Eden Gardens Test : Day 2

India have scored the highest score in last 11 games for themselves. And also crossed 300 first time after 10 innings. Something that reflects the torrid times the team had in England quite unexpectedly.  The 2nd day at Eden Gardens saw quite a lot of milestones:

1. Dhoni scored a hundred after 32 innings and 21 months on the same ground. Last one being against SA in that hard fought victory.

2. Laxman scored # 17, 5th in Edens and first in 15 months. He also became highest scorer in any ground in India.

And with a mammonth 631 on board, the bowlers did a good job in sending back 2 West Indian openers to hut for only 34 runs. And then bad light came to WI's help. Else few more wickets would have tumbled.

The biggest thorn in Indian flesh is going to be Shiv Chanderpaul and if he is accounted for soon, then India would have a very strong chance to win sooner than the case when Chanderpaul gets going with his irritating (though effective for West Indies) batting style.

There are few questions going to be asked after this Test is over for Yuvraj Singh -- how many more chances he is going to get to prove he belongs at the Test level. He is  the most talked about player right now in terms of players who are insecure or whose position in thet eam is not secure. There are too many incumbents around to take his place and Yuvraj isnt helping his own case with low scores like he has had in 3 innings so far. He might not be coming out to bat again in 2nd innings, but I feel he should be given a free run of 4-5 tests and then a judgement call be made if he belongs to the test level or not. He has rarely got more than 5-6 Tests at stretch to prove himself. Most of the chances have came after Sourav retired in 2008.

And since then Kohli, Raina and Pujara have been tried for # 6, none being successful to make that place his own for different reasons (form or injury whatsoever). Yuvraj should make it to the touring party to Australia where his left arm spin would be handy to break partnerships. India is not going to play 2 spinners in Australia and most probably its going to be a toss up between Harbhajan(experience), Ojha and Ashvin to occupy that slot of lone spinner. Sehwag has a dodgy shoulder and he doesnt bowl that much now as he used to say a couple of years back. So Yuvraj would be one handy person to turn to roll his arm over to break a partnership. Having said that, the primary responsibility of Yuvraj would still be to score runs and score big. And if fails over course of next 2-3 Tests then may be it would be apt to ignore for the future.

I also feel once the holy trinity of Tests is gone, Yuvraj would be one of the replacements, but again depending on how good he comes through this set of opportunities.

And as of Sachin's most awaited 100th 100, the only folks continue to be worried are the mediamen and those impatient fans. The man himself, as Rahul Dravid mentioned, isnt bothered about the impending milestone. The 100 would come when it has to. The media is continuing to create some needless pressure on the man who today completed 22 years in international cricket.

And Rahul Dravid continues to be in golden run of form when he has almost 1000 test runs and 5 hundreds, most by any batsman in 2011. He is all set to finish up with 1000+ runs and 13000 runs by the year end (2 more tests India plays before year end). He is just 21 runs away from the 13000 run mark -- 2nd Indian and 2nd in the world to do so when he reaches there.

Selection anomalies

The first test vs West Indies at home after 9 years is 4 days away and the Test team for it is declared. The usual suspects in batting have returned, the injured players have returned and the selectors have chosen to revamp the bowling attack altogether. They have committed as usual blunders and thats going to cost heavily to the team.

Here are the anomalies:

1. Harbhajan Singh has been dropped from Test squad on the basis of his England Test form and previous ODI form of 2011. He hasnt had that bad tests altogether as selectors think so. He bowled fairly decent in SA and in West Indies before failing in England. The problem with him has been he has had quieter periods with the ball followed by a 3 or 4 wicket haul in Test. The consistency he used to have in 2002 - 2006 days is no longer around. And that probably takes selectors and his critics to think that he is woeful in Tests too.

A look at his 12 month record doesnt paint a very sorry picture that deserved him to be dropped.

Over last 12 months he has played 11 Tests and accounted for 38 wickets at not so decent average of 38. This figures involve a poor return of 2/287 in England. And fairly decent returns of 15 in 3 in SA and 11 in 3 in West Indies.

SA and WI are countries where he hasnt had much of success in the past. Whats worrying though is in last 12 months he's got just 1 5-for. And that was against SA in SA.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/29264.html?class=1;home_or_away=1;home_or_away=2;spanmax1=02+Nov+2011;spanmin1=02+Nov+2010;spanval1=span;template=results;type=bowling

I think he should have been given one more series to prove his mettle and if another failure, then perhaps he should have been then dropped. Alternatively, the second aspect of this drop can be that he would get to play 3-4 Ranji games and if he gets some form in it, that would be handy in Australia as he would be the only spinner to have some experience in there.

