Monthly Archives: April 2008

Tendulkar in WC2011 and other news trivia!

Posted on 9 April 2008 by | 5 Comments

Tendulkar, in an interview with a TV channel, has hinted at hoping to fulfill a dream of winning the World Cup. WIll he be present at the WC 2011? I would personally like to see him perform on home soil and help raise the cup. In the same interview, Tendulkar has also somewhat surprisingly claimed that Nasser Hussain, in his opinion, has been the most inspiring captain. Nice pat on the back for a great competitor and certainly one of my favorite commentators.

The match fixing saga continues. Thanks to Shoaib’s claim, the ICC is back at it again. Per his allegations, India and South Africa continue to be in the picture, no surprises there! I thought I was joking when I made the comment of match fixing playing a part in the Ahmedabad test. I still think that is the case, however, I am not sure match fixing is a story of the past.

Gavaskar is at it again. He has sharply criticized the Indian team for being terrible catwalkers! It seems that the Ahmedabad test has been a terrible distraction for them from being able to “walk the walk” at the IPL team launches. His accusations of the attitudes of certain players, if true, is certainly appalling. Having said that, Gavaskar is, well Gavaskar!! There has never been a better politician in cricket than the little master himself.

On an absolutely trivial note, Laxmi Ratan Shukla should feel proud with the decision he took to remain a “legal” player. Sometime back, Shukla joined the ICL and pulled out when Bengal offered him the captaincy. Ever since, Shukla has not only lead the team’s revival but played an important part by performing well especially in the one day variety. Shukla, who was once touted as India’s next Kapil Dev, may still hope to make it to the Indian team.  Meanwhile, Saurashtra’s workhorse, Sitanshu Kotak, helped his team through to the final of the Vijay Hazare trophy by beating Vidharba to meet Bengal. Bengal had earlier beaten Mumbai in the other semi-final.

More news trivia as they trickle in and catch my eye,

Srikanth

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Bad loss

Posted on 6 April 2008 by | 11 Comments

What a bad loss. Being beaten by an innings and 90 runs – that too at home – It’s gotta hurt. Not just the fans, but it must hurt the team members too.

India needed to bat out of their skins to save the game, but they didn’t. Sehwag started with a couple of sixes, but left in a hurry. When Dravid got out, the writing was already in the wall (pardon the pun). Jaffer went soon after and then it was left to Ganguly and Laxman to stop the slide. They started putting on a partnership and as it happens so frequently, Laxman got out against the run of play with his score in the thirties.

Ganguly and Dhoni tried to prolong the inevitable, but a poor umpiring decision put an end to Ganguly’s innings. Dhoni scored a fighting fifty and Pathan chipped in with some runs, but India was well and truly beaten.

India have made a lot of progress in the last year or so – one big loss shouldn’t take that away from them. But they seem to play better when they are the underdogs. The favourites tag doesn’t sit well with them – every time they are pronounced the favourites in a tournament or match, they seem to put in  a poor performance. I don’t think anyone would consider them to be the favourites in this series anymore…

In the series so far, Kumble hasn’t been his usual self and the fast bowlers have been ineffective. Ishant Sharma’s inclusion should boost the bowling. But it was the batting that let India down. The decision on whether to go with the extra bowler as they did in this game or pick Yuvraj as an additional batsman is going to be tough one. Will have to wait and see how this one unfolds.

But it is time for India to forget this match, regroup and try to level the series in Kanpur. India may be ranked No. 2 in the World, but at the moment they don’t look anything like the second best team – not by a long shot.

-Mahesh-

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India vs RSA :: 2nd Test :: 2nd Day

Posted on 4 April 2008 by | 7 Comments

Whenever India plays cricket and there is no TV coverage, I feel disappointed on having missed out. After India’s capitulation under one session yesterday and the beating they have taken on the field since, I am actually a bit glad for once that I am not watching the game.

It is highly unlikely that after conceding 418 runs lead (and counting) that India can save this match. I am sure a lot of Indians are praying for some kind of miracle. Well, we definitely need some divine intervention to save India from an innings defeat. There are still 3 full days left in the match and I can’t see India playing out a draw.

Watching the South African score, it is pretty clear that there were no demons on the pitch. If there were any demons, it must have been on the minds of the Indian players – how else can you explain losing all your wickets in under 20 overs in a test match?

South Africa are sitting pretty at the moment. Their top order has had plenty of batting practice and have scored runs by the truck loads. In their 3 innings so far they have aggregated close to 1300 runs – and we haven’t been able to take 30 wickets in 3 innings so far. Except for Prince, every batsmen in their team has scored runs. Of their bowlers, Dale Steyn has been outstanding taking 9 wickets in the two innings he has bowled.

India on the other hand are a far cry from the team that beat Australia in Perth. The bowling has looked ordinary and the fielding – well, the less said the better. But the most worrying thing is the batting, which is supposed to be its strength. Agreed India scored over 600 runs in the 1st test – but more than half of that came from the bat of Sehwag. You take his score out, and India would have been in big trouble in Chennai too.

