HNY'10

Happy 2010 to all the regular, accidental, critical and loyal readers of the blog.

May this year be happy for all of us.

First Australian 100

of the summer is scored by a hard looking but soft within bloke Shane Watson.

Applause please.

Msd keeping

Keep ranting about how bad ddca is or how unprofessional bcci is or how morally right is lankan team which chickened out seeing an impending defeat, but nobody says a word on the fact that not a single bye was conceeded by Indian captain and the fact that his team wanted to play n the rivals wanted to stop. Where are those critics who sit right ready to tear apart anything Indian team does. India is forever villians and the chickens are always romantics' favorites. Sangakara hasn't spoken a word on this fiasco and all speaking has been done by his sidekicks.

Abandoning a game when things don't go per their plan is typical lankan habit. Ranatunga did it, blabba king wanted final scrapped and now vocab king got Delhi odi abandoned. They won't ever win in countries like India Australia or south africa.

Eden 1996

Just a reminder to the Lankans who have been talking hugely about how their batsmen showed character in abandoned Delhi ODI , that 13 years back in a World Cup Semi final which the entire country wanted to win, Indians continued to play on horrific pitch and in the process lost out to whims of WI referee Lloyd who gifted the game to Lanka who then went on to win the WC (3 abandoned games vs Aus, WI and India).

Back then no Indian player moaned or groaned or howled about the dreadful pitch which saw Jayasuriya take 3/12 and the other lesser Lankan spinners turn the ball square.

No captain from Indian side rushed to the middle to stop the play or no ex captain gave an interview to Cricinfo that how ridiculous it was to see players who play spin well get stumped :(.

Little doubt that the pitch was treacherous and a blot on Delhi, but the way Lankans approached the game abandonment was horrendous. Why didnt Kandamby approach umpire right when he came to the middle ? Why did Jayasuriya and Dilshan not talk to umpires after Dilly was injured ?

No one would know the thinking process behind Sangakara's surge to the field in 24th over. That saves him one more defeat, but its that "bakre ki maa kab tak khair manayegi". Questions would be asked of him for failure to win anything significant on the tour to a country where they  havent won anything so far and wont win anything in long time to come.

Questions

The pitch was supposedly horrible and in the end it would have been a good one to abandon the match.

But the body language and attitude of Lankan captain has been like Ravan.

How many of  the 5 wikats that fell in SL inns fall to the nasty deliveries ?

Why did not the Lankan batsmen complain for 23 overs. An impending and humiliating loss coming made them complain ?

Why do always SL moan about everything ? Agreed its ridiculous to have such a pitch and Mr jaitley would have lot to answer on this, but have we ever heard any Indian player (captain) complaint about it ?

With the end of tour they go home with losers tag. Nothing in Tests, nothing in ODIs, nothing in T20Is.

Negativity ke baap he yeh log.

Dangerous Pitch at Kotla!!

Calling off the game due to bad pitch means more jargons and vocabs from Sangakara, the perennial loser.

He is storming out on the field.

Damn!!

Too quick to blame anybody or even ask questions.  And if pitch is bad then it could be trouble for DDCA and DD as it is home ground for them.  Sangakara would leave no stone unturned for banning the Kotla!! Bet

All we dont want is some garbage from Sangakara. Please!!

Who gets run out first ?

Two chances in 2 balls gone this time out for run out. No catches spilled  though.

Jaya and Dilshan competing with each other to get run out :P

Suffocating England

England's late surge on truncated day 1 of Boxing Day test have got so much of huge highlights on cricinfo that it virtually suggests that England have won the series and they are the only quality side around and have the rights to save the Test cricket.

Every day England plays Test cricket is a marvellous and goes the distance in saving the Test cricket, whereas the other teams are killing the Tests slowly and lowly.

Every day of Eng vs SA test series has been highlighted as the series of  the decade.

So much of focus on England is suffocating when they cant play that level of cricket to win a Test match.

20 yrs of Sanath

Today a month later than Sach, his MI opening partner Sanath Jayasuriya completes 20 years in international cricket.

And thats an awesome achievement for the Matara Marauder.

First true star of Lankan cricket, he spent 6 years in wilderness till 1996 when he took the world by storm with his explosive innings.

True that I have hated him going after hapless Indian bowlers and overjoyed when he was dismissed, but that cant take away the credit and the accolades the man deserves.

He is one of the modern day ODI greats.  He changed the way openers batted in those 15 overs of ODI field restrictions. However thats incorrect. It was Tendulkar in 1994 who first used those conditions in his favor against Kiwis by hammering 82 off 49. And before him it was Mark GreatBatch in 1992 world cup who batted explosively.

Such a poor thing that Sangakara does not value Sanath's importance. Poor creature, GOD make him well soon

Aussie 100 this summer

This Australian summer is like Indian summer of England 2007 until Oval Test when Anil scored his maiden hundred.

No Australian has scored a 100 this summer.

Shane Watson is now on 90. Gayle would find new word  to describe the lad.

This is proving out to be end of summer for Pakistan even before it started for them. Just like 2003-04 Gabba for India.  2/262 on day 1 and  then all out for 326 on day 2. Zaheer.

Well this is Pakistan and they are T20 champs.  Test Cricket isnt their forte.

0 wkts in 2 sessions.

Not good omens for Pakistan.

Actually this sets stage for lop sided contest unless drug addict or Aamer Khan (3 Idiots hang over) pluck some wikats out of blue or green.

Watson goes stronger.

More strong Kat and kid go, more the chances for Hughsy go dim.

Watta shame that Waatto backs his antics with the runs and that gives him a license to do what he did in Perth with Gayle.

A teaser

He has  got good vocab, he sledges well. He bats well though only against minnows and on dead tracks home.

He has let his ccountry down fellas. 30 million fans back home fellas.

He thinks they are competitive the most in this decade in a series when they have lost everything.

He is keeping his booba king in the team and Sanath out.

He is obsessed for jargons. He is passionate for words.

Guess who ?

Negative Australia.

