Yet Another Cricket Blog

Is Indian Cricket in struggling??

2006-12-08T21:40:00.000-08:00

Just as things seem to be going well for Indian cricket ........... Over the recent past there were many upheavels mostly off the Field. After a success pak series Indian coach John Wright called it a day and the former Australian great player Greg Chappell took on the coaching responsiblity. First it was the Ganguly the new coach having issues, then after matters were settled with Ganguly gone and Dravid taking over the captain reigns, some promising new commers on the side in the like of Dhoni, Indian cricket was sailing smoothly, but for injuries keeping Sachin, Zaheer and Harbhajan out of the team for periods of time.

Most recently the Sehwag's removal as vice captain and departure of the "Wall" from scene due to injuries. India has turned back to the likes of VVS Laxman and Ganguly. Not to forget the terrible form Sehwag is in, India seems to be struggling. By no means undermining the ablilty of fine players like Ganguly and Laxman. They along with Sachin and Dravid during the hay days have given even Australia the run for their money. The memorable innings that VVS played at Kolkata to win the match was the iceing on the cake. That team looked likely to win the World cup last time.

The Indian team that played well the during the last World Cup, did poorly to say the least this time in the one day series which recently concluded in SA against them. Different cricket pundits have their opinions! The clean sweep of the ODI series......... By no means SA's game play can be undermined. Hmmmmmmmmm

The last time right before the World Cup India toured the South African subcontinent and played much to the disappointment of the Indian cricket fans! But came back with a Bang during the World Cup. Will history repeat itself! Only time will tell what is in store for Indians in 2007 World Cup in the caribbean islands.

Sri lanka hosts Indian Oil Cup Triangular one day series.

2005-07-30T22:14:00.000-07:00

The cricket teams for the Indian Oil Cup being played in Sri Lanka are as follows:

Sri Lanka

Marvan Atapattu (captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Russel Arnold, Dilhara Lokuhettige, Upul Chandana, Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa, Farveez Maharoof, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dilhara Fernando, Lasith Malinga, Pradeep Jayaprakashdaran.

India

Rahul Dravid (captain), Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Venugopal Rao, Jai P Yadav, Mahendra Dhoni, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Ashish Nehra.

West Indies

Shivnarine Chanderpaul (captain), Ryan Ramdass, Xavier Marshall, Sylvester Joseph, Runako Morton, Narsingh Deonarine, Denesh Ramdin, Omari Banks, Tino Best, Daren Powell, Jermaine Lawson, Ricardo Powell, Kerry Jeremy, Dwayne Smith, Deighton Butler.

The First match

Each team plays the other team twice and the final cricket match will be played between the top two teams. Though all teams are capable of winning the Cup, the odds favors the home team. The first cricket ODI match was a low scoring match between India and Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka won the cricket match by 3 wickets and a couple of overs to spare. Without Ganguly and Sachin the Indian team batting is not as strong. But the bright side of this is a few youngsters get to prove themselves or show their talent. In the first match India failed to capitalize on the absence of Vaas and Zoysa. As usual Murali did the most damage, India scored a mere 205/9 in 50 overs, with Dravid the only player scoring a fifty. Both Kaif and Yuvraj did not contibute, Shewag was also dismissed cheaply. VVS Laxman's absence ( out due to injury) also did not help India's cause. Venugopal Rao and Suresh Raina got a break, and V Rao did well to score 38 ( 74 balls). Though Sri Lanka were in a bit of bother at 112/5, Jayasuriya turned things around for Sri Lanka to win the match, scoring 43 (50 balls). With one win Sri Lanka have now a good start to the tournament. India plays West Indies on the 31st and have to put on a good show to stay competitive.

Cricket World Cup 2007 in the West Indies

2005-07-20T20:36:00.000-07:00

It all seems too fresh, I am refering to the Cricket World Cup 2003 hosted by South Africa. The India vs

Pakistan match, the Kenyans going beyond the first round, and of course the India v Australia Final match, in which the Australians beat India fair and square. Well the next Cricket World Cup is here! Played every four years, this time is going to be the hosted by the West Indies in 2007. Even though it is too early to start speculating or predicting about the chances of different teams taking the Cup home, it is worth while to look at where things stand now. The World Cup groups are given in the table. The venues for the cricket matches are Kingston Jamaica, St Lucia, Trindad & Tobago Antigua, Guyana, Grenada and Barbados. The hosts play Pakistan in the opening match of the tournament (Group D) at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica on 13 March. The final will take place at the Kensington Oval in Barbados on 28 April. Each team plays the other in the four groups. The top two teams from each group will advance to the Super 8 stage where teams will play each of the remaining teams - except the team that advanced from their own group. The top four go to the semifinal and then the top two will play the final. Also interesting to see based on past performance and the group team composition, Group D seems the most competitive, with West Indies, Pakistan and Zimbabwe. Group B is also a tough group to be in with Srilanka, India and Bangladesh. Group C has some competition too with England, New Zealand and Kenya as the strong teams. Group A looks all for Australia and South Africa to go to the Super 8 stage. All the Cricket Fans around the globe would be certainly looking forward to this event in the Caribbean.

