The Cricket Musings

Time to Join The Virat Kohli Bandwagon

2012-02-29T14:52:00.000+13:00

I'll admit it, I hated this kid. This young upstart appeared and quickly established himself as one of the many flat track wonders, plundering usually lesser teams to all corners of sub-continent grounds and being hailed for his incredible maturity (?) while earning himself the rather unfortunate title of 'The Future of Indian Cricket'. Despite contributing little but good fielding and a foul

Why Gambhir Hates Dhoni

2012-02-21T13:57:00.000+13:00

Once upon a time, there was a World Cup final. © AFP © AFP G Gambhir b Perera 97 (187m 122b 9x4 0x6) SR: 79.50 MS Dhoni 91* (79b 8x4 2x6) © AFP Then there was a match in Australia. © Getty © AFP G Gambhir lbw b McKay 92 (139m 111b 7x4 0x6) SR: 82.88 MS Dhoni 44* (58b 1x6) And then they faced the mighty Sri Lankans. © Getty © AFP G Gambhir

MS Dhoni - Ice Cool or Massive Fool?

2012-02-13T11:12:00.000+13:00

And so India have something to sing about. Sharp bowling, another impressive fielding performance and an Indian top order that finally looks comfortable. It was a slick run chase that was more or less sealed in the 35th over. Until Dhoni lost the match... and then won it again for himself. Message boards everywhere are flooded with Dhoni praise, hailing Captain Cool and showering him with love

The Sehwag Formula

2012-02-11T18:10:00.000+13:00

A typical cricketer regardless of nation will grow and mature in their skills and abilities. Tendulkar put away his broken cover drive in 2003 and mastered the grind, Daniel Vettori forged a batting technique from oblivion, even Ganguly reinvented himself. One guy on the other hand bats exactly the same way since day one, and he doesn't care. Too cool to care. © Getty The Sehwag technique

Australia vs India - The Tour Diary

2012-01-30T15:30:00.001+13:00

Never, in the last three decades has there been an Indian tour to Australia any worse than this. In the past there was usually at least one redeeming innings or spell that made the tour at least partially worthwhile. Having won the World Cup, the Indian team simply devolved into its state in the late nineties before they learnt how to play. Fat, unfit, lazy and above all, absolutely delusional.

How To Save Indian Cricket In 5 Easy Steps

2012-01-17T20:56:00.000+13:00

Here we are again. After being taken to the cleaners by England, India quickly hosted a home ODI series, duly thrashed them, and life went on. Lessons learned, none. © AFP But in the wise words of Arnold Schwarzenegger, "you only postponed it, judgement day is inevitable". Now we have a team that is at full strength and performing even worse despite more favourable conditions and a weaker

2012 - The End of the World (For Indian Cricket)

2012-01-06T15:47:00.000+13:00

The recent years could be described as the zenith of Indian cricket. A world cup, the number one test ranking, an assortment of batsman averaging above fifty. For a while all was rosy for Indian cricket as they had all the money and the silverware. The problem is though, the higher you climb the tree the more gravity laughs at you, and awaiting this Indian team in the coming year is a crash

Australian Cricket, The Romance Is Over

2011-12-17T23:01:00.000+13:00

This is it. The pits, the crypt, the absolute bottom of the barrel. Since their ridiculously efficient 2007 world cup victory, Australia cricket slipped slowly as their champion team started to age while all warning signs were ignored. The ultimatum is now with us. Here in 2011 it surely cannot get any worse than this. This, a loss to the New Zealand test team, and in Australian territory.

The Vettori Tragedy

2011-12-02T13:39:00.001+13:00

It was 1997 when a certain Daniel Vettori first turned up, a spectacled baby-faced cross between Harry Potter and Goldilocks known only for his ability as a left arm tweaker. He batted at number eleven on debut behind Geoff Allot, who is the owner of test crickets longest duck. Few would have expected great feats from the man. Nobody eats my porridge © Action Photographics Fast forward

India vs West Indies 3rd Test - The Script

2011-11-27T20:46:00.001+13:00

On the eve of Day 5 in the Mumbai test match, it seems the match is going nowhere but a draw. Luckily for us, the West Indian think tank had other ideas... Ottis Gibson: Okay boys time to execute Plan C, we engineer a Callypso Collapso on purpose and bowl out the shocked Indians. Darren Sammy: Wait a minute... we had a plan to begin with? Shiv Chanderpaul: Coach, not such a hot idea with all

South Africa vs Australia Series Review - We Have Been Robbed

2011-11-22T09:50:00.001+13:00

World cricket is at war. In one corner, we have the front bench crowd with small attention spans and an insatiable lust for sixes and cheap thrills. They are backed up with cash hungry administrators and sponsors looking to turn the game into a business. And on the other there is the rest of us, those who crave for one simple thing, real cricket. And by george we got some real cricket. This

The Australian Collapse: Has It Been Worse?

