Archive for September 2010
Indian Flop XI
The flop XI for India in 1990s and 2000s
1. Vikram Rathore
2. Devang Gandhi
3. Jacob Martin
4. Sanjay Manjrekar
5. Vijay Bharadwaj
6. Sanjay Bangar
7. Dinesh Karthik
8. Dodda Ganesh
9. Noel Who David
10. David Johnson
11. Iqbal Sidiqqui
World XI – part II
The remaining part of the world XI goes here :
7. Adam Gilchrist.
8. Malcomm Marshall
9. Wasim Akram
10. Shane Warne
11. Glenn McGrath.
Chaminda Vaas and Rumesh Rathnayake are in the probables list and so is Murali. That cracks me up.
Geidon Low
Unfortunately in this article most of the aliens who destroyed cricket cometh out of Indian supremacy of the world Cricket.
The author fails to keep aside his India bias while trying to set forth the conflicts of interests he talks about to keep the game clean. And thats where we fail to take him seriously. And thats where he fails to come out as convincing bias free author.
Evil Cheeka Brigade is back in Challengers
Srikanth declared the Challengers trophy squads for India Red, Blue and Greens. The CT would be held in Indore on October 8 – 11.
Who are the captains ? Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Karthik and Subbu Dabrinath.
Wow. Dinesh Karthik and Subbu being the Chennai lads are now the captains of the squads. What the Butt.
To add more salt to the wound, Srini is now the BCCI chief in elect. So see more of Chennai duds in national team and if the coaches, captains dont follow suit, they would be fired. Getting MSD in CSK was a master stroke from Srini in 2007.
Lets have a look at each of the squad in detail:
India Blue: Yuvraj Singh (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Srivats Goswami, Ajinkya Rahane, Manoj Tiwary, Irfan Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Piyush Chawla, Umesh Yadav, RP Singh, Yo Mahesh, Ganesh Satish, Tanmay Srivastava
Jadeja is part of the squad and so is Irfan Pathan. Who is Ganesh Satish? A search on cricinfo yielded 5 results none of which matched this lad. Ok on wikipedia its suggested that he is part of Karnataka squad, he is an opener.
India Red: Led by Sri Sri Sriyut Wicketkeeper Shiromani Chennainandan Swaminandan Dinesh Karthikam. Alias KKD alias Boss DK alias Bosseshwar. His credits and debits are well known. Before he could have left for a promotion tour of a Kolly movie, Srikanth pulled him out and assigned responsibilities of leading Lal India. Thats a behind door entry to India test team. Now if MSD injures further his finger, Bosseshwar would be back in the team.
India Green: IPL Nandan, Champion Swamy Subramaniam Badrinath Maharaj who last played ODIs good 2 years back would lead a Hari India team. Credentials ? Zilch. But hailing from state of Srikanth and BCCI chief to be yielded dividends. And guess who is the part of the team ? Mr Junior Sreekanth. Credentials ? One 40 odd in CLT20 and being son of Srikanth.
Ashvin is part of this team means he wont be part of 2nd Australian Test too. If he was so impressive in CLT20, what the butt is he doing in Challengers Trophy.
None in the 3 squads knows Usha Raje Stadium as better as Naman Ojha, but what he would speak, Dabri wont get it.
Srikanth does it again. He has pushed his croonies in the teams and now with Srini coming over as BCCI prez we would see India becoming Tamil Nadu XI in future FTP tours. And let me remind you not worthy players from TN XI, but useless and flop players who have some relations to this bigots would be in. Dinesh Karthik and Dabri havent played well for India in ages, yet they keep coming in out of nowhere.
Even Wasim Jaffer and Ajit Agarkar did not get this many chances when Dilip Vengsarkar was around. At least Jaffer made some hundreds in that span of 2006-08, what about this 2?
World XI – 1
All time world XI is the new feature on cricinfo.com.
I thought with my limited amount of cricket history, I should pick one as well. I dont have any info on how good and great the old legends lke Jack Hobbs or Ken Barrington or anyone else listed in the probables.
Futile excersise to form a test team across different eras who played in different conditions and against limited teams.
For example in 1940s and 1950s there were just 6 Test teams with India and Pakistan getting very little test cricket. England, Australia ruled the roost followed by West Indies and South Africa.
