Sports Crazy

Sports boom in India, NBA to arrive next.

2012-01-08T17:04:00.008+05:30

In life, there are always some things that are constant (or gradually and slowly moving in one direction) and there are some pulsating events. Like, for example, you are growing up day by day, learning the little new thing every day; and one day you have an adventure and are a singled reason for something great, or something famous, becoming famous.

Similar, are sports. Sports are always there. Every sport is played in one place more than the other owing to diverse reasons extending from the history to weather and, also the physique of the people of the geographical region. But, in recent years, with the advent of radio and later, of television and internet technologies, the following of a game has expanded beyond geographical boundaries. A cricket fan in the USA doesn't have to feel left out, nor should a football fan in Kenya. But, there needs to be something to break the new sport into the newer lands. Something "revolutionary" must happen, which attracts more and more people towards it.

In this post, I will try to put up a few occurrences in the recent history that has attracted a large following towards it, even if there are very few Indians playing it, or very few playing at the highest level of quality. And, predict the next swarm.

1. Formula One Racing.
India had a decent number of F1 followers a few years ago. I used to watch/follow during my school and college days. But it was far less than the number of people who care about, say, hockey. And suddenly, F1 came to India in October 2011. There was an unmatched euphoria that spread across the country like wildfire. People started liking drivers, some suddenly claimed to have known the Vettels and Alonsos since last century, some showered praises and swears like they were best buddies or arch rivals (something you see in sports with cemented fandom base), and people who had dreamt of watching F1 live had now a chance to realise it. The Buddh International Circuit could host nearly one lakh people, all of which were sold! That, brought F1 to India. Should've happened 5 years ago. Late, but never too late. It has happened. Not so long ago, an Indian company started owning a team (Force India), and we also had Indian drivers in the circuit. But THIS, this changed everything.

Click here for the race results.

2. Sania and Saina
Indian sports almost always ignored the performances of women. Even if it was about cricket. The whole nation followed the Indian men's cricket team during the 2003 WC, where it lost in the finals to Australia. But rarely do anyone remember Indian women's team's fortunes, as they traversed the same luck in 2005. But then, two girls, Saina Mirza and Saina Nehwal, swung a lasso and caught the attention of many million Indians towards them.

Sania Mirza raced past expectations to claim an Indian's highest WTA rank (27). Vijay Amrithraj was once ranked 16, Ramesh Krishnan 23. And 22 years since, Sania hit 27. That was when many girls got into tennis. Girls' tennis got more attention, more coaching. Sania went on to win silver and gold in Asian games too. The kick's been given, the result will show. Sania Mirza is the milestone woman to Indian tennis, but not the last one.

Saina Nehwal, a young prodigy, took badminton to another level of fan-following when she took the one way highway up the rankings, and reached her personal best of World Number 2, never before seen by any Indian. She was also instrumental in India bagging an overall silver in the Commonwealth Games of 2010, thanks to her gold medal. To put in a nutshell, she is to badminton what Sania Mirza is to tennis, if not more.

3. Twenty20 cricket
India were wary of the new version of cricket - the Twenty20. Indian ideology is - if you don't know it, don't fiddle with it. Not until India won the World Cup T20 did the think tanks and the people swarm the format of the game and adopt it, such that the world is attracted to the T20 league in India - the IPL, which kicked off on the same lines of the first such commercial Indian T20 league- the ICL (which was then labeled "rebel" league, and shunned). Funny, how things are first termed rebellious, and then taken into practice and termed genuine.

That World Cup drew comparisons to the ODI World Cup win in 1983. We had played only 6 ODIs at home before 1983 victory. We played 7 in 1983 after the world cup win.

These victories, these names, these events... They attract people, and loads of them. Very recently, an Indian company has taken over the ownership of an English Premiership Club - Blackburn Rovers. Now you see players in England, cheered by fans from all over the world wearing a shirt with an Indian's company's name on their chest and the camera flashing across to the club's Indian owners.Whether or not you like the club or not is immaterial, for, I don't even own the football the kids in my apartment play. I can only appreciate them. They even brought the team to play against an Indian club team - Pune FC. Vijay Mallya did similar things when he bought an F1 team and put India on the F1 map.

What next?

NBA

Yes! NBA.
The whole of India is now banking its hopes and expectations into a 15 year old simple Punjabi boy, Satnam Singh Bhamara. He's a giant, measured a whole 7 foot tall figure and had impressed his trainers at an IMG camp in Florida in 2010. He has been attracting many coaches' eyes since his arrival there, and is now in regular training. He has another 4-5 years of good training at school and college level before NBA picks players from the colleges from across the colleges (atleast one year of academics must be completed) and the globe in whole.

The coaches are liking his skill sets. They are helping him improve his athleticism. I spoke to Daniel Buerge, owner of LakersNation.com, LA Lakers' fan-blog (every NBA franchise has a fan blog, which is like the second place you visit after the official team page, or in some cases the first. And LakersNation was adjudged the best sports blog in LA last year) in December and introduced him to the growing sensation of Satnam Singh Bhamara and asked his opinion. He said that someone as tall as 7 feet with 4 years of growth left and already gaining reputation as a good player with handy skill set will be under the watch of NBA scouts. That, I hope does happen. If his preparations keep the pace, he will get into a good college for his skills, and will go all the way to the big league.
Two articles on him - NDTV, AOL

There is one comparison which I can make to tell you how this can be, if and when it happens. Yao Ming, of China. In 2002, he became the first Chinese player to be drafted into the NBA. What Yao Ming had, was an experience of 5 years in basketball, winning the CBA Championship with Shanghai Sharks, a team he now owns shares of, after retiring from basketball at a very young age of 31, due to a weak knee. NBA, and basketball in general, in China has since become an ever growing market. One of NBA's busiest offices abroad is in China. Chinese basketball improved so much, that when the NBA went into a lock-out, players opted to play basketball in China until NBA was restored, or in some cases, the whole of Chinese season.

Satnam Singh can bring that change to India. He can do what Hasheem Thabeet did for Tanzania, what Samuel Dalembert did for Haiti. He holds Yao Ming as an inspiration, and he wants to be India's Yao Ming. He has all my prayers to accomplish that.

We are waiting by the beach, awaiting the sweet wave to wash our feet, and prepare for a new dawn, one when Satnam Singh Bhamara wears an NBA jersey and stands shoulder to shoulder with other contemporary stars.

Bring it on!

New ODI Rules.

2011-10-04T19:02:00.008+05:30

Clearly ODI cricket is on a new low. Viewers aren't watching, sponsors not willing to invest, same bunch of teams taking turns winning, same bunch of teams taking turns not winning, T20s eating into ODIs like Moths, sweeping away crowds like Dung Beetle, and test cricket stomping on it like a Woolly.

I See, see, that One Day International Cricket needs some serious changes. So I took it upon me to save ODI cricket from its early death. My views have been approved by an imaginary board. It's quite the same as imaginary views being approved by a real cricketing board.

Here is the list of a few minor, major and utterly mandatory changes :-

01. The captain who loses the toss, buys the opponent's playing XI dinner on the night of the game. If he loses, it will be good for him, as the winning captain has to sponsor the opponent's XI's lunch the following day. ICC and boards see this as a way to cut their own expenses. ECB were happy at this.

Note - M.S. Dhoni quoted "Well of course, winning is important, irrespective of the toss" in satisfaction of the law.

02. There will be a two minute mandatory break in each innings after the 25th over. This is a dedicated time for the teams to play dodgeball. Fielding XI forms a circle of 15 yard diameter, and the two batsmen who're playing must play dodge. If they're hit in the 2 minutes, they're out. This dismissal will be termed "Hit Out", and will be credited to the fielder who hit the batsman. For a brochure of complete rule-set, it can be obtained from the patent owner, me, upon request.

Note - HotSpot will be applicable here, its applcation will be decided by 3rd umpire. BCCI are not yet happy about this.

03. Each team will have 2 reviews under UDRS, but their request will be put forth only if they can recite a tongue twister 10 times within 25 seconds to the bowling end umpire. The tongue twister will be of the umpire's choice. This is to reduce the number of referrals made, if not eliminate.

Note - Michael Clarke has filed a request to the ICC to not allow Australian matches to be umpired by BOTH Aleem Dar and Asad Rauf.

04. As a step to move forward with the Spirit of Cricket, the captains of both teams in the last match of the series/tournament, must exchange trousers at of toss. An undisclosed spokesperson for an undisclosed team said "They exchange tee shirts at football matches. We just exchange trousers."

Note - BCB announces double money payback to anyone who is willing to return their merchandises, waist below.

05. An innings is for 3.5 hours. Now on, there won't be any fine for exceeding the time limit. Just, the bowlers must bowl with their wrong hand.

Note - E(&W)CB awards permanent contract till retirement to Samit Patel, assuring him a place in the playing XI.

06. As the game has become very colourul, we have decided to add some more colours to the game. Bowlers will now bowl each over 3 different coloured balls. If x,y and z are the colours, the over will be bowled in xyzxyz order.

Note - Batting team can decide the colour of the ball. For England, pink is mandatory.

07. For the first time in any sport than includes hurling a ball at someone else, there will be the introduction of the concept of "Money Ball". Inspired and adapted from the NBA, this gives you double benefits. Each bowling team gets two Magic Balls each innings, the captain is free to opt for it any time in the innings, but they must be exhausted in the 50 overs. If the bowler picks a wicket, the next batsman on the officially declared batting order is Magicked Out, and cannot bat. Two wickets. One ball. You only dreamt of it. Batsmen will similarly double whatever they score off the Magic Ball.

Note - Lasith Malinga is smiling now.

08. Any commentator who gets a feeling of any kind while on air will be given free treatment at a local hospital far away from the ground for 6 months, and be sanctioned medical-leave for the period. This is to let the world knows that ICC cares for the welfare of their presenters.

Note - We thank the students of KMC (Kilpauk Medical College), Chennai for suggesting this very noble idea.

09. ICC has recruited and contracted Russel Peters to every possible ODIs that are played around the world for conducting the presentation ceremony. An office bearer said "We want the people to stay for the presentation ceremony. The people who conduct it now are so predictable. My dog knows what lines are coming up." Russel Peters is ready for the task. He said in an exclusive interview, "Each player summoned to the dais must start with a 'Your momma is so fat..' joke."

Note - ICC mentioned that it will impose a fine of upto 1 match ban on players who opt for "Well of course, your momma is so fat."

10. As many incidences have come up, and many have mentioned the need for it officially, since it is unofficially happening anyway, we have decided to legalize ball tampering. Ball tampering has been defined as a "one time 30 second long act in making allowable alterations to the surface of the ball, without disfiguring the shape of the ball, with whatever means possible, in front of both field umpires and under the vigilance of a spider camera". It will be allowed only to those bowling teams who employed only fast bowlers in their first 15 overs, with a second slip always present during the period, and no player making a visit to the dressing room until the point of time when the allowance is made by the on-field umpire (only after 38th over). This is to make sure that the fast bowlers are sufficiently utilized at the beginning itself, and also that nobody brings in extra tools for any disfiguration.

Note - "fast bowlers" is a list of literally fast or medium fast bowlers, and does not include Keiron Pollard or Paul Collingwoord. Jade Dernbach has been sent a list of rules to abide by for the first 15 overs to help his team avail this offer.

Let Glory Be Restored To ODIs

Cricket Commentary. Time for radio again.

2011-09-25T18:10:00.008+05:30

We have moved on from gluing our ears to radio sets to sitting comfortably on the couch in-front of television sets to watch games. Our eyes saw what was happening in the latter, but our ears were hungry for running information coming in.

The only difference between the two audio commentaries, is that, for TV, you can see what is happening, and the description required can be minimized. Thus, television commentary allowed room for expertise and opinions on air. You could see the shine on one side, and someone would tell what that would do. On a radio, there isn't enough time to describe all of it. Description - necessary, explanation - bonus.

Of-late, cricket commentary on television has been a joke. From needless promotion of sundry tournaments to verbal fights to a complete vomit of mis-information, one is tempted to turn the volume down to mute, or go for new-age audio commentary.

Most commentary teams comprise of ex-cricketers, or famed cricket journalists, with varied experience on the microphone. If not for a few good blokes, telly commentary could've been a non-mandatory option for viewers.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but when I say commentary, it ought to mean description of the game going out in the ground. 3 out of 5 times, the commentator is either talking about birds, or praising the local government for hosting the match, or talking about the fellow commentator's age old experience from 20 years ago, or worse, hair on their head. If I wanted all that, I would go to a theatre.

As a kid, I would love to hear Tony Greig go "Sauchin Taendulka" and Gavaskar and Shastri talk... For, I only had eyes. My ear would sense cricketers' names and excite me. Today, when I hear Shastri, I turn the volume down to mute. If a man with only so many lines as a back-stage actor can be paid so much, I fail to see the purpose of being called a "commentator".

The verbal diarrhea that is involved is just too much to handle. And gosh, what levels of pointlessness are poured into the commentary by some examples like Arun Lol, Atul Wasan, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, Russel Arnold, Ranjit Fernando, Danny Morrison, Amir Sohail, Brad Hogg and other forgettable names. Ranjit Fernando changes his views every 17 minutes, 17 seconds if we are talking about a close run out. Arun Lol talks about the birds on his tie, while LSK hasn't understood what reverse swing is.

Maybe the country with the best commentary team would be West Indies - Cozier, Bishop, Holding. England has Bumble, Botham, Gower, Hussain (I miss Boycott). Indian subcontinent has no good commentator. Australia has Richie Benaud, Ian Chappell, Slater, Taylor (not great, not bad). Mark Nicholas adds a bit of excitement, cricket-ingly so.

In football, the commentators announce the goal, wait for a few moments, then describe the celebration and a little snippet, and then explain the goal on the replay along with expert comments.

In NBA, there is a play-by-play who describes every pass, every drive and the attempt, while an expert describes the tactics and science. And they are legends, honoured for their careers as commentators. In NBA, last minute plays and highlight plays are not commented for a few seconds until the audience's volume comes down. Half the way across the world, it is a hair-raising experience to listen to Kevin Harlan, Joe & Stu (Lakers, you see), Mike Breen call the play-by-play. Experts are a whole different set of people.

Tennis commentators don't even talk when the ball is in play. They start only after the audience is mid-way into their clapping.

There, that can be applied to cricket. I'm sick and tired of "the ball is up in the aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaair" followed by "taken" or "dropped". I can see that. You can do the "swiveling in the air" and "white back-ground" or "lost in the crowd" part, after the ball has come down. After. But no, they have to squeeze in their lines while the ball is up in the air, because once it lands, it is time to call it a "Karbonn kamaal catch, or "car crash broken bone drop".

And I pity these Hindi commentators, who have NO CLUE what-so-ever about the field placement because, obviously, they aren't there at the ground. They're commentating off their own TV sets.

I may not be any great commentator, but I'm no idiot to accept what they all serve as commentary. They're paid to commentate, we pay to hear them.

Gavaskar will tell you about his amateur commentary days alongside Richie Benaud... Once, while the two were commentating in the box, the batsman had scored his century. Young commentator, Gavaskar, reached for his mic in excitement and let the world hear it, and Richie Benaud put his hand on Gavaskar's arm, silently prompting him to quit it. It was to let the viewers watch the batsman's celebration, engulfed by the appreciation from the crowd via claps, whistles and praises, before the commentators can come into the scene and add their inputs to it.

With all the bizarre commentary on television, internet radio has become one viable option. Groups of individuals have taken it upon themselves to entertain the world of cricket. Test Match Sofa covers up all English games, and Pitch-Invasion covers all Indian games (IPL included). They serve good commentary, which is informative, interactive and enjoyable. Reading your tweets on air, interacting with a group of listeners, freedom to make sarcastic comments, unbound by contracts to hail something...these networks are giving the television commentary a bit of a competition.

With more people turning to such media, one doesn't mind turning off the volume. So one wouldn't care a rat's ass about Ravi Shastri's feelings, or why Gavaskar is unhappy about being finger-pointed about his "DLF Maximum" trumpets, or Danny Morrison's description of the cheerleader on the dais.

We are going back to the radio days.

Arouse Interest in Domestic Cricket, Airtel!

2011-08-28T14:07:00.006+05:30

Today, one of Indian domestic cricket's biggest problem is that it isn't attracting enough attention or viewership or interest of the general public. The fandom is limited, and almost all of them would be "die hard" fans, branches of families who have had big interests in their local team, passing on the passion from generation to generation. In India, the best such association of fans to their domestic team can only be seen in Mumbai, and traces in maybe TN, Delhi, Bengal, UP etc. My dad tells tales about the Gopalan Trophy...such was the following of the local team in those days.

Nowadays, people don't know much about their local stars until they make an appearance on television in coloured clothings. The NEO network's two channels have helped televise some domestic games. The Challenger Trophy brings the best few in the country in a round robin league, which is probably the most viewed domestic tournament in India. Yet, Ranji trophy, or even Duleep trophy doesn't attract half as much attention of viewers or followers alike.

There has to be ways to get over this. There is.

Yesterday, while watching the channel 'NEO Cricket', I learnt that Airtel sponsors all domestic cricket leagues and tournaments in India.

Airtel is one of the leading telephone, cellular, broadband and DTH television service provider in India, with nation-wide coverage in all aspects.

I believe that this link between Airtel and the domestic cricket can help bring the cricket closer to people. Airtel can be the mediator to bring the happenings to the people.

Airtel services include packages for cricket, wherein the subscribers would get score updates and news from international games and events. Such services can be extended to the domestic set-up too.

Airtel can allow its customers to subscribe to packages for any Ranji team (extend to Vijay Hazare and Syed Mushtaq Ali trophies). The subscribers would then be given information at toss (toss, teams) and score updates at lunch, tea and stumps for all days of play. And at stumps on each day, update all subscribers with scores from all the games being played across the country.

All subscribers can be allowed to follow other non-state-specific tournaments without hassles, meaning, without any further subscription procedures. This would involve coverage of Deodar, Duleep and Irani trophy.

The cricket package for international games was priced at Rs 30 for 30 days. Airtel would know best on how to price the packages for the domestic games. Ranji season would see atleast 4 games every month for each team. There will be one-dayers and T20s too.

Marketing this is simple too. As of now, the BCCI is able to promote its domestic leagues only on its channels - NEO Sports and NEO Cricket (both paid channels, require set-top-box or DTH). With Airtel involved, there are no boundaries. Advertisements on all local channels can catch the attention of target audience better. Print media in each region can advertise for subscription of their local team's cricket update service pack.

This has multiple benefits :-
1. More people can now follow their local cricket team in the domestic league. One large step in creating a larger fandom for the domestic teams.
2. Airtel will have more revenue, might also generate more customers if the venture is a success.

A win-win situation? Yes!

I want to see that day when a Yorkshire fan would be jealous of the fandom of Jharkhand.

Autopsy of India's loss to England.

2011-08-22T21:52:00.012+05:30

India traveled to England from West Indies with a crop of new cricketers, seasoned travelers, some passengers and a large kit full of bandages, relief sprays, magic sprays etc. The series started with a Panther coming out to play for Somerset, who ended up lifting the trophy after whitewashing the opponents whiter than the kit he was wearing.

This may be one of India's worst defeats in history. But India fought for 17 days of the series, and lost only 4-0. Spare a thought for Natasha Zvereva, who was crushed 6-0 6-0 by Steffi Graf in 1988 French Open. Lasted only 32 minutes, shorter than India's 7 man tail lasted in the last test.

I look at some major reasons why India lost the series to England.

1. That Blimp
Right from the start of the series, the television presenters were hell bent on giving more importance to the floating piece of clueless hot air balloon than what was happening down in the cricket ground. The cricketers had to do something crazy enough to attract the attention of the 7 month old baby which would otherwise have been gazing at the blimp.

It is also believed that Lalit Modi lived in that blimp, preparing to unfurl his IPL-IS-GOD nuisance as soon as India would win a test. The needless and pointless ZanduBalm Pressure became a huge Vicks 500 Headache for the Indian team, and like all humans they suffered from fatigue from the over expectation generated from the man in the MRF Blimp.

That blimp...

2. Snapping Samson's Hair

Never change something that is going well.

Ishant Sharma was the leading wicket taker in the WI series. He had the most wickets for an Indian in a single tour of WI. And within a couple of weeks of landing in England, he becomes a cropper. His hair was cut. Along with the length of his hair, went his powers. Ishant, is Samson.

Ishant's form dipped, injured himself, and is now back home.

3. The Rise of the Barbie

Before the series started, Stuar Broad was a man going nowhere with his form. He was spraying the ball all around for an year. His enforcing abilities had diminished to near nothingness. It took him three and a half ODIs to pick his first wicket of the series against SL, preceding the IND series. Such was his plight, fighting against Bresnan for a spot in the playing XI.

And on 21st July, as England started their campaign at Lord's, a sad thing happened in California, USA later that day. Elliot Handler, the co-inventor of Barbie Dolls, passed away due to heart failure at the age of 95.

The spirit of Barbie seems to have returned to the sole owner of the name - Stuart Broad.

We all saw what happened next - a few match turning innings with the bat, a series of destruction of the batting line up with the ball and with commanding assurance, owned the Man of the Series Award.

(Elliot Handler, RIP. This world got a lot from you. Barbie and HotWheels to name two.)

4. Denying the Battle

When Andrew Strauss opted to play for Somerset on loan to improve his batting (not sure how much he did...), Marcus Trescothik made way for Strauss for the one-off practice game vs India. This meant there was no Trescothik vs Harbhajan face-off. One of the most fun-filled pocket of rivalry was denied bluntly.

I'm pretty sure that Bhajji would've nailed Tresco atleast once. And then he would have that spring in his step. And he would spring on that board for the whole tour.

Well done, Tresco! You've eliminated one bowler off the Indian ranks right off.

5. The Lucky Fellow

And yes, Tim Bresnan played for England. There. How can a team win against England when they field Tim Bresnan in the XI?

And such was the luck and plight of the series, that nothing would put India back on track in the series. India ended up losing 4-0, a whitewash that painted the Indian team whiter than England's whitest white Adidas test kits.

Congratulations to England, the new no.1 in test rankings. Strauss does like the mace. Good luck with it! It seemed like he used it on the Indians to reduce them to rubble.

And as I type, India slip to no.3 in ODIs too, to go along with the no.3 in tests, courtesy SL's victory in the last ODI vs Australia.

Why so serious?

Make Test Cricket a Tradition To Sustain It.

2011-08-18T06:44:00.005+05:30

Test cricket, the best form of cricket, needs a serious revival in India, with regards to spectators in a venue.

Test cricket in recent times has seen a big drop in ground attendance across many venues in India. One of the best prepared pitches and outfield in Mohali would be presided over by a crowd which you can count on your fingers. Cricket in VCA/Jamtha in Nagpur was attended by a mere 2000 spectators last year (vs NZ, November), and another 3000 students were filled in just to make the stadium look a bit more filled. Didn't help much. Deccan/Hyderabad saw a poor turn out too.

There are two major reasons for poor turn outs :-

1. People not as interested in attending test cricket than they would attend ODIs.

2. Stadium too far away from the city.

As for reason no.2, one can't help it. And some of those cities having a stadium in the outskirts have a stadium inside the city limits too.

Price of tickets is never a reason. I attended a test match in Nagpur which costs Rs 200 for the whole test match (all 5 days), i.e. Rs 40 a day. That's less than a dollar. I spent more on my headphones.

It all points to one little fact, that there are more purists in some pockets of the country, where people are wanting to attend any day and every day of a game of test cricket. Also, they are willing to pay a higher amount of entry fee to enter into the city (big city economy and all that).

Any cricket board has atleast one eye on the money. And I'm talking about cricket in India, meaning, atleast 2 eyes. One-Dayers and T20s generate huge turn out, even if the stadium is in outskirts of a village in the middle of nowhere. People are willing to shell out money for a one-time shorter format outing.

Take Dharmasala for example, which had a good turn out during the IPL. And I remember Nagpur being house-full for a T20 international game. My friend told me he couldn't buy a ticket for a Hyderabad ODI game at 9pm on the day the ticket sales opened, as all tickets were sold out within 12 hours. ODIs in Cuttack, Rajkot, Gwalior etc are always jam packed. The last time I saw a good crowd at a first class game in India was the Ranji Trophy final between Karnataka and Mumbai at Mysore. People climbed on trees to watch the watch the precious last session on play.

So, we need to keep the interest of the people and generate money out of it. In a balanced manner. The solution is quite clear -

1. Host the test cricket in the prominent "traditional" test venues, thereby getting rid of rotational policies, where attendance is guaranteed.

They would include - Chennai, Mumbai (Wankhede), Bangalore, Kolkata, New Delhi, Kanpur, and maybe Ahmedabad (Motera). I hope and pray there are a couple more to add? Hyderabad hasn't been a sweet spot for test cricket. And Mohali, howsoever good the ground and stadium is, never generated the attendance.

2. Create, or revisit a tradition in scheduling the tests at particular venues. I learnt that the last "Pongal test" in Chennai (Madras) was more than 2 decades ago, and that was the "Hirwani test". Assuming we play cricket from July/August to march/April, there are enough openings for Diwali, New Year, Sankranti/Pongal, Holi etc. Schedule 2 series across 4 or 5 months, starting with a test series, then both ODI series (or tri-series?) and then finishing with the other test series. That can cover the dates above mentioned which are spaced well apart.

I read that some CLT20 games were shifted out of Kolkata, as advised by local police, because of Durga Puja. In that case, I'm sure a test either just before or just after the festivity will be lively. It will be like, "to set the tone" or "to finish the festivities".

3. Schedule ODIs and T20s in other stadia in the country, implement rotational policy, weather compatibility and all that. Crowds guaranteed. Money guaranteed. Allot a fixed amount to the stadium that hosted the LOI games, and put the rest of the income in a common pool. Use the money in the pool to cover excess expenditure at the test venues to improve the ground, pitch, infrastructure (not all stadiums have a good wi-fi connectivity at press-box, for example) etc.

4. Nothing wrong in increasing the price of tickets a bit at the test venues. People will be willing to pay Rs 500 for five days' entry to the stands for sure. It is not a guess, it is what the people have been cheerfully paying for the love of the game, of test cricket.

Such formats are followed in Australia and England. Australia have had this for long enough to use this as a strategy, to weaken the opponents chip by chip.

5. Better scheduling of a test by days of week. A test in India's WI tour started on Monday. That will in no way attract crowd to a game. A test match should ideally start on a Thursday or Friday, woo people to the ground and make them come back for all days. People have enough love for the game in their heart to attend the last day of a game on a Monday or Tuesday. I've seen it.

Indian cricket fans are very sentimental, and it will be a risk to now hold tests in less prominent grounds now, when Indian team has just lost the mantle of no.1 test cricket team in the world. Luckily, India host West Indies in New Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai.

Cliché or not, uphold the spirit of test cricket.

(built on inputs from Venkat Ananth, Dileep Premachandran and others)

The Swiss Knife of Indian Cricket

2011-08-07T10:05:00.012+05:30

"Silently going about, doing his business."

- A gazillion people, on Rahul Dravid.

Fifteen years ago at Lord's, in walked a skinny top order batsman, who was in the team for another batsman missing out on the test... And on his debut, teased the English bowlers with cream and venom alike, and made a respectable 95 runs. Not putting his name on the honour's board didn't hurt as much as not going on forever did.

Introducing Rahul Sharad Dravid. The man who planted the trees on the top order to hold the loose soil tight. The man who took the scoring brunt off the shoulders of Azhar and Sachin, sharing loads with the colleague Sourav and his dearest buddy, VVS...thereby starting a new era of Indian batting order. One that would last for a decade, stripping opposition of pride and fame, creating pride and fame for their own team, and continually raising standards to reach the pinnacle they just did.

Came in as a top order stabilizer, became a top order mobilizer with continuous commendable performances in ODIs. Instantly, he had a fan club (not the easiest thing to do when you have Sachin polarizing the nation, and Sourav rising up too), and had tons of girls drooling over him. Then there was Jam Jam Jammie.

Nothing deterred his concentration. We've seen Waughs and Sachins and Laras. But none of them have the concentration level of Rahul Dravid. With no imposition to go for the high-flying shots that define the younger generation, Dravid trusted his 6th, 7th and 8th sense - concentration. Armed with the defense of highest quality, he ground the bowlers, brought them to his mercy and then punished them with his artillery of stroke-play.

Want an example to prove his concentration?

That, in an age where NZ would have the most hostile pitches for subcontinental batsmen, ball zipping around and all that. That total spoke volumes of his talent.
A dozen years later, he has 5 double tons for India, only bettered by Sachin and the only Indian with triple ton (two of them) - Sehwag. No other contemporary or past batsmen have as many. And his double tons came at the Oval, Pindi, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Adelaide. But for Ahmedabad, every other test had an ordeal to surpass.

The sweetest of them all? Adelaide. That innings was one that laid India on the path to overseas success. An innings that instilled fear in opponents' spine, even if at home. A feel of "nothing is over until it is over" and other cliched lines.

Not to forget that 190 and a 191 at Nagpur vs NZ. If Dravid sets his eye in, he will not let go of the grip.

And no, he is not a test-only batsman. He has been a prolific limited over batsman. More than 10000 runs, having been asked to bat at multiple positions in the batting line up, tossed around like a volleyball. One thing that did not change was the consistency in delivery.

People don't generally associate Dravid with speed. But, one cannot forget his whirlwind fifty against NZ, that till date stands to be the 2nd fastest Indian fifty in ODI, albeit shared by a few others (Sehwag, Yuvraj, Kapil Dev). Dravid was pushed down the order so faster scorers can accelerate. But it was Dravid who actually did the acceleration that night. Cover drives were given a harder push, a little more lift. As simple as that, came the sixes.

We remember Sachin's 186 and Ganguly's 183 as examples of Indian ODI's greatest innings. But at the other end of those innings, was Rahul Dravid. He had 153 and 145, better than run-a-ball, and is the sole cricketer features in two triple century partnerships. Not Sachin, not Ganguly. Dravid.

Greg Chappell came in, tossed the team around like a Chinese tossing vegetables on a pan. Dravid, slotted to play at no.3 or 4 would have to make space for Irfan Pathan or Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the floaters. Chappell displaces Ganguly from the scene and thrusts the captaincy onto Rahul Dravid. Dravid has since managed the team to overseas success, even though he wasn't enjoying captaincy.

When Mongia's jaws were rearranged by Jumbo, fellow Bangalorean, Rahul Dravid stepped up and took the gloves. Saba Karim's offer to fly in as India's cover-up was put on hold, as Dravid was made to take up this additional job for the rest of the tournament, a world cup tournament that.

His 145 vs Sri Lanka at Taunton was then the 2nd highest score by a wicket-keeper batsman, the highest in that category a world cup. Only Gilchrist's 2007 final has bettered that in a world cup.

He was made to continue as the keeper for 70 odd games, to accommodate another batsman in the line up. He had to squat 50 times in the subcontinent, and then come on to balance the top order.

He had to take the brunt of captaincy during a torrid time in Indian cricket.

When the team was without openers, Dravid was pushed to open the innings. It was not his favourite spot, but he took the shot for the team.

Why, you put up posters and placards with his face sitting besides the name he doesn’t like, “The Wall”, but continues to live with it.

In an age where people miss every second game for some injury or the other, Rahul went on to play record number of tests in a row until he missed a test. And that record has only been eclipsed by the flawless health of Gilchrist.

He had to give up his ODI place to "young blood" who would go on to earn money by wearing colourful jerseys in petty leagues doing what could only be best described as "dancing to rap music". His WC 2007 memories not helping, he reserved himself to test cricket, though available for the shorter form too. But for Kohli, India hasn't seen a batsman who can be half as close to Dravid's stature, to be able to manage that spot at the top order with as much calmness as he did. Gambhir and Ganguly are not natural no.3, but they were made to fall back to no.3 at times from their natural opening slot, which by default pushed Dravid back.

And today, when the panic button sounds alarms, the team falls back to the game's biggest servant to save them from further blushes in this English tour. Indian ODI may not be moving forward, but it had to return to the man who has helped the team in the exact same situation time and again in history. Once again, something unforeseen strikes Rahul Dravid.

