Slipstream Cricket

When a Hero Falls

2012-02-10T00:21:00.000+05:30

"You either die a hero or live long enough to become a villain" - Harvey Dent, The Dark Knight (2008)

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar was my hero since the time I remember watching cricket. My cricket watching career neatly coincides with his international career. Incidentally he has never been my very favourite Indian cricketer in team (That honour has been taken by Mohammed Azharuddin & Rahul Dravid) but he has been the hero of the team. I have religiously followed his achievements, remember his exploits all through the 1990s when he single-handedly carried the team with him. And it was a joy to watch him finish a World Cup winner in 2011. (Refer some old posts here, here and here)

Since that high, for some arbit reason Sachin Tendulkar seems to have lost respect. I am not sure why. I can give some instances .

Maybe it was him skipping the West Indies Tests or
maybe his stubbornness (as I perceived it) to bat at No. 4 in England Tests despite the rest of the batting order being thrown into chaos with injuries or
his Refusal to play in the T20 against England
or the media hype on the meaningless 100th 100 (certainly shouldn't blame him for the media hype)
or picking and choosing tours without rhyme or reason (why is he in the current ODI squad?)
Or maybe its just that the 8-nil blanking in England & Australia have numbed my senses and I want to have someone to blame it upon.

There used to be a time when people used to switch off the TV when SRT got out. Last Sunday when I saw Tendulkar come to open the innings, I switched off the TV. In fact, I am really beginning to enjoy not seeing him get to reach the 100th international 100 (Mind you, even 99 is a phenomenal number).

Seeing a hero fall in your eyes is never a good thing. Probably the only thing that might redeem Sachin is if he quits on his own terms. But letting go has never been easy for any sportsperson, has it.

Positives from Another 4-nil

2012-01-29T13:46:00.002+05:30

I would describe myself as a firm believer in my Indian cricket team. But this Australian tour coming on the back of the hammering received in England has shaken up the Indian cricket supporter in me as well. As the tour went by I had absolutely no enthusiasm in switching on the TV to watch the match. Similarly often forgot about checking the net for the scores while at work. Tried to avoid opening cricinfo on coming back from work. None of the players may have retired so far but after this Australian tour I am certainly thinking of taking retirement from from active cricket following. But within hours of the end in Adelaide came the Pakistani victory in UAE and the enthusiasm got a bit restored.

Everyone I read is going hammer and tongs at the team. Calling for drastic action, yet no one knowing what the action should be. Calls have been made for the seniors to be dropped (me also did the same), some have asked for a ban on IPL (too drastic, too much money), restructuring of the Ranji Trophy (my suggestion 3 levels of 9 teams each, no Duleep trophy or Deodhar Trophy), firing Duncan Fletcher (probably the easiest job and most likely to happen), overhaul of BCCI (how?).

Oh I digress...

This post was meant to be finding positives from this disaster. And surprisingly I could think of a few. And they are

The fast bowlers (Zaheer, Ishant, Umesh) stayed fit throughout the 4 tests. And they did have loads of bowling to do in the series. At least someone looks to be doing the job properly.
We have bowlers who can bowl above 150 Kmph. Ishant & Umesh both crossed the barrier.
Virat Kohli shows that he has the fight in him. The century in Adelaide should do him some good.
Zaheer out-sledged Haddin.
Shaun Marsh may have been reduced to playing in IPL only or he like a phoenix he may rise from these Ashes and score 30 Test centuries for Australia.
Ricky Ponting has become more vulnerable and somehow more likeable.
Sachin Tendulkar not getting the 100th 100. I might be the only Indian supporter who was happy that SRT did not reach the so called landmark Too much useless hype on a meaningless stat.
And...Rahul Dravid gave a good speech to start the tour. CertainlyTHE highlight for India.

Well thats it, no more positives from the series.

P.S. Dear Indian team, please always remember, the Indian fan will always support you. Thanks for all the good memories.

A Year is a Long Time

2012-01-20T17:08:00.001+05:30

An year is a long time.

Things change... a lot

Just look at the cricketing world.

A year ago early 2011... India were the Test No. 1. A No. 1 ranking which looked more and more deserved after having survived a thorough examination in South Africa. England were on the ascendancy handing out innings defeat after innings defeat to the once mighty Aussies who seemed in terminal decline. Pakistan were moving from one crisis to another. Zimbabawe were not playing Test cricket. The Kiwis were getting beaten by Bangladesh.

A year later, India are getting hammered by the Aussies (who had to suffer a 47 all out and a home defeat to the Kiwis). England blanked out India to reach the Test ranking pinnacle. Yet managed to lose at the first available instance to an increasingly stable, controversy-free (!!!) Pakistan. South Africa have forgotten how to string together 2 test victories in a series. Kiwis beat Oz in a Test. Zimbabwe are playing Tests. India played a Test without any spinners.

David Warner is now the first choice Test opener for Australia (!!!). South Africa now use Dale Steyn as a support act rather than the main one.

The time they certainly are a changin'

The Jinx & The Request

2012-01-13T15:08:00.000+05:30

Writing a 2-in-1 blog, i.e. 2 remotely related posts in 1 post :)

The Jinx

This is every sports fans boo-boo. When a game of their favorite team/player is on, the true sports fan will try to avoid doing anything which might get the stars misaligned and the team's performance gets affected. It might be wearing the "lucky" shirt, ordering the same food, not shifting from your seat during an important passage of play. I remember, while watching in hostel common rooms, we used to immediately throw out anyone whose entry resulted in a fall of Indian wicket. These days, there is a new dimension added to the jinx. Facebook and twitter networks fall relatively quiet when some milestone is approaching. People try not to post anything related to the approaching milestone.

