Ishant Sharma

Ishant Sharma.

The man who troubled Ricky Ponting, the man who has got pace, height, bounce. But he does not have consistency. 

A sure starter in Tests, but havent played an ODI since Aug 2009.

Ishant Sharma today wrecked Kochi Tuskers starring Mahila and Sreesanth with a 5-for. 

A pure delight to see him succeed at the international level (IPL is domestic with some international touch to it). Only if he could replicate this performance many more times so that the bare cupboards in pace bowling in India would be full again.

Not only he would benefit out of such performances, but India would also be benefited of such performances and we would then no longer need the likes of Sreesanth and Munaf Patel in the teams.

Way to go Ishant Sharma.

Sreesanth problem

The biggest headache for the next game against England will be the 3rd pacer or the 2nd spinner.  Sreesanth or Ashish Nehra or Piyush Chawala? 

Most probably Sreesanth wont be risked against the strong teams. He is a definite ticket to a loss no matter what the target is for the opposition team. May be Ireland or Netherlands could be an easy meat for Sreesanth to experiment his waywardness and inconsistency, but certainly not against England, SA and West Indies.

He is going to be one big headache and a liability that would travel to all places where India would play. Unfortunate as it is, equally it is potent threat to derail India's world cup campaign. One man cannot be allowed to derail the well planned campaign since last 2 and half years. May be Ishant Sharma could have been a better replacement for injured Praveen Kumar instead of this bigot.

Ishant Sharma, the biggest beneficiary of Nagpur Test

India in the end won the Nagpur test by 3rd highest margin in its history and thanks to the man in the center, the bridesmaid of Indian cricket. Rahul Dravid. He is tenacious, he is patient and he is a rejuvenated wall.  He was a big factor why India were able to post a lead of 373 runs in the first innings. His return to form is a welcome sign ahead of the final frontier in South Africa.

India have a very good chance of a series win in South Africa with Smith injured and Indian bowlers showing up the promise on the day 3 and day 4 of the Nagpur Test.

Ishant Sharma's 7 wickets in absence of Zaheer ensured he was not missed much, this 7 wicket haul in the game would have given a tremendous surge in the confidence for Ishant Sharma to have his first real Test overseas after Australia 08.  Not to forget on those Australian wickets, Ishant gained a reputation of being a zippy bowler who can extract bounce off the track.

If he could make AB or Amla his bunny, India would only be benefitted from that. Now that Zaheer's bunny wont be playing the series anylonger as of now, the bunny for Zaheer can be Kallis, but Ishant would need to fire in SA. That done, he would go long way being the next fast bowling sensation in India after Srinath and Zaheer at least in Tests.

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.

India make it to the final.

So India lump into the final, actually they limp to the final. Riding on the back of a superb Sehwag ton and seamers performance, the Indians would fancy to take on Lankans and avenge the 209 ball defeat to them in the 2nd league game.

It was story as usual for Indians -- the batting collapsed except the skipper and the Sehwag factor. He was on a different pitch altogether. While wickets crumbled around him, he played his natural game and was the sole factor behind 223 on the board that gave something to bowl to the 4 prone Indian seam attack. Never in recent history I remember 4 pacers playing together and none of them was named Zaheer Khan and one of them was named Munaf Patel.

He took 3 wickets and got himself to into a slight contention for the world cup berth. Too early for to say anything for Munafa as he always deceives. Ishant Sharma bowled awesome and touched 140 mark consistently. He should get the confidence back which would be very vital for India's campaign to the World Cup.

There was no spinner on the squad. Specialist one though. There was JadduKha, but he leaked runs as he always does. So he met the expectations. He made 17 with the bat and gave 21 off the ball including 3 sixes. So is he worth calling an allrounder ?

Its like "Kasam BCCI ki khate hain, allrounder Jaddu ko hi banayenge".

His India career lives up to one more day. Nehra took 2, Ishant and Jaddu Kha 1 alongside Munaf and Praveen's 3. Praveen has been the bowler of the tournament. Forget all others, this man from Meerut has got quick breakthroughs in almost every game he has played. 2nd ball today, 1st ball in two games. Wish he could play Tests too though he's got a superb first class record. Only if Srikanth would go up north a little bit over Karnataka.

