Australian tour going England way

The Australia tour is turning out the England way. The maiden win is elusive and the pattern of defeats is disheartening from the fact that the Indian team is just not showing up the fight or desire to fight. The excuses are readymade and put up after every debacle. Rain in T20 defeat, the pitch in first 3 Tests and lack of fight in the 4th one. Seniors were the scapegoat for the Tests whitewash, who’d be the scapegoat for the T20I whitewash, which is a game away.

The new folks have arrived, the likes of Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and of course Lord Ravinder Jadeja, the next IPL multi-millionaire.  A lot of noise was made on why Rohit Sharma was not played in Tests especially in Adelaide when Lax was having disaster of time in the middle. He was supposed to be the god sent savior to the losing Indian side. Unfortunately he didn’t have any magical wand that could have turned the defeatist attitude, lack of fight to a winning one. He lasted a ball and was bowled to the daddy of international cricket,  Brad Hogg first ball.

The selection of the playing XI was ridiculous:

• No Zaheer Khan or Irfan Pathan in the playing XI. The seamers who played were Praveen Kumar and Vinay Kumar. One was returning from injury lay-off, the second one was exposed in Test in Adelaide, yet somehow he continues to find a place in XI.  He bowled decent enough, but not good enough to justify his continued selection in the team. No pace, no variation, no skills. Vinay Kumar for you,  the reason that seems he is in the team is just cos of South Indian lobby that now (Chennai, to be precise) rules Indian cricket.

• Ravinder Jadeja at 7.  He is deemed to be a person who gives the team as balance. Balance as in a bowling allrounder or batting allrounder?  He concedes 23 runs in 2 overs, he makes 7 runs and saves a few. Saving and making still fall short of conceding. So where is the balance?  He cannot contribute when needed and often plays when all is lost (like he did in England T20).  MS Dhoni is in awe of him and that is harming the team.

• R Ashvin.  Supposedly new age bowler who can bowl anytime, the bowler who can do no wrong. He proved his worth for CSK in IPL and CLT20, but when it came for impact on international stage, he froze. He continued bowling full tosses and down the leg side. Easy meat for someone like David Warner to display their switch hit skills.  The only reason he still plays every game and Harbhajan doesn’t is he is from Chennai and represents Chennai Super Kinks whose captain, owner and brand ambassador occupy strong posts in Indian board.

• Virender Sehwag is fast turning out to be a flat track bully. I hate to say this, as I still feel he is a great, but he has done his reputation no justice on this tour.

• Gautam Gambhir and Kohli would probably rue the way they got out and their dismissals gave Australia an opening that was match winning in the final context of the game.

• And MSD, the man who once could do nothing wrong, now can do nothing right.  He has been stubborn, defensive, defeatist and strangely passive and switched off from the proceedings. When Ashvin got hit for runs in 2nd over, he still found himself bowling 3rd over in trot.  Ashvin completed his quota before 10th over was bowled and that suggests the blind faith of MS in him and also a glaring proof of being stubborn and close to experimenting.  Rahul Sharma was introduced late in the attack and he did impress in bits and pieces.

• Part time spinners might work in India, but not in Australia.  And there were plenty of them. When the runs were scored, there was no pace around to put some brakes and get some wickets. Only options available were Raina or Jadeja or Sharma who might grab wickets in India, but would be hit for runs elsewhere.  I don’t get the fascination for part timers for Indian captains off late.  Ganguly did use part timers but they had some quality – Yuvraj, Sachin and Sehwag then did use to take wickets and break partnerships. Jadeja actually gifts away runs, easy runs to the opposition. He might have got few wickets against England, but then who wouldn’t against England? They are such pitiful spin players. And based of that success, he finds himself part of every limited overs team India puts up.

The patience is long running thin and unless there is a drastic change in the mindset of the captain and the team, the fans would be forced to switch off  from watching the games. I spoilt my night yesterday sacrificing 5 hours of sleep to watch the flop show of the team who once was world champion in this format.

What an irony, the team of country that hosts the richest T20 league in the world, doesn’t have players who can combine as a team and win games consistently.  The top 7 of this team or top  8 are star players for their respective franchisees in IPL, but in the Indian team they are zilch contributors.  That makes the fans pose questions on the mindset and attitude of this players – do they really want to play for India to win or just turn up and grab their booty from BCCI and not bother to show up a fight.

I think the latter one is fast turning out to be a reality and unless addressed soon, the IPL would become a monster who would be hated more than it is loved.

India go 1-0 up

India won the first one dayer in Cuttack after a lot of drama and a batting collapse which should not have happened. 212 was a very easy to achieve target even though 3 of the World Cup winners were not present in the team. 

Parthiv Patel has been very lucky to be getting a lot of chances recently (his 4th consecutive series post world cup), but he hasnt seized a single chance to cement his place in the team. He got a start today and threw it again. He can bat aggressively, we all know that but he needs to convert those starts to substantial scores. 

Gambhir should have batted for longer period and he must be very angry with himself to have let gone a very good chance to bat longer in a ODI. Ditto for Kohli, Raina and the captain himself who continued his trend to hit the very first ball to boundary he faces. 

The move to promote Patel as opener was inexplicable given that the best openers were  around to bat. I think Gambhir and Sehwag should resume opening together from Vizag ODI.

Jadeja, a changed player (till now) supported Rohit Sharma (who is redeeming himself) for a good 83 run partnership before the brain fade returned to haunt Ashvin yet again.  He has got a  ridiculous running. His running in Mumbai Test cost India a golden chance to whitewash West Indies and yet again today he showed he is useless when it comes to running. 

