. This is the Gilly the World has seen before. It was an extraordinary innings and was scored against the finest bowlers from all parts of the World. The crunching square cut of Freddie, the thundering pull of Akthar, the lofted hit of Murali all sailed into the stands. It was Gilly at his best. Freddie came for some serious punishment from this Master Glove Man who is currently ranked No#1 player in the world in ODI rankings. The burly Lancashire Lad wasn't able to trouble his Ashes bunny as there was no swing and lateral movement since the game was played in closed roof. Gilly and his new partner katich gave Aussies a launching pad and it was further enhanced by Punter-Marto Partnership in the end.
World XI bowlers were clueless at one stage and it appeared Pollock was waiting for the batsman to make mistake. Too many freebies were given and generally the bowlers sprayed all over the park and made it difficult for Pollock to set the field. You can't set field for bad bowling Mate:-)
Murali did well and it was refreshing to see each time Murali and Umpire Hair shook hands and smiling. Vettori came for some stick as well. All the other bowlers looked pedestrian and Akthar to me had let his side down.
Chase began well for the World XI as the Delhi Dynamo started with sparkling cover drives and it was one shot too many as he was dismissed by Lee.
Then the treat began. Gayle was showing his Calypso Magic while the Srilankan David Gower- Sangakara thrilled the crowd with sweet timing on either side of the wicket. Punter with his thinking cap on brought Watson and he obliged his skipper with the wicket of Gayle. Lara/Kallis came and went. Dravid/Freddie did a repairing act for a while before Freddie was out to the NSW Left armer Nathan Bracken who has earlier dismissed Lara, Then it was just a formality as KP/Pollock did a swing at the ball and gave catches to the Outfielders. Nice to See young Clark bowled well in his debut game. The pick of the bowlers to me is Nathan Bracken, who could become a strike force for the Ausses in the next World Cup.
It was bit disappointing that the World XI lost and it was even more disappointing the manner in which they lost. They had lost the match in the 25th over when Gilly was smashing them to all park with utmost ease. Great Players not necessarily make a Great Team. This is an ample example for that.
Can the Aussies complete the Clean Sweep on Sunday:- ) That is pretty much on cards to me Unless Lara produces something special.!!!

Aussies Won the Third match as well as they thumped the Stars by 150+ runs and bowled them over with more than 130 deliveries to spare.

Hussey and Watson took the batting honours while Brett Lee took the bowling credits,as the Aussies gave the ICC Selectors something to think about.

Sad that ICC had picked the XI based on reputation and ideally they should have picked them on form which the Aussie Selectors did and came out on top.
Unless future limited-overs teams are picked on form, not reputation, the Super Series concept faces a quick and ugly death.

Super Series Aus Vs World XI - Oct 2005 ODI#1

2005-10-05T19:30:00.000-07:00

The Canary Yellow Brigade led by Ponting, crushed the cream of world cricket stars at Telstra Dome by 93 runs. Ponting did what he was not able to-do in England. (ie) Win the Toss and Bat First. It was a collective effort by the top order barring Martyn and Clarke helped the Aussies posting a fighting total.World is still getting used to live without Bevan these days,; I can promise we have someone who is as close as Michael Bevan in the form of Mike Hussey.
Hussey played with great common sense and precisely did what we have seen from Bevan before.

The second half was a big disappointment. Four of the world's hottest batsman Viz Lara/Kallis/Dravid/Pietersen scored 14 runs between them epitomizes the picture. Good innings by Sangakara at the top and Freddie in the middle order wasn't enough for this star studded lineup to beat the World Champions.

Aussies fielding woes continues. Lee/Katich and Watson dropped absolute dollies. Somehow they managed to pluck the way back in through military medium pace of Watson and Bracken. Symonds did his bit as well. On the other hand it was refreshing to see the fielding of the World XI with Lara took two marvellous catches in the outfield. Mind you he is 36. I haven't seen Shoaib running like a hare in the deep when ever he played for his National Team. Today he was too good and his commitment can never be questioned. Vettori bowled his heart out along with Murali.and put the breaks on the Aussie lineup.

I'm always critical of the Bowlers being Captains. This time it is no different. I wasn't quite impressed with the Way Pollock handled the spinners. When you have two of the finest spinners in your team at your disposal, he should have gone for the kill. Instead he set defensive fields and allowed the Hussey/Symonds partnership to flourish. Vettori was introduced not earlier than 30th Over. I felt World XI lacked some one with the caliber of Flemming or Vaughan for the Captaincy. Another notable aspect is none of the World XI players are exceptional fielders. They lacked some one in the form of Collingwood/Gibbs. They are never good runners between the wickets either. This might harm them a bit in the games to come.

On the other end, it was the surprise package of Shane Watson who took the honors. He has added a new dimension to this Aussie lineup which they lacked in the Ashes.It was a clinical dissection of an excellent World XI batting line-up by the hostile and penetrative Aussie seamers. Having said that, you just take Mcgrath out of the attack, Aussies are indeed vulnerable. This can be seen on Friday when Ponting announced Glenn wont be playing the second match since he is having some niggle. I could sense the mood of the World XI camp.

I must admit there is a big hole in the World XI though they have top players from Seven Test Playing Nations. Just because of one elbow, one genius has left the plane to Melbourne and instead he is in the Nets at Mumbai. We miss you Sachin. Wish you a Speedy Recovery.

It's a shame that we may not see Sachin and Lara batting together Vs the likes of Warney and Mcgrath. Can we have a similar tournament once the elbow heals?

Ashes Decider-Final Test - Oval

2005-09-12T23:30:00.000-07:00

Australia's influence on world cricket everyone thought will likely to be further enhanced in this Ashes Series. It wasn't the case. As they say, Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties. Aussies were annihilated perhaps for the first time ever since I have started watching Cricket. Kudos to England for their Sensational Series Win after being humiliated by the Aussies at Lords. It was a Series which can never be replayed again. Just Marvellous Series. One of the ALL Time Great Series.

It was an embarrassing performance by a much-feted batting line-up of the Australians. They have made close to 80 centuries in the longer versions of the game and they came up with a cropper of a performance which you normally don't expect from this Aussies. Mind you they came up with top class bowling with the likes of Harmisson/Hoggard/Jones and Flintoff. These four can never be compared with the likes of Garner/Holding/Marshall/Patterson but they are equally deadly.

Too much was blown out of proportion I should say. Be it the Substitutes or the Reverse Swing or Poor Decisions against the Aussies. Well. Aussies were beaten fair and Square.They never played like the World Champions and never ever dominated the last 4 test matches and as Warne pointed out, they deserve to lose. It was stunning exhibition of batting from the England Team where in Top order players contributed in almost all Test matches. Andrew Strauss took the honours though with his twin hundred in the series.

The Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath hoodoo and strong middle order - all major problems for England in the past decade of Ashes battles were all forgotten all of a sudden. Duncan Fletcher had done his ground work and it was perfectly executed by Michael Vaughan. It was quite evident that Australia missed the controlling and calming effect of McGrath in two test matches and ironically both the test matches Poms Won. I'm pretty sure Pidge was rushed back for the final test and he was never 100% fit. This is a supreme example where in Pressure Caught up with Aussies.

England batted first in the last four testmatches where in the conditions ideally suited the batting team. It was Punter's costly miss when he invited the Poms to bat at Edgbaston. Aussies never really recovered from that. Jason Gillespie's donkey drops, Michael Kasprowicz's no-balls, Brett Lee's half-trackers and Glenn McGrath's injuries are at the very heart of Australia's loss in this Ashes. This fearsome foursome came for some serious punishment. The Only Silver lining came from the man who once only wanted to be an Australian football star became the top wicket-taker in the 127-year history of Test cricket and took his tally to 40 Wickets in 5 test matches . It was an incredible display of spin bowling. The Greatest Spinner ever lived. Hats of to Shane Keith Warne.

Where was Adam Gilchrist?Did he really play in this Ashes..?Well..This says it all. Highest Score of just 49 and dropped half a dozen catches atleast :- this is the series Gilly Would love to forget. Barring Langer and to lesser extent Hayden and Ponting, none of the Aussie batsman never really threatened. Can you imagine Aussies never managed to exceed 400 runs in an innings for 10 successive innings and only Three Centuries in the entire Ashes Series by the batsman from Down under.

Andrew Flintoff will go down in history as one of the true gladiators and champions of the game of cricket. What a Cricketer. He hardly put a foot wrong. He is a true ambassador for this Gentlemen Sport. The scene where in he consoles Lee in the Middle of the Pitch after a heart stopping two run win is still etched in memory. It was a collective effort by the England team that did the trick. No Individual Brilliance barring KP's match/series saving 158 at the Oval.

Australia deserve to be admired for their regular refusal to die in this series, but On current form England is the No 1 team in the World. No two ways about it.
Can the Aussies regroup and will they try to retain the Ashes. Well...We have to wait for next 15 months and I'm hoping they Will, Provided they do some repairing work in the long and aging team.

2005 - Ashes Test#2- EDBASTON

2005-08-08T10:45:00.000-07:00

Brett Lee was asked.. Did it hurt?When pointed to his elbow and he replied. Yes. It still hurts...He was pointing to his chest...That sums up the gripping Test Match. I don't think we have seen a remarkable test match like this one. What a Match.....I was almost in tears when the young Geraint Jones punched his fists when Billy Bowden's dreaded finger went up. This is Test Cricket at its very best. The margin of victory was just two runs...Read again....Yes...TWO RUNS.

I have seen closer matches than this. I was barely 8 when Shastri was left stranded in the hot-humid and energy sapping conditions at Chennai. I was 15 when Mcdermott edged the rising delivery from Walsh to Junior Murray at the Adelaide Oval..All those are still etched in my memory. I also had the prievlage of watching the epic 1996 semifinal at Mohali and followed up with Allan Donald's suicidal run out at WC 1999 in England. The list goes on and on.
But none gets better than this one. Kasprowick C Jones B Harmisson. Now the ASHES is alive for the first time in a Decade.

