MSD the Batsman saves the day for MSD the ODI captain

Dhoni, the captain was saved today by Dhoni, the ODI batsman. And he is a master class in ODIs batting.  Ice cool, soaks up the pressure, doesn't allow the things going around him affect him, doesn't even allow unreasonable plays from Ashvin and Jadeja batting around him. 

And today he has won India a game through his batting after long time, probably first time after that historical and forever cliched in memory the World Cup winning six. But probably it doesn't take away the question marks around his selection of the playing XI. 

Continued inclusion of Jadeja at 7 and rotation of openers is haunting the team even though it has been winning the last 2 games. But those games have been won too late and in first place they should not have gone this far after the knocks from Delhi lads. But Raina and Sharma have not been able to convert their starts to big ones. And probably once the tournament progresses and if this lads are not able to make big scores, then one of this lads will have to be dropped to accommodate all 3 openers

The bowling attack too looks predictable. Zaheer and Umesh have been top class, but the rest have struggled. Ashvin is inconsistent, Vinay Kumar ditto. And less said about Jadeja, the better. He just has nothing to prove that he deserves this prolonged run in the team. He has played 52 games and till today he has been on the mercy of captain, chief selector and BCCI chief to intervene and book #7 spot for him. He cant hit, he cant run, he cant bowl. Just fielding is decent asset for him. Gives long hop, gives away too many 6 hitting deliveries, no variations, no spin, short dolleys -- thats all he has got. 

And its futile to expect Irfan Pathan or his brother to comeback to the team soon. Any day he is better bowler than Vinay Kumar and Ravinder Jadeja. He is a good fielder and a good batsman too. Not to forget he was often promoted to # 3 spot in ODIs and Tests too and he has scored 50s and 1 Test 100 as well. He might not have pace, but he does have a lot of variations, lot more than Jadeja and for that matter he makes an ideal # 7 player. So that would give an option to play 2 spinners to MSD on a turning track.

But who is going to explain this to the team management ? 

It is correct to say in today's context :" Sachin Tendulkar was dropped / rested to accomodate Ravinder Jadeja". 

The team selection has been a laughing stock all over this tour and its the likes of Ravinder Jadeja and Vinay Kumar who are in the team based on external entities influence and not on basis of their performance. Guess if this was possible in the era of Sourav Ganguly, when there were no freebies places offered to players who didnt perform and it was the magic of Ganguly that converted then considered ordinary players to genuine match winners. 

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.

BCCI isnt serious about the Test defeats

If you have a look at Mr Srini, the BCCI chief, comments then you’d probably bite your own head or hit it on the wall bang bang. That gives you how much seriously the board has taken the disasters of England and Australia.  Yes, India are not the bad team, as the results show in this 2 tours, but there is something that needs to be fixed. Either that’s the mindset that’s suddenly deteriorated or it’s the quality that’s gone begging.  Or it’s the coach regime that’s plotted the downfall more than anything else.

The media has been equally negative, and so have been the ex-players like Bapu Nadkarni or Kirti Azad or even Kiran More. This players were no good in their playing days, played negative all their careers and today they are echoing the thought that Tendulkar should retire. So much for 22 years of international cricket the man played for India.

The headlines in ToI or NDTV say “Another green pitch awaits India”. Cricinfo reads “dry pitch could help under the pump Indian batting lineup”. Who’s more reliable?  Perhaps cricinfo.  The media hasn’t played less role than the ex-players in forming a negative opinion against the beleaguered cricketers who are being hammered down under.  The next venue is Adelaide, where India hasn’t lost in last 2 series, or rather last 13 years. So much for the historic facts.

The board is busy in arranging logistics  for the IPL-5 and Srikanth’s Tamil Nadu are in Ranji final after hammering Mumbai in the semis. But the defending champions are edging them out of the tournament race by being ultra-slow in their batting. 2/404 in 180 overs is heinous.  But if Tamil Nadu wins the trophy, again the likes of Boss DK, Vijay, Mukund, Dabrinath and L Balaji would find their way to the Indian team on the name of fresh blood and injury replacements. But if Rajasthan win again, then there won’t be any players from Rajasthan finding their way to the Indian team.  Zimply because Srikanth is head of selection committee, which has been unaccountable for the 7 defeats overseas.

Whose heads is going to roll after the test leg of this tour is completed?  The ODIs are expected to be little bit more successful than the tests cos the team is world champion in this format. And it has won the previously held tri-series in that country with exact same combination of teams participating then and now.   MS Dhoni might find his aura back after ODI success (read few wins, if not tournament), the selection committee would then hold its head high “See, we selected this team”. Certainly it wont be the case of “Oh, we also selected the teams that lost 4-0 (or 3-1 or 3-0) in both England or Australia. “ And as Bishen Bedi perhaps for first time said something right in ages “Every test team would be forgotten once IPL starts”. But if there wont be any viewership for IPL, then where would the unaccounted for selection committee head and officials who have hefty share in IPL franchisees find rest in? 

