Persist with Symonds

Symo is at it all over again. He is not at the wrong end of the law, but he is still involved in wrong news. I mean this is precarious situation. He is on his last chance in the international cricket. One more fishing incident and Symo would be disgraced to folklore for good. He is too good a player to retire as a BAD MAN of Aussie cricket. Australia needs him NOW like never before. Their dominance is dwindling with opposition teams finding more chinks in Kangaroo armors than ever before. The skipper is on the fringes of being banned, his form is waning and so is Mathew Hayden. If he doesn’t pick up runs in the Adelaide Test, then may be this could be his last Test ever or Boxing Day Test / New Year Test could be his last.

Spin bowling is worst. Krejza is injured, White is redundant, and McGain is gone. And that’s where Symo chips in. He is a part timer though, but good one than the likes of Clarke and Katich. This is the time when Symo could prove his worth by contributing to the evolution of Australian cricket in positive way. His presence on the field is instrumental in putting the opposition on defensive. Sydney Test 2008 is a live example when India almost won in but due to Symo and Buckner, they couldn’t. Not only did he excel with bat, but also with ball in the 2^nd innings of the Test match.

Despite all his evil shenanigans persist with him. That’s the need of the hour.

Give Pujara a look in ahead of Yuvraj

If young is the new mantra in the indian cricket, then look at the guys who are performing at the domestic level consistently. Not the likes of Sharma and Rainas who have been given uumpteen chances and they bloody fail every time. The ones who grind their way to the top through hard work, good attitude and moreover understand importance of INDIA cap. Not the ones who get T20 riches and are millionares in attitude and prize money but poor men in run making ....Not the ones who get a vote-in in the XI for their "sheer talent load" that never "delivers"......

Get in Cheteshwar Pujara in the Test team. Groom him....I think he rivals Yuvraj Singh and on basis of his current domestic form should edge past ODI king Yuvraj for Ganguly slot. 3 domestic 100s and big ones at that isnt a mean task. And that too against one time power house of Ranji -- Mumbai is enough good to prove that this dude is worth the gamble......12 years ago Ganguly sparkled against England and now who knows we might get a new TEST star against same opposition :)

But will MSD and Kris edge past lazy duo of Raina and R Sharma ?

Best test venues

Baroda and Rajkot get a ODI or tour game every series. And so does Ahmedabad. This time even Delhi and Bangalore get 2 games in a season. Delhi hosted test against Australia and will host last ODi against England. Ditto for Bangalore. Ahmedabad hosted a Test against SA and will do so against England.

Why no games for Chennai and Kolkata -- the 2 of India s best and matured cricket stadiums ? Just cos Jaggu dada is back, Kolkata would be back to wilderness ? Isnt Eden Gardens the best Indian ground. Damn it doesnt even host a single CL game....Is BCCI internal politics at its show again ? Kolkata last hosted a Test against Pakistan in 2007 and Chennai against SA in 2008. Why dont we have a tradition in India like in Australia and England ? Why not have best TEST centres host games against premier Test sides like Australia, England and SA ? May be say a season opener in Chennai followed by decider in Kolkata and stuff like that ? Why do we need to go and see a dead wkt everytime in Chennai or a rain curtailed game (since 2004, no result in Chepauk) ?

Can BCCI rise above its zonal politics and do some good thinking out of the box and avoid some ridiculous childish acts like leaking the selection committee meeting details to media ?

Who cares about Pakistan series....

After a high against Australia and supposed to be intense Test series against England next month, a Test series against Pakistan is going to be a sort of dampner. Who bothers to play a second string Pakistan side in a Test series dereft of best players who have either defected to ICL or have retired or have fallen to PCB s antics.....They dont have a pair of opening batsmen, except Younis Khan there is no other test class batsman in the side. Bowling lacks a good decent bowler.

Pakistan fans are wishing ICL gets official and their folklored stars are able to play the international cricket. Greedy bunch of cricketers who place money over country....And we dont need to travel down to a terror torn country on word of a supposed dictator of Pak cricket Imran Khan who feels Terrorists wont attack cricketers. Dude this is Indian team coming up and world knows our team has been on firing shot of this terrorists.

Even if Pakistan tours India as Alam saab and Miandad suggests, the scoreline would be 3-0....And I am sorry to say that India would then be called minnow hunters too...But then who cares. A victory over Pakistan even today sounds delicious for all those painful defeats inflicted on us in 80s and 90s in Sharjah owing to games against the spirits of cricket, maligned umpires and greedy cricketers who would sell soul for their money.....

DHoni drama, SL series win and Q's polarization

So now when there is nothing for the media on senior debate to follow up on, they have targetted the hot and happening skipper Dhoni for the latest sensation. A small 'disagreement' is now blown up to as disgusting as 'DHoni Resignation drama'.....Wish the media in India could grow up and concentrate on the game tomorrow rather than creating useless controversies in the team. Irfan would be feeling outsider in the team owing to this alleged drama.......

Suddenly England now seems to be hit hard by the enlightment drama and when they have suffered at the hands of umps in 3rd ODI, they feel the laws should be changed. If the same thing was concern, why not sign an agreement over the usage of flood lights before the series started ? Why now ?

