West Indies vs South Africa

West Indies and South Africa played out the first game in Northern India of the world cup and it was being played in the capital city of India and the home ground of Delhi trio -- Sehwag, Gambhir and Kohli. The same ground which had itself banned from hosting international games in Dec 2009 hosted a match today and did so well. The Ferozshah Kotla, the ground which has its own legacy and has 2 record milestones achieved on this ground : Kumble's 10 and Sachin's 35th Test 100 in 1999 and 2005 respectively.

Back to this match, the Windies started off well to race to 1/114 and then losing wickets in "clusters" as Darren Sammy later said and Nasser Hussein said on the air.  Barring Darren Bravo's 73 and his brother's 40 none could go onto make a big score as AB did later and that was the difference between 222 and 272.  The likes of Gayle, Sarwan and Chandu failed and there went the Windies chance to stamp the authority over the Saffers.

The Windies were also done in by debutant spinner Imran Tahir's 4/41 figures in his debut game. He bowled with subtle control and variation, turned the ball square and along side Johan Botha controlled the Windies run making spree. South Africa are taking the spin bowling a bit too seriously when they opened the bowling with Botha and played 3 spinners.

223 was not going to be a score that would have scared SA, but they did for a while when they lost Amla and Kallis early with just 20 on the board, WI sensed some victory but AB jolted them with a fine 100. He knows the ground in and out as he has played 2 IPLs here for Delhi Daredevils in 2008 and 2010.  Smith was scratchy given he was ill and Duminy played a perfect partner to the 4th wicket partnership that saw SA home.

SA remain 2nd on the group behind India on NRR and they now wait another week to play their next game against Netherlands.

Positives for SA :

• Spin bowling especially Johan Botha opening
• Imran Tahir's promising debut
• Dale Steyn's late overs burst
• AB Devilliers form

Positivies for WI :

• Darren Bravo's batting
• Suleiman Benn opening the attack and getting the turn
• Kemar Roach

Besides they have a man called Chandu Paul in their team who doesnt make runs when needed, doesnt pace his innings, yet finds himself in top 10 of every ICC ranking. Weird!!!

Msd keeping

Keep ranting about how bad ddca is or how unprofessional bcci is or how morally right is lankan team which chickened out seeing an impending defeat, but nobody says a word on the fact that not a single bye was conceeded by Indian captain and the fact that his team wanted to play n the rivals wanted to stop. Where are those critics who sit right ready to tear apart anything Indian team does. India is forever villians and the chickens are always romantics' favorites. Sangakara hasn't spoken a word on this fiasco and all speaking has been done by his sidekicks.

Abandoning a game when things don't go per their plan is typical lankan habit. Ranatunga did it, blabba king wanted final scrapped and now vocab king got Delhi odi abandoned. They won't ever win in countries like India Australia or south africa.

Questions

The pitch was supposedly horrible and in the end it would have been a good one to abandon the match.

But the body language and attitude of Lankan captain has been like Ravan.

How many of  the 5 wikats that fell in SL inns fall to the nasty deliveries ?

Why did not the Lankan batsmen complain for 23 overs. An impending and humiliating loss coming made them complain ?

Why do always SL moan about everything ? Agreed its ridiculous to have such a pitch and Mr jaitley would have lot to answer on this, but have we ever heard any Indian player (captain) complaint about it ?

With the end of tour they go home with losers tag. Nothing in Tests, nothing in ODIs, nothing in T20Is.

Negativity ke baap he yeh log.

Dangerous Pitch at Kotla!!

Calling off the game due to bad pitch means more jargons and vocabs from Sangakara, the perennial loser.

He is storming out on the field.

Damn!!

Too quick to blame anybody or even ask questions.  And if pitch is bad then it could be trouble for DDCA and DD as it is home ground for them.  Sangakara would leave no stone unturned for banning the Kotla!! Bet

All we dont want is some garbage from Sangakara. Please!!

Delihi ki Chandi

ho gayi Bhiyao.

Are bhai 5 log the aaj team me Dilli se.

Veeru, Gambhir, Kohli, Nehra aur Ishant.

Sharmaji ko chod de to  sabhi log accha khel rahe he.  Kohli ne bata dia hai ki bhiya hum aa gaye he top stage par aur hume ab team me khilana padinga.

Aur acchi baat yeh hai is ladke me ki yeh dheer hai. Dheeraj hai. Jadhav nahi. Patience.

