Kiwis are in the town

Kiwis are in the town for a full fledged series incl 3 Tests and 5 ODIs. 

They are inexperienced lot with 3 only players having a worthwhile experience in Tests - Baz, Danny and Ross Taylor. 

Its their 3rd tour in 11 years but first in 7 years. 

They toured India in 1988, 1995, 1999, 2003 and now. Last time they won a test in India was in 1988 in Mumbai when Hadlee was around. 22 years on they have not won a Test in India, but they have not lost that badly either.

0-1 in 1995 and 1999. 0-0 in 2003.

This time around they do not have personnel to win a test, let along a Test series. There are exciting batsmen in the team but are they good enough to post big scores to pressurize Indians. 

As Danny said tonite in the press conf in Ahmedabad a scoreline of 2 draws (1-0 in either side) would be a kind of job well done for his young side. 

NZ have not been a formidable Test side in past few years and now they have ceased to be a good decent ODI side as well. 

A 3-0 and 4-1 victory for Indians would be a cakewalk and little less than it wont be acceptable.

Hopeless Afridi;s men

At current form Pakistan would be happy avoiding last place standing in their group in the upcoming World Cup. Their batsmen do not have patience to last long in the crease. Be it Tests, ODIs and T20s. Their only saving grace bowlers do not have time off bowling no balls after authorized by spot fixers. 

And then there are buffoons like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxGPZ0rw4wM

They have lost all 3 games in their own backyard in Abu Dhabi -- the land of Sheikhs and blood suckers. I cant forget the horrendous experience in Dubai Airport last year en route to Washington. The fuckin sheikh cop almost detained me when  I asked why was he asking me to go around the metal detector many times. 

That apart, the Pakistanis have not been able to find a XI that can win the games from hopeless situations. Something they did when previous generation of fixers played. At least they fought off the field, they united on the field to win. And thats what made them exciting. 

Today's Pakistanis are hopeless bunch of losers. For one Younis Khan you have Maliks, Akamals, Amirs, Afridis, Wahabs, Butts, Asifs and of course Ijazie's.

And then there are few blogs which are yet hopefuls they can win the world cup. Yes they can if they find miracle and get some batsmen who are honest and willing to stay on crease and make runs. Not gift their wickets on the platter to the opposite team. 

Today even a Bangladeshi team can beat Pakistan by 10 wickets or 200+ runs in ODIs if there is a series.

Ashes Noise

The 2 old worn out super powers of Cricket -- England and Australia are busy planning mind games and tactics for Ashes something which has lost relevance in last decade.  England are no 4 in the test rankings and Australia are no longer the dominating ones. Yet the media and cricket pundits from this 2 countries make us believe that the Ashes is the cricket series which would save the cricket world from the evil clutches of Asian cricketing bloc.

No wonder the English authors call Australian preparation to the Ashes as bulls hit as they have been playing 2 Tests and 3 ODIs in India and 3 ODIs home vs SL.  No first class games as they say for preparing for the Ashes. Few players are playing but then English media wont look at them.

What ideal preparation does England have? They won 3-1 in a series with Pak which nobody knows if all Tests were rigged or fixed or how many of them were clean and how many of them were not.

Then they went for a boot camp in Germany only to return with injured James Anderson, their best bowler in swinging conditions. Australia does not have swinging conditions like SA and England.

KP is in the worst form of his life and he is doing everything except what he should do -- make runs.

So is that an idealistic build up to the Ashes?

There are many in England team who believe they have best chance to win in Australia in 24 years.  They have been making tall claims on the back of batting prowess of Strauss, Cook, Trott, KP, Collingwood, Morgan, Bell.  Except Strauss and Trott none of this batsmen are in any kind of form. They just managed to get through the Pakistanis because the latter were busy rigging the game.

And do not forget they did not win a single Test on the last tour to Australia.

Johnson, Bollinger, Siddle, Hilfy should be handful for Australia to run through the feeble English batting lineup 2 times every Test. And the batting of Katich, Watson, Ponting, Hussey,Clarke, North and Haddin / Paine may not be like the Hayden, Langer, Ponting, Clarke, Hussey, Martyn, Gilchrist of 2006, yet this line up is strong enough to post a total of 400 plus and leave England reeling with the walking wickets like Cook, KP, Collingwood and Bell / Morgan.

In short, the Ashes would not be that important a cricket series as it used to be may be in 1980s or earlier. Its the contest of Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka thats more important for the life of Test Cricket to be longer. 

Summer of 1986 : India vs England in England

My first tryst with the cricket watching goes back 24 years in 1986 when India toured England and later had Australia touring India. That was a span in Indian cricket when the team was on top as it won 2-0 in England, drew 0-0 with Australia at home including a memorable tied test in Chennai, 2nd one in the history and probably the last one till date (not sure but I guess there was one England Zimbabwe Test drawn too).