Earlier, Australia were given a glimpse of a McGrath-less future when the Poms piled on a mammoth 400+ runs in a day Vs the Aussies. It was largely due to poor bowling and horrible field placement. Aussies chased as if they have to send each ball into the Orbit and in the process lost the crucial momentum and conceded a handy lead. Warne showed why he was chosen as one of the 5 great cricketers of the Century . It was his 100th wicket in England. It came in the same way as was the first. It was a vicious spinner to Gatting. That was voted as the ball of the century. He came up with another one to Strauss this time around. Just Sensational. Shane Warne at his very best. He is just one shy of a magical 600 Wickets.
To me, the turning point was the last wicket stand between Jones and Flintoff. Flintoff was launching the missiles to the grand stands at will. The other aspect was the inability of the Aussie top order to play the ball on merit. Believe me the pitch does not contain any demons . Barring Ponting who got a brute of a delivery, the rest are all due to lack of common sense. In short Brainless Cricket from the World Champions.

Hats off to Warney,Lee and Kasper for putting up a brave shown- the true example of the Aussie grit and unshakeable self belief. In the end, that was not enough to win the game. Flintoff bowled with lot of Venom so too White West-Indian Harmisson. Kudos to England.

Defeat for Australia is not the end of the world but certainly could be the end of their decade long dominance.If anyone doubted how good this game can be, their queries have been answered in emphatic style by the spirited Michael Vaughan's men at Edbaston. We are in for a gripping contest at Old Trafford and we will come to know shortly whether Ricky Ponting would be the first man to forfeit the urn since 1989. ?

2005 First Ashes Test - LORDS

2005-07-24T18:05:00.000-07:00

Two of the finest bowlers of the modern era has virtually decimated the hopes of Barmy Army winning the Ashes for the first time since 1989. Poms were comprehensively beaten at the Mecca of Cricket, Lords. Glen Pigeon Mcgrath and Shane Hollywood Warne were the architects of this yet another famous win at Lords. England has never beaten Aussies in any form of the game at Lords.

However Warney's agony at the lords continues. The blond leggie may have played his last Test Match and he has never taken 5 wickets in an innings at Lords. While Mcgrath's dream run at the Lords continues. Pidge's best test figures had come at this very ground and now snared his 500th Wicket at Lords. Glenn bulldozed through the top order – aided by some stunning catches in the slips.

England might have shot themselves in foot even before the match began; I would certainly have played Thorpe and the sensational KP together and would have certainly dropped Giles. England would rue the N number of muffed chances and it proved too costly in the end...Michael Clarke was dropped early when the Aussies were building up the lead in the second innings. On the other hand the Aussies Ground Fielding was razor sharp and pick of the lot was the catch taken by Marto; Damien Martyn cling on to Pieterson's smear was a real gem.
Too much has been said about KP. I had seen this bloke in the South-African ODI series. Now he seems to be good in the longer version of the game. His hand-eye coordination is out of the ordinary; precisely why bowlers dread operating to the South-African Born Englishmen. The Flat batted six of Mcgrath was just the short of the match. Rest of the Poms Batsman were clueless Vs the precision of Mcgrath and accuracy of Warney. It was a meek surrender. It wouldn't take a genius to work out England's shortcomings. It was an appalling display of batting,bowling and fielding. Barring the White Westindian Harmisson, England bowlers sprayed the ball all over the park.

I was extremely disappointed that Dizzy was preferred over Kasper. Dizzy by his own standards hasn't been bowling all that well and Kasper must be utterly disappointed. Nice to see Brett steaming in and sending the thunderbolts. It was heartening to see young Pup is back with some runs. The NSW batsman was having a poor run with the bat before this series and now he seems to be back in rhythm. Katich played with lot of commonsense and this southpaw is the linchpin of the Aussie middle order.

England haven't merely lost a Test in Lords; they have been crushed by opponents who have been a few steps ahead of them. Australians have batted smarter, bowled smarter and set smarter fields.

It was one of the finest test matches in the recent times. Who said Test Cricket is boring?Test cricket is alive and alive Very Much.
Hope to see a better performance from Vaughan himself plus rest of his team in the next test.

Ind Vs Pak ODI Series 2005

2005-04-20T21:56:00.000-07:00

Indians got absolute Pounding from the determined Inzy's Boys. Kudos to Pakistan for their splendid come back from behind win in the ODI Series. Almost every one had written them off as the inexperienced side ever to tour and hinted that they lack quality bowlers..Inzy and his boys proved everyone wrong.Hats off to this Team who have shown great character and came out on top in the end.Everything Started at Bangalore. India haven't merely lost a Test in Bangalore; they have been crushed by opponents who have been a few steps ahead of them.
Inzy's Men have batted smarter, bowled smarter and set smarter fields.

Inzamam played a telling innings in his country's hour of need. Then it's Afridi's Turn. Shahid Afridi delivered the Knock out punch. A thumping square cut, two drives through the covers, a straight drive and a pull had bowler checking his watch for the drinks break. You don't often see Kumble being smashed all over the park. What an Innings...Ma....ma...Mia....One of the finest hitting ever seen in the history of ODI. I'm fortunate to witness some of the best innings...Viz....Adam Gilchrist's Double Hundred at the Wanderers, Nathan Astle Power Hitting Vs the Poms in NZ(Fastest Double Century in Test), Lara's Match Winning Innings Vs the Aussies in Bridgetown when he scored those 70 odd runs with Walsh and Ambrose, Sachin's 155 Vs Mark Taylor's Aussies at Chennai.....Saeed Anwar's 194 at Chennai or Sanath Jayasury'a 189 at Sharjah....But Afridi's was Special. Just a short arm Jab went sailed into the crowd....Forward Push went some 20 rows back in the grand stand...It was Hitting at its best. His hand-eye coordination is out of the ordinary; precisely why bowlers dread operating to this Pakistani.
I'm sure Viv Richards would have been proud off.. It was not Afridi alone. It was a collective team effort with the likes of Youhana,Malik and Butt chipped in with useful contributions.

For Bowling, One Man stood up and got all the accolades. Rana Naveed.He may not bowl at 140 and may not rattle the Indian batting line up with blistering Pace...However his most potent weapon was moving the ball on the air and off the pitch..Tremendous Wrist Position and he moved the ball in both ways with utmost ease...Hats off Young Man. He reminds me of Jason Gillespie with fantastic control. Taking 15 Wickets in a 6 match series and that too on a wicket which is as shiny as a temple floor is a sensational effort and he deserved the Man of the Series Award.Time and again he bulldozed through the top order aided by some stunning catches.

There's Indian batting – repeatedly trumpeted in the last few seasons as being the best line-up in the world. "Best", we say, and we don't have a reliable middle order. If you take Dravid out, other players haven't made any impact in this series. No Wonder India lost 8 times to its arch rivals in the last 10 games. Our critics, or rather publicists, are such that Yuvraj is considered an absolutely brilliant fielder, a veritable Jonty Rhodes II. Nobody ever notes the number of times that Yuvraj tumbles and falls as he reaches for the ball, invariably getting a grip on it only at the second or third attempt.Wot about his batting?Itz high time the selectors take the form into consideration while selecting the team rather than the past records. Sachin Tendulkar scored his 38th ODI Century and his 72nd International Century. Alright..What about his consistency. He scored five single digit scores in his last 6 innings sounding more like a PIN number than a batting scorecard. Shewag....Too much has been said about him.What about his scores in ODI. Barring the first two matches,nothing substantial from this opener.

I'm sorry for Dada...He deserved this punishment. It is the responsibility of the captain to bowl the 50 overs in the stipulated time. Mistakes are common and can be made....But never can be repeated..Apart from that , at the crease he felt like a sitting duck. It's better to be in the hotel room than in the middle.

Victories in India are precious and to win the series so emphatically after losing the first 2 matches will further buoy an already buoyant Bob Woolmer and his Boys. Good Luck Pakistan Cricket Team.

Ind Vs Pak Second Test 2005

2005-03-23T18:30:00.000-08:00

Indians came out on top at the Eden Gardens and thanks mainly to the Stupendous Twin Centuries by None other than Rahul Dravid and a sensational bowling performance by Anil Kumble. It was all Pakistan till the end of the Second Day when Younis and Youhana smashed unbeaten centuries.. It was a different story in the next morning.. To me, the turning point was the Third Day when the Pakistan players failed to capitalize on building the first innings total and played some pretty ordinary shots and it was all over.

Dravid's dream run continues and scored Centuries in each innings of a Test Match for the Second time. What a way to do it infront of large fans at the Eden Gardens,Kolkatta. Bengal Tiger came and went, in both the innings and its high time the selectors drop Ganguly for the sake of the Team. Its time for the sentiment to subside and inject young blood into the team. Kaif is a better Test player than Yuvraj and he is my man to replace the Skipper. Bowling lacks penetration barring Kumble who bowled like a genius and I presume he will end up with 600 Wickets. Handy innings by TN wicket keeper Kaarthick.Its disappointing to see Laxman missing out time and again. May be he needs Aussies to fire him up?

Its the Pakistan batters that let the team down. Inzy played a wreckless shot when the team was in a drivers seat. The scores of the lower order batsman looked more or less like a PIN Number. I guess lot of changes will be made in the Pakistan Camp and they have to seriously address the lack of quality opening bowler. Sami bowled well but only in patches. I would prefer to have the tall lanky spinner Arshad Khan in place of the left arm seamer and may play Rana in place of Sami.

Lets hope for a cracker of a contest in Bangalore and this is the first time India play Pakistan in a Test match since 1986. It was incidentally Gavaskar's Last test innings where he made a classy 96 under tough conditions.

Can Inzy do what Imran did at Bangalore, by winning a Test ? I very much doubt.

Can Sachin emulate his idol Gavaskar in the list of century makers?