The batting was worrisome and the Rainas, Kohlis and Yuvis did themselves no favor. They need runs, they may either wait till the home series against Australia or try getting some runs in the final against Cheaters. Raina, UV would be part of the XI playing in World Cup and it would be only good for themselves and team if they are in runs. May be the seaming pitch of Dambulla has not helped them, but they would need to correct their run making spree soon.

Karthik made a duck, Jaddukha made a 17. Period. They wont be needed further this tournament end.

Few words for Sehwag. Actually i have no words for him. He is peerless, awesome and add up all adjectives you can, they'd still fall short of what Sehwag actually means to India. He has not been playing in the World T20s now and India has been crashing out too early than they should.

He has been peerless in Tests and doing the same in ODIs. Given the form Tendulkar is in this year, he and Sehwag should make an explosive opening pair in the world cup.

A pity that DBV kept him out of the team for full 2007-08 until he made a comeback in the Adelaide test in Australia. Since then he has been a different player altogether. In the same league of 4 Indian modern greats in batting.

Whaddaplaya.

So tis going to be another India SL final and the emotions would be high. I would love to see India roll back SL inside 100 and then have a look at Sangakara's reaction.

Tail Wagging

The tail enders are Indian baits. They have frustrated us over the years.  Malinga and Herath did in the Galle Test, Kamran Akamal and Spinach Razzaq did in Mohali along side Jason Gillespie in Chennai and Sydney.  For a sweet change of fortunes its been Indian tail that has been frustrating Sri Lankans, much to their own medicine in this series. And who are culprits? Mishraji here, Mithun, Ojha and Ishant in the other innings.

Thanks to the glaring partnerships yesterday India managed to sneak ahead by 11 runs and then the best “offspinner in the country” who is also “greatest flat track bully” which would be cherished by Robert / Gill / The abusive commenter (Achettup, you did this) spinned out Dilshan and Paragraph to ensure India have a realistic chance to win provided they get out boring duo of Mahelangakara asap.

A lot would depend on Mishraji who now has a supportive pitch and that would go a long way to decide on his future. If he is among wickets, he would be in contention else he would be eked out.  Ditto for IPL Ojha. He gotta remember that he is playing for India and not Deccan Chargers. Though sight of VVS Laxman could still remind him of Deccan Chargers……

Difference between Srikanth and Aravind DeSilva as selectors

Asia Cup should be rechristened to Dambulla Cup as all games would be held in the single venue. More to do with the reconstruction of typical Colombo grounds for the WC'11. 

Who is going to watch this miniscule tournament when World  Cup fooshball is on in South Africa. 

I liked Aravinda DeSilva's first press conference on reasons behind every player selection and exclusion. Though his tactical reasons to exclude Ajantha Mendis were a googly, but the logic behind dropping Jayasuraiya, picking up Maharoof and sending centurion Dinesh Chandimal to Australia was awesome.

He also said he would talk to every player to explain the reason behind inclusion / exclusion and what plans selectors have for him in long run.

Thats contrasting with our joker chief -- Mr Srikanth. He chose Asia cup team and did not bother to inform why Yuvraj was dropped or  why M Vijay was dropped despite hailing from Chennai and doing good in EyePeeYelllll.

Mr Srikanth has just one vision -- have guys from Chennai da to crowd in the national team and try to win Borld Cuppa for Tamil Nadu. Not India mind you.

Thats the reason why Dinesh Karthik keeps coming in after sitting out one tour and failing with bat / ball / gloves in domestic cricket or even EyePeeEllll.

R Ashvin goes to Sri Lanka, Naman Ojha is dropped.  Ashok Dinda stays on while Pankaj Singh, other one match bonder is dropped.  Dinesh Karthik is out for Asia Cup but would return for SL tri-series with New Zealand.

Subbu Dabrinath is kept on stand by should one of Rohit / Kohli get injured or be out of form.  Makes sense. Chennai is nearest Indian city to fly in Dambulla rather than flying anybody from say Mumbai or calling top performer from England to SL.   Or who knows Dinesh Karthik would fly in.