Has anyone, anyone, ever had a cup of coffee with him and asked “Forget our needs, what would you like to have? What do you want to see? Where do you want to play? Are you comfortable? Do you need rest?” Dravid is the precious Kohinoor we couldn’t live without, which shone the room of Indian cricket with grace and brought delight. A man who took the services from the likes of Jadeja and Siddhu and the likes, looking to hand over the keys to Kohli and Pujara and the likes, Indian cricket hasn’t been half as kind as it could’ve been to Rahul.

He smoothened the middle order, he opened the innings on demand, he cut through arrays of records, he sliced open racks of bowling attacks, he screwed and bolted the Indian batting order, he anchored many an ends in his career, and clipped away needless gossips from the team... With a smile.

India’s Swiss Knife. Rahul Sharad Dravid.

ICC also dances to ECB's tunes

2011-07-31T00:58:00.006+05:30

Englishmen and other classifications of two legged creatures trolled different parts of the world where people were killed for no reason, for no mistakes of their own. And Englishmen made rules for others, none for themselves.

Fast Forward to 21st century cricket, and ICC is being tossed around like a volleyball between BCCI's money basket and ECB's law-makers.

Don't sush me now, had some Yusuf Pathan played the switch hit, he would've been banned for life by ICC... Just because a part blonde Saffer on English soil did so, he was ogled at and handed the benefit of inventing a legal shot.

Fast Forward...

Broad gets away with like gazillions of accusations with not even a trip to the match referee's room. Sure, my teacher wouldn't scold a girl as much as a boy for the same offence, but things had gone too far. Beefy once went on air, pulled the camera to his face and said, what would in lay man's terms would mean, "no matter whose son you may be, you appeal to the umpire and not your nanny sitting behind fine leg. And you are not the umpire, just in case you forgot."

Oh, but uncle Broad...the saviour of British hind-part.

Swann today kicks the stumps, and is "reprimanded", no fine, no serious imposition of any ICC blah blah blah section blah blah blah by-law. A level one offence. I'm told it's his 2nd serious offence, and is bound to head to a fine.

I know ECB is poor, and is looking way to cut cost, but I don't think this is one of the way. That wife of ICC.

And if he did want to play footy, the Forests' stadium is just across the street. Nobody at Trent Bridge cricket stadium needs to watch a cricketer show some footy skills on a piece of wood that is not even round.

If Sreesanth had to pay fine for kicking the boundary ropes, if all batsmen around the world have to pay a fine for staring at the umpire for 2 seconds after being given out, if bowlers can't bowl for taking 3 steps on soil, then my rule book of cricketing sense says Swann's gotta be sued in a much stricter manner.

I wonder how kicking a rope is more dangerous to the spirit of the game than kicking the stump.

And just how beautifully explained that Window-Gate was! ECB does have capable ghost writers.

And Staurt Broad appeals more than Panesar and Akram and Muralitharan and Inzi put together. If that arse doesn't get a fine and ban imposed on him, you don't bloody have the right to call the fine on whopping 6 Indians. Mike Denness banned 6 Indians for atleast 1 test for "excessive appealing" in South Africa, while cheekily making sure the darn Englishmen can have an easy time in their tour of India while half the team (whole top order) sits out, banned. The man whom India feared a lot in those days is now playing only domestic cricket because the retard can't stand international pressure. And Denness wanted to cover for a team made of that? And Freddie's hairy chest he bared at the end of that tour? (duly repaid)

Quoting ex-Indian cricketer and current TN coach, W.V. Raman "Denness should go down in cricket history as a person who achieved the impossible."

Dear Uncle Broad, baby Barbie and useless, penniless, jobless, wusses ECB... get a life. Be a man, if you can be. Else, you are no better than #BleddyBCCI and its shenanigans.

Jelly beans? You sissies need cotton candies.

10 reasons why you can't be as good as Devendra Bishoo

2011-07-10T16:39:00.006+05:30

10 reasons why you aren't and can't be as good as Devendra Bishoo...not even half as good.

1. You are not a leg spinner who developed skills in the land of fast bowlers.

2. You are not a young bowler who replaced the Big Benn. Nobody does that. Bishoo does.

3. Your name isn't half as fun to lend an ear as it is when Tony Cozier says DayWayneDraw Bishwho.

4. You haven't made an epic debut in a World Cup.

5. Your can't possibly give a better interview in-front of a world audience and reduce Nasser Hussain's probing abilities to ashes, like the one in the urn he never earned n his career of 5 Ashes series.

If you haven't lost all the respect for yourself, read on...

6. You can't wear a smile on your face after losing twice in 2 games in the world cup and say that you are actually sad that the team didn't win. Some people break TVs and window panes for just getting out like idiots.

7. You are not a Caribbean. So, you are obviously not as cool as Bishoo.

8. You are not a no.11 batsman with a batting average of 17.20 .

9 & 10. You can't fly. You cannot fly. That seals the deal. Twice.

Look, even your frisbee feels ashamed.

Now, bow down to the legend.

Times Change, Cricket made to change.

2011-06-27T18:29:00.004+05:30

DRS, World Cup silver lining for the associate nations and some ODI complications were some of the things that have been finalised upon in the first 2 days of the ICC board meeting in Hong Kong.

ICC has made "modified" UDRS mandatory in all tests and ODIs. Modification? HotSpot and audio tracking are mandatory, while hawk-eye is going to be optional. So, if you see India playing in the series/tournament, don't expect hawk-eye in it.

So, it is clear there won't be hawk-eye in place for the series in England. And that renders any line call vs lbw decisions non-referable. So, if the umpire calls it outside the leg tough it pitched in line, the bowler can only swear at himself and move on, of course that swearing will earn him a trip to the match referee's room for breaching laws 1.23.4.24 and 2.124.34.534.34. Similar conditions for the batsmen in a different scenario.

So, how is the umpire going to know where it pitched or had the impact with the pad if the ball-tracker is not trust worthy? Remember those days when there was no hawkeye, and the TV telecast production company would just show the replay, and when the ball hits the pad, they would make the batsman's image go translucent so you could see the stumps behind him? Why not just go back to that and get rid of all the complications with ball tracking devices. Refer the close lbw decisions to 3rd umpire and ask him to take that decision. As for the edge, you have approximately 235325 cameras in the cricket ground for every angle, and then you have the hot-spot cameras in all directions. Did I miss anything?

The ICC decides to hold a qualifier for the 10-team 2015 World Cup, to be held just before the tournament I feel. I don't have more details to add to it right now, not sure how many teams will fight for it, how many spots will be made vacant for grabs after deciding upon the number of teams that get automatic qualification into the World Cup. This has made the word "world" buy a little more meaning into it, nevertheless.

Now, to some other changes that have been brought in.

No runners. Batsmen will not be allowed the comfort of using a runner to run for him during the course of the match. Even if one of his leg break into two and his team needs two to win off the last ball of the game. He has to do that on one leg. If the ICC can look at what I'm trying to say, that decision must be changed.

Powerplay overs can only be employed within the 16th and 40th over. Maybe some day they will make it mandatory to be used between overs 20 and 30.

Captains will be suspended if they breach the over-rate twice. Used to be three earlier. With so many confusions and complications, I have no idea how many would want to lead their side in ODIs from now on. There are so many factors that are bound to waste your time.

And here comes the icing on the cake. Or whatever.
There will be two balls used in every innings of an ODI. One from each end. ICC says that will help sustain the swing on the ball for a longer period of time. This has effectively removed spinners out of the equation for ODIs. As it is they are made to bend to the ugly T20. Now, there is never going to be an old ball. There were times when spinners would come in around the 15th to 20th over and carry on to the early 40s. I can't imagine what kind of bowling is to be witnessed now on. More of dart spinners...

Not like pitches made around the world support any swing. The subcontinent is just a dust bowl. Pakistan plays its games in the UAE, dust of dust bowls. Only a few stadiums in England, SA, Australia support swing, very few. NZ tracks have been nothing like they were before the 2003 WC. And WI pitches are dead corpse, given what they used to be.

A ball for each end my foot.
25 overs per end. So, assuming you want one of your opening bowler to finish the innings off (which would need him to bowl from the other end for the last over), you will need atleast two bowlers to bowl from both ends at different points of time. Or one, if you have that many bowling options. Now, the field has to shine two different balls, take care of 4 sides of balls, learn the science of two different balls. I won't be surprised if there are ten more Trescothics and Yardys in the next 5 years.

God save cricket. That fat lady is coughing.

Life of a Tracer Bullet

2011-06-14T14:00:00.008+05:30

She had to wait for 15 minutes outside the bathroom, made to listen to some mumbling noises from inside, and after a few irritated knocks, the man appears, with his toothbrush held in his right hand like a microphone and yapping "I just get the feeling that tooth has got to give."

Mrs Bullet has been having such trouble for ages, and says it has peaked now, because Mr Tracer Bullet is utterly bored after his stints at the world cup and then at the Fancy Dress Cricket League, popularly knows as I-P-L.

He appears at the breakfast table wearing a suit, looking at the 1985 model of video camera placed on the showcase looking over the dining table and say out loud "ARE.YOU.REAAAADYYYY? I just get the feeling sun is out, and it's going to be a cracker of a contest." Mrs Bullet was not sure if Polly wanted a cracker or breakfast.

She recalled, when 2 weeks ago the kid and her friend were having a fight over the breakfast table, he stopped the two, flipped a coin and asked one of them to call heads or tails. And went to the winner of the toss with a spoon as a mic and asked "So, what will you do today? Any changes in the team?"

He kept pestering the maid who was washing utensils until one of his "That's a cracker" finally made her drop a plate and crack it. And he retorted, "nothing can be done, that fell down as straight as an arrow. The umpire has raised his finger."

Once the offended maid was gone, Mrs Bullet made him do the dishes, but she realized her grave mistake as he started throwing the kitchen sink for 3 days in a row.

He always makes sure that he cleans one half of the house, and says emphatically, "See, there is shine on one side and rough on the other. What this does it, it will generate some swing. All you have to do is bowl straight, bowl full and let the ball do the rest." Mrs bullet dejectedly said, "he never did the rest" and pointed out piles of dust on one side of the living room...

He does love to watch movies. Less of tamil, and even less if it is a Vijaykanth movie. He hates Vijaykanth, because he is the one man tracer bullets fear.

Mrs Bullet says he also likes to cook. He adds random ingredients and teaches anyone who would lend their ear "what this does is, it will make the going smooth." And as a good father, he always tells his kid "make no mistake", a local version of "do the right thing" or "be a man".

He has a few cats, and lets them amongst the pigeons every evening. Most of the irritated pigeons have already left his household for different reasons. One of them agreed told us, "we used to have a nice time until the recent times. We had a nest over the Air Conditioner outside his bedroom. But we found that it was not a peaceful place to like, as that man would suddenly get up in the middle of the night and scream at the top of his voice 'DHOOOOOOOONIIIIIIII' and get back to sleep. We are all woken up, and people in the neighbourhood put on their lights and after that it is very difficult to sleep, you know. We are moving to LSK's home. He sings well."

Tracer Bullet's favourite festival is Holi, he says, as he happily recalls that ever since his childhood he would carry the water pistol in his hands and run from door to door firing on all their cooking gas cylinders.

He goes out to eat with his friends every Saturday night. Most of them got their PhD from American universities, and a couple of them were medical practitioners. If he is unable to make his mind up on what to order that night, he would just tell the waiter "I'll have just what the doctors ordered", and keep eating till something gets to give. It's mostly the patience of the people at the restaurant.

So, as the lights are put out, no guns are left to blaze, Mr Tracer goes to bed with a phoney mic on one hand and "Best IPL Commentator Award" in the other. And Mrs Bullet whispers, "Oh God I hope they take him away to England in July."

Boom Boom, May You Forever Bloom.

2011-05-31T00:38:00.004+05:30

Fifteen years ago, when you came on to the field with a bat in your hand, a handsome teenager for the girls to drool, a well build boy for the guys to expect some style, a confidence waiting to overflow from the tip of youth, I knew I had a new hero to admire.

When you started your career with a clean deposition over the cow corner, there started a new era of hard hitting, that no Ricardo Powell or Kris Shrikanth had seen. You made history that very day, didn't you? October 4th, 1996, Nairobi. A record that is placed well above the reach of any human, on the shelves of greatness.

You stand tall. You stand bold. You stand strong.

Geoff Boycott ridiculed your age, people ridiculed your consistency, haters ridiculed you just because they weren't good enough to be you.

You feared none, all could, but, fear you on the pitch.

I remember you taking a test away from India. I also remember you chasing down a mammoth Motera target. I remember you not for chasing it down, but for the courage you had in the game. Being hit by a short ball from Irfan Pathan, you cared not to feel shoulders, which for any other lesser mortal could've been a serious blow, but to you my dear Pathan, you gave him one snarled look and deposited the next delivery beyond the ropes.

You, are one of my cricketing darlings.

Your batting form dropped, but you were always the team man. Your bowling soon came on to the front and you led the spin attack in the hazy days past the Mushi-Saqi days. Ajmals and Rehmans come and go. Kaneria refrained from the white ball. But you held on to one end, day in night out.

Doe any other bowler have a better celebration than you on taking a wicket? NO. Standing firm, hands aloft, you bring the world to you. You are the magnet in the team, for most of the Pakistani fans. Oh dear o dear, I will miss that.

People expected you to just be a crash test driver, you came out to be a formula racer. You were better than what I wished for.

You brought in Aamer right into a world cup, backed him up like he was your brother. You gave him the love and space the kid needed to make it large under the world's eyes. You made him a match winner. You cautioned his caretakers to keep him safeguarded from evils like Mazhar Majeed when you left test cricket, but they never listened, and there went Aamer.

You led Pakistan in the world cup from the front. With the ball. You took the most wickets on cricket's biggest stage. You marshaled a side of tid-bits, a side of jigsaw clues that were strewn all over the floor. You brought them together, wrapped them into a tight unit and took them as far as you could.

The semi-final defeat was my saddest game in the world cup. But, you will always be a champ in my eyes.

You started your career with Rameez Raja, Waqar Younis, Jayasurya, Muralitharan, Dharmasena and the likes. Raza covered your games on the mic, Waqar became your coach, Sanath was the appreciator in the studios, Muralitharan ended his career before yours. You started your career with a six off Dharmasena, and ended it when Dharmasena became an umpire, even officiated your game(s) in the last world cup. Time may have changed, not you. You remained the same stylish big hitting cricketer with a beautiful leg-spin armory.

I wish you stayed with international cricket for longer. But I also wish you, as a human being, would live in peace. So, I guess you made the best decision and are now a free bird, free from the clumsy foul grips of the PCB.

May you have a good future in whatever you venture into. May God bless you like always.

If you, Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi, happen to read this, please know that I love you from the deepest depth of my cricketing heart.

With a tear in my eye, for the first time in such a case since Dada's retirement, I admit, I will miss you.

IPL Bites. And chews and spits.

2011-05-29T12:24:00.008+05:30

So, the IPL4 saga, drama and etc etc got over yesterday night so that everyone bored of it can tune in to UEFA Champs League, some real international cricket, cup-board cleaning, driving classes, college applications, eating, bathing etc etc... As in my case, I was asleep even before it ended, as the pointless Lankan seamers and nonthreatening Lankan spinners motored their way to the dressing room at the end of the day with only Jimmy-A's wicket to celebrate (for which England were thankful) after which I slept off.

Oops, wrong match to report?

Oh yeah, the men in yellow won the IPL for the 2nd time running. CSK, in my serious opinion have been the only team wanting to play proper cricket, have had a clear vision and have done well ever since they disposed off the actor Vijay as their cheerleader. I mean, ambassador. The cheerleaders' squad they picked up from Spencers Plaza two hours before their matches got some good camera time. So did MSD's Lady.

Ravichandran Ashwin is signing a contract with WWE after the English tour. He has, till now, survived a blow to his head by the costly guy named Saurabh Tiwary, and also wrestled himself alive after being mobbed by his teammates on dismissing Gayle. "He would do well in 3 on 1 matches, tag team matches and Lumberjack Matches" quoted Vince McMahon, owner of WWE.

For the 4th time in four years, Mumbai "Indians" fans are bamboozled that IPL did not come to them, in spite of playing Chachin in all their games. KKR did their best to take MI as far as they got, but a certain left arm spinner (indistinguishable from the 234 other left arm spinners that played in the IPL) got the wicket of Chachin. Investigations reveal that the spinner's name is Syed Mohammed, and an inquiry has been lodged to unearth the celebrations he performed after dismissing Chachin, which were obviously against the law.

Gabriella Pasqualotto has vowed to return to IPL5 as a "Podcast" presenter. She is sure that she knows more about players than newbies like Shibani, who apparently asked Venkatesh Prasad on screen "So, you are the assistant coach, right?". After Donna Symmonds, cricket might want to listen to Gabriella the most.

Priety Zinta and Shilpa Shetty were cleared by "Cricket for Dumbos" tuition center as "People with knowledge of cricket". Both were able to answer who was their respective team's captain. Amongst other questions were "how many arms are raised when the umpire signals a batsman out?", for which Zinta had written a couple of sheets' length of answer. The invigilator refused to supply her additional sheet. Shilpa answered most questions right, and some examiners feel that she received illegal help from Liz Hurley with those questions. Anyway, this season Zinta was able to figure out on her own about whom to hug.

Rohit Sharma was as usual awake as soon as his IPL alarm clock rang the bell. He is the Kumbhakarna of IPL, the bear of IPL, waking after a hibernation. This time, he came closest to performing for India, by performing for Indians. The Mumbaikar variety. Of course, he showed his class, when he thought his super-IPL-man character should be taken one step higher. He wanted to score runs by now depositing the bat beyond the ropes. His attempt didn't succeed, as the bat barely reached the inner circle. Shane Warne, however, was playing the real cricket, and his penultimate ball in cricket (unless book cricket becomes official) turned and stuck its tongue out in front of Rohit Sharma as it beat his flying bat and (In Ravi Shastri's glorious words ->) "the keeper made no mistake".

This IPL will be most remembered for the contribution of Abhishek Nayar to world harmony, as he gave the scorecard a "c. Symonds b. Harbhajan". There, IPL should've been ended right then.

Some players are still confused about which team they play for. Dada went to Pune, and helped KKR reach playoffs (I had to strike off quarters, and semis, before finally remembering that it is "playoffs"). And then Balaji, in KKR, helped CSK reach 2nd spot. Random Fact - Lord Balaji's abode is closer to Chennai than it is to Kolkata.

Gayle gave his folks a preview of Pirates of Caribbean *fill in the blank with the current sequel number* as he vandalized his ex-home. Of course, that match will be more remembered for the look on Virat Kohli's face when, with few runs left to win and Gayle at the brink of his century, Kohli absolutely smacked the living hell of a half tracker lolly pop jujubi giftwrapped Christmas present from Iqbal Abdullah to the mid wicket fence and wore a horror struck face in apology to the huge figure of black-bandana-wearing non-smiling 6 foot 5 inch giant Chris Gayle standing few yards away and say "I didn't mean to do that". Come on, Kohli, we love you. But, for your cricket, "catching" Bollywood is for guys like Siddharth Mallya etc.

Kochi seemed to have had discovered their winning formula - by making Sreesanth their cheerleader. Somehow, even that didn't help them after a few games.

Pune Warriors, like their Marathi counterpart, added "India(n)" to their franchise name. But, even that addition couldn't help them score brownie points in the INDIAN PL.

Deccan had a record breaking season, by breaking the home jinx and securing a win against some team (which I hope one of my readers would remind me ;-) ). The DJ at the stadium was so happy to play the "Go Deccan Chargers, go Deccan Chargers, GO, go go go!" for three consecutive days in the stadium non-stop. He knew it was never coming back, might as well savour the moment "until it lasts".

In other news, Lalit Modi claimed to be Adrian Shankar's father, Jason Gillespie claimed to be his batting coach, Zinta revealed that she was his girl-friend and Siddhu (ex)claimed that he was his English tutor.

Right, so a friend came to me this morning and told me that Valthaty got that Passat. He will be busy getting his driver's license. MSD will be off to the honeymoon, in a place that doesn't recognize him as King Midas. Caribbean cricketers will be given red jerseys. Jacob Oram will be given a Nokia phone to feel connected. And Abhimanyu Mithun will re-trace his path and find out why he made the grave mistake of being a bowler.

Some time soon, Vijay Mallya will recover from his hangover and realize RCB have lost the IPL4 finals.

[Disclaimer : My brain is parked outside the SWALEC stadium in Cardiff, where Alistair Cook is trying to impress his selectors and try to book a berth in England's ODI squad.]

Sports and Society.

2011-05-22T12:48:00.005+05:30

I'm a big sports buff, and am constantly faced with questions like "what is there is sports" or "why do you watch sports?" or "is that all you do all day? watch sports?"

People, there is quite a difference between "watching" and "following" sports. If you like a movie star, you just trail him/her and even go to the extent of finding out what they eat for breakfast and whom they broke up with and how. Well, in the world of sports, that doesn't even matter. I just keep my eyes open for what the sportspersons do on and also off the field, most of which have been in good favour to the society at large.

Let me list a few things that sportspersons have done to the society, apart from entertaining you people in their profession!

NBA has a social wing, NBA Cares, that almost everyday lends its hands to the society - in helping kids at school, to funds for treating diseases, helping at the times of disasters etc. Two examples - NBA donated a lot through its fandom to the Tuscaloosa floods, and, 2 years ago, NBA helped raise funds for the Haiti quake, mainly funneled through the works of Haiti's own man, Samuel Dalembert as other players joined hands (donating money per point scored etc). And they are global too.

Roger Federer is a Goodwill Ambassador at UNICEF, and travels around the world to advocate education to the kids, and help extend UN's arms to even remote corners of the world.

In the world of cricket that I'm most familiar with, there are a lot of things to bring to the surface.

Steve Waugh, one of the best cricketers and captain the world has witnessed, is the heart and soul of Udayan in Kolkata, which is an institution for the disabled children and women, where Waugh contributed a lot towards people affected by leprosy. He is addressed as "Steve Da" there, just so you know how close he is to the people there. He is family. Also, he is the founder of The Steve Waugh Foundation .

Glenn McGrath, one of the best bowlers I've seen, founded The McGrath Foundation. Every time there is a test match played at Sydney, huge donations from the game and ticket sales are made to this organization.

There was a massive earthquake in New Zealand in February. Iain O' Brien just ran a fleet of stairs (1,037 steps over 38 floors) of the Gerkin tower in London barely couple of months after a surgery in his legs to raise money for Christchurch.

Adam Parore scaled the heights of Mt. Everest to raise money for the same cause! We are sometimes lazy to walk across the street to buy commodities, but some people do philanthropic things in manners like these. Respect!

When an Indian national level volley-ball player was thrown out of a train and lost her legs, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh came forward and donated money to her and her family, so she can get good treatment and her family can stand on its feet. She has been given a stable job by the railways, one of the two things she wanted to achieve. The other, was to represent the country in the sport. You see, no matter what you are, you don't get much attention once you are down and disposable. It was very kind of the cricketers to help her and try bring her on to her feet, which now will, sadly, just be a metamorphic sentence. And you know what? She is donating the help she receives to the under-privileged, wants to open sports academy for the needy. There is so much good to go around in the world.

Ron Artest, an NBA player now with the Los Angeles Lakers sold his first and only NBA championship ring to donate the money to children suffering from mental illness. He has been associated with charity work so much that he was recognized with the Citizen Award.

There are numerous other examples from the world of sports that I don't follow wit the same degree. But I'm sure they all come to point the same thing.

Having seen all this, tell me, is this "just" sports? It is much more than that. You idolize some for their play on the field, you idolize some for their work off the field. But it is the combination of the two that makes sports what it is - a wonderful world living in harmony with the world around.

Greedyket

2011-04-24T00:05:00.004+05:30

New game. Devised by me, myself and I. Only for Limited over formats.

Rules :-

To be played in a ground of minimum dimensions of 100m.

Both legs of batsmen to be tied together.

Batsmen not allowed to wear pads on their legs.

17 fielders allowed.

Chucking allowed.

There will be 5 stumps at both ends of the wicket, each 3 feet tall.

The crease will be 1 foot thick, and it will belong to the umpire as far as batsman's foot is concerned. It will be a no ball only if the whole of bowler's foot is beyond the crease.

Bat size => 18 inch long, 3 inch wide, and maximum 2 inch thick. handle = extra 8 inch length.

Same rules as cricket for modes of dismissal.

If a batsman misses 3 balls, it is a FREE HIT. The batsman stays away from the pitch and the bowler has a free go at the stumps. if the ball hits the stumps, the batsman is out.

If the batsman inside-edges, the bowler has the option of choosing a golf ball to bowl the next delivery.

If the batsman hits a six, the runs will be counted only if he can repeat the same shot. The runs for the 2nd shot will not be counted, unless the third one is also one...

Mercifully, no such rules for a 4.

Don't worry guys, power-play will be there in the One Day format too.

Power Play rules -

2 bunches of 5 overs each constitute the power-plays, and like in cricket, Greedyket power-plays can be called once each by the fielding and batting captain.

During power-plays, a left handed batsman must bat right-handed, and vice versa.

Let's play.

The Sparkling Minnows

2011-04-04T12:03:00.005+05:30

When I had finished my schooling, the IITs (leading engineering institutes in India - Indian Institute of Technology) announced that, that year (2006) would be the last chance for all those people who finished schooling one or more years ago to sit the exam. The exam was then made open only to the ones who have completed their schooling successfully in the year of exam or the year before.

It was a similar announcement that the ICC made during the course of this World Cup, when they said that the next CWC will have only 10 teams, as it wanted to shorten the length of the tournament. Indirectly, they said that they don't want the Associate Nations playing in the world cup, because : 1. THAT was what made the tournament longer, 2. reduced their income (note, this is the main reason) and also, 3. caused upsets which even resulted in expulsion of major teams (and hence, all over again). The tournament organisers were frank enough to tell that they had planned the 7-team group stage so as to not eliminate any "big team". Frankly, I call that cheap!

How the hell can you call it a "World Cup" if the world doesn't get a chance to play in it? I don't play cricket amongst my friends here and call it a National tournament... I won't, because I can't.

Jonathan Agnews has shown the way to a much better tournament organization with the same format, so that the tournament is shortened and the interest is maintained. A four-pool of 4 teams is another good way to go, but alas, ICC is much worried about its money churning teams, rather than cricket. Very nice, ICC, I hope you choke on the money you eat.

All said and done, ICC has pushed the button. And, while on the chair, The Minnows did show a lot of heart, courage and cricketing beauties for us to remember for quite some time.

I bring you 6 of them.

6. Ashish Bagai vs New Zealand

Bagai is a diminutive man by size, but a big man by heart. He has quite some experience on and off the field of cricket. Having had some injuries dogging him down throughout his career, which has hampered his running, the wicketkeeper-batsman-captain turned his volume up during the high-scoring encounter vs New Zealand. His team was already 2 down with not more than 4 on the board. And he played one of his most memorable innings (along with Hansra) to take Canada to a position of respect at the end of the day. NZ were unable to bowl them out after Ashish Bagai's 84.

5. Ryan ten Doeschate vs England

The Indian crowd got its first good look at their going-to-be IPL player, Ryan ten Doeschate, when he got the better of England in a complete all-round performance. The wise and experienced Dutchman took the attack to the English camp with the bat as he scored massive against the likes of Broad, Andersen and Swann. He scored 119 (109 balls) to take Nederlands up to 292. RtD returned to take team-best (and most economical) 47/2 off his 10 overs. One man could only do so much. His teammates couldn't help carry on the momentum given by his efforts as Ravi Bopara took England to safety in the end. But, this was surely RtD's game.

4. Collins Obuya vs Australia

Australia had set a massive target against Kenya, and right from the start, it only started to grow bigger. The innings was steadied a bit by the Obuya brothers. After David was run-out in a mis-hap, Collins saw what a big mistake he had made. And then on, he took the responsibility. He settled himself down, and then took the attack to the Australian with some of the best pieces of timing one would see against the Australian pace battery. That he didn't get two more runs will be the only thing that might've saddened him, but that is one innings the Australians will not forget, as Aus failed to bowl Kenya out, managed only 6 wickets actually).

3. Hiral Patel vs Australia

Nineteen year old Canadian, Hiral Patel gave the Australians a nightmare of a jolt when the pace battery of Lee, Tait and Johnson were briefly reduced to ashes (no pun intended). That was an innings of courage, and brute power. I've only seen David Warner hit Shaun Tait in front of the square better than that. It was an innings that showed that Canadians are not here just to party around, but to play some serious cricket.

2. Jimmy Kamande vs Cameron White

One fine day, Cameron White was playing an off spinner named Jimmy Kamande, whom I guess he rarely heard of. 5 minutes later, that line would read "One fine day, Cameron White played an off spinner named Jimmy Kamande, who he will never forget". Captain of the Kenyan team, Jimmy Kamande bowled the ball of the tournament around the best defense of Cameron White, which turned a nautical mile to beat the Great Barrier of White and hit the middle and off. Though the video suggests it might've clipped the inside edge of White's blade, all commentators said there was none, after watching multiple videos. That look on Cameron White's face is going to become a poster and will be hung in Kamande's living room.

For video of that magic ball, please click HERE .

1. Kevin o'Brien vs England

Kevin o'Brien played the mother of all resurgent innings in that one pulsating night against England, when Ireland turned the tables around on ICC and smacked them hard at their decision to do away with the minnows. After throwing away the game against Bangladesh hardly a week before this innings, KoB made sure that he stuck around this time, in his own style. Crucial partnerships with able men, Cusack and Mooney helped him score the fasted century in the World Cup. That century brought Ireland to the fore, and almost got rid of England from qualifying to the knock out round later on.

So, the ICC wants to now have a 10-team world cup, which will have less probability of extincting a top notch team than what it has been all these years. Top teams can play absolute crap, and still manage to qualify, unlike what England, WI or India had to do this time (all 3 were biting fingernails at some point of the time... England had even resorted to toe-nails once finger nails disappeared).

I will miss these teams, and their bullets that dented some teams on or off the chart.

You might also like to read : With Love, Minnows

Synergy leads to Victory

2011-04-03T11:31:00.006+05:30

Two days ago, early in the morning, I was watching my favourite basketball team, Los Angeles Lakers, play against the Dallas Mavericks. And when one of the Mavs shoved a Laker (Steve Blake) to the floor, there were a few Lakers stepping up in Blake (and later, Pau Gasol)'s defense, risking their own ejection. The post match interviews had one phrase common in their speeches - "brotherhood".

It was the same kind of stepping-up and love for each other that was seen yesterday night when India defeated Sri Lanka to win back the ICC Cricket World Cup in their own back-yard, in their most beautified son's home. It was a team, hunting as a unit, telling everyone that it is that brighter light on top of the tree which they want to reach, and they will sacrifice their body for their team to climb on each other and win it.

As soon as the SF was over, for me, the World Cup was over. India playing SL doesn't excite me. But, India winning the title does. To not risk myself getting squished into a 2D body, I left my hostel and its living cannibals to watch the game in a theatre. The atmosphere in the theatre helped me get into the grove for the finals. And it was worth a finals. Duh, 60 foot screen, Air Conditioned, theatrical sound effects, 200 fans, good food, what did you expect? Of course it excites you!

After a gritty innings by Mahela Jayawardene, duly supported by his best man Sangakkara, and others (Samaraweera, Kulasekara and Perera), India was set a BIG total to chase. And when the famous openers of India fell, it was time for the nation to look at what the team was really about - a team.

Gambhir posted one of the most beautiful innings in sheet-anchor role, Kohli gave him the company he needed while he settled down, while Dhoni took the attack to the Lankans.

In the end, it was the captain who smashed the ball out of the park, and the Lankans out of the tournament. And fittingly, along with him out there in the middle was the man of the tournament - Yuvraj Singh.

This thing was meant to happen. You look at Murali's figures - 39-0 after 8 overs. He neither completed his quota, nor got a single wicket. This was the most "in-your-face" send off that a great personality would least prefer having. His eyes were moist, not because he was leaving, but because he couldn't make a damn contribution in Sri Lanka's favour when it was needed the most.

