Ashes ke Bahane

Its all set for the Ashes. Gaba awaits the action on Thanks Giving day. The closest fought Ashes would begin that day when Ponting’s hurt men would take on Strauss’s roaring soldiers.

Everywhere its being said that the roles are reversed, the Aussies are new Poms and Poms are new Aussies.  In the fact that the Aussies are yet to win a Test after they sent Afridi to retirment, they are going in Ashes test on the back of 3 back to back defeats. Some thing which none of this players have witnessed before.

As for England, they have improved a lot since the dark days of 90s and early 2000s when they were the worst team playing test cricket. Collapses, ego and paper tigers in Atherton and company made them a natural loser in every Ashes series they played. Since Vaughan took over, the tides have changed. They have won 2 Ashes series post 2004 and lost one 0-5. They drew in South Africa, lost in West Indies, India.

They have a lot of batsmen who are in good form. But its the bowlers who are in better shape than the batsmen.. The batters still have Cook, Pieterson, Trott, Collingwood who have had horrid times off late in Tests, so its the bowling attack that gives England the competitiveness that was lacking in them all this years.

Swann, Finn, Anderson and Cribber Broad make the attack for England.

Johnson, Siddel, Hilfy and Doherty form the attack for Australia. Nowhere in comparison with the great attacks that have taken the field in the past, but the guys are honest triers and work hard. Esp Hilfenhaus, he is the most improved bowler in the tests around.

I would still bet Australia to win this Ashes. 5-0 is a dream, but a 2-1 or 3-1 victory would not be ruled out.  Gabba and MCG are sureshot Australian wins, while Perth may be English win. Draws  could be the results on Adelaide and SCG. But we never know.

The next 3 months are very exciting for Test cricket, for its great Lanka taking on rejuvenated Windies and bottom rung of teams India taking on South Africa and England taking on Australia.

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).

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!!!

Test cricket saving stuff ?

First they allow themselves to get into the mess by being the undisputed kings of collapses and then somehow through jelly beans they sodemnise the opposite bowlers. And somehow again they escape the defeat by gritty last wicket stand. Colly at one end and a Chris Martin clone down the other end. Yet they escape.

Later we hear all the rants from them how they play attractive Test Cricket and how they save Test cricket.

I ask isnt it ugly to see them land from 4/165 to 9/228 in space of session and half ? Not Test cricket saving stuff.

But they are allowed to go away with this cos that prevents Saffers from winning by 2 Test margin to reclaim # 1.

India vs England LIVE

Its the toss time and very soon Dhoni and Collingwood would be on the pitch to do the toss. Remember the best option for India would be win the toss, bowl first and restrict feeble England to a low total. Win with a handsome net run rate. Dont leave it to the final game. Though Saffers are in full flow.

Toss comes in. And we are chasing. Yes. Way to go. Ojha and Irfan go out. Jadeja and RP come in. Good choices. India makes sensible choices. Spin + pace. England get in Ryan Sidebottom in and Adil Rashid, the spinner goes out..

Lord’s is already blue with Indians and English supporters. Time for Anthems. Its proud to stand to Indian national anthem. Great to see likes of DK, Irfan, Zaheer, Yusuf sing along with the likes of Bhajji, MS, Gambhir and Yuvraj.

There. Diff between Indians and English supporters. Every Englishman sung national anthem despite camera focussed on them. And Indians. They jumped and waved when focus shifted to them even when Jan gan man was played.

Asoka Desilva is the one umpire along with Aussie Steve Davis. We all know how much DeSilva loves India. First ball. Swing off the off stump. Bopsie on strike. 2nd ball, played back.

Hussain says 160 is winning total. Not quite. Wide ball and good take by MS. First runs on the board for England. Good run. First runs off the bat. Virender Sehwag is a crucial man in Indian line up. He is the next batting great. He has to feature in every crucial game.

Not to forget Zaheer is playing against his favorite opposition England. 1st over gone. England 3/0.

RP next. 2 dot balls. Great ball. Wright shuffled too much. Leg slip for Wright. Sachin there. Sachinnnnnnnnnnnnnn. Chance for out. Catch out. India draw first blood. Yousuf gets it. Short ball. Wright goes for it. and India get the first wicket 🙂

KP comes in. Get in Yuvraj. Pie-chucker. Remember KP is injured. Bonding seems great between the team much in contrary to what ass media reports.

