Try Irfan over Jadeja

Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni;s fascination on Ravinder Jadeja being used as regular spinner bowling 10 or 4 overs in ODIs and T20s is dangerous. I believe MS and SR dont take Jadeja to be Gary Sobers who can bat and bowl with equal talent and skill.

I dont know what Jadeja brings in the table on both counts (bat and ball) in ODIs and T20s. He is not a big hitter, he is no more than a stock bowler in ODIs and he often slips the balls through his hands.

Irfan Pathan is more of a batting allrounder whose bowling might be doubtful, but he is certainly better batsman than his brother and Ravinder Jadeja.

So why not bring him in the side and have him bat at 7 or 8. He could do the same role as Mathews does for Sri Lanka.  But will MSD and Srikanth listen.

Bangladesh show some resolve

England, as expectedly won against Bangladesh with session and half to spare on final day of Lord’s test, but the credit must go to Bangladesh for the spirited fightback in the second innings. They set up the score of 160 to win for England, had they batted sensibly on the end of day 4 and a bit today morning, who knows they could have inserted some pressure in England camp.

Credit must go to Junaid Siddiquie and Tamim Iqbal for the way they batted. Only if the other batsmen could have shown some resolve, the result would have been a draw and that would have done a world of good to BD cricket.

Pakistan test team must learn something from BD. They are as good as minnows of Test cricket. Have not won a Test since JAn 2007.

Only if the shaky middle order of BD could have some patience, learn to build partnerships and buy time even though runs did not come for a while, the BD could actually justify their Test status. Lest they dont do this, the question marks would always be put on the Test status, whether it was provided a bit too soon.

Rohit Sharma delivers a bit on his promise shown earlier

Rohit Sharma has shown some sync up with the promise he shown in the CB series with 2 back to back hundreds in Zimbabwe. Cant say though if he has arrived on the scene totally, but for sure he is a better batsman than the times when he used to score 20s and 30s.

There are still some question marks over his choice of format to score runs — India or IPL.

If he plays consistently for India in next 9 months  he would earn a berth in the World Cup.  But will he do it, that remains to be seen.

Indian Pakistani jokers

Who is a big joker ?

Krishnamachari Srikanth from India

Or

Ijaz Butt from Pakistan

One of them selects unfit, unqualified players to the Indian squad as if his anna owns the Indian team (as in Hindi its said kya team uske baap ki hai)

The other puts ban and revokes it. Dumps a player, then picks him up, cleans his shit and calls him patriot.

Due to KS of India, the team is in retro mode since Feb 2010 when he decided to rest seniors and draft in MV to join Dines as he complained that he needed somebody whom he could rant how good Simbu is. So Srikanth asked Dines to have MV and sing how good Sri anna is.

A CSK’er is India’s stand in captain just weeks after he led CSK in 3 games , 1 won amd 2 lost.  The CSK’er does not even captain UP. He could have actually made Dines captain of this team, but then that would have been two much. 

So Srikanth qualifies good enough to be best joker. As good as Ijaz Butt

India displays no will to win yet again

After 8 years India loses to Zimbabwe and we must feel good for Zimbios. But what for the so called bench strength or the team of future.

Who are exactly the future stars ?

Besides Srikanth transplants who are there ? Raina, Rohit : they are anyways part of ODI squad, so they aint. Who else ? Jadeja and Pathan ? We have had enough of this 2 lads in recent times and if they continue to be tipped future stars then we are kidding ourselves. How many of this barring Raina and to an extent Sharma are going to play 200 ODIs or 30 Tests for India ?

Who is another 100 Test material in Indian lineup besides incumbents ? Who are other most likely to get to 200 wickets mark in ODIs or 300 mark in Tests ? Neither of this batsmen or bowlers inspire an iota of confidence.

