Vaughan joins Gough in coughing shit!!!

England are obsessed with India being the number 1 test side in the world. I think the englishmen aint able to digest this fact. 

After Gough gobbled yesterday, today its chance of Michael Vaughan to poke some shit on how India is an ageing side. 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/top-stories/Vaughan-tips-England-to-replace-ageing-India-as-Tests-best/articleshow/7197298.cms

Read more on this link.

What Englishmen think about us, it hardly matters to us. We have been the top ranked side for over a year now and if it was fluke, they would have been displaced within a few series. 

England retained the Ashes, fine. Speak good about them, we wont complaint and wont care. But why drag the Indian side in this. 

SL without Murali

There were a lot of retirements from the Test cricket this year. Like Ryan Sidebottom, Shane Bond and all. Biggest of them was Muttaih Muralitharan of Sri Lanka. When he was around, SL were invincibles at home and continued to lamb abroad. Now with him no more bagging the whites, they are still continuing to play Test cricket and finding it difficult to win a test match cos they dont have the luxury to take 20 wikats anymore.

Evidence: they failed to bowl out India and West Indies in subsequent 5 Test matches after Murali retired. So much pissed off was Sangakara, that he called this tests as worst of his life. He'd be making runs in tons and thousands on flat pancake pitches in Lanka, but those runs wont count as they wont get him 20 wickets required to win the test match. Next year end they are slotted to tour SA by year end and SA have great chance to end the irritating habit of losing Boxing Day tests in Durban.

So why is SL even planning to play Test cricket? They dont have the bowlers to take 20 wkts and to hide this inefficiency the likes of Paravarariritana, Sangakara, Samarweera and of course the baap of them all Jayawardhena continue to make runs and bat longer. Much like gully cricket when a rowdy team refused to declare and continued to bully the lesser teams or touring teams in the home "gully".

2010 they played 6 tests and won just 1. They did not play against BD as they refused to tour SL every 2nd or 3rd month.

Now they are planning a test series against Pakistan. However hopeless Pakistan might be against other teams, but when it comes to SL, some of their bowlers -- known or debutants manage to get heapfuul of wickets.

Wasim Akram took 2 hattricks in Tests, all against SL in back to back tests.

Top cricket moments 2010

Top cricketing moments of 2010 for India :

1.  Sachin hitting 200 in Gwalior ODI

2.  Sachin's fabulous run in the tests when he scored close to 1400 runs, 7 centuries, 2 double hundreds and crossed 14000 run mark.

3.  VVS Laxman's awesome smashing 4th innings batting streaks in Sri Lanka, India and South Africa.

4.  India's 3 consecutive Test wins chasing a target in SL and India.

5.  Asia cup win in 15 years in SL.

6.  Suresh Raina's 100 in T20Is

7.  Sehwag's awesome form in Tests

8.  Dropping of Jadeja for SA series

9.  A 2-0 whitewash of Australia

10. An unbeaten home season, 2nd time in 3 years.

There were a few failures too:

1.  T20 failure 2nd time in running.

2.  Poor tri series in Zimbabwe and SL.

3.  Loss to SL in 2 tri series finals

4.  Allowing Chuck to get past 800 wickets.

5.  Fluctuating ODI form in the first half of the year.

6.  Fielding a weakened side with an obsession for Jadeja, Vijay, Sharma and Boss DK.

7.  IPL mess

8.  Allowing losers like Sangakara to score heavily against us.

9.  Centurion loss

10.  Poor bowling in slog overs

India played 14 tests this year and this was the record:

Lost 3.

Won 8

Drew 3.

This was the highest number of tests any team played in this year along side England.

Sachin and Sehwag were the topmost run getters in Tests for all teams.  The next 2 are Englishmen in Trott and Cook. The next 2 are Saffers in Amla and Kallis.

In bowling Swann took 64 and Steyn took 60 wickets.  Anderson and Morkel were next and Zaheer took 47 in 11 with an awesome average of 21.97.

In the ODIs India and BD played most ODIs. India played 27, won 17 and lost 10. They are on a 6 match winning streak now.  England played 17 and won 12. Lanka played 22 and won 15.  SA lost just 4 ODIs, 2 of them to India at the start of the year. Australia  won 16 and lost 8. Pakistan won just 5 and lost 13. 4 of them were against Eng and SA.

Amla was the top scorer in ODIs followed by Virat Kohli, AB, Dilshan and Keyes.

Gough dont cough shit!!!

"For me, we're the best team in the world at this moment. I've watched the South Africa-India series and I see nothing to worry about. India are fantastic in their own country and have some great individuals but I'd fancy this England side to beat them every day of the week,"

This words of wisdom are from a man who missed more Tests than he played. From a man who chickened out of the Ashes 2002 and was never successful abroad or home. So poor was the standard of the team during his playing days that he was considered their best bowler and probably he still holds the most ODI wickets for England. 

He is talking probably nosense shit out of sheer chivalry ignoring the facts, figures and history. If England were to  beat India every day of the week, then what stopped them from beating India in a TEST series home and away for good 14 years.  14 years is a goddamn long period. It took 14 years for India to shed off the Durban monkey off its back, but probably it would take more 14 years for England to beat India in a TEST series. 

Now almost everybody of this playing 11 were part of the Chennai Test in 2008 which England lost despite setting a formidable target of 387.  Swann debuted in that series, they had almost same batting unit -- Strauss, Cook, Pietersen, Bell, Collingwood, Prior and of course no Gough.

Gough dont cough!!!