Replacements

The replacement for Harbhajan is R Ashvin who showed up decent figures in ODIs vs England. 11 in 5 with most of them holing out to the middle. Not sure if that should count in judging him to be a very good spinner. His carrom balls and doosras were easily negotiated. And basis of this and some decent success in IPL Ashvin has got in the team. Also dont forget that the selection head has pushed out TN openers out of the team and so to keep N Srinivasan happy, he's got Ashvin in the team. Thats for the conspiracy mongers to be happy.

Pragyan Ojha is back after some good performances in domestic circuit and Rahul Sharma is also finding a place in the Test team after ODI team. Worse, he has even got a contract in Grade C with IPL success. Superb!! His domestic record for Punjab is patchy. 18 wickets off 10 games. Average of 45 and best figures of 6/92. Last outing in whites got him 2 wickets in the entire game. Betetr thing would have been he should have playing in Ranji games.

Exclusions

Whats baffling is the ouster of Praveen Kumar. Dunno whats the basis of his ouster. He was the one of the very few performers on that ill fated England tour. 15 wickets in 3 games @ 29 is not a bad performance inviting an axe. 27 wickets in 6 tests with a strike rate of 59 and average of 25 is very good figure for a bowler once touted to be only ODI specialist. What forms the reasons for his ouster are beyond comprehension. Worse, the selectors didnt even offer an explanation if he was injured or has some other constraint. Performance is certainly not the reason why he is dropped. And if it is, then selectors are real jokers.

Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav are supposedly pacy bowlers in the nation and they found a place too soon in the test squad. They havent really been in wickets in the games they played and except for few pace deliveries, they havent shown real hope that they would be knocking the timber off the batsmen.

In absence of Zaheer Khan and Sreesanth, a half fit Ishant Sharms shall be leading the pace attack before the Australian tour.

Ajinkya Rahane shall be confined to the benches unless somebody (2 at least) get injured in the first choice XI.

Yuvraj Singh should find a spot in the starting Xi given he made a 50 in his last test innings before he got injured.

Probable XI :

1. Sehwag

2. Gambhir

3. Dravid

4. Tendulkar

5. Laxman

6. Yuvraj

7. Dhoni

8. Ashvin

9. Ishant

10. Ojha

11. Yadav / Aaron

The other sad aspect is the rushing of the injured players in the team. Sehwag, Tendulkar, Sharma and Yuvraj return from the injury. Except for Sehwag who has played some form of cricket to gain fitness, the others havent played much cricket to prove they are ready for internation cricket once again. Specially Tendulkar who has been busy with waving chequered flag to the Indian GP F1 race and moving to new house. And the mad hype for his 100th 100 would be on once again.

It would be a pity that he would be playing his first test against West Indies in 9 years time. The last time he played was in 2002, the last series WI played in India. He missed the 2006 and 2011 tours to West Indies on the pretext of injuries and rest.

Pune Warriors get a dream debut

The second new team in the IPL this year, the 2nd from Maharashtra, the team which almost had a quiet build up to the IPL since its inception last year had a dream debut in the IPL 4. Having got to play its first game in adjoining Navi Mumbai, the team streamrolled KXIP and its tough luck continued. 

Nothing went right for KXIP since the toss. The new skipper, the old opener, the new  reserve keeper, everybody failed and at one time its score read 4 for 9. (Or 9 for 4).

Dinesh Karthik scored a duck.

Punjab were restricted to 112 though Ryan McLaren did his best to up the ante, but the rest around him just didnt battle enough. 

Graeme Smith's horror form continued and this time it  was not Zak who nailed him, but Praveen Pehelwan who got him first ball of the innings. 

And though Kings XI got 2 quick wickets of Jesse Ryder and Manhas, the pair of Uthappa and Yuvraj Singh took Pune Warriors home without any further hiccup.A dream debut for Pune. 

Surprised to see Chitale Bandhu / Joshi Vadewale / Rohit Wadewale not figuring on the black jerseys of Pune Warriors India.

Pune Preview

I dont like Pune the city. 6+ years in that city were good to give me jitters to stay away from the city. But the IPL is back in that city. With its own team. No stadium. The age old Jawaharlal Nehru stadium is pathetic to host any game, be it IPL or a MPL or a club game. The new stadium in Gahunje, between Pune and Mumbai seems not ready to host the game. 

Its 50 kms away from the IT park in Hinjewadi, the awful place for traffic jams. Given how bad public transport in Pune is, how many people would have  travelled to Gahunje to view the games. So Pune would play all its home games in DY Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai. 

Logistics apart, the team is called Sahara Warriors. 

