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. 

Pakistan win

Pakistan won. Great stuff from Aamer. 


They won but not without a minor collapse. 


Butts would be happy bunch tonight.

Aussies boost their chances to win

Pakistan lived up to its reputation as Collapso kings and this brought back the Aussies in the game. At the end of Day 2, the Aussies are 34 runs behind and 8 wkts in hand. Ricky Ponting and Michael Clark are at the crease with Hussey, Paine and North to follow.  Just 250 more runs in addition to the 34 to wipe out deficit would be good enough for Australia to win handsomely. Anything more than 250 would be added bonus.

Pakistan have forgot to bat in a Test match. Every time they put on whites, they have a sepia tinted memory which brings forward the so called best T20 skills in them and they try to whack everything out of the park. Before they realize that they are not in a T20 game, all is over for them.

Shane Watson before this series never had a 5-for to his name, now he has 2 in 2. A 5-for and a  6-for. Marcus North too has one.  Anil Kumble, Shane Warne would have had all 10 out of 10 2 times in the test match to this lineup.

Why blame Afridi for that mindless slog last Test, even Umars, Kamrans and Maliks have been guilty of doing this. Rightly so, Shahid Afridi has invited them to go leave the game if they don’t have the aptitude for it. Right said, this lads should stop playing Test cricket and bringing mockery to their already depleted pitiable plight.

From 5/215 to 9/234 and 258 all out, thanks they had 170 run lead so they are in the game right now. Else the other day this would have been the end of the game for them.  Australia are one team with self belief even if they are not on the top of the rankings table and even if their greats have left the game. They just don’t give up. Something the Indians should learn from them. 

India and Australia would be playing a 2 Test rubber later this year and that should be an exciting prospect. But before that this torturous series against Lanka should end. Even if we did not have played them and not gave chance to Murali to go for 800, we would have remained # 1 in the rankings, but for BCCI we coped up with this unwanted loss.

Harbhajan needs to go

For sure it wont be the case in the remainder of the series that Harbhajan Singh would be dropped, but he makes a strong case to be dropped.  It’s a long time he was dropped from the team for incompetence, but this is the right time for him to know that he cannot go on and on for long time without actually having wickets under his name.  Ditto goes for Pragyan Ojha.  He bowls with lot of “character” and guile in T20s but the same goes for a toss in the Tests and ODIs he plays.

9 wickets in 6 ODIs this year, no wicket in World T20 and 12 wickets in 4 Tests this year with 1 5-for are sorry figures that make sorrier reading.  He has had an average of 61.5 vs Bangladesh and no average against SL this Test.

ODI figures make even poor picture. 1 wicket against BD, 2 against Pak and 3 against SL.  Economy of 4.8 runs an over and 29 runs for every wicket.

It’s a very rare thing in days of MSD’s captaincy to drop Harbhajan, whereas the previous 3 captains did no favors to the man when he was not in the best of the form.  Perhaps he’s got complacent that his place in the team is for granted. Time for somebody to shed off that cobweb and clutter in his mind.

But the question is who are the replacements?  Amit Mishra  ? R Ashvin ?

Spin bowling scene is scarier than  the fast bowling concerns.

Why we failed in Galle

List of Test matches saved in reverse order:

·         Ahmedabad Test vs SL in 2009

·         Napier Test vs NZ in 2009

·         Bangalore Test vs Aus in 2008

·         Adelaide Test vs Aus in 2008

·         Lord’s Test vs England in 2007

It was Sachin Tendulkar in Ahmedabad, Gautam Gambhir in Napier, Zaheer, Harbhajan in Bangalore, Sehwag in Adelaide and MSD in Lord’s Test 2007.

Neither of this batters are around on the middle now and the patience factor has deserted Indian batsmen in this Test.

Except for Tendulkar, Dravid an Laxman none of the other batsmen played more than 90 balls, most important to save the Test match when following on.  Laxman is baffling still, he has hold on one end yet to avoid the defeat.

Sehwag lasted 30 balls, Yuvraj and Dhoni combined not even 20. Gautam Gambhir could not stay past 1^st over in both innings.  He has had good outing in the first warm up game, yet he made a score line of 2, 0 in the Test, a much rare failure for the Delhiite.

Sehwag got a 100 but threw it away both times when he would have been the key man for India to save the Test in both innings. A big score from him (bigger than 110) in both innings could have meant India would be safe on day 5. But then it was not to be.  Dravid fell both times for his own mistake and Sachin as usual once for a poor umpire decision (lbw both times).

All said and done, this is one Test we would like to forget sooner than later and hope from 2^nd Test ownwards India shows its true class which has made it # 1 in the rankings.

We have got a jacked S bowling attack with none owing up responsibility to be premier strike bowler.   Ojha is not a Test material, forget Tests he is not even an international material. He is good for Deccan Chargers in that overhyped Bollywood hijacked T20 tournament.  Harbhajan Singh badly needs Anil Kumble down the other end to take wickets or to appear as a decent bowler. His ODI bowling is taking a toll on him as a test bowler. ODI bowling as in restrictive role. Line and length ustaad, wicket blub.

