This match turned out to be a mismatch of gigantic proportions. Rain delays turned the match into a 22 over side game. Bangladesh lost the toss and were asked to bat by Ponting. McGrath took 3 wickets and overtook Wasim Akram as the leading wicket taker in the world cup. For what it is worth, we still think Akram was a better bowler than McGrath.
We don't want to talk about Hayen anymore. He is boring us with his consistency. We like a little bit of uncertainty. Indian cricketers are past masters of this great ancient art. One never knows how they will perform on any given day. That keeps the fans on their toes, keeps them sharp and imbues them with "now what new catastrophe" attitude. These qualities are very useful in the 'real' world*.
What is the big deal about scoring a lot of runs every time one goes out to bat? That is so, NOT COOL. That's why Hayden is a bore and that's why Aussies don't like cricket anymore**. Because the Australian team is very consistent, their fans don't have avenues for letting off steam. Evil things happen when fans don't have avenues to let off steam: a 'fan' might suddenly decide to enslave the world by controlling all the newspapers and the TV stations in the world or another 'fan' might suddenly think that hitting another human being's face with a telephone is a good idea.
The Australian cricket team has some tough decisions to make. Let's hope they make the right decision***.
* Not really.
** We don't exactly know that. In our defense, we watched FOX News last night and we are not responsible for what we say for the next 24 hours.
*** Since the collective IQ of the team is 11, we will spell it out for their benefit: Right decision = Play badly.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
England Vs Ireland, Super Eights
Ve vill write thees match report like thees because eet vas a most boring match. England somehow managed to beat Ireland. Heartache for eeenglees fans has been postponed. That's feene, ve 'ave all the teeme een the world. Kant yu teel?
Ve kant think of anything elsie to say. Oh yeah, Collingwood is gud and so is gud 'ol Flinty. Oh yeah again, Pie San ees not the beeeeeest batsman een the world. 'E ees not even klose. He ees nuthin compared to Dhoni. No one but Dhoni in thees world cup 'as scored two ducks. As ve kan teel from personal experience, scoring 2 ducks in 3 matches EES 'ARD WORK, MKAY.
Ve kant think of anything elsie to say. Oh yeah, Collingwood is gud and so is gud 'ol Flinty. Oh yeah again, Pie San ees not the beeeeeest batsman een the world. 'E ees not even klose. He ees nuthin compared to Dhoni. No one but Dhoni in thees world cup 'as scored two ducks. As ve kan teel from personal experience, scoring 2 ducks in 3 matches EES 'ARD WORK, MKAY.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Talking Heads
Harsha's remedy for the ills plaguing the Indian cricket team is to reduce the number of first class teams in India and thus increase the cricketing standards. Fair enough.
Mukul Kesavan says it's Greg's fault (not in so many words...but...you know what, you should read the whole thing and decide for yourself). His theory:
Javagal Srinath says that Chappell's approach contradicted Indian way. We respect Srinath so we won't editorialize his column. Read it for what it is worth.
Confirming the fact that it is the best newspaper in India, The Hindu mentions that Polly Umrigar was inducted into the Legend's Club.
Mukul Kesavan says it's Greg's fault (not in so many words...but...you know what, you should read the whole thing and decide for yourself). His theory:
Ajit Wadekar, the senile old man of Indian cricket, decides to sound statesman like and for once eschews his garbage about "gora" coaches. One can peek into his psyche in this column. The column says: 'First find the cat you want to bell'. Right. Instead of talking about the causes/reasons of the bad show put on by India and how to go about correcting them, Wadekar, wants to pin the blame of this bad show on somebody. If that's the mentality 'esteemed' former captains have, there is no hope for Indian cricket.I think we lost because Chappell, with the best possible intentions, tried to shake the team out of its settled routines by recruiting new players and rotating their roles. He bet on youth and fitness, on developing the all round skills of players like Dhoni and Pathan, and on undermining notions of seniority and hierarchy. He made an example of Ganguly to this end, made his indifference to slow-moving specialists like Laxman obvious and built up players like Raina on the strength of their fielding skills.
All of these policies are theoretically defensible: the problem is, they didn't work. Raina wasn't ready for prime time as a batsman, Pathan's bowling fell away, the experiments at the top of the order failed and by the time the World Cup came round, the Indian team looked remarkably like the one John Wright had handed over. Ganguly was back and he rejoined a team that had been stirred and shaken so hard that it was an anxious bunch of individuals with no esprit de corps
Javagal Srinath says that Chappell's approach contradicted Indian way. We respect Srinath so we won't editorialize his column. Read it for what it is worth.
Confirming the fact that it is the best newspaper in India, The Hindu mentions that Polly Umrigar was inducted into the Legend's Club.
West Indies Vs New Zealand, Super Eights
Despite the loss of Lou Vincent,
Despite Shane Bond, Jacob Oram, and the steady Vettori, NZ’s strength lies in their batting depth. With Styris and McMillan in the form of their life and Jacob Oram and McCullum behind them, they have one of the strongest batting line-ups in the tournament.
Like we mentioned before, we see
Lara is not exactly setting stadiums on fire. He needs to cut out the cute shots and play like Lara we all know. Gayle is doing a Sehwag and Chanderpaul can’t seem to get out of his rut. If the big three don’t play well,
Good to know that though India is out of the tournament, its spirit lives on in the West Indian side. If they continue to play this way, Bangladesh will win two of their Super Eight matches. That will make us very happy.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
News Round-Up (Kind of)
This is ridiculous: Guru Ram Dev wants to ban cricketers from featuring in soft drink commercials after the Indians were ousted from the world cup. An excerpt:
Ramdev, who arrived in Dhanbad to take part in a 6-day yoga camp, told a press conference: "India's ouster from the World Cup may have shattered the dream of sports lovers in the country but it benefited crores of children as far as their health is concerned."The children see cricketers as idols and try to follow in their footsteps, he said while urging the BCCI to bar cricketers from advertising ‘harmful’ soft drinks.
"Such advertisements will have a bad effect on the health of crores of children in the country," Ramdev claimed. He also advocated the introduction of yoga in schools rather than sex education
Some very obvious questions: Is it okay for children to drink colas if the Indian cricket team wins matches? and more importantly, why is yoga and sex education mutually exclusive? Why can't kids have both yoga and sex education in school?
Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar AKA The Colonel, has suddenly realised the virtues of keeping his mouth shut.
Cricket going Hockey way? Hopefully not. We believe that there is still room for artistry in cricket. The day Matthew Hayden becomes the poster boy of cricket is when we should start worrying. Wait...South Africa Vs Sri Lanka, Super Eights
What a match! Unfortunately, we didn't watch a single ball and we weren't even close to a computer to follow the score. From all the reports we have read this was a cracker of a match. Malinga is a freak of nature and would have felt right at home in 19th century when round-arm bowling was all the rage and W.G. Grace was hitting round-arm bowling all over the ground. Malinga would have given the great man a stiff challenge...we think.
Anyway, if you are reading this blog you probably know more about this match then we do. To redress that situation we are watching the match now and might (or might not) have more pithy comments after our viewing.
If you were like us and do not know what you missed, Langeveldt took the first 5 for in this world cup, Malinga took 4 wickets in 4 balls and South Africa won the match by a hair's breadth. Here is the match report and here is the scoreboard.
Having grown up watching batsmen trash bowlers without regard, we love it when bowlers dominate a match. The best match of the world cup so far? we will answer that question after we watch the match.
Update:
It was an engrossing match. The last 5 overs were fantastic. Graeme Smith said that SA were on top for 95 overs of the match. We disagree. SA was on top for about 75 overs of the match.
Anyway, if you are reading this blog you probably know more about this match then we do. To redress that situation we are watching the match now and might (or might not) have more pithy comments after our viewing.
If you were like us and do not know what you missed, Langeveldt took the first 5 for in this world cup, Malinga took 4 wickets in 4 balls and South Africa won the match by a hair's breadth. Here is the match report and here is the scoreboard.
Having grown up watching batsmen trash bowlers without regard, we love it when bowlers dominate a match. The best match of the world cup so far? we will answer that question after we watch the match.
Update:
It was an engrossing match. The last 5 overs were fantastic. Graeme Smith said that SA were on top for 95 overs of the match. We disagree. SA was on top for about 75 overs of the match.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
News Round-Up (Sort Of)
Greg Chappell sends SMS messages to journalists. No wonder nobody likes GC. A coach's primary job is to build trust with his players. Looks like GC failed to do that miserably. Here's the offending paragraph for all you lazy people:
Fascinating reading about the inner workings in the BCCI (hat tip: Prem Panicker): Here.
The Colonel speaks again. Wants 'both young and experienced' captain. Okay then. Bye.
Meanwhile in Pakistan, "fans" went to the airport to "greet" Younis Khan.
Apparently, the Indian team was "most indisciplined” and “on an enjoyment spree” (they were up till 1 AM in the morning and were *gasp* smoking) when they toured WI in 2006. So, we should fire the coach says GCA board official. Duly noted. Thank you Mr GCA board official.
On February 16, after an article of mine appeared in this paper Greg sent me a SMS, which I am reproducing for the sake of the public. "Excellent article. Almost spot on. Even to the last selection meeting. I fought for youth. The senior players fought against it and the chairman went with them out of fear of media, if youth didn’t perform. Kartik will be a very good batsman and by the way is a potential leader. You are very right about Yuvi. Regards, Greg."Another theory as to why Bob Woolmer was killed (hat tip: Prem Panicker) - Here.It was the morning of the ODI against Sri Lanka in Visakhapatnam. The time the SMS was received — 08.16.31. For those who did not read the article, it would be helpful for their comprehension of the situation in a context.
As far as Dinesh Kartik is concerned, I had hinted he should not be taken as a second wicketkeeper, implying he be should taken as a batsman and called as such. Hence Greg’s explanation. About Yuvraj Singh I had written, "For heaven’s sake, let nobody consider Yuvraj Singh as a future captain."
Fascinating reading about the inner workings in the BCCI (hat tip: Prem Panicker): Here.
The Colonel speaks again. Wants 'both young and experienced' captain. Okay then. Bye.
Meanwhile in Pakistan, "fans" went to the airport to "greet" Younis Khan.
Apparently, the Indian team was "most indisciplined” and “on an enjoyment spree” (they were up till 1 AM in the morning and were *gasp* smoking) when they toured WI in 2006. So, we should fire the coach says GCA board official. Duly noted. Thank you Mr GCA board official.
West Indies Vs Australia, Super Eights
The village idiot has struck a rich vein of form and is in danger of becoming an idiot-savant. Who is to blame for this travesty? Daniel Vettori, that's who. Why? Because Hayden was out of form and was one match away from being dropped when Vettori dropped Hayden (score: 0) in the CB Series. Hayden then went on to make a century which got him into the world cup squad and the rest, as they say, is history. Daniel Vettori is a moron.
Hayden's batting will never be considered beautiful but it is extremely effective. Hayden is so dumb that he doesn't know it's better to be beautiful than to be effective. Hayden is not one of the sweet timers of the ball but he glosses over his timing deficiencies with the power he brings to the crease.
Hayden after a very slow start went to hit another century (158 in 143 balls) and powered Australia to yet another 300 plus score (322 in 50 overs). He was helped with nice cameos from Ponting, Clarke and Watson.
The rest of the match got rained out so West Indies will begin their chase tomorrow. Luckily they still have the full 50 overs but unluckily their target is a whopping 322. West Indies desperately needs a Lara special to chase this total down.
We will update this post after the West Indian innings tomorrow.
Update:03/28/2007
For West Indies to win this game, Lara needed to play one of his very special knocks. He did to a certain extent but it was not long enough and it was not special enough. Gayle is in awful form. Whatever happened to the destroyer of bowlers? He seems shrouded in doubt and not batting well.
Long story short, West Indies lost to Australia. Will someone please beat Australia? Once again, Australia is looking like a Juggernaut.
Hayden's batting will never be considered beautiful but it is extremely effective. Hayden is so dumb that he doesn't know it's better to be beautiful than to be effective. Hayden is not one of the sweet timers of the ball but he glosses over his timing deficiencies with the power he brings to the crease.
Hayden after a very slow start went to hit another century (158 in 143 balls) and powered Australia to yet another 300 plus score (322 in 50 overs). He was helped with nice cameos from Ponting, Clarke and Watson.
The rest of the match got rained out so West Indies will begin their chase tomorrow. Luckily they still have the full 50 overs but unluckily their target is a whopping 322. West Indies desperately needs a Lara special to chase this total down.
We will update this post after the West Indian innings tomorrow.
Update:03/28/2007
For West Indies to win this game, Lara needed to play one of his very special knocks. He did to a certain extent but it was not long enough and it was not special enough. Gayle is in awful form. Whatever happened to the destroyer of bowlers? He seems shrouded in doubt and not batting well.
Long story short, West Indies lost to Australia. Will someone please beat Australia? Once again, Australia is looking like a Juggernaut.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Where Does India Go From Here?
India's ouster from the world cup is heartbreaking but it is also an opportunity. Will BCCI do the right thing this time around? Based on their past track record, we doubt it. There will be a lot of bloodletting and heads will roll but if these are cosmetic to assuage the rage of "fans" it would be a travesty. April 6th and 7th are the dates to watch as BCCI is convening a meeting with ex-captains to decide the future of Indian cricket. In the meantime, it gives us an opportunity to pontificate about the kind of cricket team India should be aiming for.
What kind of a cricket team do we want?
A cricket team which can play well outside India has to be the top priority. For far too long, Indian teams have been flat track bullies. A tinge of green on the pitch should not make our batsmen yellow with fear. India should be able to win away tours, be aggressive in the field, play hard, not wilt under pressure, field as well as the Australians, and run the singles well. In short, the much clichéd term: "Total Cricket".
Coach:
Greg Chappell will most probably be sacked. One can argue that his “process” was never given the chance it deserved but it can also be said that a coach who rolled over without a fight when his scheme was being systematically dismantled does not deserve to be the coach. If, as reports seem to suggest, GC has lost the trust of his players; then he should be fired. No coach, however great, can succeed when his players don’t buy into the scheme. Getting players to believe in what the coach has to offer is a major part of the coach’s job.
His sacking might be symbolic: getting rid of the ‘foreign’ element from the team might be therapeutic for the loonies out there. Whatever the rationale behind GC’s firing, it is most likely that he will be gone.
Operating on the belief that GC will be sacked. Who should replace him? Will BCCI be wary about hiring a foreign coach after this fiasco? Will the Wadekars and Kapil Devs succeed with their vociferous racist remarks? Time will tell. Some of the names doing the rounds:
John Wright
Bob Simpson
Sandeep Patil
Anybody else? Any interesting names out there? Please let us know.
If by some miracle, he retains his job, it has to be considered a win for Indian cricket. Not because he is a good coach but because, for once, an administration took a stand of not pointing fingers at the easiest target and stuck by their employee in the face of immense pressure.
If BCCI decides to give GC another chance then a lot has to be done. BCCI has to empower GC and give him the team he wants, giving GC a core group of younger, fitter players and letting him mould them into a cohesive unit, having a pool of players to pick and choose from, not second guessing GC after every defeat and selecting a team based on performance rather than reputations. This will invariably lead to axing of star players like Ganguly, Sehwag, Bhajji, Tendulkar and Kumble. This option will be traumatic for a lot of fans. Will the BCCI do it? We doubt it.
Whatever we do, we should not fall back on hiring great Indian ex-captains (Kapil Dev, Wadekar, etc) as the Indian team’s coach. It will be a step backward if we do it. These great ex-players don’t have the coaching pedigree. Hire a coach who has a proven track record and technical know how.
Whether BCCI keeps GC or fires him and hires another coach, one thing they have to do is hire a bowling coach. Why India doesn’t have a bowling coach is beyond our understanding.
Captaincy:
This is a knotty problem. Overall, Rahul Dravid’s captaincy has not been bad. He had a poor run as a captain in the world cup. Is that enough to sack him? Dravid has shown himself to be thoughtful and tactical as captain. Can he emerge a stronger person and a stronger leader from this ordeal? We think so.
If there is a knock against Dravid, it is that, after buying into GC’s “process” he capitulated after a string of defeats and opted for ‘captaincy by committee’ approach. His captaincy took a step back by preferring experience over younger and fitter players. He should have known better than to underestimate the importance of fielding.
There is talk about bringing back Sachin Tendulkar as the captain. That would be a bad idea. Even worse would be making Ganguly the captain. Realistically, India doesn’t have many choices when it comes to captaincy. Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, and Saurav Ganguly are the only candidates unless BCCI opts for ‘out of the box thinking’.
Dravid is reaching his peak as a batsman while Tendulkar and Ganguly are sliding down. We also believe that Dravid will come out of this debacle as a better captain. If there is anyone in the Indian team who does not wilt at the first sign of pressure, it is Dravid. Dravid has also shown that captaincy does not have an adverse effect on his batting. Dravid has always done well when his back is to the wall. We believe that Dravid still has a lot to offer Indian cricket. If the choices for captaincy are Ganguly, Tendulkar, and Dravid, we prefer Dravid.
Md. Kaif is another player we are very fond of. He was the captain of the U-19’s and is the captain of UP. From everything we have heard, he has the tactical nous and people skills to be a good captain. Bring back Md. Kaif into the team and make him the vice-captain. True, he is not the most prolific batsman in the country but his fielding alone should guarantee his spot in the ODI team and if he were given as many opportunities as, say, Sehwag, he would have probably cemented his spot. Kaif’s batting style (anchoring one end and rotating the strike) makes him ideal to be sent up the order.
The idea of Sehwag as the captain or vice-captain did enter our mind but we quickly discarded it because his spot is in jeopardy now. Sehwag has to go back the drawing board to sort out his fitness and technique.
Does anybody know if Yuvraj can be considered captaincy material? Again, Yuvraj’s test spot has not been cemented so he and Kaif are in similar boats. If given a choice, we prefer Kaif over Yuvraj because we believe Kaif has the common touch to get the best out of his team-mates. Maybe Yuvraj can be India’s Graeme Smith. We doubt it.
Another option could be VVS Laxman. Laxman is well liked and might not make a bad captain. By making Laxman the captain, BCCI could neatly side step several problems. He is senior enough to command respect from the younger players and is well liked by the senior players. One great thing about Laxman being the captain is that he would be in the ODI team. Dropping Laxman from the ODI team because he was considered to be a bad fielder was a gigantic joke.
We did consider having 2 different teams: one for the ODi’s and one for the Tests. Australia is pointed out as an example of this system. The reason this worked for Australia is because the captain of the test team was not part of the ODI team. One could argue that Dravid could remain the captain of the Test team while someone else could captain the ODI team. This will only work if Dravid is not part of the ODI team. That is a bad idea. Not having Dravid in the ODI team will hurt India. Again, we believe Dravid has a lot to offer Indian cricket. Talent like Dravid’s comes along rarely and we should value it.
