Jadeja, Spot fixing verdict and the Butts

Ravinder Jadeja has scored a triple century in the Ranji opener against Orrisa at a Sehwagasque strike rate of 83. And that has thrown rumor mills rife at the fact that he would be taken along to  Australia as # 6 batsman and also a part time spinner.  I doubt the wisdom and brains of cricketing selectors in India that they might be tempted to think that Jadeja has now turned completely into an allrounder mode and can contribute in Tests too. Times Of India shamelessly rooted for this chap to be included in tests. The only opening for now in the tests slot seems to be for # 6 with 3 contenders in the team for it and 4th one actually getting fitter.  Jadeja, in selectors' view can become the 5th one.

 

He also took 10 wickets in the recently concluded England ODi series and now has 15 wickets in 8 games since his return. I wonder if he would be still considered to play when the likes of Yuvraj, Sehwag return to the ODI team. 

 

The 3 tainted jailed stani cricketers are now asking for mercy or even considering to file for an appeal against the guilt and sentence. Its been reported in English media that they were even left to tears on hearing the sentences handed out to them. Strange. For 15 months on, from executing the no-balls, they dint show any remorse or accept the guilt. They continued to claim they are framed and are innocent, but now when they are in jail, suddenly they are now religious and their families are talking about GOD n all. Its weird to see that in Pakistan, the evil doers dont hesitate to commit the crime, but when it comes to receive the punishment for it, they suddenly start talking GOD. 

 

The conviction of 3 cricketers has just been a start and this process must go on to find all the crooks and eradicate them. Across all countries including safe havens like middle east which are now home grounds to the Pakistanis.

 

Thats just the tip of the iceberg and whats concerning is the statement from Mazhar Mazeed "65000 pounds paid to Asif to keep him loyal and prevent him from wanderring to the "rival fixing factions in the Pakistan team" ". What does it mean? Are there more cheats and crooks involved from Pakistan?  There are rumors about involvement of Akamals, Riaz and Farhat. Are they true? None of this players are now playing for Pakistan, so are they dropped cos PCB knows in positive about their involvement and have been proactive to drop them or is it just a coincidence that now Wahab Riaz is not even part of touring team to middle east for Lanka ODIs?

 

Who is gonna bring the clown farts sitting in PCB and ICC to justice?  What was ACSU, the "toothless paper tiger" doing all this while since its inception to eradicate the corruption from the game ?

 

What happens to Sir Shri Ijaz Butt? Would he be a party to the crime of spot fixing ? Would he be let off?

 

And with this note, there is to say that Arm Ball is back.

A welcome verdict in Spot fixing saga

The spot fixers are going to jail. And nothing can be better than this. The folks who got the game to disrepute and introduced the term "spot fixing" to the cricketing world and fans are now punished. Deterrent to the future fixers? Not quite? May be the fixing might not happen in England any more. But it certainly can happen in other parts like Pakistan or Dubai or South Africa or even India. 

Given how lax judicial process in India is, any such episode unearthed in India would mean a long judicial trial and a bail subsequently. But thats not the point here. The orchestration of spot fixing saga has ensured the main stars are in the jail. Salman Butt and Mazhar Majeed, the composers and Amir, Asif -- stupid executors are now behind the bars. 

English judicial system ensured the trial was fast track and the defendants were punished promptly. Perhaps we would have expected more stern punishments and something like life bans for all 3 players.  The judge did take into consideration, the bans handed out by the ICC to the 3 folks and that probably reduced the quantum of the punishment to the 3 bastards. 

Amir, being the youngest was laid astray by his captain then and bowled into the plot. Its more of his loss than anybody else's. If he is not mature enough or if he cannot hold onto his temptations for easy money and is lured easily into unethical greed, then he is better off the game of cricket. 1 yr would be gone soon and he would be out of the offenders institute. What would he do next ? He might have been gifted bowler, had exemplary skills as a bowlers, which typically every Pakistani bowler does, but that holds no good if he is sans self control. He is right to say that cricket wont need him when he has served his ban and punishment. Perhaps by that time Pakistan cricket would have unearthed few more Amirs and who knows all of them better than this lad.  He has been able to garner sympathy for his case owing to the poverty stricken background and age, but he was not too young not to judge right or wrong. So he is right to have been punished. 

Mohd Asif is perennial idiot and a top class bastard. Having served ban for drugs, out of the team, lucky enough to be back playing for the team again, he simply didnt value his talent and his superb bowling skills, good enough to trouble any batsman on any track. He almost got into prison in doping scandal, drugs episode in middle east and now he finally ended up in prison in England where he has bowled the BEST.

In the end we can say he is rightly punished. 