N Srinivasan and Kris Srikanth are the 2 biggest culprits to have landed the Indian cricket in such a pitiful state.   They probably take more solace in the fact that they are part of the team that has won past 2 IPLs and one CLT20. But they fail to understand they also hold the biggest posts in the board that manages the national cricket team. The statements from this 2 buffoons is good enough to reveal the fool hardiness with which this folks have taken the defeats.

In hope of a comeback

The prospects of 4-0 on Australian tour are bright and perhaps that is a sad story for Indian cricket. At this point of time, it seems that this team under MS Dhoni has basically undone all the hard work taken under Saurav Ganguly and Anil Kumble. Whats more saddening fact is that the culprits are the same stalwarts of the past. The same heroes who scripted epic innings in past 2 tours have been the culprits in the 2 tests now.  VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid. When this 3 names come into the mind, the innings of 167, 178, 270, 195, 151, 93* on those golden test matches of the past 3 series come into picture. And when you see this heroes struggle on this tour to a substandard Australian team which is nowhere near to the mighty teams of 1999 or 2003-04 or even 2007-08, it pinches you even more.

Sydney has now come to be associated with painful bunch of memories for an average Indian cricket fan.

Sydney 2008 and Sydney 2012.

Two extremes. The former reminds us of ugly incidents on the field and the remarkable statesmanship displayed by then captain Anil Kumble who gave the memorable statement “Only one team was playing with the spirits of the game”. And the latter, reminds of the meek struggle India showed on day 1 of the first test match of 2012. Much contrast even if you roll back an year to Capetown, which India almost won in South Africa.

In 2008, the monkeygate propelled India to a famous win in Perth and this time it’s the talks of another 4-0 rout that could possibly propel India to a magical turnaround.

The worst feeling associated with this losses is the fact that you know your team isn’t that bad, it is made out to look from the media of both countries. The failing stars are the same people who have scripted infinite comebacks and have changed the perception of Indian cricket worldwide in past decade.  When you know your team isn’t that bad, then its causing you even more agony and pain. So much so that you want to switch off totally from cricket. For  me its been a total off thing. I deleted all apps from my gadgets which read “CRICKET”, turned off all those sites which reminded me of the painful defeats in MCG and SCG.

The MCG test was in the hands till day 4 morning when some strange defensive tactics from MS Dhoni gifted the momentum to Australia and they are too good to let it slip from their grabs.

India needs to do a few things different from what they have been doing in this 2 test matches and most of those things are in the mental thought process. The Indians are too experienced to not let the turnaround come into their mind.  Defensive attitude has to be buried and the days of Dadagiri have to be remembered.  Sourav Ganguly’s presence is the most critical thing that’s needed now and nobody other than the legend himself can do a pep talk kinda thing to the boys and then the results would be up for everybody to see.

He himself has said “Get rid of the cobwebs and play fearless cricket”. That had been the mantra behind those memorable victories India has secured in past 12 years or so. The time has come to relive that attitude and get rid of any defensive crap Duncan Fletcher might be bringing from his English experience. Also it’s a time to rethink to have Fletcher as coach. Is he really worthy and is he really bringing any value to the table?

May be a change in the bowling department could do wonders. Getting rid of Ashvin who has been ineffective should be replaced by Pragyan Ojha.   0/157 is a stark reminder to him that Test cricket is not always fairytale and his honeymoon period is over.

And for a change try batting 2nd on a wicket if you win the toss. Let the opposition bat first who are also suspect against quality fast bowling and India does have quality in that. When Australia came out to bat on day 2 and 3 of Sydney test, the pitch was totally flat and had India batted on those days, they would have scored the same runs as Australia did. The batsmen did show some glimpse of return to form in 2nd innings and that should be the founding stone for the possible comeback.

Its time to rally behind the team, not disown it.

And I am going to watch the Test match on willow.tv through You Tube hopefully awaiting that magical moment that could script a remarkable comeback from the cornered tigers.

SCG Test dos and donts for India

Glenn McGrath really sucks. 

A look at his famous habit of predictions suggest that he has been failing miserably in past 2 years. He predicted 5-0 whitewashes for England twice in 2009 and then in 2010-11. 

Both times Aussies lost the series. 

He has predicted 2 things for this series:

1. India would lose 4-0

2. Tendulkar wont score 100th ton in SCG this time.

The onus is now on the Indians  to prove this predictions wrong. The time has come up for the famed batting order to step up and deliver. They havent crossed 300 once in last 5 away tests and if they dont do it this time the chance of squaring test series is lost. 

This part of world, you got to score runs. And India has capable batsmen of doing it.  The time has come to the glorious batsmen to fire and prove the critics wrong. 

