Ishant Sharma

Ishant Sharma took a 6-for in the ongoing 2nd test of the series in Bridgetown, his 2nd in career and first after the debut test against the Pakistanis in 2007. He got through to 102 test wickets, past Irfan Pathan and only the 5th Indian fast bowler to get 100 Test wickets. And he is just 23, played 32 Tests already and has 102 test wickets in the bag. He would be very happy given his efforts in the innings and the figures that read 6 for 55.

 

Bravo kid!!!

 

He is gonna be very useful in England and when Zaheer returns they would form a very good opening ball attack in conditions that would aid seam and swing.

 

A slender 11 run lead and now the outcome depends upon how the openers bat -- the quota system entrants from Tamil Nadu.

 

And more guffaws add to the pathetic umpiring of the series, this time broadcaster mistake in showing wrong reply to Ian Gould for dismissing MSD off a no-ball.

 

West Indies at this stage look good to win this test match though.

Barbados Test musings

India's young players are finding it hard to negotiate the bounce and pace of West Indies pitches and that makes them stand in poor light. The transition for this young lads from T20 glitz to the grind of tests is proving to be difficult, but there are still 3 innings left in the series for this lads to prove themselves  before the seniors and first choice players return. 

Kohli would be very unhappy with himself for the chances he has fluffed in the 3 innings so far. Also making things tough for him are the runs Raina is getting at 6.  Scores of 82, 27 and 53 means he would certainly be front runner for #6 spot in England and would edge ahead of Yuvraj, Pujara and of course Kohli.

Bowlers are having hay day in the bouncier track of Barbados, but the rains made the spoilsport of the 2nd day when India had superb chance to make more inroads in the fragile batting of the Windies. Ishant Sharma has looked a super Test bowler this series and now he stands just 1/2 wkts away from 100 wickets, something which only 4 other fast bowlers in the country have achieved before.  He's got a tight nose over Sarwan with dismissing him 3 times in 24 deliveries. An in-form Ishant Sharma augurs well for India's chances to retain the England series next month.

And it was left again to Laxman to play a crisis innings to pull India out of the dump. Something he has done so many times over his 15 year career. And he also became 4th Indian to reach 8000 mark in Tests. Unlucky to have missed 100, he made sure India had a decent scoreline. 

MSD would surely be furious over himself given lack of runs in this series. 0, 16 and 2 dont do a justice at all to his ability in Tests. The 3rd day if uninterrupted by rains shall decide which way the series  goes. If India nabs few early wickets and gets Chandu out quickly, then match would sway India's way. India would certainly like to avoid 1997 and 2002 encore on this ground.

Lankan GayLords

Sanga : Kiss me Mahila

Mahila : In the bed tonite babeh, in the bed tonite.

India go 1-0 up

India won their 2nd consecutive Test match in Jamaica, in West Indies, riding on second consecutive superlative effort by Rahul Dravid in second consecutive tour. India last won the test series in WI in 2006, the last test on a treacherous pitch by 49 runs and Dravid was the hero then. Today India won again, it was expected to against a depleted, weak West Indies side, by 63 runs and Dravid again starred in it. What an occasion to rise up and say he belongs yet. 15 years of Test cricket, 151 Tests, 12215 runs, 32 test hundreds and the man is still questioned whether he is worthy of a place in the test side.

 

Take out his 159 runs in the test and the two teams are very thinly apart. Take out his 400 minutes of batting in the 2nd innings and suddenly you see that the test match could have been very close.  The openers in contrast failed to gave a decent start in both the innings which is very different from the routine opening partnerships all this decade. Sehwag and Gambhir not being around leaves a big gap at the top. Vijay fails remarkably to fill in for any one of them by even 10%. He just doesnt have any skill or temparament to last at this level, which is very strange given the promise he shown up in 2008 and 2009. Since then he has shone in IPL and declined in Tests. May be priorities redefined.

 

Mukund is just one test old and would not get more opportunities in the future when both Delhi dashers return. He has 2 more tests to impress. He showed some resolute resistance in 2nd innings but gave up when well set. He would have his own days in the future, but when you are battling with legends of the game for a spot in the team, you would want to cash in all available opportunites. Vijay failed on this count, may be Mukund should impress in the next 2.