Our preference is to stick with Dravid as the captain (for both ODI’s and Tests) and make a younger player (Kaif) the vice-captain. If Kaif succeeds, he could take over after Dravid retires and if he doesn’t, India will have time to identify another candidate while Dravid is steering the ship. Our second preference is to make VVS Laxman the captain (for both ODI’s and Tests) and again, make a younger player the vice-captain.
Team:
Tendulkar, Ganguly, and Kumble should retire from ODI’s. Sehwag, Agarkar, and Bhajji should be dropped from ODI’s. That gives us 6 spots for youngsters to fill. Agarkar can be replaced with Sreesanth, Bhajji can be replaced with Powar, and 3 batsmen can take the place of Tendulkar, Ganguly, and Sehwag.
Ganguly, Kumble, Agarkar, Sehwag, and Bhajji should be dropped from the test team. We believe Tendulkar still has something to offer in the Test arena so he should be allowed to keep his spot. Actually, we will be depressed if Tendulkar is dropped for Tests but will get over it very quickly.
The emphasis on future players has to be paramount. Jaffer, Kaif, Raina, Kaarthick, Gambhir, Pathan, and Sreesanth should be nurtured and given enough chances. The emphasis on star players has to decrease. Indians have to realize that the team comes first. It was a pleasure watching the Aussies, Clarke and Ponting, disregard their personal milestones in their match against SA. That would have never happened in an Indian team.
Indians have to realize that to reach Australian and South African level of play, their fielding has to improve drastically. A good idea would be to hire a fielding coach like the South Africans have. It’s not enough to bat well or bowl well, one has to field well. The star players cannot be excused from fielding drills. Fielding has to be an important criterion for selection (not a fake criterion like it was with Laxman’s non-selection). Running between the wickets is also something that needs to be improved. Influx of younger players will improve that to a certain extent but it can be improved further.
Cricket, especially ODI’s, has become an athlete’s game. Emphasis has to be paid to fitness, stamina, and endurance. It is a disgrace that young professional cricket players like Sehwag turn up at fitness camps overweight and out of shape. Players have to follow their off-season regimens. Heavy fines should be levied if a player does not follow their off-season regimen.
Miscellaneous:
BCCI should invest its millions in infrastructure. Our stadiums are falling apart and the conditions inside are horrible. Our one and only visit to see an ODI was traumatic. The stench of urine in the stands was gut-wrenching.
India needs better pitches and outfields. Let’s not kid ourselves about our batting prowess by belting out hundreds on flat tracks. These flat tracks have been the graveyard of many an Indian fast bowler. Why would anybody want to be a bowler when there is no glory in being one? It is not like we don’t know how to build bowler friendly pitches. Mohali is a prime example. We need more Mohali’s in other states.
India should also invest in the massive talent pool it has. We need more ‘A’ matches. A good performance in the U-19’s should not equate to a spot in the national team. The U-19’s need time to hone their skills and BCCI can provide it and should provide it.
For too long domestic cricket has suffered. Plans to reinvigorate and improve domestic cricket are many and varied. Domestic cricket deserves its own post and will be tackled at a later date.
Are we missing anything from our long discourse? Does anyone disagree with us? If so, convince us we are wrong and we will edit the post accordingly.
What kind of a cricket team do we want?
A cricket team which can play well outside India has to be the top priority. For far too long, Indian teams have been flat track bullies. A tinge of green on the pitch should not make our batsmen yellow with fear. India should be able to win away tours, be aggressive in the field, play hard, not wilt under pressure, field as well as the Australians, and run the singles well. In short, the much clichéd term: "Total Cricket".
Coach:
Greg Chappell will most probably be sacked. One can argue that his “process” was never given the chance it deserved but it can also be said that a coach who rolled over without a fight when his scheme was being systematically dismantled does not deserve to be the coach. If, as reports seem to suggest, GC has lost the trust of his players; then he should be fired. No coach, however great, can succeed when his players don’t buy into the scheme. Getting players to believe in what the coach has to offer is a major part of the coach’s job.
His sacking might be symbolic: getting rid of the ‘foreign’ element from the team might be therapeutic for the loonies out there. Whatever the rationale behind GC’s firing, it is most likely that he will be gone.
Operating on the belief that GC will be sacked. Who should replace him? Will BCCI be wary about hiring a foreign coach after this fiasco? Will the Wadekars and Kapil Devs succeed with their vociferous racist remarks? Time will tell. Some of the names doing the rounds:
John Wright
Bob Simpson
Sandeep Patil
Anybody else? Any interesting names out there? Please let us know.
If by some miracle, he retains his job, it has to be considered a win for Indian cricket. Not because he is a good coach but because, for once, an administration took a stand of not pointing fingers at the easiest target and stuck by their employee in the face of immense pressure.
If BCCI decides to give GC another chance then a lot has to be done. BCCI has to empower GC and give him the team he wants, giving GC a core group of younger, fitter players and letting him mould them into a cohesive unit, having a pool of players to pick and choose from, not second guessing GC after every defeat and selecting a team based on performance rather than reputations. This will invariably lead to axing of star players like Ganguly, Sehwag, Bhajji, Tendulkar and Kumble. This option will be traumatic for a lot of fans. Will the BCCI do it? We doubt it.
Whatever we do, we should not fall back on hiring great Indian ex-captains (Kapil Dev, Wadekar, etc) as the Indian team’s coach. It will be a step backward if we do it. These great ex-players don’t have the coaching pedigree. Hire a coach who has a proven track record and technical know how.
Whether BCCI keeps GC or fires him and hires another coach, one thing they have to do is hire a bowling coach. Why India doesn’t have a bowling coach is beyond our understanding.
Captaincy:
This is a knotty problem. Overall, Rahul Dravid’s captaincy has not been bad. He had a poor run as a captain in the world cup. Is that enough to sack him? Dravid has shown himself to be thoughtful and tactical as captain. Can he emerge a stronger person and a stronger leader from this ordeal? We think so.
If there is a knock against Dravid, it is that, after buying into GC’s “process” he capitulated after a string of defeats and opted for ‘captaincy by committee’ approach. His captaincy took a step back by preferring experience over younger and fitter players. He should have known better than to underestimate the importance of fielding.
There is talk about bringing back Sachin Tendulkar as the captain. That would be a bad idea. Even worse would be making Ganguly the captain. Realistically, India doesn’t have many choices when it comes to captaincy. Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, and Saurav Ganguly are the only candidates unless BCCI opts for ‘out of the box thinking’.
Dravid is reaching his peak as a batsman while Tendulkar and Ganguly are sliding down. We also believe that Dravid will come out of this debacle as a better captain. If there is anyone in the Indian team who does not wilt at the first sign of pressure, it is Dravid. Dravid has also shown that captaincy does not have an adverse effect on his batting. Dravid has always done well when his back is to the wall. We believe that Dravid still has a lot to offer Indian cricket. If the choices for captaincy are Ganguly, Tendulkar, and Dravid, we prefer Dravid.
Md. Kaif is another player we are very fond of. He was the captain of the U-19’s and is the captain of UP. From everything we have heard, he has the tactical nous and people skills to be a good captain. Bring back Md. Kaif into the team and make him the vice-captain. True, he is not the most prolific batsman in the country but his fielding alone should guarantee his spot in the ODI team and if he were given as many opportunities as, say, Sehwag, he would have probably cemented his spot. Kaif’s batting style (anchoring one end and rotating the strike) makes him ideal to be sent up the order.
The idea of Sehwag as the captain or vice-captain did enter our mind but we quickly discarded it because his spot is in jeopardy now. Sehwag has to go back the drawing board to sort out his fitness and technique.
Does anybody know if Yuvraj can be considered captaincy material? Again, Yuvraj’s test spot has not been cemented so he and Kaif are in similar boats. If given a choice, we prefer Kaif over Yuvraj because we believe Kaif has the common touch to get the best out of his team-mates. Maybe Yuvraj can be India’s Graeme Smith. We doubt it.
Another option could be VVS Laxman. Laxman is well liked and might not make a bad captain. By making Laxman the captain, BCCI could neatly side step several problems. He is senior enough to command respect from the younger players and is well liked by the senior players. One great thing about Laxman being the captain is that he would be in the ODI team. Dropping Laxman from the ODI team because he was considered to be a bad fielder was a gigantic joke.
We did consider having 2 different teams: one for the ODi’s and one for the Tests. Australia is pointed out as an example of this system. The reason this worked for Australia is because the captain of the test team was not part of the ODI team. One could argue that Dravid could remain the captain of the Test team while someone else could captain the ODI team. This will only work if Dravid is not part of the ODI team. That is a bad idea. Not having Dravid in the ODI team will hurt India. Again, we believe Dravid has a lot to offer Indian cricket. Talent like Dravid’s comes along rarely and we should value it.
Our preference is to stick with Dravid as the captain (for both ODI’s and Tests) and make a younger player (Kaif) the vice-captain. If Kaif succeeds, he could take over after Dravid retires and if he doesn’t, India will have time to identify another candidate while Dravid is steering the ship. Our second preference is to make VVS Laxman the captain (for both ODI’s and Tests) and again, make a younger player the vice-captain.
Team:
Tendulkar, Ganguly, and Kumble should retire from ODI’s. Sehwag, Agarkar, and Bhajji should be dropped from ODI’s. That gives us 6 spots for youngsters to fill. Agarkar can be replaced with Sreesanth, Bhajji can be replaced with Powar, and 3 batsmen can take the place of Tendulkar, Ganguly, and Sehwag.
Ganguly, Kumble, Agarkar, Sehwag, and Bhajji should be dropped from the test team. We believe Tendulkar still has something to offer in the Test arena so he should be allowed to keep his spot. Actually, we will be depressed if Tendulkar is dropped for Tests but will get over it very quickly.
The emphasis on future players has to be paramount. Jaffer, Kaif, Raina, Kaarthick, Gambhir, Pathan, and Sreesanth should be nurtured and given enough chances. The emphasis on star players has to decrease. Indians have to realize that the team comes first. It was a pleasure watching the Aussies, Clarke and Ponting, disregard their personal milestones in their match against SA. That would have never happened in an Indian team.
Indians have to realize that to reach Australian and South African level of play, their fielding has to improve drastically. A good idea would be to hire a fielding coach like the South Africans have. It’s not enough to bat well or bowl well, one has to field well. The star players cannot be excused from fielding drills. Fielding has to be an important criterion for selection (not a fake criterion like it was with Laxman’s non-selection). Running between the wickets is also something that needs to be improved. Influx of younger players will improve that to a certain extent but it can be improved further.
Cricket, especially ODI’s, has become an athlete’s game. Emphasis has to be paid to fitness, stamina, and endurance. It is a disgrace that young professional cricket players like Sehwag turn up at fitness camps overweight and out of shape. Players have to follow their off-season regimens. Heavy fines should be levied if a player does not follow their off-season regimen.
Miscellaneous:
BCCI should invest its millions in infrastructure. Our stadiums are falling apart and the conditions inside are horrible. Our one and only visit to see an ODI was traumatic. The stench of urine in the stands was gut-wrenching.
India needs better pitches and outfields. Let’s not kid ourselves about our batting prowess by belting out hundreds on flat tracks. These flat tracks have been the graveyard of many an Indian fast bowler. Why would anybody want to be a bowler when there is no glory in being one? It is not like we don’t know how to build bowler friendly pitches. Mohali is a prime example. We need more Mohali’s in other states.
India should also invest in the massive talent pool it has. We need more ‘A’ matches. A good performance in the U-19’s should not equate to a spot in the national team. The U-19’s need time to hone their skills and BCCI can provide it and should provide it.
For too long domestic cricket has suffered. Plans to reinvigorate and improve domestic cricket are many and varied. Domestic cricket deserves its own post and will be tackled at a later date.
Are we missing anything from our long discourse? Does anyone disagree with us? If so, convince us we are wrong and we will edit the post accordingly.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Bangladesh Vs Bermuda, Group B
For a moment, our heart fluttered when Bangladesh was reeling at 37-3 chasing a target of 95. Luckily, better sense prevailed and we reasoned that the Bangladeshi young guns would not fold up under pressure like the Indians. They would not squander the chance they have been given. Batting on a sticky wicket, Ashraful and Saqibal Hasan saw Bangladesh home.
Bangladesh went on to beat Bermuda in rain curtailed match. They are into the Super 8's where they will get several more opportunities to bring down the other big teams. Whether this happens or not, Bangladesh should be very happy with their performance so far. Well done and good luck.
Bangladesh went on to beat Bermuda in rain curtailed match. They are into the Super 8's where they will get several more opportunities to bring down the other big teams. Whether this happens or not, Bangladesh should be very happy with their performance so far. Well done and good luck.
Did The "Process" Fail?
We came across this article from Rahul Bhattacharya while surfing a cricket message board. If the premise is true (that of distrust) then the article carries some weight.
The Process and why it failed so miserablyAny thoughts?
Rahul Bhattacharya
Four years ago to the day India crashed out of a World Cup. Then it was then the final. Now, bar a fresh face here and there, those same men, pale shadows of their former selves, hang their hopes on the cuddly amateurs of Bermuda, otherwise growing accustomed to the greatest embarrassment of their cricketing lives. ‘You ain’t going back home,’ a drunk hollered jauntily, almost as if to console them, ‘they gon kill yuh’.
Insofar as this can be analysed as a match of cricket it may be said, as the captain and coach said on loop while facing the press, that India “did not play well”. The seam bowlers were sharp upfront but they were unlucky, the fielding was mediocre and the batting hopeless.
Pitifully it all unravelled finally, the feebleness of despairing men unable to face the heat, and the campaign that had blazed across televisions, hoardings, powerpoint presentations and a million dreams came to a virtual halt. The world will turn, but try telling that to the Indian fan.
The cricketers will take a roasting, and there is little really to commend their efforts for the past year. The batting has been frail and the bowling medium and the fielding almost superfluous. Of course it has. And let us not even start on the system that produces and manages these cricketers. Yet, if we must be current, it is too convenient to ignore the point that this was a side without a chemistry. The only hope for it galvanising lay in the bonding that comes from special triumphs. It was not to be.
The team that is not united will find it hard to win. Rahul Dravid is an admirable cricketer in every respect, a setter of examples, but his fatal deficiency as captain was the inability to bring together people in a manner that makes them bigger than they are, a task made almost impossible by the politician employed as the coach.
When responding to one of the few questions he deigned to answer at the press conference, Greg Chappell pointed to the lack of partnerships. It could well be the motif for his tenure.
Numerous players earned the coach’s greatest censure and time after time he found friends in the media, in awe of his stature, thrilled by the access he provided, to spread the message. They were flamed privately to the press men. Word would get back to players, many of them could not relate to his methods anyway. Bonds were broken, and ultimately there hardly remained one. It is not there was not a shred of validity in the observations. But when there is such a breakdown of trust in a team its very spirit dies. India needed a leader, a builder; they got a wrecking ball.
From a tactical point of view, a shake-up was very much required when Dravid and Chappell came together. But experimentation was taken a step too far. It is one thing to make a flexible line-up, another to bend it till it breaks. It was going to be all or nothing. You could have an answer for every situation and equally to none. When it came down to it, the team was without a single bankable position.
The analysis has only just begun. It will continue with numbing force for months to come in what, for fans and media alike over the past two years, has been the most polarised period in recent Indian cricket history.
But take some time out to look the other way. As the world-weary Indians watched impassive from the dressing room, the jubilant Sri Lankans bounced joyously off the field, and the eager teenagers of the Bangladesh cricket team beamed in the audience. “The beauty and the cruelty of sport”, Dravid would philosophise later. Till better times, the supporters of the biggest, most decadent cricket playing nation in the world must have to come to terms with that.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
England Vs Kenya, Group C
England beat Kenya and are through to the super 8's. We didn't see this match because we were busy watching the Australia-SA match. We are happy that England got through - somebody has to give Ireland and Bangladesh hope for a win in the Super 8's. England team has a very subcontinental trait of being able to lose to anyone on any given day and beating anyone on any given day.
Happy days are ahead for cricket fans rooting for the weaker teams.
Happy days are ahead for cricket fans rooting for the weaker teams.
Australia Vs South Africa, Group A
As we write this, Australia is cruising along at 78-0 after 10 overs. South Africa won the toss and put Australia in to bat. Australia is off to the races. Will they hit 500 today? and more importantly, can they defend whatever runs they make.
Nice calling and running between the wickets. Great shot from Gilchrist, but Langeveldt gets his boot on it and saves 4 runs. Gilchrist is pissed with Langy's temerity, so the next ball is deposited over the ground for a huge 6. What a shot. Score now 84-0, 11 overs.
Andrew Hall into the attack now. What a shot!!! Great shot! came down the pitch and blasted the ball through extra covers. Great timing. What a way to get to his fifty. The village idiot playing really well. Nice comeback from Hall.
The Australian running between the wickets is top notch. We have an idea, they should hire Ganguly, who is the BEST runner between the wickets, to help their running get to the next level. Meanwhile, Haydos is going berserk. He just hit a flat six over mid-off. The trick to getting Hayden out is simple: The wicket-keeper needs to ask him math questions. Due to his double digit IQ, math questions are hard for Hayden. He gets confused easily. If the wicket-keeper can irritate Hayden enough, Hayden will get out.
Gilly is gone! Nice catch by Gibbs - easy catch at backward point. Gilly was surprised by the bounce of the slower ball and was not able to keep it down. Australia now 106 for 1 after 15 overs. Monkey boy will walk in. Oh Joy. Monkey boy and the Idiot batting together.
Update 1:
What a shot! 4. Nice shot between cover and mid-off. Hayden is middling everything and when he is not hitting boundaries, he is running sharp singles. Australia don't know what they are missing - they need Ganguly as their running coach. As an act of kindness, maybe we can send Ganguly over - free of cost. We just heard a very important tidbit: Gibbs doesn't like throwing up the ball after he takes a catch. He gets rid of it quickly.
Will South Africa save itself a little bit by getting rid of Ponting quickly? We will see, meanwhile, Hayden hits a boundary over cover. Hayden is batting beautifully. Another nice shot over mid-on. He is in great form. He is on 81 and Australia crusing along at 123-1 after 17 overs.
Update 2:
Holy cow! Hayden could be making the fasest 100 of the world cup. This is terrible news. Where is Ganguly when you need him? We are, of course, rooting against Hayden getting to that hundred. It's bad enough that another aussie form Canada has the record. One dot ball.
Meanwhile, Ponting is rotating the strike. Coward. If you are brave, show us by batting instead of rotating the strike to your in-form partner. Indian batsmen are brave. Spanking shot by Hayden for 4 and then he takes a single. He is on 90 of 59 balls. Australia now 140-1 after 19 overs.
Update 3:
Hayden 91 off 60 balls. 9 runs from 6 deliveries to get to the fastest hundred. WOW!!! Ponting just hit a massive six. What a batsman! what a shot! Now a straight drive over the bowlers head for a 4. Oh boy. He is looking dangerous. Thank God the power plays are over. It's time to stanch the flow of runs.
