Cricket Unlimited

3rd Test between India and Srilanka - 4th Day Review

2009-12-05T13:08:00.000-08:00

Finally Sangakkara has played a good hand. But, i am afraid this innings will not save the test match for Srilanka.

Maximum it may make India bat again to score a paltry 50 odd runs for the victory. But, the spirit shown by Sangakkara is good and he was determined to correct his mistakes made earlier.

Referral system will destroy the beauty of the cricket. Players do get out for negative decisions and thats part of the game. The time between the appeal of bowlers and response of the umpires will add tension to the match and thats the kick of the cricket.

However, India is just one day ahead of becoming official world number one in the ICC cricket ratings for the first time in the history. All the best for Team India and they fully deserve this.

3rd Test between India and Srilanka - 3rd Day Review

2009-12-05T13:00:00.000-08:00

Again the entire 3rd day belongs to India. Some good batting and Dhoni's intelligence added to the woes of Srilanka.

Dhoni's century is adding salt to the injury as he completed his century with the help of number 10 batsman. When OJHA has arrived to the crease, Dhoni hit only 50 runs. But, with the help of OJHA he could complete his century.

Murali was little relaxed after claiming Sehwag's wicket. India posted a very big total on the score board and its interesting ball game on the 4th day.

3rd Test between India and Srilanka - 2nd Day Review

2009-12-03T15:22:00.000-08:00

What to Write and How to write ? How can i explain what i have witnessed today ?

Absolute slaughter and carnage. That's Viru "Sehwag" at his best. What a blast. He completely and single handedly has dominated the entire proceedings. The Lankan bowlers were tired, but would have thoroughly enjoyed the batting of Sehwag. After all they are also human beings and would have loved the innings of Sehwag.

On his day, Viru dominates anyone and the same happend. 40 Fours and 7 Sixes. 202 runs scored in boundaries. Amazing. It means, he has scored 202 runs in just 47 deliveries.

Viru is on the verge of another record and has taken India an inch closure to the world No.1 position in test Cricket in the ICC rankings. Hats off to him.

Let us hope today, he will erase all the batting records.

3rd Test between India and Srilanka - 1st Day Review

2009-12-02T04:25:00.000-08:00

Another good day of Cricket. Both teams share the honors at the end of the day. But with Herath's wicket, the momentum is towards India.

Lanka could not properly capitalise on the opening stand provided by Dilshan and Pranavitana. It could have attained a better position, if they manage the opening stand properly.

Sreesanth looked unsettled in the first spell, but in the second, he was again into good rythem. Zahir is a bit disappointing in this series. I am some how not convinced with OJHA. He looked more like a one day or T-20 bowler, who looks to contain more, rather than attack and taking wickets.

But, India must be feeling reasonably happy with the way things went after the opening stand. Interesting day ahead tomorrow. It is also interesting to see how Murali and Herath bowl on this wicket.

2nd Test between India and Srilanka - 4th Day Review

2009-11-27T01:00:00.000-08:00

Thumping 100th Victory for India.

They fully deserve it. An innings and 144 run victory could be the sweetest one.

Batsmen should be given credit for this win. Bowlers did their bit, but its completely batsmen who turned this game on for India.

Comeback hero Srisanth fully deserves the man of the match award.

All in all, nice victory ahead of last test in Mumbai.

2nd Test between India and Srilanka - 3rd Day Review

2009-11-26T12:05:00.000-08:00

Srishanth all over again. What a bowler he is !!! May be little immatured in his conduct, but on the field he is really good. This bowling performance of him reminded me his bowling against South Africa in South Africa. On a spinner friendly wicket, his bowling was excellent. Late swing, reverse swing, yorker, slower delivery, in swinger, out swinger he bowled every delivery. The delivery he bowled to get rid of Herath was classic.

Another beauty got rid of Dilshan in the second innings. This time a classic out swinger.

Srilanka after being preventing India from scoring more than 700 runs, should blame themselves for the current situation. None of the batsman, particularly in the second innings showed application. The pitch is not worst to loose 4 wickets. Particularly Sangakkara's dismissal showed he was disappointed with the suicidal run out of Mahela.

All in all, Champion performance by India. Hope to see Inida victorious tomorrow by tea.

See you soon

Bharadwaj

2nd Test between India and Srilanka - 2nd Day Review

2009-11-26T00:29:00.000-08:00

Good Play by India. Except the anti climax.