Probably when he bats a burning cracker should be put up his ass to keep him on his toes. Or probably a sight of Mumbaikar makes him nervous enough to complete a 2nd run. 

Rohit Sharma fell just before the victory and in the end it was left to the 2 worst batsmen in the side to complete the job. They played out 15 dot balls amongst themselves and in the end with the help of Darren Sammy, they got India home.

It should have been Kemar Roach to bowl that over instead of Sammy, but then he is captain and the decision to bowl himself backfired. 

India won its 10th game in row in home soil  and are now 1-0 up in the 5 game series.

India vs West Indies : First Test at an interesting stage

India are 124 runs away from a win in Delhi Test.  This has been an attritional Test match, albeit an old school classic. One team ending up dominating a day's play followed up by comeback by the other next day. Something I hope wont be the case on day 4 and in almost session and half India shall be home with a comfortable win in the end. 

The pitch has been slow, low and having variable bounce. Not that it has impacted a lot of stroke playing or resulted in dismissals of a lot of batsmen. If one is ready to grind on this wicket and have patience, the runs scoring would be lot easier. Chanderpaul showed it in both innings, Dravid has shown in both innings aided by Tendulkar in 2nd innings. Sehwag too had said that the collapse in the first innings had to do with the soft dismissals rather than the demon in the pitch.  

India were typical of them in the first innings when they batted, collapsed. Worrisome part is they havent got to 300 more often than they would have liked to in past 8 Tests (starting WI tour, disastrous England tour). 209 is not a  score that reflects the batting might of the line up India has, but it does say of the sorry state of mind India had on day 2.  They self destructed, which they so very often have done in the 2nd part of this year in longest format of the game. It seemed that India were still stuck in the ODI mode. The likes of Tendulkar, Laxman and Yuvraj fell to soft dismissals. Sehwag and Gambhir fell to freak ones.  And Dravid in first innings was setup off a short ball by Rampaul which invoked wild celebrations by WI captain Sammy.

Can you believe 3 wickets in first innings fell to Sammy and he further had a hand in 2 more wickets.  Barring openers and Dravid, none reached 25 and India conceeded 95 run lead. The highlight of the first innings was the approach from Sehwag that showed that he is almost back to full fitness.  Dravid continued his good form and barring that nothing much to write about. Chanderpaul continued to torment Indian bowlers for 10th year in row now which began in 2002. 3 hundreds then followed by 2 this year in back to back tests.  His stance has grown weirder than ever before and he has been dour and ugly to watch. But he continues to make runs, valuable to the team which boasts of youngsters and has inexperienced batsmen.  

Ojha got 6-for and Ashvin got 3. 

2nd innings, West Indies had a chance to extend the lead to 350 plus and shut the door on Indians but they collapsed in the end and except Chanders and Sammy, none of the batters contributed. Ashvin got a dream debut with a 9 wicket haul, 2nd best to Hirwani, current selector.  Ojha got 7 wickets in the match, Ashvin got 9, Yadav got 2 and Ishant Sharma got 2. 

Ishant Sharma impressed with his rythm and pace. He almost got 3 wkts on 3rd morning but for crooked ignorance of Dharmsena to a plumb lbw and a drop catch (tough) from Ashvin, he could just show for 1.  Umesh Yadav showed pace, but leaked runs at critical juncture on 3rd morning just before lunch to ease off pressure on the Windies. Still early days for him in Tests and he would (should) learn in the future.  Both spinners earning wickets mean more bench time for Harbhajan Singh. He going wicketless in Ranji game didnt help his case either.  Except for injuries and dramatic collapse on day 4, the team for 2nd Test shouldnt change.

India's 2 most experienced batsmen are on crease and they would want to ensure on day 4 that they do the job for India rather than leave it to the next 3.  They survived the day 3 with some resolute batting and gritty determination. 

IPL Ashvin has evolved a great deal and I have to eat my own humble pie when I said previously I wasnt a big fan of Ashvin.  He would need to continue to be in the wickets for the remaining 2 Tests to be able to remain in contention for Australian tour later this year. 

Gambhir and Sehwag need to bat longer than just 12 and 9 overs in this game and convert 50-100 to a 100-150 as they did in the past.   Laxman and Dhoni would need to get some runs under their belt too. 

All and all a good Test match with a classic finish in sight.

India's first test woes

India have begun strongly in Nottingham Test as ever they always have in the away tests. This time the seam bowling attack, none of whom can bowl express pace have sent 70% of the team in the hut by session and three fourths. Without Zaheer Khan, the jelly bellies of 2007 are yet casting their magic around the Englishmen.

The English need to win a test and then ensure they dont lose any to grab # 1, India just need to win this one and prolly draw next 2 and not lose both to ensure they hold onto the # 1 test ranking. India are way better side than they were at Lord's. Plus they begun as slow as they always have on away tours. West Indies is an exception, they won the first test there.

One thing that comes to my mind seeing the build up to this significant tour is the preparedness and mindset of India towards this tour.  A whole bunch of key players were rested for the West Indies tour. No Tendulkar, no Zaheer, no Sehwag and Gambhir. No Yuvraj, Yet India almost managed to have won all 3 tests.

In the England tour, the injuries woes have returned to haunt India. No Zaheer, no Gambhir. Yuvraj and Sreesanth in.