 

Kohli has been a remarkable ODI batsmen in last 2 years and rightly so in Tendulkar's absence he got a chance to debut. Though he did survive the bouncers barrage from Fidel Edwards it would have been very apt if he would have survived the storm and then the things would have been very easy as his ex RCB colleague Rahul Dravid pointed out. Very wise words summing up the approach to the test cricket where you would find some tough spells going against you and if you keep the head down and grind it out, the sunny days shall get you runs. As for Mukund, Kohli too has got 2 more tests to impress and then in England he would compete with 3 other guys for a spot in the XI -- #6. Yuvraj Singh, Raina and Pujara....

 

Raina made up for his ODI failures with a very valuable 82 in the first innings and his partnership with Harbie saved India the blushes.  He took the final wicket to clinch the lead of 1-0 in the series. MSD looked off color with the bat in the first game since that memorable 6 on 2nd April. With time he would be back in the groove and amongst runs.

 

Bowlers did display a very good display in the first innings and the stand out bowler was of course Praveen Pehelwan who took 6 wickets in his debut test.  He got balls to swing, nip back and leave the batsmen in tizzy. Mishra continues to lose the confidence of MSD for unknown reasons. He did grab 2 wickets in late first session on day 4 before Sammy looked threatening. But he was always brought in late by MS despite being the best bowler in the ODI series. Ishant Sharma continued to dazzle in Tests and Harbhajan the batsmen impressed more than the bowler version.

 

West Indies were left to rue the batting failures in the first innings after folding out India for meare 246. The lead of 73 runs came in handy in the final outcome of the game.  Not sure why Chandu is such an overrated player. He sticks his ground, doesnt make runs, doesnt rotate the strike, yawns the team and the spectator, yet he is # 8 in the rankings.

 

West Indies needs quality players to be able to compete with top ranked teams and that means the only world class batsmen left in the Carrib -- Gayle has to return as soon as possible. His place is not elsewhere but in the middle. He has to play to be able to give some chance to the Windies to compete.

 

15th test win for Dhoni makes him just behind Ganguly in terms of Test win.

Vijay

Badrinath gone, Vijay in. 

2 failures and it shows his class. Good for IPL, poor for India. Throw him out unfortunately he wont be. No replacement for him. If there is any, then there is another Tamil Nadu import Dabrinath. 

Why do TN batsmen who are duds find way in the Indian team? Why dont those players who are real quality stuff (are there any?) from TN come forward?

Have to keep watching this lad throw chance after chance he got to play for India just cos Srikanth is chief selector, CSK are IPL champions and N Srinivasan is next board president elect.

So called young team

Dabrinath should have been given 1 more chance in the final ODI to fail so that he could have shunted out for good. Now he would say he got only 3 games to struggle and prove his ineptiness.  He would still have room to comeback for one more such tour in the future. Seeing him was a delight ? No, a torture. The way free caps are being distributed to unworthy players in a world cup champion team. Didnt see that in the previous champion teams. Even India for that matter in 1983. Other players who have been exposed and concluded stand out to be:

 

1. Shikhar Dhawan

2. Parthiv Patel.

 

Dhawan has struggled against a very mediocre attack in conditions almost similar to India. Every innings, every minute out in the middle has been an ordeal and he has struggled for pacing the innings, to make the ball touch the bat and rotate the strike. He is young and all that, fine. He has time on his side fine. But does he have the temparament? Not sure.

 

Parthiv Patel would not get this many opportunities in the future as this one. 5 ODIs on the trot to make himself count and deliver on that promise shown in 2002 - 2004. But he has failed and so has any ambitions for him to be # 2 keeper for India after the captain. He couldnt better his 56* as highest score on slow pitches and against a mediocre attack. He has been patchy with the gloves too. Something that would count against him in the future tours.

 

May be this could be used as reason to get back Boss DK in. Boss DK was a 20s master, Patel bhai is 30s and 40s champ. He has flair, he can accelarate, he can play his shots and they dont look ugly too. But he is as old as 9 years in the international circuit and that makes him senior to the skipper. But in terms of results he is still a novice.

