India edge ahead on day 3

Harbhajan Singh is on a roll. Batting wise.

3rd consecutive 50.

69, 115 and now 85 not out. Good enough than Sangakara's scorelines.

Even better is his approach to shield his slapmate Sreesanth, who is restrained so far and has not seen Andre Nel in Arnel, Martin, Southee or Vettori yet.

Tomorrow few more (30-40) runs would put Kiwis to pressure and then IPL Ojha and Harbhajan himself can expect a quick wickets to ensure India does not chase bigger 4th innings total.

The middle order has not been able to impose itself on the inexperienced Kiwi attack -- Tendulkar, Dhoni and Raina have not been able to score as much as they want to...

VVS Laxman scored 74 in his first home test in 14 years of Test cricket. He has been on song off late and would continue to carry this golden run in 2011 too when India play away series in West Indies, England and Australia preceeded by West Indies at home.

Another interesting Test match looms with a realistic possibility of a result.

Virender Sehwag

Sehwag is bloody damn good. He is a different player from those boring openers around the world like Paravaraniratne or Taufeek Umar or Hafeez or Hashim Amla or Ali Cook.

He just does not give a freaking chance against him and when you get a chance, you dance high in the air counting how valuable his wicket is.

A 173, 1, 96 in a 3 Test series is freaking awesome. Playing as per conditions. Not a mindless slog as his opponents cast him to be.

Look at Micky Mouse Arthur, he is still getting nightmares from those 319 runs in Srikanth's Chennai that he has written in his autobiography.   He bloody ended career of bearded Saqi Mushtaq as his guru, the GOD did for Abdul Qadir back in 1989.

Sehwag is a unconventional batsman for the modern cricket which is full of players who like to poke out verbal diarohea in the public. Captains talk big things, the bowlers predict big things, an out of form Surd bowler takes himself to be an allrounder,a bowler good enough to bowl in nets at grade C club cricket thinks himself to be a test level bowler.

Sehwag is uncluttered in his mind. He adapts himself to the conditions, stays in a shell for time being and once he feels he has spent time good enough in the middle he comes back to his elements and then mercilessly slaughters the bowlers.

The opposition is so scared of his 100 that they feel they would go to mental asylum if he scores a 100. Evidence of this was evident in Lankan series when Randi bowled a no ball to him delibarately on behest of Dilli babu. Perhaps he forgot he plays for Delhi DareDevils and Sehwag is the king there.

Modern day cricket offers no good sight than Sachin and Sehwag in full elements. Those shots out of nowhere just give you a kick in the butt and you want more of Sehwag, Sehwag.

Just think how idiot Dilip Vengsarkar was who kicked him out and brought in Dinesh Karthik. Asshole.  Look where Bossadeshwar is and where Viru is.  DK is rotting in domestic cricket making single digit figures constitently and Viru, the king is making 100s consistently.

I second Ian Chappell when he says Viru is the most entertaining and rocking batsmen of modern era. And compare that with the likes of Sanga Nanga, Mahila Blabba, Amla Damla, YoYo Bobo. You would see where Viru is.

Champion batsman and a superstar.  Whaddyaplayer. Chuck de phatte Viru de bacche...

His 96 was one classic inning that has brought India back into the game in cyberabad after Zaheer and Bhajji rolled over Kiwis in the morning session.

McIntosh steals thunder with a wonder on Day 1 in Cyberabad

India is struggling to take Kiwi wickets on regular basis and their inexperienced batsmen are making merry of the attack which bamboozled Australia 2 times in row. The Indians are posting a sorry figure for now and their great spinners mr Harbhajan Singh and IPL Ojha playing on his home ground so early in his career are totally ineffective thus far in the series.

Ojha has played a lot of cricket on the new stadiu in Uppal and he should know the nature of pitch, yet he starts with a sorry figure that makes us believe he is a disinterested fellow in Tests.

Harbhajan has taken his MoM award a bit too seriously for he has now stopped focussing on bowling. A good step at this point of time would be to give him a rude shock which could be well an axe for the nextd 4 Tests and instead take a rookie Ashvin. The wickets are not ocming and chances are they might not come again, but then if Ashvin gets more wickets, it would be a bonus for India.

Sreesanth is erractic and 2nd time in 3rd Tests he dismissed a batsman of a no-ball. Attitude and temparament anyone?  Beauty spells in hours and mostly erractic line. Perhaps he is coming in Tests again for free. He has not played first class cricket off late, has got injured, bowled at NCA and nets. And came back. He is putting Ishant Sharma out of the team.

