The Cricketer

KXIP Vs DD (2nd Leg) - Review

2010-04-13T13:50:00.001+04:00

I was not able to post for the last couple of KXIP matches due to the fact that we were shifting the house here in Abu Dhabi and the Internet transfer was not yet done from the supplier's end. It is not yet done but I am squeezing in this post at my office because I don't want to lose more poits in the InterBlogagctic IPL battle.

It seems KXIP has chosen wrong time to peak into form. They are 99.9% out of reckoning for a semifinal spot and now the boys have started performing the way their supporters wanted them to perform from the initial stage.

Gauti won the toss and elected to bat. Delhi were let down by their batsmen and ended up being bowled out for a meager 111 in 19.4 overs.

All the bowlers with the exception of Love Ablish (who by the way was playing in his first IPL game) bowled well. Special mentions to Piyush Chawla, Irfan Pathan and Yuvraj Singh. Chawla is finally showing the public why he is rated very highly by the selectors.

A target of 112 was never going to be a worry for KXIP with the in form Mahela Jayawardene at the top of the order. The target was achieved easily by the boys with 6 balls and 7 wickets to spare. All the batsmen contributed in the chase.

An unsettled batting and bowling line up has costed Punjab dearly in this season. Combined failures of star batsmen and bowlers didn't help their cause either. Some of the earlier matches which they could have easily won was lost due to reckless batting and sub-standard death over bowling.

Its nice to see the boys getting victorious in consecutive games that too against giants Mumbai and Delhi.

Keep going KXIP, just make a mess of other's plans.......

Next Match:- Vs Deccan Chargers on 16.04.2010

KXIP Vs KKR (2nd Leg) - Review

2010-04-07T06:24:00.000+04:00

A comprehensive win at last for the boys from Punjab...!!! This was an outstanding win for Punjab as they showed great character to overcome on-field and off-field issues to chase down a total of 200 with 10 balls and 8 wickets to spare.

After Gayle the hurricane blasted the Punjabi bowlers (again disappointing) to all parts of the field to score 88 from 42 balls Kolkata was happily placed at 200/3 at the innings break. Little did they knew about the intentions of Mahela Jayawardene as he walked out to open the innings with Bisla. If Gayle was brutal, Mahela was all class, he never played any rash strokes and with the company of Bisla, Sanga and Yuvi he helped Punjab to easily chase down a stiff target and Mahela notched up his classy hundred which was without doubt the innings of the tournament so far.

Punjab never allowed their run rate to drop under 10 at any stage of their chase and was never under any pressure from the Kolkata bowlers. Yuvraj also showed glimpses of his devastating best during his short stay at the crease.

Even with the win the problems with the bowling are far from being solved. Punjab still hasn't found a settled bowling combination which they have to do something about quickly. A semifinal birth hope is all but finished for the Zintans but their fans would dearly love the team to go out and win all their remaining games in the tournament.

Next match :- Vs Rajasthan Royals on 07.04.2010

KXIP Vs RCB (2nd Leg) - Review

2010-04-04T11:06:00.003+04:00

So there you are, 7th loss in 8 matches. Another match that could have been won. But shoddy fielding and ridiculous death bowling by Brett Lee made sure that we will lose our 7th match quite comprehensively.

I don’t have much to write in favour of Punjab. Batting was OK, but when you know your bowlers are having a torrid time, no score under 200 was safe and it proved. Yuvraj, Sanga, Bopara all played good cameos. But what we really wanted was one man to go on and score a 70 or 80.

The bowlers started well, even though RCB had had wickets in hand the asking rate was always above 11 runs per over. Sreesanth dropped a dolly from Kohli. But the one which was more painful was the drop by Bopara of Pietersen the ball after Kohli got out.

Enter Brett Lee to bowl the 17th over when the equation read, ‘RCB requires 48 runs from 24 balls’ and facing Lee was Robin Uthappa who is at his brutal best in this IPL. 6 balls later the equation read, ‘RCB requires 23 runs from 18 balls’. I was devastated to say the least. The game was over for me. But I still waited for the game to finish officially so that I had the privilege to see Sanga dropping a catch and then kicking the ball for 4. I thought EPL is best for him, not IPL.

I understand the logic of replacing Rusty Theron with Lee on his first match on return as he is a proven performer in the world stage. But persisting with Lee match after match, failure after failure and benching the man who won you the only game in the tournament….!!! That logic I still can’t understand and never will.

Oh dear………..

Uthappa, KP and Kohli played brilliantly for RCB. Bipul Sharma was good with the ball for Punjab.

Next Match :- Vs Kolkata Knight Riders on 04.04.2010

KXIP Vs MI Review

2010-04-02T16:31:00.000+04:00

It was the same story yet again for Punjab. They lost their 6th match in 7 games and are virtually out of the reckoning from a semi final spot. It was another match which they could have won with a little more discipline in the final stages of the Mumbai innings. But as is the story in this IPL Punjab lacked the killer instinct to close out a match which was theirs for the taking.

Punjab welcomed back their hero of 2008 Shaun Marsh and he didn't disappoint. A fluent 57 off 47 balls was more than good from a man coming back from an injury lay off. But the major problems continue to haunt Punjab. The failures of Yuvraj, Jayawardene and Bopara meant that they could only post a target of 164 for Mumbai which was less than intimidating. Malinga was excellent with his yorkers and never really allowed Punjab any sort of momentum to finish with superb match figures of 4-0-22-4.

