Archive for February 2009
ICC Rankings biased towards India
Updates on SA- Aus Test series and my bet with Achettup
Hey doesn’t cricket seem to be a great leveler. Over confident Indians brought down in a format where they are world champs and have played their last game before they go to the defence of the title they won 2 years back. I would hate to see Indians do a 1987 in 2009. And the other one is for Graeme Smith. Man of the series in Australia for his heroics, falls for a duck. Australia is in a soup at 38/3 on day 1. And then 182/5. A debutant scores a 100, Haddin scores a 50 and then Mitch Johnson enjoys himself in the middle to remain stranded for 96*. Wow, he has now a test average of 32. Way greater than Pidge and Lee.
SA stuttered at 5/2. The heroes of down under series were back in hut in a flash and then boy. Kallis gone too but with a selfish milestone. DeVilliers and McKenzie still on crease though, but still. I am on course for a victory in the bet with Achettup. 2-1 or 3-0 for Australia or even 1-0 or 2-0, I win. Any other scoreline than the ones here I lose.
So its kinda back to the old world order. Australia thumping Saffers and Indians being blowed away by star less Kiwis. Gotta ask for Sharma and Raina, how much beer they had and how many babes they wandered with ?
T20 updates: I
Dhoni was lucky with toss in SL in 4 games. He won all those games. Mahela won the 5th toss and the game. Vettori won the 1st T20 toss and won the game. He has won the toss in 2nd game too. Will he win ? Thank God Rohit Sharma is gone. Yipeeeeee. Ravinder Jadeja comes in for him. What if he plays well today ? Will he still be sent home ? Or will he replace Rohit Sharma or Dinesh Karthik ?
We all set for 2nd of the 2 T20s of the series. Can India break its T20 jinx against this lowly Kiwi team ? Will the so called Rockstars of Indian cricket rock or rock off in over confidence ? Somehow Indians sounded rash and rude in 1st defeat. So that answers my mate from Colombo who wanted to listen my views on Indian defeat in Kiwi land.
Irfan Pathan continues to be an enigma. From what he was to what he is now. He is hurting India’s chances in every game India plays. But then there is no bowler with his batting prowess.
Match gets underway
Sehwag on fire. 10 balls 24. 5 fours. Difference from other day. 10 balls 26 runs, 3 sixes. Today he is grounded. Hopefully he remains and realizes he has to stay back.
Gambhir seems edgy. He gotta have patience. He should stick around. Runs would come by.
Sehwag gone. Freakish hell.
Raina gone too. Now would he and Rohit Sharma go for partying ? Beer and babes ? Very much. Why not we just throw them out of the team ?
Dream on
“Our focus is on playing better cricket than Australia in this series and if we can really beat them at home it will be a comprehensive beating of Australia home and away,”. “That’s something that we really want to achieve. They were able to do it against us for a period of time and we feel that we’re capable of doing it but it’s going to be tough work. It’s a sign of the success that we’ve had if we do get there [to No. 1]. We basically can look at ourselves and say we’ve earned that ranking through good results, through winning on pretty much every continent over the last period of time. That’s a really good, satisfying feeling for any team, for any player”
Dream on. Wishful thinking doesn’t always come true. 2-1 away victory was a flash in the pan. A storm in the cup of tea. Last 2 series results in SA read 0-3 and 1-2 for SA. This would be no different. 2-1 to Australia and Achettup, our bet begins today. You see Ponting is gonna swarm Smith out of his feet and regain the lost glory. Bingo!! Go Aussies.
Rohit Sharma………
Is out for 7 again and his failures continue. My views get a point and a valid one J
Dear Mr Mark Richardson
Is that out of being under awe or is it just out of frustration Mr Richardson ? The text in red is in very bad taste.
“However Messrs Tendulkar, Dravid and Co can rest easy this time round because I can almost guarantee conditions will be vastly different. Why? Well, because New Zealanders and New Zealand cricket understand who pays the wages nowadays and this tour for the Black Caps is very much the scenario of playing your boss at golf. You need to put up a good account for yourself if you want to get the desired invite again. However, if you are going to win you don’t want to stuff him out of sight in some sort of perceived under-handed manner. If you do win, do so in a manner that allows the boss to retain some sort of dignity, and if you lose, make sure he felt the engagement worthy of his time. That way you may just get the invite to join the country club.
In cricket terms what New Zealand really need to achieve from this tour is a sense of goodwill towards New Zealand cricket from Indian cricket once the tour is over. That does not mean rolling over and dying, because fans of New Zealand cricket also like to win. However, this could be the last time New Zealand fans see these great batting names of Indian cricket on our shores, and both nations may feel cheated if seaming wickets nullify the Indian batting machine. “
I don’t think that’s needed. We have many Kiwi players in ICL, many in IPL (McCullum, Ryder, Vettori, Oram, Taylor etc). Nobody asked for the behavior out of NZ the way you portray Mr Richardson.