Elsewhere

Aussies might be cursing themselves for playing far too long in the First innings which eventually cost the match Vs the Kiwis. Leave alone the Rain interruptions. The pitch was ideal for the Seam bowling and I would certainly have declared around 475+. Kudos to Kasper for getting his 100th Wicket and the first Queenslander after Mcdermott to achieve this landmark. It' all Adam Gilchrist yet again. He gave absolute pounding to the Kiwi bowlers and in the process scored his 15th Century and added 200+ runs with his WA Statemate Marto who is in Sublime form. Only headache for the Aussies is the lack of runs from Young Pup. Clarke hasn't scored too many in the last 5 test matches or so and may be feeling the pressure of Test Cricket. I'm hoping for the improved batting performance from the Kiwis and especially from his Captain.

Ind Vs Pak First Test

2005-03-15T17:30:00.000-08:00

Sourav and his boys were left soul searching after the drawn test at Mohali. Indians had Pakistan reeling at 10/3 in the second innings with 190+ runs adrift and they left the determined Pakistanis off the hook. No doubt Inzy played one of the finest innings by a visiting team captain under pressure. Indians lacked the killer instinct and it was quite evident when the resolute Razzaq and the dynamic Kamal took the game away from the scruff of the neck. Sourav had no answer.

Indian bowlers barring Balaji, bowled all over the place. It is okay for a Duleep Trophy 5th day but certainly not for the absorbing Test Match in Intl arena. Zaheer who promised so much with his yorkers when he began his career ran out of steam while Pathan failed to swing the ball when the conditions did suit his style. Kumble bowled well without any luck. All in all it was a good test match and the home team should have nailed the visitors after having been on top for the better part of four days.

Sachin Tendulkar has played over 100 test matches and would probably end up scoring 100 International Centuries...Having said that, he is no Adam Gilchrist or Brian Lara. Too much was said about the Walk-you-hit. He was clearly caught in the shortleg off Kaneria and he got away from that. Sachin, Can you please set a shining example by taking the ownership of Walk-when-you-hit?

No need to press the panic button. Sourav hasn't done any substantial contribution from his end as a Player. He needs to contribute.I don't want some one to be in the team just because he is a Captain. This was the same situation when Poms were lead by Hussain. Let the best player be the Captain. Dravid is my Man. I would still say Indians are the favorites primarily based on the composition of the Team . Pakistanis are a young and inexperienced side, but they have the mental resolve to topple even the best of the Team. They have probably the weakest bowling line-up ever to have toured India.

Else Where,

The Trans-Tasman rival continues and its all One-Way Traffic....NZ got absolute pounding in the ODI series where they were comprehensively beaten 5-0 suffered yet another defeat at the Jade Stadium in Christchurch. Pigeon and Warney were the Chief wicket takers. Sad to see NZ buckle under pressure. Great amount of praise has to be given to Gilly-Katich Partnership, where in they took the game away from the Opposition. Yet again, Aussies won the match from a no where situation and showed the cricketing world why they are the World's Best.

Nz Vs Aussies Nov 2004

2004-11-29T18:30:00.000-08:00

Matt Hayden had done it again. The first player to score over 1000 runs in a calendar year for 4 consecutive years...This is sensational stuff...He hasn't scored a century for a while now but the twin fifties at the Adelaide oval will do him a world of good. It's all Australia at the Adelaide Oval. Langer is in unique club of scoring 3 double centuries in Australia in 3 different venues..MCG,SCG and Now at Adelaide. and Vs 3 different oppositions. He is in supreme form at the moment. Having said that Kiwi's bowled really well. I was fortunate to witness Flemming's captaincy(Perhaps his last in Australia). He hadn't done anything wrong. The opponents were too good. He hasn't won a Test Match Vs Australia...But the manner in which he operates from first slip is impeccable. James Franklin went for four fours in the second over of a test match. Flemming was unflustered. He hardly showed any emotions. He didn't run from Slip to bowlers run up and ignite the fire. He hardly moved a muscle. It requires a brave man to hide the emotions. Stephen Certainly is tough.!! Imagine the same thing in India...Itz worth to recall one particular incident Ind Vs SL at Premadasa. Srinath got absolute pounding from Gunawardhene. Ganguly was screaming at his premier fast bowler from midoff. How can you scream at his strike bowler? Flemming doesn't have the luxury of having a tearaway fast bowler or a swing bowler. He has pretty ordinary blokes and yet he manages to come out on top more often than not....Certainly not Vs Australia though...

Having posted a big total, and took the Kiwi top-order Aussies should have gone for the kill...Time and again they have allowed the game to drift away. Mcgrath is almost near to his best. World is getting used to see the Aussies not enforcing the follow on. Quite a strange thing. Ideally I would have nailed them.

Scoring 140 odd runs in 3 hours is very unusual. Warne took his 550th Wicket. Kudos to the blonde leggie from Victoria. Australia all set to wrap up the series tomorrow unless weather interferes. One of the main problems for the kiwi's is the poor form of Richardson at the top. To me, Astle is playing one place too low. I would love to promote Astle at 4 and Styris at 5. Vettori was the standout bowler for the Kiwi's. The difference between the rest and best is pretty large. Australia are virtually unstoppable. Can the Pakistan do something sensataional. Can Akthar deliver the goods this time around? Wait and See.

Elsewhere..

Indians did well to come out on top Vs Proteas at the Eden Gardens. Kallis played a gem of an innings and got an absolute rip snorter of a delivery from Ganguly..Sad end to a great innings. Rudolph played a role almost similar to the one played by Katich some 3 weeks ago. He held firm at one end. None of the Proteas were comfortable Vs the left arm seamers and surprisingly the Seamers took the bulk of the wickets...Infact 7 in all. Kumble needs 3 wickets to surpass legendary Kapil. Stand and Deliver-Shewag unleashed against the South-African's bowlers. The run rate is pretty good and Indians ideally looks to score 500+ runs. Can the SA come back? I very much doubt and It's Advantage India.!!

Proteas Tour of India Nov 2004

2004-11-25T16:30:00.000-08:00

South-African's will be extremely pleased the way they came back in this Dead Test at Kanpur. The Indian Spinners must be cursing themselves for their poor performance. Proteas did which the mighty Aussies fail to do...Scoring 500+ runs in the first innings. It was a no mean effort.. Andrew entered into the Hall of Fame. It was a sensational innings by this so called utility cricketer. Hall exploded into the International Circuit in the ODI series held at Melbourne Closed Roof Stadium.He played then a marvellous cameo and bowled a fantastic tight over to Bevan and Waugh and even worked on the Wicket Keeping duties.

This is perhaps the least experienced SA team ever to have toured. Initially it looked a pretty ordinary team without the services of Kirsten,Cullinan,Donald,Boucher,Rhodes and Gibbs. Now they have some promising young players who can actually play at the highest level. I was extremely impressed with the debutant De-Bryan. Ray Jennings the proteas coach was superb. Greame Smith marshalled his resources very nicely. At times Indian bowling looked pedestrian. Kumble took 6 wickets. Alright.....He bowled lot many overs and no wonder he took the bulk of the wickets..Again the Sardar failed to live up to his expectations. He looked more of a club bowler..Let your performance speaks young man!!!

Sachin Tendulkar disappointed yet again. This is his 11th single digit score in the last 15 test matches. He got a peach of a delivery from Hall which nipped back a fraction before uprooting his middle stump. You don't often see the maestro playing across the line. Laxman seems to have lost his magical touch. May be he needs to be moved up in the batting order. Shewag decimated the inexperienced bowling attack. He was well supported by Ghambir who was unlucky to miss out his century.

Indian spinners were clearly off target. The pitch assisted them well and they failed to exploit those..It was a spirited batting performance by the South-African's and they definitely have a psychological advantage over the Indians.

Elsewhere

Kiwis were annihilated at the Gabba by the Aussies. Mcgrath is busy signing contracts with the various bat manufactures for his Maiden Fifty. This pretty much sums up the day for NZ. I was privileged to watch one of the finest innings by a promising young player Clarke...Flemming was fabulous with his fielding. But the bowlers failed to bowl to his skippers plan...Azhar once said "You can't set field for bad bowling". Gilly notched up yet another century at the Gabba.
Warne bowled well in the second innings and took care of the NZ lower order. Earlier Mcgrath broke the Kiwi Top order. Lot of debate is going on To Walk or Not-To Walk...There was a mild altercation between Mcmillan and Gilchirst when the former had clearly edged to the Keeper. Gilchirst was overly animated.

Iam pretty confident of Kiwi's bouncing back and give the Aussies a run for the money. Without ShaneBond and Darell Tuffey, Kiwi's are understandably struggling. It's time for the batters to put a big score. I'm hoping the short boundaries at the Adelaide Oval will suit Astle and hope he scores a big ton. It's home ground for the Dizzy and Boof Lehmann.

Can NZ stop the Aussie juggernaut!!!!

Gabba Test Aus Vs NZ 2004 Day2

2004-11-19T15:30:00.000-08:00

World Champions ended the second day at the Gabba on a rather dismal note after a shoddy bowling performance in the first session combined with ordinary batting display. This is easily the worst bowling performance in my memory by the aussies for a long long time. Punter should take a fair bit of blame for his over defensive approach--Very unlike Australian. Can you imagine Steve Waugh or Mark Taylor take a new ball immediately when Warney took a wicket. Punter did that and runs rained in the last session on the First day and followed up in the first session on day2.

Punter is in early stages of his captaincy.Agreed...Can you imagine Dizzy bowling with all the fielders on the boundary.? One can well recollect the Steve Waugh's field placings like nine pins in that famous photograph when Damien Flemming was bowling in Harare. It was a shocker by Ponting. He allowed the game to drift away when he should actually have gone for the kill. Jacob Oram played a fine well crafted innings alright!! It was more to do with the defensive tactics employed. This is not the 3rd innings where the pitch is deteriorating and every run is like a gold. I would certainly have given pat on the back had he done on the Mumbai Pitch when Sachin and Laxman were dealing in boundaries. As a captain one has to study the situation and act according to that. At the Gabba he doesnt have the PLAN B.

