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.

Lanka dahan on Saturday in Mumbai

Its time to face the Lankans in the final of the world cup in our own country. Sri Lanka, the old warhorses who play all their games at home and then come to Mumbai to play the final and claim the trophy as if its  their own without any fight. Just cos Murali is retiring, they want to lift that trophy and touch it. Get off folks.

You are in India, the land where you lost last 2 series 1-5 and 1-3. And in the last ODI you played here against India, you were so shit scared of the rising ball, that your captain got the pitch in Kotla banned for a good year.  2 victories and 8 losses in last 10 completed games is a very proud record isnt it.  I remember Sangakara making a lot of noise when they travelled to Mumbai to play NZ. And now they are saying they know the pitch well, the conditions well just cos they played one game there and Malinga played 2 IPL seasons there.

What a logic.

Sachin Tendulkar grew up playing cricket in Wankhede all his life. Most of them who play for India have played in Wankhede before in either a IPL game or ODI or a Test match.  Zaheer Khan plays his domestic cricket in Wankhede (whenever).  So do they expect on back of just 1 league game in Mumbai and Malinga's 2 IPL seasons, they have a better idea of the pitch and ground?  Cmon get real.

They have a shaky middle order with guys like Masarweera, Mathews, Chamaras (whom their own fans mock as Sir Kapu or Lord Silva), those who have not yet been tested to full. A team which rides on the top 3 is never going to succeed if they lose the 3 in cheap. Game against Pakistan is a testimony.  Even the game against Kiwis is a testimony. Plus India has played SL too often, so they know the way Lankans play their game. Spin heavy attack isnt going to work against India in India. 

They are pressing Murali beyond a point to play the final cos they know without him they cant win a single game. Test matches are examples of that.

The key to beat SL is get rid of Dilshan, Tharanga and Sangananga and they are exposed, bared in the mid sun, unable to lift their game.  They have also called Randiv back and also Vaas back cos they feel Angelo I  m Not out Always Mathews and Muttiah Murali are unfit. Randiv, the same man who looked poor man's no - bowler might not play as they have not yet applied for replacements. They are making Murali bowl on half a leg, even if he is not fit. 

SL fans are obsessed with India and they want SL to win against India to shut the f** up the BCCI. The anger and disgust feelings of Indian victory in SF is visible on SLCricket.com. They badly wanted Stanis to win cos they feel they can beat them in India.

Unfortunately they still run into rampant India who would want to win one more game emphatically and crown themselves as world champions. Besides the revenge of 1996 SF is also on cards. I just want to see how would they react to the loss in the finals.  They blamed squash ball for Gilly's 2007 final 100 and they kept calling for rematch as they felt it was cheating. Cheaters calling the world cheaters cos this time they were on the receiving end.  Think about those 1000s of wickets their bowlers have got who had suspect actions or those who have bent arms beyond 15 degrees and yet got away. Think about those buffoon umpires all this years who've given numerous horrendous decisions on fields.

Reflecting back!!!

4 years back in the runup to the world cup 2007 I had started writing cricket blog and most of those posts were related to the cricket watching experience from 1986 till date (2007). I had covered the world cup till the halfway stage and then India had exited in the first round itself. The days to follow were like being in the state of numbness and shock as none of us expected to lose so early. 

Greg Chappell was the most hated man in the country then and entire cricketing fraternity was shocked on Mar 18, 2007 when world learnt that Bob Woolmer died the night Pakistan lost to Ireland. Perhaps that was the start of decline of the Pakistan cricket which is still ongoing till today.

There was still a hope that India could still qualify to go to the super 6 by virtue of beating Lankans but it did not happen and I hated Dilhara Fernando more than I hate Jaywardhene and Sangakara now for dismissing Tendulkar on 0. Many thought that was the end of the Tendulkar saga in the World Cup.

And then one day writing from Kanbay office for that blog,I accidentally ended up deleting that blog which was more of a innocent blog with no digs at anyone, no hatred, no rants and no criticisicm of anybody. I rued that loss as i had already posted 45 posts by then. 

