Team Preview : South Africa

In the ongoing series of team preview, this is the turn of South Africa today. South Africa, the perennial chokers and unlucky ones in the World Cup and similar tournaments. They threaten to walk away with the title every time they begin their campaign, but they fizz out when it matters or as they say they peak out too soon.  This time its going to be no different. The preview of the things to come was very much visible when they lost 2 games to India from winning positions and the fact that they have not won any ODI series convincingly against strong teams since Australia 2009.

Current Form

They started 2009 with a bang by defeating Australia 4-1 away and 3-2 home after losing the test series. They won against Zimbabwe and West Indies in this duration 5-0 and 5-0 and that inflates their winning score of 26-13. Take this 10 wins and that reads 16-13.  They lost in the CT in their own backyard and lost to England 1-2 followed by a 1-2 defeat in India in 2010.

After that they won against India and Pakistan 3-2 but not before stuttering and fumbling till the final game of the series.

World Cup record

1992 : Semi final exit owing to the disastrous rain rule which left them to chase 21 off 1 ball when the rain stuck.

1996 : Quarter final exit to a master class from Brian Lara after having won all 5 league games convincingly. First signs of choking.

1999: Semi final exit thanks to the epic defeats to Australia in Super 6 and then the tied semi - final. Thanks to the master class from Lance Clusener, they came close witin a run to go the finals, but Donald panicked and the rest is history, Herchelle Gibbs dropped that sitter from Steve Waugh in the super 6 clash and since then SA lost its steam in the world cups till date.

2003 : Again choked in the must win game against Sri Lanka. Mark Boucher wrongly interpreted the D/L rule and when they needed 1 run to go through the next round, he defended the last ball only to find that they are out of the world cup. Earlier, they had lost to NZ in a high scoring game and the tied game with Lanka meant they crashed out in the first round itself in their own world cup. Shaun Pollock lost his captaincy and Graeme Smith, 22  was elevated to the captaincy which he shall quit post 2011 world cup.

2007 : Peaked too early and when it mattered lost to Australia in the semi-final by bundling out to a sub 150 score. They scored big in the league and the super 8 stage, but when it mattered they choked and exited in the semis.

Team

Smith, Amla, Kallis, AB Devilliers, Duminy, Faf Du, Ingram, Morne Van Vyk, Steyn, Morkel Morne, Tahir, Tsotsobe, Parnell, Botha, Robbie Pieterson

Opening:

Smith and Amla form a terrific opening partnership given the form Amla is in over last couple of years. This pair ranks one of the best opening pairs in the world cup after the most prolific pair of Tendulkar - Sehwag.

Middle Order:

With Kallis not around in the ODI series against India in SA, the middle order looked shaky, brittle and the tail was a bit long. Kallis would do well to regain his # spot and also play up as a bowler who could bowl close to his quota of overs.  AB and Duminy would be dangerous at 4 and 5 with 2 of Ingram, Morne Van Vyk and Faf Du occupying 6 and 7. Faf Du impressed in the only game he played before the squad was announced. AB has been in prolific ODI form over last few seasons, so the team would look forth for some runs in the tournament which matters the most.

Bowling:

SA has got the best bowler of the world in Tests in their ranks, but he has not played that many games to qualify as threatening in the ODIs as well. But given any day he can still extract the pace out of placid flat tracks, he would be dangerous.  Morne Morkel is the support cast to the hero Dale Steyn and the conditions in the subcontinent would be as such that one of Parnell and Tsotsobe would play at most of the times. ALso its possible that neither could play as Kallis can be the 3rd seamer and the next 2 bowling spots would be occupied by the spinners.

Tahir, Pietersen and Botha are the spinners in the team. Tahir is unknown commodity and the other 2 are at their best, restrictive bowlers. Neither of them would be expected to play an attacking spinner role. Smith and Duminy would roll over their arms when and if required.

Expectations:

On paper, SA look balanced team and Ponting has classified SA as one of the team to look for, but in the given reality South Africa could do well only if they gave up choking and raised their game when required.

A quarter final entry looks easy but after that its going to be how they play on the given day.

Match days:

 2/24 vs WI, 

 3/3 vs Netherlands at Mohali (SA fast bowlers would love this), 

 3/6 vs England, 

 3/12 vs India (Nagpur, Dale Steyn would have fond memories of this ground), 

 3/15 vs Ireland

 and 3/19 vs BD (SA would look for revenge against BD as would India)

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.

