Cric Chirrup

When an old cricketer leaves the crease ...

2011-12-25T21:34:00.000+05:30

I discovered this song by Roy Harper only a few days ago. I have rummaged YouTube and Internet so many times for cricket songs but somehow failed to dig this one out. Thanks to an article in Cricinfo I got hold of this. This song is highly philosophical and uses cricket as a medium to reflect on the inevitable in life. Departure.

Tomorrow a test series starts where legends Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Ricky Ponting will ply their trade for the last time. And since I have listened to this song I can't stop myself from reflecting on this line:

When an old cricketer leaves the crease, well you never know whether he's gone

I have imagined Sachin, Rahul, VVS and Ricky with this line in mind. There will be a time when we will see them for one last time. I know it will be very emotional moment for me and perhaps most cricket fans all over the world.

But as George Harrison puts it "All things must pass". And I hope we will see better players but these legends will have their own place in the Hall of Fame in heart of every true follower of this great game.

I end with the wordings of same song offering hope:

When the moment comes and the gathering stands and the clock turns back to reflect

On those years of grace as the footsteps trace for the last time out of the act

Well this way of life's recollection, the hallowed strip in the haze

The fabled men and the noonday sun are much more than just yarns of their days.

Yeh banda hai kaun?

2011-07-08T22:53:00.002+05:30

"Ye banda hai kaun?"- This was Wasim Akram's reaction on hearing Eric Simmons' appointment as India's bowling coach.

If a bowler has improved during his tenure for India he has been out of team. Hopefully away from his tutelage. Ishant Sharma comes to mind but even Sreeshanth has done well on comebacks. I remember Zaheer and Ishant forming a potent pace attack under Venkatesh Prasad in 2008 home series against Australia. Then, that highly acclaimed coach of Australia Troy Coolie was not able to get the ball reverse swing from his wards but Indian pacers had started reverse swinging as early as 20th over.

But anyway Prasad was not thought fit for being India's bowling coach however I see Mr. Simmons being persisted with when the likes of Mithun, Vinay Kumar and Sudeep Tyagi seem to have stalled under him. My only hope is these guys going back to Ranji and then improving there instead of taking his useless guidance and warming benches.

When will good pacers grace Indian cricket like they have graced our neighboring country?

How can you rally round the West Indies?

2011-03-23T21:05:00.003+05:30

West Indies have ignominiously crashed out of yet another world cup. This one is fourth such tournament. When I started watching cricket West Indies were already on wane but had some respect primarily because of their bowlers but also due to Lara. The quarterfinal against South Africa was not won by a team but a handful of individuals. Brian Lara and Curtly Ambrose were two shining stars of that victory. But it was a matter of time when even vastly talented individuals were not able to rescue them. It is not for nothing that Cricket is known as team game.

They kept on plummeting. In between there were flickers of hope. At least I was hopeful. I was wrong. Today West Indies have not only broken hearts but may be broken themselves too. I hope ICC splits WI into constituent island nations. Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago will give better performance than these jokers and mercenaries.

Cricket World Cup 2011 favorites

2011-02-13T20:46:00.002+05:30

Here I am. Just a week before world Cup starts, I am ready with my predictions. Although I am a bit late this time but that has to do with my waning interest in one day cricket. It seems a misfit with tests and T20s. Somehow I like tests and T20s more than this format. The yawning middle overs really turn me off. OK sorry for being Mr. Grumpy. Here go my favorites.

1. Sri Lanka

2. India

3. Australia

4. Pakistan

No explanations are needed for the first 3 but you may be surprised by my 4th choice. Pakistan have a long batting line up although not very strong. But in ODIs even average batsmen can score handful of runs and having impact players in lower order is big help. Remember they have Razzaq and Afridi down the order. And Umar Akmal bats at no. 6. Talk of impact then.

Forgotten past of Indian Cricket

2011-01-30T23:00:00.003+05:30

Hrishikesh Kanitkar will always be remembered for his four of Saqlain Mushtaq which fetched India a victory in independence cup final against Pakistan. Good that he also won a Ranji trophy and would be remembered for that in more keen followers of the game. But his achievement brought me memories of several other players who played just few matches for India and were forgotten thereafter.

So here I am, jotting down as many names as I can remember.

1. Vikram Rathore (chhote miyan who opened wih Sachin in 96)
2. Paras Mhambrey (disastrous introduction to international cricket in 96)
3. Ashish Kapoor (replaced Rajesh Chauhan in trinity)
4. Salil Ankola (these days I don't see any of his serials also)
5. Devang Gandhi (Steve Waugh's invincibles ended many careers like him)
5. Vijay Bhardwaj (unlucky with his eye-sight problem)
6. T. Kumaran (impressive debut in Australia 99 but somehow lost his way)
7. Tinu Yohanan (A keralite before Sreesanth)
8. Sairaj Bahutule (This guy replaced Anil Kumble :( )
9. David Johnson, Dodda Ganesh and Sujit Somsundar (Karnataka trio )
10. Nilesh Kulkarni (Wicket of first ball in a run marathon)
11. Abbey Kuruvilla (did well on WI tour 97 but faded away after that)
12. Avishkar Salvi (Still there in domestic circuit but limited international presence)
13. Amay Khurasia (one inning against SL in 99 series was very good)
14. Noel David (selection was more controversial than Doherty's or Beer's)
15. Gagan Khoda (for a long time only Rajasthan player to have played for India at least in my memory)
16. Sharandeep Singh (considered better than Harbhajan by people such as Prasanna and Bedi)
17. Sreedharan Sriram (yet another wud-be all-rounder explored by Indians)
18. Rahul Sanghvi (Unfortunate for having to compete with Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh for a spot in team)

And now the list of wicket keepers before Parthiv Patel rescued India!!!
1. Saba Karim (Unfortunate end of career)
2. MSK Prasad (keeping was good but batting was not up to mark)
3. Sameer Dighe (Age and performance both counted against him)
4. Ajay Ratra (same problem as MSK)
5. Vijay Dahiya (seemed better than all other alternatives. Don't understand why he could not play more)

Indian Cricket and English Football

2010-06-23T19:16:00.003+05:30

As I write this, England, the financial powerhouse of Football, are going to take on Slovenia in a do-or-die game in few hours time. A favorable result in this game would guarantee them a ... no not a world cup...but a place in last 16. With all those stars (or are they) of EPL they are struggling to make it past first hurdle in an EASY group. They were touted as a force to reckon with after Spain and Brazil. This article draws parallel between Indian Cricket team and English Football team. My only wish is these fears don't come true. We have already been flabbergasted in last two Twenty20 world cups by lesser teams of which we were supposedly masters before the advent of the Great Indian Tamasha. The only soothing fact is that the IPL is after this world cup.