Hayden 92 of 62 balls. 93 of 63 balls. 94 of 64 balls. This should be interesting: the greatest spinner in the entire galaxy (GSEG) Graeme Smith is on. Can Hayden get to his 100 against the GSEG? Yes, he can! Hayden now 100 of 66 balls. What a shot! great six. Well done Haydos. Nice 100. Fastest 100 in the world cup. So, we lose this small battle too. Never mind. We will prevail in the end. Australia now 166-1 after 23 overs.
Update 4:
Kallis is on now. OUT!!! Hayden gone for 101, great batting. Easy catch to Gibbs. Clarke is in to bat. Fastest 100 in the world cup history. Good batting Hayden, Now keep your mouth shut and we will be fine.
There, we couldn't have said it better. Alec Stewart just gave a 5 minute discourse on why singles are important and why Australians are so good at taking singles. Wish Ganguly could have heard Alec Stewart. Great running between the wickets. Australia now 177-2 after 26 overs.
Update 5:
Nice shot from Ponting. Easy 4. Just chipped it over mid-wicket.
What an effort by the third man. The ball was racing away and Pollock dived to make a great stop.
Not much happening except for a run-out chance, a hard catch, and a inside edge to the boundary. Australia now 203-2 after 31 overs.
Update 6:
Clarke is cutting loose. A boundary followed by a six. The six was very well hit. Hit over between the bowler and mid-off. Nice shot. Australia at 214-2 after 32 overs.
Ntini into the attack. Ponting is scared of him. Coward. Just takes off for a quick single. Clarke is terrified of Ntini. He doesn't want to face him either. He wants a quick single which wasn't on.
AB de Villiers (AB from now on) is a great fielder. Trust us. Clarke going for everything now. Australians have obviously decided to go after Kallis. 2 balls-2 fours. Kallis is very angry and this ofcourse terrifies Clarke who gets off strike by taking a single. Coward. Face him if you have the courage.
Ponting got lucky. Andrew Hall just couldn't reach that ball. Four.
Great shot by Ponting. jumped down the pitch and smacked it for a 4. This brings up his 50. Nice innings. It would have been perfect if he hadn't taken all those singles and still made the 50. Australia 239-2 after 35 overs. Australia on their way to 400 here.
Update 7:
Clarke plunders 10 runs from Langy including 2 fours. Pollock back in to the attack. Clarke is looking to take on Pollock. This will be fun. This is a batsman's paradise. SIX. Clarke gets to his 50 in style. Another six. This time Ponting. Beautiful shot. This man can time the cricket ball. These batsman are making Pollock look like a Nets bowler. Maybe it's time for GSEG to come back into the attack. Change of pace and all that.
Everything going Australia's way so far. 284-2 after 39 overs. What else can go wrong for the Saffies? Gibbs can drop a catch. Get out of here! Gibbs never drops a catch.
Well, he does just that. It's an easy catch too. Clarke lucky to be still batting. 288-2 after 40 overs. 400 is on. If the Saffies can put up a fight, this will be a good match.
Nothing in the pitch for the bowlers. Bowlers like Ntini and Pollock are being treated with contempt and disdain. Sucks.
Update 8:
300 up for Australia in 40.2 overs. Beautiful shot. Square driven for a lovely 4 by Clarke. Monkey boy just lost his bat. He came down the pitch to hit Kallis out of the ground and the bat slipped from his hands. Looked like an idiot running to the non-strikers end. Nearly killed Clarke too.
Clarke is swishing at everything now and so is Ponting. The difference is Ponting's slogs are placed into the gap giving him a boundary while Clarke is smashing balls directly to the fielders. 318-2 after 44 overs.
Clarke hit a great sixer and then Ponting tries to do the same and he is gone. Out! Out for a very well made 91. Great effort. That's what captains are supposed to do. Lead from the front and play great innings. Great batting by Ponting. Australia 341-3 for 46 overs.
Update 9:
Clarke is gone for 92. Runout. All that running finally caught up with him. If he had followed Ganguly's tenet of not running singles he would not be gone without his century. Serves him right! Hussey now in.
While we were talking to a friend, a lot happened (couple of boundaries and some manic running) and then Hussey holed out to deep cover. Australia 357-5 after 48 overs. Saffies have done a decent job in the last few overs.
We shouldn' have said that since Symonds smashed a four. Now, it's Shane Watson's turn. He moves to the off stump and places the ball to deep fine leg for a four. Nice shot. Watson does it again! moves to the off stump and hits the ball this time over mid-wicket. Another 4. Australia 373-5 after 49 overs.
Last over coming up. Nice ball from Andrew Hall. Dot ball. Barry Richards says: Dot ball is like gold. Another dot ball. 3 balls left. Can Shane Watson finish things off in style? no. 2 runs off 4 balls. Last two balls coming up. Symo gets 2. Great running between the wickets. Symo is great. Got him the last ball of the game. Nice ball. Just 4 runs of the last over. Australia 377-6 in 50 overs.
Can the Saffies do it? They have the batting line-up. The question is if anyone can do a Hayden for the Saffies.
Update 10:
Great start from SA. A four and a six in the first over. 10 of the first over. Great shot by AB. Rocked back on the back foot and hit the short ball over mid wicket for a 6.
Tait (of the"I am not at full pace" fame) on now. Fast-around 91 mph. AB on fire. Great on drive. 4 runs. SA now 18-0 after 2 overs.
Things have slowed down a little. But SA taking a lot of singles. Looks like they need Ganguly's help too. When will these teams learn that taking singles is not the answer. Tait is all over the place. He still isn't at full pace though, that might be the problem. SA 30-0 after 4 overs.
What a shot! Smith charges down the wicket and strikes a mighty blow. 4 runs. Tait will be out of the attack soon. He is proving ineffective. My spider sense is tingling that can mean only one thing - we will see McGrath soon. Nice shot again. Smith straight drives Bracken down the ground for another 4. SA 40-0 after 5 overs.
Update 11:
My spider sense was right. McGrath into the attack and is being given a warm welcome by AB. 2 fours from 2 balls. Nice shots. Make that 3 fours in 3 balls. WOW! This is very soothing after India's loss yesterday. 12 runs from the over. SA 52-0 after 6 overs. What a great sight - McGrath is already shaking his head.
Amid the mayhem, Bracken bowls a good, tight over. Just 2 runs of the over. Great come back from McGrath. Just one run from his over. SA 55-0 after 8 overs.
Shane Watson into the attack now. Ponting is moving his bowlers around. Great fielding. Hayden stopped a sure 4. That really pisses off Smith. He swings his bat and gets a 4. 63-0 after 9 overs. Sweet shot. Smith punches McGraths ball straight down. Nothing wrong with the ball just good batting. Another four, this time it is AB who pulls McGrath over square-leg. SA 73-0 after 10 overs.
Ponting takes the second power play. Maybe Ponting shouldn't have. Huge shout for catch behind. Bucknor says no. AB still there. AB hits a 4 to celebrate Bucknor's decision. 79-0 after 11 overs. Ponting misses a run out chance. Did he just drop the world cup? Smith mis hits a pull shot but it still goes to the boundary. Super shot!!! Smith dances down the pitch and smacks it over Watson's head. Watson is getting hammered. AB gets to his 50. Good innings. SA 96-0 after 13 overs.
Update 12:
AB hits another 4. This is a battng paradise. Great commitment from the Australians. They are throwing themselves at everything and great running from the Saffies. Ponting is trying to think. We can spot Ponting trying to think from a mile away - the hand starts pulling on his chin. McGrath is shaking his head. This is lovely. SA 106-0 after 14 overs.
Tait is back into the attack. Even McGrath is thowing himself at the ball. Why can't the Indian team do the same? Hogg is into the attack now. What can he do? Smith sweeps Hogg for a four. Smith's 50 is up with that. Good innings. SA 118-0 after 16 overs.
SA is doing a good job of getting a boundary every over. Great running between the wickets from AB and Smith. They get 2 runs where India would not have attempted a single. SA doesn't get a boundary this over because AB hit a big six. 134-0 after 18 overs.
Symonds into the attack and bowls three good balls. This angers AB who then smacks three fours from the next three balls. AB is on fire. Hogg continuing at the other end. Another pull shot for 4 and then great running between the wickets get SA a brace. Ponting looks worried.
SA 154-0 after 20 overs.
Update 13:
Direct throw from the boundary and AB is run out for a brilliant 92. What a throw!! Shane Watson threw down the stumps from the boundary. Great fielding. Will this change the match? Kallis in. This is a very entertaining match. Ponting takes his third power play in over 23.
Good over from Tait. Just 5 runs from that over. SA 171-1 after 23 overs. Watson bowled a bizzare over: 5 wides and then Gilchrist moved up to the stumps, the next ball hit the cap behing Gilchrist (5 runs). It was good over but it still cost Australia 11 runs. Smith has a case of cramps and AB comes back into the field as Smith's runner. SA 184-1 after 25 overs. Smith walks off the field. SA is in a spot of bother now. Gibbs is in. If he fires, this match is over.
With Smith out of the field this game is slowly meandering. Two new batsmen at the crease. Kallis needs to start opening his shoulders. Good bowling from Tait and an unlucky over from Hogg. SA get to their 200 in the 29th over. Asking rate is climbing up and it's around 8.3. SA needs some boundaries. 203-1 after 29 overs.
Update 14:
Great shot by Kallis. Late cut Hogg to the boundary. Beautiful shot. The game is moving slowly right now. One of the batsmen needs to get going. SA 213-1 after 31 overs. Australia's game to lose at this point.
Gibbs is six and out. Brilliant bowling from Hogg. The wrong 'un does Gibbs in. Hogg on fire. Australia is on top here. Great entertaining match. McGrath, the coward, is bowling to the newly arrived batsman and gets Ashwell Prince. Bowls a slow bouncer and Prince hits straight into Hayden at backward square leg. SA 223-3. SA is missing Smith. They lost momentum after he left the field. Boucher is in.
Australians have really tightened up their bowling. It also doesn't hurt when the best fielders in the world are backing up the bowling. Hope the Indians are watching this game. Not that they would take away anything from this because fielding well is an alien concept for the Indian team. 231-3 after 35 overs. Kallis needs to start hitting. NOW.
Tait cleans up Boucher. Fast in-swinging yorker cleans up Boucher. SA in trouble. Justin Kemp is the new man in and SA is 256-4 after 39 overs.
Update 15:
Great shot from Kallis. In the slot and Kallis does no mistake in putting it away. SA needs 12 runs an over from now on. Tait strikes again. Kemp is gone LBW. Great bowling. Fast and straight. Smith comes back to bat. Australia will be really disappointed if they lose now. Smith is gone. Hogg gets him. Great bowling from Hogg and Tait. SA 267-6 in 41.3 overs.
The SA batting shows no urgency. Kallis is batting like he has all the time in the world. What is going on? Tait is bowling with venom and fire. Has he reached his top speed? Nice bowling. Great yorker. Kallis does well to keep his wicket intact. Another yorker. Great bowling from Tait. Finally, Pollock get Tait away for a boundary. SA 277-6 after 43 overs.
Out!! Kallis gone. Tried to hit Hogg out of the ground and Clarke holds on to an easy catch. This game is over but since it's not India playing we will hang around for the final rites.
Update 16:
Andrew Hall comes in for Kallis. Hogg and Tait have been a revelation. Brilliant bowling from them in the last 8 overs or so.
Watson comes on and cleans up Shaun Pollock. SA is collapsing under the weight of the required run rate. Maiden wicket for Watson. He doesn't deserve that. Hogg or Tait do. SA 279-8 after 45 overs. Another wicket falls. Langeveldt is cleaned up by Bracken. Nice bowling.
Australia wins by 83 runs. SA all out for 294. Great effort. Nathan Bracken cleans up Ntini with another yorker.
Final Thoughts:
The delight on Ponting's face as SA's last wicket fell made him seem almost human. Australia won emphatically over SA. Australia was the better team in this match and outclassed SA.
SA started well in response to the target set by Australia. Hayden set up the total with the fastest century ever made in a world cup. Hayden was fantastic but this was not the greatest ODI knock ever, like the commentators seemed to suggest. South Africa's reply stuttered with the loss of AB de Villiers (run out to some fantastic fielding and throwing). Smith was great too but had to leave the field at a critical phase (cramps) of the game.
Australia availed themselves of the opportunity given by SA and applied pressure with some tight bowling and fantastic fielding. Hogg and Tait bowled brilliantly. Australia is looking good for a third championship.
SA's lack of bowling options hurt them. They don't have a quality spin bowler to bother anyone and their bowling attack has no variation. SA can beat any team except Australia.
At this point in time, SL and New Zealand are the only teams that can beat Australia and we will be rooting for them actively.
A very entertaining match with some great batting. No help for the bowlers though even though the Australian bowlers did a lot better than the South African bowlers.
Nice calling and running between the wickets. Great shot from Gilchrist, but Langeveldt gets his boot on it and saves 4 runs. Gilchrist is pissed with Langy's temerity, so the next ball is deposited over the ground for a huge 6. What a shot. Score now 84-0, 11 overs.
Andrew Hall into the attack now. What a shot!!! Great shot! came down the pitch and blasted the ball through extra covers. Great timing. What a way to get to his fifty. The village idiot playing really well. Nice comeback from Hall.
The Australian running between the wickets is top notch. We have an idea, they should hire Ganguly, who is the BEST runner between the wickets, to help their running get to the next level. Meanwhile, Haydos is going berserk. He just hit a flat six over mid-off. The trick to getting Hayden out is simple: The wicket-keeper needs to ask him math questions. Due to his double digit IQ, math questions are hard for Hayden. He gets confused easily. If the wicket-keeper can irritate Hayden enough, Hayden will get out.
Gilly is gone! Nice catch by Gibbs - easy catch at backward point. Gilly was surprised by the bounce of the slower ball and was not able to keep it down. Australia now 106 for 1 after 15 overs. Monkey boy will walk in. Oh Joy. Monkey boy and the Idiot batting together.
Update 1:
What a shot! 4. Nice shot between cover and mid-off. Hayden is middling everything and when he is not hitting boundaries, he is running sharp singles. Australia don't know what they are missing - they need Ganguly as their running coach. As an act of kindness, maybe we can send Ganguly over - free of cost. We just heard a very important tidbit: Gibbs doesn't like throwing up the ball after he takes a catch. He gets rid of it quickly.
Will South Africa save itself a little bit by getting rid of Ponting quickly? We will see, meanwhile, Hayden hits a boundary over cover. Hayden is batting beautifully. Another nice shot over mid-on. He is in great form. He is on 81 and Australia crusing along at 123-1 after 17 overs.
Update 2:
Holy cow! Hayden could be making the fasest 100 of the world cup. This is terrible news. Where is Ganguly when you need him? We are, of course, rooting against Hayden getting to that hundred. It's bad enough that another aussie form Canada has the record. One dot ball.
Meanwhile, Ponting is rotating the strike. Coward. If you are brave, show us by batting instead of rotating the strike to your in-form partner. Indian batsmen are brave. Spanking shot by Hayden for 4 and then he takes a single. He is on 90 of 59 balls. Australia now 140-1 after 19 overs.
Update 3:
Hayden 91 off 60 balls. 9 runs from 6 deliveries to get to the fastest hundred. WOW!!! Ponting just hit a massive six. What a batsman! what a shot! Now a straight drive over the bowlers head for a 4. Oh boy. He is looking dangerous. Thank God the power plays are over. It's time to stanch the flow of runs.
Hayden 92 of 62 balls. 93 of 63 balls. 94 of 64 balls. This should be interesting: the greatest spinner in the entire galaxy (GSEG) Graeme Smith is on. Can Hayden get to his 100 against the GSEG? Yes, he can! Hayden now 100 of 66 balls. What a shot! great six. Well done Haydos. Nice 100. Fastest 100 in the world cup. So, we lose this small battle too. Never mind. We will prevail in the end. Australia now 166-1 after 23 overs.
Update 4:
Kallis is on now. OUT!!! Hayden gone for 101, great batting. Easy catch to Gibbs. Clarke is in to bat. Fastest 100 in the world cup history. Good batting Hayden, Now keep your mouth shut and we will be fine.
There, we couldn't have said it better. Alec Stewart just gave a 5 minute discourse on why singles are important and why Australians are so good at taking singles. Wish Ganguly could have heard Alec Stewart. Great running between the wickets. Australia now 177-2 after 26 overs.
Update 5:
Nice shot from Ponting. Easy 4. Just chipped it over mid-wicket.
What an effort by the third man. The ball was racing away and Pollock dived to make a great stop.
Not much happening except for a run-out chance, a hard catch, and a inside edge to the boundary. Australia now 203-2 after 31 overs.
Update 6:
Clarke is cutting loose. A boundary followed by a six. The six was very well hit. Hit over between the bowler and mid-off. Nice shot. Australia at 214-2 after 32 overs.
Ntini into the attack. Ponting is scared of him. Coward. Just takes off for a quick single. Clarke is terrified of Ntini. He doesn't want to face him either. He wants a quick single which wasn't on.
AB de Villiers (AB from now on) is a great fielder. Trust us. Clarke going for everything now. Australians have obviously decided to go after Kallis. 2 balls-2 fours. Kallis is very angry and this ofcourse terrifies Clarke who gets off strike by taking a single. Coward. Face him if you have the courage.
Ponting got lucky. Andrew Hall just couldn't reach that ball. Four.
Great shot by Ponting. jumped down the pitch and smacked it for a 4. This brings up his 50. Nice innings. It would have been perfect if he hadn't taken all those singles and still made the 50. Australia 239-2 after 35 overs. Australia on their way to 400 here.
Update 7:
Clarke plunders 10 runs from Langy including 2 fours. Pollock back in to the attack. Clarke is looking to take on Pollock. This will be fun. This is a batsman's paradise. SIX. Clarke gets to his 50 in style. Another six. This time Ponting. Beautiful shot. This man can time the cricket ball. These batsman are making Pollock look like a Nets bowler. Maybe it's time for GSEG to come back into the attack. Change of pace and all that.
Everything going Australia's way so far. 284-2 after 39 overs. What else can go wrong for the Saffies? Gibbs can drop a catch. Get out of here! Gibbs never drops a catch.
Well, he does just that. It's an easy catch too. Clarke lucky to be still batting. 288-2 after 40 overs. 400 is on. If the Saffies can put up a fight, this will be a good match.
Nothing in the pitch for the bowlers. Bowlers like Ntini and Pollock are being treated with contempt and disdain. Sucks.
Update 8:
300 up for Australia in 40.2 overs. Beautiful shot. Square driven for a lovely 4 by Clarke. Monkey boy just lost his bat. He came down the pitch to hit Kallis out of the ground and the bat slipped from his hands. Looked like an idiot running to the non-strikers end. Nearly killed Clarke too.
Clarke is swishing at everything now and so is Ponting. The difference is Ponting's slogs are placed into the gap giving him a boundary while Clarke is smashing balls directly to the fielders. 318-2 after 44 overs.
Clarke hit a great sixer and then Ponting tries to do the same and he is gone. Out! Out for a very well made 91. Great effort. That's what captains are supposed to do. Lead from the front and play great innings. Great batting by Ponting. Australia 341-3 for 46 overs.