Today would be a key day to decide if India wins this series 1-0 or 2-0.

India's nemesis Bewda Jesse Ryder is still on crease and old tormentor Dennie Bettori is yet to come.

And if Bhajji continues to bowl the line he is bowling right now, our spin stocks are as good as West Indies or Australia's.

Motera Musings

India were out of the hole again and the revival was sparked by familiar face in VVS Laxman and new batting allrounder Harbhajan Singh who got a MoM award for batting. Surprisingly he made a 100 and a  50 in a same game to become 8th batsman in the history to accompalish this feat.

The Kiwis were no pushovers and to me following were the high points of this test match:

• Superb fast bowling spell by Chris Martin on 4th evening to give a strong chance out of nowhere to Kiwis to win the test match.
• Match turning partnership by Ryder and Williamson on day 3 to bring Kiwis in touch distance within India's first innings score.
• Spectacular collapse of India in 2nd innings to be at 5/15 with just 43 runs lead.
• The man called VVS Laxman with his awesome 2nd innings record. Enough said.

The low points:

• The Motera pitch : lifeless, dull and flat. Perhaps that prevented MS to declare when India were 200 up in the fourth innings lead and safely out of danger.
• India's impotent bowling attack. Barring Zaheer Khan and to an extent Ojha, the others were insipid. 
• Continuing bowling failure of Harbhajan Singh would soon come to a point where coach and captain would need to decide if he continues to be # 1 spinner in Tests.
• Gautam Gambhir's insipid 2010 run continues.
• Sehwag's 2nd innings record continues to be patchy.
• Sreesanth should now be relegated to dancing on reality shows. He is just no use to India's lineup. Ishant Sharma seems to be better bowler than this guy.

India would be disappointed that they could not beat Kiwis and continue their winning streak. On the other hand, the Kiwis would be more than happy to get the draw with strong performances from Ryder, WIlliamson, Baz and Martin. I just hope no more tests are scheduled in Ahmedabad in near future if it continues to roll out docile, Srilankan type pitches.

Kiwis are in the town

Kiwis are in the town for a full fledged series incl 3 Tests and 5 ODIs. 

They are inexperienced lot with 3 only players having a worthwhile experience in Tests - Baz, Danny and Ross Taylor. 

Its their 3rd tour in 11 years but first in 7 years. 

They toured India in 1988, 1995, 1999, 2003 and now. Last time they won a test in India was in 1988 in Mumbai when Hadlee was around. 22 years on they have not won a Test in India, but they have not lost that badly either.

0-1 in 1995 and 1999. 0-0 in 2003.

This time around they do not have personnel to win a test, let along a Test series. There are exciting batsmen in the team but are they good enough to post big scores to pressurize Indians. 

As Danny said tonite in the press conf in Ahmedabad a scoreline of 2 draws (1-0 in either side) would be a kind of job well done for his young side. 

NZ have not been a formidable Test side in past few years and now they have ceased to be a good decent ODI side as well. 

A 3-0 and 4-1 victory for Indians would be a cakewalk and little less than it wont be acceptable.

Thank You BD

Bangladesh has done a great favor for India.

They have deflated Kiwis in the ODI series much to the dismay of Kiwis. They have lost all 3 ODIs and would arrive in India demoralized. They are next Test opponents for India. They arrive to India after 7 years for a full Test series and there should be no doubts that a 3-0 result beckons for India, even though they have lost the ODIs, the Kiwis are not a  formidable Test side anymore.

2-0 and now a 3-0 against Oceanic opponents.

India has just began its era of dominance. Wow.

2-0 would have been better

1-0 is good. 2-0 would have been better. Down the years the scoreline of 1-0 wont be reflecting on how India dominated the hapless Kiwis and only rain preceeded by delayed declaration prevented them to go 2-0 up. I didnt watch the day 4 start and entire day 5, so wont be able to tell how much delayed declaration affected the bid to win the Test.

This was a Test when effective 3rd and 4th bowler could have got the result in Indian favor. Ishant was off color and Munaf was as usual ridiculous. I mean what is the use of getting him in the team? When captain doesnt trust him to bowl more than 10 overs in an innings followed by his attitude followed by irritating habit to run to the bowler 100 times better than him and offer him free advice after every delivery ?

No attempt to bowl bouncers, no attempt to bowl different length. Much said about him in this blog and other blogs. he is not the kind of bowler you would turn to maintain the pressure after 2 bowlers have done the hard work to put pressure.