Mcgrath bowled beautifully with lack of luck. Stats doesnt reveal this normally. He should have had his own Astle had Boof cling on to a Dolly. Dizzy was poor by his standards. He took 20 wickets in the so called bowlers graveyard in India..May be he had left his form in Mumbai. Selectors can give Dizzy a break. The inability of the Aussies to clean up the tail continues. Lee might have been an ideal option. Warney took 4 wickets but I still feel he is not 100% cured from the thumb injury. He was rushed in my opinion. Waney is bowling too many frebies these days and this give you an indication that he is bit struggling.

Hayden's unusual poor run continues. I swear he may not complete 1000 runs this year. He still has 3 more test matches in the gruelling next 5 weeks. Marto is in sublime form and was on exhibition today when he scored a classy half century. Aussies are 150 runs behind and they have themselves to blame for the situation they are in.

Gabba Test Aus Vs NZ 2004 Day1

2004-11-18T14:30:00.000-08:00

The Trans-Tasman Rivalry got off to a rollicking start at the Gabba. Most Astute and Shrewd Captain in the Modern Era- Stephen Fleming won the all the important toss on a perfect batting strip. Young Pup Clarke was given a chance to play his first test match in Australia. Sad to see Katich lose his place yet again and I'm hoping that he will come back stronger like the Big Matt or Marto.

Mcgrath was razor sharp. Dizzy was bit off color. It was the home boy Kasper who took the bowling honor's.. His double blow in the first session was too much for the spirited Kiwi batting lineup. The dismissal of Fleming was a classical dismissal. The ball moved a bit too far and Warney took a nice catch. He needs 2 more to complete 100 catches. Styris,the most underrated kiwi batsman played well but only for a brief period. Sinclair played a gutsy innings after being hit first on the chin by Kasper and on then on the shoulder by Mcgrath. What Kiwi lacks is a Martin Crowe type of batsman who has flair and grace.

All the middle order batsman started off well but couldn't capitalize on. Astle was given two lives-one by Lehmann and another by Kasper. Indeed it was an incredible fielding by Clarke that ended Astle's bright and breezy short innings. Kasper was the pick of the bowlers. Jacob Oram scored a nice unbeaten half century and Kiwi's ended the day on a rather dismal 250/7. Aussies would be hoping for a kill on Friday morning and might ask the left handed opening combination to fire on all cylinder's Vs the inexperienced Kiwi Bowlers.

Some spare of thoughts to the other countries visiting down under. Mcgrath and Warne has just tick below 1000 wickets them. But they have a pretty ordinary track record Vs their Trans -Tasman Rivals...This goes to show how well the Kiwi's have planned. It's the support bowlers for Australia who has done most of the damage..It was Damien Flemming and Paul Reiffel a while back..Itz Kasper and Lee in the recent series. Their tactics of leaving almost all the Macgrath's delivery on the off side has almost paid off. The difference between the two sides is the bench strength . Kiwi's are more of a bunch of spirited cricketers and none of them would be called as World Class. (Mind you Cairns has retired from Test Cricket).

Last.....Itz great to woke up 5Am in the morning and hear the golden voice of "Its al happening at the Gabba"-Courtsey Willam Bill Lawry. and followed up with two-two-two (unique way of telling) by Richie Benaud...Goodness me..Iam blessed to be in Bangalore ....to watch all these actions Live.on TV...!!

Nagpur Test 2004 Ind Vs Aus

2004-10-29T08:46:00.000-07:00

The World Champions underscored their supremacy Vs India in India yet again and is on the verge of becoming the first team in 35 years to win a series in India. Steve Waugh's Much hyped Final Frontier was nearly conquered by Adam Gilchrist and his Men. Australia has India reeling at 50-5 in the second innings. Much hyped Indian Batting came up with a lackluster performance for the Nth time in the recent matches. Mullet-Wearing Jason Gillespie was lean and mean, bowled with utmost precision. The 100th Match of Mcgrath was memorable..He complemented his fast bowling partner by bowling an immaculate line and length and it was near impossible to score off. Glenn Pidge Mcgrath is one of the true gladiators and champions of the game of cricket. Sachin's Wicket in his 100th Test Match was very special. Warne chipped in with couple of wickets and going strong..

After Aleem Daar repeatedly reprieved Katich on close shouts, the southpaw from NSW played a telling innings in the hour of need and was pretty unfortunate to be dismissed just one run short of a well made century. Young Pup Clarke walks down the track with authority of the Indian Spinners was a beautiful sight. He never allowed the Indian bowlers to settle down..He is an absolute certainty in the not-so-important Mumbai Test even if Punter is back. I was extremely impressed with this young lad from NSW. Commentators are comparing him to the great Doughie Walters..He is still a long way to go..But he has already made a mark in his first 6 innings...One century and 2 fifties...You couldn't ask for anything better. He has improved tremendously on the field after a modest start in the previous two matches..The shot he played of Bombay-Duck Agarkar that went miles over for six was just Sensational...It would certainly have kissed the Air-Hostess.

Damien Martyn....Another Extra-ordinary performance from this elegant right hander..A century in the first innings and a near century in the second was just sensational..Spin has never been bread and butter for this No-4 batsman..He should be given credit for the transformation. The array of strokes he displayed when the spinners are bowling on the rough outside the leg stump mainly was nothing short of outstanding. Sad that he didn't complete centuries in each innings. He has certainly come of age and is a force to reckon with in the days to come.

India would rue on the countless muffed chances on the field and mainly by Parthiv who in my opinion should be sacked immediataly.Sooner the Better.
VVS Laxman is a big flop this time around...So does Matt Hayden,B'Day Baby today!! Aussies have done the homework well this time around and executed the plans in a splendid manner..Itz been an Unforgettable Test Match for the Batting Maestro-Sachin. He could manage just 10 in Nagpur where he averages in excess of 100 in the previous matches...

Congrats to Australia and specially to Adam Gilchirst for this splendid Achievement.. of winning the series in India.

Can they make it 3-0. I am hoping Indians will come back strongly in Mumbai.

Nagpur Test

2004-10-26T07:42:00.000-07:00

Adam Gilchrist won the toss for the third time in a row and had no problems in batting First. Indians on the other hand were forced to make 4 changes for this crucial Test. I would certainly have made one more change of leaving out the young kid Parthiv.

Atlast We have seen the Real Aussies in scoring Over 4 runs per Over...Booming Drives, Cracking Cuts, Delicate Flicks, Towering Six were all displayed at Nagpur. Nice to see the Aussies backing their aggressive instincts on a pitch that helped the seamers a bit in the first session. Kudos to Pidge who become the first Australian fast bowler to play 100 Test matches. First Ton for Mcgrath!! Also..Welcome back Sachin.
Openers got off to a flier before the Indians put the brakes on by taking 3 quick wickets...Itz an unforgettable series for Haydo so for...May be he is due for a failure after a string of three figure scores in the last three years....Not sure he will score 1000 runs for the 4th Consecutive Year, the feat no other batsman has ever made. Langer and Katich were undone by their own shot selection.

Boof came to the middle and joined the stylish Martyn who is fresh from his battling hundred at Chennai some 10 days ago. Both played smart cricket and thanks to poor fielding by the Indians runs came at will for this South Australian-West Australian Pair. Lehmann played well and would have played his Last test Match. It was an unfair comment but that's the way it goes. The southpaw tore his right thigh during the fag end of his innings...Marto notched up his 4th Century in the last 6 Matches and played a glorious lofted shot over log-on for a Six of Kumble. Kumble was certainly the pick of the bowlers. Karthik atlast got a chance and bowled with lot of Variation. Nice to see the Young Tamil Nadu Spinner flighted the ball more than any other bowler in the series. He was rewarded for his hardwork with 3 wickets in the end. Zaheer was hostile and penetrative but in Patches..Agarkar never really threatened the batters. Itz a big blow for the Indians with Ganguly,Bajju and Pathan not playing this test match. Fielding has let the Indians down. Dravid's captaincy was not innovative. He didnt use Shewag when Aussies were scoring freely..An offspinner would have made a lot of difference to Lehmann.
Damien Martyn looked at ease right from the outset. This elegant right-hander took the game away from India with power, placement, and sensational timing .

He hardly put a foot wrong in an exhilarating display of batsmanship. Aussie batters survived a large dose of fortune thanks to poor fielding display this time by the Indians. It was Aussies at Chennai and Indians at Nagpur. What was Parthiv doing??He missed an absolute dolly-stumping chance?

Australia have one hand on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Unless the Indians raise their game in the first hour tomorrow, Adam Gilchrist and his men will win the series before the teams reach Mumbai. With Clarke looking set to lauch an assault, Indians have lot of home-work to do. Itz not over Yet....

Chennai Test 2004

2004-10-18T17:31:00.000-07:00

What a Knock...This is one the best innings played in India by a visiting batsman and more importantly under Pressure!! Fantastic Innings by Stylish West Australian Right Handed Middle Order Batsman-Damien Martyn. Not only did Martyn score his maiden Test century against India, he reached the three-figure mark in ominous fashion -- hoisting Anil Kumble for a huge six over long off and incidentally he is the first Aussie batsman to have done this vs India. Quite a remarkable achievement considering spin has never been bread and butter for this guy since he is from hard bouncy background called WACA,Perth!!

It so nice to see Marto shaping up nicely..This is his 3rd 2nd innings Century in the last 5 matches in the Subcontinent Vs the likes of Murali/Bajju/Anil...No other player has ever played like this in the recent times..Mind you..He had an awful start to his careeer...He made a duck(Bowled Ambrose) in his debut Vs Windies in Sydney in 1993 in the famous-Lara 277 Test Match...He was then axed from the Team(Courtsey Border) because he played the most irresponsible cover drive ever .It was in Adelaide(If my memory is good) Vs the Proteas...Aussie need 4 runs to win and 2 wickets in hand..Marto's full blooded cover drive was nicely taken by Hudson of De-villiers..Aussie lost the match and everyone blamed it is because of Martyn. He came back after been in the dark for better part of 6 years and he never looked back since..He has indeed come of age..!!