Disciplined bowling from Punjab meant that the game will go down to the wire. Mumbai lost wickets at regular intervals and Sachin Tendulkar also failed with the bat. The unlikely hero for Punjab with the ball was Ravi Bopara with his dibbly dobblies finishing with figures of 4-0-31-3. At one stage it was 3-0-18-3 until he bowled the decisive 19th over. That was a real blunder by the stand in captain Jayawardene. That over leaked 13 runs and sealed the game for Mumbai. Mahela should have brought Lee to bowl the 19th over to make the game tight. He missed the trick there and the match was lost.

Problems looms large in the form of Yuvraj Singh and Mahela Jayawardene. With Lee yet to find his rhythm the bowling department is also looking toothless.

Next match :- Vs Royal Challengers Bangalore on 02.04.2010

KXIP Vs KKR Review

2010-03-30T06:17:00.000+04:00

So the time is running out fast for the Zintans after they lost their 5th game in 6 matches in IPL 3. This was a match that their supporters would have hoped to win as KKR was also on the way down after their victories in the opening 2 games.

KKR won the toss and elected to bat and they piled up 183/5 (same as RR put up against us). I am seriously beginning to doubt the credentials of Sangakkara as a captain. I just couldn't understand his decision to always go with Irfan Pathan in the end overs. The guy is just bowling military medium pace and is the perfect pace for the batsmen who is waiting to slog. As was the in the match against Rajasthan Sanga didn't bother to complete the quota of another bowler who was far more effective than Irfan. This time it was Shalabh Srivastava who had the match figures of 3-0-23-2. I just can't understand the thinking of Sanga here.

Brett Lee was rusty on his return although he bowled better than Irfan.

Bating again was crap and the writing was on the cards at the half way stage itself.

So the two best chances we had (against Rajasthan and Kolkata) has gone out of the window. The next match is against the Red hot Mumbai Indians and frankly there is not much of a hope for a turnaround.

KXIP Vs RR Review

2010-03-27T08:09:00.003+04:00

If you want to know how to lose a match that was yours for the taking just watch the game between KXIP and RR. Otherwise how on earth can a team chasing 184 can lose the game after they rocketed to 79/1 in 6 overs. All that was required was sensible batting by the seniors and for the 5th game in succession the senior batters were the culprits for the dismal performance by Punjab.

The bowling again was toothless apart from Theron (again...), Sreesanth (That was a surprise...) and Chawla. Punjab was hoping and could have restricted Rajasthan to a score of under 160, but brainless bowling from Irfan Pathan (37 runs in his final three overs) made sure that the score is in excess of 180. I think Sangakkara has not been innovative as a captain. Otherwise how he gave the ball to Irfan to bowl the final over when his last couple of overs had already cost 25 runs. Sreesanth, who by the way bowled decently comparing to what we usually get from him, still had one over up his sleeve and ended up with figures of 3-0-20-1.

Sangakkara really missed a trick here. Over the years watching Sree bowling, I have noticed that he really struggle for line and length especially when he starts a new spell. That is not on in T20 cricket where one over will make a huge difference. Therefore, the best way to utilize Sree is if he is bowling OK, is to just finish off his quota of 4 overs in one spell. That was what Sanga should have done in this match. Bringing back Sree for a single over in the climax stages of an innings will backfire more than often. The guy really need time to settle into a rhythm and that is why he is more successful in test matches.

Adam Voges made the most of Irfan's erratic bowling in the later stages and set up a target of 184 for Punjab.

Punjab got off to a real flyer in their reply with Sanga smashing the ball everywhere to raise to 29 of 13 balls and then a calculated assault by Manvinder Bisla who played a superb cameo of 35 of just 18 balls. Once these two brought the required run rate under 8 per over, the duty of the rest were to play sensibly and knock off the runs required. But careless shot making (especially Yuvraj, a ball later when his catch was dropped he again hit in the air to get out) together with canny medium pace bowling from Siddharth Trivedi meant that Punjab lose the game comprehensively in the end.

There are reports that Brett Lee and Shaun Marsh may be available for the next game against KKR. If that is the case then there are som decisions to make. If Punjab are to accommodate bot, then who are the 2 foreign players to sit out. Sanga will play because he is the captain, Bopara is their leading run scorer, so you can't drop him. Juan Theron is their most best bowler in the last two matches. Jayawardene will be dropped as he is not having a great campaign. But who will be the other one...?

Next game : Vs Kolkata Knight Riders on 27.03.10

KXIP Vs CSK - Review

2010-03-24T06:01:00.004+04:00

So finally we are off the mark. Well, not in style, but we will take the points no matter how we got it. The team showed good fighting spirit during the later stages of the game when the match was anyone's for the taking. They handled the pressure well and made the match into a tie after the allotted 20 overs each. The 'Super Over' came up and we triumphed in that too to kick off our campaign with a win. But the win doesn't means that we have started clicking as a team. A detail analysis will show you why.

The batting was again a let down for Punjab as they again struggled to put up a big score. The experimented a bit by sending Irfan Pathan at the top of the order. Even though he hung around for a while he wasn’t able to force the tempo as we would have liked. Bopara had his first failure of the season and the continuing off-colour performance of Jayawardene and Sangakkara meant that at the end of the 11th over the scorecard read 64/4. It was all going in the usual way for Punjab. But for the innings of 43 by Yuvraj Singh (who was not at his fluent best, but nevertheless a welcome sign of coming back to form) Punjab wouldn’t have even crossed 100. Ultimately at the end of 20 overs the score was 136/8.