The bowling isnt a weak link, but the batting is.  India has capable bowlers who would run through the opposite batting lineup, but its the batsmen who are unable to put up fighting totals.  2 of 6 have to bat long and long. Score runs as they did in 2003-04.

And yes MS Dhoni needs to shut up and find ways to wipe out the tail. This habit is now sucking and leading to a habit of losing Tests from winning positions. From position, India was on day 2 in MCG, there was no business losing the test.

He has to deliver through bat and through captaincy -- aggressive at that.

If India does most of the above things right and the weather is right, then we are going to have a favorable result.

MCG defeat dissection

So the away woes continue. 5th straight loss. 5th straight batting failure in a test match. None would have expected a team at 3/214 chasing 333 in first innings on day 2 close to lose the test match day and half later.  But India always exceeds expectations. They lose when none expects them to and they win when none expects them to. This has been a close knit team for almost a decade. The batting names have remained same more or less same. The spots 1, 3, 4, 5 have been fixed for 10 years now barring injuries and other reasons, but  they were undone by some quality pace bowling by inexperienced Australian fast bowlers. The attitude of the Indian players on day 4 throughout was questionable. The players seem resigned, the shoulders were dropped, the field was open and spread out to a no 9 and 11. Cmon, you don’t expect to give easy singles to tail enders. No sign of attack, no sign of keeping up pressure on the tailenders was visible from the world cup winning, IPL winning captain MS Dhoni.

He has to own up this defeat. His captaincy on 4th morning was the worst, worse than Shahid Afridi or even a Dilshan (who won a test in SA).

He didn’t attack the jack and 10, he allowed easy singles and allowed the target to cross 250 when it was no business chasing more than 240 at the max.   Perhaps the time has come now to see that the ageing legends quit and allow the fresh blood to sneak in. And the culling must start through VVS Laxman. He is supposed to be 4th innings champion, but yesterday he was abject. Scores of 2 and 1 are too bad for a player like him when he is taking on his favorite team. Hell with the history and ground stats for him. Why did not he take up the responsibility to guide the chase.

And same questions need to be asked to Virender Sehwag, why did he cut the ball when the trap was laid out for him through some imaginative captaincy from Clark.  He just gifted his wicket away to the Aussies and that moment, the victory for them was sealed. Losing to an under rated team is frustrating, if this loss came in 2003 or 2007 then we would have been able to digest this, but hell the Australian team in transition with no big name firing has defeated a stalwart studded team. The lineup where top 5 has plateful of runs, but cannot stitch partnerships together to win a damn test match, they had no business losing.

Gambhir has been successful in almost all conditions, but he has failed in England and now that’s carrying in Australia too. He has been a dogged character, not the one easily to give up. He has seen the frustration of being dropped and had even thought of giving up the game at one point, then why is he not so considerate enough to play a dirty innings to get some runs. Don’t poke outside off stump, this is a test match, not a T20 and you are not captaining KKR, but opening for India in a country where they are yet to win a test series in 64 years.  Scorelines of 2 and 13 don’t do justice to this man and his temperament.

Ditto 68 and 7 don’t work well for Sehwag.  He has been successful in MCG before and very famously.  195 on day 1 of that test match in 2003 was a glorious innings and now both the men from Delhi would go in 2012 with no Test centuries to their name. They are not able to provide the fiery starts they are famous to provide.   They have to own up and start producing runs freely. And that’s very critical for Indian batting to click. That gives the likes of Dravid and Laxman – the slow workhorses time to play their own game. 

Kohli has been a failure here, but again early days for him. First major away tour for him and he should be given another chance in the Sydney Test.

MS Dhoni has to look up to his Test batting, he has been falling too frequently to soft dismissals and low scores. Yesterday he scored just 23, but he leaked far too many runs in the morning session.  It would have been nice if he would have shown the captaincy skills he has been famed for past 4 years.  If you leak runs through unimaginative captaincy to the tail enders, then at least exceed that amount by scoring runs, when you are a batsman of capability and over  8500 international runs, then some responsibility has to lie on your shoulders too.

IPL Ashvin, who has replaced Harbhajan Singh should first learn how to bowl in a test match and moreso to a tailender in a situation when its do or die. He came on pretty late in the attack yesterday, but he just bowled ordinarily with no attempt to grab the wicket. Happy containing? Not that either. He leaked 9 runs in one of his overs with short dolleys and poor bowling. Even when he batted in first innings, he continued giving strike to no 11 on 2nd or 3rd bowl of the over of firing Hilfenhaus or Pattinson. What was the motive ?  The aim was to cut short the lead as much as possible, good that Yadav did not fall and showed decent character to block out the balls. But this is something IPL Ashvin will have to learn. May be a quick word or 2 with Anil Kumble would be good on how to bowl Yorkers to tail enders.  He is the attacking spinner in Tests after having replaced out of form Bhajji, but if continues to play the same role as Bhajji did, then let Pragyan Ojha come in.