They are stars. IPL stars. Cash rich for big bang cricket. Then what did stop them to have big bang theory in ODIs ? The team that is not even half good as Jharkhand or Kerala Ranji squad (apologies to Tharoor n Freesanth) convincingly beats India — a team that 5 regular members of regular Indian ODI squad — Karthik, Raina, Sharma, Mishra and Kohli.

Did they lack intent or were they tired ? What about the pace attack ? Ashok Dinda, Umesh Yadav and R Vinay Kumar. Hardly an attack that sets firebells.   They dont have pace, they cant bowl short stuff. When they do try they get pulled or hooked by kids who dont even to get to play IPL or top class cricket.  Umesh Yadav ? WHo’s he ? Never heard of him. Son of a poor farmer or a mill worker, got rich by IPL playing few games for DareDevils. He played for his country and had a horrendous debut.

Ashok Dinda has got fire in his eyes, he’s got no temparament for wickets or bowling that would stop runs or take wickets. He swears the batsmen when hit for a 4 or  6, but who the fuck stops him from bowling them over or uprooting the timber ? Do they have the guts ? Bloody No.

Do this guys have the temparament of Biggies of Indian cricket who got them so easy to be playing for country. This useless lads just throw it all.

To be continued…………..

Ijaz Butt’s serious Afridi joke

If I played for Pakistan (not possible ideologically) and I retired prematurely from Tests at my whims or whenever the fat man nearby pissed in his pants, I would have fancied returning every time as captain of the team. I would have bitten the ball, had done back biting, nail biting and all possible bitings and yet would have had a dickhead say “i regard the rules of the game” who would have been less respectable than Lalit Modi and more stupid than Lalu.

Unfortunately I am not that lucky. I am an Indian and not good enough to play even in MPL.

So lets forget about me. Lets have Afridi in the picture.  He retired from Tests in 2006.  Besides playing on featherbeds he never was a quality Test batsman, but barring 2Ys and Inzy then Pak always had lacklusture Test batsmen, so Afridi always made the way.

And now 3 days back for the “respect of the country” he returned to tests and as a captain.  Not sure how long he would have this change of mind. That would be fatal if he has a brain freeze in the mid of all important Australia / England Tests and he retires abruptly.

His choice of Test captain indicates the bare cupboards Pakistan cricket has and the foolhardiness of a man called Ijaz Butt who is leaving no stone unturned to be judged as worst cricket admin ever with no brains.

Even worse is the return of Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik in probables list. Did i read somewhere that they are serving bans ? Wait. Their bans are under arbitaration process and most likely the bans would go. Not long ago Malik was called a termite in the team. Without any corrective action he would return to the team and boy the infightings would continue.

Awesome.

6-0 drubbing for Pakistan in all 6 Tests they play.  If Bangladesh had a series today with Pak then the honest triers like Shakib, Mahamudullah and Tamim would ensure they win the Test series against their former countrymen.  And if India had a Test series against Pakistan today anywhere (even on bouncy tracks worldwide) India would have white washed Pakistan first time.

Meanwhile drama in Pak cricket never ceases to stop. Enjoy the funny statements of the admins, Kamrans and Afridis.

Retirement policy and Kamran wish to sue

Shahid Afridi “retired” from Tests in 2006.

Mohd Younis Youhana retired in 2007 and then again in 2010.

Shahid Afridi a day before (IBNlive) said his retirement is final as his attacking game suits T20s and ODIs.  A day later he says he is considering to come back and play Tests.

Kamran Akamal taking a moral high is threating to sue over the allegations.  Sue who ? Alam and Aaqib Javed. Why ? For the allegations they have put on him. He says he is mentally disturbed. If he is mentally distrubed, then he is not good enough to play for Pakistan. He is still playing.

He then says he would speak to board chairman regarding apology from this people. Another mental retard. Lol.

PCB says chapter is closed. Kamran Akamal wanna sue. ICC is hell bent to find wrong doings if any behind the game. Shahid Afridi and others are suspecting fishy behind Kamran Akamal’s failure to run Watson out. Akamal is taking a moral high and playing an injured martyr.