2 gone England 4 for 1. Typical English start. Bad ball, first boundary. 8 for 1 in 2.1 Bopara bats like Sachin ? :O. Hussein all right ? Zaheer pitching in leg side. Bad ball again. KP off the block with a boundary. Strike rate of 400. Mis fiekding. Poor stuff. Yuvraj there. Supposedly best. Hussein warns about the backlash if either of the team goes out today.

15 for 1 in 3. Rp comes in for 4th over. Short ball. One more. 17 for 1 in 3.2
Bad ball again. 4 more. 21 for 1 in 4 overs. Appeal of the last ball. Not given. Ishant comes in the attack and rightly so. We need a Indian commentator in the box. Bishop and Hussein too anti-Indian.

Bad start to Ishant. Four. Too much of misfielding happening here. India needs a wicket here. Gambhir dis time. Six to end the over. 34 for 1 in 5.

Last over of Power plays. Bumble in the commentary box. Four. Great stuff from KP. England running away. No imagination from Indian bowlers. Dhoni tsands up to the stumps. Good fielding from Raina. End of restrictions. 40 for 1 in six.

Will we see Yuvraj come in? Apt time for him to come on right now. Stop KP before he opens out. He comes. But goes for a 4. Bopara. KXIP team mates. 6 off 3 balls. KP avoiding Yuvraj. Pie chucker. There he comes. 7 off 5. Four. 11 off the over.

51 for 1 in 7. Bhajji on to match on. Match on to Videocon. 4 off 4 balls. Flighted delivery. Good fielding by Mr Useless. 56 for 1 in 8. Good start. India needs to get a wkt here. Ishant has been a let down. Yusuf Pathan, Raina and Useless should get few overs. IPL experience.

3 off 2 balls. KP now. He s got better of Yuvraj. 4 off 1. 5 off 2. 4 off 3 balls this over. 5 off 4. Mr Useless does it again. Misfield. 9 off 5. Another misfield. 10 off the over.

65 in 9.

Harbhajan for 2nd over. 10th of the innings. 2 off 3 balls. Great stuff from Bhajji. he is a surd from Punjab. Smart street. 3 off 4. Was it a chance ? 3 off 5. Wickets man wickets. Wrong one. 71 for 1 in 10.

Jadeja comes in. Sachinnnnnnnnnnnnn. Last time they showed Sachin a wkt fell. What about this time ? 2 off 2 balls. Left arm spinner from RR. Shane Warne find. 3 off 3. England have got their runs off leg side mostly. Thats it. Bowled him. Bopara trying to make the room, a faster one. Bopara bowled. 2 for 74. Shilpa Shetty’s Dimmy comes in. 75 for 2 in 11.

Ishant Sharma back. 1 oof 2 balls. KP on strike. Bad throw. 2 off 3. 3 off 4. Jadeja everywhere. 5 off 5. Good running. 7 off the over. Next one to go out would be Ishant Sharma. 20 off his 2. So now 40 of 84 runs have come in 4 overs. Take that away and score then reads 44 in 8.

Wide ball. Dimmy faces his own team mate. 3 off the 3 balls including one wide and a dot ball. First six of the game. 10 off 5. Thats out. Big wicket. Huge wicket. Wooo hooo. 92 for 3 in 13.

sharma for 3rd over. Colly next. 1st run off the over on the 3rd ball. 39 more to go. Nah. Its Owais Shah who is in. 2 off 4 balls. Good bowling. 4 off the over. 3/96 in 14.

Jadeja for the 15th over. My blog named by Ian Chappell. Arm Ball. 33 more. Good bowling. 1 off4. 2 off 5. 100 for England in 15 overs. 8 off last 2.

RP has 1, Zaks has 2, Bhajji has 2. Jadeja has 1. Ishant iin for his last. 3 off 2.
4 off 3. Ishant is a poor bowler in this format. he proves it again. 8 off 4. Zaks walks off to him. 32 off 3.5 overs. assholle. 36 off 4 overs. Take them off and the score would be 77 in 12.

Jadeja for his last over. MS slow in whipping off the bells. Wide. Four. 7 off 3. off 4. 8 off 5. Good end. And a brilliant spell. 26 off 4 with 2 wkts.