England have just retained the Ashes in Australia, they have not won the series in Australia. England conquered Australia when the later was at its weakest in last 17 odd years. India gave hard fight to Australia in Australia in 2003 and 2007 when they were at their peak of the powers and had their greats playing. India was at almost even with Australia when it came to battling out the tests. 

On the other hand before 2005 Ashes which England won cos there was no McGrath in the tests which they won, they were pathetic travellers. Long back in 2000s start they were labelled worst Test playing nation just for their spectacular collapses in the tests home and away.  They were whitewashed 0-5 in last Ashes campaign. 

They have lost to India, South Africa at home in last 3 years. Wins only against pathetic Test playing teams like West Indies, Pakistan and of course Bangladesh but not before Tamim Iqbal did kam tamam in 2 consecutive Tests...

What shit Gough is talking about? Perhaps he needs to go back to school to learn the history and mathematics. Or perhaps he needs to have his vision checked to get rid of colonial hangover.

SA allege that Steve Davis was drunk going into Durban Test

Saffers like SriLanka are now coming up with a novel excuse for their loss in Durban Test. They aint blaming rains, weather, UDRS or the BCCI. They are blaming an Australian for their defeat.

The SA manager has come up with a weird finding that the umpire Steve Davis was drunk on Christmas day and he went into the test as drunk.  Now if he was drunk on evening before, how could he be still under the influence of alcohol good 10 hrs later?

And the reason for the ire on poor Davis is that he gave the so called dubious decisions to Boucher and DeVilliers in the 2nd innings of the Durban test.

Good lord they never or least faced Steve Bucknor at one of the ends else they would have been mad and they would have come up with some real weird allegations.

Like Sri Lanka, South Africa are not good losers.

By the way if Bucknor did not stand up in Sydney tests of 2004 and 2008, India would have won 2 series in Australia much before South Africa did in 2008.

Remember his decisions!!!!

Cricketing World

Pakistan have won the last T20 and avoided a clean sweep in NZ. They also ended the 6 match losing streak in T20s. And this time the Palak Paneer guy came good again with allround effort.

I am bit skeptical of planning PCB had for the team in the run up to the World Cup. 3 T20s and 2 tests in addition to 6 ODIs. Whats the meaning of 3 T20s? What purpose does it serve?

By the way they are the only team who have to give the 30 names for WC provisional squad. And they are hung up as Kakkumal, Shoaib Mirza and Danis Kaneria meet PCB's "integrity committee to decide over their future in cricket. Now what happens and what would happen is anybody's guess in Pak cricket.

Zim and BD are done playing their last games before the world cup and they sit idle for the next 43 days in the run up to the World Cup.

And perhaps SL and WI too.

SL are still a "formidable" side going to World Cup. I dont believe this. They are always formidable, they are always romantic side, they are fairy tale and what not. They have not played any serious cricket for over a month since that dubious and fart win over Aus in ODI series in Aus.  Yet they are formidable. For a change you have not heard from Sanga in long time. So have I. And thats good.

The rest of cricketing fraternity is busy playing Tests or ODI cricket.

Australia are moaning about Ashes loss and how useless Ponting is now. England have everything revolving around Ashes and they dont seem to think beyond Ashes. Perhaps they should stop playing cricket in between Ashes series.  Yet they want to be # 1. And Collingwood could be on his way out from Tests at least.

Clarke is the captain for the Sydney test and most probably for long term too. He is having a rut in the batting department and that has invited a lot of doubts over his choice of captaincy.

The Australian batting is no more formidable as it used to over  2 years before.

Katich or Hughes do not inspire confidence. Watson makes 50 but does not convert 100s. Ponting stopped making 100s since long time. Hussey is the only batsman, Clarke is metrofexual and Steven Smith as # 6 is fart.

Compare that to the likes of Hayden, Langer, Ponting, Gilchrist as good as 2007.  More than the batters they are missing Shane Warne, Gillespie and of course Glenn McGraw (Bill Lawry style).

Wont be a surprise if they lose the world cup in India next year.

Possible semi finalists:

1. India.

2. England

3. South Africa

4. Australia / Pakistan if neither of this teams implode or explode.

1 more day of 2010 and I would finish off 4th year of cricket blogging starting 2007.  Pretty good journey from a world cup to world cup.

THings around Durban Win

The Durban Test is conquered and the daemons of 14 years have been buried. And this was done on "one of the greenest ever tracks" we played on. This test was won by a team whose bowlers had a ? on "ability to take 20 wickets".  14 years back, the Donald and Pollock company had buried India for 100 and 66 and that was the worst display by the team ever since I started watching cricket.

Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman were part of that team.

But this team is different. This team is the top ranked team of the world and if there were any questions on the rank, they must be buried now. India bounced back in style on a green track on which Smith and co "have grew up on", yet they have lost last 3 tests in 3 years on Kingsmead.

The likes of Robin Jackman, Shaun Pollock and others were shut up hard when they saw how Zaheer and Harbhajan rolled Saffers for 131 in first innings on a "not so 131 looking pitch".

Shameful isnt it.

Losing in one's own backyard in conditions suiting the home team is a shame.

India has downplayed every achievement it has in past few years abroad. They have now won every where. And given the current form and situations, they should easily win in West Indies and Australia. A good contest would be in offing against England who are pipped for # 1.

England have not won a series against India home and away in 14 years. And so has South Africa in 4 years.

Zaheer, Laxman, Harbhajan, Sreesanth, Pujara and of course Ishant Sharma wrote the script for the victory. Presence of Zaheer Khan showed how much he is valuable to the Indian team. The attack looks potent from average and insipid. Only if Ishant Sharma could discover the form and passion of Australia 08 India's new ball attack would be better than it is right now.