I got started with the other blog and the most memorable experience of blogging came with that when I blogged about the 2007 World T20 win, England series win and of course the victory over Pakistan in the last series played till date.

And then 2008 Sydney happened. It was heartbreaking, it was disgusting to see India lose to Ricky Ponting's antics. I was so anguished by teh happenings that I quit blogging and did not blog for another 8 months. Even IPL-1 came and gone, I did not blog. 

And then at the end of SL ODI series, I came back to the world of cricket blog yet again and this blog took the birth. 28 months of blogging and over 1200 posts. Drilling down Lankans, standing by the fab five of the Indian cricket and of course shredding apart the likes of Dinesh Karthik, Sangakara, Jayawardhena, M Vijay and Srikanth have been the features of this blog. 

I dont receive comments any more. I fretted initially about it, I cribbed and wrote about it, but in the end I adjusted to it not letting it affect me and my writing. I might not be the most popular blogger around, neither do I have penchant for laws of the game, neither do I have the ability to draw humorous cartoons, neither do I have ability to praise anything Sri Lankan. But passion for the game and standing by the team I like the best keep me going and I shall keep going for as long as I can. 

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.

Sri Lankan Ravans

Sri Lanka have been shoed off by Bangladesh for a Test series due to following reasons:

1. BD cricket is on a new high as I am after Smirnoff, after a 4-0 drubbing of NZ.
2. BD has refused to be part of all cricketing records against their names.
3. BD is tired of shit from Sangakara and the soft spoken Bong Babus do not want to hear the Sinhala tirades of Sangakara on how shit they are and how world class Lankan Ravans are.

So the Lankans are due to play just 5 ODIs before world cup in some locations like Hannumunakonte and some other unpronounciable locations (worse than Tiruvennavalli or Tiruvananthpuram orTircharipally) against disinterested West Indies team.

Sri Lankans play against disinterested teams and they beat them 2-0 or 3-0 and then their pig faced skipper pokes out a verbal diarrohea on how bloody good Lankans are. 

Cricinfo's Lankan page screams headline on what Mahila, the lady Jayawardhena says on how Malinga is valuable for their world cup campaign. Hell 101 wikats in 30 tests make him their 3rd highest wikat taker.

They dont have Murali and  they would struggle to bowl out Windies without their own help. Since Chuck retired, they have failed to take 20 wikats in a Test and would forever do.

And if Murali follows Younis and Yousuf, he could soon make a comeback in the tests for them.

Sanga baba is due for a press conference on how good his team would be when he would beat WI 3-0 and 5-0 and then celebrate as if they have beaten a # 1 team in the world . But hey that team are us and the Lankans can never beat us in a full series. Bwahahahahaa.

Predictions

Sri Lanka and Pakistan play today but not against each other.

I bet Pakistan would play exciting cricket while Lankans would suck upto their negative brand of krikat by bowling negative line down the wikat.

I'd pick Australia and Pakistan as today's winners. 

And hope Nanga gets out on 0.

Equanimity, Bugbear, Roll Over n die chasing. Nanga is back!!!

Sangakara is back with his daily dose of shit and rants. 

Today he explains how to tackle captaincy pressure in Australia.

"We come from a slightly different cricket-playing scene [than in Australia] where we get to see that almost every day," he said before laughing loudly. "If it does happen it's not the end of the world. It's an opinion expressed and if you're playing at this level you are able to handle it with equanimity

So guys the new word for the day is equanimity. Wow. Sangakara is now a part time English teacher. 

Roll over and die. This was his first word  to teach us. 

Bugbear, this was 2nd. 

Equanimity is 3rd 

It seems that Sangakara failed in the GRE test and he still carries those chits with him. And randomly he picks those to teach us new words. 

Ah so much for the humility Mr Yehali Sangakara. 

""We're trying a few new guys, but we're settled to a great extent," Sangakkara said. "There are still a few places up for grabs and we need to have guys ready and able to take up that spot. We have a lot of younger players who have come in, and a lot of experienced players who do not feature in our squad. It's an interesting time for us."