The score was nothing for Hayden and his Mongoose. Hayden and Parthiv Patel started the chase briskly and by the time Haydos was bowled by Ramesh Powasr the score was already 65 in the 9th over. Raina and Patel carried the team to 96 and then Raina got out in the 13th over. Still it was a cake walk for Chennai as they only required 40 odd runs in 7 overs with 8 wickets in hand.

Then it all started to go wrong for Chennai. Resembling a South African team under pressure, they started to crumble. Juan Theron – the new hero for Punjab – bowled exceptionally well to end up with figures of 4-0-17-2. Chennai required 10 runs in the last over with 4 wickets in hand but most importantly they had Albie Morkel still at the crease. He got a streaky boundary first all but with 1 required from the last ball Ashwin hit the ball straight to Mohammed Kaif for an easy catch and we had a tie. The Super over was coming up.

Chennai nominated Hayden, Raina and Morkel as their batsmen. Hayden went for a golden duck to the man of the moment Juan Theron and apart from a six from Raina they couldn’t manage much. Chennai only made 9 runs in their super over. Punjab had Irfan, Yuvraj and Mahela as their batters. As soon as Mahela launched Murali for six off the first ball the game was all but over. But it got again tense when Mahela got out and Yuvraj couldn’t connect the next ball. But he pulled off a reverse sweep off the 4th ball that went to the 3rd man boundary and gave Punjab their 1st victory of the season.

Secret Weapon : Juan Theron

Master stroke that killed any chance of Chennai victory : Omission of Sreesanth

Next match : Vs Rajastan Royals on 24.03.10

KXIP Vs DC - Review

2010-03-20T20:58:00.003+04:00

So, its turning out to be a horrendous start to the campaign for the Kings XI Punjab as they lose their 3rd match in a row. The situation is not as worse as we may think purely because of the fact that we still have 11 more games to go before the knockout stages begin. But the fact remains, we still haven't gelled together as a team and some of the seniors require a decent kick in the ass just to wake them up and to start performing.

The new ball bowling is becoming one of the major worries right now. Sreesanth, so typical, excellent in the first match, getting worse in the next two. I don't know if there is any other cricketer who can be consistently inconsistent as Sreesanth can be. There might be something going on with his mindset otherwise how can he be performing like this?. The absence of Brett Lee means that there is no fire power in the fast bowling department. Irfan Pathan is far from his best and Yusuf Abdulla is also under performing.

But still Punjab did well in the second half of Deccan's innings and kept their total to 170 bearing in mind that at the half way stage the score was 100/1. But the thing which puzzled me was why on earth Irfan Pathan wasn't bowled out when his bowling figures read 3-0-16-1. Yuvraj Singh did a fine job with the ball by containing Deccan and picking up crucial wickets. He ended up with figures of 4-0-21-2.

Chasing a score of 171 all Punjab required was a steady and quick start to their innings which was exactly what they didn't got. One of the last match's bating hero Manvinder Bisla got run out for 0. The worst was yet to follow, Chaminda Vaas, still out of Sri Lanka's limited overs plans, castled his national captain Sangakkara for a duck, an the look on Vaas' face after that read exactly like this..."Am I still not good for it captain...?".

Yuvraj Singh is another guy with an indifferent mindset these days, for the 3rd consecutive match he failed with the bat and soon after Jayawardene, Barath and Bopara also followed with the score reading 68/6. Irfan Pathan and Piyush Chawla hang around for a while but no one was expecting what happened from over number 16. Chawla got out 1st ball and after that, Irfan sent RP Singh packing with 4,6,6,4 and the match suddenly came alive. Gilchrist persisted with RP for another over in which Irfan whacked another six and a four. It all came down to the last over where 19 runs were required to win the game. With Irfan on strike I had a realistic hope for Punjab, because he was middling all the big hits with ease. Gilchrist took a gamble by giving the ball to Jaskaran Singh who hadn't bowled so far in the match. The gamble paid off immediately as Irfan smashed the length ball straight into Symond's throat at deep square leg and that was the end of that.

The fast bowling and the top order batting (Except Ravi Bopara) are in deep shit. If Punjab wants to string some victories under their belt, they have to do something about it, and quickly too.

KXIP Vs RCB - Review

2010-03-19T07:36:00.006+04:00

The 3rd season hasn't started well at all for the Kings XI as the lose their 2nd consecutive match. This time to the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

If the batsmen were a worry in the first game, it was vice-versa this time around. After winning the toss and batting first, Punjab got a dream start courtesy of their openers Ravi Bopara and Manvinder Bisla as they put on 129 runs for the 1st wicket in 14 overs. Both openers made exciting half centuries. The stage was set for Yuvraj Singh to come and blast his way into form, but unfortunately for the Kings he failed for the 2nd successive game. Last minute cameo from Mahela Jayawardene took the team past the 200 run mark and at the end of 20 overs Punjab scored 203/3. Considering the good quality bowling against the Delhi Daredevils, To be frank, I had a very realistic hope of a Punjab victory during the innings break.

But unlike the 1st game Punjab couldn't get early wickets to put pressure on RCB, after taking their time to settle, the RCB openers Manish Pandey and Jacques Kallis launched the attack against the lackluster Punjab bowlers. But the real tornado was yet to come. With an innings that turned the match on its head, Robin Uthappa smashed 51 runs from just 21 balls after the openers put together a partnership of 74 runs in 8 overs. Sreesanth was slaughtered for 25 runs in his first over of his second spell and that was the decisive blow for Punjab.