 

Ishant Sharma continues to be plagued with the bad habit of leaking runs. Something he has to figure out to find a regular place in the ODI team as backup to Zaheer Khan.  He's played only 46 ODIs in 4 years of time and only 2 in last 2 years almost. Not for long he can continue to reap harvest for troubling Ponting in Perth 2008.

 

Amit Mishra has been a revelation and he has been bowling typical leggie stuff and thats heartening to watch. Had he quit abruptly in those dark days, it would have been a great loss. Not sure if he still has won the confidence of MSD to play a regular role in both ODIs and Tests.

 

Yusuf Pathan continues to be enigmatic and useless after his exploits in SA. He hasnt showed that form and intent to stay on the crease for long. All of a stay of 30 balls in 4 ODIs isnt a justice to all the hype he has had around himself in past 4 years.

 

Chance for this guys to set something right else they would soon be forgotten boys of Indian cricket, cos there is no dearth of guys who'd be wanting to be part of an world champion outfit.

Why does Badrinath fail?

A 30 ball 17 followed by a 28 ball 11 and a run out with bat lost and struggling to make it to the crease even with a dive. 

That figures dont do the justice to the rant "I have made my game suitable to the T20s and ODIs" from a man who has been given ample opportunities in past 3 years and he has fluffed them all. He happens to be from the state which provides national selection committee chairman, the most powerful man in the BCCI and of course the 2 time IPL champion franchisee with a luck that the franchisee is captained by the man who captains India and the stand in skipper is also a part of the same franchisee.

All of that ideally shouldnt matter though, in the long run its the temperament and the attitude that decides if a player belongs at the highest level. And we aint bridesmaid now, we are goddman world champions in the ODIs and top ranked Test team. So no player should come in on the back of few hundred runs in the IPL. To me this man is like Ajay Sharma who scored tonnes of runs in the domestic circuit, but when confronted at the highest level, just came a cropper. 

Why do lads like Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina who are way younger than this lad find success at highest level and he doesnt? Why do even contemporaries like Gautam Gambhir find success but he doesnt? Gambhir was also treated in the same way as this lad was, but when he got his opportunity, he seized it and today he is best player of spin in the country after 3 greats and forms one of the vital cogs of India's best Test opening pair and possibly world's best opening pair at the moment. 

Both this lads got their moments on the same tour -- 2008 tour to Lanka. Gambhir got in Tests, this lad in ODIs. Gambhir had been decent in the ODIs then and hadnt got the success in Tests by then. A solitary hundred against BD in 2007 was all he had. Even though he didnt have 100s in that tour, but his handling of M&M when the more famed and great names failed in reading them got him the place he deserved and since then hasnt stopped and looked back. 

So what stops this lad? Self pity? Self inflicted daemons? Whats holding him? Is he scared? Or is he content to just play a few games for India and happy making millions in the IPL? Who would remember him few years down the line? Who remembers Padmakar Shivalkar today in the same breath as say Bishen Singh Bedi or Chandra or Prassana or even Venkat? Or Ajay Sharma? Or Pankaj Dharmani ?

The series is already in the bag and its time to test out the few players who havent got the chances so far. One of them is the original young player well before Kohlis and Rohits made their mark. Manoj Tiwary, who debuted in 2008 (after Rohit) but lost out to injury then.. He would be due to come in for a game or 2 before he heads back to India. So this lad hasnt done any favors for himself by making those slow starts. Yet, the backing he has, he might still get a chance to play the 3 Tests replacing Tendulkar ahead of Kohli. And that would mean there would be at least 1 walking wicket in the Test team.

Aamir issue

Mohd Aamir playing for a Sussex club despite of a ban and pretending it wasnt an official match puts the Pakistani cricketers in bad light once again. It raises the question of how much do they take the bans and their integrity seriously. Aamir was banned for 5 years from playing any game affiliated to ICC or its member boards and any clubs / counties associated to the member boards. Yet Aamir plays a game and the ECB, ICC are caught napping.  Who gave the permission to him to play in an offical ECB game? What was ICC doing ? Why didnt ICC let its member boards know the regulations and repurcussions of ban on the trio so that they dont play any official game?

 

Not only this puts ICC, ECB in dock, but it also raises serious questions over integrity, character of the banned Pakistani cricketers. This just proves they dont respect the game they have played in the past or would play in the future post bans.  If the proceses are to be violated, then why have them and the drama of the bans and adjudications in different courts? Let them play on and make a mockery of players who play with maximum integrity and sincerity.