Today I tried to test this theory. 2 wickets down in Perth on 1st morning. Sachin Tendulkar batting. And not a single post about the 100th 100. So I posted the following message -"Sachin batting and no one talking about his 100th 100. Weird." This was with Gambhir on strike. Lo and behold, within 3 minutes of posting, of the first ball he faced, Sachin Tendulkar was out lbw to Ryan Harris. If this was not a jinx then I dont know what is. :D

The Request

Dear ICC

It seems (though there is no proof except faith) that the milestone of 100 international centuries is weighing down Sachin Tendulkar. He doesn't look out of form. He just gets out in the vicinity of the 100 (it could be 100 runs away also). The only solution would be to find some match in which Sachin has got a hundred and declare it as an international match. Thus adding to the tally of Sachin's hundreds. I have a couple of suggestions on the subject.

Mumbai vs Australia - in 1998, SRT got his 1st double century.

Diana Memorial match, at Lords, in 1998 when Sachin scored 125.

I'd recommend that 2nd game, which would also give SRT an international 100 in Lords.

Yours sincerely

An Indian cricket fan

Its time for a change

2012-01-08T20:30:00.001+05:30

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman

3 Absolute Legends of the game

Forming the most formidable batting trio in the history of Test cricket, Statistically.

Some 35 thousand odd runs, nearly 450 tests, over 100 Test centuries between them. There is no doubting these numbers. These have been built over years, across all sorts of conditions and match circumstances. Together or as individuals they have given us some of our most cherished victories in the past decade and a half. The current Australia tour was to be the Final Frontier for them. But like Steve Waugh's India dream, this also remains unfulfilled.

Since the World Cup win India's test performances have moved from one disaster to another. The batting has been a total disaster. 17 innings without a score above 300. Whatever be the conditions certainly does not bode well for a team which went to No. 1 Test ranking based on its batting might. And the results have shown. 1-nil victory in 3 Tests against West Indies, 4-nil hammering in England (all matches lost by huge margins) and now seemingly halfway to another 4-nil hammering in Australia.

Last 4 overseas Tests have resulted in 3 innings defeats. If nothing else this statistic alone calls for a large scale change in the personnel. And provides a golden opportunity to build the team for the future and the present as well.

The time is apt now for Indian cricket and its fans to thank Dravid, Tendulkar & Laxman for the services they had rendered and bid them farewell. The newcomers would have a nice opportunity to begin afresh without any baggage. With no further overseas tour planned for some time, it also would allow the batting lineup to settle down. And frankly speaking the newcomers cant do much worse than this. Rahane, Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Kohli, Manish Pandey and even Badrinath, Raina and Yuvraj are all waiting in the wings.

The golden oldies can take a leaf out of Sourav Ganguly's book and retire on their own accord rather than being dropped. And if they don't the selectors should not wait any more. The time is set to move on. The selectors have shown in the past that they can take some big decisions, e.g. bringing in Murali Vijay (who initially did quite a good job) as replacement for Gambhir rather than going back to Jaffer or Akash Chopra. Or when Pujara was brought in ahead of Yuvraj.

Certainly this is not going to be an easy task. To give an idea of how hard the task is going to be I can give this illustration

After the first innings in Sydney I had put this idea on Facebook. Immediately a few outraged comments arrived. "Sachin ko rehne do yaar"... "I dont see next generation performing either"... "Sachin & next gen will retire at the same time" were some of the comments which were made to this post.

The idea might seem outrageous. After all, Dravid was the highest run-getter in 2011, VVS won so many matches through his 4th innings specials and Sachin is "God". But the results of last one year show only one way forward. Tough decisions are required. The selectors may face lots of flak if they do take the decision to drop the trio but it would certainly be good for the team.

And can the replacements perform? Well I don't know but Harbhajan Singh, the highest active wicket-taker in test cricket has been replaced very easily by Ashwin. So we won't find out till we try them out.

Team India, this is the time to move on.

P.S. The current England team took the major step towards becoming the top ranked Test team when they blooded in Trott ahead of growing calls to recall Ramprakash or Trescothick for the Ashes decider in 2009. Certainly some valuable lessons are in there.

Ten From 2011

2011-12-25T15:51:00.000+05:30

Another year goes by. And leaves behind some memories. Here are the 10 cricketing "events" to remember 2011 by.

1. India win the World Cup

A long 28 year wait for cricketing glory ended and a nation celebrated when MS Dhoni hit the World Cup winning shot. Just curious - Where is that ball now?

2. The Wall Rises Again

As comebacks come nothing can beat the year Rahul Dravid had. Had to announce his retirement from limited overs international cricket because the selectors had panicked and picked him up. And as if there weren't enough cliched headlines about the Wall, he gave an altogether new dimesion - Creaking Terminators

3. The Quest of the Year - Like Godot we waited for HIS 100th 100.

Would it come at his favorite ground Chepauk? No. Against his favorite opponent Aussies? No. Arch-rivals Pakistan? No. World Cup final at home? No. Lords - the home of cricket? No. Trent Bridge? Headingley? Oval? No. Home tests - Kotla? No. Eden Gardens? No. Has to be Wankhede. Almost there. No, out for 94...

The Indian fan awaits... It has to come at the MCG in the Boxing Day test (:D)

4. KO'd by Kevin

The Irish beat the collection of nationalities playing for England. The chief architect of the victory Kevin O'Brien certainly got a story to tell, which he did as well with his book "Six after Six".

5. 47 all out - Madness at Newlands

How do you describe a situation in which Australia are at 9 down for 21 and still rated as the favorites to win the match? Quite a few unwanted records (from the batting perspective) were shattered while more were seriously threatened as a crazy match ended with Smith & Amla calmly guiding the hosts to victory. (Special mention for the spectacular implosion by the Lankans against England)

6. Zimbabwe re-enter Test fold and actually play Test cricket
Zimbabwe played a series of one-off Tests to mark their return to the Test arena. Beat Bangladesh, a losing fight with Pakistan and finally a close finish in a loss to the Kiwis, Zimbabwe certainly showed lots of spark and fight.

