Tag Archives: South Africa

India ‘A’ continues to impress…

Posted on 1 October 2007 by | 3 Comments

For a few months now, I have been following the exploits of the India ‘A’ team captained by Mohammed Kaif. After impressive showings against Zimbabwe Select, Kenya and Sri Lanka A, the team continues its good showing against a South Africa ‘A’ side that includes many players that have turned out for the Springboks national team in the past.

While India ‘A’ includes Mohammed Kaif (13 Tests, 125 ODIs), Parthiv Patel (19 Tests, 14 ODIs), Ishant Sharma (1 Test, 1 ODI) and Suresh Raina (36 ODIs) as players who have donned India colours, South Africa ‘A’ includes Morne van Wijk (5 ODIs), A. Petersen (2 ODIs), Gulam Bodi (2 ODIs), Boeta Dippenar (38 Tests, 107 ODIs), Albie Morkel (12 ODIs), Justin Ontong (2 Tests, 21 ODIs), Thami Tsolekile (3 Tests), Vernon Philander (5 ODIs), Johan Botha (1 Test, 13 ODIs), Charl Langeveldt (6 Tests, 48 ODIs).

India won the 2-match Test Series 1-0 (one match was rained out). The first 2 ODIs were completely rained-out. In the latest ODI, India beat South Africa by 1 run off the last ball in a thriller at Rajkot.

S. Badrinath continues to impress with both bat and ball and in my view, it is only a matter of time before this exciting 27-year-old dons India colours. He is a valuable bat, an electric fielder and a competent off-spinner too.

For sometime now, I have been saying that India really needs a few good allrounders in its ODI make up. While welcoming the return-to-form of Irfan Pathan, I have been dismayed with the selectors’ reluctance to invest in Joginder Sharma for the ODIs against Australia. This after captain M. S. Dhoni had invested his reputation as well as India’s fortunes in the T20 Championship in two of the biggest last overs an Indian has bowled in international cricket!

Here is a quote on Joginder Sharma from Dileep Premachandran’s article on Dhoni.

His treatment of Sharma in the two biggest matches of the tournament summed up his qualities as captain. You or I could toss the ball to a Wasim Akram or a Curtly Ambrose and calmly watch a match clinched in the final over. It requires no great leadership quality or tactical nous.

The real test of captaincy lies in bringing the fringe player into the centre circle and making him feel that he’s not a misfit there. It’s almost certain that no other Indian captain of the last decade and more would have dared go with Sharma for those final overs. By doing so Dhoni was emphasising sport’s greatest but often forgotten truth – it’s not about the stars, it’s about the XI. And sometimes the unlikeliest ones shine brightest.

And after that bold and forthright statement, and especially when an opportunity persented itself with Piyush Chawla’s freak injury, Joginder Sharma has been cast to the sidelines.

I have been following the careers of allrounders like him and Praveen Kumar, the 20-year old allrounder from UP. He plays alongside R. P. Singh, Piyush Chawla, and Suresh Raina in the UP side. He is a carefree bat and an opening bowler. He opened the batting and bowling in yesterdays’ game. Although he didn’t make much with the bat, he bowled well — including the last over of the match.

I do believe that Joginder Sharma and/or Praveen Kumar should play for India in ODIs soon. Just the presence of Irfan Pathan does so much for team balance. This balance will be augmented by the presence of another allrounder and I will continue to pay close attention to the progress of both these contenders.

All through these matches, Parthiv Patel has been thoroughly impressive. He has notched up several 100s and 50s and his ‘keeping has also been quite ‘tight’. Mohammed Kaif, who scored a smart 98 in yesterdays’ match continues to impress with his captaincy and may end up being the best U-19 and India-A captain that didn’t get an extended stint with the national team! Suresh Raina made his first appearance yesterday and scored a compact 45.

Amit Mishra, the young leg-spinner, has had a few good games too. After bowling with aplomb in the Test match, he also scored a breezy 22 off 11 balls in yesterdays’ ODI.

The one disappointment through this tour is that bowlers seem to have worked out Manoj Tiwary’s weakness against the short-rising-ball. He is getting peppered with the short stuff and the young dasher seems to be hell-bent on rewarding the bowlers’ efforts too!