Even though Uthappa got out after his half century he had almost done enough to make sure that RCB will cross the line. And then there was still the towering figure of Jacques Kallis to take RCB home. After watching Kallis playing in this IPL, I wonder how he was once left out of the South African T20 squad with a reason that he was too slow for this format.

For the Kings it was a chance lost to have their first points under the belt. The bowling was rubbish except for Piyush Chawla. To win their next game they want both their departments on top of their game.

Next game :- Vs Deccan Chargers on 19.03.10

KXIP Vs DD - Review

2010-03-13T19:57:00.005+04:00

It was always going to be a tough battle for the Kings XI when they took on a side which probably has the best batting line up in the tournament and one of the hot favorites to win the cup. Even more tougher considering the fact that Punjab couldn't field couple of their inspirational overseas stars due to injuries.

After some confusion regarding the 'Heads' and 'Tails', Gautam Gambhir won the toss and decided to field first. He might have made that decision due to a couple of reasons, firstly he had full confidence with his star studded batting line up to chase whatever total Kings XI might put up and secondly the dew factor which may make gripping the ball very difficult bearing in mind that Punjab has got two spinners in Chawla and Powar.

Putting into bat Punjab didn't help their cause with their top order batting. When three of your major players (Yuvraj, Sangakkara and Jayawardene) all together contributed 21 runs the writing was definitely on the wall for the Kings XI. Bopara played beautifully for his half century, but apart from him only Irfan Pathan and Sreesanth made double figures in the rest of the batting line up. To challenge the batting line up of Delhi a score of 142 was never going to be enough unless there was quick wickets in the second half.

And quick and big wickets indeed they got in the 2nd over of the Delhi innings. Sreesanth made a dream start to his spell by taking out Sehwag and Dilshan in his first over. He utilized whatever assistance there was available in the pitch and had his lovely out swinger going. (If only he was more consistent with his bowling in all formats of the game would be what Indian fans will be hoping, talent was never a question for him). But once Sreesanth was taken out of the attack after his initial spell (3-0-15-2), Delhi started to up the tempo. Gautam Gmabhir, in his first match as captain kept a cool head and never really allowed the run rate to climb alarmingly. Eventhough he lost AB Devilliers by a run out, he got good company first in Dinesh Kartik and the best one in Mithun Manhas.

The main spinners of Punjab were disappointing. Piyush Chawla went for 24 runs in his 3 overs. Even worse was the performance of Ramesh Powar. He came into bowl when the situation was nicely poised with Delhi needing 58 runs in 42 balls. He leaked 16 runs and that virtually shut the door for Punjab's quest for victory. When Irfan dropped a straight forward chance of Mithun in the first ball of the 19th over and the equation showing 17 to win from 12 balls it was all over for Punjab. 13 runs were scored of that over including a lovely inside out six from Gambhir who was suffering from cramps the previous over. Eventhough Gambhir got out in the final over he had done enough to make sure that Delhi wins the game.

Plus points for Punjab :-

Apart from Bopara's batting and Sreesanth's bowling, nothing else.

Concerns for Punjab (eventhough it is the 1st game) :-

Back up seamers, Star batsmen's contribution, catching and run out attempts.

Could have tried :-

Irfan Pathan opening the batting with a license to swing.

Next match :- vs Bangalore Royal Challengers on 16.03.10

Interblogactic IPL Wars - Be with the Punjab Kings

2010-03-10T20:46:00.005+04:00

So the IPL is around the corner and so is the 'InterBlogactic IPL Wars'. Latecomers please see it here

As most of you may know I am supporting the Kings XI Punjab and will be writing articles about them before and after their matches. They were my favorite team from the 1st edition itself. I was disappointed with their performance in the 2nd edition. But I am sure they will make their supporters proud with a good display this time around. We have got a new captain in Kumar Sangakkara and lets hope that will change the fortunes of the team around.

There is still no clarity as to whether Brett Lee will be available to play. If yes that will be an excellent addition to the bowling attack. I like to see the fast bowling department handled by Lee, Sreesanth and Pathan. Shaun Marsh also is nursing an injury which will be a blow to the batting especially considering the way he played in the 1st edition. But we have enough fire power at stock with Yuvraj, Sanga, Jayawardene, Kaif, Katich and Hopes to name a few.

Let the IPL 3.0 begin....and join hands with me to support the 'real' Kings of IPL.

No more 'LEE-THAL' weapon in whites...

2010-02-23T20:43:00.005+04:00

So finally the day has come for Brett Lee to hang up his whites. He has realized that his body cannot take anymore pounding from the demands of the 5 day games. It was a perfect example where your mind keeps you going for another couple of years but your body letting you down. Personally for me it was sad as I really liked this bloke very much and I loved him with the red cherry in his hands. He was not the typical Aussie fast bowler with raw aggression and having frequent eye contacts with the batsmen with a long follow through. He was such a nice and soft guy in the field. Even when the going was getting tough he always had that trademark smile in his face.