To yadi is bande ko thoda groom kare to aage chal ke yeh humare mahaan ballebajo ki jagah le sakta hain.  Mere hisaab se yeh number 4 pe acchi ballebazi kar sakta hai.

Dilli se itne log meri memory me to kabhi nahi aaye.  5 log team me khelna badi baat hai jabki wo Ranji champ bhi nahi hai. Ranji champion Bambai hai and GOD ko chod kar waha se koi nahi hai.

Kuch bhi bolo bhiyao aaj Delhi ke mundo ne bata diya ki chahe jo replace ho jaye des ka cricket surakshit hai aur Lanka jaise adi sadi team hara nahi sakte.

3-2, 4-1, 2-1 and 3-1* yeh scoreline hai Lanka par. Aur 4 saal pahle 5-1. Lol.

Biraat Kohli

PS : A posht in heartland Englis which desi readers wud understend.

haz giben a prablem aff plenty to the Keptain and the koach of Indian team.

End aalso a prablem aff where to fit this guy in and bich pozition ? Who goes out ?  Yubraaj and Dhoni bud return soon then laterz.

DK baba wud go out bonce MS komes beck. So the abvious kendidate to go aff is Sures. Yes you read it right. Kanpur ka chora Sures.

Some kanspiracy theory going aan in the team. After the 2nd ODI, the Sures bay did not bet (bat) any time. Biraat Kohli kame up the arder and betted. And he played bell. Biraat is from the Dilli.  Des's kepital. And the keptain of the team in last 2 ODIs was Beeru, Nazafgarh ka sultaan aur Multaan ka shenshaah, Chennai and Bambai ka dan. (DON).

So Dilli Dilli bhai bhai and Sures ki naak katai.

Sures also gets some pressure naw to perfrarm else go out. He sud take himself seriously now and think ober the T20 cheez. T20 is nat total kireeket. It izz jusht one farmet of the game.  And Biraat's Biraat innings against the Lanka team which houses demons like Sanga and Jayawardhene has sent out a messege  to the team to take him with full Gambhirpan.

So  this izz a good sar dard and matha fodi for Dhoni to hev.  Sirikanth 's agenda is ruled out naw which is to bring the 12th man Boss DK ebery time somebady gets injured / benned. Karthik naw wont kome beck in the team far lang.   And Beeru piromoted his own Dilli da munda and that munda sowed hiz cherecter. Bell cherecter is a word firam Lankan dictionary.  So baat, they hevant patented it. So I barrow it.

Good jab Biraat and Beeru. 

An effort to clean up DDCA

Virender Sehwag has threatened DDCA that he might go and play for Harayana if some of his demands are not met. DDCA suggests it is a ploy to get few of his cousins and fav players on board. Before there could have been meeting with Arun Jaitley, he was joined in by Gauti and Ishant Sharma.

Sunil Dev, the official who not so long ago was charged on match fixing (2000s when he was manager of often touring teams) has fired a salvo at Sehwag that he just wants to have his cousin in the team.

Thats what always happens in the country. Any issue when raised for good is nipped in the bud and cover firing is done to save the ass.

Sehwag has a mettle in Delhi cricket. He is default captain of Ranji team. When he doesnt play for India, he captains Delhi. He is like Sachin Tendulkar to Delhi. Jaitley has rightly appealed for calm and may be they would meet to find some solution.

For now the Delhi's Indian players have joined the coup against DDCA and it might take a while before the issue is resolved. I dont know if this was a right time to take over the issue given the season is about to start and the cricket administrators in the country mostly are ASS. So expectation of maturity would be futile on behalf of DDCA officials.

If this revolt cleans up the DDCA now famous for corruption, it would be a good jab done by Sehwag.

Right now Delhi has 4 players in the national team -- Sehwag, Mishra (he plays for Harayana but is a Delhi lad), Gambhir, Nehra and 5th one Ishant Sharma. Count in Kohli and it makes 6.

Sehwag should ensure he takes the matter to logical conclusion and doesnt give in the middle.

Delhi ne bana di Opening Jodi

If Sehwag returns soon and Nehra retains his place till then it would be a rare occurence that Delhi de mustande would open bowling and batting for India. Who said Delhi was no longer a power house ?

Red letter day for Aussies

Well well, I dont believe this is an Australian team that can slump from 0/50 to 5/59 in space of 5 overs. Thats England's copyright to slump ridiculously. Like a house on cards and of cards, as Siddhu once said. If Clarke and Haddin (he is no Gilly) forge a partnership in 2 sessions, they can go away with a draw, but thats unlikely to happen unlike India - Pak test of 2005 here. 515 runs is a huge target and I wonder if this is the highest ever target set by India for anybody.