Aussies seem to be so shell shocked out of the Perth criticism from all round that they have gone to a shell in the first session of Boxing day test in MCG vs Pakistan.

0/73 in 29 overs is typically unAustralian and reminiscent of old days when being defensive was first approach.

Australia are new Sri Lanka and India are new Australia in Tests.

Run rate of 2.51 is pathetic.

India ODI 2009 Review

The year began for India on a triumphant note when India won the back to back ODI series in SL and NZ with an impressive scoreline of 4-1 and 3-1 respectively.

However that fizzed out a bit after the T20 debacle. Though India won one more ODI series in WI 2-1 which should not have taken place on the first place and then the tri-series in SL beating SL. The picture in the 2nd half doesnt pose a rosy scene. India lost out in the first round of CT and then lost the home series to a depleted 3rd grade Australian team 2-4.

The series win against SL has reinstated the impressive looks to the overall record for the country and it is the team with best win loss ratio in the year.  65% wins is an impressive stat.

The batting looks good as always with some scintillating knocks played this year but the ones that stand out are as below :

1. 175 by Sachin Tendulkar vs Australia in Hyderabad.
2. 163 * by Sachin Tendulkar vs NZ in Napier (??)
3. 146 by Virender Sehwag vs SL in Rajkot
4. 150 by Gautam Gambhir two times vs SL in Colombo and Eden Gardens.

First two were sensational knocks.  Both times Sach looked good for a 200 in ODIs which just would have been apt for the man.

The top order looked settled with Sachin, Viru and Gambhir forming the top 3 followed by Yuvraj, MS and Raina to follow.  Yusuf Pathan fizzed out and Jadeja progressed well to the development of a batting alrounder. In 2010 the competition for this place would be intense between Jadeja and Pathan brothers.

Kohli has demonstrated tremendous maturity to threaten Raina if he doesnt mend his batting ways and idiotic ways to get out.

Rohit Sharma and Dinesh Karthik are no hoppers and they should not be taken seriously.

Concerning department is the bowling. Ishant Sharma was the biggest let down of the year. He flopped miserably with leaking runs at a millionaire's pace. Though he is highest wicket taker for the country this year, the cost for every wicket is expensive.  Zaheer and Nehra form the crux of the bowling attack and the 3rd pacer depends on the conditions India play. When swing conditions are in, have Pehelwan else he is just a dibbly dobly military medium pace bowler.

Mishra is back to the sidelines and Ojha has not done enough to threaten Harbhajan who has had his share of ups and downs.

Fielding, well is disappointing and  this is when there are fresh legs.

There is a year left to the World Cup and its in the backyard.   Bowling and fielding would be the focus area in 2010. With no major series coming in the first few months of the year 2010 the focus should be on finding an express pacer who can rattle the batsmen and also take wickets by keeping the runs per over mark low.

All Izz Bell with the team on the exteriors.

Scorelines :

SL 4-1 (5)

NZ 3-1(5)

WI 2-1(4)

Tri series 2-1 (3)

CT 1-1 (3)

Aus 2-4(7)

SL 4-1(5)

Played 32

Won 18

Lost 10

N/R 4

Dilshan supposedly roughs up a Telegraph lens man.

There is a story being published in Telegraph, Kolkata and then aired on Times Now  that how Dilshan, the star batsman of Lanka misbehaved with one of the newspaper's photographer or lensman to be precise.

The paper says  that the cricketer chased the photographer and smashed his camera.  Yet he was able to print the snap where he and Jayasuriya are talking to a lady in the night club.

There were further reports that this  two lads had broken the security ring from the hotel a day before the game and had the Kolkata police panicked. Yeah the Lahore leftovers.

So how mature and sensible is behavior of  the touring Lankan team who first have all the bad words to say about the conditions, food and stuff. And  then they ask for fool proof security and are provided. Even an ODI game is shifted to other venue due to ongoing protests in Vizag, 2nd ODI venue before the SLC could ask for it.  And then the Lankan openers break the security and slip to a night club only to misbehave with the cameramen.

Not good.  And it doesn't show off well.

May be the success has gone to his head and he needs a reality check. And god forbid if something untoward would have happened, the country would have been blamed. The best place to throw this tantrums is back home dude, not here.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Wishing all a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

My wishlist for the team I like the most :

• Bring back home the T20 world cup.
• Prepare for the win back of 50 overs world cup.
• Play more Tests as possible,
• More victories in Tests and ruthless thumping.

For this blog, more moderation and toning down. Toned down a bit in last few weeks or so. More warranted. Aim to be counted in good blogs on the game.

Wish to see Arm Ball going stronger with more and more variations. More varieties without extending the 15 degree rule.

Yenjaai!!!

Delihi ki Chandi

ho gayi Bhiyao.

Are bhai 5 log the aaj team me Dilli se.

Veeru, Gambhir, Kohli, Nehra aur Ishant.

Sharmaji ko chod de to  sabhi log accha khel rahe he.  Kohli ne bata dia hai ki bhiya hum aa gaye he top stage par aur hume ab team me khilana padinga.

Aur acchi baat yeh hai is ladke me ki yeh dheer hai. Dheeraj hai. Jadhav nahi. Patience.

To yadi is bande ko thoda groom kare to aage chal ke yeh humare mahaan ballebajo ki jagah le sakta hain.  Mere hisaab se yeh number 4 pe acchi ballebazi kar sakta hai.

Dilli se itne log meri memory me to kabhi nahi aaye.  5 log team me khelna badi baat hai jabki wo Ranji champ bhi nahi hai. Ranji champion Bambai hai and GOD ko chod kar waha se koi nahi hai.

Kuch bhi bolo bhiyao aaj Delhi ke mundo ne bata diya ki chahe jo replace ho jaye des ka cricket surakshit hai aur Lanka jaise adi sadi team hara nahi sakte.

3-2, 4-1, 2-1 and 3-1* yeh scoreline hai Lanka par. Aur 4 saal pahle 5-1. Lol.