That has been the story of Indian cricket since 2008. There have been hardly a tour where India have gone in with full strength team entire tour. Some of their players either have rested or got injured. Sehwag and Gambhir have missed many tests either together or one of them has lost out. Imagine the picture if Sehwag was around in West Indies and Lord's.  Imagine the scenario if he was around in 2007 in the same country.

Same goes for the ODI team. The world cup winners played hardly together since 2009 yet when they played together they won.  So many fringe players out of quota,  regionalism were tried, but later on it came to the core players and experienced players who got India the trophy.

Perhaps the skewed priorities of BCCI to have its players play the IPL and then CLT20 and then scheduling a tour immediately after has got to do a lot towards player burn out and perhaps thats where lies the anwers to the woes India faces in the first tests of away tours.

BTW India have now came back strongly to send 8 Englishmen back in hut even before the tea.

Why does Badrinath fail?

A 30 ball 17 followed by a 28 ball 11 and a run out with bat lost and struggling to make it to the crease even with a dive. 

That figures dont do the justice to the rant "I have made my game suitable to the T20s and ODIs" from a man who has been given ample opportunities in past 3 years and he has fluffed them all. He happens to be from the state which provides national selection committee chairman, the most powerful man in the BCCI and of course the 2 time IPL champion franchisee with a luck that the franchisee is captained by the man who captains India and the stand in skipper is also a part of the same franchisee.

All of that ideally shouldnt matter though, in the long run its the temperament and the attitude that decides if a player belongs at the highest level. And we aint bridesmaid now, we are goddman world champions in the ODIs and top ranked Test team. So no player should come in on the back of few hundred runs in the IPL. To me this man is like Ajay Sharma who scored tonnes of runs in the domestic circuit, but when confronted at the highest level, just came a cropper. 

Why do lads like Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina who are way younger than this lad find success at highest level and he doesnt? Why do even contemporaries like Gautam Gambhir find success but he doesnt? Gambhir was also treated in the same way as this lad was, but when he got his opportunity, he seized it and today he is best player of spin in the country after 3 greats and forms one of the vital cogs of India's best Test opening pair and possibly world's best opening pair at the moment. 

Both this lads got their moments on the same tour -- 2008 tour to Lanka. Gambhir got in Tests, this lad in ODIs. Gambhir had been decent in the ODIs then and hadnt got the success in Tests by then. A solitary hundred against BD in 2007 was all he had. Even though he didnt have 100s in that tour, but his handling of M&M when the more famed and great names failed in reading them got him the place he deserved and since then hasnt stopped and looked back. 

So what stops this lad? Self pity? Self inflicted daemons? Whats holding him? Is he scared? Or is he content to just play a few games for India and happy making millions in the IPL? Who would remember him few years down the line? Who remembers Padmakar Shivalkar today in the same breath as say Bishen Singh Bedi or Chandra or Prassana or even Venkat? Or Ajay Sharma? Or Pankaj Dharmani ?

The series is already in the bag and its time to test out the few players who havent got the chances so far. One of them is the original young player well before Kohlis and Rohits made their mark. Manoj Tiwary, who debuted in 2008 (after Rohit) but lost out to injury then.. He would be due to come in for a game or 2 before he heads back to India. So this lad hasnt done any favors for himself by making those slow starts. Yet, the backing he has, he might still get a chance to play the 3 Tests replacing Tendulkar ahead of Kohli. And that would mean there would be at least 1 walking wicket in the Test team.

IPL 4 : KKR Preview

KKR are new and rejuvenated this time. They have changed almost entirely.

But the biggest downer is they dont have the icon of the city. Their best player ever. Their icon, their pride and India's greatest captain ever. Saurav Ganguly doesnt play IPL anymore, so its bit difficult to imaging KKR getting support they have got in Eden all this years.

They've got Gautam Gambhir as their skipper, the man of the finals who snatched WORLD CUP from Lankans so much reeling them that the Lankan fans are crying that government fixed the match to win Indian support. Funny.

But Lankans aint the targets here, the focus here is on KKR.

KKR has been amongst all sorts of controversy in previous 3 IPLs. They got off to a best possible start when Baz bazzed 158 runs in the IPL opener and then it was further downhill for them. Captaincy controversy happened, FIP happened and then they dumped Ganguly.

All said and done, the owners have made an attempt to begin afresh and in that they have got some big names.

Here is the preview:

Captain : Gautam Gambhir

He led DD in IPL and half in past 2 years. They ended losers last year and semis in 2009.  This time he is here for KKR and is the most expensive ever buy. He has a 100% captaincy record for India in ODIs. How shall he fare for KKR, depends to be seen.

Indian players

Gambhir, Balaji, Fuddi Pathan (Former Yusuf), Bhatia, Goswami, Iqbal Abdullah, Sangwan, Undkat, Sami Ahmed etc etc, Ladda, Bisla

Foreign Players

Haddin, Eoin Morgan, Kallis, Ryan Ten Doscheate, Pattinson, Shakib, Bret Lee

Foreign players look impressive. But Indians do not.

Gambhir, Morgan, Fuddi, Kallis, Lee and Haddin shall be the key players. 

Team Composition:

Openers

1. Gambhir and Haddin shall open the batting and Haddin shall also keep the wickets.

Middle Order:

Kallis, Morgan, Fuddi , Bhatia,  Doscheate shall play depending upon the opposition and they would need to pick their foren players well.

Bowling :

No Ishant, Ajantha Bow Wow Mendis,  Shoaib Akhtar this time around. No Dinda too.