India's batting collapse was really not good but the damage for Srilanka has been done. Pitch started turning and bouncing. Herath's last spell spoke about this. His 5 wicket haul is the good news for Indian spinners.

The wall once again played like the wall. Nothing much to say about. Yuvi and Laxman given them self some more batting practice and helped them selves with another half centuries.

Interesting day's play ahead on day 3. Let us watch out.

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2009-11-24T13:46:00.001-08:00

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2nd Test between India and Srilanka - 1st Day Review

2009-11-24T11:09:00.000-08:00

Nice, Decent batting performance by India after a shaky start. Sehwag once again proved why he is a dangerous player once again. After getting the life in the first over, Sehwag never looked back.

Gambhir is playing the best cricket of his life. The excellent catch was needed to close his innings and the same happened.

Mr.Wall put another half century in his account and Tendulkar looking good for another 50 if not 100. All in all its a nice day for India.

It will be interesting to see how this Kanpur pitch behaves on 2nd Day evening to 4th day morning. No forcasts yet, but pitch may get slow.

Never the less, good performance by Indian batsman. Thanks to them, Indian innings reminded one day cricket today. Congrats to Veeru and Gauti for their 200 run opening partnership.

1st Test between India and Srilanka - Final Day Review

2009-11-20T13:50:00.000-08:00

At last. The obvious has happen.

Both teams fight like champions, and match ended in the best way. DRAW is the most suitable option here. But Srilanka has to blame themselves than any one becuase they have allowed India to fight back when India were 32/4.

Sachin helped himself with another well played Century and Laxman helped himself with another half century.

On a dead track there was nothing assisting to the bowlers. Ravishastri remarked during his commentary that "on this pitch, another 3 days match is possible".

It will be interesting to see what pitch will be available in Kanpur.

But, team India fought well and congratulations to them. Congratulations to master blaster for completing another batting record and reaching 17000 run mark in test cricket and reacing 30000 runs in International Cricket.

1st Test between India and Srilanka - 4th Day Review

2009-11-19T13:15:00.000-08:00

Hmmmmm..........

Just another day of Cricket. Nothing exciting except India's fight back. The loss of Rahul Dravid must be disappointing for Dhoni and Co. But, thats how it goes.

Jayawardane & Jayawardane made batting look so easy on a dry pitch. But, the wicket of Jayawardane would have given some confidence to Amit mishra at last and that confidence helped him in his batting as night watchman too.

Sehwag once again disappointed all. On a perfect batting track he lost a golden opportunity to add another test century to his profile which is for the taking. He should again get into the habit of making big scores. He should not satisfy with meager half centuries.

Anyhow, it is a real "test" for Indian batsmen resiliency and i am hoping to see them defend the match with success.

Lets keep our fingures crossed.

See you tommorrow.

1st Test between India and Srilanka - 3rd Day Review

2009-11-18T07:13:00.000-08:00

Total Dominance by SriLanka. Mahela Jayawardane, SriLanka's Mr.Wall has palyed sorry, playing another beautiful innings.

Agreed that, the pitch is now batting paradise, even then, the determination, concentration and command are simply superb. Probably, Yuvraj should take one or two leafs out of this innings and should learn how to play long long innings.

Another Jayawardane also was giving good support to Mahela. Ishanth and Zaheer bowled their heart out there, but without result. Lack of support from Bhajji and Mishra on a turning track made them helpless.

All in all, its a magnificient performance by Sri Lanka.

Congratulations to them.

1st Test between India and Srilanka - 2nd Day Review

2009-11-17T06:47:00.000-08:00

Another Good Day of Cricket.

Curators and other cricket experts like Ravi Shastri and Rahul Dravid already mentioned that, this will be a good batting surface on day2 and day3. And it is indeed.

Dilshan and Paranavitana made good use of absolute batting surface but having said that, come back bowler Zaheer Khan bowled a brilliant starting spell with Ishant. Both bowlers bowled very well. Its only the presence of mind of batsman helped them to survive.

Dilshan palyed well after taking time to settle. His innings went like a one day innings. On the other hand, Paranavitana also played a good knock for the opening stand. Dhoni's brilliance saw the partners separated.

But, again Dilshan built a good partnership with Sangakkara and the pitch went on assisting the batsman. The bounce was true and the ball was coming on nicely to the bat. So, batsman played without any difficulty.

Zaheer Khan at last got rewarded for his good bowling by knocking off Dilshan and Sangakkara in quick succession.