Champions League update thus far

CLT20 is on in full flow and thats the Cricket Ka Asli Muqabla.  There are lot of new faces in the commentary boxes and thats a welcome sign. Saurav Ganguly is in the box and so are Shastri, Gavaskar -- India's finest. Good respite from the likes of Arun Lal, Shiva and company. On the flip side we also have Pommie Bangwa and Russell Arnold. The results so far are as expected.

1. Out of the 10 playing teams 3 are from India and 2 of them have won the first games emphatically when they were supposed to struggle and flaunder in this conditions. The critics forget that it was in South Africa, that India has had their best run in the ICC editions of the World Cup and World T20. A world cup final in 2003 and World T20 win in 2007. So how the teams would struggle is beyond comprehension. This point of view has been pastered on us by Sanjay Manjrekars of the world who refuse to see anything silver lining in the dooms.  Sachin Tendulkar the batsman continued his good form and that pretty much almost covered his unusual errings in the field as captain. Kumble and MSD led their respective teams to victories with ease and they should be good for the semis if they continue to play the same way they did in their first games.
2. Wayamba is as useless as Mahelangakara's character rants. They failed miserably against Warriors and a lot of  that blame has to go on Mahila who fell for a duck. I guess the major reason they failed to win was that the character juice supply was in short and a lot of that did not arrive from Lankan godowns.  Only positive point of their team was old Kulatunga and young Pareira (there are so many Pareiras playing for Lanka, its difficult to track them all) with their positive batting. The praise ends here.
3. Australian teams have had mixed bag so far. South Australia RedBacks beat Lions (SA) by 19 runs on day 2 of the tourney and Victoria, the Aussie version of Tamil Nadu lost their opening game to Warriors who look  good to go the semis route at least.
4. Windies and Kiwis teams had horrible outings in conditions that should have suited them ideally.

As of now given the form RCB, CSK, Warriors and one of RedBacks/Lions look good to go the distance to the semis.

Kumble had figures of 1/10 in 4 overs against Guyana. Harbhajan could not take a wicket in the game against Lions.  When Kumble played Harbhajan often got wickets owing to the pressure built by Kumble from the other end. Since Kumble retired, Harbhajan has struggled in Tests and that has impacted further his ODI and T20 bowling.

Kallis is continuing his good run this year in CL as well and he came good with bat and ball in the game vs Guyana. Dravid had a 33 which was solid and flair of typical Dravid in his peak in ODIs. Unfortunately he grassed a few dollies which prompted few to call for his axing and a well tracked farewell. Uncalled for.

Sachin had a good outing in first game as batsman and his other big names failed. Dumniny, Pollard, Rayudu, Sathish were miserable. Except Malinga none came good in bowling. Sachin is too good a player to repeat his captaincy mistakes in the second game tomorow.

Indian players have had a good outing so far. Unexpectedly Junior Cheeka had a 42 which should fast track his place into national colors. That there are other deserving players than him to get the India cap is another story, he has that advantage of having DAD at high position backed by Nambiarulu Srinivasan, the CSK owner and powerful BCCI sachiv.

So if he finds a place in the ODI team as a replacement for great Sobers in making RavinderSing Jaddukha, it sould not be a surprise as Cheeka would have ensured a good entry behind the door.

Dabri had a good outing again and like his Chennai friend DK he would now come into contention for every team India plays and once in he would be back to usual scoring pattern of 10s, 20s and 30s.  Its good. It keeps our community (bloggers and twitterers) busy guessing who # 6 in Tests and # 7 in ODIs would be. Not to forget that the jokes would continue too.

PS : Thanks SoulBerry for mentioning that this blog is one of the good ones for IPL and CLT20. It means a lot when this blog has more distractors than admirers. Appreciate a lot.

Bangalore score a thumping win...

In the end the game between modern legspinner giant led teams proved to be more than an one sided affair. Kumble was ruthless in attacking his own countrymen whereas Warne could do nothing thanks to the depleted team he has got in his kitty.  Kallis, Pehelwan Kumar and Kumble himself cashed on poor Royals batsmen and ensured the Royals were all out for 92 with last 6 wkts just falling for 11 runs. Pravin Kumar took a hat trick, the first one of IPL-3.  Kallis continued his redemption in T20 and now he stands wearing the orange / purple cap whichever it is for highest run maker in the tourney. He is yet to get out in this tournament.

The best thing about Kumble’s captaincy was the barrage of short balls he had for the Royals batsmen including Yusuf Pathan and no wonder most of them fell for it.  The bowling changes were spot on and most of them worked. His plans worked more than what he could have expected them to. 

Royals are now likely to finish last in the table at the end of league games cos it seem that they don’t have the firepower anymore to match the magical and inspirational words from Warne. On the other hand Bangalore are gaining strength to strength, thanks to the astute captaincy of Kumble and awesome all-round display from Kallis.