Lee would be a sure starter if fit. So shall be Undkat.  Sangwan from DD, is at best a medium pacer.

Shakib, Pathan would be the spinners. And Kallis bhai as allrounder.

Again the foren players are too good, but the Indian stocks barring Gambhir and to an extent Fuddi Pathan aint that great. So a balanced mixup of this 2 factors and how the XI is formed shall decide how far KKR has to go this time.

World Champions India

What an emphatic win in the end to become the World Champions. Its still takign a huge time to sink in. That the Indians are the world champions after 28 years. The country swung into celebrations and into wild frenzy. The world cup win rejoiced India after a long long time. Every one was happy. Every one rejoiced for Indian team which amongst everything won the world cup as the most deserving team. Going through the entire campaign as almighty just makes this victory even sweeter.

There were a few jitters in the game on Saturday, but in the end super Dhoni and cool Gambhir proved that they are the best team in the world. Doesnt matter if India lose  Sachin and Viru early, there are few other guys in the hut to do the job. Yuvraj all the while and Dhoni in the final.

What a way to rise above the occasion and lead as they say by front. Setting an example, captain's innings, return to form. Call any adjective to it. Dhoni would fulfill all of that. Having had a quiet tournament with just 150 runs in 8 games and then suddenly coming at 5 ahead of man of the tournament Yuvraj was a super move that paid off in the end. It was very apt in the end that MSD hit the winning runs.

He was cool as cucumber in the entire game. He kept his nerves, he soaked the tremendous pressure for good 6 weeks and in the end emerged triumphant.  He came in at edgy 3/114 and Dilshan on fire, but he kept the score board ticking and kept pacing his innings even when Gambhir was stuck in 90s between 38 and 42nd over. 

There were wild celebrations in the entire country. And I missed being part of those celebrations. Couldnt scream, couldnt dance and couldnt shout with all the might I have fearing a ticket, but witnessing those scenes on NDTV made me almost compensate the loss. All celebrations I had were few beers in the end with friends and cursing Sangakara big time.

Sri Lanka Innings:

SL started off cautiously living up to the billing that they become minnows against strong teams. 1/31 off 10 overs was their slowest start of the tournament. Their opening pair which plundered runs against minnows and hapless Kiwis and Pommies were subdued and off color.  Dilshan made edgy 33 and Tharanga fell to Zaheer for single digit score. Zaheer had unbelieveable figures when he was done with his first spell. 1/6 in 5 overs with 3 maidens.  Munaf bowled within his limits and all the pressure they built was quickly released by typical 'I - am - nuts' Sreesanth. He somehow finds himself in the world cup winning team every time. And for this very reason he shall be rememebred in the future as a moron mongrel who figured in 2007 and 2011 World event winning teams.

He leaked 52 runs in 8 overs this time and was little less comical in the field. Sanga Nanga and Mahila continued what they do best. 62 runs for the 3rd wicket and Nanga was gone. 

Mahila continued her good innings and joined the list of elite players who made a world cup final 100. Kulasekra and Parera in the end ensured SL made 274. Zaheer messed up in the final 5 overs and those 63 runs could have been dear, but it was not to be.  274 was going to be a  difficult chase given they had Murali and Malinga in the attack. They also beefed up their pace attack getting in Kulasekra and Parera who had tormented India in past with 2 5 wkt hauls.

Also came in were Randi bhai.  They proved to be easy meat for Indians in the end.

India Innings

India couldnt have asked for more worse start than losing Sehwag in 2nd ball of the innings and that got SL into thinking that they could win the game from there. They also got Sachin in 7th over and they had a premature celebration. There on, they had no chance. Kohli and Gambhir, then Gambhir and Dhoni got them to the target good 14 balls before to spare.

The best part of the chase was India neevr lost the self belief and promoting himself to 5 ahead of Yuvraj was a master stroke.  Gambhir played equal crucial role in this chase and he lost his nerved 3 runs before a well deserved 100.

Murali, Malinga, Randi bhai, Parera and Kulasekara were rendred ineffective in the end and they blamed the loss to the wet ball. But for this they should kick Sanga Naga in his ball who controversially didnt speak anything in the toss confusion. That for you is Sri Lankan spirit. They cheat, they want to win the game by hook and crook, but they cant win it by either.

They tried hard, they spoke, they cheated and they didnt walk. In the end they ended up 2nd best. They had to be. They didnt beat any strong team except England. They couldnt get past Australia, India and Pakistan.

On the other hand India had tough games against Australia, Pakistan, England, South Africa and West Indies. Except NZ, they played almost every test playing team and got through each of them. Some through defending, some through chasing. Every one came good except Pathan and Sreesanth, they should soon find themselves out.  Raina chipped in with valuable 30s in both knock out games which are well better than all other runs he has scored in his life. Yuvraj's 362 runs and 15 wickets would give him immense satisfaction through out his life / career.

Sehwag gave starts in all games almost, though much more was expected out of him. MS if not batted well before final captained team well. He's a colossus.  Kohli got runs, though he got out many times when he should have scored big. Gambhir got 4 50s, the most valuable of them coming in the biggest stage.

In the end India ended up being world cup champions. Deservedly so.

India through to the finals

What a feeling it is. To be in the world cup finals beating Pakistan for the 5th time in the world cup. Its just difficult to digest. Goosebumps in the  tummy. Butterflies flew all around, screaming and abusing was a bit low key thanks to being in the foren country.