Bhajji on. 17 balls to go. Gone. End of Shah. Collingwood comes in. Jadeja everywhere. Bhajji too good for Colly. 5 wides. Bad stuff.

Bad stuff continues. 135 for 4 in 18.1. 6 off 2 balls. Wide ball. Ridiculous.Switch hit and gone lbw. James Foster next man. 140 for 5. Direct hit would have taken Foster. 142 for 5. 1 more to go and 5/143.

Bhajji to bowl last. Why not RP ? Good over this. Bhajji gets Foster. And now bowled. 3 off the hatrrick ball. 4 wides. Yuvraj Singh misfields. Mind games. 7 for 153. 20 extra runs off fumbles.

India needs 154 to win and stay alive.

India on to batting.

bad shot. Lucky escape. Wide this time. Lucky escape for Gautam gambhir. Good bowl. Mr Useless beaten all ends up. Wide ball. 6 off first over. 148 to win off 19. First voundary through luck. Mr Useless. Fuck Mr useless. Asshole. dude this iss not India. This is England. Gotta wait for ball on backfoot.

Captains speak

Captains speak. Here is what the captains of prominent teams got to speak on their chances on the World T20 trophy :

Paul Collingwood, England:

We’ve got to be brave to win a tournament like this,” Collingwood told reporters at Lord’s. “We have to have the belief that we can win as a team, but we also have to have belief in our own ability in the middle. Twenty20 cricket is not an exact science, so you have to think on your feet in the middle. Sometimes it only takes one person, and we’ve got a lot of match winners, so I really do believe we can surprise a few people. I’m not going to say we are going to win it, but we have to believe we can win it.” A lot of our momentum comes from results, because when you’re winning things are very easy,” Playing at home could be an added pressure but we’re not taking it like that,” said Collingwood. “We’ve got an advantage in many ways, we know what the wickets are all about here, and we’re very excited about playing in front of our own crowds. No England cricket team has won an ICC tournament before so we have a three-week period here for us as a team to hopefully put that right.”

My verdict: Long hopes to win the ICC T20 tourney, but that won’t come with half an eye on Ashes and one fourth of the other on T20. I fail to understand the obsession of England with Ashes time and again. They don’t win it too often. They used to win 2 odd tests in an Ashes series in 90s, in 2000s except for 2005, they have never won 2 tests in a single Ashes series and yet they speak so high. Even today they speak of momentum and results after beating a reluctant West Indies in home in 2 Tests and 2 ODIs. Not to forget that the same team had failed to win a single test in tour to West Indies.

Happy to make it to the Super Eights as second team from the group. They have Holland and Pakistan in their group, good for their tendency to self destruct.

Younis Khan, Pakistan

It is special to be back on the world stage. Especially in Twenty20s, and especially in England. We are suffering from not playing regularly, and no-one is coming to Pakistan, but all the time in the last few months I have been talking to the boys, and telling them to do well [in this tournament]. There are a lot of media here, and [if we succeed] we’ll be well on our way to our mission, so to speak. It’s very important for us. If you don’t play regularly, you don’t have that match fitness. But the beauty of international cricket is that it is changing all the time in different conditions, so we feel fresh and will do well in England, ins’hallah. That’s the main reason I’m happy to be in England. Our fans are fantastic back home, they are lovers of T20, and now it’s dependent on us to prove ourselves. If we play good cricket it will be good for our nation. These days the whole nation is depressed, and only cricket [can lift it]. If we play good and win something, they will cheer. To finish in the top four, my nation will come again and start cheering. But it was fantastic to be a part of that team in the final. Some guys were crying at the end, but in T20 everything can change. My confidence is that I’ll take this trophy to Pakistan, but if the plan works ins’hallah it’ll be an achievement for us to finish in the top four.

Yeah, nobody wants to play in Pakistan. But citing that so many times to provide a root cause for the team to play for is weak. It’s just a big tournament and doesn’t matter where the Pak team is coming from. Fans, home, England, situations, prove, play well, all are jargons. Nothing matters when you step on to the field mate. It’s just the bat, ball and mind games that matter in the rub of the green. No emotions, no distraction. Emotional reasons would never help Pakistan win the tournament. Fans back home and across world would anyway cheer for Pakistan for their reputation and not for what happens to them in the tournament. Does Younis want to say that his fans won’t cheer his team in league games and Super 8s ? (Line in red). Downgrading the chances. From being a finalist to a somehow semi-finalist this year in order to cheer up the fans.