Biraat Kohli

PS : A posht in heartland Englis which desi readers wud understend.

haz giben a prablem aff plenty to the Keptain and the koach of Indian team.

End aalso a prablem aff where to fit this guy in and bich pozition ? Who goes out ?  Yubraaj and Dhoni bud return soon then laterz.

DK baba wud go out bonce MS komes beck. So the abvious kendidate to go aff is Sures. Yes you read it right. Kanpur ka chora Sures.

Some kanspiracy theory going aan in the team. After the 2nd ODI, the Sures bay did not bet (bat) any time. Biraat Kohli kame up the arder and betted. And he played bell. Biraat is from the Dilli.  Des's kepital. And the keptain of the team in last 2 ODIs was Beeru, Nazafgarh ka sultaan aur Multaan ka shenshaah, Chennai and Bambai ka dan. (DON).

So Dilli Dilli bhai bhai and Sures ki naak katai.

Sures also gets some pressure naw to perfrarm else go out. He sud take himself seriously now and think ober the T20 cheez. T20 is nat total kireeket. It izz jusht one farmet of the game.  And Biraat's Biraat innings against the Lanka team which houses demons like Sanga and Jayawardhene has sent out a messege  to the team to take him with full Gambhirpan.

So  this izz a good sar dard and matha fodi for Dhoni to hev.  Sirikanth 's agenda is ruled out naw which is to bring the 12th man Boss DK ebery time somebady gets injured / benned. Karthik naw wont kome beck in the team far lang.   And Beeru piromoted his own Dilli da munda and that munda sowed hiz cherecter. Bell cherecter is a word firam Lankan dictionary.  So baat, they hevant patented it. So I barrow it.

Good jab Biraat and Beeru. 

Boss DK to stop GG ?

Is Boss DK going to bar Gambhir of 150 today ?

Grab the series in Edens

Cricket returns to Eden Gardens in 3 years. Well ODIs return to Eden in 3 years. And cricket in 2 years. Oh international cricket. Last time a team played in Eden was Pakistan which almost managed to save the game.

Sachin and Jayasurya are the lone survivors of the 1996 World Cup semi final traumatic game in Eden Gardens and it would be apt for India tomorrow to win the series 3-1 to sooth the balm of that painful day.

Though this 2 things are irrelevant, yet India should beat the team which defeated us (actually no) back then.

Its been said that half of Eden would be closed for renovation, yet 50 k spectators would freak out the Sri Lankans who are used to band baja music back home in their stadia.

Grab the win guys.

Pakistan vs Australia : Preview

Pakistan play their first Test in Australia in 5 years. There are very little hopes that they would do any justice to their fans' expectations of doing good. A 3-0 result for Australia still looks a possibility.

I am keen to watch the repeat of 2008 Sydney with Pakistan or even for that matter Perth 2009. Want to see how Pakies react to the umpiring blunders and Ricky Ponting's pressurising tactics.

And if Pakistan escape a 0-3 result then would Yusuf still thank heavens, that remains to be seen.

How fragile Pakistani openers perform against Sid, Mitch and Doggie? How selfish would Yousuf / Yusuf be ? How would Umar Bugsy Akamal be playing here ? And how would Danya Danya perform in Sydney and MCG ?

Cmon a repeat of 2008 should happen with Pakistan. Would pep them up and they would show us their spirits of 90s. This Pakistanis are too soft, at least on the field. Lol.

They believe Australia are beatable. They could not beat Australia in 1999 and 2002 when Ws and Akhtar were around. They could not beat them through 2004-05. So a chance to beat them with Aamer, Drug Peddler, Sami ICL are feeble.

15 years for a Test win against the Aussies for Pakistan. 10 years for Sri Lanka.  BD have never won. India ? Too many wins against them in 15 years :P.

Pakistan vs Australia would be interesting. If not Sydney then at least half a repeat of Dennis Lillie vs JAved Miandad should happen.  Yusuf would run behind Watson ? Lol. Yusuf would get a life ban. ROTFL. Watto would escape with 15% match fees.

MSD's absence hurt whom ?

More Sangakara wants to hurt India through his pre - match comments and jibes, more he gets hurt. More his team gets hurt.

So to  stop this hurt, Sangakara should stop speaking anything just like Indian captain. India's captain doesnt speak anything on SL (anything negative).

Wanted : a tape and a scissor. To put on his mouth.

DKNY spoils GOD's party!!!

You are forever a backup keeper, a drinks carrying man, wicket keeper of a team which Indian openers dominate (Tests and T20s) and you made your debut before a long haired keeper in 2004 who now edges past every budding wicket keeper in the country.

Then in this scenario you gotta grab every opportunity to be in limelight, hog the attention and if need be even bar the greatest batsman from making a 100.

So what if the fans hate  you or bloggers post spam for you, how does that matter ? Purpose served. 32 runs wont do any good to him, not even help him retain his place cos that long haired keeper would be back for the final game.  Alright that long haired keeper is the captain of the IPL team of this guy's home team franchisee.

DKNY, as expected hits a 6 and 4 when ideally Tendulkar should have made a 100. Nobody comes to watch DKNY, but they pay for watching a Tendulkar 100.

So whats the use of even playing in the XI. Go play Ranji and screw that team's chances of going in knock out. Not Tendulkar's 100.

Test cricket saving stuff ?

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

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

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

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

DK

comes in the team with his usual mannerisms and ishtyle but he also brings in his fumbles and drops.

Weird

Benn and Dhoni

were undone by the referees who had crooked vision and both earned a 2 game ban. While MS would miss the next 2 ODIs in Cuttack and Kolkata, Benn would perhaps miss Aus games in Feb or some other games (ODIs).

But question arise were the decisions justified in banning this 2 Indians  ? One West and one East ? (MS hails from Eastern part of India).


We never know.