Update 9:
Clarke is gone for 92. Runout. All that running finally caught up with him. If he had followed Ganguly's tenet of not running singles he would not be gone without his century. Serves him right! Hussey now in.
While we were talking to a friend, a lot happened (couple of boundaries and some manic running) and then Hussey holed out to deep cover. Australia 357-5 after 48 overs. Saffies have done a decent job in the last few overs.
We shouldn' have said that since Symonds smashed a four. Now, it's Shane Watson's turn. He moves to the off stump and places the ball to deep fine leg for a four. Nice shot. Watson does it again! moves to the off stump and hits the ball this time over mid-wicket. Another 4. Australia 373-5 after 49 overs.
Last over coming up. Nice ball from Andrew Hall. Dot ball. Barry Richards says: Dot ball is like gold. Another dot ball. 3 balls left. Can Shane Watson finish things off in style? no. 2 runs off 4 balls. Last two balls coming up. Symo gets 2. Great running between the wickets. Symo is great. Got him the last ball of the game. Nice ball. Just 4 runs of the last over. Australia 377-6 in 50 overs.
Can the Saffies do it? They have the batting line-up. The question is if anyone can do a Hayden for the Saffies.
Update 10:
Great start from SA. A four and a six in the first over. 10 of the first over. Great shot by AB. Rocked back on the back foot and hit the short ball over mid wicket for a 6.
Tait (of the"I am not at full pace" fame) on now. Fast-around 91 mph. AB on fire. Great on drive. 4 runs. SA now 18-0 after 2 overs.
Things have slowed down a little. But SA taking a lot of singles. Looks like they need Ganguly's help too. When will these teams learn that taking singles is not the answer. Tait is all over the place. He still isn't at full pace though, that might be the problem. SA 30-0 after 4 overs.
What a shot! Smith charges down the wicket and strikes a mighty blow. 4 runs. Tait will be out of the attack soon. He is proving ineffective. My spider sense is tingling that can mean only one thing - we will see McGrath soon. Nice shot again. Smith straight drives Bracken down the ground for another 4. SA 40-0 after 5 overs.
Update 11:
My spider sense was right. McGrath into the attack and is being given a warm welcome by AB. 2 fours from 2 balls. Nice shots. Make that 3 fours in 3 balls. WOW! This is very soothing after India's loss yesterday. 12 runs from the over. SA 52-0 after 6 overs. What a great sight - McGrath is already shaking his head.
Amid the mayhem, Bracken bowls a good, tight over. Just 2 runs of the over. Great come back from McGrath. Just one run from his over. SA 55-0 after 8 overs.
Shane Watson into the attack now. Ponting is moving his bowlers around. Great fielding. Hayden stopped a sure 4. That really pisses off Smith. He swings his bat and gets a 4. 63-0 after 9 overs. Sweet shot. Smith punches McGraths ball straight down. Nothing wrong with the ball just good batting. Another four, this time it is AB who pulls McGrath over square-leg. SA 73-0 after 10 overs.
Ponting takes the second power play. Maybe Ponting shouldn't have. Huge shout for catch behind. Bucknor says no. AB still there. AB hits a 4 to celebrate Bucknor's decision. 79-0 after 11 overs. Ponting misses a run out chance. Did he just drop the world cup? Smith mis hits a pull shot but it still goes to the boundary. Super shot!!! Smith dances down the pitch and smacks it over Watson's head. Watson is getting hammered. AB gets to his 50. Good innings. SA 96-0 after 13 overs.
Update 12:
AB hits another 4. This is a battng paradise. Great commitment from the Australians. They are throwing themselves at everything and great running from the Saffies. Ponting is trying to think. We can spot Ponting trying to think from a mile away - the hand starts pulling on his chin. McGrath is shaking his head. This is lovely. SA 106-0 after 14 overs.
Tait is back into the attack. Even McGrath is thowing himself at the ball. Why can't the Indian team do the same? Hogg is into the attack now. What can he do? Smith sweeps Hogg for a four. Smith's 50 is up with that. Good innings. SA 118-0 after 16 overs.
SA is doing a good job of getting a boundary every over. Great running between the wickets from AB and Smith. They get 2 runs where India would not have attempted a single. SA doesn't get a boundary this over because AB hit a big six. 134-0 after 18 overs.
Symonds into the attack and bowls three good balls. This angers AB who then smacks three fours from the next three balls. AB is on fire. Hogg continuing at the other end. Another pull shot for 4 and then great running between the wickets get SA a brace. Ponting looks worried.
SA 154-0 after 20 overs.
Update 13:
Direct throw from the boundary and AB is run out for a brilliant 92. What a throw!! Shane Watson threw down the stumps from the boundary. Great fielding. Will this change the match? Kallis in. This is a very entertaining match. Ponting takes his third power play in over 23.
Good over from Tait. Just 5 runs from that over. SA 171-1 after 23 overs. Watson bowled a bizzare over: 5 wides and then Gilchrist moved up to the stumps, the next ball hit the cap behing Gilchrist (5 runs). It was good over but it still cost Australia 11 runs. Smith has a case of cramps and AB comes back into the field as Smith's runner. SA 184-1 after 25 overs. Smith walks off the field. SA is in a spot of bother now. Gibbs is in. If he fires, this match is over.
With Smith out of the field this game is slowly meandering. Two new batsmen at the crease. Kallis needs to start opening his shoulders. Good bowling from Tait and an unlucky over from Hogg. SA get to their 200 in the 29th over. Asking rate is climbing up and it's around 8.3. SA needs some boundaries. 203-1 after 29 overs.
Update 14:
Great shot by Kallis. Late cut Hogg to the boundary. Beautiful shot. The game is moving slowly right now. One of the batsmen needs to get going. SA 213-1 after 31 overs. Australia's game to lose at this point.
Gibbs is six and out. Brilliant bowling from Hogg. The wrong 'un does Gibbs in. Hogg on fire. Australia is on top here. Great entertaining match. McGrath, the coward, is bowling to the newly arrived batsman and gets Ashwell Prince. Bowls a slow bouncer and Prince hits straight into Hayden at backward square leg. SA 223-3. SA is missing Smith. They lost momentum after he left the field. Boucher is in.
Australians have really tightened up their bowling. It also doesn't hurt when the best fielders in the world are backing up the bowling. Hope the Indians are watching this game. Not that they would take away anything from this because fielding well is an alien concept for the Indian team. 231-3 after 35 overs. Kallis needs to start hitting. NOW.
Tait cleans up Boucher. Fast in-swinging yorker cleans up Boucher. SA in trouble. Justin Kemp is the new man in and SA is 256-4 after 39 overs.
Update 15:
Great shot from Kallis. In the slot and Kallis does no mistake in putting it away. SA needs 12 runs an over from now on. Tait strikes again. Kemp is gone LBW. Great bowling. Fast and straight. Smith comes back to bat. Australia will be really disappointed if they lose now. Smith is gone. Hogg gets him. Great bowling from Hogg and Tait. SA 267-6 in 41.3 overs.
The SA batting shows no urgency. Kallis is batting like he has all the time in the world. What is going on? Tait is bowling with venom and fire. Has he reached his top speed? Nice bowling. Great yorker. Kallis does well to keep his wicket intact. Another yorker. Great bowling from Tait. Finally, Pollock get Tait away for a boundary. SA 277-6 after 43 overs.
Out!! Kallis gone. Tried to hit Hogg out of the ground and Clarke holds on to an easy catch. This game is over but since it's not India playing we will hang around for the final rites.
Update 16:
Andrew Hall comes in for Kallis. Hogg and Tait have been a revelation. Brilliant bowling from them in the last 8 overs or so.
Watson comes on and cleans up Shaun Pollock. SA is collapsing under the weight of the required run rate. Maiden wicket for Watson. He doesn't deserve that. Hogg or Tait do. SA 279-8 after 45 overs. Another wicket falls. Langeveldt is cleaned up by Bracken. Nice bowling.
Australia wins by 83 runs. SA all out for 294. Great effort. Nathan Bracken cleans up Ntini with another yorker.
Final Thoughts:
The delight on Ponting's face as SA's last wicket fell made him seem almost human. Australia won emphatically over SA. Australia was the better team in this match and outclassed SA.
SA started well in response to the target set by Australia. Hayden set up the total with the fastest century ever made in a world cup. Hayden was fantastic but this was not the greatest ODI knock ever, like the commentators seemed to suggest. South Africa's reply stuttered with the loss of AB de Villiers (run out to some fantastic fielding and throwing). Smith was great too but had to leave the field at a critical phase (cramps) of the game.
Australia availed themselves of the opportunity given by SA and applied pressure with some tight bowling and fantastic fielding. Hogg and Tait bowled brilliantly. Australia is looking good for a third championship.
SA's lack of bowling options hurt them. They don't have a quality spin bowler to bother anyone and their bowling attack has no variation. SA can beat any team except Australia.
At this point in time, SL and New Zealand are the only teams that can beat Australia and we will be rooting for them actively.
A very entertaining match with some great batting. No help for the bowlers though even though the Australian bowlers did a lot better than the South African bowlers.
Friday, March 23, 2007
West Indies Vs Ireland, Group D
We didn't see this match. We were too wrapped up in the India-Sri Lanka match. The scorecard shows that the Windies didn't have too many problems going into the Super 8's with 2 bonus points. Ireland is through too - thanks to their upset win against Pakistan. Good for them.
Either Bangladesh or Ireland will take the 8th spot in the Super 8's. No, that's not true. England can lose to anybody on their off day. Now that India and Pakistan are not in, it is England's responsibility to play tension filled matches against the underdogs.
Either Bangladesh or Ireland will take the 8th spot in the Super 8's. No, that's not true. England can lose to anybody on their off day. Now that India and Pakistan are not in, it is England's responsibility to play tension filled matches against the underdogs.
India Vs Sri Lanka, Group B
Match Summary:
India is out of the world cup. They were soundly beaten by Sri Lanka. We were not surprised that India lost. Saddened, yes; surprised, no. Sri Lanka was the better team today and they outplayed India in all departments.
India won the toss and opted to field. The first half of the first innings went India's way with Sri Lanka struggling at 96 for 3 after 25 overs. The rest of the match went Sri Lanka's way. India's much vaunted batting line-up failed yet again and it was doubly disconcerting since India sidestepped the problems of not having 5 specialist bowlers with both Ganguly and Tendulkar doing a tidy job for their 10 overs (45 runs and 2 wickets).
Dravid's captaincy left much to be desired. Instead of bringing on the specialist bowlers as soon as the 5th bowler's quota was completed, Dravid tossed the ball to Tendulkar again. Tendulkar erred in line and gave away valuable runs (2 overs and 17 runs). The runs he gave away might not seem like a big deal after looking at the margin of our defeat but they did make a difference in the amount of pressure the batsmen felt. If India could have kept SL to about 220, batting would have been much easier. To rub salt into the wounds, as soon as Munaf and Zaheer were brought in, they took wickets. Part time bowlers bowl part time for a reason - they are not very consistent.
There was a marked improvement in the fielding - for a while. Indians fielded well for the first 25 overs and then their fitness (or lack of it) affected their fielding. Where the Lankans threw themselves at the ball to create catches, we saw Indian fielders pull up short. The Captain led the way in this and misfielded a shot as he was overcome by cramps and a few deliveries later pulled up short of a skier instead of trying to catch it.
Before the world cup, Dravid had said that fielding was India's weakness but that they would make up for that by scoring 30 to 40 runs more. We now know that this strategy is flawed. Not that we didn't know it before but now we KNOW. Fielding wins matches. Everyone knows that. Indians know that too. But, we always pay lip service to it and never give it the respect it deserves. This lesson - that fielding is important - has been struck home several times in the past. However, we somehow manage to forget it or at least, pretend to forget it.
We have said before and will say it again: why does a "great" batting side which includes Ganguly, Sehwag, Tendulkar, and Dravid need 7 batsmen in the side? We will never understand this. Bowlers win close matches. Strike that. Bowlers and good fielders win close matches. Our fascination and insistence on packing a side with batsmen almost always comes a cropper in important games.
There is strength in numbers. When a good bowling side backed up with good fielding is in the field, they feed of off each other. They gang up on the 2 lonely batsmen out on the field. The pressure is almost always on the batsmen and Indian batsman do not perform well under pressure. That happended today. Except for Sehwag, no one looked good. Do not be deceived by Dravid's score. His last 5 boundaries came when everything was almost lost. It was desperation and it was never going to work.
In marked contrast, Sri Lanka looked awesome. We loved how they turned the singles to 2 runs and 2 runs to 3 runs. They had contempt for Indian fielding and almost always ran an extra run during the throw. Indian fielding is not sharp enough. If India's fielding continues to be at this level, India will never win any important matches against the good teams. Too many super stars and not enough hard working journey men - that is "Team India's" problem. When it was Sri Lanka's turn to bowl, they did not allow easy singles (not that the Indians were trying hard). The bowlers bowled to their field and Dilshan at backward point was electric.
We now believe that Jayawardene is the best captain out there. He knows his bowlers and fielders and is not afraid to back them up. His bowling changes are fantastic and he uses the wisdom of Jayasuriya and Murali really well. Rahul Dravid is not even half the captain Jayawardene is.
How badly did India lose? Here.
Danger, Will Robinson, Danger (Read at your own peril):
As we write this, Sri Lanka is at 78 runs for 2 wickets after 20 overs. India won the toss and opted to field. Powerplays are done and over with. The bowling has been tidy so far. However, the lack of 5th bowler is going to come and bite India in the rear soon.
India made just one change to the team that played against Bermuda: Anil Kumble making way for Harbhajan Singh. India have decided that they are going to play to their strength - batting. Bad idea, in our opinion. Let's see what happens from overs 20 to 40. If Sri Lanka makes around 250, they will be happy.
Update 1:
Ganguly into the attack in the 22nd over. First ball, cut for 4. Oh boy. This could get ugly. Not too bad: 6 runs of the over. SL putting together a decent partnership. Things are a little slow out there and SL will be pretty happy about it. They will be looking to focus on India's 5th bowler/s.
Holy crap!!! Ganguly picks up a wicket!!! Sangakkara tries to hit Ganguly out of the ground and holes out to long-on and miracle of miracles, Munaf Patel holds on to the catch. SL is now 92 for 3 in the 24th over.
Update 2:
If looks could kill, Sangakkara would have killed whoever he was staring at while walking back to the pavilion. Sangakkara's loss brings in the real danger man - Chamara Silva - who has been great form recently. Not only that, he is very fond of the Indian bowling attack. Got to get him out cheaply. Bhajji into his 4th over. Tidy without looking threatening. We take that back. Bhajji's 4th over was fantastic. Lots of turn and lots of bounce. This is scaring us. If Bhajji can do this, what about Murali?
Tharanga gets his 50 with a nice cut shot. Who else, Ganguly the bowler. Bowl fuller, Saurav. You don't have the pace to bounce a batsman. Not so good over from Ganguly. He did his job. He should be removed from the attack. But knowing India, that won't happen anytime soon.
Brilliant! We remove Bhajji from the attack just when he is making things happen and bring in Munaf Patel. Why? maybe Indians think that Munaf can get Silva out. We are guessing that Ganguly will be taken off from the other end and a second part-timer will come in. SL is 111 for 3 in 27 overs. 'Nelson's' says the commentators.
Update 3:
Ganguly is still on. Mis-field by Zaheer: 4 runs. Silva flashes hard and the ball took the edge and ran to the third man. Zaheer does his best and lets it go for a boundary. Dravid and Ganguly not happy. Got to get Silva out. He is dangerous. SL: 116 for 3 in 28 overs.
Munaf still on. SL is picking up singles easily. Silva is one busy batsman, always running. He should emulate Ganguly. It will improve his batting. Silva: listen to us, go for the boundaries that way you don't have to run these pesky singles. Meanwhile, Tharanga is batting on 58.
Ganguly out of the attack and Bhajji comes back in and immediately bowls at wide. Yuvraj will be up next or Sehwag or Tendulkar. One of those three, for sure. SL is 124 for 3 in 30 overs.
India needs a wicket.
Update 4:
Tendulkar into the attack. What is he going to bowl today? Seamers. Hmmm. The game is drifting along nicely for SL. India needs a wicket. Did we say that already?
WICKET!!! Tendulkar gets Tharanga. Tharanga gone for 64. Good solid innings. Nothing spectacular. John Wright says: 'Sachin not only knows how to bowl but knows how to think'. Wow. Thinking? We are very impressed. SL 137 for 4 in 33 overs.
Update 5:
Dilshan the new man in. Got to get Chamara Silva out. Bhajji is bowling a lot of doosras. Maybe we should start calling Bhajji a legspinner from now on and when he occasionally bowls a5 off-spinner, we can call it a googly. Sachin is bowling awfully well. SL is 147 for 4 after 35 overs.
Zaheer back into the attack and bowls a wide. L. Siva says: 'Sehwag still looking for wickets in the 36 over'. Brilliant. Meanwhile, Dilshan hits a nice boundary and then an inside edge to the boundary. Crap. SL is 157 for 4 after 36 overs.
Another inside edge for 4. SL's running between the wickets has been brilliant. 173 for 4 after 39 overs. Things moving along for SL. India needs a wicket desperately. Bhajji back into the attack. Indian bowling has been tidy but slowly the pendulam is swinging SL's way. Big shout for LBW. Hawkeye says out. India very unlucky with LBW appeals today. Boy, SL's running is really good. SL is 179 for 4 after 40 overs. SL well on their way to 250. A very good score.
Update 6:
India's 5th bowler combination of 10 overs cost them 45 runs for 2 wickets. Not bad. Will Dravid continue to use Tendulkar? SL is cruising along nicely. They are running well and are now opening their shoulders. A good over from Bhajji. Dravid continues to use Tendulkar. We don't know what to think of that. Tendulkar has looked pretty good so far but why not use the specialist bowlers? Silva and Dilshan are getting 6 runs an over easily. India needs a wicket.
Silva makes a very good 50. Very good batting. Bhajji bowling his 10th over. Why? Especially since Tendulkar and Ganguly combined to bowl 11 overs. SL's 200 is up. 201 for 4 after 44 overs. Bhajji finishes his 10 overs for 53 runs and no wickets. Not good.
Update 7:
Tendulkar is still bowling. Why??? Get the specialist bowlers in there. A very expensive over from Tendulkar - 2 fours so far. The over cost 11 runs. Need some wickets. India is losing its way here.
Munaf is back into the attack. Wicket!!!!! couple of balls after Dilshan hit a spanking cover drive for a 4. Dilshan takes a big swipe and gets an edge to the wicket-keeper. He walks. Good man. Good batting from Dilshan. SL now 216 for 5 after 46 overs. Good over.
Update 8:
OUT!!!!!! Zaheer gets rid of Silva. Brilliant. What the hell was Tendulkar doing bowling 2 extra overs? Chamara Silva out for 69. A very good innings. Great running between the wickets. SL now 216 for 6. Then, Vaas comes in and edges one to the boundary. What a let down. SL is 222 for 6 after 47 overs.