SL have hammered Zimbabwe for 67 and have won the series. Great stuff. Minnow hunters. Not surprising if MJ would rant they are one of the best teams in the world with lots of positives out of this series agaisnt Zim......They next play against BD in BD :)...More wins and more points, climbing up the ODI rankings table....

WHat a joke.....

It seems that Q the passionate Pakistani blogger has been successful in polarizing bloggers against ME. Now nobody visits me or even comments on the shit posts, I write here. Thanks Q. You have all the power in the world to rant about BCCI or Indian cricket, but when I do I am biased and opinionated and anti - Pakistani. Wow double standards. Why dont u bother to keep ur views on world cricket to urself. Good for u if u dont polarize opinions against ME for my anti Pakistan tirades....

Young guns fail again

Raina scores 1 and Rohit Sharma scores 28. Wonder till when the guys like this 2 are going to be part of the team just cos Dhoni likes them ? There is Virat Kohli waiting in the wings. When did Sharma last scored a decent score ? And when did Raina score significant against strong opposition (excluding Pakistan and Hong Kong) ?

Oh Ponting!!

First this :

http://cricket.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Gavaskar_was_no_angel_in_his_playing_days_Ponting/articleshow/3732054.cms

And then :

http://cricket.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3727799.cms

Where he says Dhoni and team are good for T20s as this format has less time to catch technical flaws of players like Dhoni and Yuvraj....That was a while ago before Dhoni led India to 2-0 victory over Ponting 's Aussies...

Does this imply that entire world is conspiring against Australia and Ponting including their own media ? Is Ponting error free ? Is he over the game ? Never seen a loose talk from an Aussie captain...........Perhaps time for him to get a MRI scan for his brain which seems to have lost the sense.....

India as 'Home Series Venue' for Pakistan

http://www.rediff.com/cricket/2008/nov/18pakistan-could-switch-home-series-to-india.

Ijaz Butt is one amazing fellow. He never ceases to amuse us. After mulling over England and middle-east as ‘home venues’ for Pakistan home series , now he comes up with an interesting option. India as home series venue for series against India. Wow man. After all India is the one name you fall back on for every rescue action J And now this has no parallel. You play your home series against a country in its own den and call it your home series.

Play it wherever Butt Sahab, the result score line wont differ. 3-0 in Tests and 4-1/5-0 in ODIs…..

BCCI blunders!!

BCCI blunders on 2 counts in last few days :

1) In allowing Dhoni and few team members to play in an inconsequential game of an useless minister’s function. This minister happens to be close to Mr Pawar, the ex BCCI chief. Now why does BCCI have to allow the captain to play for a local side in the midst of an international series…Just to keep ex boss happy and keep the egos of this minister on high. What if Dhoni and team couldn’t have gone ? For sure he would have cried those outsider battles and stuff like that as he is usually doing this days on the ongoing regional troubles.

2) In another guffup related to Dhoni, BCCI has requested ECB to put the Ahmedabad test by a day. Now why on earth has that to happen ? Is franchise more important than country and it’s a goddamn Test match. Dhoni is the skipper now in all 3 forms of game for INDIA and not CSK. Even if he is jaded or tired, then he gotta skip the Champions League and play the test series. I am afraid to say that now he wont have a luxury to skip a Test series at the expense of an ODI or T20 series. And if plans to do that, then he better give up the Test captaincy. BCCI has got it wrong. England should say no. Let BCCI suffer once more for its ridiculous jibes.

Yuvraj sinks England yet again.....

As if Rajkot 100 wasnt enough, Yuvraj Singh scored another 100 in Indore 's new ultra chick stadium and took 4/28 to seal India's victory in style. Thats for sure Yuvraj's redemption. And he must now walk straight at # 6 in Ahmedabad Test against England to step in Ganguly's place. He has been a natural aggresive player with all shots in his armoury except good attitude....And guess what, the recent failures in Challengers, SL series and Kitply, Asia cup have made him even more hungrier for success....That augurs well for India. He, Dhoni and Sehwag are next generation of Indian batting greats...And they gotta take responsibilities sooner than later as mass exodus has began in Indian test side....

Never mind the likes of Rohit Sharma, Badrinath, Raina arent worth the invaluable Indian Test cap and it was evident today with reckless batting of this t20 kids who are still basking in T20 glory, but little they do understand that they wont be remembered for long for T20 success than Test or ODi success. So its very essential for Yuvraj to mend his ways and give away his flambuyoance off the field for some time......

England are now left with no option but to reinvent themselves with 5 games to go and series at stake. KP and Freddie Flintoff along with Bell and Colly will have to step up their games and make big scores but 30s or 40s....After a 4-0 success against SA, England have been brought brutally back to earth.....

With this successful hosting, Indore should host many more tour and international games than the venues like Rajkot or Baroda or Guwahati or Kanpur....The new stadium MPCA has built is superb and has got all modern amenties. Its not in outskirts of the city, but within the heart of the city......Its my hometown and it boasts of rich cricket tradition in form of Holkars and it gave country its first test captain in 1932......I wish Mr Jyoti Scindia takes the cause of Indore with much intesity than ever before. And wow man, the next game could well be a D/N affair with flood lights being installed......