He made a blanket statement on Zimbabwe fiasco. He says he now knows who played and who did not. Unfortunately he refuses to see DK and MV in that list.  He refuses to give chances to out of favor seamers like Ishant Sharma or Irfan Pathan to go and play in A team in England and prove something to earn a  recall in national team. 

He got A Mithun travel to Zimbabwe when R Vinay Kumar was injured in Zim. Who was replacement to A team ? Some Ganpathy. Another lad from Tamil Nadu, supposedly an allrounder.

Guys like Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Manish Pandey have been amongst runs in domestic circuit and in A series too, but they aint given any chance. And who are given ? Yusuf, jinxed Jadeja and DKMV.

Where are other players who play in Plate league but fail to make it to the team cos Chief joker refuses to look upwards beyond Sahyadris.

This all examples show how good vision Kris Srikanth has. Something he should learn from Aravinda DeSilva.

India win its 3rd consecutive Test

Ishant is truly back and firm in Test attack.

Sreesanth is on his way out. What a loss. He is not wanting to improve.  Time for antics in IPL for him. Give a glare or two to Sangakara.

Mishra is good, but he is no replacement of Anil Kumble. His 5-for in Mohali seems an one - off event and since then he has struggled.

301 is a flattering score. Thanks to bat swinging,  M Rahim got a 100.  Otherwise Sehwag's statement on their test status and quality remains same.  They are poor Test side and their batsmen know just one way to play Tests -- self destruct.  Having said that, they can on this day beat Pakistan's strongest side in Test cricket 2-1 or 3-0 in Test series.  Bet a Butt on it ?

With this win India are now undefeated for 13 Tests.  Shakib would like to have a look at this record and might want to take back his words that Aus and SA are better sides than India.  That's a weak statement, actually a retaliatory one for Sehwag's comments. To prove him wrong BD batsmen self destructed.  They played poor shots. Lest they improve on it, they wont be winning more tests.  They need to spend time on wickets and if they do that, they would go past Pakistan in the rankings, which at the moment are most pathetic test team in world.

India ODI 2009 Review

The year began for India on a triumphant note when India won the back to back ODI series in SL and NZ with an impressive scoreline of 4-1 and 3-1 respectively.

However that fizzed out a bit after the T20 debacle. Though India won one more ODI series in WI 2-1 which should not have taken place on the first place and then the tri-series in SL beating SL. The picture in the 2nd half doesnt pose a rosy scene. India lost out in the first round of CT and then lost the home series to a depleted 3rd grade Australian team 2-4.

The series win against SL has reinstated the impressive looks to the overall record for the country and it is the team with best win loss ratio in the year.  65% wins is an impressive stat.

The batting looks good as always with some scintillating knocks played this year but the ones that stand out are as below :

1. 175 by Sachin Tendulkar vs Australia in Hyderabad.
2. 163 * by Sachin Tendulkar vs NZ in Napier (??)
3. 146 by Virender Sehwag vs SL in Rajkot
4. 150 by Gautam Gambhir two times vs SL in Colombo and Eden Gardens.

First two were sensational knocks.  Both times Sach looked good for a 200 in ODIs which just would have been apt for the man.

The top order looked settled with Sachin, Viru and Gambhir forming the top 3 followed by Yuvraj, MS and Raina to follow.  Yusuf Pathan fizzed out and Jadeja progressed well to the development of a batting alrounder. In 2010 the competition for this place would be intense between Jadeja and Pathan brothers.

Kohli has demonstrated tremendous maturity to threaten Raina if he doesnt mend his batting ways and idiotic ways to get out.

Rohit Sharma and Dinesh Karthik are no hoppers and they should not be taken seriously.

Concerning department is the bowling. Ishant Sharma was the biggest let down of the year. He flopped miserably with leaking runs at a millionaire's pace. Though he is highest wicket taker for the country this year, the cost for every wicket is expensive.  Zaheer and Nehra form the crux of the bowling attack and the 3rd pacer depends on the conditions India play. When swing conditions are in, have Pehelwan else he is just a dibbly dobly military medium pace bowler.

Mishra is back to the sidelines and Ojha has not done enough to threaten Harbhajan who has had his share of ups and downs.

Fielding, well is disappointing and  this is when there are fresh legs.