7. A run of close tests to end the year
Zimbabwe vs New Zealand, Australia vs South Africa, Australia vs New Zealand were all pretty tight. But none came as close as the seemingly dead India vs West Indies test at Wankhede. A final day which began with a draw as the only likely result ended in a photofinish. Just when you were about to say all 4 results were possible, the teams managed the 5th one - "We flippin' murdered 'em.

8. Spot-fixing verdict - Arrested for literally crossing the line

If you play with the feelings of the games lovers, you end up losing your freedom. Period.

9. The Speakers

Sangakkara spoke. Dravid spoke. But the speech of the year was made by Virender Sehwag. At the post-match presentation after the World Cup opening game against Bangladesh. "This was a revenge match. Bangladesh can't play test cricket. Everyone except Sreesanth had a good game".
Special mention - Zaheer Khan's Quote - "As a bowling unit, I think I am doing well"

10. The debut Michelles
A clutch of bowlers got 5-fors on Test debuts. Bracewell, Ashwin, Philander, Elias, Cummins, Pattinson - best time to make your bowling debut.

A bonus 11th one - Norman Gordon of South Africa became the 1st cricketer to hit a century against Father Time. Well played Sir.

Slipstream V - Cricketers of the Year - 2011

2011-12-22T00:47:00.000+05:30

On the lines of Wisden Cricket Almanack, Slipstream Cricket has decided to announce its selection for the Cricketers of the Year. The list will comprise of 5 cricketers whom this blog believes to have had the maximum impact on the game in the year 2011. The selections are made solely on this blogger's bias. So the Slipstream V (Five) for 2011 (as they will be referred to) are as follows

1. Rahul Dravid (India)

The year started with Dravid's future under some cloud. The Test contributions had become average and calls were coming for infusing younger blood into the test lineup while he wasn't part of limited overs setup for quite some time. India went on to win the ODI World Cup and calls became louder. And then happened the West Indies tour. Another Kingston masterclass set up India's only test victory and the series victory. This was followed by a horror tour of England over the summer, where India were cleanly swept off the ground. Well, all of them except the man called "The Wall". 3 Test centuries in lost causes, carried his bat while opening the innings, became the 2nd highest run-getter in Tests, recalled to the limited overs setup (which prompted him to announce his retirement as well), debut and farewell in the same T20 match (his 3 consecutive sixes are my only T20 internationals memory of 2011) and then the 69 in his last ODI innings. At home against the West Indies another century followed. The Indian cricket fan learnt to respect Rahul Dravid once again. The oldest active Test player was also the highest run getter in this calendar year with one test still to go. And if the on-field achievements were not enough came the captaincy of Rajasthan Royals for next year's IPL and the Bradman Oration. The Wall made every one sit up and listen as he delivered a master class with his speech. The "Creaking Terminator" was certainly back.

2. Brendan Taylor (Zimbabwe)

Zimbabwe had been a team in disarray since the highs of the 1999 World Cup. The multiple player walkouts and the political environment had led to the team suspending its own Test status. The period also saw them drop below Ireland in ODI rankings. 2011 was the year they took baby steps back into the Test environment. A victory against Bangladesh, nearly pulling off a sensational chase against New Zealand and a battling loss to Pakistan, Zimbabwe cricket certainly showed that they still had the fight in them. And leading the way for them was the captain Brendan Taylor. His stupendous form with the bat certainly propped up the team. An unbeaten 2nd innings century to setup the victory over Bangladesh was follwed by some great performances against the Kiwis. Became the 1st Zimbabwean to hit back to back ODI hundreds against the Kiwis, followed by a 4th innings century in the close loss. With Taylor at the helm, some fresh talent coming up and some old hands returning, Zimbabwe cricket is certainly looking up.

3. Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan)

In 2011, Pakistan cricket threatened to their usual tragi-comic self. A good World Cup campaign (losing semi-finalists) was followed by the typical mess. Players chopped and changed, the captain Afridi retired and then unretired, ditto for Younis Khan, coach resigned, the spot-fixing accused were put in jail, there were whispers of a few others being involved, one Akmal replaced the other behind the stumps. In the meantime the on-field results were pretty good. The fast bowling supply never dried up, batsmen with a calm temperament also came into the picture. Misbah-ul-Haq was the man who presided over this on-field period of calm. Certainly his good batting form also helped (15 international 50s across formats in 2011), but it was his adept handling off the most unpredictable team in the world which picks him in the Slipstream V.

4. Hasim Amla (South Africa)
There is something about Amla. The bearded wonder personifies a sense of serenity all around. Certainly the best No. 3 in Test cricket (and he beats pretty stiff competition in the form of Trott, Sangakkara and Dravid for this title). Amla somehow seemed misfit for the limited overs cricket (maybe it has got something to with being a classical batsman), yet by the end of the year, a run of big scores at an average of 55+ at a very quick 90+ strike rate saw him captaining the South Africans in ODIs and T20s as well.

5. Vernon Philander (South Africa)
The man with a surname made for headlines (Philander bowls a maiden over :P). The newcomer of the year. He made his Test debut in 2011 and after a total of 3 tests has 4 "Michelles" and some 24 wickets at an average from the 19th century. The games may have been in his pace-friendly home conditions in South Africa but he managed to outshine his far more illustrious teammates Steyn & Morkel. Thats one great start to a career.

So this was the Slipstream V for 2011. More reviews of 2011 coming up.

Ranji Trophy 2011-12 - Jharkhand Update -2

2011-12-18T19:44:00.000+05:30

Sometime back had written about Jharkhand's performance in the first 2 rounds of Ranji Trophy. Since then 3 more rounds have been held. here is a small piece on the team's performance. Jharkhand had collected a total of 3 points after the 1st 2 rounds and were placed at the bottom of the pile.