Junior Senior debate in Indian Cricket

2010-06-20T19:10:00.005+05:30

Almost a decade ago India were mauled by Australia and Pakistan in the then annual tri nation fixture in Australia. Parallel to that India U-19 team led by Mohammad Kaif won the world cup. The senior Indian team was able to win only one match in whole series. Former Pakistan keeper Moin Khan said that Indians lacked 'gutso' apart from Sachin Tendulkar and Ajay Jadeja. As far as I remember that team included Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly. Srinath was also in that team.

A year later these stalwarts along with some fresh blood (Harbhajan Singh) stopped Aussie juggernaut in a historic test series. Two years later they reached the finals of ODI world cup. I cited these because these examples just go to show even the best took time to settle. VVS Laxman made his debut in 1997 but became reliable as a batsman only in 2001. Harbhajan Singh came into picture in 1998. Again he became a permanent face only in 2001. Yuvraj Singh was the part of that world cup winning team in 2000. He made his debut in late 2000, became an important player only in 2002. Even Gautam Gambhir is in India colors since 2004 but could cement his place only 2 years back.

Not everyone can be as good as Sachin, Dravid or Dhoni to cement his place after one or two series. The standard of domestic cricket is so low that players find it difficult to make the cut to highest echelon. That is why I believe, we should be patient with youngsters. Of course there will be disappointments like we had with Hemang Badani and Ajit Agarkar but given the current state of domestic cricket we have to live with it. Stop vitriol against Vijays, Jadejas, Rohits, Virats, Ishants etc. Some of them will fail but we can have better players from this pool itself. Virat has improved a lot since I saw him first in 2008 IPL.

More importantly the selectors should stop tormenting these players. Choosing players based on IPL performances should be stopped. Also, a young player should be told clearly of expectations from him and reason for sidelining him. Mohammad Kaif was sidelined without any proper reason. Dinesh Karthik is not a team member but a stop gap arrangement. Whosoever gets injured from 1-7 he is called as replacement. How can a player improve if he is not played regularly? Sudeep Tyagi was made to carry drinks for so many matches and then sidelined after one failure. Ojha, Mishra and Chwla are all talented but by rotating them unnecessarily you are denting their confidence. One more thing is to choose horses for courses. While Mishra looks good for longer version of the game, Ojha is better as far as shorter version is concerned. Similarly, Tyagi, Ishant and Sreeshanth look to be test material. Don't play them in ODIs and T20s and then discard them on the basis of their performances in those formats. Similarly Nehra, Praveen RP, Dinda can be tried in shorter formats. ZAK looks good for all formats except the shortest. It is high time now that someone other than Yuvraj is tried in test team. May be Virat Kohli or Cheteshwar Pujara should be given chances.

Please stop this unnecessary junior-senior debate. The seniors were juniors themselves and had their own shortcomings during their young days and they are not going to play forever. Sensible selections based on strengths and weaknesses of players will go a long way in making India the strongest cricket nation.

"Gutted"

2010-05-12T08:56:00.003+05:30

Saying "gutted" after India's early exit is an understatement but that is because I can't think of any other word to express my feelings. The defeat is not always unwelcome. We lost in 2007 WC in first round. But that defeat helped us improve. We found victory in Twenty20 WC 2007. We also got a deadly combo of Gambhir and Sehwag. Harbhajan was back to his old ways. RP Singh and Sreeshanth were clocking 140ks. As if this was not enough we got new talents in Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar. Rohit Sharma batted with gutso and elegance in Australia, that place for ultimate test. Less than a year had passed since our World Cup fiasco but we were right at the top.

All this was followed by the IPL 2008. An event which was thought to give impetus to Indian Cricket. It gave. It gave money. It gave Yusuf Pathan, Manpreet Gony, Swapnil Asnodkar etc. Rohit Sharma was a major success here also. Yusuf Pathan and Manpreet Gony were drafted into Indian squad. Gony lasted as much as his abilities but I am sure that Yusuf Pathan has outlived his ability. Thank God, Asnodkar failed in subsequent editions. After that our 'fast' (forgive me for using this word) bowling resources have taken a beating. The new talents (Tyagi, Mithun, Vinay) have not been tried well. On the other hand Ishant, RP,Sreeshanth and Munaf are so woefully out of form that barring Sreeshanth (due to his state team lacking quality) no one can be assured of place in the state team. Our batters could hit the ball miles on benign pitches but that illusion also gave way after yesterday's performances. They can still hit miles but only against below par domestic bowlers.

Who to blame? MS Dhoni, Gary Kirsten, Lalit Modi, Sharad Pawar, Niranjan Srinivas or Srikkanth? I don't know.

What now? I thought last year's defeat would be an eye-opener but no it wasn't. I do not have much hope this year around. I did not follow the IPL this year and I wish Pakistan wins this time around too. For full two years Pakistanis will go gaga about their performance in all dirty web fora and all those IPL following Indians will bear them. May be that would be an eye-opener because it is cricket following public which needs to open its eye now.

India vs Australia. Again.