There is a year left to the World Cup and its in the backyard.   Bowling and fielding would be the focus area in 2010. With no major series coming in the first few months of the year 2010 the focus should be on finding an express pacer who can rattle the batsmen and also take wickets by keeping the runs per over mark low.

All Izz Bell with the team on the exteriors.

Scorelines :

SL 4-1 (5)

NZ 3-1(5)

WI 2-1(4)

Tri series 2-1 (3)

CT 1-1 (3)

Aus 2-4(7)

SL 4-1(5)

Played 32

Won 18

Lost 10

N/R 4

India wins the 3rd ODI

So India win the 3rd ODI in Kotla by 6 wkts and now have a noose tightened across the Aussies. In last 7 games they have won 4 and lost 2 against the world champions. It also indicates that the Aussies are not the force anymore they were in ODIs.

If Yuvraj and MS were excellent today, then the Delhi kids were off color. May be they were pissed off the slow and low Kotla track, which is a typical Sri Lankan wicket. The more you talk high of MS and Yuvraj, thats less. The maturity of the guys led Indians to a 2-1 win. Sehwag was usually off color and Gambhir was cautious alongside Tendulkar who was looking good to go for a huge score ran out thanks to the fuckass bowler who came in his way.

Nehra another Delhi kid was off color. 0/51 in 9. Ishant Sharma, the other one went off color. So home kids were flop today.

The good thing about MS and Yuvraj is they bat well and bat fast. Quite like what Yuvraj did with Dravid before. Yuvraj and Kaif were one time poster pair of Indian cricket before Chappell finished off Kaif.

This batting line up looks more or less settled with just an occasional replacement for Tendulkar when he wont play.

I am not sure if Jadeja and Praveen Kumar have long role to play in this team. Jadeja doesnt inspire confidence that way.

For Australia Ponting opened just for 2nd time in 327 match career and gave a decent start to the side, but then the slow pitch was too good for their batsmen and they cud just post 229 runs.

Its very difficult to see Australia defending their 3 world cup titles in 2011. Tough.

4-2 or 5-2 prediction now seems very well possible for India. And hell, it would have been 3-0 for India right now.

Something unusual about it

What a day is tomorrow. To see my team through to the semis I would need to wish my second favorite team lose to a team which is my second least favorite.

Juggling of numbers.

I have no hopes. I have assumed India is out.

Less hurt. Less frustration. Less agony.

If Australia go through they are my favorites, if they dont then its India.

But the onus of the early exit would lie on 3 individuals and they would be RP, Ishant Sharma and Harbhajan Singh.

Not many Indian fans support Pakistan except if you live in those pockets in India where.....but tomorrow would be an exception.

And there are signs that Younis wants to play India in final. Of course, thank you. But dont expect Manmohan Singh to ask his team to lose it to your team again.

30th Sep is never so complex.

Get over it ASAP....

Fast bowling needs immediate attention

Its all over almost for India in the CT, thanks to the rains. Feeble chance yet to qualify for the semis if India beat WI and Pak beat Aus and there is some luck with India. But we dont have that luck, something Pakistan had in 1992 World Cup or Lanka in their botched up 1996 World Cup when they had 3 defaults in the so called World Cup win. Find out instances when we have been benefitted from such instances. I dont recall any in 23 years of watching and following the game.

There was little we could analyse on the game except :

1. Ishant Sharma is not a limited overs bowler. No ODIs and no T20s.
2. Harbhajan Singh should no longer be # 1 choice in ODIs. Who will replace him dont know but this lad no more.

Ashish Nehra is to stay.

Hunt for some new fresh bowlers. fast bowlers to be precise. Do not fall back on tried and failed ones like Munafa, Irfan or anybody like Dhawal Kulkarni who cant step up the gas beyond 125 kph.

What happened to the Royals fast bowler who was discovered by Shane Warne? Whatever his name was, is he cleared of the chucking ?

Why not now do a review of IPL fast bowling successes and give them a lot of chance in the upcoming 12 home ODIs in bid to find a good backup pair for Zaheer Khan and hopefully Ashish Nehra in 2011 WC ?

5 bowlers every time wont be a luxury to go with in the ODIs. WI is an easy option, but I would fancy return of a batting allrounder in the game rather than Ishant Sharma. Who ? No YP. Then who else ? 2 lame ducks. Dinesh Karthik for whom I say

"Naan oru thadava sonna nooru thadava sonna mathiri" that he is no longer a useful batsman or a keeper.