Who are the new guys? Jeevan Mendis. Dinesh Chandumal, Muralitharan,Machinda Vaas.. Figure out the above sentence.  He always says huge stuff about his players yet his team never wins outside those flat Samwarweera chap wickets of SL. He has character stocks and all that crap, yet his team never wins in India or never tours South Africa. Chickened out? Gandu player totally.

He's gonna lose 0-3 in the ODIs. I bet Sanga's ass. He is just pissing Australians off and they would bounce back by making Lankans run chase the leather as bugbears with equanimity and then roll over to die chasing. 

Sangakara!!!!!!!!!!

A monumentous Test match

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheating returns

Best way to win when you cant win on basis of fair play and within the spirits of cricket is to have the umpire on your side and give wrong decisions against the whistle blower of cheating...Virender Sehwag.

I thought Viru was tough to get out so get Dharmsena  on your side and give a ball outside off stump out.

Perennial cheaters. 

Who cares even if India crashes out before final. No point in playing against cheaters led by worst captain ever in the history of the game.

Sangakara's character exposed

Kumar Sangakara wants to be in thick of action. He wants to be seen everywhere. In match conferences, match referees rooms, sledging with fellow captains, appealing for catches and lbws that aint existing, saying huge moral stuff and constantly showing character by appearing casual in official team functions.

Question arises is he insecure ? Is he fearing that SL would be back to minnows stature after departure of Jayasuriya, Vaas and Murali? What is his motive? He openly encourages his bowlers to ball negative lengths, enforces fair FTPs and questions India's motives in open, blasts Virender Sehwag and of course cannot complete any sentence without uttering character. 

Ditto with Mahela. I guess Mahela and Nanga are building character factory for Sri Lankan cricketers. So much so that they often display lack of character. One of them validates boring SSC kinda pitches citing challenge to bat long as long as they can. The other sets negative fields. 

He questioned India's stature in world cricket when his board wants as much as cricket with BCCI to fill its empty coffers. He questioned Viru's character after Randigate. Guess the pasting he got from Sehwag in past 2 years is not good enough for him to question Viru's "character".

we don't hide behind the Board and we don't hide behind the media" when it came to being hauled up for creating unpleasantness. He added: "If we make a mistake we take the responsibility. If it's serious, we take it on the chin. We take it like men and move on." 

Really ? Who called up Indian manager to apologize for Randigate ? SLC. 

Who's pressing for more fixtures with India ? Who's pressing for aid to build SL stadiums for World Cup ? SLC.

He (Hurst) did ask me whether McCullum did it intentionally," said Sanga, "I said I don't want to comment on any other player. Sometimes players are ruled LBW, they show the bat and no action is taken. Yesterday's incident, it was without seeing whose fault it was and without seeing the footage (that I was summoned),

Clearly he is agitated on being summoned by Alan Hurst over colliding with Nathan McCullum. This after he was cleared of any wrong doing. Hasnt SLC intervened here as well ? It got Murali playing after coaxing ICC to bend 15 degrees rule. And now in accommodating an useless keeper skipper. 

When Gambhir was banned for elbowing Shane Watson in 2008, BCCI did not throw his weight around Gambhir, as a result Srikanth got an opening and he got Murali Vijay in the test squad.  Since then he hasnt left the Indian squad.

When monkeygate happened in Australia in 2008, Harbhajan Singh was let off after Sachin Tendulkar deposed before ICC. And if Bhajji says typical Indian stuff (Boss DK, MaaKey and Dunga, what Yusuf Pathan said to Umar Gul) to Sangakara, I am sure this bugger would cry more. 

He questions BCCI, its clout, its intentions and then goes on to play IPL for KXIP. Ends up as wooden spoon holder and gets a peck from Zinta babes. Hypocrisy ? 

He is not happy with the schedule for the tri-series, he is not happy with the FTP. He is not happy with anything but his wife most prolly. Unfortunately there is Ijaz Butt who takes all the mud and eggs for being diabolical, else that stuff could very well can be served to Sangakara, the perennial loser.

Sangakara is a cheap loser.