Kallis jumping to form a reverse C would be the marquee vintage image of this series and for years to come. How could he not play short ball? He has grew up in such conditions. And so did Graeme Smith. He got out to a miscued pull off a short ball of short tempered Freesanth.  Only after pointing a bat to him after there was a personal thing between him and Freesanth.

I wont complaint. The situations leading to Cape Town test are similar to 2007 when India lost out on the day 3 and day 4 when Lord Harris strangulated Sachin and Dravid and after a Kallisque effort, SA won by 6 wkts. That was a Jaffer test and a Ganguly series. Coud not believe that Sehwag batted at 7 and BossDK batted at 2.

India had won at Joburg, lost at Durban then. This time lost in Centurion, won in Durban.

If Capetown is won, then this would be the best test series win of the decade. In a land which has tormented the cricket for last 17 years and has made mortals of greats. A 2-1 India would be a fitting result.

Durban test at a cliffhanger moment

The Durban test is at a very critical juncture where it could be anybody's Test. Its India who needs 7 wickets and its South Africa who needs 192 runs. 


SA have their 2 best batsmen on the crease in form of Kallis and AB. And India would love to have both of them as soon as possible to enforce a win and level the series. 


The key men for India would be indeed Zaheer and Harbhajan. Of course Ishant and Sreesanth would be there but they wont be as consistent as the former two and they would certainly be looking to shed their waywardness on the most important day of this series. 


A couple of wickets or 3 in the first session with not many runs given away would be a thing India would expect. And 70-90 runs with 1 wicket or 2 would be something South Africa would be looking to. 


In the end its going to be those crucial moments which would decide  who would win the game. The team which would seize and give nothing away would win this test match. And it would be great for Dhoni if he  tapes Sreesanth so that he does not piss anybody off and none of remaining Saffers plays a match winning innings.

IPL blame game has started

The PCB had been quite since long time. Since long time they had been doing nothing that would evoke laughters. And now they have done it. 

The typical blame game has started with PCB blaming India on lack of Pakistanis in the IPL auction to be followed next January.

Raina under pressure

Suresh Raina has now failed for 4 consecutive games in Tests and he has seemed to given away his advantage of having a cracking start to his Test career in Sangaland. 

He must remember that few more failures and he would be out of the reckoning soon. There are too many contenders for the # 6 spot in the Test side with Yuvraj, Pujara and the awesome Kohli.

Even though he has a big fan in MSD still he would need to deliver in the upcoming Durban Test, else this SA tour would be a replica of 2006 tour when he failed and he was out of the World Cup squad and went to a hibernation of 1 year untill CB Series of 2008.

He better perform!!!

Response to Graeme Smith 's questioning India's # 1 status

Ok this reading compels me to write a post.

India are top team in the Tests in the world for more than a year now. And this has not come down to India just cos of the mathematical formulae that go beyond calculating the ICC rankings and all. The results home and away reflect the consistency India has had over past 3 years starting England 2007 or perhaps before than that.  India reached # 1 ranking last year and has hung to it for 1 year and counting now. Its not like South Africa who reached # 1 in both formats of the game and slipped no later than they reached.  

There have been verbal volleys from the coach and the captain of SA how India have to win to prove their # 1 ranking. What if India wins? What if SA lose yet again to take 20 wickets? They failed to take 20 wickets in consecutive tests against weaker Pakistan which had no Yusuf in their ranks. They have not won a Test series at home beyond last 2 series. They drew against England and lost to Australia just after they won in Australia.

Same Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel failed to shut out the Pakistani batsmen in Sheikhland, who had been bruised and hurt by England in England and in Australia before.

"We've been touching the No. 1 and 2 spot for the past two-and-a-half-years and we've played some good cricket around the world. We pride ourselves on big series like this one". Smith says. But they have not clung on to that spot. They are not even 1, 2 or 3 in ODIs.

Their batters have been getting big runs every where but they have choked when it came to hitting the nail hard to win a series. They won in Nagpur in India but lost in Kolkata. So if they are tough nuts why did they lose out in India 2 times after winning first test every time. Why did they fail to dismiss Pakistan 2 times in 2 tests in last series they played?

Last year they drew against England but 2 times out of 3 in first 3 tests they were in winning positions but failed out to take last English wicket to win 3-1. So who is tough and who deserves a # 1?

India or South Africa?

India have consistently won test matches in absence of first choice bowlers most part of the times. They've found out somebody in the bwoling department who stands out and delivers.

In batting they have made 400 runs in 7 consecutive games and passed 300 in one of every 25 Tests they have played in since 2008. They have not lost a series in last 2 and half years.

South Africa have not won a Test series in their own backyard in 2 years, their own conditions pacy and bouncy aiding their fast bowlers, they still failed to take 20 wickets every Test they played. Their batsmen plundered runs, but their bowlers lacked the firepower to take 20 wickets consistently.

On the other hand India -- having a so called "world class bowling attack" have taken 20 wickets in alien conditions and in supporting conditions. They won in SL, when SA were blanked 0-3. They won in NZ. India saved test matches, won test matches, chased targets in 4th innings, won convincingly, made huge scores in first or second innings of a test giving enough time to their depleted bowlers to take 20 wickets.

If Sehwag does not do it, then Dravid does, if not Dravid then Laxman. Sachin always performs.

And whats this hype about the dislike for short balls? Who fails against them? Sachin? Dravid? Laxman? Sehwag?  If its just 2 batsmen -- Gambhir and Raina who are prone to short balls, then why label the entire team as succeptible to the short stuff. Try short stuff against Sehwag. Once or twice you might succeed, but be ready to face the music then. Remember 319? Remember this year's Kolkata test?

