Aussies loose their aura

Few moments from now SA would become 1^st team in 17 yrs to beat Australia in Australia. Good achievement. But a bit unfair too. This Australian team is weak, jaded, tired and unsure of its domination. The batsmen aint clicking, the senior players aint ready to go and the bowling attack looks club standard with injuries to Lee along with his marital troubles. Clark is injured, Johnson looks the only bowler who can take wickets consistently. Unfair becos it was India who ran through the Aussies close 2 times down under and were Bucknored every time in Sydney. 2004, it was Steve Waugh and Bucknor who took the test away from India and then in 2008 it was again Benson and Bucknor who with their shocking decisions closed the door on Indians.

Its unfair for India that a team from nowhere comes and wins the series in Australia whereas we should have been the team who should have got the honors. We always have run close to Aussies in their prime in 2001, 2003, 2004 and then in 2008. When they had the likes of Waugh brothers, Langer, Martyn, Gilchrist, McGrath and Warne, we gave them close fight barring 1999. Yet due to either umpiring decisions or due to some other reason we couldn’t finish them off in their own backyard.

And now with chokers Safs walking away with the credit, its unbearable for a pro India fan to digest this. May be time for gulping some Hajmolas to digest the rubbing. May be its time for Australian selectors to be ruthless and cut the feathers of over aged players, strip Ponting of the captaincy and show the door to Symonds, Hayden. Find a fast bowler and find a spinner who has 5-10% capabilities of Warne. No part timers like Hauritz or White. A full fledged traditional spinner.

Aussies end their supremacy tonite with a defeat in MCG, which perhaps would also see SA as # 1 team in the world. For me not, its INDIA. We didn’t play Bangladesh 4 times, we didn’t win against any meek opposition. Wins against Australia 3 times, England and South Africa counts much. Blip in SL was a distraction of the vision to be the BEST in the world. Come end 2009 we shall right be there. On the top in all forms of the game.

A long Good Bye For hayden

Time to say Good bye Haydos……

Thanks for the memories and thanks for the entertainment!!

For us you would always remain the flesh in the eye for robbing us of the 2003 World Cup….

SL snubs Pakistan too ??

That’s what you call double catastrophe. After royale Indian snub, most likely Lankans are also planning to drop Pakistan in lurch……All cos Arjuna Ranatunga was sacked. Good idea right now for Pakistan would be to have a domestic cricket tourney with ex-international players led by Shoaib Malik, the ICL dump led by Inzamam Ul Haq and terrorist team led by anybody out of LeT or Huji or any militant organization flourishing in Pakistan………

.Srilanka is unlikely to tour Pakistan with authorities reconsidering the decision of sacked Cricket Board Chairman Arjuna Ranatunga to support India’s stance of not touring that country following the recent terror attacks in Mumbai

“We follow a pro-India policy. We know the circumstances in which the Indian tour to Pakistan was called off. The tour (of Sri Lanka to Pakistan) is unlikely,” top sources said.

When contacted, Sri Lankan Sports and Recreation Minister Gamini Lokuge said he would hold discussions with the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the issue. “We are reconsidering the decisions taken by Arjuna Ranatunga,” Lokuge said adding that the Foreign Ministry would also be consulted on the proposed tour.

And this is not worse, ICL and IPL are also planning to dump Pakistani players out of their leagues…..So no cricket for them!!! All their bloggers could do is have a wishful thinking of a fight between Sachin or Dravid and Dhoni or Yuvraj………….

GOD save Pakistan cricket and may it provide some relief to the beleaguered PCB with some decent cricket………May be invite BD for a Test series or Zimbabwe for an ODI series…..

India in 2008

The Indian season for the year 2008 is over. It has been a great year for India in both forms of the game. ODIs and Tests. The world champs in T20 lost the only game they played in Australia. Luckily there was no rush to put in more T20Is in the home series against England and Australia.

The best moment in ODIs came when India won the CB series in Australia in March 2008 with Sachin Tendulkar scoring a 1^st hundred in Australia in ODIs and 3^rd of the tour. Never before any Indian team had won the tri series in its 30 years of existence in Australia. What made it more pleasant was the fact that this was the last version of the CB series. And India would always remain the champs. Beating Aussies in their own backyard perhaps began their slide in Tests. May be, may be not.