At the end of almost first week, the Bangalore Challengers stand 2^nd in the table with Sachin Tendulkar’s Mumbai Indians leading the way. Its an irony that the first 3 teams in the points table are the teams led by 3 of the Fab Five of Indian Test team and this teams contain 4 of those Fab 5 players.  No matter they are not playing in same team but seeing them all in action is what is the best thing about IPL.

Great Innings and Averages

Absolutely true. Dilip Premchandran on numbers and their relevance against the backdrop of quality of opposition the batsmen played. Spot on. Thats why we would always say Tendulkar, Dravid and Lara would be over the top than say a Inzy or a Ponting or even a Kallis. Who can forget the marvels of 114 in Perth, 148 in Sydney, 136 against a rampaging Saqlain and Akram, 117 in Melbourne, 241* in Sydney and again 154 in Sydney by Tendulkar. Or for that matter 277 in Adelaide / Sydney, 153 and 110 odd in 1999 series in wins scripted by himself -- Lara against Australia ? Not to forget that 1991 Australia team had awesome pacers too good for India and then in 1999 India were another rubbish team on tour to Australia with the Fab Four just had started playing together. Besides 117 from Tendulkar, the only other innings of substance by an Indian on 1999 tour was 167 by VVS which started his love affair with Sydney and Australia.

Lets not forget the 180 by Dravid in Calcutta and then 233 and 72* in Adelaide 2003. Laxman's 150 odd in Adelaide and epic 281 in Calcutta. Ricky Ponting's saving 156 in 3rd Test Ashes 2005 was another effort of greatness. Steve Waugh's batting efforts are full of valiance and bravery. Mohinder Amarnath in 1983 or Vishy in 1975 (perhaps). DBV in 1986 in England. This are landmark innings to quote just a few. And then contrast this with the innings by SL batsmen off late. Which ones would hold substance and weight ? Consider the opposition, conditions and match situations before judging a batsman quality. Many times batsmen dont score 100s but their efforts are as great as it can be. Who can forget Dravid's effort in 4th Test in WI when no other batsmen either side crossed 50. Gavaskar's last innings in Test cricket was in a losing cause. For that matter 138 by Inzamam which saved his career and got his captaincy in 2003 against BD. And JImmy Adams holding on with Walsh against strong Akram, Akhtar and Waqar in 2000 Carrib series. Does that count less than a great innings ?

The best test, as it has always been, is to check how the player did
against the finest team of his era. Sunil Gavaskar had 13 centuries against West
Indies, Sachin Tendulkar has 10 against Australia. Brian Lara had nine.
Inzamam-ul-Haq finished with one from 14 Tests.

RCB favorites for the finals.

Royal Challengers have been the unlikliest of the entrants in the finals. And theirs has been the cindrella story. Languishing at the bottom of the table in the mid way stage, they have scripted a turnaround in their fortunes. Won 7 out of 9 games. Moved apart the hyped teams, hyped cities and hyped players. The team did basics right, the openers got runs, the middle order fired at times. Bowling clicked and moreover the captain had a great attitude. He didnt have to prove it to anybody his capacity or his mentle.

Manish Pandey, Ross Taylor, Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble have been the stars for RCB. Ross Taylor's innings against KKR(most prolly) turned around the things.

They stand favorites today for the title. and if they win, its just going to be another feather in the cap of Anil Kumble, the fighter and hard spirited cricketer we know. The one whose attitude was the best in the team alongside his batting great peers.

Go RCB.....Purely for delight RD, AK bring watching them.

Bangalore Comes of Age

Bangalore finally have come into their own elements. Yesterday they thumped a strong bowling attack of Mumbai by 9 wkts which had 3 international bowlers, 2 of them from India. Not only now they are looking good to reach the semis path, but they are also looking a different team altogether after the change of guard and finally coming of age by Jacques Kallis in his own home turf. KP was clueless in his captaincy and I believe the painful experience of losing England captaincy earlier this year hasn’t left KP totally yet. I didn’t see the game as I was travelling in bus with no TV access, but the omens were visible in the game against Punjab when Anil Kumble himself led the charge in final overs. He was the ODI bowler of 90s when Azhar would throw the ball to him within the first 15 overs and then at the end of innings (2nd or 1st) and expect a wicket. Uthappa managed to get some runs albeit a bit late as he lost out on the opportunity to make it to the World T20 squad. Kallis ’s return to the form would also make him in the reckoning in the spot for SA team for World T20.