Does South Africa invite that awe which Australia had? They've never won in SL, India. They last won in India 10 years back and since then they have lost 1 and drew 2. They were blanked 0-3 in dead pitches of SL 4 years back.

Australia consistently whitewashed them this decade home and away until 2008 when they won 2-1 but lost the home series 1-2. They won in England but drew in home. They failed to shut out Pakistan who are at their weakest in terms of batting in their history.

It'd be better if Smith has a look at the side he's got and then do a pot shot to India. India has experienced customers who are too good to fall in this verbal childish trap of so called mind games. Focus on the play in the middle dude and not on the verbal volleys.

India vs SA preview

The battle of champion Test sides begin on thursday and there are clear favorites for this battle. Being an Indian fan, I would always gun for India. The reason being this is the best chance for India to win a series in SA for first time ever in the cricketing history. Last time India came close to do so, but Lord Harris strangled India and later Kallis bhia took the initiative and won the Captown test by 6 wkts for his side to win the series 2-1.

This time around there are lot of changed personnel in Indian side.

• First ever tour to SA with no Kumble. He was part of tours in 1992, 1996 and 2006. He was injured in 2001.
• India for first time has a settled and the best opening pair in the current scnearion in the Test cricket.
• Sehwag is in imperious form in Tests and he seems to be all set to erase the painful memories of 2007 tour when he was dropped following a horrible Test tour. He had made 48 in the middle order and had seen BossaDK promoted to the top along side Wasim Jaffer.
• Sachin Tendulkar would be keen to make his 50th 100 in Tests and move further close to the magical 100 100s mark.
• VVS Laxman would look forward to conquer SA too, something which he has not done in previous 3  tours.
• Zaheer Khan would be the trump to win a test in SA. If he is not around, as cricinfo suggests he is having injury concerns, then India would have hard task to take 20 wickets to win the tests.
• There would be no Ganguly at 5 or 6 to conquer the demons and it would be either Raina or Pujara who would take the guard at 6.
• Most probably the start up attack would be Zaheer, Sreesanth, Ishant and Harbhajan.
• Sreesanth is back to the land where he had got himself reckoned into the mainstream Indian bowling after stellar performance in Jo'burg which India won.

On the other hand SA is also a very high quality side in their own home turf.

They have deep batting line up till 8 and the presence of Kallis allows them to play 5 bowlers. The form of Amla would be tested against the Indians, whom he has developed a special liking.

Dale Steyn, as usual would be the most dangerous threat and if Sehwag is able to contain the man, the remaining bowlers would not be so tough to handle given the fact that the 3rd seamer would be inexperienced in Tsotobe.

The start of the Test would be a good attention seeker from the Ashes hype which has just maddened the old cricket world as if the rest of the cricketing countries do not exist.

Possible teams:

India : 1. Sehwag 2. Gambhir 3. Dravid 4. Tendulkar 5. Laxman 6. Raina 7. Dhoni 8. Harbhajan 9. Zaheer 10. Sreesanth 11. Ishant

South Africa : 1. A Pieterson 2. Smith 3. Amla 4. Kallis 5. AB 6. Prince 7. Boucher 8. Morkel 9. Steyn 10. Harris 11. Tsotobe

India 2 SA 1.

World Cup 2011 contenders

South Africa and India are to play 5 ODIs each before the World Cup.

Australia and England 7 each, Pakistan and NZ -- 5 each. West Indies depend on the mercy of the SL board if they are to play any more games before he world cup.

BD and Zim would play their last game before the world cup. And who cares about the other teams. 

What about SL ? Well they would play mind games and their fat arse ex captain Arjun Ranatunga would go all over the talk shows saying that his country is favorites for the world cup cos they have Sanga, Mahila and Malinga.

Bhaat the Fuck!!!!

Before the world cup begins, the focus would be on 3 key Test series:

1. India vs South Africa.

2. Ashes

3. Pakistan vs New Zealand.

England wont win the world cup cos for them Ashes is the world, if they would win the Ashes they would be content. Australia is in the disarray. If they lose the Ashes, they are going to blank England 7-0 in the ODIs. India is on the winning streak of 6 ODIs in row in completed games. But they are back in the country where they last won an ODI good 7 years back -- the semifinal win against Kenya.  They last played a series in 2006 when they lost 0-4.

Sorry, they last won a ODI in 2009 beating the West Indies in ill fated CT. Saffers have played few ODIs this year and they won against Pakistan, West Indies, Zimbabwe and lost to India 1-2. They hold the record now for conceeding max runs in ODIs in an individual innings. 

IMO there would be tough competition between 5 teams for the 4 semi final slots. 

1. Australia

2. South Africa

3. India

4. England / Pakistan

Pakistan cos they are unpredictable lads and its ages we last heard of joker called Ijaz Butt speak or do anything lampoonic...So if they play well and steer clear of any unwanted controversy, they can reach semis and they would then have to give a walkover to the other semifinalist as they wont like to play in India in the finals. They wont be allowed to play due to the ongoing freeze in the bilateral relations.

5-0

India has blanked NZ 5-0 and there were some good performances in this 5 ODIs from fringe players. This not only poses some good and happy selectorial choices for the world cup, also augurs well since the world cup is going to be on the home pitches.  It would be selectorial decision who those 15 men would be to represent India. Most of those slots are fixed and frankly enough there are just few spots which need some mind crunching.

This are interesting contenders:

Yusuf Pathan

Parthiv Patel

R Ashvin

Sreesanth

Parthiv Patel's success in 2 ODIs is a slap to Srijkkanth and company who consistently ignored this lad from Gujarat and kept going for losers like BossDK.  PP has always been a better batsman than Bossedeshwar and he has had a strong desire for success built up in the years he was out of the team. He might not be the first choice keeper again, but he can certainly be the backup keeper on the tours abroad.