In the 3rd round Jharkhand took on Maharashtra at Nashik. Maharastra batted first and got to 460 with good contributions from their top order. The captain Shahbaz Nadeem picked up 4 wickets, while keeper Shiv Gautam had a good outing with 6 catches and a stumping. In reply Jharkhand were all out for 283 with Rameez Kemat & Gautam scoring half centuries. Following on Jharkhand managed 1 run less in their 2nd outing with opener Manish Vardhan getting 88. Maharastra was set a victory target of 106 runs which they achieved in 21 overs for the loss of 1 wicket. Points - Maharastra - 5, Jharkhand - 0.

The 4th round was a home game at Dhanbad against Assam. Assam racked up a big score of 502 in the 1st innings with 3 centurions. Shahbaz Nadeem was once again the pick of the bowlers with 4 wickets for 170 runs in 61 overs, while Samar Quadri picked 3 for 158 in 51 overs. In reply, Ishank Jaggi scored a daddy hundred (188) while the keeper Shiv Gautam scored 82. The duo was involved in 200+ partnership. There were hardly any other contributions though and the team conceded a big 1st innings lead. In the 2nd innings Assam's Dheeraj Jadhav scored his 2nd hundred of the match. Points: Assam -3 & Jharkhand -1.

The 5th & final round saw the team take on Goa at Keenan Stadium, Jamshedpur, the only ground to have hosted international cricket in the state. (India has probably their poorest home ODI track record in this ground, 1 win against 7 losses). Jharkhand batted first and managed 218 runs with Manish Vardhan top scoring with 84. In reply Goa were knocked out for 189 with Quadri picking a 5-for. 2nd time around Jharkhand scored 204 with Vardhan again top scoring with 67. Chasing a victory target of 234, Goa were seemingly cruising at 133/1 before collapsing to 188 all out. The spin duo of Nadeem & Quadri was once again in action with Nadeem taking 5 & Quadri 4. The 45 run victory gave Jharkhand 5 points for its only outright victory of the season while Goa got 0 points.

Overall Jharkhand finished with 9 points from its 5 matches and finished 4th in the group, thus failing to reach the play-offs. Absence of Aaron was definitely felt, though it was the poor form of the Saurabh Tiwary which hurt the team most. Manish Vardhan, Shiv Gautam & Ishank Jaggi were the regular contributors with the bat while Shahbaz Nadeem & Samar Quadri were good with the ball.

Bad luck this time around, hopefully will do better next year.

P.S. Only 5 first class matches for the entire year sounds too little cricket to me. And all this within a 6 month period. Maybe a 3 level league with 9 teams each could be a better solution. That would ensure at least more matches for all teams. The Duleep Trophy & Deodhar trophy can be done away to ease out the calendar.

P.P.S. Once again thanks to the operator of the twitter handle @ranjiscores for doing a stellar job of providing regular score updates from across all matches happening in the Plate & Elite leagues. Something which BCCI should be doing through their own account.

Sir Rahul Dravid

2011-12-15T01:31:00.000+05:30

"Not everything of value has a price"

If you are a cricket fan, listen to Rahul Dravid giving the Bradman Oration.

If you are not a cricket fan, listen to Rahul Dravid giving the Bradman Oration. And you will become a cricket fan.

I thought Sangakkara's wonderful speech at the Colin Cowdrey Lecture would be the gold standard for speeches made by cricketers. Seems I had underestimated my own hero, the Wall.

He spoke as one of the seniors of the game (him being the oldest active Test cricketer). His speech covered a wide range of topics. He talked about India's link with Australia (cricket and the British empire), their common enemy (?, England), India's romance with cricket, its love for records, the Indian player, the state of World cricket and problems facing it (balance of the 3 formats, overkill, spectatorless grounds, match-fixing), his own experience. It was well researched with just the dash of humour (Warne's eating habits, his own "slow" batting).

The speech just showed what the man is all about. CLASS.

Is 2011 going to be year when the cricket fans finally give Rahul Dravid the respect he has always deserved. (Slipstream Cricket would like to confer the title of Sir to Rahul Dravid)

Audio & text of the speech is available here. http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/current/story/545355.html

P.S. "Creaking Terminators" - WOW. Probably the best phrase to describe veteran sportspersons. Expect this to be overused in the days to come.

The Sign - Manoj Tiwary

2011-12-12T19:15:00.001+05:30

After Ian Bell & Napolean Einstein, its the turn of Manoj Tiwary to take me into the cricinfo commentary section. (A bit narcissistic to keep a record of such things, but its always nice to read your name in print).

India in trouble at 1 for 2 (i.e. 2 wickets down for a single run) after 3 balls in the Chennai ODI. In this uncomfortable situation walked in Manoj Tiwary. The text commentator says Manoj Tiwary, making a comeback, walks in to face the hat-trick ball. Me sends in a feedback, which gets published before the start of the 3rd over.

"You say Manoj Tiwary on a comeback. Isn't he always. 6th match across 5 different series" Well said, Nishant

6th ODI across 5 different series. He was actually making a comeback in his debut as well. The first of the current generation to be selected for the Indian squad post the 2007 World Cup fiasco, Tiwary got injured in practice the day before his scheduled debut against Bangladesh. Rohit Sharma took his place. The debut came much later and then he was pushed back to the fringes with players like Raina, Kohli, Saurabh Tiwary, Murali Vijay et al. Now having made a comeback in the fringe category he is getting the odd game in every series. This time around though he has made it count with a well compiled century. It was a shame that he couldn't go on and had to retire hurt due to cramps. But it was a pleasant surprise to see him field after retiring hurt.

Now, wondering if my comment was a "sign". Probably the comments publication had something to do with the hundred. (I am pretty superstitious when it comes to cricket)

P.S. Virender Sehwag must have become the 1st player to appear in a post-match presentation without playing in the match concerned. Surely a new record. ;)

Arbit Statistics - 15

2011-12-09T17:47:00.001+05:30

Virender Sehwag plundered 219 runs over the hapless West Indies attack (ok... wrong word) at Indore to record the highest ever score in ODI cricket. Chris Gayle even described it as "child abuse" on twitter. And at the end of this innings, his career records present interesting numbers.