Its only Harbhajan who should re think his bowling strategy. He is a full time bowler who can bat a bit, but he is not a batsman who can bowl a bit. To add, he is the strike bowler. His job is to take wickets but not to bowl economically. If he do not think properly on his bowling, his career may suffer like Irfan Pathan.

After the set back, Jayawardhane ensured that, Srilanka did not loose any wicket. But all in all, both the teams are in a good chance to take the lead in this match. Interesting day ahead tomorrow.

See you all after the match tomorrow......

Who said test matches are boring ?

2009-11-16T06:52:00.000-08:00

I never understood why people say test matches are boring !!! Test match is the real form of Cricket. Don't believe it ? Look at the day's play between India and Srilanka.

The proceedings were dominated by Srilanka early in the morning. Both pace bowlers were bowling dream spell and the much famous Indian Top Order collapsed. 34/4 in the first hour of play after the end of first 8 overs.

I was recollecting the recently ended one day between India and Australia where India were 27/5 before 10 Overs.

But, Dravid and Yuvraj have other intentions. Dravid as usual stood like a wall, and come on, how many times he dashes the hopes of opposition captain with his batting ? Dravid was classy and Yuvraj was aggressive. Both amassed the runs in their own style, but what is good to see is the healthy run rate that India has maintained.

Dhoni was once again exceptional and carried on from where he left in the series with Australia. His batting has reduced the pressure on Dravid and both were playing comfortably as if they were in the Nets. The attitude of Indian players today was worth seeing. Dhoni totally deserved his century today, but was out when he could make more.

After two good partnerships, India reached to 385/6 in 90 overs with a good looking run rate of 4.27 by the end of first day's play from 34/4 in Eight overs.

Todays play has shown complete excitement of test Cricket. India, by the end of the day is on TOP. Tomorrow entertainment is guaranteed with Bhajji still on the field.

Today's game also saw two players achieving mile stones. Dravid has past 11000 run mark in Test Cricket and Dhoni finished his 2000 run mark. Congratulations for both of them.

Can't wait for tomorrow.

Join me tomorrow for the continued review.

Total disaster by India

2009-11-08T08:28:00.000-08:00

If a team loses its first 5 wickets in the first 10 overs of the match, there are absolutely no hopes to recover. The same has happend in Guhathi One day International.

Batsman know that, the conditions are bowling friendly. All the batsman have tonns of experience. Even after that, they palyed like school kids in this match. A team which is No.2 in world rankings, should not have played the match like this that too in a must win situation.

The close defeats earlier in the series have costed India the series. This is one of the typical bad day, but after saying that, the day is not too bad to be 27/5 in first 10 overs.

Praveen Kumar is sensational batting star in this series. He is turning out to be very useful number 9 batsman. Much more 50s are awaited from his bat. He really made his much hyped batting stars ashamed.

There is nothing great in Ponting's captaincy. He just have won some crucial tosses like in Hyderabad. One life time performance of a bowler has turned it off for India for which, India should blame it self.

I really dont understand the reason why Raina and Yuvraj are still in the team. As long as the Ego continues, Yuvraj will suffer a lot. Raina should think better than T-20 format. Veeru's lack of touch also proved costly for India.

All in all today is just another bad day which has costed India the series. But this series has helped One Day cricket to survive for atleast another 2 years as it is.

Is Dhoni's Captaincy is the cause to loose series ?

2009-11-08T08:19:00.000-08:00

Dhoni must blame himslef rather than anybody for this series defeat.

The following are the crucial errors committed by him by which India has lost the series.

1.Opting to bowl in Mohali after winning the toss. India has eventually lost the match on a batting paradise.
2. Opting to bat on a bowler friendly conditions in Guwahathi. Even though, its majorly batsmen mistake, Dhoni would have rather choosy.
3. Dhoni should have batted at No.3 in Mohali where Gambhir was not playing.
4. Ishanth sharma was coming back to the form, removing him and selecting Munaf was a big mistake.
5.He could not encourage batsman to play aggressively. Today's innings of Praveen Kumar must be an eye opener for him.
6. He should have controlled the emotions of Bhajji. He should have asked Bhajji to play according to the situation. In Hyderabad, his duck out has contributed to India's defeat.

What do you say readers ?

Its My Space: My Travel to Luxor - Part 5

2009-11-05T12:39:00.000-08:00

Its My Space: My Travel to Luxor - Part 5

Almost lost

2009-11-05T12:34:00.000-08:00

What a match ..........

What a thrilling encounter ...............

India might have lost ...........but Cricket was the true winner.