I still remember the sight of Steve 'Tugga' Waugh unleashing his surprise element in the boxing day test match against India in 1999. There were 4/5 overs to go before lunch and there you saw the young bowler with a smile on his face preparing for his first ball. Even before his debut there was all sort of hype in the air about him being on of the fastest bowlers in the world. Therefore, I kept glued to the television to catch him in action from his very first ball, in fact I can even remember the speeds of his first two deliveries he bowled in his opening over which was 133 and 143 Ks and I watched with admiration as he started to touch the 150 and above mark quite frequently in his spells. I still has his first wicket in my memory which he took in his second over by clean bowling the Indian opener Sadagoppan Ramesh who, even though got an inside edge was clearly beaten for pace. It was also great to see some of the banners in the crowd which said 'LEE-THAL' weapon and 'unB.LEEvable'. The whole world knew a star was born.

11 years, 76 tests and 310 wickets later, Binga has decided to call it a day from the tests. I was following his rehabilitation news in Cricinfo regularly after his latest injury. He was trying very hard to overcome the injuries and to get back his position as the strike bowler for Australia in all formats of the game. Unfortunately he had to come into terms with the fact that his body cannot withstand the pressure of 5 day cricket.

I have seen many people putting comments in the articles about Brett Lee's retirement from test cricket saying that Binga and Freddie doesn't care about test cricket and they want to make money through the easy way from T20's and IPL. Before making these sort of comments people should realize the amount of pain Lee has been through over the last year, he made numerous comebacks and every time when we thought he is back in full throttle he breaks down again with another injury. A number of things might have gone through his mind before he reached the decision. Yes, he is a cricketer, but most importantly he is a husband and he is also a father. He definitely has to consider life after cricket bearing in mind that he is already 33. So why would he have to risk his body and possibly the rest of his cricketing career by trying to play test cricket. It is sad, but you have to take into consideration the situation of the man himself. Just imagine if you were him and think what you would have done in the same scenario.

Looking back at his test career, I definitely think he was a bit of underachiever especially in the following areas.

Number of 5 wicket hauls in an innings
Not even a single 10 wicket haul in a match
Was never able to pick more than 5 wickets in an innings
Bowling average was over 30 runs per wicket

But he was a champ nevertheless, my good friend Ian will definitely agree with me.

We will miss you Binga in the whites......

Still a lot of grey areas despite innings victory...

2010-02-19T13:35:00.003+04:00

India has beaten South Africa comprehensively in the second test to retain their No:1 ranking in test cricket. Although the victory is worth celebrating, things are not looking too rosy when you dig deep into the facts and figures.

The biggest problem by the look of it is the replacement planning for the 3,4 and 5 batting spots in the team. What this series has shown is that India still doesn't have a decent contingency plan to replace the likes of Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman. This great trio is in the twilight of their illustrious careers and if they are going to call it a day on a similar time period, that will be huge. Also, considering the fact that No:6 spot is not yet cemented means, once the stalwarts quits, the batting line up will be very fragile indeed.

With respect to Badrinath, although he scored a scratchy 50 in the first test, he didn't look like a test match material. He was all at sea while facing Steyn in the 2nd test, wasn't sure whether to play on front foot or back to his in cutters / swingers. Vijay too has a weakness at his off stump and SA pacers exploited it too.

Agreed Harbhajan won us the test match with his bowling but where is the consistency factor?. No one knows which Harbhajan will turn up on the match day. Now comes the worst news of all, Zaheer Khan is nursing an injury again, which means the test pace attack for the time being is left with Ishant Sharma (out of sorts) and Sreesanth (out of control).

The selectors have their work cut out........

A lesson to learn

2010-02-09T20:29:00.003+04:00

Well, the boasting about the No:1 ranked team in the world has well and truly received a beating at Nagpur. India may have reasons for the defeat (Absence of key players, injuries on the morning of the match, forced debuts...), but the fact remains they were completely outplayed in all the departments of the game.

Dale Steyn perfectly worked out the weakness of the Indians against the off stump channel bowling and reverse swing. Gautham Gambhir's twin failures were rare given the sort of form he was having in the last 18 months or so and the funniest part is that it came at a time when India desperately didn't need it. Middle and lower order were completely exposed to Steyn and Co and the absence of Dravid and Laxman were really felt. Although Tendulkar and Sehwag scored centuries they threw it away at a time when they should have really done an Amla or Kallis.

The hot and cold nature of Harbhajan Singh is not going to help the matters for India either. When both of your specialist spinners are going to have off days in Indian pitches the result will be a mammoth score for the opposition. Zaheer was the best of the lot on show while Ishant again struggled. It still puzzles me why the Indian pacers can't work out decent pace with the new ball or old ball especially considering the fact that they had earlier shown us the ability to bowl in the mid 140 Ks. If Kallis with his jogging run up and injury concerns can hit more than 140 Ks regularly, what on earth is wrong with the Indian seamers.

May this test prove to be an eye opener for many and lets hope they will learn from this disaster and bounce back at Eden Gardens

Interblogactic IPL Wars

2010-02-01T21:36:00.005+04:00

By now most of you might knew as to what I am writing about. If not please see it here

It is quite a creative and dynamic thinking by the Paddle Sweep blog owner Ankit to have this Interblogactic IPL Wars between 8 people who support their unique IPL franchisee. When I got the invitation through Ankit and Kirby Meehan who writes in Thoughts from the dustbin, I was very excited to be participating in this IPL war of a different kind. And to add to the excitement, my favorite IPL team Kings XI Punjab was there for my taking (in fact it was the only one left).

So obviously I am excited and looking forward to commencing the war of words.

Cheers everyone and good luck...

Are they not getting bored....???

2010-01-10T08:04:00.003+04:00

I am referring to India Vs Sri Lanka...I was reading a preview of todays match between India and Sri Lanka in Cricinfo and this thing came up....