Not to mention the invaluable contribution of Dizzy Gillespie, Australia blunted the Indian attack for two sessions. Ganguly had no idea and Seven bowlers were used but, in the trying humidity, this Spirited Australian pair defied them sensibly and patiently. Resuming effectively with 9 runs in front and 6 wickets in hand,the World Champions were down and out!!I Dizzy and Marto had other ideas and set the platform for a possible Aussie Victory!! I thought Bajju bowled beautifully without any luck. Sad that the bowling figures doesn't reveal the dropped chances. Kumble however picked up his yet another 10 Wicket Haul and he is on a roll this year. Kumble has taken 57 wickets in just 6 test matches in mind blogging fashion!! This is a no mean feat..!!Kudos to Anil "GentleMan" Kumble..

Some spare of thoughts to Selectors and More so to Indian Captain...What was Parthiv doing behind the stumps??Parthiv Patel's wicketkeeping remains substandard even after being a regular in the team for close to two years now. Why don't the selectors seem to find any other wicket-keepers. Patel is handy with the bat.Alright!! But his first job is to do a neat job behind the stumps..He is basically a wicket-keeper who can bat a bit...Oh..Dear....Will the Captain Courageous open his eyes a bit??Patel was awful behind the stumps...Go back to School young kid...!!Learn and come back...

Rain came and conquered this intriguing test match...It was advantage India for the first 3 days...Then it drifted towards Australia...And the momentum is with the Aussies considering no other team has won by chasing more than 155 on this Very Chepauk Ground...!! Both the teams deserve to win and may be Aussies have their noses in front!! Sad that this ended in a draw..

My MOM will certainly be Damien Martyn...!!

Can the Indians bounce back and level the series in Nagpur !! Will Sachin play??Who is going to replace Patel?
Can the Aussies improve their Catching?

Wait and Watch....

Until Next Innings...!!

Chennai Test Day2

2004-10-15T04:46:00.000-07:00

Indians on a roll here at Chennai.Thanks to entertaining century by Veeru. The Match is nicely poised..Indians failed to capitalize on the Shewag's Ton as their Middle order played some brainless cricket which allowed the game to drift away!! Its even Steven on Day2!!

At times Gilchrist allowed the game to run its course rather than stamping his control on proceedings and attacking harder.While his faith in his key bowlers is admirable, his reluctance to use Katich and Clarke was surprising. The Fielding positions especially in the slips are poor in general..Why do you want to have Clarke in Second slip who is playing in his second test match..He dropped an absolute dolly of Yuvraj who disappointed for the nth time in his short stay in the crease.!! Marto is a marvellous slipper. Haydo....Wot was he doing in Gully??Come on Gilly....Open your eyes a bit. Fielding has been appalling to say the least. Shewag capitalized on that and scored a century with no-foot-movement-wot-so-ever.!!

I cant buy the saying of Shewag is out of form...He is a hit and miss player where there is no Form in it...He relies on hand eye coordination and bang the ball. He struck 22 fours which was too much for the Aussie's liking. Dropped Catches will definitely be the difference between the two sides..That could well determine the result of this crucial encounter. A thumping square cut, couple of uppish drives through the covers were all Shewag's Special for this Knowledgeable Chennai Crowd. Thanks to Lady Luck Shewag scored his 7th century. If it was a poor decision by Billy at Bangalore it was even poorer this time by Shep...When Gilly,Kaper and Dizzy were all walking why don't Shewag do that when he knew he had a faint edge when Lehmann appealed for Gillys Catch...!!!

Earlier Captain Sourav Ganguly, caught off a no ball and was dropped by Adam Gilchrist . He however couldn't capitalize on that and played a loose shot.
I don't want someone to be in the Team just because he is a Captain.He needs to contribute one way or the other. He does sledging and other mind games...Alright!!!When he is with the Bat in the Middle, he looks like more of a comic character.!!Pull up ur socks Ganguly!! Kaif and Patel played out the final overs with greater grit and every run scored is extremely vital. The lead of 200 will be sensational!!

Sad that much promised Laxman is going through a lean patch..Hope his turn will come in the Next Test at Nagpur which is normally batsman friendly.!!
Aussie bowlers were not hostile and penetrative, may be the temperature has something to do with this. Mcgrath was not used in short spells,he may be having a niggle..Despite the hot, humid, energy sapping conditions.Warney I thought bowled with lot of loop and side spin which is always difficult for the wrist spinner. He bowled splendidly without any luck. He surpassed Murali's Record which was very Special!! Kaper on his earlier tour had lost 8kg and at one time had to punch two extra holes in his belt to hold his trousers up. He was splendid with the old ball and took a prize scalp of Dravid for the second time in a row.

Its not over Yet!!!

Chennai Test Day1

2004-10-14T04:36:00.000-07:00

As the Australians trying to break its 32-year Indian hoodoo, One man showed the World Champions, its a long way to Go...!!The turban-topped spinner seems to save his best performances for Australia may be not this Innings though!! It was wildy old fox Anil Kumble did the trick for Ganguly with a spectacular figures of 7/47. To me, This is indeed one of the best spells ever by anyone against the Aussies..Shaun Pollock took 7 wickets some seasons ago in Adelaide. This is even better considering Kumble took on Day One..Hats of Dear Anil.!! Anil Kumble bulldozed through the Middle order – aided by some stunning catches.

Aussies were themselves to blame for this horrible batting collapse..They had a superb Opening Stand and made a mess of that in the end. Dont take any credit away from Kumnle though!! He bowled superbly. Australia secured victory over a plucky India at Bangalore and may be dancing in the Isles and was promptly reminded by this spirited bunch of Indian Cricketers.Barring the openers everyone played with lack of common sense. Simon Katich relished the privilege of batting at three and played with the greatest aplomb. Nice to see this Southpaw playing an innings every now and then. Sad that no one stayed..

Hang on...Itz not over yet..Indians need to bat atleast 6 sessions and should get a lead of atleast 200. Considering the batting form they are in, we never know.!!
Young Pup Clarke who became the first Australian since Greg Blewett 10 years ago to reach three figures in his debut Test innings didn't trouble the scorers much this time around. Lehmann may well be playing his last Test Series...

If cricket is a religion in India, then Sachin Tendulkar is a god. May be if the Indians win here, they can dedicate this victory to their own Sachin-Afterall Sachin has won the last two matches on this Very Ground Single Handedly!!

Come On India....If u believe..You certainly Can win this Match.! Having Said that,Indians need to play out of their skin and come out on top!!
Hmme...Keep Your Fingers Crossed Though!!!

Bangalore Test - Part Two.

2004-10-11T02:25:00.000-07:00

As expected the World Champions humiliated the Indians at Bangalore.It was a spine less batting performance by the Indians coupled with brain less running between the wickets helped the Aussies to go up in this series..Some spirited batting by the Tail delayed the inevitable...It was a lackluster effort by the Indians.

The Batsman has let the side down.The inability to occupy the crease proved fatal.
Aussies were cock-a-hoop when Pidge plucked the catch in the Fineleg of Dizzy who is battling with a side strain didn't bowl a delivery in the morning session.
It was a convincing victory and a hard fought one...Nothing to blame the pitch it played well through out the test match..Warne bowled well in patches and this is the best I have seen him bowl in India..The bowling figures doesn't reveal the exact story most of the time..Mcgrath was marvellous so does Kasper..It was a collective team effort that sealed the Victory for the Aussies.

Iam always critical of Wicketkeepers being Captain...Gilly was already extremely overloaded...This was evident when he dropped Dravid of Warne..Not sure wots going on between his ears..Believe Me..Itz tough being Captain as well as Wicket Keeping..Having seen the Aussies for a better part of last 10 years, this is probably the weakest outfit as far as Fielding is Concerned...They got away this time around..Fielding by Aussies was appalling...They really need to lift their game in fielding..Lehman/Hayden/Clarke/Gilly all put down regulation Catches..

Bowling was much better this time around...The line in which they operated was terrific...They bowled straight instead of normal out side the offstump..Kasper in Particular was spectacular with the old ball...The ball which he got Dravid was a real beauty. They applied pressure at both ends and bowled fine in tandem.

Indians on the other hand had lot to think of..Pathan and Bajju were the lone positives from this test. Their top order is much of a concern..May be bringing in Kaif instead of Fishing all the time Yuvraj might do good. Agarkar is not a bad option in chennai considering there will be some lateral movement in the Pitch.

Too much has been said about Umpires..I dont dwell too much on to that since they are all humans and they are bound to make mistakes...Where are the crictics when Aussies were here in 2001..??They had a torrid time in 2001..To some extent the Umpiring Standards have been poor...Thatz the beauty of game..We are luxurious enough to watch enough replays and make our comments...People in the middle have only split second...

Reg Toss...Iam not buying the argument of winning the Toss means Winning the match....Wot ever u do , you have to do well...Batting first indeed has slightest advantage...Having said that one has to bat well..Aussies were on the Mat at 149/4.....Then wot happened....They ended up scoring 474. Thatz wot great does every now and then.

Hope Indians come back strongly and give Aussies a run for their money..!!

Bangalore Test - Part One.

2004-10-08T03:06:00.000-07:00

The Much Publicised Test Series of the Year got of to a rollicking start at Bangalore..The lefthanded Dashing Wicket Keeper and Stand-in Australian Captain Adam Gilchrist called it right in the all important toss.

Aussies were in spot of bother at 149/4 and enter young tornado....Batting prince-in-waiting Michael Clarke Right Handed "Blonde" Batsman from New South Wales.. No Nerves....Just strolled in to the middle and joined his state team mate Simon Katich.....Played a fantastic forward defence of Kumble.. That said it all. A New star is born...!!Itz been for a while and probably not since Ricky Ponting, that I've seen as exciting as him..He played a fantastic knock on the day1 and carried his form into the second.