Salman Butt is the biggest fucktard and biggest culprit. No amount of sympathy is good for him even on name of Allah or Khuda or anybody else. He should have been by his wife's side celebrating birth of his 2nd child, but instead he was standing in dock to be imprisoned. He as  captain of the team had every control in the world and by misusing his powers he deserved every bit of punishment he has got. He has been lucky to have just got 32 months in prison. It should have been much longer than that. He lured a kid in the corruption, he got the game into disrepute and he just deserved every brickbat and abuse, hatred he is getting. 

There are lot many Mazhar Majeeds roaming around in the cricketing world and nabbing one of them is not going to cleanse the game. All of them have to be cracked down and ensured that they are not able to excersise their influence on the next set of Butts, Asifs and Amirs so that the paying spectator and TV watcher would believe that there was nothing fishy behind a no ball bowled and it was natural rather than spot fixed. 

ICC has to act now sternly than ever before in its existence to ensure the game of cricket which we love is back to its purest form.

Rant

I hate to write it on anything Sri Lankan, but the huge moral standing from their players leave me baffled and amused on how much crap emanates out of their players. Its no secret to the world that Lanka are nothing in Test cricket after the retired lives of Malinga and Murali have begun in full flow. They have struggled to take 20 wickets in last 11 tests they have played post Murali retirement and not to mention that they haven’t won either of those tests.

They almost lost the first test in the desert safari, thanks to the penchant of their ex captain to score double hundreds aided by butter chickenesque fielding from their opponents, they were able to save the test. They were bundled out for 197 runs in the first innings and they scored this runs at a snail’s pace on a flat track. Not only this, the stani players too were surprisingly sedate and yawning for the poor spectators. They scored 500 odd runs at a poor run rate of 2.something and in the end when Taufeeq Umar got to his slowest 100, they declared. Perhaps the result in the hindsight should have motivated or prompted some thought process in their camp on what the story could have been if they would have played little faster when they batted.

In the end they were left to chase 168 runs in little under a session (less than 30 overs) which they didn’t and called off the game after 10 overs. This was the only logical conclusion as this was a 5 day and not a timeless Test match.

“We showed a lot of character coming back into the match and saving it, but we shouldn't have been in that situation in the first place”. No single article from Sri Lankans is complete without the utterance of word “character”. Now character means to Sri Lanka is totally different from what it means to the rest of cricketing world. If a Sri Lankan bowler or batsman would attain a personal milestone in the course of a test match, then the bosses of Sri Lankan cricket team (playing XI or the 15) are happy to term it as “character”. They don’t care the fact that they haven’t won a test or their record in 3 elite Test countries remain patchy or something to be shameful of. But that’s hardly something that bothers the Lankans. They are happy carving personal milestones, batting records and of course write out some real crap after a game.

“We showed a bit of quality to get a lead and put some pressure on Pakistan. They were negative and decided not to chase the target. We ended up being on top of the Test, and hopefully we can take that momentum into the next one”

SL ended on top of the test? A test match where in they just managed to get out of the jail, they appeared to be on the top. Its good to be positive to motivate the young inexperienced lads of the team, but to motivate them with false statements is insane and criminal.

Who were negative? SL managing to bat even after the tea until they got all out isn’t negative. But Pakistan declining to chase 168 in 20 odd overs is negative. Did MJ get in the T20 mode in whites?

Why does he even write this stuff ? Who reads them? Perhaps me, one of those few to rile him. I haven’t been a huge fan of this man or the team for the sheer way they play their cricket. Negativity emanates out of their style of cricket right their inception in 1982/83. Ranatunga taught them if you draw a test match, it’s as easy as winning the test match. And the team mates took him so seriously that his legacy is passed on even generations of the Sl test players. Their bowlers continue to bowl negative lines before and after Murali thus choking the other team for runs. And when they bat, they bat for long. Days pass by, their batting doesn’t end.

Remember the 952 test match, the Indians batted day and half and made 539/8 dec. Last few wickets were lost forcing the pace to ensure the team got time to bowl out SL twice, and it was boosted when Nilesh Kulkarni got Attapattu off first ball in test cricket, but what followed over next 3 days was torture. Every one batted and every one got runs. 340 happened, 225 happened, 576 happened and then even Vaas got a 70 odd. MJ debuted in that game. What a pity!!!

And then the 624 game when MJ and Sangakara batted on and on. Poor South Africans, they were so tortured that they collapsed badly in their 2^nd innings and lost the game.

Then Ahmedabad 2009, they had huge chance to win their first test on Indian soil after reducing them to 4/32 on day 1 and then bowling them out for 400 odd runs on day 2. MJ got into the act and made 275 runs, highest by a visitor on Indian soil. SL declared on 760 for 7. Day 4 and 5 were safely negotiated by Indians who had got wise after the first innings debacle. Indians never let Lanka come back in the series and they won the other 2 games to take the series 2-0.