Or Abhishek Nayar ? Dont know. He played decent in the only 1 or 2 ODis he played in Windies.

Something needs to be done real quick about the fast bowling department. And yes no comeback for Sreesanth please.

Day after

So to all Alis, Arafats, Junaids and all such jubilant Pakistan fans who dropped bi on my blog and waited for the next post, so here it goes.

To start with congratulations to Younis Khan for a memorable win.

And as of now the game we lost, the blame goes to the bowlers -- RP Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Ishant Sharma.

Sachin failed, Kohli failed and Yusuf Pathan now has reached the stage where somebodys gotta go to him and say "Dude thanks a ton. Your T20 skills are too good, unfortunately they dont work in ODIs. Out you go. "

Lad hasnt performed since ages and now he is hurting one place in the team. Not sure how good Nayar kid would be, but still that should be the end of Pathan for now.

Harbhajan Singh now has pathetic record of 10 wkts in 15 games. Horrendous.

In the touring party the other fast bowlers are Praveen Kumar. Who is no different than Ishant Sharma in non swinging pitches.

The fast bowling looks like a worry.

And for the critics of Dravid, here is why he is important to the side even now when the IPL stars have loomed large : hhe has patience and persistence. 76 in 102 balls were the difference why India lost by 54 runs and why not by 85 runs.

Still all is not yet lost for the team. Beat Aussies tomorrow which is a possible task if the team gets its combination right.

And why did Kohli come on 4 instead of 5 or 6 ? This are some of the problems which need an urgent fix. Throw the fast bowlers who are just on the reputation of IPL or tests. We need bowlers who could take wickets on any pitch. Something like Srinath and Zaheer do / did.

All is still not lost.

And yes this post would be a disappointment for flamed readers from the neibhourhood who....

Indians made Ajmal Kasab look like a King and the Umar Gul was punctured by 55 runs off his 6 overs. Aamer was made to look like a Wasim Akram.....

Bowling worries India

India's bowling is a worry.

And their best bowler in the warm up game is not going to play the most important game of the CT. Not because he is a lowly bowler on talent, but because his captain doesnt put that trust in him.

This is South Africa and there is place for just one spinner. And that spinenr is going to be Harbhajan Singh who is fresh from a 5-for.

RP Singh had a fabulous T20 world cup in 2007. How far he goes this time is not very sure as he is not seeming to be in good form. He was clobbered for 66 runs in 8 overs by Neil Broom.

Ishant Sharma has been on and off. Praveen Kumar well I am not sure if he would be playing. Ashish Nehra seems to be the best bet to rely on right now.

Zaheer Khan seems to be missed big time in this tournament. A country where he has been tremendously successful except the match on 3/23/03 against Australia, the biggest match of his career.

Possible bowling line up looks like : Nehra, Ishant, Harbhajan and RP.

Batting more or less looks settled. Tendulkar, Gambhir to open with Dravid at 3, Yuvraj at 4, MS at 5, Raina at 6. 7th spot seems to be in a bit of doubt. I would rather give the benefit of doubt to Yusuf Pathan in the first game and then may be try Nayar in the game against dummy Bangladesh.....

If the bowlers do their job half decent, the Indians would be good to live up to their reputation as the best ODI team in last 2 years. They have now won 6 trophies on trot. No other team can boast of the same record.

Indians on welcome break

Finding no Indian cricketer in news for his performance on the field is a bit disappointing, but worth taking as this break would ensure the champs would be ready for the home series against SL, Australia and South Africa. Not to forget the Champions trophy, for which the Indians would be strongest contenders. With possible return of Rahul Dravid it would be a tough combo to beat.

it would be a retro move to get back Dravid, but then there is no cut for experience...

India gets to play 8 tests this summer, 6 against good teams and 2 against minnows. Sachin, if he plays all he would be one test away from Steve Waugh's record. Dravid would easily scale past Ponting and Border getting 11000 runs. Laxman all set to cross 7000 runs and the man at the top Sehwag crossing 6000 and the golden goose Gambhir crossing 3000 runs.