Right now Bangalore are hanging at # 4. Some more upsets today would see them go at the top of the table. That won’t be a surprise though, now that Rahul is back too, the team should fancy itself for a semi-final spot. Today’s game is a bit of fancy ride for Chennai. If they win this, they go at the top of the table with 9 points and Bangalore drop to 5. If Deccans win then they maintain their top spot and nothing changes in the standings. The top 4 spots are too crowded and too tight to be in the comfort zone for anybody to sit and relax. Mumbai Indians are suffering for their lack of decisive punch. Harbhajan is out of form and Zaheer is hot and cold. They can’t just win on basis of 3 players – Tendulkar, Duminy and Malinga. At least 4 or 5 players need to fire and one of them big time. Who else than their best batsman. Time is running out for Mumbai Indians. Also need for them to throw out the likes of Takwale, Raje and Kulkarni who at best are liabilities and don’t inspire winning confidence in the team. They have 2 more days to recuperate and go back to the drawing board to reformulate their strategies. And for that Tendulkar will need to drop his anchor role and assume the prima donna role of savage harvester of runs as he is in the international circuit.

Bangalore vs Deccan Live..

Gilchrist has won the toss and elected to bat. Tis Gilly and Gibbsie opening the batting. Laxman at 3. Its Praveen Kumar opening the bowling. Overhyped, overhyped. Steyn should be the one doing that. I hope PK doesnt open the batting too. Gilly on fire. 3 on 3. Rant on pehelwan from Meerut. I guess if it was a kushti akhada, Pehelwan Kumar would have dared Gilly to have a go at him..Boy he has a gun too.

Super shot from Gilly he is on fire. May be Australia would recall him in Dubai against new minnows Pakistan. And again. 2 in this over. 3 in first. KP surely needs to think something more. Mark Nicholas and Ravi Shastri, 2 of the best 3 on fire as well. Laxman vs Kumble would be a great contest to watch. Six, but say it six Markie. Not DLF maximum. Gibbs takes over. Orgasmic start. Kallis on. 4 skippers in the BRC team. 2 Indians and 2 Saffers. Kallis and Uthappa think that they have got Gibbs, but umpire unmoved. 0/33 in 3.3. Poor keeping by Uthappa. Boy PK was sweeped for a 6 by Gibbs. Shows how paceful Kumar is. And he is gone. 1st wkt.

Pehelwan ko gussa aa gaya. Sala Bewda Pehelwan ko jhadu marta hai. Le tu out. LOL..Lacchu pehelwan in. Praveen Pehelwan to Lacchu pehelwan. Now the PP would know what batting means and artistery means. Gibbs looked not out. Laxman plays one down to Kumble at gully. How ironic. In Tests Laxman used to watch Kumble from 2/3rd slip standing in gully. And today he is playing one to his ex-captain. Kallis back in attack. DD 1/49 in 5 overs.

GIlly on fire. 1 six and 1 four. Vintage Gilly. Kumble in. Laxman faces. Almost foxed. Vintage Indians on the opposite side. Jesse boy in and gets Laxman out 1st ball. Laxman was never a hitter of the ball in air. And now bikini man ROhit Sharma would be in. Mostly would have got lotsa kisses and hugs from cheerleaders. So an extra motivaation to score runs and hit sixes, pass on flying kisses to the babes around...He is a mumbaikar playing for hyderabad. Saying anything against him is saying it against Mumbai. Anil bowling well. Uthappa propping him up. Almost had Gilly. Vintage Kumble. Get in the bikini man too.

KP has a golden arm....2 wkts now. Just that he shud bat good too.KP now has 2wickets and a catch. Bikini man was out. 52 runs made. Consideration for t20 world cup done. Dhoni and coach happpy. Cheerleaders happy. Dude got stuff worth 2-3 days to live with. 185 to win for Royal Challengers. I dont think they can do it.

Whoa whatta start for Bengaluru? 3rd in row a duck. ROTFL. Jesse Ryder must be feeling huge to go back home. He had lot of success against India in Test and ODI series, but IPl has been nightmare. 2 games and 2 ducks.

Kallis is next skipper for BRC. He is gone too. Hopelessness continues. KP is in. I doubt Dravid on his own would be able to do anything. But he is doing. Oye Pappe. Kise ghoor riya he ? Crease pe jo khada he wo sabka baap hai. Haha. Harmeet singh giving a stare to Dravid after being taken for runs. Now RD hits back in style to the men who kicked him off the captaincy. He has been the sole run getter for BRC this year and last year. The so called valuable pickings and most payed cricketers from foreign land have turned dud. Its all around Rahul Dravid. Pieterson falling for 11, Kallis the next skipper for 15 n the young gun Uthappa for 12. Dravid is making runs at strike rate of 195 runs per 100 balls. Its insane to term Rahul guilty of low fortunes for BRC team. Mallaya owns answers. He owes a public apology to Rahul. And all those bloggers and assholes who have termed Rahul as a test player. Do they forget that he possess record of fastest 50 by an Indian in ODIs. And amongst famed Indian batsmen in iPL he owns one of the highest strike rates. Less than Veeru but higher than MS, Sharma lalla and others. And with him gone, the hopes of a victory are gone.