Their history is ripe with such instances of penchant to bat longer and longer. Enuff said, the Lankans would never be a quality Test side lest they improve on their mentality to bat long and play negative cricket. Perhaps its their inherent inferiority complex over something historical or the age long civil war that has led them to go with such a mentality in the test cricket. And the solution has to come from them itselves and somebody has to do an honest review keeping Sangakara and MJ out of it on the way they want to play their cricket and the way they want their cricket to go in the future now that they don’t have Murali to do the slogging anymore for them.

Removal of Butt, DRS flip flop and Spot Fixing

There have been some interesting happenings in world cricket in past few days visibly:

1. Ijaz Butt being replaced as a PCB chief by some banker.

2. Spot fixing trial being on in England and as it happens during any trial, some random names are being taken up and this time its been Indian and Australian players being named.

3. ICC goes flip flop in usage of DRS in a bilateral series.

Ijaz Butt has been one attrocious chief for PCB and his shenangians as PCB chief have been very well documented. Double digit captaincy changes, rollbacks on bans, punishments, multiple retirements, rollback, selection chiefs resigning, changes in coaches and stuff like that plus loose canon statements in 3 years, Lahore attack in 2009 and world cup drama have been the highlights of his tenure. Not to mention the spot fixing saga, fleeing of a wicketkeeper on the pre-text of threats from bookies, disastrous English and Australian tours, handling of players like Yusuf, Younis Khan, Afridi, Kaneria and Malik, relations with BCCI over IPL and bilateral series, tussle with ICC which led to an ultimatum to fix its internal governance or run the risk of expulsion from ICC. All of this issues have been mishandled by the great chief in general of PCB.

There is a distressing thought that he might have agreed to step down from the post in lieu of assurance that PCB and BCB would put him as ICC vice presidency candidate. If true, then it would take more than necessary efforts for the other boards than what were done to block John Howard from Australia, to block out Ijaz Butt from stepping into world cricket governance. One can only hope that Pakistan cricket shall progress in terms of every aspect under new chief and the ridicule it has invited over the years would yield to some respect in coming months and years.

Spot fixing trial has commenced in England and the 3 players in addition to the player agent in question have been cross examined and what has come out of it is a wide detail account of how the spot fixing was setup in England last year and what else was in the offing, but was prevented from execution owing to the bust up from the now defunct NOTW. Some Indian and Australian players were named as the ones whom that agent had an easy access to. No wonder, those allegations were promptly denied by CA and BCCI and the players themselves.

As the hearing is going on, more details are tumbling out of the closet of the spot fixing and thats just making the lives of those 3 tainted players more difficult and their return to international cricket being more unlikely even after serving the amount of sentence handed over by ICC. What was also distressing out of the details that emerged was the ease with which Pakistan players agree to lose / throw a match to disown their captain or bring the captain under the hood for some egoistical / weird reason. It's been the age old story of their country and their cricket ever since their inception since 1947.

ICC also has gone back on the mandatory usage of DRS (Dravid Removal System) in bilateral series. BCCI had been vocal in the criticism of DRS and though it diluted its stand in England tour, the happenings in England were good enough to indicate BCCI that DRS in current form has no future unless those acrimonious issues over Hot Spot usage and ball tracking technology have been addressed. India has suffered out of the DRS usage in whatever series it has accepted, be it SL 2008, or world cup 2011 or England tour of 2011. The BCCI has been adamant in its opposition to the DRS, thought they havent taken the pain to go ahead and explain the reasons for their opposition. That has never been BCCI's strong forte to offer detailed explanation for its views and stand over issues.

What is further baffling is the time ICC took to understand that DRS in current form is not good enough to be imposed as mandatory in all bilateral series. Instead of resolving the open issues that are meeting eyeballs, the ICC has chosen to keep the issue under the carpet and sit over it. Take a stance, revert back. Thats been ICC theme for 2011. Be it usage of DRS or the World cup 2015 format banning out the associate nations and then rolling back. What is Sharad Pawar doing ?

ICC has also been harping on the primacy of Test cricket and when its coming to the implementation of plans of test championship, it is developing cold feet. Its now saying that the proposed Test championship might be delayed until 2017 cos the broadcaster wants to lay stress on profit earning ventures like a T20 WC every 2 years and an increasingly obsolete 50 overs Champions Trophy, not to forget the T20 tamasha of Champions League T20.

This is also a start of the time period in world cricket when all 10 teams are going to be busy in cricket.

India through to the finals

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

India vs Pakistan Preview

Finally, the big day is here.

India vs Pakistan in a World Cup semi final.

Doesnt get bigger than this.  All talks of pressure, mind games, history, cricket diplomacy, Punjabiyat, bhaichara and all would vanish in the thin air once the 2 captains walk out for the toss and the national anthems are played. After that all and sundry shall pave the way for 22 players who shall slug it out in the middle for the glory moment of the day.

Doesnt matter what Misbah said or what Rehman Malik said and backtracked. Doesnt matter what MMS and Gilani shall eat or drink or pee after the game or during the game. WHat shall matter is the battle between the bat and the ball.