There have been some notable failures and we can’t afford any of them in the second innings. Ganguly has to lift his game. He hasn’t scored too many runs since the Sydney test. Dhoni has done well in the shorter form of the game, but is averaging just 17 runs in his last 10 Test innings. He has to lift his game too.

Laxman has been amongst the runs, but he needs to learn how to control the strike when playing with the tail. Sadly, It is probably too late in his career to learn to do that. In Tendulkar’s absence, he was rightfully moved to No.4, but lasted just 7 balls. Hopefully, he can do a lot better in the second innings. 

We need Sehwag and Jaffer to get a good opening partnership and Dravid to hold the middle order together. I am not under any false pretence that India will save this game – all I want them to do is to put up a good fight and play for some pride.

-Mahesh-

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Ten tabloid headlines for India’s failure!

Posted on 4 April 2008 by | 9 Comments

1. Match fixing takes over again

2. Prior information on pitch influences Tendulkar pulling out.

3. Dhiraj Parsana’s revenge for not being considered as India’s left arm spinner

4. Gary Kirsten reveals team weaknesses to country men

5. Paddy Upton hypnotizes the Indian batsmen to a depressed state

6. Irfan Pathan is threatened by the hindu fundamentalists in Gujarat, affects Indian team morale. 

7. The IPL bugle sounded, Indians ready for competition

8. Too much infighting within the team – seniors vs. juniors, Harbhajan vs. Sreesanth, Sreesanth vs. Dravid, Sreesanth vs. Sreesanth, Yuvraj vs. Deepika and on and on.

9. India fell short of a good score of around 400 by one innings, no one scored 300 this time.

10. People complained of the Chennai test as slow death, Indians demonstrate instantaneous death!

 - Srikanth

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No joke this one

Posted on 3 April 2008 by | 11 Comments

I knew the match had started, but was away in a meeting. What is going to happen in one hour, right? Nothing spectacular, I would imagine. When I got back, I went over to CricInfo to check the scores. Imagine my surprise (shock!) to see India on 56 for 8 – that’s right 56 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in the 16th over! For a brief moment, I even hoped CricInfo was trying to pull a late April fools joke on us.

Surely the pitch can’t be that bad. Will have to wait and see if India even end up crossing 3 figures. This is one match that is likely to yield a result and it won’t favour India for sure.

-Mahesh-

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Posted in Cricket, India, South Africa, Test cricket

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India Vs RSA :: 2nd Test :: Preview

Posted on 2 April 2008 by | 5 Comments

After playing out a laborious, painful and drab draw in Chennai, India and South Africa move to Ahmedabad. Of the three locations for this series, Chennai was most likely to produce a result. Now that that hope was buried I am not holding my breath, awaiting the results of the Ahmedabad and Kanpur Tests. Then again, the BCCI has pulled some surprises in the past and I for one would be most happy to be horribly surprised once again! Matches like the one we had in Chennai are bound to grind Test cricket to the ground in India, as Jamie Alter says on Cricinfo.

Sachin Tendulkar is not playing in this next Test. So that should give the team and opportunity to move Sourav Ganguly and V. V. S. Laxman up the order. This would give them an opportunity to play another bowler. My bet would be on Irfan Pathan playing instead of Sachin Tendulkar. The team would then need to decide on whether or not it wanted a mildly fit and listlessly lethargic R. P. Singh or the spin option of Piyush Chawla. I’d go for the latter. Although there is grass on the pitch, the Motera track has assisted spinners on days 3-5 of Test matches.

This would then give the following Team India: Sehwag, Jaffer, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman, Dhoni, Pathan, Chawla, Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Sreesanth

After his splendid innings at Chennai, the South Africans are wary of Virender Sehwag. They have decided to target Sehwag with short stuff aimed at his rib cage! Not a bad ploy particularly if the South Africans are able to bowl rib-cage stuff from around the wicket. After all, Sehwag has shown his ability to handle anything short and outside off-stump! South African coach, Mickey Arthur, indicated, “We had a look at Sehwag’s fantastic innings. He cuts the ball very well but we saw he played his first pull shot only after scoring 312.“

It would be interesting to see how Sehwag copes with this approach.

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Posted in Cricket, Cricket Teams, India, South Africa

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Shock announcement – Tendulkar retires from Test Cricket!

Posted on 1 April 2008 by | 8 Comments

After withdrawing from the second test due to injury, Tendulkar made a surprise announcement today that he is retiring from Test Cricket. He said that although he still enjoyed playing the game, his body had taken a toll and it was time he retired from the longer version of the game.

Fans in Mumbai and the rest of India were shocked at his surprise announcement and have urged him to reconsider.

He said that he will continue to play for India in the the ODI series and lead Mumbai in the IPL Twenty20 Championship. BCCI supremo Sharad Pawar has also urged Tendulkar to reconsider, although it is unlikely that he will. BCCI has also announced that they are  planning a grand farewell for him in Ahmedabad, where the second test is due to start.

Follow the links:

Thanks for the memories, Sachin. We will surely miss you.

-Mahesh-

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