319 - Sehwag's highest score in First Class & Test cricket.

219 - Sehwag's highest score in List A & ODI cricket.

119 - Sehwag's highest score in T20 cricket

Unfortunately, the highest in T20 wasn't scored in an international game, where his highest is barely 68. Now if only he manages to get a 119 in T20I. Then the highest scores would present a neat reading.

Arbit Statistics - 14

2011-11-25T21:08:00.001+05:30

The big event did not take place at the Wankhede today but another very rare event did take place.

R. Ashwin scored a century to follow with his Michelle becoming only the 3rd Indian ever to do so. The two prior ones being historic legends Vinoo Mankad & Polly Umrigar. (Pretty sure a five wicket haul wouldn't have been referred to as a Michelle then, Michelle Pfeiffer not having been born :P). Surprised to see Kapil Dev missing from that list. Full list of such happenings is here (Thank you Statsguru).

More Arbit Stats - India & West Indies batsmen have combined to score 11 50+ scores in the 2 innings between them, which is a new record for most 50+ scores. Here is the Statsguru evidence.

And also the 1st time ever all the top 6 batsman on both sides have scored a quarter century. Talk about a batting beauty.

200 Not Out

2011-11-24T16:50:00.001+05:30

Rahul Dravid reached the milestone of 13,000 Test runs.

Sachin Tendulkar is more than half way in the attempt for the 100th international 100.

Darren Bravo is looking more and more like the man he is often compared to, Brian Lara.

Meanwhile, almost unnoticed, Slipstream Cricket (formerly called The Crickiblog) has reached its own special milestone of 200 posts (this being the 200th one). The 100th post milestone had been reached on the blog's 1st birthday. Since then the strike rate has improved considerably and the 2nd 100 took less than 11 months.

How do I explain this improved strike rate? The cricket world cup happened for one (India won :D), which kept the months of February and March quite busy. My posting ability improved (:P). Or maybe I had nothing better to do and becoming a bigger cricket tragic than I already was. (But my other blog seems to have hit a writer's block and frequency of posts has deteriorated quite rapidly).

In the past one year, the blog has undergone a little bit of design changes. The Arbit Statistics have got a fully dedicated section for themselves, though they keep updating pretty fast. Also the blog has made acquaintance with fellow blogs on the matters of the gentleman's game. (Point to be noted - the blog and not the blogger). It feels good to be mentioned around here and there.

As for the content, have decided that this is not a newspaper or a review site. And I do NOT have to cover all the goings on in the cricket world (but still follow up a lot). A lot can be left unwritten. But whenever there are some thoughts assembled they ought to be jotted down and posted. So these posts are becoming the random musings of a die-hard fanatic.

Nowadays, also being occasionally published at DHCF (Die Hard Cricket Fans). The posts get published as the editor wishes.

Finally, time for a dedications.

To The Sledgehammer of Eternal Justice, for being the catalyst for the blog's genesis and its name.
To BCCI, for making our team play non-stop, so that the lack of posts can never be blamed on the lack of cricketing events taking place. Laziness will take the blame here.
To Pakistan cricket, its board and its players, for providing most of the off-field drama.
To South Africa, for continuing their proud choking traditions.
To Australia, for not being the dominant force that they were, so that sadist fans across the non-Australian world can gloat.
To England for being the most entertaining team in the cricket world (so damned good in Tests and absolutely lousy in the ODIs).
To Jharkhand for winning its first ever domestic trophy. Your deeds will be followed. (Aside - Can't think of any other blogger writing about Jharkhand cricket).
To Rahul Dravid. Just for being Rahul Dravid.

To the next century.

P.S. Hoping I haven't jinxed it (You-know-who's You-know-what )

P.P.S Hobbies can be addictive

Vinod Kambli's allegations - Now is the time to speak out

2011-11-19T12:03:00.001+05:30

As any cricket follower in the country would have been aware by now, Vinod Kambli has made some serious claims about the 1996 World Cup semi-finals. He claims that captain Mohammed Azharuddin went against the team's collective decision of batting first and chose to field instead. The match was later to be abandoned due to crowd trouble in India's innings and a crying Vinod Kambli leaving the field.

Any match-fixing claim has to be taken very seriously. These things have happened. Players have been banned, fined and now even jailed for such crimes. But its also very easy to make allegations about past events, where only the word of one person against the other stands.

In this case the credibility of the allegations is a bit low. The events happened 15 years ago. Given Vinod Kambli's recent antics, his trust level is pretty low. He was a case of talent truly wasted as a player. Thrown out of team on disciplinary grounds, making controversial TV apppearances (Sach Ka Saamna & Bigg Boss), announcing his retirement from cricket some 7-8 years after being dropped him from the Mumbai Ranji team, Going on proclaiming his friendship with Sachin Tendulkar on all possible forums. Sounds like a person who is despearate to be in news always.

Here the allegations have been made against a former India captain who is under a life ban from cricket for match-fixing based on evidence collected by CBI. So Azhar provides an easy target for such allegations.

If I remember correctly, all the analysts during the World Cup had agreed that Sri Lankans were very good at chasing down targets Performances against India, England certainly justify this claim. Even in the final they chose to chase against Australia knowing fully well that all the previous winners had batted first in the finals. So putting Sri Lanka into bat first seemed a logical decision. There was also talk of using a spinner to counter the marauding Sri Lankan openers in the inital overs. So Kumble opened the bowling with Srinath. Then there was the evening dew factor. Taking these factors into account bowling first does seem to be a logical decision. The one error was misreading the pitch. The pitch had become an unknown quantity due to opening ceremony fiasco. Given all these factors Azhar would have been roasted if he had decided to bat first.