– Mohan

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Posted in Cricket, Langevelt, Philander

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T20 match reviews from Sportstar

Posted on 29 September 2007 by | Leave a comment

Here are the reviews for the matches in the Super8′s and knockout games -

And here is Rohit Brijnath’s feature article on T20 – It is excitable, unruly, unsubtle and fun.

-Mahesh-

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Posted in Rohit Brijnath, World Cup

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World Twenty20 Team

Posted on 24 September 2007 by | 3 Comments

Adam Mountford from the BBC picks his World Twenty20 team. The twelve-member-team has in it two Indians (Yuvraj Singh and M. S. Dhoni). The team also includes two Australians (Matthew Hatden, Stuart Clark), one West Indian (Chris Gayle), 4 Pakistani players (Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Umar Gul), one Kiwi (Daniel Vettori), one South African (Morne Morkel) and one Englishman (Kevin Pietersen).

Not only is Dhoni the ‘keeper, he is also captain of the World Team that’s been chosen by Mountford who says: “Not only is he a real entertainer, but who better to captain a T20 Dream Team than a real swashbuckling hero. Ian Chappell said on TMS that a team takes on the personality of its captain, and thinks India are playing without fear because of the character of Dhoni. That is how I want this super team to play.“

1. Matthew Hayden
2. Chris Gayle
3. Yuvraj Singh
4. Shahid Afridi
5. Shoaib Malik
6. Misbah-ul-Haq
7. M. S. Dhoni (captain and wicket-keeper)
8. Morne Morkel
9. Daniel Vettori
10. Umar Gul
11. Stuart Clark
12. Kevin Pietersen

This is not a bad team at all in my view and has the right people in it.

Comments/views?

– Mohan

Ps: How come Ajit Agarkar and Matt Prior do not rate a mention? :-)

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Posted in Afridi, Cricket, Gayle, Hayden, Misbah-ul-Haq, Morne Morkel, Pietersen, Shoaib Malik, Stuart Clark, Umar Gul

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The Subcontinentals Vs The Antipodeans

Posted on 21 September 2007 by | 5 Comments

In an unlikely twist India crafted — yes “crafted” — a victory over South Africa that enabled a show down between two Subcontinental teams and two Antipodean teams. It perhaps represented the balance of cricket in these modern days. The subcontinent has the money, the crazed following and the passion while the Antipodes has the current champions.

It is strange, however, that two teams that were knocked out in the first stage of the 2007 ODI World Cup, less than six months back, are in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup!

India beat South Africa at “their own den” (in the words of Ravi Shastri) and on a pitch that was tailor-made for — and perhaps pre-ordered by — the South Africans. This was a green top that afforded bounce, seam, movement and zip. India perhaps exploited the conditions better.

The next time South Africa visit and whinge about the pitches in the Subcontinent, someone should remind them of Thursday September 20th @ Durban — the day South Africa were beaten and bundled out of the T20 World Cup.

Once again, Durban had caused an upset. Once again South Africa had been eliminated from an important tournament on the world stage at Kingsmead, Durban. Once again South Africa had choked at an important point in a major tournament.

So, the only side to not lose a single lead-up game — South Africa — bowed out of the tournament after their first loss in the T20 World Cup! Australia had lost to Zimbabwe and Pakistan. Pakistan had lost to India. India had lost to New Zealand. New Zealand had lost to South Africa. And yet, the semi-finals line-up reads Pakistan V New Zealand and Australia V India!

It was a spirited performance by young India which was dealt a double-blow in the morning: a juicy pitch and an injury-blow to Yuvraj Singh — hero of the previous game against England and middle-order anchor.

Rohit Sharma played brilliantly after India suffered a few early set-backs. The early set-backs were mainly of their own doing. Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag played cautiously for a few overs. And then, Gambhir had a brain explosion. Sehwag tried a cute tickle to third man when a slip was in place. The ‘keeper pounced on the offering. Dinesh Karthik was out first ball to a flick off his leg. And Uthappa, after appearing to steady the ship was another batsman to suffer a brain explosion! The intial hard work appeared to have slipped. But then Rohit Sharma and M. S. Dhoni took India to a defendable total.

The bowlers had to deliver and they did! I thought the bowlers were the true match winners for India. In particular, R. P. Singh who had 4 for 13 from his 4 overs! R. P. Singh has grown from strength to strength since the start of this season and is a young lad with a bright future ahead of him. He is a clever bowler and has everything in his arsenal except perhaps a good slower ball.

