Sunday banter........

Every time he [Chanderpaul] gets runs he never fields," Pieterson told the Daily Mail. "There's always an injury or something. That has really got on my nerves here. It leads me to think he plays for himself.

That’s true partially. But no doubt today Shiv is one of the most valuable but underrated batsman for West Indies. He doesn’t have flair, but he is dogged and he is rock solid. In the end of the day runs matter in the scorebook. And not only he has scored in Tests, but also in ODIs. Ask India. They made him the star he is. Forgot 2002 series? 3 Hundreds in 5 test series, the last India played. Since then his conversion of 50s to 100s has remarkably turned around. The dude has now got 8200 odd runs in Tests and 8000 runs in ODIs.

KP forgot that when he had ego tussle with Peter Moores, he was having it for himself. It wasn’t healthy in the team cause. So may be what KP says for Shiv, the same holds true for KP too. Unfortunately they both are the best batsmen of their team. KP hasn’t been able to win matches for England, as he should have been. At least in ODIs it holds true.

Boy, Flintoff is playing today. I thought he has returned to England and is waiting to fly to South Africa for playing in IPL.. But he is patriotic Englishman. Wow. And boy Harmi boy is playing too and he has been hit for a six. I wonder why is he even playing now? That’s his record: “"In, in, out, out, in, in, out, in, out, out, in, out, out, in, in, out, in"”

Wonder what Poms would have done had they won the Test series in WI? Hey Bring the Aussies on. We are ready for the fight. And win the Ashes.

Meanwhile there is a criticism of IPL schedule released by Lalit Modi. Being a Modi in India is a sin. Be it Narendra Modi, Lalit Modi (IPL) or Himanshu Modi (ICL). Do whatever, you are gonna whipped. Now IPL schedule was released and I got to read one post on one of the blog where the schedule was criticized. More than that the timings were questioned. Is there any doubt that IPL is Indian event and players all over the world are dying to play in it and get their booty? So much so that the skipper and vice skipper of a team fight with the Board chief to play in the glitz event and cancel the TEST tour. And so the timings of the IPL would and should be suited per the Indian audience. Big fat Indian middle class. Deflating economy.

The post says “A key feature in the original IPL was that almost all matches drew huge attendance figures, largely through cheap tickets that were given away and the matches being at favorable times in the late evening just after work.“

Cheap tickets if that means the 1^st season of IPL? Cheap tickets? When from? I mean kab se? 5000 bucks for a ticket is not cheap in Indian currency for an average Indian middle class person. Watching IPL is even related to the ongoing economic downturn. I don’t know the intent of that post, but that seems biased and one viewed. I don’t know how IPL-2 would figure out, but for sure it wont be as pessimistic as its made out to be. And contrary to the popular opinion when ICL came in, the IPL is gaining prominence and seems to be making a decisive strike to the ICL. The slowdown has made ICL shut its shop, IPL has shifted its shop though.

And going forward I wont be as critical as I would have been here. And not more intense than this. Lets see how it goes.

India's day on day 4 in Napier Test

India inched towards the safety in Napier Test almost. Provided there is no madness set in the camps on final day. Its futile to expect the lower middle order to contribute much given the likes of Dancer and Yuvraj who strangely is back to his older ways in Test cricket. I still feel he should be persisted in the Tests. Hats off to Gambhir for a restrained 100. His job is not cut out yet. Spend as much as time tomorrow in the middle. One wicket more and then Laxman comes in. After him, not much hope. Dancer would continue to get out in cheap fashion and then nod on the way back to the hut as if he has scored big and got out unfortunately. Amazing man. Wonder what India lost when he was the opener with Jaffer in 2007 prior to Sehwag ’s return in Adelaide. Gambhir was itching to go out and hit the spinners, but Dravid first and then Tendulkar controlled him. Result out in the open. His most valuable 100 after the 206 in final Test against Australia. His 5 hundreds now have come against Australia, England and New Zealand (1 against BD). His average now reads a glorious 52 and he also finished 2000 runs in Tests, something which only 2 lefties in India did before : Saurav and Ajit Wadekar.

Though only 205 runs were scored in the day, Indians showed that they can play old fashioned defensive Test cricket too and it was not boring to watch. It was a shift of gear as per the situation. Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid showed the true value of experience. Dravid would be a miffed man, given the way he got out and the way he showed emotions, something which never come out of him. He has silenced his critics who asked him to quit the game. 3 50s, 1 hundred and a duck in last 6 Test innings reflects that he has got his nick back and looks good to carry on even further. Laxman something needs to do to bat well with the tail enders. He has been unable to do so well off late.

All in all it was a good day for India, though it came a bit late. If Gambhir and Tendulkar are able to save one more session then there are very good chances that the Test match would be saved and India would then go for the kill in the final Test from 4/3.

Buch finds Sang support......

Sangakara, the newly appointed SL skipper has given thumbs up to John Buchanan’s flawed theory of 4 captains for KKR. Here is what he rants. My views are inline in red.

"If it's a way to go forward and it shows results, why not? Everyone is looking for the edge to win. If this is going to provide them that in the future, then it's well and good," said Sangakara, who will lead Sri Lanka for the first time in the Twenty20 World Cup in England this June.

"I believe that leadership is always situational. It's a very interesting concept, and I think it's all about using the best man for a specific situation," he told a website.

That’s ridiculous. Captain has got to be unique and the same man doing the job throughout the 40 overs or 100 overs or 450 overs of the 3 formats of the game. That doesn’t mean that say for an example captain in the crisis would be Sangakara and when the team would be good it would be Mahela or say when the things are out of the hands, the skipper would be Mendis. What do you term a situation? What do you make out of a good or bad situation?

"It will be tried and tested, and then you'll find that some people are better at ensuring that bowlers are changed correctly, and someone might be good for field settings,"

If that’s so, then whats your use man? Go blogging or writing when the team needs you to do the above changes. Why captain a game when there is going to be a set of captains ?

"Cricket is evolving. In American football, you have an offence and defense, a defensive coach and an offensive coach. And cricket, going forward, might have to look at itself differently. Things like fielding captains and bowling captains are experimental tactics where teams are trying to find the best way forward in Twenty20.

Ridiculous at its best.

"The traditional idea of one captain doing all the work is never really true.

It has always worked man. For 6 years of T20 cricket, 38 years of ODI cricket and 132 years of Test cricket. And it would always work in the future too. Crazy insane ideas die down soon as they evolve. Greg Chappell ‘s methods and boot camp of John Buchanan are prime example.

"In Sri Lankan cricket, at different times and difficult times, different people step up to lead the side. Also, we've always encouraged a team of leaders who are independent thinkers and who are not afraid to contribute ideas and information on and off the field.

But the blame or the credit has always gone to one single captain. Poor Hashan Tilakratne was kicked out when SL lost to Australia 0-3 in 2004. Arjuna Ranatunga remains the sole World Cup winning captain for Lanka. Mahela Blabberawardhene remains the finalist captain of 07 World Cup. And why is it that if SL had the team of leaders, the team finds itself in a mess in both forms of the game?

That feeding of information, as long as the captain has a clear idea of what to choose and what not to, has been the way we've been trying to nurture our cricketers. So the concept of having many leaders, many thinkers and so-called many captains has already been working in our side for a long time," he said.

We would have been happy to know who are the many captains in your side. May be Chuck as the bowling captain and the chucking captain who teaches spinners to bowl illegally, Vaas as the fast bowling captain, yourself as the keeper captain and Mahela as the blabberer captain J.

"If you have two or three captains operating at the same time on the field with the same players, you can have temperaments clashing, ideas clashing, and there could be an overload of information,"

You contradict yourself dude.