Throw this lad out of the team if he continues to make elementary mistakes.

All is still not lost. Before its too late work on the mindset first. Come out all attacking, take 20 wickets as soon as you can. Australian batting is fragile and prone to collapse any time. 4/27 to 240 was an unforgivable crime. And it shouldn’t be repeated.

Don’t leak too many runs to the tailenders and block runs. Play SL brand of cricket if possible to dry out the runs.  Set 7-2 field like you did in Nagpur 2008. Who has stopped you?  And have batsmen take up some responsibility.

New year, new test match, hopefully new mindset. All is not lost yet. But if they don’t improve in Sydney, then all would be lost and the legends would not like to sign off with a defeat in the test series, but with a  series win. How much hungry the legends are, that remains to be seen.

292 to win

What an insipid captaincy by 2 times world cup winner MS Dhoni. He just let the tailenders score easy runs through indifferent field settings when 9 down. Last 2 wickets scoring 75 runs with Pattinson getting 32 not out. The fields were spread out, there was no aggression, there were no attempts made to grab those 2 wickets. There were very less yorkers, the captain had lost it. 

Not a very good sign when you are looking to win the first test match of an away tour. Something which has been the Achilles heel in the past and is haunting now too.  Not a good sign when you want to regain the lost no 1 ranking.

Ashvin was the culprit, MS was bigger one and the biggest the fielders who let easy runs, allowed 1 to 2, 2 to 3 and even the tail enders ran 4 runs. 

Attribute it to MS Dhoni's questionable tactics.

292 to win. 

Key players : all batsmen.

For morning session it seemed the Australian team has got 2 captains --MSD and Michael Clarke.  Thanks to Laxman who sent back Hilfenhaus to end the innings.

MCG Test day 3 updates

The Boxing day Test in MCG is at a very interesting stage with the result very likely on day 4 itself. The key lies to the time India spends to take remaining 2 wickets of Australian 2nd innings. Anything over 250 would be a tough proposition given the up and down pitch. Michael Hussey needs to understand that any runs he adds to his overnight 79 would be a waste of time for his team and himself.

He is not anyways going to last beyond the end of this Indian summer, so why waste everyone's time. He and Ponting are now at the stage where one good innings would only delay the inevitable. The best bet for them is to just end the agony and walk into the oblivion.

Their legacy would be remembered as finest cricketers who excelled with great players around and struggled when their team needed them the most.  To see Ponting and Pussey struggle for that one career extending innings is a pain to watch, given the fact that this players were part of once formidable team that conquered the world.

India were equally inept in the batting in the 3rd morning when they could have batted Australia out of the test match with Kohli, Dhoni and Laxman yet to come and edgy, lucky Dravid still on crease. But then Hilfy had some other ideas as he took his first 5-for and redeemed his career after the Ashes low of last year.  Unless it was for valuable 31 runs from IPL Ashvin, the lead of 51 would have been lot more.

Umesh Yadav has been a revelation since the 2nd test match in Kolkata vs WI. It was heartening to see him go over 150 mark and grab 4 wickets in this innings taking his match total to 7. The other bowlers Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma were superb too.

All in all a very good looking pace attack from India and if the batsmen could get it right in the 4th innings and the remaining 2 wickets are drained quickly, the Indians should see themselves in a winning position. And its very crucial for Laxman and Gambhir to score runs. Laxman is playing on his worst Australian venue and the motivation for him should be the 4th innings chase, where he has been the best India batsmen to bat in recent past.

But as usual the pace would be setup by one and only Viru Sehwag, if he gets going and scores some quick runs, India should be on course. And Sachin Tendulkar would want to make his final innings in MCG a memorable one, as would Dravid want it to be. What better than winning on a ground which has been cruel and horrible for the country in past.

Australia memoirs : 1991-92

Time for some digging in the repository for the memories of tours down under. 

And first in this series is 1991-92 tour, the first one I saw live on TV back when i was 12.  The series which saw the arrival of Shane Warne and more than him, arrival of Tendulkar on world scene as a master class batsman. Also the departure of Ravi Shastri, Kris Shrikanth and Dilip Vengsarkar. 

Shastri played just one more test series after that tour, Srikanth ditto and Dilip Vengsarkar retired after this series at 35. He just managed 2 50s, 54 in each of those innings and he was out.

This was also the last tour of Kapil Dev abroad when he succeeded in grabbing wickets. 32(or 34) wickets in 5 tests and reaching 400 wickets milestone in Perth grabbing Mark Taylor was a highlight of the otherwise disappointing series for India. 