Batting Maestro unleashed. Vintage Scahin almost won the match for India single handedly. Praveen once again nearly won it for India.

So shame on Australia.........once again was nearly lost. This match reminded me the match where Australia could not defend 434 against South Africa.

Look at the way both teams have won. India made 354 in Nagpur on a batting surface and restricted Aussies to 255. Today, Australia made a similar score and nearly lost the match.

So shame on world champions. They must feel sad for their performance. I could not stop laughing imagining Ponting's face even though i was travelling during India's batting. My father was sending me SMS of the updates from India.

Just yesterday Ponting gave a statement "we have restricted Tendulkar". Today he would have understood that, no one can stop Tsunami. A runs tsunami.

Once again Hatts Off to India. Shame on Aussies that they nearly lost this match.

Sachin - What an Achievement

2009-11-05T12:28:00.000-08:00

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar !!!! Cricket God !!! Another Broadman.

What an Achievement sir !! Hats off to you and cudos.

17,000 One Day runs in two decades. A remarkable achievement. Wounderful achievement. Sachin made every Indian proud of him.

In today's match he did every thing to see India victorious. But, God is so cruel, gave him the joy of record but also gave him the sorrow of defeat.

But, over the last 20 years same commitment, same passion, same love towards the game. As a fielder, bowler and Batsman. His bowling feats are also remarkable. He was known as man with golden arm.

Sachin and all Indians should thank Ramakanth Achrekar and Rajsingh Dungarpur for coaching and selecting him respectively.

But it is also true that, Ganguly, Dravid and Kumble always gave him a confidence with their play also. In later years Sehwag has taken off lot of pressure from him.

But, what ever it is Tendulkar is a batting dictionary. He gave a new shape to Cricket. Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Abdul Qadir, Shane Warne, Paul Strang, Henry Olanga, Shoiab Akthar, Brett Lee, Allen Donald, Shaun Pollack, Ian Bishop, Pattrick Patterson, Walsh, Ambrose, Chaminda Vaas, Muralidharan ask any bowler about him. The moment of pause from them is enough to measure this batting gaint.

Its a good learning to all how he was out of controversies over such a long career. Never ever he was in to any controversy. He wrote a letter to all his neighbors to say sorry for creating disturbance as he was constructing a new home. Such humble he is.

Once again congratulations to this master of cover drive.

Good Show by Australia

2009-11-02T09:11:00.000-08:00

Hmmmmmmmm...............

They almost lost it. But, won it.

I should say that, its a good, decent performance by Aussies in the fielding and with the ball. They have not missed even a single chance. The brilliance of Ponting was clearly seen in the run out of Yuvraj.

For me, its the turning point of the match.

When Sehwag started the innings, it never looked like a impossible total but once Sehwag was out, it was an uphill task.

Virat Kohli never looked like a number 3 player, but Dhoni would have been right option at that point. Sachin was too slow yet again and he was out again, when he was catching up with the momentum. Unfortunately, its a bad decision too from the Umpire.

But, the game really slowed up after the dismissal of Yuvraj and Dhoni was too slow. Raina should have played little aggressively to over come the pressure of wickets. The margin is only 24 runs and still 20 + deliveries in hand. It was get able, if a batsman would have played till the end, but unfortunately it was not the case.

Earlier, India did very well to restrict Aussies for 250, when they looked like going towards 300 very easily. Jadeja looked good with ball in his hand. Yuvraj too.

But once again, Bhajji and PK were creating headache to Australia. Shane Watson was extremely lucky to take the catch of Bhajji. The ball just got sticked in to his hand.

But, in this series its good to see the fight from tail enders. It really indicates that, Australia has tough days ahead.

Ponting gone MAD

2009-11-01T08:33:00.000-08:00

Ricky Thomas Ponting has gone mad with India once again.

India repeatedly has become a thorn in his flesh. In the first match Bhajji and PK completely destroyed the morale of Punter and his army. The remaining was sweeped by Dhoni and Raina in the next match.

Now, Ponting has gone mad. So, he has not played Shan Marsh, where he should have played him. The pitch was slow and Indian side is full of slower bowlers, in this case playing extra batsman would have been a wiser decision.

Is Ponting afraid of Shan Marsh ? Actually by any case Marsh is not a threat to Ponting. Then why this cat and mouse with Marsh ?

The defeat in the 3rd match also would definitely raise questions on the leadership abilities of Ponting again after the loss of Ashes. He somehow succeeded in winning the Chamipion's trophy. If he lose the current series, Cricket Australia should seriousely think about Leadership change. But, unfortunately, CA has no alternative at least for another season.