4 previous wins are good to hold the psychological edge but only till the start of the game. The chaos, reputations, processes, areas, pre match talks, campaigns thus far would all cease to be important for the heroes of the 2 countries.

India's batting vs Pakistan bowling. Its a contest that has been billed as such.

Its more of the team which handles the pressure the BEST, the team which holds the NERVE BEST, the team which wins small chunks of plays in the entire 100 overs of the day shall prevail in the end. And its going to be INDIA who shall be expected to do this in Mohali, their best modern day ground.

Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh are the key men for Indian batting. Kohli, Raina and MS shall look to carry forth the work done by the top 4.  Zaheer Khan would be the key for the bowling. But it shall depend more on who is the support  cast for Zak. Will Harbhajan turn up? Would Ashvin fox the stanis ? Especially Kamran, Hafeez and Shafiq ?

Who shall tbe the 2nd seamer? Munaf or Neehra ?

Neehara should the one who should get a look in before Munaf now.

What shall Pakistan do ? Will they get in Shoaib or continue to operate with Umar Gul and Riaz? How many catches would Kakkumal drop? How shall Afridi, the bowler do? He has got pretty ordinary record against India and so has Umar Gul. Would they field Junaid Khan who had a word or 2 to say on Sachin?

Its all about who handles the pressure on Wednesday better. But before that the skies should remain clear.

The predictions are:

 

Wed Mar 30
09:00 GMT | 14:30 Local           05:00 EDT | 04:00 CDT | 02:00 PDT	India v Pakistan at Mohali, ICC Cricket World Cup, 2nd Semi-Final	17 - 30° C Forecast Sunny Click here for 10-day-Forecast

Not sure how ToI or NDTV has reported rain showers.

But here could be the possible lineups:

India :

1. Tendulkar

2. Sehwag

3. Gambhir

4. Yuvraj

5. Dhoni

6. Kohli

7. Raina

8. Ashvin

9. Harbhajan

10. Neehra

11. Zaheer

Pakistan:

1. Kakmal

2. Hafeez

3. Shafiq

4. Younis

5. Umarkamal

6. Misbah

7. Afridi

8. Rehman

9. Razzaq

10. Gul

11. Riaz / Akhtar

Will Gambhir raise his game against Pakistan?  Will MS find form against Pakistan and will Yuvraj continue his golden run in this world cup ?

And moreover shall we avenge 2007 and 1996 ? All answered tomorrow in PCA ground @ 230 PM IST

A look at Stani batting

A look at the Pakistan batting.

Highest score : 317 / 7 vs Kenya in the first game of the world cup campaign

Lowest score : 184 vs Canada

Highest Individual score : 83 by Misbah Ul Haq

Number of 100s: 0

Number of 50s : 9

Scores : 317/7, 277/7, 184, 192, 164/3,  178/6, 113/0

Only 2 scores of over 200. In the last 3 wins they have chased after their bowlers dismissed teams for low scores (Zimbabwe game exception as it was rain affected). Last 200 score came good month ago. Since then havent crossed 200.

Opening Partnerships : 11, 28, 16, 17, 5, 12, 112*

Hafeez and Shehzad havent been able to fire together as opening pair and except the game of WI, the Akamal and Hafeez pair hasnt fired either. So the team looks soft a bit on the top.

The number 3 has got some runs for Pakistan though in form of Kamran Akamal before and now Asad Shafiq in last 2 games (124).

The middle order of Younis, Misbah, Umar Akamal and Afridi has been inconsistent too. Umar is their top scorer of the tournament with 211 runs and a match winning 47 vs Australia as his highest point.  Younis Khan hit 2 50s in the start of the tournament and since then hasnt fired the way given his experience and usability.

Misbah yesterday said that getting 20s and 30s in a winning cause is better than scoring a 50 and 100 in a losing cause. Well said mate, but he hasnt got firing in last few games:

his scorelines read 0, 7 , 37, DNB,DNB, 83.

Shahid Afridi, best said now is a tailender who can bat a bit in wild fashion.

Hafeez has been more of a bowler than a batsman in this tournament given his form. He struck form only in the quarter final, but then the quality of bowling was debatable.

From the above stats its clear that Pakistan batting has been a bit brittle and they are prone to collapses as ever in last 2 years. They had a mini collapse against Australia in mid-overs, against Canada and also against Sri Lanka.

The men India needs to be wary of :

1. Kamran Akamal : He has tendency to fire big against India.

2. Younis Khan : His past against India

3. Asad Shafiq : He is the man who has looked in form in past 2 games.

and.

4. Umar Akamal : Too unpredictable, dunno which side of him would turn up.

In form batsmen for Pakistan -- not many.

Bowling : Afridi for his faster uns that skids through to the stumps or traps lbw. Umar Gul for his exploits with old ball.