Bad fielding by Dravid. Lets one go to the boundary and Dravid is down - with cramps? says David Lloyd.
Update 9:
Huge 6! Vaas clobbers one over Munaf's head. Vaas on fire. 16 runs in this over. SL now 238 for 6 after 48 overs. SL must now be aiming for 260. India losing the plot a little bit here. Good over from Zaheer. SL now 244 for 6 in 49 overs. Last over coming up.
Agarkar bowling the last over. First ball strays down the legside and the batsman helps it along to the boundary. Moron. Agarkar's last over cost 10 runs. SL makes 254 for 6 in 50 overs. A good score and enough for SL to defend.
India, as usual, lost the plot in the middle overs. Some very sensible batting from Dilshan and Chamara set up a very nice platform for them. Vaas came in at the end and finished things off in style. SL ran extremely well. A very solid performance from SL. Now their bowling has enough runs on the board to defend. Are they up to the task? We will find out soon.
Update 10:
Ganguly and Uthappa are the Indian openers. Will Ganguly run singles? That is a mystery no one know except Ganguly knows the answer to that question. Vaas to Uthappa and we are off. It's a maiden over.
Uthappa looks very nervous and finally got off the mark. Ranjit fernando and Athar Ali Khan have to be the most boring commentators we've heard. Vaas has been very good so far bowling his 2 overs for 1 run.
Great shot by Uthappa. Four. Timed very well through cover. Much needed boundary. India is 10 for no loss after 4 overs. Slow start. Ganguly just tried his best to get out.
Update 11:
Uthappa very lucky to be still there. Tried to hit Vaas over midwicket and was lucky that the ball fell short of Murali. Vaas is bowling brilliantly. Great Shot. Four. Uthappa hits a cracking cover drive. Boy, this guy can hit the cricket ball. Another great shot. Straight drive for 4. India are at 18 for no wicket after 5 overs.
Uthappa is looking streaky. Tried to hit over the top and luckily for him, it was out f rech for Murali. These commentators are sucking the life out of us. Ranjit Fernando is talking like he wants to get on the field and play for SL. GONE! Robin Uthappa is out c&b Vaas. Brilliant catch. Great reflex catch. Sehwag coming onto the field. India in familiar territory after losing their first wicket. India 25 for 1 after 7 overs. Robin out for 18. Looked streaky right from the start and got a mouthful from Vaas as he left the field. He deserves that. Bugger.
Update 12:
Sri Lankan fielding has been top notch. SHOT! Sehwag drives on the up for a nice boundary. Another nice shot! hit over the bowlers head for another great four. Huge shot for LBW. Vaas finally brings the balls into Sehwag and right away Sehwag was in trouble. India 36 for 1 after 9 overs.
Fernando into the attack and bowls a wide. He is in to bring the ball into Sehwag. This will be interesting. Streaky edge for 4 for Sehwag. Thick outside edge. Settle down bud. There, deep breaths, deep breaths. Much better. Sehwag ducked nicely under a fast bouncer. India 42 for 1 after 10 overs.
Update 13:
OUT! Ganguly is gone. Tried to hit Vaas over the top and this time Murali takes a brilliant catch. India in trouble. 43 for 2 after 11 overs. India have to not lose any wickets and keep the scoreboard ticking. Can they avoid getting bogged down like they did against Bangladesh? Sachin Tendulkar walks in.
Update 14:
GONE! Sachin out for a duck. India in deep trouble. Sachin gets an inside edge and the ball crashes into his stumps. Deep deep trouble. India 44 for 3. Rahul Dravid walks in. We will state the very obvious because the commentators are not: India needs a BIG partnership.
Update 15:
Nice shot by Sehwag. Four. Sangakkara is chatting to Sehwag. Lot of chatter. 'Let him go for the big shot' says Sangakkara. Sehwag obliges. Sweetly cover driven.
Nasty shot. Sehwag is going back to his cross-batted shots. Lucky that the ball did not crash into the stumps from the inside edge. Fernando is bowling fast - around 92 mph. Nice on-drive from Dravid. 4. Can't bowl on the legs to Dravid. Even if you are bowling at 90 mph. India 56 for 3 after 14 overs.
Update 16:
SIX! Nice shot. Sehwag hits Vaas out of the ground. Brilliant shot. 9 runs of the over. India 65 for 3 after 15 overs.
ooh, Murali into the attack. It was quiet for a while and in Murali's 5th ball, Sehwag reads the doosra and cuts it handsomely for a 4. India 75 for 3 after 1 overs. WOW!! Sehwag edged a really fast ball and Sangakkara makes a brilliant effort. Would have been an easy catch for a slip. Lucky. Sehwag, buddy, deep breaths deep breaths. Calm down. Fernando pitches one on the legs for Dravid and Dravid says thank you. Nice 4. Fernando is bowling really well. India 80 for 3 after 18 overs. Malinga replaces Murali. Nice running between the wickets by Dravid and Sehwag. Power plays are done and over with and India is 89 for 3 after 20 overs.
Update 17:
Murali is bowling around the wicket. Nice bowling. Sehwag lucky not be given out LBW. 1 run from the over. Beautiful bowling. India 90 for 3 after 21 overs. Jayasuriya into the attack now.
Murali strikes! Great bowling! Sehwag OUT for 48. India is well on its way to losing this match. One more wicket and it's all over. India now 99 for 4 after 23 overs. Advantage Sri Lanka.
Update 18:
It is all over, folks! Yuvraj runout. India is 112 for 5 after 28 overs. We are going out for a walk and will be back after this is all over. Well, Dhoni is gone too. Brilliant bowling by Murali. Great match played by Sri Lanka. We are closing shop for now and will be back later to wrap things up. India 112 for 6. Done like a dinner.
India is out of the world cup. They were soundly beaten by Sri Lanka. We were not surprised that India lost. Saddened, yes; surprised, no. Sri Lanka was the better team today and they outplayed India in all departments.
India won the toss and opted to field. The first half of the first innings went India's way with Sri Lanka struggling at 96 for 3 after 25 overs. The rest of the match went Sri Lanka's way. India's much vaunted batting line-up failed yet again and it was doubly disconcerting since India sidestepped the problems of not having 5 specialist bowlers with both Ganguly and Tendulkar doing a tidy job for their 10 overs (45 runs and 2 wickets).
Dravid's captaincy left much to be desired. Instead of bringing on the specialist bowlers as soon as the 5th bowler's quota was completed, Dravid tossed the ball to Tendulkar again. Tendulkar erred in line and gave away valuable runs (2 overs and 17 runs). The runs he gave away might not seem like a big deal after looking at the margin of our defeat but they did make a difference in the amount of pressure the batsmen felt. If India could have kept SL to about 220, batting would have been much easier. To rub salt into the wounds, as soon as Munaf and Zaheer were brought in, they took wickets. Part time bowlers bowl part time for a reason - they are not very consistent.
There was a marked improvement in the fielding - for a while. Indians fielded well for the first 25 overs and then their fitness (or lack of it) affected their fielding. Where the Lankans threw themselves at the ball to create catches, we saw Indian fielders pull up short. The Captain led the way in this and misfielded a shot as he was overcome by cramps and a few deliveries later pulled up short of a skier instead of trying to catch it.
Before the world cup, Dravid had said that fielding was India's weakness but that they would make up for that by scoring 30 to 40 runs more. We now know that this strategy is flawed. Not that we didn't know it before but now we KNOW. Fielding wins matches. Everyone knows that. Indians know that too. But, we always pay lip service to it and never give it the respect it deserves. This lesson - that fielding is important - has been struck home several times in the past. However, we somehow manage to forget it or at least, pretend to forget it.
We have said before and will say it again: why does a "great" batting side which includes Ganguly, Sehwag, Tendulkar, and Dravid need 7 batsmen in the side? We will never understand this. Bowlers win close matches. Strike that. Bowlers and good fielders win close matches. Our fascination and insistence on packing a side with batsmen almost always comes a cropper in important games.
There is strength in numbers. When a good bowling side backed up with good fielding is in the field, they feed of off each other. They gang up on the 2 lonely batsmen out on the field. The pressure is almost always on the batsmen and Indian batsman do not perform well under pressure. That happended today. Except for Sehwag, no one looked good. Do not be deceived by Dravid's score. His last 5 boundaries came when everything was almost lost. It was desperation and it was never going to work.
In marked contrast, Sri Lanka looked awesome. We loved how they turned the singles to 2 runs and 2 runs to 3 runs. They had contempt for Indian fielding and almost always ran an extra run during the throw. Indian fielding is not sharp enough. If India's fielding continues to be at this level, India will never win any important matches against the good teams. Too many super stars and not enough hard working journey men - that is "Team India's" problem. When it was Sri Lanka's turn to bowl, they did not allow easy singles (not that the Indians were trying hard). The bowlers bowled to their field and Dilshan at backward point was electric.
We now believe that Jayawardene is the best captain out there. He knows his bowlers and fielders and is not afraid to back them up. His bowling changes are fantastic and he uses the wisdom of Jayasuriya and Murali really well. Rahul Dravid is not even half the captain Jayawardene is.
How badly did India lose? Here.
Danger, Will Robinson, Danger (Read at your own peril):
As we write this, Sri Lanka is at 78 runs for 2 wickets after 20 overs. India won the toss and opted to field. Powerplays are done and over with. The bowling has been tidy so far. However, the lack of 5th bowler is going to come and bite India in the rear soon.
India made just one change to the team that played against Bermuda: Anil Kumble making way for Harbhajan Singh. India have decided that they are going to play to their strength - batting. Bad idea, in our opinion. Let's see what happens from overs 20 to 40. If Sri Lanka makes around 250, they will be happy.
Update 1:
Ganguly into the attack in the 22nd over. First ball, cut for 4. Oh boy. This could get ugly. Not too bad: 6 runs of the over. SL putting together a decent partnership. Things are a little slow out there and SL will be pretty happy about it. They will be looking to focus on India's 5th bowler/s.
Holy crap!!! Ganguly picks up a wicket!!! Sangakkara tries to hit Ganguly out of the ground and holes out to long-on and miracle of miracles, Munaf Patel holds on to the catch. SL is now 92 for 3 in the 24th over.
Update 2:
If looks could kill, Sangakkara would have killed whoever he was staring at while walking back to the pavilion. Sangakkara's loss brings in the real danger man - Chamara Silva - who has been great form recently. Not only that, he is very fond of the Indian bowling attack. Got to get him out cheaply. Bhajji into his 4th over. Tidy without looking threatening. We take that back. Bhajji's 4th over was fantastic. Lots of turn and lots of bounce. This is scaring us. If Bhajji can do this, what about Murali?
Tharanga gets his 50 with a nice cut shot. Who else, Ganguly the bowler. Bowl fuller, Saurav. You don't have the pace to bounce a batsman. Not so good over from Ganguly. He did his job. He should be removed from the attack. But knowing India, that won't happen anytime soon.
Brilliant! We remove Bhajji from the attack just when he is making things happen and bring in Munaf Patel. Why? maybe Indians think that Munaf can get Silva out. We are guessing that Ganguly will be taken off from the other end and a second part-timer will come in. SL is 111 for 3 in 27 overs. 'Nelson's' says the commentators.
Update 3:
Ganguly is still on. Mis-field by Zaheer: 4 runs. Silva flashes hard and the ball took the edge and ran to the third man. Zaheer does his best and lets it go for a boundary. Dravid and Ganguly not happy. Got to get Silva out. He is dangerous. SL: 116 for 3 in 28 overs.
Munaf still on. SL is picking up singles easily. Silva is one busy batsman, always running. He should emulate Ganguly. It will improve his batting. Silva: listen to us, go for the boundaries that way you don't have to run these pesky singles. Meanwhile, Tharanga is batting on 58.
Ganguly out of the attack and Bhajji comes back in and immediately bowls at wide. Yuvraj will be up next or Sehwag or Tendulkar. One of those three, for sure. SL is 124 for 3 in 30 overs.
India needs a wicket.
Update 4:
Tendulkar into the attack. What is he going to bowl today? Seamers. Hmmm. The game is drifting along nicely for SL. India needs a wicket. Did we say that already?
WICKET!!! Tendulkar gets Tharanga. Tharanga gone for 64. Good solid innings. Nothing spectacular. John Wright says: 'Sachin not only knows how to bowl but knows how to think'. Wow. Thinking? We are very impressed. SL 137 for 4 in 33 overs.
Update 5:
Dilshan the new man in. Got to get Chamara Silva out. Bhajji is bowling a lot of doosras. Maybe we should start calling Bhajji a legspinner from now on and when he occasionally bowls a5 off-spinner, we can call it a googly. Sachin is bowling awfully well. SL is 147 for 4 after 35 overs.
Zaheer back into the attack and bowls a wide. L. Siva says: 'Sehwag still looking for wickets in the 36 over'. Brilliant. Meanwhile, Dilshan hits a nice boundary and then an inside edge to the boundary. Crap. SL is 157 for 4 after 36 overs.
Another inside edge for 4. SL's running between the wickets has been brilliant. 173 for 4 after 39 overs. Things moving along for SL. India needs a wicket desperately. Bhajji back into the attack. Indian bowling has been tidy but slowly the pendulam is swinging SL's way. Big shout for LBW. Hawkeye says out. India very unlucky with LBW appeals today. Boy, SL's running is really good. SL is 179 for 4 after 40 overs. SL well on their way to 250. A very good score.
Update 6:
India's 5th bowler combination of 10 overs cost them 45 runs for 2 wickets. Not bad. Will Dravid continue to use Tendulkar? SL is cruising along nicely. They are running well and are now opening their shoulders. A good over from Bhajji. Dravid continues to use Tendulkar. We don't know what to think of that. Tendulkar has looked pretty good so far but why not use the specialist bowlers? Silva and Dilshan are getting 6 runs an over easily. India needs a wicket.
Silva makes a very good 50. Very good batting. Bhajji bowling his 10th over. Why? Especially since Tendulkar and Ganguly combined to bowl 11 overs. SL's 200 is up. 201 for 4 after 44 overs. Bhajji finishes his 10 overs for 53 runs and no wickets. Not good.
Update 7:
Tendulkar is still bowling. Why??? Get the specialist bowlers in there. A very expensive over from Tendulkar - 2 fours so far. The over cost 11 runs. Need some wickets. India is losing its way here.
Munaf is back into the attack. Wicket!!!!! couple of balls after Dilshan hit a spanking cover drive for a 4. Dilshan takes a big swipe and gets an edge to the wicket-keeper. He walks. Good man. Good batting from Dilshan. SL now 216 for 5 after 46 overs. Good over.
Update 8:
OUT!!!!!! Zaheer gets rid of Silva. Brilliant. What the hell was Tendulkar doing bowling 2 extra overs? Chamara Silva out for 69. A very good innings. Great running between the wickets. SL now 216 for 6. Then, Vaas comes in and edges one to the boundary. What a let down. SL is 222 for 6 after 47 overs.
Bad fielding by Dravid. Lets one go to the boundary and Dravid is down - with cramps? says David Lloyd.
Update 9:
Huge 6! Vaas clobbers one over Munaf's head. Vaas on fire. 16 runs in this over. SL now 238 for 6 after 48 overs. SL must now be aiming for 260. India losing the plot a little bit here. Good over from Zaheer. SL now 244 for 6 in 49 overs. Last over coming up.
Agarkar bowling the last over. First ball strays down the legside and the batsman helps it along to the boundary. Moron. Agarkar's last over cost 10 runs. SL makes 254 for 6 in 50 overs. A good score and enough for SL to defend.
India, as usual, lost the plot in the middle overs. Some very sensible batting from Dilshan and Chamara set up a very nice platform for them. Vaas came in at the end and finished things off in style. SL ran extremely well. A very solid performance from SL. Now their bowling has enough runs on the board to defend. Are they up to the task? We will find out soon.
Update 10:
Ganguly and Uthappa are the Indian openers. Will Ganguly run singles? That is a mystery no one know except Ganguly knows the answer to that question. Vaas to Uthappa and we are off. It's a maiden over.
Uthappa looks very nervous and finally got off the mark. Ranjit fernando and Athar Ali Khan have to be the most boring commentators we've heard. Vaas has been very good so far bowling his 2 overs for 1 run.
Great shot by Uthappa. Four. Timed very well through cover. Much needed boundary. India is 10 for no loss after 4 overs. Slow start. Ganguly just tried his best to get out.
Update 11:
Uthappa very lucky to be still there. Tried to hit Vaas over midwicket and was lucky that the ball fell short of Murali. Vaas is bowling brilliantly. Great Shot. Four. Uthappa hits a cracking cover drive. Boy, this guy can hit the cricket ball. Another great shot. Straight drive for 4. India are at 18 for no wicket after 5 overs.
Uthappa is looking streaky. Tried to hit over the top and luckily for him, it was out f rech for Murali. These commentators are sucking the life out of us. Ranjit Fernando is talking like he wants to get on the field and play for SL. GONE! Robin Uthappa is out c&b Vaas. Brilliant catch. Great reflex catch. Sehwag coming onto the field. India in familiar territory after losing their first wicket. India 25 for 1 after 7 overs. Robin out for 18. Looked streaky right from the start and got a mouthful from Vaas as he left the field. He deserves that. Bugger.
Update 12:
Sri Lankan fielding has been top notch. SHOT! Sehwag drives on the up for a nice boundary. Another nice shot! hit over the bowlers head for another great four. Huge shot for LBW. Vaas finally brings the balls into Sehwag and right away Sehwag was in trouble. India 36 for 1 after 9 overs.
Fernando into the attack and bowls a wide. He is in to bring the ball into Sehwag. This will be interesting. Streaky edge for 4 for Sehwag. Thick outside edge. Settle down bud. There, deep breaths, deep breaths. Much better. Sehwag ducked nicely under a fast bouncer. India 42 for 1 after 10 overs.
Update 13:
OUT! Ganguly is gone. Tried to hit Vaas over the top and this time Murali takes a brilliant catch. India in trouble. 43 for 2 after 11 overs. India have to not lose any wickets and keep the scoreboard ticking. Can they avoid getting bogged down like they did against Bangladesh? Sachin Tendulkar walks in.
Update 14:
GONE! Sachin out for a duck. India in deep trouble. Sachin gets an inside edge and the ball crashes into his stumps. Deep deep trouble. India 44 for 3. Rahul Dravid walks in. We will state the very obvious because the commentators are not: India needs a BIG partnership.
Update 15:
Nice shot by Sehwag. Four. Sangakkara is chatting to Sehwag. Lot of chatter. 'Let him go for the big shot' says Sangakkara. Sehwag obliges. Sweetly cover driven.
Nasty shot. Sehwag is going back to his cross-batted shots. Lucky that the ball did not crash into the stumps from the inside edge. Fernando is bowling fast - around 92 mph. Nice on-drive from Dravid. 4. Can't bowl on the legs to Dravid. Even if you are bowling at 90 mph. India 56 for 3 after 14 overs.
