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World Cup 2011 - India vs South Africa

2011-03-12T23:26:00.001+05:30

There is one simple thing that the entire team can do after this match.

It is not killing Dhoni for giving that last over to Nehra.

It is not killing Munaf for those 13 runs in the penultimate over.

It is not killing Yuvraj, Kohli, Yusuf Pathan for getting out cheap.

It is not killing the tailenders for getting out cheaper.

All of you mother******* should simply go and apologize to Sachin for undoing his work. For he is one who is a true champion among all you a***holes.

World Cup 2011 - India vs Netherlands

2011-03-10T00:25:00.000+05:30

India vs Netherlands

“Piyush Chawla needs some practice before he is a weak bowler.” These were the sentiments with which Dhoni had started this match or probably the world cup campaign itself. I agree fully. He is not a match fit bowler purely for the fact that he has never played an ODI match in India before the worldcup, and his last ODI matches were far off in 2008 and he was always cocky and less assuring at least than Ashwin. So, the question arises again why he was even selected in the first place. Dhoni is doing a good job not exposing Ashwin early, like he did for Praveen Kumar in the 2008. And since it was a match against Netherlands, it was okay to give another chance to him. And no doubt he failed. Will Dhoni keep persisting with him, is a question that will be answered only in the coming matches.

We bowled very well in this match, exactly like we should against an associate nation. Zaheer Khan bowled to his best. Nehra was a little rusty, only a little. Nothing more needs to be written against Piyush Chawla. Harbhajan, though he was extremely economical, did not take wickets. Yusuf Pathan and Yuvraj did a decent job as fifth bowlers. All in all, an okayish performance with the ball to restrict Netherlands to 189. The runs let off to Peter Borren and Bukhari were crimes, for which someone’s head is needed.

We did a good job with the batting. Sehwag and Sachin played their shots, always a treat. It was fun seeing Sehwag match Sachin shot by shot and showing intent to score big. They were out trying to hit the ball out of the park in fairly comfortable situations, and that’s all right. Yusuf Pathan was unable to carry on, and Gambhir showed his class scoring a quick 28. Yuvraj Singh thought it is a good opportunity to hide his inability to score freely behind the fact that runs were required. Very Smart. It might have won him the man of the match, but I tell you, this stuff is not going to last against the South Africans and against the Australians. He needs to get back to his hitting form soon, and considering that now he has spent more than 200 minutes and 140 balls, he should be match fit and everything else. He better put an improved performance or it is not going to be very good for the team. Yeah, we won this match, but not in the style we should have. Still there are a lot of positives to be taken from this match. The batting is in good shape, and the bowling is getting there. However, a real test beckons on Saturday against South Africa. The result of the Saturday’s match does not matter, but the attitude does.

World Cup 2011 - SA vs England

2011-03-07T23:37:00.002+05:30

SA vs England

A super match. England coming from a loss from a minnow Ireland, SA coming from two easy wins over two associate teams. Broad, Bresnan, Swann down in confidence, desperate to pull themselves up. DeVilliers, Amla, having performed very strongly in the first two matches, and Greame Smith having Imran Tahir up his sleeve that supposedly “completes” the team. Most people would have said this to be an easy match for SA.

Smith read the pitch correctly and showed some brilliance by throwing the new ball to Robin Petersen. He shocked everyone by snaring out the openers in the first over and soon England were 15/3, and the prospects of facing Steyn, Morkel, Imran Tahir were getting dangerous by the minute. Ravi Bopara and Trott got down and faced off the new ball, and then half the England innings in what could be the partnership of the World Cup. Some grit they’ve shown against the bowling super powers and put together 99 runs, which eventually became the difference. Once this partnership was done, Imran Tahir and Steyn stuck it into England to bowl them out of a paltry 171.

Smith must be as relaxed as Clive Lloyd was after the Indian innings in the 1983 final. No real issues for the first 14 odd overs. Then the wickets of Smith and Amla and Kallis’ occasional failure. DeVilliers was at the crease Faf Du Plessis and the SA team were waiting to open the champagne. However, the English started strangling them. 40 odd runs of the 12+ overs that these two were at the crease installed such fear in the South African camp that eventually led to their loss. (I was tempted to call it a downfall, but one match is too early to say that). By the time they lost four wickets for 3 runs in 5 overs, the Proteas were shit scared with the C-word written large all over their faces. Steyn threatened to wipe it off, but the momentum as with England who duly prevailed in the contest.

England will be mighty pleased and relieved with this effort and have probably will look to carry the momentum with them in the next games, while on the other hand, SA should actually be happy. They have choked in the league matches of the tournament and this is one “ritual” out of their way. Cheer up Smith. Bad news for India.

World Cup 2011 - India vs Ireland

2011-03-07T23:14:00.000+05:30

India vs Ireland

The leading newspaper’s headline said, “India packed a powerful punch to steamroll Ireland”. Yeah, right. The only powerful punches were that of Yusuf Pathan and Zaheer Khan. Except that, everybody scores less than 5 out of 10.

Winning the toss and opting to field. All good. Zaheer Khan bowls a super ball in the very first over to clean bowl one of the opening batsmen. Another wicket fell in Zaheer’s next over when Dhoni took a decent catch to his low right. After that the bowling was exposed. For 23.2 overs, none of the Irish batsmen gave India any control or any chance of a wicket. The supposedly good bowlers were milked around easily for singles and occasional boundary, and the runrate almost touched 5 at one stage. That included Harbhajan Singh. The fielding was as if a lower level Ranji match was on. There is absolutely no pardon to any of the bowlers who bowled during that stage. This raises a question mark on the exclusion on Ashwin. The only sense I could make out is that Munaf Patel and Piyush Chawla were given a chance to prove themselves after the England fiasco and they failed big time. I hope this mistake is not repeated for the Netherlands match and Ashwin gets to play. The Irish innings meandered to 207 after that when circumstances gave Yuvraj Singh some wickets, which supposedly made his best bowling figures. I am not sure why he was so upbeat and pumped up taking a wicket every time. I am sure Dhoni must be laughing in his head. All in all, the best performance with ball by far was that of Zaheer Khan. He was the only one who bowled at Ireland like a top notch bowler should have. Miserly, and bang on target, and absolutely no boundary balls.