"The players themselves may not know who to turn to or listen to for guidance in the end. So you see a potential for confusion."

So how would you feel when Mendis would turn to Chuck for field change rather than you.

Views put forward by Buchanan are ridiculous and they are nonsense. He was hit by something when he said that utter rubbish quote. That was to undermine the authority of Saurav. No doubt that I am a big fan of Saurav and would always dislike the efforts to cut him down to size. It’s an Indian idea(IPL), an Indian owned side(KKR), you are just a coach and you come here and speak crap about the man(Ganguly) who has scored 19000 runs in international cricket, scored close to 40 centuries and has taken 150 wickets in international cricket. Has captained his side to glory against the side you coached, being the only captain who could challenge Aussies in their prime and beat them in their own game. Perhaps that’s what made you come up with this insane and revengeful idea. You have lost the plot sir. And then there are some loose talkers like Sangakara who is no different in loose talk than his predecessor.

Likes of Mallaya, SRK and the Deccan Chargers CEO who have no idea of international cricket or even the game or have never stepped into the middle for the game play, are now going to decide who is going to captain their side. Who has got the ability to match the achievements of the 3 beleaguered batsmen in iPL as leaders who form the trio of the Fab Four? Even if it’s a IPL, it doesn’t warrant for demeaning the skipper and the Indian icon players. I don’t say this on emotional grounds, but on the grounds of pure cricketing perspective. Board room is different, dressing room is different. The strategies drawn in both rooms have been different.

And it’s a pity that the skipper and ex-skipper of SL team who have been so called better batsmen in Tests, are going to play under Yuvraj Singh in the IPL. And they have been dying to play in IPL, so much so that they refused to represent their country in England tour to be hold during the same time. And trust me, we can never imagine that happening in India. We can’t imagine the likes of MS or the Fab Five (in the past) or even Yuvraj Singh to skip playing for their country for IPL.

Great stuff Sangakara and Mahela. You provide us perfect recipe for laughter.

Good and bad thing about Napier test

Good thing is that the big guns have been in runs. Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman have got runs.

Bad thing is none of them could play a big innings as Ryder, McCullum and Taylor did

Good thing is that Dhoni is now numero Uno captain of India.

Bad thing is that Sehwag isn’t a captaincy material.

Good thing is that Sehwag is batting fluently.

Bad thing is that he is getting out too often cheap when his contributions are needed the most.

Good thing is MS is out of the game, so losing blame won’t be on him.

Bad thing is that he is injured. So the called luck factor is lacking.

Another bad thing is Dancer got in the team………And even worse is he got out on 5.

Dropped 6 catches and got out cheaply. So is he worth being a traveler in the team?

He should be kicked out from the team ASAP.

Bad thing is Yuvraj’s test failures continue. He is no replacement and match for his guru, his mentor and his idol Saurav Ganguly.

From here if we cud draw the game, it would be a great achievement. Kolkata – 01 beckons.

Dancer steps in on the 22 Yards!!

What is the reality show dancer doing in the team ? He is just in cos the captain and the skipper is injured. But how ? Did he step in over the stray ball ? For sure dancer must have been caught napping when said he is to play a Test. His practise for the next dance show would have been hampered. And thats pretty evident in his keeping. Fumbles, drops and dancing steps while passing on the ball. Imagine, when the dancer keeps to the grinning Munafa. Total ghata hi ghata.......

Outrageous move of John Buchanan

If John Buchanan has any doubts over captaincy skills of Saurav Ganguly, then he better remember the 2001, 2003-04 series vs India when he was the coach of the losing Australian team. His idea of multiple captaincy has been outrightly ridiculous and stupid. I would call it obnoxious intentions and naive minded.

First VVS, then Dravid and now Saurav. The demeaning of the greats by this IPL owners and the coaches who are at best obnoxious weeds (Haydos taught me to use this term) is a new trend. And guess who is going to be the next one. Sachin Tendulkar. He could be the next one to be pipped out. But then does anybody have guts to do that ? The day that would happen, the IPL would be curtains forever.

For this stupid idea of Buch, i would for sure conclude that somewhere Shane Warne must be having a hearty laughter. Warne never was a fan of Buchanan's ideas and this one latest from his crooked bag suggests why he was being hated ferociously by Warne who thought that coach is just the one which takes the team off and on the ground!!! Geeeeeeee

Wishlist

My current wishlist :

· A Dravid and Laxman 300 partnership anywhere. Napier would do.

· A Sachin and Sehwag partnership like Multan 04. Napier would do.

· A 5-for for Zaheer and a jelly bean spur for him. May be Jesse Ryder would be most apt person to do that.

· A India vs South Africa Test series, 5 tests in it. India winning it 5-0

· Ashes series as close as 2005. But results in favor of Australia. May be 5-0 but all close fought games. I think it would be a battle of equals…..

· A Veeru double hundred……………….

Not much to ask for right.

Help Needed : Urgent

I have had a old cricket blog : takingstrike.blogspot.com. Few months back, i switched the blogging email id and tried to grant the admin access to my other email id. In the process, i ended up deleting the author and admin access for all my email ids to this blog. Now this blog lies unattended. I cant login there. I triied Google help. Didnt help cos they didnt bother to respond.

Guy, if anyone of you have encountered this situation before and got successful solution, then please please share the way or a pointer to do the same. I would be hugely thank ful to you.

Thanks,

Sam

Paradigam shift

Now that the IPL issue is settled and South Africa get the pie of the plum cake stuffed with glitz, glamour and money, lets get the focus on the immediate goal. That is, the 2nd Test in Napier, NZ vs NZ. A chance for India to win the test series and set a record right. Big money is coming for sure in April, so lets not screw the honor for that.........

Biggest Losers: Current week.

Presenting the topmost losers from the cricketing world on and off the field, something for whom we would have little sympathies. Here I go:

5. Ricky Ponting: had a poor series in South Africa with no big runs coming out of his bat. A bowler scored a Test 100 and a 96, whereas the outspoken captain couldnt even cross 83 after the Wanderers Test.

4. Graeme Smith: Brought back to the earth after a high 2008. Suffered broken hand 2 times, suffered loss of form, lost the games he captained and now he returns to the ODI team injured. Unfortunately his dream of playing ruthless cricket against Aussies failed. His team choked once again when it came to hit the final nail in the coffin for the Aussies to dislodge them from the #1 rankings.

3. PCB : At best a sissy crying baby. Putting more energies in getting the match referees and the umpires banned who spoke of the lax security in Lahore. Almost looks like a beggar now who is going around the world asking the teams to play in Pakistan and then perhaps get attacked....Ijaz Butt being the loose talker.

2. Steve Bucknower: His umpiring howlers against India are well known. Gave a parting shot that BCCI used money power to remove him from the Perth Test, 2008. That could have been as insane statement as his decisions against the Indian batsmen. No wonder he got a blob in the post series assesment in 2003 from the Indian skipper in the Australian series.

1. Joint winners: John Dyson and PC. John Dyson for his horrendous miscalculation which handed England first win of the winter / summer and created a mockery of himself. PC, the minister who kicked the IPL out of the country for his inability to provide the "security" to the glitz of IPL.

Keep the spirits of cricket alive.