No one feared Malinga. Sure, he troubled India early on, but confidence grew in the batsmen, the glory was within sight. Even if Raavan had 20 more heads, it wouldn't have mattered, if he had to be felled, he would be. Four changes made to a winning side, and surely Sangakkara had to be superman to get his armory right. He had no clue how to use his support bowlers. Kulasekara undid all his batting efforts, Perera was no threat at any stage (that Gambhir wicket was a gift) and Randiv came all the way from Sri Lanka to lose the only game he played.

Right from the start, the Indian fielding was at its toes. And the SL fielding was a bit sloppy. There, a few runs up and down, saved and leaked. And who was doing the fielding? Everybody! Raina-Yuvraj-Virat were electric, yes. but there were also Bhajji, SRT, Zak throwing themselves around. That catch by Sehwag which put an end to Tharanga's innings was a piece of classic. They were hungry, 28 years hungry.

If you looked closely into the eyes of the captain, you would've read what his heart said "There, I've proved myself, I've proved it to the world". Captaincy was born inside him. Fittingly, he saved his best innings for the last one.

Just as the umpire lifted both his hands up to the heavens, Yuvraj put his body down to earth in joy. MSD turned to claim his stump. Virat Kohli ran like a cheetah, grabbed a stump and religiously ran to Sachin Tendulkar and gave it to him. If that doesn't tell you something, then his speech said it all - "Sachin has carried the hopes of the Indian cricket team on his shoulders for 21 years; it was time we carried him on ours".

Sachin's contribution in the finals was little or negligible, but he was the one who laid the road to the finals this year, and all those tournaments day in night out decade after decade.

Everyone wanted to win this for Sachin, it was a gift, an honour. It is what boy-friends jump into the oceans for - to find their girl the best pearl. It is what first-time daddies go shopping for - to bring his wife and new born the sweetest gift. It is what India won the cup for - to dedicate this to the one whom they idolised.

Bhajji's tears and Raina's smiles all meant the same thing. Both meant how much they wanted this. Bhajji has been through more pain and drama. That was experience talking there. Raina is learning how to take major victories in his side (one BIG gazelle step ahead of CSK's twin-wins) with youthful exuberance. That was the Generation-X talking.

When India won the World Cup, it meant India won the Cup as a team. It all started with Piyush Chawla exposing the weakness of foreign teams' inability to play spin in the warm up games, and we saw Yuvraj playing like a champion, Kohli playing with grace, Gambhir bat like it was in his own back-yard, Viru being destructive, Zaheer showing experience, Bhajji-Yuvraj-Yusuf-Pathan-Ravichandran spin attack working as a single minded unit willing to sacrifice things for the greater good, Munaf bending his back bowling on a repaired ankle and a broken hip, and Nehra defying the foul-cry of billions and bowling India over Pakistan with a broken hand. If you've seen better captaincy, correct me.

Coach Gary Kirsten took the team into his hands after India were emotionally and physically (and unethically) beaten 2-1 in Australia. And he has grown the team into a brood of gladiators. It was the best way to repay him back - a crown on his last shift in charge of his pets. And nothing was possible without the able presence of bowling coach Eric Simmons, who not only brought the best out of PK, Sreesanth, Nehra and Ashwin in the past one year, but also managed India's bench strength. That back-room staff is the best India has had since John Wright days. And fittingly, they have been rewarded.

This is the Indian cricket team. Built on the principle of Synergy - the team is greater than sum of individuals. They positives added up, the negatives were complemented by teammates' positives, and that was turned into a plus all over again.

It was the last "World" Cup, and India has won it, to keep it...forever.
An emotional journey has ended for me. And I get a few good weeks off before the cricket resumes.

Hope you all enjoyed the world cup as much as I did. I broke my teeth in some crazy fashion, I had to sit through exams, I was taunted for my support for a few teams and players, I might've even seen a couple of UFOs... But for all I care, I enjoyed the tournament in the past few weeks in the country that won the tournament, by beating all the former champions on the road to the victory.

THE Game is Over, Human Hosepipe Opens

2011-03-31T00:27:00.006+05:30

A match that made me weep... A match to remember.

India faced Pakistan, and I was the most pro-active fellow in the room of 60 for 99 overs, and then my insides went all too emotional. India landed themselves in the finals of the World Cup, but Pakistan left the World Cup.

It was a mixture of emotions, happiness in one eye, tears in the other... Is that cricket? Dear cricket, tell me, is that why you are here? To confuse my insides? My love made me laugh and cry!

It was not an easy ride... Yeah, the game happened. People kept on swearing at Nehra and Munaf all day long. Nehra's head was at the axe right from the beginning... Munaf never got the respect he deserved.

And the default man they choose to cheer played the worst ever game I've seen him play in my life. he made roughly 12 runs for every life he had in the game. And for that reason, Pakistan's fielding was equally worse.

But then, there was one fire in that ocean - Wahab Riaz. Like that debut game against England last summer, Riaz lit up out of no-where and just washed the Indian batting like it were a grass bed in his garden. That ball to Yuvraj - mother of reverse swing. Yuvraj was a bunny! When I saw Riaz bow down to earth and pray on getting his 5th wicket (Zak), I had utmost respect for him, given that he was there only because Shoaib wasn't fit, and that he hadn't been any great in the WC earlier... It was magical!

I felt the total was competitive, 10 more must be safe, though.

As the 2nd innings started, I could only hope for wickets. Zak was bowling blunders in his first spell. Nehra was bowling a great channel. His first ball of the game silenced some critics, I'm sure. I was saying that India needed a miracle, just like the filth ball Southee threw at Tharanga last evening and Ryder caught the undisputed catch of the tournament... And before I could finish the text, Zak threw a wide delivery and Kamran gave Yuvraj his first gift.

Yuvraj and Bhajji were brilliant in getting the wickets at the right time. Hafeez's stump being re-arranged by Yuvi was quite a sight. Bhajji getting rid of Umar Akmal eventually tipped the scale in India's favour.

But, my two true heroes - Munaf and Nehra. Munaf was hostile, Nehra was merciless. Did anyone ever get the better of them? NO! Munaf hit the good length at will. Once, a graphic showed that the strike rate off his good length deliveries was an astounding 10%. McGrath! Nehra kept bowling in that superb channel across the right hander, never really gave the batsmen any room to get under his bowling. If this doesn't shut the bloody people who call themselves fans of the team but are ready to swear at them, I bet nothing can... I dare you all to throw the same taunts you threw at these two, at your mother. let me see if you are alive to live another day...

If you can't respect motherhood, if you can't respect women, please die... you don't deserve to live that cheap, anyway.. what is the point? go enact whatever you swore at the Indians and at the Pakistanis! and then....

If you don't have human values, you are no more than a rabid animal. It really doesn't matter where you come from, what social status you bear or the colour of your skin, or your religion. If your attitude sucks, you suck.

As for the game, India won, and sent me in search of food...
I may have seen a couple of UFOs, but for all I care, I was soothing under one of the most beautiful matches I've witnessed. I will miss Pak team in this world cup.

Shoaib Akhtar, I shall always love you! Boom Boom, ditto.

What does this world cup have to offer me any more? this is all over for the emotional cricket in me. the finals vs SL means nothing to me. of course, it will be nice if India win it, but it really means nothing as compared to this

Voilà ! It's India vs Pakistan!

2011-03-27T21:52:00.005+05:30

India meets Pakistan for the first time in a semi-final of a World Cup. The hard-core neighbouring rivals lock horns once again in a World Cup match, this time, it will be played out at Mohali.

There could only be one better stage for this match-up, in the finals. But, given the situation, we have a semifinals at our hands. And it's between the two teams that more than half the cricketing world is going to be watching with pumped up following. I am pretty sure, the production rate of the two countries is going to reach an all-time low. Holidays would be declared in many cities. Prayers will be more frequent. Every single V channel will carry the scoreline. Every single TV will tune in to the game. People will throng the streets in-front of that barber's shop to watch the game.

It is not just any game, it is a game to buy a berth in the Finals of a world cup. While India hasn't won it in nearly 3 decades, Pakistan hasn't in 2, in-spite of both teams once making it to the finals since, and being humiliated in both those finals, by a common winner- Australia.

Ironically, Australia is out of this world cup, thanks to the two teams I've been talking about. While Australia had no clue to Pakistan's bowling, Australia had no clue about India's batting. The loss to Pakistan meant that Pakistan top the group and Aus slip to 3rd place. After India beat WI at Chennai, India set its date with Australia at Motera. And India beat Australia with some beautiful all-round display.

The verdict - it's INDIA vs PAKISTAN.

The Indian cricket team has had to undergo the wrath of numerous bandwagon "fans" who are ready to drink the blood of the Indian cricketers if they lose a game, and are ready to swear the dirtiest words at them for a loss, howsoever close it may have been. But they call themselves "fans" of the team. Yeah, they become fans the very second India wins a game. Team India, led by the coolest captain India has ever had, has managed to keep the fickle emotions of the public aside and concentrated on the things at hand, and when it was needed the most, he has led the team to sanity, to victory, to a place in the semi-final (thus far).

Pakistani cricket team has had to keep their own faith, manage to keep the faith of the board, and woo the fans to continue to keep their faith in the team. Over the past two years or so, this team has gone through what-nots on and off the field! Every loss has been scrutinized as a potential "match-fixing". There have been incidences like Akmal's show in Sydney, Aamer-Asif-Butt episode, the Afridi's "hunger for the ball" in Australia etc. The PCB has had its own issues with the team. Senior players were in and out of the squad. But what has happened in-between all that, is the slow rise of a thick unit, a close unit which knew what one wanted and what one had in themselves. The captaincy debate was mutually solved, and a love for the game was generated. Fans who have lived with the team's luck know what I'm talking about.

Cometh the world cup, and the Pakistani team has shrugged off the "dark horse" tag and wore the "contenders" tag. Afridi is the leading wicket taker in the tournament, ahead by a country mile over the rest of the pack. Gul has become menacing, Rehman and Ajmal have been wisely used. Kamran's batting has been a cover for his poor keeping. Misbah and Younis are the middle order main-stays. Hafeez finds his touch in the middle order. Umar Akmal - Razzak - Afridi trio is still sounding fear in the opponents.

Indian batting is as big as it sounds like. Sehwag, Sachin, Gambhir, Kohli, Yuvraj have all had atleast one resounding half-century. Yuvraj's form has been prolific with both the bat and the ball. Raina's entry was excellent in the QF clash, and MSD has been brilliant with the captaincy and some great keeping, though not at best with the bat. Not much has been the need for him to do that either. Zak, Bhajji and Ravi Ashwin have been brilliant with the ball. Munaf has been industrious.

Both teams in prime form, there couldn't have been a better time for a semi-final clash between the two sides. the Prime Ministers from both the nations will be present to witness the game in the best cricket stadium & pitch in India.

I will love to see India win this game. But, I will not be saddened if Pakistan wins the game either. I love both the teams, I will continue to love them.

I just pray that the team which wins this game goes on to win the finals too.

It's pride at stake, but it will be filled with love.

Aman Ki Asha

As the League Phase Clears, nothing is clear

2011-03-20T22:18:00.004+05:30

It's been the fastest month in the past 4 years, and I've loved almost every moment of it! 42 intriguing games, some of which inconsequential, most of which, pulsating, just got over. And, surely, this has been the best world cup I've witnessed.

After the league phase, there is no clear favourite to win the World Cup. Every team has had atleast one of their problem disclosed public. This makes the tournament even more interesting moving into the last 7 games.

A special mention to Ireland for bringing life into the tournament. They won only twice, but they gave their opponents a run for their money, and also created havoc in the points table. Bangladesh were so close, yet so far. But, a team that couldn't score more than 100 twice in the tournament doesn't deserve a spot in the QF, howsoever I would want to emotionally sympathize with them.

Australia, who were looking "clear favourites" during the course of the tournament were made to look ordinary against Pakistan. Australian bowling revolves around the 60 balls released from the palm of Brett Lee. Tait wasn't imposing, and Johnson was good in patches. Batting looks fine, but if Australia can replace Ponting and White with better batsmen things would look better. Oh, Ponting is the captain, sorry.

South Africa have looked the best amongst the teams to have qualified for the semifinals. Their batting has been very good, except for Smith, who managed some good runs vs Bangladesh in their last league match. After one lone trouble vs England, the middle order survived to carry the team past India. Bowling, led by the pace battery of Steyn and Morkel have been pretty hard to do away with. So too, with their new found spin-duo, Imran Tahir and Botha (if at all he spins), SA have a good variety.

India have just about managed to keep their heads up with a sound victory over WI. India's inability to accelerate in the final overs against SA and WI is a clear cause of concern, as is bowling in he slog overs (vs Eng, vs SA). Batting looks good, bowling has started to look better, in isolation.

Sri Lanka have been good against lesser opponents, were over-shadowed by Pakistan and couldn't play a complete game against Aus. Their bowling is revolving around Murali and Malinga, while Perera and Kulasekara have been consistently causing the batsmen a problem of scoring off them. Sri Lanka have had a taste of the Whakede and have come out good. Whatever happens, I am not ready to eat another India- Sri Lanka game. Let the tournament follow any other path possible. IND-SL... damn, the.most.boring.thing.in.cricket.

England have been the clear entertainers in this world cup. Somehow, by losing to Bangladesh and Ireland, and dodging the axe against Nederlands, England managed to tie with India, strangle SA and sneak a pulsating victory to cancel their flight back home and stayed in the competition. They have lacked discipline in bowling, as almost all their good bowlers have gotten injured or lost form...COMPLETELY. Their batting has looked fine at times, and fragile at other times. Inconsistency will be the best way to describe them.

Pakistan have carried a good momentum into the QF stage, after seemingly losing it in the middle of the tournament. They started the campaign on a high after owning Kenya and getting the better of SL, but then were made to do some soul searching in the game vs Canada and were shocked in the last 10 overs by Ross Taylor... Well, credits to some filthy slog bowling by Pakistan and cleverly taken PowerPlay by NZ. Pakistani bowling looks very strong with Umar Gul leading the pace department, and specialist spinners, Afridi-Hafeez-Rehman taking good care of the run flow on turning pitches. Batting is fragile, of course.

West Indies is now a side with a good top order batting, vapourising middle-order and a good bowling line-up. Roach, Benn, Russell have looked good. And now, Bishoo and Rampaul have added themselves to the list. Devon Smith and Devon Thomas, both came in as emergency replacement for Barath and Baugh and have been excellent with the opening and 'keeping respectively. Gayle has looked good with the bat, playing in two gears. Brian Charles Lara-II has looked solid in the middle like a diamond.

New Zealand have suddenly lost their wheels after Vettori got injured and missed their encounter vs SL, where they completely failed with the bat. NZ have depended on their looooooooooooooong batting line up to "click" against opponents. It did vs Pakistan, but failed horribly vs Australia and SL. Atleast they were able to recover vs Australia. Their bowling has been dependent on Vettori, who would want to make his return to the line up soon, and Southee, who has looked exceptionally good in recent times. Oram, Styris, Mills, Bennett have all made good contributions, when they collectively perform well. Other times, they've looked ignorable. Nathan McCullum has been their best player, multi-dimensionally.

Breathtaking one month, a nail-biting Group-B music, and a few good games in group A. This World Cup has been what I expected it to be - full of fun! Almost all days have been very pleasing. Some excellent games coming up in the next week as the knock-out fixtures start!

March
23rd - PAKvsWI, Mirpur
24th - INDvsAUS, Ahmedabad
25th - SAvsNZ, Mirpur
26th - ENGvsSL, Colombo.

A dream QF for me as WI and Pakistan lock horns in the most beautiful match of the world cup. If things go the way I want, it will be an IND-PAK semi-final. And that will satisfy my quench for the world cup. Anything happening in the semi-finals and the finals is controlled only by the Cricket God.

Let the best team win!

De Ghuma Ke

A Cup of Two Worlds

2011-03-14T23:12:00.004+05:30

Routine Activities of a Group-B team (INDIA, SOUTH AFRICA, ENGLAND, WEST INDIES, BANGLADESH, NEDERLANDS, IRELAND) in the World Cup :-

05.45 am - Wake up.

06.15 am - Assemble in the hotel gymnasium for treadmill jogs. Half an hour.

06.30 am - Quench thirst with recommended drink (with 45 essential minerals, vitamins, etc ect).

06.45 am - Break, take bath.

07.00 am - Breakfast. Cannot question the menu.

07.30 am - Yoga and Team bonding exercise.

08.00 am - Stretches and exercises in the open.

09.00 am - Game practice.

11.20 am - Decide strategy for the match.

11.30 am - Break, freshen up.

12.00 noon - Leave for the stadium.

12.20 pm - Decide strategy again, break your head over how this match will affect the consequences of other matches in the group, how net run rate is more important than a loo-break, how a tie affecting QF chances is more crucial than the bird that flew over your head and almost pecked you, and find out how you could end up not earning a QF berth by reading a couple of newspaper articles.

12.45 pm - enter the ground and practice, inspect pitch, meet captain, discuss the pitch, update strategies, scare opponents, wave at fans, earn neutral fans, pray pray pray.

02.00 pm - Toss, update strategies again. Shake hands if the team wins the toss, curse the coin if not.

02.20 pm - National Anthem

02.30 pm - Game time, 1st innings

06.00 pm - Half-time analysis, post-mortem of the pitch after 3.5 hours of play, update strategy, build up the killer instinct for the 2nd half

06.45 pm - Game time, 2nd innings

10.45 pm - End of game. Celebrate hard if on the victory side (it's almost one hand on the QF berth) and talk confident in the interviews, or, just look stunned (QF spot is slipping) and be diplomatic and convincing in the interviews.

11.10 pm - team meeting, discuss probabilities and chances of QF spot considering best and worst case scenarios. make sure 3 pencils, a calculator and 3 pairs of batteries are available for the calculations.

11.45 pm - board the bus to hotel on the request made by stadium authorities to vacate the stadium.

12.15 am - Reach hotel, complete calculation in hotel lobby. Sigh of relief, there are still possibilities. Hi-fives all around and go to room.

12.30 am - log into twitter. Apologise and promise in the tweet if on the losing side, thank fans for support if on the winning side.

12.45 am - sleep.

- - - - - - - - -

Routine Activities of a Group-A team (AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, PAKISTAN, SRI LANKA, KENYA, ZIMBABWE, CANADA) in the World Cup :-

06.45 am - Alarm rings, snoozed.

07.15 am - give up snoozing, and wake up.

07.30 am - breakfast. Eat all your favourite delicacies, and make an early order for lunch, including the favourite ice-cream flavour clearly mentioned.

08.00 am - go walking with the team, sign autographs.

08.30 am - Jacuzzi.

09.00 am - Tweet about your favourite meal of the day, upload photographs, reply to followers, share jokes.

10.00 am - practice.

11.00 am - break from practice.

11 30 am - watch TV, listen to the news predictions about match, change channel, repeat process.

12 noon - lunch.

12.20 pm - dessert.

12.45 pm - Bus to stadium

01.00 pm - Strategy, team bonding, pitch inspection etc etc etc.

01.10 pm - practice

01.50 pm - sign autographs, tweet about the beautiful stadium, appreciate the dressing room air conditioner, talk to former cricketers and legends.

02.00 pm - toss... Indifferent attitude about the toss... grounds are new, anyway.

02.20 pm - national Anthem

02.30 pm - game time

02.45 pm - turn on TV in the dressing room, if free...

03.00 pm - break TV with whatever in sight, because of some lame reason.

03.30 pm - watch match from dressing room balcony. tweet about boredom.

06.00 pm - end of first innings, yawn, tweet, eat dinner.

06.45 pm - go into the field with as as-a-matter-of-fact-guess-who-is-going-to-win attitude.

09.45 pm - end of game. good presentation ceremony and interview, all scripts well prepared 4 weeks ago for every game, no way the scripts can go wrong there, very neat speeches.

10.00 pm - reach hotel before fans can leave the stadium.

10.30 pm - eat your favourite dessert, just to forget the win, or to celebrate the win. Walk around the hotel, meet fans, appreciate the monument, buy new goods, tweet about it, sing in the hotel, party atmosphere.

11.00 pm - tweet "good night ya all" and sleep.

South Africa beat India, but how?

2011-03-12T23:08:00.006+05:30

22 days ago, we were told by a famous scholar,

This game is going to be a cracker
- St Shri Shri Ravi Shastri

India were playing the SAffers, termed as chokers, no matter how they lose, or even if the don't. India, the host, was playing its 5th game after 3 unconvincing victories and a superb tie that even made the camel in the driest lands of Thar desert go in the search of a rest-room.

SA came into the match after they had trouble playing at near-sea level. They played well at Mohali and Delhi, which are at higher altitude, where you are actually likely to choke. But, lost at Chennai... So, it's anti-choking. Just to clarify.

So, some possible reasons for the loss would be :-

1. MSD won the toss. You see, as good a cool captain he is on the field, MSD expects to take decisions only after the play starts. To be faced with the decision to bat or bowl struck him as a surprise. He did take the right decision, but was in deep thinking as to how he could win the toss.

2. Sachin Tendulkar got out earlier than expected. We all love Sachin. He scores centuries just like I make toasts in my kitchen when I'm home alone with a loaf of bread. I'm an expert at it. So, is Sachin in scoring centuries. But just like when I throw the polyethene cover of the bread loaf away it pollutes the earth, the dismissal of Sachin causes a big havoc in the team. India reeled under that indigestible pressure, and all players wanted to return back to the dressing room to pay homage to His Highness.

3. Larger problem than that was Sachin scoring the century itself. It's been quite an unlucky charm when he scores a century. In 2003, he scored 97s, 98s etc... And India won with ease. Look at the 2 centuries - vs England (last over tie) and vs SA (last over loss).

4. MSD. If you extended the lines of everyone in the world as to who is responsible for the loss, half of those would centre at MSD. Like I said, he was still puzzled by the toss, so, don't blame him. If you were told that your bike has been stolen, you will obviously be stuttering when your girlfriend calls and says "pick me up in 10 minutes". But unfortunately, one can't put that as an excuse. If he couldn't face the reality of toss in 3 hours, he can't do that in 5 days. He must practice "Call it right (or wrong) at the toss" to get his mindset right.

5. Earth's gravity. 5 years ago, on the same date, SA chased down Aus' mammoth score. So, Smith was not afraid of India's scoring rate at all. But Steyn was not happy with the beating he got up front, and so, like an angry bull terrier, he went and chased and bit the Indians hard towards to end. That helped SA's cause. But, surely, it all made it easy for SA to chase on a 12th March. They perfectly know how the gravity acts on this day, where the moon is, and where the sun is. They are experts, and Esyabhatta has clearly written in the ancient books about where the ball would be at what instance. Peterson is a good scholar from SA'n school of Ball_Locationomy, and he showed us how he topped those classes.

6. Tournament schedule. Having known about this great information, the same tournament organizers who said "we don't want bigger teams (indirectly mentioning India, hidden in an artificial cough) to exit in the first round", the organizers specifically chose 12th of march for the occasion. And things fell in place for SA and blah blah blah...

7. Ashish Nehra. Clearly, Ashish was at fault. Not because of what Peterson did to him, but because Nehra's over-confident about time sense. He misread the time. He asked MSD what the time was before the last over. MSD said "tooo late now" (since it was already half an hour behind on over-rate). Nehra heard it as "twelve eight now". Nehra suddenly felt like superman. He too is a scholar of Esyabhatta's subject of Ball_Locationology, (not from Peterson's class though) And, Ashish Nehra knew all about March 13th. So, he demanded the ball after saying "this is MY day". He was bowling with the tactics he employed on March 13th, 2004, against Pakistan at Karachi. Alas... If only someone had reminded him about the misconception...

8. Wrong people at the wrong place. You see, 9 years ago, when India defeated South Africa in the semi-final of the Champions Trophy, Sehwag had taken India to a good score over 6 an over after 15 overs, India had then fumbled and posted a less than acceptable total. In the chase on that day, SA had lost Smith early, and their in-form player had got injured... So, as you see, SA did their part of the game well today with that script. India didn't. Yuvraj should've been at short fine leg to catch one of those many aerial sweep shots (remember how he caught Rhodes then?). Gauti should've caught du Plessis in the deep fine leg fence. In 2002, Bhajji had caught Dippenaar on the fine leg fence. Gauti's miss was very costly indeed, as du Plessis was as hot as his French name is. And the biggest mistake - Sehwag wasn't bowling. He had taken 3 wickets that night to peg SA on their back.

If you are wondering what match I'm talking about here, it is This One :-

If India take care of such "small small" things, India will surely win. Don't worry, all you fellow India fans, India is still going smooth in this tournament. Just one loss doesn't mean we are out (though SA lost just one game to India in T20WC 2007 and were out of the tournament :-P ).

De Ghuma Ke!

(photo courtesy The Hindu e-newspaper)

Adding an Extra Dimension

2011-03-10T19:47:00.008+05:30

We want a 3D TV, we want a 4D in physics, we want an extra dimension in everything! Cricket is not far behind in any manner. There has been a growing need for all-rounders in limited over cricket in the 20th century.

There was that era of yester-years, when Sir Gary Sobers, Sir Ian Botham, Kapil Dev and Imran Khan, who stood apart from almost most other contemporaries by being a hall-mark character of their own kind in their own countries. All, in different periods of time, too. They were what is called "all-rounder". Excellent in one department, and very impressive in the other. Everybody who played for their teams after that were scaled in comparison to the greats mentioned above.

And you look at most teams that played till mid-1990s, and you find a clear cut between the duties of the 11 players in the team. 5 bat, one keeps wickets and 5 bowl. Sometimes, 6-1-4. The batsmen rarely bowled, the bowlers rarely wasted time with bat in their hands. Captains have sometimes even declared their innings even if they trailed the opposition, so that the bowlers don't get tired...or injured!

But, from the mid-1990s, the ODI teams felt the need to have a few more all-rounders in the team. Then came in Jacques Kallis, Lance Klusener, Hooper, Freddie Flintoff, Robin Singh, Ganguly, Sachin, Jayasurya, Michael Bevan, Chris Harris and the likes. They became the lynchpin of the sides. They were the batsmen they depepnded on most of the time, or the bowler who could be trusted with the job of strangling the opposition of runs or take wickets, as the case may be.

The boundary wall between the batsmen and the bowlers thinned a bit. The bowlers could play a few lusty blows towards the end of the innings, in test cricket too. Bowlers came in to avoid follow ons. Nehra once hit a 4 off Andre Adams to win a tough game in NZ. Alex Tudor hit a game winning 99*, coming in as a night watchman. Gillespie scored a double-ton, maybe the first one to have scored a double-ton in (unfortunately) his last test. Kumble once made India's only century on an English tour.

And batsmen rolled their arms over at times. Sehwag triggered a collapse in the South African camp in a Champions trophy semi-final. Jadeja stemmed the flow of Zimbabweans at Sharjah, when he temporarily took over the captaincy from Azharuddin in the middle of the match, as Azhar had a minor injury to treat to. Dwayne Bravo's fortune changed the moment he got Yuvraj Singh bowled in the last over of a pulsating match to stop India's record number of chases. Jonathan Trott, recently, was the pick of the English bowlers on one day, when he bowled a few economical overs (comparatively) and picked up a couple of wickets.

Nowadays, it's hard to find a uni-dimensional cricketer in an ODI team. Most of the batsmen are capable of swinging their arm around for an over or two when needed...and bowlers are off-late used as floaters for pinch hitting.

Also, the ones who were in the system were forced to make the transition to keep themselves afloat. Dilshan, who was a bowler when he came into the side, developed his batting. Now, he is a lethal batsman, effective off-spinner, electric fielder, good wicket-keeper and also a thinking (vice-) captain. He checks every box in the list of "Things cricketers do". Others in his line include fellow teammate, Thilan Samaraweera, Cameron White (who doesn't bowl anymore, for God-knows-why), Shoaib Malik and of course, Sachin Tendulkar (the aspiring medium pacer, only to be brought to the path of righteousness by Dennis Lillee). Batsmen who have turned into good all-rounders include Shahid Afridi, Shane Watson, Abdul Razzak, Yuvraj Singh, Chris Gayle, Luke Wright etc.

Some naturally born all-rounders? Shakib al Hassan, Collingwood, Sammy, Pollard, Yusuf Pathan, David Hussey, Angelo Matthews et al.

The new blood being recruited are full of multi-dimensional players. In a few years' time, we wont be able to call anyone "batsman" or "bowler". They will simply be, a cricketer. We might as well be enjoying a complete game of cricket in every player. Hope no beauty is not lost in the process!

(I do not own any of the pics used)

With love, Minnows!

2011-03-03T23:03:00.006+05:30

Dear ICC,

First of all, I am very happy to know that you were kind enough to admit my family into your monetarily rich party featuring your more glitzy friends.

I am also sad that you are planning to reduce your party size by doing away with us for the next party. I thought you were delighted to have us at your parties every time.

Do you remember, sir? We used to be with you right from your first party, the one you hosted in England in 1975. My uncle from Africa used to tell glorious tales about it to me. He enjoyed it a lot. He told me how he got to meet so many big names of cricket. he only heard of many of them, didn't see them until he could face them just 4 yards away. He used to say that he didn't have TV sets in those days, and only a few radio sets in the whole city to know about this game he had inherited from the friendly people who came to his home. Only one of his kids has attended your party since.

You wouldn't even give us a smile, but we took the invitation itself as a great honour. In 1983, my Lankan aunt danced better than your Kiwi friend, and that was the first time you took a photograph with us. Our family was very excited. We thought we had attained the pinnacle of joy that day. But one day 13 years later, she won the dance competition on your floor, and you adopted her into your family. We were so happy that some of our kids will grow in those posh households of yours.

But, most of us still live in the ignored land.

We didn't complain much, sir, to be honest. We were just happy enough that atleast one of us came to the grand event, so that he or she would return home and tell us about it. It was like being the first boy in the family to graduate, or earn in a big city!

In 1992, we actually played the party-game better than the big man of the house, The Lord of Marylbone. We used to spend years and years just looking at him play it like there was no other to match him. Of course, his two favourite mates, one with a strong accent and one who liked Caribbean music played it like him. The three of them were our idols.

By 1996, the African uncle's son became good at dancing and beat our aunt (who now ate in your house). She was proud of us that day too! You had also invited more from our family, so we could have fun amongst ourselves, when you had a high-profile buffet in your "big-wigs only" mansion. We enjoyed playing in the mud, but we always wondered what was inside. Our aunt was in there, but she never came out. I think she became a much better dancer than we ever knew. Money can buy many things they say. We were happy that she was the best dancer on her own floor.

My cousin from Zimbabwe had also improved on his singing skills for the 1999 party. My cousins Scotland (Scottie) and Kenya (Keens) took along my baby sister from Bangladesh to the game. We were so glad to watch on the public TV that cuz' Zimmy was allowed to have dinner with all the sizzling stars after the evening party ended! And sister Bangu came home all smiles, after her last drawing fetched her a big bar of chocolate. Do you realise how much that means to us? We pasted all of Bangu's drawings all around our house, and everybody would tell her that she was going to scale new heights. Little Bangu could just smile and eat her chocolate bar.

In 2003, you allowed Namibs and Keens to host our own party game. We all came to their beautiful houses, and we also saw Keens beat our aunt again. She wasn't that happy, but I'm sure she was proud of us. We were proud of us, for sure. Little Bangu couldn't draw better than uncle Canny from Canada, but we gave her another bag of candies so she would not lose hope on herself. She just nodded and went home with the candybag, promised to come up with better art work next time. You see, we all loved what we did. You took the centre-stage, and we danced around you. You came to our home, and sometimes you didn't even come to our place though we invited you. We had to come to your dinner to discuss about it, but we were had to leave before the dessert, since we haven't had much of them, and didn't know how to handle the spoon on the ice-cream. We spilled the soda, and we had to leave.