But wait, the match wasn’t over yet. Indian batsmen were not to be left behind the bowlers. Sehwag fell to a careless shot. Sachin and Kohli never got going, only grinded out those runs at a batting strike rate of 65-70. Gambhir fell to a laughable delivery. Things were not looking much shiny when Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni were at the crease at 100/4. A couple of wickets and Ireland could well have dished out another surprise in two weeks. That is where they lacked – at incisive bowling. Yuvraj and Dhoni knew that Irish bowlers cannot get them out unless they make a mistake and with plenty of time on offer, played a sensible innings, only just. Yusuf Pathan was lovely. He came as all powerful and stayed all powerful until the end of the innings. Those two sixes and a four in the five balls he faced, after THE Sachin Tendulkar was out off the first ball, were a treat to watch. Normally, any Indian batsman would just knock the ball around in the over Sachin gets out. He would not. He played his game, and did just to the bowling and the crowd by rightly dispatching them out of the park. Thank you, Sir. Rest of you all, including you Yuvraj Singh, you better pick up your game before the SA match. And in your favour, you have Netherlands to play in between.

World Cup 2011 - India vs England - Damn

2011-02-28T22:18:00.000+05:30

World Cup 2011 - India vs England

Damn. Damn the ground for being so small. Damn you Sehwag for playing like a crazy fool all through, and that too immediately after such a mature and flamboyant hundred. Damn you Swann for taking the wicket for Gambhir. Damn you Breast-man for taking five wickets. Damn you Anderson for taking GOD’s wicket. Damn you Yardy for taking that catch. Damn the batting line up for losing their nerves after 300/3. Damn you Harbhajan for reviewing a plumb lbw. Damn you Munaf Patel for running a short run. Damn you Zaheer Khan for being so complacent in the initial overs. Damn you Munaf Patel for being even more complacent in the initial overs. Damn you again Dhoni for not hearing the nick of Strauss. Damn all those who supported Ian Bell’s review. Damn you Dhoni for not having any strategy. Damn you Dhoni for sticking with the half-witted slow bowlers who leaked runs all through the middle overs. Damn you Dhoni again for not hearing the nick of Strauss. Damn the entire closeup fielding company for not hearing the nicks of Strauss. Damn you third umpire for not giving Bell lbw. Damn you Strauss for batting so magnificently, for whom there is #RESPECT. Damn you Bell for coming back to bat after walking off for what everyone knows that was OUT. Damn you Pietersen for hitting so many runs. Damn you Piyush Chawla for that second last over. Damn you Tim Breast-man, damn you Ajmal Shahjad and damn you Graeme Swann for hitting those sixes. Damn all you commentators and everyone else who said that in the end Cricket is the winner. Damn all of you who say that it was a magnificent match. Damn all of you who say that England is as good as India. Damn the day 27^th February, 2011. Damn Damn Damn. Fucking Damn.

World Cup 2011 - India vs Bangladesh

2011-02-21T20:58:00.000+05:30

India vs Bangladesh

Sehwag had declared before the start of the series that he will try to bat 50 overs in a one day match form now onwards. That he will become more responsible and sensible while batting. Everyone had their doubts whether he will be able to do it, because this was so un-Sehwag. Everyone was thinking whether he can curb his instincts for that long, and most were of the opinion that if he does, it would be humongous. Indeed it was. The shots came in control, and a boundary at every ball came down to singles and twos, at a pace that worthy of a one-day innings in every sense. The boundaries duly came at bad balls and good balls alike, with the difference that the opposition had much much lesser chance to get him out. And God save you when he is batting like that. Sachin’s run out was all forgotten and pardoned, and runs came at a much healthy pace of six plus every over, gradually gaining momentum until the end. Kohli played a fantabulous knock to score another century (the only by an Indian on a World Cup debut), Gambhir’s help was appreciated. But through and through, the man of the day was Virender Sehwag. It was only second or third time when he had played more than 100 balls in an ODI innings, and he was duly exhausted by the end of it. So much that he did not turn up on the field during the day, duly satisfied and fulfilled by the innings he had played. The opposition teams have every reason to be worried this world cup and beyond.

The rest of the match looked like a mere formality. Bangladeshi batsmen did sparkle for some time, but a chase of 370 knocks the wind out of the greatest teams of the world. It was hardly ever going to be a close contest, and at the end India won it comfortably. Sreesanth will always get a mention in this match, but I think he was plain unlucky. He swung the ball too much, arguably nervous playing his first world cup match and I don’t think he should be criticized for his efforts. Most of the runs were attributed to the famous French Cut, and a couple of fielding errors. But I think Dhoni will always have to make a choice between Sreesanth and Nehra. Nehra is injury prone, but has more teeth in the attack. Sreesanth also can make the opposition cry on his day, but always always leaks runs. It will be very interesting in the coming matches, and I believe the result of the match might just depend on one of these bowlers if the batsmen are having an off day.