The tension to see in the finals after 8 long years and this time go one step further to lift the cup of glory in homeland was unpalpable. All superstitions were followed. Unmoved at times when things went right for India and when runs were leaked, when wickets didnt fall. Reeling Munna and Bhajji when they leaked runs. Blowing off Kamran Akamal when he showed his stupid poker face on screen during keeping and batting was all done.

Facebooking and watching cricket has been the trend this world cup. Update the status message on FB, update stats on FB, update number crunching there and put on some superstitions like Cmonnnnnnnnnnnnnn and to see a wicket tumble moments after that was all fun. Dont have the luxury to watch on TV on any channel, so have to rely on  the ISP and host of live streaming sites to watch the action LIVE.

It all happened on a day remarkable for Indian cricket, what a day it has been. Reaching 3rd world cup final, 2nd in 8 years and almost with the same group as it was in 2003.  Sachin, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Zaheer, Harbhajan, Nehra are the survivors of that match India lost in Wanderers to rampaging Ponting and co. This time its a step to go further. Win the world cup in Mumbai, the hometown of Sachin Tendulkar, country's greatest sports icon and perhaps the best ever batsmen to play cricket in all times.

Thanks to Pakistan to turn up in India despite the hot and cold diplomatic relations, thanks to them for making the match living all the hype it had before this game even began. Thanks for them to provide us yet another opportunity to savior this victory. Beating Australia, Pakistan in the route to finals is amazing. The contests with this 2 countries have always been intense, thrilling and top quality. And Pakistan did go out in a proud fashion, forget what Misbah did in final overs, they have done their nation proud with almost flawless and mostly controversy less performance in the world cup. None expected them to come this far given what happened in past year in their build up to the world cup, so Afridi must be a proud man given how his men have delivered.

Sachin Tendulkar has played all 5 victorious games against Pakistan in World cups and he has been man of the match in 3 of them. He has scored 54, 31, 45, 98 and 85 in this 5 games. He has played with great Kapil Dev to Azhar to Jadeja, Mongia, Venkatesh Prasad and the great trio of Dravid, Ganguly and Kumble. Not to forget Javagal Srinath.

India won its first semi final at home. Previously it had lost its 2 semi finals, both chasing in 1987 to England and pretty controversially in 1996 to SL. This time India defended a 260 and won. 

The biggest turning point of the game was the dismissal of Gambhir in the 20th over which led to a mini-collapse in the 25th - 30 th over and a score of 350 became 260. Sehwag in his super assault on Umar Gul had set India on another huge total, but once he was out and the rest just went in the shell. Gambhir has been erractic this tournament. he has thrown away his wicket in almost every game. Something not expected from man of his stature.

Tendulkar was cratchy, scratchy and whatever, but his 85 set India to cross 250 and that proved to be the difference in the end.  MSD is excelling in captaincy, but his batting is concern.

What was too heartening to see was only 5 bowlers were used and everybody took 2 wkts each. Zahee was little bit off color, but he was made up by super Nehra and surprisingly Munaf.  Ashvin;s dropping was a debatable issue, but I still feel he will be a key man in the final and he should replace Munaf in the XI. Nehra got his rythm back in the 2nd spell and at helped him in the super final spell when he just gave few and got Riaz.

It was a day when the bowling and fielding excelled yet again and the batting was iffy.

In the end Younis and Misbah combined together to stall the stanis chase and its likely that this guys wont be part of the LoI set up in the future.  Misbah is test captain, but then who knows what happen in Pak cricket. The others -- Shafiq, Hafeez and UKumal didnt quite turnup to play long innings that could have won their team this game. Yet they came this far and thats applaudable.

For a change there was no sledging this time and there was no "war cry" on the ground at least.  Expecting Pak to react to this loss graciously back their home and not call for the people's head who featured in this tournament. They've got some very good positives in form of Riaz, Shafiq etc and once they are given chances they could come up as well finished product.

But for now lets savior the superb Indian victory and rally behind them to trounce the cheats of the world to avenge the painful defeats of 2007 and 1996. Lets burn the Lanka this time in Mumbai 8 months before the Dusshera festival.

India's through to the semifinals

Australia's World cup run has ended. And in what a style. India was the team who did it. They have twice ended their run of 17 tests wins and now 12 years of unbeaten World cup run has been ended by the team called India. 

None gave India the chance to beat Australia today given the way they played in the league games. League games saw India taking few games easy and most of the experts called India a undeserving favorites. 

India has never thumped minnows. Thats Lankan speciality. India is known to beat big teams. Australia to be precise. The quality that two teams produce is of highest order. No half measures. Emotions run high, banters and everybody gives more than 100%. 

Everybody within the 2 teams want to win and not give an inch to the other team. And probably thats the reason why Tests or ODIs between this 2 teams are sparkling and intense. 

Today's game was no different. It saw Ricky Ponting ending his century draught. It saw Indians fielding the best in the entire tournament. It saw MSD handling his bowlers too well and rarely earning plaudits from the pundits in the commentary box. 

Tendulkar was at his imperious best before walking yet again. Gambhir was furious when he was out run out in the 3rd attempt, but that was his fault. Yuvraj replied to his anger saying he is not Viru and  they havent batted together that much. Point taken. 

India committed harakiri but then Yuvraj the man came to the fore yet again. What a world cup he is having. 341 runs and 12 wickets with 4 MoM awards. He is India's man of the moment. Not too long ago his commitment was questioned and so was his place and attitude. He's replied to every one those who questioned him. 