So the idiot rat did it. Kumar Sangakara in a cheap act of directing Randiv to bowl a negative line to deprive Sehwag of a well deserved 100 showed his null character. 

He is characterless. Spineless. He has proved it that he can take the spirits of the game to every possible low. And he has the audacity to talk high as he always does whereas the fact is he is a man deep in muck and mud thus showing to the world he is a real ass.

Get off Sanga. Cricket world is better off without you. SL are sore losers. Point proved.

Waterboy

Yuvraj is now termed as WaterBoy in Sri Lanka after he was dropped from the 3^rd Test for Raina.  The group of rowdy spectators in Sri Lanka were detained and now stand released.  At best this is a pathetic crowd behavior at par with the Mumbai crowd in 2007 when they chanted Monkey for Symonds and 2006 when they booed Sachin Tendulkar when India lost to England in final Test.

I am being at the receiving end from the SL bloggers namely Gill / Robert and some anonymous commenters whose IP suggests they hail from Murali and Sanga land. This bunch of people cannot stand the fact their team is not the best Team in the world and to put across their point, they resort to abusive comments mostly unprintable and not acceptable to publish. That’s the reason most of the times I have had to disable comments on the posts on my blog which most dislike.

When I began cricket blogging in 2007 March just around the time Australia beat SL in that final, the SL fans had gone berserk and in their cricket forums had called Gilly as a cheat as he had squash ball in his gloves.  For quite long the rants continued when they failed to accept that their team was second best in the World Cup final.

There has been another blog called voice of Colombo or something which has been provocative in his comments on my blog and his blog.

For the SL fans it appears Sangakara is the best captain in the world who led KXIP to the bottom place in IPL – 3.  Not to mention this post would be received with equal venom and hatred.

Flat Pitches and Mahelanagakara Rants

Mahela Jaywardhena feels that the SSC pitch was good to bat on and due to the weaker bowling attacks on both sides, the run glutton continued on SSC.

He feels batting on such tracks is challenging and its not boring.

Well he is right. He has got 11 of his 28 hundreds on this ground which is more than Sir Don had on MCG.  No modern day greats of last 50 years have had such an “awesome” record on a single ground. The question is that most of the batting and bowling records on a single grounds are on the name of Sri Lankans. In bowling it would be Sir Muttiah Muralitharan and in batting it would be either rat Sangakara or Sir Mahela Jayawardhene.

The same stuff does not translate in that many victories as expected for the Sri Lankans in the recent years. Of course they have 61 wins to 69 losses, but 23 of them are against Zim and BD, so they have 38 wins in 28 years of their Test Cricket.

Ok enough rants about them.

The point is they don’t feel embarrassed on lifeless pitches like in SSC. Mahela is famous for batting big on lifeless pitches. He made 275 in another rubbish pitch at Motera last year, the only Test SL did not lose in that series.

Most of the bloggers feel that its not just SL who make lifeless pitches. Pakistan made them too when they used to have cricket played in their country. India have a couple of them in Ahmedabad and Bangalore.  SL have them everywhere. WI have it in Antigua, England have it at Lord’s and Cardiff.  But none of the batsmen from the countries except SL enjoy or justify the boring pitches which are full of runs and nothing for bowlers. We don’t see curators defending their creation every where blaming the bowling attacks.

Mahela has an expert view on everything. Yesterday there was a column in cricinfo where he said that India is not playing like a # 1 team. Sangakara is repeatedly ranting on need for “Fair FTP”. Murali feels Randiv and Mendis bowled well on SSC track (each of them went over 150 runs). I mean cmon have the guts to call spade a spade. Say that the SL pitches are killing the Test cricket. You don’t have to say that batting on such pitches is fun or challenging.  And as SP pointed out, the exhilaration showed by Mahelangakara at SSC was as if they have hit 200s on a pitch like 2006 series when none except Rahul Dravid crossed 50s in Wset Indies.

And in India no spinner is half as good as Anil Kumble even if we combine the prowess of Bhajji, IPL Ojha and Amit Mishra. Mishra got a chance and he has made a 100 in 150 balls.  Ojha is 2/78, his best figures in the series. Whats more Sehwag is more economical than this 2 supposed new gen spinners. 