More drama would follow as the team to the test tour is going to be selected and the captain to be named as well.

weekend Cricket

So the first T20I in US soil resulted in Kiwi win over Lanka. Lanka had the wicket its way.  Slow and low.  Low bounce and turn. Yet they lost by 33 runs. Failed to cross 100 in 2 of 4 T20Is.

In other game West Indies lost by 66 runs to South Africa.  Yawn!!!

Hashim Amla plays a ODI and scores a 100. Shows what kind of bowling attack WI has. They have not won in 4 years against SA in ODIs.

England are considering resting few of their victorious players against the low key BD series this week.  That includes Colly, Broad and few others. 

Indian biggies are resting and the C team would take on weakened Lankans and Zim in Zim after 5 years. Thats India’s first tour of Zim in 5 years, the last one being a wretched one when Greg Chappell began his disastrous coach tenure with the team and soon after Ganguly was ousted.

Cricket would be yawning till the Pakistan vs England and Pakistan vs Australia series begin. Lets see if Pakistan win anything in Tests in Old Blighty. They have failed to win a Test in 3 years since 2007 or (prolly they beat SL last year once).

Post World T20 and IPL

Sri Lanka would take on Kiwis in the T20Is in Florida, USA. Its a bonus for Lankan cricketers to be in USA. Especially Kumar Sangakara and Mahela Jaywardhene. Next time they speak or write match posts, they would imitate Americans or pick up some slangs out of South East.

Had it been India playing other country in US or Singapore or Sharjah, the  critics would have been in open criticising it and questioning the move. But when its not India, everything is fine. 

Who is going to watch this T20Is after overdose of T20s in last 2 months and half. For that matter who watched WI vs SA T20s and who is going to watch India vs Zim when fake opening pair would open the batting thinking if they make 100 runs for 1st wkt they might dislodge Gambhir and Sehwag from opening in T20s and possibly Tests too in long term. 

England’s deserving win

That’s an old news though but still holds relevance. England are new world T20 champions. Their first World Cup win and first non Asian team to win a T20 World Cup. They surely deserved the title after their fabulous run since the super eights.  The generation of England cricketers would be relieved on this achievement as they came close to winning World Cups 3 times in 1979, 1987 and 1992 but were undone every time.  And since then they hopelessly under achieved, bowing out of the World Cups every time before semi-final. They reached QF in 1996 to lose to rampaging Lankans, lost out in first round in their own backyard in 1999, lost out in 1^st round again in 2003 and performed hopelessly in 2007.

So this world cup win for 2 years should give them a huge relief. They invented T20 and they now win it.  Paul Collingwood joins elite club of MSD and Younis Khan as T20 World Cup winners. Like India they would hold the title for 2 years as of now.

They outclassed Australia on the final day and not many times Australia in modern days lose a final. They last did so in 1996 World Cup and since then they have either not reached the finals or have won it every time (Champions Trophy and World Cups).  But full credit to the Aussies who turned around their fortunes in this format of game after taking it timepass in first 2 editions. Way Hussey and KP played should be a lesson for Yuvraj Singh who once was best (one of ) limited overs batter, but today is a liability on the team (hopefully for short time).

Collingwood, KP, Sidebottom, Kieswitter, Swann and Lumb played exciting roles in this triumph and we can fairly say that best deserving team won in the end. Actually same could have been said of both the finalists even if Aussies had won.

India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan were non deservers as they faultered at crucial junctions.  Pakistan won same number of games as India did and they beat SA in the strong league just like India, but they did in super 8s and had India got better of WI or SL, they would have been through the semis too. But that was not to be. The defeat came at a very good time as it exposed the so called super stars and their frail attitude to handle the things.

Its better that the 4 players would be reprimanded for the alleged behavior in pub brawl incident and if they are axed should give chance to some deserving players sans Karthik and Vijay. After all they are not the only players who should get in whenever anybody is axed or injured.

Well Played England and a trophy victory well deserved!!!