You invited more of us to Caribbean uncle's yacht. We were so happy, we came there in different colours from around the globe. We brought in new tricks. We were outplayed in many competitions in the party by your glorious friends, but we had our moments. You remember my baby nephew from Bermuda playing slug fest when the Indian musician was singing? We had fun, they all had fun. And remember Bangu? She had grown into a beautiful artist, and could also sing better than your Indian girl-friend. She had so much ego that she went home early. I heard her friends started teasing her very much. We didn't mean to hurt her, we just wanted to show her Bangu's multi-talented personality. Bangu's modern-art were better than Zuid Avrica's, you know? Zuid was surprised his painting got ruined. My sister-in-law, Irine came in too. She too sang beautifully, she is good at country and folk. But you would never know that, as you lived in pop and rock and whatever you call it...rap? Your Pakistani star actually slipped a tone while trying a duet-duel with her.

You see, we always had a nice thing or two to do in all your parties. Even in this year's party, we have been at or around the lime-light, but you treat us like your slaves. We have to carry your party caps to the ball-room. You can't have the party if we don't help you decorate it. You say we don't know table manners, while you never care to teach us. You say we don't know how to party, while you never let us party with you in the any other place. We can't learn from just one party in 4 years, sir. We can watch you swing and sizzle, but when we try, we don't look that cool. We know it, but we can't help it, since you always shun us after the party hours.

And because your girl friend got angry last time, you scheduled your party such that we can't enter into your swimming pool and enjoy it for a little longer time. Sorry sir, if you are trying to indirectly say that you don't like us at the back of your photograph, we are very hurt. We do look beautiful, we don't use make-up. But, you fail to see the point. You rich people have a little too much of pride to stoop an inch below your glasses of suspect and look at our beauty.

By closing the doors on us for the next party, what do you think I will tell my children about all these fun? That we had a good time watching you guys light the crackers, and that our children may not even get the privilege to see them?

What we had held as a dream is diminishing every day, and maybe some day our kids will call it a fairy tale, too much to be real.

Sir, we enjoyed whatever you allowed us, and we will make sure that we will eat your cake in this party, and make a point or two before we leave for good.

Yours lovingly (we still love you)

Mr. Minnow & family

What would cricket be without this :-

2011-02-25T21:52:00.005+05:30

This world is full of ifs and buts.

I want honest opinion on this:-

What would've been the state of cricket if the umpire, Brian Alridge, had given the batsman out lbw on this play?

My answer - The phrase "electric fielder" may never have entered cricket's diction.

This May Be My Favourite World Cup, This May Be Cricket's Last World Cup

2011-02-18T20:03:00.006+05:30

Having been a fan of the game since childhood, turning into a fanatic later on, this World Cup has been growing in volumes in how much it means to me, cricket-wise, and emotionally.

My oldest cricket memories hail from my days spent in Nagpur some 15 years ago. Now, I'm in the same city after moving to places up North and down South of India's centre-most point. It is not ironic that I find myself here at this juncture. It is like as if it was ought to happen. Those sweet memories of celebrations are clear as if it happened yesterday, when India beat Pakistan in the knock out stages and I received sweets from my neighbours...not via the doors, but from the balcony. Festive mood it was.

Since then, I've grown into being a big fan of both those teams, both schools of cricket with just different definitions for aggression, style, beauty and charm.

For every world cup, I have been in a different city. Nagpur becomes the first city to have me stationed at to witness two world cups. Congratulations, Nagpur!

Coming to cricketing senses, this is the first world cup, where the "minnows" have seemed to be a little stronger than their usual weak self. But, sadly, this will be the last time the can do so. From the next world cup, the pattern for the world cup is going to be shortened and the associate members are to be stripped of the dignity of being able to feature in the game's most prestigious event. Not even flipping 3 t20 world cups in 2 years is going to replace the excitement that each of those member nations await for 4 years! A very sad move... thanks to the invisible "slowness" of the version, the money involved in the smaller formats and the apparent impatience of viewers who would rather watch stripping cheerleaders over the charisma of the game.

On the flip side, test championships are looking to get a thumbs up. Not like the member nations get a say in them, but just that the ICC seems to care about the classic format of the game. thank God, they do.

This world cup, we will see the teams fear the resurgence of the co-hosts Bangladesh and their squad of spinners, with the guest appearance of a couple of pacers per game. The ironical never-say-die attitude of the Irish has been superb. In both their warm up games, they've been excellent against their opponents. The Dutch will try to show some solidity, some name, some fame. The Zimbabweans will once again try to place themselves back on the cricketing map, after sinking to their lowest point and never being able to climb out of it, howsoever great the efforts have been put in by them. It saddens to see how many talented cricketers they have, but they are just a few gaping holes to complete the side. Somewhere, the glue has come weak. Kenya return to play their first recognized set of ODIs against the top tier teams since last world cup. Their tears have not been seen by anybody. Most of the Canadian players are on a free trip to their motherland. nothing less, not much more.

Almost all these teams, sans B'desh, will be hoping for one victory, that one victory that will glorify all the players in their home-land. They will be pronounced as heroes, who gunned down the big-names of the tournament. I can remember how elated the B'deshi captain, Aminul Islam, went to the presentation ceremony on the last day of May twelve years ago, to end their world cup campaign with a magical victory over Pakistan, and said (with a big grin) "We are all very happy. We know that our Prime Minister will be waiting for us back home with gifts". Last time, it was the Irish team that rode the tide of glorious victories. That is how much the one victory meant to them. And this is the last time the present day minnows can feel that, all the more reason for them to do so.

A few months ago, when India went to Zimbabwe to test its bench, they played as horribly as possible and the team looked bleak, dark, blinded. Since then, India have beaten top notch teams, given rise to new crop of players, set up a fiery batting line up and now host the world cup, with the cheer of millions echoing their hopes. Australia ave been derailed in the recent past, England have broken their spine, New Zealand became as flightless as their Kiwis. Pakistan have been ON and OFF, but still feared, WI always looking to explode but end up losing the fuse, Bangladesh promising.

But most of the world still has its eyes on three most dangerous looking sides - India, Sri Lanka and South Africa. Sri Lanka were the last hosts to win the crown, South Africa are the most talented side to have never made it to the finals for the fault, sometimes of their own, sometimes of the (erratic) rules. The world awaits the debut of one of the most experienced spinners, who now lands himself in South Africa. Lankan fans will be louder with their bands playing in the typical sea-and-fun environment. Indian fans world over will be glued to their TV sets, roaring, cheering, praying.

Never before has the world received a world cup with so much anticipation, never before has the game been so widespread. When the six weeks go by, I, as a fan of the game, will not be disappointed. I will surely miss the classic format for the tournament, which may not feature again in the future. It is one last goodbye for the proper world cup, for the "big guns" now fear the minnows.

Stadiums were slow in coming up, stadiums have failed last-minute tests, players have gotten injured, venues ave been switched... But, it will not deter any ounce of fun this edition has got to offer.

It is time to start the cricket, and the gala! Let the best team win!

And, as usual, I will be cheering for India, Pakistan and the West Indies.

Team Bangladesh, World Cup 2011

2011-02-09T14:09:00.003+05:30

GROUP B (Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, Netherlands, South Africa, West Indies)

Team - BANGLADESH
ODI Rank - 8
ODI Rating - 66

Last World Cup - Super-8
Finals Appearances - none
Best in a World Cup - Super-8 ('07)

Squad
Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Shahriar Nafees, Raqibul Hasan, Mohammad Ashraful, Mushfiqur Rahim, Naeem Islam, Mahmudullah, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Nazmul Hossain, Suhrawadi Shuvo.

Strength - Home conditions, spinners
Weakness - Inconsistent performers

Notes

Bangladesh will enter this world cup as the dark horses and will try to ride their abilities and luck to cause one or many upsets in the group stages. After losing just one of their last 8 home games, B'desh will count as a strong contender for making it through to the knockout phase (if you ignore the fact that they only beat Zimbabwe and a hapless NZ in the recent past) given that they will play all their games at home.

The Bangladeshi squad is built around 3 major qualities - strong opening, handy all rounders and a huge academy of spin bowlers!

Tamim Iqbal will mostly open along with Imrul Kayes, followed by Junai Siddique. Tamim Iqbal, the young southpaw has grown in form and confidence over the last 4 years and has added a range of aggressive strokes through the off side in the duration to his armoury. He was the one who washed out any hopes of India's comeback the previous time B'desh met India in a World Cup, causing one of the biggest shocks of the league phase. Imrul Kayes will want to make the most of the opportunity given to him now, and play the supporter's role. Junaid Siddique is the more assuring, technically better off batsmen one would have to look out for. The three left-handers would also cause the bowling side to adjust their bowling a bit, I don't think there is any other team with 3 top order left handers. SL and WI used to have such a left-handed line up, and not many teams were up to the task of dismissing their line up that easily!

The middle order would consist of Raqibul Hasan or Ashraful. Raqibul has been more dependable than Ashraful in the recent times. Ashraful, once thought of the next-big-thing from Bangladesh, has only two or three memorable innings in the past few years, and one of them came in T20, so, doesn't count. Both have the talent, but Ashraful is more likely to gift his wicket than Raqibul. Mushfiqur Rahim will be the wicketkeeper, handy with the bat, and can up the ante in the final overs (if B'desh can play till then).

The mainstay of the Bangladeshi team is their league of spinners. Captain Shakib al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Abdur Razzak and Suhrawadi Shuvo are all capable of finding a spot in the XI. Shakib, Razzaka and Shuvo are all left-arm orthodox bowlers. Bot, Razzak and Shuvo flight the ball more than Shakib, who has more of a slinging action. It is tough to opponents to play with a healthy run rate against these spinners, who have their own variations despite almost all being left handed bowlers. Muhmudullah provides a bit of variation, being right handed. If Naeem Islam is given the opportunity as an all-rounder, he too would come on to bowl. So would Md Ashraful. Spin is Bangladesh's weapon. Maybe, the only weapon.

B'desh will play two fast bowlers, Shafiul Islam and Nazmul Hossain. Their main job would be to get the ball old and hand it over to the spinners. As simple as that. In isolation, both are capable wicket takers, but only Shafiul has the pace to cause any trouble to the batsmen. he has a fast, singing action and puts in a lot of effort to try and extract bounce on unhelping surfaces. Rubel Hossain is the other seamer in the squad, having dropped the crown-favourite Moshrafe Mortaza keeping in mind his current health conditions, the history of his health conditions and probability of him injuring himself again. In the last few series before the world cup, either he hasn't played them at all, or got injured in the first game of the series. And when he does the latter, B'desh win the series. So, B'desh selectors are taking the chance of winning after eliminating that lucky charm.

Bangladesh will commence the World Cup with the opening game vs India, followed by games vs Ireland, WI, England, Nederlands and South Africa. For a team of Bangladesh's stature, almost all games are as important as it can be for them to move on to the next round. The game against West Indies will be the world cup's most important game. The winner of the game is more likely to move on to knock out stage over the other.

Bangladesh couldn't have had a better preparation and build up to the world cup, than 2 series hosted at home and winning both of them. But, they should not forget that they lost most series before that - in Sri Lanka, England. This time, they are a serious contender for the open QF spot, and it will not be surprising if they can make it. How loudly will the Bangla Tigers roar this time around? Will they reach a stage where they might have to play outside their home? Will they throw more surprises than what one can expect? They are capable, but will they show it?

The biggest event in Bangla's cricketing history will like them to shine in it too. Comet Feb 19, and we would all know how that unfolds!

Team New Zealand, World Cup 2011

2011-02-08T13:43:00.004+05:30

GROUP A (Australia, Canada, Kenya, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe)

Team - New Zealand
ODI Rank - 7
ODI Rating - 91

Last World Cup - Semi-finals
Finals Appearances - 7
Best in a World Cup- Semi Finals '75, '79, '92, '99, '07

Squad

Daniel Vettori (c), Hamish Bennett, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Jamie How, Brendon McCullum (wk), Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson, Luke Woodcock.

Strength - long batting line up
Weakness - form

Notes

The Kiwis come into this world cup on the back of a dismal performance for the past few months, which will surely be the among worst in their cricketing history. They didn't manage an entry into the Tri-Nation finals in Sri Lanka, were blanked 4-0 in B'desh, blanked 5-0 in India and lost 3-2 to Pakistan at home. If you notice, They have lost in all the three host nations and lost to the other subcontinental nation too. Not looking good at all for the semi-finalists from the previous edition.

Their squad is as best as it can look, bolstered by the presence of returning "Big Jake" Jacob Oram and Scott Styris. NZ have had multiple problems all year long and have not yet addressed them. First of it - the misfiring captaincy. Vettori is a good leader, but somehow it is not paying dividends. Vettori, as an individual is performing great, and the team is showing good spirit in the game...but so are Afghanistan, who have qualified to play ODIs and against top-tier teams by winning Associate Nations trophy last year.

The second problem, that has led to many more minor ones - opening. In the past 2 or 3 years, the Kiwis have had more opening pair changes than rest of the world put together. They now have Guptill, Ryder and Brendon McCullum (Baz) who can open, but even after playing 5 whole games, NZ are not sure who would open and who would drop down to the middle order. All three of them are destructive in their own ways, Guptill being the most traditional of them, making sure that he would be one of the two openers for sure. Ryder comes back into the squad after having many issues, health and otherwise. Ryder is strong and more athletic than he looks to be. He whiplashes into the leg side and cover drives are a treat to watch. Baz is a natural striker of the ball, just that he hasn't been in touch with his habitat for a while. Another option for the opening slot - Jamie How....until they find out How exactly...

At one-drop, NZ would have Ross Taylor, who is a class apart. He can whip you square through the off side, or step across and heave you over the cow corner and square leg. Bowling two deliveries at the same spot to Taylor might not be wise. If he is given the time to settle, it would be more difficult to dislodge him than pronounce his complete name (Luteru Ross Poutoa Lote Taylor) without assistance 20 times in a minute. Taylor will be joined by the young Kane Williamson who finally got going after a poor start to this ODI career. He is aggressive and has shown quite some promise in Indian and B'deshi conditions. Then comes in Scott Styris, who has quietly become more aggressive since the last world cup. He was the player who would exactly fit into the boots of Chris Harris... Just that, Styris is even better. He seems to score with ease with the bat, be it nudge around to keep the scoreboard tickin', or shoot the moon with some lusty blows. At 6 would be the opener who didn't get the opening slot.

At 7 would be James Franklin, who returned to international cricket as an all-rounder, having left as a bowler who couldn't perform at the highest levels. Since his return, it took the opponents 6 games at the cost of more than 240 runs to get him out for the first time. He remained not out in the three games in India, and Pakistan were not very quick in learning how to dismiss him either. Franklin's return has helped NZ fill a spot that was usually held by Oram. Franklin very handy batsmen, who is under-rated, will make you pay for your negligence, and can send down 7-10 overs of controlled medium pace. Big Jake Oram would mostly follow him at no.8 position. A big hitter and (now) a medium pacer difficult to put away with, he could be handy to extract bounce in Indian conditions. But, at his pace, it must not be as much a concern to the batsmen as his precise line-and-length.

Leaving 3 slots for bowlers (or, bowling all-rounders), since there are many all-rounders already would most probably be occupied by Vettori, Mills and either of Bennett and Southee. Vettori is one of the finest spinners to be now playing. Impeccable line and length, and creative strategies, mixed with patience, more like playing on the patience of the batsmen and waiting for them to step into a trap. He is more than a handy batsman, and is probably the most dependable of them all! Kyle Mills has been the mainstay of the NZ bowling line up. He can swing the ball at good pace and is very menacing with his line, since the ball gathers more bounce than most others can extract off the sub-continent pitches. Mills' tall frame helps. Bennett, the new comer bowls hard and heavy balls, and has a reputation to bowl well directed slow balls (bouncers, especially). But, he is also known to be inaccurate and sprays the ball around, the last thing you would want your only other pure paceman to do. Southee, on the other hand came in as a wonderful prospect from the 2008 u-19 WC team, and since then has dropped pace and lost venom. But, he still remains a possible threat, mostly because of the ability to put in the extra effort on pace and bounce, and provide a little seam-movement with the new-ball.

Nathan McCullum will be looking to take the spot that Jacob Oram is presently trying so hard to gain. The subcontinental conditions would suit Nathan too. He is an explosive batsman, and right now, he is the better batsman from his family. Luke Woodcock is another slow-bowling all-rounder in the NZ reserves. Not much is known of him in the international stage, but the veteran has had a good few seasons at domestic level to get the big promotion...timely one indeed.

NZ play Kenya, Australia, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Canada and Sri Lanka in that order... Giving them a breather before every big game.

So, will the perennial semi-finalists finally take it a couple of steps further? Can the Kiwis fly? Will they play against two of their worst enemies - injuries and betrayal of hope? NZ have had all the talent they can want. They also have the guidance of the finest (hard hitting) batsman in Greatbatch and one the most feared bowlers to have treaded the world, Alan Donald. But, in the end, it will be the job of those XI on the field to complete the work.

They will play the QF, but then on, it will be anyone's guess. They will have to play upto their capabilities to really pull off any upset at all.

Team Australia, World Cup 2011

2011-02-07T22:47:00.008+05:30

GROUP A (Australia, Canada, Kenya, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe)

Team - AUSTRALIA
ODI Rank - 1
ODI Rating - 131

Last World Cup - Winner
Finals Appearances - 6
Best in a World Cup- Winner '87, '99, '03, '07

Squad

Ricky Ponting (capt), Shane Watson, Brad Haddin (wk), Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey (replaced by Callum Ferguson), David Hussey, Cameron White, Tim Paine (wk), Steven Smith, John Hastings, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz (replaced by Jason Krejza), Brett Lee, Shaun Tait, Doug Bollinger.

Strength - batting, bowling, fielding. Aus are good at their cricket!
Weakness - Subcontinental goose-bumps

Notes

World Cup champions 3 times on the bounce, 4 times in history, 6 times appeared in the finals, the most consistent performer in limited over cricket since inception, before and after Kerry Packer changed its face (and colour). Once again, they return to defend their title against the contenders.

Australia have selected a squad that looked skinny and weak when it was selected and England have done their best in allowing Australia to climb back to a formidable form that the world might fear ahead of the world cup. It took Australia just 1 week to forget 2010 (that included a streak of 3 test losses, 3 ODI losses and a T20 loss in a row. Before that, they had one test win and two other T20 losses) and start a new campaign in 2011, like a snake shedding its old skin and unraveling the new, shiny skin. Just the little surprise of Hasting featuring in the side that James Hopes had been bailing out for years.

At the top of order, Watson will open with Haddin. Watson is in the form of his life. He has been the core of the rod Australian cricket this summer down under. While all players around him have rusted, he has stood firm and rigid. While he had some trouble crossing the 50s earlier on, one can always bank on him to give you a start. And Haddin has been in good attacking touch, barring a couple of games. And one-drop, one will find the familiar face, Ricky Ponting, who will try to redeem some fame for himself after a horrid 2010, capped by the shame of another Ashes loss. His record at world cups is nothing short of great, and will look to build on it, when he returns from injury and lead the Kangaroos to a possible 4th title in a row.

When Ponting returns, Clarke, who led them to a 6-1 thrashing of the semi-English side will join White, and the Hussey...The David Hussey. I'm not sure if Michael Hussey can recover from his injury. In his absence, it will be Clarke-David-White-Smith. The middle order is packed with fire-works. Atleast one of them is bound to fire. The last time White was in India, he helped Aus score excess of 80 runs in the last 5 or 6 overs. He hasn't fired in the last series, but will be waiting to swing his arms on the Indian pitches. Victorian David Hussey has been the steady, finisher kind of guy in the team, now that his Warrior brother Mike is out of the team for a while. First, settles, then breaks the shackles and eats into the nerves of the opponents. And yes, there is Smith. How shall I describe him? He is not pleasing to the eye, but he gets the job done. He has a bat, and he hits the ball in some possible way, which I once described as "Captain caveman wielding his willow", to score runs at good pace. I'm sure the likes of Lee, Mitch and even Dougie can bat a bit to hold one end as the other batsman pushes the total.

Leaving space for 4 bowling spots, I would go with Dougie-Lee-Mitch for sure, and a toss between the three of Hauritz, Tait and Hastings. Dougie Bollinger, when he entered international cricket, was very tough to score against, and was an instant hit in the shortest format of the game. He hasn't changed much, and has been helping himself with some good batting too! His pace and line, the heavy balls bouncing off the tracks, will always pose a trouble to the top order batsmen. Then, of course, there is Lee, who couldn't have found a better time to hit the peak of his health for the 435th time in his career. He has, and that is good for the Aussies. he has been in terrific form in the series vs England. His pace drops only if he wants to bowl a slower ball. Short balls do not miss the batsman's nose, out-swing, in-swing, reverse swing. And has been chirpy too. Reminded of the old Lee? Brett Lee? Yeah! Mitchell Johnson... He is suffering from a rare case of split personality. he can either be destructive, or self-destructive. On his day, one would rather be watching on TV than playing his skidding pacy missiles.

Hastings, the surprise inclusion did well to convince the people that he is not a random pick, and a good all-rounder who bowls at a healthy pace in the middle and slog overs, and handy batsman who can up the ante if needed! Tait is fast -period-. If he can do what he did last world cup -full and straight, the team will be happy. Anything silly, and he would be dispatched to the rafters. Especially against left handed batsmen like Gayle or Sangakkara, who can flick the ball onto the leg side and play straight with ease. And I then come to the one name, who has been sitting around like that cousin who nobody likes but is welcome in the house - (the already injured) Hauritz. Hilditch, the chief selector, promises that he will deliver in India, and is the first choice spinner for the world cup because of his exceptional record in India (read as 7 games 4 wickets, average over 70, strike rate over 90 balls/wkt). Stranger things have been said, not many. Not like Doherty, Beer or Krejza are any better, but I still think Hauritz is an excess in the squad. The leg spin from Smith and off-breaks from David Hussey and some orthodox tweaks from Clarke (who rarely bowls nowadays) should suffice. Spin isn't Aus' go-to since the departure of Shane Warne. But of course, Australia's lucky charm - Shane Watson, who can just steam-roll any side against the run of play to turn the match on its feet. I would fear Watson's bowling more than Lee's or Mitch's. Watson is more consistent.

In the event of Hussey replaced by Shaun Marsh in the squad, AND Australia opting to play him in the XI, Marsh might open and Haddin might drop to no.7 and nudge either White or Hastings out of the team.

Australia play Zimbabwe, NZ, SL, Kenya, Canada and Pakistan. If Australia don't make a mess of the first 4 games, they would be happy with the going. SA is a good match for them, as would be SL in their home. Pakistan-Australia game could be fun, if the situation needs either of them to win to claim a particular position.

Ponting has quoted that even a World Cup win will not make up for the shame suffered in the Ashes loss. But, the Kangaroos will surely be venting their anger at the world cup, trying to remind the world that they are still the top-ranked ODI team, and not for nothing. They have the fuel, and someone has already ignited it to a hot flame. The Aussies would hope that the flame doesn't get extinguished for another couple of months, while 13 other teams will try to take away from the Aussies what has now almost become their property.

Team Sri Lanka, World Cup 2011

2011-02-04T17:06:00.003+05:30

GROUP A (Australia, Canada, Kenya, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe)

Team -SRI LANKA
ODI Rank - 3
ODI Rating - 118

Last World Cup - Runner-up
Finals Appearances - 2
Best in a World Cup- Winner 1996

Squad

Kumar Sangakkara (capt & wk), Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Thilan Samaraweera, Chamara Silva, Chamara Kapugedera, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis, Rangana Herath.

Strength - Excellent batting, home advantage, variety in bowling
Weakness - Not many "probing" bowlers

Notes

Thought to be one of the most favourites to claim the jewel, Sri Lanka will back themselves to clinch it, like they did it the last time it came to the sub-continent - with authority. If there is one team apart from India that knows the Indian conditions (apart from their own home conditions), it must be Sri Lanka, who have been in India for almost as much time as Indian team has been in India. Sri Lankan team has mixed bag of luck as far as its performance goes. They lost to India, won against India and then lost to them and won and lost and won and blah blah blah in the past yr or 2 in India or at home or at Asia cup, apart from a charred tour of Pakistan, and a happy tour of Australia.

Well, 11 of the 15 members in the squad have been picked from the squad that defeated Australia in a 3-match pointless ODI series played out in Australia. SL couldn't play an ODI game vs the WI in 2010, after Lord Rain bailed them out in a couple of tests from an embarrassing home loss to WI. WI are now in SL to play 3 games in non-WC host grounds, Rain bailed the Lankans out in the first game, but SL FINALLY managed to win one on their own amidst rain threats. They did field their full strength WC squad for the series. So, it is virtually, match practice.

SL top order is strong, to say the least. The conventionally attacking Tharanga will be partnered by the unconventionally attacking Dilshan. Both can, in isolation, take the scoring rate beyond 8 an over before the 1st powerplay is done with. Tharanga is strong on the off-side. Dilshan is strong in-front and behind the wickets, well, literally. When someone scoops a pace bowler with such ease as throwing a pea in the ocean, the captain and bowlers got to have some serious strategy. But, one little weakness is, Dilshan doesn't move his feet much AND is not that stable in his stance, which sometimes costs him too many play-and-misses, and he succumbs if he finds his strike rate drops below 80, and then on its a domino effect. So, one has to have good line and length vs the opening pair.

Par opening, come the duo or Sangakkara and Jayawardene. Sangakkara, the captain, is aggressive on loose balls, good against pace and spin and likely to relish home conditions. Ex-captain Jayawardene is the right handed batsman with similar description as Sangakkara. Jayawardene has amassed a huge load of runs at home, and not much away from home. Well, that fact actually helps him now. Sangakkara's technique, of trigger movement before delivery stride has an unsettling effect on bowlers, and has helped him score on his leg side with ease. If bowler over-pitches on the off, it's played through covers. J'wardene is great in-front of the wicket and square on both sides.

Middle order will also feature Kapugedera, Samaraweera and Matthews. Kapugedera and Samaraweera, both have the capability of consolidating the innings in the middle and accelerating towards the end. The fact that Samaraweera has been able to change gears from his test form to the ODIs has helped SL do away with the worry of filling a middle order void. One big find for SL in the recent times, has been Angelo Matthews. This young lad can handle pressure situations like it was his day job, bat through the overs, accelerate, milk the bowling, and bowl 8-10 overs of medium-fast pace with good accuracy. For those who are looking for an efficient youngster, this fellow is surely going to be on the podium of that race! Back-up middle order batsman would be Chamara Silva, who is capable of holding the innings together, in the event of top order failing to do so. Neat and handy, but I doubt if he would be required with all the major names in the top order back in the side. Nevertheless.

As for the bowling - SL have good ammunition for both pace and spin.

Spin department will be headed by the Magician, Muttiah Muralitharan, and will have the services of Rangana Herath and Ajantha Mendis to assist him. Murali... we know what Murali is and what he can do on his day. This is going to be his last world cup (last ODI tournament too, I think). Having finished test career on a high, he would want to repeat that in the ODI format too. The home conditions will favour him a lot, for sure. Mendis, known for his bag of tricks, somehow gives me the feeling that the bag has now become transparent. He has been "decoded" since his first year in international cricket. People are able to play him with ease (bat in front of pad technique). But, a little flaw by the batsman is all that is needed to dislodge him, which is why the canny Mendis is still a lethal weapon in subcontinental conditions. Rangana Herath, the surprise inclusion to the squad, found himself ahead of Suraj Randiv. Herath is not a big turner of the ball, but maintains a very tight line outside the off of a right hander. When Pakistan and Sri Lanka played test series in mid-'09, Herath brought home victories from impossible situations, bowling Pak out cheaply while having just a meagre total to defend in both cases.

Pace department will be shared by the Slinga Malinga and the accurate Kulasekara. Malinga has 2 sets of operation - york/full, and short. A surprise thrid would be slow and full/good-length. If one can spot which one is coming at him at what moment, surely, he is a genius! In the recent ODIs vs the WI, he proved why he is such a terror to batsmen. He reverses the ball very easily, thanks to is round arm (flat-arm?) action, it is naturally easy to reverse. Kulasekara, to me has been one of the most under-rated bowlers. He ranked at the top for a long time, but was never given the respect he deserved. Opponents took him lightly, and THAT was a grave grave mistake. His natural line is to swing the ball into the right hander. So, batsmen will find it difficult to drive him with ease, since he keeps the balls full and straight. Many are out lbw, or bowled through the gates. One might see a silly mid-on in place too. He is not pacy, but he doesn't need pace. Thisara Perera is their back-up paceman. He would feature in the XI if SL opt for an extra pacer over spinner in a 4 pacer (including Matthews)- 1 spinner strategy. I would still, have preferred Thilan Thusara over Perera. Thusara, to me, is more attacking than Perera.

SL play Canada, Pakistan, Kenya, Australia, Zimbabwe and NZ in that order. All except the NZ game on home soil. They have enough time to prepare for big games, and have the freedom to try out bench strength during the alternative lighter games.

Sri Lanka would remember the dark times from the finals of 2007 world cup. They really were dark, finished in pitch black evening sky, the glimmering flash-lights from cameras sizzling the ground like a party night, and Australia celebrated their victory of the worst ever organized world cup. It is now time for them to brush the memories aside and brighten the field up with the pool of talent that has considered Jayasurya and Vaas as excess, and look to give Murali the ultimate gift he deserves. They have what it takes to be the champion, they will be playing most games in their own back-yard, and they will be looking to host their own QF and SF.

I say, they can be one of the two finalists. Can they win it? Yes. Will they win it? You will see...

Team England, World Cup 2011

2011-02-03T20:02:00.006+05:30

GROUP B (Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, Netherlands, South Africa, West Indies)

Team - ENGLAND
ODI Rank - 5
ODI Rating - 109

Last World Cup - Super-8
Finals Appearances - thrice
Best in a World Cup - Runner-up ('79, '87, '92)

Squad
Andrew Strauss (C), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan (replaced by Ravi Bopara), Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior(wk), Ajmal Shahzad, Graeme Swann, James Tredwell, Jonathan Trott, Luke Wright, Michael Yardy

Strength - (if fit) Fast bowlers
Weakness - FITNESS, inability to play consistently on slow tracks

Notes

If one calls South Africa "chokers", one might have to think again. England is the team that went to three world cup finals and lost each of them! And I will not hold anything back in saying, this is the best squad ever sent to a world cup. Well, it seemed so a couple of weeks ago. Most players in the squad have been in good touch in their respective department in ODIs or in test cricket (Ashes). Collingwood, who just retired from test cricket (before he could be droppped) will be playing his last world cup, and maybe his last international cricket tournament. The only surprise came in when Prior was selected ahead of Davies, who had been the keeper for England in the last 2 or more series.

Andrew Strauss has been becoming more of a respected captain, and the two of Strauss and Andy Flower (the coach) have been getting together the English side for more than an year in the build up for the WC. The batting issues seems to have been solved. Bell has been pushed lower down the order, instead of making him open. Bell will prefer middle order to opening, his natural game surely would. So, England now has Strauss accompanied by Matt Prior at the opening slots. Prior was called into the squad after his performance in the Ashes, and it took him a couple of ODIs to finally start firing. The left-right combo like to attack the seamers up front, with Prior being more aggressive. Prior loves going straight, Strauss is better square of the wicket. So, bowling will have to be smart... But, like the Australians have been showing in the 7-match series, it's no big deal to break them apart early!

Middle order is great on the paper - Trott, KP, Bell, Collingwood, Morgan. On paper, yes. Trott has managed to extend his batting form from the Ashes to the ODI series. He was slow in a couple of games, but managed to score at a faster pace in the 6th game in a losing cause. He is one of the coolest batsman at the crease, who relies more on placement and timing than on power. Well, he has cemented the sheet-anchor role, atleast. KP comes in as a fearesome big man with the bat, who I feel is not yet consistent with the bat either side of the event of him being dropped from the side. Once in a while he as exploded - once in test series, once in ODIs... But, he has had a good run in series played in India. Bell is in very good touch with the bat, and is likely to be the strokemaker in the middle of the innings. Collingwood's place in the middle order is questionable in isolation, but he adds to the side the calmness and experience, and the English team is expecting him to deliver his due at the world cup, after failing expectations for almost the whole of Ashes and the ODI tour. Morgan, the "acquisition" from Ireland, has been the unconventional batting star for the English middle order, bailing them out of difficult situations, which also includes game(s) against B'desh. He has his own school of cricket and defines beauty in his own way, and scores runs at a good pace in his own way! Well, he does contribute more often than not, and is England's "finisher" for the world cup.