Now coming to Kambli's remarks. He says Navjot Sidhu was all padded up to open. The toss hadn't been held till then. What if Rantunga had won the toss. Then there are claims of this being his last game when the truth is he played on and off for another 4 years. Also the timing of the allegations make no sense. He could have come out in the open then or when the match-fixing scandal came up in 2000. Why did he keep silent all these years?

Is there any truth in Kambli's allegations? I don't know. The only people who can answer are the other members of the 1996 campaign. So far the manager Ajit Wadekar, and other players like Sanjay Manjrekar, Nayan Mongia and Venkatpathy Raju and Azhar himself have already rubbished Kambli's claims. But it is very important that the other players like Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath et al, whose credibility cannot be questioned speak out. This is certainly not a time of maintianing a dignified silence. Its time to come out in the open and speak out. You owe this to the Indian fan.

Arbit Statisitcs - 13

2011-11-17T16:09:00.001+05:30

India beats West Indies by an Innings & 16 runs at Eden Gardens. With this loss Shivnaraine Chanderpaul has now taken over from former team mate Brian Lara as the player with most test losses of all time (64 and counting). Says a lot of the quality of the recent West Indies teams and Chanderpaul's longeveity and importance to West Indies.

It was a bad day for Lara in statistical terms in general. Kallis has crossed him to be the 4th highest Test run getter on the opening day of 2nd Test vs Australia.

And in further Lara news, his heir apparent & cousin Darren Bravo has got the same runs (941) and average (47.05) after 12 Tests as Lara.

Update to Arbit Statistics
Arbit Statistics - 9 : With 2 sixes in his innings of 117, Rahul Dravid has broken his run of never having hit more than one six in a single Test innings.

Arbit Statistics - 4: West Indies by scoring 463 have broken India's record of most runs in an innings in an innings defeat.

These statistics are changing pretty fast now :)

Ranji Trophy 11-12: Jharkhand Update

2011-11-13T23:56:00.001+05:30

The first 2 rounds of the 2011-12 season of the Ranji Trophy are over. There have been big scores (including a triple century) some close draws, some boring draws, rare outright wins, a few weather interventions. There were 2 highly interesting games. Maharashtra beating Hyderabad by an innings in a low scoring crazy shootout to rival the one in Newlands. And the absolutely rivetting draw between Tamil Nadu & Haryana where all 4 results were possible till the end.

It seems to me that the domestic season is attracting quite a bit of attention this time around. I can think of a couple of reasons for this increased awareness. The first is the presence of big names in the tournament. The performance of recent India rejects & hopefuls like Harbhajan Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, the Pathan brothers and others are being keenly watched. Long retired Saurav Ganguly is stil motivated enough to play for Bengal. Also thanks to the IPL, the domestic players are not all anonymous entities. Players like Rajat Bhatia, Mithun Manhas are no longer unfamiliar names. There is better coverage of the games. Cricinfo keeps updating scores on a regular basis. The twitter handle @Ranjiscores is also doing a great job of providing regular updates on the games happening all over the country.

Now a performance review of my team Jharkhand playing in the Plate League Group B. So far has played 2 games against Hyderabad and Jammu & Kashmir, both away.

In the first game against Hyderabad, Jharkhand conceded a big first innings lead after bowling first, which more or less sealed the game result. Game ended in a draw with Hyderabad getting 3 points and Jharkhand 1. The first day was affected by weather. The standout performers for the team were Ishank Jaggi (81 in the first innings) and Amir Hashmi (68) with the bat while SS Rao picked 6 and Shahbaz Nadeem picked 3 wickets.

The 2nd game against Jammu & Kashmir in Srinagar was badly hit by the weather with no play at all on the 2nd and 3rd days. As neither team could complete the 1st innings also, both were given 2 points each. Samar Quadri & Shahbaz Nadeem picked 2 wickets apiece while Manish Vardhan got a quickfire half century.

Nothing much can be read from these results though the team is lying bottom of the table with 3 points fom 2 games. Ishank Jaggi & Shabaz Nadeem seem in decent form while captain Saurabh Tiwary's indifferent run across all formats continues. Team certainly seems to be missing the pace of Varun Aaron in the bowling department, while chances of Dhoni playing a Ranji game in the near future appear very remote.

Coming up next in the league stage are

17-20 Nov: Maharashtra

29 Nov - 2 Dec : Assam

6-9 Dec: Goa

Arbit Statistics - 12

2011-11-11T22:44:00.001+05:30

The insane test between South Africa and Australia at Newlands provided loads of crazy statistics. This was the one which set a new record.

Nathan Lyon became the No. 11 batsman to come into bat at the lowest score ever 21/9 beating the previous record of coming into bat at 25/9 held by fellow Australian Tom McKibbin from a match of an era gone by. Also he became the lowest highest scoring No. 11 in an innings in a test.

More arbit stats on this match by Andy Zaltzman in his special quiz.

Updates to Arbit Statistics

Arbit Statistics - 11: Andrew Strauss has rectified the anomaly and gone past Graeme Swann in the highest 1st class scores department.

Arbit Statistics - 10: Sachin Tendulkar has snatched the crown of most 4th innings runs from Rahul Dravid. Though both being active players, this record might keep moving between the two of them for the time being.

This is BLASPHEMY, MADNESS, NEWLANDS

2011-11-10T21:43:00.001+05:30

A memorable scene from the movie 300 comes to mind (a score which is unthinkable here)

After the events in Newlands this is is what would have been the conversation

THIS IS BLASPHEMY, THIS IS MADNESS said the batsmen.

The bowlers would have said - THIS IS NEWLANDS.