IPL is a cricket tamasha, a glitz full of money, bollywood beauties, business tycoons and many other interests. Fair and fine. But then who drives it. All deals said and done, all cheerleaders landed, all Bollywood glitz added. But what will ensure that this stakeholders get their pie ? Is it those owners of the franchisees who are at max gonna jig a leg and dance a two on the themes played on every wkt fall or a boundary being hit? Is it those rich businessmen who are now suddenly finding the senior Indian cricketers worthless and replacing them as skippers of their teams ? Who is the real driver? Fan ? Fan never had a say in the country’s cricket except a few 100 bloggers like us, who dissect every issue and feel its our birth right to criticize or praise anybody. The real driver in my opinion is the cricket player who is going to take the center stage. The real on field action which anyways happens in a ODI, in a Test match and even in a T20I. And so would in IPL. Those players who play against each other in international cricket and with each other, mostly would play together. You get what I want to say right. For 95% of their careers, Sachin, Saurav, Rahul and Anil have played together. Now they would be pitting against each other. Ditto for other countries.

I want to drive to a point where I want to say that even if other ingridients mix with cricket here, the flavor and the rules don’t change in IPL. We would still have same rules in IPL as we have in any T20I. Power plays, innings break, dismissal rules, batting rules are going to be the same. Then why do we say that it’s a cricket tamasha? It is not.

There have been some opinions running which criticize the BCCI for reaching to this mess where the IPL had to be shifted out of the country. Now for example there was going to be a bilateral series in India during elections time, then would the government not allow it to go ahead. Or does the government want to say that it would hold elections and deploy all forces in execution of elections, but it wont protect the common citizen during those times? Will that also mean that the criminals and other hooligans will have gala time when there would be less or no control over them as police force and other forces would be busy in elections. Or god forbid, if there is a terror attack in some part of country, then government wont send its forces in that part? Will the logic of government hold true even then ? Nobody says that elections are more important than IPL. They are 2 mutually exclusive agendas. In 1999 elections didn’t NZ tour India and nothing untoward happened? Didn’t in 1989 the Nehru cup and elections went off smoothly? And for that matter in 1984, the English tour and the assassination of Mrs Indira Gandhi followed by the elections? Agreed that IPL is massive event, but then isn’t the government washing off its hands in providing the security to the sporting event? Isnt its responsibility to safeguard every living person in its area of control? Or is it going to feel that once the elections are announced, its influence and responsibilities shrink ?

If IPL has shifted out of country, nobody has any problems with it. Smooth execution of elections is always a priority. And it would decide whom we chose to rule us for next 5 years. But then isn’t it our duty to look to what message is being sent to the world? That we are incapable of providing security to our own countrymen? Doesn’t that give a cane fodder to the forces to point finger on India? 2011 World Cup is due in India and that year would see elections mostly in Bengal and Tamil Nadu. This 2 states have the premier cricket grounds in the country – Chennai and Kolkata, each of them worthy of holding a world cup final. So wont government provide security to the matches being held in this 2 cities in the World Cup or would then also the government say – take the world cup out of the country?

It’s the demand of time that we look at the elections and the IPL with a bit of liberal mindset and not try to score political victories over the opponents. God forbid, if something untoward happens during cricket in India, the only untarnished thing in the country would be destroyed. Cricket after all, is the common uniting force in the country divided over region, religion, caste, food habits etc etc.

Let the cricket triumph.

Politics behind IPL.

Is it the real reason that the government was unable to provide the security to the IPL ? Or it is something different. Let me probe:

Here are few things to ponder.

1. Lalit Modi has just lost the RCA elections to the state government nominee. Not that it would affect his power and stature in the BCCI and IPL. But for sure some petitions and court cases would come up against him. And they have come up. Its a puppet who rules the state government in Rajasthan.

2. Mr P Chidambaram, the honorable Home minister, the only shining star of this useless government has decided to up the ante on IPL by publicly discouraging it. I have been vocal on this. He has created an impression that India is an unsafe state to play cricket in. And we have been crippled by cross border terrorism. Rather than saying that come what may we wont let it affect our country and iPL, he went ahead and said I am a useless minister. Cannot provide security to the IPL. So does he feel that the 11/26 masters wont be listening / reading his statements and laughing ? God forbid if this public ugly row might create another opportunity for them.

3. The UPA state governments ruled out security, more shamelessly the maharashtra DGP. Assholes. They were caught napping during 11/26. And now they are just using IPL as an excuse to hide their monumental failure. Sad to see cricket being victimised in a state which is hostile, intolerant and ridiculously known to have its own anthem and agenda.

4. And the most horrendous intention of Mrs Sonia Gandhi. She is the most powerful political person in the country. The PM, VP and Prez are her puppets. Long back in 1999, mr Sharad Pawar had sabotaged the plans of Mrs Gandhi to be PM by citing her foreign origin as a show stopper. Unfortunately Mr Pawar got his way. After that Mr Pawar was kicked out. He formed another regional party and now he harbors the ambitions of being a PM in ruling UPA govt in the upcoming elections, something which Mrs Gandhi would never allow. He is BCCI macho man. Hurting him was the motive. And IPL was the biggest chance for Sonia and company to hurt Mr Pawar. She was successful. Point to note here is, the PM didnt speak a bit on this. All talking was done by Mr Bong and PC, the Anna.

5. MP, Guj, HP governments gave go ahead to IPL in their states. This states are ruled by the BJP, the principal opposition party and a power hopeful in this elections.

Now the question is will Pakistan government headed by Mr 10% allow its players to play in IPL, now that security wont be an issue. This is another fact that his own millitary and intelligence wing over which he has no control plotted 11/26 and 3/3. And thanks to this useless Indian government, the world now knows that Indian homeland is unsafe to play cricket in. Amazing isnt it.

Vote politics man. IPL is not kicked out for the lack of security,but for the vote politics. The very same reason for no action on 11/26 terrorists, the 08 serial blasts in different parts of country accused, the 7/11 accused and of course the 01 Parliament attack accused.

Sick sick !!

IPL thrown out of India.

So IPL is not Indian Premier League. Its going to be International Premier League. Security issues resolved. India doomed to be an unsafe country to play cricket in. And by whom ? By the same government who has done nothing to nab the 11/26 culprits and now it has gone publicly in accepting that it is unable to provide security to the premier cricket tournament of the country.

Wow. So wots now going to be the home and away venue for each of the 7 teams ? And what about the players from the country where the IPL would be hosted ? No cultural hassles, no crying over the cheerleader wardrobe, no cries on killing culture and stuff like that.

I guess Maharashtra's inability to host the games was a trigger to push IPL out of the country. Maharashtra, the famous state of country which is increasingly hostile to the people from other states within country, blows the trumpet on the IPL. The Congress government has been ridiculously quiet on 11/26. Its foreign minister has been shippishly grinning in a heavy Bong ascent about the culprits being booked. But the government gives no assurance to the country that it is safe. Thanks to elections, it has given a message to the world that India is not safe.

You see it first here on the entire blogsville. IPL now wont be held in India. Where exactly, thats not known. Its not going to be in India, certainly not in Swat and Talibanistan, may be in England and South Africa. But is cricket important here or the money from the stakeholders ? Is money being the driving force here ?

PC would be grinning with happiness. His ego would have been bolstered. Sharad Pawar, the BCCI macho man and union minister would now go and say to PC in Deewar ishtyle:

SP : "PC, khush to bahut honge tum. Yeh sir jo aaj tak kisi board ke aage nahi jhuka, yeh sir jo ICC ke samne bhi nahi jhuka, yeh aaj tumhare samne sir jhooka ke khada hai"

PC: " Mere paas force hai, mere paas home ministry hai, mere paas government hai, mere paas Soniaji ka Aashirwaad hai. Mere paas green signal dene ki kabiliyat hai. Tere paas kya hai"

SP: " Mere paas ICC hain"

PC : "But manjuri mere haath me hain".

Lessons worth Duck learning from Lewis.....Dyson makes a mock of himself....