2010-05-05T09:40:00.003+05:30

India would most probably meet Australia in the second round of the twenty20 world cup but I am not talking of that. The news of Australia playing tests in India this winter has left me excited. This means we would not have to bear with the silly seven match ODI series. Just like the series with South Africa was riveting I believe this would be far more competitive.

The move by Indian board to have a series with Australia shows that we are concerned about the test ranking. And arranging a series with a strong team shows their positive attitude. However Australia would be a tough opponent to beat so it is a kind of double edged sword. And no its not an overkill as matches with Australia are so exciting that we can have a series every year. And yes we also visit Lanka in July. So 8 tests remain this year which is a very good thing considering players like Dravid, Laxman and Mishra who only play in tests.

ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2010 favorites

2010-04-28T11:51:00.003+05:30

The prediction time is back again. Last time I predicted the winner correctly but had no good luck after that. This time however I am more conservative. Not following IPL means that I have a clean mind and would not be carried away by the performances in `tamasha' cricket. The warm ups have started and Indians with their infinite wisdom have decided not to play any warm up games. This will help. At least it will ensure that the expectations are not skyrocketed with a worthless win as it happened against Pakistan last time.

Most of the players are fatigued. More so Indians. But two teams stand out for me. Pakistan and Australia. Both are relatively fresh. Pakistan will sorely miss Umar Gul but the depth in their bowling attack will ensure it will be their most potent weapon. The batting relies heavily on Akmals. However watch out for Abdur Razzaq. He can be devastating in limited overs format. Afridi is the right person to captain the side given his current form. The batting looks thin but I believe that Misbah and Salman Butt would do much better this time. To me the Australians seem to be the next best team in the tournament. Their form in this format for last year or so has been fantastic. As I write the Aussies have surprisingly lost to Zimbabwe but I believe that is an aberration. A lot depends on how the pitch at Barbados plays. If it has some help for fast bowlers the Australians have the best of that lot. Otherwise they may struggle on slow wickets of the kind that were offered in recent West Indies - Zimbabwe series.

Other than these two every team looks at same level. But if I had to choose semifinal lineup I would go for Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. If the pitches in second stage will assist slow bowling, India too could be in with a chance.

Comedy of errors

2010-02-23T17:28:00.003+05:30

India and South Africa are ranked 1 & 2 respectively in test cricket and 2 & 3 respectively in ODIs. Very little separates these two, at least in the sub continent. It was no different in the first ODI between these two teams. But as they say, India may not be the best team in the world but it is the most exciting team to watch. If you had any doubts they would have been cleared after watching last match. South Africa required more than 60 runs at an asking rate of about 13. In fact it is not easy to get those runs in one over forget about getting it in 5 overs with Steyn and Parnell on the pitch. It was here that Indians decided that the match was too one-sided. The solution? Well, transform Steyn and Parnell to Gibsy and Smithy respectively and yes transform Sreeshanth and Nehra to... guess what? Yes you are right. Mashrafe Mortaza. Now we have a game on. Yahoo! The end result will be decided by who blinks first. And it has to be South Africa because Indians were sleeping till penultimate over. So, once again our meticulous planning and execution injected much needed life in the most lifeless form of cricket. Can you imagine cricket world without India?

Rally round the West Indies

2010-02-15T18:18:00.002+05:30

Are West Indians coming to the party finally? Well there have been many false dawns in last 15 years or so but this one looks genuine. Adrian Barath, Kemar Roach, Kieron Pollard and Narsingh Deonarine look to be a very good prospect for West Indies cricket's future. I am very eager to see Roach team up with Edwards and Taylor (not against India though). Add to it this line up Gayle, Shiv, Sarwan, Bravo and Benn. This team now looks decent enough to me as far as limited overs cricket is concerned. The Twenty20 world cup is in Carribean this time and I hope we have a much better organization and contest than 2007 ODI world cup. I have a lot of expectations from this West Indies side. Having only heard of the aura of Lloyd's men I want to see the passion of West Indies crowd after they put up good show as hosts on and off the ground. Best of luck West Indies.

Indian Team in New Year

2010-01-16T18:15:00.002+05:30

Ian Chappel says that India are not a long term no.1 because they don't have the bowling firepower to take 20 wickets against top notch sides. M S Dhoni was quick to retort by saying they can prove otherwise by staying no. 1.

So how good is this Indian team? I believe an all rounder's absence is not a problem in test matches. I don't remember a genuine all rounder in both the great sides West Indies (75-90) and Australia (99-07). If there is one format where specialists thrive it is test cricket. As far as batting is concerned India have problem of plenty. Even when Dravid and Sachin were not in good form India didn't perform poorly. I believe replacing batsmen is not as difficult as replacing bowlers is. Remember Aussies had no problem replacing the likes of Waugh brothers while the struggles of Aussie bowlers after departure of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne are there to see. So it all boils down to champion bowlers as pointed out by Chappel. Yes we do not have any great bowler currently. Take it with a pinch of salt but Zaheer and Harbhajan currently are not greats even when compared to Indian greats only. However one thing which is good is that we have 4 bowlers available all the time. In 1990s we had hard time finding the third seamer to accompany Srinath and Prasad. We played ordinary bowlers like D Ganesh, David Johnson, Paras Mhambrey etc. That changed with the advent of Zaheer and Nehra. Later on we got Irfan, Sreeshanth, Munaf, RP Singh and Ishant. None of them have been consistent but at different times one or two of them have been in superb form to provide us with necessary sting to dismiss opposition. Ishant and Sreeshanth look to me as genuine world class bowlers in Test Cricket. So, my point is even if we don't have someone of the ilk of Kumble now, we still have 4 men who can combine well to give desired results. Well I agree that this requires proper selection and intelligent manoeuvring of bowlers when taking the field. Yes an auto pilot luxury is still not available to Indian Captain and Coach.