Sreesanth was a bit erratic initially but it was good to see that he was trying hard. Although his first ball slid down leg-side for a wide and 4 byes, his intent was right. He was trying te inswinger to Herschelle Gibbs as opposed to his stock ball, the outswinger. He picked up two wickets too.

Irfan Pathan was sensational too. His in-swinger was back and one can perhaps claim that he is back to full form. The rhythm is there. He is running through the crease efficiently and the swing is there too. His pace has dipped a bit, but that can certainly be worked up over time with more match-fitness. And Harbhajan Singh, after a wayward first over that caused an end-switch, was efficient and effective too. The bowlers won the match for India in the end.

Joginder Sharma was good in patches. He bowled at least one hit-me ball every over. I am sure he will improve with every match as long as someone tells him to stop talking to Ajit Agarkar :-)

I thought the man-of-the-match should have gone to R. P. Singh — in a game that is dominated by batsmen, such an exquisite and clinical performances should not be overlooked in my view. Having said that, Rohit Sharma was a deserving man-of-the-match. He is a young man with a bright career ahead of him in the Indian middle-order.

– Mohan

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Posted in Cricket, World Cup

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Tendulkar and YouthAppa’s magic help India level ODI Series

Posted on 6 September 2007 by | 4 Comments

It has been a strong, albeit inconsistent batting display by the Indians so far in the ODI series. In the last two matches of the series, Tendulkar’s batting has helped India level the ODI series. The team now travels to Lords’ with an opportunity to win the ODI series. It now has the opportunity to take home all the five medals/cups that were on offer when the long tour of England, Ireland and Scotland started — an ODI series win against Ireland, an ODI series win against South Africa, an ODI win against Scotland, the nPower Test series win against England and the NatWest ODI series.

That opportunity looked quite distant at the end of the 4th ODI; the ODI at Old Trafford which India perhaps ought to have won, but lost thanks to the brilliance of Stuart Broad and Ravi Bopara.

However, the team has bounced back, thanks to its batting stars.

At Headingly, in the 5th ODI of the series, Tendulkar (71 off 59), Yuvraj Singh (72 off 57), Sourav Ganguly (59 off 79), Gautam Gambhir (51 off 66) helped India to a strong batting performance. India ended the innings with a solid score of 324 with some power-hitting by Mahendra Dhoni and Rahul Dravid in the end. Inserting India in to bat on winning the toss was indeed a curious decision by Paul Collingwood in this match! Despite the rain that threatened intermittently, India won that match.

If the 5th ODI saw Tendulkar in majestic form, he bettered it in the 6th ODI at the Brit Oval. His form in last nights’ encounter was nothing short of magic. He found sublime touch with deft paddles and flicks. He found power and energy in his drives and pulls. This was a master-class which his detractors will have to remember, if only for a moment or two for, they will be back with calls for his retirement the moment he scores two low scores on the trot!

India commenced the game well after England won the toss and chose to bat. After 30.2 overs, England had limped to 137 for 5. Once again, Englands’ toss-decision appeared to have been wrong. However, thanks to some power hitting from Owais Shah, debutant Luke Wright and Dimitri Mascarenhas, England surged to a solid total of 316. Shah had scored his maiden ODI century and Luke Wright made an ODI 50 on debut. But the real knock-out blow came from Mascarenhas who thumped the last over of the match, bowled by Yuvraj Singh, for 30 runs — five towering sixes!

Coming on the back of this mauling, the riposte was terrific by the Indian openers — Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly. The old firm for India in ODIs, provided the perfect platform for India. Although one felt that they could have pressed on to secure a larger platform, their work had been done. India stuttered in the journey home, but a strong innings from Robin Uthappa brought them home. Uthappa’s maturity under pressure was refreshing.

The presence of the young Robin Uthappa (YouthAppa), Dinesh Karthik, Yuvraj Singh, Piyush Chawla, Rohit Sharma and others like them — like Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan, Mohammed Kaif, et al — helps in many ways. The teams’ fielding standards are lifted. After some excellent saves in the initial overs yesterday, when England were batting, even Romesh Powar was throwing himself around on the field! Uthappa brought a freshness to the fielding levels. Moreover, it was refreshing to see Uthappa play with unconstrained self-belief at the death.