An insane day of Test cricket in Cape Town. The scorecard resembles a 19th century test match. To sum up the events 23 wickets fell, all 4 innings took place on the same day, both teams were knocked out for less than a 100, Australia at 21/9 were in real danger of recording the lowest score ever in the history of Test matches, the last wicket added more than the 1st 9 combined, and in the 4th innings the batsmen settled down as if nothing had happened. What happened after lunch, did pitch transform into a snake-pit? And then quietened down after the Aussie innings. Also there were an extra-ordinary numbers of decisions overturned via DRS while Shane Watson recorded almost T20 type of bowling figures. And to round off a crazy day, Michael Hussey dropped a simple catch of Hashim Amla of the last ball of the innings.

In this context, I can safely say Michael Clarke's 151 has to be one of the greatest innings of all times. Nathan Lyon & Peter Siddle's 26 runs partnership maybe just helped the pitch ease out a bit. Should Australia have declared then? Dont know but certainly an interesting day's play ahead.

P.S. Wonder if ICC's pitch committee has to say anything about this pitch. Recently Kotla & Galle have received lots of criticism. Wonder what will said about this one.

India vs West Indies Test 1 - Thoughts

2011-11-09T23:07:00.002+05:30

It was much closer than it should have been. India in India (with an amazing record of just 2 losses in last 20 home games) taking on West Indies who have been struggling anywhere and everywhere against anyone and everyone. The first test in Kotla provided further proof that cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties. Here are the thoughts at the end of the game.

A home test without Harbhajan Singh and a revamped bowling lineup. His direct replacement Ashwin takes 9 wickets and picks up the Man of the Match on debut. The other spinner Ojha making a comeback picks 7 including 6 in the 1st innings. Add Harbhajan's miserable performance against Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy, the chances of a comeback soon become a bit dimmer. (In the same game another Indian discard RP Singh picked a Michelle while Suresh Raina scored a double hundred).
Chris Gayle was missing a result of too many ego clashes amongst West Indies cricket stakeholders. Don't know who to blame here. The board, the players's association or Gayle himself?
Another exclusion was of Ramnaresh Sarwan. This was a case quite similar to Harbhajan's. Born 10 days apart, both have great reputations, formidable records and a lousy current form and both out of their national teams.
Shivnaraine Chanderpaul was there as usual tormenting India as he has been doing since time immemorial. Probably the ugliest batting style in the whole cricketing world and also the most effective in blunting any bowling attack. But India are rendered especially toothless against him.
I like Darren Sammy. Many may say that he doesn't deserve to be in the team. But his dedication cannot be faulted. Bowls his heart out, takes the wickets, gets a few quick runs when his team needs them and is doing an excellent job captaining the West Indies team. I guess West Indies cricket needs players like Sammy more than Gayle.
India's collapse in the 1st innings was the reason that this test got all exciting. India still went on to win can say a lot about India's fighting spirit or West Indies's incompetence. Your pick.
Dhoni became the 1st Indian to reach 200 test dismissals whereas Mark Boucher just took his 500th Test catch. Also Dhoni remained not out on 0 in the 2nd innings. Hope nobody accuses him of remaining not out to boost his batting average this time around.
Sehwag was off to his murderous starts. Knocked a big chunk off the chase almost as soon as it got started both times around.
Dravid was there doing his typical "Back to the Wall" jobs in both innings. He lost his crown of most 4th innings runs to Tendulkar though.
VVS Laxman was there to see another 4th innings chase through.
The stage was set. I had actually dreamed up the scenario as well. The ball bowled slightly outside offstump and it gets punched through the covers for a boundary. The crowds giving a standing ovation as India reached victory with the same shot as Sachin Tendulkar reached his 100th international 100. But alas, it wasn't meant to be... (Aside - SRT refused to take a legbye and was out LBW a couple of balls later in the same Bishoo over). The wait continues.

Now over to Kolkata.

The Spotfixing Verdict

2011-11-07T01:32:00.001+05:30

August 21, 2010 - The day the cricketing world was shaken up with following edition of the "News of the World" paper. (My post here)

In the immediate aftermath of the Lords Test, the trio of Salman Butt, Mohammed Asif and Mohammed Amir was dropped from the Pakistan team and later banned by the ICC. But this wasn't the worse to come for the trio as an year later a jury found them guilty and gave them prison terms of varying lengths.

The first thought on hearing of the outcome of the case was that just punishment had been meted out to the guilty party. The spot fixing scam had left a sense of betrayal. It was weird to imagine to what extent people were going to make money. For the players it must have been an easy option. Take money on the side, bowl a couple of no-balls (which aren't an oddity by themselves) at fixed points. During this they could still be giving their best for the country as well. I wondered there were people who actually bet on this kind of stuff. And the sums were large enough to be able to buy off the players. All this is still beyond belief.

The whole sequence of events is full of ironies

The whole saga was brought to light not by any anti-corruption agencies, ICC or government bodies but by a now-defunct newspaper which had to be closed down due its unethical ways of getting information.

Mohammed Amir actually bowled one of the better fast bowling spells in recent times. His no-ball was part of a spell in which he took the wickets of Cook, Pietersen, Collingwood, Morgan, Prior and Swann. Showing that except for the no ball he bowled his best for his country.

Salman Butt captained Pakistan to 2 test victories including the first one against Australia in around 15 years. It seemed Pakistan had found some stability when the scandal broke out. The irony of life that his son was born the day he was handed a prison sentence.

Mohammed Asif was the one who had talent, and has taken extra-ordinary measures to blow it away. Drugs scandal, physical fights with team mates and finally the spot-fixing case. Also it turns out that he was paid more than others to ensure that he doesn't change over to a rival spot-fixing gang.

The verdict has made a few things clear.

If you are caught fixing you are not just banned from the game, you are jailed as well. At least in England. Hopefully this would set some deterrent.
There are more names involved here which haven't yet come out. Comments regarding Asif certainly seem to suggest that.