And since the last game between this 2 sides, a lot has happened and Pakistan side has gone through a major change in terms of people playing. Imran farhat, Butt,  Malik, Amin, Amir, Ajmal are no longer part of playing XI.

Dear Shahid Afridi

Shahid Afridi, welcome to Mohali. The super ground in Indian Punjab. You shall be playing semi final against India on 30th March, 2011 in that ground. 

We heard that you've said that you wont be short of support in Mohali? Are you banking on few Pakistanis who shall travel to India on visas and then disappear and never return? Or are you talking of few fools who cheered for Pakistan in those dark Sharjah days? Or do you feel India is still under pressure when it comes to play Pakistan ? 

I am not sure if you have arrived in Punjab or are yet to arrive or will not arrive. You are arriving in a country which has blown hot and cold over the diplomatic relations for different reasons. So given that backdrop, shall you arrive? Shall your board let you arrive without the drama and idiotic statements? Shall you keep quiet and let your play do the talk? 

I am curious to know when you say you would not be lacking support. Who shall support your team? Thats troubling me. India has gone past those days when there were few, very few who blew crackers on a Pakistani win in Sharjah. Gone are those days, that mindset and moreover  those set of players from your country. Now the players you've got are mad, idiots, clowns and jokers. Lunatic as Ian Chappell and Intikhan Alam calls them.

Do you think you are gonna stop Indians with the bowlers like Abdul Razzaq, Abdul Rehman and Wahab Riaz ? And yes Hafeez too? Do you think K Akamal would be able to pouch anything in his butery gloves  that day? You are most welcome in India after 2007. But come and play. Dont give mad statements. There is no pressure on India. Pressure is on Pakistan. They shall play before a crowd who shall want the men in blue to steamroll them and go through to the finals.

Are you ready to handle it ?

West Indies blow away yet again

What an one sided QF it has been. West Indies have just been blown away by the Afridi men. In the end nothing deserving to be called a quarter final of a damn world cup. West Indies blew away any premature talks of their revival. Their insipid record of not beating a top Test team in a ODI remains and would go on until they take on the same opponents in the home series in May this year.

Pakistan through to their 6th semi final, first in 12 years. And all set for a dual in Mohali. But then would they arrive in India without a drama given the cold relations? Some statements have already been made in the media and over generous India have already provided 5000 visas to the stani fans. A few of them could disappear and do not go back only to see..................

That apart, should India win tomorrow, an another battle would be on cards but before that its time for the most intense battle of the modern times in a ODI or a Test coming up tomorrow in Motera of Modiland.

WI vs Pak Preview

The quarterfinals start tomorrow and its going to be 2 volatile teams taking on each other. Pakistan and West Indies take on each other. The teams prone to collapses. One due to ineptness and the other due to madness. Both teams have enough experienced heads. Both teams have folks who can go mad. Both teams have colorful jokers. T20 experts both teams possess.

Pakistan are surprise group toppers. They broke Australia's unbeaten streak in Colombo.  They would expect to go past Windies to be in semis and unfortunately play in Mohali.  Mohali is in India. India. India.

West Indies have better opening pair. Gayle and Smith D. Gayle on his day is a tormentor. Smith has been in good form off last few games. India would swear by that. Pakistan have a lose opening pair.  The # 3 slot for Windies is hold by Darren Bravo, the Lara alike.  Its Kakmal for Pakistan or Shafiq. Shafiq guided the chase against Canada and Australia in the league stage.

The middle order is brittle. Sarwan, Chandu, Pollard form the next 3. Misbah, Younis and Ukamal form the next 3 for Pak. Who combusts first, it shall be a competition.

Bowling is also on same length though Umar Gul provides little bit edge to Pakistan for his old ball exploits. Man to man comparison in bowling indicates that it should be a good match. Rampaul, Roach and Russell have been in good form. Bishoo had a good 2 games. So Benn might sit out to get in Roach, if fit.

Pakistan's bowling is a bit light with just 2 pacers, 2 spinners and a half bowler in Abdul Razzaq -- the Palak Paneer guy.

So which side explodes first would be the loser and the other one would go through. West Indies ended SA campaign in 1996 while Pakistan lost to India in 1996 QFs.

If Pakistan lose that might be the end of lot of guys like Kamran Akamal, Shoaib Akhtar and hopefully Ijaz Butt too.

Rosco on fire in Pallekele....

In walked Ross Taylor, on his 27th birthday, and he received two generous gifts from Pakistan. Before he had scored, Taylor edged the second ball of Shoaib's second spell. Akmal moved to towards his right to take a catch that was his for the taking, and then stopped and looked expectantly at first slip, where Younis Khan looked on in shock as the ball sped to the third-man boundary. A ball later Taylor edged again, this time the easiest of chances straight to Akmal, who dropped it again.