He is a better batsman and keeper than even Wriddhiman Saha who is going to SA as backup keeper.

Sreesanth's wickets in first 2 games have brought him in contention and if he repeats his success in ODIs in SA, then he would be a seriou contender for 3rd seamer spot.

Zaheer, Praveen and Nehra are certainities. The fourth seamer could be a choice between Ishant, Sreesanth and to an extent Munaf.

R Ashvin would pose a threat to IPL Ojha for the  2nd spinner in the team and if he takes wickets instead of containing or holding the batsmen it would be a huge bonus for India. Its been ages we've had a wicket taking spinner in ODIs since decline of Anil Kumble in ODIs.

Ashes update

Run fest continues on Adelaide Oval in the Ashes and Australia continue to plunder low depths in the batting and bowling departments. 

Kevin Pietersen ended his 19 month wait for a Test century and what a way to bring it with a double 100. He is playing on 213 on day 3 end of the play and if England continue to bat on day 4 for say session and half, he would be good for a triple 100, first one after Gooch's 333 for England.

The pitch is spectacularly flat and if it does not crack up or deteriorate on day 4, Australia would feel good to bat out and earn a safe draw. They have men except North to do it and English attack would be fatal only if the ball would swing. Ball swung on day 1 and Jimmy Anderson reduced Australia to 3/2.  Once Aussies were bowled out, the pitch went from Australian to Sri Lankan second test in a row.

Australia have to sort out the batting woes of Clarke, Ponting and Katich to pose some formidable score and sort out their bowling combination -- especially spin department to stand a chance to win at least one test.

Its sad to see Australia in such a situation but then this is cricket and the Aussies are now on the receiving end of what they did to the other teams in their era of domination.

Bolte raho

Sri Lanka have dropped to 5th in the test rankings and their captain is calling it the worst series if his life. His speaking continues and so does the distaste for him on this blog.

SriLankan war crime

The truth behind the so called demolition of LTTE from Sri Lanka land in 2009 is well evident in the video below. 

Cold blooded killings of minority community augurs international investigation and if confirmed widespread sanctions against the  country as a whole including their cricket. 

The killings are brutal and totally Talibanesque. 

When this killings were carried out, the international media was barred from covering the conflict in Sri Lanka and later on their prez has been taking on the credit for wiping out LTTE . He has constantly denied allegations of the war crimes, but this video footage nail his lie in open.

England not faves for Adelaide

Everybody is talking about how England have the advantage over Aussies going to the 2nd test on back of the Sri Lankan scoreline of 1/517 in 2nd innings of Gaba Test, but why do they forget that same English team were bowled out for 260 in the first innings. 

If a clear and fair picture has to be drawn, then the first innings has to be taken into consideration.

English bowling is not much better than Australia's. If Australia conceeded 517 runs in 2nd innings, English leaked 484 in their first innings. So that gives a very hazy picture on who is leading and who is traling.

The scoreline is 0-0 and the 2nd Test would be played on yet another flat surface which would be just like Kandy or Premdasa or SSC.....Hudddddddddddddd

India's world cup chances brighten up

India are on a roll and having an unbeaten home season first time in memory of all the years I have watched Indian cricket. 2-0 win over Aussies, 1-0 over Kiwis and today's 2-0 lead over Kiwis in ODIs. And this is without the first choice players -- Sehwag, Zaheer, Harbhajan, Dhoni, Ishant, Tendulkar are all rested or missing.

India have been playing some positive brand of cricket after a dismal show in Sri Lanka on dicey useless pitches in august.

And that augurs well for the team ahead given the World Cup is in India itself.

Sreesanth's form in bowling and Gambhir, Kohli's form in batting is a huge bonus.

India's world cup chances look good again!!!

Correction:: India wins Guwahati game

There is a correction in the post below courtesy Golandaaz (thanks for pointing it out): Ok Sreesanth, if he takes wicket off first ball next game he plays he would be 3rd Indian to take a hattrick in ODIs after Kapil Dev and Chetan Sharma.

Kapil Dev took it against my favorite Sri Lankans in 1991 and Chetan Sharma took it against Kiwis in 1987 World Cup (first World cup hattrick).

Chetan Sharma's hattrick was just the 3rd in the ODIs then after Jalaluddin and Bruce Reid. (Courtesy check from wikipedia).

India wins Guwahati game

India won the first ODI in Guwahati by comfortable 40 runs. This margin could have been even bigger one should the 9th wkt partnership of 67 runs had been shortened. Yet next game in Jaipur, the Mallu lad Sreesanth would be on hattrick and if he gets wicket on first ball he would become 2nd bowler to take a ODI hatrrick for India. Kapil being the other one.

India had lot of positives from the game in all the aspects:

• Gambhir looked comfortable batting until he chased a wide delivery that got him out.
• Virat Kohli is soon maturing to a wonderful ODI batsman, with his 2nd consecutive century he is a certainity for the World Cup. He has gone past the likes of Vijay, Rohit Sharma and of course Sir Ravinder Jadeja in the utility to the team.
• R Ashvin was a very good bowler on this day and should he get more chances and he encashes them he would be good wicket taking bowler for India in ODIs.
• All bowlers bowled well in tandem with even Yuvraj Singh coming good with his off spin.

Nehra's ommission from the original squad was baffling and still its not sure if PK returns who would go out. I'd reckon it should be Munaf, as he has not been in the frame all this while and Nehra is India's most successful ODI bowler since June 2009 with 55 wickets in 37 games.