Adam Gilchirst smacked the pace bowlers down the ground and crunched the spinners on the off side with effortless ease....Just like Pistol Pete Sampras's deadly forehand down the ground, Gilly hit a similar one of Kumble was easily be the shot of the Match so for...Nothing more than a mere push and that sailed over the ropes...Katich deserve a pat on the back for splendid exhibition of batting under tough circumstances..To me,he was the star on day one..!!

Bajju was impressive with the bowling...Ganguly's field placements were appalling...no thought process went in I suppose....Typical example was settting a 7-2 offside field for Left arm seamers bowling over the wicket....Time and again they deflected on the leg side and four was a Freebie....Kumble tried too many things and in the end that proved too costly....He took his 400th Wicket alright...but never looked threatening....!! I wud certainly had bowled Shewag lot more overs.. 470 odd on the wearing pitch was a splendid performance in deed..

Pidge has come under a bit of fire oflate..That was just enough to spur him on....Mcgrath in Watson's Shoes bowled an immaculate line which others can only dream of..Sensational opening burst which included a near unplayable delivery that dismissed Dravid was a treat. to watch...Ganguly faced some Chin music and opened his shoulders a bit and was undone by Kasper who had earlier dismissed out-of-form Shewag..Though the tail offered some resistance all I can say they delayed the inevitable....Gilly's Captaincy was commendable...He didnt set over attacking field and has 4 men on the on sided for most of the day....It allowed his pacebowlers to bowl little straight than normal out side the off stump line....This shows the Aussies had done their home work nicely and itz the manner in which they execute that is the Key...! Laxman's Wicket on the second evening was the turning point of the match...He got an absolute snorter from Warney..!!

Gilly's decision of not enforcing the follow on was a decisive mood..Not just he had the Laxman-Rekha in his mind...the pitch was okay and no help for the bowlers..You can't score 281 or 376 runs partnership every now and then...It can happen once and indeed it had happened..It will also give the bowlers to cool their heels off in this energy sapping conditions...!!The next thing is to occupy the crease until Tea on 4th evening...By that time they would have scored close to 300...That should be fine..Barring the dismissals of Dravid,Laxman and Langer all the other 17 dismissals were pretty soft..This will give you some idea that batting is never a threat except that odd ball will be lower.. I thought Warney bowled beautifuly without any luck...The loop was there and he is bowling a lot quicker thro the air...The Laxman dismissal was not quite of Mike Gatting at Old Trafford in 1993 or Gibbs in the WC Semifinal....It was indeed a gem..!!!
Still lots to play for in the remaining 2 days...Iam hoping for an Aussie Victory and U never know !!!

Ind Vs Aus Preview 2004 Test Series

2004-10-05T05:41:00.000-07:00

The Much Awaited Test Series in Recent Years will kick-off tomorrow at ChinnaSwamy Stadium,Bangalore. Australia begins another crack at the Indians in their own backyard. Sachin Tendulkar will most likely be unavailable. The Tennis Elbow has become a national debate in this part of the world. Never the less Indians are formidable They have lost just one series at home in close to 20 years. Aussies haven't won the series in India for 30 Years.
Since terminating the long era of West Indian dominance with a series victory in the spring of 1995, Australia's record has been remarkable, winning 24 out of the 31 series it has played (and losing only three — including two to India in India). Of its last 100 Tests it won 60 and lost only 20. Stats doesn't always convey the exact picture. Aussies have done badly in India considering their bench strength. Aussies are more keen to settle things right this time around!!

The Key for Australia will undoubtedly be Hayden with the Bat and Dizzy with the Ball..I would like the Aussies to stop scoring freely and occupy the crease for atleast 125 overs.You need to have atleast 400 runs on the board. Also moving Katich up the order to me is a sensible move. Having watched quite a bit of NSW Matches on TV, Katich is a good choice at Number 3. Hope Clarke will stamp his authority in his Debut innings..Only constraint is the aussie back up spinners-Clarke/Katich/Boof...all are Almost Indentical slow left arm orthodox spinners..Not sure Warne will make the same impact as he did Vs Lankans..Indians are the best in business when confronting the spinners..especially at home. Mullet-wearing Jason Gillespie is certainly an handful on Indian pitches for simple reason..he doesnt hit the deck like Mcgrath or he swings a great deal like Kasper...He is quicker through the air and most of his deliveries will skid on....May be Aussies could get the DVD of Andy Flower's Heroics or For that Matter...Jimmy 'P' Adams marvellous tour several seasons ago..Indians tradionally have problems with the Left handers...Be it Jayasurya or Saeed Anwar or Gary Kirsten...All had tremendous success on Indian Pitches..
Key to India will undoubtedly be VVS Laxman. He averages close to 65 Vs Aussies which by no means is an easy task.!!Australia have been in a league of their own in all places except India. They better watch out this spl person VVS. I have placed VVS a touch higher than Dravid because VVS will play Warney better than anyone else in the World at present..(Ofcourse...Sachin is the BEST). The blond aussie's leggies, toppies, zooters, shooters, sliders, flippers....etc will be in exhibition staring tomorrow.. In the bowling it will be Bajju-Harbhajan Singh, who tore the heart out of the Australian top order on the 2001 tour. He is slower than Kumble and considering lot of lefthanders in the Aussie toporder he will be a handful...
Another key thing is the Fielding..I wasnt quite impressed with the Aussies fielding oflate...They are good..but not Great...They have to take the halfchances otherwise as Kasper pointed out....they are bound to have a sore back..!! With the wicket as shiny as a temple floor , Fielding is a Key aspect.!!
I dont dwell much on Aussies missing Punter and Indians Missing Maestro....These are two different things and Can't be compared!! By Form Ponting is as good as Sachin...Not On Indian Wickets Though!!...Ponting had a dreadful series last time around...
So...Sit Back and Relax...As always Toss is crucial on Indian Pitches...Lets hope for an exciting series...
My gut feeling is Indians will come on top this time around but only Just!!!
Happy Reading!!

Mini World Cup Final Eng Vs WI

2004-09-27T09:38:00.000-07:00

It will certainly go down in history as one of the dramatic comebacks and more so in a Cup Final. Bradshaw and Browne helped Windies to win the 2004 Champions Trophy at the Oval by beating England...What a Climax...What a Match....This Victory for the Windies will certainly act as a Spur for the budding Caribbean Cricketers..Courtney Browne and his Barbados team mate Ian Bradshaw Scripted an incredible come-from-behind triumph by playing sensibly and with greater grit,determination and concentration.!!!Kudos to lara and his men for this remarkable victory!!.
So...England and Michael Vaughan in Particular will rue their chances of not bowling Ashley Giles and in the end that proved too costly.!!147/8 and just Nine,Ten and Jack to come...Everyone thought it will be a cake walk for the Men in Blue....Two spirited cricketers thought otherwise..It was a seamer friendly wicket..Alright!! It certainly would have helped Giles with the amount of bounce he gets considering he is a tall left arm spinner...Also...I wasn't impressed with the Bowling of Flintoff and Harmisson in their last spells....!! Instead of bowling in the driving length they peppered the tailenders with short pitched bowling. Lack of experience coupled with Pressure was very evident on the England Bowlers at the death..They didn't bowl straight enough to induce an edge. Mind You...You have to give credit for the Batsman who played Marvellous Cricket!! They took the game away from England by the scruff of its neck.
Earlier...England have themselves to blame for poor shot selection..Trescothick played one of his finest ODI innings..Fielding was Razor sharp and Lara led by example...Bowling was penetrative...They were relentelss in the field which made a huge difference...Marcus Trescothick's thumping square cut, drives through the covers, a straight drive and a pull would have bowler checking his watch for the innings break.However Wavell Hinds put the brakes on by bowling a tight spell in the Middle. Due Credit should be given to Windies Bolwers for restricting England below 220.
Freddie Flintoff 's smear was beautifully cling on by Lara at short mid-wicket was a joy to watch....It indeed was the Catch of the tournament until Anderw Strauss took an ablsoue binder in the second slip- ala Mark Waugh's reminiscent catch Vs Pakistan in the 1999 WC final at Lords... Strauss Catch was even more remarkable because he flung himself to his right to complete a one handed gem...Mind you..he is a natural left hander....If the Catch by Lara of Flintoff was nothing but spectacular the run out of Trescothick in the dying stages was Sensational...It was just a back hand flick by Lara and Marcus was out by 3 inches or so....Splendid Execution by Brian Lara.

It's been an awful summer for the West Indies until Bradshaw thumped Alex Wharf to the point boundary for an emphatic win. All that talk of a new captain can be put on the back burner for a while, and Bradshaw and Browne can tell all their mates at the Kensington Oval about dancing in the dark.Umpires need pat on the back for their sensational efforts...Tauffel and Kuertzen did a fabulous job.
All in all the Champions Trophy found its deserving winner!!
Windies are smiling.....Itz a great news for the World Cricket...!!
Kudos to Lara and his Men for their remarkable performance in ICC 2004 Champions Trophy in England!!
Happy Reading.....!!!
Looking fwed for the Ind Vs Aus test series..!!

SemiFinal Mini WC- Aus Vs Eng

2004-09-22T06:55:00.000-07:00

Well...Well..Well....The Jinx Continues for the Three Time World Champions at the Mini WC and this time at the hands of England..Michael Vaughan and Co Sent a message loud and clear mainly to the other cricketing nations that....Aussies are indeed beatable....They have just 11 human beings and they do buckle under pressure...Hats off to Young Yorkshire Mate...Good Job Indeed!!!

Aussies were not only outperformed but also outclassed in all the 3 departments..Vaughan didnt too anything flambouant...no flashy changes...Just played proper simple Cricket with Basics Right!!!That was the difference between the two sides..