Update 16:
SIX! Nice shot. Sehwag hits Vaas out of the ground. Brilliant shot. 9 runs of the over. India 65 for 3 after 15 overs.
ooh, Murali into the attack. It was quiet for a while and in Murali's 5th ball, Sehwag reads the doosra and cuts it handsomely for a 4. India 75 for 3 after 1 overs. WOW!! Sehwag edged a really fast ball and Sangakkara makes a brilliant effort. Would have been an easy catch for a slip. Lucky. Sehwag, buddy, deep breaths deep breaths. Calm down. Fernando pitches one on the legs for Dravid and Dravid says thank you. Nice 4. Fernando is bowling really well. India 80 for 3 after 18 overs. Malinga replaces Murali. Nice running between the wickets by Dravid and Sehwag. Power plays are done and over with and India is 89 for 3 after 20 overs.
Update 17:
Murali is bowling around the wicket. Nice bowling. Sehwag lucky not be given out LBW. 1 run from the over. Beautiful bowling. India 90 for 3 after 21 overs. Jayasuriya into the attack now.
Murali strikes! Great bowling! Sehwag OUT for 48. India is well on its way to losing this match. One more wicket and it's all over. India now 99 for 4 after 23 overs. Advantage Sri Lanka.
Update 18:
It is all over, folks! Yuvraj runout. India is 112 for 5 after 28 overs. We are going out for a walk and will be back after this is all over. Well, Dhoni is gone too. Brilliant bowling by Murali. Great match played by Sri Lanka. We are closing shop for now and will be back later to wrap things up. India 112 for 6. Done like a dinner.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Probable Team Against Sri Lanka
We don't think India can beat Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka looks a lot better, field better than the Indians and have too many play makers. They are a cohesive unit working towards a common goal. India on the other hand does not look cohesive in the field, have been sloppy while fielding and don't seem a like a cohesive unit.
In a way, we are rooting against India. The Indian team has a lot of shortcomings to make an impact in this tournament. The only way India can surmount their problems is by playing out their skins. We don't think they can do it for more than 2 or 3 matches. So, better to lose now, get knocked out of the tournament and start afresh for the busy cricket season ahead.
Anyway, the following is the team we think India will pick for tomorrow's game:
1. Saurav Ganguly
2. Virender Sehwag
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Yuvraj Singh
6. M.S.Dhoni
7. Irfan Pathan
8. Zaheer Khan
9. Sreesanth
10. Harbhajan Singh
11. Munaf Patel
In a way, we are rooting against India. The Indian team has a lot of shortcomings to make an impact in this tournament. The only way India can surmount their problems is by playing out their skins. We don't think they can do it for more than 2 or 3 matches. So, better to lose now, get knocked out of the tournament and start afresh for the busy cricket season ahead.
Anyway, the following is the team we think India will pick for tomorrow's game:
1. Saurav Ganguly
2. Virender Sehwag
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Yuvraj Singh
6. M.S.Dhoni
7. Irfan Pathan
8. Zaheer Khan
9. Sreesanth
10. Harbhajan Singh
11. Munaf Patel
Bob Woolmer
The circumstances surrounding Bob Woolmer's death have been becoming stranger by the day. Today, we finally found out what we were all dreading from the start: Bob Woolmer was murdered. This world cup is now being played under a cloud of suspicion and mistrust. As Donald Rumsfeld, the world's greatest cricketing expert, said:
We still don't know who killed him, we don't know why they killed him and till today we didn't even know he was murdered. Needless to say, speculation in the last few days had been rife about the cause of death and who, if any, was responsible for it. Media blamed the crazy fans and then media blamed the media. That done, people suddenly realized that cricket was just a game and that there are a lot of fans who don't/can't appreciate the intricacies of the game. All correct to a certain extent.
Too much bloviating and very little insight has been achieved to date. Unfortunately, we don't have any insight to provide you, my dear readers. We are just the court jester pointing out the absurdities. A better person will come along to explain this. Trust us. We know things. Any time now. She/He is right around the corner.
And while you are waiting, you might as well watch Inzi's last walk back to the pavilion.
As we know,We are well and truly in the "unknown unknowns" part of this saga and there seems to be no end in sight. This saga will have a profound effect on cricket in general and Pakistan cricket in particular.
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know.
We still don't know who killed him, we don't know why they killed him and till today we didn't even know he was murdered. Needless to say, speculation in the last few days had been rife about the cause of death and who, if any, was responsible for it. Media blamed the crazy fans and then media blamed the media. That done, people suddenly realized that cricket was just a game and that there are a lot of fans who don't/can't appreciate the intricacies of the game. All correct to a certain extent.
Too much bloviating and very little insight has been achieved to date. Unfortunately, we don't have any insight to provide you, my dear readers. We are just the court jester pointing out the absurdities. A better person will come along to explain this. Trust us. We know things. Any time now. She/He is right around the corner.
And while you are waiting, you might as well watch Inzi's last walk back to the pavilion.
Canada Vs New Zealand, Group C
Was there ever a doubt about what would happen in this match? Agreed that cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties but some games are just lopsided. This was one of them. Davison struck some form and while he was his destructive self, there was never any doubt about the result. Anyway, click here for the scorecard.
Netherlands Vs Scotland, Group A
Netherlands upset Scotland in their last match of this world cup. Scotland was considered the favorite by no less personage than Graeme Smith. On an aside, if South Africa loses to Australia it will be Graeme Smith's fault. Why? Because he was predicting winners in a match he shouldn't have been concerned with instead of focusing on straightening out Andre Nel.
Thanks to Graeme Smith, Netherlands was motivated and played with an intent to prove the greatest spinner in the world, Graeme Smith, wrong. Couple of noteworthy things:
1. The captain of the Netherlands, Luuk van Troost, dropped himself. We kid you not. He dropped himself because he was not performing well. What a guy! The force is strong with Luuk. His midichlorian count must be off the charts. On an another aside, where the hell did Lucas come up with this "midichlorian" crap? The "Force" was so much cooler till Lucas started explaining it.
2. South Africa beat Scotland by 7 wickets while Netherlands beat Scotland by 8 wickets. Eat that, Andre Nel.
Thanks to Graeme Smith, Netherlands was motivated and played with an intent to prove the greatest spinner in the world, Graeme Smith, wrong. Couple of noteworthy things:
1. The captain of the Netherlands, Luuk van Troost, dropped himself. We kid you not. He dropped himself because he was not performing well. What a guy! The force is strong with Luuk. His midichlorian count must be off the charts. On an another aside, where the hell did Lucas come up with this "midichlorian" crap? The "Force" was so much cooler till Lucas started explaining it.
2. South Africa beat Scotland by 7 wickets while Netherlands beat Scotland by 8 wickets. Eat that, Andre Nel.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Bangladesh Vs Sri Lanka, Group B
Sri Lanka comprehensively beat Bangladesh and in doing so put up their hand as one of the tournament's premier teams. They join Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand up at the top. Sri Lanka had the benefit of watching India flounder against Bangladesh and made sure not to meet India's fate.
Sri Lanka safeguarded their wickets, ran their singles hard, converted singles to twos, and generally outplayed Bangladesh in all departments. Bangladesh were not as tidy as they were against India and missed some easy run outs. When it came time for Bangladesh to chase 318 runs, they ran into Malinga, Vaas, and Murali. And that, as they say, was that.
Sri Lanka resoundingly beating Bangladesh makes it an easy equation for India: Beating Sri Lanka will see them through to the next round. That clarity brings with it another set of problems. Beating Sri Lanka will be hard. We don't think India has it in them to beat Sri Lanka at full strength. Sri Lanka looks very balanced and seem to have players for every situation whereas India is totally dependant on their batting for doing the heavy lifting and don't have the fire power to bowl out Sri Lanka.
That line of reasoning leads us to believe that India needs to pick 5 bowlers to stand a chance. Since, Rahul Dravid is not going to weaken his strong suit (batting), the only reasonable choice is to pick an "all rounder". Who gets dropped? Robin Uthappa.
Anyway, a good win for Sri Lanka and a bad day at work for Bangladesh.
Sri Lanka safeguarded their wickets, ran their singles hard, converted singles to twos, and generally outplayed Bangladesh in all departments. Bangladesh were not as tidy as they were against India and missed some easy run outs. When it came time for Bangladesh to chase 318 runs, they ran into Malinga, Vaas, and Murali. And that, as they say, was that.
Sri Lanka resoundingly beating Bangladesh makes it an easy equation for India: Beating Sri Lanka will see them through to the next round. That clarity brings with it another set of problems. Beating Sri Lanka will be hard. We don't think India has it in them to beat Sri Lanka at full strength. Sri Lanka looks very balanced and seem to have players for every situation whereas India is totally dependant on their batting for doing the heavy lifting and don't have the fire power to bowl out Sri Lanka.
That line of reasoning leads us to believe that India needs to pick 5 bowlers to stand a chance. Since, Rahul Dravid is not going to weaken his strong suit (batting), the only reasonable choice is to pick an "all rounder". Who gets dropped? Robin Uthappa.
Anyway, a good win for Sri Lanka and a bad day at work for Bangladesh.
Pakistan Vs Zimbabwe, Group D
Inzaman Ul Haq walked onto the beautiful Sabina Park for the last time as the captain of the Pakistan team and lost the toss. Zimbabwe put Pakistan in and rued the decision. The hit or miss Imran Nazir finally started hitting and his century powered Pakistan to 349 in 50 overs. Amid rain delays, Pakistan bowled out Zimbabwe for 99 runs and won handsomely.
This win, whether the team played for Bob Woolmer or Inzi or for their own pride, will bring the team a modicum of joy. And this win will both ameliorate and infuriate Pakistan cricket fans. They must be wondering why this particular Pakistan team could not have shown up earlier.
It would not be unfair to say that this match was all about Inzi. Inzi was playing his last ODI and probably his last international match. He strode the stage well these last 15 years and it has been a pleasure watching him play. Inzi was the first Pakistani player we liked. We have a lot of respect for Imran, Javed, Abbas, Akram, etc., but Inzi - we genuinely liked. We wanted him to do well but wanted Pakistan to lose. Things usually did not go as we wished; for whenever Inzi did well, Pakistan almost always won. Our dream came true one magical day when Inzi made an exquisite 122 in Karachi while chasing an Indian total of 349. Pakistan lost that match. To be honest, we were more thrilled with the innings we saw than the close victory.
Our first memory of Inzi goes back to 1992 world cup semi-final. We don't remember much of that innings but we do remember that somewhere in the middle of this innings, Tony Grieg realizes he is watching a great batsman bat. This realization dawns slowly on Tony, suddenly, he shouts: "Inzamam Ul Haq, you little beauty" and then he realizes his enthusiasm is a bit over the top and ends tamely with: "that's what Javed (Miandad) must be saying to him".
We never forgot this because it was incongruous to call Inzi "a little beauty". For Inzi was not beautiful and he definitely was not little. We will miss you, Inzi: Your numerous comedic run outs, your ugly slouching over the bat, your calm at the crease, your sublime timing of the cricket ball, your seemingly immovable frame in the field which seemed weightless when coming down the pitch to hit a cricket ball and your divine stroke play.
Inzaman Ul Haq, you little beauty. Er...That's what Javed must be saying to him.
This win, whether the team played for Bob Woolmer or Inzi or for their own pride, will bring the team a modicum of joy. And this win will both ameliorate and infuriate Pakistan cricket fans. They must be wondering why this particular Pakistan team could not have shown up earlier.
It would not be unfair to say that this match was all about Inzi. Inzi was playing his last ODI and probably his last international match. He strode the stage well these last 15 years and it has been a pleasure watching him play. Inzi was the first Pakistani player we liked. We have a lot of respect for Imran, Javed, Abbas, Akram, etc., but Inzi - we genuinely liked. We wanted him to do well but wanted Pakistan to lose. Things usually did not go as we wished; for whenever Inzi did well, Pakistan almost always won. Our dream came true one magical day when Inzi made an exquisite 122 in Karachi while chasing an Indian total of 349. Pakistan lost that match. To be honest, we were more thrilled with the innings we saw than the close victory.
Our first memory of Inzi goes back to 1992 world cup semi-final. We don't remember much of that innings but we do remember that somewhere in the middle of this innings, Tony Grieg realizes he is watching a great batsman bat. This realization dawns slowly on Tony, suddenly, he shouts: "Inzamam Ul Haq, you little beauty" and then he realizes his enthusiasm is a bit over the top and ends tamely with: "that's what Javed (Miandad) must be saying to him".
We never forgot this because it was incongruous to call Inzi "a little beauty". For Inzi was not beautiful and he definitely was not little. We will miss you, Inzi: Your numerous comedic run outs, your ugly slouching over the bat, your calm at the crease, your sublime timing of the cricket ball, your seemingly immovable frame in the field which seemed weightless when coming down the pitch to hit a cricket ball and your divine stroke play.
Inzaman Ul Haq, you little beauty. Er...That's what Javed must be saying to him.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Quasi News Round-up
This article is titled innocuously enough: The most dramatic first week
You might be even tempted to click on the link. Before you click on the link here's the first sentence of that feature:
Having gotten that off our chest, we want to say that Manu Joseph (the writer of the above feature) is a disgrace to his honored profession. He should find another job, preferably as an unemployed male gigolo.
Update 1: Please click here to read a much better rant on Times Of India. Hat-tip: Sanjay.
For all the people who are wondering about how the net run rates are calculated: Here
From Prem Panicker's blog:
Shaun Tait is "warning" opponents that he is not at top speed yet. The implication being that opponents are worried about him bowling at "not so top speed" and when he finally reaches his "top speed" they better watch out. Yawn.
You might be even tempted to click on the link. Before you click on the link here's the first sentence of that feature:
"Men curse foreplay, especially when it is expected to be long."As one would expect, we did not read further. That, my dear readers, is what the Times of India has become. There was a time when Times of India was known for its quality. Now, it is nothing but a tabloid. We hold real journalists in very high regard. They do a very thankless job that is very much needed. Their job, be it a lowly sportswriter covering the local cricket match or a superstar journalist covering world wars, is to uncover the truth and report what they find out to the people. It bears repeating, they do a very thankless job that needs doing.
Having gotten that off our chest, we want to say that Manu Joseph (the writer of the above feature) is a disgrace to his honored profession. He should find another job, preferably as an unemployed male gigolo.
Update 1: Please click here to read a much better rant on Times Of India. Hat-tip: Sanjay.
For all the people who are wondering about how the net run rates are calculated: Here
From Prem Panicker's blog:
I've just been sitting here, watching Mandira Bedi talk her way through the following 'moments':
HP Power Master Blaster of the day
Videocon Classic Catch of the Day
LG Time Machine Appeal of the Day (No, seriously -- today, it was Zaheer appealing his lungs out against someone or other; the appeal was not given)
Solid Sixes brought to you by Peter England.
Sunfeast Sachin FitKit Biscuits All Rounder of the Day
King of Good Times of the Day brought to you by KingFisher Bottled Water
LG Time Machine Celebration of the Day
TVS Solid Performer of the Day
Maruti Suzuki Alto Turning Point of the Day
Fall of Wickets brought to you by Hyundai Verna
Fantastic Fours brought to you by Monster.com
And a few more moments of the day that I lost count of
Bob Woolmer's autopsy proved inconclusive. Further tests would be needed for pinpointing the cause of death. However, everybody's favorite moron, Sarfraz Nawaz, knows what happened. Amid a lot of nonsense he spouted, this stood out:
Can somebody please shut this lunatic up? Every once in a while he comes out of the cupboard to spew insane shit and then leaves without cleaning up after himself. Just for once, how about making him accountable?"I surely feel that he has been bumped off. It was the betting mafia which eliminated Hansie Cronje. It was the same betting mafia which killed "Cadbury" the well-known bookie from Pakistan who later settled in South Africa. "Cadbury" body was cut into pieces. Now that has been the fate of Woolmer."
Shaun Tait is "warning" opponents that he is not at top speed yet. The implication being that opponents are worried about him bowling at "not so top speed" and when he finally reaches his "top speed" they better watch out. Yawn.
Kenya Vs New Zealand, Group C
To no one's surprise, New Zealand were able to beat Kenya easily. New Zealand made 331 batting first and the match was out of Kenya's reach. Kenya were all out for 183. New Zealand has to be feeling good about themselves. They have good depth and are well balanced. The only negative from their point of view are the injuries.
Styris and McMillan are in great form, Oram is destructive in the middle order, in Shane Bond, they have a genuine wicket taker, Vettori is a good spinner, and Fleming and Taylor at the top give them solidity. Coming off from 3 great victories against Australia, they are legitimate contenders for the world cup.
Styris and McMillan are in great form, Oram is destructive in the middle order, in Shane Bond, they have a genuine wicket taker, Vettori is a good spinner, and Fleming and Taylor at the top give them solidity. Coming off from 3 great victories against Australia, they are legitimate contenders for the world cup.
Scotland Vs South Africa, Group A
South Africa beat Scotland in its Group A match. It has to rankle the South Africans that they could not bowl out Scotland. We think that there is something to all that talk about "uni dimensional" bowling. When Graeme Smith is the main spin option for a team, they have to be worried.
The main thing for the South Africans is that AB de Villiers had a good stint at the batting crease. Now, all their main batsmen have spent some time in the middle and are among the runs. Good for them. We don't want to root for South Africa mainly because we can't stand Andre Nel. In case somebody is wondering why we don't like Andre Nel it's because he is a drama queen.
For the greater good of humanity we are putting aside our personal dislikes. We will be rooting for the South Africans to kick the stuffing out of the Evil Empire and bring peace to the cricketing fraternity. Er...just win the damn match against Australia, okay?
The main thing for the South Africans is that AB de Villiers had a good stint at the batting crease. Now, all their main batsmen have spent some time in the middle and are among the runs. Good for them. We don't want to root for South Africa mainly because we can't stand Andre Nel. In case somebody is wondering why we don't like Andre Nel it's because he is a drama queen.
For the greater good of humanity we are putting aside our personal dislikes. We will be rooting for the South Africans to kick the stuffing out of the Evil Empire and bring peace to the cricketing fraternity. Er...just win the damn match against Australia, okay?
Monday, March 19, 2007
West Indies Vs Zimbabwe, Group D
We didn't see this match so we won't have any pithy comments or astute observations to make. That not true, we do have one very astute observation to make - West Indies is through to the Super 8's. Are you blinded by our brilliance? Do not be afraid, you are not alone. It happens all the time.
Here is the match report and the scorecard if you want to know mundane and self evident things.
Here is the match report and the scorecard if you want to know mundane and self evident things.
Bermuda Vs India, Group B
India needed to beat Bermuda by a huge margin to increase their net run rate and they managed to do just that. They came into this game knowing exactly what to do. That probably saved Sehwag from getting axed. We boldly predicted that Sehwag would be out of them team. Well, we were wrong about that but we were right about Anil Kumble replacing Harbhajan.