Benn does not deserve 2 game ban

A close look at the video of the row between Benn and Haddin suggests :

• Benn wasnt at fault when he went for the collection of the ball to stop a single and Haddin ran into him. That was by chance, not intentional.
• Haddin provocated Benn with the show of the bat. 
• Benn was taken aback when he saw he being provoked. He just walked to the batsman and natural exchange of words. Nothing done yet by Benn that earns him a 2 game ban.
  
• At the end of over Benn walks over to Haddin down the umpire end and  there you see Johnson altercating with Benn. Not needed. 
• And then a physical contact between Benn and Johnson.

The questions arise why was Johnson handed just 10% of the match fee as fine and Haddin as 25%. It was Haddin who began the altercation with an intentional provocation and poor Benn fell prey to it.

And what wrong did Benn do to earn 2 game ban which was serious and an intentional provocation from Haddin wasnt so serious offence ?

Jaundiced eyes, biased vision and perhaps even racism ? No white player ever is banned by this match referee.

By the way how did Broad return to refereeing when he was pitched for a ban by our honoorable Ijaz Butt ?

MS Dhoni gets banned

In another absurd decision MSD got banned for supposed slow over rate in the Jamtha ODI.  The match refree is Jeff Crowe from Kiwi land. What he did not see was the disruption in the game brought by cheater Angelo Angelo, you saw that? Cheap stuff. And he was even allowed a runner.

Why is the bowling captain fined when the batsman who gets injured or fakes injury also disrupts the game ?

And why the fuck even  an Indian is banned, even if West one.

Why was not Mathews banned for the so called quadriceps being done ? Was he even real ?

Why only Indians are banned ? And will this create a furore as it happened in 2001 when Dennis Lindsey banned Sourav, Sachin, Rahul and 3 other players ?

Cmon BCCI, a crooked or crowed referee bans an Indian captain in the hometown of the BCCI president under its own nose. Show us your might and get this ban repealed. And if possible get Angeloooooooooooo and Sangakara banned.

And MS : stop being generous. Disallow runners. Be like Andrew Strauss.

Cheater -- the Mathews.

Excerpt from SL vs Eng match in Champions Trophy :

39.6

Onions to Mathews, 1 run, drama, plenty of drama! Too straight from Onions, Mathews gets up and works the ball into the gap at square leg, runs the first hard, turns back for the second and runs into Onions, then stumbles, and in the meantime Prior collects the ball and effects the run out ... Mathews stands mid-pitch and protests that Onions was blocking him but he is ruled out walks off, shaking his head ... England celebrate but then look on in frustration as Mathews is called back .... in fact it is Strauss who called Mathews back ... unlike Collingwood against New Zealand last summer when a similar incident happened at The Oval ...just an accident, or too generous a decision from Strauss?

Right, that was tense. It was not Onions fault as he was just going back to the stumps to see if he needed to collect the ball. Mathews turned and was ball watching and ran into Onions. To me it looked like Onions was not trying to obstruct Mathews. It should be the batsman's job to try and get out of the way. No malice there. Strauss did what he saw as best at the moment. This may turn into headlines later Today the same batsman collided to Gambhir and ran him out.  No calling back or no drama. Gambhir was not happy but who cares. Not even the captain who had complained of umpiring mistakes or the team which got "spirits of cricket award". Double standards and hypocrisy.  This is called cheating.  The same batsman in England game throws tantrum and gets called back. Few deliveries later he is eventually dismissed. Asshole.

Aussie test woes

Another altercation down under and another non Aussie player stands a  risk of getting banned or facing a suspension.

The supposedly best batsman in the world Ricky Ponting retired hurt and did not come back again to BAT.

Tendulkar on the other hand got hurt on his nose while he was 16 and continued batting in blood soaked  t-shirt.

Anil Kumble came out with hurt jaws in Antigua 2002 and snapped Brian Lara LBW.

Australia after making 520 runs sees Gayle hit one of the fastest Test hundreds to see the Test going to a possible draw unless WI self destruct on day 3.

A 2-0 win looks a rare possibility now for the team which not so long ago was world beater.

Against WI, against whom its media called for a "hakal patti" from the Test playing nations.

If Australia go onto lose the Test or even draw this one to be able to win 1-0 then will similar calls be made ?

By the by significant achievement for black African players in Saffa with Ntini playing his 100th Test.

Australia now are in danger of falling to # 4 in the rankings should they not beat Windies in this Perth test and if they dont then they would not have won a test in Perth for 3 years now.  The trend started by Australia's test nemesis -- Indians.

Who can forget the Perth win in 2008 -- the greatest overseas win for the country, after what happened in Sydney.

India starts the trend, the rest emulates.

Till 2005 only India beat Australia regularly in Tests and since then England started doing the same thing. They got thumped 0-5 next Ashes, Indians won 2-0 after 2004 and 2008 loss (bad umpiring major culprit).  Saffers followed the suite only to be thumped later 1-2 in the home series.

India has Australia on woods in the Tests.  And the tags of 1-1 in 2004 and 1-2 in 2007-08 wont say the real story all cos of that umpire Bucknor.

By the by Yusuf has got his ICL mate in the test team -- Sami.  And that has created furore in Pakistan. And if weakened Australia draw the series with the Pakistanis, then you can imagine who would have helped Pakistan achieve the same as per Younis.

Poor decision

if true to replace Yuvraj Singh with Sangakara as KXIP captain for IPL 3rd season.

What good has Sangakara achieved ? And what are his credentials to captain an Indian side even though its IPL.

KXIP is going KKR way and Tom Moody is getting his Sri Lankan friend aboard which is a recipe for disaster.

Hell no, we dont want Sangakara's shit in IPL and his stupid looking faces in the pre and post match confrences.

Perhaps KXIP hasnt bothered to look for the fate what KKR had. And a Sinhala speaking guy cannot understand the aspirations of local lads who would play for Kings XI.  Would he be able to understand the Punjabi / Hindi speaking lads who might not know English ? Or would he continue to speak in Sri Lankan English which unfortunately Punjabi Puttars wont understand ?

An Indian side needs an Indian captain.  Attitude problems of Yuvraj ? Talk and find solution. Firing is not an solution. Its a case of roll over and die while chasing ambition. Bug Bear!!!