India is no.1 in test cricket

2009-12-06T19:50:00.003+05:30

So, finally India is no. 1 in the ICC test ranking. Any Indian cricket fan would be proud of this achievement. It all started after India beat mighty Aussies (the best team I have ever seen play till date) 2-1 at home. That was the time when under Sourav Ganguly we started our journey to become a powerhouse. I remember the problems plaguing the team then.

Anil Kumble was ineffective outside sub continent. He changed that in 2003-04 Australia tour. India always lacked genuine pace attack to rattle opposition on green tops. They have not found a great seam bowler yet but likes of Ishant Sharma, Sreeshanth, Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel did well after Srinath retired. Not all of them have been consistently delivered performance in last decade. Perhaps only Zaheer Khan is consistent. But we always had one or the other pacer coming in and doing well. Add to it the performances of Irfan Pathan, R P Singh and L Balaji. Our opening woes were partially ended by Virendra Sehwag in 2002 while opening became our strength with resurgence of Gautam Gambhir. Adam Gilchrist's advent meant that a wicket keeper had to bat as well as a middle order batsman if not better. That problem was taken care by M S Dhoni in 2005. Batsmen struggled in 90's to do well outside the sub continent except for Sachin Tendulkar. Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman in their unique way of batting ensured that Indian team became TEAM INDIA from ONE-MAN-ARMY.

Much has been done but much more remains. With India playing only two tests in next 10 months this stay at top wont be long. It would be interesting to see how India copes with retirements of Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman. Signing off on positive note I believe that it is much easier to replace batting greats rather than bowling greats.

Challengers

2009-10-12T20:42:00.005+05:30

I have always looked to Challengers trophy with a lot of hope. Every time I expect to see some new player emerging out of shadows of biggies already there. I have not been disappointed in last 10 years. Be it Ashish Nehra or Piyush Chawla who came to limelight by bowling out Sachin Tendulkar or even M S Dhoni. Its importance may have diminished with the advent of the IPL as domestic players get a chance in that tournament to rub their shoulders with senior international players. However, not every player is capable of doing well in the shortest format of the game. I believe a similar tournament with four day games is also necessary to give more exposure and recognition to those who are doing well in longer format. I know it is very difficult to squeeze that in given the tight schedule of Indian team but if we want ourselves to be a world beating like Aussies and West Indians of yore we need to do this urgently.

This is because we don't have a competitive domestic tournament of the likes of those in Australia. So younger players will get their chance only if we either overhaul the system or arrange such tournaments. Overhauling seems very difficult given the political clout of state associations but these and similar arrangements can be done. We should also have frequent tours of India A and Under-19 teams to countries outside the sub continent so that players are not found wanting on their first tour abroad. Imagine someone who has played on docile pitches of sub continent throughout his career and then faces the fury of genuine fast bowlers on bouncy wickets. How can we expect him to perform well if he is not a prodigy? Not everyone can be a Sachin Tendulkar or Rahul Dravid. Same is the case with Indian pace bowlers. they have to drudge on dust bowls before they make their mark. My opinion of Prasad was of a mediocre bowler before he burst into prominence in England in 1996. He even bagged 'CEAT cricketer of the year' award in that season. Without improvement in domestic cricket management we can not be consistent performers in international arena. Some champions can give us a temporary no. 1 spot but continuous replenishment is assured only by strong bench strength. We don't have a dearth of talent, we just need to polish them well.

Disappointments galore

2009-10-06T20:11:00.003+05:30

So Indians have crashed out of yet another ICC event without making it to knock out round. It is very disappointing especially because they have been doing very well for past two years or so. Agreed they were missing 3 key players but that should not be used as an excuse for this. They could have easily won against Pakistan had Harbhajan, R P and Ishant given even their average performance. While Harbhajan had an ordinary series, other bowlers, namely Ishant and R P, have been struggling since June.

The next series is against Australia and due to nature of wickets in India we perhaps are not that dependent on pacers but still we require 3 pacers due to powerplays and ball change rules. Sreeshanth and Munaf showed a lot of promise in recently conclude Irani trophy but one match wont make a season. Sreeshanth to me has always been a top class bowler in longer version but i doubt he would be able to contain runs in limited overs format. However, Munaf should be given chance ahead of R P and Ishant. He ahas improved his batting of late and his fielding is slightly better than what it used to be few years back. Given the batting skills of Yusuf Pathan why not replace him with Nayar or Irfan Pathan and hope they are able to bowl few overs of gentle pace. Winning a series against this resurgent Australian team would give a lot of confidence to Indians and let us hope that our young pacers find form in this series.

Loss to Pakistan

2009-09-27T18:56:00.002+05:30

Perhaps I am going overboard in analyzing Indian team's performance so early. However I can't stop myself from writing after what happened yesterday. It would be too harsh to single out anybody for yesterday's debacle because cricket is a team game. But I think bowling was really pedestrian yesterday. Harbhajan had an off day or may be he performed to the level his previous performances suggest. I have noticed over the years that Pakistanis play Harbhajan very well. In fact they play off spinners very well. So, when India's best bowler failed, disaster was in the offing. R P Singh and Ishant Sharma bowled a very poor line and length. May be the figures don't suggest this but I am talking of not only this match but others also where Indians have failed to adapt according to situation. Pakistan should have been restricted to 260 after we had them on mat at 65/3. Yusuf Pathan continues to struggle in this format and I believe it is the high time we give Abhishek Nayar a chance. Kohli should be given some more chances as it would be harsh on him to judge by one performance. I believe one should play bowler who can perform well and not have notions that 3 pacers and 1 spinner is the norm. I believe Amit Mishra can perform much better than Ishant or R P on any pitch going by their current form.

All is not lost yet. India had some positives from the game and it felt nice to see Gambhir and Raina doing well after all that piffle about short pitch stuff. Indians have always raised their game to new levels when playing against Australia in the past and I wish this team comes out with flying colors tomorrow.