India vs SA 3rd ODI January 2011

2011-01-19T02:13:00.000+05:30

South Africa has done exactly the same thing with their batting as India did with theirs in the last match. However, the difference is, they are scoring at a better rate and all the Indian bowlers are not as incisive as the South Africans. Zaheer Khan put in the best effort of the series so far and swung the ball comprehensively. Amla flopped again after putting in two sensational years of test and ODIs, while his partner Smith played a grittier innings only to be out to Harbhajan. AB Devilliers, who scored a ballistic 121 against England here sometime ago, looked scratchy and was out to a beautiful catch by Zaheer Khan. Kohli took another beauty to take out the not-so-effective Ingram and had Yusuf Pathan not muffled up a run out chance, SA would have been half the side down with less than 100 runs on board and half the amount of overs still to play for. SA must have been missing Boucher at this stage as it was left to the last recognized pair of Duminy and Faf Du Plessis to be able to get them to a respectable score. They did well, infact phenomenal (to be realized later) and added 101 runs off just 20 odd overs and without losing any wickets, SA were looking set to give the score a big boost from the remaining overs, powerplay remaining. The powerplay bode bad news for them, as Du Plessis got cramps and was out in the first over, and Duminy in the next. Parnell ran himself out and SA almost imploded after that brilliant fifth wicket partnership. The Indian fast bowlers, for once, did a wonderful job of cleaning up the tail and not giving away too many runs in the last overs. SA finished for a seemingly lowly 220, the last six wickets falling for a mere 25 runs.

India must be pretty satisfied with that effort from the bowlers, and were looking at the batsmen to “drive home the advantage” when that man, who has troubled India all through the tour, pulled off a stunning catch to get rid of Murali Vijay. The Indians probably adopted the same strategy as the last match and were only 8/1 at the end of 4 overs without any boundaries. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli resisted for some time, played shots of the loose balls and took the score past 50, the scoring rate still less than 4 runs an over. Morkel came on and used his height to full effect to extract bounce from the surface. Soon he took both of them out and his figures read 4-0-4-2. That put the responsibility on the shoulders of Yuvraj and Dhoni and Smith had already introduced Botha with the pitch getting more and more difficult to bat on. Botha immediately got success and got rid of Dhoni, unlucky and lack of application on his part probably. Buoyed by his success, Smith introduced Duminy into the attack, and lo! He got Yuvraj lbw in the very first over. India were down to 97/5, required runrate ever climbing and with Yusuf Pathan and Raina in the crease, Smith brought back Steyn to try some bouncers. There was just one and didn’t have any effect on him. He literally threw caution to the wind, or probably did not understand the situation, or the pitch or the bowlers, or was just too good for the SA. He started with some streaky shots, and hit Botha disdainfully for 3 sixes in one over, spoiling his figures.

One-day international cricket is a beautiful beautiful game. After that whirlwind ten minutes, when Yusuf announced his arrival in SA, lot of sense prevailed and they calmly started stroking balls around to get singles, and very very occasional boundary, and started getting closer and closer to the target. Smith started losing his cool and tried everything to break the partnership. Morkel found success and induced Raina into playing a heroic (or chutiyaps) shot and got him caught behind. Yusuf played the senior partner to Harbhajan and SA got desperate for his wicket. Steyn got a ball to rise and an edge cum upper cut was superbly held some 10 feet off the ground by the tallest man and fast bowling partner Morne Morkel. SA were right back in the game with India 182/7 still needing 39 runs to win. Harbhajan and Zaheer poked and edged and chinese cut the ball and went past 200 which included a fantastic six from Harbhajan. Zaheer was out at 208 after playing one shot too many. Tension was ever mounting and Harbhajan was left with the chance of mentoring Ashish Nehra to guide India to win. Then came the somewhat impossible that sort of made a statement. Morne Morkel had been unplayable in the entire 9 overs he has bowled, more so the overs he has bowled to the entire Indian batting lineup over the entire series, having conceded just 20 runs in those 9 overs today, was breathing fire for the last time in the last over the powerplay. Harbhajan tried to hoick the first ball and missed. The second ball was the back of length ball and Harbhajan was waiting for it. He cleared his left leg and timed the ball so nicely that neither Morkel nor Smith or DeVilliers cried “Catch it!”. The ball soared up and above and landed in the stands and marked the Sardar stamp all over Morne Morkel. Still nervous, but buoyed by that six, Harbhajan and Nehra coolly guided India home taking singles. Phew. That was the match. One day cricket at its best. Dhoni, calm as ever, goes into the third match walking all over Smith’s ass.

India vs SA - 2nd ODI Jan 2011

2011-01-17T23:16:00.000+05:30

Both the teams would be baffled at the end of this match. No doubt it was a thrilling encounter, and an extraordinary comeback by the Indian bowlers, something so rare in world cricket. But the bottomline remains the same - batsmen from both the sides were baffled and shocked at the end of the match.

Indian batsmen are geniuses of batting, and I am not sarcastic when i say that. But they aren't as professional as SA bowlers are. Virat Kohli, Dhoni, even Yuvraj and Gambhir to some extent are gritty when they face adverse conditions, but not as professional and certainly not as trained on South African pitches. Murali Vijay hardly knows what professionalism is, as he simply neither has the technique nor the charisma to play bowlers like Steyn and Morkel in an ODI. Sachin was extremely unlucky, as he always has been, and perished to Botha of all people after seeing off the new ball. The strategy was to see off the new ball, without losing too many wickets. That is not supposed to come at a runrate of around 3 an over no matter what. The batsmen simply could not score against the fantastic and hostile South African pace attack. And that is why I have used the word baffled. In spite of the batting geniuses that they all are, they simply lost a higher quality of bowling, which was infact natural for the home team. The visitors’ cricket lost to the South African cricket. Their bowlers reigned supreme through most part of the test innings and through both the one-dayers so far. Yuvraj could be termed as unlucky here as he spent most part batting sensibly and at a just acceptable strike rate given the situations, and was out probably just because of a momentary loss of concentration. Dhoni had to give away his wicket trying to force the run rate up and the rest of the batsmen were simply too inept to bat.