How are Pakistani selectors, coach and captain persisting with this lunatic dickhead is beyond logical comprehension. He uttered "Shahid Bhai" 15 times in Afridi's last over and what his reprieve costed Pakistan in last 6 overs is mind blowing. 

Excellent hitting Rosco. That would  shit hell scare the next opponent captain reluctant to play in Mumbai.

Pakistan vs Sri Lanka

On a day of glorious batsmanship from Sachin Tendulkar and unexpectedly Andrew Strauss, I chose to write on the tie between Pakistan and Sri Lanka that took place on the Saturday. It was a tie SL was expected to win hands up, instead they lost hands down.

The 2 old lads of Pak cricket -- Younus and Misbah led the team to a total of 277 followed by some good bowling by Shoaib Akhtar and Shahid Afridi. The Lankans fell short by 11 runs and in the end its heard that a panic has been setup in their camp.

Sangakara as usual made 49 without going on to win a game for his country. Jayawardhena after all praising and writing made just 2 and got his stumped ripped off an Akhtar beauty.  Chamara Silva, Kulasekra and Angelo Matthews tried in the end but it was too late and SL tasted their first home world cup defeat. Huh? Whom they had played before in the home games? 1996 ? Serious teams refused to tour them in 1996 and then they played Zimbabwe and Kenya at home and now Canada and Pakistan.

Period.

As I said before as all the high talk this lads do is good for the weak and hapless teams. When the stronger teams come, this lads just freeze up and lose.

And thats why this team wont win the world cup.

Lanka ki hawa tight

Blabberings vanished in the thin air, the 100 maker is comprehensively bowled, the Test batsman is out stumped to Pathan and now only the Sanga Nanga remains on the crease.

0/75 to 4/93. 

Stuff champions are made of? Mahela's ass. Get off. If you talk big, show it on the field else shut your freaking mouth shut. 

Alle Alle. Wickets fall alle alle.

Russell Arnold is quiet now after boring us of how good every one in Lankan team is. Where is he now? 

Pakistan vs Kenya

Today's game was yet another anticlimax and another testimony to the ICC's decision to kick minnows out of the 2015 world cup. The Pakistani batsmen got in runs except opening pair. 4 middle order 50s, captain getting 5-for, best for a captain in world cup, Shoaib Akhtar lasting 5 overs in spell and fielding being rarely good and electric. What else Pakistan wanted. Rarely they have kickstarted a world cup with a win. Going back with the facts and figures this was just their 4th opening match victory in last 24 years (1987, 1996,1999). They lost in 1992, 2003 and 2007.

What was an anticlimax was the approach Kenyans took. They openly showed that they had no intent to go for the chase and they were just going through the motions, that is doing a formality of turning up in the field and batting. They conceeded 37 wides amidst 50 extras and thus fuelled the debate that minnows who dont show intent to perform better, dont show the zeal to learn and step up their performance should be kicked out.

Kenya is going to provide an easy fodder for all teams and mainly Sri Lanka would look forward to a  gigantic demolition when they play this team.

Netherlands and Ireland are two minnows who look good to scare the top teams in respective groups. Netherlands have already scarred England to deepest and I would count Ireland favorite against Bangladesh on Friday.

The bigger test for Pakistan comes this Saturday when they take on Sri Lanka in one of their most important games of the tourney (another would be vs Australia).

That thing called Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag, the bloody Indian opening batsman.  Bloody buffoon. Kickass opener. What else should I say about this Delhi Jat. No brains, just brutal power. No messing up. Simple style of play. Bad ball, he would hit it. Doesnt matter who the hell is the bowler. Shakib or Rubell or Bow Wow, Randibaaj Suraj or even the Chuck himself. Ask any bowler around the world. Better ask Pakistanis. Lankans call him Shewag.

He has demolished them too. The merchants of pace, swing and reverse swing. Of course spot fixed no balls too. He deposited even Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis in stands on that glorious Centurion evening 8 years and 2 world cups back. 

Ask Sangakara who is so scared of this idiot Indian batsmen that he asks Randibaaj Suraj to bowl no balls. He might seem poor man's Amir or Asif which occured well before spot fixing saga. If he did not score a 100 on that game day, he yet demonized Sangakara and other Lankans. They swear in private they wont take on Indian ODI or test team which has Sehwag in it. 

Either he would make a 294 in a Test against them or he would make a 146 in a ODI. No respite. No swearing has its effect. The man lives by his own rules, his own standards. Now the bufoon is saying he would bat 50 overs. Like I said before what would happen if he bats 50 overs, the Deshis had a bitter taste of it yesterday in Mirpur.

There are so many wannabe Sehwags around. There is Dilshan in Lanka who emulates Sehwag but runs out of steam around 50-80 mark. Then there is Tamim Iqbal who steps more often than not yet fails to emulate the man. Then there is Shane Watson who is doing a Sehwag for Prick Tonping. 