Champions Trophy favorites

2009-09-18T19:39:00.003+05:30

The ODIs will surely get some limelight when the Champions trophy begins next week. The ICC tournaments have now become more democratic or may be more 'open' as I think democratic is not the correct word to be used. You cannot say, "Australia will win" and be assured that you will be proved right. Though Australia are currently very close to South Africa, the table toppers in ODIs, they are far behind them as far as performances go. Still, they have mauled a wretched English team (Aussies lead 6-0 at the time of writing). As far as my predictions are concerned, they go like this :

1) India: Dont go by their recent failures in the ICC twenty20. The youth brigade is very capable of turning tables in this form of game. Add to the lot the experience of seniors and the team becomes formidable. Bowling and fielding look weak link but in my opinion both RP and Praveen along with Nehra will prove to be too hot to handle.

2) South Africa: You may call them 'chokers' but the only ICC event they have won is the Champions Trophy. They have the best combination of fielding, batting and bowling units. J P Duminy may turn out to be more dangerous in this form of the game.

3) Sri Lanka: A lot depends on how their batsmen handle the pace and bounce of South Africa. But with their bowling and fielding they look sure to pull out few surprises. Getting to Semis should be easy considering they have only England and NZ to beat.

4) Australia: They are difficult to write off. Especially given the current form of Lee, Ponting, Clarke, White and Fergusson. But it remains to be seen whether they can replicate this form against stronger sides.

5)Pakistan: They have tough group and but knowing the fact that they always raise their game a notch or two against arch rivals India I believe they have a slim chance of making it to the semi finals.

I may sound harsh but I believe England and West Indies are just making numbers and New Zealand have an outside chance of making it to last four

India Sri Lanka Final

2009-09-14T09:57:00.003+05:30

As expected India are up against Sri Lanka in the final of Compaq Cup. What was unexpected is the debacle of India against some quality bowling by Lankans. This is the second batting collapse in last two tournaments. what is disappointing for Indian fans is the fact that all the top four batsmen had starts and they frittered it away. The pitch was difficult under lights but after being set they could have carried on to have at least a face saving loss.

Today is the final and I want to see India victorious in the finals in Sri Lanka after a long time. At least I don't remember any recent victory of India in Sri Lanka in any tournament involving more than two teams. Despite the loss I still believe India is a better team than Sri Lanka and some good bowling up front backed by some spine in batting may see India through. I hope Dhoni gets lucky today with toss.

Dravid is back

2009-08-17T10:10:00.004+05:30

So Rahul Dravid has finally staged a comeback and the trail will be at least 5 matches long. Dravid fans are excited as expected. Well, I am also a Dravid fan and believe he is the greatest test batsman I have ever seen playing in last two decades. Yes, I have seen Tendulkar, Lara and Ponting bat. But this time around, the decision to bring Dravid back appears to be a knee-jerk reaction on account of supposed failure of youth brigade against short stuff. I don't think there is a need to press panic button right now. Even Aussies used the short stuff in 2008-09 tri-series against India. Those who saw that series would remember how well Gambhir and Sharma handled that stuff. I agree Raina appears to have some problem against short stuff but its not alarming. Ganguly looked far more uncomfortable playing short deliveries than Raina and he went on to score over 10k runs.
But now that Dravid is back and is expected to provide some freedom to Dhoni, he should be in team for some considerable time rather than a one-off appearance provided his form is not a handicap for balance of the team. In fact he is the fittest of Big Three (others being Tendulkar and Laxman).

Buchanan questions Tendulkar in Twenty20

2009-07-09T21:41:00.005+05:30

It seems one of the ways in which you can attain instant recognition for a book you have authored is by creating a controversy by belittling a well known personality. To me Mr. Buchanan has resorted to that only. He says he has just voiced his opinion on some players but not disclosed why he chose those players only.

If Sachin Tendulkar is a misfit in twenty20 cricket what about Saurav Ganguly on whom Mr. B has heaped a lot of praise. I don't think I need to present the statistics because it is obvious to any rational cricket fan that Tendulkar is a much better player than Ganguly in twenty20. If he commented on Ganguly he should have mentioned his dismal performance in twenty20 format. What is pretty clear from the two editions of the IPL is that Mr. B is a misfit for this format of game. But still I should not say that because cricket is a team game and ostracizing a coach or a player for loss is not fair. VVS Laxman looked a misfit for the Deccan Chargers in both the editions of the IPL but he gave a scintillating performance for Lancashire last fortnight. Who knows Laxman turns out to be a star performer in the next edition of the IPL.

Getting cheap popularity by devalueing a popular figure doesn'y suits someone of Mr. B's stature. Please dont read a book that is full of hatred for one player. I would not have used the word hatred had Mr. B been consistent in criticizing players for he might have set some standards and Tendulkar might be below those. Obviously this is not the case and therefore I request you not to read this book by a garish former coach.

Bring on the Ashes

2009-07-05T09:32:00.003+05:30

It has been long since we had a riveting test series. As far as I remember the last such series was held in March this year between Australia and South Africa. Now the oldest rivalry resumes this Wednesday when England take on Australia in the first Ashes test starting surprisingly in Cardiff. Maybe England are buoyed by weakest Australian spin attack in two decades. The warm up games should encourage England as both the bowling and batting spearheads of Australia were found wanting in those games. Phil Hughes who is the youngest player to score a hundred in each of the two innings of a test struggled against the short stuff from Steve Harmisson. But having seen him play against South Africans this year, I believe he can play short stuff well. May be Harmy was too good that day. Mitchell Johnson also struggled in the first innings and hemorrhaged runs with little reward. However, Mitchell now is a much better bowler than he was a year ago. He now swings the ball both ways and is not limited to reliance on pace and bounce.

However, Australia had some positives in Mr. Cricket and Brett Lee finding form and Marcus North finally showing his batting skills on this tour. The opening combination of Katich and Hughes is very good and with the exception of spin department where Hauritz has looked woefully out of depth Australia are strong in all departments. Despite a slow pitch expected at Cardiff they may play 4 seamers encouraged by Brett Lee's reverse swinging abilities. Their batting has become stronger with Hussey finding form.