Bash India

All this years since Jaggu revolutionized cricket finances the world (read western) dreaded India as evil force and BCCI as masked daemon.

In short "Gangotri" of all evils.

When ICL came and IPL took T20 revolution a step further, the same forces got more vociferous in Indian bashing.

Now that India has won T20 World Cup, been # 1 in ODIs for a while and now are number 1 in Tests, the same forces crib on high runathons, results oriented picthes (2 of 3 Tests in India this year yielded results) and freelancings inspired from cash rich T20 leagues.

Who is the freelancer ? Any Indian ? Nope, the English man. The very English who have been the custodians of the game all this years.

Who is the highest paid cricketer in IPL ? Ten ? Viru  ? MS ? Nope. The same freelancer and his friend whose alter ego costed him the captaincy of the national side and IPL team almost out of the tourney before a desi took over and almost won the IPL.

Any Indian who defected to ICL from international cricket ? Nobody.

Any Indian who cries foul on UDRS ?

Any Indian who pointed fingers to the umps to raise the fingers to win 17th test in row thus killing the spirits of the game ? Nobody.

And yet anything Indian is filth.

PS : Inspired from SP's post "Growing racism". Just could not hold back.

Dhoni for 5000

Great to see Dhoni break the shaklec and show us what he showed years back with his power hitting.

Actually with me anything works, nudge and run or hit and run. Whatever works for a win is good.

The lad has 5000 runs in 145 games with an average of 50. Not bad for somebody bracketed with Shahid Afridi.

Dhoni in same bracket with Afridi. Lol.

0/88

Zaheer was the best bowler in the firsht ODI.  Bowling yorkers didnt get him the wickets but it made Matthews and Ranatunga Kandamby choke for runs and finally run themselves out.

0.88 doesnt always reflect the efforts you put in.

All yorkers and praise aside, 0/88 is most expensive by an Indian bowler in ODIs, one more than his guru Jaggu in the 2003 WC final :-O.

Who said numbers did the besht jushtice to a player. Many times numbers appear like Geofrey's hypothetical cricket playing mum.

Runathon sets the series on fire

So one more Sehwag century and one more SL loss. Doesnt matter they came  close as good as 3 runs. A defeat is a defeat and unlike Sangakara there is no place for what ifs, could have beens and should have beens. He led the reply to a certain extent, fine. But he was unable to win it for the team.

So the result says India beat SL by 3 runs. Its amazing to see India have nose up the SL's ass in last 2 years. Out of last 13 games India has won 9 and lost just 4. Out of this 9, 8 wins have come in SL. So its a good comeback after the humiliating defeat in WC'07.

The figures of 0/88 in 10 for Zaks Khan doesnt reflect the super yorkers he bowled in the last overs which saw Kandamby, the modern day Ranatunga in every aspect -- running, laziness and getting run out :) and Mathews choke and get run out.

SL have got their batting order wrong. Jayasuriya has no business coming at 4 ahead of Jayawardhena. He should be batting at the top. Period.

Ok enough of SL bashing. Good for this post.

India has to sort out its middle order woes in absence of Yuvraj Singh.  309-1 to 352-6 in 5 overs is not something India would always prefer to have.

Rainas and Kohlis have to understand one thing that their IPL heroics aint going to give them the leeway for much longer in the international games.  Raina heads close to 2000 runs, but then he has been playing for more than 4 years now and hasnt attained the maturity he is supposed to.

Dhoni and himself made debut in space of 8 months in ODIs and the place where they stand today are poles apart.  Raina got 2 hundreds against weaker teams and besides that he has a bare cupboard. The 81 he made in England ODI series in 2006 is the only bright spot for him. Either side of that wretched period when Chappell ruined Raina's career, he has been unable to lift himself.

Gambhir at 4 isnt a suitable option for him. He has to be at 3 or opening. But with Ten playing he has to play one down. Dhoni did a good job but did that affect Gambhir's confidence ?

All in all 825 runs have set the bar a bit high from what it was before. 650 runs was considered huge in 90s and now with the end of 2000's first decade, the 800 runs isnt even safe benchmark.

T20s seem to spur the run rate for ODIs which had spurred the Tests run rates last decade with mighty Australians setting the trend. One format fuels the other and they say one format is dangerous for other.

Good start to the ODIs, but spare a thought for bowlers and of course Sangakars who seems to be coming with syllables and jargons with every game.

"Most of the time you can roll over and die chasing over 400, but we almost made".

Bachaooooooooooooooooo.

A mismatch in ODIs

Indians are 2 and Sri Lankans are 7th.

Past 2 ODI series have been 3-2 and 4-1 for Indians. Both away from home. Last time Indians played SL at home was 2-1 out of 4 just prior to the WC'07.

Hardly an even match.

Sanath

would bat at 6 or lower order in ODIs. Ridiculous. The way he has played in both T20s shows that he has firepower left in him.

And he is playing against his favorite opposition -- Indians. 6 hundreds against them in ODIs. Something which cannot be discounted even if he is 40 and hasn't been in prime form last few games or more.

Sangakara cannot get more dumb than this. He is losing out on the only chance that could see his team win the ODI series. What does he think that the new opening pair of (i don know who) will give his team good starts and then likes of Kapu or Kandamby besides the loser duo of himself and Blabba would do the job for his team ahead of Sanath?

Freak. Brain freeze for Sangakara.  Brain-checkup needed.

Honest assesment of Sri Lankan Test cricket

An eye opener on where SL stands right now in world of Test cricket.

An honest analysis by a Lankan scribe devoid of any jingoism and any over the top adjectives.

http://sundaytimes.lk/091213/Sports/sunday_Musings.html

Just plain questions which need answers and there seems no body who could answer them.

The most honest line in the entire article is :

"As for poor Ajantha Mendis it looks as if he has run out of ideas like how Sangakkara has forgotten to translate his talk into walk as captain of Sri Lanka. ".