Kiwis now have lost 7 games on the trot in the subcontinental conditions and at this point of time Vettori/Taylor would be a huge fan of Mr Speakit Sangakara who every day gives us a new gyan on the cricketology and latest from his repository is "WC 2011 is going to be most  competitive and there is no clear favorite". So if going by this form, Kiwis are not the favorites for the world cup in subcontinent, but since this would be most open and competitive World Cup, the Kiwis can still surprise anybody. I would be happy if they surprise Sri Lanka every time they play.

Ashes ke Bahane

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ishant Sharma, the biggest beneficiary of Nagpur Test

India in the end won the Nagpur test by 3rd highest margin in its history and thanks to the man in the center, the bridesmaid of Indian cricket. Rahul Dravid. He is tenacious, he is patient and he is a rejuvenated wall.  He was a big factor why India were able to post a lead of 373 runs in the first innings. His return to form is a welcome sign ahead of the final frontier in South Africa.

India have a very good chance of a series win in South Africa with Smith injured and Indian bowlers showing up the promise on the day 3 and day 4 of the Nagpur Test.

Ishant Sharma's 7 wickets in absence of Zaheer ensured he was not missed much, this 7 wicket haul in the game would have given a tremendous surge in the confidence for Ishant Sharma to have his first real Test overseas after Australia 08.  Not to forget on those Australian wickets, Ishant gained a reputation of being a zippy bowler who can extract bounce off the track.

If he could make AB or Amla his bunny, India would only be benefitted from that. Now that Zaheer's bunny wont be playing the series anylonger as of now, the bunny for Zaheer can be Kallis, but Ishant would need to fire in SA. That done, he would go long way being the next fast bowling sensation in India after Srinath and Zaheer at least in Tests.

Shane Shillingford reported for suspect action in Chuckali's land

Ah well, the f**k irony is Shane Shillingford who troubled Lankans with his spin bowling in the Galle Test has been reported for suspect action.

And all this in a land where the biggest chuck and suspected action bowler bowled on and on for taking 800 wickets and other chucker is a reverted retard umpire in the ICC panel.

Nagpur wishlist

My Nagpurian wishlist:

1. An Indian victory within 4 days or at max 5. Not more tha 5 days please. In short, no flat wickets please.
2. Sachin Tendulkar's 50th 100.
3. Dravid scoring a 31st 100.
4. Harbhajan getting a 4-for.
5. Ishant Sharma getting bounce and wickets.
6. Dhoni fires with the bat.
7. Ryder, Baz, Mac get out cheaply.

Nothing short of all 7 wishlist items coming true.

Harbhajan : Now or never

A shame and a disgrace for the best Test team in the world. A team that blanks Australia 2-0 is content with 2 draws with a # 8 team in the world.  A team that wins Tests more often than it draws or loses is not able to win a single Test against hapless opposition which was blanked 0-4 by a minnow team.  Someone from the opposite camp is good enough every time to thwart the champions with a stubborn 100.

Be it Mac, Baz or Bewda Ryder, they are men of character and might not be blessed on talent, but high on temparament and attitude.

India is a  concerned unit right now. The bowling attack has not been able to take 20 Kiwis wickets in any of the 2 test matches so far. Pitches anyone? Not quite.  Look at the bowling attack -- Zaks, Santh, Harbhajan and IPL.

Except Zaks, noone is toothy enough to take wickets on consistent basis.

Harbhajan is happy making runs with the bat whereas he should be concerned on his dwindling bowling stocks. Few years back when he was young and better bowler than he is today, he consistently took 5-fors and 10-fors. Look at his numbers, 24 5-fors. Most of them coming in his early years of Test cricket. And at a time when he should have been doing a Kumble to the team, he is not even himself that he was in early 2000s.

Harbhajan the bowler needs to step up. Ojha is good for bowling marathon spells but not good enough to run through an opposition in a single sensational spell of spin bowling which we have witnessed in home Tests in last 2 decades. When Kumble was around, the visiting teams had tormenting times starting 3rd session of 3rd day. And now they are happy to bat out for a draw. And when there is an occasionally inspired spell of bowling from one of the visiting bowlers, India finds itself in a dock. Heavens gracious we have batsmen capable enough to bail us out of the hole, but tis the bowlers who put us back in the hole with their headless and mindless bowling.

Time is ripe to look elsewhere for the spinning options, if Harbhajan does not mend up his ways and takes charge as leading Indian bowler now that Zaks is out to a groin strain.

Chak de phatte Ulu de patthe Harbhajan!!

Following on Lankans!!

I am mighty pleased over the plight of Sangakara and his bravado men. They are following up. Whom? West Indies. A team nobody gave hoots to. They are making mighty talking giants Sri Lankans following on behind them.

And those big hundred makers, those run machines on the low slow dry lifeless pitches of Sri Lanka -- Sangakara, Mahila, Samaraweera and P Jaya were content with 50s. What a disgrace man. Cant believe they didnt make 100s on a so called hapless Windies attack.  Oh jeez, the character stocks of Lanka have gone to negative. And did you notice, ever since Chris Gayle made superb 333, the assertive, media frenzy, word lover, bugbear fan, austerity champ Kumara Sangakara has not spoken a word. He has gone to a hiding, the media headlines that screamed big  about his rants are now silent on his whereabouts.

Instead he is sending over Mendis to talk to media who is not being politically correct and he expressed fears that Gayle might go on and make a 400.  Nah, i m not seeing Sanga's comments anywhere.