Graeme Smith must have felt a part of what Clive Lloyd must have felt in the ’83 final (pardon my comparison). His batting team had little to overcome to chase down that target of 190. And now full credit goes to Dhoni for he kept attacking without putting too much pressure on his bowlers. The wickets kept coming at regular intervals, Amla as early as second over, and Ingram and DeVilliers by the end of the second powerplays. Now the wicket was anything but unplayable because Graeme Smith was easily getting the occasional boundary and the team run rate was a healthy 5 inspite of all the wickets falling at the other end. Duminy came and left quickly and then Munaf netted the big fish with a beautiful slower delivery. Ha. Gotcha South Africans. Pace Pace Pace. Day and night are you guys used to batting at balls doing 140s and 150s. Didn’t you know that there are slower balls in cricket too. India took full advantage of this fact throughout the test series and once again did the same in this match. Miller and Botha fell in succession and soon the target all so far away. The Indian team psyched out the rest of the batsmen, really funny the last two batsmen were out in one over and Dhoni’s boys captured the accolades of the night. The South African batsmen were baffled at the way Dhoni’s way came back on a batting pitch, with some clever bowling and defended the score of 190 by just one run.

While Dhoni and his boys will have a ton of psychological advantage going into the third match, something I am really happy about, SA will have to overcome their demons and face a team, who may not be champions when it comes to the pure sum total of their bowling strength, but definitely champions in heart and mind, and a champion captain to lead them through any situation.

India vs South Africa - 3rd test - 2011

2011-01-09T19:47:00.000+05:30

A perfect buildup to the third test of the series. The series 1-1, India well and truly back in the series with the thumping win in the second match, Zaheer, Sachin, Kallis, Steyn all in top form and going great guns, the moral No. 1 spot on the line and SA under pressure to win a test series at home against a team they've won every.

But it wasn't as easy as the past. Dhoni won the toss in eons and invited SA to bat. Zaheer Khan quickly got his bunny and India looked on chipping wickets from time to time. It took a brilliant 161 from Kallis with the support of some tail enders to post the score of 362 when it looked at one stage SA will fold for under 300. Sreesanth took 5 wickets in the innings and Smith must have seemed pretty confident after getting that total on a slow track, only to be informed of the injury to Kallis, which ruined things for him somewhat.

Steyn was on fire as usual and Sehwag and Dravid fell early. Sachin came on and played a huge huge partnership with Gambhir which would eventually define the Indian innings of the match. They kept out the good and the very good balls by Steyn and Morkel. Their strike rate of mid-40s is a grand testimony of the grit and determination went into those innings. After Gambhir's wicket, India had a bit of a collapse, and suddenly the score went from 204-2 to 247-6 when Harbhajan Singh came on and decided to have fun. He and Sachin took the score past 300 and with the help of Zaheer Khan, India were able to overtake the home team's score of 362 , but only just.

The second innings was where all the drama began. Smith started blasting the bowlers off the park and Zaheer was probably trying too hard (or too easy) to get him this time. Zaheer wasn't at his 100% and this would prove an important setback for India later in the innings. The rough in the pitch was declared evidently and everyone was looking forward to how India would use that. Harbhajan came out and took four quick wickets on day 3 and day 4 morning. His initial figures looked 4/10, and SA were likely staring at defeat against an upbeat India. But as Harbhajan pointed out later in the press conference, the fast bowlers were not upto the mark, all sorts of tiredness and everything, and SA recovered from 130/6 to post a total of 341 - that man Kallis again standing in the way of India. He batted brilliantly with Boucher, Steyn and Morkel through pain to post 40th century of his career and virtually saved the match single handedly. Not only he saved the match, SA were actually looking to bowl India out on the fifth day and win the series.

The second Indian innings was probably the most important innings Indian batsmen had to play throughout the series. Last day pitch and 340 runs to get. Sorry. Last day pitch and 10 wickets to save. Sehwag started with the motto of not playing the good balls, which was not to be, and he fell quickly to Morkel after scoring just 11 runs. Dravid joined Gambhir. Gambhir had been in a similar situation in New Zealand not very long ago and knew exactly what had to be done, albeit this time against a very different, untiring, and hostile attack. He got into his groove, put his head down and started defending and leaving. He was so concentrated in his batting (my man of the match) that he did not speak a word to Dravid for a very long duration during the partnership. He fended off 184 balls during the day, 60 more than anyone else did. After Dravid was out, he joined hands with Sachin and kept at it. Sachin and Laxman successfully fended off the rest of the attack and the match veered into a draw. No more was the Indian team a fourth innings loser. There would be some disappointment at not bowling SA out on the fourth day when they had a chance. A little more application from Zaheer, Sreesanth and Ishant could have spun the result India's way, and this will go down in history as probably the best chance India had to win a series in SA. But never mind, the team's coming good and looks to beat any team in their own backyard today. As for a certain Darren Gough, please wait for six months, you will see the result for yourself at the comfort of your home.

For the critics, who were of the opinion that India, being No. 1 should have gone all guns at the target on the last day, go take a walk.

India - South Africa - Test 2 Review

2010-12-30T22:29:00.001+05:30

Well played India. Very well played and gave a perfect answer to all their critics and South Africa who were thinking they will run over India in this series. The conditions were almost similar to the first test. Dhoni lost the toss and India were put in again on a seamer friendly track to face Steyn, Morkel & Co. The Indian top order batsmen did not do justice to their No. 1 test ranking and fell to some good deliveries playing loose shots. Steyn breathed fire the whole day, Morkel and other applied pressure from the other end, and the Indian team wasn’t looking so good at the end of the day with a score of 183/6. Smith must have been thinking repeat of the first test and he was would have slept peacefully in the night. However, this was to be the last peaceful night (of the series hopefully).

Indians were shot out the second day morning and the final score of 205 did not suggest much of a challenge to the South Africans. They begin their chase confidently scoring 23 runs off the first 5 overs when the returnee Zaheer Khan made his breakthrough by taking out his old foe and South African captain Graeme Smith. Petersen went far too across and exposed his stumps only to see the ball clip his leg stump. Kallis ran himself out backing up too far. DeVilliers thought he could repeat the stunt he pulled off in the last test and was out caught behind for a duck. At lunch time, they were 74/4 and all of a sudden things were not looking too bright for them. Their entire mental state changed in a matter for 16.4 overs and the Indian attack boosted by the return of Zaheer Khan was looking for the kill. It came with much ease in the second session of the day when the entire South African team was shot out for a paltry score of 131, conceding the lead of 74 precious runs and the Indian first innings score of 205 suddenly started looking much formidable.