”You can expect a lot of wind too. All venues in New Zealand can get windy, let alone Wellington, which on most days blows a gale. It ruins the bowling rhythm, makes your eyes water, chills you to the bone, affects you balance and back-lift, and most of all is exhausting. You must have strategies, preferably developed through experience, to deal with the wind in New Zealand. “
Wind and a bit of chill also leads to old, and even young, bones getting a little stiff. It can take a bit of extra time to get the body loosened up and moving early in an innings or bowling spell. For those used to starting warm and loose, special attention needs to be taken to ensure stiffness does not result in sloppiness.
New Zealand is not that dissimilar to England, but it is most certainly not the subcontinent, and thus takes a bit of getting used to as far as the Indians are concerned. However, the only advantage in terms of assistance the New Zealand bowlers may get this time round against a touring Indian side may simply be an initial psychological one, based on the mental scarring from the last time the Indian players toured, and stories of horror told to the new guys in the squad.
We do have windy conditions in India too, not extreme though. We are very good travelers. We have never complained about the crowd, the pollution or whatsoever conditions prevalent in touring country. We go about playing our cricket, winning fans and hearts even after losing. Its just few years since we have started winning cricket matches abroad too besides the hearts. So doing that isn’t an offence and it doesn’t warrant an article like this coming up. We have played in windy conditions in England and have emerged victorious in 2007, drew in 2002. For that matter we are yet to lose an English test series since 1996 home and away. We almost got the hold of Aussie series 2 times in row but for Bucknor. And for that one mad go slow session in Cape town against Lord Harris, we almost beat SA in SA too. We have won in Australia, England, West Indies, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka. No matter last two countries we haven’t won a Test series but we would do that soon. We haven’t said a word about how good we are or how good we would be. We already have sold our hearts to you guys by posing ourselves as underdogs. Your coach and your premier batsman say India is the best. We haven’t said anything of that sort. This blogger still believes Australia are the best side with India and South Africa joint 2nd. We have got the work ethic in the team. And that’s precisely the reason you see that the only defeat we have suffered in last 5 months is in an ODI to SL (SL fans happy cheeeeeeeeeez). We have won against Aus and Eng in Tests. Against Eng, SL in ODIs. That’s not a meek opposition. Gotta have a strong work ethic to beat Aussies 2-0 their weakness notwithstanding. We have always respected Kiwis side for being fighters and being supreme fit. We have always compared our cricketers with yours and have found our cricketers lacking in the heart and stamina to fight. But that was past. Present is different. Unfortunately NZ has no Fleming and no Bond. No Tuffy and No Adams. With due respect to Martin, Southee we don’t see the bowling attack as threatening that was in 2002 (if it was). We have Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan who have proved themselves in dead subcontinental pitches. So if they get a juicy pitch with bounce and carry till shin, then who would complaint ?
Lets not get into the pleasing mode Mr Richardson and lets just watch the cricket. The game of uncertain certainties.
Disclaimers and Clarifications…
Yawn….Boring stuff. That’s now what we want on the name of Test cricket. Please for God sake, no. We need an even contest between bat and ball. Not long scoring draws where every team would compete with each other how long wud it bat and how many records one would make. Great. Malik got a 50, his place secure for some time. Misbah cautious against M&M, Younis got a 100, perhaps 150 and even 5000 runs. But guys what about the result ? What about competitiveness ? What about level of cricket you play ? Karachi is one such venue which should be banned for international cricket. Flattest track in the world. In ODIs, in Tests. I think this Test series doesn’t even a post from me. But I wont say total no. When I get a juicy bit on my favorite Mahela Man I would write something.
By the way I am surprised to see charged up comments from few lads from SL on my previous posts. Perhaps they fail to understand that emotional comments arrive out of their end rather than from the Indian bloggers. I perfectly mentioned that I don’t dislike the individuals but dislike the brand of cricket SL play. Long batting just puts me off. Test matches aint meant for torture but for fun, they are for pure delight, test of character. Not meant for high scoring dull draws on a pitch where even I could score a 50. So I would request fiery SL supporters to kindly understand the pretext of the post and then think and then dish out the venom out here. Going back to 1996 or saying what Azhar did or 2007 WC debacle just doesn’t make any sense. World has turned upside down since then. So no point going there.
I am gonna write something next on India vs NZ series.
Alright the day 3 is over. M & M figures read : 79 – 16 – 170 – 2. Figures say it all.
Bucknor going going going would be gone…………
If this news had broken a year earlier before India toured Australia in 2007-08 then we would have been the first team to have won the series down-under in 15 years rather than Saffers. Had he retired after 2003 World Cup final, we would have won the 2003-04 series down under too. So it was not any Aussie legend that stood between us and the series win, but it was this man from West Indies who stopped us from doing so on 2 consecutive occasions. Good lord, he is retiring and now he won’t be around to give farcical decisions. Mind you Bucknor is from Caribbean and not from Emerald Isle, so now nobody can pester me for being a “farce blogger” for feeling relieved that Bucknor is gone. And thank god he won’t officiate in the NZ series.
Switch Hit 