Shame on you SSC

SSC has just proved that the Sri Lankans are out there to kill Test cricket.  Nothing more, nothing less. And even stubborn was the curator who shamelessly defended the pancake pata pitch which saw 1400 runs scored over 5 days for just 17 wikats.

Good this team did not become # 1 team in the Tests, else it would have been a black spot on the glorious history of test cricket of past 130 years....

Kumar Sangakar, the articulate SL skipper does not take India's status as # 1 Test nation seriously. He is cribbing constantly over no UDRS and an "unfair" FTP where in his side does not involve in frequent test series with SAF and Australia. 


Whats the use ? They would be black washed. They dont have Murali any more. They dont have Malinga any more. They have got Chanaka, Dhammika, Nuvana and of course Ajantha. But they wont be threatening in Australian conditions or SAF conditions. And the likes of Samarweera, Paragraph and others would be trashed, wont they ?


"If rankings can't be understood by the public, the players, or the administrators, what's the use of having rankings? If you want rankings, they should count towards playing a Test championship.

"Rankings need to be fairly done. A fair FTP is the first step towards having proper rankings. Once every two years each side should play each other at least once, home or away. That's how you get a fair deal when it comes to Test cricket."

Every team plays it except Pakistan and Sri Lanka. In Pakistan every team either refuses or gets shot at. Sri Lanka play BD very regularly and now Indians have joined them to play very frequently. Major reason being SLC are cash deprived and they need money. Of course they wont get money playing a tri-series in Zimbabwe or playing BD. That comes through BCCI, so the frequent tours to India and they coming to the SL.

I don't think we have played enough Test cricket away. Two Test matches here, two Test matches there. I think that's not good. We need to play Tests regularly.

Its a question Sangakara needs to ask his board. Why does not it stand for itself in the FTP design, the way it did for Murali to accomodate him for his chucking stuff.  Why did SL have to play just  2 Tests this year before this series got featured? Its not somebody else would answer Sangakara. Its your board to answer this. 

And it would be better to start winning abroad too rather than batting long and long on dead SL pitches. Now that they dont have Murali's bowling to take cheap wickets in a heap, its going to be curious for us to see how they bother to win the games. 

End of road for Murali

So its all over. Career of much debated bowler Murali is all set to end in few days time. At least in Tests.  He would be eyeing 800 wikats against India, that is US.  Murali was the lone SL bowler who bowled endlessly from one end all over the years and seemed to be non stop. But he is a human after all and in 2009 he started to diminish in his aura and wickets stopped coming.   If SL had their way, they would have had Murali bowl all 90 overs in a day in the test matches in their own backyard. Not to forget that he has bowled most deliveries in Test cricket. A debate would always continue on the topic how many of those deliveries which took 792 wikats were legal ones or how many of them were illegal ones which still got him wikats and a place at the top of bowling charts to end up as most prolific wikat taker.

He has left behind the likes of Shane Warne, Anil Kumble, Glenn McGrath, Wasim Akram, Richard Hadlee and West Indian greats Marshall, Walsh, Ambrose, Holding and Garner in wikats tally.  He had his share of cheap wickets against hapless Zimbabweans and Bangladeshis.

176 wikats in 25 against this 2 teams. Warne had 17 in 3 against this 2.

Exclude 176 and his record comes down to 616 from 107.  As good as 5.7 wikats a Test match.  Most of those wikats came on super boring pitches of SL aided by run machines Sanga, Mahela, Attapattu and Samarweera who kept on going and going and going for days together.  And then Murali would come and bamboozle the visiting teams. England, SA, West Indies, NZ, BD and Zim sank without a fight. Aussies and Indians did put some fight and Pakistan surprisingly until 2009 won.

Murali when toured SA or Ind or Aus was not among wikats.  He has a poor record in this countries. He did not tour SA since 2002. And in the meantime he travelled Zim 2 times (2005) and BD 3 times.  He took 9 wikats 2 times and almost had perfect 10 once.