Misreading the D/L method gave me two lessons:

1. Don’t block the last ball. Even if you think that you are ahead of the target and if in reality you aint, hit the last ball for a six or a four. That would seal the deal. Else you would lose your captaincy and the youngest chap in your team would take over the captaincy. If you are a keeper you would be dropped. And come back after a shock or two. Also you are thrown out of your own world cup. Making it 2 in a row.

2. And don’t accept the light even if your coach threatens to kill you. Its you the batsman in the middle who gotta decide the lights to be taken or not. You are a batsman and you rule the game. Rules of the game are in your favor. Use them. Let the coach go to hell. Anyway he would now go to a hell. And if you do accept the light, but ask the bowler to a bowl a ball and hit it to maximum so that you are ahead of the D/L target. If you are too behind, hang in there. Continue playing. Better to go down with a fight than meekly walking off the field.

What next is to follow owing to the continuation of farcical D/L rule in rain affected games ?

No Sehwag opening ?

Its Dravid who is opening and not Sehwag ? Why ? Was he off the field ? What ?

Polishing the tail off

Some things never change. Be it change of guard. Old, new or older teams. We just cant polish the tail off. Sydney 03, Chennai 04, Mohali 05, Hamilton 02, NZ 98 are prime examples.....And this one is a glaring example. 8/199 to 262/8. Or precisely 7/161 to 8/262....

Munaafa ya Ghata ?

There is just no variation. Just 3 kinda balls:

1. Sliding down the leg side
2. Just outside off stump
3. Too far outside off stump

The first one is milked for runs down the leg side giving easy singles. Second one either is left on and or just left away. When it swings a bit inside, the lbw appeal is turned off. The third one is hit for fours..

He has got wkts. 5 of them so far. So he stays. In Napier he would be the 11th man on the team sheet. No bouncers, no slower uns, no aggressive looks, same lax attitude, sheepish grin.

IPL should be off

Call off the IPL-2 for lack of security forces, but for god sake don’t project India in cricketing world as an unsafe country to play cricket in. Its ridiculous this dumb politicians don’t understand this who are making a mountain of what is not even a molehill. Don’t say a word in public on ability or inability to provide security to the IPL games.

Hundred no 42 for GOD.

Take a bow. Take a bow. Take a bow.



Test match hundred no 42.



GOD strikes his authority again..........



Take a bow. Take a bow. My morning made. Up at 3 am just for this moment. Ek lamha khushi ka. Ek lamha zindagi ka.

Losing the momentum away

Just when it seemed Tendulkar and Yuvraj combo is batting NZ out of the game, Yuvraj Singh falls to a no shit sorry shot. Losing the momentum away. And MS almost edges. We need a 100+ lead to win. Get that guys.

Hamilton Test, Day 2 and Sreesanth's injury

It was a day expected to be India’s dominance. Unfortunately losing Sehwag in earlier part of play was a dampener. Not only did it slow down the Indian run rate, but also put the match in a bit of balance. Theoretically with the batting to come India looks to have an edge, but a quick wicket or 2 tomorrow morning could still turn the Kiwis back in the game. That’s the difference between Sehwag staying to make a 50+ or near 100 score. There were some solid contributions from Gambhir and Dravid who now looks the one of the yore but they threw the towel when they looked good to bat longer and bat NZ out of the game. Dravid was bowled to the blogger and Gambhir edged one to keeper off Martin. It was good to see Dravid getting the confidence which reflected in his batting. He was looking the Dravid of 2006 until the WI tour. Gambhir now is 0.02 short of a 50 average in the Tests. He has been a remarkable opener in his 2^nd innings as Test batsman. He has looked defensive when needed, taken a back seat when Sehwag goes on fire, takes the faster route when a new batsman comes in and when the onus is on him to up the run rate. The flexibility he has shown is tremendous.

Once Dravid and Gambhir were dismissed, Sachin and Laxman slowed down the things. And that was beyond the comprehension. NZ bowling was disciplined at its best and by no means it was better than Aussie or English attack, against whom we have won 3 Tests out of 6. That was where the team lost the chance to go past 300 and take a lead.

Sachin was circumspect. And Laxman was slow starter as usual. Once they had done all the hard work, Laxman lost it to the new ball. That was one opportunity for NZ to claw back in the game. And that’s where the senior most pro in the world cricket’s experience came into picture. Sachin Tendulkar then cut loose and score 30 off 29 balls to steer India close to a 1 run deficit and in process score a precious 50. My superstition about his batting prevents me to write something important about him right now. Yuvraj is the man in now. Pitch tomorrow would be the best to bat on. And if this duo can score another 60-80 runs with some useful contribution from lower order, the lead could go to 150ish, then India could be in a position to win this Test match if they bat well. And that would reverse the trend of past where we lost the opening Test and thus the momentum sans SA 2006.

And I am hopeful Indian batsmen won’t get a whiff of SL or Pak or WI or Eng batsmen to bat on and on. I presume MS and GK want to win the test and not be content with the draw. That would be a change from the earlier tours.

Meanwhile Sreesanth has been ruled out of the IPL for 3 months owing to a stress fracture. He would now get a chance to jig his leg and rock n roll for his IPL team’s mentor and face something community. So he won’t be now facing trouble in dancing despite a stress fracture, but yes he would feel the pinch in playing the game which made him what he is. Amazing trait this guys. This kids just need to learn from their seniors how to deal with the fame and instant success. Dravid has said he felt really good today and that augurs well for the Indian Test cricket future. The trends recently have shown that he and other senior pros are needed. The so called young bunch isn’t ready as well. And the replacements of the veteran spinner Anil Kumble aint ready to replace his boots now and for good. He was one of his style. And there would be none like him ever again in India.

Day 3 would make or break the Indian future in this crucial Test series for the country. For now India seem to be a bit ahead with session scoreline 4.5 – 1.5.

Security fears!!

Sri Lanka needs a security report from IPL to be able to release its contracted players to IPL. Fair enough. They had that unfortunate attack on them. But then did they forget they are going to India which is not a SL or a Pakistan, which is not terror strife unless stuck from outside. Did they forget that India is as safe as any other country in the world. Touchwood. Of course untill....

Thats what a public row between IPL and the government does. An imaginary fear being cast in the minds of countries which themselves are unsafe to play in. Yet they come and ask for security clearence. Did India ask for the same thing every time they went in the Emerald Isle gripped with the civil war. 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006 (SA chickened out, India stayed back), 2008, 2009. Not a single time Indians went ahead and asked for security cover. Sachin and Saurav have been on target lists of the terror groups. Yet Indians didnt create any fuss.

Voice of Colombo for sure would have something nasty to say out here.

India Vs NewZealand 1st Test Review

So the much anticipated Test series began in New Zealand. Many firsts for this series. First for India without Anil Kumble. First overseas Test series as captain for MS. And stuff like that. And the scoreline would suggest that it was a balanced day for both the teams given the fact that Indians dominated the first session, Kiwis the second and it was kinda half half in the 3^rd. 1.5 – 1.5. But a further read into the batting lineup India has and the bowling lineup Kiwis have, India might still have a slight edge over the Kiwis. And that’s a refreshing change over long time. Indians have been a slow starter lot and more so on the foreign tour. England 07, Australia 07 and SL 07 is a prime bunch of the series which proves the same fact, if we decide not to go too past for the confirmation.

With that kind of history, it was refreshing to see Kiwis at 6/60 whereas we were used to see Indians having that kind of scoreline in earlier tours even with Fab Four around. Today it was a bold decision by MS to bowl first given the overcast conditions and the new ball attack he has. And it did pay off in the first session at least when India had Kiwis on the mat. It was left to Danny boy and wild child to recover from the lump and go to a respectable score of 279. 186 of those runs were added by this 2, which they say is a new record for the bilateral series between this 2 sides. Danny boy now averages 41 in no 8 and now is the best bat of the team besides being the skipper and best bowler too with 286 wkts. Jesse had a memorable debut with polished 102 against a team he is fast learning to torment.