Lot of things needs to be addressed by the Cricket Australia....This is certainly not the end of the Australian Cricket...May be this could be the end of Australian Dominance over England....I wasn't particularly impressed with Punter's Captaincy...This is Quite Uncharacteristic ....He was waiting for the mistake to happen and it proved too costly...He bowled Lehmann and Symo in the middle overs for too long....Ideally Should have tried a different Combinations...May be Clarke..
Mcgrath was thumped by Trescothick early and Lee was undone by Vaughan...The Surprise Package to me was Little known Middlesex Captain Andrew Strauss. With the Other two Andrews-Symonds and Flintoff had a pretty Ordinary Day...This young bloke rose to the Aussie Challenge and Played a marvellous Innings...Ideally I should not have played Lee.....for simple reason...He had a dreadful summer in 2001 Ashes in England and he is not a potent bowler anymore..England normally play the Faster bowlers well....Since Brad Hogg was injured I would have played Harvey!!Never Mind...England deserved to win...They played stupendous Cricket!!!

In the hindsight...it may look Warney should have played.....It indeed should have turned the tables around....Lack of specialist spinners on the track which was turning a great deal proved too costly...It took little over 4 years for an England Side to beat Aussies...Now they have left an indelible impression that Aussies are no more invincibles....Atleast in Mini World Cup....

Earlier....Aussies might have shot themselves in foot by not playing sensible cricket...The dismissals of Gili,Punter and Boof needs to be examined closely. Marto played well...so does Clarke!! It was the Aussie Batsman that let the side down than the Bowlers....As Punter pointed out they were short by 30 Runs...

Kudos to England and they are in the Final for the first time in 12 Years in a Major Championship....Cricket need England to Fire!!
Hope that they will come out on top as they did Vs Aussies...Good Bye Australia....Welcome Back England!!

Mini WC - Clash of the Titans

2004-09-20T07:05:00.000-07:00

Be It Colombo or Amsterdam or Edbaston!! Play with Seven Batsman or Six Batsman....The Result is the Same...and it was confirmed by Ganguly at the post match interview-" We did not deserve to win!!!" This said it all!!

Once again the Paper Tigers came up with a disappointing performance on a perfect batting track. Indians once again proved they are pretty consistent with their inconsistency... Pakistan underscored their supremacy over India by thrashing them.
Indian Top Order barring WALL Dravid , came up with a Cropper of a Performance..This is India's third successive loss to its arch-rivals and its fifth loss in the last 8 Matches.!! Some spare of thought for the Indian Cricket ...They need to stop the bleeding now...They have won just two of the last 7 Matches. Its high time the team drops Shewag,Kaif ,VVS Laxman and Yuvraj and include the players based on the current form and not on the past performances. Yousuf Youhana took the game away from India with power, placement, timing and luck.He is the most under rated player of the Pak Team.Woolmer's Boys were hostile and penetrative, and the fielding was as sharp and enthusiastic .Kudos to Inzy for becoming only the 2nd batsman to Score 10,000 Runs in ODI.

Pakistan's Semifinal Opponent West Indies Came up with a NEAT Professional Performance...Thanks largely to the Brilliance of Lara on the Field and Bowlers complimented their captain by bowling to the field..Just 2 extras in 50 Overs was indeed a laudable effort..Thanks to Sarwan and Lara for the crucial partnership and Chanderpaul did manage to squeeze through with Powell who was brutal in his hitting ...It was a good win for the Windies.
SouthAfrican Team is in Shambles at the Moment and they have lost the 11th ODI in their last 12 ODI's.

Freddie is Not Botham now...He certainly can be in the Near Future..Flintoff has shown the world why he was awarded the ODI Crickteer of the Year Award when he scored his 3rd Century in his last 6 Innings...I feel sorry for the Lankans when the Match was decided by DL Method. It would be nice how Vaughan ad Co will play Aussies...Since Poms have lost their last 14 ODI matches to Australia.
Once again Cricket is the Winner and showed us yet again it is a game of gloriuos uncertainities...Australia haven't crossed the Semifinal in this Mini World Cup and none of the other teams has made into the Semifinals previously barring Windies who lost to SA in 1998.

Lets hope for More Surprises....

Mini World Cup Aus Vs NZ

2004-09-17T07:03:00.000-07:00

Kiwi's were beaten convincingly by the Aussies and Ponting and Co sent a message to the rest of the teams that Aussies are on a roll and it requires something spectacular to stop them..The Match was lost by Fleming and Co in the first 20 overs where they had lost half the side with score tottering at 71/5.

To me,they played too many shots too soon,They didnt mix caution with agression.
It was nice to see Pidge back into some kind of form...He has been criticised for not taking wickets in early spell. Time and again I have said he is a big match player and once again showed why he is one of the fearsome bowlers of all time...One need not send thunderbolts every now and then to grab wickets..One has to get the basics right and again one has to bowl the now famous Mcgrath-Corriodor of Uncertainity....Kasper is having a great time in the last 6 months or so and grabbed 3 wickets...I thought the wicket of Cairns was a big bonus.. It was going over the stumps and Bucknor nodded his head in favour of Men in Gold and Green.. It was a Costly Mistake!!

The Shrewd Captain Fleming didn't disappoint either when Aussies Chased. The Intro of Vettori early was the testimony of his captaincy skills. Gili was undone by a cracker of a delkivery by Oram. Ponting was over ambitious to flick the ball and was completely bemused by the laste swing of Styris..It left to Haydo and Marto to do the repairing Job and they did perfectly.Marto is no MarkWaugh...Still...He played with lot of excusite drives through offside with utmost ease. Haydo walked down the track with authority as he normally does and the pull shot of Mills was a Gem..The sad aspect is Vettori bowled without Venom when the pitch was assisting the spinners.I would have bowled Astle in the middle overs in tandem with Harris.

Symo played a blinder of an innings and paced his innings nicely. Punter should be given the credit for the transformation of Anderw Symonds since Ponting only paid faith on him during the WC 2003 when he was the last minute selection. Aussies are a more resurgent outfit and they hardly miss Bevan. They have two world class all rounders in the Making- Clarke and Symonds and they do have Ian "Freak" Harvey waiting in the wings apart from Shane Watson.
Australia's bench strength is still awesome. No Lee and No Warne and they still keep winning.
Ideally Iam hoping for a SL vs AUS semifinal and will be surprised if Barmy Army upsets the Srilankan Tigers.!!
We have a cracker of a Contest on Sunday and hope the Indians come out on top atleast this time around. !!
Happy Weekend..

Eng Vs Ind Natwest

2004-09-02T06:58:00.000-07:00

The nature of the drubbing which Indians have received Yesterday at the hands of Vaughan and Co, should provoke some serious soul-searching within the team. Since the World Cup , India have won 16 and lost 18 of their 35 matches. The Much hyped batting line up came up with a dismal performance yet again on a placid pitch. Shewag has to be dropped(Not axed though!!) from the team for his irresponsible shots every now and then...One has to play consistent...I dont want some one in the team who delivers once in 10 innings or so...Yuvraj should have been sacked long time back and he still finds a place in a team...Only Team Management Knows the answer.. Itz high time the team should go with a specialist keepr and release Dravid from the keeping duties. Dravid is too good a player to be wasted by putting enormous pressure on his shoulders..Will they learn??I very much doubt!!!
They deserved to lose which precisely they did with 18 overs to spare..Kudos to England for an emphatic win.

Elsewhere..
Australia have won 45 of the 55 one-day internationals they have played since the start of 2003, a win percentage of 85. Ricky Ponting has won 57 of the 72 games in which he has captained, a win-loss ratio of 5.6. The figures lay out the story accurately enough: this Australian side is one of the greatest one-day teams ever, a one-day version of The Invincibles, under a captain who will certainly end as one of the most successful; Imagine a team defending a modest total of 190 odd Vs the Pakistan in Holland....Men in Green and Gold once again stamped the Authority when playing in big matches..They have won all the 13 finals they have played...in the last 10 months or so.. Mind you there is no place for Michael Bevan in this team...World is still getting used to an Australian one-day side without Michael Bevan, but Australia's bench strength is still awesome. Clarke is an amazing player and will be a player to watch out for the upcoming series..
Proteas were comprehensively outplayed by the Murali-minus Lankans..It was a Westindian Like Performance of losing a series by 5 games to Nil..
Smith must be wondering how the team is going to play in the Mini worldcup. Barring Kallis and to some extent Rudolph none of the players played with common sense when the ball is turning a great deal.. Good win for the Lankans and they certainly is one of the Favourites considering the form they are in.
A cracker of a contest lies in store for us in the Mini WC in England...Until then...Happy Reading and Watching....!!

Indian Oil Cup Finals Ind Vs SL(Aug 2004)

2004-08-02T20:30:00.001-07:00

Not so long ago,Ganguly Claimed Indians of being second-best behind Australia are looking increasingly laughable as Sri Lanka, New Zealand – not to mention Pakistan and SouthAfrica make rapid strides in the Modern One Day Cricket.. Indians were comprehensively beaten by the Lankans in Indian Oil Asia Cup Final. Just a lone victory in 18 previous finals by the Men in Blue needs to be examined closely..They are Indeed Chokers. Since the World Cup, India have won 16 and lost 15 of their last 33 matches. In this Asia Cup they have beaten the Lankans Once and twice lost to them as well...Not to forget the drubbing they received under Inzy and Co.

Once again, the much-heralded Indian batting misfired horribly when it mattered most and Sri Lanka underscored their supremacy at home by drubbing the Indians in the Final.
Atapattu did the right thing by opting to bat first after he had won the Toss...The openers left early but it was the skipper who lead from the front. Two equisite drives on either side of the wicket was a joy to watch. He showed that it is not necessary to slog to get runs in the ealry overs. He played orthodox cricket shots. Sangakara reminds me of little bit of David Gover with the lazy elegance...Crunched Bajju and drove Khan at will. Century stand was broken by Shewag and Indians did well to restrict the Lankans to 228. It was a nice performance by Shewag-Sachin and checked the scoring rate during the middle overs.