There can be many emulators, but there is one and only Sehwag. Rattle him with short stuff, he wont play pull. Bowl him in his ribs, he would counter it. Sledge him he would deposit you into stands or even throw you out of the stadium, be it Mirpur or Hamba ka tota or his own backyard of Kotla. Rajkot too.

Dilip Vengsarkar is now proved an idiot and to an extent MSD too, who had dropped this idiot from the CB series finals in favor of Sir Rohit Sharma.  When Sehwag bats the way he does most of the times, the opposition reduces to the local club side. There are many who try to be "shahahne" like Ponting or Sangakara, but they are soon proved assholes by the man who knows no stopping when in full flow. That is Virender Sehwag for you. Unique and unparalleled.

Team Preview : Pakistan

This time its turn of Pakistan to be previewed. Pakistan, the most controversial, most unpredictable team of the top 8 teams in the world cup. They are just jolted from the lengthy bans handed out to the 3 idiots of England tour, but then that was anticipated and the team seems to have moved on from that.

Trivia:

• Pakistan have not reached beyond 1st round in last 2 world cups : 2003 and 2007.
• After they won in 1992, they reached QF in 1996 and ended 2nd best in 1999. Since then its been a downhill for them.
• After 1999 they have not played with a same captain in 2 consecutive world cups. Wasim Akram in 1996 and 1999 was last one after Imran Khan in 1987 and 1992.
• Waqar Younis, the current coach was a flop in the world cups. He missed 1992 edition to injury, was off color in 1996, injured in 1999 and had a disastrous outing as captain in 2003.  Lets c how does he fare as coach in 2011.
• 2007 was most tragic world cup for Pakistan, they lost to Ireland and West Indies and then they lost Bob Woolmer forever and Inzamam retired from ODIs after world cup and from tests later in 2007.
• They have not yet beaten India in 4 world cup appearences to date. They lost out in 1992, 1996, 1999 and 2003. 1999 was most anticipated game as it was played during Kargil war backdrop and 2003 game was first one after the asia cup game in 2000.  If they play in this world cup, it would be first in a year and just 3rd in 3 years.
• They have never lost to SL in the world cup and we'd expect them to do the same this time too.

Team composition:

Afridi, Younis, Hafeez, Misbah, Razzaq, Rehman, Gul, Junaid, Kamran, Umar Akamal, Ajmal, Wahab, Akhtar, Shafiq, Shehzad

Opening Pair

They had good opening partnerships in their last series before the world cup. Shehzad and Hafeez might not have flair, but they are solid and if one of them sticks around and plays over, they could go long distance. Kamran Akamal is other option to go with the opening as he has had decent success with bat in that position. Many times he has had batted at no 3 as well and many times lower down the order.

Middle Order

Younis Khan at 4 and Misbah at 5 provide the stability and cool head when needed. Umar Akamal at 6 and maverick Afridi at 7 followed by Razzaq at 8. Batting seems long and dangerous untill they dont self implode or explode on their own.

If anybody out of Razzaq and Afridi gets going in the final 10 overs then the team could be expected to notch high scores. But the main problem is consistency. You never know which Pakistan side would turn up on a given day, which player would be a hero one day, villian the other day and flown the other day and banned the other some day. Shafiq has been replacing Umar off late though.

Bowling:

They dont have Asif and Amir, but they have Gul and Akhtar. Gul is one of the best bowlers today with the old ball and he has had good success in ODIs off late (England tour he took consecutive 4-fors). Akhtar, if fit can deliver 140 + balls consistently, can go for runs and also implode with wickets.  Junaid Khan is unknown commodity. Wahab Riaz has had decent success with the ball too.

Abdur Rehman, Ajmal and Afridi along with Hafeez form the spin department. Ajmal is the trump card of Pakistan and if he is conquered then it wont be long to demoralise the others in the pack.

Expectations

Controversies apart and given that Ijaz Butt keeps his butt away from the team and there is no other controversy, the team should find easy way to go through to the quarters. Hopefully they would beat Sri Lanka big time.

Game Changers :

Already covered in other post.

Negative Influence:

1. Kamran Akamal

2.  Shoaib Akhtar

3. Younis Khan

and

Ijaz Butt

Ban 3 idiots

The cricketing world awaits the verdict on the 3 idiots of the Pakistan cricket team including a prospective young star fast bowler, a serial drug peddler and a captain who also led in the wrong doings. They already have been slated to face prosecution in England in March by the CPS and today's ICC verdict is going to nail them further.

The ICC should hand them no less than many years ban so as to act as a deterrent for the other players who would otherwise step into the murkier world of spot fixing, cheating.

However their fate has got nothing to do with the mercurial Pakistan team who now has registered a Test and ODI series win in long long time even if the team against it was Kiwis. The team seems to have moved on from this 3 players and have been winning quite easily without the 3 idiots. 