And is led by the reborn man of the World Cup, Yuvraj Singh.  Its such a joy to see Yuvraj in full flow. And he is very much near the peak he has achieved in 2007-2008 duration. He would be a man brimming with confidence given his exploits in the premier tournament of the world. 

He is up against Kings XI, franchisee for which he was icon player for 3 seasons. And they dented his confidence in 2010 when they gave the captaincy to Kumar Sangakara Nanga to end up wooden spoon holders. So he shall have a point to prove against them. 

Team composition:

Desi players:

Yuvraj Singh, Ashish Nehra, Uthappa, Wagh, Dheeraj Jadhav, Rahul Sharma, Manish Pandey, Mundhe, Manhas, Kartik, Jhunjhunwala,  etc

Foreign Players:

Callum Fergie, Graeme Smith, Nathan McCullum, Angelo Matthews, Tim Paine, Jesse Ryder, Wayne Parnell, Jerome Taylor

The team is decent, the chances for them to go to the semis depends on how the team composition is decided and most importantly on the form of Yuvraj Singh.

The Bhamte and old generation Pune would support Yuvraj as IPL captain? Doubtful. They dont have too many players from Pune except few. Dheeraj Jadhav is one of them followed by Wagh and Khadiwale.  The Puneris are a bit averse to the outsiders, so they warming up to the IPL players is a bit doubtful.

World Champions India

What an emphatic win in the end to become the World Champions. Its still takign a huge time to sink in. That the Indians are the world champions after 28 years. The country swung into celebrations and into wild frenzy. The world cup win rejoiced India after a long long time. Every one was happy. Every one rejoiced for Indian team which amongst everything won the world cup as the most deserving team. Going through the entire campaign as almighty just makes this victory even sweeter.

There were a few jitters in the game on Saturday, but in the end super Dhoni and cool Gambhir proved that they are the best team in the world. Doesnt matter if India lose  Sachin and Viru early, there are few other guys in the hut to do the job. Yuvraj all the while and Dhoni in the final.

What a way to rise above the occasion and lead as they say by front. Setting an example, captain's innings, return to form. Call any adjective to it. Dhoni would fulfill all of that. Having had a quiet tournament with just 150 runs in 8 games and then suddenly coming at 5 ahead of man of the tournament Yuvraj was a super move that paid off in the end. It was very apt in the end that MSD hit the winning runs.

He was cool as cucumber in the entire game. He kept his nerves, he soaked the tremendous pressure for good 6 weeks and in the end emerged triumphant.  He came in at edgy 3/114 and Dilshan on fire, but he kept the score board ticking and kept pacing his innings even when Gambhir was stuck in 90s between 38 and 42nd over. 

There were wild celebrations in the entire country. And I missed being part of those celebrations. Couldnt scream, couldnt dance and couldnt shout with all the might I have fearing a ticket, but witnessing those scenes on NDTV made me almost compensate the loss. All celebrations I had were few beers in the end with friends and cursing Sangakara big time.

Sri Lanka Innings:

SL started off cautiously living up to the billing that they become minnows against strong teams. 1/31 off 10 overs was their slowest start of the tournament. Their opening pair which plundered runs against minnows and hapless Kiwis and Pommies were subdued and off color.  Dilshan made edgy 33 and Tharanga fell to Zaheer for single digit score. Zaheer had unbelieveable figures when he was done with his first spell. 1/6 in 5 overs with 3 maidens.  Munaf bowled within his limits and all the pressure they built was quickly released by typical 'I - am - nuts' Sreesanth. He somehow finds himself in the world cup winning team every time. And for this very reason he shall be rememebred in the future as a moron mongrel who figured in 2007 and 2011 World event winning teams.

He leaked 52 runs in 8 overs this time and was little less comical in the field. Sanga Nanga and Mahila continued what they do best. 62 runs for the 3rd wicket and Nanga was gone. 

Mahila continued her good innings and joined the list of elite players who made a world cup final 100. Kulasekra and Parera in the end ensured SL made 274. Zaheer messed up in the final 5 overs and those 63 runs could have been dear, but it was not to be.  274 was going to be a  difficult chase given they had Murali and Malinga in the attack. They also beefed up their pace attack getting in Kulasekra and Parera who had tormented India in past with 2 5 wkt hauls.

Also came in were Randi bhai.  They proved to be easy meat for Indians in the end.

India Innings

India couldnt have asked for more worse start than losing Sehwag in 2nd ball of the innings and that got SL into thinking that they could win the game from there. They also got Sachin in 7th over and they had a premature celebration. There on, they had no chance. Kohli and Gambhir, then Gambhir and Dhoni got them to the target good 14 balls before to spare.