The Indian top order except Sehwag did not contribute much in the second innings also. Sehwag started in cracking fashion and quickly raced to 32 off mere 31 balls when he was snared by TsoTsobe. Steyn and Morkel went to work and took out M Vijay, Dravid and Tendulkar cheaply. Laxman and Pujara played with much grit and ensured that SA do not get much on top by not giving away any more wickets. The day ended at 92/4, and both teams had equal chance to win the match. This was only the end of Day 2 of a boxing day test match and everyone was probably stunned that two and a half innings have finished so early in the match. Smith would have been hopeful not to repeat the batting failure in the second innings when they would set out to chase the target set by the Indian team. Had he looked at the stats, he must have forgotten that a certain very very special man, who had been tonking runs in the second innings was batting.

Pujara went early the next day. Dhoni decided to take on SA bowlers, and scored freely. He added a quick 50 runs along with Laxman when he was out chasing a wide one from TsoTsobe. Harbhajan followed soon after and the Indians looked like folding up for 170 odd. Zaheer Khan, however, had other plans. He along with Laxman had met earlier on the same score four years ago in SA and took the score across 200. Zaheer Khan and Laxman batted determinedly, blocking out the good balls and punishing the bad ones, having a bit of fun on the way. Everyone had been taking about a 250 lead. Once that score was reached, Zaheer Khan had immense fun hitting consecutive fours off Tsotsobe. He pissed off Dale Steyn and received a ball on his helmet, only to give it back later when it was the SouthAfrican turn to bat. He and Laxman boosted to score to 228 and that set a pretty stiff chase of 303 runs for the home team.

Smith and Petersen began attackingly and took Zaheer for quite a few runs in his opening spell. They were cruising along happily at more than 5 runs an over when Smith got adventurous and skied a top edge from Sreesanth to be snapped up by Dhoni. Strike 1. Petersen and Amla were quickly snapped by Harbhajan and Sreesanth in successive overs, and the score suddenly looked from 63/0 to 82/3 and their most dependable and consistent batsman Amla was back in the pavilion. It was left upto Kallis, DeVilliers and Prince to guide the team to safety, which looked a huge huge task in itself. The truth was, the batting had been demoralized by the first innings failure and they looked all at sea on the fourth day. Kallis was brought down by a brute of a delivery, the picture of which would be on the front page of every newspaper (*evil grin*). Zaheer Khan toyed around with Dale Steyn and had his revenge with a few bouncers followed by his wicket caught in the gully. The rest of the team did their regulation bit of 20-25 runs each and left the field without any real conviction, at the end of which Prince was the last man standing and Indian team had done a complete turnaround of this series.

At the presentation, Dhoni was brilliant. He was spot on in pointing out the team’s batting failure and he was pointing out at the top 4. They need to get their act right going into the third test and put up a much better performance than this test. They need to be true to their name and stature and hopefully put up a score of 550+ in their first batting innings no matter what/how South Africa do in their first innings.

India vs South Africa - 1st Test Review

2010-12-21T21:53:00.000+05:30

India did not lose to South Africa. India lost to weather and India lost to the toss. It was a very bad toss to lose. Give seaming conditions gift wrapped to Steyn and Morkel, and they will run through any damn side in the world. Bring out the sun on a hard, flat deck with the other team barely scoring 100, and any team will have their confidence sky high and will score 500+ in a test innings. There was nothing special in the victory in Supersport park and Dhoni & Co. should not be worried about it at all.

The first innings was a disaster for India, only because they lost the toss. A seaming ball on off stump and moving away by almost 6 inches got Sehwag early. Gambhir resisted a working over from Morkel, and perished soon to the setup, so did Dravid. Laxman fell to pace and Raina to foolishness. Sachin’s was a sparkling innings, unfortunately did not last long and lost his wicket to raw pace, and the rest completed the formality. A score of 136 was still 52 more than SA got against much lesser bowlers in a similar situation 4 years ago.

The sun came out the next day and compounded to Indian problems. Graeme Smith and Alviro Petersen played without any issues and the first wicket came down by only 26^th over. All the seamers were pretty ineffective with sun outside and a small innings score inside. No Zaheer Khan was present to boost the Indian attack, something Dhoni expected Sreesanth or Ishant to do. Unadkat was nervous and was bowling wide of off stump one too many times easily to be milked by the South Africans. And when the openers were gone, Indians woes were compounded when they faced Kallis and Amla. There is nothing to be told what went on for the rest of the day. After Amla got out, DeVilliers came out with an intent to score as fast as possible which he did effectively against a depleted and demoralized attack and when SA declared, India were staring at a huge lead of 484.

And then the test match started. Sehwag and Gambhir, their back against the walls, came out and played like they play. Sehwag was going along nicely when he threw away his wicket to Paul Harris of all people, slicing a ball down Graeme Smith’s throat. Gambhir was very very unlucky as the ball remained low and was given out lbw. Ishant Sharma played the role of nightwatchman to perfection and stood with Dravid for 16 overs before he was the first wicket to go down in the morning. Even then a draw looked very much possible with rain on the cards every now and then. And that is where India threw it away. Five and a half sessions were to be played. Four could have been distributed between the three biggies and the rest could have been taken care by the Dhoni, Raina, Harbhajan and Co. Yes, I know it looks good only on paper, but it is as good a plan as any, and No I do not blame Dhoni or anyone else in the team for failing to implement it. But they could have avoided getting out to cheap balls. Laxman’s wicket showed how poorly he negotiated the seamers, and Raina was taken out again by the SA machinery before he could do anything.