I was just 7 then and I was introduced to cricket watching by my father.  Before 1986 I vaguely remembered the Benson & Hedges world series win when Ravi Shastri was declared champion of champions and had won an Audie. That was 1985 and earlier that year around January India had toured Australia and had lost a ODI on Jan 26, 1985 or 1986. That was republic day for India and Australia day (later Australia thumped India again on this day in 2000). I remember coming from school and heading to my uncle's place for my cousin's 4th bday celebrations.

Those days DD used to transmit the live cricket and the level of commentary was too good for today's commentary in DD. There was Dr Narottam Puri and some Akash Khanna (not sure his name, but he was bearded and presented World of Sports every Sunday at 4 PM on DD).

My first series of following cricket was the 1986 England tour when Kapil Dev was captain. India had just landed in  England sometime in May and Kapil had given an intentful statement 'Hum yaha jeetne aaye hai".  I joked with my father on the breakfast dining table 'wat if he loses'.  That was not to be, India won the Test series 2-0 and the ODI series was drawn 1-1.

T20 was good 18 years below its invention and only time somebody heard of T20 was in the club cricket when teams play 10/20 over games with tennis balls (at least in India or may be in Stan)

I remember Gavaskar and Srikanth(yes Cheekanth) opening the batting for India with Dilip Vengsarkar in the middle order. Azharuddin was then 1 yr old in Indian cricket and was an excellent slip fielder. I remember he took a diving catch to his left in 2nd slip published in newspapers then. Gooch had caught Maninder Singh in 2nd slip after English keeper (not remember who he was) dropped him, then Gooch dropped him and then keeper dropped again and in next attempt Gooch kicked the ball through his feet and Maninder got out.

There were few England players : Fowler, Redford, Lamb, Ellison (he was a keeper?), Graham Dillie (I thought he used to come running from boundary to deliver), John Embury, Phil Edmonds(both were baldies), Gooch of course, Ian Botham did not play. And the captain David Gower.

Without referring to any literature, I remember India had Sunny, Cheeka, Azhar, Vengie, Shastri, Chandu Pandit, Raju Kulkarni (lol), Chetan Sharma, Roger Binny,  Madan Lal etc.

The ODIs were referred as Texaco trophy. The ODIs were played on Saturday and Monday. India won first ODI by 8 wickets and lost the 2nd one. Gavaskar hit the boundary and was out caught in the slips. 1-1.

Later on I followed every tour India made and every tour India had.

In 1986 after Australia toured India in came Lankans and they were thrashed 2-0 with India making its highest score of 7-676 (broken 18 yrs later in SCG) and Azhar out for 199.  Sri Lanka then had even more unpronounciable names than now. Laebroy, Ratnayke brothers, Mendis, Ranatunga, Roy Dias, Don Anurasiri etc etc.

1987 was a year when Sunil Gavaskar retired from Tests in Bangalore after an epic 96 vs Pakistan and later that year India almost won the world cup only to lose in the semis.

There were many tours that happened listing down below:

1987 : India vs Pakistan in India

World Cup in India

India vs West Indies in India

1988 : India vs New Zealand in India

1989 : India vs West Indies in West Indies. India lost horribly in ODIs and Tests

          India vs Pakistan in Pakistan

1990 : India vs New Zealand in New Zealand

          India vs England in England

          India vs Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka

And so forth....

The summer of 1986 was memorable for me as  I began the tryst with cricket which is still ongoing with same intensity as it was in 1986. 24 years of watching cricket and supporting India. 21 years of those one thing has been constant and unchanging -- Sachin Tendulkar.

Defeat : The never changing result for Butt's men

Its gloom and despair for stani fans. The team they support is just not able to win anything. Change of personnel, change of fast bowlers, change of venue. One result is common. Defeat.

The young players do not have any kind of patience and temparament to play as per situation and install some sense. All they do is slog and hit wildly. Result is they perish. And what comes is defeat.

They dont look good to go beyond the league stage of the world cup next year at this point of time.

Period.

Chuck the rotation policy

The ODI series between India and Australia ended in a farce with 2 games being washed out due to rains. That meant India won a ODI series against Australia in India after 1996.  14 years back India had beaten Australia 2 out of 3 times and 3rd one was a washout. South Africa had beaten Australia 3 times too. Titan cup.

The result of 1-0 means waste of 2 games to try out few names to close the problematic # 7 spot in the final XI for the world cup.

Questions need to be asked of the scheduling committee of BCCI who awarded the games to Kochi and Goa at this point of time when the monsoon retreats from India. The games were a waste of time and also money for the hopefuls who thought to watch the game in this 2 cities.