This was also the first series for Javagal Srinath, lean and tall fast bowler who would go on to become then 2nd successful fast bowler in India (now upstaged by Zaheer Khan in terms of Test wickets).  Subroto Banerjee was other debutant, but he fell out soon. In the ODIs, the triseries Benson & Hedges world series then, Sourav Ganguly debuted in 2 odd ODIs and then was dumped for 4 years. 

From Australian perspective it was a series of Craig McDermott and Bruce Reid. Indians had no answer to the pace and bounce from this Aussie pacers and the likes of Whiteny and Paul Reiffel who debuted in that series supported the likes of McDermott and Reid aptly. 

Those days, the ODIs were interspersed between the Tests unlike today's age when ODIs / Tests are played in clusters.  It was also the first slice of viewing to the Indian spectators where in they got up early morning 530 AM and watched out those games.  Hearing the likes of Bill Lawry, Richie Benaud, Ian Chappell was a delightful experience. Tony Greig was a good chap then, he hadnt fell in love with Sri Lankan jugglery those days. 

Getting up at 530 AM and watch out the first session of the Test matches before going out to school was a superb experience. That was also the first time Indians saw the high end technology in cricket (colored clothes in ODIs, stump cams and of course pointers used by commentators used for field placings etc). Sunil Gavaskar was the lone commentator from Indian side and of course he was starter in the commentary business then as it was India's first tour to Australia post Gavaskar and with Tendulkar.

Gavaskar is now 62 and Tendulkar is 38, but its hard to believe that there was just a gap of 2 years between former’s retirement and later’s initiation.

That tour lasted for 4 months and by the end of the tour, India had played out 5 Tests, a tri-series in which they won just 4 games and a world cup they exited first round with just 2 wins to credit.  The tests were spanned across 3 months, as opposed to just about a month this time.   India had played out a tie game against West Indies, who were not so weak those days as they are now. Probably it was their first Australian tour sans Vivian Richards who had retired few months earlier, but was still available for the World Cup. At least he thought so, but the selectors didn’t think like him.   That game in Perth, in which India were rolled over for 126 gave the world a bowler in Sachin Tendulkar, who bowled the final over of the game and taking the final wicket of West Indies, thus tying the game. In the wake of famous Hero cup last over against South Africa, this spell or this game for Tendulkar as a bowler is sort of diminished. 

Cant imagine the fact today that there was gap of 24 days between first test in Brisbane and Boxing day test in Melbourne and then again a gap of 20 days between SCG test and the Adelaide Test. India played out a total of 5 first class games amidst the test series, a kind of thing unimaginable in the modern era of IPL, BBL and CLT20.

India were rolled over in the first test in Brisbane by 10 wickets. Australian batting comprised of Geoff Marsh and Mark Taylor as openers, Boon and Border at 3 and 4, Jones and M Waugh at 5 and 6. Healy at 7.  The bowling attack read  Big Merv, Mike Whiteny, Peter Taylor and of course Craig McDermott.

Indian batsmen had no answer to the pace, swing and bounce offered from the Australian fast bowlers who were stronger than the current lot.  Except for Sachin Tendulkar who scored classy hundreds in Perth (114) and Sydney (141), only Azhar (123) and Shastri scored 100s(he scored 206).  Srikanth, Manjrekar, Vengie and More were sheer failures.  Sachin's love for Aussies began on that tour which is ongoing till date and would continue till he retires.  

India lost heavily in 4 Tests in Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. The only places where Indians did show some fight was in Sydney, where they were denied victory due to a day being washed out in rain and then in Adelaide where they scored 400 odd in 4th innings, though they lost by 140 runs. They rolled over in Perth and lost the series 0-4.

After the tests were lost, the Indians showed some fight in the B&H world series by beating Australia once and West Indies twice, tying once and then reaching finals. Their show in the world cup was a disaster in the modern era.

Bowling wise, Manoj Prabhakar and Kapil Dev were potent new ball pair, but lack of runs from batsmen crippled the experienced duo. Javagal Srinath emerged from this test series as fastest Indian bowler since Nissar Mohammed and the figures of 18 wickets in 4/ 5 tests proved this fact.

The small matter of the fact was that Shane Warne debuted in Sydney test and was taken up for runs by Tendulkar and Shastri. None expected what was to come from this blonde guy further down the years. He was promptly dropped for the next 2 Tests after returns of 1 for 150 and then he rocked the world starting Lanka tour later in 1992.

The love affair with viewing Australian cricket broadcast began then and is still ongoing.

Next : 1999 Series.