Poor he. He had said before the start of the series that the spinners would be they key. But then who are the spinners for them? Mendis and Randiv. Mendis got a 6-for but well he leaked out 170 runs for those 6 wikats.

They are going to find winning test matches even more difficult now that the Murali king of chucking has retired. And they dont have Malinga too. Instead they have a Chanaka and Dhammika.  And yes Mahila, Kumara, Ajantha, Rangana too.

So if tomorrow on day 5, weather permitting, WI is able to bowl out Sri Lanka and chase down a small target, the Lankans would be a hurt lot and that would please me a lot cos they have tortured the cricket fans over the years with their negative brand of Test cricket ever since that ugly 952 Test.

India edge ahead on day 3

Harbhajan Singh is on a roll. Batting wise.

3rd consecutive 50.

69, 115 and now 85 not out. Good enough than Sangakara's scorelines.

Even better is his approach to shield his slapmate Sreesanth, who is restrained so far and has not seen Andre Nel in Arnel, Martin, Southee or Vettori yet.

Tomorrow few more (30-40) runs would put Kiwis to pressure and then IPL Ojha and Harbhajan himself can expect a quick wickets to ensure India does not chase bigger 4th innings total.

The middle order has not been able to impose itself on the inexperienced Kiwi attack -- Tendulkar, Dhoni and Raina have not been able to score as much as they want to...

VVS Laxman scored 74 in his first home test in 14 years of Test cricket. He has been on song off late and would continue to carry this golden run in 2011 too when India play away series in West Indies, England and Australia preceeded by West Indies at home.

Another interesting Test match looms with a realistic possibility of a result.

Cricketers are childish to Shahid Afridi

In eyes of Shahid Afridi, except himself, every one is childish.

MoYo
YoKha
Julfi
Yaseer Hameed
Amir
Butt
Butt
Asif Malik

All.

Virender Sehwag

Sehwag is bloody damn good. He is a different player from those boring openers around the world like Paravaraniratne or Taufeek Umar or Hafeez or Hashim Amla or Ali Cook.

He just does not give a freaking chance against him and when you get a chance, you dance high in the air counting how valuable his wicket is.

A 173, 1, 96 in a 3 Test series is freaking awesome. Playing as per conditions. Not a mindless slog as his opponents cast him to be.

Look at Micky Mouse Arthur, he is still getting nightmares from those 319 runs in Srikanth's Chennai that he has written in his autobiography.   He bloody ended career of bearded Saqi Mushtaq as his guru, the GOD did for Abdul Qadir back in 1989.

Sehwag is a unconventional batsman for the modern cricket which is full of players who like to poke out verbal diarohea in the public. Captains talk big things, the bowlers predict big things, an out of form Surd bowler takes himself to be an allrounder,a bowler good enough to bowl in nets at grade C club cricket thinks himself to be a test level bowler.

Sehwag is uncluttered in his mind. He adapts himself to the conditions, stays in a shell for time being and once he feels he has spent time good enough in the middle he comes back to his elements and then mercilessly slaughters the bowlers.

The opposition is so scared of his 100 that they feel they would go to mental asylum if he scores a 100. Evidence of this was evident in Lankan series when Randi bowled a no ball to him delibarately on behest of Dilli babu. Perhaps he forgot he plays for Delhi DareDevils and Sehwag is the king there.

Modern day cricket offers no good sight than Sachin and Sehwag in full elements. Those shots out of nowhere just give you a kick in the butt and you want more of Sehwag, Sehwag.

Just think how idiot Dilip Vengsarkar was who kicked him out and brought in Dinesh Karthik. Asshole.  Look where Bossadeshwar is and where Viru is.  DK is rotting in domestic cricket making single digit figures constitently and Viru, the king is making 100s consistently.

I second Ian Chappell when he says Viru is the most entertaining and rocking batsmen of modern era. And compare that with the likes of Sanga Nanga, Mahila Blabba, Amla Damla, YoYo Bobo. You would see where Viru is.

Champion batsman and a superstar.  Whaddyaplayer. Chuck de phatte Viru de bacche...

His 96 was one classic inning that has brought India back into the game in cyberabad after Zaheer and Bhajji rolled over Kiwis in the morning session.

Sri Lankan Ravans

Sri Lanka have been shoed off by Bangladesh for a Test series due to following reasons:

1. BD cricket is on a new high as I am after Smirnoff, after a 4-0 drubbing of NZ.
2. BD has refused to be part of all cricketing records against their names.
3. BD is tired of shit from Sangakara and the soft spoken Bong Babus do not want to hear the Sinhala tirades of Sangakara on how shit they are and how world class Lankan Ravans are.

So the Lankans are due to play just 5 ODIs before world cup in some locations like Hannumunakonte and some other unpronounciable locations (worse than Tiruvennavalli or Tiruvananthpuram orTircharipally) against disinterested West Indies team.

Sri Lankans play against disinterested teams and they beat them 2-0 or 3-0 and then their pig faced skipper pokes out a verbal diarrohea on how bloody good Lankans are. 

Cricinfo's Lankan page screams headline on what Mahila, the lady Jayawardhena says on how Malinga is valuable for their world cup campaign. Hell 101 wikats in 30 tests make him their 3rd highest wikat taker.

They dont have Murali and  they would struggle to bowl out Windies without their own help. Since Chuck retired, they have failed to take 20 wikats in a Test and would forever do.

And if Murali follows Younis and Yousuf, he could soon make a comeback in the tests for them.

Sanga baba is due for a press conference on how good his team would be when he would beat WI 3-0 and 5-0 and then celebrate as if they have beaten a # 1 team in the world . But hey that team are us and the Lankans can never beat us in a full series. Bwahahahahaa.