My verdict : Not sure how would they perform. Too many distractions for the lads. Rants of JM, IB and coming home of ICL rebels might affect the motivation of lesser and debutants players who have replaced Rana, Razzaq and MoYo. As a result the performance couldn’t be up to the expected levels. Yet they are Pakistan. Can do anything on their day. Score 300 in a game or get dismissed for 30. Watch out their games with a pinch of salt.

Md Asharful, Bangladesh

In this form of the game any side can beat the other,” Asharful told reporters at Lord’s. “We defeated the West Indies in the last World T20 in South Africa and progressed to the Super Eight. Our main goal is to repeat that and if we beat India, who are the world champions, in the first match then we will fancy our chances of doing well against the top sides and making the semi-finals even. We have come here one week early, had three games against New Zealand, Holland and Scotland and the boys have done well,” he said. “We are confident and there are two tough games against Australia tomorrow and Sri Lanka the day after. So that’s a nice build-up to the main tournament. It was only in the last over that MM did badly. Otherwise I thought he was okay. But I know he’ll be back. He is that type of a player. He always does well against India”

My verdict: Play out 20 overs in batting first mate and then hope to beat India. It’s not every day an Indian team has a 16 March 2007 as its match day. So just relax and look out to play for 20 full overs of batting and bowling. Once you do that, we would look to what you want to say. A semi-final berth looks a ginger for monkey like dream. So mate, dream on.

Graeme Smith, South Africa

It would be lovely if we could be successful in this tournament or any ICC tournament that is coming up, “We have had an incredible period in the last 16 months and the team has achieved so much. The confidence is good and we are excited about playing this tournament with the chance to go out and express ourselves. I think there is a lot more talent, flair and confidence among this team than ever before. It would be lovely if we could be successful in this tournament or any ICC tournament that is coming up,”. “We have had an incredible period in the last 16 months and the team has achieved so much. The confidence is good and we are excited about playing this tournament with the chance to go out and express ourselves. I think there is a lot more talent, flair and confidence among this team than ever before.

My verdict: Choking is one issue Saffers have infamously carried on from ICC tournaments across years. 1992, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007 World Cups and 2007 World T20 are prime examples. That’s something which would always lower Saffers reputation as world beaters. They have had an incredible success in Tests and Odis over last 2 years, but their failure to win a World Cup rankles and perhaps this is a chance they can do it. But the form of captain would be a worry which also led to the loss of Rajasthan Royals in the IPL.

Next stage: Australia, India, New Zealand captains.

Yuvraj sinks England yet again…..

As if Rajkot 100 wasnt enough, Yuvraj Singh scored another 100 in Indore ‘s new ultra chick stadium and took 4/28 to seal India’s victory in style. Thats for sure Yuvraj’s redemption. And he must now walk straight at # 6 in Ahmedabad Test against England to step in Ganguly’s place. He has been a natural aggresive player with all shots in his armoury except good attitude….And guess what, the recent failures in Challengers, SL series and Kitply, Asia cup have made him even more hungrier for success….That augurs well for India. He, Dhoni and Sehwag are next generation of Indian batting greats…And they gotta take responsibilities sooner than later as mass exodus has began in Indian test side….

Never mind the likes of Rohit Sharma, Badrinath, Raina arent worth the invaluable Indian Test cap and it was evident today with reckless batting of this t20 kids who are still basking in T20 glory, but little they do understand that they wont be remembered for long for T20 success than Test or ODi success. So its very essential for Yuvraj to mend his ways and give away his flambuyoance off the field for some time……

England are now left with no option but to reinvent themselves with 5 games to go and series at stake. KP and Freddie Flintoff along with Bell and Colly will have to step up their games and make big scores but 30s or 40s….After a 4-0 success against SA, England have been brought brutally back to earth…..

With this successful hosting, Indore should host many more tour and international games than the venues like Rajkot or Baroda or Guwahati or Kanpur….The new stadium MPCA has built is superb and has got all modern amenties. Its not in outskirts of the city, but within the heart of the city……Its my hometown and it boasts of rich cricket tradition in form of Holkars and it gave country its first test captain in 1932……I wish Mr Jyoti Scindia takes the cause of Indore with much intesity than ever before. And wow man, the next game could well be a D/N affair with flood lights being installed……