Preview to Boxing day Test

The Boxing Day Test at the MCG is 6 days away and the excitement is slowly building up. The Aussies are hosting a batting boot camp in order to weed out the weaknesses that have been exposed in past 2 years in different countries and against different countries. The Indians are worried about their 2 premier fast bowlers -- would they last the entire tour to give the team its first series win in Australia. So far that worry is a genuine one and the news breaking out of the Indian camp isn't a good one. Ishant Sharma is mysteriously injured and there are no updates on his injury status. He didn't bowl in the first 2 day game more than 5.3 overs and then didn't take the field till day. Not sure if he would be part of the playing XI in Melbourne.

Zaheer Khan was ineffective on day 2 of the tour game in Canberra and he didn't take the field after bowling 10 overs for 41 runs and no wickets. Is he out injured too?

Now if anyone of Zaheer and Ishant Sharma break down before the test leg ends, then it would be clear that BCCI has not learnt anything from the England fiasco. The possible replacements for any of this 2 bowlers are worrisome. Ashok Dinda is being talked as Sharma's replacement as per Ganguly's brave claim he made in media few days back. Now anyone who has seen him bowl in ODIs he has played in 2010 would feel that Dinda is going to be a wrong choice. He leaks runs, doesnt have consistency and lacks wickets taking ability.

So that leaves India with the inexperienced trio of:

1. Umesh Yadav

2. A Mithun

3. Vinay Kumar

The Karnataka lads have been very ineffective in flat tracks back home and since the Aussie wickets would be flat too, not sure if this 2 lads can put some brakes on the runs and on the same hands take wickets too. Genuine contenders to ensure the woeful Australian batsmen get their form back and score runs. Irfan Pathan? Will he help? He might have if he had pace, but the sight of Patel standing upto the stumps in Chennai ODI was a disheartening sign. Though the good signs of the swing being back were visible.

The possible lineup for bowling should all bowlers be fit might look like:

1. Zaheer

2. Ishant

3. Umesh

4. Ashvin

Should Sharma be unfit then

1. Zaheer

2. Umesh

3. Mithun

4. Ashvin

India are going to miss Praveen Kumar heavily down under.

The batting lineup for India looks settled and Rohit Sharma will need to wait few more games to debut in Tests. Kohli with his superb 132 in the tour game and his run up to this series will seal his spot at 6 in the first 2 tests at least.  One man I hope to score runs is Gautam Gambhir. Its being close to 2 years he last scored a Test 100. Australia would be a good place to start getting the 100s again and ensure his evolution as Test batsman is complete (England the only blot shall remain at least for next 2 years).

Australia are having their own worries.  Shauns are injured and one of them wont play, the other one who is their lone consistent bowler over 2 years, wont bowl. David Warner has a dodgy back, Hughes refuses to learn and Ed Cowan has presented a strong case for himself to be selected with that 100 against tourists in Canberra.  Usman Khwaja is still looking for an innings to prove his international class. Hussey and Ponting are on a daily salary basis like a daily waged laborer. Every innings they fail is going to put more pressure on them. Moreso for Ponting, one single failure means that Test could be his last. Good news : he is up against India, he has been amongst runs against them at home and there is no Harbhajan Singh to rattle him even with his sight.

Michael Clarke remains the only batsman consistent and in form and the danger man for India.

Brad Haddin is secured just by the fact that his replacements are injured. Does he put some sense in his ways of getting out or he continues to throw his wicket in irresponsible way remains to be seen. The bowling attack is little worry than the batting.  Pattinson, Siddle, Lyon and Starc might not look threatening on paper but they are untested. Indians have never played this 4 men before, so the visitors could be little unsure of what to expect.

The MCG has not been a happy hunting ground for India. It has lost its last 4 Tests in 1991-92, 1999, 2003 and 2007. As stated before, this remains a best chance for India to win its first test at MCG and of course first series down under. And for some inspiration they just need to look back effort from their tormentors, a year back to the Boxing day of 2010 when Aussies were rolled over for 98.

Ricky Ponting : time to retire now

Ricky Ponting fell for a duck in the first innings of the ongoing 2nd Test vs South Africa. When he should have scoring a 100 to save his career, instead he has fallen for a duck.

And that should be it for his career. The curtain should fall on his illustrious, controversial and colorful career. Ponting the man who led Australia to its decline from the top, the man who led them to a world cup loss earlier this year, the man who lost 3 Ashes, none of the Aussie captains before him lost even one, the man who hasnt scored a 100 in 2 years, a 50 in one year, now should walk in retirement. 

The man who led Australia to all glories when he had a great team to his disposal, something which he got as legacy of Steve Waugh, failed to win a single game when those great players retired.  He lost in England twice, lost Ashes in Australia becoming first Australian captain to lose a series to England in 24 years, he lost to South Africa in 2008, lost to India twice 0-2. Actually he never won a test in India as captain. 

He had a very ugly role to play in the drama of Sydney test in 2008.  He never walked when he had nicked one to the keeper, but was prominent in appealing the catches which were not clean.  He believes he has been good in nets and he deserves chances to get that elusive big innings soon that shall redeem his career. But he is no Tendulkar or Dravid or even Lara.