The biggest question for selectors would be the place of Ishant Sharma in the scheme fo things next season. He has been patchy in ODIs and T20s. Relatively OK in Tests. So I guess he should be played more in tests than limited overs format.

Ashish Nehra has proved out to be a good enough bowler in ODIs. Not sure how would he shape up, he could be a decent partner to Zaheer Khan in the ODIs if fit.

This combos are too far to discuss, but would be a lot of headache for the selectors to pick up right squad to continue mission 11 in right track.

India vs England LIVE

Its the toss time and very soon Dhoni and Collingwood would be on the pitch to do the toss. Remember the best option for India would be win the toss, bowl first and restrict feeble England to a low total. Win with a handsome net run rate. Dont leave it to the final game. Though Saffers are in full flow.

Toss comes in. And we are chasing. Yes. Way to go. Ojha and Irfan go out. Jadeja and RP come in. Good choices. India makes sensible choices. Spin + pace. England get in Ryan Sidebottom in and Adil Rashid, the spinner goes out..

Lord's is already blue with Indians and English supporters. Time for Anthems. Its proud to stand to Indian national anthem. Great to see likes of DK, Irfan, Zaheer, Yusuf sing along with the likes of Bhajji, MS, Gambhir and Yuvraj.

There. Diff between Indians and English supporters. Every Englishman sung national anthem despite camera focussed on them. And Indians. They jumped and waved when focus shifted to them even when Jan gan man was played.

Asoka Desilva is the one umpire along with Aussie Steve Davis. We all know how much DeSilva loves India. First ball. Swing off the off stump. Bopsie on strike. 2nd ball, played back.

Hussain says 160 is winning total. Not quite. Wide ball and good take by MS. First runs on the board for England. Good run. First runs off the bat. Virender Sehwag is a crucial man in Indian line up. He is the next batting great. He has to feature in every crucial game.

Not to forget Zaheer is playing against his favorite opposition England. 1st over gone. England 3/0.

RP next. 2 dot balls. Great ball. Wright shuffled too much. Leg slip for Wright. Sachin there. Sachinnnnnnnnnnnnnn. Chance for out. Catch out. India draw first blood. Yousuf gets it. Short ball. Wright goes for it. and India get the first wicket :)

KP comes in. Get in Yuvraj. Pie-chucker. Remember KP is injured. Bonding seems great between the team much in contrary to what ass media reports.

2 gone England 4 for 1. Typical English start. Bad ball, first boundary. 8 for 1 in 2.1 Bopara bats like Sachin ? :O. Hussein all right ? Zaheer pitching in leg side. Bad ball again. KP off the block with a boundary. Strike rate of 400. Mis fiekding. Poor stuff. Yuvraj there. Supposedly best. Hussein warns about the backlash if either of the team goes out today.

15 for 1 in 3. Rp comes in for 4th over. Short ball. One more. 17 for 1 in 3.2
Bad ball again. 4 more. 21 for 1 in 4 overs. Appeal of the last ball. Not given. Ishant comes in the attack and rightly so. We need a Indian commentator in the box. Bishop and Hussein too anti-Indian.

Bad start to Ishant. Four. Too much of misfielding happening here. India needs a wicket here. Gambhir dis time. Six to end the over. 34 for 1 in 5.

Last over of Power plays. Bumble in the commentary box. Four. Great stuff from KP. England running away. No imagination from Indian bowlers. Dhoni tsands up to the stumps. Good fielding from Raina. End of restrictions. 40 for 1 in six.

Will we see Yuvraj come in? Apt time for him to come on right now. Stop KP before he opens out. He comes. But goes for a 4. Bopara. KXIP team mates. 6 off 3 balls. KP avoiding Yuvraj. Pie chucker. There he comes. 7 off 5. Four. 11 off the over.

51 for 1 in 7. Bhajji on to match on. Match on to Videocon. 4 off 4 balls. Flighted delivery. Good fielding by Mr Useless. 56 for 1 in 8. Good start. India needs to get a wkt here. Ishant has been a let down. Yusuf Pathan, Raina and Useless should get few overs. IPL experience.