Bowling (on paper), a month ago, would have had one of the most destructive line up of pacemen. Just that, in the past month or so, most of them have been injured or completely lost touch in foreign environment. Broad was injured early in the Ashes, and is expected to recover just in time for the world cup. Bresnan and Shahzad injured themselves during the ODI series. Broad has been one of the most improved cricketers in the world over the past 2 years or so. He has got his height to help in extract bounce from the Indian tracks. He bowls stump-to-stump when needed to bottle the flow of runs, and that is when he is very tough to get away with. Bresnan is an "effort bowler". He charges in and bowls heavy deliveries, the ball may just lift a tad faster than others can. He has had a good run down under, but got injured during the course of a game. Ajmal Shahzad, the new comer has been the one who has impressed me the most. He is good on pace, and can reverse the ball quite well.A very good find in the recent past for the English team, and it is probable that he might play games ahead of Bresnan, or any other injured players. The counter argument - Bresnan can bat better than Shahzad.

The only fit pace bowler who finds himself on the world cup squad - Jimmy Andersen. He missed the first 3 games of the ODI series vs Aus, returned to get England the much needed win to stop the trot, bowled well in that game and in the next (5th ODI) and completely lost his rhythm in the 6th game. He leaked a massive 91 runs in his 10 overs, in a game where England failed to defend 333! So, his consistency is a concern. Indian conditions won't be allowing much swing to him, so, he might have to be impeccably accurate with his line and length to be a trouble-maker with the ball.

Spin - Swann is England's mainstay spinner, but again, he is injured! If fit, he will be England's main weapon in the middle and slog overs. Swann can drift, spin big and vary the pace without giving the batsmen much clue. He has spun wonders on English soil, surely he will be a menace on Indian soil? I guess so. The back-up spinner is Michael Yardy, who has been pretty effective with his left arm tweakers. he strangles the batsmen for runs, to get under their skin. A product of modern day cricket. There is Tredwell in the squad too, but I'm not sure how much he will be used in the games that matter. In basketball lingo, he will "play the garbage minutes". Any opening for an all-rounder spot will be rather filled by Luke Wright, who has a reputation of being a hard hitter. He can also bowl at > 135kph, but for some reason I've not seen him bowl that often. Body problems? Or lack of requirement (with 3 or 4 pacers already)? For sure, Collingwood is going to be preferred ahead of any other part-timers, him being effective and experienced. His off-cutters with occasional true medium pace will be quite an irritation to deal with for the batsmen during the middle overs.

Batting and bowling apart, England's best skill is their fielding. Their oldest player, Collingwood, is their best fielder. They save atleast 20-30 runs a game with their skills on the field. This will be a major advantage, given that in the subcontinent the fielders will have to help out their bowlers to put a lid on the scoring rate, which is likely to be high in most games.

England will have to be pretty effective with their bowling in the world cup. Their bowlers are not yet in the grove to perform with match-winning efforts. The only ones who looked like they can play well, figuratively and cricket-wise, are either not in the squad (Finn, Woakes) or also injured (Tremlett).

England play Pakistan, Nederlands, India, Ireland, South Africa, Bangladesh and West Indies. Interesting trend out there, right? But, England might have to face a situation where they have lost 3 of their first 5 league games before traveling to Bangladesh and facing WI in their last league game, both of which can be tricky. B'desh have been building a fortress at their home, and WI might want to make a push to claim a QF berth. They know their friendly neighbours Nederlands and Ireland well, and will have their easiest games against them, while the host, India, will be their toughest opponent, having lost to them 5-0 in their last bilateral ODI series in India not so long ago.

England have won the Ashes, a trophy which means a great deal to their history. But, if at all they want to etch their names in the history of ODI cricket, there is a lot of home work to do in very little time. Personally, I don't see England deserving to go beyond the QF stage in this pitiable form. They will either have to be lucky in their QF match-up, or, be re-born into a new star force to prove me wrong and make me eat my words for breakfast! They have the squad, many of whom are not ready as of yet.

Team West Indies, World Cup 2011

2011-02-02T00:09:00.006+05:30

GROUP B (Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, Netherlands, South Africa, West Indies)

Team -WEST INDIES
ODI Rank - 9
ODI Rating - 66

Last World Cup - Super 8
Finals Appearances - 3
Best in a World Cup- Winner 1975, '79

Squad
Darren Sammy (Captain), Adrian Barath, Carlton Baugh Jr (wk), Sulieman Benn, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Christopher Gayle, Nikita Miller, Kieron Pollard, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Smith

Strength - Strong (sometimes unproven) batting
Weakness - Bowling

Notes

Once the kings of the game, now the puppets, the West Indian side comes into the tournament as a dark horse, with hopes of winning it being sparkled time and again. West Indian cricket has suffered very bad patches over the past 4 years, since they hosted what was reputed as the worst world cup till date. Players and board had disputes, there were contract issues, and then, some players turned down board contracts, and some even showed more interest in franchise tourneys instead of international fixture. And, not to forget "Sir Allen" Stanford's cameo of bringing in a revolution and leaving the scenes in shame.

West Indies have been trying hard to find the balance in the team, between experience and youth. The WI top order has been depending on Sarwan, and the middle order on Shiv. The captain-for-long, Gayle was always on or off, but one expects him to give you a start more often than not. Also, Brian Lara retired since the 07 WC, and WI have since been looking for a perfect fit to his spot. Can they find anyone more perfect than Darren Bravo? I've been fooled time and again into thinking I was watching Brian Charles Lara while watching the prodigy Darren Bravo bat. And i'm sure his mother is waiting to thrash me for saying so (sorry, lady, just can't help it! He is Lara, and he is worth it!)

So, WI's batting! Right on top, we have a whole new opening pair - Gayle is now to be partnered by Adrian Barath, after other try-outs in the past few years failed (Fletcher? Chattergoon? etc!). Not like Barath has played a lot, but he showed character while playing in Australia. He jsutified his selection to the WC with a century vs SL recently. He can play big, and play hard! Gayle, like we all know is the danger man on top of that order. He is in good "touch" after playing some hurricane knocks for the Warriors in the Big Bash. I would say, he will have atleast 3 or 4 good starts in the league phase itself, and that means rampage!

No.3 and No.4 would be two of Sarwan, Darren Bravo and Shiv. Sarwan made a good comeback statement after missing cricket since his injury more than an year ago while diving to get back into the crease in an epic match vs SA. Darren Bravo has shown enough character to find a berth in the WI team for the past few months. And tere is always the Mr. Dependable, Shiv Chanderpaul. People have been criticising his pace at the pitch, but he has the ability to play long innings and accelerate towards the end. In subcontinental conditions, if you can stay, you have the bowlers at your mercy! Assuming that is what the plan is for spots 3 and 4, Dwayne Bravo will come in at 5, followed by the new captain Darren Sammy and Keiron Pollard - the 3 all-rounders who will be under the radar of all Caribbean fans, expecting atleast two of the three to sparkle in the games. Pollard, though, has been off colour in recent times, but Sammy has taken his spot! Bravo is more of a responsible fellow amongst the three. But, in the slog overs, the only responsibility is - to score!

Carlton Baugh is the keeper for the WI, who won the race against Ramdin, who seems to have disappeared from the international stage.

The bowling, will comprise of the nippy and effective pace bowler Kemar Roach and the left arm orthodox Sulieman Benn for sure. And I would have Ravi Rampaul over Andre Russel for the third spot. Bravo, Sammy, Pollard and Gayle will send down the other overs. WI will surely miss the experience of Jerome Taylor, who is very pacy, as well as good at swinging the ball, and of course, fooling batsmen with his slow ball! The back up spin option is Nikita Miller, whose experience is pretty much restricted to domestic exploits, and nothing much to show at the international level. But he is one of the better spinners in there, ahead of others, Dave Mohammed, for example. Devon Smith is the back-up opening option. One might as well like Shiv to open and accommodate both Sarwan and Darren Bravo in the XI in case one of the regular openers (knock on wood) isn't in a position to open the innings.

WI have not been great in the ODIs for a long time. They have been cleaned up by SA, beaten by Eng and India (all at home) and lost at the hands of the Kiwis and Australia on the road. Now, they are in SL to play with the already decided squad and try to get the players into good touch (weather permitting).

WI, if at all they want to put aside all their troubles off the field of play, they would have to show some character. This is a 50 over tournament, and performing for just 20 overs an innings won't get them anywhere near the 2nd round. They will have to face off against Bangladesh to claim a quarterfinals spot.

One advantage the team will enjoy is, that, they don't have much traveling to do. they play SA and Nederlands at Delhi, play B'desh at Dhaka, Ireland at Mohali (pretty close to Delhi) and move South to play England and India at Madras. Ireland will be their easiest game. And while games against Eng, Ind and SA will be tough, I feel that the only BIG game of the whole first round amongst both groups will be the WI vs B'desh game on the 4th of March at Dhaka. That game can potentially decide who is going through to the knock out stage and who is not!

They have the history behind their backs, but they have a very unknown future ahead of them! They still flow over the brim with class, and have the power to break the knuckles of any attack. They must try their best in prevent run-leaks with their bowling "attack". Fingers crossed, I wish they can go into the 2nd stage, but it all depends on their execution. One-man plays can save them in a game or two, but in the long run, the whole team must chip in!

Team South Africa, World Cup 2011

2011-01-25T19:30:00.004+05:30

GROUP B (Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, Netherlands, South Africa, West Indies)

Team - SOUTH AFRICA
ODI Rank - 4
ODI Rating - 118

Last World Cup - Semi-finals
Finals Appearances - none
Best in a World Cup- Semi-finalists (1992, 1999, 2007)

Squad
Graeme Smith (capt), Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers (wk), JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Morne van Wyk (wk), Colin Ingram, Johan Botha, Imran Tahir, Robin Peterson, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Dale Steyn and Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

Strength - Talented top order, fiery fast bowlers
Weakness - inexperienced and imploding lower middle order

Notes

One of the most feared, yet, most unlucky cricketing side in the world (especially in the world cups), South Africa. This time, they enter the tournament as one of the most fancied teams to lift the trophy. A very healthy squad has been picked by the management, and will try and do all that it takes to reach that ever-elusive trophy in this battleground!

The squad has mostly been picked based on the form of the player. Kallis alone comes into the squad from his injury. Imran Tahir, with 500+ wickets in his bag will be one of the most awaited talent yet to be seen by most people. The only surprise in the squad, to me, was Wayne Parnell, who didn't seem to impress much in the ODI series vs India recently.

The strength of the SA team lies in 2 different parts - top order, and, pace department (though, I do not want to take everything away from spin).

The SA openers, Smith and Amla have been rock solid for the past few months. Amla is surely the man with the most perfect start to his ODI career, averaging in the high-50s and strike rate over 90. To those who undermined his abilities in the limited format, Amla has silenced them all with his bat. This man, who walks with utmost humility doesn't have to do much to command respect. he gets them, along with love. Captain Smith, who will be leading his side in ODIs for the last time, is in good form with the bat, and has been a spectacular captain over the last 6-7 years. He will look to add one big feather to his cap in this World Cup.

After the openers, in come Kallis and AB de Villiers, who are both destructive and inning-building characters, who can any day take the game away from you with such an ease, that they may not sweat! Kallis has been rested for the ODIs to nurse a niggling injury. And, AB is nursing a little dip in his form against the Indians, in which he was less than the explosive AB we know.

The middle order for the South Africans is going to be tricky, from selector's point of view. They have Ingram, Duminy, Peterson, van Wyk out there, for 3 spots. Duminy is quite certain to retain one place. Ingram has been in and out of form He has been good with the bat in the death overs, and can bowl a couple of overs when required. Robbie-P is quite the opposite - he is good with his orthodox bowling and can step up to play a cameo in the end. van Wyk has shown his capabilities with the bat. He also becomes SA's back-up wicket keeper. If one assumes that their middle order is in good batting touch, then this team can score big and chase big. But, unfortunately for them, the haven't put on very huge totals very frequently in the recent times. Another name to tinker with for a middle-order slot will be the talented Faf du Plessis who didn't get too much of an opportunity to unleash his talents in the debut games vs India.

SA's bowling is looking very very strong at the moment. Morne Morkel is looking more threatening than Dale Steyn. And Tsotsobe has been very good with his line and length. Its a perfect mix of ingredients. One plays you full, one swings it at medium pace, and one bounces the ball chest high from good length. And then, there is Kallis! Any batting side that can manage all of them must be appreciated for their efforts. Not easy. Their spin department, though not as renowned as their pace battery, is nevertheless effective. Botha is most likely to start the game, or, so is the rest of the world hoping. Robin Peterson's place is a maybe-maybe_not. But, beware you me, they have a seasoned campaigner in Imran Tahir. Me telling "he is a very talented spinner" is too short of being able to describe what he is worth. He has played in Pakistan, England and South Africa, and knows almost every tricks of the trade. The last first class game he played, he picked up 12 wickets, on a South African soil. This talent is going to surface for the world to see....finally.

All the good that the SA line up look good on paper, they have had some worries of their own. They have not been able to shut the opponent's innings close for good in some occasions in the recent times. And hard hitters like Sammy, Razzak and Yusuf have proved over the past year, that even the Steyns and Morkels are not the best if one tries to be aggressive at them. Their batting has sometimes, not just lost air, but burst like a balloon, as was the case in their last ODI prior to the World Cup now, when they lost 6 wickets for a mere 20 runs. And in another occasion, failed to chase down a not-so-difficult chase of under 200 after almost looking to get it. How much of a boost will the addition of Kallis be to this side which was stretched by India? The epic all-rounder of my generation will be back in action, and be hoping to deliver the goods at the top of the batting order and with the ball!

SA play WI, Nederlands, England, India, Ireland and Bangladesh in that order with comfortable gaps for the big games. One would expect them to be ready for any challenge thrown at them. Semi finals? Surely! Further than that?

Nearly every team has "choked" at some point or the other in the past few years, but the world associates the name with SA every time they lose a game, whether or not they choke, the viewers construct the image as a choke. This has been on the mindset of the SA team for a long time and have been trying to prove the world wrong. With the talent they are carrying to the campaign, one would reckon they are going to do all it takes to become the world champion. In the past couple of years, they have matched India blood for blood, taken down Australia in their own back-yard, tried and tested England and silenced other teams in more occasions than not. 19 years after being re-instated, they want to wipe their slippery hands and finally lift the trophy with firm grip.

They can do it. Will they?

Team Pakistan, World Cup 2011

2011-01-22T21:21:00.004+05:30

GROUP A (Australia, Canada, Kenya, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe)

Team -PAKISTAN
ODI Rank - 6
ODI Rating - 98

Last World Cup - First Round/Round Robin
Finals Appearances - 2
Best in a World Cup- Winner 1992

Squad
Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanveer, Ahmed Shahzad

Strength - Explosive middle order, bowling attack
Weakness - Imploding and unsure set up, fragile opening attack

Notes
If there is one team in the world against whom you can never be sure of, it will be Pakistan. On their day, they can bring down any giant in their own backyard. On other days, they will implode in a very sad manner. That has been the case for Pakistan over the past few years.

This time, the squad for the world cup has been a pick of the best talent "available" for selection to them. While most of them have made their place thanks to their form in the recent past, some have come in because of their reputation and the need of the hour. Afridi, Misbah, Umar, Ajmal, Rehman, Wahab, Razzak, Gul, Younis, Hafeez have been regulars in the ODI side. Akhtar has been available whenever he has been healthy. Asad Shafiq is relatively new, and has been good in the longer format. Ahmed Shahzad is Pakistan's best youth batting star from the u-19 level, and has made it to the bigger stage from that platform. The Pakistan team will hope that this young man will step up if and when required. In need of a bowler, Pakistan brought back Sohail Tanvir who has some experience on Indian tracks. He is also a handy batsman.

While the the team looks attractive, one must also notice that there has been no captain selected thus far. Afidi captains the LOI side, and Misbah leads the test side. Pakistan is now playing the Kiwis in an ODI series (first match won comprehensively by the Kiwis). And might be a bad decision if Misbah is handed over the captaincy after the series, what so ever the result of the series. He will have no time to work with his team, and may lead to some pointless decisions made on the field when it matters the most, in the world cup! Afridi has not been at his personal best, nor has he won any series in the recent past, but he has managed to knit together a unit that has been building the confidence and rising to new levels.

Like I said, they haven't won any ODI series recently, but they have not been blanked or stripped naked in any of them. Two high tempo series were lost in the last game of the series. Not having smelled their home soil for years and years, Pakistan have been playing their "home" games in alien locations. They have played in the middle east and in England. England had hosted a 5 game ODI series, in which they were almost on a roll to a 3-0 lead before Umar Gul destroyed the English batting line up...twice in two games, both played at London (Oval, Lords). The series was leveled 2-2, but Pakistan was rolled over by England in the decider, after what seemed to be a decent start to the chase by Kamran Akmal. The series against SA in the Middle East showed that Abdul Razzak has some more miles left in his tank, and is still one of the most dependable middle order all-rounder in the world. The series also saw the rise of another all-rounder, Wahab Riaz.

The batting for Pakistan looks quite tricky. Their opening is unsure. Pakistan, like NZ have been trying out new opening pairs. With Butt out, they have more problems. It's going to be instinctive, with time running out, and very few games left to decide. Past the opening, there is stability. Younis, Misbah will define stability. Both of them have the touch back, and have the dangerous ability to play long innings on Indian soil. The longer one can stay put, the more difficult he becomes to dislodge. And, both are capable of changing multiple gears. So, coining them "slow" is not correct. The middle order after that is explosive to say the least. It's very probable that Pakistan will go in with Afridi-Umar-Razzak trio. Each of them have their own style, but have pretty much the same treatment for the leather off the wood. Afridi last had an explosive run in the Asia Cup in the subcontinent (Bangladesh). Umar has been contributing here and there, has been in and out, but can be counted on to explode if need be. Razzak has smoted very many bowling attacks in the recent past, msot recently, SA.

Pakistani bowling has been more assuring than its batting. Rehman and Ajmal are both proven and capable spinners. Gul, Wahab, Akhtar and Sohail Tanveer will be incharge of the pace bowling department. Gul will be the spearhead, while Akhtar will like to sneak in with raw pace. Wahab Riaz can bowl at great nippy pace while maintaining a tight line during the middle overs. He has impeccable patience and can bowl at a handkerchief on the pitch for a whole spell if asked to. Either of Rehman or Ajmal will play, and both are equally effective with the ball. It might be a strategical pick on a given match-day, depending on how many left/right handed players feature in the top order. Ajmal to a left hander, Rehman to a right hander. The bowling continues with Afridi and Razzak, both capable of sending down 10 overs each, and the part timers, Hafeez and Younis.

Pakistan will be playing a minnow and a competitive side alternatively starting with Kenya and then vs Sri Lanka, Canada, NZ, Zimbabwe and Australia in that order. All games will be played in Sri Lanka. So, Pakistan will have enough time for a breather and recall their forces to play against the big team. Also, they will be able to assess their playing conditions better. They are one of the two teams who play all their games in the same country.

This squad is without the likes of Yousuf, Malik, Rana Naved, Butt, Aamer and Asif for reasons one too many. A squad, if it had involved these guys, would surely have been right up there, among the probables to win the Cup. But, right now, I would say, Pakistan will have to do a really great job if they have to reach the semis. Once there, like I said, you never know what they can do on their day!

Pakistan's woes have been many since their last world cup. The woes began even before the tournament had ended. And many more of them have crept in and out of the team's stability over the 4 years. Fear of terror has kept some teams away. Lack of interest from other boards has kept even more away. In spite of that, the team is springing up new talents to fill in and have been shocking the world inn many instances. They have had a decent run in test cricket. having lost just 1 in the last 7 of them, winning 3, drawing test series vs Aus, SA, winning in NZ. Some inspiring ODI performances have been pointing to the undying spirit that lies in each one of them. Battling floods, quakes, calamities, terrorism and more, the many lads from the lesser known towns gather for the best Pakistani mix of players their cricket has seen, this time for the big prize.

Expectations are less, hope is more. A hope that they would prove to the ever-ignorant world that the Pakistani team can roar, but the cricketing world has to have it's narrow ears open.

Team India, World Cup 2011

2011-01-19T14:30:00.008+05:30

GROUP B (Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, Netherlands, South Africa, West Indies)

Team -INDIA (Also, host nation)
ODI Rank - 2
ODI Rating - 122

Last World Cup - First Round/Round Robin
Finals Appearances - 2
Best in a World Cup- Winner 1983

Squad
MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla, R Ashwin

Strength - Top order, Nerves, Hosts
Weakness - Bowling (Pace, especially)

Notes

India play hosts in the 10th edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup, and will start the event vs Bangladesh (co-hosts) at Dhaka.

India has selected the squad, mostly, based on performances over the past one year or so in One-Dayers and recent test series. In a little over the past year, India has been lurking in or around the subcontinent, taking down oppositions of the likes of Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Bangladesh. And, a little further ago, India had beaten WI in WI and hosted and defeated England. The only black dot has been a charred trip to Zimbabwe, in which the Indian bench strength was tested for independent performance, which the young and inexperienced side failed miserably (2 losses to Zim, 1 loss to SL, failed to make to the Tri-Series Finals).

The only surprise to many folks was the inclusion of Piyush Chawla out of thin air. The young leg break bowler last played for India in Pakistan in mid-2008 (Asia Cup league, loss). I haven't heard about him making any serious inroads in the past Ranji season. UP didn't make it to the knock-out phase either. He features in the spot where some expected Sreesanth to fill in, and some awaited Rohit Sharma. Sreesanth has been in good control of the white ball since his return to the side this year, and bowled very well vs NZ on not the friendliest of tracks. Rohit Sharma has been in and out of the squad over the past 2 years, having just the two centuries in Zimbabwe to his CV, in an ignored cause. Selectors opted for a spinner-allrounder to fill in that 15th spot, and in came Chawla.

India's top order looks very good. The likes of Sehwag, Sachin, Gambhir, Raina, Kohli, Yuvraj, Dhoni and Pathan will send shivers into any bowling attack which has been following the cricket India plays at home. But, there are just two or three snags here.

1. Only 7 of the above 8 can feature in the team. Assuming all are fit, it will be 3 of Raina/Yuvraj/Kohli/Pathan. Yuvraj is trying to cement his place in the side. Raina has been not more than "promising" for the past year, falling every now and then (short ball, BIG weakness). Pathan is taking over the role of pinch hitter, finisher and can help with the role of floater if Gary and MSD opt to go for the technique Greg Chappel introduced. Kohli, India's leading run scorer must play all matches. He adds the stability to the side, like what Dravid contributed in the previous World Cups. Raina has the talent, but just needs a tad more control to elevate himself from good to great. Yuvraj has history and records behind his back, we should just hope that it doesn't weigh too much on him. Yuvi, Pathan can bowl some 5th bowler quota too. Raina can't be trusted with run-contention, and Kohli, for some reason is not bowling his medium pacers all that frequently since he led India to the u-19 victory in '08.

2. Fitness concerns at the top of the order. Sehwag, Sachin and Gambhir are all nursing injuries now and are expected to return just in time for te practice and training, and the warm up games. The fitness of openers is crucial for India's success. Early runs on the board will help the middle order to play its calm game before accelerating towards the end.

3. Adjustment. In the past year, none of Sachin, Sehwag or Gambhir had played at number 3. There weren't very many instances in a long time when all three of them played together. Gambhir will mostly have to come at number 3, after finding his form as opener in the ODI series vs NZ. In the past, Sehwag had to step down to no.3 when Ganguly and Sachin paired up, and wasn't all the very comfortable at one-drop. Let's hope Gambhir can adjust to the spot and move on, having done it in the past, he knows what it is like.

Indian bowling looks quite strong with names like Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan and Munaf Patel bowling wonderfully well at both Indian and foreign pitches. A toss up between Praveen Kumar (now nursing injury) and Ashish Nehra will fill the line-up. Ashwin and Chawla would hope for world cup caps when India plays Nederlands and Ireland.

Bhajji has finally found the need to be persistent even if a wicket is not in the kitty. He is a hungry wily fox after he has his first prey, for sure. Zaheer Khan has cut down on pace, but is going great guns with control of line and length, and lending his experience to other bowlers. Munaf, has silently been doing his job of picking crucial wickets at crucial times with his impeccable accuracy and stump-to-stump bowling at a decent (but not too pacy) pace. Nehra has been disappointing in the SA tour, but has been good in ODIs before the tour since his come-back. He has decent pace and has better control on the Indian tracks, or, so was the case. Ashwin and Chawla are decent choices for a spinner-who-can-bat. But, both will have to fight their way through to the XI.

Captain cool-head Dhoni will look to win some tosses for a change. He has been the rock of the batting spine. Averages nearly 50 in the ODIs, plays with responsibility, and knows to play with the tail. He has to be extremely fit, as he is the only keeper in the squad. His captaincy has been clever and technically good... though, once in a while, the introduction of Raina or Sachin before/over Sehwag baffles me. On a whole, he has been near-perfect. He knows how to handle the youngsters and the seniors alike, and the dressing room loves him. If only lady luck loved him as much at the toss ;-)

India plays Bangladesh, England, Ireland, Nederlands, South Africa and West Indies in that order. Plenty of time between most games (except 2 free days before SA game, and 2 before Nederlands game). So, India can prepare well for each game, mentally and technically.

The two minnows India face, come together, and right in the middle of the itinerary. Thus, India can play the bench strength and see what it has to offer, and then make a decision on whom to play against SA and West Indies. Assuming India wins atleast 3 or its first 4 games, the last two will be important to gather momentum going into the quarter finals. West Indies and Bangladesh will both be trying to clinch the group's 4th QF berth up for grabs, and hence, India will have to be cautious of WI's resurgence in the last ODI.

Toughest league game - vs SA (Nagpur)
Easiest league game - vs Ireland (Chennai)

I would say, India has the ability to go to the Semi-final stage and beyond. But, that will depend upon what unfolds over the one month of league phase (ONE MONTH???). It will be one game at a time.

India has been waiting for this world cup since the day the team lost to Sri Lanka 4 years ago, in, what must surely have been, India's worst show at world cup since winning it in '83. All that, is the past. Team India have done their homework well, and will like to honour the great improvement by gifting Coach Gary Kirsten with the World Cup victory as a parting gift. His contribution to the team has been excellent, and would've been incomplete w/o the services of bowling coach Eric Simmons.

All roads lead to the world cup, and, India will now want to break the host jinx.

The Good, Bad and Ugly from 2010.

2010-12-31T16:32:00.010+05:30

It was an year containing many genres. Fun, intriguing, good, bad and ugly. Here is a list of, what I feel, the best and worst moments from the year 2010.

Also, will be my team for the year for both test and ODI format of the game

The best

1. England have beaten Australia in Australia for the first time in 24 odd years, catalysed by form of Andersen, Tremlett, Bresnan, Swann with the ball, and Strauss, Cook, KP, Trott with the bat. Ponting’s end is very near.

2. Amla’s 253* at Nagpur & a defiant 123* at Kolkata in 2nd innings. Amla was God of batting in the year.

3. VVS Laxman. Saved a test, won 3 tests in a span of 6 tests he played.

4. Umar Gul’s destructive spells at Oval and Lords (3rd and 4th ODI) bringing Pakistan back into the series in hair-raising dramatic fashion.

5. Darren Sammy’s innings of brutal power vs SA (2nd ODI, at Antigua). Razzak’s innings of revival vs SA (2nd ODI, at Abu Dhabi). Yusuf Pathan’s maiden century (5th ODi vs NZ). Sachin's double ton in ODI (2nd ODI, IND-SA @ Gwalior)

6. Bresnan’s feary spell at the MCG (4th test, Ashes) removing Watson, Ponting, Hussey. Siddle’s hat-trick in the Ashes opener at ‘Gabba. Bhajji’s 4 wkt haul vs SA in Durban. Steyn removing 5 Indian batsmen in the space of 22 balls for a 7 wicket haul in 1st innings of 1st IND-SA test at Nagpur, after South Africa had posted a mammoth 1st innings total.

7. Onion survives last over again, saves the day again. (3rd test, SA vs Eng, Newlands, Cape Town)

8. Afghanistan qualifies to play ODIs against elite international teams.

9. AB de Villiers had the 7th fastest ODI century (59ball, 3rd ODI vs India @ Ahmedabad)) and fastest SA test century (1st test vs India Centurion)

10. www.twitter.com/theashes

The worst

1. Pakistan’s spot-fixing controversies

2. Lalit Modi / BCCI / IPL .

3. Randiv’s cheap tactics to prevent Sehwag from reaching a century, assisted by Dilshan’s “expert” idea.

4. Too much of advertisement on TV, decreasing the viewer’s interest in the game.

5. Afridi’s ball-biting incidence (2nd ODI vs Aus, Perth)

6. Ian Chappel and Ian Botham fight in the car park, after the two (now commentators for Channel 9, and SKYsports respectively) seemed to have remembered something from 30 years ago.

7. Ricky Ponting’s argument with the umpires. What was worse was the fact that he was docked JUST 40% of his match fee. Had it been someone from the subcontinent or WI/NZ/SA, things would’ve been much severe.

8. IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND............................................................................

9. Steyn vs Benn run-in and spit-gate clash in the SA tour of WI

10. Wahab Riaz vs Jonathan Trott fight in the nets before the 4th ODI of the 5-match ODI series in England. The spirit of the series was completely lost.

Test team of the year

Virender Sehwag (IND)
Shane Watson (AUS)
Jonathan Trott (ENG)
Hashim Amla (SA)
Jacques Kallis (SA)
VVS Laxman (IND)
MS Dhoni (IND) † *
Graeme Swann (ENG)
Peter Siddle (AUS)
Dale Steyn (SA)
Jimmy Andersen (ENG)

ODI team of the year

Shane Watson (AUS)
Hashim Amla (SA)
Virat Kohli (IND)
Kumar Sangakkara (SL) † *
AB de Villiers (SA)
Darren Sammy (WI)
Shahid Afridi (PAK)
Shakil al Hassan (BANG)
Abdul Razzak (PAK)
Dale Steyn (SA)
Umar Gul (PAK)

Awards

Debutant of the year – Steven Finn (ENG)
Biggest Retirement - Muttiah Muralitharan (SL, 800 test scalps,513 ODI scalps)
Flop of the year - Ricky Ponting (AUS)
Captain of the year - MS Dhoni (IND)
Batsman of the year - Hashim Amla (SA)
Bowler of the year - Graeme Swann (ENG)
ODI of the year - SA vs Pak, 2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi.
Test of the year - IND vs AUS, 1st test, Mohali.
Best pitch prepared - Kingsmead (Durban), for 2nd test, SA vs IND.

Newest cricketing term: Sprinkler. (pictorial description below)

Wishing you all a Very Happy & prosperous New Year 2011.

Testing the best in test

2010-12-14T19:04:00.004+05:30

While two teams ranked 3 and 4 (formerly, 5) try to reduce each other to ashes, the real test of cricketing character is happening in a different part of the Southern Hemisphere.

India tours South Africa, in what might be the most important series in the 6 months preceding the World Cup. With all due respect to The Ashes, this one is a much better series on paper.

Let me build this up before the test series starts.

The Teams, in the recent past

South Africa
South Africa played 5 ODIs and 2 tests in the Middle East vs Pakistan, and the report card isn't very nice. South Africa were stretched to full extent in the ODIs (which they managed to win 3-2), and couldn't buy 20 wickets in either test, though the surfaces weren't very encouraging. Yes a 0-0 dry series.