"You heard it right. India and Sri Lanka are playing an ODI. Again. For the 21st time in less than 19 months. Not even a final. Nor has this been a back-and-forth rivalry that the marketing gurus might be interested in milking"

Seriously...are they not getting bored of playing each other....???

Source :- Cricinfo

Bring in 'BOOM BOOM'

2010-01-07T07:53:00.002+04:00

A lot have been said about the tremendous effort of Pakistan to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory at the SCG. No other team in the world can do this consistantly like Pakistan do.

As I said a lot have been written about Mohammed Yousef and his extra-ordinary field placings on the 4th day. I don't know how a man of this much experience can be idiotic like that. With respect to Mike Hussey, here was a man who was under pressure and trying to get a ton to secure his place in the team and on the other end was a number 10 batsman who hasn't shown much batting potential in his career. The field placings by Yousef for them were very very hard to digest. There was the situation where any captain (attacking or non-attacking) would definitely go for the kill..but not Yousef for some reason.

From his short tenure it is now clear that captaincy is not his cup of coffee. Pakistan really need someone young, someone with the killer instinct and someone who can really keep the energy level of the rest of the team up. With Younis Khan out of favour, the best thing that can happen for Pakistan now is to somehow get back Shahid Afridi to the test team and give the captaincy to him. He is an aggressive person by nature and we have seen his captaincy skills in the Twenty20 format (although test cricket is altogether a different ball game). He has shown he is a natural aggressive leader and has a cool head on his shoulders. Most importantly, he has led by example.

The other huge benifits of Afridi in the side is his fielding and of course his bowling skills. He has matured exceptionally as a leg spinner in the last 2-3 years and that will be a huge advantage for the team. His aggressive approach to the batting will also be a bonus for the team.

C'mon Pakistan..."Bring in BOOM BOOM" and see the rest falling into places.

Happy New Year 2010 and my Wishlist....

2009-12-29T12:08:00.006+04:00

So, we are almost through 2009, I would like to take this oppurtunity to wish everyone a 'Happy and Prosperous New Year 2010'

My wishlist for 2010:-

I wish the countries play more test matches

I wish there will be good sporting wickets everywhere to make the balance between bat and ball right

I wish the number of Twenty20 games are reduced and meaningless tournaments were stopped

I wish India will maintain their No:1 ranking by playing good test cricket outside the subcontinent

I wish there will be no more 7 match ODI series

I wish ICC buy a new backbone (even a plastic one) and fix it this year

I wish the cricket broadcasting in India will become 'Ads between cricket' rather than the 'Cricket between Ads' which is happening currently

I wish the commentators also should have an Elite panel like the umpires coz I am sick and tired of listening to stupids

I wish there is no 'overkill' of cricket which will result to player fatigue, injuries and premature test retirements

I wish Sachin, Dravid and Laxman still playing at the end of 2010

I wish Zaheer, Sreesanth and Ishant to become the best pace trio India has ever produced.

Achieved it....now Sustain it...

2009-12-08T09:08:00.005+04:00

Yep...I was pointing to India's first ever entry as No:1 in the ICC world test rankings. It has been a long and hard fought journey which ultimately took them to this.

For a long time (especially in the 90's) India was only considered by the rest of the world as 'Only good at winning tests at home' and were 'poor travellers' which was absolutely right when you look at the stats. They were even struggling to win a single test match away, let alone series. They were even beaten by Zimbabwe in a test match in Zimbabwe. Even the craziest of Indian cricket fans dare to hope for an Indian victory while they were travelling. But things began to change (slowly) after the millennium for Indian Cricket and especially after the appointment of Sourav Ganguly as the captain.

In Ganguly India got an attacking captain (unlike his predecessors) who lead on the field by instinct. The home test series win (one of the very best in the history of the game) against Steve Waugh's all conquering Aussies in 2001 gave the much needed self belief for the Indian team to kick start their turn around in away tests.

Over the last 7-8 years India has won away test series in England, West Indies, NewZealand, Pakistan and drew the series with Australia in 03-04 (which they nearly won). The 'poor travellers' tag has been well an truly taken away from them. They have now got a fabulous team to make sure that they will keep that position for a lengthy period.

In Sehwag and Ghambhir they have finally got a settled and destructive opening pair in the forms of their life. I have no doubt in my mind that if they continue like this they will become the most successful opening pair for India in the history of tests. At 3,4 and 5 they have got Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman who are all modern day greats and would easily walk into any team's middle order with their experience, flair, brilliance and the stats to back them. The only grey area in the batting is at 6 where Yuvraj (a modern day ODI great) is feeling his way into tests in the slot vacated by Ganguly's retirement. At 7 they have got their flamboyant skipper Dhoni. Coming to bowling department the best ever thing that has happened for India over the last 4-5 years have been the emergence of good, young, quality fast bowlers. In Zaheer, Sreesanth and Ishant they have got good aggressive fast bowlers who can reap them rewards while touring places like Australia, South Africa, England, West Indies and NewZealand. In Harbhajan Singh they have got a world class spinner too.

But to show the world they are 'REALLY NO:1' they have to definitely win test series in Australia and South Africa. But now we are seeing how badly tests are scheduled for India. Only 2 tests (that too against Bangladesh) in the next 10 months. This is what drags us back...just been crowned as No:1 test team and they have only 2 tests to play in the next 10 months.