Lest bowling attack improves the likes of Lanka would continue to have bat-a-thons and make 500, 600 or even 1000. Our best bet to survive this kind of negative tactics is to bat stronger. We’ve got the best batting order in the world, but at times it falls prey to the bowlers who have forgot to play Test cricket for good 3 years.  But as SP said, India is always vulnerable as it comes out of a long break. Once that cooling period is gone, its tough past getting  the greats. And I bet the Indians would be in their true Test form 2^nd Test ownwards.                      

Just wishing a heavy downpour in Galle NOW.

Baffling Laxman

Laxman’s tactics to expose tailenders to Murali and Malinga is atmost baffling. What is he trying to achieve?  He has never learnt to master the skills to bat with the tail enders, something which Dravid, Tendulkar and Steve Waugh have / had.

He is not playing fast, neither is he defensive. He is just taking single off 2^nd or 3^rd ball or 1^st ball of the over to leave Murali have a go at 800 and Malinga to wipe out the tail. The lunch is just around the corner and the weather who knows can turn bad.

Hang in there dude. For me that’s the difference why Laxman is not counted in the greater bats of his generation despite having had a tremendous rearguard acts in his career.  He does not have the ability to shape up the tail in crunch match saving situations like this one. Remember he even got out on 66 odd runs in the epic Chennai Test of 2001 vs Australia and then Sameer Dighe and Harbhajan Singh had to do the winning task.

Cmon Laxman, you gotta save the Test yourself. Own up the responsibility.

Galle Test Day 3

Indians managed to sniff out some early wickets on a helpful pitch, thanks to the efforts from A Mithun and Ishant Sharma. However the Sri Lankans are still going strong with no signs of declaration whatsoever.  Samarweera, Lady Jaywardhena and P Jaywardhena went quite early than expected, but then its turn of Malinga and Herath to bat on and on.

SL might have murali have some runs in his belt too. Who knows he might even get a single wicket or not. Sehwag might spoil his swansong or even anybody from the top 7 can do so. 

Malinga has got a  50. Herath has already got it. Chanaka and Muttiah would have it too. 600 should be apt score for them to score in a rain truncated game.  They are now batting since day 1 and we are in session number 8 of the Test.

A lot of blame has to go to the Indian spin attack too which is just insipid and lacklusture as Sri Lankan desire to win. IPL Ojha has gone for 100 and Harbhajan is following suit. Ishant bowled bad on day 1, but made great amends on day 3. He needs confidence and time, something which Srikanth is not ready to give him. He should have been playing in England on the A tour, instead he was sitting home and some Ganpathys and etc were representing Indian bowling in England.

Poor Amit Mishra had a poor tour game, IPL Ojha had 8 wickets in that game, he is finding wickets hard to come by in the games that matter. He is other example of cricketers who give  their best shot in IPL and not so good shot when playing for country.  Raina, Sharma being the other members of the IPL glorious club.

Post Anil Kumble, the Indian spin bowling looks bleak and Harbhajan is now at best a stock restrictive bowler who doesnot find wickets any more. 

SL are showing no signs of declaration whatsoever.  But we hardly expect them too. They have been showing churlish buffoonery every time they step to play Test cricket, thus killing its spirit and soul every time they play. 

Malinga is fast approaching his 100. What a comeback it would be for him in Tests after 3 years.

Sangakara is having a sheepish grin and he is practicing a speech in post match conference full of character words and assertive stuff to feed his articulate image in the media.

No wonder that major batting records in Tests do belong to Sri Lanka and most of them are at home ending in dull lame boring yawning draws.

Top 10 Test partnerships (for any wicket)

Correct as of January 23, 2010:

Runs	Wicket	Batting partners	Batting team	Fielding team	Venue	Season
624	3rd	Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara	Sri Lanka	South Africa	Colombo	2006
576	2nd	Roshan Mahanama and Sanath Jayasuriya	Sri Lanka	India	Colombo	1997
467	3rd	Andrew Jones and Martin Crowe	New Zealand	Sri Lanka	Wellington	1990/91
451	2nd	Donald Bradman and W H Ponsford	Australia	England	Sydney	1934
451	3rd	Mudassar Nazar and Javed Miandad	Pakistan	India	Hyderabad, Pakistan	1982/83
446	2nd	Conrad Hunte and Gary Sobers	West Indies	Pakistan	The Oval	1957/58
438	2nd	Marvan Atapattu and Kumar Sangakkara	Sri Lanka	Zimbabwe	Bulawayo	2004
437	4th	Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera	Sri Lanka	Pakistan	Karachi	2008/09
429*	3rd	Jacques Rudolph and Boeta Dippenaar	South Africa	Bangladesh	Chittagong	2003
415	1st	Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie	South Africa	Bangladesh	Chittagong	2008