India have to future-build around the likes of Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Karhik, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary and others like them. These youngsters need to be routinely rotated into the team as India prepares for an ODI future sans Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly. Already, Tendulkar, who was cramping badly towards the end of his innings in yesterdays’ game, has hinted at retiring from the ODI scene at the end of this year!

Only one century on the tour:
Curiously, the last two-and-a-half months (since June 23rd) have seen only one century from an Indian bat in an international ODI/Test match! There have been several 90s and several big contributions, but only one century. And the scorer of that century was a bowler — Anil Kumble! And this is perhaps a good sign. The stats don’t matter. What matters is the team performance.

Team composition and balance:
Having said that, I really do not believe that India has its team composition and balance right. The 4-bowler composition just does not work, especially if Ajit Agarkar is to be depended on! The team was caught napping in yesterdays’ match in the death overs mainly because of this (im)balance, combined with Ajit Agrakar’s inconsistency. The two-spinner policy, combined with the 4-bowlers-only policy means that India have to depend on Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar to bowl consistently at the start and then again, at the death. This cannot be a viable long-term strategy.

The fallacy in this thinking was exposed when Agarkar was taken to the cleaners in the 46th over. Dravid reacted like a rabbit caught in the headlights and had no option but to throw the ball to Yuvraj Singh to complete proceedings. It was a sorry situation indeed. Yuvraj Singh was taken to the cleaners and back. The relief on his face was palpable and obvious as he ran down from the pavilion to hug Uthappa at the end of the game. He charged like a hare whose backside was on fire! Clearly there was pent up emotion there — caused by a combination of Ajit Agarkar’s brain explosion and the 4-bowler policy. In this regard, perhaps Rahul Dravid could have used Romesh Powar’s last over a bit earlier. Or perhaps even eked out an over or two from Tendulkar and/or Yuvraj Singh in the earlier stages itself…

But these are all tactical issues that are somewhat irrelevant in the larger scheme of things. India needs a utility player or two urgently — a medium fast bowler who can bat well too…

Is there an allrounder in the ranks in India — any allrounder? The time is ripe for this tribe to put their hands up and step up to the plate. Irfan Pathan, Praveen Kumar, Joginder Sharma and company ought to be queueing up!

– Mohan

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Posted in Cricket, Ireland, ODI

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South Africa loses decider – The Pessimist’s report

Posted on 2 July 2007 by | 10 Comments

The Optimist is having a hangover after the celebrations last night, so here is a report from the Pessimst on how South Africa lost the match and India did not win it.

  • India was lucky to win a second toss in a row and bowl first on a wicket that eased up later in the innings.
  • Kallis made the mistake of playing the rusty Steyn in this crucial match. Definitely Philander, Langevelt or the spinner Tshabalala would have been a better choice.
  • South Africa had the worst possible day in the field in a long long time. How many catches went down. How many run out chances missed. How many fumbles in the field.
  • JP Duminy was out LBW to a ball pitched outside the leg stump. Aleem Dar also had a horrible day.
  • Yuvraj Singh again alternated between scratchy batting and good shots. Any of his scratches could have got him out.
  • Dravid after 15 years of experience forgot to ground his bat and got himself run out. Shows how Indian batsmen are still not sound on their fundamentals.
  • Kallis also erred in not bringing himself on earlier when the Indians were struggling. He should have kept Ntini for the end.
  • In the final result South Africa managed to lose a match that they really should have won.

- Sanjay

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Posted in Aleem Dar, Cricket, Fielding, JP Duminy, Kallis, Langevelt, Ntini, ODI, Philander, Steyn, Tshabalala

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Dhoni not to play today?

Posted on 1 July 2007 by | 4 Comments

Cricinfo in this article does not include Dhoni in India’s probable XI for the final ODI today against Soth Africa. Here are some reactions, speculative of course, about the probable team.

  • Dhoni is still unwell.
  • Indian team management thinks Gambhir would be better as SA might play the much faster Dale Steyn. Since Karthik has done well the last game, and we do need 5 bowlers, the guy to drop is Dhoni.
  • Do we need 5 bowlers? Can’t they just drop Ishanth Sharma and include Gambhir?
  • What about Uthappa?
  • Are Sreesanth & Agarkar still unwell or are they not being considered?
  • Does Cricinfo know what it is talking about? Or are they also speculating just like us?