Australia Carries Natwest Challenge

2005-07-20T20:35:00.000-07:00

Australia beats England in the next two cricket matches to win the Natwest Challenge. Down 0-1 they beat England by 7 wickets in the 2nd cricket match. In the 3rd cricket match Australia beat England by 8 wickets. Starting of with a 1-0 lead England lost to the Aussies 2-1 in the Natwest Challenge. The Star performers for Australia were Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist with the bat and Brett Lee with the ball. Brett Lee took 5/41 (man of the match) restricted England to a score of 223-8. Flintoff scored 87 his score highest against Australia. Ponting (111) shared a third-wicket stand of 120 with Damien Martyn, who was 39 not out as his side reached a target of 224 with six overs remaining. In the Final match Gilchrist scored a match winning century of only 101 balls.

Final Scores 2nd cricket match Australia won the toss and decided to field England 223 for 8 (50.0 overs) A Flintoff 87 (112) B Lee 41/5 Australia 224 for 3 (44.2 overs) Ponting 111(115).

Final Score 3rd cricket match Australia won the toss and decided to field England: 228-7 ( 50.0 overs ) K P Pietersen 74 (84) J N Gillespie 44/3 Australia: 229-2 ( 34.5 overs ) A C Gilchrist not out 121(101).

England Beats Australia lead 1-0 in the Natwest Challenge

2005-07-08T00:45:00.000-07:00

England beat the Australians

comfortably in the first of the three cricket match Natwest challenge one day series at Headingley. Trescothick with the bat and Collingwood with the ball saw the hosts through comfortably to victory. England won the toss and put the Aussies into bat. The overcast cloudy weather in combination with some good bowling effort restricted the Aussies to a mere 219-7 in 50 overs. England replied with 221-1 in 46 overs only. Thus winning the cricket match by 9 wickets. This match also had for the first time the full substitutes and the power play overs. England went for Solanki, opting out Jones in the 31st over of the Australian innings. While Australians brought in Hogg (the only successful Aussie bowler) for Mat Hayden in the 22 over of the English innings. Both teams played the power play overs between 10-20 overs. Well, for fans looking for some excitement because of these new rules would certainly have been disappointed; since it did not change the cricket game in any dramatic way.

The Aussies sent into bat by the English captain Vaughan, went of to a good start (62-0) with Adam Gilchrist a quick 42 of 51 balls including 4 fours and 2 sixes. However all this changed with wickets tumbling quickly starting with Gilchrist then Hayden, Ponting, Symonds and Clarke falling cheaply. This put the English well in control of the match with Australia in trouble at 120-5. Australia could not recover from this middle order collapse, even though Hussey and Damien Martyn batted with lot of courage to bring Australia to a respectable total. Collingwood was the pick of the bowler ending up with 4/34 of 10 overs. Harmison, Jones and others bowled well to restrict the Aussies. To add insult to injury the Aussies dropped Strauss at only 1. Trescothick had a bit of luck his way having caught of a no ball of Lee. The rest is history as Trescothick (104 *) , Struass (41) and Vaughan (59) saw the English to the finish line beating Australia comfortably. England is now 1 up in the 3 match Natwest Challenge Series.

One day Cricket match will try out new rules

2005-06-30T20:32:00.000-07:00

Even though Cricket is a game which you could consider to be "conservative", it does have its own share of experimentation and evolution. Why am I referring to "conservative" here ? To put things in perspective; it is a game where the "body of cricket" is traditional, in trying to preserve the evolution of the game. Even though the shorter version of the game (One day match) has soured in popularity, many critics (who happen to be the cricket pundits and former cricketers) have trouble accepting this. Another area, is the use of "technology", with TV instant replays and Hawk-Eye (a system which tracks the path of the ball and then predicts its trajectory had it not been intercepted by the batsman), only recently was a third umpire allowed to look at close decisions and that too in a limited way (review run outs mostly). Umpires are humans after all! For many, use of technology seems to take away the credibility of the umpires. For some introducing these new "unknown" gadgets seems to be polluting the "game of cricket". If one looks at the "LBW" rule of the game (which has changed over the years) has a very complicated set of guidelines ( if I may use this word here), that ultimately the decision hangs in the "eyes of the umpire" only. The bigger version (test cricket) of the game has bearly evolved over the years. Imagine former cricket players used to be injured, since they were "not allowed" to wear protecting head gears many years ago. There are many who have been disabled because of this. I am sure the reader if not convinced before reading this, should now be convinced about why I used "conservative" in the beginning. So much on this sub topic.