 

What is PCB going to do here? Is Butt going to do his favorite passtime -- issue a show cause notice to Aamir to find out why the hell in the hand did he play in that game?

 

The best thing now that can be done to this so called young kid is to ban him for life so that the game isnt brought to disrepute any further in the future.

--
~Sam

More injuries to Indian players

Injuries to Zaheer Khan and Freesanth are going to raise further questions on whether having this lads play entire duration of IPL was sensible and how much workload should India regulars take up when the international season is just around the corner after IPL.  Zaheer Khan would be very vital in England series, which is going to be THE series of the year and to have undefeated record against England of last 15 years, he would be the key.  He has had tremendous success in last 2007 tour and jelly beans sparked a revival in Zak's career, the effects which we are seeing in last 3 yrs or so.

 

Freesanth remains enigma and he has pace if not anything else to be crucial to India's fortunes. Pace is something which very few Indian fast bowlers have...

 

So going in West Indies series without these 2 bowlers mean the team would be depleted and the onus on Ishant Sharma would be even more. So its time he is given some kind of match practice before the first test that begins on 6/20. Praveen Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun are the replacement for the injured duo. How much effective Praveen would be on slow dead pitches of Windies would be question given he doesnt have pace but relies big time on movement and swing.  Abhimanya Mithun had a good debut in Lanka where he had more success with bat than ball, but at least he tried everything he could.

 

So a possible XI could look like this:

 

1. Vijay

2. Mukund

3. Dravid

4. Laxman

5. Kohli

6. Raina

7. Dhoni

8. Harbhajan

9. Mishra

10. Ishant Sharma

11. Mithun

 

Srikanth would be very happy to see the top 2 players at 1 and 2, perhaps one more in the middle order at 5 / 6. But its time for Kohli to make a test debut and set the ball rolling for replacements of the big 3.

 

Although Tests are good 10 days away, the performance of Kohli and Dabrinath in this 3 games of ODIs would decide who would replace Tendulkar in the team. And in that case Laxman can bat at rare # 4 spot for him and Raina can look for one more attempt to revive his falling Test career after a superb start late last year.

--
~Sam

"Focussed on contributing consistently" making 30 ball 17

I don't want to say what exactly what I want to do. The first thing is that I need to cement a spot in the Indian team. I am just focussed on contributing consistently."

He said he is aware of the need to constantly work on his game and has been seeking the help of coaches in honing his skills to suit all forms of cricket. "I have been working with the coaches. The IPL experience has helped me a great deal. It's been lot of hard work but I enjoy improving my game and want to play for India for as long as possible."

When you make this kinda statements, you'd want to ensure you score runs at good S/R in 50 over game too. Having said that consistent displays of 30 ball 17 isnt going to help this lad any further and to longer extent. 

So buddy backup your words and score runs as much as you can, otherwise 2008 encore is almost inevitable.

Parthiv Patel

Parthiv Patel's wicketkeeping woes today in first ODI are big let down for the man himself for it seems he has not learnt anything since old days in 2004 when he was dropped for poor keeping. He has been around now for 9 years now and he still is a fringe kepper or a standby keeper.

 

When he first bursted on the screen, he was hailed as next big thing and his defiance in 2002 Headingley test / Nottingham test proved that he has necessary temparament to be in at highest level. He had success with the bat in 2003-04 Australian tour but he lost it later in the year and thats where Boss DK emerged.

 

Post 2004 MSD emerged and thus PP's ambitions for a fulltime keeper with Indian team ended.  The only opportunities thereafter he's got are when MSD has opted for rest like in 2008 SL tour and now in Windies tour, but he has flopped every time.

 

Now its upto him when he learns and tries to grab a position within the team. There are many new keepers coming up in absence of MS and there is one even on this tour -- Wriddhiman Saha. Lets see how much of this motivates this guy and how much he turns around his performances with the gloves.

