Way ahead for Sreesanth

Sreesanth has made a remarkable comeback in the team and its high time he realizes that he needs to take the wickets to be in the limelight and in the page 3 parties and the reality shows.

He had it in him to excel. England 07 and SA 06 showed us that promise, but the theateric persona in him overtook the bowler in him and the bowler got slapped and other things followed. New bowlers came in and went, Santh was overlooked.

Now that he is in the team he should focus on the wickets and bowling. Wickets give the bowlers high and huge. All staring, sledging, send offs are great only when you take wickets and take 3 or 4 or 5 wicket hauls.

Lets hope he turns around the tide this time and fulfills the promise he showed in 2006.

Test cricket in Mumbai

Its an irony that Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium, the original numero uno ground of the city would host a Test match almost same time when it was expected to host a Test last year against visiting Poms.  That could never happen as 11/26 sent the city and the country in shock, anger and grieveing mode.

Its a strange irony that Test cricket returns to Mumbai after 3 years.   Nobody in the current line up in the team has played a Test on this ground, but the most famous first class double hundred in the country came on this ground. Most famous cricketer made it against most famous team with the most famous world spinner in it with most famous captain skippering (patent) the team.

Brabourne, Sachin Tendulkar, Australia, Shane Warne, Mark Taylor , 1998, Mumbai, Ranji champs are the key words that describe the above riddle.

This Test would be a remarkable with Murali playing his last test overseas and possibly his career too.  And what an occasion it would be when Sach would finish 13000 runs in Tests in front of his home crowd.

Kanpur loss and Sangakara’s to be fried excuses

So whats the excuse now for Sangakara to put forward for the embarrasing loss in Kanpur ? The pitch was tailor made for his 3 spinners, but they were rendered useless by Indians. Moreso than the spinners, his flat track bull shots were rendered ineffective by reborn Sreesanth and then much flaked Harbhajan in 2nd innings.

Food ? Water ? Pollution ? Bad hotels ? What would be the buzz word Sangakara put forth for the series defeat in Mumbai. I believe his team would stay in renovated Taj and if he would call it bad, then he would be making an ass of himself.

I presume poor Murali would face the ire of the Sri Lankan captain for the loss in Kanpur. India has not been just to Murali in the past and this trip has just carried forward the same. So why single him out and say those useless words on him. Why not say a word or 2 on Mahela Jaywardhena who got run out in the 2nd innings and when team demanded most his runathon he went out.

That confirms my belief that this man plays for records and not for the team. Count the occasions when he has made 100s and how many have helped his team in difficult situations(win or a draw). Very few or  none. Only occasion I recall is Lord’s 2006 but then England were devoid of their best bowlers then.

Murali should now retire post Mumbai test. He has achieved everything. He’s got close to 800 wkts and 540 odd ODI wkts. No bowler in the vicinity looks good to break that record. So he should respect his body and gracefully retire before Sangakara puts him in a spot and utters his shit on him.

And yes this was a grudge series. Delighted to see Mendis flattened out. To be consistent on the highest level, he should have the urge to go with wkts every time and in every conditions. Something great spinners like Warne, Anil  did.

And when Angelo Matthews (no disregard to him) takes new ball and Dilly Fernando sits out, you got to question the mindset of the rival captain.  What is he trying to achieve ? Killing spirits of cricket.  Saurav puts it right “You cannot win a Test in India with ANgelo Matthews takes the new ball”.

Sadly for Lankans, the history wont change.  They would go winless in the Test series. 10 losses in 17 tests would be the scoreline for them after Mumbai.

Umar Akamal

Umar Akamal seems to be a serious talent and if he is kept aloof of the power politics and board mess of Pakistan cricket, he could very well turn out to be the hope Pakistan cricket is looking for.

Include Mohd Aamer in that too.

Big question is do the bosses of Pak cricket need that to happen ? Got to ask Younis’s, Yousuf’s Maliks, Butt’s and Afridi’s.

Pakistan lost a brave test and they would rue their top 3 batsmen inept ness to stay put long on the crease.

From what I have seen Umar doesnt seem to be as bugsy and “Danya Danya” screaming like his bada bhai Kamran.

Sreesanth

…….is back 🙂

With a triple blow.

Coming of age.  😛

Gautam Gambhir

is the hottest man in Indian Test cricket for a year now.  7 centuries in 9 Tests against Australia, Sri Lanka, England and New Zealend is just awesome.

Sehwag and Gambhir are now 507 runs close to being the best opening pair in Indian Test history. And trust me thats a valiant effort in a country which has traditonally struggled for openers after Sunil Gavaskar and to an extent the Surd from Patiala.

Only Gambhir is the traditional opener here and Sehwag is a makeshift opener.

Sehwag demolished Sri Lankan attack and the way he ripped apart the challenge of Muralitharan just shows the value of the man to the Indian cricket. 233 in 41 overs is just awesome effort in the Tests and shows the positive attitude of Indian team in Tests as opposed to negative attitude and mindset of Sri Lankans.

The best of the 2500 odd runs Sehwag and Gambhir have put up have come in last year or so. And given the way they have been making runs, they would soon be counted in one of the best ever opening partnerships. It would contrast to the dominating years of Australia when Langer and Hayden gave big starts to the team and invariably always the Aussies would win.

131 was Sehwag’s first century since 147 he made against West Indies in Wankhede, Mumbai in 2002 below 150. Such is the impact of the man. Easily he is the most destructive opener of the world in the Tests right now. Be it Muralitharan, the so called best spinner in the world or Mendis, the so called mystery man or carrom ball man, they have appeared tiny insects before this man.

Awesome effort from the Delhi dashers.

2nd Test : Day 1

I just hope the Kanpur pitch is not as bad as Ahmedabad and the valiant Indian effort is not attributed to blant pitch. I just hope the scoreline is due to the awesome batting effort and not due to the flat track. Too early to say anything on the pitch quality but lets see how pitch behaves.

Shocking to see Amit Mishra being dropped after one bad Test.

First time most probably 2 Hyderabadis would play in Indian team together.

Oh wait, no.  VVS and Azhar did play few times. 1996 Ahmedabad Test vs SA when Lacchu made his debut and few other tests still 2000 when Azhar retired / was banned.

Ideal situation for India would be to bat session and half and score close to 650 runs and then bundle out the characterless men 2 times without having to bother about batting 2nd.

Murali n mendis

Have been brought to ground. After 47 wkts last series the duo has struggled to take wickets.

Sehwag and Gambhir give India flying start

Alright no need for 7-2 field for India, but then Sanga would need it to stem the flow of runs from the Delhi Dashers.

One of them has scored a hundred and the other one has inched towards it.

ODIs back in whites 😛

Sehwag scores the long due 100 and all his impatience all this days since coming back now is forgotten. This setups the game as usual and would give a lot of time for the Indians to go make runs at fast pace.

By the by where are voices of colombo blogger? Lost or consumed by LTTE remains 😛

Murali reads 0.47 off 8 and Mendis, the mystery man, the carrom ball man reads 0/42 off 4. Lot of character . Right Murali is not struggling. He is rediscovering himself in a new way. Lol.  3 for 270 runs on this trip so far. Sangakara evokes laughter with his match utterances. Murali is evolving in a different way.

Sangakara. LMAO

Kanpur Test Prebiew

If Sri Lanka bat first today and bat long as they usuall like to do without giving a damn to the spectators and the results, then why not go for the 7-2 field as it worked for India in the 2nd Test last year vs Australia.

Shit for Shit.