Recently, two new rules would be experimented in the one day Natwest Finals between Australia and England currently in progress. For those who have not heard about this yet, the 15 over field restriction would be reduced to 10 overs in the beginning of the innings, then the fielding captain could choose to implement the restricted field twice (5 overs) anytime in the remaining overs of the match. The other new rule is the 12th player (substitute) who is allowed into playing the game, anytime of the game. These changes are being considered to make the match more exciting since many consider the game less exciting in the middle overs of the match where teams are mostly defending their wickets instead of scoring runs. Hmmmmm.............. interesting changes! Some pundits are already against this since they some how think this is "Americanizing" the game of cricket. Looking at these new rules, how is this going to change the game. Well since the captain and/or team think tank will be making the decisions, they could go either way. Looking at it from purely the entertainment point of view, the chances of these rules making the game more entertaining is good. Team selection now would be a very different ball game not only because of the 12th player, but teams with more attacking middle order and seven batsmen would become more common. It also makes the "toss" much more vital in influencing the outcome of the match. However if teams choose to use an extra bowler (12th man) as in the case of India, they usually play 7 batsmen and 4 bowlers with Dravid behind the stumps, it would bring an interesting balance. It also would encourage more all rounders to emerge since a 12th man (all rounder) could be good choice for many captains who would like to play it safe and not want to speculate on the outcome of the toss. Even though if these new rules could be used in a positive way which could potentially make the game more interesting, there is always a chance of teams misusing this. Teams could use this to cover up for out of form batsmen, or not so good fielders, or simply swap players out who are just having a bad day in the field. I would think the success or failure of this especially the 12th man change, would greatly depend on how the majorty of the teams put them to use.

Every one is entitled to their opinions, while some choose not to comment on these types of changes and allow things to play out. There are others who want to focus on the positive changes, while some say "don't fix it if it ain't broken". Many others support trying out new things. Will these changes become an integral part of the one dayers? Would the "conservative" "body of cricket" would resist this from the word go and ultimately seal the fate not giving this enough time? Whether these changes would make the game more interesting? Or whether the new rules get shelved due to its unpopularity or not generating the expected excitement, only time will tell. Whatever the outcome, hey! I say "you simply don't know until you try it!"

Natwest Series in England for the year 2005

2005-06-27T18:16:00.000-07:00

The Ongoing Natwest triangular series at England between the hosts, Australia and Bangladesh has spurred lots of interest, predications and comments from the cricket pundits. Seeing the line ups of the 3 countries one would be tempted to predict a one side match with Australia beating both their opponents by huge margins and Bangladesh struggling to keep their face or is it! If we look at the where the teams stand as of now; England leads the table with 4 wins and 1 loss, the aussies are second with 2 wins and 2 losses. And the Bangladeshi's with 4 losses and a win are out of the finals at Lords, to be played on July 2nd.

Mohammad Ashraful is elated

The Most interesting fact was the Bangladeshi win at Cardiff where Bangladesh won by five wickets wow! The other highlight is the return of the England team with just one loss. Much of the focus has been on the Aussies loss; the next day headlines read something like the following:

"Bangladesh humble sorry Australia" BBC . "Australia are now officially in disarray," The Guardian "Disgraceful on the field. Disgrace off it," wrote The Sydney Morning Herald. "The most embarrassing defeat in our sports history" Sydney's Daily Telegraph.

Ponting's remarks after the match was also along similar lines which is as follows : "This is probably one of the biggest upsets in the history of cricket and my worst defeat as captain. "If this doesn't shake us up, nothing will," Ponting commented. But focusing on the positive side of this outcome, full marks to the Bangla's for a superb performance. This was truly a great moment for them, beating the number one cricket team is not an easy feat. The Aussies put up a meager total of 249-5 in 50 overs, thanks to some sensible bating by Damien Martyn. The Bangladeshi's bowled well to restrict the Aussies; with Tapash Baisya's superb bowling and bagging 3/69. A Superb century knock from Mohammad Ashraful ( 100 runs of 101 balls ) saw the Bangladeshi's to victory. Well done Tigers, a close cricket match against India which almost went their way and now beating the world champions.

Even though the Aussies came back strongly in the next match beating Bangladesh at Old Trafford by 10 wickets, it remains to be seen how Australia would perform in the next matches, especially the finals at Lords. The English have been on a roll with only one loss; their confidence running high. Some pundits say the following: The English team is what the Aussies were a few years ago young, competitive and talented. If England wins the final at Lords it would be certainly a turning point for the Australian and English cricket. Watch out Baggy greens!