Hopefully cricket is cleaner now, at least I would like to believe so, though the eveidence may suggest otherwise. But this is only the tip. Every allegation has to be thoroughly investigated. And the concerned should have immediate life bans set on them. Otherwise any odd incident would be looked at it in a different light.

Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy - Jharkhand Review

2011-11-04T00:41:00.000+05:30

In continuation with this post here.

The East Zone qualifiers were held in Keenan Stadium, Jamshedpur. Unfortnuately, the matches were affected by the inclement weather. here are Jharkhand's results

Oct 21 - vs Tripura - Match abandoned without a single ball being bowled.

Oct 22 - vs Bengal - Match abandoned without a single ball being bowled.

Oct 23 - vs Orissa - Jharkhand won by 6 wickets.

Oct 24 - vs Assam - Assam won by 17 runs.
In all Jharkhand got 8 points and failed to qualify for the knockout stages of the national T20 championships. However with only 2 finished games not much can be read into the results.

Now its over to the Ranji Trophy, where Jharkhand are in the Plate League with the first game having begun against Hyderabad in Hyderabad.

Payback Series: Whiteawashed

2011-10-25T22:07:00.000+05:30

It had been built up as a revenge series by the broadcasters. And Team India certainly have paid back with interest (only for the ODI leg so far). Here are the thoughts for today's game at Eden Gardens and the series as a whole.

Dhoni enhanced his finisher reputation. The big sixes were back and he stayed not out as well. His average may have been boosted by the large number of not outs but isn't not getting out one of the criterion for a good batsman. (A post by The Old Batsman on the subject is here).
Rahane is looking impressive without having got that BIG one as yet. Also he is unlucky that Kieswetter keeps taking stunning catches to dismiss him when normally his keeping has been of the Kamran Akmalesque quality.
Manoj Tiwary has been having a pretty weird international career. Injured during practice on the eve of his debut series and since then has played 5 matches across 4 series spread over a 4 year period.
England had an awesome opening partnership followed by one of the most stunning collapses. 128 for none followed by 47 for 10.
Varun Aaron takes his 4th international wicket. Interestingly all 4 bowled which starts the slide for the Poms.
Ian Bell finally played and scared the rest of the English lineup by failing to read Jadeja's spin.
Some apologies for the years of abuse heaped on Ravindra Jadeja.
In short England caught in a spin web and spun out. England in India have been worse than India's in England (only comparing the ODI parts so far)
India still missing most of the big guns and their first choice replacements as well. On the other hand England did not have Broad & Anderson, though they wouldn't have made too much of a difference.

Payback still remains. This is only the appetizer. It won't be satisfied till the Tests thrashing is also avenged.

P.S. Malcolm Waller missed out on a well deserved century as he finished on 99* to take Zimbabwe to a thrilling one wicket victory over the Kiwis.

P.P.S. Wishing all readers a very Happy Diwali.

Payback Series: Game 4 - Thoughts

2011-10-23T22:27:00.000+05:30

The Payback continues, with a Comprehensive 6 wicket victory at Wankhede, Mumbai.

It was one of the most eagerly awaited debuts in recent memory. And Varun Aaron delivered to all expectations. A low economy, excellent clean-up of the tail and consistently over 140Ks. Certainly well begun and living to the expectations. A note of caution - Ishant Sharma & Irfan Pathan had even better starts.
Another poor batting display by England. And still no Ian Bell. Logic of this is certainly beyond me.
Suresh Raina leaving his England monsters behind while Virat Kohli produces another classic display.
Steven Finn giving Raina a send off after he had smacked the pants off the English bowling was hilarious to say the least. Can't understand all the chatter from a team which is getting comprehensively pounded.

Looking forward to a 5-nil whitewash in Kolkata.

P.S. Congratulations to the All Blacks on winning the Rugby World Cup. There were quite a few parallels to the Indian victory in the Cricket World Cup earlier this year.

Payback Series: Game 3 - Thoughts

2011-10-20T23:32:00.002+05:30

The Payback Series moved on to Mohali after a crushing win in Delhi. And though the margin was much closer, the end result was still the same. here are the thoughts for the day.

Team selections. I am bored of saying it. Bell should be playing. Given Kieswetter's Kamran Akmalese performance today behind the stumps, it would be wise to give the gloves to Bairstow and bring Bell in as the opener.
Team wins toss. Bats first. Bats well. Posts a big total. Total gets chased down easily due to some unimaginative bowling and shoddy fielding. This was the basic template for India's ODI losses in England (except for the toss part). Today it was just the other way round.
The Indian bowling lineup with Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar & Virat Kohli looks straight out of the Kiwi dibbly-dobbly-wibbly-wobbly template
The game was close. But somehow the result wasn't ever in doubt. Maybe its the T20 effect. Any total seems chaseable with 2 decent batsman in the crease.
The fist pump by Ravindra Jadeja after edging a boundary as a gesture must be unparalleled.
Dhoni's lost luck seems to have been found (:D) as he provides the finishing touch to an almost perfect team chase.
Rahane & Trott missed out on well deserved 100s, as Mr. Gavaskar would have said. maybe it was this obsession with centuries that made Sunil Gavaskar one of the greatest run accumulators of all time.

The series has been won. But the Payback is not done yet.

Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy - 2011-12

2011-10-20T21:55:00.000+05:30

The Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy for the 2011-12 season has begun. (Detailed schedule here). For the uninitiated this is the tournament which determines India's national T20 champions (and not the IPL as everyone believes).

Here is my team, Jharkhand's schedule of play for the zonal round.

Oct 21 - vs Tripura

Oct 22 - vs Bengal

Oct 23 - vs Orissa

Oct 24 - vs Assam

After the zonal matches, we have the quarter-final stage onwards in March (!!!). Some weird scheduling.

Wishing all the best to Saurabh Tiwary, Ishank Jaggi and Co. I know the team is quite depleted with Dhoni & Aaron on national duty but still it should be a tough fight.