 

He just got Ramnaresh Sarwan off Munnabhai MBBS

Backing Ashvin for success in West Indies ODIs

R Ashvin, the tall 24 year old spinner from Chennai and one of the vital cogs of CSK's twin IPL titles. He has been hailed   as country's second best spinner after Harbhajan in ODIs at least. He has just played 9 ODIs, 2 in World cup, 5 in NZ series and 2 in that ill fated Zimbabwe tour. But he has earned a place amongst fans to be brave hearted and a constant trier. He doesnt held himself back from tossing the ball up in the powerplays in ODIs and T20s, he  gets thrashed but more often than not he picks up wickets. 

He proved that in the IPL and CLT20 that he can be a very good new ball bowler and he often started the attack in the world cup (against West Indies and Australia - 2 games he played).  Got Watson in the Quarters in the first 10 overs. And then he was dropped for  the next 2 games. He again proved his mettle in the IPL when he constantly grabbed Chris Gayle in the final and a game before when later was rampaging. 

MSD has handled this man very well and its fortunate for Ashvin that MSD is also India captain. When he returns for the England ODIs, Ashvin would be keen to perform well in the West Indies ODIs and sneak a place in the starting XI ahead of Harbhajan Singh. Its most likely that Harbhajan would always play ahead of him in conditions favoring just one spinner, but if Ashvin could keep Bhajji on toes, only the Indian bowling attack would be benefitted. 

After Kumble's shoulder surgery of 2001, India hasnt had an attacking spinner in the ODIs. Harbhajan fitted that role very well in early 2000s but in last few years he has become more of containing bowler than an attacking bowler. He cannot be always relied to grab wickets in pressure situation, something which Kumble always did for Azharuddin and Tendulkar in 90s. 

India has tried a lot of spinners in supporting role to Harbhajan after Kumble bowed out of ODIs -- Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra (very few ODIs), Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawala, Ravinder Jadeja etc. But none of them have been able to cement their places in the starting XI. Also Sehwag's dodgy shoulder in last 2 years havent helped India's cause,  he has proved many times he is better off spinner than Harbhajan Singh. 

If Ashvin is able to replicate his IPL success in ODIs and T20Is for India then not only he would be a serious contender for Tests but also India would have much better bowling attack as compared to now. He is in the team in West Indies only for the ODIs, but if he puts up a strong performance, say 2 wickets on average per game and giving away 4.5 - 5.5 runs an over, he would be very tough to ignore for the tougher tours coming up later this year. 

And thats when Ashvin would be just Ashvin and not IPL Ashvin.

India win by 16 runs in the first T20I

India began the tour well by winning the 1 off T20 against a depleted West Indies side. This win was India's first ever in T20Is against West Indies. Strange fact given how weak the Windies has been over years now and yet India had to wait so long for the win. 

The short ball woes, it looked would return again to haunt the inexperienced lads, when Dhawan got out to Samy in 3rd / 4th over. That was a nothing shot and Dhawan had no clue what to do for the delivery. Patel and Kohli then rebuilt for a while before Sammy returned to take 3 more wickets to leave India at 4/56.

Kohli, Raina and Patel dismissed.  And then our Chennai hero Dabrinath settled to a run a ball knock which was sufficient on the uneven, turning pitch and alongside Rohit Sharma he led India to a decent 159/6 after a miraculous 72 runs off last 5 overs. 

West Indies were given early blows by Munnabhai and IPL Ashvin, but Marlon Samuels and Darren Bravo batted without sense and urgency till 16th over without losing further wicket and any sense of urgency to win. And when the surge came, it was too late for them as run rate had already climbed 17 a over. Hyatt and Barnwell put up a fight though, it was an easy win for India by 16 runs. 

What is very disgusting to see is 3 good players of T20 -- 2 of them hyped in the IPL were not part of Windies team. Gayle, Pollard and senior Bravo. WICB has to get its act straight to get its best players playing in a team to have any chances of revival in the international cricket, else its all downhill for them.

Fartatunga

Shut the fuck up Arjuna Ranatunga

Afridi Soap Opera

Afridi sacked

 

Afridi retired

 

Afridi interview and he rips apart Ijaz Butt

 

Afridi's NOCs revoked making him ineligible in Hampshire and possibly Srilanka Premier League

 

Afridi appeals to Mr 10 %

 

Afridi accepts show caz notice charges and pleads guilty....

 

What next ?

 

Return to captaincy ? Out of retirement ? Sing Butt praises? Or ban  ? And then revoked ?