India’s track record of giving a unknown player to emerge star against it just doesn’t go away. Ryder is the latest in that list. Dravid equalized the record for most catches and very soon he would overcome it. He should go on to pocket 200 catches provided his bat still milks the runs. Zaheer was left 1 wkt short of 200. And Tendulkar became the 2^nd highest Test player leaving Allan Border behind. He would go on till 159 at the end of the series. Hadn’t he missed the 11 Tests for injury, today he would have became the highest test playing player with 168 alongside Tugga.

Getting in Munaf was a bold choice and though he did take 3 wkts, his criticism won’t fade away unless he doesn’t get over his lax attitude.

It was a refreshing change from the boring Test cricket we saw in Caribbean and Pakistan. Perhaps Sri Lanka needs to see how Test match is being played. Thank GOD there were no long batting sessions. I bet India won’t look forward to play slow and boring cricket tomorrow. India should look forward to bat for 4 more sessions and score around 400-450 runs to avoid batting long in the 4^th innings. Sehwag and Danny boy would be the key in tomorrow’s first session.

Jesse Ryder

Jesse Ryder is the new Chris Cairns for India. He tormented in the ODIs. Now he is doing it in the Tests too. The chubby kid has an average of 60 now (0.89 less). Boy, is he the next big thing for New Zealend ?

Team for 1st Test : Very obvious.

Starting XI for 1st test tomorrow:

1. Sehwag
2. Gambhir
3. Dravid
4. Tendulkar
5. VVS
6. Yuvraj
7. MS
8. Harbhajan
9. Zaheer
10. Ishant
11. Balaji

3-1 rather than 2-2. Balaji is best of the insipid lot of 3. Get him. get that smiling assasin back. Can he do the magic ?

17 March in history

A day when Lankans won the world cup out of nowhere in Lahore, Pakistan in 1996

A day when Sunil Gavaskar bowed out of test cricket with a magical 96 in losing cause against Pakistan in Bangalore in 1987.

A day when India was humbled by Bangladesh in WC' 07. Indian cricket's worst day. Cant remember that black saturday again. Oodi baba. No. Media went berserk. Rest is history.

A day when Pakistan were thumped by Ireland in WC'07. Next day the team lost its coach Bob Woolmer to mysterious death. Murder or natural, nobody would ever know.

Bad day bad day. Just for one reason. Indians lost in WC'07. 9 days later they bowed out of the world cup after loss to SL.

CT hosts, IPL trouble and World T20s.

South Africa are yet again to host an ICC event. This time its champions trophy. Alright they are very good hosts and Indians are very lucky there. They won the world T20 there and almost won the WC 2003. Going by the signs of the history and the form, they should back themselves to win the CT 09 too. But my point of contention is why does ICC not have to look beyond South Africa and Sri Lanka for the venues to host the CT ? Why not Australia ? They have the best cricket grounds and the best cricketing commentary. And I presume there would be no intrusion of non-cricketing elements in Australia. The fun and frolic that you get to see in MCG, SCG, Gabba and Waca is unmatched. Add to that the commentary from Bill Lawry, Ian Chappell, Ian Healy and of course Tony Greg.

I mean why it has to be SA every time. Or why a SL ? England is already hosting the World T20 for this year. I also read somewhere that West Indies would be hosting the T20 for next year. Wasn’t it supposed to be a 2 year gap between 2 World T20s. Am I missing something here ?

And it seems that the IPL is not gonna be hosted in India this year thanks to the petty row between the ruling Congress government and the BCCI. What is Mr Sharad Pawar doing ? He is a minister in the same government and the powerful man (?) in BCCI. Plus there is Rajeev SHukla, who is BCCI VP and a Congress MP. What are they doing ? Are the doubts on IPL security being based really on the Parliamentary elections or is it just a fallout of the Lahore attack on SL ? Aint Indian government scaring off the foreign teams and players by making the security row a public affair? Doesn’t the PC (home minister) and his officials understand that they don’t have to do this? This is getting farcical day by day. Time for somebody to back off and pull the plug. Either take IPL to Pakistan or scrap it off totally. By scraping IPL, the govt would also rob the Indians of the only platform to go to defense of their world T20 title.

Munaf

I have been a critic of Munaf Patel since my old cricket blog days (Taking Strike). I just baffle to see him grin when he is being hit for four or a six or when he misfields or throws a wild throw down the boundary. He had pace then, he has none now. He was exciting then, he is ridiculous now. He gets injured at drop of hat. He lacks intent, he lacks positive attitude. He hasn’t performed in ages. He is a medium slow bowler like Mohinder Amarnath or a Dion Nash. Even Jesse Ryder would bowl faster than Patel or for that matter our own Tendulkar and Yuvraj. He hasn’t taken wickets. He hasn’t lasted a full tour. What’s that he has it in him that he finds himself in the playing XI every time ? Ishant Sharma is being milked for runs in ODIs but yet he takes wickets.

What bad has Ajit Agarkar done ? Get him back. He is still 3^rd highest wicket taker for India in ODIs. 12 short of 300. He has attitude, he goes for runs, but is game for bending the back. Or get Balaji. If you need a bowler who bowls at 130 then whats wrong with him ? Or for that matter get Sreesanth back. He should have got his punishment for his activities. Get him. But dump Munaf. I second you SP.

Stop begging guys!!

Is he an idiot or a helper of terrorist groups in Swat area of what they call good Taliban ?

http://cricket.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India-should-come-forward-to-help-Pakistan-cricket/articleshow/4266753.cms

Messrs Kamran Akmal. Yeah right. We help them and they send 10 perpators to Mumbai to ......

SL agree to tour them and their team is attacked.

Chris Broad speaks out against poor security in Pak for 3/3 and he is being filed for a ban by great Ijaz Butt and Javed Miandad whose son has married Dawood Ibrahim daughter, Mumbai's most.........

We have IPL coming up in 25 days time, there is an ugly row in public between Home ministry, state govts and IPL. And bang on time Naseem Ashraf, the fly who was thrown out post General era in Pakistan, speaks that terrorists would target players in India!!

Bloody hell who sends terrorists to India ? GOD sent or Pakistan sent ? Or non-state actors ? Time for Pakistanis to stop begging Indians for help. Indians wont and shouldnt help a country which binges on terror and nourishes terror and goes soft on it.

Questions galore

This performance wasn’t something which would tag this team as the best ever. Especially when it came to giving away the momentum before the real cricket begins March 18^th. Anyways its curtains for the so called youth brigade and time for MEN to take the center stage and show the Kiwis and the so called young brigade what it is to represent the country all about. Move away Raina and Sharma, here cometh Rahul and VVS. Yes this sounds intimidating. Veeru and Gambhir to open, Dravid and Tendulkar to follow. VVS and Yuvraj to consolidate, Dhoni to interface between the middle order and the tail enders. Zaheer and Bhajji are decent bats too. Ishant can swipe the bat and he is good damn with the ball. That for me is the team to be.

Falling prey to a dibbly dobbly bowler in Jesse Ryder isn’t the performance of best ever. Woops no. No no no. Once Sachin was out to injury and the Sehwag storm was calmed down, nobody bothered to stay back and play the long innings. Perhaps dead rubber is seeming to be a problem now. It happened in SL in 08, 09 and now here in NZ. Something gotta be seen from the messrs Kirsten and MSD.

Why a public show of security ?