Galle Test so far

Day 1 : India’s bowling lives upto its fame and reputation. Sehwag was the lone spinner who got the wicket(s) ahead of Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan IPL Ojha. Ishant Sharma continued to baffle and Mithun unexpectedly bowled good lines to end up with a solitary wicket to his name.  Paragraph (unable to recall his full name) and Character King pawned runs and centuries to end up at 2/256 in 68 overs possible in the day.  Dhoni dropped few, Dravid dropped one and the rest just ran behind the leather.  The Indians are not sure if they would be getting a chance to bat this Test match owing to 2 factors : impending rains and the SL desire to make up for the Test runs they lost for 50 years.  SL debuted in Tests in 1982 and India in 1932. So I guess, the SL batsmen want to make up for those 50 lost years to come at par with India. 

 

They have got dead wicket to help them and 9 more sessions to play in next 3 days provided rains allow. They would like to take this opportunity to go on and on and on and on and on to make at least 800 runs. So what if Murali cannot take 800 wickets, the batsmen would make 800 runs thus providing a symbolic get off to Murali. If there is a time, the SL would also like to have a go at quick runs and try emulate 1000 run mark, something that murali was tipped to get when he was in his pomp and was taking wickets like Dharmendra used to suck blood out of villains……

 

Day 2 : Rains wash out the play and now Murali is increasingly seeming in the danger to miss out on 800 wickets.  Mahela, the biggest cheap run maker in SL history after Attapattu is on the crease and Thilan Samarweera who is weer only on dead Lankan pitches is yet to arrive.  As Chaminda Vaas raced to a 50 in that 952 Test match, who knows Angelo Matthews could also go on to harvest runs in the flow.  And if SL are unable to bowl, who knows Murali would postpone his retirement by one test. And then he would walk up to his IPL captain and ask “Bhagwan ke naam pe ek wikat de de anna”.   And then may be MS could decide to open Yuvraj with Gambhir so that Murali could take at least Yuvraj’s wickat.

 

SL are known to kill the soul of Test cricket with their dead pitches and batting runathons.  To me they are a disgrace to the Test cricket and they play a pathetic brand of Test cricket. Its fairly unfortunate that BCCI falls prey to the yearnings of SLC to help them with some money. 

 

With Pakistan finding T20 in every Test they play, BD losing every Test they play, SL piling on runs that don’t count for anything and that don’t help them win anything its only India who plays some bit of positive cricket, but with a second string bowling attack they would not cling to the top ranking for long. Of course they can but would Srikanth want to ? Only if he could stop selecting dud pacemen and look out for some genuine pacemen who could generate some pace and also take some wickets. No military medium pacers please.

Ijaz Butt's Collapsistanis!!

Afridi is gone. YoYos are gone. Being a butt today in Pakistan pays. One of the Butt is captain today and the other is Butt of all jokes.

Only if SM Quraishi was SM Butt, India would not have taken this man seriously in the foren minister talks in Pakistan.

Or if Mr 10 % was a Butt. Asif Butt. Or Benajir Bhutto Butt. They would have been on the top in respective zones.

When you give 14 of the 20 wickets in a Test to part timers or non regular bowlers, you gotta be taken lightly.  When you collapse like pack of cards every other game, you got to be laughed and made fun of. 

They deserve this. They are worthy of all the jokes and fun being poked at. 

After all they are Ijaz Butt's Collapsistan!!!

Yawning Test series begins

Sri Lanka begin their home series against India yet another time. Poor islanders. They did not have a single Test team to tour them this year until India agreed to cos they need to defend their no 1 rankings. Despite having a so called great bowler in their ranks, their team is unwarranted in most Test playing countries. SA, Australia hate them to be playing in their home turf. Reason :  they play negative crickat. 

And nothing of that sort is going to change today. 

Run piling pitches would be the highlight of the day and then even a flat track bully like Samarweera would make hundreds making us feel he is batting great.

We would hear lot of character stuff from Sanga, whose utterances are termed as articulate by media. We would hear how SL is playing good krickat and is ready to have fun in the middle by Mahila Jaywardhena. Lasith Malinga would break done in middle and Lehar Pepsi (whats his name ?) would make a hundred along side SL's Karthik -- Dinesh.

For India, the bowlers would post a sorry picture. They dont have good bowlers except Ishant Sharma and Harbhajan SIngh.

Mithun is at best a medium pacer. I hope he turns his detractors wrong, which would be good for India. Munaf Patel is as listless and disintrested in the middle as Srikanth is to chose CP in the Test side or looking beyond Chennai for team selections. 

So the onus is again on the top 6 or 7 of the Indian batting lineup to score and try force a result. SL batsmen would look for runathons and batting records.  Going to be a yawning series as anything down in Lanka is such a yawn!!!!!!!!