Just imagine if Aussies fold up soon tomorrow then it would be their worst defeat in years. never mind we hold the record for Post War heaviest defeat to Aussies (1998 Kolkata Test, Azhar classic). I was amazed to see how Aussies folded up without a fight. Are they Aussie clones or some duplicates ? Tough to imagine Aussies in this situation. They began the run chase in super style with Hayden attacking Zaheer with a positive intent. 42 in 6 overs was a bit of alarm that may be they could give a scare to us, but then Ravan Bhajji did the trick very well supported by Ishant Sharma (getting bunny Ponting again)

Earlier in the day MSD, Sehwag and Gautam did a stupendous job in setting up the target and they came out with a positive intent right from the word go. Ponting was defensive, spread out fields and no Lee till lunch :). Sehwag got a 90 on his 30th dubbay and Gambhir got a well deserved 100. Must rank amongst his best innings on highest level. Dhoni too played a typical ODI innings with singles and boundaries...Aussies were sedate in the field and missed the experience in bowling attack. They have to get one quality spinner sooner than later...

India couldnt get a wkt in last 90 mins of play and thats where they missed their captain. One wicketless test doesnt make him a bad bowler and no doubt he would be back for Delhi Test. Mishra is a good replacement for AK and for now sure he got to wait not more than few months to be stepping to huge shoes of AK. 4th Delhiite to play in team after IS, VS and GG. No wonder Delhi are Ranji champs much to the dismay of Mumbai, who now boast of a single and greatest selection in team.

Tomorrow could be a red letter day for Test cricket with a possibility of heaviest Australian defeat in ages and that could begin slump for Aussies after 13 years on top....Amen!!!

Irani Trophy Review Day 1,2, 3

The RoI has set a target of 378 to win for Delhi. And that’s a formidable total, which didn’t quite look possible at the end of day 1 when the team was shot out for 252. Despite Sehwag heroics in Delhi’s first innings, RoI bowlers did a good job to take a 75 run lead which came in handy in the second innings. And after Dravid saw off the threat from Ishant Sharma, the 75 runs were always going to hurt Delhi in long interest of the game.

People might have different ideas about Dravid’s contribution to the RoI, but he was the difference between a target of below 300 and the current one of 378. Rest of the batting around him except MSD collapsed around him, so in a way RD stands vindicated and that gives a message that he is not finished and he ‘s got lot to offer to the India’s test fortunes. For Delhi Ishant Sharma in both the innings and Nanda in 2^nd innings were the exceptional performances. And that sounds alarm bells for Australia as Sharma managed to get lot of bounce and pace on a benign wicket. Bangalore, Mohali would for sure offer more bounce and help to seamers than this Vadodara pitch.

Dravid made valuable contributions of 46 and 69 to the RoI batting and was instrumental in forging partnerships with Jaffer, Badrinath who disappointed, Laxman (will he be under scrutiny?) and Dhoni of course. He saw off the threat of Sharma who troubled him in 1^st innings. And that’s the difference between a good batsman and great batsman. You wont fall for the same bowler again in the same style.

For RoI Munaf Patel was the standout performer along with Zaheer Khan who got Gambhir early and now critics have started baying for Gambhir’s blood after an indifferent SL ODI series and the first innings failure out here. Proves that how fragile are the critics who need top performance, but forget to note that they come across as a headless chickens. 4 wkts for Munaf in my opinion complete the resurrection of the bowler who promised much but fell out ultimately to the demands of international cricket more to his laidback attitude than the talent. I feel he s got back his pace and also the zip and fire is back in his belly.

And if there were any slim chances for Delhi to win the IT, they are gone with Zaheer Khan nailing Virender Sehwag. Does that also mean that Virender Sehwag should be kicked out of the Test team (0,37 , 43, 3) ? Tough task , somebody got to stand up and perform.

Standout performers :

Delhi :

Ishant Sharma

C Nanda

RoI

Rahul Dravid

Munaf Patel

Zaheer Khan

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

While writing this post Delhi need 369 more runs to win with 9 wkts in hand and little over 2 days of play remaining. I am sorry to say but the critics , journalists, Rakhi Sawant’s cousins and bloggers baying for Rahul Dravid’s blood have got to shut their mouth. A possible RoI win in the store :)