The politics over IPL schedule is ridiculous. Attacks in Pakistan has made us a bit jittery and cautious. But then why is it being discussed openly in public ? Doesn’t that give the perpetors of the 11/26 another chance to plot something fishy ? Our government is a jackasss, its well known. It just doesn’t know how to do all this internally without much fuss. It sends a very wrong signal to the world that we are an unsafe country, we are not.

John Wright

John Wright is being humble in saying that Gary Kirsten is better India coach than himself. The rankings perhaps would be decided later when Kirsten leaves. But the hard work on the core group of today’s Indian team was done over by John and Saurav with inputs from Rahul, Sachin and Anil. And for that John’s contribution would never be forgotten.

Havin missed 2 of the most explosive innings.

It’s a pity that I missed two of the year’s most explosive innings played by my 2 of the most favorite batsmen in the present Indian squad for ODIs. Sachin Tendulkar ‘s 163 and Virender Sehwag ‘s 125*. And blame all of this to the crazy schedule I have been going through in the office. Perhaps my project seems more like Pakistan cricket. More I try to fix it, more worse it gets. So I can be called Ijaz Butt. Could be but one without loose tongue or penchant for verbal and literal diarrhea. I can very well relate the project issues to the issues baffling Pakistan cricket, but I would do that when I get home. With a possible 4-0 or 3-1 drubbing in ODIs for NZ, a 2-0 or 3-0 win for India in Tests seem all the way a very strong possibility. Add Dravid and Laxman in place of Raina and Pathan. Boy!!!

Aussies prevail.

Australia had it. The ranking was preserved. Not that it mattered to its fans. But it did to its critics. And yes critics were floored again as were the Saffers. Saffers just don’t have in it them to maintain a consistent run to beat the top notch teams. Win against Aussies in 2 games and then falling flat 3 times in row. That just sparked Aussies. And perhaps that means the end of road for the likes of Roy and Shane Watson for now. The likes of Hughes, North, Siddle and McDonald have provided a spark to the team which was lacking in India and the home season. They are the future stars of the Australian cricket and would have a long Test careers ahead of them. The stars of the Aussie triumph – JPD, Steyn, Amla, Morkel and Smith, all faded out. Kallis was never a match winner. He never had that fear imbibing quality in opposition team in him.

Australia had rookies, Saffers had so called best attack in the world, which just chickened out in its own home yard. Johannesburg is now the Perth for Saffers. 2 consecutive Test losses for them on the ground. There is one more test to go and doesn’t matter if Australia lose. They showed it to the world that they rule the world and it was also displayed huge words the only team that can take them on is India. India and South Africa won series against them this season. But then Saffers have lost 3 tests, winning 2. India has won 2 and lost none. They have now won 3 in last 5 tests and drew 2. That proves once more the worthy contenders for Test top spot is India. And there is no qualms in that. Rankings doesn’t matter here. Win or lose, India would always remain the best bet to beat Aussies now.

Ponting ’s real test would start now in his ability to lead the team through the transition. It won’t be possible for them to win every Test they play as they did before, but if they could even achieve 60% of their earlier success, they would be happy to enter the transition phase.

Bryan Coverdale puts this perspective very gently here

3rd pacer and best Indian lineup

If Ishant Sharma is not fit then 3rd pacer is a problem for India. So its better to go pick better batsman out of the 2 lesser bowlers. And thats where Irfan Pathan scores over inept sedate Munaf Patel. He is a bit of mole who doesnt get in his mind that he is got to bowl some pace or some variation and not just off stump line with 120 kmph which would be whacked to the boundary.

And guess what Rohit Sharma would make a comeback. Bloody ridiculous. And Sachin felt this was the best batting line up he ever had ? Did he forget Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid ? Replace Raina with Saurav and Pathan with Rahul, there you go the best batting line up India ever had. 2003 World cup. Yes Saurav gets it right. Mentioning fact is one thing and motivating the team is other thing.

Good opportunity for India to win the series tomorrow. But thats possible when the replacement for 163 works.

IPL and Boycott issue.

Travor Baliyss

Murali

Vaas

Chris Broad

Simon Davis

Go boycott and get all this individuals banned PCB. They have said something or the other against the Pakistan cricket. So its against the interests of Pakistan cricket, even if it means some truth and has some value to it. After all the question comes, who all is Pakistan Board going to get banned ? Rather than this boycott / ban activities, the PCB should apologize to SL and the world cricket community for the unfortunate incident in Lahore and tender an apology to India for forming an image in the world that India too is unsafe for cricket. That’s not true. Cricket is safe in India. Until of course……

And those guys who are having apprehensions about playing IPL or international cricket in India should back out. They should not go ahead and place wrong facts in the media about the unfortunate bomb blasts that happened in Jaipur last year during IPL. If this individuals think that security is an issue, it’s better for them to return the money to the franchises and back out. Likes of Pieterson, Stephen Fleming, Duncan Fletcher and now Martin Crowe. Yes Jacob Oram too. Guys, do what your erstwhile generation did. Guys like Ian Botham, David Gower and Richard Hadlee hardly toured India in their playing days. Its other thing that first 2 travel for media commentary purposes now. Stephen Fleming has got a lucrative coach cum player contract with Chennai Super Kings. Yet he holds opinion that Indian leagues hamper the Kiwi cricket. Nobody forced the likes of Lou Vincent, Hamish Marshall , Daryl Tuffey and of course Shane Bond followed by retired stars like Harris and Cairns to go to ICL. They went on their own. And current Kiwi players have got lucrative representation. Dan Vettori is with Delhi, Ross Taylor is with Bangalore, Oram is with Chennai, Mcullum is with Kolkata and of course Fleming with Chennai.

And if biggies fail or don’t come to IPL, its not that the IPL would loose its sheen. Even if there was no foreign representation in IPL, the crowds would have come in. For that matter, the fiercest rivals the country has are not coming due to their own imaginary security problems. Which Pakistani player has ever been attacked in India ? On the contrary the victorious team in Chennai’ 09 got a standing ovation when they won by 12 runs despite Tendulkar classic of 136. So IPl has been a victim of inter country politics and also the victim of nonsense Indian politics where the home minister questioned the schedule and then the ruling UPA states ruled out the security to IPL in public. On the same hand Mr Modi, the Gujrat CM promised the security and may be that’s the reason, the city of Ahmedabad is hosting the IPL games. Well the Ahmedabad is Karachi of India or SSC of India where the wicket is damn flat and the most scorching draws have been earned there in this country barring the SA loss.

So the stern message is if you want to play in IPL in India for all its glitz, glamour and cash, come be part of it and win the hearts. We would give you all the adulation, love and shower flowers. But don’t speak a bit on the security issue on India cos its not an issue. 11/26 wasn’t an internal thingie, it was done by outside elements. So that doesn’t make India an unsafe country to play in. And if you don’t want to play in India for IPL, then just return the cash you got and shut your mouth off. Security situation in Pakistan or Bangladesh or Sri Lanka or for that matter USA is not related to India.

No Indian cricketer has ever said about the mugging events that happen in South Africa. Johannesburg and CapeTown are murder capitals of the world, yet Indians mingle with the migrant population whenever they tour the country. No Indian cricketer complained about the ethnic violence that happens in Sri Lanka. Their job is to go and play the cricket. Either they are in, or they are not in. We haven’t heard of security comments in public in full media glare from the Indian cricketers. IPL doesn’t need foreign cricketers. It’s the foreign cricketers who need IPL. So when they want to enjoy the booty, they should do it with their mouth shut. Else we will be forced to ask Ijaj Butt and Javed Miandad to go and file complaints against them in ICC and BCC!.