How would this be taken by Lankan fans who hate anything Indians and do not shy describing anything Indian as spiteful and shameful.

Who handled the pressure best

"We have to wait and see how India comes out of this loss (against Australia), especially at home. We are under no pressure. We have not won a Test here before and we are here to change things here. The pressure is on India to keep their home series record intact,"

Sangakara said before landing here for Tests.

And how well did India come out of the ODI loss to Australia.

Down under

Dany scores a hundred.

Yusuf goes for a duck.

Farhat makes a 100, saves his career.

Pak openers make a century partnership.

Yusuf prepares himself to come at 3 in wake of solid partnership opening.

Akamal junior ponders where he would bat 3 ? 4 ? 5 ?

Kiwis head towards another victory. Pakistan to other test series defeat.

What next ? 3-0 mauling in Australia and that means another olive bunch for Mr Ex-Cricket.

England vs SA : Preview

England and  South Africa are heading for another tussle which would see a lot of needle from the crowd and the Saffa players.

Thanks to the half the number of players in  England team from Saffa land. Most prominent among them to be Strauss, Trott and Kevin Pieterson.

Graeme Smith has already predicted that crowd would rally against KP owing to later's outburst against quota system in SA cricket.

Given the backdrop and given the lovey dovey relations Smith, Strauss enjoy and Smith, KP enjoy, this series could be acrimonious as India - Australia 2008. Actually that would be good for Test cricket.

Need crowd to rally behind some players and get the atmosphere vibrant.

English are the favorites for the series win as they come post an Ashes win. Saffers havent played Test cricket in 9 months and a lot of their players havent played first class either. They have been jerks in the ODIs they played so far. So England would be favorites to go in the series starting 12/16.

Players to watch for :

England :

1. KP
2. Strauss
3. Trott
   
4. Swann   : can he spin in fast conditions ?

South Africa

1. Graeme Smith : Best test player and the man to lead. How he plays in 4th innings would be a big factor when Saffa chase. He has been the best in the 4th innings in last few years.
2. Ntini : Only the 7th fast bowler to play 100 Tests and 3rd Saffer fast bowler. How he plays would be a big factor cos he hasnt been that effective off late.
3. AB  : Bloggers' favorite and supposedly the "cutest" one. 

My prediction : England to win with a selfish motive that if Saffa win India dont remain on top.  

Indian Dream team

The modern age dream team for India :

1. Sehwag
2. Gambhir
3. Dravid
4. Tendulkar
5. Ganguly (C)
6. Laxman
7. Dhoni
8. Kumble
9. Bhajji
10. Zaks
11. Sharmaji

Awesome combo. Best ever in the history of the Indian Tests

Sepia Tinted Judgement

India is not being given the credit it deserves in the Tests. They have won everything after SL loss and  they have won against Australia without dropping a Test and England, the supposed romantics of the game and the custodian of the game.

I am not a fan of rankings which sees sea change in the positions over the results.

For example SL has won 60 tests and lost 69 tests.

22 of this tests are against BD and Zim.

Whopping 12 against BD.

England, besides winning Ashes this year against a transtioning Australia hasn't won anything. SL keep winning at home and losing abroad.

Few blogs, I have read that the Indians are the # 1 by default or some formula. Whatever it is, the results show up in their favor. The form shows up, the wins show up. Take out Bucknor out of Sydney 2004 and 2008, India wins both of them which denied them 2 series wins in Australia.

Unfortunately we dont have a system in place which counts what ifs in the game for all those poor umpiring decisions which have  gone against India this decade. Had that not been the case, India would have won even more games than they have.

Win now!!

I hope India arrests the slide in the T20 form and wins something substantial in the Mohali game. Time now to arrest the slump.  The country thats accused to devalue the game is struggling in the format and is number 1 in the format its supposed  to be skeptical to.

Weird.  English authors and Geoff Boycott just cannot digest  that India is # 1.

Hajmola needs to be packed and shipped to this pack of werewolves.

Geoff Boycott

People like Geoff Boycott continue to live in their old fascinating world of Yorkshire which has not produced a quality cricketer for England since Darren Gough and for them they continue to believe that anything Indian is superficial.

Denial is always harmful as  you cannot accept the truth.

Boycott is skeptical of Sehwag's true value and doesnt believe India is # in Tests.

India loses to SL for one just reason

Usual suspects are back and the usual results -- losses are back.

Why even Yusuf Pathan, the duck king is playing. Dhoni is bit too fascinated over this guy's IPL 1 pyrotechniques.

Long gone. Time to think beyond him and of course Rohit Sharma.

Fresh blood and fresh youngsters in T20 and then sneak them to ODIs.

A good article on Strauss

http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/436402.html

A very good article on how Andy Strauss turned the tide for himself.

Twenty Twagon begins

today in a schedule which would see India playing just 2 tests in next 6 months thus fuelling its critics that it doesnt take Tests serious any more.

Thats not true.  India has  toured every test playing nation in last 3 years. Windies in 2006, England in 2007, SA in 2006, Australia in 2007-08, Pakistan in 2006, SL in 2008 and NZ in 2009.  The cycle starts soon next year when India tours Saffa.

Back to the Twenty 20, the campaign today would be the beginning of the mission to get the crown back in 2010.

SL may be the finalists of the last campaign, but today they stand bruised and battered.

Good thing for them is that Slinga Linga returns.

Bad thing for them is Murali doesnt play T20.

Good thing for India is Gambhir returns.  Bad thing is that Rohit Sharma returns along side Suresh Raina, the 2 lads that live the life T20 way.

SL are bruised team right now. Sangakara is a tired man. He has spoke enough on how his team lost. I promise that after the 2nd T20, he would not have any thing more to speak and by the end of the ODIs (1-4) he would go with tape on his mouth.

Windies need to declare asap

Australia's record of 9 wins against Windies at home since 2000 wont be broken since today morning WI are playing Sri Lankan brand of cricket. They are looking for a safe score on a pitch where the highest score made in 4th innings was 233 in recent years.