- Sanjay

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Posted in Cricinfo, Cricket, Current, ODI

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India’s win – Pessimist meets the optimist

Posted on 1 July 2007 by | 2 Comments

Pessimist: RP Singh bowls 6 overs for 21 runs and does not complete his spell. What was Dravid doing?

Optimist: Yuvraj Singh got 3 for 36. Otherwise SA would have scored 260 and we would have lost the match.

Pessimist: Dhoni is coming back from illness. Should he have batted ahead of Karthik?

Optimist: Dhoni has got the highest ODI average in the Indian team.

Pessimist: What is Ganguly doing at the top of the order. He cannot move his feet. He is uncomfortable against the short ball.

Optimist: Ganguly has scored 10000 runs and 20+ centuries over the last 15 years and opened the innings against all opposition most of the time.

Pessimist: 5 specialist bowlers are chosen and 7 people bowl.

Optimist:  If 8 can bowl then they will too. We need wickets.

Pessimist: After scoring 93 sparkling runs, how did Sachin manage his dismissal? His mind is just not on the game.

Optimist: As Dravid said after match, there is nothing left for Sachin to achieve in international cricket. And as Sachin said after the match, he would not mind getting out many more times in the nineties.

Pessimist: Yuvraj could have gotten out atleast 6 times in his innings. He was so lucky.

Optimist: When lady luck shines Yuvraj scores some stunning hits at the end of the innings and India win!

– Sanjay

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Posted in Cricket, ODI

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Good win for India

Posted on 30 June 2007 by | 14 Comments

When we look at the score card a few months from now, we may not realize how close a game this was. India winning by 6 wickets with 5 balls to spare seems like an easy win. It was anything but.

After some good bowling performances at the beginning of the South African innings, India was able to restrict them to 226. India went into the game with 5 full time bowlers which was kind of baffling. I have never been a big fan of India going with 5 bowlers in test matches. But even if that could be justified to some extent, I just couldn’t understand the rationale behind playing 5 bowlers in a one day match. The funny thing is that apart from Powar, none of the regular full time bowlers completed their quota and it was left to Yuvraj and Tendulkar to complete 10 full overs. 

In India’s innings, Tendulkar let his bat do the talking and the highlight of his innings was the way he handled the short pitched stuff. He sent a strong message to his critics, who seem find  lots to  say even when Sachin scores well. In a post match interview Sachin said  -

It is their job to have opinions. When I hold a cricket bat in my hand it’s a far tougher and bigger job. That is what I will concentrate on.

Ganguly and Tendulkar added another century partnership to their tally making them the pair with the most century partnerships in ODIs. Tendulkar also completed 15000 career one day runs, which will take quite an effort to beat.

Ganguly eventually fell in the 29th over when the score was 134. Soon, there was a mini wobble with India loosing another 3 quick wickets including that of Sachin for the addition of just 8 runs. When Karthik and Yuvraj came together, they needed another 86 runs of around 17 overs and they were the last recognized batting pair. One more wicket and it could have been curtains for India.

Karthik is still highly under rated as a batsman and hopefully this good solid innings under pressure in a must win situation for India will help in silencing some of his critics too. Yuvraj finally played to his potential and in the end India seemed to win comfortably. And as I said earlier, it was anything, but that.

-Mahesh-

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Gambhir unwell…

Posted on 29 June 2007 by | 7 Comments

Vice captain M. S. Dhoni has done the right thing by passing on the flu-bug to Gautam Gambhir, who has been sidelined for Fridays’ second match of the “Future Cup” Series against South Africa! :-)

Gautam Gambhir will be sorely missed from Team India (not!) :-)

Unfortunately, Sreesanth is still unwell. However, Ranadeb Bose and Ishant Sharma have joined the team. It is likely that one of them will play in Fridays’ game.

Unfortunately, Dhoni’s initial flu-bug-transferred-outing of Agarkar wasn’t strong enough, as Agarkar’s flu lasted just one match! Agarkar is fit for Fridays’ match and may play :-)

Likely India team:
Ganguly, Tendulkar, Uthappa, Dravid, Yuvraj, Karthik, Dhoni, Chawla, Agarkar, Zaheer, R.P.Singh

– Mohan

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