2011-11-14T11:42:00.001+13:00

It was the early hours of the morning when I was tuned into the forever reliable cricinfo.com text commentary for the South Africa vs Australia test match. Fresh off (what I thought then) a career defining 151 from Michael Clarke, I witnessed the (what I thought then) underrated Shane Watson produce a record breaking five wicket haul and a typical South African choke. At 96 all out at nearly 2am

Thank You Zimbabwe, For Helping Save Test Cricket

2011-11-07T11:39:00.002+13:00

Everybody likes an underdog. The David vs Goliath battle inherits a unique charm about it, and with all the long years of turmoil and suffering that Zimbabwean cricket has been going through, it seems the corner has been finally turned. New heroes are emerging, and none more so than Brendan Taylor, who at still only 25 years of age has a long and prosperous haul ahead of him. Sample this for a

Around The World in 80 Seconds

2011-11-01T20:47:00.000+13:00

We are experiencing one of those rare situations where all ten of the top-tier cricketing nations are doing battle. A welcome and refreshing change, as all the cricket over the past few months have been seemingly India or England related. Lets take a tour around the globe and sum up what their respective situations are, in order of strength. 1. India The so-called leaders of world cricket had

Shoaib Akhtar Speaks (The Truth?)

2011-10-06T13:15:00.000+13:00

Autobiographies really are something. It is a time when self important sporting celebrities get to wave their creative pencil and indulge themselves in a self-made ego trip. Most of them are ignored as they lack the creativity, or the writing skill, or are just plain boring outside of the game. Then you get the select few personalities who carry off interesting laughs and anecdotes and make the

Where Art Thy Bowler?

2011-09-10T15:12:00.000+12:00

India and Sri Lanka. Two very similar sub-continental teams, both going through the same problems. If you look carefully, both these teams in the test arena especially were built around these key ingredients: 1. One quality spin doctor. © Getty Images, AFP 2. One quality left arm quick. © Getty Images, AFP 3. One seriously flat deck. © Getty Images, AFP The bowling recipe quite

The Dhoni Rollercoaster

2011-09-01T18:29:00.000+12:00

Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The biggest name in Indian cricket bar Sachin Tendulkar. His rise to the top is nothing short of extraordinary, scaling heights in a manner that would make any rock climber blush. Literally he went from zero to the top in five years, and on the way acquiring magic powers that no other cricketer can boast: Choosing when to play (in order of revenue). Choosing where to bat (

England vs India - Series Review

2011-08-23T15:19:00.002+12:00

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. No words necessary. © Getty Images The Cricket Musings can be pretty pessimistic, but I don't think anybody on earth saw this coming. What transpired over the last month was a performance so pitiful and even the West Indies and Bangladesh would go home crying in shame. Make no mistake, it was nothing short of an atrocious performance with no excuses. One would

Dear Ravi Shastri, Please Shut Up

2011-08-11T07:52:00.000+12:00

With the Indian team crumbling into a miserable heap at the hands of the English seamers, perhaps the time was ripe for an off-field battle between some of the big heads from either camp. But before we get to that, lets make a few things clear about the status quo: India have no excuses. Losing Zaheer Khan is probably the only piece of bad luck they may rue. Apart from that this is (more or less

India vs England Preview - The Showdowns Of The Past

2011-07-21T16:24:00.000+12:00

Less than 24 hours away from what is without doubt the most eagerly awaited cricketing contest since this years World Cup. There is a genuine buzz in the cricket world, both real and cyber, as we all eagerly await ball one between the top two test cricketing sides waging war. But why the excitement one must wonder? This isn't India vs Pakistan, this isn't the Ashes, this isn't the long ongoing

India vs England - Series Preview

2011-07-15T23:39:00.000+12:00

With the Australian aura disappearing quicker than bottled water during the Y2K, there have been two teams that have thrust their hands up like eager school children to claim the number one throne. These two teams are due to clash, providing what promises to be a showpiece cricketing tour that will rekindle the dwindling interest we are seeing these days. The series, is England versus India, and

The Sourav Ganguly Chart

2011-07-10T23:08:00.000+12:00

Many moons ago from this week, the man who would soon to be known as the Prince Of Calcutta was born (or Kolkata if you prefer). By numbers alone he was more than a solid cricketer, particularly in the ODI game, numbers also say he had a distinguished career as the Indian captain and can even be credited as the man who turned it all around by doing a Ranatunga and giving his troops a backbone.

The BCCI vs The DRS - The Height of Arrogance

2011-06-19T19:02:00.001+12:00

Its not old news that our friends at the BCCI continue to utterly refuse the DRS system, their secretary saying as much once more yesterday. The previous reaction from most of the world including myself would be to shake our heads in annoyance, probably mutter a few profanities under our breath (quietly), and get on with life. Today it is different however, today I am compelled to dig deeper,

West Indies vs India - Series Review

2011-06-17T16:52:00.000+12:00

An interesting series indeed! Rather than dawdle towards a predicted 5-0 whitewash, given how useless the West Indies are on paper, they showed some serious mettle and turned in a respectable 3-2 loss. India, sending in a B team, will be happy with the series win, but at what cost? Lets review the highlights. Pace and Bounce! Lo and behold not every pitch is a dead batting track! What a

India vs West Indies 1st ODI - A Match Made of Slop

2011-06-07T20:42:00.000+12:00

A cricket match must know it has a problem when even the one hour highlights are a dead bore. Fact, barring very few individuals we are seeing two very average teams playing in very average matches, with the slightly less average team coming out on top. We have to focus on the bad, as singling out moments of good cricket makes a very short blog entry. The West Indian Lowlights The shot selection