3 off 2 balls. KP now. He s got better of Yuvraj. 4 off 1. 5 off 2. 4 off 3 balls this over. 5 off 4. Mr Useless does it again. Misfield. 9 off 5. Another misfield. 10 off the over.

65 in 9.

Harbhajan for 2nd over. 10th of the innings. 2 off 3 balls. Great stuff from Bhajji. he is a surd from Punjab. Smart street. 3 off 4. Was it a chance ? 3 off 5. Wickets man wickets. Wrong one. 71 for 1 in 10.

Jadeja comes in. Sachinnnnnnnnnnnnn. Last time they showed Sachin a wkt fell. What about this time ? 2 off 2 balls. Left arm spinner from RR. Shane Warne find. 3 off 3. England have got their runs off leg side mostly. Thats it. Bowled him. Bopara trying to make the room, a faster one. Bopara bowled. 2 for 74. Shilpa Shetty's Dimmy comes in. 75 for 2 in 11.

Ishant Sharma back. 1 oof 2 balls. KP on strike. Bad throw. 2 off 3. 3 off 4. Jadeja everywhere. 5 off 5. Good running. 7 off the over. Next one to go out would be Ishant Sharma. 20 off his 2. So now 40 of 84 runs have come in 4 overs. Take that away and score then reads 44 in 8.

Wide ball. Dimmy faces his own team mate. 3 off the 3 balls including one wide and a dot ball. First six of the game. 10 off 5. Thats out. Big wicket. Huge wicket. Wooo hooo. 92 for 3 in 13.

sharma for 3rd over. Colly next. 1st run off the over on the 3rd ball. 39 more to go. Nah. Its Owais Shah who is in. 2 off 4 balls. Good bowling. 4 off the over. 3/96 in 14.

Jadeja for the 15th over. My blog named by Ian Chappell. Arm Ball. 33 more. Good bowling. 1 off4. 2 off 5. 100 for England in 15 overs. 8 off last 2.

RP has 1, Zaks has 2, Bhajji has 2. Jadeja has 1. Ishant iin for his last. 3 off 2.
4 off 3. Ishant is a poor bowler in this format. he proves it again. 8 off 4. Zaks walks off to him. 32 off 3.5 overs. assholle. 36 off 4 overs. Take them off and the score would be 77 in 12.

Jadeja for his last over. MS slow in whipping off the bells. Wide. Four. 7 off 3. off 4. 8 off 5. Good end. And a brilliant spell. 26 off 4 with 2 wkts.

Bhajji on. 17 balls to go. Gone. End of Shah. Collingwood comes in. Jadeja everywhere. Bhajji too good for Colly. 5 wides. Bad stuff.

Bad stuff continues. 135 for 4 in 18.1. 6 off 2 balls. Wide ball. Ridiculous.Switch hit and gone lbw. James Foster next man. 140 for 5. Direct hit would have taken Foster. 142 for 5. 1 more to go and 5/143.

Bhajji to bowl last. Why not RP ? Good over this. Bhajji gets Foster. And now bowled. 3 off the hatrrick ball. 4 wides. Yuvraj Singh misfields. Mind games. 7 for 153. 20 extra runs off fumbles.

India needs 154 to win and stay alive.

India on to batting.

bad shot. Lucky escape. Wide this time. Lucky escape for Gautam gambhir. Good bowl. Mr Useless beaten all ends up. Wide ball. 6 off first over. 148 to win off 19. First voundary through luck. Mr Useless. Fuck Mr useless. Asshole. dude this iss not India. This is England. Gotta wait for ball on backfoot.

KKR !!

KKR are a disgrace now. Nothing works for them. As a batting team and fielding team. IF batting clicked, the bowling let them down. Ishant Sharma's form concerns me. He has been off color and thats bothering given the assignments ahead. KKR should seriously consider withdrawing from the IPL this season and not demoralize the players who also play for national teams. FIP is useless, he would make few more sensations and then fizz out.

Fake IPL player drops a catch!!

Fake IPL player who has got a game today just dropped a catch of Gambhir off Ishant Sharma....I feel pity for Brendon McCullum. He is a wonderful cricketer. And Buch and SRK have dished out a ridiculous team to him!! I hope he and Sourav drop off the IPL asap.

Munaf

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

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

3rd pacer and best Indian lineup

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

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

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