The best part of the chase was India neevr lost the self belief and promoting himself to 5 ahead of Yuvraj was a master stroke.  Gambhir played equal crucial role in this chase and he lost his nerved 3 runs before a well deserved 100.

Murali, Malinga, Randi bhai, Parera and Kulasekara were rendred ineffective in the end and they blamed the loss to the wet ball. But for this they should kick Sanga Naga in his ball who controversially didnt speak anything in the toss confusion. That for you is Sri Lankan spirit. They cheat, they want to win the game by hook and crook, but they cant win it by either.

They tried hard, they spoke, they cheated and they didnt walk. In the end they ended up 2nd best. They had to be. They didnt beat any strong team except England. They couldnt get past Australia, India and Pakistan.

On the other hand India had tough games against Australia, Pakistan, England, South Africa and West Indies. Except NZ, they played almost every test playing team and got through each of them. Some through defending, some through chasing. Every one came good except Pathan and Sreesanth, they should soon find themselves out.  Raina chipped in with valuable 30s in both knock out games which are well better than all other runs he has scored in his life. Yuvraj's 362 runs and 15 wickets would give him immense satisfaction through out his life / career.

Sehwag gave starts in all games almost, though much more was expected out of him. MS if not batted well before final captained team well. He's a colossus.  Kohli got runs, though he got out many times when he should have scored big. Gambhir got 4 50s, the most valuable of them coming in the biggest stage.

In the end India ended up being world cup champions. Deservedly so.

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

WATERBOY's world cup

Waterboy does it. The man who was dropped on grounds of poor form, inept attitude and fitness has showed it to the world he belonged to the top spot. What a world cup he is having. 

And now that SL are through to the semis and would make it to the finals too, the WATERBOY shall account for that humiliation and taunts in Lankan tour in July - August 2010. 

Cant wait to see revenge of 1996 and 2007 being taken in our own Mumbai next weekend. But before that small matter of getting past Pakistan.

Yuvi wants the world cup for himself, his team and moreover to the nation of 1 billion plus NOW. 

India win by 80 runs

India won and they play next Australia. Australia's quest for the 5th title is going to end in Ahmedabad and Ponting is going to continue walking to his ODI sunset. Doesnt matter if he does not walk on the field.

India won by 80 runs however not before getting a scare when Devon Smith and Ramnaresh Sarwan were batting with ease. That time, the Indians had given up on the chase and they looked despirited, deflated and even disinterested.

It took Zaheer to strike once again as in England game to bring India back in the game and after that Windies choked or they just didnt have it in them to win from the strong position they had for 2nd game in running. R Ashvin made his way to the team on his home ground and got 2 wickets. Well he didnt inspire a lot of confidence as in that he shall turn the bowling woes to riches. He got 2 wickets, which even Nehra got that day and even Chawla got. 

He didnt turn the ball square on a pitch he knows more than anybody else other than Tendulkar. He didnt bowl that many carrom balls....So whats the hype and talk all about? Harbhajan Singh was useless in the first spell but then it took his maiden over to get Zaheer strike off Smith's stumps in his 2nd spell. 

Munaf Patel, well he is as useless in the team as is Yusuf Pathan, the fuddi Pathan. Good for nothing lads. Cant bat, cant bowl and cant field. 2 liabilities. Munaf did a ugly swipe in the 50th over 5 balls 2 soon. Ashvin hit the ball to a 4 in the 49th over and he looked to take score past 270 but our Munnabhai couldnt stick around yet again. This lad was insipid in the field and when he bowled. He looks so disinterested and he sleepwalks the game. Why is he even in the team ?

Sachin Tendulkar walked when he was not out given by Steve Davis. He should not have walked and should not walk in the knock out games ahead esp against Australia. He didnt nick it and there is no snickometer for the DRS. So even if there was a review, he would have got away. But then the man has played his cricket with integrity, so he wont compromise against it. 

Gambhir again threw away the start he got. Kohli and Yuvraj then took the score to 173 when it looked India would cross again the 300 mark, but it was a distant dream. They collapsed yet again losing 7 for 50. Rampaul took 5 as did Bresnan and Steyn previously. 

This kind of performance wont be good enough to win the world cup. So India has to address the batting powerplay and middle order batting below 4 once again. That just cant do in the quarters especially when the next 2 games are against Australia and Pakistan(if both win).

Looking back at the moral sapping defeat to SA

So India lost the first game of the tournament and in an insipid style.  In a way it was good they didnt deserve to win after spineless performance from the lower middle order and the middle order.