India
India hosted NZ for 3 tests and 5 ODIs. India won the test series 1-0, after saving one test from almost losing, and a not so exciting draw in another, before enjoying a crushing win in the last test. And, for the ODIs, India tested their bench strength, and it seemed pretty strong one as it gave the AlreadyAeaten4-0AtTheHandsOfBangladesh NZ another 5-0 series defeat. Black caps are so whitewashed now :-P

Final Frontier

For both the teams, this is one series to prove their worth before they fine-tune their ammunition for the world cup. And also, prove to the world who is the real World No.1 . South Africa haven't had good home series vs Australia or England coming into this series. And India have never won a series in South Africa. So, the spices are on your plate, bite them! Its gonna be that hot!

India have enjoyed quite some success in the subcontinent, had been reasonably good in England and West Indies and in New Zealand, but are yet to "conquer" Australia and South Africa (FYI, S.A. have beaten Australia in Australia, before they lost fort to Aus). With that at the back of their mind, and comments from people like Sangakkara pointing out that it is strange for India to be on top of the rankings despite never winnings a series at Aus, SA or SL, the pressure is more on India to justify their ranking.

India is 13 points ahead of SA, so even a loss wouldn't matter much on paper, but the reputation will be at stake.

South Africa, meanwhile, will try to make a name for themselves once again, at home. Their pace battery is pretty much fixed up, and batting is all set, but the momentum is missing.

BATtleground

South Africa
South Africa will be going in with the combination of Smith and Petersen. After McKenzie was done away for reasons I'm not sure about, Petersen has fit into the side well, and has had a good series in the Middle East coming into the test series. Smith will be looking to get over his batting worries of facing Zaheer Khan and try to lead from the front.

At number 3 is the man living on cloud 9, Hashim Amla. He has been on a form that I just can't script into a writing. lets just say, he is the best batsman alive on Earth now by now, I mean NOW). Following the genius, are Kallis and AB de Villiers. The last three names I mentioned form one of the most resilient middle order the 21st century has seen. Not only is it hard to break through all of them, it is near impossible to stop the leakage of runs. You just can't control them. Each of them is vastly different in style, and bound to make every fielder cry.

To fill in at number 6 will be Ashwell Prince, for the first test atleast. he gets the nod ahead of JP Duminy. Talented, and has to return to form if he wants to keep that place. When South Africa were 0-2 down to Australia, Prince came in as an opener in his comeback test, scored a century and helped South Africa gain some pride. He was about to be given the captaincy, but it was handed over to Kallis instead, so, he needn't carry additional pressure on his comeback game. At number 7 will be the dependable keeper, Mark Boucher, who can play freely, as well as extend the play with the tail.

India
Indian openers, Delhi Duo, Sehwag and Gambhir are both in form. Gambhir, got into form in the ODIs after he made his comeback from injury in the test series and led India in the ODI series whitewash victory. When in good touch, the two can pile on huge partnerships at good pace. Not only do they form a left-right combo, they also have a different approach, which not many bowling sides can break through easily.

Rest of the top and the middle order is here on a mission. They want to win the series here. They have been here time and again, but failed to win it all. Dravid, Sachin, Laxman. Combined, they have saved and won many many games, but the three, along with Sehwag, average just over 36 per head an innings in South Africa. Laxman has the most, at 41.11 an innings. The centurion from the last test vs NZ (Dravid), ICC cricketer of the year (Sachin), and the man who saved 3 tests in a row for India (Laxman) now have their task cut out, to bite into the South African pace battery and handle the middle order on true tracks. Not only will the ball bounce and swing, but the Indians have to be patient to play the nagging South African line-and-length bowling.

At number 6 is a toss between the out-of-form Raina, or the new boy, Pujara. Raina is jumping in and out of form in the recent past, and Pujara has been rubbing his hands in expectation for years. As of now, the selectors might want to go with Raina, in spite of Pujara's wonderful experience on foreign soil.

At 7, captain and 'keeper Dhoni will come in. His form has been nothing great to tell about. It will be good to add some good batting numbers to his glorious captaincy tales.

The Sharp Shooters

South Africa

South African pace battery will have the ripping pace of Steyn and the tall, lanky, fast, Morne Morkel. While Steyn has the fiery pace and swing, Morkel will present the toughest challenge to the Indians - the short ball. Indians will have a good smell of the Kookaburra ball in the series as the SA bowlers will target the chests and head of the Indian batting line-up, which has clearly stated its worst weakness. The third seamer will be either Tsotsobe or Mclaren. While Tsotsobe has been bowling well in the recent past, McLaren can bat. And of course, there is the world's most complete cricketer since Sir Gary Sobers, Jacques Kallis. And, since Botha is released from the squad for the first test, it is sure that Paul Harris will be the lone spinner for SA. At 6'3", he is one of the tallest spinners in international cricket, but has had a liking towards bowling to Indian batsmen, Sachin, in particular...

India
India are troubled with the news from Zaheer Khan's doctors, who say that Zak has a hamstring injury, but it is a 50-50 possibility that he'd play the first test. Assuming he does, he will be accompanied by Sreesanth and Ishant, both of who are doing well with the ball. In the event of Zak being unfit for the first test, it will be an inki-pinki-ponki betweent Jaidev Unadkat and Umesh Yadav, both unknown quantities. A reminder - VRV Singh was an unknown quantity in the 2006 tour, when he partnered Sreesanth to destroy SA in that famous Indian victory in the first test (....before losing the other two tests, and hence, the series). Bhajji, will be carrying to hopes of many fans back home, as he would be the lead spinner and home to get both luck and form stitched together for the test series on tracks that don't particularly favour spinners. In the unlikely case when the team wants to go for pure experience over 3 pacers - 1 spinner bowling strategy, Ojha will come in (read as Sree, Ishant, Bhajji, Ojha).

Verdict

Batting : India hold the slight edge
Bowling : South Africa miles ahead of India on paper, unproven quantity on the field.

Result : 1-1 . A famous Indian victory, a resounding South African home dominance, and an exciting draw which might feature rain, and maybe episode 2 of "So you think Sreesanth Can Dance?".

Watch out for - Any appearance of Pujara, all-round performance of Kallis, and some spoilers, like rain.

Looking forward to a great series with some good commentators to listen to

Why Aus winning the Ashes will be tougher than the Ostriches flying

2010-11-23T18:32:00.003+05:30

- All Australian players are either injured or out of form, or both

- Mitchell Johnson is an unknown quantity

- All batsman, save Hussey, had a poor run in the most recent round of Sheffield Shield cup

- Australia lost 3 tests on a trot, one to Pakistan, two to India

- England have beaten Pakistan in the test series played on the same land

- Local profile too low after series defeats at home in T20 and ODIs to SL, effectively saying bench strength is too weak to be tried for the longer format

- Hauritz, backed by Ponting, failed to impress in the best conditions possible (India). Doherty gets a look in, Steven Smith, the most hopeful gets relieved.

- Staying with Ponting, no one knows how long he will be the leader of the pack

- Speaking of leader-of-the-pack, there is enough rumour for the press to trouble the Aussie all throughout the series for things as simple as "Why did Ponting not give hi-5 to Clarke when Clarke caught the ball"... Surely, the press don't understand that Clarke is hygienic and doesn't like physical contact with someone who has been spitting in his hands all day long!

- John Buchanan is helping England

- Monty Panesar has taken a diving, right handed catch in a practice game

- Swann plays for England

- Glenn McGrath hasn't predicted anything yet... oh God, he is confused!

- It is raining at the Gabba, making the situation more Manchester-esque than Brisbane-y

Jimmy Andersen is recovering from the boxing bout injury... Michael Clarke passes the first physical test... But, more than recovery, it is about who will cover whom when nothing goes fine :-P .

"Aussie Aussie Aussie" vs "Barmy Army"... let the fight for the Ashes begin!

(if you like this post, you might also like this )

An ode to a living legend, a Very Very Special one

2010-11-08T16:04:00.007+05:30

Three matches saved in succession, by one man - V.V.S. Laxman!

The WARRIOR

He took India to victory from 62/4 chasing 257 in 3rd test vs SL on a turning track in Colombo, Sri Lanka with the armed Lankan bowlers ready to stick their fangs into the Indian skin. India, already lost a game in the series and were needing almost 200 runs in the game, when Laxman stepped out in the middle to accompany Sachin. Randiv was wreaking havoc with four wickets already (India had played just a little over 21 overs by then). Laxman was patient. He had immense concentration. He built a partnership with Sachin, a big one. And just when one thought the two of them would take India past the target, Sachin fell, to Randiv! And in came the debutant, Raina (already flaunting a century in the first innings). Though Raina has all the artillery, one doesn't associate him with patience. So, all eyes on Laxman.

And now, Laxman had cramps and back problems pinning him down. Like a warrior with one arm tied behind his back, Laxman stepped over the mountains on the path and took India to a victory which, let me be fair to anyone who followed it, seemed IMPOSSIBLE at 5 pm on day 4! Calm, sensible, undeterred, immense concentration.

Had India lost the test match, India would've been dethroned from the top of ICC test rankings.

The STROKE-MASTER

A month or so later, he took India to victory from a scary, almost all is lost, hope against hope hopen 124/8 chasing 216 in 1st test at Mohali. And to partner him was none other than Ishant Sharma, with just the batting armoury of Pragyan Ojha waiting in the flanks! And, what does the injured, already delayed in the batting line-up Laxman do? Stand and deliver! Yes, he just stood there like a valiant soldier, standing on one foot, battered by cramps and sore back yet again, and wielded his willow on anything thrown at him. He scored at more than run per ball through most of his innings, with strokes flowing to different parts of the ground as gorgeous as dancers in a Rio Festival! He slowed down only because he saw the target within striking distance and protected Ishant Sharma, on request, against Mitch.

What was more important was that he gave Ishant the strike he deserved. He knew that one man can't chase down a 100 runs all by himself. Ishant played his part wonderfully. Score 30 or so, and those runs will go down as one of his best contributions to a victory (not to mention that Ishant too was getting painkillers and shots on his calf muscle so that he can stand on his feet and fight).

When you saw Laxman shout at Ojha for not showing concentration, you saw how much he wanted that victory. He was like a father-figure out in the middle handling the likes of Ishant, Ojha and by-runner Gambhir like his kids. When he saw the fear on Ojha's face, he went up to him and apologized. That is the human that lives in that lion's heart! When Ojha hit the winning runs, Laxman was at the point position (since he was off strike, and Gambhir was the one running for him at non-striker's end), he lifted his arms up, and like a magnet, attracted the whole Indian dressing room to him! He doesn't ask for respect, it just comes to him when nature takes its course.

Had India lost the match, India could've at best leveled the series 1-1. And, this could mean possible shedding of points on the leader board allowing SL to inch closer to India. Didn't happen. Thanks, to VVS.

The SAVIOUR

Today, in the first test (At Motera) vs the touring NZ Laxman took India to safety from a ridiculous 15/5 in 3rd innings. When MSD failed, he trusted Bhajji, who had his career best figures of 69 in the first innings of the game. He grounded the Kiwi bowlers, while Bhajji rode his confidence and luck. Laxman anchored one end of the pitch, stroking freely, creaming the field, mocking the field set up. Bhajji, whose batting coach is VVS hiself, also played his role by unleashing some strokes he is capable of playing but never did with this consistency due to forgettable reasons. And what a role that was, bettering his first innings score to notch up his maiden first class century that saved a test match, and bag him a Man-of-the-Match (first in 5 years, first time for his batting exploits) award.

Coming back to Laxman's innings. He brought in that calmness into the middle of madness. At 15/5, India's top order looking for empty seats on the next flight to Hyderabad for second test, VVS calmly said "nothing is over until it is over". And, sure enough, while he was in the middle, NZ had no answers. The all so very confident Chris Martin was reduced to ordinary. If he swung into the stumps, Laxman just nudged it to the on or off as per will. If it was well outside off, Laxman left it alone. Vettori couldn't help placing that many fielders sniffing Laxman's willow, all in vain...all they could do was get blinded by the sun's reflection off the blade of Laxman's bat as he twisted it in either direction with the world's best pair of wrists.

Only umpire Steve Davies' first (of the two) pathetic decision could get rid of VVS Laxman, who was looking like a train without brakes. (another wake up call for India to accept UDRS)

If India had lost this match, India's lead on top of the table would've reduced significantly, mainly because NZ are placed way below India on the table at 6th, just a few points above Pakistan!

THREEller
That makes it three saves in three consecutive tests.

Really, India owes its no.1 status to this one man, Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman. He has shown that India is world number one for proven reasons.

Laxman is a blend of class and courage, patience and control. He is the lynchpin of the middle order. He can stop a a train with one hand and slap it away with the other. He can be the mountain that cannot be pushed, he can be the rocket that cannot be stopped. And when he lifts that mask (helmet) off his face, he has a smile on his face that might make a sunflower unfold its beauty in the night. A handsome warrior, India can never forget, I will never forget!

Pressure has adverse effect on many, but it has inverse effect on Laxman

When they say "Very Very Special Laxman", the word "special" must feel honoured.

(Source(s) of Pics - Colombo pic courtesy CNN/AFP. Mohali and Motera pics courtesy cricinfo/AP )

And the 8th team on IPL4 is....

2010-10-28T23:47:00.006+05:30

Which team will be selected to feature in the IPL4?

IPL4 was supposed to have 10 teams... But too much of Gandhiji, Benjamin Franklin and the Queen's face on paper had been flooding in and out of the business... SOOOOO, some teams have failed to make the cut... The event which might have been longer than an Indian summer, was hit by a speed bump! Now, the IPL roster is down to 7 teams, and is desperate to have 8 on it... It was an emotional termination of the Kochi team. Terminating it and asking it to return with a convincing statement on "why it shouldn't be scrapped"...

Assuming BCCI is on the lookout for a new franchise, which one can it be?

Let me help you with a few options...

1. Ziro pointZero
2. Viruddhachalam Captain(s) (to be pronounced as "Gabtun(s)")
3. Udupi Caterers
4. Tirupur Adidas
5. Tezpur Snails
6. Salem Witches
7. Ranchi MSDs
8. Kavaratti Islanders
9. PortBlair Andamans
10. Patiala Paaji s
11. Ooty Coolers
12. Nangal WaterPowers
13. Mambalam Mosquitos
14. Moradabad BrassSmiths
15. Mahabalipuram Rockers
16. Leh SnowLeopards
17. Ludhiana Sweaters
18. Kota wannabe-IITians
19. Karaikkudi Chettiyars
20. Jallandhar Lions
21. Howrah Bridgies/Bridgemen/Bridge Players
22. GANGtok Policemen
23. Dholka Dhoklas
24. Dhanbad Miners
25. Cuddalore SeaMonsters
26. Bhuj Earthshakers
27. Nagari Trekkers
28. Anand Milkmen
29. Aligarh Grads
30. Nilgiri Rangers
31. Mughal-e-Agra
32. Secunderabad Seconds
33. Queens of Jhansi
34. Cuttack Kathaks
35. Darjeeling Chaiwalas
36. Rampuri Churis
37. Lucknow Badshahs
38. Ujjain Observers
39. Allapuzha (coco)nuts
40. Panaji (Cashew)Nuts
41. Patna Farmacies
42. if Jaipur comes back, it'll be Jaipur Pinkies
43. Chandigarh TriStates
44. Madurai BullFighters (or, Jallikattu)
45. Porbadar Peacemakers
46. Kolar Goldies
47. Chandrapur Powerplays
48. Cochin Backwaters would've been nice... but, unfortunately, buri nazar lag gayi
49. Shimla Capsicums
50. Konark Suns
51. Kharagpur Platforms
52. A foreign team on IPL4 will be "Burma Bazaar"
53. Kanyakumari Ocean's11
54. Trichy 128
55. Tanjore Thangams
56. TrichyTerrors
57. Nanha Jaisalmer
58. Surat Sweets
59. Guwahati Mountaineers
60. Cherrapunji Rainmen
61. Srinagar Dals
62. Bhopal Gases
63. Trivandrum Kathakalis
64. Mysore Kings
65. Vizag Steels
66. Nagpur Oranges

Hmmm... So, which one is it going to be. Let's give BCCI some time to think and select one...

Please add on to the list, if I've missed some other franchises.

Hope the BCCI can find the task easier now!

Style Statement

2010-10-24T17:31:00.006+05:30

Here is my Style-XI, a pick of the most stylish cricketers of the 21st century!

1. Virender Sehwag
2. Hashim Amla
3. Ross Taylor
4. Md. Yousuf
5. V.V.S. Laxman
6. Dwayne Bravo
7. Adam Gilchrist
8. Daniel Vettori
9. Graemme Swann
10. Jerome Taylor
11. Dale Steyn

Rest of the "Squad" -

Openers - Shaun Marsh, Brendon McCullum (+wicketkeeper)

Top order - Rahul Dravid, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Yuvraj Singh

Middle order - Umar Akmal, Saurav Ganguly

All Rounder - Jacques Kallis, Jacob Oram

Bowlers - Md Asif, Nuwan Kulasekara, Jimmy Anderson

Your XI?

Lakers. Mission ThreePeat

2010-10-23T14:19:00.002+05:30

Viva Los Lakers!

We are back! The time has come to officially start the journey for the pinnacle of the mountain named ThreePeat.

Three consecutive trips to championship rounds, two consecutive titles (The Repeat), and the Lakers couldn't be in better shape to be the team to beat this season, no matter who or what is happening in the East!

First things first - Phil Jackson expressed his willingness to coach the Lakers for one more season, before seeking retirement owing to his health. And he is on the lookout for his 4th Threepeat! There you go, a legend, isn't he?

As soon as the trade window opened, in came Steve Blake from the Clippers. A tall guard, good from range, capable of running plays, a good substitute for Jordan Farmar (NJ Nets, now), a good back up guard behind Fisher. He is a bit slower than Farmar, but makes up for his pace with better defense and lesser turnovers than Farmar. And from what I've seen thus far, "Blake's calling the play like he knows the Triangle inside out for years". Do I need to say more?

Also came in Matt Barnes, another nemesis of Kobe Bryant. After Raja Bell snubbed Lakers (and Kobe) with a chance to team up with Kobe, Lakers set their eyes on Matt Barnes, who has traveled with 7 teams in 7 season. Barnes has stalking defense, good role player, good from range (though he gets over confident on them), and good on boards, not to forget, athletic and dedicated. Barnes was in the Lakers radar ever since his match-up against Kobe, especially the one played in Amway Arena, Orlando. he actually texted Kobe to make sure he wanted him in his team, to which Kobe replied that he had no problem at all, and was looking forward to Barnes dressed in Purple and Gold. Barnes will be a good back up for Ron Artest. Last season, the SF spot, if not for Artest was filled by Kobe (4th quarters), or by Josh Powell and Adam Morrison (bench), both of whom have signed up with other teams since. So, Barnes continues to Defense that Artest had been doing on the floor after the substitution. Boy o Boy! D-fense it is!

Next new comer - Theo Ratliffe. A 15 year old veteran, will be mostly retiring with the Lakers, with the hope of a ring to his name, mostly this year. His main task will be to keep the defensive breath still going strong with his strong nature at the low post, to box out, to board and to block (most importantly, to block). He still seems very fit to play good minutes off the bench. In the absence of Bynum in the initial stages of the season, he might have to check in for a few extra minutes. In the pre-season, he sure has impressed. Much more experience (than Mbenga), and another coach for Andrew Bynum, who is likely to push for an all-star spot if he can be fit and in the same form as he started last season. The other coach, is, the legendary Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

What can be like a dream come true for kids? Get into the Lakers' roster, though they were 2nd round picks! Derek Character and Devin Ebanks are living their dream now, having been picked by the Lakers, in the 2nd round of 2010 Draft Picks. They played very well, and pleased the coaches in the Summer League (Vegas), though the Lakers lost all 5 games in it. And, they continued to do well off the bench with lungs full of energy and enthusiasm and confidence. And, finally, the two of them made it to the roster. Ebanks, in particular is playing very well and getting recognition for reasons more than one. His minutes off the bench in the pre-season have been very productive. He is fast, has a good range, but is not very consistent yet. He drives well to the basket, and has a nice clutch drive-in layup, and powerful dunks for the Lakers fans to enjoy (apart from, you know, Shannon Brown). He fills in at SF and is capable of keeping the defensive strength go on for a few more minutes when both Artest and Barnes want to spend some time chatting on the side-lines. Derek Character, a strong tall lad is beginning to be a better low-post player day by day. He is strong enough to press the defence, make quick spins and jump, make bank shots (a la Shaq, one handed) and is learning from the other big men in the team, including the coach, Phil Jackson.

The summer was a time to rest for almost all the retained players - namely, Kobe, Fisher, Gasol, Artest. Bynum went to South Africa to watch the football/soccer world cup. Walton was nursing his back, and is now nursing his hamstring (but this is listed as a day-to-day.) Walton did play in the pre-season and has been fine. Brown had been on the rest too, I presume, didn't hear much about him in the off-season. Pau Gasol skipped the FIBA World Championships this summer, but played one on one games with his brother, Marc in their backyard in Spain. Marc did play in the World's. Speaking of the World's, Odom was one of the two veterans to accompany Team USA for the FIBA World Championships, in which Team USA emerged winners. Odom was steady in all games, and steadied the team too, which was full of youngsters to say the least. Odom had an all important double-double in the finals of the championships. Odom played center in all games. He is now in mid-season form, showing no signs of tight muscles, and has much more decision making skills now, is more respected, and is much wiser than his usually high basketball IQ.

All in all, things looking so very good for the ThreePeat! I just pray it does happen! Cometh October 26th! Let's win this!

Viva los LAKERS!

Cricket Administration sure is funny

2010-10-09T22:29:00.007+05:30

Mr B is attending a rapid fire word round with his friend Mr C. B has to let out the word that comes to his mind the moment he hears one from Mr C. I happened to eavesdrop on them...

C: school?
B: Interval!

C: Music?
B: Shakira!

C: Car?
B: Ferrari!

C: Food?
B: Italian

C: Cricket?
B: Ashes

Aahhhh.. The Ashes... the Marquee event of cricket... the trailer and climax of the movie named "cricket", the wrapper and core of the chocolate that's named cricket, the oxygen of cricket, without which the game is so incomplete!

Cometh the southern summer, cometh the Aussie Ashes! This December, England and Australia will once lock horns and battle for pride. But this time, it is not going to be the real test of character, strength, skills or very many things of that sort. This must be one of the funniest sounding build up to the Ashes!

First thing first!
If I had an exam tomorrow, I would rather be preparing for it, than watch a movie, visit a theme park and go on a tiring ride for 100 miles down the countryside. If Australia were wanting to prepare for the Ashes, I do not see how they would do the same by playing in India just a month before the Ashes! Blows me down! The conditions are completely different. At Perth, anyone can send a sniffer ball at even Ishant Sharma. At Mohali we saw the Wester Australian all rounder, Marcus North, shouldering arms to a Zak delivery that sent a flying kiss to the bail, which was romantically stunned and fell down. If you wanted to give the comeback man, Hauritz, a chance to tweak his way to form from a back injury, INDIA was a poor choice of opponent. Sehwag, Sachin, Dravid and Laxman can milk most world class spinner as easily as Usain Bolt can win the 100m heat against Inzamam-ul-Haq carrying Arjuna Ranatunga on his shoulders with his legs tied together. Hauritz did get Laxman in the first innings but got "beat-up" by him in the second. He wished it was the other way round...

"He flicks the ball to the mid wicket for four, and then hits the same ball that pitched at the exact same point through the covers for four! How do you bowl to him and set a field to that ball?" - David "Bumble" Lloyd on VVS Laxman

Next.
Ah well, I don't know what superstition Cricket Australia were following to come to India and hold the second successive Indian Border-Gavaskar trophy, the fizz of the last 2-0 drubbing yet to die out. Having decided to tour their recent nemesis, why couldn't the two boards, CA and BCCI decide to have a 4 or 5 test series? Two test series? Border Gavaskar trophy? Sigh! I don't know how sad those two legends must be, their names tarnished, burnt in poor quality fuel, blown in the air to unknown land of pathetic decision making! A test series is a joke. It shows nothing. Its more of luck than anything. Players don't get chances, you can't learn. If you think your knowledge increased...too late, the series is over for yourself to find out for yourself. 1-0, or 1-1 says nothing. A 2-0 may show some resurgence. But a 5 test series with 2-0 after the first 2 games will still be interesting. There is so much drama after it. 2 test series...sigh! What prevented the two sides from playing a 4 or 5 test series? Aus were not busy. Nor were India.

Bangladesh ever played more than 3 tests in a series??? Ahh... yes, against the West Indies, the West Indies team that would've played better blindfolded than open eyes... Rather, we should've been blindfolded. No one could watch that squad, that made Tony Cozier almost cry in dismay.

Nevertheless,
Even in gully cricket, we played at least 3 matches a day!

And yes. No Slater, Taylor, Chappel, Border in the commentary box for this India-Aus series! Michael Bevan and Brad Hogg are novice. Talks about the level of interest that the Australians have lent to this series. And of course, we have to put up with Laxman Sivarama Krishnan who claimed live on air that the phenomenon of the ball moving to the rough side is called reverse swing. Dropped dead...twice!

As long as Wilbur Sargunaraj doesn't start commentating, I can breathe cricket.

And yes.
After India displaced Australia from the top for the first time in their last tour and then Aus hit their lowest position when South Africa beat them down under and when Pakistan made things worse for Australia sending them to 4th spot, Aus are just one point atop England. England would have a bucket party running for a whole week if Australia loses this test series 1-0 or 2-0, whichever is the minimum requirement to dock those point(s) off Australia. How would Australia feel to be fifth in an eight-man race? We will see...we may see. Their series in India is far from over.

KP might be telling his son. "look sonny, We are better than the Aussies. remember this moment. You tell your kids that you saw this happen". Or will he tell his son after the winter "You know what sonny, I grew up in an era when Australia were ranked better than England. hmmm... you won't be able to see that anytime soon, sorry"

As for England, they would rather try sending Jimmy Anderson to a flatter surface in a dry atmosphere as he can't carry the atmosphere of Trent Bridge everywhere he travels. And yes, it's Kookaburra. If you want to get wickets only by swinging the ball, you have five overs to live in a day.

In other news, Madhusudhan Panesar makes a comeback into the squad that travels to the Ashes. A squad to which KP did make it, despite his patweetic form off late, including that 80 runs that featured 3 drop catches, two UDRS survivals, 1 survival thanks to the unavailability of further UDRS appeals...after which he lifted his bat in appreciation of the crowd's patience to have put up with his show of "fortune favours the brave". KP is now in South Africa to get some form back on pitches that might resemble Australian pitches better than Indian pitches.

"I don't know why New Zealand charged Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag when they arrived at New Zealand with slightly unpolished shoes, but welcome Ponting every other summer despite watching him use his hands as his saliva's wash basin." - Bagrat

Speechless moments

2010-09-24T18:39:00.003+05:30

Watch some of the best moments captured on tape from the history of cricket, sure to leave you in awe, searching for breath!

Lets start with Shane Warne's Highway to jaffa' to Mike Gatting. This is more famously known as the "ball of the century".

Mike Gatting had no answer. Look at his expression. I have seen Warne bowl Strauss and Shiv Chanderpaul from around the wicket, bowled around the legs of the batsmen, but the Gatting ball is pure class - drift, turn, off bail!

Well, that was the 20th century. And we are in the 21st century. So, there must be a "ball of the century for the 21st century, right? I got one. Arguably the best spinner walking on earth presently, Graeme Swann, bowls an absolute beauty to get rid of Imran Farhat.

Same description that went in for Warne's delivery to Gatting. Farhat falls over searching for the ball, which he thought had defended well. Swann has this canny knack of picking up a wicket in his first over of an innings, test and ODIs alike. This one, was the best of all of his wickets in his wonderful wonderful career.

Now, you are a batsman, facing a paceman, who bowls more than 93 miles an hour, consistently. And guess what, he swings the ball. What do you play for? The pace? the swing? Look at this slow-mo replay of one ripping ball that left the batsman look like a novice.

Look at the gap between the ball and the bat!

Lets go progressively now.
What can turn the course of a session, match or series the other way? One answer is the ball that swerves the other way! In 2005, we were all witness to two wonderful wonderful deliveries. Have a look at them.

First - Freddy's ball to Katich. Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff, stands almost 6'7" tall and is/was one of the two bowlers who can come around the wicket and swing the ball away from the left hander, the only one who could do so at 140+ kph (Andrew Hall, the other one, is not that good with the pace). So, you can see Katich expecting the ball to be moving away from him, or at least, not coming back at him. But, the well directed and well handles ball swerves in and sends the off stump for a walk.

Second - Jones. If at all England were wanting someone to be fit forever, it must've been Simon Jones, who just couldn't let the batsmen take control over him. Just watch the replay of the ball, look at the shine on the ball, look at the seam. Pause the frame! What do you think? Its a classic out swinger? Maybe, but the ball is pretty old, and the reverse swing strikes! Damien Martyn was awestruck, like everyone else watching it.

I wonder what Kallis was thinking about this ball?

A jolly to the crease run up, and then a bullet... Wet Irish conditions, the atmosphere helped a bit, but no one is going to be easy against a ball like that. That was a swinging, fast, new ball!

Another classic that became an instant hit :-

"Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, its Jonty Rhodes" is what the newspaper read the next day!

Jonty took athleticism to a whole new level. People gave it more importance. Saving runs was gaining importance. It was around that time when Batsmen started to attack in the field restriction overs. My dad always reminds me - Kris Srikanth was the one who took the charge. So, fielding became another column on your CV, and you were graded on it! Jonty Rhodes was one man miles and miles ahead of hundreds others in that aspect. Once he calls for a catch, you can see the other teammates stop dead at their feet and just watch the ball come down into his pouch.

I love Matthew Hayden's batting. He is exceptional off his front foot and is good square of the wicket too. So, bowling to him is pretty difficult, because you are very likely to be outsmarted by his straigh drives, pulls and cuts. Unfortunately, he features in two of my favourite catches too.

Hayden thinks he has 4 on this ball...

Have you seen a better outfield catch in International cricket? Look at Hayden, he wants someone to come and tell him that it was a dream and he is not out.

One guy who has amazingly been fit for almost all throughout his career while on the field, gets rid of Matthew Hayden in this next video

Haydos...Haydos... Look at his plight!

What will you do to save 2 runs? Will you stick out your leg? Will you stretch? Will you dive? huh?

Will you fly?

Best ground fielding I've seen on tape!

One for "innovation" :-

No comments...

And, to finish the collection, here is a real beauty! Never seen a better catch from an Indian! This guy is one for the future, if his batting can get better and better. But this catch is the highlight reel of this fellow!

That is the commitment you will love to see on a cricket field. That's the spirit you need when you know that there is a prestigious title at stake! That's the spirit you need to keep the Ranji Trohpy as the best domestic tournament in the country. Manish Pandey, take a bow!

Master, and his cards

2010-09-21T02:27:00.020+05:30

Team's jersey...

Rs. 1500

Ticket to the Match

Rs. 400

Auto ride to the stadium

Rs. 50

Watching God in action

Priceless...

There are some things

money can't buy

.

For everything else,

There is

MasterCard.

. MI+MasterCard =

(I do not own the rights to any photograph/logo)

Shane Watson, lynchpin of Australian cricket team!

2010-09-17T16:49:00.004+05:30

The burly all rounder of the Australian side, who is finally seeming to keep good health over larger period of time, Shane Watson is one of the most important player in the present Australian side. His bio data speaks of numerous occurrences of hip injuries, strains, ankle injuries, stress fractures etc, but his determination to fight into the side after every unfortunate injury is commendable.

When the Australian side needed an all rounder, he stepped up to the call and was finally chosen over Andrew Symonds, whose form was dipping, and losing touch, let alone other issues outside the cricketing field. Now, Watson had to show the world that he is capable of cementing his place in the XI on a regular basis, rather than “filling in” for someone else.

After a series of call-ups and drops, being made to play at almost all position in the top and middle order, Watson got a chance to play as an opener, along with Katich. Note, Australia were still looking for their perfect openers ever since the departure of Hayden-Langer combo a few years ago. And this time, Watson capitalised with good scores, and got the preference over Phil Hughes (who vented his anger on twitter...). His bowling improved, he was able to correct his action, so as to prevent any more hip injuries, or at least, reduce the chance of its occurrence. His speed was into the 140 kph marks, and had improved on the trajectory. So, there he was – an all rounder Australia needed. A batsman to get Aus a good start, and a bowler to share the load of the quickies.