After the loss to Bangladesh, Indian team decided that Uthappa and Ganguly would open and the batting line-up showed Sehwag coming in the middle-order. Uthappa did not do himself any favors by fishing outside the off stump and was gone to a spectacular catch by everybody's favorite cricketer, Dwayne Leverock. We are fully expecting Uthappa to be dropped for the next match and be replaced by Irfan Pathan. Lo and behold, Sehwag comes in at one-down to join Ganguly.
It might not be an overstatement to say that this was the most important ODI for Sehwag 's career. A failure here would have seen him in the woodshed for a long time to come. He started off looking very wobbly. There were the usual wafting and swishing to the balls on the off-side. He managed to survive that and then slowly found his range. His head was still and he hit straight. A sure sign of finding his touch. He is still not quite there yet. Bermuda did not test him enough. There were no fast in-cutters that Sehwag has so much trouble with. He can rest assure that he is going to see some of those dreaded deliveries from Malinga and Vaas.
Now, fast in-cutters are difficult to play for any batsman but Sehwag is a special case. All the bowlers have to do is pitch it approximately on the off-side and cut it back in slightly. Sehwag will do the rest. He might give the third man catching practise, or he might give the slip catching practise and just to mix it up a little, he might play it on to his wickets.
So, What we are saying in a roundabout way is: we are not convinced that Sehwag's troubles are over. We still have doubts. Can he keep his head still? Can he avoid the flat batted ugly swat and try to bat straight? Those will be the questions that will be answered against Sri Lanka.
The main thing is that Sehwag spent some time in the middle and his century might give him a much needed boost to his confidence. He needs to build on this innings and string together some good scores.
We did not like Ganguly's batting. He needs to run harder. Ganguly's running between the wickets is regressing every match. It might be okay with Bermuda but will not be enough with other teams.
After Sehwag's dismissal, Dhoni walked in to do some big hitting. He didn't stay all that long and was gone before he made a big impact. Dhoni's reputation as the "best finisher" in the world might have to be put on hold. He needs to do a lot more than play the rare cameos to deserve that title.
Yuvraj and Tendulkar finished things in style. Both ran hard, played very smart cricket and hit some massive sixes. Yuvraj's batting was especially good. Yuvraj seems to have struck a rich vein of form. At no time did he look like he was going to get out. He cut, pulled, and drove with arrogance. Brilliant batting. This match saw vintage Tendulkar (how we detest that phrase). His batting was a lesson on doing the minimum to reap the maximum benefits. He reverse swept, turned the ball past the fine leg and to finish of things, hit some great inside-out shots.
Indian bowling was patchy. Zaheer was great but Agarkar was not. Agarkar is one of those bowlers who cannot handle pressure. So we thought that today, when India had hit 413, he would take a 5 wicket haul. He sucked anyway. His final tally might show 3 wickets but he was bad. The biggest problem with Agarkar is that if he doesn't find his line and length right away, he won't find it for that entire match. This becomes frightening because India typically goes in with 4 bowlers.
At the very least, the new ball should be given to Munaf Patel. Actually, if it were up to us, we would replace Agarkar with Sreesanth and give him the new ball. We are sure that Sreesanth can use the seam much better than Agarkar can. Kumble was his usual clinical self and put in a tidy effort. Again, we are concerned with Kumble. Kumble had a good match today so the team will go ahead and pick him against Sri Lanka. It might be better if Harbhajan is picked against Sri Lanka since Sri Lankans have a lot of left handers.
The most worrying thing is the bowling's inability to bowl out Bermuda earlier. Somewhere in the middle overs, the urgency seeped out of the side and the Indians let the game drift. The captain needs to step up in these situations. This is as much the Captains fault as it is the bowlers fault.
This win was good for the Indian side but it needs to be stressed that the real battle lies ahead. We are very worried that this win's euphoria will spread and all the faults and weaknesses, which were so obvious in the match against Bangladesh, will be swept underneath the rug.
The bottom line is that India still have to win their match against Sri Lanka and we don't think India can do it.
In conclusion, we want to say a few words to the loser who held the sign "Last warning to Team India: Reach Barbados or stay forever in Trinidad": Get a life, you fucking moron.
After the loss to Bangladesh, Indian team decided that Uthappa and Ganguly would open and the batting line-up showed Sehwag coming in the middle-order. Uthappa did not do himself any favors by fishing outside the off stump and was gone to a spectacular catch by everybody's favorite cricketer, Dwayne Leverock. We are fully expecting Uthappa to be dropped for the next match and be replaced by Irfan Pathan. Lo and behold, Sehwag comes in at one-down to join Ganguly.
It might not be an overstatement to say that this was the most important ODI for Sehwag 's career. A failure here would have seen him in the woodshed for a long time to come. He started off looking very wobbly. There were the usual wafting and swishing to the balls on the off-side. He managed to survive that and then slowly found his range. His head was still and he hit straight. A sure sign of finding his touch. He is still not quite there yet. Bermuda did not test him enough. There were no fast in-cutters that Sehwag has so much trouble with. He can rest assure that he is going to see some of those dreaded deliveries from Malinga and Vaas.
Now, fast in-cutters are difficult to play for any batsman but Sehwag is a special case. All the bowlers have to do is pitch it approximately on the off-side and cut it back in slightly. Sehwag will do the rest. He might give the third man catching practise, or he might give the slip catching practise and just to mix it up a little, he might play it on to his wickets.
So, What we are saying in a roundabout way is: we are not convinced that Sehwag's troubles are over. We still have doubts. Can he keep his head still? Can he avoid the flat batted ugly swat and try to bat straight? Those will be the questions that will be answered against Sri Lanka.
The main thing is that Sehwag spent some time in the middle and his century might give him a much needed boost to his confidence. He needs to build on this innings and string together some good scores.
We did not like Ganguly's batting. He needs to run harder. Ganguly's running between the wickets is regressing every match. It might be okay with Bermuda but will not be enough with other teams.
After Sehwag's dismissal, Dhoni walked in to do some big hitting. He didn't stay all that long and was gone before he made a big impact. Dhoni's reputation as the "best finisher" in the world might have to be put on hold. He needs to do a lot more than play the rare cameos to deserve that title.
Yuvraj and Tendulkar finished things in style. Both ran hard, played very smart cricket and hit some massive sixes. Yuvraj's batting was especially good. Yuvraj seems to have struck a rich vein of form. At no time did he look like he was going to get out. He cut, pulled, and drove with arrogance. Brilliant batting. This match saw vintage Tendulkar (how we detest that phrase). His batting was a lesson on doing the minimum to reap the maximum benefits. He reverse swept, turned the ball past the fine leg and to finish of things, hit some great inside-out shots.
Indian bowling was patchy. Zaheer was great but Agarkar was not. Agarkar is one of those bowlers who cannot handle pressure. So we thought that today, when India had hit 413, he would take a 5 wicket haul. He sucked anyway. His final tally might show 3 wickets but he was bad. The biggest problem with Agarkar is that if he doesn't find his line and length right away, he won't find it for that entire match. This becomes frightening because India typically goes in with 4 bowlers.
At the very least, the new ball should be given to Munaf Patel. Actually, if it were up to us, we would replace Agarkar with Sreesanth and give him the new ball. We are sure that Sreesanth can use the seam much better than Agarkar can. Kumble was his usual clinical self and put in a tidy effort. Again, we are concerned with Kumble. Kumble had a good match today so the team will go ahead and pick him against Sri Lanka. It might be better if Harbhajan is picked against Sri Lanka since Sri Lankans have a lot of left handers.
The most worrying thing is the bowling's inability to bowl out Bermuda earlier. Somewhere in the middle overs, the urgency seeped out of the side and the Indians let the game drift. The captain needs to step up in these situations. This is as much the Captains fault as it is the bowlers fault.
This win was good for the Indian side but it needs to be stressed that the real battle lies ahead. We are very worried that this win's euphoria will spread and all the faults and weaknesses, which were so obvious in the match against Bangladesh, will be swept underneath the rug.
The bottom line is that India still have to win their match against Sri Lanka and we don't think India can do it.
In conclusion, we want to say a few words to the loser who held the sign "Last warning to Team India: Reach Barbados or stay forever in Trinidad": Get a life, you fucking moron.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Probable Team Against Bermuda
The chances of the Indian team making it to the Super 8's are bleak. After the loss to Bangladesh, India has an uphill battle to fight. Sehwag will probably be left out of the team and in his place Irfan Pathan will make an entrance. The match against Bangladesh is probably the last time we will see Sehwag (unless freak injuries happen) for a long time to come. He has wore out his welcome with Rahul Dravid and now it is Irfan Pathan's turn to take the center stage.
Having said that, this will be the team India will play against Bermuda:
1. Saurav Ganguly
2. Sachin Tendulkar
3. Robin Uthappa
4. Rahul Dravid
5. Yuvraj Singh
6. M.S. Dhoni
7. Irfan Pathan
8. Anil Kumble
9. Zaheer Khan
10. Munaf patel
11. Sreesanth
If India bats first, they have to beat Bermuda by at least 243 runs (runs SL beat Bermuda). If Rahul Dravid wins the toss, he is going to field.
Lets see what happens.
The death of Bob Woolmer has really dampened our spirits. We don't think we care who wins this world cup. Cricket is the greatest game on earth but its nothing compared to a human life.
Having said that, this will be the team India will play against Bermuda:
1. Saurav Ganguly
2. Sachin Tendulkar
3. Robin Uthappa
4. Rahul Dravid
5. Yuvraj Singh
6. M.S. Dhoni
7. Irfan Pathan
8. Anil Kumble
9. Zaheer Khan
10. Munaf patel
11. Sreesanth
If India bats first, they have to beat Bermuda by at least 243 runs (runs SL beat Bermuda). If Rahul Dravid wins the toss, he is going to field.
Lets see what happens.
The death of Bob Woolmer has really dampened our spirits. We don't think we care who wins this world cup. Cricket is the greatest game on earth but its nothing compared to a human life.
Australia Vs Netherlands, Group A
South Africa beat Netherlands by 221 runs. Australia had to beat that victory margin for bragging rights. They did. Australia beat Netherlands by 229 runs.
Can't wait for the clash between Australia and South Africa.
Can't wait for the clash between Australia and South Africa.
Canada Vs England, Group C
Freddie Flintoff was sacked as the vice-captain due to his frequent infractions or some thing like that. Frankly, we don't care. It's okay to show up drunk everywhere if you win the ashes but not okay to go out on a drinking binge if you lose. Anyway, It didn't matter though, England beat Canada quite easily and showed India and Pakistan how it is done.
News Round-Up
Trawling the murky waters of a vast ocean (okay, we were surfing the internet) after yesterday's double feature upsets, we came across several stories (and back stories) by the simply clicking on a lot of random links. Among a lot of junk we found several interesting nuggets:
A delightful rant by Mukul Kesavan about the so called "processes" which are currently in fashion. This article might be a little dated but it is a soothing balm for that unreachable itch especially after India's loss yesterday.
Interesting (hat tip to My Two Cents and Prem Panicker):
Again, old news but very interesting. We love 'fly on the wall' stuff.
Osman Samiuddin's patience cracks and he lets loose a rant about the Pakistani cricket team. Fantastic stuff. And then it is Kamran Abbasi's turn.
Dhoni's house was stoned after India's defeat to Bangladesh. Is this ridiculous or what? What the hell is wrong with people? How is stoning someone's house going to help? You know what, we want India to be knocked out of the tournament. That will serve the lunatics right. Fucking morons. Bastards. It's just a game.
Finally, Pakistan's coach Bob Woolmer passed away in Jamaica after Pakistan's exit from the world cup. Details are sketchy. This is very sad. Tributes from people who knew him well. What a terrible day for Bob Woolmer's family and Pakistan.
When will people realize that however popular and however much money there is in cricket, it is at the end of the day, just a game. The best game on earth, but still a game. In all the hysteria that usually follows when a team from the sub-continent loses, the fact that cricket is just a game should not be forgotten. Bob Woolmer, RIP.
A delightful rant by Mukul Kesavan about the so called "processes" which are currently in fashion. This article might be a little dated but it is a soothing balm for that unreachable itch especially after India's loss yesterday.
Interesting (hat tip to My Two Cents and Prem Panicker):
"...Yet, every now and again his thoughts get the better of him, and he lets something slip. Like this line that slipped out, and has gone unnoticed, when in course of my interview with him for Rediff I asked him what he thought of the Indian team for the Cup. 'India has the team it wanted. It has all the brands..."If by brands, he means Pepsi, Adidas, etc...then Hmmm...
Again, old news but very interesting. We love 'fly on the wall' stuff.
Osman Samiuddin's patience cracks and he lets loose a rant about the Pakistani cricket team. Fantastic stuff. And then it is Kamran Abbasi's turn.
Dhoni's house was stoned after India's defeat to Bangladesh. Is this ridiculous or what? What the hell is wrong with people? How is stoning someone's house going to help? You know what, we want India to be knocked out of the tournament. That will serve the lunatics right. Fucking morons. Bastards. It's just a game.
Finally, Pakistan's coach Bob Woolmer passed away in Jamaica after Pakistan's exit from the world cup. Details are sketchy. This is very sad. Tributes from people who knew him well. What a terrible day for Bob Woolmer's family and Pakistan.
When will people realize that however popular and however much money there is in cricket, it is at the end of the day, just a game. The best game on earth, but still a game. In all the hysteria that usually follows when a team from the sub-continent loses, the fact that cricket is just a game should not be forgotten. Bob Woolmer, RIP.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Ireland Vs Pakistan, Group D
While India was being taught a cricket lesson by Bangladesh, another underdog was pulling down a listless giant. Bangladesh and Ireland should not be compared. Bangladesh is a much better team and has more international experience. What Ireland did today was amazing. They pulled off an upset win over Pakistan. Pakistan's batting was abysmal and their bowling except for Sami was not very good either. When a team has to defend a total of 132 they can't afford to bowl 11 wides. That is just unacceptable.
This has happened time and again. Pakistan and India have a terrible time batting on seamer friendly wickets. Whether this is due to an inherent weakness in batting technique or a mental stumbling block is not relevant. To be eligible for being called the best team in the world, any cricket team has to succeed in all sorts of conditions. Pakistan and India cannot.
On a seamer friendly wicket, Pakistan gifted its wickets hand over fist. Having seen the dismissals, there were very few balls which warranted wickets. Most of the wickets that fell were due to loose shots and brilliant fielding/catching. The Pakistani batsmen have no one but themselves to blame.
A lot of changes are imminent for the Pakistani team. It was unfortunate to see a great batsman like Inzi slink off the field in such a way. Bob Woolmer has been under as much (probably more) fire as his sub-continent counterpart, Greg Chappell, mostly because it is easier to shift blame onto a foreign coach for a team's failings. Whatever the case might be, Bob Woolmer will be gone (especially since his contract expires soon). We are looking forward to the book Bob Woolmer will write in the near future. Rana Naved and Imran Nazir are two other players who might have to start looking at other opportunities.
The Irish fielding was fantastic as was the Bangladeshi fielding. If we may digress, Cricket has become an athletes game (yes, we figured it out by ourselves). It is not enough if one is a talented batsman or a talented bowler. One has to be a good fielder too. Like everything else there are exceptions to that rule. If one is as talented as Glen McGrath, they can be given a pass but even Glen McGrath is a very safe catcher and an adequate fielder. There can be no room for a Munaf Patel. Players from Pakistan and India (this is not a subcontinent trait because both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are excellent fielding sides) have to improve their fielding to have any hope of being the best team in the world.
Couple of things before we sign off:
The much advertised April 8th Super 8 match between India and Pakistan might be played by Bangladesh and Ireland.
We feel very bad that Inzi had to exit the world cup stage this way.
This has happened time and again. Pakistan and India have a terrible time batting on seamer friendly wickets. Whether this is due to an inherent weakness in batting technique or a mental stumbling block is not relevant. To be eligible for being called the best team in the world, any cricket team has to succeed in all sorts of conditions. Pakistan and India cannot.
On a seamer friendly wicket, Pakistan gifted its wickets hand over fist. Having seen the dismissals, there were very few balls which warranted wickets. Most of the wickets that fell were due to loose shots and brilliant fielding/catching. The Pakistani batsmen have no one but themselves to blame.
A lot of changes are imminent for the Pakistani team. It was unfortunate to see a great batsman like Inzi slink off the field in such a way. Bob Woolmer has been under as much (probably more) fire as his sub-continent counterpart, Greg Chappell, mostly because it is easier to shift blame onto a foreign coach for a team's failings. Whatever the case might be, Bob Woolmer will be gone (especially since his contract expires soon). We are looking forward to the book Bob Woolmer will write in the near future. Rana Naved and Imran Nazir are two other players who might have to start looking at other opportunities.
The Irish fielding was fantastic as was the Bangladeshi fielding. If we may digress, Cricket has become an athletes game (yes, we figured it out by ourselves). It is not enough if one is a talented batsman or a talented bowler. One has to be a good fielder too. Like everything else there are exceptions to that rule. If one is as talented as Glen McGrath, they can be given a pass but even Glen McGrath is a very safe catcher and an adequate fielder. There can be no room for a Munaf Patel. Players from Pakistan and India (this is not a subcontinent trait because both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are excellent fielding sides) have to improve their fielding to have any hope of being the best team in the world.
Couple of things before we sign off:
The much advertised April 8th Super 8 match between India and Pakistan might be played by Bangladesh and Ireland.
We feel very bad that Inzi had to exit the world cup stage this way.
Bangladesh Vs India, Group B
Summary:
We thought we'd summarize the stream of consciousness below into a coherent paragraph or two for our readers.
Bangladesh kicked India's arse. If you read this post and think that we are not giving Bangladesh enough credit you would be wrong. This was a brilliant win for them. They outplayed India in all departments. However, we are mostly concerned about Indian cricket and hence end up focusing on them. We are not taking anything away from Bangladesh. They had a great coming-of-age party today.
Bangladesh bowled beautifully and more importantly backed it up with some inspired fielding. Ganguly, who is famous all over the world for taking sharp singles and for keeping the scoreboard ticking, could do nothing. Ganguly was so enamored with the Bangladeshi fielding that he totally avoided taking singles. While Ganguly was admiring the fielding, wickets fell at the other end. Sehwag, Uthappa, Tendulkar, and Dravid, all gone in quick succession. Yuvraj and Ganguly got a tidy partnership going and slowly limped to 157 for 4 in the 42nd over. It was time for the big sixeers, sublime boundaries and generally helter-skelter running. None of that came to pass because India went from 157 from 4 to 159 for 9. Utter and total collapse. There was no recovering from that. India went on make 191.
Bangladesh batted extraordinarily well. Especially Tamim Iqbal who reminded us of a younger Ganguly in his attitude and brashness. His innings was chancy but Indian fielding was abysmal. The half chances that came their way were not taken. The bowling was pretty pedestrian. So, all in all, a pathetic performance from India. We take back everything good we said about Agarkar. When India needs him most, he invariably fails them. Harbhajan was equally ineffective. Thanks to Rahim and Hasan who batted sensibly in the middle overs, the Bangladeshi team cruised to victory.