Virat Kohli continues to be an ass finding newer ways to get out. MSD continued his wretched run and when he departed at 187 the match was boiling towards Aussies but then in came Raina and the next 2 overs that got us 27 runs changing the equation dramatically in India's favor. 

Think about the commitment of Bret Lee. He was injured on head just above left / right eye and yet he bowled last 2 overs. He wanted to win it. But India had some other plans.  India are through to their 5th semifinal and 3rd one at home. This time they should go one step better. Beat Pakistan and go through to the finals. 

Today was that day when everything went right for India -- the fielding, bowling and batting. Ashvin took 2 wickets. How many runs did he give ? 52. Did he turn the ball square? How many wickets he got with peach of a ball ? Wild slogs both time to get Ponting and Watson.  He has not done any better than Chawla.

India have to think about Munaf what to do about this guy. He is listless, needless and useless. Anybody can hit him for runs. He doesnt take wickets, he cant field and he is even lax on the field.  Either play Nehra or get in Sreesanth. 

Today's win provides an deep feeling of satisfaction. India has come to full elements. And it would take huge effort from Pakistan to stop India from playing finals.  But thats for another day. 

Ponting has had his moments under sun for 12 years in World cups  but now its time for new champion. New team to take the reins. And hopefully it would be India, for the consistent run it has shown in ODIs post 2008.

Wooohooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo we are in semis. 

India : 370/4

India scored 370 for 4 in 50 overs in their first game in the world cup against now minnows Bangladesh. That is almost the double they scored in 2007 against the same team.  The hero of the game was the man from Delhi, the vice captain of the team -- Virender Sehwag.

A massive 175 off  139 balls and he just missed out on the 200. But he ensured that the match is almost in India's pocket and the revenge is almost over. He is not a man popular in Bangladesh with 2 statements he has made off late. One in 2010 when he said BD are ordinary Test side and two when he said he is looking for the game as  revenge game. 

He ran out Tendulkar in an amateurish mixup, but thereon he took the game in his stride and ensured team crossed 300. He just hit 1 6 before 100 and then hit 4 more in another 75. He injured himself later which otherwise would have seen him go past 200.

Gambhir was at his fluent best until he had a brain freeze and dismissed himself without covering the stumps.

Kohli got a debut 100 too and perhaps he is first Indian to do so. Ganguly made 97 in 99 world cup previous highest. He perhaps has edged out Raina for long time to come unless Yuvraj finds way back to 2010 types form.

Though India looked good to cross 390 mark, they hit less 4s in last 5 overs than they would have liked. Yet 371 is a formidable total and India should not find much difficulty wrapping the game. Yes the idiot mofo Sreesanth is playing, but somebody would need to calm that muppet and ensure he does not leak runs in retail.

BD were horrible with the ball and much of their hopes in chase would depend on how Tamim Iqbal starts. Dont forget Zaheer Khan has a point to prove against him....

Team Preview : India

Finally its time to preview the team that is best suited to win th world cup. India. Did you hear the drum beats? India. India.

The team that plays the best brand of cricket in all formats, is very successful and has got attractive, aggressive and awesome players who excel in stroke play and positive brand of cricket. Its all about adopting to the situations, the team has players that can set a match alight to the fire and thrill the people.

You have Virender Sehwag, you have Gautam Gambhir, MS Dhoni, Yusuf Pathan and then above all you have Sachin Tendulkar.  No sight is better in One day cricket when Sachin and Sehwag bat together.  I bet if anybody can find better sight than that. No ugly swipes, no Dilscopps, all delight, all improvisation and something that gives you a cricketing orgasm....

You've got Kohli, Dhoni, Yuvraj to come in the middle order, may be at this point Yuvraj and MS are not in the best of the form. Yuvraj in full flow would be a dangerous proposition for any team, something Stuart Broad would testify.

India has the power, ability, hope and fanbase to go all the distance to lift the World Cup trophy on April 2 in Wankhede stadium when everybody in the world would watch.

ODI series preview

The IPL auction has hogged the limelight away from the upcoming ODI series with South Africa. This ODI series is last series before the world cup and how India fares in it would give a fair idea how the team would perform in the world cup.

The injuries are looming around the corner and the team management has done a fair job in resting/ sending Gambhir, Sehwag and now Praveen Kumar back to India to recuperate in time. That leaves Murali Vijay or Rohit Sharma as contenders to partner Tendulkar on the top.

The bowling attack looks good with Zaheer and Nehra as new ball openers. They would remind us of the epic 2003 campaign in the same country in which India raced back to the world cup finals. Srinath was the leader then, its Zaheer who is the leader here.

It should be a fairly fought contest with a possible scoreline of 3-2 for either team. It wont be horrible as 0-4 last time, but it wont be easy either to conquer them.

Let the game begin in the prologue to the upcoming grand event back home, even bigger than the IPL. The Cricket 50 over world cup.

India's world cup chances brighten up

India are on a roll and having an unbeaten home season first time in memory of all the years I have watched Indian cricket. 2-0 win over Aussies, 1-0 over Kiwis and today's 2-0 lead over Kiwis in ODIs. And this is without the first choice players -- Sehwag, Zaheer, Harbhajan, Dhoni, Ishant, Tendulkar are all rested or missing.

India have been playing some positive brand of cricket after a dismal show in Sri Lanka on dicey useless pitches in august.

And that augurs well for the team ahead given the World Cup is in India itself.