Still doing the excersise.
In my team I shall have 2 openers, 4 batsmen, 1 wicket keeper, 4 bowlers.
There are some ridiculous entries in the probables list just cos the all time XI is going to be from the list of countries all time great players. WTB!!
A lot like Marvan PattaAttu who played great against minnows and on flat track conditions. Sangakara, MJ figure and VVS does not just cos KS Mj are greats for their country (are they really?) and VVS did nt make it.
Kumar Sangakara making it to test wicketkeepers list, he does not even keep this days. He just peeps and beeps.
Rashid Latif over Wasim Bari. Ludicrous.
Openers
It has to be Virender Sehwag at 1. He just redefined the opening batting in 2000s with his aggressive strokeplay. Not only he makes big hundreds but makes them fairly fast giving a chance to his team to bowl out the opposition. And he does not fear short balls. He can defend too, he can bat for long hours and across days. He has had fastest triple centuries and is just one of the 3 to make 2 triple centuries. I dont have any doubt that very soon he shall go on to become only man to hit 3 or 4 triple centuries and who knows one fine day he would break Brian Lara’s record of 400* too.
1. Virender Sehwag
I dont know about the old legends like Len Hutton, Vic Trumper, Hunte, Hanif etc. So wont get them in.
Who wont make it are Jayasuriya, Attapattu, Anwar, Smith,Turner, Richards etc.
2nd opener would be one of Greenidge and Gavaskar. Greenidge had Haynes to his company and the batting lineup followed Richardson, Richards, Lloyd, Logie at different times and an awesome fierce pace attack.
Gavaskar had almost none to his credit for most part of his career. For his first 8 years of Test cricket he did not have a genuine fast bowler. Only in 1978 he had Kapil Dev who sensationally changed the landscape of fast bowling in the country. All he had was ball shine removers and 4 great spinners who would excel only in spin friendly conditions at home and would flop abroad. In 1980s India had a lean run in Tests when they hardly won anything in 31 odd tests. And then some respectable batting came along in form of Vishy, Vengy. Gavaskar would bat long, make runs and give some pride to Indian Test cricket which at the time of his debut was rilled with inferior complex and none of the world class players.
My 2nd opener would be Gavaskar for the sheer amount of change he brought to Indian Test batting.
2. Sunil Gavaskar
Middle Order
The options are: Arjuna Ranatunga, Bert Sutcliffe, Brian Lara, Dudley Nourse, George Headley, Graeme Pollock, Greg Chappell, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Jacques Kallis, Javed Miandad, Ken Barrington, Kevin Pietersen, Mahela Jayawardene, Martin Crowe, Martin Donnelly, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Viv Richards, Vijay Hazare, Wally Hammond, Zaheer Abbas
No info on Hammond, Sutcliffe, Nourse, Headley, Pollock, Donnelly etc.
# 3: A lot of modern day contenders for # 3 spot. Ponting (he did not make it), Dravid, Kallis, Lara, Sangakara and all.
But one man pips all of them. Sir Don Bradman. 99.94 is the number on itself that would make him get the # 3 slot.
3. Sir Don Bradman
#4. Contenders for # 4 are Jayawardhene, Crowe, Inzamam, Kevin Pieterson and all.
The unanimous choice for this slot is none but Sachin Tendulkar. No need to mention the reason why he pips all of them. MJ is no comparison for him. Even though he has got 28 hundreds, a lot of them carry no value cos they have come on flat pancakes of SSC, Premdasa and against BD, Zim and other countries in SL. Javed Miandad, Inzy and others were good batters but they fade before Tendulkar.
4. Sachin Tendulkar
Number 5 and 6 are tricky. I would not go for specialist batsmen in the history of the game who batted on this numbers and scored runs. I’d rather chose players on who can play good on any number.
I would have Brian Lara at 5. Awesome batsman, part of mediocre team of Windies post 1995 domination. Had great reagainst Australia, the best team of his generation like Tendulkar. He played a great deal of gems against Australia and other teams but the ones that stand out are 277 in Sydney, his fest hundred and the twin hundreds in 1999 series vs Australia that happened the rest of the batsmen in the team folded and he single handedly won his team 2 Tests.