Tendulkar : GOD

What a man. Hundred no 43. Keep going sir. Hats off. ** LONG BOWS**. You rock. You are GOD of batting. Last time he hit a 100 in an ODI, India won a CB series first time in Australia. Today if India wins then he would take India to first series in NZ almost.

Whadda man. Whadda GOD. You made my day sir. Sachinnnnnnnn song never got so louder as it is in last 20 years. Imperious.

Making amends ?

I just hope nobody in NZC or the ex-cricketers gang say that NZ dished out flat batting tracks to India in pressure of BCCI to amend the 2002 mistake J. Nobody would prefer giving the matches in dish and platter with the toppings to the opposition. If India is racing away to big score and has rattled Kiwis in last Power Play then well its kudos to the batsmen India has. And then Kiwis yet have to get their skipper on to bowl. Why is he holding back ? Alright that apart, I m missing the fun watching. I am sitting in the office working even on Sunday J

BTW Happy Women day to the female bloggers on cricket. Have a good one.

Whatta Test match

Australia bowled out for 352 from 4/303. In reply Saffers realing at 4/6. Smith retired hurt, virtually that’s 4. That’s superb Test cricket by Australia. Who said they would be losers.

Captain Imperious...

Scores yet another 100..........5th one in the season. But would he be able to inspire his team to a series and pride saving win ?

Andrew Strauss and England are the contentious bones here.

Between the two tours 2002 and 2009

Dravid gets a 100.

Sehwag fires yet again. Tendulkar gets his groove back.

India is back to being unstoppable on the field. 2 T20 defeats seem far behind. The unperforming party boys are out. Yuvraj is back to SL 08 form. Time for him to get the groove before Mar 18. Thats the real Test.

You can say that the pitches now are flat, slow, whatever. Pitches are batting friendly. As they were not in 2002. That was one sided contest when neither side could claim to be superior over other. The team which won the toss, won the game in albeit every match.

What followed in 2002 was a grand 2003 World Cup run. And youngsters of that team are now the star performers of the current ODI team. Sehwag, Gambhir (2003), Yuvraj, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Dhoni (2004) form the crux of the team. Tendulkar continues to be the frontline batsman in both forms of the game.

No young player, supposedly young player or read batsman has been able to make a mark in past 3 years. Raina, well he is inconsistent. Rohit Sharma, well less said the better. What Ganguly did to the team in 2001-05 and then Rahul Dravid from 2005-07, the results are visible right now.

Flexibility was the keyword in Chappell era too as is in Kirsten age, but then flambuoyance is the difference. The ex-coach was dominant and fiery. He was least secretive of all. Kirsten is happy being laidback, his results say it all. He played against most of the team members of this team untill 2004. And now he is back coaching them. And best part is, everybody speaks in high respect for him.

Thats the difference. And the presence of senior players inspires Indians. Not like the neibhours where they are accused and thrown out. And thats the difference between the 2 teams.

A pity that 2nd ODI was washed out. And nobody knows if we would have even single 5o over game in the series.

Sissy Babies...

Javed Miandad has to say this:

"I made it clear at the meeting to the Chairman (Ejaz Butt) that we must demand a ban on Broad for his remarks which are aimed at isolating Pakistan cricket. When he came for the one-day series with Sri Lanka he was satisfied with the security. But despite my insistence then he had said he could not comment on the security publicly as the ICC didn't allow match officials to give statements. Yet he had no problems making fun of the security and our brave policemen at a news conference on returning home,"

Tauqir Zia has to say this:

"He has tried to damage Pakistan cricket's image with his criticism about the security arrangements. How can he make these remarks when six policemen lost their lives trying to protect the visiting team and officials”.

And the ever affable Izaj Butt has to say this:

"The council agreed that we need to review the security plan which is implemented for visiting teams and to beef it up further. But everyone admitted it is going to take some time and convincing by the board to get teams to tour Pakistan again.

Saying this the esteemed personalities of Pakistan cricket forgot that their reputation has nullified and today no sane person wants to tour their country for cricket. Noone knows from where the terror would strike. And when Broad, Murali and Taufel said that security was lax, then there has got to be some truth in it. And if rather than working with the govt to fix the security issues, this high profile gentlemen spend their time to get their team boycott Broad, then they would just fool themselves and dent the Pakistan cricket even further. PCB has been acting like a sissy child whose candy has been robbed forcibly (read terrorists). And this one example provides the same instance of the crying act.

Strong start for Australia in Durban Test

Alright, its just 3^rd session in play for the Durban Test. But its already 2-0 for Australia and I am on course of a victory here on my bet for an Aussie series win. The score right now 2/234 perhaps shows which side the momentum is and even a 1-4 defeat in ODIs after the Sydney win hasn’t dented the Aussie juggernaut in Tests at least now. Hughes might just have edged Jacques and may be Warner from the opening slot in all forms of the game. Good start to the kid’s career with a duck, match winning 50 and perhaps the series winning 100. He came true to the words of Tugga (Steven Waugh) that Hughes would make good opener in the international cricket. Perhaps that has revived Aussie fortunes from the sluggish days of Haydos in home series. The opening starts have again raced back to 100s and perhaps 200s. Middle order has started coming good, though its too early to say anything for now. Hussey is hurting the Aussie fortunes, but then who knows he might click sometime soon too.

Pyschological edge

If anything that indicates where the so called psychological edge lies in the 2^nd ODI tomorrow is this:

Last 5 ODIs India have won 4 and lost one.

Last 5 ODIs NZ have lost 3, won 1 and had 1 no-result. The solitary win came 4 matches ago. Since then they have lost 3 and no result in 1.

And the last 4 ODI wins for India haven’t come in friendly home conditions.

Gully cricket epitomes Indian cricket

Why should IPL not be played after the attack in Pakistan ? Why should we put our cricket on stake ? Is India too an unsafe country to play cricket in ? Perhaps answer lies in the cricket games that go on and on in the country when riots happen and curfew is imposed. Gully cricket can never get better than here anywhere.

Tounge in Cheek.

It is very easy now to just say 'let's stop going to Pakistan'. "But we need the support of the international cricket community. We can still hold international matches. Terrorists have tried to hit cricket targets in other countries as well." – Wasim Bari.

Some checks and balances her Wasim Bari sir. World cricket is still with Pakistan cricket. Only thing they are saying is we won’t tour Pakistan. There are many other venues which could act as home venues for Pakistan series, but then PCB would need to drop their million dollar ego and opt for those venues. The natural venues like Sharjah, Abu Dhabi or even India if you want. Entire 2008, PCB didn’t opt for the alternate venue and as a result the team didn’t play a single test. Now it’s the time to go and hunt for home venue and host the games there. May be shift your domestic cricket to those venues too. That’s the only way Pakistan cricket can stay alive. Else the verdict is out. Forget the fact that any team would tour Pakistan for next few years. And unfortunately we in India would also face some unease before every series begins just cos of the mindless (too less a word) attacks yesterday. Being in HR, such kind of statement puts your tongue in cheek sir. Try and avoid making such statements.

Get well soon TS

Life and cricket are great levelers. In this case pretty unfortunate though lucky in a way. One day you hit a consecutive double hundred and the next day you lie in an ambulance being operated for a leg injury caused by shrapnel hit out of the terror attack. Thilan Samarweera is the man in contention here. Unfortunate becos he got hit by the shrapnel. Lucky in a way cos it was a minor injury. Nobody would like to have that kind of destiny. Wish you a speedy recovery Thilan.

MS speaks his mind

Was this attack meant to be on Team India when it would have toured Pakistan ? Something which nobody said, was said candidly by MS in NZ in post match confrence. No team wud ever like to go to Pakistan and he was happy to not go to Pakistan. At least he speaks his mind without bothering what romantics wud feel or what heck people would think.