Sreesanth's form in bowling and Gambhir, Kohli's form in batting is a huge bonus.

India's world cup chances look good again!!!

India wins Guwahati game

India won the first ODI in Guwahati by comfortable 40 runs. This margin could have been even bigger one should the 9th wkt partnership of 67 runs had been shortened. Yet next game in Jaipur, the Mallu lad Sreesanth would be on hattrick and if he gets wicket on first ball he would become 2nd bowler to take a ODI hatrrick for India. Kapil being the other one.

India had lot of positives from the game in all the aspects:

• Gambhir looked comfortable batting until he chased a wide delivery that got him out.
• Virat Kohli is soon maturing to a wonderful ODI batsman, with his 2nd consecutive century he is a certainity for the World Cup. He has gone past the likes of Vijay, Rohit Sharma and of course Sir Ravinder Jadeja in the utility to the team.
• R Ashvin was a very good bowler on this day and should he get more chances and he encashes them he would be good wicket taking bowler for India in ODIs.
• All bowlers bowled well in tandem with even Yuvraj Singh coming good with his off spin.

Nehra's ommission from the original squad was baffling and still its not sure if PK returns who would go out. I'd reckon it should be Munaf, as he has not been in the frame all this while and Nehra is India's most successful ODI bowler since June 2009 with 55 wickets in 37 games.

Kiwis now have lost 7 games on the trot in the subcontinental conditions and at this point of time Vettori/Taylor would be a huge fan of Mr Speakit Sangakara who every day gives us a new gyan on the cricketology and latest from his repository is "WC 2011 is going to be most  competitive and there is no clear favorite". So if going by this form, Kiwis are not the favorites for the world cup in subcontinent, but since this would be most open and competitive World Cup, the Kiwis can still surprise anybody. I would be happy if they surprise Sri Lanka every time they play.

Curious case of Vijay

Vijay scored a 100. First at international level. Ok congrats da.

I'd stop right here.

He is not going to be a permanent fixture in the side. For now. Whenever Gautam Gambhir gets fit, Vijay would be dropped.  Yes even after making a 100.  And that could be as early as first Test against NZ.

Vijay has been a fixed slot as reserve opener ever since his debut in 2008. That coincided with the dropping of Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik as openers and return of Gambhir to form in 2008 SL tour. The drop happened in 2008 Aus tour when Sehwag returned in style. That also coincided with the change in the helm of selection committee. DBV went out and Cheekanth came in. So did Vijay after he was in an epic opening partnership with Mukund.

Vijay has since then played T20s and ODIs for India too in 2010 with no success. He flashed in IPL and CLT20 this year. His temparament was monumental in whatever success and opportunities he had thus far. He has been decent in the Tests thus far.

Though he has got opportunities right now just cos he is from Tamil Nadu and Srini, Sreekanth hail from same state. Going on, he would need to exhibit similar patience and commitment as he did today to rightfully earn front door place and not a back door entry just cos he can blabber in same language as chief of selectors and BCCI president elect.

He was painfully slow today going from 87 to 100 and was stuck on 99 for 13 deliveries. In this process he not only slowed down the runs but also slowed down the runs that are scored in the end of the day.

On day 4, India would need to bat quicker than they did on day 3.  They have the men -- Tendulkar and Dhoni to do it. If they bat well and secure a close to 100-150 run lead Vijay's time would not harm us, but if it does then his eating up of balls would surely hurt the team. And that would be a difference in a 1-0 and 2-0 series victory.

Preview : Bangalore Test

The second Test between the 2 best teams playing positive Test cricket starts tomorrow morning India time. And this would be the last one for lot of players in the country on both sides.

After an epic first, the expectations would be high on this series decider.

India has a strong record when they take the 1-0 lead. In last 20 years they have given up the lead only 4 times last being against England in 2006.

There are going to be a few changes in the Indian team and the hero of 9th wicket partnership wont be there. The Delhi lads give way to Southie guys. Vijay replacing Gambhir and Sreesanth replacing Ishant.

Laxman is in some kind of doubt starting tomorrow and if he does not play it would be a toss-up between Pujara and Mukund to occupy his slot. Conventional logic says Pujie should make his debut but we never know with Srikanth at helm and Srini's power could see Mukund make his debut too. (Kidding).

India has got some stupid record in Bangalore with not having won a test in 15 years. This is a great chance for them to rectify the record asap. They've lost to Australia twice, drew once and lost to Fixistanis in 2005.

Possible lineup:

India : Sehwag, Murali, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman / Pujie, Raina, Dhoni, Zaheer, Bhajan, Sreesanth, Ojhie.

Aus : Watto, Katto, Punter, Pup, Mr Cricket, South, Paine, Mitch, Hauritz, Hilfy and Georgie Boy.

It would be one more chance for Marcus North to slide his batting going down south and ensure his berth remains safe for Ashes...

All in all it should be a cracking contest between India and Australia once again and then the rivalry would take a break for one year and then it would kick off once again in 2011 down under. Not sure if the 3 greats would make it that tour.

Now that Mr Character Sanga Singh is injured he should watch this game closely to learn how to play positive cricket.

Australia would win the Mohali Test

This is a typical India vs Australia test.

Riveting fortunes, fluctuating fortunes and no clear winner at the end of the day for consecutive days.

India on day 1, Australia on day 2, mixed on day 3 and Australia again on day 4.