The post lunch session arrived and the new ball was taken. Dhoni and Tendulkar did not back down and blocked everything. They played extremely positive cricket in one of the best sessions of the match, and scored at a brilliant pace. In fact, it was Dhoni who took the lead and tonked the ball around. Sachin was calm in his approach, and steadily kept milking runs off the Proteas. The 50^th ton was special and many congratulations to Sir Sachin for achieving that. I would have loved to see the hundred scored by Dhoni also as that carried more weight in the situation. He got out to a brute of a delivery by Steyn and Harbhajan could not take the pressure.

I salute Sachin and Dhoni for the bold step they took on the fifth morning. There was no point shielding Sreesanth and Unadkat from the pace battery. They would have lost the match anyways, and making SA bat for the second time for 20-25 runs would have solved no purpose. They had shown enough heart and application on the fourth day of the match and now it was time to show even more. If they were shielded that morning, they would forever be forsaken and written off by everyone including the team itself. Instead, by exposing them, Sachin and Dhoni told them, they can bat against anyone and can save a test match. The result did not matter then. It was very important for them to play like any normal day, and be able to believe that they are no less a batsman that anyone else. It will do a world of good to the team in the coming matches. Smith was farcical when said that Sachin made his day easy. He knew very well what he was trying to do and the only way to negate that was a volley of words, trying to bring down someone like Sachin. Mr. Smith, better men and countries have tried that and everyone knows what happened to them. Good Luck.

Formula 1 Calendar 2011

2010-09-28T21:58:00.000+05:30

FORMULA ONE

13-Mar Bahrain
27-Mar Australia
10-Apr Malaysia
17-Apr China
08-May Turkey
22-May Spain
29-May Monaco
12-Jun Canada
26-Jun Europe
10-Jul Great Britain
24-Jul Germany
31-Jul Hungary
28-Aug Belgium
11-Sep Italy
25-Sep Singapore
09-Oct Japan
16-Oct Korea
30-Oct India*
13-Nov Abu Dhabi
27-Nov Brazil

The Indian race is subject to track being ready. The year promises to be a tough and a long one. Given the fact that there are at least 5 drivers in race for the title this year, next year the races will be quite as exciting.

Singapore F1 2010

2010-09-26T22:43:00.000+05:30

The start was rather dull. Rain was a threat earlier in the day and a couple of corners were supposed to be wet, which would not just make overtaking difficult but would also punish the erring drivers severely. But that was not important. It was the fifth last race of the season when as many as five drivers could become world champion this year. Drivers had already issued warnings that a DNF or accident could be bye bye championship for some and hence finishing the race, and finishing in points was extremely important.

Hence, the start was dull. Everyone was driving carefully to avoid any untoward incidents. Massa started from the back of the grid and Jamie Alguersuari started from the pit lane. The first few laps uneventful with the only exception that Massa pitted immediately after first lap for the harder tires for the rest of the race. Alonso and Vettel soon looked running away from even Hamilton who generally does not allow that, no matter what the situation is. Nick Heidfeld's pit stop was messed up for some reason, and then Liuzzi lost suspension and was stalled in the tracks which brought out the Safety Car.

Everyone from positions 15-last and Mark Webber came in for a new set of tires to negate the pit stop time. Mark Webber came in to take advantage on the front runners when they would pit and came out at 9th place. He quickly overcame a couple of cars and was lapping 7-8 seconds behind Alonso. But the front runners pulled away and at the end of 25 laps, Webber was almost 35 seconds behind Alonso and Vettel, and 20 seconds from Hamilton. Then Hamilton pitted and came out behind Webber, something he probably wasn't ready for. The leaders also pitted and came out in their respective positions and the racing was on again in full swing.

Then Senna had an accident and Kobayashi banged into his stationary car on the turn which brought out the safety car. The equations were balanced and the leads were negated. Everyone grew a little impatient for the time safety car was on and as soon as the safety car went in, Alonso and Vettel sped away soon. Hamilton wasn't too happy at being overtaken during his pit stop was determined to go past Webber at any cost. Webber caught a backmarker at turn 7, and Hamilton went past him, but at the very last moment, the rear left tyre (Hamilton later called it his "blind spot") caught Webber's front right tyre and damaged the suspension, which ultimately led to his retirement few seconds later. He threw out his steering wheel in fury and that was it. Surprisingly, Webber did not damage anything on his car and continued racing which probably irked him even more, but there was nothing he could do about it. The stewards later called it a race accident and chose to do nothing about it.

Later, Heidfeld and Schumacher touched wheels and Heidfeld retired. Schumi went into the pits and changed his nose, which left him at the back of the field. Kubica pitted from P6 for a new tires and came out in P10, but he stormed passed Massa, Hulkenberg, and Sutil to regain his P6.

Alonso developed a minor gearbox issue , but he had sufficient power and wits to see off a late challenge from Vettel, to clinch a superbly executed victory this time in Singapore. No controversies were to accompany him to podium. Vettel was later heard saying on the radio, "We'll get them next time".

The championship standings after the race read like this.

1. Mark Webber                       202
2. Fernando Alonso                  191
3. Lewis Hamilton                    182
4. Sebastian Vettel                   181
5. Jenson Button                       177

That tells just one thing. The next four races are going to be just as exciting.

Consistently Losing

2010-08-23T20:32:00.000+05:30

A loss by 200 runs, when the opposition scored 288 on a bowler friendly pitch, then a win over their favorite neighbors of past 3 years (and 42 games), the no-ball controversy seemingly having a pissed off effect on Sehwag, and then the big big loss after being shot out for a paltry 103. No wonder if the Indian team beats the Kiwis in the next match and make it to the finals.

The little tournament is gathering more heat than it is generating. I am waiting for Ponting to come back and get a whipping.

Hungarian Grand Prix 2010

2010-08-02T21:04:00.001+05:30

And it happened again to Vettel. Aced the qualifying when everyone else was far behind, perfect start to the race and messed up in somewhere in between to give up the win to lesser drivers (at least in this race). Webber and Alonso started 2nd and 3rd behind Vettel this Sunday. Alonso quickly capitalized on Webber's slow start and was behind Vettel at the very first corner and was challenging him as well, but the German pulled away. He infact pulled away so good that the gap was almost 7-8 seconds at one stage, unitl lap 20, when a pit lane accident changed all that.