Anyway Congraats to the Indian team for becoming No:1 in the ranking but with still lot to do to sustain it.

STOP THE OVERKILL....please..

2009-11-04T14:47:00.000+04:00

The cricketing world is now really facing the consequences of ‘Cricket Overkill’. A team like Australia which is renowned for the physical fitness of its players is now struggling to put together 11 fit players in the field. The injury list comprises of Clarke, Bracken, Haddin, Ferguson, Lee, Hopes, Siddle and the latest casualty is Henriques. Many are still playing with niggles. If the scheduling will go like this for some time, we may be seeing most of the teams playing with their second XI as all the first choice players will be nursing injuries.

The amount of cricket played these days are mindboggling, tournament after tournament after series after series. Many of them are just meaningless extravaganza like the IPL and the recently concluded Champions League. I hate and feel pain to say this as a cricket fanatic…but the truth is...”Cricket is becoming boring for me” with all these nonsense going around. I have been watching cricket for the last 18 years with great passion. But since the last 2 years I really don’t have the same passion for watching cricket.

When will the cricket boards in the world or for that matter ICC will understand the consequences of cricket overkill. I don’t think they will ever understand it or even if they understand it they will turn a blind eye to it. The people who are sitting in these higher authorities have only one aim…Money, and they have people like Lalit Modi who can organize any number of meaningless tournaments (with the back up of BCCI) and can earn millions of dollars. Why should they care about the fatigue of a player when their primary target is nothing but money.

Too much of cricket will drive the biggest of cricket fans crazy. Nowadays one series finishes and the next day another series commences. Its not only the players who needs a break, the poor cricket fan also needs a break. If he doesn’t get it he will naturally end up beginning to hate the game. Another worrying aspect is the scheduling of 7 match ODI series. This is way too long for an ODI series. The ODI series between two countries should be only 3 or a maximum of 5. More than that is definitely overdoing.

I can see that the public is definitely losing the interest to watch the game from what I see from the current India – Australia series. Earlier it would have been a packed house anywhere in India for an ODI regardless of whether India is playing or not. But now we are struggling for full houses for India – Australia series.

I hope the ICC had the courage to stop the overkill of cricket and by that stop the top players retiring from cricket at an early stage. But then again, all hopes will not come true…isn’t it….??

Oops...they did it again....!!!

2009-10-21T10:58:00.007+04:00

So the Indian team for the first two one dayers against Australia has been announced. For me it doesn't quite look like a completed jigsaw puzzle. Still feels there are gaps in it. Let me go in detail as to what my feelings were with regard to the squad selected.

The 'Dravid' essay

Not the kind of way to treat a cricketer (especially if the guy has scored over 20,000 runs in International cricket and is a modern day legend). In one of my earlier posts I had questioned the re-inclusion of Dravid to the ODI team. If that decision was a surprise, the way they kicked him out was really shameful. Still can't figure out what the selectors were aiming by this drama. It seems neither Dravid nor the selectors knew what role he should play in the team. Performance wise Dravid didn't do badly either. Really, this whole episode could have been avoided. The most perplexing part is that the selectors haven't stated any reasons as to the omission of Dravid from the team.

Fast bowlers

As expected R.P Singh's woes with the ball has cost him his place in the team and I thought they should have given a break to Ishant Sharma to allow him get refreshed and recharged. I was a bit surprised that they didn't give a chance for Sreesanth to return to the team. He was out of the team for the last one and a half years due to the stress fracture. Recently he was playing for Warwickshire in English County cricket and also played the Irani trophy for Rest Of India and he seems to have regained full fitness and was a also in good form except for the Challenger trophy. Attitude problems apart he is really a wicket taking bowler (59 wickets in 41 ODIs and 50 wickets in 14 tests) and India could have utilized his services with Zaheer Khan missing and Ishant out of form. Munaf Patel has made a come back and it will be interesting to see how long he will go. As is the case with Munaf he always makes comebacks to the Indian team with strong domestic performances and each time he fails to sustain that momentum at international level. Sudeep Tyagi has earned a maiden call up due to his good consistant performance in the Challenger trophy and I hope he can deliver the same for India.

Spin bowlers

Harbhajan and Mishra retained their spots which meant there is still no place for Pragyan Ojha which is hard to digest considering the fact that he was a steady performer in the matches where he was given a chance.

Batting

As expected Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag are back from the injury lay-off and that is great news for cricket fans. They are undoubtedly two of the best ODI players in the world. Yusuf Pathan was rightly dropped following his prolonged slump. But it was a bit surprising to see all the other youngsters (Kohli, Raina, Jadeja) kept their place despite their inconsistent performances recently.

To conclude with, the selection still left with more questions than answers and the way the Indian selectors tackle these issues didn't help the matter either.

Indian Pace battery needs a re-charge

2009-10-05T10:31:00.006+04:00

Its been a while since I wrote an article in my blog. The reason - Myself and my wife had gone to India for a month long holiday and had little time in between to write something. But I have been following my regular blogs and watching the cricket on TV as usual. I am back in the UAE last week and it has again proved that the best atmosphere to write a blog is when you are in the office. (I hope none of my superiors are following my blog).

As an Indian cricket team fan, I was naturally disappointed seeing the way our team performed in the Champions trophy. There are so many reasons told for the poor showing such as absence of key players (Yuvraj, Sehwag, Zaheer), the pathetic show of the pace battery and so on...For me it was the second reason which really felt as genuine and I thought why not put my thoughts about it as an article.