If that victory wasn’t enough, the even sweeter moment came in November 2008 when India beat Aussies 2-0 in home series for the first time. Aussies suffered their heaviest loss in 26 years and were snubbed out totally. India lost the services of Anil Kumble and Saurav Ganguly. Sachin Tendulkar had a great run in Tests and ODIs in whatever games he played. Rahul Dravid suffered a slump in the form before making a steady 136 in Mohali which could prolong his career. Laxman ’s love affair with Aussies continued with 2 100s against them, including 3^rd in Sydney and one double in Delhi.

Dhoni ‘s captaincy entered a surreal honeymoon, Yuvraj Singh flattered to deceive for most part of the year until the tour game in Hyderabad vs Australia when he scored a 100 and since then never looked back scoring back to back 100s in Odis vs England and 2 50s in Tests. Young guns in ODIs were flop and it was left to the experienced hands of Viru, Dhoni and Gambhir to achieve the success in ODIs. Bowling attack looked rock solid with Zaheer and Ishant Sharma developing into a very strong bowling unit, best in years India had after 1996-97 when Srinath and Prasad achieved lot of success in England and South Africa. Zaks and Ishant excelled in Sri Lanka, though didn’t have wickets to show up. Ishant had a great tour of Australia with Ponting falling to him consistently. Zaheer managed to win MoM and MoS awards including one today vs England. He not only did mark a great comeback out of injury, but also played a role of senior pro to perfection. 3 short of 200 wkts in Tests and 200+ in ODIs is very good achievement for this lanky fast bowler.

Viru’s 319 in Chennai against SA, Saurav’s 87 in Kanpur, Sachin ‘s 103 vs England, Dravid ‘s 93 in Perth, Viru ‘s 201 in Galle and 151 in Adelaide, Laxman ‘s 100 in Sydney along with Gambhir ‘s amazing run of consistency were the batting highlights in Tests. Opening partnerships in Tests never looked like an issue and after years of round the clock chipping with opening partnerships ,India found one great pair in Gambhir and Viru.

The man of the year for Indian cricket has to be the Delhi lad : Gautam Gambhir who scored 1000 runs in both forms of the game and excelled against top opposition – Australia and England. No cheap wkts for Mishra and Bhajji, no BD series for India to come in next few years, no fear of life in Pakistan, India must look forward to a great 2009 with the World T20 coming up in England followed by a tour of NZ – the only place where India is yet to win a test this decade (given NZ composition a 2-0 win should be a possibility) and home series against relatively easier oppositions like SL and WI should be easy cake walk……

India deserve to be ranked 2^nd in world in both forms of game, alas the rankings favor SA who after beating BD 4 times of 4 this year sit on # 2 slot in the Test rankings. And they are rightly so.

Why no usage of flood lits for Mohali Test ?

To avoid all this why didn’t the BCCI and ECB opt for usage of flood lights when BCCI knows that in winter the mornings in North India are foggy and cold. Plus the sun sets early.

10.20am Latest news, the umpires will look again in 10-15 minutes time. The light isn’t good enough yet, but it’s slowly getting better. The players are out in the middle preparing. So it’s still a waiting game.

10.15am Still waiting for a word on the start time, it doesn’t look like we’ll underway at 10.30 like yesterday. I will try and bring you news in a moment.

10.05am The fog continues to lift, albeit slowly, and we still don’t have a start time. A few players out on the outfield warming up, but with plenty of layers on as it’s quite chilly.

9.50am “I don’t understand why England has given up and will now be playing for a draw??,” says Saurabh. “Understandably their position is not the best, but wouldn’t fighting and playing to win the game will be a way to go?” Indeed, they were odd comments from Pietersen but it’s refreshing, in a way, to here an international speak the truth. He didn’t sound best pleased after his lbw decision, either.

The future world order……..

No no no. Africans dont deserve it. Aussies have to be humbled just by Indians. Nobody else. They cant be # 1. We have to be there. We have humbled Aussies consistently — even when they were strongest in the world, even when they are on decline. Safs are chokers and today’s win might improve the image a bit, but then the world beaters tag has to be with us.

We are the best in the world and the rankings should show up. Even if it doesnt we would still feel to be the BEST. Bring on anybody. We would beat them hands up. Be it Lankans now in India or Windies or NZ (the next 3 to tour India)…And yes no minnows please.

India
Australia
England
South Africa

The future world order……..

Rahul Dravid makes it….A Hundred!!

Go march on MAN. Get back the runs, get back the coveted title. Get back the groove. Get back the Elite. Get back the spree of hundreds and treat us with your silken drives….