Yuvraj Singh attempted what he does the best -- hit successfully, but Saturday wasnt his day. MSD has forgot to hit fours and sixes and like dogs he scratches around and then stands infurirated and gives some spectacularly inefficient statements in the press. Yusuf Pathan is a mug and he shines occasionally to seal his spot for next few games. He has never delivered when needed the most. The best he can do now is to focus on IPL career. No more needed in the world cup.

He is useless in all departments. Cant bat, cant bowl, cant field.

Same goes for Virat Kohli. After that opening 100, he has faltered away. He has been bowled, caught & bowled, run out in last 4 games. What was he attempting on Saturday is best answered by him.

Coming to the fielding, it was the best display in the tournament unforunately didnt come good. Munaf Patel continued to be lax and listless with ball and field. Do we really need him? He is too passive and Sreesanth is too charged up. Extreme characters in the team.

He leaked runs in 48th over in England game too and here again. Both times he got the opposition in the game again after Zaheer Khan and Harbjhajan respectively had got India back into the game.

Foolish stuff.

Ashish Nehra, I guess his India career is almost good as over. No imagination, no yorkers like Zak and no wickets. Giving last over to him was a big mistake. Well if he did manage to get RP out and somehow stop 13 runs from being leaked, India could have hailed him as hero. But he did a good favor to the side by leaking 18 runs to a tail ender.

India needed this defeat at this stage and hopefully after the 8 day break they shall come out all guns blazing. The quarters scnario would be clear by then. They shall know what they'd need to do to go through should there be some upsets in this next few days.

Hopefully they will learn something from the games so far and make some changes in the personnel :

Suresh Raina for Virat Kohli in his IPL home ground

R Ashvin for Munaf Patel in his home and IPL home ground

May be Sreesanth for Nehra

Sreesanth is drama queen / king, is erractic and all the negative things, but only one thing he's got what others in the pace department dont have -- PACE. And if he is ready to play in the team cause and not let his emotions get better of him, he can very well turn out to be surprise package for West Indies.  But dont know predictions dont always come true in Indian team combination.

There is a very little chance India might not make it to the final 8.

The remaining games are:

SA vs Ireland : SA expected to win and get 8 points

WI vs England : England need to win this to stay afloat. if they do they shall end up with 7 points.  If they lose, they are out and BD go in. India also go in.

SA vs Bangladesh :  SA should win this and top the group with 10.  If BD win they go through and if SA lose this one they should still make it provided they dont lose to Ireland.

India vs WI : If India lose to WI and BD win their other game vs SA and WI lose to England they could go out depending on how bad they lose. If India win they end up 2nd in the group and go through.

I guess the turning point in Saturday's game were:

1. 9 for 29 in 9

2. One additional over for Zaheer in batting power play where he leaked 17 runs and if he was saved for last over, he could have got India 2 points.

3. Nehra over Harbhajan

Hopefully this was the bottom India saw and hereon they shall rise to the occasion and not squander the 100s from Tendulkar and starts from Delhi dashers.

India through to Quarter finals.

India made a hard weather of a decent target of 190 against Netherlands. And it huffed and puffed to finally end up victorious and become first team to qualify for Quarters.  Not a dominating performance, not intensive performance, but good enough to win with 14 overs to go.

A target that should have been overcome with 7 or 8 or 9 wickets in hand instead of 5. But in the end India lost its batting lineup in the pursuit to wind up the match soon thus raising concerns to the critics to question mark its favorite status.

India had to wait for 16 overs to get its first wicket and then for another 8 to get the next.  Dutch middle order collapsed and the fielding improved a touch better than the previous games. Harbhajan continued to end wicketless and economical, Ashish Nehra had a good comeback on his homeground and Chawla put an improved show except last one where he leaked out 17 runs.

Yuvraj got 2 and Zaheer sprang up to 3rd spot in the top wicket takers. 

Sehwag and Sachin started off superbly racing to 70 in 8 overs before the urge to deposit one more in stands got better of Sehwag and he was out to Seelar. Sachin, Pathan soon followed and one Borren delivery crashed Virat's stumps. Ditto for Gambhir who has now been bowled 3 out of 4 times in peculiar fashion.  Frustrating for him to get the starts and not convert them to big ones.

Fortunately for India, the rejuvenated Yuvraj is coming to rescue every time they find themselves in spot of bother. 3 out of 3 he has crossed 50s, the last 2 being NO and man of the match efforts. A massive turnaround from the waterboy and benched days of 2010. Thats the  singlemost biggest achievement of the league stage for India.