The runs aint coming to him, his decline which seemed to be a small patch is now a terminal decline. And if he has to be remembered as a great Australian batsman, then he should retire on his own. Else the bloody Indians await and this time they certainly would want to win the elusive series in Australia, which they have failed to do so courtesy Steve Bucknor in 2008 and 2004.  And India would ensure that his career average shall drop even further.

Kohli at 7

No 7 slot is sealed.

No Jadeja, No Pathan, No Pathan, just Kohli.

A superb placed and timed 100. Sorry paced.

The line up:

Sehwag

Tendulkar

Gambhir

Yuvraj

Dhoni

Raina

Kohli

4 bowlers

Ojha

Harbhajan

Zaheer

Nehra or

Praveen

Super effort from Kohli. Something the likes of Vijay should learn. Seize the opportunity when it matters.  Playing great in T20s and CLT20s when they dont matter counts for nothing, playing well for country amidst limited opportunities matter and thats what Kohli has done today.

Awesome.

Jadeja Special : He could be out

Ravinder Jadeja could be on his way out if MS words on the eve of the series opener are something to go by. He gives some hint of what is to follow.  This is what he has to say for Saurabh Tiwary, the chota Dhoni.

He has got exposure against the best bowlers in the IPL and CL T20. I think it is an ideal opportunity for us to give him a place in the final XI and let him play the kind of cricket he plays.

He backs himself and he is hard working and spends his time at net sessions. He is good character to have. With proper guidance and with little more exposure to international cricket, he can be really successful.

He is reckoning that Tiwary would play at 6 or 7. That is if he plays at 7, he could kick out Jadeja. And we would welcome it with 2 legs and 2 hands.

Vijay, Dhawan, Raina, Dhoni, Yuvraj, Kohli -- they should be the top 6 with the 3-6 not in any order. Finally its a toss up between Jadeja and Tiwary. Kohli would not/ should not be dropped.  Further words from Dhoni says that Jaddukha could be kicked out soon:

When he [Jadeja] came to the side, he was more of a batsman than a bowler. But in the last few seasons he has really done well with the ball. He has not so far contributed well with the bat. For a player like him, he has to contribute with both.

Jadeja Jadeja

Yes Cheeka

Bribing selectors

No Cheeka

Show me your bank account

Na na na na.

Ok pretty lame attempt.

If we see no Jadeja and if Tamil Nadu intruders (Srikanth's croonies) perform nothing like it. The ODI team is now a limping unit with poor results since that disastrous Zim tour.  Now only 13 scheduled ODIs remain and selectors have missed a bus to really identify the couple of slots that need to be finalized.

3 against Australia, 5 against SA and New Zealend.

This is the time to pick up right team. Right guys.

Game set match Australia on 10/17

ODI series begins Sunday and its a Dusshera day.

Traditionally Indian team has won on a festive day. Same cant be said on this Dusshera day. Srikanth has punctured the hopes and aspirations for a 3-0 win in ODIs too. May be he wanted a 3-0 win on Pongal / Onam day but that day the Indians would be in SA and Aussies would be playing Ashes.

1987 India beat Australia in the last league game of the world cup and 1996 Srinath Kumble scripted a superb 8th/9th wkt partnership and won after Sachin made super 80 odd on their home ground. That was Titan cup.

What about this one ?

Embarrasment in order.

Vijay

Dhawan

Raina

Kohli

Yuvraj

Dhoni

Jadeja

Ashvin

Nehra

Praveen

Munaf

does not give any confidence that this team would compete with the top ranked ODI team on any day. If there were one of Tendulkar / sehwag and Zaheer in the bowling Australia would have been a rollover in ODIs too.

But for Srikanth and his thought process....

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.

A monumentous Test match

What a test match it was.  Ful too paisa vasool. As a superstition I wrote on the blog that Australia would win the game while I knew that someone would do something magical cos it was Australia and India can fight back from worst of the situation against this team. Woke up at 2 AM in the night and glued to the webcast till the presentation was made. Every moment of the final session of final day is a picture to cherish for long time to come.

Its the quality of cricket India and AUstralia are capable to produce every time they take the field. Intense, gigantic and great cricket. Even the lesser mortals of Australian team gave a tough fight to Indians. And in the end even though India won, it was Australia too who showed a lot of improved behavior on the field. Especialy Ricky Ponting who did not go overboard to push for the victory.  The scenes of Sydey 2008 are still afresh, but this was a sea change.

Australia did not have the penetration on the final day when it was most required. Bollinger, the to go man on final day was out injured (thanks to CSK campaign) and Hauritz was a no brainer against India.