1983 world cup moments

2009-10-29T05:28:00.000-07:00

10 Points about David Shepherd (Umpire) - A tribute

2009-10-29T02:53:00.000-07:00

1. David Robert Shepherd born on 27th December 1940.

2. He stood in 92 test matches as umpire and officiated three world cup finals.

3.From 1965 to 1979, he played for Gloucestershire.He has scored 12 centuries and 55 half centuries, with a top score of 153 and completed 10,000 first class runs. He scored 10,672 runs with a batting average of 24.47 and played 282 first class matches.

4. Married a woman called Jennie in 2008, who was his long time partner.
5.in 1981, he has entered into his Umpiring career.
6.He had a superstition for the Nelson numbers like 111, 222 etc

7.Retired from umpiring in 2005.
8.Awarded by Australia and New Zealand teams.
9.He has awarded with the "Most Excellence Order of the British Empire" in 1987.

10. Passed away on 27th October 2009.

Australia lost Again - Review of 2nd one day

2009-10-28T13:10:00.000-07:00

What a complete loss................

Ha ha ha ............ the so called champions. The so called pressure takers. The so called winning experts. The so called "Best Captain" ?????

Australia lost again to India. In the first one day, if bowlers almost won the match for India with their batting, its now batsman's turn with the bat. What a comprehensive performance !!! In this match, India outplayed Aussies in every single department of the game. Batting, Bowling and even for that matter Fielding.

The first mistake that the best captain has made was choosing to field first. Since, Australia was not playing Brett Lee in this match, they should have batted first on an absolute batting track, should have tried to put up huge score and tried to put India under pressure straight away. If Australian bowlers are worried about the dew factor, its better to stop playing cricket and sit in their homes. For International players, dew should not be a concern.But, the Best Captain has other intentions.

Another decision taken by the best captain is to play Shan Marsh on 7th number. Marsh is an expert opener and Paine is the make shift opener. Its like, playing Sehwag on 7th number and opening the innings with the likes of may be Harbhajan or Jadeja.

When Indian innings was going, Ponting has not even tried to put pressure on the partnership of Gambhir and Dhoni when they were taking singles at will. Out of 119 run partnership, only 24 runs were conceded in boundaries, all the other runs came in singles and twos. Still they were able to establish the partnership in 114 balls. This was the turning point of the match and the best captain did absolutely nothing about it.

So, my suggestion to team Australia would be to stop thinking about comparing Ponting and Sachin and predicting who is best among those, and concentrate on their game. Other wise they may loose again (3rd time in the series) as a result of the century made by Ashish Nehra.

The final score line of the second one day : India 354 / 7 and Australia 255 All out

Big Aussies Lost.

2009-10-25T15:06:00.000-07:00

Australia lost.

Yes. I am talking about the first one day at Vadodara. Australia has lost. I am not jocking.................Australia may have won the match but again lost as a team.

The rational behind this thinking is not just the on slot of Bhajji and Praveen but there are several other aspects. People may say that Australia has hold its nerve. No. Its not.

But, in fact Australia has lost its nerve the moment it saw Bhajji punishing them. Did any one saw the 49th over that Shane Watson bowled??? One of the best all rounders of world cricket bowling to tail enders. Did he forget his basics or what? It seems Aussies are not really comfortable agian with Bhajji. This time he frustrated them with his bat too. Have you seen the Field settings in the last 7 overs ? Come on Ricky.......give captaincy to Mitchell Janson.

But this excellent knock from Bhajji and PK should teach some lessons to the top order players. As a matter of fact, Suresh Raina must give way to some talented cricketer may be like Manish Pandey.

Ishanth Sharma again fired with ball against Aussies. Its good to see that some players develop interest playing against Aussies.

I said Australia lost because their failure to convert the score to 300 + runs. The last over of Ishanth was phenomenal. The recklessness and arrogance shown by Aussie bowlers during the last 7 overs almost made them loose the match also. They infact need more than discipline. Ricky Ponting as a captain again failed to capitalize the moment with a big win. If given players like David Hussy, even a 70 year old grand mother will also captain Australia team. For that, Ricky is not required.

So, Aussies should concentrate on winning like champions but do not look to sneak through a back door. They should remember that, luck always will not favour them like it did in the 50th over of this match.

Ultimately, some one has to win and some have to loose. But Hats off to team India again for making Aussies (so called Mental Disintegration specialists) to fear and making the match an eventual thriller.