England are no less than Australia in their opening combination. Both Strauss and Cook are going through purple patch and Ravi Bopara seems intent on securing his place as number three. Kevin Pieterson at number 4 is England's best batsman. But then the trouble starts. Bell has not fulfilled the promise he showed on his arrival. I am amazed why England don't have a better batsman than Paul Collingwood. He is so good in ODIs but looks out of sorts against quality attack in this version of the game. England bowling has looked good this summer and with success of England Lions bowlers in warm up game we can expect similar performance from other bowlers. England are pretty strong in the spin department and Swann may prove too hot to handle.

I am looking forward to this series because even though lesser men are playing from both teams compared to 2005, this series promises to be as exciting as 2005 one.

India win finally

2009-06-27T14:09:00.000+05:30

India beat West Indies by 20 runs yesterday. Not a big deal normally but matters a lot when this team has lost three twenty20 games in a row and clearly demoralised by both the defeats as well as Indian media. But this victory must have relieved some of the pressure. I believe the close contest will only help India as winning close matches gives you more confidence and when faced again with that situation you don't panic.

However, the positive coming out of this match is batting performance of Dinesh Kartik. I rate him very highly as a batsman but he was struggling with both bat and gloves lately. This knock should help him exorcize the demons of his failure in last two years. It is also a befitting reply to those who had written him off. Someone who has performed well in test matches as an opener in England and South Africa must have some solidity in technique but in India people have tendency to kick out someone who is down and eulogise someone who performs well. Most recent example is the way they are baying for blood of Jadeja and Rohit Sharma. I am sure these two guys will prove them wrong as Kartik has done.

India in West Indies

2009-06-26T05:12:00.000+05:30

India are in the West Indies to play a 4 ODI series. I don't know why the BCCI scheduled just a 4 match tourney, but then many decisions of the BCCI are beyond my comprehension. However, this event gives a chance to a cricket crazy nation to see whether the debacle of Dhoni boys' in England was just an aberration or the team is in decline.

West Indies don't seem to be a formidable opposition esp. in absence of Fidel Edwards, but those who watched last ODI series India played in Carribean would vouch for the fact that West Indies can be very menacing in their home condition. India have looked a very good side in ODIs in last season triumphing over Sri Lanka, England and New Zealand in style. This time bowling looks more potent with RP Singh, Ashish Nehra, Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar in pace department and Harbhajan in spin. Also, to assist these players we have more-than-just-decent part-timers in Yusuf, Jadeja and Rohit Sharma.

It is going to be interesting to see how Murali Vijay and Badrinath perform. Vijay has looked solid as a batsman and should make most of the opportunity he has got in absence of Tendulkar and Sehwag. Badrinath has one more chance to prove he is worthy successor to legends of Indian Cricket in not just limited over format but also in the test cricket.

Around a week's break must have rejuvenated Indian players and now the run-a-ball innings of Dhoni and Jadeja could prove to be very useful in this format. There are not much expectations from this Indian team and it will only help them. For me, India are the favorites to win this series provided they are still not carrying niggles.

Twenty20 World Cup final

2009-06-20T07:46:00.000+05:30

So, it is Pakistan vs Sri Lanka in the finals of the Twenty20 World Cup. I never thought Sri Lanka will make it to the final perhaps influenced by poor performance of Mendis in the IPL and under estimat8ng Dilshan's performance in the same tournament. Due to really poor display by India, Australia and New Zealand my predictions for this cup have gone awry. However, not many would have predicted Pakistan in finals and I chose them as my favorites in the tournament. So, all is not lost in my predictions and that gives me inclination to predict in future tornaments.

Coming to the final. If there is any player who can nullify the threat posed by Murali & Mendis, it is Younis Khan. Along with Misbah he can score runs at a decent pace against these two. However, Pakistan's best chance rests with dismissing Dilshan cheaply. He has been mainstay of Lankan batting. The Lankans rely heavily on him, Sanath, Sanga and Jayawerdene in their batting. It will be an interesting final as we witness yet another South Asian title clash. Congrats to Pakistan for making it to both the finals.

IPL and EPL

2009-06-15T09:22:00.000+05:30

So the dreaded thing has happened. With all the hype and glitterati of the IPL, very few of us would have thought India will not reach semi finals. But then the only test playing nation Indians have defeated is Bangladesh. Yes, they are still better than 2007 World Cup squad. But they lost to West Indies (without a significant contribution from Gayle) and England. England is the same team which was branded "chokers", a group of snobbish players and a team lacking talent after their loss against Netherland. Now the same team whose players play insipid county cricket "bounced" us out of the tournament as the Cricinfo reports. At the beginning of this tournament i had no hopes from England but they have left Indian team in hopeless situation.

With all the glitz and glamour of the IPL Mr. Modi and co. wanted us to realise what good the IPL has done to India. May be the IPL has made life easier for an ordinary domestic cricketer but scheduling it so close to an ICC event was bound to leave players jaded. Remember all these Indian players were subjected to intense pressure in their respective teams for about 40 days. A bit of pressure is good but to have 14 twenty20 games within a span of 40 days is just too much. I never thought anyone in India will celebrate dismissal of Tendulkar by Warne. But commercialism did that too. Team bonding? What is that man? Now they want 2 IPLs a year and add to it the Champions League. Where is the time for test cricket or for that matter any form of international cricket?

India is fast turning into England of World Soccer. All hype and no value.

Future of Symonds

2009-06-05T09:17:00.000+05:30

So Mr. Symonds has done it again. Just when everyone was debating his omission from Ashes squad, he made it clear what could have been on Aussie selectors' mind. After a sterling performance in the recently concluded IPL, both with the bat and the ball, his fans were expecting similar exploits in Twenty20 world cup. Today Cricinfo reports that Symonds' retirement seems imminent. It would be a huge loss for International Cricket if this happens. I am not a fan of Symonds in longest version of the game but for limited versions he is right there at the top. Australia will surely miss his services as an all-rounder. With Symonds gone Aussies only have two Davids (Warner and Hussey) as destructive hard-hitters. However, Australians give utmost importance to discipline and the way they played after loss of Warne in 2003 World Cup is enough proof to believe they will be a dangerous opposition to contend with.