They took England and SA to the final game of the ODI series, they won here in Kiwiland and drew with SA in the Sheikhland.

They wont be favorites in the world cup, but they wont be pushovers either. They at this moment look good to advance beyond first round after 12 years.

Coming back to the 3 idiots, they should now give up the dream to play for their country again, but then stop. Its Ijaz Butt and the PCB. Anything is possible and the drama is not over yet unfortunately!!!

Cricketing World

Pakistan have won the last T20 and avoided a clean sweep in NZ. They also ended the 6 match losing streak in T20s. And this time the Palak Paneer guy came good again with allround effort.

I am bit skeptical of planning PCB had for the team in the run up to the World Cup. 3 T20s and 2 tests in addition to 6 ODIs. Whats the meaning of 3 T20s? What purpose does it serve?

By the way they are the only team who have to give the 30 names for WC provisional squad. And they are hung up as Kakkumal, Shoaib Mirza and Danis Kaneria meet PCB's "integrity committee to decide over their future in cricket. Now what happens and what would happen is anybody's guess in Pak cricket.

Zim and BD are done playing their last games before the world cup and they sit idle for the next 43 days in the run up to the World Cup.

And perhaps SL and WI too.

SL are still a "formidable" side going to World Cup. I dont believe this. They are always formidable, they are always romantic side, they are fairy tale and what not. They have not played any serious cricket for over a month since that dubious and fart win over Aus in ODI series in Aus.  Yet they are formidable. For a change you have not heard from Sanga in long time. So have I. And thats good.

The rest of cricketing fraternity is busy playing Tests or ODI cricket.

Australia are moaning about Ashes loss and how useless Ponting is now. England have everything revolving around Ashes and they dont seem to think beyond Ashes. Perhaps they should stop playing cricket in between Ashes series.  Yet they want to be # 1. And Collingwood could be on his way out from Tests at least.

Clarke is the captain for the Sydney test and most probably for long term too. He is having a rut in the batting department and that has invited a lot of doubts over his choice of captaincy.

The Australian batting is no more formidable as it used to over  2 years before.

Katich or Hughes do not inspire confidence. Watson makes 50 but does not convert 100s. Ponting stopped making 100s since long time. Hussey is the only batsman, Clarke is metrofexual and Steven Smith as # 6 is fart.

Compare that to the likes of Hayden, Langer, Ponting, Gilchrist as good as 2007.  More than the batters they are missing Shane Warne, Gillespie and of course Glenn McGraw (Bill Lawry style).

Wont be a surprise if they lose the world cup in India next year.

Possible semi finalists:

1. India.

2. England

3. South Africa

4. Australia / Pakistan if neither of this teams implode or explode.

1 more day of 2010 and I would finish off 4th year of cricket blogging starting 2007.  Pretty good journey from a world cup to world cup.

IPL blame game has started

The PCB had been quite since long time. Since long time they had been doing nothing that would evoke laughters. And now they have done it. 

The typical blame game has started with PCB blaming India on lack of Pakistanis in the IPL auction to be followed next January.

World Cup 2011 contenders

South Africa and India are to play 5 ODIs each before the World Cup.

Australia and England 7 each, Pakistan and NZ -- 5 each. West Indies depend on the mercy of the SL board if they are to play any more games before he world cup.

BD and Zim would play their last game before the world cup. And who cares about the other teams. 

What about SL ? Well they would play mind games and their fat arse ex captain Arjun Ranatunga would go all over the talk shows saying that his country is favorites for the world cup cos they have Sanga, Mahila and Malinga.

Bhaat the Fuck!!!!

Before the world cup begins, the focus would be on 3 key Test series:

1. India vs South Africa.

2. Ashes

3. Pakistan vs New Zealand.

England wont win the world cup cos for them Ashes is the world, if they would win the Ashes they would be content. Australia is in the disarray. If they lose the Ashes, they are going to blank England 7-0 in the ODIs. India is on the winning streak of 6 ODIs in row in completed games. But they are back in the country where they last won an ODI good 7 years back -- the semifinal win against Kenya.  They last played a series in 2006 when they lost 0-4.

Sorry, they last won a ODI in 2009 beating the West Indies in ill fated CT. Saffers have played few ODIs this year and they won against Pakistan, West Indies, Zimbabwe and lost to India 1-2. They hold the record now for conceeding max runs in ODIs in an individual innings. 

IMO there would be tough competition between 5 teams for the 4 semi final slots. 

1. Australia

2. South Africa

3. India

4. England / Pakistan

Pakistan cos they are unpredictable lads and its ages we last heard of joker called Ijaz Butt speak or do anything lampoonic...So if they play well and steer clear of any unwanted controversy, they can reach semis and they would then have to give a walkover to the other semifinalist as they wont like to play in India in the finals. They wont be allowed to play due to the ongoing freeze in the bilateral relations.