The trends emerging are not worrisome or concerning. The batsmen who got out forcing the run rate wouldnt have gone for wild dismissals against stronger teams. Even if India has huffed and puffed in chasing 2 small targets against European associates, the team should be back to blasting batting in the next 2 games. They are yet to beat SA in a world cup and they are yet to lose to WI in a world cup after that 1992 defeat.

Sachin Tendulkar raced to 2000 world cup runs and Seelar scalped him. He along with Dockrell would never forget this wickets for life.

But this is cup of the life and we dont care how India races to win it. We need the cup. Thats it.

And thumping victories against minnows has never been India's forte. Thats a Sri Lankan thing and India are better off not imitating that.

A victory is a victory in the end and dont care what critics or those TV anchors / experts blabber.

Why India should win the world cup and no other country should

I support bloody men in blue. Men in blue which hail from the land of corruption, land of Sonia Gandhi and MMS. Its a big thing that I support bloody men in blue despite all their faults, their falliability to the mistakes on the field, their larger than life stature on the field, the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and of course MS Dhoni, the man from Jharkhand.

These men are good enough to give any team run of their money, be it from the down south Sri Lanka or neighbour Pakistan or even down under Australia.

We do have falliables like Freesanth bholaram sakharam DK but we also have the likes of GOD, his look alikes, Dhoni, Kohli, Sardar and of course Appaam Chu***nandan shiromani Sreesanth. But when combined this bloody men can give any team in the world a good pasting, a good defeat by the virtue of the cruel bat. These men inflict wounds, scars on the soul, long lasting impact good enough to decode people of their mystery, This men prompt the likes of Kumar Fungasakara to ask his bowlers bowl deliberate no balls or even prompt the likes of Graeme Swann or Ravi Bopara to speak high like "bring on the bloody Indians" or "silence the Indian crowd".

Yeah we are bloody Indians, corrupt, mismanaged and of course pampered. We dont  have the best of infrastructure in the world, we may be corrupt and regionalistic. We might bother about Gandhis, Kalmadis, Rajas, Karunas and other Mamtas, but we bloody care about our cricket. We want revenge, we want the bloody world cup to be in India. Snatch it from bloody Aussies and keep it in India. Not to win it for an individual but for the spirit of cricket, for that unknown cricket fan that spends  invaluable time of his life watching his idols. Idols in infalliable guys like Sehwag, Tendulkar, Dhoni, Yuvraj and of course Harbhajan.

We want the cup to be ours. Not of the bloody Lankans who want to win for a chuck. We want to win it for a man who has played cricket with all purity, divine intervention and bloody cold blooded humility and honesty for 21 years, who did not ask any rule to be bent for his brand of game or who did not break any tv set in his life or did not ask any umpire to give the opposition players out on any illegal catch. Or somebody who talked big and delivered less or nothing. We want to win for men who keep low profile and do the talking on the field when it matters, We want to win the cup for bloody top Test playing nation, we want to now capture the topmost ODI crown too.

Yup, we bloody Indians want to win the world cup. No matter where we are, in India or USA or troubled waters of Mid east, we want to win the damn world cup. That would quench out thirst for a world title. None deserves to win the title as bloody Indians as much we have waited for 28 years  to get the coveted trophy to where it deserves, bcos we play our cricket clean, we dont have chuckers, we dont have Pricks, we dont have slingers, we dont have spot fixers, we dont have cheaters, we dont have womanizers, we dont have idiots, we have cricket playing men whom we adore more than the national icons. We want the cup to be called bloody world champions Indians.

Yeah the cup belongs to India and only India.

Bholaram Sakharam DK Sreesanth

Muppet Sreesanth is now so much angered at his own incompetence and the ridicule he is inviting with every passing game he plays, that he is now hurting his own team mates with ball and bat. He hit Yuvraj one with the ball and then Eric Simmons when he batted in the nets. 

Muppet forgets that he has to bowl that well and bat that well (if need be) in a real game and not in nets. He is for the sake of everybody be taken off the team and shown the way to a dance studio or a realty show. That suits him better as his theaterics and drama would get some audience. If he shows that all in the middle he is going to get abuses and ridicule. He is a big Bholaram Sakharam DK.

Team Preview : India

Finally its time to preview the team that is best suited to win th world cup. India. Did you hear the drum beats? India. India.

The team that plays the best brand of cricket in all formats, is very successful and has got attractive, aggressive and awesome players who excel in stroke play and positive brand of cricket. Its all about adopting to the situations, the team has players that can set a match alight to the fire and thrill the people.

You have Virender Sehwag, you have Gautam Gambhir, MS Dhoni, Yusuf Pathan and then above all you have Sachin Tendulkar.  No sight is better in One day cricket when Sachin and Sehwag bat together.  I bet if anybody can find better sight than that. No ugly swipes, no Dilscopps, all delight, all improvisation and something that gives you a cricketing orgasm....