IPL2 Final and memories of 1992

2009-05-29T19:39:00.000+05:30

Recent victory of Deccan Chargers in IPL2 brought memories of 1992 World Cup final. The similarities are many. Chargers were fourth team in the semi-finalists of IPL2. So were Pakistan. Deccan were put in driver's seat by two in two of Symonds while Wasim did this trick for Pakistan. With me the analogy does not ends here. Pakistan managed to sneak into semi-finals by an improbable victory against New Zealand through exploits of young Inzy and got a favorable decision in their favor by victory of Australia over West Indies. Similarly, Deccan achieved an incredible victory over Knight Riders through genius of young blood Rohit Sharma and nervousness of Mortaza. They were also helped in their cause by Punjab failing to chase even at less than run-a-ball. These knock-out stages can shatter the rosy dreams of the best team in tournament. This is what happened to New Zealand in 1992 and now Delhi Daredevils must be more than just 'disappointed'.

Once one of my teachers said "Life is not fair". Very true, indeed

ICC World Twenty20 favorites

2009-05-19T21:06:00.000+05:30

I am bored with the IPL though not with Twenty20 and hence waiting for World Cup of which India is the first winner. However, this time it is going to be very difficult for India to retain the trophy. I have not read any preview about this tournament thanks to the IPL tamasha. So, I take risk and go public with my favorites in this tournament.

1. Pakistan Surprised! Yes Pakistanis are good at surprising their fans and critics alike. However I rate them as my favorites after watching them play in UAE against Aussies. They have wonderful attack in Akhtar, Gul, Tanvir, Ajmal and Afridi. Shoaib Malik gives them extra options. Afridi is in form of his life as far as bowling is concerned while Tanvir is very good in T20 and Gul was superb against Oz. In batting they have unlikely hero in Akmal who is is in sublime form while Misbah remains the danger man for oppositions. Salman Butt and Shoaib Malik provide impetus while Younis Khan provides stability. My only concern is that Younis doesn't get very slow in starting as he does in ODIs. In this format there is very little time to settle.

2. South Africa This is an all star squad but i keep them on number two due to their 'choking' abilities. Smithy, Gibbsy, AB, JP, Albie Morkel and Boucher form backbone of a very strong batting line-up. While Steyn, Botha, Abdulla, Morne form a strong bowling unit with options in Peterson, Kallis and van der Merwe.

3. India They too have a bunch of seven dangerous hard-hitters in Gambhir, Sehwag, Raina, Yuvi, Dhoni, Pathan and Jadeja. However, their bowling attack looks thin on paper. Zaheer doesn't seem to bowl as well in T20 as he does in other forms. Ishant and Praveen look clueless when under attack. RP Singh though looks good and with his experience of English conditions could prove to be India's trump card. Both Harbhajan and Ojha look good. Their biggest concern will be form of Viru and Gauti.

4. Australia Two years back every tournament had this team as favorite. Not now. Though they have lost sting of Haydos and Gilly, they still have in their ranks Symonds, Hussey brothers, Warner and Watson who can score runs pretty quickly. Along with Punter, Clarke and Haddin they form a pretty strong batting line-up. However, their bowling attack looks weak at least to me. I am not sure Johnson, Hilfenhaus, Siddle and Hauritz will bowl as well as they did in other formats recently.

5. New Zealand They don't have menacing stars except for perhaps McCullum but the way they combine as a team they can scare low rung teams and can on their day upset 'big four'. Ryder, McCullum and Taylor can provide the fireworks so much needed in this format while Mills and Oram along with miserly bespectacled skipper Vettori can stem the flow of runs against any team. Others though look ordinary.

6. West Indies Gayle, Sarwan, Shiv, Ramdin and Bravo can get runs for them and at quick pace but the rest will struggle in English conditions. Similarly bowling relies too much on Fiddy and Taylor. With Taylor not looking in best of forms it is going to be tough days ahead for them in this tournament.

7. Sri Lanka Their bowling remains their strength with Malinga, Murli, Tushara and Maharoof along with Mendis (if he plays). However, their batting looks iffy with only Sangakkara and Dilshan looking threatening although Jayasuriya and Jayawardhane can also do some serious damage. The last two have not been consistent and the injury lay-off of Jayawerdene is not going to help.

Others in contention are England and Bangladesh. To be honest I have more hopes from Bangladesh.

The IPL predictions

2009-04-16T17:34:00.000+05:30

Cricinfo recently carried the preview of IPL teams. So, now i have a fair idea of who are the players to watch out for in this edition. They pick Superkings, Indians, daredevils and royals for the top 4. However, any prediction at this moment is fraught with dangers. At least history suggests so. If someone had told you that Kings XI will make it to semi-final without Yuvraj performing well you would have not paid heed but that is what happened. We were all surprised by the performances of Shaun Marsh, Sreeshanth, VRV and Piyush Chawla. I think i will make prediction only after each team plays at least 3-4 matches. Any prediction should take into account that this edition is on South African pitches and the best way to do that is to watch the initial matches.

However, I hope no one gets injured this time in the IPL to miss national duty like it happened last year to Haydos, Sreeshanth, Tendulkar and others.

Joy for Afghanistan in cricket

2009-04-13T17:35:00.000+05:30

The Afghans have done it. They have beaten favorites Ireland in World Cup Qualifiers after barely managing to get into Super-8. This victory just goes on to show how good this team is. Ireland did well in last World Cup beating Pakistan and Bangladesh who are test playing nations. The Afghans are new entrants to cricket. Most of the players started playing in refugee camps in Pakistan and it seems they have picked some mental strength from Pakistanis.
It still remains very difficult for Afghans to qualify for the world cup considering that their victories in qualifying phase were against Bermuda and Denmark who are already out of tournament so Afghans do not carry any points from previous stage. But at least they have given themselves a chance. Don't forget Aussies won in 1999 without carrying any points from previous round in super six.