Terror hits cricket.

Alright. I am a cricket fanatic. Its life for me. I breathe it, I live it. It healed me in my tormented times i encountered in 24 years of watching the game. But never before i felt so empty to witness something like this.

a cricket team was attacked. Bloody hell a team was conscipiciously attacked. A team that tours a country bereft with the terror which is home grown and bred in the bloody valleys of the country. And its attacked. The team that agrees to tour Pakistan when no other country is even ready to listen to the pleas of PCB is attacked. And attacked with grenades, rocket launchers and kalashnikov rifles. 6 poor policemen lost their lives.

Cricket has lost its relevance in Pakistan. No team would ever and should tour pakistan. Ok the rage might not be as same as it was during 11/26, but then its a direct attack on a team. as news reports suggest the terrorists had plans to hostage the cricketers. And 12 men for 15 people ? Doesnt it suggest a deep long planning ?

Pakistan should say good bye to cricket. Ask ICC to ban it from touring country. Ridiculous to see PCB and other cricketers pleading other teams to visit them ? For this ? For getting killed for game of cricket ? By terrorists nourished by ISI and Pakistan military. Alright this is not political blog, but I wont hold back. I am not politically correct person and i dont write to win friends. Other bloggers would not echo the obvious, but i wont hold back.

We had 11/26 emanating out of Pakistan. Now we have 3/3 happening in the breeding ground of terrorism. Terrorism in Pakistan is a threat to the world. Most to India. Do whatever guys in your own country. But bloody hell dont target others. Do whatever on jihaad or whatever religious extremism teaches you.

One day this bloody fucking terrorism is gonna engulf the pakistan in its grip and then there would be no Younis or Inzy or Afridi to say Pakistan is most beautiful country in world. Its most terrifying country in world. Unfortunately who breeds on hatred and terrorism. One who exports terrorism.

Did anybody know what happened to 12 terrorists ? All got away. Fuckin hell. Look at Times now. They showed how the investigating agencies tampered the evidence. There was a striking similarity between this 12 bhenchod terrorists and the one bhenchod left alive in Mumbai. They all hail from same country.

Stop exporting terror and attacking cricket. Feel sorry for Pakistan cricket. It was murdered today brutally in Lahore by 12 Pakistani terrorists. Not that it was healthy. It already was in death bed since last 14 months.

Stay Safe

I pray to GOD that all the SL players are safe and sound. My prayers for them and wish they return safe asap from Pakistan. Stay safe guys. Amongst the current news updates it seems that Sanga, Mendis, Samarweera and Jayawardhena are among who are injured. Not sure. Getting updates from ibnlive.com. Just get out of there guys. Just be safe.

Shocking

What else remains to be seen. Ban the country from cricket and from hosting any cricket. It was a planned attack it seems. Pray to GOD no player loses its life. Feel sorry for the slain policemen who lost their lives. That’s what happens when you nourish the terror in your own backyards.

I would bat long long long very long long long...

Whats the best way to win a test when you cant win on the basis of strength of bat or bowl ? When you have so called world class spinners looking club class whiskey pullers. Bat long and long and on and on and on and on and on and on. Never stop. Pile 600, 700, 952 and still not stop. Play a timeless test. Focus on positives and say the boys are building up in character. Hit a double and then say I quit. Kill the test cricket and win spirits of cricket award. Get thumped in ODIs and take out the frustration in Tests. Kill the viewer, kill the spectator with the torture. Bat on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on. Win the toss, elect to field. Gift the initiative to the opposition camp when you have 5 debutants and a bowling attack with 2 bowlers and 2 pedestals. You don’t have to be top test team. Get batting records, get winning records, lie low at ranking table. Win at home, get thumped abroad. Else don’t play Test cricket for 14 months. Play BD and Zim. Win. Sack the coach. Play WI. Play SL, lose. Sack the captain. Get new one. Get a triple. What about team spirits when selfish motives rule the roost ? Heck with them J

Australia go 1-0 up

So Aussies go 1-0 up and I take one step to win my bet, which is quite popular now across blogsville. It was a perfect win. Excellent cricket by both teams. Rivetting test cricket. Much to the contrast in Pakistan and West Indies which are nothing but batting draws and big bores. Its amazing that SL still play the same brand of boring cricket. 606 runs in 2 days and then M&M thrashed.

Oh man gimme a break.

For Australia the debutants stood out esp North who hit his 1st hundred. Johnson got wickets, Hussey got ducks, Ponting got yorkers, Smith got jitters. Now his 2 big wins in Australia stand negated. It cud well have been 3-1 for Aussies rather than 2-2.

Today morning it seemed that Saffers would go for the kill. But then Kallis continued his selfish run with the bat and never assumed the threatening proportion to put Aussies on backfoot. Perth hero JPD didnt click and Boucher was all alone to put up a fight. Hilfenhaus played supporting role to perfection and Siddle assisted Johnson to wipe out the tail once Kallis was gone.

It was a game of 15 sessions where Aussies won handsomely 12-3. Perhaps that answers few distractors who questioned my logic to go behind Aussies. But even though Saffers lost, they played intensive cricket and that to me rates above the boring brand we get to endure with the Asian giants sans us and Carribean torture where England is fast falling the steep slope. Its pretty much clear that they aint going to win a series now in West Indies this time.

Another world record on ?

Is another world record chase on ? 122/1 in pursuit of 452. Graeme Smith standing tall again :). Test cricket at its best.

Australia has upper hand

Australia lost a bit of their intensity this morning with madness setting in their camp. Much of that credit to Kallis the bowler and the fielder. 75 runs in to the first session and 8 wkts lost. Thanks to Haddin and Hughes, they still sit 420 runs ahead than Saffers. Yet they won’t feel secure given the ease with which Saffers chased down 415 in Perth. Amazing is the history. It gives jitters not to the team but to the supporters. SA would bat in the 4^th innings and Graeme Smith is the undisputed king of 4^th innings 100s. So he would still like to back himself up for the heroic innings. Few more runs from the last pair on the wicket would be a bonus and would mean more pressure on the Saffers. They would have max 4.5 – 5 sessions to save / win / lose the game. Not long back India defeated them in Jo’burg by 278 runs, now its turn of Aussies to beat them and go 1-0 up.

Aussies were touted to be the underdogs and weaker links amidst the 2 teams. Though their batting worries haven’t been resolved, the bowling attack gives them a hope. Lee and Clark would be back by Ashes. And till then if Siddle and Hilfenhaus make steady progress, the Aussies would look good for another Ashes triumph. Mitch Johnson is touted to be the next Aussie great alrounder, though that’s a bit of far stretched imagination. Alright, he is having good times. But still he needs to do that consistently. This has been a riveting test match, much to the hype and hoopla created before. However I still don’t feel that SA are deservers to upstage Aussies from # 1 throne. Its still India who deserve more than the Saffers just cos they were able to beat Australia when the later had its strengths at peak and had the best of talent which is now retired. Saffers in that era failed to win a single test match home and away, let alone win a series. India in that duration won 2, lost 2 and drew 1. No other team came close to that record. I am a chauvinistic, but then there are facts to prove. I would always rant for the support of Indian test team which for now doesn’t have the young buggers in. I don’t know how it would be when the Raina would be # 3, Sharma (if) would be # 4 and some other dude would be # 5. Yuvraj has seen it all, so its very unlikely that he would like to lose the focus and so his test spot. The young buggers who have all seen is nothing but easy money and fame would falter away when they would be put under pressure of 5 days. I don’t think so the likes of Raina and Sharma are Test class.

Meanwhile the action resumes in Jo’burg. Go Aussies.