You've got Kohli, Dhoni, Yuvraj to come in the middle order, may be at this point Yuvraj and MS are not in the best of the form. Yuvraj in full flow would be a dangerous proposition for any team, something Stuart Broad would testify.

India has the power, ability, hope and fanbase to go all the distance to lift the World Cup trophy on April 2 in Wankhede stadium when everybody in the world would watch.

India's main men!!!

India's chances in the World Cup would depend on following men besides form of Sachin Tendulkar.

1. Virender Sehwag

2. Yuvraj Singh

3. Yusuf Pathan

4. MS Dhoni

Viru and Sach would no doubt the most explosive opening pair in the tournament.  How Yuvraj Singh shapes up and how he plays would also define India's chances. 

He has not been in his best in last few months, but this is the biggest platform for setting his critics right. It does not get bigger than this. If he plays a pivotal role in the World cup win for India, he would be forgiven for all his antics off the field and of course for his swelling belly..

Yusuf Pathan has come of age after that career turning century against Kiwis and he did an encore of that in the final ODI in Centurion, but how he fares in the premier ODI tournament would depend on how he plays and in what situation he plays. He has shown right temparament all this while in the latest lease of life for him. Its good that he has his priorities and ambitions set out at right place to play for India inspite of IPL money. Only thing he needs to do is to keep patience and let his bat do the rest. If he is at the crease, the runs shall come automatically. 

MSD is other bat who would be crucial to India's chances. He has not been in best of ODI form off late. He didnt figure in Kiwi series and was off color in SA. But he has been the best finisher for India after Dravid's decline in 2007.

This 4 together would define how far India goes and we expect them not to lose a single game after QF.

India's games are on:

19th Feb at Mirpur vs BD

27th Feb at ...... vs Eng

6th Mar at  Bangalore vs Ireland

9th Mar at Delhi vs Holland

12th Mar at Nagpur vs SA

20th Mar at Chennai vs WI.

Hopefully by the game on 12th India would have already qualified for the Quarter finals.

Contract Haulers from BCCI

BCCI has declared the list of players that would be awarded the contracts for this year.

And the biggest surprise is that Yuvraj Singh has been relegated to Grade B and Raina, his nemesis has been promoted to Grade A.  Besides there is a drop of 17 players from 41 to 24 who have been awarded the contracts.  Grade D has been removed totally.

Likes of Munaf, RP and Dinesh Karthik have been dropped.

Coming back to the biggest shock, Yuvraj Singh.

I am of the view that this demotion is totally uncalled for and does not reflect well on BCCI's part for Yuvraj to be dropped. Agreed he had a tough indifferent 2010 owing to bad form, fitness issues, attitude issues and stuff like that.

He lost his place in the Tests and does not seem likely to get it in near future, but he is still a key player for India in next year's world cup 99 days away and the T20Is.

And Raina for a couple of blistering knocks in T20s , ODIs and Tests has not done that good enough to be in the elite company of players like Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag and Gambhir.

He still needs more maturity and more time to develop as a complete batsman ignoring strong temptation for that ugly hoik over square leg that often results in his dismissal.

For once, Yuvi needs a chance to redeem himself.

Challengers Trophy : India Green vs India Blue

India Blues have almost won a game must win against Greens by a huge margin and for sure they would take on the same team in the final now that Blues have won a game with huge margin. 

Fuckass's team is out almost. 

Fuckass as in Dinesh Karthik. What a chutiya player. 

Yuvraj continues to fail with the bat. Jadeja follows Yuvi Paji too. He took 2/42 and made 8 runs. Too much for an allrounder in making. 

What a player. I guess Yuvraj and Jadeja did not have Poha Jalebi in the breakfast in the morning. Thats staple diet for all Indori people. 

A man who stands tall amidst all this crap of Challengers (reason being Srikanth's croonies now occupy all the slots in Challengers teams) is Ajinkya Rahane. A scoreline of 84 and 95 must earn him a cap for India Australia ODIs if Challengers are a criteria at all. For selection of course. 

India blue have won and Chutiya's team is out of the tournament. 

No other players other than Rahane made any contributions to be good enough to count in the fray. Rahane should get a look-in to the XV, if not XI for now. 

Yuvraj has got one final chance to get some runs under his belt before team for ODIs is declared. With Jadeja failing, he should be out of the contention for good. 

And Chutiya should never ever play for any India team again. Get rid of this rat for good. Fucker.