And of course has 375 and 400 but they did not fetch wins for his team, so they dont figure that high in the list. He rattled Muralitharan every time he played against SL. Just cos he was a part of poor team, the runs agaisnt Murali were not enough to win Tests against them.
5. Brian Lara
# 6 for Jacques Kallis, the highest run getter for SA and a more than useful bowler.
He does not figure in the allrounder category but he would always pitch in as 5th bowthe team and mostly as 3rd pacer.
6. Jacques Kallis.
The rest of the team in 2nd part.
Team thus far:
1. Sehwag
2. Gavaskar
3. Bradman
4. Tendulkar
5. Lara
6. Kallis
India – Aus Preview 1
Ok go away T20s, Champions Leagues, Pakistans, Butts and of course the Sri Lankans (last opposition to play India).
Here is the biggest test series of the modern times coming up at a time when it actually should. Just 2 tests, but they are more than welcome. Welcome at a point of time when the few stakeholders in cricket took no less interest in damaging the foundation of the game. Few countries by aligning with the bookies, few countries sticking to newspapers for the allegations and then taking a moral stand to quit the ODI series. Few so called best talents were tarnished, few tarnished became more tarnished and a so called urbane suave skipper captaining Tests became the ring leader. Not to forget the usual loose stuff from the ICC director of that country.
And when there was last Test series India played, it was on flat pancakes of Sri Lanka, we had a lot of moral preachings and daily cribs on unfair FTP.
Come now, we wont have anymore of it.
The India and Australia rivalry of this decade times back to 1998 when Australian team toured India for first time in 12 years for a full Test series. That was a Sachin Test series, a lot has been written and mentioned for that. Wont add anything more.
What followed was the greatest modern day Test series in 2001, a Bucknored series in 2003-04, another classic in 2004, acrimonious 2007-08 and the one sided 2008 series. When Australians steamrolled the other opposition, Indians under Saurav Ganguly got in the thick of Aussie skin preventing them going all over Indians. Not only Indians won but they also punctured the Australian juggernaut.
In 2001 when Aussies were looking for 17th win, then again in 2008 when they were looking for 17th win, at Perth Indians punctured the Australian test juggernaut and since then Aussies have failed to attain the same heights. They lost to India in 2008, South Africa at home (first time in 17 yrs) and then to England in 2009. Hell, even Pakistan won a test against them in 15 years.
The main architects of the Indian dream run against Aussies are:
- Saurav Ganguly
- Sachin Tendulkar
- VVS Laxman
- Rahul Dravid
- Harbhajan Singh
- Virender Sehwag and
- unheralded Anil Kumble.
Anil Kumble has taken 114 wickets against them in the modern era, which is the highest anyone has taken against Aussies since their domination began since 1995.
Wont go onto the individual contributions of each of the above players. 3 of this players would still be danger for the Aussies — Sehwag, Tendulkar and Laxman.
Australia has got little firepower in their bowling. Though Bollinger, Johnson are top class pacers, they might struggle on pitches offering less bounce to them. Rest of the lot is inexperienced, but then cant be written off. Nathan Hauritz and Steven Smith were demolished by lesser Indian batsmen in the tour game. The batting firepower has diminished too from 2007 series — Hayden, Symonds are gone. Ponting does not make runs this days, Hussey is on a decline, Katich and Watson are good exponents at the top. North is going South in batting and there is no Haddin around (is he?). So the only real threat remaining for India is Michael Clarke. Spinners are lready softened, though India would need to be wary of Michael Clarke (good success against India, 6-9 in 2004 and last 3 wickets in one over in Sydney 2008) and Marcus North (unexpected match winner against Pak, but we are no Pak).
India has its own set of worries. Gambhir, Dravid are short of runs and time in the middle. Laxman, Sehwag, Tendulkar are in imperious touch, Raina and Dhoni are good. What worries the fans is the bowling. Zaheer is just fresh from injury and his exploits in CLT20 dont offer much confidence, but then this is Test match. If he could extract reverse swing in both the Tests, the Australians would be a vulnerable lot. Harbhajan Singh desparately needs wickets else his place would be in real danger, now that Ashvin had a tremendous CLT20 and he is from Tamil Nadu. So Cheeka would leave no stone unturned to push Ash in the team. If he does and he takes wickets, nothing good like it.