Thats what you need from Test cricket in the days of T20s and spot fixings.  On day 4, the short ball menace returned to haunt India when Sehwag and Raina fell ducking thsoe balls, bad umpiring returning again to haunt India when Gambhir being not out was given out. Not sure if UDRS was used then this situation could have been averted.

India are in a bit of hole right now and it would take all kind of experience from Tendulkar today morning to ensure India stays in the game for some fight. Given the fact that VVS is dodgy prospect due to a dodgy back, a lot would depend upon Sachin and Dhoni to bat India out of this hole.

Aussies are favorites here and should win comfortably by over 100 runs.

And a lot of credit has to go to Hilfi, Billy , Raina and Sehwag for the impending Australian victory.

When spot fixing from Butt's folks have led to the suicide of the Croydron Athletic chairman, the thing needed right now is an exposure of all evidences in the case and toughest punishment to the guilty. And guess what those guilty folks are selected in some domestic t20 tournament pending ICC clearence.

Amazing.

Why we failed in Galle

List of Test matches saved in reverse order:

·         Ahmedabad Test vs SL in 2009

·         Napier Test vs NZ in 2009

·         Bangalore Test vs Aus in 2008

·         Adelaide Test vs Aus in 2008

·         Lord’s Test vs England in 2007

It was Sachin Tendulkar in Ahmedabad, Gautam Gambhir in Napier, Zaheer, Harbhajan in Bangalore, Sehwag in Adelaide and MSD in Lord’s Test 2007.

Neither of this batters are around on the middle now and the patience factor has deserted Indian batsmen in this Test.

Except for Tendulkar, Dravid an Laxman none of the other batsmen played more than 90 balls, most important to save the Test match when following on.  Laxman is baffling still, he has hold on one end yet to avoid the defeat.

Sehwag lasted 30 balls, Yuvraj and Dhoni combined not even 20. Gautam Gambhir could not stay past 1^st over in both innings.  He has had good outing in the first warm up game, yet he made a score line of 2, 0 in the Test, a much rare failure for the Delhiite.

Sehwag got a 100 but threw it away both times when he would have been the key man for India to save the Test in both innings. A big score from him (bigger than 110) in both innings could have meant India would be safe on day 5. But then it was not to be.  Dravid fell both times for his own mistake and Sachin as usual once for a poor umpire decision (lbw both times).

All said and done, this is one Test we would like to forget sooner than later and hope from 2^nd Test ownwards India shows its true class which has made it # 1 in the rankings.

We have got a jacked S bowling attack with none owing up responsibility to be premier strike bowler.   Ojha is not a Test material, forget Tests he is not even an international material. He is good for Deccan Chargers in that overhyped Bollywood hijacked T20 tournament.  Harbhajan Singh badly needs Anil Kumble down the other end to take wickets or to appear as a decent bowler. His ODI bowling is taking a toll on him as a test bowler. ODI bowling as in restrictive role. Line and length ustaad, wicket blub.

Lest bowling attack improves the likes of Lanka would continue to have bat-a-thons and make 500, 600 or even 1000. Our best bet to survive this kind of negative tactics is to bat stronger. We’ve got the best batting order in the world, but at times it falls prey to the bowlers who have forgot to play Test cricket for good 3 years.  But as SP said, India is always vulnerable as it comes out of a long break. Once that cooling period is gone, its tough past getting  the greats. And I bet the Indians would be in their true Test form 2^nd Test ownwards.                      

Just wishing a heavy downpour in Galle NOW.

Post World T20 and IPL

Sri Lanka would take on Kiwis in the T20Is in Florida, USA. Its a bonus for Lankan cricketers to be in USA. Especially Kumar Sangakara and Mahela Jaywardhene. Next time they speak or write match posts, they would imitate Americans or pick up some slangs out of South East.

Had it been India playing other country in US or Singapore or Sharjah, the  critics would have been in open criticising it and questioning the move. But when its not India, everything is fine. 

Who is going to watch this T20Is after overdose of T20s in last 2 months and half. For that matter who watched WI vs SA T20s and who is going to watch India vs Zim when fake opening pair would open the batting thinking if they make 100 runs for 1st wkt they might dislodge Gambhir and Sehwag from opening in T20s and possibly Tests too in long term. 

Angry reactions

Some angry reactions:

·         Why there are no Pandeys, Uthappas in the Indian ODI squad to Zimbabwe ? Why do Pathan, Jadeja and Vijay continue to find a place in LoI cricket ? They aint worth it. Dinesh Karthik is forever inked in the team.  Whats Srikanth upto ? How long are we going to see the likes of Pathan and Jadeja in the teams on the name of being young and promising. There is got to be a time when the promise has to be delivered. We already have had lads who promised a lot but delivered nothing.

·         Short balling has been the nemesis of Indian batting ever since they started playing cricket. That went off for a while when the Fab Four took over followed by Sehwag. But take this 5 out and the culprits are out to seen again. Gambhir, what was he thinking when he nicked the one to the slip yesterday ?

·  

       Ditto for M Vijay. He had a good IPL, agreed. He is not new to international cricket anymore. He has toured alongside Indian teams since 2008 and has been the part of dressing rooms since Delhi Test of 2008 when Gambhir was banned. He played decent knocks in Tests but when Saffers came along he flopped in Nagpur Test this year. After that failure he has played ODIs and T20Is for India without any success. All bcos he hails from same state as chief of selection committee.

Thank GOD, the next World Cup is in India else this batting lineup was not good enough to set right the dismal record of 2007 WC.