An exciting finish to Kolkata cricket match

2005-03-21T01:26:00.000-08:00

Rahul Dravid does it again

India v Pakistan is one of the most popular among cricket matches. These matches are tough and competitive. Remember the India v Pakistan match played during the world cup (2003), this match was rivalling very close to India v Australia (Finals) in popularity. For those who consider test cricket to be slow and not so exciting, I have news for them. If they watched the recently concluded Kolkata match, I am sure they would reconsider their opinion.

Rahul Dravid "The Wall" as he is popularly called scored centuries in both innings ( 110 and 135 ) and joined the elite club of world cricket having done this twice. There were 4 centuries scored in the match, 2 by Rahul Dravid, one by Younis Khan and the other by Yousuf Youhana. The 7 wicket haul by Kumble in the 2nd innings was also a highlight of the match.The test match finally which India won by 195 runs had its share of a typical India Pak excitement. The first day of the match ended with India 344-4, Sachin passing the 10,000 run milestone. Though the first day belonged to India, Pakistan came back on the 2nd, they bowled out India for 407 adding only 63 runs to the overnight score and losing 6 wickets. To add insult to injury Pakistan batted well ending up with 273-2 with Youhana and Younis scoring centuries. The match seemed to be in Pak's favor at this point of the game. But on the third day India did well getting Pak all out for 393 and scoring 133-3. The game seemed to be open at this point. The day 4 saw Dravid scoring his 2nd century (in the same test) and a fine knock from Kartik. India eventually got to 407-9 decl. Now Pakistan had a steep target of 422 to win the match and the way Shahid Afridi was playing, Inzamam, Youhana and others yet to come, anything seemed possible. But the last day was Anil Kumble's day with a match wining 7/63. Pakistan were bowled out for 226. Harbhajan, Balaji and the others bowled well. Though India is 1-0 up in this series, Pakistan will fight back strongly in the last match at Bangalore which starts in a few days.

More Cricket for Tsunami Relief

2005-01-23T21:27:00.000-08:00

After the overwhelming success of the World XI and Asia XI match, more charity matches are being played for the relief effort. Cricket moved from MCC to Christchurch this time, where most recently the first of the three one day match series between World XI ( not the same players as the last one though ) vs NewZealand concluded. NewZealand thumped the World XI to a resounding victory. After bowling out the World XI cheaply ( 158 in 39.3 overs ), NewZealand XI blasted 160-1 in only 16.1 overs. The magnificient 106 of 57 balls (9 sixes and 10 fours ) being the highlight of the match. Murali's magic hitting the low point after being bashed for 57 runs of only 3 overs. Even though this wasn't as star studded as the previous cricket match, still had many of cricket's greats playing for the Tsunami relief effort. The World XI was led by Shane Warne with Jayasuriya, Craig Spearman, Sangakkara, Graeme Hick, Rhodes, Klusener, Harvey, Streak, Vaas and Muralitharan. NewZealand was led by Steven Fleming. NewZealand played mostly their international players. Though this three one day series raises far less compared to the previous match, it is the coming together of the cricket players from all over the world which is commendable. Way to go!

World Cricket stars play for Tsunami Relief

2005-01-10T21:18:00.000-08:00

Cricket and Tsunami - don't go well together! One filled with lots of excitement, the other spelling gloom. However a great many of cricket's best were all under one roof at the MCC to raise a whopping 14 million Aus dollars towards the Tsunami relief fund. With Ricky Ponting's entertaining 115 of 102 balls and the World XI's massive total of 344 for 8 ( in 50 overs) contributing the lions share - the pledge was 1000 Aus dollars for every run scored and 50k Aus dollars for every six. Though the outcome of the match does not have much relevance, it must have been a treat to watch all the big's (no Sachin) in action. Lara, Chris Cairns, Dravid, Shewag, Murali, Warne, Vettori ..... the list goes on. Though the Asia XI's (232 all out) looks a pathetic loss, kudos to Ganguly and Ponting's teams for raising money for such a good cause, could not have come at a better time!! A feather in the cap for world cricket for putting up such a good show. Not to forget the Melbourne cricket fans (about 70,000 showed up) and the millions of cricket fans watching the match in over 112 countries. The auctions of the player outfits, coin used in toss and other goodies will provide an icing on the cake. As many others stunned by the Tsunami disaster, I would like to believe that this and other magnanimous gestures by many all over the world will make a huge difference in the lives of the millions affected by the natural disaster. It is also heartening to see people of different race, color and nationality come together.