Chase began as expected...Once-in-5-innings Shewag padded by to a Straight delivery by Vass and Skipper soon followed to Jayawardena's Brilliant Catch. Not quite of Mark Waugh's Class....Still It was a Marvellous Catch...Much Hyped Laxman came back from an injury hardly played the ball in to the gaps.. Sri Lanka were relentless in the field.The ground fielding was razor sharp and the slip catching sticky-fingered, as first Jayawardene and then by Dilshan. Yuvi and Kaif came and went .Sachin was stranded.. After Billy Bowden repeatedly reprieved Tendulkar on close LBW shouts,Tendulkar tried to break free, before being bowled by a Tillakaratne Dilshan offbreak. it was an embarrassing performance by a much-feted batting line-up. But the Indians have looked rusty throughout the tournament. They played poor cricket. As Ganguly admitted they need to get the basics right in all the 3 departments. Indians were shoddy in the field..India would rue the two muffed chances one by Laxman and another by Dravid when he failed to collect the Ball cleanly.. Stand Behind the Stumps Mate..Yuvi and Kaif has to be sacked and you can't wait for them to perform and they do once in every 10 matches anyway!! Dravid has been offcolour for the second half of the tournament. This is something you dont often see from Rahul. I was quite impressed by the Shrewd Captaincy of Atapattu. His bowling changes and field placements were spot on.

India might have shot themselves in foot even before the match began. Picking your best eleven isn't bad logic, but it must be applied consistently. Cricket is a thinking game.The question is simple: How can you leave out a bowler of Anil Kumble's Class who has nearly 700 wickets in both forms of the game. Is he a lesser bowler than Zaheer Khan or Ashish Nehra? Why must he alone suffer the repeated indignity of being consigned to the bench? Atrocious decision by the Team management. He would have been handful on this wicket.. Lack of Application by the Batsman proved Costly.

Nevertheless The Asia Cup found its deserving winner in the form of Srilanka..

Proteas ..Better Watch Out!!!

Indian Oil Cup July 2004

2004-07-28T19:50:00.000-07:00

It was a cracker of a contest at the Premadasa and in the end Indians came out on top and entered the finals of the Indianoil Asia Cup and in most sense, of this tri series. Inzy and Co would be pretty disappointed and it was a crazy format of Bonus point eluded the Pakistan's place in the final.

It was virtually Jayasurya Vs Indians and the score was even steven ..18 runs needed of 18 balls and Jayasurya who played a marvellous innings until that point attempted to heave over Midon and Skied a Caught and Bowled to Shewag who judged that to perfection. It was a not a easy catch mind u and catching under lights was never easy.That was the killer punch and the Lankan lower order couldnt reach the target and fell short by 4 runs. Thanks mainly to Fine Bowling by the Indian Seamers at the Death.

It was a pulsating contest and Ultimately Cricket was the Winner. Indians hold their nerve which was essential in the death overs and emerged as worthy winners. On the other hand, It was one dreadful fatal error by Jayasurya proved costly for the Lankan Lions. Never the less it was one of the best ODI innings by a Srilankan player in the recent past.. Jayasurya in the process plundered his 18th ODI Century and 5th Vs India,the Max no of centuries by any player Vs India.

Jayasurya belted the ball all over the park and ran like a hare...Mind you ...He is in Mid 30's and is fitter than most of their guys. He creamed a ball from Kumble to the mid wicket boundary for a maximum was the Pick of the day..He played the delicate flicks of seamers with utmost ease.Classic Innings by Jayasurya. Jayasurya took the game away from India with power, placement, timing and ofcourse luck. He was lucky earlier on when he padded to Zaheer.
Pathan maintained some good pressure at his end but it rained runs at the other end; As a captain you can't set fields for bad bowling...And indeed it was by Zaheer in his first 5 overs. He came back strongly though!!

It was the partnership of Jayasurya and Dilshan that almost sealed the hopes of Indians. The running between the wickets was just sensational..It reminded me of stealy singles by Bevan or Deano for that Matter..Amazing judgement of singles and Two's. Captain Courageous Gang gave the Ball to Shewag and he came up with a peach of a ball to dismiss Dilshan first and then Jayasurya and it was Game-Set-Match. Zaheer who was hit 5 fours by Jayasurya in one Over had the last laugh. He bowled a tight last over against the in experienced Lankan tail and helped the Indians to sneak through to victory.

Earlier Dada won the all important toss and decided to bat first..Lot of things had happened in the first hour or so...Sachin took the first strike vs Zoysa and Shewag was dropped twice before he reached 30...He then capitalised on and scored a breezy 81 which was incidentally his first Score of 50+ in nearly 10 innings. Ganguly was superb and he also had a share of luck when the 3rd umpire gave him the benefit of doubt when most of us thought Jayawardena took the catch cleanly. The replay indeed showed it was a Clean catch but the Umpire thought Otherwise. Yuvi came good with more than run a ball 50. God only knows when Kaif scores. Dravid has been bit off clour and Iam sure he will come good in Final. Lankans Bowling lacked discipline and Iam sure they will be a much improved side when Vaas and Murali comes for the Final.

Ganguly was quite impressive on the field on most of the time. He applied pressure by putting slips or short leg when Kumble was bowling and lacked imaginative fielding when Sachin was bowling..It was a freebie on the Onside because no one was inside the circle in the run saving positions. And Indians need to improve their fielding..Catching was good..The Ground Fielding was Sloppy and everytime the ball went to Bajju it was two easy runs. Pull up urself Sardar. Indians as Ganguly accepted were never close to their best has to regroup in lot of areas and more so in the batting of Last 5 overs. Today they managed just 30 when most other teams will score around 50. I felt Kumble was intoduced bit late as late as 26th Over..If he is strike force dont wait too long Mate...

Lets hope for another absorbing Cricket.

Ind Vs Pak ODI 2004 SL

2004-07-26T17:35:00.000-07:00

Oh..Dear..Oh Dear....Ganguly and Co were annihilated by the Spirited Inzy and Co....The format is so poor in such a way that Indians having won only against the UAE and Bangaladesh can still hope for the spot in the Final...Atrocious display of Bowling,Batting and Fielding. It was a insipid performance by the Men in Blue's.Comedy of errors....How can u go to a Tour without a back up batsman...Laxman and Zaheer were injured...The lone left out was Kid Parthiv..Imagine this...It played with 7 batsman Vs the Lankans last sunday and came out with bruises all over the place....Today went with 5 bowlers and 6 batsman and the result was even poorer...Itz high time the Team Management can sit together and do some sensible selection..

Itz been ages since Yuvraj and Kaif has really made a significatnt contribution apart from the natwest final. Still they are in the team primarily because of their agile fielding..In this modern day cricket one need to do well in two out of the three things....Batting,Bowling and fielding....Neither does well with Bat and Bowl...Before the tour starts Shewag has hinted scoring a double century...Hang on Mate....Try to play in the Middle of the Bat first....Let your bat do all the talking....He hasn't made any substantial score so for..

The man who has over 11,000 runs in ODI scored his 68th Halfcentury in the 31st Over and eventually out for 78 in the 44th....Wotz the matter Mr.Sachin.? Guess he is more of a bowler as for as this Asia Cup is concerned...He is the leading wicket taker next to Pathan in this Cup.. Balaji might have played his last ODI match for a while unless he learns from his mistake of spraying the ball all over the place. Appalling performance from the man from Tamilnadu..My choice for the upcoming matches..Take Badani and pack off Kaif. Give Laxman a permanent place in the ODI squad.. Never Play two regular spinners.

Shoaib Malik....The man who was fired from all corners has put everything away with a Sterling Match Winning Performance..It was an awesome display. Bob Woolmer and Co had the last laugh against all pundits who sued Malik for batting at pivotal number 3 position....Mind you...One performance is not good enough...He has to play consistently well...He is a talented youngster and Iam sure the innings at Premadasa will do his confidence a world of good.
Men in blue came back with their face turned Red...They have themselves to blame..Lacklusture display and they deserved this loss..It was a comprehensive win for the Men in Green and we have to wait for a while if this was enough for Inzy and Co....to reach the Finals.

Lets hope Indians will come back strongly against the Lankans and itz a Must win game..Lets hope for a cracker of a Contest...

Indian Oil Cup July 2004 Prelims

2004-07-22T19:30:00.000-07:00

Atlast India played well ...and it was just enough to knock off the Bangladesh. Still they took some 40 odd overs to score 170 odd runs..Sachin played within himself and ensured he didn't miss this chance to raise his batting average...Where are you mate??Last time around...Pathan bowled well and got the rewards. Balaji bowled his heart out but was not suitably rewarded..Bajju back from his long layoff bowled tight spell,

Spare of thought for the Deshi's...I thought they played with lot of common sense and almost batted out their full 50 overs. Iam sure they will come good in the days to come provided they were given chances to play or compete with the Top Teams...They have some fine players with the Likes of Ashraful,Javed Omar and Baisya..They need to be given some kind of academy training and they will certainly come out on top....They are no pushovers these days.. Hats of to Dave Whatmore...

Elsewhere..Pakistan were annihilated by the Spirited Lankans..It was a dismal performance by the 1992 world champions and they were outplayed throughout. Barring Razzaq,none of the pakistani players showed commonsense...I certainly can't understand the logic of sending Malik at the pivotal position of Number3. When u have the likes of Inzy,Youhana and to some extent Younis khan...It is unfair to send the young kid and that too against the top opposition. It was a dreadful miss by the Coach Bob Woolmer..Have a look at the sides...Ponting for Aussies, Kallis for the Proteas,Lara for the Windies....My choice is Inzy..He is really good.

Itz high time the Pakistan Thintank should come up with a better game plan..We have a Biggie on this Sunday...Ind Vs Pak...Iam hoping for an absolute cracker of a contest. I must say Adv India at this time...But U never know....Inzy and Co..are capable of doing some magic .