Ojha is good for IPL and he was not impressive in Sri Lanka. Ishant Sharma should get a lot of bounce in Mohali and Bangalore is happy hunting ground for him as he made his debut in the city and took a 5-for against the minnows Pakistan in 2007.
All in all this should be a good series to watch, a lot depends on how well the 2 teams bat as bowling looks frill for both the teams.
PS : India have not lost a Test in Mohali in 16 years since Walsh-Benjamin attack in 1994, Australia have not lost a test in Bangalore in 4 visits (won in 1998, 2004, draw in 2008).
Chennai Super Kinks Vijay Gaan
Chennai Super Kinks ki Bara Bajau.
Kya whistle podi hai
Sreekanth aaj khush hai
Srini aaj khush hai
Dhoni bahut udaas hai
Khush he zamana aaj
26 tareekh hai jee
Chennai jiti he CLT20
Srikanth ka din he ji
Anni India ja raha hai
Dabri Chennai aa raha hai
Karthik Endhiran Endhiran gaa raha hai
Khush he zamana aaj Chennai diwas hai
Khush he zamana aaj Srini khush hai….
Chennai Super Kinks ki barah ka dher….
Champions League jeete hai aaj
Tamil Nadu league agla nishana hai
Endhiran Endhiran Endhiran!!!!!!
What is Dinesh Karthik upto ?
Its been a long hiatus for Dinesh Karthik. He has not been selected for any of the national or tour game teams. He has been hiding from the bloggers and the media. Perhaps he is planning a tie up with Rajni’s to be released movie Robot. He is going to dance and make some typical Rajni style statements in the promo of movie in interior parts of TN. Though he is not needed by Rajni himself as his name is good enough to pull a fan to the theater, but its being learnt that Dinesh Karthik replaced himself on his own in the promotion team.
Kris Srikanth’s forced enforcements for him has given a mental block in Karthik’s mind that he would forever be a replacement. He was hoping that he could replace Rajni in Robot, but Rajni is a huge shoe to fill in. His movie experience is more than what actual age of Karthik is.
So after snubbed by Srikanth and Rajni its being learnt that he is trying to fit himself in Simbu’s team. Simbu is the same guy who acted in a movie called “Velu” something where he has to go fetch a medicine from US and he goes in and from US in a flash from rooftop of his house using escape velocity principle. Dinesh Karthik is experienced enough to jump and dance, so he is hoping Simbu would have some kind of role for him.
Its also learnt that Karthik has undergone special training from Kiran More on how to jump and he watches the famous mimick action of Javed Miandad for Kiran More act in 1992 World Cup.
Dinesh is also pissed at Vijay and Anni who have pipped him ahead of himself in the good book of Srikanth. Its being said that Srini has his hand on Vijay as enforced replacement in every team for any injured player. So that exclusive bragging rights have been granted to Vijay. Dinesh has urged Srini to bid for him in the next IPL auction for whatever amount he can. Even 10,000 Rs contract would be good enough for Dinesh as he is desparate to prove to Srini and Cheeka that he is proud Tamilian who rotted in foreign Delhi…But Srini and Cheeka have not purchased Dinesh’s desparation as Vijay and Anni are now next enforced replacements.
Virat Kohli, #7 go man
The # 7 spot in India’s ODI team is up for grabs, the incumbents right now occupying the spots have not inspired any confidence. Yeah the great allrounder Ravinder Jajdeja, the spineless allrounder who cant hit, cant field and cant bowl. Enuf said.
RCB’s campaign in CLT20 has thrown up a name we already know and he has in a way redeemed himself after disastrous SL tour.
Virat Kohli, my go man for # 7 spot for now.
Ijaz Butt likes Gunda
Ijaz Buttela mera naam, hu mai shaitan ka chela…
Naam he mera Ijaz Buttiya, khadi karata hu me ICC, ECB, Cricket ki khatiya
I truly feel Ijaz Butt watches Gunda every time he goes out to speak in public and peeks out some very ludicrous bullcrap in every interview and statement he makes.
I believe he is inspired by character of Bulla who always keeps khullaaaaaaaaaa……..
Gunda is a classic cult movie in Bollywood which has got some awesome dialogues. Looking at the trend of Ijaz Butt’s statements the comparison of Butt-speak with Bulla and Chutiya of Gunda fame is just about apt.
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