And one more thing comes in here to ask. Why was no Sachin Tendulkar given bowling before?

No doubt that Indians are now a different Test team altogether. Better than South africans and Australians, but to be like Aussies of yore, the Indians would need to go for the kill in every Test match and remove the weak links like Munfa Patel.

Wellington recession

Slowing down the run rate when the total lead is 450+, its over cast and a forecast for 5th day rains is beyond my comprehension. Cautious approach by Laxman is a bit of downcast in this Test which has been epitome of Indian turnaround from Oval 2007 days when they were content to bat long time to win the series 1-0.

I hope for a wicket to fall and somebody out of MS or Yuvraj comes in to step up the gas. 550+ should be an ideal target for the demoralised Kiwis to chase.

जीत की और बढ़ता भारत....

बहुत जल्दी सचिन तेंदुलकर और राहुल द्रविड़ नेव्ज़ेअलन्द की सरज़मी पर अपनी आखरी टेस्ट इनिंग्स खेलने उतरेंगे। और जिस तरह से ज़हीर खान ने आज गेंदबाजी की है, उससे लगता है, की भारत के यह दो महानतम बल्लेबाज़ अपने टेस्ट करियर की नज़ में आखरी पारी यादगार जीत में खेलेंगे।

तेंदुलकर का यह छतवा किवी दौरा है और द्रविड़ का तीसरा। इससे पहले कभी भी यह दोनों नज़ से विजयी टीम का हिस्सा बनकर नही लौटे। बहुत प्रबल सम्भावना है की इस बारी यह सम्भव होगा और इस जोड़ी ने अपने अल्लोचाको को मुहतोड़ जवाब दिया होगा जो श्रीलंका के हादसे के बाद इन्हे क्रिकेट छोड़ने की बात कर रहे थे।

दूसरी पारी में सहवाग से एक शतक की दरकार होगी और यह उम्मीद होगी की वो अपना विकट दान नही करे। आज का खेल पूरी तरह से ज़हीर खान के नाम रहा है। न सिर्फ़ उन्होंने ५ विकट लिए बल्कि बहुमूल्य ३३ रन भी बनाये।

१००वि टेस्ट जीत अब ज्यादा दूर नही है। दूर हटो ऐ ऑस्ट्रेलिया और अफ्रीका वालो, टेस्ट सरताज खिताब हमारा हैं। टेस्ट में बेस्ट होना , यह संकल्प हमारा है...दूर हटो ऐ दुनिया वालो क्रिकेट पर राज हमारा है.

Translated for Amy:

Very soon Sachin and Rahul are going to step to play their last innings in New Zealend for their illustrative career. And the way Zaheer has been bowling, it seems that innings would come in a memorable winning cause.

Sachin is touring NZ 5th time and Dravid 3rd time. Never before they were part of winning team. The duo has hit back hard at the critics who suggested them retire post diaster in SL.

It would be glad if Sehwag scores a 100 (I wrote this when NZ were 9/186) in 2nd innings and doesnt throw his wicket away. But the man of the day has been Zaheer who not only made 33 invaluable runs but also took 5 wkts for 65 runs.

Right now 100th Test win doesnt seem too far and also the crown of the world championship seems within the reach. The coming age belongs to the Indian cricket team.

100th Test win in pursuit!!

MSD is very much crucial to the plans for victory in 3rd test. Not just to bring the alleged luck, but to lend the stability to the lower order and of course good catching. His replacement was a dud and almost let down the team with his keeping, catching and batting. And yes leave Sehwag to do just he does the best -- whack the bowlers with no respect. Only thing one would expect Veeru is to do a Nottingham on 3rd. That is score a 100 in windy and cold conditions.

100th Test win beckons and it would be great to do that in a venue where we havent won in 33 years.

India's day on day 4 in Napier Test

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

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

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

Good and bad thing about Napier test

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

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

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

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

Good thing is that Sehwag is batting fluently.

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

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

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

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

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

He should be kicked out from the team ASAP.

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

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

Dancer steps in on the 22 Yards!!

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

Paradigam shift

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

Polishing the tail off

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

Munaafa ya Ghata ?

There is just no variation. Just 3 kinda balls:

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

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

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

Hundred no 42 for GOD.

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



Test match hundred no 42.



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



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

Losing the momentum away

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

Hamilton Test, Day 2 and Sreesanth's injury

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

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

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

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

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

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

India Vs NewZealand 1st Test Review

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

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

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

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

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