Professionals or Amateurs

2008-07-11T10:56:00.000+05:30

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain of Indian Cricket Team in ODIs and Twenty20 was recently in the epicenter of mini-controversy about the amount of cricket being played. He was snubbed by the BCCI albeit politely. But is he right?

Dhoni never complained of tiring on field when playing in the IPL, though he did complained of tight schedule. Remember Sachin Tendulkar and S. Sreeshanth who played all the matches in the so called ‘business end’ of the tournament but just after that were declared unfit for the Bangladesh tri-series and the Asia Cup. It is too naive to believe that the injury surfaced just after the IPL. Sachin Tendulkar did not play in the first leg of the IPL and his comeback and then opting out of these two ODI tournaments is clearly denying his service to his nation because of his franchisee. These cricketers were so passionate playing for their franchisee that it seemed they never played for India. Yes, you are right. I am referring to the Sreeshanth-Harbhajan slapgate and the Mumbai-Punjab match when after the match Yuvraj had to remind the crowd that some of the Punjab boys also played for India. Such was the hostility.

Agreed that players like all of us have right to make money but should it come at cost of their nation. The fielding standards have been appalling in this Asia Cup. Even the best of Indian fielders have looked jaded. Ishant Sharma and Pravin Kumar matched Munaf’s standard in fielding. There is no limit to how much money you can or want to earn but indiscriminate money minting is should not be allowed esp. in India. We all know some of the best football is witnessed in EPL but see the performance of English team. Those who think the IPL has given confidence and new stars please wait. We have not seen enough of these ‘stars’ in international cricket till now. Yusuf Pathan has not proved himself yet even on the flattest of the pitches in the world. Piyush Chawla was taken to cleaners by Younis Khan, who I believe is ultimate test for any spinner. So although Chawla has looked good against weaker oppositions he was decimated by Salman, Younis and Misbah.

No Indian player could top either the bowling or batting chart in the IPL although we are current champions in T20. I still believe that only those players will succeed who have proved themselves in the domestic circuit. Suresh Raina was pretty successful this season and he is belting runs in the Asia Cup also. At least he has proved himself on flat pitches.

If we have to become world beaters as the West Indies were and the Australia are, we need top-class Test players. We won T20 World Cup though we had the least experience in it. We need T20 only to finance Test Cricket. A true cricket lover would always enjoy Test matches. We need to develop players who can play longer version of the game and are world class. We need professionals who can stand tall like Mcgrath, Holding and Marshall and the spinners like Warne, Murali or Kumble. We had two of the best Test batsmen in Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid during 90’s and this decade. We need more such batsmen. We need professionals in Test matches, leave T20 to amateurs and forget ODIs. Why not hold Asia Cup in T20 format?

A dull series ends finally

2007-12-14T05:23:00.000+05:30

This is a very uncommon title for an India-Pakistan series. The two arch rivals whose duel is termed as Asian Ashes and more than the game, historical rivalries fire the imagination. Stop there. The historical rivalries are in fact marring the competence in this contest. I noted one thing which came to light only due to the fiasco by the KCA on switching the lights on. The teams had agreed not to play in artificial light before the start of this series. Now you can say what is wrong in it. Think again. This is a clever ploy to somehow avert a possible defeat. And it suits the purpose because in such a volatile encounter no team would like to lose and administrators along with players favor this defensive approach.
I vividly remember the 1999 series between India and Pakistan when the team led by Wasim Akram was termed a very weak team as it had lost the prior series to Zimbabwe at their home. They finally won two test matches and decimated India in one-dayers. That team had in its rank Aamir Sohail,Saeed Anwar, Ijaz Ahmed,Salim Malik, Moin Khan, Waqar Younis, Saqlain Mushtaq and Wasim Akram and were still termed weak. The next tour of Pakistan was in 2005 and the team was termed weakest despite having Inzy, Yousuf, Afridi, Akmal, Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan. The series was a draw. In 2007, again the team was labeled the weakest and Kiran More went to the extent of terming it weakest Pakistan team in 40 years. Still Indians prepared belters in the series and it was hard time for bowlers in the series. Even Anil Kumble bowled 44 overs and could pick only one wicket in the first innings of Bangalore test. This is the problem not only with Indians but Pakistanis also. Just remember the last series against Pakistan. Pakistan were clear favorites but instead of relying on their strength (that is pace bowling) they prepared docile wickets in first two tests. Finally good sense prevailed and in Karachi we saw a very good wicket on which Pakistan comfortably won.

It seems both India and Pakistan are afraid of losing and that is clearly affecting the quality of cricket between the two. I remember when a TV journo was going ga ga over Dada’s stamina after his double hundred, Aquib Javed commented that it were Pakistanis more than Dada who were responsible for his stamina. You have to agree with him if you saw Mohammed Yousuf or Sami or Shoaib Akhtar field. Even club level cricketers would be put to shame by the fielding standards exhibited by Pakistan. Indians on the other hand continued their catch-dropping spree. I am sure Australians would need only a few of them to annihilate India. And the bowling of Pakistan team was no better. Even Bangladesh attack is better if you discount those few spells by Shoaib. 3 bowlers bowling for 150 overs on a featherbed.You can’t help but feel for them. Indians would have been better prepared if they had played domestic cricket rather than this series.

I hope better sense prevails over the officials of the two countries and they have sufficient gap between these contests. The tour schedule should be such that players get more practice games and have some time to recover between two tests. The pitches should be of high-quality as we saw in 2004. Otherwise, there is no use of having such dull series every year. Please, please, please spare us of this boredom.