Praveen Kumar is run out after making no efforts to reach to the crease. And he did have to say a lot to Kohli. Pehelwan ko fir gussa aaya. Thank God utha ke patak nahi diya. Kohli coming of age here, he is keeping BRC alive. Future prospects look bright for Kohli. Way better than Rohit Sharma. No slogs, no slangs, pure cricketing shots. Jeeyo Kohli bhiya Jeeyo.

Aussies prevail.

Australia had it. The ranking was preserved. Not that it mattered to its fans. But it did to its critics. And yes critics were floored again as were the Saffers. Saffers just don’t have in it them to maintain a consistent run to beat the top notch teams. Win against Aussies in 2 games and then falling flat 3 times in row. That just sparked Aussies. And perhaps that means the end of road for the likes of Roy and Shane Watson for now. The likes of Hughes, North, Siddle and McDonald have provided a spark to the team which was lacking in India and the home season. They are the future stars of the Australian cricket and would have a long Test careers ahead of them. The stars of the Aussie triumph – JPD, Steyn, Amla, Morkel and Smith, all faded out. Kallis was never a match winner. He never had that fear imbibing quality in opposition team in him.

Australia had rookies, Saffers had so called best attack in the world, which just chickened out in its own home yard. Johannesburg is now the Perth for Saffers. 2 consecutive Test losses for them on the ground. There is one more test to go and doesn’t matter if Australia lose. They showed it to the world that they rule the world and it was also displayed huge words the only team that can take them on is India. India and South Africa won series against them this season. But then Saffers have lost 3 tests, winning 2. India has won 2 and lost none. They have now won 3 in last 5 tests and drew 2. That proves once more the worthy contenders for Test top spot is India. And there is no qualms in that. Rankings doesn’t matter here. Win or lose, India would always remain the best bet to beat Aussies now.

Ponting ’s real test would start now in his ability to lead the team through the transition. It won’t be possible for them to win every Test they play as they did before, but if they could even achieve 60% of their earlier success, they would be happy to enter the transition phase.

Bryan Coverdale puts this perspective very gently here

Australia go 1-0 up

So Aussies go 1-0 up and I take one step to win my bet, which is quite popular now across blogsville. It was a perfect win. Excellent cricket by both teams. Rivetting test cricket. Much to the contrast in Pakistan and West Indies which are nothing but batting draws and big bores. Its amazing that SL still play the same brand of boring cricket. 606 runs in 2 days and then M&M thrashed.

Oh man gimme a break.

For Australia the debutants stood out esp North who hit his 1st hundred. Johnson got wickets, Hussey got ducks, Ponting got yorkers, Smith got jitters. Now his 2 big wins in Australia stand negated. It cud well have been 3-1 for Aussies rather than 2-2.

Today morning it seemed that Saffers would go for the kill. But then Kallis continued his selfish run with the bat and never assumed the threatening proportion to put Aussies on backfoot. Perth hero JPD didnt click and Boucher was all alone to put up a fight. Hilfenhaus played supporting role to perfection and Siddle assisted Johnson to wipe out the tail once Kallis was gone.

It was a game of 15 sessions where Aussies won handsomely 12-3. Perhaps that answers few distractors who questioned my logic to go behind Aussies. But even though Saffers lost, they played intensive cricket and that to me rates above the boring brand we get to endure with the Asian giants sans us and Carribean torture where England is fast falling the steep slope. Its pretty much clear that they aint going to win a series now in West Indies this time.

Great Leveller and 4 Batsmen on decline..............

Cricket is a game of great leveler. If a day you fly high, the next day in a test match you are back to ground. That’s what happened to Viru Sehwag. If he set up the historic Indian chase on 4^th day of Chennai Test, then today he fell for 0. A harsh irony indeed.

4 Strugglers are occupying the crease right now in different parts of world. They are :

1. Rahul Dravid

2. Mathew Hayden – has fallen. Perhaps has also fallen for last time. Is that the end of the Big Matt ?

3. Ricky Ponting – Duckling in the first innings : )

4. Jacques Kallis – Made a 63, but never looks intimidating against top class teams.

4 of this millenium’s prolific batsmen on their way out.