McIntosh steals thunder with a wonder on Day 1 in Cyberabad

India is struggling to take Kiwi wickets on regular basis and their inexperienced batsmen are making merry of the attack which bamboozled Australia 2 times in row. The Indians are posting a sorry figure for now and their great spinners mr Harbhajan Singh and IPL Ojha playing on his home ground so early in his career are totally ineffective thus far in the series.

Ojha has played a lot of cricket on the new stadiu in Uppal and he should know the nature of pitch, yet he starts with a sorry figure that makes us believe he is a disinterested fellow in Tests.

Harbhajan has taken his MoM award a bit too seriously for he has now stopped focussing on bowling. A good step at this point of time would be to give him a rude shock which could be well an axe for the nextd 4 Tests and instead take a rookie Ashvin. The wickets are not ocming and chances are they might not come again, but then if Ashvin gets more wickets, it would be a bonus for India.

Sreesanth is erractic and 2nd time in 3rd Tests he dismissed a batsman of a no-ball. Attitude and temparament anyone?  Beauty spells in hours and mostly erractic line. Perhaps he is coming in Tests again for free. He has not played first class cricket off late, has got injured, bowled at NCA and nets. And came back. He is putting Ishant Sharma out of the team.

Today would be a key day to decide if India wins this series 1-0 or 2-0.

India's nemesis Bewda Jesse Ryder is still on crease and old tormentor Dennie Bettori is yet to come.

And if Bhajji continues to bowl the line he is bowling right now, our spin stocks are as good as West Indies or Australia's.

Contract Haulers from BCCI

BCCI has declared the list of players that would be awarded the contracts for this year.

And the biggest surprise is that Yuvraj Singh has been relegated to Grade B and Raina, his nemesis has been promoted to Grade A.  Besides there is a drop of 17 players from 41 to 24 who have been awarded the contracts.  Grade D has been removed totally.

Likes of Munaf, RP and Dinesh Karthik have been dropped.

Coming back to the biggest shock, Yuvraj Singh.

I am of the view that this demotion is totally uncalled for and does not reflect well on BCCI's part for Yuvraj to be dropped. Agreed he had a tough indifferent 2010 owing to bad form, fitness issues, attitude issues and stuff like that.

He lost his place in the Tests and does not seem likely to get it in near future, but he is still a key player for India in next year's world cup 99 days away and the T20Is.

And Raina for a couple of blistering knocks in T20s , ODIs and Tests has not done that good enough to be in the elite company of players like Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag and Gambhir.

He still needs more maturity and more time to develop as a complete batsman ignoring strong temptation for that ugly hoik over square leg that often results in his dismissal.

For once, Yuvi needs a chance to redeem himself.

Zulqarnain 's Kabootar act

Pakistan cricket continues to be in bizzare state. Just that when the focus came on the strong performances in the just concluded ODI series which ended 2-3 for them, they were again in news for wrong reasons. Zulfi Haider fled the team to go to UK on pretext of some threats to him. Those threats are perceived to be death threats for his role in 4th game which he won for Pakistan amidst high voltage drama.

What went behind his sudden departure is not known and perhaps wont be known, but some statements that he has made indicate dangerous nexus between the Pakistan cricket and the spurious elements who have unethical interest in those cricketers.  Haider had guts to walk out of his career which just began and which was on hold due to one Kakkumal.

He has goen for now, but he might return sooner or later. You never know with this cricketers,  they might come back and play.

So they should not retire, they should just go off and come back when they want to. Just like Younis, Yousuf, Afridi, Miandad, Latif, Imran Khan did.

And one fallout of this sudden departure is that one more Akamal has found his way into the team. And its Adnan Akamal, perhaps middle one of the 3 brothers (or even more). All 3 keep. Ukkumal kept in 5th ODI.

When Kakku would be back, Akkumal would be gone.

Tough to keep count of Akamals playing, but one thing is for sure. No one provided as entertainment as Kamran Akamal does.

Motera Musings

India were out of the hole again and the revival was sparked by familiar face in VVS Laxman and new batting allrounder Harbhajan Singh who got a MoM award for batting. Surprisingly he made a 100 and a  50 in a same game to become 8th batsman in the history to accompalish this feat.

The Kiwis were no pushovers and to me following were the high points of this test match:

• Superb fast bowling spell by Chris Martin on 4th evening to give a strong chance out of nowhere to Kiwis to win the test match.
• Match turning partnership by Ryder and Williamson on day 3 to bring Kiwis in touch distance within India's first innings score.
• Spectacular collapse of India in 2nd innings to be at 5/15 with just 43 runs lead.
• The man called VVS Laxman with his awesome 2nd innings record. Enough said.

The low points:

• The Motera pitch : lifeless, dull and flat. Perhaps that prevented MS to declare when India were 200 up in the fourth innings lead and safely out of danger.
• India's impotent bowling attack. Barring Zaheer Khan and to an extent Ojha, the others were insipid. 
• Continuing bowling failure of Harbhajan Singh would soon come to a point where coach and captain would need to decide if he continues to be # 1 spinner in Tests.
• Gautam Gambhir's insipid 2010 run continues.
• Sehwag's 2nd innings record continues to be patchy.
• Sreesanth should now be relegated to dancing on reality shows. He is just no use to India's lineup. Ishant Sharma seems to be better bowler than this guy.

India would be disappointed that they could not beat Kiwis and continue their winning streak. On the other hand, the Kiwis would be more than happy to get the draw with strong performances from Ryder, WIlliamson, Baz and Martin. I just hope no more tests are scheduled in Ahmedabad in near future if it continues to roll out docile, Srilankan type pitches.