He won SL test matches with 5 wikat hauls as good as Sehwag sixes or Ijaz Butt u-turns.  How many of those victories were memorable or hard earned ? Very few. Did he win in India or Australia or South Africa ? No. How many times did he dismiss Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis and Sachin Tendulkar in his career ? Don’t forget Brian Lara whom he got many times but was hammered mercilessly every time he faced the legend.

Who were his victims ? The poor players of spin in Lankan conditions when the batsmen would bat long for 3 days and then unleash Murali’s illegal deliveries on them.  SL won 44 Tests when Murali played.  Drew a lot more and lost a little less.

He had an illegal action, he bowled illegal deliveries, he had Jaggu Dalmiya installed at ICC to have the rule changed to accommodate his illegal bowling, had a strong character (the only one with real character) captain in Arjuna who fought for him.  All this ensured Murali would continue to bowl his illegal deliveries at batsmen at behest of an optical illusion of bent arm.

Whats his legacy ? Chuckers are now assured that sooner or later they would be allowed to play, thanks to a faulty 15 degree rule made by ICC to benefit and accommodate illegal bowlers like Murali, Shoaib Akhtar, Shabbir Ahmed and Lasith Malinga.

For me like many others he would forever remain a Chucker and an illegal bowler who by means of strong headed captains and administrators found a way out to bowl despite having illegal action.

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.

weekend Cricket

So the first T20I in US soil resulted in Kiwi win over Lanka. Lanka had the wicket its way.  Slow and low.  Low bounce and turn. Yet they lost by 33 runs. Failed to cross 100 in 2 of 4 T20Is.

In other game West Indies lost by 66 runs to South Africa.  Yawn!!!

Hashim Amla plays a ODI and scores a 100. Shows what kind of bowling attack WI has. They have not won in 4 years against SA in ODIs.

England are considering resting few of their victorious players against the low key BD series this week.  That includes Colly, Broad and few others. 

Indian biggies are resting and the C team would take on weakened Lankans and Zim in Zim after 5 years. Thats India's first tour of Zim in 5 years, the last one being a wretched one when Greg Chappell began his disastrous coach tenure with the team and soon after Ganguly was ousted.

Cricket would be yawning till the Pakistan vs England and Pakistan vs Australia series begin. Lets see if Pakistan win anything in Tests in Old Blighty. They have failed to win a Test in 3 years since 2007 or (prolly they beat SL last year once).

Post World T20 and IPL

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

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

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

World T20 : Day One

Two games. NZ vs SL and WI  vs Ireland.

WI won the game as expected and look good to go super 8s. Ireland now face elimination and must now  expect England to lose both its games, far fetched thought that is.

In the opening game Sangakara was a changed man. He had grown a moustache. He was speaking with lot of mannerisms at the toss. Nothing different that he spoke, but the facial movements he made and the way he spoke was unique.  IPL Nights effect may be.

He chose to open with Mahela and Dilshan. Dilshan was scratchy in IPL. Bishop told us. We also saw. Sangakara did not. He was busy fighting with Yuvraj and trying to get close to his owner (IPL) in IPL. So Dilshan scratched around for 19 balls scoring 3. And then he got out.

Sangakara came and he scratched around. He got out too.

Mahela continued his good form. He made 81 in SL's total of 6/135.   Chandimal, the SL cousin of Dinesh Karthik made 29, Angelo Matthews made 3, Kapugedra made 11, Sanga made 4 off 11.  Jaya did not get a ball to face.

Cheap treatment. He has opened for 14 years or even more in ODIs, Tests and T20s. Needless for me to say his record while doing that. have a look at Dilshan. He is opening for 14 months may be ? He's been failure at top spot this year. For ego or some unknown reasons Sangakara is keeping Jaya off the opening spot.  And that would lead to a downfall soon. His captaincy skills are at display. His results are at display.

They must now win against Zim who are on fire after beating Pakistan and Australia in warmups. If they lose really they go home. End of captaincy for Sangakara may be.

NZ won a tense game and that would be a morale booster for them.