Challenger update : India Red vs India Blue

Challengers trophy began today in Indore. Indore, the land of Pohe Jalebi holds a special place in my life. Its the best city to be in.

Ok enough on that.

It was India Blue vs India Red today and India Red won by 3 wkts.

India Blue made 9/251 in 50 overs.

Main contributors:

Rahane 84*, Manoj Tiwary 40, Saha and unfortunately Jadeja 58.

Sudeep Tyagi starred with the ball.  YP got 0/37 and Dinda got 2.

Player Watch:

Focus on India Blue :  Rahane, Yuvraj and Jadeja.

Rahane came good again in ODI after a 5 day game. 191 in Irani trophy followed by 84  off 95 balls. Fairly good.

Yuvraj Singh made 6 off 10 and lost the game in captaincy after a high of Irani trophy win.  Damn he was caught by Bosseshwar.

Jadeja made a  50 again in a losing cause. Does he have a premonition that he would lose, so he should make a 50. Loser.  1/42 with the ball.  Got Pathan with e ball.

India Red won by 3 wickets with 8 balls to go.

Contributors:

Yusuf Pathan with a fiery 63. 5 fours and sixes. Good stuff but one solo performance wont be good for him to regain his place in India team. Would prefer anytime over Jadeja though.

Cameos from Abdi and somebody Mishra.

RP Singh disappointed, Chawla got spank and Jaddu got 1/42.

Players Watch :

Focus on India Red : Bosseshwar, Kohli, Pathan

Kohli flopped, Pathan was usual self. Bosseshwar continued pretending he is playing Test cricket or some crap 5 day game vs Pudducherry club,  27 off 57 runs with just a 4.  What a crap player he is. Enough said.

Player who stands ou : Rahane, makes a good claim to a spot in Indian team. Few more innings of substance should see him knocking door strongly. But will Cheeka and Srini bother to look?

India vs Australia T1D3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Evil Cheeka Brigade is back in Challengers

Srikanth declared the Challengers trophy squads for India Red, Blue and Greens. The CT would be held in Indore on October 8 - 11.

Who are the captains ? Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Karthik and Subbu Dabrinath.

Wow. Dinesh Karthik and Subbu being the Chennai lads are now the captains of the squads. What the Butt.

To add more salt to the wound, Srini is now the BCCI chief in elect. So see more of Chennai duds in national team and if the coaches, captains dont follow suit, they would be fired. Getting MSD in CSK was a master stroke from Srini in 2007.

Lets have a look at each of the squad in detail:

India Blue: Yuvraj Singh (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Srivats Goswami, Ajinkya Rahane, Manoj Tiwary, Irfan Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Piyush Chawla, Umesh Yadav, RP Singh, Yo Mahesh, Ganesh Satish, Tanmay Srivastava

Jadeja is part of the squad and so is Irfan Pathan. Who is Ganesh Satish? A search on cricinfo yielded 5 results none of which matched this lad.  Ok on wikipedia its suggested that he is part of Karnataka squad, he is an opener.

India Red: Led by Sri Sri Sriyut Wicketkeeper Shiromani Chennainandan Swaminandan Dinesh Karthikam. Alias KKD alias Boss DK alias Bosseshwar.  His credits and debits are well known. Before he could have left for a promotion tour of a Kolly movie, Srikanth pulled him out and assigned responsibilities of leading Lal India. Thats a behind door entry to India test team. Now if MSD injures further his finger, Bosseshwar would be back in the team.

India Green:  IPL Nandan, Champion Swamy Subramaniam Badrinath Maharaj who last played ODIs good 2 years back would lead a Hari India team. Credentials ? Zilch. But hailing from state of Srikanth and BCCI chief to be yielded dividends.  And guess who is the part of the team ? Mr Junior Sreekanth. Credentials ? One 40 odd in CLT20 and being son of Srikanth. 

Ashvin is part of this team means he wont be part of 2nd Australian Test too.  If he was so impressive in CLT20, what the butt is he doing in Challengers Trophy.

None in the 3 squads knows Usha Raje Stadium as better as Naman Ojha, but what he would speak, Dabri wont get it. 

Srikanth does it again. He has pushed his croonies in the teams and now with Srini coming over as BCCI prez we would see India becoming Tamil Nadu XI in future FTP tours.  And let me remind you not worthy players from TN XI, but useless and flop players who have some relations to this bigots would be in.  Dinesh Karthik and Dabri havent played well for India in ages, yet they keep coming in out of nowhere.

Even Wasim Jaffer and Ajit Agarkar did not get this many chances when Dilip Vengsarkar was around. At least Jaffer made some hundreds in that span of 2006-08, what about this 2?

Yuvraj's omission is baffling.

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

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

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