Goa and Kochi are unusual choice of venues for any form of cricket. For one they are not pure cricket stadias. At least that stands for Kochi. The usual Nehru stadium (pathetic to see every 2nd stadium being named on Nehru  Gandhi family when they did not have to do anything with the game of cricket) is a football stadia which converts to cricket stadium when the game is scheduled once in few years when the rotation policy shouts Kochi.

There have been voices raised on the validity of rotation policy this days when more often than not the venue results either in a wash out or a mockery of the game. Mohali Test was witnessed by few 1000s in 5 days and it has hosted 2 tests in 2 years.

Kolkata and Bangalore including Chennai have been awesome venues for Tests but they do not host the tests that often.

Kolkata hosted one test in 2007 and then in 2010. Before that the test was hosted in 2005 against Pakistan, 2002 against Windies and of course the epic of 2001.  5 tests in 10 years. Pity the best stadium of the country and the oldest one hosts just 5 in a decade.  Thanks to the political equations within the BCCI.

Mohali on the other hand hosted one in 2010, one in 2008, one in 2008 (two in 2008 thanks to Mumbai), 2005,  2001,2004 vs England. More than 6 tests to spectators apathy. Given the fact that Mohali is another one of the best venues in the country but the spectators lack apathy to it for Tests.

Wankhede stadium is one of the poor maintained venues with no regards for spectator comfort, yet it hosted almost regularly Test matches. Now its racing against time to schedule the World Cup games including final.  I have always thought Kolkata was a better choice than Mumbai to witness a World Cup final. Imagine the atmosphere if India wins the final. Mumbai would be no less but in terms of headcount Kolkata would be a demoralizer for the opposition. And if Sri Lanka is the opponent in the final, some sledging from the crowd would be good enough to drive Sangakara mad and gift the game to India.

Long story short: give up the rotation policy and have a select few venues host the Tests and ODIs.

Few options:

Tests : Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, Kanpur, Delhi

ODIs:  Mohali, Jaipur, Indore, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Dharmsala, Cuttack, Vizag, Nagpur

Leave out Rajkot, Vadodara, Gwalior, Kochi, Guwahati, Pune, Jamshedpur etc as this are not only the ones which win the rights due to political connections, but this are also poor in terms of facilities and comfort for spectators. Esp Pune.  For 12 months of the year the stadium witnesses the political rallies, local plays and other non cricketing events. MCA has been saying that they are building a new stadium in Mahalunge (for IPL 4) but that is 20 km outside city and given the state of public transport (lack of it and pathetic auto rickshaw system and no connectivity with the exteriors) there would be very few who would go all the way down to Mahalunge or the spot where the stadia is being built.

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Kohli at 7

No 7 slot is sealed.

No Jadeja, No Pathan, No Pathan, just Kohli.

A superb placed and timed 100. Sorry paced.

The line up:

Sehwag

Tendulkar

Gambhir

Yuvraj

Dhoni

Raina

Kohli

4 bowlers

Ojha

Harbhajan

Zaheer

Nehra or

Praveen

Super effort from Kohli. Something the likes of Vijay should learn. Seize the opportunity when it matters.  Playing great in T20s and CLT20s when they dont matter counts for nothing, playing well for country amidst limited opportunities matter and thats what Kohli has done today.

Awesome.

Vizag rants

With Dhawan gone first over its going to be one of Srikanth lads coming in for the opening slot. It could be Srikanth Kris himself or it could be Anni Srikanth. Dhawan was always a scapegoat and nothing more. Srikanth has had his agenda fulfilled. Soon the Mumbai-Delhi or Delhi-Delhi pair wont be opening for India in ODIs and Tests anymore. Its going to be Srikanth-Srikanth pair henceforth.

Srikanth son and Srikanth croonie.

India's ODI display is poor and pathetic. The bowling today at the end overs was simply club standard led by R Vinay Kumar who bowled full tosses in the slog overs. Where did the hunger for success and excellence go? Perhaps easy road to India team is one reason why this lads dont value their India cap any more. They are happy playing for Srinis, Mallayas, Zintas and all.

Vinay Kumar would be on his way out after this ODI and Munaf Patel might come in. A loser traded for loser. WHy is Sreesanth not in the ODI team? Has he played too much cricket? He just played solitary Test. Does Srikanth look at him as a mere Test bowler?

2010 is a poor year for India in ODIs. On one hand we have excellence of Tests and triumphs to boast of, on the other hand we have Jadejas, Vijays, Dhawans, Vinays and Rohit Sharmas to tolerate of in LoIs.

And if this are future of Indian cricket god save Indian cricket once the greats retire.

Though there are big names to come still in the batting, but the Australian bowling attack is rookie and inexperienced. And thats the difference. They have hunger to excel, our Vinays and all are duds. Rants on Srikanth but he hardly listens. On the name of rest and young, he is giving away India caps as if some Chennai restaurant sells off Vada Sambhar or a Delhi stall sells off Golgappe and chat.

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!!!!!!!!!!