Kubica was released in Sutil's path in the pit lane and both drivers collided. Nico lost a wheel in the pitlane and was grounded as well. Safety car was out and Vettel came into pits after missing the entry lane from over the sidewalk. He came out of the pits in 2nd place behind the safety car, Webber was first and Alonso third. After the safety car went in, Vettel slowed down the entire field in order to give Webber a clean run to pit and come out ahead of Alonso, where he made the fatal mistake of slowing down too much and attracted a penalty by the stewards. Webber took the lead and went in and out of the pits ahead of Alonso, but Vettel could not retain the position after a drive-thru penalty, and was only third at the end. A sorry face on the podium said it all.

Schumacher performed some old trick of his own, this time on his long time partner Rubens almost banging him into the wall when the latter tried to overtake him. Rubens described the incident as terrible, the stewards agreed and handed a ten-place grid penalty for the 7 time former champion. The media and us bloggers get something to write about.

Hamilton stopped in between owing to a mechanical failure which might hurt his championship chances as other caught up with him. Here are the final standings after the race.

1. Mark Webber. 161

2. Lewis Hamilton 157

3. Sebastian Vettel 151

4. Jenson Button 147

5. Fernando Alonso 141

6. Felipe Massa 97

7. Nico Rosberg 94

8. Robert Kubica 89

British Grand Prix

2010-07-11T19:06:00.000+05:30

One of the most dramatic starts to an F1 race. VET, 2009 race champion, current pole holder by a decent margin over his teammate, having his teammate by his side, should have been extremely confident before the start of the race and looks like he lost some of it as he sat in the driver seat. Webber attacked him right from the moment the lights went off, and had the lead going into turn 1 and it was all downfall for Vettel. He made contact, ran wide, punctured one of his tyres, and was in the pit at the end of Lap 1, behind Felipe Massa, and then started the race from position 24. Hamilton as usual attacked Webber right away, but couldn't get away with it, and started following him. Schumacher, Button, Barrichello all cashed in and consolidated their positions into the top ten before 5 laps were over.

Webber and Hamilton pulled away soon from the 3,4,5,6,7....... positioned cars. After the first set of pit stops, one of the funny moments (ironic for Vettel) of the race was produced. Vettel, Webber and Hamilton were racing within 2-3 seconds of each other, and Webber and Hamilton were to lap Vettel. But thankfully, Webber and Hamilton had yet to pit and that gave some breathing space to Vettel.

The race went mundane for some laps as the leaders increased the gap and the middle runners kept fighting, but a small contact between Pedro De La Rosa and Tonio Luizzi changed all that. Luizzi touched the bum of the BMW, and debris was scattered on the track, Safety Car came out and all leads gone for a toss. Poor Alonso had to take a further drive-thru penalty after safety car went in, which dropped him to 16th place behind Vettel and Massa.

The safety car was like a shot in the arm for Vettel. The situation was that the fastest car by a mile, was within one second of so many cars running 10-15th positions, and it was only a matter of time before Vettel would overtake them. He quickly went past Massa, and soon worked his way up to 9th behind Michael Schumacher. Some brilliant driving, good straight line speed, and an inside line saw him go past the champion of yesteryears, and MSC probably would have given him a thumbs up from inside his cockpit.

What followed were some of the fantastic racing moments. Vettel was quickly behind Sutil and pushing him very hard for track position who did not yield until the final lap. In the meantime MSC and Nico Hulkenberg closed in and at one time, the four cars were running a fantastic race.

The leaders were pretty far off to be caught, and finished the race with their positions intact. Webber took the chequered flag, and Hamilton should be content with the second position. Nico Rosberg took a well driven third place and Vettel finished 7th following his great run.

A special mention for the Force India team. A job very well executed. Ever improving their cars, which is now being reflected in the team results as well. Fending off attacks from the Ferraris, the Red Bulls, the Vettels, the Alonsos, the Schumachers. Congratulations guys. Hope to see you on the podium soon.

Murali to retire

2010-07-06T19:33:00.000+05:30

Muralidharan is all set to retire from the test cricket immediately after the first test against India starting July 18. He will choose to play in some ODI events involving Sri Lanka and will be available for the 2011 WorldCup.

Asia Cup - Formal Post

2010-06-27T17:29:00.000+05:30

So India has won the Asia Cup for the first time by smoking Sri lanka in the finals. The match of the tournament was when India beat Pakistan and Harbhajan beat Akhtar and Aamir and then let out the war cry. Well thats it. The whole world is looking at the FIFA world Cup and so will I. will get back to cricket with the Sri Lanka test series (again!!).

concentrating on the F1 now at Valencia.

Turkish Grand Prix

2010-06-03T18:46:00.000+05:30

Differences in the quality in sport.

If there is one event you need to see to justify the above statement it was the Turkish Grand Prix. The Red Bulls were threatening everyone to runaway with the title all along in the qualifying with the McLarens only trying to give 'em some competition, the starting grid was the proof. Although, Hamilton was second on the grid, it looked only a matter of time before Vettel would overtake him. The Ferraris were behind, so was Schumacher, and then the others.

Vettel needed only two corners to go past Hamilton, but some excellent driving by the latter saw him regain his position and was quickly challenging Webber. Schumacher started strongly, and overtook Button, but it was again only a matter of time before the superior car came back and it was bye bye, astonishingly till the end of the race.

Buemi had a puncture, but that hardly mattered to the front runners McLarens and RedBulls who very quickly opened up the gap against the rest of the pack, which was as much as 16 seconds within 10 odd laps. Cars pitted and came out and pitted and putted, but none was to bother the fab four. Hamilton was not much helped by the team pit stop strategy and he lost his second position to the fantastic Vettel, and the leader board now read RedBull, RedBull, McLaren, McLaren, 20 seconds, rest.