Let me try to describe his place in the side. Watson, by nature is a hard hitting batsman. After he became a regular in the test side, he added a bit of calmness and composure to his attitude. He is good on the front foot. He reads the line of the ball early, and has the temperament to leave the swinging ball outside the body. He opens up sideways (chest facing cover/mid off) and meets the in-swinging ball on the front foot, bat in front of the pad when needed, thus reducing the chance for him to get out lbw. His tall nature allows him to come quite some distance outside the crease to meet the ball, hence the full, swinging ball are met before the ball can curve a lot. Having said that he is usually committed to the front foot, he is not troubled by a bouncer. His back-lift is perfect for him to just hang back, stand tall and pull the ball behind or in-front of the square leg as per the pace and height of the delivery. Not very likely to keep the ball down, but very likely to play the ball in the gaps. Suck is his control. He doesn’t play with a sense of urgency. Never seen him do that in tests. He does see off the new ball, and when it comes to spinners, he plays them with the full face of the bat. Strong on the leg side, he can “hoik” any long hop to the cow-corner, or long on. Also, he is good driver of the ball, thanks to his front-footed batting style. So, covers, mid off also come under is radar. Being able to transfer his weight back onto his back foot in time, he is again capable of cutting the ball behind or in-front of the crease, on either side of the pitch. So, now, if you look at the big picture, he can score on all sides. my favourite Watson-shot – straight drive. Clean as you like, and when he plays the shot, you can see the elbows straight over the bat, head behind the ball, bat perfectly straight, and the two fielders at mid on and mid off looking at each other, bowler staring in dismay... It all adds to the beauty of the shot! When someone drives you like that, and watches the ball race to the boundary from the place he played the stroke, bat held stationary in mid air, it calls for the photographer to take a snap of the bat... Its what’s called “Picture-perfect”.

Now, lets move on to his bowling. He is one of the very few bowlers who bowl with the straight seam. When the Lees and Johnsons are exhausted, in comes Watson at first or second change, with the relatively older ball, shine maintained on one side. So, while he can swing the ball even after 20 overs, he is even more dangerous than that because of his ability to get movement off the pitch, due to the ball pitching on the seam on most occasions. In India, he was one of the toughest bowlers to face because of this reason, being helped by the pronounced seam of the SG balls used in India. Lee is full of pace, but his advantage lies in the swing he generates with the new ball at that lethal pace. Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle are pretty much one-dimensional with their pace and unidirectional swing. Hilfenhaus is a la McGrath, Bollinger is more of “hit the deck hard” kind of person, and his bowling action doesn’t allow most deliveries to pitch on the seam. So, clearly, Watson distinguishes himself as a unique threat in that line up. His bowling action is steady, smooth, close chested at the stride of the deliver, and high arm action. This allows the ball to be well directed, controlled, seam and bounce. A minute change in the grip allows him to intentionally move the ball in either direction. He has been a disciplined bowler, and hence, scoring off him in the limited over format is not easy, unless you try to take some risks on your own.

Here is Watson’s bowling action for you

To complete the activities of a cricketer on the field, another important factor is – fielding. Watson has accomplished himself as a good slip-fielder after his resurrection into the side a couple of years ago. He takes the place of Warne/Hayden in that zone, and is usually accompanied by Clarke and/or Ponting. And, sometimes, he would be at gully. As compared to the yester-years , this formation shows that Aus is more athletic in the slip cordon and gully (usually manned by Mike Hussey). Earlier, with Hayden, Warne, Ponting standing behind the crease, you cannot make many changes in the field and expect the move to work. Hayden was flat footed, and he had a tough time when posted at gully region. Batsmen used to tuck the ball near the crease and scamper for a single before Hayden could collect the ball. Now, with guys like Watson, Clarke and Hussey, the cordon is more electric than before, and choices are ample when Ponting wants to alter his field for a fresh bowling tactic (like, having a leg slip and silly mid on for Johnson to bowl at a batsman’s ribs). Having been in the business for quite some-time, Watson is a safe catcher, with large palms helping the cause.

All in all, I feel I have illustrated the one player in the Australian team who means the most to the performance of the team, as he is sure to contribute in two ways (at least) in every match he plays. Him not being in the team would mean the loss of a safe-cum-attacking option at the top of the order, and a hostile wicket taking bowler you can always turn to!

BagraTRIVIA 16

2010-09-16T22:31:00.004+05:30

X was born in the country of A, where his father was a first class level cricketer. When X was 8, his family moved to the country B. X was an extremely talented leg spinner, and was coached by his father (who actually wanted X to become a batsman). X made it to the side of junior level cricket at every age-level, and at the age of 12, was the youngest to represent his club in an u-15 match. But by the time he was 15, his growth of nearly 1 foot made him lose touch with his bowling, and he had to give it up, and turn to batting as his day job. At the age of 22, he made his debut against WI, but was dropped from the side after the series. 3 years later, he was recalled again, and dropped. 3 years later, he was recalled again to join the side that was to tour A. And he proved his selectors right, by posting good numbers, bagging a man of the match, and the eventual man of the series award. 3 years later, he became the first captain of mixed-origin. He had the 3rd most number of tests as a captain, and was one of the most revolutionary of all to have captained B. After 8 years of captaincy, he stepped down himself, for a poor show in the world cup, and retired within a year. This famous man is still associated with cricket, even after his retirement from all forms of the game. Who is X ?

10-man side

2010-08-21T19:38:00.002+05:30

Having seen the performance of the side in the past year or two, I think I have come down to the best possible team for Pakistan in the current scenario.

Its a typical team - 7 batsman (keeper included) and 4 bowlers

The team is as follows -

1. Imran Farhat
2. Yasir Hameed
3. *
4. Md. Yousuf
5. Azhar Ali
6. Umar Akmal
7. Kamran Akmal
8. Md Aamer
9. Umar Gul
10. Saeed Ajmal
11. Md Asif

Bench (err) strength :-
at number 6- Umar Amin, Shoaib Malik

for 'keeper - Zulqurnain Haider

extra paceman - Wahab Riaz

extra spinner - Danish Kaneria

Special note on " * "
* refers to the Captain. Pakistan plays with 10 players, and a captain, who is usually cursed. So as of now, its Salman Butt, who has so intelligently sacrificed a lot for the team for several reasons...
1. he was/is the captain
2. he is hit by the captain's curse, and by default can't play well at the opener's slot.

So, he HAD to drop down in the line up, and allow Yasir Hameed to open. This man, who had no impact of the earlier losses in the series, as he wasn't part of it, played lavishly and gave Pakistan a good start. So, all praises to Butt.

Butt's captaincy has been good, and intelligent. He found exactly what was needed for Pakistan to win the match - allow Cook to score big. Cook and England had different fortunes all summer. And when Cook went about scoring, the whole English team was so stunned, that they failed to contribute. There were only two news in the English camp - Cook's sudden golden touch(wood) and Swann's inclusion to the list of nominees for the ICC player of the year award. Now they have the third - a loss! Great captaincy by Butt indeed. Whatever message he sent down to a combined 38 years of talent (Umar akmal - 20 yrs, Md Aamer 18 yrs), they understood it and scored the remaining 16 runs required for the victory. The two kids were out in the middle, like kids lost in a huge fair, not knowing what to do. Too many maidens came and went, and the pair failed to put on a score for more than 4 overs since the departure of Md Yousuf. So, it means, Butt does get good respect from his young team-mates too.

All the more, he seems to have liked the captaincy, and proved that he can play with it too, scoring 48 runs in this innings, more than all the runs he scored in the series put together.

So, my theory - put the person out of form as captain. that solves the issue.

10 men are all that are needed to win!

Sometimes, cricket is not a gentleman's game

2010-08-18T11:58:00.005+05:30

Sometime, want and greed takes over the sportsmanship in the game of cricket, which is widely knows as the gentleman's game. Players will do ANYTHING to win (or not let the opponent achieve something), letting their pride go for a walk and reputation in jeopardy. I will try to list three such incidences. One is very famous. One was missed by many. And the latest of them all has triggered a widespread controversy in the subcontinent.

Scene 1
February 1, 1981, MCG - Melbourne
Australia were playing New Zealand in the third ODI final of the World Series Cup. The series was level at 1-1. New Zealand needed 6 to tie this match. the bowler Trevor Chappel was to bowl to Kiwi number 10 batsman - Brian McKechnie, while the centurian of the day, Bruce Edgar was at the non-striker end, praying, I assume. Greg, came up to Trevor and gave him some instructions. The execution of the instructions would shock the cricketing world for ages. Its been almost 30 years now, but the incidence is still a thorn in Australian cricket.

It was an under-arm ball delivered by Trevor Chappel! Yes, the batsman was flabbergasted. All he could do was touch the rolling ball with his bat, throw his bat away in disgust. Well, the MCC rules had nothing against the under-arm ball, but this was beyond the limit of unsprotsmanship, and should I say, cowardice.

Their elder brother, Ian Chappel was going "No no... you can't do that!". If only they could listen from 90 m away!

here is the moment -

The video clip of the ball -

The video of the last over. Richie Benaud called it the worst moment in the history of the game -

Scene 2
August 16, 2009. Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo
Almost exactly an year ago, Zimbabwe were hosting Bangladesh in an ODI series. The series was into the fourth match, with B'desh leading 2-1. Charles Coventry was in the form of his life. The lanky middle order batsman was scoring runs like it was his birth right to do so. He had surpassed the previous highest score by a Zimbabwean (172 by Wishart vs Namibia, 156 by Masakadza vs Kenya, importantly 145 by Andy Flower vs India ). And by the end of 46th over or so, he was going good enough for the 200. He was on 191 at the start of the last over. He takes a single, and has to wait for an opportunity to get the strike back once again. When Utseya tried to do so, in the third ball of the over, chipped a ball to long on, the fielder present there over-ran the ball to give him the four and disallow Coventry the strike. I do not know if he was upset with himself or put the team before individual achievements, but Coventry agreed for a 2 in the next ball, stayed at the non striker end. Got the strike for the last ball of the innings, on which he took a couple to put him at 194*, the highest individual score in an ODI, tied along with Saeed Anwar's knock against India more than a dozen years ago.

Here is the page covering the match. click here for the commentary section.

Scene 3
August 16, 2010 (good day for a controversy, is it? ). Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, Dambulla.

Sri Lanka play India, in the third match of the tri-series. SL and NZ have pocketed a match each, and now India were five runs away from getting their first to square things up on the points table. Sehwag was facing Suraj Randiv, the prospective off-spinner of Lanka. Plenty of overs to spare, even to get a bonus point for India. First ball goes for 4 byes through the sides of the keeper, bad/poor bounce for the let off. And then, Sehwag plays cautious for a couple of balls, trying to sneak a single. he perished on 99 in a test match against the same bowler trying to reach the mark in style, his style. So, he was trying to be cautious. One run to win, one run to his 13th Century in ODIs.

Randiv hops and comes and bowls a HUGE no-ball! A football can go in the gap between his heel and the crease! And Sehwag launches the ball beyond the ropes for a six and celebrates the Indian victory and what he thought, his 13th century. But India had won the match as soon as the no-ball was called and the match is hence, completed. Thus, Viru's 6 doesn't count, and he is left stranded at the crease at 99! What a cheap tactic! Whatever respect I had for the spinner was lost in that moment. One incidence is enough to bring your reputation to the floor! No matter what he has achieved, or will achieve, he will surely be remembered for this incidence. Especially when you do it against the team you play more often that you play your video game!

Watch it for yourself

Comments, views, and suggestions welcome

The Stars of Tomorrow

2010-08-16T23:39:00.003+05:30

We are now living in an age of cricket when the quality of a batsman is also including the age as a factor for consideration. The players from yesteryears, though full of class and style, are overshadowed by the new generation players. Yes, the new guys also have talent, in their own ways. Some of them are very very talented. Let me try to list the ones who caught my eyes. Team by team.

Australia

Long term number one is tests and ODIs, now losing the mantle to others. Why? I don’t know. But I can say that they had an ageing team that kept them on the top, but a younger team isn’t able to keep up the good work. Still, there are some really promising youngsters in them.

Tim Paine
>He is, maybe, the best after Gilly retired from international services. Tim has the abilities of an athletic keeper and a dashing opener. He is far better than his competitor Manou, who was tried and disposed. Tim seems to have satisfied the selectors, after he showed some composure in the test format as well.

Steven Smith
After trying a few spinners, Australia may do well to settle with Steve Smith. He has the flight, and the turn that Warney had... a little less turn, but good enough nevertheless. Still very young, he can develop the varieties as the time goes by. He is more than handy with the bat too. A little unorthodox, but confident enough to middle every ball thrown at him. He may do what Warne never did – score a century..if at all he plays that many tests, I mean. Care should be taken that his batting skills do not divert him away from his bowling. We all know about Cameron White, a bowler who no longer bowls, even when he is captaining Victoria!

Bangladesh

Well, more than 3/4th their team are less than 25 years of age. So, by their standards, the youngster to watch out is -

Tamim Iqbal
Very young, and pretty consistent too. He is the batsman an opponent really tries to get dealt with as quickly as possible. Once he is off, there isn’t much that can stop him. He has a variety of strokes through both sides of the fields, but is particularly strong through the covers and point region, and his icing-on-the-cake straight drive. A la Jayasurya, just that Tamim keeps the strokes to the floor more often than Sunny did.

Wanted to list out some others too, but their team is pretty young, that most of the rest would be of the same age.

England
Aah... England! Yooongsturs from around thee wooorld, now for Eeengland

Eoin Morgan
This young Irishman has his own textbook of strokes. His reverse sweeps remind me of the Zimbabwean star, Andy Flower (who is the English coach, incidentally). He has the ability to steady an innings, play an innings the team needs, take the team to victory, accelerate, take control and others thinkable, all at the age of 24. What do you call a man who can reverse sweep Morne Morkel yorker for 4 through 3rd man?

Steven Finn
Very young, very fast for a high arm action, and very very accurate. He was very accurate in falling off his bowling too. So much, that I thought it was a part of his bowling action. After his first test, against Bangladesh, he rectified that issue and is better off now. Against Pakistan, though he came as a first change bowler, he still got the ball to swing and seam around. 4 wickets in just as many overs are enough to trigger a collapse in any side, especially Pakistan. What I like about him is his consistency – speed, length, and movement on and off the deck. His seam position is pretty good. Though the Duke or the Kookaburra aren’t going to have that pronounced a seam when he gets the ball after Jimmy or Broad is tired, he still manages to extract some movement off the deck. 6’7” tall, bounce is always there, without I mentioning it. If he can just prevent himself from falling down that much for that extra bit of an effort, I think he will be an asset to the English side, especially during the Ashes down under.

India
Your turn to scrutinize me as much as you can. But these are my views, and here is my list of young guns :-

First and foremost –

Cheteshwar Pujara
Why this multiple triple-centurian, double-centurian, the highest u-19 run getter, highest WC avg, best in-form Indian is STILL out of the Indian squad baffles me... wherever he goes, he makes sure he scores big, shuts the opposition’s bowling down, atleast at one end. And the best part of his batting is his technique. He defines his offensive strokes as “an extension of my defensive shots”. What a player. If only lord BCCI could us him for Team India instead of India-A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z,A1,B1...,India emerging, Board President XI etc etc!!! As cool as one can be, this young lad has been impressing everyone but the national selector, with his array of strokes and scores at every level, in every tour, year after year, since the age of 14. If Sachin was discovered at that age, why not Pujara?

Pragyan Ojha
To be a spinner, you need to have a big heart. Ojha does have a big heart. He can bowl hours and hours together, waiting for his reward. He has the tweak, the turn and the loop. He is improving on the loop now, which is the most important. When he tries to vary his loop, he has the tendency to stray down the leg side, once that is rectified, I am sure we can see the Bedi of 21st Century.

Ravichandran Ashwin
Tall, hefty lad from Madras, but like is the trend now a days, is a spinner. (O boy, how would it have been to see him be a paceman?) High arm action, and a good turner of the ball, which surprises the batsman. Yes, since he has that height, he does get the bounce too. He has been very consistent amongst the wickets. Now, he has an able partner in an even younger spinner, Aushik Srinivas. This very young teenage (16 yrs) sensation, groomed and protected by the watchful eyes of TN coach W.V. Raman is such a miser when it comes to bowling. He would go through spells of 30 overs with an economy rate of less than 2 runs an over. Back to Ashwin now... Ashwin, is also good with the bat and has good captaincy qualities too, having led Tamil Nadu to victories in various forms of the game

New Zealand

the only name that comes to my mind is

Tim Southee
I was fortunate enough to be watching u-19 WC , or unfortunate enough to have fallen sick to be lying at home, but watching the action nevertheless. Tim was that one man who could’ve led his team to victory over India in the semi-final. He bowled his heart out in the tournament. He could hit 140 kph against India, whose fastest bowler would go only as far as 130 kph. And Tim, the boy, was able to move the ball, the overcast conditions helped him. But NZ lost the match after the target was reset due to spells of rain. Soon after, Tim, the man, was there in the Kiwi line up. NZ has been one of the most unsettled team since the departure of many biggies – Stephen, Nash, Harris, Cairns amongst others. Tim was in the team for a while as a permanent fellow, but is now a part of the mix, tried once in a while. He has lost his pace a bit. I am sure he can regain it back, as I saw earlier this year, against Pakistan in the Kiwi Isles. He is a good long-term find NZ should rather try to develop, than look beyond.

Pakistan

One of the most unlucky sides in the world for many many reasons. Some come from inside, some from outside. But that doesn’t deter them from bringing up new talents, new young talents!

Umar Akmal
Brother of Kamran Akmal, this kid, is not living under his shadows. Umar is a dasher when you need him, and a steady watcher, when you gravely need someone to keep one end steady. A pocket size dynamo, he made his debut in such a wonderful style. In one test, he showed both the sides of the coin. First innings was a breezy, fast century(129), sharing a huge partnership with his brother. Not caring for who was bowling at him, not caring to respect Dan Vettori, he would deposit anyone over the fence as and when he liked, flawlessly. In the second innings, when Pakistan in deep trouble, wanting someone to stay put at one end, there he was, Umar Akmal, to hold fort for a watchful 75. But his wicket triggered a collapse and Pakistan were to lose a well contested match, by very few runs. He is the future of Pakistani top order or middle order, as you like it. But, must improve on patience, must the young lad.

Md Aamer
No praise is enough to sing for this young fast bowler! Emerged as an unheard bloke out of nowhere to the ones watching the T20 WC, Aamer took the opportunity with both hands. He had the pace. Then he developed the swing, into the left hander. Then, he developed the one that swings away from the left hander, at the same pace (this is what Mitchell Johnson tried and failed). Now he is a threat to any top order. Especially, in the tests. The tests in swinging and bouncing tracks are his favourites. By the time you try to read the swing off his hands, the ball may have gone past you, or if it’s his slower ball, you’re reading it too fast. He can be a handy lower order batsman too. He has the range of shots, a little more beautiful than a pro-lower order (Murali?). and he can hang in there as well, if required, like always.

South Africa

South Africa, even after exporting so many players to England, do have their own pool of great players.

Wayne Parnell
Express. But, as is obvious needs some fine tuning. He does go wayward. On his own, he can be very destructive, especially to left handers, with that ripping pace and bounce that he can extract. His demolition of Australia in just his 2nd ODI showed what he is capable of. He hasn’t repeated the feat many times after that, though. If he can keep his pace going, and someone tunes his radar properly, then he will be a handy bowler for SA

Morne Morkel
Young, but not too young, Morne has been a regular in the SA test side. He has the huge, tall frame that gives his the extra yard of pace and the bounce. There are some similarities between him and Andre Nel, especially the bowling action. Morkel can do all that Nel did without that much of an effort, because of the height. In tests, he has the heart to run in over after over, just to plug one end economically and draw the batsman into playing a stroke at the short-of-length balls. His line is always probing one, to a right hander.

Sri Lanka

Lanka has always been a country knows to throw the cricketing world a heap full of surprises. Mendis, Malinga, Murali – all are unorthodox and too good for themselves! Not youngsters though. So, here he is :-

Angelo Mathews
Just 23 years of age, he is now a permanent feature of any Lankan side. His all-round qualities come to the fore every now and then. He has performed in at least one department in every match. An under-rated bowler, maybe because of the other power houses in the bowling line up, he bowls his heart out and reaps success for his hard work. A dashing batsman too. Very hard to dislodge. His strength is a bonus, when it comes to disposing the ball. A simple flick is all he needs to easily clear the field. A very well developed product, he can only get better

West Indies

Another team that is not always at the best end of the result most of the time. Look at it, look at their fire power – Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Shiv, Sarwan, Nash, Pollard, Sammy, Taylor, Benn... but still, it’s not a bowler’s day when the batsmen shine and vice-versa! Young talents?

Darren Bravo
Looks and bats like Brian Lara. Enough said!

Kemar Roach
Tiny though he may be, he is super fast! Ask Ricky Ponting! Raw pace, can extract bounce on many pitches, though handicapped by the height. His in-swingers come too fast to be handled with ease. He took the opportunity that was presented to him when WI cricketers went on strike, and is one of the fortunate few to have cemented their place in the side even after the end of the strike. There have been the likes of Fidel Edwards (who took a wicket in his first ever ball in an ODI) who have been express and erratic. Kemar Roach, if kept under good watchful eyes, I bet there are 1000+ good eyes of fast bowlers in the Caribbean Isles, he can become more accurate. He is one of those unique ones who can generate 93+ mph easily with high arm action, without the jerky motion (Steyn, Lee, Bond).

So? Your picks on talents to be groomed, or going to impress the world?

Comments and suggestions welcome!

Save Test Cricket... But how?

2010-08-12T17:17:00.002+05:30

I know, it is obvious that test cricket is going through the worst time in its history. More than 120 years old, test cricket has been the yardstick of the performance of a team, of a player. And barely a decade into the 21st century, it is facing extinction. Not that it is not being played, but that it has lost a large chunk of audience.

Test cricket was once upon a time played over a week, including a day of rest. Then, shortened to five days of play. The format was standardised, so, there were no more “Australian overs”. But all in all, over more than 100 years, the enthusiasm involved in tests never changed, never dropped. Right from the inception of the game (and the format) by England to the era Don’s Invincibles to the Caribbean golden era over years, test cricket has been (should I say, “was”?)of prime importance to any cricketing nation. Test rivalries were born. From WI-Eng/Aus to Ashes to Indo-Pak nail biters, there always was anticipation to a series. A new team, which couldn’t even lift its head aloft too high in the competition long ago, developed into a world leader very soon, establishing itself as an ODI champion, as well as a competitive test nation. I am talking about Sri Lanka. This team blossomed in the right age. Another team, which came in much later than Lanka, isn’t able to repeat the same. This team, is Bangladesh. Apart from one “success” an year over another test playing nation, B’desh has a pretty poor record in cricket. In tests, it has no success. No, I cannot count the victories they had over WI or Zim as quality victories. Nevertheless 2 or 3 victories aren’t that great either.

England, Australia, South Africa have been keeping the standards of test cricket in good spirits, while the subcontinent is more inclined on having pitches suitable to the home team which may be as boring as the word boring can get. New Zealand have a completely opposite problem. They have good pitches, but not a good test team. I don’t remember NZ playing 5 tests on a trot with the same opening pair, since the retirement of Stephen Fleming. Caribbean cricket has been less than good since the departure of Walsh-Ambrose, their shadows, and the legendary Lara. The pitches don’t have the pace they had, primely because their opponents are better at it nowadays. WI clearly hasn’t found a “strength” in this decade, on which it can ride over their opponents.

All this, and the advent of the faster, richer (read as $) format, Twenty-Twenty has almost guided the test cricket into oblivion. Youngsters want to play for franchises, and not for their nation. Audience is more hooked to the shortest format than the other two. Argument – “we don’t have time to watch the ‘boring’ longer formats”. Well, ten years ago, people were able to watch it all, they had all the time in the world, they enjoyed it a lot, they were “crazy” for it.

Solutions?
The question is open for all. I have always vouched for test cricket. I still prefer to watch tests, the pace-men hit the deck in the opening session, batsmen consolidate, batsmen “build” an innings, spinners tweak the opponents into trouble, every day writing a new script for the next day et al. Compared to this, there are some worthless days of limited over cricket, like the one I saw a couple of days ago, where the pitch is such that the winner can be declared after the toss.

Martin Crowe, one of cricket’s biggest thinkers had come up with the suggestion of annual Test Championship. Here is how it goes -

The top 8 test nations play a knock out tournament. The top 4 teams play home. So, its 4 vs 4, then 2 vs 2, then the final. At each point, the better seeded/ranked team plays host. The tests will be 6 days each, so, that the results are assured. The normal bilateral test series will go as usual, independent of this test championship. These tests will determine the ranking of the teams.

He has set the platform for the world to see, and add its inputs and revive the beauty of test cricket. He has noticed, like you would’ve, that the lower 4 teams are at prime disadvantage. And, is looking for ideas for a more uniform competition.

Here are my ideas -
Clearly, one cannot eliminate the bilateral series. Cricket world without The Ashes is like the world submerged in water. So, like Crowe said, it has to be an independent series, and it cannot be long, as it may lose out on the market and viewers’ interest.

• Well, as far as the ranking is concerned, as mentioned above, the usual bilateral series will determine the ranking.
• But, I think there must be more than one tests played between the two sides at every knock out stage. So, both teams will play a “home” and “away” test for uniformity. The team with more victories in the two games, move to the next stage. In case it is a 1-1 or a 0-0 series, then the team with higher net first innings lead over the other will get to go to the next stage.
• The tests can remain 5 day tests, if the above idea is to be adopted, as the result need not be the only way out. It will be an insult to the memory of test cricket to eliminate “draw” from the results column. The world has seen so many exciting draws, and also tied tests.
• ICC will have to do either of the two – remove Champions trophy cricket, or, make T20 World Cup and quadrennial (once in 4 years) event. It will reduce the international pressure on the cricketers by a wee bit at least.
• ICC should control the number of foreign club-contracts a player has. I would suggest that a player must not have more than 2 active club-contracts in other nations. And, any sign-in must be made before the season starts, and must hold good for the entire season. I have seen players playing for as many as four (home + 3) franchises in the same season. This rule will “protect” the player from burnout, and make him play more formats of the game, than just the T20, in which the introduction of foreign players is more common than it was with county cricket.
• ICC and the local cricketing body should strengthen the domestic first class format structure, and improve it.
• More care should be taken to prepare the pitches. The pitches used for the international games should be reviewed by the ICC pitch committee a week before the match. And all the pitches used for the test championship, are to be reviewed by the ICC pitch committee and also a team from the visiting nation. Home advantage should be there, but not lopsided.
• The finals should be a “best of three” test series. Two at the higher ranked team’s home, and one at the other country’s home.

I feel that this will take an year or maybe one and a half years to be completed, as it has to fit into the other bilateral series, and other tournaments in other formats too. In any case, each stage may take around 4 to 6 months for completion, owing to geographical reasons. Weather conditions may play spoil sport in some cases, for which I have not yet thought of a solution. Maybe, in such cases, an additional day can be used (déjà vu?). In any case, the youngsters must be taught more about the classic format, and the skills needed to excel in this – the basics. Without basics, even the shorter forms will look ugly.

Lets see what happens. I would love to hear from you all too. Comments, corrections, suggestions are welcome!

Sometimes, cricket is a game of numbers

2010-08-09T21:38:00.002+05:30

Some interesting figures from the second test played between England and Pakistan, played at Edgbaston (Birmingham).

117
Md Aamer defied England for 117 balls during his 2 hour long vigil at the middle along with Haider. He scored only 16 runs and the pair added 52 runs in 36.2 overs, to add to England’s frustration of their inability to repeat the skittle.

115
The record 8th wicket partnership on English soil for Pakistan between Ajmal and Haider.

111
Nelson’s Eye was all that was needed for the English team to win after Cook’s dismissal, and that is what England precisely did. Strauss and Trott scored the 111 runs to bring up the unassailable 2-0 series lead, and the winning run came courtesy bye off an Ajmal doosra that jumped quite a bit

72
The total, 72, was Pakistan’s lowest against England. It was a touch worse than the previous lowest total of 80 at Trent Bridge around a week ago.

20
This is the 20th time Graemme Swann took a wicket in the first over of an innings, when he bowled Imran Farhat, as Pakistan slipped to 44/2 in the second innings.

9
Pakistan dropped 9 catches in the two innings combined. And, England won the match by 9 wickets. So, if Pakistan had taken all the catches, Pakistan would’ve won the match. The last catch dropped was when Strauss was on 28 in the second innings, when Haider dropped him off Ajmal, and England’s score was hovering around 60...meaning, Pakistan may have won by 60 odd runs... "if only..."

6
Graemme Swann was awarded the man of the Match for his 6 wicket haul in the second innings, which included, what I feel, the ball of the century to bowl Imran Farhat with a ball pitching outside the leg stump, but turning enough to beat Farhat’s defence and knock the top of the off stump.

5
England now have won 5 consecutive tests on a trot, and will be looking to add two more to them in the series. After that, they will love to carry the momentum for the Ashes down under.
Also, Saeed Ajmal, Pakistani off spinner picked up 5 wickets in the first innings,

3
English batting star, Kevin Pietersen, had 3 reprieves in his innings of 80, which suggested that he is yet to hit top form. Had it been some other fielding team, KP innings might’ve been ordinary.

2
Haider was two hits away from being the 4th man in the history of test cricket to score both a duck and a century on debut. He had scored 88 before looping a ball to a floating mid off.

1
Ajmal scored his maiden test fifty in the second innings of the test match. His aggressive celebrations couldn’t last long, as he was out immediately on 50, as his counterpart, Swann, finally sneaked off his bat through to the waiting hands of Collingwood at slips.

1 cm
Zulqarnain haider, the debutant ‘keeper for Pakistan would’ve been out for a King’s Pair, had it not been for the UDRS. He was adjudged lbw to a low-kept big turning Swann delivery, but the decision was overturned after the technology revealed that the ball had missed the leg stump by just about a cm. No Pakistan has ever been out on a King’s Pair in test cricket.

½
Stuart Broad has been fined half his match fee for slinging a dead ball at the Pakistani debutant, Zulqurnain Haider. It is a level two offence to throw a dead ball in an offensive manner at a player, umpire or referee. Broad's mannerism was below par, even by his own standards. He looked very theatrical during one caught behind appeal. The distance between the bat and the ball was atleast 6 inches, and Broad was celebrating without appealing. Sir Ian Botham voiced his stern views on Broad’s behaviour on Day-3.

0
The English spinner Graemme Swann bowled no more than 0 overs in the first innings. Not like he was ignored, but the pacemen were causing enough trouble to the Pak batsmen, who were bowled out for just 72 in a shade less than 40 overs.

Interesting, right? Mathematics! The game was much more than that, though!

India tour of The Emerald isles

2010-08-07T17:27:00.002+05:30

Probably the most boring tour for any subcontinent cricket fan, having seen the two sides play each other almost once every 5 months in one form or the other, this 3 match test series was all set to be yet another one of that. Or was it?

Just to spice things up, there were these factors to make the tour more interesting than “Oh My God! Not this again :-( “. Here they are –

1. If SL beat IND 2-0, India will lose the number one position that it held for about an year as of now.

2. Ace off spinner Muthiah Muralitharan announced that he will retire after the first test at Galle, a pitch he loved very very much. The Wiz was 8 short of 800 wickets.

3. Lankan captain, Kumar Sangakkara, had his own problems regarding the ICC test ranking system, pointing out that a team which has never won a series in many foreign tours for decades is still sitting pretty at the top of the table.

Enough to start a good series?

Well, the first test at Galle was the perfect send off Murali needed – a victory, a 5 wicket haul and the 8 wickets for the 800 mark. What a warrior. He said that he will just “enjoy” the game as it unfolds, and so he did...making it more enjoyable for himself with every scalp. As dramatic as it can be, he was the one who picked the last wicket, to wrap up the match, the 800, the career. The best spinner to have ever set foot on the earth, I doubt if there can be anyone better, anyone even close.