Might not be pretty, may be its scratchy or lucky, the runs matter, the 2 or 3 figures matter, no one would remember if you got 40 and if it was very fluent or if you got a 140 and it was a scratchy. All matters is the contribution you make to the team’s cause and the conditions you bat in. Many times you might not score runs as you might like, but you might neutralise the bowler on fire or the pitch’s tricks….

Dont know if Dravid would carry on after Mohali and would retire on a high. Dont know whats in his mind. He has been a changed man after the 2007 World Cup failure. Skipped the captaincy after a hughe high of beating England in England 1-0 after 21 years. Since then he has lost his place in ODIs, struggled in Tests and since last 2 Tests suffered huge loss of form.

And then there you go….Hundred for Dravid….26th of his career, 4th against England, 2nd of the year. One of my wishlists come true….Now next a big partnership with SRT — the next 🙂

Way to go RD……Congrats for the 100 and carry on!!!

Dravid saves his career

A slow 150 ball 50 perhaps helps Dravid save his career for at least a tour. This should give the man some confidence.

He should carry on tomorrow, forge a big partnership for 3rd wkt with his favorite Tendulkar, score a career boosting 100, hit back at the critics and ask them to fuck off…..

The TEST batsman of year for India has certainly been Gautam Gambhir who began his revival from Lanka series, when all other big shots failed. 3 of the 4 hundreds coming against likes of Australia and England in 4 Tests is no mean achievement.

He is one find of the year for India in both forms of game…..Rock on Gauty!!!

Great Leveller and 4 Batsmen on decline…………..

Cricket is a game of great leveler. If a day you fly high, the next day in a test match you are back to ground. That’s what happened to Viru Sehwag. If he set up the historic Indian chase on 4^th day of Chennai Test, then today he fell for 0. A harsh irony indeed.

4 Strugglers are occupying the crease right now in different parts of world. They are :

1. Rahul Dravid

2. Mathew Hayden – has fallen. Perhaps has also fallen for last time. Is that the end of the Big Matt ?

3. Ricky Ponting – Duckling in the first innings : )

4. Jacques Kallis – Made a 63, but never looks intimidating against top class teams.

4 of this millenium’s prolific batsmen on their way out.

Tidbits all round the cricketing world

So finally the tour to Pakistan has been called off. That was just a formality. I have been a vociferous supporter of this even before 11/26.

Some things never change……in context of pure cricketing sense. All around the world….

Dont agree, have a glance :

1. Dravid’s failures. Once a wall ran out of runs and we ran short of brickbats for him. Now the latest buzz is that he would be batting down the order. Laxman for # 3 ?




2. South Africa would be perennial and eternal chokers. They would always speak high about their preparations, their plans, talk absurd of somebody being informer n spy to them, their pace attack, their ambition to go # 1…When it comes to deliver the talk on the field when it matters the most, they choke. 234/3 to 243/8.




3. English media. Anything English is too good for them. Chauvinistic even in modern age. Living in feudal times. Anything scored against England would be huge for them. Be it Smith’s 154 in Edgbaston or 103 by Tendulkar in Chennai (Athers calls Madaras)…India vs Australia wont matter much to them. A win and they feel they are ready to take on the Aussies only to end up 0-5.




4. Sri lanka ‘s eternal love for minnows. If ODIs with Zim when they were embarrased in last 3 ODIs were not enuf, then now what follows a Test series with BD and a tri series with Zim as 3rd team :). They scrapped England tour, agreed for BD tour…meaning more cheap runs and more wkts for M&M. hell, Mahela even bothers to speak to motivate his team against BD…..Wonder has SL confidence came down to this level ? I hate M & M. They pushed Saurav and Anil to retirements.
5. Dilip Vengsarkar’s tounge. Continues to remain loose and suffer verbal diaorrhea. Now he questions awarding Mohali the 2nd Test. And he also put a ? on exclusion of some Rahane and Dhawal Kulkarni from Mumbai for central contracts. Ok dude, you love Mumbai cricket but then there should be a criteria to judge the players on quality. Just cos a player hails from your state, he should be given a contract ? Will you accept me in your academy ? I am from MH and have worked in Mumbai for 2 years….Ok if not Mumbai then in Pune, i hv been here for 4 years now……..Deal ?

Michael Johnson is the new BOWLER who has now come of age for Australia. Can he step into the mould of McGrath ? Time will tell. But then the signs are omnious….

WI is playing NZ and nobody is bothering.

If there is one team which has been the team of year in every form of game in 2008, then it is INDIA. Wonderful results all the way except SL loss. Victories, home and away. What more you need ?