The situation now looks dire for India. They played badly and were completely outplayed by Bangladesh. India can now lift their game up or completely give up and sink (yeah, we know you are shocked by our perspicacity). Either way, there is a big shit storm brewing in the media. The next few days will be rough for Dravid, Chappell, Sehwag, and et al.
Start of Stream of Consciousness: Read at your own peril...
As we write this, India is staggering at 42 for 3 wickets in the 16th over. Ganguly is still batting at 13 runs (49 balls) and Dravid just walked in. Bangladesh is doing a terrific job with their bowling. The pitch has lots of grass and bounce on it and the ball is seaming off the pitch.
Dravid won the toss and elected to bat. Why? When common sense says one should bowl on this pitch, why did Dravid choose to bat? We would love to hear his reasons. Sehwag fell early and so did Robin. Tendulkar hung around for a while before falling to some really good spin bowling.
India could very well lose this match.
Update 1:
David Llyod and L. Sivaramakrishnan are beginning to grate on our nerves. We hate them. Actually, we hate everything right now. India are 67 for 3 in 23 overs. The dynamic duo (Llyod and Siva) just said for the umpteemth time that India needs a BIG partnership. Really? Dravid is looking awful against the spin bowling tandem of Razzak and Hasan. It's now 72 for 3 after 24 overs. The wicket seems to be easing up. India is in deep trouble. We shouldn't have said that. Dravid has been given out LBW. India now at 72 for 4.
You know what, We just realized that we don't like cricket all that much. 22 fools playing the game and 220 million people watching them play.
Update 2:
We just had an irate caller calling for firing Greg Chappell, Sehwag, Uthappa and basically the whole team. If it were up to us, we do it in an instant. Anyway, India are at 90 for 4 after 30 overs. Right about now, 210 looks like a great score. It might not be enough since the wicket seems to be easing up.
Update 3:
India at 98 for 4 in 33 overs. Drinks on the field. As per 'plan' India put its best foot forward - 7 batsmen and 4 bowlers. Readers of this blog might be familiar with our lament of not playing 5 specialist bowlers. Today, we might rue not having 5 specialist bowlers. Did we mention that this match is looking dire for India?
Update 4:
India at 116 for 4 after 35 overs. Right after the drinks break, Yuvraj broke free and hit a couple of boundaries. The sweep shot particularly good. Ganguly then did his usual walk-down-the-pitch and whacked a 4 to the long-off. Ganguly's 50 is up. Well Played. The running between the wickets has been pretty bad. Batsmen are not looking to put pressure on the fielders. The 50-run partnership between Yuvraj and Ganguly is up now. India desperately needed it. 122 for 4 after 36 overs.
Update 5:
40 overs up and India are 136 for 4. India needs a score of 240 to feel good about this game. That means scoring at a rate of 10 runs per over from now on. Tough to do. Yuvraj is looking good though. Ganguly needs to move his arse and run. Ganguly just waltzed down the pitch and belted a straight 4. That's what is needed. Good shot. Yuvraj just missed out on a dolly but then pulled the next ball to the boundary. 10 runs from this over. 146 for 4, 41 overs.
Update 6:
Massive 6! Slog swept over mid-wicket. Fantastic. 4 runs needed in this over to meet our totally arbitrary 10 runs an over asking rate. 9 runs this over. They need to make 11 in the next over. 155 for 4, 42 overs.
Update 7:
Yuvraj out for 47 well-made runs. A good innings comes to an end. Popped up a tame catch to fine leg trying to sweep. Dhoni is in. Forget about the 10 runs an over. Main thing now is to play out the 50 overs. India at 158 for 5, 43 overs.
Ganguly out for 66 runs. Got out trying to hit a nothing ball to the boundary. Mis-hit the ball and an easy catch to mid-wicket. This really sucks. Harbhajan in. We will be really happy if India makes 200. Oh Shit! Dhoni is gone for a big fat duck. 159 for 7. Forget 200, just bat the 50 overs. Please.
Update 8:
Harbhajan is gone. 159 for 8. The wheels are coming off. This is becoming a joke. Sreesanth looks like he might cry any moment now. We don't blame him. We are feeling like that too. John Wright says "India in all sorts of trouble". GENIUS. Did we mention we hate this game. We don't like it at all. The ball is turning quite a bit. We could have used an extra spinner instead of an extra batsman.
Update 9:
Holy shit!!!! Agarkar is gone. India is 159 for 9. So, the question now is: can India bowl out Bangladesh under 159? Nope. That would be our guess. India is going to lose this game. They will win the game against Bermuda and lose the game against Sri Lanka. They will be out of the tournament soon. That will put an end to our misery.
Update 10:
After revising the target several times, we settled on 169. India succeeded in meeting our very high expectations. Kudos to them. They never disappoint. Joys of being an Indian cricket fan are many.
Update 11:
On a brighter note, India is doing better than Pakistan (for now). Pakistan are 106 for 8 in 31 overs whereas India is at 186 for 9 in 49 overs. What a shot!!!! Why couldn't the 'specialist' batsmen play like Zaheer Khan? 4 runs - smacked through cover/extra cover. Oh well. That was too good to last. India all out for 191. 32 run partnership between Munaf and Zaheer. Well played.
Can this total be defended? We will find out.
Mid-Innings Break:
Another irate caller called in. He wanted Sehwag out of the team, pronto. Since we have been an ardent Sehwag supporter-did we just use the past tense in describing our support for Sehwag?- he wanted to know our opinion. What can we say? we still think he should be in the team but it is getting hard to think of a rationale. Maybe it is time to let go.
We really want to know why Dravid chose to bat. It doesn't matter. This was a really bad batting performance. The Bangladeshis bowled well and backed it up with some excellent fielding. The vaunted Indian batting line-up failed. As simple as that.
Bangladesh has the upper hand and this is their game to lose now.
Update 12:
It is not looking good for India. Bangladesh is off to a good start. Some loose bowling by Agarkar and Zaheer. Bangladesh is at 24 for no loss at the end of 4 overs. India needs wickets and so far Agarkar and Zaheer have not looked threatening.
The first wicket falls. Zaheer traps Nafees LBW. A bit iffy. Zaheer lucky to get the wicket. Bangladesh 24 for 1 in 5 overs. Will it be Agarkar's turn next?
Update 13:
Tamim Iqbal is a fire cracker. He is taking the attack to India and Bangladesh are cruising along. He just hit a six over extra cover. He is chancy but he is going through with his shots. Got to get Iqbal out if India has to have a chance. If India lets him continue like this, he is going to take the match away from India very quickly. Bangladesh is 45 for one in 10 overs.
Update 14:
Tamim Iqbal played one heck of an innings. He finally got out fishing outside his off-stump. Nevertheless, Bangladesh is well placed at 74 for 2 runs in 15 overs. India needs wickets. We are getting desperate. Oh! Dhoni misses a catch. crap. Munaf is bowling really well and deserves better support from the fielders.
Another call from a friend: "Sehwag should go". Well...
After Dhoni puts down a catch, Aftab Ahmed hits a cracking four. Super shot.
What do we have here? Aftab Ahmed gone LBW Munaf Patel. Bangladesh 79 for 3, in 16 overs. It's all happening.
Update 15:
Bangladesh now are 94 runs for 3 wickets. 21 overs up. Well, the fat lady is getting dressed to sing a bengali song. India needs wickets. Have we said that before? Steady stuff from the Bangladeshi batsmen. Need atleast two more wickets before Bangladesh score 110. Huge 6. Mushfiqur just hammered Harbhajan out of the ground. It's all going Bangladesh's way. 100 for 3, 22 overs up.
Update 16:
Nice partnership for Bangladesh. They are motoring along at 125 runs for 3 wickets. 31 overs up. Indians don't look like taking any wickets. The Bangladeshis are batting very sensibly. Why, oh why did India bat first? The pitch has totally eased off and the Bangladeshis are making batting look easy. Munaf into the attack and is immediately smashed for a boundary. Another boundary. Oh boy. Folks, this match is over. Indian shoulders are drooping and it will take a big miracle for India to pull this off. Mr. Ramakrishnan, it is time to start praying to Cricket Ganesha.
Update 17:
Bangladesh just lost two quick wickets are at 175 for 5 wickets. Too little too late. Bangladesh will win the game easily. A second question to be asked is: Why was Sehwag not tried a little earlier? Well...hindsight and all that. Seven overs to go and 22 runs to win. Easy.
Update 18:
A great win for Bangladesh. They have come of age. Congratulations.
Now that is out of the way, India played very badly. India's chance of reaching the Super 8 looks bleak. If we can't beat Bangladesh what are the chances of beating Sri Lanka. Zero.
We will beat Bermuda, lose to Sri Lanka and will make the long trip home. Sad end but that's cricket. Where does India go from here? A lot will be written. Rest of the world, get ready for the shit storm that's about to come.
We thought we'd summarize the stream of consciousness below into a coherent paragraph or two for our readers.
Bangladesh kicked India's arse. If you read this post and think that we are not giving Bangladesh enough credit you would be wrong. This was a brilliant win for them. They outplayed India in all departments. However, we are mostly concerned about Indian cricket and hence end up focusing on them. We are not taking anything away from Bangladesh. They had a great coming-of-age party today.
Bangladesh bowled beautifully and more importantly backed it up with some inspired fielding. Ganguly, who is famous all over the world for taking sharp singles and for keeping the scoreboard ticking, could do nothing. Ganguly was so enamored with the Bangladeshi fielding that he totally avoided taking singles. While Ganguly was admiring the fielding, wickets fell at the other end. Sehwag, Uthappa, Tendulkar, and Dravid, all gone in quick succession. Yuvraj and Ganguly got a tidy partnership going and slowly limped to 157 for 4 in the 42nd over. It was time for the big sixeers, sublime boundaries and generally helter-skelter running. None of that came to pass because India went from 157 from 4 to 159 for 9. Utter and total collapse. There was no recovering from that. India went on make 191.
Bangladesh batted extraordinarily well. Especially Tamim Iqbal who reminded us of a younger Ganguly in his attitude and brashness. His innings was chancy but Indian fielding was abysmal. The half chances that came their way were not taken. The bowling was pretty pedestrian. So, all in all, a pathetic performance from India. We take back everything good we said about Agarkar. When India needs him most, he invariably fails them. Harbhajan was equally ineffective. Thanks to Rahim and Hasan who batted sensibly in the middle overs, the Bangladeshi team cruised to victory.
The situation now looks dire for India. They played badly and were completely outplayed by Bangladesh. India can now lift their game up or completely give up and sink (yeah, we know you are shocked by our perspicacity). Either way, there is a big shit storm brewing in the media. The next few days will be rough for Dravid, Chappell, Sehwag, and et al.
Start of Stream of Consciousness: Read at your own peril...
As we write this, India is staggering at 42 for 3 wickets in the 16th over. Ganguly is still batting at 13 runs (49 balls) and Dravid just walked in. Bangladesh is doing a terrific job with their bowling. The pitch has lots of grass and bounce on it and the ball is seaming off the pitch.
Dravid won the toss and elected to bat. Why? When common sense says one should bowl on this pitch, why did Dravid choose to bat? We would love to hear his reasons. Sehwag fell early and so did Robin. Tendulkar hung around for a while before falling to some really good spin bowling.
India could very well lose this match.
Update 1:
David Llyod and L. Sivaramakrishnan are beginning to grate on our nerves. We hate them. Actually, we hate everything right now. India are 67 for 3 in 23 overs. The dynamic duo (Llyod and Siva) just said for the umpteemth time that India needs a BIG partnership. Really? Dravid is looking awful against the spin bowling tandem of Razzak and Hasan. It's now 72 for 3 after 24 overs. The wicket seems to be easing up. India is in deep trouble. We shouldn't have said that. Dravid has been given out LBW. India now at 72 for 4.
You know what, We just realized that we don't like cricket all that much. 22 fools playing the game and 220 million people watching them play.
Update 2:
We just had an irate caller calling for firing Greg Chappell, Sehwag, Uthappa and basically the whole team. If it were up to us, we do it in an instant. Anyway, India are at 90 for 4 after 30 overs. Right about now, 210 looks like a great score. It might not be enough since the wicket seems to be easing up.
Update 3:
India at 98 for 4 in 33 overs. Drinks on the field. As per 'plan' India put its best foot forward - 7 batsmen and 4 bowlers. Readers of this blog might be familiar with our lament of not playing 5 specialist bowlers. Today, we might rue not having 5 specialist bowlers. Did we mention that this match is looking dire for India?
Update 4:
India at 116 for 4 after 35 overs. Right after the drinks break, Yuvraj broke free and hit a couple of boundaries. The sweep shot particularly good. Ganguly then did his usual walk-down-the-pitch and whacked a 4 to the long-off. Ganguly's 50 is up. Well Played. The running between the wickets has been pretty bad. Batsmen are not looking to put pressure on the fielders. The 50-run partnership between Yuvraj and Ganguly is up now. India desperately needed it. 122 for 4 after 36 overs.
Update 5:
40 overs up and India are 136 for 4. India needs a score of 240 to feel good about this game. That means scoring at a rate of 10 runs per over from now on. Tough to do. Yuvraj is looking good though. Ganguly needs to move his arse and run. Ganguly just waltzed down the pitch and belted a straight 4. That's what is needed. Good shot. Yuvraj just missed out on a dolly but then pulled the next ball to the boundary. 10 runs from this over. 146 for 4, 41 overs.
Update 6:
Massive 6! Slog swept over mid-wicket. Fantastic. 4 runs needed in this over to meet our totally arbitrary 10 runs an over asking rate. 9 runs this over. They need to make 11 in the next over. 155 for 4, 42 overs.
Update 7:
Yuvraj out for 47 well-made runs. A good innings comes to an end. Popped up a tame catch to fine leg trying to sweep. Dhoni is in. Forget about the 10 runs an over. Main thing now is to play out the 50 overs. India at 158 for 5, 43 overs.
Ganguly out for 66 runs. Got out trying to hit a nothing ball to the boundary. Mis-hit the ball and an easy catch to mid-wicket. This really sucks. Harbhajan in. We will be really happy if India makes 200. Oh Shit! Dhoni is gone for a big fat duck. 159 for 7. Forget 200, just bat the 50 overs. Please.
Update 8:
Harbhajan is gone. 159 for 8. The wheels are coming off. This is becoming a joke. Sreesanth looks like he might cry any moment now. We don't blame him. We are feeling like that too. John Wright says "India in all sorts of trouble". GENIUS. Did we mention we hate this game. We don't like it at all. The ball is turning quite a bit. We could have used an extra spinner instead of an extra batsman.
Update 9:
Holy shit!!!! Agarkar is gone. India is 159 for 9. So, the question now is: can India bowl out Bangladesh under 159? Nope. That would be our guess. India is going to lose this game. They will win the game against Bermuda and lose the game against Sri Lanka. They will be out of the tournament soon. That will put an end to our misery.
Update 10:
After revising the target several times, we settled on 169. India succeeded in meeting our very high expectations. Kudos to them. They never disappoint. Joys of being an Indian cricket fan are many.
Update 11:
On a brighter note, India is doing better than Pakistan (for now). Pakistan are 106 for 8 in 31 overs whereas India is at 186 for 9 in 49 overs. What a shot!!!! Why couldn't the 'specialist' batsmen play like Zaheer Khan? 4 runs - smacked through cover/extra cover. Oh well. That was too good to last. India all out for 191. 32 run partnership between Munaf and Zaheer. Well played.
Can this total be defended? We will find out.
Mid-Innings Break:
Another irate caller called in. He wanted Sehwag out of the team, pronto. Since we have been an ardent Sehwag supporter-did we just use the past tense in describing our support for Sehwag?- he wanted to know our opinion. What can we say? we still think he should be in the team but it is getting hard to think of a rationale. Maybe it is time to let go.
We really want to know why Dravid chose to bat. It doesn't matter. This was a really bad batting performance. The Bangladeshis bowled well and backed it up with some excellent fielding. The vaunted Indian batting line-up failed. As simple as that.
Bangladesh has the upper hand and this is their game to lose now.
Update 12:
It is not looking good for India. Bangladesh is off to a good start. Some loose bowling by Agarkar and Zaheer. Bangladesh is at 24 for no loss at the end of 4 overs. India needs wickets and so far Agarkar and Zaheer have not looked threatening.
The first wicket falls. Zaheer traps Nafees LBW. A bit iffy. Zaheer lucky to get the wicket. Bangladesh 24 for 1 in 5 overs. Will it be Agarkar's turn next?
Update 13:
Tamim Iqbal is a fire cracker. He is taking the attack to India and Bangladesh are cruising along. He just hit a six over extra cover. He is chancy but he is going through with his shots. Got to get Iqbal out if India has to have a chance. If India lets him continue like this, he is going to take the match away from India very quickly. Bangladesh is 45 for one in 10 overs.
Update 14:
Tamim Iqbal played one heck of an innings. He finally got out fishing outside his off-stump. Nevertheless, Bangladesh is well placed at 74 for 2 runs in 15 overs. India needs wickets. We are getting desperate. Oh! Dhoni misses a catch. crap. Munaf is bowling really well and deserves better support from the fielders.
Another call from a friend: "Sehwag should go". Well...
After Dhoni puts down a catch, Aftab Ahmed hits a cracking four. Super shot.
What do we have here? Aftab Ahmed gone LBW Munaf Patel. Bangladesh 79 for 3, in 16 overs. It's all happening.
Update 15:
Bangladesh now are 94 runs for 3 wickets. 21 overs up. Well, the fat lady is getting dressed to sing a bengali song. India needs wickets. Have we said that before? Steady stuff from the Bangladeshi batsmen. Need atleast two more wickets before Bangladesh score 110. Huge 6. Mushfiqur just hammered Harbhajan out of the ground. It's all going Bangladesh's way. 100 for 3, 22 overs up.
Update 16:
Nice partnership for Bangladesh. They are motoring along at 125 runs for 3 wickets. 31 overs up. Indians don't look like taking any wickets. The Bangladeshis are batting very sensibly. Why, oh why did India bat first? The pitch has totally eased off and the Bangladeshis are making batting look easy. Munaf into the attack and is immediately smashed for a boundary. Another boundary. Oh boy. Folks, this match is over. Indian shoulders are drooping and it will take a big miracle for India to pull this off. Mr. Ramakrishnan, it is time to start praying to Cricket Ganesha.
Update 17:
Bangladesh just lost two quick wickets are at 175 for 5 wickets. Too little too late. Bangladesh will win the game easily. A second question to be asked is: Why was Sehwag not tried a little earlier? Well...hindsight and all that. Seven overs to go and 22 runs to win. Easy.
Update 18:
A great win for Bangladesh. They have come of age. Congratulations.
Now that is out of the way, India played very badly. India's chance of reaching the Super 8 looks bleak. If we can't beat Bangladesh what are the chances of beating Sri Lanka. Zero.
We will beat Bermuda, lose to Sri Lanka and will make the long trip home. Sad end but that's cricket. Where does India go from here? A lot will be written. Rest of the world, get ready for the shit storm that's about to come.
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