It was the trio of Warne, Murali and Kumble who saved the art of spin from, what the whole cricketing world thought, extinction. Now, the world is in search of the next bunch of spinning talent. Countries like India, Australia, West Indies, South Africa are still looking for a genuine talent in the spin department. India, have Harbhajan Singh, but he hasn’t been anywhere close to the levels of the trio. New Zealand will not have Vettori for long. Sulieman Benn, the best of WI spinners now, is still nowhere close to what Lance Gibbs was. Pakistan has Ajmal and Kaneria, one is old, the other is inconsistent on foreign tracks, but the two are pretty good to be called their team’s imposing spin duo. England has, probably, the best spinner now available in Graeme Swann. Even without the help of weapons like doosra, Swann has the ability to deceive the batsmen with subtle variations in degree of spin and pace on the ball. The number of rotations on the ball, is an important factor for a spinner, to control the spin. And Swann has been controlling it well. Let us hope there are a few more good spinners coming up soon.

Knock knock! Back to the present please. (I’m so good on diverting from the subject, that I can go on for hours on such diverted topics :-P )

Ah well, the second test at Colombo’s SSC was so bad, sooo bad, SOOOO bad, that it might be termed as the worst test in the past 2 years, probably even worse than the one Lanka and Pakistan, in the black-marked, marred tour of Pakistan last year. From Sri Lanka’s point of view – they had won test-1, and needed one more test to win. They were pretty sure they will win the test at P Sara, their fortress. So, a draw will do good in the 2nd test. And a draw it was, at the expense of patience of atleast half a million viewers and onlookers. My take on this – dismiss the curator. If the curator at Kotla got dismissed for a shocker for genuine reasons, so must this *&^&%*&( who brought this one up. In an age when test cricket is needing the care and interest, this pitch will do no good to its sustenance.

I was so happy the third test (P Sara Oval)dawned. Finally I can watch a test with all comforts in my home  . Plus, this match promises to be more interesting than the other two, a result was surely on the cards. Once again, Lanka opted to bat first and put on a massive score, which India matched. Then, the third innings showed the typical P Sara pitch character. Spin took main stage and the Indian spinners wrecked havoc before Samaraweera helped Lanka to set India a big target, of 257. Never ever easy on this track, given that the Lankan duo, of mystery Mendis and the more dangerous, and bounce-equipped Randiv, were waiting in the ranks. And by the end of day-4, India were still needing almost 200 runs, but lost their three top order wickets, to Randiv. Day 5 was a crunch day! Lanka had all the weapons they wanted, and India had all the artilleries to save the series. Thought the Lankan captain had attacking fields for most of the day, no bowler seemed to be vicious for a duration long enough to pose a problem to the Indian middle order. Randiv, huffed and puffed, blew a few blocks down, but thats all Randiv , and Lanka in totality, could do. And soon enough, India, riding on the stylish century from the bat of the back-spasm hit Laxman, won the match with 5 wickets intact! India levelled the series 1-1, and prevented itself from sinking down any ranking in the ICC test ranking table.
Sticking to the test, I will like to point out some things that were so inexplicable. One from each side. Only one from each side, I don’t want to talk about all. As it is I receive complaints that my blog posts are too long :-P .

1. Sri Lanka are 7 down for 86 in the second innings and Samaraweera is joined by Malinga.no matter who it might be in the center, i would’ve certainly wanted the captain to attack the batsmen in the middle and try to wipe out the tail. But MSD had a very defensive field, allowing Samaraweera to take easy singles, (most of which he converted into twos) and allow the tail enough time and space to settle. As a captain I would’ve had atleast 4 close in fielders around the batting geniuses of the likes of Mendis and Malinga! Nearly 180 runs to 8th and 9th wicket partnerships says how bad India was in wiping off the tail. Jumbo, wherever you are, India misses you a lot.

2. Kumar Sangakkara is one of the most sound batsmen in the world. He is an icon for many young cricketers, and the face of the stability of the Lankan middle order, along with Mahela Jayawardene. Sangakkara is synonymous with calmness, as cool as you like. But watching this test match, if at all anyone wondered “If only Lanka scored X more runs, batted for Y more hours, Lanka could’ve saved or even won the match”, then blame it on Sangakkara. He threw his wicket as a birthday gift in both innings of the test. In the first innings, he charged at Ojha and holed out to the man positioned at long on. In the second innings it was even worse, with the team on top of a snow laden mountain waiting for the avalanche, he gave the all so necessary push, with a wild pull at a slow short ball and hitting it straight to square leg fielder. What a bad ball that was, what a worse shot that was. Just imagine how this test might’ve been had he stayed there for longer than what he did

So, thats about it. 1-1 it stands. India retain the bi-national series.

Elsewhere, Pakistan made a dramatic equaliser in the two test series, but have been less than good i the series against England, down 0-1 in a four test series. And as far as the second test is concerned, after day-1, the signs of parity is nowhere in the vicinity.

In the near future, in cricket, there will be more of India vs Sri Lanka (as if Asia cup and Zim tri series wasn’t enough), this time along with NZ ( déjà vu ?). Pakistan and England have three more tests to finish in the four test series (I bet more interesting than the tri series in Sri Lanka). September will bring on the T20 fever once again with the “Champions Trophy”.

Enjuoy thee creeekit. Eye weel bee baak soon aufter.
Comments and suggestions welcome :-)

Ball by ball commentary. Zimbabwe vs India, Micromax Cup, Bulawayo. Second innings

2010-05-28T17:49:00.004+05:30

Zimbabwe vs India
Game 1 of Micromax Cup 2010, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

2nd Innings : Zimbabwe to bat, India to field

Openers - Masakadza, Taylor

PowerPlay-1 (mandatory) - overs 1-10

Over 1 by Dinda
.1 fast yorker, slight swing, defended up straight
.2 full in length, driven to mid on
.3 bowled wide of the crease, a bit of a movement off the seam, Masa looked to get off strike, but no opportunity there.
.4 Short, a bit wide, seaming away, Masa doesn't capitalise, hits to point, rather softly
Dinda with the familiar bandana on this forehead
.5 Masa dabs this behind point finally, for one
.6 FOUR!!! four onto the leg side, bowled at pads, taylor had it easy this time, off the mark with a four to mid wicket

5/0 after 1

Over 2 by Vinay
.1 on the off stump, no runs, played uncomfortably to short mid off
.2 driven to mid wicket and masa has a quick single
.3 beaten outside off!!! oooooh
.4 Taylor left this one alone, not much pace in this ball
.5 Taylor taps and tries to run, but masa wasn't interested, Vinay was at it in a flash.
.6 cut away hard behind point by Taylor for two

8/0 after 2

Over 3 by Dinda
.1 fast ball zipped into Masa, and he was cramped for room, somehow gets a touch to square leg and takes a single
.2 Beaten outside off, the ball was way outside off and Taylor chased it, luck for him no edge on it
.3 Right on target, good length on top of off stump. No run.
.4 This time, taylor goes back and pushes to off side
.5 Good bouncer, not called a wide...
.6 FOUR!!! Short arm jab does it this time! A short of length ball was pulled over mid wicket for four.

14/0 after 3

Over 4 by Vinay
.1 no run, looking for the gap, unable to find
.2 no run, driven to point
.3 Pushes off back foot to just wide of mid off and sneaks a single. good running
.4 Punched between cover and mid off, they take two! Good placement on that.
Silly mid off in place
.5 Masa tries to punch this off the back foot, didn't get hold of it
.6 FOUR!!! Short and wide, moving away and spanked, deservingly so to cover fence for four!

21/0 after 4

Over 5 by Dinda
.1 Taylor!!! Oooh... No feet movement and just hangs a bat there, Dinda squared him up, beats bat by an inch
.2 On the pads, and taylor capitalises on that, simple touch to square leg for three runs
.3 No run, straight to the fielder on the off
.4 No run again. Masa is finding fielder better than gaps now.
.5 Slow ball... this took ages to reach Masa, and he tries to drive, missed it.
.6 Drives this one inside out, but well fielded inside the circle to deny the run

25-0 after 5

Over 6 by Yadav.. RMF
.1 Good start, bit of a seam, Taylor just reads this ball... Doesn't play a shot
.2 Plays this one pitched outside off to 3rd man
.3 Bouncer! Masa managed to get bat on it, and the ballooning ball evaded DK by 3 meters, slice of luck
.4 FOUR!!! No pace on this one and it was short and Taylor puts this one to mid wicket fence
.5 Yorker, but get a single
.6 Full on off, pushed back to bowler

31-0 after 6

Over 7 by Dinda
.1 Standing tall and delivering, Taylor, driven past cover and mid off. 3 taken
A young kid enjoys a candy watching the sweet drive by Taylor
.2 Another back foot punch, but only to mid off
.3 lofts this one high in the air! This too evades the fielder. Masa is having a nice day with the bat today, lucky too. 2

runs
.4 short mid off, yusuf, does a good job fielding this bullet back foot drive
.5 Walks across the stumps ans plays it to square leg for one.
3rd man and deep backward square leg are the boundary riders now
.6 Driven straight to mid on. no run

37-0 after 7
Unlike usual Indian Cricket live telecasts, this match, on TV has not more than 1 ad a break!

Over 8 by Yadav
.1 Pulled the short ball to mid-wicket for a single, just wide of the fielder
.2 Masa tries the same, but finds rhe fielder
.3 Masa plays the yorker well, and dabs it to mid on, who misfields, easy two for Masa
.4 SIX!!! And this is a beauty! Just short of length on the leg side and he pulls is well and the ball lands a yard behind

the ropes! Good shot!
Not a good start for the debutant, Yadav
.5 Short on the off stump, no run!
.6 Pace and Bounce and Seam.. Tony Greig reads the speed gun as 87 mph! That beat Masa once again!

45-0 after 8

Over 9 by Dinda
.1 Ball on the legs, deflected to mfine leg, by Taylor, who wasn't interested in any run, but Masa was 3/4th the pitch away

from his crease, and he had to make it back... and dinda couldn't hit it back in time.
.2 Hit to mid off for a single
.3 FOUR!!! Again, Tony is stealing my words... Stand and deliver. up and over mid off for four!
.4 Slow ball, and Masa didn't mind waiting. touch and run...
.5 Taylor couldn't beat the mid off on the drive
Both batsmen are finding the middle of the bat more frequently now.
.6 Slow short ball, played/pulled in front of square leg for a single

51-0 after 9

Over 10 by Vinay
.1 Slow, off cutter... forward in defense is Taylor
.2 SIX!!! Slightly short and Taylor pulls this one over square leg for a SIX! The fielder out there can only watch
.3 Short of length on the Off stump, patted back to the bowler.
.4 Slow outside off, taps, thinks of a run, but decides against it.
.5 SIX!!! Taylor takes one step towards the ball and swipes it from outside off to over long on fence! This is classic!
.6 FOUR!!! Icing on the cake, with that square cut beyond point

67-0 after 10
So much for the lethargic Indian side. Spinners gotta push things back into hands if India wants to win this.
And Amit Mishra it is, to start the Bowling Powerplay (PP2 - 11-15th overs)

Over 11-Mishra
.1 Slow ball on the legs and Masa has no problem disposing it to deep mid wicket. ball doesn't reacj the fence. 3 taken
.2 Forward in defence. Some turn
.3 Again, on the middle stump, with a tinge of turn. no run
.4 Well flighted, driven past Mishra to long off for one
.5 Masa drives it well to long off
.6 Good flight, driven to the bowler. no run

72-0 after 11
First over in quite some time without a boundary in it! This is 2010, and its ZIM playing IND...

Over 12 by Ravi
Will he continue his good touch?
.1 Around the wicket. Masa taps to mid on. no run
.2 FOUR!!! Charges and slaps it past Ravi for four, Ravi got a touch, didn't matter, it had the power it needed
.3 Single down to long on off the back foot!
.4 flat ball on the legs, Taylor puts it behind square of a single
.5 DK doesn't get hold of a ball and they run two.
.6 A bit of turn, on the middle, driven to long on

82-0 after 12

Over 13 by Mishra
.1 MAsa attempts a reverse sweep, misses, umpire turns down appea for lbw
.2 Now a touch and run. Good running. these tow are pretty quick between the wickets.
.3 Slow, flighted delivery, cut straight to point. no run
.4 Flighted one onto the leg stump. No run, pushed to the bowler
.5 FOUR!!! A lucky cut takes it to the 3rd man boundary, for four.
.6 OUT!!! GOOGLY it seemed, Tony says top spinner... it held its line, and Masa probably didn't read it, the ball crashes

onto the stumps. First wicket down
Masakadza b Mishra - 46
A good innings comes to an end..
88-1 after 13

Over 14 by Ravi
.1 Defended to point
.2 Defended back to the bowler
.3 taylor gets this one past the mid wicket fielder for a single.
.4 new comes, Lamb, defends his first ball.
.5 Off the mark with a dab to square leg, fielder from short fine leg mops it up. not off the mark, its a leg bye
.6 taylor takes a single to square leg

91-1 after 14

Over 15 by Mishra
.1 bowled on the pads, they take a leg bye.
.2 No runs. defended back
.3 Well flighted ball, no run, defended back to the bowler again.
.4 Again hits the pad, and trickes between fine leg and aquare leg, a sinle off the leg bye
.5 Edge goes to gully/short 3rd man, no run. Mishra turning well
.6 Taylor finishes off the over with a single to long off

94-1 after 15

Over 16 by ravi
.1 Tapped to point, no run
.2 And again, ravi is maintaingin a sharp line just outside off
.3 This one on to the stumps and touch to the leg side for a single
.4 Lamb gets this just past mid wicket for a single
.5 Touch and got, wanter Taylor, but correctly sent back, the silly mid off was fast approaching
.6 Another over ends with Taylor getting a single to long off.

97/1 after 16

Over 17 by Mishra
.1 Single to point, playing along with the turn, not doing anything silly
.2 Bowled on the leg stump, Lamb flicks it, not so graciously, for a single.
.3 The good length ball on the middle taken away on the on side for a single
.4 Well flighted ball driven hard, straight to covers by Lamb
.5 Defended well. no run
.6 Scooped over the keeper for two... 'catch it' called mishra, but no...

102-1 after 17
Over 18 by Ravi
.1 Single to long on. fifty for Taylor. Applause from the crowd
.2 Defended, little turn
.3 Single to long off
.4 Defended back to the bowler
.5 Nudged to long on for a single
.6 Flicked to square leg for a single

107-1 after 18

Over 19
.1 Defended to the off side
.2 A bit more turn, again, not able to push it far
.3 Another dot ball, on the leg, and Mishra fields it.
.4 Now, sweeps it cheekily to fine leg for three, Lamb
.5 Taylor drives to mid on, no run
.6 Again, as is customary, Taylor gets a single on the last ball!

110 - 1 after 19.

This is a good start!

Over 20 by Yadav
.1 Defended a short ball on the off to the bowler
.2 Driven off the back foot to the mid on fielder
.3 This time, driven past the bowler for a single to long on.
.4 Short, but no bounce, and DK makes a mess of it, allows two byes behind him, it pitched right in front of him, tough luck!
.5 Well bowled. nips back in and Lamb 'chested' it, safely not onto the stumps
.6 Short on the lef side amd two they take, well placed between fine leg and square leg

115-1 after 20

Over 21 by Mishra
.1 Looping ball, driven easly to long on.
.2 Good length, turning away from off, driven to mid off for no run
.3 Driven back to the bowler
.4 Again, driven back to Mishra
.5 Patted behind the crease for one by Lamb
.6 Defended standing in the crease by Taylor and gives a bemused tired look on his face. He just had drinks, he is just bored

of spin

Over 22 by yadav
.1 Yorker, but they steal a single on the tap
.2 FOUR!!! Good square cut off the wide ball for four behind point. 3rd man had no chance
.3 Back foot defense! NO run
.4 the ball seams back into the batsman, Taylor, hits to point, no run.
I like Mbangwa's dreadlocks! :-P
.5 Good line, good pace, dot ball, three in a row, that compensates for the four, but no wicket thus far to his card.
.6 Driven t=down the ground for a single to long on

123-1 after 23
Nice score, isn't it? for those who seek beauty in numbers...

Over 23 by Yusuf
.1 Looped ball by the 6 foot plus guy, almost a wide, but the batsman preferred to hit it to cover
.2 hit behind square on the leg side for a single.
.3 tylor is forward in defence to this ball on the off stump
.4 taylor wanted a backfoot drive down he ground, got an edge behind the keeper for a deuce.
.5 good looking back foot punch down the ground for a single towards long on.
.6 Lamb does the same towards long off

129-1 after 24

Over 24 by yadav
.1 Line is fixed onto the off stump zone, ever since he was hot for that four. No run yet aagin.
.2 Same line again, but a little more bounce on it, and Lanb takes a single with a pull to mid wicket
.3 taylor drives off the backfoot, the ball was rising at him.
Andy Blignaut, I suppose, is getting some net practice
.4 Again, pushed back to the bowler.
.5 Cut hard to point, and gets a single, ball was little wide, giving him to freedom to cut.
.6 Pulled, a little late than what he wanted to, I suppose, it went to fine leg, just a single

132-1 after 24
Required rate nearing 6 an over, Sun's behind the cloud for the moment
Over 25 by Yusuf
.1 Single to long off
.2 Single off the nudge to fine leg
.3 Lamb.. Cuts to deep point, for a single
Runs coming quite easily, not the boundaries now.
.4 Single to the long on off the back foot
.5 Comes forward and pushes to mid on. NOOOOO shouts Lamb at Taylor wo wanted a 1
.6 Chops hard, to 3rd man, single results

137-1 at the half way stage, much ahead of India. But will Taylor play an a-la Rohit role?
Over 26 by Yadav
.1 Beaten outside the off is Lamb on that ball. Good consistent line now, but not penetrating enought
.2 Cuts hard on the given width, to third man for a single. 50 partnershipt
.3 Defends the ball on good length outside off
.4 Dabbed away to mid on. NO run again
.5 Again, short on the off, driven to mid on for none
.6 Finally gets one going and taps it towards suare leg for a single, Taylor yet again, with a single on the last ball

Good over that,
139-1 after 26

Over 27 by Vinay
.1 No run, defended onto the off sice
.2 Now, to the mid on region, for no run.
Too many dot balls at this stage. Wickets and batting powerplay still intact.
.3 Slower than usual, but cuts in. taylor, hits and the ball falls near the crease, wanted a single, and Lamb negates the

invite
.4 Single handed drive to long off. Guess the ball is coming on to the bat slower than he thought.
.5 And a leading edge!! Lamb plays across the line, with bat's face open to the off...and the ball loops into a safe zone.
.6 Aother single to the off side to finish the over

142-1 after 27
RR above 6 an over now
Over 28 by Ravi
.1 Turns it to square leg, by default, Lamb shouts NOOOOOOO
.2 Now to mid wicket
Continuous advertising for micromax by commentators
.3 Dot, can't get it past the second pitch
.4 Another dot ball!
.5 Drives this to long on for a single
.6 Drives a full lenght ball, off the hook, to the bowler. Only one run off the tight over8
143-1 after 29
RR- 6.5

Over 29 by Vinay
.1 Single to the on side
.2 Short outside off, tennis backhand shot to deep square leg for two, by Lamb
.3 Flicked between long on and deep midwicket for another couple.
length is fuller than what it was last over. easier to score
.4 better length, but Lamb was so easy on it, to push it to square leg... ball was on leg stump to make things easier
.5 Pitched outside off, and nips back in, driven to long on
.6 Good line, good length.Lamb was happy to defend it

150-1 after 29
Over 30 by Ravi
.1 Dot ball
.2 Single to long off, on the drive.
.3 OUT!!! Pitched just outside the off and turning just a bit, probably missing the leg, but was given out, by Brian

Jerling. Unlucky one may call it.
Lumb - lbw Ravi - 27
.4 new man is southpaw Ervine, the debutant... No run
.5 Single towards cover,
.6 No run again

Over 31 by yusuf
.1 Deflected to the leg side behind the crease, for a single
.2 Single to long off for Taylor
.3 Ervine gets another single with a trickle to fine leg
.4 Another single, ice over this
.5 Wide. dn the leg side
.5 pulls to fine leg for a single
.6 Single to end the over

159-2 after 31
Over 32 by Ravi
.1 Single to long on by Taylor, he is well settled and can acclerate any time
.2 Touch to silly mid on, no run
.3 Cut behind slip, three runs off it. good placement!
.4 dot ball bacl to the bowler
.5 single past the bowler, to long off
.6 Ervine gets one past Ravi to the long on

165-2 after 32
121 off 108 is the equation

Over 33- by Rohit
.1 Wide. Wide down the leg side
.2 was wide, but Ervine preferred to push it harder to the fine leg fence, good work by Kohli out there, saves a run
.3 Taylor gets a single down the 3rd man region
.4 dot ball, back to the bowler
.5 dot ball, defended to mid off region
.6 played on to the leg side for a single

170 -2 after 33

Over 34 by Ravi
.1 single
.2 single
.3 two beyond point
.4 Single through cover
.5 dot ball, back to bowler.
.6 single to long on for Taylor

176-2 after 34

Over 35 by Vinay
.1 OUT!!! Taylor's innings is over! A not so short ball on the hips and he pulls it straight to fine leg, where yadav take s

a good cath falling down infront
Taylor - c Yadav, b Vinay - 81
Charles Coventry enters. He loves this ground!
.2 Dot ball, cut to point on the 'jump' off his toes
.3 Another dot ball
.4 Slow, take an edge to point. No run off the four balls this over
.5 Short ball, bags on his helmet and trickles down to 3rd man, for a run
.6 Good ball across the stumps on the up, defended back to the bowler.
Good Over that again

177-3 after 35
109 off 90 is the equation.

Over 36 by Mishra
.1 outside the off, spins away, quick single by Charles, bad throw, but overthrows avoided
.2 Ervine hits in the gap to cover.
.3 Coventry flicks the full pitched delivery on the middle stump to long on. was in the air but safe. single
.4 No run, played to mid on.
.5 Attempter sweep, missed everything
.6 Goes back in defence. Jabs to point. no run.

180/3 after 36.

106 needed off 84 balls

Over 37 by Vinay
.1 Dot ball.. Charles Coventry dabs to the off side, to mid off, no run
.2 Straight to the bowler, but he messed it up, they take a single off the misfield!
.3 Ervine guides this ball outside off to 3rd man for a single
.4 Coventry must be watching French open, that bouncer was dealt away with a top-spin-two-handed-forehand
.5 Nudges is down the leg side, but DK prevents any possiblity of runs
.6 Guides, yet again, to 3rd man!

184-3 after 37

102 off 13 overs!

Over 38 by Mishra
.1 Ervine to face. Ball strikes the pad, BIG appeal, Jerling says no.
.2 Googly/top spin, defended well, he read it maybe.
.3 Rocks back and cuts to short of length ball outside off to deep point.
.4 Shabby fielding by the bowler, lets go of the ball beyond him, for a single
the lbw was negated, bacause of the height, good one, Jerling
.5 Swept from beyond off stumo to fine leg for two.
.6 Flick to short fine leg in the last ball, no run taken

188-3 after 38
98 from 12 needed. RR over 8 an over.

Over 39 by Vinay
.1 Goes inside out, but deep cover in place. Single is all he gets, Coventry
.2 A little short outside off, Ervine tried to pull, doesn't connect, too high for Umpire to give and lbw, get a run
.3 Hit and run, to mid off, and Yusuf mis fields. Extra run
Both teams have been patchy today. A better TV production would've given you a package of misfields. not this one.
.4 Single to mid off, for Coventry, driven well
.5 Another Single...Ervinie edges it to 3rd man
.6 Hit to mid off and a big NOOOO

194-3 after 39
he must've lost some energy on that... Well, here's Drinks!
India has the upper hand now, ZIM have lost their way after that start. They still have the wickets and big hitters in the

game, and the powerplay

Over 40 by Mishra
.1 - Swept to square leg by Ervine, get two
.2 Dot ball, couldn't hit the ball, hits his pads.
.3 Oooohh... leading edge falls just short of Rohit at Silly mid off no run
.4 Pulls a short, but low ball to mid micket. Single
.5 Coventry goes back into his crease and punches to long on. Single
.6 Ervine cuts to deep point and they take two quick runs

200 up
200/3 after 40
8.6 an over needed

Over 41 by Yusuf
.1 SIX!!! Full outside the off, and Coventry shoots this over the Sight screen for a huuuuuuuuge hit! Clean!
.2 dot. hit back to the bowler
Sun is out again
.3 Scores a single to square leg/
.4 Ervine nudges it to mid wicket for a single, bowled from around the wicket, the angle helped
.5 Coventry places it to cover for another single
Another Clip of the candy floss
.6 Swept cheekily to fine leg for a single for Ervine

10 off the over
210/3 after 41

Over 42 by Mishra
.1 Dot ball Doesn't connect the leg break on the leg and middle.
.2 FOUR!!! Charges down the pitch and sends the ball over Mishra's head for four!
.3 Single to Mid wicket
Coventry's SIX was 99m long, a projection reads so.
71 off 51 needed
anyone in T20 mode?
.4 Leading edge, nothing to worry though
.5 Another dot ball, Cov fails to connect
.6 SIX!!! So much for connection, Coventry sends the Indian team for Cover, with the huge deposit over mid wicket fence
11 off the over
221/3 after 42
65 frmo 8 overs @ a little over 8 an over
India on the back foor suddenly. DK wants fielders to take their own time. My friend, Toshi believes an unpset is on cards,

though he is not willing to associate 'upset' with this line up

Over 43 by Vinay
.1 Single to long off
.2 SIX!!! Scoops over mid off... it just kept going and going and is GONE for a big six to the longest part of the ground!
.3 Slow ball, single taken towards mid wicket
they got that 8 runs an over with just half the over gone by
.4 Wide. wide don the leg side
.4 on the pads from around the wicket, straight to short mid wicket.
.5 Single to long off.
.6 OUT!!! Slow and steady wins the race.. The ball took eternity to reach Coventry, and when it did, the bat and pads

provided a huge gap for the ball to pass through and crash into the stumps.
Coventry - b Vinay Kumar - 32
A timely, quickly compiled innings by Coventry
In comes the hard hitting Chigumbura
55 in 42

231/4 in 43 overs

Over 44 by Ravi
.1 Single to long on
.2 Single
.3 Trickles to fine leg, no run
.4 Gets a single down to long on now.
Ravi is keeping it full and fast
.5 Another single to long off for Chigumbura
.6 Ervine hits it to cover, and takes two... well placed.
'Just' 6 off the over
237/4 after 44

Rohit and Raina and DK are the big fellas in this game and they converge to decide on whom to bowl the next over. Dinda is

their pick.
Over 45 by Dinda

.1 Single to mid off. Raina flies from cover to deny any further run.
.2 FOUR!!! Short and pulled to mid wicket boundary... the slower cutter was well picked and they get the much needed boundary
.3 Guides the full length ball outside off to the 3rd man
.4 Well bowled. Yorker! Nothing Elton could do about it. NO run.
.5 Slower and full outside off, hit to Raina at covers. no run yet again
.6 Full on the off, driven to long on.
7 from it
244/4 after 45 overs

This is a tight one to call. 42 needed off the last 5, and by default, since it wasn't done before, batting power play is

taken now. 3 outside the circle - long on, square leg and 3rd man

Over 46 by Yadav
.1 FOUR!!! Chigumbura read the field well and gets the full ball on the off to go past mid off to the boundary
.2 FOUR!!! Short ball, and Chigumbura gets a healthy top edge (err... given leg bye, shoulder maybe) and its goes right

behind the keeper for 4.
the game has changed now
.3 Yorker, Chigumbura gets a touch and they take a single.
.4 FOUR!!! Square leg, long off, long on. Short ball and the ball is pulled to mid wicket fence, Yusuf puts all he has to

stop the ball, but I guess, he was touching the line. A near-Run-a-ball fifty for Ervine! What an innings to play on Debut,

can he take them to the Victory?
.5 Into the blockhole, a single, nevertheless.
28 from 25 is all the ZM need now
.6 FOUR!!! Full toss and the ball is disposed to mid wicket fense by Elton Chigumbura!
18 off it. game over, I would declare!
262-4 after 46

run a ball 24 needed
My friend, Ragavan asks 'Will Zimbabwe win?' :-P

Over 47 by Dinda
long run up
"raina wants a time out, jokes the commentator"
.1 Dot ball!!!!!!!!! Hit to covers.
.2 Ervine... edges to 3rd man for a deuce. Covers for the dot ball
Talk about pressure on debut... Wondering about what the names like Sachin, Sehwag, Gautam, Nehra, Zaheer are thinking now
.3 Bowls another yorker, deflected to 3rd man for a single
.4 Chigumbura dances down the track, but Dinda is playing Samba tonight, full on the off, Chigs misses it.
Crowd all pumped up. Why not?
.5 FOUR!!! Takes it on the full and Drives it past the face of raina on cover and the mid off fielder to the long off fence.
Trivia: When was ZIM's last Victory over India? (surely, I don't know the answer)
.6 Raina 'acting' like a captain.. Words of wisdom to the bowler, so, just a single off it to long on.
16 needed off the last 3 overs.
270/4 after 47

Over 48 by Ravi
Surprise surprise!!! Its Ravi to pull off a bunny off his hat, if possible
.1 Driven to long on, for one, by Elton Chigumbura
.2 Leading edge flies over the infield over the mid on, single taken as long on fetches it.
.3 Chigumbura heaves at this one, and gets a single towards mid wicket
.4 FOUR!!! HOHOHOHOHO!!! Ervine you beauty! full toss, swept away, one bounce, four into square leg fence
Raina plugs the Square leg fence
.5 FOUR!!! And Ervine notices that and shoots this full toss to mid wicket!
.6 Single down to fine leg

282/4 after 48 overs.
4 needed from 2 overs.
Even if Ervine played right handed, ZIM can win this!

Over 49 by Dinda
.1 Full ball, and Ervine is gonna hit that beyond the mid wicket fielder and take three runs to level the scores!
.2 FOUR!!! This is it!!! Zimbabwe win!!! Short ball takes another lucky top edge and flies over DK and reaches the ropes.
Only two people on the pitch are moving (jerling is nudging around) - Captain Chigumbura, (who had a better day with the

willow than the leather) and the new kid on the block who turned pro over fifteen/twenty overs - Ervine. Celebrations all

over the ground. Like I said earlier during the day, the crowd has built up for the finish, and boy, are they lucky to watch

this upset?

Almost all ZIM batsmen got good scores, all played well, or hung around for a while
Jet lag, second string side...put aside all your excuses. This is an ICC recognized ODI and requires full respect. So,

Zimbabwe going to get some good points at India's expense. This ZIM side had nothing to lose and the Indian side had

something to prove.

Bottomline - ZIM win with 6 wickets in hand and 10 balls to spare

ZIM 289/4 off 48.2 overs

Taylor - 81
Ervine - 67 n.o. (in just 60 balls)
Vinay Kumar - 51/2

Historic day for ZIM, to beat the 'number one' team in ODI rankings! Their third victory over notable sides recently... West

Indies, twice, and now, India.

We go down for the presentation ceremony
Pommie is down there with the dignitaries
Pommie looks like a rapper! Dreadlocks

Raina "we batted well, got the runs, didn't bowl well. We came back well with Jadeja and Mishra. But they batted well in the

power plays"

Chigumbura "We were able to come back with our spinners. I didn't bowl well, so, only one seamer was in effect. Batsmen were

good, there were a couple of good partnerships that sealed the match."

Taylor gets a trophy, US $1500, and a Micromax gizmo " Was concentrating on my Keeping. Was happy to open and bat well, built

the innings with two partners. We got good partnerships, we needed them and we got them. the bowlers were fine, the spinners

must be given credit"

There you have it!
Zimbabwe win the first game by defeating India, and take full points and ARE ON TOP OF THE TABLE in the Micromax cup 2010.

Thanks for sticking aroung with me

A Bagrat and Co Production for everyone.