Johnson struggles on pitches with little bounce and Hilfy did his bit, but in the end Ponting's men ended on the losing side. No disgrace though. Defeats against Australia except 2008 Sydney never hurt as much against Sri Lanka and Pakistan do. But then SL and Pak are no contesters against India.

Everybody contributed in the win right from Sehwag to Ojha except Gambhir who's suddenly developed a lean patch. He is out 2nd time to injury in consecutive Test series. That gives an opening to Mukund and though he wont play, Vijay would partner Sehwag again in Bangalore.

Dravid had his moments in first innings, Tendulkar missed a 100, Raina made a well deserved 86 and Dhoni, though regressed in batting, captained well. Ishant Sharma sprayed balls all over in first innings and had injury to his ankle / knee, he returned back to bowl with heart out and star in that monumental partnership for 9th wicket. Ojha did his bit in 2nd innings with ball and Zaheer Khan, as usual was excellent with old SG ball.

Harbhajan did disappoint with bat and ball in both innings, but the man who would be remembered whenever this great Test match would be mentioned is VVS Laxman.

What a player he is. Underrrated and under praised(whatever). He has now got victories in back to back chases with back to back back injuries. Crisis and adversities make Laxman thrive and excel, that very few players do. But that has been the hallmark of this great Indian middle order. Batting with a runner, with a bad back and scoring runs at almost S/R of 95 is excellent stuff.

That makes him count above the flat track bullies of Lanka. Sangakara and Jaywardhena have scored more runs and hundreds than Laxman, but hardly their innings are counted as in the same breath as in for Laxman.

Bangalore should make another exciting contest and if India wins, then it would be a whitewash of mini sorts for India. But do not under estimate Australians for they would give one more intense shot to the indians to save their pride and gain some confidence for their next Test in Brisbane on Nov 23.

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.

India vs Australia T1D3

The first test between India and Australia is delicately poised and for sure it wont head to a draw, what fucking Sanjay Manjrekar believes. Damn him, he is an eternal pessimist. 

If the lower order of India could have shown the same resolve as in Lanka, India would have had some lead rather than giving away some lead.  Injury to VVS Laxman also did not help. Either of this would have happened, India surely would have surged ahead of Australia in first innings. 

India had 4 half centurions -- Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar and Raina. 

Raina has almost sealed his spot at 6 for at least few more Tests. Failure of Yuvraj Singh in first innings of Irani trophy has not helped his case in anyway.  

Sachin was unlucky to have missed yet another ton this year, although he did lead a good partnerships with Dravid and Raina. 

Only if MSD and so called allrounder Harbhajan could have made some more runs. 

On day 4, the lot would depend on Zaheer and Ojha to make early inroads to Australian 2nd innings. Ishant is out injured and Harbhajan is useless. 

So if this 2 bowlers in addition to occasional off spin by Virender Sehwag should ideally run through the Australian 2nd innings. The match is delicately poised. A session or 2 good for any team could turn the game in its favor. 

And given the rivalry between the 2 teams neither of the teams would like to give an inch to the other. And this is what you call pulsating and riveting Test cricket. Even contest between bat and ball.

India vs Australia D1T1

India Australia test happen at a very wrong time for me. When its day time in India, its night time here and barring weekends, its very difficult to catch up the live action on the field by being up the whole night.

India caught up with the Australia in the 2nd session to choke Australia at a scoreline of 5/224 which did not look a possibility at 2/179.  Ojha and Harbhajan did the best -- choke runs without taking wickets and that helped Zaheer Khan to strike with the old ball.

Thats where the utility of Zaheer Khan is. He is a superb exponent with the old ball and he should fancy 5-for tomorrow.

Watson and Ponting threatened to run away with the match in the first 2 sessions and onyl a gem from Raina saved India from usual day one starting troubles.

5/224 is an unusual scoreline for Australia..Perhaps an indicatot of the decline in Australian fortunes off late.

Getting Wastson and Paine early would be the key tomorrow.

300-325 should be the score India looking forward to wrap up Australia in 1st innings.

Yuvraj's omission is baffling.

India's team for the first test is almost a good one except following:

1. Yuvraj's omission is baffling. He did not get a chance to demonstrate his so called loss of form in Tests after the disastrous Galle test. Next test he was injured and next one Raina persisted over him. Ideally he could have been given one chance to prove his form in Tests and then drop would have been justified. Now that Che is in, it seems that for forseeable future Yuvraj's Test fortunes are on hold for now.
2. Che finally gets in the team but is he going to play ? He would no more than a drinks man. Ideally he should replace Dravid at 3, but then Dravid has had one poor series in Lanka and he should be back in form again.
3. Harbhajan in the team is baffling. He has not been in form, fitness and sane mind.  As SP says he is a spot fixer in Indian team.

Zaheer, Ishant, Harbhajan and IPL should be the lineup for bowling.  GG, VS, RD, ST, VVS, SR, MSD for batting.