Then was the time, Vettel thought I should be the world champion, and did smooth manoeuvrings in a bid to go past Webber, which he deserved being the better driver and all, unfortunately to bang into the team mate and spinning out. Lucky for Webber, he only had a nose damage and was soon racing albeit behind a dancing Hamilton and a joyous Button. Hamilton grabbed the change by both hands (he was reported singing in the cockpit) and drove the car home, ahead of Button to make it a McLaren 1-2.

Schumacher and Rosberg got to 4th and 5th, and rest came back home.

Wonder what Vettel would have said to Webber after the race.

Australian Grand Prix

2010-03-29T21:07:00.000+05:30

Great race. One of the treats to watch right in the beginning of the season. Vettel was at the pole, trying to put off the failure of Baharin behind him, Ferraris at 3rd and 5th, Schumacher at 7th and Hamilton a distant 11th. Webber and Button did look threatening, but Vettel must have been supremely confident of his position and talent.

As the lights went off, the drama started immediately. There was contact at the very first corner, and as many as four cars went off the race. Schumacher and Alonso went back to the pits and started from all the way back. Massa sprinted to 2nd position from 5th in a great drive. The good news was the rain was only for the first 10 minutes and the forecast was promising.

The first pit stops were soon over, and Alonso seemed like a man on the mission. Every other car in front of him got bigger and bigger and was quickly behind the red car. As opposite, Schumacher still seemed like coming to terms with an F1 race, and was keen on finishing the race rather than finishing in a good points position. But we all know what a great sportsman and champion he has been, probably just sizing up the competition for the initial races, and then.....

In the meanwhile, Alonso made rapid progress and soon the race was all about the middle positions, with Vettel pulling away into a lead, and Kubica benefited from the pit stops and some good driving, was in 2nd. The competition was hotting up between Massa, Alonso, Webber, Hamilton, and Rosberg. for 4th to 8th positions, fighting with each other in a space of 2 seconds, in what became a treat to watch. The Ferraris were surprisingly overtaken and did not look like the tires were having a grip, nor would they last for the entire race. Hamilton pitted, came back with new set of tires, and now what he considers them not good enough for the race, and started charging the Ferraris. The team told him it would be a cakewalk to overtake them, and expected them to pit for the change of tires, which was not to be the case. Vettel spun out and raised the stakes for overtaking even more. Massa, being ahead started pulling away with whatever tires he had left, and Alonso took the job of defending off Hamilton. The Ferraris did not pit and finished the race taking advantage of the position they were in and finished 3rd and 4th, Button took advantage of Vettel spinning out and enjoyed the sight of John Travolta waving the chequered flag waving for him, as if he had done all the hard work. Kubica, congratulations mate, some great strategy, and wonderful driving put him in 2nd place for this race from 9th place in the starting grid, and ferraris scoring points as well.

Hamilton, is going to cry foul, for this race as well as the Friday's event in Melbourne, while the fact is Ferrari can claim to have started the year very well, and both their drivers claiming the top two positions in the driver's championship for now. Lets hope Michael Schumacher comes back well.

Indian T20 World Cup team

2010-03-26T17:35:00.000+05:30

MS Dhoni (capt & wk)

Virender Sehwag

Gautam Gambhir

Yuvraj Singh

Suresh Raina

Yusuf Pathan

Dinesh Karthik

Ravindra Jadeja

Zaheer Khan

Praveen Kumar

Ashish Nehra

Harbhajan Singh

Piyush Chawla

Vinay Kumar

Rohit Sharma

Once again the selectors show off their power. Someone please provide a reason for not including Irfan Pathan, Shikhar Dhawan, and Saurabh Trivedi.

Ravindra Jadeja

2010-03-09T00:36:00.003+05:30

Another kid getting to know the system in India. And the fact that BCCI is run by politicians/whatever you may choose to call them. How could you bypass the biggies and try to negotiate the terms on your own. How could you even think of not paying any royalty to the king and continue to dwell in the kingdom.

Know what a lala ki dukaan is. this lala started a new business, some folks call it IPL (indian paisa league). and the business went successful. now the lala will only do business with the folks having a billion dollars of networth, which will not be used to pay the cricketers, not for the welfare of sports in the country, not for any other thing, but for amassing the wealth of the lala. If you want a good player, then again you probably have to pay more than what the player will get to the lala, and you can't tell anyone about it. While the world cup only a year away, the country's capital has no ground worthy of playing cricket, many other grounds are crying for upgrades, which will eventually be done by the chutta paisa of the lala's bhanjas and bhatijas, (read state cricket boards), and we will probably get to see fences of baans and lakdis during the world cup.

Someone needs to wake up.

The F1 Safety Car in 2010

2010-03-05T17:46:00.002+05:30

photo via gpupdate

March 2010

2010-02-28T10:28:00.003+05:30

The month of march 2010, is a little more significant the the previous two for the both Cricket and F1. The F1 season kicks off on March 12th at Baharin, with the return of the champion Schumacher married to Ross Brawn, a superlative four way competition with Button, Massa, Lewis, Alonso beckons. Adding to the fun are the debuts of Ayrton Senna's newphew Bruno Senna and an equally exciting Lucas Di Grassi. Can't wait for the first set of lights to go out.

For cricket, the "famous" IPL is starting up. With lots of security controversies, new players joining in, huge ticket prices, no team an underdog, except the one with fake ipl players, hoping that McGrath gets to bowl, and so does Jadeja. Lets hope that this one does not bore people at the end like the ones before it.

The 200 man

2010-02-26T11:02:00.002+05:30

the list of adjectives is running short. pretty soon the words "Sachin Tendulkar" itself will become adjectives, if they haven't been already. the patience, the determination, the unbelievable level of energy, the agelessness of the man, the charm and the sweetness, if ever there were the list of perfect human beings ever lived were to be compiled, this man will always be in the top 5.

Salutations, and Congratulations. may you live forever, and may you keep scoring those runs and hundreds in the way only you can.