Gayle has been keeping restraint when he has to go all out in Sehwag way.

If Windies declare and ask Australia to chase 335 odd runs and lose, they would be brave. But if they score 360 odd runs and fall short of a victory, they would be called cowards.

History is beckoning them and now its upto them how they take it.

Turning point for Indian victory

The turning point of the series was the runathon of Lankans in the first test when they went for another record and in the process gave away chance to put pressure on under confident and tired Indians and bowl them out.

After that to save the game, VS scored a 50, Lankans dropped him, VS moved on with scoring 100 and a 200 and Lankans kept cribbing over those decisions which they thought were theirs.

They never recovered and Indians went all over the place thumping the minnow bashers 2-0.

This is the 3rd successive series win for India at home when they haven't dropped a single Test. 

SL cribs on the number of Tests they play and on the FTP. Who schedules their tours ? They frequently tour to Bangladesh and host them in the search for easy records.  And when they lose to the strong teams, they crib citing that they dont get to play in strong teams that often.

Count number of times they have travelled to BD since 2002 and how many times they have gone to SA. They played a 3 Test series in Australia in 1995-96 and since then have travelled just 2 times in 2004 and 2007 for 2 Test series.

Problem of priorities ?

UDRS

World opposes it. Sangakara wants it cos thats what he feels could win the Tests and save the cost on the runs. Nobody except this loser have asked UDRS to continue.

Sangakara speaks crap

as expected on his series loss. The UDRS he says should have been there and as per him that would have made the difference. He is a sore loser. He is good enough to beat minnows and then do a war cry loud and high on the roof top speaking how good team he has only to find thumped royally next time he goes out of the docile lands of SL stadiums which are tailor made to suit Lankan spinners.

"The decisions cost us over 500 runs and put us under a lot of pressure. Had the DRS been there, it might have been different. All other Tests sides are using the review system. This series didn’t have it and it was certainly a handicap"

What the heck his good bowlers were for ? Keeping to cry over those decisions that did not come to him, does he have guts to challenge the likes of Kulasekra, Walagedra and Muralitharan to check their strategies and their failures ? The failures of Samarweera, himself, Blabba king and so forth ? Go find answers for the loss in your team man!!

Stop speaking your shit.

"But not to have the review system when every other side in the world is using the review system, it becomes an extra handicap and it cost us quite a huge amount of runs in the last two Tests.

"This series is probably the best advertisement for having the review system when decisions cost us over 500 runs and a lot of wickets."

UDRS was the sole reason for the 26 wkts Mendis got last year and there after he has been nullified.   Good teams take the negative decisions their stride and then further create opportunities. What did Sangakara's team do ? Nothing. played negative brand of cricket which their forefather, the fat man taught them.

 

This team should not be invited to play any cricket in India. They are the brand of negative cricket all over the world.

 

And Mahi hits it rt on the nail :

 

"The system has its own advantages and disadvantages. If we were at the receiving end, I would say its not good. At the same time if your spinners get wickets because of the review system you tend to be on its favoured side. "

 

Grow up Sangakara and SL.

WE ARE THE BEST TEST PLAYING NATION

India are 2 wkts away from the numero uno ranking in the Tests. And how sweet it sounds. Gives a huge high and a valid one for the hard work the team has put up in this decade.

Constant beatings of Australia has led the team to this point where we can proudly say that yes WE ARE THE BEST TEST PLAYING NATION.

India has not lost a home Test series for 5 years now.  Australia lost one this year, England has lost in 2007 and 2008. SL doesnt matter. Pakistan doesnt play at home. Kiwis and Windies are too inept to win at home.  Bangladesh like SL are irrelevant. South Africa lost one  this year.

India for that matter has not lost a Test in 10 games. Australia last lost 2 times in last 7 tests. Saffers lost 3 in last 6.  England lost 1 in last 5.

Apply every benchmark and Indians are on top. 

One wicket away.

Pakistan inch to first Test win in 3 years

Pakistan are two wickets away from their first win in 3 years in Test cricket.  The attritional team plagued with immense tussle of egos and conflicts followed by inferiority complex owing to the torn situations back home is now getting close to a win amidst farce in the captaincy, farce in the top of the order and farce in almost everything.

That shows how individual performances matter in a game which is perhaps the longest played with team spirits.  Malik and Yusuf wont see an eye to eye, Misbah is given a booty to this career by his mate and the captain for the tour.

And the original captain, the drama king is not even in the picture. He is the man who takes most breaks in the international cricket, whimsical and impulsive. Apt that he ran to the problems within the team.  Reports now say that he is not even going to Australia for form reasons. Well, thats good. Pakistan has never succeded against Australia in ages now. Last test win against them came good 16 years back thanks to a deadly miss by Ian Healy.

Today's win would be hailed as great event in terror torn Pakistan, in fact the ego battles of the senior players and the mess Butt has spread is more horrific than the ISI sponsered and Taliban fired terror wave back in that country.

Contrasting fortunes, a win for the embattled country would see them amongst victory in 3 years and one win to their traditional rivals would see them going on the top of Test rankings. 

I imagine how Pakisani players would react when they would win. How bugsy rabbit Kamran Akamal would go to his Danya Danya, the Gujju and hug him.  How the opportunist and the worst fielder in international cricket, the Younis Youhana nee Mohd Yusuf would walk off with his gang and Malik would walk with his gang. How the drug peddler would give tips to raw young Mohd Aamer to keep the drugs, eat it, get banned and then come back.

Wow.  Pakistan cricket is never short of Ekta Kapoor's errand soap opera tales.

Emosonal Atyachar

SL are on the brink of the  series defeat in India today and they would be disappointed that they had come here dreaming of a series win. Unfortunately that could not happen. Sanga and Maha, the 2 architects of all the pre series campaign have been quiet and reported to be fuming with each other.

Since they are playing the 3rd and final Test in Mumbai, the home of Bollywood, they slipped one day out of their hotel room in Dharavi or Naupada, Andheri to Mahboob Studios and then to RK Studio near Deonar Agar, Chemboor to catch up with the Bollywood film shooting.