Apart from Ashish Nehra none of the other two pacers (Ishant Sharma and R.P Singh) bowled with sense. Both of them in the past had proved that they are capable of bowling in the high 140s consistantly. But here they were even struggling to reach the 130 mark...!!. Both didn't had any rhythm at all in any matches. Especially in the crucial game against Australia (which was later washed out) Ishant Sharma was appalling. Dhoni brought him back as soon as Ricky Ponting arrived at the wicket hoping that he can again bowl a magic spell to him as he has done in the past. But guess what happened, he served long hopes to Ponting which he duly put for boundaries and got the start he wanted.

Zaheer Khan's experience was sorely missed and the Indian think tank has to do some home work as to the structure of the pace bowling department prior to the commencement of the Australia series. Ishant and RP Singh has been below par for some time now and they have to be replaced with the likes of Munaf Patel, Sreesanth, Irfan Pathan....Getting a break will do them a world of good and it will help them to get back refreshed and recharged.

Is India utilizing Irfan Pathan correctly...???

2009-08-23T14:18:00.004+04:00

There was a bit of shock for many people (including me) when they heard that Irfan Pathan was not included in the Champions Trophy squad. Considering the all round abilities of Irfan it was a bit of a surprise to not see his name included in the squad. The selectors may have their own reasons behind it.

Here is a guy who many believe is the next big thing happened for India after Kapil Dev for that special category - The All rounder. He is not just a 'Bits and pieces' one day player. He has shown his class in the test arena with the bat and ball and he has got a very good record in all forms of the game to back him up. Yes we know he had a confidence let down earlier and was sent back in the middle of a tour. But for me this is a guy who has got special talent and he should be persisted with. He is a pretty nippy customer while on song with the ball with those big inswingers (who can forget his first over hattrick against Pakistan). In the batting he has proved his verstility (especially in the ODIs) where he has batted successfully at the top, middle and lower order. Even if he is promoted for pinch hitting he will not just swing the willow wildly. He has got a certain assureness with his batting and will surely pounce upon anything loose from the bowler.

He has got age in his side and surely will become better and matured with more games under his belt. The BCCI should realize the value Irfan Pathan brings into the team and should give him a long run in the team in all three forms of the game.

Return of 'The Wall'

2009-08-17T09:58:00.009+04:00

It seems that this is a season for the 'Return of veterans'. First there was the heated discussion topic of whether 'Ramps' has to be included in the England team for the final Ashes test. Thankfully the ECB dismissed those claims and are rightly giving the chance to Jonathan Trott. The next one in the line is the inclusion of Rahul Dravid in the Indian ODI squad. Lets have a detailed look into that.

The inability of the young Indian batsmen to cope with the rising short deliveries were really visible in the World Tewnty20 and the ODI series in the West Indies. By bringing in Dravid who is one of the best technicians of playing fast bowling, the selectors are hoping to get the calming re-assurance that was so desperately missing in the young Indian middle order. But for every action there will be two sides. Lets see the other side of it.

Dravid last played an ODI for India in 2007 and in the last couple of years the Indian ODI team were in a re-building phase and they were doing it very well. The record for the Indian ODI team in the last 2-3 years are very good. Unlike the past teams, they were consistant performers at home as well as abroad. The likes of Dravid and Ganguly were axed from the ODI team for grooming the youngsters and that process was working fine. I agree there are still room for improvement in the batting department with regard to facing the fast short pitched bowling at bouncy tracks. But as a team they were able to overcome the deficiencies and that is what their record shows in the last 2 years. Another important aspect was the improvement in the standard of fielding with the entry of youngsters in the team. So, just because we lost in World twenty20, do we have to call back Dravid to the ODI team.

I am not at all against Dravid as a player as he is surely one of the greatest batsman India has ever produced. The only thing which perplexes me is his re-inclusion to the ODI team which was already performing well for the last 2 years. One can understand his inclusion if the batsmen as well as the whole team were failing. But that is not the case here, even if someone is having an off-day the others in this team are capable to lift their game to cover the weak link and that is why India has got a very good record in ODIs recently. Also Dravid is not a long term solution as he is already 36 yrs old.

To conclude with I personaly feel the inclusion of Dravid to this young and energetic Indian ODI team could have been avoided.

Ramps.....??? Not again.....please

2009-08-11T16:29:00.006+04:00

There is a serious talk happening in English cricket with regard to bringing back Mark Ramprakash to the line up for the 5th and final test match at the Oval. It is really hard to believe England cricket is down to this level to talk about calling back a 39 year old who haven't played test cricket since 2002.

I agree Ramps is making tens and thousands of runs in County cricket, but he was given chance to play 52 test matches, yes 52, and he could only manage an average of 27 with 2 centuries (He averages double, 54, in first class cricket). Those days also he was playing brilliantly in county cricket and making tons of runs. So why now there is a talk to bring back a man who is 39 years old and has proven to be a failure in test cricket.

There is a definite change of class between the English county level and International cricket which people like Ramps and Graeme Hick (Another county bully) failed to cross even with so many opportunities. If a guy cannot prove himself in test cricket by the age of 32 after getting a chance to play 52 tests, can someone please explain me how on earth he can turn it around at the age of 39...?????

If ECB picks Ramps for the final ashes test that will definitely be a step in the wrong direction. For me as a genuine cricket lover I would rather love to see a chance given to a guy like Jonathan Trott to go and perform against a fired up Aussie pace attack.