Sanga and Maha reportedly went looking for Preity Zinta who could give them much needed hug, but she refused to meet them as it could anger Yuvraj and Sreesanth who being Indians reserve first right to Preity's hugs.

Mahela was fuming over Sanga over his captaincy and alleged fight between two in Kanpur inspired by Mulayam Singh Yadav's kushti akhadas. One day before Mumbai Test 1st day he composed a parody mixing three songs of movie Dev D.  He seems to have liked the movie so much so that when he lost his captaincy after defeat to India in ODI series, he wrote following lyrics.  He is probably looking for AR Rehman and Pritam to compose music for below lyrics :

Jiya jiya jiya dole

1 2 3 4 6

yeh dil pighlake bat bana lu

Us bat se BD ke against double hundred bana lu

smokin smokin nikale re dhua

sapne dekhe series victory ke

par wo mitti me mil jaye

what to tell u darling kya hua

haatho se kar do victory ko good bye

Chadh jaye hai allah jise minnows bashing bukhar

Tauba tera jalwa tauba tera pyar

Sanga-Mahela tera yeh emotional atyachar

Jao Jao re Indian victory ke builder (Sings to Viru, Dravid and Mahi)

Ho gayi dil ke paar tragedy tragedy

Murali gul sokh sokh ke murjhaye

Ajantha ki loot gayi bahar

Bol bol ke Zindagi

Why did you ditch me.

Jindagi bhi le le yaar

India se mooh chipa kaise jaau

Tauba tera jalwa tauba tera pyar

Samarweera ka  yeh emosional atyachar

Dilshan ke dill scoop ab chala chal

Man me more hook si oothi hai

Harbhajan ko shoulder arms karoo

Wari me jau sadke dhol yaara dhol

Mauj ki pinge jhoolu

De de mohe haar de de

BD ko peet ke aasman choo lo

Zimbabwe ka nathaniya laga ke jhoomu

Mahela Sanga saath saath ishaq me doobe re

Haar ke ishaq me dooobe re

Koyal jaisi hook uthi hai

O Baliyssa mere yaar re

Tohra sag tohra sang rang rangayi

Jeet ke sapne honge

Champagne ki mahfil hogi

Victory ka anchal odh lu me

To te sang baat ban jaye

India ko India me peet du

Dhol yaara Dhol

Man me hook uthi hai

Mumbai ke Taj ko ghatiya bolu

De de mohe jeet de de

Tore saath bolu

Test me hare to India ko gaali du

ODI me hare to weather ko excuse banau

Fir wapas wahi IPL khelne jau

Preity ke dimples me kho jau

Jaake jhappiya te pappiya pau

Te Bhangra Pau

Dhol yara dhol

Pukhta hai purjor hai

Kal mera bebaak tha

Aaj mera kamjor hai

Khud se hi aankhein na mil paye

Aanko ke aage manjar wapas na aaye

Fir is lamhe ki haqiqat dobara na kar paye

Jalta he dil jalta he dil

Reporter pare hat jaa re pare hat jaa re

Viru nazaro ke samne se hat jaa

Tere shot mere aankhon ke samne chalte rahte

aasoo mere bahate rehte khoon khoon ke

Aankho ka hai yeh dhoka

Aisa teri captaincy yaar

Tera emosanal atyachar

Sanga tera emosanal atyachar

Nayan tarse jeet na mile

Greatness bhi na mile

Ro ro ke bahe dhar

Mahela Jaywardhene's character goes on strike

When the opportunity beckons to play long innings or  a match saving one Mahila Jayawardhene just loses his mind. His balls go on strike and his character evaporates.

What a tame way to get out when the stage demanded an innings of substance from him, but the selfish man he is he would like to play well in sunny days and let his ass go crazy in gloomy days.

Ojha's debut

came in Kanpur at the expense of Amit Mishra. My question is he worthy of a Test debut. He is part of that IPL chauvinistic brand of people in India who would love T20s.  So then is his debut worthy ? I think he is just good for the short and shortest format of the game rather than the Tests.

Deccan chargers seems to be the best bet for him to be in.

UDRS noises

Ponting says UDRS isnt doing job its supposed to do. Murali wants UDRS to be forced by ICC. Well thats opportunistic.

Long back in 2008, when UDRS was first experimented in India - SL series, SL won the series 2-1 as most of the UDRS decisions went SL way and Indians were left baffling. i am not sure if Anil made any noise then about the effectiveness of UDRS, he is not even supposed to make anything known publicly.

26-3 in front of SL which is extremist score. 26 reviews went in favor of SL and 3 in favor of India.

No Lankan cricketer had a holistic view of UDRS that time cos they had won a series 2-1 and they had got a supposedly new super star in now flattened Ajantha Bakery Mendis.  And now the aura of M&M is demolished and bitten to dust along with a 0-2 series loss beckons, suddenly Murali wants UDRS to be enforced.

Losers crib, winners stay quiet. The same winners when they lose, they crib. Unfortunately for the first set of losers, the 2008 losers didn't crib and when the same side would be the winner again later tomorrow morning, the same people wont be asking to force UDRS.

Its all about the excuses and attitude, Lankans made a huge noise before they stepped here for their Tests leg of the tour and they also left a door open expecting they would lose for the excuses, now one more has come up in form of UDRS. They've got no right talking the business about UDRS.

They played poor cricket and they are worthy losers. Simple.

Virender Sehwag and Richards

Sehwag is more dangerous and great batsman than Richards who occasionally terified the bowlers of his generation.  Sehwag on the other hand has made runs with more freedom and more fear factor is installed amidst the opposition bowlers.

Poor Sambit Bal, he got a lot of flak for writing this on cricinfo.

I wont get flak as I have disabled comments to get rid of Ding Dong and other loseers.

By the by, those Sri Lankan bloggers (hate filled) have vanished quickly after Ahmedabad Test. Lol.